The Sun’s entrance into Aquarius on January 19th is a portal into the essence of 2026. Modern astrologers consider erratic, innovative Uranus to be the ruling planet of the fixed air sign, and once Uranus moves into Gemini, on April 25th, the electrical currents flowing between these fast-moving air signs will surge. Before then, Pluto’s presence in Aquarius will immediately make itself known, as the Sun, Mercury, Venus and Mars all conjoin the purifying planet from January 22nd to the 27th. In late 2024, transfiguring Pluto settled into revolutionary Aquarius for a stay that will last until 2043. As the inner planets touch base with the powerhouse planet, Neptune will ingress into Aries on January 26th for a 12-year-transit. Lastly on the topic of Aquarius, the year’s first eclipse will take place on February 17th at 28° Aquarius 50′. This is part of the shift of the lunar nodes and eclipses, from the Pisces/Virgo axis to the Leo/Aquarius one, occurring from February 2026 through February 2027.
On February 13th Saturn will follow Neptune into Aries as the two head for their February 20th conjunction at 0° Aries 45′. The last Saturn Neptune conjunctions took place in 1989, a year that included the Exxon Valdez oil spill, the Tiananmen Square massacre, the invention of the world wide web, the fall of the Berlin Wall, and the invasion of Panama and capture of President Manuel Noriega by the United States. Saturn’s two previous Aries transits took place from April 1996 to February 1999 and from March 1967 to April 1969. The Uranus Pluto conjunctions of the mid-sixties are strongly associated with the tremendous social upheaval of that decade. While they were substantially influential, Saturn’s presence should not be underestimated. 1968 began with the Tet Offensive, a stunning military defeat for US troops in Vietnam, and one that foreshadowed the war’s ultimate course. On March 31, President Johnson announced that he would not seek re-election. On April 4th Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. was assassinated, as was Robert F. Kennedy on June 6th. The National Democratic Convention took place in late August in Chicago, and is still considered to be one of the most violent in the nation’s history. Saturn will remain in Aries until April 12, 2028. In terms of Neptune’s history in Aries, aside from its brief visit in contentious 2025, from March to October, its last full transit of the Mars-ruled sign was from 1861-1875, the period that coincides with America’s Civil War. This time the planet of illusion and spirituality will be in the cardinal fire sign until 2038. Becoming comfortable with, or at least familiar with, the element of fire and an ability to positively direct and apply impulses is the work of the next twelve years, and a baptism by fire of sorts is set for spring. Before that, Mercury will undergo its first retrograde of the year, from February 26th to March 20th, spanning 22° Pisces 34′ back to 8° Pisces 30′, and Jupiter will station direct on March 11th. The exuberant, inflationary planet will then begin its trek towards the fixed fire sign of Leo, with its entrance scheduled for June 30th.