Important Points of Reference (for Astrologers):
Full Moon March 9th at 19 degrees Virgo opposite Neptune and trine Jupiter; New Moon on April 24th at 4 degrees Aries semi-sextile Uranus; Mercury goes direct March 9th at 29 degrees Aquarius semi-sextile Saturn; Venus goes into Taurus March 5th, is conjunct Uranus March 8th, is sextile and trine the Nodes on March 9th, is sextile Neptune March 13th, is trine Jupiter March 27thand is trine Pluto March 28th; Mars is sextile Neptune March 14th, is conjunct Jupiter March 20th, and is conjunct Pluto March 22nd; Saturn goes into Aquarius March 22nd and is conjunct Mars on March 31st; Mercury in Pisces is sextile Uranus March 22nd.
Pisces and Capricorn – Water and Earth – Meant for Each Other!
This month’s configurations of water and earth serve to remind us of what it takes to create and sustain the miracle of life on our planet, how fragile this magical combination really is, and both the dangers to all that lives we have put into our bio-sphere and the myriad possibilities we have of saving it.
We have successfully engineered a global economy set up to create enormous amounts of wealth for a relative handful of persons at the expense of what economies are supposed to do: that is – grow food, create shelters, preserve clean air and aquifers, and a general sense of prosperity. The giant gap between the upper wealthy classes and remaining population in America is the largest it has been in history. Globally, human populations have grown so large that our byproducts are polluting air, water, and earth to the point that potentially catastrophic climate changes and poisonous chemicals are threatening the habitats of existing life, including ours, on a scale not seen since an asteroid hit the earth and killed off the dinosaurs 64 million years ago.
PISCES is, arguably, the most sensitive of all the astrological water signs. As many of my Pisces friends would testify, they are like “sponges” that seem to pick up what is going on around them, both visible and invisible. As a result, the potential for a lot of suffering comes into play and many people with planets configured in this sign are capable of losing their way and falling into escapism through drugs, alcohol, gambling, and eventually, depression. Geniuses like Albert Einstein, Michelangelo, Leonardo da Vinci, and others have proven that their gift of sensitivity can lead them into an imaginative realm where great ideas present themselves and contributions to humankind are virtually limitless! Neptune, their ruling planet, can either initiate fearful terrifying storms and tsunamis – or bring about a penetrating stillness with an ambiance containing a flow of knowledge within a transcendent peace. Thus, the constellation of Pisces presents two fish swimming in opposite directions. This symbolism is historically associated with the religion of Christianity that offers up a choice between Heaven and Hell, with earth and the human soul caught somewhere in between! For over two thousand years, much of the human race has been trying to figure this out!
CAPRICORN is an earth sign associated with frameworks, facing and overcoming limitations, ambition to climb society’s “ladder to success”, and, often, ruthless realism in confronting the blockades created by established institutions. The range of people born under this sign is impressive, including former Pres. Richard Nixon, Civil Rights Leader, Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr, and, more recently, author and former First Lady, Michelle Obama and Amazon chair and, presently, the richest man in the world, Jeff Bezos. Navigating the system or overcoming it is the dilemma, since Capricorns are often realistic about what it takes to “climb the mountain.” Saturn, their ruling planet, symbolizes an awareness that order and infrastructure, both politically and economically, is necessary to attain the position necessary to be effective. At its worst, Capricorn is cynical, ruthless, and, in its climb to the top of the food chain, ignores the multiple casualties along the way. At its best, it stands for creating a political and/or economic system that works for all and leads the way to establishing something that has lasting value. Saturn insists that something must be “real” and tangible.
If Pisces the “dreamer” can get together with Capricorn the “realist”, human societies could come up with solutions for many of our seemingly insurmountable problems, largely of our own creation. The compassion and idealism of Pisces could find a framework for its implementation in the material world, creating new, more fair, and effective institutions. Rather than “blowing everything up”, we could redirect our intelligence into organizations that actually work. Scientists could come up with prevention and cures for pandemics like the Corona virus and implemented through government agencies that work.
The problem with this combination of elements is that there is no fire or air in the mix. Fire energizes, excites, and inspires people to work toward goals and the air signs lend enthusiasm for intelligent ideas and effective modes of communication. Earth and water tend to be negative or “receptive’ whereas fire is positive or “active”. Thus earth and water alone can be rather depressive, although confronting us with realistic visions of what we may or may not want to face.
A message from one of the greatest Pisces of the 20th Century:
Albert Einstein wrote in 1949 –
“Private capital tends to become concentrated in few hands, partly because of competition among the capitalists, and partly because technological development and the increasing division of labor encourage the formation of larger units of production at the expense of smaller ones. The result of these developments is an oligarchy of private capital the enormous power of which cannot be effectively checked even by a democratically organized political society. This is true since the members of legislative bodies are selected by political parties, largely financed or otherwise influenced by private capitalists who inevitably control, directly or indirectly, the main sources of information (press, radio, education). It is thus extremely difficult, and indeed in most cases quite impossible, for the individual citizen to come to objective conclusions and it make intelligent use of his political rights.”
The Ides of March:
This month contains the Sun, Mercury, and Neptune in Pisces, with Jupiter, Saturn and Pluto in Capricorn, seeking to find a “container’ for the flood of information coming to us from around the world. The global pandemic is making us aware that much of our medicine is manufactured in China which, as they shut down, will be difficult to buy in the US. Mercury goes direct March 9th at 28 degrees Aquarius and this stands out as information hitting us like “lightning” whether it is the spread of the Corona Virus, the melting of the polar glaciers, massive corruption of our government, and/or the system wide failures of the mass media to tell the truth.
Last month, we had a significant stock market “correction” connected to the virus spreading around the world, and fits the requirements of the “black swan” that I have seen coming. We have been in an “earnings recession” since 2019. In addition, for some time now, corporations have accumulated an enormous debt financing this great stock market “bubble.”
Venus’ transit in Taurus this month insures that the economy and Wall Street will likely make a concerted effort to continue its expanding and hoarding of wealth, even though there may be another “correction” along the way. It is a good month to sell real estate and to take profits wherever you can get them. Gold and silver rose last month and, as usual, entities like JP Morgan Chase manipulated the prices down through their “special dealers” and computerized futures transactions. They are afraid of a panic buying in these markets. Valuable information will be released about so many of the threats to our natural environment and solutions may be proposed. Candidates running for president may direct their attention to actual frameworks to implement and pay for their proposals for healthcare, education, and infrastructure repairs. Democrats are emphasizing the wealth gap in this country, the highest in our history. The Survey of Consumer Finances and Financial Accounts recently reported that since 1989 (through 2018) the top 1% gained $21 trillion while the bottom 50% lost $900 billion!
Will the public wake up?
I am of the opinion that the greatest problem we have is small mindedness and indifference on the part of a public that is tasked with restoring or maintaining a semblance of democracy. Few seem to know how the constitutionally mandated separation of powers works in our nation, as we have a president who _seeks to impose his will on the judiciary system, _refuses to enforce laws passed by Congress such as the Clean Water act and the Clean Air Act, _is attempting to deviate public education funding to private religious schools, _is reducing funding to people on Medicare, Medicaid and Disability, _is pardoning” a whole cadre of criminals from prison ahead of the election, _and persistently lies to people about all this over and over again.
Trump has “gutted” government agencies designed to address emergencies in public health and beyond. He has hired cronies with no expertise in the cabinets and departments they supervise. He recently appointed VP Mike Pence to head up the Corona Virus emergency, who is a non-scientist and has no experience with the medical consequences of a pandemic of this magnitude. He is using his presidential campaign money to sue The New York Times for reporting on what he is doing. The corporate and banking cartel has been fine with all of this, just as long as Trump bullies the Feds to keep interest rates low, reduces taxation on the billionaires, all of which has propped up a stock market with a bubble that, until recently, was expanding – and massive corporate and government debt along with it.
According to the Office of the Comptroller of the Currency, the regulator of the national banks, our banks are sitting on “unthinkable” levels of derivatives (bets) with a notional value that is higher than all the money in the world (~$1.2 quadrillion). The five US banks that have particularly high “contagion index values” are: Citigroup, JP Morgan Chase, Morgan Stanley (who recently acquired E-Trade), Bank of America, and Goldman Sachs – and represent 85% of all derivatives held by more than 5,000 federally insured banks.
There may be dire warnings this month of a time ahead when all this debt and massive speculation will create an economic avalanche. The corona virus demonstrates how dependent upon China and the global economy to keep all this going and how fragile it all is.
Will the truth set us free or will the truth charge a fee?
The Middle East:
Talks about ending the war and withdrawing from Afghanistan, an Israeli/Palestinian peace agreement, and war ending in Syria may make progress, but will be exposed this month as not yet passing the stress test. All of these planets (Pluto, Saturn, Jupiter and Mars)) in Capricorn highlights the chart of Saudi Arabia and eventually, will further heighten their conflicts with Iran – all of which is part of the region being torn apart. War has broken out on the Syria/ Turkish border as more refugees try to get out of Syria.
Venezuela:
This nation has been in the headlines since its economy has collapsed and its people are starving. I do not see a change until the end of this month when Saturn briefly goes into Aquarius. Russia supports the current administration, stopping any overthrow of the current disastrous regime.
Nature and the Environment:
Since Capricorn rules earth masses and Pisces rules water, I expect more warming and melting at the poles, extremes of droughts and floods, and expanding the emergency financial needs around the world to fix what has been damaged. Australia is an example first of fire, then of floods, then of political fallout and financial difficulties.
The Corona virus, diminished somewhat, rages on this month, primarily in China, while the older, more traditional flu is particularly widespread this year in the US. As of this writing, it has spread to Japan, Vietnam, So. Korea, Italy, Iran, Lebanon, Israel, Brazil and just beginning in the US. China, initially, tried to suppress the news about the virus. Public health systems all over the globe need to be connected to each other, sharing information at all cost. We also need to address how we have influenced our natural environment and how widespread use of chemicals and pollutants have depressed our immune systems.
Final Thoughts:
As an astrologer, I am increasingly aware how human beings trap themselves within cultural belief systems about reality that frequently blot out truly focused, critical, and creative observations. The mass media, especially television news reporting, is filled with corporate “approved” words and phrases that are “chirped” at us, faster than a speeding bullet, and repeated over and over again, similar to the commercials that incessantly interrupt a program containing more air time than the show itself. We have had recent warnings that Russia, once again, may use social media platforms to influence our election in November.
As a species, we have created consumption economies and technologies beyond the wildest dreams of the historic human presence before us. But we have done this at the expense of the natural world around us and our relationships with each other. We have done this at the expense of our sanity. We have done this, arguably, at the expense of our soul.
It is now time, as the Age of Aquarius is arriving to meet us, that we reclaim what the Age of Pisces tried and too often failed to do. And that is – to open up to our highest selves, a humanity that through caring for one another and life on earth, may claim its special place within the evolutionary spirals of the universe itself.
Linda
