The Many Meetings

​by David A. Wheatley

When the Moon met up with Saturn/Neptune, for David
From Aries to Pisces:  a shift in the character of the planets
Saturn in Aries will break borders and boundaries if they obstruct evolution
Moon, Venus, Mars, and Jupiter, as they rendezvous with Saturn/Neptune in the near term
Eris and Chiron in Aries
Ukraine; 3I/ATLAS

This review of near-term astrological events starts off with a personal note on the specific relationship in my recent experience and the current transits.
On Thursday, February 19th, the exact Saturn Neptune conjunction was joined precisely by the Moon, transiting in to meet up with these two giant outer planets. The Moon is the first inner planet or luminary to meet them in this conjunction, and the only one while they are exact.
For me, this transit happened on the occasion I had a spinal procedure done, to clear up a disc issue and blocked energy in my spine. The release as a result of the procedure was that throughout that evening and night, I had too much energy to sleep until 5:00 AM the next day, and got up only two hours later at 7:00 AM.  I’d like to say the book I was reading was that compelling, but it was at best a companion through the long night, as I buzzed with new energy that kept me awake. Again, the next night, my body wouldn't retire before midnight, even after missing sleep the night before, and the next morning, I was wide awake even earlier. My walking was achy and unbalanced before the procedure, and now I'm back to normal. No swelling, no irritation, no issues that they had warned could occur after the procedure.
I would describe it astrologically as the Moon brought into the grouping some inherited tendencies which the Moon does, from our family’s inherited tendencies, often through the home and habits provided by the mother. Older patterns of my body’s original programming were restored, including energy patterns I was born with in my Qi.
Fortunately, I had changed the original procedure date from two weeks prior, without any conscious knowledge of the Moon's specific rendezvous date with Saturn/Neptune, to accommodate my ride to the procedure from a dear friend, Laura, who played a supportive role as my Lunar radiance that day, and in the days after. This was preceded on the 17th by an annular solar eclipse of the New Moon passing in front of the Sun. (An annular eclipse is when the Moon is slightly further from Earth, and the disc of the Moon does not fully eclipse the disc of the Sun in the way people imagine an eclipse of the Sun to be.) My friend Laura arrived from out of town on the 17th. Having a strong natal position of the Moon in my natal chart has made me aware of the benefits from women in my life.
My procedure is a two-part operation, with the second appointment three weeks after the first. On that day, as it turns out, transiting Mercury will be conjunct my natal Moon. As the Moon is among other things inherited tendencies and the subconscious patterns derived from them, Mercury brings the influences of other planets (in any aspect) as a catalyst, bringing them into our conscious Earth mind. In myth, the Roman god Mercury, modeled after the Greek god Hermes, is the bearer of messages and the conduit between mortal consciousness and the gods of the heavens, or, astrologically, the outer planets, all of which are other conscious spheres of influence. I call them other conscious, meaning to directly include higher states of consciousness, and also, as in the case of Pluto, the unconscious. 
In modern society, Mercury’s winged feet deliver flowers from the florist's shop, and his staff or caduceus accompanies your pharmacist, producing the prescription you require. The chemist or alchemist. For me, it is likely that I, along with my still supportive friend Laura, will gain some insight into my treatment, or an insight will enter my consciousness when transiting Mercury conjuncts my natal Moon upon the event of the second treatment. I am always open to messages from other consciousness.

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The Moon Arriving at Saturn/Neptune, in Aries

​For the world, the timing of the Moon arriving at Saturn/Neptune is the insistence of established or inherited tendencies in the structure (Saturn) of international trade relations being restored, and cut way back from Trump excesses, as Saturn by nature always does. Saturn loves to edit. But in doing so, forcing a renovation, altering the confused, nebulous (Neptune) state of international trade with tariffs that can change in a day or weeks, according to one man’s whims. The Supreme Court completed and presented its decision on Thursday, February 19th, and it hit like a bomb on Friday, even though it is restoring an established centuries-old set of restrictions on US/world trade. This is Saturn correcting something out of line and simplifying things according to the established law. Neptune, having created the chaos while in Pisces, where Saturn was at the time ungrounded and unable to bring order, now suddenly interacts with a more grounded and able Saturn in Aries. Saturn could not have had this typical Saturn impact while in Pisces, as I've been saying for two years. 

From Aries to Pisces: a shift in character 

The inner planets will follow the Moon’s first rendezvous with the two outer planets Saturn/Neptune in Aries, beginning with Venus on March 7th.
This inner planet parade, beginning with the Moon and then Venus, will bring the restored function of Saturn into play more, tempered by how Aries shapes its influence differently than Pisces did. Venus comes first, reminding those who know mythology that Aphrodite is also the warrior aspect of Venus, especially while in Aries. Aries is not an environment of long, ponderous plotting and deep research. It acts on impulse. We will have short-order wars trying to structure impulsive concepts that may not hold up long-term, but will instigate necessary change. Aries is superb at starting something but short on staying power. 

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Saturn in Aries will break borders and boundaries if they obstruct evolution, cluttered up with human overindulgence, but in its wake, leave the more nebulous imprints of Neptune following more slowly behind Saturn. Saturn has passed into Aries and will pass out into Taurus in about two years; Neptune will be there until 2038. Over that period, Saturn moving ahead more quickly will form semi-sextiles, sextiles, and a square to Neptune as either of them tweaks the other's work. This major conjunction at zero degrees of Aries is only the beginning of another chapter, rolling out new emphasis.
Saturn in Aries prompts quick decisions that may not restore clarity in line with humane values, the clearest example being what we will see in Gaza. Whatever existing structures are nebulized and broken won’t be stabilizing into something to build on until Saturn has moved into Taurus, roughly two years or more from now.

​After Venus, Mars catches up to where Saturn was, and Neptune still is, on April 10th. Saturn is beginning to separate from the tight conjunction with Neptune in Aries. Mars hits Neptune as Saturn has begun to pull away, making a less intense but still effective conjunction to Neptune in Aries. A stronger Saturn influence with Mars will follow the traditionally ill-mixed Mars/Neptune conjunction, suggesting to me first a callousness in decisions with Neptune, which immediately afterward runs into the realities of Mars meeting Saturn and their revealing frictions. The Mars in Aries influence on Neptune can produce inhumane acts, Mars soon after arriving at Saturn in Aries produces a militaristic solution, not a humane one. Solving problems with martial/Martian arts. Decisions will be made impatiently seeking an immediate fix, whether costly, necessary, or not. 

​This whole period is like pulling teeth to correct a long-standing infection. The good news is that, because it's in Aries and not Pisces, hard decisions must and will be made. The bad news is that, because it’s in Aries, being considerate, patient, and humane are relegated to a lower priority. Forcing the round peg into the square hole. Pulling teeth without an anesthetic. These are still epochal changes with Saturn and Neptune within orb of a conjunction, though separating. There is also still a jolt from the huge shift of outer and inner planets from Pisces to Aries in substance and style. This is not the execution of a well-thought-out strategy as much as it is simple execution. There may be a great need for hurried decisions, but this need was fully present by the time Saturn and Neptune (and others) were in Pisces.

Pisces is the 12th sign of the Zodiac, in which all other signs can ideally be assimilated. It is the psyche as a whole environment, not split astrologically into 11 other parts. But this is more than can be assimilated and maintained in Earthly consciousness, and for that reason, we have 12 signs and 12 Houses, and created religions and therapists to work through the connection between higher and mundane earthly conscious existence. They all impact our bodies, physical, psychological, and spiritual. Aries, following the sequence after Pisces, is a rebirth because some things cannot be resolved from the prior cycle without starting over, repeating some things, and growing through it all. Sometimes we have to scrap what we made and rebuild; it can’t be saved, though we retain the benefits of the experiences.
​From the USA, the most influential dominant government on Earth at the moment, we have seen and will see more reconstruction over and over again because here we are, in a strong Aries environment where careful research and planning are out the window in favor of impulse. One has to accept that this is the way things have to be for now. It may be we need this experience to enact evolutionary changes on the heels of fresh reminders of how things can be done or why we do them. Mars in Aries, meeting up with Saturn approaching the third week of April, is serious about arresting and jailing. If you are lucky. It could also be a rough and tumble, brutal time. Short heated arguments, fighting. No patience or time to try explaining to those who are shut down to listening.

​An outgoing warlike Venus, followed by the often malcontented Mars in Aries, is followed by Mercury in the second half of April. This is when we have no choice but to realize how well our methods are doing and if any agreements can be imposed. I say 'imposed' because Mercury in Aries isn’t a time for discussion or negotiation. It’s more about issuing orders. All sides, believing they are right, want to establish their rules as Mercury approaches a conjunction with Saturn in Aries in the third week of April. In the United States, a dormant Congress may want to become more active as policymakers, and the administration has its expectations. Everyone wants a voice, but there is no effective discussion. Aries is about action, not words. Emotions are expressed, not so much ideas. 

There’s also the seldom mentioned conjunction of Eris and Chiron in Aries, which all these planets will meet during this year. Very slow-moving, Eris, the sister of Mars, meets up with the “wounded healer” Chiron, the centaur. Archetypal deep-seated psychological wounds and damages come to the surface for healing in 2025-26 with this long-term transit. (The Epstein exploitation delineates the damaged feminine child by supposedly mature men.) When Saturn arrives to meet with Eris and Chiron, reality (Saturn) will pull back the curtain and karma will be served. That will happen over 2027 into 28, an election year in the USA, but it is already a factor with a deep rage that will not go away. 

​In mid-March of this year, Jupiter will return to where it was late last summer before it turned retrograde. This is sometimes called the shadow of the retrograde motion, a planet dwelling over an area for a prolonged period where its projects are held in place until finally it has moved forward and passed the point it had reached before it turned retrograde. In mid-March, Jupiter reaches and passes this degree in mid-Cancer, where it was last August. In everyone's personal chart, any aspect made by Jupiter around 16 degrees of Cancer to any other placement at approximately 16 degrees of any sign will be a part of this shadowy cycle in which we advanced something but were held back from fulfilling it.  In mid-March, Jupiter moves beyond this, and we can stop chasing our tail. Whatever was caught in a loop can now move beyond it.
For the USA this is an expanding realization of the national debt. Jupiter will be moving forward in the 8th house, which is legacy decisions and consequences concerning values and finances in the past. The consequences of past investment. Patterns that began to emerge over the past several months will now crystallize. Trends in the trajectory of the economy, the US dollar falling, inflation rising, declining jobs created compared to the year before, domestic manufacturing losses (down over 100,000 jobs last year) etc over the past several months will now form the basis for Jupiter’s transit of the US 8th house, completing this passage during mid-summer 2027. During Jupiter’s transit of the US 8th house, it will first conjunct natal Mercury at the end of this fiscal year in October, and the report will be what it will be. Being that the 8th house is often about consequences and karma from how we invested energy in the prior cycle, chances are the report is not good. The US natal Mercury is square (90 degrees) to the US natal Saturn in the 10th house. This is a stern reprimand from the Lord of Karma, sourpuss Saturn. In the 10th house, it’s a telling to the world what cannot be hidden. Saturn is always a reminder of the virtues of discipline. Saturn is also keen to acknowledge accomplishment, however the performance of the US economy in the last year was poor. Expenses are higher than ever, the debt is soaring, and obligations to correct perceived imbalances in immigration policy have exploded expenses and diminished a vital labor pool of immigrant workers. Saturn is reality; it doesn’t care about white supremacy as much as running an efficient economy and structuring businesses to work with prudence. These kinds of realities will be very obvious between Jupiter in the 8th house conjuncting natal Mercury and square natal Saturn in the 10th. The whole world will see it. Jupiter’s often over-arching message for humanity is we need each other, not that we need to divide each other. 

Ukraine

​For Ukraine, which is enjoying positive gains on the battlefield, Jupiter will be conjunct its Descendant when it finally moves out of its shadow. (The Descendant is a point 180 degrees opposite the Ascendant.)
Jupiter has been hovering over negotiations since last summer and when Jupiter moves forward out of its shadow, it conjuncts Ukraine’s Descendant.  This is a time for sitting down and having real negotiations, probably because Russia is falling backwards within its own borders because of the war and on the battlefield. Putin won’t like the situation in 2026, though President Trump is likely still predisposed to giving Putin as much as he can.
In 2025, the US cut off the economic benefits it had extended to Ukraine. Those benefits in the form of credit were monies spent on US arms, mostly in Conservative US states. Those states lost jobs and that revenue flow in 2025. Those Senators lost it. The US intelligence agencies ceased providing Ukraine with targeting support early in 2025; this role was taken up by France and the UK and everyone including Putin saw what Ukrainian drones could do that the US-provided missiles and intel did not do.  The US would not provide them or support their use deep inside Russia. Ukraine, with support from the EU and Britain, has done well since President Trump cut them off in 2025. In this regard, the US has also fallen in the esteem of many nations within the EU. 

The Uranus Return on the US chart begins in 2026

When Uranus enters Gemini in late April of this year, it will be a couple of years away from a return to where it was when the US was born. A Return to its natal placement. Every time Uranus has returned to this placement since the nation was born (every 84 years more or less) it brings a destabilizing revolt in various segments of society. I will go into this in greater detail at another time, but this Uranus Return begins later in 2026 and culminates by 2029.  This time of the US falling back from its prior role as an exemplary world leader precedes the Uranus return. The fate of the USA within its own borders and in the world will be the struggle for the 2028 election. 

3I/ATLAS

​Another interesting subplot is the arrival of 3I/ATLAS at Jupiter in mid-March. I am convinced that Atlas is a living entity or consciousness, as is the rest of the solar system, including asteroids, planetoids, and Moons. I am not convinced it is from outside our solar system, but maybe that’s because this astrological organism we live within, our solar system, is all that interests me. I’m not too interested in anything outside it, too far away, and unlikely to ever be on my radar.
​Our psyche is here contained in this solar system. That’s got my interest.  

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