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We're currently standing on the precipice of a massive global supply shock of oil. And it's coinciding to line up perfectly with the Mars Saturn conjunction that's forming in the sky right now and will go exact around April 19th. So following the outbreak of the war in Iran in late February and subsequent blockade of the Strait of Hormuz, the global energy market is about to hit a physical wall. Today I want to look at how this impending oil and energy crisis is lining up with the Mars Saturn conjunction that's taking place on April 19, with a couple of pivotal dates that are set to align with that conjunction. I also want to zoom out and look at the fascinating historical pattern that I've discovered where it turns out that Saturn Neptune conjunctions, like the one that's happening in the sky right now, happen every 36 years. And it turns out that they are tied in deeply with the entire history of oil over the course of the past century or two. So this is a follow up to some recent episodes I did, especially the April forecast episode of the Astrology podcast, where Austin and I talked about everything that's going on right now, and we made some predictions about the different alignments in April. And I'm going to go into some of that with more detail as I've had time to reflect and see how things are turning out and do more research on some historical cycles. And then it's also a follow up, of course, to the previous episodes that I did on the Iran war, as well as the Saturn Neptune conjunction episode in history that I did one year ago. All right, so first, let's talk about the geopolitical setup. So the Strait of Hormuz is functionally closed at this point, and as a result of that, the global energy market is missing approximately 13 million doll million barrels of oil per day. And there's been recent reports saying that Asian refineries have been surviving by aggressively draining some of their onshore reserves. But that buffer is in the process of running out right now. And in particular, I saw a report a few days ago from JP Morgan that estimated that around April 20, this is the timeframe when the final pre blockade oil tankers will arrive that were sent out from the Persian Gulf just before the war happened because the oil tankers, it turns out, move super slowly. So it takes a while once a tanker departs from the Middle east for it to arrive. So some of the final tankers are going to arrive in Asia and other locations around April 20th. So as a result of that, the flow of oil, even though it was cut off from the Middle east on February 28th when the war started. The full impact of that, of having that oil spigot turned off almost completely, will only start to hit in full around April 20th. And it's incredibly striking how this is going to coincide with the Mars Saturn conjunction that's forming in the sky that's gonna go exact around April 19th. So that's one thing. Another piece of news that just came out is that on April 19, the US has just announced that their sanctions waiver on Iranian crude oil will officially expire on midnight on April 19th. And as a result of that, the US will put or impose heavy sanctions on other countries. They're using Iranian oil, which will further exacerbate the situation in terms of the oil supply that was already experiencing a whole energy shock at this point. So astrologically, one of the things I wanted to look at and point out and to re emphasize is just how this is lining up with the Mars Saturn conjunction. So here's a diagram that I used on the last forecast episode that shows the Mars Saturn conjunction with a 10 degree orb. And we can see that it started moving within the 10 degree range on April 4, and then it's really starting to accelerate after April 9, once Mars moved into Aries. And the conjunction will peak and go exact around April 19th before starting to move out of that exact alignment, but still staying within the 10 degree range all the way until May 4th. Of course, the full conjunction by sign will last I think through the middle of May. So that's still going to be operative. But the degree based alignment is going to be the most intense part of that alignment in terms of things suddenly screeching to a halt or things grounding to a halt is part of the archetyp, part of the way that we've seen that manifest many times before in the past. Mars usually is like forward momentum and energy and movement, whereas Saturn is slowing down and is constriction and is bringing things to a stop. On the podcast, it's kind of like when an unstoppable force meets an immovable object. On the podcast, for many years we've used the analogy that Mars Saturn conjunctions are like when you're pressing the brakes and the gas in a car at the same time and the kind of internal tension that creates, but also just that sometimes when these Mars Saturn conjunctions happen, we've seen things come to a screeching halt. And in particular in this instance, as well as past instances, we've seen the global economic engine suddenly go to a screeching halt as well. So the most striking instance of that in our lifetimes in recent history, of course that I remember, was around March of 2020. There was a Mars Saturn conjunction in Aquarius. And this happened right as the global COVID lockdowns began and the world literally ground to a halt at that time where everything just came to a stop because econom and governments and all sorts of things just suddenly stopped happening as everybody went inside, as the virus was spreading and people were trying to figure out what to do about it. And that's why I mentioned that on the last forecast episode for April that this Mars Saturn conjunction and this not just conjunction but stellium of planets in Aries reminded me a lot of March 2020. And I said that because it has that same energy of everything suddenly grinding to a halt in some way. But that wasn't the only time that Mars Saturn conjunctions have coincided with similar themes. There was another one because they happen about every two years. And there was another one two years later in April of 2022 in Aquarius. And what happened with this was this was right after the Ukraine war began when Russia invaded Ukraine and then the US put heavy, heavy sanctions on Russia and on Russian oil, especially at that time as a result of the war, as a result of the invasion. And this again slammed the brakes on the global energy flows and also shattered some supply chains virtually overnight. So that was another instance of a Mars Saturn conjunction and things suddenly grinding to a halt. Another instance that was relevant as I was researching Mars Saturn conjunctions in history recently. There was one that happened in Virgo in July of 2008. And this interestingly had to do with oil as a commodity, where during this time oil hit an all time record high of $147 right on the conjunction. So this was like the build up to the global financial crisis that was happening at that time and is connected with it in some ways where the global economic engine started overheating and then stalled out just before the global financial crisis really started to set in. And that also is reminiscent of the Mercury Mars conjunctions where there's sometimes every 15 to 17 years there's a series of five Mercury Mars conjunctions that happen over about a six month period. And on the last forecast episode I talked about how during the global financial crisis that started happening then that started happening just like that's repeating again now. And we get the fifth of five Mercury Mars conjunctions that happens to coincide with the Mars Saturn conjunction. Around April 19th and 20th. So I went into that in more detail in the last forecast episode for April, so I'll leave that there. But there's a kind of stunning repetition of that that's happening again right now. The last one I'll mention is that there was another Mars Saturn conjunction in the summer of 1980, and this was a second oil shock that took place where the global economy hit an energy wall just around the time that the Iran Iraq war was breaking out. And this is one of the most direct parallels to what's happening now, because at that time, a bunch of energy and oil infrastructure in the Middle east was damaged due to the major war between those two countries. And that ended up creating an oil shock around that time, somewhat close to the Mars Saturn conjunction that was happening in the summer of 1980. There's other Mars Saturn conjunctions that I can list, but I think that gives you a sense of what's happening right now and what we're starting to see unfold as the Mars Saturn conjunction is forming and getting closer and closer in the sky right now as I'm recording this on April 14, 2026. Okay, so I also want to zoom out from the immediate crisis and also talk about something that I realized recently, which is why is oil specifically the focal point right now? And. And it turns out that this has to do with the broader Saturn Neptune conjunction that we're still very much in the middle of right now, which went exact in February. But as we said in the year ahead forecast, we had anticipated when we did our year ahead predictions in December, that the Saturn Neptune conjunction would happen and there would be a major global event coinciding with it, which turned out to be the start of the war with Iran. But then when Mars would come and make the conjunction with not just Saturn but also Neptune in April, that would reactivate the Saturn Neptune conjunction. So what we're seeing here is not just a Mars Saturn conjunction. We're also seeing a triple conjunction of Mars, Saturn and Neptune that's reactivating the broader Saturn Neptune conjunction as well. So I was doing some research into this recently and I had this sudden realization that I remembered a year ago when Nick Dagan Best and I researched the Saturn Neptune conjunctions in history episode where we went back in 36 year increments and researched every Saturn Neptune conjunction that would take place over the past 2,000 years. The topic of oil actually came up a few different distinct times when we were looking at Saturn Neptune conjunct. And in the episode we kind of mentioned that But I'm now realizing that Saturn Neptune is a signature that's much more tied in with oil in a crucial way in human history than I even realized at the time, but now is suddenly very clear. And I did some additional research which helped to clarify this even more. So here's what I got. So I took it all the way back to the Saturn Neptune conjunctions, back around the founding of the US in particular, where there was a Saturn neptune conjunction in 1773. And this coincided with the commercialization of Seneca oil in Pennsylvania, which is sort of like the geographic birth of the US oil trade in some ways. And this was a crucial pivot point where oil transitioned from what was at the time an indigenous medicine, sometimes like a local curiosity, into a packaged, commercially traded commodity. So it laid the exact geographic as well as economic foundations in Pennsylvania that would eventually trigger the massive global oil boom about a century later. So that's a little one early on, because oil's not really a thing. It's actually surprising that oil doesn't become a thing until relatively late, around the middle of the 1800s. In terms human history, for the most part, you can actually take it back further because there were oil lamps in the Middle east in the seven hundreds and eight hundreds and further back, and there's probably further Saturn Neptune conjunctions that coincided with some of that. But in terms of oil becoming this huge focal point in terms of human history, it really starts around this point and especially at the next conjunction I want to talk about, which is the one in 1846, there was a Saturn Neptune conjunction. And what happened is around this conjunction coincided with the invention and the public demonstration of kerosene. And this was basically the birth of modern hydro common hydrocarbon refining. So the birth of modern hydrocarbon refining coincided with the 1846 Saturn Neptune conjunction. And. And what happened is up until this point, humans had often used biological fuel sources like whale oil up to that point for things like lamps. But at this time, an inventor proved that hydrocarbons from things like oil could be chemically manipulated to light the world and to be used instead of whale oil for lamps and other things like that. So this suddenly created this massive immediate customer demand that forced the drilling of the very first commercial oil wells just a few years later. So for all intents and purposes, this really is the most important one that starts the modern oil revolution was the sort of discovery of how oil could be turned into a more useful commodity than it was thought to be up to that point, to initially light lamps and things like that. So then we jump forward to one of the next Saturn neptune conjunctions around 1882. And this is one that Nick and I did focus on in the original Saturn Neptune episode. But, yeah, we did mention, and this was when John D. Rockefeller formed Standard Oil Trust. So this was significant in terms of by centralizing the control of refining and distribution of oil, Rockefeller essentially created a legal and a corporate blueprint for the massive multinational energy monopolies like Big Oil, essentially, that still dominate the globe today. And this was the creation of one of those first huge oil companies that came to dominate oil and to sort of set the stage for the rest of the oil companies and the huge role of those companies in world history and geopolitics and everything else that would come after that point. Nick and I had focused on this mainly because it was interesting, because there was a secrecy, behind the scenes element to that Saturn Neptune conjunction. But it turns out that the oil itself was also probably the most important thing that was coinciding with that conjunction and that acceleration of oil becoming integrated into human society and the economy and politics and everything else. So then we jump forward, and the next Saturn Neptune conjunction that showed up as really important was in 1917. There was another Saturn Neptune conjunction. And at this time, World War I was going on. And what happened is that the mechanization of World War I caused the first major global oil crisis, because this was the first war where they're using tanks and planes and cars and all sorts of other things like that which required oil. And all of a sudden it led to scarcity and it led to the first major oil crisis. So I think that's really crucial to think about that Sometimes Saturn Neptune is coinciding with important turning points in terms of oil, but also sometimes, in this instance especially, it's coinciding with major oil crises when there's actually a shortage of oil, which makes sense in terms of Saturn sometimes being a lack of something or the depletion of something. Interestingly, around this conjunction also was the start of the legendary Texas oil boom, where oil starts being really mined in Texas and Texas becomes a major source or is discovered as a major source of energy and oil in the U.S. okay, so the next Saturn Neptune conjunction I want to focus on is the one that happened in 1953 and 1954. And this is the one we've talked about a lot on the podcast over the past year, because this is when Operation Ajax happened, when the US and the UK were involved in a coup to overthrow the democratically elected leader of Iran. In order to install the Shah, because the democratically elected leader Mosaddegh was attempting to nationalize the Iranian oil system, which the British had been involved in up to that point. And basically they overthrew him and stopped the process of nationalizing the Iranian oil companies. So this fundamentally restructured Western control of Middle Eastern oil. And Nick and I had focused on this previously as being something tied in with the history of Iran and the relationship between Iran and the US And a lot of the lingering resentments. And then obviously, over the past month or two, we've talked about this as being a repetition where in 1953, 1954, the US overthrows the leader of Iran, and then in February, when the Saturn Neptune conjunction repeated in 2026, the US assassinated the leader of Iran. But the piece that I now realize in retrospect, deserved even more focus was the element of oil and the fact that oil was the reason why this happened. It's the reason why the coup took place around this 1953-1954 conjunction, and that this is tied in with the broader history of oil in the Middle east, in Iran, with respect to the United States, with respect to global oil supplies and other things like that. So that's something that's become clearer to me now as we're experiencing and seeing what's happening in the present time, and then looking back on some of the past conjunctions with fresh eyes. So the last one I want to mention is one we also mentioned in the Saturn Neptune episode a year ago, the original one. And it was on the 1989 Saturn Neptune conjunction, the Exxon Valdez oil tanker disaster took place, where this oil tanker sort of crashed or sank, and then it released all this oil into the wild, which created this huge ecological disaster at the time, which was like a major, major News story in 1989. And one of the things that this did is it really reshaped environmental regulations as well as the public perception about oil, which was viewed more negatively in many respects, as a result of seeing there were all of these images of animals that were covered in oil. And sometimes there were people that went out to try to help to fix, clean up the oil or to wash the oil off the animals and different things like that. So that was, again, an important turning point, not just in terms of geopolitics or things like that, in terms of regulations, but also in terms of public perceptions and the impact on the public and the public's relationship with oil as a broader theme. So this was a really interesting discovery then, having Greater clarity about that. And of course, it makes a lot of sense just in terms of the symbolism. Where on the one hand, you have Saturn, the planet that represents things like structure, reality, corporate structures, but also the Earth. Vettius Valens says that Saturn represents the dirt. Saturn's also associated with things that are dark or black. And Neptune, of course, is associated with liquids, sometimes the dissolution of things. And you're putting those two together, and you have this black liquidy resource from under the ground that's the result of the decay of dead organic matter that humans have discovered now and has become a major source of not just the global economy, but also geopolitics and wars and so many other different things in society. It's really striking, and it makes a lot of sense in terms of even just the symbolism of those two planets together. And it's sort of obvious now in retrospect. But in doing this research and seeing what's happening now, it brought into clear focus some of the conjunctions that happened in the past. So that's part of what I wanted to share with people today in terms of my insight into that. So, interestingly, if this connection is true, this connection that I'm positing between Saturn, Neptune conjunctions, and oil is true historically, and that's a valid correlation, then one of the things that it implies and one of the ways that we'll be able to confirm that in the future is that it implies that that future conjunctions of Saturn and Neptune approximately every 36 years should also coincide with other important turning points in terms of the history of oil and humanity's relationship with it and reliance on it and other things that are downstream from that every 36 years or so. So I can make a prediction then that in the future there will be other important turning points, like major historical turning points when it comes to oil in the history of humanity at other subsequent Saturn, Neptune conjunctions that will take place in the future, especially over the next century, presumably as humanity continues to hopefully, in the long term, wean itself off of oil and make the shift more towards renewable resources. But obviously that's been taking much longer than anybody would, or at least some people would hope than environmentalists would hope, or people that care about the environment or the rising temperature rates or the oceans or other things like that. But I think it'll be interesting to track that over the course of the next century as we check in every 36 years on subsequent conjunctions of Saturn and Neptune. I mean, actually, as I think about that, that actually brings up that this Saturn Neptune conjunction. One of the things presumably that would come from it and come from such a huge energy shock and supply shock of oil, is that for some countries it probably will accelerate the push to renewable energy or to other forms of energy besides oil. Especially since it's become so clear that this is a much more brittle resource or a resource that's more easily cut off than had been imagined up until this point. So perhaps that's part of the significance of this Saturn Neptune conjunction in the long term. Is different countries accelerating the push towards renewable or other resources, if nothing else, for geopolitical reasons, for reasons in terms of how this is about to hit different world economies in really significant ways. It'll be really interesting to see the impact of that because one of the things about conjunctions is there are always seed moments where a conjunction is the end of one cycle. So you see some things wrapping up and coming to an end after a 36 year cycle. But then you also see the seeds of the next 36 years being planted. And sometimes the way that that will grow and develop isn't immediately clear at first, but in retrospect you realize that that was also like a starting point. And then a number of things grew and developed over the course of the next 36 years that refer back to this starting point that we're in right now at the conjunction. So presumably then part of that is the conjunction right now is setting the seeds for the relationship with oil over the next 36 years. But some of the ways in which humanity might move towards other energy sources might then relate back to this oil crisis that we're experiencing right now. And then we'll see that develop over the next three to four decades. And then of course, you could expect the squares and the opposition within the next 36 years to be the next important turning points after this foundation is laid for whatever the point of that cycle is and what will grow and emerge out of it during the course of that 36 years. All right, so let's bring it all together with some conclusions. So this immediate Mars Saturn conjunction trigger that's taking place this month, and I keep calling it a Mars Saturn trigger, but it's really, it's like three or four planets. Mars is conjoining with Saturn and Neptune, and then Mercury is also conjoining with them at the same time. So it's actually a quadruple conjunction. But in the immediate future this month, the thing that's going to be the most visible is the Mars Saturn conjunction taking place around April 19th. And things grounding to a halt at that time, but also the way that that Mars Saturn conjunction is activating and is the spark or the trigger that's detonating this much larger macro level Saturn Neptune conjunction that relates to oil in particular, but also potentially the shifts regarding the global energy structure and other things related to it and other things that are downwind of it. So in terms of what to watch for in the immediate future, over the next month, we've got to watch for and pay attention to the downstream economic ripple effect after April 19, when the Mars Saturn conjunction goes exact, because this is when the oil supply physically will halt at this time, when the last of the ships arrive from the Middle east that had made it out before the strait was closed, and when the global oil supply physically comes to a halt like that, then so does the economy. And that's the biggest problem and some of the biggest implications. And we're already starting to see echoes of this in different countries where there's already hoarding that's taking place of gasoline. There's gasoline shortages, like physical gasoline shortages, there's prices that are going up and already starting to go up, although some of those will skyrocket as oil becomes more scarce as a resource. So economic things that are downwind of it, we should see massive spikes in fuel costs, which then instantly can impact or even paralyze in worst case scenarios, trucking and shipping industries, which then brings global supply chains to a grinding halt, including affecting things like deliveries like Amazon or UPS or other FedEx or other things that require oil or gasoline or fuel oil to ship things through planes or cars or trucks. If the physical supply wall hits as expected, then we're also looking at a number of other severe immediate downstream effects, which include surging inflation, massive freight surcharges, sudden potentially violent contractions of global supply chains. So much depends on oil that when it suddenly either becomes scarce or simply isn't available, things suddenly ground to a halt. And that's really the biggest concern about the Mars Saturn conjunction this month that's forming. So those are some things to pay attention for and we'll see exactly how it plays out over the course of the next week. But I wanted to give this update to further go into some of the things that I discovered and have been reflecting on and in order to help sharpen what we're looking at over the course of the next few weeks as we see this conjunction go exact. So at the end of the month, we'll check in again during the May forecast episode to give an update on what's going on and to give a forecast or the next four weeks. And we're gonna record that forecast live with patrons of the Astrology Podcast through our page on Patreon at the very end of the month. And then I'm planning on releasing it on May 1st. So if you wanna sign up to attend the live recording of that and get early access, you can sign up now@patreon.com astrologypodcast and I've also started doing some short video updates just for patrons there as well. I put out one of those last week, so I think that's it for this video. So good luck, stay safe, do what you can to protect yourself and your communities. In terms of when you see something like this coming in the same way that in early 2020 people were paying attention to some of those alignments, like that conjunction, and were able to better prepare to whatever extent that's possible for you, I hope you're able to do that as well. And that's why I do updates like this. But otherwise, if you'd like to learn more, check out some of my previous examples, like the forecast we did for April where Austin and I went into things with a lot more detail, as well as the Saturn Neptune episode that Nick and I did a year ago, which continues to pay off in terms of a lot of those historical events that we discovered, becoming surprisingly relevant again today, because every time the planets repeat, sometimes there's an echo or a repetition of past historical events, and we continue to see that very vividly today. All right, so thanks for watching. Be sure to like this video and subscribe to my channel if you're not. If you're not subscribed, then why not sign up, please? It's the least you can do. But otherwise, thanks for watching this video and I'll see you again next time. If you're a fan of the podcast and you want to get access to bonus content, then become a patron through my page on Patreon, where you can get early access to new episodes, attend live recordings and webinars, access the monthly electional Astrology podcast, the Secret Astrology Podcast that's only available to patrons, or you can even get your name listed in the credits. Find out more@patreon.com AstroNYPodcast Special thanks to the patrons on our Producers tier, including patrons Christy Moe, Ariana Amour, Mandi Rae Angelic Nambo Issa Sabah, Jeannie Marie Kaplan, Melissa Delano, Sunny Bazbaz, Kwatsi Alibarahu, Annie Newman, Ginger Sadlier, Berlin west and Nikki Crawford. If you're looking for good dates to do things this year, then be sure to check out our 2026 electional astrology report, which is a guide to the most fortunate dates in 2026. You can get it at theastrologypodcast.com 2026 Report if you're really looking to take your studies of astrology to the next level, then consider signing up for my Hellenistic Astrology course, which is an online course in ancient astrology where I take people from basic concepts up through intermediate and advanced techniques for reading birth charts. There's over 100 hours of video lectures plus live webinars and Q and A sessions each month, and at the end of the course you get a certificate of completion saying that you studied with me. Find out more information@theastrologyschool.com if you're looking to get an astrological consultation, then check out the new Consultations page on the podcast website where I have a list of astrologers I recommend for birth chart readings and other types of consultations. You can find that@theastrologypodcast.com consultations the astrology software we use and recommend here on the podcast is called Solar Fire for Windows and you can get a 15% discount on it by using the promo code AP1515 at the website alabe.com for Mac users we recommend the program called astro gold for macOS and you can use the promo code astropodcast15 to get a 15% discount at their website, which is astrogold IO. And shout out to our sponsors for this episode, including the Northwest Astrology Conference, which is happening in Seattle and being livestreamed online May 21st through the 25th, 2026. Find out more information@norwac.net as well as the United Astrology Conference, which is happening in Chicago this year September 3rd through the 9th, 2026. Find out more information about that at uacastrology.com. Sam.
Host: Chris Brennan
Date: April 14, 2026
In this solo episode, Chris Brennan explores the striking convergence of astrology and geopolitics amid the ongoing global oil crisis. Triggered by war in Iran and the blockade of the Strait of Hormuz, the impending supply shock is mapped against the looming Mars-Saturn conjunction (exact April 19th) and the broader Saturn-Neptune cycle. Brennan investigates the historical significance of these astrological patterns, particularly their recurring connections to pivotal moments in the history of oil and energy, drawing lessons from the past to offer predictions and context for the current crisis.
Geopolitical Background (00:30):
Astrological Timing (01:55):
Interpretation (06:05):
Recent Historical Examples:
Current Parallels (18:15):
The 36-Year Saturn-Neptune Cycle (19:02):
Historical Highlights of Saturn-Neptune Conjunctions (21:00+):
Astrological Symbolism (39:30):
Future Correlations (43:10):
Cycle as “Seed Moment” (46:18):
| Timestamp | Segment Description | |------------|----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------| | 00:30 | Geopolitical setup: Iran war, oil supply shock, Strait of Hormuz blockade | | 03:15 | Mars-Saturn conjunction and timing with oil shocks and policy changes | | 09:10 | Mars-Saturn archetype explained; analogy of brakes and gas | | 09:58 | 2020 Mars-Saturn (COVID-19) historical parallel | | 12:40 | 2022 Mars-Saturn (Ukraine war, oil sanctions) | | 14:20 | 2008 Mars-Saturn (oil price spike, financial crisis) | | 17:00 | 1980 Mars-Saturn (Second oil shock, Iran-Iraq war) | | 19:02 | Introduction to Saturn-Neptune cycle | | 21:00+ | Walkthrough of historical Saturn-Neptune conjunctions and major oil events | | 39:30 | Symbolism of Saturn and Neptune in astrological context | | 43:10 | Implications for future cycles and historical predictions | | 46:18 | Conjunctions as “seed moments” | | 54:00 | Conclusions, summary of current crisis, and what to watch for in upcoming weeks |
Brennan’s in-depth synthesis of astrological cycles and oil history demonstrates a persuasive link between cosmic alignments and major earthbound energy events. By outlining past correlations and highlighting what is astrologically significant about April 2026, he not only contextualizes the current crisis but sets the stage for ongoing historical observation. His predictions and reminders to "stay safe, do what you can to protect yourself and your communities" (A, 58:20) offer both practical and philosophical guidance in turbulent times.
For more historical deep-dives and updates, Brennan invites listeners to catch the upcoming May forecast and revisit his previous episodes on Saturn-Neptune and global turning points.