As astrologers, we often look to the future patterns which, like any thinking outside of the present, can cause reactions. When I have those reactions, I remember that life is a constant that will continue regardless of the ebbs and flows, highs and lows, of human behavior.

As humans with technology, we believe we are at the pinnacle of a constant, upward trending evolution. Yet studying history, “dark” and “light” ages can happen any time. Many ancient cultures had sophisticated astronomy (and astrology) so knew full well that the earth revolved around the sun and even that the earth had a wobble so that the north star changed every couple thousand years.

So why in the “dark” ages of Europe were men killed for saying the same?

Dark ages are simply ages of increased control. For this astrologer, I could argue that we are in another “dark” age even amidst information overload – more information in a day than our ancestors processed in a lifetime.

Information overload hasn’t created clarity, it’s created self-centered realities. This type of control is not overt, more like arsenic being dropped into the water supply in small, unnoticeable doses. But over time the effect is felt – loss of community. Divide and conquer, an ancient strategy.

Pluto recently entered “humanitarian” Aquarius so in the next 20 years we may see rekindling of different types of communities and humanistic concerns – meaning concerns outside of religious belief.

I remember that life continues, we’re here to learn, this is some sort of lesson. Astrology helps describe it.

Neptune in Aries

As Neptune leaves Pisces – the sign it rules and the last sign of the zodiac – it will enter fire sign, me-focused Aries. Pisces is the end of a cycle, Aries the beginning.

Neptune idealizes, idolizes and worships hence it’s associated with spirituality, otherworldliness and heightened, psychic states of awareness. Neptune in Aries will apply these feelings to “me.”

What gives pause with Aries is the shadow side which is fighting, war and competition. Idealizing fighting and war is a thought I must put aside to remember the positive effects of Aries which are self-assertion and standing up for oneself.

The recent vigilantism of a young man shooting a healthcare executive is a sampling of Neptune in Aries. Such an act would often cause concern by the masses; instead, we find that the act open the door to the anger (an Aries reaction) that exists toward the healthcare industry.

We learn as children it’s better to talk than to fight. But how to talk to a mammoth industry? In the US, everyone hates the healthcare system yet anyone trying to change it is branded a socialist and ignored.

A more violent US – which is already violent by nature – is an unpleasant thought. Over the 15 years of this Neptune in Aries transit, we will hopefully separate gangster from activist, violence from self-assertion. Ultimately, it’s preserving a sense of self in a time when technology is homogenizing human experience and forcing behaviors. The control is from a very small number of individuals who have access to the wealth and knowledge of an entire society.

Combined with the movement of Pluto in Aquarius (air sign) and upcoming Uranus into Gemini (air sign), we’ll see the shift from earth and water to fire and air signifying more societal reaction and evolution.

Air and fire are extroverted and fun. Heavy energies of illness, corruption and fear of material loss will be replaced by desire for interaction, new information and social levity. The “Roaring 2020s.”

This is another positive of Aries – it will challenge any and all authority. Earth and water signs in contrast are cautious and protective, can’t risk pissing off the boss or I’ll lose my house. In the moment, Aries will always do what’s right for self.

Worshipping Warriorship

In Chinese martial arts, there is “internal” and “external.” The external martial arts are embodied in Bruce Lee movies with lots of fighting and back flips and overcoming “the man.”

Lesser known in the West are the internal styles which promote physical, mental, spiritual, and emotional health. Internal development is a goal as valid as external development for self-defense and power.

Spiritual warriorship is a concept often held with male forms of internal development – we hear this term in the works of Carlos Castaneda and Dan Millman (“the peaceful warrior”). The war, if we study these works, is a war with “the self.”

Aries is the self. The true warriorship is not out there, but in the mirror. For “the system” to change, we have to change first.