Welcome to the Capricorn New Moon, the time in the lunar calendar when we feel the passage of time and the pressure to build and construct our lives. Capricorn is the sign of maturity and responsibility. It invites us to make decisions for the future. The new moon is exact on January 11, 2024 at 6:57 am EST, 20 degrees Capricorn. That’s 3:57 am Los Angeles, 11:57 am London, 1:57 pm Johannesburg, 5:27 pm New Delhi, 10:57 pm Sydney, and 12:57 am Auckland on January 12.
New moons are new beginnings. One of the things about astrology is that it doesn’t line up with our calendars. It has its own keeping of time. A new moon is the start of a lunar month. It turns the page, so to speak, and turns our attention to a new chapter of energy.
While Capricorn Season began three weeks ago, it’s the Capricorn New Moon that brings us to a focal point of its themes and experiences. And what is Capricorn? The tenth sign of the zodiac; the last earth sign. It governs over our physical world. It speaks of maturity and responsibility, growing up and growing older, career and our public or professional life. Capricorn makes things solid.
So, with the energy of the new moon, this is the perfect time to not only turn a page into a new lunar month, but to kickstart our new year. Capricorn can be the support and foundation for our goals and resolutions. It can help us to follow through, create stability, and find accountability so that they can become an integral part of our lives.
Capricorn can, if I’m being honest, make us aware where we’re falling short of the mark. Not to worry; an enthusiastic trine between Mars and Jupiter helps us to find confidence and even faith in ourselves. Mars in Capricorn, in particular, helps us to focus on our targets and take action towards them.
Keep in mind that this is the first Capricorn New Moon in 30 years that draws from Saturn in Pisces, a sign that it arrived in March 2023. Whereas Capricorn energy is usually hard driving and ambitious, the energy of Saturn in Pisces reminds us that our ambitions have to be in alignment with our heart and spirit. Our resolutions, as a result, may not be only materially focused, but spirit focused as well, especially with Mercury in the last degrees of Sagittarius.
What’s also worth mentioning is that the new moon forms a square to the Lunar Nodes in Aries-Libra. The new moon is not an eclipse, but it may act like one. Thus is the tendency when a planet activates the Lunar Nodes. As a result, we may see important events or major decisions in the coming days, ones that connect to the Libra New Moon solar eclipse of October 14 as well as the solar eclipse to come on April 8 at 19 Aries.
The other thing is that Pluto is not that far away from the new moon, hovering in the final minutes of Capricorn, getting ready to move into Aquarius on January 20. Pluto energy talks about reformation and transformation. It can tear things down in order to rebuild them. It can demand that we take a deep look within. It also may be a coda on our time with Pluto in Capricorn over the last 16 years. (This is the last Capricorn new moon with Pluto in Capricorn for another 250 years.)
So, there are a lot of big pieces with this new moon, a new moon that gives us a reset and a refresh. It pushes us to make goals and set healthy limits and boundaries. It wants things put in order and balance. It demands accountability. And, with the energies of the Lunar Nodes and eclipses, everything can pivot — even positively so.