Every 29.5 days the fast-moving Moon catches up to the Sun and begins a new monthly cycle. This is called the New Moon and we have one coming up very late this Saturday or early Sunday, depending upon where you are. This conjunction of the Sun and Moon occurs in the unconventional sign of Aquarius where veering off in strange directions is appropriate. It’s an opportunity to cut loose of the past, or at least some of the memories that hang us up. Aquarius is cool, independent and detached — ideal for learning to live in the present while thinking about the future.

However, one of the crazy quirks of Aquarius is that it’s a sign that believes in community but demands the freedom to act independently. Therefore this New Moon can stimulate ideas about volunteering for a cause and working for a group while inciting people to break out the limitations imposed on them by others. The connection of this seeming contradiction between being a team player and a solo star is free will. Aquarius is about having the liberty to act as we wish, which can include making sacrifices for the greater good if that’s a person’s choice. Participation should never be mandatory when this sign is present.

There is, though, an isolated side to Aquarius, which accompanies independence and originality. Freedom sounds like a great concept but it’s often experienced as alienation, leaving one with the sense of being out in the cold. This New Moon makes that possibility even stronger because it forms a hard 90-degree square with the Moon Nodes. The Nodes are the connecting points of the Sun, Moon and Earth. Planets square to them are often difficult to integrate into relationships. The experience of being the outsider, which can feel good when we want it, underscores the potential for estrangement in chilly Aquarius.

Cheers to new beginnings

Still, the fundamental gift of any New Moon is the potential for a fresh start. This is particularly so with this lunation in original Aquarius. But the price to be paid may be that we have to go through some kind of separation with the past. It could be breaking connections with someone, leaving a job behind, radically altering one’s style, discovering new social interests or making a major shift in beliefs and aspirations. Doing one of these may be a necessary first step on a new road of discovery.

Those who love us and know us best are often resistant (consciously or not) to our radical changes. It threatens the stability of their world and can be interpreted as a mistake. Yet the biggest mistake we humans may be making is the failure to question our habits, goals and values. We could be on a path of destruction that will undermine the intellectual and material progress of the past millennia if we fail to change course. The steps that we take as individuals to liberate ourselves from outmoded patterns supply the ingenuity and creative juice that just might help our species to find a necessary new direction.