Thursday’s new Moon in Scorpio and Friday’s sign changes for Venus and Mercury are set to amplify larger trends. The Saturn Uranus squares in fixed signs have been a hallmark of 2021. As those two powerhouse planets remain in tight alignment through 2022, many of the conditions set this year will cement. For the past two months, as the personal planets cycled through Virgo and Libra, the fixed sign friction has receded, a bit. But the Sun’s entrance in Scorpio on October 23rd put the element of fixed water on the table, and set the Sun on a course for squares to Saturn and Jupiter and an opposition to Uranus. That opposition will be exact on November 4th, the day of the new Scorpio Moon. This also positions the Moon in opposition to astrology’s change maker. Further, that new Moon will reach its zenith on November 19th, the date of the first in the incoming series of Taurus/Scorpio eclipses. Dialing up the intensity, driving Mars entered Scorpio on October 30th. It will square Saturn on November 10th, oppose Uranus on the 17th, two days ahead of that eclipse, and square Jupiter on December 7th. Once Mercury moves into Scorpio on Friday, it will run the same gauntlet. In fact, a few hours before Mercury will square restrictive Saturn on November 10th, it will conjoin Mars.That meeting is analogous to two generals conferring on battle strategies. To say that Saturn isn’t accustomed to taking orders is an understatement. It implements order. Translation: November 10th isn’t an ideal day for picking fights. If initiated around this time, conflicts will likely be protracted and end up fraught with unforeseen twists and turns (thank you Uranus). All of the tension will be adding fuel to December 24th’s third Saturn Uranus square. A day later, December 25th, a newly retrograde Venus will conjoin Pluto. With Venus entering Saturn’s home sign of Capricorn for an unusually long stay, Saturn’s fingerprints will be all over the next four months, and beyond.
Pessimistic, moody and melancholic, Capricorn is not where the warm and fuzzies hang out. Hopes that the planet of beauty and pleasure can infuse the industrious sign with cheer, and yield constructive accomplishments, are not unfounded. Capricorn is ambitious and materialistic, and its regard for earned rewards compliments Venus’s appreciation of money. That said, the oncoming Venus retrograde, from December 19th through January 29, 2022, with its gravitational center conjunct Capricorn-based Pluto, suggests a destructive undertow being added to fixed sign entrenchments. Ruthless, transformative Pluto is of course Scorpio’s ruler. So its presence is already resonating with the Sun and Mars, and soon will be with that new Scorpio Moon and Mercury. The coming Venus transit of serious, sober Cap will last through March 6, 2022. Interestingly enough, on that same day, Mars will also exit Capricorn and enter Aquarius. Stoic, enduring Saturn will be waiting for them.
