TUESDAY JANUARY 1
Happy New Year! It seems to be off to a good
start. An easy grand trine links Moon and Mars to Neptune,
so we can put energy into our dreams and vision into our aspirations.
Saturn is keeping a wary eye on gregarious Jupiter, egocentric
Sun and witty Mercury as they’re all cavorting in his
house (Capricorn), so we can all be on our best behavior.
Moon goes void at 4:33 this afternoon, then
sidles into Scorpio, at 5:32. The evening may be livelier.
WEDNESDAY JANUARY 2
It’s still mellow, although Mars makes
its exact opposition to Pluto at 1:28 pm. That’s an
omnipresent aspect that has been coloring our world—the
entire world—for several months now, and will for the
next couple of years. Expect warlike tensions and record homicide
rates to remain high. Remember that we all have the capability
to avoid letting vague impulses toward hostility affect our
personal lives. A ready sense of humor can defuse the most
volatile situations.
THURSDAY JANUARY 3
We awaken feeling restless, eager to do something
even if we don’t know just what. The brainfog gets worse
as the day goes on, with Moon squaring Neptune so no one seems
to be able to express themselves clearly, and most certainly
not succinctly. It gets better late afternoon and evening
as Moon sextiles Mercury and goes void at 4:30 pm.
Iowa’s ballots today add new frenzy to
the race toward presidential nominations and the aspects look
like we can expect confusion about the early results.
FRIDAY JANUARY 4
Moon enters Sagittarius at 6:13 am, so we can
aim high but otherwise coast through the day. She comes together
with Venus this evening, which should make for an enjoyable,
perhaps very sociable, evening.
SATURDAY JANUARY 5
Moon meets up with Juno, who is always quick
to recognize when someone or something has been slighted,
even when it takes a stretch of the imagination to make that
point. The two of them glom onto the itch engendered by the
ongoing opposition of Saturn and Uranus, once again bringing
to mind the need for changes in our lives and the difficulty
of making decisions about change—and/or commitments
thereto.
SUNDAY JANUARY 6
There may be a lot going on today, but for
many of us it may be mostly subliminal. Not much is clear-cut,
or even apparent. Our physical selves go about doing the same
old things in the same old familiar ways but our psyches are
on a trip of their own, and are pretty chary about handing
out clues. There’s probably nothing really wrong, if
we play it cool, but we may feel picked on and unloved nonetheless.
Late afternoon could be a good time for giving your pillow
a few good punches just for the helluvit.
Moon goes void on a conjunction to Pluto at
4:27, then calms as she enters Capricorn at 5:43.
MONDAY JANUARY 7
A buckle-down-and-get-on-with-it day. Common
sense prevails and our outlook becomes downright optimistic.
Venus in Sag can see the bright side of things, even when
squared by Saturn and Neptune. Moon in Capricorn considers
emotionality a waste of energy. Grab the opportunity to be
productive.
Mercury slips into Aquarius this evening, 8:46
PDT. The rest of the
month may be host to some unusual, offbeat ideas.
TUESDAY JANUARY 8
New Moon early this morning, 3:37 am
on the west coast. And Moon goes Void of Course
on its conjunction to the Sun then, so the sense of newness
permeates the entire day. It’s apparent now that the
days are lengthening and a subliminal awareness of rebirth
and revitalization adds alacrity to our aspirations. We’re
eager to get on with it.
Venus sits at a midway point on the opposition
of Saturn and Uranus, trying to find compromise between the
comforting familiarity of traditional behaviors and the need
to charge into a new and innovative future.
Venus is hanging out with Juno in this chart,
duly noting the needs of hearth and home while gathering some
shrewd insights on breakaway tactics from Pallas, who’s
hovering a square away near Uranus. Vesta and Ceres are pulled
into a conference call, by a sextile and a quincunx, to remind
us of where our vested interests lie and where we must be
concerned about the future affects of any action on our progeny.
While the yin energies of the asteroids may seem subtle, or
certainly less than obvious, they form a web of liaisons that
can offer strong support—or a trap. Depends on how we
use it.
These are clues for forging our agendas and
aspirations for the coming month. When faced with an either-or
situation, careful analysis will usually show a possibility
for stirring a little of each into the pot and coming up with
a new recipe.
For our nation, it’s a triple Capricorn
chart, with Sun, Moon and Ascendant all in Capricorn, so a
sober-sides attitude with a no-nonsense approach is called
for during the coming month. A turn in the nature of
the presidential election campaign becomes noticeable now
and it becomes both more pragmatic and more down-and-dirty.
Pluto and Jupiter bracket the ascendant, with
Mars across the chart nearing the descendant. We may be called
on to brandish our power position and the prominence of jurisprudence
and ethics in the face of some saber-rattling from the Middle
East, where Mars falls on the ascendant in Iran. That Mars-Pluto
face-off isn’t going to go away soon, but it’s
fairly impotent now with Mars retrograde. We must not take
seriously any talk of the “threat” to our security
posed by any other country at this time. No retaliatory action
is needed, nor justified.
Mercury, newly into Aquarius where the value
of all points of view can gain equal status, is essentially
unaspected, both keeping it out of the limelight and offering
it special power to exercise rational intellect unhampered
by the demands of partnerships. Mercury in Aquarius takes
on some of the venturesome traits of Uranus and the thinking
that evolves may range from merely oddball to bizarre. We
may see the results in political ads (not to mention the usual
commercials) and pronouncements. There may be a new round
of noise emanating from Venezuela, where Mercury sits on the
ascendant in this chart. But it’s doubtful that there
is much of significance.
The Sabian symbol for the New Moon at 18° Capricorn:
The Union Jack flies from a British warship; The protection
afforded to individuals and groups by powerful institutions
in charge of maintaining order. Rudhyar says: “Power
is required to maintain social order and relatively peaceful
interpersonal as well as international relationships. Alas,
this power can be easily misused under the pretext of preserving ‘law
and order’.” Where this symbol occurs, he says, “it
may be a warning against using power for selfish advantage.”
WEDNESDAY JANUARY 9
Venus is still haranguing the Saturn-Uranus
conundrum—do we prefer the way it’s always been,
or do we want to indulge our hankering for something new?
The Venus mantra could be “I want, I want,” and
today she seems to truly want everything. Is compromise possible?
Moon joins up with Mercury to get our gray cells working.
Have we thought of all the options? Which just “feels
right”?
THURSDAY JANUARY 10
Moon is linked with Venus all day, in a sextile
full of opportunity. The tricky thing about opportunity is
that you have to be able to recognize it—sometimes it
comes in very convincing disguise. Tonight, Moon slides across
in front of Neptune, the master of disguise, blocking his
rays from reaching us. So pay attention! And make notes of
the ideas you have now. Even if they don’t make sense
at the moment.
FRIDAY JANUARY 11
We awaken feeling energized. We seem able to
see behind surface appearances and understand events around
us in terms of what is intended or important, rather than
being swayed by superficial mannerisms. That’s probably
because Moon is happily allied with Pluto when she goes void,
at 9:52 am PDT, and carries those probing inclinations into
her early tenure in Pisces (beginning at 10:44). Her next
aspect is a hopeful sextile to Jupiter, so she’s on
a roll all day.
SATURDAY JANUARY 12
Moon glances across the chart at sedate old
Saturn first thing this morning, then meets up with Pallas
to get the gossip from Juno and Venus. Those gals are planning
to corral the inventive genius of Uranus and stir up a bit
of excitement, for better or for worse—mostly just for
the excitement. What they’re probably not seeing is
that Neptune is working his wily ways on the whole scheme,
painting deceptive pictures of desires and actions. Why am
I telling you this? Because every one of them is a part of
every one of us. Message: Watch your step. Try to make sure
it’s still going to seem like a good idea tomorrow,
or next week, or next year.
SUNDAY JANUARY 13
A good day for sleeping in. At least a little
bit. We can be pretty effective by mid-day. And by the time
Moon squares Pluto and goes void at 3:41 pm, we should be
digging into ways of making some of those New Year’s
resolutions real goals, or at least objectives. Mercury is
fading from a quincunx to Saturn, which suggests that we probably
need to modify the way we originally set all out those lofty
ideas.
Moon starts a new cycle around the chart when
she enters Aries at 4:23 pm PST.
MONDAY JANUARY 14
Sometimes Moon in Aries can make it seem like
everyone is thinking only of themselves. Break the mold. This
is a period of time when each of us, in little ways, needs
to be exploring new ways of living our lives, new ways of
discovering the mini-adventures that are offered to us (and
the extraordinary value of mini-adventures). This
may be especially true for those of us who were born with
Moon in Aries. Today, don’t tell anyone what you did
or what you think. Ask questions. Moon square Jupiter
is offering some far-reaching answers.
TUESDAY JANUARY 15
Moon is busy as she makes her way to
the First Quarter Moon square at 11:46 am PDT. On
her way to a trine with Venus, she hooks into almost all
the asteroids, gracing the day with overtones of caring
feminine vibes, nudging everyone to be far more helpful
than assertive. Her sextiles to Chiron and Neptune afford
a particularly healing aspect to the cooperative alignment
of the graces, and some nice things could happen.
In our national chart,
the wheel has flipped in relation to the New Moon chart. Here
Gemini rises, with Mars almost exactly on the ascendant so the
aggressive stance is our own. Pluto and a conciliatory Venus
bracket the descendant, and Jupiter in the seventh house suggests
support from allies. The trine between Jupiter and Saturn is
getting pretty tight now, which could point to worthy direction
coming from the nation’s elder statespersons—surely
good news in an age when common sense has been in such short
supply it could pass for wisdom.
Neptune trines Mars from the ninth; we can’t
trust what we’re hearing from Washington. Sun quincunxes
Mars from the eighth, so financial matters are still a major
concern and our approach(es) to dealing with debt and spending
need considerable adjustment.
Moon in the eleventh house in Aries is conjunct
Eris, which was discovered only in 2005 and named a dwarf
planet when Pluto was demoted to that status in August of
2006. Eris was named for the Greek goddess of strife and discord,
but it’s the sort of tension that comes from striving
and competitiveness rather than broad-based aggressiveness.
She also embodies the kind of jealousy roused in an uninvited
guest or an insecure step-parent. Here, the Moon-Eris square
to the Sun underscores the potential of discarding all efforts
to keep up appearances as primary means of getting the budget
under control. Their trines to Jupiter and Pluto urge us instead
to nurture the compassion of friends and lean on the wise
counsel of those who have already been through the battle.
Our country is not the first to face economic crisis and survive
it. (Nor or we as individuals).
Never-conventional Uranus in the tenth epitomizes
our leadership and its eccentric if shrewd (conjunct Pallas)
maneuverings to garner personal power. The doomed and dangerous
policies become ever more obvious and seem ever more ludicrous
and ill-intentioned. The ballast of Saturn in the fourth house,
tying in Sun and Moon with sesquiquadrates, underscores the
power of the people and our constitutional mode of government
to right these wrongs. We just have to do it. We need to make
the effort to speak out, by phone or email or snail mail or
marching in the streets to insist that our government focuses
on our needs and our wishes. It’s
time to make it clear that those overpaid CEOs and military-
industrial advisers have had their day.
The Sabian symbol for the Moon at 26° Aries: A
man possessed by more gifts than he can hold; obsession
by potentiality. “The mind which finds itself
confronted with a totally unfamiliar and as yet unexperienced
type of potency finds it difficult at first to adjust to
its new world of perception and possibilities of action,” writes
Rudhyar. But it’s an easy wealth to get used to.
The symbol for the Sun
at 26° Capricorn: A nature spirit dancing in the iridescent
mist of a waterfall; the ability to perceive the hidden and
creative spirit of natural phenomena. Rudhyar notes that
this relates to the amazing powers of water, symbolizing human
emotions and persistence. It may take time, but by keeping at
it, water can overcome the most overwhelming obstacles. Look
at the Grand Canyon—water did that.
Moon goes void on its cooperative trine with
Pluto, good for digging into the meat of things, at 7:39 and
moves on into Taurus at 8:13 pm PDT.
WEDNESDAY JANUARY 16
Moon is inclined today to draw on the wisdom
of the elders, Jupiter and Saturn, to make the most of her
stay in Taurus, where making ideas become reality has a foremost
intensity. Taurus believes in what can be validated by the
senses—we can see it, feel it, taste it... and recognizes
that years of experience can bring a concept to a level where
it becomes possible. Whichever side of the generation gap
we may find ourselves on, this is a good day to reach across
the divide.
THURSDAY JANUARY 17
Moon opposes Uranus and squares Neptune this
morning, recalling their tense oppositions to reality-based
Saturn—the disparities between what we’d like
to see happening and what is feasible. The dreams and fantasies
have been pretty much closeted by now, but we’re driven
ever more toward new ways of doing things. It can seem
a bit crazy-making on days like today. Moon goes void at 9:05
pm PDT.
FRIDAY JANUARY 18
A relatively quiet day, at least astrologically.
Moon enters Gemini at 1:30 am, and spends most of the day
in a quincunx to Jupiter that could have us wondering about
the meaning of it all, at least everything visibly around
us if not the greater essences. This can be a boon for helping
us to get organized, so take the opportunity to catch up on
some filing and sorting—and discarding. Where do we
get all this stuff?
SATURDAY JANUARY 19
Tiger by the tail today, and we’re intent
on getting something done—finished, completed, kaputo.
Maybe all that tidying we started yesterday. Maybe stamping “The
End” on a habit, a relationship, an irrelevant worry.
Maybe just a goodbye to the doldrums we haven’t yet
been able to shake this year. Whatever. It’s clearing
out time, and by evening, as Moon shuts out the light from
Mars just before Venus opposes him, it’s all feeling
pretty good.
SUNDAY JANUARY 20
A brief Void of Course Moon, from 2:46 am to
3:05 when she enters Cancer, starts the day. Then Sun
enters Aquarius at 8:44 am PDT, offering us a more
expansive view of possibilities. We’re a bit pulled
by indecision and a host of fleeting “what if” insecurities,
but that should settle by late afternoon.
MONDAY JANUARY 21
Moon’s void all day, from 5:56 am when
she trines Uranus—an unsettling aspect to carry through
a whole day. We long to be somewhere else, doing something
else, maybe being someone else. The teaming up of Jupiter
and Saturn makes restrictions seem heavier than they actually
are—Jupiter in Capricorn can take things much too seriously
and Moon in Cancer is overly sensitive.
TUESDAY JANUARY 22
Moon eases into Leo at 5:20 am, and becomes
a Full Moon just a bit later, at 8:35 am. It’s
the major aspect of the day, shedding light on a lot of accumulated
bits and pieces. Venus is moving in on Pluto, which can always
make us feel a bit compulsive and needy. The big news is the
conjunction of Mercury and Neptune, and that can leave us
either fuzzy-headed or inspired.
In the chart set for Washington DC, the Mercury-Neptune
duo is highlighted by being the only angular placement, a
mere four degrees above the ascendant in Aquarius. This could
be a nefarious nesting in the twelfth house of secrets, and
could indicate ideas that are downright delusional. Again,
we need to keep an eye on our elected representatives.
An as yet little-used asteroid, Pholus, sits
on the midheaven in this chart. Pholus is credited with the “vague
precognitions” or hunches that can lead to the opening
up of new possibilities and eventually to concrete results.
Interesting data about Pholus is offered in Wikipedia, which
suggests among other things looking to “the influence
of ancestors, as well as issues and gripes to be taken up
with ancestors, and one's relationship to predecessors of
any kind. Pholus, in this respect, addresses issues that belong
to the entire tribe, collective psychological property, and
group responses to situations.”
The Sabian symbol for the Moon at 2° Cancer: A
man on a magic carpet hovers over a large area of land;
the ability to expand one’s consciousness by stabilizing
one’s point of view at a higher level. “The
mind can raise its point of observation and see reality
in a truer perspective,” say Rudhyar. It’s as
simple as considering how any given action will affect an
entire community, or an entire generation, or future generations
rather than merely its effects on oneself.
WEDNESDAY JANUARY 23
The chart patterns form a big red “X” on
today, as Moon opposes the tightening conjunction of Mercury
and Neptune, and the opposition of Mars and Pluto continues
to hold center stage in a natural chart. It’s a cosmic
warning that this is a time to keep our awareness in top form,
Today marks the focal point of a period of time when we need
to recognize that any action, our own or others’, can
have far-reaching ramifications beyond what is immediately
apparent.
THURSDAY JANUARY 24
Venus joins Pluto, then moves into Capricorn,
and we really want to make some changes. Rearrange. Make our
workspace more efficient. Get down to brass tacks. Enough
of this dilly-dallying! Moon is Void of Course for only a
few minutes, 9:43 to 9:48 am, and moves into Virgo so we can
really get into it.
FRIDAY JANUARY 25
More of same today. Let’s reaffirm our
commitment to a sensible diet. Reinstitute our exercise plans.
Aim for a brighter future with invigorated resolve.
This is a big day! Pluto moves into
Capricorn, at 10:44 pm tonight, for the first time in 250
years. (Although it’s merely a toe testing
the waters; the Big Guy hangs around in 0° until June,
then retrogrades back into Sag and doesn’t move on
into Capricorn for good until the end of November.)
Much has been written already about the probable
meanings of Pluto in Capricorn, with more to come. Both Jessica
Murray and Boots Hart have
insightful columns on this subject available in Daykeeper
Journal archives. In many ways, we’re going to find
it a relief as the unfettered abandon of Sagittarian ways
have become irksome during Pluto’s dozen years there.
In other ways, it’s not apt to feel good, as Pluto takes
on the Capricornian nature of purposeful structure and intentional
discipline.
It’s an important transit for our nation.
Pluto had been in Capricorn 14 years when the Declaration
of Independence was signed—the time of that signing
is used as a birth chart for the U.S.A. Those had been years
of dissension and social unrest, here and abroad. Like the
colonists in America, in many lands the oppressed were rearing
up to depose their despotic leaders. (But, looking back into
the thousands of years of recorded human history, I can only
conclude that humans are really slow learners! The oppressed
become the oppressors, and the beat goes on.) So, when Pluto
reaches 27° in 2022, our nation will be experiencing a
Pluto Return, which could be a lot more memorable than the
fabled Saturn Return.
In the U.S. chart, Pluto is in the second house,
the house that denotes our value systems, our resources and
finances, our abilities to make things grow to sustain our
lives. An unquestionably important arena. We have already
started seeing (there are no hard lines in the Universe—the
transit from one sign to another is a melding) the value systems
of our nation exposed in gritty detail, and the dreadful disparities
between our avowed intentions and our actual behavior. This
is definitely a Pluto in Capricorn manifestation.
In individual lives, those born late in the
months of December, March, June and September are probably
soon headed for some rough waters—Pluto will conjunct,
square or oppose your Sun. A significant Pluto transit always
seems to take the sum total of our past experience and wreak
it into new rules for living, and that may be especially true
with Pluto in Capricorn where rules are the order of the day.
For most people, a Pluto transit is not easy. But I have yet
to see a case where, in the long run, it did not work out
for the better. The problem is that it takes a long, long
time—a time period that can seem much longer than it
actually is. If you happen to be among those in Pluto’s
sights now, my only advice is to go with the flow, make the
changes willingly and as rapidly as possible. It’s fighting
the inevitable that becomes most painful. I’ve had clients
who’ve weathered a big Pluto transit virtually scot-free,
and they were the ones who slid into changes easily and naturally.
SATURDAY JANUARY 26
Another Void of Course Moon day. She goes out
of aspect on a chompin’-at-the-bit square to Mars at
6:32 am, and doesn’t reach Libra until 5:35 this afternoon.
We can just feel restless and ill-at-ease, or we can grab
the energy and run with it. Literally run. Or put some muscle
into productive endeavors. Not new long-range projects, not
on a void Moon. More like clean-up and getting ready. Making
things look more appealing.
SUNDAY JANUARY 27
Comfy trines dominate today’s chart—Sun
and Moon, Mercury-Neptune to Mars, Venus-Jupiter-Pluto to
Saturn. We can relax a bit and float with whatever’s
going on. It’s a good day for pleasant get-togethers
with friends, or if the time is right, with a romantic partner.
MONDAY JANUARY 28
The chart’s built a grand trine today
with Moon moving in to connect to Mercury-Neptune and Mars,
so it’s a “more of a good thing” day
and we’re feeling pretty mellow. We may be especially
tuned in to what’s going on around us today and notice
inconsistencies in what we’re being told. Mercury
turns retrograde today, at 3:31 pm, so set your plans
for the next couple of weeks for simply finishing up ongoing
projects rather than starting new ones.
Moon goes void at 4:48 pm.