As the year ends, I urge you to think back and pick out the very best day of the year, which made you smile, and the hardest day of the year too. If you have my annual calendars, you can see what aspects were at play on the days you choose, or the aspects very close to that day. Make a note of the aspects you find – they might be helpful to you over time…

The full moon on January 1 will see you finishing up a big work assignment. You likely worked hard on it in December, and now it’s ready to sign, seal, and ship. It is done. Whew, just in time to enjoy a glass of champagne to welcome the New Year. You seem to be in the mood for a small and private celebration rather than brave traffic and crowds. Many parts of the world are cold on January 1, so staying in has its distinct advantages, but even if you live in a warm climate, small and private seems to be your preference this year.

If you did not feel well at the end of December because you caught a cold or flu, you are likely to see that you are getting much better as the full moon appears. Fevers break, sore throats clear up, and life seems bright again.

Moving on to another amazingly positive event, January 6, Jupiter, giver of gifts and luck, will be conjunct Mars, the energy planet, in a very rare configuration, beaming a floodlight of benefic rays on your career on Saturday, January 6, and you will also feel this aspect on the day prior, on Friday January 5, as the energy builds.

To see how rare this aspect is, although Jupiter meets with Mars every two years, they always meet in a different sign and in a new place in your chart. The last time they met in Scorpio and your prestigious career house, as they are this month on January 5 and January 6, they last met on August 8, 1982. The next time Jupiter and Mars will meet again will be on November 24, 2053. That is not a typo!

Mars and Jupiter will light your house of fame and honors this month on January 5 and January 6, so you will want to take full advantage. This can be a day of enormous professional gratification, so go ahead, have that interview, send a query letter, make a presentation, or launch a new product or advertising campaign. You may now find you are about to add a new client or be given a new assignment that excites you very much.

The following Monday, January 8, the Sun and Jupiter will be perfectly positioned, indicating you can get access to a VIP and have a very successful meeting. Influential people will want to help you, so don’t be shy – speak up.

On Tuesday, January 9, another sweet aspect will pop up, with Venus in ideal angle to Jupiter and Mars. Again, the progress you will see concerns your professional standing, and again, the meeting has to be confidential. Don’t breathe a word of what you are doing this month, for the last thing you need is competition for the job or client you’d like to have for yourself. You seem to have a tiger by its tail – something big is cooking in your life.

The new moon in Capricorn comes next, January 16, with a gaggle of planets crowding into your twelfth house of privacy and rest. If you have a project that needs strong concentration, away from people who would distract you, here is your chance to hibernate. If you need to finish writing a book, a white paper report, or a thesis; create an artistic body of work; code a website; or do research in a scientific lab (as a few examples), these planets will help you be very productive. If you work in banking, archeology, historical research, ancestry, antiques, or estate jewelry, Capricorn rules these areas so you would likely see an exceptional progress.

This same buildup of planets in Capricorn would be superb for seeing a therapist to discuss a problem that has been troubling you. The twelfth house rules the subconscious mind, and is considered the very best time to begin treatment. This area of the chart rules medical personnel and areas of confinement too, such as hospitals, rehab centers, physical therapy facilities, and other places of healing. You might have more than usual interaction with medical personnel this month, for yourself or on behalf of a relative or friend.

Jupiter and Mars will still be close enough to signal Mercury, Sun, new moon, and Pluto in a very benefic way. That is a lot of star power, and a friend may be instrumental in some of your success here. Yet at the same time, Uranus, the planet of unexpected developments, will send an angry glance at all the Capricorn planets in your twelfth house.

    The beginning of the month is a wonderful time for your career. When it comes to finding a new job or ways to advance your reputation, you may hear exciting news on January 5 or January 6, stellar days in anyone’s book.

Uranus will be directing his anger from your third house of communication and travel, so it would not a time to take a trip for any reason. Uranus is your ruling planet, and things are not likely go as planned. If you must drive, have a mechanic go over your car to be sure it is in good working order and set up for all upcoming weather conditions. If you are sending in a report, manuscript, or any paperwork, make sure everything contained in your work is accurate and has been double-checked. Uranus can bring challenges you never expected, and it’s usually never one any of us thinks about ahead of time, so be flexible and go with the flow when something comes up.

From January 26 to March 17, Mars will move into your eleventh house, an area that rules your friendships, new people, and events you might attend, along with your hopes and dreams. Fun and friends will play a much bigger part of your life. Let me make one point first, before I leave the topic of your career. On January 26, Mars will be leaving your career house.

You need to present all your professional ideas in advance of this date. Your biggest career progress will happen before January 26. Schedule your most important meetings between January 5 and 9, if possible.

After January 26, and stretching into mid-March, your friends will play a much larger role in your life. This is the universe’s way to give you balance and fun after concentrating hard on career matters. The eleventh house is the area of the chart that is naturally associated with Aquarius, so you should feel happy as can be, and ready to relax by being surrounded by friends you care about, and who care about you too. You may be able to reach a long-held dream too – don’t give up on it, for it may be closer than you assume.

The month ends with a big bang – the full moon lunar eclipse in Leo, putting a spotlight on your closest relationship. This is a full moon times three – eclipses are very powerful – so you may be ready to get engaged or married soon, or to sign papers with an important business partner or collaborator. Alternatively, that person might be an agent, publicist, consultant, advertising agency, app developer, or other expert who can help you get ahead. The idea of this eclipse is to help you join forces with another person.

The problem with this full moon is that Uranus, your ruler, will be in direct conflict with Mercury, the planet of contracts. Do not sign any papers at this time – wait until better days come up in February. There will be another eclipse next month on February 15 in Aquarius, which may bring more information to light.

If you can recall what happened on a similar lunar eclipse that occurred on January 31, 1999, you may get an inkling of a theme that will come up again. Eclipses repeat every 19 years to precise degree and sign, and although the other planets surrounding that eclipse will have since changed position, you still may get an idea of the event that might come up.

Also look back to the eclipses that occurred last year in Aquarius and Leo, on February 10, August 7 and, August 21. Eclipses occur in a series, and this family of eclipses will stretch until January 2019, coming every six months, usually in pairs. If an important discussion, opportunity, or contractual matter came up last year near one of these dates, you will see the discussion advance to a new level now.

Eclipses often bring decisions and move up timetables dramatically. If you planned to marry in two years, for example, an eclipse can come up and offer a reason why you need to marry sooner. Eclipses, however, build on events that have led to this moment. If you or your partner has been unhappy, sometimes an eclipse will end a relationship, as an eclipse will “eclipse out” someone from your life. Eclipses bring a floodlight of truth to a matter, changing its complexion, but it is always better to have truth than to live without it. The main problem I see is a hard aspect between Mercury and Uranus.

If your birthday falls on January 31, or within four days of this date, you will feel this eclipse most dramatically. The same is true if you have Aquarius rising or the moon in Aquarius at 11 degrees, plus or minus four degrees. The same is true if you have a natal planet in Aquarius, Gemini, Libra, Aries, Leo, or Sagittarius at 11 degrees.

The year, and the month, starts on a full moon, bringing an assignment to fullness. This project may have a deadline of December 31, or needed to be shipped during the first days of January. Either way, you seem to be feeling worn at the edges and in need of rest.

Your need to withdraw from the world will grow stronger in the second week, at the time of the new moon, January 16, when most of the solar system will be grouped in your twelfth house of solitude and reflection. You may find you are interacting with medical personnel, whether because you are visiting a member of the family or a friend in a hospital or facility of rehabilitation. Alternatively, you might decide to go in and have a procedure for yourself now that the holidays are over. You may long for a weekend out of town for a change of scene, but with Uranus, your ruler, in hard angle to the large group of Capricorn planets mid-month, you may find travel difficult, and it would not be the best time to go. Do not sign a contract either, as the aspects at this time will be too unstable.

The beginning of the month is a wonderful time for your career. When it comes to finding a new job or ways to advance your reputation, you may hear exciting news on January 5 or January 6, stellar days in anyone’s book. Mars (action) and Jupiter (good fortune) will link in your tenth house of honors, awards, and achievement. These are rare days – these two planets meet every two years, but always in different signs. It will be decades until they meet again in your prestigious house of career honors – 2053 to be exact. Use January 5 or 6 (both are superb) to schedule an interview or presentation; to launch a new business, product, or service; or to meet with the press. This day will be golden in every way.

A big moment is coming on January 31, when a full moon lunar eclipse will arrive in your opposite sign of Leo. A relationship that is dearly important to you in love or business is about to reach culmination, either on this day or in February. You may decide to get engaged or married or sign papers with a business partner. Or, if you have been unhappy, you may decide the two of you must part. Aspects like these crystalize events and feelings that have been going on for a long time, leading to the date of the total eclipse. Eclipses almost always bring on a permanent non-negotiable change. The universe wants us to live a happy, productive life, and will not abide stagnation, so the universe sends an eclipse to test the strength of relationships and situations and to shake the status quo.

Think back to February 10 of last year for clues of what may come up, and to discussions you had in August, near the two eclipses of August 7 and August 21. Discussions you had then will be advanced now to a new level. News is likely to be positive, for Mars will be in wide, but friendly position to boost your efforts. Also, remarkably, Venus will grace Aquarius, starting January 17 until February 10, suggesting that you’ll be pleased by what comes up. If things don’t get completely decided or sorted now, be patient, for another eclipse will arrive next month, a glorious new moon solar eclipse on February 15, in the sign (you guessed it) – Aquarius! Two more eclipses will come in Aquarius and Leo in six months, so this will be a year of change, excitement and growth.