We are in a potent and pivotal time astrologically.

Saturn (restructure), Pluto (transform) and South Node (past incompletions show up) are all in Capricorn (initiation). All structures, previously secret, surface. What needs reassessment and completion appears once again, seeking release, liberation, freedom. We see the government reflecting these energies in a state of needed transformation. Things untrue or superficial don’t work well anymore. Family lineage and ancestors are, in one way or another, visiting. So many of us are reflecting, reminiscing upon and seeking the past in order to understand our present. No matter what our plans may be, something wild and magical interrupts those plans, producing alternatives, challenges, interruptions, new direction, and double the work. We want to feel in control. However, the heavens are in control, no matter how we try to change that fact.

Saturn, Pluto and South Node (past) together in Capricorn are a potent and formidable combination. We could feel exhausted every day, even upon awakening. Many endings are likely, raw and bare bones truth may be communicated. Some of us are vulnerable, some of us are fearful and afraid. Things that are no longer useful to the new era emerging break down, in order to be transformed. The energies experienced here on Earth due to Saturn, Pluto, South Node, and Capricorn intensify our experiences, interactions and ways of being. This will last for the next year.

Pluto, Lord of the underworld, always allows the shadows to surface. Within all shadows, at the very center, is a point of light. This is the light of hope. Should we all observe ourselves and our world throughout and at the end of a year, we will see that we have changed, things have transformed, transfigured. Life is different again.

ARIES: A time of great change has arrived for you personally. You will find yourself breaking with the past, attempting new endeavors and different ways of presenting yourself to the world. All relationships will take on different hues, colors, sounds, and meaning. You seek the unconventional, the new, the original. It shows in your appearance.

TAURUS: Someone or something is asking you to adopt a different value system, one that is not your usual and regular way of being. You may resist. Taurus is known to take a long time to ponder upon change. Taurus saying “no” means, “Let me think first on these new things.” Changes will continue to occur all year with Uranus in your sign. You will be pondering a lot as revelations occur. You see how the old ways everywhere are in the way. You help with the clearing.

GEMINI: Flashes of insight become commonplace, revelations growing each day. They give you information concerning decisions and what action is best for you to take. More and more your thoughts are unique. This could lead to resistance and/or opposition from others, especially those in charge. They don’t understand your choices. Each day you seek more independence. You are not afraid anymore.

CANCER: Amidst a sudden need and decision to travel or have an adventure, you realize you’re seeking a utopia or community to live in. The conventional path is not for you anymore. Customs and traditions are set aside for new independent ideas, exotic and colorful places reflecting advanced ways of living and thinking. It’s an experiment. Just a bit of preparation and caution are advised.

LEO: Do you sense money, finances, investments, and legal issues affecting your life are becoming erratic, and do you feel an out-of-controlness? Your keen intuition is telling you to keep track of all money, all market ups and downs, and to realize sudden changes may occur in business and relationship interactions. What is there to hold onto, you ask? Your heart is what you can hold onto. And the light of your soul.

VIRGO: Some Virgos may unexpectedly form unions (friendship, business partnerships, marriage) with others without much thought. Some will divorce with even less. Other Virgos will be aware that strange things may occur within their relationships; unusual behaviors or a need for independence creating major upsets and unexpected changes. Some Virgos will take this in stride. Adaptability becomes your middle name. That’s good.

LIBRA: Your daily work environment, routines, schedules, and also your health may become unpredictable, unexpected and irregular. Some Librans love this, for it allows for more freedom. Others need the structure of reliable and regular agendas imposed. You might become angry, irritable, impatient, and nervous. You sometimes learn the hard way. Through loss. Gather your beloveds around you. Some are far away.

SCORPIO: You’re inventive and creative. At times it’s good to have a bit more self-control. At other times, you need to be free of so much control. Self-knowledge sometimes comes through being reckless and foolhardy. Are you this way with relationships? You want most of all complete freedom and independence. What should you do with your relationship, co-workers and/or children? Responsibility comes first. It’s a virtue.

SAGITTARIUS: Perhaps there will be a change to your daily life plans and agendas. You want freedom; to come and go at will (from both home and work). You want different and unusual living conditions. Although you love family traditions, they are counter to your needs at this time. The foundations of your entire life feel unreliable and changeable. This persists. It’s difficult but good. Change occurs for the very best. When conflicts and chaos seem to arrive, there’s a harmony at the very center.

CAPRICORN: Your thinking and communicating have become quite revolutionary, if not revelatory. Gradually, spontaneously or unexpectedly (Uranian words), you become involved in advanced, new-thought thinking. Very few may think like you. A sense of aloneness develops until you find your true spiritual group. Off you go, at a moment’s notice, to parts unknown to experience history, food, art, things strange and mysterious.

AQUARIUS: When you hear of someone in need do you say, “Let me help you?” Are you able to do this? In the esoteric Ageless Wisdom work, the disciple is always asked to “see the need,” and then to assist in filling that need. In this way, the Aquarian task of serving others (humanity) is always in the forefront. When one serves others, one is also “served.” All needs are taken care of. It’s a mysterious cosmic law of giving, and then one receives in return.

PISCES: You develop a deep need to be independent and free of anything extraneous. Your environments, home and professional, must be orderly, clean and clear so that your investigative mind can work unobstructed, with ease and skill. You need to be in the company of creative people. This brings comfort. Do not place yourself in limiting circumstances. This brings radical discomfort. You also need flowers all around, things green, scented, and with bells ringing. Make a wish.

ARIES (March 21-April 19): In the coming weeks, I suspect you will have the wisdom to criticize yourself in constructive ways that will at least partially solve a long-standing problem. Hallelujah! I bet you will also understand what to do to eliminate a bad habit by installing a good new habit. Please capitalize on that special knowledge! There’s one further capacity I suspect you’ll have: the saucy ingenuity necessary to alleviate a festering fear. Be audacious!

TAURUS (April 20-May 20): What standards might we use in evaluating levels of sexual satisfaction? One cruclal measure is the tenderness and respect that partners have for each other. Others include the ability to play and have fun, the freedom to express oneself uninhibitedly, the creative attention devoted to unpredictable foreplay, and the ability to experience fulfilling orgasms. How do you rate your own levels, Taurus? Wherever you may currently fall on the scale, the coming months will be a time when you can accomplish an upgrade. How? Read authors who specialize in the erotic arts. Talk to your partners with increased boldness and clarity. While meditating, search for clues in the depths.

GEMINI (May 21-June 20): If there were a Hall of Fame for writers, Shakespeare might have been voted in first. His work is regarded as a pinnacle of intellectual brilliance. And yet here’s a fun fact: The Bard quoted well over 1,000 passages from the Bible. Can you imagine a modern author being taken seriously by the literati if he or she frequently invoked such a fundamental religious text? I bring this to your attention so as to encourage you to be Shakespeare-like in the coming weeks. That is, be willing to draw equally from both intellectual and spiritual sources; be a deep thinker who communes with sacred truths; synergize the functions of your discerning mind and your devotional heart.

CANCER (June 21-July 22): “People will choose unhappiness over uncertainty,” writes Cancerian author and entrepreneur Timothy Ferriss. He doesn’t do that himself, but rather is quite eager to harvest the perks of dwelling in uncertainty. I presume this aptitude has played a role in his huge success; his books have appeared on bestseller lists, and his podcasts have been downloaded more than 300 million times. In telling you this, I’m not encouraging you to embrace the fertile power of uncertainty 24 hours a day and 365 days of every year. But I am urging you to do just that for the next three weeks. There’ll be big payoffs if you do, including rich teachings on the art of happiness.

LEO (July 23-Aug. 22): Many 18th-century pirates were committed to democracy and equality among their ranks. The camaraderie and fairness and mutual respect that prevailed on pirate ships were markedly different from the oppressive conditions faced by sailors who worked for the navies of sovereign nations. The latter were often pressed into service against their will and had to struggle to collect meager salaries. Tyrannical captains controlled all phases of their lives. I bring this to your attention, Leo, with the hope that it will inspire you to seek out alternative approaches to rigid and hierarchical systems. Gravitate toward generous organizations that offer you ample freedom and rich alliances. The time is right to ally yourself with emancipatory influences.

VIRGO (Aug. 23-Sept. 22): Don’t wait around for fate to decide which decisions you should make and what directions you should go. Formulate those decisions yourself, with your willpower fully engaged. Never say, “If it’s meant to be, it will happen.” Rather, resolve to create the outcomes you strongly desire to happen. Do you understand how important this is? You shouldn’t allow anyone else to frame your important questions and define the nature of your problems; you’ve got to do the framing and defining yourself. One more thing: don’t fantasize about the arrival of the “perfect moment.” The perfect moment is whenever you decree it is.

LIBRA (Sept. 23-Oct. 22): In the coming weeks, I hope you’ll regularly give yourself to generous, expansive experiences. I hope you’ll think big, funny thoughts and feel spacious, experimental emotions. I hope you’ll get luxurious glimpses of the promise your future holds, and I hope you’ll visualize yourself embarking on adventures and projects you’ve been too timid or worried to consider before now. For best results, be eager to utter the word “more!” as you meditate on the French phrase “joie de vivre” and the English phrase “a delight in being alive.”

SCORPIO (Oct. 23-Nov. 21): According to Popular Mechanics magazine, over 3 million sunken ships are lying on the bottoms of the world’s oceans. Some of them contain billions of dollars worth of precious metals and jewels. Others are crammed with artifacts that would be of great value to historians and archaeologists. And here’s a crazy fact: less than 1% of all those potential treasures have been investigated by divers. I bring this to your attention, Scorpio, because I hope it might inspire you to explore your inner world’s equivalent of lost or unknown riches. The astrological omens suggest that the coming weeks will be an excellent time to go searching for them.

SAGITTARIUS (Nov. 22-Dec. 21): “Some days you need god’s grace,” writes poet Scherezade Siobhan. “On other days: the feral tongue of vintage whiskey and a mouth kissed by fire.” I’m guessing, Sagittarius, that these days you might be inclined to prefer the feral tongue of vintage whiskey and a mouth kissed by fire. But according to my astrological analysis, those flashy phenomena would not motivate you to take the corrective and adaptive measures you actually need. The grace of god—or whatever passes for the grace of god in your world—is the influence that will best help you accomplish what’s necessary. Fortunately, I suspect you know how to call on and make full use of that grace.

CAPRICORN (Dec. 22-Jan. 19): Capricorn poet William Stafford articulated some advice that I think you need to hear right now. Please hold it close to your awareness for the next 21 days. “Saying things you do not have to say weakens your talk,” he wrote. “Hearing things you do not need to hear dulls your hearing.” By practicing those protective measures, Capricorn, you will foster and safeguard your mental health. Now here’s another gift from Stafford: “Things you know before you hear them—those are you, those are why you are in the world.”

AQUARIUS (Jan. 20-Feb. 18): “Love is an immoderate thing / And can never be content,” declared poet W. B. Yeats. To provide you with an accurate horoscope, I’ll have to argue with that idea a bit. From what I can determine, love will indeed be immoderate in your vicinity during the coming weeks. On the other hand, it’s likely to bring you a high degree of contentment—as long as you’re willing to play along with its immoderateness. Here’s another fun prediction: I suspect that love’s immoderateness, even as it brings you satisfaction, will also inspire you to ask for more from love and expand your capacity for love. And that could lead to even further immoderate and interesting experiments.

PISCES (Feb. 19-March 20): You will know you are in sweet alignment with cosmic forces if you have an impulse to try a rash adventure, but decide instead to work on fixing a misunderstanding with an ally. You can be sure you’re acting in accordance with your true intuition if you feel an itch to break stuff, but instead channel your fierce energy into improving conditions at your job. You will be in tune with your soul’s code if you start fantasizing about quitting what you’ve been working on so hard, but instead sit down and give yourself a pep talk to reinvigorate your devotion and commitment.

Homework: Make up a secret identity for yourself. What is it? How do you use it? Testify at freewillastrology.com.