Moon Cycles with Danielle Beinstein: New Moon in Capricorn

January is a time for self-reflection and goal-setting. This can come in the form of a New Year’s resolution or as a byproduct of reconciling our finances for the year. I love that we give ourselves this opportunity to review and reset after a season of celebration; it’s always exciting to look at the big picture. Appropriately enough, this month’s New Moon in Capricorn is all about finding deeper meaning through this process. Here, astrologer and meditation guide Danielle Beinstein explains what questions we should be asking ourselves as we set goals for the year ahead. XXJKE 

If Sagittarius is where we seek out our belief system, Capricorn is where we consider its rules. Capricorn is the sign of backbone and integrity. It’s our ethics, our matured understanding of consequence. Effort is required and rewarded. This New Moon asks that we revisit our ultimate goals. What mountain are we climbing? And why are we climbing it?

Capricorn is an earth sign. It’s interested in tangible results and status symbols. This New Moon offers us an opportunity to reevaluate our relationship to these things and the role they play in our lives. Do they define us? How much weight do they hold? We all crave recognition to varying degrees. It’s part of being human. But if ambition is our sole motivator, we may be missing the point.

Gratification and satisfaction can be found as much in the journey as in the destination, perhaps even more so. Very often it’s the overcoming, the willingness to step out of our comfort zone (Capricorn governs fear) that emboldens us and gives our lives meaning and weight. It’s actually the quiet, inward applause that deepens our commitment to self-actualization and authenticity. 

Now is the time to revisit our motivations. What’s driving us? Who are we trying to impress and why? Can we commit to our own development knowing that, ultimately, it’s how we feel about ourselves that matters most? Can we recognize how far we’ve come?