On The Erotic Ecliptic for February 2024

Invasion of the Body Snatchers

Photo by Danique Dohmen on Unsplash

February Dates to Note:

5^th: Mercury enters Aquarius (12:10 am ET/9:10 pm PT on the 4^th), Mercury in Aquarius conjunct Pluto (7:58 am ET)  

7^th: Venus in Capricorn trine Uranus in Taurus (4:25 pm ET),

8th: Mars in Capricorn sextile Neptune in Pisces (2:30 am ET), Sun in Aquarius square Uranus in Taurus (5:46 am ET)

9th: New Moon at 20 degrees of Aquarius (5:59 pm ET)

10th: Mercury in Aquarius square Jupiter in Taurus (8:25 am ET) (Lunar New Year, Year of the Dragon)

13^th: Mars enters Aquarius (1:05 am, 10:05 pm PT on the 12^th), Venus in Capricorn sextile Neptune in Pisces (8:36 am ET) Mardi Gras/Fat Tuesday

14^th: Mars in Aquarius conjunct Pluto (1:06 am ET, 10 :06 pm PT on the 13^th) Valentine’s Day

15^th: Mercury in Aquarius sextile Chiron in Aries 8:16 am ET)

16^th: Venus enters Aquarius (11:05 am ET), Mercury in Aquarius square Uranus in Taurus (10:53 pm ET)

17^th: Venus in Aquarius conjunct Pluto (3:48 am ET)

18^th: Sun enters Pisces (11:13 pm ET)

19^th: Presidents’ Day

22^nd: Venus in Aquarius conjunct Mars (2:14 am ET, 11:14 pm PT on the 21^st),

23^rd: Mercury enters Pisces (2:29 am ET, 11:29 pm PT on the 22^nd)

24^th: Full Moon in Virgo at 23 degrees (7:30 am ET) Venus in Aquarius square Jupiter in Taurus (11:01 pm ET)

27^th: Mars in Aquarius square Jupiter in Taurus (3:30 am ET)

28^th: Sun in Pisces conjunct Mercury (3:43 am ET), Mercury in Pisces conjunct Saturn (10:08 am ET), Sun in Pisces conjunct Saturn (4:25 pm ET)

29^th: Mercury in Pisces sextile Jupiter in Taurus (4:53 am ET) Leap Day

Asteroid Eros is in Aries all month. Black Moon Lilith is in Virgo.

With an astonishing assortment of planets in Aquarius all at once this February, we’re firmly in the grips of an Invasion of the Body Snatchers vibe. This is not the little toe-dip of Pluto in Aquarius that we experienced between March and June last year. This time, we may already sense that we are IN IT. We get to see what may happen when Pluto conjoins Mercury, the Moon, Mars and Venus this month —something that will occur over and over and over again during the next twenty years of the Pluto in Aquarius era. The Sci is most certainly Fi-ing.

You’ve probably noticed that this is no ordinary Aquarius season. As I write this on the last day of January, we’re only ten days into Pluto’s ingress into Aquarius. We’ve already witnessed a deadly drone attack in the Middle East that could presage the next stage of the war we’re not officially fighting but… we are definitely fighting. And RIGHT ON CUE, Apartheid Clyde announced that his questionable implants are now in human brains, doing god-knows-what. I have written about his brain chips many times over the last year, mostly as a dark joke, but now we are here. I dunno about you, but I’m not too keen on putting a microchip in my brain manufactured by the white nationalist troll famous for exploding cars, destroying media platforms, and cruelly abusing his factory workers.

The grand Aquarian experiment truly begins when Mercury enters Aquarius on the 4^th and promptly conjoins Pluto. This might feel like physical anxiety and tech meltdowns and traffic jams – not dissimilar from a Mercury Retrograde sensation, especially during the days leading up to the conjunction. This could be a herky-jerky, awkward, halting, electrical impulse-laden transit. Stay away from e-bikes and questionable outlets.

This is an excellent reminder that during this age of air, we’ll need to return again and again to our flesh. To our skin and muscle and viscera and organs, our arms and hands and fingers, our feet and our knees and our hearts and genitals. We’ll need to hug ourselves (and others) and treat ourselves to what we thirst and hunger for. We should do this often as a practice, daily if possible, not just as an afterthought. Whatever simple tools you can employ this month, from breathwork to yoga to a regular, embodied masturbation practice — don’t get so caught up in your head that you forget you have a body. My best astrological advice to you is to start this now, as a treat, even if you don’t feel like you need it – because at some point soon you probably will.

The New Moon in Aquarius squares Uranus on the 9^th, coming in with a shock and awe sensation. If you have any planets near 20 degrees of Aquarius, Taurus, Leo or Scorpio you’ll feel this lunation the most, and it could be quite jarring. Look to your Aquarius-ruled house and set visionary intentions for that part of your life, looking ahead to the next few weeks and the next six months.

Mars enters Aquarius on the 13^th and I am telling you right now, even though Valentine’s Day is fake and stupid, yetI know some of y’all like to celebrate it. But this year, if you can somehow convince your boo or Galentine’s girlies to move the date to the following week, I’d mention it ahead of time. Mars conjoins Pluto late on the night of the 13^th, early on the morning of the 14^th, and there is little sweetness and light available at this moment.

If you want to get a sense of what Mars and Pluto feel like when they interact, note that they were in a harsh square on October 7^th of last year. There is also a prominent Mars-Pluto conjunction (in Scorpio) in the founding chart of Hamas, which will be receiving squares from all the planets as they move through Aquarius. This is just to say that these few days are probably the most volatile, potentially violent moments of the month, and it’s not a good time to start arguments with lovers or strangers on the internet, and also a bad time to flip off other drivers on the road. Everyone is likely to be on edge right around now. I am praying that our siblings in Israel and Palestine will be okay at this time — you may want to send them the energy of love and safety even more than you have already been doing.

Next Venus enters Aquarius on the 16^th and conjoins Pluto the next day. This planetary encounter is also not exactly fun, but it’s not as fraught what comes before (Mars). Venus-Pluto contacts often speak to jealousy, obsession, and darker feelings around love, desire, and sex. If you’re experiencing an unrequited love or an untenable situationship, your heart might hurt, but you also might be brave enough to walk away and take care of your own needs. Just don’t walk away in a Fatal Attraction kinda way. You can go to deeper places emotionally, too, exploring shadows that need to be explored.

Note: this transit can be pretty hot if you are in a healthy relationship with firm boundaries, and/or if you are kinky or kink-curious. Speaking of kink and the queerness of Aquarius in general — I wrote about this for the Full Moon in Aquarius in the summer of 2022, when I first launched this Substack. And gulp: I made a Tiktok about a dating/mating/relating trend I suspect will dominate the next few decades, thanks to Pluto in Aquarius. I am not great at videos (yet) but please follow me on the Tok because honestly I need all the help I can get. I am humbled before you as a person who doesn’t know how to act normal on camera.

@therealstefanieirisweissMy take in the future of #consensualnonmonogamy in the #plutoinaquarius era based on a recect piece about #polyamory in @New York Magazine #astrology #astrologytiktok #ethicalnonmonagomy #polyamory #polytiktok

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One thing to keep in mind is that Chiron is close to the North Node in Aries all month, peaking around the 19th/20th — those of us with Aries and Libra placements are likely to encounter our relational wounds. This can provoke pain, but we can find ways to profoundly, perhaps permanently heal, carrying these lessons with us into the future deep in our soul and our cellular body.

When the Sun finally enters Pisces on the 18^th, we’ll probably feel a bit of relief, as the pile-up of planets in Aquarius is beginning to wane, and that should soften our sensibilities just a bit. Fixed air can feel quite rigid, and a little bit of mutable water should be soothing. Also, now that Mars and Venus are separating from Pluto, they’re coming closer together, and that’s where these cosmic consorts prefer to be — in one another’s arms. Their conjunction perfects on the 21^st/22^nd, and that’s when I am suggesting you celebrate V-day, if you must celebrate it. (Everything I said about kink above applies here too!) The Moon will be in Leo and you’ll have a lot more fun than you might have if you did it on the 14^th.

The Full Moon in Virgo is opposite Mercury and Saturn on the 24^th. It’s nitpicky af and we might be very mean to ourselves, or mean to the people around us as a way to avoid dealing with our own inner critics. Black Moon Lilith is widely opposite the New Moon as well, but the energy of shame and rebellion may still be present. (Note that this is the last Full Moon before the lunar eclipse in Libra at the end of March — we’re kind of in eclipse season as February winds down.) Venus squares Jupiter the same day, however, and these two benefics can beckon a bit of hedonism to counter all the harsh, dictatorial energy coming from the Virgo lunation.

The 28^th is a heavy-duty Saturn day. The Cosmic Taskmaster is visited by both Mercury and the Sun in Pisces, and as much as the previous few weeks have been edgy and analytical, this feels like an emotional slog that we might drown in if we’re not careful. It could feel like a hangover from whatever we go through earlier in the month, if we didn’t release enough of our stress at the Full Moon.

Sign-by-sign forecasts for my paid subscribers are on the way! In the meantime, you can read my monthly column over at WELL+GOOD, where I write a general forecast less focused on the erotic, relational, and sexual realms of our charts as I do here with On the Erotic Ecliptic.

Jessica Hollander has provided the gorgeous images for the sign-by-sign section below. Her work is for sale! BUY IT.