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 month starts out with an invitation to go to a gathering that holds the potential for much fun. The reason I feel you will be out socializing is that on January 1 you will have a full moon in Cancer, 12 degrees, filling your eleventh house of friends, fun, new people, and social events. It is entirely possible you were invited to a party or charity benefit on December 30 or December 31, for all full moons have a plus or minus four days of influence, before and after they appear. If so, you enter the year with a smile, thinking of the happy night you had to ring in the New Year.

If you didn’t go out, it may be that a friend will host an open house or other event that you’ll be invited to, and that you will enjoy to the fullest. There is another possibility, too. This same area of your chart is called the eleventh house of hopes and wishes, so something you’ve dearly wanted to see happen will likely appear and fill your heart with joy. The desire that is fulfilled might be material or spiritual, but either way, when it appears, you’ll know instantly something you were never sure would come true to you, indeed does, and makes this moment even sweeter.

If your birthday falls on September 4, plus or minus five days, you will feel this full moon more than most Virgos. The same is true if you have Virgo rising, 12 degrees, or have the natal moon in Virgo 12 degrees, and in both cases, allow a plus or minus five degrees. If you know you have a natal planet in Virgo, Taurus, or Capricorn, Cancer, Pisces, or Scorpio at or near 12 degrees (plus or minus five degrees), you, too, will see lots of activity near this full moon.

A very special aspect is coming up on January 6, and it is one that will benefit you on the day or on the day before it arrives on January 5. It is an aspect that’s as rare as diamonds, so I can’t wait to tell you about it. It will be the meeting of Mars and Jupiter in Scorpio in your third house of communication and travel. As a Virgo, chances are you are talented in communication arts, so if you agree, this aspect has special meaning to you.

Mars and Jupiter meet every two years, but each time they meet, they do so in a different sign and place in your chart. It has not been since August 8, 1982, that these two luminaries have met in Scorpio and your communication-oriented house. This is the very area where Virgo is known to excel. Remarkably, after January 6, Mars and Jupiter will not meet again in the same house of your chart until November 24, 2053, so naturally you will want to take full advantage of what this aspect portends for you.

Specifically, Jupiter is the giver of gifts and luck, and here, Mars will act like a booster rocket to Jupiter’s gifts, enlarging them and making them more visible and accessible. On January 6, or earlier, on Friday, January 5, you might take a quick short trip to a nearby setting for any purpose, and if so, all indications are that the trip will turn out to be spectacular.

There are other ways to use the powerful energy of January 6. You might want to sign a contract, a great time to do so with these planets shining so brilliantly. Also, now that your ruling planet Mercury went direct as of December 22, you have a free and clear open road. All things in the communicative area glitter for you, so give a speech, or if your editing skills are good, take the test to become an official editor, and make money as a full or part-time editor. Or, if you write, hand in a manuscript, publish a book, defend your thesis, launch a new website or blog (or redesign one), or sign the work order to build a new app. If you write code, code writing falls under the third house too because you are still communicating, only in a different way, through HTML. If you want to do an email blast, do it early on Friday, January 5. These are a few examples, but you get the idea – anything that relies on your ability to communicate or negotiate well would be the perfect way to use January 5 or January 6.

January will have a strong romantic theme too, and your first indication that this is true will come on January 8, when the Sun and Jupiter trade signals, for the mighty Sun will be in your house of true love, and Jupiter will be in your house of communication, a superb aspect for engendering the first pangs of love. This will be a Monday, but if you met someone online that you’d like to meet in a public place such as a coffee shop, this would be your ideal day to make that date.

If you are attached, you can discuss having a baby with your partner, for Scorpio rules reproduction. If you have had problems with conception, you might want to use January 8 to meet with a fertility doctor, or to schedule in-vitro fertilization. If you are a female reader and don’t yet have a partner, you can also freeze your eggs on this day to silence your biological clock for a while. If you have children, this would be a great day – January 8 – to make special plans for your child.

    On January 6, Mars and Jupiter will meet in a magnificent, benefic way in your third house of communication and travel. After this, Jupiter and Mars will not align in Scorpio again until November 24, 2053. This month, be determined to take full advantage of the benefits that Jupiter and Mars will have prepared for you.

January 8 would also be the ideal day to pitch a creative idea to a client or your boss, for the fifth house, which rules love, pregnancy, birth, and the care for children, also rules artistic projects, and those will be under stellar vibes in January.

Your biggest moment of the month will be January 16, which brings on the new moon in Capricorn 27 degrees. In an extraordinary event, the world will see no less than six heavenly bodies line up in Capricorn. Everyone will feel this build-up of energy in one sign, but each zodiac sign will feel it in different ways. Lucky you, dear Virgo, the Sun, new moon, Mercury, Venus, Saturn, and Pluto will all set off sparking vibrations in your house of true love.

To understand how rare this is, the last time we saw a crowd of planets aligned in one sign, it was back on May 3, 2000, when we had no less than seven heavenly bodies in Taurus. Scientists tell us that we will never see seven planets aligned in one constellation again during our lifetime, but we will see six – and one of those dates will arrive on January 16, 2018. This means that you will feel an enormous amount of energy being focused on your area of love and romance. This same house rules children and creative efforts, so you might see progress in one of these areas.

There will be a problem, however, in that unpredictable Uranus, touring Aries in your eighth house, will act up, because he is not invited to the Capricorn party in your house of true love. Uranus is the planet of sudden surprise, but this time the unexpected news won’t be welcome because it involves money. Uranus is in your house of credit cards, taxes, bank loans and student loans, insurance payouts, commissions, royalties and cash advances, child support, alimony, and the like. Something in this area – it could even be identity theft – may jar you at the same time you have so much going on in your romantic, loving part of your life. Yes, this happens sometimes, as we often have many things going on at once.

If you are trying to decide whether to have a baby, the advice I give everyone is that once you need the money, the money will come because you will put your mind to it. When I was first married, we had no money, because my husband was always out of work, a situation that continued throughout our marriage. Yet at the same time, I knew that with my birth defect of internal bleeding, the doctors would jump on any excuse to not let me have a baby. So I got pregnant with Chrissie very early, before the doctors truly understood my exceedingly rare condition, and yes, after the birth I was in the hospital with transfusions for two months, and a wheelchair for six months. Of course, that freaked out the doctors who never believed me that my condition was rare. (Most male doctors think women are hysterical beings and discount half of what women say, unfortunately.) Of course, I never told the doctors that I am the only person still living with my condition – historically, every person with it died.

After the birth, my doctors were screaming not to have any more children (they finally woke up, apparently), but I already had part of my plan for two children completed, so despite our having no money, I swore I would be back in three years to have my second child. Three years and two months later, and still poverty stricken, I had my second child, Diana. I am practical too, however – I got my mother to promise to take care of both children should I not make it through.

My point is, don’t let the lack of money stop you from having a baby. You are intelligent – you can do anything you put your mind to, dear Virgo. I firmly believe that life belongs to the brave. Have faith in your own abilities to craft the life you want, even if the life you have now is nowhere near where you want it to be. Of course, for every person the decision is personal and unique, and I respect the decision you will make.

If you are concerned about identity theft, there are monitoring companies that you can hire to counter that problem. The surprise might be, however, that money you expected to be sent might not arrive, or a claim you sent in to an insurance company may be challenged and the offer dramatically lowered. You get the idea. I know you are tired of surprises like these – and believe me, with Uranus, we can never quite guess precisely what will come up – but they are on the way out.

Take heart in knowing that in 2018 Uranus will only spend part of his time in your financial eighth house, six months, and this is new – you’ve had to deal with Uranus in a financial house continually since 2010. By March 2019, you will be done forever with Uranus in your financial eighth house in your lifetime. (Uranus takes 84 years to circle the Sun, spending about seven years in each house, so you will never have surprise-a-minute Uranus there after March 2019, and in 2018, Uranus will only be in your eighth house of money for six months.

The eighth house, where Uranus is traveling, also rules surgery, so instead someone close to you might suddenly need to have an operation. It is likely to be someone else, but it might be that you decide to go in and have a surgery you have been meaning to do. (Dental surgery also is found in this eighth house, like taking care of a wisdom tooth.) It is best not to worry – I never am concerned about things that might happen, just things that do happen, and then I can decide how to deal with it. The possible operation I see might be a planned C-section if you are having a baby. (I know I am talking a lot about babies, but your chart is screaming baby from every quarter!)

If your birthday falls on September 19, you will feel this new moon the most, and the same will be true if you have Virgo rising at 27 degrees of the moon in Virgo of that degree, plus or minus four degrees. If you have a natal planet in Virgo, Taurus, Capricorn, Cancer, Scorpio, or Pisces, that planet will light up and bring you news.

The month will end with a full moon lunar eclipse in Leo 12 degrees on January 31. This is a mild part of your chart, and brings the likelihood for you to want to be off on your own, away from crowded rooms and people who pierce your concentration. This full moon would be the perfect time to see a breakthrough in therapy if you are seeing a psychologist or if you simply want to discuss a problem with a friend or sweetheart.

This same full moon might bring out a secret that you suddenly discover that perhaps someone was hoping you would not find out about. When you do learn about it in a casual way, you will be able to protect yourself better, so listen up and believe what you learn is truth.

If you want a clue of what might come up at this eclipse, think back to January 31, 1999, when a full moon lunar eclipse in the same sign, Leo, and same degree, 12 degrees, came up. Although the planets never bring a carbon copy of a previous time, you might get a glimmer of a clue of what is to surface. See what happens, and take notes on your journal or calendar.

You must have had a very social end of December, because you will enter the New Year with a full moon in tender Cancer on January 1 in your social sector. Friends either will surround you on New Year’s Eve or you may invite friends and family to a warm and stylish open house on New Year’s Day. You seem to want to be with others, but with Saturn close, you may have important matters on your mind and consequently not be fully able to relax. Still, my friends worry about things they need not worry about, such as will the turkey come out right? If you follow the directions, buy fresh foods, and serve the food while it is still warm, it’s easy to do well! The stove cooks the food, not you!

As a Virgo, you tend to put the needs of others first, so try not to pile more work on your shoulders than you need to take on. You are innately organized, so everyone seems to know that and depend on you – learn to beg off some duties so you, too, can have time for fun.

The new moon of January 16 will brilliantly light your fifth house of true love. With an extraordinary number of heavenly bodies filling this area of your chart – including the Sun, new moon, Venus, Mercury, Saturn, and Pluto – if single, you will be open to meeting new people. Virgo rarely has unrealistic expectations, especially in matters of the heart, and that will put you in a good position to decide which persons you’d like to meet and know better, as well as which persons to pass up.

If you are attached, lots of fun with your one-and-only will be in store for you, and you may bring up a serious discussion about having a baby. If you have had problems with conception, see a doctor on or shortly after January 16. If you have children, you may be planning something special for one or more of them.

Uranus will be in tough angle to the new moon, so deciding about love, romance, fun, and matters of children may bring up financial considerations. Everyone will see a twist to events, due to a rogue Uranus, but yours appears to be purely financial. As a friend used to say, if the problem is money, it’s not a problem – financial challenges can be overcome. (As my friend used to say to me, “A child has not died – you have options.”)

Although matters involving money can be jarring, they are fixable in time. Be confident about your ability to find a way around any sudden news you may receive mid-month that makes you stop and reconsider all your personal plans. There is an answer, and that answer points to tapping into one of your talents.

One of the most glowing parts of your chart (other than the trend toward enjoying love, fun and friends) will center strongly on your ability to write and speak eloquently. Let this be a clue to solving a financial shortfall. With Jupiter conjunct Mars on January 6, you may get an assignment that can allow you to showcase your skills and at the same time make good profit potential – it’s a perfect day to start a project, or to sign a contract.

A total eclipse of the moon in Leo will occur on January 31 and will likely give you time to go off by yourself to rest. You might also be in an introspective mood, and ready to think about what you’d like to achieve in the coming New Year.

Additionally, you, or someone you love, such as a friend or relative, may be in a medical facility. You are very health-oriented, the reason Virgo always has a glow that other signs wish they could have too, perhaps by getting it in a department store jar, but of course, your glow comes from within.

This eclipse, January 31, will give you the time and motivation to take good care of yourself in terms of mind, body, and spirit. Alternatively, it may turn out that a friend or relative needs your sunny disposition, too, as this person goes for a medical procedure or diagnosis. Your emotional support will be appreciated more than you will ever know, even if that person cannot articulate their feelings with the right words at the time.