Hi! Happy new year and welcome at last, to the first missive of the Night Shift Astrology newsletter. I hope the longer days since the solstice are bringing much needed light back into your lives. I have been talking this into existence for some time now, and am so excited to see it finally materializing. Now that I have more time this year to focus on writing for my own brand, I’m happy to let loose here. Before we get to the astrology, back in June I was in a bit of a financial bind. I held a raffle to raise some funds and received over $160 in total which was a huge help for me! I had planned on announcing the winners much sooner, though life, as such, got a bit in the way. I felt like it would be better to announce the winners around the same time I announce the re-opening my books. You can schedule a reading here: https://nightshiftastrology.as.me/75minutes
My books will be opening on Wednesday, February 22nd. Also, the winners of the the 3 reading certificates (valid throughout 2023) are as follows:
Chen L.
Adrienne D.
Rae C.
I want to thank you all again for your support and also your patience, after not having heard back about this. You’ll each receive an email from me shortly with a code to redeem after the 22nd. As an extra show of thanks to those who entered, you’ll ALSO receive a coupon code for their amount you donated. Asking for help is something that has always been hard for me, until these past few years. The ways people have shown up for me continues to humble me in all the ways I need. I’ll take another beat to thank the crew over at Bird of Prey Aesthetics for hosting me at their Love is Love Valentine’s Day party. I got to sit with so many amazing people and talk about Venus and what kind of magic she makes in the chart, wherever she’s placed. It was great to get back into the event circuit and I hope to do more like it in the future!
The winter season starts with Capricorn season, lasting up until the Sun’s entry into the sign of Aries. As the calendar shifts into the year 2023, it is particularly notable how little the year feels “new”. This winter moves slow, as it turns the page on stories and situations from the past few years. Here we see final moments of Saturn’s parade through hir airy domicile of Aquarius. This transit started in March of 2020, alongside other events which, considering the timing, seems more than coincidental. It quickly became clear that we were in a significantly different world than we knew before.
2020 was a remarkable year for a multitude of reasons. Many of them I find exemplary of the kind of lessons Saturn offers while in Aquarius. From that very first entry, the time was marked by exile and isolation. Not only was our physical movement affected, but the movement of our thoughts and emotions. Misinformation and fear plagued our minds as much as the virus. It felt like we were dealing with insurmountable walls blocking off all that felt familiar. In many ways, it still does. Aquarius, as an air sign, deals with the social sphere, or more the social structure. We fix our minds to decide what is and what is not acceptable in a functional society. Especially when it feels like the rules we lived by before are no longer applicable. Not that we all agree on moral right and wrong, no. However, as a collective, we find a subtle use for everything offered. It’s why we tell stories of boogeymen and fascinate over true crime as much as we do over the actions of those we admire. Saturn not only rules over our structures, but those fears of what would dismantle them. Within this uncharted territory, Saturn has brought all of these into question.
At the end of 2020 we saw Saturn moving into Aquarius with Jupiter. This marked an astrological event called a “Great Conjunction”. These conjunctions occur every 20 years in signs of the same elemental quadruplicity. Every 200 years, the conjunctions of Jupiter and Saturn change elements. Each elemental shift demarcates a significant change in the way culture is formed. The past 200 years prior we lived in a time centered around earth. Disputes of land ownership and stewarding, of the resources found deep under the surface dominated our perception of the world. Now, the shift has come to Air. In this new cycle, not only the air we breathe becomes a concern. The information that comes to us, be it through an exchange of words or the airwaves that invisibly connect us, also becomes the center of global actions. We’re seeing the start of it now, but as time moves forward the imperceptible things of this nature will make a huge impact on our history.
This winter also focuses on the dynamic between Mars and Mercury. As the season begins, both sit in their retrograde phases . We often bemoan the Mercury retrograde as a period of ill fated communications. Our current social conventions demand immediacy without room for mishaps. It makes sense that the concept of delay might throw us into a tailspin. Mars, having been retrograde, took his direction from a distracted Mercury. Before entering retrograde they had been at least a capable steward and host. Though as early January had proven, there was of course the predictable challenges of a retrograde planet leading another retrograde planet. Wherein our actions taken based on information that may have been misleading had to go through a trying, but necessary, process of review.
Since Mars entered Gemini in late August, Saturn has had hir restrictive eye on the progress he makes. In our hyperindividuaist culture, the impulse to push back fiercely against negation is strong. Its what we see in “grind culture”, driving us to forge ahead against the obstacles ahead of us. Many times, the pressure to move forward comes at the expense of our wellbeing. So too does Mars find itself energized enough to ramp up his charge, again and again. Planets in retrograde motion are much closer to Earth, which amplifies their spirit. With the volume on high, we are more receptive to their influence. From the end of October on, a retrograde Mars has been nestled within our thoughts. Disoriented and trying with much effort to find a weak spot in which to break through to the other side. Often falling short and needing to recover, yet waiting for the chance at another attempt. With Mercury stationing retrograde on January 28th, the directive shifts. Mindfulness of how one acts upon a thought becomes the objective, after recognizing the thought of worthy of action.
By the middle of January, both Mars and Mercury will station direct (on the 13th, and the 18th, respectively). Life moves at a quicker pace as Mercury moves past Capricorn and into Aquarius in February. In Aquarius, Mercury still offers their resources to Mars, but under the stern gaze of Saturn. Inflammatory issues around what one does for the sake of being different come into play. March sees Mercury in Pisces, but it doesn’t take long until Saturn deigns it time to join with them again. Mercury finds the depth of Pisces more perilous than other planets. Often they get lost in all the intricate details. Saturn will offer some stability for Mercury, having a form of strength here. Though it may be at the expense of Mercury’s . Yet, once Mercury finds themself deeper in the ever moving waters, the messages to Mars get harder to decipher. Not unlike a Mercury retrograde, tensions around communication are likely to arise. It might be best to take a close look at the ways important information gets exchanged. Otherwise, this is a particularly good time to explore different ways to express a thought. Mars enters Cancer by the Spring, moving on to give Mercury some much needed rest from their host duties.
The last major shift for this quarter of the year is already underway, with Jupiter well settled in Aries. Jupiter has left the comfort of his dreamy palace in Pisces, not scheduled to return for the next 12 years. The planet representing our sense of hope and faith gets energized in Aries. While in Pisces, he has endless room to expand our mind and our beliefs. In Aries, where each action is swift and decisive, he must act on instinct.
Aries is the domain of Mars, particularly a Mars eager to cut away from the group and do something new. He holds the responsibility of making sure Jupiter has a comfortable stay in Aries. Mars, once moving direct, helps our ability to lean into the breadth of Jupiter. Fortifying a belief that regardless of circumstance, we have the power to forge ahead. Jupiter in Aries is a call from the universe’s pulpit, not just to dream it, but to be it. In May of this past year through the end of September, we got an extensive preview of this transit. If any big plans and projects started to take form around that period, you can expect a renewed passion for them.
Transits do not happen in a vacuum. Looking back at the world events that occurred at that time, we can see some of the negatives of a Jupiter transit. What we perceive as truth inspires more divisive actions. It is clear that faith can either be a weapon or a tool in the hands of the wielder. Though the exact aspects happen in the spring, Jupiter in Aries is deeply colored by Saturn in Aquarius. This can look like building community based in one’s exclusion. Where the faith in one’s ideals made through this connection are bolstered. Enabling us to find the support to act on them, for better or worse.
The hope I have for this time is that we find within ourselves the capacity to connect across broader lines. Those who have institutional power have done this effectively for themselves. They sow the seed of discontent amongst those without. Plucking at raw nerves, ensuring that we focus on our individual differences. All efforts go to keeping us blind to how the current power structure does a disservice to us all. It is their oldest trick and even as we see the crumbling of these structures, we fall for it. The fires in Aries are hot enough to destroy, but also to fuse. Let this time usher us towards an answer to this question. Are the conflicts we find ourselves in are productive towards our true goals? Or are they manufactured to keep the facade of our isolation?
The thing about astrology, that time after time I see in my own life and in the lives of people I sit with in consultation, is that regardless of any plans or predictions the world turns. We can try our best to have an active hand in our fate but fortune ultimately turns the wheel. Some may say that its fatalistic to look at the world this way, but I interpret it as a material reality that is far more forgiving than others. There are good periods and bad, and many opportunities to intuit what works, whether you speak the language of the stars or not. At the time of me posting this, its far later than I anticipated when I started my outlining in December—and that’s just how it is sometimes! Soon Spring will come, and along with it a wildly different landscape. As well as, of course, another newsletter. Do your best to find rest and warmth where it can be found, I’ll promise to do the same.
Until the next time we meet again,
Maya
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