December 31, 2023

Wishing you a Happy, Prosperous, Safe and Healthy 2024

Two of the most significant planetary transits of 2024 occur during May as Uranus and Jupiter simultaneously transit from the sidereal Aries to sidereal Taurus. While on May 1 Jupiter enters the sidereal Taurus, Uranus does it on May 31.

Uranus Ingress Sidereal Taurus

A Period of Material World Transformation and Female Dominance

After entering Taurus on May 31, Uranus stays in Taurus till Dec 16, 2024. But then with its retrograde motion Uranus returns to Aries. Then after transiting through Aries until March 16, 2024, Uranus finally reenters Taurus and will stay in Taurus for next seven years or so.  

Uranus being the planet of change will certainly affect the matters related to Taurus in a big way. Taurus being the earth and fixed sign, the energy of extremely independent, ambitious, energetic and impulsive Uranus will be reflected in drastic changes in the material world (banking, stock brokers, financial institutes, the US Federal reserve and reserve banks all over the world) in next seven years.  At times changes will be so severe that it will be impossible to forget them in our life time.  In addition to intense volatility in the world financial markets, we may witness a worldwide severe depression sometimes during next seven years.  But the good news is we may not experience this severity until May of 2025, as it will be offset by Jupiter’s materially favorable transit through Taurus.

The people who are likely to be most affected by Uranus’s transit are business leaders, rich and wealthy, real estate tycoons, people who influence our material world, people connected to entertainment industry such as actors, directors, producers, musicians, comedians and the people of influence in entertainment industries.

In scientific and technological world expect a lot of positive changes as the emerging new ideas will find their way into innovations and discoveries.  The scientific and technological growth will continue to rise at a phenomenal rate.  A new wave of spiritually inclined world political and corporation leaders with their human and compassion laced perspectives will certainly transform our world in next 6-7 years to a new world that balances the material world with spiritual or non-material world.

The challenging aspect of Uranus transit in Taurus is the painful transformation of the material world. The material norms we are used to will be altered and transformed to a set of new norms that will certainly reflect the direction of our spiritual growth and human evolution in line with and as outlined in past annual predictions by the energies of Capricorn Pluto and Piscean Neptune.

Other manifestations of Uranus’s transit in the earth sign Taurus are: economic wars that include cyber wars, currency manipulation, economic persecutions, agriculture wars, real estate meltdowns and intolerable and tragic situations for those who are economically deprived. In addition, natural calamities, especially wildfires, abnormal weather patterns, earthquakes of significant magnitude, unbearable summer and winter months, etc., will continue to occur more frequently. 

Another important aspect of Uranus’s transit in Taurus is the prominence of female dominance in leadership roles. Taurus being the female sign, more females will be replacing their male counterparts for leadership positions in both political and financial world. 

Interestingly, Uranus will be in Taurus when the next US presidential election takes place.  Since the characteristics of Uranus are closely tied with that of the United States as a country, there’s a good chance that Americans might choose a female president.  However, by December 16, Uranus returns to Aries for few months.  During those few months (until March 16, 2024) presidential inauguration takes place.  While Uranus in Aries (a male sign) it may be possible that US may not have a female president unless the process of inauguration gets dragged down further after March 16.  Thus, politically, while Uranus in Aries during December 16, 2024 – March 16, 2025, Americans will likely experience a period of chaos and extreme instability.

For those who have a reasonably well placed Uranus in their birth charts and have Pisces, Sagittarius, Leo or Cancer as a ninefold (Navamansa) ascendant will likely to experience a very positive period, especially during the time Uranus is active in their transit charts.

Jupiter’s entry in Sidereal Taurus 

A year of material expansion!

On May 1, 2024 Jupiter leaves sidereal Aries and enters the next zodiac sign, Taurus.  Jupiter’s transit from one zodiac sign to the next occurs, on average, once a year. Taurus being a fixed and earth sign ruled by Venus, Jupiter in Taurus has a tendency to enhance material prosperity of those who have well placed and connected Venus and Jupiter in their birth charts. The transit of Jupiter in the earth (material) sign Taurus is always positive from material expansion and prosperity standpoint. It must be noted that for an individual person, despite Jupiter’s positive influence on world material prosperity, effects of other planets in that individual’s birth chart should be taken into account to assess the net result or effect.

At a collective level, Jupiter’s transit in Taurus means: the influence of entrepreneurs, money keepers (banks, brokerage houses, financial institutes, etc.,) will shape the future direction of our world and human evolution through not only the material expansion, but also through philosophical and spiritual debates. In general, the Taurus Jupiter is known to be very favorable for world material and wealth expansion. So from that perspective expect some positive economic changes during this period and welcome the Jupiter’s entry in Taurus.

On an individual level, for those who have dominant Jupiter in their birth charts and have Taurus, Aries, Capricorn, Scorpio, Virgo, or Cancer as their natal ninefold (Navamansa) ascendant are likely to experience a very positive twelve months beginning May 1.

Pluto

As explained in detail in 2020 and 2021 annual predictions, one of the important planetary events of 2020 was the transit of the modern planet Pluto from the sidereal zodiac sign Sagittarius to Capricorn. Pluto remains in Capricorn till March 2039. 

According to 2020 predictions, “This era (next 19 to 20 years) will be remembered as the period of material destruction and transformation to a new and very different way of living that would align with our human evolution.  The way we have been used to deal with material world will no longer be our norms.  Although it’s very likely that some of the world business leaders or companies will either become obsolete or transformed into other forms, our way of material living will be greatly influenced by our collective spiritual experiences and subsequent understanding of the world due to Pluto’s transformational transit.”

And according 2021 predictions, “The year 2020 has already proved that the way we had been used to deal with material world is no longer be our norms.  We now are more isolated and far from being social the way we used to be.  Most of us work from home and we use on line tools to deal with our daily chores. In next couple of years or so we certainly will return to our normal social life, but with very different perspective about life as we would become conscious about our earth, climate and not just the material waste but also about how we prioritize our (quality of) life and spend time accordingly.

However, this wonderful process of spiritual transformational growth is likely to be accompanied by very painful, chaotic and frustrating human experiences (wars, violence, terrorism, social and political conflicts, natural and man-made calamities are some of the few examples) required to completely annihilate our present social norms and our prejudice based conditioning, resulting in drastic changes in our collective moral and spiritual perceptions. The Covid-19 pandemic may continue on and off throughout the year but likely to be subsiding as the year progresses. However, a possibility of an emergence of a similar crisis certainly exists as a part of Capricorn Pluto’s continuous process of material transformation.”

Since then we had Covid-19 pandemic that lasted through 2022, then Ukraine war which has been going on and will continue for quite sometime, and recently the unprecedented Hamas-Israel war which killed over 1200 innocent Israeli civilians and uprooted over two million Palestinians.  As far as the natural calamities are concerned we witnessed unprecedented climate changes that include severe summers and winters, wildfires, winter storms, etc.

For 2024, the ninefold Pluto will be transiting through Aquarius and Pisces.  It’s likely that the events that would clearly reflect material destruction and transformation would be related to not just ground and air war but war on water (naval wars), submarine warfare, etc., especially during the period when Pluto transits through ninefold Pisces. On the plus side, the process of spiritual growth is likely to accelerate during the same time clearly reflecting in a narrowing of the gap between morality and materialism, and a better understanding of the world we live in.

Neptune

One of the extraordinary planetary events of 2022 and 2023 was the transit of the modern planet Neptune from the sidereal zodiac sign Aquarius to the next zodiac sign Pisces. It first occurred on April 15, 2022, and Neptune stayed in Pisces till September 15, 2022. And then with its retrograde motion Neptune returned to Aquarius and stayed in Aquarius till February 16, 2023. After February 16, 2023 it continued to transit through Pisces, and will till mid-2036.

One of the notable insights of 2022 predictions was: “One of the prominent fall-outs of the Piscean Neptune will be a significant decline of authoritarian regime’s influence around the world.  Russia, China and other authoritarian regimes will continue to lose their hold as they face the forces of our collective spiritual transformation.”

Of course, only the time will tell (since Neptune is going to be in Pisces till mid-2036) the final outcome, but the Ukraine-Russia war and China’s military exercises around Taiwan certainly don’t seem to be coincidental.

Incidentally, the current transit of the lunar node Rahu in Pisces counteracts the positive energy of Neptune that favors the authoritarian regimes Russia, China and North Korea. And it will continue for about next 15 months until Rahu leaves Pisces and ingress Aquarius with its backward motion.  As a result, Ukraine is temporarily likely to slowly lose the grip on war as either progress gets stalled or Russia gains more territory. But eventually Ukraine is very likely to win the war.

Saturn

Saturn will stay in Aquarius until March 29, 2025.

What does Saturn in the sidereal Aquarius mean?

Aquarius being the air (intelligence) and fixed (perseverance) sign, Saturn’s energy will likely be strongly reflected in the scientific research that deals with information technology and artificial intelligence which help us collectively bring us together at a rapid rate leading to a new level of understanding of this world as a part of the process of our spiritual growth. Thus, philanthropists, social reformers, philosophers, scientists, spiritual leaders (not religious leaders) and peace-makers will shape our world with better clarity and purpose.

On the downside, some of the prominent social media and internet related companies likely to go under and be replaced with new companies as a part of Saturn/Pluto’s transformation process.

Those who have Saturn in Aquarius (Saturn return) in their natal charts have already been experiencing Saturn’s energy as their lives transformed to a new settings due to a drastic change (mostly) at mental and psychological levels. In my opinion, despite a painful period of frustration due to unexpected drastic changes in life, it’s going to be an exciting period for those who have dominant Saturn in their birth chart and have Aries, Taurus, Virgo and Sagittarius as their natal ninefold (Navamansha) ascendant. 

Retrograde Mars

From the planetary energy standpoint, this is one of the major events of 2024 happening towards the end of the year. On December 7, Mars becomes retrograde in sidereal Cancer. With its retrograde motion it will return to Gemini on January 21, 2025. It will stay retrograde in Gemini till February 24, 2025 before becoming direct. It then reenters Cancer on April 1. Typically Mars becomes retrograde once about every two years and stays retrograde for about eight to ten weeks.

Astrologically speaking, what does a retrograde Mars mean? And what can we expect from the retrograde Mars in Cancer/Gemini?

In general, when a planet turns retrograde, the positive energy offered by that planet is expected to slowly diminish.  In case of Mars, being a planet of total independence, amazing energy, high ego, and less maturity usually make things worse with incredible speed. 

For those of you who have poorly placed predominant Mars in their birth chart and if it’s active in your Gochar (transit) chart, then you are very likely to experience a sudden setback in your professional as well as in other activities.  You may have to repeat things over many times to get it right, or you may have to deal with unfortunate and totally unexpected circumstances, and in general, you may end up in having a very frustrating experience. 

During December 7, 2024 through January 21, 2025, while in the water sign Cancer, the retrograde Mars is likely to be unfavorable for those who have Cancer, Leo, Sagittarius, Capricorn and Aries as a rising sign or ninefold ascendant.  It’s going to be very intensive and frustrating period if you have Mars active through your Gochar (transit) chart.  Staying low key and minimizing being emotional and riding this challenging period out may be way to go.  If you must take a risk, be on guard. In particular, hospital workers, psychologists, psychoanalysts, doctors who provide mental care, pregnant and nursing women, social reformers, caregivers, etc., are likely to be more affected than others.  

During January 21, 2025 through February 24, the retrograde Mars will be transiting through Gemini. Gemini being the air sign and ruled by Mercury, Gemini Mars energy is more directly related to brain power than physical power. Therefore, the manifestation of this energy will be reflected in both the material (Mars being the material planet) and knowledge (as Gemini is ruled by Mercury) with tremendous ups and downs that will be intensely felt by the entire world, especially by people in power at research and academic institutes, diplomats, space technology, products related to communications such as cell phones, internets, social media and information technology. 

At a collective level, expect a political tension building among developed nations.  Destruction of wealth due to natural calamities (fires, flooding, tornadoes, earthquakes, etc.) or man-made accidents (social and/or political unrest) are also very likely. Other possibilities include a sudden rise in terrorist activities, escalation in a warlike climate between Israelis and Palestinians, and of course increased covert activities among nations. Since the US president’s inauguration takes place during the third week of January, the retrograde Mars will certainly make its mark in providing us a sensational political drama.

Summary

In summary, the year 2024 will be significantly affected by the spontaneous and very powerful energy of Uranus in sidereal Aries and Taurus, Pluto’s continued process of material destruction and spiritual transformation, subtle but very powerful energy of Neptune in sidereal Pisces, Saturn’s transit in Aquarius, Jupiter’s favorable transit in Taurus and the yearend drama of the retrograde Mars. However, the silver lining under this extremely dramatic and destructive period continues to point to the process of our collective spiritual transformation as these painful events become responsible for that transformation and to a new level of understanding of our world, a necessary step as a part of our collective spiritual growth.