The new year 2016, is barely two weeks and it’s already greeted us with a bang.

Hang on to your hats, this new year promises even more excitement ahead.

You don’t have to be an astrologer to be aware that we are living in extraordinary times. This past decade has been a period of intense realignment and change. If you are in your twenties or younger, then intensity is all you’ve known. But even for us sporting gray on our heads, the unsettling pace of change and upset is feeling like the new normal.

But it’s not.

Astrologers talk about the entrance of outer planets into the cardinal signs in 2008 through 2010, the ensuing Uranus/Pluto square which still is still active, but you don’t need to be familiar with these terms to know that themes of ‘big money,’ power, and speaking truth to power, have been transforming our lives.

In the new year 2016, the way we earn our living and do our everyday business will continue to change in irrevocable ways

Taxi drivers are seeing their livelihoods threatened by upstart Uber and Lyft. The hotel industry feels the competition of Airbnb. These open average folk new ways to generate income through the flexibility of the ‘gig economy,’ while it undermines traditional jobs and opens new ways for them to be exploited as, in return for flexibility, they forego such niceties as regular paychecks and reimbursement for gig-related expenses. As a result, Seattle allows Uber and Lyft drivers to unionize.

If the Uranus/Pluto square directly impacted your birth chart you were challenged you to own your power.

The new year 2016 opens with the spectacle of outliers Donald Trump and Bernie Sanders, both running unconventional campaigns drawing record-breaking crowds in their political appearances as they up-end their respective political parties and render their establishments irrelevant.

Uranus/Pluto will continue to inject its powerful energy into the new year 2016 and beyond. It is only one of the major themes that will shape the year unfolding. I will talk about this and additional themes shaping the year ahead in my presentation at the kick-off meeting of the NCGR Philadelphia chapter, tomorrow, Sunday, January 17th at 2:30 pm. More details are available at the NCGRPhilly.com site. I hope to see you there.