Rocking & Rolling

Astro Notes for Aquarius Season (January 19-February 18, 2026)

Thanks for your patience during my absence for Capricorn season. I was recovering from illness while also working on a longer essay about larger global trends from an astrological perspective (coming soon). These Astro Notes had to be put on ice, but I’m very glad to be back in the saddle for this one.

DN

There’s a heightened urgency, electricity, and momentum to this year’s Aquarius season. Not only is it jam-packed with significant astrological events, it represents the final approach to the exact Saturn-Neptune conjunction on February 20 at 0° Aries — the zero point of the entire zodiac — an extraordinary symbol of both the dissolution of outdated structures and the opportunity for a global reset.

Although we’re at the beginning of the Gregorian calendar year, in nature’s time we are in the final quarter of the astrological year that began on March 21, 2025. In my annual overview, I described the four quarters of that year as follows:

* Q1 (March 21-June 21, 2025): Crowning

* Q2: (June 21-Sept 21): Birth

* Q3: (Sept 21-Dec 21): Mop Up

* Q4: (Dec 21-March 21, 2026): Arrival

With an unprecedented five major planets changing signs between November 2024 and July 2025, we were birthed into an entirely new archetypal landscape. Throughout the northern hemisphere summer of 2025, we were given a glimpse of the shape of the emerging era. In the 3rd quarter (Sept 21-Dec 21), Saturn, Neptune, and Uranus moved back into their old signs one last time, calling on us to complete unfinished business and let go of outdated forms to prepare for the arrival of the new energies in earnest.

Now we’re in the final quarter, with Saturn, Neptune, and (soon) Uranus moving forward again, shortly to re-enter the new signs — this time for good — ushering us into a new era.

This is the broader context for understanding the significance of this year’s Aquarius season, which is always associated with futuristic visions, original ideas, and exciting breakthroughs that liberate us from conventional structures and assumptions.

It’s hard to overstate the power of the Saturn-Neptune conjunction at 0° 45' Aries, taking place on February 20, just as Pisces season begins. That the cycles of two slow-moving planets like Saturn and Neptune would coincide at the very first degree of the zodiac is highly improbable —indeed, some astrologers suggest this last occurred roughly 9,000 years ago. By any measure, it’s clear that we are at the very tail end of an extraordinarily long cycle of time, which helps explain the power of the disintegrating force we are currently experiencing in relation to forms, structures, and identities that will no longer serve us in the coming age.

Capricorn season was already highly eventful. From January 1-3, Mars, Venus, Mercury, and the Moon were all out of bounds— outside of the normal declination of the Sun — meaning that these planets could act according to their own logic rather than follow the usual rules. (It’s extremely rare for so many planets to be out of bounds at the same time.)

The Full Moon in Cancer on January 3rd was lively to say the least — opposite Mars and Venus. Remarkably, it was also exactly conjunct the Sun in the charts of both the USA and Venuzuela on the very day of Maduro’s capture. On January 9 there was a rare triple conjunction of Sun, Mars, and Venus in Capricorn, activating our drive to clarify what we want and how to manifest it in the world. And throughout January, an impressive lineup of personal planets moved through Capricorn, culminating in a potent New Moon in Capricorn on January 18.

Stellium in Capricorn January 16

With so many planets in Capricorn, the first weeks of January were a hard slog for many of us. The energies were heavy, dense, serious — like having the weight of the world on our shoulders. At the New Moon in Capricorn on January 18, this journey may have culminated in a renewed sense of commitment to your path — a new resolve to stay aligned with what matters most to you.

As we move into Aquarius season, this stellium of personal planets shifts from Capricorn to Aquarius — from Earth to Air — offering liberation from the heaviness and moroseness we may have been felt trapped in over recent weeks. Aquarian energies are lighter, faster, and more future-oriented, associated with visionary insights, breakthrough solutions, and never-before-imagined possibilities.

From January 17 to around January 28, this dynamic is intensified by the fact that each of these personal planets forms a conjunction to Pluto at 3° Aquarius. Pluto’s presence adds pressure to the liberating drive of this Aquarian stellium, compelling us to become conscious of where we may be trapped in outdated patterns and applying immense force to push us toward a new paradigm or vision— even if we come kicking and screaming.

At the collective level, we could see intensified expressions of social unrest and political protest as the personal planets activate Pluto’s mandate in Aquarius to bring revolutionary social change. January 25-28 is likely to be particularly volatile when Mars conjoins Pluto.

Meanwhile, on January 26, Neptune re-enters Aries, where it will remain for the next fourteen years. This transit marks the completion of one 165-year Neptune cycle around the zodiac and the beginning of another. The effects of this shift may be subtle at first yet they are profound — Neptune’s rebirth in Aries symbolizes the emergence of a new dream, myth, or guiding vision for human culture. That this epochal event is merely mentioned in passing in these Notes speaks to just how much is going on astrologically this season.

On February 3, Uranus stations direct, beginning the final few months of its seven-year passage through Taurus before it re-enters Gemini for good on April 25. When a planet stations, its archetypal themes intensify for a few days either side of the transit. In the case of Uranus, we may experience more sudden shifts, disruptions, or breakthroughs in areas linked to Taurus: banking and finance, food systems, the Earth’s environment, and our relationship to material resources.

On February 13, Saturn re-enters Aries — another profound birth moment — inaugurating a new thirty-year Saturn cycle of building structures aligned with the emerging archetypal energies. With Saturn in Aries, we’re supported to make bold new beginnings — applying courage and discipline to the long work of giving form to what is now being dreamed.

Then, on February 17, a New Moon solar eclipse in Aquarius, square Uranus in late Taurus, adds yet another jolt of intensity, unpredictability, and revolutionary potential.

Just three days later, on February 20, Saturn and Neptune meet in their historic conjunction at 0° Aries — a world-axis moment that signals the birth of a new imaginal architecture for human civilization.

We’re really rocking and rolling now folks. We’re not preparing for the shift anymore. Aquarius season 2026 is when we start to live it.

Amid the growing chaos and instability in our world, it’s important to recognize that 2026 does not carry the configuration of collapse, but of the first light of a new dawn. While many familiar forms and identities are dissolving — and there is real grief to be honored for what is passing — there is a coherence in the new patterns arising to take their place.

We can each play our part by honoring the grief for what is falling away — and trusting the new dreams now emerging from within.