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 

As far as any long journeys are concerned, however, your polar sign, Aries' ruler, Mars, is currently retrograde (RX) in Gemini, your Natural 9th House, which comprises long distance travel, legal matters, higher education, religion and politics, to name a few.  Mars RX tends to stir up suppressed anger that is more than likely related in some way to its resident house.  This particular RX cycle began back in November, but Mars was in Cancer at the time.  In fact, he just came in through Gemini's backdoor on January 1.  Thus, for the past two months, you may have encountered various reminders of upsetting events that occurred relative to your career or reputation that were never properly resolved.  Librans dislike confrontation or contention of any kind, and are thus very prone to just suck it up when something upsets them, so Mars RX will find a target-rich environment.  Now that he's in Gemini, he'll be stirring up similar events related to your 9th House.  These will rumble around inside, competing with that nice, mellow feeling Venus is trying to impart, as he reminds you of anything in that venue that got your goat and was never resolved. 

This will get even more interesting between January 1 - 13 when Mars lines up in opposition to Pluto.  If you'll imagine for a moment what the god of war and the god of the Underworld may do in a confrontation, you get some idea of what this aspect might facilitate.  Pluto is spending his last few days in Sagittarius, which is your Natural 3rd House of thoughts and so forth, like mentioned earlier.  Since he's currently cohabitating there with Venus, she'll possibly temper his darkness somewhat.  For the past 12+ years, however, he's been plowing through that area unearthing all sorts of stuff, and with Mars giving him the eye across the Zodiac, he'll possibly go into overdrive for that last little while.  If you've ever had a disagreement with a neighbor or sibling that is still festering you can expect something is going to happen during that time to bring it up again.  It's also likely that more information will surface, which could be just about anything that you didn't know before, that will further influence the situation, one way or another.  Take careful notes during this time because after Mars goes direct on January 30, he'll pass through this way again and at that time it will more than likely get resolved, one way or another, like it or not.  The same goes for anything that was career or reputation related that came to mind the last few months.  Telling a Libran that there are confrontations coming is undoubtedly one of the worst things that they could hear as the new year begins.  However, rest assured, that it will be good for your mental and physical health to get some of this crap out of the way.  Also bear in mind that the suppressed anger thing is likely to go very deep and have transformational effects with Pluto involved.  It will be cleaning house much more than Mars alone, but your likelihood of resolving it once and for all is quite good.

Between January 25 - February 2 Mercury will be in favorable aspect with Mars, which should help facilitate good communications relative to these issues.  Put it to good use.  Bear in mind that Mercury will go into one of his annoying retrograde cycles on the 28th, but it does work well for reworking or redoing things.  It's not a good time, however, to start something new or make any purchases that involve electronic or mechanical equipment. 

Another thing you need to keep a conscious eye on is that scratchy interaction going on between Jupiter and Neptune from January 1 - 28.  Jupiter, the great expander, is in your Natural 4th House that encompasses your home environment which includes where you live and those you share it with.  Just for the record, the New Moon occurs in that same House and sign, i.e. Capricorn, on January 8, possibly heralding something new on the homefront that may or may not be related to this other stuff. 

Anyway, Neptune is in your 5th House, where he's been since February 1998.  This astrological house comprises your children, lovelife, ego, entertainment and creativity.  Neptune, like all the other planets, has an upside and a downside; he can define our ideals, inspire us and paint our dreams or he can fill us will delusions and a refusal to face reality.  If you think back on the past decade you could probably come up with several examples of both as they apply to your 5th House.  During the timeframe you're likely to see various irritations between these two venues that may be so illusive that you hardly know they're there.  The main thing you need to do is not make any major decisions relative to either one until next month since it will be hard to know what the facts are.  Of course making decisions is not one of your favorite pastimes anyway, so giving you license to put them off ought to make up at least a little for telling you about those impending confrontations.  ;-) 

Saturn is usually not anyone's favorite planet since he's known for restrictions, delays, boundaries, responsibilities and all sorts of other frustrations.  This month, however, he's in a nice, harmonious trine to the Sun between January 1 - 3 and in a similar aspect to Jupiter from January 10 - February 1.  Since Saturn is currently residing, albeit retrograde, in your Natural 12th House of inspiration, spirituality and dreams, this could offer a nice, optimistic vision or two relative to how you ultimately want your home to be, particularly if you want to institute more stability and order there than you've had in the past.  This will get a turbo boost at the end of the month, between January 30 - February 4, when Jupiter and Venus get together in a bear hug and jointly enjoy that trine.  This should give you a few warm fuzzies relative to your homelife and perhaps inspire you with some improvements you can make that will bring it even closer to your ideal.  Bear in mind, however, that perfection never quite happens, so don't set yourself up for disappointment by expecting too much, either; just enjoy it for what it is.  Sandwiched in there with all of this on the 22nd is a Full Moon in your 11th House of friends, groups, organizations, and hopes and wishes, which is likely to indicate the culmination of something in one of those areas.  Take a careful, objective look (something that Librans are really good at) and also enjoy any accomplishments in that area as well.