“I am on the cusp of change and the curve is shifting fast.” Audre Lorde
Standing on the brink can be scary evoking images of cliff edges or even trepidation about being on the threshold of what is unfamiliar. With the four outer planets hovering in that critical phase of transition between what has been and what is about to come there is an over-wrought, push-and-pull mood. The tension comes from the tug-of-war between past securities and the urge to leap ahead across the brink to embrace the unknown.
Pluto has already made the transition into Aquarius. After a few tentative toes in the water last year Neptune is finally into Aries for the long haul a week ago. Saturn is heading for the crossover into Aries by the middle of this month and Uranus sashays into Gemini in late April.
None of this is news but I have been aware recently of numbers of newsworthy charts which had planets in the final anaretic degree. Again not surprising since they will be catching the aspects from the outer planets so will be undergoing crises or challenges themselves. But I also wondered whether they were in some way pivotal, albeit unwitting, to times of change which never comes easily – opportunity usually emerging out of crisis or danger. Some will turn their face against evolving to a higher/different level and suffer the fate of being tossed onto yesterday’s scrap heap. The choice at an individual level is change or stagnate. But even those who turn their face the wall may be a necessary part of the process.
“Anaretic” derives from the Greek, meaning “destructive” or “killing,” and signifies intense pressure, endings, and the need to complete lessons.
Those having key anaretic planets can have a ‘dither and dash’ temperament – unable to decide and then making an impulsive leap often in the wrong direction. It can bring a sense of unfinished business connected to the sign involved that needs closure which can lead to poor choices, difficulties or overcompensation.
The 29th degree is known as the “degree of fate” which brings a sense of urgency, stemming from a need to complete ‘karmic’ lessons. Or put it another way a sense that an old cycle is ending and needs to be accounted for before the leap ahead into the new phase. Associated with an impending major turning point, it is both limiting and motivating. The old becomes insupportable so the new is worth the risk. The end of the cycle brings a “now or never” urgency.
One sad example is Violet Ford Fletcher, recently deceased last survivor of the Tulsa Massacre, with her Pluto at 29 degrees Gemini, all too evocative of her memoir “Don’t Let Them Bury My Story.”
J.D. Vance has his Pluto and Neptune in final degrees of Libra and Sagittarius.
New Zealand has its Pluto in final degree Aries.
The Kent State shooting occurred with Neptune at 29 Scorpio and Jupiter at 29 Libra.
Sun in final degree: Julio Iglesias, Emmanuel Macron, France, Morgan McSweeney (Starmer Chief of Staff), Iran 1501, Xi Jinping’s Third Term.
Mars in final degree: Roy Cohn, US Congress, USA Solar Arc Mars, Jerome Powell’s 2nd Term at Fed Res.
Uranus in final degree: ICE, Board of Peace and Neptune), Bank of China.
Jupiter at final degree: Donald Trump Jnr.
Donald Trump has his Ascendant in final degree Leo, the EU has final degree MC and Ascendant.
Not sure what all of the above add up to except it does seem a critical degree and is hovering around in the celestial sphere as well as in the media spotlight which suggests the certain individuals are consciously or unconsciously, for good or ill, at the centre of a cultural shift.
Add On: More final degrees – Lyndsey Vonn, the skier pushing against common sense has another crash. She has Neptune at 29 Sagittarius in an overly optimistic conjunction to Jupiter with Mars ramping up the enthusiasm nearby.
Morgan McSweeney, Starmer’s Chief of Staff, resigns over Mandelson – Sun at 29 Aries and Solar Arc Pluto at 29 Scorpio.
Thorbjørn Jagland. Former Norway PM under corruption investigation over Epstein files. Mars at 29 Sagittarius.
From a previous post:
For those who don’t have a 29 degree planet in their chart they will still feel the effects from the changeover of Solar Arc Sun (every 30 years) to a new sign and Progressed Moon (every 2.5 years). Both of these herald a significant shift with the run up to the changeover being filled with uncertainty, indecision leading to hasty commitments and sometimes crisis – described as sometimes ‘packing a punch’.
As with the transiting outer planets when they reach the final sign before the changeover there can often be a ‘swansong’ of unfinished business connected to the sign that is being exited which show up as crises. Pluto leaving Capricorn – money, governmental practice, capitalism. Neptune leaving Pisces – weird ideas, conspiracy theories, religious zealotry. The theory being that a resolution must be found before it is too late – the Trump madness and the UK Post Office debacle being too examples to ponder.
On a quick scan through examples: last degree Taurus Sun – Cher and Laurence Olivier. Last degree Capricorn Sun – Janis Joplin, Dolly Parton, Al Capone. Not sure I would draw any great conclusion from those examples.
Last degree Moons seem trickier:
29 Aries Moon – Celine Dion
29 Taurus Moon – Friday Kahlo, Riven Phoenix, Henrik Ibsen.
29 Leo Moon – Winston Churchill, Margaret Thatcher.
29 Virgo Moon – Jack Nicholson, Deepak Chopra, Betty White
29 Scorpio Moon – Jennifer Lopez, Melinda Gates, Ellen Pompeo
29 Capricorn Moon – David Beckham, Prince George, Napoleon 1, Robert Kennedy Jnr.
29 Pisces Moon – Kim Kardashian, Hilary Clinton, Catherine Zeta Jones, serial killer Wayne Gacy.
Interesting to hear from those who have final degree planets.
PS Fun example. The Great Stink in London of 1858 – a stench that was so noxious from untreated human waste and industrial effluent that it led to a major overhaul and introduction of new sewage systems occurred when Uranus was at 29 degrees Taurus – and that’s an appropriate astro-signature. Taurus being earthy and fairly anal – and up-in-its-head Uranus moving into Airy Gemini wanting freed from the grosser aspects of city living.
Add On:
Rupert Murdoch – Venus 29′ Aquarius – making an impulsive leap, often in wrong direction.
Oscar Pistorius – Sun 29′ Scorpio (square Mars) and Reeve Steenkamp Saturn 29 Libra (conjunct Pluto and trine his Mars).
Peter Mandelson – Saturn 29’ Libra
Michael J Fox & George Clooney – Saturn 29′ Capricorn
Harvey Weinstein – Sun 29’ Pisces
Cillian Murphy 29 Aries Chiron in painful square to Saturn 29 Cancer.
Jerry Hall Jupiter 29 Leo conj Pluto 26 Leo
Sir Mick Jagger: Chiron 29 Leo; Neptune 29 Virgo
Chris Hemsworth 29′ Saturn in Libra conjunct Pluto square Mars.
Kate Hudson has Sun at 29 Aries square Moon at 29 Capricorn opposition Jupiter 29’ Cancer.
Jeremy Corbyn – Uranus 29 Gemini and Saturn 29 Leo.
Can add in Mo Farah British former Long distance runner with Neptune and South Node at 29 Sag and North 29 Gemini.
A query about the possibility of some kind of large-scale landslip and or tsunami off the west coast of California.
California, 9 September 1850, has Uranus Pluto in final degree Aries and Jupiter in final degree Virgo – so very much ‘on the brink’ astrologically at the moment. But both previous major earthquakes in 1994 and 1906 occurred when there were key Uranus Neptune transits and solar arcs.
1994 – SA Neptune square the CA Uranus Pluto. A transiting Uranus Neptune conjunction. A panicky SA Mars conjunct the CA Neptune. A bleak tr Saturn square Pluto.
1906 – SA Neptune conjunct the CA Uranus Pluto. Tr Neptune opposition Uranus.
Yes and I have 29 Jupiter Scorpio with MH/IC at 29
but
I wanted to add to these thoughts:
movie star and musician DAMIAN LEWIS has Pluto 29 in Virgo, Cupido 29 Aries and Vesta 29 Sagittarius. He has been on screen acting/having mental breakdowns at least twice, shown hanging to death, giving a death stare as King Henry VIII….lost his own wife to cancer…jumps on stage while playing guitar and belting out to a packed swooning audience.
Yet, my friend has a 29 Sun that the September eclipse sat on, 29 Neptune, 29 Vesta, 29 Aesculapia, 29 Pluto conjunct her 29 Vulcano & was devastated by her partner breaking up with her, so she moved across the continent as a result under great duress and hardship … and had a heart attack. As for now, she is recovering and getting better by the day.
Thank you for all your work, Marjorie.
My mom was a Gemini Sun-Uranus, born a year after Trump, who is also a Gemini Sun-Uranus. Shake up with neighbors. A common theme of my mom’s life and Trump.
For my mom, she had many conflicts with the closest neighbor who would illegally broadcast on frequencies that blocked tv radio waves all day long every day. He trespassed constantly physically. He poured concrete into the middle of the private driveway and stopped the US Post office from being able to deliver mail to her house because they wouldn’t drive over his driveway even though she showed it was poured into the common parcel. He was always shaking up her life. She had to constantly change (Uranus) her life (Sun) to react to the neighbor (Gemini).
One theme to expect is that Uranus changing from Taurus to Gemini is about the shakeups that occur when neighbors’ trespass on your land.
Wonder how that will impact Ukraine?
I have a grand cross at 29 degrees psyche gemini, mars capricorn, IC virgo and MC pisces I have been feeling so overwhelmed and lost wanting to change and yet resisting this helps explain it. Any suggestions for mitigating the effects gratefully received
I have Uranus at 29 degrees Cancer in 1st opp. Chiron at 0 degrees Aquarius on cusp of 7th/8th houses. My daughter (a better astrologer than me) says that’s me trying to clear the backlog of negative family karma. As I have shared here before, I now set my own rules (boundaries) about what I will and won’t accept from my immediate family with positive results in terms of peace of mind.
Like Lea above I was also never given any form of agency to make my own decisions which has made me too, pretty indecisive but I always thought that this was due to Pluto conjunct my stellium of personal planets in Leo in 2nd/3rd H. Although I think sometimes it’s not about making the decision itself but thinking through the various possibilities and how they could affect you or others. That helps me accept that part of myself.
Adding to the above: a further look at my natal chart indeed shows a T-square to the Uranus/Chiron opposition formed by Neptune in late Libra in 4th house of family and roots. So yes, my Uranus personal rebellion is against the illusion of a harmonious family life which is entirely fake as reflected in the hurtful ways in which we relate to one another while pretending to ourselves that all’s well and fine. I think I now nderstand that better. I guess it’s generational too for those of us born in the mid-1950s.
Susan H your comments resonate strongly with me! Similar chart + aspects born1952, T square, Sat/Nep 4th,
Mars sq Pluto. I emigrated! LOL
I have Moon at 29 Aquarius (2nd hse) opp Saturn at 29 Leo (8th) drawn into a T square by my Sun at 28° 31’ Taurus (6th), plus Uranus at 28° 47’ in Gemini (7th hse). I definitely fit with the dither pattern. I’m a great procrastinator, have tremendous difficulty making decisions and when I do they often turn out to be the wrong ones cos I’ve pondered over them for too long. My Mother was very dominant and I was never allowed to make decisions growing up, not even simple ones. (When I started work she insisted on having my money and buying my clothes until I got married. My father deserted early on, so I never knew him).
Not long ago I saw a t-shirt that said “Don’t rush me, I’m waiting for the last minute.” Now my motto.
Even though I don’t have your placements, I was squashed by a domineering mother, too. But our coping mechanisms are neither good or bad. Timing is everything.
Is there any connection between landslides and the outer planets changing signs? I’m assuming the footage of a house collapsing at high tide in North Carolina isn’t AI.
Neptune at 29 Pisces could be high seas, although that will continue with climate change rising sea levels swamping lots of coastal areas. It’s not just North Carolina, houses have been slipping into the sea on the coasts of Massachusetts and California and probably other places as well for quite some time.
Same thing happening due to the rapid erosion of the East Anglian coast of the UK.
Neptune 29 Sag. Pluto 28Lib. Mars 28 Aries. I think I spent more time daydreaming than doing anything fruitful.
+- a year from Vance dob.
Sun, moon less by 1 degree than 29 in Leo and Venus less by 2 degree in Leo,all 1st house…if that counts…
Asc leo as sun in leo and cusp on leo virgo..m no way leo though the ego does come out at wrong times in regards to workplaces, bosses specially and family, leaving me in crisis always as I quit all to leave for peace. Tried in vain but gave up, the lesson I need to learn to be patient with people I feel r less than me. Virgo of workplace and health doesn’t wake me up of repeated crisis I keep jumping into.
Venus does always put me in crisis with Chiron in 5h in Taurus so luxuries r retail therapy and health taken for granted till it breaks down completely.
I’ve got a 29 degree Virgo Moon in the 3rd, sextile a 29 degree Jupiter in Cancer in the 12th. Similar to @KateS I felt a kind of compulsion to journal frequently: daily or weekly for about 30 years, thinking somehow there was a story that needed telling. Only to now wonder when and where to depose of all these boxes of scrawled notebooks! Generally I never felt I quite “landed” in some ways in life; there’s a sense of never quite getting there, despite high hopes, at times frantic movement and some accomplishments. A bit of a chronic “work in progress.”
I do think we are leaving something akin to trail markings or time capsules for someone we may never meet. I don’t think it’s really for “nothing”. It’s our contribution to the Akashic Records. 😉
That’s a lovely image. 🙂
So kind! I’m in the process of scanning my journals (with a little redaction, here and there) and then just tossing the hard copies. I’ll save them digitally as resource material for any use in the future.
29degree Gemini Moon- But unsure what this means
I have 29 degrees gemini sun. I have gemini parents but ive mostly felt disconnected from my family for inexplicable reasons, I wonder if this is why.
I have a distant relative who has a Sun Mercury Pluto cj @ 29 Leo all square her moon at 29 of Taurus. The way she treated her children and grandchildren was so horrific that they eventually took her to court. One of her offspring said she makes Joan Crawford look like Mother Teresa
I have Venus at 29 Scorpio.
I believe anaretic degrees apply to progressed charts too.
My natal Mercury/MH 29° Virgo. sextile Jupiter 23°/Uranus 8H 27° Cancer.
I don’t have an eidetic memory, but am very good at trivia and kept a daily journal for 13 years thinking someday I would want to share my adventures on the road because some were kind of cool, stupid, but entertaining. It felt so important at the time.
I am now the family historian and record stories and photos of members in the 19th century. Not sure if anyone else in my family will ever care. But I feel compelled.
Hi KateS, cheers to your Virgo service as the family historian!
If you care to share, I wonder how/if you’ve experienced the Pisces T Neptune-T Saturn opposition to your Mercury-MC. Seems like the angular 4th-10th emphasis could reflect ‘critical’ timing for a personal change, challenge, or new goal – ?
Thank you, pdw. After a lifetime of seeking (I’m a mid century boomer) I feel like I do see the “big picture”. Childhood wounds were healed by connecting with childhood friends. Transforming from living for others to being here for me was not easy. Living in my head and cleaning “house”. More listening, less proving. So far. Those are the 3H reflections. I’m looking forward to the 4th.
Sounds like a positive evolution. Thanks for sharing.
Pluto 28 degrees Leo ♀️
I have Mars at 27 Gemini conjunct Venus at 29 Gemini in the 10th both square Pluto in Virgo at 29 in my first house.
I have been bullied most of my life by what seems like a hidden power that is focused on preventing me having any type of relationship.
I was told by a psychic that in a previous life that I was promiscuous and I interfered in a lot of relationships so not having sustainable relationships is my punishment.
Wishing you kindness Roderick, form the people you meet, but most of all from yourself. Take care.
Request – When Uranus finally moves into Gemini – please can we have a post to discuss what Uranus through Taurus has brought.
Agreed, GD, I would love a review of Uranus too!
For me – A Taurus Moon – it’s been a revolution. Left my hometown of thirty years to live in the countryside in 2021 with Uranus conjunct my natal Moon, and it turned my world upside down. Literally, ‘upsetting’.
Thank you, Marjorie. Most interesting as someone with an anaretic Uranus. I always think Henry VIII’s anaretic Pluto in Libra is a signature of the radical change he wrought which impacted England’s fate, triggered by his desire to divorce Catherine of Aragon. Two more examples are Oliver Cromwell and Nigel Farage, both with their Venus at 29 Taurus.
I have Pluto at 29 Virgo. My son, a sun Virgo but not anaretic, has an exact Jupiter-Uranus conjunction at 29 Pisces. To say we both live on our nerves by nature is somewhat of an understatement.