Leo (23 July – 22 August)
The Sun, your ruler, moves steadily through Capricorn and your work and health sector until January 19th. Yet behind the scenes, there are changes and possible disruption and you need to be flexible and take other people’s actions into account. Even with the best will in the world, it might take you longer to get things done because of everything else going on around you.
This has a lot to do with the communication planet Mercury. Mercury has been in retreat in Capricorn and this same sector of your chart since mid-December and only turns direct on January 8th. Mercury moves back into Capricorn on January 12th and finally leaves its shadow phase on January 27th.
So the symbolism is clear, take your time when it comes to work and your everyday routine and be persistent if you want to make lifestyle or health changes. If you enter the new year feeling disheartened or trying to shake off a Christmas cold, don’t rush into things. Instead, slow down the pace and do what you need in order to feel well in mind, body and soul.
There’s also a powerful Full Moon this month which gives you further clues as to what’s happening. This Full Moon takes place on January 12th, the same date as Mercury returns to Capricorn. So this might be the time that you’re ready to make an important decision about your job, your work or what you do for a living.
During the Full Moon, there’s a major planetary pattern in the sky. The Sun sits next to power planet Pluto in Capricorn opposite the Moon in Cancer and the most hidden sector of your chart. In addition, the Full Moon is squared by an opposition between Jupiter in Libra and Uranus in Aries.
This pair are the freedom planets which light up the travel and study sectors of your chart. Therefore this Full Moon is ultimately about doing things differently.
So perhaps this is what’s bubbling away, a feeling of restlessness, wanting more from your life than everyday routine. If you’re unhappy with your current work situation moving into the new year, this desire for change will continue and culminate during the Full Moon period.
Note too that action planet Mars enters Aries on January 28th, the day after Mercury leaves its shadow phase. This could be a decisive weekend when you realise that your need for something more isn’t going away and you’re more than ready to do something about it.
In fact, this month’s astrology is brilliant if you want to travel, take a sabbatical, start a new period of study or learning. The ingredients are all there to shake things up in your life, to say Yes to adventure, to take a well-planned risk.
January feels like a gestational period for you and inner change on a deep and profound level is also taking place. This is because of key planets in Pisces and another hidden sector of your chart.
This relates to your psyche, your hidden motivations so use this month to explore who you are inside, what holds you back, where your courage lies. Actively engage with your own inner healing, your personal growth so you can release old emotions and drop emotional baggage that no longer serves you.
You might want to do this in a relationship, a 1-to-1 partnership with a healer, psychic or therapist. Certainly you can learn from other people now so turn to clever minds via books or articles to seek out wisdom, knowledge and understanding.
Personal relationships are also part of the picture and if you’re in a relationship or married, this feels like a powerful month to engage on a deeper level. The lovers of the heavens, Mars and Venus, are both in Pisces from the 3rd and team up with boundless planet Neptune on the 1st (Mars) and the 12th (Venus).
This feels like a soul-mate connection, a chance to merge, to get to know one another without words. If you want to push the boundaries, this is a time when tantric sex could be a revelation.
Yet when you’re going in deep, this can also bring up emotions that are painful or unresolved. There may be issues around trust or betrayal, you might have different wants and needs that limit your relationship, perhaps around children or sex.
Whatever your current situation, this is the month to dive into your relationship fully to see whether you can swim closer together or it’s time to head off in opposite directions and swim apart.
Your ruler the Sun is in Aquarius and your relationship sector from January 19th. Love planet Venus was here too over Christmas 2016 so events then might prove important for what’s happening now. Venus moves on from Aquarius on January 3rd.
Yet the most important date could turn out to be January 28th when there’s a New Moon in Aquarius, a perfect date to set your intentions for love, to start over, to make a fresh commitment.
This date could be the turning point for you and if you do spend January actively engaged in love and relationships, what you want and why, start afresh at the end of the month.
January 28th is also a promising date if you’re looking for love, whether you decide to sign up to a dating agency or you set your intentions and create a list that defines your ideal partner. People close to you play a key role in January’s stars as the end of the month in particular will reveal.