The Sun is the Invincible Spirit. So great is this universal wonder that it must come in small doses, distributed as it travels around the Zodiac over the course of a year.  The Sun's position symbolizes the active presence of the Divine.  The Sun entered the sign of Capricorn on the Winter Solstice,  December 21.   Now, the 3 day "standstill" there (21st-23rd), and a 10 day movement back through 23 degrees South is over. As the Sun  continues to moves back to  0  South, we can sense the light and temperature changes, moving towards the shift  from  South declination to North at the Spring Equinox. The Sun will enter the sign of Aquarius on January 20, 2019.

The Moon is the Receiver.  As the Sun energizes her, she receives and moves through her angular relationship with him over the course of the month.  She delights in shape-shifting.  She delights in the repetitive ebb and flow from night to day,  from New to Full in predictable sequence.  She delights in being able to portray the Sun's invincible spirit through her silver light.  We see this dance every month, beginning at the New Moon, timed for the Moon's alignment with the Sun.  January is packed with lunar happenings.  The New Moon occurs on Saturday January 5, 2019 at 8:28 PM EST, two days after the perihelion tides.  It is the first of the 2019 eclipses, a Partial Solar at 15 Capricorn 25.   The next eclipse  occurs at the Full Moon, with a Lunar Eclipse/Supermoon (Moon at Perigee) on January 21, at 0 Leo 52.  Event planning should take the weather into account. 

 Mercury has 3-4 Retrograde (Rx) cycles every year, each lasting approximately 3 weeks, and each offering a period of reflection, recalibration, revision, and resolution, as Mercury and the Sun exchange the message of a particular degree of the Zodiac.  Mercury is Direct and moving through the late degrees of Sagittarius, through Capricorn, and into Aquarius through the month of January. 

The Venus cycle is complex and mysterious, beginning while Retrograde as an Evening Star, moving through conjunctions with the Sun, and shifting from Evening Star to Morning Star, and back. It allows Venus to recalibrate her relationship to the Sun.  When an Evening Star--calm, mature, settled, and knowing her brilliance, as Venus is best seen outside the clutch of the Sun--she begins her new cycle.  Venus turned Retrograde October 5, 2018 at 10 Scorpio 50.  Here Venus is at her detriment, not particularly social, but diving deep to weigh out the work of Jupiter's journey over the last year.   Having had her Interior Conjunction with the Sun on October 26, and her aggressive  Heliacal Rising shift from Evening to Morning Star on October 31, she has changed direction on November 16, is now calm and confidently rushing forward into love and life for 9 months.  This period of her cycle epitomizes the feminine as the container of gestation.  She will move through Scorpio and Sagittarius in the month of January. 

Mars has moved into Aries. This is a great position for Mars, assured, assertive, and moving forward without restraint.  In a trine relationship with Jupiter, this is a great time for action that is expansive. Square to Pluto at the end of the month, there may be some battles that feel like aggressive steam-rolling. 

Jupiter moved into his own sign, Sagittarius, on November 8, and will remain there until December.   All sights are on the quest for truth and freedom. Blasting forward until April 11, Jupiter turns retrograde just before reaching the  Galactic Center position. 

Saturn is at home now, in the earthy, grounded  sign of Capricorn.   Saturn reveals that  practicalities are necessary,  and structures must  be built methodically through  time and karma. Saturn is the reality check,  and rewards authentic effort.   Look to the house he is traveling through for insight into where the structures will be needed. With Jupiter and Saturn at home, look for some new trends or memes in the  travel or construction industries. Saturn also turns retrograde in April, near Pluto's nodes.