2026: Riding the Waves of Change

The astrology of 2026 suggests a year shaped by deep emotional processing, alongside meaningful shifts in how we think, connect, and organize our lives. Much of the year’s tone is set by Saturn and Neptune moving together—an influence that can feel heavy or uncertain at times, but also clarifying over the long term. This is a year that asks for patience, compassion, and a willingness to sit with ambiguity as old structures dissolve and new ones begin to take shape.

Several key transits in 2026 reinforce this theme. Venus and Mercury retrograde in Scorpio late in the year invite reflection around relationships, emotional history, and unfinished conversations, while intense configurations involving Mars and Pluto can surface power dynamics that need conscious attention. At the same time, Uranus moving into Gemini in April marks a major shift in collective mental patterns, communication, and information flow, opening the door to new ways of thinking, learning, and connecting over the coming years.

Balancing some of the heavier currents, 2026 also offers moments of real sweetness and support. The Jupiter–Venus conjunction in Cancer in the late Spring brings a softer, more nurturing tone, emphasizing care, emotional safety, and the importance of home and belonging. In the video and transcript below—I walk through these major 2026 themes and what they may mean for you. If you’d like to explore how this year’s astrology is working in your own chart, you’re welcome to book a reading using the link below.

Transcript (Revised and Expanded)

Introduction

Hi, this is Cathy Gnatek. Today I’m going to be talking about the astrology of 2026, and boy, what a year we have in store for us. You may recall that in 2025, all of the outer planets, for the first time, were in fire and air signs. Things began shifting really rapidly. Then Uranus, Neptune, and Saturn all moved back into earth and water. Things slowed down a little bit. They retrograded. But finally in 2026, they’re all moving back again, and things are really going to be speeding up.

There’s some electric, a little bit heavy energy coming up for us this year. And so being prepared for the ups and downs and quick shifts in our environment, finding that meditative space, is what I’m doing, and I invite you to as well, because as things move rapidly, finding our own center in the middle of it can be really helpful.

So I will go over, I think there are 11 big transits that I saw that I wanted to cover, and so we’ll talk about that. First, I’m going to show you a little visual that I think will help us all get the big picture of what’s happening for the year.

Overview

One second, I just want to make that a little bigger. Because, you know, a picture is worth a thousand words. And I just made this little slide. You could even print it out. I’ll drop a link below to a place where you can print out a PDF of this presentation. It’s got some key dates in it. That might be helpful for you. You can post this little picture on the wall. I’m going to do that.

And so this is just—first I’ll start out with the big picture, a five‑minute explanation of the shifting energy over the course of the year. Of course, this is not every transit that’s happening. There are a lot of transits in the background that will happen each month and will shift the energy for all of us, but these are the big ones.

So we start out in January, and at some moment you see there I have an image of somebody kind of meditating. The energy in January, with Mercury, the god of communication, Mars, the god of war, and Venus, the goddess of love and relationship, they’re all under the beams of the Sun. That means they’re very close to the Sun during this time period in January. And when that happens with planets, you can’t see them in the sky because the Sun’s beams block them. And so there’s an internal quality to the energy in January.

At the same time, they’re all, one at a time, when they enter Aquarius later in January, going to be hitting Pluto, who’s at early degrees of Aquarius. Pluto is the god of the underworld, Hades, and he asks us to bring things up to process that may have been hidden. So this is how, for me, I have a sense that the energy this month is going to be about processing, things stirring underground, that Plutonian energy, and then everything emerges after that with the other shifts in the transits that we see.

In February, I have a little snowman who looks really sad, and he’s melting. And this is my image for the Saturn–Neptune conjunction that’s going to perfect for the first time on February 20th of 2026 in Aries. Saturn and Neptune have been dancing together in the sky for the last year, in and out of Aries and Pisces. Saturn is about boundaries, restrictions, responsibility, and structures, and Neptune is a planet of dreaminess and can bring a little bit of confusion and fantasy.

When Saturn and Neptune are in the sky, we might have structures melting in our lives. It’s kind of the signature of Russia, if you think about the zeitgeist or the way Russians have a little bit of a heaviness. There’s a heavy quality sometimes to our thinking when Saturn and Neptune are together. We’ll talk about that.

And then as we move into March, we get the first eclipse season. I’ll go through that. That’s the yin‑yang symbol there. And then you see above that a woman—she’s confused and then gets some clarity. We get the Mercury retrograde cycle, which always has some confusion that can come up with it. And then after Mercury goes direct, we get a little bit of clarity.

Then if you look down, really one of the most lovely periods of the year in many ways is when Jupiter and Venus are both in Cancer. Jupiter’s been there for a while. He’s exalted in Cancer. He likes to grow things and help them blossom. And when the goddess of love, the other benefic planet, joins him, it’s a little bit of a party. So this is a great time of year for creating safe spaces, having fun with friends, and connecting.

And then when we move into July, the nodes of the Moon are shifting from Virgo and Pisces, where they’ve been for about a year and a half, into Leo and Aquarius. We’ll talk about that. Also at this moment, we have a Mars–Uranus conjunction in Gemini. This is big in some ways for the United States, because Mars and Uranus are in Gemini in the U.S. chart, and it can bring sudden events, sometimes accidents. Of course, with all of these transits, they’re not necessarily going to hit you personally. It really depends on your chart. We’ll talk about that a little bit.

And then in August, we have the second eclipse season. September to December is this Venus–Mercury energy, some Scorpio depth, because Venus and Mercury are both going retrograde in Scorpio. The retrograde periods coincide, and they’re going to be at the apex of a T‑square between Mars and Pluto. Mars, the god of war, and Pluto, the god of the underworld, are going to be opposing each other, and Venus and Mercury are going to come in there and be affected by that.

A T‑square is really potent energy. We’ll unpack that a little bit and talk about what you might do if you’re going through a relationship review with Venus retrograde, and Mercury retrograde communications, reviewing communications in that time period when the energy is so tense with that T‑square.

And lastly, at the very end of the year, we get a Mars–Uranus square, and that replicates that lightning‑strike energy we saw in July when there was the Mars–Uranus conjunction. So as you can see, there’s a lot to talk about. We’ll take it step by step. This is a nice visual for you if you want the dates. Again, you can print this out so you can see the turning points of the year.

And as always, if anybody ever wants to have personal contact, I do astrology readings. So if you want to go through some of these in your own chart and have me identify which of these might be most potent for you this year, I’m certainly happy to do that. The way you tell which transits are going to be most potent for you is to see if they fall at a degree that’s near a planet in your birth chart, particularly personal planets like the Moon.

Oh my lord. For a second, I thought I wasn’t recording. It kind of freaked me out, but I’m recording. Anyway, if the transits are hitting your personal planets—the Moon, Sun, Venus, Mercury, Mars, and to a lesser extent Jupiter and Saturn—those ones might affect you more. And there are also some other ways to see if they might impact you, depending on what your rising sign is.

So then let’s talk about the first of the major transits. We’re not going to talk about everything I mentioned in the overview because there’s so much, but we’ll talk about 11 different major transits. I think it’s 11 (actually it was 13!).

Transit I: Solar Eclipse in Aquarius III, February 17

The first one to discuss is on February 17th. We have our first solar eclipse, and it’s the beginning of eclipse season. Usually we begin to feel the impact of an eclipse a little bit before and a little bit after the season. Eclipses always unfold over a period of time, though.

A solar eclipse marks the beginning of a new cycle. Solar eclipses happen when the Sun and the Moon are conjunct, meaning they’re right next to each other in the sky, and within 15 degrees of one of the nodes of the Moon. Those are the little horseshoes that you see in a chart.

Solar eclipses tend to have to do with shifts in how we think, because the Sun has more to do with our consciousness, with spirit, let’s say. Lunar eclipses have to do with the material world and can involve literal things disappearing or appearing in our lives, because the Moon is our body, right? It’s that rock in the sky that carries the light of the Sun.

Solar Eclipse in Aquarius, Sun and Moon conjunction and within 15 degrees of the North Node

And so with all eclipses, it can be about things suddenly appearing or disappearing in whatever area of our life the eclipse falls, whatever topic area, whatever house. Houses represent the topic areas of our life. So if you have an eclipse, for example, in the first house of who you are, or along the first and seventh house axis—the first house being who I am, the seventh house being one‑on‑one partnerships—and if you’re an Aquarius or Leo rising, that’s where this eclipse would fall.

You might find sudden people appearing in your life who might be one‑on‑one relationships. You can also find that relationships adjust, or that you let go of things in a relationship that no longer suit it, with an Aquarius eclipse in the first and seventh houses. So that’s just a little bit of a hint.

I will be trying, God willing, to do videos about each of these major transits over the course of the year and take an even deeper dive.

In any event, this solar eclipse is going to bring up questions. It falls in Aquarius III, the third decan, or the last ten degrees of the sign. Every ten degrees of the zodiac is associated with a tarot card. There are also esoteric teachings associated with each decan, so we can get a deeper sense of the meaning of this eclipse by looking at the tarot card.

Here we see the Seven of Swords in the Rider–Waite deck. The energy and vibe of this part of the zodiac can have to do with when we’ve gotten into a situation that’s like a Gordian knot that’s confusing. We’re all mixed up in it, and we do not see a way out of it. And sometimes the only way out of a situation is to cut the Gordian knot. And to leave. And so there’s a should I stay or should I go quality to this decan of the zodiac. And it can have to do with themes of ambivalence, the decision to make a strategic retreat in that part of our life.

7 of Swords, Rider-Waite Tarot

Also, and I’m going to pause there for a second to say, I have a series on the decans of the zodiac. I’ll drop a link, particularly to Aquarius III. I haven’t made it yet because we’re not at that point in the decan walk, but I’ll go back and reconnect it. But you can check out my other videos on the decans as well. I’ll drop a link.

In any event, this solar eclipse could also have to do with Aquarius topics in general. Aquarius is a sign that relates to the collective. The sign that’s opposite Aquarius is Leo. And one of the ways to understand a sign is to understand the energy of the sign opposite, because it has an opposite quality.

Leo is a sign that’s ruled by the Sun. All the other planets revolve around the Sun. I say this all the time. So Leo’s about, “Hey, look at me. I’m the center. And I’m meant to inspire other people.” Whereas Aquarius is an air sign ruled by Saturn, the god of restrictions and responsibility. It’s got a leaden quality. Saturn’s way out there, the furthest planet from the Sun.

So there’s something about Aquarius energy that wants to detach and get the observer’s standpoint, to not be the center, to de‑center oneself, to work on behalf of community rather than the individual. A good example of this is Karl Marx, who wrote The Communist Manifesto, and was an Aquarius rising. And he really exemplifies this energy.

At the bottom, lastly, I put that this is an annular eclipse. That happens when the Moon doesn’t cover the Sun altogether, but it’s right at the center, and so there’s a ring of fire on the outside. Eclipses can sometimes have to do with the rise and fall of leaders in countries. And with an annular eclipse, it’s noted that instead of the leader disappearing altogether—this is symbolically how they speak of it—there may be a disempowerment of the leader or a partial change, but not the actual ending for that leader.

So just to keep that in the background from a standpoint of mundane astrology, which is the astrology of countries and politics and whatnot.

Transit II: Saturn–Neptune Conjunction, February 20

The next major transit after that is the Saturn–Neptune conjunction on February 20th. It’s happening at zero degrees Aries, the very beginning of the sign, in fact the beginning of the entire zodiac. It’s an important point because zero Aries is the Aries ingress point, and historically mundane astrologers use it to do all kinds of predictive work. So there’s just something that feels big about having the Saturn–Neptune conjunction fall on this point.

Saturn and Neptune, as I said earlier, have been dancing in the sky since early 2025. They were in Aries for a brief period of time in June, July, and August, and came within a degree of perfecting the conjunction, meaning they got right next to each other, but then they retrograded and did not connect. Then they both retrograded back into Pisces, where they’ve been for a while, and now they’re moving back into Aries, and they’re finally going to connect.

So what does this mean? Well, as I said earlier, Saturn is the planet of restrictions, boundaries, structures, things we build through hard work over a long period of time. Neptune is a planet that has to do with dreaminess, oneness with the universe, merging, confusion, fantasy, and illusion. And so when you have Saturn and Neptune together, it’s like Neptune can kind of melt the structures.

Saturn is a leaden planet. It’s got a little bit of a heavy, depressive quality. It makes us serious. He’s the god of death, for example. He brings endings. And so when we have Neptune and Saturn together, it can also make us feel a little sad. And that’s why the snowman on the original image was sad.

This will begin to improve after Saturn separates from Neptune over the following months, but Saturn is going to be in Aries for two and a half years, still co‑present with Neptune. So this energy of a little bit of heaviness may remain in the background for all of us. It’s just good to know that, and also to remember that it will move on, but this is a period that could feel a little more serious.

When these two planets come together, there can be moments in the outer world where we see things dissolving. For example, when they were together in early 2025, in the United States we saw DOGE come in and dismantle many internal structures of organization. Governmental agencies were reduced, people were fired, and systems that once felt solid began to fall apart. So we may see a renewal of some of that destruction, or a continued melting of existing structures.

I think it’s interesting to look at Saturn–Neptune conjunctions historically. In 1917, there was a conjunction in Leo. This coincided with the Russian Revolution, the fall of monarchies, and the later years of World War I. World War I was largely defined by trench warfare, where soldiers spent months or even years living in muddy trenches, often with very little movement at the front lines.

I’m not a huge war buff, but my husband is, and I do know a bit about how horrific that experience was. Trench warfare involved confusion, poor communication, and outdated ideas about how war would be fought, colliding with the grim reality of industrialized warfare. Advances were slow, conditions were brutal, and millions of soldiers died in prolonged, grueling circumstances.

And not that this is going to repeat—I want to say that very clearly. Just because we had that configuration then doesn’t mean the same experience is going to happen now. But you can see in trench warfare the Saturn–Neptune symbolism: the confusion, the unrealistic expectations, and the gap between what people thought would happen and what actually unfolded. What resulted was this slow, horrific, muddy experience where enormous numbers of people lost their lives. There’s a lot of mud that comes to mind for me when I think about it, and that feels very Saturn–Neptune—disorientation, endurance, and suffering playing out over time.

Then in 1952–1953, the conjunction was in Libra. This was the period of McCarthyism here in the United States. The hearings actually happened in 1954. But that whole period where people were paranoid, accusing each other of being communists, ending up on blacklists—really wonderful, amazing people had their lives run into difficulties. I always think of Pete Seeger, who’s one of my favorite singers. I know he was one of the many artists who was accused and suffered consequences as a result.

And then in 1989, it was a very different story. This is when Saturn and Neptune came together in Capricorn, an earth sign that’s really about structures. Saturn is strong there, because Saturn rules Capricorn. This is the moment the Berlin Wall fell. You see structures falling, and from our perspective that was a really good thing, to have an oppressive government fall apart.

So that gives you a feeling for what this might be for us in the coming year or couple of years as this Saturn–Neptune energy together in Aries unfolds. We shall see.

I should add one more point. One of the reasons this may be a little bit more difficult this time around is because the Saturn–Neptune conjunction happens in Aries. And in Aries, Saturn is in its fall. Saturn does not do well there.

I made a video on the meaning of a planet in its fall in my planetary dignity series, and I’ll drop a link to that as well. But in Aries, a fire sign ruled by Mars, Saturn doesn’t have the tools he needs to do what he does best, which is exercise discipline, think things through over time, and make decisions from a standpoint of responsibility. Aries has an impulsive fire energy. Since Mars rules Aries, he is in his own sign, his “domicile,” and has extra power, so our anger or aggression (Mars) is going to be more powerful than our ability to contain that energy (Saturn).

So we may find that people act sort of irresponsibly around Saturn themes, or don’t have the same maturity and thoughtfulness when they’re taking action to impose restrictions or responsibility on others. That’s just something to keep in mind in the background.

Transit III: Lunar Eclipse in Virgo, March 3

So then let’s move on to the lunar eclipse, which happens on March 3rd at 12 degrees Virgo. We’ve been going through eclipses in Virgo and Pisces for the last couple of years, and this is the last Virgo eclipse. A lunar eclipse happens at the Full Moon when the Sun and Moon oppose each other and are within 15 degrees of the Nodes of the Moon.

South Node Lunar Eclipse in Virgo

Virgo is a sign about perfectionism, you could say. I don’t want to boil it down to one thing. I have a lot of Virgo energy. One of the ways I describe Virgo is that it sees faults in the material world and wants to improve things. It wants to make the material world beautiful and organized.

For example, with my Mercury in Virgo, my husband’s a chef—he’s an amazing cook—and he’ll be cooking, and we both love to eat and love food. I’ve got Jupiter in Taurus, so yeah. He’ll be making an amazing recipe, working really hard at it, and we have it for dinner that night. And I’m like, “Oh, you know, this is so good, but if you just added a little bit of oregano, it would be so much better.”

And it’s not that I’m doing it to criticize him—that’s just the reality. It’s more like seeing something that can be improved and being so excited about the idea of making it better. And so understanding that with Virgo, of course that Virgo energy can veer over into judgmentalism when the ego takes it over. Then it can turn into criticizing oneself or criticizing other people.

But the more generous side of Virgo is about improvement. So Virgo topics are going to be activated by this eclipse. It’s a South Node eclipse, and it’s a lunar eclipse. The South Node is all about letting go—letting go of past karma, letting go of old structures.

So you may find that wherever Virgo falls in your chart, you let go of something—something literal, maybe—because it’s a lunar eclipse. So it could have to do with what you own or something disappearing or appearing in…your life that’s material. For me, I’m thinking this relates to we’re getting ready to sell our house next spring, and we’re really in the middle of it. And so this eclipse energy is going to unfold right when we’re letting go of our home. And our home is—anyway, I won’t get all into the details. But you can think about it like that.

It’s not necessarily something bad. It’s the right moment to let go of this thing in your life, and eclipses align us with our karma. If we’re holding onto something past the time when we should, an eclipse may bring a moment where we’re like, oh yeah, I need to let go of that thing. I need to let go of that group or that friendship, or release the way in which I try and control the world.

That’s what Virgo can do too, try and put things in order out of a sense of wanting to maintain control. So it’s a great time to let go of control and move into that Pisces energy, which is much more open and expansive and is okay with things falling apart a little bit. It’s a little bit more of an easygoing vibe. Yeah.

Transit IV: Mars–Saturn-Mercury Conjunction in Aries, April 19-20

So then let’s move on to Mars–Saturn. And I should not have such a huge smile on my face. I smile all the time, because the Mars–Saturn energy, not going to lie, this is going to be a little rough. Again, depending on where it falls in your chart, it might not affect you at all.

But if you are a cardinal sign rising, meaning if your rising sign is Aries or Capricorn or Cancer or Libra, this conjunction of Mars and Saturn on April 19th, and then Mercury joins the party on April 20th, may impact you more. Also, if you have points or inner planets in or around 7 degrees of Aries, this might impact you.

And I say this energy is a little bit more rough for a couple of reasons. First, Mars has the upper hand, because Mars rules Aries, and Mars and Saturn are in Aries, and Mercury is there too. And so the god of war, our impulsive desire to get what we want, is going to have the upper hand. Saturn is in its fall in Aries. He’s a little weak. And so our capacity to slow down and restrict or contain that Mars impulsive energy is impaired.

So you can see moments where you may get enraged or upset about something with somebody in your life, and where you might typically hold back and restrain yourself and contain that energy and be more mature around it—Saturn—you may not be able to do that. And so, you know, forgive yourself if you do act out, which is that psychological term for when things come up from our unconscious and we do the thing that we wish we hadn’t done, or we say the thing we wish we hadn’t said, because Mercury is going to be there with Mars and Saturn on the 20th.

And so for me, I’m just going to note this on my calendar a few days before and a few days after, and understand that the energy of that time may be a moment to double down on my meditation practice, and/or observe when anger is rising up in me and see if there’s a way to contain it, or be deliberate and slow down around whatever I might impulsively want to talk about with other people.

Transit V: Uranus Enters Gemini, April 25

And so then after that, a few days later, we have Uranus entering Gemini on April 25th, 2026. And so this is going to impact—I’ll talk about the meaning in a second. If you’re a Sagittarius rising, this Uranus‑in‑Gemini energy is going to be in your seventh house of partnership. So you might find that over the next seven years of your life, there are sudden shifts and changes, and new people come into your life or leave your life around partnership and desire to be free, and so on.

And you can see the topic areas. I have a little slide with the topic areas for all the houses: the first house being about self, body, character, and appearance; the second house being about how we bring money to ourselves and our sense of values; the third house being about siblings and communication, but also the goddess energy—the Moon has her joy there. So it really helps. You can see where Gemini falls, and you can get a feeling for those topic areas.

Again, you can always reach out and we can do a reading on that. And if you don’t know your rising sign, I’ll drop a link where you can pull your chart up on astro‑seek.com, and that’ll help you out.

So big picture, what is Uranus in Gemini? The core themes have to do with—well, let’s just talk about Uranus. It’s a planet that was discovered during the American and French Revolutions. It has to do with revolutionary energy, a desire to break out of old structures. It’s got a lightning‑bolt quality. It can bring an aha moment.

Particularly if you have Uranus and Mercury together in your birth chart, you might be somebody who gets sudden insights of information, because Mercury is about how we think, right? So Uranus, when it touches a planet in our chart, can bring a sudden desire to break free around the topic that that planet rules. That’s extra information that might be a little advanced.

But in general, when we have Uranus transits to a house, it’s going to bring shakeups. People who have Uranus in their birth chart in the fourth house might have moved suddenly multiple times in their life, like having lots of shifts.

I have Uranus conjunct my Midheaven, which is what I’m known for and has to do with career and reputation. And I’m an astrologer, and Uranus is a planet that’s closely associated with astrology. I used to be a lawyer, and I suddenly left that job and started a new path, right? That’s the Uranus energy. It’s like, oh, aha, I want to do something else. I’m going to wake up and be something bigger.

And so Uranus calls us to be our most authentic self, and it calls us to experiences that wake us up. So that is going to be the vibe.

And in Gemini, it’s an air sign, the sign of the twins. It has to do with communication and data. It’s a fast, rapid sign to begin with, because Mercury, the god of communication—which is a really fast planet—rules Gemini. So we can expect sudden shifts around the information we get in the world. Radical shifts, new narratives, unconventional learning. It can be about learning as well.

And this can also activate our nervous system a little bit, because Uranus in general, if it’s strong in your chart, can bring this kind of energy to who you are, where you have an activated sympathetic or parasympathetic nervous system, because it can feel like you’re downloading things. It’s kind of hard to explain, but it’s pretty prominent in my chart, and Uranus can do that.

And then in Gemini, because it’s this fast sign that’s kind of frenetic—if you know anyone with strong Gemini energy in their chart, like a Moon in Gemini, they love to chit‑chat about everything with everybody—you put Uranus together with that fast‑moving Gemini energy, and you can see how there might be a little bit of a frenetic quality to this period for all of us, unfolding over the next seven years until Uranus moves into Cancer in 2032.

And you might already have a sense of the meaning of this. You would have gotten a little preview, because Uranus was in Gemini for a short period of time last year, from July to November. So if you’re somebody who journals, you might go back and think about what that meant for you. It might have been a preview of what will be unfolding for you in the next few years.

Transit VI: Venus and Jupiter in Cancer, May 18-June 12 (exact June 9)

And then we get to one of the most beautiful energies of the year. From May 18th to June 12th, Venus and Jupiter are both co‑present in Cancer. They meet together at 25 degrees of Cancer exactly on June 9th.

And why is this so great? Well, these are the two benefic planets, the two most positive planets in the zodiac. Venus is the goddess of love and relationship—excuse me—art and beauty and social justice. Especially when she’s in her morning star phase—again, too much information for right now—but when Venus is in her morning star phase, she’s the goddess of war. She leads things. She leads justice‑oriented movements.

So we have Venus, the goddess of love and how we relate to people and how we receive love from others, in Cancer, which is a water sign about protecting family, home, and tribe, and creating safe space for things to grow and thrive. Think of summertime, flowers in the garden, tending those flowers. Think of backyard parties with friends that go late into the night, where you’re having great deep conversations and sharing intimacy. That’s Cancer.

And then when we add Jupiter, who has been in Cancer since last June—Jupiter is the planet of expansion, abundance, optimism, and “you can do it”—and he is exalted in Cancer. Again, I’ll drop a link to my video on exaltation. When a planet is exalted in a sign, it’s basically held on high like a king. They have special powers. Everybody loves them.

So it’s not just that Venus and Jupiter are together in this sign of creating beautiful spaces for conversation and growth, it’s that they’re both doing really well there. So I think this is a great time. And again, I’m probably going to try to schedule something during this period where I get together with friends and we can really nurture each other. It just feels so beautiful.

Oh, and I should say that Mercury is also going to join the party in the early part of June. So conversations between people—because Mercury is the god of communication, the messenger to the gods—will be enriched. This is a good time if we’re feeling a little bit beat up by some of the earlier transits that felt heavy, like the Saturn–Neptune conjunction on February 20th, or the Saturn–Mars–Mercury conjunction on April 20th. This might be a good time to get some healing from those moments if they hit you hard.

Transit VII: Jupiter Enters Leo, June 29

And then on June 29th, Jupiter enters Leo. Jupiter spends about a year in each sign. It’s always good to know where Jupiter is falling in your chart in a given year, because that house is going to receive the goodness of Jupiter—a potential for expanding, opening, and receiving rewards.

So for example, if Jupiter is in your tenth house—if you’re a Scorpio rising—Jupiter will be in your tenth house of career, and that can bring potential for expanding what you’re doing out in the world. And that can be really nice to keep in mind, because when we know the energy is positive for us, it allows us to go with the flow, with the Dao, with the energy of life. We can step more confidently into that area of our life, wherever Jupiter is falling.…if Jupiter is in your 10th house. If you’re a Scorpio rising this year, Jupiter is going to be in your 10th house of career and bring potential for expanding what you’re doing out in the world. And so that can be really nice to keep in mind, because when we know the energy is positive for us, it’s like it allows us to go with the Dao, with the energy of life. We can step in more confidently into that area of our life wherever Jupiter’s falling.

I should say at the same time that when Jupiter enters Leo, he’s going to be opposing Pluto, who’s down there at Aquarius at early degrees. So we’re going to want to be a little cautious about hubris or overshooting the mark or getting into power struggles with folks, because Pluto, the god of the underworld, can have to do with power. It’s in some ways our survival instincts.

So we might find ourselves, as we’re expanding around whatever house topic Jupiter is falling in, that we come up against some learning around containing some of that energy. I have here on the left a picture of Icarus falling from the sky. That’s the idea of hubris.

In the myth of Icarus, there is a young man and his father—Daedalus, I believe is the father’s name—who are trying to escape from imprisonment. Daedalus is a master craftsman, and to help them flee, he creates wings made of feathers and wax so they can fly away.

Before they take off, Daedalus gives his son a warning. He tells Icarus to be careful, not to fly too low, where the sea spray could weigh the wings down, and not to fly too close to the Sun, because the heat would melt the wax holding the wings together. And of course, Icarus is young, and he’s exhilarated by the experience of flying. He becomes caught up in the freedom and the thrill of it, and he flies higher and higher. Eventually, he flies too close to the Sun, the wax melts, and he falls to his death.

So this myth offers a kind of cautionary image for Jupiter‑in‑Leo energy. There can be a lot of exuberance around being seen, around being the center, around public recognition and visibility. There’s a sense of expansion and confidence, but also a reminder about moderation.

You might encounter opposition from Pluto around that energy, especially if things tip too far into excess or ego. So just being aware of that during this next year—while Jupiter is in Leo—it’s not a bad thing to hold this myth in mind as a symbolic guide.

Transit VIII: Mars–Uranus Conjunction in Gemini, July 4

So then the next transit to talk about is the Mars–Uranus conjunction in Gemini, which happens on July 4th of all days. I say “of all days” because that’s the United States’ birthday, and the United States has Uranus and Mars co‑present in Gemini in its birth chart.

So this means that the Mars–Uranus conjunction is going to be built into the solar return, or birthday chart, for the United States. This could have consequences around the potential for conflict or sudden events, accidents unfolding in the United States as a whole. Again, it might not affect you personally, but I think it’s interesting to note.

We’ll talk about that in the next slide in greater detail, but talking about Mars and Uranus in Gemini in general: when Mars and Uranus come together in the sky, since Uranus is kind of a lightning bolt and Mars is the god of war, sudden movement, and impulsive action, when they come together there’s a potential for accidents.

Now again, it might not impact you personally at all. But one example of this is in Frida Kahlo’s chart. Frida Kahlo was a very famous artist from Mexico, and when she 18 years old, she had a streetcar accident that was really horrific. She had multiple surgeries over the rest of her life, and much of her artwork is an homage, you could say, to that experience. She was not able to have children because of the effects of the accident, and so on and so forth.

In Frida Kahlo’s birth chart, Mars, Uranus, and the Sun all have contacts or aspects to each other. And on the day she had her accident, when she was around 19, Mars, Uranus, and the Sun were also in aspect to each other in the sky. So this is a very poignant example of that Mars–Uranus energy.

Frida Kahlo’s Birth Chart with Sun opposite Uranus/Mars (inner wheel), Transit Chart for day of her accident with Sun conjunct Mars and opposite Uranus

Because this conjunction is in Gemini, we could also get sudden announcements. Gemini is an air sign about gathering data and putting it out in the world. So sudden communications or announcements might be part of the energy of this contact on July 4th.

We’re also going to see Mars and Uranus in a square to each other on December 3rd or 4th. And so this same energy is going to be back in the sky. So just thinking about the combination of sudden, impulsive action around information is part of the vibe of this particular transit. And impulsivity around how we speak or share information—being aware of that can be helpful.

I also wanted to talk a little bit more about the United States, because a lot of astrologers are talking about the very significant reality that Mars and Uranus are together, or in the same sign, in Gemini, which is where they’re about to connect by conjunction, in the U.S. birth chart.

You can see here that on July 4th, Mars and Uranus join at three degrees of Gemini. This is important for a few reasons. First, this is the Uranus return of the United States. Every 84 years, Uranus returns to the same spot it occupied in the U.S. birth chart.

United States Birth Chart with Uranus and Mars in Gemini (inner wheel), transit chart for July 4, 2026 with Uranus conjunction Mars (outer wheel)

During previous Uranus returns, we had the Revolutionary era, the Civil War era, and World War II. This is historical correlation. I’m not predicting that we’re going to have a war. But it’s important to understand that the underlying energy of disruption is there, because each Uranus return coincided with major societal upheaval.

So there may be more disruption in the United States. If you live in the United States like I do, this probably isn’t a surprise. We are very split right now. There’s a strong us‑versus‑them dynamic, which fits Gemini, the sign of the twins, light and dark, Castor and Pollux.

You might want to read the Castor and Pollux myth. I’m kind of into mythology, and it’s helpful here. When you look at the tarot cards associated with the three decans of Gemini (the 8, 9, and 10 of swords), you see that Gemini begins with a split and ends with some kind of resolution of that conflict, but it takes time and working through the polarity. (To get a deeper understanding of the energy of Gemini, you can watch my videos on Gemini I, II, and III.) That process is going to unfold over the next seven years while Uranus is in Gemini.

Because this conjunction is happening in the United States’ solar return chart, it suggests that this is a year when that energy really gets activated and played out. And each time Uranus is triggered—when Mars makes a conjunction, square, or opposition to Gemini—that conflict energy can rise again.

Mars takes about two years to move around the chart. So we’ll have another Mars–Uranus conjunction in about two years, and then again a couple of years after that, and I believe one more time before Uranus leaves Gemini. We’ll see an unfolding of what this energy means for the United States over time.

Transit IX: Outer Planets and Jupiter at Four Degrees, July 19-23

Another really interesting transit happens from July 19th to July 23rd, when all of the outer planets are at four degrees. You can see this in the chart on the left. We have Pluto at four degrees Aquarius, sextiling Neptune at four degrees Aries, trining Uranus at four degrees Gemini, and opposing Jupiter at four degrees Leo.

You can also see Neptune sextiling Uranus and Neptune trining Jupiter, and so on. We already have the outer planets in air and fire, and then they’re all hitting this same degree. It feels like a real acceleration, a whoosh of energy, as these big shifts in structures and systems gather momentum.

This feels like a pivotal moment. Again, this may not impact you personally in a dramatic way, although when the outer world changes, it always affects us on some level. You’re more likely to feel this strongly if you have personal planets or points—the Sun, Moon, Mercury, Venus, Mars, Saturn, or Jupiter—around four degrees of the air or fire signs.

Pluto, Neptune, Uranus are all at 4 degrees aspecting Jupiter at 4 degrees.

This can be a threshold moment, where something shifts and going back doesn’t feel likely. It’s a time that calls for adaptation rather than control. I think here of the prophecy of the Hopi elders. I’ll drop a link to a blog post I wrote about this if I can.

The idea is that in times of great change, it’s better to go with the flow of the river rather than cling to the shore. If you allow yourself to be carried and adapt, you suffer less than if you try to stop the change. That’s advice I’ve really been taking to heart.

Knowing that there are big shifts happening, I’ve been focusing on finding ways to support myself, find my center, and identify what sustains me in the midst of change. Life is change, even though we sometimes forget that and think things will stay the same. Right now, the pace of change is accelerating, and that’s just something to sit with.

Transit X: Nodes of the Moon Enter Leo and Aquarius, July 26

Then the next transit happens on July 26th, when the nodes of the Moon enter Leo and Aquarius, where they’ll remain for about a year and a half. The lunar nodes describe a longer‑term collective learning process, showing us what we’re gradually releasing and what we’re being invited to develop.

Up until now, the nodes have been moving through Virgo and Pisces, a period where many of us have been working on loosening Virgo‑style control, perfectionism, and over‑analysis, and learning to move toward Pisces themes of trust, faith, surrender, and compassion. That cycle has asked us to soften our grip on how things “should” be and lean more into intuition and flow.

Now, as the nodes shift into Leo and Aquarius, the focus changes. Wherever Leo and Aquarius fall in your birth chart, those houses and life areas will be emphasized over the next year and a half. Collectively and personally, we’re being asked to work with the tension between individual expression and collective responsibility.

With Leo, there may be a process of letting go of certain patterns around needing to be the center, prioritizing personal importance, or seeking validation through visibility and recognition. At the same time, we’re being pulled toward Aquarius themes—community, shared purpose, collaboration, and thinking about how we contribute to something larger than ourselves.

With the nodes, though, it’s never a simple, linear shift. It’s not that you abandon Leo and move entirely into Aquarius. It’s much more about learning to hold both energies at once and finding a living balance between them. If we’re very “bigger than life” in the Leo areas of our chart, we may be asked to temper that a bit, or to consider how our creative gifts, leadership, and self‑expression can be used in service of the collective—very much an Aquarian lesson.

Leo creativity doesn’t disappear here; instead, it’s refined and redirected. The question becomes: How do I shine in a way that also supports the whole?

Here I have a picture of Karl Marx. As I mentioned earlier, he wrote The Communist Manifesto and was an Aquarius rising, which really exemplifies this Aquarian emphasis on collective systems and shared resources. I’m not holding him up as a model in any ideological sense, but as an example of how strong Aquarius energy can orient someone toward group dynamics and social structures rather than individual fame.

Ultimately, individuals are being asked to notice how they’re personally impacted by this nodal shift and to find a workable balance between Leo selfhood and Aquarian collectivity, without going too far toward one extreme or the other. That’s just a side note—but it’s an important one to keep in mind as we move into this new nodal cycle.

Transit XI: Solar Eclipse in Leo III, August 12

Now we have the solar eclipse at 20 degrees Leo on August 12th. As I mentioned earlier, solar eclipses happen when the Sun and the Moon are conjunct and they’re near a node of the Moon. With this eclipse, solar eclipses can have to do with letting go of old ideas, particularly since this is a South Node eclipse, right? It’s about a letting go.

Visibility shifts. Eclipses coincide with changes in prominence and attention. If we’re letting go of being the center—that Leo energy—there might be a moment with this eclipse where you’ve been shining and everybody’s been seeing you, and you’re asked to let go of that. Or to let go of some of our ideas or ego ideas about what it means to be bigger than life and center stage in the world.

It doesn’t mean you throw the baby out with the bathwater and never shine again. It means learning lessons about where the ego may have been holding on too tightly, or taking credit for creativity or for the creative flow of life that’s actually moving through you as you shine in the world.

To me, all astrological transits give us opportunities to learn more about our patterns and restructure them in service of the larger part of who we are, the deeper part of our soul. So this might be part of what you experience with this eclipse.

This eclipse falls in the third decan of Leo. We can see here on the left that the tarot card associated with this decan is the Seven of Wands. I’ll drop a link to my video on this part of the zodiac. This is also where Donald Trump has his rising degree, in the third decan of Leo.

This part of the zodiac has to do with the arc of Leo. Leo I is the moment when we enter the fray of life and try to bring our creativity into the world. We often have to go through competition to shine. Leo II is the Six of Wands, the moment of victory, when we’re shining and receiving recognition. But Leo III is when the light begins to fade. We’re moving toward the fall. We’re having to let go of being on top.

7 of Wands, Rider-Waite Tarot

So we may have other people coming at us, and we’re trying to defend our territory. With the South Node here, again, we might be letting go of something, or encountering conflicts with others, where we need to assess whether we’ve been holding onto our territory too tightly.

Creative authority can be disrupted by this energy. Eclipses always bring disruption. They’re like a reboot of your computer. There are moments when the Sun or Moon appears to disappear from the sky, everything goes dark, and there’s a kind of karmic correction. It’s like life saying, we’re going to realign you with your soul’s purpose if you’ve drifted off course. So that may be part of what this eclipse shows us.

Transit XII: Lunar Eclipse in Pisces I, September 4

Then we come to the lunar eclipse, which is a North Node eclipse. The North Node tends to bring new things into our lives. It points toward growth, unfamiliar territory, and a kind of hunger for new energy in whatever area of life the eclipse activates. In this case, that energy is coming through Pisces.

Pisces is a water sign, and the final one in the zodiac. All water signs relate to emotion, the body, intuition, and connection, but as the last of the water signs, Pisces carries this to a more universal level. It’s about dissolving boundaries, merging with the larger whole, and connecting with the great ocean of life. Pisces energy is deeply tied to faith, spirituality, compassion, imagination, and the sense that we’re part of something much larger than ourselves.

So this eclipse, especially if it lands on an inner planet or a sensitive point in your chart, may bring new experiences, insights, or emotional openings around faith and trust. It can reconnect us with the river of life, soften defenses, and open space for compassion—not just for others, but for ourselves. There can also be moments of quiet joy or relief that come from surrendering control and allowing life to carry us.

This eclipse occurs at four degrees of Pisces, which falls in the first decan of Pisces. The tarot card associated with this decan is the Eight of Cups, and that imagery deepens the spiritual and introspective tone of this eclipse. In the Eight of Cups, we see a figure turning away from eight full cups—symbols of emotional or material fulfillment—and walking toward the mountains in the distance. Even though the cups are full, something is missing, and the figure chooses to seek meaning elsewhere.

Make it stand out

8 of Cups, Rider-Waite Tarot

This card symbolizes a turning inward, a willingness to leave behind what once sustained us in order to search for deeper truth, purpose, and nourishment from within. It’s not necessarily about loss, but about recognizing when it’s time to move on toward something more aligned with the soul.

I’ll share that I have my Saturn at this degree of Pisces, and I’m in the middle of my second Saturn return, which will be complete by then. Saturn can be serious, heavy, and demanding, so I’m actually looking forward to having that Saturn receive some warmth from this lunar eclipse—some emotional nourishment, softening, and an opportunity for deeper inner reflection and spiritual integration.

Transit XIII: Venus and Mercury Retrograde in Scorpio, October 3-November 13

This is the last transit we’re going to talk about. I have two slides on it because it’s one of the bigger ones of the year. It’s particularly focused on relationships, reviewing, digging deep, having deep conversations, and maybe people coming back into our lives where we’ve let go in the past. There can also be opportunities to repair or work through power struggles and complex issues. I’ll unpack that, because it’s a lot.

Venus and Mercury are both going to retrograde at the same time. Venus starts her retrograde first, at eight degrees Scorpio, and goes back into Libra. Mercury starts its retrograde—I have it on the next slide—around 22 degrees Scorpio and goes back to about five degrees Scorpio. So the place where they overlap in their retrograde is the first ten degrees of Scorpio, and that’s where the emphasis is strongest.

Scorpio is a water sign ruled by Mars. It’s about emotional connection, intimacy, and deep, alchemical bonds with other people. It’s a fixed sign, so it can want to hold on and stay committed, sometimes past the point where letting go might be healthier. Loyalty is a big part of Scorpio’s relational energy, and one of Scorpio’s lessons is learning when and how to let go.

Scorpio is also associated with the darker aspects of life. If Pisces is the vast open ocean, Scorpio is the deep ocean floor, where it’s darker and where we encounter things others may not want to look at. I’m a Scorpio rising, and Scorpio energy is very psychological, wanting to understand others at a deep level.

During this period, if you look at the tarot card associated with the first ten degrees of Scorpio, it’s the Five of Cups. This decan can involve themes of mourning and loss. People with planets in this part of their chart may be learning that even in the midst of loss or endings, something still sustains us.

In the card, we see a figure with three cups spilled over. If you’re only looking forward, it looks like all is lost. But if the figure turns around, there are two cups still standing. Life continues. There’s something that remains that sustains us. We also see a bridge over the river there in the background, showing the connections that are possible in the midst of these grieving moments.

5 of Cups, Rider-Waite Tarot

And so with Venus, the god of love and relationship, retrograding in this part of the zodiac, you can see where maybe you’re going to—if you’ve had some losses around relationship at some time—maybe this comes up for you to process. Scorpio loves to dig deep and process emotions, and it can have a hard time letting go, so it can get stuck.

Mercury is also retrograde there. Mercury is our mind, how we think, how we communicate. So the possibility for conversations, revisiting old ideas, and maybe coming to some understanding is built into this as well. We have the retrograde period where we go back and review and things come up for us to learn from, and then when the planets turn direct, that’s when we can have moments of clarity.

So while it might feel like a bumpy ride during this period, where you’re digging deep with your emotions and maybe talking with people, it does clear up as the energy moves forward. Maybe we’ve learned something as a result of these retrograde periods.

Retrograde periods, to me, are karmic corrections, just like eclipses are. And I say that because when planets move retrograde, they’re moving in primary motion, which is the motion of God according to ancient philosophers.

There’s a way in which usually our life is moving in secondary motion. That’s about the material world and everyday life, where we’re just moving forward and everything seems to be going fine. But eventually we can get off track and out of alignment with our soul. Primary motion, moving backwards, gives us a chance to realign and reflect on the ways we may have gone off the path.

So planets, when they move retrograde, are moving in primary motion. And the nodes of the Moon always move in primary motion. They move in the opposite direction of the planets. Hence the idea of karma and correction coming out of these retrograde periods and eclipses.

I know that was a lot, but it’s something I’m really interested in and have found to be true through my own internal experience. I think that’s good for this slide. You can always review the additional information on there. Like I said, I’ll drop a link to a Dropbox where you can download it.

One last thing to think about is an added emphasis on the importance of this particular retrograde period. First, retrograde periods are always important, especially Venus retrogrades, because they don’t happen as often. But here we also have Venus and Mercury retrograding together in the same place, which suggests added significance.

And then, right when Venus begins her retrograde, she’s going to be in a T‑square. Mercury is also in a T‑square to Mars and Pluto, which are in opposition to each other. In this T‑square, Venus and Mercury are at the apex, with Mars at one end and Pluto at the other.

This is intense energy that pushes pressure toward the planet at the apex. It can feel like working through power dynamics with someone else. Pluto is about power, and Mars is the god of war. When they’re opposed, it’s like we’re in conflict with someone, and the energy moves toward reviewing the past, having conversations, and trying to understand things in that deep, Scorpionic way.

Because Venus and Mercury are at the apex, there’s also a risk of carrying that energy too far. We can get too dark, too heavy, too drama‑trauma. Again, I’m a Scorpio rising. Scorpio energy can get very fixed around emotional topics.

The resolution to a T‑square is always in the opposite sign. For this configuration, that points us toward Taurus. Taurus is another fixed sign, but it carries the opposite energy of Scorpio. Taurus is like the base to Scorpio’s acid, if you remember chemistry.

Scorpio energy is intense, deep, and dark. Taurus, ruled by Venus, is about love, beauty, comfort, and grounding. It likes luxury, security, and cozy evenings—ice cream, a blanket, a teddy bear on the couch. That’s the Taurus vibe.

So anything you can do to ground yourself in your body during this period will really help. This energy will affect some people more than others. It’s more likely to be impactful if you have planets or points in the first ten degrees of Scorpio, or if you’re a fixed sign rising—Scorpio, Aquarius, Taurus, or Leo.

In terms of ways to work with the energy, I think of massage, somatic experiencing—I’ll drop a link to a woman who teaches classes in somatic experiencing. It’s a slow, gentle way of connecting with the body, and the classes are pretty inexpensive, which is nice.

Gardening can also be great, because Taurus loves to garden. Depending on where you live, it may be fall and harder to do outside, but you can bring plants or flowers into your home to bring in that grounding energy. You can riff on that idea. Anything that gets you into your body will help you weather the intensity of this time period.

So wonderful. If you stayed through this whole thing, thank you so much. This is truly my joy—creating content like this deepens my own understanding of astrology, and I hope it deepens yours as well.

If any of these transits interested you or felt like they hit home, feel free to drop a note and we can have a little chat. And if you enjoyed this and stayed with me, it would be great if you could like and subscribe if you haven’t already.

I’ll be putting out new videos soon. I’ll be doing Capricorn II very soon, that second video, and so on. You’ll get all of that if you subscribe to the channel. I hope to see you soon. Thanks again.