A Global Initiation:
Outer Planet Conjuctions and a Shift in the Spirits of Time
Dear friends, It has been some time since I have been able to put out a proper post. Spring on the farm has been keeping me extremely busy, and I have had little time to write. You have been much on my mind and I’m happy I was able to burn the midnight oil over several nights to get this post out to you. Please forgive the inevitable typos.
The current global situation has been much on my mind, and rather than descending into paralyzing fear and despair, I have tried to look beneath the apparent surface of things to try to find a larger and more hopeful way of looking at this world that seems on the brink of crisis. I firmly believe that human history is a manifestation of larger than human or divine forces, great archetypes, gods and spirits, forces of fate that must be adapted to. We can and should endeavor with all of our might to work for justice and peace, and to struggle against tyranny because that is the right thing to do. Whatever situation one finds oneself in, there is a way to follow the good and true and to live in a way that is consistent with our values. But ultimately, how it all ends up is in the power of forces of collective fate that are much greater than ourselves. At the same time, I have faith that evil cannot win forever, and that those who have risen will fall and those who have fallen will rise because that is the way of things.
As always, I send you my love, friendship, and best wishes.
Todd
P.S. If you appreciate what you read here at The Cunning Farmer, don’t forget to like, share and restack this post. It really helps to get the word out about my work. Thank you for reading and for your support.
A Global Initiation: Planetary Conjunctions and A Shift in The Spirits of Time
As we enter the fifth month of this 2025th year of the Common Era, it is becoming more obvious with every passing day that collectively we are experiencing a profound shift in the spirit of time, an entry in to a new era, one in which the old certainties are being washed away by the rising tide of irreversible change. It is as if the ground is washing away beneath our feet, revealing that not only do we not stand on a solid foundation, there is, in fact, no ground beneath our feet.
This situation is as liberating as it is frightening. It is a shift that is happening on all levels, political, spiritual, economic, technological, cultural, and environmental. As we enter into this new era, we have lost the ability to predict what life may be like in the near future, let alone for future generations. It is frightening because we face the very real threat of societal collapse and extinction due to environmental degradation and resource depletion, as well as the specter of nuclear war. As bad as this situation appears to be, it has the potential to be a moment of liberation when the retreat back into business as usual has become impossible and the only way forward is for people, collectively, to make a choice to turn things around and do things differently.
The fundamental uncertainty of our time has caused a reactionary backlash in politics, with many people attempting to retreat into the safety of older religious and political paradigms that promise to turn back the clock and slow or reverse the rate of cultural change. Ultimately this promise to make things great again is a hollow one. Things in America never were great in the first place. The turn to authoritarianism is really only a revealing of what was always there lurking in the shadows. The demons and dark gods of racism, sexism, homophobia, xenophobia, and hatred invoked by those who have taken power are the ones that were always there, not very far beneath the surface, they have always come to the surface in times of crisis and transition. In our age of technological connectedness, however, the images of the refugees fleeing violence, the tattooed prisoners caged like animals in human created hell holes, the innocents kidnapped by secret police from on American streets, are inescapable. They have shown us, all of us, our collective shadow, our dark Plutonian unconscious desire for violence. We are not separate individuals, we are all part of this together.
This violence is the shadow side of our privilege. If we do not make the collective decision to help our less fortunate neighbors in this world which is becoming increasingly stressed from global climate change and competition for essential resources and living space, violence of this kind is our future. More walls will be built, more secret police necessary, more armies, more weapons, more violence, all of it will be required to maintain the increasingly isolated exclusive gated community that America will become. This is the dream of the regime, a walled fortress around an irrigated elite country club in the midst of a burning world, with armed guards at the gates keeping the starving refugees on the outside, the rich feasting in the midst of famine.
The only way out is through, and the only way through is by making the unconscious collective death drive conscious. Freud termed this death instinct thanatos. It is the dark counterpart of eros, the life instinct, and it is on vivid display in our world today. There is no hiding from it any longer. This is frightening, but it is also an opportunity for change. How can we change if we continue to pretend that we, as Americans, are the good guys, preserving the fundamentally rotten and unjust global power structure with our alliances, trade agreements, and military bases around the world. If we can stand up to the authoritarians who have seized control (honestly, they have always been in control, even if they have occasionally given lip service to human rights), we have the chance to do things differently. We should not squander the chance by trying to return to normal.
As Carl Jung wrote in Aion, “The approach of the next Platonic month, namely [the age of] Aquarius, will constellate the problem of the union of opposites. It will then no longer be possible to write of evil as a mere privation of good; its real existence will have to be recognized. This problem can be solved neither by philosophy, nor by economics, nor by politics, but only by the individual human being, via his experience of the living spirit.” We see evil on vivid display in the world today, evil that in its deluded self-righteousness believes itself to be moral and upright and acting in the name of God. We must oppose it without getting entangled with our own shadow. We must oppose it without hatred and with compassion.
Whatever normal may have been, we have been headed for a fall for some time now. My whole life, apocalyptic scenarios of one form or another have been a constant background myth of our time. This is because on the level of the collective unconscious, the human level of the world soul, we have intuited this shift for several generations. The apocalypse archetype has reached back in time and shaped the dreams and intuitions of generations. One of the sensitive souls who intuited the current seismic shift in consciousness long ago, was pioneering depth psychologist Carl Jung, who writing nearly 70 years ago presciently described the current moment as a “mood of world destruction and world renewal that has set its mark on our age. This mood makes itself felt everywhere, politically, socially, and philosophically. We are living in what the Greeks called the Καιρός [Kairos]–the right time–for a “metamorphosis of the gods,” i.e., of the fundamental principles and symbols. This peculiarity of our time, which is certainly not of our choosing, is the expression of the unconscious man within us who is changing. Coming generations will have to take account of this momentous transformation if humanity is to not destroy itself through the might of its own technology and science.”
According to Jung, we are living in a time of a “metamorphosis of the gods”, although he quickly allegorizes the gods of which he spoke as “our fundamental principles and symbols”. We know that for Jung, these gods were not a matter of mere psychology, creatures content to live within our limited individual brains, but that they are transpersonal agents who interact with human consciousness and who can even structure our reality by manipulating physical events, such as in synchronicities. No, the gods are real, and they are still here, working through our minds and arranging the happenings of the world. It is obvious to anyone who looks out on the world scene today that the zeitgeist of May 2025 is very different than it was one year ago, or even how fundamentally different our world was after COVID-19 pandemic.
In order to understand this shift it is helpful to have a cosmological framework, like astrology, that allows us to predict and conceptualize the cycles of divine transformation that are the changing historical epochs in which we live. In astrology we have a model which incorporates archetypal symbolism within a dynamic cyclical conception of time that gives a unique signature of meaning to each moment. In particular, the aspect patterns between the slow moving outer planets have been correlated with the transformations in human collective consciousness that shape the grand epochal movements of history.
Astrologer and historian Richard Tarnas detailed many of the correlations between planetary cycles and historical paradigm shifts in his monumental study Cosmos and Psyche. Originally published in 2006, this fascinating work delved into history to make a detailed and convincing case that the synchronistic correlations between the slow and inexorable movements of the cold distant worlds of the outer solar system did indeed seem to somehow shape or at least predict consciousness shifts and their concomitant historical events here on Earth. Written nearly 20 years ago and vast in its scope and depth of analysis, the work unfortunately did not project the principal aspect patterns discussed very far into the future, leaving that task to future generations of astrologers.
One future aspect pattern Tarnas did mention, is the current Saturn-Neptune conjunction which is now slowly tightening, and which promises to become more intense with Saturn’s ingress into Aries, where he will join Neptune. Tarnas wrote that “the archetypal combination of Saturn and Neptune is an exceptionally complex and profound one.” The conjunction of the two planets, in the cardinal fire sign of Aries, will bring themes of loss of faith, disappointment, truth versus delusion, with a particularly Martial emphasis on decisive action. If we are losing our faith in our institutions and the old intellectual and spiritual paradigms which have sustained them, because we have seen them to be hollow shells which propped up massive inequality and that were supported by the destruction and devastation of Nature which has made industrial capitalism possible. May we take charge of the metamorphosis of the gods and use the kairos we have been given to actually radically change something for the better for once, instead of just changing parties and making a “kindler and gentler” exploitation that merely exports the violence necessary to maintain its hegemony to far away shores.
I’m no politician, and I’m not much of an activist, and certainly not a prophet, just a person who has been watching the world change for half a century, all while hoping it would change for the better. Some of the most exciting historical events of my lifetime occurred during the last Saturn-Neptune conjunction in 1989-92, when the conjunction occurred at 11° Leo, which coincided with the collapse of the Soviet Union, and the fall of the Berlin Wall, as well as the mass protests against the Chinese regime at Tiananmen Square, which where violently crushed by the state. In these historical events we can see the Saturn-Neptune themes of disillusionment and dissatisfaction which erupted into mass protests and sudden change, a fiery protest against repression and the cold Saturnian reality of an entrenched and inflexible power structure.
Will this alignment, the Saturn-Neptune conjunction, bring about the collapse of the American Empire? Only time will tell. To be sure, said empire is much weaker 100 days into the Trump presidency than it was before. I would prefer peaceful democratic change and gradual improvement of conditions by good policy, but sometimes the world changes suddenly rather than gradually, when in times of stress and tension something finally bursts. With the increasing discontent and growing unpopularity of the current administration across many formerly loyal segments of society, as well as the tightening Saturn-Neptune conjunction which now stands at about 3°. I think we are on track to see a summer of discontent in which a mass movement against the weakening regime develops and blossoms. I just hope everything remains peaceful. The aspect will separate when both planets enter their retrograde periods in July and then re-intensify as the aspect perfects on February 21st 2026.
As many of the old paradigms seem to be crumbling there is a renewed sense of urgency to return to a simpler time and to seek guidance from traditional ways of understanding the world. I understand that more than most. But the danger is in taking those old ways of seeing literally, of retreating into fundamentalism and dogma. This takes many forms, and indeed the urge toward cosmologies of re-enchantment, some of which I recommend on this forum, can be seen to be a part of this trend. But I maintain a strong distinction between cosmologies of enchantment that liberate and those that serve to maintain the status quo or worse, as well as a distinction between ones that tend to elevate consciousness and those, like religious fundamentalism that lower consciousness and narrow the mind.
Another conceptual model onto which the great epochal cycles have been mapped is the Yuga cycle of Hinduism, which is given various year values. According to author Bibhu Dev Mishra’s 2023 book Yuga Shift, the correct figure is a cycle of 24,000 years, based on the calculations of early 20th century Hindu teacher Sri Yukteswar. The cycle has periods of growth, decay, destruction, and renewal, and the mahayuga is further divided into four yugas, or ages. The Golden, Silver, Bronze, and Iron ages the ancient Greek cosmological poet Hesiod wrote of have their exact counterparts in the ancient Indian cycle. The cycle, in which all four ages go through a descending phase, followed by four ages returning back ultimately, to the Golden Age. The kalpa begins, according to Mishra, with the idyllic Sattya Yuga, the Golden Age, which lasts 2700 years, followed by a transition period of 300 years. Next comes the descending Treta Yuga, the Silver Age, lasting 2700 years, followed by a transition period of 300 years. The descending Dwapara Yuga, the Bronze Age is next, and yet another transitional period of 300 years, and finally we arrive at the descending Kali yuga, a period characterized by vice, avarice, greed, and decreasing consciousness (sound familiar?) which is given a figure of another 2700 years, with a further three hundred years transition. Then begins the ascending phase, in which, as consciousness increases incrementally, we begin to return to the Bronze Age.(Mishra, 149.) The most interesting conclusion of the book is that according to Dev Mishra’s calculations, the ascending Kali Yuga ended on March 21 of this year!
His fascinating and highly speculative book is filled with the reasoning process behind his conclusion. Having sifted through the many conflicting dates and time periods found in the Hindu scriptures and the commentary on them, Mishra arrived at this surprisingly specific and recent date. I’m not saying that I accept this conclusion, I mention it here to add yet another piece of evidence that we are indeed living in a uniquely transformative moment. Unfortunately for us who live at this transitional age, even though the Kali Yuga is over and we are in the ascending phase of the cycle, and consciousness is rising, according to the mythology, the transition time between the present age and the next will be anything but smooth. According to Mishra’s book, we are in for a potentially rough ride: “Most of the ancient traditions are in agreement that every time we pass through a period of transition between the Yugas, there is a total or near-total obliteration of human civilization, and the survivors have to start from scratch once again.” (Mishra, 162.)
Mishra, writing in 2023 was apparently concerned that his prophecy would cause alarm, and assured his readers that although 2025 is the date of the end of the Kali Yuga, “nothing of any particular significance is likely to happen in the year 2025 itself.” (Mishra, 151.) Indeed. This is just an ordinary year, one in which the Kali Yuga vices of greed, violence, bigotry, and generally decreasing consciousness have reached a crescendo. And also, one in which the consciousness of many of us now are trying to find a way to avoid descending into collective insanity, and in a strange way, consciousness may actually be increasing. It will likely be too little to late to stop the global purgation that comes at the end of an age:
“the year 2025 is the cut-off date for humanity to recognize that we are divine souls; that the gods are the guardians of the human civilization; and it is our sacred obligation to act in accordance with the divine plan, which is to live in peace and harmony with each other, and progressively purify our consciousness. If we are unable to do so by 2025 – and, to be honest, that seems quite unrealistic at this stage – catastrophic changes will inevitably sweep over the earth.”
For the record, I am not saying here that I embrace this highly speculative theory, I merely put it out to you as a suggestive mythical view of the consciousness shift that I do believe is clearly happening. I do not tie it to any particular religion. Indeed, one weakness of religious interpretations is that they try to interpret complex phenomena by means of their own mythology and symbols. Though, it does seem that most religious systems do have an eschatology of some kind, a “last days” narrative, and it seems like many of those narratives do seem to describe the kind of chaotic events like we are witnessing today. Indeed, the Gospel of Matthew, describes the end of the present age like this:
“For many will come in my name, saying, ‘I am the Messiah!’ and they will lead many astray. And you will hear of wars and rumors of wars; see that you are not alarmed; for this must take place, but the end is not yet. For nation will rise against nation, and kingdom against kingdom, and there will be famines and earthquakes in various places: all this is but the beginning of the birth pangs. Then they will hand you over to be tortured and will put you to death, and you will be hated by all nations because of my name. Then many will fall away, and they will betray one another and hate one another. And many false prophets will arise and lead many astray. And because of the increase of lawlessness, the love of many will grow cold. But the one who endures to the end will be saved. And this good news of the kingdom will be proclaimed throughout the world, as a testimony to all the nations; and then the end will come.” (The Bible, NRSV, Matthew 24:5-14) In this brief excerpt from a longer passage (which is essential for understanding Christian eschatology) we see some of the same themes of a period of increasing lawlessness, amoralism, and violence is prophesied to precede the events of the Last Days, indeed they are the first sign of the arrival of the fated time period. It must be added in the context of this quote that the earliest generation of Christians believed that they would see the end in their own lifetimes.
One major difference between the Jewish and Christian End-Times scenarios and those of the Yuga cycle is that in the Christian myth, time is not cyclical, there is one beginning, and one end. Whereas, according to the Hindu view, there has been an infinite procession of Yuga cycles in a beginningless cycle of worlds. Indeed, the fire and brimstone apocalyptic scenarios of the Christian End Times myth is one of the central myths of the Age of Pisces, the great age which saw the rise of Christianity as a world force. The last 400 years have witnessed a progressive weakening of Christian institutions as the dominant philosophy of the age in which we live, by whatever name we call it, has become a materialistic worldview which is hostile to all forms of spirituality. This turning away from spirituality and religion and toward worldly vices is also a nearly universal mythic component of the degenerate age which precedes a period of world cleansing in both cyclical and linear conceptions of mythic time.
Mishra’s speculations on the Kali Yuga do, however, embrace a view of cyclical time that, as an astrologer and a person of deep Jungian sympathies I do take seriously: namely, the idea that as the precession of the equinoxes, well, precedes, and as the vernal point, the position of the Sun at the Spring equinox shifts eastward, by a figure of about 50” yearly, against the order of signs, we are entering into the so-called Age of Aquarius, and that this is another language and set of symbols. Due to the fact that the earth’s axis has a slight wobble, the North Pole moves in a slowly revolving circle against the backdrop of the Northern fixed stars. Right now it points at the star Polaris in the tip of Ursa Minor, the Little Dipper, but 3000 years ago, the axis pointed at the star Thuban in the constellation Draco, at that time the sidereal vernal point would have been in Aries, so that time period was considered the Age of Aries. The time it takes the Earth’s axis, and thus the vernal point, to make a complete circuit, is about 25,800 years according to Mishra, this time period is also known as a Platonic or Great Year. A figure not too far off the time period specified as a complete yuga cycle of 24,000 years, and one which Mishra speculates may be the correct figure.
The vernal point spends 2150 years in each sign and according to traditional Hindu astrology, which uses a sidereal Zodiac, the vernal point now stands at 8° of sidereal Pisces, and drifts closer to Aquarius every year. According to Jung, “the delimitation of the constellations is known to be somewhat arbitrary” and therefore “the beginning of the next aeon, according to the starting-point you select, falls between A.D. 2000 and 2200.” He speculated the Age of Aquarius may have begun as early as 1997. As the Age of Aries faded into the Age of Pisces with the advent of the Christian era, following the birth and ministry of the teacher Jeshua, whose symbol was the fish, so the symbols of the past will be transformed by the coming age.
Jung wrote that there are “manifestations of psychic changes which always appear at the end of one Platonic month and at the beginning of another. Apparently they are changes in the constellation of psychic dominants, of the archetypes, or “gods” as they used to be called, which bring about, or accompany, long-lasting transformations of the collective psyche. This transformation started in the historical era and left its traces first in then passing of the aeon of Taurus into that of Aries, and then of Aries into Pisces, whose beginning coincides with the rise of Christianity. We are now nearing that great change which may be expected when the spring-point enters Aquarius.” Much of the anxiety, fear, aggression and lower emotions are consistent with these psychic changes Jung wrote of, as are the proliferation of conspiracy theories, the uptick in UFO sightings and interest in paranormal phenomena. Psychedelic drugs, once taboo, are becoming mainstream and there is also a sense of a growing interest in spirituality and healing modalities at the same time as all of the more negative trends toward authoritarianism we have spoken of and are a welcome counter trend, and perhaps a sign of a turn in the collective consciousness.
If Aries was, as it were, the rising sign of the year for 2160 years, it certainly must have left its cardinal, fiery, Martial, stamp on the emphasis of that age, and likewise, Pisces, with its watery, Jovial, and emotional stamp on its age, reflected, according to Jung in the rising of the Christian religion of love and mercy (however, historically, “love thy neighbor” has often played out very differently in practice, despite the Teacher of Nazareth’s intentions. This is the Kali Yuga, after all). Intellectual and Saturnian Aquarius as the “rising sign” of the new aeon will certainly make its impact on the zeitgeist, the quality of the coming age. Many astrologers equate Aquarius with an egalitarian and unconventional personality, and a concern for social justice. As a sign it is ruled by Saturn, however, and as a malefic usually brings difficulty to the things he rules. According to Hesiod, Saturn, or more properly, Kronos, was the king of the Gods during the Golden Age, so perhaps the Age of Aquarius may represent, mythically anyway, a return to better times after all. One can hope that with the turn of the aeon we will see a better kind of world take shape.
In an event that seemed to inaugurate the Age of Aquarius, on December 21, 2020, in the midst of the chaos of the first Trump presidency and the COVID-19 pandemic, Saturn and Jupiter conjoined in that sign, in the first in a series of “Great Conjunctions” in a sign of the elemental triplicity of air, which ended 240 years of the close meetings of Saturn and Jupiter in Earth signs. Conjunctions of the two visible outer planets occur every twenty years in a triangular pattern, and occur in signs of the same element for 240 years, exactly 12 conjunctions, with the 13th occurring in the next element. The first of a series of great conjunctions in a new elemental triplicity was known as a greater conjunction. For ancient and medieval astrologers, the occurrence of a great conjunction was a very ominous occasion which marked the coming of significant and often disastrous changes (interestingly the word “dis-aster” originally referred to a calamity which was linked to an unfavorable alignment of the stars).
The fact that the conjunction occurred at the time of a major global outbreak of disease would not have surprised the medieval philosopher, astrologer, scientist and bishop, Albertus Magnus. He believed that everything in the lower world is caused by motions in the superior world, the celestial bodies, and that when the great conjunctions shifted triplicity, “a new power is poured into lower things from the heavens, ancient places of habitation are destroyed and new ones begin.” ( Rutkin, H. Darrel, Sapientia Astrologica, 97.) Combining between them all of the Aristotelian primary qualities, conjunctions of Saturn, which moves cold and dry, with Jupiter, which moves hot and moist, induce fundamental changes in the lower world, particularly affecting things pertaining to the elemental triplicity of the sign in which they occur. “Therefore, it is fitting that, when these two stars [sc. Saturn and Jupiter] change triplicity, a change of the entire world will be perceived.”(Albertus Magnus in Rutkin, 103)
The change in triplicity influences the quality of the influence from higher to lower; for example, great conjunctions in water signs are linked with catastrophic flooding. When they occur in air signs, particularly in the first of a series of 12 in that triplicity, a “greater conjunction”, they indicate a corruption of the element in which they occur and when the air element is corrupted by celestial forces, pestilence is the result. And that is exactly what happened in 2020. Although the actual timing of the pandemic was more linked to yet another “great conjunction”, that of Saturn and Pluto, that had occurred in Capricorn and perfected on January 14th.
Not only do changes in the triplicity of the great conjunctions affect the elemental world, they also bring about great changes in the human realm, often indicating changes in dynasty or in religion, according to astrological historian David Pingree: “Conjunctions of Saturn and Jupiter…. at the beginning of Aries, which occurs at intervals of about 1000 years, indicates prophets; transfers of conjunctions from triplicity to triplicity, which occur about every 240 or 260 years, indicate changes in dynasties; and individual conjunctions, which are separated by twenty years, indicate more short-term historical events.” (Pingree, David, From Astral Omens to Astrology, 43.)
The Islamic astrologers that developed the theory of the great conjunctions believed that it was a “means of tracking God’s unfolding plan and of anticipating apocalyptic cataclysms” writes astrologer Nicholas Campion. Fascinatingly, Campion tells us the theory:
“was derived from the coincidence of timing between the apocalyptic teachings of Zoroastrian religion and the combined cycle of Jupiter and Saturn,the two slowest-moving planets. According to the Zoroastrians, world history was driven forward by a dialectical process characterized by 12 phases of 1,000 years each. As one millennium came to an end and another began a crucial phase was initiated in the bitter struggle for supremacy between Ahura Mazda, or Ormazd, the god of light, and Ahriman, his dark counterpart. At some point, perhaps after the Persian occupation of Babylon in 539 BCE, most likely following the spread of Hellenistic astrology after the 2nd century BCE, it was noticed that the conjunctions between the two slow moving planets, Jupiter and Saturn, which take place every 20 years, progress through the signs of the zodiac in an orderly sequence that repeats itself after 960 years.” (Campion, Nicolas, Astrology and Cosmology in the World’s Religions, 182.)
It is the use of this technique to predict the unfolding of cyclical transformations in human history, and its ties with eschatology and apocalypticism that we find most interesting, because we are increasingly having to face the fact that we seem to be living at the end of one age and the arising of another. In the words of the eminent historian of religions, Mircea Eliade we seem to be among those who “bear the burden of being contemporary with a disastrous period by becoming conscious of the position it occupies in the descending trajectory of the cosmic cycle.”
The next great conjunction, although the second to occur in the series in air signs, will be the great conjunction of 2040, when on September 8th, when six of the seven visible planets will conjoin within 10 degrees in the sign of Libra, when Mars, Venus, Saturn, Jupiter, Mercury, and the Moon will all be visible low in the western sky right after sunset [The Jupiter-Saturn conjunction itself will not perfect until November 3rd, 2040]. A conjunction of this type is exceedingly rare, only occurring once every 12,000 years (Mishra, 436.) Bibhu Dev Mishra speculates that this profoundly significant astrological event may signify the beginning of a cataclysmic event which will purge the Earth of the remaining energies of the Kali Yuga.
I’m not sure I subscribe to the cataclysm theory, but I do believe that great conjunctions like the Saturn-Pluto and Jupiter-Saturn conjunctions of 2020, as well as the Saturn-Neptune conjunction which is taking shape now, do signify and portend massive change in the collective sphere. With planetary alignments like the six planets which will conjoin in 2040, and which is a mere 15 years away, extreme changes, which could possibly be cataclysmic, are a distinct possibility. Johannes Kepler wrote in 1614, “Great conjunctions of planets in cardinal points, especially in the equinoctial points of Aries and Libra, signify a universal change of affairs” (Mishra, 436.) Perhaps the universal change of affairs will be something hopeful and not destructive.
While all of the current pattern shifting occurring on a global scale is destabilizing our collective lives as a whole, individually the cosmic archons are shaking things up in our personal lives as well. My wife asked me today to look at the transits to her natal chart because she was having some concerns and she wanted me to see if I saw anything relevant to them in the stars. Not surprisingly, I did see something relevant. The last phase of her second Saturn opposition to her natal Saturn, the midway point between Saturn returns, was again exact to the degree and her natal Uranus was also being opposed by transiting Uranus, that’s two outer planet oppositions occurring exactly at the same time. Now, that is a difficult transit, and it comes after several years of Neptune opposing her natal Saturn. Without going into the specifics, the transits neatly reflect her life circumstances at the moment. Robert Hand’s classic book Planets in Transits says of both transits that they represent a significant milestone that occurs for everyone by the time they reach their mid 40s, but to have both of them exact at the same time can be very destabilizing, especially with all of the other celestial and worldly events occurring in a busy life of a hard working mother.
The Saturn- Neptune conjunction will affect people with prominent natal positions in late Virgo and Pisces, as well as the other mutable signs that are still getting hammered by Saturn and the nodal axis, and that now the chaos is slowly moving on to the cardinal signs. The conjunction will strongly affect people with natal placements, like planets and major angles in the signs of early Aries, by conjunction, early Cancer and Capricorn by square, and early Libra by opposition. This will affect whole generations, for instance, people like me, who were born in the early 1970s, for whom the Saturn-Neptune opposition will be opposite their natal Pluto. The house placement of the conjunction in natal charts will also bring some very strong energy to the natal house in which the transit occurs, particularly if it involves a natal angle or makes a strong aspect to a natal planet.
Dates to remember:
5/26/2025, Saturn ingresses into Aries.
6/10/2025, Jupiter ingresses into Cancer
6/18/2025, Mars ingresses into Virgo
7/4/2025, Neptune stations retrograde in Aries
7/8/2025, Uranus ingresses into Gemini
7/13/2025, Saturn stations retrograde in Aries
7/27/2025 Mars crosses the the March 14th lunar eclipse degree of 23 Virgo
8/7/2025 Mars ingresses into Libra, opposing Saturn and Neptune, entering into a grand trine with Pluto in Aquarius and Uranus in Gemini.
9/2/2025, Saturn retrogrades into Pisces
9/6/2025, Uranus stations retrograde
9/7/2025, Total lunar eclipse at 15° Pisces 23’
9/21/2025, Partial solar eclipse at 29° Virgo 05’
10/24/25, Neptune retrogrades into Pisces
I am still available (with a bit of a wait) for astrological consults, so if you want me to take a look at your natal chart so I can give you an idea of how these momentous transits may affect your own life please message me here on Substack or email me via thecunningfarmer@proton.me
My upcoming book The Cunning Farmer: Agrarian Magic, Mythology, and Folklore is available for preorder from the publisher, Inner Traditions International. Follow this link to preorder your copy now!
Bibliography and Works consulted:
Mishra, Bibhu Dev, Yuga Shift
Tarnas, Richard, Cosmos and Psyche: Intimations of a New World View
Jung, Carl -The Undiscovered Self
- Aion: Researches into the Phenomenology of the Self
- Flying Saucers: A Modern Myth of Things Seen in the Sky
- Jung on Astrology, (selected by Safron Rossi and Keiron Le Grice)
Eliade, Mircea, Cosmos and History: The Myth of the Eternal Return
Rutkin, H. Darrel, Sapientia Astrologica: Astrology, Magic, and Natural Knowledge, ca. 1250-1800.
Campion, Nicholas, Astrology and Cosmology in the World’s Religions
Pingree, David, From Astral Omens to Astrology