Welcome to 2024!
This year will conclude some of the things that have been set in motion since 2020 and set us up for what’s coming in 2025.
2025 is a year of major astrological shifts – it is the most astrologically-active year of the 2020s, other than 2020 itself. There are a number of outer planet ingresses and other major transits, so it is going to bring some pretty major changes.
But before we get 2025, we get 2024. This year sets the stage for the much bigger show that happens in the second half of the decade.
Here’s a summary of the biggest astrological events of 2024:
- Pluto in Aquarius
- January 20 to September 1, 2024
- November 19, 2024 is the final ingress
- Saturn and Neptune in Pisces
- Jupiter-Uranus conjunction
- April 20, 2024 at 21 Taurus
- Jupiter in Gemini
- May 26, 2024
- Eclipses across Aries-Libra
- March 24, 2024: lunar eclipse at 5 Libra
- April 8, 2024: solar eclipse at 19 Aries
- September 17, 2024: lunar eclipse at 25 Pisces
- October 2, 2024: solar eclipse at 10 Libra
- Mars stations Rx
- December 7, 2024 at 6 Leo
Pluto in Aquarius
The biggest astrological event of 2024 is Pluto’s ingress into Aquarius on January 20, 2024, which marks a new 20-year cycle of Pluto in the sign of the water bearer. By the end of 2024, Pluto will remain in Aquarius for good – until 2043.
The shock of Pluto’s first ingress into Aquarius, on March 23, 2023, was most apparent in the realm of Artificial Intelligence (AI). Expect a fresh batch of AI hand-wringing in early 2024 which will continue for most of the year.
Pluto does make one final dip back into Capricorn, between September 1 and November 19, 2024. This will correspond to the lead-up to the US federal election. Pluto also represents propaganda, information control and censorship. I’m sure that we’ll see tons of headlines about AI being blamed for misinformation in the campaign. Brace yourself.
Remember all the UAP disclosure stuff that came up in 2023? That’s something we are going to have to face on a wider scale, starting in 2024. Expect more developments about UAPs and alien disclosure over the course of 2024.
Another major Pluto in Aquarius theme is exotic technology and weaponry. I’m expecting some new developments in this realm, particularly combined with the upcoming Saturn-Neptune conjunction in 2025-26, and especially with the Uranus in Gemini ingress in 2025. One of the main ways this is likely to occur is through the continued amazing discoveries of the James Webb Space Telescope, which is blowing up our current conception of the universe. (Big Bang? What Big Bang?) We might get a preview of some of this in 2024.
One thing I predicted might happen in 2023, related to Pluto’s passes back and forth over Capricorn-Aquarius, was a financial crash. That didn’t happen – thankfully! I’m glad I was wrong on that one.
However, I still think a market crash or other big economic shake-up event is on the table for 2024. The last time Pluto was in the process of ingressing a new sign (going between Sagittarius and Capricorn in 2008) corresponded to the Great Financial Crisis.
I could see something happening in either the fall (September-November 2024), when Pluto goes back for one final pass in Capricorn, or the spring. The spring has a ton of instability in general, thanks to the eclipses and the Jupiter-Uranus conjunction in April. More on this below.
All this said, the chances of a black swan event in 2024 are still relatively low. I do see upcoming economic strife but it is more likely to be a slow-moving catastrophe rather than a single shocking event. In Canada, it’s probably going to center around mortgage renewals and a widescale jump in the average Canadian’s monthly mortgage payment, which is going to play out over the next couple of years.
The Bank of Canada reports that 80% of mortgage holders will experience increased monthly payments by the end of 2025. The median payment is expected to increase by 54%. So, 2026 might be the year of mortgage defaults in the Great White North – and I’m sure other areas of the world are facing a similar issue over the same period.
So, maybe make 2024 your year of paying down your mortgage faster (if you can), or doing some early research on what you can do to soften the inevitable blow.
Saturn and Neptune in Pisces
2024 will mark the slowly increasing influence of the impending Saturn-Neptune conjunction. The two are co-present in Pisces all year, with Saturn occupying the first couple decans and Neptune slowly spinning in the last few degrees of the sign.
The conjunction of Saturn and Neptune is still over a year away, however, and doesn’t go exact until February 20, 2026 at 0 Aries. The two get maddeningly close for several weeks in 2025, but the aspect doesn’t perfect until early 2026.
In 2024, Neptune gets oh-so-close to the Aries cusp but remains just shy of ingressing. Neptune stations retrograde at 29 degrees and 55 minutes of Pisces on July 2, 2024. Neptune remains retrograde in the last degrees of Pisces throughout the entire second half of the year.
So, 2024 marks the waning days of Neptune’s 14-year swim through Pisces, which began in 2011. I admit to feeling rather blind when it comes to predicting what the Saturn-Neptune conjunction might bring. I’m calling this the Neptune Event Horizon (with credit to the DF – you know who you are).
However, I’ve done my best to try to describe the shape of what this conjunction might bring. Saturn represents boundaries, borders, restrictions. Neptune represents collectivism. Pisces is the vast formless ocean.
Put all that together, and I think it’s likely that we will see the reshaping of various borders and boundaries in the world, and the subsequent reordering and movement of large groups of people. Here’s a historical example: the Berlin Wall fell during the last Saturn-Neptune conjunction in 1989.
Because this particular conjunction is in Pisces, watery borders are likely to be a prominent issue – things like rights over ocean shipping lanes. Turf wars on water, so to speak. This is already happening in the Red Sea.
I also wrote down “weird ocean stuff” when I first started thinking about the Saturn-Neptune convergence in Pisces. I think that’s definitely still on the table and may have some wild crossovers with the Pluto in Aquarius stuff that’s dredged up (from the ocean depths).
The Saturn-Neptune transit is also very tied to the fate of Russia. Previous conjunctions brought big changes to the Russian Empire: the previous one in 1989 marked the beginning of the end of the former Soviet Union. Given what’s happening in that part of the world right now, it seems likely that the borders of that area are going to change by the time of the exact conjunction in early 2026.
It also seems likely that we may see some big events involving China, and/or Russia-China foreign relations. The last time this transit happened was in 1989, right during the Tiananmen Square protests/massacre. There may also be developments in the field of nuclear technology, especially with Pluto in Aquarius at the same time.
Jupiter-Uranus Conjunction in Taurus
Jupiter will continue marching through the grassy fields of Taurus throughout 2024, finally making an exact conjunction to Uranus on April 20, 2024 at 21 Taurus.
Uranus has been in Taurus since 2018, disrupting all of the fixed things that we used to take for granted – money, food and various other goods and services. We’ve seen lots of shortages of food and other basic goods: flour, eggs, salt, baby formula, antibiotics, children’s medicine, sugar. These will continue in 2024 and might have an uptick later in 2024 after Jupiter leaves Taurus.
Alongside the food shortages have been labour disputes; labour is another area being shaken up by Uranus. Many different unions have had strike action in the last couple of years – most famously and recently, the Hollywood actors strike. However, the reason we had the recent sugar and salt shortages in Canada was due to strike action by the workers of those industries, so labour disputes and shortages often go hand-in-hand.
Keep some extra food on hand and be prepared for shortages when they do occur. If you work in an industry that’s unionized, be prepared for possible strike action and what that will mean for your situation. And even if you’re not in a union, be aware that union activity may very well impact you anyway.
After Jupiter departs Taurus in May 2024 (more on that below), Uranus is freer to cause an uptick in civil unrest without Jupiter’s benefic guiding hand. Expect more widespread (and possibly more violent) protests in the second half of 2024. Perhaps we’ll see protests related to food/farmers again, or housing-related conflicts.
Jupiter in Gemini
Upon completing his march through Taurus, Jupiter ingresses Gemini on May 26, 2024. This will shift Jupiter’s focus from trying to help the fixed earth things that Uranus is shaking up, to providing some optimism and boons to Gemini’s ephemeral airwaves. Gemini signifies communication of all kinds, including telecommunications, news media, broadcasting and technology of all kinds.
Gemini is also, at its core, ideas and the exchange of ideas. Jupiter’s presence in Gemini is going to bring some big ideas to the world and will hopefully be a positive influence over Pluto in Aquarius, since the two will be in a supportive trine relationship. However, Jupiter is all about expansion so around the time of the ingress and shortly afterwards, we also might see an uptick or heightening in the realm of whatever Pluto in Aquarius things are happening at that time. (AI, aliens, novel technology, etc.)
Eclipses across Aries-Libra
The eclipse cycle occurs across the Aries-Libra axis in 2024, with one in the fall giving us our first glimpse of the Virgo-Pisces eclipses of 2025.
Here’s a list of 2024’s eclipses:
- March 24, 2024: lunar eclipse at 5 Libra
- April 8, 2024: solar eclipse at 19 Aries
- September 17, 2024: lunar eclipse at 25 Pisces
- October 2, 2024: solar eclipse at 10 Libra
Eclipses bring instability in general, so expect an increased amount of instability across all domains in March-April and again in September-October 2024. As an added bonus with that solar eclipse on April 8, there is likely going to be a comet – 12p/Pons-Brooks – in the sky at the time of the eclipse. Comets are another celestial omen with pretty uniformly negative meaning in astrology. Buckle up.
Eclipses vary dramatically in their impacts on specific people and places depending on the natal charts of those people/places, so it’s very hard to make specific predictions about eclipses in general. However, I will note that Libra is a key sign in the charts of both the nation of Israel and Israel’s current Prime Minister, Benjamin Netanyahu. Israel is a Libra rising nation, while Netanyahu has a Libra stellium.
Furthermore, both Israel and Netanyahu are eclipse-born; an eclipse occurred a few hours after Netanyahu’s birth. Irael was founded five days after a solar eclipse. The Israel-Hamas war started right around the eclipses in the fall of 2023. So, expect further developments related to that conflict in the spring of 2024.
Those spring eclipses also fall in a very key part of Canada’s chart, as well as Prime Minister Trudeau’s chart. The solar eclipse on April 8 is visible across North America as well. Expect big event and possible leadership changes or challenges in spring 2024.
I will do a separate post on the eclipses of 2024 at a later date. For now, suffice to say that the eclipses will bring instability and they will likely concern themes of war and peace. I shied away from that simplistic delineation when I first looked at these eclipses, but recent events have me convinced that’s the story of this eclipse cycle.
Mars Retrograde in Leo
2024 is a fast year for Mars up until the very end, meaning that Mars will be travelling swiftly and quickly for much of the year. Mars begins 2024 in Sagittarius and gets all the way to early Leo before stationing retrograde at 6 Leo on December 6, 2024.
I’m not looking forward to this next retrograde cycle of Mars, because most of the time is spent in the last decan of Cancer – the sign of Mars’ fall.
This is almost out of scope for this forecast, because it occurs so late in 2024, but I want to mention it here because it looks really crappy. Admittedly, I’m speaking from personal bias as someone with three planets in Cancer. But Mars in Cancer is also just not a great vibe overall. It’s going to put a real damper on the end of 2024 and the beginning of 2025 – which promises to be a doozy of a year.
But, that’s a problem for next year! For 2024, pay attention to the times when Mars conjoins Saturn, Neptune and Uranus – those are likely to be heightened periods of conflict and/or more intense energy. Here are the key dates:
- February 13, 2024: Mars conjunct Pluto at 0 Aquarius
- April 10, 2024: Mars conjunct Saturn at 14 Pisces
- April 28, 2024: Mars conjunct Neptune at 28 Pisces
- July 15, 2024: Mars conjunct Uranus at 26 Taurus
- this is also conjunct the fixed star Algol, giving added intensity
- Mars conjunct Jupiter at 16 Gemini
Thanks, as always, for reading! These yearly forecasts are never brief – there’s just so much to cover. And I always feel like I end up leaving so much out.
I will do some other posts on the specific transits I mentioned here as we move into 2024. The first of these is my updated post on Pluto in Aquarius.
I wish everyone a very happy, prosperous and healthy New Year!
If you’d like to see what the year ahead might bring you on a personal level, book a consultation with me.