Paris Economic Protests Spread through Europe

By Sue Kientz

On October 24, 2026, hundreds of thousands of protestors gathered in major European city centers, with the largest crowds throughout France estimated to total around 800,000, (1) and marched to demand economic relief from high energy bills, rising food costs, unaffordable housing, and related issues like the Ukraine and Iran wars which contributed to inflated prices. By evening, the peaceful demonstrations in some cases led to outbreaks of violence that caused security forces to intervene, arresting some participants and dispersing all those remaining. (2)

What sparked the continent-wide protest movement began in Créteil, outside Paris, on September 18, 2026, (3) and involved complaints of understaffed and undersupplied schools, with some students reporting not enough soap or toilet paper made available, insufficient heat to keep students warm in class, and not even enough chairs in classes, forcing some to sit on the floor. From that beginning, other protests began to spring up at other schools in France, then at universities, and finally workers and others joined in and added their own economic demands and criticisms. From there, the same grievances resonated in and were taken up by crowds in Albania, Belgium, Denmark, Italy, Greece, Spain and Portugal, to name a few. (2,4)

With so many people participating in these protests, how does one map such a sudden, significant movement to the ever shifting astrological design above? With the largest impacted country being France, and nearly all the countries that followed with their own similar protests also belonging to the European Union, one might look at the transiting planets and their configuration since September 18 and see how the founding charts of France and the EU would mirror the government and the governed’s reactions.

The initial September 18 student uprising (1) happened as Mars (24 Cancer) was conjunct (0-7 degrees; a new beginning desired or confrontation) France’s Sun (22 Cancer) and Mercury Rx (5) (23 Cancer). (6) Frustration and anger, symbolized by Mars, suddenly descended on a small enclave of French students, whose “fed up” revolt would go on to impact not only daily life (Sun) but many other children (also symbolized by Sun; young teens and student are represented by Mercury), who in the succeeding days would echo the complaints about substandard school conditions. Young people spoke out broadly and their message had extraordinary reach due to Mars (and France’s Sun/Mercury) at the same time being square (90 degrees; critical problem or complaint) dwarf planet Eris and large asteroid Vesta (both at 25 Aries). Eris conjoined with Vesta represents a crisis or “job” that needs doing (Vesta) that many people can identify with (Eris), since Eris symbolizes other people in general (especially those usually overlooked or ignored) (7) and Vesta, named for the Roman goddess of Devotion and Service, (8) represents people who do their jobs not expecting recognition or credit. Together Eris/Vesta afflicted by Mars, became a surge of energized throngs that realized they too had put up with too much for too long. France was an ideal nexus to produce such a rage of discontent, with the country’s founding event the Storming of the Bastille in 1789. Back then Sun/Mercury Rx was semisquare (45 degrees; intense irritation) Mars (8 Gemini), which meant its Mars was also active and energized. No wonder significant numbers of the French are still carrying on, unabated and unsatisfied with the government’s response.

As protests spread through the country, higher prices and economic stress were added to the laundry list of complaints, and no wonder. France’s Venus (4 Leo), conjoined France’s Uranus (4 Leo), are both under pressure from an opposition (180 degrees; a rival or external problem) from Pluto (3 Aquarius) and square dwarf planet Haumea (2 Scorpio). Venus represents money, finances, one’s resources and economic concerns, and Aquarius Pluto opposite France’s Venus/Uranus means the French feel their finances (Venus) are out of their control (Pluto) (i.e., in the hands of others in “opposition” to their will). Haumea, which symbolizes dramatic change such as an upheaval, loss, or disaster, (9) embodies a more concrete reason for the pressures on France’s economy, the change that the Iran War has brought. The U.S.-led attacks on Iran and Iran’s retaliation have affected gas and oil prices, which increase food prices since its transportation costs more. This in turn led to inflation on many other items as well, a “perfect storm” of changes and loss of control that hit French pocketbooks hard (Venus) and motivated them to do what the French do best – revolt! (Uranus).

France is not alone in being unhappy about their economy and concerned that its government isn’t doing more to solve these problems or keep up with the maintenance of schools and other infrastructure. Only a few weeks after the demonstrations spread to more French cities, similar protests sprang up all over the European Union. Perhaps this was inspired by seeing more French take to the street, but a look at the 1993 European Union founding chart with its Sun 8 (Scorpio) and Mercury Rx (19 Scorpio) (10) suggests those protests happened right on time for the EU. On October 3, just after small rallies popped up in Spain and Belgium, Venus reached the farthest point of its orbit (from Earth’s perspective) (5), slowed to a stop at 8 Scorpio and began “retrograde” motion, as if inching backward through Scorpio. When Venus stationed and began this slow backpedal, that ground a heel on the EU Sun position and exposed its biggest vulnerability: it’s raison d’être (Sun) depends on “Other People’s Money/Resources” (what Scorpio symbolizes), and Venus, which is about value of all kinds but especially money, just backed off from the EU’s Sun, “backing away” with its valuable resources (Venus). The actions of the French gave EU citizens a playbook for complaint, and because the latter felt the pinch too, they joined the chorus of the unhappy. To add insult to injured pocketbooks, Mercury (20 Scorpio) similarly made a retrograde about-face on the EU’s Mercury. On October 24, as another weekend flared with protests in even more EU countries, protestors rammed home their message (Mercury symbol), as transiting Mercury stood still right on the EU Mercury. With such pointed emphasis, the Brussels government had to get the message, but what to say or do? Hope that the US and Iran end their tit-for-tat war and re-open the strait, for starters.

Title Image credit: Story and issues described by author to ChatGPT, which generated the above Image.

Notes and References

1. Landler, Mark, “Live Updates: Hundreds of Thousands March in France Amid Heavy Security,” 24 October 2026, New York Times, https://www.nytimes.com/live/2026/10/24/world/france-protests-riots 
2. Kirchheim, Anna, “Protests sweep across Europe from France to Albania, Italy, Spain and Portugal,” 24 October 2026, Euronews, https://www.euronews.com/2026/10/24/protests-sweep-across-europe-from-france-to-albania-italy-spain-and-portugal
3. Sands, Leo, “How a Small Student Protest Spread Across France,” 24 October 2026, New York Times, https://www.nytimes.com/2026/10/24/world/europe/france-protests-timeline.html
4. Chughtai, A., and H. Duggal, “How has the cost of living changed in France, Italy, Spain and Portugal?” 19 October 2026, Aljazeera, https://www.aljazeera.com/news/2026/10/19/how-has-the-cost-of-living-changed-in-france-italy-spain-and-portugal
5. All planets move retrograde (abbreviated “Rx”), or backwards in degrees as observed from Earth, at some point during their orbit of the Sun. This optical illusion is due to the position of Earth sometimes moving faster than other solar system bodies, so the retrograde object seems to drift backwards in the sky. With Mercury and Venus, their movements around the Sun require them to pass in front of the Sun from Earth’s perspective, which appears as backward motion. Eventually the body “stops” (in astrological terms, “stations”) and resumes forward motion. Sun and Moon never appear to move retrograde.
6. Storming of the Bastille (French Revolution), 14 July 1789, 5:30 p.m. LMT, Paris, France, https://courses.lumenlearning.com/suny-hccc-worldhistory2/chapter/the-storming-of-the-bastille/
7. Kientz, S., “Eris, the Discomforting Other,” More Plutos, appeared in the Astrological Journal, Sept./Oct. 2014 issue; https://moreplutos.com/articles/Eris-SueKientz_AstrologicalJournal-Sept-Oct2014.pdf
8. Arnet, Fran, “Vesta – The eternal flame,” FA empowerment astrology, https://www.faempowerment.com/vesta
9. Kientz, Sue, “Pluto and Haumea: Having Power, and Using that Power,” eNews newsletter of The National Council for Geocosmic Research, Inc. (NCGR), Issue 215, June 30, 2015
10. European Union (EU) mundane chart (Treaty of Maastricht, Establishment of EU), 1 November 1993, 0:00 a.m., Brussels, Belgium, Wikipedia

For astrological keywords and examples of historical figures for Eris and Haumea, see “Dwarf Planet Basics,” Astrology News Service, 6 November 2024,  https://astrologynewsservice.com/articles/dwarf-planet-basics/

For more details about the angles or relationships between planets, see Lynne Hyde’s “Astrology Basics,” 12 November 2024, ANS, https://astrologynewsservice.com/articles/astrology-basics/