Why One Celebrity Astrologer Says 2026 Will Bring Changes We ‘Haven’t Seen in Decades’

If you’ve been side-eyeing 2026 like “be honest with me, what are we walking into?” you’re not alone. According to celebrity astrologer Aliza Kelly, the year ahead is bringing major shifts we haven’t seen in decades—and they’re already in motion.

On Coming In Hot, host Caroline Baudino taps Kelly for a conversation that covers everything from what manifestation actually means to her predictions for the next 12 months. Nothing here is about fear-mongering or pretending the stars are running your life. It’s more “oh this tracks” + less existential dread.

Below are the highlights from the episode, adapted from Coming In Hot.

Let’s start with the basics—what actually IS manifestation?

“The way that I describe manifestation is that it is this infinite feedback loop between the astral realm and the physical realm. The astral realm is the realm of hopes and wishes and dreams, but also anything that doesn’t exist in physical form yet. So it’s ideas, right? I always say that an example of this is a chair. A concept for a chair design—you have to think of a concept for a chair in order for there to be a blueprint made and the planning that goes into it. And then you get the most mundane thing, a chair. But you have to first have an idea, a concept of what that is. And that concept and that idea exists in the astral realm. And then there’s the physical realm, which is where the chair is. It’s where our job is. It’s where the things that exist that we can point to that actually exist within the tangible reality are…

…So in order to manifest, we need to create a relationship between these two spaces, the things that don’t exist yet and the things that do exist. And we need to take the things that don’t exist and bring them into existence. And then we need to use the things that exist and build on them in order to be able to continue to generate that feedback loop and flow.”

So it’s not a one-and-done thing?

“Manifestation is a flow. And it’s being in a sort of manifestation state is a lifestyle because it’s something that you’re not just saying, oh, I want this right now and snapping your fingers and then it happens. Like you can’t get abs if you go to the gym once. You know what I mean? It’s just not going to happen. You need to have built a lifestyle around it in order for you to really see the fruits of that effort.”

How do you stay motivated when things don’t work out the way you hoped?

“Something that I come back to often is choosing to focus more on the wins than the losses. Obviously, I get disappointed by things. And professionally, in my personal life, there are things that happen that really suck, that bum us out and that discourage us. But I try to spend less time focusing on those, especially in a professional way, than I do the things that are great. I will spend more of my energetic resources thinking about and feeling blessed and happy and acknowledge the forward movement than the stagnation or the things that feel like they are disappointing me.”

Can you fully self-actualize on your own, or do you need other people?

“There’s a principle in astrology, which is basically the first bottom half of your birth chart—your birth chart is a circle, you read it counterclockwise—the first bottom half of your chart houses one through six, which is everything below the horizon line, has everything to do with sort of like your own reality that you are cultivating and creating for yourself. Okay. But then at the halfway point of your circle, so above the horizon line, we have a house called the seventh house, which is partnerships. And in order for you to continue your self-actualization journey, you need other people to help you. You cannot self-actualize alone, period. And whether that comes through a romantic partnership or a friend or a relative or a collaborator, people need people. We need people to bring an outside perspective into our consciousness so that we can continue to unlock our personal journey.”

Do you have any rituals for setting intentions at the start of a new year?

“What we do is we make time capsules. We take some sort of a vessel and then I go through a series of prompts that is informed and influenced by the birth chart structure and that self-actualization journey. So we talk about self—how do I want to see myself in 2026? What are my intentions around selfhood, autonomy, how I talk to myself, how I treat myself? What are my intentions around money, finances? How much money do I want to be making? What are my goals? What are my intentions with friends? How do I want to be socializing? What kind of community do I want? So on and so forth. We go through 12 different sections of life and we write down our intentions. Then we do a beautiful sealing ritual altogether. We close it up, we put it away, we don’t look at it again for an entire year. And then one year later, as we do this intention ritual, the first thing that we’re going to do is open those boxes and we see how things played out in our life and what came to fruition.”

Okay, the big one—what are your predictions for 2026?

“It’s going to be a big year of lots and lots of change. Big astrological events are happening. Many that we haven’t seen in decades. Some we haven’t seen in lifetimes. A big one is Saturn-Neptune making a conjunction in February. The last time this happened was 1989. And that was the fall of the Berlin Wall. So I think something definitely to consider is governments, institutions, power changing—things that we thought were indestructible, but not working out anymore, going down…

…I think that we’re going to see an increasing movement away from the stratification of Democrat and Republican and more toward a unification of the middle class and recognizing that we are actually all kind of on the same team at the end of the day…

…The AI piece of it is going to be extraordinary in both its positive and negative ways. I think that we’re going to see this really interesting language around what does it mean to police AI and what does it mean to have AI-free zones? What is the sort of critical mass of AI?…

…My favorite prediction is that I think that there’s going to be such massive medical advancements in the next few years that we will have a cure for cancer…And when people are like, ‘Oh my God, could it be?’—it wasn’t even a hundred years ago that antibiotics were developed. So these types of medical breakthroughs, we are due for something like this.”

You’ve been doing this for years—have the questions people ask you changed over time?

“Based on the change of how people come to astrology, it’s been really interesting. When I first started, it was only about love. And now when I ask for submissions for my podcast, for questions, for advice, it’s only about career. Major shift.”

With so much focus on career and success right now, what about love?

“I want people to find love. I’m a romantic and I believe in love deeply. And I want people to remember that we need each other. We need each other to take care of each other. And part of taking care of our community and humanity also has to do with taking care of each other on very intimate and personal levels too. We can’t have one without the other. So I want people to have open hearts and I want people to fall in love and to give themselves permission to be vulnerable in those ways. I think it’s really important…

…While I’m also the biggest feminist and fully want women to be the breadwinners of their households and to be working and to do it shamelessly and unapologetically with or without kids—I also recognize that these are the trappings of a late-stage capitalism collapse, right? Where we don’t care about love and we don’t care about connection anymore. And we only care about success and TikTok followers and making money. We have to find cozy connection too. That’s really vital.”

And lastly, should we actually be looking at potential partners’ signs?

“I do think that people should be looking at their partners or potential partners’ signs, but I don’t think we should be judging people for their signs. I think we should be learning about who people are for them and understanding how their needs differ from ours, how we can support each other and enhance each other’s lives—or not, right? Where we are just too different to be compatible. And it doesn’t mean that someone has to be the villain. It could also just simply mean that these two people are not going to see each other and enhance each other’s realities and help heal each other in a long-term way.”

To hear the full conversation, tune into Coming In Hot with Caroline Baudino, streaming now wherever you get your podcasts.

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