NEW MOON in AQUARIUS, the sign of the water bearer, at 23˚17’, on Thursday, February 11th at 11:05 am PST. Jupiter and Venus form a conjunction at 12˚ Aquarius, along with Saturn, Mercury retrograde, and Pallas Athena, also all in the same air sign.
“Why do you stay in prison when the door is so wide open?”
“Dance when you’re perfectly free.”
In India, every year around this time of February, according to the Hindu calendar, people honor Saraswati. Here is the goddess on her chariot, her white swan, in an Indian miniature painting. She is a river goddess, and, a little like Pallas Athena, she embodies Divine wisdom. I am not from India nor do I claim to know much about such a rich and vibrant culture. But, for me, Saraswati seems to embody what we need under this Aquarian New Moon at the moment – with all the planetary energy in the air sign. I thought, well, why not share about her, what she manifests… Learning and wisdom, music, art and speech.
In the kind of astrology I practice, evolutionary astrology, we try to see such moments as an opportunity to grow and expand in consciousness, to find a part of ourselves we need to claim – how to take Saturn’s obstacles, hardships, and challenges, and make them rocket fuel, to make ourselves stronger, under Jupiter, to learn and to gain wisdom. Mercury retrograde, to ponder all of it, and Venus to seek understanding in the dance we do with others.
Ask where do all these transiting planets fall in my natal chart? What part of myself am I wrestling with now, where am I seeking to be free, to be uniquely me, to be the revolutionary genius I was born to be, and where, too, might I feel blockage? Am I fighting from seeing opportunities that are available to me? And that I can manifest for my own personal journey?
It helps to turn to the goddess Saraswati. Try to ask for a little bit of her wisdom – make it my wisdom of the moment. Listen to the cosmic music and dance. Somewhere in our life - look to the house location of Aquarius in your own birth chart - we have to want to try, to take a chance. And when things do fail, take it as a teaching, insight into how we can mature into who we are becoming.
I keep thinking about my friends I know born in early February, 1962, when seven planets came together in Aquarius. The planetary lineup resembled now, in 2021, except that Mars was also in Aquarius that month in ‘62. This year, these folks are going through their second “Saturn Return,” when Saturn returns to the same position in the zodiac the planet was when they were born. Think Saturn in Aquarius in transit now hitting each one, each planet, in their natal stellium. With Saturn, there is some challenge, some hardship, some inevitable limitations. Meanwhile, a door of opportunity for them, Jupiter, is present, too, but they have to step through it. How difficult that must be. To claim a leadership role in your life, to become the elder. In 2021, we have also the current transits of Mars and Uranus in Taurus, in a square to the celestial lineup in Aquarius: To know that maybe you have to leave some things behind to be authentically you. We so often define ourselves around what others need or what others consider is success, even when it really isn’t our legacy, our path…how tough that must be to process now.
Imagine having a Saturn Return with all this energy in Aquarius – air sign of the genius, the humanitarian, the one who breaks free from the status quo. And with Jupiter and Venus together in the sky now, opportunity is there to open our hearts and make the most of our lives together.
Maybe we all need to ask: What path do I truly seek to be authentic? Maybe plant an intention for the New Moon…Wishing everyone the best!