The Gregorian calendar year of 2026 started with a hectic pace and the cosmic outlook at February looks similarly harried. In a different calendar, the February 17 Lunar New Year initiates the Fire Horse year in the Chinese astrological system and occurs under an eclipse, suggesting a year of unexpected, rapid developments and breakthroughs of many kinds. Remembering to periodically observe our thoughts and feelings, empathizing with these perspectives and responses but perhaps not completely believing them or identifying with them, can give us crucial breathing space. All manner of routine and daily ritual is recommended to create the stability that allows us to observe our habits and make better decisions.

Astrological Weather for February 2026

What Remains Hidden

Saturn conjunct Neptune (exact February 20)

Visible seismic shifts in the world have roared forth in 2026, a reflection of Saturn’s long-anticipated conjunction with Neptune finally upon us. Neptune moved into Aries on January 26, and Saturn follows suit on February 17 to bring his kiss of life/death/life to Neptune’s dream realm on February 20.

On a collective level, Saturn-Neptune conjunctions occurring every 36 to 37 years correlate to dissolving (Neptune) boundaries (Saturn), tracking with the rise and fall of nations, ideologies, philosophies and ideals. For example, the last conjunction in 1989 presided over the sudden dissolution of the Soviet Union and the end of the Cold War. More than 20 nations began experimenting with democracy within the next few years.

Of course the planet of the unexpected and the experimental, Uranus, took part in the 1989 conjunctions of Saturn and Neptune. And this time around, we should also expect the innovative creative leap of Uranus to pop in with some surprises. Uranus makes a sextile aspect to the Saturn-Neptune conjunction for its full duration, until May 2027, indicating that not everything will be so predictable. And in the month of February 2026, we’re nearly certain to get a good look at the twists and turns the trickster Uranus has in store for us all over the next year.

All five of the most personal inner planets - Mercury, Venus, the Sun, the Moon and Mars - will make a stressful square to Uranus starting with Mercury on February 5 and ending with Mars’ exact square on February 27. On a personal level, we may experience a change of mind, a change of heart, a change in outlook resulting in an action we could not have predicted. A solar eclipse of the February 17 Aquarius New Moon also squares change maker Uranus, suggesting one of many turning points to come in global experimentation with both democracy and authoritarianism.

Many of us will experience something like this on an individual level as well, grappling with our own orientation to greater autonomy versus greater external control. Simply tracking our tendency to reach out and connect with the Sacred Other in all things, versus our tendency to contract and recoil can be fruitful this month of February. The power of routine and expected daily motions is helpful here.

Routines create the contrast necessary to track such inner states, and they can also help us to manage fears. Neptune’s influence on Saturn often correlates to fears spilling out everywhere to distort our engagement with the world. Applying Saturn’s energy of routine can set up helpful boundaries for directing our focus. Such routines aren’t meant to numb us out, but to make the path forward by more deliberately walking it. Intention shapes energy, and energy follows our attention.

“[We must] perform first the hard holy work of the eyes and then the painful hidden work of the heart.”

—William Gass

As the depth psychologist James Hillman put it, it is the Soul which makes the events in our lives into experiences. We might wonder what an act of Soul looks like in a time of dissolution and disfiguring transformation, as much larger forces once more sweep through the anima mundi and threaten to upend our idea of stability.

How could this become a welcome change? Is it an act of Soul to not fight to re-establish or maintain an old order, and to rather create a new one? Perhaps it is the painful (and sometimes joyful) hidden work of the heart to break open to suddenly visible realities and give birth to new possibilities. Whether we govern ourselves by fear or by love makes a marvelous difference in how we might answer these questions for our own individual transformations, or with respect to the collective shifts we find ourselves in.

If you would like to explore creative responses to the evolutionary pressures and initiatory energy of 2026 moving in your life, I am here for you. You can reach me at erica at realimaginal dot come and you'll find my appointment booking calendar is available here. I look forward to connecting with you and a Soul-inspired response to this moment.

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