The beginning of January and the New Year of 2014 can prove explosive. People may be on edge, on overwhelm and liable to acting out. Even nature itself may seem volatile with intense storm systems and active geophysical phenomena.
This is a dynamic month, a month when we can initiate various projects with great force, but we have to be fully aware as to whether the force is with us. There is a great deal of force, and we need to be in the sway of the energy rather than in the way of the energy. If we are in the sway and acting as co-participants with nature unfolding, we could find that we can get a great deal done, initiate some of our heartfelt desires, all with the recognition that the natural unfolding may have far wiser intentions for us than we could have imagined for ourselves. If we get in the way of the energy, try to control and manipulate the energies, we might trip ourselves up and then find ourselves on the tracks of a runaway train running over us.
January begins with the Capricorn New Moon on the 1st. This New Moon signature and the fortnight it influences accentuate the Cardinal Sign Grand Cross with five planets in Capricorn square Uranus in Aries, square Mars in Libra and opposed Jupiter in Cancer. This is quite a signature to imprint upon the first half of January and all of 2014 as well, and calls to mind the Fats Waller classic lyrics:
“The joint is jumpin’
It’s really jumpin’”
As with every year ending and new year beginning, and this one accentuated ever more so, early January is a time for us to bring closure to issues of the past, leave behind old baggage we would prefer not to deal with in this new year, and focus on the truly meaningful and essential aspects of our lives.
Our new year resolutions for this year of 2014 may be more heart-felt and with greater commitment on our part. Whether it is the world at large or in our own personal lives, we may realize that old ways no longer work and that new ways are called for under the changing parameters and in the paradigm shift.
This fortnight and this year seem destined for a great deal of activity, wild swings of highs and lows, with various unexpected twists and turns. Every thing seems ratcheted up. There can be consolidations of power, greater concentration of wealth and extremes in the polarization apparent in our society. During the first half of January, we may witness power grabs but also some significant individual[s] stepping off the world stage.
Irritations can turn into annoyances that can allow for extreme actions. As though participating in the X games, we might find that everyone is stretching the limits, pushing the envelope.
While the energy can be highly volatile, we can also use the intensity as a dynamic to engage radical changes and accelerate our own transformations. Things can turn in a nanosecond. If we avoid the pitfalls of seeking control over the circumstances and instead work with the energies as they unfold, we could accomplish a great deal during this early January period. We just have to watch for overdoing and forgetting braking action. Now and again, it will be important for us to slow things down, even jump off the track, reflect and contemplate on what is going on, consider the essence of our being and give thought to what is truly meaningful to us, before jumping back on the fast track.
We have already experienced acceleration in the process of our living. This new year seems to increase the pace. We need to be aware of the rhythm and be mindful of our dance. Some people will have great difficulty keeping up with the changes occurring in their lives. The battle of old and new may well be engaged and with it the struggle between the individual and the collective. Through the whipsaws of ordered control and anarchical self-expressions, a balance will eventually be struck.
Advances in technology will dwarf outmoded structures and systems. Life can become far more streamlined, even as the powers-that-be fall all over themselves to try and keep control over the populace. Icons will be seen with their feet of clay and the credibility of authority figures will be seen as little more than the ravings of narcissists who have no concern for the people over whom they have authority, only interest in their own personal self-aggrandizements.
This January of 2014 can see even more extremes occurring, the polarity increasing between the haves and the have-nots, between those who assume absolute power and those who have the technological tools to gather together in virtual space and chip away at the power of those who seek total control over events, situations and other people.
While the early part of January can seem tsunami-like, with intense waves of energy washing over us, we do have to be wary of assumptions based upon wish fulfillment or wanting things to be a certain way. After the square of Uranus Pluto is triggered, the Capricorn transiting planets will oppose Jupiter, first Mercury on the 3rd, then the Sun on the 5th, followed by Mars square Jupiter on the 8th. We may feel as though we have dodged a bullet, that whatever the beginning of January might have brought, we have been able to meet the challenge and now can expand our activities with little interference, nothing to fear.
Even if the currents diminish and the rapids are quelled, let’s keep in mind that this fortnight between the New Moon on the 1st and the Full Moon on the 15th-16th and this year of 2014 itself are under a most intense and active signature.
The Capricorn transiting planets in early January sextile Saturn. Mercury sextiles Saturn on the 6th, and both the Sun and Venus sextile Saturn on the 11th. With the push for new beginnings at this beginning of the new year and the beginning of the month, we can advance our goals and move forward our projects utilizing a best practices approach, being resourceful and diligent in dealing with specifics and covering all the necessary details. We do need braking action to take the time to review and even rework some of our plans, decisions and actions.
Mercury exits Capricorn and enters Aquarius on the 11th. While much of our focus to begin the month may have been getting our footing, navigating the waves and focusing on our personal ambitions, our thoughts may increasingly turn to our friends and connections. We may give greater thought to our plans for the future. We might even accept the evidence of the paradigm shift and come to realize that we no longer have to make things happen. We need to be open to the magic and miracles of these times, those serendipitous encounters and flashes of insight that are so more commonplace now than ever before. Mercury sextiles Uranus on the 16th – 17th. We may receive surprising information that provides us new opportunities and offers new directions for us to explore.
The Sun exits Capricorn and enters Aquarius on the 19th with the Sun sextile Uranus on the 29th, a day before the Aquarius New Moon on the 30th. This New Moon accentuates our desire for autonomy, independence and freedom of movement. We are looking to explore and investigate new areas for our involvement, for we are becoming increasingly aware of a new sense of ourselves.
We may feel that life is like a smorgasbord, with a vast array of delightful plates to satisfy our palate. And in deed, life is. We do need to be wary of irrational exuberance, getting too self-absorbed and assuming that what we want we can have just by willing it so. Magic is in the air, but we must remain the stewards in our choices of how we deal with the many mini-miracles occurring in our lives.
The potential for indulgence, excess and going overboard cannot be discounted during this end of January. And therein lies the rub. Too much can be just too much and could create a tipping point where our advantages turn into our greatest liabilities. At the time of the January 30th New Moon and on the 31st itself, Jupiter opposes Pluto, Mercury exits Aquarius to enter Pisces and Venus turns direct. These energies could easily seduce us into believing that our hopes and wishes, our goals and our desires are like greased wheels, rolling swiftly and easily to the realization of our dreams.
We might see, once again, the extreme volatility of these times, times of deep despair, other times of unbridled confidence. January ratchets up the energy. How we choose to cope with the dynamics and intensity of the month is our choice, always our choice. Either we can swim with the rapid currents of these times, be effective and productive, all the while mindful of the circumstances and conditions around us. Or we can be dragged under by the surging waters through trying to control situations, enforcing our will, too often with little success but instead with self-defeating pushback.
January 2014… riding the waves without crashing onto the shore…
