Learn how to get the most out of my forecasts.

by Brian Habit

NOTES: The following forecast is based on your rising sign (Ascendant), not your Sun sign. If you do not know your rising sign, please visit www.astro.com and enter your birth date, time, and place to determine it.

Due to the need to fulfill pre-paid orders for work, I have not been able to update this forecast as originally planned. I apologize for the delay. I hope to post an announcement regarding an update sometime during the middle of April.

Happy birthday to those of you who are Capricorn, Aquarius, Pisces or Aries! These next three months may start out relatively slowly, but come late February, the time will be right to approach life with renewed energy, drive and initiative. Work or other responsibilities are one area in which you might make headway during the second half of this period. If you’re planning any long-distance travel, college study, or publishing during January, allow extra time and double-check the details. Another theme during this period involves letting go, clearing the decks to make way for new starts later. You may experience some confusion or tension or feel torn in two directions in connection with your finances, communication, or goings-on in your relatively local environment. Even if you do, be careful not to act in an escapist or an overly optimistic manner. In late March, plan to slow down the pace of making plans and implementing your strategies to achieve them, so that you can conduct a thorough overhaul of them over the next several months.

Throughout January, restless Mercury moves backwards through your house of style.

When Mercury starts moving backward on January 2, those of you who were born on or near January 18, April 18, July 20, or October 21 are especially likely to experience this shift. It will either combine with your natal Sun (your general vitality and sense of identity), square off with it, or confront it. Similarly, when Mercury starts moving forward again on January 23, it will trigger your general vitality and sense of identity if you were born on or near January 2, April 1, July 3, or October 5.

Mercury retrogrades three times each year for 19-24 days at a time. Around the times when he changes direction (near January 2 and January 23), you may experience some important change involving communication or travel. At either time, it could also involve the way that you present yourself to others, learning or training or teaching, or healthcare, work or other responsibilities.

Use the time between late December and late January to reflect on the results of ideas that you’ve implemented in the past and to “debug” ideas that you’ve planning to implement later, especially in connection with imparting information or ideas to others. Revisit people, places and ideas from the past. For example, clean out old files, or look up past associates, or travel to places that you visited some time ago. Double-check the details of any matters that you don’t want to revisit again before you try to finalize them—contracts, sales, purchases, travel details, etc. Plan carefully for later, and then move forward on your ideas at the end of January or later. By that time, you’ll probably be able to express act on your thoughts, ideas and information more openly and with less inhibition.

On January 17, energetic Mars goes into temporary retreat mode in your house of release.

This twelfth house of your chart marks the end of one cycle and the preparation for another. While Mars is off on a retreat in your twelfth house, you’re going through a period of dissolution, of reaching toward a “god’s eye perspective” on your life and what you’ve been experiencing during the about-to-be-ended cycle, of freeing yourself up to begin a new process. Given that you’ve reached this twelfth house phase, you’ve outgrown some goal that you set for yourself way back when the cycle first started in September of 2001.

If you accomplished what you set out to do during the past cycle, the question becomes, “What do I want to do now?” If you didn’t accomplish what you set out to do, then you get another chance. You get another bite at the apple, if you will, though the consequences of your past will accompany you and help shape your future as you greet it. Whether you did or didn’t accomplish what you set out to do (and isn’t it often some mix of the two?), while Mars is passing through your last house, you need some relatively secluded time, some time away from the main flow of your life. Focus on recharging yourself spiritually if not also physically. Such a period lends itself to acting altruistically (getting yourself off center-stage and into a supporting role) and to pondering the mystical and the eternal. It’s well suited for self-hypnosis, prayer, meditation, or deep spiritual thought, depending on your cup of tea. Reflect on what you’ve experienced in the cycle that’s now ending, as you look to the next cycle (starting in early March). Think about whatever lessons you’ve learned, and then let go of the process that’s now behind you. Doing this will help you minimize any confusion or pain that you might be feeling.

Come early March, Mars will burst into your sector of personality, at which time you should aim to start a new 22-month cycle of developing your will, having already recharged your batteries for that new campaign earlier in the year.

On February 16, expansive Jupiter, currently in your house of instincts, confronts dreamy Neptune, in your sector of resources.

This aspect will build over the course of several weeks, strengthening as the 16th approaches, and dropping off sharply but still continuing for a few more weeks after that date. Jupiter and Neptune form an opposition about once every 12 or 13 years. Each time they do, it triggers different parts of your chart, so the feel or the theme of it may be similar, but it’s probably playing out in different parts of your life. This time around, this aspect is especially significant for those of you who were born on or near January 30, May 1, August 3, or November 3.

If you were born in early-mid Aquarius, then Neptune is currently passing over your Sun, calling on you to define yourself and express your identity in a more spiritualized or idealistic way. At the same time, Jupiter is opposing your Sun, confronting you with opportunities that are available if you think of yourself as more of a performer than you have customarily done.

If you were born in early-mid Leo, then the situation is the reverse for you: Neptune is currently confronting your Sun. He’s challenging you to redefine yourself as a more spiritual or altruistic being, as more of an idealist with a vision to share, and to demonstrate it through some tangible expression of your creativity. Meanwhile, Jupiter is combining with your Sun, encouraging you to have greater self-confidence and to redefine yourself as a person capable of greater success than you’ve ever imagined.

If you were born in early-mid Taurus or early-mid Scorpio, then both Neptune and Jupiter are squaring off with your Sun. In their own ways, they’re each pressuring you to adjust the way you define yourself and express your vitality. With Neptune, it’s because your ideals or dreams have evolved to the point that you can that your old self-image now acts as a barrier to your realizing them. With Jupiter, it’s because opportunities that were not available in the past are now within reach, but in order to take advantage of them, you’ll need to think of yourself in more flexible terms.

Whether you fall in one the groups listed above or not, this tango between Jupiter and Neptune is activating the same areas of your chart: your second house of resources and your eighth house of instincts. Jupiter is encouraging you to identify and take advantage of opportunities that involve combining resources with others. This could mean anything from developing the sexual dimension of a personal relationship to borrow, lending, or merging assets in a business relationship. Jupiter is also encouraging you to look inward, to explore and absorb whatever powerful instinctive reactions have been stirred up by recent events. About that, he says, “C’mon! What’s so bad? It won’t be so scary if you look at it. In fact, it’s the first step in setting yourself free from old demons.”

Neptune, meanwhile, sings a siren song concerning your resources. He’s appealing to your idealism, to that part of you that longs for an elevated experience, far above and beyond “the slings and arrows of outrageous fortune” of someone trying to make his or her way on Planet Earth. Neptune is calling on you to take a more “god’s eye view” in how you earn and spend money, acquire and use personal possessions, and develop and express a sense of self-worth.

Jupiter and Neptune have a lot in common, so they’re often in sync with each other. They’re both visionary, big picture, idealistic planets. In February, however, they might be pull you in two different directions, with Neptune acting in a less tangible way but still somehow tending to get the upper hand in the struggle. For example, you might find your own financial picture in confusion or hard to pin down definitely, and this might undermine your ability to approach venture investors or lenders. Another possibility is that, if there are any ways in which you are kidding yourself or living in a dream world or misleading others, Jupiter may magnify that tendency now. 

Now, I don’t want you think that this dance between Jupiter and Neptune necessarily means trouble. It doesn’t. The potential for excess, confusion, and disillusionment is significant; but if you mind the usual cautions that apply with these two, it will help you reap more of the good and less of the bad. Expand on opportunities, but do it in moderation. Don’t outstrip the resources available to you (financially or otherwise). Get someone else’s help to play devil’s advocate for you. Make sure that you’re considering the cons as well as the pros of situations before you dive into them enthusiastically. Take care to communicate clearly. Make sure that what the other person understood equals what you intended to communicate. Verify details before committing yourself. Whether anyone intends to misrepresent the facts or not, it’s a good idea to double-check them. If you’re feeling moved by some idealistic fervor, try to dial it back a notch. Don’t throw it out, but don’t throw caution to the wind either. If you take these steps, then Jupiter and Neptune can serve as your wings, helping keep you aloft as you come closer to realizing some precious dreams during February.

On February 22, no-nonsense Saturn starts moving forward again in your sector of responsibilities.

Saturn retrogrades once a year for almost five months at a time. Whenever he changes direction, some important change is likely to happen in your life in some matter associated with Saturn. Let’s review what Saturn represents and then look at this current development.

Saturn symbolizes that part of our consciousness that has to be practical and strategic in order to survive in the physical world. Saturn has high standards. He demands self-discipline, commitment, and quality. Saturn is how we develop self-respect and faith in our destiny. This taskmaster of the planets also relates to how we make peace with solitude. He’s our ambition, our sense of realism, and our conscience or superego—that part of us that has expectations for how we act. Saturn structures and solidifies whatever he touches. In addition to what I’ve already said about Saturn, for you he’s also related to your sectors of style and resources. Therefore, this planet symbolizes the first impressions that you make on others and the way you accumulate and apply resources (income, possessions, self-worth, etc.). Currently, Saturn is moving through your house of healthcare, work, and other responsibilities, so this event may also have implications for matters related to them.

In mid to late February, then, you may experience a major change in connection with one or more of the matters mentioned above. Saturn’s change in direction is especially significant for those of you who were born on or near March 12, June 12, September 14, or December 13. At the same time that Saturn starts moving forward, he either passes over your Sun (general vitality and sense of identity), squares off with it, or confronts it. For all of you, you’re going through a pretty serious time when it comes to how you define yourself and express that part of you that needs to shine. 

Once Saturn starts moving forward again, focus on using his energy in a freer, more direct way in those matters that are related to this planet. If you’ve used the time that he was moving backward productively (since October 10th) by planning a solid strategy, you’ll be able to go into a higher gear now, supported by the shift in his energy.

On March 10, freedom-loving Uranus catapults into your sector of information exchange.

He’ll rumble through this part of your chart for the next seven years or so. As Uranus cuts a sweeping path through it, he’ll be agitating for you to add a more individualistic touch to the way that you formulate and communicate information, ideas and opinions to others. This house is all about whether you can flex your mental map of the world enough to accommodate information that doesn’t jibe with your preconceptions. Uranus wants you to follow the beat of your own drum in this department, to speak or write or communicate in other media in a way that’s unique and new (whatever that means for you—it could be a more subdued style or a more flamboyant style), to speak your mind even if other people’s jaws drop and their tongues wag, to approach learning or training or travel relatively close to home with more independence and originality than you’ve ever done before.

With Uranus, the trick is to take the initiative, to inject some necessary creative change in your general approach to life before lightning strikes and you find your approach shaken up by unexpected or unwelcome circumstances. It’s important to act in an autonomous self-directed manner. This means that you neither kowtow to the way everyone else does things, “how it’s always been done,” nor that you do the opposite of what others want, in knee-jerk fashion. That might feel good in the short run, but it may get you attacked in the public square or run out of town for no good reason, and it won’t necessarily be true to your deepest wants and needs.

Bear in mind that you can expect lots of pressure from others to change back if you explore new subjects, communicate a new message, or even trade in your souped-up sports car for something more subdued (or vice versa). Maybe it’s easier to go with your same old ways of walking and talking than it is to make any waves. After all, those who are close to you may just want what’s best for you. They may just want you to be happy. Nonetheless, with Uranus in town, you can count on feeling alienated from your familiar circumstances if you try to stick to Business As Usual. Do that, and you’ll be like an empty house that’s been abruptly vacated: the lights may be on, but no one’s home. 

On March 23, transformative Pluto starts creeping backwards in your house of release.

Pluto retrogrades once a year for over five months at a time. Whenever he changes direction, some important change is likely to happen in your life in some matter associated with Pluto. Let’s look at what Pluto represents.

Pluto represents that part of us that wants to transform ourselves or the world around us, that wants to do something “important.” Pluto represents a sense of mission or destiny. With this planet, the question is whether you can identify some sort of wisdom in yourself that could make a great difference in the world and then fulfill your destiny by humbly sharing it. Pluto offers us tremendous potential for good or bad. If good, we transcend ourselves and become our mission. If we learn Pluto’s lessons, we face the absurdity of life. We accept the fact that we’re mortal, but we also want our lives to count for something. Instead of feeling overwhelmed by life’s absurdity, we decide to make a difference. We identify with some purpose greater than ourselves and this transforms our awareness. With our expression of transpersonal power, power to affect the masses, we become a symbol. We give body and voice to some cause that motivates many other people, and our lives have a profound sense of meaning. In addition to what I’ve already said about Pluto, for you he’s also related to your house of goals. Its territory includes the goals that you set for yourself, your priorities, and the strategies that you’re using to accomplish them. These strategies might involve likeminded individuals, groups, organizations or causes that you associate with, on the way to the future that you envision for yourself. Currently, Pluto is moving through your house of spiritual release, behind-the-scenes or secluded activity, and letting go of circumstances beyond your control, so this event may also have implications for matters related to such topics.

Around the second half of March, then, you may experience a major change in connection with one or more of the matters mentioned above. Pluto’s change in direction is especially significant for those of you who were born on or near March 10, June 10, September 12, or December 11. At the same time that Saturn starts moving forward, he either passes over your Sun (general vitality and sense of identity), squares off with it, or confronts it. For all of you, you’re going through a pretty serious time when it comes to how you define yourself and express that part of you that needs to shine. 

Once Pluto starts moving backwards, concentrate on using his more contained energy in a more internal or reflective way. Emphasize make plans carefully in Pluto-related areas. If you do that, then when Pluto turns direct again on August 30, you’ll have your ducks in a row and you’ll be ready to take flight, supported by his freer, more openly expressed energy.

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