Hi Everyone

Happy New Year – and new decade! January has the second in the pair of eclipses. (The first one, an annular solar eclipse occurred the day after Christmas.) And February features everyone’s favorite retrograde!

January

There is a prenumbral lunar eclipse on January 10^th. Lunar eclipses occur at a full moon, and generally mark the beginning of ends of eras. The moon will be at 20⁰ Cancer and the eclipse will last about four hours. It will not be visible in the US. Those with placements from 15-25⁰ Cancer, Capricorn, Aries or Libra could feel the impact of this eclipse more than others. Interestingly, this eclipse occurs very close to the Sun in the US Chart.

The next day Uranus, the planet of rebellion and breakdown of outmoded forms and ideas, ends its retrograde motion which began in August. It will be at 2⁰ Taurus and will remain there for the rest of the month. People with planets in early degrees of fixed signs (Taurus, Scorpio, Leo and Aquarius) may feel the impact of this change of direction more than others. It may be a time when inner work, such as the breakdown of old patterns of thinking and feeling done during Uranus’ retrograde period, may be more openly or obviously seen or felt.

 On January 17^th, Mercury moves into Aquarius followed by the Sun on January 21^st. Aquarius is an air sign, the element of ideas, and we haven’t had many placements in the air element in a while. Aquarius, ruled by Uranus, is the sign of the rebel, the unconventional, the revolutionary. Hopefully in the weeks that these two planets are in air, new and innovative ideas will come forth to solve some of the issues we face and change structures and systems that no longer serve us. The Full Moon occurs on January 24^th at 4⁰ Aquarius.

Venus enters Pisces on the 14^th and will be next to Neptune in that sign. Pisces is a water sign that seeks to merge with something greater than itself. It is the sign of faith, devotion, addiction and compassion. Neptune is the higher octave or expression of Venus, the planet of love and relationship. Venus says: I love you because you love me. Neptune says: I love you because it is in the nature of love to love.

 February

The first of the three Mercury retrogrades for this year begins on February 17^th shortly after midnight. He’ll be at 17⁰ Pisces, conjunct (next to) Neptune, which could make for some foggy thinking and/or spiritual inspiration, and he’ll remain in Pisces for the rest of the month. (He changes direction again on March 10.)

On the same day, Mars, the planet of assertion, aggression, war and initiating energy, enters Capricorn where he will remain through the end of March. He joins Jupiter, Saturn, and Pluto in this sign. All these planets will be in the house of values and resources in the US chart. Capricorn is an earth sign, generally concerned with the status quo and creation of plans, systems and structures – very thoughtful, deliberate, sometimes slow to change. It is also the sign of the spiritual initiate, ruled by Saturn, the planet of lessons of all types.

There are no planets in air once the Sun moves into Pisces on the 20^th. The Full Moon occurs on the 9^th at 20⁰ Leo; the New Moon on the 23^rd at 4⁰ Pisces.

I hope your New Year and this new decade get off to a wonderful start!

Peace and abundant blessings,

Margaret