THE LAST GASP

Four planets are in retrograde, or apparent backward motion, right now - Saturn in Pisces, Jupiter in Gemini, Uranus in Taurus, Neptune in Pisces and Pluto in Capricorn.  As planets go retrograde, they are literally retracing their steps.  On this second time around, we can review these planetary energies and find a different perspective, a new response, more in line with who we are coming  to be.

Since 2008’s housing crisis, we have seen Pluto transiting Capricorn.  We had the Arab Spring, Occupy Wall Street, the “Yes We Can” moment of our first Black President, the Trump administration, the January 6 attack on the capital.  More to the point, perhaps, we have consistently seen a theme of hierarchies based on wealth and power.  

Pluto had peeked into Aquarius, a sign of democracy, flattened hierarchy, unions, new technology, the future, and community, this year.  But now, Pluto has backed into 29 degrees Capricorn for a last gasp of that hierarchical bid for power and money.  A last gasp of misogyny, homophobia, racism and all those things designed to keep people in their “place.”

This “last, desperate grasp” of the dark face of Capricorn (there are good sides to Capricorn, of course) will extend from September 3 to November 20, 2024.  And, as the Harris/Walz ticket says “we are not going back”.  There will be plenty of push back during this election season, but Pluto will occupy Aquarius after November 20 for the next 20 years.  Where Capricorn likes the status quo, Aquarius is future oriented.  And it is not going back permanently to the restrictiveness of the Capricorn years.

The ruler of Capricorn is Saturn, also retrograde, but in the sign Pisces.  In this strange season of discerning fact from fiction, Saturn in Pisces is the reality fact checker, countering the rise of fantastical conspiracy theories while Neptune has been transiting Pisces, too.

Fact and misinformation are very much up to bat as both Neptune in Pisces and Pluto in Capricorn occupy the 29th degree of their respective signs.  The 29th degree is the penultimate degree of chaos as the planets prepare to enter their new signs - Neptune in Aries (March 31, 2025) and Pluto in Aquarius (November 20, 2024.

We have a lot of Virgo energy on tap during September - the Sun and New Moon in Virgo.  Virgo’s super power is discernment - what better energy to navigate the divide between fact and fiction?  Virgo squares Donald Trump’s Uranus/North Node/Sun in Gemini and also squares his South Node/Moon in Sagittarius.  The Sun briefly transits his Neptune, leaving him looking foggy, confused and out of touch with reality.  This is not a good month for him.

Kamala Harris has a stellium of Uranus, Pluto and Venus in Virgo in her very foundational fourth house.  These planets paint her as a plain spoken badass - and I mean that in a good way.

Remember that retrogrades provide a new perspective.  The new perspective is humor - being amused by ridiculous and weird, that we have taken so seriously before in our outrage.  Not that the threat is a light one.  It is not.  But it is ridiculous or, to use Harris’ word, “unserious.” Probably the most provocative thing for the MAGA movement is to be thought ridiculous.  And  their plan, Project 2025, is wildly unpopular.  

Don’t be in fear or discouraged as you see surprise and chaos around you.  The world is changing, but not, I think, going back.

This month, as we head into the Lunar Eclipse on September 17 and the Full Moon on September 18 (Sun in Virgo, Moon in Pisces), will trigger some surprising events.  The eclipse season beginning on September 17 will end with the solar eclipse on October 2 and a new moon in Libra soon after.  Pop some popcorn and watch - the debate between fact and fiction goes on!