Three wise women with deep ancestral roots in Washington D.C. will meet on January 19th to sweep away the malfeasance, deceit and partisanship of the last eight years. The visionary astrologer Caroline Casey is taking part in this act of magic, and the details are found at her Coyote Network News site.

As the inauguration nears, she invites us to see anew what that word means, and its symbolic potential. The augur would walk out into nature to divine the patterns indicating which human was deemed the most responsible steward of the Common Wealth, the well-being of all our relations. We invite you to contribute your medicine blessing to our collective brew, and toast our new President, with whom we vow to collaborate: Barack Hussein Obama! (whose name means means "Blessing/Lightning - Beloved of the Divine - the Good").

It's a symbolic act that merges powerfully, the strands of our national past, as they call on the power of the ancestors. The Ritual of Unity and Blessing is organized by a triumvirate of native Washingtonians, one of whom is the great-granddaughter of slaves, one the great-granddaughter of slave owners, and one the daughter of a populist New Deal Congressman. As a descendent of Lyman Hall, a signer of the Declaration of independence, as well as being an official Yankee Doodle Dandy (born on the 4th of July), I've often wondered, "What would Lyman do?" in these precarious times for the nation. These remarkable women are inspirations for what it takes to reach deep enough and authentically enough, to touch something real.

If you've worked with quartz crystals, you know they're magnifiers of what you're beaming into them. For this ritual, they'll be charging a crystal -- to represent the Washington Monument -- with the currents for unity and protection, and then casting it into the water, to flow out to the world via the Potomac River. It's a strong, clear intention of mutual good-will between a leader and the people, and the expectation that this integrity, and spirit of collaboration will be reflected back. So mote it be!

• Reclaiming Our Revolutionary Roots

It's just days into Mercury's retrograde in Aquarius, and celebs are letting it all hang out. At the Golden Globes, People Magazine reported on the Crazy Quotes like, I'm a tranny and Jennifer Lopez silencing the crowd with "Hello? Hello? Mama talking! Mama talking!" Comic actor Ricky Gervais zoomed across the taboo threshold, by making not one, but two jokes about the Holocaust. The first joke made more sense if you saw the episode of his show, The Extras, with guest star Kate Winslet. To the non-BBC watching audience, it was bizarre and off-color -- Gervais can thank Mercury retro as he tries to explain that.

Aquarius is a sign known to color outside the lines, blind to the usual agreed-upon conventions. At these awards events, the stars often look like they're just barely holding it together, and can't wait 'til it's over. But here we got a glimpse at the eccentricities they usually reserve for the after-party, courtesy of Mercury gone wild. It's never a dull moment when Aquarius is in the house, especially when spun in random directions by the trickster Mercury.

I've been reading a little book about healing toxic thoughts by Sandra Ingerman, a counselor that uses shamanic journeying in her work. Her words about movement and the elements leapt out at me, and just as true when looking at your own energies astrologically.

Water that is moving is healthy. When water is stagnant, it becomes polluted. Air that is moving is healthy. Air that is not moving becomes stale. The earth itself is in constant movement. Our spirit, which is fire, needs movement or we lose passion and meaning for life. We stop being creative and fall into feelings of depression and despair.

It's a 'note to Self' that I wanted to share. That sometimes the way to cure the winter blues is not to retreat and take it easy but to get moving.

Mercury is retrograde starting today, and that can alter perceptions of what's going on, and cause some things to go haywire or be delayed. It's in the air sign Aquarius, one that normally has an expansive vision. In retrograde, it's like looking through a fish-eye lens, where you're not sure what you're looking at. That's why astrologers advise caution when making set decisions under Mercury retrograde -- the picture might not be what it appears to be.

If the retrograde rhythm feels like idling or being stalled, that can be frustrating. But if you go with the flow, and not tense up with dread, it can be surprisingly productive. It's actually a chance to rest the mind, and reflect on what's been happening. Sometimes it guides you back to ideas that had fallen by the wayside, but add vital dimension to your experience. The time is now, for projects that seemed too far-out or unconventional before.

In the U.S., we're heading into the inauguration, when we'll be experiencing that historic moment together. Aquarius is a sign of collective visioning, so there may be surprises there that reconnect us to visions of who we are as a nation. The retrograde puts up for review, where your own thinking meets that of the whole, and how that creates reality. The retrograde can be a contemplative time, when you re-visit the interior of your mind's past, and in this case, the greater mind of "all of us." It lasts all month, and should be an interesting time, when public perception could awaken to new visions. And how that begins with each person's view of the big picture.