In many ways, this year has felt like a point of no return — and not just astrologically. While some of the more pivotal shifts of 2023 ushered in technological advancements, collective resistance, and freedom, the contractions that came with these changes also opened challenging, but necessary, portals for us to move through.
In this piece, we review the key astrology of 2023, look back at what we predicted in our 2023 Guidebooks, and break down how the year’s most potent transits panned out.
Content warning: This article mentions war, genocide, natural disasters, and other subjects that may be distressing to read about. We will flag each of these sections as we come to them, so you can take care of yourself as needed.
Protests sweep France: January 2023
What happened:
The year began with revolutionary rumbles in France. Protests in opposition to the country’s pension reform bill — which planned to increase the retirement age from 62 to 64 — kicked off on January 19th and swiftly expanded to include a million people nationwide. The strikes unleashed widespread disruption, as garbage piled on the streets and public transport ground to a halt, and images of protestors marching on Versailles drew comparisons to the French Revolution of the late 18th century.
The astrology:
- The most groundbreaking astrological news of 2023 was Pluto’s entrance into Aquarius. While the planet of power didn’t officially move into the fixed air sign until March 23rd, its effects were felt months before its exact transition, because Pluto is a slow-moving planet. As we noted in our 2023 Guidebooks, the last time Pluto toured Aquarius was over 200 years ago — between 1777 and 1798 — when the monarchy was toppled in France. Both the French and American revolutions occurred during this period, demonstrating that the world’s most powerful institutions are often rattled by the masses when Pluto is in Aquarius.
- In mid-January, both Mercury and Mars were wrapping up their retrogrades. Mars’ station direct was particularly intense, as the planet of conflict had been raising ruckus in Gemini for months. Back when Mars was preparing to station retrograde in October of 2022, thousands of French citizens took to the streets to protest the rising cost of living. The station direct in January of 2023 continued that story.
On January 18th, the day before the pension reform protests began, the Sun conjoined Pluto in Capricorn, forming the last cazimi in this sign before the planet of power ingressed into Aquarius. Remember: The Sun represents leaders and authority figures, Pluto indicates the swell of change that acknowledges no rulers, and cazimis tend to initiate resets. This is an apt combination, given the challenge that these protests posed to French President Emmanuel Macron.
Earthquakes in Turkey and Syria: February 2023
Content warning: Natural disasters
What happened:
2023 also housed a cascade of natural disasters. One of the first occurred on February 6th, when a 7.8 magnitude earthquake struck southern Turkey and northern Syria. The earthquake killed 55,000 in Turkey and Syria and injured a further 100,000. It was one of the strongest to ever hit the region, sending tremors as far as Israel and Lebanon.
The situation in northwestern Syria was particularly dire, where more than 4.1 million people already relied on humanitarian assistance due to the ongoing Syrian civil war. Communities in this region were also battling a cholera outbreak and a harsh winter, and earthquake survivors were left to sleep on the streets in the freezing cold.
The astrology:
Many astrologers have connected Uranus’ transit through Taurus to an uptick in earthquakes. After all, Taurus is the sign that rules over the land, and Uranus is the planet of shocks, disruption, and tectonic shifts. So it’s no surprise that the day before this particular earthquake, February 5th, the Full Moon in Leo occurred in a tense square to Uranus. The Moon rules over the masses and can act as a trigger point for the unfolding of longer transits, such as Uranus in Taurus, which astrologers have connected to increased seismic activity. The 2023 Turkey–Syria earthquake was the largest in Turkey since the 1939 Erzincan earthquake, when Uranus was last transiting through Taurus.
Silicon Valley Bank crash: March 2023
What happened:
On March 10th, Silicon Valley Bank capsized after a bank run, making it the third-largest banking crash in US history and the most serious since the 2008 financial crisis. As soaring inflation made the necessities of life difficult to access, many feared the bank crash indicated more serious market volatility, or the confirmation of a full-blown recession.
The astrology:
- The failure of Silicon Valley Bank occurred on the precipice of Pluto changing signs for the first time in 15 years. Pluto represents political and financial power. The planet shifted from Capricorn — a sign we associate with big banking — into Aquarius — the sign of the collective — on March 23rd, as panic around another potential banking crisis continued to unravel. Several news outlets drew comparisons to the Great Recession during this time, which happened to be the last year Pluto changed signs (from Sagittarius to Capricorn). Pluto will be continuing to move between Capricorn and Aquarius throughout 2023 and 2024, so if the powers that be refuse to evolve our financial systems, the planet of wealth may well force the issue.
As we discussed in our 2023 Guidebooks, Pluto in Aquarius will radically transform the realm of information technology as well, which includes banks and corporations linked to the tech sector. This year alone, AI has been a drastically disruptive force, changing how companies conduct their business, interact with clients, and automate scores of jobs once done by humans. The SVB crash feels like a canary in the coal mine for the ways that technology will shape corporations, financial institutions, and society itself as Pluto travels through Aquarius.
The signing of Senate Bill 1580, Senate Bill 254, and House Bill 1069: May 2023
Content warning: Harmful and discriminatory anti-LGBTQ+, especially anti-trans, legislation
What happened:
On May 11th, Florida Governor Ron DeSantis approved SB 1580: a “License to Discriminate in Healthcare” bill, which allows healthcare providers and insurers to deny a patient care on the basis of religious, moral, and/or ethical beliefs. This was one of several bills that raised alarm bells in the LGBTQ+ community this year.
Later that month, on May 17th, DeSantis signed a slate of anti-LGBTQ+ laws, including SB 254 and HB 1069. These bills were designed to scale back the freedoms of folks in marginalized and vulnerable communities. SB 254 is the most anti-trans bill signed into law in the United States to date, prohibiting gender-affirming care for anyone under the age of 18 and restricting access to such care for adults. The bill also permits the state to take temporary custody of children who may be receiving gender-affirming care now or in the future. In addition, HB 1069 bans the declaration of gender pronouns in school and seeks to limit sexual education for students up to grade 8, including reproductive health topics such as menstruation. Dubbed the “Don’t Say Period” bill, HB 1069 was decried as another example of the GOP’s attempt to wield control over people’s bodies and promote trans and non-binary erasure.
The astrology:
- Jupiter, the planet of growth, entered Taurus on May 16th. Taurus is a sign that’s concerned with everything that supports and nourishes the health of our physical bodies. Left to its own devices, Jupiter in Taurus wants to expand this support to all communities. This includes the right to bodily health, safety, and sovereignty on the part of trans, queer, and non-binary folks. But Jupiter had company.
Just one day after its ingress, on May 17th, Jupiter formed a stressful aspect (a square) with Pluto in Aquarius. Pluto often symbolizes the subterranean forces that prey upon the fears of the collective. In Aquarius — the sign concerned with society itself — that can coincide with a desire to control popular beliefs in order to wield power. The challenging side of Jupiter? It magnifies whatever it touches — in this case, Pluto. As we wrote in our 2023 Guidebooks about May 17th: “Pluto’s influence has a way of activating fear, and Jupiter can super-size those emotions.”
The WGA and SAG-AFTRA strikes: May – November 2023
What happened:
2023 was also a banner year for collective action, with unions capturing public attention (almost) as much as Barbie. The Writers Guild of America (WGA) strike launched on May 2nd, championing the more than 16,000 people who write the productions we watch in theaters and stream in our homes. One of the areas the strike disputed was the financial compensation that WGA members receive when their productions are syndicated, released on DVD, or launched on streaming platforms. Streaming, in particular, has made it much more difficult for writers to be compensated for their work or to achieve any lasting financial security. “No Netflix and chill until writers can pay their bills” read one of the many witty placards to grace the picket line. In addition to success-based streaming residuals, the WGA included significant AI guardrails in their list of demands, asserting that ChatGPT cannot write or rewrite literary material used in entertainment productions.
The Screen Actors Guild and the American Federation of Television and Radio Artists (SAG-AFTRA) joined the swell of unrest on July 14th. Their union includes approximately 160,000 actors, broadcast journalists, dancers, DJs, news writers, program hosts, singers, stunt performers, voiceover artists, and other media professionals across the US. Like the WGA, SAG-AFTRA’s primary grievances centered on technology’s impact on Hollywood, the difficulty of making a living on meager streaming residuals, and the concern that artificial intelligence could exploit their likeness without fair compensation.
The astrology:
- The last time the WGA went on strike was during that pivotal period between 2007 and 2008, when Pluto — the planet of power — was shifting from Sagittarius to Capricorn. In 2007, streaming technologies were still in their infancy but they nonetheless presented a sticking point in negotiations. With Pluto preparing to re-enter Aquarius, the sign of cutting-edge technology itself, the AI question has become all the more urgent and unavoidable.
- The WGA strike launched in the middle of a Mercury retrograde in Taurus (spanning from April 21st to May 14th) — right after the planet of communication joined the Sun in a cazimi on May 1st. The Sun represents authority figures in astrology, so this moment mirrored the writers airing their grievances to the major studios represented by the Alliance of Motion Picture and Television Producers (AMPTP). Mercury retrogrades are famous for slowdowns and shutdowns, so it also makes sense that film and TV writing dried up during this time.
- Venus — the planet of union — was preparing to station retrograde in Leo when the SAG-AFTRA strike was announced. As Leo is the sign of the performer, Venus’ retrograde in the fixed fire sign brought slowdowns to the performance industry. As we discussed in our 2023 Guidebooks, Venus retrogrades are times when we go inward to reassess our connection with each other as well as our relationship to art, beauty, and fairness. So it’s no wonder that this transit spanning from July 22nd to September 3rd gave voice to a larger rebellion against AI’s automatization of the arts and a desire to protect human creativity, authorship, and sovereignty.
- The last time both of these major Hollywood unions took to the picket line at the same time was in 1960, when SAG called a strike two months after a WGA strike had begun. This joint shutdown started in March, after Mercury had stationed retrograde in Pisces, a sign associated with film and imagination.
- On September 24th, WGA union leaders and the AMPTP reached a tentative resolution, as Mercury (the planet of writing and communication) prepared to trine Jupiter (the planet of abundance and fairness) on September 25th. The timing is notable because Mercury had just stationed direct after its latest retrograde, which spanned from August 23rd to September 15th. The trine on September 25th was the third and final connection the messenger formed to the greater benefic in this retrograde cycle, helping to resolve the shutdowns that started during its Taurus retrograde back in May.
SAG-AFTRA approved a tentative agreement on November 9th, the day Venus moved from Virgo (its sign of fall, where it struggles to feel seen or respected) to Libra (its home sign, where it has much more power).
The migrant ship disaster and submarine sinking: June 2023
Content warning: Deadly accident / drowning
What happened:
2023 also brought an influx of seaborne and flood disasters. On June 14th, a migrant ship with approximately 700 migrants and refugees sank off the coast of Greece in one of the deadliest incidents in the central Mediterranean Sea. This tragic incident hardly broke the news cycle, despite the gross mishandling of the rescue operation, which left the boat to languish for 15 hours before it finally capsized.
Nevertheless, the disappearance of Titan, a billionaire-manned submersible en route to view the Titanic, dominated headlines only days later, starting on June 18th. On June 22nd, officials confirmed that the craft imploded — another sobering reminder of the crushing power of the deep blue sea.
The astrology:
- Saturn, the planet of boundaries and hard limits, moved into Pisces’ mutable waters in March of 2023. Writing about Saturn in Pisces in our 2023 Guidebooks, we noted: “[Saturn is] here to bring some accountability, responsibility, and structure, but in Pisces’ style — with fluidity… If Saturn builds walls in Pisces, those walls are capable of bending.”
- Saturn stationed retrograde in Pisces on June 17th, charging the planet with extra power. This moment also heightened its co-presence with Neptune because the Sun squared Neptune on June 18th. This is of note because Saturn rules over time and mortality, and Neptune represents the boundlessness of the sea. Neptune is also known to bring about confusion and misinformation, as reflected in the days of uncertainty regarding what actually happened to the submersible.
- Meanwhile, Pluto’s re-entry into Capricorn on June 11th confronted us with the festering injustices of capitalism and cultures of supremacy, as demonstrated by the immediate and elaborate rescue mission launched for a handful of billionaires while the migrants perished due to the comparative slowness of first responders. The cognitive dissonance was real. Pluto’s underworld journey through Capricorn has revealed the full extent of these institutional failures and the very real dangers posed by continuing down this road.
- It’s also worth noting that Saturn is the planet of consequences. And while the cause of Titan’s implosion is still uncertain, Stockton Rush — the OceanGate CEO who was piloting the submersible when it failed — had complained in the past of regulation stifling innovation and progress. Concerns had also been raised by an ex-employee who believed the craft needed more testing to be considered safe in extreme depths. As is apt for Saturn in Pisces, it appears that negligence led to tragedy.
The Wagner rebellion and plane crash: June and August 2023
Content warning: Plane crash
What happened:
The Wagner Group, a Russian paramilitary organization, staged a rebellion against Russia on June 23rd, after months of increasing tensions between the Russian Ministry of Defence and the then-leader of Wagner, Yevgeny Prigozhin. The armed uprising represented the most serious threat to Putin’s authority to date, as cracks continue to form in the weakening regime. Though an agreement to settle the conflict was reached shortly after the coup erupted (on June 24th), exactly two months later, Prigozhin mysteriously perished in a plane crash, which killed nine other people on board.
The astrology:
- Mars — the planet of conflict and war — in Leo squared Uranus — the planet of rebellion — in Taurus on June 26th, mere days after the rebellion. Military operations fall under Mars’ purview, and an armed revolt is about as literal as you can get with this aspect. As we wrote in our 2023 Guidebooks, “When Mars activates Uranus, the feeling of something’s gotta give will reach its peak.”
Mars formed an exact opposition with Neptune, the planet of illusion, on August 22nd — the day before the aforementioned plane crash. Though Putin’s swift dispatching of his enemies is a known fact, the official cause of the Wagner Group plane crash remains a mystery.
The hottest month on record and skies darkening over New York: June – August 2023
Content warning: Deadly fires
What happened:
June, July, and August of 2023 brought overwhelming temperatures, wildfires, and swathes of smoke that blackened the skyline of cities across the Eastern Seaboard, including New York. July was the world’s hottest month on record, with heat waves causing severe damage in the Western United States, Southern Europe, and Asia. The Maui wildfires, which started on August 4th, were particularly devastating, killing over 100 people and displacing thousands.
The astrology:
- As wildfire smoke turned the skies over New York City an eerie Martian red around June 8th, Mars in Leo was separating from a square with Uranus in Taurus. Mars represents heat and inflammation, while Uranus brings shock and instability. Describing this transit in our 2023 Guidebooks, we said, “When Mars in Leo squares the planet of disruption in late June, it could pour fuel on the fire.” The unprecedented smoke on the eastern side of North America was one manifestation of this wildcard volatility.
Occurring in the fire sign of Leo — and in a challenging aspect to Uranus, the disruptor — Venus retrograde further intensified the wildfires, smoke, and heat waves worldwide. As Venus approached the Sun and entered a condition known traditionally as “combustion,” many of us in the Northern Hemisphere felt the flammable heat all too literally. One of retrograde Venus’ exact squares to Uranus on August 9th coincided with the height of the Maui fires, which led to an 11,000+ person evacuation on the same day.
Trump’s Federal Indictment: June – August 2023
What happened:
Returning to 2023’s Venus retrograde story… The planet of beauty and pleasure had some justice to dish out. Though Donald Trump has lived most of his life seemingly above the law, buffered by his immense wealth, cracks began to form in his house of cards this year. A series of federal indictments, ranging from hush-money settlements to the mishandling of classified documents, were launched against the former president over the summer. And his legal troubles peaked during Venus’ retrograde in Leo — which happens to be Trump’s rising sign.
The astrology:
- The first announcement of the indictment, on June 8th, saw Venus opposing the ruler of the underworld itself: Pluto. Poetic justice, perhaps, for the “plutocrat” who used his riches to silence sex workers. Venus is the planet that rules sex workers, and its retrograde journey can involve a reclamation of power in all Venusian matters.
- A Venus cazimi was seeded on August 13th, in Trump’s 1st House of self, the day before the former president’s crucial Georgia indictment on August 14th. Cazimis are auspicious moments when a planet can infiltrate the temple of the Sun — or in this case, deliver a “you’ve been served” notice straight to the halls of Trump Tower. As we noted in our 2023 Guidebooks, “[This] pillow talk between Venus and the Sun could have some shock potential.”
- On August 24th, Trump’s infamous mugshot was released, after he surrendered to charges of plotting to overturn the 2020 US presidential election result. Venus was still retrograding through Trump’s 1st House of the self, appearance, and body at this time — a murky moment of publicity indeed. An opposition between Mars (the planet of action and conflict) and Neptune (the planet of illusion and confusion) was in play the same day, foreshadowing Trump’s potential plans to leverage his deluded martyrdom into a 2024 election campaign.
Barbie World, the Beyhive, and the Tayverse dominate the media landscape: July – August 2023
What happened:
Venus’ retrograde in the theatrical sign of Leo didn’t only shake up the entertainment industry through union action — it flipped the script in the earning clout of female artists. Forget “hot girl summer”; we launched right into “billionaire fall,” as the trifecta of Greta Gerwig, Beyonce, and Taylor Swift charmed the masses.
Women-led productions earned billions, captivated the media, and transformed female entertainers into economies unto themselves. Gerwig’s Barbie has raked in $1.4 billion (and counting) globally, Taylor’s Eras tour stands to gross as much as $4.1 billion, and Beyonce’s Renaissance shows have been forecasted to generate roughly $4.5 billion for the American economy by the tour’s end.
It’s also projected that Taylor Swift’s calls to vote on social media could impact the upcoming US election, as her posts continue to drive voter registration among millennials and zoomers.
The astrology:
- Barbie was released on July 21st — one day before Venus stationed retrograde in Leo. Venus is the planet associated with women and beauty, and this box-office hit was arguably the aesthetic event of the year, prompting millions to descend upon their local cinemas in vibrant shades of pink. From the doll’s origins, modeling femininity beyond motherhood to young girls, to its cultural baggage, centering impossible, restrictive, and toxic beauty standards, Barbie has driven countless conversations about society’s relationship with femininity itself — another Venusian theme. As a reminder, retrograde periods encourage us to review and reclaim our relationship with the retrograding planet, which this blockbuster certainly encouraged. There’s simply no denying that it brought the mass-market toy and its questionable relationship with feminism into mainstream conversation.
- Venus is also the planet that rules over adornments of all kinds, and neither of these pop megastars held back in their tour bedazzlement. Taylor Swift nodded to Venus in Leo with a parade of glitzy sequin stage costumes in her Era’s spectacle, and Beyonce channeled Venus’ underworld journey in Renaissance even more explicitly: She evoked several female deities, including Venus, as she emerged from a gigantic, mirror-encrusted clamshell, echoing the birth story of Venus’ Greek counterpart, Aphrodite.
Catastrophic flooding and earthquakes: July – September 2023
Content warning: Natural disasters
What happened:
In addition to the earthquake that impacted Turkey and Syria in February, 2023 ushered in more natural disasters. Dire monsoon rains returned to Pakistan, peaking in July, and resulted in flooding that killed 159 people, including children. Then on September 8th, a 6.8 magnitude earthquake hit Morocco, killing more than 2,900 people and leaving 5,500 injured. And on September 10th, the deadliest Mediterranean tropical-like cyclone in recorded history — dubbed “Storm Daniel” — made landfall in Libya, bringing severe winds and sudden heavy rainfall. This led to massive flooding and large-scale destruction, which killed more than 4,300 people, while more than 8,500 are still missing.
After the dust of these disasters settled, shoddy infrastructure was revealed to have led to scores of unnecessary deaths in both Morocco and Libya. The earthquake in Morocco caused increased casualties because many of the buildings weren’t earthquake-proof and couldn’t sustain the pressure, and the flood in Libya occurred because two dams broke due to pressure from the storm.
The astrology:
- In May of 2018, Uranus entered Taurus, where it will remain until April of 2026. Uranus in Taurus relates to an uptick in seismic activity and other natural disasters, since Taurus relates to the Earth, and Uranus brings instability. Though Uranus in Taurus is a much longer transit that will likely continue to cause profound disruption to the natural world, Jupiter’s entrance into Taurus on May 16th of 2023 may have increased the magnitude and frequency of these natural disasters. Though Jupiter ultimately brings abundance, it can also inflate the impact of whatever it touches. For good or ill. It’s here the planet of expansion will stay through May 2024.
- Saturn in the mutable water sign Pisces, on the other hand, has mirrored the consequences of floods. As we’ve already explored, Saturn’s transit through Pisces has been connected to sorrows unleashed by water. Less than two weeks after Saturn entered Pisces, on March 17th, flooding returned to Pakistan after another season of record rains. Though the flooding in 2022 was much more catastrophic, nearly a year later, more than 10 million people still lack access to safe drinking water and preventable waterborne diseases continue to ravage the population.
- Mercury (the planet of data processing) was retrograde in Virgo, in a whole sign opposition to Saturn and Neptune in Pisces, from August 23rd to September 15th — a period that encompassed both the earthquake in Morocco and the flood in Libya. A whole sign opposition means that the planets were in opposite signs but not exactly opposite by degree. As such, this Mercury retrograde exposed the flaws, cheap construction, and shortcuts taken in the infrastructure of both countries — to devastating results. These injustices were also intensified by Pluto’s time in Capricorn, a sign that relates to structure and foundations. Its long journey through the sea goat has exposed systemic failures across the board.
Hamas’ attacks on Israel, Israel’s siege of Gaza, and the ongoing humanitarian crisis: October 2023 – present
Content warning: War, terrorism, settler colonialism, and genocide
What happened:
On October 7th, the Palestinian militant group Hamas launched a shocking and devastating attack on Israel, resulting in the deadliest day in Israel’s history. The death toll from the airstrikes and ground offensives reached 1,200, with more than 200 civilians also captured as hostages. Israel retaliated by declaring war on Hamas and initiating a complete siege of Gaza. On October 9th, supply lines to the area were cut, depriving Palestinian people of medical supplies, food, water, and the fuel needed to keep their hospitals functional.
In the days that followed, the Israeli Defense Forces (IDF) struck compounds stating that they were targeting Hamas leadership in the Gaza strip, though rockets rained down on civilian areas. At the time of writing, the death toll in Gaza has topped 16,248 (including 7,112 children), and the numbers continue to rise.
On December 6th, UN Secretary-General António Guterres wrote a letter to the UN Security Council, invoking Article 99 of the UN Charter — the only tool given to the Secretary-General to call a Security Council meeting in response to threats to international peace and security. In the letter, he called on the Council to “press to avert a humanitarian catastrophe” in Gaza and once again appealed for a humanitarian ceasefire to be declared. Citing the 2.2 million Gazans who had been forcibly displaced, the scale and acceleration of loss of life, and the threat of disease rapidly spreading in the region, Mr. Guterres’ letter was the equivalent of the UN pushing the emergency button on the unfolding genocide.
We continue to grieve the lives lost, the senseless violence, and the reversal in progress made by Israeli, Palestinian, and international peace activists.
The astrology:
- On July 17th, the hungry North Node of the Moon entered Aries — the sign of the warrior — while the release-oriented South Node of the Moon entered Libra — the sign of the peacekeeper. This shift has mirrored how peacekeeping has felt like an increasingly impossible mission, while violence has intensified.
- Mars (the planet of war) squared Pluto (the planet of power and the underworld) on October 8th — a planetary clash that can unleash fear, violence, and brutality. This aspect also reflected the decades-long power struggle that dates back to the Nakba of 1948. The word Nakba is Arabic for “catastrophe.” It refers to the expulsion and massacre of Palestinian people during the 1948 Arab–Israeli War, when Israeli forces destroyed over 500 Palestinian villages, killed 15,000 civilians, and forced 800,000 Palestinians to uproot and flee — which just so happened to occur at the same time as a series of eclipses in Taurus near the North Node, just as we experienced in 2023 on May 5th and October 28th.
- On October 14th, a solar eclipse near the South Node — a point that represents release and letting go — occurred in Libra. Around this date, Palestinian civilians were given a meager 24 hours to evacuate the North of Gaza, which was a death sentence for many. In the meantime, Israel continued to cut off Gaza’s water, food, electricity, and medicine, in violation of international law. Three days after the eclipse, on October 17th, an airstrike targeted the al-Ahli Hospital in Gaza, killing 471 and injuring more than 300.
- On October 28th, a lunar eclipse near the North Node occurred in Taurus as the death toll and land dispossession in Palestine continued to surge. This eclipse mirrored the total solar eclipse that took place near the North Node in Taurus on May 9th, 1948 — just six days before the Arab–Israeli War and ensuing Nakba began. As a reminder: Venus rules Taurus eclipses, so while war threatens to trigger a larger regional conflict, Venus’ aspiration is peace, fairness, and liberty for all. A solution to this seemingly intractable conflict rests on the planet’s arts of diplomacy and negotiation, as well as its ability to center our common humanity instead of upholding the toxic fantasy of borders, supremacy, and retaliatory sieges that only wage further violence.
- On December 6th, the same day that Article 99 was put to the UN, Neptune — the planet of dreams — stationed direct in Pisces. Whenever a planet stations in our skies, its symbolic energies saturate our planet. Neptune in Pisces’ highest aspiration is to center our common humanity (even if that means we are united in our grief) and remind us of the true boundlessness of our collective fabric, which knows no borders.
- Mercury (the messenger) also trined Jupiter (the humanitarian) on December 6th, suggesting that Guterres’ urgent appeal to the UN could lead to a constructive outcome or set the stage for further diplomatic efforts. Though Article 99 demands discussion, presents data, and encourages parties to form a consensus (Jupiter is the planet of cohesion, after all), passing a resolution requires that the five permanent members not veto it.
Where we go from here
As we continue to transition into the Pluto in Aquarius epoch in 2024, the power of our collective resistance has never felt more urgent. Only by coming together will we dismantle the governments, regimes, toxic capitalist practices, and colonial powers that feed on fear, anguish, rage, and despair. 2023 reminded us of our fragility against the violence of external forces seemingly outside our control — but this year has also revealed what’s sacred about our lives, which includes our connection with each other.
Studying astrological transits against the backdrop of major events is one of the best ways to recognize the cycles that we are living within. Cycles of violence, hate, and greed, but also the cycles of people who rally against these patterns. The generations who have always united in refusal, with the savviest ways of subverting the powers that be. Like patterns in human history, astrology always repeats itself — though slightly differently each time. That’s because the planets and points follow a clockwork orbit of the Sun. By understanding what tends to happen on Earth during certain astrological transits, we become more aware of our own tendencies and traps — as well as our ability to overcome them.
2023 has left us with a clear call to action. The consequences of climate change have never been starker. The horrors of global conflict are flooding our news feeds in real time. Propaganda and misinformation are spreading with lightning speed. And people are more polarized than ever. In these times of division, we must learn how to regulate our systems together. Buried within this volatility and despair, there’s an opportunity to redirect our lives. To double down on creating communities of collaboration and care. To live in reciprocity with the Earth. To hone the art of diplomacy. And to extend compassion to all.
For an in-depth look at next year’s main events, check out Your 2024 Guidebook.
Thank you for being here. We’re wishing you a safe, hopeful, and prosperous 2024.
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