What is it about 2013 that makes its astrology distinctive? In a word, water. That means a year of exploring the nuances of, and the existence of, emotion, empathy, and intuition. If you've ever wanted to take up photography, painting, music, or filmmaking, now is the perfect time.
The Asian year of the Water Snake begins this month, which accents the Western astrology perfectly (more on that closer to the event). Over the past few years, there has been a gradual accumulation of planets in water signs, calling attention to corresponding issues with actual water on our planet.
To those with strong water sign charts (for example, Sun, Moon, or rising sign in one of the water signs Cancer, Scorpio, or Pisces), the world feels a little more like home when there are planets in those signs. There is space and a kind of invitation to open up the emotional spectrum, and to feel ourselves, one another, and existence itself.
We are constantly interacting with material objects, electricity, data, money, ideas, concepts, paper, metal, and machines that burn fuel flying across the sky and speeding across the countryside. How much time do we spend with water? Let's see, 10 minutes in the shower, 10 minutes doing the dishes, and an extra 15 minutes chatting by the water cooler. Water is the missing element in most of our lives. We live in a kind of desert.
My old friend Be'jamin once said the world is divided between those who drink water and those who do not. Those who do are in the minority. Pepsi in any form is not water. Smart Water isn't either.
Rising Tide, 2010 to Present
Over recent years, planets have been moving into water signs. As happens with water, the tide rises slowly and steadily. It's now about to come to a crest. But let's take the story back a few years.
In 2010, Chiron began its ingress to Pisces, which started things off. That is Chiron for you—leading the way. (Well, Uranus had been in Pisces for six years prior, but that wasn't very watery; it was like a hot tub with a short circuit.)
The very day that Chiron ingressed Pisces for the first time, the Deepwater Horizon oil platform exploded. We watched for 90 agonizing days as crude oil gushed into the Gulf of Mexico. Chiron will be in Pisces through 2018-2019, and is a constant reminder to take care of the oceans, lakes, and rivers. However, it's never really clear how to do this, since the problem comes from industry. Fighting industry, its lawyers and its scamming environmental consultants, is never easy, but we all have to participate in the old heave-ho that will be necessary to set things right. Every product choice, indignant phone call to customer relations, and public meeting in your community counts, as does doing what you can personally.
Neptune, a watery blue planet named for the god of oceans (and earthquakes) began its ingress into Pisces in 2011, completing that ingress in early 2012.
Meanwhile, Uranus left Pisces with a bang in March 2011. I mean several bangs, starting with an earthquake and tsunami, followed by multiple reactors in the Fukushima Daiichi nuclear power station exploding and melting down, and then spilling vast quantities of radiation into the air, the ocean, and the groundwater.
It's fair to say that the combination of Uranus in Pisces and Neptune in Aquarius was not good for water: through these transits, hydraulic fracturing became all the rage. This is a process of gas extraction that consumes millions of gallons of water per gas well, and leaves the Earth and groundwater contaminated with many toxic chemicals—all to do what solar or wind energy could do more cheaply and cleanly.
In October 2012, Saturn ingressed Scorpio for the first time since the early 1980s. This is providing some stability to the planets in Pisces. Chiron and Neptune give us more water and more awareness of the feeling level of existence. Saturn is here to help keep that yin energy in balance, and also help dredge out the territory deep at the bottom of things.
In human consciousness, the Saturn in Scorpio factor brings up the theme of emotional maturity. Oh, that thing! It's about learning to have some modicum of boundaries around our feelings, some sense of containment. We are said to live in a society where yang energy is out of balance—our aggressive, competitive, and warlike society.
