This is the third of six new moons at the 28th degree. We are at the midpoint of this New Moon cycle that carries us through the next Aries ingress in the Spring. This New Moon is squaring the last Solar Eclipse that was at the 29th degree of Virgo in September. It’s the last New Moon of 2025, but we are still in mutative energy until late January and I would suggest our new reality doesn’t really begin until the Aries Ingress.
Leading up to and following the New Moon, we experience closing squares between all of the personal planets and Saturn & Neptune. It starts with Mars and the Sun leading up to the New Moon and then Venus and Mercury following the New Moon. We meet a final psychological confrontation or restriction then a dissolution of that restriction in one way or another.
It’s become glaringly obvious that one of the aspects of the Saturn-Neptune conjunction is the reality distortion field created not only by AI but by political leadership. Trump stubbornly holds onto this idea that his economy is the best economy ever. He shifts blame and suggests the “affordability issue” is simply a hoax drummed up by his arch enemies, "the Democrats". As a skilled rhetorical magician, there are plenty of narratives he can delude his followers with. Daily economic reality is not one of them.
It's understandable why he doesn’t get this. When you are rich, you don’t have the same kind of intimate contact with the daily economics of your existence. Rich people don’t go shopping for themselves. They certainly don’t live the common American paycheck-to-paycheck existence, where you have to budget things like your weekly groceries. He even seems to think "groceries" is an antiquated term… did I miss this important memo? By hanging onto this storyline, the other stories start to unravel too. Like the reality of Trump’s age, his health, and senility. Old age and senility is a uniquely Saturn-Neptune characterization.
Since the out-of-bounds New Moon is squaring the Virgo Eclipse with transiting Mercury in Sagittarius also squaring the Nodes, we are at an important crossroads with communication and news from our past coming home to roost. The New Moon happens just past the President’s South Node, the day after the Epstein files are due to be released. Other than this anticipated release, could there be something else released leading up to the New Moon? Health related news is certainly possible. Trump had an MRI right after the eclipse, and so far the White House has only released vague news about the results.
The eclipse also featured the funeral of Charlie Kirk, a news conference with the President and RFK linking autism to Tylenol, Trump’s rants over the DOJ not going after his political enemies fast enough, and his braggadocios appearance at the UN conference in New York City. This was also right Putin traveled to Alaska where the President rolled out the red-carpet. You see many of these developing storylines in the news headlines right now.
During this New Moon, we are encouraged to take bold steps forward by examining our beliefs based on the illusions of the past.
The Gypsy Moon: Cross of the Vessel of Love
Raven Kaldera calls this New Moon the Gypsy’s Moon:
On the Gypsy’s Moon, we go outside our homes and experience new cultures. Ideally, we should be experiencing cultures that stretch our ability to accept, that force us to confront ourselves and our own biases. It’s best if a good deal of actual travel is involved, because the travel provides a buffer before and after for contemplation. Don’t succumb to the temptation to just read about something—actually go breathe air you’ve never breathed, on ground you’ve never put your feet on.
This New Moon happens on the Cross of the Vessel of Love. This line is about behavioral expectations and our responses to those expectations. We can either act from a place of modesty, a sense of purpose, no matter what position we find ourselves in. Or we can become hypersensitive about these expectations and act out accordingly.
As I’ve focused on Mundane Astrology this year, I’ve gotten a few nasty comments about my bias. The truth is that we are all biased. That’s our unique perspective based on our lived experience. To not be aware of one’s own bias is where we tend to get into trouble. Everything is framed around our bias because that’s how we individually experience the world. I love astrology because it helps me understand people who are not like myself. It helps me understand the people in the political sphere and it gives me the opportunity to have compassion for them, as much as I am able.
Astrology is symbolic based on our projections of external phenomena. That’s what the chart is, a projection. It is something external that helps us make sense of an individual or an event. There are certainly consistent themes in the symbols we use, but we each see these symbols and integrate them from the perspective of our own biases.
So, yes, I’m biased and you will not agree with everything I say… even those who generally agree with me will not always agree with me. To find agreement 100% of the time would make life quite boring. We would have nothing to talk about. I want people to disagree with me, to healthily challenge my thinking. I encourage that. I grow from those experiences. I want everyone to think for themselves. If this time has offered us anything, it’s to question our long held beliefs based on the stories we’ve been told.
The New Moon Chart
So let’s look closely at this New Moon chart both as a standalone chart located in Washington D.C. and around the U.S. Sibley chart. The New Moon in Sagittarius is out-of-bounds along with Mars. Mars has been out-of-bounds since Thanksgiving and will remain out-of-bounds until the next Full Moon in Capricorn. The New Moon is inconjunct a retrograde Uranus in Taurus in the 10th house of the standalone chart. We are adjusting to the recent shifts that have been revealed to us about our leadership and our standing in the world.
Mercury is in the 4th house squaring the Nodes in the 2nd and 8th houses. The Sabian Symbol of this degree is about body knowledge: whereas the mind can tell lies, the body cannot. We are at a turning point where the spin can no longer hide the truth of what we see with our very own eyes.
Around the U.S. Sibley chart, Mercury sits on the Ascendent but still in the 12th house, in a closing square to the nodes in the 3rd and 9th houses. The pull of the North Node in Pisces is more powerful in this closing square, whereas back in June when Mercury was in its opening square to the Nodes, the South Node was more powerful. During the opening square, we may have resisted the disorder and confusion of a collapsing system.
We are now attempting to penetrate the center of chaos in hopes that by understanding the chaos, we can create the harmony necessary to survive the disorder. There is a powerful temptation, when seeing a transition in sight, to hasty action during this time. Jupiter, the final dispositor of the transit chart is in the 3rd line of the gate of details. A similar warning here; do not overlook the details in a rush to get to the other side.
And the out-of-bound Mars in the 1st house opposes natal Venus in the 7th house. It’s separating from the New Moon, in the same gate, but the 6th line. It symbolizes the potential hypocrisy of one’s behavior, “do as I say, not as I do”. Mars is ruled by Saturn in the "espionage" line of the gate of crisis. The knives are out and information that has been hidden is now being revealed.
Saturn and Neptune are now both moving forward again toward their conjunction at 0 degrees Aries right next to the Sibley IC. This placement reminds me of an interview with Melanie Reinhardt about the 4th house. The host, Chris, has a beautiful deep voice and I love to hear his retelling of the myths and fairytales he relates to each of the twelve houses. In this episode, he shares the fairytale of The Three Feathers, which resonated so deeply with me about this moment.
This fairytale features a king with three sons, symbolic of the kingdom being off-center toward the masculine side. The antidote being that the feminine needs to be found in its primitive form to be invited back in. Masculine logic is no longer working so he sends his three sons out into the world with the direction to follow the feather’s lead.
The first son throws the feather up in the air and follows it West. The second son follows his feather East. The third son, who is always the simpleton, throws his feather up in the air and feather goes straight down. Everyone laughs. But the son looks down, roots around, and finds there is actually a trap door down there. He opens it up and he heads down into the basement or underworld. In this underground place he finds a toad princess with six toads cycling around a circle. The mother toad directs him to choose a toad to take with him. He does as she says and when he comes back up, the most beautiful princess in the kingdom is revealed.
We are certainly living in a time where masculine logic can no longer save us. It reminds me of what Louise Edington spoke to in our interview about Ceres and the divine feminine. We can access the keys to the kingdom by opening up our minds, but we must heal our root center first. Our root center is guarded by the divine feminine in each of us.
It is easier for a camel to go through the eye of a needle than for a rich man to enter the kingdom of God. - Matthew 19:24
We can’t find the spiritual in the material. Our root structure is being emptied out so we can access our spirit once again. Who will take up the call?
And isn’t it interesting that a couple of days after this New Moon, Venus will make its closing square to Saturn and Neptune? And then the Nodes will shift into the Channel of Community on the 23rd, where the “us” vs. “them” energy may get a little bit more intense. Positively, we will feel a push to join forces with others who share our values.
The Capricorn Ingress
The Libra Ingress’ Ascendent was at 29 degrees of mutable Sagittarius, similar to this New Moon. The Capricorn Ingress’ Ascendent has returned to the fixed sign of Aquarius just past the Aries Ingress’ Ascendent. The Sabian Symbol is about planning for the future. Saturn, the co-ruler of the Ascendent with Uranus is on the cusp of the 2nd house while Uranus sits on the IC of this chart. We have been experiencing disruptions of the country’s foundations and we are now starting to see the consequences.
The ruler of the MC, a retrograde Jupiter, representing both the President and ruling class, sits in the 6th house of the country’s health, its institutions and armed services. While the Moon, representing the people, is rather weak and hidden in the 12th house applying to an opposition. The Moon rules Jupiter and is receptive to Jupiter, while Jupiter is not receptive to the Moon, in the sign of its fall. The Moon is ruled by a weak Saturn on the cusp of the 2nd, demonstrating the source of its weakness, lack of material energy. Jupiter is also in a tight square to Chiron in the 2nd house, which symbolizes the current sanctions or tariffs impacting growth.
There is a symbiotic relationship between the Moon, Jupiter, and Saturn. Jupiter is ruled by the Moon, which is in turn ruled by Saturn, which is in turn ruled by Jupiter. This to me, speaks the truth of what should be quite obvious. There is a balance that needs to be struck between the needs of the ruling class and the needs of the people to have a healthy functioning society.
Mars and Venus sit on opposite sides of the Sun in the 11th house of the legislature. Venus is separating from a square to Saturn and is applying to a square to Neptune in the 2nd house before it will join the Sun. You can already see that the Republicans are starting to feel the pressure from their constituents about the economy.
Mars is separating from the Sun, its Sabian Symbol speaking to the power of force or war as a strategic act to unite others. The “old knowledge” or truth telling Mercury in Sagittarius in the 10th house has recently separated from a square to the Nodes in the 1st and 7th houses. We are now in the flow for the nodal switch that will position us out of the doubts and confusion of the mind and into the channel of the community that defines the Ego and Solar Plexus.
The 6th line of gate 37 where the North Node will sit is labeled “Decapitation”. Expect heads to roll during this time. Mars opposed the Sibley’s Venus during the New Moon and is now applying to an opposition to the Sibley Jupiter. Expect both external and internal sparring to really ramp up as we head toward the Full Moon in Capricorn which is aptly named the “Cross of Tension”. As I already mentioned, the bright side to this chaotic energy is the opportunity to find community. Look to partner with people who share your values. We need to learn how to prosper as individuals within a group structure without compromising our values.
New Moon in Sagittarius Video:
New Moon in Sagittarius Video