This January we may feel more like taking it slow and carving out time for reflection than jumping headlong into new goals and plans that come along with the new year. We start off the year under the dark moon, which keeps the energetic tide low. Venus is retrograde as we step into the new year, and Mercury will join her in retrograde motion in the second week of January. Saturn disappears from visibility on January 19, adding to the action that is happening behind the scenes, or reflection that needs to happen more internally. After Venus picks up speed and Mercury goes direct in the first week or two of February, that seems like more of a hit the ground running type of energy.
January sees most of the planetary action happening in Capricorn and Aquarius, both Saturn ruled signs, meaning Saturn reins over this month. On top of this, Venus, Mercury and Saturn are all moving in and out of visibility, making their final appearances, meeting with the Sun, then reappearing again when they are ready to make their debut. Mercury and Venus both change direction this month, the former going retrograde and the latter stationing direct. This all points to a month where there is a lot of re-working, re-negotiating, changes and adjustments under way. We might wish to give ourselves and others the grace of more runway, and more expansive timelines, and greater degree of flexibility as things may take their time to unfold or work themselves out, people may change their minds or take time to come to a resolution about something. It is a month of construction and re-construction, with paced progress and intentional deliberation.
January 2: New Moon: 12 degrees Capricorn
This is a beautiful new moon in Capricorn in a flowing aspect to Uranus. This adds inspiration, power, and electricity to any new structures that are being established, and a great fresh energy to any legacy structures that are being modernized or updated. There are no squares or oppositions (hard aspects) to this new moon. It’s a blessing to be able to start the new year with a new moon. The energies of a cyclical shifts come together beautifully, supporting one another in stepping into a new energy stream that carries us into a new field of experience that are in a pleasant contrast from the harsher energies of 2020 and 2021.
January 8: Venus Cazimi at 18 degrees Capricorn
Venus enters the throne room. Here she is granted an audience with the King and Queen. She has the chance to make a life-changing transformation. They bestow a new duty on her, give her the gold to carry it out, and present her with a new title. She will have to travel to carry out her new responsibility. She will have to grow into her new role, and she won’t be so sure footed in the beginning. But one thing is for sure, she will take time to adjust and integrate internally, before she reveals herself to the world when she emerges into visibility on January 18.
January 11: Mars square Neptune at 20 degrees
This is a potentially challenging planetary combination. It speaks of overexertion that leads to exhaustion, deceptive action, or action taken under the influence – either of unaware or unconscious, or actively malicious others. “Influence” in under the influence can also be alcohol, drugs, etc. With Neptune it’s honestly fair game what “influence” means. To make the best use of this transit – make sure you’re nourished and hydrated, don’t overextend yourself on a whim if you can help it, double and triple check action plans before you leap, and overall just be sure to be intentional in your action. It’s kind of a bummer astro description but it is a difficult transit! I’ll tell you that when I had this transit (Neptune squaring my Mars), I really had to move very slowly after exerting myself physically, because it was as if the physical movement was connected with deeper meaning, and it really activated the deeper levels of my mind. So for example, getting up immediately after savasana in a yoga class and like chatting it up with the classmates was something that took a lot of effort for me, because I was so profoundly transported by that physical movement. And yoga asana is a spiritual practice, or it’s meant to be anyway. And my Neptune square Mars transit was similar to the one that will be happening on and around this day (Jan 11), where Neptune in Pisces was squaring Mars in Sagittarius (the meaning maker).
January 14: Mercury stations retrograde at 10 degrees Aquarius
Mercury retrograde: January 14, 2022 to February 3, 2022 from 10 degrees Aquarius to 24 degrees Capricorn.
Mercury will station retrograde at 10 degrees Aquarius and retrograde back to 24 degrees Capricorn. Note that this area of the sky has seen a lot of planetary activity lately. Mercury is (only apparently) moving backwards through the notable degrees of 26 to 24 degrees Capricorn, which is where Venus had her recent conjunctions with Pluto and conducted part of her retrograde. Mercury’s transition backward from an air sign back to an earth sign suggests some of the fluidity and movement inherent to air signs and brings it into the initiating but solid and legacy-respecting sign of Capricorn. We might similarly embody bringing fluidity and movement to established structures** as a way to bring progress to those things in our lives that are meant to be reliable, rooted, established areas of support for us.
** note this is also a theme of the Jan 2 New Moon which started this month’s lunar cycle!
January 14: Venus emerges from invisibility as Morning Star.
This is Venus’ heliacal rising. This moment was given great prominence in the ancient texts, as this is the moment the wandering star is visible again, and emerges to announce itself and its intentions for its next cycle. Note what arises in life and in consciousness around this day as a co-creative prophecy potential for Venus’ new cycle. And you might wish to watch for Venus’ reappearance in the dawn hours before the sun rises.
January 17: Full Moon at 27 Cancer
January 18: Uranus stations direct
January 18: (True) North Node enters Taurus
January 19: Saturn sets under the beams of the Sun as evening star
Saturn disappears behind the beams of the sun. This sets the stage for the reconfiguration of Saturnian things, especially in the sign of Aquarius in one’s chart. Boundaries, authority figures, authority as a concept, rules, and limits are all being re-worked or re-negotiated as Saturn is invisible for about a month.
January 23: Mercury Rx cazimi, conjunc the Sun at 3 degrees Aquarius
Mercury now enters the throne room. It has the opportunity to make its own negotiations, and to hear from the Queen and King themselves. On these days, which are not hard to come by over the course of a year, a point of clarity is reached or an uplifting message is delivered.
January 29: Venus stations direct at 11 degrees Capricorn
Our planet of relational connection, harmony, art, music, and pleasure now stands still at her station. She will hover at 11 degrees for just under a week, until February 5th. Venus direct now has more power to bring her grace and blessing to the embattled sign of Capricorn. Venus is now morning star in full power, and as morning star she takes on the tone of a feminine warrior, embodying the awesome qualities of the feminine warrior Goddesses, rather than the more subdued, passive, or deferential qualities she was more likely to express in her sojourn as evening star.
January 31: New Moon in Aquarius at 12 degrees
Happy new year and wishing you a wonderful month ahead!
