Come gather ’round people Wherever you roam And admit that the waters Around you have grown And accept it that soon You’ll be drenched to the bone If your time to you is worth savin’ And you better start swimmin’ Or you’ll sink like a stone For the times they are a-changin’ -Bob Dylan
During 2024 I started mentioning privately to some of my clients that 2025 looked likely to be, well, rather messy! The Saturn-Neptune conjunction on the sensitive Aries Point (the point on the ecliptic where the vernal equinox occurs) looked bound to bring about a collapse of many of the systems and structures that keep society functioning, and which we tend to take for granted.
As astrologers we “see through a glass darkly”, and for this reason it is prudent to err on the side of caution when making predictions. We may accurately see the shadow or silhouette of coming events, but we cannot always be certain of their true scale and magnitude, and there can be important details that evade our detection. Even at best our predictions are approximations. And yet, to say nothing, especially during important times when people may suffer if caught off guard, can be a dereliction of duty.
As 2025 has unfurled I have sometimes thought that perhaps I had exaggerated the enormity of what was coming. But, then another piece of the scaffolding holding up the status quo comes crashing down and I wonder whether, on the contrary, I understated the gravity of the situation. I don’t think anyone would dispute that 2025 has been tumultuous. For the most part, people seem to be getting by, but I often wonder how long the collective human psyche can withstand the constant barrage of dystopian news.
One of the complexities of astrological interpretation is the fact that the energies we’re analysing manifest simultaneously on multiple levels. No powerful and important astrological combination means only one thing. It can have implications for the world as a whole, for nation states, organizations, groups, communities, families and individuals. It can reveal itself in the weather, or through other natural phenomena as earthquakes, tsunamis and volcanic eruptions.
Although 2025 has, by any measure, already proven to be more than a little bewildering, and although too many dramatic episodes have already occurred to list here without straining your patience, the month of September 2025 is likely to prove highly consequential in this dramatic year. Consequential not only in the moment, but perhaps even consequential for the course of modern history. That this was going to be an important month in this important year was anticipated, as you can see in this quote from the overview of the year I wrote for the Regulus 2025 Astrological Planner, but now that this time has arrived (and we’re hardly half way through the month), it’s becoming clearer just how consequential it might be:
“The partial solar eclipse of 21 September occurs in close opposition to Saturn and Neptune, and this may well turn out to be one of the most important and potent amplifications of the Saturn-Neptune process that plays such a dominant role in the year 2025.”
In Mundane Astrology, the astrology of world events, eclipses and equinoxes have one thing in common: they tend to powerfully amplify whatever else is going on in the heavens at the time when they occur. And, the effects of this amplification will be felt for months afterwards, at the very least. In fact, with eclipses in particular, the effects are often also noticeable for some time prior to the astronomical event. It is therefore important to note that we will have a solar eclipse in September 2025 the day before the equinox, and at the time of both of these events Mars will be square Pluto in the heavens!
Mars takes about two years to complete its journey through the zodiac. The last time Mars was square Pluto, with Mars 90 degrees behind Pluto in the zodiac, was 8 October 2023: the day after Hamas attacked Israel. Mars square Pluto is arguably the most brutally aggressive conceivable combination of astrological symbols. It often manifests, quite simply, as violence. At the very least it represents a self-will that brooks no opposition and tends to run roughshod over anything perceived as an obstruction. Considering that, as I mentioned above, eclipses often cast their shadows before, so to speak, we may already be witnessing this imminent release of the raw and unbridled energy of Mars square Pluto in Israel’s attempted assassination of the Hamas negotiation team in capital city of Qatar; the assassination of the prominent right-wing influencer Charlie Kirk; and the dangerous escalation of war rhetoric and troop deployment by NATO after Russian drones breached the airspace of Poland. Then there’s the USA’s battleships off the coast of Venezuela amidst a $50 million USD reward for the arrest of Nicholas Maduro.
This American naval force recently bombed a speedboat carrying 11 passengers, killing all on board, claiming they were drug smugglers. A claim for which no proof has been provided. No due process, no trial – just summary execution on the basis of mere suspicion. There’s likely to be more news from Venezuela in the coming weeks and months.
Autumn Equinox chart set for Caracas, the capital of Venezuela. Mars Conjunct and Pluto square MC
It’s hardly surprising that Trump has recently renamed the USA’s Department of Defence the “Department of War”. Pete Hegseth, who now gets to revel in becoming the USA’s “Secretary of War”, hailed the change with the following televised declaration in the oval office:
“This change is not just about renaming, it’s about restoring. Words matter…. restoring the warrior ethos… restoring victory and clarity… restoring intentionality to the use of force…. we’re going to go on offence not just on defence, maximum lethality not tepid legality, violent effect not politically correct…”
What could possibly go wrong with this mindset at the helm?
The so-called “rules based order” is now a hollow and obsolete notion. It’s back to the Wild West where “Might makes Right”.
In the UK, Prime Minister Keir Starmer’s days appear to be numbered. First, early in September, Angela Rayner, the Deputy Prime Minister had to resign in disgrace after attempting to evade paying the right amount of tax on a property purchase, and then more recently Starmer was forced to sack Peter Mandelson who was the UK’s ambassador to the USA, when an avalanche of information about his intimate relationship with Jeffrey Epstein came to light. And all this occurring against the backdrop of constant protests against the genocide in Gaza and a growing spirit of anti-immigrant nationalism with both the extreme left and right accusing the UK government of authoritarianism and heavy-handed suppression of dissenting voices.
The anonymous street artist Bansky left this pictorial comment on the wall of the Royal Courts of Justice building in London
In conclusion, I doubt anyone will dispute that stuff’s hitting the fan wherever you look and that it is likely to get worse before it gets better. All these crazy topsy-turvy events are worrying enough when considering each one of them in isolation, but trying to grasp the totality of it all is quite mind-boggling. It’s hard to see anything like a coherent picture, but that’s exactly the point: Neptune blurs and dissolves the very clarity, definition and structural integrity that Saturn represents. Many of the pillars that have kept the old world order intact are being swept away but the full implications of this haven’t yet become visible. In the near term confusion, uncertainty and disorientation will be the new normal. Most of us will feel we have little choice but to tread water and try to stay afloat till this tumultuous tide subsides. But, make no mistake, there will be long-term consequences to the dismantling of the foundational structures of our world and we should try to be prepared for this.
I don’t have a perfect formula to offer that’s going to work for everyone but I’ll give you one hint, one very literal and practical suggestion that is almost too simple for most people to take as seriously as they probably ought to. Get back to basics and simplify your life as much as you can.
