The New Moon in Sagittarius arrives at 28*, at 8:43pm Eastern on Friday, December 19th.
While ruled by an exalted Jupiter in Cancer, there’s still a check on the new moon’s buoyancy: namely, that it is being squared by Neptune and Saturn here in their very last trek through Pisces.
This feels correct, honestly: that the last New Moon of the year would have to go through a government-coded checkpoint. Saturn, so serious and taciturn, asks, but do you REALLY want to start that?, while Neptune, which trends towards idealism, dissociates from the reality of the body very, very easily.
Which is to say, if you’re not feeling “new year, new you,” if you’re still wrapping up your pre-holiday to-do list, and especially if you’re burnt out and exhausted and have no gas in the tank here at year’s end…
Remember that just because you have an empty tank doesn’t mean you’ve done anything wrong.
Surviving this year required marathon emotional/mental/spiritual/physical endurance. And sometimes, the medicine we need most is rest.
When a New Moon is impacted this heavily by Saturn, it’s not a moon for manifesting: it’s a moon for being realistic. For only committing to new beginnings that honor our capacity. That take the real, lived circumstances of our life into account when making goals and plans for 2026.
Saturn on the moon looks like depleted energy stores — and it’s very, very hard to go from 0 to 60 with this kind of astro-weather. And so rather than criticizing ourselves for what we should or could have done, try acknowledging how far you’ve come this year. That you survived. That you have a heart that’s beating, and so you are still capable of love and joy and creation and pleasure.
This New Moon in Sagittarius is an opportunity to celebrate in the face of sorrow, to laugh in the face of danger, to rejoice with our beloveds and welcome the coming return of the light.
ICYMI
🗓️ Folks in need of a writing routine, calendar, or deadline next year — pre-order Set Yourself Up 2026! It’ll land in your inbox December 31st.
📝 Looking for a gentle winter break activity? So You Want to Learn Astrology is available for immediate download. Learn about the planets, signs, and houses — and how you can apply them in your everyday life.