Megan Eaves

I don’t consider myself to be an astrologer and I’ve done no formal astrology training, but it is a topic that interests me. Long before the hard science of astronomy came into existence, humans were viewing and understanding the world in terms of how they saw planets, constellations and stars moving above them and interacting with one another. They drew conclusions from these things, and we still do.

Nowadays, there is a big divide between the astrology communities (who too often don’t really understand much about the hard science of space) and astronomy science communities (who don’t want to be associated with anything spiritual or woo-woo). I myself am non-dual on the issue and am fascinated by science of astrophysics and cosmology, as well as all the ways that astrology might be putting spiritual language to things we don’t yet understand.

Compare & contrast: astrology of events then & now

Yesterday I saw this meme posted on an Instagram account I follow and, being a diligent user of social media, I decided it needed to be fact-checked before I shared it. Additionally, almost anything that might provide some relief or explanation or hope in these times could be a balm, even if you don’t really ascribe any truth to astrology.

It’s fascinating to consider how the planets supposedly affected world events a long time ago versus now. (The above check out, read on for more detail!)

I spent a large portion of the day going through astrological timelines that match the ones we are currently in and comparing them to major world events in history. Western astrology is based on the apparent path of the planets through our sky and the ways that they appear to interact with the constellations of the zodiac (these are just the constellations that pass across the ecliptic line, that is, the apparent line of the sun’s path through our sky from our vantage). So, astrology is cyclical, with cycles repeating through the twelve constellations that go through the ecliptic. You’ll know these best from your star sign – I’m a Leo, for example.

I can explain more if my readers want a primer on astrology! And I also can do your astrological chart for you (more info on that here), if you’d like one. But for now, here’s some astrological history based on the timelines we are in currently.

Current transits (3 June 2020)

Sun: Gemini (a month in each sign)
Moon: Scorpio (2.5 days in each sign)
Mercury: Cancer (15-60 days in each sign)
Venus: Gemini (30 days in each sign appx)
Mars: Pisces (2 months in each sign)
Jupiter: Capricorn (once a year)
Saturn: Aquarius (2.5 years in each sign)
Uranus: Taurus (7 years in each sign)
Neptune: Pisces (14 years in each sign)
Pluto: Capricorn (12-31 years in each sign)

2020 Retrogrades

Mercury: Feb 17-Mar 10; Jun 18-Jul 12; Oct 14-Nov 3
length (3 weeks)

Venus: May 13-Jun 25
length: 40 days (every 18 months)
Effects: slow down and be directed inwards, love & social life become less clear

Mars: Sep 9-Nov 14
length: 2-2.5 months (every 2 years)
Effects: turmoil due to lack of forward motion, plans go nowhere, schemes fizzle, relationships seem to peter out, motivation loss, projects stifled, releasing rogue anger & pent up emotion, reexamination of where we’re going

Jupiter: May 14-Sep 13
length: 4 months (every 9 months)
Effects: intense spiritual and philosophical growth for individuals, expanding consciousness, finding inner truth, questioning of laws & influences of planet it’s transiting in

Saturn: May 11-Sep 29
length: 4.5 months (every 12 months)
Effects: sluggish, unproductive, time to reflect especially on work & relationships, contemplate & strategise, restrictive & depressive, social isolation, bad karma being paid out in lessons, limitation, restriction, anxiety, fear

Uranus: Jan 11-Aug 15
length: 5 months (every year)
Effects: objectivity towards our urge to change/uproot, even-keeled approach 

Neptune: Jun 23-Nov 29
length: 5-6 months (every year)
Effects: no more hiding anxieties or covering over unwanted fears, illusion stripped, facing up to harsh realities

Pluto: Apr 25-Oct 4
length: 5-6 months (every year)
Effects: deep dive to our subconscious, growth & transformation, breakdown & purification, facing up to our subconscious material

2020 Jupiter-Pluto conjunctions

These happen every 13 years (last one was in Dec 2007), when Pluto and Jupiter appear to be near one another in the sky from our vantage point.
April 4: Capricorn
June 30: Capricorn
November 12: Capricorn

History of Jupiter-Pluto conjunctions
1347 peak of Black Plague (Jupiter & Pluto conjunct in Aries)
Feb 1771 Russian Plague (Jupiter & Pluto in Capricorn, same as now)
Jan-Feb 1918 Spanish Flu (Jupiter & Pluto conjunct in Cancer)
Oct-Nov 1981 HIV Outbreak (Jupiter & Pluto conjunct in Libra)
early 2009 Swine Flu (Jupiter & Pluto conjunct in Capricorn, not a close conjunction)

Generational Planets: What Are They?

Some planets are considered to have more influence over whole generations rather than individuals. This is because they are the planets that are farthest away from Earth, and therefore have the longest orbits around the Sun. This means that they appear to move VERY slowly across our sky and only seem to change zodiac sign over a decade or more. These planets are Uranus, Neptune and Pluto (not a planet anymore according to astronomers, but still a planet that influences us according to astrologers).

Generational Planets: Pluto (12-31 years in each sign)

Pluto: Planet of Power

Pluto influences
Collective, transformation, regeneration, rebirth, not pretty but big results, out with the old, transcend, phoenix, destruction, death, obsession, kidnapping, coercion, viruses, waste, crime, dictatorships

Capricorn influences
systems, structures, laws, punishments, corruption, banking, money

Pluto in Capricorn historical dates
532-551 – Sack of Rome as Byzantine armies begin to reconquer Italy, Anno Domini dating system created by Dionysius Exiguus, war between Byzantine and Persian Empires, stained glass windows invented, outbreak of a plague in Byzantine Empire, St David spreads Christianity in Wales

778-796 – First Viking raid, Charlemagne’s time of influence, annexes Bavaria, Constantine VI becomes Byzantine emperor, later imprisons his domineering mother, Offa of Mercia dies in England, ending main hegemony of Anglo-Saxon kingdom of Mercia, Islam arrives in Africa, Japan moves its imperial capital to Kyoto

1024-1041 – First paper printed money in China, Conrad II (The Elder) Emperor of Holy Roman Empire & big reorganisation of Italy to bring it under imperial control (Siege of Pavia), then his death

1269-1287 – Marco Polo’s travels to China, after a three-year gap without a pope, Gregory X ascends the Papal See, Edward I becomes king and conquers Wales, Thomas Aquinas dies, first Mongol invasion under Kublai Khan

1516-1533 – Martin Luther starts Protestant Reformation, Cortes conquers Mexico, Magellan sets out to circumnavigate the globe

1762-1778 – Catherine the Great becomes czarina of Russia, steam engine invited by James Watt, Boston Massacre/Tea Party, start of American Revolution, Declaration of Indepence signed, Cook expedition to NZ/Aus, Bengal Famine, Partition of Poland

2008-2024 – current timeline

Generational Planets: Neptune (14 years in each sign)

Neptune: Planet of Illusion

Neptune influences
Refinement of dreams, illusion, spiritual enlightenment, creativity, compassion, escapism, subversion, delusion, dishonesty, movies, TV and theatre, fashion and glamour, mystique, harnessing energy for personal betterment, spiritual growth, inducing meditative state, poetry, music, dance, can also oversee wars, lies and epidemics

Pisces influences
Impressions, inspiration, transcendence, bring compassion, understanding, sensitivity and tolerance to relationships

Neptune in Pisces historical dates

374–389 – beginnings of the collapse of the Roman Empire

538-552 – Buddhism arrives in Japan

701-716 – Moorish invasion of Spain

865-880 – Viking invasion of Britain, conquering Northumbria, East Anglia, and Mercia, earliest surviving dated piece of printing created in Diamond Sutra at Mogao in China, Arabs conquer Malta, Alfred the Great becomes King of Wessex, first Viking settlements in Iceland, Charles the Bald becomes Holy Roman Emperor then dies with anarchy following, gorgonzola cheese invented

1029-1043 – Battle of Stiklestad & Viking leader Olaf II killed, Henry I ascends French throne, Duncan becomes King of Scots, Hardicanute becomes King of Denmark and then dies of alcohol poisoning, Edward the Confessor becomes King of England and flees to Normandy (lots of new leaders in this era)

1192-1207 – end of Crusades & sack of Constantinople, Chinngis Khan rises

1356-1371 – Timur builds his empire

1520-1534 – Martin Luther excommunicated, Protestant Reformation begun, first circumnavigation of the world

1684-1698 – Salem Witch Trials, Bach, Handel, and Scarlatti born, Newton published “Principia”

1847-1862 – Romantic period for music, art and literature, middle of the Age of Enlightenment, Communist Manifesto by Marx, Thoreau publishes Walden, Darwin publishes Origin of Species

2011-2026 – Arab Spring and Osama Bin Laden killed, death of North Korean supreme leader Kim Jong Il. US financial crisis after stock exchange drop, followed by social and financial upheaval and Occupy Wall Street protests, Me Too and Black Lives Matter movement, election of Trump, Brexit, COVID-19, US Black Lives Matter protests following death of George Floyd

Generational Planets: Uranus (7 years in each sign)

Uranus: Planet of Rebellion

Uranus influences
Inventions, technologies, futures, expanded ideas, break in status quo, new mould, new world order, rebellions, revolutions, new states, dictatorships. Surprises, innovation and liberation, all that’s unique, wild, unpredictable, and unusual. Finances, abundance, beauty, and earthliness, using a feminine lens

Taurus influences
Values, money, resources, material goods, excess, agriculture, natural structures, stubborn, fixed

Taurus in Uranus historical dates

August 22, 1515 – March 13, 1524 – Turks conquer Egypt, control Arabia. Martin Luther theses & excommunication, start of the Reformation in Germany, Ferdinand Magellan sets out to circumnavigate the globe, Spanish Conquest

May 21, 1683 – April 28, 1691 – Turkish siege of Vienna, James II takes throne of England & starts pro-Catholic policies, Edict of Nantes granting freedom to Huguenots revoked, Peter the Great becomes czar of Russia, William of Orange wins at Battle of the Boyne marking ascendancy of Protestantism in Ireland, John Locke’s ‘Human Understanding’ published

May 3, 1767 – April 8, 1775 – Boston Massacre, Boston Tea Party, beginning of American Revolution, Spanish missionaries establish first missions in California, Cook expedition to Aus/NZ, Bengal famine, Czech famine, Gustav III coup in Sweden, East India Company starts smuggling opium into China, numerous wars in Europe

1934-41 – Great Depression, brink of WWII, Social Security Act implemented, New Deal, WPA & care for disenfranchised

March 2019-Apr 2026 – current timeline

Summary

Mercury about to go retrograde
Venus retrograde until June 25
Uranus retrograde since Jan until Aug
Jupiter & Saturn retrograde until Sep
Neptune about to go retrograde until Nov
Pluto retrograde until Oct
Pluto & Jupiter conjunct Apr 4 & June 30 – peak of COVID-19

Possible outcomes & my thoughts

Pluto in Capricorn (2008-2024) – disruption to systems, laws, political structures, possible wars, changes in political structures, banking and upheavals to religious systems, possible big travels or discoveries such as more space exploration and further travels beyond current horizons, possibility for violent uprisings

Neptune in Pisces (2011-2026) – lots of overturn of leaders, new empire-building, potential for influential new music, arts and literature, potential for protests and social change

Uranus in Taurus (2019-2026) – potential for religious changes whether positive or negative, famines, new laws establishing changes in social approaches, sieges, rebellions and defeats, potential for new leaders or big changes to technologies and financial institutions, possibility for more feminine energy to influence these changes

What are my takeaways from all of this? It doesn’t take an astrologer to tell you that we are living through an amazing piece of history. The above eras were full of chaos, strife, strangeness and change, but also had moments of some incredible beauty – stained glass windows were invented and so was gorgonzola cheese – and some of the most beautiful literature ever written was composed.

So my takeaway is that now is hard, and it will continue to be hard, but that through difficulty humans are capable of the greatest poetry. Let us not despair but go forth and make the world the place we want it to be.

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