Mars, your ruler, is now in Scorpio, a terrific place for Mars to be, for you are now in the center of the circle - others have to stand and wait for their turn. Do you remember the childhood game of Simple Simon? Simon stands in the center of the circle, and tells the others to do this or that - if someone is too slow to follow the orders, they are instantly eliminated from the circle. In a way, you are now Simple Simon, a once-in-two-year privilege, so enjoy it.

You will now be able to call the shots and control your own destiny. For too long you had to go along with group thinking, which is not a bad thing in general, for you learned to be a solid team player. Still, you longed to hold the reins and drive your life in the direction you choose, and also to have others follow your lead. You are there now, but because of what Mercury is doing simultaneously this month, you will need to be patient.

Mercury will be retrograde from January 5 until January 25, a time when you will be looking back at endeavors and relationships you have already created. It is time to strengthen the bonds that you hold with those who have always supported you through thick and thin. It's not a time to venture into new territory or to launch new ventures.

I have a theory and that is that I can count on my left hand the number of people in my life who have truly supported me, and did so by going far out of their way to help me. It's important to me that I keep turning around to look at them and be grateful to those individuals, for they are holding their hands on my back, keeping me up, and always looking out for my welfare. It's easy to forget the kindness of those people because you don't see them every day, yet they are always there, almost invisibly, and looking for ways to make my life better. Their belief in me is endless, and you too have a precious few people like that around you.

Mercury retrograde, with its strong emphasis on the importance of looking back, acknowledges those who are supporting you, so look over your shoulder, and think about all those individuals have given you. You will now have a chance to draw closer to those who really matter to you.

It is true that with Mars in Scorpio, you will be like a prize winning stallion, anxious to bolt out of the gate and show the world what you can do. You will have your chance, but you need to refine your strategy. You won't see evidence that conditions are rapidly changing now, but you will later, and if you act now, your strategy will be off. The priorities of the past will not be your priorities of the future, after you see the ground move a bit. Be patient. Mars will remain in Scorpio until March 5, so you will have all of glorious February (my favorite month of the year) to plan your big initiations.

When Mercury finally wakes up on January 25, he will not come up to former speed and strength (the same fortitude and speed he had exhibited in November and early December), so he will need time to ramp up. He will be back in top form beginning February 14-15. If the action you want to take is vital to your future, wait until mid-February. It's always wise to have a strong Mercury behind your sails when you make any kind of agreements or plans.

Alas, January will not be the time to buy electronics either - hold off acquiring that new computer, new car, smart phone, camera, Beats by Dr. Dre headphones, iPad, or other tablet, a wide-screen TV, or other fun electronic item. Mercury rules electronic items and the moving parts in all machines. If you purchase your item now, you may choose the wrong model, or find the product never gives you the pleasure you anticipated. Hold off buying a car, kitchen or laundry room appliance, a vacuum cleaner, sewing machine, or any other item.

Don't sign a contract now, either, and don't take a new job. If you have been unemployed for a long time, you will have to take it in January, but do your best to wait for Mercury retrograde to be over on January 25. If you take a job now, you may find that your job description changes in a way that does not please you. The start and end dates of the Mercury retrograde is when Mercury is at his worst, so don't cozy up to January 5 or 25 either - you need to leave a lot of space from those bookend dates.

If you would like to learn more about Mercury retrograde, a phase that happens three times a year for three-and-a-half weeks, I have prepared an essay for you. Go online to my Internet site - this essay is not currently found on my app - and go to my black homepage at astrologyzone.com Look under the blue Astrology Zone logo and see the white lettering - one of the pieces is called "All You Need to Know About Mercury Retrograde." What you learn in my essay you can apply now and in the future, so reading up on this phenomenon would be worth your while.

The new moon on January 9 will bring the Sun, new moon, Pluto (your other ruler), and Mercury retrograde in your third house of communication. This is a great time to look at your social media pages to see if you would like to redesign them. You might want to soon launch an advertising campaign for your own business or your company, start a major writing project, or begin to host a TV or radio show. You may be asked to judge a contest, give a speech or seminar, do a series of films, or you design your own cell phone app. When it comes to communication you will have the edge and the motivation. Jupiter, the giver of gifts and luck, now in your house of friends, will be in fine angle to that new moon, so a friend may bring you the opportunity you get now, and you are likely to be paid well too.

Uranus will challenge that new moon of January 9, however, and I am wondering how this will work out for you. A client may make massive changes to a current project in the eleventh hour. Uranus is in your workaday project sector, which also rules, besides your assignments, your co-workers and those who report to you. You may have an assistant or someone else you depend upon suddenly quit. This would happen just as you have new communications assignments coming in, and all seems to be time-dated. I imagine you will need contingency plans in place to deal with this as you begin the month, but that is easier said than done. The same house, the sixth house, rules your health, so make sure you stay strong and don't get a heavy cold, as that too could be draining just as you need to be in top form.

This same new moon may also cause you to travel suddenly, so keep your suitcase ready, as you may need to hit the road without much notice. You seem to have to travel for work, perhaps for a face-to-face meeting with your client, but the drive would be a relatively short distance, and you might need an overnight stay.

If your birthday falls on November 10, plus or minus four days, you will feel the new moon the most, and benefit from it. The same is true if you know you have Scorpio rising 19 degrees (plus or minus five degrees), or your natal moon or a natal planet in Scorpio, Pisces, Cancer, Taurus, Virgo, or Capricorn at 19 degrees (plus or minus five degrees) - you will find ways to benefit from this new moon too.

The first one will arrive on January 12, when Venus and Uranus will be beautifully oriented. You will likely score a victory in regard to a project that might net you more money, either now or several weeks from now.

The next date follows the one above, January 13, when the brilliant Sun will be in ideal angle to Jupiter. What a gorgeous four-star day! A friend may be in touch with you with very good news, or a club you belong to may be extremely helpful to you in some substantial way on this day. Alternatively, you may make plans to travel to see a friend. Opportunity is likely to emanate from a friend, and you seem to be excited by the news. This would also be the ideal day to launch an app, send a query letter to an editor for a cover story idea, travel, make a presentation, or hand in a manuscript that you have worked on in accordance with your editor's instructions. You might hear good news from your sibling or cousin - this day simply brims with good news.

The third day, January 14, brings another gorgeous aspect, Mercury in ideal angle to Jupiter. You are likely to get another exciting phone call, text, or email, and again a friend who believes in you will be the source of your opportunity, good news, and excitement. Don't make plans for this day, for they are likely to be moved at the last minute because the moon will be void of course, and not speaking to any of the other planets. It's hard to make progress when the moon is napping, so schedule meetings for the day prior, January 13, which will be one of your best days of the month.

Your career will bring big news at the full moon, January 23, plus or minus four days. This is a great moment of 2016, for this full moon will light the very pinnacle point of your chart, suggesting that you will be celebrating some sort of rise in status. You may be given a new title, a promotion, favorable publicity, a fantastic coup at work - whatever it is, all eyes will be on you. What a wonderful moment in your timeline. Something about this moment will bring a little bit of a crosscurrent from Mars, but happily the hard angle is what we call wide, not tight - a tight mathematical angle would be tension producing, but this is a bit wide to cause problems. I also like that Mars is in Scorpio, putting you in charge, and that Mercury will go direct only two days later, January 25, so you will feel lots of energy building, and the pace will pick up. I feel you will be celebrating some sort of victory.

Romantically, Mars in Scorpio will help you to be noticed and will bring attention from all the right people, including a possible love interest. You may be a bit flustered by all the fuss that will be made over you. Over the weekend of January 16-17, you will see evidence of this, when Mars builds to strengthen his signal to Neptune, now based in your house of true love. This is great news for singles, but also for those attached, for it's always a plus to get the full attention of your partner and to fan the passions of love like you did when you both just met.

Another stellar weekend that will get a gold star for romance for will be over January-30-31, when Venus will be in perfect sync with Neptune. This is a glamorous vibration, for Neptune is considered the higher octave of Venus. Neptune will work to bring the love that Venus generates to a deeper stage, to where you will learn to love so deeply that you would be willing to put your own desires aside to see your beloved benefits. Neptune always asks for sacrifice, but when sweetly combined with Venus, you would make a sacrifice willingly for the joy of seeing your beloved happy. On January 30, the moon will be in Scorpio, giving you icing on the cake. Celebrate your love for each other over this weekend.

I want to remind you to see my 30-minute TV show on the Internet that is on top of this page (look for my large logo and see the words The Show with an arrow to click). In my January TV forecast, I give you a general peek of the Year Ahead 2016. You can always see my show free, with global access, any time that is convenient to you. Go to this link: http://bit.ly/1eTnXol

For a different, big, detailed forecast also on color film, done by sign, each one lasting 22 minutes for each sign, go to www.Healthwire.FM, and buy the high-quality films I did in collaboration with Deepak Chopra and Martine Dubin, Chairman, CEO, and Executive Producer of www.Healthwire.FM. This TV show with a digital-platform has beautiful visual production values. The cost you will be one dollar US ($1.00) and you will own the show, to view as many times as you like. I suggest you get one for your Sun sign, and one for your rising sign too. You can buy the entire bundle of 12 signs for $9.99 to share with family. Go to http://healthwire.fm/healthwire.php

Or, go to www.Healthwire.FM and look at the menu that says "Choose Your Shows" - mine comes up first. It was an honor to work with Deepak Chopra's team on this project, and until now this show that I did in early December has been a total secret!

If you don't know your rising sign, start the year off right by ordering a color illustrated book, perfect bound, called My Personal Horoscope that I will write custom for you. This 65+ page book is made possible by print-on-demand technology. It will take a little over two weeks to receive your copy, and it will cost US $55.00 plus shipping. You need only do your natal chart once, for your chart will never change. This is a wonderful keepsake. I offer several versions (such as one for babies, couples, and so forth), but I urge you to choose the book for your own natal adult horoscope chart, with the yellow and deep blue-purple cover.

When you order, you will need to supply your precise time of birth to the minute, your day, month, year, and city of birth. If you don't know the precise time of your birth, I can't be as accurate, and the rising sign cannot be calculated. In that case I default your time of birth to sunrise, and doing that, you will know where all your other planets were on the day you were born. Knowing those will be valuable to you too.

Check to see if your mother had a baby book where she may have recorded the time of your birth. Also check the Hall of Records or Bureau of Vital Statistics where birth records are stored by your municipality. You need the handwritten birth certificate, not the computer copy - if it costs five dollars in the US, it's the wrong certificate. It should cost a bit more and each state sets its own price. You will be glad you had your natal chart done, for you will always get more out of my monthly free reports on Astrology Zone if you do. You'll know so much more about your nature, your talents, and how you love to be loved! For more information, go to www.SusanMillerMyPersonalHoroscope.com

You are eager to get started on plans, but you will have to hold back a little. Mars is in Scorpio, a place it will enter on January 4, to say until March 5. This is a great privilege, for it means it's your turn to be in the driver's seat and be able to direct events to your liking. Life is rarely like this, so you will certainly feel lucky to have the control over events that you'd not enjoyed in some time. While you won't likely get everything you want in your career and personal life, you will get a lion's share, and that will be far more in number than you are typically used to getting approved. Mars will make you courageous and driven, willing to go to the mat to get an idea the green light. Your passion and savvy ability to persuade could rally nations to your cause this month. The new moon January 9 will allow you to see clients and settle deals, and at the same time, manage large budgets. (Planets in Capricorn always point to mega-money appropriations and discussions.)

The problem is that Mercury will be retrograde from January 5 to January 25. It is not wise to negotiate during Mercury retrograde, for you'll only have to renegotiate the deal again later. Keep your shirt on and wait this month out. You can talk, collect information, have talks, and so forth, but you cannot sign papers. You probably will hit a glitch you never expected, but Mercury retrograde will give you time to sort out that clause or demand from the other side. The pressure will be on to sign because you have four heavenly bodies in your third house of communication, negotiation, commerce, and contracts, but resist the pressure. You may need to travel to see a client or another party to have a face-to-face meeting about the deal on the table, and if so, go on Wednesday, January 13.

You will have a lively social life too, and with Mercury retrograde will change and open up your schedule, giving you more time to connect with friends. If you do go to another city to see a client, it is likely you will have a friend in that city that you'll want to see, especially if you go on January 13. Book an overnight stay at a hotel rather than race back to your base, as you could use the pause that one night in another city would bring you.

Two very bad days for scheduling important meetings or presentations would be January 20 and January 31. Weather delays or other obstacles are likely to come up to cause unexpected frustrations due to Mercury in hard angle to Uranus.

Your career will reach a high point within four days of the full moon, January 23. The position you will discuss comes with more responsibility, power, and money, so this may be a thrilling moment. If you have been interviewing for this job for weeks or months, the final decision from the VIP will likely come to you at this full moon. If this is a job that has taken you months of interviews, this moment may be the one you awaited. Mercury will go direct on January 25, just a few days after the full moon, so wait to give your final word then. You will feel the pace pick up to great speed - it all may be very exciting.

If the job on the table does not represent a situation that you have been pursuing over the past weeks and months, but instead comes to you out of the blue, you may love it, or you may have concerns. You are doing well professionally, so if you turn down the offer now, it may be because the compensation will not be enough to justify a move. Or, it may be that family members who depend on you at home may need you and must to be factored into your decision about whether to take the job or not. If the timing is off for you, no worries. Your outlook will be exceptionally strong for career advancement in early August, and the situation may be an even better one than the one you get now. Only you will know by listening to your intuition - this offer or career development looks quite special too.

Romantically, having Mars in your sign will give you enormous sex appeal, and you'll have it from January 3 to March 5 - wow! This month, you have two weekends that may prove special for love: January 16-17 and January 30-31. You have so much going for you, dear Scorpio!