Sagittarius New Moon, 2024
(Originally published on 11/30/2024)
Hi friends,
Tonight at 10:22pm (PST) we will have a new moon in the sign of Sagittarius.
Since I last wrote to you, we entered Sagittarius season, Mercury turned retrograde, and Pluto entered Aquarius for good—no more retrogrades into Capricorn, we’ve got Pluto in Aquarius now for the next twenty years.
We are still in the Mercury/Jupiter opposition I mentioned in my last letter, but as always retrograde changes the flavor. It is almost too easy now to bring up old hurts and past worries. But remember that Sagittarius is Jupiter’s sign; it asks us to be generous and wise, if not also a bit unhinged. Hopefully, what’s coming up for us is coming up in the spirit of understanding. It might be best to assume that that’s what everyone around us has going on, too.
Those of you who have spoken to me about Mercury retrograde know I love to joke about The Ex In The Inbox. If you get one, will you let me know? For science.
I know I really don’t have to say this in the week of thanksgiving, but, you know, it might be hard for a lot of us to keep our communication sweet and straightforward at the same time. With Mars and Pluto still staring each other down we don’t need to be getting into it if we don’t want to transform our relationships with our family members, though it’s possible that we will find that our boundaries demand to be defended. Remember that Mars is in its retrograde shadow until December 6th, so anything you do now will come up again and again for the next few months. Open only the cans of worms you intend on fishing with. This theme will hit closest to home if you have a fixed sign rising in your chart (Taurus, Leo, Scorpio, Aquarius).
This new moon will have the intention of reflecting out our generosity and care for each other, but that care might have to be translated in a much less warm manner than we would like. This will probably feel easier for those of us with day charts, but regardless, expect some cold water to be thrown on a warm gesture, or an obstacle to arise when you want to do something nice, and try not to take it to heart if you don’t need to.
We are at the first quarter of a Saturn/Jupiter cycle that started just before covid came around, and I think in the next little bit here we will see a development in that story. I’m eyeing this bird flu stuff and hoping we take it seriously. Not to scare y’all, but it’s important that we don’t leave these things out just because they’re scary. I do think it might be time to buy a big pack of masks and stock up the home pharmacy. And, I don’t know, do we need to stop eating chicken and eggs? Someone clue me in here.
And Pluto. I can’t write this letter without mentioning him. We have begun a new era with Pluto in Aquarius. The last time Pluto was in this sign were the years 1778-1798. Kind of a busy time. Lots of revolutions if I’m remembering correctly.
I recommend that you take a look at your chart and consider the houses that hold Capricorn and Aquarius, and take note of any placements you have there. Capricorn is where Pluto has been since 2008. What transformation has happened there for you? If you have a cardinal sign rising (Aries, Cancer, Libra, Capricorn) or if you have personal placements (Sun and Moon especially, but also Mercury, Venus, Mars, or your ascendant) there, I am certain it has rocked your world for a while. If you feel like sharing about that experience, I would love to hear about it. Our fixed sign friends could use a heads up about what this next transit will be like.
To paraphrase a favorite astrologer of mine (queercosmos on instagram), Pluto in Capricorn had a lot of flavors of toxic independence. I hope that Pluto in Aquarius can shift that. My hope for you and me and everyone we know and love is that we will remember that we thrive together. No matter how much our culture has been gaslighting us about being independent and self-made and blah blah blah blah nonsense, I hope we remember that humans are truly social creatures and our lives are not meant to be lived without each other. I’ve been around a lot of folks who care about community in the last few years and I’m feeling very grateful for that. I’ve seen a lot of folks, myself included, learn how to ask for what they need in order to participate in things we otherwise would have avoided. I hope that Pluto in Aquarius lets us remember that we are meant to be a little too close, that we are meant to need each other, to ask, to want, to give, to be willingly inconvenient and inconvenienced. Pluto distorts and shifts, Aquarius is social convention. I think this is our time to grow, together, into whatever it is we need to be to survive all the other stuff that’s coming. That’s my hope. I will be including that hope in my moon wishes this time, and probably from here on out too.
For our moon wishes tonight we are working with the sign of Sagittarius, and we are setting intentions for things that have not yet happened. When we talk about Sagittarius, we are talking about Jupiter’s fire sign—we’re talking about generosity, exploration, higher learning, basically anything to do with making curiosity into a spiritual experience.
I tried to write sign-based prompts this time but I’m feeling a bit burnt out. I hope you’ll forgive me. The important thing is to remember that your moon wish needs to be visualized, it needs to be tangible, and with Sagittarius we really gotta ask for something big because it only sees the big picture. Ask to go on a trip. Ask to find a cool new class to take. Ask for inspiration. Ask for the audacity.
My moon wish is to grow as an astrologer. So I want to ask y’all for something even though honestly it’s a bit terrifying to ask at all.
I want to attend the Northwest Astrological Conference in May. My ask of y’all is to help me afford the ticket to go. It would be very meaningful to me to get to attend with your help. If you feel like you could spare $10, or $15, or $1! Anything helps get me there. My Venmo is @Alanna-ONeill and the confirmation number is 0263. Thank you.
And, just in general, thank you for reading.
Sending you so much love,
Alanna