Squeeze Me Tight – Very Tight
The Full Moon on February 24th sadly marks the two-year anniversary of the start of the Russia/Ukraine conflict. This senseless war began during a Mars, Venus, Pluto conjunction at a critical degree point in the Cardinal Earth sign of Capricorn. Interestingly, at this upcoming Full Moon in Virgo, we also see a Mars, Venus, Pluto conjunction, but this time in the Fixed Air sign of Aquarius. Both Capricorn and Aquarius have Saturn as a ruler. The difference is though that at the beginning of this needless war Saturn was strong astrologically in Aquarius; he is now weakened in the sign of Pisces. Is support beginning to wane, even though the media propaganda machinery might suggest that there is a desire in certain ruling quarters for the conflict to be used to propel us all forward into some kind of world war?
In the same way that we can see planetary parallels between the start of the Ukraine/Russia war and this Full Moon, we currently have Pluto at one degree of Aquarius, and I was struck by how many similarities there are between now and the last time Pluto entered the sign in 1778. That might seem a bit weird seeing as there is almost 250 years between the two periods, but what stood out for me was the fact that so much feels as though it has not changed at all. And this is what makes the next 20 years, as Pluto makes his way through Aquarius, particularly important.
Pluto’s entry into Aquarius in 1778 heralded a pivotal time for the future of a society that was standing on the brink of an entirely new way of life in the form of the Industrial Revolution; just as we are also now on the brink of a new type of society dominated by AI and digital everything. Context is everything, so allow me to paint a picture of life in the late 1700’s. Firstly, we had then experienced the time of the Scientific Revolution. People were being encouraged away from what had been a more natural attitude to life, where nature itself had been alive with goblins, angels, demons and spirits. Instead scientific proof was needed for everything. This led into an industrial revolution of mechanisation, and by the early 1800’s the age of steam began to bring in machinery for what had previously been done by hand. The ordinary man then lived in the main a harsh, ‘hand to mouth’ way of life. He was in general pretty much illiterate – only those with money and land, or on the receiving end of charitable benevolence, were schooled – and he was understandably very scared of the coming mechanisation where one machine would likely do the job of ten people. How would his family eat and survive if he had no job? Something similar is heralded by the arrival of AI but, in an almost illiterate fashion, completely lacking in critical thinking, most people are in blissful ignorance of the number of jobs that might be at risk and are actively participating in the job losses, e.g. self-service checkouts, QR codes, etc.
In the early 1800’s the original ‘Luddites’ were British weavers and textile workers who objected to the increased use of mechanised looms and knitting frames. Most had spent years learning their craft, and they feared that unskilled machine operators would rob them of their livelihoods. And so they broke into the mills and smashed up the machinery. The term Luddite is still today a blanket term to describe those who resist technological progress. This was the same period as the Napoleonic wars, when income tax was first introduced to pay for the conflict. Today, we once again are faced with the threat of war, and money seems to be plentiful to pour into the coffers of the war machine whilst little is seemingly available to improve the life of ‘everyday Joe’, who probably has no clue why taxes were introduced in the first place. He is being squeezed so tightly right now with rising costs and yet tolerates the fact that a corporation such as British Gas has increased its profits from 2022 into 2023 by almost £600 million!!!
In 1778 life was dominated and controlled by the wealthy aristocracy and the ordinary man did not have a vote. The Industrial Revolution would change all that, ushering in a time where a man could become self-made and all men would be able to vote instead of just those with wealth or land, although that would take until 1918. However, whilst we consider that we live today in a democracy, the reality is that we are still controlled by the money and the power that wealth brings. Government is ‘influenced’ by the wealthy corporates, now wealthier than nation states, and a myriad of NGO’s –all unelected!!! Ironically and thanks in part to the Industrial Revolution of the 1800’s, power now lies with these self-made men and corporates – the product of the very period that Pluto ushered in some 250 years ago!
In 1776, two years prior to Pluto’s entry into Aquarius, the USA had declared its independence from the British. Aquarius is a sign that exerts a force for freedom, independence and to do its own thing and the American Declaration of Independence from its British rulers epitomised this. We hold … that all men are created equal, that they are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable rights, that among these are life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness. The USA has since moved into the role of the number one superpower – but with a Pluto return, taking place together with the challenges being presented to the dollar and the world division brought by the BRICS countries, can it hold on to its position?
Astrologers pay close attention to the shaping of charts and at the Full Moon all the planets, apart from the Moon (the people) are bunched very tightly into just four signs, boundaried by the Fixed signs of Taurus and Aquarius. This is such a pinch point, or squeeze poing, that it is absolutely primed to explode, probably at the time of both the April Solar Eclipse, that will fall very close to the North Node/Chiron conjunction in Aries we see at this Full Moon, and the Jupiter/Uranus conjunction also in April. At the New Moon in February the planets were bunched into five signs but now there is a much tighter grouping, almost maybe as though those who are in control are feeling increasingly challenged. And this squeezing, with just the Moon as the maverick, continues through the Aries ingress right through into May.
Full Moons tend to mark a climax point, when things that have been hidden reveal themselves. This Full Moon falls across the Virgo/Pisces axis with the Sun (leaders), Saturn (control) and Mercury (the media) sitting right on the Midheaven of the chart set for the UK. Everything on the Midheaven should be easily seen, but with Neptune also in Pisces what are we not seeing? What is being veiled in a Neptunian fog? Virgo and Pisces are in what we call mutable signs – they are adaptable and open for change. However, at the moment their boundaries are fixed, controlled and determined. Jupiter, the ruler of Pisces and possibly symbolising politicians, is in Taurus, squaring the planets in Aquarius – Mars, Venus and Pluto. Jupiter can’t expand – he is fixed and held back. The only way he can expand is by increasing his store of tangible assets, i.e. money. But, Jupiter trines (harmonious aspect) the Moon (the people) and is rapidly approaching Uranus (they will meet exactly just after the solar eclipse in April). Might what is hidden be to do with our financial situation? That would certainly be a Taurus ‘thing’. How much longer can we continue to wallow in huge debt and yet have money to be involved in wars? And why? How much longer can this be hidden before it explodes in our faces? How much longer can corporate profits (e.g. British Gas) and the ‘squeezing’ of the people be tolerated?
The people (the Moon) appear to be on their own and appear to be in a pretty weak position, but in many ways theycontrol this ‘bunching’. The Moon is being controlled by the media and the lies of the leaders to think as they want her to. Virgo is naturally a modest and humble sign. But once she has absorbed the knowledge that she is meant to critically discern, she then moves into the next sign which will be Libra and Libra is a different animal. Libra is a Cardinal Air action sign. Libra puts energy into thoughts in an effort to achieve balance, harmony and fairness into life.
Virgo is very much a sign that represents both health and the ‘harvest’ that we reap. So every person who has of late allowed the words ‘what can I do that would count’, pass their lips, would do well to remember that 7 billion other people might be saying exactly the same! The point of having a horoscope is that it is a guide to fulfilling our potential; what indeed might happen if 7 billion people all decided to reap their own harvest? The Moon appears overwhelmed by everything being against her, but if she would just reap her harvest she actually is the control.
Of course, nothing ever stays the same. We might be in a restrained, ‘stuck’ position now, but if we just go forward to glimpse the planetary line up in mid-July of next year, Pluto will still only be at 2 degrees of Aquarius, whilst Jupiter, Saturn and the other two outer planets of Uranus and Neptune will all be at early degrees of new signs. That’s a huge proportion of planets in early degrees and this for me is a very very big deal because it heralds something new is on the horizon; it feels like something new in an unprecedented way. In the same way as society stood on the brink of a new way of life in 1778, so do we right now. Those who currently want their own financial interests to be uppermost might be grouping now. But they rely on the people to make it happen, and the astrology augurs something different.
In 1778 only Pluto and Neptune were in very early degrees at the same point, so what we have ahead is much much bigger than then, and what lay ahead of society then was indeed pretty life changing. Since the age of steam brought revolutionary changes, we have been through many more that we now take for granted. Communication is one of the biggest changes – how cool is it that I can be on a dog walk in the middle of nowhere in the UK chatting to a friend for free who is currently in Costa Rica? With the InternetofThings we have machinery that talks to other machinery – even the humble fridge can tell us when we are running out of produce. Wait till the InternetofBodies is a real thing – what happens when and if this leads to the interfacing of technology and transhumanism?
The next revolution appears to be an AI revolution which will seep into every area of our lives through AI’s ability to sense, to learn, to adapt and to act. We will encounter it in just about everything. Already I use it for image construction but, with its ability to learn generating at such an exponential level, we just have no idea what the effect of say an intelligence ten times its current ability will look like. No-one really knows. Where will it take us? Already Elon Musk’s Neuralink has implanted a chip in a human brain and whilst this may prove extremely beneficial for the disabled, what does it herald?
Aquarius is the sign of technology and innovation and Pluto’s entry into the sign symbolises progress by stealth. We don’t see it coming and, by the time it is here, what can we do if we don’t like it? In fact, pre the late 1980’s how would we have described the internet – the basis of all this? So much of the future is as yet either undiscovered and, therefore, not explainable within current parameters; or it has been discovered but not ‘out there’ for us to see. The stealth factor is that it is probably already installed and used – and yet we don’t know how, why or where it is being used.
We are on the brink of a Life Revolution that cannot be changed just by smashing up a few machines. This will be different and this is what I believe Pluto’s entry into Aquarius, and the unprecedented entry of so many planets into new signs in 2025, is telling us. Saturn and Neptune will meet at the beginning of the first sign of the zodiac – Aries – a cardinal fire sign. There is so much apathy and cognitive dissonance surrounding us at the moment, but Saturn in Aries will be asking us to take responsibility for our actions at a point where we have begun to expect everyone else except ourselves to be responsible for our lives. First though we need to know what our actions should be. And without some kind of conception and understanding of our situation (Virgo) there cannot be the necessary psychological resilience (Saturn) that we are likely going to need to allow us to take the required actions.
Both Capricorn and Aquarius are ruled by Saturn, but Saturn behaves differently in each sign. In Capricorn he is the traditional male controller, but in Aquarius he co-rules with Uranus; he has to both control and innovate from what is traditional until the innovation becomes a traditional element within life. Saturn is going through a stint in Pisces where his power is being eroded; at the Full Moon he sits right on the Midheaven where he should be seen. And he is, but the true extent of his power and how much has already disappeared, is concealed and veiled. The way is being paved for a totally new type of society where the traditional power of the ‘old men’ is disappearing.
Pluto in Capricorn revealed what happens when we become part of a group in a top-down hierarchical structure. Pluto in Aquarius, however, demands that we become conscious of how we can be an individual within the framework of a group collective, which relies on each individual having his/her valuable and individual part to play. The individual has become used to being a ‘crowd extra’ in Capricorn. He just had to move with the crowd, think like the herd and do as he was told. In Aquarius he must think for himself. He becomes the individual even if he is within the crowd. However, we could also see the shadow side of Pluto in Aquarius in the form of ‘hive mentality, or ‘groupthink’, just because he has become used to being a ‘crowd extra’. If someone has hive mentality, they may feel invulnerable and morally correct when they are part of a certain group. Think bees, ants and termites for instance, where the entire group behaves as if they are controlled by a single mind, working collectively towards a common goal. Collective intelligence allows flow for the development of ideas and opinions, whereas a hive mind does not. It is a fixed structure that contains the animals, just as we see in this Full Moon chart, boundaried by fixed signs. Although those inside the hive help and cooperate with each other, there is no growth of new ideas. There is an uncritical conformity where individual thinking is beaten out by draconian censorship and professional careers are destroyed if groupthink isn’t followed.
To be conscious of how Pluto in Aquarius will manifest we should also know that a tipping point does not require a majority. This Full Moon shows the Moon standing alone. This pinch point will not feel pleasant and may not end until after the April aspects (Solar Eclipse and Jupiter/Uranus conjunction). Are there enough mavericks to create a tipping point?