Top o’ the Morning to you!

Any day that starts with a link to a song performed by the Muppets can’t be all bad, right? The Moon is in quirky, off-beat Aquarius, and at 7:23AM ET, an easy flow of  innovation and wackiness could have been yours, thanks to a communicative connection to Uranus. If it’s unconventional and unique, Aquarius is likely all for it, especially if it bucks the system. For instance, today’s St.Patrick’s Day Parade in New York marks the first time an openly gay group will officially march. This disruption of the status quo is sure to have someone’s knickers in a twist. Deal with it.

Meanwhile, we’re also under the delusional/visionary/rose-colored spell of that meet-up between Mercury and Neptune (exact tomorrow) that I mentioned yesterday. Take note of your dreams.

The only other exact pattern today is an energetic contact between the Moon and assertive Mars at 2:18PM ET. Given that the Moon also goes void at that time, said energy may well dissipate with a sigh, or find itself challenged by its efforts to move forward in a straight line.

Well, it is St. Patrick’s Day you know….and Venus (social expression, values, women) has just entered Taurus, an eat (meat and potatoes), drink (green beer) and be merry sign if there ever was one. Your indulgences tonight are likely to be of little or no consequence.

Get it off your desk by 2:18PM ET and take some time to chill. Moon enters Pisces at 6:58AM ET on Wednesday — looks like more dreaminess tomorrow night.

And now, the news.

Rose-colored Mercury-Neptune alignments can also refer to music, so how cool is it that the NYT just posted a debate about last week’s ground-breaking copyright ruling about a song called (wait for it)  — “Blurred Lines”. Add the “news from underground” potential of the Uranus-Pluto square, and marvel that in Spain, the remains of Cervantes (author of Don Quixote) have been found. Cue “The Impossible Dream” now, please (with Peter O’Toole & Sophia Loren, no less — now that’s dreamy).

For more ground-breaking news about idealism, check out this new study that disrupts most — and perhaps all — prior studies that consistently proved that conservatives are happier than liberals. Researchers explained this difference in emotional well-being as a reflection of the cliched bleeding-heart liberal tendency to empathize more with the pain and suffering of decimated bee colonies and starving baby sea lions (and fellow human beings); thus, they are miserable.

What makes this new study so ground-breaking? Instead of asking conservatives and liberals how happy they were (and assuming the response was accurate), the researchers measured happiness as expressed in actual behavior. Here is the Editor’s Summary from Science magazine:

Be mindful of a self-reported gap.

Happiness is a notoriously hard to pin down quantity possibly best described by the phrase, “I know it when I see it.” Self-reported ratings of happiness are generally higher for political conservatives in the United States than for those with more liberal leanings. Wojcik et al. examined three data sets based on behavioral measures, such as tweets and smiles. Despite self-reported claims to the contrary, liberals exhibited more happiness than their more conservative counterparts. For instance, as judged from their photographs on a business-oriented social network, more employees of the New York Times smiled genuinely than did those of the Wall Street Journal.

The study observes that conservatives seem to have a need for something the scientists call “self-enhancement,” which sounds very Mercury-Neptune (with some me-me-me Aries accents) to me. You may recall my post on Feb 25th about the prominence of Mercury and Neptune (and Aries) in the horoscopes of Brian Williams, Robert MacDonald and Bill O’Reilly, who all recently made headlines for enhancing themselves just a wee bit.

More ground-breaking shifts, ’cause in the wake of the seventh Uranus-Pluto square, the Planetary Pattern Everyone Should Be Talking About, this is what we’re expecting. How about this: “Circular Thinking: Stonehenge’s Origin is Subject of a New Theory”, or “Researchers May Have Solved Origin-Of-Life Conundrum”  (score another one for Science magazine).

More status quo-disrupting stories include massive protests in Brazil, and (potentially) today’s election in Israel. Will Netanyahu prevail? Meanwhile, there’s a ton to report about  in the US, as its horoscope is directly affected by Uranus and Pluto, as avid readers of this forecast know well. There’s also a strong Neptune influence, suggesting a collective bewildering identity crisis.

Today my efforts to write cogently about specifics are being distracted by stories such as Oklahoma state legislators who have moved forward on a bill that would “take the state out of the marriage business,” meaning you’d have to be married by a pastor or other church official because gay people. Or that in the US Congress, the confirmation of Lorretta Lynch as our next Attorney General is being held hostage because insanity, and the House has just introduced a budget proposal that would privatize Medicare, etc., etc. because happy. From a planetary perspective, let the record show that Medicare was created in the mid-60s, on the Uranus-Pluto conjunction.  Isn’t that interesting? We could expect further developments on that initiative during the square.

Last but not least — and in fact, ultimately — climate change. It occurred to me a few years ago that this issue was one of the two big wake-up calls the Uranus-Pluto square would reflect. The other wake-up call is about power and resources: who has ’em; who doesn’t. But let’s stick with climate change for now, because with other exact Uranus-Pluto hits, I was expecting to see headlines reflecting the crystallization of this awareness.

Thus in Vanuatu, a category 5 cyclone that devastated the island over the weekend was blamed on climate change. In Los Angeles, it’s been close to 100 degrees (in March!), and a NASA scientist projects that California has just one year’s supply of water left. Avid readers will recall that Neptune’s ingress into Pisces suggested that water — and the lack thereof — would likely become an urgent concern. Meanwhile, the Washington Post reports that “the melting of Antarctica…has just gotten worse.”

All of this would be expected at this time. But then there was…oh, the timing, the timing — of this NYT piece   — in sync with the seventh Uranus-Pluto square. Lo and behold, it is an update on one of the biggest driving forces of climate change awareness…..Al Gore. Amazing…really, dear readers, why is this article being published now?

And guess what? He’s changed (so the article says). He’s a vegan. He’s feeling “optimistic”. He’s invested heavily in — and profited greatly from — green technologies. He cites a whole bunch of stuff about the awe-inspiring speed with which these innovative technologies are being implemented, suggesting “a sharp break with the past, not a slow evolution”. As in, just like that.

All of this means, he adds, that the worst effects of climate change can be blunted. “We’ve got a lot of work to do,” he says. “We’re going to win this.” He pauses and repeats for effect, part preacher and part TED talk. “We’re going to win this.”

Mr. Gore is an Aries — born with the energy to inspire, to lead, to be a pioneer. His  11 degree Aries Sun is opposed by Neptune, which suggests a visionary energy that not everyone might find credible. His Moon is in practical, enterprising, earthy make-it-happen Capricorn (same as fellow Aries David Letterman). Mr Gore has a Leo Ascendant that some might find a tad proud and overbearing, especially with three powerhouse planets contained within it: Pluto, Saturn and Mars (power, authority/discipline and drive). This is gravitas!

Mr. Gore’s Sun-Neptune opposition has recently wrapped a two-year cycle of empowerment and transformation thanks to Uranus and Pluto. Interesting that he became a vegan two years ago. His Libra Midheaven (career/public status) is about to be just barely conjoined by Uranus this summer…and again full-on in 2016. Fresh starts and other changes of direction, in career, family foundation/home concerns, public outreach and partnership could be expected.

Hmm…and now that I’m looking at it, this summer and 2016 will likely be a year of big change for Mr. Letterman, too. I think I’ve noted that in a prior forecast.

Since this forecast is being posted so late today — here’s your forecast for tomorrow (Wednesday). Note your dreams in the AM. Be mindful of an ambitious reach or wet blanket around 2:47PM ET, when the sensitive Pisces Moon is challenged by Saturn in righteous Sagittarius. Have a dreamy evening playing with spirits and other rarefied intangibles (art, music, healing, vision), when Moon meets up with Mercury and Neptune.

Thank you for reading this forecast. To find out what’s going on in your own personal horoscope, here’s how you can contact me to schedule a consultation. Alternatively, if you are totally digging the words on the screen, and would like to express your appreciation for the time and energy it takes to craft them, donations are always welcome, with much gratitude.

Peace out.

P.S. — This just in — yesterday a major solar storm hit our home planet, which might “pull the Northern Lights south”. Well that would be an extraordinary  disruption of the status quo….