We are reaching a milestone, and it will not be subtle when it arrives.

It comes midway through November, which has uncommonly starkly defined before and after periods. The “before” part, the first half of the month, sees long-standing issues intensifying while we scramble to put them to rest, or at least into new form, before a cosmic alarm clock goes off.

When it does go off, there’s no snooze button. Instead, the “after” part starts with a pervasive feeling of impending, slow-rolling consequences, then ushers in a lateral and sometimes bottom-up experience of power that will be with us for nearly 20 years.

Throughout it all, daily life goes on, with more optimism, laughter, playfulness and energy than the profoundness of this milestone might suggest. As the mid-month switchover approaches, though, an undercurrent of seriousness slips in; long term security becomes more than a blip on the radar and the durable, the reliable and the bankable rise in value.

The dividing line between “before” and “after” comes from two events a few days apart: Saturn stationing direct and Pluto leaving Capricorn, for our lifetimes, and entering Aquarius until 2044.

The first event is like an ocean liner turning around before moving ahead on its cruise. The shift, which happens November 15, changes what the wheelhouse is facing, from what was behind the ship to what lies ahead. Saturn has been at the degree of its direct station since early October, as if bearing down and down and down on issues of order, structure, law, accountability and just plain adulting. As of the 15th, Saturn is moving those issues forward (and, most importantly, toward the second square containing indulgent, expansive Jupiter coming on December 24).

The second event delivers us through a doorway where we’ve been lingering since Pluto first dipped into Aquarius in late March 2023. Our personal and collective experience of power is now evolving, with technology, networks and community groups playing greater roles.

One aspect of the shift has an immediate impact on life in the everyday. With this Pluto changes from being the planet of latest degree, the last influence that each planet contacts before changing signs, to the planet of earliest degree, acting as a cosmic bouncer that each planet must encounter when entering a sign. In the first half of the month, these contacts result in revelations and baggage dropping; after he moves to 0 Aquarius, they midwife intensified, streamlined focus.

As for that life in the everyday: The month starts with immersion in power and secrets, gestating in the waters of the Scorpio New Moon November 1. The emergence of growth could be slow going, extended by tension between the sign’s modern and traditional rulers, Mars and Pluto, which becomes exact November 3.

At the same time, power and secrets are permeating our information flow, content and processes. Turning ideas into action comes naturally when Mercury trines Mars, ruler of our drive; watch for tells, reveals and people being amenable to deep exchanges, when Mercury sextiles Pluto November 2 – their last link from these signs in our lifetimes. (Have a question about the last 16 years? Ask it now.)

And then, Mercury heads into high-flying, philosophical, optimistic, “don’t fence me in” Sagittarius, where he’ll remain for the rest of the year and then some. Our impulses, motivations and drives soon turn high energy as well, when Mars enters Leo November 3.

In Leo Mars encourages playfulness and elf-expression, grand gestures (and grandstanding) and focusing on me me me me me. His presence here could inspire a more childlike experience of the holidays this season.

Some of the energy of both Mercury and Mars will turn inward soon enough, though; within weeks, each of these planets turns retrograde in their new signs.

But first: before he enters Leo, Mars has one final meeting with Pluto, perfecting the opposition from Cancer that has been frustrating and aggravating us since the October 17 Aries Full Moon. With the gods of war and death at a standoff, watch for issues of anger and power (or powerlessness), which may intensify without resolution, or lead to strikes which may not actually hit. Take care: family institutions and dynamics are especially fertile ground for the tension. Desires for indulgence and attention could play into skirmishes, with Venus simultaneously pressuring Jupiter for more-more-more.

Confidence and certainty settle in when the Sun trines Saturn November 4. The energetic anchor maintains your stability when desires and relationships require sudden tweaks, and then threaten to mushroom into romance novel or other ungrounding territory (from Venus inconjunct Uranus November 7 and square Neptune November 9.)

Something’s gotta give – maybe misplaced expectations? Being unnervingly honest about a relationship? — when Venus semi-sextiles Pluto November 11, drops her bent for adventure, and settles into Capricorn. Here she is in “Santa Baby” mode, looking for value that will stand the test of time. Preferably with funding.

Thoughts and conversations grow serious with Mercury’s square to Saturn November 12, sending up roadblocks, constraining ideas, demanding taking responsibility for our communications. Saturn is now rumbling into the turnaround, so the cautions and impediments could linger for a while.

Saturn’s direct station has some noisy accompaniment, since it coincides with the Taurus Full Moon. That’s conjunct quick change artist Uranus, breaking the hold of outmoded attachments, and also linking to his other outer planet collaborators: dreamy, idealistic and romantic Neptune, and Pluto, in the last gasps of plowing through Capricornian institutions and foundations. We’re processing and releasing the personal impact of what Uranus has been destabilizing since summer, and what these three have been escalating for us since the beginning of September .

As the Full Moon wanes, the Sun pulls away to oppose Uranus, heightening desires to break away (but not quite making that possible), and then trine Neptune, flooding us with compassion (for ourselves, maybe?) and a desire to escape our reality, November 16-19.

And then, Pluto crosses the threshold to Aquarius for well and good, the Sun enters high-flying, philosophical, optimistic, “don’t fence me in” Sagittarius and the two of them meet in their first sextile in these signs, for our lives, November 19-21. Focus! How do you want to redefine your role in your friend group and community? How are you stepping into power? What would you like to cut away as the next two decades launch?

Another opportunity to steady and stabilize dangles before you November 22, when Venus sextiles Saturn. Commitment could be in the air.

Then begins the final Mercury retrograde of the year, on November 25, lasting until December 15 and traveling from 22 to 6 Sagittarius. “Traveling” is a pertinent word, since Sagittarius rules long-distance travel and this retrograde overlaps with Thanksgiving and a major travel weekend in the US, threatening widespread reenactment of the Steve Martin/John Candy film Planes, Trains and Automobiles.

On a positive note, second chances and do-overs await if you’ve been slap-dash, or mouthed off, or run from a situation, or pulled a Patrick Swayze Roadhouse “my way or the highway” stunt. A Mercury retrograde is always a beneficial time to revisit unfinished business. Probably not advisable to launch anything new, just yet.

And by all means: discuss politics or religion over Thanksgiving dinner at your peril. Misunderstandings are likely.

More in my Mercury retrograde guide at OMTimes.

The early days of this one have you stretching your indulgence gene and hankering for more, whatever that means to you. (Thank Venus inconjunct Jupiter.) As the month rolls out, a trine from the Sun to Mars has us all testing new arrangements, even new technology, and flexing our newly empowered muscles.

Look back at the beginning of the month, and you may hardly recognize your world. Or yourself.

Re-blogged on crystalwind.ca with written permission from Kathy Biehl. Do Not Copy.

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