The Astrology of The 2nd Half of 2024: Dipping Our Toes And Diving Into The Rest of the Decade
Several upcoming transits and aspects--Saturn-Neptune conjunction, Uranus trine Pluto--are hinted at, and others--Pluto into Aquarius--are fully forming in a fascinating end to a transitional year
Intro and Overview
After an astrologically eventful first half of 2024, it’s possible one might think the second half of 2024 will be boring.
If you look at the following screenshot from The Astrology Podcast’s “2024 Year Ahead Astrology Forecast,” you might assume you’re right. After all, you’ll see eight bullet points for 2024 but only two—“First Eclipse in Pisces series begins” and “Mars retrograde in Leo/Cancer end of the year”—are distinct to the second half of 2024.
“See, it’s boring!” you proclaim.
But is that true?
No, not at all.
For one thing, the Pluto transit into Aquarius has its most significant expression over the year’s second half.
From early September to mid-November, Pluto lands its Aquarian jetpack one last time on the peak of Mount Capricorn, giving the world an opportunity to revisit the integrity of our social institutions and hierarchies and giving individuals some final, deep reality checks on issues surrounding personal discipline, ambition, and control.
Pluto has been raising these themes since it entered Capricorn in 2008, and during these eleven weeks this fall, it’s looking for unfinished business around them. Considering this will take place in the middle of an unprecedented U.S. Presidential Election, that transit alone means the astrology of the second half of 2024 will be far from boring.
Second, despite its exciting conjunction in April with revolutionary Uranus in Taurus, expansion-oriented Jupiter spent most of the first half of 2024 mellowed out in the fields of that Fixed Earth sign. For the rest of the year, though, Jupiter is in the hyperactive, curiosity-driven Air sign of Gemini. Have you been feeling any mental overstimulation since Jupiter entered Gemini in late May? That buzzy energy is with us for the rest of this year.
In addition, underneath the “Jupiter moves into Gemini” bullet point, we see Jupiter square Saturn. This is strictly a second-half-of-2024 aspect, giving us two exact hits (August 20 and December 24).
The first square after a planetary conjunction was referred to as “a crisis in action” by the prestigious 20th-century astrologer Dane Rudhyar, inviting us to revisit the themes that arose around the Jupiter-Saturn conjunction in December 2020.
While many of us would love to move on from the many heated issues ignited in 2020 when that conjunction was forming, these squares over the next year are likely to reignite them.
Just before Christmas, the second of three Jupiter-Saturn squares will occur after Pluto has fully moved into equality-minded Aquarius from hierarchy-friendly Capricorn, and the public demand for less hierarchy will likely square off with institutional demands for more control.
Whatever you think about growing populist movements, no matter the issue, don’t expect them to dissipate as Pluto moves through Aquarius until the early 2040s. For example, around the time of that revolutionary conjunction between Jupiter and Uranus in April, public groups helped defeat the World Health Organization’s proposed pandemic treaty. These Jupiter-Saturn squares will likely reveal the next chapters in that particular saga.
Does any of this sound boring to you?
Astrologically, the 2020s are an extremely exciting time. Placing these six months into the context of what we’ve already been through—particularly the powerful, once-in-a-lifetime astrology of 2020—and what’s coming up in the next few years, these six months could seem, on paper at least, less dynamic.
In reality, when we drill down into the details, astrology is rarely boring.
As we preview this second half of 2024, we may not find the trigger event for a global pandemic or the transit that signifies the arrival of trans-dimensional beings on the lawn of the White House. However, we might find something significant that points to a major event in your life or a seed moment for a big change in our world that we’re not truly aware of until we have the benefit of hindsight.
On those final two notes, remember: articles like this give a broad overview of current transits, which are loosely applied to everyone, but to learn more about how they might impact your life specifically, you’ll need to consult your natal chart or hire a professional astrologer to help you do that. (I won’t be offering my services in this regard until sometime in 2025, but if you are interested in working with me once I get my business up and running, you can message me directly and set up a booking ahead of the crowd).
Okay, with that all said, let’s get into a monthly breakdown of the astrology of the second half of 2024.
Before we do, a quick note: Besides considering my own readings on the various aspects and transits of these next six months for this article, I consumed many hours of media from various astrologers I respect. There are too many to name or remember, but I am grateful to all of them. I’ve taken the liberty of using The Astrology Podcast’s monthly calendars for screenshots to help readers see the major events of each month. If you’re a serious student of astrology and you’re not already using that podcast as a resource, I highly recommend you do.
Off we go!
The Main Events of The Second Half of 2024 (Chronological)
(Most significant events in bold with links to charts)
Note: All Dates Are in Japan Standard Time (JST). Thus, they may differ from the dates shown on the calendars from the US-based The Astrology Podcast.
July, Pt. 1: Slowing Down (Saturn Retrograde (6/30); Neptune Retrograde (7/2))
July, Pt 2.: Heating Up (Mars conjunct Uranus (7/15); Mars enters Gemini (7/21); Sun in Leo opposite Pluto in Aquarius (7/23))
August, Pt. 1: Beauty in the Details (Venus enters Virgo (8/5); Begin Mercury Retrograde in Virgo and Leo (8/5-8/29))
August, Pt. 2: Information Wars (Mars conjunct Jupiter in Gemini (8/15); Mars in Gemini Square Saturn in Pisces (8/16))
August, Pt. 3: A Choice Point (Jupiter in Gemini square Saturn in Pisces (8/20); Full Moon in Aquarius (8/20))
September: Technological Innovations and Financial Upheavals (Begin Uranus retrograde in Taurus (9/2); Pluto leaves Aquarius for Capricorn (9/2))
September, Pt 2.: Emotional Triggers (Mars enters Cancer (9/5))
October: Eclipse of The Heart (New Moon in Libra /Annual Solar Eclipse (10/3))
October: October Surprise (Full Moon in Aries (10/16))
November: Paranoia Runs Deep (New Moon in Scorpio (11/1); Mars in Cancer opposite Pluto in Capricorn (11/3))
November: Let Your Love Light Shine (Venus, Mercury and Sun in Sagittarius)
November-December: Mercury Retrograde (11/26-12/16)
December: Mars Retrograde (12/7-2/23/2025)
December: Final Reality Check (Saturn in Pisces square Jupiter in Gemini (12/24))
July: Slowing Down, Heating Up
As I wrote in the Cancer Season 2024 post, the first half of July is a more reflective, feelings-oriented period. As the month moves forward, however, with both Mercury (July 2) and Venus (July 12) having left watery Cancer for fiery Leo and the Mars conjunction with Uranus in Taurus (July 15), things begin to heat up, preparing us for the Sun’s annual mid-summer transit through Leo.
If we’ve done our Cancerian work of self-reflection, we’ll likely feel more empowered to act as Leo’s self-expressive energies get activated. This isn’t a problem—in fact, it’s what a healthy relationship with the story of the Zodiac encourages— but we need to focus on our feelings in a healthy way at the start of July to get the most out of it.
I’ll probably beat this poor horse dead, but again, writing a journal or recording your thoughts is a great way to engage with Cancer’s requests and can help us know exactly what we want to express when we step up onto the stage of Leo.
Just before the Sun enters Leo (July 22), Mars moves into Gemini (July 21), joining Jupiter in that sign of expressive but sometimes-speak-before-you-think communication, and I wouldn’t be surprised if this sets the tone for a verbally combative stretch lasting through August. Watch your tongues, folks!
On July 23rd, the Sun in Leo opposes Pluto in Aquarius. This is the first time this has happened since the late 1700s, and we’ll experience it over the next 20 summers.
Pluto in Aquarius periods—for example, the 1780s and 1790s (American and French Revolutions; Scientific Revolution) and the 1530s and 1540s (Copernican Revolution, Protestant Revolution)—saw challenges from the human collective (Aquarius) to whatever was perceived as on top (Leo).
This makes me wonder: When the Sun, which symbolizes the sovereign, transits through its home sign of Leo, are there any particular historical events that reflect the activation of this dynamic? I might research this over the next month and report my findings during Leo Season. For now, let’s do some real-time research and look for this dynamic in late July.
Adding fuel to the fire, the Sun in Leo sextiles Mars in Gemini on July 26th. Could any explosive political events around the Mars-Uranus conjunction on the 15th stir up the collective in a way that pits us at each other’s throats toward the end of the month? The Pluto in Aquarius assignment of the next two decades is asking us to find common cause with our fellow man and to fix any unbalanced, hierarchical power dynamics. Maybe us “small folk” can stop falling for divide-and-conquer tactics for once?
Whether or not late July leads to verbal fireworks, even non-astrologers are well aware that the heat of summer can sometimes aggravate us, and this seems especially common in periods of political conflicts, such as an election year in the U.S.
Thus, late July might be a good time to head up into the hills to cool off and escape all the madness. Chiron slowing down to go retrograde on the same day of that Sun-Mars sextile seems tailor-made for finding a good cave to do some deep healing.
August: Beauty in the Details, Information War Battles, and a Choice Point
August is one of the more dynamic months of the second half of 2024, especially mid-month, so let’s take a little extra time digging into it.
First, Venus’ August 5-29 transit through Virgo is very active.
What is Venus in Virgo? Venus in Virgo is the elderly Japanese man diligently trimming his bonsai trees daily for years. It’s noticing the beauty in the finer details of life and attending to them. On the downside, it can be a bit of a prude, expecting too much perfection from a world that comes in all shapes and sizes, warts and all.
A beautiful expression of Venus in Virgo is tapping into the beauty of serving others without a need to be applauded. With all of this month's fiery and possibly combative energies, finding some small ways to express that sort of behavior is a lovely antidote.
Mars Conjunct Jupiter in Gemini: A Short History
Now, please indulge me as I offer a brief astrological history lesson focusing on the potential meaning of Mars conjunct Jupiter in Gemini on August 15th.
Mars takes 685 days to go around the Zodiac, so just about two years. As a result, it makes conjunctions with most planets about once every two years.
Regarding the aspect of Mars conjoining Jupiter, the last time was on May 29, 2022; before that, they met on March 20, 2020, just as the COVID-19 lockdowns went global.
In astrology, we can drill down for further details that might add context to aspects like conjunctions. For example, beyond looking at when two planets meet in the sky, we can see how often they meet in a particular sign.
Mars meets Jupiter in the sign of Gemini about three or four times a century, the last time being March 11, 1989. Considering Gemini is an Air sign and bold Mars enacts Jupiter’s broad-minded agenda, looking for events relating to worldly communication seems appropriate.
And wouldn’t you know it, on March 12, 1989, computer scientist Tim Berners-Lee, the man credited for inventing the World Wide Web in 1991, submitted his first proposal for an "information management system" to his boss at the European Organization for Nuclear Research (CERN) who found it “vague, but exciting.”
In addition, just a few days before that conjunction, Iran dropped its diplomatic relations with Britain over Salman Rushdie’s novel The Satanic Verses. I was a teenager then, and remember that was very big news.
Going back to the previous time the two met in Gemini, April 4, 1942, there may be even more resonance with our 2024 meeting because the planets were conjunct at 16 degrees 21 minutes, only 19 minutes different from their meeting at 16.40 this August.
The biggest historical event that took place during this time was The Doolittle Raids of April 18, 1942, the first time the U.S. had led an air raid on mainland Japan, bombing Tokyo and other cities.
Interestingly, the pilot who led this raid, Jimmy Doolittle, took off in a B-25 from San Francisco on April 2, 1942, so he and his team traveled across the Pacific almost precisely at the moment of this Mars-Jupiter conjunction in Gemini. A massive attack from the air is about as on the nose as we can get when speaking of Mars, the God of War, conjoining Jupiter, which expands all it touches, in the Air Sign of Gemini.
None of that is to say that such events will occur in 2024. Instead, these are just breadcrumbs to help us look for possible resonance. In addition, rapid advances in technologies—like a paper that laid the foundation for the creation of the Internet—as well as diplomatic battles over literature (or words in general), such as the Rushdie incident (which led to Rushdie facing a religiously inspired death threat), could be in the cards.
At the very least, in August we could see our battles in the Information Wars expand. With the Moon, which represents the public in mundane astrology, in Sagittarius, which represents our ideals, opposite that conjunction in Gemini, this could mean that the public and its ideals and beliefs may be challenged.
A Final Confusing Challenge of August
Until September, Neptune will be in the final degree of Pisces, the very last degree of the Zodiac. Have you felt your sense of reality challenged these past few months? As the modern ruler of Pisces, Neptune is extra strong in this sign, which is associated with our dreams, fantasies, spirituality, and delusions. Sometimes, things can get quite murky and confusing in the Piscean Seas, and in the summer of 2024, Neptune has gone about as far down into its waters as it can, reaching 29 degrees 56 minutes of Pisces.
There’s a lot of concern about how our AI technologies are becoming increasingly adept at blending reality and fantasy, and I’m not here to diminish such concerns. However, the issue is with the integrity of the humans using the A.I., isn’t it?
In addition, people in powerful positions are making this problem even more difficult. They intentionally muck up our language by adding unclear terms like “cheap fakes” to our lexicons in an attempt to cause us to question our “lying” eyes. (As though we haven’t had deceptive media and advertising before).
As an astrologer, I keep wondering if Saturn’s conjunction with Neptune at the first degree of Aries in early 2026 is when we bring some clarity back into our social reality, but for now, be mindful—and compassionate with yourself and others—about the challenges of making sense of things, especially things presented to us through the media.
On August 19th, with the first of three squares between Jupiter in Gemini and Saturn in Pisces over the following several months, it’s as though Saturn—the “reality principle”—is going to confront Jupiter’s busy, indecisive mind in Gemini and say, “You’ve simply got to make a choice here, son.” Now, the good news is Saturn won’t rush Jupiter, as the final square won’t take place until June 2025, but in mid-to-late August, we may have a growing sense that we’ve got to get serious about our discernment and to spend some of our time choosing more wisely.
September: Financial Upheaval, Emotional Triggers, and Technological Innovations
The Main Event of the Fall: Pluto Back Into Capricorn
The 11 weeks that Pluto spends in Capricorn from September 2 to November 20 are the last time this powerful planet will unleash its Dionysian furies in the sign of Capricorn until late February 2254. I don’t know about you, but I’m doubtful about attending that welcoming party, at least in this incarnation.
In other words, this send-off is kind of a big deal. Consider this: the last time Pluto bade farewell to Capricorn was December 1, 1778. A few things have changed around these parts since then. For one thing, white fellas like me now live in the heartland of Japan.
Moving back to the present transit, Pluto joined Capricorn in late January 2008, but then, like this year, it went back into the previous sign (Sagittarius) for that fall’s US Presidential Election and then re-entered Capricorn for its full transit at the end of November 2008. Until spring 2023, we’ve been living through that transit through Capricorn, so ask yourself: how has our world changed since 2008? How has your world changed?
When a planet, especially a slow-moving, powerful one like Pluto, moves back into the final degree of a sign, it’s attending to unfinished business. To understand this, we have to look at Capricorn’s significations, such as maturity, discipline, our goals, resourcefulness, austerity, and control. Pluto’s been asking us to deeply consider these things in our lives. If there are things we could still improve on, this 11-week period might present situations that force us to do that.
On a mundane level, in the United States’ natal chart, Capricorn occupies the Second House of material resources and money, with Pluto in the 28th degree of Capricorn. Considering this Pluto transit through Capricorn began with the banking and housing crisis in the U.S., it seems like September-to-mid-November might be when more issues in those sectors arise.
Over the past several years, the U.S. government has been raising its national debt up to insane levels, driving the value of the dollar down, raising inflation, and causing major nations to form new economic alliances (BRICs) to become less entrapped by the U.S. dollar. I’m not an economics-focused person, but the astrologer in me has to wonder if some major economic events might be centered in the United States during this last Pluto run through Capricorn.
On a broader level, the U.S. Pluto Return has been about every American examining, on a Soul level, what they believe the Soul of America is. This is why some of the most foundational aspects of American culture—issues of money and war, expansionism, freedom and security, and the ability to speak freely (First Amendment)—have been such contentious battlegrounds these past several years. It’s ultimately up to you, as an individual in America, to play a part in determining the future of the U.S.. Go deep with that this fall, as this Pluto transit offers one last big crack at it.
(Not to worry if you don’t, however, as the country’s founding really is based in the Pluto in Aquarius period, and with the upcoming, always-eventful-for-America Uranus Return during the Uranus transit through Gemini (2025-33), the re-evaluation of America will continue. The previous two times America has had a Uranus Return it went to major wars—the Civil War of the 1860s and World War II in the 1940s. Having said that, in my opinion, two do not make a pattern. Instead, it is something to keep an eye on.)
A Preview Of Upcoming Events: Mars Into Cancer, Pluto Trine Uranus, First Pisces-Virgo Axis Eclipse
While I doubt any of us will be bored this fall, the astrology of September wants to wake anyone slumbering with a few previews into the astrology of 2025 and beyond.
First, when Mars enters Cancer (Sept. 5), it will prepare us for its upcoming retrograde when it moves back into Cancer from mid-January to mid-April 2025. Action-oriented, fiery Mars isn’t very comfortable in the watery shoals of Cancer, but this can be a chance to focus some of our energies on our emotional health. Those folks who struggle with anger management may be in for a bit of a ride, and we’ll all have to be careful not to selfishly project that anger into the world around us.
The second and most long-term preview is Pluto and Uranus coming within just under three degrees of a trine, which they’ll maintain throughout September. In general, in the final five years of the 2020s, the energies of this archetypal aspect will be in effect, with the peak occurring between summer 2026 and spring 2028.
The Pluto-Uranus cycle is most famously known as the archetypal combination that gave us the revolutionary energies of the 1960s, but it’s also connected to periods of technological innovation (the 1990s sextile brought us the Internet; the early 2010s square saw the rise of smartphones—and the 2020s?).
Thus, it might pay to look for announcements from the tech world in September and even into October. Wise investors could do very well here.
Finally, we’ll have our first eclipse in the Pisces-Virgo axis. As someone who has only been studying and gathering data points for a few years now and believes that the cycles of the Moon's nodes are very influential in the zeitgeist, I’m especially eager to see what this portends.
Why? Well, for the past several years, the North Node of the Moon—i.e., where we should be focusing our evolutionary growth—has been in the “personal” signs, while the South Node—the karmic baggage we’ve got to face—have been in the “collective” signs but this switches when the North Node enters Pisces and the South enters Virgo.
Honestly, I’m not entirely sure what that means, but I intuit that working toward a shared sense of spirituality and Higher Purpose (Pisces) might be in the cards once we reach 2025 and the Nodes of the Moon fully enter that phase. Meanwhile, moving past some of our individualistic tendencies to be self-critical (and project that onto others) (Virgo) is something this upcoming eclipse might give us a glimpse of.
October: Eclipse of the Heart, October Surprise
One year ago, the horrific actions of October 7th took place in Israel, just before a solar eclipse in Libra. This New Moon partial solar eclipse occurring in Libra will make a square to emotionally triggered Mars in Cancer. This is the first of several potent Mars aspects over the final two months of 2024.
Could we see some sort of break in the violent action in the Middle East, or could tensions increase?
On a personal level, working with your emotions, especially the more charged ones, as they connect to how you relate to yourself (Aries) and others (Libra), will be at the forefront.
When we get to the next lunation of the month, the Full Moon in Aries on October 17th, we’ve got another powerful Mars-driven aspect. However, this time, Pluto is getting involved from late Capricorn, where it turned direct about one week earlier. If you have planets in the late degrees of the cardinal signs (Aries, Cancer, Libra, or Capricorn), expect this to be a transformational period, and that’s especially true if you have planets in late Capricorn near transiting Pluto or late Cancer near Mars.
With the presidential race about as unknown as it’s ever been this late in the game as of this writing in early July, we may have several “October surprises” before October. In addition, the astrology suggests we might get some in October, too.
Overall, though, this is the least astrologically active month of these six months, so let’s move on.
November: Paranoia Runs Deep, Let Your Love Light In
With the Sun making its annual trip through the murky, emotional waters of Scorpio for the first 20 days of November as fall passes its midpoint and the days get darker and colder, it’s common for some of the darker aspects of the human Soul to be confronted and contemplated in November.
Having said that, the month kicks off with a powerful New Moon in Scorpio that might make it difficult to speak, as we might be overwhelmed by deep feelings, and this sets an especially emotional tone for this month. This is due to a grand trine between Mercury in Scorpio, Neptune in Pisces, and Mars in Cancer, all while Mars will be opposite Pluto in Capricorn.
My intuitive advice here would be to write out, or speak out, as many of those feelings as you can before sharing them, but don’t hold them in because if you do, that’s when the paranoia might set in with that Pluto opposition to Mars. In other words, it’s better to air these thoughts—if only to yourself—than to let them build into unexamined resentment.
On a mundane level, this is not a very positive set-up for the US Election, especially as the Mars-Pluto opposition will occur on the Sunday morning (East Coast time) before the election. It’ll probably make for some fascinating, if disturbing, Sunday morning political roundtables, though!
There may be a break in these dreary skies, though, in that Mars will enter Leo, where it’s more comfortable, by the day of the election, giving us a better chance to accomplish our goals. We’d better get comfortable with Mars in Cancer and Leo because Mars will be in Cancer and Leo from September 4, 2024, to June 17, 2025, due to its upcoming retrograde in December and early 2025. Look at those signs in your natal chart to see what areas of your life Mars will bring its energies to for the final months of 2024 until the first half of June 2025.
Now, as a person with a jovial Jupiter tightly conjunct my Moon with a Moon-ruled chart (Cancer Rising), I have trouble leaving things without some light. Thus, the good news for both October and November is our personal planets, Venus (October 18-November 12) and Mercury (November 3rd-January 8, 2025) will be transiting through the spiritually uplifting sign of Sagittarius and, of course, the Sun will begin its transit through that sign on November 22nd. Astrology constantly offers us balance, so when we think we may have too much of one energy, such as an emotional period with Mars and Pluto powerfully combined, another energy can lighten the load.
That said, based on astrology alone, I expect this November to be more intense than usual, with Mars and Pluto dominating the show.
And speaking of Pluto, at last, it’ll be entering Aquarius on November 20th, and this time, it won’t be looking back to Capricorn in our lifetimes (if we don’t invent some serious longevity cures, that is).
We’ve had our sneak previews of what this period will look like in spring 2023 and most of 2024, so we should be well-adjusted. However, if past Pluto transits through Aquarius are any indication, when humanity emerges into the pools of Pisces in the early 2040s, the world will be a very different place.
This tail end of November and all of December is a great time to deeply ask yourself: What kind of world do I want to take part in creating over the next few decades? Aquarius reminds us that we are all human, and a liberated, Soulful Aquarian society is one in which we both reinvent what it means to be human together while re-discovering our organic genius within.
December: The M&M Retrograde and One Last Reality Check
In the November section, we’ve just covered how Mars will begin its approximately every two-year retrograde in December (12/7), but we didn’t mention that it’ll be preceded by Mercury from November 26 until December 16. Mars will stay in retrograde until late February 2025.
That 10-day period when both are retrograde could be wonky, especially for getting things done involving communication and technology.
One last trip to the US presidential situation: one can’t help but notice that this period is usually when the electors solidify their votes in the wacky US Electoral College situation. However, considering both this astrology and just how out-of-the-ordinary that race has already been halfway into 2024, it almost feels like too safe a prediction to say something might go wrong here.
Many astrologers, myself included, have been suggesting that neither Biden nor Trump will even be on the ticket come November. Still, another part of me has realized that if “expect the unexpected” is the keyword for all of 2024, and if I expect them not to be on the ticket, perhaps the unexpected is that they will be, and all will proceed along the usual lines?
Maybe so, maybe not! All I know is I’m not making any bets on it this year!
Finishing the year off, we’ll have that second square between Saturn in Pisces and Jupiter in Gemini on December 24. This is when that reality check you began to give yourself in late August checks in: did you follow through on your plans? If not, Saturn might kick you in the pants and ask you to take seriously what he’s asking of you, while Jupiter will keep things as fun and light as possible as we celebrate the end of the year.
Conclusion
And there we are, at the end of another year, on the precipice of what looks to be an absolutely fascinating, challenging, and mind-expanding 2025! Here’s hoping having this preview set out in front of you in July helps you navigate the waters of 2024 and if not, well, there’s always next year! Until then…bon voyage!
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Thanks for taking the time to comment, Sue.
A few things I’ll respond to.
First and foremost, indeed, we are much more powerful than we have allowed ourselves to believe and I am reasonably sure that awareness of this is growing as your comment suggests.
Over the past several years, there’s been a concerted effort by the dying, corporate, old-model and media and their dying, corrupt allies in the old political and academic institutions to spread negative ideas about the Internet, blaming it for pretty much every social ill under the sun, as well as their electoral defeats.
While I’m not going to say that the Internet doesn’t haven’t downsides (a close reading of my writing can recognize I do my best to see that everything has Light and Shadow), it’s pretty clear to me that most of this attack is because such folks see how much power and influence they are losing due to the rise of the Internet and our ability to use it to communicate more freely and more broadly without gatekeepers.
The astrology of the 2nd half of the 2020s and beyond suggests that our power is only going to grow and what we are going through now is like watching a giant, powerful beast in its death thralls. Dangerous, to be sure, and it will do some damage, but our best tactic is to evade it, keep building our connections and forming new social structures that are beyond its control.
Lest my response here become a post in and of itself, I’ll close by clarifying one thing that I believe your comment suggested about me: While it is true that I care about America and Americans, and I did grow up there (on the West Coast, mostly Washington state (Seattle-area) but also Los Angeles for college and a few years beyond), I have been living in Japan since 2004.
I studied print journalism and political science in college and worked as a newspaper reporter for several years, eventually landing an alternative-weekly in my hometown where I covered politics and social issues for a few years.
I grew increasingly disgusted with the way the US media functions and where I saw it going and got out around the time of my Saturn Return (late 20s).
But over the years, I’ve continued to follow the intersection of media and politics closely, especially in the US, and while I’m now slowly but surely transitioning from a career teaching English into astrology, I will continue to write about those topics, even in my astrology article.
The truth is, thanks to the suggestion of my editor, I toned down some of my more opinionated comments for this piece, only because he correctly pointed out that I was making assumptions that readers were on the same page as me.
I reflected on that in a recent episode of my Daily Bryan Podcast, which is my main 2024 media project where people can get me completely unfiltered. I’ll close by saying sharing a link to that episode below and saying thanks again for your comment because in writing my response, I’ve realized what today’s topic will be for the podcast! I may even share the link to it using the Notes section of this blog.
Anyway, keep reading and I’d encourage more comments not only to me but with others who take the time to create independent media. I strongly believe that’s one of the many ways we create this more beautiful world that our hearts know is possible. All for now!
https://podcasters.spotify.com/pod/show/bryan-winchell5/episodes/184-Be-Kind-To-Ourselves-and-Each-Other-About-Our-Confusion-A-Pandoras-Box-Episode-e2li6gq
Thanks for this preview. A really interesting and contemplative listen. I feel quite excited about the rest of this year after listening to this (but easy for me to say, not living in the US and all the crap you guys suffer around an election cycle that only ever seems to deliver more of the same sociopathy no matter which figurehead and their flaccid party is supposedly leading the ship). I feel hopeful that more people can more thoughtfully see where we are at collectively now and just how much of what was formerly opaque to most must now be dismantled. We are more powerful than we once thought. Interesting times!