Horoscopes 2026 things are looking up
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2026 Horoscope: Things are looking… kinda positive??

In 2026, for the first time in years, the outer planets begin forming rare positive alignments, welcoming us into a more constructive, animated, forward-facing era. It’s a pivotal moment when the world remembers its agency

Grace McGrade is an intuitive astrologer based in Los Angeles. She is the head astrologer of the app “Stars Align”. Her sessions include birth chart readings, transits, energetic clearings and psychic consultations. For more astrology, read her guide to rising signs and moon signs. Read an overview of what 2025 has coming up for us this year here.

If 2025 felt like a year spent partially underwater, that is because it was. The vibe was murky, emotional and devoid of solid edges – the astrological equivalent of trying to exit a bad dream. Neptune and Saturn dipped into Aries, teased momentum, and then slid backwards into Pisces, finishing a cycle that kept everything feeling unfinished and suspended. This was a time of endings, of psychic wandering, of subtle unravelings that were often too atmospheric to navigate. It was a dress rehearsal for the real ignition point, which is 2026. 

Since early 2020, we’ve been processing the karmic hangover of the Saturn-Pluto conjunction in Capricorn that coincided with COVID. Institutions cracked, trust collapsed, and we’ve been sifting through the rubble of dissolving structures for the past five years. The most defining shift of 2026 is the transition from Water to Fire. Finally, we move from grief and emotional passivity into action. As the pendulum swings from introspection to expression, we go from feeling lost and isolated to acting decisively in the world. For the first time in years, the outer planets begin forming rare positive alignments (trines and sextiles between Pluto, Neptune, Uranus and Saturn), welcoming us into a more constructive, animated, forward-facing era. The collective mood shifts from “What is happening on this planet?” to “What am I doing about it?”

Neptune and Saturn Re-enter Aries

The last time Neptune moved through Pisces, from 1847 to 1862, the Spiritualist Movement took hold of America and Europe, and friends gathered for séances, experimenting with levitation, opium and otherworldly contact. Photography began to rise, reshaping how the human image existed in space and memory. It was a moment when illusion, glamour and imagination took precedence over the visible world.

Our own Neptune in Pisces era, which began in 2011, has echoed a similar spiritual haze.  Mysticism has become mainstream, and imagery is the main cultural medium. Neptune taught us about fluidity and inclusion. It reminded us that identity can exist on a spectrum and how to use our intuition as a tool. But this era also flooded us with misinformation, blurred emotional boundaries, and encouraged an almost comical level of victimhood. For the past 14 years, the collective imagination has drifted through an echo chamber, conjuring memories of better decades. We romanticised the 70s, the 90s, the early 2000s, always looking backward for inspiration-because the future felt too uncertain to face.

Then came the rise of AI. Artificially generated imagery and videos began flooding the internet, and what was real and what was simulated stopped being obvious. Neptune in Pisces left us at a point where we were not just questioning our identities, but the very nature of reality itself.

The veil of distortion lifts when Neptune enters Aries on January 26, 2026. Aries jolts us awake and propels us into unmarked territory. This is the beginning of a 14-year period in which spiritual, creative and political life becomes more confrontational. Neptune in Aries has no patience for artifice and pulls us out of the realm of imagination and back into the body. The future stops feeling abstract and starts feeling urgent. It’s the end of virtue signaling and inaction, and the return of risks, as Neptune in Aries favours pioneers, protectors and warriors with a cause.

Following suit in February, Saturn emerges from out of Pisces’ mystical waters and follows the call to battle in Aries’ arena. Unlike Neptune, Saturn adds a sobering influence, as it shows us where we’ve been manifesting out of survival wounds. Saturn commands that we become the sovereign authority of our own lives, imbuing us with willpower, as we become conscious co-creators of our realities. Rather than wait for permission, we begin pairing our dreams with decisive action. With both Saturn (structure) and Neptune (dreams) in Aries, 2026 lays the foundation for entirely new forms of art, spirituality and self-expression, perhaps in mediums that haven’t been seen before.

Neptune and Saturn Conjunction

On February 20, 2026, Neptune and Saturn conjoin forces at zero degrees of Aries, initiating a new cultural chapter. These planets come together only once every 30 years, and whenever they do, they dissolve the structures that have held us in place and incite a new paradigm (the last Saturn-Neptune conjunction occurred in 1989, marking major world changes like the fall of the Berlin Wall). This signals the end of an era defined by waiting for political saviours or institutional rescue, and the beginning of direct action, mutual aid and community-led movements. It’s a pivotal moment when the world remembers its agency.

Heart Expansion: Jupiter in Cancer and Jupiter in Leo

From January to June, Jupiter continues its trajectory through Cancer. Jupiter magnifies whatever it touches, so this period amplifies our need for comfort and security, while bringing forth ancestral wisdom. People find themselves drawn back to family stories, ancestral threads and the places that raised them.

Jupiter enters Leo on July 1. It’s summertime, and the entire atmosphere shifts from introspective to theatrical, as if someone suddenly handed everyone a microphone. Jupiter in Leo brings colour, flare and a renewed appetite for pleasure. Suddenly, people want to dress louder, flirt harder and take up more space. Creativity erupts. Romance becomes a sport. Every day life takes on a glamorous, cinematic quality, as if everyone has stepped into their own summer montage. Of course, ​​the urge to amplify everything can tilt into melodrama, overspending, or chasing attention just to feel alive. Jupiter in Leo can be excessive, but that is part of its charm. After months of emotional housekeeping, the collective is ready to play again.

Technological Advancements: Uranus Re-Enters Gemini & Pluto in Aquarius

When Uranus enters Gemini for an uninterrupted six-and-a-half-year stay on April 26, 2026, we enter a cycle of accelerated information. Uranus is the planet of revolution, innovation and disruption. Gemini rules communication, media, transport and language itself. As Uranus accelerates everything it touches, this period is like hitting fast-forward on culture, as humanity finds new ways to talk, move, think and transmit.

Previous Uranus in Gemini eras gave us typewriters, postcards, rotary printing, jet aircraft, microwaves, polaroid cameras and the very first computers. We can expect major leaps in communication and mobility, but the freedom of speech may become a point of contention. This could signify the long-awaited release of the Epstein files, along with a rise in hacktivism and a widespread reach of intel that has been previously obscured. With the planet of disruption in the sign of language, controversy and polarising opinions become commonplace. Expect shorter attention spans, but more innovative ideas.

As Pluto settles deeper into Aquarius, these two outer planets create one of the most defining technological decades in modern history. Pluto represents our soul’s evolution, as it shows us the deep, often uncomfortable work we’re here to do collectively. Pluto brings power, fear and truth to whatever sign it moves through, and as it travels through Aquarius, it continues to drag our digital shadows into the light. We are being asked to face the reality of algorithmic bias, surveillance culture, tech addiction and the unsettling ways artificial intelligence now imitates human connection. Power is no longer concentrated in governments or old institutions. It is shifting toward data, digital platforms and the oligarchs who control them. Pluto in Aquarius challenges us to stay human in a world that is becoming more post-human every year, and to understand the systems we are living in before they reshape us entirely.

Healing Scarcity: Chiron Enters Taurus

Chiron, the Wounded Healer asteroid, completes its long passage through Aries in 2026, closing a chapter that has been teaching us about our identities and our needs, peeling back layers shaped by urgency, fear and early emotional wounds. Beginning on July 19, Chiron steps into Taurus until September, initiating a new cycle of healing. Taurus governs the material world, so Chiron’s arrival here stirs up collective fears of loss, scarcity and uncertainty. On a global level, this transit may lead to financial crashes, discussions about sustainability and healing issues around bodily autonomy. Rather than destabilising us, Chiron in Taurus asks us to build stability from within, to reconnect with our physical needs, and to redefine what safety means in a world that is constantly changing.

Watery Retrogrades of 2026

Throughout 2026, there may be moments when the world feels too loud, and retrogrades provide us with extra time to process what is coming up. 2026 brings three Mercury retrogrades and one Venus retrograde, all beginning in water signs, which helps balance out the surge of Fire and Air that defines the year. When Mercury retrogrades through water signs, we are more introspective than reactive. These retrogrades slow down the pace and help us understand our emotional needs, revealing the projections, assumptions and buried feelings that have quietly influenced our choices.

From February 26 to March 20, Mercury retrograde in Pisces helps us rinse off the emotional residue of 2025. The second occurs in Cancer, from June 29 until July 23. This is the classic retreat and recharge moment, when people become more insular, deal with family matters, or finally prioritise rest. The final Mercury retrograde arrives from October 24 to November 13 in Scorpio, overlapping with Venus retrograde, beginning October 2. This combination becomes an unavoidable relationship reckoning. Old dynamics surface, emotional truths spill out, and anything that is inauthentic starts to become uncomfortably obvious.

The Eclipses of 2026

The four eclipses of 2026 refuse to mind their business. They hit all four elements, which means every sign gets tossed around a little. No one is safe. Eclipses are basically the universe’s way of saying, “You are taking too long, let me do it for you,” and this year they are moving fast.

Eclipses happen wherever the lunar nodes fall, and we start the year with the North Node in Pisces. Then, in late July, the North Node enters Aquarius, and the entire eclipse storyline pivots. The shift marks a movement away from an obsession with clout and imagery, as people are craving substance, contribution and community.

Starting on February 17 with a solar eclipse in Aquarius, we receive a blast of future-focused energy that rearranges collective priorities. Then, on March 3, a lunar eclipse in Virgo highlights what needs to be cleaned up, released or reworked in our day-to-day lives. The energy turns fiery on August 12 with a Leo solar eclipse at 20 degrees, pushing visibility, confidence, creativity and heart-centred decisions. Finally, on August 28, a Pisces lunar eclipse at 5 degrees dissolves what has reached its spiritual expiration date. Together, these eclipses create a year of accelerated evolution.

This year is a much-needed beacon of hope at the end of a dark astrological tunnel, a year where the world wakes up and starts moving again. It is the invitation to step out of the psychic mist and into an existence shaped by will, desire and the unfiltered truth of one’s inner fire. As courage becomes commonplace, anything unexpressed will erupt, and things get brighter, faster, louder and more authentic. The era of digital distortion and pretending is over, as risk-taking becomes the new normal. 2026 is the call to battle, the call to stand bravely at the center of our own myth, and take the first step into a new timeline. This year asks us: if not now, when?

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