Dear Friend and Reader:
If you made it through this much of 2014, you experienced some of the most wrenching astrology in recent memory. The cardinal grand cross of January and April, combined with Mars retrograde and some strategically placed eclipses, earned most of the current year the rating of whiplash machine.
I’ll start with a little refresher of that. In the background of all astrology in our phase of history is an era-defining aspect called the Uranus-Pluto square. This started warming up in 2008 when Obama got elected and the banking and mortgage collapse happened. It got cooking in 2011 with Fukushima, Arab Spring, the Occupy movement and countless other too-intense news events that year. And it had (or will have) a total of seven exact contacts between early 2012 and early 2015.
This aspect is an extension of Sixties astrology, in that it’s part of the same cycle, the Uranus-Pluto cycle, that instigated that most interesting era of the mid-20th century. The evolutionary force of Pluto combined with the revolutionary impulse of Uranus, and the blend illustrated an outpouring of energy of nearly every shade, color and temperature.
Nearly 50 years later, those two planets are at first-quarter phase, an extended drama that begins to resolve in 2015. What we experienced in 2014 on two separate occasions was other planets getting into the action — Mars and Jupiter, which basically brought the sensation of that aspect to the front of awareness. That was the grand cross of January and April 2014.
Uranus-Pluto aspects often arrive with a mix of progressive and reactionary world events, though in the style of the Sixties there was a progressive edge. Here in the Teenies, there is a reactionary vibe — it seems that the most effective activists are so-called social conservatives. As in our counterpart era, the Sixties, they have a lot of help from the Supreme Court, which is playing right in tune with the simplistic view of the world that possesses many contemporary social movements.
The astrology that has been jamming nearly every frequency since 2011 starts to unravel in 2015, and for that and many other reasons 2015 is a transition year. By that I mean you can look at the world around you and what seems so important, what seems to have been stuck the way it is for so long, and count on the fact that 12 months from today things will look, feel and be significantly different.
Events of 2015 are not as violent as those of the past few years, at least in theory. Part of the transitional quality is the easing of the reactionary impulse, though there is still a good bit of momentum behind it. What also changes is that other elements become available, come into new focus or make themselves known.
In this article I will go over five of the top events, selected with the help of my research team at Planet Waves. These aspects or events form the plot of my 2015 annual readings for all 12 signs and rising signs, called Cosmophilia: You Belong Here. For now, here is the astrology, in no special order other than what seems interesting.
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First Event: Saturn Transitions into Sagittarius
Said another way, this magnificent planet, the lord of structure, discipline, maturity and mastery, spends ten months hovering over the Scorpio/Sagittarius line. The theme here is externalization. Saturn in Scorpio is a placement submerged within itself, struggling to breathe and to move. Saturn in Sagittarius opens up to adventure and is more concerned with ideas than with emotions.
Saturn has been in Scorpio since late 2012, and carries the flavor and energy imprint of that year, particularly the horrid events of December. Saturn makes its first foray into Sagittarius on Dec. 23. It stays six months, retrogrades back into late Scorpio on June 14, hangs out there a while resolving old business, and finally re-enters Sagittarius to stay, for two years, on Sept. 15.
The world is currently facing a barge-load of, well, global situations — and with Saturn in Sagittarius, we will have a window into seeing those things for what they are. (Prediction: there may be an unexpected revelation about the JFK assassination in 2015.)
Second Event: The Uranus-Pluto Square Separates
In March, we arrive at the seventh of seven exact contacts of the Uranus-Pluto-square, drawing the peak 2012-era to an end. The last two of seven Uranus-Pluto squares are Dec. 15 and March 16. (The first was in June 2012, around the time of the Venus transit of the Sun.)
Because both of these planets move so slowly, this will be a slow trail-off and we may see many of the most positive or at least interesting expressions as the aspect begins to dissolve over the next few years. What might those be?
Let’s start with increased citizen and corporate involvement in the issues that confront the world. We all know what they are. We all know what time it is. Everyone has glanced at the problems many times, and even looked right at them once or twice. There is an agonizing cry for increased participation — for getting involved — rising up from the Earth. The issue seems to be a matter of taking things personally, of getting past the appealing idea that ‘the problems of the world are none of my business’.
Perhaps that is true for some people. However, in that case, this aspect is for those for whom the problems of the world are indeed their business. Then there are those for whom global problems come home to roost, such as on their street or in their home. Believe me: it actually happens.
The separating Uranus-Pluto square may take some wind out of the sails of the reactionary movement, because I think they’ve really hitched their wagon to this one, just like the progressive movement did with Uranus conjunct Pluto in the Sixties.
Third Event: Chiron conjunct Borasisi
This involves two of the newer planets, one that most people have heard of but are unfamiliar with (Chiron), and another that you’re probably reading about now for the first time. Chiron has been in Pisces since 2010 and will make its final exit in 2019. Borasisi moves even slower; it’s further from the Sun than is Pluto. It leaves Pisces in 2025.
Borasisi is about the power of belief, and its territory covers the sometimes-subtle distinctions between truth and lies. (If science is about finding out the truth, then the truth is what exploded over Hiroshima, and what melted down at Fukushima.) Chiron for its part will lure, summon or if necessary shock anyone or anything out of denial. Chiron is an advocate of the environment, of living creatures and of the beauty of life — especially when in Pisces.
Borasisi has another role: it seems to be involved in environmental issues, particularly ones fueled by denial. All in all I would say the dominant energy of this aspect is the fog of denial clearing, at least enough to see that there is something besides fog.
In addition to the physical environment, anything in Pisces has a strong influence over the mental environment. Like all environments, this one tends to disappear into the background. I think that Chiron-Borasisi will provide some events and developments that offer the opportunity to notice the mental environment and how important it is.
This aspect, which last happened in Sagittarius in 1949, will be exact on three dates: March 21, Oct. 14 and Jan. 8, 2016. Note, as far as I can tell, dioxin was discovered in 1949, in the wake of a chemical disaster in Nitro, West Virginia.
Fourth Event: Three Conjunctions of Venus and Mars
There will be three conjunctions of Venus and Mars. This sounds sexy. It’s pretty rare, and if you tune in to the energy, you can definitely tap into the passion. For three of these conjunctions to happen in a short time, there needs to be a Venus retrograde that occurs when Venus is nearly or exactly aligned with Mars.
The underlying theme here is competition between the sexes, and an emotional state of competition in general. This competition might be sexual, over money, over who has the flashiest toys, who is the most glamorous, and so on. In order for there to be balance in society (and in the universe) we need balance between the sexes, not a rat race or quest for superiority.
This series of events seems designed to demonstrate the futility of competition. Mars might dominate the discussion at first (due to two conjunctions in fire signs, which don’t quite favor Venus), and one result might be a kind of feminist stridency. I would remind anyone interested that this does not lead to a state of balance. Rather, it can push things further out of balance.
The three separate events occur on Feb. 22, one on Sept. 1, and one on Nov. 2. They happen in Aries, Leo and Virgo respectively. Venus and Mars stay pretty close to one another all year, so it’s like one long event. Venus retrograde goes from July 25 through Sept. 6. Venus starts its retrograde in Virgo and ends up in Leo.
Fifth Event: Jupiter square Saturn
This one has been brewing since last summer, when Jupiter arrived in Leo. Well, actually it’s part of the 20-year Jupiter-Saturn cycle, which last turned over in May 2000.
With Jupiter being in Leo and Saturn being in Scorpio, the two have been moving into a square (90-degree) alignment, which is exact once in 2015 — on Aug. 3. This will be the one time the alignment happens between fixed signs Leo and Scorpio. Two additional alignments in 2016 occur after Jupiter has moved into Virgo and Saturn has moved into Sagittarius, which are mutable signs.
This may be a motivating aspect. The Rev. Dr. Marc Edmund Jones (1888-1980), one of the pioneers of humanistic astrology, said this aspect represents the “last chance lifetime” when it appears in a natal chart. I’ve taken that to mean that the opportunities one has in that lifetime feel like the last chance someone gets to do something they want to do, or need to do.
Jones proposed that any contact between Jupiter and Saturn, the two largest planets, is significant, though this one seems like it could offer a push to increase the scale of your efforts or to take a bigger risk than you might ordinarily take.
The three exact contacts are Aug. 3 (fixed), then the following year on March 23, 2016 (mutable) and May 26, 2016 (mutable).
Adding one thought since this article was first published, minor planet spotters have no doubt noticed that this is really the Jupiter-Saturn-Nessus T-square. There are three planets involved in the pattern, with the extra one being Nessus, the third-ever discovered centaur. This adds the theme of accountability to the configuration. Nessus is not just your ordinary “take responsibility” type of accountability; as a centaur it has that do-or-die flavor. It ramps up the significance of the pattern and offers a quality that is entirely unique — as Nessus was only discovered in 1993.
Bonus Event: New Horizons Missions Arrives at Pluto
Have you been waiting for this as long as I have? Pluto has been a big fuss for astronomers. After years of debate, it was ‘demoted’ from being an official planet in 2006 and given minor planet number 134340.
Just in case you’re wondering, minor planet 134341 is called 1979 MA. It’s not even named. So Pluto really is considered a minor planet, which may tell us more about the minor planets than it does about Pluto.
Yet for all the bluster and controversy, we don’t even have a good photo of Pluto to look at, ponder and say, “What be this?” However, if all goes well, we will have many such photos as the New Horizons mission makes its closest pass to Pluto on July 14 after a nine-year journey — and I believe we will be amazed.
Note that this is not a planet and a moon; like many objects in the Kuiper Belt, it’s a binary system (Pluto and Charon orbit a common point in space) — but one joined by numerous other satellites. We will soon see how many, and how stunning the view is. I am one of those astrologers who thinks this kind of scientific event counts for a lot. We will get a look at the edge, it will change everyone who sees it, and it describes some new understanding that I will not predict, but eagerly await.
Lovingly,
Planet Waves Monthly Horoscope for December 2014, #1026 | By Eric Francis
Aries (March 20-April 19) — There is big business moving in your chart, and right at the same time planets come storming through your house of achievement and success, Saturn makes its first move into Sagittarius. The theme is ethics. Seen one way, your astrology is perfect for you to take a success-at-all-costs approach to life. It would probably work, remembering the ‘all costs’ factor. Saturn, for its part, is saying that you must be mindful of the spiritual ground you stand on, which would include (for example) the relationship between what you achieve and how you get there. It would include making sure that every statement you make is true for you and also for the person hearing the message. Yes, planets are strongly hinting at a time of boldly claiming your power, your talent and your authority. Yet unlike most business situations, the final result when we do the calculus on your chart comes down to do the right thing for the right reason. There is one other element: If you encounter a voice of parental authority, whether in the form of guilt, some religious regulation or a personal hangup with success, listen carefully. I suggest you take notes and map it out. Nobody else can tell you what’s right and what’s wrong, though voices from the past are trying to hijack the issue. It’s not up to them — this is your call.
Taurus (April 19-May 20) — You may have the sensation that something is out of balance, though the way it looks in your astrology, you’re working to put that very thing into balance. Yet you might not feel that way while it’s happening. The changes you want to make are drawing you in like the vortex that they are. In truth you are catching up with yourself. You are closing the gap between what you were told about yourself, and the reality of who you actually are. You have made a respectable investment in clearing out karma, clutter and beliefs to which other people are attached. There are two parts to the equation of what you’re doing — identifying and letting go of what was not true or has served its purpose, and taking full ownership of what is true for you based on actual understanding. The catch is how unstable you might feel through this process. Internally and externally, large forces are at work. This may have you feeling like the substance of who you are is not strong enough to stand up to existence. I would offer this — the seeming substance of who you are not is what is threatened. What you were in the past, what you believed, what you thought you wanted, will crumble under the changes. Who you are is what will be revealed for its enduring strength and vision.
Gemini (May 20-June 21) — You will need to put extra care this month and into January into all matters of a joint financial nature, taxes, investments and shared resources. You may find this irritating or challenging, though I suggest you devote yourself to the tasks at hand. The thing to avoid is rebellion, whether in words, actions or even thoughts. Go along with the program and your process of tidying up the past. People of power and influence may be paying attention, and your job is to make sure that you do what you’re obliged to do. The most positive aspect of this is that once you clear this material out of the way, you will have a much lighter approach to existence. In addition, the relationships that are involved are struggling under the burden of too much in the way, too many unresolved commitments and a corresponding energy drain. Events this month are your invitation to get clear. You may be nervous about this because you’re fearing that in the process, something will have to give. What is actually happening is that everyone is learning how to give and how to receive. The underlying skill that will make this possible is listening. Learn to do it and do it well. Listen carefully enough and you will get actual insights, and convey the idea that paying attention actually helps. Absolutely radical, I know.
Cancer (June 21-July 22) — Calmly watch the world and observe the subtle fact that you’re in a position of power. You will have to do some sorting out what that power is, how it manifests and how you may use it, but the fact remains, you are in a strong place. This will be helpful information when you get into that moment when so much is happening that you have no idea how to handle it. Come back to the core concept; come back to the egg. Your strength is not power over anyone else. It’s based on having a wide perspective and also on confidence coming from the inside-out. You may think that everything else, everything going on around you, is so much more substantial, so much more tangible. But that does not translate to meaningful, or to longterm influence. It will help if you get in the habit of speaking second rather than first. It will help immensely if you focus your intuition on what is being said to you, and figure out the message under the message. Then you can unravel the psychology of the people around you, and once you do that, you will be unstoppable. Meanwhile, you have an assignment, which is to notice the ways you’ve done things the same way and had the same result. New information will provide the means to new methods and, consequently, new effects.
Leo (July 22-Aug. 23) — Get ready for an adventure — artistic, creative, erotic, childish, challenging, risky — and remember to pace yourself. You can be as bold an adventurer as you want, as long as you remember to sleep at night and eat real food. I know that what often seems like the most fun involves being up 24 hours a day, neglecting one’s health and otherwise going over the deep end. You may be inclined to do that, though I am looking ahead to the charts after you come back down to the ground, and they are suggesting a conscious approach to whatever bold thing you do. In essence I am saying to take a balanced approach when you will have lots of opportunities not to do that. Perhaps as encouragement I can offer the idea that you will go deeper, learn more and get more accomplished if you do the food/water/sleep thing than if you don’t. The kinds of edgy adventures, experiments and thought excursions indicated by your charts will benefit from presence of mind. Much of what you learn will come across in subtle ways, in hints and in cues. Plus, in anything risky there is at least some potential danger, and the way to mitigate that is to be present in your own mind and body. That said, your astrology really is calling for a bold and fearless approach to it all.
Virgo (Aug. 23-Sep. 22) — What does it take to unravel conditioning, guilt and resistance? What does it take to be the person you are every minute of the day, with no pretense? Usually it takes a process. For some people there can be a breakthrough or sudden awakening, and ultimately no matter what the process or lead-in may be there is that moment of choice, of full awakening. Your chart suggests two parallel experiences, as if you’re digging a tunnel from two sides of the river. From one side of the river is a trip through your conditioning, which is resulting in heightened awareness of your environment. You may have some shocking insights as you take this journey, and you may figure out that your perception is mostly the result of past impressions. At times they may seem impossible to escape, but once you see them you’re most of the way there. From the other side of the river, you are determined to express yourself. This is the external side of the journey, where you are setting yourself free to say what you want to say and make what you want to make. No matter how you look at this experience, the ultimate point of arrival is the same thing: not being trapped in the past. To most, this seems like a pipe dream or an absurd notion. To you it’s a necessity.
Libra (Sep. 22-Oct. 23) — We all live in ‘the environment’, which we usually think of as the air, the water, the neighborhood, the cityscape or some other external factor. You’re about to be taken on a journey through your mental environment. You will have the option and the ability to see how real, or unreal, it is. Yet real or unreal is not the actual dilemma. The dilemma is the relationship between inner and outer. To what extent is your inner environment influencing or even controlling your perception? The boundary between inner and outer may seem extremely thin at times, and at others, it may seem like it’s as wide as a canyon. The thing to do, while you have an excellent opportunity, is to experiment. Is it really true that when you smile the world smiles with you? Is it true that when you’re feeling depressed you cannot tune into happiness in a sincere way? How powerful is the mental filter? This question matters a lot, because if the answer is, ‘It controls everything else’, then you may decide that you need to learn how to master this element of yourself. Or at least, you may decide that you need to master the art of exploring your own mental environment. Events over the next few weeks will facilitate that, as long as you remember that everything you perceive is not necessarily what it seems to be.
Scorpio (Oct. 23-Nov. 22) — This month a pressure you’ve endured for quite a while starts to come off of you. You might also think of it as an external support system. Its absence will be an experiment, and a test of how strong you’ve become. You may not feel entirely confident, similar to the end of healing a physical injury, uncertain whether you’re up to who you were before. Yet this experiment is about going far beyond who you were, and it’s about exploring and developing new forms of strength. In the past, you have put great reliance on your emotional power to get the world to bend to your will. What you are learning is how to reason carefully. You have also been able to sidestep the idea of self-reliance, in part due to your ability to take part in structured entities and know how to work within the tribe. Yet Saturn making its first foray out of your sign this month is an indication that you will be learning some significant ways to be self-sustaining and emotionally independent. This also translates to a greater degree of freedom, which often you’ve been willing to sacrifice in exchange for certain social bonds that have sustained you. This will be a gentler process than you may think. Yet it will also be more meaningful and more necessary than you believe.
Sagittarius (Nov. 22-Dec. 22) — This month, Saturn enters your sign for the first time since Nov. 12, 1988, when the prior Saturn in Sagittarius phase ended. Since this promises to be big news on the Internet, here are some time details, then one thought: Saturn enters your sign on Dec. 23, then retrogrades back into Scorpio on June 14, 2015, and finally settles into Sagittarius on Sept. 17, 2015 (where it will remain for two years). As for that thought: You’re entering a time of transition. Part of what will make that real is focusing what you’ve learned about yourself since this time in 2012, and taking that to heart. In particular, the central topic is the nature of fear and how you respond to it. You might say we live in the age of, ‘I know a lot, but I don’t do anything with the information’. You are entering the age of, ‘I must use everything I know about myself’. In essence, this is the time of mastering your accountability for yourself, which means being accountable for that elusive thing known as self-knowledge. This is the thing you’ve been waiting for. You may not think so, but as this quality of existence begins to pick up momentum, I think you will get the idea. Central to the theme is being the master of your own life. Yes, you can do it.
Capricorn (Dec. 22-Jan. 20) — If this isn’t the most interesting month of your life, it will likely come up on the top 10 list. It may be challenging to hold your center. You may feel like some vast change is about to sweep through your world. The astrology illustrates a scenario where you are surrounded by a vast amount of activity and energy, yet you appear holding yourself steady at a still point. Let the energy move around you. Allow yourself to be central rather than peripheral. Allow yourself to be the one sought after rather than the seeker. Allow others to be changed by you, without imposing any plans or intentions on them. There is so much momentum carrying you and your whole environment that you don’t need to. You will feel sane and stable if you observe rather than explain, if you allow your attention to expand rather than reacting to what others are saying or doing. I know that on Earth this is all easier said than done, but that’s true of just about anything. This will be worth the relatively small effort, with the greatest reward being the recognition of how many options you have open. To succeed at this you must do one thing, really — resist the temptation to rebel for its own sake. Speak softly and clearly when you truly have something to say — and trust that you will be heard.
Aquarius (Jan. 20-Feb. 19) — Don’t let the pressure get to you. Keep your sense of humor. Get as much of your work out of the way before the holidays as you can, and give yourself a little space to live and breathe. Make sure that you plan plenty of time alone, get enough sleep as if it’s as important as oxygen or food. You are processing a lot. By that I mean that many of the revelations of past years are starting to make sense to you. Their truth and relevance is catching up with you and you are catching up with them. Yet this may be overwhelming, and I would propose that you need a vent. It might be a creative vent, an erotic one, or some time-shifting experience that helps you shift your context. Remember this if the inner pressure gets to be too much. While it’s also true that you have many worldly responsibilities at the moment, that is about to shift, and shift suddenly. You will still possess your influence, your insight and your modes of participation, but the burden of responsibility and perhaps of leadership is about to let up. I suggest you move with that, which for you will be a matter of trust. You have accomplished a lot the past two years, and I suggest you reflect on that with some true appreciation.
Pisces (Feb. 19-March 20) — You’re about to get a taste of a kind of success that you may have decided was in the past, or that existed only in theory. You will not get there alone. What you are doing now, however, will take you further, and has a tangible quality that you may have been lacking. You are certainly someone who is motivated, even driven, by your dreams — though that is not nearly enough to satisfy you. From the look of your chart, what you want is accomplishment, which brings me to the ‘not alone’ part. The wealth in your life is the people in your life. This is not a fact that’s lost on them, and neither is their respect for you as an organizing principle. That, if anything, is how to think of yourself, rather than (say for example) as an achiever or leader. Your job is to pull the scene into focus. Your role is to propose purpose and to serve as a stabilizing factor in what is clearly an increasingly chaotic world. Your own stability will come from your ability to dance with the chaos rather than to resist it; and to gather energy rather than have it be depleted from you. To this end, food is a critical factor right now, as is water in all forms. Yet the real message of your charts in this rather large moment is to notice who is around you.