aquarius new moon
wednesday, january 29th, 2025 06:36 CST
snakes alive
it’s really dark just now
my eyes are still adjusting
to the lack of light
blue screens have irradiated my irises
to a point where
nocturnal vision is less accessible
another trade-off
for perks of modern technology
liking a meme is not enough to change society
but enough of us liking the same meme
may eventually cause a riot
being radicalized through dark humor
is an Aquarius thing
being radicalized by your humanity
is an Aquarius thing
the snake coils
a tension sets its muscles
into springs
patience
patience
wait
(but not too long)
to strike.
THANK YOU FOR YOUR SUPPORT
VENMO @laurenkhickman PayPal or apple pay l.k.hickman@gmail.com
or contribute monthly via DRaGON DāNa
Whether we know it or not, every new moon sets an intention.
The wish face we make is not discernible by the universe
So if it is a look of disgust — we may likely get more disgust
And if it is a look of calmness, of liberation
Well, maybe that’s a better wish face to make.
Aquarius is often associated with freedom
Known as the rebel
We have to discern which level of rebel we want to be
A rebel without a cause
A rebel against a cause
A rebel for a cause
We rebel because we are seeking power when we are powerless
A teenager may crawl under bathroom stalls with locked doors to cause mischief.
A teenager may steal something petty or mundane just to see if they can.
And they are caught
or not
which may or may not track a course of entitlement or feelings of persecution
We rebel against a cause
because we are angry
we protest with our behaviors
often (almost always) for attention
or to vie for power
to reinstate our self-belief of personhood.
When we rebel for a cause
it’s because it is for all of us
it is because our life depends on it
because our community's welfare depends on it.
community endures
like stories passed through ages
the larger narratives of culture may dissolve
back into the micro cultures of urban mythologies
and the dismantling of celebrity culture
to remember those who lived down the street
the guy who started the repair place
or the couple that offered power to a community refrigerator
or those kids whose dumpster diving habit
turned into a misfit movement of reclaiming abandoned foods
those are the celebrities Aquarius cares about
the people who cared
not the people we stare at
on blue screens
when we are scared to live our own lives
or because we are tired of living them.
The astrology stuff of this lunation…
I think people like the visual of astrology.
The spirograph, they say. Or the girl with all the symbols tattooed down her arm but when I ask her why she got them, she doesn’t know what any of them mean, or represent.
Symbols have power.
If I were to draw a familiar fascist symbol here, you would have a reaction. If I were to draw a peace sign here, you would also have a response.
When I see the language of astrology, the glyphs for planets, the etchings of each zodiacal season, I have a feeling, a reaction. And when we start to multiply these into the many faces of each energy that’s when the artistry is required.
No book can tell you what this means because of the interconnected and interdependent nature of the cosmos.
You cannot extract Saturn conjunct Venus square Jupiter from all the connections and interminglings of their relationships and tensions and expressions.
Symbols are metaphor.
I write more below about the symbolism of Aquarius, the water bearer, the Air sign with a water archetype. What if those squiggles were snakes rather than liquid? What if Aquarius is meant to pour out the wisdom and that the container, the vessel, is the Aquarians ability to protect and contain what is worth preserving.
Water is worth preserving. We know that as we see the salted Great Lakes suffer from our de-icing conveniences for our modern cars. As we watch the fish kills and the oil spills and the death of wildlife.
Water is life.
Wisdom is also life because wisdom is that piece of our humanity that knows that WATER IS WORTH PROTECTING. Wisdom knows what is valuable. Wisdom recognizes resource from experience.
I often think of Aquarius as the warrior at the gate. Perhaps an outsider — a lone wolf with a twitchy eye from all the sh*t they’ve seen. But there’s a perception there that is unquestionable. There is a value and that is why they get the honor of standing at the wall and protecting the people. They will sacrifice themselves for the greater good because there is a bigger picture here.
That greater perspective, that bigger picture is represented by Uranus, the modern ruler of Aquarius.
Well, what of Saturn— the old-school ruler? So much wisdom there and awareness of structure, and what holds the community together is the root system.
This lunation offers the deep and rooted wisdom of Mercury conjoined with Pluto. This electric pair digs deep to not only be gifted with the big picture of Aquarius but the truth auger of Pluto.
We have the Sun and Moon aligned, creating the reset of the Aquarian season and welcoming in the lunar New Year.
Venus, Neptune and the North Node are lined up in tight conjunction in the energy of Pisces, the unconditional love and understanding that we are all one. As my Aquarian teacher always said — we are all one or we are not — you can’t have it both ways.
Neptune and Venus are octaves of one another… interpersonal love which is reflective of universal love and connection. The North Node — not a thing, per say, but a location in space — is an aspiration and a North Star.
Our relationships are important.
The way we treat one another is important.
The way we allow ourselves to be treated is important.
Our relationship with ourselves is also coded in Venus and how we learn to love ourselves through our relationships. I’ve written before about relationships and that it is with all things — with water, with our clothing, our resources, one another.
Relationships are our responsibility.
What I’ve learned is that relationships are a resource for those who don’t have the convenience of money.
I’ve heard the ultra-rich can be total assholes because they have money instead of relationships. For the rest of us, we need one another to have our needs met because we can’t throw money at our problems and that is done by exchange, relations, and connection.
Reciprocity.
This is where mutual aid steps up to the plate where patriarchal governing systems are failing us.
As I write this mailer, The Chaotic One is dismantling systems of care — a funding freeze to SNAP, Medicaid and a hundred other programs and more that impact communities.
Maybe you are fortunate and don’t have to worry about your food stamp card getting refilled on the 8th of the month. But for those who don’t, where will they get food? From their relations, their neighbors, the community gardens and storage fridges, and food pantries that are run outside of government jurisdiction.
Mutual Aid is grassroots. It is the concept of returning to the communities of 100 people where we all know one another’s name. Where we all put $5 in the pot so when something happens to one of us, we have all given and received knowing that caring for one of us is caring for all of us.
Hmm. This sounds a lot like the concept of taxes, but it doesn’t seem the community gets to make the call anymore on where that money goes… and if we don’t trust the leadership to allocate our collective money, we start to get agitated, rebel, distrust or divest.
Refocus your energy on what’s in front of you and what you can connect with. There’s suggestions of making a mutual aid venmo account with your closest friends— an oh-shit fund. Potlucks and plans to buy in bulk and break up the pieces to our friends. Learning gardening skills again or how to can.
There is so much we can do to re-empower ourselves and our communities and we take the power back by not giving it away, by not telling on our neighbors or speaking to agents of terror. We re-empower ourselves through knowing the names of our neighbors and creating gatherings where we write letters to our legislators until the system changes or we find a better way.
This is the age of Aquarius. Pluto is here to uncover what it means to be in community again and to not place faith in systems and structures that never had the people in mind anyway.
Change happens from within, and it takes each one of us to plug ourselves into the mycelium network of care to see change happen. Activate your roots. Reconnect with what truly replenishes you.
If you would like to learn more about how this lunation or the current transits impacting you personally…
Schedule the Mirror astrological consult
The Portal is absentia (distance) Reiki energy balancing, intuitive consult, and nutrition/supplement support.
The Ferry is my coaching option for 1:1 ongoing support.
Learn more about my Mentorship course or inquire for more details.
Bespoke Astrology Reports are available for personal reflection or unique gifts.
Your contributions make this content possible
DRaGON DaNa automated monthly gift
NOTES FROM THIS ONE…
Somewhere on this long and winding road, I read that the squiggly lines of Aquarius were not, as suggested, representative of water.
Those squiggles are snakes.
So let’s lend to that analogy given that this new moon rings in the lunar new year and the energy of the wood snake.
Could that be a metaphor for stabilizing transformation? Perhaps this chaos could bring new order to the bouncing molecules of the manifest.
Wood is associated with growth, change, and new beginnings. It’s associated with spring and the liver and gallbladder, both detoxifying and sorting organs, enzymatic processes of breaking down to absorb the nutrients.
We can look towards the wood element to express creative energy and expansion (with Jupiter in Gemini so close to the earth and so, just like, PRESENT — this tracks). Wood traditionally is associated with anger as an emotion and can be expressed as courage or hopelessness (Mars in Cancer until later this spring, also tracks).
When we look to the metaphor of Snake and its energy we observe: with their skin shedding we see rebirth and renewal. Shedding is a natural process, the body even produces a lubricant to allow painless change. When given natural time and space, there is no need to rip off the skin, it will release on its own.
A clear reminder to allow change to take the time it needs.
Their ability to slowly digest large creatures by unhinging their jaw is something like the opposite of the birthing process — they can accommodate what will eventually nourish once it has been digested and the parts are sorted.
This isn’t about biting off more than we can chew but the ability to handle more than we think we can.
Snakes essentially are one long extra flexible spine and incredible musculature. We look towards nature for answers in response to our complicated human lives. Snakes tune into vibration, and their senses, and stay close to the earth. What would that mean for you? To tune into your senses, to lay low, to allow time to digest and process, and give yourself space to heal and transform?
I had a dream in my mid-twenties, shortly before I moved to a retreat center in the Northeast Kingdom of Vermont (why do they call it that? Fancy!) where a black snake appeared on my path and leaped from the ground and bit me in the chest.
I never forgot that dream nor the life-changing period that transpired after having it. This is a season of dreams, of slowing down, of rest and restoration. Aquarius season is one of innovation and protecting what is important to us.
May this new moon bring about clarity in choice and direction for you, wherever you are going.
stay inspired.
ursidae
