Poets, Mavericks & Prophets

Late October this year, the day Neptune elegantly smoothed back into its realm, the sign of Pisces, I was departing for the island of Crete at the port of Pireus, and reminding myself what it means to be at sea, literally and metaphorically, open to allowing events to happen to me, hopeful that my chosen direction would be blessed by the gods of fortune.

To be clear, neither Neptune nor Saturn (who also retracted back from Aries into Oceanic vastness, last day of August) have much to do with fortune, yet they have everything to do with fate and destiny, emphasising the difference between these interweaving forces, marking the pressure points of personal decisions. Symbolically (and specifically), the juxtaposition of the personal and the collective reaches its apex in Pisces, the last sign of the Zodiac Wheel, where the two stellar brethren passed together for the last three years (Neptune, solo, since 2011), stress-testing all our ideals and structures, investigating our aspirations and their consequences, emphasising our indebtedness to the familial, cultural, universal, reaching a final confrontation of all opposing elements, and its resolution before an entirely new cycle for the world begins.

Combined, these two celestial bodies, of vastly different temperament, aiming to transmute the spiritual and conceptual into the material, and vice-versa, often end up with vanishing the material, altogether, sometimes into thin air, propelling us to catch the proverbial fish of insight and nourishment, while they wash away what once was (and what is not ours to have, or carry, or both), far away from our shores, to make ample space, and time, for the new.

This sensation can be devastating, as it seems to come at us unexpectedly, like sudden turbulence at sea, the proverbial iceberg under water, while, in truth, the distressing stories the upheaval brings forth from aquatic depths have long been waiting to be scrutinised (Saturn), and in a compassionate way (Neptune), and then let go of to be recycled into the Universe (Pluto). What accelerates this process, most often, is a sharp, precise lightening bolt from the third transpersonal planet in the sky (Uranus), the Lighting-struck Tower effect, as we find it in the sixteenth Major Arcana card in the Tarot, facilitating the rot and ruin within to collapse — and in a way which seems to be abrupt, yet was to be expected due to the severe faults in the system.

Nevertheless, this complete destruction of illusions, and the final revelation of the structural, spiritual, emotional and physical diseases, can and should be be turned around into a strong sense of purpose, a healing emergence from the decay and stupor of our personal and environmental prisons, as the following card to The Tower in the Major Arcana is The Star, a hope of renewal, a revival of faith, a clearer look at our own individual destiny amongst the star-studded skies. As the collective narratives, be they tribal, familial, or ideological, compost into an undifferentiated primordial mud for some future gardens (and generations) to flourish on.

What follows, as both Saturn and Neptune finally move into Aries, the first sign of the Zodiac Wheel, in early 2026, and without looking back, is a highly independent attunement to the entrepreneurial, heroic, aggressive, pioneering, and happily soloist sign of Aries, where the Sun is exalted, and thus shines the brightest, a taste of which we have already got in Spring/Summer 2025.

What this significant shift in focus from what matters to us all to what matters to us individually will mean on a collective, planetary level, is a very different story to tell.

Till then, when upon the Ocean floor, submerged in the depths of the universal, leave all that does not belong to you, no matter how shiny, sentimental, or obligational — and take with you what is only yours to carry, to hold, and to have.

Happy Solstice.✨

AUTHOR: ©Milana Vujkov

Photo: Elafonisi, celebrated pink sand beach, southwestern Crete, 2025

Disclaimer – These notes follow a personal journey, and are offered as philosophical & creative inspiration. Although I am a psychologist by education, the material within them is not therapy or substitute for therapy. However, they are dedicated as temenos for accessing the therapeutic numinous, in hope of being of good service to your soul in exploring the potentials of each moment in time.