It’s December 2025, and we await more insights and data on the comet 3I/Atlas.

by David A. Wheatley

Our Solar System

​Every physical body in the solar system is inherently part of an energetic body that hosts our psyche to varying degrees, not reliant on importance or size. The physical size of Pluto compared to Jupiter, even though Pluto is considered a far smaller planetoid or other names, doesn’t factor into the importance of the qualities inhabiting it. The planets are the marquee members of the solar system, along with the Sun and Moon. Other planets have “moons” too, and the sheer quantity is more than a human mind can grasp from an Astrological point of view. There are an estimated 2 million asteroids in this solar system, in addition to comets flying around. Comets pass by or impact the Earth in groups; often, a disintegrating larger comet or asteroid leaves debris behind, and the Earth passes through these debris fields regularly, which is why they can be forecast. They are also in orbit around the Sun. But Astrologers are only beginning to chart the planetoids or larger asteroids and incorporate them into the body of the chart of the psyche that Astrology is mapping. It’s important to remember that every component of the solar system and the planets, Sun, and Moon in particular, are not external objects projecting their influences on us. They are the hosts of specific internal energies within us, acting on each other in a body that is multi-dimensional, yet we only know to exist in the physical 3rd dimension. Our Astrology charts address these energies somewhat simplistically as if they are external objects affecting us.

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The Milky Way

​Atlas is said to be a comet from outside the solar system based on its trajectory of entry and its composition, which is unlike that of comets in our solar system. But here it is. Atlas has entered our 3D physical universe body and interacts with various parts of it, some more than others, over Time.
There’s a list, I believe, of around 13 Atlas anomalies at present. These properties do not conform with established norms for comets or suggest that they conform instead with manufactured hardware. Maybe a Trojan Horse.
I’m settled with the idea of Atlas as a living body, just as the Earth and other planets, etc., are sentient as Astrology sees them. What they are made of is a secondary matter.
But I am also entertaining the real possibility that Atlas is a manufactured object on a calculated trajectory. Its trajectory is among the many anomalies that don’t comfortably fit for a comet. From a scientific perspective, Atlas’s trajectory suggests it originated outside the solar system and that this is a one-time visit. But if it’s manufactured, its trajectory is also manufactured to suggest, through straightforward calculations, that it came from outside the solar system, yet not identify which outer planet, known or unknown, it could have come from. Earth-based observation noticed it on its inbound journey as it was approaching Jupiter’s orbit, though Jupiter was far from that location in its orbit around the Sun.
Atlas has made its closest approach to the Sun, behind the Sun from our point of view, and by some means described as not dependent on the gravity of the Sun for its acceleration around it, and is now heading for a close passage of Jupiter. This trajectory will take it precisely where it needs to be to avoid being grabbed by Jupiter’s enormous and powerful gravity field and to avoid being influenced by the gravity field of the Sun. It’s a very precise trajectory that seems too perfect to be luck. But we have no proof of anything otherwise.
I’ve seen recent, higher-quality photos with attributes that definitely begin to resemble something manufactured, but this is not clear proof, as science requires.

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​​Another remarkable thing about 3I/Atlas is that when it arrives close to Jupiter on its way out of the solar system, or perhaps back where it came from, it is precisely when Saturn and Neptune make their conjunction at zero degrees of Aries. This happens slowly around mid-February of next year; the two outer giant planets remain close into April, after which Saturn begins to pull away, as it is the faster-moving of the two. In this same period, Saturn and Neptune are sextile to Pluto in early Aquarius, and sextile to Uranus in Gemini. Saturn and Neptune are thus at the midpoint aspect of the 120-degree trine of Pluto to Uranus. The midpoint of Uranus and Pluto, at zero degrees of Aries, is powerful. Midpoints like this are highly sensitive in and of themselves, whatever their degree. The zero degree of Aries, being the 30th degree of Pisces, like all zero degrees of any sign, is a heightened point of potency for any planet crossing it. The symbolic value of this happening at the zero point of Aries, as the first sign is, in the language of the psyche, very symbolic. It’s a beginning of a life cycle of some kind.  It’s a change of expression as a planet moves from one sign to the character of expression in the next sign. Now it’s Saturn, which has been in Pisces for a couple of years, and Neptune, which entered Pisces in 2011.

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​Astrologically, this specific event of outer planets conjuncting at zero degrees of Aries is rare enough that no one can say it’s happened in 10,000 years. I take it as a period of a major new cycle and change in humanity’s collective psyche.
Because of the timing of Atlas arriving at Jupiter as Saturn meets up perfectly with Neptune and then presumably passes on to cross Saturn’s orbit soon after, I don’t believe this is an accidental thing.  It’s happening just as a comet, Atlas, brings a new element into the mix of who we are:  something from outside our solar system we are led to believe, introduced into our psyche at the commencement of something evolutionary.
Jupiter in Astrology is the planet that wants to expand us. It wants to expand the mind, our feelings, ideals, and our spirit. Jupiter is only restrained by being inside the orbit of Saturn, because Saturn is structure and that limits expression to what is real or possible according to Saturn. Saturn sets the rules and makes us face reality and karma.
Neptune in Astrology is very much like Jupiter, except that it is outside the orbit of Saturn and doesn’t usually have to deal with the parental Saturn imposing limits. Where Jupiter wants to bring spiritual belief to us, belief in the gods and angels, that must be in a structure (religion) that Saturn allows.
Sometimes history has shown how, between Saturn and Jupiter, religion is oppressive (too much Saturn) or too loose (too much Jupiter). Neptune isn’t restrained by the structures of belief and will take one on a transcendental journey outside the structures and mundane moralities of Saturn and Jupiter. This is not always workable or constructive for human beings, though it may be inspirational.
Saturn and Neptune do not mix well most of the time. Ideally, they can, but it isn’t always in our hands to orchestrate. Thus, in history, Neptune and Saturn have brought confusion as well as inspiration. Many life-saving vaccines and processes to make substances we consume safe to eat emerged when Saturn and Neptune were together. Neptune inspired; Saturn crafted the inspiration into something we can apply. Sometimes, though, they brought revolution and the end of empires, which is the fantasy of Earthly power meeting mortality.
Yet, this time we have a very positive supporting cast in the sextiles from either side, by Uranus in Gemini and Pluto in Aquarius. Uranus encourages bringing something outside our prior conception, often called unusual because it was not expected. Pluto brings the power to transform, something from our distant past into use in the present. The inner planets make aspects to provoke manifestation spread out over the entire time, mainly during the months of March and April, when they bring these energies down to Earth, where we experience, feel, and analyze them.

​And what does Atlas bring into this moment?

Atlas, as a manufactured probe from another civilization, probably located in the outer solar system, would be a tremendously impactful line crossed; nothing would be the same again. It would not mean that aliens are landing, it would mean that there’s someone else in the neighborhood taking a look at us in our version of civilized. Cringe.
Taking a quick look at the transits apart from Atlas, the retrogrades of Saturn and Neptune back into Pisces are ending as they begin their final run up to their conjunction. Saturn went Direct or forward motion in late November, as Neptune will in the second week of December. Pluto is already Direct and Uranus will be Direct in early February.
While this is a phenomenal thing to witness for Astrologers, I think this has taken up so much oxygen that Astrologers are missing something more meaningful about to begin, which is that Saturn moves on from its meeting with Neptune, and by early April, it’s beginning to fade. Uranus remains in aspect, affecting us with Neptune and Pluto, for a couple of years. Neptune and Pluto remain in aspect starting at this time well into 2032; they remain sextile to each other and this very long-term aspect will be shaping our lives more than anything else. Neptune and Pluto are in a positive sextile aspect as Neptune reaches Pluto’s Aquarian degree of about 3 degrees, in late April. They begin their mutual remaking of our psyche and don’t quit for several years when they each reach about 16 degrees of Aries and Aquarius respectively. At that time Neptune begins to depart from Pluto as it moves a little faster.
I’m not thrilled by Neptune in Aries in general; it’s not a good environment for Neptune to be at its best. It favors things like the Crusades. Holy Wars. Self-righteous violence by those devoted to serving the god of Aries, who is Mars, the god of war. I’m counting on Pluto and Uranus to modify this behavior, but remind myself that Pluto is the underworld, the god of death, transformation, as in life-death issues. But on a higher note, it’s also about being in touch with our ancestors and past lives, and about patterns of behavior that need cleaning up. Uranus in Gemini will involve endless talk or chatter. It may involve the cutting off of things like the internet, which at first seems like a bad surprise but could turn into a good one in unusual ways. That’s Uranus. These outer planets bring the big changes in life that often seem stressful because they are huge changes, even though they are improvements. Someone stuck in a self-abusive behavior pattern would at first feel that being forced out of it was a terrible thing. Later on, they get it.
Earlier this year, Saturn and Neptune, backing out of their brief moment in Aries into Pisces, gave us the chance to experience again some of the follies and joys of their recent years in Pisces. These two outer planets in Pisces brought us blurring of reality and fake news, for those who couldn’t tell the difference. Now these two outer planets leave Pisces and their Aries character will take shape. Saturn in Aries will be able to get out its scythe and chop out the rot that grew wild while Saturn was swimming in Pisces and unable to sort out reality. 

Unfortunately, Saturn in Aries is not a patient place to do the sorting out; it’s in a hurry to clean up the mess and move on. Aries' way of dealing with clutter is to throw it out, even if it’s valuable. Neptune’s power for inspiration (by real divinity or by fake) is left behind in Pisces. It loses that magic in Aries. It inspires the Mars-like way of a campaign to defeat the enemy and slay the dragon. Neptune is reduced to a cheerleader by comparison to the soldier in shiny armor with magical weapons. The only good thing is Pluto and Uranus on either side. These two are the reassuring knowledge that the roller coaster is securely tethered to the rail as you fly along. You don’t really know what to expect ahead, but at least the metal box you are riding in can’t fall off.  ​

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