In the minds of many, the flip of the calendar to January 1st signals a fresh start. But is it really?
None of us has been alive since the absolute beginning. We’ve entered into a story already in progress over millennia— cycles and themes wrapped within other cycles and themes. We’re still living out their consequences today.
This is where Astrology shines— helping each of us to locate ourselves in the ever-unfolding story of humanity.
Read on to get to know the seven major astrological events of 2024— their themes, clues from the past, and how to navigate well.
#1. Aries/Libra Eclipses
We’re Not Gonna Take It
Eclipse season occurs twice a year. It’s a time of surrendering to universal will so that a period of accelerated growth can take place.
But how do eclipses come to be? And how do we understand them through the lens of astrology?
The Lunar Nodes are where eclipses occur. These two points in space, North and South Nodes, are where the Moon’s orbit crosses the Earth’s ecliptic plane.
Using an astrological lens, the South Node tends to deal with unresolved past issues, and the North Node is the intent or antidote to better integrate that unresolved past. That said, resist the urge to label the South Node as bad and the North Node as good. Each has its purpose, gift, and shadow.
The Lunar Nodes and their resulting eclipses are important in providing insights into the energies of 2024, so let’s dive into the current nodal placements.
North Node in Aries/South Node in Libra: July 17, 2023 – January 11, 2025
When interpreting the Lunar Nodes, keep polarities in mind. Equal yet opposite or different sides of the same coin.
The Lunar Nodes settled into the Aries-Libra polarity for almost half of 2023, so as we enter 2024 we’re already acquainted with the themes we’re working with.
For many years now, we’ve been experiencing the failures of systems, lack of leadership, and the breakdown of societal norms. In this context, the transit of the Lunar Nodes through Aries/Libra has come at a time when we need to deepen our reliance on ourselves AND each other even more.
And, if we are to achieve the vision of better systems, leaders, and more humane norms, we’ve got to start at the level of the individual (Aries) and how the individual relates to others (Libra).
The Lunar Nodes transit through Aries/Libra and the resulting eclipses will help us strengthen our ability to take individual and collective action in the world. But first, we will have to face any unresolved issues around perceived lack of personal power, lack of support, people-pleasing, overly compromising, and decisions made to uphold the status quo.
When working on how to approach healthy alliances, we’ll confront situations throughout the year where we’ll have to discern when it’s best to go together or when it might be best to go it alone. It won’t always be the same answer for every situation.
Not an easy period of development but very much required, especially for 2024 and beyond.
Other ways to think about the transit of the Aries/Libra Lunar Nodes include:
- Individual vs. Collective
- Autonomy vs. Dependence
- Pioneering vs. Conforming
- Assertive vs. Deferential
- Enthusiasm vs. Indifference
- Selfishness vs. Cooperation
- Dissent vs. Agreement
- Action-taking vs. fence-sitting
The last time the North Node was in Aries and the South Node in Libra was between December 26, 2004, and June 22, 2006. Though a much different time, still helpful to look back at your personal history to identify similarities.
A run-down of the 2024 Aries/Libra Eclipses
When checking out these dates, note where you have personal planets and points within 3° of the Eclipse degree. You’ll likely experience greater life changes relevant to the planetary energy the eclipse is impacting in your natal chart.
Eclipse Season One
- Penumbral Lunar Eclipse – March 25, 2024, at 3:13 AM EST, at 5° Libra
- Total Solar Eclipse – April 8, 2024, at 2:18 PM EST, at 19° Aries
Eclipse Season Two
- Partial Lunar Eclipse – September 17, 2024, at 10:45 PM EST, at 25° Pisces (First of the series of eclipses in Pisces/Virgo)
- Annular Solar Eclipse – October 2, 2024, at 2:46 PM EST, at 10° Libra
#2. Jupiter conjuncts Uranus at 21° Taurus
Throughline of Liberation
When we’re not paying attention breakthroughs seem to come at an instant. However, when we review the past in connection to that breakthrough, we see the throughline. Everything builds upon each other until a time comes when conditions are so ripe with potential– the breakthrough occurs.
Enter Jupiter’s conjunction with Uranus on April 20, 2024 in earthy Taurus. A sign that conditions are ideal for a major development.
Jupiter expands whatever energy it comes in contact with, indiscriminately giving us more, more, and more.
Uranus awakens whatever energy it comes in contact with, shocking us out of anything it deems outdated.
Collectively we’re likely to hear of paradigm-shifting scientific discoveries, expansion into new frontiers, extreme weather events, earthquakes, technological advancements, aggressive calls for freedom, political upheavals, and destabilization of the monetary system.
We’re being liberated from what gets in the way of a thriving humanity. But first, we must awaken to the harshness of daily realities that many people experience and a small minority chose to ignore.
On a personal level, this transit can have you or those around you sat in a place of shock and disempowerment.
Ensure you are well-resourced with sleep, food, love, nature, money, or exercise — the activities and things that keep you grounded. Also, be prepared to serve as a resource for others. We’re all in this together.
No matter how abrupt the energies of Jupiter-Uranus may seem, look to the throughline of past actions or inactions for clues of what may play out.
Once the dust settles a little bit, you’ll be able to better embrace your new sense of freedom and a more humane way of life.
#3. Jupiter in Gemini
Perception Amplified
On May 25, 2024, Jupiter enters Gemini, for a year-long stay until June 9, 2025.
Jupiter symbolizes benevolence, faith, expansion, belief, and exploration. Activities that bring about growth through direct experience and risk-taking.
In Gemini— the archetype of the Observer, Teacher, Journalist, and Storyteller — Jupiter will stretch our ability to move from perception to understanding. Taking what you know through observation and study, then digesting, sharing, and applying it.
Not so easily done in a noisy world, where focus is fleeting and all too often we abandon our ability to think for ourselves.
Jupiter in Gemini is not about feasting on information for information’s sake. It has a higher mandate for you. What will you do with what you know? Do your perceptions empower or keep you overwhelmed? And finally, will you deny new information because it threatens your self-image or worldview? How are you being “othered” by what you know?
Jupiter’s transit through Gemini will get messy.
In 2024, we’ll see a deluge of communication that often coincides with major election years along with the rapid adoption of machine learning/artificial intelligence into our day-to-day lives. Your ability to comfortably process nuance, details, and shades of grey will likely get tested.
The last time Jupiter transited Gemini was June 11, 2012 – June 25, 2013, during the early days of social media. What have we learned since then? What new pieces of information need to be integrated this time around?
Let’s keep our ears and eyes open for the solutions.
#4. Jupiter-Saturn Square
The Sound and the Fury
“Life’s but a walking shadow; a poor player, that struts and frets his hour upon the stage, and then is heard no more: it is a tale told by an idiot, full of sound and fury, signifying nothing.”
– William Shakespeare
Life is preciously brief and one can get off track with all there is to pay attention to these days.
With so much Jupitarian energy on display for 2024, what will be its countermeasure? What will help rein this energy in? The answer is Saturn.
Our favorite sobering planetary energy has been in Pisces since March 2023. In 2024, we have two instances when Saturn will serve as a roadblock to Jupiter’s expansive energy.
Speed bumps, guardrails, and possibly stop signs are not inherently a bad thing. Slowing helps us to take in more information and to rely on other ways of perceiving. It makes us move through the chaos while pulling in its significance.
At the first Jupiter-Saturn square on August 19, 2024, at 17° Gemini/Pisces, Saturn will be in its retrograde cycle. Use this energy to clarify the question: How are you serving the vision?
During the second Jupiter-Saturn square on December 24, 2024, at 14° Gemini/Pisces, Jupiter will be in its retrograde cycle. This period will help you clarify the question: How is the vision serving you?
In both instances, you’ll be working through shadow aspects of the Gemini and Pisces archetypes: the Gossip, Flake, Pundit, Martyr, Overdoer, Victim, or Overthinker to name a few.
A note: This year Jupiter transits make 3 out of 7 appearances on this list. Yes, it’s a lot of Jupiter energy and its presence can be a sign of good things to come. Let’s get excited about it, BUT let’s also have some caution too. Too much of a good thing usually goes sideways.
#5. Mercury Elemental Year 2024
Profound Shaping of Reality
Mercury is the closest planet to Earth and in astrology it’s in charge of our most precious human function, that of perception— our ability to observe, connect the dots, communicate, and listen.
Mercury is crucial in the shaping of reality. So when Mercury goes through its annual shift into a new elemental year… it’s kinda a big deal.
2024 is the Mercury Elemental Year of Fire. This means most of Mercury’s retrograde cycles will take place in Aries, Leo, & Sagittarius. (Auspiciously on January 1st Mercury will station direct at 22° Sagittarius— kicking off the fire elemental year on day one!)
Retrogrades also extend Mercury’s transit through these signs from its usual 2-3 weeks to up to 10 weeks when retrograde. We’re getting a master’s class on how Mercury approaches communications through the lens of fire signs.
In general, Mercury in Fire Signs is extroverted, dynamic, and confronting. All things communication will get speedy, stimulating, passionate, and more careless.
On the positive side, it can empower us to use our voice for good. To speak up when we see something or someone doing wrong or to motivate towards a greater good.
On the shadow side, we want to say what we want to say without any regard for anyone else. When Mercury retrogrades through Fire Signs, we’ll particularly be working through these negative aspects.
Be on alert for complaining, manipulation, incitement to violence, “little white lies”, anti-political correctness, and tactlessness.
| 2024 Mercury Retrograde Periods | |
| DATE | SIGN |
| April 1 – 25 | 27° Aries to 15° Aries |
| August 5 – 28 | 4° Virgo to 21° Leo |
| November 26 – December 15 | 22° Sagittarius to 6° Sagittarius |
#6. Pluto’s Transit
2024 marks a very important transitional year in the human storyline.
We know this because Pluto, one of the generational defining transpersonal planets, will settle into a new sign until 2044. Neptune and Uranus will make their major shift next year in 2025.
But first, Pluto will start wrapping up themes it uncovered in Capricorn back in 2008, while continuing to reveal its new storylines in Aquarius initiated in March 2023.
Because Pluto will spend most of the year in Aquarius, let’s begin there.
Finding Our Shared Humanity – Pluto in Aquarius
Pluto enters Aquarius on January 20, 2024, and will only get as far as 2° Aquarius before it stationing retrograde on May 2, 2024.
Pluto reveals the dark side of existence—all types of abuses of power including the things we misuse to gain power… money, sex, etc.; The secrets we keep, suppressed emotions, the decaying process and the death/rebirth cycle are all Plutonic.
To move through these Plutonic situations we must transform. Pluto moving through Aquarius will bring transformation to the doorstep of humanity.
Aquarius is one of the most humanistic signs of the zodiac, but it’s complicated. The archetype of the Genius, Revolutionary, Scientist, and Outcast takes a very impersonal approach to the concerns of humanity.
Unchecked innovation, a paternalistic/authoritative view of what’s “best” for humanity, inhumane tradeoffs for Utopian ideals, groupthink, and the marginalization of groups — are all ways in which things can go wrong under Pluto in Aquarius to highlight what needs to be transformed.
Pluto in Aquarius will also be a period of having to make room for all types of human expression and dealing with fears of whoever we deem as other in society.
At the same time, many of us will continue fighting for the right to be seen as human. Why is this so important? When you’re seen as human you are granted power and compassion within society.
You have the right to your body, the right to decent work, the right to move from place to place, and the right to healthcare. All the foundations of an actualized human being.
So what gets in the way of finding our shared humanity is the major theme we’ll all be working through with help from Pluto confronting us with what needs to be transformed within ourselves and the collective.
It’s time for us humans to evolve into better stewards of this Earth and of each other.
November 19, 2024, will mark Pluto’s final ingress into Aquarius, where it will stay until 2044.
An Alchemical Task- Pluto at 29° Capricorn
For the last time, Pluto will be in Capricorn from January 1- 20 and then again from September 2 until November 19, 2024.
During both periods Pluto will hang out at 29°, a very potent yet exhaustive degree of any sign.
We have an alchemical task ahead of us to find our peace within the hardwon lessons of Pluto in Capricorn and to discern what has retained its utility for what lies ahead in a post-Pluto in Capricorn world.
So what was it all about?
Pluto in Capricorn revealed the decay within structures and institutions we depend on.
This period had us questioning capitalism, banking, government, work, corporations, national boundaries, and traditional values. Wherever something rooted in the past brought to light feelings of scarcity and power abuses, think Pluto in Capricorn.
As you sift through the Pluto in Capricorn lessons, here are some helpful questions:
- What structures/institutions still nourish me?
- What structures/institutions empower me?
- What’s sustainable and beneficial to all?
- What are the good things of the past that I want to bring forward?
On November 3, 2024, Mars in Cancer will oppose Pluto in Capricorn. If you’ve chosen to avoid these matters so far, on or around this period you’ll likely confront tough decisions.
Be truthful with how you handle the situation for it has ramifications decades from now.
#7. Mars retrograde in Leo/Cancer
All We Do, Needs A New Approach
We end the year on a frustrating note, at best, when Mars stations retrograde at 6°Leo on December 6, 2024, to February 24, 2025.
This period will feel like a lesson in Newton’s First Law Motion, “An object at rest stays at rest and an object in motion stays in motion…”
When the planet of action slows down and asks us to do the same, can we collectively unplug from the intense speed of 2024 or have we found a new addiction?
Normally, Mars’ transit through Leo keeps the energy stuck “on” without rest— compelling us to tackle creative expression, relentlessly. There is no playing it small with this energy on your side.
However, retrograde is a different story.
Mars goes retrograde roughly every two years. A good enough time to have done a thing in the world before stepping back to assess how well it’s going. Do you need a new approach?
This Mars retrograde will have you assessing how well you were at bringing your creations to life when the world is upside down. And also how well are you able to do so with others.
The Cancer portion of Mars retrograde speaks more about emotional management and our ability to calm ourselves and others. Do your feelings take you off track or do they power you forward?
Finally, some general Mars retrograde themes to keep an eye on include suppressed anger, burn-out, apathy, manipulation, or violence.
Whatever unhealthy patterns relating to Mars, gets uncovered during this period…. know it’s an opportunity to choose to act differently.
Heya, thanks for reading!!
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