Time moves along the fourth-dimension aka the inner-plane realm of astrological energies and every now and then the planets in the sky and the Aquarian Age chart form high-discord aspects. In response events occur here on Earth. Human actors behave badly, crises erupt, tensions escalate, the common people struggle and miraculously, the world keeps turning.
In the age of Lower-Pluto it’s easy to become afraid of what the future may hold.
On December 26, 2014 in the Aquarian Age chart progressed Sun – planet of politics – moved to form a high-discord square aspect with birth chart Uranus – planet of disruption, sudden shocks and unexpected change > peak power-discord-date was January 13, 2016 > end date was January 27, 2017.
It set the scene for momentous political change events and within weeks of its start date the shocks started coming.
In January 2015 the president and prime minister (Sun) of Yemen resigned after Shia Houthi rebels (Uranus) took over the capital Sanaa; and in Greece on January 25 far-left leader Alexis Tsipras (Sun-Uranus) won a snap election after promising to end five years of austerity. Shock waves spread through Europe.
Twelve months later on February 22, 2016 UK Prime Minister David Cameron in a speech to the House of Commons announced a Brexit referendum date for June 23, 2016.
In December 2015 opinion polls showed a clear majority in favor of remaining in the EU but on June 23, 2016 the majority of those who voted in the Brexit referendum chose to leave the European Union. It sent shock waves around the globe.
On July 13, 2016 immediately following the pro-Brexit vote David Cameron resigned as PM and Theresa May was elected leader. She got the task of navigating Britain through what turned out to be a nightmare departure from the European Union.
Memo from Hermetic astrology: Change that occurs under Uranus discord rarely achieves the desired results.
Then as the major Sun-Uranus square aspect approached its end date it delivered one last earthshaking political shock before being dispatched to the bygone bin.
On November 6, 2016 Donald Trump won the US presidency and the world was stunned in what was a breathtaking, seismic, struck by lightning moment.
His voter-base, feeling left out and driven by simmering discontentment and extreme hate for the political status quo, brought progressive liberalism in America to a screeching halt. Trump’s battle cry, ‘Make America Great Again’, was all about self-centered nationalism.
On November 14, 2016, eight days after his shock election victory, progressed Mercury – planet of chatter, talk, debate and controversy – in the Aquarian Age chart moved to form a high-discord opposition aspect with progressed Mars – planet of strife, conflict, war and disputation > peak power-discord-date was June 17, 2017 > end date was January 21, 2018.
It set the scene for conflict, dangerous rhetoric and miscalculation and throughout 2017 it scripted the North Korea crisis: a period of heightened tension between North Korea’s Kim-Jong Un and the USA’s Donald Trump. Some say it was the closest the world had come to nuclear war since the Cuban Missile Crisis in 1962 and the world kept turning.
Throughout 2019 Saturn in the sky – planet of fear, insecurity and public health emergencies – was conjunction Pluto – planet of drastic events. It reached peak power January 12, 2020 and on January 30 the World Health Organization’s emergency committee gave Covid-19 its highest level of alert.
Covid, Brexit, the US-China trade war and Jair Bolsonaro
Covid-19 quickly became an international crisis and on July 6, 2020 when progressed Sun in the Aquarian Age chart – planet of political leadership – moved to form a high-discord square aspect with birth chart Moon – the common people and family – the stage was set for spectacular administrative incompetence, a crisis of leadership, worldwide suffering and jaw-dropping stupidity.
The aspect reached peak power on July 23, 2021 and ended August 9, 2022 and throughout 2021-22 Covid-19 caused massive social harm and economic damage and the world kept turning. The three countries that suffered most were America, Britain and Brazil where popularist leaders Donald Trump, Boris Johnson and Jair Bolsonaro were at the helm.
With Saturn conjunction Pluto in the sky Britain and the EU struggled with Brexit negotiations and on December, 31 2020 the UK formally separated from the EU.
In Britain on July 24, 2019 Boris Johnson, a prominent player in the Brexit referendum, was appointed Prime Minister and on September 6, 2022, in a flurry of Covid scandals, he resigned. Later in October 2024, in an astonishing display of self-importance, he published an 800-page autobiography to underwhelming public reception.
Brexit has had a lasting impact on both the EU and UK but by July 2023 57% of British voters say Brexit was wrong and that they would vote to rejoin the EU. That’s Uranus for you.
Saturn is the planet of hard-working laborers and farmers. It rules protective measures such as immigration laws and tariffs that are placed on goods to protect workers from the competition of cheap labor. (Tariffs that are designed to raise revenue are ruler by Jupiter.)
And in January 2018 with progressed Venus conjunction birth chart Saturn in the Aquarian Age chart and Saturn parallel Pluto in the sky Donald Trump began setting tariffs and other trade barriers on China claiming unfair trading practices were contributing to the US-China trade deficit. In response China accused the Trump administration of engaging in nationalist protectionism and took retaliatory action.
The US-China trade war (Jupiter-Mars) aka economic conflict escalated through 2019 and in January 2020 the two sides reached a phase one agreement. By the end of the Trump presidency, the trade war was widely characterized as a failure for the United States.
On November 3, 2020, with an approval rating of around 40% due to administrative incompetence and his disastrous handling of the Covid-crisis, Donald Trump was defeated in the US presidential election by Joe Biden.
In Brazil Jair Bolsonaro lasted as the country’s 38th president from January 1, 2019 to December 31, 2022 and on June 29, 2023 a majority of Brazil’s highest electoral court voted to bar him from public office until 2030 over his abuse of power and conduct during the 2022 tightly contested elections.
The world keeps turning
In 2024 the world keeps turning and time marches on to the beat of Lower-Pluto’s division, disinformation, discord and atheistic materialism; and some political leaders and high-profile movers and shakers are seen to have god-like powers or, at the very least, god-like delusions of grandeur.
Since 2016 when progressed Sun square birth chart Uranus in the Aquarian Age chart heralded radical political change the world hasn’t been a better place; and now in 2024 America has had a back to the future moment and re-elected Donald Trump – the great disrupter – as its president.
If you have an interest in global astrology, it’s very much a spectator sport where you can watch major aspects in the Aquarian Age chart and the sky parent events and conditions here on Earth. But there’s a sense of futility watching humanity make mistakes and fail to learn and grapple with conflict and disaster time, after time, after time: And a lesson to a learn too.
On July 28, 1914 when Austria-Hungary declared war on Serbia and kick-started World War 1 aka The Great War progressed Sun in the Aquarian Age chart was sextile birth chart Mars and progressed Mars was conjunction birth chart Sun and while humanity suffered and 8,500,000 soldiers died as a result of wounds and/or disease the world kept turning.
On March 12, 1947 the Cold War started and two years later in March 1949 progressed Saturn in the Aquarian Age chart moved to form a high-discord square aspect with birth chart Sun and progressed Mars moved to form a square aspect with birth chart and progressed Pluto. It was a very dangerous moment, but a direct military conflict (Mars) never broke out.
Instead, an ideological war involving communism and democracy and a new age of superpowers emerged. The world got divided as like-minded countries united. Security alliances (Saturn) were built and Aquarian Age knowledge and technology gave birth to the nuclear age and the enormous destructive power of nuclear weapons and yet, for the next 40 years, the world kept turning.
Since October 24, 1929 when a financial panic turned into a Great Depression there have been 2 significant financial crashes on Wall Street that have had a world-wide, global impact and the world kept turning.
And in March 2020 when the world closed for business due to Covid-19 it kept on turning.
The message is clear: As time marches on and dangerous high discord astrological events indirectly inflict terrible harm the world keeps turning.
Now in 2025 Donald Trump, who hails tariffs as ‘the greatest thing ever invented’ is back threatening multiple trade wars; and Vladimir Putin, Xi Jinping and Kim Jong Un, who never left, are emboldened. And Iran is still openly hostile towards Trump and seeking revenge after he ordered the killing of Qassem Soleimani in January 2020.
We’re in the Sun section of the Aquarian Age and until there is world dominion by a single government or the whole world adopts a single type of government – democracy – aggressor nations will seek to gain world power. The message is clear: representative democracy and totalitarian forms of government cannot persist side by side. Conflict is inevitable.
And in 2025-26 with Saturn conjunction Neptune in the sky the stage is set for trade-warring and economic chaos that will test the competence of the current batch of world leaders.
The prosperity (Jupiter) of many countries depends on access to foreign markets, open markets and fair competition and trade-friendly governments often feel obliged to retaliate when others impose tariffs; and there’s plenty of historical evidence that reveals that protectionists can wreak economic havoc.
And when progressed Jupiter in the Aquarian Age chart moves to form a conjunction aspect with progressed Neptune on February 9, 2025 forecasting major financial uncertainty for years and years; and progressed Mars moves to form a sesquisquare aspect with progressed Uranus on September 21, 2025 and a square aspect with birth chart Mercury on October 11, 2026, forecasting war, disputation, disruption, radical extremism, strife, anger, hate-speech and violent controversy human actors will keep making mistakes, vast numbers of people will suffer, and the world will keep turning.
Astrology for Aquarius – sharing our knowledge
