Yoga Journal Astrology

[Karlotta Neifert]

Getyour astrology forecast, learn what the phases of the Moon mean for you, deepen your self-awareness, and become even more understanding of how your yoga and other practices all tie together. Receive this information and more when you sign up for our astrology newsletter.

These are fated junctions. But it is your decisions that determine how these crossroads will play out for you. Astrology is the marriage of fate and free will. Just as your genes were predetermined, so are the placements and aspects formed by the planet at the moment you drew your first breath. I believe in the dynamic interplay of the natal chart (the planets you were born with) and free will (the decisions you make).

Imagine an actress rehearsing a dialogue of a play. She must stick to the script, yet her performance can enhance the story depending on her own choice of gestures, facial expressions, pitch of voice, and intonations.

My usual advice is to avoid starting important projects during retrograde periods, although 2023 commences with both Mercury and Mars in retrograde and, seditiously, ends with another Mercury retrograde. Venus, not wanting to be left out, also retrogrades in roaring Leo in the middle of the year.

A sensitive period will be between August 23 and September 5, when we experience a retrograde bonanza of Mercury, Venus, Chiron, Jupiter, Neptune, Pluto, and Uranus. Having both Venus (relating to art, finance, relationships) and Mercury (ruling communication and business) retrograde at the same time is rather challenging.

In addition, on the ides of March, we have the Sun, Mercury, and Neptune creating a tight conjunction in Pisces. Like the three witches in Macbeth, this conjunction can manifest as deceptions, illusions, and confusion. A mere two weeks later, Pluto will transit into Aquarius. The last time this happened, we experienced the French Revolution and the writing of the American Constitution.

Another soft spot of 2023 are the eclipse seasons (April 20 to May 5 and October 14 to 28). These lunations are especially intense since they involve both Aries and Scorpio (both governed by warlike Mars) versus, respectively, Libra and Taurus (both ruled by peace-loving Venus). We can expect those periods to quicken and/or magnify conflict between the forces who want to wage war and those who want to ensure the kind of prosperity that only peace can bring.

Not all is bleak. From January until mid-May 2023, Jupiter travels in Aries. That is great news to all you rams, as you will feel like you can conquer the world and achieve a great deal in your life. Beginning in the middle of May, Jupiter will provide you with a great deal of fortune as it transits into your house of money, talents, self-worth, values, and awards. It remains here for an entire year. Perhaps letting go could help you tap into new talents.

The first two months of the year might feel like you are going through your final exams with regard to work. It has not been easy the last three years with the heavy weight of Saturn in your house of career. Things will begin to get easier when it moves out of this house on March 7.

As for some good news, there is plenty for you. The North Node, or the Head of the Dragon, continues its transit in your sign. This transit, which began at the end of 2021 and will continue until July 2023, happens once every 19 years and is considered very auspicious.

Since Jupiter will be traveling in the house of your body, consider offering yourself a new physical challenge or learning a new skill through yoga or dancing. Let it inflate your strength. This will be extremely helpful in helping you to reinvent and rebrand yourself.

In the months prior to that grand expansion with Jupiter, you will be asked to focus on letting go of things you do not need in order to prepare you. Jupiter will be in your house of mysticism during the early months of the year. This transit can help you tap into your intuition as well as your gifts and abilities from past lifetimes.

Uranus has been in your sign from 2018 and will remain there until 2026. This placement of the ruler of Aquarius in your first house has brought about some major changes in your life and your identity. This happens every 84 years. The last time it took place was during the Great Depression.

The awakener, Uranus is known for its chaotic tendencies. While it can make you feel wild, crazy, funny, and revolutionary, it can also bring about an element of unpredictability and disruption, especially with your connection to your body and your path in life. In 2023, Uranus will be especially influencing Taurus folks born between May 4 and 15. This may enable you to break away from old constrictions and reinvent yourself, although it can also bring a little chaos into your life.

Since the beginning of the pandemic, Saturn, the Grand Teacher, has been in your house of teaching, learning, adventure, travel, truth, and morality. It has been doing its best to create situations that test your truth, that see if you walk your talk, that discern whether you are being true to your philosophy.

The last time this transit happened was 1993 to 1996. It would be helpful if you could identify what happened to you back then, especially in relation to your career or what set you on your professional path. This also applies to your relationship with your father, bosses, or authority figures.

When Saturn leaves your house of education, travel, and truth at the end of March, Pluto will step in to fill the void. Pluto is the slowest moving heavenly body, therefore its effects are long term. This will allow you to transform as well as deepen your connection to your education. This mind-bending transit may ask you to completely change your philosophy, how you see the world, maybe even the country where you live. You might learn a new language or get a new degree. There could also be some power struggles.

The North Node was in Taurus from the summer of 2020 until late 2021. For the first half of 2023, it will continue its transit in your sign and your house of letting go, mysticism, and past lives. This transit can feel like a continuous past lifetime regression where you could meet people, access talents, and visit places you were connected to in previous lives.

From January to July of this year, you will be asked to spend more time alone, contemplate, meditate, take long hikes, and communicate with yourself. Your imagination will peak and allow you to access parts of your personality that were previously hidden.

Beginning in mid July, the North Node moves into Aries and your house of friends. You will find yourself reconnecting to communities, making new friends, and improving your standing in your workplace until this transit ends in late 2024.

Until mid May, Jupiter will bless your house of friends and communities. Then the planet that generously bestows gifts will exchange houses with the North Node and move into your house of letting go for an entire year. This will connect you to empathy, afford you protection from hidden enemies, allow you to benefit from spending time alone, and connect you to past lives.

Uranus, the Awakener, continues to create some unexpected pain and suffering, which it initiated in 2018 and 2019 when it entered your house of, well, pain and suffering. It will remain there until 2026, when it will move into your sign. For the next few years, Uranus will be awakening your intuition and imagination, especially in 2022 when you will have the North Node and Jupiter, both auspicious transits, in the same house. But unlike what you had to deal with from 2018 to 2022, in 2023 the calvary will come to your rescue.

Since the beginning of the pandemic, Saturn has plowed through your house of death and transformation. Indeed, your archetype is the healers and healthcare providers who were crowned the superheroes and heroines of the age. During this time, you have learned how to let go, find your passion, and cut away from whatever obstacles have stunted your growth.

If there are messages you wish to share with the world, Saturn traveling through your house of mass media, teaching, and truth can help you spread the word. It will also ask you to pursue the truth, walk the talk, and live by your own philosophy. This would be a good time to relocate to another country, take on a new degree, or learn another language.

As Saturn leaves the house of death, Pluto, the Lord of Death, enters it. During this time, Pluto will be moving back and forth between your house of relationships and your house of death and transformation. This is intense. It can create some challenges with partners in work and in life although your transformation will be taken to the next level. It is time to honor your need for intimacy and privacy so that you can access your true potential. Pluto will remain in the house of death until January 2044

You are a Moon child. As such, eclipses are always super important times for you. The eclipses beginning in July will be shifting signs and quickening processes that relate to your career, home, and family. Here lies the rub: As a Cancer, you value your home and family. But for the next 18 months, the South Node enters your house of home and family, which means it is time to let go of what your family or even your ancestors expect from you. Focus more on your career and your professional life and find ways to share your gifts with humanity. This will be supported by Jupiter, who will travel in your house of career in the first five months of the year, preparing your road for success in your chosen path.

Leo, you may have had a hard time with your partnerships, relationships, and significant others since the onset of the pandemic in 2020. Saturn has been transiting in your house of relationships, also known as the house of legal affairs and enemies. This has not been easy on you, as you are the sign of love and happiness. As long as Saturn is transiting in your opposite sign, Aquarius, you can feel the Grand Teacher staring you in the face, creating obstacles and hardships.

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