Over a year ago, I published an article suggesting that Joe Biden would drop out of the presidential race in 2024 and hand the mantle over to Kamala Harris. At the time, I was speculating based on astrological indicators favoring Harris as a contender to Trump far more so than Biden. But one of the more striking factors is that on the evening of the election Venus will shine brightly as an evening star while forming a prominent alignment with Harris's natal full moon, also making a fateful conjunction to her South Node and Descendant. Venus's bright presence just after sunset is a potent astrological symbol for what could be America's first woman president.

I had thought the handoff might happen nearer to the total solar eclipse in April. However, major events associated with eclipses tend to occur within about a 6 month window on either side, and I certainly see the themes of that eclipse, a bookend to the eclipse that aligned with Trump's ascendency, at play here. But the more timely alignment, and more personal to Harris, was the full moon on Sunday July 21st, the day Biden announced the end of his campaign. That full moon filled out an almost exact grand cross (a set of 90º alignments creating a perfect square formation) with Kamala Harris's natal full moon. It's as if the full moon of that day triggered the power of the full moon within her, thrusting her into the spotlight, ready or not (and she is obviously quite ready).

Joe Biden may have made an excellent president in a second term, but given the ongoing square of Pluto to his Moon, if he had stuck with his campaign he would have imperiled it, along with the chance for a younger generation to rise, and the chance for a woman of color to lead. The astrological forecast favors a progressive moment, and Biden's instincts are good. His natal chart demonstrates the wisdom of his choice: With Sun, Venus, and Mars all in Scorpio in his 12th house, he was destined to sacrifice; but would he sacrifice himself for the greater good, or the greater good for himself? These same symbols also point to the profound loss and grief he has endured through his life, the kind of loss that either transforms a person into greater soulfulness, or deforms them into vindictiveness. It is a great testament to Biden's character that he chose the former path, and at the right moment put his personal ambition aside.

What we see "out there" in the greater sphere of collective awareness is always a reflection of what is stirring deeply "in here", within all of us. Everything that is visible is driven by something invisible, and we can read these unconscious stirrings through the symbols of astrology. We have recently entered a period of history I've named the Radical Era, a cultural and political inflection point that will radically change how we perceive and structure civilization. It won't happen overnight, but it may happen far faster than we expect. To wit, who could have seen coming the radical events of the past four and a half years just five years ago? And yet, the astrological markers have been clear, and the astonishing changes of this decade have only just begun.

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I've made the case that we are entering a kind of new Progressive Era, marked by progressive reform fueled by populist engagement (turns out Robert Reich, former Secretary of Labor under Clinton, agrees). I believe that as we move forward through the Uranus-Pluto trine of the next five years progressive issues will dominate and electoral victories for progressives will increase. I also believe we are heading into a cultural renewal akin to the eruptive cultural shifts of the 1920s or the 1960s. These tendencies continue to increase as we look further ahead into the 2040s.

I base these loose predictions on a study of both the meaning of astrological symbols as well as a study of history, and how astrological symbolism tends to manifest collectively. But it's important to continue to hold the tension of ambiguity and uncertainty, that no matter how long we study astrology, we can never really know the future. The future cannot be birthed without tension, any more than the extreme tension of childbirth can be removed just by knowing something about the child's fate. Nothing is guaranteed, other than the fact that the planetary symbols will manifest. But will they manifest brightly or darkly? Are we heading into a new creative chapter of history, of uplifting reform and cultural radiance, or into a vast destruction of our global system, whose dysfunctional elements have brought demise to its own doorstep?

For years now, I've been preoccupied with understanding these times through an astrological lens, while trying to grasp what astrology can tell us about our coming future. It's important to distinguish prediction from reading a map, to see the stars as indicators, not guarantors. The symbolism of astrology can manifest in an extraordinary multitude of possibilities, and the more dramatic the astrological alignments, the more polarized the possible outcomes. While it is still my contention that the 2020s will see a defeat of authoritarianism and an entrance into a more progressive future that will continue to build until 2050, I am keenly and anxiously aware that this is not a guaranteed outcome. It may be that humanity must continue to dramatically wrestle with its shadow, and if that shadow is to rule the next two decades then we have an entirely different task ahead of us.

What is almost certain is that we are heading into an unprecedented and challenging future, with great change sweeping through our collective life. It may be exciting or terrifying, or both, and we will not be able to hold fast to what is familiar. We must adopt the will to adapt, and learn to keep our center while the shifting world swirls all around us; as it has these past four and half years.

The astrological picture of the next few years is similar to other inflection points in history, such as the rise of Emperor Constantine that brought Christianity to prominence, the birth and rapid flourish of the European Renaissance, the height of the Enlightenment that birthed our modern world, and the rapid expansion of liberal democracy in the West (and communist dictatorship in the East) after World War II. There is no doubt that in fifty years historians will look back at this period with equal awe. We are privileged to live through these times, so long as we can keep our sanity, our connection, and — as in Joe Biden's parting words — our faith.

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