Navigating the current Planetary and Earthly changes!
There is a lot going on right now for many of us personally, not to mention the impact of huge collective events, including storms, wars, financial and political challenges… At times I feel completely overwhelmed, and then my Virgo Ascendant kicks in to try and make some sense of the perceived chaos, so that meaning and trust, can replace powerlessness – at least some of the time! Maybe some of these thoughts can be of some help to you.
As above – so below – so let’s start with some key planetary movements!
1. Neptune Stationary Retrograde at 29° Pisces 55, July 1 – Dec. 6, 2024
Neptune goes symbolically retrograde once a year for almost half of the year, so we are well used to this occurring. This year is a little different as it’s going Retrograde at 29° - the Anaretic degree! This last degree of a sign, is a final opportunity for the planet to do a major clear-out of anything unfinished from its journey through that sign.
Neptune’s modus operandi is to dissolve whatever is no longer viable for our evolution. In Pisces, it is dissolving illusions, delusions, fantasies, and co-dependencies, that prevent us connecting to our fundamental spiritual selves and the truth which is that at our core we are all beings of unconditional love. The dissolution can occur in the realm of illusory beliefs, including religious beliefs, relationships, ideas, and concepts…
Neptune has been at 29° since May 3rd 2024. Have you noticed a dissolving of any of the above? This current Retrograde phase invites us to allow previously unconscious and dormant illusions and delusions to surface, so that we can release them. Dreams, meditation, and working with our intuition and imagination, can support this process.
Neptune travels direct at this anaretic degree from March 3rd 2025, until it dips into Aries for the first time on March 30th. This will create a huge new energy shift, giving us a taster of the next 12 and a half years. It’s short lived though, as it goes Retrograde again in Pisces for the last time from Oct. 10th 2025, until Jan 28th. 2026.
The final retrograde of Neptune at 29° Pisces in our lifetime, will be from Oct. 22nd 2025 – Dec. 8th 2025! This gives us a last opportunity to revisit issues that remain unfinished from the current retrograde, and from the start of Neptune’s journey through Pisces in April 2011! How have your beliefs changed over the past 13 years?
In the midst of this clearing out process, we are also starting to feel the change in energy of Neptune moving into fiery Aries. The dissolving in this first sign of the Zodiac, is likely to be concerned with the use or misuse of our will, survival instinct, life force, courage, resilience and drive… Issues that may arise include: are we protecting the most vulnerable? Where are we wasting our energies on pointless fighting? Are we owning our power? What does fairness mean to us? What is the role of a fair leader? What is leading us – our ego or our heart?
2. Pluto’s last blast through Capricorn!
No doubt, course attendees and clients, are fed up with hearing me talk about Pluto going back into Capricorn for a last hurrah from Sept. 2nd – Nov. 19th 2024! Yet again, this is Pluto’s opportunity to clear the decks of final debris from its travels in Capricorn, which started in Nov. 2028. Unlike Neptune’s rather mystifying, foggy, watery, energies, I often describe Pluto more as a heavy excavator. Its task is to dig and excavate right to the core of any toxicity that is blocking our evolution as a species, and as a planet. In Capricorn, the excavation has been to our core structures, both individually and collectively, including political, educational, financial, relational, scientific…What structures have changed in your life since Nov. 2008 – housing, relationships, work, country, sexuality, gender, family…?
This last visit of Pluto in Capricorn, offers us a rich opportunity to clear the decks of any structures in our lives that are no longer authentic to who we are, and to our individual and collective growth. Meanwhile, we are getting a taster of the excavating that Pluto in Aquarius is likely to bring to ideals, ideas, and groups, that are no longer viable.
It’s impossible not to notice the synchronous overlap between the work of Neptune in Aries, Pluto in Aquarius, and Uranus in Gemini, (July 2025 - more on this in another post)! As always, we all have free will to navigate these energies at their most expansive, or most limited potential, both personally and collectively!
3. Saturn in Pisces. March 7, 2023 – May 24 – 2024, & Sept. 1, 2025 – Feb 13, 2026
As spiritual beings in a human body that requires grounding on this planet, Saturn can be of huge assistance, particularly during times of major transition, such as now! However, it’s interesting that the invitation, as it travels through Pisces, is to find our grounding and source of integrity and truth, through our intuition, and to find ways to manifest it in our lives. How many of you are finding that your intuitive skills have been expanding, particularly sinch March 2023?
Some basic tools to navigate these energies:
Taking time out to just breathe!
Laughter expands joy within us and for our loved ones
Playfulness helps us find new creative solutions
General physical self-care nourishes our body – healthy food, exercise we enjoy, rest, sleep, fresh air
Meditation reconnects us to our spiritual and intuitive self, and reminds us that we are not alone
Connecting with our tribe
If in doubt, tuning into our heart energy reconnects us with our truth, including our purpose and meaning
Remembering that love is always the answer – regardless of the personal or collective challenge we are facing!
- Margaret Gray