You've certainly been working hard, for since last November, Mars has been spending a great deal of time in your workaday sector. Last month, however, Mars started to go retrograde, something Mars rarely does (it's been two years since the last time), so late last month you may have faced a setback. By now you would know what it is, but it is likely you had little control over what happened, so be philosophical. Fortunately Mars won't be retrograde forever, only until April 13. Two months sound far away, but actually you can accomplish a lot in the meantime. Admittedly, it will be hard to make progress in entirely new areas while the competitive, energetic planet Mars is retrograde, but you can backtrack on current projects and find ways to make them better. You can also forge a victory from a past association or garner more business from former clients. Mars is your guardian planet - your "ruler" - so his movements have greater weight and effect on you than other planets. Mars is currently in Virgo, so you will be asked to pay a great deal of attention to detail. Depending on other planets your natal chart, you might be good at working on tiny details or not - you would know if you are stimulated by tasks like this or avoid them at all cost. If you are not talented at detail, and you are self-employed, you always have the option of hiring people to help you. If you work for others and feel you need help, you might be able to enlist help from co-workers, perhaps by bartering tasks that you might be good at and your co-worker is not, assuming your boss will allow this kind of trade among workers. Along with Mars going in reverse, Saturn will too, beginning on February 7. Saturn rules your tenth house of fame and achievement, so you may have to bide your time for your quest for a new job until Saturn regulates its speed, June 25. Remarkably, only one week later, you will have a powerful full moon, July 3, that will activate your house of honors and awards. This tells me that you might stage talks for a new position, but not see a development until early July. This timing seems perfect, for by then Mars will be in top form, and Venus will be too, an important element in the puzzle, because Venus rules your money. In all ways, you want to be ready to accept a new position in early July, but not before that. In the meantime, you will be able to take a number of short-term projects that should pay well enough to keep you going while you wait for the big one to come in. Still, there are exceptions - you have several stellar days for career talks in February.  First, note the days when Sun and Saturn will be moving toward being in perfect sync, February 16 and 17. Saturn, as said, is the planet controlling your professional achievement sector. Mercury, by then in Pisces, will also be speaking to Jupiter. A confidential meeting, perhaps with someone high level from your past, could help you aim for a new and exciting position. (Saturn and Mars retrograde points to benefits from VIPs you know from earlier days.) You can also sign papers on this day - it's superb.

         Last month's new moon of January 23 is still powerful as you enter February, so if you hope to change positions, you would need to start the process now. If you are self-employed, be out and about, pitching new business - fast! That new moon of late last month, which recently energized your tenth house of fame, was in Aquarius (3 degrees), and because Aquarius rules your friends, one may have a powerful and beneficial bearing on your career progress. Call your friends for advice, and ask them for tips on emerging job openings. Doing focused networking is likely to yield solid results too. You don't have to actually nail your new position now, but you would have to start your career campaign now. If you work in a creative field, you are fortunate in that the new moon of January 23 was so friendly to Mars in your fifth house of artistic expression. Show your work to higher ups to get approvals or even funding. On March 12, Mercury will go retrograde, so you want to use February to your best advantage. Next month will be mainly social, but if you want to land a career victory, you need to be working at that goal now. Mars will remain in your creative / love / romance sector until July 3, lucky you, and although his presence will be muted this month (due to his being retrograde from January 23 until April 13), he will nevertheless help you on some levels. The Taurus who will be in line for the most luck now with love and with creative projects will be Taurus with birthdays that falls between May 1 and May 14 (I allowed for a few extra degrees in my bell curve.)  All Taurus will have their turn, however, so if your birthday is not named, stay tuned. It will be. Everyone will get chocolates from Mars in your love-creativity sector, so just be patient. I will keep you posted. (Also, you may want to keep watching my posts on Twitter for nearly daily updates. Find me on Twitter @Astrologyzone)  Your home will be your big focus on the full moon in Leo, 18 degrees, February 7. (Alternatively, it may be that you will be thinking about a family member, most likely a parent.) Full moons bring closure, so if you decided to move or buy a house, you would see your plans reach a final decision point or action at this time. For example, if you have been renovating your house, you may see the contractors leave at the full moon, or conversely, if you are only at the start of your project and you've been collecting estimates from various contracting companies, you will be ready to give the order to begin to your one chosen firm. If you made an application to the bank to refinance your mortgage to get a lower interest rate, you would hear back from the bank that all is approved and it is time to close. Keep in mind that all full moons have a plus or minus of approximately four days, mostly plus - so watch February 4 to 11 for home-and-family news

                It is an exciting month on so many levels! At first, you may decide to head to the airport and travel far and wide. You seem to be getting ready to go to the airport to fly to a distant city, if you haven't already done so last month. I love the whole month for you to travel, dear Gemini - you will have so many opportunities. Sometime within four days of the full moon February 7 in Leo (18 degrees) you may make a short, quick trip, all by itself, or as a quick side trip within a long trip you will be on at the time. For example, say, you are in Rome, and you decide to venture into the countryside, say, to Tuscany, and then return to Rome. This full moon is likely to be a good one, although there are no planetary aspects to this moon, a rare instance. This puts more emphasis on your own chart and how the new moon relates to it. Getting away would do you a world of good. Many Gemini have been in stressful situations ever since the difficult lunar eclipse in Gemini came by on December 10. The time near December 10 may have been stressful, or you may have seen difficulties hit one month to the day later, on or within four days of January 10.) You may have suffered with your health (as there was a lot of emphasis on your physical body) or with a romantic or business partner. It is also possible an aggressive detractor, competitor, or other combative person troubled you. Even if your birthday does not fall specifically at 18 degrees of Gemini, with a birthday on or near June 8, you may have planets in one of the mutable signs of Gemini, Sagittarius, Pisces, or Virgo on or near 18 degrees that have been triggered by the December 10 eclipse and caused you concern.

        As you enter February, you seem to be thinking a lot about your finances, most likely out of necessity. The full moon in Leo (18 degrees) of February 7 will likely have you writing a check to satisfy a previously made obligation or making a pricey purchase. That full moon is not making any communications with other planets, so a lot of how things will work out for you will depend on how that full moon relates to other planets in your own chart. You won't have to wait long as February 7 will be here before you know it. Allow a plus or minus of four days to that date. You need to see more progress in your career. You seem to have been frustrated with the pace you've seen, and the money questions you have on your mind now are tied to that slow progress. The problem you face is that Mars, the ruler of your house of fame and honors - your tenth house, the area that astrologers look to first to see your growing mastery over your work in your chosen field - is now retrograde. Instead of seeing progress, you are probably seeing a setback or at the very least a need to backtrack and correct or gather more information, if you are to advance. Mars will be retrograde until April 13, so you have a ways go. Be patient. Bucking this trend won't help - you will have to painstakingly reassess what you are doing to see if you can find a better way to approach your professional goals. It may be as simple as finding a better way to convince clients to move ahead, even though they are exhibiting jittery behavior in this fragile global economy. You will have help from the planets, so don't assume that Mars tells the whole story and that you necessarily have to wait quietly and do nothing until Mars regulates its orbit in mid-April. Some very special aspects are due this month, so stay with me. I have a friend who turned down a position she thought was a good one in December, right around the time Mercury was retrograde and we experienced the monster eclipse of December 10. That is never a time to take a new job - too many things are changing and it is impossible to see the road ahead. She's a Cancer, and she is torturing herself that she should have taken the job. As her friend, I try to show her the aspects. She loves astrology and actually has been studying the stars, so she could see and understand what I was seeing - intellectually (but maybe not emotionally).
 

 This is a big month because Neptune, the planet of dreams and inspiration, will make a monumental move into your eighth house of other people's money on February 3. Anytime a big planet moves into a new sign, it is always headline news in astrological circles, but this particular planetary move is doubly big. No one alive today has experienced Neptune in Pisces because the last time Neptune visited this sign was between 1847 and 1862. Neptune moves very slowly in our solar system and will stay in your financial sector (eighth house) for fourteen years.  While having the planet of fantasy and imagination in a financial part of the chart is not the easiest place to host Neptune, it does not necessarily have to be a difficult trend. Of all signs, Leo is considered to be one of the most creative signs (along with Pisces), so if you are paid for your ideas and artistic visions, hosting Neptune in this house should bring you quite a bit of business in coming years. The same could be said for you if you work in not-for-profit, charitable, or humanitarian work - you will do well.  The reason that you may have to take precautions with money dealings in future years is that Neptune is a planet known to veil reality, which can be fine if we are talking about an area of life that can take that kind of treatment, but this house rules taxes, inheritances, estates, venture capital, financial aid, scholarships - things that require razor sharp thinking and solid facts!  To counter any possible problems with this trend, one that will last until January 26, 2026, you will need to get all your deals spelled out in writing to prevent confusion. If you plan to marry and have money saved or own property, think about setting up a prenuptial arrangement, as unromantic as that might sound. Find a way to organize your financial paperwork, and take steps to keep key papers in a place safe from fire and water. Be present in all negotiations and meetings so that no one can make decisions without your direct knowledge and involvement. If you are married and your partner handles all the finances, ask questions and be knowledgeable about such things as insurance so that you know about all about the family finances should you ever have to take over the household books in an emergency. Neptune does not act quickly but slowly and gradually, so you will have a little time to ramp up, but the sooner you come up to speed on these matters, the safer you will be in the future.

 You've had Mars in Virgo for several months, since mid-November, and you've enjoyed having the control over events that only an energetic Mars in your sign can provide. You had built up a swift momentum on projects that are dear to you. Last month, however, you may have noticed that things were slowing down, and that approvals were taking longer to accomplish. This is because Mars went retrograde on January 23 and will continue to languish until April 13. This means plans will get delayed, so a timetable you had hoped to achieve for a plan dear to you may have to get revised. Mars is in Virgo in your solar eighth house, but RULES your eighth house of other people's money, so somehow money - or a holdup of funds - seems to be involved in this situation. There is not much you can do about this, other than to be patient, for you will need to let the process work its way out and take as long as it needs. There is another planet that is also affecting your finances. Saturn, now in your second house of salary and other earned income, is about to go retrograde from February 7 to June 25. This too will slow down your efforts to gain more money, but only temporarily. I am sorry to have to report this, but keep up your efforts to find ways to improve your cash flow anyway, because once Saturn leaves Libra on October 4, things will improve fairly quickly and all the work you are doing now to find more cash will pay off. I know October sounds like a long way off, but it will be here before you know it. Once Saturn leaves, Saturn will not be back to your earned income sector for many years, until September 2039. There will be one day when news about money might come in a completely unexpected way and possibly make you quite happy and excited. That would be when Venus and Uranus are conjunct in Aries in your eighth house of other people's money on February 9. You may get an unexpected check, or win a small prize, or receive a gift that touches you. See what happens.

 In life, we often strive for a balance, with hard work sprinkled liberally with moments of pleasure. Lately, this balance has been off for you, and responsibilities and hard work have dominated your life. You may have felt that, at times, that life is a never-ending series of demands, and you may have wondered if this was to be how life would be from now on. No, dear Libra. Things will improve, and actually, parts of February will dotted with bright spots of happiness. Your present situation is being heavily influenced by the rare, once-in-29-year visit of Saturn, the taskmaster planet whose job it is to help you find and develop your inner strength and character by presenting you with a series of challenges. Saturn periods can be difficult because of Saturn's "tough love" methods, but thankfully, Saturn only visits us two or three times in a lifetime, each time with a two-and-a-half-year stay. Before this, the last time you coped with Saturn, it was from September 1980 to August 1983. Saturn has been visiting Libra since October 2009, with only a brief break when Saturn retrograded out of Libra and back into Virgo from April 7 to July 21, 2011. Ever since Saturn returned to your sign in July 2011, he has not left your side. You may feel there's been no relief. One way Saturn often works is to isolate you by removing all support around you so that you will develop your own inner resourcefulness and independence. Often when this happens we feel that others don't understand the difficulties we face, and that lack of empathy often intensifies the feeling of isolation. (To counter this, surround yourself with only supportive people for now.) Saturn teaches the value of long-term planning and of being realistic and practical. Visits from Saturn are always sobering periods, but they also are ones that we grow in maturity and wisdom. You would feel the most direct rays from Saturn if your birthday falls from October 15 to October 23. If your birthday falls earlier, in September or from October 1 to 14, you have already dealt with the most severe tests of this planet, and in that case, Saturn is now moving away from your Sun and you are starting to feel a bit better. If you were born in September, you are currently wrestling with Uranus, which is a whole different influence involving your partner, and I will get to that later when we talk together about romance. It's unusual to have both of these big planets exerting a direct influence at the same time. There is a benefit to this, however, because more often the influence of these two planetary heavyweights is drawn out over the course of many years.

The month starts out on an important professional note for you, thanks to the full moon in Leo (18 degrees) on February 7, and will bring a career matter to a culmination. If you have been interviewing for a new position, this full moon will bring you the answer within four days of this date. Let's think good thoughts - let's hope the answer is YES! If you are creative and pitching an idea, you will likely get word back about whether the idea is approved and funded. This particular project would give you with the prefect platform to show off your work!  If you have been doing a major, high profile assignment over the course of weeks or months, this full moon would likely bring it to its logical conclusion. The fact that this ending is happening at the full moon in your tenth house of fame tells me that this project will work as a jewel in your crown and that you can trade against it in the future - you've established yourself on a new level. There will be another great career day to watch, February 28, when your ruler, Pluto, will have conversations with the Sun on your behalf. It's a powerful day - you'll be on top of your game - use it to your advantage!  Saturn - now in Libra in a mild part of your chart (twelfth house) - has been edging closer to Scorpio. Saturn takes 29 years to revolve around the Sun and has made a long journey through Libra, now within one-half degree of Scorpio. On February 7 (coincidentally, the same day as the full moon), Saturn will turn around and back off and retreat deeper into Libra for a brief look back. Under normal circumstances, Saturn would have gone straight into Scorpio, but with this retrograde that won't happen until October 4. (Saturn will retrograde until June 25, but then on that day will move forward in Libra before this planet moves into Scorpio on October 4.) Saturn will stay in your sign until September 2015.  Saturn's hallmark is a time of planning for the future and learning at least one new skill that you weren't sure you were ready to do. For example, you may assume you are not ready to get married and start a family, but when Saturn comes by, suddenly you feel a need to be settled and the long-term benefits of commitment and children start to look mighty good. You may move to a distant city, buy a house or condo, or go back to the university for an advanced degree - what you do will add shape to your life.  When Saturn moves into your own sign, it will mark the start of a major new cycle of maturity and growth. Whatever you choose to commit to will be something that cannot be easily undone later, which is the reason you are drawn to the challenge in the first place - it will have the power to help set up part of the foundation of your life. Saturn only visits us two or three times in a lifetime, so these are major marker points in life.

 
Your career was moving along nicely, and you were making solid progress, but you may have noticed recently that talks began to slow down and it has become harder to get decisions from higher ups. You may have blamed this loss of momentum on the year-end holidays, but that was not the reason. Mars, now touring your tenth house of career fame, honors, and achievement, went retrograde on January 21 and will remain out of phase until April 13. Even before Mars shut down for a rest late last month, he began to move ever more slowly during December and January, so you will have to be patient. You may see progress in early March, so don't let up on efforts. You may have to push yourself more to keep motivated, but you do have a good chance of seeing success. Forward ho! Keep those wagon wheels rolling. If you need a good day for a career effort, choose February 24-28. On Friday, February 24, you will have Jupiter to help you give a fine presentation or interview for a new position similar to the level of the one you had before. Or, if self-employed, you would be able to generate new business on Friday, February 24. (If you work weekends, then by all means, pitch over February 25, your best day.) For negotiations involving large sums of money, choose February 28 when Pluto will signal the Sun. Early February might be a good time to take a little vacation. The full moon will light your ninth house of distant travel (Leo, 18 degrees) on February 7, so you may leave earlier in the week and be returning home from an exciting location within five days of the full moon. There is nothing like a long trip to put the bounce back in your step! Alternatively, you may finalize a deal with a foreign company, or you may be taking steps to go back to college for an advanced degree. Other matters may be taken care of now too - you may get a passport or green card, or you may finish jury duty. If you work in the media, you may get your book published or an important segment readied for broadcast. Lots of positive things will be happening within four days of February 7. If your birthday falls on December 9, plus or minus five days, you will benefit most from this lovely full moon, or if you have planets in Sagittarius, Aries, Leo, Gemini, Libra or Aquarius at or very near 18 degrees.

You were thinking a lot about finances last month, and it was a good time to organize things, and even ask for a raise. If you didn't use the new moon in Aquarius last month on January 23 to your advantage, you still have a little time, but you will have to act fast. The light of that new moon is fading fast, so steel your courage and go into your bosses' office and make your case for more salary. If you are self-employed, it's time to raise your rates or pitch new business, quickly. There is something happening this month that will have a monumental and positive affect on your income for years into the future - relief begins February 3. For many years, since January 1998, you've hosted Neptune in your second house of earned income and that is not an easy place to host this planet.  First, let's discuss the best qualities of Neptune. Neptune is a beautiful planet associated with dreams, imagination, creativity, music, and all of the arts. This lovely planet also rules things associated with water, such as the candy cotton fog that wraps around the San Francisco hills that makes the city so majestic. Neptune throws a veil over reality, and sometimes we need and welcome that quality - Neptune certainly can add a romantic, idealized touch. Neptune is a planet associated with compassion and sacrifice too, for as the "higher octave" of Venus, it takes the new love that Venus provides and deepens love through compassion and sacrifice of one's own pleasures, all so that the beloved can benefit. Still, there is another side. Hosting Neptune, a planet associated with confusion, in your second house of earned income and financial management can be daunting. If you've grappled with financial problems over the past fourteen years, Neptune could have been the culprit. Thankfully this period is ending. Having said that, there was one positive way you may have harnessed Neptune's energy in your second house of income, and that is you work in the cultural or creative arts, or if you act as support staff to artists. Neptune's presence would have helped you establish yourself in a way that allowed you to turn your talent into a profitable enterprise. Being a starving artist may have charm, but that can get old fast. If you are in the arts, with Neptune here, you may have found ways to garner a following willing to pay you handsomely for your work.

 It is birthday time of the year, and you can sense things are going your way at last! Having the Sun and Mercury in the first house of your horoscope is always a big advantage, and as you enter February, you are still feeling the glow of the new moon, January 23. That new moon still has a bit of light left to it that you can use to your advantage during the first week of February. If there's an important person you still need to see, a proposal you need to make, or a project you want to start, do so during February's first week.  Everyone, of every sign, will have to be patient, however, because many planets are retrograde. Mars started retrograding on January 23 in your eighth house of other people's money (ironically, the same day as the new moon), and that usually spells delays, snags, or a setback involving finances. As a few examples, you may have hoped to be wired an amount of money (that may not come) from a venture capital group, or find that the refinancing plan to your mortgage may take a little longer than you expected. If someone owes you a large amount of money, you may have to wait to get it, or your ex may suddenly stop paying child support on time because he or she may run into financial difficulties. If you are due an insurance or divorce settlement, it may be held up for a while. Mars will reactivate on April 13, a time to watch carefully for big news. I will explain. Planets are the most powerful when they hang like lanterns in the sky - not moving backward or forward, but are just still - brilliantly lit but just hanging still in space. In the case of Mars, this will happen within three days of January 23 and April 13. (Astrologers call this the "station" or "stationary period" of a planet about to move retrograde or direct.) You might feel that something that happened last month near January 23 was fated, inevitable, or inescapable. Those start and stop periods - what I call bookend periods - of retrograde planets are very, very strong, so you must always watch those days closely, no matter what planet is involved.  Think back to the time near (within three days of) January 23 to see what happened to you, if anything, particularly in terms of finances and conflicts. (Mars also rules injuries, which may have happened then or that you may have been discussing, say, in a court case.) Because Mars was starting to retrograde last month on January 23, you now may have to go back and rethink your strategy or ask a client or judge to change things. Prepare to make future changes. In that case, be ready to watch what happens on the date that Mars goes direct, April 13, plus three days. Sometimes when a planet goes direct, there is headline news, and it's very dramatic. You have to wait and see. If you have no aspects to Mars at 23 degrees Virgo, you may not have seen any effect.  In the meantime, this month, with Mars retrograde, you will need to push yourself to stay motivated and on top of these things, especially in regard to financial and contractual matters, because Mars is IN a financial house, but naturally RULES your solar third house of contracts and agreements - both are subject to delays. If one door closes, you can find another one to open - even if you have to pick the lock! The third house, where Mars retrograde is currently based, also rules advertising and promotion, so if you were to be involved in one of these activities, see if you can delay the start date until a better time, late April, after the new moon April 21.  During the Mars retrograde, from now to mid-April, is not the best time for you to sign contracts, but many of us have no choice, for waiting could be problematic. See if you can do a temporary contract that is made permanent later. Ancient astrologers wrote that anything started with Mars retrograde seems to fall flat without the proper energy to propel to a successful, profitable conclusion. It is best not to initiate, but to respond.  As long as I am telling you about retrograde planets, I might as well drop the other shoe. Beginning February 7, Saturn will retrograde too, in your ninth house, ruling university study, broadcasting and publishing ventures, long distance travel, and relationships with people abroad. One of these areas may need tweaking, due to circumstances beyond your control. This house also rules all legal matters, which also may come back for more discussions, appeals, changes, and so forth, until Saturn is due to go direct June 25.  OK, don't get mad at me when I tell you that Mercury will also go retrograde March 12 to April 4. As you see, things are not going to move as quickly as you had hoped. Just when you assumed you could finalize a deal or a plan, you'll hit one delay after another. It might cheer you to know that everyone will be in the same boat. It's rare when the universe speaks this clearly, underlining its message several times: slow down! It suggests things are about to shift, but we just can't see in which direction they will shift just yet. During times like these we all have to look closely at every piece of evidence - every tiny remark, a fleeting look, certain words that are chosen as opposed to others - as tiny clues. It will take time for the whole puzzle to come together to allow you to see the big picture.  This month, just on the day that Saturn will turn retrograde, February 7, you will have a full moon in Leo (18 degrees) in your seventh house. This full moon makes no key aspects to other planets, so how it will affect you will depend on how this full moon fits into your own natal chart, and of course, I can't see that from where I sit.  I can say that something is coming to culmination, and a relationship will be very important to you and very much on your mind. It may be positive, or not, for the seventh house rules those who support you, love you, and want to commit to you, as well as those who criticize or want to harm or compete with you. My antenna is up because February 7 is the same day that Saturn goes retrograde in your very legally oriented ninth house. You may have to prepare for a lowlife character to come out. Once you see that person, you can deal with him or her! If you are interviewing for a new position, test all your references by having a high level friend call them to ask about you. You need to be sure those trusted references are saying the positive things about you that you would expect them to say. New positions are hard to get, and with this full moon that could go either way, I am simply asking you to be careful. I do like meetings on full moons because they are decisive, especially if this is a meeting that might conclude many previous conversations.

It is not every day that a major planet makes a once-in-165-year entry into a sign, but that is precisely what is about to happen this month. Neptune will enter your sign on February 3 and remain in Pisces for the coming fourteen years. In every respect, Neptune is coming home. Neptune rules Pisces and will exert its best qualities while in its own sign. You will, of course, take to this new trend easily and naturally. Many people never get to experience Neptune in their sign, but because Neptune is your ruling planet, this will make the coming years all the more delicious. Neptune's greatest gift to you will be to greatly expand your imagination and your creativity, and as such, you are the prefect sign to accept those gifts. You will be encouraged to express yourself in completely new ways, to be innovative and experimental. If you work in the creative sphere, this shift of Neptune will, of course, seem like a miracle. Suddenly the world is listening to you, dear Pisces, for you will be setting the tone.  This shift of Neptune to Pisces will instantly put you in the spotlight, for when a major outer planet enters a new sign, that planet begins to influence everything - not only your own personal life, but also in society. Fashions will be affected, as well as popular culture, politics, and the prevailing opinions and approaches of the times. This new trend will feel comfortable and "right" for you - this is, after all, about all things Pisces. Your confidence will grow in the coming fourteen years that Neptune spends in your sign, and with each victory, you will feel more comfortable about pursuing the ideas that are closest to your heart, and perhaps are the most daring. While it will take a little time for Neptune to settle in, in time Neptune will bring a host of opportunities to you to investigate, all perfectly suited to your personality.  If you feel you are not at all creative, think again, for all Pisces have that divine spark within. You were born with the ability to see the world in ways that are different from others. Individuals can be creative in many differing ways .