JANUARY ORACLESCOPES
January starts off with a yawn rather than a bang, with our two busiest personal planets, Mercury and Mars, entangled in the game of retrograde. in the background, the social and outer planets as well as the nodes make plans for big shifts across the scope of the year, with Saturn preparing to enter Pisces for good and Pluto trying out the airs of Aquarius in March, Jupiter slowing down to smell and share the roses in Taurus in May, and the nodes shaking up the cardinal signs upon entering the Aries/Libra axis in July. while we have spent the first two years of this decade feeling limited, stuck, restricted, or persecuted, we may find 2023 brings welcome salves to these burns and allows for conscientious choices to move forward.
at this point, both of the retrograde planets, Mars and Mercury, are ultimately under Saturn’s rule. Saturn has taken slowing down to a new level by holding the strings of these personal planets in seeming limbo or worse, mayhem. but the intention is to leave us more sharp-minded and prepared to act toward solidifying our vessel-in-progress before Saturn sets sail for the drifting and nonlinear waters of Pisces. we’ll need to make sure there are no holes in our boats before we leave the shore.
in this vein, it’s time to get serious about what and how we are self-actualizing now. this month’s Aquarius new moon will be the last for 26-odd years with its ruler Saturn in domicile. the intentions we set in place here will be built into our framework until the next time around, so make sure you feel as good about them as you can now. what are you ready to take accountability for in the coming cycle that could develop into supporting you more deeply over time?
this month’s oraclescopes were pulled using my tarot deck, PORTALS, and the Uusi Materia Prima deck. elemental facts were pulled from rsc.org. the story of King Tantalum is summarized from worldhistory.org. for the accompanying Spotify playlist, channeled while writing your scopes, head here.
capricorn & capricorn rising
ten of cups & chlorine
while many of us know that chlorine is primarily used to disinfect all kinds of things, from paper to pools, approximately 20% of chlorine produced is used to develop PVC, the versatile plastic that is used for many purposes, providing flexible structure and insulation to wiring, pipes, cars, blood bags, and vinyl flooring. it is also an oxidizing agent used in a majority of pharmaceuticals. while this deeply retrograde season may have you sterilizing much of your environment, purging past relics and accompanying narratives to create a clean slate from which to start over, it may be important to consider the other ways you can take advantage of this current energy. where is it more appropriate to build flexible structure to support your emotional fulfillment now? what in your life could use an injection of fresh air? it took many years for chemists to actually accept that chlorine was even an element. take heed, too, of where you are working to scrub out imperfections that may actually be critical to the capacity to celebrate joy and connection with those you love.
aquarius & aquarius rising
the empress & carbon
carbon is considered the King of the Elements in the periodic table, a fitting match for the Empress, who is proprietor of the luscious land they guard. carbon possesses a number of pure forms that range from the charcoal softness of graphite to the crystalline hardness of diamond, and is unique in its capacity for strong bonds which facilitate the use of fuel. carbon has a growing number of applications, is essential to life, and can be found in abundance in our atmosphere. consider what your current personal landscape and ability to self-resource looks like. what is your soil currently in a condition to grow now, and what seeds that are available in abundance readily are you able to plant that will yield a product that is both capable of a great range of uses that also plays a fundamental role in your well-being and that of those you take charge in nourishing and supporting currently? something that seems simple now has the potential to be applied to much more complex entities down the line.
PISCES & PISCES RISING
five of cups & copernicium
copernicium seems full of contradictions: only recently discovered/created, yet named after the famous 16th century astronomer, highly radioactive yet completely unreactive, man-made and more of a gas than a metal. Pisces too contains seemingly contradictory energies, both melding into the environment that contains them and simultaneously creating waves to ultimately change the nature of the current. and the message of the fives is even more contradictory still, encouraging us to both mourn our losses, to spend our moment within the tunnels of grief that contain us, and to also have faith in the light at the end that welcomes us into remembering what still remains and allows us to hold hope for what comes next. where can you soften into your current contradictions, Pisces? what two opposing feelings or needs can you stretch to hold space for? how can you both honor what has come to pass as well as develop the potential of what is to come?
aries & aries rising
five of pentacles & meitnerium
meitnerium exists currently in very small numbers, made through a process called bombardment, fusing atoms of bismuth with accelerated atoms of iron. with an incredibly short half-life and a complex manufacturing process, it is thought unlikely that meitnerium will ever be isolated in observable quantities. there may be something in your life now that requires undergoing an intensive process that leaves little to be seen for the efforts involved. it’s possible that this process you endure will never amount to much outside of yourself, but that doesn’t mean that you are unseen in your current journey. shed any judgment that makes you believe you need to go through this on your own, or that it is not worthy of your time or your well-being to reach out to others for support now.
Taurus & taurus rising
six of pentacles & palladium
upon its discovery by miners in Brazil in the 1700s, it was referred to as “worthless gold.” its first isolation, however, was from platinum in 1803, and it was marketed as a ‘new silver’ before ultimately being applied as a catalyst within automobiles and electronics. named after Greek goddess and asteroid Pallas, known for her androgynous authority as a warrior and a strategist, palladium resists corrosion and facilitates reactions. you’ve gone through quite an evolution that has taken course over the past several years, beginning with Uranus’ ingress in 2018, catalyzed aggressively through the Saturn/Uranus squares of 2021, and made tangible through the eclipses in Taurus & Scorpio over the past 12 months. in this time, your sense of value and worth has evolved greatly, and the application of your gifts has grown in capacity. what are you recognizing you have enough of to begin sharing with others around you? what resource(s) have you accumulated throughout this journey that have put you in the position to share your bounty?
gemini & gemini rising
nine of wands & iron
Mars is affiliated with iron, both through the planet’s rich iron content both within and outside of its core, and through the Roman god known for his affiliation with the metal. iron makes up a majority of the metal currently refined, in its incredible natural abundance, yet outside of its integral industrial role, it is essential for supporting blood function in human & animal life. while vastly necessary for structures that support and contain growth and industry, it is a vulnerable metal that rusts easily with exposure to moisture. as Mars has been retrograde in your sign since the end of October, and now with its ruler Mercury retrograde as well, it may feel like you have been, as it were, forged in the fire, discovering and rediscovering the strengths you possess and the applications you are appropriate for while also needing to assess your vulnerabilities in order to navigate a more sustainable and protected pathway forward. knowing that the hardest of this work is almost done, what is left for you to pour your remaining strength into now? what new power do you feel yourself coming into as you refine yourself and your process?
cancer & cancer rising
four of wands & actinide series
the actinide series is, as it sounds, not a single element but a series of fifteen elements, numbered 89 through 103, which are known to be similar to element 89, actinium, the namesake of the series. they range in their usefulness, with some like protactinium and neptunium limited only to research while others like uranium and thorium which provide the capacity for nuclear power and have isotopes with incredibly long half-lives spanning billions of years. plutonium is powerful enough to create atomic bombs; americium is only currently used in smoke alarms, but forms upon detonation of nuclear weapons. these elements share their rarity, as they are produced in very limited quantities each year, and must be used very specifically as the toxic consequences are vast. actinium, the leader of the series, occurs naturally within uranium ores and glows blue in the dark thanks to intense radioactivity exciting the air molecules surrounding it. you are currently in possession of - have developed? built? received? inherited? - a rare and potent power that requires grounding and protection now to contain its energy and maintain its composure. how will you house that which you hold and temper now, knowing that its parameters may fluctuate and stray from your watchful eye?
leo & leo rising
nine of cups & lithium
lithium is soft, the least dense of any metal, and was derived from stone, whereas other similar alkali metals were derived from plant material. lithium is most commonly known for its presence in both single-use and rechargeable batteries, powering everything we use in our daily lives from phones to computers to cameras and clocks, from pacemakers to toys. it’s also used psychopharmacologically to treat bipolar disorder. while incredibly useful in our world, it is also quite toxic in anything but small doses. found not as itself innately in nature, it rather makes its abode on igneous rocks and within the waters of mineral springs. Leo, this precious and gentle metal is making itself and its renewability and rechargeability known to you now as a means to offer fulfilment of a wish or two. where you once believed your energy lost to the wind, you now find your sails afloat once more. with an extra boost of tender vibrance, you find yourself powered with enough life to move through this next chapter of your life, finding exhaustion replaced by moments of joy and old voids filled with delight and pleasure now. feelings you have longed for are accessible and abundant now, so allow yourself to rise to celebrate and cherish them now.
virgo & virgo rising
star & selenium
named for Selene, Greek goddess of the moon, selenium is a semi-metal most commonly used as an additive to glass that is either silvery and detractive or a red metal that is additive in color. it reduces sunlight’s availability through architectural glass and can convert light into electricity, making it useful to photocopying. used to make stainless steel, selenium also toxifies dandruff fungus and is ultimately vital to human life in moderated amounts. the transformation you have gone through of late, being changed by Mercury’s retrogrades while seeing your sense of legacy transformed by Mars, has perhaps brought you through layers of crisis but has you emerging scrubbed clean and purified - just like you like it. the moment has arrived for you to consider how your newfound inner radiance and hard-fought authenticity stands to influence the structures around you as they begin to take shape. will your light shimmer in such a way that it absorbs the color from its surroundings, or will your light deepen that which it touches? what electricity will be generated from your light and what will this conversion allow you to explore and create? what toxins can you eradicate through your brightness now and how can that prevent future unwanted stains on your soul?
Libra & libra rising
seven of pentacles & tantalum
the story of Greek King Tantalum is one with variations all leading to egregiously offending the gods, the tamest of which finds him guilty of malicious gossip and the most disturbing of which depicts him attempting to feed his son to them as a means to fool them, a trick which failed to go undetected by all except Demeter (Ceres), still distraught from searching for her lost daughter Proserpina (Persephone). after punishing Tantalum, the gods worked together to put his son back together, but as a bite was missing, they had to forge him a prosthetic shoulder from a piece of ivory. tantalum as an element is mainly used to coat other metals within electronic components, but it also catalyzes no immune response in animals and can therefore be used to build surgical implants, for example replacing bone, binding muscle, or connecting torn nerves. corrosion-resistant and incredibly strong, it is quite largely found in nature only in the company of another nearly identical element, niobium, and must be mechanically separated. the cards have laid out a journey of detachment from those who were not able to return your efforts of affection in ways that you needed, a painful process that likely left you feeling betrayed by those you loved while missing pieces of you that you’d once proudly carried. it’s finally time to take a good look at yourself and assess the ways in which you’ve learned to rebuild yourself, replacing those lost fragments with material much stronger, more durable, and less prone to reactivity. what can you be proud of yourself for now? what from your replanted garden is ready to be plucked and enjoyed, and what will you leave on the vine to continue ripening to sweetness?
scorpio & scorpio rising
seven of cups & fluorine
fluorine is the most reactive of the elements, capable of destroying metals within moments. long used in welding and glass-making, WWII and the development of the atomic bomb called for larger production. used in CFCs as aerosol propellants and refrigerator cooling, it was later banned for its capacity to destroy our ozone layer. even its discovery was contentious, as fluorine sickened those who tried to isolate it, or it destroyed their tools and apparatuses in the process. in small amounts, however, we know fluorine flows through many of our public waterways as a means to strengthen our bones and teeth and prevent cavities, and as a component within Teflon pans to prevent sticking. Scorpio, you’ve had to let go of pieces of yourself this year, or have otherwise had them jolted free from your grippy claws, all in the effort to better your one-on-one relationships. this month may have you assessing your current emotional states and perhaps your typical reactions to others. where are you finding your reactions might be too destructive to that which you actually wish to preserve? where do you need to reassess the dosages you currently give out and the side effects they are creating? there is opportunity to rescale this month, recognizing that it’s not the medicine that is the problem but rather the potency.
sagittarius & sagittarius rising
king of swords & rutherfordium
with a very brief half-life and otherwise not occurring in nature, working with rutherfordium requires swift reflexes and a keen eye. the Russians and the Americans raced to be the first to create this element; while the Russians technically took their stab at it first, they weren’t able to prove what they had actually created. three years later, the Americans were able to create the element and identify the alpha-decay that was able to prove their efforts, and ultimately they won their bid for the naming rights. rutherfordium continues to only be used in research, and it is believed that there will likely never be enough of it isolated at any point in time for it to be visible. Sagittarius, you are able more than most to contain multiple truths, to trust the proof even if what allows you to is over in a flash. while there will always be conflicting viewpoints on the ownership of truth, on whose story or version of events is the most legitimate, you are on a journey this month to advocate for what you know to be true to you. perhaps the stakes are high in your situation, and perhaps you are racing against another to make your mark. trust that even if it takes a bit longer than you had hoped, you shall have your victory when the chips are all laid out to bare.
if you enjoyed these oraclescopes, please forward them to someone who might appreciate the message. if you feel compelled to leave me a tip, I’d be so grateful! happy January y’all!
