Our backyard on Sunday morning, photo by me.

Happy New Year to everyone!

I hope 2025 is off to a good start for you all. I appreciate everyone who supported my work by having readings in 2024. January was very busy with year-ahead readings, and I look forward to helping you navigate the upcoming momentous cosmic shifts as 2025 continues.

We're enjoying some beautiful snow days here on the island, inviting, cozy, introspective days. I am finally getting to a newsletter for you all. It's a big one, with much to catch up on.

The Year Ahead

2025 is shaping into a paradigm-shifting year, with significant astrological events carrying us into a new era. We already feel it as world events ramp up and a sense of collective urgency ripples through our lives.

Transformative Pluto will be firmly planted in humane Aquarius for the next two decades, and soon, Jupiter, Saturn, Uranus, and Neptune will follow suit and enter new signs for many years to come.

Having all of the outer planets in new signs at once is significant. It paints an entirely new elemental backdrop, setting the stage for tremendous changes and a time when new collective themes and power dynamics come into stark focus.

I will share a summary of these planetary shifts shortly, some of which are already in motion this month. This is an important year to see how these shifts activate your birth chart, so please book a reading soon if you'd like to explore how these energies are moving through your life in more detail.

In-person Sessions

Moving into 2025, I'll continue seeing clients in person in Fernwood Square two Sundays a month. If you're in or around Victoria, BC, it would be great to see you there. I'll be at the space on Feb. 9 & 16 and will let everyone know my March dates soon.

BOOK AN ONLINE/IN-PERSON READING

Burning Questions

Over the years, I have been studying Horary Astrology on and off as a branch of curiosity. Recently, I completed a course that gave me the excitement and confidence to start offering these to my clients.

For those who don't know, Horary is the ancient art of asking a question and having an astrologer cast a chart based on the moment they understand your question. This chart is then read to determine your answer.

The philosophy behind why this works is similar to casting a birth chart in that the cosmic forces at play have a synchronistic connection to your question at that moment. These questions need to be significant enough to make you feel emotionally invested. Horary is not the art of asking flippant questions out of curiosity but rather having reverence for this powerful form of divination.

Similar to reading a tarot spread and interpreting the archetypal characters that appear in the cards, the chart of the question displays the planetary dynamics that play a role in determining whether you'll obtain what you seek. Horary inquiries are best distilled into a format that can only be answered with yes or no.

For example, rather than asking, "What sort of career is best for me?" which would be better answered by symbolism in your birth chart, you might ask, "Will I get this job?" to see if a current goal or desire will happen.

In these times of uncertainty, though people are signing up for birth chart readings, at the heart of it all, they often have burning questions they want more direct answers to. So I've offered Horary Chart Readings publicly.

Since this is a new branch of my work that I will develop through experience working with you, I am now offering these on a donation/PWYC basis until I feel ready to set a regular rate.

This new offering is a soft launch that is not yet on my website, so if you are interested, please contact me directly. In your email, clearly state your question that needs a yes or no answer. I can also help you refine your question if you're unsure:

ASK A BURNING QUESTION

Natural Incense

One of my most exciting developments this past year has been my newfound passion for creating handcrafted incense, which I've shared a little about before. Thank you to everyone who supported me by purchasing incense over the holiday season, and I am thrilled to say I sold out within just a few days of posting the available blends! This encouraging response affirms that I am onto something special.

Looking ahead to 2025, I've got more unique batches of incense in the works, including astrology-themed blends that can accompany various planetary rituals and attunements. Additionally, I plan to get organized to attend local maker's markets and expand my offerings beyond just local orders.

If you're interested in learning more about my incense or have feedback regarding your experiences with the blends you've purchased, please don't hesitate to contact me. Your insights will help me refine my recipes and decide which favourites to repeat.

January 19: Entering Aquarius Season

On January 19, the Sun transitioned from the resolute earth sign of Capricorn into the fixed air sign of Aquarius until February 18. Aquarius, represented by the Water Bearer, is one of astrology's humane signs. It symbolizes archetypes of humanity, our ideas, social agreements and collective interests.

Like Capricorn, Aquarius is ruled by Saturn, which brings judicial qualities and a consciousness of discernment. Aquarius Season allows us to develop societal consensus and discernment, collectively and personally.

As the remaining weeks of Aquarius Season unfold, take the opportunity to clarify your ideas and hone your mental energy into a sharp blade to edit distractions from your life. As a Saturnian sign, Aquarius consciousness encourages focus and rigour on ideas worth developing this season.

Aquarius Season so far

Aquarius Season began with a Sun-Pluto conjunction on January 21, hinting that this mid-winter phase encapsulates some of the most socially transformative power shifts that will define 2025 and beyond. Coinciding with the US presidential inauguration and the radical, destabilizing and audacious actions that ensued, borders, agreements and global relationships have been thrown into doubt.

On January 27, Mercury left pragmatic Capricorn to enter analytical Aquarius, joining the Sun and Pluto in the water bearer's sign. Until February 14, Mercury in Aquarius turns our thoughts and communications toward refining and articulating our social concerns and contracts personally and collectively.

It's an excellent time to think analytically, organize ideas, and commit to projects that align with long-term goals.

acrylic ink on paper, 2025, painting by me.

Two days later, on January 29, the skies went dark under a cool, wintry New Moon in Aquarius, and the Lunar New Year of the Wood Snake began to uncoil.

The New Moon in Aquarius was a still point of low physical energy that pulsated with an inner spark of new life waiting to unfold. Much like the cool, hibernating serpent awakening, we've been slowly shedding an old awareness and identity as we prepare to adapt to the new cycle that awaits.

Instinctively, we sense the dawning of novel times and circumstances that will uniquely test us, calling on us all to build social and communal resiliency. Like the snake, we must discern when it's best to lie in wait, conserving energy, or when we must quickly and nimbly undulate to the next plateau of warmth and safety.

watercolour and printing ink on paper, 2025, painting by me.

The Wood Snake is a year of yin fire, the inner embers that can be stoked into a steady, nourishing warmth that fosters fertility, growth and renewal. It's a year to tend what we have carefully, allowing cumbersome ideas and outmoded perceptions to peel away so that we can move through a year of change and transformation fluidly and flexibly.

January closed with Uranus stationing direct in Taurus on the 30th, accelerating a wave of momentous change and revolution. Uranus's direct motion signals innovation and invention, which can be thrilling but also disruptive when waiting for the other shoe to drop.

In earthly Taurus, we can expect more supply chain disruptions in food, housing, and essential items that foster security. As has been the theme since 2018, we can also expect the sudden rise and fall of currency values. This shift calls on us all to adapt and conserve where we can.

February 3: Venus Enters Aries

Just before midnight PT on February 3, Venus leaves her exaltation in Pisces, where she shone beautifully in her Moon/Neptune conjunction in the winter skies around February 1. She will return to sweet Pisces on March 27 during her upcoming retrograde passage, but for now, she makes a bold, fiery entrance into Aries.

In Aries, Venus morphs from a goddess of dreams to a goddess of passion, fierce independence, and war. In the ram's sign, she inspires bold moves from the heart and a "take-no-prisoners" approach to love, creativity, and desire.

We can all seize this opportunity to claim what we yearn for valiantly, so it's worth noting which house Aries is connected to in your birth chart to see where Venus will blaze a tempestuous trail in our lives on and off until June 5.

It's said that fortune favours the brave, yet we must balance brazenness with prudence lest we burn bridges we'll need to cross again later in our journey.

February 4: Jupiter Stations Direct in Gemini

After several months of retrograde motion, Jupiter stations direct in Gemini on Tuesday, February 4. In Gemini, Jupiter brings its energy of growth and opportunity to the realm of ideas, analysis, and communication, which may have inspired many of us to think, write, learn, and develop new concepts and perceptions.

Since October 9, when the retrograde began, we may have felt a sense of backtracking and reviewing in these areas. Jupiter's retrograde may have also marked a period of muted hopes and dreams, tempering our visions and causing us to reevaluate and retreat for a few months where we had been expanding.

This is Jupiter's final station in Gemini before moving into Cancer on June 9, its sign of exaltation. It's our time to pick up where we left off in the Fall of 2024 and get back on track with our projects, wrapping up loose ends to enjoy a sense of completion and clarity finally.

February 9: Mercury Cazimi

On February 9, Mercury flies into the heart of the Sun, forming a Mercury Cazimi in Aquarius. This alignment renews Mercury's light and purifies our ideas and perceptions. Mercury's Cazimi is a potent time for breakthroughs in communication and momentum in social planning, agreements, and contracts.

Consider which house Aquarius is connected to in your birth chart to gain insight into what area of life Aquarius Season has been transforming for you. Here, Mercury's Cazimi will offer a spark of clarity that may coincide with crucial news, a message you've been waiting for, or peace with an essential decision you've been weighing.

February 12: Full Moon in Leo

The Full Moon in Leo at 24° is a vibrant and passionate lunation. Leo, the sign of pride and sovereignty, emphasizes self-expression, loyalty, and courage. Opposite Mercury and dynamically square Uranus, this Full Moon offers surprises and a dramatic counterpoint to the cool, reflective New Moon in Aquarius from earlier in the month.

Under the beaming Leoine Moon, the fertile yin fire of the Wood Snake's awakening begins to crackle with possibility. Contemplate what intentions you mused on and seeded as the Lunar New Year began, and dare to let your dreams and creations sparkle in the moonlight now.

February 14: Mercury Enters Pisces

Mercury's move into Pisces on February 14 shifts our thoughts from Aquarius's clarity-seeking and ideological rigour to our souls' intuitive, dreamy depths. This is a time to irrigate our creative processes and spiritual practices and allow our imagination to flow.

In poetic Pisces, Mercury's typical affinity for logic and analysis is turned upside down, inviting us to communicate and perceive through fluid dream logic instead. This is an excellent period for creating and daydreaming. Relax and allow understanding to emerge rather than pushing for or pursuing external results.

Ask The Idea

When contemplating Mercury in Pisces, I can't help but think of David Lynch, who slipped into the great unknown just before Aquarius Season began. I've been such a huge fan of his for much of my life. His movies and paintings shaped my imagination in art school, and his dreamy, nonlinear approach to cinema inspired me to hold liminality with curiosity throughout life.

Since his death, I've been reading his book Catching Big Fish: Meditation, Consciousness, and Creativity. In it, he likens great ideas to big fish we can catch swimming "down below in an ocean of pure, vibrant consciousness," which is perfect for this enigmatic artist, who was born with Pisces as his fifth house of creativity.

The book is full of short, simply written yet creatively pithy chapters that soothe my grief about his apparent exit from our troubled, imagination-starved world and help me continue cultivating the imaginative consciousness I want to uphold in his honour.

This passage below from the chapter "Ask The Idea." describes what I feel Mercury in Pisces consciousness is all about:

"The idea is the whole thing. If you stay true to the idea, it tells you everything you need to know, really. You just keep working to make it look like that idea looked, feel like it felt, sound like it sounded, and be the way it was. And it's weird, because when you veer off, you sort of know it. You know when you're doing something that is not correct because it feels incorrect. It says, "No, no; this isn't like the idea said it was." And when you're getting into it the correct way, it feels correct. It's an intuition: You feel-think your way through. You start one place, and as you go, it gets more and more finely tuned. But all along it's the idea talking. At some point, it feels correct to you. And you hope that it feels somewhat correct to others."

From February 14 to March 3, we'll have an opportunity to "feel-think" our way through life's journey, letting our dreams and visions have agency and power to guide our thoughts and actions.

When in doubt, simply ask the idea where it wants you to go next.

Well, that's all for now.

May you live in cosmic splendour,

Debbie (& Suki)

AQUARIUS SEASON 2025