Pluto is moving into a new degree this month -- the 18th degree of Sagittarius. It will now be easier to receive protection and guidance. There is a potential now for being offered ways to move right through the middle of life's labyrinths, and to cut out many of the twists, turns and blind alleys that have been dissipating time and energy and creating confusion and frustration.

The energy of the planet is lightened now, and the discordant play of opposing forces is softened. We have prepared ourselves for a clearing of negativity, and it is happening.

February is an "earth poor" month, meaning that planets now are spending very little time in earth signs. Positively speaking, this helps us to see beyond practical, mundane and everyday existence. Our spirits can now soar beyond earth. Negatively speaking, though, it means that it's easier to be ungrounded. To compensate for this, we need to pay extra attention to the most basic practical needs so we can avoid needless complications that could hold us back.

Time to simplify

This is a good time to simplify and to take shortcuts, to focus on love, and on giving love not only to the ones we know, but to those who we contact temporarily along the way. The mystical teaching of the Jews, the Kabbalah, tells us that even the smallest acts of kindness can have a tremendous impact in the spiritual world, and February is an opportune time for realizing this, and for not passing up opportunities to spread our light.

A major lesson of this month is that cause and effect is a two-way street. We think that if we are presented with fortunate opportunities we feel blessed, but it is also true that if we can begin by feeling blessed, that feeling will draw to us fortunate opportunities. Reality is ultimately the manifestation of our expectations.

The New Moon on February 12, whose influence extends until March 14, is conjunct Uranus, making this an unusual and interesting period. Events are not likely to go as planned, and whatever accidents that happen can be highly fortuitous. Rather than being diplomatic now, or attempting to conceal ones motives and true feelings, it's best to be as open as possible, and to let others know clearly where you are at. This also is a time for dealing with addictions and compulsions, for becoming more aware of these patterns in ourselves, so that we can work on releasing them. There is a strong tendency now to go to extremes, but, as William Blake says, the road of excess leads to the palace of wisdom.

Learn from mistakes

Mars is in Aries the whole month, and it just won't stand for a lot of waiting around, over-planning or hesitation. It's best now to just go ahead and do it, and don't worry about trying to be perfect or thorough. If you make mistakes, learn from them and try again. Mars in Aries is about confrontation and trying to clear the air now to avoid a toxic buildup of stagnating energy. Impulses are best followed now, for they can be our guides into beautiful and uncharted lands.

Around February 11-12, we'll have a short time during which six planets will be in Aquarius. This is an intensely spiritual time and linkage is important -- linkage with each other as well as internally linking up with those aspects of ourselves that we may have forgotten or rejected. Aquarius is the sign of soul retrieval, and so February is a time of searching for our lost parts.

This month is also a time of deepening and expanding friendships and of learning how to work with each other more effectively. The Full Moon in Virgo on February 27 is a time of becoming aware of our inner rigidities and biases, and of realizing that there are some forms of ignorance that can have great cleverness. This is a very busy and hyperactive Full Moon and can bring out tendencies to overcompensate. It can signify perfection in small outer things, but in a shortsighted and trivial way.

On February 13, Venus goes into Pisces, one of its favorite signs (it stays there until March 8). This certainly sweetens the pot and helps to spread love as it creates a more relaxed atmosphere.

The focus during February is on the future, in terms of considering how things could be. We have invented such a fine array of tools with which to solve our problems. How about using those tools to do so? We are waking up to possibilities now. We may think we already know how many possibilities we have, but this month can open up so many more new ones that we are likely to be surprised by the realizations of what could be.