Alchemist Heating a Pot, by David Teniers the Younger
Astrological Musings — 2024 Preview, a look ahead
(If you wish to listen to the show instead, here is the link on BlogTalk or Apple Podcasts)
As we move into 2024, it is time for us to consider what Astrological conditions will prevail during this year and beyond. The major planetary alignment of this year includes the first major aspect of Saturn to Pluto since their last conjunction in January 2020, which is a semi-square that is exact in May, September, and January of 2025. 2024 will also be the final year of Pluto’s transition from the sign of Capricorn to Aquarius, and it will the final full year for both Neptune in Pisces before it transitions to Aries, and final full year for Uranus in Taurus before it transitions to Gemini. Those shifts indicate that we will certainly be in a much different world by 2025 and beyond.
This year will also have the usual repeating phenomena of the Solar and Lunar eclipses, three Mercury in retrogrades, and Jupiter changing signs. I will do another show soon where we will look at some of the major national and leadership charts to see what we might understand about the year ahead from that perspective as well.
Saturn semi-square Pluto
The most important aspect in the heavens this year is the first alignment of Saturn with Pluto since their conjunction or “new moon” of January 2020. The cycle of Saturn and Pluto, from conjunction to conjunction, lasts from between 33 to 38 years, and it concerns the integral balance between Order (Saturn) and Will (Pluto), or Structure and Sacred Space, or Spirit materialized and the Alchemical force that is behind the entirety of Creation. In Mundane or Worldly Astrology, this cycle informs the birth/death/rebirth of new political, economic, and social structures. Often the cycle begins with the ending of some kind of order, a breakdown and then a rebuilding of the ways of the exercise of power through structure, of the ways in which order and disorder and reorder echo down the ages.
The most recent conjunctions have been:
The first of the 20th century occurred in 1914, with World War I which we could see as the penultimate war in the history of colonization. The subsequent semi-square of 1918 brought the end of that war but also the great Influenza epidemic of 1918-1919. The conjunction of 1947-48, saw the real beginnings of decolonization, with the partition of India and Pakistan, the emergence of China finally free from foreign control, but also the establishment of the state of Israel. The subsequent semi-square in 1951 saw the Korean War, and many other South Asian and African wars of post-colonial struggles; the Saturn/Pluto conjunction of 1982-83 saw Israel invade Lebanon, (which it did not completely leave until 2000), but also the “birth” of the internet, and a number of military governments being replaced by civilian ones in as in Argentina and Turkey. The subsequent semi-square in 1988 saw the first internet virus, and the beginning of the end to the Iron Curtain and cold war as the Soviet Union tried to open up its economic system and Hungary opened up to travel between the east and the west.
Now we have our most recent conjunction of 2020, and we have certainly experienced the structures and systems around the world being overmatched and overwhelmed by a world-wide pandemic. We have been made aware how our system of meeting human needs by means of an intricate global trade structure has been proven to be vulnerable and lacking in resiliency. The very way in which we have become interconnected and interdependent, both materially and virtually, has overwhelmed and thrown into disrepute the governing institutions within and between nations, as what had been assumed to be a universal liberal political and economic order has been battered and sometimes shattered by forces of reaction and revolution, by extremists on the right and the left. What we are seeing around the world is a global experience of Millennial movements, whose adherents either want to return their world to a mythic “golden age”, or to a final judgement in which their followers will be spared and exalted.
What this year’s semi-square may hold for us, there is truly no way to know for certain. All we can know is that the essential interdependencies and interconnectivities of the natural world, the beautiful yet vulnerable hierarchy of nature’s ecosystems, combined with the effects of our economic world driven by infinite consumption on a finite planet are growing not fading. We will certainly experience ever greater waves of disturbances, mass migrations of peoples fleeing climate disasters and institutional failures, and this inescapable reality is being brought to bear as the primary and existential challenge facing humanity is the threat of climate change, a transformation of our world that we have created, and which is becoming ever weirder and wilder.
The Outer Planets
But we must always remember that the planetary indications from Uranus, Neptune and Pluto are still the major shapers for any period of history. We have looked at them recently, and we will look at them again in a later show, but we need to remember that we are at the cusp of three major transitions. Pluto is moving into Aquarius in 2024 until 2044, Neptune is beginning its move into Aries next year until 2039, and Uranus is beginning its move into Gemini next year until 2033. The last time Pluto was in Aquarius was 1778 to 1798, the same time as the American and French Revolutions and Napoleon Bonaparte. The last time Neptune was in the sign of Aries was 1862 to 1875, encompassing the US Civil War and Reconstruction. The last time Uranus was in Gemini was 1935 to 1942, the first half of the Second World War. As much as we may have been frustrated by the rigidity between groups and factions over the past many years, these shifts of the major planets will mean that we are going to see a rearrangement/realignment of issues and peoples from 2025 onwards.
With so many outer planets moving into new signs, the combinational or energetic spiritual vibrations will create new opportunities (and new solutions) to our present-day challenges. But they will also necessarily give rise to new problems too. It is upon each one of us to understand the meanings and messages of the planets, but most especially remember the fundamental truths and wisdom that should guide our thoughts and shape our actions year after year. If we can remain centered by the everlasting truths, then we will be able to respond much better to these planetary influences and not react with fear.
Eclipses
Normally every year we will have two Solar and two Lunar eclipses, and this is also true for 2024, with a Lunar eclipse on March 25, a Solar eclipse on April 8, a Lunar eclipse on September 18, and a Solar eclipse on October 2.
Solar eclipses are more significant, and their influence can be expected to last until the next Solar eclipse around six months later, until the next Solar eclipse. The Lunar eclipses are understood to influence the next 30 days, until the next full Moon.
Solar and Lunar eclipses happen when the orbital position of the Earth around the Sun, and the orbital position of the Moon around Earth match up so that either the Moon creates a shadow by blocking out the Sun (at the New Moon), or the Earth creates a shadow that falls upon the Moon when it is full.
The March 25th penumbral lunar eclipse, which means the Moon only enters the penumbra of the Earth’s shadow and just dims, happens around 3 am EDT at 5 degrees and 7 minutes in Libra, and weather permitting it will be visible in the USA. If you have any planet or chart angle around this degree, it will be important to consider its meaning for the next month or so.
The April 8th total solar eclipse is exact at 2:20 pm EDT at 19 degrees and 24 minutes of Aries, and the eclipse path of totality will sweep across the USA from the southwest to the northeast. If you have any planet or chart angle around this degree, it will be very important to consider its meaning to you for the next six months, and the area of your chart it falls in will be highlighted for that same period.
The path of totality will sweep from Mexico and into Texas, then up through Arkansas and Missouri into Southern Illinois, and into Indiana and Ohio, then on into western New York and through northern Vermont and New Hampshire, through Maine before finally ending in the eastern provinces of Canada.
Here is a map of the April Eclipse Path:
I had actually mentioned this eclipse in 2017, because in August of that year we had another total eclipse sweep across the USA from the northwest to the southeast, starting in Oregon and arching through the Midwest and intersecting the 2024 eclipse in southern Illinois and moving further southeast to exit in South Carolina.
It seems rather significant to me, and I am sure to many others, that the USA will have experienced two total Solar eclipses, 7 years apart, that form a perfect “X” centered just east of the continental center of the USA, and actually right on the median spot for population of the USA. Here is a map of the two Eclipse paths:
The September 17th partial lunar eclipse, which means the Moon enters most of the full shadow of the Earth, but a small crescent appears on one side, is exact at 10:34 pm at 25 degrees and 41 minutes of Pisces, and weather permitting will be visible in the USA. If you have any planet or chart angle around this degree, it will be important to consider its meaning for the next month.
Finally, the October 2 annular solar eclipse, which means the Moon is a little too far away from the Earth, so that a small ring of sunlight, which is called the “annulus”, is seen around the Moon and is exact at 2:49 pm EDT at 10 degrees and 4 minutes of Libra. It begins in the Central Pacific and arches down to South America passing through southern Chile and Argentina. If you have a significant planet of chart angle around 10 degrees of Libra, you will experience this area of your life becoming more consequential for the next six months.
Here is a map of the October Eclipse path:
Mercury Retrogrades
Let us now consider the Mercury retrogrades for 2024. Usually, we will have three Mercury retrogrades in a year, and that is true for 2024. Of course, we did begin this New Year with Mercury turning direct on January 1, as it had been retrograding since December 13th.
The meaning and message of each retrograde period will be indicated by what sign or signs Mercury is moving backwards through, and for each of us individually by what house or houses of your chart it is moving through as well.
No matter what, the Mercury retrograde period presents an opportunity for everyone to become more reflective and pensive, more drawn to and more able to take advantage of this time of introspection, so as to help clear up poor thinking or communication by self-critical analysis. In so doing, your manner of observing, thinking, and communicating with one another is improved and uplifted.
But each period also requires that we remember that the “weather” has changed for one and all, and although everyone is affected by this shift of energy-forms, many do not know what is happening or how to manage it. That is why we experience a rise in miscommunications and a surge of misunderstandings in the world generally. In each encounter between one person and another, the general condition for all minds means that either one or both individuals are not receiving as well as they might think, nor are they transmitting as well as they should.
So, during these periods we should use this time for mindful, thoughtful self-renewal, but when engaged in communications with others we must strive to listen or read more carefully and speak or write more clearly.
The first Mercury retrograde of 2024 begins on April 1st and ends on April 25th, with Mercury moving from 27 degrees of Aries back to 16 degrees of Aries. Whatever area of your chart this involves, by which I mean whatever house or house it is moving through and what planets it may contact, you will find it important or necessary to review and revise your thoughts about this area of your life. For one and all, since this retrograde is in Aries, behind the issues being addressed will be the Aries experience of being more mindful of your “presence”, by your attitude and demeanor, so that you can meet each moment of the eternal now in the most meaningful manner.
The second Mercury retrograde begins early on August 5th for the USA east coast, but in the late evening of the 4th for the rest of the USA, moving from 4 degrees of Virgo back to 21 degrees of Leo when it turns direct on August 28th. Again, whatever area of your chart this involves you will need to review and revise your understanding of that. For one and for all, since this retrograde involves both Virgo and Leo, it will encompass and link both sign’s meanings. For the Virgo phase, a time to reflect and amend the “order” of one’s life, to strive to maintain or bring into greater integration all the parts of your life, and during the Leo phase to reflect on the meaning of respect for oneself and for one another.
The third and final Mercury retrograde begins on November 25, and ends on December 15th, moving from 23 degrees Sagittarius back to 6 degrees Sagittarius. As before, whatever area of your chart this involves, you should use these three weeks to reflect and revise your understanding of that. For one and all, the retrograde through Sagittarius will provide a period to question the hierarchy of truths and beliefs that form and guide your understanding and actions.
Jupiter
The planet Jupiter is the largest in our solar system and completes an orbit of the Sun roughly every 12 years. That means Jupiter will spend about one year in each sign. Since May 16, 2023, Jupiter has been in the sign of Taurus. It will enter Gemini on May 25, 2024, and remain there until it moves into Cancer on June 9, 2025.
Jupiter is the pathway to and the vessel of Truth, whether those truths be Spiritual or Metaphysical or Scientific or Cultural. Whatever sign your Jupiter is in your chart, it will indicate the type of truths you will guide your life by, and the pathway you will follow to reach a greater understanding. But just as there are many paths that will lead us to our eventual awakening, we should be open each year to the various forms of truth that Jupiter will hold for us as it moves through the signs.
When Jupiter is in Taurus, it will foster a purposeful and persistent search for the truth. Those who have Jupiter in Taurus will hold to a firm belief in Teachings and Values that are Eternal. Any individual with Jupiter in Taurus has an underlying optimism and faith in humanity, or really in all of life or Spirit. Most individuals with Jupiter in Taurus have an abiding belief that humanity is on a continuous and upward path that will lead to the fulfillment of some form of a Divine Plan. During this past year and until May 25th, humanity has been influenced by Jupiter to follow a path to Truth that is founded and forged by Everlasting Value, which is of course Divine Love.
When Jupiter is in Gemini, it will foster a path of development that is formed by an insatiable curiosity and constant exchange of information. Any individual with Jupiter in Gemini will be more able to take the often-times chaotic multiplicities of inputs from the universe and be more capable of organizing and giving them coherent meanings, whereas for many for others they might experience this surge of energy as noise or even chaos.
During the upcoming period of Jupiter in Gemini, humanity will be influenced to follow a path to Truth that is filled with insatiable curiosity and wonder. The injunction with Jupiter in Gemini is that no matter what level of understanding you have achieved, in order to remain true to your spiritual nature you must follow the eternal Voice of the Silence which whispers, “Walk On!” Those who claim to have all the answers will be seen for who they truly are, they know nothing.
Moreover, 2024 will be the first of the four major alignments that Jupiter will make with Saturn during their cycle of 20 years, which is the waxing square. The beginning of their last cycle in December of 2020 was historic, as it was the start of a new 200-year cycle of Jupiter and Saturn conjunctions in the Air signs, starting with Aquarius. The previous conjunctions of Jupiter and Saturn were: 1980-81, 1961, 1940-41 and 1921. And the moments like our own of previous waxing squares were: 1986, 1965, 1945 and 1926.
What was released at the end of 2020 has reached a critical turning point. The opportunity is put before us to choose which way we will go now, either to rise with courage and faith, or to fall backwards because of fear.
The waxing square presents us with a challenge, whether we should choose one way or the other, or whether we can find a way to hold together two very different energy-forms, to find a way to blend two very different messages and ways of acting in order to meet this moment of the challenges laid before us, (and we must always remember that those real challenges are what we forged in the past by our prior actions and inactions).
The question posed by the square is in our case between Saturn in Pisces and Jupiter in Gemini. If we can find a way to hold them together, we will find the wisdom that is there on the middle path of spirit. If we choose to hold to one and deny the other, then we will likely fail to make the most of the choices we need to make.
Since Saturn is the “slower” moving planet in this pairing, we should consider that its meaning and message should shape and guide the expression of Jupiter as we face whatever challenge is before us. Saturn in Pisces reminds you of your ultimate test, which is that the only thing you have to fear is fear itself. That means if are you still a captive of fear, circumscribed by your own self-cast shadows and a fear-filled fatalist about your life, if this is so you will be unable to pierce through the cacophony of Jupiter in Gemini, with those countless points of views and distractions will lead you into a morass of half-truths and confusion.
But if you have begun to understand that you are a Creator/Dreamer, who has a living faith that is founded upon your Immortal spiritual nature, then you will know that you have nothing to fear whatsoever. Anchored by your higher self, you will be able to discern fact from fiction, truth from half-truths, and you will know in your heart and in your mind what you must do. You will see through the shadows and fog, and the bright shining light that is there within every one of us, the light sublime, Divine Unconditional Love, will inspire your thoughts and guide your steps as you meet the choices that 2024 will bring.
May the Light of Truth, Love and Understanding be with you all, now and forever more.
May it be.
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