SHEDDING SKIN
Every New Moon marks a beginning. But some New Moons do more than open a door — they ask us to cross a threshold. The January 2026 New Moon in Capricorn is such a moment.
Occurring on 18 January 2026 at 28° Capricorn, this New Moon is tightly conjunct the Sun, Mercury, and Mars. Pluto freshly arrived in Aquarius is followed by Venus close behind. It is also trine Uranus, sextile Neptune and Saturn, and opposite Jupiter.
Capricorn speaks to the scaffolding of our lives: responsibility, ambition, survival, legacy. This New Moon gathers many timelines at once — drawing together what has been lived and what is forming, what we carry within and what we are building in the world.
This is the first New Moon of 2026, but it is also the final New Moon of the Year of the Snake, just before we enter the Fire Horse lunar year. A closing cycle. A shedding. A necessary release before momentum can return.
This is a threshold New Moon — and yes, it is the right moment to write your New Year’s intentions. But not from habit, from truth.
Shedding the Skin of Survival
Snakes shed their skin as a natural part of growth — a process known as ecdysis. The old skin does not stretch with them. It must be released entirely, often in one clear, intact piece, revealing brighter, more sensitive skin beneath.
This is the core teaching of the January 2026 New Moon in Capricorn.
Much of what we call personality is actually survival strategy.
- “I am anxious” often means I learned to stay alert to stay safe
- “I am overly responsible” can mean I had to grow up too soon
- “I am the carer” may have begun as love as survival
- “I am driven” may reflect a learned belief that worth must be earned through productivity
Survival strategies are intelligent. They form in response to real conditions.
But they are not meant to be permanent identities.
Capricorn energy, especially at the final degrees, asks us to look honestly at the structures we’ve built — internally and externally — and ask:
Is this still necessary? Or is it simply familiar?
With Uranus supporting this New Moon, insight arrives suddenly. Neptune helps us to sense what has quietly dissolved. Saturn allow us to feel the weight of responsibility — but also the wisdom to choose differently. And with Jupiter opposite, there is pressure to grow, to expand beyond the old limits.
The January 2026 New Moon in Capricorn does not ask us to destroy the past — only to recognise when a structure has completed its purpose.
Like the snake, we do not shed because something is wrong. We shed because we have outgrown what once protected us.
Writing the Next Chapter
This New Moon makes one thing clear: what matters now cannot be postponed.
With so many planets concentrated at the Capricorn–Aquarius threshold, it becomes almost impossible not to see where energy wants to go next — and where it cannot follow us any longer.
As you set intentions under the January 2026 New Moon, reflect on:
- What would you release if you trusted that you no longer need to prove your worth through effort, vigilance, or self-sacrifice?
- Which roles in your life feel like protection rather than expression?
- What would it mean to let an old identity rest, without judging it or needing to replace it immediately?
The snake has long symbolised creative life force, healing, renewal, and rebirth. From ancient fertility symbols to the ouroboros — the serpent consuming its own tail — we are reminded that life moves in cycles of release and return.
This New Moon is not about becoming someone new overnight. It is about allowing what has already outgrown its skin to fall away.
The Fire Horse year that follows will ask for courage, movement, and momentum.
But before we run, we must travel light.
This is the moment to shed — gently, completely, and without apology.
What remains is not vulnerability.
It is freedom.
With love and care,
Ester