Alll-righty then!
Writing has come in fits and starts as of late. Here’s where we’re at today:
The Moon has been in Taurus since early Monday evening, seeking to build and preserve comfort and material security. Taurus is not inclined to change the status quo. Yesterday offered potential to be made extra sweet and savvy by two lovely aspects early TUESDAY morning. One was a harmony between a high-functioning Venus and visionary Neptune; the other was a harmony between equally high-functioning Mercury and innovative Uranus. In this gawdforsaken newscycle, I have yet to find a headline reflecting this potential; perhaps you found a way to make it real in your own personal world.
Today — WEDNESDAY — is a turning point, as the Sun leaves Gemini for Cancer at 12:24 AM ET. Happy Summer Solstice, a day where idealism in leadership and home security matters is likely to pull focus. I say this because Mercury also leaves Gemini for Cancer today, meeting up with the Sun at 10:14 AM ET.
It’s interesting that a planetary pattern suggesting prominence is happening at the end of the lunar cycle, i.e, totally in the dark. Headlines this week are certainly reflecting this potential. Today in Saudi Arabia, the king has named one of his sons to be his successor, booting out his much older nephew, who never saw it coming. Reports The Guardian:
The move was announced by royal decree just after midnight, stunning the Saudi establishment…
Meanwhile, in the U.S., ratfink politicians are furiously working behind closed doors on the massive tax break legislation not-so-cleverly disguised as the Senate version of the repeal and replacement of the Affordable Care Act. Rumor has it that an effort will be made to ram pass the bill next week, just in time for an extremely crabby Mars and Mercury (both in Cancer) to be opposed by PTB Pluto. Really, warrior ax-wielder Mars has no business being anywhere near nurturing Cancer when mere mortals are drafting a bill on healthcare. Especially when Mars is also about to meet up with — and thus provoke — the US Cancer Sun in just a few days. Where is Wonder Woman when you need her?
If you’d like to read a bit about why solstices and equinoxes are important turning points, here’s a post with the 411.
On FRIDAY at 10:31 PM ET we’ll have a New Moon in Cancer. By then we’re likely to be seeing still more action making headlines, as Mars (action, assertion, aggression) makes contact with Jupiter over the weekend. Expansive, surreal, visionary, charismatic and healing are keywords that come to mind. Mars – Jupiter aspects suggest a need for physical release — bigtime. Jupiter is in Libra — an air sign. With Mars in Cancer — a water sign — and about to make contact with Neptune in Pisces (also a water sign and ruler of oceans), it’s not surprising to see so many hurricanes and tropical storms being watched in the headlines.
One final note about what Mars is up to in the cosmos. It may help put the onslaught of Mars-themed headlines in perspective; e.g. fires, explosions, guns, macho behavior, cars (think Uber), etc. In the language of astrology, Mars is literally out-of-bounds, i.e., it is currently beyond the limits of the Sun’s position (the technical term is declination) as seen from Earth. BTW, Mercury is also out-of-bounds. Mercury is communication, mindset, travel. So we would anticipate that Mercury-themed matters would also be extreme at this time. Got that?
Note that the Moon is void nearly all day WEDNESDAY from 12:25 AM ET until 6:44 PM ET. It will also be void on Friday 2:45 PM ET until 6:07 PM ET — permission to start the weekend early granted. During voids, roll with the twists and flakes that may derail your efforts to move forward in a straight line. Refrain from freaking out over crises which are likely to prove later to be much ado about nothing. Stick to routing and chill!
And now, more news.
Jupiter turned direct on Friday, June 9th at 10:04 AM ET. Jupiter suggests expansion. Libra suggests justice, fairness and equality. I could not think of a more fitting place to be for an expansive meditation on those Libra keywords than at the Smithsonian National Museum of African-American History & Culture in Washington D.C. — especially given how Jupiter’s move forward was — and still is — activating planets in the horoscope of the United States.
A long reflection on that visit in that context has been brewing in my mind ever since. It might be more apt to share as we get closer to July 4th, especially since my efforts to write it up are moving at a snail’s pace. But it has to do with how we see so clearly in the US horoscope how it needed to be founded on a exalted theory of “all men are created equal,” yet seems doomed to delusion in practice. At the Smithsonian I saw a draft of the Declaration of Independence in which Thomas Jefferson addresses slavery, but the subject just didn’t fit in with a white male property and slave owners’ rant about how they deserved to be free from King George’s tyranny and abuse. So the reference was deleted and the problem was solved. Delusional? Neptune, planet of rose-colored fog, had not yet been discovered — but boy oh boy it has always been right there — and so strong in the U.S. horoscope.
Equality under the law — this is the U.S. horoscope’s exalted ambition, suggested by its natal Saturn in Libra. Racial equality, gender equality, income equality, fill-in-the-blank equality. These days I see our inability to fulfill that ambition in nearly every headline. Our natural-born delusion (the Mars-Neptune square in U.S. horoscope) is being challenged to get real by transiting Saturn all this year.
Meanwhile….
June 14th — last Wednesday — was heavy. It was the day before a tense opposition between the Sun (life force; leaders) and Saturn (limitation; controls). How fitting that Beth Owl’s Daughter’s Tarot Card of the Week was Death. Humming in the background of that Sun-Saturn opposition was Neptune, planets of dreams and other departures from reality — at a dead stop — about to turn retrograde last Friday.
The big story on Wednesday was a man opening fire at a baseball practice of Republican members of Congress, critically wounding House Majority Whip Steve Scalise. The gunman was killed. Thankfully, the congressman is expected to make a full recovery. What was one of the gunman’s grievances, according to letters he wrote to his local newspaper? Income inequality.
Also big last Wednesday: P45’s birthday. That means he has the heavy Saturn-Sun opposition in his solar return, suggesting that its streamlining and controlling potential will mark the next twelve months, not just through October, when transiting Saturn will make the 2nd and 3rd hits to his Gemini Sun (and his Sagittarius Moon). The second hit to his Sun is exact on July 7th. Can he feel the squeeze? On June 15th, P45 annnounced on Twitter that he was under investigation. I think everyone and his dog in the administration has lawyered up, including the lawyers! Heavy — but we also see a possible silver lining of expansion and fortune, as the third hit of his Jupiter return will be exact on August 4th. Echoing that potential are two more hits to his natal Jupiter from power-and-resources Pluto, exact on August 7th and November 17th. Another time period to watch: the first week of September, when transiting Mars will meet up with P45’s Leo Ascendant, which will have been eclipsed on August 21st.
In ancient times, astrologers used the horoscope of the king or queen to chart was what likely in store for the country.
In other news, last Friday’s notable planetary event was Neptune turning retrograde. We would expect Neptune themes to pull focus: oceans, shipping, drugs, viruses, confusion, oil. One surreal story was the fatal collision of the U.S.S. Fitzgerald with a Japanese container ship. Initially the collision was said to have happened at 2:20 AM on June 17, 64 miles southwest of Yokosuka, Japan. I looked at that chart and thought the time must be wrong. Guess what? It was! The time has since been revised to 1:30 AM. That chart makes sense, with Pluto and Uranus on the angles of the horoscope and the Pisces Moon with nebulous Neptune. This is a picture of a potential accident in a bewildering fog. Astrology is amazing.
Oh, there is so much more to talk about. Let’s start with you. How are planetary patterns being reflected in your own personal world? Is it time to make a move? Will you get that promotion? Will you ever understand why your child/spouse/parent/boss/coworker is the way he/she is? Here’s how to schedule a consultation.
Thank you for reading this forecast.
