Transformational Times:

January begins with all the planets being direct until Jan. 23.  This is a time to move forward in your lives, clarify your plans and goals, and set positive intentions for the coming year.

Retrograde Mars in Virgo (from January 24th to  April 13th) Offers us an opportunity to gain insight into our unconscious motivations instead of worrying or brooding about personal health issues, work, or our daily lives.   

 February 3rd, Neptune enters its own sign Pisces and will stay there until January 2026. A gateway to higher consciousness in humanity, the abilities of clairvoyance, music, artistic sensitivity, mysticism, and healing will be highlighted, along with the beginnings of a more caring, peaceful society.

From May 14th to June 24th Venus the planet of love, beauty and the feminine principal is retrograde. When retrograde in a person’s birth chart it usually means a challenge in loving oneself, or finding value in who we are. On June 6th during this retrograde period Venus Crosses the Face of the Sun in a rare configuration that happens every 105 -125 years. Called an Occultation it always comes in pairs, both either in Gemini or Sagittarius .The last one happened eight years ago in 2004.

So What Does This Mean?

Past occultations of Venus and the Sun in Gemini have brought about new explorations in communication and brought humanity closer together. The Mayans see the 2012 configuration as an opening to higher consciousness. So if we do our inner work and release old thought patterns that no longer serve us, or the world, perhaps we can bring in the light of the Sun, evolve our consciousness and shift the collective thought patterns of humanity to serve the Earth and its peoples instead of harming them.

Although Pluto/Uranus remain square to each other until 2015, this year they form two exact squares on June 24th and September 19th. If you remember from past newsletters, Pluto is the planet that tears everything down first, and then builds something new from its ashes of destruction. Uranus is a planet that needs unbridled freedom to initiate the new.

Together they are associated with cultural upheaval and change. Personally it’s a time to know how we want to transform our lives, and move forward. In this way we can ride the wave instead of feeling submerged in fear or resistance. The main message here is go with the flow, and don’t get caught in the undertow.

When Jupiter enters Gemini on June 11th for about a year, energetic changes in communication and learning can be expected, along with love of philosophy, mind expansion, and new advanced intellectual ideas in society.

An extremely rare Mutual Reception between Saturn in Scorpio and Pluto in Capricorn forms when Saturn enters Scorpio on October 5th and stays until Christmas Eve 2014.  Some astrologers look at the Mutual Reception to mean that the planets behave as if they are in their own signs, however  I see a Mutual Reception as mixed-up energies and a place of challenge before success can be met.

On an astrological chart Pluto rules the 8th House  (joint resources, joint values, power, transformation & death) and Saturn rules the 10th House (authority figures, career, destiny), so this configuration may indicate more power struggles for authority between the people and government, and further unrest in the global economy. However, once these energies are balanced, there is the promise of reorganization of financial structures and government that serve humanity.

Winter Solstice, December 21, when our sun and the entire solar system are in perfect alignment with the center of our galaxy, here on Earth we will also be undergoing an uncommon aspect called a Yod, or sometimes called  “The Finger of Destiny”.

A Yod is comprised of two quincunxes (difficult & awkward aspects) and a sextile (easy flowing aspect). This configuration has Pluto  (9 degrees Capricorn) & Saturn ( 9 degrees Scorpio) in sextile to each other, while both are quincunx to Jupiter (9 degrees Gemini). The Apex planet, in this case Jupiter, is the focal point for the energies.

Generally speaking a Yod entails a choice of two roads, yet not knowing where either one will take you.   Following instinct, we simply find ourselves veering off onto another path and changing the course of our lives.   Although undefined, the new direction has actually been gathering strength for many years. And after activating the Yod, you soon realize that you have a hidden knowlege of how to proceed and be successful.

Coupled with Pluto and Saturn’s mutual reception, the Yod of 2012′s Winter Solstice alludes to a time where we have the power to regenerate ourselves and the world from unrest and chaos through discipline and hard work, while learning to look at situations realistically, release our fears and dogmatic attitudes and move on toward new opportunities.

As discussed in past newsletters, the Mayans see this as a time of awakening and moving into a higher consciousness of reality for mankind.