The Sun entered Aquarius yesterday, beginning a new solar cycle of innovation, humanitarian interest and technological brilliance. Today we have new opportunities for long-range planning and vision work with the alignment of Jupiter trine to Saturn, allowing us to harness Jupiter’s faith and optimism with Saturn’s discipline, offering the potential for success in any venture.

What a terrific segue into the Full Moon on January 22nd that takes place in confluence with a conjunction of Mercury (mental function) to Neptune (spirituality and idealism) which adds creativity and imagination to the work of the Jupiter/Saturn trine and increases the scope of possibilities available to us.

The Full Moon occurs when the Moon is opposite the Sun, so we always have two opposing astrological signs in the Full Moon. In this Full Moon we see the Aquarian Sun opposite the Leo Moon. Aquarius is concerned with humanity as a whole and seeks an understanding that expands beyond the material dimension. Leo, on the other hand, is firmly rooted in the individual ego and seeks to express oneself as a unique individual. During a Leo Full Moon, the ego gains ascendancy and seeks that expression, so this can be a very dramatic time.

The astrological signatures for this Full Moon incorporate the events mentioned above, but also a conjunction of Venus (relating) to Pluto (power) that occurs the next day. This is a time of intensity – an excellent time for psychodrama or ritual that provides a creative expression for one’s inner desires. The Venus/Pluto combination is opposed by Mars and the opposition forms a Mystic Rectangle with the Moon’s nodes. The lunar nodes represent our evolutionary direction, and planetary events that include them tend to carry great significance, so it appears that this lunation will have meaning for some time to come.

Then on January 24 Venus enters Capricorn and is followed quickly by Pluto on the 25th. Mars is stationing (slowing down to a crawl) in preparation for its direct turn on the 30th, and its tension and passion will be more powerful than ever now.

We are also in the shadow of the next Mercury retrograde period as Mercury also slows down to its station before changing direction on January 28. Mercury retrograde periods provide opportunities to redo your website, revise your resume, and reconnect with old friends. Basically, anything that includes the prefix “re-“, which means to go back and do again, is well-favored during Mercury Rx periods. What is NOT favored is beginning new projects, signing contracts, wedding dates, or business incorporations. These things can certainly be done during Mercury retrograde periods, but there is a possibility that these things will be dogged with communication problems. This is NOT always the case, and much of the influence of the Mercury retrograde period is dependent on other factors occurring in your own chart at the time.

This is a preparation period with lots of opportunity for creating change!