2023 Overview Part 1: Pluto, Saturn & Jupiter
Try not to resist the changes
that come your way. Instead let life live through you.
And do not worry that your life is turning upside down.
How do you know that the side you are used to
is better than the one to come?
Rumi
2023 is a Game Changer
The year takes shape as three outer planets and the Moon’s Nodes change signs. Big shifts begin in March when both Pluto and Saturn launch a new agenda of challenge and transformative growth. The shifts continue as Jupiter changes signs in May followed by the nodal axis changing signs in July. Slower moving planets change signs infrequently. Multiple outer planets shifting their focus in the same year mark 2023 as the biggest astrological year since 2020.
Historically, when an outer planet enters a new sign, the event is accompanied by sudden shifts, or a dramatic unfoldment, in the collective. We may experience intensity in our personal lives, especially if we have planets at 29, 0 or 1 degree of a sign. New themes are surfacing to be faced and managed as our lives are transformed in the months and years that follow.
This newsletter gives an overview of the three key planets changing signs
January and February: months of preparation for change
March 7: Saturn enters Pisces
March 23: Pluto enters Aquarius
May 16: Jupiter enters Taurus and squares Pluto
2023 Part 2 (next issue)
April /May: The Eclipse Season and a Mercury Retrograde
June: Jupiter conjunct the North Node
July: The Nodal Axis moves to Aries/Libra
July to September: Venus & Mercury Retrogrades, & Pluto square the nodal axis
October: Second eclipse season
December: Final Mercury Retrograde of 2023
Clarifying, Aligning and Preparing
January and February
2023 gets off to a slow start (Mercury and Mars both Retrograde), prodding us to take added time to mull over variables, options and plans. There is a measure of inertia and sluggishness and we feel restrained from making big decisions or taking decisive action. This is a preparation time where we ready ourselves to commit to a course of action. If we resist the retrograde motion of Mercury and Mars, we may find ourselves spinning our wheels, chaffing at the bit and feeling frustrated that life isn't moving forward at the pace we hoped it would.
Mid-January, the energy shifts dramatically (Mercury goes direct January 12 followed by Mars going direct on January 18). And finally, when Uranus, the planet of dynamic change, goes direct on January 23, all planets are direct. Life is greenlighted to accelerate forward. The pace of life begins to picks up slowly and gains speed as we move towards March. We feel the wind in our sails and look to set our course for the year.
The January 20 New Moon supports us in synthesizing and integrating all that was learned or discovered over the last months so that there is clarity needed to commit to a decisions and plan of action.
Jupiter in Aries, the sign of the warrior, until May. We are emboldened to act with courage, to trust our gut and take a risk. Jupiter is flying through Aries further fueling dynamic action. Until Jupiter enters Taurus in May, the pace of life is accelerated and we may find ourselves making quick or daring decisions.
February invites us to dedicate ourselves to practices of self care, to clearing out and letting go of what no longer is a match for our life as we further clarify future goals. Some of us may know what we plan to do with our life and are ready to take decisive action. Others of us are doing the work needed to ensure we our ready to seize opportunity when it arrives. Either way, we all need to leave room for the element of surprise and to welcome unexpected twists in the plot of our lives that arrive through the course of the following months.
