Snakes and Ladders
Goodbye 2024 - Hello 2025, a year that is likely to bring pivotal, historical change with a Capital C; a year of endings and beginnings for the world as a whole. Why do I say this? Mainly because it’s a year when the planets from Saturn out to Pluto will move into new signs – not only that but they will activate each other by being in aspect to each other. In terms of elements we will see a change from the Water/Earth axis into Fire and Air, from feminine to masculine energy. Rather than the more compliant, passive, re-active energy of the feminine, we will see more in the way of energy that initiates action. So, before I get started with the upcoming Full Moon on January 13th, let’s have a little overview of why this year will likely be so important for humanity as a whole.
The planets always retain their archetypal meanings. For instance, Mars will always be God of war and Venus Goddess of love, but how they carry out these archetypal qualities will change according to the sign they are in. And as they change signs, they must accustom themselves to these changes. At the early stages of signs the energy is raw and young, until the Gods learn to become comfortable in the skins of a new sign. So we are entering a period of unstable energy. Numerologists seem to be concurring. I’m not a numerology expert, but 2025 is a 9 year and apparently 9 years are symbolic of endings and beginnings. They are years of profound change carrying dramatic consequences.
Just before midnight on January 11th, the Moon’s nodes – our destiny axis – changed signs from the Cardinal Aries/Libra axis to the adaptable and changeable Pisces/Virgo axis – from masculine energy to feminine. The nodes tend to stay in their new signs for about 18 months. This in itself indicates some kind of event that brings change to the background energies. For us in the UK this is emphasised by the fact that, as the sign axis changes, the chart set for London shows the south node on the ascendant. The ascendant represents our outlook on the world that, in turn, provides us our perceptions and belief structures; the south node here shows that we have to let go of something or learn from our past. But changing our perceptions and beliefs takes time and is generally the result of an event of some kind. The north node (our destiny) is closely approaching Neptune – symbolic of transcendence and compassion but also of chaos and confusion; at the moment we cannot see our way forward and instead have to trust our inner self to take steps in the dark.
Pluto has been the first of the outer planets to change signs - he is already in Aquarius, where he will stay for the next 20 years. In Aquarius, an Air sign, he will likely track the development of AI, together with a whole lot of other futuristic technologies, as our civilisation begins to move to another level. Continuing this theme of change, on January 29th we will not only have a New Moon in Aquarius, but we will also have a new Chinese year - the year of the Wood Dragon gives way to the year of the Wood Snake. Wood Dragons have helped us to find a level of courage and now we need the wisdom that the Snake can provide. It is likely to bring a time of transformation, growth and introspection, which very much aligns with the portents brought by the outer planets moving into new signs. We should see a period of personal development and, if we marry this with a change in the nodes, it is a period where the gathering of knowledge provides the ability to aid our spiritual and mental growth – a time when our unconscious attitudes towards life can change.
Snakes have many symbolic meanings across cultures and throughout history. Snakes have the ability to shed their skin and, therefore, they are symbols of fertility, rebirth and transformation through a continual renewal of life. Snakes are also associated with healing – their venom both a deadly poison and an antidote. However, in some traditions snakes are associated with evil, temptation and lies, perhaps also because they shapeshift by shedding their skin. Snakes have played a central part within ancient mythologies representing wisdom and medicine. In Mayan mythology the vision serpent was a symbol of rebirth. Sometimes the Tree of Life has been represented by a staff with coiled snakes such as Hermes’ caduceus, the rod of Ascepius and the staff of Moses. The image of a staff with two coiled snakes is reminiscent of the symbol for our very own DNA. Occasionally, serpents and dragons have been used interchangeably, having similar symbolic functions. The venom of the serpent is thought to have a fiery quality similar to that of a fire-breathing dragon.
On January 13th we have a Full Moon at almost 24 degrees of Cancer - very much in range of that critical 22 degrees of the Cardinal signs of Cancer, Capricorn, Aries and Libra where crucial events seem to happen. The Moon represents the people, and this Moon is next to a retrograde Mars. Mars has moved back into Cancer where he exerts his warlike qualities in a more indirect fashion. He will fiercely defend his family and home, but possibly in a more passive/aggressive fashion. But, with the Moon, Mars and Mercury all ‘out of bounds’, this may reflect some kind of extreme and unpredictable action from the people. It is a period to guard against being drawn into emotional action, speaking and acting without proper thought; the Moon is strong in her own sign but may be prone to be led by her emotions, particularly when she is ‘out of bounds’ as her emotional side may be hard to contain.
The Sun, which is always exactly opposite the Moon at a Full Moon, is close to Pluto (although wide and in different signs). The Mars/Pluto opposition was exact for the second time at the beginning of January (the third and final hit will be at the end of April) – and symbolises an intense need for survival in addition to facing up to the general toughness of life that is being experienced. This was the period of the devastating Los Angeles fires.
Is this Full Moon representing a time when the people realise that their leaders have become dictatorial and are using methods, although very much disguised, much more associated with the guiles of Mao Tse Tung than a benevolent leader who truly symbolises democracy? The people of the West could never imagine themselves under a communistic style governance. That could never happen in the West. Or could it? Is it disguised within a rhetoric of words that we think we understand. Words such as ‘sustainable development’, stakeholder capitalism, the great reset, for instance. Do we really understand their inherent meaning, or have they just become part of a ‘word soup’ where we don’t actually question, but nevertheless get carried along with the basic plan? Take sustainable development for instance. We have taken for granted the word sustainable because it has connotations of thrift, no waste, not depleting resources. However, sustainable development also takes us straight to the UN and their Agenda 2030; and the eventual imprisonment of society that will inevitably go hand in hand with it and its WEF goals. Sustainable goals take us to renewable energy and, bearing in mind that there aren’t enough resources on the planet to make a transition to electric vehicles, sustainable energy has to be based either on our not using as much energy in the future or that there are far fewer people. If we consider that transition to AI actually equates to more energy being used than we are accustomed to, should we therefore assume that the end goal is actually less people?
Additionally, we have the dominating subject of climate change. Much is spoken about ‘low carbon’ or ‘net zero’. Do we have any idea what is being discussed here? Humanity is made of carbon and growth on the planet relies on CO2. Maybe the 1% who are making up these rules will be able to live a good life, but will it be at the expense of the suffering of the rest of the people? The language of the media is manipulating the agenda to drown dissenting voices and convince everyone, from school age up, that net zero is indeed the way forward, even though the threat of some form of climate change and subsequent behavioural change has been headline news since I was young.
The racist side of ‘woke’ ideological thinking rests on the consideration that all white people, whether they feel it or not, are racist and must be brought into line. The Great Reset of the UK which is happening now is based on compliance with stakeholder capitalism, an ideology formed by some of the most powerful and wealthy companies. Stakeholder capitalism is supposed to be working for the benefit of all beneficiaries of a company, and that includes its customers, rather than just the company’s shareholders. Is this really what will happen? I think this is very doubtful, particularly when we consider that most of the huge corporates around today are in fact owned by just a few conglomerates such as BlackRock and Vanguard. We are indeed under the deceptive control of the climate change lobby, who constantly spout the admirable sounding goals of sustainable development, even though this is more likely to produce a society where the population becomes feudal serfs/technocratic slaves destined to eat bugs and synthetic meat within the Fourth Industrial Revolution.
What we actually appear to be facing is a gradual creep towards Marxism/Communism where anyone who tries to understand what is really happening within our world is denounced as a conspiracy theorist, a racist, anti-Semitic, a vaccine denier, a climate change denier or a Putin apologist, allowing the progress of what is actually a very non-democratic process. Tony Blair, who seems to have had a resurrection of his own since Starmer’s election, sees the way forward for the survival of the UK as lying in the form of a ‘once in a lifetime disruptive event’, which would bring in the authoritarian form of digital identity. ‘Apparently’, he says in a recent article, ‘once we experience it in real time, we will wonder what all the fuss was about’. The accumulation of data required to do this will, he says, cut illegal immigration fraud, benefit fraud, online fraud and give government the data needed to make informed policy decisions. It will, he says make everything we do, faster, cheaper and more reliable. Before accessing any public services we just have to prove who we are and that we have the right to be in the country. It appears that the ‘disruptive event’ would be a reaction to the created situation of both legal and illegal migration – and all we will need is digital ID!!!!!!!
However, the ‘woke’ ideologies that have particularly plagued the western world since Neptune’s entry into Pisces are much more likely to be seen as an untenable and a totally unrealistic backdrop once both Saturn and Neptune enter Aries and bring in a hard reality check. Why was Trump successful? Because it seemed clear that he is not part of that world, and the people showed that they had had enough of that ideology. As the nodal axis changes signs the north node will exactly conjunct Neptune revealing the control of these ‘woke’ ideologies, this energy heightened as Neptune’s entry into Aries coincides with a solar eclipse in Aries at the end of March. Wow! Hold on to your seats guys! Saturn will follow Neptune’s lead at the end of May. Jupiter will enter Cancer in June, and Uranus will move into Gemini in July.
Neptune and Saturn will begin their dance into Aries in March, when Neptune makes his first entry into Aries since the late 1800’s. Saturn follows suit in May and, whilst they are not technically exact at 0 Aries, a point of world significance, until 2026, they are as good as dammit from May this year. A Saturn/Neptune conjunction at the Aries point is incredibly rare (it has not been seen for thousands of years) and in modern times their meetings seem to have a particular symbolic reflection to Russia and communism – 1989 was our last conjunction and that symbolised the fall of the Berlin Wall and the Soviet Union. It makes me wonder if this upcoming conjunction will symbolise something specific happening with Russia, which is distinctly likely, but perhaps it is another indication that the people’s misery may well lead them to realise that the current trend of ‘wokeness’ does indeed reflect the trend of our leaders towards a totalitarian style of governance similar to communism in its nature. It may well be disguised and depicted as for the good of all, but it is much more likely to be a ‘sheep in wolf’s clothing’ as part of the leaders’ current pursuit of their desire for a world control.
This Full Moon is in a square to Chiron (where we are wounded or in pain), adding to the misery felt by the people, and also with the Fixed Star Pollux who shows us the symbology of duality. Just as the caduceus is often depicted with a double snake helix, Pollux is one of twins who shows us that we are not just one person; we embody the polarity of different psyches – darkness and light, goodness and evil, all of which overlap with each other and give most of us the ability to express both, according to our perceptions. Pollux and his twin Castor show how we deal with opposites in life. Pollux shows how we learn through pain and angst and how we bring reform through this knowledge. At this Full Moon Pollux and Chiron are giving a clear and strong message. Yes, humanity is going through pain – but it is for a reason, so that we learn.
When the outer planets change sign later in the year and Saturn Neptune conjunct, a minor trine will be activated between them all. But don’t be fooled by the word minor here – there’s nothing minor about it. Pluto and Uranus will trine each other whilst Saturn/Neptune will sextile each of them. This is a very rare alignment and a harmonious one between the planets involved. In 1711 Uranus and Pluto were conjunct, with both in a trine to Neptune. Saturn however was in early Leo and, therefore, not in aspect to them. This was the early beginnings of the Industrial Revolution, which changed the face of the UK and paved the way for the big corporates we see now. But, if we go back to 1480, Moon, Saturn, Pluto and Mercury, all in early Libra, sextiled Neptune and Uranus at 0 and 3 Sagittarius respectively, and sextiled Jupiter at 0 Leo. So all were in aspect to each other. The nodes at that time, having just changed signs into the knowledge axis of Sagittarius/Gemini were square to Saturn/Pluto This was a time of great historical significance - the Renaissance!! Do we indeed have the potential to see another Renaissance era, but in a different way? Our society is indeed seeing a dramatic change as technology in the form of artificial intelligence performs its own reboot situation for our civilisation.
Congress has now formally certified Republican President-Elect Donald Trump’s election victory, leaving the way clear for his inauguration on January 20th. Trump already seems to have his eyes set on increasing the domination of the USA, desiring expansion through ownership of Greenland and Canada; he also wants to rename the Gulf of Mexico to the Gulf of America. Might he also be eyeing up the UK, particularly as it is now in such a perilous economic condition, for absorption into the USA? His sidekick Musk seems to be taking a great interest in our politics, and a once strong alliance with Farage and the Reform party appears a little ragged at the edges; although a marked improvement on the Starmer/US relationship.
As the year of the dragon draws to a close what have we learned to prepare ourselves for a snake era? Will 2025 be a turning point into a new way of living? Will it be chaos or will it be a renaissance? It’s not going to be boring; that’s for sure. As we approach the year of the Snake, I thought of the childhood game of Snakes and Ladders. This year particularly we may experience the joy and excitement of of going three steps forward but also endure the frustration of then going two steps back down the ladder. The south node in Virgo on the UK ascendant as the nodes change signs indicates that we must ensure that our perceptions and beliefs really are valid, that they are based on real knowledge rather than mere propaganda. We then have a chance for the upcoming pivotal changes to lead us to a true renaissance. It’s certainly not going to be easy but be prepared for the reality check of Saturn and Neptune leaving Pisces and joining forces in Aries on the world point. If we inform ourselves, we at least have a chance of participating within the changes and taking action if we can. If we remain disconnected from the realities of what is happening around us, we will be mere bystanders, buffeted in the winds.