Catching our Breath

Astro Notes for New Moon in Sagittarius cycle (December 1-31, 2024)

This is the first monthly cycle in which we have officially entered the Pluto in Aquarius era, with Pluto now solidly entrenched in Aquarius where it will stay for the next twenty years. Take that in. With Pluto’s move into Aquarius, we have arrived at an historic seven month threshold during which the cultural zeitgeist is poised to transform more rapidly and comprehensively than at any other time in our lifetimes. As I’ve mentioned in this space many times previously, this passage is marked astrologically by the movement of every one of the five outermost planets into a new sign.

But while we are now surfing the rapids of historic change, this month’s cycle offers something of a respite from the drama and intensity of recent months.

Arguably the most striking astrological feature of the cycle is Mars, the planet of action, turning retrograde on December 6. Mars only goes retrograde once every two and a bit years, so when it happens it tends to stand out. Mars will be retrograde from December 6, 2024 through February 23, 2025.

When Mars is moving retrograde, the universe asks us to be more reflective about how we assert ourselves and act in the world. It is prudent at this time to really think before we act. If we act impulsively, we could make a serious mistake that we will later regret.

It might seem during this period that we have lost momentum or are moving through molasses. If we keep trying to push forward, we’ll likely meet more resistance than usual. We may also be forced by events to acknowledge issues related to our anger, aggression, or sexuality, requiring us to contemplate and process these issues inwardly. Accordingly, the volume will tend to be turned down somewhat on the pace and intensity of outer events, giving us an opportunity to re-group, re-calibrate, and re-evaluate our current plans and strategies.

The other major transit of this month’s cycle is Jupiter in Gemini forming an exact square with Saturn in Pisces on December 24. This is the second of three exact squares between Jupiter and Saturn (the first was in mid-August 2024 and the third and final one will be in mid-June 2025). When Jupiter’s expansive outlook comes into a tense aspect with Saturn’s sense of order, we may feel that something needs to shift in the foundational structure of our lives. This is not mere tinkering with the details; we may want to make a big move that affects everything, like changing jobs or where we live. This drive to make a major structural change can arise in part because we are confronted with a limitation (Saturn) that blocks the realization of our ideals (Jupiter), forcing us to go back to the drawing board to re-think our fundamental approach.

Again, the focus is in the direction of thinking, reflecting, and planning rather than acting.

The Jupiter-Saturn square takes place in the mutable signs of Gemini and Pisces. The new moon on December 1 and the full moon on December 15 are also in mutable signs (Sagittarius and Gemini respectively). So there’s a lot of mutable energy this month. Mutable signs occur as one season gives way to another — there’s ‘a change in the air’. The underlying gestalt is about adjusting to changing circumstances, being adaptable, and making preparations for the approaching cycle. This dynamic is accentuated at the moment with the subliminal awareness that everything is about to change, calling for an even deeper inward preparation.

With the new and full moons occurring on the Sagittarius-Gemini axis of information, but at a time when outer action is relatively muted, there might be a lot of talk and ‘hot air’ without much real-world consequence.

The most concentrated astrological action takes place from around December 5-8. In that window, Mars moves retrograde, Neptune turns direct, Venus forms an exact conjunction with Pluto, and there is a t-square between the Sun, Saturn, and Jupiter. This may be a confusing time, fraught with frustrating highs and lows, intense and conflicting emotions, indulgences and limitations. We may not know up from down for a while — a good time to breathe and remember ‘this too shall pass.’

Going with the flow this month means accepting limitations, breathing through frustration, and adopting a more reflective mood. I hope you are able to find time to hit the pause button on your inner pusher and enjoy the respite. It won't be long before we'll be back in our life-rafts, steadying ourselves for perhaps the most exhilarating ride of our lifetime.

And So It Begins

Astro Notes for New Moon in Scorpio cycle (November 2-December 1 2024)

(These Astro Notes are in the better late than never file, delayed because I was on retreat at the start of the month. My apologies for the lag.)

For months I've been pointing to the period from November 2024 to July 2025 as a time of extraordinarily concentrated cultural change, signified astrologically by the fact that within those seven months every one of the slower-moving planets -- from Jupiter to Pluto -- will change signs, something that has never occurred before in such a short timeframe.

I believe this period can be understood as the final stage of the epic birthing process we've been in since Covid (and the historic triple conjunction in 2020 of Saturn, Pluto, and Jupiter) -- the last, messy, urgent push out of the birth canal that will deliver us into the dawning Aquarian era.

So here we go. It's November 2024, and our raft is entering the rapids. In just a few days' time, on November 19, Pluto will enter Aquarius, the first of the heavyweight planets to change signs. (Noticed any big changes lately?) Within seven months, Neptune, Uranus, Saturn, and Jupiter will have followed, and we will be living in a different world.

Pluto entering Aquarius, on its own, is a seismic event. We had a taste of Pluto in Aquarius for a few months in early 2023 and for seven months at the start of this year. But this time there's no turning back. Pluto will now stay in Aquarius for the next twenty years. During that time society will be reshaped in every conceivable way. (The contribution you personally will make to that process is signified by where transiting Pluto intersects with your natal chart.)

Aquarius represents the need for a breakthrough into a new and better world. The last time Pluto was in Aquarius (1778-1798) it coincided with the American and French Revolutions, which overthrew the divine right of kings and ushered in the modern period. The time before that (1532-1553) involved key phases of the Protestant Reformation that challenged the traditional authority of the Catholic Church. We are on the cusp of a similar period of revolutionary transformation.

In our times, we are fortunate that at the very beginning of Pluto's transit of Aquarius it forms an auspicious aspect pattern known as a Minor Triangle with the other outer planets Uranus and Neptune. This pattern is particularly potent from mid-2026 to mid-2028, a two year window that arguably represents humanity's best opportunity in any of our lifetimes to make a quantum leap forward.

In the short-term, however, the road looks considerably bumpier. Earlier this month, just before the US election, Mars moved into an exact opposition with Pluto. A Mars-Pluto opposition normally lasts no more than a week. But due to an extended period of Mars moving retrograde, this Mars-Pluto transit will be in effect for the next six months.

Mars is the planet of action and Pluto the principle of total transformation. Taking place alongside the movement of all the outer planets into new signs, this exceptionally long Mars-Pluto opposition suggests a time of rapid, dramatic, forceful change. We are being expelled from the birth canal, ready or not.

Bringing our focus back to this month's cycle, the Full Moon in Taurus on November 15 is in a close conjunction with Uranus, the great disrupter and awakener. This is a very powerful combination, bringing together the earthy, stable, solid energies of Taurus with the Uranian principle of sudden, unexpected, disruptive change. Something like an earthquake -- whether literal or metaphorical -- could result.

A few days later, on November 19, Pluto enters Aquarius and the light of the future will arrive. There is no going back now, we must dive headlong into the currents of change.

On November 21, the Sun enters Sagittarius. Sagittarius supports us to elevate to a higher perspective from which the particular events of our world can be comprehended as part of a much vaster unfolding. It invites us to 'go vertical' to access a realm of wisdom and higher meaning. No matter how we might be reacting to recent political events, Sagittarius season is our opportunity to reconnect with our faith in the cosmic order.

Whether consciously or not, we've been preparing for this moment all our lives. We owe it to ourselves to meet it with as much higher understanding as possible.

Weathering the Storm

Astro Notes for New Moon in Libra cycle (October 2-November 2)

We are edging closer to an extraordinary period of concentrated cultural change, signified astrologically by all of the outer planets changing signs within 7 months of each other, starting with Pluto's ingress into Aquarius on November 19.

This month's extremely intense cycle will force a confrontation with our inner demons and demand that we take decisive action to align with our highest evolutionary path. With the great tsunami of change about to crash on our shores, we are being asked to choose our timeline.

The dominant planetary archetype for this month's cycle is Pluto, the principle of crisis and transformation. Pluto stations direct on October 11, thereafter moving forward for its final five weeks in Capricorn. Whenever a planet stations, the archetypal themes it represents become more pronounced for everyone. Furthermore, Pluto will be moving through the final or 'anaretic' degree of Capricorn, the last time Pluto will be in Capricorn in any of our lifetimes.

Pluto has been moving through Capricorn since 2008, exposing the shadows of corruption and deceit hidden beneath both the established structures of society and the executive functioning of our own psyche. In its final weeks in Capricorn, Pluto will bring a radical "now or never' sense of urgency to this process. We may experience a propulsive force of pressure on everything inside us that needs to heal and change in order for us to step into the higher vibratory path that awaits us in potentia in the coming era.

Pluto is the principle of crisis that precedes transformation. Our task is to avoid succumbing to the despair that can arise when the darkness surfaces to consciousness. Somewhere in our being we know that we chose this, that we are magicians called to be here at precisely this moment for precisely this purpose -- to meet the darkness with the light of conscious awareness and to become whole.

These Plutonic themes of intensity, crisis, and transformation will be with us throughout the month. However the peak of the crisis will likely come mid-month, with the Full Moon in Aries involving a searingly intense Cardinal Grand Cross, with the Sun and Moon both squaring Mars and Pluto respectively.

These are seriously explosive energies that will demand us to take immediate action to resolve the intense squeeze we will be experiencing at this time. While obviously challenging, the gift of such a dynamic configuration is to decisively break our attachments to unhealthy patterns within us, and to force a long overdue realignment with the Real.

On October 22 the Sun enters Scorpio, which is ruled by Pluto, so the backdrop of intensity, transformation, and magic will continue.

However, from October 28-31, we have a Grand Water Trine linking Mercury in Scorpio, Mars in Cancer, and Neptune in Pisces. With Mars opposite Pluto at the same time, this creates an auspicious "kite" aspect pattern.

After passing through the storm mid-month, the energies come together at the end of the month in a divinely coherent pattern. It's as though the forces that get unblocked earlier in the month now get to be channeled constructively, opening a portal for powerfully healing energies of compassion to flow in. With the US elections just around the corner, perhaps this will bring a touch of divine grace right in the nick of time.