On Sunday, January 18th, 2026, at 2:52PM EST the Moon catches up with the Sun at 28 degrees Cappy giving us this month's Full Moon - our annual Full Moon in winter's sober, ambitious, deadly serious sign of Capricorn. The New Moon is always a time of Moon meets Sun. They come together once a month (from our perspective) - the Moon is hidden/dark and we start a new monthly lunar cycle.
Every lunation tells a different story though with the players in different positions - so LET'S UNPACK THE CHART!
The New Moon and Sun meet at 28 degrees. They are exactly conjunct asteroid Astraea. The New Moon is surrounded. We have Mars/Mercury (26 Cappy) on one side and Venus at (1 Aquarius) and Pluto/Vesta (3 Aquarius) on the other, so a MEGA pile-up from 26 Cappy to 3 Aquarius. The New Moon trines Uranus and sextiles Saturn and Neptune. The New Moon opposes Jupiter - wide and unwinding/separating. The New Moon squares Chiron, also separating. The New Moon is inconjunct Pallas in Aquarius and the United States Natal Moon (transiting Pallas is on the U.S. Moon/the people) and the New Moon is tightly conjunct the United States natal Pluto (so U.S. concentrated power/shadow authority/the dying Plutocracy part of this storyline).
The Moon meets the Sun at 28 degrees. VERY late in the sign. Very late in the day. Much has already happened/is behind us. A New Moon this late is almost like a Full Moon. A chapter of governance/reputation/career/world life is CLOSING. A myth of endless protection is ENDING.
Everything we need to begin and to move forward, personally and collectively, is given to us in this chart. Keep in mind with Capricorn we have what we have worked for/saved and what our past efforts afford us in the way of our REPUTATION.
Mercury/Mars EXACTLY conjunct each other now and tightly conjunct the New Moon says that - decisions and conclusions are being finalized. Our words and our actions are working together. We want to be walking our talk. Our plans move from debate/consideration/arguments toward execution. With Saturn/Uranus supporting the Mercury/Mars our path forward favors leaner systems and smarter innovation. Not blanket care (Cancer). And also, not brute force (Capricorn). That unwinding Jupiter opposition tells us that belief is giving way to responsibility. On a personal level this might be something like - I thought someone would take care of this or I thought I could depend on this, but now I see I need to re-negotiate my relationship to authority (internal and external).
The New Moon sextiles Saturn and trines Uranus. The trine is strongest. There is SMOOTH FLOW between where we are at this New Moon and the future. We want to be changing/innovating and will seek freedom, but keep in mind the freedom MUST stabilize (Saturn) or have the goal of stability/security and not just be about chaos/defiance. What shaky system in our life needs to be stabilized? How can we modernize i.e. change what isn't working without collapsing the stuff we want to keep? We want to be choosing reforms/changes/actions that are DURABLE/made to last rather than stuff that just gets us through the day. Wanting to do something is not going to be enough with all this Capricorn. The 'doing' and keep in mind, Mars is VERY strong in Capricorn, needs to be practical. It needs to make sense. This is where our authority can regain legitimacy, if we/it listens.
This whole time period is asking us - can we build systems/structures (Cappy is the master builder) that protect dignity and the vulnerable/our vulnerabilities WITHOUT pretending that resources are infinite? We can't give what we don't have folks - personally or collectively. As my grandmother would say - we can't keep borrowing from Peter to pay Paul. Whatever we are building must be able to hold its own weight, not just figuratively, but also LITERALLY.
The Moon is LATE in Cappy, so we should be thinking about things like reinforcing what really matters - through gentle repair and quiet strength. Understanding we are at a THRESHOLD which means there will be an ending before the beginning and how we handle both is going to matter. Wherever we are giving our energy to - time, money, resources, attention - needs to be VIABLE/focused on long-term. Cappy is about time and patience.
The end of Cappy is less ambitious and more about INTEGRITY UNDER WEIGHT/PRESSURE.
We have just had a very emotional Cancer Full Moon that we were meant to FEEL, so this isn't about burying our feelings, and this isn't about caring less,
BUT it is about - because this is daddy energy and not mommy energy (and I am talking archetypes here and daddy has other things to consider than mommy) - STRUCTURAL care. This is about, "we misjudged what is sustainable and we are course correcting". The BEST of Cappy at this juncture/fork in the road/beginning that comes so late in the game - is about explaining/thinking/talking about why limits exist, sharing burdens transparently, building smarter systems and not harsher systems, preserving the 'other's' dignity even when we say "no" (we can't say yes to what we can't do/what is too depleting just to feel good), admitting mistakes in earlier promises/actions or just understanding that these things were not permanent. Saturn, the ruler of Capricorn is in compassionate Pisces - this is about boundaries WITH compassion, but knowing there are boundaries ... and rules.
The lesson from the Cancer Full Moon is that CARE MUST BE STRUCTURALLY SUPPORTED or it collapses under its own weight.
Protection without infrastructure is unsustainable/unequal and becomes selective (because resources are not infinite). People will feel betrayed. We are learning with this Cancer/Cappy lesson plan, and this is the REALITY we need to really GET before we move into Aquarius - that authority is not the same as safety. Care is not the same as rescue. This Capricorn New Moon is not signaling the end of 'care', but it is asking for a WAKE-UP, hence all the sober Capricorn energy, and end to the fantasy-based care. We can't do it all.
Saturn is in watery Pisces, at the end of the end of everything for a REASON.
Can we appreciate and then grieve what was promised, but couldn't last? Can we build systems/structures that don't require denial to function (this New Moon is saying there really are finite resources). Authority earns trust now through honesty rather than reassurance - keep this in mind. This is all LATE-STAGE empire work which is why it feels so heavy and also so necessary.
Again, this month, I am not setting New Moon intentions (you can of course!), instead I am getting REALISTIC with my life. Instead of resolutions I am writing down:
1. One responsibility I am ready to release
2. One structure I am wanting to strengthen
3. One innovation I am willing to try
I think when all three feel doable/actionable and I have a plan in place I will be as personally aligned with this moment as best I can be. This New Moon is conjunct my 29 degree Cappy South Node, so will probably take me where it wants to anyway, but this is what I am thinking will be most helpful :) Use your own discernment with this.
The New Moon is also making an exact conjunction to asteroid Astraea. We have talked about her before, but not much and my thinking about many things is in flux now, so let's unpack her again.
Astraea was a Greek Goddess of justice, innocence, purity and precision (she became the constellation Virgo). Known as the last immortal, she stayed on Earth during the Iron Age until she could no longer bear the earth's density and humankind's wickedness. As she ascended to heaven, Astraea promised to return when humanity was ready for her, as ambassador of a new utopian Golden Age.
I thought Astraea in a chart might indicate where we have a tendency to stay too long - a difficulty in letting go of things that are no longer good for us - relationships, jobs, homes, etc. And I still think this is valid, but this New Moon is making me think a bit differently about Astraea and this staying vs leaving thing.
Maybe she didn't leave because the world wasn't perfect/good enough. Maybe she left because her presence no longer made things better. Can we see the difference?
We have multiple arbiters of justice in astrology. We have Saturn which goes something like what you build you live with/you reap what you sow. Saturn doesn't ask if something is kind or fair, he only asks if it will endure. That's his job. Saturn is karma, "reality will correct what you refuse to" and he rules this New Moon. This is justice through structure.
Another justice we have is Libra (ruled by Venus). Libra justice asks if something is fair/balanced. Libra aims for win-wins and weighs perspectives. This is justice through relationship.
Astraea's justice is pre-structure and pre-relationship. It doesn't argue. It doesn't negotiate. It doesn't punish. IT JUST LEAVES.
When she feels her presence becomes complicity. When standards are violated beyond repair. When her staying preserves injustice rather than corrects it. This isn't about ghosting or spiritual bypassing or avoiding problems or moral superiority/the 'above it all' crap. True Astraean withdrawal is more quiet. More precise. More grief aware/compassionate. More final. She doesn't leave in anger. She leaves because staying would corrupt HER and she cannot change the situation that she sees as unjust. With Astraea conjunct the New Moon this is all something to think about.
(interestingly Marjorie Taylor Greene who recently resigned has an exact Mercury/Astraea conjunction in her natal chart in Gemini along with her Gemini Sun and transiting Astraea in Cappy is opposing her natal Mars in Cancer).
Something else important to keep in mind now is that the North Node is in Pisces. The sacred must be taken into consideration. The sacred is the way forward.
Astraea in Capricorn is answering to Saturn in Pisces (and Saturn rules this New Moon) says that justice must incorporate what is sacred. Saturn without Pisces is bureaucracy, austerity, survival ethics/moral minimalism. Pisces without Saturn can be spiritual bypassing, compassion without the structure to support it, overwhelm. This New Moon binds them together.
Happening on the U.S. natal Pluto makes this an incredibly important period for the United States. Empires fall when nothing is holy and life is valued by utility. There is a crisis of meaning before there is a crisis of power. The sacred isn't about a return to organized religion (although some people might) - it is more about CAREFUL ATTENTION to what should not be violated.
Sacredness with Cappy shows up in boundaries and rituals.
Pisces can dissolve anything, but not with Saturn here. Saturn says, "some things should not be dissolved".
In Cappy 'sacred' means we look at - what needs to be protected to promote stability, what we take time with/do slowly and what we refuse to optimize/monetize. It is about something that is not for productivity or visibility or extraction (what we will get out of it).
Saturn in Pisces is not so much about prayer as 'asking' as it is about prayer as action and intention that brings alignment - tending to something that is real/a physical space maybe, caring for a body, keeping a promise or telling the truth gently. It is not outcome-driven (which is why I am letting go of New Moon resolutions for now).
Saturn will not be in Pisces with the North Node for much longer, so what can we still do? 1. Create one non-negotiable sacred zone/line in the sand and remember this must NOT be for productivity or visibility or for what we are getting out of it. Ending a self-sabotaging or draining habit would be an excellent use of this energy. 2. Practice devotion without expectation - no prayer as 'asking'. No ritual as 'outcome-driven'. No 'honey-do' list to the universe. TAKE CARE OF WHAT MATTERS. 3. Let grief be reverent and not performative. This means contained and honored privately and above all, not weaponized. 4. Treat ethical choices as the important pivot points that they are - we are likely creating a whole new timeline/universe for ourselves with each one. Refuse to receive or give life to a lie. Slow something down when you need time to see the ethical way through things. Choose care over efficiency with things that matter even if this is inconvenient. Maybe even with things that don't matter. The Buddhists say the way we do one thing is the way we do everything.
Keep in mind all this Aquarius energy is COMING and when Saturn meets Neptune at the Aries Point in February during Eclipse season, Mars, the ruler of Aries will be in Aquarius, too. We will talk about this next (after a weekly and a Kirk post).
I hope to have given you something to chew on here.
TO WRAP IT UP (no big red bow this time) - we have a New Moon in sober Cappy that does not promise us either rescue or resolution. What it offers is something quieter and also more challenging - the chance to align with change/the future and the chance to live in alignment with what still deserves protection/needs to stay the same.
As Astraea stands with the Sun and Moon at the final degrees of Capricorn, justice is no longer an idea. It is a BOUNDARY (and boundary issues are at the heart of many things right now) - what we will no longer sustain, excuse, conceal or carry.
With Saturn in Pisces (along with the North Node) and Uranus in Taurus aligned with this lunation there is movement toward the future/change and the opportunity to create (and keep) something durable.
We are asked to build only what we can bear the weight of - we are past that overdoing/over-expecting and also over-caring opposition to Jupiter in Cancer! - and to withdraw ourselves (physically, our time, attention, resources) without bitterness, from what cannot. The future can only begin on the ground where the past has left us off and we aren't in charge here, so we can't have certainty, but we can have integrity.
And faith (Pisces North Node and those bigger hands than ours!) we can have that, too.
xo all
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