happy new year, by guri stark
I am throwing myself in the ring of new year noise that is surely filling your inbox today. Take it or leave it, despite my inner rebel quaking, I felt the need to share.
I am captivated by this coming year. Every time Pluto changed signs these past 47 years, a massive new chapter of my life opened.
1995/96 Pluto entered Sagittarius and I woke to higher truth and spirituality, met great teachers and mentors, and left society to live nomadically and in alignment with higher self (uh, can you say 'Sagittarius'??). In 2008 Pluto moved to Capricorn and I stepped into responsibility in a massive way. I became a mother, I rejected the corporate world that did not adhere to my integrity, and I began a steady climb (Capricorn) toward personal sovereignty and fulfilling my professional mission as an astrologer.
Personally and collectively, Pluto's slow progression through each new archetype demarcates great turns and irreparable changes in life direction, cultural trends, personal beliefs, and global values.
2023 marks one such turning. For the next 20 years, Pluto will transit the sign of Aquarius. And our next adventure begins!!!!
To say I am excited is an understatement.
This is a prolific newsletter (VERY VERY LONG) and likely too long for many.... So perhaps you will engage with these few questions to bring you into at least an understanding of what cycle is closing, so you can start fresh and ready for what is on the horizon!
1. What changed for you since 2008, around the themes of personal authority and sovereignty?
2. How has your relationship to societal structures changed in the past 15 years? Do you trust the 'system' in the same way? Do you see it as an infallible and unquestionable hierarchy with mature rules? As a man-made and fallible creation? As a collaborative means of meeting the greater good of the whole? Are societal norms to be mistrusted and hated? To be reformed? Who is in charge of these anyway??? By what authority do we build our reality?
3. What does the word INTEGRITY mean to you now, vs. 15 years ago?
These may bring you into a realization of how potent Plutonic evolution is. And now... let's dive into 2023!!!
But first, some housekeeping...
Moon School is launched! It is on my website and begins January 20th. All the information you need is at this link: https://saraeliseastrology.com/moon-school-5
The Archetypal Reel Capricorn edition is happening Tuesday night, so there is still time to join!! Register here: https://saraeliseastrology.com/payment/capricorn-reel
Freddie Mercury, The Queen. Artist from Nepal, unnamed.
1. Mercury Retrograde all in Earth Signs
First on our agenda is a quick look at the mercury retrogrades that will occur. These happen every year, in a different element, and 2023 is marked by EARTH SIGNS. Beginning now with mercury retrograde in Capricorn, mercury will later retrograde in Taurus (April 22nd) and in Virgo (August 24th).
So the 2023 contemplative organization will likely relate to earth themes. We may be reviewing our values, our priorities, our integrity, our businesses, our money, our work, and our responsibilities. We may be thinking about resources and how we use them, how we share them. What matters most to us. What we want to build. All of that.
Remember: Sober thoughts beget sober actions, so use these retrogrades well!
With the current retrograde in Capricorn, PERSONAL INTEGRITY may be our current motivation, INNER AUTHORITY our driving force, and RESPONSIBILITY our stake to claim.
Two Brains, Shutterstock
2. Mars retrograde ends January 13th, continuing out of bounds until May
Get ready to take action mid-January, as Mars ends its 2.5 month retrograde in Gemini and moves 'forward' relative to earthly reality.
Since October, the coils of our minds and wills have sprung back tightly, allowing us to re-vision the way we think about ourselves and reality... reviewing the stories we tell... the words we choose... and who we think ourselves to be.
For the ancient wisdom teaches that mind begets form. Thus the thoughts we give power to directly impact the reality we live in.
By mid Jan, we are ready to externalize our focused will, refreshed and aligned, by acting on the new narratives and ideas we have discovered. It may be a great time for manifestation, as we are ready to share what we have discovered with others, and to declare our new selves strongly and clearly!
This happens days before the new Moon School! So please come and join us and we'll have some fun together as we anchor into the next phase of this cycle.
William Blake
3. Saturn changes to Pisces March 8th
Saturn in Aquarius square Uranus in Taurus was a defining theme for the past 2 years... and I am so tired of it!!! The fight between those claiming to be 'making rules for the good of all' vs. those claiming their right to freedom, autonomy and survival has been loud and long. We have seen much division in our culture arising from this stalemate of perspectives: from covid-related conflicts, climate change debates, inflation threatening survival, break downs in supply chains leading to unfair distribution of resources, uprisings against totalitarianism (and a subsequent rise of totalitarianism!)... omg I want a break.
But break we shall not have.
Pisces is a tricky archetype... while it is easy for the platitudinous purveyors of prattle to say it's about 'love, light and transcendence', that couldn't be farther from the truth. (Just remember back to March/April when Jupiter aligned with Neptune in Pisces! hopelessness, horror, war... that was NOT a fun time.)
Rather, Pisces's invites us into an authentic experience of compassion.
And I'm sorry to say this, but to really be compassionate, we must feel the pain of others and the joy of others. We must feel it all. Pisces is a water sign, after all.
Our choice of how to BE with those feelings as they inevitably arise??
That may be Saturn's teaching.
Pain, suffering, terror, delusion, escapism, victimization, victimization.... along side spiritualization, acceptance of ourselves as one human family, creating healthy boundaries, having faith in something greater, attuning to higher love, and forgiveness... these are themes we may be building into our reality (Saturn) from March 8th through 2025.
Saturn is the CONSCIOUS LIMITATION of our reality, remember. It is how we build ourselves into being. The rules we are organizing into our reality. So our awareness of the reality of global issues impacting humanity, our ability to FEEL into those realities compassionately, and the way we deal with those realities may be at times be hard to bear. Saturn is never easy, but it's always rewarding.
Just remember: water flows. And so do emotions. If things get overwhelming, its okay to admit it and to reach out for support. And it's okay to simply go to bed and pull the covers over your head every once in a while!! Create the structures and routines and practices that YOU need to contain the waters of life in a healthy way and this passage will strengthen our spirituality.
4. Pluto moves to 0 Aquarius March 23
March brings massive change as Pluto enters Aquarius on the 23rd, offering a glimpse of the next 20 years of collective psychological growth.
Pluto defines the deep inner edge of our transformative growth process. Said another way, it defines the soul vs personality wrestling match we are engaging in, internally and externally. Our 'evolutionary edge'.
We are completing a 15 year journey through Capricorn, exploring themes of authority, integrity of social systems and governments, corporate power, corruption and greed, personal authority, and what it means to have authentic integrity. We've seen 'colonialism' crumble, 'white privilege' become a mainstream term, we've seen corporate greed laid bare, the authority of higher education turned on its head, science questioned and tested, and hopefully we have learned to anchor more deeply into self-authority... as we have realized blindly trusting those in power because they have a title and a ton of money isn't always the best decision. Internal sovereignty, internal responsibility and personal integrity should be stronger now, along with the knowledge that these qualities are EARNED, not given.
Now we move toward the collective archetype of Aquarius. Ruling the process of individuation, technology and group activity, Aquarius' focus is on how the individual contributes to and is impacted by the whole.
The lessons/experiences to come may be around social cohesion and control, top down authority vs. personal freedom, totalitarianism as an extreme social control mechanism, group think and a tendency to 'go with the flow' rather than think autonomously, REBELLION to aforementioned social control, unbelievable technological advances, an elevation of consciousness and a growing acceptance of the value of 'higher mind states' and intuition, communication with higher dimensional beings, a sense of ourselves as being connected and responsible for each other, and an ability to 'break free' of old modes of hierarchical thinking and being. As individuals, we may be interested in finding the 'group' of like-minded folk who we feel most similar to and can work together with. We might participate in group endeavors, pushing against the limits of our personal reality relative to the group itself, identifying where we need to be 'ME' and where its okay to be 'WE'. We may go farther than we ever thought possible, evolving at the speed of light, facing group-realities that require creative solutions in real time! And we may come forward out of the next 20 years knowing that the whole is greater than the sum of its parts... WHEN its parts are in integrity. Otherwise, the whole is useless and damaging. Case in point: North Korea. What a devastating and dangerous example or 'out of alignment' collective organization. Check out interviews with Yeonmi Park who fled that country and lived to tell about it. You'll get what I'm talking about. :)
The more aligned each individual is with their their divine line, that universal precision of self that is our birthright, the better off is the whole of us will be.. because individuals and groups are inextricably bound. Through the next 20 years, I hope we will come to know that maintaining a healthy individuated alignment while being responsible for others is less a balancing act than an imperative... for truly, we are one.
Drawing of the human fetus in utero from Da Vinci's anatomical notebooks
5. Pluto squares the nodal axis, March through November
The meta theme of this year is 'confrontation with change'... as Pluto squares the nodes for 8 months, from March until October/November.
Pluto square the nodal axis is called an evolutionary 'turning point' and represents a cathartic time when the energy of 'past vs. future' is central to the human evolutionary agenda. Squares are never comfortable. They demand decisions be made and conflict be managed.
This year might be compared to the moment that a baby is entering the cervix during the birth process... as the baby descends, it bumps against what feels an impossibly tight passage. Quite naturally there is a moment of pause as that baby's head presses gently against this unknown entryway, softening it, going slowly. Of course this is the most excruciatingly painful point of the whole birthing process! So perhaps there is a feeling of 'oh shit... can I go back???' or for the mother 'what was I thinking???'
But we all know: birth is going to happen or that baby (and/or the mother) will die.
Sometimes we simply reach a point of no return... where if we keep doing things the way we have in the past, we will suffer. This is what we confront this year. It is time for something new.
So please remember to have faith in what lies beyond the known. Do your best to get out of inertia's way and push through that birth canal into your new life! This may be imperative to our survival.
Bob Marley, Fist out by Lynn Goldsmith
6. Nodal Axis change: Libra South Node to Aries North Node, mid-JULY
Last but not least, we come to the Nodes of the Moon. The Nodal Axis describes the conscious evolutionary story unfolding in the collective. Like the current karmic lessons we are learning, this axis impacts the collective astral field, which is our personal emotional reality. They change every 18 months, but this year the change is going to be quite remarkable.
On July 18th, the New Moon of Cancer, the True Node switches to 29 degrees of Libra/Aries. On this same day, Pluto rests at 29 degrees of Capricorn and exactly squares the new nodal axis, while the Sun/Moon conjunction occurs at 25 degrees Cancer and exactly opposes Pluto and squares the nodes. That means we have a cardinal grand cross lighting up the sky during this breaking moment of change. As Cancer rules the birthing process, this may be the moment of 'breach' I spoke of in the last section.
The cardinal grand cross is a test of motivation and a discipleship signature. It is about taking responsibility for our higher purpose on earth, aligning with universal authority, stepping up to the plate as a leader, and acting for the greater good of all... rather than the greater good of self. It is a difficult signature that comes with GREAT tests of responsibility, alignment and self-mastery.
It is a heavy one, that's for sure.
Downtown celebration at the end of WW II, May 7 1945, VE Day in Vancouver, Canada
And at the end of the day, its just another year. Just another passage of time. Another step in the right direction. A moment in our history, as beautiful and devastating as any other.
May the year of 2023 bring you fulfillment! May you step FORWARD into a better version of you. May you contemplate and activate your passions, your most integral self, your purpose and your mission. May you have confidence to speak your mind, act on your hearts desires, and create the life you were born to live.
I wish the same for me. And so my year will be devoted to work and service, to creating more content that is education and group oriented, and to my children... who's continued growth amazes me every day.
Blessings,
Sara
