At first, it seems like like a normal Aquarius month. The sun’s there, so is Mercury for half of the month. But…this February, Neptune moves out of your solar third house, a spot it’s lived in for about 14 years. It moves into Pisces and your solar 4th house on the 3rd of the month, followed by the inner planets. Whereas the third house is outgoing, the 4th house is about your inner world, your home, family, and private time. That’s a big shift, although I doubt you’ll wake up on the 4th of February and shout “I’m shifting a major focus of my life from going out to staying in!” You might, but the effects will probably be more subtle. And more long-lasting.

Meanwhile, Mars remains in the opposite sign of Virgo, focusing on the most outward part of your life, your career and public standing. Mars is retrograde now, but that doesn’t mean he’s stopped trying to bring something into being in your career. He still cares about it, although he may be pausing a bit to strategize. This influence remains in effect until July, so you cannot neglect your career. I’ve been hammering on about this for months, and I will undoubtedly continue to do so. Mars doesn’t spend this long in your career house very often.

He definitely doesn’t focus on your career house for so long at the same time as when Jupiter is transiting your 6th house of job and daily work. This lasts until June, and again, I will keep repeating that this is a rare professional opportunity for you. Jupiter doesn’t just represent your job itself, it also represents your co-workers (the ones you may occasionally have a drink with), and it encourages you to do things with them. They are your allies during this cycle. Work this cycle as much as you can.

Finally, do something creative for Valentine’s Day, if you celebrate that holiday.

The second cardinal energy that’s strong this month is Capricorn, via the sun, Mercury, and Pluto. Capricorn in your solar chart represents money, possessions, and the need to address any issues they bring up in your life right now. The third cardinal influence is Saturn in Libra in your solar 11th house of friendship and association. Saturn’s energy is not as strong right now because it’s traveled almost to the end of the sign of Libra. If you have had problems in your friendships, you are probably already aware of them by now and are ready to work on solving them.

In addition to cardinal energy, January sees a lot of action in the sign of Aquarius. The sun, new moon, Mercury, Venus, and Neptune all move through Aquarius this month. In your solar chart, Aquarius represents speaking, listening and the people near you in daily life–neighbors, relatives, and so on. The time when the sun is in Aquarius (from the 20th on) is a great time for conscious communication and conscious attention.

Your annual full moon relating to the past takes place on the 9th. Once a year, you get a wonderful chance to honor the past and let it go at the full moon. If you’re the type who can embrace a ritual or two, this is the time to symbolically bundle up previous suffering and perform a goodbye ceremony that will let it pass out of your life.

Finally, we can’t ignore Mars in your career sector. Mars is bringing a rather intense focus to your career for 6 more months. This month, he stations on the 23rd and then turns retrograde. You may notice a shift around this time, suddenly see a career situation more clearly or begin to feel you are adapting to the changes occurring in this area of your life.

Mars is also at the top of your chart, in the career sector, pushing you to your utmost. His ambition for your career and professional life knows no bounds right now.

There’s also heavy emphasis on your financial sector this month. Venus and Pluto are already there as the month opens; the sun is the new kid on the block as of December 22. The obvious implication is that you’ll be spending money on new items this month, which is typically the case anyway. You may find that you desperately or even wistfully covet various material objects that you might not ordinarily care about.

Get your head straight around financial issues before the month gets too far along, so you’ll be able to stay on budget and make wise choices. The new moon in this sector occurs on the 24th. This is a superb time to sit down with your finances, measure, calculate and total, and then make a budget for 2012.

For some of you, the issues are serious and relate to weighty matters such trying to buy or sell a home or land or deal with mortgage situations that need to be addressed. Others are facing big expenses, such as furnishing a home for the first time. The time to address these things is now, while there is so much planetary support in your chart. The energy is all very adult–which means you need to be too.

Now, for another big topic of the month: relationships. Yours are scheduled to be undergoing adjustment this year, and in particular this month, thanks to a lunar eclipse in Gemini on the 10th. Your chart is really trying to figure out the balance of self and companion, and it may not be entirely certain of the outcome right yet. Another piece of the puzzle drops into place when the eclipse hits you, which may be any time from last month to the middle of January.

Finally, another couple of random notes about the month: Mercury is also retrograde in your sign this month, until the 13th, which means the skies are a bit wonky/wacky til then. The mood turns lazy on the 20th, when Venus enters Aquarius and you can slow down a bit.

Now for some longer-term trends for your year ahead. Yes, that earth energy of money, job, and career remains in play through the entire first half of 2012. No escaping it.

Groups & belonging are another important theme in your chart for most of 2012, at least until October. That’s because Saturn in your solar sector of groups wants to fit in somewhere and yet feels that you don’t somehow. His problem is a desire for people similar to you, and he won’t rest until you’ve found them. If you haven’t yet, help him out and start looking.

The flip side of this is that the planet of groups and friendships is already in your solar 5th house of fun, and is planning to stay there for a long time. It’s as if you already know the people you need to know, but somehow you need to work out the balance between conformity and freedom, getting along and standing out, having fun and being serious, and all the other polarities that go with friendship and participation in associations of people.

There’s another eclipse in your sign in 2012, in June, that could force you to deal with issues of the body, your body. With Jupiter in your 6th house until then, you’d be wise to invest time now in dealing with physical issues, while Jupiter makes it easy. With Neptune moving into Pisces early next year, staying grounded could be difficult unless you develop techniques to stay present right now. That’s one benefit of all the earth energy of the next 7 months.

When Neptune does move permanently out of Aquarius in February 2012, he leaves the part of your chart that has to do with words and speech and mental connections. This may actually improve your ability to communicate, as Neptune often struggles to put things into ordinary language.

There are also more relationship oriented eclipses on tap for you in 2012, two of them. One is in May and the other is in November 2012. The purpose of these eclipses is to bring resolution to the relationship issues you’ve already identified.

Furthermore, Mars won’t be in Virgo for 7 1/2 months again (as it will starting mid-November) for even longer than that. You have a seldom seen long opportunity to build up your earth nature and capacities. Earth is not about glamor or flash or fantasy. It’s about keeping things simple.

Earth is about setting in intention to buy and receive simple gifts this holiday season instead of going overboard. In some ways, with Pluto in your solar second house, the earth energy also represents a rebirth of your values. It’s about getting rid of any attachment to fantasies regarding money or things that are improbable or even impossible–so that you can concentrate on what is realistic and achievable. More concretely, you may experience a specific event related to your job around the full moon in Taurus on the 10th. Full moons are reputed to be emotional and sometimes bring difficulties to light so you can fix them.

But that’s only part of the story of this month. A whole bunch of planets move into your sign in November, starting with Venus and Mercury on the 2nd of the month. Venus wants you to spend the month with people, while the sun in Scorpio until the 22nd just wants you to be alone. Can you manage a little bit of both?

When the sun moves into your sign on the 22nd, things really heat up. Mercury goes retrograde in your sign on Thanksgiving (the 24th). On the 25th, there’s a new moon eclipse in your own sign.

This is a personal eclipse, indicating that the universe is trying to send you in a fresh direction. Your relationships are either under stress or getting more committed and that requires adjustments on your part. If you’re lucky, you’ll experience some kind of epiphany, a sign from the cosmos that helps you decide which way to go.

Neptune also stations in your solar third house of writing this month, around the time of the full moon on the 10th. If writing is a part of your life, things may move forward again after being stalled for some time. On the other hand, Neptune can encourage nonsense and insincerity, so watch that you don’t get caught in the trap of saying things you don’t mean. At its best, Neptune turning direct can help you gain brief but meaningful bits of insight.

Mars also switches signs this month. It starts out in Leo, where it feels exciting, attractive, special, appealing and adventurous. Then on the 10th, it moves into Virgo and your career house. There it all of a sudden feels like it needs to start making choices, examining alternatives, taking a stand. It will be in your career house all the way until July of next year, so you will have plenty of time to choose between whatever alternatives lie before you.

In some ways, November is not a particularly easy month; so many different things are going on. Yet, by the end of it, you may feel that you’ve been given some sort of cosmic gift of understanding.

The rest of the month’s energies are fairly mundane, as most of the inner planets are snoozing in your solar 12th house of rest. There is a bit of interpersonal energy at the beginning of the month via planets in Libra, the sign that represents your friendship sector. Neptune in Aquarius in your sector of communication skills makes nice with Venus on the 7th–good for relationships. On Halloween, however, confusion reigns.

A good day for communication occurs on the 12th: this time Mercury and Neptune are teaming up in a near ideal combination. The 21st is just an all-round good day, when the sun and Neptune trine each other. Mars is in your solar 9th house of gathering experiences throughout the month. You’ll probably like that, as yours is the sign of learning by experience.

Overall, your sign has little to complain about this month–let’s hope that holds true for you individually.

Trines urge you to find the easy way, to sit and think and then move gracefully. Earth trines would just as soon you do your sitting and thinking in a nice natural setting rather than while poring over the latest information from the stock market. They’re not into the kind of exhausting mental and physical activity that your sign sometimes favors. See if you can spend September not hurrying and see what flows to you.

The only thing to move fast on is taking a vacation. You have a tiny bit of vacation energy left via Mercury in Leo through the 8th. This energy would favor short but memorable trips, such as over Labor Day. There’s additional Leo energy during the second half of the month but vacation season has passed by then so it is more likely to indicate contact with people from afar or perhaps adventures of the mind and contact with new ideas.

The rest of the time you need to have your butt in the chair at the office to take advantage of loads of career and job energy all the way through the 24th. Jupiter is in your 6th house of employment for months to come, but the influence of planets in Virgo in your career sector will be more short-lived, as least this time around. Toward the end of the year Mars will move into Virgo for a very long stay, putting you in the catbird seat again when it comes to wealth and material matters. Pluto is also in your second house for income for a stay that will last more than a decade. In other words, over the next 9 months, you are going to have more work and money energy at your disposal than normal.

The second major influence of the month comes from planets in Libra, which in your solar chart represents your associations and your friends. From the 23rd on, conversations and get-togethers are highlighted. The new moon in Libra, which multiplies this energy, is on the 27th. The idea is to be surrounded by people toward the end of the month.

Mars meanwhile spends the first half of the month in your solar 8th house. The 8th house represents a variety of things including physical intimacy and support you receive from your partner. Mars is done clashing with outer planets by the time September begins, so you have brighter aspects in this area of your life as well. The second half of the month is a good period for your sign, as Mars in Leo harmonizes with Uranus retrograde in Aries, which harmonizes with your Sagittarius sun. In short, Sagittarius, it seems that you should thank your lucky stars in September.

That sort of stuff makes quite a difference in the long run and the opportunity doesn’t come around all that often. Jupiter’s nice and strong this month because he’s slowing before turning retrograde. Good time to make him and yourself happy.

Not as strong this month but still worth noting is that Jupiter is working in concert with Pluto in your solar second house this year to help you boost your income from employment. What makes that important is that Pluto in this house without softening aspects can be associated with unsatisfactory financial or business affairs. You want to take advantage of any time when Pluto in Capricorn, normally a miser, is feeling more generous than usual. If for no other reason than that, it’s worth paying attention to your workplace demeanor these days.

On the other hand, there’s a lot of energy in Leo in August and Leo is your summer vacation sign. Up until the 21st, the Leo planets will have no interest in work. If anything, they’ve got summer cabin fever (or winter cabin fever if you’re in the Southern Hemisphere). And maybe they’re right to feel that way.

Maybe the best bet is to get away early, refresh yourself and come back to work with a bright new attitude by the 21st. That’s because this third week of August marks the time when your annual career season starts. It’s not a super-strong influence, but you will have a favorable configuration known as a grand trine in earth signs as the month ends. What this means to you is that the various parts of your chart that deal with the material side of life will all be working in harmony to your benefit. The key to making use of this short bit of good luck is to remember that bit about your ruler Jupiter trying to make your job a nice place to work. For the moment, the more you emanate that niceness vibe, the better you’ll fare.

I should point out that Mercury will be retrograde in your travel house until the 26th of August. If you are traveling any distance exercise appropriate caution and mindfulness.

Overall, it’s a good month with one fly in the ointment, which is Mars in Cancer. Goal oriented Mars gets frustrated with Pluto, Uranus, and Saturn in August. He appears to want to achieve something in the area of joint finances or debts and everyone is getting on his nerves or getting in his way. This will pass. Try not to freak.

Mars in Gemini meanwhile just wants to be the boss of your life. He’s parked over at the other end of the zodiac all month, in the spot where other people make the rules. Not necessarily in a formal way; it’s more that the other people in your life are more likely to feel pushy, dominant, or controlling. The exact manifestation will depend on your own particular circumstances of course.

Your ruler Jupiter, the travel planet, the vacation planet, is spending the next 11 months or so in the sector of your chart that deals with work and health. One of the straightforward interpretations of this is that you may be traveling for work or health reasons this year rather than strictly for pleasure. The other implication of your ruler being in the sector of your chart that deals with job and health is that these things are intended to be more important in your life than normal.

If you do want to get away during the summer, perhaps you can see if the company will spring for an ‘educational’ trip to a company-sponsored seminar. Might be worth a try. If that doesn’t work, you could use the Leo travel energy of this month to communicate with people at a distance rather than laying down your own moola to trek out to see them.

Why not spend the money yourself instead of trying to wangle your employer into doing it? Well, Pluto is retrograding relatively peaceably through your 2nd house of finances, but that doesn’t mean he has forgotten you. He still wants to you to pinch the pennies and restructure your financial life.  He also doesn’t want you spending any money on useless junk.

Pluto wants you to develop a keener eye for what’s a useful expenditure and what isn’t, and he isn’t really taking time off for the summer. Nor will he take time off until you’ve thoroughly gotten the hang of his system. Even in retrograde, Pluto can have a lot of strength, and he wants you to have financial strength and willpower too.

There’s also a solar eclipse in Cancer this month, on the 1st. It’s the last eclipse in Cancer for quite awhile. This one’s a bit tougher to call. You may want to read the scope for your rising sign for additional clues on the possible effects of this eclipse. The thing about eclipses is that they do not always have an effect. If this one does have an effect, it could represent a new beginning in your sex life or in your joint finances.

The eclipse touchiness comes because in any eclipse in one’s sign can relate to how one comes across to people, and a lunar eclipse often signals some sort of an emotional loss or ending. This can be a good thing, the ending of a burden, but the eclipse often roils up the atmosphere and sometimes makes people feel hypersensitive. On the other hand, an eclipse in your sign almost always means that you are advancing in some way in your life, even if it doesn’t feel like it at the moment.

The Jupiter touchiness comes because it is leaving a sign very compatible with yours, Aries, and moving into the same sign as Mars, an irritable planet to begin with, where it has to deal with many people in your workplace. Then Mars moves into Gemini, where it has to deal with even more people! One way to neatly summarize the situation is to say that the planets in June are mostly arranged so that other people by and large hold the cards.  Another way of looking at it is that you are coming to a point of learning more about other people, not just in your own life, but in general. Of course, your rising sign makes a difference too, so you may want to check the horoscope for that sign as well.

There’s also a new moon eclipse in Gemini this month, on the 1st. This eclipse is likely to be friendlier. It’s the sort of eclipse that can bring a companion into your life, whether that be a romantic companion or a new best friend. You may find, with Venus in Taurus as well, that the person you are getting to know better may be someone you meet through your workplace. Whoever you meet is likely to be intriguing, exciting, or a puzzle that you want to study to understand his or her fascinating facets.

Note that eclipse effects are not confined to the actual day of the eclipse and may not even occur on the day of. Allow about 4 days of play on either side of the eclipse.

The stars are saying you must do something that requires courage, energy or endurance before Mars leaves Aries. Things like running a marathon fit the bill, although you’ll know better what feats you are capable of and interested in. The time to use this energy is right as the month opens or even starting a couple of days before as Mars approaches and joins your ruler Jupiter on the 1st. Jupiter will also help see that you have enough mojo to get what you want or need out of this last super-Aries month.

Next month, Jupiter will move into Taurus and turn his enthusiasm to work and health. Uranus will remain in Aries for several more years. The extra-Arian past few months have been something of a lure to get you trotting along the path of greater courage in your life for the long haul. Uranus will be your guide for the rest of the journey.

The other thing the Aries energy affects in your chart is your love life and your children. Mercury and Venus and Jupiter spend an unusual amount of time in early May bouncing around in close proximity. This makes the period between the 9th and 16th of the month good for making a move toward a certain someone you have your eye on. The 11th is an especially good day for trust, intimacy, excitement in a love relationship. This might also be a good day for some travel, as into the big city if you live in the suburbs or a rural area. It’s a day for stimulation.

During the second half of May, Mars and the inner planets lead the charge into Taurus. Here, Mars will tussle with your work and/or health situation.

The key to your health, for the moment, seems to be to continue the sort of vigorous exercise Mars hopes you have taken up for pleasure earlier this year. Upper body work would be good. In terms of your work, Mars wants to put up a fight, engage in a struggle, play rough or otherwise burn off excess energy. You’ll need to decide for yourself whether that is appropriate for your situation.

If you have kids or are dating someone, they’ll be on board the new experience bandwagon too. Make it your new moon resolution on the 3rd to personally try at least one thing you have never tried before in April. If you can travel, that would be fabulous. I’m not saying you won’t get lost if you go somewhere new; I’m suggesting that not only will you find your way back eventually but that your whole chart will be energized by the brush with the non-routine.

If you refuse to take a spring break and you have to stay close to home, well then try being adventurous in your love relationships. You can do that anyplace. If you don’t have a love relationship, take heart. Jupiter in your solar 5th house is dying to help you make new connections. If you don’t quite know where to look for your next paramour, try joining a group or an association or a club devoted to participating in fun things you like to do. Uranus likes to make new friends and do things in groups, and Uranus is planning to be good to you for the next 7 years.

The other heavy hitter of the month is Neptune, who is moving into Pisces on the 4th. Last time we saw him, he was in Aquarius planted in the sector of your daily experience. Now he’s moving into the part of your chart that deals with home. He’s literally moving in! You just got Uranus off your couch and now Neptune’s moving in! At least you are used to house guests by now.

What will Neptune being doing in your home other than taking up a lot of space (literally, people often get bigger, more spacious homes when Neptune is in this sector of their charts)? Probably, he’ll be bringing a touch of mysticism to your living quarters. This is part of Neptune’s plan to permeate your life. He softened you up by introducing you to mystical thinking when he was in Aquarius (admit it, you loved it), and now he’s subtly but persistently encouraging you to allow the mystical approach into your inner sanctum. Stay tuned for more details.

As the wintry vibe of Pisces gives way to the springtime vibe of Aries this month, the universe puts some great energy at your disposal. So what is springy Aries energy good for? Courage and adventure in the realm of recreation and play. Doing something seriously fun and seriously scary at the same time.

That’s been a bit of a trend for awhile for Sag, what with Jupiter moving into Aries in late January. But this month, as Uranus joins the gathering in Aries, it opens up the adventure to group activities. You can form your own play group (literally if you have children or metaphorically if you don’t want to call your adult club a play group) or you could join an existing one.

The sun doesn’t enter Aries until the 20th, but almost as soon as it does, it conjoins with Uranus in Aries on the 21st. Spring begins and it is your job to enjoy it to the hilt!

Through the first two days of February, you also have Venus in your sign, a development that started in January. Venus is all about getting and receiving possessions and stuff as well as love and affection. Others may be lavishing you with treats and emotional support, but if they aren’t, lavish yourself.

This is also Aquarius month. In your chart, the sign of Aquarius can relate to a number of things, including short-term study or learning projects. Your solar chart likes to dig into unique and fascinating topics, and this month it has a great excuse to do so. The best thing to learn would be some sort of sport or physical activity that gets you moving or that builds strength. Kettlebells maybe? Alpine skiing? Of course, make sure that you have proper instruction, whatever activity you undertake.

From the 22nd, we enter Pisces time for a couple of months. Pisces time heaps energy into your domestic sector. This time period is a little different in quality. Pisces is more of an inward sign and it doesn’t so much like to go out and do things as to stay inside and watch movies. That’s cool. Staying inside on a winter day and curling up with a nice stack of DVDs can be delicious.

The second influence is Venus in your sign from the 7th. This is the kind of influence that tends to make a person either feel loved or temporarily superior, depending on personal character and Venus’s mood at the time.

Overall, though, the first half of the month is Capricornian. The sun’s there, Mars is there, the new moon solar eclipse is there, Pluto’s there, and Mercury enters on the 13th. Capricorn in your chart is a symbol of your attitude toward material objects, finances, and the like. Theoretically, this confluence of energy that includes an eclipse will give you some sort of a fresh attitude toward these things. Sometimes that’s because you actually receive a surprising material object that you want, gain some money, or hear some financial news. Sometimes the new attitude is just more of an internal shift.

The second half of the month is more Aquarian. The lineup in this sign will include the sun, Mars, Neptune, and Chiron. This is team oriented energy and with Mars in the mix it’s like a ‘go team! Our team will win!’ celebratory kind of influence. Have some fun with it; play, compete.

Jupiter moving into Aries on the 22nd is fun, too. This is an outward kind of energy and the bulk of your chart is going to feel more outward than it has in the past. Uranus and Jupiter have been holed up at your 4th house, nesting in your home base for awhile. They’ll have a going away party at the beginning of the month and then Jupiter will move on. Uranus will move on in March. This will give you a chance to be more outgoing in 2011, cuz these two ain’t coming back to contemplate your navel anymore.

However, Neptune will move in to your home sector for April through July, and this is a very inward, navel-gazing influence. But at least there’ll be a balance. This is good news because outward and outgoing are good for your sign and overall will make it happier. (P.S. Look at your rising or Ascendant sign too for more information on how 2011 may play out for you.)