I don’t know a lot about Chinese astrology, but I do know that this is the year of the Rabbit, or the Water Rabbit to be precise. I’ve also read a lot that I like about the year of the Rabbit. Things like hope and longevity, and the colours azure blue and apple green. Forest green also gets a mention. Naturally, there’s more to it, but you get the idea.

I also googled my Sheep/Goat horoscope to see what the Year of the Rabbit had in store for me (don’t ask me for the site, I seriously was just googling around) and apparently the year could be turbulent, and that while business and career might have good prospects, everything else is likely to be pretty average. Oh, and I need to take a deep breath is discussions with my partner in case things get too emotional. In case? I’m a flipping Pisces with Mars in Scorpio… everything gets emotional!

Anyways, the house is cleanish and, I can’t be faffed to make it cleaner; and I’ll wash my hair because we’re going out tonight – part of the whole new year thing is to go into the new year with a clean slate and clean hair. (Washing your hair in the first couple of days of the new year can apparently wash your prosperity away.) I’ll also roll oranges…or is it mandarins?…over my threshold…just to be sure.

A new Chinese lunar year means a new moon for us all – and that new moon is in Aquarius…so it’s also a perfect time to think about your connections and networks.

Today marks 6 years since we bought the house we now live in on the Sunshine Coast and while our life has changed in many ways, lately I’ve been thinking about all the ways in which it’s stayed the same. I have the same job, but now work from home, and in working from home I haven’t had a lot of opportunities to meet new people. In fact, other than my husband and my dog (who is deaf these days) the only people I talk to regularly are the people I say hello to each morning at 5am on the beach track. And then we don’t stop to talk as we’re on a strict timetable. Up at 4.30, walking at 5, coffee by 5.55, back in the car at 6.06. I (half) joke that what I want when we retire is to stop and say more than hello.

While I love where I live and have no regrets about leaving Sydney (the only things I miss about my life in Sydney is dumplings, friends and family – and not necessarily in that order) I’m beginning to realise that while I’ve swapped a 3-hour daily commute for a beach walk in the morning and some me time after work, my life has become smaller (while I’ve become bigger). And that, I’m beginning to realise, is largely because of the connections I no longer have.

I do, however, have connections that I actively “talk” to every day on Facebook or Instagram (mostly Instagram – I’m rarely to be found on Facebook these days), but there are several people in social media and the blogging community who are part of my sprawling connection network. They’re in my life in some way for some reason. We’ve all connected for a reason, but mostly it’s because of shared interests… how very Aquarian.

During the first covid lockdown back in March 2020 a few of these people I’d never met in real life banded together to have a weekly zoom call – which turned into a book club where we discuss the classics. Three of us are based here in Australia and have met, another is in Canada, but I talk to these women more regularly than I speak to anyone else. It’s a connection that has become very important to me.

The thing is, everyone that we connect with teaches us something about ourselves, and – good or bad – is there any better gift? Perhaps the greatest challenge we have is to grow into our own skin…to become who we need to be…who we are meant to be. And that’s very often the one person we, to paraphrase the late great George Michael, forget to be.

To an extent, it’s also being triggered now – at the Aquarius New Moon.

Wherever 1 Aquarius 32’ (or thereabouts) is in your chart is where issues of independence, individuality, attitude to authority, conformity, and connectivity (or connection) are being raised. It’s also where you now have an opportunity to set intentions to tweak these issues. It’s where you have an opportunity to be more like you…and who cares what everyone else thinks about that.

Make like Aquarius and think future, think authentic and think outside the box. What can you do over the next 28 days to change this situation? Are there any quick wins to be had? Connections that will help you? Be a little progressive and left-field when you’re setting intentions and make the time to invest in your network.

This is the 12^th house for me, so I’m focusing on how I relax, unwind – and the fact that I rarely do either – and those habits that continually bring me undone. The 12^th is a house whether things tend to be done subconsciously and, as Aquarius is a fixed sign, the habits are, shall we say, well ingrained and are more than a tad resistant to change.

I’m also heading out of my comfort zone and am doing something about widening my range of connections…

Gong xi fa cai- happiness and prosperity…