Join me Tuesday, January 17 for my astro-overview of 2012 conference call. I’ll discuss the year season by season, from the times of growth and the retrogrades to the outer planet sign shifts and the first big clashes of the Uranus/Pluto square. 9 PM EST. Only $20; register here. Everyone on the call will receive an mp3 of the talk. Not sure you can make it? Register anyway to receive the mp3 as soon as it’s ready.

I’m also offering personal 2012 forecasts by Tarot for only $25. Email me to book!

Get ready for another week of steady, forward progress. We’re still in a rare stretch of every single planet being in direct motion. Nothing in the sky is getting in our ways. Nothing is making big demands on us, either...for the most part. This week’s aspects are nudges instead of shoves, whispers instead of orders, suggestions instead of ultimatums ... for the most part.

I’ll explain the allusion in a few paragraphs. But first:  How have you been doing with the pace? Have you had slow-building momentum or a dizzying rush? Most of the people around me are in the first category. If you’re in the first, take heart; your efforts are indeed getting somewhere (and somewhere you want to be, to boot). If you’re in the second, find your moments and points of ballast/balance and sink into them. They will prove very, very useful. What we’re getting now is a warm-up for the acceleration we’ll experience in the spring, when the glimmers of hope and growth you’re seeing will erupt into bloom.

Keep looking to the future, even when you’re dealing with the past. Some of that will continue to wash up at the beginning of the week, as Sunday/Monday’s Cancer Full Moon gradually recedes. Waves of emotion will continue to crest for a bit, drawing attention to issues of  home, security, belonging, nurturing, support and success. We’re seeing the logical (and, in some cases, completely illogical -- nothing rational about a Cancer Moon!) outgrowths of decisions and reprioritizing that have been going on for the past 18 months.

Some of the outgrowths will be reassuring, some bittersweet, some nostalgic. All of them are signs of your personal evolution -- the happier ones showing how loved you are (or how far you’ve come), the others pointing to chapters that are (or require) closing. In many instances, there’s really nothing overt for you to do besides acknowledge and accept what has washed away, like writing in the sand at the edge of the ocean.

The rest of the week, with the exception of Friday, has a dearth of major aspects, even to the Moon. Influences are subtle, nuanced, vague, just uncomfortable enough to egg on ambitions, motivations and momentum. We’ll have plenty of incentive to keep plugging along, and lots of teeny irritants to discourage growing complacent or feeling stuck.

The main event -- the exception to “for the most part”  -- peaks on Friday. We’ll be seeing a build-up all week, but so much crystalizes on that day, which brings unprecedented clarity, truth and sacrifice. We are completing a significant chapter in the journey of our hearts and spirits, one that we will never experience again.

Four big events happen on Friday. Jupiter, the planet of growth and expansion, finally moves from the first degree of Taurus, where it has been seemingly lounging for the past three weeks or so. Moving an inch has the impact of traveling a mile; see if it doesn’t.

Venus, ruler of what we value (relationships, money, talents, possessions), makes a stabilizing, grounding link to Saturn, the bringer of rules and order, who’s occupying the last degree of the relationship sign Libra (and one of Venus’ homes). What’s important to us settles in; whew. We’re setting up structures and commitments for the future, built on reciprocity and mutual independence (ponder that one), affecting and supporting our whole web.

Mercury, who rules what we think and say and how we get around, meets up with potent, all-transforming Pluto. Thoughts are crystal clear and bottom line. We are brutally, ruthlessly honest with ourselves and with others. Messages and conversations are enormously important, to the point of life-changing. They clarify. They end. They cut away. They simplify. They empower. While they may not be fit for a Hallmark greeting card, they’re not necessarily cruel or vicious, though. In fact, they are likely to be expressions of love.

That’s because the two planets of love, earthly and spiritual, are meeting on Friday at the last degree of Aquarius, just before Venus moves into Pisces and a few weeks before Neptune follows suit. The vibe has staying power throughout the weekend, too, since Venus and Neptune are meeting again on Sunday, that time by declination. When earthly love meets the divine, hearts swell with compassion and understanding and a gentle sweetness pervades everything else in the sky. (Hence the Mercury/Pluto developments really being for the best.) This particularly meeting has definite contours, though, and not merely from, again, those Mercury/Pluto developments.

This is the last time in our lives that Venus and Neptune will conjoin in the sign of Aquarius. It’s the last time that we will experience the merging of worldly and higher love as a futuristic, progressive concept. It will be far more immediate, real and a natural way of life when they next meet, in Pisces in two years, when we will have first-hand familiarity with the universal waters that connect all existence. (Yes, we’re in them now; what will be different is our level of awareness of that.)

As the aspect builds, the week will take on more and more of an era-ending quality. We are wrapping up a cycle that began in February 1998.  Since then Neptune has been obscuring, softening and dissolving situations and issues connected to the Aquarius area of our individual charts. During that time our existence has increasingly bridged the mundane world and spiritual realms, with people becoming more openly guided by a knowing that has little to do with the five physical senses.

Amazing clarity has clicked in since November, when Neptune ended his final retrograde in Aquarius and kicked into exit mode. Each of us is now viewing affected areas of our lives completely differently than we did fourteen years ago. A moment of peace is now coming. That peace involves letting all kinds of people off the hook and viewing them with love and compassion. You are at the top of that list.

One more note about this aspect:  Venus is now linking our hearts to our inner navigation systems, which kicked in for us when Neptune was traveling with Jupiter and Chiron in 2009. If you have don’t have the guided visualization for activating your internal GPS, you can get the mp3 here.  If you do, listen to it again.

On Saturday, Venus moves into Pisces for about three weeks. She is said to be “exalted” in this sign, because she takes on the highest, most inspired and spiritual qualities here.  Within days she will meet with Chiron and continue the vibe of conciliation and forgiveness. The Golden Rule is firmly in effect, with a twist. Do unto others as you would do unto yourself -- but start by treating yourself lovingly. The more you do, the more all your relations will follow suit.

For another take on this week’s events, listen to my five-minute podcast. If you like it, please give it five stars on iTunes! (Don’t want to use iTunes? Use the Podcast/Video link at the top of this page.)

Monday:  The Cancer Full Moon completes in the overnight hours. (Read my forecast for it.) The takeaway? The motivation to get moving on personal projects (go to the gym if that extends to wanting to punch someone’s lights out); the incentive to put emotional and financial affairs in order. If someone dares tell you no, you’ll be like a teenager falling prey to a reverse psychology ploy. Put writing materials by your bed.

Tuesday:   There are no major aspects during the day at all. The overnight has two, in contrast, and what it sets in motion inside you could influence how you experience the daylight hours. In your dreams, you asked for more, opened yourself to the new, and made a choice about your perspective. Noting your early-morning thoughts will help you flesh out this concepts. (More what? New what? Perspective about what?) Step back from the relationship or money issue around lunchtime (EST); look at it with what you experienced overnight in mind. Same thing with the annoyance that follows right after. Like a pinball careening through a machine, your reactions set up the path that takes you into the midday power showdown. You don’t really want to knock heads, do you? Step into the calm and certainty of your own personal power and the priorities you have embraced, and that settles everything. 

Wednesday:  There are no major aspects at all today, so watch for the quiet nudges:  in your gut, your shoulder muscles, your hunches. Conversations, email, texting and other and vehicles for messages are uncomfortable-to-off-putting; you may do better by keeping silent and taking in, rather than speaking out.  Everything you see and hear can guide you to the choices that are appropriate for you and rally your inner troops. You may be amazed at what you are able to accomplish.

Thursday:  The bulk of the activity happens overnight, with half of the Moon’s aspects occurring before dawn. More perspective arrives about relationship or financial issues. Before the day begins, calm and optimism move into a mutually supportive mode. A little tinkering happens in your mindset. Once again, motivation kicks in and the energy to accomplish takes you through the rest of the day. Communication flows more comfortably than it has lately. As evening approaches, it’s easy to focus on empowering and supportive situations and shed ones that aren’t. The buildup to tomorrow’s activity is already in the air. Quieting down and going to bed will be difficult, with a late-night Sun/Mars trine revving everyone’s engines.

Friday:   Take a deep breath. The first monumental day of the year has arrived.  Your lenses today are the eyes of love. Act responsibly toward your heart. Speak your truth lovingly and honestly, with no holding back. Profoundly deep connections can be experienced. Artistry can soar. Bless any departures, for you’ll know in your heart of hearts that the essence is still with you.

Saturday: No matter what happened yesterday, today stands to be yummy to the max. Venus moves into Pisces and quickly makes an opportunity aspect to Jupiter, who’s still hanging out in the garden that’s the first degree of Taurus. He’s got a green thumb, a canister of Miracle-Gro and, above, a physical, sensual streak. Enjoy earthly existence today. Likely you won’t do it alone, but even if you do, likely you won’t mind. 

Sunday:  The day’s only major aspect occurs overnight (again!), when the Moon squares Venus.  Even with the love fest of the past two days, something isn’t quite right in a relationship or financial arrangement; something still needs rethinking, redoing, just plain changing. See what’s tugging at you early in the day; that may be your answer. As far as the day’s atmosphere and events, they have little room for storm clouds. Warm fuzzies are still in effect. You may even see how to pull off being absolutely yourself (and independent) within the context of a two-some.  The weekend is a miracle, actually. Three days of peace, love and understanding? Keep them close to your heart. They’ll reminder you what’s most important, if harsher aspects test you later this year.

© Kathy Biehl 2012. All Rights Reserved. You may forward this article as long as the copyright notice is intact. No part may be used or reprinted without my prior written permission. Karma, ya know.

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