Welcome to 2014! From the start, it’s rock ‘em, sock ‘em, non-stop action, drawing us into deeper focus and transformation.

The Capricorn New Moon on New Year’s Day sets the tone, severing the old with razor sharp precision even as it rings in the new.  The Moon is born in Pluto's transforming presence, while he battles with both warrior god Mars and Uranus, the awakener and agent of unpredictable change.  All month long we're  refining, redefining, minimizing and restructuring ourselves, our goals and our connections.

It is not comfortable. You will be tempted to push, work and sometimes flail, sometimes rant. Pace yourself. Rest before you drop; take a break when you feel frenzied. Pick your battles. Clean and purge. Treat yourself with extra-special kindness (did you eat yet?) and your tank will have enough to share with others.

Venus retrograde (through the 30th) provides a living lab of revisiting what is most important to us. Old relationships, old ways of connecting, possessions, jobs, goals -- all are going under a cosmic jeweler’s loupe so we can appraise their flaws and value. (Rule of thumb: new people, projects, deals, jobs and the like that come in now do not have the worth they present or you expect.)

What remains is clarified, simplified and intensified -- in our thinking, in communication and in connections. Mercury’s move into Aquarius on the 11th injects breathing room and intellectual perspective. Hang in there; that space will come in handy by the 15th, when the Cancer Full Moon rolls in high tide for emotions, with a chaser of romantic action or demands.

The Aquarius New Moon on the 30th encourages detachment and revs up self-actualizing, go-for-broke impulses. The month ends, paradoxically, by pulling us all toward connection, with Mercury entering all-encompassing Pisces and Venus ending her six-week retrograde. We’ll be innately attuned to each other, picking up thoughts and signals regardless of geographic distance, as focus and desires redirect to the long-term.

About the Astrologer
Kathy Biehl is a professional astrologer and Aquarian who has lived on the bridge between intuition and the rational mind for more than 30 years. Visit EmpowermentUnlimited.netfor her podcasts, recordings and information about her services. You can also follow her daily insights and whimsical photos on Facebook, and find her at the Professional Aquarian YouTube channel.