Category Archives: forecasting

Uranus in Gemini and the U.S.

Evangeline Adams was one of the few astrologers to forecast WWII astrologically. As early as the 1920s, she said that “the signs point to a war from three different angles: for religious, racial and political reasons, in 1942, 1943 and 1944.” For her forecast, Adams used a cycle of Uranus in the sign of Gemini that Luke D. Broughton had outlined for the U.S. decades earlier.

In his book, URANU.S.A, astrologer Nick Dagan Best takes an in-depth look at this same Uranus cycle, building a fractal-like case with a wealth of examples of Uranus stations, ingresses and transits to birth charts and solar returns of key individuals in U.S. history. The book has a fabulous design and clear diagrams on every page to help illuminate the Revolutionary War, Civil War and World War II eras. As good a historian as he is an astrologer, Best has also added irreverent picture captions just for fun. The book is most suitable for intermediate astrologers, but beginners interested in planetary cycles should learn much since all is clear and straightforward. For those interested in forecasting, it is absolutely fascinating. Purchase directly from the author.

Moon Void? Of Course!

Now that Saturn has entered Sagittarius to stay, we have an unusual phenomenon. The heavier planets are all below 20 degrees and even Jupiter and Mars are both in early degrees. What that means is that there’ll be a lot more Void of Course Moons.

The Moon is Void when it leaves its last major aspect before changing signs. With the Sun toward the middle degrees of Libra, it, too, cannot save the Moon from being Void of Course that much for the next week or two. So, for example, we’re left with the Moon being Void for most of Thursday, October 8, 2015, Saturday October 10, Tuesday October 13, Thursday October 15, etc. That’s a lot of void to fill!

Al H. Morrison, who studied the Void Moon quite a bit, felt that decisions and actions could prove fruitless at these times, bearing unexpected consequences. If you force things through, you may regret it, as unintended results are more common. We’re not in charge of the outcome.

On the other hand, Al thought the VOC Moon was good for routine things like chores and entertainment, as well as therapy. He believed the VOC Moon heightened intuition and awareness and could provide inner revelations. Since the Moon rules our moods, emotions and needs, I suppose being Void places the emphasis more on our authentic inner selves than on connecting with the outer world.

I feel we’ll all have a little more “down time” in the coming weeks. It’s almost like enforced astrological relaxation. As Al so succinctly said, “Feed your soul until the time shown for entering the next sign. Then, go back into business!”

There’s more on Al H. Morrison and his thoughts on the Void of Course Moon in my book, The Best of Al H. Morrison.

The Retrograde Diaries — Episode 6

It’s not just you! I admit I can be a little absent-minded. But absent-mindedness doesn’t explain the confusion I experience under Mercury retrograde. We’re in it again from September 18 to October 9, 2015. Here are some recent incidents:

An agency sent me a PDF attachment to print and sign. I did not receive it. They tried three times, and it was not in the usual Spam folder they expected. Lost somewhere in cyberspace! They finally faxed it to me, and it looked so bad I needed to retype the whole form. Neither of us knew what happened. Re-try and re-do are Mercury retrograde keywords, but it’s always a little annoying.

I’d written to the U.S. Immigration Service for my grandmother’s records: I requested a search, they found her file and told me the number. I then paid for the records they’d found. I finally received a form letter from them saying there were no records! A typical Mercury retrograde mix-up. I followed-up with an e-mail and actually got a phone call in return, which I missed. The woman had left me a voice message with her phone number, but her name was garbled. I called back and left a message but have not heard from her since. A woman from the National Archives who’d recently been helpful confirmed that the file did exist and suggested I write a manager.

My e-mail said it was temporarily not recognized by my sister’s server. I sent the note to another address but she got both of them anyway.

On the plus side: I put a $10 bill into the machine to pump up my library card account. It read it as $20! In this Pluto in Capricorn world, dealing with all the bureaucracy has become extremely complicated. I would’ve tried to correct it, but it’s just too much trouble. Not under Mercury retrograde.

I just heard an NPR article on the science of mis-communication! Wonderful timing. Their answer is that we all make unwarranted assumptions. But obviously Mercury retrograde has something to do with it. Be forewarned!

Pope Francis in New York

Pope Francis visits New York City on Thursday, September 24, 2015. Can we evaluate his connection to New York astrologically? Why here and why now? Both a compatibility analysis and the synastry of progressions tell the story.

Conjunctions are the most powerful connections between horoscopes and show shared experiences in life. The Pope’s stellium of the North Node, Sun, Jupiter and Mercury in late Sagittarius and early Capricorn falls right on New York’s Mars, Venus, Sun and IC. His Moon and Venus in Aquarius also closely trine NY’s Ascendant and Jupiter in Libra.

Notable connections exist and Pope Francis is important to many New Yorkers. But what brings him here in September? We can see this in aspects of the two progressed charts. The Pope’s progressed Moon will be at 1 Capricorn on 9/24, closely conjoining NYC’s Mars and Venus and of course his own natal Jupiter since it’s activating both natal stelliums.

New York City’s progressed Moon in Leo falls in the Pope’s 1st house and closely opposes his natal Venus at the time of the visit. We want to spoil and indulge him, flatter him and make a big Leonine fuss. He’ll accept the royal treatment, but since his Venus is in Aquarius, he prefers sharing his humanitarian mission and ideals.

New York City’s progressed Venus in Taurus falls in the Pope’s eleventh house of community interaction and goals. It’s exactly inconjunct his Sun and sextiles Pluto in his 1st house. The City wants to ply him with Taurean food, luxurious surroundings and creature comforts. But Pope Francis’ 6th house Sun in Sagittarius is all about spirituality and service. He may drink our wine, but he won’t be phased by all the pomp and circumstance.

Pope Francis I was born on December 17, 1936 at 9:00 pm in Buenos Aires, Argentina, rated AA on Astrodatabank.

Greater New York was created on January 1, 1898 at 12:01 AM according to news sources.

The Stradivarius and the Nodes

On August 6, 2015, a stolen Stradivarius belonging to concert violinist Roman Totenberg was presented to his family at the U.S. Attorney’s office in NYC. His story shows the importance of the cycles of the Moon’s Nodes.

Roman Totenberg was born on January 1, 1911 in Warsaw Poland according to Wikipedia. He had the Sun, Moon, Mercury, Venus and Uranus in Capricorn, all opposed by Neptune in Cancer. This is striking symbolism for someone with a career in classical music, whose expertise demanded both skill and feeling.

Totenberg’s North Node in Taurus closely trined his Venus in Capricorn, bringing up the themes of talent, possessions and value in his life. His prized possession was his Stradivarius, bought in 1943. It was stolen in 1980, a period of 37 years, twice the lunar nodal cycle of 18.6 years.

In 1943, the year Totenberg bought the violin, both the transiting North Node and Jupiter were in Leo, and squared his natal Nodes. When the violin was stolen in May of 1980, the North Node was at 24 Leo, still within orb of squaring his Nodes, and exactly quincunx his natal Uranus in Capricorn. Transiting Pluto in Libra was also within a degree of squaring Totenberg’s Venus and formed a quincunx aspect with his North Node. There was a suspect but not enough evidence to prosecute him.

At the time of the violin’s recovery in June of 1980, transiting Jupiter in Leo was once again in square to Totenberg’s Nodes and quincunx his Venus. The family plans to have the instrument restored and to sell it to a performer, perfect symbolism for transiting Pluto closely approaching Totenberg’s Venus in 2016. By the time Pluto exactly conjoins the violinist’s Venus in early 2017, it will probably have passed to a new owner.

The South Node was in Taurus in 1734, the year the violin had been made by Antonio Stradivari in Italy, giving it lasting value.

The dealer who appraised the violin and alerted the FBI was born on October 10, 1952. His Jupiter is at 19-1/2 Taurus, closely conjunct Totenberg’s North Node and trine his Venus. The man suspected of stealing the violin, Philip S. Johnson, who predeceased Roman Totenberg, was born on January 27, 1953, not long after the dealer. Both men had Pluto at about 22-1/2 Leo, squaring Roman’s Nodes. The transiting North Node was closely conjunct Johnson’s Pluto at the time of the theft.

Wikipedia provides Totenberg’s birth date as well as other key dates in his story.

Candidate Trump’s Horoscope

Donald Trump is at the top of polls among more than a dozen Republican presidential candidates for 2016, despite his divisive comments about illegal immigrants, Senator John McCain’s war record and other issues. With Mars rising in Leo in sextile to his Sun in the 10th house, his arrogance and aggressiveness have gotten him ahead; people also appear to be attracted to his candor.

Jupiter in Leo conjoins Trump’s Mars toward the end of July and conjoins his Ascendant in early August, keeping him center stage and giving him ample opportunity to create drama and attract attention.

Trump also has Mercury in Cancer in his horoscope, closely squaring his Neptune. This makes for someone who thinks emotionally and may misunderstand things. His rhetoric has made him popular on reality TV and his gut instincts have earns him billions. Yet as several of his sponsors have now agreed, his judgment is flawed. But Neptune is a transcendental planet, and its aspects can create a resonance with the mass mind. Transiting Neptune through Trump’s 7th house exactly trines his Mercury in August, so he should continue to be heard by a wide audience.

Donald Trump’s natal Jupiter conjoins his 3rd house cusp and trines his Sun and Uranus, giving him an ease of expression and easy success. But Saturn in his 11th house also squares his Jupiter, limiting the extent to which people will ultimately choose to listen. Saturn traditionally rules his Aquarius 7th house, and Jupiter is the co-ruler since the sign of Pisces makes up most of his 7th. So both 7th house rulers square one another. We have seen this dynamic play out in his personal relationships (he’s been married three times and divorced twice).

But the 7th house also rules public opinion. As transiting Saturn stations in square to Trump’s Ascendant from late July to early August, he will need to adjust his message to the realities of the situation. Saturn will exactly square his Ascendant and 7th house cusp in September, focusing his energies but also limiting his success with spontaneous one-liners. He will have to learn to temper his speech if he wants to stick to his presidential goals.

Donald Trump was born on June 14, 1946 at 10:54 AM in Jamaica, Queens, according to his Birth Certificate and rated AA Astrodatabank.

To Pluto, Astrologically

NASA scientists on the news talk as if it’s Star Trek: the first mission to a new planet in an exploratory spacecraft and the greatest distance ever flown – nearly 3 billion miles from earth. Their voyage to Pluto culminates on July 14, 2015 as the New Horizons craft reports on its closest encounter with Pluto.

The mission began in 2001 when it was approved, and surged on January 19, 2006 as New Horizons lifted off from Cape Canaveral on its long journey. Of course, within months, scientists had officially demoted Pluto to the status of a dwarf planet, but I guess astrologers already knew why Pluto has an ironic sense of humor.

What’s happening with the horoscope of Pluto as scientists learn more about it? Pluto was discovered on February 18, 1930 at approximately 4:00 PM in Flagstaff, Arizona (documented time, rated A on Astrodatabank).

As the news stories multiply, transiting Jupiter in Leo trines the discovery chart’s Midheaven and transiting Uranus stations a few degrees from it. Everybody’s suddenly excited about Pluto, and its reputation is getting a boost.

The discovery chart has the Sun in Aquarius conjunct Venus in Pisces, both part of a T-square with oppositions to Neptune and squares to Jupiter. It looks like this oddball little planet is just often misunderstood.

Transiting Saturn in Scorpio stations in close square to the discovery chart’s Sun at the time of New Horizons’ closest approach, and quickly activates all the planets in the T-square. NASA is looking deeper at Pluto, but in a reductive manner, and may devalue it further. As they take time to analyze the spacecraft’s data, transiting Pluto will oppose the discovery chart’s natal Pluto in 2016, so our understanding of Pluto could still be transformed. The combined influence of hard-core Saturn in Scorpio and Pluto in Capricorn should make the take-way some pragmatic facts.

I first saw the Pluto discovery horoscope in Noel Tyl’s How to Personalize the Outer Planets. The late Jeff Jawer wrote a fascinating article about the discoveries of the outer planets in this book, noting that all of them have the Moon in Scorpio along with hard Saturn aspects! It’s well worth a read (though Jawer used a different time for Pluto’s discovery and gave no information as to its source).

Neptune and Racial Identity

Civil rights activist Rachel Dolezal, who claimed to be African American, resigned her position as President of the Spokane chapter of the NAACP on Monday after her parents revealed her on nationwide TV as a white woman. Neptune is the planet of deception and misrepresentation, and we find plenty of it in Dolezal’s horoscope.

Rachel Dolezal was born in Lincoln County, Montana on November 12, 1977. The Moon conjunct Neptune in Sagittarius created confusion regarding her family background. With black adoptive siblings and an African American ex-husband and child, there was diversity among her family members (Moon in Sagittarius). But Neptune also blurred the lines of her own personal identification.

Mercury is in Sagittarius, the sign of inter-cultural exchange, and with three planets in this sign, it’s not surprising that she identified with those of different backgrounds. Sagittarius also rules education, journalism and activism, and Dolezal was also a university instructor with a weekly newspaper column, both positions she’s also lost.

Jupiter, the ruler of Sagittarius, is placed in Cancer in her horoscope, the sign of its exaltation, making it one of her strongest planets. She gained success by speaking out for racial equality and civil rights. But since Mercury is closely quincunx her Jupiter, she went too far, as both Sagittarius and Jupiter may do, in actually describing herself as African American.

Transiting Neptune in Pisces was stationary and squaring Dolezal’s Sagittarius Moon when her true racial identity was outed. While Neptune often deceives us, it can also bring to light earlier misconceptions. Mercury was stationary-direct at the same time, and the news media leapt on the story, correcting the record.

In her birth chart, Dolezal has Saturn squaring her Sun in Scorpio. Transiting Saturn recently conjoined her Mercury and was nearly exactly squaring her natal Saturn at the time she lost her jobs. Saturn is often the antidote to Neptune as it brings us down to earth. Hard Saturn transits can alter our position and status, especially when they’re not legitimately earned, and particularly for someone with a challenging natal Saturn. Rachel Dolezal, now 37, will have to reinvent herself once again.

The Washington Post included an image of Dolezal’s birth certificate on their website, here

David Letterman and Saturn

David Letterman said goodbye to late-night television after his final Late Show on May 20, 2015. Saturn’s aspects augur predictable change, and Saturn transiting Dave’s 7th house of partnerships, contracts and the public was exactly trine his natal Saturn in the 4th house of security, stability and endings. Transiting Saturn will exactly trine his natal Mars in Aries in his 12th in a few weeks, creating a grand trine. In keeping with Saturn, this was an organized change that was well-known in advance.

The transiting Uranus-Pluto square also has something to do with Letterman’s career transition. Pluto through his 9th house of broadcasting is sextiling his Venus (exact in a few weeks). Venus placed in the 11th how shows a transformation in his colleagues, associates and friends as Pluto activates it. Another flowing aspect, it indicates a smooth development. The 11th house also rules our hopes and wishes for the future, so his goals have changed.

Transiting Uranus will station near a conjunction with Dave’s Aries Sun in July, breaking him away from his dynamic career path and into something completely new. It will exactly conjoin his Sun and square his Midheaven in 2016. Since Uranus promises new vistas and unexpected developments, the talk-show host should have some notable events in his life and career – things will certainly not be dull!

Letterman was born on April 12, 1947 at 6:00 am in Indianapolis (rated “A” on Astrodatabank).

Hillary Announces Run

Hillary Clinton announced her run for the 2016 presidential race on April 12, 2015 at around 3:02 pm*. This becomes the natal horoscope for her campaign, and we can analyze the development and possible outcome of the campaign with this chart. An event chart like this one is read like a horary.

The Ascendant is 0 Virgo – with the suggestion of it being “too soon.” Fair enough – it’s a kick-off announcement a year and a half before the election. The Ascendant rules Hillary herself – the party initiating the event. Virgo is ruled by Mercury in the 9th combust the Sun. Hillary’s ruler is elevated in the horoscope, but the Sun rules her 12th house – her liabilities. Her current message may be obscured by previous questions about her official e-mails and other voter concerns. However the campaign should be able to outpace these issues as Mercury moves away from the Sun by the end of April.

The Sun conjoins both Mercury and Uranus in Aries in the 9th house. Talk about a world-wide announcement! This one packs a punch with the Sun exalted in Aries. And the Uranus-style notice was made with e-mails, in an online video and on Twitter.

Venus in the 10th ruling the Taurus Midheaven highlights the prestige of the presidential office. Venus opposes Saturn, an indication of the challenges therein. But the Moon in Aquarius (co-ruling Hillary) will trine Venus and sextile Saturn from the cusp of the 6th house: Hillary is up for the challenge and will work hard and pursue an independent course to achieve her goals.

An astrologer would probably not have chosen the angular T-square of Venus in the 10th, Saturn in the 4th and Neptune in the 7th house. But Neptune in the 7th rules Hillary’s opponents (“open enemies” astrologically). And while they may blow smokescreens to confuse the issues, they are also not the most effective.

Saturn in the 4th is grounded, but as significator of the “end of the matter,” it may not be propitious. We must look to Hillary’s birth chart to see how the planets are influencing her personally.

The flaws in the announcement horoscope ultimately don’t matter that much. President Obama, for instance, had a void-of-course Moon for his February, 2007 election bid. The more important things to consider are the candidate’s birth chart, the astrological weather at the time of the campaign and election, and transits and progressions to the natal chart. Unfortunately we may not have a definitive birth chart for Hillary Clinton. That’s a topic for another post.

*The NewYorkTimes.com stated that Clinton’s 2-minute video announcement was released “just after 3 p.m.” on April 12, 2015. I used her campaign headquarters in Brooklyn Heights for the location.