2019 Great Expectations: Security, structure and belonging

Most of us begin a new year with hope of a better time to come and longing for a year that has fewer pitfalls than the preceding one. We may pine for less disasters and a more proactive approach to healing the planet and our human family. Perhaps we are also expecting more from ourselves in terms of being able to meet the challenges we inevitably face.

 

Astrology can’t tell us precisely how the year ahead will pan out, but it can isolate and describe some of the major themes that are going to emerge. This process is aided by creative reflection on previous cycles of the planets or bodies under consideration, with a view to positive developments when lessons are learnt. 2018 was notable for its powerful eclipses and a preponderance of retrograde planets. This included particularly challenging and lengthy retrogrades of the two key personal planets Mars and Venus towards the end of the year.

 

2019 will be a particularly earthy year with a focus on the autonomous sign of Capricorn with Pluto and Saturn and the South Node there all year and Jupiter joining them there on the 4th of December. This is a year to get physical, to be really present and to connect with earth. It is shaping up as a year to put plans into action, whilst recognizing that this may entail confronting some of our deepest fears and vulnerabilities. It’s a year to get real and to embody our authentic selves and to step into our unique and individual roles in this life.

 

All but one of the five eclipses of 2019 occur on the Cancer-Capricorn axis reflecting the presence of the North Node in Cancer and the South Node in Capricorn until June 2020, and highlighting issues around structure, security, and our sense of belonging. The first eclipse for 2019 is a solar eclipse at 12:41pm on the 6th of January followed two weeks later by a total lunar eclipse on 21st January. While neither of these eclipses will be visible in Australia they will nevertheless affect the zeitgeist worldwide. The 6th of January eclipse may prove to be an ideal time for starting creative, artistic and musical projects. With this New Moon exact at 12:28 pm at 16 degrees Capricorn, characterized as School Grounds Filled with Boys and Girls in Gymnasium Suits, we are being asked to establish an affinity with our body and our vitality. This is reinforced by Mars gliding through its home sign of Aries from the 1st of January until mid February, ensuring an action oriented start to the year.

 

The lunar nodes, points where the moon’s orbit crosses the ecliptic, pertain to our individual destiny and karma through their natal placement, while also speaking to our inherited collective karma by transit. We are being challenged to learn the new lessons of the futuristic North Node while releasing the resisting energy of the past through the South Node. Achieving a balance between these two opposing lunar energies is one of the critical jobs our souls face. The North Node in Cancer is calling us home and to a better work life balance, harmonizing our need to belong (Cancer) with our need to control and excel (Capricorn), our sensitivity with our utility, and our compassion with our competence.  We may anticipate a stronger sense of a global community, while some of the excesses of corporate culture are up for review. The Capricorn South Node’s karmic position is triggering collective healing work bringing us home and releasing fear, loneliness and world weariness where we have been out of balance in this respect. That this is particularly crucial work is underlined by the fact that in 2019 we are heading towards a particularly fateful and powerful cosmic meeting between Pluto, Saturn, Jupiter and Pluto’s own South Node all in Capricorn which will take place in 2020. (The last time there was a Saturn Pluto conjunction in Capricorn was in 1518, around the time of the Reformation).

 

On the positive side we start the year with the two transpersonal and one of the outer planets operating authentically and potently in their home signs. This spans the years 2011 until 2025 in the case of idealistic outer planet Neptune, December 2017 until March 2020 in the case of the reality check transpersonal planet Saturn and November 2018 until December 2019 in the case of optimistic Jupiter.

 

Both Chiron and Uranus changed signs in 2018 and are currently briefly revisiting the sign they left behind. These heavenly bodies tend to make a statement when they enter or reenter a new sign. Chiron will reenter Aries on the 19th of February where it will remain until 2026. It will briefly join Uranus in Aries before that planet moves back into Taurus on the 7th of March. Chiron moving into the first sign of the zodiac is in pioneering territory. Chiron, the wounded healer and the maverick, suggests that if we want to be healed (including healing that which we think will never be healed) we must first let the illness take form in some way. While Chiron in Pisces asked us to make a sacrifice, in Aries we are giving birth to ourselves with courage and in all our uniqueness. At this time our fears about taking action may be exposed but connecting with the breath and being in our bodies will assist n the healing process. While healing the wounded masculine, Chiron in Aries is asking us to take on the power of individual choice and heal wounds associated with competition and identity.

 

With Uranus the Great Awakener in Taurus from early March until July 2025, we can once again anticipate changes in values, a revolution in building, a focus on technology and the body, and breakthroughs relating to electrification and the body. Banking and finance will be under the spotlight as will the use of land. Scientific engineering at this time may bring the focus more in line with the rhythms of nature, and perhaps sound healing will find its moment.

In Chinese astrology from the 4th of February the year of the Earth Boar encourages a tranquil home and inner-life, while we each work diligently towards achievable personal goals. In 2019 it will be important to keep your eyes on our future goals, while not losing sight of what needs to be done in the here and now to get there. Happy New Year!

 

 

 

Gillian Dwyer is a Melbourne astrologer Agent 25 of the C*I*A and frequent participant at Kundalini House.