NEW YEAR PIECES

NEW YEAR'S ASTRO-DICE 

Sun in Aquarius in the 10th House.

Going forward, this is a time for putting what you uniquely have to offer out into the world. It doesn't have to be noticed by a lot of people, it just needs to be out there. It is something different, that breaks up the rigid moulds that humanity usually creates around anything over time. If you are bothered by what other people might think, then consider that a warrior training: Aquarius is not a wallflower 😆

 

THE PARADIGM SHIFT OF 2024-26

The Berlin Wall fell on 9 Nov 1989, 3 days before Saturn made his 3rd conjunction with Neptune in Capricorn: the dissolution (Neptune) of a wall (Saturn/Capricorn). Saturn makes stuff happen - transits involving him and Neptune or Pluto often bring world-changing events. It is not so much the event itself - a wall coming down, twin towers coming down - as the significance, the political implications. 4 years ago Saturn conjoined Pluto and Covid happened: not in fact the most major of diseases, but much of the world shut down in over-reaction, with huge economic and social consequences.

Saturn and Neptune will conjoin in just over 2 years. Who knows what this will bring? Most astrologers saw something big coming up at the start of 2020, with the Saturn-Pluto conjunction, but none of us could have guessed what it would be. Who foresaw Communism collapsing in 1989? (Actually Liz Greene got it pretty much right in her 1985 The Outer Planets and Their Transits.)

We have 3 years of paradigm shift in the world, as Pluto beds into Aquarius in 24-25, and then Saturn-Neptune takes over. And Uranus enters Gemini. All 3 collective planets changing sign.

Pluto in Aquarius is already bringing AI to the forefront. The first wave of AI was in the late 1700s, the Industrial Revolution, when complex machines first began to do our work for us. That was when Pluto was last in Aquarius. It was also the time of the American and French Revolutions. The power (Pluto) of the people (Aquarius). This time, we have the culture wars. Now it is not enough for the power of the people to be centre stage: it is the oppressed minorities who are being thrust centre stage. Those who think this has gone too far call it 'woke'. It is a battle that has been won by the 'woke' at many universities (we saw the black woman head of Harvard defending calls for Jewish genocide recently, in defence of Palestinians, and keeping her job), and it may rage in the wider culture in the years to come, as graduates become influential in the world.

Neptune, as ever, is harder to see. What has Neptune in Pisces brought with it? The dissolution of gender? The feeling that the end of the world is near through climate change?

OK, here is a stab at one meaning of Neptune in Aries: the end of apocalyptic thinking around climate-change. I will intrude my own opinion to say such thinking is silly: humanity has always been able to adapt to change, and we are now better at it than ever. So it is the apocalyptic mindset that will dissolve, as the power (Pluto) of our inventiveness (Aquarius) in relation to climate moves forward.

Saturn and Neptune in Aries very much suggests a new vision for humanity. The transit of Neptune through Pisces has produced collective madnesses that I think many of us have felt, from the over-reaction to Covid through to the extremes of wokeness and fears of climate armageddon. The teenage transgender epidemic - and tragedy - and Just Stop Oil are emblematic of the madnesses we have been living through.

As Pluto and Neptune change signs, I think we will begin to see these madnesses for what they are. Last time Neptune entered Aries was the time of the American Civil War, which brought a new vision for the country. There is a new vision brewing, it may have to be fought for (Aries), and its early stages will present themselves at the end of 2025/start of 2026 as Neptune and Saturn line up.

 

 

OPEN TO INVITES...

I'm not a great advertiser of myself. But I reckon I'm good at running workshops of many varieties. It's something I love to do. I've been at it for nearly 40 years in one way or another. In my youth it was Buddhism. After a major revamp that turned into Astrology, Tarot, Medicine Wheel, Journeying, Pipe Ceremonies, Sweatlodges, Trance Dances and just general chewing stuff over: maybe my favourite :) I prefer not to plan too much, and let things unfold in their own way.

The point of a teacher is to edge you in the direction of your own inner guidance. That is why I say cherish the things you don't agree with me about. If you've been in this group a while, I will almost certainly have said some things you don't agree with 🤣

I have 2 books as a sort of CV (pictures below), published by Moon Books in 2022. I'm not that inclined to set up workshops myself, but if you would like me to come and do something foran evening or a day or even a week, I will probably say yes, enthusiastically. Anywhere in the world! As long as I don't lose money on it. Happy to sleep in a tent. Or my van :)

 

 

FATE, FREE WILL and TIME

Free Will is causality moving forward in time: what you do now bringing about an effect in the future. Fate is causality moving backwards in time: the future reaching out and bringing about an effect in the present. You can never be entirely sure how much is due to one, and how much is due to the other. Astrology takes place at the interface between these 2 causalities.

 

 

THE SHAPESHIFTERS TRILOGY

 

The chart above is for when I began writing my first book in 2021. It was not planned, one morning I just thought dammit, start. It is weighty, with all the Capricorn 10th. Before Christmas I signed a contract with an American publisher for my 3rd book, The Shapeshifters Trilogy, a shamanic fantasy in which those who can adopt animal form are abominated, but end up helping to save the world from a tyrannical cult of reason. I didn't plan the chart, I never do, I think that is counter-productive to trusting one's own inner guidance. 

 

The Shapeshifters Sun-MC aligns nicely with the 1st chart's Venus and MC, and is also sextile Jupiter and Saturn. I am Capricornian in my ambitions: I want something that will sell slowly and steadily over a long period. A cult classic, that is what I'd like it to be 😎

Book Cover painting by Ali Broughton

I particularly like the Mars-Mercury conjunction is Sag in the 9th. Perfect for signing a contract with a foreign publisher. I chose my moment well! Mercury is retrograde, but to me that just means there will be a few things to iron out along the way.