Sagittarius New Moon: Return to Integrity
- Vanja Banks
- 5 days ago
- 6 min read
Since the Gemini Super Full Moon, I’ve been ruminating on something from every single angle. I let myself hold the complexity, the nuance, the tenderness, the contradictions. I stayed curious instead of decisive, open instead of certain.
But somewhere in that process, something else revealed itself: that endless rumination and duality can begin to obscure the truth rather than clarify it.
This is the shadow of Gemini — being so adaptable that we lose contact with our own authenticity. And this is why the Sagittarius New Moon arrives as a correction... a return to integrity.
On Dec 19 at 5:42 pm PST/8:42 pm EST, the Sun and Moon meet at the 28th degree of Sagittarius. It is the final New Moon of 2025, opening just days before the Winter Solstice — the moment when the Sun appears to pause in the sky before beginning its slow return. Together, these moments form a threshold rather than a launch. A pause rather than a push. A place where something completes before anything new truly begins.
New Moons are often framed as times for intention-setting and fresh starts, but this lunation asks for reflection and integration. For an internal clearing of the slate rather than external action. We are entering an integration period of winter — a season that belongs to stillness, assimilation, and truth settling into the body before forward momentum returns closer to the energetic new year in February. This is a New Moon for choosing.
From Seeing the Truth to Standing in It
Earlier this month, the Gemini Super Full Moon illuminated the alchemy of truth. It asked us to hold duality, to look at situations from multiple angles, and to witness the ways we fragment ourselves in order to stay adaptable, agreeable, or safe. Gemini opened the conversation. It revealed complexity without demanding conclusion.
Where Gemini asked us to observe, Sagittarius asks us to orient. Where Gemini explored possibilities, Sagittarius arrives at pr
inciple. The mental circling has run its course. Gemini showed us the many truths that could exist simultaneously. Sagittarius asks us which one we are willing to live by. Not because it is the only truth — but because it is ours.
This shift is echoed astrologically by timing: Mercury’s post-retrograde shadow completed on December 16, just before this lunation. Something that was reviewed, reconsidered, or revealed over the past weeks is now ready to solidify. The information has landed and the perspective has widened.
Sagittarius is not interested in holding every truth at once. It is interested in meaning — in the belief or value you are willing to stand behind. This New Moon asks: after looking at this from every angle, what do you actually believe?
Sagittarius New Moon, the Fool & the Leap
Sagittarius is the archetype of the seeker, the philosopher, the pilgrim who follows meaning rather than certainty. Governed by Jupiter, Sagittarius trusts that life itself is a teacher — that wisdom comes not from control, but from experience.
Yet, beneath the familiar image of movement and adventure lies another archetype: the Fool. The Fool does not leap because the path is guaranteed, but because staying where they are would be a deeper betrayal of truth.
This New Moon invites an inner version of that leap. It asks where you are ready to admit something to yourself — a desire, a boundary, a knowing — even if it has not yet been spoken or acted upon. This is not about broadcasting your truth, but about recognizing it clearly enough that you stop negotiating against it.
Sometimes expansion does not mean moving forward in the world… it means quietly standing in your truth until it is ready to be spoken.
Winter’s Standstill & the Wisdom of Commitment
As this New Moon unfolds, the Earth herself is slowing... the days stop shortening and the light pauses before it begins its return. We are approaching winter’s standstill; a liminal moment where nothing appears to move, yet something internally settles.
The work now is not expression or explanation, but commitment and alignment. The kind that allows you to remain open without being porous, curious without being unanchored, compassionate without self-abandonment.
A boundary does not have to be spoken to be real — sometimes it is simply the moment you stop betraying yourself.
Jupiter in Cancer: Letting Feeling Lead
Sagittarius is ruled by Jupiter, and Jupiter is currently in Cancer, where it is exalted. Expansion now comes through emotional truth rather than certainty, through intuition rather than strategy, and through trusting what you feel, not just what you think.
This placement redirects Sagittarius’ usual outward gaze inward. Growth arises from emotional literacy, from honoring sensitivity rather than overriding it. Jupiter in Cancer reminds us that faith is relational and it is built through safety, care and self-trust.
Jupiter forms supportive trines to Saturn and Neptune in the final degrees of Pisces, bringing a synthesis between devotion, discipline and surrender. Yet the Sun and Moon square Saturn and Neptune, stirring doubt, fatigue and boundary confusion. Old insecurities may surface and the temptation to numb or over-accommodate may arise.
We are still in the closing chapter of the Saturn–Neptune cycle in Pisces, which completes in February 2026. This has been a long dissolution of identities and emotional patterns that once kept us afloat. This New Moon does not demand answers. It asks for discernment and kindness toward yourself as clarity continues to form.
Venus, Mars & the Integrity of Intimacy
The Sun and Moon are conjunct Venus and Juno in Sagittarius as well as Mars in Capricorn — bringing relationship themes into sharp focus. Something is integrating around what intimacy means to you now … not just in theory, but in lived experience.
Venus’ conjunction with the Sun and Moon supports connection with those we feel free to be ourselves with. This is intimacy that does not require self-betrayal. It is love that values honesty over harmony.
Mars, freshly in Capricorn, adds a quieter strength as his energy is deliberate, not reactive. He builds from integrity rather than impulse. Mars reminds us that action will be required eventually, but only after alignment is established.
Venus and Mars are also completing a longer relational cycle that began when they met in Aquarius in early 2024. Something that awakened then — around desire, autonomy, or relational dynamics — is now integrating. You may not yet know what comes next, but you are no longer operating from the same place.
Healing the Self Through Self-Loyalty
The Sun and Moon also trine Chiron, offering healing around identity and self-trust. This is healing that comes from acceptance, not fixing or refining.
There is medicine here in releasing the need to justify who you are or where you’re headed. In letting your truth exist quietly; in choosing self-loyalty over self-abandonment, and knowing that sometumes faith is simply staying true to yourself when no one is watching.
Moving Toward the Solstice
This New Moon carries us toward the Winter Solstice … a time for witnessing, not manifestation. For honoring the darkness as a womb rather than a void and for remembering that even when nothing seems to be happening, something is turning.
If you feel called to mark this threshold in ritual and community, I invite you to join me for my Winter Solstice Spiral , where we will honor the standstill, reflect on the year that has shaped us, and root what is emerging not in force … but in truth. For now, let this be enough.
Much love,
xo Vanja
Where is 28 degrees Sagittarius in my chart? What does that tell me about what I am uncovering on this lunation?
After looking at this situation from every angle, what do I actually believe?
What truth am I ready to stand by, even if it remains unspoken for now?
Where have I been compromising my authenticity to maintain comfort or harmony?
What boundary wants to be honored — internally or externally — going forward?
How has my understanding of intimacy, desire, or commitment shifted since early 2024?
What would it look like to move through winter anchored in self-trust rather than urgency?
Committing to Your Truth Ritual
This ritual is an act of honesty and energetic boundary-setting.
You will need:
a candle or small fire-safe flame
a piece of paper and pen
Light your candle and sit somewhere grounded. Take a few slow breaths, letting your body soften.
On the paper, write a truth you are ready to admit to yourself. This may be a desire, a boundary, a realization, or a knowing you have been circling. Write plainly. Do not soften it.
When you are finished, read the words out loud — not to another person, but to yourself. Let your body hear you.
Then speak a commitment aloud, such as:
I commit to honoring this truth, even if I do not act on it yet.
I commit to not betraying myself around this.
If it feels right, safely burn the paper, allowing the flame to seal your commitment energetically — or fold it and place it somewhere sacred as a reminder. Visualize a clear boundary forming around your energy: steady, honest, self-respecting.
Close by placing a hand on your heart and saying: I choose integrity with myself.