At 5:45am PDT, the Moon will meet up with the Sun at 28° Libra, kicking off a lunar cycle that is very different from all the lunations we’ve had this year. In Libra, we focus on love, harmony, balance, peace, right relationship, and fairness in mediation. But more importantly, this is where we understand the law of mirrored consciousness. Everything we perceive outside ourselves reflects what’s inside us, as we each hold up our end of the collective. If there is war in the world, there is also war within. Yet we get to decide which thread in that tapestry we choose to weave. Keep that front and center in your mind and heart today, and throughout this lunar cycle.
Venus rules this lunation, as Libra is one of her home signs. Just three hours later, at 8:43am PDT, the Moon moves into Scorpio, drops into the Underworld, and Pluto immediately looms large over this cycle. This is a true Persephone and Hades moment. Persephone (Venus) invites us into love and harmony, for that is her way as maiden. But then Hades (Pluto) arrives to pull us into the depths. And here’s the rub: this New Moon has the power to launch all of us in new, slightly altered directions through a very tight Yod, described below. If we trust the healings of this wild year and make small, courageous, and sincere intentions, we can steer our lives toward greater love without turning away from the death and rebirth required to embody new consciousness.
Starting with this lunation, each New Moon will occur with the Sun in one sign, but the Full Moon of the same cycle will land in the next. This pattern will last through the spring of 2027. It’s another way Persephone surrenders to Pluto, dying to her old self to be reborn as Queen of the Underworld. Tomorrow night, the Sun moves into Scorpio, Pluto’s domain, so while the Sun and Moon conjoin in Libra’s peace, they soon dive together into the cauldron of transformation. This lunar cycle begins with love and balance, but the weeks ahead may bring profound shifts.
The Sun and Moon form a fairly tight Square with Pluto, so the promise of love, harmony, and balance is ours, but at a cost. This is a transit of deep change, and the geometry of the Square places our conscious awareness and our fear of transformation in direct tension. There’s purpose in this, as you’ll see below: Venus rules this New Moon and the cycle ahead, but Pluto stands close by her side, promising greater love if we face the fires of transformation with courage.
The Yod is a navigational term, and it’s also the name of the pointer used by Jews to read the Torah without touching the sacred scrolls. As a sailing metaphor, the boat makes a subtle turn to catch the wind. In astrology, it’s likewise a navigating pattern, and when it appears, it signals moments where small shifts now can carry us to entirely different territory later. Under this New Moon, deepen your commitment to leading with love. A simple internal adjustment made now has the power to steer you toward new ground where love, transformation, and outrageous (and scary) change can coexist.
The apex of a Yod – its point of focus – holds the power, for it’s the energy that leads the way. With the apex being the New Moon itself, this configuration influences all of us at a collective level, though each of us will experience our own version of this potential course correction. The Sextile side of the pattern, the motor that powers the Yod, includes Uranus in Gemini, suggesting that small changes can bring sudden awakenings, realizing what needs to be released, or finding the courage to let go of something you’ve been resisting.
The other side of the Yod features Saturn in Pisces, reminding us that wisdom comes from within. Close beside him is Neptune, still in the fire sign of Aries, where our beliefs and ideologies ignite new spiritual consciousness to support inspired forward motion. But just 21 hours later, Neptune drops back into Pisces, taking that fiery vision inward again, as Saturn instructs us to ground it. By the time we reach the Full Moon of this cycle, Uranus will move back into Taurus just after that lunation. We begin this lunar cycle with the combustion of fire and air. But as it closes, temperance returns, the disruptive energy settles, and we are pulled inward again into the stabilizing elements of water and earth.
There are ways a Yod can be amplified, and one of them is known as a Boomerang Yod. This occurs when a planet sits opposite the apex, acting as a release point that channels the Yod’s energy even more powerfully. In this case, the Sun and Moon, our conscious awareness and unconscious impulses unified as the Self, form the apex, and the planet catching that projection is Chiron. This Opposition creates a potent opportunity for healing and integration, made even more transformational because the Sun has been opposing Chiron for several days, helping us see more clearly who we are and what still needs attention. Old wounds are ready to be excavated so we can move forward with greater grace.
Mercury and Mars are Conjunct in Scorpio, so body and mind, walk and talk, are changing as we go. We want to allow ourselves to surrender to that without the stability of knowing where the world is heading. We are transforming right alongside the Earth herself. This is a fortuitous Conjunction that carries the theme of deep change even further, as the shadow point Black Moon Lilith is also in Scorpio, close enough to join the party. No one escapes the ongoing need to submit to the uncomfortable work of excavating the inner landscape, freeing ourselves from the fears of expansion that hold us back.
Speaking of expansion, Mercury and Mars are also Trining Jupiter, exalted in Cancer. This tells a story of abundance and prosperity arising from the energy of this New Moon. Jupiter brings the bounty, so when walk and talk align with our power to manifest what we desire, it’s a blessing. Both Mercury and Mars also form Trines to Saturn and the North Node in Pisces, creating a Grand Water Trine, a vortex of creative flow. We can walk our talk (Mars/Mercury), trust the universe’s generosity (Jupiter), and pour our passion directly into the structures we’re building (Saturn), guiding us toward our inevitable future (North Node).
Neptune in Aries is also receiving the thrust of energy from the Grand Water Trine, but within the lunation itself, Neptune is on fire. A few hours after the New Moon, the Moon moves into Scorpio, extending this Trine for several days. Less than twenty-four hours later, Neptune in Aries falls back into his home turf of Pisces. This shift takes the fiery intentions fueled by belief and ideology and turns them inward, reminding us that more introspection and preparation are needed before we can truly launch into the cannon of change that next year will bring.
The transition between today and the next two days will be dramatic. The New Moon chart is dense with cardinal air, initiation energy expressed through the intellect. By Thursday, it will have shifted to fixed water, holding us in a metaphorical immersion while the emotional currents help us to purge and cleanse. Set beautiful and loving intentions, and then prepare to do the work of transformation that will make those intentions real.
This is a true top-of-the-wheel / bottom-of-the-wheel moment. Love, beauty, and harmony are our aspiration, yet so too must be the willingness to descend into the basement of the psyche to wrestle once more with the shadow. The Sun in Scorpio and the Full Moon ahead invite this death-rebirth process, trusting that the surrender is worth the leap. But remember, we begin with love, as Venus in Libra right now reminds us so clearly. And then, prepare for alchemy. Have at it!
