Aquarius 2006

The Aquarius new moon, on Sunday, January 29, is the peak of alignment in awareness. Everything old has been stripped away, and the pressure of winter forces us into the center of our place amidst the pattern of creation. Distilled to our essence, it's the seed germination turning point. From here begins the process of purity's emergence.

This year it is intensified amidst a historic four-way elemental tension, charging us from all sides between grounding in passion (Saturn in Leo), creativity in magnetism (Jupiter in Scorpio), action in fertility (Mars in Taurus) and dreams in awareness (Neptune, with sun and moon, in Aquarius).

Love is at the end of an internalizing period (Venus retrograde). At the quarter moon, February 4-6, more tension breaks between spring fever and dreamy creativity. The full moon on Sunday, the 12th, is the powerful release of new life forged from primal nature at the new moon's peak of visionary awareness. The Year of the Dog has begun.

A magic moment

We've reached the culmination of a powerful alignment in the energy tides. Planets are at the exct midpoints of all four seasons, the peak power points for all four elements (fire, air, water, earth), in what's called a grand cross. It's always a big deal, but this one involves the maximum possible intensity, with potentially historic consequences. When the full heart (moon) reaches the peak of passion (Leo) on Sunday night, January 15, it joins creativity in magnetism (Jupiter in Scorpio), dreams in awareness (Neptune in Aquarius), and action in fertility (Mars in Taurus) at the turning point of an energizing crossfire. We all need to accept our place amidst this intensifying alignment, endure its potentially overwhelming experience, and ride out the release of primal forces. The power of nature is breaking through the tension of an unhealthy order, a deeper energy forging a more substantial reality. We must allow creation to run its course, sustained by the grace of genuine heartfulness.