Menu
  • Home
        • Scorpio Full Moon: Answered Prayers

          Scorpio Full Moon: Answered Prayers

          The Scorpio Full Moon invites us to feel and pray deeply. As the passionate Scorpio Moon opposes the powerhouse Taurus …Read More »
        • Scorpio Full Moon: Be a Beautiful Godzilla

          Scorpio Full Moon: Be a Beautiful Godzilla

          Before performing whatever ritual you have planned at this Scorpio Full Moon, activate your most magnetic qualities. If you were …Read More »
        • Scorpio Full Moon: Stories of Magic

          Scorpio Full Moon: Stories of Magic

          I am weirdly (among my astrologer friends, anyway) skeptical about magic, which is perhaps why my forays into ritual so …Read More »
    • Close
  • Free Astrology
    Chart
  • Your Birth
    Moon Phase
  • Dana’s Moon
    Workshop
  • The Astrology
    of Bliss
  • Astrology
    Reports
  • Sessions
    with Dana
          • Astrology Readings With Dana

            Astrology Readings With Dana

            I believe in life, in the archetypes, and the capacity of people to write better and better stories for themselves. …Read More »
          • Astrology Mentoring

            Astrology Mentoring

            Are you an astrology student who’d like to turn pro? Hoping to read charts with greater insight and accuracy? Desiring a boost in confidence? …Read More »
          • Boundaries & Emotional Mastery Sessions

            Boundaries & Emotional Mastery Sessions

            From the beginning, my 12th House Moon has attracted plenty of likeminded spirits I call “energy sensitives,” whose intuitively gifted natures benefit …Read More »
    • Close
  • Books
    • [Widget Area]
          • Dana's eBooks

            Dana's eBooks

            Dana’s writing… brings the meaning of the planets to life like no other writer in this field. She’s the Meryl Streep of astrological writers: …” Jeff Jawer, The Mountain Astrologer …Read More »
          • Free eBooks

            Free eBooks

            “It took me years to learn each of these simple principles, and with each one, my Moon practice deepened. May they do the same for you!” …Read More »
          • Books We Love

            Books We Love

            Looking for a good read? Mooncircles authors share a few of the great books on their shelves. Read More »
    • Close
  • Store

Mooncircles

Moon Astrology

Current Moon Ritual
  • Contact
  • Subscribe
  • View Cart
  • Facebook
  • Instagram

Aries New Moon: The Taming

By April Elliott Kent

There’s more than a hint of madness in this New Moon in Aries, with the Sun and Moon conjoined Uranus and square Pluto. Everyone seems busy and overwhelmed to the point of exhaustion. It’s as though we’re suffering from collective adrenal exhaustion.

Each day I wonder why I’m not getting more done, but when I look at my schedule it’s clear that I’m doing plenty, even if it’s not exactly what I’d wanted to accomplish. My appointment calendar is covered with my scrawling, failing penmanship. My days are filled to brimming, even if my bank account is not.

There is some work recorded there, some meetings and appointments and deadlines. But plenty of what fills my days is not written down anywhere. Troubling phone calls about people I love. The  annual ritual—emotionally complicated—of gathering my business profit-and-loss information for our tax return. The specter of major life transitions looming just ahead in the distance.

My book is full, my life is hectic, but so much of it is just stuff that makes me want to run away. Is this what is means to have the New Moon point conjoined Uranus, and square Pluto—demoralizing pressure and longing for freedom?

We start out as wild horses, all of us, and life is the process by which we’re tamed. Some of us are civilized by gentle masters who teach us restraint without breaking our spirits. Others were brutalized by cruel circumstances that taught us to trample everything in our paths. Most of us have encountered both types of master; some days we gallop, and some days we trample.

It’s been a hard couple of years, and plenty of us are restive, nearly ready to stampede. Mars, the planetary ruler of Aries, has been transiting Capricorn, one of its strongest signs, since mid-March. But last week, it met up with Saturn, its energetic opposite and equally strong in Capricorn. It was a tough week for lots of people; it seemed that the harder one tried to give full rein to Mars’ feisty enthusiasm, the more insistently Saturn threw out a bony arm of restraint. Frankly, putting Mars in such an uncomfortable situation, and then placing the New Moon in Aries at the apex of a tremendously stressful configuration, is tantamount to a cosmic dare.

For years now, astrologers have been writing about the epic square that has unfolded between Uranus in Aries and Pluto in Capricorn. In the early days of this transit, it was more or less assumed that the world would erupt in a fiery conflagration of apocalyptic terror and suffering that would leave us slack-jawed with horror. Every day a Pearl Harbor, a 9/11.

There have been terrible moments, both collectively and personally. For many of us, though, it’s been a less showy but sustained planetary campaign of breaking us down and shaking us up. We see it on stages large and small, in our weather and in our politics, in our relationships and our careers. Some of us are having a much harder time than others, but no one is unaffected. Uranus and Pluto are both brutal masters.

Even at the best of times, the Aries season does not lend itself naturally to coping with frustration, delay, or restraint. And these are hardly the best of times. With Mars like a convict released from Saturn’s prison, the Sun and Moon square Pluto, and Uranus in Aries getting itchy as it prepares to enter a new sign in May, this New Moon is the celestial equivalent of picking a fight with someone whom you know is particularly volatile and thin-skinned: will the result be violence, or a lesson in restraint?

Some days, it may seem that we are all minutes away from merging with the infinite. For all I know, that may even be the case. But my belief is that what is happening outside us and around us is a reflection of what is inside us: wild horses, forces of spontaneity and freedom, in direct conflict with powerful forces of control. Some of these forces must be resisted, because the alternative is a loss of joyful freedom. But sometimes, control can be our friend, helping us harness our energy and strength to accomplish more than we’d dreamed possible.

We have wild, Uranus in Aries horses within us; and with Pluto in Capricorn, society is transforming in a way that challenges the primacy of unbridled individuality. It’s for each of us to decide whether our horses need taming or setting free—and to find the gentlest way to make it happen.

Filed under:

About April Elliott Kent

April Elliott Kent is the author of Astrological Transits (Fair Winds Press), The Essential Guide to Practical Astrology (Alpha/Penguin), and Star Guide to Weddings (Llewellyn). She has contributed articles to The Mountain Astrologer and Dell Horoscope magazines and Llewellyn's Moon Sign, Sun Sign, and Sabbat annuals. April is member of ISAR, NCGR, and OPA and is a past President of the San Diego Astrological Society. Her weekly Big Sky Astrology Podcast can be found on iTunes and wherever you listen to podcasts. Read more of April's articles at BigSkyAstrology.com

Leave a Reply Cancel reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *

Subscribe

The Moon is in its
Full Phase

in the
Sign of Capricorn


Today's Lunar Aspects (Greenwich Mean Time)
(subtract: PST -8 hours, PDT -7 hours, EST -5 hours, EDT -4 hours)

  • Moon square Neptune, 10:55pm  May 15 2025
  • Moon trine Mercury, 5:29pm  May 16 2025
  • Moon square Venus, 5:45pm  May 16 2025

Venus is currently
The Morning Star

in the sign of Aries


Enroll in Dana Gerhardt’s Moon Workshop!
Your Venus Unleashed!
Moonshadow Eclipse Report
Moonprints Lunar Report
Steven Forrest’s Transit/Progression report
Mary Shea’s Solar Return report
John Townley’s Lunar Return report

© 2000 - 2025 Mooncircles.com

Astrologers use a variety of house systems, or methods of dividing up the sky into twelve sections. I use the Porphyry house system; another popular house system is Placidus (this is the default on https://astro.com). If the chart I send you looks different from what you are used to seeing, then likely a system other than Porphyry was used. Whole signs, Equal House, Regiomantus, and Campanus are examples of other systems. If you find all of this confusing, do not worry. It is likely not critical to your report.

m  Conjunction:  Like peas in a pod, planets in conjunction tend to come from the same place. They act together, but it’s also hard to tell them apart. This aspect can increase talent, focus, and intensity (“two are better than one”). Or one planet can disappear as the other dominates. Their connection feels so natural, it’s easy to think everyone blends these planetary energies just as you do—but mostly, they don’t!.

p  Sextile:  Planets in sextile are compatible, though without any fireworks. This aspect doesn’t demand your attention. It quietly presents an opportunity. You can join these archetypal forces. Donna Cunningham has called this the “Oh, that!” aspect, because that’s generally what her clients say when she describes their benefits.  To get the most from sextiles you need to actively work them.

q  Square:  Squares are wild and wonderful—but difficult too. The power struggle between these planets was likely defined in your youth, when they were impossibly challenging. People are usually aware of their squares. They force the issues that make you to grow. And that’s their gift. They ensure you learn your lessons. When you rise to the occasion, they bless you with energy, action, and success.

r  Trine:  Michael Munkasey has dubbed this the “goddess aspect” because it’s so lovely. Identifying talents you may have perfected in a previous life, trines can bring you joy. There’s a nice flow of energy between planets in trine. They support and reinforce each another. But without any struggle, you might take them for granted—neither using nor developing their gifts. An unattended trine can sometimes trick you into negative behaviors.

t  Inconjunct/Quincunx:  Your quincunx planets are innately incompatible. Bringing them into harmonious expression requires constant adjustments. This can be stressful, also motivating. You’ve got to keep changing your process, opinions or attitude—which promotes highly creative solutions.

u  Opposition:  They say opposites attract—and planets in opposition are never far from each other, though they’re constantly bickering. You may be triggered into awareness of this aspect by other people who seem to resist or undermine you.  An opposition can make you feel uncertain, insecure, or discontent, until you can accept and see yourself in both energies. Typically people find it easier to identify with one side and project the other onto unsuspecting others in the outer world.

First House: Personality, physical body, beginnings. Includes the Ascendant and rules physical appearance, the image you project to others, your general outlook on life, how you start things; may describe your role in your family system, often guides your first impression of immediate environment.

Second House: Money and personal finances, sense of self-worth and basic values, personal possessions, talents.

Third House: Communication, thoughts, language skills like writing and speaking, early schooling, siblings and neighbors, short trips, coming and going around town.

Fourth House: Your home, psychological foundations and roots, family, parents, domestic life, instinctive behavior, ancestry, your connection with the past, sense of security, domestic life, real estate. conditions at the end of life.

Fifth House: Children, creativity, romance; pleasure, entertainment, self-expression; all forms of “play”, speculation, gambling, and attitude towards taking risks; hobbies, attitude towards romance, lovers as opposed to partners, attitude towards having fun.

Sixth House: Work and job (as opposed to career), daily life, attitude towards service and coworkers, helpfulness, pets, attitude towards routine and organization, how you refine and perfect your skills.

Seventh House: Partnerships, one-to-one relationships, marriage, the first marriage, the “significant other”, business partnerships, competitors, open enemies, lawyers, mediators, counselors, contracts, negotiations, agreements. clients/the public.

Eighth House: Transformations and crisis, your ability to meet and rebound from crisis and change, sexuality; sex, death and rebirth, rituals and personal growth, your partner’s resources, addictions, psychology, other people’s money, taxes, divorce/alimony, inheritance.

Ninth House: Attitude toward expanding horizons, religious beliefs and personal philosophy, higher education, long-distance travel, morals, foreign languages and cultures, personal truths, publishing, commerce, advertising, your sense of adventure.

Tenth House: Career and profession, your contribution to society, social status, public reputation, material success, how you carve out a public identity for yourself; attitude toward authority figures, parents, caregivers, bosses, governments, attitude towards responsibility, desire for achievement.

Eleventh House: Friends, groups, organizations; hopes, wishes, aspirations, personal goals; your philanthropic attitude, concern for the collective, humanity; like tenth, can bring recognition and honors for fulfilling hopes and dreams.

Twelfth House: What’s hidden beneath the surface, karmic dustbin, limiting childhood/past-life messages, self-undoing, hidden enemies, hidden weaknesses, dreams, secret affairs, lost items, hospitals and prisons, hidden strengths, spiritual studies and soul growth.

A  Sun: Our vitality and magnetism; self-identity, ego.
Roles: The Self, the Hero, the Performer, the King.

B  Moon: Intuition, emotion, nurture.
Roles: The Mother, the High Priestess, the Child.

C  Mercury: Mind; physical dexterity and mental agility.
Roles: The Thinker, the Communicator, the Student, the Trickster, the Merchant, the Thief.

D  Venus: Our capacity for pleasure, receptivity, creativity, and social connection. Also indicates our relationships, self esteem, and financial abundance.
Roles: The Lover, the Seductress, the Artist.

E  Mars: Desire, initiative, anger.
Roles: The Protector, the Athlete, the Warrior.

F  Jupiter: Luck, opportunity, expansion, higher learning, religion.
Roles: The Scholar, the Gypsy, the Traveler, the Monk, the Professor.

G  Saturn: Hard work, commitment, focus, inadequacy, leadership, suffering, loss.
Roles: The Task Master, the Grim Reaper, the Wise Old Man, the Builder, the Cynic, the Boss.

H  Uranus: Change, breakthroughs, upsets, discoveries.
Roles: The Revolutionary, the Humanitarian, the Visionary, the Snob.

I  Neptune: Imagination, spirituality, idealism, addictions, deception, compassion.
Roles: The Artist, the Romantic, the Guru, the Addict, the Martyr, the Victim.

J  Pluto: Transformation, power, psychological dynamics, helplessness.
Roles: The Terrorist, the Detective, the Psychotherapist, the Dictator, shady people.

a  Aries: Pioneering, competitive, selfish, impatient, courageous, reckless, independent, dynamic, domineering, “Me first!”

b  Taurus: Patient, stable, lazy, dependable, practical, sensual, stubborn, artistic, possessive, greedy, gentle, loyal.

c  Gemini: Intelligent, curious, adaptable, quick-witted, restless, clever, scatterbrained, lacking follow-through.

d  Cancer: Nourishing, intuitive, protective, moody, sensitive, maternal, domestic, childish, cautious, creative.

e  Leo: Proud, dignified, vain, expressive, romantic, generous, childish, overbearing, self-assured, creative.

f  Virgo: Perfection-seeking, practical, methodical, petty, critical, studious, discriminating, cautious, never satisfied.

g  Libra: Charming, sociable, peace-loving, refined, diplomatic, artistic, indecisive, apathetic, easily deterred.

h  Scorpio: Passionate, secretive, penetrating, resourceful, suspicious, manipulative, jealous, sarcastic, intolerant, determined, aware.

i  Sagittarius: Freedom-loving, philosophical, optimistic, enthusiastic, careless, impatient, talkative, a know-it-all, broadminded, athletic, honest.

j  Capricorn: Serious, responsible, practical, hardworking, stubborn, brooding, inhibited, status-conscious, domineering, unforgiving.

k  Aquarius: Progressive, individualistic, unpredictable, cold, intellectual, artistic, eccentric, shy, impersonal, scientific.

l  Pisces: Compassionate, intuitive, ungrounded, romantic, impractical, self-sacrificing, seductive, musical, artistic.