The Road Ahead (2020–2025)
A friend commissioned me to take an astrological look at the next four years, so I’m expanding that to take into account 2020–2025. The lens for this analysis is traditional tropical astrology (where 0 Aries is the Spring Equinox in the northern hemisphere), and I’ll be focusing on the outer planets’ positions and aspects.
Data is provided by NASA’s HORIZONS web-interface using Right Ascension (ICRF) to determine a planet’s location in degrees from the Spring Equinox. In astrological terms, 0 to 30 is Aries, 30 to 60 is Taurus, 60 to 90 is Gemini, 90 to 60 is Cancer, 60 to 30 is Leo, 30 to 0 is Virgo, 0 to -30 is Libra, -30 to -60 is Scorpio, -60 to -90 is Sagittarius, -90 to -60 is Capricorn, -60 to -30 is Aquarius, and -30 to 0 is Pisces.
Firstly, it’s important to note that we have a lot of agency in what happens in our future. We can choose to work together to avoid the pitfalls of the past and steer our collective lives towards a better existence for us all.
This may be important to remember while you read below, as the placements of several of the planets reviewed are somewhat ominous.
With that foreshadowing, let’s start with our favorite dwarf planet, Pluto:
Here, we see that Pluto started 2020 around -66 degrees and will end 2025 around -55 degrees, which means it will be transitioning from Capricorn (-90 to -60) to Aquarius (-60 to -30) during this time period. Pluto’s first foray into Aquarius is around the Spring Equinox in 2023 before it goes retrograde and moves back into Capricorn early May 2023. Its next entrance into Aquarius is in January 2024, it moves back into Capricorn in September 2024, and it finally exits Capricorn in November 2024 and won’t be back in that sign for over 200 years.
The last time Pluto made these transits was during a little something called the American Revolution. Back then, Pluto entered Aquarius in April 1777, Capricorn in May 1777, Aquarius in January 1778, Capricorn in August 1778, and Aquarius in December 1778. Normalizing these astrological sign transitions, we can say that ~2022–2024 will be like ~1776–1778 from a Plutonian perspective.
Pluto in astrology is associated with transformation, rebirth, subconscious forces, power struggles, and more, so we could say that the recent trends we’ve been observing in American culture (e.g. rebellion against authority, intense political power struggles, accusations of hidden agendas and “deep state” actors) will continue. On the plus side, these monumental forces could be steering us towards a collective evolution in some sense, though we are still too much in the weeds to grasp its shape. The shift from Capricorn into Aquarius should lend some concept of collective good to these times.
In general astrological terms, Capricorn (cardinal earth) can be described as disciplined, tenacious… possibly ruthless… proud, and ambitious. Aquarius (fixed air) can be described as progressive, humanitarian, communicative… sometimes incredibly stubborn… eccentric, and inventive. Pluto’s shift from Capricorn to Aquarius during the next several years may therefore also challenge the rigidity of ideas we hold. It’s also possible that hidden rifts (Pluto) in current coalitions (Aquarius) are brought to the surface during this time.
Moving on, we’ll look at Neptune in much the same way:
Here, we see Neptune starts 2020 around -12 degrees (Pisces) and ends around 0 degrees (the Spring Equinox at the cusp of Pisces and Aries). Neptune first approaches 0 degrees in July 2024, crosses into Aries in March 2025, moves back into Pisces in October 2025, and settles into Aries in January 2026. It won’t be back in Pisces for ~150 years.
The last time Neptune approached Aries was in 1861, right around when the American Civil War began. We could say that 2020–2025 will be like 1856–1861 from a Neptunian perspective.
Neptune is often associated in astrology with dreams, inspirations, illusions, spiritual inspiration, and deceit, among many other things. We could say that 2020–2025 will be like 1856–1861 in that we are addressing our hopes and aspirations for what our country can be, while having differing ideas about what that is and should be. Perhaps we are moving into a new reality or shared vision for what we can be, and its shape will be determined by our actions in the next several years.
Pisces (mutable water) is associated with intuition, perception, dreams… sometimes a complete detachment from reality… sympathy, and adaptability (much like Neptune, which rules Pisces). Neptune is very much at home in Pisces, but its movement into Aries will be a bit of a shock. Aries (cardinal fire) is aggressive, independent, pioneering… sometimes combative and naive… willful, and impulsive. Militant Aries combined with lofty and idyllic Neptune is the stuff that crusades are built upon. In part, this is why I’m stressing the need to find creative solutions to live with each other, as history points to these times we’re heading into as being zealously combative. If you’ve been reading articles discussing the “fight for the soul of America”, that’s essentially what this is, but we’re not even in the thick of it, yet.
As a quick aside, I’ve written about Neptune and Pluto interactions over the past 2000 years in a recent article. I suggest that we’re in an unusual time, which you could also probably figure out by reading nearly any available news source.
Next, we get to Uranus (which I’ve also written about before):
Here, we see Uranus starts 2020 around 30 degrees (Taurus) and ends around 55 degrees (also Taurus). Uranus in the signs of Spring (Aries, Taurus, & Gemini) tend to be tumultuous times of change (e.g. the American Revolution, the American Civil War, and the Great Depression and WWII), so we may expect some of these same patterns to continue to play out in the coming years.
How do the years 2020–2025 align with these past periods of American and global upheaval? From a Uranian perspective, 2020–2025 will be roughly like ~1768–1773, ~1852–1857, and ~1936–1941. Change, revolutionary ideas, and social upheavals are all distinct possibilities, and all of these times were precursors to conflicts on the horizon.
As an aside, why would this planet in particular align so much with these cycles? Perhaps it is because the 84 years it takes Uranus to make one revolution around the sun is roughly equivalent to the current length of a human life, and as generations pass, we find ourselves recreating similar growth periods as those who have come before us. Authors Strauss & Howe expressed analogous thoughts in their books, without any astrological component.
As said before, Uranus stays in Taurus the entire period being reviewed. Taurus (fixed earth) is often described as steadfast, sensual, stable… sometimes possessive and stubborn… and down-to-earth. This would keep Uranus’s tendencies towards eccentricity, revolution, and rebellion in check for a bit… or perhaps lay the groundwork for what comes next. After 2025, Uranus will enter Gemini (mutable air), where the energetic environment is considered to be talkative, witty, mental… sometimes superficial… adaptable, and colored by duality. With Uranus in Gemini, idealogical revolutions are quite possibly on the horizon.
We’ll briefly look at Saturn (yellow line) and Jupiter (light blue line) in the next chart:
Saturn starts 2020 around -67 degrees (Capricorn) and ends 2025 around -3 degrees (Pisces), although it spends a little time in Aries mid-2025 before retrograding. Saturn is often associated with order, structure, control, limitations, and restrictions. The movement of Saturn in 2020–2025 corresponds approximately to ~1785–1790, ~1814–1819, ~1844–1849, ~1873–1878, ~1902–1907, ~1932–1937, ~1961–1966, and ~1991–1996. These tend to be times of building or rebuilding instead of war or struggle, so we could expect 2020–2025 to be a similar time from a Saturnian perspective. Perhaps some sort of Green New Deal isn’t out of the question.
Jupiter takes around twelve years to make a full revolution, and its six years in 2020–2025 see it going from -83 degrees (Capricorn) all the way to 90 degrees (Summer Solstice at the Gemini/Cancer cusp) before ending around 67 degrees (Cancer). With Jupiter often associated with expansion and fortunes, this may be a time of prosperity and increasing opportunities. This roughly matches ~1771–1776, ~1783–1788, ~1795–1800, ~1807–1812, ~1818–1823, ~1830–1835, ~1842–1847, ~1854–1859, ~1866–1871, ~1877–1882, ~1889–1894, ~1901–1906, ~1913–1918, ~1925–1930, ~1937–1942, ~1949–1954, ~1961–1966, ~1972–1977, ~1984–1989, ~1996–2001, and ~2008–2013. It’s interesting to note how many of these time periods end with conflicts on the horizon, so perhaps 2025 and beyond have risks on that front from a Jovian perspective.
I’m not going to get too much into Ceres (green line) and Mars (dark blue line… I know, red would have been more fitting in some ways), but I’ll include their chart below:
Notably, I want to call out Mars’s retrogrades (September 9, 2020 through November 14, 2020 in Aries; October 30, 2022 through January 12, 2023 in Gemini; and December 6, 2024 through February 24, 2025 in Leo & Cancer). Like Mercury retrogrades, Mars retrogrades are times when the energies of the planet are considered to shift. Mars, the planet of action, might find inaction to be the norm during a retrograde… or plans move in an unexpected direction. It’s interesting to note that Trump (who has Mars placed prominently on his Ascendant, which contributes immensely to his combative personality) lost the 2020 election during a Mars retrograde, counter to his and many others’ plans.
Ceres is included as it’s the largest known body in the asteroid belt between Mars and Jupiter, and it’s considered to be related to agriculture, motherhood, and nurturing, as well as grief and separation.
Mars and Ceres were conjunct in late May 2020, coinciding with George Floyd’s death and subsequent protests. Here, grieving (Ceres) and unrest (Mars) were visibly paired. This happened mid-Pisces, and late-November/early-December 2023 sees the two meet again on the Scorpio/Sagittarius cusp.
In summary, many of the placements and movements of planets in 2020–2025 align with periods of unrest, upheaval, and seismic change in American history. One doesn’t need to reference the stars to note that we’re in one of those times now, and it’s unlikely to magically go away anytime soon (barring, of course, us all aligning towards some lofty or necessary goal).
Skills such as empathy, working across the aisle, holding space for differing viewpoints, and creative problem-solving will be crucial to helping us all navigate the troubled waters ahead, and hopefully that’s a goal we can share.
Thank you for reading.
ADDENDUM — About the Author
Michael is an astrologer and psychic who enjoys blending science and metaphysics in his work.
He is available for commissions and professional readings.
ADDENDUM-Combined Graph:
For those who like to see all the information together in one place, please find below the combined chart for 2020–2025.
Of note, since this graph is a 2-D representation of 3-D space, not every place where lines intersect is a Conjunction. Those only occur when the planets are moving in the same “direction” (e.g. Jupiter and Mars are conjunct mid-2022 but not mid-2023)
ADDENDUM — Aspects:
Besides planetary placement, another part of this astrological analysis is to look at the major angles between the outer planets during 2020–2025 compared to previous points in the last couple hundred years. We’ll look for Conjunctions (when the planets are ~0 degrees apart), Squares (~90 degrees apart), Trines (~120 degrees apart), and Oppositions (~180 degrees apart). We’ll also only consider Pluto, Neptune, Uranus, Saturn, and Jupiter in this section, as their aspects will be more infrequent.
Firstly, Pluto, Neptune, and Uranus don’t have any of these major aspects to each other during this time. There are also no Oppositions with this subset of planets. Other aspects are as follows:
- Pluto and Saturn start 2020 off in Conjunction
- Pluto and Jupiter are also Conjunct early 2020 (~March to July during a Jupiter Retrograde), as well as around November 2020
- Pluto and Jupiter are Square around July 2023
- Pluto and Jupiter are Trine around October 2025 and again around December 2025
- Neptune and Saturn are Conjunct around mid-2025
- Neptune and Jupiter are Conjunct around April 2022
- Uranus and Saturn are Square around Spring 2020, January 2021, August 2021, and November 2021
- Uranus and Jupiter are Square around late-December 2020 & early-January 2021
- Uranus and Jupiter are Conjunct around April 2024
- Saturn and Jupiter are Conjunct around December 2020
- Saturn and Jupiter are Square around September 2024 and again around December 2024
The meaning of aspects can be generalized as follows: Conjunctions will tend to blend the natures of planets together, Squares will tend to find their energies at cross-purposes or in friction to one another, and Trines are considered harmonious or supportive interactions.
ADDENDUM — Sources:
NASA’s HORIZONS web-interface for raw planetary position data
Astro.com for ephemerides and consultation on planets & aspects
CafeAstrology.com for consultation on planets & aspects
MyAstrology.net for additional ephemeris information
