the astrology of the New Moon in Capricorn | December 23rd, 2022 - starting over at Christmas, pushed to leap, dealing with relationship imbalances

On Friday, December 23, 2022 at 5:16AM EST, the Capricorn Moon meets the Capricorn Sun at 1 degree giving us this month's New Moon - our annual New Moon in Capricorn.

Last year's New Moon in Capricorn was conjunct 22 degrees Cappy of 2020's "time runs out/power is cemented" infamy. This year we are going back to the very beginning - 1 degree Capricorn and asteroid Hygiea (our health asteroid, very prominent in the pandemic and the events of the last couple years) is EXACTLY conjunct the New Moon. I mean, we can't make this stuff up. This New Moon is EXACTLY squaring Ceres (a part of "time runs out" - she was conjunct Mercury, Pluto, Saturn and the Sun in mid-January 2020) and very tightly conjunct a square to Jupiter, moving through Aries for the second time - back to the beginning with SOMETHING.

 

There is mucho energy in Capricorn now (ruled by Saturn) - responsibility, stability, maturity, security, ambition, mastery - this is serious stuff. Can you feel the weight of everything that is happening in the world/in your own life - the seriousness of it all? Next week, the United States will have its third (and final) exact hit of the U.S. Pluto return (happening in Capricorn), Mercury will station retrograde (in Capricorn, Mercury is conjunct "time runs out" at the time of this New Moon), Venus will be in Capricorn - hitting degrees she retrograded over last year for the first time since her retrograde, Jupiter (U.S. ruling planet) is back in Aries. Can we say 'starting over'?

This is VERY potent energy.

Let's unpack the chart!

The Moon and Sun are conjunct at 1 degree Capricorn. The New Moon is EXACTLY conjunct asteroid Hygiea. The New Moon tightly squares Jupiter in Aries. The New Moon is EXACTLY squaring Ceres in Libra. So, we have a T-Square with the Moon/Sun the focal point and the empty leg in Cancer. Saturn rules this lunation from Aquarius. Both Jupiter and Saturn - our middle planets that connect our inner planets with the outer planets - are retracing their steps from earlier in the year. Jupiter in Aries is answering to a retrograde Mars who is about to be answering to a retrograde Mercury. Chiron stations direct in the hour before the New Moon. 

This is alot, but feels rather neatly tied up with string as Cappy is prone to doing. 

The New Moon is conjunct asteroid Hygiea (hygiene, health) - this is EXACT. Hygiea speaks of the ways we prepare for things to go well/to have good health. This often connects to our physical health. She is EXACTLY conjunct the New Moon/Sun and squaring Jupiter - this aspect is in the past, so something has recently GOTTEN BIGGER/expanded here - and she is squaring Ceres in Libra EXACT, so this might be connected to a partner/other person/child/contract. Maybe an imbalance in nurturing is hurting our health or whatever is happening within our relationship that is "outside our control" is. With Hygiea in Cappy our health is our wealth AND our wealth is our health. We are probably only as healthy as our bank account, those cans we have stacked in our cupboards, our fathers/maybe husbands, our careers/reputations, our security, our structure. 

The New Moon squares Jupiter. We talked about this energy in the Solstice post HERE. Squares are tension/frustration. Often the friction that gets things moving. Jupiter is expansive energy, something needs to GROW. Considered lucky - this growth is how Jupiter gets lucky. We act generously. We act confidently. We act courageously. We believe we can do it/are lucky. We have FAITH. The downside with Jupiter is, being made entirely of gases, things here are not solid/not really real. So, there needs to be a connection with something REAL to make real things happen (like this New Moon's square). Jupiter's tendency to inflate also makes it easy to over-do something. Over-promise. In Aries, maybe take on too much. Squaring this New Moon in ambitious Cappy could make us overly focused on career, goals, security, safety, the-bottom-line. So, we are going to need to, yes, start something with this New Moon in Cappy energy - and, yes, it might connect to career, goals, security, the-bottom-line - without going too big or too fast. Mercury is in Cappy, too, and tends to create negative thinking, we see the dangers/dragons and he is on a HOT degree here and Mars - who is ruling Jupiter - is answering to her/him. We need to stay positive and have FAITH. Jupiter is in many ways providing just what is needed here and speaks of something here being or having the potential to be - a VERY BIG DEAL. With Jupiter in Aries we have to be open to new experiences/be able to pivot. 

The New Moon squares Ceres in Libra. This one is EXACT. Ceres in Libra is about what is 'out-of-our-control' within our relationships. She is seeking balance here - maybe wants the give and take to be more even-steven/wants more peace/wants more beauty. Maybe there is over-nurturing or under-nurturing. Are we treating a partner like a child or are we being treated as such? Are we treating a child like a partner? Maybe we want too much or too little. Because again here is another square. More tension/frustration. This isn't intrinsically a bad thing - again, this is the friction that gets things moving. And, along with Jupiter, turns this whole thing into a Cardinal Square. SUPER POWERFUL ENERGY TO START. Adds turbo-boosters. 

Ceres opposes Jupiter and remember it was their ability to structure a complicated compromise that once saved the world.

Saturn, the ruler of Capricorn and so the ruler of the New Moon is at 21 degrees Aquarius. Ancient ruler of Aquarius, he is strong here, so the rules, limits, boundaries, reality-checks are, too. 

Keep in mind this chart shows how something is STARTING and how it will GROW. 

 

If we follow the Moon through her days in Capricorn we see that after meeting the Sun, the Moon trines Uranus retrograde - the Sun won't do this until January 5th, so we won't get the physical manifestation of this for some time, but we get the feeling shortly after the New Moon (not necessarily through the same events). This is about us being comfortable with change/allowing change/easy updates and then in early January the change - which doesn't have to be the same change remember - happens/is illuminated. Then the Moon meets Venus and then Mercury. She does this tomorrow, but the Sun doesn't meet Mercury until January 7th and Venus is long gone. The Sun won't catch up with Venus until August. So, the news/information/conversations the New Moon promises and we may get a glimpse of on Christmas Eve are manifested near January 7th. The love/money/Venusian story with whatever is starting now is more complicated, requires patience. This isn't surprising with a Cappy New Moon. After meeting Venus and Mercury, the Moon sextiles Neptune (also on Christmas Eve), here is a kind of dreamy nostalgia, connection, the eggnog is flowing. Anytime we have Cappy/Pisces energy we can think about this as 'dream building'. There are lots of other things this energy is about - it can bring endings where things tend to drift off or old-age endings or endings of dreams/addictions/fantasy, etc. But when what we are building is rooted in reality, Neptune pulls in our intuition, imagination, creativity, universal love. The Sun will sextile Neptune on January 13th. Then finally, still on Christmas Eve, the Cappy Moon will go void at 10:10PM EST off her monthly meeting with Pluto (with Jupiter moved on, we will be back to many monthly lunations ending with intense Plutonian aspects). Something buried/raw/intense/honest. This can be a profoundly real moment to unearth something. FEELINGS ARE GOING TO COME OUT. This will be transformative. Then the Moon goes void and we have a chance to rest from all of this. Whew. The Sun reaches Pluto on January 18th and then a couple days later we will get the New Moon in Aquarius and start a new cycle.

So, the Moon's next couple days and the Sun's next month are giving us some idea of how what is STARTED NOW will grow to culmination/peak over the next 6 months when we will have the Capricorn Full Moon next summer. 

 

This is also the day Chiron stations direct. This happens BEFORE the New Moon, so we get a direct Chiron with this fresh start. Chiron in Aries encourages us to be ourselves. To know we can take care of ourselves. To be brave. We might have to face very old wounds/vulnerabilities/hurts - and we have had time with this already since we are covering old degrees here - and MOVE FORWARD ANYWAY.

 

Short and sweet - SOMETHING IS STARTING OR STARTING OVER. This will be connected with your Cappy natal house theme or the collective themes of our goals, career, fathers, security, ambitions. With a Cardinal T-Square, this start WILL NOT BE STOPPED and might come with our backs against the wall (through what isn't working). Avoid going too big, too fast. Also avoid sitting on your ass when life is pushing you to do something. Keep in mind, Mercury is going to station retrograde next week in Cappy, so we are getting some extra time - which will likely come in the form of irritating delays and obstacles - to get this whole thing right. 

The Solstice post covers much more about the Jupiter square and is HERE. This powerful FRESH START/STARTING OVER with this Jupiter square is a good thing, and for some people a very good thing - Jupiter can bring good outcomes to the most challenging circumstances/better outcomes than we can imagine - but almost certainly there is something in here about asking ourselves, "will this be too much for me?". 

Hopefully Jupiter's journey through Pisces has given each of us some hope/faith in where we can go next even when we don't know the specifics yet. Just remember Jupiter's good luck will come through Saturn's hard work and that square to Ceres in Libra says we need to figure out how to work with whatever in our relationships/contracts "feels like it is outside our control" (probably connected to a loss) or whatever "season of life issue" or imbalanced nurturing is throwing everyone off their game - complicated compromises can be worked out now. 

2023 is going to be a BIG year. We start the year with two personal planets retrograde, but by mid-January will have all systems GO for many weeks. Mars will be re-doing Gemini until March. In May everything starts to shift. Pluto, who has been in Capricorn since 2008, moves into Aquarius. 2023 will only give us a sneak peek of this transit, but is likely to have a major collective impact. Saturn, after many years strong in signs he rules, will drift into diluting Pisces, where he will eventually meet up with Neptune (not until 2026, so we will have lots of build up to this) which hasn't happened in 36 years. When Saturn moves into Pisces, Uranus in Taurus will break free of his chains to Saturn. Freedom, chaos, change, the future. Sedna, who has been in Taurus since 1965, heads into Gemini for a sneak-peek (I wrote about Sedna in some depth HERE, we will be talking about her alot next year). Many planets will be nearing or backtracking over the end of the signs they are in. Hail mary plays will be being tossed out all over the place, but change won't be stopped. 

Lots of posts about 2023 coming up!

xo all