fixed air: ideologues and visionaries

Next week there will be a New Moon in Aquarius, which is the beginning of the Chinese New Year (the year of the Metal Ox) and also Lunar Candlemas, the first New Moon after February 2^nd.

There will be six planets in Aquarius, Sun and Moon of course, but also Saturn, Venus, Jupiter and Mercury. Six planets in Fixed Air, in addition, Mercury will be squaring Mars in Taurus, which is a fixed earth sign, while Saturn is moving up to square Uranus in Taurus, and Venus and Jupiter will square Black Moon Lilith.

Squares are difficult aspects, there is elemental incompatibility, in this case Air and Earth, with the mode in common (Fixed). Fixity, as the word suggests, gives boundaries and strength, positively, and negatively, harshness and stubbornness-think banging heads together.

New Moons are times for beginning, what will be starting next week then?

Aquarius is known as the humanitarian sign, involved in mass movements and international connections. It rules technology, friendship, large groups like unions and networks. Aquarius loves an international movement.

Aquarians are idealists: they see the future and live it, it takes years for the rest of us to catch up with their visions, by which time they are on to the next big thing. This causes some impatience and intolerance for those laggards who can’t keep up.

Aquarians can be chilly or downright glacial, particularly with liars, cheats, stupid people, pettyfogging rules and illogicality. They are the person at parties dressed head to toe in black with a faint sardonic expression on their faces, watching the rest of us make fools of ourselves.

They struggle with the material world, transport, filling in forms, finding places, opening boxes, organising stuff, being on time. They would rather be thinking, not necessariy talking, but musing within their own vast brain pans, ping-ponging ideas like a supersonic pinball machine.

They are kind, they understand the brotherhood of wo(man), they wish for a better world. As the saying goes, ‘they love humanity, but are not so keen on people.’

On my other blog, where I write about Herbs and Nature, I am always saying that nature never hurries and yet is always on time. I feel this is true for Astrology and its cycles.

One of the big take-aways from last year’s super abundance of Capricorn (sigh) was that things must change. The old status quo is too corrupt and frankly, too useless, to continue, (think pandemic cock-ups and climate change catastrophes). What many people articulated, was that we need a new vision. And, right on time comes a whole host of Aquarius to put us right.

We have learnt (the hard way) that no man is an island, that we need each other and how people are really, really important to our mental health and that kindness is the best currency. While the richest are no use at all (excepting a certain Marcus Rashford-Premier League footballer, who got our children fed and the ex-Mrs Bezos who distributed her divorce settlement to the needy). When the shit hits the fan, it is the low-paid, unnoticed workers who keep the train on the tracks. Delivery men, posties, supermarket workers, healthcare workers-cleaners as well as consultants, transport workers, refuse collectors, and so on.

This, I believe was a practical, Capricorn lesson about who is valuable and more importantly, what works. Because Capricorn, as an earth sign, understands that things are useless if they don’t deliver the goods.

This year’s transits suggests now we need fresh ideas to bring into being a new paradigm-where all people are fed, housed, cared for and safe. Aquarius is the one to do this, they have wide vision, they see the future, they are not interested in the vacuous power of the stupid rich, they want freedom, autonomy and peace of mind.

Famous Aquarians include Angela Davis (academic and author of Women, Race and Power, a classic), Oprah Winfrey (broadcaster and philanthropist, getting the world to articulate their feelings, and now, spiritual work.) Alice Walker (author of The Colour Purple, and my favourite, In Search of Our Mother’s Gardens, heart-breaking/warming tales of Black America), Germaine Greer (academic and author of the Female Eunuch, which arguably kickstarted the WLM in the UK).

Aquarius will lend discourse and civility to our year, it will encourage calm reflection, razor-sharp intellect, and a raising of the bar away from the old tribal politics and nationalisms of Capricorn, and perhaps as also a well-earned disgust of some of the behaviour of the stupid rich.

It has started already. When Reddit users took on the casino economics of short selling and made the bad boys cry, this is just the beginning. Aquarians are the geek’s geek, they get technology and use it like another arm, in this case to slap the bullies around a little where it hurts, in their pockets, to prove a point.

This upset took place around the 26th of January when the Sun was square Uranus, shining a light (Sun) on money and technology (Uranus), shocks around money,(Uranus/Taurus). On the 27th, Venus (money) was conjunct Pluto (financial wipe-out for some, unexpected wealth for others) which was also the day of the Full Moon, when a flashy Leo Moon got its comeuppance or reward. On the 28th, Jupiter was conjunct the Sun, (more wealth indicators plus benign technology and luck).

Will it fundamentally change things? Not yet I’m guessing, but soon enough. I feel this is the softening up process. When Pluto finally enters Aquarius in 2024, technology will have to work for the greater good or it will be pulverised. Will the big tech leaders willingly change? On previous form it seems unlikely. But Aquarius is always full of surprises, so who can tell?