The Four Foundations | Anchoring in at the Capricorn New Moon
This Capricorn New Moon marks an important threshold moment, inviting clarity around intention, structure, and inner orientation. While the New Moon itself sets the tone, the Four Foundations ritual below is not limited to this single day. It can be worked with at any point over the coming weeks as we move toward the Aquarius New Moon-Solar Eclipse and Lunar New Year on 17 February, offering a grounded way to listen, align, and prepare for what is ready to take shape next.
Capricorn New Moon timing:
Sydney — Monday @ 6:51am, 19 January
London — Sunday @ 7:51pm, 18 January
Paris / Berlin — Sunday @ 8:51pm, 18 January
New York — Sunday @ 2:51pm, 18 January
Los Angeles — Sunday @ 11:51am, 18 January
Delhi — Monday @ 1:21am, 19 January
Singapore — Monday @ 3:51am, 19 January
Tokyo — Monday @ 4:51am, 19 January
This New Moon activates Mars, Mercury, and Venus closely conjunct the Sun in the later degrees of Capricorn. This is the same area of the sky that was strongly activated when COVID first began, and for many of us, this brings an amplification of the long and difficult cycle we have been traversing for years now of pressure, responsibility, restructuring and endurance.
But this New Moon is forming a supportive aspect to Uranus in Taurus, bringing the potential for some insight, clarity, and genuine perspective shifts. You may not get answers all at once, but there is the possibility of gaining insights and glimmers of understanding, and maybe even a sense that the patterns which have felt heavy or stuck may finally be starting to loosen their grip on you.
Then, within a week of this New Moon, Venus, the Moon, the Sun, Mercury, and Mars all move into Aquarius, and we begin the journey towards the first major initiation gate of the year: the New Moon-Solar Eclipse in Aquarius, which also marks the beginning of Lunar New Year.
These first weeks of 2026 feel like a rubber band being pulled back. We can all feel the building tension, focus, and energy gathering for a powerful release. Once that release happens, momentum will take over, and it becomes much harder to change direction.
This makes now, and especially this Capricorn New Moon, a powerful moment to anchor in who you want to be through 2026 and to:
Get clear on your aim.
Listen deeply.
Decide who you are choosing to be as this extraordinary year unfolds.
Intention and Karmic Coherence
As we begin the year, and especially as we arrive at this New Moon in Capricorn, I want to clarify how I work with intention and why this moment matters so much.
Capricorn is not about wishing or visualising outcomes.
It is about structure and what can actually be held, sustained, and lived.
With so many planets gathered close to the Sun, this New Moon is not asking for more effort, it is asking for coherence and for the inner architecture of your life to be aligned enough that your energy is no longer leaking in opposing directions.
For me, being powerful with intention is not about trying to get something from life. Real power actually builds when you are in karmic coherence.
By karmic coherence, I mean the state where you are no longer at war with yourself. Where your intentions, what you pay attention to, and actions are no longer working against each other. Where even the parts of you that feel difficult are included within awareness rather than fought, denied, or bypassed.
When these elements are held together, something quiet but powerful happens... your patterns stop running you unconsciously.
Karma is not fate.
It is patterned causality.
It is what happens next as a result of how you are organised right now.
Karma describes the momentum created by the structures you repeatedly enforce. This includes the ways you respond/react, avoid, contract, or commit and this is often happening at deeper levels you're not consciously aware of. And when these structures remain unconscious, the same patterns tend to keep repeating, even when we say we want things to change.
This is why Capricorn matters here. Capricorn governs the structures of life and the commitments you make, the rhythms you return to and the inner vows and traditions you take for granted. This New Moon offers a perfect moment to zoom out and see the structures you are standing in, and to decide whether they truly reflect who you are becoming.
And this is where the Four Foundations come in and why I'm personally working with this in ritual at this New Moon in Capricorn.
The Four Foundations are not affirmations or goals. They are a way of working intention into form. Each foundation addresses a different layer of karmic structure:
what matters,
what is complete,
what already stabilises you,
and what is genuinely ready to begin.
Together, they help intention move out of hoping and wishing and into lived coherence. Because once the rubber band starts releasing forward with the Aquarius Solar Eclipse / Lunar New Year, the direction is set by the foundations and intentions you already have in place.
So now is the time to aim.
Not by force, but through karmic coherence.
You do not need perfect answers.
You only need enough honesty to stop fighting yourself and enough willingness to listen for what wants to take shape next.
Listen to the Audio
In the 2026 Astrology Forecast, I speak about this period in more depth and introduce the Four Foundations as a way of working consciously with it.
Listen + read the transcript here: ▶︎ 2026 Astrology Forecast - Audio & Transcript
The Four Foundations Ritual
These are four simple anchors you can return to over the coming weeks.
They are not tasks to complete. They are ways of orienting yourself so that your centre remains accessible as the year unfolds.
1. Foundation One
What truly matters now, beneath urgency or expectation?
What do you really want beneath fear, obligation, or story? Often, when we listen deeply, the answer moves beyond money, roles, or outcomes and touches how we want to feel and live.
Sit with this. Give it its own page. Let the deeper answer emerge.
2. Foundation Two
What can no longer travel with you into the next phase?
This is about letting go... but only what you are genuinely ready to release. Not what you think you should let go of, but what is already complete.
Honesty here builds coherence. Internal conflict dissolves when you acknowledge what is real.
3. Foundation Three
What already nourishes and stabilises you?
There is already coherence in your life. Acknowledge the people, routines, practices, and patterns that regulate your nervous system and support you.
This foundation is about recognising and strengthening what already works.
4. Foundation Four
What is ready to begin, even if the full shape is not yet clear?
What new routine, habit, or rhythm are you genuinely ready to start? This is building on what already supports you.
This is where intention becomes action, but only after the ground is prepared.
Oracle Card Spread — The Four Foundations
You may wish to work with this spread once, or return to it throughout January.
Card 1 — Foundation One: What truly matters beneath the surface right now?
Card 2 — Foundation Two: What is ready to be released or completed?
Card 3 — Foundation Three: What already stabilises and nourishes me?
Card 4 — Foundation Four: What is ready to begin?
You can pull all four cards at once, or one per week. Let the meaning unfold slowly.
A Simple Ritual to Work With This
If you're wanting to catch the energy of the Capricorn New Moon, then I suggest any time as close as possible to the exact time listed at the beginning of this email. However, this ritual can be done any time in the coming weeks leading up to the Solar Eclipse mid February.
Four Foundations Ritual
Create a quiet space. Light a candle if that feels supportive.
Listen to the Four Foundations section in the 2026 Astrology Forecast, without multitasking.
Journal on one foundation at a time.
Pull the corresponding oracle card.
Sit for a few minutes in silence and notice what lands. This is not about resolutions, goals, or forcing clarity.
The Four Foundations are about building real power from where you are. Real power is quiet. It is built in the unseen moments, in honesty, coherence, and the patterns you consciously choose to walk each day.
And remember, you do not need perfect answers.
You only need to be willing to listen.
With love,
Paula ✦
p.s. you can always book a 90-minute Soul Session with me here x