History doesn’t repeat itself, but it does rhyme―Mark Twain.
As the days of this new year unfurl, honeyed or harsh, we may not yet distinguish who we are becoming. We may be clinging to where we are now, accepting those things we simply cannot change, or embracing the unknown of a new beginning.
January’s storyline reveals a glimpse of those things we can’t yet fully know. As the planets circle silently in the darkness of space, the astrology of this month proclaims a year of endings and beginnings, rage and love, sorrow and joy.
In the first week of January, an incandescent moon dominated the heavens. Her silvery light washed over the bare bones of the trees, tempering the gaudy flash of fireworks.
Imperial Jupiter, powerful in Cancer, held court in the heavens, rising in the east each evening as he escorted the pregnant moon across the skies.
Just before dawn on January 3rd, explosions rocked Caracus. News of an internet black out, the capture of Venezuelan President, Nicolás Maduro and first lady Cilia Flores, swept through the post-Christmas torpor, foreshadowing what will be a tumultuous year.
Nations, like people, have birth charts. On the day of the attack, January’s full moon (13º Cancer), conjunct Jupiter, brushed across the birth chart of America (sun 13º Cancer.)
Jupiter amplifies the qualities of whatever planet or angle it touches. Jupiter will be one of the planets to watch this year as it ingresses into fiery Leo on June 30th and opposes Pluto Rx just as Mercury stations Rx in Cancer and Mars and Uranus conjoin in Gemini. This may be a volatile celestial recipe for sudden disruption, conflict, domination by arrogant and grandiose leaders, or a dramatic AI bubble bust.
This month, Neptune and Saturn whirl closely through the heavens in the final degrees of Pisces. We may sense a collective energy of fatigue, psychological exhaustion, or sorrow. When the contradictory forces of Saturn and Neptune converge, the boundary between what is known and unknown becomes blurry. What is solid and certain, fantasy, or fiction becomes difficult to see clearly. For those who have Pisces, Gemini, Virgo and Sagittarius placements, this has been a long haul. Neptune has been moving slowly through Pisces since 2011, and Saturn entered Pisces on March 7th 2023.
As geopolitical tension builds, Saturn (blockades, authority, control) and Neptune (oil, propaganda, sacrifice and dissolution) dominate the skies. This disquieting pair have been conjunct Mars/Mercury Rx in Iran’s birth chart for some months now, as violence erupts and things fall apart. Transiting Uranus Rx conjoins the Taurus moon and makes a disruptive square to natal Uranus of the chart of the Republic of Iran.
Saturn and Neptune meet uncomfortably at 0º Aries on February 20th. Aries is not the most collaborative of signs and this meeting of these two archetypal forces seeds a new astrological cycle, signifying the end of the cycle that began in 1989. This disparate pair travel together in Aries until 2028, reflecting fundamental human conflicts. As history rhymes, this may present initially an idealisation of the “muscular warrior”, the glorification of war and aggression, celebration of a leader who appears at first as a redeemer, then madly deluded or immature… at the end of it all, a sense of bitter disillusionment, unspeakable suffering.
January offers a preview of what this cosmic reshaping of the coming times will look like. As Saturn and Neptune met in 1989, students poured onto Tiananmen Square. Their cries for freedom (idealistic Neptune) silenced by guns and tanks (Saturn).
In South Africa, after years of resistance and unrest, as well as international sanctions, the cracks of institutionalised racial segregation widened. Prime Minister, PW Botha resigned, and FW de Klerk became State President. Fast forward to 2025. Millions now live in the sprawling shanty towns that ring the fortressed communities of the rich. Their cries for equality and freedom subsumed by a relentless struggle for survival.
In 1989, the year of the last exact Saturn/Neptune conjunction, the UN established the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC). A closing square took place during 2015-16, which saw Obama bringing the US into the Paris Climate Agreement and Trump withdrawing from it a year later. As Neptune (signifier of oceans) meets Saturn (laws, sobering re-structuring) will we treat our waterways and oceans with care, or will water-wars define this next Saturn/Neptune conjunction?
The new moon (28º Capricorn) falls on January 18th. Mercury and Mars in Capricorn add energy or irritability if blocked. This presents as a restless, aggressive combination that ideallly requires a physical outlet, some goal or purpose to strive for. This aspect adds to the potency of this new moon. This is a wonderful time to begin a new project that requires focus and energy. This alignment of Mercury and Mars also marks the completion of a trio of Mercury/ Mars conjunctions―October and November 2025. This final conjunction nudging so close to the new moon this month symbolises an ending, a new beginning, some resolution perhaps to a fractious situation or a anxious state of mind. New moons are dark sky times. We may not yet be able to see clearly the path ahead. But with these planets in pragmatic Capricorn, making an easy trine to Uranus Rx, now might be an opportune moment to take practical action and find a new way through a frustrating impass, set a clear intention and be prepared to do something about it.
In the meantime, Venus, Mars, Mercury and the Sun all conjoin Pluto, dark god of the Underworld (January 19th-27th). It is only a benign Jupiter in Cancer that sweetens an unfolding storyline that will become more dramatic towards the end of June. This month and next, Jupiter moves Retrograde across the Cancer section of our own birth chart as we tend to those things we wish to nurture and protect. Jupiter is exalted in Cancer, so pay attention to opportunities that emerge as Jupiter stations direct on March 10th. There will be a distinct change in tempo then, and an opportunity to tend to those things that make us feel optimistic, positive, grateful and blessed, in the Cancer area of our birth chart.
Trust your intuition. Know when to make wise choices. Sing in the face of fear. Keep the flame of faith and hope burning brightly in the darkness. “Keep some room in your heart for the unimaginable.” Mary Oliver.
Please get in touch if you would like to know more about what this luminous astrological invitation means for you. To book a session, pop me an email: ingrid@trueheartwork.com
