On the Erotic Ecliptic for January 2023
Horoscopes For Your Pleasure: Part 1 (sign-by-sign coming on New Year's Day)
Happy New Year! I’m still working on your sign-by-sign forecast and will have that ready by New Year’s Day, but I wrote an extra-long intro about the entire year and January in detail. I’m sending that now so you can read it before toasting tonight. If you are not already a paying subscriber, note that the sign-by-sign forecast I release tomorow can only be viewed when you subscribe. If you want in, you can upgrade below. It’s 36 bucks a year right now, but going up to $49 starting tomorrow! So get in while the good seats are still cheap.
Brief thoughts on the major planetary ingresses of 2023
Pluto in Aquarius
This is officially a January forecast, but I know y’all are wondering about the entire year, so I’m sharing a brief overview of my thoughts before the regular monthly forecast drops tomorrow to enjoy with your hangover brunch. If you want a sign-by-sign forecast for the year as a whole, I have a few forecasts up on the Internet, here and one that is love/relationships specific here.
It's kind of hard to process at this stage, but it’s officially 2023 and although Pluto doesn’t dip its Hadean toes into Aquarius, the ruler of robots, until March, that is-this-too-much-AI feeling is already gripping the collective. This isn’t atypical – often when outer or transpersonal planets prepare to move into a new sign, we start to get those generational vibes ahead of the actual transit. The tech warnings are also in part because Saturn is finishing its tour through Aquarius, reminding us of our homework for the next 30 years. Basically, the message is “If you don’t want a Black Mirror reality, do something about this shit right now.” But between Elon’s threats to brainchip us (and charge us for it), the emergence of robot dog police forces, and CHAT GPT getting stunningly amazing at talking to us like a secret lover, Pluto is definitely letting us know what the next 20+ years might be like.
Everything we’ve seen in late-stage Saturn in Aquarius is a message about what’s coming during Pluto in Aquarius, but with a darker tone. I admit it, I had a little dalliance with the viral My Heritage AI art generator around Thanksgiving, before I learned about its evils.
I have a lot more thoughts about what Pluto in Aquarius will bring and I’ll share that over the next few months (and years). But note that the demoted planet of karma is plenty potent during the second quarter of 2023, traversing Aquarius from March 23rd to June 11th and giving us a sneak preview of this sci-fi film. Pluto will return to Aquarius on November 19, 2024 and remain there until March 8, 2043.
Saturn in Pisces
The other major planetary move coming in March 2023 is Saturn’s move into Pisces, where our Big Daddy has not been since 1996. In some ways, the mid-sixties and mid-nineties were both eras of artistic, social and cultural realignment right before revolutions that utterly changed the world. The 1960s went from rock-n-roll to the sexual revolution and anti-war movement, and gave us the birth of the modern left. The 1990s went from the raw angst of grunge and Kurt Cobain (Pisces) and his peers… to the Internet. It’s pretty safe to say that we haven’t been the same since. In some ways we left our bodies back there in 1996, and now we have a chance to reinhabit them.
There’s a way in which Saturn in Pisces forces us to heal. This energy is very “Heal or die, bitch.” That’s because Saturn’s tour of Capricorn and Aquarius (both ruled by Saturn) is often bracketed by anxiety and pain, and by the time Saturn gets to Pisces the collective body is suffering so deeply, so ridden with trauma, that the only choice is to confront it. We go from pure survival mode (Capricorn) to intellectualizing mode (Aquarius) and finally to processing and healing mode (Pisces). Think about what we’ve been through since 2020, when Saturn and Pluto were conjunct right before the start of the pandemic, to the tech-enabled vaccines at the moment Saturn entered Aquarius as 2021 began, to where we are now, a few months before Saturn enters Pisces.
Our culture has mostly moved on from the most minimal mitigation, and we never stop to think about the 1.1 million American humans who’ve died from Covid, not to mention the 6.9 million who’ve left their bodies worldwide. We’ve lost more people than we have in all our major wars put together just here in the US, but we have no collective ritual, no monuments, no days of remembrance. We have just powered through with Netflix and vibes. When Saturn enters Pisces, I think the tears we’ve kept in will have no choice but to flow. Pisces rules the feet, and one of the most healing modalities for this moment will likely be dance.
The 1990s Saturn in Pisces era, one that I remember, came after the Cold War ended, and while the AIDS era was ongoing – but it was a decade in, and medicines were beginning to emerge. It may just be that I was in my early 20s and going out a lot, but I do remember that it was a pretty stellar moment for dance culture, at least in NYC. Club culture was absolutely fucking transcendent at the time. We had ACT UP and after all the anguish of losing so many, there was finally some hope. It seemed like the world might be rearranging itself into a more democratic shape post-USSR. Obviously that was a lie, but that’s how it felt at the time.
If you were born between March 23, 1964 and September 16, 1964, December 16, 1964 and March 3, 1967 OR May 21, 1993 to Jun 30, 1993, January 28, 1994 to April 7, 1996 – you’re about to go through your first or second Saturn Return! Lean into creativity for your outlet when you feel lost, and don’t forget to DANCE.
Okay! Finally we get to January.
Dates to note
1st Venus in Capricorn conjunct Pluto (early morning ET)
2nd Venus enters Aquarius (9:09 pm ET)
6th Full Moon in Cancer (6:08 pm ET at 16 degrees)
8th Black Moon Lilith enters Leo (will remain here until October)
9th Venus in Aquarius trine Mars Retrograde in Gemini
12th MARS DIRECT (3:56 PM ET)
14th Venus in Aquarius square Uranus in Taurus (8:22 pm ET)
18th MERCURY DIRECT (8:12 am ET)
20th Sun enters Aquarius (3:30 am ET)
21st New Moon in Aquarius (3:53 am ET)
22nd Venus in Aquarius conjunct Saturn (5:13 pm ET), URANUS DIRECT (5 :59 pm ET), Lunar New Year – Year of the Rabbit
26th Venus enters Pisces (9:33 pm ET)
Eros is in Sagittarius all month.
Welcome to 2023! If you’re just not ready, join the club.
January’s astrology is like the slowest kind of foreplay, at least during the first two weeks. When we wake up on New Year’s Day, we might feel intellectually ready to attack resolutions or just brunch, but our bodies may say NOPE, let’s stay in bed a while longer. This is both because a cozy, lazy Moon in Taurus can make us indulgent, but also because Mercury is newly retrograde and Mars is still in reverse motion.
On the 2nd Venus puts on her best robot dominatrix outfit and beep bop boops into Aquarius, a sign that’s going to get a lot of attention during the first half of the year. We might be more emotionally detached and analytical about our relationships for the next few weeks. It’s less jealous and more open. Even if we’re 1000 percent monogamous, it may be interesting to at least understand the language of poly communities. To me, compersion is a very Venus in Aquarius word.
The Full Moon in Cancer on the 6th is mushy-gushy and needy AF. Our security needs stand out now, and any ways that we were not nurtured and provided for as a child can come up in our adult relationships. Kink-wise, it’s all about MILFs, mommies, and breast play, for all genders.
Black Moon Lilith shifts into LEO on the 8th and will hang out on the diva’s dramatic runway through October. This is a signal to banish any shame we have about being too much for a lover or too much for the world. Being fiery and confident AF and flashy about it is encouraged, especially when its scary to be that big.
Holy shit, MARS IS DIRECT on the 12th. You and I both thought this day might never come. I mean, I knew by looking at my ephemeris exactly when it would come, but it’s been a long, angry slog since late October. All the misdirected, passive-aggressive, and unexplained lagging libido issues should begin to right themselves as mighty Mars gets his mojo back. This isn’t instant, though – imagine Mars Direct as if a warrior was roofied mid-battle, and spear in hand, they’re groggily emerging from a fitful sleep. That’s how our romantic interactions could play out the whole week after Mars goes direct, especially because Mercury remains retrograde until the 18th. It’s essential to communicate clearly from jump, instead of just cleaning up a mess later.
The Sun ingresses into Aquarius on the 20th and the New Moon in this fixed air sign arrives the next day, further plunging us into the bracing ice bath. On the 22nd, Venus is conjunct Saturn for the final time during the next 29.5 years. We may be very in our heads right now, and reminding ourselves that we have a body is necessary. The eternal social media scroll could be more appealing than touch, even self-touch, but finding ways to reconnect to soul and soma is the balm every Aquarius Season can benefit from. Partnered or single, lean into your own version of sensate therapy.
2023 is the Year of the Rabbit (input your sex joke here) which is supposed to be a year of hope. You know what? I’ll take it. Once again, sign-by-sign horoscopes for January are coming tomorrow, and the podcast should be up on Monday. If you’re a subscriber, you’ll currently see the December scopes still up.