“The planets are God’s punctuation marks pointing the sentences of human fate, written in the constellations.”- —James Lendall Basford

Makara Sankaranti: I write this piece on the auspicious day of Makara Sankaranti or the festival of Pongal(14^th January 2021), the day when the Sun moves into the sign of Capricorn. It is also the beginning of Uttaraayana, when the sun starts its northward movement (the apparent movement as observed from the Earth) from the Tropic of Capricorn to the Tropic of Cancer. I hope you had great festivities and togetherness with your family.

‘Uttar’ means North and ‘Ayana’ means movement. The sun will move through Capricorn to the sign of Aquarius to Pisces, then Aries to Taurus and finally into the zodiac sign of Gemini. This movement will go on till June 21^st, which is the summer solstice. I had written about Dakshinayana in a previous article last year. You could go back to read it here.

So, we are already half way into the month of January and I have not talked about the transit of planets. I am happy many readers appreciated the article on the Abhijit Nakshatra. If you have not read it yet, you could back and read it here.

Coming back to January and the new year – this will most certainly be the most action-packed month for many countries. You can see the currents in the United States and there will be the ripple effect for the rest of the world.

2021 promises to usher in a new set of events – and no, no – I don’t intend to be an alarmist. But it is always better to be prepared.  I quote the French born American composer and author Dane Rudhyar yet again- “Astrology is a Language. If you understand this language, The Sky Speaks to You.”

The following are the transits.

Summary: To summarise, there is a stellium of planets that will assemble in Capricorn by February, namely Saturn, Sun, Jupiter, Mercury, Pluto and Venus, and that is a lot of Capricorn energy. On January 20^th, Uranus and Mars, two volatile planets are conjunct in Aries and this is a warning that there will be violence and religious places will be targeted too. The Intelligence agencies all over the world need to be alert, especially in the United States. People are advised to stay calm and away from crowds. The full moon will bring healing from many perspectives. For nearly two weeks, from January 14 to 30, there will be absolutely no retrograde planets. Saturn in Capricorn also moves into the Shravana Nakshatra like it it did in 1961 and 1991. Is it giving warning bells for India? Please read through for more details.

January 03: Venus entered Sagittarius

It remained here till 13^th January in the Mula Nakshatra (ruled by Ketu) which meant destruction of many peace agreements. By January 14, Venus will enter into the nakshatra Purva Ashadha that is ruled by Venus bringing a sense of love and compassion back. It is also about truths surfacing up.

January 13: New Moon 29 degrees Sagittarius and then goes into Capricorn

The New Moon occurred in the last degrees of Sagittarius. New Moons are a time of new beginnings and new emotional cycles. It also indicates an uncovering of some truths that the world may not want to recognize. The sign Sagittarius, especially Uttara Ashada Nakshatra again represents truthfulness.

January 14^th– Sun moves in Capricorn: I have already described this movement above. Sun moves into Uttarashada Nakshatra where Saturn, the ruler of the house is already sitting there. Jupiter is also there in Capricorn. Sun will be here till here till February 12^th and we see many planets gathering here. Venus also enters Capricorn on January 27^th. In addition, Mercury is also there in Capricorn since January 3^rd and will leave on January 25^th only to turn back on February 5^th. Interestingly, Pluto also goes into Capricorn. This is happening after 1776 (incidentally when the United States was formed). Pluto also represents atomic energy. All these indicate an overhaul of governments around the world. But something needs to surface before this transformation. With Mercury in Capricorn, the media will radically change and especially with social media. Mercury’s retrograde will also reveal financial corruption.

Hence, with so many planets gathered in Capricorn, Capricorn issues become important. Capricorn is about democracy and karma. Saturn and Sun are conjunct on January 23^rd, Saturn is the only planet that effects Sun equally, in contrast to other planets who get combust when they are conjunct with the Sun. Venus in Capricorn marks a period in February that creates a stellium of planets in Capricorn. This stellium in Capricorn (Venus, Pluto, Sun, Saturn, Jupiter, and Mercury) indicates the colossal changes that will be occurring globally in many nations.

January 14: Uranus Direct 12 degrees Aries

Astrologers now use even the outer planets for mundane astrology or that which concerns the nation and the world. Uranus is the planet most associated with earthquakes and as it stations nearing Mars there will be many earth changes that will upset the world. There is anger in amongst masses and then earth begins to shake. This also represents severe weather and possible tsunamis. This month of January will go down in history as massively transformational. Mars activating this degree will cause earth-shattering events. We are already witnessing some uncomfortable truths coming out and a lot will be about the media and what they were hiding. Infact, quite probably news about the corona virus can well take a backseat, because of other events.

January 20^th– A turn of events will rock the world according to astrologers. It is also inauguration day of the President of United States. Mars and Uranus are also exactly conjunct in Aries. Mars is aggression and Uranus is shock. These are both volatile planets and put them together in a conjunction on January 20th 2021, on Inauguration Day and we have an extreme risk of shootings and bombings. It is advised the citizens of the nation remain calm and stay away from crowds and also not contribute to the mass hysteria. There will be more polarity, and tempers will flay. Religious places all over the world need to take care too, especially in the United States. According to Joni Patry, “There are two ways it could go: one is that Biden is not the one to be inaugurated, the other is that there will be a mass protest that results in violence, or the violence and protest could be due to Trump being inaugurated.” Either way, we need to be calm and create a distance from what bothers you. We see families getting polarised for the sake of politics and the spiralling energies. This is absolutely foolish.

January 23^rd: Saturn moves to Shravana Nakshatra in Capricorn or Makara Rashi; For India this could be a trying time for those in power. It takes 30 years for Saturn to make a revolution and the last time this transit happened was in 1991 and before that in 1961. You need to go back to the events on those years and anticipate if anything similar could come up. By going back to history, astrology gives us the chance to pre-empt these struggles. Borders have to be strengthened, communal harmony has to be fostered, health of the nation has to be bolstered.

January 27^th: An interesting occurrence is that on January 27^th Jupiter becomes exactly conjunct with the Sun at 14 degrees Capricorn. This position is known as Cazimi in western astrology when the Sun is empowered by the Jupiter energy and infact become one with each other. This again is in contrast to the fact that when planets  get close to a conjunction with the Sun, especially within 15 degrees, are thought to be weakened (combust) because their  light is obscured or overpowered by the light of the Sun. Cazimi appears to have been introduced as an exception to that general rule, so that when a planet is within a specific range of the Sun it is no longer harmed. This is a good day to begin any ‘dharmic’ or righteous activities. It is also known as the day of miracles!

January 28^th: Full moon in Pushya Nakshatra, in 14 degrees Cancer (Pushya nakshatra is situated from 3 degrees 20 minutes Cancer to 16 degrees 40 minutes Cancer) It’s a strong full moon as it is in its own sign. The symbol for Pushya nakshatra is the udder of a cow and represents nurturing. Pushya nakshatra is considered the most humanitarian of all 27 nakshatras. Traditionally, in India, Pushya nakshatra is considered an auspicious day to see your Guru or spiritual teacher. What’s more, it is falling on Thursday, the day of the ‘guru’. It is an opportunity for inner growth, as this is what we have all come to earth to achieve.

Full moon brings things to light and gives a pointer to what needs to be done. It is likely that the healing with the Coronavirus will start. And this includes the problems of unemployment that resulted last year. In our personal lives too, things that we were brushing under the carpet will have to be addressed.

Planetary changes are the Supreme Lord’s way of dispensing results to our deeds. What we need to do is to beat with one heart to make the changes we need to make in the world – but with the least amount of hardship and pain.

(My obeisance to Sage Parasara who gave us the treatise Brihat Parasara Hora Shastra; Sage VarahaMihira who wrote the Brihat Samhita Hora, and the current astrologers Joni Patry, Komilla Sutton, Puniett, Satish Menon and a host of other experts who have made astrology comprehensible to the layman. I am attempting this essay only because of them. Any errors are only mine.)

(Note: Do leave a comment/ click on the ‘like’ button if you liked it/ follow the blog, so that I know you liked the content!)