Starcodes Jan 1, with a glimpse of 2010
by Heather Roan Robbins
Let’s be kind to ourselves on this New Year’s Day, right after a Full Moon in Cancer. Our feelings may be at high tide, and we may feel a little daunted by the year ahead. We are stepping into the transporter beam this year, but don’t have to start today.
These first few weeks of January give us a chance to close the books on last year. We recollect, remember, repair, and reorganize while Mercury retrogrades back to tap Pluto on Jan 16. The New Year picks up momentum in the second half of January as Mercury turns direct.
New Years Day is a time to rest and invest in our family of choice, a time to nurture and encourage possibilities. We may be tempted to do too much as the Sun semi-squares Jupiter, but it is better to move slowly and rejuvenate.
This weekend is more active and feisty. Remember with Mercury retrograde it is all too easy to misunderstand one another or rush into an accident, so keep the energy level steady as the mood picks up under a Leo Moon. If there’s tension, look without blame for a misunderstanding. Let’s keep an urge to renovate and transform to our own New Year’s resolutions and do not manage or manipulate others. We may begin to think strategically about next year, but need to keep all plans loose and adjustable, ready to adapt to changing circumstances.
Communication improves early next week, work picks up and some important short-term decisions fall into place as the Sun, Mercury and Venus conjunct in Capricorn under a Virgo Moon. Our relationships need less strategy and more simple appreciation towards the end of the week.
Take the time now to reconnect to the soul, reconnect with intent, and with one another. It is going to be an amazing year. We need to find our center of gravity and operate from there as a major T-square cracks open a new era, we need to be well-centered to stay on track and moving forward, however rocky the terrain.
We left one era in 08, woke up and got restless, adjusted, released, and renewed in 09, and in 2010 we begin to see where we’re headed. This high rate of change, of cultural, climactic, political and personal evolution continues through 2015, but how far we evolve, under what circumstance, and in what direction, is in our hands.
This time in history pivots on a one major aspect, a change-demanding T square, created as Saturn and Uranus oppose each other, an aspect that acts like the transporter beam from Star Trek taking us from one era of history to another.
In 2010 both disciplinarian Saturn and change-making Uranus shift signs from adaptable, mutable Virgo and Pisces into proactive, dynamic cardinal signs of Libra and Aries, and they both form an unsettling, innovative T-square with transformative Pluto in Capricorn. While they were in mutable signs, we complained a lot, we deconstructed the old systems, assessed the problem but seem to ask other people to fix it, or get mad because they haven’t. As these planets move to cardinal signs, we become more proactive, ready to take the renovations on our selves, and begin to reconstruct.
Saturn represents structure, the old ways, traditions, and authority and Uranus calls for change.
While this wild astrological earthquake can break open the potential of the future, it also puts stress on the cracks in the culture. Stress along the fault lines can literally shift the ground underneath us; the elements can remind us of their primordial power. Our vital loves will only strengthen this year, but any relationship that is just habit will feel the pressure to come alive or go away. Planetary oppositions tend to play out in the culture unless we stay really conscious, and so any power struggle or clash that tempts us to demonize the opposition, to oppress or feel oppressed, will feel the hot breath of this transit.
But we don’t have to act it out. We can choose to see this projection and refuse to polarize.
Instead we can create a true revolution; break our patterns, seek to understand the other, and own up to the oppositions inside ourselves. We will change, but can change for the better if we lead it in the right direction. We’re in for a freedom-loving rollercoaster ride.
Let’s break down the components of this complicated pattern. As Saturn squares Pluto (exact in January and August, though we feel it all year long) we may be tempted to misuse our power as another misuses theirs. We will notice a tightness, feel it in our bones and teeth, and feel challenges to our structures, chains of command, architecture, our job security, all Saturn issues.
As it loosens these old forms, this aspect can birth new forms of structure and power in all its dimensions, like renewable utilities, healthy political power, and empowered individual souls. We need to avoid a temptation to waste time arguing, and instead reinvent our work. And we need to remember revolutionizing authority does not just mean challenging the old forms, but redefining the paradigm and taking on responsible leadership ourselves, even if just in our own life.
We cannot build without a blueprint, and so to help us imagine where we’re going 2010 introduces new visions as Jupiter conjuncts imaginative, spirited Neptune today, on New Year’s Day, and enters intuitive Pisces a few weeks later. It is a magical time, with connections and opportunities that make no logical sense, though some will be too good to be true; we need to sort fear from reality and dream from opportunity.
Neptune also conjuncts healing Chiron now through the summer and reminds us that our fates are connected together, around the globe. Together they offer us a chance to compost our pain into fertilizer for our spiritual or creative growth. We may hit a philosophic crisis if we haven’t kept our philosophy integrated and alive, but this crisis can be a chance to find our connection to our source and renew all we do to support our soul. All this soggy Neptune energy can leave us flooded or awash early in the year; watch for water damage and keep a dream journal.
As structural Saturn moved forward into Libra and briefly dips back into Virgo this year, it reminds us that it takes good hard work to create beautiful dreams and healthy egalitarian partnerships. We get the vision, go back to do the homework, and then need to sort the results. By the fall we’ll be able assess which new creative projects and love interests are bearing fruit, and which aren’t.
Jupiter, the largest planet, pumps up the volume on whatever it touches, as it square-dances with Uranus all year it intensify our potential for change. Uranus enters Aries 5/27, Jupiter enters 6/6, and they conjunct 6/10 to offer a taste of the future. They both retrograde back into Pisces (Uranus on 8/10, Jupiter 9/8) conjunct again 9/18, and then do this dance in reverse in 2011. We can expect technological breakthroughs that will really redefine our mode of operating. Together they empower the youth, but may leave our culture feeling afloat and unanchored in an unexplored ocean. We just need to remember that we already know how to swim.
As Uranus enters brash Aries it feeds the world’s revolutionary spirit. Old traditions may be temporarily ignored unless they’re restated afresh. The whole cultural center of gravity shifts to a younger focus, but we’ll still need to learn form the past to avoid familiar mistakes. If we feel a new generational gap expanding, let’s bridge it but not fight it; empower the next generation while honoring the unique wisdom of the last.
2010 is potential-packed; we can break through barriers and bring light to formerly dark corners. But we need to move forward with integrity and spiritual connection; what happens to the least of us happens to us all.
