We have made it to February, a darling month, made all the sweeter because most of us have come through some tough tests in January, which held two eclipses (January 5 and 20) triggering one or two sudden changes. If you felt January was intense, you are not alone. I would like you to share your stories about the eclipses and other aspects on social media—each night I read every post. Please include your month and day of birth (no year necessary) so that I can see your sign and rising sign.

This will be a big month for you, for the new moon of February 4 will be in Aquarius, 16 degrees, and will be your cosmic birthday gift from a loving universe. The special part about this new moon is that it will allow you to direct its goodness to any area of life that you choose. That only happens once a year, at birthday time, so think about which area of your life that could use a boost.

This will be a powerful new moon because it is the only one we’ve seen in a long while that will involve Jupiter, the giver of gifts and luck, and Jupiter is known to expand and bring happiness to everything it touches. This month you may find yourself at the right place at the right time to take advantage of exciting opportunities. Jupiter is in your eleventh house of friendship, so a friend or even a casual acquaintance will likely be instrumental in bringing you good news.

If you have a dilemma to crack, think about who you know who could help—you likely already have a friend who cares about you and who would be willing to offer advice or a solution or make a key introduction for you. Your membership in a social or professional club, charity, or other group could also be helpful this month, so be sure to be out and about a little more than usual. For you, things will happen when you are interacting with others, not only at clubs and groups, but sporting events, trade shows, mixers, parties, and certain industry events.

New moons are known to open new paths, and this one will do that and a lot more. If there were one part of your life you could improve, which one would it be? Think about it, and then take steps to act. With Jupiter at your side, you have a powerful, benefic force working hard for you, so you need to direct its energy by showing where you’d like to experience a breakthrough. Jupiter has been called the planet of miracles, so keep the faith.

All new moons set up a portal of powerful energy that lasts ten days, and the ones clustered close to the new moon—within five days—are the strongest. As you get further away from the new moon, it gradually weakens, and by the time the new moon gets within four days of the full moon later in the month, she will have spent all her energy and will yield to the full moon to be the dominant influence. The important part to note is that the actions you take in the ten days that follow any new moon will have special strength and power to improve your life, and be lasting—covering your entire year to come until the next new moon comes by in the same sign, Aquarius, and same first house, to refresh this new moon’s energy. That will happen a year form now on January 24, 2020.

If your birthday falls on February 4, plus or minus five days, your year ahead will be filled with fresh starts. It is rare to have a transiting new moon coincide with your birthday, and that matters. It’s time to draw up new goals, for you have a good chance of seeing impressive progress on one or two of them. The same is true if you have Aquarius rising or the natal moon in Aquarius, within five degrees of 16 degrees. Finally, if you have a planet at 16 degrees, plus or minus five degrees, in Gemini, Libra, Aquarius, Aries, Leo, or Sagittarius, that planet will light up, and you will benefit in an outstanding way from this month’s remarkable new moon, February 4.

A day that will be covered with pixie dust is February 7, for on that day, benefic Jupiter will combine forces with the mighty Sun, and the Sun will multiply Jupiter’s goodness many times over. This is likely to be your favorite day of the month, so make a note of it. Your luck on this day will stem from a romantic or business partner, or from the kindness of one of your friends. Make appointments, make a first date, have an interview—do something important for you on this magical day.

This day, February 7, falls in the path of the new moon of February 4, so it will carry the extra energy of that stunning new moon, giving you a double dip of pleasure. Does your birthday fall on February 7 or within two days of this date? Your entire birthday year will be dipped in gold because this day is embedded in what astrologers call your solar return (literally, the return of the Sun to the place it was at your birth). Be happy and optimistic!

The weekend of February 9-10 could rate a gold star, for your ruler, Uranus, will work with Mercury, giving you a delicious feeling of serendipity and experimentation. Mercury is the planet of rational, objective thinking. Uranus is considered the higher octave of Mercury, bringing the brilliance of Mercury to an entirely new and higher level of experimentation and innovation. By re-synthesizing the information that Mercury collects, Uranus creates something new and innovative, into the realm of genius.

On this weekend, February 9-10, or on the day prior, February 8, if you do scientific research or you are a writer, speaker, editor, or translator, you will find this day perfect for brainstorming ideas. Even though it is a weekend, think deeply about your project. A light bulb over your head will go on, allowing all kinds of ideas of yours to be illuminated. Designing and writing computer code or working on the creation of an app is also favored in a big way. Lastly, all kinds of spontaneous travel would be fun and quite productive. The transiting moon in Aries will infuse you with a spirit of adventure and discovery.

During the first half of the month, Mars will continue to energize your travel sector (third house), a trend that started in January. You might be able to have a fun weekend away starting Friday night, February 8, through Sunday, February 10. With the transiting moon in Aries, you will be eager to visit a place that you’ve not seen before—your sense of exploration will be strong.

Life from February 1 to 14 will be very busy, with many meetings and emails at work, and with an equally busy personal life. You will need to be super-organized to keep up with all the activity, lest you lose a telephone number, email, or person’s name. At work, your ability to communicate in an articulate manner will make or break the success of much of February, so before you send any document, be sure it is polished and double-checked for accuracy.

Valentine’s Day brings the transiting moon to Gemini, a very favorable place for you. Make plans, for it should be fun! In fact, if you are single, you may have two romantic sweethearts, both wanting to be with you on this special evening for lovers. That’s a nice problem! You will make the right decision. Attached Aquarius should adore this night too—you’ll get plenty of attention and conversation from your one-and-only.

You may be asked to sign a contract, and if so, you will negotiate skillfully for yourself, and you can sign it, as long as your lawyer has given you the green light to do so. Your very best days to sign will be February 3 (when Mercury and fortunate Jupiter team up), February 4 (the new moon), and February 27 (when the Sun and Mars will be in sync.). No doubt about it, February 3, 4, and 27 will be your best days to sign.

Mercury will be retrograde next month, from March 5 to 28, so you will want to finish up all pressing business this month. It is never wise to sign a contract with Mercury retrograde, for if you do, problems will crop up, and it only will have to be renegotiated later, assuming you would even want to go back to the bargaining table. (You may not!)

If you need to buy an electronic item—a smartphone, computer, kitchen appliance, car, flat screen TV, video game, or any other electronic device or machine—you would need to buy it this month, for buying these types of items don’t work out if purchased with Mercury retrograde. You may choose the wrong product, or the product may not perform properly, or a newer model may come out the following week, or a big price cut may be announced making you regret your purchase. There are many reasons it would be wise to shop now, not in March.

Do your best to stay as far away from the start of the retrograde next month on March 5, and because you will feel Mercury’s legendary slow down earlier, take action on any important matter as early in February as possible. Because Aquarius is a digital sign, you will be in your element in February, a fantastic time to treat yourself to a new electronic item.

When Mars changes signs to Taurus on February 14, until March 30, your focus will be on your home. That could be your main residence, your vacation home, or a small apartment you keep in another city as a pied-à-terre.

If you have to make a repair, you will likely order the job done in the second half of February or in March. (Doing repairs is fine when Mercury is retrograde.) The presence of Mars in your home sector always brings noise, so perhaps you have workmen, movers, painters, or contractors in your home doing a job for you. Or, it may be that you have family or friends staying over, so you will have a little extra commotion in your home, but in this sweet month, you are likely to enjoy having people over.

The full moon in Virgo, one degree, on February 19 will light your eighth house of other people’s money, and you will notice the energy of this full moon for minus two days and plus four days. This will be when you’ll finalize money matters this month. You might pay off bills, organize your tax receipts for your accountant, or finish a financial deal. You may also receive a large commission or bonus, quite out of the blue, or win a small monetary prize. This full moon is sweet as sugar. It will receive brilliant rays from surprise-a-minute Uranus, and this time, will bring happy financial news you won’t expect.

It’s birthday time, and you will find February to be far kinder to you than January was. Last month you may have been thinking about a partner at the full moon lunar eclipse, January 20, and if your birthday falls near that date, you may have received news you didn’t expect. Now, as you begin February, you can turn your attention to your own needs.

The new moon of February 4 will be your best friend, for Jupiter, the giver of gifts and luck, will be in your eleventh house, the ideal position to help you see a dream materialize. Usually, each month the placement of the new moon dictates the area of life where you can see the most progress. The exception is the new moon in your birthday month—in this case, you are given the ability to choose precisely where in your life you’d like to direct its energy to affect progress. Jupiter is currently moving through your friendship house, so a friend is likely to be instrumental in unlocking your opportunity. The eleventh house also rules clubs and groups, so someone in your circle—or the leader of the club—could help you get ahead.

If you work in politics, are a writer, actor, musician, or blogger, or if you work in any job where it is important to build a base of supporters, this year you will be able to do that fairly easily, due to the presence of Jupiter in your community center, your eleventh house. Jupiter expands all he touches—including your fan base and followers on social media. This is all very exciting!

Mercury will retrograde next month from March 5 to March 28, so you should approach matters this month with a sense of urgency. You won’t want to get tangled up with Mercury retrograde when you are signing a contract—it is considered a very bad time to do so, suggesting the agreement would be in place only a short time before you would see problems come up.

By the time you get to February 14, you will be ready to think about your home. Mars will energize you to address home and family matters from February 14 to March 30. During this time you will be able to get a lot done. February 27 will be a wonderful day to contact the people you want to work with to get things started, for that’s when the Sun and Mars will be working together to give any idea a big push.

The full moon in Virgo on February 19 will be unusually friendly and will light your house of other people’s money. Indeed, this moon will be a peach. It will receive shimmering vibrations from Uranus, the planet of surprise, so it seems that a sum is on the way to you, and when it comes, you’ll be quite surprised. If you are in a negotiation, you may suddenly find accord, even though you might have feared you’d have a protracted debate about several points with the other party. You will also have Saturn on your side to bring stability to your finances and Venus, too, to bring a sunny, lucrative outcome.