Tag Archives: Uranus transits

Genesis of a Scoop

On March 11, 2025, Jeffrey Goldberg, the editor of The Atlantic magazine, a left-leaning publication, received an invitation to a Signal group chat from U.S. national security advisor Mike Waltz.  On March 13, on the verge of a total lunar eclipse, he was added to the group.  Surprised it wasn’t a hoax, Goldberg read text discussions by top national security officials about a planned attack on Houthis in Yemen.  To his surprise, he found it was real on March 15, when the attacks were carried out on schedule.

How was the journalist privy to the news?  Of course Mercury was about to turn retrograde.  And the eclipse at 24 Virgo was right on Goldberg’s Sun and Mercury.  But there are many other astrological correlations.

Jeffrey Goldberg was born on September 22, 1965 according to Google, in a tumultuous year featuring Saturn in Pisces opposite the Uranus-Pluto conjunction in Virgo.  People born in 1965 may be faced with instability and even upheavals in their lives from time to time.  And Saturn is a singleton the editor’s chart, making its influence more important in timing and events.

Goldberg’s Sun and Mercury in Virgo are classic placements for a reporter, writer and editor who needs to communicate the facts.  (We don’t have a time of birth, but the Sun is in Virgo all day.)  Jupiter in Cancer, the sign of its exaltation, is also an excellent placement for publishing, helping him assertively reach out for news as it squares his Sun.  Venus, Mars and Neptune are all in Scorpio, known for research and ferreting out the truth.  Mars conjunct Neptune sextiles the Virgo planets, and Venus trines Saturn.  So there is some interference with the major oppositions, with outlets for the opposition energies.  Goldberg’s Moon is in Leo, giving him a sense of pride and more leadership ability than all the Virgo placements might suggest.  In interviews, he gives a low-key, matter-of-fact Virgo report with a dignified Leo presentation.

The events that unfolded are a good example of hard aspects activating events.  We wouldn’t have necessarily thought they were “lucky,” but they proved to be so for the journalist.  Goldberg was added to the chat group on March 13 at 4:28 p.m. according to USA Today’s timeline.  Aside from the eclipse, the transiting Ascendant squared his Mars and conjoined his Moon, allowing him entry.  Jupiter in Gemini squared his natal Saturn-Uranus-Pluto oppositions, creating a big story.

Transiting Saturn had recently trined the editor’s Mars and opposed his Mercury and Sun; certainly his experience and long time in the industry were responsible for his phone number being on Mike Walz’s list in the first place (nearly 60, Goldberg recently experienced his second Saturn return).  Neptune also nearly exactly opposed his Sun (3 minutes approaching), and this certainly represented an error but also a revelation.  (Natal Neptune has mainly flowing aspects.)

But as a startling and unexpected story, we have to look to Uranus.  Transiting Uranus was close to trining Goldberg’s dignified Mercury, with a boost from Mars in Cancer, which trined his Scorpio planets and sextiled his Uranus and Pluto in Virgo.

It’s nice that so many tried-and-true astrological themes are present in this story.  But it’s even more interesting to see how Goldberg’s natal planets were activated by hard aspects, perfectly in keeping with appropriate astrological motifs, but in a way that perhaps we wouldn’t have exactly forecast.  Then again, Uranus isn’t called unpredictable for nothing!

My Most Important Birth Twin

One of the first guys I dated as a teen had the same birthday as my sister.  What are the odds?  Their personalities were similar but their lives couldn’t have been more different.  And he ended up, in an odd way, leading me to astrology. 

They both had the Sun in Aries square Jupiter, along with Mercury, Venus and the Moon in Pisces trine Neptune.  The guy seemed to be much more impulsive than my sister, who has an angular Saturn.  He had an untamed spirit, and despite coming from a nice family, he dropped out of school at 16.  My sister went on to finish college.

Years later, when the two were experiencing their Saturn returns, my sister was working full-time while completing a Master’s degree.  My former flame was married and his wife was eight months pregnant.  One night he sat in a bar with friends (remember all the Pisces and Neptune) and said, “I’m so depressed I feel like putting a bullet in my head.”  And he did.

The story is so disturbing and dramatic that it’s a shame I’ve never had his birth time.  I’ve wondered if he had Pluto rising, which would put his Aries Sun in the 8th house squaring Jupiter in the 5th.  The Sun’s ruler, Mars, would be widely opposite Uranus in his 12th house, relating to unconscious impulses.  (True to the Martian archetype, my sister went on to a career requiring a firearm, but she always used it with care. )

Though my sister has remained consistent in my life, at 15, my relationship, predictably, hadn’t lasted long.  I had transiting Uranus squaring my Sun, showing excitement and spontaneity, but also the short-term nature of our connection.  Transiting Saturn opposed my Saturn then, too.  And I was upset.  My mom had already been studying astrology for a number of years, and brought out one of her cookbooks, turning to the page for Uranus squaring the Sun.  The description so exactly described my situation that despite being a skeptic before, I was now completely fascinated.  Uranus awakened astrology for me through a person who didn’t remain in my life.  And Saturn put me on a path that would remain constant long after many relationships had run their natural course.