Current Transits for January 2010 Current Transits for January 2010Here's some of the important astrological news this month ...
Happy New Year, 1-1
Vesta Retrograde Station at 6Vi39, 1-3
Venus Superior Conjunction at 21Cp36, 1-11
Saturn Retrograde Station at 4Li39, 1-13
New Moon / Annular Solar Eclipse at 25Cp01, 1-15
Mercury Direct Station at 5Cp33, 1-15
Jupiter enters Pisces, 1-17
Full Moon at 10Le14, 1-30
Saturn Square Pluto, 1-31
An online ephemeris for the month is available.
Happy New Year! After a tumultuous 2009, it seems like we are due for a break sometime soon. It won't be soon enough, however. Some of the big astrological stories of last year have yet to wind down and dissipate, so these influences will be with us for some time. This includes the infamous Neptune knot that we've been tracking since last April, which has its last hurrahs in February. Other stories, like the harsh and uncompromising Saturn-Pluto square, are just getting started. As for January, there are a number of headlines to pay attention to in the near term. One big shift in energy is the passage of Jupiter from Aquarius into Pisces on the 17th. Jupiter likes Pisces and feels right at home there, so this should settle down the more jittery, mental energies of Aquarius and the knot, bending the prevailing mood to a more peaceful pathway. This sign change is also an indication that the Neptune knot is beginning to break up -- we've got a lot of loose ends to tie up in coming weeks. Saturn stands still and goes retrograde on the 13th and then squares Pluto on the 31st, so these harsher energies are quite active this month. On the more optimistic side, at least the energies are mild to moderate in intensity most of January, so there's less of a tendency to feel overwhelmed. We can handle this. Like the full moon on New Year's Eve, the new moon coming up is an eclipse. The new year is coming in primed for changes and overhauls that are long overdue. The challenge is to figure out where the stresses are in your life and how to change your approach in these areas so life goes more smoothly. At least 2010 starts out slowly, giving us a few weeks to get up to speed. Best wishes for the new year!
There's a fair amount of astrological news in January. The "big aspect" is, of course, the Saturn-Pluto square. Jupiter changes signs and 3 planets have stations. The new moon is an annular solar eclipse. I've also included a Sun-Venus aspect that intrigues me in a number of ways.
Because the new year starts at local midnight, charts for the new year look basically the same around the world. Several points stand out right away. First of all, we're under the influence of the lunar eclipse of Dec 31. In fact, for Australia and eastern Asia, the champagne was gone and the fireworks done even before the eclipse happens. As I mentioned last month, the eclipse chart seems to be trying to synthesize some of the conflicting forces in our lives. Not only does it bring together the Neptune knot and the Pluto group in an uneasy truce, but there's an unusual combination of masculine and feminine planets within the Pluto group. The Sun, Mars, Saturn and Pluto are all typically considered guys, while the Moon, Venus and all 4 asteroids are gals, a mixing of yin and yang that is almost comical. This pattern contains a wide Grand Cross, especially before and during the eclipse; later in the day for us people in the western hemisphere, the Moon has moved enough to considerably weaken the Cross. Further, with a Libra ascendent, Saturn is rising for most people at midnight, while Pluto, Venus and the Sun crowd around the 4th house cusp. In short, the difficult Saturn-Pluto energies are the dominant force as the new year gets under way. Neptune, Chiron and Jupiter form an octile aspect to the Sun, so the dreamy, idealistic side of life feels out of touch with harsh reality for many of us. As I said, the key is not all these dualities in the chart, but how they can be synthesized and integrated. Hard choices are facing us, both personally and as a nation, and continuing a path divorced from practical demands is not an option. Not a cheery sounding greeting for the new year, but if we actually manage to get our house in order, it will be a wonderful gift for us all.
Vesta reaches her retrograde station of 6Vi39 on the 3rd. She will back up into Leo and hit her direct station of 21Le36 on Apr 6. Vesta can be a difficult woman to understand until you get one crucial fact about her -- she's a flaming introvert. She finds the inner world to be more interesting, fulfilling and nourishing than the outer world. It's not that she's against mingling with other people. In fact, she can be quite sociable and engaging around others -- to a point. When she hits her saturation point with the world, the call of her inner life takes command and beckons her within. Vesta needs to retreat from the world, especially during these retrograde cycles, in order to recharge her batteries and attend to inspirations that others may not understand. This retreat can be a preoccupation with interests or projects that tickle her fancy or more literally as a retreat behind closed doors. Home as a safe haven is a very important notion to a Vesta person, as it represents her retreat from the demands of the world when the psyche calls. The next 3 months are a time to go within and experience the revivifying power that comes from the soul when you can be alone and true to yourself. Being someone you're "supposed" to be all the time is very draining and Vesta just wants to take a brief vacation from the burden! The zodiac signs here are kind of strange. Virgo seems to fit Vesta well, especially the current need to "get some things right" for a change and quietly be her own woman. But flashy Leo is a strange twist. Perhaps it will be harder to check out than she expected, or maybe her pet project brings more attention than she bargained for. It could also come through as one of those strange relationships that support you in a time of crisis or intense growth. The heart energies are being opened up with this placement and it makes it hard to remain a hermit. It's an odd contradiction that Vesta will have to sort out somehow. If you're prone to Vesta's influence, use the coming months to feed your soul. Just remember to come up for air occasionally and say hello to your friends.
Venus is at her superior conjunction of 21Cp36 on the 11th, meaning she passes on the far side of the Sun from us and pulls ahead of him, eventually moving into the evening sky in coming months. I don't normally talk about Venus aspects too often, but this one deserves some consideration. First of all, there's a Venus cycle going on here. Like the lunar cycles of new moon to full moon and back to new moon, a Venus cycle lasts from one retrograde cycle of Venus to the next, when Venus is at inferior conjunction between the Sun and the Earth. The superior conjunction when she's on the far side is thus akin to a full moon, a time when Venus issues come to fruition and require our attention. She's very close to the Sun all month, as though heart and emotion are working in close connection. It's easy to operate in an intuitive, feeling oriented way that bypasses the thinking mind. And unless your emotional life is in turmoil, this aspect generally feels really good -- enjoy this time! Incidentally, this business of Sun and Venus being in close proximity is that "trigger" phenomenon I mentioned elsewhere, so all the storms this month are tinged with this warm and friendly Sun-Venus overtone that makes even the bad news more palatable. It certainly makes contacts with other people go smoother, as Venus is concerned with loving relationships in general. Remember that the Venus cycle began at the last retrograde cycle, which was March and April of 2009. You may be finding some emotional business from that time period needs to be resolved at last. Finally, Venus is a morning star in the first half of her cycle, rising in the east before sunrise. Now that she's entering the second half of her cycle, she is slowly moving into the evening sky, appearing as a bright and beautiful evening star in the west above where the sun sets. She'll be putting on her show starting this spring and should be a prominent feature well into the fall. Make sure to look for her this year -- Venus loves to be looked at and admired.
Saturn is at his retrograde station of 4Li39 on the 13th, starting 4-1/2 months of reverse motion. He will reach his direct station of 27Vi49 on May 30. One of the big themes about Saturn, especially his retrograde cycles, is the notion of old karma coming due and needing to finally be resolved. Saturn is patient and exacting -- old accounts will be balanced sooner or later, down to the last karmic penny. Take a quick look at your birthchart and take note which house contains this retrograde zone. It's the practical matters of that house that are most affected in coming months. Since Saturn starts this cycle in Libra , there's a need for justice and responsibility to others on many levels, both personally and as a nation. Fairness becomes an issue. After he backs into Virgo again (Apr 7), the situation changes somewhat. Your work may be directed more to benefiting others or serving the greater good. It's a good time to hone some skills or knowledge that you'll need later on. Yeah, I know -- this doesn't sound like a lot of fun. Saturn's not about fun, but he does wind up helping you in the end. He's the kind of friend who is willing to take you to the woodshed if that's what you need -- we should all have such a good friend in our lives, dammit. And it doesn't help that he's in cohoots with Pluto these days via their "amazing" square. People have been complaining how hard life is lately and how rundown they feel. Life is like that sometimes, but if we get through this, we'll be stronger for it. Thank you, Saturn ... I guess...
As with the waveform for the Koz Alert several days ago, it's not hard to see where the emphasis is in the new moon chart. Those lovely peaks at around 24 degrees of each zodiac sign point to a fan-shaped pattern joining the Sun, Moon and Venus in Capricorn with Chiron and Neptune in Aquarius and Uranus in Pisces; Jupiter is on the fringes, about to move into Pisces. A second group combines Saturn with Pluto and Mercury, which goes direct in a few hours. Curiously, all the asteroids form a loose knit group of their own. Mars is pretty much isolated.
The trouble with the outer planets is that their influence is usually distant and remote from everyday life -- they desperately need to be brought down to earth if they are to be used effectively. Capricorn is practically earth incarnate and with 5 planets in this one sign, it's time to take all this airy-fairy talk about higher spiritual experiences and put some meat on its bones. Neptune is a visionary, Uranus is a rebel, but neither of them ever balanced a check book. A vision of the future is only worthwhile if it can be brought into the here and now, made real on the physical plane. There's no rule book for how to pull this off but it probably requires some hard work and a good attitude, plus a little help from your friends. Mercury is standing still in this chart, about to go direct again. It's time to start thinking about the nuts and bolts of your vision and start working out the details. Your plans may not come together right away, but with each passing day, your ideas become clearer. Just make sure that your analysis gets to the root of possible problems instead of just skimming the surface or going through the motions mindlessly. Mercury conjunct Pluto won't let superficial ideas slip by without testing them to the breaking point. You need to rely on intuition more than rational thought for now, at least until Mercury gets moving again. That separate asteroid grouping seems mostly focused on Juno, the Queen of Relationships, now firmly in Aries. Your friends, partners and loved ones are a valuable asset to you in coming weeks, so don't feel like you have to shoulder all the burdens yourself. People are meant to help each other, not go it alone. Check which house of your birthchart contains the eclipse point -- the affairs of that house will be the ones most affected during the coming months. Keep in mind that actual results may be meager at first, so be patient. Above all, don't lose track of the more subtle and beautiful parts of living, despite the hardships many of us are going through these days. Dreams keep us human...
Mercury's direct station at 5Cp33 is on the 15th, ending a 3 week retrograde cycle. This cycle started right after Christmas, when Mercury stood still at 21Cp47 on 2009-12-26. Mercury is the thinking mind, the part of the psyche ruled by language and thought and clever insight. It's the urge to capture the world in our stories to make life easier and more predictable for us. Usually, this part of ourselves is quite adept at taming the world, but Mercury retrograde cycles seem to be when our stories fall short of a full explanation. This is experienced in a number of ways. Your thoughts become confused or just wrong, communications with other people becomes garbled and a source of conflicts or misunderstandings, you feel clumsy or out of sorts, and the world around you just seems a little bit crazy and unpredictable. These experiences are mirrors to show you where your thoughts and beliefs are out of sync with reality, the places where you don't get it. We all have blind spots and Mercury retrograde is a time when we get to work on these problem areas. It takes some personal insight that most people don't exercise, unfortunately, so most people think these cycles are nothing but trouble. My favorite mantra for these times is "Don't believe everything you think..." -- much of our inner story is little more than static or fantasy. As Mercury goes direct again, our brains slowly come out of mothballs and the world starts to look more normal again. Incidentally, Mercury is (inferior) conjunct the Sun and Venus on the 4th. With three planets acting as a trigger, storms can come up quickly.
Jupiter moves from Aquarius into Pisces on the 17th. It moves quickly through this sign, entering Aries on Jun 6. This starts a long 7 month dance back and forth across the Pisces-Aries border, until it shifts for good into Aries on 2011-1-22, a year from now. Jupiter feels right at home in Pisces. In fact, he used to rule over this sign, until Neptune needed a place to live. This placement brings out the more quiet, spiritual side of Jupiter. The mental side of his energy (particularly in Aquarius!) is toned down and the more subtle, emotional and intuitive part comes to the fore. It's a good, long term influence to aid your sensitivity to "the other side", however you might experience that. Jupiter is calmer and less flamboyant here as well. His tendency towards expansiveness goes in spiritual directions, opening up new awarenesses that may not have been available before. Things change dramatically in June, however. First of all, Pisces and Aries are nothing like each other as zodiac signs -- the change in mood is unmistakable. Second, Uranus beats Jupiter into Aries by about a week (moves in May 27), so they will be conjunct almost immediately. In fact, Jupiter and Uranus both dance back and forth between these two signs in an intricate tango the next year. We'll have to get back to this story in the spring. Let's just say "exciting and unexpected" hardly begin to capture the picture. In the meantime, enjoy the calm...
The full moon is an interesting picture of gender polarities. With the Sun and Venus on one end opposite the Moon and Mars on the other, it seems every combination of male and female energies is being tested out. This requires a lot of flexibility when relating to other people. Sometimes charisma or even force may be the best tactic, sometimes yielding and tactfulness will get you farther. Power and intellect work one minute, intuition and feeling the next. You need to be flexible and responsive to the world around you. The other key planet in the mix is Uranus, an octile away from the Sun. Uranus tends to stir things up and throw in some chaos when situations become too predictable. Just when you think you've got it all figured out, Uranus lobs a grenade to shake things up. It helps to tread lightly and avoid imposing your point of view on life. Even though Mars is pretty strong now, the ego is certainly not in control completely. It's better when something comes at you from left field to laugh and go with the flow instead of taking it as a threat or a "disruption" of your plans. Uranus and preset plans don't really go together, so enjoy the surprises. Don't forget the Saturn-Pluto square going off tomorrow (oh yeah, that thing...) -- some surprises are less fun than others. Despite all the confusion, it's a good time to put in some elbow grease. Mars (action) is much stronger now than it was at the new moon. Continue laying the foundation for your future plans -- life is improving slowly...
Saturn is square Pluto for the second time on the 31st. The previous contact was on 2009-11-15 and the final connection will come next summer on Aug 21. Let's just say this is not an easy aspect to master, which may be related to its purpose. Saturn represents the structures, forms, ideas, roles, relationships, etc. that are woven together to form the world around us, both physical and social. It's a web that ties the soul to the material plane. Pluto, on the other hand, is the force of evolutionary change. He starts loosening the threads in Saturn's tapestry one-by-one, until the fabric of our world unravels and falls into chaos. It can be a scary and demanding experience, but a useful one. Sometimes you need to break free of all these ties that bind you and get back to being the person your soul intended you to be. Pluto gets us back to basics, makes us "lean and mean" when our spirits have gotten soft and flabby. Squares, unfortunately, are some of the harshest of all the aspects, which doesn't make these planets any easier to weather. This aspect is made even more difficult due to one other detail: Pluto is opposite and Saturn square to the US Venus (3Cn06), forming a nasty T-Square. We've been under the influence of Pluto opposite US Venus since early 2008, when the economic dominos started tumbling in this country and around the world. The Obama administration has been under this economic cloud from the start (first contact was 2009-3-8, at the low point of the recession) and now it's amplified by Saturn and lasting through 2010. People get in a bad mood when things are scarce and jobs are hard to find. This square is affecting the entire nation in a general way, creating a lot of the insanity that is permeating the culture these days. It's tough dealing with your own "crises" when the rest of the world is freaking out over theirs at the same time. It helps to remain dispassionate with Saturn and Pluto, simply calmly handling situations as they arise, without making a big soap opera out of it. These are no-nonsense planets and they'll only make life harder if you whine about your misfortunes. Let go of what is no longer working and manage the rest as best you can. Times like this test your soul, but what a grade if you pass the test! Greatness is forged in adversity, not leisure. And when you put the threads of your life back together, what a marvelous tapestry it will be. You've got to do the work, however. Get busy!