The Winds of Spirit are shifting, so what lies ahead in 2025?
(If you wish to listen to the show instead, here is the link on BlogTalk or Apple Podcasts)
In our last show we took a look at the US Presidential candidates. Today, I thought we should pull back from our “here and now”, so that we might look further out in time to the larger shapers, influencers and guides of our present, to consider the spiritual forges of our future, the outer planetary changes that are arriving in 2025 and beyond.
It is certainly evident that the “winds of spirit” are changing next year, as the planetary shifts in both sign positions and their alignments with one another are, well, they are quite remarkable. It is not common to have more than one or two outer planets change sign positions in the same year. But in 2025, we are going to experience all of the outer planets transitioning from one sign to another. That is just simply not something that happens normally, and it certainly means that some great changes are before us now.
Here are the Astrology Sign shifts in our planetary brethren during 2025 into 2026:
Pluto completes its transition from Capricorn, where it has been since 2008 into Aquarius, where it will remain until 2044.
Neptune, transitioning from Pisces where it has been since 2011 into Aries, where it will remain until 2039.
Uranus, transitioning from Taurus where it has been since 2018 into Gemini, where it will remain until 2033.
Saturn, transitioning from Pisces where it has been since 2023 into Aries, where it will remain until 2028.
That is quite an unprecedented series of shifts for these lords of time and space, and I will go through them to explain the meaning for each of them, and also consider their interrelationship with one another too.
PLUTO
The move of Pluto from Capricorn to Aquarius seems most consequential to me. From 2008 until now, we have witnessed Pluto’s influence challenging the institutional order of our world. Whether in the root institutions of family structures, or in communities, and on up to corporations and nations, the world order that began when Pluto was last in the sign of Aries, from 1823 to 1853 had reached its limit of integrity and sustainability. After this struggle to maintain, reform and/or tear down this order of reality, we are left with two more periods of Pluto’s orbit before we will truly create and enter our next new world.
Yes, we will have Pluto in Aquarius from 2025 to 2044, which can be likened to what happened before from 1778 to 1798, and in the cycle before that from 1532 to 1553. It is the purpose of this phase in Aquarius for the world to work through and struggle over the ideals and dreams of the future, to work towards a new social order, a new form of community. These challenges of building a new world will lead to conflicts over what kind of future humanity will make for itself.
With Pluto ruling the Will and the root power of Alchemy, the struggle in Capricorn over the old order is one kind of battle, with the choice between to tear down or to preserve what had been the order since 1823. But now we will enter in Aquarius the struggle over the kind of future we wish to be part of, what kind of society and culture do we yearn for and seek to establish, and this will be the main issue over the next 20 years. It is not insignificant for us that the last time Pluto was in Aquarius, the sign of social consciousness and conscience, humans experienced the American Revolution and the French Revolution, where there was a fundamental restatement of what it means to be in a human society. In the United States we stated that “All Men are Created Equal”, and in France, there was the “Declaration of the Rights of Man and of the Citizen”. The liberal system of cultural and political order was founded in this period, and what we are now faced with is quite simply our attempt to begin to establish a new kind or type of society and institutional order, which is as yet unknown and unnamed.
But then, there is one more final phase, which is Pluto in Pisces, and that will be from 2044 to 2068, which we can liken to what happened from 1798 to 1823. This is the final phase of Pluto, and we will turn to the fundamental question of our faith in one another and face our fear of the unknown, and we will reach the final struggle to create a new world order, as we restore our faith and enter a new world of Will when Pluto enters Aries in 2068. What will happen during this final phase of Pluto in Pisces?
Well, what happened in that previous final phase of Pluto from 1798 to 1823? It was for Europe, the attempt by Napolean Bonaparte to impose this new liberal order by means of force, a liberal Empire achieved through wars in Western Europe, Eastern Europe, Africa, and finally but disastrously, and quite rightly too, given his very anti-liberal pursuit of imposing freedom upon others, ending in his self-defeat by his attempt to “liberate” Russia by conquest.
Perhaps we, and our descendants, will learn from these lessons of history, and much will depend upon what kind of world we will begin to create from 2024 to 2044.
NEPTUNE
Since 2011, the boundaries between all realms or dimensions have become much more permeable and translucent as Neptune moved through the realm that it rules, Pisces. The general perceptions of what it real, the agreements and understandings about reality among and between humans became very hard to determine and hold together, as the lines between facts and fictions, between truths, half-truths and lies, dissolved to such an extent that we now live in a world where “anything is possible, and nothing is true”. Individuals, groups and whole societies have taken it upon themselves to be the arbiters of fact and fiction, and illusions and delusions have permeated the minds and hearts of many.
Now, as Neptune enters the sign of Aries, we will begin a new cycle of Neptune that will continue until 2039 when it enters Taurus. What might this mean for us? Will the chaos and confusion of our recent pass give way to certainty and progress, or might that fire of Aries lead to extremes of passions and strident battles over what is truly true?
If we look at our time of Neptune in Pisces from 2011 to 2026 and compare it to the previous passage on Neptune in Pisces from 1847 to 1862, we will find resonances with our time. And perhaps we can then look at the previous passage of Neptune in Aries from 1862 to 1875 and see how that might give us some indication for what lies ahead.
The 1847 passage of Neptune in Pisces began with a series of “revolutions” in Europe in 1848, which were mostly contained or reversed, not unlike in our own period with the so-called “Arab Spring” revolutions of 2011, which also were turned back by reactionary forces, and the promise of more power of and for “the people” failed to realize its potential. During the 1850’s in the USA, we experienced the rising struggle over abolition, of individuals and communities battling for and against slavery as in “bloody Kansas” and other scenes of struggle, ultimately culminating in our Civil War. So, what did the entry of Neptune into Aries bring?
The passage of Neptune in Aries from 1862 to 1875 was consequential for much of the world. Aries is the spiritual vessel or seed for the new and the renewed, it certainly seems to have signaled that around the world. In Japan, the Meiji Restoration brought about the consolidation of Japan under imperial rule, and propelled Japan upon the path towards modernity, turning it from a feudal kingdom into a formidable industrial power in a matter of decades. In the Americas, the Civil War was won by the north, and as Lincoln declared, a rebirth or renewal of the dream of the United States had begun. In Europe, Germany unified as a country after the Franco-Prussian War, and around the world the march towards industrialization led to the proliferation of labor unions, to the struggle for fair pay and better conditions of work in the ever-expanding manufacturing centers around the world, and these developments also sparked the move of vast majority of people away from living in an agrarian and rural lifestyle and into the rise of major cities and urban culture.
We cannot know, but perhaps we might be able to imagine what our post-industrial world is about to move into, what seeds of the new or renewal we might see in our Neptune in Aries passage from now until 2039. Most evident to me, of course, is that we will be faced with the task of transforming the means of meeting our needs into a sustainable future for us, and truly for all other life-forms that are the light and the love of our dear planet. For what we have come to know, and it really is part of the eternal journey of spirit in all the sparks of the divine, in all their lives, realms and worlds that fill the cosmos, we have come to the truth that every part of creation is related to every other part. That it is by our wisdom and humility and love for all of Spirit-Life-Consciousness that we must find our way to being truly human, to live by love for all of Creation, and that this is the one true path of spiritual awakening and redemption.
I would like to note here something that I have mentioned before, with regards to the nature of the relationship of the orbits of Pluto and Neptune with one another. In every passage of Pluto in Capricorn, Neptune is either in Virgo, or Neptune is in Pisces, as it is now. And this is also true for Pluto in Aquarius as well, that either Neptune is in Libra, or as it will be in our time, Neptune will be in Aries. That means that if we consider the meanings formed by Pluto and Neptune together, our period of 2024 to 2044 will be more like the mid 1500’s than the late 1700’s. And that period of the mid-1500’s is considered by historians, especially considering Europe but also in other places around the world, that it was the time when the world as we know it now, what we call the modern world, first began to take form. I believe that this means that what we are moving into now is the end of what we have known as our “modern world”, and that we are going to moving into a very different type of world indeed, what should be a truly “new world”.
URANUS
Let us now bring into this mix the influence of Uranus, which I like to call “The Awakener”. Since 2018, Uranus has been moving through the sign of Taurus, which it did also from 1935 to 1942, and 1851 to 1859, and 1768 to 1775. Uranus holds the principle of Individuality, with its influence being brought to bear in a manner so that a more confined or limited form of realization can be transcended. Because the essential purpose behind creation, at the core of spiritual unfoldment is the insistent, irresistible imperative which is “to be and become”, forged by the unique spark of the divine that resides in every speck and mote of Creation. For all of Creation, for all that is which is Spirit-Life-Consciousness, the third principle of Creation holds us, one and all, to the path of becoming a truly unique or quintessential form of expression of the One True Light.
With regards to Uranus’ passage through Taurus, it was for us at this time, as it did in the late 1930’s, and the 1850’s, and the early 1770’s, it was the purpose of Uranus to elicit and herald a revolution in the hierarchies of value, in how we humans value one another, as well as how we value the world around us. Now Uranus’ passage through Gemini will bring an elicitation of transformation and change to the arena of mind and thought, to all the innumerable ways we connect within and around ourselves, transforming how and what we think, what we believe, which will form and shape our intentions and actions for the next 7 years.
Uranus will move into Gemini, beginning in 2025, though it will go back and forth into Taurus during the year, to finally remain in Gemini from 2026 until 2033. The most recent previous passages in Gemini are 1942 to 1949, 1859 to 1866, and 1775 to 1782. It is surely noted by many of you, I am sure, that those three periods for the USA, and for the world generally, were very consequential. After all, great world events shattered and rearranged the world in these periods, as in World War II, our Civil War and our Revolutionary War. That does not mean that we are fated to experience another great disruption in our time, for I do believe we are capable of responding to the energy-forms within and around us in a manner of our own choosing.
But we would be ignoring the lessons of history, and of our present self-made human conditions, to be so blindly self-assured as to assume that we are more advanced and aware than our ancestors, and that we will not, as they did, face some great disruption again. We can hope, and we should make every effort to turn towards one another with understanding and love and try to heal and restore ourselves and our planet, to work with these planetary influences in the most positive way that we can.
But to do so, we must remember these very conditions that we face now, it is we who have made them, some by intention but many were not, and mainly because of a lack of understanding and humility with regard to how we have fueled our modern life through an unsustainable means of living. Now, with vast populations being uprooted by the forces we have unleashed, the crisis we call “climate change” has forged a tsunami of discord and fear that is rising among a vast majority of humans.
But it was those very crises that accompanied Uranus in the 1700’s, the 1800’s and the 1900’s, it was by those challenges that tested systems and shattered old ways of thinking, it was this that produced or led to a new consciousness, to new thoughts and better understandings. And that is what will happen to us as well. Uranus in Gemini is precisely the time for thinking beyond our old assumptions, to show that our true intelligence is found by freeing our minds from the self-cast shadows of certainties and fears that divide us from within, and equally divide us from one another too.
SATURN
Finally, we have Saturn, which just like Neptune is spending 2025 going back and forth between the end of Pisces and the beginning of Aries, and this sets up something that is quite remarkable for this pivotal year, and I do believe, may provide some greater measure of hope for how we will meet our moment of destiny. All the outer planets, from Pluto to Saturn, all of them will be forming a beautiful pattern of interrelationship with each other during 2025. All of the outer planets will be aligned in one third of space, 120 degrees of the Zodiac, from the perspective of Earth, from Pluto at the beginning of Aquarius at one end, to Uranus at the beginning of Gemini at the other, and exactly midway between them, we will have Saturn and Neptune at the beginning of Aries.
This is something special, and the Astrological name for it is a Sextile-Trine-Sextile, with our example being the Trine or 120 degrees between Pluto and Uranus, which is anchored and made manifest through the Sextile of 60 degrees of Pluto to Saturn/Neptune on one side, and by the Sextile of Uranus to Saturn/Neptune on the other side.
The defining Trine of Uranus to Pluto represents a particular moment in their 127-year cycle of relationship, which I see as holding the lessons and spiritual tenson between Freedom and Free Thinking (Uranus) versus Sacred Space and Willpower (Pluto). Their last cycle began at their conjunction in 1965 to 1968 and reached a critical turning point at their waxing square in 2012 to 2015. This Trine, this moment now, can or should be a moment where we may find some way or ways of holding these two principles together, of humans finding a balance between Individuality and Union, so that we have even Freer Minds and also preserve our Sacred Spaces.
And the specific space or place of activation and anchoring of this very special moment is being formed by the beginning of this new Saturn-Neptune cycle, which is released by their conjunction during 2025 into early 2026. Their cycle of relationship is 36 years, with their previous conjunctions being 1989, 1952-53, 1917, and 1882. I call their cycle of relationship as being the dance of spirit that holds or weaves together Reality (Saturn) and Dreams (Neptune).
The Saturn/Neptune conjunction in Aries represents a moment where reality is infused with a new dream, and it can and should be equally a time when a dream that seemed beyond reach becomes a reality. What this means, I believe, is that the Uranus to Pluto trine will be modulated, perhaps “blessed”, by Neptune forming a sextile to both of them, and equally grounded and made manifest by Saturn’s sextile to Uranus and Pluto too.
The “winds of the spirit” are changing this year, and the very real challenges we face, whether they be environmental, technological, or even epistemological, or in truth and in sum, all of these spiritual challenges have as their root cause that they were all made by us humans…and therein lies our hope, and I believe it is where can find our faith.
The future is not written or foreordained, for we are each of us forging some part of it each and every moment, and we do this in that space where we only exist throughout our entire journey, which is in the “eternal now”. The past is behind us, the future not yet made. At each moment in the eternal now we must be alert to what might be needed from us to redeem our past and make a better future too.
This is the message and lesson of Aries, the sign of new beginnings, the sign of the eternal now.
What matters is what you and I do next. This is the living source of our faith and of our hopes fulfilled, because we can choose, it is our choice as to how we will face and meet the next moment, and the next, and the next, and what we must do is be fully present in each moment, guided by caring intentions and loving actions.
This is the way of spirit; this is the way of the One.
