This new year starts out with sort of a bang.  In the first seven days there is a supermoon (big full moon in the sky), Uranus turns stationary direct, the Earth is at perihelion (closest to the Sun), Mars semisquares Saturn, and Mars conjuncts Jupiter in sextile to Pluto.  Uranus represents breaking down of the old, paving the way for the new; and the Mars/Jupiter/Pluto configuration can be highly excitable for new initiatives.

The lunar eclipse on January 31 helps to inaugurate an interesting set of eclipses and planets later on this summer, which are bound to set up hot-spots the world over.  Yet I am reminded somehow of the final lines of T. S. Elliot’s The Hollow Men:

“This is the way the world ends
This is the way the world ends
This is the way the world ends
Not with a bang but a whimper.”

Yet the world may end, but it’s the death of courage and the “hollow men” carry on.

At any rate, let 2018 be the year when numbers, age, or time no longer weigh in the evaluation of success on your part.  Whether it is ancient times, or 2018, great things happened when someone took the reins of power and said “Now is the time….”

Monday, Jan 1, 2018, Mercury Greatest Elongation, Moon at Perigee 9:54 pm GMT
Mercury is at greatest distance from the Sun and Moon closest to earth. Cognition, perception and realization are enhanced.

Tuesday, Jan 2, Uranus Stationary Direct, Super Full Moon 2:24 am GMT
Supermoon with Uranus stationary!  Full moon at perigee (closest to Earth), slightly stronger “pull” of the Moon on the tides and perhaps the tides of human fortune.  Sun aspecting Neptune bring stirring of heretofore slumbering energies, cracks in the social edifice appear.  A bigger, transcendent vision can move all.  (Sun sextile Neptune)

Wednesday, Jan 3, Quadrantid Meteor Shower, Earth at Perihelion
The Earth is now closest to the Sun in it’s yearly orbit, actually about 3 million miles closer.  Feel the heat?  Actually, selfhood is highlighted, your reason to be here and now.  Relationships enter special space, the deeper range of their potentials manifest.  Artistic and spiritual inspiration is elevated as well.  (Venus sextile Neptune)

Thursday, Jan 4
No peaking influences

Friday, Jan 5
Motivation stumbles across problems, testing its purity and resolve.  Be careful breakdowns bodily, physical and otherwise.  (Mars semisquare Saturn)

Saturday, Jan 6
New inspiration helps us to snatch victory from the jaws of defeat.  Be careful to keep things steady and practical.  (Mars conjunct Jupiter, Mercury trine Uranus)

Sunday, Jan 7
No peaking influences

Monday, Jan 8, Last Quarter Moon
Enthusiasm and ruthlessness may help you to significant progress. Be careful not to trample on others and their endeavors in the process.  Be sure not to take on too much that you can’t realistically sustain the effort.  (Sun and Venus sextile Jupiter, Mars sextile Pluto)

Tuesday, Jan 9, Venus Superior Conjunction
Deep significance for relationships as the Sun, Venus, and Pluto line up.  Intense experiences indicated, but the long term effects are elective; usually the high road or the low road.  (Sun conjunct Venus conjunct Pluto, all sextile Mars)

Wednesday, Jan 10
No peaking influences

Thursday, Jan 11
Bias/perception may be powerful to inspire in art, creativity, and spirituality.  Cultivate a healthy sense of selfless compassion.  Venus shifts into sidereal Capricorn, indicating an emotional/experiential new shade, perhaps more practical and purposeful.  (Mercury quintile Neptune)

Friday, Jan 12
The Sun moves into sidereal Capricorn late today, adding a more results-oriented thrust for the next 30 days.

Saturday, Jan 13
Somber outlooks help everyone get more realistic and purposeful.  Relationships, conversely, suffering instability; and a lot of rationalization/verbalization may not help.  (Mercury conjunct Saturn, Venus square Uranus, Mercury semisquare Jupiter)

Sunday, Jan 14
Going along to get along may not be the best tactic today, suppressing more integral qualities to yourself to do so.  Sometimes the status quo cannot be tolerated, even so don’t get carried away with the overall rebellion against order and authority.  After all, the same force that constrains us, contains us.  (Sun square Uranus, Mars enters sidereal Scorpio)

Monday, Jan 15, Moon at Apogee 2:10 am GMT
A lot of ideas and enthusiasm to inspire us, but to make them work requires commitment and hard, focused work.  Subtlety may be far more powerful that volume or vigor today.  (Jupiter sextile Pluto, Venus semisquare Neptune, Mercury tridecile Uranus)

Tuesday, Jan 16
No peaking influences

Wednesday, Jan 17, New Moon
Strangely active and disruptive energies, keep your head and go with the flow, but not surrendering your ethical compass.  A sense of delicate balance may need to be sustained navigating through uneasy situations and seeming ill-health, so good body chemistry will be a good asset today.  Thwarted energy, malice and violence.  (Mars tridecile Neptune, Mars quincunx Uranus, Sun semisquare Neptune)

Thursday, Jan 18
Urgency, hysteria, and panic can override the calm center necessary to good functioning.  (Mercury semisquare Mars)

Friday, Jan 19
Don’t be fooled by how easy or overtly good something seems to be.  Sometimes the path less trod is the right way to go.  (Venus quintile Jupiter, Mercury sextile Neptune)

Saturday, Jan 20
No peaking influences

Sunday, Jan 21
Be careful asking too much of yourself or others with over-vaulted thinking and desperate arrogance.  Sometimes it is better to sit back and appreciate the grandiosity of things than try to be amazing yourself.  Fortune is as fortune does.  (Sun quintile Jupiter)

Monday, Jan 22
No peaking influences

Tuesday, Jan23, Venus at Aphelion
Venus today is the furthest from the Sun in its yearly orbit.  Venus themes may be accented: love, beauty, and getting along.  Cordiality, but also vanity and lust and highlighted.

Wednesday, Jan 24, First Quarter Moon
Conversations may inadvertently become very intense and contentious.  You don’t need to say it louder and longer just to be believed, and you don’t have to be right either.  Compulsive and obsessive traits are brought out.  (Mercury conjunct Pluto)

Thursday, Jan 25, Mercury at Aphelion
Today Mercury is at its furthest from the Sun, expect all Mercurian themes to be active: curiosity, perception and analysis, understanding, and mastery.  This is a good day to cultivate new relationships and contacts.

Friday, Jan 26
No peaking influences

Saturday, Jan 27
Surprisingly strong reactions may emerge, be ready for anything.  Success may require dexterity, quickness, and audacity.  Be careful of breakdowns, accidents, and injuries.  (Mars biquintile Uranus)

Sunday, Jan 28
Out of the noise of interactions, new relationship dynamics are born.  Having fun is a great way to connect.  (Mercury square Uranus, Venus quintile Uranus, Venus quintile Mars)

Monday, Jan 29
Be sure that your findings, facts, and figures are accurate and not what you think they should be, projecting your biases.  Cognition may be handicapped by toxicity of mind and body.  (Mercury semisquare Neptune)

Tuesday, Jan 30, Moon at Perigee 9:54 am GMT
No peaking influences today except for the Moon at it’s closest to the Earth in it’s monthly orbit.  Possibly ideation may be more vivid and maybe we’ll feel things are more “at critical” in some ways.

Wednesday, Jan 31, Total Lunar Eclipse 1:30 pm GMT
The Earth, Moon and Sun line up in a more-than-usually-exact way today, and the Earth’s shadow blots out the normally full moon.  This happens basically twice a year, having to do with the conjunction of the Sun with the Moon’s Nodes.  You can think of it like the closing of one chapter and the opening of another, much of which would depend on which house this eclipse falls in your chart.