the new moon in aquarius for writers
Hi y’all,
Next Thursday, January 26th, I have an event in Iowa City at Prairie Lights with my dear friend Lyz Lenz. 7pm. Iowans: Come hang out with us and talk about religious trauma and tattoos.
ICYMI, my self-paced course, Astrology for Writers: How to to Make Your Writing Work for You, is available — with payment plans!
I’m over at Famous Writing Routines talking about writers’ block and the importance of rest.
Also: A very happy Lunar New Year to all celebrating!
Xx,
Jeanna
Every day here in the US, it seems, there’s a new headline about books being banned in schools and libraries. About obscene cuts to public funding, about libraries closing in towns across America after librarians are pushed out by harmful QAnon lies. Queer teachers are under attack in states like Florida. Publishing employees are just trying to get paid here in New York.
How literacy and access to diverse stories has been pushed to the front lines of the national “debate” is wild to witness, except when we remember that stories are what connect us. Stories make us feel less alone. I didn’t know I could be it until I saw it, so many queers say. Or at least, I have said, upon many occasions.
Restricting access to books, and going even further to restrict access to literacy and education, is one of the oldest tricks in the totalitarian handbook. Widespread literacy across the lower and middle classes, across genders, and, in the United States at least, across race is new within the last 150 to 200 years, generously speaking. Barring literacy itself, there are still formal institutions the world over that have historically prohibited the speech and participation of members; it was only last year that the Roman Catholic Church formally amended laws to allow women to be installed as lectors, to read scripture aloud during services.
The written word is often a means of control.
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Today’s New Moon is exact at 1* of Aquarius, at 3:53p Eastern. Aquarius is often assumed to be cold, coming as it does in the middle of winter and written off in memes as being “intellectual” or “weird” (the latter adjective associations tend to come through modern astrology putting Uranus as the ruler of the sign). In traditional astrology, Aquarius is ruled by dyke daddy (or, as Diana Rose Harper has recently been writing, grandmother) Saturn, and so there is a certain level of control here: a craving of systemic order.
But unlike earthy Capricorn season, which is also known for Saturnian constriction, Aquarius’ winds bring an opportunity to test the boundaries of the too-rigid rules, of the systems designed to work for those at the top, that can weigh too heavy on the rest of us. Aquarius wants to know the rules in order to break them, in order to build something that is more sustainable, more invested in the big idea than in big money.
Much as it looks to the future, and is often associated with technological innovation, Aquarius also resists formal materiality that would bind too forcefully. In this, the Aquarius archetype encourages us to take what works from the past, what has been lost to time — what practices actually might help us stay more flexible and fluid moving forward. If Capricorn is the formal materiality of the written word, Aquarius is the ancestral transfer of shared experience through oral storytelling, of what we in modern times often call the power of “word of mouth.”
It is harder to gatekeep and control stories when they are shared between people themselves. And as powerful as reading a book that helps you feel seen is, how much more powerful is it in conversation with others who also share that experience: whether those communities are online, in person at events or book clubs or your local library, or simply in gatherings with friends.
The Aquarian networks that support the conversational transfer of shared story and experience.
The intellectual, educational, community spaces that hold space for our hearts to grow.
This New Moon affirms that what feeds the mind and what feeds the body and soul are far more connected than we know. Our intellectual and emotional lives are intertwined. Knowledge is a gateway, but empathy is the path we must choose to intentionally walk alongside others. Knowing — real knowing — humbles. That old aphorism: the more you know, the more you know you don’t know.
Which invites you to seek out others.
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This New Moon is in a supportive sextile with healer-teacher Jupiter, which buoys the seeds you are planning in your life and with those around you. There is a generosity of community here: a very reciprocal energy that encourages the spread of new ideas, the sharing of resources, and a firm belief that we’re all connected, that what we put out comes back to us.
The moon is also in a conjunction, by sign, with Venus and Saturn, which are both in late degrees of Aquarius. This is the last New Moon in Aquarius where Saturn will be in domicile (in Capricorn or Aquarius) for 20+ years, so it is a particularly strong moon, and waxing period, for launching Saturnian endeavors, or things that you hope will be long-lasting, even if they might be a bit slow to take off, as is Saturn’s way. Having Venus here sweetens the deal, and adds grace and a general boost to the aesthetic and relationship angles of your projects. (If you plan things using astrology itself, maybe wait until Venus is in Pisces for more Venusian-forward projects — that’s coming up soon.)
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If you’re reading this, you’re a writer, a reader, a creative: some combination of those three. If you’re anything like me, at least one book significantly changed your life and showed you a way forward during a time when you weren’t sure where to go.
This New Moon, I’d encourage you to think beyond “just” books: to the lived stories that inspire them to the interconnected conversations that lead us to recommend them. From the oral fairy tales and folklore that were passed down to the stories so rich, so funny, so oh my god that we can’t “just text” them to our friends — we have to tell them in person, or over the phone, to capture the inflection, the laughter.
Putting pen to paper is good, but knowing someone is on the other side of that story is better.
This is what Aquarius wants us to remember. That the purpose of stories is to connect.
That we aren’t alone.
Writing Prompts for the New Moon in Aquarius
What is the first book you remember reading (or being read) that made you feel seen, or less alone in the world? What are other books that have felt like friends along the way? What such books have sparked real life friendships or conversations with others who felt the same?
When do you feel most connected/locked in/attuned to the stories you hear, read, and tell? When are you the most engaged? What makes you really sit up and pay attention?
What do other people say is interesting, connective, or that really grabs them about your writing that you don’t necessarily see right away?
Thank you for writing and sharing this wonderful post. I believe literacy and the ability to read and engage with diverse texts is critical to our growth, intellectual development, and ability to understand and empathize with others. Hopefully the stars will align so as foster a culture that values difference and the importance of the written word.
Happy New Moon 🌚 ♒️