Raise your hand if you’re so ready for things to change on this planet, sooner rather than later. In January, the stars hand you a metaphorical mop and bucket and say, “Awesome! Get to work!”
Welcome to a typical Capricorn season, which lasts until January 19 this year. But the 2022 edition has a couple of extra plot twists. For starters, Venus is retrograde in Capricorn until January 29, an inconvenient cycle that started just before Christmas (on December 19, 2021).
With the planet of love and harmony gone rogue, it’s no surprise so many celebrations were canceled or severely restricted over the holidays. And as the new year begins, we’ll need to dole out extra goodwill for a month, even when it’s in short supply.
Hopefully, the January 2 Capricorn new moon will supply a burst of motivation to focus on our long-term goals.
This new moon will also be in harmonious trine to innovative Uranus. When the present moment is filled with FOMO, it can help to look out even further into the future. Set your sights on July 13, the corresponding Capricorn full moon. Start working on a project or personal goal that will come to fruition around that time—one that will have your personal stamp on it. What could you do in a generous six-month window?
Have any unfinished business or projects? The second half of the month is ideal for attending to those.
On January 14, Mercury, the planet of technology and communication, turns retrograde until February 3, splitting its time between the two most future-focused signs, Aquarius and Capricorn. Use this time to do the behind-the-scenes work on your goals or to tie up loose ends. Then, you can do your full-on launch in February, right after the Lunar New Year on February 2!
The biggest news this month arrives January 18, when the lunar north node moves into Taurus for the first time since 2004.
Since May 2020, the karmic nodes have been traveling across the Gemini/Sagittarius axis, completely upending issues that fall under those signs’ jurisdiction: travel, local issues, socializing, and information (including media, journalism, and technology).
Next up, the nodes will be in Taurus (north node) and Scorpio (south node), zodiac signs that are linked to money, resources, and how we share our lot, from the material to the energetic and spiritual. From sustainable living to shifting weather patterns to a new digital economy, this new nodal cycle will bring changes to our daily lives between now and July 2023.
This is the final month of the heavy, responsible Year of the Metal Ox, which began on February 12, 2021, and the end of a two-year cycle ruled by the Metal element, which is about infrastructure, organization, and clarity. On the eve of February 1, we’ll begin the Lunar Year of the Water Tiger and a two-year Water cycle.
If 2020 and 2021 were about rebuilding the pipes and plumbing, then 2022 and 2023 will invite us to “turn on the taps” and let things flow through those new channels.
This could be taken literally, too. After a year of historic floods worldwide, we’ll certainly need to put new systems in place to manage natural disasters. On the positive side, art, spirituality, empathy, and creativity could make much-needed comebacks.
Either way, think of January as a “prelaunch” to 2022, even—here’s a positive spin—a bonus month of 2021, giving us a little extra time to prepare and ease into the new year.
