January is equal parts intense feeling and cool reason. It’s also radical acceptance and ruthless rejection. There are also multiple planetary shifts including the shifting of the Moon’s nodes. It’s likely that a feeling of newness will be palpable.
Venus moves into the sign of its exaltation, Pisces, on the second of the month. Exalted planets are like VIPs with exclusive privileges and precious talents. In Pisces, Venus is the ultimate lover, artist, dreamer, and empath. The only caveats when working with Venus in Pisces are over idealization and over identification. Our hearts can alternately race and bleed for people and situations that we can’t see clearly. In stark contrast to that, warrior planet Mars faces off with unrelenting Pluto for the second time on January 3. These two, in Leo and Aquarius respectively, continue their struggle for power and status. After that meetup, Mars continues its retrograde back into the sign of deep feeling Cancer on the 6th. This kicks off a few more months of emotional hyperarousal and the sharpening of protective instinct.
Mercury is racing through the sky at the moment, even as it enters cautious Capricorn on January 8, and methodical Aquarius on the 27th. Both signs are Saturn-ruled, making this month a great time for clear, practical thinking that’s inventive and original. The Moon’s nodes transition to the Virgo-Pisces axis, marking new points of focus for the next year and a half. This is where eclipses will now take place (mostly), encouraging the dissolution and rearrangement of boundaries that keep us isolated or protected. An agitating full Moon in Cancer perfects on the 13th. Its proximity to Mars, warns us about emotional reactivity. The sun enters Aquarius on the 19th to restore objectivity, and the month ends with a mentally adroit new Moon in Aquarius on January 29.
This article appears in January 2025.
