New Moon at 28°43’ Capricorn, 19h51 UTC, 18th January 2026

Venus moves into Aquarius12h43 UTC, 17th January 2026

This first New Moon of the calendar year takes place in the final degrees of Capricorn, a practical, ambitious, reserved and sometimes almost priestly sign. Capricorn is ruled by Saturn. It has links with property, career and structures – both social and physical. In our bodies it represents our bones – the skeleton, that gives shape to the rest. It is pragmatic and principled – not always an easy combination. 

Just the previous day, Venus escaped from the ongoing planetary conjunction in Capricorn and moved into Aquarius. This shift heralds a change in our values and a bid for freedom and equality.

Suddenly there is Air in the chart and with it a new sense of detachment, idealism and honesty. On a personal level, we are probably feeling more sociable. There is now the hint of light at the end of the tunnel. We are looking at freedom.

Venus is in mutual reception with Uranus reiterating the idea of a release from something, which could be physical or philosophical. There is the promise of liberation, which will only be intensified when Venus meets Pluto on the 19th January. 

This combination could suggest a struggle for power, a new determination or questions around money and values, as Venus – representing our values, relationships and our desires – makes her annual deep-dive into the underworld and returns transformed.

This is a busy time. A time for planting seeds and working behind the scenes as we prepare for the changes that are about to happen and try to ensure that we are ready for whatever this transitional year may bring.

As the New Moon perfects, the luminaries (Moon & Sun) have completed their trine to Uranus, and so the vision of change is embedded in the new seeds we are planting. This offers the real possibility that things could now be different.

Just before the Moon meets the Sun, she passes through Mars and Mercury, together at 26° Capricorn, which tells us that our thoughts and our driving energy are strategic and purposeful, directed at building something solid. 

Now with its themes of creating something long-lasting to take us forward, the Capricorn Sun and Moon move to work with Neptune-the-Nebulous in the final degree of Pisces, to broaden their scope and say one final prayer for the future, before Neptune shifts into Aries on 26th January and this time of deep dreaming has passed.

Think carefully about what you are planting this weekend and in the days following the New Moon. This is a time for careful planning of things that can be realistically implemented.

Dreams are fine – necessary even – but they need to be carefully measured against our physical and material reality.

Set your intention on the evening of 18th January (in Europe), then make your wish and begin putting plans into operation as the crescent Moon appears in the western sky.