January 2008 Astrocast

Key Events:  

New Moon:  01/08/2008

Full Moon: 01/22/2008

Mercury Retrograde: 01/28/2008

Other RX Planets:  Mars until 1/30; Saturn until 05/03 

While this should be a good time in which to explore various spiritual areas and beliefs, don't commit to anything or take it any more seriously than you would your dreams after a night of heavy drinking without concrete evidence for its validity.  It should be good for your imagination, but be aware that Neptune cannot be trusted and should be viewed as you would a Las Vegas show by a master magician.  Enjoy it for what it is, but don't throw your life savings at it or quit your day job.  The New Moon on the 8th is also in Capricorn, so it's likely that something new will come along for consideration, so just make sure you keep your feet on the ground and don't get duped.  On a positive note, however, Venus and Jupiter will be dancing in the streets in your 12th House of inspiration from January 30 through February 4th, give or take a day or two.  While you still need to keep an eye on Neptune to make sure they aren't pipe dreams, two benefics in conjunction should still bring something nice your way.  Just make sure you throw some healthy skepticism at it before pulling out your wallet or your heart and you should be okay.

The first few days of the month the Capricorn Sun will trine Saturn in Virgo.  This absolutely reeks with practicality and will give you the sanity check you need for that Jupiter - Neptune gig, but unfortunately this will only be in effect from around January 1 - 3.  Listen carefully to what it's telling you however, and then use it for the foundation for assessing any hare-brained ideas that come along later in the month.  Stuffy Saturn is in your Natural 8th House, which comprises sex/intimate relationships, transformations, and other people's resources, so will be standing over you like a strict headmaster relative to these areas.  He's going to be in this sign for a while, until the end of October 2009 to be exact, so this influence will continue during that time.  This month, however, while he's connecting in a friendly way with the Sun, the message will be a bit more personalized or at least obvious, as if it were headlines on a newspaper versus buried in the fine print somewhere in the middle section, you know, the one with all the ads. 

After that he'll be somewhat beneath the noise level, but more than likely giving you a reminder now and then to get things in order in your 8th House.  Structure, a sound foundation, discipline, delays and responsibilities will be emphasized, especially while he's camped out in picky, organized Virgo.  This is not necessarily a bad thing.  If this area of your life is in disarray, you'll benefit from the tutoring, and if it's a good order, you'll either get it nailed down even tighter or not notice hardly at all.  As transits go, this is far from one of the worst and most of them are beneficial in the long run as long as you pay attention and learn the lesson they're trying to teach.  Working in your favor, at least during the second half of the month, Jupiter and Saturn will be in a nice friendly handshake between your 12th and 8th Houses, respectively.  Since both planets are in solid, practicality-ridden Earth Signs, this should provide a giant dose of common sense to help you get your dreams and imagination on solid ground, at least as it applies to 8th House issues, and perhaps even help you make some major shifts in your attitude toward whatever happens to be going on in this area for you.

From January 1 - 13, retrograde (RX) Mars will be in opposition to Pluto.  These two bad actors are likely to cause a variety of crap for just about everyone in one way or another.  For you Water Bearers, Mars is in your Natural 5th House of children, creativity, recognition, and lovers, and Pluto will be in the final degrees of Sagittarius, your Natural 11th House of groups, friends, hopes and wishes.  Mars RX tends to stir up suppressed anger and bring it to the surface, so if you've been subconsciously doing any ax grinding, it's likely to make an appearance during this time.  Bear in mind that the suppressed anger thing is likely to go very deep and have transformation effects with Pluto involved.  It will be cleaning house much more than Mars alone, but your likelihood of resolving it is quite good.  Some possible areas it will be touching upon in these houses could be, for example, if one of your coworkers took credit for your work and then got a promotion, raise or other recognition for it and you got nothing; one of your love interests really let you down; one of your friends squashed one of your pet ideas; or you worked very hard on a volunteer project for a group or organization and never got any appreciation or credit for all your work.  Now is when you're likely to recognize this, scrap any rationalizing you did at the time excusing the person, and let them have it with both barrels when they're least expecting it.  While Mars was in Cancer it was likely to soften this reaction somewhat and perhaps stir up hurt feelings more than anything.  Now that he's in Gemini, it will be more logic-based.  Either way, if you must express yourself, just make sure you do so in an adult, controlled manner so that you don't burn any bridges in the process.  Fortunately, from January 25 to February 2, Mercury, the Communication King, is in your sign in favorable aspect to RX Mars, which should help you express yourself and clean things up in a positive way.  

During at least part of this time period, friendly Venus will also be in your 11th House of groups and such, which will help your image and assure friendly perceptions in this area.  In other words, you'll be viewed favorably unless you act like such an asshole that even sweet Venus can't cover for you.  This could come about since she'll be in square with Saturn, who, as previously noted, is absolutely reeking with practicality and organization over there in picky, critical Virgo.  So, while Venus should turn on the charm, part of you might be so stuck on the facts in the matter that the necessary forgiveness factor could get stuck in your craw.  This combination could make you a bit two-faced and insincere about the whole mess, which probably won't be helpful for handling any old issues where you were wronged in some way.  In order to execute it correctly, you're going to need to eventually let it go, and if you're willing to do so and don't give into the temptation to rehash it all and rub their nose in it, you should receive at least an apology and maybe even some form of restitution, even if it's no more than the satisfaction of the other party actually admitting they were wrong.  In some cases this is worth more than a million dollars.  Then again, maybe not, but you get the idea. 

Whatever you do, don't procrastinate dealing with any of these issues past the 10th, give or take a day or two, and definitely don't try to do any constructive communicating after January 28th, when Mercury will once again go into one of his retrograde cycles, which usually come about three times a year.  Fortunately, they usually don't last more than a few weeks, but that is when communications of all sorts as well as mechanical items go on the fritz.  The timing of this astrological event is not very fortuitous, either, since on the 30th Mars comes out of retrograde, throwing all his energy and propensity for direct action back in the game.  At least he won't be connecting with any major planets at that time, but be warned that the effects are likely to show up for you in the way of arguments with your children or lovers.  On the other hand, if you have a creative project of some sort you've been trying to get off the ground, this should bode well, but bear in mind if it involves communications in the way of promoting it in some way, wait on that part until Mercury goes direct, which will be on February 19.

This month has quite a bit going on, primarily in your 12th House of spirituality and inspiration, though it appears that some involvement with new, existing, or old lovers is likely to come into play as well.  The Full Moon on the 22nd falls in Leo, your Natural 7th House of relationships, which hints at an ending or change of some sort in this area as well.  The Sun moves into Aquarius on the 20th, so Water Bearers are on the threshold of your Solar Return period, which marks the beginning of a new cycle, some of which will be lining up this month.  Identify the areas of your life that require attention and be prepared to let the planets guide you in the right direction as you get ready to embark in some new directions.