Before we get into today’s missive on the New Moon, I want to welcome all the new folks who are here from my recent essay on how the The Artist’s Way is super Christian. Thank you for joining this little corner of the internet where we believe that
creativity and spirituality are two sides of the same coin
astrology is a language that can help give structure and understanding to creative process
Spirit is actively involved in our lives and our creative work
Whatever art you make, genre you write in, or whatever spiritual traditions you hold dear that honor the integrity of all life: you’re welcome here.
For the new folks, I’d like to quickly reintroduce myself — my name is Jeanna Kadlec (like geena cad-lick), and the New York Times once called me “a believer.” I’m a writer, astrologer, and teacher of all things magic and creativity. My first book, a hybrid memoir called Heretic, explores the context of my upbringing in the Religious Right and abusive first marriage to a conservative evangelical, set against the backdrop of the US’ religious history. I’m currently working on two more books: Astrology for Artists, based on this newsletter and forthcoming from Hachette in 2027, and a novel of historical fantasy. I grew up between rural, farm country Iowa and the Northwoods of Wisconsin, and have called New York City home for the last ten years. I’m also a stereotypical eldest daughter and Saturnian (Capricorn sun/moon and Aquarius rising).
But enough introduction. Let’s get into the New Moon, because eclipse season is OFFICIALLY OVER, beloveds. As Florence Welch would say, everybody scream!
The New Moon arrives at 28* Pisces at 9:23pm Eastern on Wednesday, March 18th.
I’ve been looking forward to this New Moon, and not only because it is the official end of an incredibly tumultuous and stressful eclipse season. The moon is co-present with Mars and Mercury Rx, and is still trining its ruler Jupiter in Cancer by sign. It heralds a breakthrough — the kind that require the topsy-turvy of eclipse season to happen.
Eclipse volatility forces a change. It exposes the cracks in the foundation, the weakness of the structure (sometimes literal, with the physical body!). Which makes it, perversely, an ideal environment in which to stress test ideas and birth something new. And this New Moon shows us the seed that all that volatility has birthed.
These are the areas of life where the New Moon is birthing a change, a turn, a new beginning:
Pisces rising: self-expression, identity, appearance, persona, your style of showing up in the world
Aries rising: the subconscious & our personal connection with the unseen world; ancestral legacy; also, hospitalization and institutions
Taurus rising: friendships; community commitments; professional networks; the internet; hopes and dreams
Gemini rising: career & legacy; professional and public roles; what you’re known for; your relationship to authority and being perceived as one
Cancer rising: teaching & learning within the wisdom pathways (philosophy, religion, spirituality, and astrology); higher education; faith and beliefs; long-term plans and ideas; publishing; foreign travel; astrology
Leo rising: collaborations with others; debts, taxes, inheritance, alimony, child support, and other such arrangements; grief and loss; mental health; underworld journeys
Virgo rising: committed partnerships (whether romantic or business; also, agents, long-time editors, and co-writers)
Libra rising: daily work life, i.e. the labor you exchange for money; health & wellness; how work impacts the body; pets; labor activism
Scorpio rising: your creative and erotic energy; important children in your life; the inner child; sports and games; gambling; recreational sex
Sagittarius rising: home; relationships with parents, caregivers, and grandparents; roots and cultural heritage
Capricorn rising: your daily rituals and routines, including around writing and spirituality; communication; K-12 education; siblings and “chosen family” friends; local neighborhoods; local travel
Aquarius rising: your resources, e.g. budget and personal finances; income streams; how you spend and how you save; the way you earn money
Take a moment to grab a journal and jot down some notes about how this particular area of life, for your rising sign, has experienced changes over the last few years. This is the first Pisces lunation that is not an eclipse in a while, which gives it an added level of breakthrough, of New Beginning. There is one more Pisces eclipse coming our way in August of this year, which will very much be about the ~fruits~ of your realizations and intentions this New Moon.
And the fruits of this moon will be many — but I want us to prepare for how they may also be unconventional. Pisces’ ruler Jupiter, currently in Cancer, is oriented to community and the collective in ways that exceed and often challenge the established way of doing things, raising questions like why there is money for bombs but not bread. Jupiter in Cancer, the ruler of this New Moon, affirms that a rising tide truly does lift all boats — if only we have the courage to invite everyone along for the ride.
Collectively, this New Moon plants a new seed of belonging, of creativity, of spiritual relationship — and especially how we think about and approach belonging and creativity and spiritual relationship.
There is tremendously generative energy to this moon, with Mars giving it the kind of direction that Piscean lunations usually lack. Admittedly, Mars is also in Pisces, so the direction may not be especially linear or direct, but wherever Mars is lies the engine of our desires and the motivation to chase them — a promising aspect.
Personally, this New Moon marks a new birth in my business. And that new birth is the overarching promise of my work: write more, with magic.
When stumbling my way through a writing project, I not infrequently ask myself “did you forget you’re a witch again?” Because when you’re connected to spirit, you don’t just have craft tools available to you with a book project — you have spiritual tools, too.
Frankly, doing magic about the book helps you fucking write the book. And all these Pisces eclipses and lunations have helped me finally get over my own fucking respectability politics enough to say it.
I’m currently ~putting the finishing touches on~ a 10-week intensive that is explicitly for fiction and nonfiction writers with book projects. Live rituals, weekly Q&As (with industry guests!), sharing my personal publishing spells, walking you through how to apply witchcraft basics to support your writing. It’s going to be amazing.
So that you can get a ~taste~ of this new body of work (and so that you can immediately write more, with magic), I’ll be offering an amuse bouche (aka a forthcoming ritual workshop) soon.
In closing: as we approach this New Moon, let the animal of your body love what it loves.
This lunation is generative, yes.
But it is also gentle.
Linearity is not Pisces’ way.
Embrace the non-linear and associative.
Chase the feeling of the work more so than the word count.
Honor what your physical body needs.
New beginnings don’t have to hurt.
Thank you for reading Astrology for Writers. These Times are hard and attention spans are low, and I don’t take it for granted that you invite me into your inbox.
P.S. ICYMI — my wife Meg Jones Wall (3am.tarot) and I are talking spirit relationships, possession, spiritual hygiene, and so much more with our beloveds and at Call Your Coven, in a new episode on witchcraft and D&D!