Libra (September 23 - October 22)

Libra (September 23 - October 22)

Your January Horoscope by Susan Miller

Recently I was at the home of a Libra, and as you could guess, it was beautiful. Spacious, gracious, up to date, and well maintained. I complimented Miss Libra on her amazing taste and how beautifully she kept her multi-bedroom penthouse apartment. She surprised me when she turned and said, "Are you kidding? I need to refurbish this place from stem to stern. The bathroom floor is sinking, the foyer wall is starting to show cracks, and the living room needs a fresh coat of paint."

Let me hastily add that this particular Miss Libra was born with several Virgo planets, so small flaws that the casual observer would never notice distress her. Whether or not you are just like Miss Libra, you will have an extraordinary opportunity in 2008 to make your home precisely as you imagine it to be.

Last month, Jupiter, the giver of gifts and luck, moved into Capricorn on December 18 for the first time since 1996. Jupiter will remain in this part of your chart a full year. It takes Jupiter twelve years to circle the zodiac, because Jupiter spends one year in each of the twelve zodiac signs.

Here is your chance to make the kind of changes you've always dreamed of doing! You can do things on a big scale (move, remodel, or renovate) or on a small scale (buy new furniture, electronics, fresh linens, and china). You can choose! Jupiter will bring you bargains and exceptional opportunities the rest of us just won't get. While you are being showered with such dazzling vibrations, take full advantage!

You can also make repairs, thoroughly clean and paint, reorganize your closets, buy special boxes and filing containers to make finding things easier, improve the lighting, change the colors - whatever you desire!

While you will have Jupiter at your side all year, January will be your BEST month because you will have a very beneficial new moon to get your project in motion. We only get one new moon a year in each of the twelve parts of the horoscope and the one coming on January 8 will fall in this very area - your house of home!

One male Libra recently told me he was looking forward to this trend. "I just broke up with a long-term girlfriend and I was devastated that it was over. After a period of intense examination about what happened, I began to look at my life - and my home - with new eyes. I suddenly realized nothing about my apartment showed that a successful adult lived there. I plan to pull this place apart and completely redo it. It's time it looked like me."

Indeed, our environment continues to give us feedback about who we are. It's not always easy to see what our homes look like if we've been busy working or traveling or are absorbed in childcare. We become a little dulled to our environment and sometimes it takes a life event to have us take a look. Now you will have a chance to make changes large and small. They will not only improve your morale, but that of anyone who lives with you.

Jupiter is known to expand everything it touches, so chances are, you will have more space than you did before, always a lovely prospect. If you move, Jupiter is known to expand everything it touches. If you move, you are likely to find a beautiful, very large space with a view and good closets. The price of the house you buy or the rent you pay will probably be more than you anticipated, but will represent such a good deal for the money that you will take it. I would agree with that!

The 4th house is not only the house of home - your physical space - but also rules the people you live with. You may find that someone with whom you've shared your space moves out, such as an ex-spouse or older child, and that's the reason your space seems to expand so much. As you see, you need not move to enjoy this feeling of spaciousness that I see in your chart. Of course, you may also decide to toss out things or reorganize furniture, which would also bring you more room.

Begin to look at your options just after the new moon appears, January 8. You will have two weeks in which to do so for best luck, but your strongest energies will occur at the front part of this period.

This is also an excellent time to announce plans, sign estimates and leases, and get plans rolling. Are you buying or selling a house? Perfect timing!

Speaking of family, try not to get into hot water with a relative when discussing a controversial topic on January 1 or 2. With Mars in your house of ideas and attitudes opposed to Pluto in your house of communication, you are likely to touch off a nuclear reaction. You'll not see this coming and may wonder later what precisely you did. It won't be easy to back out gracefully once you ignite things, so keep that in mind!

Later in the month, when your home-related plans begin to shape up, you will have Venus in your house of home, from January 24 to February 18. Wow, with the Sun, new moon, Jupiter, Venus, and soon Pluto to be going through your 4th house of home, there's almost sure to be home or family-related news, all of it very positive!

I recently told a business publication that the housing market would be depressed in the United States until October 2008 while Saturn remained in Virgo. I added, however, that this would be true for every sign EXCEPT Libra, who is as lucky as a Leprechaun with any type of real estate. Normal rules don't apply to you in 2008! You will lose this advantage next year, but while you have it, use it!

Your home will bring you years of pleasure as long as you don't sign anything or make any decisions when Mercury is retrograde.

Mercury WILL retrograde soon, from January 28 to February 17. Always keep a space of a minimum of three days prior to the start and after the end dates of the retrograde. That means you should not work up too close to the January 28 date, nor jump on signing documents on February 17 or 18. You CAN move - that is fine to do during Mercury retrograde as long as you mark all the boxes clearly.

Normally you would be able to act a few days later, but next month we have a full moon lunar eclipse at the end of the retrograde period on February 20 in Virgo. Until you know what that will bring, it's best to watch and wait.

Getting back to your home situation, Capricorn rules older structures and antiques, both of which you'll have luck with now. An old farmhouse may have great "bones" that could be turned into a comfy weekend retreat, or a turn-of-the-century brownstone townhouse could turn out to be a great investment.

If you love to go antiquing, be my guest, for this year you are likely to uncover some amazing finds.

If you have been a caretaker for an elderly family member, know that this year your mother or father is under excellent protective vibrations. If your parent was ill, your beloved relative is likely to show improvement in 2008. If you followed my mother's illness in 2007, you know that miracles happen all the time. (My Little Mom, as I call her, is 88 and was in intensive care for four months last year with pneumonia and MRSA. She's completely recovered - leaving all the doctors shaking their heads in amazement. Never give up!)

Here's more remarkable news for you!

On January 25 Pluto will enter the same part of your horoscope - your house of home - when it enters Capricorn for the first time since 1762.

Like most major outer planets when they move into a new sign, they enter and then retreat when they go retrograde. Pluto will enter on January 25 but begin to retrograde in April and finally slip out of Capricorn in June. During that time you will get a preview of this awesome planet's energy. When Pluto enters Capricorn on November 26, 2008, Pluto will stay for a stunning fifteen years.

Now you may wonder: Why does it take so long for Pluto to get to Capricorn? Could it be that Pluto does not like Capricorn? Oh, no, sure he does! It's just that when Pluto goes into a sign, he stays a really long time!

Pluto spins on the very edge of our solar system. It takes Pluto 246 years to do a complete revolution around the Sun and the zodiac, so that accounts for why you have never experienced Pluto in your home sector before this.

Pluto is tiny but very powerful, for in a chart he rules complete and total transformations and rejuvenation. The last time Pluto entered Capricorn it was 1762, and he was instrumental in triggering the American Revolution!

During the coming years, your home may undergo many startling changes. Pluto rules the tearing down of structures, so you may literally tear down walls and fix up, sell a parent's house for them (and thereby say goodbye to a childhood home you grew up in), and make a number of radical changes in time.

Your spirit will be affected by this transit too, in that you may re-examine childhood experiences to see why you do certain things as an adult, or have certain irrational fears. Pluto asks us to plumb the depths of our soul, and there are few places in the chart as deep as the 4th house. If you want psychotherapy, it would be beneficial during this long phase of Pluto, but even if you don't, you are likely to come to new, enlightening conclusions.

If you feel that you have been too dependent on one or both of your parents, you will begin to pull away from being that way and begin to stand more on your own. This may be triggered from within or due to outside circumstances, but the result will be to strengthen you - a good feeling.

After thinking about your home situation, you might need a really fun night out, and the universe has cooked up the ideal time for you - the full moon, January 22. Falling in Leo, this full moon on January 22 will be deliciously luxurious. Whatever you do at the full moon in friendly Leo, you'll experience a feeling of being pampered at that time. Only the best will do, so you'll love this full moon, no matter what you do!

If you were born within five days of September 24, you will benefit most from this lovely full moon.

Mars will go direct this month on January 30, after having been retrograde since November 15. This will help you see travel plans fall into place, especially ones that have been delayed. However, since Mercury will be retrograde at the time Mars goes direct, you may want to be cautious. Mercury rules communication, contracts, commerce, transportation, and shipping, so you may want to buy an open return ticket to keep things flexible. It would be a good time to go on vacation, because you'd avoid all the delays happening back home!

Do not buy any electronic items when Mercury is out of phase, as it is considered the very worst time to do so. Avoid buying a car or anything with moving parts, too.

This time Mercury will retrograde in Aquarius in your house of love, so you may see an old flame now, or even try for reconciliation. If you are with a partner, you may go back to a question that never really was resolved. If you have children, you may try for a school that your child couldn't get into before - now there may be room because someone else had to drop out due to a change of plans. Opportunities come up when Mercury retrogrades, so it's not all gloom and doom!

Romantically, love will bloom brightest at month's end, after the Sun moves into Aquarius and lights your house of true love.

One day prior, on Saturday, January 19, Venus and Mars will team up to bring you a sizzling romantic episode. Be sure to be sure to be out and about.

Next month, in early February, you have truly fantastic aspects for fun and love, so if you don't find that January is bright enough, be patient! Cupid is being dispatched as we speak, and single or married, all will benefit. Also, as said earlier, the time around the full moon January 22 should please you, for that full moon in Leo will be sensationally social. It seems you will be among many friendly faces, some brand new to you - always a fun prospect for a Libra.

The month ends on the very best aspect possible for you. Venus, your ruler, will dance with Jupiter, making at least one dream of yours come true. This will be all about you - your desires, dreams, and wishes. These two benefic planets will waltz in Capricorn, in your house of home, so a fantastic home-related opportunity could come up on January 31 or February 1. (These two planets meet in the wee hours of the morning, making January 31 the more important date.) It would also be an ideal day to move into a new space.

Venus conjunct Jupiter is a once a year event that could encompass more than just home-related matters. When your ruling planet is involved, she will act like a guardian angel - you can expect good news about money and regarding one deeply held desire that may materialize now, either spiritual or material in nature. What a fantastic forecast you have, dear Libra!

Summary

The holidays may be over, but you're in the mood to extend the fun. Why stop socializing? It appears you're not about to stop! Just the opposite - you're just cranking up. With the pressures of holiday gift shopping over, you can now relax and enjoy yourself. Besides, you may have a little extra cash in your pocket to spend on your home.

Sign up for home-related seminars, attend fairs and bazaars, and cut out photographs of rooms you love from magazines. Even a small corner detail or artfully arranged group of objects that you see in a photograph can trigger a great idea for your space. If you begin your home-related project, big or small, just after the new moon January 8, you will have all the cosmic support you need to transform your home into the chic showstopper you have in mind.

With Pluto about to enter this space on January 25 until March 2024, you'll have a once-in-a-lifetime chance to revitalize your home now and in years to come. This part of your life is about to become an increasingly important focus, so start paying attention to other people's homes and those you see in the media. You'll be a mini-Martha very soon.

Keep in mind that while all YEAR will be outstanding for home renovation and improvement, including a move, this month rates a "10" because the new moon on January 8 will take all the energies of all the planets traveling through your home-related house and push them into action. You NEED a new moon - this month you have it!

Once the Sun moves into Aquarius on Sunday, January 20, you will see romance take flight in the four weeks that follow. If life has centered you a bit too much on current tasks lately, that all will change. January 19 should be good, as Venus and her lover Mars should spice things up beautifully, and fortunately, that's a Saturday.

The last ten days of January would be ideal for a vacation, as Mars continues to urge you to expand your horizons and explore the world with the eyes of a curious child. Next month, Mars will leave this lovely-for-Libra placement, so at January's end, while all conditions are still so right, fly to a place where BlackBerrys are unknown and cell phones never ring.

Mercury will retrograde from January 28 onward and bring slowdowns even earlier, so it's not as through you will miss anything if you stay home! Just find a ticket with an open return to keep things flexible and enjoy your trip to the fullest. Yes, they will all freak out at the office when you're gone (they are supposed to!) but you'll be on a white powdery beach, with turquoise waters, and the most important thing you'll have to do all day is put on sunscreen. How sweet is that?

Put a big gold star on January 31 and February 1. Venus and Jupiter will meet, bringing you all sorts of wonderful blessings in relation to your home and money. You may get news of an attractive mortgage, or a good price on a kitchen or bathroom renovation. Whatever it is, you'll be smiling, and rightly so!