The urgent professional pace that you moved into the New Year with is no longer here, with a chance this month to let things settle while you find your feet and get your bearings. You began the year with the Sun and Pluto in your career sector, Mercury on the way and Mars in direct motion in your work sector, calling for you to put everything you have into everything you do. This created a very aggressive start to your new professional year and chances are your 2011 professional year never really came to an end and simply morphed into your 2012 professional year. Now that the Sun and Mercury are gone from your career sector, Mercury having only left on the 28th January and Mars now in retrograde motion in your work sector, you're able to ease back on the accelerator. Instead of your 2012 professional year getting off to a slow and steady start you had a rocket launch and can now settle into orbit. Pluto is on his own in your career sector until Mars returns in November and Mars is in retrograde motion in your work sector until mid April and not leaving until July there is little urgency on either front. In the meantime, Mars' retrograde phase has opened the door to second chances and an opportunity to work behind the scenes. Still in his early days in retrograde motion Mars is calling for a slow and steady approach, with a need to avoid at all costs developing a superhero complex. Time is on your side this month.

This is a defining month on the professional front and also a transition month, as a major era comes to an end and you begin the process of walking and living the talk. Neptune, planet of dreams and fantasies first returned to your career sector in January 1998 and apart from a few months that year and another few months last year, has been here for the last 14 years, slowly working away at defining your professional dreams and fantasies. With support from Venus last month to define your short term professional desires and expectations the Sun and Mercury are at Neptune's side to help bring things home, pointing your professional future in the direction you want it to take. As Neptune is leaving your career sector on the 4th February and won't return in your lifetime, the early days of the month are all about defining the dream, knowing that the reality checks can wait. It's once Neptune leaves that the Sun and Mercury will regroup, but with Mercury leaving your career sector on the 14th February and the Sun on the 19th February, they're here to tie up loose ends and to help you develop a professional game plan. The Moon will return to your career sector on the 19th February, arriving just hours after the Sun leaves to both sharpen your professional instincts and ensure there is no sudden drop off, staying until the 22nd February. With Saturn turning retrograde in your work sector on the 8th February this gives you a chance to pull right back, letting things settle and giving you time to think about where to from here.

After the ups and downs on the career front over recent years, February is the month when it all starts to make sense and you begin to realise why it needed to be so tough for so long. If you hadn't developed the professional resilience gained over the last few years you'd never be ready for what is destined to be a game changing professional month. You begin the month with Venus, planet of desire and attraction already in your career sector, inspiring your professional desires and triggering the laws of attraction. But before Venus leaves on the 8th February everything will change with the return of Neptune, planet of dreams and fantasies on the 4th February, where he'll spend the next 14 years redefining your expectations, your professional dreams and ultimately your reality. It's Mercury's return to your career sector on the 14th February, the Sun's on the 19th February and a New Moon 3 days later, on the 22nd February that begins the process of walking the talk, taking Venus' professional desires and Neptune's professional dreams for their first spin around the block. When the Sun and Mercury ultimately leave this won't be the end of the story, with Neptune staying on to help you see things through, making this less about a few good months on the career front and more the gateway into a whole new professional era. It's been a tough road to get to this point but you're finally ready to flex your professional wings and start soaring, with what you may have settled for in the past no longer enough.

Since Mercury left your work sector on the 8th January things have eased right back and even though you began the year with the Moon in your career sector and with a lot of professional focus, it may be starting to look like it may have been a false start. Yet this was more a taste of things to come, giving you a chance to work with the resources Mercury left you with to work smarter and get the right momentum on the job front. With the North Node in your work sector until August there was never any chance that things would slow right down, but it has given you a chance to pace yourself. Continue to use this to your advantage in the early days of the month, for it will be awhile before you get the chance again, with things about to get a lot busier. The 8th February is the day that everything changes, with a Full Moon in your income sector falling on the same day that Venus returns to your career sector. While Venus will only spend 26 days in your career sector before leaving on the 5th March, she'll spend this time updating your professional desires and triggering the laws of attraction, at the same time that Uranus is already triggering the laws of synchronicity. This opens the door to the 3 most important months of the year on the career front, months that won't run their course until Mercury finally wraps up this more active phase on the 9th May. The Moon's move through your career sector from the 24th February to the 27th February will sharpen your professional instincts and provide some valuable clues.

February is both a transition month and a month for pacing yourself, working behind the scenes, rehearsing your lines and doing your homework, ready for show time next month. Since Jupiter, planet of luck and expansion turned direct in your career sector on Boxing Day he's been slowly coming back up to full speed and slowly gaining momentum, happy to do this in the background as forces on the work front dominated last month. You moved into the New Year with the Sun in your work sector and when Mercury returned on the 8th January they got down to the business of bringing things on the work front up to speed, opening new doors and putting things on the track that you want them to continue on. With Pluto in your work sector until November 2024 he's able to keep the momentum going once it's been achieved, but he needed the Sun and Mercury to get the ball rolling. Now that the ball is rolling on the work front it's more about keeping the momentum going and continuing the way you started. With some of the focus off your work situation Jupiter is coming to the fore more, but with things not due to take off on the career front until Venus returns early next month, you have another month to get your ducks in a row, ready to hit the ground running. So while you're solidifying your position on the work front, making sure that you have the right momentum, you're already looking ahead and preparing for the biggest and most important 3 professional months of the year, when things really start to move on the career front from the 5th March to the 12th June.

It is just as well that the stunning developments on the career front won't begin until early April, for they will eventually eclipse your professional year, giving you a chance now to define your objectives on the work front. There is always a lot of focus on your work situation at this time of year, for you will always find the Sun in your work sector as you move into February and for the last 14 years Neptune, planet of dreams and fantasies has been here as well. Even having Mercury, planet of communication and smart thinking here is par for the course, for if he's not here at the start of the month he's either on his way or just left, either way giving you the tools to work smarter and make the right choices, decisions and plans. This year you have all three, making things look very ordinary on paper, yet it's likely to feel very different. For after 14 years in your work sector Neptune is leaving on the 4th February and he won't return again for another 150 years, so not in your lifetime. With Mercury staying on until the 14th February and the Sun until the 19th February, they'll stay behind to turn Neptune's dreams and expectations into a game plan, but they need something to work with. This makes the early days of the month all about listening to your imagination and daring to dream, even if it takes months or years to turn those dreams and expectations into reality. While the Moon will move through your work sector from the 19th February to the 22nd February to tidy up any loose ends, by the end of the month you'll be on your own and on your way.

There are constant ebbs and flows on the work front, as planets come and go, shaping individual years, months, weeks and in the case of the Moon, days. Even Jupiter, who left your work sector in January 2011 was here for less than a year and Uranus, who left last March was here for just 8 years. While that may seem a long time, compared to what is about to begin this month everything else until now is going to look temporary and transitory. For on the 4th February, just as Venus is wrapping up her annual visit aimed and giving you a clear sense of what you do and don't want on the work front and triggering the laws of attraction Neptune, planet of dreams and fantasies will return to your work sector and he won't leave until 2026. Never before in your lifetime have you had this kind of long term support, giving you the confidence of knowing that for the next 14 years the planet that returns to take things the next level this month, will be here to support you and to help you to grow. Venus, who leaves your work sector on the 8th February, will return each year to touch base with Neptune, as will the Sun and Mercury and the seasons and years will come and go, but Neptune will still have your back. This makes this the start of a powerful new era on the work front. Mercury's return to your work sector on the 14th February, the Sun's on the 19th February and a New Moon on the 22nd February will give you the resources to bring things up to speed and open new doors in the short term, as well as the resources to get this powerful new chapter off the ground and on the road.

You've had a relatively quiet start to your professional year, allowing you to ease back into things slowly and while you've had Uranus in your work sector, keeping things on track and your mind open, there has been no real call to action. Uranus, the planet that is keeping things in motion and on track until he leaves in 2019 is on a long term mission and having only turned direct on the 10th December he's enjoyed the slower pace, which has given him time to slowly build up to speed. That slower pace ends this month but it won't happen gradually. Instead it will happen abruptly on the 8th February, when on the same day a Full Moon in your career sector brings things on the career front to a head, Venus will return to your work sector, kicking off the 3 busiest months of the year. Venus herself will only spend 26 days in your work sector, but the Sun and Mercury will return next month to keep this active phase in motion until the 9th May. Because things begin so abruptly on the 8th February and the combined energy of a Full Moon in your career sector and Venus' return to your work sector is likely to really get your attention, the early days of the month are all about getting ready and being prepared. Whether that means streamlining things on the home front or getting old projects or matters tied up, you need to be ready to wake up on the 8th February, ready for whatever the gods throw your way. Chances are, because you moved into the New Year with the Moon in your work sector, you're already lined up and waiting outside the right doors.

If you do nothing else this month but pace yourself, then you'll be doing more than enough, for this is both an adjusting and a transition month on the professional front, with forces on the work and career fronts still settling into place. On the work front there is a slow and steady rebuild taking place with Jupiter, planet of luck and expansion slowly gaining speed and momentum after his direct turn in your work sector on Boxing Day. When Venus returns to your work sector early next month she'll kick off the luckiest, most important and busiest 3 months of the year, so February is a month where it's all about preparing for that, conserving your energy and continuing to work behind the scenes. At the same time Mars, planet of passion, drive and ambition and the warrior planet of the cosmos only turned retrograde in your career sector on the 24th January and in retrograde motion until mid April, this is still early days. Over the coming months Mars will regain his speed and as he re establishes old ties with Jupiter in your work sector and Pluto in your income sector, he'll open the door to some enormous potential and some massive second chances. But Mars needs this month to regain speed and momentum and adjust to his retrospective focus, needing the same amount of patience and pacing yourself as Jupiter needs. By the time Venus returns to your work sector early next month Mars will be back in the game, making February an extremely important month for working behind the scenes and pacing yourself, something that will be much harder from next month.

Since as far back as October 2009 Saturn, planet of honesty and conviction and your ruling planet has dominated your professional game from his position in your career sector and even more so since there has been no planetary activity in your work sector since Mars left last August. While you have the South Node in your work sector, keeping things on the straight and narrow and making sure that there is no backsliding, it will be early April before things really start to take off on the work front. This makes Saturn's retrograde turn in your career sector on the 8th February significant for a number of reasons. For starters it's a sign that Saturn is standing back, making way for the very lucky and expansive opportunities due to open up on the work front from the 4th April onwards, which he'll support from the sidelines. On the other hand this gives Saturn a chance to turn and retrace his steps one more time, in what is his third retrograde phase in your career sector in as many years, but also his last. With Saturn due to leave your career sector in October this gives you a chance to retrace your steps, making sure no stone has been left unturned but also giving you a chance to sum things up. With Saturn not turning direct until June and new doors not opening on the work front until April, this gives you a few months to just let things settle, working with what is already on the table. This may appear to take the wind out of your sails but after pushing forward for so long you need this time to pull back and consolidate your position, heading back into port for repairs and maintenance.

You are the only Sign that has no planetary or cosmic activity of any kind in either of your professional houses this month, apart from the Moon's monthly visits to your work and career sectors. Yet this is less because the stars have abandoned you and more that this is the norm for you. The Sun only wrapped up the planetary activity on the career front for 2011 in November, so you're still working with what has been in play since late last year, with many more months left to let things play out. With the next round of planetary activity in your work sector not kicking off until mid June, this gives you a chance to work at your own pace, at your own speed and doing your own thing. This is giving you a fairly low key start to your new professional year, which is unlikely to gel with what your instincts are telling you, for before it's over 2012 is destined to become a game changing professional year. It's on the career front that things will really start to take off, but not until the last 4 months of the year, but once on a roll it will continue with no gaps until 2015. This is the last quiet patch you'll have for a while, so use it wisely to cement where you've been and prepare for the future and where you're going. It's the Moon's visit to your work sector from the 4th February to the 7th February that will give you a chance to test the waters and get your bearings, with the Moon making sure you have your finger on the pulse and your ear to the ground. Likewise the Moon's visit to your career sector from the 13th February to the 15th February will give you a chance to sharpen your professional instincts and pick up on valuable clues and hunches that will point things in the right direction.

While you have no planetary activity in either of your professional houses this month and won't have until mid year, you have more than enough going on to both keep things in motion and up to speed and to capitalise on the new income opportunities opening up this month. Even though Mercury left your career sector on the 8th January, with the North Node here until August remaining on track won't be a problem nor will knowing which direction to take, as it will happen naturally. This is providing a steady momentum that is slowly moving you in the right direction and keeping things in motion, but it is more a steady stream than any push or any significant activity or occurrences. What is capable of doing this is the Full Moon in your work sector on the 8th February and because of its timing this could bring things on the work front to a real tipping or turning point. This Full Moon will fall on the same day that Venus returns to your income sector, opening the door to the 3 most important and potentially lucrative months of the year. This is going to change your expectations and with the Full Moon falling on the same day, if something has been poised at a tipping point or building behind the scenes, this will be enough to tip it over the edge. This is the Full Moon that falls halfway between the Sun's last visit to your work sector and the next, designed to remind you of your intentions and expectations and to bring them up to speed, in light of where things stand now. The real message from the Full Moon and Venus' return to your income sector on the 8th February is 'game on'.