Ruthlessness, Relentlessness, and a Willingness to Play Hardball When Necessary: Some Light-hearted Themes for January 2018

Venus and the Sun come together in exterior conjunction at 18 degrees Capricorn on January 8, and these bodies are also conjunct transformative powerhouse Pluto (exact Jan. 9).

We're shedding some old layers and priorities now, streamlining operations, powering through, and securing new position within social and professional frameworks that will provide the best long-term return on our investments of talent, work ethic, experience, and energy.

This is a powerful time to "set yourself up" in some way - professionally, socially, financially, or maybe all three. There's some alchemical shifting underway in the structural set-ups, some possible movement, some room for advancement. 

Certain scenarios have come to their natural conclusions (hopefully without any ugly scenes), signified by the Sun and Venus conjunct the dwarf planet related to death and endings (Pluto). The natural turning over of the soil here provides openings and opportunities - but ones that must be taken on with serious consideration for our energy reserves and available resources.

The Sun-Venus-Pluto conjunction at 18/19 Capricorn is sextile Mars-Jupiter in energy-conscious Scorpio (exact January 9), and each step of the way, we have to be asking ourselves: Is this worth the investment of time, energy, skills, work, talent, and emotional/psychological space? Am I receiving a reciprocal amount of benefit if I take on new position or new responsibilities?

If not, some intricate restructuring is required. 

Capricorn is a sign of personal ambitions, but we can't let our ambitions and desire for status foolishly out-strip our energy reserves or resources. We have to be very cautious on that front. Things are quite stretched.

With Pluto a little over halfway through its transit of Capricorn, exposing the yuck in the structural frameworks and institutions of Planet Earth, there are plenty of bad deals and shoddy situations to avoid at this time. Circumstances require shrewdness. Actually, let's take that up a notch - circumstances require ruthlessness, relentlessness, and a willingness to play hardball if necessary as we take full control of ourselves and our affairs.

We may be working with some "No More Mr. Nice Guy" situations.

 

If there is an area of life or self that needs to come more fully under your control, take the reins under these astrological energies and work on it. 

If there is an area of life that is sapping you of energy or strength, focus on making immediate changes, extricating yourself from problematic dynamics, obligations, or relational dynamics. There is powerful Plutonic support for this now.

There is also the need to be shrewd about collective circumstances. The authoritarian and hierarchical power structures, as dominant paradigm on Planet Earth, are built on unequal and ultimately detrimental dynamics of energy exchange.

Those on the "lower rungs" of the hierarchy are rarely compensated for their full energetic expenditures (and pretty well all common folk are considered to be on the lower rungs), leaving them at a chronic deficit. Their extra energy is used to reinforce others higher up the pyramid scheme in more luxurious, comfortable, and financially-lucrative positions.

People in the middle or upper-middle classes are often somewhat insulated from the worst of these unequal energy exchanges (unless they are of a nature that will not allow these types of monied blinders), but the poor and working classes do not have the luxury of that insulation. The brutal, Pluto-laid-bare reality is a constant. 

Working with this underlying energetic reality (most often hidden or denied), with its energy-draining dynamics built right into the system, can be quite a complex and challenging process.

We are also working with the energetic demands we make of other people, particularly when coming from a "higher rung" position. We're working with our own personal spheres of influence and power to create more equitable circumstances and energy exchanges.

We have to look at our time and also our psychological space as being valuable. Taking on new responsibilities means more on our minds, more to think about, more to follow us home at night. This all has to be taken into consideration as communication and intelligence planet Mercury moves to its third exact conjunction to Saturn at 2 degrees Capricorn on January 12. 

With all this Capricorn energy, professional progress is indicated. But positions that look like upgrades on paper may turn out not to be. 

An example of this would be: going from being a server at a restaurant to managing the restaurant. There is some increased societal prestige in taking on the title and role of Manager over lowly server. (I've been a lowly server many times in my life, so that is said tongue-in-cheek.) But managers often don't make anywhere near the tips that servers do. So in the end, being the Manager could mean a whole heaping helping of new responsibility (with a moderate increase in salary or wage) for less overall lucre than the lowly server position.

The best case scenario is that we employ the Scorpio-Capricorn sextile energy to suss out raw deals disguised as promotions ahead of time (in every aspect of life) before we've committed ourselves to a position that will be untenable over the long term.

There is a theme of tough negotiating, of holding out for what's right, leveraging whatever power we hold to create Aquarian win-win scenarios, rather than simply taking our places within dysfunctional structures and dynamics. 

Mercury leaves a fairly stressful holiday retrograde period behind (as well as the sign of its detriment) when it enters Capricorn on January 10 (9:09 p.m. PST). Mercury joins the Sun, Venus, Saturn, and Pluto in the sign, forming a five-body stellium in Capricorn which then becomes a six-body stellium when the Moon enters Capricorn January 14 - 17.

We experience a powerful 26-degree Capricorn New Moon on January 16 within that six-planet stellium.

The New Moon follows potentially-turbulent square aspects between Venus in Capricorn and Uranus in Aries (January 13) and the Sun in Capricorn and Uranus in Aries (January 14), indicating the potential for some new-era structural changes, required for energetic survival, which then cause some degree of friction or upheaval in "the way things are done." 

In the 28-day lunar month that follows the Capricorn New Moon, we're propelled into: new protocols, new rules, new position, new authority, new priorities, new long-term goals, new business practises, and a new sense of control over ourselves and our affairs. The house where 26 Capricorn falls in your natal (and Secondary Progressed) charts indicates the areas where these new openings and themes will be most prevalent.

Intuitively suss out the next moves to make, and then make them...like a boss! Would Capricorn have it any other way? 

These are natural openings we're seeking, natural "next steps," not situations that are forced out of frustration or a desire to relieve ourselves of responsibility. We need the universe's magic behind us now. Our personal ambitions have to be aligned with the will of the universe as far as the structural changes that need to come about. 

With Mercury coming together in its last conjunction with Saturn in Capricorn (within orb until January 20), ideas may be coming together in some nicely concrete ways. We may see a direct path to take as we work to achieve new goals. We may receive some type of professional recognition or recognition for our ideas. 

At the same time, there could be some self-doubt rearing its ugly head, and we may wonder if we are ultimately up to the task. (Considering the general circumstances on this planet, could you blame us?)

Be confident that your body of work and your experience will carry you to the next echelon. So long as you're willing to work your way up the mountain in a mature and level-headed fashion, you got this.

The Capricorn stellium starts to break up when Venus and then the Sun enter Aquarius on January 17 and 19 respectively.