Current Cycles
A zoomed-out look at where we are.
This informational column describes some longer-term astrological cycles that serve as background for current events. I will update this piece regularly as the longer-term cycles progress and change.1
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200-Year Cycle: The Age of Air
In December 2020, we entered a new 200-year period some astrologers are calling the “Age of Air”. This cycle will highlight themes of the air element in astrology: societal structures, communication, transportation, technology, innovation, and our objective reality. We’ve already seen these themes emphasized since 2020, especially with the outermost planet Pluto in an air sign as well (Aquarius). Although Pluto’s cycle is a separate concept from this 200-year Age of Air cycle, its entrance into Aquarius at the start of this Age of Air has acted like an exclamation mark on the above themes.
Before December 2020, we were in a 200-year Age of Earth that included the Industrial Revolution, unprecedented extraction of Earth’s resources, labor movements, and the climate crisis. The Earth element represents everything from our literal planet to human labor, resources, money, and even the physical body’s health. Just as the Earth themes dominated historical events in the past centuries, the Age of Air themes of society, communication, technology, and more will provide critical context going forward.
The Age of Air, like any of the four elements in astrology, comes from astrologers noticing a pattern: Every ~200 years, Jupiter and Saturn appear to come together in signs of the same element. For instance, the two planets may appear to align in the sky in the Libra constellation, Aquarius constellation, and Gemini constellation — all while aligning in air signs. (There are exceptions at the start and end of the 200-year cycle during the transition period. For example Saturn and Jupiter came together in an air sign in 1980 before returning to an earth sign in 2000.) However, by and large, these two significant planets come together for almost two centuries and set the tone for human events during those periods.
To highlight some examples of what might happen in the Age of Air, we again turn to core understand of the air element in astrology. For example, society may become less oriented to nation states and more or nomadic. In prior ages of air, nomadic peoples were often dominant global political forces. Communication and technological changes will accelerate. Government and societal structures that tended to be more hierarchical in the Age of Earth are likely to become more fluid and flat or populist.
While we have another year or so of Uranus in the earth sign Taurus and a couple months of Pluto in the earth sign Capricorn (through November 19 only), these strong earth energies are separate from the Age of Air, which focuses on Saturn and Jupiter’s cycle. And to the extent we’re experiencing the final stages of Uranus and Pluto in earth signs, it can almost be seen as wrapping up these Earth themes that dominated the past 200 years.
The last “Age of Air'“ occurred approximately between 1186 and 1405. Some major events during that time include the signing of the Magna Carta, which established democratic principles that limited the monarch’s power. The hierarchical and blood-line nature of a monarchy can be more closely associated with the earth element. Democracy, as a more egalitarian form of governance, can be seen as related to the air element. Additionally, during the last Age of Air, the Mongul Empire, which began as a nomadic movement, was powerful during the last Age of Air. It created a vast system of networks, trade, and culture exchange to connect people — all qualities of the air element in astrology.
Note: The Age of Air is not the “Age of Aquarius” that pop culture often references. The Age of Aquarius references as 2000 year period that some astrologers believe we’ve entered and others posit it starts later. We do not know exactly when this period began because it’s tied to the measurement of “time” itself and not the exact movement of the planets. I plan to write a longer piece on this topic as well , but for now I refer you to pop astrologer Susan Miller’s take.
248-Year Cycle: Pluto
Entered Aquarius on Nov. 19, 2024, for next ~20 years
For more information, read my detailed column on Pluto in Aquarius here.
Unlike astronomy, Pluto has not been downgraded to “dwarf planet” in astrology. Au contraire, this planet has a massive impact on society and human evolution. We may understand this planet the least as we have not even known its existence for 100 years, but the themes of evolution, destruction, and rebirth correlate well when reviewing historical periods of Pluto’s transits through the Zodiac.
Pluto has the longest orbit around the Sun and thus spends the longest time in each sign. Pluto also has an elliptical orbit, which means it does not spend the same amount of time in each sign like the other planets. Pluto toured half the Zodiac from its entrance into Leo in 1939 to its final exit from Capricorn in November 2024. That’s 85 years. But Pluto won’t return to Leo again until 2168 — 144 years from now!
With those dates in mind, we can understand perhaps why the past 85 years might have felt like such fast change. For the next ~20 years, beginning on Nov. 19, 2024, Pluto will be in just one sign: Aquarius. (We have many other astrological movements that may make time speed up, such as Uranus in Gemini 2025-2033, but the past 85 years were extraordinary for humanity.)
In 2024, we ended the final time of Pluto in Capricorn. While we’re now solidly in the Pluto in Aquarius age, we may feel the lingering effects of Pluto in Capricorn because this planet moves so slowly and astrology is a bell curve of energy — not a change overnight.
Pluto first entered Aquarius briefly from March to June 2023. It entered a second time in January 2024 until September of that year. On Nov. 19, 2024, it entered Aquarius to remain for almost 20 years. This is a significant period within the 200-year Age of Air because the outermost planet in astrology will also be in an air sign.
That said, from 2025 to 2027 or beyond, we may continue to let go of Capricorn themes as we lean into Aquarius ones. Capricorn represents the structures we live in, the leaders who guide us, and the way we lead ourselves. All of these institutions are being challenged and may completely dissolve in the coming years.
What will replace these old structures is not new ones. The astrology suggests, instead, that a flatter, more democratic (or at least populist), individual-first era will begin — connected to the Aquarius themes of equality and innovation. But also the broader 200-year Age of Air.
Pluto represents evolution, transformation, and profound change regarding the themes of the sign it travels through. Pluto can make small things big (Pluto was discovered around the time of nuclear energy) and big things small (Pluto transits can correlate with leaders being toppled overnight).
165-Year Cycle: Neptune
Neptune leaves Pisces in March 2025; Returns a final time in fall 2025
We are finishing off a 14-year cycle of Neptune moving through the Pisces constellation. This cycle began in 2011 and will officially end in 2026 for the rest of our lifetime. From March 30 to Oct. 22, 2025, Neptune will be in Aries.
Neptune represents ideals, dreams, spirituality, illusion, and collective unconscious. In a global context, it often symbolizes mass movements, ideologies, fantasies, deceptions, or the dissolution of boundaries.
As Neptune’s movement through Pisces concludes, the Neptune themes of idealism, illusion, and collective unconscious may be emphasized in a feverish way. Fake news may continue to proliferate. There may also be events of massive spiritual awakenings as the collective unconscious experiences events of awakening. The Third Great Awakening in American history began when Neptune was last in Pisces during the 1850s.
When Neptune moves through Aries, it will emphasize the Aries themes of leadership, creative initiative, drive, fresh starts, and also aggression or conflict. Accordingly, Neptune in Aries may be a time of visionary action, where individuals and societies are driven by dreams of change, leadership, and idealism. However, it could also create a tendency toward illusions in how these actions are carried out, making clarity and discernment essential.
Neptune’s entrance into Aries is significant because it will appear to come together in the sky with Saturn for the first 2-3 years. Saturn and Neptune only come together every 35-36 years and has not happened since the late 1980s.
Saturn and Neptune together an erosion (Neptune) of societal structures (Saturn). The creative, dissolving influence of Neptune can challenge the more formalistic, foundations of Saturn. The last time these two planets came together, we saw the dissolution of the Berlin Wall, the USSR, South African apartheid — to name a few structures that seemed to end over night. We also saw the start of the Internet, which represented a dissolution of geographical separation among humans. Obviously, the internet is having an ongoing, huge impact on humanity.
84-Year Cycle: Uranus
Uranus first enters Gemini in July 2025
We are finishing off Uranus’ movement through the Taurus constellation. Uranus will enter into Gemini for the first time in about 84 years from July 7 to Nov. 7, 2025. After April 25, 2026, it will be in Gemini until August 2032.
Uranus is the planet of disruption and change. Its movement through Taurus has disrupted many of the themes represented by that sign: Earth itself (accelerating effects of climate change), monetary systems (Bitcoin’s explosion), employment (numerous strikes and organized labor), and food (changes to agriculture and plant-based meat). We should expect to see these themes emphasized for much of 2025 and into 2026, or until Uranus enters Gemini for keeps.
Uranus in Gemini will create a revolution in communication, transportation, and the networks that connect us as humans. Although these areas of life seem to have changed so much in recent years, with the internet and social media, we should expect faster, disruptive, and more in-depth changes in the coming years. We will likely see fully autonomous cars, better AI language models, and changes to flying (or disruptions of air travel). Even the Concorde Jet is coming back…
29-Year Cycle: Saturn
Saturn first enters Aries in May 2025
Saturn was the furthest planets the ancients could see. As a result, we have thousands of years of patterns studying Saturn’s movement and events on Earth. In the night sky, Saturn appears dim, cool, and far away. Saturn represents the boundaries of our reality in astrology and can correlate to difficult lessons or hard work. Saturn has positive correlations too, especially when goals are long-term. I always tell people that Saturn’s energy helps us build the stone mansion that will last the test of time — not the Hollywood set that lasts for a few weeks.
In global events, Saturn can represent difficult events, however, and even fear in the collective. An important distinction between Saturn and Pluto: Saturn represents fear of known dangers whereas Pluto often correlates to unknown fears. For instance, while Saturn has been in Pisces, we’ve seen fear of Pisces themes: the ocean (sharks!), excess water (hurricanes), and even spirituality (rise of cults). Pluto in Aquarius has correlated to fears of the unknown consequences of AI and technology — even populism.
Saturn is in Pisces until May 24 when it enters Aries for the first time in nearly 30 years. It returns to Pisces on Sept. 1 for the rest of 2025. By Feb. 13, 2026, Saturn will be in Aries until April 12, 2028.
Saturn in Aries may represent challenges to leadership, entrepreneurs, and our individual freedoms. Aries is Saturn’s “least favorite” sign, which means that its ability to work hard, think long-term, and stabilize society is weakest. Aries has very different themes than Saturn: Aries is impulsive, childlike, and playful. Neither set of themes is “good” or “bad”; they’re just different expressions of the human experience. But as a result of Saturn not understanding Aries, per se, the next few years may see a decrease of Saturn’s taskmaster influence on world events.
18-Year Cycle: The Nodes & Eclipses
The eclipses are currently occurring in Virgo and Pisces
A lunar eclipse occurs when the Earth is between the Moon and Sun, casting a dark shadow on the Moon during a Full Moon.
A solar eclipse occurs when the Moon is between the Earth and Sun causing the Sun to be temporarily blocked from our view during a New Moon. Solar eclipses are extraordinary natural events that people travel across the world to see.
Many people don’t realize that we have at least two eclipses (lunar and solar) every six months. Even if you can’t see them from where you live, they’re occurring somewhere around the world. Often over the oceans.
Not all eclipses are “total” causing the Moon to be completely obscured or that famous ring around the Sun. Some are partial, penumbral, and other variants based on the various orbits. Interestingly, the potency of an eclipse in astrology can also be tied to the type of eclipse in astronomical terms.
The reason we have an eclipse every six months is because the Moon’s orbit around the Earth is on a different plane than the Earth’s orbit around the Sun. Therefore, the two orbits only intersect twice a year. Which makes sense! If they were the same planes of orbit, we’d have eclipse every month on a Full Moon or New Moon. Here’s a diagram:
A diagram of the Earth’s orbit intersecting with the Moon’s orbit (the black dot in the middle is the Sun). The intersection points are called the “Nodes”. Where the two planes intersect (and result in eclipses) are called the Nodes. One is the North Node and one is the South Node (the directions being relative to the Earth’s poles).
Although they’re not observable stars or planets in the sky, the Nodes are mathematical points in space that “move” through the sky. Therefore, in astrology terms, we can measure which constellation of the Zodiac a Node is moving through. The ancient Greeks, Vedics, and other societies were able to do this measurements thousands of years ago and predict eclipses.
Since the North Node and South Node are polar opposite directions, they move through the Zodiac in opposite signs.
It takes about 18 years for the Nodes to move through the whole Zodiac. That’s because the Earth and Moon’s orbits shift over time, so their point of intersection (the Nodes) also shift from our perspective on Earth — making them appear to move through the Zodiac.
The Nodes help us predict when eclipses will occur and, in astrology, which Zodiac sign the eclipse will occur.
Sometimes eclipses occur in a different sign than the Nodes, acting as a preview or re-view of the Nodes 18-month cycle.
Remember that the Nodes are mathematical points in space, not the actual placement of the Moon, Earth, or Sun. That's why an eclipse may occur in a different sign than the Nodes. But in real terms, for example, a late eclipse in Aries will only be a few degrees in space from the North Node in Pisces. (This example is from March 2025).
Every eclipse happens at the North Node or South Node. And the sign in which they occurs shifts about every 18 years. So while you might have an Aries eclipse cycle every nine years, you’ll only have a North Node Aries eclipse every 18 years (nine years later will be a South Node Aries eclipse).
In short, the North Node eclipses in astrology represent growth, a hunger for more, and sometimes excess. The South Node eclipses represent contraction, release, and letting go. One is a plus sign; the other a negative sign — not in any moralistic way. Think of a battery and its two ends.
In July 2023, we started a new 18-year cycle when the North Node entered Aries. As Aries is the first sign of the Zodiac, astrologers saw this cycle as the start of a whole new 18-year period for global events. A new start, if you will. Given the amount of Aries movements in 2025, this eclipse cycle acted as a preview.
During this cycle, we saw an increase of world events connected to the Aries themes of action, leadership, initiation — and, yes, war. Oppositely, with the South Node moving through Libra, we saw a release of Libra themes of peace and harmony, human connection, and even the arts (for example, Hollywood has been severely challenged in recent years).
I am not suggesting this eclipse cycle was deterministic, although Aries being the start of the Zodiac may represent longer-term changes than other eclipse cycles. But the point is that the correlation of sudden events to the eclipses in Aries and Libra was striking. We have one more eclipse in Aries on March 29, 2025.
Eclipses in astrology represent sudden new beginnings and endings. They can correlate with shocking events, quick turns, and new revelations. Eclipse are not bad or good, but because of their unpredictability, the two weeks around eclipses can feel chaotic or ungrounding.
Eclipses literally cast shadows and can correlate with shadowy events or news that was bubbling below the surface but is suddenly brought to light during eclipse season. Just as the lights of our Sun and Moon briefly go out during an eclipse, we metaphorically see things in a new light or watch matters be revealed.
On Jan. 11, 2025, the North Node moved into Pisces and the South Node into Virgo. For the following 18 months, we should expect events showing more Pisces themes in the world: interconnection, spirituality, creativity, and, well, “delulu” events (at times). Alternately, we may see a loss or emptying out of Virgo themes: perfectionism, details, process, and facts. With both Saturn and Neptune in Pisces for part of this eclipse cycle, it should be a very notable time for humanity.
Note that every now and then we have three eclipses back-to-back because of the nature of the Moon and Earth’s orbits. We experienced this phenomenon in June and July 2020 with a lunar eclipse, a solar eclipse, and a second lunar eclipse. The next time we have three eclipses is 2034.
While I necessarily left out some cycles, I’m focusing on those patterns I’ve found most helpful to provide context on a regular basis.