When the Gods Speak: The Power of the Cazimi

Mercury cazimi the Sun: January 21, 2026
Pluto cazimi the Sun: January 23, 2026

There are moments in astrology so brief they can be missed entirely, the way you might miss a knock at the door if you’re in the back of the house.

When a planet comes into conjunction with the Sun, astrologers typically say that it’s diminished, obscured by solar fire, burned up, or combust. But when the conjunction is exact, within one degree, that planet is no longer weak. It’s empowered—sitting on a golden throne at the very center of the Sun’s temple. This condition is called cazimi—“in the heart of the Sun.”

For a brief but potent time—roughly a day—the cazimi planet speaks with unusual clarity. Its power concentrates. Its focus sharpens. It steps into the light and delivers its message. What’s less predictable is whether or not people will pay attention. Particularly in times like these, a god might pass through the room without anyone noticing.

Cazimis are special but not rare. Every planet sits on the Sun’s throne at least once each year (with the occasional exception of Mars). Mercury does so six times, while the Moon holds the throne once every month at the New Moon.

Cazimi messages can be subtle or loud, depending on the larger sky in which they arc. In quieter years, they arrive softly, without spectacle—sharpening a thought, clarifying a choice, illuminating a single question. I’m always delighted when I have readings scheduled for cazimi days, as I know something important will emerge.

But in years like this one, shaped by consequential transits, cazimis can mark an unmistakable tipping point, when what happens during these hours changes everything.

Last week brought two pivotal (and instructive) cazimis—Mercury’s and Pluto’s. Each is a fine example of how these swift solar transits can collaborate with larger generational transits—like our looming Saturn–Neptune conjunction, occurring once every thirty-six years. It’s exact next month (February 20).

History has shown that under this transit, realities that once felt solid (Saturn) start to dissolve (Neptune). Walls that seemed impenetrable begin to crack. Alongside Saturn’s crumbling structures, something else appears: a faint outline of what could come next. As the old shape gives way, new dreams and new possibilities begin to seep into view, gifts from imagination-stirring Neptune.

If we look at our last Saturn-Neptune conjunction thirty-six years ago, curiously, during the November days when the Berlin Wall fell, we find the same pair of pivotal cazimis, Mercury and Pluto.  They tipped the dynamics of the Saturn–Neptune conjunction back then–and appear to be doing so now.  Fleet-footed Mercury is an important Messenger. Pluto is the Lord of Power.

Mercury Cazimi: Naming What’s Gone and What’s Ahead

Mercury names things. It governs the words we choose, the agreements we make, the routes we travel, and the stories that allow a world to hold itself together. When Mercury is cazimi—seated in the heart of the Sun—language itself sharpens. Words land with greater weight. A truth that has hovered at the edges is finally spoken aloud, and once uttered, it cannot be taken back.

That was the atmosphere at Davos, the annual gathering of global economic and political leaders. On January 20, when the Mercury cazimi in Aquarius was within one degree, Mark Carney, the current Prime Minister of Canada, and former head of the Bank of Canada and the Bank of England, delivered what many observers have called one of the most consequential foreign-policy speeches of our time, likely to be studied and cited for years to come. In calm, measured language, he named the elephant in the room:  the post–World War II rules-based international order has effectively dissolved; its claim to moral authority has eroded beyond repair. This was not framed as a future risk, but as a present condition—an order already hollowed out, particularly when one of the very powers meant to uphold it now threatens the sovereignty of their allies.

And in the same breath, Carney offered a different vision. He spoke of a world no longer organized around the umbrella of dominant powers, but around what he called variable geometry—flexible, mutually beneficial, and issue-specific alliances, formed through networks rather than domination. It was a distinctly Aquarian vision: adaptive, decentralized, and relational. Under a Mercury cazimi, in the shadow of the Neptune/Saturn conjunction, the old reality was called “finished,” and a new mental map was placed on the table—not as an ideology, but a necessity.

What about the Pluto cazimi, occurring days later, on January 23?

The Pluto Cazimi: Fire and Ice

Pluto is a planet of extremes—it’s both fire and ice. It governs what is buried, pressurized, and ultimately inescapable: a hidden power that only reveals itself when the strain becomes too great. When Pluto takes the Sun’s throne, the pressure breaks. What was buried is no longer hidden. What’s been denied steps fully into view.

On January 23, under the Pluto cazimi in Aquarius, confrontation moved fully into the open. In Minnesota, people withdrew their consent all at once—closing businesses, leaving work and school, and filling the streets in what was widely described as the first general strike in the United States in many years. In bitter cold, a collective refusal took shape. Not chaos, but resolve: ordinary people pushing back against repressive power and the expanding reach of force.

Just three hours after Pluto passed through the heart of the Sun, another kind of revelation arrived. In Minneapolis, a citizen—Alex Pretti—was killed by state force, an act captured on phones from multiple angles and witnessed almost instantly by a stunned public. The images spread faster than any official explanation could contain them. What followed was not confusion, but a chilling clarity: a visible rupture between what people could see with their own eyes and the story they were being asked to accept.

This is Pluto’s realm: an exposure of raw power. An eruption that lies cannot hide. In the hours that followed, outrage and grief surged side by side—not because passions were inflamed, but because something undeniable had been placed in front of us. Under a Pluto cazimi, the shadow does not remain abstract. It steps into the light, and once seen, cannot be unseen.

Cazimi Tipping Points

Two days before the Berlin Wall fell, Pluto was also sitting in cazimi.

In early November 1989, East Germany was already unraveling. For weeks, hundreds of thousands of people had been filling the streets—especially in Leipzig—refusing to disperse, refusing to be silent. On November 7, the day of the Pluto cazimi, the pressure reached a breaking point: the entire East German cabinet resigned in a single day—making possible what would happen at the Wall two days later. The Wall would soon collapse because the power that once held it together was already gone.

On November 9, as Saturn and Neptune were conjunct in the same degree, Mercury reached cazimi. The announcement was made: the gates between east and west were now open. History remembers this day as the turning point, but of course the regime’s shadow had already been exposed, and the wall was already cracking.

In the weeks leading up to this moment, the streets of East Germany rang with a single, defiant chant: Wir sind das Volk! — We are the people! It was a demand for legitimacy, a reclaiming of authority from a state that pretended to rule in the people’s name. But as the Berlin Wall opened—as the future suddenly widened—the message began to change. The chant began to evolve into Wir sind ein Volk! — We are one people! With the shift of a single word, the meaning of the movement began to turn: from internal reform to reunification, from protest to a new national reality. This is the power of the Mercury cazimi—arriving at the moment the language pivots, giving voice to what history is ready to become.

A Practice of Attention

Cazimis are not only historical markers. They pass through our personal lives as well. Each one is a small window—easy to miss, easy to dismiss—when a planetary archetype steps into full light. These are moments to be alert:  gods could soon be walking on the Earth.

You might try marking a few upcoming cazimis on your calendar. The day before, remind yourself which planet is approaching the Sun’s throne. Call its archetypal shape to mind. Then pay attention. The message may arrive through world events, or more quietly, through some new realization inside.

Upcoming Cazimis to Watch

(Dates are approximate; exact timing varies by location)

• March 7, 2026 — Mercury cazimi (Pisces)
  Intuition, imagination, and subtle truths come into focus.
• May 14, 2026 — Mercury cazimi (Taurus)
  Values clarify. Decisions ground. What truly matters becomes plain.
• July 12, 2026 — Mercury cazimi (Cancer)
  Memory, belonging, and emotional truths speak.
• August 27, 2026 — Mercury cazimi (Virgo)
  Practical insight, problem-solving, and discernment sharpen.
• October 23, 2026 — Venus cazimi (Scorpio)
  Desire, attachment, and value systems undergo deep illumination.
• November 4, 2026 — Mercury cazimi (Scorpio)
  Hidden motives surface. Conversations cut to the core.
• Monthly — Moon cazimi (New Moons)
  Each New Moon is the Moon’s passage through the Sun’s heart, a reset point woven into ordinary time.

During the cazimi hours, you don’t need to do anything special. Just notice. Again, these are the brief moments when a god might be passing through the room—and something, personal or collective, may ask to be seen, named, or remembered.

More on the Saturn/Neptune conjunction:

Fire After the Flood: Saturn and Neptune in Aries

Make a Wish, Make it Real: the Neptune/Saturn Conjunction

10 Signs Neptune in Aries Put a Spell on You

 

“Do your transits, my teacher used to say, “or they’ll do you!”  What are your transits in the coming year?  Fine-tune your personal forecast for 2026 with Steven Forrest’s fabulous Skylog report, available here.    If your birthday is in the past or next three months, Mary Shea’s solar return report can complete the picture.