Astrology Forecast for Creatives | week of January 4th - freedom vs. control, mercury retrograde - part l

Whatever anyone does, anyone says, in the past, now, everything, let it bounce off the rock . . . . . of yr gladness (yr mirror) - Jack Kerouac, Book of Sketches

confrontation by pedro luis palenica

Are we ready for 2016? It's going to be a wild ride! I am waiting for the Capricorn New Moon on January 9th to start thinking about New Year's intentions and fresh starts. I know with all the personal planets changing signs last week, many of us will be feeling the change and the need for "new, new, new" but there is lots of astrological action this week - maybe the most all year, and it might be best to see/feel where it all lands first.
 
To back up a bit, Mars just moved into Scorpio where he will be spending a lot of time over the next eight months (yes, I said eight months!) due to his 2016 retrograde. Mars is the planet of fight, flight or freeze (usually not so much freeze, but we will see that this year with his lengthy retrograde).
 
In Scorpio, he is the ultimate survivor. We will be, too - of course this also presumes there will be things going on we will need to survive!
 
Mars is very much at home in Scorpio, the sign he once ruled (modern astrology recognizes Pluto as the ruler of Scorpio). Mars likes action and aggression and Scorpio is the space we carry our taboos, fears and compulsions. They fit together like a hand and glove. Scorpio isn't afraid to be uncomfortable and in fact knows that any time of action in the space where all the secrets lie is the time when things can finally begin to get interesting ....
 
Hubs met a guy last week who had traveled the world and was a "professional adventurer" - his words. He was now making his rounds in a Mandalay motor home that broke down near George's shop. He is, I'm sure, terribly clever, brave and committed to what he is doing; he is also ... not very interesting. I'm not sure why. 

But I suspect because his adventures are all on the outside, he is not so interested in anyone else's adventures that are mostly happening on the inside. He was oblivious to any clues from the person he is talking to about where the conversation should naturally go next. He already knew it all. Hubs said it was like talking to a page in a book. He seemed to have forgotten what other people are for. 
 
If we have come to a space like this man where all our adventures are on the outside - the next few months of Scorpio will likely be very challenging, very uncomfortable. Scorpio is the space in our chart where we squirm, we sweat, maybe we turn away and we will have the planet of fight, flight or freeze spending much of 2016 here. We will put on our big girl pants for this transit ....
 
(more on Mars retrograde later but check your Sagittarius and Scorpio natal houses for clues - in the United States we could see citizen unrest, clash of ideologies, secrets and hidden enemies, freedom vs control - with the election in full swing it's going to be interesting)

Last week all the personal planets changed signs - Mars into Scorpio where he is very happy, Venus into Sagittarius where she is much happier than she was in Scorpio and Mercury into Aquarius where he/she is happier than in Capricorn. All this positive (for the planets) change right out of the gates will enable our feelings, wants, needs and actions to change, too..

First up - Mercury squares Mars. Mars (action, control, anger) in Scorpio squares Mercury (communication) in Aquarius (freedom, liberty, group consciousness). Our buttons will be pushed. There will be tension between what we do and what we think or what others do or think. This is not a pretty aspect and it won't be valuable for me to sugarcoat it. It makes this first week of 2016 challenging.

Second - Mercury goes retrograde at 1 degree Aquarius - he will quickly back into Capricorn (a practical earth sign) so we will all be doing the "re's" in physical, practical ways. Know that projects, jobs, etc, started this month will have to be "re-done" in some way later when Mercury moves direct. Mercury in Capricorn seeks to find the correct way to express the reasonable. Retrograde, we will have the ability to rethink conventional points of view. The slow downs and second looks we take now are necessary. Our New Year "change" energy will be challenged right out of the gate.
 
If we obsess over everything that can go wrong during a Mercury Retrograde we will miss our chance to experience what can go right.

This is the time when we get sightings of what's arriving. Mercury says .... "hold up there a minute, don't rush forward too quickly. This may take a little time girl."

Mercury is retrograding in an earth sign - and because earth signs are practical and grounded and well, earthy, these are the kinds of skills and thinking we should be applying to problems that might crop up now.

Mercury retrogrades are the the best time of year to do all the re's - reconnect, redo, rethink, repeat, dare I say relax (it's winter, remember) - in business it is a great time to reconnect with old customers (as opposed to looking for new ones), go back over old projects, revise and redesign things, repair things or buy recycled (rather than buy new, no new mechanical items now) - yes, I have a dog in that fight (literally, Olive is one tough cookie), but it's still true. This is probably the most challenging Mercury retrograde of 2016 - take it seriously.

I will finish this up tonight, too much happening to write this morning we have - Mercury Retrograde while squaring Mars, a Sun/Pluto conjunction, Venus and the Moon squaring Neptune, Jupiter Retrograde, the Sun and Moon squaring Uranus, Mercury Retrograde changing signs, the Venus/Saturn conjunction, and a New Moon in Capricorn. Whoa baby, don't expect to sleep in!

For Monday, we have a moody (and deep) Scorpio Moon playing nice with the Sun and Pluto - good for dealing with authority and people in power, good for stepping into our power, just triple check everything. xo all - back tonight!