Astrology for Feb 17 - Feb 22

 

February 17, 2026

4:01am (PST) 

28 AQ 49

 

 

The 8 lunar phases

 

The 29-day lunar month is divided into eight phases.   Each phase has its own energy and expression and lasts three days.  I break down the phases for each month, and I also lay out the astrological aspects that are unfolding during that phase (most of which I provide background on in my report above).    Because the moon moves so quickly, I do not provide the lunar aspects unless we are in an extra charged period. For daily moon aspects I suggest going to Café Astrology and search ‘this week in astrology’.   I also recommend Honeycomb Collective for your own personal astro almanac.  Not too expensive and you will be using it all year.  

 

 

Aquarius New Moon

 

February 17, 2026

4:01am PST

(28 AQ 49)

 

New moon: Plant seeds, make calls, activate, start projects.   Activate something that will ideally lead you to more results.  This is the phase where INTENT is critical.  Even if the results are not immediate, the intent is there.  You may not have all the answers or road map, but you should put out your Intent.   This new moon is an eclipse.  

 

This focus:    Who are your groups?  Who are your friends?  Are they in alignment with how you tick?   What abstract thing are you working on that has importance to you?  Who can you connect with and work on it together?   What is important to your community?  

 

Planetary notes:

 

2/17: Venus conjunction North Node.  (8 PI)  Find love of humanity.  Choosing kindness brings rewards.  

2/18: Sun enters Pisces

2/20: Saturn conjunct Neptune (00 AR 45)  

 

  

 

Crescent Moon Phase

February 20,2026

5:57 PM PST    

 

 

Crescent:  We will receive information, we will research a bit more, perhaps get feedback on stuff that we planted on new.  Perhaps get some information that will help down the road on a seed we planted a while ago.  We can collect some data now.  Even if you think you are not getting information, stop, and re-look at everything.  Who called you?  Even the silliest things when they come up during Crescent are noteworthy.  A parking ticket.  An argument with a spouse?  A refund check from the phone company?  No matter how mundane it arrives, consider it as message.  How can this information help you?

 

Focus on: What are we learning about self-agency?  How are we being informed about our inner warrior?   What information are we gathering where we are both independent but have a connection with like-minded groups?    

 

Planetary notes: 

 

2/22: Mars sextile Chiron (23 AR) Fresh ideas that are helpful for new endeavors and new self-agency.  

2/22: Venus trine Jupiter (15 CA).  Joy, love, values get pumped up.  Cozy and mystical inform philosophy and beliefs.  

Feb 17 - Solar Eclipse - (28 Aquarius 49)

 

This New Moon is an Eclipse!

 

 

In my astro report for the Aquarius New Moon & 29-day lunar cycle I lay out the new moon chart details such as the final Sun/Moon square to Uranus in Taurus.  It is not a subtle aspect but then we appear to NOT be doing subtle in 2026.       I encourage you to read the whole report HERE.  

 

Having said that there is the added steroid to this Aquarius new moon at 28 degrees of Aquarius, it is an annular (ring-of-fire) eclipse.   We are now beginning a two-year process of Leo and Aquarius eclipse seasons where we access our own uniqueness, weirdness, abstract thinking, while also leaving our egos at the door and coming together with like-minded for joint efforts.   However, we must take care not to fall into group thought.   This will be challenging especially because eclipses     bring something super big to get our attention.   Like a theater production and the lights turn on and off announcing it is time to focus on the stage.   That’s an eclipse.   The sun is put in shadow, and we all turn to see what we see on the stage.   

 

Drilling down into the history of the 28 degrees Aquarius eclipses, there have been four since the 17^th century.

 

Feb 17, 1654

Feb 17, 1692

Feb 17, 1711

Feb 16, 1922

 

I will spare you an international history lesson because no one has time for it.  But in a nutshell, the Aquarius eclipses in 1654, 1711 and 1922 speak to citizens fatigued by wars.   There were major treaties in 1654 and 1922 signed around the eclipses.  In 1711 empires like Britain and Spain were asserting power but locals were talking to each other through pamphlets, news and face to face in groups.  Can you feel the air and the abstractness?   It was also becoming clear to those folks that even if the battles were ending, what caused the wars was not being addressed.  

 

The 28-degree Aquarius eclipse that had long ramifications is Feb 17, 1692.   If you live in New England, you may have a beat on that date but for the rest of us, it connects to Salem Massachusetts and the month that innocent people were accused of being witches.  Rumor, hysteria, group thought ruled that eclipse and history has proven it was NOT the most productive use of an Aquarius eclipse.  I can’t help but shudder at the thought if those tweaked ‘puritans’ had cell phones and TikTok accounts.   The damage of group thought could have spread far beyond Salem.    Let’s all agree not to do that at this eclipse.  

 

Obviously, each of those 28-degree Aquarius eclipses had other astro landscape different from what we are experiencing now.   Ruling planet Uranus in Taurus for all its crankiness in this new moon chart does bring something different to our eclipse story.  In those earlier dates Uranus was either in a mutable or a fire sign so the disconnect was around ideology, ideas, belief or war.   With Taurus our focus is land, money, food, housing and values.    The eclipse may highlight societal cracks where we live, values and what or how we get our food.     The solar eclipse is followed by the lunar eclipse at the Virgo full moon on March 3, which also has a practical tone and food/harvest component so we may get more information then.   This Aquarius eclipse will have a companion total solar eclipse on August 12 in the sign Leo which by that time will feel like ten lightyears away.  We will be the same planet, Earth, but different universe.   There is a lot going on between now and then. 

Saturn Neptune Conjunction - Feb 20. It is a big one

 

Saturn & Neptune Conjunction 

 

Feb 20, 2026

8:53am PST

00 Aries 45 

 

I don’t think I can say much about this aspect that I haven’t already said in previous write ups.  This has been on astrologers’ radar for many years.    

 

Saturn and Neptune get together roughly every 36 years and usually there are couple exact dates.  Going back a two hundred years the dates are:

1989 (CAP)

1952-1953) (LIB)

1917-1918 (LEO)

 

1881-1883 (TAU)

1846 (AQ)

1809-1810 (SAG)

 

In the case of our 2026 conjunction, it is only one exact hit.  Obviously, this is not about that one date, it is an influence that carries a punch and ripples out.  There are many astrologers who have gone long on the history but no one more than Chris Brennan & Nick Degan Best who recently gave a master class  Saturn/Neptune in world history.   If you want a good background watch their video.  You can fly from LA to Dublin and listen to them the whole way, it is that long.   But more to the point you can grab the time stamps and pick and choose which event you want more data.  

 

For a shorthand (which I have covered over the last year) 1989 is the fall of Berlin Wall and collapse of USSR.   In 1953 Senator Joe McCarthy “Red” USA scare #2 and witch hunt (there’s that theme again).  1917 was the Bolshevik revolution in Russia and Red Scare #1 in USA.  In 1846 the Discovery of Neptune along with the Irish potato famine and Lenin’s writing of the Communist Manifesto.   In 1809 Spanish empire started to crumble thanks to Simon Bolivar in Venezuela (curious how that theme is up again) and it was peak war powering by Napoleon who was trying to design a new Europe that was long on France.   That did not work out so well for Napoleon or Communism.   

 

What does this all mean for our 2026 Saturn Neptune?  Only a fool would say with exactitude.  One, it is Neptune who is foggy and fuzzy and all that is seeing is not necessarily to be believed.  Two, our Saturn Neptune conjunction is at Zero Aries which is the very beginning of the zodiac.  This has only happened once (that we can calculate) and that was 4700 BC. Unless we are switching back to hunters and gatherers, I’m not sure what that era has in common with us now.  

 

However, we can say that something is going to dissolve and break down, and something will be building up.   Will it be based on illusions and grandeurs in certain people’s heads?   Maybe.   Will it be an ideal that people want to join and make a reality?  Maybe.   Will it be so secretive we have no idea what is happening?     Back to Chris Brennan for another (short) video, Yes.  Will it feel fiery?  Yes.  Will it tap independence and new beginnings?   Yes.   As it ripples out, we will see the themes, and we will be able to tie them back to this Saturn conjunct Neptune at Zero Aries.    

 

I think for us humans living through this Saturn/Neptune conjunction we should look at the house that contains ZERO Aries for some important clues.   I will go personal.   I was an adult in only one previous Saturn and Neptune conjunction and that was 1989.  The conjunction was in my 10^th house of career near my natal Mercury in Capricorn.    My job had started in 1981 with one company, and I had pivoted to freelancing and worked steady for the next nine years.   I took a break to try something different in the mid80s but then returned to my old job since the money was better.   In 1989 I started to feel very dissatisfied. The job did not line up with my creative desires, it was loaded with stress, and I could feel a wall coming into view.   I wanted to write.    A seed got planted with the conjunction so close to my Mercury.  By the time Saturn moved into Aquarius I left the job and was only focused on writing.   My trust as a freelancer gave me the confidence to get out there, along with my work colleagues and community who were kind enough to help me. Did it happen right away?  No.   But did something get planted?  Yes. Neptune worked with Saturn and got me where I needed to go.  I encourage everyone to look at zero Aries in your chart and see if something emerges this year that gets you ‘going.’ When it manifests, is hard to tell but I would trust that something is germinating.   Give it a beat and see how it plays out.  

 

In the meantime, god speed to all of us as we ride this new Saturn/Neptune Zero Aries era.  

 

Saturn in Aries. We. Are. Here.

Saturn in Aries

Feb 13, 2026
4:11pm PST

May 24, 2025 Saturn enters Aries
July 12, 2025 Saturn retrograde (1° AR 56)
Sept 1, 2025 Saturn re-enters Pisces
Nov 27, 2025 Saturn stations direct (25° PI 09)
Feb 13, 2026 Saturn re-enters Aries
Feb 20, 2026 Saturn conjunct Neptune (00° Aries 45)

On February 13, Saturn re-enters Aries. Saturn dipped into Aries last year between May and September, so we’ve already had a preview. But now it is officially here for the long haul, staying put until 2028.

Saturn is not exactly on his best game in Aries. Or maybe better said, it is not his most comfortable arena. Saturn is disciplined. The timekeeper. The long-view strategist. Aries is hot. Immediate. Impatient.

Aries rushes. Saturn is patient. Aries hates delays. Saturn hates wasted time. They both want results, they just disagree on pacing. Big time disagree.

Fiery Aries has new projects, new missions, new mountains. Saturn says,"show me the plan."

Aries taps the inner warrior. Saturn is the inner CEO.

Can you feel the conundrum?

The classic analogy is one foot on the gas and one foot on the brake. I’ve been in those cabs.  They are the worst.

And yet Saturn in hot Aries may be exactly what the zodiac doctor ordered. Fire follows Water. Action follows emotion.

Whatever has been percolating during Saturn’s two-and-a-half-year tour through Pisces, all the processing, dissolving, forgiving, drifting, dreaming, now wants form. Now Saturn wants structure. Now Saturn wants movement.

Aries is the first sign of the zodiac. It signals beginnings. Not theoretical actual ones.

The last time Saturn moved through Aries was April 7, 1996 through June 9, 1998 and then October 25, 1998 through February 28, 1999.

What was happening in your life then?

How did responsibility show up? Were you forced to make swift, definitive decisions? How were you claiming self-agency? What era were you closing?

Themes from that time may echo now, not identical but a similarity. 

Some questions to consider during Saturn in Aries:

What work do you need to do to claim more independence?
Where are you wasting time?
What new endeavor needs a structured plan?
What emotional debris from the last two and a half years needs to be left behind?
Where are new paths opening?
How can discipline sharpen desire?
Where do you need to be a serious soldier?
What wisdom can older voices offer?
How are you maturing into fresh authority?
When is pause the actual power?

During Saturn in Pisces you may have been swimming in emotion, kindness, compassion, creative overflow, existential fog, humanitarian awareness. Now with Saturn in Aries those emotions do not disappear. They move into your bloods and beat through your heart felt action.  

At first the shift may feel different. Sharper. More direct.

Trust the difference.

And of course, because astrologers including me have been talking about it for years, Saturn does not get a clean entrance. On February 20 it immediately conjoins Neptune at zero Aries.

So no, we are not abandoning art, compassion, or ideals. Neptune is still in the room. But now the fog meets fire. And fire tends to move.

Swift action plans may emerge. Some ideal dissolves. Some new structure forms. Something ends. Something begins. Welcome to Saturn in Aries. 

Aquarius Solar Eclipse: Seen by Penguins --Felt by Everyone! Feb 17, 2026

Images from CNN

Feb 17, 2026 - 4:01am PST

Solar Eclipse  (28 AQ 49) 

Friends, 

February is being very February 2026.  Which is to say, loud.  Very loud.  

Why have a simple Aquarius New Moon when you can have instead a ring-of-fire eclipse?  And while we're at it, let's throw in a tight square to Uranus just to keep things spicy.  And let's sprinkle in a Saturn-Neptune conjunction at zero Aries for thrills and spills.  

Yessiree.  That's what we're doing.  

And because we apparently like momentum, Mercury retrograde begins February 25, followed by Virgo Lunar Eclipse on March 3.    

Sure.  Let's do that. 

Read my whole article HERE   

Astrology for Feb 9 - Feb 16

 

Last Quarter Moon Phase

Feb 9, 2025

7:48am PST   

   

 

Last Quarter moon:  Now we do the final adjustments to the seeds we planted on new. The final call, the final letters to send, we follow all the trails that came up that still make sense.  And we let the other parts lay fallow. It is a time of action but wise action.  It is a time for living “The serenity prayer” 

 

God, grant me the Serenity
to accept the things
I cannot change Courage to change the
things I can, and the
Wisdom to know the difference.

 

 

Focus on:

What actions are you taking that are clearing-the-pipes?  What actions are you taking that rely on you cleaning (figurative or literal) house?   How are you cutting to go forward?   How are you finding power by being definitive and living by that decision? 

 

 

Planetary Notes: 

 

2/10: Venus enters Pisces 

2/11: Sun sextile Chiron.   Thoughtfulness around friends and groups creates healing and a new appreciation of self agency.  Independence can find support among allies.  

2/11: Mercury conjunct North Node   (9 PI) Thinking and communication that leans into humanitarian, artistic and spiritual is inspiring.  

2/11: Mercury shadow (8 PI 29) keep your eyes out for themes that may come up now, come back again and then one more time between now and April 9 when it leaves its shadow.  

.  

Balsamic Moon Phase

 

February 13, 2026 

7:32am PDY 

 

Balsamic:   We let go.  By releasing we can prepare for the new.  

 

 

Focus on:  How are you releasing ambition?  How are your releasing appearances first?  How are you releasing cynicism?  How are you releasing ‘cold’?

 

 

Planetary Notes:

 

2/13: Saturn enters Aries where it will be until April 2028 

 

2/15: Sun square Uranus (27 TA) 

What does it mean to innovate and push back on the status quo?  How can the old be refreshen?   Hurdles may be revealed.  

 

2/16: Mercury trine Jupiter.  Thoughts of kindness, humanity, family, home and cozy excel.  

 

2/16: Mercury conjunct North Node (8 PI) thinking that connects to feelings of kindness and humanitarian can be inspiring.  

 

 next up

 

Aquarius New Moon & Eclipse February 17 (28 AQ 49) at 4:01am PST

 

Fire Horse Chinese new year

 

 

American Revolution (Ken Burns documentary) & Uranus

 

Ken Burns Documentary Series ‘The American Revolution’ released last fall and I finally began watching it this week.     I have been digging into the Revolution a lot for my astrology writing which I am sure many of you have noticed.   Having the astrology in my head while watching the first two episodes of the series was potent.   Arguably, Uranus had a hand in the riled-up colonists as they pushed back on the over-reach by British Crown. 

 

In the fall of 1773 Uranus station retrograde and during that retrograde in December was the Boston Tea Party.  Colonists destroyed 342 chests of tea, worth a huge sum, owned by the British East India Compay.  This pissed off The Crown.  No shit.  Then a couple months later,     Uranus station direct (24 Taurus) on Feb 2, 1774.   Uranus chugged along through the remaining degrees of Taurus and then on June 20 it entered Gemini for the first time.   

 

During this window, specifically March – June,the British went hard on intimidation of Massachusetts.  The British Parliament passed the Coercive Acts, often called the Intolerable Acts in America. Among other actions, Britain closes the port of Boston and requires British troops to be housed in taverns and vacant buildings.  The British goal to punish Massachusetts failed to dissuade the other colonies.   In fact the stories, the updates, even the gossip energized the other colonies from New Hampshire to the Carolinas who supported Massachusett. All of these conversations and rallying perfect Gemini.   Uranus returned to Taurus in end of 1774 then finally re- entered Gemini April 9, 1775. Ten days later was the battle of Concord and Minute Men formed… the Revolutionary War was on. 

As Uranus moved deeper into Gemini, the revolution stopped being abstract and became intimate. Gemini fractured the social field; neighbors, siblings (both ruled by Gemini) along with families were forced to choose sides, splitting communities along lines of allegiance and belief. The war intensified through this Uranus in Gemini cycle until the decisive battle at Yorktown in 1781, followed by the Treaty of Paris in 1783 which formally ended the war   By then Uranus was in Cancer.   The entire revolutionary war was in the Uranus Gemini cycle.   Once it moved into Cancer, the task shifted from rebellion to belonging, from argument to shelter, from overthrowing authority to building a home that could contain the consequences of freedom.   

One other point of importance: While the Boston Tea Party is often framed and remembered as the spark that ignited the Revolutionary War, colonial grievances with the Crown began much earlier. The Royal Proclamation of 1763 marked one of the first major fractures in the relationship between Britain and the colonies, well before taxes like the Stamp Act or Tea Act.

The Proclamation forbade colonial settlers from moving into lands held by Native nations in the Ohio Valley, drawing a hard line across the frontier. It told colonists, in no uncertain terms: The frontier is not yours. For a population already oriented toward expansion, that restriction was intolerable. This included George Washington, who had fought in the French and Indian War and was granted land in western Pennsylvania near present-day Pittsburgh for his service. With the Proclamation in place, Washington and many others were suddenly barred from homesteading or speculating on the very lands they believed they had earned.  

Astrologically, this resentment took root while Saturn and Uranus were both in Aries, a volatile combination for authority and rebellion. It intensified as Uranus moved into Taurus, the sign of land, property, and ownership, likely amplified by Pluto in Capricorn, exposing the power structures controlling access to territory. By the time Uranus moved into Cancer, the pressure broke. Settlers flooded into the Ohio Valley, triggering a new wave of violent conflict with Native nations who had no intention of surrendering their homelands.

Oh, Uranus you really do know how to crack things open.  

For those of you paying attention to our Uranus in Gemini Era.    Uranus first entered Gemini on July 7, 2025, then stationed retrograde on September 7 and returned to Taurus on October 9. On February 3, 2026, Uranus station direct in Taurus and now heads back toward Gemini on April 25 where it will be until 2033.   

Go watch the documentary series.  It is good.  

Handy Dandy Aspect Chart for 2025-2028

 

Uranus–Pluto changes the world.
Saturn decides what stays.
Neptune changes the story we tell about it.

Order of Weight

Impact                                    Aspect                        Theme                        Date 

#1	Uranus Trine Pluto	Structural Revolution	July 17, Nov 29 2026
			June 15 2027
			Jan 13, May 9 2028* close enough
#2	Saturn Sextile Pluto	Institutional permanence	March 28, 2026
#3	Saturn Sextile Uranus	Practical Innovation	Apr 4, Aug 11 2025
			Jan 19, 2026
#4	Neptune Sextile Pluto	Mythic generational Shift	July 24, 2026 June 28, Oct 16, 2027 June 8, 2028
#5	Uranus Sextile Neptune	Visionary, cultural tone	Aug 28, Nov 20 2025
			July 15, 2026
			June 6, 2027

For those of us who work with the outer planets, this is an extraordinary astrological period. All of the generational planets are entering new signs for the long haul, and they are forming major aspects with one another. Any single one of these aspects appearing in a short window would be significant on its own. The fact that we have five of them, repeating and overlapping between 2025 and 2028, is an astrological mind bender.

I find it hard to keep all of this straight in my head, so I made this chart to track the aspects, their themes, and their dates. I color coded the dates by year to make the sequence easier to follow. I also numbered the aspects based on what I believe carries more weight, though in truth they are all pulling their weight and influencing one another.

This is not a moment of one planet acting alone. These forces are woven together.

Whatever the next few years bring, large scale change across the world is guaranteed. We can feel it already. If things move quickly, or if the terrain feels unstable at times, this is why.

The sky is not subtle right now.