The Astrology of 2014

This evening, at the Bath forum, we looked at the astrology for the coming twelve months, with a view to trying to get something of a handle on the sorts of planetary influences we might be facing, both globally and individually. The New Year's Day chart seemed like a good place to begin with, kicking off 2014 as it does with a potent, applying New Moon in Capricorn, forming a Cardinal Grand Cross with the Uranus/Pluto square we've been living with since 2010, a detrimented Mars in Libra and retrograde Jupiter in the 10th House for Bath.

This New Moon is effectively in conjunction with Pluto and Mercury – and it also happens to be one of this year's Supermoons – a lunation occurring at the perigee (closest point to Earth in the Moon's eliptical orbit). Coincidentally, the Earth is also at its closest orbital point to the Sun in early January – counterintuitive to us in the Northern hemisphere when we are in the depth of our winter, however northern winters are relatively short in comparison with the other seasons due to this astronomical fact. Coupled with an opposition to Jupiter retrograde in watery Cancer, which is in turn in a watery trine to Saturn in Scorpio, this all adds up to a watery and disruptive signature reflecting the unseasonably high tides and floods we are experiencing currently. Although widely understood that that lunar activity influences the tides, it is often forgotten that the same gravitational factors affect the Earth's groundwater, too – severe inland flooding in Worcestershire and Oxfordfordshire bear witness to this.

Although essentially a civil date, established in Roman times, and there is no apparent celestial reason for the date of January 1 for the start of the year, every year at midnight on December 31, just as the old year slips away and the new one begins, the fixed star Sirius – the very brightest star in the heavens at a magnitude of -1.4 – is at his highest point in the northern hemisphere. Sirius sits in the constellation of Canis Major and is also known as the Dog Star. Associated with the mouth of the dog – the most dangerous part – it has been viewed with foreboding by writers such as Homer and astrolgers including Manilus. The Egyptians gave Sirius much importance, while Ptolemy gave it the nature of Jupiter and Mars – elevating and active. At 14 Can 05, Sirius is just over 2 degrees from Jupiter in the New Year chart – and given the brightness of both bodies, it is tempting to allow a little more lassitude with orbs than normally given with fixed stars. Especially when there is a report about Snoopy Island in the news – a volcanic island rising from the deep off the coast of Japan in the shape of a cartoon dog... I love it so much that I'm revising my position on orbs (only slightly, mind, and only in exceptional circumstances, where cartoon dogs are involved) – a topic we visited later in the evening in the discussion on forecasting.

Snoopy Island: volcanic activity off the coast of Japan
caused the formation of a new island in early 2014

I couldn't locate this image on the night – go on, tell me it was worth the wait... Look, he's even smiling!

It was noted that both benefics – the lesser, Venus, and the greater, Jupiter – are currently retrograde. Jupiter went retrograde in early November at 20 Can 30 and Venus on the recent winter solstice (December 21) at 28 Can 57.9. That last decimal point is significant, as this station is so nearly at the end of Cancer...

The retrogades this year are interesting; the year starts with both benefics retreating, then in early March, the malefics take over the retrograde show with Mars going retro at 27 Lib 30 on March 2nd and Saturn at 23 Sco 19 on the 4th. It will be interesting to note the change in mood as this change unfolds.

For those who like lists, here are the retrograde periods (and shadow periods) for reference:

Jupiter Rx @ 20 Can 57 7/11/13  Dir 10 Can 26 6/3/14  (end of shadow period 6/11/14)

Venus Rx @ 28 Cap 58 21/12/13  Dir 13 Cap 33  1/2/13  (end of shadow period 5/3/14)

Mars Rx @ 27 Lib 31  2/3/14  Dir 9 Lib 01 20/5/14 (end of shadow period 22/7/14)

Saturn Rx @ 23 Sco 19  4/3/14  Dir 16 Sco 38  21/7/14  (end of shadow period 28/10/14)

Pluto is also retrograde this year between 14/4/14 and 23/9/14 with this shadow extending to 13/1/15; Uranus between 22/7/14 and 21/12/14, grinding through that ongoing cardinal square scenario which we will finally see the end of with the final contact on 17/3/15. This, of course, is massive big-picture stuff. Neptune – well, who knows what Neptune is doing? A change of direction happens on June 9th at 7 Pis 35. It's all, doubtless, going to be very mysterious.

Not a huge amount has been written about retrogrades, and it's a subject I'd like to address later in the year, so please do let me know if you have any thoughts on the subject... The pairings of benefics and malefics, I thought, was interesting, with Jupiter retreating in his exaltation (an interesting perspective, potentially, on growth?) paired with Venus in her fall (does the retrograde motion emphasise or ameliorate this?) and Mars and Saturn in a grim mutual reception scenario... More of this later in the year when I've had time to do some processing (doubtless in a typical retrograde manner – two steps forward, two steps back), but all thoughts most welcome.

2014 ECLIPSE SEASONS 

We looked briefly at the two eclipse seasons: April brings a powerful lunar eclipse on the 14th – possibly the most potent accent-point of the year, with the eclipse axis overlaying the tight cardinal grand cross (Jupiter – by now direct – and Mars, still retrograde joining the heavyweight Uranus/Pluto combo, just seven days prior to the 5th of this ongoing aspect pattern's seven hits). A day to look out for (and possibly not in a good way), particularly for those with planets or angles at or around 13 degrees of the cardinal signs. In some ways, this could represent a tension release point for the ongoing Uranus/Pluto square.  

The accompanying Solar eclipse at 8 degrees Taurus (as someone pointed out, the chart wasn't quite accurate – the exact degree of the eclipse is 8 Tau 52) seems somewhat less potent; the grand cross is still there, but mitigated by the eclipse degree making a trine aspect to Pluto with a sextile to Jupiter. Added to this, it's an annular eclipse at almost 20 degrees wide of the nodes (please someone explain this – these are the degrees in the ephemeris, but I understood eclipses to be impossible at greater than 18 degrees from the nodes). 

Summer shifts

Jupiter moves into Leo on July 18th, and Mars into Sag on September 14th (having whizzed through Scorpio in just over three weeks – you may not even notice if you're not paying attention between Oct 27 and November 15 – unless you have planets or an angle in Scorpio, and then you'll be firing on all seven cylinders...). When these two planets catch up with Uranus around the end of September/early October, the three planets will form a lovely fire trine, changing the emphasis in the heavens to something much more uplifting than all that heavy cardinal stuff... 

October sees another couple of eclipses: the total lunar of October 8th is at 15 Air/Lib 07 – intense, and dangerously close to the dreaded cardinal square, which isn't showing any signs of going away, despite having been the most unpopular guest at the party for several years now... This is mitigated, however by the fire trine, which transforms the T-square (Sun now in mid-Libra) into a kite.

This eclipse's partner – a partial solar at 0 Sco 24 – is much more scattered, and there are a couple of nice trines (Sun/Moon/Venus at 0 Sco trine Neptune at 4 Pis; Saturn at 19 Leo trine Uranus at 13 Air), which I can't help feeling looks like a significantly lighter note on which to head towards the end of 2014.