“Life either kills you or makes you a better man.”
Mark Twain
The Sign of Scorpio and its ruler, Pluto, currently transiting Capricorn
The Lunar Eclipse conjunct Uranus:
Amid all the turmoil, upheaval, and crises in our lives, it would seem that we are being dealt blows to our comfort and survival that lie beyond our ability to comprehend. Populations are fleeing their nations of origin due to war and climate catastrophes making it impossible to live in the only places they have called home for generations.
Global political and economic structures are failing us because people in positions of power have failed us. Economists who really care about “all the people”, climate scientists, and intellectuals have warned us for decades, outlining exactly what would lie ahead for us if we did nothing. Essentially, nothing is what we did. The transit of Pluto in Capricorn that has returned to the Natal Pluto in the chart of the US, warned of the disestablishment of the establishment” and, ironically, at the same time, world leadership has often consisted of “old men” and often reflected a desire to return to old-time religious and social norms.
It is interesting that US scientists have just successfully hit and diverted an asteroid with technology that would give us a defense against an extinction event that destroyed the dinosaurs more than 60 million years ago. It is ironic that human-engineered greenhouse gasses burned and deposited in the earth’s atmosphere, are now threatening us with our own possible extinction.
We are having a mid-term election here in the US on the exact date of a Full Moon Lunar Eclipse conjunct Uranus (upheaval) and square Saturn (order), which suggests weather extremes, earthquakes, and technological breakdowns. Energy price spikes are causing massive inflation not been seen since the 1970s (the last time Mid-East oil price inflation spiked was caused by the revolution in Iran). The cancellation of Roe v Wade by the Supreme Court has raised the specter of women’s rights over their reproductive decisions. The wave of crime that has swept the nation is complex and is due to widespread poverty and homelessness, severe mental health issues, easy access to military-grade assault weapons, and ineffective gun laws. Since it is widely expected the Republicans will be the winners, the Democrats may do better than expected. In general, we can expect the unexpected.
As the month rolls on, and the Scorpio planets sextile Pluto and trine Neptune, we will sort out the returns and know who actually won. However, the issues of inflation, the Ukraine war, the economy, and global weather disasters continue to loom heavily on the horizon. The question is: Will we elect people who can really help? Will our fragile democracy survive?
Scorpio is a sign of death and rebirth. Old corrupt systems must fail, and, in the process, we are compelled to descend into the “underworld” to clean up the debris. In a sense, Pluto and Scorpio are societal “plumbers”, who go down into the darkest portion of the psyche, come face to face with the demons, and cleanse the soul. Out of all this, rise multiple new forms of life that climb up out of the ground into the light.
All of us have had Pluto experiences within the context of our lives. We have lost jobs, fortunes, and the lives of people closest to us. I can testify, from my personal experiences, that things we thought we could never give up, ironically, often turn out to be the very baggage that has obstructed our growth. Their absence makes room for a new life – a better life – a resurrection into a light of understanding we never knew existed.
The economy:
Last month’s Mars/Neptune square with ups and downs continues this month and still haunts Wall Street. Jupiter is briefly back in Pisces (oil and chemicals) until Dec. 20th. Oil prices will continue to climb, continuing the dreaded cycle of inflation, mainly due to OPEC’s decision, led by Saudi Arabia, to tighten the flow. What is currently needed is for Pres. Biden and his energy secretary to call a meeting with American energy corporations and develop a policy to effectively assist US oil and gas production, without which, our economy would collapse. The Saudis need to know they have made a mistake since we could halt shipping them arms. These same oil companies resent Biden and the Democrats for making life difficult for them in the past in that they have favored and subsidized clean alternative energies. He has his work cut out for him as he turns 80 years old this month.
The truth is that all the current green energies presently known and used barely provide 15% of our energy needs. A lot of fossil fuel is burned to manufacture electric cars, solar panels, and windmills. In reality, we need both at this particular time, until nuclear fusion and the perfect battery are developed and ready to use, which, in my opinion, will not be until 2026. We are currently between a “rock and a hard place.”
Most of us know how the macroeconomy is controlled and influenced by giant banks. Reuters announced on Oct. 17: Goldman Sachs is planning a major reorganization to combine its biggest businesses into 3 divisions with its investment banking and trading businesses being merged into a single unit.” They have also announced they are pulling back on “retail banking.”The power of this bank to influence the markets cannot be exaggerated.
In a broader context, we are headed toward leaving the past version of a global economy that gave us “cheap” products and low labor costs. Since China is now under the control of a Mao-style military Communist dictatorship, the US is moving away from linking our economy with theirs. Instead, our governance is moving toward a more localized economy where we make things here in the US in which products cost more, but jobs and wages are increased and infrastructure is upgraded. The new “chips” plants that are going up in New York, Ohio, and Arizona are moving us in this direction.
The biggest “secret” is that we have supplies of fresh water here in the regions close to the Great Lakes. Micron has made a historic commitment to build a giant chip plant in Clay, New York looking to create about 50,00 new jobs. This region looks promising located in the Global North near the Great Lakes. A huge crisis surrounds a historic drought that has caused the receding of the Mississippi River that transports and waters the bread basket of this nation. The Western (especially Southwestern US) is in a great heat wave and historic drought that has created giant forest fires and they have exhausted their underground aquifers. Water will be a big determinant of our survival and prosperity in the future. I would look to invest in hydrology corporations and technologies.
Weather:
High winds and serious storms loom over the horizon this month, along with unexpected cold temperatures originating in the Northern US. Bad weather could impact the elections as well. Conditions will improve toward the end of the month. I predicted extremely high winds and storms last month and it was announced that the Nakia fire in the state of Washington has exploded amid powerful winds and has grown to over 2000 acres, forcing thousands to evacuate.
China:
Xi Jinping has assured his place indefinitely as dictator in a now totally totalitarian state. He is likely to claim sovereignty over Taiwan sooner rather than later. He will expand his military capabilities. We need to remember, however, that he turns 70 years old next year. He will run into problems in 2024 when Saturn is square his Sun. The Chinese economy has seriously declined as the West moves to limit trade with them, and the US and Europe are developing their own technology factories. The problem is that China and its “pal” Russia have the largest deposits of minerals and “rare earths” that are absolutely necessary for our modern technologies. We need to “walk a tightrope” in our relations with this government since neither of us wants a nuclear war. In 2025, Pluto goes into Aquarius and begins a transit over the Moon and Ascendant of China, changing everything – its leadership and form of governance. They may have another revolution.
Russia:
The NATO nations have hurt the Russian economy, but not as much as expected since their oil and gas are all too necessary for global consumption. As we provide more weapons to Ukraine, Russia will continue blowing up infrastructure around this nation. These actions will likely intensify this month. However, they are losing this war, conscripting mercenaries and soldiers who often defect and who really do not want to fight the war. Reports are that Putin is “losing it.” The solution is some kind of a “deal” and hopes that Putin eventually loses his absolute power over this nation. He just turned 70 years old in October.
The UK:
This nation has been in a downward spiral since BREXIT. Their only real economy is the banking and finance industries. A new prime minister has been elected: Rishi Sunak after the two previous others have failed miserably. He comes from an Indian heritage and is the first “person of color” to occupy this position. His background arises out of the upper echelons of education and finance (his Sun is in financial Taurus) and his wife is the daughter of an Indian billionaire. The Queen has recently died. The British are in a crisis for their political and economic relevance in the world.
Science and Technology:
For decades, we have been mesmerized by the accomplishments and possibilities of AI (Artificial Intellegence). In the Oct. issue of Scientific American, there is an article entitled “Artificial Confidence” by Gary Marcus, which suggests: “Even the newest, buzziest systems of artificial general intelligence are stymied by the same old problems.” He points out: “Although deep learning has advanced the ability of machines to recognize patterns in data, it has three major flaws. The patterns that it learns are, ironically, superficial, not conceptual; the results it creates are hard to interpret; and the results are difficult to use in the context of other processes, such as memory and reasoning.” We need to revisit the current capabilities of AI and remember that computing serves humanity; not the other way around.
Another article in this same issue entitled “Testing Nukes” reports: “The National Ignition Facility is designed to ensure that the US arsenal will work.” In case of a nuclear war, in the most dreary of circumstances, “The Target Chamber of the National Ignition Facility houses a minuscule pellet of plutonium or other materials. Lasers hit the target from all sides, precipitating a fusion reaction. Such experiments enable researchers to researchers to gauge the performance of the US nuclear arsenal.” This would lend credence to the old axiom that the best offense is a good defense.
Posted on Space News, an article by Francis Reddy reports: “An unusually bright and long-lasting pulse of high energy radiation swept over the earth on October 16, captivating astronomers around the world.” It will be interesting to know what the implications are for life on earth.
Posted on Science Alert, Oct. 16, David Nield reports: “Quantum Entanglement has now been directly observed at the Macroscopic Scale” Called by Albert Einstein “spooky action at a distance”, it is the binding together of two particles or objects, even though they may be far apart. Their respective properties are linked in a way that is not possible in the rules of classic physics. They report: “In a 2021 study, quantum entanglement was directly observed and recorded at the macroscopic scale – a scale much bigger than the subatomic particles normally associated with entanglement.” They go on to say: “All the necessary measurements were recorded rather than inferred, and the entanglement was generated in a deterministic non-random way.” The philosophy encompassing the study of astrology suggests that all units/ particles in the universe are linked with one another in ways we have not fully understood. Entanglement leads us in a direction that would, in part, explain our observations. I find these discoveries exciting, leading us further into the Aquarian Age of scientific discoveries and breakthroughs.
In the November Issue of “Scientific American, a headline article was published entitled “The Coming Collapse.” by Douglas Fox. It reports: “Two expeditions to Antarctica’s Thwaites Ice Shelf have revealed that it could splinter apart in less than a decade – allowing a vast glacier behind it to slide into the sea.” It is suggested that this would push up sea levels around the planet, flooding coastal cities worldwide.
On the Oct. 17 post of The Register, it was announced that: “The US Dept. of Energy is handing out more fusion power funding, this time doling out $47 million to 38 projects that are exploring the feasibility of tokamak reactors.” This lends optimism to the ongoing research and development in this field that promises to eventually be the “Holy Grail” of mass production of energy with no pollution. There have been private funding from some billionaires toward this effort as well, which I have been reporting in this newsletter.
It has been recently reported that the drug used to treat alcohol and drug addiction, Naltrexone, shows promise in treating Long COVID. It has also been effective in treating chronic fatigue syndrome. More studies lie ahead.
Recently, evidence has been published that the rise in neurological disorders such as Alzheimer’s, Autism, and ALS, could be caused by environmental toxins – air pollution, pesticides, microplastics, and “forever” chemicals. This kind of research has been ongoing for over 60 years. Most of us have suspected these connections, but little has been done since the power of chemical companies has been supreme, preventing real and meaningful environmental legislation.
Final Thoughts:
In an era of mind-numbing change, including many religions becoming even more tribal and fanatical, scientific advancements becoming increasingly more difficult to understand, let alone embrace, and ancient cultural divides emerging to separate us — it would seem there is a deficit of inspiration and high hopes for envisioning a great future that we could embrace together as a species. Our young people, feeling hopeless, are often escaping into drugs, violence, suicide, or simply cynicism that our institutions are so corrupt that they are beyond repair.
If we look at the span of history over thousands of years at the collapses of ancient empires, we see that this has happened before. The question we need to ask is: Will we simply decay and collapse like the empires before us, or will we reinvent ourselves, leaving behind the ancient plagues, wars, and invasions that characterized other great civilizations?
Because I study astrology, I have the advantage of knowing that the planetary transits into new and hopeful signs lie ahead. Pluto begins its transit into Aquarius in 2023 and I will discuss the new transits in future newsletters. These patterns would offer hope for the emergence of a new age, one in which we can invent our way out of the climate catastrophes, pandemics, wars, and institutional failures that have haunted the past. We need to respect scientists and their explorations. Our future is literally in their hands. Society must incorporate this intelligence into our political and social discourse. We can no longer afford to worship cult leaders who ask us to throw away our brains and embrace fear and hate.
Personally, I love the old Star Trek series that embraces intelligence, technology, and great teams working together, who respect each other’s individual talents and points of view. This could suggest that the model of the Star Ship Enterprise presents us with a very exciting and inspiring future, exploring the universe. Beam me up, Scottie!
Let’s get going!
Linda
Important Points of Reference for Astrologers:
Full Moon Lunar Eclipse conjunct Uranus, conjunct Mercury and square Saturn on Nov. 8; New Moon at one degree Sagittarius Nov. 3; Mars retrograde in Gemini is square Neptune Nov. 14 – Nov. 20 and is trine Saturn Nov. 27; Venus hits the South Node Nov. 2, is square Saturn Nov. 6, trine Neptune Nov. 10 and is sextile Pluto Nov. 13 and is trine Jupiter Nov. 14, and is sextile Saturn on Nov. 30; Mercury hits the South Node Nov. 6, is opposition Uranus Nov. 8, is square Saturn Nov. 9, is trine Neptune Nov. `12, is sextile Pluto Nov. 14 is trine Jupiter Nov. 16 and is sextile Saturn and trine Mars on Nov. 29.
