January 2020: Electric Potential

Happy New Year! We’ve begun a new decade, and are solidly into the first trimester of the 21 Century. There’s many changes afoot, gigantic shifts are happening, and many of us are wondering what’s in store both individually and collectively. The stars hold a lot of information, and can be our trusted guides through this profound process of life changing movement. 

We begin 2020 in the middle of an intense eclipse season. If you’re reading this then you made it through the Capricorn New Moon solar eclipse on Dec 26 (12:13AM EST), so congratulations. This total eclipse of the Sun impacted Christmas, Hanukkah, and Kwanzaa for those who celebrated. Whether you observe those holidays or not, were surrounded by family, friends, or flying solo, you felt this one. Capricorns and other cardinal sign bbs (Aries, Cancer, and Libra), especially those with planets or points in early degrees, felt it the most. Eclipses on the New Moon initiate us into a 6 month unfolding around topics activated by that energy. (You can check the monthly horoscopes by sign on my Patreon for where this is hitting for you). New Moons are always a dark time, but they’re also a beginning because whenever a planet meets with the Sun it starts a new cycle. However, the light was obscured at this initiation; something was removed at the moment of inception. Imagine beginning a long anticipated journey, such as hiking the Appalachian Trail (a former dream of mine), and the moment you get dropped off in the woods and the car drives away, leaving you alone with no cell phone service at a remote location, you realize you don’t have an essential item. What the item is and how you react to the situation will be different for each individual, but, with Saturn ruling this Moon from a conjunction with Pluto, you can be sure that the universe has taken away the exact thing that you believe you can’t live without in order to show you that there’s nothing you can handle. 

The saving grace of this Moon was it’s conjunction with Jupiter. While Jupiter expands everything he touches, and that’s not necessarily good when we’re talking about bossiness, miserliness, or any other negative Capricorn trait, his presence also expands the potential for grace to unfold within these processes. The following day, Dec 27, Jupiter conjoins with the Sun, and begins a new cycle of expanding the good in our lives. If you’re wondering what Jupiter’s work in Capricorn will entail, you could get some great insight on January 2, when Mercury catches up with Jupiter at 7 Capricorn, and he tells them the plan. We’re at the first quarter Moon in Aries, and the light is beginning to grow. This is a time of struggle but also great potential. 

January starts betwixt and between eclipses, but that’s not the only game in town. Mars enters Sagittarius on January 3, giving any New Year’s resolutions about exercise a boost.Mars in Sag likes to move it, move it. When the planet of action is let loose in the fiery fields of spiritual potential, you might find yourself establishing some vigorous physical routines to cope with stress that end up greatly improving your mental health. Over the next six weeks, channel any restless energy into improving your mind-body connection and release your frustrations on the mat. You’ll be feeling fine physically for when Mars enters Capricorn on February 16, and then we go into beast mode on work. 

Jupiter conjoins the South Node/Ketu at 8 Capricorn on January 8, and we’re encouraged to let go. Sideways, the number 8 is the sign of infinity, a symbol that floats over the Magician’s head in the Major Arcana of the tarot. The South Node is a place of karmic residue where the past left its mark on us. There’s a need to heal something old in order to step into your full potential. When in Capricorn, the South Node strips us of our fantasies, and teaches lessons on consequences and the practical requirements of material reality. Jupiter is in his fall in Capricorn because he wishes to make everything grand. When these two elements come together, we’re have to pare down to accomplish our long term goals. Jupiter’s just getting started in the sign of the old goat so don’t get too forlorn about what’s leaving. Something much better will arrive to take its place. 

Not only are there so many planets in Capricorn, but many of them are beginning new synodic cycles, which means their marching orders will be to further the Saturian agenda, informed by this profound moment of karmic reckoning. Mercury goes cazimi, in the heart of the Sun in Capricorn, on the Cancer Full Moon lunar eclipse on January 10, while Uranus stations direct in Taurus just before the Saturn-Pluto conjunction. What a weekend. What a time to be alive. This Moon at 20 Cancer is the culmination of what was initiated on July 2 at the New Moon solar eclipse. Luna is staring down the same formidable opponents, Saturn and Pluto, as she was then, but now Mercury and Jupiter are there. The Moon in Cancer is nurturing and seeks to provide stable shelter for her beloveds. The turn away from a scarcity model of every person for themselves towards a more caring, inclusive society is the lesson we’re collectively struggling to integrate. Interpersonally, this could show up as big feelings around vulnerability. The little crab craves connection and dislikes being exposed. A stable home provides a sense of well being. This Moon will heighten emotions and illuminate anything interfering with the flow towards happiness with family (chosen or biological) and shelter. The conjunction of Mercury with the Sun means that we could be flooded with information at this time. The energy of this Moon will be incorporated into the next phase of Mercury’s journey as an evening star, and Uranus’ forward motion in Taurus. 

The grand finale of the pain principle party that’s been in full effect since 2019 is finally here! On January 12, 2020, Saturn and Pluto will conjoin at 22 Capricorn. Humans have been grappling with our relationship to craving and aversion from the beginning of time. Greek philosopher, Aristotle, wrote in Rhetoric, in the 4th century BCE, that the human soul was moved along continuums bordered by opposite emotions: 

“We may lay it down that Pleasure is a movement, a movement by which the soul as a whole is consciously brought into its normal state of being; and that Pain is the opposite.”

Although the polarity dictates that we can’t have one without the other, humans desire and enjoy pleasure and seek to avoid pain. For the past two years the Saturn-Pluto co-presence in Capricorn has been bringing a type of discomfort that many of us have cried out in protest against, “I did not consciously consent to this experience.” To which Saturn replies, “Nobody cares. You don’t get to choose what life hands you. Your free will comes into play with how you react. Who do you think you are, anyway?” 

Maybe Saturn hasn’t been that harsh with you, but his lessons are of the tough love variety, and even more so while in Capricorn. In archetypal astrologer Liz Greene’s book, Saturn: A New Look at an Old Devil, she writes that Saturn and Pluto both lead us into darkness, have associations with destruction, carry the suggestion of wisdom through suffering and purification from the ordeal of fire, facilitate the growth of consciousness through processes of struggle, and correspond to the educational value of the experience of pain. “...it is only the man who has lost everything who understands that he is not what he has lost but something much greater” (141).

Saturn and Pluto bring trials we must endure, and unleash demons we must battle, before we can arise victorious at the end of an epic journey. Pluto elicits obsession, and during these transits something within us must die before we can be free from our compulsions and learn to emotionally detach. The ultimate goal of Saturn is self-mastery through de-identification with form and Pluto lends his power to this project. Saturn is associated with the spiritual renunciate who is homeless and travels around with nothing but a beggars bowl, yet is sustained by the kindness of strangers, and needs nothing more because his connection to divinity is all. Most of us can not live our lives in such an ascetic state, nor should we, but Saturn and Pluto take things from us rather ruthlessly, invoking the most difficult of human emotions: depression, loneliness, isolation, despair, brooding, melancholy, compulsion, rage, impotence, jealousy, and frustration. Those with planets or points in cardinal signs will have been feeling this the most, but there’s been a general sense of malaise affecting us all. It does not work to try and avoid or take a light approach to these topics. They will come for us, whether we run and hide or face them head on. We can follow Saturn’s minimalist approach and seek to simplify our lives wherever possible, handing over anything that continues to cause suffering, even, and especially, that to which we are most attached. 

Saturn entered Capricorn in December 2017, and will finally depart in December 2020 for Aquarius. This will bring in a much needed wind of change into our lives. We’ll get a taste of that fresh air from March 21-July 1, when Saturn spends the Spring in Aquarius before retrograding back into Capricorn for the remainder of the year. The Saturn-Pluto conjunction on Jan 12, is the climax of the chthonic experiences that have been building over the past two years. We’ll then spend the remainder of 2020 sorting, sifting, and wrapping things up. It’ll be a time of completion and transition. A time between time. The death of the old life that Saturn and Pluto came for has occurred, but there is a pause before the rebirth. We’re being prepared for great things and mighty changes. A lot remains unsure and unknown. Like the heroine, Lyra Silvertongue, in the Golden Compass, we can’t know our destiny if we are to fulfill it. But that doesn’t mean the universe isn’t giving us wonderful helpmates and excellent clues to guide us along the path (instead of an alethiometer we have tarot and astrology). 

On January 13, the Sun conjoins Pluto and Saturn and Venus enters Pisces. This is an amplification of the energy of the previous day with some blessed additions. Venus moving into the sign of her exaltation seeks to lift us up where we belong. There’s a sense of being able to rise above the muck and mire and align with something transcendent. Under less intense circumstances, Venus in Pisces is like a showering of sugar plums and fairy dew, but all else considered, she’s more of a reminder that even in the most difficult of circumstances there's beauty and the opportunity for connection. During her time in Pisces, Venus will seek to fill our cups to bursting with art, romance, poetry, friendship, flirting, and fun. Take every opportunity to enjoy what she offers. A little indulgence goes a long way towards getting through the Winter. You might find love in an unlikely place when Venus sextiles Uranus in Taurus on January 15. This transit is great for creative (or sexual) experimentation and play. If you do meet someone new during this time, make sure you keep your feet firmly on the ground and your expectations tethered to reality. Venus will spend the second half of the month moving into a conjunction with Neptune, which could cause us to get swept away by fantasy or illusion. 

Mercury enters Aquarius on January 16, and moves into a square with Uranus in Taurus on January 18. This begins to drain a little of the mental strain of Capricorn concerns, and we can, finally, think of other things. Aquarius is the sign of the higher mind. Not only are we gifted with a fresh perspective, but also a unique point of view. Uranus is not a chill energy, but the change they bring, however erratic or unexpected, will be most welcome after the glum drums of Cap. 

Apollo follows Mercury's path not long after when the Sun enters Aquarius on January 20, and we become firmly established in the fixed air sign of Winter. There is a sizzle of change cutting through the cold. The Sun amplifies our sense of moving away from whatever we’ve been rooted in for the past few months, and heading towards uncharted territory. Aquarius are the architects of the new society. They live life from a 7 chakra perspective and receive powerful downloads from the cosmos, especially while dreaming. The Sun squares Uranus on January 23, and we get a glimpse of what is possible when we combine our best ideas with our strongest resources. Venus is in a sextile with Jupiter in Capricorn, lending emotional support and spiritual inspiration towards whatever insight comes through. Saturn is the ruler of Aquarius in ancient astrology, which I agree with, but modern practice takes Uranus as the lord. Wherever you fall on that debate, both Aquarius and Taurus (and Saturn and Uranus) are going to play major roles in the massive changes that unfold over the next decade, and 2020 gives us a taste. We can already see evidence of things to come with an amplification of climate change activism led by youth, such as Greta Thunberg and Autumn Peltier, and the proliferation of global events such as the Climate Strike, UN Climate Action Summit, and Extinction Rebellion. All planets that pass through Aquarius will square Uranus in Taurus from now until 2026, engaging in an ongoing dialogue of tension about how to restructure utilization of resources for the greatest good of all. 

This dynamic is in play at the Aquarius New Moon on January 24. The Moon at 4 Aquarius is in a tight square with forward looking Uranus at 2 Taurus and Mars in Sagittarius is moving into a square with Venus in Pisces. Mercury in Aquarius is also in the mix, you should expect to receive clear messages about these areas of life. If you already have an inkling of how you’d like to rearrange things, this is an excellent time to set powerful intentions. Saturn is hosting the Moon from Capricorn, but is finally beginning to move away from Pluto. We have a sense of the load lightening, and the shift of a different outer planetary force, Uranus, taking more of a center stage. The spirit of change whispers to us of their plans--unexpected and unorthodox. It is advisable to take quiet time in stillness and listen to what strange desires make themselves known. For the next month, indulge in doing things a little different.

The final week of the month has a dreamy passionate feel thanks to all the mutable energy flying when Venus in Pisces conjoins Neptune and squares Mars in Sagittarius from January 26-28. This is a great time to go out and enjoy yourself, especially to museums or music venues. Artistic endeavors could get a helpful boost or the spotlight could be directed towards romantic partnerships. Channel your drive and excitement towards sensual pursuits, but be careful if temperaments run high. Arguments could get confusing and there will be no clear winner if people’s feelings get hurt. It’ll be just as easy to fall out of love as in during this time. Seek out sweetness and delight and you’ll close out January feeling as good as a Nina Simone tells us we can.