Forecast for Monday 10 January and Week Ahead

Monday 10 January 2011

*Pleasing Potentials*

Let's take a look at the week ahead. I am quite impressed with the possibilities in it. I have been assiduously studying weekly charts for a long time, decades in fact, and tried various methods. I think I am closing in on the best ones. And, finally, I am quite convinced that the astrological week begins on Saturday, not Sunday or Monday. This may seem peculiar, but the ancient Hebrews were right to recognize Saturday as a special day. They may have considered it the end of a week, but the important point was that it was the intercalary day between weeks. I see it as the beginning of a new week because, observably, over and over, I feel, see, and experience it as the change point; something new begins on Saturdays, even if it is often subjective rather than objective.

This week lasting through Friday January 14 looks very good to me. I am pleased. It is true we are not yet fully in the Bright Hermetic Epoch, beginning on the 18th, but the problems of that slow Mercury are getting less with each day, at least theoretically. I think that problems you have been working out in your mind for the past several weeks are becoming clear to you and, finally, you know what to do. Is it not so?

The fact that Mercury is still relatively slow means you do not have to rush to implement your new plans because maybe there are still details which are uncertain. But neither is there any need to hold back this week when you feel confident. A multitude of helpful aspects fill the skies. What was hard, last week, was the exact square of the sun with Saturn. That remains with us this week but is receding. On Friday I went grocery shopping and was amazed at how glum and, in fact, sad or even hostile people seemed. It was the beginning of a weekend yet the mass mood was way down. I then looked at the daily chart and realized that when the sun is square Saturn by less than two or three degrees, things can be quite harsh. I saw this many years ago when I went on a planned vacation at a time I thought was near-perfect, but had many troubles. I realized that the square of the sun and Saturn is a very major aspect which can override many others going on at the same time. I think we will be recovering from it during the coming week. It tends to toughen character and make us more skeptical of our plans, therefore more careful, and that can be all to the good.

The sextiles of the sun and Mars in Capricorn with Jupiter and Uranus in Pisces show that business is humming. I realize many are still out of work, so the fact that business conditions are getting better seems to help the well-off more than those lacking appropriate jobs. Still, all should feel a boost this week in one way or another.

The squares of Mercury with Jupiter and Uranus are a difficult note but one which can be handled well if you are sure not to jump to big conclusions too quickly, whether about your finances or other people or political and religious matters. People can be unreasonable under these two aspects. They think they know more than they do, or depend on bad judgment of themselves or someone else. They can just be flat-out wrong. So, since this is going on in the last week of the Dark Epoch, it is well to be cautious about precipitate judgments.

Finally, the social news: Venus and Mars are interacting in a big way which could be quite dramatic. The important relationships in your life are going to come out in ways which show you amazing things. Also, this could be new connections with people, or casual friendships which blossom or reveal facets you hadn't suspected; it does not have to be a heavy relationship, although I would say married couples or other serious couples will find out remarkable things about each other. This would be exhilarating more likely than disturbing. What is going on is a septile aspect between these male and female planets. That is fateful. You may not have to do anything to make it happen; it will happen regardless. So I am not sure about the appropriate advice. Just be on the alert. I might suggest that it could be a good time to "court" someone or pursue someone, but that might be the wrong advice because it is more likely that what happens just happens, so being alert to the potentials would probably be better than trying to force something to happen. You will have to figure all that out for yourself. When you feel without doubt that it is time to nurture a friendship or relationship, it is.

This matter is specially significant because this week both Mars and Venus will also be at critical, that is, strong and helpful, degrees of the zodiac. Also they will both be in good aspect with Jupiter. Whether you are a loner type or a social type, single or hooked up, something is in the air to show you what your relationships are all about. And this can be in same-sex friendships as well as other-sex. Neither need it be overtly sexual or erotic; it can be merely friendly and pleasing. If you don't know what all this is about yet, you will by Friday or Saturday; the septile aspect continues into next week.

Such aspects, indeed all aspects, have subjective sides to them which need not externalize. For example, you could be watching movies or reading books which get you going about love or relationships or whatever Mars and Venus mean to you at the present time, and this internal life could be what is happening this week more than any big external relationship. Or it could be both at once.

As for Monday: The moon in early Aries is trine Venus and square Pluto, suggesting love but also business, indeed I think this will be a strong business day even though it is the first day of the |stressful or worrisome third of this week| lasting through Wednesday (about three days this time; usually it is somewhat shorter). As always in astrology, it is a matter of balancing many factors, which is why real complex astrology is not popular. The answers are not simple but are all the more revealing and helpful because they are complex. On Monday you should not be daunted by some doubtful or worrisome moods or skeptical thoughts. They are making you wisely cautious, but the underlying trends are in accord with basic choices you have been making for several weeks. Meanwhile there is nothing wrong with the moon's trine with Venus, exact in the afternoon (evening in Europe), so some of the good things pointed out for this week might be apparent to you whether in bud or flower form.

{Monday, and Week Ahead} *Pleasing Potentials*

Cosmic Piper