I’m sure you’re all feeling relieved with the sun in Aquarius and out of restrictive Capricorn. No more oppressive families and back to good ol’ academic masochism. On top of this rejuvenating freedom, Venus finally ended its retrograde on January 31st, which means that your stifled love life has hopes of taking off again.
Jupiter moved into opposition with Pluto on January 31st as well. This emphasized the sense of freedom brought on by Sun in Aquarius with an added ambitious focus and drive for success, perfect for the start of the semester. You will feel very powerful, but be careful how you handle this level of energy. It will be tempting to dominate the conversation in conference and challenge your professors or other authority figures. Balance will be crucial with the upcoming Sun square Saturn transit. Enjoy the feeling of ambition, but avoid power struggles. Moderation will be very difficult with this aspect, but Sun square Saturn will be easier to handle if you keep your life balanced.
The Sun square Saturn transit on February 11th is inherently difficult, but will be an opportunity for growth and can be rewarding if overcome. You may begin to feel disillusioned, blocked from achieving your goals, and lacking in energy/confidence. If your work suddenly seems more overwhelming than usual it is due to these poor spirits and lack of motivation brought on by this aspect and is not reflective of your actual ability. Although you may not feel like doing work, this is a time in which buckling down is very important. Saturn makes apparent the weaker areas of your life, enabling you to strengthen them. Take the time to sort out your life and focus on self-improvement. The tendency of Reedies to work too hard will only lead to frustration and setbacks during this time. A slow and steady pace will bring success.
Mercury goes into retrograde on February 6th, meaning messages might be lost in translation, and communication can start breaking down. (Great time to release the first issue of a paper.) Worse yet, Mercury is transiting through spacey Pisces, where others’ thoughts can sometimes be confused for your own. But Mercury in retrograde need not be a bad time if used correctly as a time of reflection, especially when Mercury re-enters Aquarius, the sign of visionaries and geniuses, next week. Use the next few days with Mercury in Pisces to get an understanding of the space around you with heightened sensitivity. When the planet shifts to Aquarius, where the Sun, representing the Self, is currently transiting, it can be a great time for contemplation with a new perspective. Conference classes during these transits might be frustrating, as retrograde Mercury in Aquarius can give a false sense of heightened intellectual acuity when you’re really being a complete airhead.
The communication problem will be further exacerbated by Jupiter trine Chiron transit, Jupiter in exhalation in Cancer positioned for extreme protectiveness, especially with the strong focus on the self necessitated by Chiron. Expressing harebrained ideas as visionary genius and viewing any counter-argument as a personal attack can be a pervasive sub-current of any Reed class, but during this time those emotions might come more easily to the surface. Look out for this, but understand that the whole time you will also be under the same influence and your own ideas may be more ignoble than ingenious. Be nice, although Mercury trine Mars (February 16th) might make that difficult.