The astrological year actually began last December 21, when Sun entered Capricorn, marking the Winter Solstice. On that same day, Sun also joined its ruler, Saturn, casting a hue of steely diligence on the year ahead and accenting January’s natural Capricorn flavor.
Are you feeling the switch? Sagittarius is wonderful, fortunate and free. The archer likes to go with the flow, and many of those with a Sagittarius Sun or rising had a stressful 2-½ years as the schoolmaster planet spent long hours double-checking their homework and taking them by the neck of their purple Pendleton to the principal’s office.
Nor was this transit easy for the rest of us. The ninth zodiac sign resists repression, and put in its own hours, applying its gift of gab to talk us out of doing the organized, responsible thing in the area of our lives and natal chart it occupies. Earth itself breathes a sigh of relief as Saturn, planet of discipline moves, into Capricorn, the sign of his rule and dignity.
Suddenly, an obsession with progress stops being the exclusive property of neurotic nerds and becomes a thing of value. We can retrieve our inherent executive skills and rediscover the fascination of mastery.
The relief is even greater for those of us with a strong Tenth House or natal Saturn, or with Capricorn Sun, rising or Moon. All of us have the goat’s particular survival skills somewhere in our charts, and when we think about goals and personal authority, we can feel those hooved feet kicking in.
Around Winter Solstice, the inner army cadet picked up her baton and began getting in line for progress. But wait! Just as the way started looking clear and work stopped seeming like an uncomfortable anomaly, in rolls January with not one but two highly emotional Super Moons and numerous Plutonic undercurrents that won’t let us slip into merely mechanical productivity—instead, demanding that we keep abreast of what’s really going on and persist in our deepest healing.
One of these Super Moons is right at the door of the new month, on Monday, January 1. She shines forth in Cancer, bringing to light our personal emotions and calling us to stop and honor the hearth before giving ourselves over to Saturn’s demanding prerogatives.
Besides its archetypal charge as the beginning of the calendar year, this day has ancient associations with several deities, including Astarte, Juno, Hera, Janus, Jupiter and Fortuna. Such a pantheon works well with the holidays, giving them a sacred charge. With Mercury in post-retrograde shadow, this time is particularly propitious for family connections and healing of emotional programs.
So, tasty as they may be, don’t let the champagne and truffles seduce you into disconnection. Before the year’s productive impulse takes over, renew lines of positive communication and schedule some time alone to review and transmute the early influences these holidays may trigger.
In fact, even though Mercury goes fully direct on Thursday, January 11, Moon is poised to enter her balsamic phase, so the first two weeks of the year are better for….
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