Current Transits for January 1998Current Transits for January 1998Here's some of the important astrological news this month ...
Happy New Year, 1-1
Full Moon at 22Cn18, 1-12
Mars enters Pisces, 1-25
Juno Retrograde Station at 6Li45, 1-25
New Moon at 8Aq06, 1-28
Neptune enters Aquarius, 1-28 -- this may be the big story of '98!
Happy New Year! January is a time for making a marked break with the past. When Neptune passes from Capricorn into Aquarius on the 28th, a 14 year cycle closes down and a new energy takes over. A lot of the "heaviness" and solidness of recent years will begin to lift as the lighter Aquarian vibration takes hold (the transition takes about a year). In short, clean up all the loose ends in your life you can the first half of the month and make room for radical shifts in direction. Pay attention to any "new themes" that make an appearance the last week of the month and into February. Many of these themes will be crucial areas of personal or social development until 2012 (when Neptune moves into Pisces). There's a few other things going on during the month (it's by no means boring), but this is the main news.
Curiously, since everyone celebrates the new year at midnight, we all see more or less the same chart for the new year (with minor variations). Seen from Minneapolis, we have Juno rising, Saturn and Vesta setting in the 7th house, and everything else below the horizon. This is an extremely lop-sided chart. All that below the horizon emphasis gives the coming year an inwardly-directed energy, a need to clear up internal matters. With Juno, Saturn and Vesta in those prominent positions, it points to a balancing act between working things out with partners and maintaining a sense of personal integrity in the process. The main focal point, however, is the 6 planets crowded into Aquarius, mostly in the 5th house. Unlike most recent January's (with their Capricorn traffic jams), all this Aquarius energy challenges the status quo in many areas of our lives, especially where creative expression is involved. This is a green light for letting your creative juices flow in the coming year. As for the A5 Spectrum, the waveform is looking a little ragged, a symptom that the powerful Christmas storm pattern is breaking up. We all have "leftover" work from 1997 to take care of, so now is a great time to tidy up our lives and make room for fresh possibilities about to show up.
Interestingly, this new year's chart is very powerful for Hong Kong, strongly interacting with the chart for its return to China 6 months ago. The China Sun (at 5 degrees Libra) is also affected by Juno and her station this month. Expect a few growing pains in this marriage in coming months -- and I mean more than killing off all their chickens because of a flu bug. The new leaders in China may have some trouble from reform minded "critics" if problems of social equality (Juno) challenge their rule.
The next two weeks are not only the end of the lunar month, but the end of the entire 14 year Neptune in Capricorn era. There's a very disjoint or fragmented feeling about this chart, judging by all the little groups of planets (although two of the groups are rapidly coming together). Curiously, in the first group,Venus and Neptune are both feminine planets, while in the other, the Sun, Mars and Jupiter are extremely masculine -- there's a coming together of the Two into One during the coming storm that heralds the Neptune/Aquarian shift. You need the coming together of yin and yang to produce the seed, the little nugget of truth that will form the basis of the next era. This is some intriguing planetary alchemy going on here and it mirrors some deep transformations going on within us at an unconscious level. What it is, we can only dimly guess right now, but its effects (quite puzzling at times) will be appearing in our lives this coming year. Judging by the 7 degree group (Juno, Pluto and Uranus), relationships will remain an important arena for this growth. Funny how weak Saturn is right now. This is not a time of building structures (Saturn's role in the psyche) but of emptying out structures so new growth is possible. For now, recall what you've learned about life the last 14 years, safeguard the lessons, finish the loose ends, mull over the meaning of it all in the quiet of your heart. Except for the brief clean-up phase (Aug to Nov), we will never experience this energy again in this life.
The 25th is a big day. It starts out with Mars moving from Aquarius to Pisces (just after making the final aspect to Neptune). Pisces has to be one of the worst placements for Mars. The yielding, selfless, non-assertive energy of Pisces is completely out of touch with the fiery, rambunctuous Warrrior God. Imagine a Roman centurion in a nun's habit, hiding in the cloister, and you'll get the idea of what a mismatch this is. This period is best for activity that doesn't get the ego involved. Service work is apt to go much more smoothly than activities that benefit yourself only. This placement sometimes can diminish your willpower and motivation as well. As long as you realize that "looking after Number One" isn't the smartest course now, there should be no special problems here. Mars eventually moves into Aries on Mar 4.
Later on the 25th, the asteroid Juno stands still and begins to back up. Juno is the relationship planet and Libra the relationship sign -- one guess what area of our lives is being affected. As always with retrograde planets, they point to some problem spot that needs some extra attention for awhile. Juno requires that we treat partners fairly and as equals, avoiding any game-playing or emotional manipulation. The only way to make love work is to simply love. Playing self-serving games with others, coming from a position of superiority (or of being a victim!), or trying to "keep the peace" in a superficial manner will not work in coming months. Juno returns to forward motion on May 10 (at 20Vi58). Until then, treat your partners well.
The more I look at the new moon chart, the more it fascinates me. Within the hour, the Moon passes over Uranus; by afternoon, the Sun passes over Uranus as well. Later that night, Neptune moves into Aquarius. Obviously, some awesome energy is being unleashed at this lunation! Fortunately for us, much of this power is still in a latent form that won't unfold for weeks or months to come. The proximity of Uranus to the new moon promises more fresh starts and hells-a-popping surprises than you could ever bargain for. It also anchors that crazy Aquarius energy that is kicking in now, since Uranus rules that sign. Pluto energy is also very potent now (see below), creating the situations for deep transformation. So all the outer planets that represent the deep unconscious at work in our lives are quite prominent in this chart. When this happens, you can be certain we are entering a new phase of growth and challenges, usually in areas that we've been ignoring or hardly notice most of the time. That can give these situations a feeling of "coming out of the blue", since they emerge from our blind-spots. So look for the unexpected, the odd bit of synchronicity -- anything that stands your accepted point of view on its head and challenges your deepest assumptions. This may involve some novel arrangements on the home front for condtions that have been troublesome for a long time. Be flexible with those you live with. It's a good time for meditation or looking within for answers -- inspiration is literally that close.
There are several intriguing planetary placements in this chart. Uranus and Neptune are both exactly at the positions where they were last May when they went retrograde. Retrograde station points are powerful positions that can remain "active" for years. At any rate, situations that became problems last spring may suddenly resolve themselves in an unexpected, creative fashion. And in one popular version of the USA birthchart (with 7Sa33 rising), the new moon Pluto is standing right on the USA ascendent for the first time in our nation's history! It has the power to unleash a renaissance or a nightmare in the national psyche over the next year or two -- it's up to us to fashion the ending to this story...
By far, the most important shift in January is when Neptune moves from Capricorn into Aquarius on the 28th, shortly after the new moon. This Capricorn placement has been a major underlying influence on us since 1984 -- a none too pleasant one at times, in my opinion. In some ways, George Bush's befuddlement about "the vision thing" is typical of this cycle. Our vision of the world and what is possible became too earthbound and materialistic -- we looked for the short-term benefit and the bottom line more than the ideal or visionary. While there has been awesome changes in our world on some practical levels (e.g., the fall of communism), this has felt like a time devoid of a common myth that guides us to new heights. This is because the earthy sign Capricorn is about building and perfecting structures here on the physical plane, so Neptune -- the planet of dreams and visions, of working with subtle energies to bring our hopes into reality -- naturally got stuck on the material level. This move into Aquarius represents a complete about-face, since this sign is all about envisioning a shining, ideal world. It emphasizes the mental/spiritual dimension more than the physical, more the "mind" than "matter" in the mind over matter equation. Aquarius is revolutionary and open-minded (to a certain degree), a free-wheeling, liberal spirit that wishes to overhaul everything and recognizes no limitations. In short, it will be fashionable to be a visionary once again. This may be the start of critical new social and political trends, as well as a grand time for more personal spiritual growth.
Neptune is about being what I call a "Dreamtime Worker", a person of high spiritual development that knows how to work with these subtle energies on the inner plane in order to influence changes in the outer world. Aquarius takes this understanding from the mystical realm to the level of a spiritual technology, a science of the higher heart and the higher mind united. It's a way of being in the world that comes from the heart, that comprehends the subtle connections between all things. I'd like to explain more about this, but unfortunately my understanding in these matters is just as limited as the next person -- I'm looking forward to finding out more.
This transition is not a quick process, like flipping a lightswitch. In fact, it's going to take most of 1998 to fully move into this Neptune/Aquarius energy. Neptune only gets about 2 degrees into Aquarius before going into reverse gear in May . As it backs up during the summer, it reenters Capricorn on Aug 22nd for some final clean-up work. Use the next few months to finish off some practical matters that have been left dangling. It's not until Nov 27th that Neptune moves into Aquarius for good (until its shift into Pisces 2011-2012). So consider this entire year to be a transitional time, a period of reassessing goals and priorities on a major scale.
In Neptune's case, its final contacts are with Mars on the 24th and the Moon on the 27th (the day before it changes signs). Mars is an action energy -- the power to affect the physical world is withdrawing from Neptune. The first contacts after passage are with the Moon again (on the 29th), Mercury (passing over Neptune on Feb 2) and Jupiter (on Feb 5). Mercury and Jupiter are both mental planets, as though Neptune is demonstrating for us how to unite the higher heart and the higher mind. It's with this mental illumination, an insight into the creative aspects of consciousness itself, that Neptune finally declares itself "open for business" for the next 14 years. Pay close attention to any compelling ideas or insights that occur to you during this time, as well as those weird coincidences or accidents that alter your path -- you may be working on these for quite some time! I realize that foggy old Neptune is a hard planet to experience anyway, but during this sleeping period, its energies feel even more distant than usual. See if you can feel the deep transition going on.