Solar Eclipse in Aquarius 2*17*26
OOOKKKAAAYYY! Here we go! This is one of the weeks of 2026 that astrologers have had circled on our calendars since last year - maybe longer. It is a week of endings and beginnings. It starts with the first eclipse of 2026 on Tuesday and wraps up with the Saturn - Neptune conjunction at 0 degrees of Aries on Friday. It's important to recognize that these events are part of a whole slew of shifts we will experience this year. Let's get into it.
All the New Moons since the September Solar Eclipse have had a theme of completion as they all occurred at the final degrees of their respective signs. Now we are having another eclipse at the final degree of a sign. On Tuesday the Sun and Moon meet up at 28 degrees 50 minutes of Aquarius. I talked about the implications of this degree in the last post. Aquarius is the fixed air sign. It is a future focused sign, unconventional and innovative. Aquarius refuses to behave according to the traditional rules and in fact loves to rebel against. Anything that feels too restrictive is unacceptable for Aquarius energy. As an air sign, its focus is on a vision for a world in which humanity as an entity thrives. Aquarius understands the power of groups.
Under this eclipse, it's time to review your friendships and groups/communities you belong to. How are your friendships supporting you? Are you able to express yourself authentically or are there unwritten rules that cause you to edit yourself? Do you share a common vision for the future? Do you have a vision for your future? Can you articulate it? Does it reflect your current values and beliefs? What trajectory do you want for your life, and are you creating conditions that are getting you there? This is a time of noticing your patterns of interacting in community. Do you play well with others? How do the others you are playing with influence you? How do your friends affect your energy? Do you feel inspired or depleted after spending time together? How about when you think about what you want your future to look like?
Because this is a North Node eclipse, the emphasis is on leaving old patterns and moving towards new, more authentic ways of showing up in your life.
Uranus rules this eclipse since it rules Aquarius where the eclipse is happening. Uranus is now at 27 degrees of Taurus, forming a nearly exact square to the Sun and Moon in Aquarius. Squares are challenging aspects that demand a shift in approach. They show where two similar modes of action are at cross purposes. Both Taurus and Aquarius are fixed signs. Fixed signs strongly resist change. For fixed signs, the stability of an uncomfortable situation that is familiar is preferable to the unknown outcome of doing something different. Who ever said "Better the devil you know than the devil you don't" was a fixed sign.
Uranus is the planet of sudden changes. It disrupts the status quo in unpredictable ways. Uranus tends to zig when everyone else zags. Its goal is to free us from any restrictions that are impinging on our freedom to act authentically. When Uranus "does" a sign, it shakes up how we approach the themes of that sign. Anything that we have outgrown, anything that no longer reflects our truest expression is a target. It has been moving through Taurus since 2018, disrupting how we express our values, earn our money, develop our resources, and feel about our possessions. It is in the final months of its transit through Taurus. Uranus will enter Gemini in April, where it will stay until late 2032.
Looking back, how has your attitude and approach towards values, finances, and possessions changed since 2018? How do you define security for yourself? What about your beliefs about your worth and worthiness? The square to the Sun/Moon is showing any remaining conflict between your sense of stability, what you need to feel safe and valued, and how you interact with your circle, show up in groups, and share yourself with friends. Somewhere in this mix there is something that is in conflict or causing frustration and a shift in perspective or approach is needed to alleviate the discomfort. If you know your chart, see where the last degrees of Aquarius and Taurus are. Those are the areas of life that will be the focus of the challenge. Alternatively, you may have already made the changes at some point during this transit. This eclipse will still be bringing something up to awareness, so it's good to be curious and open.
Mars will activate (conjunct) the eclipse point of 28 Aquarius February 28- March 2. This will often amplify any situation that started at the eclipse.
On Friday February 20, Saturn and Neptune will meet at 0 degrees of Aries, the very first point of the zodiac. This was also discussed in the previous post. While Saturn and Neptune meet up every 36 years or so, they have not done so at this point in recorded history. Saturn is structure, discipline, and maturity. It demands we deal with reality. Neptune is mystical, dreamy, and creative. It is our spirituality, our connection to our soul. Neptune dissolves things; it is those aspects of life that are formless like illusion, imagination, and compassion. For the past 14 years, Neptune has been in its home sign of Pisces where it was able to express itself easily. Neptune could just be in Pisces. It could imagine and explore inner realms of consciousness. It could dream, fantasize, create scenarios and even whole worlds to play in.
Aries doesn't work that way. Neptune moved into Aries on January 26 and Aries' fire began to burn off Neptune's fog. For Aries, being requires doing. It's through taking action that one knows oneself. Aries asks, "What are you going to do with your compassion? How are you going to express your creativity? How will you deploy your intuition in your life? What dreams are you going to pursue?"
When Saturn conjuncts Neptune, it merges structure (Saturn) with our dreams (Neptune) for ourself (Aries); it demands accountability (Saturn)from our spirituality (Neptune). It calls out (Saturn) any illusions, self deceptions, or bypassing tendencies (Neptune). Aries is honest, direct, idealistic, and impulsive. Saturn in Aries requires that initiatory energy, that desire to get going, moves at a slower pace. It emphasizes strategy over speed. Saturn is the container for the dreams of Neptune. It injects a large dose of reality into Neptune's dreams. Saturn has been moving ever closer to Neptune since November 2023 when it entered Pisces. The energy of "this is what we are dealing with" was pursuing "this is how I like to spin it." They got very close to an exact conjunction last summer, but didn't quite make it. Still, consider what realities came into your awareness June - August 2025. What changed in your perception of reality? Was there an indisputable fact that suddenly became undeniable and forced you to account for conditions that you might have been glossing over? That's how Saturn operates. Reality can be quite harsh, especially when we've all be wrapped in the Neptune in Pisces cloud for the past 14 years. They both retrograded back into Pisces and further away from each other in the fall, bringing the opportunity to complete any loose ends remaining in the Pisces energy before moving into this moment.
This conjunction turns the lights on. Saturn comes into the dark, warm space where we have all been snuggled and warm, enjoying our dreams, pulls off the covers and raises the shades. It's time to get moving. This time marks a great shift in perspective. Saturn does not care what you want to believe, what you hope is true, what you invested your perspective in, or what you rationalized to feel comfortable. Saturn doesn't debate reality. It does not spend any time at all considering "wouldn't it be nice if...".
Saturn and Neptune at the zero degree of Aries initiate a new cycle that will ignite an area of your life. That area is wherever 0 degrees of Aries is in your birth chart. But even if you have no idea where that point is in your chart, odds are you have been feeling the pull of this desire for change to a more authentic expression of yourself for a while now. So, what feels stale? What change are you resisting, and can you reframe how you consider it? What truth about yourself has been bubbling to the surface? What are you being guided to do to support this new version of you? This is a time of birth. It's time to move forward. The path might not be fully visible, but it is there and it is time to start walking. Trust yourself. Saturn and Neptune, in truth, none of the planets, ask for perfection, but they do require participation.
The energies will be speeding up from here. As we move closer to the spring equinox and into April, there will be more and more opportunities to show up as the version of yourself you have known yourself to be in your dreams. That's the version you came to express. That's the version the world needs right now. It's time.
"Life's a gift, it's not to be taken for granted, it's not to be taken lightly. You're born with gifts and you're born with an honesty that can never really leave you. What are you going to do with your time?" ~Lin-Manuel Miranda
