OFF THE PLUMB TREE-December 2025

December begins with a Full Moon on the 4th at 6:14 PM. The Sun is in free-spirited adventure loving Sagittarius, and the Moon is in its opposite sign Gemini, the sign of the communicator and the salesman. Sagittarius reads long books, Gemini reads magazines. According to the Farmer’s Almanac, the native Americans and early colonists called this the Full Cold Moon or the Long Night Moon (for obvious reasons).  

Venus and Mars both accompany this Full Moon in Sagittarius. They left Mercury behind as he was retrograding back into Scorpio in November.  Our thinking (Mercury) might be ponderous and secretive, with twinges of regret, revenge or victimization as emotionally intense Scorpio takes life dramatically.

Whereas the Sun, Venus and Mars in freedom loving fiery Sagittarius is just the opposite, wanting excitement and new adventures.  Having gone direct on the 27th of November at 20 Scorpio, retracing back over your Scorpio planets for the 3rd time, by now, you should be feeling some relief as the emotional or financial issues (Scorpio governs money from other people, inheritances, taxes etc.) having been rethought 3 times, should begin to get resolved. Mercury will catch up when he moves into Sagittarius on the 12th and those intense mental and emotional burdens will be dropped. 

In fact, the beginning of December is a good time to make some financial decisions that feel right and that might want to have a prolonged existence. The two big “Chroniclers of Time” as the Ancients called them, Saturn and Jupiter, are both in water signs making a favorable aspect to the last pass of Mercury in Scorpio. Contracts, deals, mergers, trades, negotiations, all are favorable in the first week before the 11th at 5:30 PM when Mercury moves into Sagittarius, one of its least favorite places to be.

The 15th has the planet Mars moving into Capricorn, where he is exalted.  In other words, Mars loves to be in Capricorn, as Capricorn is ruled by Saturn and Saturn can steady any inclination Mars has to move headstrong in some direction, not necessarily for the common good.  Mars will be in Capricorn until January 24th when he enters the next sign Aquarius.  Mars in Capricorn is good for changing jobs or a location, any endeavor that expands one’s territory to gain access to new resources says Astrologer Austin Coppock in his book, “36 Faces”.  

You may think of the mountain goat, whom Capricorn represents, climbing ever higher up the craggy mountain to reach the summit.  Careful decision making and deliberation before acting are the hallmarks of Mars in Capricorn.  It transits Capricorn once every 2 ½ years.  The last time was Jan 5 -Feb 14, 2024.  If you remember what happened then, you might have any idea of what will happen this time-or at least what area of life will be highlighted.  Nothing ever repeats exactly but there is a rhyming. 

There is a New Moon on December 19th at 28 Sagittarius, whose degree pictures “A fat boy mowing the lawn”. This image suggests that for the next month, beginning now, we ought to be moving our bodies, or at least making more of an effort than we usually do, to improve our physical condition and our physical surroundings.   As we are at Christmastime maybe decorating the house and improving its appearance will appeal.  As Benjamin Franklin said: “Laziness travels so slowly that poverty soon overtakes him.”

The planets Saturn and Neptune accompany the Sun and Moon at the end of Pisces at this New Moon, in effect 30 days.  Making our dreams our reality should have become more of a habit by now, as these two planets have been influencing us all year.   At least we ought to have arranged our spiritual life into a disciplined routine. Saturn makes things concrete; he rules form and boundaries. Neptune rules the formless, our spiritual connection, what we cannot see, our need to fuse with something. They are opposites, but when put together can make real our dreams.

At this New Moon Saturn and Jupiter are in dreamy Pisces, so we are in the envisioning stage where we imagine what our next few years will look like.  When the two planets meet in February they will be in Aries, not Pisces. The transition from Pisces, the place of universal consciousness symbolized by the two fishes swimming in opposite directions in a dreamy watery ocean, into Aries, the headstrong ram with battering horns is intense. We are motivated into action; this transition will thrust each of us into a new identity or calling.

There will be a big shift in the planets in 2026 as they move more into fire and air with less emotional watery Pisces, especially true when Jupiter leaves Cancer and goes into fiery Leo in July. 

But as for now, pay attention to your dreams and notice how relationships and situations are both ending and beginning at the same time. This is the Pisces realm.

If you wish to hear my video presentation talk on 2026, I will be speaking at the Rogers Memorial Library in Southampton on Thursday Feb 12th .  You can go to their website to register. www.myrml.org

OFF THE PLUMB TREE-November 2025

The most important planetary pairing we are experiencing these days is the imminent conjunction of Saturn and Neptune at 1 degree of Aries, exact on Feb 17th, 2026.

The foreshadowing of this pairing was with us all summer as the 2 planets neared each other but did not meet exactly. Their exact meeting in February starts a new 36-year cycle. Saturn rules what we see in the material world, it creates boundaries and form, it is our reality. Neptune rules our dreams, fantasies, visions, our formless life and our search for the divine.  When these two come together they each act on the other.  Saturn gives Neptune a reality check and makes manifest a blind spot; Neptune influences Saturn by dissolving false barriers. Saturn and Neptune help us define what we can control and what we cannot in order to live a contented life.

Profound worldwide events occur when this conjunction takes place.  Previous conjunctions were November 1989, when the Berlin Wall came down: July 1953 when Stalin died; Aug 1917 when the Russian revolution occurred. The meetings can occur in any sign, but this one is at 1 Aries.  The last time the conjunction occurred at the beginning of Aries was 7,000 BC when humans were forming into settled societies based on agriculture (says Google and Grok).

Why is the very beginning of Aries so important?  Because Aries is the first sign of the zodiac and in tropical astrology marks the beginning of Spring.  Events occurring on that degree are seen by the entire world. If you were born around the time of the previous conjunctions, then you know that this upcoming one is going to be very significant for you personally (as seen here with Russia).

So, the fact that this conjunction is occurring at the World Axis point is important because of the meaning of the planets involved (here Saturn and Neptune), the rarity of a 36-year cycle, but because the Aries point automatically adds a new dimension to how we are seen in the world.   This is true for each of us personally, as this pairing which begins something new shakes up identities in a company, city, country, relationship, or institution. How significant the effect of this upcoming conjunction is for you depends on how 1 degree of Aries is integrated into your birth moment.  The USA has 1 Libra as its MC opposite 1 degree Aries.  Rest assured this country is having an identity crisis. 

November 2025 has a lot of planetary activity.  Mars enters Sagittarius on the 4th.  After the intensity of Mars being in Scorpio since September 23rd, this will be a relief.  You Sagittarians wake up as your energy level is going to accelerate, especially as this change of sign occurs at the Full Moon on the 5th, when affairs come to a head naturally. Venus changes signs at this time as well. After being in loving and gentle Libra she moves into Scorpio. We might note an increase in our passions.

Both Mercury and Jupiter move in retrograde motion on the 9th and 11th of November respectively. Mercury will apparently slow down as an evening star and disappear into the setting of the Sun. Mercury connects with the Sun on the 20th when a new perspective will emerge as Mercury rises ahead of the Sun and becomes a morning star.

One date to watch is November 12th.  Notice what happens then as it is going to be a foreshadow of a powerful Solar Eclipse on Aug 12th next year.  Each month as the moon passes 20 degrees Leo we will be anticipating that New Moon Solar Eclipse on the Persoid Meteor shower show next August.

Jupiter is in Cancer, where it’s very happy, emotionally content, caring for and protecting your feelings. Every 12 years Jupiter, the planet of abundance, faith, your belief system, success and expansion, stays in one sign. Jupiter was last in Cancer June 2013-4.  You might reflect on that year to gauge what this year is about.  Jupiter remains in Cancer until July 1st.

The New Moon occurs on the 20th at 28 Scorpio, accompanied by Mercury, Saturn, Uranus, Neptune and Jupiter.  This New Moon will pack quite a wallop in your life wherever you have Scorpio in your birth chart.  The last 10 days of November are quite active with lots of planets affecting one another. Because Scorpio, a fixed water sign, is intense, passionate and dramatic and so many outer planets are involved, you might feel surprised by some events occurring outside of your control. It will take a bit of surrendering to the will of the gods as your new identity begins to take shape. 

The month ends with the Sun entering Sagittarius on the 21st, Saturn going direct at 25 Pisces on the 27th and happily Mercury going direct at 20 Scorpio on the 29th.  Scorpio times of the year are always intense as the outer world in the Northern Hemisphere is experiencing death and dying. Death is always followed by rebirth. 

Why is President Obama Making the News?

At 8:00 PM on July 18, 2025 the Director of National Intelligence (ODNI) began releasing classified documents with “irrefutable evidence” purporting to show that President Obama was the architect of a campaign to discredit newly elected President Trump after his 2016 election upset win.

Subsequent release of additional formerly classified information on July 21st to Senator Grassley, July 28th, and August 10th have provided the public with additional previously buried documents on the purported coup, including the formal press release of July 23rd.

From the Office of the Director of National Intelligence:

ODNI Press Release No.18-25

July 23, 2025

“On Wednesday , at the President’s direction and with the support of HPSCI Chairman Rick Crawford, Director of Intelligence Tulsi Gabbard released a declassified oversight majority staff report produced by the House Permanent Select Committee on Intelligence (HPSI) in September 2020 that details how the Obama Administration manufactured an Intelligence Community Assessment that they knew was false. This report confirms a treasonous conspiracy led by President Obama and his security team….to manipulate intelligence that promoted a contrived false narrative falsely claiming “Putin aspired to help President-elect Trump’s election chances, when possible, by discrediting Secretary Clinton. “

According to the declassified files, a secret meeting with Obama and his National Security team was held on December 9, 2017, when Obama was still President. This meeting led to a January 2017 Intelligence Community Assessment that contradicted earlier intelligence findings, which found Russia was “probably not trying to influence the election”. Obama apparently directed his National Security team to create an intelligence assessment that they knew was false.

Can we shed light on this situation and why President Obama is suddenly in the news by looking at Obama’s natal chart, his transits and the country’s natal chart with its connections to President Obama? As seen in the press release the initial files presented by the House Committee were rendered classified and not revealed to the public for 5 years, until this summer with the new Administration’s commitment to transparency.

The country’s birthday chart that we are using is July 4th, 1776 at 5:10 PM in Philadelphia and Barack Obama’s natal chart Aug 4th, 1961 at 7:24 PM Honolulu.

The USA’s natal Midheaven (its reputation, status and public persona) is at 1 Libra. Libra is the sign of a scale, Lady Justice is blindfolded and weighs matters seeking balance. We are a nation of laws; justice is highly regarded. Since late May both transiting Saturn and Neptune have entered Aries, opposite that point of the nation’s public reputation. A Saturn and Neptune conjunction occurs once every 36 years and never in the same place.

Profound world wide events occur with that conjunction. The last one was November 1989, when the Berlin Wall fell, July 1953 when Stalin died; Aug 1917 when the Russian revolution occurred. Saturn and Neptune were close this summer but will not actually marry until February 21st, 2026. We are having a foreshadowing now of what to expect next year and beyond as the USA’s status and reputation are in for a health-checkup. Our disease (our blind spot) and its remedy (transparency) are in plain sight.

Since this conjunction will occur at 0 degrees of Aries, the whole world is watching. The last time this happened was 9,000 years ago, 7,000 BC with the dawn of agriculture and the establishment of settled human societies (so says Google). Next year each of us will be having a personal identity crisis in our own lives, but also as a Nation. We will be seen differently than we are at present.

What do Saturn and Neptune represent? Saturn represents materialism, duty, responsibility, limitations and the material world. Neptune represents our dreams and fantasies, our idealism, our spirituality and our illusions. Scandals, sickness, suffering and disease can be associated with these two planets coming together. Saturn manifests what Neptune wants to conceal. A purification process must begin, whether it be to the body or in the mind or to a country’s reputation.

This conjunction will begin a brand new 36 year cycle in how the world sees this Country. Saturn can define and concretize Neptune’s ideals and spirituality, or Neptune erodes Saturn’s commitment to reality. Another way of seeing this conjunction is that deciphering what is real and what is false is an ongoing struggle, as we see in today’s world. Walls came down and illusions were shattered in previous conjunctions.

President Obama’s natal Mars at 23 Virgo is square the country’s natal Mars at 22 Gemini indicating that our drives are not in cohesion, in fact they fight one another. Obama’s Mars is on a degree whose image is: A lion tamer rushes fearlessly into the circus arena”. The USA’s Mars is on a degree whose image is “Dancing couples crowd the barn in a harvest festival” What drives Obama and what drives this county are at odds with one another. They are fighting for two different things.

President Obama had a Full Moon Lunar Eclipse on his Mars on March 14, 2025. This suggests that his motives will come out this year, as the light of the Full Moon exposes things which have been hidden. Eclipses have influence for months. Of course the the country’s Mars was also eclipsed back in March by a square. (Perhaps the assassination of Charlie Kirk on September 10th is a manifestation of the eclipse point square to our Mars from March 14th.

Obama announced his candidacy for President on February 10, 2007. The eclipses at that time 2006-7 were in the same place as the eclipses we are having now in 2024- 2025. The same signs are activated. When events occur around the times of eclipses one can never be sure of their outcomes. The Gods of Fate have entered the realm of us mortals and with the lineup of Sun, Moon and Earth cause the events and circumstances to veer off course in unexpected directions.

The Country has Neptune square its Mars in its birth chart, indicating that we do not see others motives clearly, or the government gets caught up in missions or wars or encounters with other countries that we do not completely understand. We definitely did not see Obama’s motives as our Neptune, the planet of smoke and mirrors and deception is sitting on the country’s motivational Mars and squaring Obama’s Mars.

The Director of National Intelligence made her initial announcement on July 18th. The subsequent Press release on the 25th of July had transiting Mars at 18 Virgo conjunct the south node of the Moon triggering the natal configurations, Obama’s Mars and the country’s Mars Neptune configurations as well as the eclipse point from March. Transits to eclipse points coming months later release the potential in the eclipse. July 25th was also the return of Mars in Obama’s chart (occurs every 2 1/2 years), reinforcing the potential uncovering of his actions, motives and possible anger over Trump’s win in 2016.

Transits to eclipse points (Mars to the eclipsed Mars in Obama’s natal chart) trigger potential release of the eclipse point. The transit of a planet to one degree hits all the entities that have that degree in common. Eclipse points stay active for months if not years and continually get triggered as faster moving planets pass it. Eclipses because they involve the Sun, Moon and Earth trigger the most profound change in our lives.

Another trigger for trouble for Obama is that he had a return of Mars to its natal position (happens every 2 1/2 years) on July 25th just 10 days before the press release. Mars and Saturn are the two “heavy planets” in the sky bringing us the most trouble. Mars is where we are aggressive and angry and where we fight and cause trouble, but have a mission. Mars with Neptune can make us spiritual idealistic warriors. As Saturn is with Neptune in the sky now its not our drives that are in question but our concept of reality.

Another problem from a planetary perspective for Obama is his Midheaven (career, reputation, and status is at 29 Scorpio and the planet Uranus passed opposite that point in June this year, will again December 2nd and for the 3rd and last time April 4th 2026. So as The USA’s reputation is about to undergo a reality check, so too is Obama’s. Uranus represents sudden change like when a lightening bolt strikes.

The eclipse cycle in 2026 will enter Leo and Aquarius signs. The Solar eclipse January 17th at 29 Aquarius will hit Obama’s south node a point of release and lessening. It will take a few years for the reckoning to manifest (if it ever does) but Obama is a Leo with Mercury there too and transiting Pluto covering his Mercury and Jupiter opposition. Pluto like Uranus is an outer planet where the Fates dictate, and we have little control. He might have just have over played his hand. TBD

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.