The Power of Passion, Eclipse Revelations and Saturn’s Speed Bumps – 14 Jan 2019

The Power of Passion, Eclipse Revelations and Saturn’s Speed Bumps

If you want to see the sign and degree of the planets in your own or any other natal chart – so you can check these against the signs and degrees important this week – here’s the link to Astrotheme. Enter your data into the boxes provided:

https://www.astrotheme.com/horoscope_chart_sign_ascendant.php

The Astrology Blog 14 January 2019

All times given are stated in GMT

It’s a gentle start to the week but that doesn’t mean unproductive. Mercury in hard working and goal orientated Capricorn, aligns smoothly with Neptune. This is a fabulous combination for getting organised and being in flow with work:

Monday 14 January 2019

• Mercury 14 Capricorn sextile Neptune 14 Pisces 13.15

If all your New Year resolutions fell by the wayside, this is a great week for scooping them up. Especially in terms of sorting out which ones were unrealistic. And which ones you can really work with that will be worth the effort.

Mercury in Capricorn is the disciplined mind, always translating ideas into action and understanding that all dreams start with a thought. In tandem with Neptune, there’s also a theme of mindfulness. This could be letting someone else down very gently or being careful of other people’s feelings.

For many, it will be about walking that fine line between behaving responsibly whilst knowing that none of us are actually responsible for how others feel or live.

Remember that the huge Jupiter – Neptune square also at 14 degrees was exact just yesterday evening (Sunday). It is the backdrop, especially now, but also for many months to come.

Jupiter – Neptune square

At a physical level this can be a healing combination, which is good news for everyone who’s been struck down with colds or flu.

It’s a time for catching up on some sleep, for boosting your immune system and for sticking to what you know makes you feel good.

It is a time for simplifying. The old adage of ‘just because something is simple doesn’t mean that it’s easy’ may apply. Like losing weight, we all know at a cognitive level that it’s about eating less and moving more.

Again, don’t set yourself impossible standards. Look at what is achievable. Remember, the march of a million miles starts with the first step.

There are no other major aspects until the rest of the week, and then it all comes crashing in at once. So that is another reason to start the week with your work hat firmly on.

Get ahead while the going’s good. Make that to-do list and prioritize.

Firstly the good news, love stuff is back on track as the key relationship planets Venus and Mars harmonise in fire signs:

Friday 18 January

• Venus 12 Sagittarius trine Mars 12 Aries 16.51

In emotional terms the element of fire is everything you get heated about, and when it comes to romance this is primarily passion. We don’t call it ‘having the hots’ for someone for nothing.

Passionless relationships eventually become cold ones and, although many people can make a success of a platonic relationship, especially in later life, for most, this is not an option.

As a general rule couples who make love and still fancy each other, stay together. Couples who stop having sex risk the weakening of that bonding of physical intimacy, and that’s the beginning of the end unless it genuinely is a mutually agreed arrangement.

So, if you want to breathe new life into your relationship the message is clear – get passionate.

If you’ve got the hots for someone new, then some fiery qualities, such as enthusiasm and vivacity, are the things that will add fuel to the fire and keep it burning. If you sense that ‘things are hotting up’ you’re almost certainly right – and Thursday or Friday or great for hot dates!

Still looking for love?

If you’re serious about starting the pursuit for a new partner then take a leaf out of Venus in Sagittarius’ book and think big.

That new someone is not going to just rock up at your home and knock on the door. Sagittarius is a highly sociable sign, so put yourself back in circulation. It could be a night down the pub with friends – or travelling to see people who live at a distance or even abroad.

Sagittarius is also the sign of the higher mind and education – so what interests you and fires up your appetite for learning?

Join a group, find clubs, locate where like-minded people meet up and get involved. In other words, put some energy into what you want.

The rest of the current picture is pretty turbulent, starting with the Sun’s last aspect before changing sign:

Saturday 19 January

• Sun 28 Capricorn square Uranus 28 Aries 01.31

Uranus is the wild card and the rebel. He brings the unexpected. From an astrologer’s point of view, he’s the unpredictable planet because so often he simply signifies the things that nobody could have seen coming.

The best guidance is to avoid headstrong risk-taking. Or if a plan falls apart, remind yourself that it’s for a reason and not meant to be.

Have Plan B tucked up your sleeve. Research shows that good mental health is very much related to the perception of choice, so this is an especially good time to review your options and not to freak out if something important falls through. There are always alternatives.

But there is also that ‘last chance’ feeling about this aspect, especially if it’s coloured by the realization that you’ve been playing by someone else’s rule book.

If you have to rock a few boats or raise some eyebrows, including your own, then so be it. This is underlined by the fact that the Sun is heading into Aquarius this weekend, the sign that is co-ruled by Uranus:

Sunday 20 January

• Sun ingress Aquarius 09.01

So, for the next four weeks we’re having what’s called a ‘mixed reception‘:

• The Sun in Aquarius which is Uranus’ sign, and
• Uranus in Aries which is the Sun’s sign of exaltation

This means when two planets ‘receive‘ each other they work together as a team, even when they’re not in aspect.

A reception indicates:

• A swapping of places
• Reciprocal and mutual arrangements
• Moving from one place or situation to another
• And it often indicates a theme of strengthening

This is a prime example because the reception takes the Sun out of Aquarius, which is his sign of detriment – and puts him into Aries – where he works best. The Sun in Aries is focused, fiery and intensely alive with a clear sense of entitlement.

For some, this could even go as far as being the beginning of a whole new life, because Aries is the first sign of the zodiac, and everything starts with 0 degrees of this sign. Leaving a job, relationship, home or even country and engaging with new ones are the most obvious examples in terms of major life changes.

But also look out for the less dramatic showings of this very helpful arrangement. How can you work or liaise with another person to be more effective, to start afresh, to make both of your lives better, to find that win-win situation?

In what ways might this capture the Sun – Uranus symbolism of being unconventional, inspired, brilliant, sudden or beneficial to a group as well as the individual? In other words, team efforts of all kinds are well starred.

Finally note that the burst of activity at the beginning of next week mostly unfolds in the early hours on Monday, so will belong to the picture this weekend as well as spilling into how next week starts:

Monday 21 January

• Venus 14 Sagittarius square Neptune 14 Pisces 04.17

• Full Moon/Total Lunar Eclipse at 1 Leo 05.17

• Mars 14 Aries square Saturn 14 Capricorn 11.49

The Venus aspect is important as she also reaches that dominant number of 14 degrees – the degree of the major Jupiter Sag – Neptune Pisces square (Sunday 13 Jan), the degree of the Mercury – Neptune sextile (Monday 14 Jan) and the degree of the Mars square Saturn that follows.

So basically, if you have any planets in any signs at or very close to 14 degrees then this would indicate that you’re in period of significant challenges, changes, personal development or transition.

It’s not the easiest of pictures.

Venus may well re-invoke and repeat issues next weekend that have been sensitive this weekend. Look out for the alcohol element, as that is one of the difficult scenarios here. Neptune rules the booze and hence under difficult aspect often reflects emotional stuff getting out of hand. And nothings escalates and inflates faster than an argument between two pissed people. So drink sensibly and avoid at all costs any confrontation that really needs sobriety and cool heads.

Venus is Aphrodite

So she’s primarily about love and how we relate – but look out for money issues too.

The square to Neptune doesn’t mean a love isn’t real, but it can be the classic rose tinted spectacles or hurt/confusion when your own desires are in conflict with another’s.

Or worrying about a loved one or struggling with something that lacks clarity or which is out of your hands.

Venus is echoing the major Jupiter – Neptune themes and this suggests that it’s no trivial matter. So a situation where someone is going to get hurt or short changed is probably unavoidable.  The obvious example is affairs or relationship break-ups, especially as the Venus – Neptune square falls exactly just one hour before the Lunar Eclipse.

Lunar Eclipse

Just to recap, Eclipses work in pairs (sometimes in threes) and we had the Solar Eclipse at 15 Capricorn on 6 January:

• A Solar Eclipse – this occurs when the Sun is obscured by the shadow of the Moon, at the time of a New Moon.
• A Lunar Eclipse – this occurs when the Moon is obscured by the shadow of the earth, at the time of a Full Moon.

Eclipses are often considered as ‘power points’ in a developing situation, sensitizing an astrological picture in the making.

They also tend to sort out winners and losers, notably in triangular situations:

• One person is overshadowed by another.
• Or things that had been invisible up until now are revealed when the shadows lift.

The coming Lunar Eclipse is also a supermoon (which is a Full or New Moon that coincides with the closest distance that the Moon reaches Earth in her elliptic orbit. This results in a slightly larger-than-usual apparent size of the lunar disk as viewed from Earth).

That’s the astronomical explanation.

The astrological significance of the Lunar Eclipse

Of course this is always about symbolism.

How does information translate into meaning? If I had a Euro for every time a client, student or friend has asked me ‘what does that mean?’ I’d be a rich woman!

This Lunar Eclipse feels very powerful to me.

1. Firstly, the supermoon suggests that it’s got a lot of clout.
2. Secondly, it falls in bold and queenly Leo – the Sun’s sign.
3. And thirdly, it falls at the very beginning of that sign, which equates even more strongly to new cycles.

Here are some interpretations:

• It’s crunch point for make or break situations and someone’s reign is over, while another is crowned.
• The individual who always seems to get their own way through being bossy, controlling or self-centered at the expense of all others, is about to get a big wakeup call.
• Be scrupulously honest about your own motivations or reasons for doing things.
• If you won’t back down over something because of pride, possibly of the wounded kind (is there any other kind?) then you could wound yourself even further.
• Conversely, the best of a Leo Moon is confidence, courage, handling yourself with dignity and self-control, and refusing to allow anyone or anything to make you feel ridiculous.

Eclipse timing

In terms of timing, Eclipse symbolism can show on the day. However, there are some ways of assessing them that indicates it can be weeks or even months before events are revealed.

I’ve found in my own practice that the most usual and powerful showing is on or close to the actual date, or within two weeks ie before the next lunation.

Here, the next lunation is the New Moon at 16 Aquarius on 4 February.

Mars square Saturn

Finally, the Eclipse also coincides with Mars square Saturn, a tough aspect between the ‘malefics’, the heavy mob. This is adding to the picture of not always being able to (Saturn) get (Mars) our own way (Aries).

• Whatever your own scenario don’t let your ego, or anyone else’s, dominate.
• Accept that all changes come with a price tag and decide if you’re willing to pay it.
• Don’t allow yourself to be bullied or backed into a corner.
• Try not to make moves or decisions that are fear based.
• Don’t try to force round pegs into square holes. What doesn’t fit, doesn’t fit, and battles that you can’t win will only drain you. So save your energy until it becomes clear where it can be redirected.

And also be prepared for a time element in play. Mars in ‘do it now’ Aries wants everything immediately. But the square to Saturn, lord of time itself, tells us that the road ahead has some speed bumps.

Happily there’s some lovely astrology waiting at the end of that road and I’ll be talking about that next time,

Until next week, with love from Greece

Joanna