Today, the Chinese year of the Water Rabbit begins. It is meant to be more mellow and calm than the year of the Tiger that has just ended. It corresponds well with Saturn’s upcoming entry into watery Pisces and Jupiter’s ingress into peace-loving Taurus,

The Aquarius New Moon is significant. Firstly, it re- activates the 1^st degree of Aquarius. It marks the degree of the last Jupiter-Saturn conjunction that took place at the December solstice 2020, the moment in time when a new era of Great Conjunctions in air signs was initiated lasting until 2199. The Jupiter-Saturn conjunctions through the 4 elements  has been considered as a particularly important game changer in shaping the course of history. Each shift announces the beginning of a completely new cultural, political, and economic era. Pluto will be transiting this important point during March to July of 2023 and again in 2024/5. This means that we can finally start building  and living a New Earth.  The current crisis is nothing more than a departure from the old paradigm. The solutions to the many problems that we are facing are dependent on our willingness and resilience to invent, build and embody new structures and a consciousness that serve the whole of humanity (Aquarius) instead of trying to revive what has passed its use-by-date.

Secondly, the Aquarian New Moon is exactly opposite the Black Moon Lilith, the apogee of the Moon in her monthly cycle around the Earth. Being in direct opposition means that this New Moon is very close to the Earth anchoring Aquarian ideals of equality and solidarity into the here-and-now. Nevertheless, the Black Moon Lilith on the other side of the scale reminds us of a still existing shadow reality – of gender inequality, the  negative treatment of women in politics, of cultural biases towards minorities etc, etc. Lilith is the demonised enemy of patriarchy, the voice of those who have felt disempowered but have found a way to stand up for their rights and beliefs. Lilith can activate hidden rage, but also the courage to make the changes which we always wanted to do. She can be similar to Uranus in the surprise factor. I am just thinking of the  surprise resignation of Jacinda Ardern as the Prime minister of NZ. The transiting Black Moon is approaching an exact conjunction with her Leo Sun while transiting Chiron in Aries is exactly opposite her natal Lilith who stands enclosed by Mars and Pluto in Libra.  As a woman in politics, she has to deal with a lot of hate speech and misogynistic treatment, as Julia Gillard did when she was the leader of the Australian government. By the way, Julia might be back in the public eye when Venus retrogrades over her Uranus-Lilith-North Node conjunction in Leo in the 10^th house during July – September.

So, what is this New Moon telling us? Relationships – personal and otherwise – will be important during 2023. This is supported by the lunar Nodes being in Venus and Mars ruled signs. The Aquarian spirit does not tolerate discrimination or disadvantiging people because of gender, race, culture or economic circumstances. Aquarius is a human sign, ruled by Saturn and Uranus, and concerns itself with the plight of the common man and woman, emphasising the many over a selected few handing the power back to the people. It is up to us to consciously participate in co-creating this next chapter of our collective evolution and the revaluation of all values. Thirdly, the New Moon is closely conjunct Pluto who is transiting the late degrees of Capricorn marking the end of an entire era while building a bridge between the past and the future. There may be more surprise revelations over the coming weeks especially concerning the abuse of power, cover-ups and manipulation of information.