Happy Birthday America!!

We celebrate our birthday every year on July 4th. Each subsequent year when the Sun returns (apparently) to the degree minute and second when a country was born a different planetary pattern emerges. Only the Sun, one’s destiny, is in the same place, most of the other planets have changed positions and are forming a different pattern in the sky.

America’s Birthday 2024-5 had the Moon as the important planet. The Moon in a country’s chart represents the people. As the Moon by its very nature waxes and wanes so does the country’s people and moods. The Moon in the birthday chart for 2024-5 has the Moon in a Balsamic Phase, its ending period and last gasp before reaching the Sun and becoming a New Moon again.

Endings and closures are a characteristic of a Balsamic Moon phase. This situation is further enhanced by that Moon being at the last minutes of Gemini in square aspect to Neptune, the planet of confusion, deception, or not being able to see situations clearly, or on the other hand idealism-seeing a new vision for how things could be.

This country was founded on the European Enlightenment ideas, where reason, humanism, individualism and human progress were emphasized. These ideals are strongly represented with our natal Moon being in the sign Aquarius, the sign of the “Water Carrier” with an overflowing jug spreading ideas and new energies around.

Last year (birthday 2024-5) We saw groups of people assembling in crowds either for political rallies or protests; like minded people gatherings listening to ideas they were influenced by and supported. The public spoke at the Nov 6th election, as the Aquarian Moon in America’s birth chart connected with 2024 birthday’s chart Moon in Gemini, both being air signs, concerned about ideas, relationships and communications.

This year (BD 2025-6) the country’s major planet is the Sun. The Sun governs our identity, it is the central shining light which has smaller planets orbiting around; less fickle than the Moon, the Sun is more steadfast and more heart centered.

The USA by being born on July 4th 1776 has our Sun (from Earth’s perspective) in front of the zodiacal sign Cancer. The beginning of the new year for the USA in 2025 was 9:51 PM on the 4th, which is when we began the Sun being stronger than the Moon, as the old year gives away to the new one with new initiatives and emphases.

According to the unique planetary patterns seen in this moment in time, the US is going to experience a very transformative year, one in which the gods Uranus, the awakener, and Pluto the transformer are intimately involved.

In Greek mythology, Uranus is the sky God who throws lightening bolts and Pluto guards secrets in the underworld until they can no longer be kept there and erupt. These two planets were also on the angles at the Inauguration chart of Jan 20th, so not only is this year a trailblazing one, but the entire 4 years of this administration will be. The Olympian Gods are in charge.

In the birthday chart, Uranus is opposite the Solar Return Midheaven, the public recognition point and Pluto is conjunct the Ascendant in our 2025 birthday, which is in effect until birthday 2026. These are the 2 most powerful positions to have planets near as those planets are working 100%.

We will awaken to a some surprises this year, as Uranus is so strong. Uranus is also Prometheus who stole fire from the Gods to give to humans. The world will see us as coming out of a long sleep, being governed by invisible forces and powers. A spirit of frankness and ruthlessness, rebellion and revolution is in the air. Reformers, inventors, technicians, rebels and revolutionaries are all around.

Pluto on the horizon in this birthday chart, across the most influential part of the nativity, signifies that we can expect more of the country’s secrets to be uncovered and brought to light, no longer hidden. ( We see this happening today (June 25th) as the Senate is having CLOSED DOOR hearings on Biden’s auto-pen scandal., hearing testimony from a former aid who has admitted to controlling the President’s auto pen from Oct 2021 to May 2023.) We can expect more uncovering, but depending on your news source e.g. print circulation, online or social media platforms, the information might be filtered to reflect the bias of the power behind the throne.

Also significant in this birthday chart are the nodes of the Moon across the horizon. The Ascendant in the east is the most influential part of the horoscope. Pluto is sitting on it and the ascendant in Aquarius for this year is conjunct the South Node of the Moon from the 1776 chart. This adds intensity and a fateful aspect to the year as our destiny points, what we increase more of and what we release are strongly activated.

The nodes represent connections. This setup promises that the country will be discharging old connections to prepare for new ones or a widening of those connections, which will bring powerful transformations and have significant effects on our future. Our common destiny will affect large numbers of people, be them citizens or non-citizens.

Jupiter, the bringer of abundance, success and faith which is the ruler of this country’s natal chart has entered Cancer for the first time in 12 years. We are a Cancer country, the home of the brave and the free; we are a melting pot. Cancer rules the home, homeland, family and the need to protect and nurture. We are all immigrants having left our original homeland (except our Natives of course) to create a new one.

Jupiter, the planet governing our moral, ethical and religious compass, is in its favorite sign Cancer. This will focus our attention on our homeland and hopefully we will come to a better understanding of what that means and who we should be protecting and defending.

The last time Jupiter, the planet that increases and expands (watch your waistline you Cancers) was in Cancer was June 27, 2013- July 2014. In late June, early July 2013, Black Lives Matter was founded, the Supreme Court ruled on the Defense Against Marriage Act, enabling the recognition of same sex marriages and Edward Snowden began revealing the NSA surveillance of American citizens, sparking debates about governmental overreach and privacy concern, still an issue, not yet resolved. Who is defending whom and why?

This season the Supreme Court granted the executive branch of government more authority, which the lower courts had been trying to wrest away. This is evidence of the SUN, the King, the center of the solar system being paramount now, rather than the people, as it was last year in 2024.

Jupiter is in Cancer every 12 years. It was in Cancer on July 4th 1776, therefore Jupiter is returning to its natal place in the country’s founding, bringing out the promise of the natal. (In fact the day the Big Beautiful Bill was signed into law was the exact returning of Jupiter to its natal position-how appropriate).

Jupiter in our founding chart has apparently (from earth’s perspective) been going retrograde since Nov 15, 1905, during Teddy Roosevelt’s era where his progressive ideals were brought to the forefront of national policy. This was the beginning of the Progressive movement in this country.

Roosevelt’s populist policies legislated economic reforms like regulating Railroads and supporting farmers. Social reform movements were spurred on by the muckraking journalists who exposed urban poverty, the abuse of the public trust through corporate greed, the necessity to bust the trusts.

With the creation of the Pure Food and Drug Act of 1906 and the Meat Inspect Act consumer food safety issues were addressed. Roosevelt used “his bully pulpit” to communicate directly with the public to build trust in government through transparency. Roosevelt believed in strong executive power. He tackled corruption, and corporate over reach with the Sherman Antitrust Act, filling 44 anti trust lawsuits demanding that corporations be held accountable.

Unfortunately President Roosevelt with all his good intentions and initiatives did not see any follow through as Jupiter, the planet of morals and ethics went retrograde in November 1905. In the retrograde we reversed that Progressive course for the country and the Corporations got bigger and stronger than ever.

Now after 120 years, America’s ruling planet is stationing at 15 Cancer to begin forward motion as of July 23rd this month. A course correction is in order. Could this year be the beginning of a return in this country to its ethical, moral and religious roots ingrained in its foundation chart? We are certainly seeing a religious revival.

There is other evidence to suggest that that is the case. The new administration is working hard to clean up the fraud and waste in the Federal government and downsizing it, as well as cleaning up our food supply and redefining what nourishes us. Those populist initiatives first identified in 1905, with Jupiter going in retrograde, must be repeated again now with Jupiter in forward motion. Jupiter is the ruler of this country in the 1776 chart. Jupiter beginning its move forward after 120 years is a big deal!!

What Is Going on? Kings or No Kings? June 14th Protests

I watched with interest last weekend as 2,000 (?) “peaceful” protests around the country celebrated not The United States Army’s 250th birthday (first called the Continentals), nor President Trump’s birthday, nor Flag Day, nor the Battle of Bunker Hill, but what? It seems to me that the protests were about not wanting a “King” as President.

But the funny thing is that President Trump, born June 14th 1946 in Queens has Leo rising. Leo is the sign best embodied by the lion, with his glorious mane who as king of the forest or savanna, demands respect, is the center of attention, and is loved and feared by all those creatures surrounding him in his domain.

He protects and serves his tribe; No one is more fierce than a lionesse who protects her cubs nor her mate, a lion who protects and defends the whole pride, defending the territory from encroaching or rival males.

Not only that, but in Trumps natal horoscope he has Mars, the planet of our aggression and courage, conjunct the ascendent near the “Royal Star” Regulus, being on the ascendent means Mars and Regulus are operating at 100%.

Regulus is one of the 4 Royal stars of Persia. Each of theses 4 stars are special, and according to Astrologer Bernadette Brady, an authority on Fixed Stars, brings a unique life journey and lessons. Each star gives power and promises success, but only if you can deal with the particular hurdles that will be placed on front of you, called a nemesis.

Regulus’ promise when strongly placed in the natal horoscope, is power, success, and ambition fulfilled, but only as long as revenge, its nemesis is avoided. Its position in the Heart of the Lion, is the brightest star in the Leo constellation, and if you are lucky to be up after sunset tonight and looking west you will see Mars and Regulus conjunct. Mars is red and Regulus is blueish. This is the star pattern that Trump has in his natal chart and occurs every 2 years when Mars is in late Leo.

As this configuration is occurring on his birthday and in his solar return, it will be very prominent in the whole year ahead until his next birthday. Other years when this has occurred give clues as to what expect this year.

The first time this occurred after his birthday in 1946, was 1978 which was pivotal. Trump was transitioning from working with his father in their Brooklyn and Queens real estate projects, into his becoming a major Manhattan developer with the redevelopment of the Commodore Hotel into the Grand Hyatt New York.

June 21 1993 also saw Mars on Regulus which was a turning point as he was involved with lots of financial restructing focusing on financual survival due to NYC’s depression at that time. He was also navigating personal changes as preparing to marry (December 20 1993) Marla Maples who was pregnant with their first child born October 13th.

Look forward to watching and witnessing the Lion and Regulus, as embodied in all its manifestations in President Trump.

August 2023

AUGUST 2023

ARIES- Since July 17th the North Node of the Moon has been in your sign Aries, last seen Christmas 2004-June 2006. Aries is the first sign of the zodiac making your initiatory energy favoring moving forward with self-directed purpose (remember the animal token for Aries- the ram with its horns). Adding a new facet to your personality or taking an action that helps others see who you are-even changing the color of your hair counts…is favored. You have 18 months to accomplish this as the North Node slowly touches each degree of Aries, affecting this month those whose birthday is between the 17th and 20th of April..

TAURUS-As you are a practical earth sign concerned with what you are worth, what you earn and what you own, you must be happy with the planet of growth, Jupiter in your sign.  This influence is being tempered by Uranus, the planet of the unexpected also in your sign.  Abrupt ups and downs are in store for the sign that wants stability more than anything else! The first weeks in August see you navigating those shoals.  Especially watch August 13th to 15th.  Could be very exciting….

GEMINI-As August begins your ruler Mercury is in Virgo and opposing Saturn from Pisces. This planetary event will repeat a few times this summer season as Mercury goes retrograde in Virgo at the end of the month.  Mercury is the messenger. Perhaps he brings a message that at first brings dread- or just more responsibility.   This aspect is accompanied by a Full Moon, which illuminates. Around the 5th Mercury enters its shadow period before going retrograde in Virgo on the 23rd.  This long pass in Virgo will highlight the area of your life concerning your present home, your property that does not move, like real estate, your family of origin or parental and legacy concerns.  It is a long passage, so you have time to get it right.

CANCER-You had a New Moon, both Sun and Moon meeting at the same degree at the same time, on the 17th of July.  Therefore, matters that began then will reach a fulfillment of sorts on the first of August at the Full Moon.  The New Moon in July was opposed to Pluto so this could have brought radical changes in your life-an end to a chapter, a relationship or mode of being. As with all Pluto transits-there is some golden nugget hidden in the debris that is worth searching for.

LEO-As we have spoken about before you have the planet of Love and desire and attraction and beauty, Venus, traversing your sign for a long time this summer into fall season.  Venus went retrograde in Leo on the 23rd of July at the end of Leo and will not leave Leo until October 10th.  Expect a review of contracts or agreements you have made, what you want in your life, what activity or whom you are in a relationship with, and what you attach importance to.  The New Moon in your sign on the 16th puts you in the driver’s seat.

VIRGO-Mercury, your ruler is in Virgo all month, going retrograde on the 24th as the Sun enters Virgo for its annual meet up with the Moon in Virgo at a New Moon on the 23rd.  These events have you powering through with your discriminating mind. However, there is a certain amount of caution needed as Mercury is slowing down this month, so should you.  Mentally exploring all the possibilities is one thing, but you might not have all the information you need to execute all your plans.   

LIBRA- As Venus your ruler is spending lots of time this month in Leo and your 11th house, your social calendar will be quite full.  You might be suddenly surrounded by lots of new groups and newfound friends and people who are interested in the same things you are.  Watch for excesses around the 22nd as Venus squares the planet of abundance Jupiter. That time is also a great time for a party. 

SCORPIO-You might feel quite inspired by your friends and greater community after your ruler Mars spent so much time in your 11th house of friends and larger community, in July. August has a New Moon in Leo on the 16th accompanied by both the planet of love and harmony, Venus, and Uranus the planet of sudden upsets. This will affect your 10th house of career and reputation.  Be discreet in your dalliances.

SAGITTARIUS- Jupiter, your ruler is moving slowly now in Taurus and your 6th house of work, service, health, small pets, and employees. The gas ball giant goes retrograde at the beginning of September.  The optimism you might have felt with that new job might be questioned. For this month make sure the public sees the true you and you are living in accordance with your personal values and not merely supporting someone else’s agenda. 

CAPRICORN-August begins with a Full Moon in Aquarius opposite the Sun in Leo.  This Full Moon has the Sun and Moon in opposite arenas of the financial sectors of your life.  The money and possessions and values you protect and hold and earn versus what you gain or own with others, like your portfolio or shared assets with your partner/s.  As Saturn is retrograding in your 3rd house of mental activities-you might take this month to reflect on where your assets should be placed.

AQUARIUS- Full Moons bring awareness and illumination, and this month it is in your sign, illuminating how you are responding in relationship.  You might be confronted by someone who asks if you would mind saying something in a different way.  This puts the focus back on you and gives you pause for reflection and perhaps a readjustment in your manner. With the Sun in Leo, your opposite sign-they have strength.  They have the light on their side as you are a winter sign.  Learn from them how to shine.

PISCES- We hate talking about Saturn in your sign again, but what else to say?  Overcoming exhaustion from too much work and procrastinating because you feel overloaded and cannot keep up is the story here.  This Full moon at the beginning of the month should bring an awareness of the need for a retreat of sorts or maybe a renewal of your daily meditation practice.  Keeping your inner life alive and well is the secret of life and helps you keep your mind on what is truly long lastingly important.

July 2023

 THE PLUMB TREE- JULY 2023

ARIES- July begins at a Full Moon in Capricorn opposite the Sun in Cancer on the 3rd at 7:38 AM. This period will see you coming to an awareness about how much time you are spending on your career versus time spent at home with family  As astrologer Lynn Bell says, oppositions either raise the stakes or raise consciousness.  Venus and Mars are both in Leo-lighting up your 5th house of romance, children, and creativity, bringing energy and passion to those endeavors.  On the 17th the North Node enters your sign for 18 months. Expect to notice that deep change and personal courage will be called for especially on the 22nd, 25th and 28th.

TAURUS-Blessed by Jupiter, the planet of good fortune and abundance in your sign this year, until next May, and with a supporting aspect from the planet of stability Saturn this month, you can expect to have an opportunity to solidify personal gains  All Taureans are required to align themselves with their true values and eschew anything that doesn’t feel truly honest, anything that is purely motivated by financial profit and not what your believe in.  The Full Moon on the 3rd will help you realize where your philosophy and values criterion need adjustments. Expect creative endeavors on the home front all month.

GEMINI- Your ruler Mercury picks up speed this month beginning in Cancer, moving into Leo on the 12th and then Virgo on the 29th.  Your focus will be on personal finances and resources, then your neighbors and siblings and then your home, both present and original, and real estate matters. On the 17th the North Node, where we are growing, will begin its 18-month passage in Aries.  Expect the number of organizations, groups and friends who share your values to increase.

CANCER- Your birthday month always brings changes. A new area of life will receive your attention at each birthday. Every 12 years it repeats in the same area but with different circumstances.  Birthday 2011 will be similar in focus to this year.  More of us should have journals; it would help our understanding of life so much.  As Plato said: “An unexamined life is not worth living”. As both Venus and Mars are in Leo this month and your second house of values, resources, possessions, and manner of making a living expect to get inspired this month.

LEO-The big news of course is that with both Venus and Mars in your sign, making you feel passionate and sexy, with intense desire for what? A romance filled with drama, a stirring theatrical performance, the beginnings of a long overdue creative project, a grand opening of a beautiful new establishment. Leo likes to be in the spotlight-but sometimes must work hard being comfortable with it; especially after these last few years with Saturn pulling opposite your sign-but gone now since March 7th.  Time to rise and shine.  Just a note of caution. Venus will stop and appear to go retrograde July 23rd and there will be some backtracking to those aspirations-the complete fulfillment of the two lovers will be postponed.

VIRGO-Mars enters your sign on the 11th of July.  Mars stirs us to action. But as Saturn, the planet of cool down is in Pisces, your opposite sign, there is a certain amount of tension and frustration to be expected.  Just after the New Moon in Cancer on the 17th, on the 21st the two planets perfect that opposition. Oppositions raise the stakes or raise awareness.  After the 21st Mars, the faster moving one leaves his encounter with Saturn and there is a resolution. 

LIBRA-The South Node of the Moon enters Libra on the 17th of July.  The South Node is a point in space where the Moon’s path around the earth crosses the ecliptic plane heading southwards. It has been thought of as indicating which area of life needs lessening or reducing. Its opposite sign -now Aries is where we ought to be growing or increasing.  With the South node in Libra for the next 18 months-it would seem to indicate for you Libras that it is time to focus less on your relationships and trying to find balance therein, and more on your own personal goals.  It can also indicate that you will be more involved with causes that have some spiritual benefit and have little ego satisfaction (not a bad thing).  The last time the south node was in your sign was Christmas 2004-June 2006.

SCORPIO-Your ruler Mars is in Leo this month until the 11th when it moves into the next sign Virgo.  In June, Venus joined Mars in June highlighting your 10th house of career.  Passions must have been aroused then and are still until the 11th.  There might have been an initiative in your career that almost came to be.  There was promise but no completion as Venus is slowing down to turn retrograde in Leo on the 23rd.  Retrogrades call for a change of perspective, and with Venus it is a change in what you desire.   Mars moving into your 11th house of friends, hopes and wishes on the 11th will likely stir up that area of your life for the rest of the month. 

SAGITARRIUS- For you, Jupiter, your planetary ruler is sailing through Taurus, the sign that governs your 6th house of work, service, health regime, charity work, employees, and small pets.  You could get lucky this month and find the perfect service provider, or go  off to an adoption center and rescue a homeless  dog or cat.  Watch on the 21st when Mars and Saturn, the two bad guys of the zodiac, are at their opposition confrontation.  This will affect your home life where Saturn is and grants you more responsibility versus your career or reputation work life where Mars is, who might be represented by an angry boss wanting more of you too.

CAPRICORN-Pluto is in the last few degrees of Capricorn and will affect all those Capricorns born the 17th-20th of January any year.  This is not a subtle influence.  There is a tremendous thrust for evolutionary change, sometimes from your inner voice which “can’t take it anymore” and sometimes from the gods who remove obstacles in your path.  Power changes are likely; whoever has power will lose it and who doesn’t have power will gain it.  The USA has Pluto in Capricorn in the degrees Pluto is passing through, just as we did in the years of our founding.  For all watch the Full Moon on the 3rd-the Moon is in your sign.  Oppositions bring awareness.

AQUARIUS- As the month begins for you most of the action, continuing from June, is in your 7th house, the area of life having to do with your spouse, significant other, business partner or partner in whatever endeavor you share together. You might have been anticipating the culmination of a creative project as June proceeded along, but which appears now in July to have been a miscalculation.  Mars is picking up speed as July begins and is leaving Venus behind.  There is more work to be done and a change of perspective regarding what values the project is promoting.  Venus and Mars will meet and consummate their union next February and the new start then will include your Aquarian ideals.  Keep reminding them.

PISCES-Since June 17th Saturn has turned retrograde, and all those Pisceans born from the 19th of February through the 26th any year will experience the second crossing of Saturn over your Sun sign.  Either it’s more work, more discipline, or more looking backwards for solutions, or more need of boundaries and containment, more patience, or a more serious approach to life, you are headed for it. This is the second of three passes. The resolution begins in November.

Happy New Year 2022

OFF THE PLUMB TREE JANUARY 2022

As we welcome in the New Year, we find that The Giant Planet, Jupiter, has just entered the sign Pisces, where that planet is at home, and arrives just in time for a full-blown New Year’s celebration! This is good news as Jupiter loves to be in Pisces, rather than the constrictive sign of Aquarius, ruled by the “heavy” planet in the zodiac, Saturn.  Jupiter takes about 12 years to travel around the Sun, and so stays in one sign about a year.  Each of us have a year when Jupiter is with our Sun sign and so bestowing his largess on each in turn.

Pisces is the last sign of the zodiac and contains all the wisdom, compassion, sympathy, pain and suffering of all the other signs. It is symbolized by two fish each swimming in opposite directions, one swims towards heaven and the other towards earth.  They are held together by a cord, thus insuring that for Pisces there is always a heaven. 

We had Jupiter in Pisces for a brief spell May 14th -July 29th, 2021.  As you might recall it was during that May period that quarantines started lifting and our daily life, after COVID restraints, opened up a bit more.  There was a feeling of release from bondage.  But as soon as Jupiter went back into the more restrictive sign Aquarius at the end of July, that loosening was withdrawn.  The month of January will bring Jupiter’s opportunity to experience increased faith, abundance and a stronger connection to the spiritual world most especially to those born from the 19th-26th,   of February any year.

Along with the beneficial influence of Jupiter in a sign it rules giving us the opportunity to experience its abundance, generosity, and access to the spiritual world, is the ongoing just past peak Saturn square Uranus, which we spoke about last month. This influence which will be felt all year and into 2023, intensifies the impulse for change, freedom, rebellion, the new, the desire to overthrow established structures coupled with a backlash, a suppression of rebellion, an oppressive reassertion of control, an attempt to censor freedoms, to go back to a reactionary and more conservative agenda.  Sometimes Uranus will win and sometimes Saturn in the near term.  But in the long term?  The effect, anyway, this year is chaos and counterculture, as astrologer S.J. Andersen says.

This month is also presenting the ongoing Venus retrograde conjunct Pluto in Capricorn.  Venus rules our desires, our values, our relationships, our money. Pluto intensifies, almost to compulsion those issues. The retrograde position of Venus when she is changing from a brilliant evening star, as we have seen her lately, to becoming a morning star rising ahead of the Sun involves Venus disappearing from the night sky and joining the Sun on the 9th of January, when we should have a clearer picture of what we want in the above areas of our life. Pluto requires a soul searching of sorts as does the retrograde, and extraordinary things can happen, like old loves returning into our lives unexpectedly almost like ghosts arising from the dead.   

January brings a retrograde Mercury in Aquarius on the 14th and going back into Capricorn on the 27th of January just as Venus is turning direct.  Both Venus and Mercury have a few turns at conjoining the planet of evolutionary progress, Pluto, not only intensifying our desires and compulsions, but our thoughts and communications.  The news this month brings a period, when according to astrologer Pam Younghans, “life- altering truths may be revealed”.  The Messenger of the Gods meets the God of the Underworld and dark stories, hidden out of sight, may arise to the surface.  Because of the apparent retrograde motion, planets go over the same area of the zodiac many times thus accelerating and intensifying their messages to us.   

October 31st Full MOON-This was written by my sister Mary but I thought it was so beautiful….

Although nothing in the outer world is especially soothing/comforting these days — an understatement as we are seeing a global surge in coronavirus cases and on the verge of the U.S. election that has rendered many of us all but unrecognizable to the rest of us —  to find a moment of unity seems far away.

But, let’s never forget Venus, who, among her many correspondences was, to the Romans, a goddess of victory.

She is in Libra until November 21.

Victory! Yes, indeed, but over what?

With so many raging moods, arguments, uncertainties and distrust amongst us, I’m personally attempting to reawaken the gifts that this strange time — born within lockdowns and seclusion and accompanied by the ever-present masked faces —  has offered. Isolation has created a chamber for which some of us (those, perhaps, in the most fortunate circumstances) have been able to use well.

Venusian qualities of grace and relatedness are here for our benefit: What if everything is unfolding perfectly and in complete harmony, right now?

We may potentize the equanimity of Venus in Libra and we know it will change. It will move, it will tip over into bedlam or chaos or anxiety, and yet there is a timeless moment of equipoise within reach.  The inward-dwelling-ness of the pandemic may have ripened our souls to respond to such an opportunity.

Consciousness studies, meditation masters and physicists tell us that we are always participating in a wildly, grandly, heretofore unseen future. A massive creative experiment is upon us now: the Full Moon on October 31 is at 8°38’ Taurus/Scorpio, with Uranus eagerly, boldly, and exactly there with the Sun and Moon. Our interior experience (and the public life) are longing to be upgraded — we are taking another big step towards a new version of ourselves and our world. Let’s include whatever ghosts — or demons or unrequited loves or hatreds or aching resentments or terrors — the Scorpio season may be showing us. Scorpio understands that welcoming and embracing our whole selves is the surest way to disarm our most shameful or toxic habits.

Have a blessed All Hallows’ Eve, Taurus Full Moon and All Souls Day (November 2) one and all.

So Where Are We Now?

It is so difficult to write these days as there seems to be so much to write about and so little time to put thoughts into words.  I started a blog a week ago but it is irrelevant today.  However, I read a piece in New York Times that revealed a perfect solution for the anxiety and fear as we watch with fear and trepidation the dance the planet Mars is making through the end of the year.   

The title of the piece “Bravely Choosing to Be Vulnerable” written by Siraad Dirshe appeared in the Sunday Styles Section August 16th.  In it, the author explains when the word “vulnerable” came into mainstream conversations; it was through the research, including a 2010 TED Talk by Brene’ Brown, a U of Houston research professor and author of “Daring Greatly: How the Courage to be Vulnerable Transforms the Way We Live, Love, Parent, and Lead”. Brown’s research focused on compiling hundreds of interviews with individuals who felt a strong sense of belonging to a greater community. She concluded that all those interviewees had one thing in common:  they all had made a choice to be vulnerable.

Dirshe’s article goes on to ask the question exactly what does being “vulnerable” mean?  She answers by citing Rachael Elizabeth Cargle, a public academic, writer and lecturer who says that being “vulnerable” in practice means allowing others to see what you are ashamed of.  There can be many tragic situations, especially these days, that are reasons for feeling vulnerable, including being homeless, being unable to pay rent, the loss of a loved one, or a job, financial insecurity or experiencing unrequited love, or feeling lost or afraid, or feeling the general sense of loss of whatever we used to have and no longer do,  including in our environment. Most of these experiences illicit shame.   It is this shame and not being able to speak about it that prevents our becoming vulnerable. Although these admissions can be quite terrifying, Cargle writes “it can greatly benefit us to let down walls that can often be exhausting to maintain.”   

The first word in the title in the NYT article “Bravely” caught my attention.  Bravely relates to Mars.  When you are inherently brave you have a strong Mars in your natal chart.  Mars entered the sign Aries where it is brave, forceful, and headstrong June 29th and will not leave Aries until January 7th. Usually spending 6 weeks in a sign, this year it is spending 6 months! 

Although Mars regularly does this apparent loop every 2 years, the retrograde has not occurred in Aries since July 1988- January 1989.  If you have a memory of that time, you will see similarities between then and the next 4 months.  I keep a journal and I burned my foot on the coals of a forgotten beach fire that August and was laid up in bed with my foot in ice water. 

Mars burns and incites and ignites.  Placed in the sign Aries, which is a fire sign, this tendency of Mars will double down.  Mars in Aries can also indicate accidents because we have been moving too fast without clear direction.  Acting rashly can have negative consequences.  That is why the next 4 months with Mars turning retrograde is so important. Using this time to slow down and turn inwards and choosing to bravely become vulnerable is a perfect way forward. 

For those of us who like history, the Summer/Fall1988 brought forest fires, where 750,000 acres in Yellowstone burned, a severe drought across the MIdwest with death producing heat waves,  riots in Tompkins Square Park when police were enforcing a curfew, a major earthquake across the Nepal/India border, two big oil rig explosions in the North Sea, a major cyclone in Bangladesh, Hurricane Gilbert, the second most intense tropical cyclone in history, Pan Am flight 103 and a major railroad accident in Paris. The Presidential election was between Dukakis and Father H.W.Bush.  Dukakis was ahead when the Bush campaign created his famous Willie Horton ad focusing the voters on the fear of black violence.

The time before 1988, when  Mars was retrograde in the sign Aries was 1973.  The Watergate Scandal was unfolding in August 1973 with Mars in Aries before turning retrograde mid-September.  The break-in had occurred June 1972. Forty-eight government officials, including members of the Committee to Re-elect President Nixon were eventually convicted of wrongdoing in the attempt to obtain inside information by burglarizing the Democratic National Headquarters in the Watergate building. 

By July 1973 it was revealed that Nixon had tapes of his meetings in the Oval Office. When Nixon was finally forced to release the tapes, there were gaps in the conversation. The tapes had been edited. October 1973 saw VP Agnew resign over a matter unrelated to the Watergate scandal.

November 17th 1973 when Mars was retrograde in the same area it will be for us in September this year, Nixon made his famous statement "People have got to know whether or not their President is a crook. Well, I'm not a crook. I've earned everything I've got." On August 9th 1974 Nixon resigned.    

I guess the lesson here is be careful of what you say or what actions you take during a Mars retrograde period in Aries. It might just come back to bite you.  Remember it is not what you say that counts in astrology but WHEN you say it….

So what is the solution?  Do not make Nixon’s mistake but rather turn inward and bravely choose to be vulnerable.  Admit to what you are ashamed of, get it out of your system.  Tell someone you love them, share your feelings.  Mars rules actions, when it spends that much time going back and forth in one area of the zodiac, actions taken in the outside world will get you exactly nowhere fast. Plans will be re-worked or redrawn or withdrawn.  Better to understand this upcoming 6 weeks period (Sept 9th -Nov 14th   is the actual time of the retrograde ) and what it wants of us before we begin. Use it wisely by turning inward; use it to free yourself from the shame and blame that are carryovers from the past, by choosing to bravely become vulnerable.   

The Return of Barack Obama

In the last blog, “Physical to Digital”, we wrote about the significance of the upcoming Jupiter/ Saturn conjunction December 21st, 2020.  This conjunction at 0 degrees of Aquarius officially begins the next 200 years of the two trend-setting planets meeting in air signs, Aquarius, Libra, and Gemini.

The conjunction occurs every 20 years but stays for 200 years in the same element, fire, earth, air or water; each 200-year span of time in a particular element signifies different values, opportunities, and responsibilities.  One or more areas of our life will contract, and others will expand; a new social contract will arise.

As we switch from the earth element, in this case, to the air element, all the old values and systems we have become familiar with fade away.  Repositioning ourselves for this new political, social, cultural, religious, and economic cycle, as we make this elemental switch, is one of the reasons that our lives are being disrupted on so many different levels these days.  

The air sign Aquarius and the degree of 0 is where these two planets will meet; each planet having arrived there from two different orbits around the Sun (Jupiter takes 12 years to orbit and Saturn 29 ½ years). Not only should all Aquarians take note (and we all have Aquarius someplace in our charts) but those persons who have 0 Aquarius strongly in their charts will be called upon to play a special role in the  near future, which brings me to Barack Obama and a story in the Monday June 29th in New York Times.

https://www.nytimes.com/2020/06/28/us/politics/obama-biden-trump.html

President Obama has the planet Jupiter at 0 degrees of Aquarius. Jupiter is the planet that governs how we expand, what our beliefs are, where we find our strength to move forward, our optimism, our success, our interest in laws and justice, our luck, our ethics, our expectations, our rewards, our understanding and wisdom.

Aquarius is symbolized by the water bearer-the only zodiacal sign that is depicted by a human being, which gives a good clue as to Aquarius’ significations.  Aquarius concerns the brotherhood of man, including sisterhood and third parties of course.  Everyone counts in Aquarius-even Black lives!!

In other words, Ex-President Obama expands personally by helping others better their lives.

Obama will turn 59 on August 4th, hardly “real retirement” time. Additionally, from Jan 13th, 2000 until Aug 8th, 2029 this Jupiter will be highlighted.  These 29 years are the most positive and progressive of his life, as Jupiter symbolizes his “way forward”. 1996 began his career in politics in the Illinois Senate where after 3 terms, he was elected to the US Senate in 2004.

Jupiter will again be at 0 degrees of Aquarius, and begin its yearly journey through the sign, on December 20th.  Obama cannot help but feel strongly about continuing to contribute to the welfare of his fellow citizens, as community minded as he is.  

He has another motivation, as the Times article points out, that President Trump’s continual personal attacks and attempted (and in some cases successful) sabotaging of his administration’s achievements, motivate him not to walk quietly into retirement, but to stay engaged.  President Obama endorsed Joe Biden in April and held his first joint fundraising event at last week’s Virtual Grassroots Fundraiser, where he helped Biden raise 17 million dollars. Obama told the 175,000 people who tuned in; “Whatever you’ve done so far is not enough. And I hold myself and Michelle and our kids to that same standard.”

He is a man of his word, in that his “Post-Presidency retirement” is anything but that.  Busy now after writing his 800 page memoir, he is anguishing over its publication date, which cannot be before the election in November due to the pandemic, and has a multi-million dollar contract with Netflix to produce scripted features and documentaries with Michelle through their production company “Higher Ground Productions”. These projects highlight his vision of the effects of grass-roots activism for political change, certainly a high focus topic these days. In many ways his Jupiter in Aquarius is only getting started.  The last time Jupiter was in Aquarius was January 2009 as he was taking the oath of office as President of the United States.

Now I am not proposing that Vice President Biden is going to pick Obama as his running mate, but I think we will hear more from him as the summer winds down and the electioneering heats up, such as it will in these strange days.  Not only is Obama having a Jupiter return, but he is having a second Saturn return as well.  

This is a period of maturity for a person, when one comes face to face with the larger context of one’s life. In Obama’s case his determination to keep his legacy alive, amid the obvious attempts to erase it, have been aroused.

Cautious he is and will be this year, and reluctant to move completely into the limelight, his birthday chart clearly shows that this year he will be more actively engaged in the political process than he has been since leaving office. His voice, which the Times article correctly writes is his most important asset, will be heard more and is in harmony with the voice of many of the American people, especially after  October 8th ,as his progressed Moon enters Leo and a public place in his chart.  America’s natal chart has its Moon, which signifies the people, in Aquarius and Obama’s natal chart and birthday chart connect strongly with our Moon in Aquarius, as evidenced by our election of him as President in 2008.

Aquarius and Cancer are the preeminent signs of the United States.  Our birthday is July 4th  (Lunar Eclipse Full Moon this year signifies something is coming to a head!). Our Sun and 3 other planets are in Cancer, but our Moon, that is the signature of the people is Aquarius.  We want “all men are (read “to be”) created equal” as Jefferson wrote in the Declaration of Independence. Although the written words speak to a lofty ideal, the present reality misses that mark somewhat! 

But that is where Obama and everyone else who has Aquarius strong in your natal horoscope are predisposed to help make manifest.  The mission of this position of Jupiter is to remember “that the truth about contributing to other’s lives and caring about people in a community is not about control, but acceptance of, and reverence for, each person’s divinity. “ (Lynda Hill)

Physical to Digital

The other morning, I heard a broadcaster on the stock market channel, MSNBC, say the phrase “physical to digital”. This phrase struck a chord in me as it summarizes one of the major transitions we are living through.  The commentator was talking about a retail ‘bricks and mortar” company that has become an online store, in order to stay in business. Its physical location is now up in in the air, in a cloud somewhere, unseen. Of course, this trend predates the covid-19 epidemic, but the pandemic has greatly accelerated it.

Even for strictly “brick and mortar” businesses, an online presence seems to be essential now, not only for actual sales and visibility, but as a way for customers to find information about products, services and procedures for pre-orders and pickup.

An online presence demands technological expertise as reflected in the growth of the technology companies that work behind the scenes.  Behind the face of the website, there are layers of technology employed that allow one click to result in merchandise appearing on your doorstep. 

The discrepancy between the physical and digital is even seen in their respective “supply chains”.  In my small hometown, there is a disruption in the physical supply chains, where not only is toilet paper scarce but it is more difficult to get supplies from a hardware store, books from a bookstore or tulips for Mother’s Day. This is in stark contrast to the rapid and speedy “supply chain” in the internal invisible realms that is connecting millions of homebound people on sites like Zoom.

It strikes me that we cannot see all that goes on in our daily lives because so much has become digital.   Exaggerated by the lockdown, we no longer go to a store to see and feel and weigh something, instead we look at a picture on a magic screen and click to order it. Money has even become digital.  We do not see it or hold it. 

When did this trend begin?  In the early 80’s you might say with the introduction of the first personal computer (Commodore) in January 1982. Or perhaps it goes back farther to the beginning of the use of radar and wi-fi during WWII.  In any event we are heading full steam ahead into a digital age. 

Why are we moving from physical to digital now and at such an accelerated pace?  Astrologers would assign it to the December 2020 conjunction of the  two major cultural-trend planets, Jupiter and Saturn, as they begin a new 200- year journey in the air signs (Aquarius, Gemini and Libra}  As different ideas and belief systems take hold in the collective, a new beginning in our political, scientific, economic, social, and religious life will commence.

Jupiter and Saturn conjunctions have been seen by astrologers, priests and wise men dating back to the Babylonians 2000 BC, when natural phenomena, including unusual planetary activity were viewed as a message from the gods.

In 1802, as the Industrial Revolution was gaining momentum, there began a 200-year era of Jupiter and Saturn conjunctions in earth signs.   When planets conjoin in earth signs, we might  expect to see societal infrastructure, physical, as in roads, buildings, cities, water, electrical and plumbing infrastructures and political as in political parties and systems of policing and judicial and governmental systems: substantial wealth creation;  extensive use of natural resources and an emphasis on the production of material goods, as was true in this period.

When this conjunction occurs in air signs, as it will in December, we might expect rapid social progress, significant intellectual and technological development and unfamiliar concepts entering human consciousness.  The air element is about communications, social relationships that affect how we treat our fellow humans and ideas, in contrast to the accumulation of physical objects and use/misuse of our natural resources that were maximized during the earth cycle.

At this moment, we are developing our ability to communicate with each other without being physically present and how to purchase our necessities without leaving our homes.  Air is invisible, unseen forces in its realm are operating out of sight -as if by magic- to accomplish these tasks. Rather than exerting physical force, we find ourselves using great mental energy to figure out how to operate within the reality of our current, complex situation.

There is also evidence of this shift in the pandemic itself, as it spread through the air. We can trace the beginning of the present cycle to 1980 when the Jupiter Saturn conjunction in air sign Libra first appeared, before returning to earth signs in May 2000.  As mentioned above, the first personal computer appeared in 1982, along with the dawn of the internet and cyber space age and the AIDS epidemic, which was first declared a pandemic by the CDC on June 5th, 1981.

This painting of Hans Holbein the Elder depicts the High Middle Ages and the last time the Jupiter Saturn conjunctions occurred in the air signs, 1186-1405.  This looks to my eyes to be a precursor to our digital and cyber internet age as it depicts the monks secluded hundreds of miles apart in their separate monasteries, translating and embellishing those beautiful scriptural and ancient texts that had recently come into Europe with the Arabian conquest. It was the monks transcribing, codifying and spreading the ideas that were contained in those ancient Greek and Latin texts along invisible links and supply chains that lead directly into the Renaissance.

Perhaps our current forced retreats to our own private “monasteries”-alone, yet together-will produce a social and cultural movement as significant as the Renaissance.

On a far more difficult note: The Black Death, which killed between 75-200 million people (1351-1397) was part of that earlier age. Jupiter Saturn conjunctions in air signs bring the circulation of new ideas  and the enhancement of invisible connections, sadly they can also bring disastrous plagues.

A New Beginning to We Are All in This Together

As I write this April 27th, we are a week into the New Moon in Taurus; that is the Sun and Moon have married each other to initiate a new round of experiences for us. This unique time period will last a month, until the New Moon in Gemini the 22nd of May. Taurus represents the middle of the spring season; fertility and renewal are in the air; the baby buds are opening and the green grass is rising.

Taurus also symbolizes what we value, what we want and desire and what we want to hold on to. As this time of quarantine is upon us, it is an excellent time to go inside and reflect deeply on what we want for our future. What do we hold dear? What is our heart telling us? Does the work we did before corona align with the truth we hold inside? Are we doing it just for the money? (and most often that is the case). But has this time being separated from our “normal routine”, allowed us to spend time in delving into activities that we had put on hold because we had “No Time”? We do have valuable unprecedented time now for our creative and personal inner work.

The planet Uranus is with this new moon and his presence with this new beginning lends a note of change, surprise, intensity, an awakening, a sudden discovery of our own uniqueness, a possible rebellion, a freedom to experiment, a brilliance and excitement to our experience of this month. According to author Rick Tarnas, Uranus should really be called Prometheus, as he was the Titan who rebelled against the gods by stealing fire from them and giving fire, or the creative spirit, to humanity. If fire is now in the hands of humans—oh my, now humans can create too!!! What a rebellion against authority and and usurpation of power.

So in this month where we have this new moon coupled with Uranus-we can expect to waken to a new creative spark, or have an intellectual and/or spiritual awakening, or get a sense of freedom from past constraints and more to Tarnas’ point, Uranus/Prometheus is here to move humankind into a fundamentally different relationship to the cosmos. This is no less true on a personal level than it is true on a cosmic level. We see this happening all around us as each of us has to figure out how to do…..differently.

The thing is we have lost all our cues from the outside world. We barely know what day of the week it is or what is socially acceptable. We are figuring out how to get what we need daily. We are forced to rely on ourselves, our intuition and what our heart is speaking to us. It might be chaotic on the outside but once we have gotten over the fear, we will begin to operate from a new perspective. Our inner orientation has to be towards “a new normal”. Most opinions I read and by my own gut feelings I think we share the scary concept that things on every level will not go back to the way they were. Uranus is opening us up to the “new”.

We are entering a new dynasty beginning in December when Jupiter and Saturn begin their 200 year marriages in air signs. We can no longer look to material production and accumulation as a goal in and of itself. We are finished with that 200 year paradigm, begun at the Industrial Revolution. When the new conjunction/marriage occurs in Aquarius in December, we enter a different world, we are transitioning into this new dynasty now. We have lost everything we depended upon, up to this point, and are called upon to fashion a new role for ourselves, our country and the world. This will apply to some more than others, of course. But a New Moon in Taurus with Uranus is a good jumping off moment.

The next deepening of our desire body will occur on May 13th as Venus, who is very brilliantly bright in the evening sky now will slowly sink back into the Sun and change her relationship to the Sun. Now as an evening star, she will over the course of 40 days retreat into the Sun (June 3rd) and rise in the morning sky around the middle of June. The special time period (around June 3rd) when our desire body (Venus) connects with our vital creative spirit, our self awareness and self manifestation (Sun) is a re-birth of sorts. We become more acutely aware of what are heart is telling us, where and how we can create more beauty and harmony in ourselves and in the world.

The sign Gemini is where this action is happening so new ideas, communication patterns and new educational pursuits might jump to the front burner in our minds. Venus stays in Gemini from April 4th to August 8th. We can anticipate a long passage of coming to terms with the deeper reaches of our psyches where new information resides and wants to be born. May and June of 2012 was the last time Venus was retrograde in Gemini. There will be some resonance with that time period should you care to reflect.

Marianne Williamson is offering a 3-miute daily class on a Course in Miracles to help us rewire our brains to help see the world and use our brains differently which is what we are going to need for the future.

http://hwcdn.libsyn.com/p/3/b/a/3ba04736f1ce8e70/A_Course_In_Miracles__Intro.mp3?c_id=10602097&cs_id=10602097&expiration=1588015516&hwt=0bdd409267d8c34d656a5dd0a63c72f6