This week’s rare planetary alignment has the astrology hive humming with hope
Astrologers are swarming over the planets right now. Some have been droning on about this rare outer-planet configuration for years. If you’ve spent any time in astrology circles lately, you’ve probably heard multiple proclamations that the famous French astrologer André Barbault predicted this alignment would herald “a relaunch of humanity.”
If only.
While Barbault is credited with many remarkably accurate world-event predictions, he thought in terms of seasons, not days. He wrote about historical cycles and the way humanity moves through phases of contraction and expansion. For him, these tides of civilization were illuminated by the relationships between the outer planets: Jupiter, Saturn, Uranus, Neptune, and Pluto.
He wrote that 2020 (and the years following) would mark a period of profound contraction. Looking back at the pandemic and the crisis that’s unfolded since, I’d say he was spot on. According to Barbault, this current planetary arrangement marks the beginning of a long period of expansion. Keyword here is: “beginning.”
Many astrologers are claiming the time between July 18-22 will usher in a magnificent, magical change. Here’s hoping they’re right. More likely, we’ll experience this progression growing over many years to come. The chances of us waking up to a brand-new world on Thursday aren’t likely, but perhaps we’ll look back at this week as the start of a substantial shift. Fingers crossed.
This week’s rare alignment is certainly significant. Jupiter, Uranus, Neptune, and Pluto are forming an unusual relationship in the sky. I see this as another chapter unfolding in a massive energetic story I wrote about in Moon Mondays: We’ve been here before — and it didn’t end quietly. All five outer planets have changed signs within an extraordinarily condensed three-year period.
We can’t rearrange our entire energetic skyscape and not feel the chaos.
What I appreciate about Barbault’s perspective is the continuous cycles of compression and liberation. We’ve certainly been living through an increasingly restrictive time. We’re fighting with each other, hating anyone who doesn’t agree with us, and obsessively blaming the “other side.” Agitated, we’re suspicious and complain incessantly.
The world is freaking out, and we’re skunk-spraying our fears all over the place. There’s no escaping the stinky blast.
The good news is that Barbault claimed this week’s planetary landscape marks the end of the last six years’ worth of contraction and initiates the expansion phase. Yes, please!
Maybe we’ll see change come quickly. We’ve definitely been in a rapid freefall. Wouldn’t it be incredible to swing upwards just as speedily?
How long it takes to see change and what that actually looks like remains to be seen. As we circle the drain, hopefully, we have nowhere to go but up. Fingers and toes crossed.
Something significant is brewing. We’re living through one of the most dramatic outer-planet shifts of many lifetimes. Exactly where it leads, only time will tell. I’d give just about anything to be a fly on the wall a hundred years from now to see where humanity lands.
Until then, I keep coming back to the only thing I do have control over — me. I can’t control the world. I can’t control politics. Heck, I probably can’t even control whether a gargantuan private car racing and shooting club gets developed near my house.
What I do have agency over is the role I play in humanity. How can I decrease my blast radius? Contribute to the solution instead of the problem? Help create the world I most want to live in?
It’s not easy in this global corporate world where nearly every dollar I spend goes toward something I don’t want to support. But I can become more conscious, do my work, and at the very least not add to the hate. Hate is so boring and so early 2026.
Maybe these profound planetary shifts will move us beyond the hate, the relentless negativity, and the droning criticism. I am more than ready for that season to begin.
Sheridan 💫
Moon Sisters Circle, Astrologer, Life Coach, and Creator of the Astrology In Real Life Method