Aquarius New Moon 2025: Minor Planet Report

First thing: a brief note

Dear friends: Apologies that this month's report does not contain specific sign readings. In part this is due to some developments I've been working on, including the Focus On project, which I've finally been able to integrate with this report.

Instead of the usual list of references below, each minor planet featured here has its own Focus On post; you can access these by clicking the links on the individual names. Full lists of interpretations, data I've collected and any references can be found on those posts.

Focus On is the result of an information gathering project that has existed for several years, and is intended to host a thorough collation of astronomical and astrological data on various minor planets. Building it is rapidly becoming my life's work: an endeavour I am grateful and proud to undertake.

I do also intend to continue working on these reports, and to recommence sign-specific entries on the next one. (There might not be a Focus On link for these, but I will include the usual information.)

Thank you for reading this far. Now to the matter at hand...

With love
Theano

Basic details and main features

Aquarius New Moon: 29th January 2025, 12:35 UTC, 9+ Aquarius

It's been quite the week (see also: decade). I hope you're all doing OK out there, wherever you're reading from.

Wednesday's New Moon takes place in the sign where Pluto is now firmly rooted and will stick around until 2043-44. It'll be worth noting any themes that present themselves in our individual lives during the next month, as these could provide clues to how we might experience the longer transit, and which aspects of our lives may be in need of the restructuring Pluto can offer.

Meanwhile, two significant aspects colour this lunation from water signs: Vesta's close square and Venus's semi-square. Their placement, combined with Neptune's conjunction to the North Node in late Pisces, highlights three crucial themes for our times:

First, the necessity of practising kindness, compassion and mercy (thank you, Bishop Budde). Vesta stands tall and proud, sounding a call to do our duty – not just external obligations, but our deeper moral responsibilities to one another.

Second, the importance of being in contact with our own emotional world, including awareness of our implicit biases. Venus gently reminds us of life's many beauties and finer delights, which we can cultivate within ourselves even when external stimuli may be lacking.

Finally, the imperative of maintaining our personal moral compass – ensuring that it continues to point due north regardless of what may beset us. Neptune's position may be inviting us to clear up any confusion regarding fundamental values or the direction of our soul journey.

Introduction page | Focus On index | Jump to chart image

Some minor planets involved

Aspecting New Moon (conjunct, opposite or square):

• (100) Hekate – S-type asteroid and member of the Hecuba group in the main belt, named for the Greek goddess of magic, witchcraft, the night, moon, ghosts and necromancy. May signify prophecy and clear sight, helpful counsel, inner guidance, the crossroads and liminality. Smiljana Gavrančić notes that "Hades, Persephone, Hermes and Hecate are the only beings who could go in and out of the underworld", which confers unusual potency.
• (164) Eva – CX-type main belt asteroid with a mean radius of just over 100km; the closest of this size to approach the orbit of Mars. Name origin is unknown; may refer to the Biblical Eve, but this has been doubted due to the usual naming practices of the discoverers. Correspondences indicate catalysis of change, radiance or excellence, industry and intense or sustained labour. Amable adds work/life balance and self-care routines.
• (1566) Icarus – Near-Earth stony asteroid with an extremely eccentric orbit. In 1968, it became the first asteroid ever observed by radar. Lowest numbered potentially hazardous asteroid (PHA). Identified with the son of the great craftsman Daedalus who famously flew too close to the sun. Meanings offered include rash, reckless actions, the exuberance and impetuosity of youth; self-regulation and composure helping to avoid extremes, or the reverse; gaining freedom from physically confining situations, social conformity or (ultimately) samsara.
• (3811) Karma – Parent body of the Karma family in the main belt; name refers to the ancient Indian philosophical principle of cause and effect. Aside from this significance, current interpretations include: the effects of nourishment of all kinds on our wellbeing; personal choices and how we deal with the decisions we have made, which can involve a sense of guilt whether merited or not, and the circumstances that can curtail our options.
• (20000) Varuna – IR-class cubewano, probably a dwarf planet, named for the Hindu god of water and the celestial ocean, as well as of law in the underwater world, who has unlimited knowledge. May represent law and order, the sea, lasting legacies; judgment or judgmentalism, inquisition, moralising, global reach; matters of truth, lies and keeping agreements; the all-seeing eye; previously unnoticed wrongs becoming apparent; upholding cosmic law and divine order; sovereignty, competency, authority, or lack thereof; "larger than life" quality, honouring individual expression and purpose.
• (38083) Rhadamanthus – Kuiper belt TNO named for the son of Zeus and Europa who became a judge in the Underworld and ruler of the Elysian Fields after his death. Interpretations given so far include: integrity, justice, judgment, rightful punishments, scrupulous honesty; obtaining the truth of a past unresolved matter; sternness, uprightness, self-effacing and self-critical qualities; just but inflexible judgments; second chances, latitude or open-mindedness versus condemnation or feelings of persecution; law and order, good versus evil, the potential to 'lose oneself' in ethics.

Conjunct Venus:

• (7) Iris – S-type asteroid named for the ancient Greek personification of the rainbow and messenger of the gods. May signify divine or intuitive, visual or metaphorical messages; a message that is either overt or hidden; acting as a go-between, connections, storytelling, revelation, idealism, tolerance, ambivalence or diversity, openness, chasing dreams, media, restlessness; psychic and oracular work, channelling, iridescence. I'd add possibly speaking on behalf of, or as a proxy for, an authority figure.
• (74) Galatea – C-type asteroid very dark in colour, named for either the Nereid wooed by Polyphemos with music, milk and cheese, or the statue Pygmalion made and fell in love with, who was brought to life by Aphrodite. Meanings given so far include forming or reforming someone in one's own image, or defining what one wants; the idealised beloved or perfect match, love as inspiration, or destructive jealousy. May relate also to taking on independence and autonomy, originality, orderliness or enforced structure, devotion, skill or hard work.

Theano's thoughts

There are times when the world seems upside down, everything good and beautiful is in peril, and reality is being deliberately muddied. In such an environment, we are called to retain a firm hold on the truth, and on our ethical understanding. This in itself is resistance: it makes each of us a bulwark past which cruelty, lies and viciousness cannot – dare not – cross, and in whose home and community they have no power. Within these blessed places we are free to cultivate and spread love, before the strength of which all evil eventually crumbles.

Chart for the Aquarius New Moon on 29th January at 12:35 UTC, showing the solar sign as first house.