2014: The Year of Personal Transformation?

2014 starts out with a bang (Moon-Uranus square, exact 2:40 a.m. ET) but the day continues with aspects that are more about plumbing the depths than explosions: the New Moon (i.e., Sun and Moon) conjuncting Pluto. With Mercury just past the Sun, this is an excellent time to make important New Year's resolutions that will truly stick.

Just as a concerted weight-loss or quitting-smoking regimen will improve your outer appearance and health, other resolutions could lead to highly significant shifts within yourself. Others may not be able to see these changes, but such deep-rooted transformation will be all the more important to you.

Never mind that Venus will stay retrograde till 1/31 -- Rome wasn't built in a day, and this stellium in Capricorn is in it for the long haul.

Mercury in Taurus, Sun Trine Pluto: To Have, to Hold, and to Reinvent

Mercury ingresses into Taurus at 11:37 a.m. EDT, just two hours before the Sun trines Pluto. When two astrological events occur in tandem, it's definitely time to pay attention. So what kind of song is about to be sung? Possibly an intensely beautiful, cathartic one.

Although Mercury is not particularly well placed in Taurus, neither is it debilitated. Thoughts and communications will definitely turn toward money, honey, sensual love, beauty, and art -- perhaps clarifying the preoccupations of the three other planets currently transiting Taurus: Sun, Venus, and Mars. That's certainly a lot of earth energy. If you happen to have the Sun in Taurus, Virgo, Capricorn, Cancer, or Pisces (or have an emphasis on one or more of those signs in your chart), you will feel right at home.

Some people would rather die than change, but today I would advise even the most stubborn of you (which would likely include a high percentage of Tauruses) to give reinvention a wholehearted shot. Pluto energy is never "easy," but a trine is the best possible aspect to ride it, not fight it; Pluto may bare its teeth on a trine, but in a smile -- not as a prelude to a bite.

Envision yourself becoming the person of your very best dreams. If no one is handing you the keys to unlock all those obstacles, become your own locksmith. Do not wait for anyone's permission; grant yourself power, creativity, mystery, sex appeal -- any positive trait that will bring a smile to your own face. Do it even against all so-called evidence that you are a nobody. Your newfound self will then radiate like a newly charged sun. You may prefer to enjoy it in private (depending on whether your Sun or your Pluto is stronger in your own chart), but if you are out in the field, others will bask in your glow and become inspired to remake themselves. If enough collective momentum is generated, the chain reaction will continue even after the Sun finishes trining Pluto.