Star Weather Astrology Report 1/5–1/12
©2025 Ronnie Pontiac
All times Pacific.
Friends, here we are at the dawning of a new era, a year of major astrological changes we’ll glance over below. As for this week with Mars opposition Pluto still almost exact the next several weeks remain a point of intensity for conflict, breakdowns, power struggles, but also reinvention, and refining goals and the means to achieve them. Search deeply in your desires, anger, and ambitions. Sort out your feelings, your thoughts, and your habitual reflexes around these Mars motivations. Pluto can help you revive and refine. Look for tranquil moments. Give yourself time to obsess over how you’ve been effective in life, and how you haven’t. Three of the four biggest astrological doors are opening this year, the fourth opened just a few weeks ago on 11/19/2024. For Saturn, Uranus and Neptune we get just a peek. They close briefly again, as if to give us a chance to catch our collective breath. Then they open for real in 2026.
Sunday 1/5 only lunar aspects are exact. Maya Angelou wrote: “History, despite its wrenching pain, cannot be unlived, but if faced with courage, need not be lived again.” This is true individually and collectively.
Mon 1/6 Mars enters Cancer at 2:44 AM. This is an emotional placement for Mars. Conflict may occur around issues involving home and family, but also patriotism and traditionalism. Putting energy into helping the house run smoothly is a more efficient use of time than bickering over details that have little to do with accumulated stress and long term disagreements that actually need attention. Here’s an example of a positive use of Mars opposition Pluto. Bereaved Palestinian and Israeli families who have joined together in the struggle for peace. American Friends of the Parents Circle Family Forum.
Tue 1/7 Mercury inconjunct Mars is exact in the late afternoon. Sharp words or lashing out physically could trigger health issues. Thinking about how best to act may get distorted by alienation caused by suppressed desires or ambitions. Don’t take the bait if someone communicates hostility. See both sides of issues. Avoid unnecessary urgency, this can be an accident prone aspect. Find time for mental pursuits and helpful communication but also make time for physical activity, protecting boundaries, and working toward goals.
Wed 1/8 Mercury enters Capricorn at 2:30 AM indicating a good time for figuring out structure, for knowing when to remain silent, and for studying and practicing rather than criticizing or fixating on obstacles. An excellent placement for editing. Patience, dedication, learning and mentoring can lead to progress. Sun square Chiron is exact just before 6 PM. This could indicate an issue with public health. Since so many people traveled and gathered for Christmas and New Year celebrations, and so many bugs are going around, we can expect to hear news of surges in contagious infections. Take a little extra care, find and stick to your comfort level.
Thu 1/9, Fri 1/10, Sat 1/11 only lunar aspects are exact. Sylvia Plath said: “The worst enemy to creativity is self-doubt.” But this is true of not only creativity, but of life and love. How does it feel to live life with the belief that in the harmony Plotinus described as “we all breathe together” the universe is not indifferent? It works not against us but with us, when we rise to the occasion that is living a life in this strange but beautiful world of ours. Many times I heard Marie Hall say: “We’re all in this together.”
Sun 1/12 Mars trine Neptune is exact indicating opportunities to take inspired actions. On the low end of the spectrum this can indicate epic intoxication, which is not a good idea with Mars still opposing Pluto so closely. Compassion, meditation, intuition can help us diffuse conflicts and settle power struggles. Neptune has been described as the higher octave of Venus. Pluto will exact the price of breaking the laws of existence, but Neptune can show us ways to give and receive mercy and a higher awareness that can help us live better lives. Love is the strongest magic.
Some dates to watch for and plan around in 2025.
3/30 through 10/22 when Neptune first enters Aries then retrogrades back into Pisces. The retrograde occurs on 7/3. Neptune rules long term trends and the moods of the masses. The cycle now ending began in 1861. We see civil war speculation has returned to the forefront of national paranoia. As discussed in other reports the last degree of any sign, but especially of Pisces, representing as it does the end of a trip around the zodiac, has a special intensity related to culmination, endings, closure, consequences. The first degree of Aries also has a special intensity of beginnings, breakthroughs. We’ll be experiencing a second round of this in 2026 so this is our opportunity to get acquainted with the new zeitgeist.
5/24 through 9/1 when Saturn first enters Aries then retrogrades back into Pisces. The day of Saturn stationary retrograde is 7/12. Saturn is ending a cycle around the zodiac that began in 1996. In January of that year there were only 100,000 websites on the internet. Most people browsed on Netscape Navigator. USB connectivity was introduced. Back then MTV was still a powerful influence on the music industry. Amazon was a success after it’s first year as an online book seller and had just opened its platform to affiliates. Google began, as a research project called BackRub at Stanford University. This was the year of the Columbine shooting. You can see how much the world has changed since then, and how the seeds of that world clearly visible in 1996 grew into a new structure for communications and commerce. Now we will see the first seeds of a new Saturn cycle and to many they are no doubt already obvious.
With Saturn and Neptune conjunct in June there is the risk of another pandemic or similar disaster, perhaps involving weather, water, contamination, or drought. But whereas the 2020 pandemic with Saturn conjunct Pluto displayed the characteristic anger at government overreach, as identified by Richard Tarnas, a Saturn Neptune crisis was the flooding of New Orleans after Katrina. A sense of helplessness and the ineffectiveness of authorities is common. The Saturn Neptune conjunction will be nearly exact in July 2025, and will be exact on 2/20/2026 at zero Aries. We may notice its influence as it reaches the orb of conjunction the first week of April 2025. With Mars opposing Pluto the third week of April that will be a volatile month. The news may be disturbing. Focus on what you can change, and on what you can accomplish, but go gently.
6/9 when Jupiter enters Cancer. Jupiter has been in Gemini since May 2024 and we have seen the expansion of misinformation (which in a sense is the multiplication of information). We have also seen the division between what is glibly called left and right deepen, along with the denial and projection that go with it. Jupiter will enter Cancer 6/9 and sojourns through that sign until June 2026. Those with strong Sagittarius placements may feel a sense of relief as indecision, especially indecisive partners and communities retreat to home base.
Jupiter is exalted in Cancer. Imagination is strong. Emotions are strong, especially around issues regarding home and family. Expect a big show of patriotism, speeches about mother, tradition and country. In Cancer the moon rules Jupiter, this will be a time when women can flourish. Many women have dedicated themselves to good works after the election. They know the patriarchy’s day’s are numbered. Many have chosen to no longer participate in areas of life they once tolerated. Let’s support women, men. As Manly Hall said, and I paraphrase, there is no more noble or effective spiritual path than serving the vision of a woman you love.`
7/7–11/7 when Uranus first enters Gemini. Uranus will be stationary retrograde 9/6. The cycle ending now began in 1941. Many astrologers are nervous since Uranus was in Gemini during the American Revolution and World War 2. Neptune was in Aries during the Civil War. This does not necessarily indicate widespread violence as the nature of warfare has changed. But the willingness to fight against tyranny is a common theme. We will certainly see further revolutions in communications and commerce. Fear not, Sagittarius, you will not find yourself stagnant between opposing immovable forces. Uranus may move for freedom at a pace even you find exhilarating.
The US Uranus return follows the finally fading US Pluto return we’ve been struggling through since about 2017. The Pluto return revealed disturbing and potentially dangerous American shadows on both sides of the aisle. As a collective we’ll be dealing with those revelations for some time. The US Uranus return will bring into sharp focus the conflict between technology and individuality, between collectivism and freedom. By the end of the 2020s we’ll look back on these times as quaint, so enjoy the present moment fully, as if you’re a visitor from a future about to arrive. As Ralph Waldo Emerson wrote: “Write it on your heart that every day is the best day in the year.”
