Do you ever wish you could do a hard reset on your brain? I really, really do. I start off so many days, so many weeks with all the best intentions. I want to fill my mind with nourishment, real food for thought, but instead I spend hours scrolling mindlessly. “Better luck next time” I say to myself at 2 am, as I push the book I want to read aside, and scan Twitter until I fall asleep. Late tonight/early tomorrow morning (1/31 or 2/1) at 12:45 am ET, there’s a New Moon in Aquarius. If there ever was an opportunity for a hard reset, this is it.
This New Moon falls at 12º Aquarius in a near exact conjunction with Saturn. Austin Coppock calls this middle decan of Aquarius (Aquarius II, 10º-19º) “Heaven and Earth.” It’s a place where the holy meets the mundane. Communication planet Mercury has dignity in Aquarius II so here, rather than getting overwhelmed with information, we process it. Aquarius is the fixed air sign. Social. Cerebral. Genius. Those born with Mercury in Aquarius (that’s me, btw) often have a very idiosyncratic way of speaking, writing and communicating. Their genius is making what’s eccentric accessible, their cadence totally them.
This part of the sky is also connected to the 6 of Swords in the Tarot (pictured above). The 6 of Swords depicts a crossing: a mother and child in a boat, taken from here to there. Coppock points out that the man guiding the boat is using a long pole, a tool that is only used in more shallow bodies of water; it can touch the bottom of the river bed. This is a not an epic journey across the ocean, but a ferry ride to work.
Hilariously, I pulled the 6 of Swords as one of my daily tarot cards on the day that I started watching The Sopranos. The opening credits depict Tony Soprano (James Gandolfini) in his metallic maroon Suburban, leaving the city, going through the Lincoln Tunnel into New Jersey, passing through the industrial landscape of Newark, finally reaching the over-developed suburbs in the woods that he calls home. He pulls into his driveway and slams the door. Another crossing complete. I don’t know about you, but I do a lot of my best thinking while in transit. The commute is a beautiful boundary, a restricted area of time and space. This New Moon is one of those perfect commutes: no urgency to check your notifications and there’s just enough time to listen to a podcast or finish a chapter or complete an assignment. The Golden Dawn called this part of Aquarius, Science. It’s where we bridge the known with the unknown. Collect our thoughts. State our hypothesis.
The Moon and Saturn are both markers of time. The Moon takes 28 days to complete its journey around the zodiac and Saturn takes 28 years to go through all the signs; these orbits are perfect fractals of one another. When the Moon and Saturn come together, we have a shot at reparenting ourselves. This is a moment for emotional and physical regulation and recalibration, for lining up our daily routines with our longterm goals. Saturn has been in Aquarius since December 2020 and will remain there through March 2023, but this is the only New Moon in Aquarius that will fall in such a close conjunction to the ringed planet, fully infused with its sense of responsibility. Saturn wants us to drop an anchor and stay awhile, commit to the necessary changes that will make for a more sustainable future.
This New Moon is all about Saturn but it’s also caught in the crosshairs of Uranus. A major theme of 2021 and now also 2022 was the harsh square between these two planets. Uranus radicalizes while Saturn restricts. We’re in the midst of tectonic change. The Sun squared Uranus on January 30th interrupting our ego narrative, saying Maybe there really is a different way to do things. But on February 4th, the Sun makes its annual conjunction to Saturn. This transit reminds us that as much as we want change, we also need stability. It’s a bit of a bummer transit. We’re made very aware of our limits. But we’re struggling because we’re meant to master this problem. We’re meant to make this our domain.
Last year (January 2021 that is), on the day that the Sun conjoined Saturn, I came across a dozen vultures in a parking lot (pictured below). Sometimes astrology manifests not as an “event” but as very literal symbolism. Vultures are Saturnian creatures. Even as I drove directly at the pack of them, they would not get out of my way. I had to sit in my car and wait for all of them to cross the parking lot to the dumpster filled with a nearby Italian restaurant’s discarded meats. I had just finished an exhausting day of work, and wanted nothing more than to have a bougie little latte (the purpose of my excursion to this parking lot), but vultures, like Saturn, cannot be rushed.
I bring up Saturn (and the vultures) to remind us all that though this New Moon is a wonderful chance to start over, like really start over, the process of actually starting over isn’t that fun. It’s very painful to choose yourself and push past a comfortable stasis. This New Moon isn’t “witnessed” by either benefic planet (Venus & Jupiter). Like the first day of getting back into a fitness routine, it’s rough and we might look like fools. It’s uncomfortable and humbling. On the positive side of things though, we have Mercury stationing direct on February 3rd and Mars connecting with Jupiter on the 4th. Our minds, our hearts and our vision are given a boost, even if we can’t yet see the benefit. (Think of how you feel after a month of workouts or meditation or reading before bed compared to how you feel on day one. You still need the energy on day one to start.)
To weave in some touchstones from the past—this New Moon is about reconciling the known and the unknown after all—Saturn reached 12º19’ Aquarius (the degree of this New Moon) on 4/14/21, then again while retrograde on 7/2/21, and for a final time, direct once more, on 1/4/22. Those dates are worth investigating as you figure out where to throw down your anchor. For me, I bought a blender and spent $$$ on groceries in April, spent an afternoon on the docks in Red Hook in July, and started writing an essay on the astrology of The Sopranos in January (forthcoming lol). The thread I see between these dates are commitments I made to a creative practice or to simple pleasures, which relates back to the larger Saturn in Aquarius story in my life. Look back on those dates, even if what you were doing was mundane, there’s probably a clue about where you need to settle so that you can expand. Something to ponder on your next commute. Happy hard resetting! (If you want to investigate more of these astrological themes together, I suggest you book a reading here.)
Suggestions for what might need a hard reset follow for each sign. If you know your rising sign, read for that! Tbh, reading any/all of the signs will give you something. As you may have noticed, this newsletter is now on Substack! Paid subscriptions support this creation for $7/month or $77/year. It’s truly my greatest joy to write these musings for you.
Aquarius
What’s changing aggressively is your home, family and living situation. You can’t keep up with the cracks in your foundation. So what needs to stay stable is you. If you’ve been slacking on your skincare game, pick it back up again. Dress to impress. Meditate and manage your physical health. You’re everyone else’s chosen fighter so show up for training. It’s possible you might need a hard reset on your attitude too. Think of it as a reframe.
Pisces
What’s changing aggressively is your neighborhood, your group chat and your relationship with close friends. Sure the familiar gets boring but life would be a lot easier rn if you had something you could count on. What needs sturdiness is your ability to let go. Floating out into the river is isolating. But through exploring the liminal space of the archives, the institution or the faraway land, you can let go of your worries and learn to love the unknown.
Aries
What’s changing aggressively is your income, your self esteem and your stuff. Both the valuables and the junk. You’ve had to let go of some precious possessions and are starting to question if it’s even possible to be the same person without that sweater or that job or that reliable but toxic relationship. Reset your commitment to community, to your audience, and to your dreams. What makes you so magical is your ability to show up with good spirit, loyal and solid.
Taurus
What’s changing aggressively is, well, you. Looking into the mirror or peeking into your diary, you’re unrecognizable to the you of a few years ago. What needs a reset is your commitment to sharing that change with the world. Announcing your relationship status, letting your team know that project no longer aligns, or putting your face on a hard grid post serve you well today. Your crows feet are more defined than they were a few years ago. That means you’ve been living your life.
Gemini
What’s changing aggressively is completely out of your control. You’ve faced many unexpected challenges and dead end situations over the last few years. You may feel like you can no longer trust the universe, like you’ve hit a spiritual rock bottom. But what needs a hard reset right now is your ability to believe in stuff. You need to notice more. Give yourself the gift of a course of study or a new tarot deck. Practice everyday.
Cancer
What’s changing aggressively is your community, your audience, and most of all, your ambition. You fit in with a different scene now. Where you need a hard reset is your collaborators, your patrons, and your systems of support. You may be feeling limited in your resources, like you’re just never going to get the grant or the residency or the loan. But what if you thought less about what they can do for you and more about what you can do for them? Know your worth and you’ll know where to go with it.
Leo
What’s changing aggressively is your career, your public image and how you show up to meet the world. As excited as you are about the future, you’re mourning your previous ambitions. Where you need a hard reset is in your partnerships, contracts, and agreements. Are you actually being supported in your most important relationships or have you been building a house of cards? What isn’t sturdy is ready to fall and what’s solid wants another coat of paint.
Virgo
What’s changing aggressively is your long term plans, your spiritual practices and your belief in “God.” You’re becoming less rigid and more open minded through your encounters with the unknown. What needs a hard reset though is your work ethic. This isn’t to say you aren’t working your ass off because you always do. But the burnout routine just isn’t cute anymore. Delegation seems like an important thing to bring up right now. Share the load.
Libra
What’s changing aggressively is your collaborators, your shared resources and your relationship to loss. Over the last few years, you’ve halved your recovery time. What once felt devastating is now manageable. What needs a hard reset though is your commitment to doing exactly what you want. You’re still giving that contract too much power, that confusing relationship too many of your precious brain cells. You’re a tastemaker so let them follow your lead, not the other way around.
Scorpio
What’s changing aggressively for you is partnerships, contracts and agreements. You never thought you’d be open to this kind of open commitment. It seems that who you can rely on changes day to day. What needs a hard reset is your relationship to home, family and your roots. Call in your ancestors and cast a spell. They want the world for you, both stability and passion. No one else knows what you need when you’re alone. Only you.
Sagittarius
What’s changing aggressively is your work, your daily responsibilities, and possibly your fitness routine. You’re back to running all the time and thinking about getting a cat. What needs a hard reset is your inner circle and familiar environment. You might want to clean up your following lists on social media and mute a few group chats. You become a nucleus wherever you go, but you really don’t need to be everyone’s best friend.
Capricorn
What’s changing aggressively is your hobbies, creative pursuits and brushes with romance. What you create is earthshaking but it’s not what people expect from you (not that you necessarily care about what other people want anyway). What needs a hard reset is your resources. Do you have the stuff you need—that’s supplies, money OR energy—to let your brilliance take the wheel? Upgrade the source material. Get rid of the dated sex toys. Invest in your current desire.
A lot of depth here to ponder. Reparenting has been a big theme for me. I like what you said about Feb 3&4 that our "minds, hearts and vision are given a boost -- even if we can't yet see the benefit." Trust is needed. What you shared for both my ascendant and sun signs really clicked. Thank you.
Great piece, Jaime! Love the idea of the new moon in Aquarius as an opportunity to reparent ourselves. To find more solid, higher ground. Also spot on for Capricorn, fully feeling the need to nourish current desires, regardless of what others expect of me 💫