On the Erotic Ecliptic for January 2025

How not to implode as the world explodes

The Empire State Building being struck by lightning on New Year’s Eve 2024 into 2025

Dates to Note January 2025

2^nd: VENUS ENTERS PISCES (10:24 pm ET)

3rd : Retrograde Mars in Leo opposite Pluto in Aquarius (2:21 am ET)

4th: Sun in Capricorn sextile Saturn in Pisces (5:36 pm ET)

6^th: MARS RE-ENTERS CANCER (5:44 am ET), Mercury in Sagittarius square Neptune in Pisces 8:56 am ET)

8^th: MERCURY ENTERS CAPRICORN (5:30 am ET), Sun in Capricorn square Chiron in Aries (8:54 pm ET)

11^th: Mars in Cancer trine Neptune Pisces (4:16 pm ET), LUNAR NODES ENTER PISCES AND VIRGO

13^th: Sun in Capricorn trine Uranus in Taurus (3:13 am ET), FULL MOON AT 24 CANCER (5:27 pm ET)

14^th: Venus in Pisces square Jupiter in Gemini (2:48 pm ET)

15^th: Sun in Capricorn opposite Mars in Cancer (9:39 pm ET)

17^th: Sun in Capricorn sextile Neptune in Pisces (6:20 am ET)

18^th: Venus in Pisces conjunct Saturn (8:26 pm ET)

19^th: Mercury in Capricorn sextile Saturn in Pisces (2:38 am ET), Mercury in Capricorn sextile Venus in Pisces (11:32 am ET), SUN ENTERS AQUARIUS (3:00 pm ET)

20^th: MLK JR DAY, INAUGURATION DAY

21^st: Mercury in Capricorn square Chiron in Aries (3:06 am ET), Sun in Aquarius conjunct Pluto/PLUTO CAZIMI (7:29 am ET)

23^rd: Mars in Cancer sextile Uranus in Taurus (10:08 am ET), Mercury in Capricorn opposite Mars in Cancer (3:49 pm ET), Mercury in Capricorn trine Uranus in Taurus (5:07 pm ET)

25^th: Venus in Pisces trine Mars in Cancer (6:54 pm ET)

26^th: Mercury in Capricorn sextile Neptune in Pisces (1:33 pm ET), Venus in Pisces sextile Uranus in Taurus (6:11 pm ET)

27^th: MERCURY ENTERS AQUARIUS (9:53 pm ET)

29^th: Mercury in Aquarius conjunct Pluto (2:52 am ET), NEW MOON 9 AQUARIUS (7:36 am ET)

30^th: URANUS DIRECT AT 16 TAURUS (11:22 am ET), Sun in Aquarius trine Jupiter in Gemini (5:59 pm ET)

Welcome to a New Year that is already feeling decidedly dangerous as I write this on January 1st (yes, I am late as I’ve been writing a lot of daily horoscopes and your yearly forecast). Between the horrific attack on my beloved NOLA overnight and whatever TF is going on with the Cybertruck that exploded in front of Trump’s Vegas hotel this morning to the massive blackout in Puerto Rico on New Year’s Eve, the astrology is not fucking around. 2025 is doing precisely what I said 2025 would do, and it’s not pausing to let us catch our breath. If you’re feeling it in your body, with stress and worry and insomnia and unexplainable aches, you are not alone.

What this is, straight out of the gate, is an angry, thwarted, uncomfortable retrograde Mars in Leo just days away from its exact opposition to Pluto in early Aquarius. This aspect was last exact a few days before the election, but with Mars in late Cancer and Pluto at the very end of Capricorn. At the time, this is what I said about this aspect:

That visceral sensation you’re experiencing, as if your whole body is locked in a crucible slowly crushing you as your heart beats out of your chest? That’s a hungry, malefic Mars in Cancer inching toward its opposition with Pluto at the final degree of Capricorn, symbolizing the end of a 15-year era defined by the cruelties of late capitalism. On the other side, we will be new people in a new nation, no matter the outcome.

But this one hits different because Mars stationed retrograde in early December and the passion planet deals with retrogrades not by slowing down and weakening, but by becoming even more entrenched in its malefic nature: violent, angry, dangerous, volatile, and cruel. Mars is the angriest right now that he will be all year, as he inches toward his exact opposition with Pluto at 2:21 am ET on the 3rd. Remember that Mars is the traditional ruler of Scorpio and Pluto, the lord of the underworld, is the modern ruler. Our worst fears and darkest imaginings are loaded into this explosive cauldron.

I pray that the worst is over from this aspect in terms of real-world violence, but the aspect returns in April. I’ll warn you when it’s coming. For now, let’s send all our love to the people of New Orleans, the people of Puerto Rico, the people of Palestine, the people who are suffering anywhere from genocide, famine, war, sickness and poverty. Not in a “thoughts and prayers” kind of way, but in a “I’m thinking about what I can do to change this reality” kind of way.

On the 6th Mars returns to Cancer, where it was when the election opposition perfected, but Pluto will remain in Aquarius for the remainder of the retrograde, so between now and February 23rd, when Mars stations direct, at least we won’t face this exact threat again in precisely this form. We will indeed have time to catch our breath.

Nearly simultaneously with the Mars-Pluto opposition, Venus slides into Pisces late on the night of the 2nd, where she is exalted and at her best. So we have Mars representing the masculine at his most base, cruel and dangerous, and Venus, representing the feminine, in all her healing, compassionate glory. Drink the healing potion of Venus in Pisces early in the month, because Venus will enter her own retrograde shadow on January 28th, slowing down and feeling yucky and weird. Here’s what I wrote about the dance of Mars and Venus early this year in my 2025 forecast:

Mars and Venus and the Urgency of Desire

Mars, ruler of Aries and Scorpio, is retrograde in Leo as the year begins, and quickly opposes Pluto in Aquarius, as it did just a few days before the election. As I write this yearly forecast, the Mars/Pluto opposition is nearing and the energy is fairly dark and twisted. In the last few days there have been two plane crashes, with one of the aircraft shot down by Russia in Azerbaijan. (Putin and his wannabe empire figure heavily into the astrology of the rest of the year, so I find this timing interesting.)

Within hours of the exact opposition, Venus enters Pisces, where she is exalted and lives most freely as her best self, and where she will move through part of her upcoming retrograde in March and April, undoing, refining and reviewing some of what we experience in January. Note any high notes you hit as the year turns over, especially in relationships or with new crushes, as they may have something to teach you in the months ahead.

On the 6^th Mars returns to Cancer, where he is in fall and will live out the remainder of his retrograde, stationing direct on February 23^rd. Venus enters Aries on February 4^th, where she is also in fall. Both halves of this cosmic consort dyad are uncomfortable in their skins in these signs, and can’t quite reach for desire or pleasure easily as they watch each other from their respective rearview mirrors.

Venus stations retrograde on March 1^st, less than 10 days later, as if the masculine is handing off the baton of reflection to the feminine, and both are in weak condition. Mars, meanwhile, doesn’t return to Leo until April 18^th. Venus reenters Pisces on March 27^th, stations direct in Pisces on April 12^th, and returns to Aries on May 1^st.

This entire period, from the start of the year until the start of May, may be hard on our relationship to our erotic selves and our relationships with others, making them awkward, halting, and full of miscommunication, but ripe for introspection. And yet our desires could be urgent, LOUD, and insistent, as if we cannot live without the lover we have or the one we wish to have, and yet cannot live with them harmoniously.

After Mars shifts back into Cancer, we might feel like we’re in an emotional sinkhole. The Full Moon in Cancer on the 13th, conjunct Mars, could be a kind of culmination for that sense of heaviness, and even if we feel deep sadness around this time, it should at least have a purging effect, so we can let it all out, wringing out our despair like a sponge. It’s crucial to release anger at this point, so if anything has been frustrating you, if you’re harboring resentment, don’t let it boil over into blind rage or revenge. Do NOT bury it — let it out. But don’t do it in such a way that you hurt yourself or others. Healthy outlets only.

After this purgative lunation, we experience the pleasure high of a sweet Venus-Jupiter square on the 14th. This is cosmic candy. Eat every last crumb.

Venus is conjunct Saturn on the 18th, potentially deflating our most whipped up romantic delulu dreams of the previous weeks. And it’s okay — we need this before Venus enters its retrograde shadow at the end of the month and prepares us for relationship ups and downs in the months to come.

The Sun enters Aquarius on the 20th and is exactly conjunct Pluto on the 21st. In between is Inauguration Day/MLK Day. I can’t imagine the metaphor they’ll use to top “this American carnage,” as they swear in the fascist owned by techno-autocrats, but I’m sure they’ll come up with something truly terrifying. Never has it been more important to lean into MLK’s legacy of community care and revolution. He was a radical, do not ever forget this. This is the year we’ll have to begin to tap into Pluto in Aquarius to co-create a new age of revolution that is non-violent and wholly transformational. We cannot be complacent about capitalism any longer. The polycrisis will not be solved with half-measures and posturing.

This slightly abbreviated forecast will be updated in the coming week as I start catching up, but if you’d like more info on the month and your own sign/rising sign , please read my WELL+GOOD forecast for January. Sign-by-sign forecasts for paid subscribers will be updated below on a rolling basis — and I’ll let you know in the chat when they’re all posted!