Dear Friend and Reader:
TODAY day is the southern solstice and the 25th anniversary of the Planet Waves website. While the horoscope began in May 1994 as “The Navigator,” PlanetWaves.net went live on the internet on Dec. 21, 1998.This mailing contains your January 2024 horoscope, based on the end of Mercury retrograde on Jan. 1 and Pluto ingressing Aquarius on Jan. 20.
At the moment I’m taking a few minutes to make this page — but these days am mostly working on Somewhere In Between, your 2024+ readings. We are skipping the big marketing push and still sales have been strong. The result of my work is a 5,000 word (chapter length) detailed written reading plus one hour of audio. I will likely add some video as well to present the charts in a conversational way.
Many of you have purchased every annual I’ve offered — thank you. This year’s may be the last written edition, and though it’s always good, I’m putting in extra work and creativity. There is still the option to get a personal reading with your recorded and written reading.
If you want to see what potential astrology has to help you orient your life, and align purpose, necessity and growth, these readings are for you. The full set will provide the equivalent of creative, upbeat therapy for months.
I’m looking at delivery on Jan. 8; so far so good. I’ve given myself an extra week due to Mercury retrograde ending on Jan. 1.
We’ve placed four different older readings on your delivery page — the Aquarian Era classic written readings from 2021, which introduce Pluto in Aquarius; plus two of our most successful video readings (Pluto in a Strange Land from 2023 and Dharma from 2020), and an audio reading (All Of Us Here from 2021). They will be there waiting for you on your sign’s home page.
If you’re feeling dazed, confused, like nothing matters, or like nobody cares — or like you really wish you could tap into your true potential — I’m your astrologer. And you can have 12 brand new audios and written readings for just $133.
Thanks for your business and your trust.
Here are your January readings, the first of the new year.
With love,
One’s mark has always been transient, though in the digital environment, most of its expressions verge on irrelevant. The question more suited to the moment is: what is the mark that the world is making on you?
Aries (March 20-April 19) — Those who try to make their mark on the world are building a sandcastle at low tide. One’s mark has always been transient, though in the digital environment, most of its expressions verge on irrelevant. The question more suited to the moment is: what is the mark that the world is making on you? How have you been changed by the rising tide of technology? How have your social experiences been reshaped by an environment where nearly everything is a paid transaction? It’s not so much that every conversation is processed through an electronic third-party. Rather, the greater problem is that there is a fee attached to everything. This reduces the entire realm of human affairs to a version of amazon.com. You might add up the cost this has had on your life and on all of our lives. And once you’ve done that, the question is: what action are you prepared to take? If you’re happy with the direction things are headed, you might decide you don’t need to do much. If you draw the lines out and see where they converge, you might decide that you must intervene, at least within your own personal sphere. By that I mean with those the very closest to you. And it’s probably high time you meet, in person, some people you consider your online friends and test that whole theory. Along the way, don’t let anyone convince you that you are anything other than human. The arguments are sly.
Your potential is expanding exponentially, and will continue to do so over the next few months as the great conjunction of Jupiter and Uranus forms in your sign. The only thing that can limit you is your own self-concept.
Taurus (April 19-May 20) — The more you persist in thinking for yourself, the more you will grow and gain in wisdom. Not enough has been said about how this is the origin of all freedom. It’s not difficult to understand why; a great diversity of people and things take an interest in you not doing so, and make you feel guilty if you do. Yet thinking for yourself is the only way to make your own decisions, and the most important of those is determining who you are. What is astonishing about so much of history is the extent to which people were told who they are and that they had no choice whatsoever in this matter. This is true even in societies that got past tribal tendencies. Your potential is expanding exponentially, and will continue to do so over the next few months as the great conjunction of Jupiter and Uranus forms in your sign. The only thing that can limit you is your own self-concept, and that, in turn, is governed by a diversity of factors, all of them flowing from the past or very distant past. And I would repeat that the governing element is guilt: it’s the seeming barbed-wire fence that you reach when you have ‘gone too far’ or are ‘too free’. If you have the guts to challenge this, you will be able to do what so few have done, and actually transcend significant elements of your past conditioning. The question is, can you go beyond the limitations of guilt and still have a conscience? That would be helpful to everyone.
While Pluto drives many changes, it also pushes people into focusing on their inner nature and bringing that out despite any adversity. If Pluto has one central lesson, it is, “you will learn how to be yourself.”
Gemini (May 20-June 21) — Life is often a matter of compromise, though it should be a lot more than that. The coming few weeks represent the culmination of a long span of your personal history, dating back to some time around 2008 or 2009. This has been a time when you’ve been presented with many enforced changes and what some would call lessons. (Patric Walker once described activity in this house as having to make more alterations than a dressmaker during prom season.) Yet what has really happened is that the world you grew up in and always expected to be there (which held true into adulthood) is gone. Or mostly gone. The structured patterns of social and professional relations have dissolved into something else — mostly. In times of rapid and profound change, it’s essential to stick to something true about you at your core. I reckon that Pluto has ensured that this happens. While Pluto drives many changes, it also pushes people into focusing on their inner nature and bringing that out despite any adversity. If Pluto has one central lesson, it is, “you will learn how to be yourself.” Not everyone likes this; it’s too much responsibility for most. Yet you had little choice but to rise to the occasion and establish a level of radical independence from those who would seek to control you in any way. It is a mighty task to rise above the kinds of structure and restriction that the whole world depends on and seems to be in love with. Yet you have done very well.
The concept of solstice implies a pause. It would be wise of you to slow down your life for a few days and collect yourself — even a solid 24 hours away from normal activity — will help you make better decisions and be more efficient.
Cancer (June 21-July 22) — The Sun’s ingress into your opposite sign always comes as a relief. The metaphor is that the Sun reaches its furthest extreme south toward the Tropic of Capricorn (which feels like you’re being stretched beyond your limits) and then begins its gradual journey northward along the horizon toward the Tropic of Cancer — that is, your own personal line that encircles the globe. On one occasion I experienced this as the machinery of the universe seeming to slow down, stop and reverse itself. The concept of solstice implies a pause. It would be wise of you to slow down your life for a few days and collect yourself. Even if you’re involved in something urgent that you must wrap up before the end of the year, some time for reflection — even a solid 24 hours away from normal activity — will help you make better decisions and be more efficient. As Mercury retrograde ends on Jan. 1, I suggest you do a similar ritual: pause and refresh your mind. Your often amazing productivity is based on efficiency and not on speed or volume. There should be no sensation of force. This will be especially easy if you stay a step or two ahead of yourself, and at the same time, remove or reschedule any commitments that you know will get in your way. You’re now fully into a time in your life when your leadership and your example are more meaningful than ever. This is something you are involved with almost all the time, whether through formal, structured roles, or informal social roles. You are the one with the ideas, so relax and let your mind flow — and let your creativity do most of the work.
A necessary element of spiritual growth involves finding the present. This is not just about “letting go of the past” or resolving it or such, but a kind of geographic navigation to the moment you are in, such that you may fully appreciate the properties of where you are now.
Leo (July 22-Aug. 23) — The people who came before you — your parents and the generations before them — had many responsibilities and obligations that you don’t have. Yet while these commitments vanish and technology develops over time, few dare to consider the possibility that our lives are no simpler, no happier, and no more secure. You now have an opportunity to find out why that is, and to determine whether it’s true for you. Why is this important? A necessary element of spiritual growth involves finding the present. This is not just about “letting go of the past” or resolving it or such, but a kind of geographic navigation to the moment you are in, such that you may fully appreciate the properties of where you are now. And the astrology of our little era has you hovering around a portal to certain truly meaningful realities of recently bygone eras. You may notice the near-obsession in our time with old-fashioned approaches to life (usually with the word “artisan” tacked on). There is something significant here; it’s not mere nostalgia. We are losing many of the best qualities of our human journey like a sandcastle in the digital tide. There is wisdom for you coming from older ways, and from the struggles that your predecessors endured — and this wisdom and experience are birthrights. I’m not saying that you must dispense with progress; I am asking whether it really is so progressive. You will find some genuine comfort and nourishment in whatever simplicity you can access.
Something from your personal history is trying to get your attention. You can go back and investigate what that was about, and when you make a discovery, you take it back to right now and use it as a tool to help you with what you’re facing, or wanting, at this time.
Virgo (Aug. 23-Sep. 22) — Your aspects this month describe a branching of the road between living with a past orientation, or a future orientation. Now, human awareness tends to view these as continuous, and it’s never wise (or possible) to cut oneself off from the past entirely — though many attempt it. That’s why I use the word orientation, which is about how you track your movement through life. I would propose that most people with an extreme past orientation don’t think that’s what they do, and that those with a future orientation get there by staying present for what is actually happening right now in their lives. If there is such a thing as the future, it’s only available to us right now. Your chart describes a situation where you may have to keep bringing yourself back into the present. It may feel a little like this: something from your personal history is trying to get your attention. You can go back and investigate what that was about, and when you make a discovery, you take it back to right now and use it as a tool to help you with what you’re facing, or wanting, at this time. Then something else gets your attention and you go back and see what that was about and retrieve some wisdom and put it to work now. You don’t really ‘resolve’ the past as much as you learn from it and give it a job. For most people, unresolved means “nothing learned and nothing gained.” Therefore, claim what is yours. Take possession of what you’ve learned and gained and put it to good use right now.
You will benefit from taking care of your home environment, and cultivating family ties with anyone you know is committed to the practical reality of mutual support. That and nothing else should be called community.
Libra (Sep. 22-Oct. 23) — The Sun’s ingress into Capricorn will at least provide some sense of having solid ground beneath you. Just be careful, as there are gaps and openings that were not there before. So you really need to watch where you are going, and wear solid shoes that track the ground and protect your ankles. One of the major themes of your chart in these years is what the wisdom of the past has to offer you. The digital phenomenon is approximately 95% memory-hole, where all acquired knowledge is falling into a pit; and about 5% recovery of things from the past, most of which are on the level of the Flat Earth. Some retrieved items offer wisdom, and if you know how to use it, that can be a substitute for direct experience. Your elders knew something that is being rapidly lost in the current environment. They also had the benefit of being guided by necessity, a term which seems to no longer have any use. However, the way things are going overall, we might admit that there is such a thing and it does not involve how much foam is on your latte. Collect the brass tacks of the skills you have acquired, and sharpen them up as you can. You do not need entertainment or diversion in any form. You will benefit from taking care of your home environment, and cultivating family ties with anyone you know is committed to the practical reality of mutual support. That and nothing else should be called community.
Astrology Studio for Libra is now available for instant access.
This reading is included with a Backstage Pass
You are in a crucial time of transition from one quarter of your life path to another. The next year will have many signals coming through that it’s time to take major steps and wrap up old business so that you can move forward without compromises.
Scorpio (Oct. 23-Nov. 22) — The mystery of your life will continue to unravel. There is one matter on which you can make tremendous progress this month: evaluating and setting your priorities. Such is a deeper dive than most people are willing to do; and it’s why so many people go through life feeling misguided and making decisions they regret. Snap yourself out of this foggy, soggy state and get real with yourself about what matters to you. Sort out your needs from your wants; both have a place, and the correct things need to be in their appropriate category. Regardless of how old you are, you might make a bucket list and set out to do two of those items within the next six months (this is a kind of downpayment to yourself). And even if you’re not planning on kicking the bucket any time soon, one of the most helpful exercises in prioritization is making out a will. This gets you to think through both who and what are important to you, helps you sort out who your true friends are, and compels you to fully assess that often elusive thing known as your values. That is a bottom-line kind of issue, and most people don’t get there until they are forced to do so. I am suggesting that you embark on this as a wholly voluntary experience. You are in a crucial time of transition from one quarter of your life path to another. The next year will have many signals coming through that it’s time to take major steps and wrap up old business so that you can move forward without compromises.
Astrology Studio for Scorpio is now available for instant access.
Listen to the audio preview below.
This reading is included with a Backstage Pass
You probably do have an inner sense of whether you’re being truthful with yourself, and the time to pay attention is when you are the most convinced you are correct. That must be the state of mind for which your alarm is set to ring.
Sagittarius (Nov. 22-Dec. 22) — Your primary spiritual assignment this month is to practice being honest with yourself. However, this idea implies so many things that I am getting nervous looking at it on the screen. It’s crucial to know when you don’t know, and that you have a sense when you’re wrong about something before you find out the hard way. The simplest approach is to pay attention to what you observe and what you think about, and notice where things don’t match up. This implies a degree of self-reflectiveness that today would seem to be a feat that only the great sages were capable of. You probably do have an inner sense of whether you’re being truthful with yourself, and the time to pay attention is when you are the most convinced you are correct. That must be the state of mind for which your alarm is set to ring. A helpful tool is to practice arguing three different sides to any issue about which you feel strongly. Another is when you make a statement that you think is a true fact, ask yourself how you know that. If you don’t know how you know something, that’s called a belief. Then there is this other thing, called faith. Beware, such is not hope. Faith is a subtle sense of certainty that you cannot account for. It is an understanding with existence. You may find that you are feeling this somewhat strongly. It’s best not to pick apart why, to question yourself, or to speculate. The thing to do with faith is acknowledge it, forget you had the thought, and keep going.
Astrology Studio for Sagittarius is now available.
Since 2008, the mighty planetary system known as Pluto has been in your sign. This magnificent cluster of six objects all orbiting a common point has come with every conceivable up, down and sideways, and its presence in your life has represented the single greatest phase of self-discovery and self-becoming that you’ve ever lived through.
Capricorn (Dec. 22-Jan. 20) — Since 2008, the mighty planetary system known as Pluto has been in your sign. This magnificent cluster of six objects all orbiting a common point has come with every conceivable up, down and sideways, and its presence in your life has represented the single greatest phase of self-discovery and self-becoming that you’ve ever lived through. I should also include a lot of self-un-becoming, as Pluto has a way of dismantling people, things and situations. There exists in some alternate reality a whole version of yourself that was unraveled. This has gone on so long that you’ve been in the process of putting yourself back together in a whole new form for quite a while. Any part of who you were in 2008 that remains today tells you something of your core essence. Note this: Once Pluto enters Aquarius on Jan. 20, it will only spend an additional six weeks in Capricorn, during a very brief retrograde in the autumn of ’24, between Sept. 1 and Nov. 19. So for most practical purposes, this transit is over. But there may be something special for you in these final few weeks of a 16-year event. That something special may come in the form of understanding why you’ve been through all these things. ‘Why’ is an elusive concept, though meaning is implied. And while meaning is rarely simple, it can have a zen-like quality at times where suddenly you just understand. And that may come with the sense that, at least, it was all worthwhile to get you where you are today. You may not want to do it all again, but given the choice, you probably would.
Astrology Studio for Capricorn is available for preorder.
The Solstice Point — 2024 Astrology Studio for Capricorn — will be a special edition helping you put the pieces of Pluto in Capricorn together. I will look forward, but this is mostly a review and debriefing of your experience since 2008. I will highlight key dates and take a close look at what this transit has meant. I will include a review of Chiron in Aries as well as new factors now in Capricorn that will be present well into the next decade. This is a distinct reading covering different material than Somewhere In Between for Capricorn.
Be conscious of your transitions, in whatever form they take. Significant evolutionary movements may be disguised as seemingly small changes. More than anything, notice how you respond to people and how they respond to you.
Aquarius (Jan. 20-Feb. 19) — If you feel uneasy about a future development or like you are approaching a breakthrough point, that is the approach of Pluto into your sign. This astonishing system of six little planets all orbiting a common center arrives in your energy field on Jan. 20. That makes the coming few weeks a special time in your life. Be conscious of your transitions, in whatever form they take. Significant evolutionary movements may be disguised as seemingly small changes. More than anything, notice how you respond to people and how they respond to you. Digital conditions have trained many people to act like robots, and there have been many eager adopters. The digital environment has taken its toll on everyone, including you, and it will help if you notice what that damage or rearrangement consists of. Your quest for the forthcoming 20 years (yes, 20 years) of Pluto in Aquarius is to remain human. What else could you be? There are a lot of options, but let’s define the one you want: sensitive to your feelings and those of others; loyal to your friends; adaptable to current conditions; capable of having a conversation without a script; and more than anything, willing to make up your own mind no matter what everyone else is doing. These character traits sound like they describe the lead character in a science fiction adventure series. Which is precisely true, that character is you, and you’re also the one writing the book of your life. Include plenty of love and warmth in your story.
Saturn’s presence indicates that you are in the process of sorting out who you are and who you are not; of who and what belongs in your life, and who and what does not. Where Saturn is placed, there is always a clearing process happening.
Pisces (Feb. 19-March 20) — Saturn in your sign is offering you a time of relative stability but also of dependable change. Saturn’s presence indicates that you are in the process of sorting out who you are and who you are not; of who and what belongs in your life, and who and what does not. Where Saturn is placed, there is always a clearing process happening. If you are doing this transit well, many things that previously defined your life will fall away, to make room for new experiences in this next stage of your life. Saturn shows up in your sign for under three years out of every 30 — so its presence is a rare gift. The true essence of Saturn can be stated in two ideas. One is the Reality Principle. Your mission is to honor what you know to be solidly true. The second idea is that you are responsible for structuring your life, and for taking authority over yourself. People we consider bona fide adults are working well with Saturn and have done some of its work. Recently, Saturn retrograded all the way back to the first degree of your sign and will make its way across until it enters Aries in May 2025. So, assume you have this tool available for approximately another year and a half (really, slightly longer, though the emphasis will shift in mid-2025). Meanwhile, this is one of the most important times in your life for knowing who your friends are, sticking with them, and letting anyone else go. It’s been said that the people we consider friends are the ones who we take care of. I’m not talking about that — your natural tendency is to take care of whoever is around you. When I say friend, I’m talking about the people responsive to your needs and moreover, to your life’s purpose.
Somewhere in Between presale available now.
