TAURUS MONTHLY HOROSCOPE January, 2008 This is going to be a very interesting month for you, Taurus. Several planets have taken up residence for a time in your 9th House, the House of mental exploration and long-distance travel. Jupiter, the good luck planet, has been inyour 9th House since December 19, 2007, and will remain there until January 5, 2009! People and circumstances you encounter may give you the chance or the inspiration to broaden your intellectual horizons through higher education, advanced training, study or the use of foreign languages, or distant travel. Under this influence you may develop a desire to expand your spiritual awareness, political interests, and cultural appreciation. A greater opportunity for success is also possible if you are involved in writing, publishing, arts and entertainment (especially theater and dance), finance and investment, advertising, or promotion. The health and/or job prospects of a parent or in-law may be improved during this transit. However, if there are other planets with negative influences transiting this area of your life, the result could be a spoiling of the otherwise fortunate potential of this period. Given there are no negative influences, you will be favored in most decisions, especially court decisions. You must note too that during Jupiter's travel through your 9th House, there is an increased tendency for overestimation and exaggeration, which may lead to intellectual arrogance, name-dropping, and shameless social climbing. You may succeed in games of chance, but remember it only takes one lottery ticket, one horse, or one team to make you a winner. Saturn, the planet of Karma, went retrograde in your love sector on December 20th. Saturn will remain here until May 3, 2008. This brings about more and more responsibilities, even when all you're trying to do is have some fun. Because this is a relatively long-term period, many other influences will occur that may either emphasize the effect of this transit or perhaps mask the effects temporarily. Other significant factors that will contribute to the way you react, and ultimately to the way things turn out, include your age, maturity, and your past experiences. This influence has as much to do with the past as it does the present. It will force you to throw out what is wasteful and to abandon unsuccessful situations, replacing them with something more solid and useful to you. In the case of this particular period, it can mean you will have additional responsibilities for children; they may regard you as too severe or inflexible, or you may suffer estrangement from them. Children are apt to be conceived under this influence if your age and circumstances permit such an occurrence. Though this transit implies the possibility of long-lasting, stable romance, it also suggests that a serious emotional commitment must accompany such a relationship or it will not last. The consequence of destructive habits of overindulgence in the past now require you to exert powerful self-discipline. Your social life can be emphasized in such a way as to cause you to derive less enjoyment from it, or as the case may be, feel deprived for the lack of it. Your social activities and contacts may be so demanding of your time and attention as to actually be restrictive, since they prevent you from concentrating on other important matters. Artistic and creative talents; their development, use, or abuse are another likely focus of this transit. Risk-taking, whether its nature is physical, economic, or emotional is only to be embarked upon with the greatest of caution and mature experience. Failure or inability to adopt this approach is likely to end badly. The highest rewards for correct actions during this period include stronger, more stable relationships, a better sense of how to control selfish desires, and a more mature and successful approach to enjoying every aspect of life. The Sun moved into Capricorn in your 9th House on December 23, 2007, and will remain there until January 20, 2008. During this time, you experience a greater need to impart information and opinions to others, either directly or through writing and publishing. Intellectual status becomes a bigger priority during this period. You want others to embrace your religious or philosophical beliefs, yet you may resist their efforts to impose their own ideas on you. Under this influence you may be more generous in contributing your time and talents to religious, educational or political institutions. You may have a greater desire to pursue higher education or advanced training, and be more willing to indulge in speculation or other risk-taking ventures. By choice or circumstances you become more outgoing and assertive when traveling abroad or dealing with those of a different race or culture. Responsibilities related to your father or other authority figures may be prominent during this transit. Increased competitiveness in sports can make you a more formidable opponent but not so much a team player, so do remember when you are fighting solo vs. helping lead your team to victory this month. Remember your buddies! Retrograde Mars will enter your 2nd House, the financial House, on January 2nd. This retrograde lasts until the end of January. The month of January therefore has potential to be fierce, financially. Physical efforts during this transit are likely to really focus on financial and business matters. You may be inspired, for example, to give more physical organization to your bank and financial papers. You may go through bills and accounts-- making payments or taking some sort of action regarding debts, assets, and income. Another focus is directed to actually increasing income; working overtime, seeking an additional job, or doing whatever is necessary to earn money. Potential items on your agenda also include actions to either attain, or as the case may be, hold on to something or someone you deem highly worthwhile. Other activities may be geared toward achieving priorities or establishing new ones. Under this influence you seek ways to stimulate or increase your physical energy, since you may have more of a tendency to view energy itself as a valuable commodity. The big question you may need to ask yourself this month is, "Is all this fighting really worth destroying everything I have worked so hard for?" Keep the big picture in mind to avoid flying off the handle or spending recklessly in times of stress this month. The New Moon on January 8th shows a struggle between your communication sector (3rd House) and your mental exploration House (9th House). This could be an issue of spiritual or emotional crisis, which has potential to be resolved due to the fortunate position of the Sun and Jupiter in Capricorn. However, the 3rd House is also the House of short-distance travel, whereas the 9th House is the House of long-distance travel. What this means is that if you are going to school, you may need to work out whether you are commuting to a school near you or traveling far away for school. There is also potential for disruption in regards to travel. The Moon in the 9th House also indicates an urgency to get away from it all - a desire to just throw responsibility to the wind and hop on a train or a plane somewhere. If it is possible to take a day or two away from your responsibilities and just hang out, or go to the museum, or to the woods for a stroll, see if you can make it happen. This will do wonders to calm the boredom and the antsy feeling to flee everything during the New Moon in these sectors. Mercury, the planet of communication, will move into your 10th House on January 9th. The 10th House is the House of career, reputation and social life. Mercury's energies allow for smooth communication of ideas and transactions in the workplace and in your social arena. This is a time when you are likely to seek, or be given, a public forum of some kind in which to express your ideas or share your knowledge and skills. This can involve writing a letter to the editor of a newspaper or making a speech. This too may involve expanding the use of your skills and knowledge beyond your family group or those with whom you have daily contact. Circumstances you encounter under this influence are likely to increase your communication with superiors, clients, and a parent. You may also have to comply with government regulations or rules imposed by some similar authoritative agency during this time. Unfortunately, I have to advise against getting too comfortable with this placement, because Mercury will go retrograde by the end of the month, on January 29th. This is sure to cause all sorts of communications upsets with the people you work and socialise with. You may lose data or phone numbers or miss an important call for example. If you do decide that your current job isn't working out, you may consider delaying taking a new job until after February 24th. You should avoid signing any contracts or legal paperwork during the Mercury retrograde - try to get this out of the way before January 20th, well ahead of the retrograde. The Moon will be full on January 22nd, and anything you started back at the beginning of January has great potential to come to fruition now. The Full Moon occurs on the cusp of your 3rd and 4th Houses - that is, the seeds sown in your 9th house now pay off in your House of communication and your House of home and family. During the Full Moon, you may feel a greater need to speak out about something important and sensitive to you. Remember though that people aren't going to easily change their minds, and even less so if what you're arguing comes from a purely subjective, rather than an objective viewpoint. Enjoy some alone time between January 21 and January 23 for some navel gazing - reflect on your own view of the world and ponder whether some of your own ideals need changing or aligning with who you are becoming. Venus enters your 9th House on January 25th, and stays until February 17th, making for a great vacation opportunity, or finding something new and beautiful in life, be it through art, music or dance. Higher education, religious activities, political interests, and cultural pursuits will tend to be surrounded with a more social atmosphere during this period. Other potential circumstances you may be dealing with these days include romance, marriage, or any type of cooperative venture that involves a foreign country or someone of another culture or race. Issues or activities connected with a second marriage or a court decision may also arise. This is a transit that can lead you to write, publish, or purchase books; perhaps art, music, antique or very expensive books. Advertising or mail campaigns, especially those aimed at romance or relationships may occupy your time or attention. You may seek cooperation in joint efforts related to the health or employment of a parent. Socializing or establishing more cordial relationships with in-laws are other potential activities you may face during this time. Pluto makes his debut in your 9th House on January 26th and will stay for five months, until June 14th. Pluto is the planet of change, so expect some big changes during the first half of this year, which will inevitably change the way you previously thought about the world and your place in it. This influence covers a period of many years. It carries much depth and power of transformation but because of the length of this period's duration, you will only witness evidence of it at certain times, usually during the months when it begins (starting this month) and at various times over the next several months when other circumstances and influences occur to trigger it. Much of what takes place will depend upon the appropriateness of your age, level of maturity, and past experiences. Naturally, the more you are aware of this powerful influence and its potential, the more you will understand and be able to use it to attain personal growth and other positive goals. The nature of this influence is an increased urge to seek ultimate control and a position of greater power in specific areas of your life. During this particular period the old saying that knowledge is power will become increasingly true as you seek more personal influence, or it is given to you by extending the limits and depth of your knowledge and experiences. Your attitude (and activities) related to higher education, cultural pursuits, religious or spiritual growth become more intense and serious-- and what is just as important, your previous ideas in these areas are apt to be significantly altered or completely transformed. If you lacked the means or the willingness to expand the depth of your knowledge and experience in the past, choice or circumstance will force you to correct this vulnerability now. You develop a greater urgency to have others accept your ideas and information. It is also possible to become obsessed with gaining information or using it as a weapon to manipulate or gain some sort of control. During this period a second marriage (or circumstances directly related to a second marriage), in-laws, the judicial system or court decisions, publishing, writing, broadcasting, advertising, politics, or foreign travel may be the means that provide or inspire you to attain increased personal power and influence. If you should travel abroad, your thinking and ideas will be deeply affected by experiences in other lands and among those of a different culture or race. Lastly, if you find yourself wondering why there's so many computer outages and glitches, and wondering if the world has hit an early Mercury retrograde, check it out: as of January 3, 2008, we've entered an eleven-year solar storm caused by erupting spots on the Sun. Giant blasts of solar energy will be bathing the Earth in its wake between 2008 and 2019, with peak activity in 2011 or 2012 according to noaa.gov's website. These solar blasts are so strong that they can take down entire power grids, not to mention your cell phone connectivity. The plus side to such an event is that the aurora will be absolutely beautiful for those living far enough north to see the Northern Lights. The horoscope is a general one, applying to all people born between and . If you'd like a weekly or a monthly horoscope tailored to your exact birth time, click here to place your order now! Birth charts and personalised forecasts   |   Back to all horoscopes   |   Astromenon.com Chart analysis provided by Stephanie, Copyright 2002-2008.