Welcome to 2015! Now what? Could be you’re forging ahead with your resolutions, propelled by a dynamic year of successes and growth; maybe you’re breathing a sigh of relief that you’ve made it this far. You might be one who’s just crossing your fingers in hopes that something — anything — goes your way this year.

Photo by Amanda Painter

Wherever you’re at, the astrology accompanying us right now is bold.

Specifically, the Capricorn Sun is throwing its light onto the planetary aspect of our current era: the square between Uranus in Aries and Pluto in Capricorn. At 3:40 am EST Saturday, the Sun moves into an exact square with Uranus in Aries; it conjoins Pluto in Capricorn at 6:34 pm EST the same day.

Uranus-Pluto stretches across seven exact contacts between 2012 and 2015 (the sixth exact contact was just on Dec. 15; the last is March 16). Its effects were noticeable a few years before the first contact and will unfold for years to come.

We see this astrology in the news: revolutionary upheavals, old systems collapsing (or imploding). Its shadow manifestation is visible in the whiplash-inducing reactions of those who stand to lose something (especially power) if progress is allowed.

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The week between Christmas and New Year’s can be a kind of ‘no man’s land’ until the next year’s resolutions are tangibly invoked. If you’ve been overindulging in food and drink, it may seem pointless to rein that in when there’s a fridge full of leftovers, cookies from the neighbors, and a big, boozy celebration on the horizon (should that kind of gathering be on your agenda). The post-Christmas sales don’t exactly encourage retail austerity, either.

Photo by Amanda Painter

Mars in Aquarius and Jupiter in Leo are basically poster boys for that description, as they move toward an opposition exact at 2:49 pm EST (19:49 UT) Jan. 1. The aspect has its positive side, too, but let’s face it: this can be a tough week to get motivated on ‘the hard stuff’ of setting goals and readying the mind for change that will stick.

Add in that it’s been a tough news year (when has it not, in recent memory?) what with the Uranus-Pluto square still in full effect. It’s normal to want a little psychic or sensory vacation, even if you don’t get the week off from work.

Thing is, Mars opposite Jupiter is not known for moderation — especially where pleasure, alcohol and food are concerned. The aspect can also lack good financial judgment; and according to Isabel Hickey, in fixed signs (which Aquarius and Leo are, as are Taurus and Scorpio, “fixing” the middle of each season), one can be especially biased by one’s strong opinions.

I’m not wagging a finger at you to diet, or to avoid a truly great deal. You don’t need to side-step conversations about war or religion (related to Mars and Jupiter, respectively) any more than usual. (Although the NYPD demonstrated how to take ideology too far at a fallen officer’s funeral Saturday.) The idea is simply to keep some self-awareness about you as you make your decisions, since the line between ‘just enough’ and ‘too much’ might be a little fuzzy coming off of last week’s excesses.

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Solstice and Hanukkah are behind us and Christmas is nearly done (whether you celebrate one or more of those holidays or not), which means the turn of a new year is right around the corner. For some, this weekend is a chance to catch a breath before burning the candle at both ends Dec. 31 and setting resolutions for the next 12 months.

Photo by Amanda Painter.

For others, not so much.

If you put yourself in the first camp (or would like to start), you have Saturn on your side. Saturn entered Sagittarius Dec. 23.

The single-pointed arrow of Sagittarius combined with the authoritarian (ahem, responsible) nature of Saturn says: Get serious about your goals! Take aim, focus your energy, and get disciplined.

Overall, Saturn’s move from Scorpio to Sagittarius is going to open up some breathing room, allowing your sense of self-authority a more fearless confidence. If Saturn in Scorpio was about dredging out our more secretive emotional waterways, Saturn in Sagittarius is able to own it — both the shadows and the space that’s been cleared — with a little detachment and a sense of the bigger picture.

That said, the days right after Christmas can be emotionally difficult, just as the days leading up to it can be. For some, losing the distraction of holiday hype only reinforces any sense of alienation or loss exacerbated by this time of year. Or perhaps in between facing family dynamics for a few days and facing the end of yet another year, you might find yourself feeling a little “out there” and lonely, not sure where you truly belong now, given all the changes you’ve been through in 2014.

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This Sunday is the Capricorn solstice, marked this year by the Capricorn New Moon. It’s an energetic chart — though not so much in the vein of the cultural excess (and the reminder of lack it creates for some people) that marks this time of year.

Photo by Amanda Painter

The Sun leaves Sagittarius for Capricorn at 6:03 pm EST Dec. 21: the day of the solstice, which in the Northern hemisphere is the shortest day of the year. Winter begins here in the Northern Hemisphere, along with the days (gradually) getting longer (with the opposite true Down Under.

The Moon enters Capricorn shortly thereafter at 8:25 pm EST. Just eleven minutes later, at 8:36 pm EST, the Sun and Moon conjoin for the Capricorn New Moon.

Capricorn is a cardinal sign, associated with taking initiative in your own life, just like cardinal signs begin seasons. The Capricorn New Moon and solstice chart has some incredible energy for beginnings. Partly that’s due to fully half the sign-ruling planets being in Capricorn Sunday: Sun, Moon, Mercury, Pluto and Venus (plus asteroid Vesta, which does not rule a sign).

Having all those planets there emphasizes the past (a Capricorn theme) — specifically, tearing it down (thanks to Pluto) and initiating new structures (thanks to everything else in the sign).

Or to put it more gently, since I know many people are in a lot of pain and truly struggling with Pluto’s effects, this chart is about re-framing your narratives about the past and how much you let your past define you. Mercury right near the New Moon looks like some solid intention setting around that theme, and solstices are a natural time to set intentions for the season.

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Monday, Dec. 15, is yet another exact contact of the square between Uranus in Aries and Pluto in Capricorn — the 6th of seven exact squares in total. This is the astrology that has been defining our current era for a few years now: breaking open social and political institutions as well as structures on a more personal level; calling individuals to wake up, take part and define themselves in a dramatically shifting landscape.

Hundreds of protesters block the Brooklyn Bridge Dec. 3 following the grand jury decision in the choking death of Eric Garner. Photo by James Keivom/New York Daily News.

While the first exact contact of Uranus and Pluto was in 2012, the effects began warming up long before that as these two powerful planets approached alignment (think Arab Spring and the Occupy movement).

In your life, your community, and in the wider world, you can probably identify sparks that have ignited in unexpected ways; foundations seemingly being bulldozed out from under you; opportunities to engage with your community and the motivation to actually do so; intense reactionary steps taken by those who have a lot to lose in the face of progress.

You can see it now in the stories dominating the news: the militarization of police; the unification of voices speaking up against racial injustice; the release of the Congressional Intelligence Committee’s report on torture by the CIA. Many of these stories are united by the theme of “abuse of power” — institutionalized power (and the power to undo institutions) being a theme of Pluto in Capricorn.

You can see it in the awarding of the Nobel Peace Prize to Malala Yousafzai: the 17-year-old Pakistani girls’ education activist determined not to let a Taliban bullet to her face dissuade her from her mission to speak up and assert herself (revolution of self being a theme of Uranus in Aries).

Consider also that there’s a grand fire trine blazing in the sky right now: a loop of fire connecting planets in Aries, Leo and Sagittarius. It’s anchored by Mercury and the Sun in Sagittarius trine Jupiter in Leo (exact Dec. 12 and 14, respectively), but if you take a wide view, the grand trine fans out to include Ceres, Pholus and Ixion in Sagittarius; Uranus, the South lunar node and Eris in Aries; and Juno in Leo.

That’s a hot sky. Whatever is sparked this week may well keep burning, thanks to the flowing nature of trines — there is enough upheaval around us to serve as tinder, and the flames are being fanned. Thankfully there are major planets in earth and water water signs: a little grounding, perhaps some empathy. Not all fires will run unchecked, although maybe some are long overdue; even nature gives us examples of fire’s essential role in certain life cycles.

Bring the focus in a little closer. Think about the changes in your life since around 2011 or so: the unexpected upheavals opening new spaces to step into; the insistence (seemingly from the universe itself) that you assert who you are — or that you discover who you are as the world comes crashing into your living room. What facet of your life that you thought was a concrete foundation reinforced with rebar has become more like tectonic plates along a major fault line?

There are parts of yourself just waiting for a match to be lit within reach. Where within you has the revolutionary spark and the process of evolution been most palpable, scary as it may sometimes be? Get your bearings within, and look without. This is the event. You’re in it.

With the Sun newly in Sagittarius and Mercury about to join it — and both squaring Neptune in Pisces — the sky is urging some caution lest you run (or drive) faster than you really need to and hit a slippery patch. That’s a metaphor for human interactions and your inner thought process, but consider taking it literally, too — especially if yo live in the U.S. Today is the busiest travel day of the year thanks to tomorrow’s Thanksgiving holiday.

Photo by Amanda Painter

As Eric Francis wrote in Monday’s Astrology Diary, “Anything square Neptune is slippery, and with the Sun, the bigger they are the more slippery the floor.” He adds that Neptune squares “urge caution, awareness and the gathering of facts. They especially urge keeping a grip on your own idealism and ungrounded expectations.”

If you ever hope or expect that your family will be any different at holidays compared to how they usually are — and then get disappointed — re-read that last sentence. Sun-Neptune aspects lean toward believing what you want to believe, regardless whether it’s true or not. That quality is critical to notice in matters outside of family, too.

Mercury enters Sagittarius at 9:26 pm EST Thursday. Mercury in Sadge generally indicates a quick but potentially unfocused mind, one that is thinking so far ahead about the big picture that it misses the details. It’s also prone to foot-in-mouth disease; its saving grace is that it’s sincere and cannot stand deception.

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