This week

The greatest triumphs occur when we vanquish a perticaler fear, rise to a perticaler occasion, conquer a peritcaler mountain. Astrobabble points this out at the top of what could be an irksome week. Venus squares Pluto, the Saturn / Uranus opposition reaches its peak, and a Full Moon eclipse lands Monday 9th. You have choices. When push comes to shove, do you strike out ‘willy’ nilly or do you play the sweetest, fairest, strongest hand? What Astrobub is saying is, “Do you have it in you to conquer?” (To which we all should be replying, “Do bears cheese in the woods?”) Fair and sweet and strong it is then I beseech you. And they’re under starters orders.

Aries
Monday 9 February sees a Full Moon land in your 5th house of self expression namely chilun, creative ting, and squeezes. It’s a Full Moon eclipse so take your emotional max and add some extra load. Full Moons are always an emotional peak signalling an emotional end, my friend. Something you have been denying comes out. Something you’ve set your pride against falls short or reaches an ending you hadn’t wanted. You’ll be getting that sinking feeling from Thursday, like you’ve missed a turning and can’t go back. So go on. Spend the weekend counting your blessings, dem very things you actually have in the here and now that make you happy. There’s your mountain. And Sunday why not cry with someone you’ve never cried with before about the things you wanted that never came to be? There’s a fear vanquished. Tuesday 10th dawns and you have a new plan and a spring in your step. And shimmy…

Taurus
Interesting times abound, Bull features, most of them hurdle-esque. Mercury heading direct sez foreign, study, broadcasting, publishing, and legal plans all begin to head forwards after the dithering and general mayhem of the past three weeks. What’s not so bonne chance is the spat in this same zone betwixt Pluto, Lord of Deep Truth, and Venus, your leader in a vaguely transparent floaty gown. Venus is just starting an extended tour of dooty in your 12th house of, “Mommy me frighty.” It would seem that something is stopping you from embracing the future - a fear only you can name – and it has something to do with an outdated take on independence that likely landed in some sense of propriety and order inherited from your alfella. Astrobabble isn’t here to suggest babies and bathwater going the way of the sluice gates. But it is 2009, Bully Bullseye. If you can ‘go in’ over the weekend and name your perticaler Fear, the Mountain may well appear to be nothing more than a Molehill by Tuesday 10th.

Gemini
A Full Moon in your every day wash, brewing in time for Monday week, indicates a growing sense of frustration and ‘stuckedness’ in your routines and the familiar with a likelihood of vocal storms and potential molten lava spewing forth from the deep south. A wish (or a friendship) that hits a ding in the road the size of a family hatchback later this week might be the final straw in this gathering zone of high pressure. The rage is that everything in your present wash seems like a trap keeping you away from the glorious future out there. Before you burst, consider that it may only be a question of perspective. In between not shouting at the weekend, try scribbling down the positives in your daily life that are propelling you forwards - mebbes even draw up a timeline of when and where you’ll take giant leaps this year. Then pin it somewhere that you’ll see it often like the Atlas, your passport, or in the wardrobe next to your Fairy Wings.

Cancer
Come Thursday the potential upset in your wash seems to be a love relationship reaching an important test or a business partnership that needs a re-focus. For the next decade and more such intensity in your one-to-one partnerships is par for the course. Fess up. You know you need a kick in the grass to stop retreating inside your shell and Pluto is here to make you make it happen. Say, “Hullo,” to the powerful people entering your midst and prepare to step up to the plate all proud and tall. Stop quivering. Pluto takes no prisoners. Remember the Mountain? Remember the Fear? Remember being fair and sweet and strong? Dress in a gold lamé jumpsuit and sing, “I’m coming out,” just like Diana Ross, and Feel Your Own Power. As the Full Moon Eclipse docks Monday week, Crabs the world over will be clutching their wallets tightly. This is not the way. The way is to look inside at the real picture and then start making some Big Decisions about how to make it fatter and healthier. (The Wallet, Crabsticks. The Wallet.) You’ve a year to be inventive about mekkin cash money lettuce. Crack on.

Leo
The Full Moon Eclipse on Monday 9th lands, kaboom, in your first house of You, Yourself, and You. Decisions need to made and while you may be disappointed by work hiccups blocking your chosen future path (and/or travel plans) it seems a question of timing and money needs to be reconciled. There’s a huge amount of planetary good stuff happening in your 7th house of loving and bidniz partnerships. If the Fall Outs that seem to run Thursday, Friday, and Monday make you roar with anger and outrage, try to remember that at your behest and on your side are so many clever, kind, important people who can help. Work negotiations that have stalled in the past few weeks head forwards ho as of now with the touch paper clearly burning bright in your important one-to-ones from Feb 15th.

Virgo
A Full Moon Eclipse in your 12th house of, “Meep! There’s something in the woodshed!” is no children’s party of jelly and ice cream, that’s for sure. Psychological ticks that have been tripping you up loom large as shadows. As the weekend dawns you’ll be hard pressed to see what’s really going on. So why not give up trying for the interim? Break the habit of a lifetime and take a time out. Wait for the intensity to pass with your lips zipped. Planning no major anythings between this Wednesday and Tuesday 10th is a sign of wisdom and strength, Virgo, not weakness. If the top of your mountain feels like simply saying, “I don’t know. I’ll have to get back to you.” Then that’s where you should go, crampons at the ready. Between now and then relationships are going to feel strained and a creative project or light love affair may hit a ding or may even fall by the wayside. It’s a test of strength again, Virgo. What doesn’t make the grade for you right now must be ushered out gently, creating space for new materials, new people, new mountain tops.

Libra
The confidence you’re searching for seems to be lacking this week, Scales, as your pretty ruler Venus squares off to the Lord of the Underworld, Pluto. From Wednesday through to Friday the best way forwards may be to walk the walk with a Dictaphone into which you talk the talk of what exactly is hanging you out to dry. It’s not Them Out There. Trust me. It’s You In Here. As you enunciate your list of fears, expectations, ambitions, and excuses pay perticaler attention to things you are doing which are a) a bit too much like a gnashing toddler, (b) a bit too much like a recalcitrant teenager, and/or (c) a bit too much like your Dad. A wish or friendship meets an emotional tension point Sunday into Monday. Feel like throwing your hands in the air? Or conversely needing to exert control? Is that your inner toddler/teenager/Dad’s voice speaking? Shut them all up and answer the question honestly, as you are in the here and now. How do you feel? Well! Whooda thunk?

Scorpio
Work, career, and success are in the frame this week, Scorpio. You feel like you’ve been carrying dead weight on a particular project and while you’ve been wanting to speak out these past few weeks you’ve been rather half-hearted about it. No More. As Pluto your ruler squares up to Venus late in the week the slipshod lack of creativity, and wobbly financial bottom line, and general lack of Fairness in it all is going to send you over the edge. Are you an ass? Are you a schmo? Are you a patsy? And another thing – what were they thinking, these imbeciles?! To pour fuel on your vocal flames a Full Moon Eclipse in Leo means that even when you do Tell It Like It Is those who hear what you say ain’t gonna like it much. Not one jot. The skies say your worklife picks up from next week so do what you gatta this week to clear the path for that. But mebbes do it diplomatically.

Sagittarius
The credit crunch may well land at your door later this week, Archer, as you find yourself having to cut corners when it comes to spendsies on a hobby, chilun-thing, or hot dinner date. You’re not one for living frugally or having your options curtailed so you ain’t going to like it much. But look at it this way, conquering your Mountain this week may involve nothing more than saying, “I can’t afford that right now – so let’s do this instead! And do it with smiles on our faces!” (And anyways, some of the best things in life are free, aren’t they poppet?) For you Monday week’s Full Moon Eclipse banks in your 9th house of foreign, study, broadcasting, and legal plans. You’ll be scrabbling urgently to get one or more irons in one or more of these fires the closer Monday comes. Tally ho, four-legged friend. Just make sure you’re not knee-jerking to compensate for current financial disappointments.

Capricorn
Be wary of throwing your weight around as this week rolls round, Goat, especially with family and the home fires. Pluto’s Power has begun its 15 year journey coursing through your first house of You, Yourself, and You and you may not yet know your own strength or realise that you can blow a house down from 30 paces. The world over is feeling angst as Saturn, your stiff-upper-lipped ruler, and Uranus, Meester Gaga, fight it out in the skies. Adding to it by getting bombastic is a recipe for more ploblem. And so. Best to name your own tensions and deal with them in an orderly fashion. It would seem that something has reached a culmination and your mountain involves nothing more than letting go. But control? Can you let go of control? Over.

Aquarius
Uncomfortable feelings that arise from mid-week are your fears getting a foothold. The trouble is that these fears are about to get hold of your tongue, Aquarius, and your close one-to-onesies are going to cop it. It seems that right now everything Out There is a test of your worth In Here. And you’re on the back foot. Add a potentially bruising spat between Pluto and Venus – and a Full Moon Eclipse in your 7th house of bidiz and loving partners - and you can see a brewing brew of high potency, potential bitterness, and endings. Whatever happened to vulnerability? Whatever happened to saying, “I’m scared of this…” Or asking questions you might not like the answers to? “Is this over?” Trying to control your fears by controlling other people is a dead end. Continue in this vein and eventually dat is what you gonna get.

Pisces
While the general picture viz your bank account looks hiho silver healthy, this week there could be crossed swords with someone who seems to be taking a liberty. It may be that work is taking you overtime with nada in the way of remuneration. It may be the price tag on a wish you’d wanted is way off, I-say-aah-say Way Off what you’d budgeted for. Or it may be something as thorny as a friend banking on your easyozie ways for yet more freeloading bounty and it’s starting to wear you and your wallet down. The stress may be bubbling under the surface but Astrobabble sez watch what it’s doing to your health. A Full Moon Eclipse in your 6th house of medicine cabinets sez Fishes need plenty of rest and flu-fighting fresh vegetative matter. Plankton stir fry is Go.