Aquarius - January 20th-February 18th

Capricorn represents the solar 12th house in your chart, which is all about the past, karma, privacy and secrecy and the depths of your unconscious. Hence this is often a time at the beginning of the year when Aquarians need to retreat and commune with their own soul and to have some privacy. It is also an opportunity to be a very positive force in a behind-the-scenes way for those who need your strength and who are less able than you, and when Mercury is also in that part of your chart between the 8th and 27th then communications achieved in quite a private way and private study can be incredibly rewarding.

Before the 8th your ability to bring wisdom to others is not to be sneezed at and in fact you can make a good intellectual leader, particularly if born after February 8th.

On the 27th when Mercury moves into the early degrees of Aquarius all born up to January 28th will be blessed by him hovering over their Suns. This really does give personal magnetism and charismatic intellectual power, but avoid arrogance and giving off a sense of superiority around the 29th.

Venus is in your own sign until the 14th, very much enhancing your esthetic and creative gifts and indeed also the personal charms of all born after February 2nd and this will be true up to the 14th, so take advantage of the ability to shine and draw others to you both creatively and personally. After the 14th there is also money to be made by exploiting these qualities.

Mars in Virgo all month puts slightly uncomfortable emphasis on the need to focus energies on areas connected to rather delicate connections with others, particularly if finances are involved. The area of taxes, insurance, complex business interests and possible legacies maybe need resolution and focus. Also issues that are very profound connected to relationships, again in a possibly uncomfortable way, need some addressing. It’s just important not to be overly pushy or too ruthless when it comes to these issues.

From the 24th, when Mars goes retrograde, it is very important to very, very carefully and subtly reassess both close intimate relationships and financial dealings. Time to look at the bigger, more existential picture and to listen to your inner gut and if there is opposition in these areas from another, it may be a time when one is very reluctant to stand up for oneself, and if that is the case, then one risks building up a lot of resentment. Inhibitions felt around others can prove troublesome and a sense of impotence and emasculation can be difficult and signals a need to be more philosophical and review the deeper reasons for this.

Many Aquarians are having Jupiter squaring their Suns, particularly true if born January 21st to 24th. This quite simply is just a time when one risks being a little bit of over flamboyance, over-confidence, complacency or extravagance, but often it goes with just enjoying life a little bit too much.

By contrast, late Aquarians born after February 17th have Saturn harmoniously lining up to their Sun, simultaneously with Neptune sitting right on their Sun. The Neptune visitation is a very rare one and has been bringing, on and off since April 2010, a great sense of dealing with sublime, mystical and spiritual energies and also being put in touch with your heart. It has also made you extremely hypersensitive and you feel almost as if you have lost some of your boundaries. For detached, logical Aquarius this has been a strange time but one when you have had to acknowledge the power of other dimensions other than your mind and logic. It has been wonderful for the arts, and visual and musical inspiration has been at its peak. Confusion and uncertainty about one’s identity, as certain aspects of your life and your sense of self have dissolved, have been part of the journey. You are now about to complete this and by late February you will look back and realize that you are really on a different shore to where you were two years ago. Fortunately, simultaneously with Neptune’s hit on your Sun, Saturn’s trine (favorable angle) to your Sun, simultaneously is giving a great sense discipline, focus, determination, constructive and measured austerity which allows you to take advantage of this final metamorphosis that Neptune is offering. In other words Saturn is giving you the grounding you need to be able to accept Neptune’s gift.

Finally the new Moon is in your sign at 2º on the 23rd and this will directly impact those born around the 23rd itself. This is a splendid day for the initiation of the new, particularly in your working life. There is an upswing of energy, so take advantage.

Thought for 2012: If you hear a different drumbeat in life than others, that is probably your enlightenment.