Recently, I was looking over my diary entries and noticed a pattern. I have this habit of reflecting on the position of Moon, the sign and its house on the first day of the year and then analyzing at length how the year played out for me. I started this habit in 2020 and I think I can safely share this trick with those of you who might be interested in forecasting the year ahead. It could be that there is an obscure astrological name for this method but so far in my astrological studies I have yet to identify a ‘lunar map method’ to the new year based on the chart of the Moon on the 1st of January. Anyway, feel free to use what I describe in the following to check what themes 2023 will bring in your life (& you can apply this method to any year following on from 2023).
We started off 2023 with an Aries Moon transitioning into a Taurus Moon, as the night switched from 31st of December and became the early morning of the 1st of January. According to the energies present at that lunar shift, this is how your year will play out: by the themes associated with Aries and Taurus and the houses in your chart where you have these energies. These will be the most prominent areas in your life this year. Of course there will be other transits and aspects influencing your progress as the year moves on, but what I am describing here is how you will unconsciously feel throughout the whole year.
Case in point: 2022 was a year in which we entered with the Moon in the sign of Sagittarius and we experienced everything from excess, to confusion to rampant fears. It was a year of exaggerations, a year which tested our belief in the Divine and one in which many of us struggled to find their personal freedom or to exist independently in some way. It was also the year of many global life lessons: from sudden and relentless outbreak of wars and insurgencies, to growing concerns about the destruction of the environment, to soaring prices on the market, the death of a monarch in the UK and finally the football World Cup. Sagittarius rules over wealth, high-ranking military energy, monarchs, nation-building and the global environment. With the tensions brought about by Jupiter and Neptune in Pisces squaring the Moon in Sagittarius with which we began last year, we felt a mix of confusion, excitement and dread. Personal and collective actions were undertaken on the spur of the moment, but yielded no clear or solid outcomes. It was an emotional year, hard to define and to extract wisdom from. It was what I’d like to call ‘the big Wrap-up’, that feeling once a large and fun event is over and you are left to clean things up and mop up the floor in preparation for the next day. Here’s the chart for the 1st of January 2022:
Now for this year, there’s a slightly different rhythm at hand. We began 2023 with the Moon in Aries conjunct the asteroid Chiron, the Wounded Healer as it was moving into Taurus, which was conjunct the planet of surprises (Uranus) and the malefic North Node (a point of destiny and obsession). So the energy with which we entered 2023 is coloured by these themes of healing and greed. Now you might not benefit from this energy at all or you could feel an overwhelming burst of blessings depending on how cozy you are with Aries or Taurean energy and how these play out with the energies inherent in your own natal birth-chart.
To create your birth-chart and see in which houses you have Aries and Taurus (and yes, we all have these somewhere in the chart, even if you don’t see any planets or asteroids in your Aries or Taurus houses) go to this trusted resource and simply input your data: https://www.astro.com/cgi/genchart.cgi Alternatively, I’ll be happy to help you out, so feel free to order a birth-chart reading by writing me an email at macht.alexandra.georgiana.pfa@gmail.com
Ok, short & personal ad-break aside, let’s return to the chart of this year’s lunar entry placement. See below the chart for the date of the 1st of January 2023 generated from astro-seek.com’s database:
Immediately, you can see that this year’s energies are more harmonious due to the abundance of blue lines which represent trines and sextiles (aka friendly energies between luminaries). Last year’s lunar entry chart presented us with a tense aspect (or a square) between the Moon and Neptune (which can lead to lies, deceit and delusions and also an increase in the use of alcohol and opioids) and another tense square between Mercury and the North Node (denoting misunderstandings, arguments, punishing words and criticisms, in addition to an obsession to bring fake news and misinformation to the masses). We saw such energies play out in the media where in one month the public received some news that contradicted the decisions made one month prior, or in which we saw political disagreements that led to terrible actions such as in the war between Ukraine and Russia, or mass uprisings in Iran, the flip-flop firings at Twitter’s headquarters or on Youtube, where many struggled with free speech and demonetization issues due to malicious censorship. Communications felt toxic and perilous last year due to this tense square energy between Mercury and the North Node.
Nonetheless, this year we see a lot of friendly aspects as the Sun is sitting in a beautiful harmony with the Sun, the Moon and the North Node which means that positive conclusions will occur and we will be able to fulfill more goals as a collective (globally and within our own nations, local communities and families), and then we also see how Mercury & Pluto are supported in friendly sextiles by the combined energies of Jupiter and Neptune, bringing a sense of healing and growth in our overall collective atmosphere. However, health and healing could be challenges posed by the energies of 2023.
Let’s return to how you can work with this available energy. I can give you my own example to see how you can analyze your own chart. Even if you see that on the 1st of January the Moon is in Taurus, it’s important to also look at the placement of Aries in the chart since the switch happened close to midnight on the 31st of December. The Moon appears in the first day of the year’s chart as being in the sign of Taurus but you can clearly see it is at 9 degrees which confirms its ‘recently shifted’ status. Compare this to the Sagittarius Moon we had last year for New Year’s Eve at 23 degrees and you’ll see a significant difference in the ripe energy that the Moon was disposing off last year. This year the Moon was in first decan Taurus so this is a youthful, playful energy while the last decan of Sagittarius is a wiser and heavier energy.
So how would knowing where the Moon was on the 1st of January help you out? Check where Aries and Taurus are in your chart and see if you have any planets there. Look at the aspects made (red or blue lines) and also check the number of the houses they are in. For example, I have Aries in my 6th house and Taurus in my 7th house. The 6th house is the astrological house of work/health/daily routines & responsibilities while the 7th house is the astrological house of partnerships/contracts/our nearest and dearest. In ancient astrology the 6th house was malefic and pertained to the realm of magic and practical alchemy, while the 7th house – ruled by the number considered to represent divine perfection – was a blessed house of love and unions. So, for me in 2023 the themes of health and partnerships will be in the foreground…and guess what I began the year celebrating at home with my parents and we all got sick of Covid 19 (yes, my family aptly survived the 2020 pandemic just to catch the virus on its dying legs just as 2022 was wrapping up). I have Jupiter and the North Node in Aries in my 6th house and my 7th house homes my natal Mars, Eros and Vertex in Taurus. This means that any challenges that will come my way with my health and at work will be quickly resolved this year since my natal Jupiter quickly resolves issues and protects me and those I work with. Uranus and the Moon are making a conjunct aspect to my natal Mars which will mean that I might deal with more men this year, men who might arrive in my life spontaneously to provide me with surprises, emotional events and a sense of safety. We’ll see since I’m not getting my hopes up in any way as I decided this will be my year of ‘low expectations’ and practical focus on what I have to do at work, but it might be that some long-term romantic commitment could happen in my life in a random, unplanned manner.
Having said this, please go back to your chart now and see if you have similar placements. If you have Saturn in Taurus then this year will be a foundational one for you, and you could need to work more but the results will be long-lasting. If you happen to have Venus in Taurus then this will be the year of your glow up, a year of pleasure, beauty and love. If you have Mars there, then your ambition, drive and willpower will be maximized and you will feel energized to do loads. If you have Mercury in Taurus then 2023 will be a great study year for you, and you might finish writing a large project or completing lots of paperwork.
There are of course some epochal changes taking place in March of this year, so I’ll return with more insights as the year progresses but for the time being I thought it was interesting to share with you some of the things I observed by taking note of how the astrological energy played out in my life so far just by paying special attention to the lunar placement in the chart of the first day of the year. I do think there is no wiser learning then experiential learning 🙂 I hope this quick lunar hack can help you to rapidly assess how will 2023 play out for you.
With universal love,
Lexi
spiritualsocial.wordpress.com 