The main indicator of the end of the 500 year party is the midpoint of the three outer planets happening now with Neptune at its crux, something that only happens every 500 years. This particular one goes on for a long time as you can see from the image below. This midpoint configuration lasts at least the ten years from 2021 to 2031 with the tightest midpoint in 2024, 2025, 2026, and 2027. Notice that in 2025 this midpoint is on the Cardinal Axis making it even more potent.
Neptune = Uranus/Pluto
At the same time as this important midpoint is happening, those three planets also make up a mini-grand trine, which is a trine and two sextiles. This formation goes on for the four year 2025, 2026, 2027, and 2028 which is of course also crossing the Cardinal Axis in those first two years. The graphical ephemeris below is in the sixth harmonic which means that trines and sextiles appear as conjunctions.
Mini-Grand Trine
For the last 500 years, starting in the late Fifteenth Century, this party has been increasing in both a geographical and physical sense until by this time in the early Twenty-First Century more and more of what are called third world countries are joining the party. People seem to believe it can go on forever.
If you want as astrological date for when this started look at the chart for 11-18-1485 where the ten known planets (even though three were unknown at the time) were the closest for 500 years; the next time this tightness happened was on 11-16-1982 for this end of the party moment.
Tightest Planets 1485
But wait! There is a problem called anthropogenic climate change (ACC) that is going to end civilization as we know it. There is just too much carbon dioxide produced by fossil fuel powered automobiles and farming, especially of animals to produce meat and dairy. So we just have to eliminate those things and the world will be much better off.
Tightest Planets 1982
I’ve previously introduced the terms Uranus and Pluto to denote the two real classes that make up our society. Uranus is the people, the plebs, the proletariat. Pluto is the elite, the one percent, the global capitalists (or as satirist C.J. Hopkins calls them Global Cap), the Deep State.
The problems of ACC is something that must be solved by methods that don’t upset Pluto too much. That is why they promote that problem and that solution. But I would argue that the problems resulting from the 500 year party are much more difficult and far-reaching than what they want Uranus to believe, and solving these problems will require taming, if not eliminating, Pluto. And that is certainly not acceptable to them and so they promote the idea of climate change and get everyone exited about it, whether for or against the solutions that Pluto is promoting. It’s another instance of “Don’t look there, look over here”. But of course doing that, following the direction of Pluto, will only cause the problems to get worse. After all Pluto is the ones who are most enjoying the 500 year party, and they have the most to lose if the world really deals with the problems.
When a party is over you need to clean up the messes and replenish your supplies. After a party of 500 years, and especially after the Neptune-Pluto conjunction of the Eighteen-Nineties (to be dealt with in a separate post) there is a massive mess.
Neptune-Pluto Conjunction New Moon
To deal with all the problems created by the huge party civilization has been throwing for the last five centuries will involve first of all dealing with the Problem of Pluto which controls the media and the government which in turn sets the narrative of what is happening that we all believe. And of course Pluto does not want you looking at them, so they make you believe that the problem is something other then them. You would do the same thing if you were the problem. For example, if you beat your wife you must convince her the problem is the noisy neighbors in the apartment below.
The conflict in the world is between two opposing viewpoints: to make it more global, more a one world government or not. But the real solutions will involve more local (Uranus) that global (Pluto) and more natural (Uranus) rather than artificial (Pluto). But the world is moving towards the totally artificial with artificial food, artificial immunity, and the ultimate artificial intelligence. We need to move back towards natural food, natural immunity, and most of all natural intelligence, a characteristic that is becoming more and more scarce.
Over especially the last 100 years and more especially the last 30 years the people of the world, especially those in Western countries, have become more and more estranged from the natural world, and as a result the world has become more estranged from us. We need real solutions and those are not the solutions produced by Pluto.
When I was in my late Twenties I quit a job in a computer lab at a Big Ten University and moved half-way across the country. I found myself in a town so small that it didn’t have a post office and was living with several men who had just gotten out of the army. That situation did not work out and so I found myself moving 300 miles north to a small town where the only unemployed people I knew were two single mothers on welfare. Since I was also unemployed I hung out with them, but unfortunately they would talk all the time about a subject I considered nonsense — astrology. Finally, in order to keep up my end of the conversation I borrowed a mass-market astrology book and read about my sun sign. Despite wanting to throw the book against the wall at least once a page over something I found objectionable, I read several things that matched internal thoughts I had about myself. They loaned me a book by Grant Lewi which described the combination of Sun and Moon sign and I thought that was amazing. From books they had I could find out my Moon sign, but I could not tell if I had Leo or Virgo rising. If I had known more it would have been obvious but I’m sure Donald Trump has the same difficulty with his two charts. So to resolve that question I had to learn how to calculate a chart. I did not know at the time that there were computer programs to do those calculations. When I had worked at the University one of our student interns had told me of his desire to write a program for astrological calculations. I did not say anything but thought to myself what a waste of a wonderful technology for some nonsense. Little did I suspect that less than ten years later I would be doing that exact thing. I decided to read further, and one thing I found out about what was called the “Saturn Return” when Saturn returns to the place it had at birth. What I was going through and descriptions I read captured my life at the time.quite precisely.
This important milestone that occurs just before the Thirtieth birthday is resonant in popular culture, such as that Sixties phrase “Don’t Trust Anybody Over Thirty” which mutated to “Don’t Trust Anyone Under Thirty” when those who had said the original phrase turned thirty. And there was the book Passages by Gail Sheehy which talked about the changes a person undergoes when they turn 30 which could have been written by an astrologer. The alternative rock band R.E.M once had a tune called “Saturn Return”.
But other hard Saturn aspects to its natal position are also important. The opening square of Saturn at about seven years indicates the time a child break free from the mother according to psychics. Then at 14 there is the beginning of adolescent with all the changes that brings. The first closing square at about 21 indicates you are an adult and in the United States one can legally drink and, up until the 26th Amendment, vote. Then at 35, the second opening square, one can run for President of the United States. The age of 42 is the second opposition of Saturn to its natal position (which also corresponds to the Uranus opposition) when the “mid-life crisis” starts and the sales of red sports cars increase. The second Saturn return is also considered significant but not of the magnitude as the first. The third Saturn return occurs at about the same age as the Uranus Return.
For most of history Saturn was the outer planet and at one time the lifespan was about one Saturn cycle. The returns of other planets to their natal position are also considered; many astrologers construct a Solar Return for their birthday when the Sun returns to its natal position. And if you want finer detail you can look a returns to the square or opposition position to the natal Sun. Some even do Lunar Returns for a look at the month after the Moon returns to its natal position. Jupiter Returns, which happen ever twelve years can be used but they are not nearly as famous as the Solar Return.
But the other planets that orbit the Sun can also be used for returns. The Uranus demi-return at 42 years corresponds to the “mid-life” crisis. Some people live to their Uranus Return but no one lives to the Neptune or Pluto Returns. But some people can live to their Neptune demi-Return: Ted Kaszinski died (committed suicide) at his Neptune Return, and because Pluto sped up during the last 80 years or so many of those alive will witness a Pluto demi-return.
The only person who I personally know who had a Uranus Return was my father. Through his life he was a fairly conventional Republican. He wanted to be an FBI agent but he didn’t meet the height requirements. But at his Uranus return he married a woman less than half his age and of a different race. He began to call previous co-workers “honkies”. So he really became more Uranian.
Donald Trump Pluto Demi-Return
Here are examples of the Pluto demi-returns for two people currently in the news. For Donald Trump we can see that his Pluto opposition to his natal Pluto occurs shortly after his Neptune demi-return, shortly before his Uranus return, and several years before his third Saturn Return. This happens almost six months before his 84th birthday. Kamala Harris is much younger, but her Pluto demi-return happens long after her Uranus return and Neptune demi-return when she is over 90.
Kamala Harris Pluto Demi-Return
We have talked often about the Pluto Return for the United States; most countries do not remain with the same government and Constitution to have a Pluto Return so the United States is unique in this. And the Neptune demi-return for the United States is happening now. But also important is that the United States is having a Uranus return in a few years — to be discussed later. The Pluto Return suggests that America is getting a little long in the tooth as far as countries go; you can witness expressions of this all around you. You may find that it helps while reading the US news to realized that this is the Pluto Return so you should see big changes. Perhaps the United States is becoming mature — growing up is always difficult.
American historians refers to certain periods of American history by the name of the Presidents who served at the beginning of that period. The first such example is the Age of Jackson, roughly from 1829 to 1850. Andrew Jackson introduced a more people oriented democracy and “the spoils system”. Later there was the Age of Roosevelt, from 1933 through perhaps 1975 where concern for people rather than big business took center stage. Then we have the Age of Reagan from 1981 through 2015 when neoliberalism took center stage. When American historians look back at this period they will call it “The Age of Trump”.
Love him or hate him — and there seems to be no middle ground — Donald Trump seems to get the most press coverage and is talked about more than anyone else in this period, whether or not he is occupying the White House. His fans worship him — one described a campaign rally as being “like Woodstock” and many are hoping for his re-election. On the other hand many think he is the most dangerous candidate to ever run for President and swear that his re-election will turn the country to be anti-democratic. (They assume this country is a democracy, a belief that was disabused several years ago by Professors Gilens and Page (for example see https://www.bbc.com/news/blogs-echochambers-27074746)). Very few seem to notice that Donald Trump is the first American President to be born on the day of an eclipse. Eclipses are supposed to be special. He is indeed special. But how did we get here?
Uranus Square Pluto
It all started in 2010 when the opening square of Uranus and Pluto happened. This was the first major hard aspect since the conjunction of those two planets in the Sixties. This square lasted through 2016. There were events like the Arab Spring and Occupy Wall Street happening at this time. Many people were getting quite upset at the elites that run the country and the world. In addition there was an opposition between Pluto and the US Sun, which meant also that Uranus was square the US Sun. In both the Republican and Democratic parties there were challengers to the established candidate who was running for the nomination of their respective parties. The Republicans had Donald Trump who no one in the party wanted but the people wanted. The Democrats had Bernie Sanders who no one in the party wanted but the people wanted. Turns out that the Republicans are more democratic than the Democrats and the rest is history. Considering the Uranus Pluto square on the US Sun it should be no surprise that the candidate who ran as an outsider and a maverick would win. It seems so obvious as we look at the transits. Perhaps the Democrats should hire an astrology consultant.
It seems recently there has been an uptake of support for Trump. There is an old idea (Lenin mentioned it 100 years ago) called “controlled opposition”. Everyone thinks Trump is an opposition to the “Deep State” (even though for example looking at the connection of his Vice President should negate that view). He vows to shut down the Deep State when elected (we can see how well he did in his first term) and this helped attract supporters. But appearing to be a dissident while secretly helping the Elite is very good for the Elite.
Pluto Opposite U.S. Sun
Graphical Ephemeris of Uranus, Pluto, U.S. Sun
In the above image you can see the square of those two planets starts at 1 in 2012. The Pluto opposite and Uranus square the US Sun is exact at 2 in 2914. By 3 in late 2015 the last exact Pluto opposition takes place.
Trump Assassination Attempt
The assassination attempt on President Trump helped to build this image that he is an outsider that the Deep State either tried to kill or botched the security in a major manner. This assassination attempt is even less transparent than the assassination of Kennedy (either one). The incompetence of those protecting the President was so mammoth to be almost unbelievable. But at least it resulted in a picture so perfect a better job could not have been done in a studio. Here is a chart for that event. The Mars-Uranus conjunction is square Trump’s natal Mars, an astrological cliche for what happened.
Things really started to change with the debate between Presidents Biden and Trump, much earlier than is normal for Presidential debates. Here is a chart for the start of the debate between Biden and Trump on Biden’s natal. The first thing to notice is that Saturn is on his nadir. It has been found that a person’s connection/popularity with the outside world is shown by the position of Saturn in the chart: When it is at the Midheaven the world recognizes you and when it is at the nadir your popularity is also at its nadir. The second thing to notice is that Pluto is square his Moon. Also the Neptune is opposite is natal Neptune so he is facing a Neptune demi-return, just as the United States recently did and as Ted Kazinski — mentioned a few posts ago — did at his death.
Start of Debate
Obviously the Biden decline is very recent. Over the years many many journalists interacted with him and no one mentioned his decline. No journalist would ever cover up such an important development as the mental decline of the leader of the Free World and so there was no decline. I think it must have happened just before the debate. My feeling is that someone slipped him a drug, or neglected to give him a drug, so that his decline would be noticeable. Since there is much debate preparation before the big event it is hard to believe no one noticed Biden’s lack of mental acuity. Perhaps some Democrats just wanted to get him out of the way and they used the debate as a way to do such,
It should also be obvious that the President does not really make the important decision of running the country. He is just a figurehead, a representation of the country for the world. In this case I think Joe Biden is the prefect President of the United States and should be even better for the next four years
USA Election Day
Let us first look at the transits for the day of the election. Mars is opposite Pluto (1) reasonably tightly. This suggests war or upset — both planets are said to rule Scorpio. People might be upset, what a surprise! Whichever side wins the other side will be very angry — remember Russiagate and January 6. The Sun is trine Saturn (3) suggesting a conservative mood for the day. Venus– the lesser benefic — is opposing Jupiter– the Greater Benefic — (2) and that aspect is exact the Sunday before the election. This suggests much — perhaps excessive — good luck. But also remember that Venus and Jupiter conjunct the US Sun natally. Perhaps this is just an echo of that at the time of the US Pluto Return.
Election Day With US
Next let us look at those transit as they impinge the US chart. Saturn is square the US Ascendant (1) and trine the US Sun(2), again suggesting a conservative outcome. But of course what “conservative” means in this situation and which candidate is most conservative is an open question which I will leave up to the reader. I think the election will have “Conservative” results but these only mask the major changes that will develop in the next year.
Next let us look at the transits with the charts of the two main candidates. Of course, who the two main candidates are may change between now and the election, but at least I won’t share the charts for Joe Biden that I had prepared.
It is very interesting that the two major candidates are both Full Moon births, and at the time of the election they both have very definite and strong aspects to both their Sun and Moon. This seems like very rare coincidence.
Trump on Election Day
Donald Trump is the only President of the United States who was born on the day of an eclipse — the eclipse was about five hours after his birth. It is a lunar eclipse, which means a full Moon. This opposition of Venus and Jupiter falls on his Sun-Moon opposition with Jupiter on Sun and Venus on Moon. What are the odds! How great is that? It promises great good luck!! And if Trump is elected this time he will share a unique quality with only one other President — serving two non-consecutive terms. The other President with this uniqueness is Grover Cleveland, one of the few President who had a child (named Ruth) while in office who gave her name to a candy bar.
Note I use a chart for Donald Trump that is about an hour earlier than the “standard” birth time. This does not make a difference to the transits considered here. But this time is from the Trump family astrologer who worked for a local newspaper. It gives him Leo rising rather than the first degree of Virgo rising,
So right now everybody is either freaking out that Trump is shoe-in or preparing to welcome the return of the king. But not so fast; even in the best of time being a President is not a walk in the park, it is definitely not great good luck or even moderate luck. Traditionally when we look at the chart of a to-be president we see Saturn aspects and with Trump there are none. There were some in 2016 which made me think he’d be elected. The next four years may well see the end of the American Empire, or at least it will be more damaged than it has in the last four. Whoever is President during the next four years, and whichever party that President represent, will be damaged by the actions of that period. This will be anything but good luck unless that is said sarcastically.
In recent weeks, especially after the Debate and the attempted assassination of Trump we have seen more talk amongst previous Biden supporters that Trump won’t be so bad, that they can accept him.
While I really have no idea what will happen between now and the election, and there are sure to be many twists and turns and things that are now totally unexpected, here are two possible ideas I have for what those transits to Trump’s chart on election day mean.
Trump casts himself as someone who will battle and defeat the “Deep State”. If he is not elected it will show that the Deep State indeed hates him. If he is elected, either the Deep State is not very powerful (unimaginable) or the Deep State wants him to be elected. In this case the Venus-Jupiter on his Sun-Moon indicate that the way to the Presidency has been paved for him.
America will decline more in the next four years than it has in the preceding eight, and there is nothing that can change that at this late date. Trump will have great luck by not getting elected President, he will have dodged the bullet, to coin a phrase. By staying back he will increase his fame and glory, he will be universally regarded as a hero. Meanwhile the candidate who is elected President will and the party this candidate represent will be universally degraded. Perhaps that party will even die.
Harris on Election Day
If we look at the transits for Kamala Harris (who at time of writing seems to be the Democrats choice) we see a much different picture. Whereas Trump has much luck, Harris has much hard work. Notice that Saturn makes an almost exact semisquare and sesquiquadrate to her Sun and Moon; she has big time Saturn aspects with the orbs to both Sun and Moon very tight.
The whole things reminds me of an old song lyric: “Laugh about it/Shout about it/When you have to choose/Every way you look at it you lose”. Those words are even more true now then when Paul Simon wrote them almost 60 years ago. Perhaps America will re-evaluate the way power and elections are run in the country. That will be great good luck!
Over the last few blog posts we’ve seen the important aspects which signify that the second half of this decade will be quite different than the first half. I discussed previously the Jupiter-Saturn square that signifies the beginning of the second half of the decade. Later I discussed the Saturn-Neptune conjunction that happens shortly after the third Jupiter-Saturn square and then finally in February 2026. This time we will discuss an important transit to the US chart that first occurs in late summer of 2024 (elections season) and will occur finally in early 2026 and that is transiting Uranus square the natal Moon.
Transiting Uranus aspects to the Moon of the United States (which simultaneously makes a hard aspect to the Sun) have shown up as an upset (Uranus) to the body politic of the people of the country (the Moon). Since Uranus has a period of 84 years, the quadrature aspects of Uranus to the natal Moon of the United States should happen every 21 years. Since such an aspect is coming up this decade, let us look at the transits of Uranus conjunct, opposed, or square to the natal moon over this history of the United States as a nation.
There is a question among astrologers whether an aspect manifests before the aspect is exact (called partile) or after the aspect is exact. In the following cases we will see examples of both though it appears that the act — war — happens after the aspect is exact more often than not. But of course remember that the aspects relate to something happening to the populace and in most case war is the concrete result, but that is only the outward externalization of a change to the people in the country.
Uranus in hard aspect — conjunction, square, opposition — to the natal moon of the United States is coming up. The first pass is in August and September of 2024 when it goes stationary retrograde right on the Moon; needless to say this is right before the November presidential election of that country. Then in the middle of May 2025 it makes a direct square to the Moon (and also a trine to Natal Pluto). Finally in February of 2026 it goes stationary direct within a quarter degree of the Moon. The United States will experience three years of Uranus squaring its Moon (along with many other interesting aspects that will be discussed in later posts) so it is instructive to look back at previous hard aspects between these two planets during the history of the country.
2002-2003 invasion of Afghanistan/Iraq after the attacks of 9/11.
There was a conjunction of transiting Uranus and the natal Moon in 2002 and 2003; this was the previous hard aspect between these two planets. The transit was shortly after 9/11 when Americans were braying for blood and it was easy to convince them that an invasion of Iraq and Afghanistan were in their best interests. The invasion of Afghanistan took place on October 7, 2001, less than a month after the attacks on 9/11. The invasion of Iraq, discussed earlier, happened about a year and a half later.
1980-81 start of New Cold War with RR also Iran-Iraq War
At the end of 1980 and 1981 Uranus was square the Moon. This period saw the election of Ronald Reagan and the start of the New Cold War (as one book titled it) and also the beginning of the Iraq-Iran war (the US was helping Iraq and Saddam Hussein! since Iran had held our hostages) and there was ongoing fighting in Central America in the countries of Nicaragua, El Salvador, and Guatemala. The USS Honduras (as some wag called it), was a military base set up to allows us to support the Contras, our proxy army in Central America. All three countries saw much violence and the United States was definitely involved, most obviously with the funding an oppositional army called the Contras in Nicaragua. As mentioned previously there was also a Saturn-Pluto conjunction in 1982.
1961-62 start up of Vietnam war
At the beginning of the Sixties – 1961 and 1962 – Uranus was opposite the US Moon. This was the beginning of serious American involvement in Vietnam; many think this did not happen until the Gulf of Tonkin resolution in August 1964, but earlier in the decade Vietnam was a big flash point. Early in 1963 a Buddhist monk burnt himself in protest of the war which had been picking up steam since John Kennedy had been elected. There were already student protests at some college campuses. The book by David Halberstan The Making of a Quagmire describes this period well and shows how the United States got involved in a disaster.
1941-42 World War II
In 1941 and 1942 Uranus squared the Moon in the same type of square that is coming up — this period was 84 years ago — one Uranus cycle before now. In fact the second exact transit of this cycle was on December 20, 1941, less than two weeks after the attack on Pearl Harbor that got America involved in World War II. The American people weren’t terribly convinced of the need to get involved in a war that seemed mostly in Europe, but after this square (“A date that will live in infamy”) there was much more eagerness to go to war.
1918-19 World War I, Red Summer, Prohibition, Palmer Raids
The effects of this square happened both before and after the square was exact. Uranus was conjunct the U.S. Moon in 1918 — as World War I was ending — and 1919 — as the Versailles peace treaty was worked out which was the official end of the war. America did not want to enter World War I and the President Woodrow Wilson ran for his second term — in 1916 — on the slogan ‘He kept us out of War’. Six months later he asked for a declaration of war. But there was a strong propaganda push to get America into the war, lead by among other people Freud’s nephew Edward Bernays. There was also propaganda about the Huns (Germans) raping Belgium nuns (stories of heathens raping our women have also been a popular ploy to get a nation involved in a war or for a lynching); there were people who would speak of the benefits of war before movies were shown, which though still silent were becoming very popular. After war was declared it suddenly became very popular with the masses, with for example a recruiting station in the shape of a battleship set up in New York City’s Union Square. (Suggested reading American Midnight by Adam Hochschild). But another “war” was coming up, though an internal war. 1920 saw the beginning of Prohibition in the United States which lasted until 1933. Prohibition saw a conflict between those supplying illegal alcohol and the government which was trying to prevent the spread of alcohol. Also unusual was the beginning trine between Uranus and Pluto which will be discussed at a different time. There was also upcoming what is called “Red Summer” which saw a lot of racially motivated attack (cf Tulsa Oklahoma) and the Palmer raids on unorthodox opinions.
There was also an invasion of Russia by the United States and several European countries as well as Japan in summer of 1918. This invasion was an attempt to stop the Bolshevik Revolution as part of the Russian Civil War between the “White” Russians — the Menshevicks (Kerensky) — and the “Red” Russians — the Bolsheviks. American forces remained in the country until 1920. All “good” Americans were already fearful of the Bolsheviks.
In June of 1919 several explosions occurred around the country, one of which was at the Washington, DC home of new attorney General, “Fighting Quaker” A. Mitchell Palmer. After the explosion, which did not injure Palmer, his wife, or their daughter, he was aided by Assistant Secretary of the Navy and neighbor Franklin D. Roosevelt, who discovered a collarbone of the bomber who was the only one killed by the blast. But this brush with death encouraged Palmer to start a war on dissidents since he couldn’t go after the bomber who was thought to be a member of a small Italian anarchist sect. Many people were deported as a result of Palmer’s actions. Palmer was assisted by the new director of the Bureau of Investigation John E. Hoover who probably did more than Palmer to round up suspects.
1896-97 Remember the Maine
All through 1897 transiting Uranus was exactly square the US Moon. The next year the Spanish-America War broke out. At the time Cuba was a colony of Spain and the inhabitants of that island revolted against their Spanish overlords. The US cruiser Maine was in the Havana harbor when an explosion took place on the ship. It is now widely assumed that the explosion occurred on board, but at the time it was believed that the Spanish had exploded a bomb attached to the Maine. That explosion led to America’s involvement in the War against Spain. As a result of the US victory, many of Spain’s colonies, including Cuba, Puerto Rica, and the Philippines, became colonies of America. The US base at Guantanamo Bay is a result of the victory in the Spanish-American War. Empire became a way of life.
1877-78 End of Reconstruction
The Compromise of 1877 was a very important event in American history and one can imagine things being much different if this Compromise had not happened but it is seldom mentioned. The election of 1876 was inconclusive and so votes were taken with the House, Senate, and Supreme Court to determine the winner. Finally the Republican Rutherford B. Hayes was declared the winner, but the Republican winner withdrew the federal troops from the South (something the Democrats wanted but the Republicans opposed) who had been there since the end of the Civil War; this withdrawal ended Reconstruction and allowed the Democratic politicians of the South to institute what came to be know as Jim Crow laws, as well as countenancing other activities that resulted from the absence of Reconstruction. Lynching of the newly freed people became a popular activity, one that sometimes drew crowds and photographers. The country has still not fully recovered from the effects of the Compromise of 1877.
1857-58 Civil War
In 1857 and 1858 Uranus was in Taurus (two Uranus cycles before now) and square the US Moon. This was the lead up to the Civil War which at the time many people could see coming. Henry Ward Beecher, a prominent preacher (whose sister wrote Uncle Tom’s Cabin) in Brooklyn was providing “Beecher’s Bible” (rifles) to abolitionists in Kansas which resulted in “Bleeding Kansas” as pro and anti abolitionists fought it out over who would dominate that state; also John Brown provided his famous raid on Harper’s Ferry in the next year which many consider the tipping point to war.
1835 Remember the Alamo Texas Revolution
The citizens of Texas, which had been part of Mexico, were trying to establish that territory as a new country. The Battle at the Alamo in that region started as a battle to defeat the Mexican authorities and make Texas an independent country. The battle at the Alamo was not successful, and Texas was finally taken in as part of the United States under the Presidency of John Tyler (vote was defeated) and then officially under the next President Polk.
1813 War of 1812
The British attacked America again after they lost the American Revolution, and this was called the War of 1812. During this war the British succeeded in in burning down parts of Washington, D.C. This always results in a strong reaction. The war is best known for Andrew Jackson’s Battle of New Orleans which actually took place after the peace treaty was signed but communications were slower then.
1793-95 Whiskey Rebellion
The Whiskey Rebellion was the first armed revolt against the new country which was in the first term of the first president. At the time whiskey was very popular (the amount of alcohol consumed in early America is simply astounding!) not only as a beverage, but also as a way of transporting corn. Many farmers in Pennsylvania were angry at the taxes levied on whiskey by the federal government. There was also a Uranus Pluto opposition during the beginning of this rebellion and in 1794 Saturn was square both Pluto and Uranus, making an especially potent conflict. 1794 was the high point and climax of the rebellion. In Europe the French Revolution was going full bore and Jacobins executed the King.
1773-74 Pre-Revolutionary fervor
While the official start of the Revolutionary War took place in 1775 with the Battle of Lexington and Concord, there was much anger leading up to that battle and there was for instance the Boston Tea Party in 1773. In 1774 Britain passed five acts to punish the United States for that party, including the Boston Port Act which closed the port.
Uranus Square Moon First Pass
This year and the next two years will see transiting Uranus square the natal Moon of the United States and also make a semisquare to the US Sun.
Uranus turns stationary retrograde on the US Moon in the last half of 2024, just before the Presidential election. It then makes a clean true pass in early summer of 2025. Finally it goes stationary direct on the natal moon in late winter 2026.
Uranus Square Moon Second Pass
Uranus Square Moon Third Pass
The Three Passes
Here is a graphical ephemeris showing the three passes of Uranus square the Moon happening first in September of this year when Uranus goes stationary retrograde on the US Moon at 1. Then in Summer of 2025 at 2 there is the only direct square. Finally Uranus goes stationary direct on the Moon in February 2026 at 3.
Uranus Semisquare Sun
Finally here is a graphical ephemeris to show Uranus making a semisquare to the Sun at about the same time as it makes a square to the Moon. We see this happens in early June of 2025, December of 2025, and April of 2026.
What is often called the first Cold War between the United States and the Soviet Union started shortly after the end of World War II. Sometimes this is called the second Cold War since shortly after the end of War War I and the start of the Russian Revolution several countries including the United States under President Woodrow Wilson sent troops into Russia to fight against the Bolsheviks in the Russian Civil War. Diplomatic recognition of the new Soviet Union that came out of that civil war was not granted by the United States until President Roosevelt recognized the Soviet Union in 1933, thus ending that first cold war. But since most forget or never knew about that American intervention, we will refer to the cold war that started after World War II as the first cold war.
Truman Doctrine
The beginning of this cold war is widely assumed to have started with the promulgation of the “Truman Doctrine” by President Harry Truman in 1947. Nineteen Forty Seven was a big year for the birth of a new America. Later in that same year the National Security Act was passed, which among other things created that infamous three letter agency the Central Intelligence Agency, known widely as the CIA. The CIA was an outgrowth of the wartime OSS (Office of Strategic Services) and German ideas that were brought into this country by Operation Paperclip and especially Reinhard Gehlen, (https://warfarehistorynetwork.com/article/german-spymaster-reinhard-gehlen/) who was the head of German spy organizations under several leaders.
Birth of CIA
The reason that 1947 was such a banner year was indicated by the Saturn-Pluto conjunction that took place that summer. As you can judge by the nature of these planets and historical association, this combination is not good news. There have been only two such conjunctions since the one of 1947. The one in the early Eighties indicates the start of the”New Cold War” with fighting in several central American countries; the results of those wars we are now seeing at the southern border of the United States. The next Saturn-Pluto conjunction was in January of 2020. I initially thought the fact that President Trump had ordered the assassination of Iranian military leader Qusem Soleimani would lead to a large scale war between the United States and Iran but something else of great import happened instead.
Saturn-Pluto Conjunction of 1947
This Cold War is shown by the Long Sextile of Neptune and Pluto. The two planets conjoined in the 1890s, thus suggesting the momentous changes that were about to begin and grow more prevalent in the new Twentieth Century. After that conjunction it would take half a century before the opening sextile of those two planets occurred.
First Cold War
If we look at this graphical ephemeris we see that there is a sixth harmonic conjunction between the two outer planets — the long sextile between Neptune and Pluto. It goes from the late Forties (Number 1) to the early Nineties (Number 2). I saw several years ago that this was an indicator of the Cold War. This time period is between the Truman Doctrine and the fall of the Soviet Union. But Pluto reached its perihelion — closest to the Sun — at about the turn of the century and so there will be another long sextile in the Twenty-First Century. When I saw that many years ago I figured this could not be a return to the Cold War since that had long gone. How naive I was! There is another long sextile — but not as long — from 2021 to 2036. So maybe this will indicate another Cold War, or perhaps a Hot War which the West seems to be gearing up for.
Neptune and Pluto have an interesting pattern. Pluto has a very elliptic orbit so that sometimes it is inside the orbit of Neptune. The astronomer (and astrologer) Johannes Kepler created the laws of planetary motion that are the basis of the ephemerides that we use in astrology today. His second law states that planets sweep out equal arcs in equal time, which implies that when a planet is farther from the Sun (which is one of the two centers of the ellipse that is the planetary orbit) it moves slower than when it is closer to the Sun. Thus Pluto takes a lot longer to go through the sign of Gemini — 30 year — than the sign of Sagittarius — 11 years. As result of this speedup/slowdown Neptune and Pluto can hold the same aspect for many years.
Second Cold War?
This second long sextile occurs from 2021 (Number 1) until 2036 (Number 2) with the most intense period between 2024 (Number 3) and 2029 (Number 4).
For anyone familiar with the uses of propaganda it appears that this country is trying to build up to a war with Russia. The anger and hate directed towards Russia dwarfs what was seen during the First Cold War from 1947 to 1992. During that one we would at least talk to the Soviet Union as did Eisenhower (though he was shanghaied by a U2 flight over the Soviet Union right before the talks, but that at least it gave its name to a rock group whose leader at a recent show in Las Vegas celebrated Navalny, the Russian dissident I mentioned previously), Nixon, and Reagan, who almost abolished nuclear weapons in consultations with the leader of the Soviet Union. But that was so Twentieth Century.
After the attack on the World Trade Center in New York City President Putin was the first to offer condolences to the United States and allowed the US to use Russian airspace for an attack on Afghanistan.
Putin Catches Fish; Bush Applauds
I recently saw a photograph taken in Summer of 2007 of a fishing trip taken by both Presidents Bush and President Putin at Kennebunkport, Maine. Putin is the only one who caught anything and he threw it back. The younger Bush is applauding in the background. Bush and Putin were even at the same dance once in Russia in 2008: https://x.com/MarioNawfal/status/1794537840639881245. But it is hard to imagine anything like that happening now, such as for example Biden and Putin going on a bicycle trip or even eating ice cream together.
One wonders what will end this second Cold War. Will Russia collapse like the Soviet Union did? Will the United States collapse instead, thus ending a conflict between those two superpowers. Or perhaps there will be a hot war that will end the planet and thus also this second Cold War. Stay tuned.
Just when I thought that Neptune could not get any more strongly blatant they prove me wrong. Of course, in these cases Neptune goes by the abbreviation BS. Or as Brick in the play Cat on a Hot Tin Roof might put it: this is mendacity, mendacity now controls everything. This occurs as Neptune approaches the Cardinal Axis the day before America’s birthday this year. Neptune then goes stationary retrograde within four minutes of the Aries Point. At the end of March next year Neptune actually crosses zero Aries. Then near the end of 2025 Neptune briefly returns back into Pisces before going back in to Aries in late January of 2026, never to return for over 150 years.
Neptune Almost to Aries Point
In February it was announced that Russian dissident Alexei Navalny died while in a prison in the very far North of Russia. All the Western commentators immediately assumed that he was murdered (by Putin of course), even though the announcement was that he died from a “blood clot” — there is a lot of that going around. I’ve been told that Navalny got a mRNA Covid vaccine injection while in Germany so we know he didn’t die of Covid-19. Teresa May, who was briefly Prime Minister of England, thought he was killed by British intelligence, but that probably is just home team pride. But as of now we have no idea how he died other than the statement about an embolism. Interestingly, both Russia and Ukraine agreed that Navalny died of natural causes.
Alexi Navalny
But the supposed murderer of Navalny — Vladimir Putin, the President of Russia — must be the dumbest leader of any nation in the world. First of all he announced the death which he must have known would be assumed to be a murder by leaders of the West. The cause of death was not said to be a suicide, which is the common way to cover up the death of a prisoner in a jail. I’m sure you can think of examples of this. And the timing was horrible since the Munich Security Conference (called the Davos of Defense) was starting the next day. This is an annual get together of NATO members and this one had Navalny’s wife in attendance, just an interesting coincidence I’m sure. Here was Navalny safely out of Putin’s hair (so to speak) and now he’s on everybody’s mind. And every political leader knows that the way to prevent a candidate from opposing you is to tie them up with legal problems, as was recently done in Pakistan and was done to Eugene Debs by President Woodrow Wilson for the 1916 Presidential election — I’m sure the reader can think of other examples. Putin is obviously so lacking in mental capability that one wonders why anyone is worried about him.
Pest Control
The is a video floating around the Internet of Navalny as a pest control salesman. For flies and cockroaches you can use a flyswatter or shoe, he says, as huge horrible closeups of those insects fill the screen, but for bigger pests — and here a Muslim pops up — you need a gun. Now if this ad appeared in America he would be instantly called a MAGA republican and a racist. Bur fortunately he is in an official enemy country and so held to a different standard. This version is in Russian but I’ve seen one with English subtitles.
Navalny was born at 1:30 in the afternoon. I’m always a little bit suspicious of a birthtime at the half hour, and even more at birthtimes to the nearest hour, but we’re lucky to have a birthtime at all. In this natal chart the predominant planet is Neptune which is opposite his Sun-Venus conjunction, and that is true no matter what the birthtime. This perhaps indicates that he is he good with the Neptune business, certainly appropriate for this time. At his death Pluto seems to be dominating with aspects to his Sun, Moon, Ascendant, Midheaven, and Saturn.
Death of Navalny
But a short time before his death Putin gave a half-hour lecture on the history of Russia and Ukraine going back to the Tenth Century when he was interviewed by an American journalist. So stupidity is not the problem. Thus we must assume that Putin takes some kind of pleasure in thumbing his nose at the West.
But since Putin is considered responsible for the death of dissident Alex Navalny I think it is only fair to place the responsibility for the death of American dissident Ted Kazinski in an American prison on President Biden. Kaczynski, also known as the Unibomber, had a good criticism of the industrial, technological world which was laid out in his manifesto (https://archive.nytimes.com/www.nytimes.com/library/national/unabom-manifesto-1.html). His problem was that he was not satisfied with just criticizing the industrial world, but rather took action that resulted in the deaths of many. His death in 2023 was called a suicide, but we know that excuse is often used when someone who is contentious dies in prison.
Ted Kaczynski
Kaczynski has a tight Uranus Sun conjunction, but Saturn is also there giving him a sense of both the new and the old; those two principles are fighting it out within his self. Mercury is conjunct the Ascendant and he is partially know for his writings the “Unibomber Manifesto”. When he died he was undergoing his Neptune demi-return, just like the United States is at the current time. When Neptune returns to a position opposite its natal position it is difficult as both Kaczynski and the United States would attest.
Death of Kaczynski
There is another dissident, a journalist, who died in a Ukrainian prison recently. The cause of death was given as pneumonia. His family blames the Ukrainian authorities. This journalist, Gonzalo Lira, was an American born in California (can’t get any more American than that!) and married a Ukrainian woman. The American government was warned often of bad outcomes when Lira was arrested by the Ukrainian authorities for criticizing the government’s war effort. One would think that an American held in a country that has a strong American connection would engender more concern than a citizen of a foreign country imprisoned in a place where America has no influence. But the amount of newspaper mentions of the two dissidents vary as the illustration below shows. These comparisons are not totally accurate since the record of Lira is 40 days versus only 6 days for Navalny.
The difference in the amount of coverage of these two case is staggering. For example, one survey shows Lira getting one mention in the NY Post and Newsweek while Navalny got 10 to 20 mentions for his death in all the standard sources such as CNN and the Washington Post, and all the others. Again, it helps to live in an official enemy.
Gonzalo Lira
We don’t have a birthtime for Lira so the Ascendant and Midheaven are unknown and the moon is within six degrees either way of its true position. I choose a time of 12 noon which splits the difference. He was born under a wide Uranus Pluto conjunction, a true child of the Sixties. There is a Uranus Moon opposition but how close it is depends on the birthtime. A Mars Saturn conjunction is close and difficult — the standard meaning is “driving with the brakes on”.
Death of Lira
Currently there is another journalist who is slowly being killed in his prison of Belmarsh, which is called Britain’s Guantanamo. The decision being made in Britain is whether this journalist — Julian Assange — will be extradited to the United States where he can be sentenced to a prison term of over 100 years. In his most despicable act, former President Trump attempted to sentence Assange for revealing United States war crimes. Once Joe Biden — the anti-Trump — took the Presidency one would assume that he would void the attempt to bring Assange — who is not an American — to the United States for trial. But he didn’t. Many are worried that Assange will commit suicide since he has been indoors for many years. The Democrats have assumed that Assange released stolen documents from Democrats that he got from the Russians; this release caused Hilary Clinton to lose an election for President that everyone assumed was hers so the Democrats are not sympathetic to Assange either.
Julian Assange
This famous video that his organization, Wikileaks, released is called “Collateral Murder” and shows American troops in a helicopter in Iraq laughing as they shoot two Reuters journalists and a bystander who stops to help them. This video was release on April 10, 2010 at 10:44 EST. It shows the events of July 12, 2007: https://collateralmurder.wikileaks.org/. This was a primary reason for his problems with the American law.
Assange has Moon square his Midheaven and his connection with the public is strong. He has a Saturn-Neptune opposition in his natal chart and this combination has been talked about recently in this blog. His life has been dedicated to exposing those uncomfortable truths that seemed like a good idea before they were exposed.
As an American it seems to me that the country is on the verge of cracking up. As the statement — one that goes back to the Greeks — has it, those whom the gods will destroy they first drive mad.
Previously we looked at the opening Jupiter-Saturn square — first quarter Jupiter — which portends the beginning of the second half of this decade. The second half of a decade is different than the first half, and in this case it will be strongly different. One of the reasons for this is an important aspect happening — or almost happening — a month after the third Jupiter-Saturn square which was discussed previously. It will happen exactly about seven months later. This aspect is a Saturn-Neptune conjunction at the Aries point. (Full disclosure: I have minor aspects between both Saturn and Neptune with the Ascendant and an aspect between Saturn and Neptune.)
The key phrase I use for Saturn and Neptune is “It seemed like a good idea at the time”. As one might guess with the two planets involved, the outlook is not especially upbeat. Saturn is called the “Greater Malefic” and we’ve discussed Neptune before; we’re seeing a lot of Neptune this decade — in the mundane sphere it seems to rule propaganda and deception. While a positive spin on these two planets would be “practical spiritual action” but we are talking about the world here so I don’t expect miracles and the seeing through of myths. But perhaps that is not entirely impossible. One possible positive manifestation would be the seeing through of the incredible propaganda that has saturated the world, especially in the last 10 years. Another possible manifestation, to be very optimistic, is that there will be a “spiritual” realization that we have to consciously change our ways of existing for the first time in history to save our collective butts. That’s a lot more difficult than simply stopping carbon emissions.
Conjunction of 1989
Lets look at previous conjunctions of these two planets which take place about every thirty six years. The most famous one was the previous conjunction in 1989. This saw the fall of the Berlin Wall (shortly after the second conjunction in a series of three) and in the next two years the fall of the Soviet Union and all the Soviet connected Eastern European countries. The Soviet Union broke into several countries, such as Russia and Ukraine. This was also the turn of the decade with a Jupiter Saturn. There were also the Tiananmen Square protests of April May 1989 and he Soviet Union withdrawal from Afghanistan in May 1988 through February 1989 after Geneva Accords signed April 14, 1988. Much happened under this Saturn Neptune conjunction.
But this dissolution of the Soviet block also caused many changes in the Western block. Since 1945 and the start of the Cold War, this conflict with the Soviet Union had served as sort of a raison d’etre for the West. While the West and especially the United States could believe that they had “won” the Cold War after this conjunction and so take victory laps (cf The End of History by Francis Fukuyama) there was also a lost to the West because one of their prime motivator and unifiers — fighting the good cold war fight — was no longer around — see again Francis Fukuyama. It was as if an employee who hates his boss with passion the question becomes what does he do when his boss dies.
Conjunction of 1953
The previous conjunction was in 1953. That year saw the death of Stalin (who had ruled the Soviet Union for one Saturn cycle) and the consequential exposure of Stalin’s crimes. In the Soviet Union Stalin was once considered a great leader by many people, and to this day some older Russians still honor him, but by his death many leaders considered him horrid and Khrushchev, the Soviet leader who followed Stalin’s death, made a famous speech to the Soviet Politburo denouncing Stalin’s crimes. This year also saw the end of the Korean War with an armistice but actually the war has never really been ended in the way most wars end. Joseph McCarthy, who had held the US government under his sway, was losing power and his final downfall would come the next year (Have you no sense of decency, sir?…) and his death by alcoholism followed three years after that. McCarthy seemed like a good idea at the time — the early fifties — but his communists-in-government shtick was getting a little long in the tooth by 1954.
In his last book, Planetary Cycles Mundane Astrology famous French astrologer Andre Barbault gives even more detail on aspects of Saturn and Neptune and the history of the Soviet Union than is considered here.
Conjunction of 1917
The conjunction before that was in 1917 which saw the beginning of the Soviet Revolution that overthrew the czar who ruled Russia. This revolution was partly as a result to Russian losses in World War I. In this case the idea no longer thought of as good was the Russian ruler ship by the czar. The end of World War I, which happened the next year, was followed shortly thereafter by the breakup of four empires: Russian, German, Astro-Hungarian, and Ottoman; the breakup of the latter lead to many new nations including what became Israel. The year 1917 also saw the entrance of the United States into the battles of World War I after a far reaching propaganda campaign. This entrance followed a jingoistic movement in the US, partly brought about by only the second Democratic president since Lincoln. Suggested reading: American Midnight by Adam Hochschild.
Saturn-Neptune close
In July of 2025 both planets come within a quarter degree of an exact conjunction at about 2 degrees Aries and then both go retrograde thus avoiding the exact conjunction. This occurs one month after the final Jupiter square Saturn. At this time not only is Jupiter square Saturn but also Jupiter is square Neptune. This is certainly a good start to the second half of the 2020’s, but one that promises a turn about to what has gone before.
Saturn-Neptune Exact
In February of 2026 there is the only exact conjunction at 45 minutes of Aries. Since the Aries point represents the World, this Saturn Neptune conjunction will effect and be felt by the whole world. Perhaps the “once what was thought a good idea” was having a giant 500 year long party. But it is important to realize how important this is — a conjunction of Saturn, Neptune, and the Aries Point. This is one to remember.
Saturn-Neptune Conjunction in Graphical Ephemeris
The graphical ephemeris (above) shows the first occasion where the two planets are almost conjunct but not quite since they both go retrograde at about the same time, which normally happens when the two outer planets are conjunct and go retrograde at the same time. In the same graphical ephemeris we see the only exact conjunct at the same time in early 2026.
These Saturn-Neptune conjunction of 2025 and 2026 occur at the first degree of Aries so, considering the nature of the Aries point as ruling the whole world (consider that actress Shirley Temple had Moon at zero Cancer, square the Aries point, and she was considered “America’s sweetheart” and almost everyone loved her during the dark days of the Great Depression) that the effects of this conjunction of the two planets should effect and be felt by the whole world.
Close-up of the Near Miss Conjunction
This image above is a magnified part of the close encounter of Saturn and Neptune in July of 2025. You can see how close this is to the Aries point — dark black horizontal line — and the MC of the United States — dashed grey line.
Close -up of Saturn-Neptune Conjunction
This magnification of the only Saturn Neptune conjunction in early 2026 shows that it occurs half-way between the Aries point and the Midheaven of the United States.
As has been indicated the triple conjunction of Saturn, Neptune, and the Cardinal Axis should have repercussions around the world. The previous conjunction saw the fall of the Soviet Union, changing the future development of both the United States and Russia. But this conjunction takes place at the Cardial Axis so the world should feel the change.
But that’s not all for those who live in or are affected by the United States, which means the whole world. The Midheaven of the United States is 1 degree Libra (and of course the IC is at 1 Aries) and so this conjunction is right on the US MC/IC axis and actually closer to that than to the cardinal axis. So we should expect that the effects of the Pluto Return of the United States — discussed previously — should be magnified/modified in ways that can’t be predicted. Perhaps a new political party will be formed when people realize that the Uniparty — a name that is becoming more and more common — that rules in Washington does not serve the interests of people but serves the interests of the corporations quite well. Perhaps we will see the breakup of the United states into several smaller counties so that the US will be like EU. Suggested reading American Nations by Colin Woodard and the Nine Nations of North America by Joel Garreau.
In the magnification you can see how the conjunction is between the Aries point and the US MC — and that both are close which is also an indication why the US has been so successful at controlling the world. The Aries point and the US Midheaven are only one degree apart and that conjunction is at 45 minutes of Aries so it is very tight in both cases, and even tighter to the midpoint of the Cardinal Axis and the US Midheaven. Fireworks of some type are promised, but with Neptune involved it will look like a damp squib.
Full moons are always potent — the culmination of a lunar cycle that started with the preceding New Moon. Dane Rudhyar’s magisterial The Lunation Cycle is an important reference to the cycle of the Moon. And the lunar cycle is a prototype for the other planetary cycles such as the Jupiter-Saturn cycle that has been much discussed here. I now want to point out the Full Moon of 8-19-2024 which occurs just before Labor Day when the US election cycle is reaching a fever pitch. It should be noted in passing that the year 2024 will see many national elections, perhaps even a record for a single year. A Full Moon comes about once a month, and it is obvious the connection between the word “month” and moon. Many calendars, and especially religious calendars, are based on the Moon and not the Sun, and many solutions have been tried to harmonize the Lunar calendar with the Solar calendar. There are thirteen lunar cycles in a solar cycle. This is an example of astrology in everyday life.
A Full Moon To Remember
The first thing to notice is that there are two interlocking T-Squares which involve a total of eight of the ten planets; then there are several other indicators that this chart well represents the start of the second half of this decade.
The first T-square involves the Full Moon, with Mercury Retrograde conjunct Sun; the second T-square consists of the first in a series of the opening squares of Jupiter and Saturn which marks the beginning of the second half of the decade. Saturn is opposed to Venus and Mars is conjunct Jupiter at the apex of this T-square.
The apex of the first T-square is Uranus — Uranus squares both ends of the Full Moon — so that this will definitely be a Uranian Full Moon: expect the unexpected. The Jupiter Saturn square is almost exact.
To add further spice Neptune is almost at 0 Aries. This is its first brush with the Aries point and it goes stationary retrograde about six weeks earlier at four minutes from zero Aries. Pluto is at the first degree of Aquarius and will soon make its last brief foray into Capricorn before returning to Aquarius for the next two decades.
Let’s compare this Full Moon to the US chart. When we do that we find more interesting things. This Full moon is right on the US Moon — the people of the country. But the Full Moon also makes a wide aspect — a semisquare and a sesquiquadrate — to the US Sun — the government. Thus this Full Moon makes hard aspect to the two most important planets in the US natal chart.
Full Moon United States
Neptune is opposite the MC of the United States suggesting there will be some confusion in how the country is perceived by other and (since Neptune is conjunct the US IC) how the people think about themselves. Not a healthy situation but we have seen it playing out over the last ten years with first Neptune making a sesquiquadrate to the US Ascendant.
This occasion also marks the Mars return for the US — which is exact two days later, something that happens every two years. In this case Mars is conjunct Jupiter which in humans can suggest pregnancy but in this case that is unlikely. But use of Martian energy is highlighted, more so than has been shown so far in 2024,
Finally there is the transit of Uranus square the US Moon. This is the first pass and it goes stationary retrograde on the Moon a couple of weeks after this Full Moon, right after the next New Moon. Hard aspects of Uranus to the US Moon is an important topic which will be dealt with at length later but for now suffice it to say that the previous conjunction of Uranus to the US Moon occurred shortly after 9/11 when the US invaded both Afghanistan and Iraq.
When talking about what is called “mundane astrology” — which is what we are doing here — it is necessary to distinguish between events and trends. An event is something that happens in this case right about the time of this chart. With a strong Uranus this could be unexpected and sudden. But it is possible that nothing overt will happen at this time. More important is the trend that this Full Moon presages. This trend is something I’ve discussed before and that is that the second half of this decade will be very different that the first in ways that this chart suggests.
Israel is a modern country and so it has an accurate birthtime. The downside is that there are three birthtimes. Fortunately these times are all`within an 8 hour period. I have a birthtime that is half way between the first and the second which I prefer and when we look at the attacks of October 7 you will see why.
Israel 4pm
Currently Israel is much in the news because of the attack by Hamas on October 7 and the ongoing war with the Gaza Strip. This incident illustrates that the effects of Neptune are still quite prominent. Israel has what is probably the best intelligence service in the world and the Gaza Strip is one of the more heavily surveilled regions and still the Israeli government missed this attack which had been two years in planning according to Sky News; also Hamas had trial runs in the preceding weeks which were not noticed by Israeli intelligence. And they were warned several days in advance by Egypt and the United States — which also has a well developed intelligence service — that something big was coming. This intelligence failure was so large that some conspiracy theorists have suggested that Israel wanted this attack to happen so they would have an excuse to go into Gaza with big weapons. So October 7 illustrates the delusions of Neptune writ large.
Israel 4:17pm
But there is also something called “The Fog of War” which occurs in every war since it is difficult to see the truth with so many conflicting opinions and a tendency by each belligerent to slant their own truth in a way that is beneficial to them. I thought the ongoing conflict in Ukraine was very foggy, but this current conflict in the Levant far outdoes that war in the fog arena. But again, this is strongly Neptune.
Israel 4:32pm
So here are the three possibly charts for Israel. The first for May 14, 1948 is for the start of a speech declaring the state of Israel at 4 pm; the second is for the end of that speech at 4:32PM; the third is midnight the following day, May 15, when Britain gave up control of that area. For reasons that will be clear later, I prefer a time of 4:17PM on that same day.
Israel Midnight
There are three incidents that we will look at: the Hamas attack early in October, the Six-Day War of 1967, and the Yon Kippur War (also known as the October War), which lasted some twenty days, in 1973. Those last two are by now ancient history, but Israel astrologers consider them shown by that Israeli chart.
Let’s first look at the most recent event, one that is being referred to as Israel’s 9/11 and I’m sure the date October 7 or 7.10 (like much of the world Israel uses day first in dates) will be immortalized in that nation’s history. At 6:35 in the morning the airraid sirens announced the initial attack by Hamas on a music festival or rave and so that is the time we used for this event. I’m still seeing conflicting accounts of what exactly happened but the time is what counts. Perhaps in the future people will look back at this event as they now note the assassination of Archduke Franz Ferdinand 110 years ago.
Attack on Israel 4:17 chart
It is true of this chart and in fact all charts set in this period that Uranus is conjunct the Sun of Israel. Uranus is about one degree away and since it is retrograde it is separating. Was this a Uranian event? With Uranus expect the unexpected.
At the end of August 2023 Uranus went stationary retrograde at about one-half degree from the Israel Sun, which is the same no matter what chart you use. On October 7 Uranus was a little over a degree from the natal Sun. One suggested meaning of this transit is “expect surprises” and that is certainly what happened. Uranus Sun contacts suggest change and upset, things that we are seeing right now. But note that there was much protest before October 7 because the Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu was attempting to make the Israeli Supreme Court subservient to the Knesset (Israel’s unicameral legislative body – unlike every US state but Nebraska Israel does not have a bicameral legislature) instead of its equal. And currently there are many citizen who charge Netanyahu with bad response to these attacks.
Here is the chart of Israel with the transits for 6:35; the only difference between the four possible natal charts is the angles and with the 4:17 chart Mars for this incident is exactly on the Ascendant. This position exactly describes what happened — an attack with violence (Mars) aimed at the self-image (Ascendant) of Israel. In addition this natal chart puts Pluto opposite the MC and thus conjunct the IC — the foundation of Israel. Remember on 9/11 the United States had Pluto on the Ascendant so we can see where the idea of 7.10 being Israel’s 9/11 comes from.
Six Day War
The Six Day War was in the Sixties and we can see the familiar Uranus-Pluto conjunction in the eleventh house. Venus, the lesser benefic, is conjunct the MC and Jupiter, the greater benefic, is conjunct the Moon so we can expect that this war will be short and successful for the Israelis. This was indeed the case. Israel was attacked by Egypt and other Arab countries and as a result Israel took possession of the Sinai Peninsula, the Gaza Strip, the West Bank, and the Golan Heights. However, note Neptune opposite the Sun at a little over one degree. This suggests that the government of Israel was a bit deluded about the meaning and outcome of the war. One can see the connection between that war and the current one because of of the areas in play now were captured then.
Yom Kippur War
For the Yom Kippur War the natal Venus — the judiciary — seems to be the focus of interest. Not only is Pluto square Venus but Saturn is conjunct the natal Venus; so there is a Saturn-Pluto square that is almost exact. Saturn-Pluto hard aspects are not favorable (a Saturn-Pluto conjunciton was at the start o the Covid crisis), especially when the are configured with the natal chart. If we look at the 4pm chart we find Uranus on the Ascendant within a quarter degree.
In the upcoming years we will see in Israel as well as the Western world a developing split between what I call the Pluto Jews — represented by the government of Israel and Zionism – and the Uranus Jews – represented by groups such as Jewish Voice for Peace. As a result of this split seen around the world we may possibly see true democracy for the first time in history
Note the connections between this period — what I’ve called the Sixth Crisis — and the previous Fifth Crisis which was World War II. The Nazis were obviously quite important during the Fifth Crisis. But at this time we see that the concept of ” nazis ” is increasingly becoming prominent. Not only were the citizens of Israel traumatized by the horror inflicting by the original Nazis, but they have called Hames Nazis, while some think that the behavior of Israel’s government is like that of the Nazis. And in fact one Israel polymath — Yeshayahu Leibowitz — has warned of Judeo-Nazi behavior among the Zionists.
Suggested reading. Since one of the elements of this blog is history, I find that a real problem is that many are not aware of the history of any given case. For Israel and Palestine a fairly short and comprehensive history is found in the book Ten Myths About Israel by Ilan Pappe, an Israeli historian, which contains references to many source documents for a situation that has been developing for hundreds of years.
Uranus-Pluto Square
Something changed in Israel about 10 yeas ago according to people who live there which has led up to the current Netanyahu government which we are repeatedly told is the most “right-wing” in Israeli history. This is when there was the Uranus Pluto Square the effected the whole world. In Israel’s case Uranus was opposite the natal Neptune and Pluto was square that same Neptune, thus making a T-square between the outer planets though a hybrid one combining both natal and transiting points. These days most of the younger Israels are acting very jingoistic while the dissenters are mostly older Israelis who remember the older Israel that had socialist roots.
As another example of how Neptune plays such a prominent role in this conflict, consider that the Jews have PTSD from, most recently and most intense, the Holocaust during World War II. People with PTSD tend the overreact to minor threats, and in this case the Palestinians now too have PTSD from their treatment starting with their expulsion from their native lands — called the Nakba — in 1948. So we have two groups of people both of which have PTSD — not a good situation. Recently psychedelic drugs have been suggested as helpful to people with PTSD. In fact several cities and states in the United States have legalize psychedelic drugs for treatment of disorders. So perhaps a solution to this middle east problem is widespread use of psychedelic drugs in Israel and Palestine or as Bob Dylan said “Everybody must get stoned”.
15 years of Israeli History
Looking at the next few years for Israel shows many challenges coming up for the country as can be seen by the graphical ephemeris. Pluto squared the Ascendant-Descendant axis in 2019 and 2020 and that planet goes on to oppose the Midheaven in 2020,2021, and 2022 (1). These are the years that Israel became a laboratory of Pfizer and their vaccines. Finally Pluto will oppose the Moon of Israel in 2025,2026,2027 (2). This is a difficult decade for Israel even without considering the general problems the world will face as has been outlines here for months. The response to the events of October 7 will continue to plague the government and the people of Israel for the rest of this decade. Following these transits Israel will undergo the Pluto demi-return in 2030 through 2032 (3). Notice that it took the United States 250 year to see its Pluto Return, while Israel has a demi-return in only 82 years, one third of the time for the US instead of half as one would expect. This is because Israel was born while Pluto was speeding up as it moved closer to the Sun in its very elliptical orbit so the last 80 years have seen the fastest motion of Pluto. The US had its Pluto demi-return in the Thirties when the Great Depression was happening and there were many radicals organizing against the government Israel will also get a Neptune demi-return in 2029 and 2030 (4). Israel is undergoing some similar transits to the United States only a few years later but still in this decade in which many important global events are happening to all countries of the world.
And finally we will close this blog post with some singing from Israeli children:
We have talked before about the cycle of Jupiter and Saturn and how each half of the cycle corresponds to a decade (since for several centuries the 20 year Jupiter Saturn cycle started near the beginning of an even decade) but the first and last quarter phases of the Jupiter-Saturn cycle are also important — the first half of a decade is different from the second half. This is most obvious for the decade of the Forties since the first half saw World War Two and the second half became the time after the War, with the rise of both the Anthropocene and the national security state and this period also has what I’ve called a zeitgeist change. In this period of the late Forties the center of the art world moved from Paris to New York City with the rise of such movements as Abstract Expressionism. NYC and America was a special place in that period. In Europe the recovery from the ravages of the war was long and arduous.
Compare the first half and the second half of the Fifties in America: the first half saw the birth of McCarthyism when Joseph McCarthy found a list of 200 or so Communists in the State Department on Lincoln Day of 1950 at a speech he gave in West Virginia until he was finally censured by the Senate in December of 1954 — the end of that half decade. In the second half television became a fixture in the American home (as Pluto transited opposite the US Moon), strengthening the fascination with the flickering image. The Korean war dominated the foreign policy side of things in the first half of the decade not just for the United States but the UN that was officially fighting that war also, while the second half started with the Suez Crisis that set the stage for the dominant powers in the late fifties.
But this is really true of all decades; a brief checking of Wikipedia shows the best movies in the US; the Academy Awards for 1964 — the end of the first half decade — was My Fair Lady, which was based on a Broadway musical which was based on a play by George Bernard Shaw. The winner in 1969 — the last year of the second half — was Midnight Cowboy, the only X-rated movie to ever win an Oscar.
And consider drug movies of the early versus late sixties. From 1962 we have The Days of Wine and Roses. In this movie a business executive and his wife (Jack Lemmon and Lee Remick) descend into alcoholism and then attend Alcoholics Anonymous. This was based on a TV drama from 1958 and is opening on Broadway in 2024. The drug movie for the second half was Easy Rider, about two motorcycle cowboys (Peter Fonda and Dennis Hopper) who have sold some cocaine and then take the profits to New Orleans where they consume LSD; during the movie they and a hitchhiker (Jack Nicholson) smoke an awful lot of weed. No AA for them but a sad ending anyway.
The same is true of the Seventies and the Eighties and the other decades. This decade is no different and when we see the opening Jupiter Saturn square we will see the dawning of the second half of the decade, but at the same time or shortly thereafter there will be other important aspects which will be discussed in upcoming posts, thus assuring that the second half of this decade will be very different from the first.
Lets look at those three opening squares of Jupiter and Saturn. The numbers below refer to the graphical ephemeris (below) which allows you to see all three squares at one time as well as other aspects that will be discussed later.
First Opening Square
In the first square in August 2024(1) Jupiter is direct but Saturn retrograde. This is a time in America when the campaign season is in full bloom. For the US Neptune is on the IC (which has been discussed before) and Uranus is square the Moon (which will be discussed later). Should be interesting. There is a Full Moon at this time with Uranus making a T-square with the Full Moon so watch out for change. At the same time there is another T-square with Venus opposite Saturn and square Jupiter. And to make it even more interesting Mercury is retrograde and conjunct the Sun so it fits into that T-square. And this Full Moon falls on the Moon of the United States. With so much going on in the sky and in connections to the US chart it is a great kickoff to the second half of this decade.
Same Square Without U.S.
Second Opening Square
The second square at Christmas time (2) is with Jupiter retrograde and Saturn direct. Jupiter is close to the Descendant of the United States which means that Saturn is square the Ascendant. The new President has been elected but the inauguration won’t happen for a couple of weeks. Judging by the last two national elections there will be a big controversy no matter who wins and who loses. Expect fireworks for Christmas.
Third Opening Square
The third exact square (3) occurs in middle June 2025, shortly before and after other important aspects involving Saturn, Uranus, and Neptune which will be discussed later. This opening square occurs at the same time as the Saturn Neptune conjunction (to be discussed next) which is near the Aries point so Jupiter is also square Neptune. Jupiter is widely conjunct the Sun which is in late Gemini right before the summer solstice — called midsummer even thought it is the official start of summer. The conjunction of Saturn and Neptune is interesting because the exact conjunction never actually happens at the time. Both planets go retrograde shortly after the Fourth of July and since since Saturn is of lesser longitude than Neptune and moves faster it soon leaves Neptune behind.
All Three Opening Squares
To conclude, by 2025 the second half of this decade will have surly started, and as we will show in upcoming posts it will be quite different from the first. Of course whether that is good or bad depends on the individual or more to the point the class. Pluto will interpret this quite differently than Uranus. But it will make for very interesting times.
500 Year Party 