The most significant astrological event this week is the New Moon in Aquarius, which also happens to be the Chinese New Year. But the flavor of the week is definitely fish.

Starting this week, we’re approaching a stellium of planets in Pisces that will culminate in an emotionally volatile New Moon in March. In the meantime, Mercury will turn retrograde in Pisces and conjoin Mars twice. My read on this is that we’re about to go through a collective release of accumulated anger, frustration, grief, and past-life trauma. Not that this hasn’t been happening in a big way already, but I think it’s about to get even bigger.

Over the past week, I’ve been following comments on a few news stories, and I’ve been struck by how stupid, mean, and argumentative people can be. And I don’t know if it’s just my imagination or if reading comprehension is at an all-time low. Don’t they teach that in school anymore? Or could it be that Jupiter stationed in Gemini is translating to a fixation on details without understanding the overall point of the article? Regardless, I see this as the collective venting of a high level of frustration and anger. The real source of public frustration – the corporate thieves who plundered the economy, drove up the unemployment rate, and got off scot-free, along with their political accomplices – are protected behind gated communities and armed guards. And they are no doubt pleased that, instead of plotting to storm the Bastille, the “little people” are either fighting among themselves or dousing their pain through addictive and escapist behaviors.

Ah, but the plotting thickens, in however small a way. It’s heartening to see people rallying in support of a waitress in St. Louis who was fired from Applebee’s last week for posting a customer’s rude note online. Many of the comments on news stories display an appalling lack of comprehension of the facts, but the response was visceral, and in this case, channeled in the right direction. Although there were some unbelievably rude and bigoted comments about the customer, the majority response was to call for a boycott of Applebee’s and its parent company, IHOP. For its part, Applebee’s showed its true colors by totally failing to grasp the extent of the public outrage. In its official “explanation,” you can almost hear the collapse of a decaying corporate structure.

This is all just a long way of saying that a revolution is indeed in the works – not that we haven’t known for years that it was coming, given the Uranus-Pluto square with reinforcement from Saturn in Scorpio. I always maintained that the rebellion would be a class war. With Mars in Pisces, the collective anger is going to make itself felt – all the more so when retrograde Mercury conjoins Mars later this month. It’s critical in the next six to eight weeks that you look for ways to channel any anger and frustration into appropriate action.

Now, there’s another way that all this Pisces energy could manifest, and that’s the thinning of the “veil” between worlds, sometimes called the “Veil of Isis.” More and more people are beginning to have memories, dreams, and visions of incarnations in other dimensions of time and space. This is very definitely the realm of Neptune, and confusion and disorientation are key attributes of the ninth planet. These memories can be distressing. Depending on what happened and how vividly you recall the event, the force of the emotional release could be explosive. This is especially true of karmic relationships. It’s my observation that merely knowing what happened in another lifetime usually isn’t enough to overcome a negative pattern or obsession with someone. The emotional charge has to be released, and then something changes internally that allows you to move on. Anyone who has gone through this process knows that it can be upsetting.

Mars conjoins Neptune on Monday, but we’re already feeling it. On Tuesday, Mercury enters Pisces, where he’ll turn retrograde on February 23. In all, Mercury will remain in Pisces for more than two months, when he normally breezes through a sign in three weeks. I mention this now, because Mercury enters pre-retrograde shadow on Friday, making it all the more important that you take action in the next two weeks to establish your course for the rest of the year. Even though we’ll be sailing through patchy fog, all of the planets are now direct and giving us a huge green light until February 18, when Saturn turns retrograde. This is the only period in 2013 with all ten planets direct – actually, all the asteroids, too – and we won’t have one in 2014 at all.

Of course, the biggest news this week is the New Moon in Aquarius on February 10, which is also the Chinese New Year and the beginning of the Year of the Water Snake (more water!). Since the rest of this week’s aspects are contained in the New Moon chart, I’ll discuss them in that context.

This is a bowl chart with an odd sort of symmetry. The Sun and Moon are at the bottom at 21 degrees Aquarius, not in aspect with any other planets but in a square with the lunar nodes by exact degree. And, of course, all of the planets are direct, making this a remarkable New Moon chart filled with the promise of a head-spinning fast-forward.

Mercury and Mars are conjunct (the alignment is exact on Friday), providing a glimpse of what will come later this month, after Mercury turns retrograde and the two planets are conjunct for a second time. Communication is key here, because otherwise the combined energy of this pair is passive aggressive. That’s what the Applebee’s customer did, and it came back to bite her in the behind. Her beef was with management, and the whole incident could have been avoided had she communicated directly.

Mercury and Mars are both square Jupiter in Gemini at the New Moon, and Mars is still in conjunction with Neptune, so it will take some effort to communicate clearly and effectively, and failure to do so could have exaggerated consequences. Chiron is in on this alignment, too, so there is an increased risk that someone is going to end up with hurt feelings. But it doesn’t have to be this way. Jupiter and Uranus are sextile by exact degree and Mars and Mercury are approaching a trine with Saturn – all indicating positive ways to redirect anger and irritation. If you can summon up the courage to be candid and direct, you can shift the level of the discussion to higher ground and build new ties in your personal and professional relationships.

Venus sextiles Uranus on Wednesday and trines Jupiter on Thursday. These combined energies suggest unexpected opportunities and a stroke of brilliant luck, most likely in the areas of career and financial deals. Thursday is a great day for signing contracts. However, at the New Moon, Venus is in a close square with Saturn, suggesting cold water thrown on plans that looked so good only a few days earlier. At the very least, you may have some version of buyer’s remorse, that “What could I possibly have been thinking?” feeling. Well that’s what Mercury retrograde is for. You’ll have a couple of weeks to do some additional research, and if you want to change your mind, you’ll probably get an opportunity to do so.

The square from the Sun and Moon to the lunar nodes suggests that whatever takes place at this New Moon could have a feeling of fate or destiny about it, at least collectively. It may apply in individual cases, too, depending on where the Sun, Moon, and nodes currently are transiting your chart. It’s also intriguing to note that the Uranus-Pluto midpoint and the Venus-Mars midpoint are both 23 degrees Aquarius, with the Sun and Moon just two degrees away. This further suggests events that are fated and part of the overall evolution/revolution of Uranus and Pluto. Gender relations are part of this scenario as the struggle continues for women’s rights and an end to violence against women and girls.

Frankly, I’d like to see an end to violence against women, girls, boys, men, cats, and dogs. The collective release of accumulated anger, pain, and trauma – whether from this lifetime or other incarnations – will go a long way toward that end. Just be prepared for a really big mess.

Wishing you all much love and courage,
Pat