Entering a new world of change; upheaval on the road ahead

by David A. Wheatley

​The year 2024 is winding down; the seasons are moving into winter in the northern hemisphere. The struggle of ideologies in the US is shifting back into a targeted and aggressive form of what it was before Biden took office. Pluto is now moving into Aquarius where it will be for a couple of decades. There’s a planet-sized unconscious move happening and the post-election new reality in the US, as one small section of what is to come, is reverberating all over the world, for different reasons with different conclusions. But everyone and everything is entering a new world much broader and deeper than politics. This is only the beginning of all the outer planets making dramatic shifts within us, beyond the parameters of our conscious minds, outside our ability to control or even understand as things unfold. The psyche orchestrates out of sight, and we dance to its tune, trying to manage and mold huge forces into a shape we can work with. The huge unsettled feeling of change right now with Pluto shifting signs will be joined in less than 6 months by Neptune and Saturn, bringing more changes in our psychological states.
I began mentioning these shifts over a year ago. I've mentioned them frequently. And now almost all Astrologers are describing in states of awe what is about to happen in our lives. Anyone looking around the internet will notice Astrologers doing features covering these events, stressing that it’s a bigger, more impactful series of Astrological events than happened by comparison to planetary transits through the Covid years. Most describe what's coming as more impactful, just to give you a point of reference. 

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​Astrologers don’t like to make predictions about elections, though they’ll make them about everything else. They have their reasons, but mostly, it’s not to lose the interest of anyone who sees things differently. Trying to please everyone, Astrologers online are running a business.
My preference for the US election was clearly to have Harris stay in the White House. To me, this would be a smoother transition through the upheaval coming down the road at us regardless of which party is in the White House. Pluto entered Capricorn with the economic crisis of 2008. That crisis was met with the big banks and big government working together, two typically powerful Capricorn-sized institutions pursuing stability and structural strength through top-down mandate and cooperation. Insecurity and fear inspired hope and faith in these large institutions saving the day, and they did. New legislation was crafted to regulate the new economic environment but was later erased by the erosion of special interests. Capricorn works through structure, focusing resources and power for a wide spectrum of good and evil through a design. Pluto covets and uses amassed power to transform, and if necessary, to steam-roll whatever and whoever is in the way. Put Pluto and Capricorn together, and you have a great potential to build something long-term. Governments and big banks started Pluto’s passage through Capricorn. The Supreme Court opened the door for big money to engage in politics, and mega-wealthy men have done that. Big money and big government, managed by a range of intentions and self-serving politicians. Planets do not make people do anything, I like to remind people, but the Pluto component of our psychology as the agent of the unconscious can manipulate our behavior by hidden unconscious programs based in fear and greed. Pluto is the personal and collective unconscious, which, by its nature, we are subject to influence without knowing we are. Because the collective unconscious is a shared body of powerful experiences and the feelings along with them, what Pluto stirs in one person is often shared in others. This shared human experience conveys a number of things and, among them, often overwhelming fears. Pluto uses these shared fears to manipulate us in order to purge what we prefer to hide. The ugly truth. 

Ultimately, Pluto’s darker side brings pain and suffering, sufficient to bring a purge ..... and a rebirth. 

But wouldn’t life be nicer if we cultivated growth without having to enter the darker side?
The style of power that Pluto applies in Aquarius is not the top-down variety with a chief executive or king at the apex of the pyramid. The style more typical of Pluto in Aquarius will be to break that central control structure down into multiple power- sharing regions. To the extent there is resistance to this unavoidable evolution, there will be struggle, suffering, and loss. But ultimately Pluto wins, and if it has to make life miserable to do that, it does. A bad centralized pyramid-like powerful government shows us that it would be better to weaken the power of the central government. Spread the power around, lower the sway of a single authority, and distribute it to a multitude.  The Pluto forces mounted to create change will always increase to whatever level necessary to break the existing structure down. Resisting transformation gives increasing power to the agents Pluto uses to scare us into evolving.  As the martial artist knows, it’s better to use the energy than to be pushed around by it.

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Aquarius reinvents Pluto's relationship with power

​Aquarians are individuals; they have unique ways of inventing with new perspectives, not from the corporate model. Going from Capricorn into Aquarius, Pluto, which obsesses about gathering power to transform, will do things differently in Aquarius than in Capricorn. Pluto in Aquarius isn’t going to build up the central power model; it’s going to promote individuals and groups of individuals for whom the big government model is an obstruction. At the same time, Pluto in Aquarius probably starts out in an environment with a bad central powerful government, inspiring people to move away from it by making it oppressive. Aquarius reinvents Pluto's relationship with power from Capricorn. Power is distributed into the hands of multiple individuals or authorities to “others”, and fosters a customized regional shared power.
Pluto leaving Capricorn in this circumstance brings its own stresses as all big changes do. Add to this the pressure from the oncoming train called Saturn entering Aries. What Saturn brings is a dramatic change of character from Saturn in Pisces to the shift into Saturn in Aries. It’s an abrupt change in Saturn’s ability to execute its universal function, to edit. In Pisces, Saturn was reduced in ability, similar to how Neptune will be reduced in power when it leaves Pisces and enters Aries. The pent-up gravity of Saturn in Pisces wanting to do its thing but being largely unable while in Pisces will make a huge contrast when it crosses over into Aries, where it is fully able to wield its scythe. There’s a kind of cosmic whiplash coming from Saturn in four to five months' time. On some level of consciousness, our internal Saturn saw the waste and indulgences of Neptune in Pisces but couldn’t do much about it. Pisces is an amorphous environment with no specific gravity; it’s the mysterious realm of the psyche. An ocean of dreams.
Saturn defines and applies boundaries, edits out superfluous details, and covets a stark, efficient reality. Neptune in Pisces swam in space with no limits, no up or down, no borders. Inspiration and illusion for all, according to shared needs. 

Neptune is now going into Aries, where the theme is not freedom to interpret but to define realities hammered into solid form. Greeted by Saturn in Aries, Neptune will face severe boundaries and limits it didn't have while in Pisces. Saturn will attempt to correct what it considers a mess made in Pisces. Pisces, as the sign of the psyche, is material with value connected by association, not by practical use. Saturn can’t put material with value by association together while in Pisces. In Aries, it’s a different story. The spirit content appeal of Neptune in Pisces is in being whatever the individual psyche wants it to be.  Saturn begs to tackle the job of organizing the backlog left in the 12th house/Piscean dimension; that's its nature. But it couldn't do it while in Pisces, and in Aries Saturn is impatient to tackle it. But it can't because it takes time to unravel respectfully, and in Aries, things are urgent and must be done today. Saturn is reduced to an observer in Pisces. Neptune in Pisces believes in every fiction. But moving into Aries, off comes the pretend costumes, and on goes the suit of armor with marching orders to send spirit into battle. No idle wandering; now it’s taking orders.

Saturn in Aries becomes the holy warrior with an executive attitude toward following orders. 

​Who gives the orders? The psyche, always. 
For an artist, Neptune in Pisces is uncensored multi-dimensional exploration. For some people, it’s an escape from mundane life. To some, they’re getting in touch with their traditional family religion or even a new charismatic life coach or shaman. Trying to tune into something inspirational, to connect with the Neptune we are all carrying within us. For people who need a little help sorting out reality, it’s fake news and a poor ability to distinguish between inspirational fantasy and delusion.
Neptune leaving Pisces…..isolate that idea by itself, and Neptune entering Aries….. is another kind of Neptune. In Aries, Neptune is in its Fall, the place where it functions least well in the Zodiac. It recedes in human consciousness and the soulful content it brings with it is put to sleep. In Aries, the beautiful illusions of Neptune are made to wear work suits to carry out the orders of Saturn, now in command in Aries.
Saturn normally works in a completely opposite way from Neptune. Saturn contracts and confines, Neptune wants limitless expansion. Neptune was the dominant of the two for years while it was in the anything-goes sign Pisces. Now it will be Saturn giving the orders in the impatient sign of Aries.

Keywords
Inspired by the book, Astrology by R. David
1975 Coles Publishing, Toronto Canada

Neptune in Pisces: Mystical ideas. Extreme sensitivity. Suffering to transcend. Passive acceptance, non-judgmental.
Neptune in Aries: Impatiently expects illumination. Focused on a single mission. Perverse ideas. Subversive. Fanatical.

Saturn in Pisces: Moody. Indecisive. Endless hope. Isolation. Faith without judgment.
Saturn in Aries: Sense of duty. Sacrifice to achieve. Difficult to satisfy. Lacks depth. Frustration.

Pluto in Capricorn: Ambition. Persistence. Conservatism. Obsessed with recognition. The compelling need to achieve self-discipline.
Pluto in Aquarius: Awareness of Truth.  Power of synthesis.  Altruism.  Humanitarianism. Obsessed with detachment.  The compelling need for freedom of expression.
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Uranus in Taurus: Determined. Love of ease. Constructive. Unyielding. Revengeful passions.
Uranus in Gemini: Mental agility or genius. Can’t sit still. Spontaneous. Irritable, impatient.

War

​Many Astrologers now showing an interest in the coming outer planet simultaneous sign changes are in awe of Saturn and Neptune changing signs at more or less the same time, back and forth due to retrograde motion for over a year. Many have commented on the past frequency of war for the USA during these sign changes of the planets. They note similar planetary cycles in the 1800s that led to that era’s conflicts: the Civil War, the Indian Wars, the First World War, and the Second. In addition to Saturn and Neptune, all Astrologers are in awe of the magnification because of the movement of major planets changing signs overlapping in time. I didn’t mention Jupiter because it changes signs more often than every planet beyond it. But Jupiter changes signs in June of 2025 as Saturn shifts into Aries; they will be square to each other, adding some Jupiter inflation or expansion to whatever Saturn is doing.
Many Astrologers expect an epochal shift as all these planets change signs simultaneously; together bringing huge changes. Some say it will be through another world war. I think the emphasis should be on the magnitude of changes and adjustments we have to make. A world war is possible, but humanity playing with its political games and military might is a distraction from a greater challenge that is not waiting for our attention. It’s entirely possible that no army is able to wage war, and all are immobilized by something like a solar flare or another natural phenomenon. No human wars. This planet is at war with us.

NASA: Earth Will Continue to Warm and the Effects Will Be Profound

We face widespread extinction of animal and plant kingdom species, ultimately threatening our own species. The war we should be waging is against our own impact on life on Earth.
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Reducing Greenhouse gases does help, but at the same time, reducing higher altitude aerosols actually lets in more Sun right away and heats the planet rapidly, in turn supporting the feedback loops that continue the cascading phenomenon of a warming planet.

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​The dramas of the outer planets are our drama, but we are only partially in control of them. We are only partially aware of unconscious or conscious agendas. We react to them and try to manage things as if they are external forces, but we created the script for their dramatic performances.
With Uranus entering Gemini in a year or so and making a trine aspect to transiting Pluto, it will become necessary and possible to put some ideas together for cooling the planet as well as new technologies to replace the over-extended old technologies from decades ago, like the internet. Some of the upgrades in technology will come as old systems break down.

​Revisiting old familiar, unfinished themes.  

​In the US chart shortly after forming the Constitution in 1776 with Pluto at 27 degrees of Capricorn, Pluto transited into Aquarius as it is now doing. This is a repeat but not a duplication of those cycles. There are similar but not identical aspects. We are revisiting familiar old themes provoked by repeating aspects that were never fully resolved and led to the Civil War, the Indian wars, and Emancipation. Some of these old unfinished themes will repeat; they will resemble historical patterns but not identically repeat them all.  For example, a century or more ago, there were forced migrations in America. Now, the populations are migrating because of individual States' polarizing - towards freedom of choice for women or no choice, freedom to use marijuana or not, forced prayer and religious observations in the Christian-oriented States, or not. All these issues and others like them will solidify within the individual States, and people seeking a lifestyle, career, and good paying job will relocate accordingly. And people will move because of climate change. Water tables rising in some places, drought in others, and coastal erosion will all force communities to plan differently for the future simply because of economic liability. It will no longer be fiscally responsible to rebuild communities with exposure to coastal storms. 
The USA has natal Pluto in its second house; there’s a powerful unconscious drive for power and wealth wrapped around what kind of evolution Americans want. The American attraction to power through wealth combined with other factors remains a motivating force in the second cycle of Pluto after its first Return in the last two years. But as it was following the birth of the nation, Pluto then moved into Aquarius as it is now, trying to invest a humanitarian component into an essentially natal Capricorn patriarchal Pluto. Americans have to see a profit factor in being humanitarians; inventing ways to benefit mankind has to pay off. That's the American way with a second house Pluto. If it doesn't pay, move on to something that does. 

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​Putting aside Pluto’s imminent task of breaking up and reforming top-down power into a power-sharing multitude, we have other major outer planet shifts also bringing new emphasis.
There were people who believed if Trump lost the election, his followers would mount another coup, and possibly there would be violence. No one believed Democrats would mount a coup if Trump won, Democrats have accepted their fate. Up to now.

Pisces is a place of unseen energies within the psyche, and the psyche is universe-sized compared to the very local comprehension of our Earthly consciousness. Earth consciousness is a small basket that doesn't hold much before things start falling out as we cram more in. Any planet in Pisces is swimming in this universal sea whose shores we cannot see. Neptune is at home in this situation. Saturn is lost at sea. Because we cannot see everything below the surface of this sea, what we don't know can be our undoing. What we are distracted from noticing or hiding from is potentially a "hidden enemy" in traditional Astrology.  Also, by the 12th house/Pisces association, planets entering there are said to provoke sources of our own undoing, which is to say again, we push or suppress uncomfortable content into the background, but it isn't gone. Everything that goes around comes around.

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Neptune is often a misunderstood reality or an outright deception. It gives us every opportunity to know god, the universe, and yet people often cultivate a structure to block the vast universe out. Neptune weaves reality and delusion; it bends to our subjective nature in the short term. While in Pisces, there is no doubt a great many secrets of great importance were concealed and lost at sea. 

​Everything washes up on the shore eventually. I wonder what will be revealed when Neptune leaves Pisces and Saturn, the celestial cop, also leaves and enters Aries with it. We are going to learn things we didn’t know from the time both Neptune and Saturn were in Pisces. Profound secrets as befits these two planets, to invoke the character of primordial gods they were named after, will be exposed. Some of them will be earth-shattering. Some of them will upend who we think we are and the government we created. Lies and deceptions that radically change people’s understanding of themselves. This is the area where I see deep turmoil in the US and, as a result, the rest of the world. Hidden psychologically embarrassing things that found acceptance in Pisces will be revealed.  Saturn in Aries is action, whereas in Pisces, Saturn's disciplined voice was drowned out.  

​It will take us up to 2027 to arrive at a US Uranus Return, transiting to where it was when the US was formed. This is where and when the US has to decide about its new identity. The last time Uranus made a return to its natal place was 1940, and America stepped forward to defeat Nazism and Fascism. This defined America's role in the world, which it expanded ever since. The previous cycle of a Uranus return was in the early 1850's during which time California became a state, and the nation struggled with slavery, which had been outlawed in Washington DC but not universally in all States, leading into the Civil War. 

When Uranus comes around again in 2027 to the USA natal position of Uranus, it will again face a critical defining moment in its individuality or self-realization. This nation remains with only two political parties, and people will be forced to pick sides and attempt to get the other side to work with them. This isn't that difficult in a war between foreign nations, but in an internal conflict, it's explosive. The US has tried both. This is a defining time for California's natal chart also; it entered the US on one of the nation’s Uranus Returns. Maybe it leaves or redraws its role in the American States. The Aquarian potency of Pluto transforming there will, I believe, change the shape of the Union of States. I see it as evolution, but all births can be painful. 
At that time, the shape of the nation will change as each State or region, if it follows the Uranian model, will seek to define itself in a more unique way, and States with shared values might decide to form a new kind of union. Aquarius likes power shared more locally in a community, so I expect to see the national government yield to greater regional or State independence in regions where people are free to have the kinds of laws and social norms they prefer. Not the United States anymore.

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​Getting back more to the present moment, Saturn in Aries is not Saturn in Pisces; it’s not “anything goes”; instead, it’s an order for what to believe, the army of the Lord. The Christian right-wing coalition is going to make America virtuous, according to their view. No reconciliation is possible between the wide range of social values in this nation, but they can each have it their way just like Burger King by heading towards reconstituting the currently shredded Constitution in favor of State or multiple regional State governments. The damage done yet to be revealed won’t change anyone’s mind about their beliefs.

​Human psyche is at the edge of expanding again

A new telescope coming online in 2026 is believed to be able to chart enough detail in the outer solar system to find the location of the ninth planet, which is believed to exist from astronomical observations and calculations of the other outer planets' motions. Astrologers speculate what the confirmation of the ninth planet means for the evolution of human consciousness and Astrology. Supposedly the belief is that the ninth planet is larger than Earth, ten times larger. Those wishing to find Zecharia Sitchen’s Annunaki planet will be keenly watching. We look back now at the discovery of Pluto during the Second World War, Neptune being discovered in 1846, or Uranus in 1781 as information of interest to a few, but whose importance was mirrored in advances in human understanding. Besides the Industrial Age and all its inventions (Uranus), we also had the pioneering of human psychology (Neptune) and splitting the atom (Pluto). Astrologers thought Saturn was the outer limits of the planetary stars for centuries, but in two centuries, our potential self-awareness has expanded. These huge moments in human history, discovery or becoming more aware as we discovered more planets in our collective body of the solar system, the psyche, is at the edge of expanding again. Assuming we and the other animal and plant species survive, what new threshold will we arrive at?
Astronomers describe Pluto as an asteroid or planetoid. It rotates on an axis and orbits the Sun. But so do other similarly sized asteroids like Eris, also located in the further reaches of the Solar System. In the early 1800’s many of the well-known asteroids today (like Juno or Vesta) were considered planets, but science demoted them as they did Pluto in more recent years. Physical science applying these designations doesn’t affect their trans-physical importance which is far greater than the physical size. The planets, asteroids, moons, etc., are physical manifestations or hosts for energies projected from the psyche; their size and type label caters to a filing system.

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​When Saturn and Neptune move into Aries, they make a 90-degree square with the US natal chart 7th house, Venus. ​

A revelation about a secret partnership, clandestine as it involves Neptune. Like waking up to discover that your partner is doing business with your main competitor and betting against you. Pluto entering Aries eventually in 2026 makes an inconjunct aspect to the US natal 7th house Venus. This is about the same issue, a deeper layer of corruption and coercion.

Post-election, the Saturn reveal

I had said earlier this year that whatever is going on in April or so in 2025 is not making a big impact in Kamala Harris chart, and now we know why. She is not in a central role in Washington. I expected that in a matter of weeks post-election 2024, the political rancor would fade away, the air out of the balloon, and it’s happened. We are suspended in a peculiar calm waiting for the show to begin. 
I thought Trump would be facing Saturn’s judgment post-election, and he has. With Saturn swimming around in Pisces' amorphous body, Saturn is not grounded enough there to apply its power of judgment. However, it will leave Pisces and an impotent Saturn in Pisces will be replaced by a ruthlessly efficient Saturn in Aries as it marches off to war, intolerant where it had been tranquilized before. Things begin to unravel in late May as Saturn enters Aries; a crisis comes in June-July of 2025. Same timing for Neptune.
For those who care about a court of law, Trump will not face what he would have if he lost the election. But as time goes by, the disgrace he brings to the White House is going to lead to a very positive evolution, the nation falls apart and after a tremendous struggle to define itself as a multitude, not a unity,  Saturn will reveal what it saw while it was stuck behind the curtains in Pisces watching, and reveal hidden details.
As it enters Aries next summer, transiting Saturn will oppose Trump’s natal Neptune, not a good influence for someone suspected to be at the door of dementia. He’ll have a little trouble getting his story straight for an extended period. But at the same time, transiting Jupiter is conjunct his natal Mercury, and his support group will cover for him. People who are old enough might remember Ronald Regan, in his second term, had his staff and wife masking his faded mind. Transiting Uranus squaring Trump’s natal 12th house Mars most of this year into 2026 indicates very much that he has a problem with an inconsistent energy level and his cardio vascular system. He might have a sudden heart-related breakdown at any time. In two to three years' time, transiting Pluto in his 6th house will oppose Trump’s natal 12th house Pluto. This is definitely a health issue, both psychological and physical. He won’t finish four years in office as the functional president.

Ukraine

​Starting early next year and for two more years, transiting Pluto conjuncts Ukraine’s natal 1st house Saturn, a very difficult circumstance to be in. Ukraine is accustomed to the hardships implied by having a first house Saturn, so I would assume Pluto’s transit is a transformation of that to hopefully the more constructive side of Saturn. Saturn respects hard work and rewards it; it is possible they benefit from this side of Saturn, Lord of Karma.

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