Transcription
If you had to choose a theme for 2026, what would you say that theme is? It's a lot about atonement.
Because of the reality of what's happening in the world, we still have some really big mountains to climb. Sometimes these changes are happening so fast that we haven't even caught up with the last one before the next one's coming in.
The Saturn Neptune conjunction is very, very interesting, and you do get an erosion of boundaries, but you also get a restructuring of ideals. Tell us how you are seeing this February 17th solar eclipse. That period is short, sharp, and shocking. There's, I think, an opportunity really to break down fear.
A lot of these things are kind of out of our control. The only things we can hope to control are things about ourselves. One of the things we are here to learn is how to get beyond fear. And we didn't come here to be paralyzed and stuck and small.
So if you're anything like me, you are wondering about the year ahead. It's always around this time of year that I start going, "Hm, I wonder what the astrological energies are next year." I also start to get asked that by a lot of family and friends. "Hey, what's going on next year?" And especially right now, I don't know about you, but I'm also feeling that there is something really big coming in the year ahead.
And so today, I am thrilled that we have Penny Thornton, who is making her Astrology Hub debut, the podcast debut. She is also going to be featured in our Inner Circle membership for the first time ever. So, we are all going to be getting to know Penny together. I'm sure a lot of you already know her. She has been a, uh, very world-renowned astrologer for many, many years. And Penny, I'm just so happy to welcome you to the Astrology Hub podcast.
Oh, lovely to be here and to meet you too, Amanda.
Yes. Okay, so Penny, let's just dive in. If you had to choose a theme for 2026, what would you say that theme is?
Oh my goodness, I don't have a single word for it. Um, but I know one of the words that came up as I was looking at the configurations and figuring things out, um, that it's a lot about atonement, just one word, atonement. Um, but it's a lot of other things. And at this time of year, because I still do quite a lot of kind of popular astrology, then this is really since about September, but there've been all the year aheads to do for magazines. So, you have to make it very simple. You know, you can't go into deep psychological troughs and, you know, mess around in there where we like to be. You have to keep it simple. You have to say what you mean. And I found particularly well last year and this year when I was looking at what I call the overview, that's to say, let's have a look at the whole year as a picture, um, that, um, I felt that well, last year was a year, well, this year, the one we're in right now, it was a year like no other. And I would say that next year, if we thought this one was a year like no other, then next year surpasses that one.
Yeah. So, but I also think apart from the fact everything is moving so fast, world situations are moving very fast. I mean, just recently, after, um, really two years of, uh, war in Gaza, really, that just sort of stopped. I mean, has it really stopped? We don't know. But officially, there was all that rasmataz about, "It's over. We've signed this agreement. It's all done." And that all seemed to come out of nowhere in half a day. So, a lot of things are very illustrative of the things that happen very quickly, and before you can catch your breath to ask what it all means, you've moved on to the next thing. And I think we're finding that in our individual lives, exactly the same. We don't have the time to react to some of the things happening in our lives because the next wave of something has already come in. So we're already going forward.
Um, so the, the other thing that I thought was important was that I think 2020, January 2020, the Saturn Pluto conjunction, the lunar eclipse that came on the same day, I think it was the 11th of January, was really the time that that changed everything. We're never going back. From that January onwards, the world is changing, evolving, and we're never going back. Those were the old days. And I thought of that in reference to the year coming up because, um, we had the Jupiter Pluto conjunction in November of 2020. And this year, in the middle of July, I think it's the 20th of July, we've got the Jupiter Pluto opposition. So, we've got these two planets that began their cycle in 2020. They're now halfway through. And that is a big theme for the year because Jupiter and Pluto together, very, very interesting, very, very powerful combination. If you just use keywords, you know, you've got expansion for Jupiter, and, you know, with Pluto, you've got, um, transformation. So you just put those two words together and you've got transformation, expansion.
So I think it was, um, an astrologer I'm sure you know, and he died not well, about about 2011, I think he died, Alan White. Um, he talked about the Jupiter Pluto conjunction and said it makes big things smaller and small things bigger. And I think that what happened in 2020 with COVID, which was the really big signature on that year because everything changed for everyone in the world with that. So we had this, we had the Saturn Pluto conjunction, but a little bit further on, we had the Jupiter Pluto conjunction. And we certainly, what, what that I think put its signature on was that for the first time, the vaccination technique, these mRNA, I think they're called, were delivered on mass. They weren't new in the sense they didn't get developed in that Jupiter Pluto conjunction year, but they got used on mass and we learned how to deal.
So if we now come to the halfway point, that Jupiter Pluto opposition in July of 2026, there is definitely going to be a kickback to 2020 COVID, uh, treatments, scandals, um, what we learned, what we didn't learn, who was to blame, what happened. That's certainly going to be one of the features that we're going to encounter because whenever we look at these big cycles, when we think about, you know, the Saturn Neptune conjunction, Saturn Neptune opposition, it all begins with a conjunction, and we go back to the conjunction as a reference point because there's always a reference to the beginning. And so I'm going to be very interested about all the things to do with 2020 and COVID that are going to give us a resonance and a comeback, uh, uh, in the middle of July of this year. Um, that's the, the first thing I wanted to talk about, as well as the idea that everything has changed. And I think people really need to get that under their belts, and not just astrologers, but just everybody, you know, we're not going back to the good old days. I mean, whatever we thought about life, however free and, um, we always had possibilities were always endless, really, somehow. Oh, yeah. We'll go to Hawaii. Oh, you live in Hawaii next year. For us, that would be huge. But we'd make plans like that and think about that. And we'd go shopping and, everything seemed to be governed by possibilities. But really, 2020 changed all that because we suddenly realized there were some things in life that were bigger than us and things that we couldn't control. And we had to either, um, be, you know, we had to be on lockdown, or our children didn't go to school. There were so many things that happened that we had to redefine our lives. And I think this, the fear factor that COVID generated hasn't entirely left us.
And if you think on from there, and we go to 2022, and we think about the Saturn Uranus square, and we think about Pluto's invasion of Ukraine, my personal belief is that he had fully intended to go much earlier. He probably would have gone in 2020 because the Saturn Pluto conjunction has a lot about reforming, reformation, the reforming of the land. So you get a lot of land grabs and changes. So I feel that he probably didn't intend to go in February of 2022, but, you know, that was what he did because he wanted to do it sooner or later. So that war is still ongoing. And by the time we got to, uh, 2023, I think the October the 7th, we then had the start of the, uh, war in Gaza. So there have been a lot of things that have happened that, and I, I think that astrologers have struggled with this in the sense of the message they're trying to give out because all astrologers want to give out messages of hope and also of purpose and strength and all those things that make us feel really as though, you know, we're moving forwards. But in many ways, because of the, the reality of what's happening in the world, we still have some really big mountains to climb. And I think in 2026, we're going to climb a couple of very, very big mountains. So, I can go on, but just in case you want to stop me and say, "Just a minute."
Oh my goodness. I love the way you threaded together 2020 and brought in the resonance of what's happening now and that you're drawing our attention to that because, because it does seem, and tell me if you agree with this or not, Penny, that we're in like a decade-long period of massive transformation. I mean, transformation at the level that humanity perhaps has never seen before. I mean, I don't know that for a fact, but it seems like just so big. And I remember an astrologer in 2019 saying that 2020 would become like year zero, like it was such a big restart moment for us. And so to hear you threading it back into what is going to be happening in 2026 is, I think, really important for us to, to be present with and to be with. And also just to, to know that if it seems like a lot for you, it is. You know, this is a really big time. So, you're not alone in that. You're not going crazy in that. It really is a lot of change and transformation. Like you said, Penny, sometimes these changes are happening so fast that we haven't even caught up with the last one before the next one's coming in. And so, for the nervous system, that's just, that's a lot to hold.
It, it definitely is. Um, and I think you're right about the decade. I think it's right to think of 2020 at the start point and 2030 as a sort of ending, whether that's the end of the beginning or the beginning of, you know, whatever it is. I, I think that 10-year span is a good way of looking at it. In other words, we're right in the middle of that. And I think another phrase that I thought of in the sense of, well, what about this year? I was going to say we're in the thick of it. We're in it now.
Thick of it. Yes.
We're in the thick of it.
Yes.
You know, um.
And.
Yes. And I, I, I want to come back and talk now about the Saturn Neptune conjunction. We talked about the Jupiter Pluto conjunction.
Yes. And that's July.
So, so Jupiter Pluto conjunction is in July of 2026. And that is the one.
Jupiter Pluto opposition. I'm sorry. Yes.
Oh, yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yes. Pluto. Okay. And that's the one that is hearkening back to 2020. The next one you're going to talk about, Saturn Neptune conjunct in February of 2026 at zero degrees of Aries, is something entirely different. So let's talk about this.
Yes. And this is really important because, uh, during 2025, we came very, very close. I mean, it was within minutes, 12 minutes, I think, Neptune and Saturn were in conjunction, but they didn't quite get there, but they are going to get there on February the 20th. Now, the interesting thing about that, and I will come back to that, is that on February the 17th, there is a solar eclipse. So, you know, we've got things banging up against one another. Um, and I, I will talk a little bit more about that because I've got some power points for 2026, of which that that is one. But the Saturn Neptune conjunction is very, very interesting because if, again, we use our keywords. So we think of Neptune as transcendence and, uh, and the infinite things that cannot be explained. And then we've got Saturn, which is the absolute reverse of that. We've got limits, we've got structure, we've got boundaries. So you put these two planets together, and you do get an erosion of boundaries, but you also get a restructuring of ideals and of things that are difficult to conceptualize actually coming into a form. And I think this has been behind some of the extraordinary developments. The, the speed with which AI has come on board, I think, is very illustrative and responsive to this Saturn Neptune conjunction. And even if you are concerned about AI and you think this is really going to be a bad thing, you know, eventually computers will take over the world and we'll be gone. Well, maybe that will happen. But it's also doing a huge amount of good as well. And life is changing. We can't put that genie back in the bottle. That's what's happened. So AI is a very clear representation of that Saturn Neptune conjunction.
But also with Saturn Neptune conjunctions, and this is given to us historically by just going back through history, we can see that it coincides with the end of regimes. Uh, you know, I looked, um, I think I did a talk on this earlier in the year and looked at the papacy and the end of the, you know, so that was a regime, the papacy, back in whenever it was, 1500, no, 30, I can't even remember what it was, but was a Saturn Neptune conjunction. And if we come a little bit nearer that to our present time, the last Saturn Neptune conjunction was in, uh, 1989. And, uh, I don't know how old you were at that time, you may have been old enough to appreciate it, but I certainly was. And I remember living through that period and thinking the world had changed. And it, there was so much hope in the world on that Saturn Neptune conjunction. The Berlin Wall came down. All these, uh, people living in East Berlin came across to West Berlin. It was a time when it seemed as though all boundaries, good old Saturn word, had been dissolved. And so it was a time when we thought anything was possible. And within about two years, the entire Soviet Union had collapsed. And again, the hope that now Russia would become part of Europe, would become, you know, it wouldn't be its isolationist, you know, it's, I mean, it is no longer a communist nation, but communism, the structure that that, that hasn't gone. It may be, it's communism by another name.
But if we go back further than that, and we go back to, uh, because this Saturn Neptune conjunction has a very, very strong resonance with Russia. And if you go back to 1953, and the Saturn Neptune conjunction in Libra, um, Stalin died, and that was the end of the Stalin regime. And it's very interesting. I did a little bit of reading up on that because, um, nobody is 100% sure, which you might expect with Neptune, anything exactly why he died. Well, we know it was a hemorrhage and all those things, but there was a, for a long time, a belief that he'd been poisoned with warfarin. So, the death of Stalin was in mysterious circumstances at the time of the Saturn Neptune conjunction. And of course, that changed everything for for Russia at that particular time.
Back further, let's go to 1917, I think it is. And then you got the end of the monarchy, that was a regime, and in came political regimes, and really the whole Bolshevik communism really became, that was Russia. Russia became a communist country. So there is very clear evidence in that Saturn Neptune cycle that something enormous happens in Russia on the Saturn Neptune conjunction, which is why really, even during this year, I've sort of thought, well, Putin, the Putin regime is at an end. And I'm fully expecting the Putin regime to collapse. Um, when will it collapse? Well, will it collapse around the time of the Saturn Neptune conjunction in February? Maybe. Or will it wait until August, uh, and the solar eclipse at 20 degrees of Leo? It might well wait until then because Putin's midheaven is 20 degrees of Leo Aquarius. So that solar eclipse is right on his midheaven, and the, um, and Russia's Pluto is 21 of Scorpio, squaring Russia's Pluto. So there's a lot of things happening at that period of time. And so I think it's Putin's demise that will bring regime change. Whether he dies of natural circumstances or whether someone pushes him out of a window. One way or the other, when Putin goes and regime change comes in, then the war in Ukraine will effectively end, if it hasn't ended before that. So I think that 2026 is going to be a hugely, hugely important year for Russia. And because of Russia's, uh, actions in terms of Ukraine and the rest of the world, this is going to be an important point for the world, actually. And for, well, I don't know. I mean, we haven't got there yet, so we don't know what will replace that regime. We have no idea. But it will be change. There will be change. And if we just leave it like that, and we give ourselves a wide berth as to some point in 2026, whether it is around that February period, or whether we're waiting a little bit later in the year to August. Um, I mean, something is changing in Russia.
It will be fascinating to revisit this with you because you're going to be our Inner Circle teacher in August. Though around this time that you're talking about these big changes happening, you're going to be guiding and leading our community, which is going to be amazing. Okay.
Can we talk about something real quick? Because I don't know why, but, and I'm sure I've heard this before, but this solar eclipse on February 17th, the way you said it hit me differently this time because, because you also talked about the eclipse that happened on January 11th of 2020, and how that might have amplified that particular transit that we had in 2020. So tell us how you are seeing this February 17th solar eclipse that precedes by just a few days the Saturn Neptune conjunction in Aries. How's that going to impact it? Do you think?
Well, there are a whole string of things that are important in February. In fact, really starting from the 20th of January. When I looked at my power periods of 2025 of 2026, then the 20th to the 27th of January, the 16th of February to the 3rd of March in the earlier part of the year, that was my time period. Um, when we look at the around the 20th of January, um, the sun enters Aquarius, and, um, by the 23rd, it will conjoin Pluto. But Mars is in Aquarius, Venus is in Aquarius, Mercury is in Aquarius. So we've got all the personal planets connecting to, uh, Pluto. And we also have, um, Mercury stationary retrograde. I'm trying to think whether I put that note. Oh, that's March. It's not the January period. So we slip into February. February the 1st with a full moon. So the Mars Pluto conjunction comes just before the full moon of February the 1st. The very next day, Uranus turns stationary direct. So we've got a whole lot of activity. Pluto, Uranus, uh, we've got Mars in there. We've got all sorts of volatility and things changing very, very rapidly. If we go forward from there, and we come to that solar eclipse on the 17th of February, um, the sun is the square Uranus on the 16th. So, in other words, the, the solar eclipse of the 20th of February, of the 17th of February, is squaring Uranus. And then two days later, we have Saturn conjunct Neptune, Mercury station in retrograde, Mars square Uranus. So you can see that that period is short, sharp, and shocking. There's going to be waves of things going on. And I know a lot of people got caught up with the idea that there have been a lot of earthquakes and earth movements. And obviously today, yesterday, we had this category five, um, hurricane that just decimated, you know, Jamaica. So a lot of this is driven by climate change. If you believe in that, I happen to believe in it. So that's part of that. But a lot of people have looked at all these kind of weather changes, earth changes, interstellar objects floating into our solar system and joining up with our ecliptic and and and feeling apocalyptical about it all. It is as though the whole earth is heaving. So, I'm not really going to to subscribe to all of that, except in a very kind of, um, symbolic sense. I think that all these things symbolize the unrest. They don't cause it. They don't make it happen. But somehow it's, you know, I'm wondering slightly off point, but I will come back. When we think about this strange interstellar object, uh, you know, three I Atlas, whatever it is, whatever it is, the fact that we've noticed it and and we're confused by it because it's not obeying the laws of, uh, you know, science and physics as as we expect. And that is the same way when we saw Pluto for the first time, or we saw Uranus for the first time. It's like we're forced to wake up and look at something new and what does it mean? So I think symbolically, this is a hugely important period. And there are a lot of great scientific breakthroughs with treatments of things. So, you know, all of this which may sound a little bit negative, and we start worrying about, you know, the prospect for the work for world war or world peace is not very nice, but we've got all these good things happening as well, which are a part of the same thing.
So coming back to this idea of this, um, solar eclipse, literally two days before the Saturn Neptune conjunction squaring Uranus. I'm going to leave it as a PowerPoint. But I do think in reference to Ukraine and Russia, that's going to be a very, very important point. Very important. And maybe some other conflicts. However, it's also important for America because the eclipse is taking place at 28 degrees of Aquarius, and the USA's moon is 27 degrees of Aquarius. So, this solar eclipse is on the, the USA's moon. It also happens to be, uh, at at this period of time, um, that the Saturn Neptune conjunction is on the United Kingdom's, the Great Britain's natal moon, which is 29 of Pisces, and something else, and that happens to be square Uranus. So, if we just look at these two countries alone, and we don't really have time to look at every country in the world on this, um, on this podcast, but it's going to be a time of great global change for whatever reason, whether it's mother nature doing her best to upset things, whether it's conflicts coming to a screaming halt or reigniting, or whether there are going to be events in, uh, America, let's say, in terms of the presidency, or whether we're going to be looking at events in, uh, in England with the royal family. This is going to be a very important period for, certainly we know America and England and Great Britain, let's put it that way.
If I come back to 2025, there was a solar eclipse on the 21st of September, 29 degrees of Virgo. Um, so that was opposing the Saturn and Neptune at that point. Now, that I felt was going to be very, very important for our royal family. And, you know, I, I thought that somewhere between that solar eclipse and the February the 17th solar eclipse, there are going to be very, very big changes in the royal family. And I'm just going to leave it at that. I, that was my benchmark. So those are things that I am looking at. I want to come to July for America as well, because that's another month. We've already talked about the Jupiter Pluto opposition. So Saturn will go stationary, uh, retrograde on the 26th of July. Now, it's going retrograde at 14 degrees of Aries, which is exactly opposite the US's natal Saturn. We've also got big sun Jupiter opposition Pluto in Leo. We'd already talked about the Mars Uranus conjunction on July the 4th. So I think America is poised for something really big around that July period. I say this with some hesitation, but I was definitely reminded of 9/11 when I looked at July for July 2026 for for America. And whether we're looking at domestic upheaval, or whether we're looking at a foreign influence, I can't say. But it certainly looks to me as though there will be massive change in America.
And I think frankly, there needs to be massive change in America. And all things, we may not like the way things happen. Um, but in the aftermath, there's usually good things come out of those, and often unity comes out of, uh, very unpleasant kind of developments. So, it's not my job to scare the pants out of everybody. I'm not trying to do that. I'm just saying I'm looking at the astrology. And back in, um, 2001, before that, that was the Saturn Pluto opposition. And during that time, I was doing my weekly articles, and I was mentioning that I was very concerned about America. And I put the date somewhere around, um, August the 6th, which was for me a very important date. Um, and then when it turned out that it was 9/11, it was in the September, I could find all the reasons. But on 9/11, I sat, the USA Saturn was definitely involved in, and on that day.
And the US is coming up to its Uranus return. So in 20, well, it's probably near 2027, it will come to its Uranus return, but we're heading there. So I'm looking at at this without trying to get into very deep water here. On the one hand, it's going to be interesting to see what happens. And on the other hand, it's always good to test out the astrology. Whether it is with the end of the regime in Russia, or whether it is with severe destabilization in America, let's test out our astrology and see, you know, how much guidance it can give us. And astrology is all about guidance. It's not really about prediction and, and fear and all of that. And whenever we make anything conscious, and let's take a retrograde Mercury, for instance, everybody gives a deep sigh on a retrograde Mercury. "Oh no, no, nothing will work," and this and that. But if you embrace that retrograde Mercury and think, "Okay, what do I need to go back on? What do I need to look back on, sort out, rethink? Who do I, who haven't I seen for ages? Where do I need to go back?" If you go with the flow with Mercury retrograde, you're going to get something out of that particular retrograde passage. And if you keep your awareness up that says, "I can't afford to do anything at the last minute. I got to keep checking that my messages have got there," then you're going to roll with Mercury retrograde as opposed to feeling thwarted every time you step out the door and there's a traffic jam, if you know what I mean. Yes. So, yeah.
Okay. So, I, I think I'm going to take a pause there because the other thing that we haven't touched on is this little triumvirate, this little Uranus, Neptune, Pluto triangle that we need to have a look at. So, okay, let's do that next. But before we do, I'd love to stay on this.
You said Uranus, Neptune, and Pluto.
Pluto.
Okay, we will definitely cover that.
In the same line of thinking of the Mercury retrograde example you just gave us.
So you're giving us lots of very potentially useful information for ourselves as we go into this next year. A lot of these things are kind of out of our control, right? Things that are happening with big countries like Russia or the United States, or even, uh, natural occurrences and things that might happen on the planet. How do we roll with the level of change that you're anticipating that you're seeing? How would you advise a client one-on-one, or how would you, how, how are you advising yourself to to take these energies in mind and and make the most of them, I guess, is what I'm asking.
Yeah. And, and I think that's a very valid question because, as you say, we can't control everything that's going on in the world. The only things we can hope to control are things about ourselves. And sometimes we can't even control ourselves.
Always so easy.
Yes. But of course, all these very big alignments are affecting us at different stages of our lives. I mean, a Saturn Neptune conjunction on your sun, at my age, which is what I have right now, I'm a Sun Aries, one degree of Aries. So that's my Saturn Neptune conjunction. Wham, bam, on my sun. That is going to be different for me at my age than it is for a 17-year-old person, right? Age, experience, what you've been through, how you're coming to whatever you're going into. This all makes a difference. So, we have to really start off with by picking each bit of this puzzle apart and thinking, particularly about the Saturn Neptune conjunction, which is this kind of erosion of boundaries, yet also the structure of the infinitesimal, the things we can't get. I mean, for instance, for an artist, somebody who is a creative, this could be an extraordinary creative period where you are busy bringing into tangible form your creative vision. If perhaps you've always wanted to get into nursing, you wanted to be a healer, you wanted to do something that helps mankind, here comes Saturn and Neptune saying, "Learn about it, get the qualifications, go out and heal." So it's really adapting our lives, the experience we've had, you know, what is the content of our lives, and thinking how best to manage that Saturn Neptune conjunction. There is certainly going to be, remember at the very beginning here, I talked about atonement.
Yes. And I think that's a really important thing because that is very Saturn Neptune. And it, again, let's look at somebody who's my age and somebody who's 17. That Saturn Neptune seam of atonement may mean I didn't work hard enough for my exams and I let my parents down. I, I really need to get my act together now and put my new vision into into being. Now, somebody my age has to think, what aspect of my health have I been neglecting? What did I do years ago when I smoked for 50 years? Have I now done to my poor lungs? So, we're seeing that in a different way. Although everything else still applies. It's bringing your visions into reality. And also, I think it's an opportunity really to break down fear. So you have to analyze your fears and face them and overcome them. I think that's another very positive aspect of the Saturn Neptune conjunction. If we go back and we think about the Berlin Wall coming down, you know, it took a huge amount of courage for those for that to happen, to have the belief that things could change, that hope could become a reality. What courage that took to make that happen, and people made that happen. People took individual steps across that wall, facing the guards that should have shot them. That took courage. So I think we take away from that that we will require courageous action in order to cut through that fear barrier, whatever that fear barrier may be. And I think also when we think about Neptune in Aries, that there's something very crusading about Neptune in Aries. We think about Aries, the warrior, the sign that is pioneering, and we think about Neptune and the spirit, and the spirit of the pioneer. That's something else we can embrace. So I think there's a lot of things we can look at with that in particular. And we talked about the Jupiter Pluto opposition. Well, what does Jupiter and Pluto represent in our lives? Well, you may have a Jupiter Pluto aspect in your own chart. In other words, that's going to bring out your natal, you know, dilemma or gift, whichever way you want to look at it. But we know it's going to be big. So the good things get bigger, and the bad things get bigger. Growth, we get inflation, that horrible word. So it's the inflation of the, the, the things that are out of control, but also the growth of, growth of things that you wish to expand your life with. And the overriding theme, I think, apart from atonement and recognizing where you screwed up, you know, okay, I screwed up. Can I do something about it? Hopefully, yes. Do you make amends? Yes. Even if it's just to yourself, to admitting to yourself something, you are shedding those cobwebs that are sort of across our psyche and moving forward clean and clear.
Any of you who are like, I could sit and listen to Penny talk about this forever, which is definitely my case. I'm definitely in that camp. We have a couple opportunities coming up where you're going to get to learn more from Penny. First is our free 2026 forecast panel. Penny is going to be featured on that panel with several other amazing astrologers, and we're going to be talking all 2026 and really breaking some of these things down in different ways, revisiting some of the themes, and we're going to be going deep on 2026 again with Penny and like I said, some other amazing astrologers. So if you want to sign up for that, it's free. That's astrologyhub.com/2026forecast. astrologyhub.com/2026forecast. We're going to put that link in the show notes as well. And then, like I said, Penny is also going to be a mentor teacher for the Inner Circle in August. And I'm going to talk about every time, every lunar cycle, we have a different astrologer who's teaching in the Inner Circle. And we have an incredible roster for 2026 for these in these huge energies. You're going to be supported by some of the best astrologers in the world. And every astrologer not only keeps you in tune with what's happening in that lunar cycle, but they also teach a mastery class. So, we're going to be talking about Penny's mastery class for Leo lunation of 2026 at the end of this episode as well. Okay. So, join the forecast. Let's go to the other important for the other important transit and configuration in the sky that you brought up briefly, Uranus, Neptune, and Pluto.
Yes, Uranus, Neptune, and Pluto are in this little triumvirate. So, we've got Neptune sexile Uranus, Neptune sexile Pluto. So, this is like the little mini grand trine. And what's significant about that, I'll come to shortly. But of course, as the personal planets move around the zodiac in the chart, you keep getting these other configurations, these kites and everything, which is what's been happening throughout 2025, which is another reason why it's been such a huge year. And you know, a lot of people get stuck on, "Oh, well, what does a kite mean? What does a cradle mean? What does this mean?" The important thing to remember is that the planets contained in an alignment are all resonating at the same pitch. They're all picking each other up. So, what you've got is an intense parity of, uh, I don't want to use the word energy. It's, you know, not something I like using, but it's like pressing the pointer so that big events cluster around the time when you get these configurations. When you look at a kite, which is combined, you know, it's about trines, it's about sex tiles, kind of nice little configuration. What is it that holds that configuration together? Well, it's the opposition between whatever's at the tip of the kite and what's at the bottom. So, in other words, it's the tension in the opposition that creates the kite. You need tension and you need flow. Let's put it that way. It's a combination.
So rather than think a kite is a gift from the cosmos that you are given, or the events that are round about a kite are a gift, and don't get caught up in what it means. Just think about the planets that are involved in that and the tension that the opposition is bringing out because it's the opposition that is the key factor. So, if it's, for instance, as we come into 2026, we got a big one on September the 26th. So the sun is in Libra opposite Neptune, and then you've got the sexile to Uranus and Pluto. So we've got a big kite going for us on the 26th of September. So that's going to be a real big one. But let me get back to the Uranus, Neptune, and Pluto trio. To get Uranus in Gemini, Pluto in Aquarius, and, uh, Neptune in Aries, which is what we're we are looking at in 2026 and have had in 2025, uh, you have to go back thousands of years just to get that combination. So, we're not going to really bother ourselves with that. But there is a connection, really, a bit nearer our time, and that's in 1945, where we had Pluto in Leo, Neptune in Libra, and Uranus again in Gemini. So we had a little tripartite going for us. Now, what's interesting about that is that World War II came to an end on May the 8th, 1945. It was the end of the tribulations. And that particular little triumvirate was hovering over the end, which is why I've been so enthusiastic about regime change in Russia and the end of the war in Ukraine. Uh, what I also want to say about this, and it caught my attention, that Uranus, Neptune, and Pluto, as the three outer planets, have all been discovered since 1781. 1781, Uranus. 1846, Neptune. 1930, Pluto. And each of these planets, and their name obviously was given by astronomers, they weren't astrologers saying, "Oh, let's call it Pluto because we need something about transformation." It was like that, you know, some said, "Oh, we'll call it Pluto because of Disney or because of whatever it was." But anyway, it aligned perfectly with depth psychology and all sorts of other things. But Uranus, Neptune, and Pluto have all given their names to, uh, components of nuclear power. So we've got Neptunium, we've got uranium, and we've got plutonium. And I think that's interesting because 1945, not the way the war ended completely, was with the, uh, dropping of the atomic bomb on Hiroshima. And we have these three planets aligned. So I am not saying that because we've got Uranus, Neptune, and Pluto aligned again that somebody is going to drop an atomic bomb on somewhere. But what I find interesting is that since they have been aligned, we have definitely heard Putin threatening to use atomic weapons. We've had all sorts of agreements with the atomic power that was agreed between Western, right, that's fallen apart. So there's a lot related to that within this little tripartite, and I'm just going to throw that in there. I think as a principle, again, if we think about the boundaries that have been crossed with the discovery of Uranus and Neptune and Pluto, we think particularly of Neptune, which came about at the time of, uh, really romanticism and, um, all sorts of other very interesting kind of, uh, spiritualism was also part of that. The realization that Neptune, what were the incidents, the events, the times, what did they show us? And with Pluto, of course, we got depth psychology. So, the fact that we've seen and discovered a new planet in a much the same way that we're suddenly looking at three I Atlas and saying, "What's that?" It does represent an opportunity for humanity to expand its awareness in the sense of, "Oh, we got to look at something else now. We got to go forward with this. What is it teaching us?" And that's not too far removed from the idea of an expansion of consciousness. Awareness is consciousness. And what allows you to be consciously aware is the fact you're a conscious, intelligent human being. So this gives rise to many opinions of this big change in consciousness and, and, but somehow it also gives the impression that it's happening to us. You know, something's something is wafting down to us, and we breathe it in, or we, we are aware of it, and we are becoming expanded human beings. And I don't really see it like that. I do see these as markers on humanity's board of life saying, "You're about to make a huge leap." And all these things that are happening in your world are part of the reason you're going to be making this leap. And, you know, although I got a list of things to sort of talk about next year, I could go on for 10 hours.
Do you know what? I think I'd quite like to end with that positive thought.
I love that, Penny. And, and I was actually thinking as you were in this last segment about how if I had to summarize everything you said today in terms of what we can actually do, it feels to me like being open to that expansion of awareness, not gripping too tightly onto what we think we know, who we think we are, what we think is possible, and really trusting on some level that this is happening for our good, that if we choose to engage in this consciously, that we will be making leaps, we will be going into territory we never knew existed, just like three Atlas kind of coming in and blowing up what we think we know, you know, scientifically and about physics and all these things. There are similar opportunities within our own current awareness to have that level of expansion and, "Oh wow, I didn't even know that was possible. I didn't even know that that existed." You know, whatever that is. And so, I, I love that you're talking about this. We're on the verge of a huge leap. Like any, any way you want to look at it, we're on the verge of a huge leap. We can either brace in terror about what that leap is, or we can relax and open up to it, because we're going either way.
Yeah. And I think coming back to the idea of Neptune in Aries and this idea of a crusade, everything ultimately comes down to fear. If we are frozen with fear, we don't move. We just, we are frozen with fear. Whereas if we, you know, contact our fear, we look at it and we say, "I'm going through that. I don't know what's through the other side, but I'm going through it." My goodness, that changes everything. It's, fear is the, the biggest problem we face on on anything. And it, I remember all those sort of Japanese kamikaze pilots who had no fear. That's what I believe was sensational in, you know, in certain spiritual, um, practices, that knowing the hour of your death and the nature of your death, once you know that that's when it is, you're going to have no fear at all about confronting doing things you've never done before, dealing with stuff because you know it's not your time. So, that these illustrate really the power fear has over us to make things worse, to prevent us from living a full life, from being our full selves. It comes down to fear and overcoming fear.
Penny, in 2020, that was my experience. It, I, I was, I was in one of those moments where I was communing with Saturn. I was actually like, "Saturn, what's going on?" Like, I need to to understand this on a deeper level. And what I received is Saturn saying very clearly, "This is a, you are learning about fear, but not to be stuck there, really to understand how it works, how it paralyzes, how it separates, how it, you know, how it infiltrates every aspect of reality." And again, not to stay stuck, but to learn how to transcend this. And so, I'm getting from you right now that this theme is coming back. And it is, I'm, I'm listening to this amazing book called "Beyond Death and Life" by Dolores Cannon, who was a past life regression therapist. And so, she talked to many people that were in between lives in her hypnosis and in her therapy sessions. And one of the things that they said is that there is no fear in the spirit realm. You actually have to have a body in order to experience fear. But that one of the things we are here to learn is how to get beyond fear, to to realize that it is an illusion. And like you said, it can paralyze us and keep us stuck and small, and all these things. And we didn't come here to be paralyzed and stuck and small. So, this is, it's not always com. Oh my gosh, it's can.
be the most uncomfortable and and the most terrifying, but but wow, if we could really move beyond that, how how differently would we live here?
Absolutely. And I think these very difficult times we're living in, they're challenging times, whether they're personal things or collectively or wherever we see, we really do have to drop that fear about what if and you know go with it, do what we can, learn about it, get to know more about it because information dissolves fear as well as taking steps that prove to ourselves we don't have to fear that um I think I don't want to get too philosophical or spiritual about the idea that somehow all of this mess humanity seems to be faithing is purposeful in the sense that we need to go beyond the fear of it all but it could be I'm not throwing it out of the you know the possibility basket of danger.
Yes, okay, amazing. All right, so can we talk about for our inner circle members? Can we talk about the the class you're going to teach on the houses? So, this is going to be your mastery class teaching in August. Tell us why you're choosing to teach on the houses and how you're going to go about doing that.
Yes. Um I think the houses are the houses have always fascinated me. I mean, it's the areas of life, the spheres of being. uh they represent so many things and um you know working with astrology every day, which is what I do and what I have done for decades, not going to tell you how many decades, but decades and even when I was working with a national newspaper in England and doing astrology every day, right, that taught me to keep watching, you know, what was going on. So every day doing astrology energy, seeing clients, observing the world, you come to a point where you think, well, this doesn't really say anything to me anymore. This doesn't really work. And so, you know, you look at the sixth house, and you think, well, why is this work and well-being? What what's this area of the horoscope? Oh, I've got three planets in the sixth house. What a pity. Why aren't they in the fifth? Why aren't they creative and wonderful and magical? what I'm doing the sevens where I'm having wonderful relationships or whatever, but I'm in the dreary sixth house, what am I going to do with these planets? But once I started to work with the sixth house and I thought, well, you're understanding that sixth house, your understanding is going to expand by looking at what the 12th house is, the opposite number, because what is the 12th house? It's our escape hatch. This is where we escape to, where we go beyond. This is where transcendence happens. This is our spiritual equal journey, you know, where it is. Why is it attached to the sixth house? Because we do the work of spirit in the sixth house. We do the work. We do our saber. And well, it goes on from there. I'm not going to give all of it away, but over a period of time, I started to look at many of the houses in a in a very different way. are easier to understand than others. You know, a bit basic. But you get to the eighth house, 12th house, the sixth house, the fourth house, they're really complicated and we really need to sort of look at them in a way that we see them in a different way. And you know, then the astrology comes to life and the planets we may have in them or the planets ruling that area if we haven't got planets in them suddenly start to make a lot more sense in our lives.
Oh gosh. So good. Okay. So you all have that to look forward to. If you're not yet an inner circle member, you can find the link to join us. It is the largest and longing longest standing astrological community and membership in the world. And it's where you get to learn from amazing mentors every single month. You get to learn about the energies of the month. And it's really designed for people who want to use astrology to live their best life. To really take the information and harness it in a way that is productive and positive and so that you can come here and do the thing that you wanted to do when you decided to incarnate and be here on this planet. So that is uh Penny's going to be teaching in August and you're going to be meeting a lot more of the 2026 teachers at our forecast event. So just reminding you to sign up for that. That is free. The 2026 forecast panel. This is our biggest event of the year. Everybody loves this event. We've been doing it I think like eight or nine years now in a row. So the forecast panel is a really tremendous uh way to learn about the energies of the year ahead. That is astrologyhub.com/2026forecast.
Penny, you're amazing. This has been such a treat, such a pleasure. I cannot wait for more Penny Thornton in 2026. [laughter] Thank you for coming and for sharing so much wisdom. I mean, that [clears throat] was amazing. It's obvious that you have been practicing astrology for decades. We don't have [laughter] to put a number on it, but it's obvious that this is not your first go round and you just have this information in you in such a beautiful embodied way. So, thank you for sharing that with us, Penny. And thanks all of you for being here. Thank you for making astrology a part of your life. We'll catch you on the next episode. [music]