January 9th – 15th, 2023

The astrology for this week of January 9th through the 15th of 2023 offers us to ‘get the party started’ with Mars turning direct and despite the last full week of the Mercury retrograde.

We may be in a festive mood as we begin this week. No matter how we celebrated New Year’s Eve, it is this week when we might feel ensconced in the new year of 2023.

We could start the week considering our options and alternatives for our future rather than rehashing the events of the past. There can still be some bumps in the road early on thanks to our old nemesis of the Saturn Uranus square engaged, but delays and frustrations may no longer have the same hold on us that they had last year.

With an emphasis on where and what we wish to put our individual mark on, we are looking to get out of neutral, stop spinning our wheels and get ourselves into motion.

Mars ends its retrograde cycle that began at the end of October and turns direct on Thursday. Like any change in direction, things can get squirrely, and we have to be wary that a jolt of physical energy doesn’t trigger us into doing something rash.

We may have been champing at the bit to get a thrust of energy but now that we have the energy, we need to be judicious in how we expend it. The liability of the Mars shift in direction is a tendency to take on too much, say too much and going all in with an impetuous, impulsive manner where we act before thinking. Let’s be certain that we consider the ramifications of our actions and take into account the possible unintended consequences of our behavior.

The weekend could have us geared for ‘good times with good friends’, but it would be wise to keep in mind the old but true saying that ‘if you want to make god laugh, tell god your plans’. These times of paradigm shift call for us to be flexible and adaptable to changing conditions and altered circumstances.

Monday, January 9th – Mosquitos at a Picnic – Lunar T-Square, Uranus, Saturn, Moon Void-of-Course, Venus, Mars. Monday begins the week with the Moon continuing its transit of Leo and triggering a Fixed Sign T-Square with our old nemesis of the Saturn Uranus square as the Moon squares Uranus early in the morning and the Moon opposes Saturn late in the evening. The Moon then goes Void-of-Course for almost thirteen and a half hours with the Moon making no further connections to the planets as the Moon finishes its transit of Leo and before the Moon enters Virgo on Tuesday. Venus trines Mars. There can be upsets to the day at the start with an unexpected situation that disrupts our schedule or creates an added expense. We may feel as though our life is not our own but rather driven by extraneous situations and unavoidable natters that demand our attention. This is a day for us to ‘grin and bear it’ and not deplete our energy by any whining about what we have to contend with. It would be far better for us not to obsess over whatever has stood in our way. The more we can engage other people today, discuss prospects for our future and enjoy the upbeat attitude of someone else, the less we shall feel victim to circumstance and more accepting of ‘que sera sera’ [‘whatever happens, happens’]. This is a day to accept any frustrations like mosquitos at a picnic, irritants but unable to spoil our fun.

Tuesday, January 10th – Getting into Gear – Moon Void-of-Course. Tuesday begins with the Leo Moon Void-of-Course with the Moon making no connections to the planets as the Moon finishes its transit of Leo. Even as the Moon moves into Virgo in the mid-morning [EST] hours, there is not a great deal of energy today, for the Virgo Moon makes no connections to the planets today. It may be hard to get back into our routine, so let’s go slow and attend to our usual responsibilities without pushing ourselves or trying to get a lot done. The best we might be able to do on this Tuesday is addressing particulars and deal with our usual responsibilities. Like a locomotive leaving the station, we can gather steam as the day proceeds and even more so tomorrow when we have the benefit of an Earth Grand Trine. This Tuesday is better served lining up our ducks in a row, taking care of nuisance items of piddling matters and preparing to go full bore tomorrow. Let’s take a breather today but with our head down and concentrating on what truly needs to get done.

Wednesday, January 11th – Smarter Not Harder – Mars, Lunar Grand Trine, Mercury, Uranus. Tuesday may have given us a second wind by allowing us to catch our breath. We may not have moved mountains yesterday, but we might have readied ourselves, whether consciously or unconsciously, for today’s burst of energy. The Virgo Moon begins the day square to Mars and then the Moon triggers an Earth Grand Trine as the Virgo Moon trines Mercury in Capricorn and the Moon trines Uranus in Taurus. Although we could have a thrust of energy this morning, it would be best to restrain ourselves and not be fast out of the starting gate prior to our strategically planning out our day. This Wednesday can have us accomplishing more than we might imagine, if we don’t run away with ourselves and if we would take time to devise a skillful course of action for our day. This is a day when we could get some ‘ah-ha’ moments and realize the most optimum ways to achieve successful results. Although our tendency might be to do more and more today, such a tendency would be our greatest liability. It’s important that we be judicious in our actions and not waste these primo energies to get things done. No matter what our itinerary might be, let’s be flexible and adaptable to changing circumstance. Suggestions we hear could benefit our efforts and streamline our methods. This is definitely a day when we can work smarter rather than harder.

Thursday, January 12th – Firing on All Cylinders – Sun, Neptune, Pluto, Moon Void-of-Course, Mars direct. Thursday continues with the Virgo Moon with the Moon today opposed Neptune and the Moon trine both the Sun and Pluto both in Capricorn. The Moon then goes Void-of-Course for almost four hours with the Moon making no further connections to the planets as the Moon finishes its transit of Virgo and before the Moon enters Libra at the end of the day. Mars ends its two and a half months retrograde cycle and turns direct [3:56 PM EST]. The key to yesterday and today is focus, sorting through a wide range of possibilities for our engagement and concentrating on the more important matters to address. Either we can draw upon our intuition and feel guided regarding the appropriate course of action, or we could find ourselves dithering around doing a little of this, a little of that, but not getting much done. We may be highly productive today with attention to detail. We might also experience a huge burst of energy with Mars turning direct. Like any shift in energy, Mars turning direct could be too hot to handle with the liability of impetuous actions, rash behavior. We could be firing on all cylinders, but we have to avoid burn out or excessive force. Keep in mind problems with Mars in Gemini include haste, expressing without thinking the impact, acting impulsively without considering the ramifications and trying to cover too much ground and winding up going around in circles. But the positive to this shift in energy is that we may feel that we have more physical energy than before.

Friday, January 13th – Don’t Fear the Reaper – Mars, Lunar T-Square, Jupiter, Mercury, Sun, Neptune. Friday has the Moon in Libra with the Moon triggering a Cardinal Sign T-Square with the Libra Moon opposed Jupiter in Aries and the Moon square Mercury in Capricorn. The Moon trines Mars to begin an Air Grand Trine with the Libra Moon trine Mars in Gemini today, followed tomorrow by the Libra Moon trine both Venus and Saturn both in Aquarius. The Sun sextiles Neptune. Although superstition and fear attribute Friday the 13th as an unlucky day with various misfortunes in today, the number 13 truly talks about transformation, rising above previous conditions to a more realized state. This Friday would allow us to envision a best practices approach and hone our focus on what we wish to accomplish in this unfolding year. There may be push – pulls with our relationships. We might feel obligated, or talked into, taking care of someone else’s needs rather than concentrating on our own. Relationships necessitate collaboration, equal give and take, and not a codependent situation where someone is a total drag on us. This is a day for us to look to the far horizon as to what we want to do, how we want to do it, and with whom we wish to engage. Similar to the number 13, we have the opportunity today to rise above our mundane concerns and consider the visualization forward in greater awareness, mindfulness and ascension in rising above our ego personality constraints.

Saturday, January 14th – With Me or – Venus, Saturn, Sun, Uranus. Saturday continues with the Libra Moon with the Moon today completing a Grand Trine in the Air Element, which began yesterday with the Libra Moon trine Mars in Gemini. Today, the Libra Moon trines both Venus and Saturn both in Aquarius. The Moon squares Pluto, and Venus squares Uranus. Social engagements today can be fun interchanges, so long as we keep them collaborative. This is a day when we’re either on the same page with someone or we find ourselves in a tug-of-war of personality differences where each person has their own sense of what should be done together. Saturday may be a day of either / or. We can bump into someone that we might prefer not to see, or we could find ourselves in a serendipitous encounter. We are liable to see unfamiliar sides to the personality of someone we felt we knew. Relationships may be dicey today, so it might seem as though we are walking on eggshells not knowing what to expect in our interactions. The more that we can keep things light, the better it would be. This may be a day to accommodate someone’s personality quirks but not a day to capitulate to other people’s demands. If we find ourselves not feeling good about ourselves after interactions with someone, perhaps we should question whether we wish to continue the connection. Like a metronome swing, this either / or day suggests we try to maintain balance, composure and not take any slights personally. As I always suggest: ‘check the source and check their agenda’.

Sunday, January 15th – Extraction – Pluto, Moon Void-of-Course. The early morning hours of this Sunday has the Libra Moon square Pluto. The Moon then goes Void-of-Course for three and a half hours with the Moon making no further connections to the planets as the Moon finishes its transit of Libra and before the Moon enters Scorpio in the morning. At the end of this Sunday, the Scorpio Moon sextiles Mercury. Two of the things we may have learned over the past two years of these tumultuous, disruptive times are to place our attention and our participation in truly meaningful involvements. Increasingly, we are looking to lead purposeful lives. To that end, this Sunday may have us extracting ourselves from situations that no longer work for us, may never have worked for us, and those inclusions that are only mindless distractions. Sunday is a day for us to do a good clean up and clear out as we rid ourselves of those matters that seem to hold us down or keep us from doing the truly significant. By ridding ourselves of the extraneous, we provide room for the new, the different, and those matters that are more in line with our process of BE-ing.