A Defining Moment—Aries Ingress Saturn/Neptune Conjunction—20th February 2026.
The present moment is all you have—Eckhart Tolle.
The days, suddenly lighter now, stretch a little longer here in the north.
Already amethyst and gold crocuses circle mossy roots. Demure snowdrops, tiny bonnets fluttering in the spring breeze, colourwash the woodlands in pure white. And in the hushed darkness of space, two planets come together, marking a defining moment in our human story.
Although this week may have begun just like any other week, an archetypal cycle of death and rebirth is unfolding. As new life emerges here in the north, Saturn unites with Neptune at 0° Aries in a decisive, single, conjunction on February 20th. This rare event last occurred in 3,000 BCE, marking the start of the Early-Middle Bronze Age when societies became more complex, and writing as a way of communication developed.
(As AI dredges the internet, it comes up with various dates. Computer software and data is unreliable that far back in human history. This date, has been calculated by UK astrologer, Ed Gillam, and corroborates my own research.)
Neptune will be in Aries for the next 13 years. Saturn, for the next two. Although these two planets meet in other signs approximately each 37 years – this meeting is at the Aries Point, a Cardinal degree point of initiation.
2026 is a turning point for us all, a defining moment that stands like a guest at the door. We may feel a deep sadness, a sense of overwhelm, or even fear, as we turn towards a future that seems blighted by divison, climate breakdown, and an epidemic of loneliness.
For the astrologers who read this post, the Aries Ingress chart based in Washington DC speaks of instability and war. This chart encompasses layers of astrological symbolism as it corresponds to events, past, present and our collective future.
The sun, moon, Venus, Chiron, Saturn and Neptune are marshalled in tight formation in Mars-ruled Aries. Mars, that day will be in the cool waters of Pisces, and the chart ruler, Mercury, will be Retrograde, exactly conjunct the North Node.
Saturn shows us where the boundary lies (as the fallout from the release of Epstein files shakes the infrastructure of the entitled elite globally…and there’s still so much we do not yet know) and Neptune dissolves our illusions, washes away the perspectives we have sheltered behind, so that we can face what can be changed. Gabor Maté asks, “would you prefer to be illusioned or disillusioned? Would we rather engage with the world as it really is or only as we wish it were? Which approach brings more suffering in the end?”
February’s sky story is weighty. Uranus made its final station in Taurus on February 4th as the effects of the full moon on February 1st lingered. Mercury is moving slowly this month and will station Retrograde in Pisces on February 25th. Venus moved into Pisces on February 10th, but the planet to watch this month is troublesome Mars which makes a jarring square to Uranus on February 26th an aspect associated with accidents, sudden shocking or violent events.
We’ve entered the shadowy season of eclipses, marked by the first new moon solar eclipse of 2026 on February 17th (28° Aquarius) followed by a full moon/lunar eclipse on March 3rd (13° Virgo.) The new moon solar eclipse is charged with the idealistic essence of Aquarius, a sign that speaks to intellect, ideology, zealous reform, the intellect as god. This is the first in a Leo/Aquarius sequence of eclipses, setting the stage for the next six months as we focus on friendships, alliances and groups, perhaps, using this potent energy to ask for support, to give back to our community. This New Moon squares erratic Uranus, alluding to the unsettled energy as geo-political faultlines widen, and AI hallucinations are repeated as truths. We may not be able to see a way through a relationship impasse or imagine ever moving from a place of stuckness within ourselves, we may feel unmoored as we try to discern truth from lies, yet Poet Rainer Maria offers these words of encouragement, “fear not the strangeness you feel. The future must enter you long before it happens. Just wait for the birth, for the hour of the new clarity.”
Defining moments aren’t always loud or even obvious. Although they can be.
As Saturn and Neptune unite in the heavens this month, seeds of peace and compassion begin to germinate as the love and commitment of the 19 Buddhist monks who walked 2,300 miles through snow and ice in a walk for peace, arrived in Washington last week. As we face into an unknown future, the pain of the world serves as a catalyst for profound change in our lives. We can be bodhisattvas in a troubled world.
In chaos theory, the term “strange attractor,” is used to describe a complex pattern of behaviour in a chaotic system. It’s a term borrowed by Richard Rudd in his Gene Keys series, signifying the disruption of the covid pandemic or the social phenomenon of personalities like Donald Trump. As these “strange attractors” create chaos around us, hastening the dying process of a civilization that is no longer fit for purpose, something is growing in the mycelium that threads and coils beneath the cold ground. What is destined to crumble will crumble and be blown away by the winds of change.
As we move through this epoch of becoming, we wade into a new current of cosmic energy that spills across boundaries. On moonless nights, giraffes hum to stay connected to each other. Elephants, dolphins and bats, connect with sounds that drop below human perception. There is a harmonic symphony, a hum, all around us. Listen with your heart. Walk in peace…
“It is sacred. It is the end of one world and the beginning of another. Stay close. In these moments, which may always arise in the heart of an open, sensitive human being, slow way down. Touch the earth, look up into the sky, listen to the song of the unseen. Dare to consider that things are not always as they appear. Today may not be the day for answers, but to finally let your heart break open to the vastness of the question,” writes psychologist and spiritual teacher, Matt Licata.
History doesn’t repeat itself, but it does rhyme―Mark Twain.
The quieter you become, the more you can hear— Rumi.

We are like islands in the sea, separate on the surface but connected in the deep—William James.
This lunation invokes Gemini’s contradictory, mercurial magic. The moon conjoins erratic Uranus Retrograde and squares the Nodes in Virgo and Pisces. Tonight, we might reflect on those bonds of love and loyalty that bind us, or the painful bruise of estrangement. We may be suspended between Piscean idealism/empathy and Virgoan pragmatism/discernment. Saturn (structure and boundaries) and Neptune (dissolution) are still moving through the final degrees of Pisces, stirring deep currents of sorrow, world-weariness and exhaustion, in the closing phase of this long cosmic cycle.
Life is amazing. And then it’s awful. And then it’s amazing again. And in between the amazing and awful it’s ordinary and mundane and routine. Breathe in the amazing, hold on through the awful, and relax and exhale during the ordinary. That’s just living heartbreaking, soul-healing, amazing, awful, ordinary life. And it’s breathtakingly beautiful. L.R. Knost.
Jupiter stationed Retrograde on November 11th and moves direct on March 11th, introverting the expansive energy of Jupiter as it moves through the watery sign of the crab—a creature that lives between the material reality of earth, and the ever-changing swirl of emotional and imaginative tides. Amidst the sparkle of festive lights, the Christmas playlist that pulses through shopping mall, the human-rush of life, a wash of fatigue may grey our days. We be physically or emotionally exhausted as this year draws to a close. It might be that we outgrown our shell—a home, a place of work, a state of mind. Cancer is a sensitive, intuitive sign, and Jupiter amplifies this energy. Over the coming weeks, take time to close the curtains, indulge in your favourite comfort food, and withdraw from the noise and bustle as you gestate something new, much like the crab who must seek safety as he grows a new shell.
To be rooted is not the same thing at all as being tied down. To be rooted is to say, here I am nourished and here will I grow, for I have found a place where every sunrise shows me how to be more than what I was yesterday, and I need not wander to feel the wonder of my blessing—Kevin Hearne.

The cure for anything is salt water: sweat, tears, or the sea—Karen Blixen.
When Saturn/Neptune met in 1989 as students poured onto Tiananmen Square. Their cries for freedom (idealistic Neptune) silenced by guns and tanks (Saturn).
To survive, to avert what we have termed future shock, the individual must become infinitely more adaptable and capable than ever before.
Venus aligns with Uranus between July 2nd and July 7th, highlighting this cosmic turning point and perhaps bringing to our attention those places where we feel bruised and vulnerable, which are so often triggered by those we are closest to.
The ache for home lives in all of us. The safe place where we can go as we are and not be questioned—Maya Angelou.
Jupiter travelled through Cancer from June 2013—July 2014 and will be moving through Cancer from June 9th June 30th, 2026.
She encouraged herself to see her very small presence in the world as a good thing, a power, something that a hero might possess―Helen Oyeyemi.
