New and Crescent Moon

January 23 Monday
We have an Aquarius New Moon, heralding in the Chinese New Year, the year of the water dragon which favors growth and lives by a philosophy it shares with Aquarius, which is: to your own self, be true. This new Moon cycle reflects on how each of us marches to a personal tune. Our personal evolution is dependent on our loyalty to our conscience, to what we know to be true about directions taken. This evening the planet Mars goes retrograde, shifting energy inward to reconsider the morals that motivate us and bringing a message about how to rededicate ourselves to a virtuous livelihood.

January 24 Tuesday
This Aquarius new Moon suggests looking for the potential of using individual drive and force in new ways. We could remap the day according to the plot of a fairy tale. What can be used as a magic wand? What forces reshape those tedious tasks? Whose story does the day really address? Where is the real “me” in the events that occur? What does the structure of the day tell me about myself and my dreams? How do conformity and non-conformity interact? Is one of them missing? The Aquarius part of our horoscopes tells us about our inner rebel. Does this non-conformist act on principle or whim?

January 25 Wednesday
The Moon moved into Pisces early this morning, picking up all sorts of things looming on the horizon. Issues emerge around serving the greater good versus one’s own inclinations that vary from the masses. So much of what we make of the world and our personal lives is our own creation based on limited perceptions. What is real and sound is a problem for Pisces. Do we put up with familiar scenes, even though we have unpleasant emotional reactions, thinking it’s just a strange feeling that has little to do with external reality, or do we retreat, suspecting hidden, bad influences?

January 26 Thursday
With this Pisces Moon we feel like joining group activities which usually means going along with expectations set for such participation. Our usual interactional ability may suppress impulses to act on individual impulses to do things according to personal feelings. Following those inclinations will bring freshness to social experiences today that just might work out some tensions. At 6:57 pm, MT, the Moon enters her crescent phase, when effort is needed to overcome a tendency to fall back on old habits around dealing with conflicts between group demands and personal morals.

January 27 Friday
The Pisces Moon is void of course this morning, washing away the collective behaviors that this sign idealizes. We may want to keep a lid on personal agendas until 11:28 am, MT, when the Moon moves into self-assertive Aries. Our thoughts can easily turn into actions. We can act cleverly and quickly. The element of surprise is an advantage, but we may benefit from taking time to reflect on emerging directions and how things ought to be. Listen to MoonWise tomorrow on the worldwide web at ksfr.org from 2:00 to 2:30 pm, MT, for the weekend Moon Minute.

January 28 Saturday
This weekend’s Aries Moon encourages a release of held tension, especially if it is preventing independent action. Personal thoughts battle against over-interpretations of present circumstances. Individual preferences resist being pinned down by group expectations. On Sunday it may take an attitude adjustment and self-discipline to proceed on a preferred path. A measure of the rightness of an emerging direction is its virtue for oneself, others, and the planet. Does this conform with former criteria for evaluating a new course of action? If not, let the old ways slip away.