2025 transits: Mars + Jupiter in Cancer, Saturn and Neptune in Aries: #Aries #Cancer #astrology

Hi there, welcome. This is the Kelly's Astrology Podcast where you can find insight, guidance and understanding through astrology. I'm Kelly and I'll be your host. Hey there everyone and welcome to this week's show. In today's episode, I'm going to take a look at some of the transits to keep in mind for 2025. It's a little bit of a looking ahead episode. Specifically, I want to talk about the cardinal signs in 2025. So I want to talk about transits and astral events that are happening in some of the cardinal signs, Aries, Cancer, Aries and Cancer primarily, but they're going to affect all the cardinal signs. So Aries, Cancer, Libra and Capricorn. And we've got a couple of important transits, we've got a big retrograde that is going to be taking place in some of those signs in 2025. So the idea for this episode came out of a conversation that I had in a Q&A recently where we were talking about Mars retrograde and that is mostly happening in the sign of Cancer. And I was also sharing about how Mars retrograde could be a kind of frustrating or disrupting cycle. You know, Mars retrogrades have that sort of two-step forward, one-step back where we can be creating some progress or building momentum and then we hit a snag and we got to go back to the drawing board and then we get to go forward and go a bit deeper and then we've got to come back and then we go forward again. So it's a little bit frustrating, although there's a lot that we can do to work with that Mars retrograde, but I was talking about how Mars retrograde with its sort of frustrating qualities of, you know, two steps forward, one step back, but that how after the Mars retrograde we're going to have the transit of Jupiter in Cancer that's happening a little later in 2025 and how that was definitely something to look forward to. So I want to talk a little bit about that today and that's really the seed from which the idea for today's show has grown. So I'm going to talk about the relationship between Mars retrograde in Cancer and then the transit of Jupiter in Cancer. I'm also going to touch on Saturn and Neptune. They're both going to move into the sign of Aries in 2025 and I'll just talk briefly about what that might mean, how in your chart that might show up or where to look for whether it's affecting you. And I guess, you know, a kind of overarching theme to keep in mind when you're starting to contemplate 2025 is that it is a year where some of our longer collective cycles are starting to shift. And so there is a little bit more kind of movement, you know, the line that pops into my head immediately is the start of a very famous poem in Australia. And the line says, there was movement at the station. And then the poem goes on. It's a beautiful ballad about a wild horse or the cult from old regret that had got away. I believe that it's by Banjo Patterson. But that first line is a pretty iconic line, you know, for people who've studied English or literature in Australia, you know, there was movement at the station. And to me, 2025 feels a lot like that. There is movement. Now there's movement in places where things have been stuck or stagnant, things that have been just maybe carrying along, you know, business as usual or we've been plodding along. Now there's movement. There's an initiating spark that kind of catalyzes maybe a strike out in a new direction or the recognition of decisions and choices to be made. So that's kind of where the energy, I guess, some of the energy that I'm exploring as I think about the astrology of 2025 and how it might feel differently to the astrology of the last few years. That's probably a much longer conversation for another day. But the idea is that 2025 is really animating the cardinal spirit, the zodiac signs in astrology that are associated with initiation. And that idea of there is movement at the station is something you can keep as a bit of a through line as you're exploring the astrology of 2025. Before we get into that, if you are an intermediate student of astrology and you want to polish your predictive skills, you will love my course, Professional Predictive Power. In this four-part training, I show you how to weave together progressions and transits, and I guide you through how to talk to a client about timing trends. This jam-packed course begins on October 7. You can find out more or you can sign up today over at kellysastrology.com. So with that kind of set up for today's show, I am going to be focusing on transits in the cardinal signs. They will have a collective effect. There are ways that you can see how they're influencing your chart, but I know some of you will be immediately thinking, I'm not an Aries or a Cancer or a Libra or a Capricorn. Why would this even be relevant? It's part of the energy, the astrology of 2025, so if you're just interested in astrology and changing trends, it's going to be fun to hear about. I don't want anyone to feel left out, but it's also important to say that it does happen periodically that a group of zodiac signs has a lot of astrological activity activating them. And in 2025, one of those groups of signs is the cardinal signs. There is a lot happening for mutable signs, for instance, right now in 2024, and there will be a lot of stuff continuing in the mutable signs in 2025. So that would be Gemini and Virgo and Sagittarius and Pisces, but that's a conversation for another show. So let's get ourselves all on the same page. I want to take you through some of these top level or major astrological events that will be happening in the cardinal signs and let you know when they're going to be happening in 2025. So first up, we have Mars retrograde. Now Mars retrograde actually starts in December of 2024. Mars will be at six degrees Leo and Mars starts its retrograde on December 5th, 2024. So the first part of Mars retrograde is in Leo and it's in December of 2024. Mars retrograde, though, does last for about three months and for about two months of that time, Mars will be retrograding or reversing through the sign of Cancer. This is one of those cycles where it's important, even though it doesn't sit wholly in one calendar year. So Mars begins its retrograde in Leo in December, but Mars will be retrograde in the sign of Cancer from January 6th to February 23 in 2025. So almost the first couple of months of the year. That's the first kind of thing happening in one of the cardinal signs in 2025. I will come back and talk a little bit about what to expect with that Mars retrograde in a moment. But let me just list off what else is going on and when so we kind of get the details and the data out of the way and then we can move in to the meaning or the symbolism and the themes that might come up. So at the end of March, we're going to have Neptune moving out of Pisces for the first time in more than a decade. Neptune will move into Aries in late March and Neptune will stay in Aries all the way until late October. So we're going to have about seven months of Neptune in Aries in 2025. So that's the next thing. At the end of May, we have Saturn moving into Aries. Now Saturn will be in Aries for a little over three months from late May to early September. So the middle part of 2025 is Saturn in Aries vibes. Now neither Saturn nor Neptune are going to stay in Aries for good just yet. We've got seven months of Neptune in Aries and about three months of Saturn in Aries this year. And what happens is that each of those planets goes back into Pisces for the latter part of 2025 and the early part of 2026. It won't be until January of 2026. I'll tell you approximately when. It's the very tail end of January 2026 that Neptune comes into Aries and will then spend the next 14 years in Aries. That's sort of Neptune's permanent ingress or entry into Aries is early 2026. Saturn will move into Aries for its longest stay in mid-February 2026. So straight away we start to see that 2025 is a transition year where some of these longer trends and cycles are concerned. The new one begins with kind of a shorter preview length version of Saturn in Aries for three months or Neptune in Aries for seven months. But we then come back to wrap up whatever the Saturn in Pisces and the Neptune in Pisces cycles are for each of us and for what they might be about collectively. So what that tells us is that mid-2025 is going to be the start of both a Saturn and a Neptune transit for any planets that are placed in those first couple of degrees of Aries or the first couple of degrees of any of the cardinal signs. So if you have planets at 0, 1 degrees of Aries, Cancer, Libra or Capricorn, you're going to have a Saturn transit and a Neptune transit in 2025. If you have planets around 2 degrees of those cardinal signs, so 2 degrees of Aries, Cancer, Libra or Capricorn, you will actually start your Neptune transit in 2025. Neptune will spend a little longer in Aries than Saturn will and Neptune will touch up to 2 degrees whereas Saturn won't quite go that far. So that's going to be a lot of new and kind of different, sometimes contradictory energy coming in to the sign of Aries. So Saturn's coming in, Neptune's coming in and if you've got a planet in those early degrees of any of those cardinal signs, you're having a Neptune transit and a Saturn transit at the same time. This is not the first time these kinds of combinations happen. You know, over the last few years we've had planets that have had Uranus and Pluto transits at the same time or placements that have had Saturn and Pluto transits at the same time. So it definitely happens that some parts of the zodiac get activated by multiple things at once. So that's the Mars retrograde, the Neptune transit, the Saturn transit into Aries. The final big thing happening in the cardinal signs in 2025 is actually to my opinion, my Jupiter coming into cancer. This happens around the 9th of June 2025 and it is technically a really great sign shift indicating improvements for Jupiter. Jupiter moves out of the sign of its detriment and into the sign of its exaltation. We're going to have a full 12 months of Jupiter in cancer from early June 2025 to the very end of June 2026. So Jupiter coming into cancer, this will really define the second half of 2025 as very different in its quality of energy to the first half of 2025 and that can show improvements for all kinds of Jupiter things. So Jupiter generally has to do with topics like education, travel, religion, faith, law and justice, the legal system. So all of those generic or kind of classic Jupiter themes, they're going to get a boost or they're going to come back into a more maybe nourishing, sustaining pattern of expression. Jupiter in cancer can also help indicate improvements or upgrades or maybe better support for cancer topics and that's going to be matters relating to families, housing, food. These are all cancer type topics and settings and experiences in our lives. Young children, especially infants and of course mothers, pregnant people. So anyone kind of involved in the nurturing of the young, that's all tied to cancer and Jupiter there is sort of support or help or ease around those parts of society. If you're thinking about your personal chart, you're thinking about the topics of cancer. So wherever the cancer house is for you and thinking about upgrades, improvements, more support, more ease, more fulfilment and meaning about the cancer parts of your chart. So Jupiter is going to settle into cancer in the second week of June 2025 and as I mentioned, we'll spend a full 12 months in this very nourishing, supportive place. One thing to know about the zodiac sign of cancer is that it is associated with life. It occupies the ascendant or rising sign position in the ancient Thema Mundi chart, which is an important teaching chart for many of the core tenets of astrology. Cancer is also the sign associated with the summer solstice, which was thought to be the gateway where kind of life and vitality entered the world. And then Jupiter itself is about fertility and growth and so the combination of Jupiter and cancer, which would symbolically place Jupiter in its exaltation place and would symbolically place Jupiter in that first position in the Thema Mundi chart. That is a really rich omen for vitality, for life enhancing choices or practices and indicating kind of support for growth of all kinds. At a very simple level, one of the things that we might expect from Jupiter and cancer would be something like a baby boom, for instance. It's very, very classically a great combination for fertility. So those themes of fertility and growth, they can show enhancement and increase around the topics of the cancer part of our chart. The cancer part of your chart may have nothing to do with babies and conception. You might be in a stage of your life that has nothing to do with wanting to have a young family, but those qualities of increase or accumulation or things getting bigger or expanding, they would apply, you know, regardless of your personal sort of situation around fertility and growth. So there's a little bit about all the different things that are happening, or at least the dates and the details and some of the keywords to keep in mind, especially on the Jupiter component. So if those four cardinal signs are prominent in your chart, maybe you have Aries, Cancer, Libra or Capricorn as your ascendant or rising sign. It's a clue that with so many more planets and things happening in cardinal signs in 2025, that that might be a more pivotal year for you. Maybe you don't have those cardinal signs in one of the angular places, but maybe you have lots of planets in one of those signs. Maybe you're one of those 1989, 1990, 1991 humans that has a lot of planets in Capricorn, for instance. Or maybe you're born in the early 1980s and you have a lot of planets in Libra. So those groups of people that have lots of planets in one or another of those four cardinal signs will be strongly activated by the planets coming into the cardinal signs. So even if you have planets in early Libra or early Capricorn, they will be stirred up by Saturn and Neptune coming into early Aries, for instance. So that's a clue that if cardinal signs are important in your chart, there's maybe a lot more that you're thinking about moving or shifting or changing for 2025. So now that we've kind of laid out exactly what's happening and when, let's just go a little deeper. So 2025 starts with that Mars retrograde in Cancer. And that's from the start of the second week of January through to the third week of February. Now Mars will station direct in Cancer in late February, but Mars will actually stay in Cancer until mid-April of 2025. So most of that first quarter of 2025 is a Mars in Cancer theme, partly with Mars retrograde and partly with Mars direct. So Mars in Cancer might be a mix of things. It might surface or bring up a frustration or an irritation that you realize won't get better without some direct action. Mars in Cancer might bring up tenderness or vulnerability. You might feel a little more fearful or worried or unsure about something that you didn't know you weren't sorted with. And so this idea of attending to what requires repair or like shoring up the foundations, that's going to be part of what Mars in Cancer can bring forward. What isn't going as well as it could and what is wobbly that we need to kind of stabilize things. We do have Mars, technically a malefic planet, retrograde in a water sign. And so having some feelings that are uncomfortable or a bit sticky or a bit awkward to deal with is for sure going to be a part of Mars retrograde and Mars retrograde in Cancer at least. And I think all of us are going to learn some new skills around emotional regulation, about identifying and acknowledging and honoring the feelings that we're having. And so for a period of time in that first part of the year you might find that you're a bit more protective of yourself or your time or your energy. You might be more selective about who you choose to be with or where you choose to go or not go. You might find that you prefer to stick with people and places and projects that are familiar to you rather than, you know, constantly being exposed to new or unfamiliar things. Cancer is definitely a sign of like, I know what I like, I know where and with whom I feel comfortable and I just want to kind of be in that groove for now. And because of that retrograde, you know, in the wobbly energy of Mars in Cancer, you might be working to repair or support something that's not as solid and secure in your life as you would like it to be. So these efforts, whether it's attending to something that needs repair or acknowledging your true feelings, they will actually be important preparations that will help you make the most of the supportive and the abundant potential of Jupiter in Cancer. Keep in mind that Jupiter will come into Cancer with this very upbeat, forward-looking quality just a couple of months after Mars finally wraps up its very long visit to Cancer. Mars leaves Cancer in mid-April and by the second week of June, Jupiter has arrived. And in some ways, whatever frustrations or delays or unsettling experiences you find yourself going through with Mars retrograding Cancer, it might be comforting to know that there is some support or opportunity or there is a little bit of a brighter energy just a few months down the track. It might be that you think about Mars retrograding Cancer as a bit of an activator to help you attend to what's unsettling or what's unsafe for you. You know, sometimes we're in situations, we've been in them for a while, we just start to get more agitated and we can't figure out why. Mars in Cancer is like, pay attention to sources of agitation in your life. Mostly so that you know what kinds of opportunities or upgrades, what kinds of changes are going to be most meaningful to you to explore in the second half of 2025 when you have Jupiter in Cancer. Jupiter kind of taking the place of when Mars was retrograde earlier in the year. To say a few brief things about Saturn and Neptune before we close up for today, Saturn and Neptune moving into Aries does indicate some of those longer collective trends are shifting. Saturn does change signs every three years or so. We're probably all more familiar with Saturn changing signs. If you've been into astrology over the last little while, you'll have been like, oh yeah, Saturn was in Capricorn and then it was now it's in Pisces and we're going into Aries next. If you're like me, you've been around since the last time Saturn was in Aries, for instance. Now, Aries is not one of Saturn's favourite signs. Technically, Saturn is in full in Aries. Collectively, there might be some disintegration or kind of deconstructing going on around Saturn things while Saturn is in Aries. The idea of disintegration of structure, like things being pulled apart or coming apart because they're not stable, they're not solid. Structures and systems that you rely on or that have been around for a really long time, they may become unreliable. The idea of things that are normally firm or consistent or steady becoming inconsistent and unreliable is kind of a thematic thing for Saturn in Aries. Saturn is just not well supported in Aries and so Saturnian things can go through a kind of stress test during this transo. Neptune's sign change is a little more unique. Neptune only changes signs every 14 to 15 years and so this is going to be a bigger change for the collective, although it may take until 2026 before the full influence of Neptune in Aries makes itself known. If you think back to the last 14 or 15 years with Neptune in Pisces, things like spirituality, meditation, tarot, astrology, all kinds of mystical topics and practices, they have become much more widespread and mainstream. Neptune in Aries will likely expand and help the spread of Aries kinds of things. The dream of the individual, perhaps, the power of the kind of going solo. It might enhance the fantasy of competition or of battle, even of war. So these are some of the things we're going to be looking out for as Neptune comes into Aries. There's a lot more to say about Neptune in Aries but just to give you a taster as we're thinking about 2025 in the context of these cardinal sign activations. One important feature of 2025 that I can't not mention if we're talking about major things happening in cardinal signs is that Saturn and Neptune will actually come together, forming a conjunction around one degree of Aries in August. Saturn and Neptune coming together, that's a really important combination. That cycle is about dissolving and disintegrating. This happened in 1989 around the time that the Berlin Wall was coming down. That's just a very literal example. That was Neptune in Capricorn. That's a very literal example of the falling down of a Saturn thing, a wall or barrier being removed. That imagery is really appropriate to keep in mind for Saturn and Neptune as we go forward into 2025. The idea that structures might ebb away or that physical limits and boundaries might not be what they used to be. The idea here is that with these themes of dissolving and disintegrating structures and shared visions or dreams, they might ebb away to be replaced by new dreams or new boundaries or new containers and forms. Saturn and Neptune is very much about, is it the bowl holding the water? Is it the water in the bowl? Is it the relationship from the water to the stone? That idea of the movement between those different elemental forms. Rules or limits that were once really firm may become like clouds and disperse in the breeze. Walls or boundaries or limits, borders, regulations, things that had been containing or separating, are not going to be there anymore. That's a very pivotal thing to keep in mind for cardinal sign activity, but just collective themes for 2025. There's a lot going on that's important in the big picture astrology of 2025 that is touching those different cardinal signs. If you're thinking, I've got planets at one areas or one degree of those cardinal signs, those energies of dissolving and disintegrating, of boundaries and forms changing shape, are going to be really important for you in your journey next year. If you do have planets in the early cardinal signs, there really is going to be a mix of different energies for you to explore and to be influenced by in 2025. There's the clarifying around limits and boundaries and containers of Saturn, the dissolving, maybe washing away themes of Neptune, and then some of those hopeful themes of Jupiter, which are in the background throughout the whole second half of the year. I know this is just a very brief overview of the cardinal sign astro events for 2025, but I'm hoping it's giving you a sense of what's going on, some of the different themes, some of the transits that astrologers are going to be thinking about as we start thinking about 2025. You can start tuning into those cardinal parts in your birth chart. If you don't have a lot of planets in the cardinal signs, you'll be really thinking about the Cancer House, where we're going to have Mars retrograde followed by the transit of Jupiter, and the Aries part of your chart, where Saturn and Neptune are going to start to bring their energy to bear. This is really going to bring forward this idea of the shifting into new shapes and forms as old dreams fade away and new visions emerge. That's probably a great motto to think about for 2025 as a general theme. Thanks so much for joining me again this week, everyone. If you have comments or questions or reflections to share, please let me know in the comments below. I'll be back to share more again next week. Until then, take care.