(Note: I have repeated the general luck discussion from 2010 – your 2011 forecasts continue below this intro.)

The latest research on luck indicates that it has some connection to recognition of patterns. People who recognize patterns quickly, or who can “find Waldo” or quickly recognize the odd item in a hundred similar items, tend to have good luck, also. Perhaps that’s where the four-leaf clover concept came from – anyone who can find the four-petalled one in a field of “threes” would have to be a pattern-viewer par excellence.

Other research points to the role of family upbringing: often families are “”unlucky together” in the sense that if your parents were accident prone, you will tend to be. Families often share anti-authoritarian levels (which are linked to accident-proneness). Sexual and physical abuse tend to run in families, from generation to generation. These conditions will tend to prevent good, or produce bad, luck.

In astrology, luck is often connected to cheerfulness – mainly because the most cheerful sign, Sagittarius, is also considered the luckiest. But there is big and small, or temporary and long-term luck, too. Many Sagittarians are lucky, win tickets, get invited to travel by friends, are liked by hiring bosses, etc. But it’s often that dour, careful, unlucky Capricorn who ends up secure, affluent and happy late in life. Sagittarians often need to learn to use their natural luck, or it will always remain “small luck.”

In astrology, too, the planet that rules luck – Jupiter – also rules expansion. In fact, often what we call “good luck” is simply expansion – luckily, my business grew! Luckily, my pumpkin’s the biggest, and won the prize! I only had ten dollars, now I have a thousand! But expansion works both ways: Jupiter can increase the size of a tumour, make debts grow, etc.

And luck needs room to grow. It needs fertile ground. Luck cannot grow in bitterness, no more than plants will root in salt soil. Luck expands most in a field of faith, and when the heart is hopeful, eager, joyous, and expects, anticipates good things. Ultimately, luck is a form of love. Life is like any human (or dog!) – if you love him/her/it, he will tend to love you back. Life, too, loves those who love it. And life often expresses its love by doling out good luck. Not always – sometimes she returns love by conferring love, or beauty, or spiritual peace.

The main thing is: love, and you will be “lucked” in return.

Our present luck cycle for 2011 lasts less than 5 months – from January 22 to June 4, 2011. This is a very short period (as these cycles go) so make sure you grab your luck quickly and early. Being impulsive is better than being too careful. By June, a completely different cycle will arrive, which I will point out in late spring.