The Beginning

by David A. Wheatley

​​Saturn and Neptune conjunct about every 36 years in different signs. Neptune takes about 165 years to make one orbit of the Sun, not as long as Pluto (248 years) and a lot quicker than Saturn, which takes a little more than 29 years for one go-around. Saturn does it more frequently, between 27 and 29 years, much quicker than Neptune. 

---

​In general, we equate the slower movement of planets with increased exposure to them and more impact, yet Neptune is too subtle for most of us to notice. Mostly, that’s because Neptune is very remote in consciousness, far removed from the five senses we project with into physical life on Earth. Sensitivity, not of touch, sight, or sound but of the psyche, is how we notice Neptune. In the most simple terms, its mystical environment and playground is in our psychology and not to be underestimated because it seems nonphysical or unreal. What’s going on in the psyche 24 hours per day can go unnoticed because our outward-looking consciousness is focused or distracted by the distractions of the five senses. Neptune is not inactive; it’s just not easily noticed.
Neptune is very nonphysical; it’s our line of connection to other dimensions of consciousness outside the body of our solar system, usually beyond our listening range. The expanse of what Neptune is capable of bringing into our consciousness is almost alien to the lives we lead. It doesn’t subscribe to the beliefs and values we adopt from parents and the culture around us after birth, but it can inhabit them, and use them as vehicles to talk to us from spirit world to Earth world. Because Neptune is outside the orbit of Saturn, it isn’t restricted by Saturn’s natural sense of imposed order and structure, the way Jupiter is made to fit into human comprehension. People who meditate are approaching Neptune’s state of consciousness, at least going part way to reach that ocean of being whose size can easily wash over us, but usually, like the oceans we know, it lies there lapping the sandy shore without menace even though it could overwhelm us at any time. 

​Saturn and Neptune are not often a good or easy mix. There’s a lurching back and forth searching for something workable from either extreme until they find a workable way to express that, which in this case, they both cooked up while in Pisces. In Pisces, Neptune was the lead dancer, but Neptune is a tough partner to dance with because it doesn’t follow a known choreography. With both planets in Aries, Saturn will be the lead partner and Neptune has to find a synchronicity to fit in, to get its content of spirit into the forms Saturn is providing.
While they are within a degree or two of each other this year, they reach their perfect conjunction in Aries in February 2026.   In July of 2025, they are within one degree of perfect conjunction before retrograde motion pulls them apart in Aries. Saturn entered Pisces in 2023, and leaves it in 2028 after retrograding back and forth, including transiting over the entry to Aries where Neptune crawls along. The entire time, these two planets continue to share and influence one sign, formerly Pisces but shifting gears in a big way in Aries. They were within ten degrees of each other for years, which in a natal chart of any individual is a valid orb of influence for a major outer planet transit to be considered conjunct.

Taking a look back at years when Neptune and Saturn were transiting conjunct is a great way to get some idea of how their chemistry mixes, and for all humanity, to consider the many repeated themes coming out of their union regardless of what sign they were in. The sign does have a great influence on the style of what they produce. Unfortunately, the history of these two planets in Aries has been during times of major wars, but not all wars are military. The struggle for dominance that can lead to war is a struggle that these two planets make by the clash of their nature. One planet wants structure and regiment; the other wants formless free expression. They are far apart in character.
 
Saturn, Neptune, and Uranus co-shared Capricorn beginning in 1989 through 1991.

• A major recession in the USA ends with steep costs to the economy.
• Savings and Loan crisis USA, Dow Jones loses almost 7% in one day.
• Polio is considered eliminated, thanks to the vaccine.
• End of the Cold War, Berlin Wall comes down.
• Persian Gulf War.
• Unification of Yemen.
• The beginning of cable news.
• Internet launched.
• US invades Panama.
• Tiananmen Square protest in China.
• The first presidential election in Brazil post-military rule.
• Major new car brands, Lexus and Infinity, launched.
• The Soviets leave Afghanistan.
• Military coup in Paraguay overthrows dictator.
• First woman bishop in worldwide Anglican church appointed in the USA.
• Bomb planted on Pan Am flight explosion/crash.
• Flight leaving Honolulu decompresses, passengers blown out of plane on takeoff.
• Curfew in Kosovo, unrest over intimidation of Serbs, leads to war.
• Electromagnetic storm causes power outage at Quebec hydroelectric plant, 6 million people in US and Canada without power, also in Sweden.
• Exxon Valdiz oil spill.
• Israel surrenders Taba territory to Egypt, ending seven years of dispute.
• A failed coup in Haiti.
• Soviet sub sinks in the Barents Sea.
• Motorola presents the first micro-sized portable phone.
• The last golden toad is seen in Costa Rica.
• Nelson Mandela is eventually released from prison.
• Menendez brothers shoot parents.
• Major hurricane Hugo devastates the Caribbean and the US.
• Lebanese civil war ceasefire.
• 6.9 earthquake rocks San Francisco, 63 people killed, alters baseball World Series.
• Romanian revolution.
• Germany united.
• Hubble telescope launched.
• Saddam invades Kuwait, Gulf War.
• Lech Walesa leader of Poland.
• 7.7 earthquake devastates the Philippines.
• President Bush Sr signs Americans with Disabilities Act.
• Mt Pinatubo erupts in a huge explosion.

---

A prior Saturn Neptune conjunction in Libra was in the early 1950s, trailing off by November of 1954.

• The dedication of resources to post-world war paranoia by creating sprawling spy agencies.
• The Soviet experiment with mind control.
• Joseph McCarthy’s cultist anti-communist obsession dominate Republican party.
• Eisenhower’s warning about the rise of the military industrial complex.
• Not the internet, the invention of television going into people’s homes.
• Transistor portable radios.
• Annexation of Tibet by China.
• Queen Elizabeth ascends the throne of England.
• Death of Stalin. Putin born.
• Hydrogen bomb developed.
• Rumored Eisenhower meeting with aliens.
• Polio vaccine developed and distributed.
• Humans climb Mt. Everest.
• Discovery of DNA helix.

In 1914-19 the conjunction began in one sign and extended into another, from Cancer to Leo.

• Einstein's work on Relativity.
• Mexico Constitutional Republic founded.
• WW1.
• Spanish Flu (that began in the US) 70-100 million deaths.
• Women’s movement reaches new prominence.
• Russian Revolution and Communism.
• Use of the German Zeppelin in war. (new technology)
• Ford manufactures its first million cars.
• Puerto Ricans gain US citizenship.
• Historical events contribute to fame of Lawrence of Arabia.
• German U-boats off shore USA.
• Restoration of Poland.
• The Red Scare; domestic US terrorism, deporting of feared communists in the USA.

In the 1880’s

• Louis Pasture develops the anthrax vaccine.
• Widespread corruption in Washington government appointments.
• Establishment of time zones in North America.
• Standard Oil has a near monopoly on oil and gas.
• Married women in Britain can own property.
• Britain gains control of Egypt.
• Krakatoa erupts with huge explosion.
• President A Jackson authorized to use force to enforce tariffs.
• Cholera epidemic.
• British Empire abolishes Slavery Act.
• Karl Marx dies.

1844-1849 Aquarius/Pisces

• Neptune discovered.
• Webster/Ashburton Treaty establishing the border between USA and Canada mostly along the 49th parallel. Native people’s tribes are not consulted.
• Mexican American War.
• Mormons arrive in Salt Lake City.
• Notre Dame reconstruction.
• California Gold Rush.
• First Communist Manifesto.
• California separates from Mexico.
• Great Famine, Ireland.
• British banking panic crisis.
• Influenza epidemic worldwide.
• Numerous worker revolutions in Europe.
• Seneca Falls women’s rights convention. 

1809 to early 1812 Sagittarius

• Napoleon invades Spain.
• Multiple Spanish American colonies declare independence.
• US government annexes Florida.
• War between US and Britain (US and Canada).
• US slave revolt.
• New Madrid earthquakes 7-8.
• Major Indian Wars in America.
• Discovery of iodine.
• Abraham Lincoln, Charles Darwin born same day.
• Russia wins war with Sweden and establishes Finland.
• Holy Roman Empire dissolved just prior to the conjunction; Austria attempts to reclaim it in 1809-1811, Napoleon defeats them but fails to consolidate authority.

1772 – 1775 Virgo

• American Revolution
• Slavery not supported by British courts.
• Banking crisis in Scotland, Amsterdam, and the Thirteen Colonies of British North America.
• Poland partitioned.
• First functioning calculator.
• Quebec act, extends Quebec into Ohio valley and imposition of religious politics (Catholic prayer in schools).
• American boycott of British goods.
• Steam power impacts manufacturing in Britain. 

Commonalities: Crumbling empires and popular uprisings.

•  Sack of Rome by Visigoths 410 BC
• Rome defeats Macedonia, end of Macedonian regional rule 167 BCE
• 122 BCE Hadrian's wall
• 196 CE Han dynasty falls.
• Athens sacked by Germanic tribes 267 CE
• Fall of Holy Roman Byzantine Empire by Ottomans, Constantinople. 1453
• Martin Luther excommunicated.
• Austrian attempt to reassemble, Ottomans gain victory
• 1668 Spain Portugal declaration of restoration.
• Poland 1772 broken up.
• 1848 Paris working class revolt. King Louis abdicates.
• Poland partitioned by Prussia, Russia and Austria. Reestablished 1918. Re-invaded/seized by Hitler/Stalin. Poland reestablished post WW2.
• Berlin Wall falls, Soviet Union dissolved. 1989

Peculiar relationship between Neptune and Russia on the conjunction of Neptune and Saturn.

• ​1989 Soviets gone.
• 1917 Russian revolution.
• 1809 Russia seizes Finland.
• 1774 Ottoman war with Russia, Russia seizes Crimea.

Among the themes repeating often in the centuries of Saturn/Neptune meetings are:

• Volcanic eruptions. Nature gone wild.
• Epidemic or pandemic.
• Invention of new medicines.
• Financial market meltdowns.
• New technology that shapes society.

And themes that maybe aren’t as consistent:

• Women’s rights movements.
• Morality, legal ethics and slavery.
• Right wing cult like tendencies (McCarthyism), attempts to force religion into schools.
• American presidents enforcing tariffs.
• American wars with British, Canadian and/or Mexican nations.
• United States of America annexing or invading neighboring lands, (Canada, Panama, Florida). California joins/is acquired by US government.
• Russian wars with neighbors, Poland, Sweden, Finland, and now Ukraine.

For much more detail, check out this amazing review of the Neptune/Saturn conjunctions over the years.     https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eCLto1i-Cxk

A Continuing Evolution

​One may easily wonder with so many repeating themes about Astrological influences and to what extent we have free will or are compelled to repeat human behavior strapped to the wheel of planetary cycles. Many of the repeating events and themes are continuing evolution; less so repetition are the issues of slavery and women’s rights. These issues progressed over time and continue to right now, with resistance to change making the tensions greater over a longer period of time. They seem like they are repeating, but they are really continuing.
​Developing vaccines to deal with epidemics and new discoveries in medicine is another area that might seem like it’s repeating. In fact, it seems like a significant part of vaccine evolution in medicine is asking for a repeat lesson. Unfortunately, with Neptune/Saturn, the evolutions have come with epidemics.
In some past Saturn/Neptune meetings, Uranus was either conjunct or in aspect, as it is now. Uranus, at the end of Taurus and soon the beginning of Gemini, will this summer be in a sextile aspect with Saturn/Neptune and trine to transiting Pluto. The encouraging news is that while the angst of evolutionary change is taking place, innovation and growth can come of it long term. 

Transiting Mars and Pluto opposition wraps up

​In this month of April 2025, we are seeing the final of three transits between Mars and Pluto in opposition, which began on the US election day 2024 with Pluto in Capricorn and Mars in Cancer. Around New Year’s 2024-25, Mars opposed Pluto in retrograde, this time with Mars in Leo and Pluto in Aquarius. The change of signs for this opposition shifted the energy of both Mars and Pluto. It was a significant shift of style, auguring the shift of how Pluto works with power from Capricorn to Aquarius. In Capricorn, Pluto drew power to a center, and in Aquarius, it began to break down the power center and make it necessary for power and authority to be forced into multiple hands. This will continue with Pluto in Aquarius for two decades.
Now, soon, from the 24th of April to the 29th, Mars in Leo will make its last of the series of Pluto oppositions. Whatever was cooked up in the first two meetings will be resolved in the third. On the 23rd of April, the Sun will be at the 90-degree square or midpoint of the opposition in Taurus. This is a point of high-tension expression. What happens around this date won’t be finished at this time; it is merely the beginning of something. While Mars seldom sticks around long enough to finish what it started by stirring the pot, Pluto is an evolutionary planet and grinds away slowly at its tasks. A flare up of some kind merely begins something, and it hearkens back very probably to the US election day.  My guess is there is some question about the election. Pluto is the underworld; it works in the shadows. It extorts, bribes, arm-twists, and psychologically bends others to break rules. Mars simply likes to stir things up, a happy accomplice in crime.
Saturn and Neptune, virtually conjunct, are sextile to Pluto and trine to Mars in their opposition. This is a much bigger event than the opposition by itself. A short simple description of these combinations is that there may be hidden criminal behavior to be revealed in an angry expression after which necessary knowledge is exposed. With Neptune no longer in the sign of ‘anything goes’ and Saturn moving out soon, we’re going to learn multiple secrets that alter our perception of reality. When Uranus in early summer begins to shift into Gemini, we will again learn a great deal more, and some positive clean-up will begin to take shape. New knowledge also comes from new technology this summer. But I also feel like it isn’t a holiday we chose; it’s coming under the pressures of great need.
My general impression is that these next two weeks of April are a pivotal period after which a major change has happened, and we feel like we are living in a different world.

Comments welcome.
​David can also be reached at [email protected] for a personal astrological consultation.
Click here to return to the Astrology Corner index page.