Following the Moon: Jan. 21, 2023

I was so focused at what Uranus in the Tenth House of the Full Moon chart for Jan. 6 meant for Kevin McCarthy’s hopes of becoming Speaker of the House that I forget to look ahead to what that placement might mean later on for other people in positions of authority. That was, of course, the discovery of top secret documents in Joe Biden’s office and home. (Click here to see the article and chart.)

The fact that Mercury, which rules written communications, was trine Uranus certainly describes a shocker involving documents. The fact that the aspect was a trine, however, would seem to minimalize the damage done by this event, as least in the long run. Basically, Americans got to see both political parties at their worst during this lunation period. I think that has a lot to do with the combination of Venus and Pluto riding the Descendant of that Full Moon chart. No matter what your political persuasion, there were intimations of doom.

Those intimations of doom, Pluto’s calling card, are likely to continue into the next lunation. (Click here to see the chart.) In the New Moon chart for Jan. 21 we have Pluto conjunct the Sun and Moon. However, since this conjunction takes place in the Seventh House, the things that will worry us the most will likely come from outside our borders. For some people that might mean immigration, for others climate change, but I have my eye on something quite different.

In this New Moon chart we have a rather odd configuration. Mars, which has only recently emerged from a long retrograde period, forms an almost exact quincunx to Mercury. Quincunx aspects represent actions that come at us from unexpected directions. Since Mercury is in the Sixth House of health, it is possible that the outside threat could be a new strain of COVID, perhaps brewed in the conflagration of the illness currently taking place in China. Considering how complacent many of us have gotten with regard to the pandemic, that would be an intimiation of doom coming at us from an unexpected direction.

This chart is not without good news. Jupiter is strongly placed in the Tenth House. The fact that Jupiter is square to Mercury represents a challenge for our leadership, but it is sextile the Sun and Moon, indicating that the challenge will be met. However, no matter what form that challenge takes, we are not going to see any clear winners or losers. That’s because Neptune is close to the Midheaven of the chart, muddling perception and making it easy for rumors and misinformation to proliferate.

That brings us to the conjunction of Venus and Saturn in the Eighth House of this chart. These two planets form a semi-sextile aspect to Neptune, indicating that the confusion sown by Neptune on the MC will stem from longstanding, deeply imbedded resentment and bitterness. Fortunately, the connection between this conjunction and Neptune is passive. It is not going to be dramatically expressed. Instead it will hover in the background like a bad smell.

Overall, I think we can expect this next two weeks to be filled with worry and confusion. Many of our hopes will be misplaced and many of our fears overblown. Broad conjectures and speculation are always dangerous when Neptune in strong in a lunation chart. We are better off sticking to what’s real and things close to home.