Wade Caves joins Alejo Lopez to chat about Aquarius Season and the month ahead. Includes a look at classic Aquarians Oprah Winfrey, Megan Thee Stallion, Germaine Greer and Anton Chekhov.
Wade and Alejo share insights about current transits including:
- Pluto and Sun into Aquarius
- Mercury, Venus and Mars conjunct to Pluto
- New Moon in Aquarius and Full Moon in Leo/Aquarius
Learn More
- Expand your understanding of the Aquarius archetype in myth
- Pluto in Aquarius summit
- Revisiting Aquarius with Tony Howard
Time Stamps for the topics covered in this episode:
0:00-8:02 Introduction to Aquarius Season
8:02-14:22 Classic Aquarius: Germaine Greer, Oprah Winfrey, Megan Thee Stallion, Anton Chekhov
14:22-23:11 Things to do in Aquarius Season
23:11-59:42 Astrology of Aquarius Season
59:24-1:04:14 Monthly Mantra & Wrap Up
Transcript for The Cosmic Eye — Aquarius Season Episode
Alejo Lopez: Hi. Welcome to The Cosmic Eye, the Astrology University podcast. This is the episode for Aquarius season. I am Alejo Lopez, your host, and today with me is Wade Caves. Wade has been doing astrology for many years now. He is a tutor of horary and astronomy at the School of Traditional Astrology, and has been invited to publish his work in different journals and has spoken at a wide array of conferences. Hi, Wade. Welcome. It’s great to have you here.
Wade Caves: Thank you. How’s it going, Alejo?
Alejo: Very good. It’s very nice to see you. Wade was the first person I met the first time I went to the astrological conference. He was the first person I spoke to.
Wade: Yes, that was very fun. It was a very memorable conference. I had a great time. You’re a Taurus, right? I just remember how much you were able to eat on one plate at a time. I thought, wow, I am seated next to the Taurus of all Tauruses.
Alejo: Yeah, I do love eating. What I remember is that once we were chatting, and I missed the session. And then in the middle, I was like, we were chatting and suddenly it’s like, wait, what? There’s a session going on now. And you were like, Yes, I thought you were taking a break. No, I don’t want to miss anything. But it was very nice. Wade was very, very friendly and he introduced me to everyone. So it’s a very fond memory of that time. So now before we move into the Aquarius season, I would like to mention as usual that if you like the podcast, the best thing you can do to support us is to share it. We would also love to hear your feedback. If you have any thoughts or reflections, sometimes you send me messages to my Instagram, which is @liminalcosmos, and I really do appreciate it. And you can also email Tony Howard at [emailprotected]. So when I think of Aquarius, one of the things that comes into my mind is the idea of paradoxes. Because I think it’s very hard to explain what Aquarius is about, especially nowadays that we have two co-rulers, if you consider both of them. So it’s both ruled by Saturn and Uranus, which are very, very different. So I like that when we move from Capricorn to Aquarius, we started getting to this very complex area of the Zodiac. Because it feels like, for one, sometimes Aquarians are accused of being too rigid. But at the same time, actually, they are ruled by co-ruled by Uranus. So actually, they can bring a lot of change. So, I would ask you, what do you think of Aquarius? What images or ideas come to mind?
Wade: Yeah, that’s a good question. I think the rigidity factor is probably something worth dwelling on for a moment. It is a fixed sign. You’re not going to be able to get out of that. And it’s a fixed sign in the dead of winter. There’s not a lot that can grow at that time. If I was to show you this, this is a podcast, but if there was a visual and you could see out my window, it’s just covered in white at the moment. There’s nothing growing outside. This sign in particular, it focuses I think, in many respects, upon extremes. This sign has a relationship with being dogmatic, being a bit stubborn, strongly resolved in one’s own beliefs. And in that way, you know, we can resolve the conflict between Saturn and Uranus, because neither Saturn or Uranus are going to take too much stock into what others want, what others think, how others feel. It is very much about how one’s own self is processing. When I think of Aquarius though, I don’t tend to jump to Saturn or Uranus at all. I think about the image of the water bearer. So there’s a number of things that come out from that. The first is that with the water bearer, it’s a human sign. So this is going to be a sign that’s going to relate to human development, the advancement of civilization around the world, the advancement of human consciousness. Which is a phrase that I try to avoid saying: human consciousness; advancement of human evolution of human consciousness. Because it means something very specific, and also that specific thing is different for every person. You never know if you’re talking about the same thing with somebody else but it’s a fair thing to raise with the image of Aquarius. We have the water bearer with the jug carrying life-giving energy, life-giving water, and then dispensing it. So there’s a lot of imagery to work with there. The first is that something has to be taken from a source and then distributed to where it’s needed. So there’s that image is shown in Aquarius. The next thing is that the tool of distribution also needs to be considered. You can’t expect that if you take water from a pristine, crystal clear river, and throw that water inside a jug that is filled with dirt and refuse and it’s muddy on the inside, that when you distribute that water it’s going to be pristine and pure again. It’s going to collect and take everything that’s within the jug. So this is also a sign that talks about means of distribution, and whether or not the means of distribution are aligned with the ultimate aim of distributing in the first place. It’s also a sign that’s related to human intervention in natural sources. So if you think about conduits of water, for instance. Human made water management systems. These things are very Aquarian because we’re taking sources of water from the earth, pouring into the earth to extract its natural resource, and then move it where it needs to go. So this sign is associated with human and civil infrastructure, particularly as it relates to water. Aquarius has water in its name, Aqua. And even though it is an air sign, it is, I believe, one of the forgotten water signs. You know, it has relation in themes of water. And I was thinking about this just the other night that, you know, we have Cancer, Scorpio, Pisces, these are water signs. Capricorn also has themes related to water. The back half of Capricorn is a fishtail. The Capricorn-Cancer axis is associated with foreign trade, and shipping and sea lanes, and things like this. Cancer in particular is related to foreign trade because historically we would trade along ocean and sea routes. And then Capricorn, because its image is half land, half see, would be all of those industries that are built up around ports to help facilitate between land and sea movement. So Capricorn also has this strong water type theme. Aquarius has a water type theme. And you kind of think, well why is water so heavily represented in the Zodiacal circle? You know, the Earth is 75% water. Our reality living on earth is very much focused on waterways, access to water, and what gets transported through and on water. So anyway, I think Aquarius deserves a place when we talk about water infrastructure. But civil infrastructure and about natural resources overall.
Alejo: And I was thinking, I don’t know this for sure, but I think I read this somewhere. Cities started in places that did have access to water, because it was what humanity needed.
Wade: Yeah, that’s right. Most of these places where you find, you know, these springs of human civilization, they’re going to be next to rivers. They’re going to be next to lakes, next to seas. And this is why, to this day, the most populated cities in the world are port cities. The ones that are next to the ocean.
Alejo: Yeah, very interesting. So we always pick some of our favorite Aquarians. It doesn’t have to be our favorite Aquarius, but somebody that we think represents the sign quite well. So I’m going to ask you first, do you have any?
Wade: Yeah, I want to bring three women in quickly. I won’t really talk about their chart very much, but there are three women Aquarius’s that when I think about Aquarius, I think about them immediately. The first is Germaine Greer. I believe she’s Australian. She was a major figure in second wave feminism. So all of our feminist ancestors who were around in the 60s, 70s, 80s, reading and writing—they will be very familiar with Germaine Greer’s work. She was a very shocking influence. She was born with the Sun on the ascendant in Aquarius, so also Aquarius rising. She has a very, very sharp and stark way of presenting her ideas. We’re in fourth wave feminism now, though. So interestingly, many of the ideas that were developed in second wave feminism are now antagonistic to the aims of fourth wave feminism. And so Germaine Greer has found herself once again on the outside and kind of representing an old model, which is again, a very Saturnian theme with Aquarius. I think with Aquarius there is a tendency to kind of harbor on this revolutionary type angle. I don’t know that Aquarius themselves ever considers themselves revolutionaries. They’re just trying to live their life and be authentic to themselves. But you know, it comes up. The other two: Oprah Winfrey. She was born with the Sun-Venus conjunction, the Sun-Venus cazimi in Aquarius in her second house. And she shot up from abject poverty into extreme wealth by building, effectively, a network raising women’s interests and women’s aims at a time where women weren’t really given center stage. In the 90s, she effectively created the talk show host. Now she’s got her own network. But interestingly, as we explore the life of Oprah Winfrey, it’s not without themes of controversy. There’s a lot of questions about the degree to which she has been used as a tool for white supremacy. You know, her support versus antagonism towards black men and black women. There’s there’s a lot of questions to be raised about what she did with her platform. And then Meg Thee Stallion is the last one I’m going to mention. Because she’s younger and from a different generation, and she’s very vocal about being an Aquarius and loving being an Aquarius. She has also earned quite a lot of controversial opinion as a result of the recent court case where she was shot in the foot by Tory Lanez. And being shot in the foot also, I mean, the foot itself is Pisces, but ankle, feet, it’s at the bottom. It is still an Aquarius type theme. And it was remarkable just how much people pushed back on her relating her experience and the preceding court case. And the response people had to a black woman taking a black man to court for shooting him in the foot. And watching what happened as a result of that was quite fascinating. So those are the three Aquarians that I think of for many reasons.
Alejo: Fantastic. Thank you. I actually like your examples very well. And I think it’s interesting about this stress between Uranus and Saturn. Like you were saying, maybe Aquarians don’t see themselves as revolutionary. But I do think that if you do a revolution, first you go and you do the revolution. And then let’s say you come into power. You become Saturn.
Wade: And this is kind of building on this principle that’s baked into astrology so well. This is where the themes of angular, cadent and succeedent come into play. The succeedent houses are rising to the angle. Then once they hit the angle, they’re in power. And then once they fall from the angle, they’ve fallen from power. This is just the natural power cycle. You know, so you’re a revolutionary today, but you’re the enemy of the people in 100 years.
Alejo: Yeah, it’s amazing. So my choice was Anton Chekhov. There’s a quote from one of his plays, The Cherry Orchard. Basically it’s a play where they don’t know if they’re going to sell the house or what’s going to happen with their house; if they’re going to lose their house. And one of the characters says, “If you have the household keys, throw them in the well, and go away. Be free. Be free as the wind.” So this idea of freedom, that’s why I like the quote. And Chekhov was Aquarian in his way of writing. He always said that his plays were comedies, but if you go see Chekhov play it feels like a tragedy, it doesn’t feel like a comedy. Like a drama I would say, not a tragedy. And also, he changed the dramatic scene, the way of writing. Because he incorporated what we call ‘indirect action.’ I don’t know if people know, but my first degree was in performing arts so I read a lot of Chekhov. So I really like him. And he incorporated what is called ‘indirect action.’ So if you go and see a play by Chekhov, you’re going to see that the important events of the play are not happening on a stage. You don’t see them, you just see the consequences. How characters feel after those events. So he changed the way we understood how a play could be performed. He was also very original in his short stories, because he used a the monologue a lot, which is not was not so common in the time. And he was born in 1860. And then he also changed the idea of writing that it didn’t have to have a moral purpose. Like usually stories had like a morality. And he was like, No, I just make questions so people would answer themselves. And now we go to the next section, which is usually things that we can do during this season. So basically the Sun goes into Aquarius, so it’s going to light this area of the zodiac. So we might think it’s an opportunity for us to bring these Aquarian themes into our lives. So what would you say are things we can do during this season?
Wade: Okay, so I will bring up themes for body, mind and spirit. How does that sound?
Alejo: Fantastic. I love it.
Wade: Okay. So, I think two things that I would say for the body. The first is resistance training and endurance training of any kind. It’s well done during an Aquarius season. Mostly because this is a fixed sign ruled by Saturn, so themes of endurance, perseverance, resistance training, weights, heavy things. So if you are looking to start a new regime related to the gym, working out, anything like that. It’s a good thing to do. Thankfully, my second body suggestion is a lot more fun. Aquarius is an air sign, and if you go all the way back to Galenic medicine, it’s going to be even earlier than that, but there are four essential qualities. Actually, there’s just two. There’s heat and moisture. Those are the two. Heat and moisture. And when you don’t have heat, the resulting condition is coldness. When you don’t have moisture, the resulting condition is dryness. So only heat and moisture really exist, the other two are a result of an absence of those things that do exist. Now, each of the signs becomes a pairing of yes or no moisture, yes or no heat. The air signs are heated and also moist. So Aquarius then becomes the only sign in the zodiac associated with water that is also associated with heat. And this is a comment made by Albert Rooney, and it’s one that I have really cherished. So it’s a great time during Aquarius season to be taking long hot baths, to be going to spas, to go to hot springs, to go to places where you can experience warm water and the refreshing experience that comes with that.
Alejo: Fantastic.
Wade: It is fantastic. We all need to take more baths. Just relaxing, light some candles, you know, put on some calming music, cucumbers on your eyes, whatever your thing is. For the mind: Aquarius is known for being a thinking sign. It’s the sign of Saturn, and Mercury has a lot to do with the sign as well. So it’s a big Mercury-Saturn sign. I think with Aquarius, it’s a good opportunity to try to re-evaluate some intellectual challenges that are around in your life, and what you might want to do about them. So I can give you an example about what’s going on in my life and and how I’m kind of using this energy to help reevaluate. I’m spending a lot of time right now doing research on mundane astrology and working through the applications of astrology that are not about personality. It’s about where astrology can intersect into human experience, it’s not really hinging on personality analysis. And that’s a great and a lot of fun. But right now I have to figure out how to develop language around that, how to make it accessible, what audience is appropriate. With personality analysis, for instance, everybody knows if they’re an Aquarius or a Pisces or Aries and Taurus, you know, everybody knows this about themselves. And an increasing number of people will know their rising sign and will know their moon sign. How do we reach those people to talk about general themes that are happening in the world related to astrology? I think, you know, people might say Mercury’s retrograde and somehow expect communications to go awry, it’s kind of like that. But the type of astrology that I use is very degree based. So it’s a little bit more complicated. So I’m spending time thinking about how to package this in a way that’s digestible for somebody who has maybe even just a passing interest in astrology or would just like to be, you know, kind of a little bit informed on the side. In terms of the spiritual element of this sign, it is, once again, in the middle of winter. It’s a Saturn sign, but it is a human sign. So it’s got themes related to society and interaction with other humans and other people. So I think that the sign is really good for taking intentional time away from social interaction. This is the Saturn, fixed sign, winter nature of it. And then intentional decision to enter back into social interaction. And that would be more of the human element of the sign. This is a really, I think, a great sign for personal retreats and taking time away. It’s one of my favorite times of the year. I am an Aquarius, so maybe I’m a little bit biased. My birthday is around here. But mostly, I feel like the at least in the northern hemisphere with winter being around this time, the symbolism of retreat is all around us and it’s very easy to engage with that.
Alejo: Yeah. And it also goes well with the idea of going to take hot baths and going to the spa and this whole thing. Also, winter and retreating and kind of taking care of yourself. I have a curious question. You don’t have to answer if you don’t want to. So you like this part of the year and you like the idea of retreating, do you celebrate your birthday or you don’t?
Wade: Yeah, I do. But you know, it’s interesting, I have a very strong moon in my chart and I have a very strong maternal streak inside me. My mother’s birthday is around the same time as mine. She’s also an Aquarius. She was born a week before me. And in the States, we have American football and the Super Bowl that used to be the same weekend as my mother’s birthday. And so as long as I can remember, my mom’s birthday was Super Bowl Sunday. Everybody from the neighborhood would come over and we would all eat all day long, watch the football, watch the halftime show, which is all I cared about. I cared about the food and halftime show. That was my level of interest. I didn’t care about the sport at all. But then after 911, they pushed the Super Bowl back a week. And so now it’s on my birthday weekend every year.
Alejo: You have inherited the celebration.
Wade: Yeah. Now, because of, I think maybe it was because of COVID, something happened where they pushed it back one more week again. And now I think it’s off my weekend. But still, generally what I do for my birthday is invite all the people that I love who are nearby over. We cook, we eat, we watch the football game, we watch the halftime show. I’m sure we’ll be performing at the halftime show this year. I will be seated. I will be there.
Alejo: Right. Thank you. I was curious. I like your idea of sort of intentionally retreating and intentionally connecting again. Because one of the ideas I thought is, perhaps Aquarius is the time where you can meet people who think in a different way than you think. Also, you mentioned the idea of reassessing your train of thoughts. So the idea of challenging what you think. I don’t remember who I read the other day or who said this, but they were saying about the importance of having friends that are of different ages than you are, and of a different political approach. It opens up your mind.
Wade: Yes. I think what’s important about that is, people might hear that and become quite allergic to the idea of, you know, I don’t want to be friends with somebody whose ideas are harmful, etcetera, etcetera. And I think, you know, I can appreciate that. I also recognize that’s how we reach people and we change society and civilization and culture. One conversation at a time, one relationship at a time. And so, you need to figure out where your boundaries are. I think you’re absolutely right, Alejo, that this sign is very good for finding just enough commonality, if we want to find it, just enough where we can stand on something solid together and we can see what’s useful in constructive disagreement.
Alejo: Yeah, it’s hard sometimes. For me it’s hard sometimes.
Wade: Well we’re both fixed signs, right. So we both have a little bit of that kind of stuff.
Alejo: Exactly. So now let’s go to the key transits or key factors of the season. And we start with the Sun going into Aquarius. I have here for some reason, I don’t know why I cast the chart for Russia, I think it’s because I was looking at Chekhov’s chart. But basically we have the Sun entering zero degrees of Aquarius on the 20th of January. And one of the things that interested me of this entrance is first that the Sun is moving away from the conjunction… So basically we are recording this a few days before the entrance. So we’re recording this while the Sun-Pluto conjunction is building up. And so when the Sun goes into Aquarius, it’s going to start moving away from Pluto. And the Moon in Gemini is going to be doing a trine to the Sun, because the Moon is going to be zero degrees of Gemini. So, I mean, as an omen for the starting of the season, I think it might indicate, again, this idea that you said about perhaps intentionally choosing people to relate to, and also the idea of reflecting. Reflecting on our ideas, reflecting on our thoughts, the way we understand, the way we think. Because you know, the Moon is about emotions but when it goes to Gemini it becomes more intellectual. And hopefully, you know, I feel like it might bring some light. I feel like the beginning of the year was quite intense with the transits we had. And I’m hoping that it’s going to be a little bit lighter. What do you think?
Wade: Well, we can cross our fingers and hope. The ingress into Aquarius that all these planets are going to be experiencing over the next couple of weeks—they all come with a lot of intensity, to be honest. You know, the Sun is coming right off of the conjunction with Pluto. Then Pluto enters into Aquarius. And when Venus and Mars make their conjunction, which has been months building up, when they finally make their conjunction it’s in early Aquarius conjunct Pluto. So I think what we can expect, I mean, let’s be real, take a look around the world. Everything is tense right now. It feels like everything is doused in kerosene. There are fires in different corners of the house that you hope don’t touch each other, because if they do, the whole thing’s going up. And I think it’s probably fair for us to expect that that type of intensity of experience is going to continue as we move into the the Aquarius season. Everything’s kind of touching up on this Pluto theme. But it’s about what we do with it. You know, every period in human history where we’ve been focused on disaster—whether it’s war, pandemics, something—it’s about what we do coming out of that and how we set up the next century. The next two, three centuries. That’s what really matters. What we’re dealing with now is that old systems, we’ve been dealing with this for a while, but old systems aren’t working. They’re producing rampant inequality. I mean, on one level, outcomes for humans around the world, for many, life expectancy is up, poverty is down, access to food is up, access to water is up. But it’s not universal. And we’re at a stage now where there’s just too many questions about why it’s not. We’re just too interconnected. There’s no reason why anybody should be struggling to have access to water or have access to food. Or any reason why those should be levers for regional power, which they have been. I think on a personal level as well, there’s so much pain that we’re witnessing because this is the first time in human history where we can get a report about what’s happening in Yemen within seconds. So we are now witnesses to worldwide catastrophe. And we have been for a long time, but it’s just the degree to which we’re all very connected on social media and international outlets. It’s just everything’s moving a lot faster. And so, you know, we have to kind of take into account that we’re not used to hearing about this much tragedy at once. You know, we’re not used to taking all this in. And so to what extent is the world burning up? Or to what extent is it there have been periods like this all around the world that we were blind to and now starting to open our eyes to. So this whole movement into Aquarius, because in 2020 we had that Saturn-Jupiter conjunction in Aquarius and it was the first of those conjunctions that are in the air signs. Pluto’s moving into Aquarius, Uranus is moving into Gemini before too long. There’s a huge push on the air signs. I think what we’re looking at is a complete reappraisal of issues related to human development, human civilization, and what well-being for humanity actually looks like. And in the process, we really have to be patient with ourselves on a personal level, because these are very big themes and not anything that one person can solve on their own.
Alejo: Yeah. I was thinking also, I think it’s not only that we have discovered that this is now universal, but also that the areas of the world that have access are quite responsible for the areas that have no access. So I think, perhaps, I don’t know if I should say guilt, because I don’t know how much as an individual citizen is responsible for it. It’s something that has been building up through history. But I think there might be a sense of, you know, an inherited responsibility.
Wade: How I think about it, and maybe this is a way to incorporate the Aquarius symbolism, it’s like the current has been set, the river is flowing the way that it’s flowing. And there are, if you take individuals as fish, or maybe even people inside of that stream, we’re all being carried by the current. But at some point we have to be able to step out of the current and say, Is this a productive direction for the water to flow? We have created dams, for instance, to help rework the way that water flows so that it’s more beneficial for the surrounding environment and for the people that are around having access to water and power as a result of these dams and reservoirs. So symbolically, in the same way, an individual isn’t going to be responsible. But this can’t change without the intentional contribution from the individual. You know, maybe not everybody, but there needs to be a substantial number of people who are willing to say this current needs to change and I’m going to be a part of the team working to fix that.
Alejo: Yes. And I think it’s also an Aquarian theme of how much my little actions have actually an impact in the wider society. You know, this idea that the Sun in Aquarius is exiled from his house, right. So there’s the whole thing about the individual and the society. And, you know, you were saying before when we were talking about the possibility of incorporating in our circle of friends people who think differently, you were saying it’s little conversations that may change things. So there’s a whole tension between the place that a small individual has in the wider society, and sometimes it’s very hard to track it down. It feels so small, that change we can do on a personal level. And actually, if it’s gets multiplied, it’s huge.
Wade: Yeah, you’re absolutely right. I’ve got a couple of friends, there’s one in particular in my mind, where we have different political leanings and different relationships to the idea of labor and human value as represented through labor. We have a completely different approach on these things. And we used to work together and have a lot of conversations about improving the work experience for employees, for instance. And very often, we found ourselves on different sides of the conversation. That’s a polite way of saying that the obstacle that I would face in improving the situation would often be him. And maybe vice versa. Although, I think he was kind of championing a status quo. I don’t know what I would have represented for him. But there was just some kind of difficulty there. But the truth is, that I felt that this was somebody who just believed what he believed, and is a good person in his nature. He was just maybe not connecting the same dots I was connecting. And I don’t want to judge him on that. And just saying, Okay, well, we don’t see the same way on this. But it’s a long game for some of these. I mean, we’ve been friends for I think seven or eight years. We worked together only for like three. And now he’s in a situation where he is managing teams of 20, 30, 40 people at different stages in his career. And he’s finally being able to see this from the other perspective. Watching the burnout that’s happening in his team, feeling the burnout in himself. And he will call me up and ask if we can go to dinner so he can talk about this and reframe his own perspective. Now, not every friendship or relationship you have with somebody who has a disagreement about something is going to be like that. But it was so worth not discounting the potential for this person to grow and develop and change. And for me, also. I mean, I didn’t want to assume that I had the ultimate right answer. It’s like, one thing is great in theory, but in practice does it actually work? I mean, that’s a totally different conversation. So I think it’s been one of those quiet affirmations that it is about one relationship at a time. But also minding your own boundaries and what you can take. You know, this person wasn’t somebody that I spent every free moment with. It was somebody who was in my extended friend circle, but not necessarily somebody who would have been at my house just for any event.
Alejo: I like that you bring up the idea of boundaries, because the Sun is going into Aquarius and it’s ruled, of course, by Saturn and Uranus. And Saturn has been in Pisces now for a few months. So I think we are in a moment in which our sense of boundary may… You know, we have the opportunity, I think, to reframe our boundaries. I find this idea of the mutability of Pisces and perhaps to learn how to, I don’t know, it’s a boundary made of water. There’s Saturn in Pisces, so how to make it more flexible, more adaptable, more porous to other people or to other ideas.
Wade: This is really simplifying it just for the sake of this point, but we have wars over national boundaries, territorial disputes happening in the Middle East. We’ve got Venezuela and Guyana are having dispute. They’re reawakening a dispute that’s over a century old related to the boundaries of what is the state of Guyana versus the nation of Venezuela. And we have similar territorial disputes happening with the South China Sea. I mean, everywhere you look, this territorial dispute, boundary issue, is coming back. And I think what’s important to think about with Saturn in Pisces, because Pisces’s strength is not in defining. Its strength is actually in blurring. Blurring is not the word, but you know what I’m saying? To give you an example, in a horary, for instance, about purchasing a home, Pisces on the fourth house cusp would be concerning because it indicates that the ground underneath the home is likely to shift and move over time. That it’s not stable and it might serve a purpose for a while, but it will change. And so the reminder is that your boundaries do not have to be permanent. They will be challenged again in the future. You may be of a different mind at that time about where your boundaries ought to have them today, and where they should be in the future, and what you’re willing to negotiate on. I think staying in a growth mindset and recognizing you only need to make a decision for today. You don’t have to make a decision for life, you know? Be flexible with it.
Alejo: Exactly. Yeah. And I like your idea about this Moon trining the Sun. It’s not implying that things are going to get lighter. Because of course, you were very smart, like with everything that’s coming up that things are not going to get lighter. But maybe it’s implying that there’s going to be an abundance of information.
Wade: Yes. Yeah, sure.
Alejo: So on the 21st of January, Pluto goes into Aquarius. What would you say? Because Pluto is going to go into Aquarius is going to stay there for a long time. So what would you say? Do you think we will feel something this particular day?
Wade: Well, it’s not the first time Pluto is going into Aquarius. It retrograded and it’s coming back. And I think the last time it went into Aquarius on that day, I don’t remember if there was any like big event. But the thing is, this is the hard thing with astrology is, a big event happens and it’s like, well, was there any astrological ingress or major transit? It’s like, no, it doesn’t always work that way. Sometimes it does, though sometimes it’s more about how it connects to a broader thread of experiences that are coming together. So whether something happens on the 21st or it doesn’t, I don’t know if I have an opinion or want to express an opinion on that. But with Pluto in Aquarius, what is it, like 20 something years that Pluto is going to be moving through Aquarius? I think the big thing that’s going to happen throughout this process is we’re going to see a massive, massive shift towards themes of decentralization. It’s very possible that the US or Europe might continue to fracture into smaller Federations; to smaller groups at this stage. Because Leo, you know, is one of those signs that’s very much about centralization and bringing things into a central point. Aquarius is about distribution. This is where that water bearer image of the jug and taking something from a source and then distributing it out. So I would anticipate changes in how we approach taxing, how we approach banks, how we approach centralizations of power, how we approach centralization of decision making. Things are likely to become a lot more local. But the thing is, before any of these changes happen there usually is an extinction burst where we see almost a rigid clinging on to the old way of doing it to an extreme. I’m going to be borrowing something from dog training, not to make an analogy that humans are like dogs, but we are animals. And so there is some element that is probably transferable. But when you train a dog, for instance, say that you want to train them to sit before they eat or something like this. As you train them, you will notice that they get better or worse in terms of responding to the stimulus that you’re giving them. But right at the point where they’re almost trained out of the behavior you don’t want, there’s this spike of the undesirable behavior and that’s called the extinction burst. It’s almost like a point in the dog’s training where they’re so exasperated by the change. This is the most pivotal moment and if you allow the extinction burst to win, then all the training ends up failing. You have you have to push through it and expect the new desirable behavior even still. And then once you go through the extinction burst, it’s gone. It’s in the past. It’s over. The new behavior has been learned. Same thing I think is probably going to happen with mass groups of humans where we probably are reduced down to, you know, very animalistic psychology in many places and in many ways, emotional psychology. I think we’re going to probably see as Pluto moves into Aquarius a galvanizing around old ideas of how power is centralized, but there’s going to be a lot of pushing against that. We need to continue to push if we want to see change in development. We don’t have to see any changes is the other thing. You know, Pluto is going through Aquarius, it could do nothing more than just make crypto a huge thing. It could do nothing. It’s about what we choose to do with this. And in our personal lives, whether Pluto in Aquarius is really going to connect with you is going to come down to what your own birth chart looks like. And I would also say that Pluto really needs to be a degree based consideration. So just because you have Aquarius rising, doesn’t mean that this entire 20 year period is going to be transformational for you. But you should pay attention to when Pluto is within a degree of your ascendant for sure. That’s the kind of thing that at that moment, consciously or otherwise, you will be wrapped up in the global manifestation of that transit. So, that’s one of those things to consider.
Alejo: Yes. And I was thinking actually also about that. So if any of you, of the listeners, you have something at 29 of a cardinal sign or zero or one degree of a fixed sign, you probably have been feeling this already. That things are being shaken up. Then on the 23rd of January, Venus goes into Capricorn. So Venus starts the season at the end of Sagittarius and on the 23rd goes into Capricorn. I think with Venus in Sagittarius we try to enjoy freedom and possibilities and opportunities and vision. And maybe it’s not very realistic. And I feel like with Venus going into Capricorn, there might be a feeling of, well, not everything that I dreamt was possible. And, as you said, it’s very interesting that all of the three planets, Mercury, Venus, and Mars, are kind of running behind Pluto and catching up. So if you have something at the beginning of Capricorn, you might feel a change. What do you think?
Wade: I think Venus in Capricorn, the best thing we’re going to get from that is then Venus is going to send a sextile to Saturn, a trine to Jupiter. I think the beginning days there are going to be very forgiving and very soft and allow for, you know, depends on what you want to use that energy for. But I think it’s fairly good. The Venus-Jupiter trine, Saturn becomes the midpoint for that. So that’s interesting to think about. The Saturn here is disposited by Venus by exaltation; it’s disposited by Jupiter by sign because it’s in Pisces. So Saturn at this midpoint, it kind of creates this funnel and focus. I don’t really know how that will manifest. It’s just an observation. I am optimistic about Venus in Capricorn, though. I tend to like Venus in the earth signs, even in Virgo. I know that Venus is in her sign of fall in Virgo. But the earth signs tend to bring out something very accessible in Venus, I think for us.
Alejo: Yeah. And I think something realistic.
Wade: Yes. Something accessible, something close.
Alejo: This minor trine that you mentioned, in I think it may be about bringing some hopes to reality. So yeah, there might be a feeling of, not everything I dreamed was possible, but then if we open up to what’s possible, I think, it can bring a lot of very good feeling.
Wade: Yeah, exactly. And I think the secret to this is to not have hopes that are so elevated that reality can’t meet it. And you kind of hinted at that. But the reason I’m saying that is because Venus and Capricorn applying to Jupiter, we have to remember that Jupiter is in its fall in Capricorn. So that connection is actually kind of unstable. It suggests that while Venus gets something very useful to Jupiter, who’s in Taurus, Jupiter ends up having to make some accommodations for some things that are typically unsavory for Jupiter. So I think that’s like some high level interpretive ideas. But in practice, I think what that means is there are going to have to be sacrifices. We can’t take it all. In some places we might have to plug our nose and accept things. Because again, Saturn is at the midpoint of all of this. And so there is a very heavy theme of practicality. I agree with you.
Alejo: Then we get the we get to the Full Moon on the 25th of January. So the Full Moon at five degrees of Leo, and the Sun at five degrees of Aquarius. And of course, if they’re at five degrees of fixed sign, they are squaring Jupiter, which is in Taurus. Again this idea of Jupiter, of what is possible, is coming up. Do you have any thoughts on this Full Moon?
Wade: Well, I do actually. So the full moon on the 25th of January is going to have the Moon-Sun opposition at five degrees of Leo and Aquarius. And I would just like to remind folks that the 2024 Aries ingress, and this is coming up on the 19th of March, the Moon is at three Leo and Pluto is at one Aquarius. So this opposition that the Full Moon is creating at five degrees Leo- Aquarius, is going to be repeated at the Aries ingress. And the Aries ingress lasts for a full year, whereas a Full Moon only lasts for two weeks. So this period from the 25th of January until the next lunation, which is going to be on the 9th of February, will be very, very important to watch, because it is going to set the tone for what is and can be expected over the duration of the next astrological year. The Moon at five degrees of Leo square Jupiter, the Sun at five degrees Aquarius and square to Jupiter—everything’s pushing on to Jupiter. And so I think it’s going to be important for us to pay attention to the ways that Jupiter shows up in this two week period as well. I’m really looking at what’s going on with the decision with the International Court of Justice related to Palestine and Israel, for instance. I know that that opposition is also highlighting Ukraine’s chart. It’s highlighting some important configurations with respect to Russia and the hierarchy in Russia. And there are also some sharp connections to the Chinese presidency with Xi Jinping. So there’s a lot of major players around the world, if we’re just looking at world astrology. I just also want to say, I know that many people might be listening to this thinking, well, I’m more interested in personality astrology and what this means for me spiritually, etcetera, etcetera. And what I would like to say is that the best way to access what a transit is about is not through personal experience, because that is so limited. It is so wrapped up in your own subjective experience of life. It’s much, I think, more representative to pay attention to how these things shake out in the world. Then to understand how you and your own personal experience that that transit play into that, and to what extent you can contribute to that story or have some kind of symbolic theme that’s representative of this coming up. But this is a very important Full Moon because of the way it connects in with the Aries ingress of 2024.
Alejo: So whatever happens here might give us a clue of what the Aries ingress is going to be. Very interesting. Especially, I mean, you were talking about, okay, if somebody wants to have like their own personal take on how this is going to affect them, I think it’s important to remember that. Because let’s say if you have anything between three to six degrees of a fixed sign, this T-square is picking it up. So the whole Jupiterian theme of what’s possible, or not what’s possible, I would say, what’s the meaning? What’s the basic core of the purpose or meaning of whatever planet this T-square is touching in your chart? When Jupiter is transiting a planet in your chart, it’s asking, Okay, what is this for? What is the purpose of this planet for you? And this is going to be highlighted in the Full Moon. And whatever theme came up is going to be repeated in the Aries ingress. Very interesting. So then, the 27th of January, Mercury will conjunct Mars. At the same time the Sun will square Jupiter, and Uranus moves direct.
Wade: Yeah. A lot of these are present in that Full Moon chart, we’re just kind of seeing the moment that they all come together. Mercury and Mars coming to conjunction—I think that is really good for anything that involves any kind of tinkering or need to create. Mercury is a great planet to be associated with the creation of things. Things that you need your hands to make. Mars is good for any like technology, tools, things like that. So if you kind of put this in your mind, whatever you’re doing in your professional life, a Mercury-Mars conjunction in Capricorn can be fantastic for developing tools or strategies or things you need to help make your work life more efficient. That’s how I’m going to be using this conjunction anyway. But if you have planets at 15 degrees of the cardinal signs, I think it’s probably going to be important to just watch how you speak, watch how you communicate. A Mercury-Mars conjunction can be an easy release of frustration, disappointment, anger. I think for interpersonal conflicts, it can be a tricky one.
Alejo: Yeah, I agree. And then on the fifth of February, we start with the personal planets reaching Pluto. So on the 5th Mercury will go into Aquarius and it’s going to conjunct Pluto. I’m going to jump a little bit then we’ll come back then. Then Venus is going to go into Aquarius on the 16th of February and it’s going to conjunct Pluto. So I do think, also, there is this reassessing with Mercury how we think and how we speak. I like Pluto in the in the end, and I have good hopes in the sense that Mercury conjunct Pluto could bring hidden truths about ourselves. I mean, I always focus more in a personal way. And with Venus-Pluto, I think this idea of transforming relationships. I think it has to deal with facing, perhaps, dark aspects. Hidden aspects of the way we relate that we don’t usually pay attention to. And yeah, Mercury, Venus, and then it’s going to be Mars later, right?
Wade: Yeah, I was gonna say. That’s exactly right. So Mercury hits first, then Venus and Mars. We’re basically going through the Chaldean order of the planets and hitting these one by one by one. Now, Mercury, Venus and Mars, these are the three planets that are associated with career. In traditional methodology they are associated with career. The reason is because Mercury is going to be signifying the wits and intelligence that are applied; Venus is going to be signifying the delight and the joy that we find in the work that we do; our vocational calling. And then Mars is focused on the energy and drive that we bring. So these three planets together, in traditional analysis, work to help identify the vocations of individuals in birth charts. The Sun would then show to what extent we are celebrated by people of authority within our professional space. The Moon—the degree to which we’re celebrated by coworkers and the public. Jupiter and Saturn, again, are showing themes of esteem, promotion, or being pushed down and dejected. Not celebrated. So the other planets become modifiers on these three: Mercury, Venus, Mars, which contribute. The reason I went into that side tangent is to say that they are all three in successive conjunctions meeting Pluto. Mercury first, then Venus and Mars. And one of the areas of life that we know desperately needs overhauled, desperately needs looked at, is the relationship that Western society has to work and the increasing reliance on gig economy work and people who are not permanent employees but doing temporary jobs, and things like this. And how do we make sure that they are treated fairly? So I think that that successive series of conjunctions is likely to also be stirring up conversations in the labor market around these periods.
Alejo: Yeah. I would say, also, if we take it to a personal level, a person himself or herself, themselves, can think, Okay, how do I relate to this idea of work that has been given to me by the Western society? Maybe gives you an opportunity to start changing things. Because as you were saying, maybe this is going to start the conversation. It isn’t like it’s going to change suddenly. So it’s going to start the conversation, but then, okay, what is it that I can do in my life to change my relationship to work?
Wade: And I think we should also not expect that the change is necessarily a good one. Sometimes it’s an even bigger step backward than we could hope for, which then is the catalyst for the bigger pushback that happens in a few years time. So we just need to be open to whatever the news is and see what happens and kind of work with that.
Alejo: It’s true. Okay, then on the 10th of February, we skipped it because we jumped over it. We have the New Moon at 20 degrees of Aquarius. You know, I always think that this should be the day that we celebrate astrology.
Wade: Yeah, some people have a strong association between Aquarius and astrology. I’m undecided on that. I don’t know. But I love, love, love the Aquarius season anyway. So, you know, I’m quite happy with any kind of things that are being built. But I was making that little comment that I was making because this is such an awkward conjunction. There’s no connections to any other planets. The Sun and Moon are effectively void. They’re not an orb of any aspect to any planet. And I think what that kind of is pointing to is the possibility of this period being something of an interregnum, where maybe there’s just not a lot of development, not a lot of things that are kind of kicking up, stirring. But I don’t know how reliable that’s actually going to be in practice, because Mercury is in square to Jupiter and Venus is applying to a conjunction with Mars. So we can definitely see that there’s an attempt for things to come together. But these aspects are very strained. Mercury and Jupiter are in square. That’s a strain for an obvious reason. And Venus and Mars, while that application is happening and it looks like it’s going to be very promising because Mars would receive Venus by exaltation, it’s a very promising connection, but they don’t actually conjunct until they move into the next sign and they have to both pass over Pluto. So there is like an underworld passage that those two have to go through before they can really find each other. So the symbolism of this New Moon, I think, is a bit of a mixed bag. And it shows desire for connection, but maybe also strain for connection.
Alejo: Yeah, but I think of it as a time of waiting. The New Moon, a lot of people relate it to emergence because it’s the New Moon, but also it’s the Dark Moon. So you were talking about these planets preparing to go to the underworld. It reminds me of the image in the Odyssey. I think I mentioned this in the last podcast, also. I keep getting this image on the Odyssey when he has to prepare to go to the underworld. So maybe it’s like this kind of preparation for change in the darkness. And then on the 16th, we said Venus is going to Aquarius and it’s going to conjunct Pluto. And then on the 19th, the Sun goes into Pisces and we’ll have a new episode.
Wade: We’ll be ready for that. Then it’s all Sun, Venus, Saturn. You know, all sorts of stuff going on at that time.
Alejo: Yeah, so I would like to kind of wrap up a little bit what’s happening this season. I think these personal transits to Pluto are going to be very important. I mean, they could be important if we take, like you say, we choose what to do with these energies that are given to us. Then we usually list some dates that we think are good dates. So on the 28th, Mercury will trine Uranus, then on the 30th Mars will do the trine. And then on the 7th of February, Venus will do the trine. So the same way that they’re going to be conjuncting Pluto, they’re going to be trining Uranus. So I just think these dates are opportunities if you want to provoke change in your life; if there are behaviours that you want to change. With Mercury, I would say probably trains of thoughts that you want to change. And with Mars, I would go more to behaviors. Maybe those dates are important to, I don’t know, to start that, to promote that, to encourage that.
Wade: Yeah, I think that’s not a bad idea.
Alejo: Then on the 29th we have Venus trine Jupiter, both in Taurus. We talked a little bit about this. So this idea of grounding the vision and accepting what’s possible, but also accepting what’s not possible. The 8th of February, Mars will sextile Neptune in Pisces. So I like this one because Mars is in Capricorn and Neptune is in Pisces.
Wade: Right, so you get these really nestled in kind of symbols. Mars in Capricorn, I think, is a very useful energy. Mars is not typically very restrained, but Capricorn teaches you when to draw the sword and when to sheath it. So there’s something useful to be had when Mars is moving through Capricorn. I’m hoping that by the 8th February, I mean, this is going to be around Chinese New Year. And we have already had so many issues as a result of Israeli aggression against Palestinians, the sea lanes that have closed throughout the Red Sea, the Houthi Yemeni conflicts with US and UK ships. There’s just so many issues with sea lanes and shipping right now. Mars in Capricorn is only likely to stir up more conflict. But I’m hoping that the sextile with Neptune in Pisces might show a softening and what’s happening around that period. But it’s unlikely to result in relief for those who work in the shipping industry. The backing up that’s already happening. I mean, just so you know, so, so, so much that ends up in ocean carriers gets impacted by Chinese New Year, because they try to front load all of this because they’re going to take time off for New Year. It’s a major holiday. So all the shipping and things that need to go out to sea coming from the east, they end up being front loaded. It can be a very challenging period if you’re having any kind of issues getting things moving about. And right now, with the Red Sea closed and a need to go around the Cape of Good Hope, or going around South Africa, it’s slowing things down significantly. So I think that this particular sextile has an opportunity to soften some of the conflict that we’ve been seeing, but even still I anticipate this period as going to be a logistical nightmare for those who work in those industries.
Alejo: Yeah. I guess everything that touches Neptune is going to be a nightmare for somebody who works in logistics. Great. Thank you. Would you like to try to come up with a key takeaway and mantra for the season?
Wade: Yeah. “You have not had enough hot baths.” Go have more.
Alejo: Ah nice. Go have more hot baths. And I would say, go have hot baths to prepare to go to the underworld. I would say, my mantra would be, “I prepare to go to the underworld.” Then we always ask if you’re reading anything right now, because people are curious. I’m reading Hermes: Guide of Souls by Karl Kerenyi. And he goes through all the different deities. It’s a very small book, very interesting. And what are you reading now?
Wade: I would like to recommend Black Cake by Charmaine Wilkerson. Somebody very dear to me recommended the TV show, which is on Hulu. So if you have access to Hulu you can see it, at least in the United States, you can watch it there. But this is a story about a young girl who was a swimmer. She’s from the Caribbean. And ended up, through one betrayal, secret, difficult scenario after another, had to escape her home and flee to another country. And it’s a story about how she tried her best to retain her heritage where she’s from, and many, many decades on how her children learn about her early life. And so it’s a really powerful story about identity, about hope, about family, and about secrets that we carry and the relationship between parents and children. And it’s also, I think, a beautiful exposition of the Caribbean. So there’s really powerful storytelling there, both in terms of film and the book by Charmaine Wilkerson.
Alejo: Thank you. So if people want to contact you, or if there’s a course coming up that you’re going to teach, what can they do? How can they reach you?
Wade: Yeah, great. So my website is wadecaves.com. You can find me on social media, Instagram, @wadecaves. There are two courses coming up that I want to make you aware of. We have an astronomy for astrologers course. So if you are an astrologer or hoping to be one, and you are struggling to learn the astronomy that you need to know to calculate a chart by hand, if you don’t understand what house systems are and how they work and why Campanus is different from Regiomontanus. If you find yourself unable to contribute to those conversations in a way that’s informed, or if you want to do something like study primary directions or secondary progressions, anything that is kind of astronomical in nature, this is the course for you. It’s running from May to June. It’s a seven week course. And that’s being offered through the School of Traditional Astrology. So you can find info there: sta.co/astronomy. And then we also have a Horary course that’s coming up. A 20-week course on Horary astrology written by Deborah Houlding, that will be starting in June. So you can see more about that sta.co/horary, or you can just go to the main page sta.co and you can find both of those courses accessible there.
Alejo: Great. Thank you, Wade. For Astrology University, there are going to be two webinars on economic cycles for 2024 on the 3rd of February. One is by Grace Morris, who is going to give us tips that will help us become our own portfolio manager and become our own business manager. And then the other one is with Gianni DiPoce, and he’s going to be doing a 12 month financial outlook for 2024 for different markets, including: stocks, bonds, Forex, commodities, cryptocurrencies, and real estate. And if you want to contact me, you know my Instagram is @liminalcosmos. I’m partnered with the Astrological Association of Great Britain, and we’re going to start a series of encounters that are called ‘Astrological Duets.’ They are for free. So I really encourage you to see them and participate. Also, if you want to support the association, it means a lot. Alright, great. Thank you so much, Wade, for being here. It was a pleasure to have you here. And thank you everybody for listening.
Wade: Thank you very much. I appreciate it.
