Aquarius New Moon
- Lori Barnes
- 8 hours ago
- 11 min read
Solar Eclipse
Aquarius New Moon & Solar Eclipse
17 February 2026
28 Degrees Aquarius
7:01 AM Eastern Time
Time Converter: https://www.timeanddate.com/worldclock/converter.html
👋 Welcome. I’m glad you’re here.
New Moons are associated with beginnings and a new monthly lunar cycle. During this phase, the Moon’s sunlit side faces away from Earth, which is why the sky appears dark at night. The Moonlight is not visible until the light of the waxing crescent Moon appears around a day or two after the exact time of the New Moon.
With less visible light in the night sky, this phase supports rest and restoration. It’s like the dimmer switch being turned down after a long stretch of activity, drawing energy inward, similar to a seed underground, active but not yet visible. This is often a good time to slow things down. Many people use the New Moon to build in rest, take time off when possible, and tend to their well-being.
Each lunar cycle is shaped by the ongoing relationship between the Sun and the Moon. At the New Moon, they align in the same astrological sign and degree. The sign of the New Moon and major aspects describe what themes are emphasized in the weeks that follow.
The February New Moon takes place in Aquarius at 28 degrees and is also an annular Solar Eclipse. Aquarius is associated with innovation, systems, and the future of the collective. When this sign is emphasized, attention often turns toward long-term vision, collaboration, and the structures that support systemic change.
Aquarius New Moon Quick Links:
Aquarius New Moon
New Moons mark the beginning of a lunar cycle. They are associated with initiation, planting seeds, and setting direction for what is forming beneath the surface. Because of this, the New Moon is commonly used for setting goals and intentions for the month ahead.
Every New Moon involves a pair of opposite signs across the zodiac. At the New Moon, both the Sun and the Moon occupy the same sign, while the opposing sign provides contrast and perspective. This polarity highlights two ends of a shared spectrum, offering insight into how different needs, priorities, or life areas relate to one another.
The Sun is the source of light and identity. The Moon reflects that light and speaks to our emotional landscape and instinctive responses. When they meet in the same sign, they begin a new chapter together.
At this New Moon, both luminaries are in Aquarius.
Aquarius operates through logic, innovation, and long-range vision. It is the sign of the visionary, the reformer, and the humanitarian. Its attention is often directed toward systems, communities, and the future. It looks at the bigger picture and asks how ideas can improve collective life. There is a steady quality here, fixed Air, persistent in its ideals and strategic in its thinking.
Across the zodiac sits Leo, the home of the Sun. Leo expresses through creativity, warmth, and personal presence. It wants to shine, to create, and to be recognized for what makes it unique. Where Aquarius focuses on collective progress and shared ideas, Leo focuses on personal impact and heartfelt expression.
Aquarius engages through intellect, progressive thinking, and social awareness. Leo engages through passion, creativity, and the courage to be seen. Aquarius collaborates around concepts and innovation. Leo connects through personality, inspiration, and lived experience.
Together, they form one spectrum.
This New Moon asks you to consider the relationship between your individuality and the communities you participate in. Where are you contributing ideas that could serve a wider audience? Where are you ready to stand out and share your own creative voice?
Aquarius pours the water for the collective, distributing insight and innovation without needing to keep the spotlight. Leo stands in the light and radiates from the center. Both are necessary. One carries the vision forward. The other gives it heart and presence.
As this cycle begins, you are planting seeds around how you express your originality within a larger system. Innovation and personal expression do not compete. They inform each other.
Aquarius New Moon: Modality and Element
This Aquarius New Moon is an Air New Moon, and Air signs process life through the mind. Air focuses on ideas, patterns, language, and the logic that helps us make sense of what we are experiencing. Under an Air New Moon, it can be easier to step back, name what you are noticing, and think in terms of options and strategies.
Aquarius is Fixed Air, which adds staying power. Fixed signs hold steady, they maintain focus, and they commit to a direction once it feels right. This combination supports a steady pace with big ideas. It can be a productive starting point for designing systems, refining a long-term goal, or choosing a cause or community you want to invest in.
Fixed energy can hold a line so firmly that it becomes hard to pivot. Aquarius has strong ideals, and when its vision becomes rigid, it can lead to resistance to feedback or a tendency to detach when emotions enter the conversation. The remedy is practical: keep communication consistent, stay connected to the humans involved, and let real-world results guide adjustments as the cycle unfolds.
Saturn: Aquarius New Moon Ruler
Saturn in Aries Conjunct Neptune
Every sign has a planetary ruler, and this Aquarius New Moon is guided by Saturn. Saturn represents structure, responsibility, boundaries, time, and the realities of the human condition. It describes where we must mature, commit, and build something that can endure.
This month, Saturn has just entered Aries on February 13, 2026, beginning a new multi-year chapter that continues until April 2028. Aries is cardinal fire, direct, initiating, and action-oriented. In Aries, the work becomes more personal and immediate. The skill here is pacing, building strength through consistency, and choosing actions that match your real capacity.
Just days later, on February 20, 2026, Saturn forms an exact conjunction with Neptune at 0 degrees Aries. This is not an ordinary meeting. Saturn and Neptune come together approximately every 36 years, with the last conjunction occurring in 1989. However, their conjunction at 0 degrees Aries, the Aries Point, is far rarer. The Aries Point marks the first degree of the zodiac, a sensitive degree tied to the start of the astrological new year, which begins when the Sun enters Aries at the March equinox.
Saturn consolidates and crystallizes, forming boundaries and demarcation. Neptune dissolves boundaries and represents ideals, imagination, and the unseen. When they meet, vision and reality stand face to face. Ideals require form to become manifest. Structures require inspiration. This combination can expose where a dream has no foundation, and it can equally support turning a long-held vision into something tangible.
Because Saturn rules Aquarius, this conjunction directly informs the tone of the New Moon and the solar eclipse. Aquarius seeks progress, innovation, and systems that benefit the collective. Saturn in Aries asks: What are you personally willing to commit to? What responsibility are you prepared to carry for the future you envision?
The meeting at 0 degrees Aries adds weight to this beginning. The New Moon plants seeds around collective vision and originality. Saturn in Aries asks that those ideas be grounded in action. Neptune reminds us that not every structure should be rigid. Some must remain permeable enough to allow imagination and compassion to move through them.
This is a rare moment where long-term cycles intersect with a lunar beginning. The focus is personal, strategic, and connected to a larger story unfolding over the coming years.
Aquarius Solar Eclipse at 28 Degrees
This Aquarius New Moon is a Solar Eclipse at 28 degrees Aquarius.
A solar eclipse occurs when the Moon passes between the Earth and the Sun, temporarily blotting out the Sun’s light. The Sun represents vitality, direction, and identity. During an eclipse, that light is dimmed before returning. Symbolically, something moves into shadow before it becomes visible again.
This is an annular solar eclipse, meaning the Moon covers the center of the Sun while the outer edges remain visible, creating what is often called a “ring of fire.” This particular eclipse is visible in parts of southern Africa, southern South America, and across areas of the Pacific, Atlantic, Indian Ocean, and Antarctica.
Aquarius is associated with innovation, systems, and the collective future. When the light shifts in this sign, themes around community, collaboration, long-term strategy, and social contribution can come into focus.
This eclipse forms a square to Uranus in Taurus. Uranus represents disruption, awakening, and sudden shifts in awareness. In Taurus, it relates to resources, money, stability, and what feels materially secure. A square creates tension that pushes for adjustment. There may be friction between established structures and emerging innovation. Financial models, business systems, or long-standing habits may require revision.
For business owners, this can show up as a reassessment of your systems, pricing structures, technology, or community engagement. Are your current structures aligned with the future you are building? Where are you being asked to innovate, even if it feels uncomfortable?
Eclipses activate something that is already present in your natal chart. If 28 degrees of Aquarius, Leo, Taurus, or Scorpio makes contact with planets or sensitive points in your chart within a few degrees, this period may correspond with a significant shift. The timing of that shift varies. Sometimes the effects unfold gradually. Sometimes understanding comes later, through reflection.
Journaling during eclipse season can be useful. Track ideas, conversations, financial decisions, and internal responses. In Aquarius, insights may arrive through discussion, community interaction, or exposure to new perspectives.
This eclipse plants seeds around how you participate in the collective and how your individuality contributes to it.
Aquarius: Shadow Work and Self-Development
Aquarius is future-focused, innovative, and committed to progress. Its strength lies in vision and its ability to see beyond the current structure. When the shadow side is active, that vision can harden into rigid idealism. A strong attachment to being right, different, or ahead of the curve can distance you from the very community you are trying to serve.
Because this New Moon is ruled by Saturn, responsibility and commitment are part of the equation. Saturn in Aries adds a push toward decisive action. In shadow expression, this can look like forcing change before it is ready, taking on too much at once, or holding tightly to a plan simply because you initiated it. Add the square to Uranus in Taurus, and tension around money, stability, or business systems can trigger reactive decisions. Innovation may feel urgent. Patience may feel uncomfortable.
Aquarius can detach emotionally when things become personal. Logic replaces vulnerability. Collaboration turns into debate. In business, this may show up as prioritizing strategy over relationship, or aligning with a cause while overlooking the human dynamics involved. Fixed energy brings loyalty and persistence, yet it can also resist feedback once a direction is chosen.
This New Moon offers a chance to observe where your vision is serving growth and where it may be isolating you.
Are you holding onto an idea because it is aligned with your long-term values, or because you do not want to change course?
Where might collaboration strengthen your vision instead of diluting it?
If financial or structural shifts are occurring, are you responding strategically or reacting out of discomfort?
Aquarius energy functions best when innovation is paired with humility and accountability. The strongest vision is the one you can adapt without losing its purpose.
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Aquarius New Moon Symbol: The Water Bearer
The symbol of Aquarius is the Water Bearer, a figure carrying a vessel and pouring water out into the world. Despite the image, Aquarius is an Air sign. The water represents knowledge, insight, and collective awareness rather than emotion.
The Water Bearer does not drink from the vessel. They carry it. This speaks to Aquarius’ ability to hold ideas with objectivity. It can gather information, represent the needs of a group, and distribute insight without becoming overwhelmed by personal attachment. The role is intermediary, bridging the individual and the collective.
The vessel itself matters. Water needs a container. Without structure, it spills and disappears. Saturn, the ruler of Aquarius, provides that container. Saturn gives form, boundaries, and endurance. Vision becomes sustainable when it is held within something stable.
Archetypally, the Water Bearer shows us that helping others does not mean taking on everyone else’s emotions. You can serve a community, advocate for change, or share ideas without carrying everyone else’s feelings as your own. There is power in staying level-headed and sharing ideas in a steady, practical way.
Under this New Moon, consider what you are carrying. What ideas, systems, or messages are ready to be shared more broadly? How can you contribute your originality while staying grounded and steady?
The Water Bearer pours with intention, not for attention. It distributes insight where it is needed and trusts that the structure holding it will endure.
The Water Bearer pours with intention, not for attention. It shares insight where it is needed and focuses on the collective and the cause.
Theme and Aspects
Aquarius New Moon and Sun Square Uranus in Taurus
This Aquarius New Moon is shaped by tension between innovation and stability. The Sun and Moon form a square to Uranus in Taurus, putting pressure on outdated systems. Uranus represents disruption and awakening. In Taurus, it relates to resources, money, security, and what feels materially steady. A square creates friction that calls for adjustment. Financial structures, pricing models, technology, or long-standing habits may need revision.
Mars in Aquarius
Mars in Aquarius adds a background current of action. Mars represents drive and initiative. In Aquarius, it acts on ideas and principles. While not tightly conjunct the New Moon or Sun, it reinforces the desire to move forward with innovation and social contribution. There can be motivation to advocate, implement, or experiment. The key is aligning action with long-term strategy rather than reacting to temporary discomfort.
Aquarius New Moon and Annular Solar Eclipse
As mentioned above, this New Moon is also an annular solar eclipse, visible in parts of southern Africa, southern South America, and across areas of the Pacific, Atlantic, Indian Ocean, and Antarctica. The visible “ring of fire” effect adds symbolic emphasis to themes of temporary obscuration followed by renewed light.
Mercury Retrograde Cycle in Pisces
Mercury began its pre-shadow phase on February 12 and will soon go retrograde in Pisces. Between now and February 26 is a good time to wrap up new initiatives, finalize launches already in progress, and create more breathing room in your schedule. Instead of adding new commitments, focus on completing what is underway.
Once Mercury stations retrograde, the emphasis shifts to review. That is when revisiting communication strategies, contracts, messaging, and decisions becomes central. The retrograde phase supports editing, refining, and reassessing rather than initiating.
• Pre shadow begins: February 12
• Mercury stations retrograde: February 26 in Pisces (22 degrees)
• Mercury stations direct: March 20 (8 degrees)
• Post shadow ends: April 7
• Retrograde Degrees: 22 degrees Pisces back to 8 degrees Pisces
Pisces relates to vision, imagination, and intuition. Messaging may benefit from taking time to review your voice tone and wording, especially when emotions are involved, and confirming that what sounds inspired is still practical.
Check out the Quarterly Business Outlook for the new list of planetary transits this month.
Learn how the current period of time can help you navigate what's coming next.
Aquarius New Moon Ritual: Letter to Self
This ritual uses the timing of Mercury’s retrograde cycle. The New Moon plants the seed. The retrograde period provides review. The post-shadow marks integration.
What you’ll need:
A notebook or notes app
A pen
Ten uninterrupted minutes
Step 1:
Set a timer for ten minutes.
Step 2:
At the top of the page, write:
“April 10, 2026”
Step 3:
Begin your letter with this sentence:
“I’m writing to you from the end of the Mercury retrograde cycle. Here’s what changed…”
Step 4:
Continue writing your thoughts using these prompts to help you get started:
I stopped delaying ______ and finally addressed ______.
I realized that ______ needed to be revised.
I chose to ______ instead of ______.
Step 5: When the timer ends, stop writing.
Step 6: Open your calendar and set a reminder for April 10 to read this letter.
Mantra
Repeat aloud or silently:
‘I revise what needs revision and release what has run its course.’
Words of Wisdom
‘Without deviation from the norm, progress is not possible.’ — Frank Zappa
Wrap-Up: New Moon in Aquarius
This Aquarius New Moon at 28 degrees is also an annular Solar Eclipse, bringing focus to innovation, systems, and collective direction. The square to Uranus in Taurus highlights pressure around money and stability, while Saturn’s move into Aries and conjunction with Neptune link long-term responsibility with vision. Mars in Aquarius supports action aligned with ideas and principles.
With Mercury moving through its pre-retrograde cycle in Pisces, timing favors slowing down and preparing for a period of review and catching up during the Mercury Retrograde starting later this month.
