We move toward the New Moon in Capricorn on Christmas night knowing this New Moon is accompanied by an eclipse. The darkness is deeper. We are held in a place of stillness.
Whether you celebrate one holiday, several, or none at this time of year, we all recognize this as a potent time. A magical time. We reach the longest night and then the Sun climbs again. Winter has a strong grip and yet we already know spring will come. The legends associated with this time of year are very old. This is a sacred time.
A New Moon becomes a solar eclipse when the Sun–Moon conjunction is within 18 degrees of the Nodes of the Moon.
These Nodes are the points where the orbit of the Moon intersects the orbit of Earth around the Sun. If you’ve wondered how such an abstract scientific concept was known to ancient peoples, this is why. The Nodes mark eclipses and eclipses were seen as dramatic, dangerous harbingers.
Eclipses come in pairs. The next Full Moon will be a lunar eclipse. We feel the effects of each eclipse for at least six months. What we experience now carries extra weight.
We find the Sun and Moon at 4 Capricorn. The South Node is at 8 Capricorn. The four degree difference is why we have an annular rather than total eclipse. The Moon will block the Sun’s light but not completely. A ring of solar fire will be visible.
This eclipse can be seen from Eastern Europe south to North and West Australia, and from East Africa east through the Indian Ocean to the South Pacific. Whether we can see an eclipse or not has nothing to do with its impact. It still counts.
With all the weight in Capricorn these days, we know the Sun, Moon and South Node have company. This too will affect our experience.
Jupiter is at 5 Capricorn, conjunct the New Moon. This might seem fortunate, even lucky. Yet Jupiter is not as their best in Capricorn, so we need to remember this planet also signals expansion, inflation, and overextending, all of which can be associated with the holidays.
The Sun and Moon are just past a trine with Uranus in Taurus. This is another contact that could be energizing, bringing fresh ideas. It could also feel unsettling, destabilizing, and unpredictable.
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Because this is an eclipse at the South Node, happening close to the winter solstice, and in the same sign as the approaching Saturn–Pluto conjunction, it feels like a time for focusing wishes and intentions on what we’re ready to leave behind.
The last two years brought a series of intense astrological aspects reflected in significant events in the world and our personal lives. There is a sense, for many of us, that we’re not the same people we were then. Things have shifted.
Yet we’re not quite home and safe yet. This feels more like a mid-quest moment. We’re far enough in that we’ve realized we’re in tricky territory and significant risks are involved. We also sense there are more challenges ahead.
What do you really need going forward? This is a time to decide what is essential and what is dead weight. It’s time to drop the dead weight.
If this sounds coldly pragmatic, well, we’re in Capricorn. This is where we make tough calls based on what’s actually happening on the ground. Capricorn doesn’t care about theories or projections. Capricorn only cares about what works.
As always, our own birth chart and current situation will influence how this New Moon eclipse feels. Where does 4 Capricorn fall in your birth chart?
Using quadrant houses, this New Moon falls in my 5th House of passions, risk taking, and what I create.
Am I feeling a bit subdued about my current creative projects? As it happens, I am. Things have not gone as well as I would have liked. But that doesn’t mean I give up. This New Moon seems to be pushing me toward a more realistic view of what is possible. I can’t do all the things. So what things do I most want to accomplish? What are my priorities?
The South Node means we look at past patterns, family legacies, and potentially ancestral ties. What do we owe the past? What can we honorably say is owed to us? What needs to be resolved?
The presence of Jupiter means we could get a little luck. It also cautions us to be wary of overconfidence. Hubris has been the downfall of more than one hero. Let’s not step off that particular cliff. Humility in the face of challenge will carry us farther.
Eclipses have been seen as disastrous or conversely as portals for new energy. Bad luck or good, which is it? I think the answer depends on our personal cosmology and metaphysics. What kind of world do you believe we’re in? That worldview will, and should, guide your actions.
On a pragmatic Capricornian level, the question is, do we make wishes and set intentions at a New Moon that is also a solar eclipse?
My answer is yes, and, timing matters.
Yes to wishes and intentions partly because we always have them. We are headed in a particular direction toward chosen goals, even if we say we don’t care. No choice is a choice. I am in favor of reflecting and choosing consciously.
Yet if our aim is to partner with the cosmos, to ask and invite the cosmos to help us, then choosing a time when both Sun and Moon are dark will not be optimal.
My approach to New Moon wishing is evolving. I now prefer to wait until the first light of the Moon can be seen. This is generally about sixteen hours after a New Moon. Since the New Moon falls just after midnight, first light will be after 4:00 pm in my Eastern time zone on December 26. Waiting at least that long feels like a good idea.
But the Moon runs quite a gauntlet through the rest of Capricorn, meeting up with the South Node and then Saturn and Pluto. It would be better to wait until the Moon enters Aquarius, in the early degrees as they get close to meeting Venus. This will happen midmorning on December 28 in my time zone.
I plan to make my New Moon wishes around 10:00 am on Friday, SATURDAY, December 28. Wish me luck!
We are all in this together and yet all finding our own way. In The Hero’s Journey, Joseph Campbell drew on the legends of the Grail knights when he said,
“You enter the forest at the darkest point, where there is no path. Where there is a way or path, it is someone else’s path.”
At this New Moon eclipse, we may find ourselves at that darkest point. When we do, we know this is the place. This is where we enter the dark wood.
What will we take with us? What are we ready to leave behind?
All astrological charts are my own. The images in this post include the title,
adapted from the dark wood by Casey Horner,
and the following images:
candle by CHIRAG K, and
backpack by Cynthia del Río