Forecast

The Week Ahead for Libra

Monday, January 14 – Sunday, January 20

January is living up to its reputation as one of the more challenging months of the year. It’s not only because it follows the season of jollification and excess but concerns and difficulties you may have put to the back of your mind begin, like little drops of rain, to gather force and turn into a deluge. It is time to de-tox and time to cut back. Whether you want a leaner meaner you or a healthier bank balance or relationship, thinking about it is not the answer; taking charge is. Some things have needed to change for a while, and you now have a red notice from the universe to get moving and motoring.

Onward.

The Month Ahead for Libra

January 2019

This is the second year in a row Saturn has influenced the entry into the New Year. While this planet can help you feel secure and stable it can also dampen your optimism, causing you to feel somewhat cynical about the celebrations. Drop the cynicism. You have the power to make 2019 a great year, and it may be that you have to make some difficult decisions now in order to reap the benefits later in the year. Events mid-month should make it clear to you that there are the funds and/or the intent to set a project in motion or keep a situation afloat, so if you have to make a sacrifice in the process see it as a means to a happy ending. Mars is in fighting form in the zone of relating, making you the object of someone’s serious intentions.

2019 Overview

There is a misconception that astrologers can see the future as if we were watching scenes playing out on a cinema screen. But it’s not like that. We open our ephemerides (planetary timetable) and take endless notes on when the alignments are at their strongest and what they might mean for this person, that country or this event. Often it can seem as if fate has the upper hand, but although we cannot prevent every event that happens to us we can choose what we do in the wake of it. We have free will.

Not everything is set in stone. Actions have consequences. We make choices.

So, 2019. The last year of the Teenies and the bridge to the Twenties – a decade that will change the world map, whether in terms of the land itself or in geo-political terms. And with a degree of harmony between Saturn, Uranus, Pluto and Neptune in 2019, this has the potential to be a great year. A year in which solutions can be found, or at least worked toward, in some of the most pressing global problems, including those inspired by climate change.

Uranus entered Taurus in mid-May 2018, but then moved back into Aries and will remain there until March of 2019. Uranus is the revolutionary of the planets, the innovator and the iconoclast, so its transit of this Venus-ruled earth sign for the next seven years is going to produce some exciting developments in architecture, technology, engineering, food, the beauty business, farming and agriculture. But we can also expect financial collapses and the destruction of places and buildings of historical significance.

Already in 2018 we witnessed the loss of two iconic museums in Glasgow and Brazil due to fires; and unprecedented hurricanes and typhoons devastated parts of the world from Indonesia to Hawaii. Volcanic eruptions, extreme heat and bush and forest fires look to be on the increase in 2019, a reflection of Jupiter’s transit of the fire sign, Sagittarius.

Jupiter’s passage through Sagittarius, however, will have many positive effects, most notably on the aviation industry, global travel, publishing, education and communication systems. In a Jupiter-in-Sagittarius year, there’s an emphasis on fun and sport. We spend more money, enjoy taking holidays and getting out of our comfort zones. Then again, the last time Jupiter transited Sagittarius was in 2007, and we can all remember what happened when the sub-prime mortgage market collapsed: it was the precipitator to the global recession. And 2020 is looking distinctly troublesome.

Jupiter’s move through Sagittarius chimes with a Three year in numerology and the year of the Earth Pig in Chinese astrology. The number Three is an harmonious number: it promotes optimism and stimulates communications. We stretch our boundaries in a Three year and reach out to people in different countries and embrace different cultures. The year of the Earth Pig is similarly positive. Good luck and good times are to be expected. Then again, like a Jupiter transit, you can have too much of a good thing, and excess can lead to loss of control and ultimately collapse.

Trade is going to be an important issue for 2019. Technically, Jupiter should preside over some monster trade deals, however, this same influence can inspire trade wars, and we can already see this potential developing between the US and China. And regardless how Great Britain and Europe end their relationship, trade will suffer in the wake of it.

Since August 2016 a series of eclipses has occurred in Leo or Aquarius, which is why, if you belong to these two signs you have had such an up and down time of it. This eclipse series has a distinctly royal aura to it, especially regarding the British Crown, being in play during the toppling of the English monarchy in 1669. This time round we have seen the Duke of Edinburgh’s retirement from public life, the birth of a royal prince and the wedding of Harry and Meghan. But with one eclipse yet to come (21 January) there could be much, much more to the royal story before the end of 2019.

In a nutshell, 2019 is a year to make the most of everything we have and everything that comes to us. It is also a year that we should liken to autumn: a beautiful season but one that precedes winter; and in keeping with nature, we should store our resources in preparation for a lean and mean period. It’s not exactly make-hay-while-the-sun-shines; more treasuring those things that are precious to us, including planet Earth, and ensuring they will still be there decades hence. It’s something Saturn in Capricorn would applaud us for.

The Year Ahead for Libra

General

Librans are some of the most positive people in the zodiac but your optimism may have suffered since Saturn began its journey across the base of your solar chart (December 2017), although this planet is in fact helping make your mark. Some of you may be able to put down firm roots in 2019, yet there is also a trend for family and property issues, which can be avoided by focusing on the practical aspects of the situation, not the emotional. Jupiter’s transit of the zone of travel and communications will help you to get out there, whether in terms of meeting the right people or finding a haven for your talents or simply seeing a lot more of the world. The eclipses of the year straddle the axis of life-direction, so some Librans will see big changes in their career; others will find the home front the focus for landmark developments. July and December are important in this regard.

Love and relationships

2019 opens with Uranus in the zone of relating, so don’t be surprised if the turn of the year produces an unexpected proposal or some other exciting development in your love life. This is one of the best times to make life-changing decisions whether you reach them all by yourself or events come out of left field and inspire them. Famous for your ability to compromise, which makes you a star partner, you may well feel you’ve given way a little too often and can no longer put up with certain conditions and behaviours. And it is a good thing. A partner will either wise up and change because he or she loves you deeply or you will be able to leave free from guilt. Key periods for romance and relationships are to be found in mid-July, late September and mid-October.

Work, life goals and finance

Eclipses invariably coincide with life-defining events, and with this year’s eclipses on the life-direction axis, your career could take off or a job you’ve had for years may end, forcing you onto a new and untried path. January gives you your first taste of the new and the unexpected, and if you’ve been considering making a radical move career-wise, let thoughts become actions. July has a similar push-comes-to-shove aura about it, although you have less control of your destiny. Safeguards you put in place in 2018 will prove wise; likewise, projects begun and financial agreements made last year should go from strength to strength. Nonetheless, money is not in great supply, and 2019 is not the year to invest or borrow more than you can safely lose in property or on the stock market. Caution and thrift are your friends.

CELESTIAL TIP

The hard decision is the right decision. It may be tempting to hang on to a situation in the hopes that the tide will turn, but you’d be better cutting your losses.

There are many factors about 2019 that make it a progressive year but acting swiftly to prevent a situation from getting out of control is key to your continuing well-being. And this is a philosophy that should be applied across the board from your health to your love life and finances. With Saturn and Pluto in pole positions, good karma comes back to you as do some ghosts from the past.

High points: 25 January; 14 March, 19 April: 10 August; 24 December

Low points: 11 January; 23 February; 9 and 16 July; 13 October