Welcome to the Aquarius New Moon, the time in the lunar calendar when our focus turns to friends and community, connection and belonging, humanity and the collective. It’s also a solar eclipse that will open a six month chapter lived through Aquarian themes. The new moon solar eclipse will be exact on February 17, 2026 at 7:01 am ET, 28 degrees Aquarius. That’s 4:01 am Los Angeles, 12:01 pm London, 2:01 pm Johannesburg, 5:31 pm New Delhi, 11:01 pm Sydney, 1:01 am Auckland (February 18).
New moons are new beginnings and solar eclipses are powerful new beginnings that can push a particular part of our lives to the forefront. Eclipses can coincide with events both personal and collective. They can close and open doors. Of course, not all new moons are solar eclipses, which occur every six months when the new moon is in alignment with the ecliptic. (Astrology marks the ecliptic with the Lunar Nodes.)
While eclipse season can be intense, eclipses are merely a reminder that life is not static. It is a vehicle that moves. It gets us to grow and evolve. Or, to use another analogy, eclipses are like the curtain coming down on one act and opening up on another. The set may look very different. There may be new characters on the stage. Others may have left. It is not uncommon for eclipses, depending on our personal astrology, to herald the major milestones of our lives — achievements, career changes, moves, marriages, the birth of children, for example.
So, Aquarius will be a major lens for our experiences over the next six months. On a larger level, this will mean that the dominant themes into August will center around our relationship with our friends and community, our sense of connection to the greater whole, our understanding of society and social issues, the role of systems and networks, how science and technology effects our lives, our hopes and dreams for a better future.
In our own astrology, we will need to pay attention to where Aquarius is and what it governs. It could be a relationship sign (Leo) or a sign of money and income (Capricorn). Read Pluto in Aquarius: Sign by Sign for an approximate indication of what domain Aquarius governs your astrology. (An aside, every 8-9 years we have an eclipse in Aquarius. The last eclipses in Aquarius were 2017 and 2018.)
This new moon solar eclipse is notable for a few reasons. It is the first in a series of eclipses that will fall in Aquarius and Leo, its opposing sign, into 2028. Which means that a new story is emerging in our lives that will play out over the next two years. (This story also has connections to Pluto’s arrival in Aquarius in 2023-2024 and the changes that began to initiate in our lives at that time.)
Second, the solar eclipse comes just days after Saturn’s arrival in Aries. Which is to say that the energy of the Aquarius eclipse will point towards Saturn, its ruler. In the chart of the solar eclipse, we find Saturn at 0 Aries, the very first degree of the zodiac, repeating the theme of new beginnings. (Read Saturn in Aries: Sign by Sign.)
Third, Saturn is just about to make an exact alignment to Neptune in Aries on February 20. It’s not just new beginnings through Saturn in Aries, it’s new beginnings through Saturn and Neptune in Aries. Saturn is about building and taking on responsibilities. We could say that there will be a push to take action in the coming months, but action through the lens of Neptune, a planet that symbolically pulls back the veil and reveals the hidden realms beyond. And since Neptune is an evolutionary planet, we will have to grow and evolve in powerfully new ways. (Read Neptune in Aries: Sign by Sign.)
Fourth, the new moon solar eclipse makes a square to Uranus in Taurus at 27 degrees. Squares are a point of friction in the sky, two planets, 90 degrees apart, which need to work together. Uranus, like Neptune, is an evolutionary planet. Except Uranus is about shake-ups, reinventions, and sudden changes. It’s very likely that we will have to learn to adapt to new circumstances in some form over the next six months — some signs more than others. In a way, this is Uranus’s last hurrah in Taurus, a sign that it first entered in May 2018 and March 2019, and will leave in April 2026. (Read Uranus in Taurus: Sign by Sign.)
In summary, we have a powerful six months ahead of us. February 2026 will likely be a key month that marks a personal and collective transition point. It’s possible that some aspect of our lives will look differently come August and the next solar eclipse. We may have to adapt to changes, especially if we are an Aquarius, Leo, Scorpio, Taurus. There may be a shake-up, a call to reinvent, or go in a new direction. As much as Saturn in Aries can spotlight our individuality, an Aquarius solar eclipse reminds us that we are part of something larger and that our actions affect the greater whole.
Join me this weekend, February 21-22, for a Level 1 weekend intensive for Energetic Sciences, where we will explore energy and consciousness and the Weft, the energetic fabric of reality. Learn to become an acupuncture needle for the planet. Hosted by Mercia Academy, a Swiss platform I have been teaching for since 2018. Learn more and register in the link below.
You can also watch the free one-hour introduction to Energetic Sciences I recorded earlier this month in the link below. Includes a guided practice at the end to feel the Weft. Watch the webinar in the link below.
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