newsletter archive: between stone and sky: from capricorn to aquarius
- Katie Ussery
- Jan 18
- 13 min read
Sent: January 18th 2026
This week, the inner planet stellium that has been transiting Capricorn for the last month will start to move into Aquarius one by one, acting as a threshold into our eclipse season. Venus enters on January 17th, the Sun on the 19th, Mercury on the 20th where it will cazimi on the 21st, and Mars on the 23rd. Each will pass through Pluto upon arrival and each will square Uranus (who stations direct on February 3rd) before leaving. We’ll have a Full Moon in Leo that activates the stellium on February 1st, and while Mercury and Venus will have moved into Pisces already, our first Solar Eclipse in Aquarius takes place on February 17th.
Before all of that though, the planets are gathered in communion to lay a foundation at the New Moon in Capricorn. These stelliums are working hard to aid us in a few important planetary transitions, let’s break it all down.
// SATURN-NEPTUNE //
Like Capricorn, Aquarius is ruled by Saturn and of course, one of the most important transits of 2026 is the Saturn-Neptune conjunction at 0º Aries. You may have experienced the 2026 Capricorn season as a forced revisiting of past experiences as these transits have been ruled by Saturn conjoined to Neptune in the final degrees of Pisces. Not only is this shutting a door to the last 2.5 years and 14 years of the transits themselves, but to the larger 29.5 years of the Saturn cycle and 165 years of the Neptune cycle through the entire zodiacal wheel. Endings like these rarely come without grief and this month has been an acknowledgment, a moment to process the many cycles that are culminating now. Neptune will move into Aries on January 26th while Saturn in Pisces stays as the ruler of the Aquarius stellium until February 13th when it moves into Aries, signaling that we are still tying up loose ends and that actually, we cannot leave the current Saturnian journey without guidance from the Aquarian sector of our charts.
Saturn is often about not being able to move in the way that you want to and this especially the case in Aries, a Mars ruled sign that emphasizes movement, agency, and identity. As Saturn passes over particular placements in the natal chart, limitations of all kinds appear to starve out effort, commitment, and integral restructuring in areas that have been sorely neglected. Saturn is currently being deeply affected by Neptune, this has been the case in 2025 and will continue throughout the rest of 2026, Neptune is requiring Saturn and all of its foundational focus to dive into our emotional worlds, bringing definition to the greater cosmic law of pattern and mystery.
Neptune is about reenactment. It presents similar situations over and over again serving the function of projection. Not just in the way of projecting the inner world out onto others, but also as a way to watch the movie of our lives play out in front of us in a meaningful way. It can bring familiar archetypes that have been seen before, highly symbolic characters and situations that can make even a skeptic a believer in all that is woo. Neptune’s presence is about reminders, asking us to engage with our most cherished dreams and worst nightmares in order to work something out, to heal from the original wound or to anchor a vision. It requires surrender too, especially conjoined to Saturn. If you try to escape this work, running away from the nightmare or the beautiful dream, it will find you again. These longer transits make so many passes over the same degrees for so many years, Neptune promises to outrun you. The great thing about this being the second pass over the beginning degrees of Aries is that we already saw the preview last year between March and August, we are more prepared for it this time.
// THE NEW MOON IN CAPRICORN //
I see this lunation as the first real recovery season after Pluto. Yes, Pluto moved into Aquarius over a year ago right before 2025’s Capricorn season, but ascension from the underworld takes time. These are 15-20 year long transits that mark the majority of our life’s work and no house, planet, or sign is the same after its descent into Pluto’s realm. This does not mean that this New Moon or that this month has been easy– it just means that even during the harder moments, it has ultimately been more constructive than destructive like these transits have been in the past.
On January 18th, the New Moon in Capricorn perfects as Mercury and Mars conjoin for the third time since October 2025 after this series of cazimis and Jupiter oppositions. It has been a heightened time for assessing our commitments as well as the why, how, and what behind them. It all calls back, again, to the Saturn-Neptune culmination and Pluto’s recent departure. A strong core is left behind, one that can withstand any challenge or loss it may face, but I think the true challenge now is to open back up to the love and safety available now that we have ascended from Pluto’s underworld in the Capricorn sector of our charts.
With Jupiter in Cancer balancing on the opposite end of the axis, it’s required emotional awareness and responsibility. How hard it is not to demonize everything around you after you have literally visited the underworld! Jupiter in Cancer has been about softening, blanketing these wounds with love. We are soldiers coming home in the Capricorn-Cancer sectors but there are challenges that come with that homecoming too. Returning to safety does not actually mean that the nightmares, battles, and fears go away, and in some ways, this is when the real work begins. This New Moon in Capricorn highlights the work of relearning safety and maturity even while triggers exist all around us. These things take time and with so much concentration in the final decan it asks us to notice where we may be hoarding and hiding or alternatively, where we are over giving, assessing our relationship to self preservation.
Throughout January, Jupiter in Cancer has opposed the Venus-Mars conjunction and cazimis. It’s very different from last year’s Mars retrograde in Cancer opposite Pluto in Capricorn. I mean, what a harsh combination. So much has been destroyed and cleared out on this axis for something new to be seeded at the time of each cazimi. Jupiter is now in Cancer, beaming and exalted, transiting the same sign that Mars wrecked through in late 2024 and early 2025 offering perspective, resources, and safer environments to fully process previous breakdowns. Mars retrogrades often bring these destructive scenarios for the purpose of realizing misaligned motivation and recalibrating through conflict. With Jupiter transiting through the same territory– which it will continue to do until Jupiter passes 6º Leo on July 31st 2026– these houses and signs are clear enough of debris to explore and expand capacity.
So, one challenge has been this Plutonian-recovery-Jupiter-as-a-balm motif, but again! Saturn-Neptune ruling this New Moon brings a theme of forced surrender (and remember, Saturn-Neptune still answers to Jupiter). The usual escape tactics are not working in the same way anymore, if you are noticing something that is repeating in your life, it may be time to stay put long enough to face what the reenactment is trying to communicate. With Mercury conjoined to Mars at the time of the New Moon, there is a special emphasis on communication, whether it is an external conversation that is happening or an internal one. Something that I have been learning more personally during this Saturn ruled Mercury season is that silence is just as informative. Even when we cannot outsource for words or closure, Mercury-Mars indicates that movement is still available and that movement doesn’t necessarily have to come through another person or entity. Mercury is a master of symbolism and language of all kinds and a withholding Saturn ruled Mercury may indicate some kind of sign language to be deciphered. Maybe it is silence that actually allows us to hear a more important voice.
The last two Mercury-Mars hits that took place on October 20th in Scorpio and November 12th in Sagittarius were both conjoined to a pre-cazimi Mars. Now, Mars has been reborn in the heart of the Sun back on January 9th just in time for the final conjunction. So much has been clarified here. Motivation, frustration and how those things give us insight into our boundaries, standards, or limitations for personal capacity. This New Moon is now engaging all of these things at once: honor and compassion for what we’ve been through, a chance to repair and find comfort, a necessary moment of facing something without running away, and clarified, intentional interpretation or communication. These are all integral to the final maturation of Saturn-Neptune and the Capricorn sector that has gone through such great evolution.
// THE AQUARIAN SHIFT //
Something new is starting on the Capricorn-Cancer axis that will take root over the larger 2 year Mars cycle, but simultaneously, something profound is happening with Leo and Aquarius.
Pluto typically teaches its evolution of a sign through some kind of violation. Its transits usually feel like a breach in trust as it breaks the rules of what was previously accepted and absolute. It strips away the innocence and blissful ignorance that a particular planet or sector used to possess, Pluto corrupts this in order to build that “solid core” that is awake and can withstand anything. When Pluto was in Capricorn, we saw the evolution of late stage capitalism. Pluto brings out the greed in a sign, crossing the unspoken boundary of right-relationship with the natural world and with each other. In Capricorn, it was about the violation of time, discipline, and resources. Particularly during the two big hotspots of the transit during the 2008 financial crisis and the 2020 pandemic.
The core essence of Aquarius is more about how individuality combines with humanity. Aquarius represents: belonging without assimilation, the architecture of the laws that bind us together without erasing selfhood, the duality of man and the machine, detachment as a responsibility, rebellion as an evolutionary necessity, and what it takes to channel or anchor the future. We are already inside several Pluto in Aquarius plot lines here: A.I. and automation reflecting both creation and destruction; the algorithm that harvests consciousness and attention, stealing autonomy through predictive modeling; and collective identity turned into commodity. Because Aquarius is one of the fixed signs, these transits echo through tangible life. The collapse of shared value systems is visible in the decentralization of currency and the rise of social capital, attention is the new monopoly. These are the big, overwhelming societal kinds of changes that the outer planets tend to bring us.
As the planets begin to pass through Pluto and gather in time for the Solar Eclipse in Aquarius next month, we don’t know what exactly to expect. Usually the first Solar Eclipse in a series is quite unknown, a total wild card. If we pair that with the squares to Uranus and Saturn-Neptune at the beginning of Aries as ruler, we’re looking at a lot of question marks and new beginnings. All we can really do is rely on archetypes– what is Aquarius, what is Aries? Where does that sit for you personally? We know that with the conjunctions to Pluto upon ingress, it’s very likely that we will feel that sense of “violation” or “exposure” somewhere in our lives for the purpose of our greater evolution.
We’ve laid out these big picture Aquarius themes here, but ultimately this is a sign about radical authenticity, the dichotomy between freedom and exile, becoming a whole individual that is innovative enough to experience community without entirely relying on it. Going forward, community and relationships will only work if everyone is a whole and complete individual, detached from the desperation for support. This sign sextiles Aries and is deeply supported in its work because it is also innovative, autonomous, and pioneering. The greatest challenge here is their timing misalignment. Aries burns quick and fast while Aquarius is a fixed Saturnian sign, while Saturn is in its fall in Aries, it’s all about putting in the reps. It is easy to start something or burn it all down but it will not be as easy to sustain something so that it lasts. This is what Saturn is requiring over the next 3 years, what it always truly requires, a commitment to something. It is no mistake that we had a Mars cazimi in a Saturnian sign, just before Saturn moves into a Mars ruled sign. This New Moon allows us to find intention for what we would like to commit ourselves to, Saturn’s ingress in a few weeks will show us what we are required to commit ourselves to if we want eventual gratification.
We have quite a bit happening in the Leo sector too later this year that will personalize the Pluto transit and give context to the nodes and eclipses, but we’re not quite there yet, I hope to talk more about Leo’s archetype in two weeks at the next Full Moon. For now, here are some New Moon horoscopes!
//NEW MOON HOROSCOPES FOR YOUR RISING SIGN//
Aries rising
The New Moon in your 10th house reopens your public story after years of dismantling. Career, visibility, and authority have been stripped to their honest bones, and now you’re rebuilding with integrity instead of performance. Jupiter in Cancer reminds you that belonging starts on the inside. As the planets cross into Aquarius, the emphasis shifts from achievement to network. Pluto is exposing the power dynamics of community, showing who supports your evolution and who drains it. The coming eclipse invites a new kind of leadership built on resonance, not hierarchy. Saturn and Neptune reinforce that solitude is sacred right now, and your 12th to 1st house bridge is rewriting your entire identity from the cosmic womb outward.
Taurus rising
Capricorn season re-roots your philosophy after a long crisis of meaning. Education, faith, or long-term plans are being reconstructed with maturity, and your worldview is stabilizing. When the Aquarius stellium moves to your 10th, Pluto begins a new era of visibility, power through purpose. Professional evolution comes with exposure, something in your public role needs to die so your true vocation can emerge. Saturn and Neptune moving from the 11th to the 12th dissolve old friendships and future dreams that no longer sustain you. The eclipse may reveal a new calling, one that demands surrender of control over outcome.
Gemini rising
The Capricorn New Moon has you rebuilding trust, intimacy, and financial interdependence. You’ve survived deep Plutonian purges, and now you’re learning to let support, intimacy, and shared responsibility back in. As the planets shift into Aquarius, your worldview explodes open. Pluto in the 9th breaks inherited belief systems and ideological cages. What you thought you knew may no longer fit. Saturn and Neptune shifting from 10th to 11th blur the line between vocation and community, and your dreams are reshaping your path. The eclipse initiates a pilgrimage of mind, truth through lived experience, not borrowed philosophy.
Cancer rising
Partnerships are the crucible. The New Moon in your 7th helps you rebuild trust after years of relational warfare. You’re learning boundaries that honor both safety and emotional vulnerability. As the Aquarius stellium unfolds in your 8th, Pluto demands transparency, shared finances, emotional debts, and old contracts. Expect exposure where power and shared responsibility is uneven. Saturn and Neptune entering your 10th will redefine your long-term goals and identity, while the eclipse may expose what you truly owe others versus what you’ve been giving away.
Leo rising
Capricorn’s focus on your 6th house asks for a body-soul rebuild, health, work rhythms, and discipline. You’re refining how you serve without self-sacrifice. When the planets enter Aquarius and your 7th, Pluto exposes your relationship dynamics. Power imbalances surface, and the violation appears through projection. Liberation comes by renegotiating equality and autonomy. Saturn and Neptune crossing from the 8th to the 9th urge faith after deep emotional dissolution, and the eclipse opens a new era of relational philosophy and partnership as evolution, not rescue.
Virgo rising
Creativity, joy, and romance are under renovation. The Capricorn New Moon restores after long creative depletion as a result of heavy responsibility. Now the challenge is to commit fully to this rebuild and to move stuck energy by actively nurturing language as your friend. As Aquarius takes over your 6th house, Pluto rewires how you work. Health, routine, and service must become more authentic, less martyr, more innovator. How you care for yourself is integral: health is wealth, in all things. Saturn and Neptune from the 7th to 8th turn partnerships into spiritual teachers, and intimacy becomes the next apprenticeship. The eclipse may reveal where daily life has been draining your life force and how discipline can become devotion.
Libra rising
The Capricorn New Moon brings reconstruction at home and in emotional foundations. You’ve cleared ancestral rubble, and now you’re building an inner structure that feels safe and supportive. The planets move into Aquarius and into your 5th house, igniting creation and risk. Pluto here exposes your relationship to visibility, pleasure, and self-expression. It’s not just art or love, it’s radical revelation. It’s teaching you about what it might take to move between autonomy and creative communion with the world around you. Saturn and Neptune from the 6th to 7th house require clearer boundaries in work and relationships, and the eclipse could unveil new ways to love and be seen without losing your center.
Scorpio rising
The Capricorn New Moon recalibrates your mind and voice. You’re rebuilding communication patterns from truth rather than survival, speaking from the heart instead of the wound without fearing punishment. As the planets begin to move into Aquarius, Pluto begins excavation of your roots. Home, family, and emotional security are transforming, and what once felt safe may now feel suffocating or limiting. Saturn and Neptune passing from 5th to 6th ask for disciplined creativity and sacred structure in daily life, reciprocity is integral, Saturn is no longer tolerating the extremes of over giving or neglect. The eclipse may initiate a new foundation born of authenticity rather than loyalty to the past.
Sagittarius rising
The Capricorn New Moon reestablishes your sense of worth and stability. Financial healing and self-value are themes, earning from integrity, not performance. No longer hoarding but finding a healthy sense of self preservation too. Aquarius season moves that growth into thought as Pluto in your 3rd purges language itself. Words, labels, and local environments shift. Communication becomes alchemical and exposes thoughts and behaviors that are no longer helpful. Saturn and Neptune from 4th to 5th blur roots and creation, home becomes wherever inspiration lives. The eclipse could spark a new voice that speaks from the raw edge of transformation.
Capricorn rising
This New Moon is your annual rebirth. After years of Plutonian trials, your sense of self is hard-won and finally in a state of maturation. This is phase one of rebuilding identity from true integrity, not suppression. As planets move into Aquarius, attention turns to resources. Pluto in your 2nd reveals where security has become dependency or possessive. Financial and energetic boundaries are being rewritten to serve your autonomy. Saturn and Neptune crossing from 3rd to 4th connect voice and home, and the eclipse may expose how family patterns shape your worth and how you can finally own your value.
Aquarius rising
The Capricorn New Moon is both an ending and beginning in your 12th house. Solitude has been sacred and healing as you have confronted your deepest fears and are in the process of overcoming self sabotage by facing what true responsibility and devotion looks like. With the stellium entering your sign, Pluto initiates you directly. This is the identity purge, who you are versus who you performed to be. Expect moments of exposure that catalyze self-reclamation. Saturn and Neptune from 2nd to 3rd teach that voice and values are inseparable. The eclipse is your first glimpse of the next version of you, radical, embodied, and irrefutable.
Pisces rising
Capricorn’s New Moon rebuilds your faith in community. After isolation, genuine alliances return through your continued effort. You are learning how to engage with others through healthy self preservation while not completely hoarding your presence away either. It's a healthy contribution to your communities and aspirations. As the planets start to move into Aquarius and your 12th house, Pluto begins shadow work of the psyche. Hidden motives, private obsessions, self sabotage, and unhealed grief surface for purification. Saturn and Neptune move from your 1st to 2nd call for embodiment, building structures that feed material life. The eclipse opens the underworld of your subconscious, and what’s been suppressed will now become power.
this week's mood board
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