Tuesday [at 7:19 am EST, 12:19 UTC] the Moon and Sun form a conjunction in Sagittarius; this is the annual Sagittarius New Moon. This event is bristling with energy; in part for being in Sagittarius, the sign of cosmic fire, and in part for being amplified by other celestial elements.

Kissing Couple porcelain wedding cake ornament, from a family bakery’s cake ornament archive

With Juno, the consort of Jupiter and the Roman Queen of Heaven, so prominent in this event — the exact conjunction to the New Moon is unusual — the emphasis is on relationships, and agreements within relationships. These are the domain of Juno.

The age-old question of commitment versus freedom may rise to the surface. Sagittarius emphasizes independence and free movement; Juno emphasizes pair-bonding and emotions such as jealousy that would seem to restrict freedom, or even the concept.

Yet with Juno it’s necessary to look deeper, for example at the dynamics in the relationship. Can partners express their needs and desires? To what extent are they autonomous people, and to what extent are they “half of a couple,” as Erica Jong once put it?

Juno is saying that there can be real freedom in a mutual awareness of where people in a couple stand. Are the ground rules agreed to? Or are they silent? And how is it possible to maintain balance in a time of change and even chaos? We live in an era when everything is changing at once, and this often presents a temptation to camp out in overly-rigid forms of relationship.

Juno, for most astrologers, inherently raises the question of monogamy, even though Juno’s consort Jupiter was an infamous philanderer. When discussing monogamy, it’s helpful to remember that everyone has their own definition of what that means. These definitions vary wildly; they often contain internal contradictions; and worst of all, they are rarely articulated.

Juno has one additional concept that’s relevant today: that of social justice. This works in partnerships where people really must stand up for one another, and give one another space, sometimes to their own detriment. And in a more public manifestation, Juno is a call to action by people everywhere, in a time of global crisis.

The New Moon is positioned in a way that emphasizes the potency of the turning point, and the need to turn away from the denial and deception of the past. At a certain point truth must be embraced as a greater value than denial, and it would seem like the time is now.