Midlife Transits

May is a tough month to call, Sagittarius. There’s a new moon eclipse in Taurus on the 9th, which looks to be favorable for you in terms of work or job. How favorable or how much of an impact it will have will vary a lot depending on your chart and your personal goals. There is actually a lot of energy in your job sector throughout the month, including from Mars in Taurus. For some of you, this will mean taking on a second job to bring in extra or outside income. Financial concerns are a big deal to your chart these days, and an extra job might be demanding but worthwhile. (more…)

April is a tough month to call. The sun, Venus, and Mars are traveling in a pack this month from Aries during to the first half of the month to Taurus in the second half. This can have mixed effects because Venus is conciliatory and nice, while Mars is aggressive and sometimes hostile. There’s also a lunar eclipse in Scorpio on the 25th and eclipses are always wild cards.

Aries represents your solar sector of creativity, pleasure, fun, love, and children. (more…)

The two main vibes of March relate to pleasure and home. These concepts could overlap throughout the month, leading to things like pleasure from your home or family.

The sector in astrology that relates to pleasure or fun (the 5th house) also relates to a person’s love life and children. So you could have pleasure from love affairs or dating or from your children. Jupiter also continues to be in a favorable position in your solar 7th house of relationships, so any close relationship (such as a marriage) could bring pleasure or happiness. (more…)

Vague Pisces rules the skies in February. Pisces loves things like creativity, music, romance, the seas, and beauty. Harmony, pleasure and sensory awareness could become important to you this month. You may feel inundated by formless feelings that don’t quite coalesce. Pisces energy could also awaken your own creative instincts or it could heighten your appreciation of the creativity and beauty produced by others. (more…)

Happy New Year Sagittarius. January is a sociable month for Sagittarius. Every year in January, Aquarius influence marches into the skies and lights up your solar sector of short trips, neighbors, socializing, language, learning, mental stimulation, and being with people. Normally this starts about two-thirds of the way through the month, but this year is a bit different. Mars entered Aquarius on Christmas Day and stays in Aquarius all through January. (more…)

Happy Birthday, Sagittarius! Planetary energy in your sign all month gives you permission to do what you want and please yourself. Yay!

There’s also plenty of energy in your financial house of income, values, and possessions. The sun, Mars, and Pluto will be in this part of your chart during December. This could be good if you are engaging in vigorous activity to bring in income. On the other hand, Mars is sometimes a troublesome planet, indicating that work needs to be done or that possessions get damaged and need to be repaired or replaced. It might be prudent to leave some money in your budget for unexpected expenses.

There is also holdover energy in your sector of partnerships, via Jupiter in Gemini and the eclipse at the end of November. In some way, your ability to handle partnerships and relationships is being increased. What that means in terms of your real life though depends a lot on your individual circumstances. Eclipses are wild card energies; they shake up whatever needs to be shaken up. Since the eclipse in Gemini on November 28 was a lunar eclipse, it may have brought an end to a chapter in your life with regard to a partnership, love relationship, friendship or any close relationship.

Saturn in Scorpio in your solar 12th house may also slowly be beginning to have an effect. The 12th house is not a house that places a lot of value on producing anything tangible. It’s house of gestation and rest. You may need to be a little less productive after a busy year and take some time to just be.

One of the more important astrological events of December is the station of Uranus in Aries at mid-month. You may feel strong effects around this time. Uranus is in your solar 5th house of children, creativity, play, and your love life. Uranus is the planet of friendship. You may find that your friendships increase in importance or that the balance between friendships and love relationships gets adjusted. Or you may find that you have a need to broaden your circle of friends in some way to be happier.

Now let’s look a bit at your year ahead. Neptune in Pisces will continue to slowly traverse an important angle in your solar chart. It’s at the base of your chart and will definitely affect those born early in your sign. It will present you with alternatives and choices with regard to your personal life. It may be hard to sort out exactly what you want to do or which direction you want to take for awhile.

The effect of Neptune is to encourage you to re-imagine yourself from the ground up. Neptune rules Pisces and so is especially strong. Neptune in Pisces is also a double dose of water energy. It may sound trivial, but you could find that actually immersing yourself in water (for example, taking up swimming for exercise) could really help you sort things out. Whatever you choose to do, you need some sort of escape and fun and pleasure to help the re-imagination process along.

Pluto in Capricorn will continue to encourage you to address your financial situation forthrightly and with particular attention to the details of your own circumstances. The coming year is likely to be one of strong feelings with regard to your wants, financial and otherwise, as a number of astrological influences converge to help you redefine them. Your desires may be simple and survival-oriented or they may be emotional and relationship-oriented, but either way they are strong. Issues like lending and debt will also need to be addressed and you may need to examine what kind of work you want to do and how hard you want to work at it.

Meanwhile, the eclipse cycle is in the process of turnover during the next 12 months. It’s moving out of the cycle that affected your personal desires and your marital and other partnerships and moving into a cycle that affects your job, health and the rather mysterious realm of hidden knowledge. Yet another series of eclipses will begin that affects your children, love life, and friendships. So there is quite a broad range of influences coming up, just the way you like it. The wild card eclipse times are likely to be felt between April and June and September through November 2013.

Your ruler Jupiter will move into touchy-feely Cancer at the end of June 2013. This can be quite good for your sex life. Some of you will also use the energy to travel back home to see family in another country.

November opens up with Mars and Mercury in your sign, with the sun following on the 21st. Mercury actually retrogrades out of your sign by the 14th, one factor in making November a really mixed month for Sagittarius astrologically. Mars in your sign addresses you personally, giving you energy for whatever is on your plate. On the 16th, though, Mars moves on.

In Capricorn for the rest of the month, Mars becomes more interested in your possessions and practicalities. With Pluto in the same sector for many years to come, this is part of an ongoing push by the planets to get you to be practical and organized when it comes to your stuff. That makes the second half of November a good time to do practical things like make sure your auto is tuned up for the winter. It’s also a good time to make other similar preparations – get a good pair of boots and so on.

There are also two eclipses this month, one is Scorpio on the 13th and another in Gemini on the 28th. Eclipses are wild cards, hard to predict. Some of you will be affected this month, others already have been, others will feel effects next month, and some won’t be affected at all. The one in Scorpio coincides with the entry of Saturn in this sign.

Saturn is the planet that nags us, and it is greatly at odds with the Sagittarian nature. It’s in your job and health sector now. One of Saturn’s tasks over the next couple of years will be to scold you about any unhealthy habits you have. Or you may experience Saturn as a nagging boss or annoying work responsibilities that you just have to buck up and deal with. But the Scorpio eclipse also indicates that this is the perfect time for you to turn over a new leaf at work or in your health maintenance practices. Some of you will have the chance to get a new job or begin the process of interviewing and preparing for a new era in your work life.

The eclipse in Gemini on the 28th relates more to your relationships. If you have doubts about a primary relationship, the eclipse may give you the urge to seek freedom from it, to bring some relationship situation to an end. Neptune in your home life sector also stations this month, on the 11th. The one-two punch of Neptune and the eclipse may have some Sagittarians wanting to make pretty substantial changes to their home life. This is more likely to affect married Sagittarians; single ones still have good vibes for romance.

Sagittarius has a bit of career energy this October, thanks to Venus in Virgo for most of the month, from the 3rd through the 27th. If you aren’t pursuing a career per se, you can think of Venus in Virgo more generally as goal-oriented energy. It encourages you to try to accomplish something, to get something productive done. This can even be something health-oriented, such as taking up an exercise routine or learning a new sport to keep yourself active.

Venus in Virgo represents only a fraction of the energy in the skies this month, though. There’s a lot of planetary turnover in October, with many planets changing signs. The sun is in Libra and Scorpio; that never changes from year to year. Mercury zips through 3 signs – Libra, Scorpio, and your own sign. Mars moves from Scorpio to your sign. And Saturn moves from Libra to Scorpio.

Mars in Scorpio has represented withdrawal in your solar chart. Mars in Scorpio broods on your needs, wants to get away from it all. Occasionally, it has a desire to serve. Mars in your own sign (from the 7th) is all about you, of course. It represents your desire to have new experiences.

Mars in your own sign also has a tendency to scatter its energies rather widely. It likes questions, answer, travel. It’s aggressive, persistent, and optimistic. Feel free to take advantage.

The other big news of the month is Saturn moving from Libra to Scorpio. When Saturn leaves Libra on the 5th, you may see a wish come true. Not necessarily that exact day, but around then. Saturn has been in your solar sector of wishes, hopes, longings. Saturn in a sector represents delayed fulfillment. Some hope, particularly a career-oriented one, may finally come to fruition.

One of the unacknowledged traits of Sagittarius is that it has a flair for spotting people’s weaknesses. If Sagittarius wants to hurt someone’s feelings, it knows exactly the right thing to say. That’s because Scorpio sits on the cusp of the 12th house in the Sagittarius solar chart. Scorpio represents the ability to probe others, including for their weaknesses. The 12th house represents the traits we have that we don’t normally acknowledge we have or sometimes even want to have!

In September, Mars visits Scorpio and provides you with a temptation. If you want to gain control of a situation by ferreting out other people’s weak points and exploiting them, you’ll certainly have the planetary chops to do so. The only question is whether you consciously wish to do so. If you do, then you’ll be able to use the instrument of Mars in Scorpio to your advantage, with the skill of a surgeon. If you don’t become consciously aware of the planetary influences in this direction, you may unconsciously exploit people more than you were intending.

In other words, you have planetary permission to use your razor-like intuition, but you might want to make sure your intentions with regard to others are honorable and benevolent before you do so.

What sorts of people might be on your intuitive radar in September? Well, the usual suspects—spouses, partners, boyfriends, girlfriends, friends, colleagues, and so on. You might also want to use your radar to pick up on group dynamics. If you are a concerned citizen and potential voter, your insight can be turned to analyzing candidates and parties and the other factors that go into making informed political decisions.

On a different subject, especially if you were born near the beginning of your sign, you may be feeling more tired and lacking in strength than normal. Neptune slows down in September and will reach back to 0 degrees of Pisces. That degree represents the base of your chart and is fatiguing place to host Neptune.

Combined with Mars in your 12th house, Neptune’s position may mean that you need to consider spending more time at home during the last week of the month. Before that, you probably won’t be able to because the first 3 weeks of September represent career time in the Sagittarius chart. Money is an issue this month, too, and so you won’t want to slack off in any endeavors that can bring it in. You may see a bit of easing of financial tension as the month draws to a close, although that’s not guaranteed. Not a super-strong possibility, but you may also be able to sneak in a bit of travel for pleasure in September, maybe a quick romantic get-away.

August marks sort of a turning point for your chart. Mars moves into Scorpio on the 23rd, and he brings with him a new era of focus on inner work and perhaps dealing with whatever chronic health issues you may face. The stars are going to be spending a couple of years asking you to accept your limitations and the frailty of your human nature.

This is a bit of a stretch for Sagittarius, as it doesn’t automatically understand the concept of limitations and is not entirely keen on human nature either. As part of this project, your ruler Jupiter will spend a year in your solar sector of other people–indicating that it’s time to realize the value of other people’s contributions to your well-being and happiness.

By October, the stars will also ask you to stop looking so seriously at the future and your long-term goals, so that you can get out of your head and into your subconscious intuition. Now I don’t want to make it sound as though all your normal abilities are being undermined. You’ve still got plenty of help from Uranus in Aries (especially if you were born in early December), shoring up your independence and your capacity for action.

It’s more that your inner abilities are being expanded. It’s like your chart is trying to wrap its head around concepts that normally make the human mind explode.

The astrological action is not all inner, though. In fact, your first priority toward the end of August is to deal proactively with your financial situation. Pluto in your second house of money is the strongest influence in your chart and if you don’t deal forthrightly with financial issues, they could put a serious crimp in your ability to do what you want to do. Finances first!

Now on to some lighter stuff. August highlights the sign of Leo, and Leo is your travel and education sign. You may respond to this influence by actually traveling, taking a late summer vacation, or by furthering your education. An example of the kind of energy that’s favored would be studying a foreign language, or brushing up your skills in a language you learned a bit about some time ago.

You’ll want to take advantage of the energy in some way that doesn’t put undue strain on your finances (see above). Learning a career-related skill might be an especially good idea. The annual new moon in Leo (good for starting an activity or taking action) occurs on the 17th.

As the month winds down, you also have a chance to get real about your career, as the sun moves into Virgo, your career sign. Accomplishments that center around words or verbal activities are especially favored.

Mars finally leaves Virgo this month and moves into Libra on the 3rd. One of the immediate effects of that is a switch from career focus back to family interactions. Your chart has been on a long journey via planets in Pisces toward making your family relations more ideal. It got thrown off track a bit by all the job and career energy you had in 2011 and the first half of 2012, but now things are back to their usual abnormal normality on the home front. (more…)

The month starts with a bang in the form of a lunar eclipse in your own sign, Sagittarius. Lunar eclipses by their nature are supposed to be about emotions. When one is in your own sign, it is about your own emotional needs, something your chart has been grappling all throughout last year and this one.

This eclipse represents your chance to let people know your feelings, especially your partners and those closest to you. They won’t know unless you tell them. (more…)

Oh, lots going on in May, Sagittarius. The sun and Mercury and Jupiter are in Taurus to start the month, all in your job house. These are all good for business, for enjoying business, or for making money. Mars is still in your career house, also good for business. Maybe not as fun as the Taurus influences, but still good for business and for earning money if you set your mind to it. In the middle of the month, Mars hooks up with Pluto (via a trine) and that’s even better for business and earning money.

By the way, Jupiter leaves your job sector next month and Mars leaves your career sector in early July. These two planets, Jupiter especially, are tasked with pushing you toward a rewarding job or career situation. If you don’t feel satisfied with your job, you still have a bit of time to use this energy. The rewards don’t have to be exclusively financial; you can go for psychic or emotional gratification as well. As long as you are going for something.

In the middle of the month, Saturn and Venus are getting along very well which links beauty, love and friendship. A friendship may turn to love (or I suppose vice versa) relatively easily. This is also an aspect that strongly favors politeness, courtesy, observing the social niceties, and reaching out to others. Neptune also starts slowing way down in your residential sector around that time, which could make things seem intoxicatingly pleasant on the home front for awhile.

And now for the other theme of the month: communication. There’s a ton of Gemini energy in the skies in May, including a new moon eclipse on the 20th. Gemini is a communicating sign by nature and represents your solar relationship sector. Ergo, lots of emphasis on communicating in your relationships.

I will admit that eclipses are highly unstable influences. They can bring deliciousness and wonderment or toxic surprise. Theoretically, this eclipse should be good for you, maybe even great, and bring about a new era of open communication in a relationship or in some way move one to the next level. But if a relationship is not up to snuff for some reason, the eclipse could open your eyes to the inherent problems. Either way, expect something to change.

Mars goes direct in your career house on the 13th, after a rather long retrograde. This isn’t a strong enough influence to indicate a radical change in your career, but it could indicate a slight change of direction. Mars has been in your career house since last November, so whatever happens should theoretically be a result of whatever you have been involved in since that time. Stay open to potentials for growth on this front all month, but especially around mid-April. (more…)