Star Weather Astrology Forecast 2/17–2/23
©2025 Ronnie Pontiac
All times Pacific.
Friends, we have before us a week of few aspects but one very important astrological event as Mars is stationary retrograde, a key moment in this epic Mars opposition Pluto cycle we’ve been experiencing since 12/6/2024. Look closely at areas of your life that have to do with Mars and Pluto. Mars rules ambition, desires, anger, and men in general. Pluto can indicate breakdowns due to neglect, necessary repairs and reforms, a crisis that can bring healing but the path to it may be challenging. It may be a time when we must show dedication in defense of what we hold sacred. Pluto can indicate ruthlessness but with Pluto it’s the truth that wins out one way or the other. Unforeseen consequences are the doom of every elite or populist movement. Can we feel and express the true depths of our desires, our anger, or ambition? That’s what it takes to have a healthy experience of what Mars symbolized. We’re all feeling triggered to fight for what we think is right. Useless arguing is not the answer.
There are two kinds of Universal Reformation. The lower kind is forced on people. In the name of religion, or patriotism, flying the banner of righteousness, it makes news and enemies. The current version of politics in America will bring changes to many lives around the world. Rules change. Laws disappear. The games is reinvented. All the changes we know about so far are filling the courts with lawsuits that become loyalty tests for presiding judges. So once again w have an opportunity to learn how not to be disturbed by suspense, by not knowing. We are spectators until the changes reach us. We would like to see ahead of the curve to make necessary adjustments sooner than later. But we have no control over what will happen next. The natural response is to get as much information as possible but it must be balanced by time spent in the present, sharing a moment with someone we care about, perhaps, or enjoying a sunset without thinking our way through it, or being creative.
The higher kind of Universal Reformation begins away from the halls of power. A counterculture is born. A new generation expresses itself in surprising ways. The work of the few lights the way for the many who recognize themselves in the truth telling. That kind of Universal Reformation can have a magical networking harmony about it, an atmosphere of enhanced synchronicity, such as that described by participants in the protest at Standing Rock. Here people are focused on present needs rather than apprehension of the future. Wherever possible local means must be found to fill the void left by end of the way things used to be. Each of us brings unique skills to the world. Imagine if we all found ways to help pick up the slack. It might not be possible to ease all the suffering these new policies are already causing but perhaps some who need help can find it with our assistance. We can begin by checking in on friends, loved ones, neighbors, especially if we know or suspect they’ve lost someone or something they’ve depended on.
Looking ahead, on 3/4 Neptune enters the final degree of Pisces. It will enter Aries on 3/30. Neptune retrograde will return to Pisces 10/23 to dwell in that final degree through the rest of the year. Saturn will be in that same degree the first and second weeks of May, entering Aries on 5/31. Especially intense will be 12/10 when Neptune is stationary direct in that same degree. Saturn retrograde returns to Pisces 9/1 and stays there through the end of the year. It will be at the final degree of Pisces for about a week mid September. Right now they are merely both in Pisces. Beginning in April we’ll start feeling this influence more, but most likely we can see it foreshadowed in the feed and in our lives.
Why is the 29th degree so significant? At the end of any sign there is a culmination, an ending. But the final degree of Pisces is especially critical because it is the end of Neptune’s journey through the zodiac. There’s a collective sense of uneasiness as things we may have counted on pass away as the past is cleared to make room for Neptune’s new journey around the zodiac. Zero degrees Aries is also a very powerful point, indicating a beginning like Spring. Where there was cold silent trepidation there is instead the tumult of a time of fresh starts, flying taxi air horns like the crash of rams horns.
On the low end this Saturn Neptune tandem can indicate catastrophic floods, destructive storms, earthquakes, contaminated water, especially radiation contamination with Pluto now in Aquarius. It can also indicate pandemics that the government seems helpless to control. We are seeing a big surge in Covid and flu in America recently so take care. Depression is common with this aspect, even the dark night of the soul. Stay grounded. This too shall pass.
On the positive side Saturn conjunct Neptune can indicate commitment to meditation, devoted practice of yoga or other spiritual physical exercises, deep study of the mystical, the religious and the psychic, the ability to master addictions, and the willingness and genius to capture profound gifts of the imagination and inspiration in art, words or other media. The apocalyptic confrontation between truth and propaganda will continue but the first signs of something new will be born from it, a genuine answer to both politics as usual and radical politics. There will be no denying it by the end of 2026.
Mon 2/17 only lunar aspects are exact. Stephen Hawking said: “Intelligence is the ability to adapt to change.”
Tue 2/18 the sun enters Pisces at 2:07 AM amplifying the Saturn in Neptune atmosphere. We are now only about a month away from spring. In the fog of sun/North Node/Saturn/Neptune in Pisces it’s easier to space out and float in the floating anxiety of a world even more frightened than usual. Half the country’s drinking to celebrate and the other half’s drinking to forget so commute carefully.
Wed 2/19 only lunar aspects are exact. Robert Burton wrote: “A quiet mind cures all.”
Thu 2/20 the dark of the moon begins about 90 minutes before dawn. Finish work. Take a break. Not a good time for starting something. Spend some time searching your feelings about what happened during the last month or so. Mercury square Jupiter is exact about a quarter after noon. There can be a tendency to talk too much, to be overly optimistic, or to promise too much. Perhaps you have the opportunity to say something encouraging to someone. Sometimes this aspect can indicate spending money on things that are meant to make us feel joy or status.
With Uranus still dwelling in the degree of its recent station through the second week of March, many are going stir crazy and feel an urgent need to take action, as in fight or flight. These Uranus stations seem to indicate a time when it’s easier for us to get frazzled by the little shocks of life. Take time to be calm. Spend some time thinking about what the word freedom means in your life. Freedom from what? Freedom to do what? Take a break from imagining probable dystopian consequences of current policies and imagine what you’d like your own future to look like. What will you be doing? Where will you be? You won’t always be where you are today. Enjoy it while you can, where you can, no matter the reasons for worry.
Fri 2/21 and Sat 2/22 only lunar aspects are exact. Robert Burton also wrote: “A good conscience is a continual feast.”
Sun 2/23 is Mars day as Mercury trines Mars in the morning, Mars is stationary direct at 6 PM and the moon opposes Mars in the late evening. The trine can indicate witty and flirty conversation but it could turn too sharp and lead to conflict. The elevated emotions of Mars stationary direct will grow more intense now as it moves toward its final conjunction with Pluto in this cycle, indicating volcanic and otherwise shocking and explosive situations, the threat of war, power grabs especially by males.
Moon opposition Mars can indicate unnecessary arguments and misunderstandings that could turn hostile and even violent. This weekend should provide some clear ideas about what Mars opposition Pluto means for us individually and collectively. Mars opposition Pluto will be exact 4/26 and then fades out of orb the second half of May. Mars opposition Pluto can also indicate pandemics so its overlap w/Saturn creeping closer to conjunction with Neptune would make all April a time for taking extra care in all that we do. Oscar Wilde wrote: “Simple pleasures are the last healthy refuge in a complex world.”
