January 2024
It’s Earth sign Capricorn season, but as we kick off the month and new calendar year, we have Mercury stationing direct at 22 degrees of fire sign Sagittarius and in trine aspect with the North Node in Aries. We should be wrapping up a theme or series of items that we were revisiting over the past few weeks while Mercury was in retrograde motion. Now that Mercury is direct, we will want to start moving forward with any plans or New Year’s resolutions we may have been making. We are ready for progress, and with that trine to the North Node in Mars ruled Aries, we want action NOW! Patience is not an Aries virtue, and with Mercury, the North Node and Mars in fire signs, we might be feeling more impulsive and passionate than usual. The light side of this transit is that we should have the energy to start implementing our ideas, and the shadow side is that we could find ourselves like a bit of a zealot regarding a particular belief we hold. Words can turn into weapons if we aren’t careful, or we can use them to inspire and fuel our ideas.
Mars, our planet of action, drive, passion, and aggression moves into one of its favorite signs, Capricorn on January 4th. When Mars is in Capricorn we are ready to roll up our sleeves and stop at nothing to achieve our goals and put our plans into action. Burning the midnight oil is a common theme of Mars in Capricorn. The gift of this transit is that we can get a lot of tasks checked off our lists, through determination become consistent with the habits that support our goals, and be in command of our time and energy. The shadow side of this transit is that we could become forceful and pushy with our agendas and easily step on others who we perceive to be in the way of accomplishing these goals.
A new moon in Capricorn on January 11th may have us contemplating our plans, agendas, and goals for the upcoming months and year. Now that Mercury is moving again at normal speed, we may be thinking about setting intentions on ways we can improve our image, our status in life, or the legacy we want to leave behind one day. We may be looking at areas in our lives where we want a greater challenge and set some realistic goals that we can achieve over the next 6 months. The shadow side to this is that we set these goals and intentions, and start out with just that, intentions. Then when the “dip” in the cycle comes, we lose motivation and momentum and give up before we have achieved the goals. When setting the intentions we can also look to where we can gain support and accountability. That will help with the light side of this new moon energy, which is setting ourselves up for success and stopping at nothing to ensure it.
This new moon also has Mars in Capricorn making a trine aspect to Jupiter in Taurus, giving us an abundance of determination and drive to get things done. Can you say manifestation times a hundred? If manifestation is what you are looking for then you got it, and we may take our intentions and goals quite seriously now. Good. As one of my yoga teachers reminds me. “Take your practice seriously, but not yourself.” This day also has Venus, our planet of love, beauty, values, and relationships in an opportunity aspect (sextile) with the South Node in Libra and harmonious aspect (trine) with the North Node in Aries. This offers us a chance to “go big or go home” in goals geared towards building better relationships and relationship dynamics in our lives. How can we show up for ourselves and another? What area in relationships can we improve upon? Remember we are in relationship with everything not just people so this includes our relationship to food, our bodies, money, etc.
Middle of January we may be facing some fears about our future, drudged up from the Pluto and Sun conjunction. We can use the optimism and drive of the Sun, and the power of Pluto to find innovative ways to deal with whatever comes up. If we can take the lessons learned from the past, combine them with progressive thinking, then we may be able to bust through the status quo and invent something useful for ourselves and others.
Of course the talk of the town is Pluto’s ingress into Aquarius and technically signals its official visit for the next 19 years and the last time Pluto was officially in Aquarius was 1777. So let’s recap…The United States was a newborn country and began making alliances with the French and British. Hmmmm???? Makes you wonder what is in store now for the next 19 years. Needless to say it will be a bit unpredictable and unprecedented. We are moving into a level of awareness that only the “gods” of the underworld and the sky will be in conversation and influencing the collective. Individually we may be thinking about ways in which we can break free from the status quo in our lives and as they say, “If we don’t do it, the universe has a way of doing it for us.” So I say, “Let’s do things consciously.” The biggest thing to keep in mind when the outer planets are involved is that we will most likely have outer circumstances press upon us that we have to respond to. React vs Respond. That is the name of the game.
Just before the full moon in Leo we will have our planet of love, beauty, harmony, values and all things Venusian move into the sign of Capricorn. We may turn our hearts and romantic minds to more serious things in our relationships and finances. We may be more loyal to our values and determined to accomplish the things we have decided we need and want in a relationship. Remember we are in relationship with all things…food, money, health, nature, people, etc. What we value most will be determined during this time and at the full moon in Leo on January 25th we may let go of anything or anyone that does not line up with our heart’s greatest desires. With Pluto and the Sun in Aquarius emphasizing this notion that we are not going to settle for status quo, I will be quite interested in how many rebels show up at this time to say “Give me liberty or give me death!” There are certainly other factors involved here as Mars and Mercury in Capricorn will be squaring off with Chiron in Aries at this time giving us even more motivation and determination to heal things that have kept us from speaking our truth or making decisions for ourselves that align with our authentic selves.
End of January is the Venus in Capricorn show as she makes some harmonious and opportunistic aspects to Mercury, Mars, Jupiter and Saturn. Our hearts, minds, and desires may be quite determined to secure a relationship or some financial freedom. If we are bonded, we may be looking for security or a common goal that we can achieve with our beloved in a real and tangible way. Shared goals can increase our status, our purse, or feelings of love towards whatever we set our sights on. Shadow side of this time could find us stopping at nothing or stepping on others to get what we want. There is a level of manipulation that could occur when we get tunnel vision on our goals. The invitation is to stay open and gentle with the situations and allow things to flow naturally, giving room for all possibilities to emerge. Then we can make conscious and responsive choices.
Happy January 2024!