before the year begins, but only just. It was on the 27th December, just 4 days before the new year began that Mars finally left your work, employment and health sector, bringing to an end an era that has dominated your life since 1995.

This means that you're moving into 2009 without that constant need to please or a situation where life was all work and no play. Never again will you be as busy or life as full on as it’s been in the past, especially in the last few months and weeks of 2008, yet you have now entered a period where you get to reap the rewards, especially financially.

You begin the year with an extraordinary amount of focus on your relationship sector, creating one of, if not the most defining periods in your lifetime, for your relationships, but also for you personally. This is a time when you're likely to be questioning everything you ever assumed or thought, with half the planets in the solar system lined up, demanding that you're being true to yourself, your life purpose and that your relationships are authentic.

You have passed a point of no return where it’s no longer okay to put things off, put up with second best or settle for less, either in your relationships or in how you are living your life.

In the early days of January the Sun, Mercury, Mars, Jupiter and Pluto, the planets of communication, passion, luck and change are all in your relationship sector and all in opposition to your sign. While each has their own agenda, Mercury to open the communication lines, Mars to fight complacency and bring more passion, Jupiter to expand and grow and Pluto to change whatever isn’t working, they all have one objective in mind. And that objective is to make sure that you are living your life authentically and that your relationships are phenomenal and on both counts they’ll settle for nothing less.

At the time it might feel like you're being ganged up on, but this is one time when the stars are not going to fail you, whether you have invited them or even want them to.

Call this a divine intervention!

However dominant this is at the start of the year and while Pluto will remain on to ensure that what the stars collectively begun, is sustained, this is not the major focus of the coming year.

Very early in the year the planets move on, until by mid February it is only Pluto left behind. It is Jupiter’s departure, on the 6th January that creates the real tipping point and it’s then that the focus moves to your sector of money, passion and transformation, where already big dreams and desires are developing.

It is here that your luck lies in 2009, a year that is destined to be one of your luckiest financial years on record, but also a big year for following your dreams and your passions.

Venus and Mars, the planets of desire and passion, are also going to play an important role in shaping your year. From early February to early June Venus will spend nearly 4 months in your career sector, bringing a huge amount of professional opportunity. Within this period there is a brief window of opportunity, between the 12th and 24th April, where there is a chance to escape, travel or learn. If you are planning a holiday this year and you certainly deserve it, that’s the period you should aim for.

While the whole of 2009 is an extremely lucky financial year it’s in October that things become even more extreme. It’s on the 17th October that Mars, planet of passion, drive and ambition moves into your income sector, turning what is normally a 6 week visit into a period of extreme opportunity. Instead of staying just 6 weeks he’ll arrive on the 17th October, but won’t leave until the 7th June 2010, nearly 8 months later. Combined with lucky financial stars, this is an extremely lucrative period, with extreme income opportunities that you should be aiming for from day one. It is Venus’ 4 months in your career sector, from the 3rd February to the 6th June that is going to contribute to that as well.

The other major event to be alert to is Saturn’s move into your home and family sector at the end of October. This is when one of the most important periods for home, family and/or property matters in 3 decades begins.

Work:
The big difference between 2008 and 2009, when it comes to your professional game, is that 2008 was all about the behind the scenes work and effort, with limited opportunities for glory, while 2009 is less hard work and a lot more glory. The focus switches in 2009, away from your work sector and onto your career sector, with a small window of opportunity to catch your breath in between. Seize any opportunity you can in January to take time out, for it’s as early as the 3rd February that things begin moving on the professional front. It's then that Venus moves into your career sector, acting as a magnet for professional opportunities. Normally spending just 4 weeks here, once a year, she’ll spend an epic 4 months in your career sector, not leaving until the 6th June. During that time she’ll be joined by the Sun, Mercury and Mars, all doing their bit to make things happen. It’s once Venus returns after a brief 12 day hiatus, between the 12th and 24th April that things really start to happen, with May holding professional opportunities that are off the scale. It won’t be until later in the year that the work stars that dominated the later part of 2008 return, however by now you've come to expect that the end of each year is always going to be the busiest, but never again will it be as manic as it was at the end of 2008.

Love:
As I mentioned above, 2009 is a huge relationship year, yet to call it a huge relationship year doesn’t really do this period justice, for it’s more an era, than being about any one single year, unlike last year. Last year you could truly say it was an important relationship year because of Jupiter, planet of luck, spending his first year in your relationship sector in over a decade. You begin 2009 with Jupiter still there, but getting ready to leave. With the Sun, Mercury and Mars all having moved into your relationship sector at the end of last year, you begin the year with an extreme amount of cosmic activity in your relationship sector, giving things the push start you need. However in that line up is Pluto, planet of change and revolution, who finally committed to this new relationship era at the end of November 2008. Now that the busy work stars that dominated the last weeks of 2008 are gone, your relationship needs are able to assert themselves. With Pluto here for the next 16 years, you've entered an important relationship era, rather than an important relationship year, for once the year ends, the opportunities are going to keep on going. Things will settle down on the relationship front to a manageable but sustainable level and will remain consistent for the rest of the year.

Money:
By any standards and no matter what way you look at it, 2009 is an exceptional financial year. To say it is a lucky financial year would be accurate, but it goes beyond this, for this is something you've been working towards for over a decade now. With the success that 2009 is going to bring and some bittersweet moments, there is a real chance for healing and to move on. As you finally get a chance to realise dreams and passions, you can’t help but trigger the memories of times when life wasn’t so kind and you faced some real financial challenges and struggles. In fact, it is Neptune, the very planet that was under pressure in the past that now holds the key to some stunning opportunities. It is not despite what you have endured and conquered that you're now poised to succeed, but because of it. You have developed the kind of resilience that made you strong and resourceful in the tough times and that is now going to help you fly in the good times. As well as having lucky financial stars at work throughout 2009, it is later in the year that there are some extreme income opportunities, especially in the last 3 months of the year. Despite your financial reality at the start of the year, the only way things are going is up.