After four days of wrangling with the web hosts who had no idea why I couldn’t upload to my site, the February skywatch article is finally posted!! I’m now including a comprehensive list of the major planetary aspects and events as well. Here’s an excerpt for this week:

The major aspects for February are the first phase of the conflict between Jupiter and Uranus in the square which occurred in January but will remain in effect through the end of the month, and the approaching second phase of the opposition between Saturn and Neptune. The Jupiter/Uranus combination can be potentially explosive – because this is a challenging aspect (the square), we tend to see the more negative manifestation of both planets. In Jupiter we see a reckless overconfidence and tendency towards self-righteousness, and Uranus is similarly reckless with a desire for change for its own sake and at any cost. This event has brought with it problems with communication and equipment similar to a Mercury retrograde period, and this could be exacerbated when Mercury turns retrograde on the 13th of February.

The opposition between Saturn and Neptune is a long range cycle that began last August and will conclude next summer, and we are entering the second phase now as we move towards the second opposition at the end of the month. Saturn lives in the material world and urges us to build on terra firma, while Neptune lives in the spiritual realm and calls us with a siren song to abandon terra firma for the abode of the divine. This opposition creates a tension between the material world and the spiritual that can be somewhat destabilizing, particularly for those of us with planets in the fixed signs of Leo, Aquarius, Scorpio and Taurus.

Mercury enters Pisces on February 2, leaving the dry brilliance of Aquarius for the watery emotional realm of Pisces, where intuition and empathy (Pisces) are the conduit for information (Mercury) rather than the ideas and concepts of Aquarius. From the first day of February Mars (action and drive) is approaching a harmonious aspect (sextile) to Uranus (innovation and change), a creative combination that provides inspiration and energy to take productive action and implement new ideas. This partnership culminates on February 3 in the waning shadow of the Leo Full Moon, an energetic event in itself, and then Venus conjuncts Uranus on the 7th, bringing us into contact with new and unusual (Uranus) people (Venus) and encourages us to bring air and space as well as a sense of fairness (Uranus) into our relationships with others. This aspect is followed on the 9th by a square of expansive Jupiter to Venus, an aspect which can encourage overindulgence and a tendency to expect too much from our loved ones. Still, there is lots of positive energy available now even though at this point we have entered the shadow of the retrograde period and are still under the chaotic influence of Jupiter/Uranus.