A shorter version of this article has been published in the Uki Village News issue 121, December 2021 – January 2022.
Last eclipse season for 2021 and last pass of the Saturn-Uranus’
to farewell another difficult year
The Sagittarius Solar Eclipse (December 4, 6.42 pm, dls), connected to Uranus, planet of revolutions and upheaval, will be a rather special New Moon, setting the tone not just for the month ahead but for the next six months or more. The adventurous Sagittarius New Moon, occurring around this time every year, marks usually a time when we are eager to turn a page on the past, feeling ready to embrace the future with renewed optimism and vision; time for aspiring New Year resolutions, seldom destined to withstand the test of time. This time the Moon is eclipsed while, due to the collective experiences of the past two years, we feel more impatient than usual to move ahead. The Sun and Moon, during the Solar Eclipse, will also connect directly with Uranus, planet of revolutions and upheaval (extremely close 150 degrees or inconjunct aspects). Again, finding ways to moderate extremes of feelings and passions will be a must in the coming months, to maintain a modicum of peace and harmony in our lives.
Because the third/last pass of the Saturn-Uranus square is still approaching (Christmas Eve) our impatience will be yet tested by limiting circumstances (Saturn’s effect) but also fired up by a spirit of rebellion (Uranus’ effect). This significant transit, that permeated the whole of 2021, remains influential, especially because it occurs around the Capricorn Solstice, heralding the New Year. Must this still be a recipe for frustration and antagonism? Or an opportunity to find a healthy medium between social responsibilities and our innate desire for self-determination?
For sure, next year the challenging right angle between Saturn and Uranus will be over, getting closer again in September-October but not becoming exact again. Jupiter though, transiting Pisces on and off in the coming year, will form difficult if minor angles with both Saturn and Uranus (semi-squares). It could then, in 2022 and early 2023, become an agent for those two sworn enemies’ ongoing feud.
Hopefully Jupiter in adaptable Pisces could also play the role of a deal-breaker, by providing greater tolerance of differences, with the ability to forgive and move on.
The Retrogradation of Venus in Capricorn
This loop takes place every eighteen months or so and represents an opportunity for self reflection in the area of relationships. One of the major consequences of this transit will be to greatly intensify and extend in time the effect of a Venus-Pluto conjunction. The Retrogradation will last from December 19 2021 to January 29 2022, while Venus transits backward between 26th/11th degrees of Capricorn. Usually a yearly transit that remains active for just a few days, this time the conjunction will repeat three times: on December 12-25, and again on March 4 2022.
These events could shape our attitude on relationships and love (Venus), presenting to us in a revealing light some recurrent negative patterns we experience, while also providing us with the psychological tools to tackle them. In particular matters of shared assets and/or finances could come to the fore, as well as issues of control, jealousy, repressed resentments, perhaps feelings and thoughts that have remained hidden for a while or that, for peace sake, we have evaded so far (Pluto). What are we seeking from those who are close to us? What are they looking for in us? This is not time to be content with superficial answers. Not only there is a need to be more realistic (Capricorn), but to be also ruthlessly honest, first of all with ourselves (Pluto).
2022 Jupiter’s journey between worlds: from Pisces to Aries and back again
Just as the year ends, on December 29, Jupiter will be moving into Pisces and transit this last Zodiacal Sign until May 11, when it will enter Aries, first in the sequence. Due to Retrogradation it will re-enter Pisces again, just for a few days, between October 28 and December 21.
Jupiter is well placed in Pisces, having been associated with this Sign since antiquity.
In Pisces the philosophical function that Jupiter represents merges with our collective longing for spirituality, unity and compassion. It could be especially so in 2022, because Neptune, the metaphysical function within our collective psyche, is also still transiting Pisces (until 2025) and Jupiter will become conjunct Neptune on April 13. Regrettably there will be only one pass of this beautiful transit, enough hopefully to inspire the collective to embrace non judgemental, non divisive ways to deal with each other and our ailing blue planet.
It has been this year that pharmaceutical companies began to make public some of the positive results of new anti-viral drugs, while some of those have already become available to help in the fight against covid19. Jupiter has already entered Pisces earlier this year (May 14 to July 28). This synchronicity could be a sign that Jupiter’s return into Pisces at the end of December will bring some improvement and progress in these areas too, Pisces being the Sign of drugs and medications and Jupiter the planet of expansion and optimism.
The transits of Jupiter through Pisces could also encourage the grassroots involvement of people from all walks of life in the fight against environmental crimes and neglect. Many will respond more readily to the calls for help the natural environment and its creatures have been sending us for a very long time.
When in Aries (May 11 2022 to October 28 2023) Jupiter will be likely to inspire us to embrace a more militant mindset, eager to change the world. Actions will speak louder than words, our collective mind expanding by being more courageous and driven.
Pluto in Capricorn square Eris in Aries
Another positive change happening now is the near end of Pluto’s square to Eris, a very difficult transit, active since 2019/20. This aspect has been a powerful ingredient of the extreme experiences we have had during the last couple of years.
Eris (at first known as Xena) is a dwarf planet, only discovered in 2005, orbiting the outer reaches of the solar system, at three times the distance of Pluto from our Earth. Eris is part of the so called Kuiper Belt of which Pluto is also a member. Its orbit around the Sun is a very slow 558 years! Due to its extremely elliptical orbit Eris spends different lengths of time in each Sign. Eris is not just a generational planet but rather a multi-generational planet. For instance Eris is now transiting Aries, having entered this Sign in 1926. It will be 2048 before she leaves Aries to enter Taurus. Its influence then has more to do with slow historical trends, developing over centuries, rather than specific events within a number of months or years.
Who is Eris astrologically? She was the Greek Goddess of strife and discord, wicked sister of sweet Harmonia, Goddess of peace and harmony, and of ferocious war mongering Ares (Mars).
After the discovery of Eris and other dwarf planets (within the space that is now known as the Kuiper belt) astronomers decided to demote Pluto from its status as planet to dwarf planet. The first effect of her introduction in the planetary pantheon was thus to disrupt the status quo, creating controversies that are still raging today. Many astrologers have found fault particularly in the demotion of Pluto, fact that seems to somehow belittle its amply proven impact on our lives.
Curiously the same name of Eris was also given to another, not so unpleasant Goddess, who presided over good works, in particular cultivation of the land. She exerted her power by stirring people into action when they compared themselves to more successful and ambitious neighbours!
Both forms of Eris were known for causing some form of strife, but while one was mainly negative, encouraging violence for violence sake and pitiless if righteous revenge, the other Eris had a more constructive role.
Of course there is a very positive and evolutionary role for the first Eris to play too, in particular regarding the emancipation of women and their still fierce battle against misogyny and inequality. While transiting Aries this Goddess has taken a more militant form, pro-active and courageous rather than just vengeful. Seeking revenge can be viewed in fact as a form of passive aggression, when direct opposition is not an option.
After the profound crisis caused by the First World War, during which many women took on more masculine roles, in the absence of husbands, fathers and brothers figures, the 20s ushered a time of greater freedom for women, continuing unabated to the present day. A good example, now part of the history books, was the massive and global Women Marches of January 2017 (estimated five million worldwide), when revolutionary Uranus became conjunct to Eris (transit active from June 2016 to March 2017).
In 2020 and 2021 the difficult angle between Pluto (ultimate experiences, power abuses, trauma) and blood-thirsty Eris contributed, together with other cosmic clashes, to the discord and violence that spread all over the globe, not just in response to the pandemic measures, but also via proliferation of conflicts in countries fighting for basic democratic rights and social justice, as well as governments’ fierce resistance to relinquish their grip on power.
Furthermore, due to the dramatic tension between Pluto and Eris, much corruption and dirty secrets have been revealed, with major beneficial results. The same transit though has also fomented much paranoia and misguided mistrust among people and people/governments/main stream/social media, wrecking more havoc that has added to the pandemic many challenges.
Pluto is still close to the square aspect but it will not return to it in 2022 or for the foreseeable future.
2022 and beyond
2022 seems to be a transition year for the world, hopefully less eventful and unsettling; said that, many astrologers, including myself, have been prematurely optimist before. We really need to wait and see how long and how severe the global crisis will still be.
For a while now some extraordinary planetary dynamics have been pointing out at spectacular shifts impending on the world, on many levels. These cannot be summed up just by few dramatic events, but they will be rather part of a long drawn and difficult process of transformation and rebirth.
In my view the existential treat of the climate crisis, with an ever more populated world scrambling for resources, is at the root of our collective angst. This pandemic and possible future ones are just symptoms of the general malaise the world is suffering from: the lack of the spiritual values needed to turn things around and speed up our human evolution.
All we can say is that the effects of the dramatic 2020/21 transits are still lingering, but no major alignments will be activated in 2022.
Amazing cosmic shifts loom in the future though: Saturn will enter Pisces in 2023; Pluto Aquarius, in 2023/24; Neptune Aries and Uranus Gemini, in 2025; and Chiron Taurus in 2026. Pluto’s exit from Capricorn many astrologers consider to be particularly significant when looking for an end to the pandemic crisis, with all its dark connotations.
The world could indeed look like a different place when all of the above have come to pass.
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