Saturn + Neptune | Lifting the veil of darkness

On the lead up to early February’s Leo Full Moon, I just felt off.

There were a few factors I could chalk it up to. One of them being the Full Moon fell on my natal Saturn – rarely a signature for joy and happiness, but rather a sense of impending doom. I couldn’t shake the blackness and density I felt in the air – especially on the internet, that it almost translated into low level anxiety. For anyone who knows me, anxiety just isn’t in my DNA.
It was a similar feeling I used to experience growing up which was the feeling I was always in trouble for something. My actions, my reactions, what I did or didn’t do and heaven forbid if I had any feelings or opinions, I might like to express… but it wasn’t that.
The sense of darkness was unshakable.

Then the Epstein files dropped.
None of it was much of a surprise to me.
While I’ve not been one for a deep dive into rabbit holes, I do sure like to pop my head in and take a look around. When you have what astrologers refer to as a debilitated Saturn in your natal chart, it’s often part of the territory to have a healthy distrust of authority, government, celebrity culture and the narratives that get pushed onto all of us.
You revel in being an outlier, an outsider and the antithesis of an NPC.

As of February 14, not even 10 days ago as I write this, we are collectively living under a debilitated Saturn – Saturn in Aries and will continue to do so until April 2028.
We are moving through a collective reckoning of what it means to challenge everything you’ve been taught and told. Once you’ve grappled with that then the real challenge arises, what do you do then? Continue to live like a victim or rise like a warrior?

The air didn’t get any lighter though, it thickened.
As you’d expect with the highest population in the Western World of approximately 350 million, the USA is the highest consumer of online child exploitation material. Australia has a population of around 27 million and we are second on the list. Those statistics aren’t percentage based, they aren’t pro rata they are based on the actual number of streams and downloads.
These statistics were shared by andrewcarptentersolicitor on an Instagram reel. As I held my phone in my hand listening to what was being shared, I was able to name the darkness.

The probability that someone I know, someone I care about, someone I’m related to has accessed this type of material and/or continues to do so. Teachers at my sons’ school, football coaches, neighbours, friends of the family, work colleagues, doctors, the list goes on and on. This isn’t blaming the patriarchy, man hating or any of that because I don’t subscribe to those ideas – these are simply the cold hard facts.

Over the weekend Saturn and Neptune formed a rare conjunction that happens only every 35 – 37 years. This time around, it happened at 00 Aries – the very beginning of the Zodiac. It’s been approximately 5000 years since it happened here.
For well over a year now, I’ve described this conjunction as the “new defining criteria.” I’ve also called it this generations Berlin Wall moment, reason being it was the fall of the Berlin Wall the last time these two planets joined forces in 1989 in the sign of Capricorn. The countries that existed then were redrawn and in some cases, renamed.
What emerged were new structures, new limits and new redefining criteria around how different parts of Europe were governed defined by how people wanted to live, which at the time was to be free of the tyranny of communism.
In many ways, we are on the slippery slope back there, but that is for another time….

Saturn doesn’t fair well in signs with a solar emphasis. While Aries is ruled by Mars, the Sun is exalted there. The Sun casts a bright light on what is dark, hidden and obscured bringing it back into the light.
When structures, governance, authorities and systems hide under the cloak of darkness and misuse power, the light eventually intensifies in order to restore balance, represented by Libra’s scales of justice, the sign of Saturn’s exaltation. It is Universal Law.

Astrologically, the outer planets tend to affect the planets closer to the Sun. In the case of this conjunction, it is Neptune’s dissolving qualities that will impact Saturn, just like it did in 1989.

It’s still early days and this conjunction will essentially be in play until Saturn leaves for Taurus in a little over 2 years, but it will be felt the most intensely in 2026.

One thing is for certain is that the shifts will move quick and new definitions will be cemented swiftly under the auspicious of Aries.
From prince to prisoner, from politician to pauper, from rock spider to six feet under. Change doesn’t happen from the top down it happens from the bottom up. The people are the drivers of change, the people have to remember they hold the power. Pluto is in Aquarius after all!

The air is still thick and there is more darkness to come. Humanity is experiencing a painful initiation and unfortunately, all initiations come with pain. Through resistance, through moments that test your spirit and the burdens that feel too heavy to carry, every battle brings a choice. Surrender or conquer? Darkness or light? Slavery or freedom? To continue to live like a victim while children pay the price or rise like a warrior and fight for the way you want to live?