Important Points of Reference (for astrologers):
New Moon March 6 at 15 degrees Pisces conjunct Neptune sextile Mars and Saturn; Full Moon March 20 at 00 Libra ( on the World Point) semi-sextile Uranus; Mercury goes retrograde March 5th at a critical 29 degrees Pisces, is trine the North Node on the 14th, is sextile Pluto on the 15th, is square Jupiter on the 15th, goes direct conjunct Neptune on the 28 th and is in this sign until April 16th; Venus goes into Aquarius on the 2nd sextile Jupiter on the 21st, Mars in Taurus until March 30th is trine Saturn on the 13th and trine Pluto on the 19th; Uranus goes into Taurus March 5th and is in this sign until April of 2026.
(Mercury retrograde in Pisces)
Water – Water Everywhere!
Swimming through the Waves of Mass Confusion:
Astrologers frequently advise their clients not to sign a contract or start a new venture under a Mercury retrograde cycle. This is especially true this month as Mercury goes through Pisces, a placement that tends to get caught up in Ponzi schemes, attracts con artists, produces escapism and flights of fancy, or simply feels confused and distracted. Because of its positive aspects to Saturn and Pluto, financial markets may reach highs that are unsustainable later on when the investor may say: “What was I thinking?”
Pisces is a sign associated with health care, chemicals (oil), the fine arts including the media and film industries, drugs and alcohol. This may present a scandal in any of these industries that will have wide ranging effects. This would include health care corporations, oil companies (spills and pollution), media corporations, cannabis industries and, possibly, another revelation about the opioid epidemic in our nation.
Corruption in government will be a major theme as the Mueller investigation of Trump and the Russian involvement in the 2016 election gains “steam.” Last month, former Acting Director of the FBI, Andrew McCabe published a book and was interviewed on 60 Minutes revealing that, after the firing of Comey, there was a consideration of evoking the 25th Amendment to declare Trump unfit for office. Michael Cohen’s recent testimony before Congress points to fraud, lying, cheating, etc. of Pres. Trump, but still does not demonstrate that he colluded directly with Russia which would be an impeachable offense.
Most of all, and most importantly, Pisces is a symbol of global water – the source of all life on earth.
Mercury retrograde in Pisces, combined with the transit of Mars in Taurus (land), will increase the danger of tsunamis, storms, and massive flooding. The rain/snow I predicted for the winter season in past newsletters is accelerating this month through the middle of April and set new records for one of the wettest winters on record! This includes the formerly dry areas in California and much of the western U.S. In addition, I am particularly concerned this month about the possibility of flooding in Japanese territory. Finally, the facts and projections of global climate scientists are being taken seriously. Our march toward destruction of species and what awaits life here on earth is terrifying! Recently, a book worth reading has been authored by David Wells, entitled “Uninhabitable Earth”, outlining how every aspect of life is being threatened by climate change.
I am inspired by a recent article posted Feb. 14th on the blog, scientificamerican.com entitled: “Bold Plan? Replace the Border Wall with an Energy-Water Corridor” by Mark Fischetti. He reports: “Instead of an endless, inert wall along the U.S.-Mexico border, line the boundary with 2,000 miles of natural gas, solar and wind power plants. Use some of the energy to desalinate water from the Gulf of Mexico and the Pacific Ocean and ship it through pipelines to thirsty towns, businesses, and new farms along the entire border zone. Hire hundreds of thousands of people from both countries to build and run it all. Companies would make money and provide security to safeguard their assets. A contentious and costly no-man’s-land would be transformed into a corridor of opportunity.” He goes on to say: ”A consortium of 27 engineers and scientists from a dozen U.S. universities has developed a plan. Last week they delivered it to three U.S. representatives and one senator. ‘Let’s put the best scientists and engineers together to create a new way to deal with migration, trafficking—and access to water. These are regions of severe drought,’ says Luciano Castillo, a professor of energy and power at Purdue University who leads the group.”
Conservation, purification, and containment of water will be one of the grandest issues of the 21st Century. This month’s retrograde Mercury in Pisces will demonstrate to us just how big, and sometimes incomprehensible, this subject really is. Here lies a real and present challenge in connection to environmental issues being raised, particularly at this time as the 2020 election is looming on the horizon, and so many have announced they are running for office. We are caught between the “climate deniers” and corporate giants who do not want to pay taxes — and proponents of the “Green New Deal” which contains a lot of inspiring ideas, but lacks many of the details around how to pay for them.
Democracy in trouble:
A major problem with reaching voters and with the democratic system in general is the fact that people tend to respond to “simplicity”: they want one-liners and short phrases to come from clearly defined party positions, i.e. “Left” vs. “Right” or “Capitalist” vs. “Socialist.” I am startled at how many people tell me they don’t read books any more and seldom read scholarly articles. The critical thinking required to maintain a healthy democracy is in seriously short supply! It is easier to get caught up in the schemes of autocratic dictators who use “name calling”, hate mongering, and “fear of the other’ to get into positions of power. This month’s Pisces retrograde Mercury makes this difficult to navigate and we all need to be vigilant concerning lies vs. truth, exaggeration vs. precision, schemes that tempt us to gamble with our assets, vs. patience and holding off decision making until things become more transparent. Many issues will clarify on or shortly after March 28th, when Mercury goes direct and sextile both Saturn and Pluto.
The Economy:
I am seriously aware of how the media is constantly talking about this “great prosperous economy”. I think the stock market is going higher on a frothy upswing before a major correction in the Fall of the year. We now know that the landscape of the economy in America works very well for the One Per Cent and is simply a struggle for many others. Recently, it was announced that default on auto loans is the highest since 2010 during the Great Recession. Our sovereign wealth debt has risen to over $22 trillion and personal credit card debt is the highest in our history. The abuses of the giant banks that led to the 2008 crash have not been corrected. All this points to a serious decline by the end of this year. Those more far-seeing individuals will likely be buying gold and silver as a safety hedge for the future, especially as Mercury goes direct sextile Saturn at the end of this month. Another place fitting the current themes would be water ETFs.
A looming economic issue at this time is our trade agreement with China, their “hacking” our data bases, and the disruptive arrest of the CFO of Chinese tech giant, Huawei. For the U.S. to control the massive 5G rollout, institute some kind of control of China’s stealing of our technology, and prevent them from “hacking” into our data banks, it will take massive and detailed negotiating power. There may actually be some kind of agreement right after Mercury goes direct on March 28th, sextile both Saturn and then Pluto into early April.
One of my clients emailed me an insightful and startling article in the March 2019 issue of The Atlantic entitled “Russian-Style Kleptocracy is Infiltrating America” by Franklin Foer: https://www.theatlantic.com/magazine/archive/2019/03/how-kleptocracy-came-to-america/580471
It carefully outlines how, following the collapse of the Soviet Union, Russian oligarch money got into international banks, most of all, American banks, and was “laundered”. In both Clinton and Bush administrations, there was an attempt to pass legislation to stop this and it actually happened in the Patriot Act passed after the 911 attack. Following this, the Russians began a massive money laundering operation through American real estate, including that belonging to Donald Trump. All this may very well be behind Pres. Trump’s fulfilling all of Vladimir Putin’s wishes by weakening America’s position in NATO, withdrawing from the Paris Climate Accord, withdrawing troops from Syria where Putin and Assad are allied, and taking Putin’s “word” that Russia had nothing to do with the 2016 election in spite of U.S. security (FBI, CIA, and Homeland Security) all confirming how they hacked into Social Media and used Wikileaks to release dirt on Hillary Clinton.
Obviously, Trump was not “alone” in all these illegal machinations, that included Deutsche Bank and parts of our own U.S. banking system. Americans have been sensing for a long time that corruption has had its way in this country. Historically, we have witnessed a collaboration between giant banks, corporations, and the “bought and paid for” federal government. The origin and core of our trouble lies in this dark and often hidden concentration of wealth and power. Americans are very suspicious of this and for good reason. Pres. Trump ran on a promise to clean up the alligators in the swamp and he may now be the king of all the alligators. This is not a great month for the president, and the planets place a great deal of stress on his astrological chart. Having said all this, I still do not think the Republicans will impeach him.
Foreign Nations:
Venezuela is in a meltdown of monumental proportions. Currently elected President Maduro has control of the military while his competitor Guaido is supported by the legislature and has received recognition by the U.S. and many other nations. Maduro is keeping massive aid to starving Venezuelans from crossing the borders. Haiti is also trying to expel its dictator president for a crooked collaboration involving Venezuelan oil. The U.S. and western nations have a long history of intervening in multiple nations over many years in the Southern Hemisphere, mostly due to our vested interests in oil and mining, frequently leaving these nations with devastated environments and no essential economy outside of corporate oil. When oil prices plummeted, Venezuela lost most of its revenue and the economy tanked. As has happened before, this helped Hugo Chavez to get elected who, afterwards, got rid of private property and the nation experienced a government takeover. After Chavez came Maduro, massive inflation of their currency, and people exiting the nation. Pres. Trump has threatened to “invade” this nation, which would be a monumental mistake. This month’s Mercury transit in Pisces will worsen the confusion until it goes direct at the end of the month sextile Saturn and is sextile Pluto in early April, giving this nation some hope for reorganization, although the fundamentals in their broken economy are still present.
Northeastern Nigeria is being invaded by ISIS that hopes to establish a new Caliphate there. This nation is so torn apart by a lengthy and horrible civil war that they may actually welcome ISIS that ”promises” to be more friendly to civilians. This is a terrible irony. ISIS is like a virus that enters these devastated countries that have failed states. It makes it impossible, for all practical purposes, for America to go chasing all over the world to combat these insurgencies.
India/Pakistan are in conflict again over Kashmir, which has gone on since the civil war in India that divided the nation and created the nation of Pakistan for Muslims. Is there an end to this any time soon? The answer is no.
Israel is being caught up in the conflict connected with this month’s transit of Mars in Taurus. Anti-Semitism has raised its ugly head over the past several years and is currently expressing itself in France, Germany, and the U.S. The Middle East is caught in the destructive wars between Iran’s Shia governance (supported by Russia) and Saudi Arabia’s Sunni dominance (supported by the U.S.) and the multiple failed states in the region. As Uranus enters Taurus this month, Israel will be in an even greater struggle for its existence between now and 2026.
Japan may have some issues this month with flooding, earthquakes/tsunamis or volcanic eruptions.
North Korea’s Kim Jong Un and Pres. Trump are currently meeting that, due to this month’s retrograde Mercury in Pisces, will be a morass of lies and confusion. Sociopath Kim has ruthlessly assassinated anyone, including his own uncle, who he perceives is his “enemy” and has been starving his populace in a ruthless dictatorship that uses fear as its main tactic. Trump has “praised” Kim for discussing “deals” involving nuclear disarmament, although, even though Kim has not been testing nuclear weapons, he has been accumulating and storing them underground. His only negotiating tool on the world scene is his nuclear weapons stockpile. Thus – no deal!
Russia has announced its new nuclear capabilities and Pres. Trump has “withdrawn” from the nuclear disarmament treaty of the 1980s, since Putin has been violating its mandates. As I have predicted in previous newsletters for years, we are now in a new “Cold War” with Russia.
China is busy negotiating a new trade deal with the Trump administration. By the period between March 28th and April 10th, there may actually be some kind of deal, as Mercury is sextile Saturn and Pluto. They are suffering far worse than the U.S. as their economic growth is seriously in decline. The art of working with this giant economy that is government controlled will be like walking a tightrope.
The UK will get a BREXIT agreement on time with the Mercury sextile Saturn on the 28th right before the projected deadline on the March 29th. .
Final Thoughts:
This month, I am reminded of the ancient scriptures and myths around the “Great Flood” that demolished all life on earth except for Noah and his family or those described in the great Epic of Gilgamesh whose survivors lived to build a new civilization. The stories of creation, destruction, and creation again, permeate our collective history and point to ice ages, volcanic eruptions and massive glacier meltdowns that were likely behind these events. There was always a “remnant” of the human population who survived and lived to begin again.
As we navigate our way through the changing of the ages that is upon us at this critical time, we need to know that we have scientific knowledge and technologies that no previous civilization had. If we do not ”make it” to the other side of this, it will be because humans remain a selfish, predator/prey species that cannot climb out of the darkness into the light revealing an advanced intellectual and spiritual consciousness.
The constellations await us within a universe of possibilities. The choice is ours!
