Alongside the generosity of the Boxing Day eclipse and the upcoming intensity of the exact Saturn and Pluto lunar eclipse, we are having an exceptionally good start to the year based on the amount of Jupiter energy embedded in this chart.  Jupiter is traditionally the counter point to a rather heavy-handed energies of Saturn, balancing out the latter’s emphasis on duty, responsibility and necessity with optimism, positivity, enlarged horizons and expanded visions.

We did have a great deal of positive Jupiter energy during 2019, thanks to his transit of this home sign of Sagittarius. However, many of us experienced his abundant energies as actually contributing to collective stress by giving us too many opportunities while the Saturn Pluto effect was demanding a deeper restructural focus!

Now that Jupiter is in Capricorn this is a less schizophrenic arrangement, as the dour earth sign slows his energy up but makes it more effective, by bringing greater forward movement and grace to these deeper processes in Capricorn of deconstruction and reconstruction, with a stronger emphasis on the latter.

His conjunction with the planet of the mind Mercury supports us to maintain a healthy mental outlook while allowing us to access more of the wisdom of our intuition or inner knowing, even in the toughest of places. This is beyond simplistic positive thinking or excessive new age fantasy, as he is as much a god of wisdom as his father Saturn; it is just that his way of coming to it is different.  Jupiter in Capricorn has the feeling of, whatever the challenges are, let’s face that in our fullness and get on with the necessary work!

This is the kind of line-up that is going to bring out the latent genius in us and will reveal more individuals who have the brilliance to think outside of the box and bring creative solutions to our challenges. So, we can expect more major breakthroughs in technology, power generation, in the sciences all Uranian disciplines. And note that this is happening in the earth signs who are committed to the grounding and manifestation of ideas and visions, while spiritually reminding us of our relationship to the earth.

While there is nothing flaky about this combination, when Jupiter and Uranus get together, it is a joining of two sky gods who can lift us beyond the rigidity of our conditioning and old thinking patterns, while infusing us with excitement, inspiration and even joy!

It has also to be acknowledged that the alignment with the Saturn Pluto exact peak with an exact lunar eclipse on the Saturday morning is an extraordinary synchronicity that may happen once in many hundreds of thousands of years! So whatever personal changes come from this process, know that it is part of much greater karmic cycles, which may or may not coincide with the “tipping point” to the survival of our civilisation.

Whatever happens externally though, like in all astrology, is a reflection of internal changes that are in themselves life changing. Here is a list of some areas of deep change;

Similarly, the so-called dark goddesses and her healing faces are part of the intense and purificatory Shakti that is pushing for the healing and transformation of the distorted and toxic masculine in all its forms. (As some commentators have pointed out, this is part of the reason why the old unreconstructed masculine is pushing back so hard and so crazily!)

This theme is constellated beautifully in this year’s chart; Saturn and Pluto are trined by the healing and tantric goddess Hygeia in Taurus, by the fierce and radically awakening Kali in Virgo, while receiving sextiles from the Black Moon in Pisces and, from Hecate in Scorpio. There is both a Grand Trine and the Mystic Rectangle in this arrangement, aspect patterns that are inclusive and integrating, in support of a greater unity between the masculine and feminine.

On a broader scale, this is one of those Shiva Shakti moments in the collective; each of these goddesses are directly or indirectly connected to the Shakti goddesses of India, while Pluto and Saturn have their own unique connections to Shiva energy, the highest expression of the sacred masculine.

The lovers of the goddess who seek the sacred marriage this is fantastic news, as it is not, as many people believe, just a matter of reclaiming the sacred feminine to achieve that ultimately goal of human development; we must also deconstruct and heal the old masculine in order for it to power up enough to meet the sacred feminine as a true equal.

It must be said though, that moving from the Moon/Neptune space in a world like our own is a tough, almost impossible gig, because such sensitivity doesn’t do well in environments that are psychically battering. The combination has a reputation for escaping into anaesthetisation, retreat or meditation, some of which is valuable and necessary, some of which can be as much a prison as hardened Saturn structures, just more slippery and elusive.

So, part of the deal is learning about how exquisitely sensitive we all are on this level, while developing positive habits of healthy psychic protection, whether through regular meditation, protection visualisations, flower essences or aurasoma. And while we are using these supports, to progressively develop greater psychic muscle, so that we are eventually not dependent on those either. There is a supportive sextile to Vesta in Taurus, a goddess who specialises in the healthy containment of our inner psychic fire, as well as the ability to concentrate subtle energies to make them more effective in the world. She is one of the great supporters of creating positive psychic boundaries.

Another caution around Moon/Neptune levels of sensitivity is to watch out for the subconscious avoidance of other, more fiery aspects of our emotions, particularly around anger and rage. The Moon/Neptune conjunction is squaring Lilith in Sagittarius and this wild goddess will definitely not be denied. The challenge here is to own, feel, express (if our bodies need to) and, validate the rightful place of all our emotions.

These two great powers will travel together all the way to June, coming together exactly in late February and early March (which will be an awesome time for individual work, workshops and retreats)

Chiron is known as the compassionate and yet ruthless healer, who will use life circumstances to drop us into whatever wounds we carry from the past. His teachings and practices are not about fluffing around on the edges of our woundedness, his demand is that we dive into our pain, so that we may be able to dive through it. Then the dive turns into an initiatory experience that awakens more healing power within us.

The Black Moon, who incorporates goddesses like Kali, Durga and the Black Madonna, has a similar orientation and initiates processes of deep purging followed by potential transformation. She is an embodiment of the pure love of the great mother and, will not pull her punches when she demands our ego’s purification and reconstruction. (Andrew Harvey calls her processes “psychic chemotherapy”!)

So, the two together is a fierce, relentless and potentially extraordinarily liberating energetic if we can surrender enough of our control and numbness to go with these demands. Fortunately, both are in a good square with Jupiter at the start of the year, the latter lubricating our healing processes so that we can trust them more deeply, and hopefully, present less resistance.

Irrespective of how much work you’ve done, these two parts of self will almost always open up places that you haven’t been able to get to, even in familiar territory. They also drop a bombshell on that naive belief that we can fully heal deep trauma without going into the body and into the emotions connected to those wounds.
And, if you want to do real “shadow work”, this first six months are an exceptional time for doing so.

Any time that Venus aspects the more mature goddesses of relationship, in this case Juno the traditional goddess of marriage, it gently stretches her beyond her normal modus operandi and, therefore stretches us beyond average or superficial relating (especially when she is in an air sign). Juno empowers her, encourages her queenliness and extends her capacity for mature commitment in quality relationships.

A quality aspect to Lilith is another bonus. Despite her masculinised reputation as a ball busting, arch feminist, a happy and healthy Lilith adds exquisite and juicy tantric potency to any form of relating, while setting up a great protective aura around an individual’s heart and sexuality.

Venus squaring Vesta is the one tricky aspect, as this so-called virginal goddess of containment can get in the way of open relating but is also a reminder that while we can have some fun and stretching into new territory, just don’t lose your boundaries in the process. And if quality connection is not available, it might be better to hold off and wait, in preparation for more authentic relating.

This union of masculine and feminine is a microcosm of a much bigger union astrologically, as if Mars is with Hecate, he also forms great aspects to the Saturn and Pluto conjunction, to Kali and the Black Moon. Even an opposition to the healing goddess Hygeia feels good in this situation.

Now, if you think this is going to make Mars overly mystical while being distracted by various tantric goddesses, think again. He is the action arm of the Sun, the core masculine of self, and as a consort of Venus, he is a driver of creative potency. His sextile to Saturn and Pluto put him in the box seat for acting on  great creative change and reconstruction, while consulting with the fierce and psychospiritually intelligent feminine.

This combination supports all of us to act on our own wisdom, our deeper knowing, our visions and our creative desires, as these things become clearer as a consequence of the dark, often painful alchemy of 2019 and, these two eclipses at the beginning of what could be an awesome year.

Archetypally this was extraordinarily powerful and the presence of the South Node was ensuring that all of us, whether we were aware of it or not, were working through some particularly intense past life karmas, including memory of the use and misuse of power, unhealed death experiences and any manner of ancient trauma. Psychically and spiritually it was a very dense and purificatory period.

Within that period, the other agenda around the South Node was the reclamation of ancient forms of wisdom, transformative power, positive masculine and feminine unions and, skills, abilities and knowledge gathered over many lifetimes. Some of us were even lucky enough to have some awareness of this coming through as well. However, the density and intensity of these processes were such that even dealing with the outer world was a challenge, let alone knowing what to do with flashes of insight or downloads coming through at the time.

In the language of soul purposes (and it’s a soppy and imprecise language at times) this can put us in touch with some of our core reasons for taking birth and, with what wants to be integrated into this massive collective rebirth that we are in.

Having Jupiter here also feels to me to be a gift from the heavens to all of us, for all that we have endured, agonised over and worked our way through during the alchemical stew of 2019.

My hope, and prayer, is that we are all able to open to this depth of pre-existing knowledge within us, that wants to put us truly on track with what we are here to do.

With great love and blessings,

Daniel