Lots going on this week. First, of course, is the fact that Pluto FINALLY exits the sign of Capricorn on November 19 (where it has been since January 2008) entering the sign of Aquarius, a sign of extremes, where it transits for about twenty years. For many of you, your careers and vocations have changed and/or evolved. Those who worked in what we call ‘hard asset industries’ are rethinking how best to use some of those hard assets like land, housing, and commercial buildings etc. Frankly, the jury is out on the direction in which to take this until Pluto gets its feet wet in the sign of Aquarius.
It usually takes a planet getting to the 3rd degree of a sign for any of us to know what to do. Pluto transits to 3̊ between March and July of 2025, putting its toe in the water to feel out the temperature of what to do, but then retrogrades back to the first degrees of the sign. It really isn’t until 2026, that it returns to those degrees going forward. It is in 2026 that we begin to see some answers as to which road to take. Meanwhile, holding steady and ridding ourselves of what doesn’t work is the best course of action. Holding steady will be important as the first few months of 2025 are particularly frustrating, more on this later.
For those who are more ‘light asset oriented’ – i.e., technology, virtual reality, websites, anything that doesn’t require a moving truck, there are still many paths to travel before settling on the right direction. Again, this isn’t the time to say, ‘this is it’ and this is where you are going. Rather, this is a time where you try things on. If they don’t work, you discard them – kind of like shopping for clothing. You try it on to see if it works, doing things like subscribing to trial subscriptions, contracting with contractors for limited jobs, staying at a VRBO a couple of times before you decide to move there, everything is temporary while transition takes place. Monday and Tuesday may feel as though you are very tired because of the transition between the two signs – and watching the news illustrates this beautifully as the public becomes aware of things unrevealed as Pluto was in its last days of Capricorn. I suddenly am remembering a very old commercial on television – advertising V-8 a vegetable juice. The character slaps himself on the side of the head waking himself up sayings, “I should have had a V-8!” This perfectly illustrates the times.
Saturn, the planet with the steady hand, went direct at 12̊ Pisces 41’. I love Saturn when it goes direct – I can finally organize the things I’ve been trying to finish or conceptualize. So can you. A lot of bids for work or work projects may be coming in for you during this time. The key thing is to discriminate between the offers being offered to you. Is it worth your time (a very valuable commodity that you cannot save nor put away for the future)? Is this offer one that fills you up with excitement and exciting new challenges even though it may mean a lot of work and a large learning curve? Are you up to giving your time and energy for something that might not, in the end, work out for you? Is there an unseen benefit is this possibly temporary position?
Remember that Mars, the planet of motivation and action, is already slowing down, now in early Leo, and soon in Cancer for several months to come. Don’t take on too much, use a calendar and stick to it so that you can move through tasks without anxiety. As a side note, the USA is a Cancer Sun Sign and is going through a major reorganization as well with Mars retrograde in Cancer all the way through February 23, 2025. Mars doesn’t even get back on track to where it went retrograde until May 2025. This means that a lot of desire for action may not happen, or, if they do, they won’t complete in the way they started out.
Putting things off that need completion is not the thing to do right now. Take care of the murkiest of tasks – do the pain first, then pleasure is a true reward as David Grant, a motivational speaker used to say. If you can get a little in each day – giving it your full measure of attention and effort, then you will move through the Mars retrograde period with more ease than others who put off doing those difficult but necessary tasks.
For more details on these back-and-forth planetary movements for 2025, order the 2025 Starcycles Cheat Sheet. For those of you who already purchased it, there is a correction, regarding the first paragraph in the section on Eclipses. The last two eclipses (like the ones coming in 2025) took place in 2006, and not in 1988 or 2007, as written (I missed that typo). What were you changing or doing in 2006? Or beginning even 19 years before that?
For me, looking back, I was team teaching the Undergraduate Program at Kepler College with other groundbreaking astrologers. I was teaching several things and find, very recently, that I have been asked to teach those same topics again in 2025 – a 19-year eclipse cycle. This stuff really works In fact, when I went back to find the topic requested of me, this is the only way I remembered the ‘when’ of doing it. I always look at eclipses that return about every 19 years as the next move up the DNA of an idea. We evolve each time – and this is why it is good to go back and ask yourself, “What were you doing that you really loved doing back then?” And see if it resonates moving you in a new direction.
Also, I was asked to (with several others)present my thoughts on a 2025 forecast for the Astrology Hub Podcast. Our group presents on Friday December 12 and I am doing it with two other great astrologers. There is a second day of three other astrologers and I look forward to learning what they have to say and throwing in my ‘sidestep’ thoughts for 2025.
Why sidesteps? 2025 is filled with innovative ideas and changes that keep stumbling until they get more traction later in the year. The movement is like how a toddler learns to walk. Toddlers get up, they fall, they get up, walk a few steps, then fall and finally – they get up and walk. This is 2025 concisely. This is why with Pluto changing signs, Saturn going forward and staying in Pisces, then moving to Aries, then moving back to Pisces (among other big planets doing the same dance) and Mars going retrograde, then Venus going retrograde, then Uranus and Neptune changing signs though briefly, that there is a lot of stumbling.
The bottom line is this: Do the essentials right now, clean house, rid yourself of relationships that suck energy, set more boundaries, try to be more pro-active in researching jobs or ideas or projects before diving in. Simplify, clarify and with next week’s Mercury stationing retrograde in Sagittarius, think about what you say, how you say it, before saying something. Once things are said, they cannot be taken back.
