Making Something out of Nothing with the Aquarius New Moon
Fortnightly Lunacy
Aquarius New Moon 2023
On the Darkest and Brightest of Nights
What's a Fortnightly Lunacy?
Fortnightly Lunacy is a tapestry of words woven through the light of the new and full moons meant to transport you into the heart of the sub-lunar realm. To immerse you in poetic prose and lyrical storytelling that initiates you into the oracular sight of the nocturnal sect. To facilitate your tuning-in to your very own synchronicity frequency.
To help you see like Luna.
Balanced with just enough linear astral logic and celestial correlation for you to begin building your own relationship with our Fair Lamp of Night, and to immerse yourself in the secret language of the Giver of Good Grace.
Aquarius New Moon
Fixing to End the Fuckery
What feels like a very long time ago I published a post over on my Patreon which contained the headline: "Fixed Fuckery and the Basically Besieged New Moon."
It's about the series of eclipses that began back in November of 2021 that make up the crosshairs that marked the Saturn - Uranus square which has been so prominent over the course of the last couple of years.
I mention this time (and that post) because this Aquarius New Moon is the last one to pick up the lingering notes of the Saturn-Uranus square. (It's also picking up the part of the sky that played host to the Jupiter - Saturn conjunction, fyi.)
Tbh, I really do recommend you read that one. In part because so much of what feels... stuck and long overdue for clearing out began or emerged back then. In a way this Aquarius New Moon is kind of like the graduation exit exam / celebration.
We're now fixing to end the (fixed sign) fuckery.
May's Taurus New Moon will see Saturn in Pisces. By the time the Moon is New and co-present Saturn again (Pisces season 2024) so much about the slow-moving and outer planet backdrop will have changed – we'll be talking about the opening notes of the Saturn-Uranus sextile by then (the sextile that heralds the closing of their last cycle which began way back in the late 80's). But we've still got the beginning of this decade to get through.
So, congratulate yourselves Sun Siblings, you made it through the Scorpio/Taurus eclipses!
If you have as many fixed placements as me, I'm sure there were at least a few times you seriously questioned if you would.
Aquarius New Moon at 1°32'
January 21, 2023 at 12:53 pm PST
Remember how I said the Moon was going to be doing a lot with Mars at 8° Gemini over the course of the next couple weeks? Well, case in point again. This time Mars sits on the ascendant of the chart for the New Moon.
Rising Sign:
Gemini
note: I use my location for the charts when I do these lunar reports because I'm reading the chart like a horary – asking "what's up with this New Moon?" There's another valid way which would be to look at the chart for the lunation based on the capital city of the country (and presumably finer level detail for your state/province, and local-er levels of government), and to read the chart as a transit to the mundane chart for that area. So, few free to take this rising sign section with a grain of salt, or skip it altogether.
With Mercury ruling this lunation there's even more dry, cold, airy rationality to this Aqua Moon New Moon then there'd by otherwise.
Mercury is freshly forward facing, and hidden in the 8th house of the chart for the lunation. Uncovering financial errors, sorting out previously (mis)understood agreements, and revising inherited narratives are just three ways to think about this particular energy.
Mars on the Ascendant
If Mars on the ascendant is an indication of the conflict, strife, or tension present during the lunation, then Mercury hiding from Mars in the cuts of the shadowy 8H could be an indication that this lunar cycle is about investigating what's shared in the conflicts we're experiencing.
Like the common aphorism that what we dislike most in/about others is some aspect of ourselves that we reject or dislike.
Or, perhaps it's reflecting the clear conflict whose actual details and origin (Mercury 'ruling' Mars) are obscured in some way (Merury in the 8H).
There's an emphasis on the details: data, information, discrepancies. And there's discord, or "re-construction", or hot hot spicy heat (or whatever this Mars retrograde story has been for us) that's focal to our Aquarius lunation story.
You can peep the martian deets below:
Sign: Aquarius
Diurnal Domicile of Saturn
Funny thing how we go from one guise of Saturn to the next. No other planet can claim this with respect to domicile (or niche, as I like to think of it).
This time we're in the airy diurnal domicile of the Dark Elder, the Lord of the Rings... ya know, Saturn – the Old Goat.
Aquarius is a sign that's as anathema to the Moon as Capricorn in a lot of ways.
Both of the lights are in their oppositions in the southern signs – Capricorn, Aquarius, Pisces – and they're at odds in the territory of Aquarius.
Now, this isn't (supposed to be) a learn astrology post. But trust when I say you'll be hearing plenty from me about the sign of Aquarius soon enough. For now, you can read a little bit about Aquarius over on here:
(But for something really exciting, stay tuned!)
Triplicity of Air: Saturn by day, Mercury by night, Jupiter cooperates
The airy triplicity brings together the moisture of water and the heat of fire. Across the airwaves float thoughts in the form of words, symbols, and all other manner of communication. A lack of air will leave you suffocating, and too much will have you frigid and ashy.
Considered to be 'masculine', air moves quickly and upwards. Think the positive charge terminal of battery, compared to the ground. Expanding like – well, air – rather than sinking like water.
Compare this "slightly damp" particular quality of this new moon to the one that occurred on December 23rd to get a sense of the difference between these two different triplicities of Saturn's.
Exaltation of... nothing.
No planets are exalted where the Moon is alienated.
Okay, that's the short answer. There are 'some folks' who say that Mercury is exalted in Aquarius. I say 'some folks' because I've heard this often but have yet to pinpoint where this originated. That quality of Mercury doing well in Aquarius can be explained by triplicity across the entire sign - particularly at night - and in various degrees by term or by decan.
That being said, this New Moon is occurring in a part of the zodiac where Mercury sets the terms.
1°32' Aquarius - Term of Mercury
Mercury has more to say about this lunation.
Besides acting as the helmsperson, They're also the one who sets the bounds, or the terms of the lunation itself. Dignity by term is likened to a planet being able to "set the terms" of the way the resources of a sign are accessed or distributed. I sometimes think about it too like the planet that's tasked with patrolling the boundaries of that particular placement.
Valens, in Anthologies (trans. Riley), says of the Mercury's term of Aquarius:
"The first 7° of Aquarius belong to Mercury: rich, miserly, gladly hoarding wealth up to the measure of the nativity, intelligent, learned in the law, precisely defining everything, imperious, petty, careworn, loving education and all disciplines, supervisory, overseeing, philanthropic."
This lunation is about communication, thinking, and plans. Yeah, there's likely a very relational aspect to the things that are up and need of discussing at the moment. Given Mercury's barely started moving forward I think it's safe to say this one is about the Mercury retrograde story (which is related to last year's Venus retrograde story).
Aquarius I - Decan of Venus
Rhetorius (trans. Holden, 2009) says:
"in the first decan of Aquarius he will be born good and he will be well-nourished and he well-matched in wives."
Clearly this is in reference to a natal chart, but we get the sense of good you might expect from Venus holding sway here. In the consultation room, a lot of the folks I've met with Venus in this particular decan of Aquarius seem to have an innate aptitude for navigating social norms,
In The Picatrix (trans. Greer & Warnock, 2010) we're told:
"There rises in the first face of Aquarius a man whose head is mutilated and he holds a peacock in his hand. This is a face of misery, poverty, and slavery."
Such a lovely image.
The decans are images of course, and have various origins, many of which seem to have been syncretized in a period that was historical if not ancient to the ancient astrologers themselves.
The description of the mutilated head is interesting from a magical perspective. Susie Chang had some compelling things to say about it on the 5 of Swords episode of Fortune's Wheelhouse which is very much worth a listen.
On the one hand the implied wound in 'mutilated' more closely aligns with the tarot card associated with this decan - the Five of Swords, which is called defeat.
In The Great Introduction (trans. Dykes), Abu Ma'shar tells us:
"The Indians claim that in this face ascends a man whose image is the image of the zanj, in the form of a vulture, with him is velvet, and a carpet, and he is concerned with repairing a vessel of brass and wood, so that he may pour oil, wine, and water into it."
Here we've got textiles (Venus)
Dodekamorion of Aquarius
Yup, very Aqua indeed. Just, more Aquarius.
All the water gettin' bear'd.
24th Lunar Mansion - Sa'd al Suud
Variously called the Fortunate One, the Luckiest of the Lucky, or the Most Fortunate, this mansion is associated with prosperity, wealth, and good things. Maybe not something you'd expect if you were overly focused on the chthonic aspects of Saturn associated with death over in Capricorn. In Aquarius, think of Kronos of the golden age.
In The Sun of Knowledge (Shams al Ma'arif): An Arabic Grimoire (transl. Inloes), Al-Buni states the this mansion "is a single, brilliant star bringing prosperity."
In The Mansions of the Moon Christopher Warnock says, "the mansion was originally three stars extending from the tail of Capricorn to the shoulders of Aquarius." He gives the tropical boundaries as "25 Capricorn 42 to 8 Aquarius 34," and lists the indicator star for the mansion as Beta Aquarii (aka Sadalsuud) and gives its 2019 coordinates as 23 Aquarius 39.
He goes on to mention Ptolemy's description of "stars in the tail of Capricorn [which] have the nature of Saturn and Jupiter..." The star called the Tail of the Goat with such a planetary nature is none other than Deneb Algedi.
Deneb Algedi is a star that's associated with prosperity, and also with protection of the home (in particular). And Saturn happens to be quite close (by projected ecliptic degree) to that star.
The commentary and translated passage in this edition of the Shams provide an important insight into the connections between Deneb Algedi (the Tail of the Goat), the sign Aquarius as the Water-bearer, and prosperity.
"...when it rose at sunset, it heralded rain; when it set at sunset, it heralded a reprieve from hot sand-storms."
With the lights in the tropical zodiacal degrees associated with this mansion while one of the two planets (Saturn) associated with one of the indicator stars is conjunct that project ecliptic degree (Saturn conjunct the PED of Debed Algedi), there's a double emphasis on the nature of this mansion.
Saturn provides the rock solid security that gives rise to the prosperity and resources necessary to yield a mansion whose image is that of a woman breastfeeding an infant. Clearly an image meant to convey safety, nurturing, and a lack of chaotic evil danger like those one with decapitated heads and serpents and things.
In other words Sun Sibs, this lunation is not easy or puppies and rainbows or anything, but it does present a a reprieve. It signals the potential to create conditions that are allow for prosperity to blossom.
Questions for the Aquarius New Moon:
- What do you need to limit, or cease altogether, in order to give your most important projects the best chance of survival?
- When assessing a challenge, obstacle, or upsetting loss how does changing the timeline you're scrutinizing the situation from change the way you feel?
Are you willing to tolerate today, and tomorrow, and next week something you couldn't image for a year, or two or more? If so, what is that thing?
Ask in the other direction too. Are you unable to tolerate something in the immediate moment that, from the 2, 5, or 10 year view looks like not as big a deal after all? What is it? Why do you think you feel that way?
The answers to those. questions are part of figuring out how to move forward with the zodiac's resident troublemakers: Mercury and Mars.
As for the Mx. Moon? They've got some questions for you too:
- How slowly do you need to move to tend to your body, relationships, spirituality, purpose, work in the word (etc.) in order to hold them as gently as you would a baby that you were feeding? (Or a kitten/puppy if you've never fed a baby human before.)
- What kind of resources do you need in order to move at that speed?
- What timescale of thinking / frame of reference / planning allows you the widest, most flexible and adaptable, and resilient window of tolerance?
- When, where, and with whom are you best able to move at that speed, and exist within that timescale of reference? Why do you think that is?
Have a question for Bear? Want to connect with other astrologers and astrology enthusiasts?
As always, I hope these words find and serve you well.
Members can share their thoughts, ask questions, or start a discussion about the Aquarius New Moon in the comments section below.
If you'd like to take a look at what the astrology of the Aquarius lunar cycle has in store for you, you can schedule a 30 minute astrology consultation for just $100.
If you'd like to reach out to Bear directly you can reach him at: contact@bearryver.com
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