We have once again arrived at a “This is it!” moment, according to both Chinese and Western astrology. Today, February 17, 2026, marks the beginning of the Year of the Fire Horse, which, according to Chinese astrology, heralds a year of great change. Think of a wild, galloping horse that breaks through all barriers and can no longer be restrained: that is the energy of the coming year. I am a Fire Horse, which means that I was born in a year of the Fire Horse, something that happens once every 60 years, the last time in 1966. Anyone who turns 60 between now and February next year is a Fire Horse. As a Fire Horse, the messages of a major turnaround, of breakthroughs and action, appeal to me enormously – just ask people around you who are turning 60 this year if they feel it too – I bet they do!

But I notice that I have also become a little blasé. Is this really it? I have so often thought that in recent years, but the world is still as sluggish, inert and gullible as before. Or am I mistaken? Is there a sense of passion, enthusiasm, inspiration, and courage seeping into the world? Well, certainly on a small scale! On February 20, Saturn and Neptune are at 0 degrees Aries, something that happened 500 years ago for the last time. The conjunction of Saturn and Neptune repeats itself every 36 years, but always at a different point in the zodiac. The last time this happened was 36 years ago, on November 9, 1989. Do you know what happened on that day? The Berlin Wall fell! I wonder what will happen tomorrow, next to the fact that Marijn Poels’ latest documentary, Primordial Code 3, will be released. And this is a film that sparkles with inspiration!

Could it be? Could this combination of Chinese and Western influences lead to real change this time? But what does it mean exactly, when Saturn and Neptune are at 0 degrees Aries on February 20? Let’s see. Saturn is the ruler of Capricorn, the planet of manifestation, boundaries, matter, predictability, responsibility, logistics, and the sacrifices that must be made to achieve your goal in this material reality (extreme yang). Neptune, the ruler of Pisces, the king of the sea, is the opposite of that. He is the planet of great dissolution, the boundless, the intangible, the invisible, the unclear, the unpredictable (extremely yin). He is about confusion and decay. In the past, in old-fashioned Western astrology, Saturn was associated with the father and Neptune with the madman. Neptune rules psychiatric institutions, rehabs, people living under the bridge, and all other areas of life where society has lost its grip and control, where we feel lost, and where we easily end up in madness or psychosis because we no longer connect with what most people call reality.

This conjunction of Saturn and Neptune at 0 degrees Aries, the beginning of the zodiac that symbolizes birth, a new beginning, can go two ways. It can either substantiate ideals, which many astrologers, including Silke Schäfer in Primordial Code 3, believe. In that case, Neptune helps Saturn achieve its practical goals, but on the other hand, because of Neptune’s dissolving influence on Saturn, it’s possible that all structures in our society will fall apart. Neptune, the king of the sea, can be like a tsunami. A tsunami is so powerful that it can wipe out entire cities. Everything we as humans, as tiny ants on the surface of the earth, have built … all our architecture, art, churches, factories, houses, parks, roads, can be destroyed in one swoop by a tsunami. So, it could very well be that February 20, 2026, heralds a time when the structure we all love so much, a structure that offers stability, predictability and security, will disappear.

I see the latter happening sooner than the possibility that this conjunction will become a time in which we can suddenly manifest our ideals and dreams, which also belong to Neptune, thanks to its rendez-vous with Saturn. The power of Neptune is many times greater than the power of Saturn. Saturn takes 28 years to complete its journey through the zodiac, while Neptune takes 165 years to do the same. When it comes to power, Neptune has much more transformative power than Saturn. The Moon, for example, completes its cycle through the zodiac in 24 hours and therefore has little influence on the major upheavals in time. It mainly influences our emotions, which come and go within a few hours or at most a few days. It’s all very fleeting because the Moon moves so quickly. The slower a planet moves through the zodiac, the more fundamental and lasting its influence is.

In my opinion, we have already been in a period of time in which old structures and beliefs, rules, doctrines and dogmas, all expressions of Saturn, have proven worthless and are therefore disintegrating. We no longer want them, but we don’t know what to replace them with. Young people in particular wonder what is left to believe in. Which norms and values are still clear and provide some guidance? None! Everything is dissolving, even whether you are a man or a woman, whether you want children or not, whether you want to work, earn money, eat – and if you eat, what then? All those things that were taken for granted for such a long time, due to the doctrines of religion, politics, science and the media, all those things that, despite everything, still gave a sense of togetherness, are dissolving, while this process is accelerating since the coronavirus plandemic.

We live in a world that is more divided and more confused than ever. Welcome to the age of Neptune, ladies and gentlemen, the age in which humanity is losing all its bearings. “Hold on tight!” we used to say, “fasten your seatbelts!” But that’s the point: there are no more seatbelts. Humanity is in free fall, and it could well be that this conjunction heralds a period in which we will be confronted with the consequences of our collective psychosis before we will find solid ground under our feet again.

Image: Walter Crane, Les chevaux de Neptune

Sanne Burger
sanneburger.com