Amari On dissolution, clarity, and preparing for a new collective cycle
Have you been feeling like your life is slowly coming undone in unexpected ways lately? You’re not imagining it. I actually wrote the first draft of this post back in December, but my mind was in such a thick fog that the words just wouldn’t land. The holidays played a part, sure, but the real culprit was the sheer weight of what we’re moving through right now.
For six weeks, my mind was essentially a bowl of lukewarm oatmeal—stagnant and waiting for the fire to finally kick in. I’d sit down and write the entire article, only to spend the next few days tearing it apart because something felt “off.” It wasn’t just writer’s block; it was my internal compass trying to find North in a world where the magnets have all shifted. It sucks big time to feel that stuck, but looking back, I realize I was just waiting for the fog to lift so I could see the real terrain.
With Neptune officially hitting 0 degrees Aries just a few days ago on January 26, 2026, it felt like the right time to finally hit publish.
While Neptune has officially shifted, we are still currently in the shadows as the fog slowly clears from its 14-year stay in Pisces—the final sign of the zodiac. This is the final chapter of a story that began unraveling back in 2020. While the astrology of 2025–2026 brings a massive collective turning point, there’s something more personal happening right now. We’re shedding the last layers of a cycle we’ve outgrown. And as you already know, shedding isn’t always pretty. A lot of times it feels like confusion, delayed timelines, and being stuck underground waiting for something—anything—to happen.
The 2020 Connection
To understand why right now feels so chaotic, we have to look back at 2020. That year really shook us to the core. It wasn’t just a “rough patch”—it was a collective dismantling. Saturn and Pluto joined forces in Capricorn, and the world we knew basically got put through a woodchipper.
Between the pandemic and the sudden shifts in the day-to-day life we’d been so used to, the world as we knew it basically hit a wall. It was jarring. One day we were commuting and planning vacations, and the next, we were staring at the four walls of our living rooms wondering if things would ever be “normal” again.
But looking back, that pause was meant to soften the hard edges of a society that had become way too rigid. It revealed the fractures in systems we assumed were stable. Think of it like a massive earthquake that didn’t just knock down the house, but exposed the fact that the foundation was built on sand. We weren’t just losing our routines; we were losing the illusions that kept us on autopilot.
Since 2020, we’ve been living in a slow-motion rinse cycle. We are finally moving out of a heavy, 16-year chapter dominated by top-down power and the “grind” (that long Pluto in Capricorn era). If you feel like your “ambition” or “drive” has been replaced by a desire for collective change, independence, and something new … that’s why.
The old “climb the ladder” narrative has officially collapsed. More and more people recognize that chasing that ladder depletes their life force. But, when that old structure crumbled, Neptune kept us in a total fog in Pisces, dissolving our previous belief system and compelling us to look deeper into our spiritual connection—making it feel like we were adrift without a map.
Now, as Neptune officially moves into Aries, the fog is lifting. We aren’t just watching the old world dissolve anymore; we’re finally gaining the clarity to light the fire for what comes next.
A Collective Turning Point: The Virgo–Pisces Eclipse
Depending on where in your chart it landed, the September 2025 Virgo–Pisces eclipse activated this ending in a way many of us felt in our bodies. For me personally, it hit my Midheaven, my Ascendant–Descendant axis, and landed right where Pluto is moving through my 8th house — a full T-square across identity, purpose,truth, and transformation.
It felt like an internal rewiring that happened without warning. I was compelled to conduct a radical audit of my boundaries—my relationships to others and to myself—and I was forced to descend into the underworld to face ancestral wounds that had long been buried. And in the process, let go of the versions of myself I had been clinging to, which could no longer hold me.
And even if your chart didn’t look exactly like mine, many people felt a similar kind of disruption:
- Old roles falling away
- Relationship dynamics shifting
- Career direction feeling uncertain
- Purpose feeling rewired
- Inner truths breaking through the noise
This eclipse wasn’t about crisis—despite how intense it felt. It was about alignment. It nudged us—gently or not—away from who we’ve been pretending to be… and closer to who we’re becoming.
Neptune (The Fog and the Great Spiritual Detox)
Neptune is the planet of dreams, illusions, and spirituality. It’s the energy that blurs the lines between where you end and everyone else begins. Unlike Pluto, It doesn’t break things down with force; it simply dissolves the boundaries that keep your old life together until they aren’t solid anymore.
On January 26, 2026, Neptune moved into Aries for the first time in 165 years, and this shift is basically the ocean finally meeting the shore.
We already got a glimpse of this shift last year. Neptune first dipped its toes into Aries from March 30 to October 22, 2025. That was the “testing the waters” phase—a quick signal of the massive changes headed our way. It gave us a preview of what it feels like to step out of the fog and into a more direct, fiery, and honest version of ourselves.
After the short ocular visit in Aries, Neptune retrograded back into Pisces for one last stay. That retrograde period gave us a chance to sew the missing pieces, to rethink the plans we made with Aries energy of doing and achieving more, and to finish the deep emotional work that 2020 started. It was the final “clean up” stage before we finally began the new cycle.
Now, as of January 26, 2026, Neptune is officially back in Aries to stay. At last, the fog is beginning to clear, but the transition is weirdly uncomfortable.
Aries is about the “Self”—it’s fiery, straightforward, and bold.. It’s like finally emerging from the sea and into the sunlight when one moves from the dreamy, limitless energy of Pisces into the unique energy of Aries. It’s jarring. Since Aries energy is all about action, you’re finally seeing the true weight of the dreams you’ve been constructing in the Pisces region of your chart and perhaps keeping them more real and actionable.
This is a massive personal and spiritual recalibration. It’s about us finally looking at life and the world without the rose-colored glasses we wore during the Neptune-Pisces era. We now get to really audit our goals, dreams, and relationships to see what actually works and what doesn’t. We’re sifting through what was based on illusions and what can actually withstand the fire—what needs to dissolve so we can charge forward, clear the obstacles, and make things happen.
Especially with Saturn also finalizing its stay in Pisces before conjoining with Neptune at the very start of Aries by February 13 or 14 (depending on your timezone), we are reaching a tipping point. Once that alignment hits, it’s all systems go. What an exciting time to be alive—we aren’t just watching the world change; we’re finally equipped to build the parts of it we actually want to live in.
The Collective Wake-Up Call ( Why everyone is re-thinking their boundaries)
You don’t need to study astrology to feel it. Around the world, the story is the same: the “Broligarchs” and the top-heavy power structures are losing their grip. We are seeing a massive demand for better leadership and actual accountability. This is the natural result of individuals waking up and realizing they no longer fit into the old, rigid scripts.
When you stop lying to yourself, you naturally stop accepting the lies being told by the institutions around you. You start re-thinking where you end and where everyone else’s demands begin. Currently, we are seeing:
- Challenging government decisions
- Protesting outdated systems
- Calling out corruption and naming injustices
- Refusing narratives that no longer make sense
- Seeking transparency, fairness, dignity, and accountability
Some governments are being pushed out. Some leaders are stepping down. Some systems are cracking under their own weight. It’s not entirely chaos; it’s more of a collective boundary finally being drawn. The old structures are dissolving—not because the world is falling apart, but because humans are waking up. We are trading “Power Over” for “Power With,” and while the birth pains are real, the result is a world that finally has some raw reality behind it.People are looking at government decisions and corporate structures and asking: “Does this actually serve humans, or is it just another hollow illusion?”
2026 is the transition from “Power Over” to “Power With.”
The “Power Over” era was about who was at the top of the mountain. The “Power With” era is about the people on the ground—the “Self” in Aries—finally realizing that they have the agency to change the narrative. We’re seeking transparency, fairness, and a level of human dignity that the old systems never prioritized.
It looks like chaos up close because dismantling a skyscraper is never a quiet job. But if you look deeper, it’s actually a radical cleaning out of the structures that have been sucking the life out of us for decades. We are choosing honesty over the “polished” versions of reality we’ve been fed. This collective waking up is what’s making the ground feel so unstable, but it’s also the only thing that’s going to lead us to a world that actually has substance.
The “Soil Work” (What to Do in the Goo Phase)
So, how do you handle this “in-between” state without losing your mind? This is where the real work happens—the work in the dirt.
You don’t need to “fix” the uncertainty. You’re not meant to have a five-year plan by Monday. Clarity grows best in honest soil, and right now, the soil is still being tilled. It’s messy, it’s just brown, and it looks like nothing is happening, but this is where the good stuff is being absorbed. In biological terms, this is the metamorphosis.
When a caterpillar enters the chrysalis, it doesn’t just grow wings; it literally turns into goo. It loses its old form entirely before the new one even starts to show up. If you feel like your identity, your career, or your “spark” has turned into a puddle of liquid lately, congratulations—you’re right on schedule. You aren’t “failing” at the transition; you’re just in the liquefying stage. It’s a powerful pause, not an end.
The work right now looks more like this:
- Simplifying your life. If it’s too complicated, it’s probably not rooted in truth. Look at your calendar. If you’re doing things out of “obligation” that make your stomach do a flip, it’s time to prune. You can’t grow new leaves if you’re still feeding dead branches. Pruning is the “boring” part of growth, but it’s the only way to save the tree.
- Telling yourself the truth. Even if you only whisper it to yourself while you’re making coffee. We spend so much time performing “fine” for other people that we forget how to be honest with ourselves. What do you actually want? Not what you should want, but what makes your core feel less heavy?
- Radical Resting. Not as a reward for being productive, but as a biological requirement for staying sane. Your nervous system has been through a woodchipper since 2020, Give it a break. If you spend Saturday staring at a wall because your brain is “full,” don’t call it a wasted day. Call it a recharge.
- Noticing what no longer resonates. If a friendship, a job, or even a hobby feels “heavy,” that’s a signal. It doesn’t mean you have to quit everything today, but it does mean you should stop pretending it’s a perfect fit. The more you “fake it,” the more energy you leak.
- Choosing honesty over perfection. A messy, honest life is a hundred times better than a “perfect” lie. The world has enough polished plastic; it needs people who are willing to be real.
Don’t Rush the Bloom (The Aries Fire is Coming)
As we move deeper into February 2026, the energy shifts completely. When Saturn and Neptune fully anchor into Aries, we’re going to feel like we’ve finally been let out of a cage. Aries brings motion, clarity, and that “I AM” direction we’ve been missing.
But you don’t need to be “super-ready” yet. In fact, you aren’t late, and you aren’t behind. We’re still in the shadows of the great shift. It may feel chaotic now, or you might feel like your life is in a standstill, it’s because we’re still standing in between the sea and the shore , From a higher vantage point, they’re just a transition. Your life isn’t falling apart; it’s being redesigned for the version of you that is bigger and more able to hold what is truly meant for you.
A Closing Reflection for My Friends
If we were sitting next to each other, pondering this over a warm cup of tea, I’d tell you this:
Change is vital. In a world that feels like it’s constantly shifting, change is actually the only thing we can count on. It’s okay—honestly, it’s necessary—to say goodbye to the old version of you; the one who played small, stayed quiet, or wore a mask just to keep the peace.
It’s time to welcome a version of yourself that is more aligned, more authentic, and finally ready to shine. You are meant to hold your own space, carry your own light, and stand your ground without looking around for a green light. This isn’t about waiting for things to “settle down” anymore; it’s about claiming the life that actually belongs to you.
It’s not enough to simply endure the end of an era; you need to discover your edge in the heat. You’re doing the real work wherever you are in this shift—even if it feels like life is immensely unfair right now—you’re doing the real work. You’re building your backbone, fortifying your roots, and preparing for spring.
It’s coming. And this time, you’ll be ready to lead the way
