Astrology: The Year in Review 2022, Part 1

2020 saw the start of three major cycles with Saturn-Pluto, Jupiter-Pluto, and the Jupiter-Saturn shift into 200 years of air transits.  The new Jupiter-Saturn cycle and a waning Pluto in Capricorn phase coupled with a waning Saturn-Pluto square gave us a rather tumultuous year, with Russia's dramatic invasion of Ukraine, which captivated media attention for much of the year and other striking events on the world stage.

 

Winter (December 21 -  March 20)

 

Jupiter sextile Uranus, February 17, 2022 

 

With a full moon on February 16^th (with a  Venus-Mars conjunction in Capricorn), a Jupiter-Uranus exact sextile on the 17^th, Sun entering Pisces on the 18^th and the US having a Pluto return on the 20^th  there was quite a shift in direction in the space of a few days.

In a previous post I wrote:’’Judging from the previous ones, the third and final Saturn-Uranus square (December 24, 2021) could bring some heavy difficulties, but it is also an opportunity to come to terms with the previous conflicts. It can be considered as a final reality check before this aspect gradually fades, embarking on a new, optimistic, constructive phase that the Jupiter-Saturn cycle brings.’’

The difficulties did arrive, with a highly contagious Omicron Covid wave beginning during the holiday season, and with mounting frustrations, a remarkable Canadian trucker vaccine mandate protest occurring by the end of January. This occurred as the Saturn-Uranus square was waning, moving past the five degree orb where I consider it to have strong effect. Therefore I do posit that it is a waning burst of frustration before a new phase begins. Moreover, with the flu pandemic of 1918, it seems the public tolerance and the government resources hit a limit after two years of combating the virus, so perhaps hitting a two-year threshold can explain the outburst, which is consistent with the volatile aspects of a square involving Uranus.

‘’This aspect has played out globally with public health mandates in response to COVID-19, especially vaccines and vaccine “passports.” Saturn sees vaccination and documentation as the evidence-backed, rational, pragmatic, and proven approach to dealing with a global pandemic. Uranus sees it as an authoritarian overreach that imposes on its freedoms.’’ (Astrology with Andy)

With these truck occupations, one notices an odd juxtaposition of friendly winter fair atmosphere with expressions of good will, on one hand, and aggressive, extreme right-wing ideologies on the other. Moreover, the rather grandiloquent, yet fuzzy statements by the protesters seems consistent with a Jupiter in Pisces influence. The creative use of technology seems to be aided by both Jupiter in Pisces and Uranus in Taurus. The exact Jupiter sextile Uranus may give the protesters a boost of enthusiasm and new ideas, although it might likely give a greater boost to the law-enforcement strategies, due to the inherently conservative, rigid stance of the protest under a waning Saturn-Uranus aspect that fuelled it. At the time, I noted, concerning the Jupter-Uranus sextile of February 17: 'It's possible that this new aspect could also see a significant shift in the Russia-Ukraine conflict, which has been festering since the end of December.'

Jupiter in Pisces

Spring (March 21 - June 20)

US Pluto Return, February 20

The US Pluto return on February 20, coincided quite closely with the Russian invasion, so there would seem to be a connection. As noted, one could see a parallel with the Afghanistan occupation which marked the previous Jupiter-Saturn cycle.

see my analysis of the Russian Invasion of Ukraine

Aquarius and Pisces Stellia, March 2

The two powerful stellia in the Spring Equinox chart indicate a strong humanistic, compassionate, social, global solidarity against the invasion. The chart around the new moon on March 2 captures one of the strongest moments of the stellia, with a conjunction of five planets in Aquarius and four planets in Pisces, and actually all nine planets could be considered in conjunction with each other. This moment coincided with a record United Nations vote supporting a resolution against Russian aggression in Ukraine and also a strong vote to end plastic pollution.

Looking back at some aspects near the Spring Equinox, we have the Mars square Uranus exact on March 22, a very volatile aspect, and one could point to the plane crash in China that occurred the day before 

As an example of the  positive Piscean (Mars, Venus, Saturn in Aquarius) and Aquarian (Jupiter, Neptune in Pisces) energies, on April 2nd, Pope Francis gave an apology to Canadian Indigenous people for the Catholic Churche’s role in the forced assimilation and abuse of the residential school program 

Jupiter-Neptune conjunction , April 12

Jupiter sextile Pluto,  May 3rd

New Moon/Solar Eclipse on April 30

Full Moon/Lunar Eclipse on May 16

It seems that the powerful May 16 eclipse had quite an impact, with several high-profile elections coinciding with that period:  Russia lost an important ally as Pakistan president Imran Khan was voted out (April 9). Hong Kong Pro-Beijing candidate John Lee was elected as democratic structures were radically curtailed (May 8). Emmanuel Macron’s party was re-elected in France (May 10). A financially struggling Sri Lanka elected a new government (May 17). The Philippines made a decidedly conservative new government choice (May 17).  Columbia is in a tight two-way race (June 19) (Gustavo Petro won, Colombia will have a leftist president for the first time.)

Moreover, Sweden and Norway have made steps to join NATO (May 26). Additionally, an epidemic of mass shootings reached a crisis-point in the US, for example, Buffalo, (May 14), Uvalde, Texas (May 24).

Summer (June 21 - September 20)

The Summer quarter had two very volatile aspects, with Mars in Aries square Pluto in Capricorn  going exact on July 1^st and Mars square Saturn, exact on August 7. Below are some events occurring around the time of the Mars-Pluto square:

- UK prime Minister Boris Johnson resigns

- Japan's former PM Shinzo Abe 'has died' after being shot twice by navy veteran during campaign speech. 

- G7 summit in Elmau, Germany: The G7 leaders want to fight the climate crisis, hunger and war. 

- Allied leaders agreed on a fundamental shift in NATO’s deterrence and defence, with strengthened forward defences, enhanced battlegroups in the eastern part of the Alliance, and an increase in the number of high readiness forces to well over 300,000

- Ecuador’s government says it will restart talks with Indigenous leaders spearheading protests against the soaring cost of living in the country, even as it issued a new state of emergency.

- Thousands return to Sudan streets demanding end of military rule a day after nine people were killed in demonstrations against the country’s ruling generals.

- Libya protesters storm parliament building in Tobruk. Protesters were demonstrating against deteriorating living conditions and political deadlock

- North Macedonia: 47 police officers injured in protests against deteriorating living conditions and political deadlock.

- Zelenskyy says Russia bombed a shopping mall because seeing Ukrainians try to live a normal life made it ‘angry’.

Amid that rather tumultuous period, the UNGA adopted the resolution on 28 July 2022, recognizing the right to a clean, healthy, and sustainable environment as a human right. The UNGA calls upon States, international organizations, businesses, and other stakeholders to “scale up efforts” to ensure a clean, healthy, and sustainable environment for all (There was a Mars conjunct Uranus in Taurus sextile to Venus in Cancer, and a Sun conjunct Moon in Leo sextile to Jupiter in Aries that day, quite nice).

Autumn (September 21 - December 20)

 The Saturn-Uranus square moved back into a close orb.  In Iran there were mass protests by women sparked by the death of Mahsa Amini, a 22-year-old woman arrested by morality police. In Haiti, political instability has seen the increase of violent gang control. In Peru, protests erupted after the impeachment of Pedro Castillo after he tried to dissolve Congress. In Tibet, there have been protests against China's strict Covid lockdown measures. 

 

In Ukraine, local forces have made progress in repelling Russian occupiers, at a moment near the Oct 25 Solar Eclipse and also the November 7 Lunar Eclipse. Some unexplained incidents occurred, such as a bridge in Crimea being sabotaged, and in Russia, Darya Dugina, daughter of Russian traditionalist, Aleksandr Dugin, was assassinated. 

 

The Year Ahead...

 

The difficult Saturn-Uranus square will have faded by the end of January 2023.  On March 7, Saturn enters Pisces. On March 24th, Pluto enters Aquarius, so the Spring equinox could see significant developments in the Russia-Ukraine conflict, and this period of passage itself could be quite tempestuous. Overall, it can be considered to be the beginning of the more optimistic aspects of the Jovian decade of the Jupiter-Saturn cycle.