We begin January to start the New Year of 2023 with the Stellium of four planets in Capricorn and the Mercury retrograde and the liability of a hangover from having imbibed too much, ingested too much and/or spent too much during the holidays.
Although our new year may start off with us in a serious state of mind, we could tend to engage our ‘go to’ of the blame game. We might be critical of conditions and critical even of our closest friends.
Venus conjuncts Pluto on the 1st, and we have to be wary that we’re not looking for flaws and faults in our relationships. While the saying that ‘a strong offense is a good defense’, we have to avoid antagonizing other people by any nitpicky comments. We may feel uncomfortable in our own skins, displeased by the conditions in which we find ourselves, but we needn’t take out our frustrations on that special person, or those special people, as a safe harbor to vent our discouragements.
Even if we begin the new year a little grumpy, we can make amends on the 2nd of January as Mercury sextiles Neptune and Venus exits Capricorn to enter Aquarius [9:09 PM EST]. While we may have started the year with blinders on, we could soon remove the blinders, draw upon our intuitive sense to foresee better days ahead. We just have to determine better ways for brighter days.
With Venus entering Aquarius, we might throw wide open our social interactions. Many of our social engagements during the holidays may have seemed more like obligatory commitments than enjoyable encounters. Now, we are interested in connecting with those people marching to the beat of their own drum, doing their own things, and exploring realms beyond the usual mundane conditions. Interacting with unique individuals, even quirky characters, can instill in us the impetus to consider options and alternatives for our own personal trajectories. It is, after all, a new year, a time to leave the past behind and affirm ‘out with the old, in with the new’.
A sense of spreading our wings and finding avenues for our own unique individual expression could be reinforced on the 4th of January as the two ‘good guys’ of the planetary realm, Venus and Jupiter, sextile. Whether by osmosis of intriguing new contacts or generic to our own developing self, we may experience a new sense of our own being, a willingness to broaden our horizons and consider how we can best participate in projects that truly speak to our evolution and our desire to put our individual mark on our endeavors.
While we might have begun the year on the 1st a little grumpsome, we are able to turn the tables, change our attitude shortly after the 1st is over. The belief that the start of a new year also heralds for us a state of new beginnings can give advocacy for us to find new ways for us to demonstrate our personal transformations.
The 5th of January has the Sun trine Uranus. Not only could we reaffirm new trajectories for our year ahead, we might display changes in our attitude, in our dress, in our ways of acting. Not a case of new wine in old bottles but rather a countenance of greater maturity in our personal individualized style.
While we are looking to see this new year as a time when we can truly come out of the shadows of our past, the Cancer Full Moon on the 6th when the Moon opposes the Sun [6:08 PM EST] may suggest we use the coming weekend as a major cleanse, inventory taking our ‘stuff’, seeing what works for us now and in the future and what we need to be rid of, and then do a major clearing out and cleaning up. Just as we celebrated on New Year’s Eve, this Full Moon suggests we fully embrace by action ‘out with the old, in with the new’.
The weekend of the 7th – 8th of January would be a good time to bring resolution to various matters, completion to outstanding issues, and streamlining our operations in order for us to work smarter rather than harder. The Sun conjuncts Mercury on the 7th, followed by Mercury trine Uranus on the 8th.
If we would strategize our intended discards objectively and dispassionately and with no emotional attachment, then we could clear the decks. Although most of us prefer to hold onto our stuff, let’s keep in mind that the universe abhors a vacuum. As we do a major cleaning out, we provide space for the new and the different to come forward, new and different that may be far more in tune with where we are and where we are going rather than where we have been.
The early part of a new year allows for a blank slate upon which we can draw both our resolutions and all our hopes and wishes for the year ahead. This first week of January provides us the impetus to do just that.
We may have to get rid of certain matters, bring things to conclusion, all the while that we are considering the wide realm of limitless possibilities. Such a thrust of future thinking can be strong on the 9th of January as Venus trines Mars. We needn’t be limited by the ways, hows and whys. Not in this environment of paradigm shift where things can occur suddenly and unexpectedly and in the most inexplicable manner. This is a time for us to throw wide open the consideration of all our dreams and goals.
We can have an added burst of energy on the 12th of January as Mars ends its two plus months cycle of being retrograde. Mars turns direct and much welled-up energy can be released. We do have to be wary with Mars turning direct the tendency not only to have a major push of energy but also trying to juggle too much. With Mars in Gemini and aggravated by the retrograde cycle, you might have noticed people being recklessly impetuous such as shooting from the lip, saying things without thinking them through, or driving crazily by zipping in and out of lanes, or observing stop lights and stop signs as optional. We shall have Mars continuing its transit of Gemini until late March when Mars exits Gemini to enter Cancer. Let’s be careful of rash and impulsive actions, reactions.
If we can harness the energy and not get caught up in the ratcheted energy releases, then the 13th of January provides us the energy to put our spirit into action as the Sun sextiles Neptune. From a grounded sense of optimism, we can give thought to our resolutions for the year ahead, affirm our ability to accomplish our goals, and accept the mysterious ways of the universe that can assist in making our dreams come true.
People tend not to like change, even though we are going through tumultuous, disruptive times when what was no longer is and what is cannot be relied upon as future conditions.
The liability of someone discounting our plans even to the point of putting a kibosh on our dreams may arise on the 14th of January as Venus squares Uranus. Should we give any indication of making changes to how we are doing our life, we might encounter a naysayer trying to clip our wings. People don’t like change. They see us based upon their experience of us. As we change, we’re changing our definition of who we are in their eyes, even forcing them to look in the mirror to see if they are required to change as well.
As we may have experienced in the recent dichotomies between the political ideologies of individual rights and statist edicts, between objective fact and subjective opinion, between enforced ‘science’ and scientific enquiry, and many other dichotomies that accentuate the forking in the road; people are reluctant to let people BE and walk their personal, individual path.
With greater awareness comes an awakening and an ascension in consciousness. Once we acknowledge our individual destiny, there is hardly any turning back. Transition moves into transformation and with it the effect of leaving certain elements of our past behind.
The 18th of January has the Sun conjunct Pluto and Mercury turning direct. This is a time when we can solidify our resolutions for this year of 2023. We may have considered a wide range of possibilities over the past two weeks, but now we are ready to concentrate on the truly meaningful, start to lay solid foundation stones for our future, and concentrate on what we would consider to be quality of life for ourselves. With Mercury turning direct, we have to be careful that the shift in energy does not trip us up. It often takes a day for us to get the rhythm and pace whenever Mercury changes direction.
The Sun exits Capricorn and enters Aquarius on the 20th of January [3:30 AM EST], just before the Aquarius New Moon on the 21st. The Sun’s change in Sign brings closure to the Capricorn Stellium and creates a Stellium in the Fixed Air Sign as the Sun joins Venus and Saturn in Aquarius. Increasingly, we may be more interested in our future with a greater desire for autonomy in our affairs. Many of the restraints we may have felt by the powers-that-be are lessening, even more so towards the end of March when Pluto first enters Aquarius for a brief introduction to the Fixed Air Sign before fully entering Aquarius early in 2024.
The New Moon on the 21st [3:53 PM EST] when the Moon conjuncts the Sun truly engages the Sun’s transit and the Stellium in the Fixed Air Sign of Aquarius. With Uranus, the co-ruler of Aquarius, turning direct on the 22nd [5:59 PM EST] we have a strong indication that change is not only in the air, but that change is being implemented. Venus conjuncts Saturn also on the 22nd.
Should ‘newspeak’ try to cancel the people’s voice, their voice will be heard by their feet in the street.
People may have obeyed and complied with the edicts handed down by the powers-that-be, much of it from people’s fear and anxiety generated daily, but like the saying goes: ‘fool me once, shame on you, fool me twice, shame on me.’
This New Moon also signals the Chinese New Year on the 22nd, this one being the year of the yin water Rabbit with its promise of a year of hope with the opportunity for peace and prosperity. During this Rabbit year, we can take the time for observation, introspection, and realization of the spiritual growth we have attained through the difficulties and challenges of our recent past. We could better recognize the transformation we have gone through as an individual and see the same in other people, in our society.
The 24th of January has the Sun sextile Jupiter. We can feel optimistic, confident with the sense that nothing can prevent us from realizing our ambitions. We are looking forward with not even a glance in the rearview mirror. What has occurred is like water under the bridge.
We may have learned lessons from our challenges, but we have survived them, and now we’re moving with intent onto greener pastures.
This end of January into February may be a time of radical advances. Technology could show the way of transformational operations in business, education, medicine, culture, and government. We have left the past, not looking to recreate the past, but stepping forward into the unknown with conviction and enthusiasm.
Venus exits Aquarius to enter Pisces on the 26th of January [9:33 PM EST], and in so doing ends the Stellium in Aquarius. Our sensitivity is heightened, and our compassion engaged. We may have a philanthropic desire to assist and help out others. What we have to be wary of is being of service only to become self-sacrificing. We can help someone lift their burden, but we cannot carry it for them. To do so would be to intrude upon their karma and their opportunity to resolve their karma.
The 29th of January has the Sun trine Mars and Mercury trine Uranus. If we would be receptive to insights and momentary revelations, we could devise the most expeditious means to advance our interests. By altering our patterns and accepting our role as co-creator with the universe unfolding, we may get signals, like clues on a scavenger hunt, regarding the best ways for us to proceed effectively and expeditiously.
This is a day when we might get those ‘ah-ha’ moments that like flashes of genius give us the answer to perplexing problems and impel us quickly forward.
We end January with a thrust of energy and a belief that all is right in our world. If we haven’t bought into the conditioning of negativity and see only all the ills in the world, we could realize that everything works the way it is supposed to, even when we don’t fully understand the ways or the direction ahead.
January 2023… new year, old issues…
