As I write this, we are in the liminal week between Christmas and the New Year — a week of travel, leftovers, clean-up, and thank-you notes. From this precarious vantage point, we look back and we look ahead, reflecting on the year that was and dreaming into the year that lies ahead. Lucky for us, the astrology of the year ahead is decidedly brighter than the year we are completing.
The year ahead is also less dramatic than the one behind. Some of us will undoubtedly experience the extremes of luck and misfortune, but many of us will find the year ahead less chaotic than the preceding three. Still, some major shifts occur which begin to outline themes that will take the rest of the decade to resolve. Here are the headlines of 2023’s astrology…
For the first several months of 2023, we can expect to be resolving the loose ends of 2022. Mars, in Gemini since August and retrograde since October, has been complicating and aggravating our ability to think clearly and take action effectively for the later portion of 2022. However, on Jan. 12, 2023, Mars will station and regain direct motion, helping us make progress in a more straightforward fashion. We’re not out of the woods until the final week of March when Mars leaves Gemini for the new territory of Cancer. He will spend the rest of the year moving at a regular pace (roughly six weeks per sign) through the rest of the zodiac.
Also in March, Saturn will leave Aquarius for Pisces. Saturn has spent a full three years in Aquarius, ushering us through lockdowns, questioning of what can and cannot be said on social media, and enforcing social codes for better or worse. When Saturn enters Pisces, structure imposes itself on the imaginal. We can expect great works of art to emerge during this time, as Saturn strives to reify wherever he passes through.
Pisces is a water sign, and has a much greater capacity for emotion than abstract air or practical earth. With Saturn in Pisces, our ability to grieve for how life has changed in the past five years will be expanded. Saturn will be in Pisces from March 2023 until February 2026 and will share his time in Pisces with numinous and nebulous Neptune, a planet who governs altered states and fantasy. Both advancements in virtual reality and legislature concretizing the use of psychedelics in therapy can be expected during the next few years.
Finally, marking March as the month that puts the “new” in new year, Pluto will enter Aquarius. Pluto has been moving through Capricorn since 2008, exposing the shadows of our economic and political institutions. Next up: Aquarius, the sign of technology. Pluto dredges up what has been hidden, makes monstrous what has been shunned, and showcases abuses of power. Queue all artificial intelligence horror stories and what exactly the internet is doing with all your data! Pluto will dip between Capricorn and Aquarius for the next two years before committing fully to Aquarius until 2044.
If that sounds too scary, Jupiter, the most fortunate planet of the pantheon, will be in Aries until May when he enters Taurus. While in Aries he supports decisive action and martial themes, in Taurus he will take on a more grounded tone, bringing innovation to life’s necessities — food, shelter, and environmental concerns. Taurus has been upended by Uranus since 2018 and eclipses since November 2021. Jupiter’s ingress will likely begin to show the innovations and upgrades from so much turmoil.
Normally eclipses take place in pairs of opposite signs, but 2023’s skies will see eclipses in both the Scorpio/Taurus and the Aries/Libra axes in April/May and October. Eclipses bring about sudden beginnings and endings in our lives, and with four signs activated instead of the usual two, we are making big changes quickly.
The last notable transit of 2023 is a Venus retrograde in sign of Leo that will dominate the summer. Venus will be in Leo from June until October, bringing beauty, romance, and heart connections to the Lion’s sign. Relationships can undergo transformations and matters of the heart pull stronger than the mind.
Overall, 2023 is a year to regain our footing and look around at what will become the new normal. Of course there will be highs and lows, but they are of lower amplitude than what we have lived through since January of 2020.
If you would like a more personal look forward into 2023, I am available for birth chart and year-ahead readings at starhearthastrology.com