Opening Our Own Windows

The January 2006 Forecast

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Past forecasts

Venus and Saturn are retrograde. Mercury, Mars, and Saturn are in detriment.

Venus ℞ re-enters Capricorn	0°00' Capricorn	January 1
Sun trines Mars	11°21' Capricorn/Taurus	January 1
Mercury enters Capricorn	0°00' Capricorn	January 3
Sun sextiles Jupiter	13°50' Capricorn/Scorpio	January 4
Mercury sextiles Uranus	8°03' Capricorn/Pisces	January 8
Mercury squares the Lunar Nodes (transiting eclipse point)	8°33' Capricorn/Aries/Libra	January 9
Mercury trines Mars	14°47' Capricorn/Taurus	January 13
Mercury sextiles Jupiter	15°11' Capricorn/Scorpio	January 13
Sun conjoins Venus ℞	23°41' Capricorn	January 13
Capricorn Full Moon	24°05' Capricorn/Cancer	January 14
Mars opposes Jupiter (3rd of 3)	15°23' Taurus/Scorpio	January 14
Mercury conjoins Venus ℞	21°29' Capricorn	January 13
Mars squares Neptune	16°35' Taurus/Aquarius	January 18
Saturn ℞ quincunxes Uranus (waxing)	8°31' Leo/Pisces	January 19
Sun enters Aquarius (detriment)	0°00' Aquarius	January 19
Mercury enters Aquarius	0°00' Aquarius	January 22
Venus ℞ trines Mars (2nd of 3)	18°33' Capricorn/Taurus	January 23
Sun conjoins Chiron	3°49' Aquarius	January 23
Mercury conjoins Chiron (1st of 3)	3°56' Aquarius	January 24
Mercury conjoins Sun	6°44' Aquarius	January 26
Mercury opposes Saturn ℞	7°54' Aquarius/Leo	January 27
Sun opposes Saturn ℞	7°52' Aquarius/Leo	January 27
Jupiter squares Neptune	16°57' Scorpio/Aquarius	January 28
Venus sextiles Jupiter	16°58' Scorpio/Capricorn	January 28
New Moon	9°32' Aquarius	January 29

All dates are based on Pacific Time.

Blue = harmonious/Red or orange = challenging

Events in bold are more significant.

Although Mars has completed its biennial retrograde transit, it is still sending us final smoke signals throughout January. Even as these signals are sent, however, the real show begins as the other fixed-sign (they are Taurus, Leo, Scorpio, and Aquarius) planets connect with each other throughout the month. They help us establish a framework for operation within the new year — that is, events that occur this month will lay out the parameters within which our lives will operate. These parameters will in many ways be open-ended, especially if we see them as dynamics to worked with and outgrown, but they are likely to feel in some ways like limitations. Limitations feel restrictive until we view them as they are supposed to be viewed — as challenges to our creative spirit to lead us down a new path that could have remained undiscovered except for this new impetus. The saying comes to mind, “When God closes a door, somewhere he opens a window.” We need to look for the windows now, as doors may close that push us toward a major restructuring of our life.

Simplifying the Complex

Restructuring is good. Without it, our growth is curtailed. Restructuring rejuvenates and brings new possibilities to us. We meet new people, can let go of situations that fail to work as well for us as in the past. You will have received clues as to what’s coming over the fall months, but now the hints manifest into visible effects in life.

These planets’ interactions are likely to feel like one big blob in our consciousness, but to use them most effectively, we need to sort them out. The major contacts are:

	Occurs on	Last occurred	Meaning
Jupiter square Saturn (waxing)	12/17/05, 12/28/06, & 6/22/06	1986	expansion of structure; major business and economic growth cycle
Jupiter square Neptune (waning)	1/28/06, 3/16/06, & 9/24/06	1993	expansion of spirituality; major cultural/artistic and spiritual growth cycle
Saturn opposite Chiron (culmination)	7/21/05, 2/20/06, & 6/20/02	numerous oppositions have occurred in this cycle from 1986-present. The last cycle series occurred in 1922-23.	manifestation of healing or wounding; a major wound is brought to the surface so it can be healed
Saturn opposite Neptune (culmination)	8/31/06, 2/28/07, & 6/25/07	1971-72	manifestation of spirit into matter (ideals into form); major cultural and political growth cycle

You’ll note that I put the “last occurrence” of each event. This can help us to figure out how well we do with this type of milestone contact in general. We can also gain clues about this from knowing what process each cycle represents in our lives. Of course, we are working with the full gamut of planetary cycles concurrently. However, it is a bit unusual to have so many of them in synch. If it seems complex, that’s what it feels like in our lives as well. We can feel overwhelmed by the complexity of our circumstances, the number of factors we feel it necessary to consider when a given situation arises in our lives. Yet, when the planets are configured together like this, they are also organized, and this means that we can “kill (at least) two birds with one stone”. In practical terms, it means that a given situation in your life, while full of intricacies, while problematic, opens the way for a solution to problems in several other areas. In effect, this permits us to simplify our lives. Instead of several seemingly unrelated areas that we desire to change, our life organizes around one major focus. This can sometimes seem like a crushing problem in the moment, but properly viewed, it is an opportunity to make changes that did not exist with such clarity before.

For example, suppose someone has a job that she dislikes. The atmosphere at work is difficult; co-workers are in conflict, and the boss is not a good leader. She has been passed over for promotion, and the work itself is unsatisfying. The pay is limiting, and this has curtailed her ability to move forward on projects she has in her personal life, like buying or remodeling a home or traveling. She decides under these transits to change jobs, hiring a career coach to help her move into the next level in her field. She only applies for positions that take her to that next level and have the potential for further growth. When (not if) she gains her new position, it will change all the dynamics she has been dealing with in the past, even in her personal life, thus resolving many difficulties simultaneously.

The Mars Factor

Mars can be our timer and releaser with these bodies because its retrograde transit potentiated the activity in the fixed signs. (The other fast-moving bodies — Moon, Sun, Mercury, Venus — also activate them.) Because Mars is now traveling more quickly, we can watch its movement as it interweaves with the movements of the other planets in the fixed signs. However, to see the activating aspects alone is to get only half the picture. Like the “Devil” in the Tarot key of the same name, who sits on half a cube. The activating aspects ruffle our feathers. There are also the “smoothing” aspects that put our feathers back in place and smooth the way for us — made more powerful if we are conscious of these opportunities.

Right now, in January, Mars will give us the third clue to what these larger planetary cycles represent in our lives as Mars remains in its retrograde shadow. When it goes into Gemini on February 17^th, however, it begins to create harmonies with the fixed planets that it was activating/aggravating before. Instead of squares, we get trines and sextiles. So, from then until April 13^th, we get to constructively develop the situations that have arisen since late July of last year. More on this when the time comes, but when we can see the overall pattern and anticipate the “smoothing” periods, we can make better use of them.

During January, there’s plenty of activation. The main events fall on the 14^th, 18^th, and 28^th.n These will tie in with situations arising or developing around December 17^th and 27^th, most recently. Mercury and the Sun begin their own activation series on the 23^rd (The 27^th is the only other date of contact that these planets make in January.). The Moon, however, triggers the entire pattern once a week. This month these days are the weekend days — Saturday and Sunday, so observe your experiences on these days to get additional clues.

The energies of whatever you’re dealing with are building now, so there are many more chapters in this book yet to be written.

Chiron’s New Cycle

Chiron’s new yearly cycle starts when it is conjoined by the Sun on the 23^rd. This by itself is significant, as it highlights our healing process. However, it is exponentially potentiated by the fact that Saturn is opposing Chiron at the same time, and the Sun opposes Saturn on the 28^th. As I indicated above, Saturn and Chiron have been opposing each other in this Saturn-Chiron cycle (which started in April 66) since February 1986.

It is taking so unusually long for the opposition to be completed because Saturn and Chiron are near the same speed at this time. Chiron’s speed varies dramatically. As the opposition began in 1986, Chiron was nearing the fastest part of its orbit. At first, Saturn passed Chiron, but as Chiron sped up, it overtook Saturn in the 1990s. Now, as Chiron slows down, Saturn is catching up to it once again, and will make its final pass over it for this cycle in June 06.

This represents an incredible opportunity for personal growth, as well as a time of growth for humanity in all its social, political, and cultural forms. This period corresponds with the emergence or increased awareness of such issues as AIDS, third-world poverty, modern slavery, globalization, and national sovereignty versus international unity. This latter issue is the theme of the current placement of Saturn and Chiron on the global level. While the problem has existed for some time, it is now that we can precisely define and come to terms with it, at least in ways that lead to later profound changes. The challenges that are faced by the United Nations in the wake of John Bolton’s recess appointment as US ambassador are quintessential examples of the way this energy can work. It provides the opportunity for a critical working-out of a long-standing problem in US-UN relations. For years the conservative Republican Congress has created obstacles to UN initiatives, even if it was only in the form of Committee Chair Jesse Helms’ refusal to pay our dues. Now, when the UN is poised to make critical changes in its structure, policies and initiatives in order to have a more powerful positive affect in the world (particularly in overcoming the conditions that create world poverty), John Bolton has completely blocked the process and thrown the whole body into chaos while people continue to suffer and die from conditions that could be ameliorated almost immediately.

This brings out the truth that in order to heal something it must be brought to the surface in order to become fully aware of it. Only then can it be eradicated. In healing, we learn that we must know a problem’s full nature and boundaries before we can release it. This is what is happening now. It is significant, by the way, that in the US chart, Saturn and Chiron also oppose each other, creating a recurrence of the issues that gave birth to the nation.

Saturn and Chiron challenge us to go to the depths of our own nature to dig out the core wound of our nature. They promise us true, profound healing as a reward. What we have encountered in our lives since September 2003 specifically and since June 1986 more generally provide windows into our core wound and how we can heal it. To get a hint about how it will play out in this year of their final interaction, observe your experiences on the 23^rd - 25^th, then on March 29^th and April 29^th. Other key dates are April 5^th and 24^th, May 15^th, July 30^th - August 7^th, and October 12^th.

Venus Continues Her Descent.

Venus is falling into the West now, a bit more each day. She disappears into the Sun’s light on about January 9^th, then emerges as the morning star on about the 19^th. During these 10 days, she is thought to disappear into the Underworld, where she suffers great harm to her body but not her soul and thus survives her tests. Those with planets in the cardinal signs (Aries, Cancer, Libra, and Capricorn) are most tested during this time. But we all do well to answer the questions, “How do I make my life meaningful, have value?” For more on this process, see my December forecast.

This brings a revisitation of the experiences we had between June 2003 and July 2005. If we have any straggling issues left from that period, they will resurface now to be cleared. It suggests a clearing of fears.

Golden Opportunity Periods

In the midst of the dominant pattern, planetary opportunities periods abound. There are 4 major planetary pairs that, when they make harmonious contacts, make our lives hum: Mercury-Jupiter, Venus-Mars, Sun-Saturn, and Moon-Saturn. From January 3^rd through the morning of the 13^th, Mercury and Jupiter harmonize, giving us four two-hour periods each day within which we can create successful ventures. (See the chart at top.) While it’s best to fine-tune the chart to your needs for important actions, the times are roughly at 2:45-5:40 AM, 9:15-10:30 AM, 1:30-3:30 PM, and 8:15-10:30 PM each day during this time.

Incredibly, Venus and Mars harmonize this month starting the 1^st, in harmony through the 23^rd. Because Venus is retrograde, the situations we create under their energies will be complex and will probably develop in two stages. They may not show their full promise until after Venus returns to direct motion on February 3^rd. The best times to use this pair are 10:30 AM - 1:30 PM and 10:30 PM - 3:15 AM each day through the end date.

Waves to Ride

For the year through August 29^th, Jupiter trines Uranus. This is a marvelously inspiring time when many openings can occur if we are alert to them. Focusing on this energy pattern puts us in the flow. It can be the Midas touch in our lives. Go to where the harmonies are to find answers to the questions that arise. Jupiter sextiles Venus through the 28^th, ensuring that our relationship and financial issues are resolved with harmonious results, even if they are initially difficult. That’s not to say that some situations won’t change dramatically, but that new, better options will occur to us when that happens, provided we look for them.

Don’t underestimate the power of these periods. We won’t be permitted to ignore the challenging times, but we can make even the worst situation a triumph under these conditions.