​by David A. Wheatley, January 19, 2026

On January 26th, Neptune reenters Aries without an aspect from any of the commonly referred to inner planets.
Inner planets are inside the orbit of Jupiter towards the Sun. When they aspect the abstract outer planets, the inner planets provide an avenue of expression for big planetary energies into our smaller-frame Earthly consciousness. They express psychologically and in projected forms. We unconsciously or sometimes consciously bring about the character of expression from a transit of Neptune, Uranus, or Pluto when one of the inner planets makes an aspect to our personal natal chart.  The Moon and the smaller inner planets (Mars, Venus, and Mercury) are triggers that bring vast energies down into Earth consciousness.  

On January 22nd, four days on the calendar before the advance of Neptune to zero degrees of Aries, the Moon swung over Neptune as it was about to enter Aries. As a catalyst to the vast potential influence of subtle Neptune, the Moon, for the hours it is in conjunction with Neptune, affects everyone according to how sensitive they are.
How or in what way do we feel it? It's not important to be watching your clock because the influence will precede the conjunction by a day and follow it by something a little less.

​Neptune changes as it enters Aries

From Neptune's point of view, it's tragically leaving Pisces, where, by nature, it had the most freedom to express itself in our psyche, where it prefers to be if it could tell us. Neptune in Aries loses in breadth and depth to become a bonded servant to the nature of Aries. For some people, this is a relief, because in Pisces, Neptune had no boundaries, no borders, a vague reality anyone could shape. Swimming in the open sea. In Aries, it's suddenly limited in width and depth, shifted into a small pond. But some people will be happier with this, welcoming the fewer things to think about. Aries is about doing, not imagining. 

There is a shift down to something less expansive (Aries), and we believe it’s more controllable. For some people, there is a sense of reassurance in focusing on what we have to do without adding more; by catching up on and cleaning up unfinished business we already have in front of us. 
For other people, the departure of Neptune from Pisces is a little melancholy. These people liked the endless possibilities or choices, compared to the tighter focus Aries imposes on vast ideas. Aries focuses on immediate short-term needs and immediate solutions; fewer choices, more clarity, and real consequences. How do ideas work when they manifest in reality?  How well did we plan? Did we plan at all, or just depend on Neptune in Pisces to come up with something? 

​This is what changes in Aries. We see how well things we imagined actually worked out. It sinks in that the actual reality is rarely as spectacular as the ideal. There's a need to adapt, edit, tweak, and customize. The scope of vision goes from very wide to more narrow. Reality tells us what works, how well it works, and what might need to be reworked. Evidence and consequences reveal a need to make adjustments. 
​
The Moon, as a catalyst with Neptune, is about feeling. It’s not so much about any specific event. Awareness is changed by gaining a narrower focus on practical applications. It's different, not better. The catalyst for this could be an expression of the Moon's influence, an act of subconsciousness otherwise called an accident. Rational explanations fail, but something might happen that expresses a subconscious desire shared by most people, a shared desire for nurturing and care that alters the consensus. Something that evokes a shared history, humanity's legacies, whether remembered or forgotten; it's something evocative in humanity's collective subconscious.

There's a collective sense of the new, smaller frame we have to fit into. Suddenly, we don't fit the frame of reference we were in. Things feel wrong. We look around at the metaphorical furniture in a suddenly smaller room, and there's a lot going on that some of us didn't notice before. Maybe there's too much going on. Time to edit the room and make sense of it. Aries ability to focus on specific tasks is very different from Pisces virtue of embracing everything. Aries is the beginning of the 12-sign cycle, a kind of birthing moment. 

Then, Saturn catches up with Neptune in Aries

​On Friday, February 13, Saturn arrives in Aries and catches up with slower-moving Neptune. Both planets begin their conjunction, which ends at the end of February. No inner planet will conjunct them while they make their conjunction, other than the Moon, between February 19-20. And again, the Moon is evoking a subconscious yearning, a reminder, or for some, a rebirth of something lost or forgotten. What Saturn adds to this period is more than just a feeling; it's an acceptance of excesses that must be reined in because something structural has failed. The legal system itself has failed. The government has failed. The supports we thought were built-in failed. It all must be rebuilt. Saturn in Aries sets about doing this expeditiously. Saturn will be working on this for two years while in Aries before leaving to enter Taurus, when we begin to come to terms with the costs to governments and to the planet. 
The Moon's conjunction with Neptune and Saturn for the second time is a reminder of our basic internal program of soul needs based on solid ground under our feet. The rhythms of the lunar body are woven into life on Earth, and we are reminded, like a slap in the face, that in fact we need them to be respected. 
We grow very aware of something lost. We feel the reality of Saturn and the tragic realization that, for some, the dream is a nightmare populated by characters of our own making. The Moon is our subconscious, and we realize that our projections of subconscious material have created a reality harshly different from what we believed. A pattern we've experienced before is repeated, possibly a major virus. We aren't getting away with spinning it as a fake threat. Saturn in Aries is about being completely real. Saturn and Neptune together have in the past often come with a major virus, plague, or epidemic, and a vaccine. There's also a heightened frequency of war, and in the USA, internal wars. 
The purpose cosmically of a breakdown in structure and a major shift of our perception of reality is upsetting because it's a big change. Reality is what we believe it to be, and our beliefs change now with the contrasting difference of two major planets leaving Pisces and entering Aries together. 

Time to make room for something new. This period of renewal and rebuilding will eventually be supported by very positive innovation coming from Pluto and Uranus. But in order for it to mean something and to find the inspiration to last, an experience of our own creation that stimulates and drives us forward will swamp what we thought we knew. 

Saturn in Aries is not so much dreaming about or indulging in hopes of all kinds; it's acting on beliefs. Saturn in Aries is direct and unhesitant. It lays down the law and challenges people to accept it. Saturn may be the devil, but the point the devil brings to the forefront is: this is reality, what are you going to do about it? This devil asks you to prove what you say you believe in. Can your values withstand the challenge or be refined? Or will they resist and whither? This is the whole point:  prove what you believe in now - do the ideas work or not.  Saturn and Neptune in Aries show what works and what doesn't. In Pisces, ideas thrive because they don't have to prove themselves; it's a matter of taste, opinion, etc. In Aries ideas survive if they work. With Neptune present, there's a feeling of depression that ideals prove unrealistic, unworkable. 
​
By finding out what works as a society, everyone will see what can survive and what doesn't. Saturn will, as it always does, lay out a process of purging of things that worked in Pisces but aren't working now. 

By the end of March, Saturn departs the conjunction with Neptune, continuing with its new freedom to set new rules after previously swimming around in Pisces where it was unable to confront fantasy with facts.  As Neptune slowly moves forward in early Aries, Saturn goes ahead to later conjunct Chiron and Eris, when Saturn will make us all face deep wounds, abuse, and neglect. The meeting with Eris is likely to cause conflict, strife, war, and hardship. Temper tantrums.  (For more about Eris, see last month's article at this link.)
As for changes that impact us in a dramatic way yet outside our control, the transit of Uranus out of Taurus and into Gemini is going to produce fireworks and lots to talk about soon; the end of April.

​We await more data analysis on 3I Atlas, which was to be released by NASA in January. It's on its way to Jupiter and arrives mid-March, more or less.
There are many more opinions now that 3I Atlas is no more than a remarkable comet from outside the solar system. It will remain in the solar system far beyond our lifetime because of the distance to the outer edges, and so from an astrological point of view, it remains a vehicle for the psyche to express through, as does every planet, moon, asteroid, comet, and the Sun in this solar system. The psyche uses everything. Physical matter made of water/ice and minerals transiting the star we call our Sun have living energy within them if not the seed requirements for physical life. 

​As far as I'm concerned, 3I Atlas is an active element playing an unknown part in the body of an individual's astrological chart. I'd be interested if anyone else has any thoughts about it. 

​Comments welcome.
​David can be reached at [email protected] for a personal astrological consultation.
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by David A. Wheatley, January 1, 2026

The Year of the Horse
Overview of Charts: Ukraine, Russia, Vladmir Putin, Donald Trump, USA
ERIS
PREDICTIONS

​A year ago, I looked at the natal chart for Ukraine and wrinkled my brow. Astrologically, 2025 was going to be a tough year for them to survive. And they have. Vladimir Putin and Russia’s chart also had perils, but Putin’s chart was fortified by his natal strengths. (Later in this article, I have included a forecast looking at this situation.)

Chinese astrology is different from Western and Vedic astrology. Chinese astrology is a repeating 12-year cycle of animals in one of the five rotating elements: Earth, Air, Fire, Water, and Metal. In the Western traditions, there are only four elements; the same but without Metal.  In Chinese astrology, the fifth element, Metal, could be equated with ether, the plane or environment of subtle energy and intuition. This is a step away from the other four tangible elements from the 3D world of physicality. In traditional Chinese medicine, Metal is associated with the lungs and large intestine, largely because these organs are involved in eliminating toxins and in purifying or refining the processes of other elements in the body.

​The Fire Horse is action-oriented; like all fire, it consumes in the act of expression. It transforms the substance it contacts back into molecules and energy, which can be used to serve other purposes. The Fire Horse acts to define itself as independent, acting for its own interests generally. In reality, no individual exists entirely independently, and the belief that there is such a thing as independence is a matter of degree. Fire requires oxygen; it isn’t independent.
The Fire Horse is absorbed with its own expression, which can blind it, and it can miss opportunities in what is being passed by. The possibilities for turbulence in the Fire Horse year are high. Wildly fluctuating energies manifested in every area of life are possible, including in the investment world. Surges up and down. Opportunities.
Other than the Wood Horse, all Horse elements are characterized by energetic outgoing energy in motion. The Wood Horse is the more stable of the five elements, but 2026 is not a Wood Horse year. All the Horses are admired by others. Horse energy tends not to stand still and is restless to fulfill itself in motion. The Fire Horse is visually admirable. It’s said to be full of passion but can also manifest as self-absorption. A horse that might not saddle well. In such a year, the direction things take place in the world seems erratic. There’s lots of activity and things seem to be happening, though it's hard to define if the purpose has good legs under it. Plans seem patchy. Activity may result in something remarkable if not startling or upsetting, even without an intention to be any of those things. Passion can be connected to a higher purpose; it can inspire action, but it can also trample things in its path.
In Chinese tradition, the Red Horse year can bring fundamental change with turmoil. The last Red Horse year was 1966 and brought Mao’s Cultural Revolution and a long struggle. Revolutions follow a crisis, and the dust doesn’t settle for a while. If there were a war over Taiwan that went badly for Beijing, that could be one example, or a large natural catastrophe undermining confidence in national leadership, and a change of leadership direction.
Individuals born in 1966 are mostly Fire Horses, although the Chinese lunar-based calendar only overlaps and is not identical to the Western 12-month Julian calendar. 

​1906 saw the first powered aircraft. US intervention in Cuba. The British Empire faced violent uprisings in Egypt and South Africa.

Earthquakes in 1906:

The 1906 Ecuador-Colombia Earthquake (January 31): Magnitude: Estimated 8.8.
Tectonic Setting: A megathrust earthquake on the boundary between the Nazca and South American plates.
Impact: Generated significant tsunamis and caused widespread destruction in coastal Ecuador and Colombia. 

The 1906 San Francisco Earthquake (April 18): Magnitude: Around 7.9.
Epicenter: Near San Francisco, along the San Andreas Fault.
Impact: Lasted 45-60 seconds, causing immense shaking, but the subsequent fires (due to broken gas lines and water main breaks) caused most damage, destroying over 28,000 buildings and leaving 250,000 homeless.
Casualties: Estimated 3,000+ deaths.
Felt Area: From southern Oregon to Los Angeles and inland to Nevada. 

Other Notable 1906 Earthquakes: A significant M 6.7 aftershock occurred west of Eureka, California, on April 23, 1906.

1966 was a year of protest in the USA about getting deeper into the Vietnam War. It was the rolling out of Mao’s Revolution in China. It was the beginning of Miranda Rights, Civil Rights, and the Medicare Act. A political leader was assassinated in South Africa in the struggle against the apartheid system.

Earthquakes in 1966:

Xingtai, China (Mar 8): A magnitude 7.2 earthquake caused extensive damage and over 100 fatalities.
 
Hualien, Taiwan (Mar 12): An 8.0 magnitude earthquake resulted in some deaths and injuries, according to Wikipedia.
 
Tashkent, USSR (Apr 26): A shallow 5.2 magnitude quake caused serious damage to the city center, destroying buildings and leaving many homeless, though casualties were relatively low due to the earthquake's nature, according to YouTube.

Parkfield, California (June 28): A magnitude 5.6 earthquake on the famous fault, known for its predictable recurrence, caused little damage due to sparse population but showed clear fault rupture.

Turkey (Varto - Aug 19): A magnitude 6.8 earthquake led to nearly 2,400 deaths, making it the deadliest of the year, notes Wikipedia.
 
Peru (Oct 17): An 8.1 magnitude earthquake caused destruction in coastal areas, killing over 100 people, injuring thousands, and resulting in significant damage, with maximum intensity reaching MMI IX.

​In Pisces, we seem to have a lot of time for decisions and consequences to find their shape in reality, if they ever do. But in Aries, decisions and consequences will take shape more quickly, perhaps because the need is immediate. 

2026 is a much better year for Ukraine.
In the last two-plus years, Pluto was conjunct Ukraine’s natal Saturn. This is really tough in any chart. The grinding down of Pluto to expose the raw essence of what is of value. Pluto exposes corruption that was hidden. It has to expose it to erode old structure and to clarify what is worth saving.
As 2026 begins, Pluto begins to transit away from natal Saturn in Ukraine’s chart. This destructive pressure eases off.
Transiting Venus conjuncts Ukraine’s natal Neptune and Uranus, and later its North Nodes. This is a feeling of hope and sudden new historic possibilities, probably in the form of a peace agreement, followed by what seems like the laying down of an historical concept of a new future. Venus brings an atmosphere in which a hopeful peace is possible.
Venus also makes a sextile to Ukraine’s natal Pluto at this time, possibly in the 9th house. This is a powerful support from a foreign power to the belief in the Venus inspired hope. But Venus by itself is overpowered by Pluto. This reminds me of the myth of Persephone (Venus) who strikes an agreement to ward off a war among the gods because Hades (Pluto) had abducted her, coveted her, was obsessed with possessing her beauty. This is Putin, obsessed with possessing Ukraine. In myth, Persephone injects herself into her parents’ arguing and haggling with Hades, and volunteers to surrender part of her freedom, allowing Hades/Pluto to dominate and possess her for part of every year, thus Hades wins.
Venus isn’t enough to make the outer planet Pluto bend to its influence and for it to last very long. The charm illusion will break down unless other factors fortify Venus.
This past summer, U.S. President Trump began efforts to build a peace agreement between Russia and Ukraine. At that time, Jupiter was in opposition to Ukraine’s natal Uranus, Neptune, and nearby its North Nodes. Jupiter in opposition often brings unrealistic expectations, but it does bring an opportunity if one has the ability to step into it. Mars in transit met up with Jupiter to put some energy behind the hopes for something to materialize between President Trump meeting Vladimir Putin and the expected imminent talks with Ukraine. The moment passed, and neither Trump nor Putin stepped into history. Jupiter went past this point and, since then, turned retrograde. Jupiter will repeat this hopeful sextile aspect to Ukraine’s natal Uranus/Neptune from mid-January into February. Such aspects, when repeated because of retrograde motion, are a further evolution and amplification of the same themes. The process of talking about peace will again rise to a more hopeful level in early 2026. It’s part of an extended Jupiter transit because of retrograde motion. There is more meat on the bone in the retrograde created second transit than in a single brief transit by Jupiter and or Venus. The opportunity is there if, in the next and final passage of Jupiter, the energies available are steered in the right direction, navigating around autocratic human ego. Jupiter has a better chance of making a peace agreement happen, but one cannot underestimate the longer-term influence of slow-moving Pluto. There’s still doubt that peace lasts or that it was ever meant to last.
Transiting Saturn during the past year’s travel through the end of Pisces has been opposite Ukraine’s natal Mars. Saturn’s retrograde motion there and back, and then finally departing from this aspect again by late January, finally eases off some of the destructive actions in Ukraine from Russia, and Ukraine’s daily drone attacks in Russia damaging and destroying costly infrastructure there. This suits a ceasefire action. A great example of how Saturn (structure) and Mars (aggressive action) combined to teach about the costs of them getting caught in old historic patterns. Western media has not sufficiently covered the extensive destruction of Ukraine’s ingenious drone warfare targeting Russian military and industrial facilities. One has to research it on your own in foreign non-US media, to learn more. Russia has been bleeding resources due to a high rate of losses to repair or replace men and equipment. The Russian economy is choking. Meanwhile, Russian missiles target civilians and their residences inside Ukraine.
Commencing late February into March, transiting Saturn and Neptune both make a sextile to Ukraine’s natal 1st house Saturn from the 2nd house. This feels like relief is finally coming for Ukraine. If it isn’t a peace agreement, it is definitely an endorsement of resources to sustain Ukraine and fortify its war efforts. If there is a peace agreement, this is a commitment to rebuild and repair. It could be both.  It is definitely a completely different and more hopeful feeling than what’s prevailed over the past couple of years.

​Looking at Russia’s chart, it would be best to end the war soon because what’s coming in its natal chart by transit over the next several months is very difficult. The transiting of Saturn and Neptune into Aries by April (and for the next couple of years) makes a tense square aspect to Russia’s natal Sun. This is a two-fold depressing influence on Russian vitality, both in spirit and in daily life. The square from Neptune robs Russia of belief in a better future. The square from Saturn reveals the hardships of daily life for the foreseeable future. Should the war not be settled, the cost internally is a huge drain of vitality, and a belief that it will never end, because while Saturn departs this aspect at the end of 2026, Neptune will maintain the depressed psychological state for two plus years.
Pluto has been and will be in a semi-sextile aspect to Russia’s natal Sun, which is an irritant, a stressful suppression of expression by the powers that be. The sextile aspect is facing a reality that things could have been better if one had acted sooner. Having bad timing. Pluto departs this aspect in February, and it feels like the lid has come off, suppressing the general population's feelings, a deep sigh of relief. But it returns by retrograde motion in the Spring. Pluto exposes deceit, lies, and criminal behavior. This is the kind of pressure that leads to rebellion. A semi-sextile aspect wants to be positive, but it gets there by irritating methods. While the semi-sextile from transiting Pluto is a constant pressure for change, transiting Pluto is about to conjunct Russia’s natal Saturn. This resembles in feeling the kind of thing that forced the Soviet Union to dissolve. Pluto brings the darkest material from the past to the surface, which must be dealt with, and natal Saturn is the structure of the nation’s identity. Under the darkest pressure, Saturn brings destitution if necessary to generate change. For the next two to three years, Pluto by transit will force Russia to face what it’s been hiding in the basement. Peace agreement or not, life in Russia is going to get very difficult and painful.
The risk of a nuclear accident or deliberate nuclear strike is higher with Pluto transiting to conjunct Russia’s natal Saturn. Pluto is the planet of the atomic age, and its nature is to obliterate existing structures, break them down into raw materials, and rebuild them. Saturn is structure and almost always interacts with structure in our bodies or externally in our lives by wanting to refine or simplify it, make it more efficient. Thus, both Saturn and Pluto don't hesitate to obliterate existing structures if they are an obstacle to growth; we experience this as frustrating, to say the least. Mars transits into join by conjunction transiting Pluto as it conjuncts Russia’s natal Saturn, in late January 2026. An accident or nuclear event at that time is a possibility—also, possibly a plot in Russia to shift power, violently.
With the state of Russian infrastructure in poor repair as it currently is, an accident within Russia is possible. Jupiter’s transit in Cancer prolonged by retrograde motion opposes Russia’s natal Uranus and Neptune in February 2026. This is not helpful either. Again, it refers to opportunities that are not in the control of the government, of people who believe they have control. Even if Russia were to end the war soon, it faces a long period of struggle for many years, rebuilding what took decades to establish but was lost in the war. 

The above modern chart for Russia, coming into existence after the fall of the Soviet Union, has natal Saturn in the 6th house. This is a real-world sickness. For years, there has been non-stop chatter about Vladimir Putin’s health being suspect. Saturn in particular in mid-December, and recently Neptune, are or were square to his natal Mars. In the chart for Putin that most astrologers work from with caution because of the uncertainty of his birth time, his natal Mars is in the 2nd house. The subject of these planets in aspect would circle around stresses over material matters—money, financing. And the news for Putin and Russia in general is that Russia’s resources are being depleted, and its equipment for fighting in a war is not being repaired. Early in 2025, Russia sold a record amount of its gold reserves to China, almost a trillion dollars. Over-budget expenses exceeded $200 billion per month in 2025. They are running out of cash. Putin has been clawing back support money from oligarchs and requiring corporations to contribute to financing the war. Ever the poker player, he plays his hand like he’s ready to do this forever. But Russia is emptying its resources, and pressure will ultimately fall back on Putin.
And at the same time, it was announced that Ukraine has secured long-term financing to continue to survive in its war with Russia. These are the stresses associated with Saturn squaring Putin’s natal Mars. Putin’s major source of income, selling sanctioned oil, has forced Russia to sell at a discounted price of around $35 per barrel when the world market price is a little over $60 per barrel. The realities Saturn forces one to face are unpleasant. Around Putin’s base of power, Russian banks are moving rapidly towards failure. A large proportion of businesses cannot afford the higher interest rates on their loans. This recalls the situation that forced the collapse of the Soviet Union, except that Putin is no Gorbachev.  In mid-December, transiting Mars and Venus conjuncted Putin’s natal Mars, which on their own is not bad news, but when natal Mars is being squared by transiting Saturn, the interaction with transiting Venus and transiting Mars are catalysts for facing the realities of spending money or arguing over money you don’t have. Neptune in the past could have masked an analysis that is now revealed to be in error. People lied to Putin to keep from falling out of windows. In June of 2026, transiting Saturn will oppose Putin’s natal Mercury, Saturn, Neptune and Sun. Unfortunately, no one is certain of Putin’s birth time and so we can’t be sure of the house positions, but going with the chart most referred to in astrological practice this grouping of natal planets is in his 12th house, with his natal Sun in the 11th. Saturn opposing natal Saturn isn’t always as difficult in later years as it might be in youth. It depends on how well one has adjusted to meeting life with maturity and is able to recognize reality and responsibility. If one has been in denial of reality, the opposition of Saturn to Saturn is an unpleasant wake-up, recognizing limitations that one refused to acknowledge. Even confinement. If, as some astrologers believe, the house position is correct, it’s potentially a revelation that Putin’s thinking and beliefs have been wrong and he therefore won’t achieve the results he believes in. The results may be depressing, with Saturn being the instigator. The Sun in the 11th house suggests he has made influential connections to others, but the 11th house people one connects to are not family or friends that you surround yourself with and from whom you can expect some loyalty. They have no allegiance to Putin. In this circumstance, Saturn can make one feel very isolated and alone.

President Trump in 2027-28 faces a growing opposition from transiting 6th house Pluto to his natal 12th house Pluto. Granted transiting Pluto’s orb of influence is large, at least half a dozen degrees. Trump’s natal Pluto is at 10 degrees of Leo. Pluto begins in 2026 to creep on conjuncting his natal Pluto. It will culminate in late 2027-28. This is definitely a health issue, the wearing down function of Pluto, typical of old age. The 6th house is physical vitality and the effect one has on others around them in the workplace. After a lifetime of whatever habits a person has subjected their physical body to, the yield shows up by the time Pluto transits to oppose one’s natal Pluto, especially along the 6th and 12th house axis. With Pluto in the 6th, the environment he creates around him is wrapped around coveting power:  the power to shape things according to the 12th house psyche, which, for this man, has natal Pluto. What’s coming with the opposition in the next few years is the culmination of a lifetime of coveting power.
The deeply obsessive nature of Pluto to dominate has a self-destruct component. Pluto is transformation. If one doesn’t manage it inwardly, Pluto brings it in an externalized form or a person into one’s life. Unless one can see how they created it, one will feel victimized. Pluto must work through others if you won't admit to needing it to transform you and work with it. There is no escape, not even death. Pluto keeps everything and saves it for your next visit to Earth. Pluto is Hades realm, it is hell, which reminds us that the Lord of Hell is a teacher with a dirty job to do. 
In late March of 2026, transiting 8th house Saturn begins an opposition to Trump's natal 2nd house Neptune that lasts late into December. Indecision and confusion, frustration in sorting out reality. This experience leads people to conclude that the president's mind is deteriorating. Major decisions under this influence go poorly. Because Neptune is in his natal 2nd house, unsurprisingly, it is a lifelong flaw in making good decisions around making money and investment. No wonder he has had so many bankruptcies; he deals with reality, but not the one everyone else does. Saturn in opposition to natal Neptune is another loss from fantasy being interrupted by reality.
As the Lord of Karma and architect of structure in all things, Saturn often conflicts with Neptune. These two planets represent very different, almost opposite perspectives. Having Neptune in the 2nd house in a natal chart doesn’t bode well for a person to be a successful investor unless they are appealing to Neptune’s higher values, service and charity to others. Just prior to beginning his first term, Trump was required by a court of law to pay restitution to a charity his corporation defrauded. This is his pattern. He seems unable to appeal to Neptune’s higher ideals of selfless service. This is another loss coming up from investment because of a belief in something that doesn’t serve the greater reality of the psyche, service to others without ego. If this same aspect were in the chart of someone whose nature was to be of service to others, the mingling of Saturn and Neptune in opposition would bring a selfless problem. Because Trump is president, his losses will flood into the lives of others left in the wake of his inability to be of service to humanity. Follow this leader, and you live in his reality.
Soon after this begins, transiting Saturn squares his natal 11th house Mercury, extending losses to those who followed him. Either they also experience a loss related to him, or he loses them perhaps because of (Mercury) words, speeches, or agreements made. Information like the Epstein files shared among his followers (11th house). Saturn, as Lord of Karma, brings things from the past into the present. Saturn delivers the harvest of what we have built or failed to build. Following that, transiting Saturn makes a trine aspect to his natal 12th house Pluto, sustaining his faith in himself, maintaining his ability to deny reality - in his personal psychology - that he’s made some bad economic decisions.  These transits from Saturn repeat themselves due to retrograde motion the following year in 2027.
July of next year will be a positive period for the president. His White House building project will at least satisfy him in transforming his immediate world, with transiting Jupiter conjunct his natal 12th house Pluto. This is a special moment of being fulfilled, transforming his current residence into a projection of how he sees himself. Jupiter’s transit is also semi-sextile to his natal 11th house Mercury. This is an undercurrent of displeasure and even protest among former supporters who feel that the resources they believed would benefit them directly were diverted. They wanted their lives transformed. The semi-sextile aspect is an irritating one. What should be a time of celebration is a reminder of frictions.
Uranus, while moving into Gemini fully, will remain in Trump’s 2nd house, bringing him promises of windfalls of income. He won’t waver from his beliefs that his method, though conflicted by the normal ethics of being president, is not conflicted because his successes are proof of his virtue. Making a profit is validation of everything. 
In the first week of February 2026, Trump will experience transiting 6th house Mars in opposition to his natal 12th house Pluto. This is a bad week for his health.
In June of 2026, transiting Jupiter in the US natal chart's 8th house will spend a couple of weeks in opposition to the US natal 2nd house Pluto. This is a big power struggle about resources, money, a big grab for more. It could be one of Trump’s war scenarios over something like oil in Venezuela or Greenland’s territory, preceded by Jupiter semi-sextile the US natal Mars in the weeks before. That’s a heated argument, a consequential falling out and possibly another over the top aggressive expression of American "strength".

The US natal chart will soon experience the transits of Saturn and Neptune in Aries together and separately in a stressful square aspect to the US natal 7th house Venus. Historically, the US has had close relationships or friendships and partnerships with many nations as a world leader and advocate for a shared capitalist democracy that others believed would also benefit them. And it did in many ways. But this is a peak of tension, of breaking off relationships. I would not be surprised, for example, if the US left NATO. It had already alienated many traditional allies in 2025. The square to 7th house Venus is the departure from established partnerships. Neptune in the square is the illusion of a friendship, but it is revealed to be a disappointment. Saturn is leaving the relationship and its obligations. Saturn cuts ties. Saturn will do the dramatic part decisively, in March, and move on. Neptune's inspirational qualities that supported the partnership initially will dissolve as it leaves Pisces and enters Aries. The square aspect remains in place for over a year, during which time no clear reconciliation is likely.
In 2028, Saturn will transit into opposition to the US natal 10th house Saturn. This is a year of introspection and worry about the voting structure of the nation, last seen in the year 2000, the last time transiting Saturn was in a strong opposition aspect to the US natal Saturn. This was the election in which Al Gore conceded defeat to President G.W. Bush, but if the same circumstances were to happen today, it would not be resolved by one side conceding after only a few weeks of recounts and hanging chads. These fears will return; however, unlike events in 2000, Saturn will not actually complete its opposition to the US natal Saturn until well after the election in 2028, not until at least April of 2029. I would say the outcome of the election will not be clear until April/May of 2029. In the months between the 2028 election and that time anything can happen and I will look at that astrology some other day.

​Eris is a planetoid, similar to Pluto, only further out, and takes even longer to go around the Sun for one of its years. Eris, in myth, is the sister of the war god Ares, and Eris is in Aries now, as it has been for longer than most of us have been alive. Eris will have a rendezvous meeting with Saturn when Saturn arrives in Aries in late Spring, early Summer of 2026. Eris is almost the size of Pluto and is considered, like Pluto, a dwarf planet. It's a little smaller but denser than Pluto, and it has a Moon (Dysnomia). It's a legitimate dwarf planet that should be regarded as Pluto is, as a recent addition to known objects in the solar system. Astrologers are not yet fully versed in what Eris is all about. The discovery of Eris initiated the argument about whether Pluto is a planet or an asteroid. A planetoid. It was hailed as the missing tenth planet when discovered, but it didn’t satisfy astronomers that it was a large enough body to have the gravitational influence on other planets they expected to find in the tenth planet. They continue to search. 
Eris is a war goddess like her brother. Its orbit is three times as far from the Sun as Pluto’s orbit, a 560-year orbit. In general, if we award to a planet greater power in our psyche by how slow it is and therefore how long it remains in an influential aspect with another planet, we have to consider that Eris, who is like her brother Ares a warrior deity, has a lot of influence on our psychological spiritual nature, but in psychological dimensions we don’t fully understand yet.

The reason I mention it is that I would expect that when Saturn catches up with it in 2026, we will learn something more about it and about ourselves in how their meeting manifests. The meeting of a warrior goddess attitude with the Lord of Karma, Structure, and Time, feels like the boiling over of antagonism between patriarchy and matriarchy. It could very well be the moment the Epstein files reach their maximum impact on attitudes of men towards women. There's a huge divide in parts of the world, including in the US, that's far more complex than simply equality between male and female. 
In myth, Saturn/Kronos overthrew his father Uranus to bring his reality into existence and to bring dimensionality into consciousness. Saturn was told by the Fates he would suffer the same destiny and be overthrown by his children. Putting aside the steps he took to prevent that, he couldn’t avoid his destiny and eventually one of his sons, Zeus/Jupiter, gathered his brothers and allies together to overthrow his father and bring his expansion of the mind into being in the metaphorical Golden Age of Greece. There’s a repeating drama in the telling of the mythical ages of Man, of the younger generation having to overthrow the older who won’t surrender power to them. Eris isn’t the younger generation in the meeting with Saturn, and it isn’t Mars/Ares, the war god; it’s a feminine agent deep in the psyche we are barely aware of, that is, according to myth, not in a happy attitude with its place in the pantheon.

Everyone alive today has Eris in Aries; to learn exactly where Eris is in your natal chart and by transit, click here to go to the Astrodienst ephemeris.

The last time Saturn conjuncted Eris (which is in Aries for decades) was during much of 1968, beginning in March and by direct/retrograde motion for several months.

​Here's a list of the goings on at the time: 

Prior to the conjunction, out of the orb of influence:
Mister Rogers' Neighborhood Feb 19: The beloved children's show premiered on public television.

Saturn moves within the orb of influence:

• Howard University Protest March 19: Students occupied the administration building demanding more control over curriculum and discipline.
• Paris Protests March 22: Student riots erupted at Nanterre University near Paris, signaling growing unrest. Protests of the Vietnam War across Europe.
• March 28: Martin Luther King Jr. led a sanitation workers' strike march in Memphis, which turned violent.
  
  

Conjunction:

• March 1968 was a pivotal month marked by intense Vietnam War developments, including the horrific My Lai Massacre (March 16) and President Lyndon B. Johnson's surprise announcement he would not seek re-election (March 31). Shaping a year of global upheaval.
• On April 4, 1968, at 6:01 p.m. CST, Martin Luther King Jr., an American civil rights activist, was fatally shot at the Lorraine Motel in Memphis, Tennessee.
• April 11: President Lyndon B. Johnson signed the Civil Rights Act of 1968.
• Assassination of Robert F. Kennedy, June 5, 1968

The structure of the society (Saturn), facing violent unrest, changed everything in the context of the time. This is a radical transformation done in a dark way.

The good news overall is that while huge change and a lot of messy turmoil are in the wind, after a period of upset and discord, what remains for several years is a very positive evolutionary and flowing aspect between Pluto and Neptune, which for a little shorter period will include inventive Uranus. The upsets unravel in February, and by the summer, we are finding our footing. There’s always problems to solve. 

In the summer of 2024, NASA announced that a star named "T Coronae Borealis" was going to go nova, and it would be an interesting thing to observe in the night sky. It’s been about to happen for two years, but hasn’t. Two years in the life of a star that exists for billions isn’t “late”. I think NASA will let us know when it happens.

​I expect as many as three wars involving the US: Venezuela, Taiwan and Ukraine though saying this I don’t think the US is involved with boots on the ground or water. Trump will stay out of Ukraine as a Putin ally and distance the US from NATO, to our later regret. The EU has to take its fate into its own hands; having seen wars with Russia before, the EU should know what to do and do it without the US. The US cannot be relied upon. Russia has never had a robust economy and is going to be in quicksand this year. Putin’s Russia may be ready to emulate the Soviet Union in its bankruptcy, but Putin will by force of will never back down, he will refuse to save his people.
The US is poised to be involved in the case of a war around Taiwan. I don’t think China will do as well as they believe once they cross the line. I think the cost will be too high and they will fail to achieve the results they expect. This throws world markets into a tailspin for a while. China has deep economic problems and internal rivalries as well. War would push social and economic crisis into the background for a while but not solve them. 
The outbreak of war in Venezuela is a dark step in the region and will make more enemies than friends in the short term. In January, a cluster of planets, including Mars, will be in Capricorn, opposing Venezuela’s natal Sun. This is the timing of maximum pressure, and for an outbreak of war, or a resolution to avoid it and make some kind of deal. A deal is possible that leaves Maduro installed. This cluster is inconjunct the natal 7th house Mercury/Venus in the natal chart. Don’t be surprised if this happens, but even a new leadership will be beholden to President Trump. It depends on what he is offered.
None of these wars will last long.  By mid-summer,  I expect most of the destructive business is behind us, leaving a mess. But, because tensions are being released, great changes are possible now. 
The US economy will be revealed to be in much hotter water than advertised. The government shutdown in 2025 obscured numbers for those months, and since that will finally begin to be revealed by mid to late January, it will alarm markets and stir outrage in the political world at how out of control and how much decline is unfolding rapidly in the US economy. There’s going to be a lot of fast footwork to spin the news and resolve some of the mess. Things will remain at a stressful level for months. It’s not that the economy is terrible; it's that the government providing the information in the US is as manipulative about it as the government in China. Markets are averse to hysterics and fake information; they will surge all over the place, down and up, and down, most of the year. Volatility will cause increasing damage and lead to worse employment conditions. 
The Epstein files continue to come out, and the ugly truth is subject to great efforts to control/suppress the information, manage it, and on the other side, to bring it out. The information is damaging all year. As usual, the cover-up is also damaging.
​Many scandals of the last decade that were suppressed with Saturn in Pisces will come out in the next few months. The US government is shaken beginning late in January; people within the government begin to use privileged information against each other, and to reveal long-held secrets. Revelations. Confirming some conspiracies, tarnishing others. New personnel replace the old.  Would not be surprised if this happens because Trump is no longer the president for health reasons.
July 4th:  something more remarkable than an MMA fight on the White House lawn will happen—a surprise. 
Neptune and Saturn often seem to be involved in a pandemic and or a vaccine to overcome it. In late 2019, they were in sextile with each other from Capricorn to Pisces. COVID-19 was pronounced a threat to the world.  By April/May of 2022, the Covid 19 pandemic was being managed and people had returned to their work and regular life as Saturn was in Aquarius, semi-sextile Neptune in Pisces. The virus continues but does not currently pose a threat. I don’t think this year will be an exception. Another national or world-class virus would further undermine confidence in American leadership and erode America’s stature in the world.
Later in the year 2026, the US has an election. Wars have never halted an election in the USA; there won’t be a viable excuse to alter the election this year. The election produces divisions and no ability to change much. A Democratic Party-dominated Congress is unable, by itself, to change the country's trajectory. More division, escalating partisan activism. Christian nationalism dominates the new Republican Party. 
The world's most well-known superpowers - China, the USA, and masquerading as a world power, Russia - continue to be diminished. More of the superpower nations’ secrets from the last 30 years since Neptune and Saturn last conjuncted come out, and all of these three governments are diminished. During the military turmoil of 2026, internet integrity fails and is assaulted. This is frustrating, but not all bad. Be prepared with backups and batteries. 
I expect a declaration that the Arctic is going to reach a minimum level of sea ice and commence a major climate change for the whole planet that we will never be able to reverse. It almost doesn’t matter. The Arctic came very close to this in 2025; it only has to come close to be a problem. Everything about a warming Arctic Sea accelerates. The planet turns off the summer air conditioner, which is the Arctic. Uranus moving into Gemini initiates months of seismic shifting. Late May early June some major events erupt. That's a likely time for an internet failure. 
Volatile energy all year doesn't support good health, psychologically, because long-held tensions and toxins are coming out in the collective psyche. Later, this period will be seen as a positive necessity. 
A domestic terror attack is highly likely during the last quarter of 2026 or early 2027.

​Comments welcome.
​David can be reached at [email protected] for a personal astrological consultation.
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