The Week Above is a weekly astrological "weather report" detailing the major planetary configurations for the week ahead. All times and dates given are in Eastern Time. There will be references to your birth chart and your Sun, Moon, and Rising signs throughout. If you aren't sure of what that means, check out Astrodienst for free online chart drawings, and Cups & Crowns for the basics of how to understand a drawn chart.

If you enjoy my writing and find it valuable, you can support me on Patreon. Future posts will feature horoscopes for all twelve signs if certain goals are met. I’m also available for readings.

January 2nd - The Sun conjoins Saturn

Saturn in Capricorn is a heavy, arresting influence we’ve been dealing with for just over a year and will continue to deal with into 2020. Just consider him background radiation for this period of time, a planet to blame for why time has seemed to move so slowly over the past year.

On Wednesday he conjoins the Sun, and thus is elevated and brightened briefly. He is temporarily exalted and birthed anew, giving us a sober sort of inspiration as to what, exactly, we want to do over the coming year or two.

It’s a good day to spend hours carefully planning what work you have ahead of you, what life you want to build, what foundation you want to lay for the structures of your life.

Give it time, careful thought, and lots of consideration, and you should come out with something that can stand the test of time.

January 4th - Mercury enters Capricorn

Mercury finally leaves the confusing (for Mercury) expanse of Sagittarius and enters the mountainous terrain of Capricorn on Friday, giving the trickster planet a dose of sobriety they aren’t necessarily accustomed to.

It’s not that Capricorn is a bad sign for Mercury, but it’s not a great one either. Here, matters Mercurial (communication, intellect, analysis, organization, etc.) move not by soaring through the air but by plodding slowly up the mountain steps, surefooted and stubborn.

Expect people to be less willing to change their minds, less eager to jump to conclusions, less interested in flights of intellectual fancy. Wednesday, Mercury’s day, is a good day to work on your taxes, which you definitely don’t want to save to the last minute this year. The 9th, 16th, and 23rd of January are the Wednesdays when Mercury is in Capricorn, before he enters Aquarius on the 24th (Mercury in Aquarius is fine too, but please try and do them before Mercury enters Pisces on February 10th.)

This transit will affect you most if your Sun, Moon, or Ascendant is in Gemini or Virgo, or closely aspecting Mercury in your natal chart.

January 5th - Partial Solar Eclipse in Capricorn

Ah, here we go. We get to meet the eclipse cycle in Cancer and Capricorn for the first time.

This eclipse cycle will be underscoring and underlining all of the shit we’re gonna have to deal with from having Saturn, Pluto, and the South Node all in Capricorn for the next year or two, so buckle up and get ready for it.

Eclipses, I should mention, are not good for any of your usual lunar phase stuff. Solar Eclipses are new moons and Lunar Eclipses full moons, yes, but they’re only “supercharged” lunations in the sense that they’re supercharged with snake venom. Do not try and begin major new projects this weekend the way you would for a normal new moon, unless you have no choice in the matter, in which case do not try and fight it. Things that happen by fate are unavoidable on eclipses more so than usual, so go with the flow on these things.

The flow, by the way, is outward like a bowel movement, so getting rid of stuff you want to get rid of this weekend is a great idea. This is because Saturday’s eclipse is on the South Node, sometimes called Ketu or the Dragon’s Tail, which in practice sometimes means the rest of the stuff at the back end of a snake too.

Per the advice of astrologer Austin Coppock, I recommend going onto your music streaming platform of choice, finding a Ketu Mantra, and letting it play on repeat during the time around the eclipse for as long as you can handle it. Having it going regularly for a week on either side is good, but definitely have it going for a couple hours centered on the eclipse itself, which happens at 8:30pm-ish EST. The eclipse won’t be visible unless you live in Siberia, so don’t worry about that, but some form of remediation is a good idea. You can also fast if that’s your thing, or take a salt bath Saturday night.

January 6th - Uranus stations Direct

As if there wasn’t enough disruption going on with the eclipse, here we have a Uranus station to add some fun to the mix.

“Disruption” is a key word for Uranus. He shakes things up. He makes things exciting. Sometimes like a theme park ride where they drop you from a massive height only to save you at the last second, sometimes like a transformer explosion that turns the sky electric blue, sometimes like finding yourself engaged in situations you never in a million years expected.

Uranus disrupts technology when he stations the way Mercury problems can, but he tends to do so more by hitting the electrical systems themselves. Innovation is another way Uranus can disrupt, which is a blessing and curse in equal parts.

Still, one thing Uranus has in common with eclipses is the quality of the unexpected, so if you want to avoid the worst things possible happening, sit down and think of all the bad things that could happen to you this week related to the Uranus station and Eclipse, and having thought of them, they will not happen to you. Something manageably bad or actually positive (disruption serves a useful purpose after all) will happen instead. You may think I’m kidding, but it actually works.

This transit will affect you most if you have the Sun, Moon, Mercury, Venus, or Mars, or Midheaven in Aries, or the Ascendant in Aries, Cancer, Libra, or Capricorn.

January 7th - Venus enters Sagittarius

“Auspicious. Finally some good fucking space weather” - Not Gordon Ramsay

Venus, the nocturnal benefic, enters the sign ruled and currently occupied by Jupiter, the diurnal benefic. This is the good-good juice. This is the love and joy and skip in your step you earned from living through this point in history. Whatever house contains Sagittarius in your chart is gonna get a nice boost from having both benefics bouncily breeding bounty for a hot minute, until Venus enters Capricorn on February 3rd. You’re gonna have a real good time in whatever that part of your life is this month, so enjoy it.

Venus is the planet of love, lust, beauty, relationships, aesthetics, things of value and worth, systems of value and worth, pleasure, and connection. In Sagittarius her aesthetic becomes interested in the exotic, religious, and philosophical. She wants to roam more freely—experimentation with the unknown is common for Venus in Sagittarius—what’s that over there?

Relationships firmly locked into solid routine may have some friction this month if that routine isn’t broken by something new and exciting in a controlled, conscious, consensual manner. If it is, go have fun with it.

This transit will affect you most if your Sun, Moon, or Ascendant is in Taurus, Libra, or Sagittarius. The rising signs that will have the most bounty from having both benefics co-present in Sagittarius are Gemini, Leo, Sagittarius, Aquarius, and Pisces.