Astrology of 1/4-1/10: When Pluto in Capricorn is LIT AF

This week is a (Kali-esque) party because Pluto in Capricorn is joined by a conjunction from the Sun in Capricorn, exact on January 6. We have been feeling the build-up in forms of certain deeper themes emerging to the light of day in consciousness. More than usual, time is a dramatic and creative consideration in all endeavors – to consider if the energies of this transit and our lives have had their necessary transmutational interaction before the lid is taken off. The Sun’s M.O. is to shine light, while’s Pluto can often be to hide or make secret – so there is a tension around this that interesting to explore. Uranus is still in close orb of squaring Pluto, and the Sun in Capricorn squares Uranus a few days after linking up with Pluto. (Uranus too, is Promethean – there’s something to this transit around illumination of consciousness.). How we are resonating with new information coming to light this week can speak to these deeper, soulful and liberating storylines and as this information is revealed, it becomes ever more apparent how interconnected we all are.

Here’s the week:

January 4

Mercury retrograde re-enters Sagittarius: 6:17 AM PST

Just days before Mercury stations direct again, it leaves Capricorn and goes back into Sagittarius, which it last left December 2. It will slowly hover in the degrees of Sagittarius that it occupied December 1-2 of 2016, so there may be some re-visits of themes or communications unfolding at that time. It will station direct on January 8.

Other things to look out for:

• Mercury approaching station (direct or retrograde) always makes Mercury a loud planet in the sky: we receive playful messages from the Universe. In the sign of Sagittarius, we may start to encounter messages about the bigger picture. We connect the dots between streams of data and see the overarching meanings holding them all together.
• Synchronicity (winks from the Universe) in general! Mercury is considered a trickster maybe if even only because we jump to conclusions about what synchronicities in our lives mean and act on it. It’s super fun to follow the breadcrumb trail of magic that unfolds in Mercury’s realm, and it’s also helpful to be open to changing our minds. The symbols may not necessarily possess objective meaning in of themselves. They are signifiers pointing to essence, that which is signified.

January 5

First Quarter Moon in Aries: 11:47 AM PST

• This puts us halfway between our last New Moon and our upcoming Full Moon. The Moon in Aries will be sitting behind Uranus, Eris and Ceres in Aries and opposing Jupiter in Libra.
• New liberating impulses are met on the field of relationship: there is someone who responds to your vibration, your ask, your offer, etc. Especially when engaging hivemind/the internet! It is necessarily an insecure process to be first or to put oneself out there. The response from the environment can help calibrate the Moon in Aries intention.
• We are emboldening one another every time we’re daring, nurturing the courage of others.

January 6

Sun in Capricorn conjunct Pluto in Capricorn: 10:41 PM PST

This transit initiates a new cycle of how we can apply our (laser) focus to become something. The more intentional we are capable of being about what it is we are focusing upon, the more we may personally and joyfully resonate with the real results of that focus over time. With the Solar field, we can think to the things that bring us joy and make us feel alive or capable of passing the hours without noticing the time. Combining this energy with Capricorn, it can mean prioritizing inner-oriented visions of creativity rather than privileging an extrinsically located ideal of what we “should” be becoming. This Sun-Pluto in Capricorn conjunction speaks to both the inner-authority it takes to commit to such a venture; as well as the dragons of psyche that stand at the threshold guarding the red jewel (of Soul) in a cave. Additionally it is not just the appearances and forms at play of what this process of becoming or radiating one’s essence tangibly looks like: it’s the vibration underlaying it. We don’t have to know the specifics (though we already may). We only need to be a be able to recognize what feels illuminating and exciting and to follow that with increasing nuance and self-awareness as the path unfolds. This asks us to not judge ourselves but to honor ourselves in all facets of our individual realities, and to really dig into what our states of being are trying to tell us about our reality.

Other things to consider with this transit:

• Creative forces which are synchronous with authority.
• The Pluto in Capricorn shadow is relative to whatever we judge in ourselves or others – and the light shines here.
• With light shining into dark places, sometimes treasure is found, and sometimes scandal/secret/corruption relative to how that is judged. The world stage may have more headlines around secrets being revealed or even people in high social positions outting themselves, in some way. But it can also just manifest as people making career or persona transformations that are not obviously destructive; yet they are trading an old identity for a new one.
• There is always resistance to creative forces: think even just in nature to the reality that not all seeds become plants – factors have to line up just so to accommodate something existing and flourishing. When we are in a creative state, we encounter weather patterns of resistance – fear of what others will think and how we’ll be judged, fear of whether or not we’re good enough, and as is the reality with Pluto, internal resistance can be met in the mirror – actual resistance from others around you who share that matching vibration. Until we go inward and really undergo an internal alchemical process that allows us to be in alignment with our creativity, we may be locked into these feedback loops. Once we internally liberate, we often find we are also externally supported for it because our own vibrational state has shifted and it cannot help but to radiate something truly empowering. So we confront whatever internal dragons there are. Maybe we “do the thing” that scares us. It’s all timing – sometimes it is time to have an opening night of a show, and other times it’s time to write the play in secret because you’re feeling too sensitive about your art to incorporate external influences in your process. In general this transit can ask us to observe what our resistance is, and rather to believe it at face value – to gaze even deeper into it.
• Keeping in mind that the struggle is a real experience, authentically validating ourselves and others is a really kind thing to do.
• Authentically saying “no” when it’s a no is also kind.
• The Sun-Pluto in Capricorn has a heart-opening energy, but can involve confrontations with shadow or grief in that very process.
• A shadow side of this transit is an inner-saboteur emerging – like an impulse to knock over some house of cards and deem it all a charade. Genuinely reassessing and re-structuring is different. It can all depend on the underlying motive or self-regard involved.
• Capricorn is an archetype that we store increasing amounts of matter over time (calcification, the creation of bones and structure) and for this reason it’s important to resonate creatively with what is being built, to release energy, and to let things go as needed while building.
• Relative to the Fool’s initiatory journey starting in the sign of Aries, Capricorn is at the top of the wheel and faces the question of “Who am I to be up here, at the top?” What parts of ourselves do we still see as climbing to get somewhere? And where have we arrived, and actually amassed some kind of literal or metaphysical wealth that we now have the choice of how to share?
• The adage that with power comes responsibility. A yoga of this transit may be to discover clearly the nature and ethics of the power one has; to know it exists at all. Part of the responsibility is generosity (Sun) – to share, uplift others, and to emanate.
• Questioning the adage that “power corrupts”. Power may not be the problem. Unconditional, transpersonal love is powerful. Gandhi was powerful. MLK was powerful. Oprah is powerful. Lady Gaga is powerful. Certain radiant kinds of power exist in states of humility and benevolence that cannot be accessed in vibrational states that seek control or domination or what we consider abusive power. Considering the latter, whatever consciousness is trying to control or dominate, controls that consciousness back. What we do, give, or radiate to others, we also give to ourselves. Hurting others to help ourselves is never an empowering thing to do, yet we often communicate this semantically as “abuses of power”, as though it were power to start with. Though the intended message gets across, why do we still call it power? It’s shadow and control. What happens when we no longer view those mechanisms as powerful and can see them (Sun) for what they are?
• The problem with the fixation on how supposed “power” (that is really control or domination) has been abused repels people from accessing their own radiant, benevolent power. To access empowerment in Pluto in Capricorn, one goes through a gate of inner-authority to do so. It’s actually frightening to consider that our very being, our very essence, the very way that we radiate and carry ourselves into the world – can affect others or affect reality. We’ve seen it go wrong. Yet we do affect reality, and we’re all these special extraordinary channels. There is a power we so often love in our idols and in people who inspire us, and yet we forget that we possess these qualities inside of ourselves and that it might even be the responsible, ethical thing to do to honor the inherent nobility and deep generosity of the creative dimension of our being. There is a resistance here that is always alchemical to play with.
• Considering that higher forms of power are beneficial to all parties involved (versus putting some at an advantage while others are at a disadvantage) what would this practically look like in every area of life and self-expression?
• We might consider that sometimes the creations of our heart are not just for us, but they are to uplift and embolden others. Sometimes what is scariest to share is actually the most healing for ourselves and others. Sun-Pluto ups the ante when it comes to vulnerability and public opening of heart; or even just opening of the heart relative to where there was some boundary. It can call into question the realities of risk taking that ask for us to be judicious; as well invite us into the playful, expansive nature of risk taking where you know things aren’t going to be the same afterward, but it’s worth it.
• Boundaries can be compassionate and noble, so is being honest about what those boundaries are. Consider the romantic storylines of crossing boundaries as sexy and how that is starting to transform, becoming more and more considered poor form to say the least/actually traumatic.
• Capricorn is involutionary: the Sun-Pluto conjunction doesn’t necessarily mean shout your truth over city rooftops (unless it does). Capricorn very much respects and bides its time. This transit could easily be a totally introverted process of making or devouring art/inspiration because that’s what’s right for you at the moment. Even giving the process the time of day, is an act of creative authority.
• This transit can have a fossil fuel vibe – burning up of something old. The question may exist of figuring out how to re-focus it, or how to let it go entirely. Sometimes we have to re-train or re-condition ourselves to choose happiness over grief, when the virtue is letting the grief go. And sometimes the grief is the virtue, the release. It’s not privileging one over the other; but considering which emotional state is honoring your truth and necessity, which is going to empower you to get out of the mud, and to thrive. Which is the most expressive, having the freedom, self-permission, to feel.
• Confronting a very basic, very existential, right to exist.
• Coming up against, or exceeding, the boundaries of radiance: how lit af we are capable of feeling, in other words. This process occurs through conditioning over time (Capricorn); it is the results of intentionally doing something that pragmatically improves the quality of your life and committing to making those happiness/wellness-oriented choices. Bentinho Massaro, in his philosophy, speaks to it in terms of choosing excitement all of the time, until it’s “too much excitement” he jokes, and one has to take a break and rein it in, integrate. The Sun-Pluto in Capricorn vibe can feel like the heart breaking open, exceeding its prior limitations: at once opening but also confronting the ruins.
• The creative forces of construction and destruction, the ability to, depending on the necessity or what is more in harmony with nature: stand by what we have created or to let go of things that we have created. This internal compass is a feature of Capricorn that this Sun-Pluto transit highlights. Radiance is about shining as it also is about honoring the passage of time, and that which falls away.

January 8

Mercury stations direct: 1:43 AM PST

• Mercury won’t be out of shadow (returned to the place it originally went retrograde in Capricorn) until January 27 @ 10:32 AM PST, so you may expect to be still re-hashing themes that started at the retrograde December 19.
• Mercury stations in general bring messages. If your Facebook newsfeed is an effective oracle, cool, (it is for me) but considering that Mercury will be in Sagittarius, the message may be correlated with the natural world (I also think the internet is part of the natural world in the form of electricity, but whatev). You might notice your nerves are soothed by putting yourself in contact with the environment you would like to receive messages from and giving yourself space from more obnoxious/obtuse venues of info in your life. This station may be a good time to get feedback on what nourishes your nerves and what taxes them, so that expansive, positive adjustments can be made.
• Mercury in Sagittarius can make opinions and beliefs clear in terms of articulation and you may feel inspired in this way at this time. Articulation applies to any language beyond what we consider obvious language – so any kind of body language, dance, music, the way objects are arranged around an altar, etc. Watch for clarity/distinction as a force of expansion around this time.

January 10

Sun in Capricorn square Uranus in Aries: 8:21 AM PST

(Image: Erte)

A Sun-Pluto in Capricorn square Uranus esque punch to the Soul in the words of Marianne Williamson:

“Our deepest fear is not that we are inadequate. Our deepest fear is that we are powerful beyond measure. It is our light, not our darkness that most frightens us. We ask ourselves, Who am I to be brilliant, gorgeous, talented, fabulous? Actually, who are you not to be? You are a child of God. Your playing small does not serve the world. There is nothing enlightened about shrinking so that other people won’t feel insecure around you. We are all meant to shine, as children do. We were born to make manifest the glory of God that is within us. It’s not just in some of us; it’s in everyone. And as we let our own light shine, we unconsciously give other people permission to do the same. As we are liberated from our own fear, our presence automatically liberates others.”

With the Sun recently in alignment with Pluto, adding in the Uranian element can look like this:

• The persona which we radiate is transpersonal (we each are figments in each other’s imaginations, inspiring and animating) – your actual existence is a virtue.
• Certain personas resonate with us and others can be triggering. Likewise, others may feel these variety of reactions toward your persona. What does it pragmatically look like to respect ourselves and others simultaneously?
• Group identities are supportive matrices as well as inhibiting ones – we play with those constraints. There are ways to “play the game” and to be an innovator at the same time. There’s ways to make new games. Certain forms of freedom, certain paths, only open when “the rules” of a given matrix are adhered to. The “learn how to play the rules so you can break them” also applies.

Mars in Pisces sextile Pluto in Capricorn: 11:11 PM PST

“Love is the will to extend one’s self for the purpose of nurturing one’s own or another’s spiritual growth… Love is as love does. Love is an act of will — namely, both an intention and an action. Will also implies choice. We do not have to love. We choose to love.” – M. Scott Peck

• Mars is just as much a planet of love as Venus, but it speaks to how one acts or willfully extends in love. Combined with Pluto in Capricorn, there is some examination of what the deeper motives are in love. Mars in Pisces might deliberate between staying in the background (not affecting reality as an ideal of love), but sometimes its insights are deeply spiritual and have relevance – it takes courage to make some ethereal, or loving intent, known.
• By conscious choice, bringing something into existence which could just as easily slip into the night if no effort were applied. Necessarily this is kind of existential ¯\_(ツ)_/¯ and draws our attention to the line between apathy and inspiration.
• It might not hurt to ask, but only if the ask is unconditional is it an ask.

Thank you for meditating on the planets with me this week! In considering some of the things I wrote this week and conversations that spurred some of these thoughts, or things that inspired me on social media, and all in conjunction with these planetary flows, it becomes apparent to me how much of a collaboration everything in this reality seems to be, and that I am continually mystified and enlivened by these connections. Your emails and comments as well have been so touching and heart-warming, I’m grateful to get to connect with you. I have decided to be more accessible for astrology readings in 2017 by lowering my rates for reasons I detail on the reading page – my new rates and details about what astrology readings entail are listed here. If you are new here, these forecasts come out every week and you can sign up for my mailing list here. Also check out my Patreon campaign to support the writing of these forecasts – donors at the $5/month level or higher get an astrology reading for signing up! If you enjoyed, please share this article or write in your thoughts in the comments!

With love,

Sabrina Monarch

Sabrina Monarch is a soul-centered Evolutionary Astrologer who publishes weekly astrological forecasts. She has been collecting astrological experience for over a decade. She also enjoys yoga, hiking and creative writing. You can subscribe to receive her weekly forecasts by email here.

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