Astrological Analysis for January 2012
Things Change Still More
Things Change Still More
I discussed this in greater detail in last month’s post. Since about April of 2011, monthly charts have targeted key areas of our lives: our personalities and relationships, the social safety net and the legal foundations of society. Other 2011 charts undermined authority and polarized public debate. January’s chart does all of these things at once.
Neptune, transitioning into Pisces since April, featured prominently in pretty much every chart. On February 3rd, Neptune will finally enter Pisces for a new 164-year Neptune cycle. Hence, January’s chart is both a culmination and a sign of things to come.
The Global Becomes the Personal
January’s chart makes these global disruptions and transformations very personal. Most of the planets are in the left, personal half of the chart. They will envelope the ego in distorted perceptions, twisted intentions, misdirected energy and, often, indignity.
This complex energy seems designed to update and upgrade the ego, to force hard economic choices, and to reveal new, revolutionary ways to deal with money. All at once.
That will help liberate the ego, ultimately. However beneficial in the long run, in the moment, having one’s ego liberated is a difficult experience at best.
Strong Egos Lose Their Grip
The Sun and Mercury are near Pluto in Capricorn in the 1st house, straddling the ascendant.
This placement channels too much power of the wrong kind into the ego and does so from an awkward angle. It creates a troublesome mix of 1st and 12th house energies. It speaks of a serious imbalance, or lack of balance, in the ego.
Conscious and unconscious intentions will mix awkwardly. The ego’s weaknesses are displayed prominently alongside its strengths. That is especially true for those in positions of authority.
Life Intersects Massively with Economics
This chart’s real power is in the 2nd house of grassroots finances. A large group of heavenly bodies occupies the 2nd house in Aquarius, Pisces and Aries. This stellium gives us some notion of the kind and the seriousness of the challenges the ego faces.
Pallas in Aquarius helps us perceive the helpful an unhelpful patterns in our finances.
The Point of Substance in Aquarius exposes embarrassing flaws in our financial affairs.
Pallas and the P. of Substance are close together and act in combination. Combined, they are likely to produce embarrassment, scandal and public outrage – all centering on some kind of financial issue.
Neptune in Aquarius will add more confusion to financial issues and bring increasingly frantic, desperate quest for answers.
Neptune will also contact the midpoint of Mercury and the ascendant. This suggests deception and slander. Other midpoints indicate a strong undercurrent of negativity in January.
Chiron is in Pisces in the 2nd house. In the sign of Pisces, Chiron seeks healing through spirituality. In the 2nd house, Chiron seeks comfort through materiality. This Chiron placement mixes these two contrasting, seemingly contradictory modes of healing.
Venus is in Pisces in the 2nd house. Venus in Pisces loves spiritual things. But Venus in the 2nd house, which it rules, loves material things. Once again, the planets ask us to reconcile two very different approaches to the same issue.
Basically, Venus and Chiron foreground our financial problems in poignant, difficult ways.
We are confronted with painful, aggravated dilemmas that involve finances and healing.
These in turn pressure the ego to release the patterns that cause this pain. However beneficial the end result, the difficulties can easily overwhelm the unwary and unprepared.
I think this strong Venus/Chiron conjunction keynotes the entire chart. Expect complex, bittersweet realizations about the cost of our economic predicament, especially in key relationships. The Venus/Chiron conjunction in Pisces is exact on January 16th at 11.11 am, UT.
Vesta in Pisces in the 2nd house brings a dedication to helping others with their financial issues.
Ceres in Pisces in the 2nd house blends issues of nurturance, spirituality and finances. It says we can’t consider ourselves spiritual people if we ignore the material suffering of others.
Uranus in Aries in the 2nd brings revolutionary ideas about the distribution of wealth to the fore, and forcefully so, at the grassroots level.
Ceres and Uranus are only a few degrees apart in different signs. Together, they point to the emergence of revolutionary ideas about the distribution of wealth, again at the grassroots level.
Mars Stirs the Pot
Mars in Virgo opposes this stellium from 8th house. The 8th is the house of collective finances and power. Several factors aggravate this seemingly simple opposition.
• With Uranus transiting Aries, its home sign, Mars carries a mix of Mars/Uranus energy everywhere it goes. Mars/Uranus is a rowdy, discomforting energy that ranges from feisty to rude. It is usually irresistably provocative on some level.
Virgo is ruled by Mercury and directly affects our thought processes and nervous responses. Virgo is a cold, nit-picky, short-sighted placement for Mars/Uranus energy.
Hence, in Virgo in the 8th house, Mars/Uranus will likely make the actions of financial leaders look callous, poorly timed, out of touch and altogether provocative. The blend of Virgo, Mercury, Mars and Uranus energy will also add a wired, schizzy quality to events.
• Scorpio is the home sign of the 8th house. Mars is co-ruler of Scorpio and the 8th house. Also, Uranus is exalted in Scorpio, home sign of the 8th house. These background factors further intensify this Mars opposition.
• Mars is also slowing down, prior to retrograding. This condition intensifies and complicates a planet’s energy.
• Finally, while Mars is preparing to retrograde, all the other planets involved are moving forward. This will add yet more tension to the mix.
Snafus Abound
Because Uranus and Neptune are involved, we are very likely to see freakish and extreme manifestations of the complicated energies in January’s chart. The darker corners of the human psyche are likely to be illuminated, and all too brightly.
As If All That Weren’t Enough
Juno is in Scorpio is the 10th house, near the mid-heaven squaring the 2nd house stellium.
Juno governs life-long partnerships. It is in the sign that governs big finance, power and sexuality. It is in the house of authority figures. It is also in difficult relationship with the 2nd house stellium.
This bizarre, contradictory placement is very hard to read. I think it points to unmanageable tensions in all relationships involving authority and shared interests. A rebellious, resentful vibe enters all such relationships. But such relationships give our lives their structure and organization. So we’d best be careful how wer express these tensions.
Essentially, we are likely to sense chaos seeping deeply into important areas of our lives.
Frothing on the Cake
Eris is the spirit of strife and rancor. It represents the emotions of war at their absolute worst.
Eris is in Aries in the 3rd house of community, communication and political discussion. Eris is also near the Moon, which governs public awareness and the public mood. Basically, people are in the mood for a fight.
In sum, January’s chart upsets important areas of our life at the most basic, day-to-day level, bringing a spirit of change to areas that up to now might have remained relatively unaffected.
Generally, January will incline us all to change, to experiment, to innovate. It will also be tough on the ego and on nervous systems generally.
Some will go to extremes to ease the tension. (Translation, many will turn to sex, drugs and rock and roll for relief. For better or for worse.)
January’s chart is not about the aftershocks of recent economic crises. Rather, it marks the threshold of a new, not necessarily easier, and more intensely personal phase of global transformation.
