This week includes Mercury entering the zodiac’s twilight zone, Pisces, Venus emerging from the fog of Pisces and stepping into confident, assertive Aries and a full Leo moon. Pisces is ruled by Neptune, the borderless planet of infiltration, fantasy and illusion. Neptune is presently at home in Pisces. From its watery netherworlds, it is invisibly and indelibly disbursing and extending those artistic, mystical and meditative Pisces waves. For fast-moving, mental Mercury, any time spent in Pisces is like being a slow-motion, bad dream in which everyone is trying to convince you that VR is the real world. Mercury insists on the facts. Normally it speeds through a sign in about three weeks. Like last year however, this year Mercury will be in Pisces for the better part of two months. Pisces is astrology’s mutable water sign, and most of Mercury’s oncoming retrograde will be in Pisces. While Pisces fluidity can work well with Mercury’s adaptability, its vagueness can consternate analytical, technical Mercury. Successfully navigating the confusing and changing circumstances of the next two months will greatly depend on our ability to strike the right balance of their attributes.

Helping to clear our heads and to take decisive action will be Venus’s transit of Aries. Brash, bold Aries takes charge. This sign doesn’t sit around waiting for anyone or anything, and Venus will be in the cardinal fire sign until March 4th. Aries is not a comfortable place for the polite planet of beauty, pleasure and decorum. But Venus in Aries is an excellent aspect for asserting one’s needs, especially for those prone to indecision or over-giving. Adding to the willpower on tap, this week ends with a full moon in the fellow fire sign of Leo. Aries and Leo are both recognized for their natural and exceptional talents as leaders. In its highest expression, Pisces infuses us with compassion, spiritual principles and a holistic perspective. A good leader takes the opinions, concerns and aspirations of others into consideration, determines what needs to be done and acts. Aries and Leo possess remarkable courage, and above all, they are passionate go-getters. Could it be that we are now being called to be the leaders we want to see in our lives?

When the week begins with a Venus Neptune conjunction in Pisces, under an intoxicating Pisces moon, and ends with Mercury venturing into the shadow zone of its next retrograde, one that will largely take place in Pisces, the cosmos is signaling that the world is about to go, well, cattywampus. And so it is as the first month of 2020 draws to a close. Neptune, the unstable planet of art, addiction and mysticism, indulges Venusian fantasies on Monday when the two meet in Pisces. If the dreamy notions they conjure up seem too good to be true, they probably are. On Tuesday Mars forms a challenging square to Neptune. Unfortunately, the bold and boisterous planet finds itself in Sagittarius, another sign prone to exaggeration. So the start of the week is the astrological equivalent of trying to make sense of an argument between a drunk and crackhead. Thankfully, on Wednesday, the moon heads into Aries, the no nonsense sign voted Least Likely To Tiptoe Through The Tulips. This should give us a dose of clarity while we also benefit from the foresight of Mercury transiting the late degrees of intellectual, detached Aquarius. We’ll find ourselves on even more solid ground late Friday when the Moon goes into earthy Taurus, where it will spend the weekend. That Moon will square the Aquarius Sun on Saturday, ahead of an overnight Venus sextile to Pluto, in pragmatic Capricorn. While these aspects are neither easy nor breezy, they offer needed sobriety and practicality. On Sunday Mercury enters the shadow zone of its oncoming retrograde. Whatever is left up in the air at this point is likely to only become more confusing in the ensuring weeks and to linger through the end of March. Ahead of the retrograde, now is the time to get our bearings and to strategically set a course, just not right off the bat this week.

Feb 2nd Mercury enters Rx zone
Feb 16th Mercury goes Rx
March 9th Mercury stations direct
March 29th Mercury exits Rx zone

The Sun is heading into lofty Aquarius on Monday, and on Friday we have a new Aquarius moon. Aquarius is astrology’s outlier. Detached and cerebral, Aquarius sees the shape of things to come. It adores science and technology and has a great capacity for revolutionary thinking. Mental Mercury is also visiting the fixed air sign, creating the potential for light bulb moments to strike lightening fast. On Saturday, even more firepower comes online when Mars forms a cooperative sextile to Mercury from optimistic Sagittarius. But the red planet will find itself squabbling with Venus on Sunday when the two form a square. Fortunately, both are in flexible mutable signs, so giving peace a chance just might make it so. In addition to the Sun sign change and new moon, the week’s other beneficial offering is a sextile between money-makers Venus and Jupiter on Thursday, under an enterprising Capricorn moon. All and all, this is a great week for furthering our efforts in the arenas that are already paying off and for looking into future potentials and improvements.

Inventive, independent Aquarius is often credited with a visionary knack for tapping into the future and setting standards and trends. As an air sign, it emphasizes the intellect and the ability to detach, both from the irrationality of emotions and from group think. Those skills will come in handy for all of us as the Sun and Mercury journey through astrology’s eleventh sign early in 2020, because late in the year, Saturn and Jupiter will enter Aquarius for much longer transits. Jupiter will be in Aquarius from December 19, 2020 until December of 2021. Saturn will explore Aquarius from March 21st through July 1st this year, and then settle in for the long haul from December 17, 2020 until March of 2023. So, true to form and for the next month, astrology’s individualistic, offbeat outlier is taking us into the future, and it would be a good idea to take note. Supporting the big picture thinking, the Aquarius Sun cycle starts with Venus in intuitive Pisces and ends with Mercury’s first retrograde of the year, also in Pisces.

Also appreciated for its capacity to give perspective, the mutable water sign of Pisces informs us through the languages of spirituality, subjectivity and art. The genius of Aquarius draws its conclusions quite differently than Pisces. But the co-mingling of planets in both of these signs during this time can produce uncanny and astonishing foresight. Venus will be in Pisces until February 7th, and Mercury will leave Aquarius for Pisces on February 3rd. Mercury is the planet that influences our thinking and communication, and it will spend an unusually long two months in Pisces, with the exception of a revisit to Aquarius from March 4th through 16th during its retrograde. That retrograde officially runs from February 16th through March 9th, but its shadow period extends from February 2nd through March 29th. The key to having a productive Mercury retrograde, especially one in spacey Pisces, lies in our ability to set clear, coherent intentions at the outset and to maintain laser focus on them for the duration.

Fortunately, astrology’s packing a sizable “get real” punch these days. Jupiter, Saturn, Pluto and the South Node are in Capricorn, and on February 16th Mars joins them. Capricorn is the cardinal earth sign, so it is particularly adept at both keeping us off the couch and at seeing that tangible results come from earnest efforts. The planets have been concentrated in the Saturn-ruled sign for months, and Saturn’s recent conjunction with Pluto imprinted 2020 with Capricorn’s seriousness. Mars is the planet of action, and its presence will further the industrious drive of Cap. It stirs our passions and its “get ‘er done” ethos is well matched to the inherent initiative taking of enterprising Capricorn. Mars will be in Cap until March 30th, kicking us in the pants throughout Mercury’s retrograde and shadow exit period. In combination, the Sun and Mercury in Aquarius instill vision, Venus and Mercury in Pisces expand our creativity and add a holistic view and Mars in Cap will add the needed push to get real stuff done. The final ingredient to this cosmic cocktail is earth-shaking Uranus.

As well as staying focused on our goals, we’ll also need to be alert to hunches, reports and opportunities we receive about shifts in the collective that will have personal implications for the years ahead. Obviously the relevance of news is unique to each of our circumstances. But “a-ha” moments will abound, and they need to be noticed. Besides the Sun and Mercury visiting Aquarius, its ruler Uranus is early into its seven-year-transit of Taurus, astrology’s fixed earth sign. Uranus is astrology’s favorite disrupter. It is a global force that brings shocks, sudden change, revolution, breakthroughs and often a lot of chaos in the process. Whether its crypto-currency in finance, vegetable-based protein in food, workers’ rights in the gig economy or renewable and alternative forms of energy, Aquarius and Uranus point to innovation. It’s important that we pay attention to oncoming changes and that we adapt accordingly, the earlier the better. In short, the dance beginning now essentially guides us through the remainder of the winter before depositing us into early spring and start of Q2 2020. Q2, featuring the onset of multiple retrogrades, including those of Venus and Jupiter, will have a very different timbre than Q1. Now is the time to bring the year’s goals and aspirations into focus.