Neptune Afflicted – Our Planet Weeps:
Mother Earth and her blessed waters have given birth to nearly everything we know. It has taken multiple millions of years and multiple mass extinctions to bring forth the rich environment, teeming with so many amazing species of life, we still have not even named them all! As human beings, we have morphed into the most intelligent force of life to have ever roamed around the earth to create the most advanced civilizations ever recorded.
Who would have thought that, subsumed by blindly self absorbed appetites, we would come to devour so many life forms, engineer mines and roads that kill vast swatches of forests, create weapons of mass destruction in order to kill each other, pollute the air and water to the point of threatening all life, and leaving, in our wake, a global warming event that is moving climate catastrophes across the skies and around the surface of the planet. It has just been reported that, for the first time in known history, there are now 100 million refugees escaping their places of origin. Who would have known?
Neptune has traditionally ruled organized religions, especially those that formed during the past 2000 years encompassed by the Age of Pisces. For decades, we have witnessed the revelation of the sex abuse scandals that emerged out of the Roman Catholic Church. Last month, It was revealed that the Southern Baptist Church, the largest protestant denomination consisting of about 13 million people, covered up decades of sexual abuse, keeping secret data bases of sex offenders and suppressing this information until now. Sadly, people looking for salvation and enlightenment, who trust their clergy have fallen into a “cult mentality” and pay the terrible price of victimization. Our search for meaning and enlightenment that Neptune symbolizes requires us to take responsibility for this journey ourselves.
Last month, a “white supremacist” shot and killed 11 black people in a supermarket parking lot in Buffalo, NY. This was followed by an 18 year old man, who shot his grandmother and then, with a military grade assault rifle, shot and killed 19 children and 2 teachers at an elementary school in Uvalde, Texas — in a state that has largely removed virtually all restrictions on the private ownership of fire arms. This evokes our tragic memories of the mass school shootings in Columbine, Sandy Hook and Parkland. It has been reported that there have been 202 mass shootings in the US in 2022.
Neptune is thought by many to represent the “soul” of a life – a substance of consciousness originated by a living cosmos that travels through many formats, lifetimes, and expressions. The Buddhists illustrate this notion by breaking a clay jar filled with water, showing us that the vessel breaks but the water flows on to fill the next receptacle. Earth’s oceans contain the watery origin and continuance of life on earth, moving through shores, rivers, waterfalls, until it eventually returns to itself. It also floods, drowns, subsumes and, finally washes away what was previously thought to be “permanent”. At the same time, it sustains all biological life that, without it, would not exist as we know it. Neptune is both the known and the unknown; it is the agony of obliteration and the ecstasy of creation.
In these times, there is a perpetual question many of us ask ourselves. Why? This question may be unanswerable. What we do now know is that we are arriving at an apocalypse – a revelation – that we must find the answers we are looking for or simply perish from the earth. The prophets of all faiths through the ages have predicted this moment. Will Neptune weep with sadness or weep for joy? The next few years will answer this question.
Politics, International Relations, and the Economy:
For about the past forty years, both political parties have adopted policies favorable to “globalization”, which has enabled corporations to shut down manufacturing in the US and move it to China, India, Vietnam, Mexico, Bangladesh and many other nations where labor is cheap, there is little taxation, and there are no environmental laws. This has created a billionaire class that controls more of a percentage of wealth in the US than any time in history.
When the Soviet Union fell, the US attempted to bring capitalism into Russia, which attempt failed miserably, plunging Russia into a great depression and eventually, back into a military dictatorship led today by Vladimir Putin. The nation has since become entrenched in the global banking and financial systems due to its being an oil and gas giant. China, who looked like it was moving in a capitalistic direction for a while and developed a hugely prosperous economy has been completely taken over by a Communist dictatorship and our economic “partnership” is failing. It is currently suffering greatly by pandemic surges and their government’s harsh shutdowns of their populations. The terrible war in Ukraine is bringing to light how dependent the world is on Russian gas, oil, wheat, and rare earths and how dependent we are on China’s manufacturing and their dominance in rare earths, which are essential for our entire technological economy.
Meanwhile, because of the worldwide pandemic and supply chain crises, oil and gas inflation is running amok, driving the Federal Reserve to raise interest rates and taking us into an inevitable recession. The stock market has been dropping like a rock! We are currently “rerunning” all the hydrocarbon dependency evils we experienced in the 1970s and more!
On June 4th, Mercury goes direct conjunct Algol, the degree of the Sun in last month’s lunar eclipse and is square transiting Saturn. The terrors of the Russia/Ukraine War will intensify and world leaders will push for some kind of resolution. Other members of NATO in addition to the US will likely be sending support to Ukraine. The violence and insanity behind mass shootings in the US will emerge again.
I forecast that the Biden administration will promote an agenda favoring domestic manufacturing at home and push for higher labor and environmental standards abroad. It will also be asking for higher taxes on the billionaire class, which will be difficult, but not impossible, to implement, since they control most of the financing of political campaigns. Recently, the Supreme Court ruled in favor of Sen. Ted Cruz of Texas in a case involving the use of campaign funds to repay his personal campaign loans, dealing the latest blow to campaign finance regulations. Obviously, we are having to come to terms with our global dependency on fossil fuels with no end in sight, and putting aside environmentally favorable legislation, which, frankly, at present, is a noble but meek attempt to control global warming.
Last month, Pres. Biden announced a new Indo-Pacific Economic Framework, a general regulatory trade agreement, including the US, Australia, India, Japan, South Korea, Indonesia, The Philippines, Malaysia, Thailand, Vietnam, Brunei, New Zealand and Singapore. There are differences between this agreement and the old Trans-Pacific Partnership negotiated during the Obama years, and rejected by the Trump administration. Hopefully, as more information comes out about this agreement, the old objections will be removed. We shall see.
As you all know, who have been reading this newsletter, I believe the Holy Grail which will save us from environmental extinction is the rapidly developing technology of nuclear fusion, along with the creation of the “perfect” battery. In addition to all this, the US government and the private sector, instead of being political enemies, will forge partnerships, such as the one between NASA and Space X. These are trends that will be reinforced in the future when Trump and Biden are long out of the picture.
The recent Supreme Court decision to effectively nullify Roe v Wade will energize women all over the nation to push for legislation to codify a woman’s right to choose and control her own reproductive rights. This will be a huge political clash that will extend into the Mid-term Election in November and prove what I suggested in previous newsletters that Nov. 8 election day will be highly unstable and contentious.
This leads me to what lies ahead in 2023, when Saturn goes into Pisces and Pluto goes into Aquarius. This year marks endings and beginnings of trends forging the direction of human civilization. People ask me about the 2024 election and I believe that “none of the above” will be running for President. By July of 2025, Pluto, Neptune, and Uranus will have all changed into new signs, welcoming an entirely new young generation of politicians, scientists, and humanitarians onto the world stage. Once again, I would designate the year 2026 as presenting us with a display of planetary pictures that could symbolize the solving of a multitude of problems and renew our spirits.
Science and Technology:
The Truth is Out here! Last month the Pentagon released videos of what had previously been classified information about UFOs to Congress, testifying that there was no known current technology that would explain this phenomena and, what is most important, whoever they are could be a threat to national security. This information was acknowledged to the public a couple of years ago, but this time, it is official. My take, as an astrologer, is that by 2025, when Pluto is in Aquarius, Neptune is in Aries, and Uranus is in Gemini, we will, at long last, know the truth with regard to a possible alien presence on earth. Frankly, with all the ethnic tribal and racial hatreds expressing themselves here in the US and throughout the world, the looming question will be: Can we handle this?
It was recently reported on CNN that scientists have discovered a giant ground water system under the great ice sheet in Antarctica. This is interesting in that when the ice sheet inevitably melts, the world’s oceans may rise as much as 8 feet, subsuming coastal cities throughout the world.
Also reported on CNN May 7th, “The two largest reservoirs in California are at ‘critically low levels’ and the dry season is just beginning.” Lake Meade, the primary aquifer in Nevada and the surrounding area, is down to about 10% of where it was 40 years ago. The glaciers on the Rockies and Sierras have melted. Nevada, Arizona, New Mexico, Colorado and California are experiencing record heat waves resulting massive forest fires and in the greatest drought in 1200 years. Yet, Americans are still moving into these areas by the millions!
A significant medical breakthrough for human health and combating the diseases of aging has been announced. This is the science of Fecal Microbiota Transplantation. These experiments, up to now, have been limited to working on lab mice. Special microbiota have been transplanted into aging sick mice and they have recovered their health and youth! The young healthy mice, when the bad microbiota are transplanted into their gut, age and become ill. The Quadram Institute at the University of East Anglia is where this facility is being built to advance these studies in humans. The lead author of the study, Dr. Aimee Parker has reported: “We were excited to find that by changing the gut microbiota of elderly individuals, we could rescue indicators of age-association decline commonly seen in degenerative conditions of the eye and brain.”
It was reported last month that the new COVID Dominant Subvariant (BA,2.12.1) is surging and accounting for more than 50% of new cases. It was also reported that a new nasal spray vaccine is variant-proof. The pharmaceutical companies are working to develop a booster shot that will be effective against this variant.
Published on MIT News May 10, 2022, is an article entitled “MIT expands research collaboration with Commonwealth Fusion Systems to build net energy fusion machine SPARC.” They report: “The new agreement doubles Commonwealth Fusion Systems’ commitment to PSFC, enabling greater recruitment and support of students, staff, and faculty in addition to diverse research in fusion science and technology.” It would be worth your time to read this article in its entirety.
Speaking of Fusion, a post of PHYS.org was posted entitled: “Fusion Update – A New Law Unchains Fusion Energy.” This information was released by Ecole Polytechnique de Lausanne. They report: “EPFL within a large European collaboration have revised one of the fundamental laws that has been foundational to plasma and fusion research for over 3 decades, even governing the design of mega projects like ITER. The update shows that we can actually safely use more hydrogen fuel in fusion reactors and therefore obtain more energy than previously thought.”
An article posted in “Machines” by Eric Tegler is titled “Could Solid-State Hydrogen Storage be a Serious Alternative to Batteries?” He writes: “Former computer-chip manufacturing engineer Paul Smith founded Plasma Kinetics in 2008. The Arizona-based startup has developed ‘solid state’ hydrogen storage, essentially transferring the gas onto a proprietary film wound in many layers inside a canister. He says the tech could challenge batteries in both efficiency and environmental friendliness.”
Last month, the first cohesive picture was taken of the giant black hole at the center of our Milky Way Galaxy, using the combined technology of observatories both in space and on earth. In Astrology language, this appears at about 27 – 28 degrees Sagittarius, near the Winter Solstice and has been associated with critical historic cyclic changes in world history. Recently, the Solstice reached this point in 2017 (not in 2012) that has been associated with the end of the Mayan 5200 year cycle. We are now able to view this black hole in all its magnitude. There is a case to be made that this marks the end of civilization as we presently know it.
Final Thoughts:
Spanning the past 20 years, I have written three books and posted hundreds of newsletters filled with insights, possibilities, and warnings about the times we now inhabit. These forecasts have been based upon an examination of planetary positions in past historic eras and how they played out for the various civilizations throughout the world, resulting in human decisions and choices we are seeing again playing out within the present historic contexts. As astrologers, we see that history, indeed, rhymes! The wars, economic crises, pandemics, cruelty and violence, seem to be surging today and played out in a mass media exposure humans have never seen before. The temptation is to fall into hopelessness and despair.
I am of the opinion that there is an entirely different choice we could make in the middle of all this. This may finally be the time for us to view all our historic evils with such clarity that we decide, en mass, to shed the fear and darkness behind all this and wake up — participate in an epiphany — see the light.
On a personal level, it has taken me decades to begin to understand the painful injuries, mistakes, stumbles in my personal past history and assume full responsibility. The ensuing realization is that so much was never only “about me” but simply interpretations of reality on life’s journey, most of which in the present, seem amazingly inconsequential. What Neptune has gifted to me is – a peace beyond ordinary understanding – a present irrelevance of so many compulsions that drove me in times gone by, to the point that they have almost, thankfully, disappeared.
All this life’s experience has helped me to uncover an amazing possible future while we move forward together in these times. As the new planetary placements begin to appear on the horizon, the constellations speak to us full of grand solutions – possibilities of scientific discoveries, inspiring art, music and poetry, and an expression of human compassion and awareness never fully known before.
Maybe, just maybe, Neptune will weep with joy!
Linda
Important Points of Reference for Astrologers:
Full Moon at 23 degrees Sagittarius sextile Saturn and Square Neptune on June 14; New Moon at 7 degrees Cancer square Jupiter on June 29; Mercury goes direct in Taurus square Saturn and trine Pluto on June 3 conjunct Algol, the degree of the Sun in May’s Solar Eclipse, goes into Gemini June 14, is sextile Jupiter June 20 and is semi-sextile Uranus June 28; Venus in Taurus is conjunct Uranus June 11, is square Saturn and sextile Neptune on June 19, is trine Pluto on June 21, goes into Gemini June 23 and is sextile Jupiter on June 20; Mars in Aries is conjunct Chiron June 24, is semi-sextile Uranus on June 17, is sextile Saturn on June 27is semi-sextile Neptune June 28 and is square Pluto on June 30, the Sun will trine Saturn and square Neptune on June 16, the Cancer Solstice on June 21 is square Jupiter.
