Astrological Forecast for the 2nd Week of January 2021

Hi everyone,

Here’s my astrological forecast for the second week of January 2021. The aspects I talk about here are:

• Mercury square Mars (Jan 9)

• Mercury conjunct Saturn (Jan 10)

• Mercury conjunct Jupiter (Jan 11)

• Mercury square Uranus (Jan 12)

• (Lots of Mercury action this week as you can see!)

• The new moon in Capricorn on January 13 (with several difficult aspects baked in)

I was planning on writing a text where I make some suggestions for how to effectively use the challenging energy of this moon cycle in your life, but then I discovered this video by the astrologer Acyuta-bhava Dasa where he provides some great suggestions for this. He also breaks down the tension this month and the meaning of Saturn in Aquarius square Mars in a really clear way.

Anyway, watch the video if your interested in any of those topics. I also really recommend Acyuta’s videos in general. His approach to astrology is more spiritual than I personally prefer, but he’s definitely an excellent astrologer who also comes across as a really decent, down to Earth guy, which is refreshing. He’s always one of my go-to astrologers for quality content, so check out his channel and subscribe.

Speaking of astrologers I admire, Nina Gryphon also posted a very interesting video about the Saturn square Uranus aspect that will play a major part this year as well as next year to a slightly lesser extent. One thing she mentioned that I found interesting was that the dynamic is also about the “tension between authoritarianism and lawlessness.”

Since this is a patrons-only video, I don’t feel like it would be right to say too much more. However, I do highly suggested becoming a patron of her work, which you can do here and then watch the video for yourself.

Tarot reading for the second week of January

For this week, I asked the cards what everyone should focus on next week, an important question since the week will kick off an intense moon cycle with some challenging energy that will continue past the full moon on January 28.

Although I pulled the cards several days before I watched Acyuta’s video, I’m really struck by how much it resonates with what he had to say.

The fool card (second card I drew) I would interpret to represent this new age of air we are embarking on. Yes, things are uncertain and tensions are–and will continue–to fly high for January as well as the rest of the year. However, the fool speaks to us remembering that exciting new changes are also on the horizon. They may be painful, come in a wake of instability, some things may fade away and fall to the side; in general, we humans are not so fond of change. But there is so much potential for amazing new beginnings if we allow ourselves to stumble forward and remain open to the potential of what we might find even if we don’t yet know what that is (very fool-like energy!).

However, like Acyuta mentioned, this week is not the time to go and shout your ideas of “foolish” excitement on the mountain. As he suggests, in the midst of the heavier, more intense energy, try as much as you can to focus on this excitement in a grounded-yet-private and joyful way (Queen of Pentacles).

The other three cards I pulled were all cups. Cups stand for the element of water. This is a yin energy that represent formlessness and passivity, but not in the negative sense. In her book Seventy-Eight Degrees of Wisdom, Rachel Pollack write that water “stands for the inner being, and that slow coming to life of a seed.” A very fitting image for a week with a new moon, even if it is a difficult one.

The first cup card I drew was the six of cups, then the four and ten of cups. As always, I initially only meant to choose three cards, but the four of cups basically jumped out of the deck when I took out the six and the ten called out “pick me, pick me, pick me!” at the end when I assumed I had already pulled the cards I meant to pull.

Rather than read these cards one by one, I think it makes sense to read them as a unit.

The six of cups can be interpreted as nostalgia for the past, an energy that can tend towards rose-colored glasses thinking whereas the four of cups speaks to someone who is hesitant to move forward, perhaps because of negative past experience, especially of an emotional or ingrained nature (water). This hesitancy and apathy is preventing this person from moving forward; they are both blind to the value of the three cups they already possess and are incapable of seizing the opportunity that is on offer (the fourth cup).

What I find striking here is also what is missing: the two and the eight of cups, the remaining two even numbered cards in this suit.

The two of cups brings union, in this case between the overly optimistic and overly pessimistic energy of the six and the four of the cups.

The eight of cups is about sensing when something has come to an end and moving on, even if that choice is painful and hard to make.

These two cards are the next step towards reaching the ten of cups.

In short, this coming week, take some time to try to stay open to the positive sides of change and be aware of the need to balance being overly positive and idealistic or overly negative and fatalistic. Although we aren’t there yet (the two of eight of cups are still missing), the goal remains the final card, the ten of cups, which Rachel Pollack describes as a “surge of joy”.

A very nice reading for what is going to be a very tense week astrologically and collectively.

I hope it inspires you to go inward this week and not to buckle under the intensity and pressure that will be in the air this coming week as well as the rest of the month.