Basic concepts from my astrological theology.
- Harmonious alignments facilitate ease and flow, but they do not generate action. Challenging hard angle aspects promote conflict and discomfort, but they generate personal evolution and transformation.
- Outer planets serve to inspire and galvanize change on a global level. I believe that the Universe is always striving for balance, and where earthly existence is out of balance a readjustment is needed.
- Interactions of outer planets activate change where change is needed. If we know the planet we are dealing with, we know what kind of things to look for.
- Saturn will demand that we focus on the difficult things and not take the easy unproven path.
- Uranus will ask us to question whether our life permits us to live authentically and in accordance with our true nature.
- Neptune will blur our vision and cause us to question all of our values in an effort to achieve a sense of magic and illumination in our lives.
- Pluto will act like the tornado in the Wizard of Oz, picking us up out of our lives while change whirls around us, and put us back somewhere unexpected and transformed from the inside out.
Age of Air. I wrote about the Age of Air in Part I of this series, but to recap: The conjunction of Jupiter to Saturn in Aquarius in 2021 marked the beginning of a new 800 year cycle in the air element. You can catch up here if you want more details, but we are shifting out of a 200-year Age of Earth which was marked by construction and the establishment of governments and other structures. The element of Air is more conceptual – philosophical. It is marked by changes in the way information is handled. The last Age of Air occurred roughly between 1200 and 1400 and was marked by an explosion in inventions: Rockets, cannons and explosive bombs for military use, eyeglasses for better vision. The creation of written documents of religious thought spread throughout the world: Celtic mythology in Wales, Norse paganism in Iceland, and the bulk of the religious crusades in the Holy Land spread during this period.
In the 21st century and beyond the themes will likely focus on things like space travel, artificial intelligence and the changing philosophies that required as a result of our changing relationship with machines. (See these articles about the Singularity for more information.) Over the next 200 years the human experience will change dramatically. But that is not our concern right now.
Basic themes of the next few years. Outer planets do not change signs very often (Uranus every 7 years, Neptune every 12 years, and Pluto every 12-31 years depending on which sign it travels through). It is exceptionally rare for all outer planets to change signs at the same time but we not only have Pluto entering Aquarius for the first time since 1778 next year, in 2025 Uranus and Neptune will change signs. In addition, Saturn will also change signs in 2023, and then again in 2025. Here’s what that looks like:
2023: Saturn enters Pisces, Pluto enters Aquarius.
2025: Neptune enters Aries, Saturn enters Aries (Saturn/Neptune conjunction), Uranus enters Gemini
On top of all this, signs are everywhere that we are in the doorway of the Age of Aquarius (the boom in Artificial Intelligence, gender fluidity and neutrality, the end of organized religion…etc.). I think it’s safe to say that over the next few years an extreme transformation of human experience will begin.
2023. Next year the entry of Pluto into Aquarius will cement the shift into the Age of Air. I’ll be writing about this in greater depth, but the first few years of Pluto’s entry into a sign typically brings great change and we are likely to see a burgeoning of machine intelligence along with a splintering of the tendency of humans to build hierarchical social structures such as churches and governments. Small revolutionary acts by individuals will continue to become more common, and these will likely eventually take the place of wars between nations. Air is a dry element, and the aridification of the planet will likely to continue.
The cold planet Saturn in the watery sign of Pisces suggests challenges in all areas governed by Pisces: Religion, spirituality, hope and illusion, creativity. In 2023 we will discover the limits (Saturn) of compassion (Pisces) as more and more humans are forced to try to escape their native lands and find refuge in foreign countries. Jupiter in Taurus will inspire us to find more meaning in the simple things of life but may also lead to the hoarding of resources since Jupiter will square Pluto in 2023. (Jupiter will also sextile Saturn and Neptune, easing the pressures and helping to inspire creative ways to facilitate change.)
Where 2020 was the year of compression and control during the first year of the pandemic (Saturn/Pluto), and 2021 was the year of social unrest (Saturn/Uranus), 2023 will be a year where humanity must adjust to a new reality. It will become more and more clear that “taking back” a country or lifestyle will no longer be possible.
2024 will likely be a period of adjustment as we begin to settle into the new reality. Jupiter will enter Gemini to facilitate the interplay between human communication and technology, and enable greater adaptation. However, Pluto will retrograde back into Capricorn between July and December to clear the decks of stuck energies which will inhibit the movement into the New Age.
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2025 will be the year with the most potency. Neptune, Saturn, Jupiter and Uranus all change signs, and the conjunction of Saturn to Neptune in Aries begins. Uranus and Pluto will both be in Air signs and while it’s true that Air and Fire are compatible signs that support each other, Air also serves to inflame Fire. That year we have Uranus in Gemini, facilitating the explosion of inventions and new technologies, in a harmonious trine to Pluto in Aquarius. But the alignment of Saturn to Neptune in fiery Aries will likely not be a comfortable one.
I expect that there will be a fair amount of conflict on the global stage as the world tries to adjust to the new realities and establish new political forms which are better suited to the new international reality
How to prepare. Probably the biggest single thing that we can do to prepare for these changes is to do ensure that our lives are structured so that they can support us in times of change. This would not be a good time to stick our heads in the sand and hope that when we come out everything will be back to normal. We are in a new normal now, and adaptation is a key to successful evolution!
Adapting to a new normal of technological superiority probably doesn’t mean putting all of our money into crypto or other speculative investments. But I do think it will become more imperative that we learn as much as we can about these new changes as they continue to evolve. Knowledge is power, and at no time is that more true than under this new reality!
The airy new reality may make it more difficult to stay grounded in the body and in nature, so making a point to find that integration anywhere you can get it will be useful. Maintaining good physical health and integration of the body, mind and spirit will help us to stave off any mental imbalance that can result under a very Airy planetary environment.
Learning to embrace change is a skill that can be learned even if it doesn’t come naturally, and now is a good time to put this into practice! Under these influences, our intentionality can be the key to unlocking doors to experiences and skills we never thought possibly. Above all, this is a time to look to the future and resist staying rooted in a longing for the past. Chances are the past wasn’t as rosy as we thought at the time, and we are creating our new reality with every thought and action. ❤️
The post The astrology of the 2020s, Part Two: The astrological cycles appeared first on Astrology readings and writings by Lynn Hayes.
