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.

Ring the Bells That Still Can Ring

Astro Notes for New Moon in Virgo cycle (Sept 2-Oct 2)

I like to frequently refer to the bigger astrological picture to help understand the significance of any given monthly cycle. As readers of this column have heard me say many times, I believe the overriding astrological process governing our times is the epochal shift from the Age of Pisces to the Age of Aquarius. This great shift involves a change in the fundamental organizing principle of society from one of top-down hierarchies to that of decentralized, peer-to-peer networks. While this transition has been taking place for some time, I think that the years 2020-2026 represent a critical fulcrum point that is propelling us into the Age of Aquarius proper.

In 2020, Saturn, Pluto, and Jupiter met in a once-in-a-thousand year triple conjunction that correlated with the pandemic and our unprecedented global meta-crisis. From November this year through to July 2025, all five outer planets will change signs, ushering in a period of astonishingly rapid cultural change.

In my essay last year that looked at the astrology of the next 3-5 years, I argued that the period of 2020-2026 could be understood in terms of a birthing process, with 2020 being when the waters broke and 2025/26 representing the final push out of the birth canal and the beginning of a new era.

So here we are in September 2024, poised on the eve of this unbelievably epic time of historic change. It's simply an enormous moment.

The next ten weeks represent in this context an extremely potent time of inward preparation for the rapids we are about to enter.

For the first several months of 2024, all (or almost all) of the planets were moving forward, correlating with a period of accelerated outer progress toward our visions and goals. In April, we had the boon of Jupiter meeting Uranus in Taurus, a transit associated with creative breakthroughs and quantum leaps forward on many levels. Many new projects and visions came through in that time that can be seen as seeds that will bear fruit in the dawning age.

As of today (September 2), however, Saturn, Uranus, Neptune, and Pluto -- all of the astrological heavyweights -- are all moving retrograde. Yesterday (September 1) Pluto moved back into Capricorn one final time (before it will re-enter Aquarius in mid-November and stay there for the next twenty years). The next ten weeks or so thus bring a very special opportunity for a surgical process of inner preparation for the fast-moving times to come. I get the image of the drawing in of the ocean before a great tidal wave of change breaks on the shore.

Many of us are exhausted after living through the past four (or more) years of permanent crisis. Pluto's final visit to Capricorn is our last chance to let go of the old patterns and structures that will not work for us in the Aquarian age. Yet many of us are too tired to care. We just want to be done with the continuous struggle. Paradoxically, this can turn out in our favor, since we have nothing left to resist the forces of transformation. As Leonard Cohen famously put it:

Ring the bells that still can ring

Forget your perfect offering

There is a crack, a crack in everything

That's how the light gets in

Today's (September 2) new moon in Virgo is opposite Saturn and square Jupiter. It is thus re-activating the Jupiter square Saturn transit that was the dominant energy last month, bringing a major test to our dreams and visions, requiring us to re-evaluate our approach to life in some fundamental way. This process of review continues throughout this month's cycle, informed by our felt sense that deep changes are coming and that our life priorities are shifting accordingly.

Also today Uranus turned retrograde. The annual 155-day period of Uranus moving retrograde is a time to make internal shifts that pave the way for outer changes to occur when Uranus moves direct again. Often these inner shifts are preparation for outer actions that bring us a greater sense of personal freedom and autonomy. These Uranian themes may be especially pronounced around this time as Uranus changes direction.

Along with the outer planets in retrograde and Pluto re-entering Capricorn, this month's cycle also features an extraordinarily powerful eclipse window. There is a full moon lunar eclipse on September 18 and a new moon solar eclipse two weeks later on October 2. The best way, in my opinion, to work in sync with the universe at this time is to engage yourself in some kind of structured process of inner transformation. Eclipse windows are always powerful times to work with the shadow. This eclipse window is all the more potent for being the final one in our lifetimes to occur during Pluto in Capricorn. What's more, the lunar eclipse of September 18 is conjunct Neptune and sextile to both Pluto and Uranus. The most powerful transpersonal forces of our solar system are working with us at this time to supercharge our eclipse healing journey.

On September 22, shortly after the lunar eclipse, the Sun enters Libra, signifying the Autumn equinox in the northern hemisphere and the Spring equinox in the southern. There is a reason ancient cultures universally convened major rituals and ceremonies at the equinoxes and solstices, as they knew these days to be special portals through which to align with the greater cosmic powers. As Libra represents the principle of balance and harmony, the equinox is a beautiful time to meditate on these qualities and call them in more to your life.