Much has been promised for this week, but will it deliver its brief? Sunday morning (20th) kicks off with an opposition between Venus and Mars. We all go back to the drawing board on the battle between the sexes. Are you polarized on one side or the other, or are you a balanced blend? The Sun also enters Aquarius on that day, so we are geared to the new but not quite sure what to expect. Monday (21st) brings the first of three main events this week, a trine between Jupiter and Saturn. Here’s a different opportunity for balance, this time between hope and caution. Don’t be tempted to dismiss this aspect, it’s important, and doesn’t come round very often. In the heady mix of this week with a need to juggle various forces, don’t underestimate the helping hand it is offering. Tuesday (22nd) delivers the next Full Moon, which steps up the sense of anticipation. The Moon itself is in the sign of Leo, with the Sun opposing it from Aquarius, calling for another balancing act: this time between the needs of the individual (Leo) and the team (Aquarius). Can Kevin Keegan, with his Aquarian ability for team-building, deliver his promise and brief? In the early hours of Wednesday (23rd) Mercury is conjunct Neptune, which can bring about mystical meetings of minds on the spiritual plane, but as much of it goes on silently there may be many different experiences and interpretations. Venus takes centre stage the following day (Thursday 24th) in the final dress rehearsal for Pluto’s entry into Capricorn. Venus conjoins Pluto (favouring in-depth psychology and awareness, especially as applied to intimate relationships) and then enters Capricorn, softening the way for the lead character. For in the early hours of Saturday (26th) the main event takes place of Pluto’s entry into Capricorn (see the blog I made earlier). Will we see it immediately for what it is? Of course it will have a cumulative effect over the next few years, but there may be an event which encapsulates the meaning in the moment. If so, take note. Just to recap the week so that you get everything in proportion: event No. 1 – Pluto enters Capricorn, the most important and far-reaching event. At No. 2 – it’s Jupiter trine Saturn, those planetary giants on their best behaviour. And at No. 3 – the Full Moon in Leo, theatrical but not to be over-dramatized. The essay question set for this module is: how do you balance the three polarities of this week – male and female, optimism and pessimism, and individuality and collectivity? Answers next week.

At 2.37 a.m. (UK time) on Saturday 26 January we will be entering the era of Pluto in Capricorn. This era will last 15 years, a little longer than the era of Pluto in Sagittarius which began in 1995, so it’s almost a generational thing. Pluto in Sagittarius saw extremism and excess in religion, society and in personal lives. The principles of Pluto in Capricorn are subterranean activity (both emotional and geographical: “Nothing is concealed that will not be revealed, nor secret that will not be known”) and also the breakdown (Pluto) of outworn structures and even traditional institutions (Capricorn) to make way for future rebuilding when Pluto enters Aquarius. Some of these effects are already in evidence, such as the possibility of economic recession. Looking at the previous time Pluto entered Capricorn we find the rise of the theory and spirit of revolutionary ideas in the 18th Century. These rumblings of the human desire for freedom occurred during Pluto in Capricorn and included the American Revolution, but by the time of the French Revolution Pluto had entered Aquarius, the sign of a new world order, assisted by the discovery of Uranus in 1781, planet of the new. Looking to the future, the next 15 years encompasses 2012, the end of the Mayan Calendar and the London Olympics. There are some powerful collective thoughtforms building in this connection. The Ascension movement has given rise to many channellings about how the earth may evolve at that time, hinting at new dimensions. Meanwhile, other sections of the population have mentally booked their seats for the Olympics. The Millennium was a similar exercise or focus which showed how powerfully influential mass thoughtforms can be (in inducing panic for example) when driven by fear. So be mindful of what you are putting into the collective consciousness for 2012. What I would like to throw into the ring is worldwide religious understanding, mutual tolerance and unity – that’s my pennyworth. Allied to past-life regression but going in the opposite direction is “future progression”, literature on the subject including books by Chet Snow, Bruce Goldberg, Brian Weiss and Anne Jirsch. They offer glimpses into our projected future(s), where their clients have seen us working towards rural communities and high-tech societies, with more contact with our space brothers. Timing is variable, sometimes nebulous and indeed changes according to different choices made and depending on what is accomplished in the meantime. The question we need to ask ourselves as Pluto enters Capricorn could be: what are we being asked to let go of that we don’t need and doesn’t serve ourselves or the planet? This in order to make way for a better future, it’s a detox for the planet.

What could be a more delightful prospect than re-visiting your inner child and your inner Buddhist at the same time? Cambridge Buddhist Centre are performing Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs on Friday January 25th and Saturday January 26th at their Theatre. It promises to be both hilarious and spiritual, and stars our own Flick (well known to the readers of this website) who will be exercising her Wicked Queen and maybe other Archetypes – who knows? Entry to the panto is free, but donations would be welcomed. So it’s tickets on the door at 7.30 p.m. both days.

Bit of a hair-raising week last week, and I’m glad to have my usual font back. Today’s a good day to extract all the possibilities from the healing vibes of Venus sextile Chiron which are still available to us. If you are a practitioner, then it’s time to heal thyself. Tomorrow (Monday 14th) Pluto sextiles the North Node, and pay attention to the karmic signs strewn upon your path, which may help you understand the meaning and import of the forthcoming event of Pluto’s entry into Capricorn next week. There are huge changes coming, both personally and on the wider scale, and the Pluto-North Node connection will help you start to understand what these are about. A little light relief from navel-gazing comes on Wednesday (16th) with the interlude of Venus sextile Neptune: sublime art, romance, idealistic love. Put on a Chopin nocturne and get into the old world charm of this aspect. You might re-live one of your old lifetimes in the Age of Chivalry and courtly love. In fact, you could treat this whole week as an interlude, because next week is an important week astrologically and you’ll be busy. Keeping this brief, because I’ll be doing double time next week!

Sunday lunch is the focus of today (UK time) with two very different aspects jostling for expression. Perhaps you are catering for meat-eaters and rawfoodists at one meal, but the first aspect, Sun sextile Uranus, could bring the unexpected, such as a surprise birthday party. It introduces new elements, new ways of eating and new ways of expressing creativity. The lunchtime conversation could bring new ideas about how to prolong your resolutions, how to look further than what is in front of you, and how to inject more life into your lives. Perhaps you are dining with new friends or old friends with a new outlook. The other aspect, Venus square Saturn, could also bring some sad reflections to the table, nostalgia for instance about the past or people who have passed on to other dimensions. It’s not an aspect to entrust a fledgeling romance to, so make an excuse that you are washing your hair until there’s a more favourable vibe to nurture a blossoming relationship. Mercury enters Aquarius on Tuesday (8th) and if there’s been any sluggishness about your communications lately, they should perk up. Make that call and let him or her know that your hair is now washed and you are ready to make a new date, or at least discuss making a new date. For you still need to take things slowly, there’s another tricky aspect to negotiate coming up, and you need to stay centred. Tuesday however offers another opportunity for a fresh start with the New Moon in Capricorn, and for those who have made New Year’s resolutions, you can renew your vows. For those who haven’t you can re-affirm your right not to. The New Moon in Capricorn is about assessing your overall direction in life from one year to another. Perhaps you remember what your position was this time last year, and can review past, present and future in this moment. If your memory isn’t playing along, just ask yourself if this is where you want to be in your life direction, and whether you need to take a step or two in a different direction. On Thursday (10th) Venus sextiles Chiron, good for any therapies undertaken now, and you could see some healing possibilities in that new relationship but you still need to stay centred. For the tricky Venus square Uranus aspect on Saturday (12th) could throw a spanner in the works, relationship-wise. You may find out that there is a distance between you that can’t at the moment be bridged, and need to be glad that you’re still you. You can still make yourself laugh, you can still dream, and there’s always an alternative.

It’s Capricorn’s year, but to clear confusion straight away, under the Chinese system we are on the cusp of the Fire Pig and Earth Rat years. Back to confusion: It should be a good year for you Capricorns out there! Yes, you read that right. Jupiter is moving through your sign, and it is time for you to move forward. Last year was the Year of the Centaur, and famous Sagittarians who made good were Christopher Biggins and Marco Pierre White. To be fair, it has not been such a good year for Centauress Britney Spears, although she did receive some good reviews for her album…Anyway, back to my thesis for Capricorn. Dividing the sign into the three decanates, those born between 22 December and 1 January will have their moment or moments in January (Jupiter started to transit your sector over Christmas and New Year). Actor Jude Law’s birthday is 29 December, and his high spot is coming up soon on 22 January. Those born between 2 January and 12 January will have something to smile about in February/March, and July to November. This will include politician Nick Clegg, who celebrates his birthday next week on 7 January, and whose favoured times to win over the voters would be 6 March, 16 July and 11 October. And those born in the third decanate between 13 and 20 January will be enjoying the fruits of their good karma April to June, and then December. Supermodel Kate Moss celebrates her birthday on 16 January, and may be able to turn things round on 18/19 December. If Capricorn is your Ascendant, and you know the degree, you can work it out. Those born around 22 December will have the extra challenges of Pluto transiting their Sun, and I would recommend reading “Healing Pluto Problems” by Donna Cunningham. For those who are interested in the upcoming Chinese Year of the Rat, I recommend “Animals and the Afterlife” by Kim Sheridan who channels these much misunderstood creatures.

A team of Psychologists at the University of Hertfordshire have come to the conclusion that it may be best, especially for women, to make your New Year’s resolutions early. Certainly today’s aspects would be conducive to making an early start on re-setting your moral compass. Mercury is sextile Uranus, favouring the quirky or unusual, so if you’ve got any whacky New Year’s resolutions it’s a good day to affirm them. The Sun is trine with Saturn today, which favours laying down long-term (e.g. annual) plans. Additionally, Venus enters Sagittarius, which supports the emotion of hope, without which a New Year’s resolution cannot survive more than a day. Tomorrow (31 December) Mars enters Gemini, in retrograde motion from the sign of Cancer. Some of you have been reporting to me difficulties with Mars being retrograde lately – it’s like a rampant toddler you have to keep an eye on, or a loose cannon you need to keep track of. The best way of dealing with it is to consciously develop your inner and outer vision and grow eyes in the back of your head, so it does have its uses in helping us to sharpen our senses and faculties. Another aspect prevalent as we end this year, is Venus squaring the Nodal Axis. This asks us to examine the karma of our relationships, and see if there is anything we can do to bring about more peace and harmony in our individual and outer worlds, so be still and then ripple outwards…Ready with your checklist as we enter 2008? 1. New Year’s resolutions done. 2. Watch that toddler. 3. Achieve Inner Peace…Here’s to 2008, and it’s a Happy New Year from me, but there’s no actual aspect on New Year’s Day itself. There’ll be time to sleep it off then, consolidate your New Year’s resolutions, keep working on your vision issues, and wonder how world peace can be achieved. Actually, the latter would be a very apt focus, because the first aspect of the New Year, which occurs on the evening of Wednesday 2nd January (UK time), is Mars opposite Pluto. This is an aspect which builds tension to the max, and the peacemakers need to be on hand to de-fuse or diffuse the tensions. Of course, they will have been prepared, having read this blog. There is then a period of digestion and assimilation for the rest of the week. Those Psychologists from the University of Hertfordshire also said that New Year’s resolutions work better if you proclaim them to the world, so I hereby declare that I will live on salad in 2008. The dilemma is what to do with the chocolate mountain I seem to have accumulated over the Christmas holidays….

It’s a quiet Christmas on the aspect front, you may be pleased to know if you found last week a bit much. The North Node is still caught in the crack between Pisces and Aquarius, so the karmic sea-change described last week is still going on, and some of you may have sensed it as a different perception of life, less paranoia and more serene detachment or acceptance. I should have been ringing a bell just before dawn this morning, as the Sun is conjunct Jupiter: Jupiter’s parting shot of grace and hope before it gets fully down to its business in Capricorn of balancing reality and faith. It will require us to back up our dreams with practical actions and not only to rely on the Universe or our Guardian Angels to do all the work. They will anyway, but they can get more done with our co-operation. It’s Christmas week, and I can unembarrassedly mention Guardian Angels. It’s so difficult sometimes, trying to please the agnostic and humanistic readers as well as the totally New Age or the religious among us. So apologies in advance if I have toppled over the line for you personally. Make the most of today, because as you may be able to feel in your waters, there’s a Full Moon first thing tomorrow, and there may be some tension in the air generally tomorrow. The Full Moon consists of the Moon in early Cancer opposing the Sun in early Capricorn, and at this time there may be a dilemma concerning the pull between home and work. For instance, you may be the only commuter in your train carriage to work, as many will be starting their festivities already and will have left their working year behind. Hard on the heels of the Full Moon we have two oppositions tomorrow (Monday 24 December, also known as Christmas Eve). Mars opposes the Moon, then the Sun, so first we have an emotional tussle (should have taken a sickie), and then we have a more physical tussle (confrontations such as road rage, rail rage, telephone rage etc.) A good time to re-tune yourself to the higher possibilities of the North Node in Aquarius: Peace on Earth and Good Will to All Men and Women. Mercury trines Saturn on Christmas Day, which at least is a harmonious aspect, though not as romantic or glowing as we could have for that day. Happy Christmas to you anyway, and hope you have the Christmas you wish for. Remember to tune into Maitreya’s Christmas message at 3 p.m. which catches his blessing in the form of the Part of Fortune on the cusp of the eighth house. The Mercury-Saturn trine suits the practical approach on Christmas Day, so if you’ve given a practical present it should be a winner. If however you’ve got a whimsical approach to present-buying, you’ll get the reaction “What do I need one of those for?” There will be plain speaking, but not the wounding variety which sits in the memory until the next Christmas. Dinners might be a bit unimaginative: Turkey, brussels, roasties and pud…unless you’re having a vegetarian alternative which throws the format wide open. I think you’ve got the gist of that aspect now, no need to labour it. In contrast, Boxing Day (also known as December 26) will see us letting our hair down and whooping it up after all that restraint. If you bottled out of that Amy Winehouse impersonation (no pun intended), go for it on Boxing Day! It could be a while until you see these particular family members again, and if they’ve had a sherry or two they might even sing along. The rest of the week is yours to do with as you wish, because the planets are having a seasonal break from work. But they, and I, will be back on Sunday 30 to blog the New Year in.

I must confess to being a little daunted this morning on looking at my ephemeris. I had thought I’d quickly blog, then write some Christmas cards and wrap some presents for the rest of the day. But it looks as though I am going to be here all day, with SO many aspects to write about this week (and those who know me know I don’t use capitals lightly). In fact, I have counted no less than 4 sign changes this week, which alone would make a normal-sized blog. So get yourself a cup of tea, before you settle down to read. Today’s aspect is a square between Venus and Chiron, which can give rise to a mini-healing crisis, such as losing something, realizing how much it meant to you, then finding it and being more overjoyed than you would have thought. The Sun is conjunct Mercury in Sagittarius tomorrow (Monday 17th). If you are returning to the Office after a break, bearing perhaps cream cakes, your powers of perception and concentration will be top notch, despite having forgotten to take your ginkgo biloba and ginseng during the weekend’s celebrations. During your moments of clarity, you may sense that a sea-change is going on karmically. This is because over 17/18th the True North Node moves from Pisces to Aquarius (a mini-dawning of the Age of Aquarius) and on 19/20th the Mean North Node does the same. They are actually the same characters, just different calculations, but karmically it means a change of mode from old ways or victim-consciousness to new deals and brother/sisterhood, and it may be easier to shift things karmically. Certainly the middle of the week is a good time to see what needs to be done in that respect. Going back to Tuesday (18th) we have a dynamic day on our hands, with Venus trine Uranus and then Jupiter entering Capricorn. If it’s the Office Christmas meal or party, people may surprise you or you them, in a naughty but nice way. You may just pluck up the courage to say to the waiter, as you have been longing to do for the last 5 years: “Has anyone ever told you that you look like the actor Art Malik?” And it will prove the right time to ask him, as he has mellowed over those 5 years to be receptive to such bold comments. If you are not going to a Christmas party, then such encounters can happen anywhere else. Jupiter’s entrance into Capricorn of course has much more gravitas. In fact, it could stop those cheeky Sagittarians in their tracks. They’ve been on such a roll, and now suddenly, the mood has changed and they are out of synch. What has happened? Their ruling planet just got more aware of responsibility, commitment, the fact that life is not a bowl of cherries for everyone all the time. Conversely, what’s happening to Capricorns is that they might suddenly be full of Christmas cheer, and lighten up, and taste the cherries. For the rest of the Zodiac it’ll be a combination of those depending on whether your chart is more Jupiterian or Saturnian ~ an interesting moment. Ploughing on, Wednesday (19th) sees Saturn go stationary, prior to retrograding. It is well into the first decanate of Virgo now, and those born in early Virgo who thought they had got things under their belts in recent weeks, may have to do some revision. If you are at College studying, say, homeopathy, and you thought you’d done enough to get by, you may need to look over some of the finer detail of the course again, which should be fine because detail is your middle name. If you take noon Wednesday as the mid-point of the week we are half-way there now, and in the afternoon Mercury is conjunct with Pluto. This is a serious aspect for looking at fine detail, plus the meaning behind the fine detail. Everything in the Universe has a purpose, even the finest of details. Moving swiftly on to Thursday (20th) and remembering that we are still in this karmic sea-change (time to refresh your cuppa) we encounter another planet/sign change in the form of Mercury now entering Capricorn. One planet by one is moving from the fun-loving, joy-bringing sign of Sagittarius to the more purposeful and applied sign of Capricorn. They are paving the way for the big entry of Pluto to Capricorn in January, so these minor events are heralds and mood adjustments for us. More practicality, application and focus, then. We may be preparing for the festivities and celebrations of Christmas, but also preparing our year ahead on a higher level. In the evening Mercury catches up with Jupiter, and travel will be on many of our minds, whether it is re-locating for the Christmas period to be with elderly relatives, or flying out for ski holidays or seeking out hotspots in the globe. Some of you may be toying with holiday websites, and may just click the “add to cart” button for some far-flung destination. If you prefer to travel mentally or spiritually, then it’s a great time for a group meditation, or any other mind-broadening activity. The Sun conjuncts Pluto at midnight or the early hours of Friday (21st) U.K. time, so all that mental or physical travelling gets you to a meaningful place, e.g. those mental Mount Everests or more appropriately deep-sea diving in the ocean beds of the subconscious. Only one more day to go (serial tea-drinkers fill up again): Saturday 22nd starts at daybreak with the entry of the Sun into Capricorn (Happy Winter Solstice to you). Try to rise early and take a trip to the bottom of the garden, and give thanks for the returning of the light. Mid-morning Venus squares Neptune, and something arouses compassion, perhaps the contemplation of the nativity story, a Big Issue seller with fingerless gloves, or an elderly neighbour who needs some Christmas provisions. And late afternoon/early evening we have our final aspect of the week (bear in mind I don’t choose them) which is Mercury opposite Mars – very appropriate to last minute rushing round frazzled in the newly-refurbished centre of Cambridge buying that last-minute present for Aunty Dorothy. They’ve opened a new kitchenware shop, and there are some handy new can openers for arthritic hands. This has been a bit of a marathon, but hope there’s something in it for you. I’m on my fourth cup of tea, and third pair of glasses.

If you are looking for retreats and workshops in an unusual setting nestled in far away hills, the East-West Sanctuary could be what you need. The scope and teachings are wide-ranging, mainly Buddhist-based, but drawing on spiritual, philosophical and healing traditions that can be traced back to India, ancient Greece and medieval Europe. It has been evolved with mindfulness every step of the way by its founder Sinhagupta, according to Buddhist tradition but equally attending to the needs of the modern world. The website link appears on the Contact page.