The Sabian Degree symbolism for the New Moon is: “Standing by a Campfire, a general outlines the tactical situation to his aid-de-camp and discusses the upcoming campaign.” The Sabian Symbolism for the Full Moon: “A Native American girl introduces her college boyfriend to the tribe. He gives a short speech and then cautiously responds to objections from his girlfriend’s mother.” Quoted from: “The Zodiac by Degrees” by Martin Goldsmith
2022 – The War of the Worlds Continues
Most would agree that the USA is currently the dominant economic and military power in the world today. China is seeking to challenge all this, but is running out of money to finance its military budget and it’s great electric train system slated to move through most of the Asian nations. Russia is scheming to undermine NATO, the EU, and the US to get back nations (The Ukraine) that were formerly in the Soviet Union. These two nations are currently forming an alliance similar to the one in the Cold War of the 20th Century against the power of the US. The world-at-large is dealing with the COVID pandemic and it’s latest mutation, Omicron, that is still spreading itself around populations throughout the globe.
In Africa alone, there are 21 basically failed states. In Central and South America, most nations are narco-states ruled mostly by the drug cartels. Syria is a nation devastated by its dictator, Assad, who presently works with localized war lords whose only economy is making and selling amphetamines. For the past decade, revolutions around the world have produced and strengthened dictatorships, threatening the very essence of the ideal of democracy. However, the most successful story lies in the European Union which has held together throughout the global crises with climate, energy, immigration, and economic uncertainty. Many are of the opinion that it has been led by Germany, who has recently had a peaceful transition from highly acclaimed Prime Minister Angela Merkel to Olaf Scholz.
Here in the US, many states are passing laws to prevent whole segments of their populations from voting at all and severely limit women’s reproductive rights. Already, the conservative wing of the Supreme Court has successfully upheld the Texas law restricting abortion. The ancient patriarchal and colonialist economic power systems are re-emerging with a vengeance. At the same time, equal time and equal status for women and people of color is presenting itself throughout the mass media. However, a massive economic canyon still exists between the billionaire/millionaire class and the rest of the nation. For the past 40 years, the US has become the biggest money-laundering nation in the world having dropped regulations, taxes, and any kind of rule of law for giant corporations. Companies have been able to outsource manufacturing overseas and insource cheap labor from abroad. An example of this kind of corruption is Purdue Pharma who got away with the manufacture and distribution of opioids all over our nation when they knew how highly addictive these drugs are. This has resulted in the loss of hundreds of thousands of lives.
The people of this nation are living in different “worlds” and they are colliding! A large percentage of the people feel truly alienated from most of society’s institutions, and for good reason. The monumental historic conjunction of Pluto, Jupiter and Saturn in Capricorn between Feb. and March of 2020 is still in effect. This configuration represents the great COVID pandemic and economic earthquake that has claimed over 800,000 lives in the US alone. It also signals a “fight to the death” between old and the new, the right and the left, and the challenge to institutional democracy itself. In February of 2022, Mercury, Venus, Mars and Pluto all transit Capricorn, reviving and enhancing all these issues. It is deja vu all over again!
Politics aside, the legislation that has passed and that which is being debated is an attempt from the Biden administration to correct the serious imbalances and hold criminal cartels responsible by reviving the rule of law and making them pay their share of taxes. Pres. Joe Biden is an elder (he is 79 years old) and cannot be “bribed” having had his career and no other motivation than making what he feels is an attempt to “save” this nation. I am concerned about his health between now and 2023.
The Transits:
- The Saturn/Uranus square between Aquarius and Taurus magnified tensions throughout 2021, and still continues in 2022. Saturn’s placement in the democratic sign of Aquarius heralds the new age we have just entered and forces us to seriously examine what Aquarius really means and the responsibility to maintain friendship, teamwork, and civility. Taurus symbolizes both the system of money and the earth itself and whether we will destroy it or save it. Global climate catastrophes are now more frequent and more serious. Volcanoes are erupting in Japan, the Sandwich Islands, Indonesia, the Canary Islands, and Iceland.
- This is the year transiting Pluto returns to the US natal Pluto, which, throughout human history, has coincided with nations and empires falling apart. Neptune is opposing our Natal Neptune in Virgo which questions the “work ethic” and how the workplace has to change. Saturn will go over our Natal Moon between now and early 2023 which often threatens our nation’s top leadership. This forms a challenge to our very existence as a nation, a democracy, and/or a global power. We have already, most recently, mourned the deaths of great American leaders from the “greatest generation”, including Colin Powell and Robert Dole, who helped us win WWII and emerge as the world’s greatest economy. Also, goodbye to former Majority Leader Senator Harry Reid and world celebrated leader of the anti-apartheid movement in South Africa, Desmond Tutu.
- The transit of Neptune in Pisces ( 2012 – 2025) can represent a deep delusional sleep framed by religious or political cults – or a genuine yearning for a mass spiritual awakening. It also rules giant floods and tsunamis, that could represent another event similar to the Japanese earthquake and tsunami of March 2011. It also represents the great Arctic and Antarctic melts and rising of the oceans, submersing the coasts of many nations, including our own. 2022 brings us Jupiter transiting Pisces Dec. 29, 2021 – May 10, 2022 and again Oct 28 – Dec. 20 2022). It could point to more outbreaks and spreading of the virus. Since Jupiter represents expansion of consciousness into unlimited realms, it can also hasten our collective psyches into “escapism” through drugs, alcohol, or even suicide, which is an unfortunate trend already being observed. However, this transit could also present an opportunity for a great “healing” to take place that would come through a recognition that we are all of the same universal substance; therefore, that by wounding your neighbor, you wound yourself and, conversely, you heal your neighbor, you heal yourself.
- Jupiter transits into Aries back and forth from May 11, 2022 through Oct. 28 (it goes back into late Pisces until Dec. 20) and then again from Dec. 20th through May 17, 2023. Aries is an optimistic, youthful, energetic sign that loves technological breakthroughs and going “where no man has gone before.” In addition, Aries is a sign that works cooperatively with Aquarius as we invent our way out of the energy and climate crises with a near perfect battery and nuclear fusion. More ventures into space and planetary travel and surveillance will emerge. We may make medical miracles happen connected with genetic engineering, neural and brain enhancements, robotic limbs, treatments for viral infections, and many other cures and treatments never before envisioned.
- I have to mention an important transit to the US natal chart, and that is the transit of Mars in the sign of Gemini (war, conflict, lawlessness, police) which begins Aug. 20, 2022, retrogrades, Oct. 30, goes direct Jan. 12, 2023 and all the way through the sign March 24, 2023. The US chart contains Uranus (sudden upheavals or breakthroughs) in Gemini and a Mars in Gemini square our natal Neptune in Virgo. These degrees were activated in the Civil War, WW II and the Korean War. Chinese President Xi Jinping, UK Prime Minister Boris Johnson and former Pres. Donald Trump are all Geminis. We are having a mid-term election Nov. 8 under the shadow of a Lunar Eclipse in Taurus conjunct Uranus, opposition Mercury and square Saturn.. This will be an election that is stormy, disputed, will have technological glitches, and may even be delayed by storms and tornadoes in many locations. Gemini, an air sign, suggests more serious storms, tornadoes, and extremely high winds.
Science and Technology:
On Dec. 7, an article on OILPRICE by Alex Kimani entitled: “The Multi-Billion Dollar Start of a Nuclear Fusion Boom” was posted. He reports “But none has managed to inspire as much investor enthusiasm as Commonwealth Fusion Systems. The Massachusetts based fusion startup has just snagged more than $1.8 billion in the largest private investment for nuclear fusion yet from a plethora of big-name investors, including Microsoft Corp. co-founder Bill Gates, George Soros, and venture capitalist John Doerr. Commonwealth Fusion System is in good company. On Nov. 5, Helion energy announced that it had raised $500 million in its latest fundraising round, making it the second-largest-ever single fundraising round for a private fusion firm. Helion has a chance to surpass Commonwealth Fusion System since its latest round of funding includes an additional $1.7 billion tied to certain performance round that was oversubscribed, the company’s chief Executive Christofer Mowry has revealed.” As all my readers know, I have been reporting on nuclear fusion for several years and am of the opinion that this is one of the greatest inventions of this century.
A major event took place last month when the James Webb Space Telescope was launched. It took 25 years to construct at a cost of $10 Billion. This has been among the largest and most complicated engineering projects in history. We will now be able to observe the very origin of the universe that arose from from the “Big Bang.” We will be able to see other solar systems like ours, with planets like earth that could produce forms of life! This is one of humankind’s major achievements, propelling us into the Age of Aquarius.
The 2022 Eclipses:
They are as follows:
– April 30th Solar Eclipse at 10 degrees Taurus conjunct Uranus;
– May 16th Lunar Eclipse at 25 degrees Scorpio sextile a Mars/Neptune conjunction in Pisces and sextile Pluto in Capricorn;
– Oct. 25th Solar Eclipse at 2 degrees Scorpio conjunct Venus;
– Nov. 8th Lunar Eclipse at 16 degrees Taurus conjunct Uranus, opposition Mercury and square Saturn.
These eclipses are all in Taurus or Scorpio, suggesting economic, financial, and earthbound instabilities. I will discuss these in more detail in forthcoming newsletters. Pres. Joe Biden is a Scorpio Sun with a Moon in Taurus. His chart is getting hit by each of these eclipses.
Mercury retrograde:
This month Mercury is retrograde in Aquarius (square Uranus) is January 13th in Aquarius (square Uranus) through Feb. 3rd in Capricorn. This is not a good time to sign an important document or start a new venture. It is a good time to “edit and correct” – to go back and survey what you started, to be completed when Mercury goes direct.
The remaining Mercury retrogrades through the rest of the year are:
– May 9th through June 2nd
– September 9th through October 2nd
– December 27th through January 18th (2023).
Final Thoughts:
“The summer’s flower is to the summer sweet,
Though to itself it only live and die;
But if that flower with base infection meet,
The basest weed outbraves his dignity;
For sweetest things turn sourest by their
deeds;
Lilies that fester smell far worse than weeds.”
Sonnet 94 – William Shakespeare (1564 – 1616)
As all the crises, catastrophes, and breakthroughs are inundating our senses, we need to finally “get” the notion given to us by the very wise people through the centuries. This is the fact that we cannot expect “the world” to be at our feet – that success will simply come our way – that we will have smooth sailing throughout our lives. Most of the time, we make our own success, work to support ourselves, come together with friends and family to mutually assure our survival and happiness. We can simply “choose” to learn from every mistake, every obstacle, that the walls can come down if we learn how to remove them. Shakespeare knew that the richest, most talented, and most powerful people who betray civilization and “sell out” to corruption “smell far worse than weeds.” The humble weed and its honesty may be the survivor and, with the help of higher consciousness, live to create a better world.
When all this seems just too overwhelming, we need to remember the insight from the founders of the many great religions: “The Kingdom of God is within.” Our connection to the light of understanding leads us to the peace of knowing who we really are within the vast mind of eternity.
Blessings to you all in this New Year!
Linda
Important Point of Reference (for Astrologers):
New Moon in 12 degrees Capricorn Jan. 2 square Chiron and trine Uranus; Full Moon at 27 degrees Cancer Jan 17 opposition Mercury conjunct Pluto, trine and sextile the Lunar Nodes; Venus retrograde is sextile Neptune Jan. 6 and goes direct Jan. 28 trine Uranus; Mercury goes retrograde square Uranus Jan. 13 and is conjunct Pluto in Capricorn Jan. 29; Mars in Sagittarius is square Neptune Jan.11 and goes into Capricorn Jan. 24; Jupiter went into Pisces Dec. 29 and will transit this sign through May 10 then reappears Oct. 28 through Dec. 20; The North Node of the Moon leaves Gemini and enters Taurus Jan. 26.
