Sloughing Off the Year of the Snake
A Look Back at the Major Events, People, and Planets through Astrology
In astrology, 29° is known as the anaretic degree, the ‘degree of crisis.’ It is the final, desperate gasp of a sign before everything changes into the next sign. If 2025 had a single signature, it was that: a year spent living on the edge. From the L.A. fires in January to the historic landfall of Hurricane Melissa in October, the ‘battle of extremes’ wasn’t just written in the stars—it was felt in our streets and in our bank accounts. As we stand at the threshold of 2026, let’s look back at 2025, a year that pushed boundaries of politics, nature, and culture.
NATURAL DISASTERS
The hum of the holidays had barely worn off when the L.A. fires broke out in early January. People were shocked at the scope of the devastation.
LA Fires (View Chart)
The Los Angeles Fires that took place on Jan. 7, 2025 were the costliest on record, ranging from $76 billion to over $250 billion, depending on the source. Insured losses alone were projected to be around $45 billion.
16,251 homes destroyed
31 killed
Over 7500 firefighters during peak deployment
Astrologically, the depleted water resources could be reflected in the transiting Mars in Cancer at the 29th degree opposed by Pluto in Aquarius on the IC. The intensity of these fires could be interpreted from the transiting Sun exact on the city’s natal Mars while transiting Moon in Aries brushed the natal North Node. Also notable here is the transiting Jupiter opposed to the natal Saturn and the transiting Uranus opposing natal Jupiter. The whole scene played out like a literal battle of the elements between wind and fire with water and human resources stretched to the maximum, entirely overwhelming, shocking and disruptive the dry, vulnerable earth element. (View Chart)
Some interesting in-depth analysis on this event was done by astrologers in the following posts. Mystic Medusa and Zoey Wind on Substack.
Texas Flooding (View Chart)
The Texas Hill Country Floods occurred July 4, 2025, where 135 were killed. The rivers rose 26 feet in 45 minutes, devastating the areas. (Before/After Photos)
This event hit closer to home for me. I was vacationing with family near Cedar Creek lake for the Fourth of July weekend in the Dallas area when I heard news. (Read my previous post on the floods.) The waters rose so fast in the dead of night that the young girls at the overnight summer camp, Camp Mystic, were swept away while they slept in their riverside cabins. Again, sudden and devastating loss of life and property. Like the LA fires, again, there are claims of incompetence of those handling of the emergency. Outcry over why there were no warnings given to the public caused a media blame game. As a recent update, I noted that flood alarm systems were just recently installed along this Texas riverway.
What seems remarkable looking at each of these events is the planets at the anaretic, 29°. For the Texas Floods, Venus and Uranus at 29°Taurus. For the LA Fires, Mars at 29° Cancer while Pluto opposed and Mercury at 29° Sagittarius. Here is an additional astro-analysis on the floods I found helpful. (See post)
Hurricane Melissa (View Chart)
With the fall came Hurricane Melissa on October 28. Jamaica was in the crosshairs of a Cat 5 storm, facing winds of 185 mph. The storm killed 75 people.
Melissa became the strongest hurricane on record to make landfall in Jamaica and tied for second strongest Atlantic hurricane by wind speed, joining a small group of storms with winds greater than 180 mph.1
When Melissa made landfall, Mars and Mercury in Scorpio were on the midheaven and Pluto on the ASC in Aquarius, with a Grand Water Trine as Neptune was at 29° Pisces. Uranus at 0 degrees Gemini bisected the Grand Trine at the IC. So, in each of these major disasters, we saw planets at 29°.
From elemental battles to big shifts in world leadership, the wheel in the sky kept turning. Let’s take a look at politics.
POLITICS
On Jan 20, 2025 Donald Trump made history. He was inaugurated for a second time, becoming the first President since 1890’s to serve two non-consecutive terms.
Astrologers and political commentators have written much about DJT, but the most interesting for me came with the comparisons of this two-term president to the last one who last served two non-consecutive terms, and that was Grover Cleveland. Both presidents took strong stances on tariffs, though in opposite directions, and I found several comparison stories of interest that were worthy of sharing.
Basically, in 1893, Grover Cleveland was faced with the Great Panic of 1893, the worst economic situation to occur before the Great Depression. That was the first year of his second term. It carried through 1894 and 1895. Bank failures and high unemployment were triggered by railroad debt and gold reserve issues. Basically, it was an economic bubble. To solve it, Cleveland made a controversial deal with JP Morgan to bailout the federal reserve and that cost his party the mid-term elections.
Since the transiting nodes cross Trump’s ascendent in late July 2026 and Mars transits Trump’s ASC 3 times from November 2026 to May 2027, I am expecting flight turbulence to continue.
Since those that don’t know their history are doomed to repeat it, there are two comparison pieces of Trump to Cleveland I can recommend from Hungarian Conservative and Time. There are some really uncanny similarities to know about.
Yet, 2025 wasn’t just about the return of a president, but the unexpected rise of other global figures. For a well-rounded overview of additional events link here.
RELIGION
On May 8, 2025, an American, Robert Francis Prevost from Chicago became the first pope from the US, now named Pope Leo XIV.
An interesting analysis comes from Susie Cox of Pope Leo’s chart, who has natal Jupiter in Leo, of course.
This first American Pope took a vocal and direct stance in opposition to Trump’s immigration policies on the world stage. 2
ENTERTAINMENT
2025 delivered entirely new forms of belief and myth-making designed to captivate a new generation—specifically, the GenAlpha blockbuster movie and the storytelling power of gaming.
June 20, 2025 KPop Demon Hunters was released and became Netflix’s most watched movie ever. The soundtrack song “Golden” spent eight weeks at the top of U.S. pop charts and garnered nominations for Best Animated Feature and Best Original Song at the upcoming 83rd Golden Globe Awards. The song was also nominated for four Grammy Awards, including Song of the Year. I sat down to watch the film last night and was pleasantly surprised. Though I thought at first that the movie would be too GenAlpha for me, it had a very Joseph Campbell/George Lucas/Good vs. Evil monomythic thing going for it. The music and storyline was engaging and I could recommend it for PG family viewing.
Also on the best of 2025 list was Beyonce’s album Cowboy Carter, Chappel Roan as Best New Artist, and Kendrick Lamar’s song “Not Like Us.”
Also in June 2025, Nintendo Switch 2 was released and 10 million units were sold, the fastest selling game console ever!
2025 in SPORTS
On Nov 1, 2025, the LA Dodgers win the World Series against Toronto Blue Jays. Shohei Ohtani hits 3 home runs and struck out 10 batters as a pitcher. Yoshinobu Yamamoto was named MVP.
MLB: Los Angeles World Series Win Nov 1, 2025
NFL: Philidelphia Eagles win Superbowl Feb 9, 2025
WNBA: Las Vegas Aces win WNBA Finals Oct 10, 2025
NBA: Oklahoma City Thunder win NBA Finals June 22, 2025
NHL: Florida Panthers win NHL June 4, 2025
It’s easy to see how each city chart was impacted by the win through the Mars, Nodes, and Uranus placements in these, Mars being associated with sports activity, competition, and physicality.
2025 DEATHS of NOTABLE PEOPLE
As the wheel of the year turned, we also said goodbye to the icons who shaped our cultural landscape.
Oct. 1, 2025 Jane Goodall died. Goodall studied the behavior of chimpanzees in the 1960’s in Tanzania and devoted 65 years of her long life to protecting chimps and improving awareness of animal sentience. Her chart is so impressive that her biography deserves a much deeper dive.
David Lynch 1/20/46 – 1/15/25 Director
Gene Hackman 1/30/1930 – 2/18/25 Actor
Roberta Flack 2/10/37 – 2/24/25 Singer
George Foreman 1/10/49 – 3/21/25 Boxer
Val Kilmer 12/31/59 - 4/1/25 Actor
Pope Francis 12/17/36 - 4/21/25
Michael Madsen 9/25/57 – 7/3/25 Actor
Ozzy Osbourne 12/3/48 – 7/22/25 Musician
Sly Stone 3/15/43 – 6/9/25 Musician
John Robbins 10/26/47-6/1125 Author
Brian Wilson 6/20/42 – 6/11/25 Singer of Beach Boys
Hulk Hogan 8/11/53 - 7/24/25 Wrestler
Charlie Kirk 10/14/93-9/10/25 Political
Robert Redford 8/18/36 – 9/16/25 Actor
Diane Keaton 1/5/46 – 10/11/25 Actress
D’Angelo 2/11/74 – 10/14/25 Musician
LOOKING AHEAD
The intensity of 2025 sets the stage for 2026, The Year of the Fire Horse. This powerful “double-fire” energy is poised to bring acceleration and breakthroughs next year, as well as transformation. If you want to stay ahead of the ‘Fire Horse’ energy of 2026 and receive astro commentary and analysis delivered to your inbox, consider becoming a subscriber and check out my post with Charts for 2026: Year of the Fire Horse.