Horoscope 2023

The first month of the year gets us started with the double retrograde of Mars and Mercury. Though —contrary to popular belief—Mercury retrogrades are usually not as striking due to how often they happen, this one is rather special. Mars, which will also be moving backwards, will be in Gemini, a sign ruled by Mercury. In simpler terms, this can point to over-heating and agitation in the public mind. Since Mercury is closely tied to information, it could be that the public is still trying to reach a consensus related to governmental changes or more superficial arguments and misunderstandings with friends and peers at a micro level. Yet, since these two retrogrades begin in 2022, it's likely that this will be more of a passing difficulty as we figure out unfished business from the year before, enabling us to move forward in 2023. Mars will start to move forward again on January 11th, calming down the angry minds of disagreers, and Mercury on the 18th, solidifying uncertain governmental and structural decisions from the preceding month.

From there on, things start to smooth out and move forward as all planets will begin to move forward, and Venus even provides some blessing help on the 22nd as she conjoins Saturn, the planet strongly tied with social regulations. This is exceptionally positive since Venus is the planet of peace and favours the people of the individual.

Now with the foundation set, let's get to the event everyone is anticipating. The Saturn sign change.

Saturn will enter Pisces starting a new 2.5 year period on March 7th. The Saturn and Pisces combination has many pros and cons. The last time the frigid ringed planet transited through the sign was from 1994 to mid-1996, a period strikingly marked by an increase in media consumption. Pisces is linked to fantasy and imagination, and it's not a surprise that we see Saturn's constricting hand pressing our heads to televisions and our fingers to buttons on Gameboy Advance throughout this period. With that said, for the next few years, we can expect escapism being on the rise— for better or worse.

Since this year is the onset of this relatively long period, we might see certain advancements in the area of media, such a film and video games. Virtual reality comes to mind when considering the intangible nature of Pisces. These notions are further enhanced when we consider that Neptune —the planet of illusions— will be Saturn's primary roommate through these changes. This transit is good for content creators and artists, but on the other hand, consumers might want to pay attention to media overconsumption.

Pisces is arguably the moister of the water signs, and since water is often related to our emotions and Saturn's natural tendency is to constrict, emotional needs are more likely to be suppressed in favour of pleasure and unrealistic idealization. On the physical level, Pisces is also linked to the parasympathetic nervous system, the body's way of dealing with activities related to rest and processes that happen after eating, such as digestion. Those predisposed to issues related to that area or who struggle with chronic fatigue might want to find ways of remediating the extra cold combo (both Saturn and Pisces share coldness as a quality). Conversely, this can be a rather welcomed change of pace for go-getters and high achievers. Rest in moderation should be the year's motto.

About a week after Saturn changes signs, Pluto follows suit on March 23rd. The infamous planet of death and transformation enters Aquarius but only stays there for a couple months since it will retrograde back into Capricorn on June 11th. This Plutonian dance between Aquarius and Capricorn will continue until the planet commits to staying in Aquarius in 2025. Similar to Saturn's ingress, this change presents a high degree of innovation. If anything, Pluto will bring in the technology that Saturn in Pisces will need to solidify the new way of delivering media and the arts to the public sphere. However, retrogradation is really important here, so this arrival will merely plant the seeds of advancement. The final crop won't be for the next 2 years.

Don't be surprised if significant technological advances are announced from March to June that seem unpolished at first. Aquarius and the internet go hand in hand, so this transit could point to advancements related to the worldwide web connecting us even more than we already are. Interestingly, June is also the month of Saturn's retrograde station, doubling the signification that these new gadgets or virtual goods are not quite ready for the public yet.

2023 is doubtlessly a year to usher us forward after a long period of darkness. With Saturn in a cold sign, however, the beginning might still be slow, with every three steps forward taking us two steps backwards. Still, as much as this year only gives us a glimpse of what's to come, the slow pace might be just what we need to get acclimated to the many modifications just around the corner. Stay positive. Slow and steady wins the race.