There is a general feeling that now the planet is in
critical mass mode. We go one way or another… The old ongoing dominance of and
drive for money, power, ego and an increasing autocratic value system
destructively continues, or we turn to a new more enlightened humanitarian and
big picture planetary health driven value system. There is alongside this, a growing war between
the two hugely contrasting energies, autocracy or true democracy.
You don’t need to be
an astrologer to realise this.
The ongoing war in
Ukraine totally represents all the misuse of power we are facing.
The new values that our planet screams out for, and indeed
what the planets that are starting to influence us astrologically, are also
demanding, are so contradictory to the decades long values we have aspired to.
So, it will be a massive fight to get a revolution from the old to the new.
This year is a year
where that collision of forces will seriously start to manifest.
The unusually lengthy retrograde period of Mars in Gemini, since October 30th and continuing till the 12th of January, has certainly done its job of paralysis on many fronts and pointed to a real crisis of battles and anger re value systems. This has shown itself not least in the UK. London is a Gemini city, the centre currently of a paralysed government,.which is in typically current Geminian dithering manner and with scattered internal opinions, and completely not knowing what steps to take to resolve the many strikes and the financial mess. Anger (Mars) is brewing in the populace and the government hopes this will focus on the discontented strikers, when in fact, disillusionment with the UK government and the whole system is seriously growing.
After the 12th, movement of some
kind will emerge, society wise and personally.
Mercury also is
retrograde since December the 29th and till the 18th of
January, and this will compound the problem… Agreements will be very difficult
to attain, and delays and blocks will dominate. Best agreements will come after
the 18th.
Jupiter is committed to Aries (England’s Sun sign) from the
20th of December, lasting till mid-May, and this will put a lot of power into
the populace’s hands, and again collective determination, drive and courage
will be significant…and now that Saturn has finished squaring up to Uranus, as
it has been doing on and off for the last 2 years, the blocks and limits put on
the need for some revolutionary change, have been considerably loosened.
Despite an increasingly vocalised feeling that the current (neo
liberal capitalist) system is unsustainable, the fact is, our political system
is by nature totally anti-revolutionary, but the populace may become
increasingly revolutionary, over the coming 2 years, as Pluto (power) edges
gradually out of his occupation of Capricorn era. (Since 2008.)
Capricorn symbolises
the old order of conservatism, tradition, extreme capitalism and colonial power,
with fiscal inequality baked in… It has become increasingly unfair, illogical
and increasingly at war with the need for a big picture existential change, in
order to restore the health of the planet and create more balanced equality.
Money can no longer be God.
Money alone is not
the root of all evil but the love of it is.
Aquarius is looming large as a focus of power, and it is the
energy that is starting to build seriously this year, as Pluto dips its toe
into the first degree of Aquarius for a trial run only, from the end of March till
mid-June 2023. This will give us a taster
of the coming shift of focus and values.
Aquarius is all about
the prevalence of intellect over greed and the power of out of the box, lateral
and divergent thinking to solve problems that are global, not parochial. Revolutionary insight, hugely innovative technology
and humanitarian thought and planetary survival, especially related to climate
change, will be increasingly, and of necessity, the motivator.
This is such a
contrasting force to Capricorn energy. There will however now be an ongoing
battle, on and off, between these two value systems, till the end of 2024, when
Pluto finally commits to Aquarius. This will also be very much related to
autocracy versus democracy.
Pluto visits each
sign every 248 years and stays in it, to do its work (and tests for wise use
and abuse of power) for approximately 20 years.
The March to June period in 2023 will indeed give us a
flavour of the change in mood, values and energies that are destined to show
themselves, and will emerge again from late January 2024 to the beginning of
September 2024 when Pluto pays his second visit to Aquarius. The emphasis during
those periods will be the humanitarian and global need to put environmental
issues as a priority and the realisation that the essential need for the
development of technology must be motivated by big picture collective progress,
for our very survival and not just motivated by money, power and ego.
When Pluto reverts for the final time, to
Capricorn again in September 2024 till late November 2024, then the final
battles between these two values will be seen. From late November 2024, Pluto’s
commitment to Aquarius begins and Aquarian energy will then dominate…. All the
way through till February 2044.
However, we must be aware that all systems have their
potential for abuse by some, and therefore there is always a likely downside
to every planetary placement, not least for Pluto in Aquarius, the planet whose
title alone, is the very essence of power (think Plutonium and Plutocracy.)
Technology, an area very much governed by Uranus ruled Aquarius, has
increasingly also become a medium for the use of darkly motivated energies and abuse,
when the motivation is greed… This must be rooted out, as value systems
naturally shift of necessity and more evolutionary characteristics of mankind
kick in.
Can Orwellian type
use of technology be abandoned… and then used only for the greater good.?
There will be, must be, a sea change.
If not, we are looking at a huge, rather slow-motion finale
for us all.
Re the UK this year …Rishi
Sunak has a very powerful and chaotic once every 84-year Uranus transit to his
Sun from May this year. Change, shock
and unexpected revolution is in his career then, and in his life generally. The
UK government and its traditional structures are indeed very symbolic of all that
must be rethought.
Of course, Neptune is also still travelling through its own
home sign of Pisces. Neptune in Pisces (2012 till Feb 2026) has been a real
wake up call to us all, re the beauties, frailties and necessity of nature,
notably the sea …and how much it is suffering from our human assault on it. It
has also underlined the power of invisible global spread of epidemics and the
unrestricted global spread of social media with all its conspiracy power.
Re Pisces, another
significant planetary shift this year is Saturn’s entry into Pisces on March 7th.
This every approximately 29-year visitation will last till mid-February 2026.
Saturn is a testing,
karmic planet and brings reality checks to bear and shows where work must be done,
but where it is a tough road. He is not
called The Benevolent Despot and Karmic School teacher, for nothing. We must be
humbled in relation to the sign he is in, and Pisces (the last sign of the
zodiac) is, as I said, so about nature, and denotes, as a sign a strong
spiritual awareness of life…the preciousness of the simple. Pisces is all about
sensitivity and emphasises sensitivity to pain and often also, more negatively,
escapism from what is uncomfortable to deal with. Saturn in that sign, asks that we need and
must stand up to the plate and deal with problems and suffering in a
compassionate way, both personally and environmentally. We will see clearly and with pain, the truth
of our damage to the earth, and pay an increasing karmic price, which will
further drive the need for change. We must face up to our fears and anxieties
and take constructive action to deal with the present and let go of the past
and its hurts and mistakes. Huge challenge globally, but increasingly
unescapable as a necessity. But Saturn is a tough teacher. You only get
progress, after huge, hard and humble work
Indeed, Saturn will
demand that our collective mistakes and historic value systems must be
confronted and rethought … of necessity, or we pay the price of the downside of
Pisces…escapism, denial, delusion, or of simply giving up. Negatively, Saturn in Pisces it may be quite
challenging to the arts also, which will have to fight for its true values to
be recognised by the system.
Jupiter, however,
positively, moves into Taurus in Mid-May for a year, and this position
underlines the power of Taurus alongside Uranus in that same sign currently and
since May 2018. Uranus brings shocks and awakening and change and Taurus rules
our infrastructure in terms of literally the earth under our feet and its
productivity re crops and our security systems, and simply, the money system.
We have seen the shocks re the earth in response to climate change and how it has
also affected money, with cryptocurrency, cashless dealings, Ukraine war and
the cost-of-living crisis. Not least also, how technology (Uranus), has
affected our financial dealings. Jupiter’s arrival into Taurus, however, can
very helpful as it brings satisfying rewards for the good, we do, changes we
make, related to our planet’s infrastructure and survival. It can show us what
progress can indeed be made through appreciation of and efforts made in caring
for nature…. and indeed, the arts.
I believe we all know
in our souls, that massive karmic wakeup calls will start to stare us in our
faces in 2023.
All best to you all
for the coming year.
