Oh, January.
You always feel like a month of Mondays. Blue Mondays. The shorter, colder days that are slowly, almost imperceptibly getting longer. The longer, colder nights that are slowly, almost imperceptibly getting shorter. And the promise of warmth in the coming spring.
Then there’s the obligatory paying of the proverbial piper after the midwinter holidays. We are warming up to the idea of getting back to some semblance of our daily disciplines around diet and nutrition, exercise, and everything else that is necessary for maintaining our physical and mental health. We are picking up where we left off in the karmic work of strengthening and fine-tuning our relationships—especially with our nearest and dearest, given the revelations of the holiday season. In addition, there are the normal bills to pay, plus the extra ones from holiday spending. And don’t forget the tax preparation and payments!
Now factor in the high-stakes, high-drama, pomp and circumstance that accompany the changes in our governmental administration and all the fear and disruption that entails. This year has an additional complication in that more and more guard rails are coming off the fragile road that is our democracy, as we sacrifice our democracy for an authoritarian oligarchy and trade truth and fact-checking for free speech. Much more chaos and confusion is sure to come, as an unprecedented struggle intensifies to maintain our individual rights, freedoms, and ability to learn what’s actually happening anywhere, on any issue, at any given time.
It’s a lot.
It’s just a lot.
The challenge before us at the January New Moon is learning how to find hope, joy, gratitude, and meaning amidst this mind-numbing, soul-crushing reality. Fortunately, the New Moon is in Aquarius, ruler of the mental processes that contain and control our emotions. And this is not just a solitary or spiritual or astrological event, thank you very much. This New Moon also falls on both the Lunar Imbolc and the Chinese New Year, meaning the opportunities to make lemonade out of anything that even remotely resembles a lemon are more powerful now than usual.
Let’s look at its component parts so we can map the best path forward.
The New Moon occurs when the Sun and the Moon are exactly conjunct in a sign. This year’s Aquarius New Moon occurs on January 29 at 4:36 a.m. Pacific Time. Also in Aquarius are Pluto and Mercury, impelling us to live and communicate from a deeper place—specifically, a stronger, clearer, more egalitarian, more humanitarian place.
Because Aquarius rules community, the New Moon in Aquarius calls us toward our circle and away from private concerns. It reminds us of the sacredness of collaboration and collectivity. The tricky part right now is that it is difficult to collaborate and commune in these turbulent times, when so many are accentuating our differences rather than our similarities.
This calls for a three-part strategy:
Get clear on whether or not all parties involved want to try to create consensus. Assuming that they all do is the single greatest mistake folks are making right now.
Work with everyone, not just those interested in consensus, in order to learn how to have calm, rational, adult conversations about difficult topics—especially in the areas where we disagree. This is how we can get closer to consensus.
Continue to search for and cultivate new allies with whom to network and to live our shared values.
With so much energy in communal and community-oriented Aquarius, you may need to be really mindful here for two reasons. First, during the next month, there will be moments when you will need to be in the warm, nurturing, evolving circles of the various families to which you belong. Second, you need to acknowledge that your communities have changed.
And how.
For most of us, it is difficult to grasp how dramatically those in our communities, and therefore the communities themselves, have changed. So, give yourself plenty of time and space and grace to come to terms with that. Given that, there will be moments when you will need to be solo, moments that others may not understand. Take the time to calmly, patiently, lovingly, and clearly articulate your needs to others. The skills you develop now will be instrumental during the upcoming Chinese Year of the Wood Snake.
According to the Chinese calendar, 2025 is the Year of the Wood Snake. Like the Lunar Imbolc, the Chinese New Year is based on the cycles of the Moon and is considered a spring festival, a planting festival. Technically, Chinese New Year celebrations begin on the second New Moon after the Winter Solstice. In Chinese astrology, the Snake is a symbol of wisdom, but it is a very specific kind of wisdom. It’s not the kind of wisdom that comes from books, education, training, and study. It’s a more spiritual kind of wisdom, a more righteous kind of wisdom. It’s the kind of wisdom that comes from individual contemplation, reflection, introspection, and personal growth—and the strategies for further growth that are born of them. Give yourself permission to take advantage of these opportunities throughout 2025, but especially during the next month.
Another factor is the Lunar Imbolc. Like the other seven divisions of the Wheel of the Year, Imbolc is rooted in nature and the seasonal cycles of fertility. Situated halfway between the Winter Solstice and the Spring Equinox, Imbolc is one of four Cross-Quarter Days and the first of the three planting festivals.
Considered to be a turning point, there are usually two Imbolcs: the Gregorian Imbolc (February 2 every year) and the Lunar Imbolc (this year on January 29). Now is the time to begin to flesh out the insights we gained during both our harvest season assessments and the visioning we did at midwinter. At this time, we lean back into the resilient practices of our ancestors in order to prepare the soil and plant the first seeds of our hopes and dreams for what is to come, literally and figuratively.
Together, the Chinese New Year, the Aquarius New Moon, and the Lunar Imbolc create a space of connection, celebration, exploration... and surrender. But this is a surrender in the most traditionally Buddhist way possible. Why? Because life has a magical way of taking us to two kinds of places. One is exactly where we said we would never go. The other is exactly where you never, ever, ever, ever, ever expected or imagined you would go. When you find yourself in those places, on a bad day, it can sometimes feel like an extraordinary rendition, whether it is actually good for you or not. But on a good day, it can be a sense of freedom and communion like no other—the core values of Aquarius.
For now, and throughout 2025, commit to spending a balanced amount of time with community and in solitary silence and seeking. Visualize yourself feeling loved in a life of meaning and joy. Ask your Gods, guides, guardians, angels, archangels, and ancestors to guide your thoughts, your actions, your words, and your deeds, so you can have that life—and only that kind of life. Listen to what they say, listen to the answers you receive, and trust them. Take the actions you need to take to get that life. And if you get stuck, call me.
We’ll figure it out.
Calendar
Below are some of the dates when your opportunities for wizardry, magic, and alchemy will be the greatest, and some generic wisdom about them.
January 29
Lunar Imbolc
New Moon in Aquarius
Chinese and Tibetan New Years: The Year of the Wood Snake (introspection, strategies, and personal growth)
January 30
Uranus goes Direct 23° Taurus
February 2
Imbolc
Candlemas, Groundhog Day
February 3
Venus moves into Aries
February 4
Jupiter goes Direct at 11° Gemini
February 12
Full Moon in Leo (also known as the Snow Moon, Ice Moon, Hunger Moon, and Budding Moon)
February 14
Mercury moves into Pisces
Saint Valentines Day
February 15
Rosh HaShanah La'Ilanot/Tu B’Shevat/New Year of the Trees
February 17
President’s Day
February 18
Sun moves into Pisces
February 23
Mars goes Direct at 17° Cancer
February 27
New Moon in Pisces, Eclipse Prelude Period begins
February 28
Mercury Retrograde Prelude Period begins
