Uranus is part of the new moon, Wednesday night/Thursday morning. Uranus brings humanity vital and unrelenting change. The question at the new moon, and continuing on to the full blue moon at month’s end, concerns hopes, dreams and visions. Perhaps our dreams have changed. What visions and dreams did we have before? What are our dreams and visions now? Have they expanded (Jupiter) or consolidated (Saturn in Capricorn)? As 2018 unfolds we find ourselves working more than usual. In the last years, we pondered upon far-reaching goals.

This year, we sense the need to structure our goals, dreams and visions, finding pathways where we are useful. 2018 is a slow and steady year. A fertile year for visionary enterprises to be anchored and stabilized in form and matter. It’s a year of tending to responsibilities. Making a list each day and checking it once, twice, three times. Finding Saturn in our astrology charts. Discovering what we must do each day in terms of daily tasks that care for ourselves, offer us structure, order and organization.

This year, we create Saturn Journals. What does that mean? Our journals of daily, weekly, monthly tasks, responsibilities and structures that we want to bring forth and complete this year. Saturn in Capricorn will assist us. That is Saturn in Capricorn’s job description. To work steadily and persistently in the task and responsibilities, plans and agendas.

Saturn remains in Capricorn until Dec. 17, 2020, prior to winter solstice. By then we will have achieved much, matured more, have greater strength and purpose, and use moderation and caution. We will have become respected, sincere, serious and authentic—like grownups! Especially in America!  

ARIES: In the next several years you will make critical decisions concerning your work, reputation and professional image. There will be rewards, achievements, accomplishments. There will be learnings about limitation and yearnings to create a firm foundation for the future. There is a ladder that must be climbed. Strength, security and leadership will be cultivated. You rise up slow and steadily.

TAURUS: You sense a seriousness, somberness, depth in thinking. You wonder what you’ve been doing for the past years and what the future will bring. You take one step forward and two steps back. Starting over and over every day. You call upon Spirit to sustain, direct, guide and hold you. You may even speak quietly with Mary, Mother of the World, to assist you. Mary listens at dawn.

GEMINI: You will find it’s a time to tend to things financial, to taxes, insurances, legacies, trusts—all things shared with others, too. You may wonder who truly supports you emotionally. You will question intimacy and if your needs of intimacy have changed. You will need greater independence from someone or something. Desires and attachments come forth. New ones. You’re surprised.

CANCER: Be aware of changes in relationships. All types of relationships. Intimate and close friendships, too. There may be a need for compromise and flexibility, or perhaps a call to strengthen the “other,” or to let them go. Some may feel loneliness, seek a marriage partner. Some will feel the need to commit, or be urged to. Relationships may feel serious and demand to be redefined. Everyone’s true needs emerge.

LEO: All things in daily life will be challenged. Daily work, routines, habits, structures, tending to self and to health—all of these will call you to be present, responsible and conservative. Everything will be like the order and organization of Virgo. You may need to tend to things neglected and put aside. Every day will be a no-nonsense day. You will learn how to manage everything quietly and with care. Especially health.

VIRGO: So many things will come your way to relax, lighten and loosen you up. Your task is to play with them in all ways possible. First, your creative expression will come forth in a more structured way, and this is good. You will seek children out, discover new hobbies, take tests for fun, think about romance with no commitment, yet with a touch more discipline than usual. Just have fun, Virgo.

LIBRA: All things domestic, homelike, personal, nourishing and nurturing are the points on the family compass you are drawn to. You will realize all of the past, including childhood, was your field of experience, where you learned a certain discipline, a realism and a way to structure your adulthood. Now, you seek to create traditions that sustain self-sufficiency. All family ancestries, backgrounds and heritages are good, unique and just what we all needed spiritually.

SCORPIO: It will be good to take up a new course of study or a training that interests you. If you haven’t yet trained in compassionate communication, the next two years prove to be the right time for this. A restructuring of your mind, thinking and belief system takes place, entailing detail and research you’re excellent with. You will participate in challenges and tests. They will be serious, satisfying and life-affirming. Remember not to worry.

SAGITTARIUS: Saturn left your sign in December and the seriousness and somberness worn like a cloak is gone. The past years have been introspective, concerned with self and work, finances and a place called home. The upcoming years will see a steady, slow and sturdy flow of energy. Be sure to maintain your perception of self as effective, financially savvy, responsible, resourceful, realistic and always useful. These are true, you know.

CAPRICORN: If it’s at all possible for Capricorns to become even more capable, responsible, serious and mature, this will definitely happen in the next two-plus years. Here is what all Capricorns must understand and repeat daily, hourly, moment by moment. “I am always enough and I always do enough and there is always enough in my life.” These words will create a deep sense of inner strength and a confidential sense of true identity. These words define your true identity.

AQUARIUS: You may sense you’re living a life of contemplation even when out and about in the world. You may sense a feeling of discontent which is usually a divine discontent. Ask what this discontent is … for discontent tells us that something needs changing. You may consider all of the things you hope to accomplish in your life, eliminating what is no longer important or necessary. You may begin to attend church. Or pray more. You find comfort there.

PISCES: You will need to set aside time each day for the tending to your own health and welfare. In the future, you will be called to do even more work with groups and people who depend upon you. This work is important, for it contains your purpose, the plan for your life, and lives yet to come. You can make long term plans for the future. Allow nothing to frustrate those plans. Your life moves forward, upward. It’s a good time for the fishes. Visualize your warm pool and new home.

Free Will astrology for the week of January 17, 2018.

ARIES (March 21-April 19): Many American women did not have the right to vote until Aug. 18, 1920. On that day, the Tennessee General Assembly became the 36th state legislature to approve the Nineteenth Amendment, thus sealing the legal requirements to change the U.S. Constitution and ensure women’s suffrage. The ballot in Tennessee was close. At the last minute, 24-year-old legislator Harry T. Burns changed his mind from no to yes, thanks to a letter from his mother, who asked him to “be a good boy” and vote in favor. I suspect that in the coming weeks, Aries, you will be in a pivotal position not unlike Burns’. Your decision could affect more people than you know. Be a good boy or good girl.

TAURUS (April 20-May 20): In the coming weeks, Destiny will be calling you and calling you and calling you, inviting you to answer its summons. If you do indeed answer, it will provide you with clear instructions about what you will need to do expedite your ass in the direction of the future. If on the other hand you refuse to listen to Destiny’s call, or hear it and refuse to respond, then Destiny will take a different tack. It won’t provide any instructions, but will simply yank your ass in the direction of the future.

GEMINI (May 21-June 20): Looks like the Season of a Thousand and One Emotions hasn’t drained and frazzled you. Yes, there may be a pool of tears next to your bed. Your altar might be filled with heaps of ashes, marking your burnt offerings. But you have somehow managed to extract a host of useful lessons from your tests and trials. You have surprised yourself with the resilience and resourcefulness you’ve been able to summon. And so the energy you’ve gained through these gritty triumphs is well worth the price you’ve had to pay.

CANCER (June 21-July 22): Every relationship is unique. The way you connect with another person—whether it’s through friendship, romance, family, or collaborative projects — should be free to find the distinctive identity that best suits its special chemistry. Therefore, it’s a mistake to compare any of your alliances to some supposedly perfect ideal. Luckily, you’re in an astrological period when you have extra savvy about cultivating unique models of togetherness. So I recommend that you devote the coming weeks to deepening and refining your most important bonds.

LEO (July 23-Aug. 22): During recent weeks, your main tasks have centered around themes often associated with strain and struggle: repair, workaround, reassessment, jury-rigging, adjustment, compromise. Amazingly, Leo, you have kept your suffering to a minimum as you have smartly done your hard work. In some cases you have even thrived. Congratulations on being so industrious and steadfast! Beginning soon, you will glide into a smoother stage of your cycle. Be alert for the inviting signs. Don’t assume you’ve got to keep grunting and grinding.

VIRGO (Aug. 23-Sept. 22): Norwegian artist Edvard Munch (1863-1944) created four versions of his iconic artwork “The Scream.” Each depicts a person who seems terribly upset, holding his head in his hands and opening his mouth wide as if unleashing a loud shriek. In 2012, one of these images of despair was sold for almost $120 million. The money went to the son of a man who had been Munch’s friend and patron. Can you think of a way that you and yours might also be able to extract value or get benefits from a negative emotion or a difficult experience? The coming weeks will be a favorable time to do just that.

LIBRA (Sept. 23-Oct. 22): “I think I like my brain best in a bar fight with my heart,” says poet Clementine von Radics. While I appreciate that perspective, I advise you to do the opposite in the coming weeks. This will be a phase of your astrological cycle when you should definitely support your heart over your brain in bar fights, wrestling matches, shadow boxing contests, tugs of war, battles of wits, and messy arguments. Here’s one of the most important reasons why I say this: Your brain would be inclined to keep the conflict going until one party or the other suffers ignominious defeat, whereas your heart is much more likely to work toward a win-win conclusion.

SCORPIO (Oct. 23-Nov. 21): When he was 24 years old, Scorpio-born Zhu Yuanzhang (1328-1398) was a novice monk with little money who had just learned to read and write. He had spent years as a wandering beggar. By the time he was 40 years old, he was the emperor of China and founder of the Ming Dynasty, which ruled for 276 years. What happened in between? That’s a long story. Zhu’s adventurousness was a key asset, and so was his ability as an audacious and crafty tactician. His masterful devotion to detailed practical matters was also indispensable. If you are ever in your life going to begin an ascent even remotely comparable to Zhu’s, Scorpio, it will be in the coming ten months. Being brave and enterprising won’t be enough. You must be disciplined and dogged, as well.

SAGITTARIUS (Nov. 22-Dec. 21): In 1892, the influential Atlantic Monthly magazine criticized Sagittarian poet Emily Dickinson, saying she “possessed an extremely unconventional and grotesque fancy.” It dismissed her poetry as incoherent, and declared that an “eccentric, dreamy, half-educated recluse” like her “cannot with impunity set at defiance the laws of gravitation and grammar.” This dire diss turned out to be laughably wrong. Dickinson is now regarded as one of the most original American poets. I offer this story up as a pep talk for you, Sagittarius. In the coming months, I suspect you’ll be reinventing yourself. You’ll be researching new approaches to living your life. In the course of these experiments, others may see you as being in the grip of unconventional or grotesque fantasy. They may consider you dreamy and eccentric. I hope you won’t allow their misunderstandings to interfere with your playful yet serious work.

CAPRICORN (Dec. 22-Jan. 19): Bubble gum is more elastic and less sticky than regular chewing gum. That’s why you can blow bubbles with it. A Capricorn accountant named Walter Diemer invented it in 1928 while working for the Fleer Chewing Gum Company. At the time he finally perfected the recipe, the only food dye he had on hand was pink. His early batches were all that color, and a tradition was born. That’s why even today, most bubble gum is pink. I suspect a similar theme may unfold soon in your life. The conditions present at the beginning of a new project may deeply imprint the future evolution of the project. So try to make sure those are conditions you like!

AQUARIUS (Jan. 20-Feb. 18): “When one door closes, another opens,” said inventor Alexander Graham Bell. “But we often look so long and so regretfully upon the closed door that we do not see the one which has opened.” Heed his advice, Aquarius. Take the time you need to mourn the lost opportunity. But don’t take MORE than the time you need. The replacement or alternative to what’s gone will show up sooner than you think.

PISCES (Feb. 19-March 20): Gilbert Stuart painted the most famous portrait of America’s first president, George Washington. It’s the image on the U.S. one-dollar bill. And yet Stuart never finished the masterpiece. Begun in 1796, it was still a work-in-progress when Stuart died in 1828. Leonardo da Vinci had a similar type of success. His incomplete painting “The Virgin and Child with St. Anne” hangs in the Louvre in Paris, and his unfinished “The Adoration of the Magi” has been in Florence’s Uffizi Gallery since 1671. I propose that Stuart and da Vinci serve as your role models in the coming weeks. Maybe it’s not merely OK if a certain project of yours remains unfinished; maybe that’s actually the preferred outcome.

Homework: Report your favorite graffiti from a bathroom wall. Go to Freewillastrology.com and click on “Email Rob.”