Weaving the World, One Relationship at a Time

AN AQUARIAN ERA FOR ARIES | BY ERIC FRANCIS

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When you think of Chiron, think of a factor that compels you to come to terms with your inherent humanity. It’s also the factor that gives you the power to heal yourself, the willingness to do so, and which teaches you how to help others. It is a tremendous gift – and a special responsibility – to have this placement in your sign at this time in history.

‘Community’ is one of the most overused words in our era, and as such, about as interesting as table salt. Yet there is such a thing, and it is about being human on the most essential level. It’s about being together. Likewise, salt is an important mineral, with many uses.

We need it on the level of seawater, with all of the many elements it contains. Ultimately, everything and everyone comes from the sea, and returns to the sea. And the way your chart is structured, you contain an inner ocean offering you strength you can draw on any time.

Many factors are now driving people apart from one another, and ripping at the healthy social expression people depend on. In our time there is no sense that humanity is unified in any way. It has hardly seemed more fragmented, more competitive, more divided, in a time when we truly need to be working together, and seeing our common interests.

This is about the 11th house, and the 12th. Because your birth or rising sign is Aries, you get to do the 11th house work in Aquarius, where its effects will be the most pronounced. And you get to do the 12th house work, the deeper spiritual aspects, in Pisces.

So let’s focus a thought, somewhat alien to Sun-sign astrology. You are an Aries, and your ruling planet is Mars. Yet now, you are about to take on the properties of the two prior signs, Aquarius and Pisces, and their ruling planets, Jupiter, Saturn, Uranus and Neptune. And there are still important lessons coming from Capricorn, which is your sign of career, family and authority.

Let’s take those one at a time, starting with Aquarius – and track the astrology as it phases in between now and 2024. Remember these words. They may sound like interesting possibilities today; eventually, they will feel inevitable. I am preparing you for something that is not being widely acknowledged now.

Aquarius: The Social Realm

The bottom line is the challenge of remaining human in a world increasingly dominated by artificial intelligence, robotics and synthetic space (also called virtual and augmented reality). We are also moving into synthetic creativity: computers that create the entire artist and repertoire, and perform the concert in a holographic theater.

And I learned today that there is now the field of “synthetic biology,” where scientists are building self-replicating genomes from chemicals. “In the field of synthetic biology, researchers investigate so-called ‘bottom-up’ processes, which means the generation of life mimicking systems from inanimate building blocks,” according to a report by the Max Planck Society.

This is where we are headed. And this is the world in which you will need to preserve, protect and cultivate your humanity. This includes the integrity of your biology, as well as your spiritual integrity. You must decide what you want injected into you, whether it’s genetically modified viral RNA, a chip, an invisible barcode, or nanocomputer plasma. It’s essential to understand the spiritual implications of robotics and how this impacts you and the people you love.

Aquarius has many potential expressions. One of them involves your friends and groups. Yet it’s really about the patterns humans form with their consciousness and in their collective relationships. It is less about the groups themselves and more about the energy patterns that guide their creation. This is why the digital realm is so overwhelming. And it is conveyed through the realm of Aquarius – though it has the most powerful impact on Aries, the sign of self-identity.

Jupiter and Saturn in Aquarius represent a time of taking territory: of claiming what about yourself is truly human. They are about clearing space and then expanding into it, and taking it over, in that order.

The people who set the customs have the power. They do not need to be in the majority; they rarely are. In fact, it is always a tiny few people who create the paradigms for everyone else – basically, the popes and the bishops.

Currently, these conventions are determined by those who control digital and robotic technology. (In previous times, it was religious leaders, or the government.) There are only a few such people, by head count, and a few more who have the means to use that framework to effect sweeping social changes in which we are all caught up.

This is at the expense of real human relationships: in person, face to face, where feelings and mutual commitments are involved. These relationships have always been fragile and are even more so now that they are becoming an endangered species.

The One Thing to Remember

We are addressing group and collective reality in this reading. This is, on one level, about where the individual meets the group. Yet there is a certain abstraction to this. In truth, all relationships are one-to-one. Any individual in a group relates to every individual person in the group.

The consciousness of “the group itself” is a dangerous concept. Even if highly structured and codified, such as in by-laws, or a constitution, it is subject to being taken over by an individual (as we are seeing in current politics, across many nations).

In Esoteric Astrology, Alice Bailey draws the distinction between mass consciousness and group consciousness. It is simple. A mass is like the crowd at a football game, that cheers when someone scores a touchdown. A group is a group of individuals, which means people who are actively individuating.

Most things we call groups are actually a mass, and subject to persuasion by hypnosis, extortion or bribery. One essential ingredient of entering this new age with any semblance of integrity is to maintain the process of individuating and of actual group awareness. The foundation of this is one-on-one relationships.

I cover that topic in detail here.

Planets Ingressing Aquarius, 2020-2023

As planets move into Aquarius, repairing these delicate filaments of human contact will become the focus of your life. This will begin with you and your most immediate connections, and then very likely spread into a wider world around you. Friendships and intimate relationships are the primary structure of any community or establishment. The quality of those interactions will define the quality of the broader circle.

These include Saturn making its way into Aquarius through 2020 and staying through the spring of 2023, and Jupiter arriving in late 2020 and staying for much of 2021. This is all making way for the arrival of Pluto in Aquarius in 2023-2024.

Jupiter and Saturn in Aquarius represent a time of taking territory: of claiming what about yourself is truly human. They are about clearing space and then expanding into it, and taking it over, in that order.

The bottom line is this is about establishing your own social reality, not relying on that of someone else (whether it’s the neighborhood bar or the latest app). To build face-to-face reality takes work, and it will take adaptation. It does not need to be expensive, and an essential ingredient is the community itself bearing the costs and, more to the point, sharing resources.

Aries is famous for its assertiveness, not for its receptivity. Yet due to the placement of Pisces in your chart, you have the ability to listen and to receive, which is the most fundamental element of leadership. You must understand where people are coming from, as part of basic survival.

The result could come in the form of a potluck, a food coop, a musical space, any form of creative collective, a lending library, a dog-walking/pet care organization, a community garden, a spring-cleaning society (where people help one another clean) or a hundred other possibilities.

They can be home-based, though remember that in the United States and many other countries, there is an abundance of unused space sitting idle and basically deteriorating. The value of using and sharing space rather than letting it sit empty is something we need to teach and learn.

Establishing and building community is true leadership: the type that is not vested in authority. Rather, it is grounded in your ability to relate to people, and to find a common purpose with them.

While we cannot exactly repair the past, it is possible to preserve what remains of a way of life before the digital environment was allowed to take over – and before it takes over so completely that most people don’t remember anything else.

At first, if you recall, the digital realm was a place where we could experiment with non-hierarchal ways of leadership – ones that were not based strictly on top-down authority and raw power. How times have changed. We are back to doing that with one another, face to face, in person.

When Pluto arrives in Aquarius, we are likely to see a whole new degree of focusing of brute robotic force – a rapidly rising tide of technological domination of society. Note that this is already underway in China, where facial recognition follows people everywhere. Every time you hear the term “5G,” I suggest you cringe, because whet it’s really about is stripping people of all privacy and autonomy. Yes, it involves millimeter technology that has the power to fry our cells, though it’s also about being stalked by the robot.

When I talk about community, I am describing the association of individuals who share the purpose of respecting one another’s humanity, privacy and autonomy – and who share some other common purpose or interest, together. Write that on the wall!

Neptune and Nessus in Pisces

Pisces is your 12th house or place (same meaning). This is the deepest inner realm, and also the widest collective realm. One of the many contradictions of both Pisces and the 12th, which represent the very great and the very small; the deeply interior, and the vast, overwhelming exterior.

Neptune arrives in your sign in 2025-26. Until then, you have an unusual opportunity to learn its ways, while it’s in the extremely fertile realm of Pisces and your 12th house. I have covered this in detail in a new article.

Aries is famous for its assertiveness, not for its receptivity. Yet due to the placement of Pisces in your chart, you have the ability to listen and to receive, which is the most fundamental element of leadership. You must understand where people are coming from, as part of basic survival.

This expands into the ability to sense the vibes of others, with the instincts of a hunter. You can train these skills for the most loving purposes of gathering people together, and for the purposes of healing.

Neptune in Pisces amplifies the qualities of both elements. It is doing so to the point of total delusion for many people, and it must therefore be taken in limited, almost homeopathic, doses. With so much Pisces happening, you must be the careful arbiter of what is real and what is not.

All of this is preparation for the Aquarian era that begins in 2020.

Due to its placement in Pisces, Nessus gives you an unusual depth of insight into yourself, and a kind of radar into the feelings and experiences of others. Do the Nessus thing for yourself first: be the place where the buck stops. Make a yoga of accountability for your actions, your choices and your feelings. When you feel yourself blaming someone for a choice you made, stop and claim your power.

Yet it is essential training for Neptune in Aries, which is likely to drown or overwhelm anyone who is not already familiar with Neptune. The way to get familiar is to use Neptune now. You have direct access, as it is so close to your sign, and in such a sensitive angle of your chart.

Train your subtle senses, and at the same time, train your discernment. You must cross-check every perception against the available data, and what you observe with your eyes and ears. It’s essential that you stop going “on a hunch” or “from your gut.”

No one source of information or perception can suffice. Yet in the end, you must make the determination. Fortunately, you have help. You also have help in the individuation aspect of life. That comes in the form of Chiron.

Speaking of centaur planets, there is one other that I must mention, which is currently in Pisces and your 12th house. That is Nessus. This is an essential energy to understand in our world today, as it deals with the repercussions of actions that make negative karma, as well as self-accountability.

Nessus in Pisces represents the secret injured place everyone is hiding – mostly in the form of injury to one’s ability to trust. Nessus specifically veers into the realm of sexual transgression in all forms, major or minor, real or imagined. Ultimately, it is about taking responsibility for how you feel. We must question the religious dogma of victimization that now dominates both the social and the political realms of life. It’s as if everyone is pretending to be Little Red Riding Hood, haplessly being eaten by The Big Bad Wolf.

Due to its placement in Pisces, Nessus gives you an unusual depth of insight into yourself, and a kind of radar into the feelings and experiences of others. Do the Nessus thing for yourself first: be the place where the buck stops. Make a yoga of accountability for your actions, your choices and your feelings. When you feel yourself blaming someone for a choice you made, stop and claim your power.

Chiron is in Aries Through 2026

Amidst much change, the most dependable element of your astrology will be Chiron in your birth sign. This is the best news astrology has had to offer for you in a long time. Once you are through with the “crisis” level of Chiron, you will find it makes the most dependable handle on reality.

When you think of Chiron, think of a factor that compels you to come to terms with your inherent humanity. It’s also the factor that gives you the power to heal yourself, the willingness to do so, and which teaches you how to help others. It is a tremendous gift – and a special responsibility – to have this placement in your sign at this time in history.

It’s essential that you keep your focus on what Chiron is teaching you. This is the center of your self-actualization process. It is where you can thread the needle of your growth, and do the necessary mending, weaving and creating.

Said another way, Chiron represents your meeting with who you are, on a level deeper than you’ve ever encountered. No other factor, not Saturn, not Uranus, not Pluto – can take you this deep with so much awareness. That is the whole point: Chiron is the teacher of essential self-awareness.

If you have Aries Sun or rising, Chiron is focusing your attention on your core self-expression, and your sense of self (which means existence). There is often a crisis associated with this: an identity crisis, a relationship dilemma based on that, or some wider existential crisis. This is always something that comes to the surface when Chiron arrives. That something — whatever it is — is trying to get your attention. As you direct your concentration toward it, you will develop and change, and those growth experiences will shift your relationships.

It’s essential that you keep your focus on what Chiron is teaching you. This is the center of your self-actualization process. It is where you can thread the needle of your growth, and do the necessary mending, weaving and creating.

For more about this, please see the 2020 INTELLIGENCE written reading for Aries and if you have access, for Capricorn. These two signs are intimately related, where Chiron is concerned.

Pluto in Capricorn: The End of The Cycle

There is one last essential cycle to consider, which takes us well into the new decade.

In recent years, you’ve grappled with various forms of official power or corporate motive (a Saturn in Capricorn thing).

It is messy and it’s getting old, and it will take all of 2020 to work out the rest of this cycle, as far as Saturn is concerned. Take any opportunity to be your own boss; your own master; your own parents. Saturn in the 10th is about taking responsibility for your destiny, and loving it.

Pluto is now finishing its trek through your 10th house, which as mentioned ends in 2023-2024 when Pluto enters Aquarius. This is the last gasp of the old power model. We might think that’s wonderful, and everyone will read The New Games Book and learn about circular leadership style and all of that.

Really, the Pluto transition is, collectively, about the transition from bureaucratic power to technological power. It is the transition from the Taxi and Limousine Commission to Uber. This has a bit of ‘from the frying pan to the fire’ to it.

For you, it’s about expanding your concept of family from a model of those who hold power over you, to taking responsibility for yourself, and for your community. There may not be many people who can hear the message that we must take responsibility for the world, which means responsibility for our lives. Yet it would seem this message is intended specifically for you.