Like December, January is a threshold month. As we pass through it, we enter a new phase and leave behind the previous one. No transition is instant. Over the course of this month, we’ll learn just how long we need to make shifts and transform in our own ways in preparation for the year ahead. While we might be used to simply surviving the holidays and jumping into the new year with a sense of urgency to get started on the goals or intentions we’ve set, this January really calls us to slow down and prioritize reflection and repose. The astrology gives us more space to listen to ourselves and to get the rest we need to take action when the time is right.

The opening of this new year is slow, almost sleepy. Both Mars, the planet of action, and Mercury, the planet of quick communication and short-distance travel, are retrograde until mid-January. These transits really ask us to surrender to doing less and moving much, much slower than we are comfortable with. Retrogrades can be so frustrating for us because we value speed, immediacy, proactivity, and control. But retrogrades will always challenge our insistence on endless efficiency and the pursuit of perfection.

Mars Retrograde always teaches us that when we take action out of fear or when we think we have to do something in order to be accepted, we move away from our hearts and our true purpose. In Gemini, it invites us to be honest with ourselves and move with authenticity in our closest relationships. Mercury Retrograde in Capricorn calls us to lighten our load of responsibility and communicate our limitations when it comes to everyday tasks. This can look like taking on less at work or revisiting how you share chores amongst your household.

Throughout the month, there’s an emphasis on soft aspects: mostly trines between the generational planets and the personal planets—that is, easy energy between what’s influencing the collective and what impacts our daily lives. These trines give us a lot of softness and room for introspection.

On the 1st, there’s a trine between the Sun in Capricorn and Uranus in Taurus. This transit gives us some firm ground to stand on. Uranus’ influence on Taurus is disruptive, but the energy flows both ways. With the planet aspecting the Sun in Capricorn, we’re able to find more peace in the chaos that Uranus represents. We become the center of the hurricane, able to patiently accept and allow the reality that so much is out of our hands, but that we can always return to a still place inside of ourselves.

Then on the 3rd, there’s another trine between Venus in Aquarius and Mars in Gemini. This trine opens our hearts to some exciting possibilities. Any conversation between Venus and Mars is electric—the dance between our will and our receptivity. Mars’ placement in our personal chart helps us carry out the desires of our Venus placement. In Aquarius, desire becomes more collective: we can trust that what we want is indeed for the good of all. Trine Mars in Gemini—sign of bringing the ethereal into the material—we can use our creative skills to photograph, paint, stitch, sing, or write a new reality into being.

There are also two notable conjunctions between the Sun and Mercury on the 7th and Venus and Saturn on the 22nd. Conjunctions are typically considered hard aspects, with two (or more) planets vying for influence in the same sign and house, sometimes as cross-purposes. But the nature of these planetary combinations, though more serious, are definitely supportive this month. They underline the themes coming up through January, challenging us to be vulnerable about who we really are and rethink our relationship with work and responsibility.

The conjunction between the Sun and Mercury happens at the same time as the trine between the Sun and Uranus. If you’re open to it, this transit could really help you communicate something you’ve been denying in yourself so you won’t be judged. The telltale sign of what this could be is resentment and fatigue. Speak up about your needs, be realistic about your weaknesses, and make sure that you let people know when they overstep a boundary.

Just before the conjunction between Venus and Saturn in Aquarius, the Sun moves into the sign on the 21st. With all three planets in Aquarius, the energy of the sign is amplified for us. That means there’s an emphasis on collective imagining. In short, we’ll be able to place ourselves in the flow of history and within the community of the cosmos. The conjunction between Saturn and Venus asks us to reflect on our responsibilities and boundaries in relation to our desires. What your heart, mind, and body need (and want) is intertwined with collective healing. Your innate motivations are medicine for all of us.

Ultimately, the Sun in Aquarius opens our minds to the future—not just our own, but the future of the planet and our society down through the generations yet to come. As we end the month, we’ll start to see how prioritizing our own self-respect, compassion, aligned ambition, and dreams help create a tomorrow that’s safe, nourishing, and abundant for all.

Keagan (she/her) is a writer, tarot reader, and astrologer. Find her on Instagram @moonsingemini to book a reading. Subscribe to her monthly tarotscope newsletter here.

SAD Online

Cosmic Forecast January 2023