Important Points of Reference (for astrologers):
New Moon at 15 degrees Aries square Saturn, Pluto and the Lunar Nodes (conjunct the South Node of Pluto) on April 5; Full Moon at 29 degrees of Libra square Pluto on April 19; Mercury in Pisces is sextile Saturn April 6 and is sextile Pluto April 10; Venus in Pisces is conjunct Neptune April 9, is sextile Saturn April 12, and is sextile Pluto April 14; Mars goes into Gemini March 31 transiting the sign until May 15and is sextile Mercury in Aries April 30; Jupiter goes retrograde April 9 and is square Mercury April 12 and is square Venus April 15.
(Chiron enters Aries (through April of 2027))
The Struggle for Identity:
We have experienced, since 2011 until now, the transit of Uranus, the rebel, through the sign of Aries (the warrior) and square (in conflict) to Pluto (concentration of wealth and power) in Capricorn. This has corresponded with civil wars and revolutions throughout the world, expressed within different contexts, but, combined with climate emergencies, has resulted in upheavals around the globe. As a consequence, mass migrations out of nations of origin have expanded to levels not seen since WW II.
Similar to its historic transit through this sign in the 1930’s, we have seen the rise of racism, xenophobia, and narcissistic dictators who use “hate” to further their exploitation. We have seen a tendency toward selfishness and lack of sense of the “greater good”. We have seen religions move toward their ancient ethnic warrior tribal frameworks demonizing and fearing “the other” and moving away from the tolerance and collaboration that are necessary for democracies to function in the modern world. The rise of globalism and corporate decisions made over the past 40 years has clearly created an “identity crisis”. People see their jobs threatened, their cultures shattered, their institutions no longer serving them, and their governments “bought out” by large financial interests that lay outside their realms. The BREXIT crisis illustrates all these tendencies framed within the culture of the UK whose people and parliament seem to choose fighting and fragmentation over agreements and compromises.
CHIRON’s transit in the sign of Aries will bring all this into focus in a different sense. The mythology around Chiron’s birth tells a story of a profound “identity crises.” He was born as a centaur – a hybrid of an animal, a human and a god. His legend is one of the “wounded healer”, the part animal, part human, part divinity, whose painful wound by a poisoned arrow he forged for Hercules, was accidentally self-inflicted. His wound was impossible to heal, yet, because of his divinity, he was unable to die. He came to understand that his mission was to heal the wounds humanity has inflicted on itself through a willingness to sacrifice selfishness for wisdom and self -knowledge. Thus, he became a teacher and a healer. Chiron’s identity is as an “outsider” who does not fit in with animals, humans, or the gods forced him to sacrifice fragmentation, and, instead, accept and embrace all his component parts through his service to humanity. At this point, Zeus took pity on him, he was allowed to die, and to be reborn into a new unified organism (the constellation of Sagittarius) that is symbolic of an evolutionary leap forward.
Aries the Warrior:
Without the fiery energy of Aries, most people would not have survived the great challenges of existence through the ages as most tribal societies simply lived at a subsistence level from day to day, hunting, fishing, and farming to stave off starvation and fighting off local “tribes” for control of territory. Our ancestors observed a natural world in which animals preyed off each other and, it was quite simply, a “eat or be eaten” contest. Thus, they developed hierarchies of “alpha” men (warlords) rarely including women, to govern their tribes and nations. They quite simply “killed off” their competition for power and control of their assets and formed the primary societal order. Author Howard Blume in his book “The Lucifer Principle” demonstrates that these “hierarchies of dominance” were present in the animal kingdom and within human societies since they began at the dawn of history. Great climate changes such as ice ages, ice melts and ensuing great floods, and volcanic eruptions all forced people to migrate across continents and oceans to places where they could survive. Their energy and ingenuity is why we still exist and sustain an unprecedented population of around 8 billion people alive on planet earth today.
Since the great wars of the 20th and 21st centuries to control energy assets and territories have played out in history, we have developed weapons that threaten to destroy all life on earth. The Lucifer Principle has brought us Hitler, Stalin, Mussolini, and Mao and continue to this day to present multiple dictators who retain power by coercion and often genocidal massacres. Blume suggests that the ancient models for societies now threaten our existence and must change to something else. Under this model, we have created an escalating climate catastrophe due primarily to the massive use of fossil fuels to power an industrial and technological revolution never seen before. It is now clear that the Warrior must become the Healer or the selfish short- sighted infantile Aries will evoke wounds that will not heal on himself and all who live together on the planet today.
The New Necessity: Collaboration
Democracy is still a revolutionary idea within the context of human history. It means we have the right to vote for our leaders. It requires a respect for the individual’s rights and opinions combined with a willingness to work together to implement big projects, create and compose successful civilizations containing public works for all, and make economic equality of opportunity a reality – not just a fantasy. This requires intelligent debate, cooperation, and collaboration. The fiery energy of Aries can be used to innovate new solutions to crises rising on today’s horizon, inspire young people to become involved in massive projects, and learn to work in teams to implement them.
All of us are in this together. Our neighbor is ourselves. A destroyed landscape means we will sicken and die together. Respecting and honoring all the aspects of ourselves – animal, human and divine, could result in a miracle – a renewed green and sustainable environment for all of us – our children and grandchildren to inhabit, living together, on an earthly paradise.
The Economy:
Between April 1st and April 12th, Mercury and Venus are sextile both Saturn and Pluto, promoting a fantasy that the economy is still working as markets are trending upward. Mars in Gemini will square Neptune on the 26th, ending many financial delusions. First Pluto, and now Saturn and the transiting South Node of the Moon are transiting the South Node of Pluto and will be joined by Jupiter by Feb. of 2020. This is a highly unusual set of transits, threatening power structures, economies, and institutions around the world. We are seeing this already.
For many years in my newsletters and all three of my books, I have recommended cyber security as a major economic investment. I have also recommended water containment and purification stocks, or funds. I have suggested “green” technologies that would solve massive pollution problems and build sustainable energy infrastructures. Now, finally, the media is starting to reveal the importance of these areas of the economy that are essential to our survival. Up to this time, frankly, I feel I have been “shouting into the wind”. These are ideas whose time has come.
The truth is that we are entering an economic recession that is truly worse than many of the elites on Wall Street tell us. We now have an inverted yield curve. Oil and gas prices are starting to rise, especially since Venezuela, who has the biggest oil deposits in the world, has been “sanctioned” by the U.S. and is in the midst of a societal and economic collapse. The massive floods I have previously predicted in my newsletters have hit the Midwestern states, right in the middle of the farm belt and in parts of the South. These areas have already been financially hit by the Trump tariffs on China. I am hoping that he will make some kind of deal this month with Mercury sextile Pluto. Soon, food prices will skyrocket. All this will create a significant inflationary spiral that the corporate “cartel” has previously controlled by purposely keeping people’s wages down.
Low wages and high housing prices have kept about 47% of our nation living at or below the poverty line. About 48% of our population is known to have cardiovascular disease. We have an epidemic of obesity and ensuing millions with diabetes. Our young people are overdosing on opioids and there has been a 30% increase in suicides. Pres. Trump wishes to eliminate the Affordable Care Act, leaving about 30 million people uninsured and all losing the protection of its “pre-existing condition” clause. Neither he or the Republicans in Congress have a plan to replace it.
We will soon be forced to “print” money to pay our historically high (over $22 trillion) sovereign debt. We will see more defaults on auto loans as this market is beginning to decline. We will see problems with credit card debt. The US trade deficit is the largest since 2008. The Feds, under pressure from Pres. Trump and the business cartel, will likely either stay put or lower interest rates by the Fall.
Interestingly, even Jaime Dimon, CEO of JP Morgan Chase is publicly commenting on the major economic disparities between the 1% and the rest of the population. Those who occupy the ruling elite are beginning to be concerned about the consequences of a societal collapse whose effect would be a blowback effecting their own lives. Last month’s scandal involving wealthy and privileged celebrities bribing colleges to admit their children is actually just a confirmation of what most of us have been observing for years, as many universities are being run like profit-driven corporations. In March, the tragic accident in a “hybrid” Boeing airplane highlights the tendencies of corporations to put profits before lives. As Ralph Nader recently wrote, “Boeing’s sales driven avoidance of producing effective manuals with upgraded pilot training was courting disaster as was the outrageously leaving of many of the pilots in the dark.”
By the Fall of this year, we will be in a bear market and a serious recession. Now is the time to get into a cash/gold position as a safety play and wait on the sidelines. Gold and silver markets are highly manipulated by the central banks, who have been buying gold and storing it for the first time in many years. However, we are reaching “peak gold” as there is very little left to extract.
Politics:
Mars (combat) in communication-oriented Gemini (March 31 through May 15) will assert a major influence in the charts of both the U.S. and Pres. Trump. The candidates in the Democratic Party will have a heyday lashing out at the president as he lashes out at the Congress, the press, the Democrats, and any single person or organization who disagrees with him, as he promotes dissent, fragmentation, and conflict in his multiple tweets. Last month, he even attacked deceased war hero and long- time distinguished Senator John McCain. I assume he feels safe attacking a person who is dead and cannot speak out for himself.
The UK is dealing with a similar inability to reach a consensus and their parliament has voted down every proposal for BREXIT that Prime Minister Teresa May has proposed. Something will be decided this month as Mercury is sextile Saturn and Pluto – with or without them.
I have long asserted that Trump will not be impeached. The publishing of the Mueller Report confirms that that step will not be taken. The report was announced with retrograde Mercury (communication) conjunct Neptune (confusion) in which Mueller said he could not find direct “collusion” but that it also did not “exonerate” the president. Mercury conjunct Neptune is awash with confusion! The report is supposed to be released to Congress and the public this month with much of it “redacted.” Trump sees this as a victory and is now back to eliminating health care coverage for about 30 million Americans by trying to trash Obamacare, even though it is law. He is trying to extract money for his “wall” by taking money out of the funds designated for military operations. His “proposed” budget outlined last month cuts Medicaid, Medicare, and provisions for Public Health, among other things. He has proposed nothing to replace existing systems. His Secretary of Education, Betsey De Vos has proposed removing funds from the Special Olympics to fund her private religious schools. Neither Trump or De Vos actually have any authority here as Congress holds the power of the purse.
All this should be a gift to the Democrats, who ran and won on health care in last Fall’s elections. Democrats who “announced” their candidacy last month under retrograde Mercury will likely run into delays. Astrologers require dates, times, and places of birth for us to study the charts of candidates running for office and cannot comment until we get this data.
As to the 2020 election, I will comment once the nominee of the Democratic Party has been decided.
Weather and the Environment:
The massive floods we have seen in March will likely continue until April 20th, as both Mercury and Venus are transiting Pisces. I previously predicted serious storms and floods in March. We saw record setting floods in the Midwest farm belt and the Missouri River is still flooding these regions. We will see food shortages and higher food prices as a result. This kind of weather will likely continue through the 20th of this month.
The biggest catastrophe in March was historic cyclone Adai that hit the southern Coasts of Africa destroying infrastructures of three nations: Zimbabwe, Malawi, and Mozambique where millions had to flee their homes. A terrible cholera epidemic has broken out there. Mars transiting Gemini this month through the middle of May will likely present huge winds and high pollen counts. Watch out for accidents while travelling as Mars is square Neptune the 24th through the 27th.
Final Thoughts:
Navigating through the storms and waves of Pisces last month and this month sometimes makes us feel like victims of the circumstances surrounding the planet as a whole and the limitations of our own individual perceptions. Pisces is a sign that makes us more aware of what we do not know than what we know. Trying to combat this is like shouting into the wind, punching at the waves, or stopping a hurricane as it sweeps through the sky.
On a personal level, I have found that I simply need to pause for a while and stop the battle I am waging within myself. The stillness, the quiet, the decision to not intervene, brings me to the surface of the water where I float, surrounded by a light that illumines my soul and reminds me of the immortality that surrounds our mortal lives here on earth.
The stars speak to me that this is not all there is; that the darkness and the cold will subside of its own will; that out of destruction, creation emerges and surprises us over and over again. The arrival of Spring and with it, Easter and Passover bring us a celebration of victory, hope, rebirth, and quite simply, one more chance.
Have a beautiful and meaningful holiday season!
