February 2018 New Moon in Aquarius

It recently came into my awareness that often forget how much more I know about astrology then the general population. Astrology has been a language I have been fluent in for over a decade, and so I sometimes forget what is a given to me is an ah-ha moment to others. Keeping that in mind, I going to strip this post down, explaining the ways to work with the New Moon in the same way I do in my talks, starting with the bare-bones; that I after a decade in grad. school sometimes fail to simplify in my writing.

The Moon and the Zodiac

In astrology there are 12 – signs that make up the zodiac. And each sign has a planet or luminary (Sun/Moon) that is associated with it; the planet and sign have shared and overlapping meaning. In the case of the Moon it is associated with the sign of Cancer. Cancer is a water sign (all signs are connected with one of four elements earth, air, fire & water) and like all water signs Cancer is tide to one’s emotions. Cancer is also representative of our need to be nurtured and need to nurture others.  And so, the Moon too is symbolic of our emotional lived experience and need for nurturing.

From our prospective on Earth the Moon is in constant motion, and thus travels through all 12 signs of the zodiac over her 28-day-cycle – New Moon to New Moon. And the way the math brakes down, means the Moon hangs out it a given sign for about 2 ½ day at a time. And the sign the Moon is in alters the way we feel and how that nurturing energy is expressed. I like to think of the interplay of a Planet or Luminary and a sign as the planet being a light and theater gel (the piece of color plastic used to alter the color the light is projecting) the sign. The light may still be illuminating Down-Stage-Left, but whether it is blue, white or yellow radically changes how things on stage appear.

Over 28 ½ days the Moon goes through all her phases, New into Waxing -becoming more and more visible and a thicker and thicker crescent, until she is Full and then begins to wain shrinking and becoming a thinner and thinner crescent until she disappears all together returning to her New Phase. And again, the math of it (not to bore you too much) means that the Moon Phases advance one sign at a time, staying in a sign for 2.5 days, over the 28-day cycle. Before I get into the specifics of this month’s New Moon let’s look at what this phase means all on its own.

What Does a New Moon Mean?

To understand what is in play, what is up for us during a New Moon, we need look no farther than the word “New”. New Moons are time of beginning, of setting intentions, laying the stepping stones for a new path, venture, adventure. It’s a time when we get to hit the restart button on parts of our lives that new a re-due. And returning to the theater gel analogy, the parts of our lives that this newness is most focused on is tied to the sign the New Moon is in.

There are several Moon calendars out there that indicate the phases of the Moon if you are looking to figure out when it is a New Moon, additionally many astrologers post something monthly about it, so social media is often flooded with info a few days before. A quick way to know the sign of the New Moon is it is always the same sign as the sign we are in at the time of the New Moon – i.e We are in Aquarius right now, thus this week’s New Moon is in Aquarius.

What is Aquarius about?

OK so we’re in Aquarius – that is it is the time of the year when the Sun is traversing the part of the sky appointed to this wacky water barer Air sign. And the New Moon this week is also in Aquarius, but what is Aquarius all about? Some of the key terms tide to this sign are:

 

  • Individuality
  • Creativity
  • Humanitarianism
  • Idealist
  • Humor
  • Odd
  • Innovative
  • Rebel
  • Friendship
  • Black Sheep

And as Aquarius is an air sign this part of our lives show up in a mental, intellectual way more than through our actions. With the added layer of the Moon these parts of life will be more emotional than most of the year. At this time, under this New Moon, these are some of the themes that are most up-front and in our face that we are called to give our attention to.

Aquarius New Moon 2018

This year the Aquarius New Moon falls on Feb.  15 at 4:05 PM EST at 27˚ (there are 30- degrees a sign) and it is also a partial Solar Eclipse. We will not see it here in the States; the shadow falls across parts of the Southern Hemisphere, but it is still important to make note of when unpacking this New Moon. Really, I could write a whole post just on eclipses – but for now let’s just make it simple.

Eclipses – Solar supercharged New Moon – Lunar supercharged Full Moons.

While it is important that this New Moon is also a Solar eclipse I’m not going to dwell on it here other than to say it intensifies the energy, and that eclipses by their nature eclipse, conceal and obscure things, so some of what is set in motion under this eclipse may not be fully known until this Summer.

The late astrologer Jan Spiller brought into my awareness the idea of New Moon Wishes. Ostensibly a list of things you wish to call into your life tide to the sign that the New Moon is in. I have done this list for years and although not everything may manifest it’s a great exercise all the same. Here are examples of wishes for this New Moon to get you started:

  • I want to come up with an innovative solution to ________________
  • I want to feel comfortable expressing my unique personality with __________
  • I want others to feel free to express their uniqueness to me
  • I want clarity in seeing how what I am doing now gets me to my long-range goal in ________
  • I want to feel confident as I learn a new software/ technology for ______
  • I want to support others with ease and non-attachment to outcomes
  • I want to laugh more
  • I want to spend more time with friends
  • I want to attract healthy and balanced friendships into my life
  • I what my rebelling for rebelling sake side of me to be released
  • I want to find ways I can connect with, and give back to, my community

Feel free to use these, a variation of them, or come up with your own just have them (for this New Moon) tide to the themes listed above.

Happy wishing