2023 Astrological Forecast: A Year of Turmoil and Transformation

According to astropsychologist Alexei Selyaninov, the upcoming year promises to be not just challenging, but outright critical. He has prepared an astrological forecast for 2023 that is essential reading for everyone, as forewarned is forearmed.

Mars Takes the Helm

The departing year of 2022, governed by Jupiter, concluded another seven-year planetary cycle. In contrast, 2023 opens a new chapter in our existence, elevating all achievements and failures, successes and defeats to a qualitatively different evolutionary level.

According to astrological tradition, the symbolic ruler or chronocrat of the first year of the new cycle is the fiery and decisive Mars—a planet that is hot, active, often aggressive, and utterly uncompromising. Mars patronizes law enforcement, emergency services, the military-industrial complex, metallurgy, heavy machinery, athletes, and surgeons, particularly traumatologists and field surgeons.

The very ascension of Mars to power suggests that the already overly dynamic events of recent months will develop even more rapidly, if not tumultuously. The escalation of conflicts and the intensification of international tensions are highly probable.

Escalation of Conflicts and International Tensions

In preparing this forecast, I considered not only abstract planetary transits and cycles but also the current geopolitical and financial-economic situation. These factors set the key accents and determine the predominant vector of future events.

It is easy to guess that under the current conditions, the reign of the god of war is hardly a favorable omen. By all indications (not just astrological), the upcoming year promises to be not just difficult but outright critical.

Continuation and Intensification of 2022 Events

Traditionally, I begin my forecast with an analysis of the winter solstice chart, i.e., the ingress of the Sun into Capricorn (December 22, 2022, at 00:48 Minsk time). This event is considered the starting point of the geopolitical year.

The chart is very eloquent and symbolic. Most notably, the Sun, having just entered Capricorn, forms an exact and highly tense square with Jupiter (the ruler of the departing year), which had just moved into Aries (the abode of Mars, the ruler of the upcoming year) the day before.

This clearly indicates the continuity of the most important events and trends of 2022 and 2023, and not in the most positive light. To illustrate this further, I will quote from last year’s astrological forecast:

“Jupiter loves grandeur and pomp in everything, preferring to ‘do things big’—if success, then incredible and stunning; if failure, then total and catastrophic. Unfortunately, there are no prerequisites for grand achievements in the current situation.”

This theme will remain a leitmotif in the coming year. The familiar world order, established in the mid-20th century, is rapidly collapsing. Even in the richest and most successful countries, economic decline and record inflation are observed—and this is apparently just the beginning.

The square between Aries and Capricorn is considered one of the most challenging aspects in astrology. It often symbolizes extreme stubbornness, lack of flexibility and compromise, extreme ambition and lust for power, intolerance of others’ opinions, as well as belligerence and aggression (Mars is very strong in both mentioned signs).

Naturally, one can hardly expect any easing in the geostrategic and military-political sphere. The escalation of various conflicts and the intensification of international tensions are much more likely.

Economic Decline and Mass Migration

Regarding the financial and economic sphere, an astrological joke is appropriate here: “The square of Jupiter promises much… Unfortunately, it usually ends with just promises.”

I will quote last year’s forecast again:

“The ominous ‘bubbles’ inflating in all markets, as well as the truly astronomical injections of ’empty’ money made of air into the world economy, do not provide much reason for optimism, as they are a classic example of a negative Jupiter program… In the financial and economic sense, the acceleration of inflation, tightening of credit and monetary policy, and a decrease in the overall welfare of society are quite real.”

There is no doubt that these trends will only intensify in the coming year.

Furthermore, in the winter solstice chart, the almost exact opposition of retrograde Mars in Gemini to the Moon in Sagittarius is striking. This is a very serious aspect, indicating a confrontation between the military (Mars) and ordinary people (the Moon). It brings nothing good to either side of the conflict, symbolizing despair and destruction.

Moreover, Sagittarius, the sign of geography and long-distance travel, in this context hints that many people will be forced to leave their usual place of residence—and on a mass scale.

By the way, in the geopolitical chart of 2022, there was an opposition of the Moon in Cancer to the conjunction of Pluto and Venus in Capricorn. I will quote again:

“All over the world, the broad masses of people (symbolized by the Moon) will feel oppressed, disappointed, and deceived. Large-scale protests, even riots, inevitably turning into clashes with law enforcement (corresponding to Pluto), are not excluded.”

The frightening accuracy of the realization of this part of last year’s forecast leaves very ghostly chances for a peaceful resolution of the situation in the future.

Information Wars and Psychological Attacks

The retrogradation of Mars, the ruler of the year, speaks of the inevitable return to some events and circumstances of the past, the need to correct previously made decisions, and possibly revise previous agreements.

Moreover, retrograde and tense Mars in Gemini forebodes a ‘fight without rules’ on the intellectual front: harsh (sometimes even cruel) information wars and psychological attacks, propaganda tricks and the construction of false narratives, fake news, and fabricated sensations. The trine of the Black Moon (Lilith), the eternal demon-tempter, to Neptune, the ruler of illusions, delusions, and self-deceptions, hints that all these ‘tricks’ will pass quite easily and successfully.

The New Year’s chart (drawn up for midnight on January 1, 2023) only confirms the trends set by the winter solstice horoscope. Its key aspect is the heavy opposition of the Black Moon in Cancer to the conjunction of retrograde Mercury, Venus, and Pluto in Capricorn.

The squares of the participants in this opposition to the Moon in the first degrees of Taurus once again hint that the victim of all these information-psychological manipulations will again be the ‘deep people’—ordinary people with their aspirations and expectations.