January 2023: Horoscopes for Moderns
We made it. Now what?
HELLO!
You’re probably a lot like me at this time of year.
I’ve been wildly deleting emails the moment they arrive in my inbox. I’m also unsubscribing from various forums, podcasts, news sites, and newsletters.
My intake of world-breaking news is cursory at best.
We forget that the 24/7 bombardment of discovering what is happening everywhere, all of the time, is a modern phenomenon. The human nervous system wasn’t designed for non-stop infoglut. It courts psychosis and creative paralysis.
An example: I’ve discovered that the less I engage with ‘input,’ the more force I can muster for ‘output,’ namely MINE.
I’m less interested in being told how to do things, optimize habits, relax, be more productive, eat and sleep better—and, of course, shrink my prostate. Please. Everyone. STFU!
Speaking of output, here are some things I’ve compiled, created, or collaborated on this year—each of which you’ll enjoy.
• A new production with fellow astrologers Andrei Burke and Rachel Capurso called The Rage of Aquarius: The Outsider Astrologer Podcast. Bound to delight you.
• My favorite music. Or rather new and old music I listened to throughout the year. Compiled in my 2022 Babylon Vibes playlist.
• I’m writing a novel about Jeffrey Dahmer. My new Substack, The Dahmer Diaries, will detail the craft of fiction, the blending of True Crime and the imagination, and how astrology pulls it all together. Join me in the romance and madness. It’s free.
• Here are some high points from WOODRUFF in 2022—the following articles, according to my Substacks stats, were super popular with old and new readers:
• Is Astrology Making You Crazy?
• Charisma: What’s YOUR Quota?
• The Art of Astrology: My Interview with Substack
• Astrological Myth Busting: That’s Bullshit!
OK, so let’s talk about the looming new year:
When we have a year, like 2022, that’s a prelude to significant planetary transitions, we can consider the passing year as a series of valves closing down—in preparation for the new ‘flow’ opening up in 2023.
This can feel like 2020 and 2021 ‘leaked’ into 2022 and continued a vibe that most of us (with so much focus on Covid) were ready to shed.
I’m writing specifically about Saturn leaving Aquarius and entering Pisces in early March. Jupiter already shifted signs, moving into Aries during 2022’s solstice. And then comes the big game-changer: Pluto’s ingress into Aquarius in March of 2023 for a twenty-year transit. Holy shit!
Finally, we’re about to be released from Big Tech’s grip on our craniums (Pluto in Aquarius) as more people feel compelled to express themselves on their own terms (Jupiter in Aries).
This means shedding one’s dependence on social media which dominated the collective mindscape during the past fifteen years. This grants us freedom from algorithmically created audiences and the crazy-ass echo chambers those algorithms incited.
To go granular on this idea, please see this article that opens with a big hurray: The platforms of the last decade are done.
Saturn in Pisces is a Zen koan provided by the cosmos. Here’s my take: