by Robert Wilkinson
New Moon happening soon! This is the first New Moon of 2025, and the last one was at 10 Capricorn, a degree of overcoming fear and learning to be harmless in our expressions. This month we withdraw from old projections and “plan anew.”
This Lunation introduces a new focus wherever we have 10 Aquarius, a degree of disappointment in human relations with a need to be clear about what’s an image and what’s a reality. This is another “fork in the road” testing our ability to let go of the ghosts of the past while showing our ability to command our expertise and get mobilized. Some will revise their ideas back to source while others put themselves out in front of a public.
Due to where the inner planets are now, the focus of activity these next 4 weeks is in the 53+ degree span which includes Pluto at 2 Aquarius, Mercury at 3 Aquarius, the Lunation at 10 Aquarius, Saturn at 18 Pisces, and Venus at 26 Pisces. At this point the Mercury/Venus span has begun to narrow, as from now on Venus will slow until they conjunct with Venus retrograde at 9 Aries just before Mercury goes stationary RX at 10 Aries in mid-March.
An Overview of the New Moon
Today we’ll do an overview of the Lunation and some of its primary qualities. In part 2 we’ll cover Sabian Symbols, aspects, distributions, and patterns.
This stabilizing, expansive, clarifying, and closing New Moon at 10 Aquarius occurs at 4:36 am PST, 12:36 pm GMT on January 29. This is the third New Moon in the new Pluto in Aquarius era.
All of 2024’s Lunations with Pluto in Aquarius assisted the sprouting of Aquarian seeds which will impact generations to come. This New Moon marks the intensification of the “sprouting of seeds” of the Pluto in Aquarius energies, especially those which have been held up or held back in the past.
We now have no more non-Lunar oppositions until the next opposition of Mars and Pluto in late April. There are three Mars oppositions to Pluto; the first was in early November when Mars opposed Pluto from Cancer to Capricorn. This one in early January was from 1 Leo to 1 Aquarius. The next one will launch all which has been held back since November.
This month continues the annoyance of Saturn semisquare Pluto. And with Mercury semisquare Saturn and Venus semisquare the Lunation, the internal friction from Aquarius to Pisces remains a strong force. Still, there a preliminary blessings to be found as the Lunation is decile Saturn, and Mars continues its retrograde trine to Saturn. So even if there’s internal friction, we still get to move toward our expectations, even if in roundabout ways.
At this time of year the Sun shines a light on all of us in our Aquarius sector, allowing us to see the beginning of a new year of furthering the larger Aquarian emergent energy. This New Moon will jumpstart Aquarius energy wherever it falls in our chart. As that sign is now a focus of activity, along with a healthy dose of Pisces, focus on the spiritual harvest, and the future vision. Go slow, be cautious, overcome fear, have faith, and reorient as needed.
So What Rules the Lunation?
This New Moon in Aquarius has Saturn in Pisces as its ruler. As Aquarius is in the axis of the Archetype of the King/Queen/Noble, we can see the greatest good for our “realm” and bring forms of “divine law” into our lives. This allows us to see clearly how to take command of Aquarius energies in our charts to express its strength, detachment, service to a greater vision, and “conduction,” both artistically and electrically. As this archetype is also “the Orphan,” or “Law Giver,” remember that you are the ruler of your realm, and if you want it to prosper, you have to heal your wounds which prevent your realm from becoming fruitful.
The Lunation is ruled by Saturn in Pisces, which is ruled by Jupiter in Gemini, which is ruled by Mercury in Aquarius, which is ruled by Saturn. This is a closed chain of dispositors which share the power of ruling all the other planets except Neptune, which occupies its home sign continuing as a long wave “standalone” dispositor of itself, ruling the fogs and mists of the current collective consciousness.
So this month we have a “chain of dispositors” which includes Saturn, Jupiter, and Mercury ruling all the planets except Neptune. You can find out more about dispositors in general, chains of dispositors, and mutual reception by going to dispositors and Mutual Reception at the link.
Who Leads the Light?
At this time, the “gateway to the light” is Mercury at 3 Aquarius. This indicates the “entry to illumination” involves an awareness of the larger purifying transformational process going on since Pluto went SRX at 2 Aquarius in the Spring of 2024. This is a degree of rebellion and refusal, and of reclaiming freedom even if we can’t escape the consequences of our rebellion.
As Mercury makes a semisquare to Saturn, don’t allow pessimism to cause you to refuse perfectly good opportunities. Mercury is trine Jupiter, which is favorable for seeing larger options once we’re free of the ghosts of the past, and Mercury’s septile to Venus (also in Her exaltation!) promises us that we’re at a very large fork in the road in all things related to Mercury and Venus.
Mercury will continue to be the gateway to the Light until the Superior conjunction of Mercury with the Sun at 21 Aquarius, after which Pluto will again be the entry to the Light. The study of which planet leads the Sun is a crucial but often overlooked part of understanding how the planets work in sequence.
The Sun/Moon Sequence and Its Shifts
There are two patterns: one with the Sun in the same sign as the Sun in the following Full Moon (New Moon between 1-15 degrees of a sign), and one with the Sun in a different sign than it’s in at the following Full Moon (New Moon between 16-30 degrees of a sign). I term these the “Natural” pattern and the “Alternate” pattern, since the Natural pattern shows a continuity of the Light, whereas the Alternate pattern bridges the Light across two signs. Each pattern has its importance in the Soli-Lunar sequence, and at the end of each period of the Natural pattern we shift into a pattern which “bridges the Light” across two different Light signs in the Lunation cycle.
We are now at the eighth New Moon in many months where the Sun sign of the New Moon is also the Sun sign of the following Full Moon. A few months back we finished an era when the New Moon Sun sign was different than the Sun sign of the following Full Moon. This month’s New Moon Sun is at 10 Aquarius, and the coming Full Moon Sun is at 25 Aquarius. This indicates that we’re in a time when the illuminated seed forms of the New Moon are the same energies which will find fulfillment at the Full Moon.
The New Moons and Full Moons are “God’s footprints in time.” Each shows the next in the 12 phases of how things come to be each year. The cycle could be described as follows: Life energy is initiated in Aries, substantiated in Taurus, explored in Gemini, grounded in Cancer, renewed and creatively expressed in Leo, refined and ordered in Virgo, balanced and made pleasing in Libra, purified and focused in Scorpio, expanded in Sagittarius, organized in Capricorn, solidified into a vision in Aquarius, and ended/perpetuated in Pisces.
Eclipses Effects in Play
The 2023 and 2024 Solar eclipses have been removing parts of our lives where we have 20 and 30 Aries, and 11 and 22 Libra. We now care about other things, have a new focus, and can join with others for mutual strengthening. We continue to eliminate old ways of self-expression and equivocating in relationships, and now have eliminated old associations to create space to join with others to overcome “seasonal impotency.”
We are now freed of many old ideals and areas we used to work within. All of these eclipses ask us “What is the purpose to what you leave behind and what you’re moving into?” Certainly the April is shutting down some things in our Aries sector so we may grow toward the stellium conjunct the North Node in Aries. Since April we’re moving in new directions with new people!
Jupiter and Saturn
Jupiter’s conjunction with Uranus in late April at 22 Taurus began a new 13 year adventure into new lives. That conjunction theme is about us seeing “the white dove flying over troubled waters” which promises that our ordeal is completed and we are or will see a sign from Spirit announcing a new day, a new land, and a new life wherever we have 22 Taurus. Mars activated that energy right before it conjuncted Uranus at 27 Taurus in mid-July.
Jupiter is in Gemini and is now preparing to go stationary direct, resuming its passage through mid-Gemini on route to entering Cancer in June. It will then make the third square to Saturn from 2 Cancer to 2 Aries. The first square was in mid-August is from 17 Gemini to 17 Pisces. The second one happened Christmas eve from 15 Gemini to 15 Pisces. The third one is next June and falls from 2 Cancer to 2 Aries.
Saturn is extraordinarily important in this New Moon because as it is the ruler of the Lunation, Mercury, and Pluto, and is part of the chain of dispositors ruling all the other planets. Saturn is now on its final approach to leaving its shadow zone at 20 Pisces and moving through the end of Pisces as it heads for its Aries ingress. Saturn in Pisces has helped us mature in matters related to faith, forgiveness, compassion, and the willingness to be responsible in letting go when it's time to let go.
We’re now solidly in the next stage of our life renewal as we experience “non-local awareness” with our Spiritual Sisters and Brothers within the One Life. We now are “finding nourishment,” have “walked with our wisdom,” and now get to set aside appearances as we focus on real necessities. This is the time to mobilize productively, without haste or irritation. Saturn in Pisces certainly tests our compassion for everything and everyone! Still, if we have faith in something and it's true for us, our patience can see the object of faith made manifest.
Saturn: Spiritual Master, Spiritual Friend
Because Saturn now draws near its end of sailing the open seas of Pisces, we can use the spiritual maturity, patience, and compassion to demonstrate our understanding of the power of blessing the passages as we prepare to leave the seascape of the collective feelings of all humanity over all time. We’ve all been through a powerful restructuring of spiritual force wherever we have mid-Pisces in our chart. Saturn has taught us a Master Class in compassion and forgiveness practices, and learning a sober view of the collective human condition.
Between 2018 and early 2023, Saturn taught us to be more spiritually effective within a group work than we were before that period. We’ve used those skills since then in our Capricorn and Aquarius areas to achieve closures, helping us prepare for the new era coming when Saturn enters Aries in May of 2025.
Making friends with our inner Saturn is the most important thing we can do to fulfill our spiritual destiny. If you want to know more about your power to throw off oppressive chains, limitations, and fears, please give yourself the timeless gift of my book, Saturn: Spiritual Master, Spiritual Friend. We all need to make friends with our inner Saturn if we would claim our power to fulfill our higher purpose for being alive as Spirits in the material world.
The book offers ways to take command of your power to steer your life in a conscious way, using Saturn’s strengths and skills to master life on your own terms. As Saturn is such a dominant energy in life, by owning our ability to demonstrate Saturn's virtues, we take command of our destiny and become the living purpose we were born to make manifest!
It was written for both astrologers and non-astrologers, and will assist your understanding of how your life experiences assisted your Soul growth and power to turn away from unhelpful karmic cause and effect patterns. Each time you re-read any part of it you’re sure to find undiscovered gems of insight helping you throw off attitudes which frustrate your ability to live your higher Purpose on your own terms.
A Look Back - The Great Compression of 2020 in Capricorn Still Affects Us
We’re now at the end of the fifth year of a long term focus wherever we have late Capricorn and early Aquarius in our charts. In the first 90 days of 2020, we had a “Great Compression” of planets involving Sun, Moon, Mercury, Mars, Jupiter, Saturn, and Pluto all making conjunctions in the last decan of Capricorn, setting off a number of Saturn cycles, one of which will last 33 years! We then began an accelerated phase of our collective spiritual evolution which will take us from the threshold of the Age of Aquarius into the Age itself.
You can find out more about the very powerful Sun, Mercury, and Saturn's conjunctions with Pluto by revisiting The Great Compression of January 2020 – Mercury, Sun, Saturn and Pluto all Conjunct in Capricorn. That lays out the long wave patterns set into motion then.
Because of the Capricorn conjunctions set in motion in 2020, we reorganized our lives wherever we have late Capricorn in our charts. These cycles will impact all of us for some time to come. Especially with three Jupiter conjunctions with Pluto that year, it’s easy to see that for better or worse things were “expansively purified.”
When Mars conjuncted Saturn at 1 Aquarius on March 31, 2020, it set a cycle into motion which began to expand into a global system at the December 2020 Grand Mutation on the same degree. That Jupiter/Saturn conjunction launched both a new 20 year Aquarian cycle AND a new 200 year era of Jupiter/Saturn conjunctions in Air signs. That means less materialism than the past 200 years, with more focus on our commonality and ability to share ideas over the next 200.
Saturn in Aquarius led us to understand a more timeless role to play to help create a better world. Since then we have deepened with Saturn in Pisces. As always, Saturn in the harvest signs at the end of the zodiac challenge us to ask “What is our purpose? What structures and self-disciplines do we need to fulfill the ideal of that purpose?”
Neptune in Pisces and Chiron in Aries
In this chart, Chiron is direct at 20 Aries, its stationary retrograde degree of July 2023 and the degree of the Solar eclipse of April 2024. Since its retrograde station of 2024, we’ve had doors open to “concentrated doses of spiritual energies.” Chiron is said to help us “heal into our Higher Self” and the themes of 24 Aries promise “good fortune upon the putting forth of effort.” Be receptive to higher energies, as they’re blowing through our mind-windows everywhere!
Chiron involves mentoring or being mentored, assisting or being assisted related to these themes. This will help us focus our potency or move us toward our potential. Chiron is now moving us forward in the level of social or emotional potency. This month puts the focus on 20 Aries, a degree of joining with others to overcome “seasonal coldness.”
In the bigger picture, Jupiter’s conjunction with Chiron in early 2023 began a very long wave healing and mentoring cycles wherever we have mid- Aries. Because Chiron’s last direct station was at 16 Aries, it means in 2024 Chiron mentored us and taught us how to heal into our Higher Self through getting a new inspiration while seeing the relationship between the conscious and unconscious sides of life.
This continues our adventure related to Chiron’s healing and mentoring energies in the last half of Aries. We now have two major Chironic themes in play: one was set into motion when Mars recently conjuncted Chiron in Aries in 2024, which I explained in Mars Conjunct Chiron at 23 Aries. The other major Chironic cycle was set into motion when Chiron went stationary direct in late December, which I wrote about in Astrology Healing Cycles in 2025 - Chiron Stationary Direct at 19 Aries.
So Aries continues to dominate the Mars/Chiron cycle, with a new long wave Chironic pulse added at the Jupiter/Chiron cycle which began at 15 Aries in March 2023. This began a new cycle of “the expansive healer,” “opportunities to mentor and be mentored,” and "healing and teaching through humor." The last Jupiter/Chiron conjunction happened in late Aquarius in 2009, and this one lasts through 2036 when they meet again at 17 Gemini. This is an important cycle which will help us “heal into our Higher Self” at crucial points over the next 13 years.
Neptune now approaches the end of its depth immersion in its home sign of Pisces, and now is in its long term stay in the last decan, ruled by Scorpio with an added dose of Mars. This is “the end of the end” of the 360 degree “Whole Cycle,” and so encompasses all of the ghosts and unfulfilled mysteries of this past 150 year cycle since it was last here. It also allows us to purify and forgive much of the past and move into a deeper compassion regarding suffering humanity.
This New Moon shows Neptune at 28 Pisces, helping us revisit the sense of abundance we’ve acquired the past 18 months. As it went SD on this degree, we now resume Neptune’s flow toward Aries. We stand at a threshold where the future is just around the corner, so be clear about what you want to see made manifest in the next era.
We are in a time which is a prelude to a new collective mindset coming in mid-2025. We began an acceleration in this “disintegration” energy when Mars conjuncted Neptune at 29 Pisces in late April. The end of Pisces allows us expanded “non-local knowing.”
Summing Up - The Big Picture
The Capricorn conjunctions of early 2020 continue to condition the long wave cycles unfolding since then even as we simultaneously build a new Aquarian social-spiritual ideal. Jupiter raced through Pisces and Aries at perihelion after its time in Aquarius and opened infinite potentials to be actualized over the next 20 years. What Jupiter opened in 2021, Saturn crystallized in 2022, and the promise of fortunate endings made when Jupiter was in mid Pisces February-March 2022 is now being made real by Saturn.
We’re now at a stage where, having heard Saturn’s “call to self-renewal,” we have been flowing into our mastery, our archetypal Self, and our part to play in the bigger picture of our spiritual journey. With Saturn in Pisces, while endings may feel heavy, the immediate lightness which follows helps move us into a new life adventure.
We are now solidly in the dawning of the emergent Pluto in Aquarius era, with new work to be done and new lands appearing. This is a turning point in our relationships, so express your heart, your play, your creativity, and see how all of these are related to relationships in the past. We are now on a new adventure, so enjoy the clarity of Uranus trine Pluto coming this Summer. We are learning how to stabilize and express the dawning Plutonic seeds of the emerging Aquarian era, so things will be very “transitional” from now through 2025.
Summing Up – The Immediate Picture
We are now moving forward into a new life, a new dedication, a new world of experience, and a new fearlessness. This is a month of stabilized understanding, whether through disappointments in others or a leaving behind of old ghosts. There is relief and anticipation of things to come this month, but with no crises as there are no oppositions and no squares in play, even if there are several heavy determinative "fork in the road aspects" in play involving Mercury, the Lunation, Venus, and Uranus. See what you have to give, or what’s lacking that you need to find.
Keep finding ways to direct energy to what is already speeding up and will begin to move forward in late February. The next 4 weeks require stepping back from assumptions and projections as we mobilize our expertise in some “command and control” situations. Some may have to say goodbye, or insist they get to do something their own way rather than conform to how another frames things. Have faith that in the end all will turn out as it should if you are true to yourself.
The trines and tredeciles from the Sun and Mercury to Jupiter promise favorable news, favorable ideas, favorable interactions, and great new discoveries which will help us make a greater contribution to the Aquarian work going on. Venus conjunct Neptune can bring “dreams come true” or “nightmares of collective ghosts.” Be willing to do your own thing in your own way, bless the passages, and the long term trines from Mars to Saturn with the tredecile to Neptune show favorable flashes of intuition which are perfect for your needs.
Follow the flow while eliminating all you no longer need. All of it is taking us into the New Era promised when Mars ultimately trines Neptune from 1 Leo to 1 Aries in April, setting fire to the new Neptune in Aries era.
The October eclipse is already helping us release old superficial ways of relating to others, and enable us to see how to assists and teach from a different perspective. While hard adjustments and sacrifices will be evidence the next 6 years, be kind to yourself and communicate truths the best you’re able in a balanced elegant way.
Use vision, insight, and a sense of the bigger picture to flow into a new way of relating to self and others. Focus on the positive possibilities, and in spite of the fogs of Pisces obscuring our vision, remember the wisdom of Nelson Wilbury, “If you don’t know where you’re going any road will take you there.”
Final Thoughts
In 2020-2022, Capricorn helped us to find new forms of social power, while Aquarius took it into a much vaster context of a greater good. As you journey into the “new lands” promised by the April Jupiter conjunction with Uranus, remember enlightenment is a verb, not a noun, and our connection with the World Soul allows us to act in harmony with “All That Is.”
Because of our total immersion in Aquarian energy in 2021-2022, we’ve received innovative ideas and know who our spiritual allies are. In the past 4 years we’ve broken away, broken free, and broken through whatever used to block our flow. We approach a new cooperative era, and we’re now in a time of new initiatives!
We’re still becoming more conscious of our interrelatedness within the spiritual field and moving through an immersion in a new sensitivity to the generic human condition. The new era dawning will show us that we are in fact individual sparks of Light within an infinite ocean of Light. We are not separate from any other thing, since all things are Light and therefore we are one with All.
This is the beginning of the beginning of a new 200 year era. The powerful forces being released at times may be chaotic, violent, intractable, and irrational, but there is power in our unified vision of a better future. Stay clear about what your vision is, and let go of all which prevents you from flying free with your Spiritual Brothers and Sisters into a better future. Keep the course steady despite the compressed tensions of this time, and know we’re on our way into the future together!
And now, a word from our sponsor!
As Venus is heralding the other planets, anticipating their transits which follow, She continues to be the first to experience Aquarius, Pisces, and Aries in 2025. She has actually led the way through Virgo, Libra, Scorpio, Sag, Capricorn and Aquarius last year, showing that our feelings are very important as a way to process experience from now through the Spring.
In Pisces, She helps us find compassion for the human condition, and this month helps us see the poetry of our life and why it’s important to do our own thing in our own way and bless others to do the same. Her conjunction with Neptune helps us develop intuition and “flashes to telepathy” through Her quintile to Jupiter. As She does well in Pisces, swimming in an ocean of compassion and empathy, She is in a great part of the zodiac.
As She was the ruler of the Solar Eclipse at 11 Libra and She occupied 12 Scorpio, the theme for 6 years to come will favor individual and spiritual interactions at the highest level of social dignity. And the Eclipse Grand Water Trine will bring understanding and stability to planets we have in the middle degrees of the Earth and Water signs.
If you want to know more about Venus in Capricorn, Aquarius, Pisces, and all the other signs, as well as explore your ability to change what and who you attract to your lives, finding your heart’s desire and a lot of joyous relationships which fulfill your Soul, please consider getting your copy of my book, The Magic of Venus: Friendships, Soul Mates, and Twin Flames.
It’s the most comprehensive book on Venus ever written, and takes a deep dive into how our Venus shapes why we like or don’t like the people and things we do, and how we can change our patterns of attraction to make future relationships more fulfilling. It explains the world of relationship from the angles of psychology, astrology, spirituality, and worldly experience.
I’ve heard it helps people find strength to turn away from unhealthy relationships and understand how not to attract anything similar in the future. It examines the qualities in healthy relationships and friendships, and offers tips on how to create long lasting personal relationships and friendships, why Soul Mates come into our lives, and how to know the difference between a Soul Mate and our Twin Flame.
It has chapters on the qualities of each sign’s natural mate, the qualities of Venus in each sign, Venus retrograde, and when crucial choices and changes are made, affecting who we attract in the future. It was written for both astrologers and lay people, and as it has a thousand gems for better relationships, with self, others, and Source, please consider getting your copy by going to the link above! (And when you’re done, please leave a review on Amazon, since it helps the book and all other books on astrology as well!)
See you soon with part 2, which will cover Sabian Symbols, Jones patterns, element distribution, and a whole lot more!
© Copyright 2025 Robert Wilkinson
Comments