Black Moon Horoscopes and the End of 2024
A rare, second new moon in Capricorn is prepping us to look ahead and plan for things to change. Maybe drastically.
Black Moon, Black Planet
Well people, we’ve done it. We have arrived at the second decan of Capricorn season and the end of this foul year of your lord 2024, although it feels more like a pause in some liminal space than a concrete end or beginning to anything. It also seems sad and ignorant to say, “Here’s to 2025!” when many of us have been hoping the next year will be better since, I don’t know, 2018? 2015? 1980? Each year, we hang our optimism on the hook of an obsolete Roman calendar, and each year, the fates have slapped that optimism right off of our stupid faces. In 2025, the new U.S. administration is likely to spread all kinds of havoc about the world, (which in no way diminishes the havoc and misery that the current U.S. administration was able to wreak) but with nothing definitive in place quite yet, we all seem content to hang out, bitch a little, and wait. This bleak interregnum will likely continue until Imbolc and Ostara, when birds fly back north, skeletal trees sprout little green buds, and the ground thaws, allowing insane billionaire Nazis to pop out of hibernation and do whatever it is they’re hell bent on doing. Springtime for Hitler, indeed.
Until the shit starts hitting the fan in a collective sense, these moments feel like biding one’s time at a funeral; we’re dressed in black, we’ve eaten the canapés and murmured condolences to the other mourners, but goddamn are they taking their sweet time interring the corpse. It’s rare to have a second new moon in a month, and it’s rarer still to have one marking the year’s end, especially one as tumultuous as this past year. There were so many hard aspects around our first Cap moon that, instead of washing us in optimism for future possibilities, we got an earful from Saturn about everything we won’t be doing due to poor timing, our own abilities, or external opposition.
Now, for the good news! This new moon gets more productive, in that she is well-aspected to Saturn in a brief little sextile and she wants to help us plan for everything, including the most extreme possibilities ahead. Capricorn gets short shrift in modern astrology, usually presented as an intractable work horse who loves money, but this feminine, saturnian sign is actually quite imaginative. The Sea Goat is a creature of duality, stuck with one half in water and the other half on land, which gives her a unique flexibility when faced with difficult options and a questionable future. My favorite Capricorn myth from Ancient Greece involves Pan, that hedonistic prototype for the Christian Satan, escaping Typhus by diving into a river, only to discover that the river was ridiculously shallow. (We’ve all been there.) Pan’s top half couldn’t submerge, trapping him as a goat from the waist up, while his bottom half transformed into a curly-tailed fish and was able to propel him through the water, away from certain doom. So, although Capricorn’s ruler is a rigid buzzkill, Capricorn herself is capable of both focus and flexibility.
We will need the flexibility of The Sea Goat as we look ahead to murky water; probably to channel Michael Phelps in hopes of hauling ass through the worst of a global existential crisis. Yet we’ll also need our boring, earth-bound hooves to help us ascend to new personal heights; to pull us up the rocky faces of our individual mountains in hopes of getting to the tops and enjoying the windy satisfaction of individual achievement. This is a perfect moon for making your goals a reality as long as we are willing to begin the hard labor, like, yesterday; an uncertain future is no reason to slack in the present, especially with Saturn in charge. The Time Lord despises laziness and is invigorated by boundary-pushing, so we need to be willing to go big with this lunation, which carries us to the hallway point of 2025. Start working, machinating, and behaving as though success is simply your destiny and plan backwards so that you can clearly envision a better future; you might be shocked at the dividends this kind of thinking produces. As long as you focus and dedicate yourself to the required effort, moving slow and steady like a goat up a mountain, there may be a light at the end of this tunnel.
We will all feel Luna’s blacklight in a different house - whole sign/house horoscopes are most accurate according to rising sign, but I have personally noticed relevance with both my rising and my sun sign horoscopes, so read through both for the most accurate coverage, then get to work.
Aries
Oh, Aries…I know. You hosted a paradigm shifting solar eclipse this past year and endured the anaretic degree of Pluto whilst he tortured us from the confines of your fellow cardinal sign, Capricorn. Your ruler, Mars, is in an uncomfortable retrograde that he likes to mess with every two and a half years, and this time it is in Leo, your fellow fire sign and ruler of your ‘fun’ fifth house. If 2024 made you upend your life for a career as an MMA fighter or a mercenary, just so you could physically release frustration on someone else’s pale, defenseless flesh, I wouldn’t blame you. It is, in fact, that exact area of your life with which this new moon may assist. By traversing your tenth house of professional structure and public image, Luna is giving you the space to imagine your ideal career and build a framework that will achieve it. Use the focus, ambition, and dedication of the Sea Goat to help you bypass your less productive habits and get shit done! Build the skill set, apply for the jobs, or sweet talk potential backers and clients - whatever you have to do to ascend. You’re still free to kick people’s ass outside of working hours, don’t worry.
Taurus
I’ve said it before, Taurus, and I’ll say it again - it is time to step out of your comfort zone. You probably tested the waters a bit in 2024 and took a few vacations or pottery classes, as your ruler, Venus, enjoyed a few lovely aspects with disruptive Uranus, but this moon is giving you the opportunity to think bigger and weirder. Pluto is now in a fellow fixed sign, which puts you in a front row seat to whatever THIS *waves hands in general direction of the world* has in store for us. We don’t often think of Taurus as a rabble rouser; The Bull is more likely to sit at the dinner table and eat than to flip it, but people underestimate Taurus at their peril. When y’all get riled up about something, you will bulldoze everything around you to get what you want. This lunation is asking you to dig into your personal philosophy and find any spaces that lack conviction so that you can face future chaos with resilience and wisdom. This could mean considering radical new ideas, so by all means take various classes and read all the books, even the odd ones that your one anarchist friend lends you. The ninth house nexus can also be about depth as opposed to breadth of knowledge, though, so challenge yourself to dive farther into beloved topics than you ever have before. An informed Bull is an unstoppable Bull.
Gemini
New adventures await you in the realm of the eighth house, Twins, which always points to strange partnerships and polarities in money, sex, and karma. The recent full moon in Cancer may have illuminated an issue with material security, and this new moon in Capricorn is giving you a chance to augment your life with another person’s financial fortune. You might start a joint business venture, come into an inheritance, or find a permanent plus one for bondage night who wants to bankroll your kink; whatever it is, this moon is offering up some intriguing developments, as long as you are willing to work for them and stick the landing. Jupiter trundled into your space this past year, which means Gemini as a whole had an easier time navigating this messy, twelve month shitstorm than many other signs, and your mutability has likely been a strong asset in uncertain times. Jupiter and your ruler, Mercury, have also been engaged in a dance of mutual reception, and will remain that way until January 8th, so you need to get cracking on your goals now if you want to benefit from all this harmony in the sky. Leap on any opportunity that comes your way in the first week of the new year and it will probably blossom into a success story. The rest of us will try not to shoot daggers as you reap your good fortune, you chatty bastard.
Cancer
Your most important interpersonal relationships can benefit from this moon, Cancer, thanks to Saturn’s stabilizing influence on your moody, gooey center. Pluto’s sojourn in Capricorn was no picnic for you, and the amount of tears shed over the last sixteen years could probably convince cartographers to add a new ocean to our maps, but the good news is that it’s over. If you’ve struggled with boundaries in an established relationship, or need to set them in a fledgling romance, this is an excellent time to hash those things out. Who knows, you may even work up the courage to tell your partner the real reason you are angry, breaking down a long established emotional barrier and upping your intimacy game. Meanwhile, single crabs could find themselves sliding into a romantic partnership with someone they’ve already known for a while, or someone with whom they’ve recently reconnected, cementing a foundation for a healthy, long-lasting relationship. This isn’t confined to romance, either - important friendships and professional partnerships will also benefit from this saturnian maturity, imbuing the beginning of this new year with far more harmony than last year for Cancer.
Leo
Uh-oh, Leo. Not only is Mars fucking with you and making you oddly rage-filled and spiky through February (sorry), but this moon lands in your sixth house of service and sacrifice, not usually a place in which Leo likes to marinate. (Isn’t that something your fans/admirers/servants are supposed to do so that you don’t have to fuck up your hair or something?) The thing is, Capricorn is ready to assist you by letting some of that saturnian focus make your routines easier, and things like health, work, and relationships always benefit when the sixth house gets a good cleaning. No offense intended, but Leo especially benefits from improvements made here, as The Lion can be prone to burn out and malaise if not re-charged and working from a solid foundation. In order to be successful, you’ll have to make slow, incremental changes instead of big flashy ones, because regardless of how often you say you’re going to take Pilates classes from Jennifer Lopez’s instructor everyday for a year straight, you never actually do it. Because that would be insane! Instead, introduce one new element, slowly, to your existing routines, like tacking an allergy test on to your yearly check-up, flossing once more per day than you already do, or slowly moving the alarm clock back so that you can start the day earlier. This might sound like it sucks, but tightening your day-to-day actually saves more time for the fun stuff, like getting dressed up and going out to parade in front of the unwashed masses. Also, hair maintenance.
Virgo
Gird your loins, Maidens, because this is a particularly fertile new moon for Virgo. Your house of joy and creativity is ripe for something new, and not flash-in-the pan new, either. Any Virgos looking to get pregnant, pass a child-rearing milestone, or birth an artistic career should knuckle down and take the first steps over the next two weeks, because Saturn is the guy with the discipline to make it happen. We will be approaching eclipse season faster than we expect, and this time the mutable Virgo/Pisces axis will be in the hot seat, so you can expect spring and fall of 2025 to have spicy surprises for you. With that in mind, a Saturn-ruled moon is great for establishing resiliency, so take advantage and lay the groundwork that will make life easier now to help guard against the effects of eclipse craziness later. Loosen some of your ties to the practical and efficient areas of life and take this lunation as an opportunity to explore hobbies, art, and romance. It will feel disjointed and wrong, Virgo, but what if you prioritized the things you want to do over the things you need to do, just for a little while? What would pursuing pleasure for pleasure’s sake look like for you? No, systemizing your spice cupboard does not count, Jesus.
Libra
We know you like to party, disco, and fool around, Libra, but you may feel oddly tethered to your own living room for a while after this lunation gets going, as it is hitting your house of home and family. It could be that you simply need rest and relaxation after Pluto’s sixteen years of bullshit in Capricorn, thanks to sharing modality with The Sea Goat. It could also be that, after an exhausting year of eclipses on your axis, working on yourself instead of constantly working for the harmony of everyone around you finally holds some appeal. Whatever the case, get your ass to Lowes and pick up some paint swatches, because this new moon in Capricorn might encourage long-term plans for renovation or redecorating your domicile. Think of it like curating an outfit for an evening out, except instead of out you stay in, and instead of making yourself pretty, you are beautifying your own precious space. Since we aren’t quite out of the woods for your sign’s eclipse-o-rama (the last eclipse on the Aries/Libra axis hits in spring of 2025) you may also see new developments arise in your parental realm, specifically with your mom or other motherly figures in your life, so block off some time to check in with them. This reminder of your roots could also be informing your priorities over the next six months as you deliberate between two nostalgic, nearly identical shades of dusky pink for the bedroom; summer sunset and maiden blush. I know, Libra. It’s an agonizing decision.
Scorpio
This is an interesting moon for Scorpios, who find that they can take or leave most people, and by that I mean they despise them. Despite your misanthropy, dear arachnid, you might slowly become motivated to get out and about in your neighborhood, making connections and haunting a particular coffee shop with a sibling or roommate until the barista knows your name and which shade of black is your favorite. (The same shade as your coffee, obviously.) This is because Saturn is planting seeds in your third house of communication and local community, and the Capricorn new moon wants you to start playing the long game when it comes to coordinating phone trees, a neighborhood watch, and mutual aid. In all the signs in all of the zodiac, Scorpio and Capricorn are perhaps the most deft at navigating life for others when things get really, extraordinarily difficult and shitty, and it’s not because you like to watch others suffer, Scorpio, despite what you tell other people. It is because these are both insanely brave and determined signs who laugh at the idea of ever letting small things like death, destruction, or societal collapse best them, and they’ll be damned if they break one bead of sweat under pressure. Who are we kidding, pressure sweats under you, like the little bitch he is. So man up, get involved, and suffer fools for a while in order to build trust with other locals, because you may need each other at some point over the next few years, and in dark times, nocturnal animals fucking shine.
Sagittarius
Jupiter did some great things for you this year, Sag, but also some very frustrating things with Uranus and Saturn that may have thrown a few obstacles your way, mostly in the spring and late fall. What are obstacles to The Archer, though, other than opportunities for you to jump into the air like a jubilant horse? Your ruler is still applying a slow, irritating square with Saturn, the overseer of this recent black moon, so try not to feel too defeated by rejections or restrictions you may be experiencing at the moment in the realm of material security and finance. Hearing ‘no’ and experiencing loss in this arena is Saturn’s way of forcing you to mature and grow, take responsibility for your own resources, and to carry these lessons with you over the next six months. Thankfully, Saturn is still in a Jupiter-ruled sign, so he might behave more sympathetically regarding your wealth (or lack thereof) as long as you stay timely, focused, and detailed, which I know can be a tall order for Sagittarius. The Time Lord wants you to self-reflect and knuckle down, starting with earning and spending habits. It may be that the next time adventure calls, you will have to politely decline in order to nurture and expand a nest egg, as opposed to burning through your reserves every time someone asks you to join them on a last minute trip to Croatia. I know, I know! Just think about it.
Capricorn
This is your time, Sea Goat, so take advantage of it and think big. Your ruler is in charge of this moon, and that means the sky is pretty much the limit for the next six months based on whatever seeds you plant right now, and who are we kidding, Cap? You probably planted those seeds last year based on the spreadsheet you keep of auspicious lunar moments, then cross-referenced them to the Saturn spreadsheet that you keep, in which you track the aspects, angles, and planetary tiffs involving your dour ruler. So, what now? You couldn’t breathe easy for one second while Pluto hung out in the final degrees of your sign last year, and it seemed as though calamity after calamity was threatening your efficiency at every juncture. Some of you are probably still dealing with fallout, given the sheer weight of the last sixteen years, and a few previously held convictions may have been upended, leaving you adrift. If that’s the case, this black moon is the official rebirth of Capricorn. Begin synthesizing the lessons of the last few years and use them to build the person you always wanted to be, because momentum will be on your side like never before. Saturn enters fiery Aries in May of 2025, and your normally conservative approach to things is going to get goosed with a red hot poker. Fire signs do things very quickly, and Aries is the fastest of them all, so prepare to move on new opportunities in a far speedier fashion than you’re used to. Visualize whatever self-improvements you long to enact while things are still a bit slow, be they physical, mental, professional, or spiritual, so that you aren’t caught unprepared by your success next year. I kid, Capricorn. You are never unprepared.
Aquarius
Okay Aquarius, you need to take a deep breath and prepare for shit to get weird - like, even weirder than your baseline. February through September of 2024 gave you a little taste of what’s to come, so marinate on that timeframe. Pluto often brings the death of our ego, or aspects of it, at least, when he skulks around our first house, and I believe Saturn is attempting to give you a heads up with this no-nonsense black moon. Luna wants to spark deep reflection for you as she moves through your twelfth house, so check in with any unsavory shadows that live in your mind. If there are secrets that need to be acknowledged or maladaptive tendencies that would benefit from a swift kick of therapy, by all means, make those appointments now. Any ugliness that you’ve been avoiding or obfuscating is guaranteed to bite you in the ass, hard, unless it is dealt with, because that evil little dwarf planet is about to suss it all out with or without your consent. No joke, Pluto in Aquarius is going to crack everything open like an egg. The twelfth house isn’t all nightmare, of course; there may also be dreams, creative ambitions, and quiet longings in there that you’ve tucked away in favor of more collective, humanitarian desires, and they deserve your time and attention. It’s okay to have ambitions that belong only to you, Aquarius, and I suggest cultivating them while you have the chance - by May, your ruler enters Aries, i.e. the arsonist of the zodiac, and the latter half of 2025 could feel like a bullet train on fire. Don’t say I didn’t warn you.
Pisces
Welcome to the land of extroversion, Pisces; you may not love it here, but it suits you nonetheless. Much like fellow water sign Scorpio, Saturn is drafting you as a servant for the public good and urging you to bring some compassion to your fellow man. This black moon is seeding an opportunity in your eleventh house of networking, community, and social justice, which means, gentle fish, that you are going to have to leave the house and possibly, maybe, speak in front of large groups. Don’t panic! Look, my scaly friend - as distasteful as leading others and raising your volume may feel, your presence will be super nourishing and beneficial to a wider audience. You are generous, creative, and intelligent, and holy CRAP are we lacking those qualities in broad swaths of society. It won’t necessarily be easy or comfortable, but that’s why Saturn has sent a preparatory new moon to help you get your feet wet and bring you some Capricorn-like courage. Research organizations and causes that move you, because it’s a lot easier to do scary things when we feel passionate about them. Your famous empathy could be an inspiration to others if you’re willing to vocalize it, so start researching ways that you want to make a difference in 2025, whether that is organizing protests, writing anti-war treatises, or painting murals on community shelters. For extra credit, start practicing heartfelt speeches while you’re in the bathtub.
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