(Please note that this and all my other forecasts are based on the sidereal zodiac, not the tropical system used by most western astrologers.)
This article is a continuation of my previous piece about the planetary changes in April 2022. It is rare to have so many of the planets making big moves in one month like this, which seems to be indicative of a great deal of transformation ahead for all of us and for the world at large. In my last article I discussed the transits of Mars, Mercury, Venus, and the Sun.
Here I discuss the transits of Jupiter, the lunar nodes Rahu and Ketu, Saturn, Neptune, and Pluto. Traditional Vedic astrologers rarely concern themselves with the outer planets Uranus, Neptune, and Pluto. However, as a Neo-Vedic astrologer I recognize their importance in natal and mundane astrology, and I do use them in my consulting work with clients, but only in accordance with certain technical rules.
As opposed to the transits of the faster-moving inner planets and the Sun and Moon, the transits of the lunar nodes and the outer planets Jupiter, Saturn, Uranus, Neptune, and Pluto move much more slowly, reflecting their deeply enduring impact on our personal development as well as on the broader collective forces that mold and shape the evolution of generations of humanity.
Jupiter will transit out of Aquarius and in Pisces from April 13, 2022, until April 21, 2023.
Neptune will transit out of Aquarius and into Pisces on April 17 until September 11, 2022, and again from February 18, 2023, and on and off from there until February 2037!
Jupiter transits in one constellation for about a year, so when it enters a new sign, it certainly does represent expansion into new areas of life, as Jupiter represents our dharma (path and purpose); whatever its transiting position influences in a birth chart will represent new areas of growth and development. Yet even more noteworthy is the transit of Neptune into Pisces because Neptune moves much more slowly than Jupiter and remains in one sign for about 14 years! It is highly significant that they are both entering Pisces around the same time, since they are both the rulers of Pisces (Jupiter is the traditional ruler, and Neptune the modern one). So, this brings a huge emphasis on the sign of Pisces as I discussed in a previous article where you can also view the astrological charts for the Jupiter and Neptune Pisces ingresses.
Many Vedic astrologers believe that Jupiter’s Pisces transit will be entirely auspicious because Jupiter is in its own sign here, where it can represent a tremendous outflow of spiritual grace and wisdom descending into the world. The reality about this is much more nuanced, as I discussed in the above-mentioned article.
The north and south lunar nodes (Rahu and Ketu in Vedic astrology) will also change signs this month. They will transit from Taurus and Scorpio to Aries and Libra, respectively, from April 12, 2022 until October 30, 2023. The lunar nodes transit in one sign axis for about 18 months, so they have been in Taurus and Scorpio since September 23, 2020. (Please note that I use the traditional Vedic mean node calculation in my work, as opposed to the more modern true node calculation).
Rahu represents our evolutionary progress in the material realm, as well as our drive and opportunities, and the best areas on which to focus our attention in terms of our outer goals and achievements. Ketu reveals our latent talents as well as the issues that need to be purified and lessons to be learned related to our past karmas and our spiritual progress.
Wherever they are located by sign and house positions, the nodes will be eclipsing the luminaries every six months. The first set of Aries-Libra eclipses will occur April 30 (Rahu solar partial eclipse in Aries) and May 16 (Ketu total lunar eclipse in Libra-Scorpio). The next set will be on October 25 (solar partial eclipse in Libra) and November 8, 2022 (total lunar eclipse in Aries), and I will write more on these later, but for now, here are the four 2022 eclipse charts in a quadriwheel format:
To get the full picture when we analyze the placements of the lunar nodes in a natal, mundane, or transit chart, we analyze the lunar nodes in terms of their sign, nakshatra, and varga (harmonic chart) placements, and the houses and planets they aspect in a birth chart or mundane horoscope, the placement of their dispositors (rulers), and so on.
In general, we can all expect a sea change when the lunar nodes change signs, as they represent the axis of karma.
As Rahu transits in Aries, and Ketu in Libra, they move retrograde.
Rahu will transit through:
1. Krittika nakshatra from 30 deg. to 26 deg. 40 min. Aries (April 12 to June 14, 2022)
2. Bharani nakshatra from 26 deg. 40 min. to 13 deg. 20 min. Aries (June 14, 2022, to February 20, 2023)
3. Ashwini nakshatra from 13 deg. 20 min. to 0 deg. Aries (February 20 to October 30, 2023)
Ketu will transit through:
1. Vishaka nakshatra from 30 deg. to 20 deg. Libra (April 12 to October 17, 2022)
2. Swati nakshatra from 20 deg. Libra to 6 deg. 40 min. Libra (October 17, 2022, to June 26, 2023)
3. Chitra nakshatra from 6 deg. 40 to 0 deg. Libra (June 26 to October 30, 2023)
In previous nodal transits of Rahu in Aries and Ketu in Libra, we saw political plots and assassinations; military engagements; economic difficulties; and major disasters. Some examples are Mahatma Gandhi’s assassination in January 1948; the Sumatra Earthquake and tsunami in December 2004; the Chernobyl accident in April 1986; the Six Days War in 1967; and the American Revolutionary War in 1781 (Battle of Yorktown). In some of the worst disasters, Rahu was transiting in Ashwini nakshatra (ruled by Mars and Ketu); and Ketu was transiting in either Rahu-ruled Swati nakshatra or in Mars-ruled Chitra nakshatra, which will occur again starting in mid-October 2022 and through the following year until October 30, 2023.
Some examples of economic difficulties in the previous transits of Rahu and Ketu in Aries and Libra include the Recession of 1856 that led to the panic of 1857; the Wall Street “Great Crash” of 1929 that led to the Great Depression; the recession of 1949 which followed President Truman’s “Fair Deal” economic reform package; and the economic crisis of 1968, the worst since the Great Depression, which marked the beginning of the end of the post-war economic boom, and caused a speculative run on gold which was then tied to the US dollar.
On a more positive note, when Ketu transits in Libra and Rahu in Aries, this can be an opportune time for creative endeavors, exploration, and innovative advancements of all sorts.
During this nodal transit, we want to pay special attention to the natal and transit placements of Mars and Venus which rule Aries and Libra. Mars will show where our drive and karmic opportunities lie, and Venus will reveal our latent talents as well as underlying issues that need to be brought out into the light and resolved. For some, relationships will go through turmoil and transformation during this transit, as Mars and Venus rule the natural first and seventh houses (Aries and Libra) which symbolize “self versus other,” and the nodes transiting and eclipsing here will bring changes.
Another significant shift this month is that the Kala Sarpa Yoga will break on April 24. This intense configuration, in which the planets are all trapped within the nodal axis, has been in place on and off since early 2020. I wrote about it in detail in a previous article.
Saturn has been transiting in Capricorn since January 2020 and will briefly move into Aquarius from April 28 to July 12, 2022, and then will transit back through Capricorn until January 17, 2023. At that point and until March 29, 2025, Saturn will transit in Aquarius. Saturn will station retrograde at 1 degree of Aquarius on June 4, 2022 and will station direct at 24 degrees Capricorn on October 23.
Saturn in Vedic astrology is called Shanicharya (Shani), the “Slow Goer.” He takes about 29.5 years to complete one transit around the zodiac. On average, Saturn spends about 2.5 years in each constellation. He represents the power of manifestation, but he also tends to delay matters sometimes. Nonetheless, his lessons are profound and enduring. Saturn is described as the “irritant that produces the pearl,” and the “pressure that forges the diamond soul.”
As the astrological force associated with the muladhara (root) chakra, Saturn signifies our survival instincts, self-sufficiency, physical identity, stability, and ambition. Matters such as focus, organization, maturity, material reality, structure, hard work, perseverance, fortitude, difficulties, depression and other illnesses, self-doubt, and limits all come under his power. As the lord of truth and karma, Saturn reveals where we are being tested and what we need to do to be more disciplined, accepting, and patient so that we can go with the flow and fulfill our purpose in an aligned and balanced way.
Saturn’s transit in Capricorn can sometimes represent unprincipled action, obstructed growth, stagnant health, and an extensive mental health breakdown, especially when it is misaligned as it has been the past few years when it conjoined Pluto (power struggles, control issues, and opportunism), along with a debilitated Jupiter (loss of dharma), and then also repeatedly squared Uranus (societal breakdown). Saturn in Capricorn by itself can represent the ascent of fear in the mass mind as well as the expansion of authoritarian rule. (Consider previous transits of Saturn in Capricorn: 1) Hitler came to power from 1931-34; 2) the Holodomor, also known as the Terror-Famine or the Great Famine, occurred in Soviet Ukraine from 1932 to 1933, which killed millions of Ukrainians; and, 3) the deadliest famine and one of the most evil man-made disasters in human history occurred from 1958-1962 in China during Mao’s Great Leap Forward, which killed tens of millions of people. Saturn transited in Capricorn from 1931-1934, and again from 1961-1964).
Saturn’s transit in Aquarius may indicate a more hopeful and constructive tone than Saturn in Capricorn, as Aquarius is Saturn’s moolatrikona “root trine” position that signifies strength and auspiciousness. I feel that part of the reason that Saturn in Capricorn can be associated with excessive ambition, oppression, and dangerous power grabs is that it is in the twelfth sign or house from its most potent moolatrikona position (a position of weakness, insecurity, and loss). Similarly, in the human energetic system where the sublime pranic energy flows down into the root chakra (Saturn’s domain), the energy current is at “low tide” (reaching its lowest point) on the Capricorn side, and then it starts to expand outward and upward from there, on the Aquarius side.
Saturn’s transit in Capricorn has also marked a time of some misery, alienation and isolation, migration, unemployment, indebtedness, and economic extravagance for the US in particular, as it has been transiting twelfth from the natal Moon (which is in Aquarius in the third house) in the US Kelleher birth chart. The Moon in astrology represents the public/the people. This transit is called Sade Sati in Vedic astrology, the seven-and-a-half year pressured and transformational transit of Saturn in the house before the Moon’s house (twelfth from the Moon’s house); the house the Moon occupies; and the house after the Moon’s house (second from the Moon’s house). Sade Sati started in January 2020 and will continue until February 2028, but hopefully the most difficult period will end by the time Saturn moves into Aquarius, or at least by the time it crosses beyond the Moon by January 2024.
In the coming few months during Saturn’s brief foray into Aquarius, we should get a taste of what to expect when it transits there again from January 2023 to March 2025. Here in Aquarius, Saturn is moderate and practical but also innovative, and may start to bring forth some important economic, political, societal, governmental, and scientific reforms. May it be so.
Pluto is transiting in Capricorn on and off from February 24, 2020, until January 2040! Pluto will station retrograde on April 29 at 4 degrees of Capricorn and will station direct on October 8 at almost 2 degrees of Capricorn.
Pluto symbolizes power in all its forms, as well as elimination and regeneration/death and rebirth; revolution; mass calamity; collective hysteria; mob fury; organized crime, dictators; assassins; and wars; and nuclear energy and weapons. Pluto conjoined Jupiter and Saturn in its initial transit of Capricorn in 2020, setting the stage for a global crisis.
The nature of Capricorn where Pluto is transiting now has to do with authoritarian governments, politicians, and corporations; and Pluto here clearly points to the Covid tyranny of the past few years. Pluto here also relates to upheaval and change in demographic and economic matters, as well as those related to agriculture, land, minerals and other material resources; borders between nations; business and commerce in general; security issues; and the needs of the elderly.
Pluto takes about 248 years to traverse the zodiac, and so it will soon return to the exact zodiacal position it occupied at the signing of the Declaration of Independence during the American Revolutionary War. One of the birth charts for the American Republic which is based on this event is known as the US Kelleher birth chart, which was rectified by Vedic astrologer James Kelleher for July 4, 1776 at 6:30 PM in Philadelphia. When Pluto comes back to where it was during this seminal moment in time, this is called the “Pluto Return,” and it will be the first one ever for the US. It will be in place from February 2024 through December 2024 but is in range now exerting a strong influence already!
Pluto in Capricorn occupies the second house of the US Kelleher birth chart, indicating that the founding principles of the American Republic were forged in response to a significant conflict (Pluto) with Britain over material resources and outworn value systems (Capricorn and second house matters). The evolutionary thrust of the new nation revolved around freedom and liberty, self-reliance, limited government, and individual responsibility. More precisely, the American Revolutionary War was fought, at least in part, to establish financial sovereignty; colonial Americans were tired of paying financial tribute to the British monarch without receiving democratic representation in return.
We are seeing a similar dynamic at play today: many Americans are tired of being part of a broken financial system dominated by oligarchs, corrupt politicians, and corporations, i.e., the “Plutocracy,” which is the shadow expression of Pluto’s position in the second house in Capricorn. During the past two years as the US birth chart slowly moves toward its Pluto Return, the constant money printing by the Federal Reserve has led to a sharp devaluation of the United States Dollar. It seems pretty clear that the Pluto Return period of 2024 (in range now) is about a worldwide economic revolution (global reset), commodity and currency wars, the end of US dollar hegemony, and possibly a monetary secession movement to Bitcoin. Also, the Pluto Return is already igniting new battles over state’s rights (the age-old debate over which powers rightly belong to the states and which to the federal government), which some fear will lead to a civil war.
As mentioned, Pluto will station retrograde on April 29. This is something that happens every year for about five months and some days. Any retrograde planet becomes stronger, but as it is moving backward against the zodiac, it can slow the development of matters it influences.
During its 2022 retrograde cycle, Pluto will go back through the two degrees that it already traversed over the past twelve months or so, and this indicates that we may be going back to take a long hard look at the structural alterations and power dynamics that we as a collective have had to struggle with during the past year.
More to the point, Pluto transiting retrograde in the second house will be opposing Mercury in the eighth house and squaring the IC-MC axis of the US Kelleher chart, suggesting the possibility for economic hardship, ongoing social and political unrest, and (possibly) a cratering of the housing market.
One thing to note is that if you have any planets around two to four degrees of Capricorn or other cardinal signs (Aries, Libra, and Cancer), they may become activated around the day of the retrograde and direct stations of Pluto. The retrograde transit of Pluto will be important based on its house position and any aspects it makes in a birth chart. Whatever it influences can relate to significant self-examination and other deep transformative processes.
Thank you!
Juliana