Mars transits Gemini
War of the Words
Important Notes: Mars goes into Gemini Aug. 20th, is positioned at its closest orbit to the Earth, retrogrades Oct. 30th square Neptune, goes direct Jan. 12th inconjunct Mercury, is square Neptune again March 14, and all the way through the sign through March 23, 2023. Twice, it hits the US Uranus and its Mars (square Neptune).
MARS is the traditional God of War, Sports, the Military, surgery, and weaponry. The sign of Gemini itself governs all forms of communication from public speaking, teaching, writing, and news on the radio, television, social media, and sites on the internet. This particular transit hits the horoscope of the USA (July 4, 1776) activating and “wounding” this nation, coming during a cycle which severely tests the purpose and unity of the country itself, recently having faced its Pluto return, Neptune opposite its Neptune, and Saturn that will go over its Moon in Feb. 2023.
Previous important transits in Gemini have appeared during the Civil War, WWII, and the infamous 9/11. Not only are we engaged in a European war with Russia over its invasion of Ukraine, but we are, arguably, at war with ourselves. Still, amid a historic pandemic and its economic consequences, we are having to face the truth about global climate instabilities, the continued massive use of hydrocarbons, and attempting to improve the endangered relationships with nations like Iran, China, Russia, and No. Korea, Central and So. America, and the toxic soup of the regions in the Middle East. All the while needing and being dependent upon oil and gas, we are seeing a massive speeding up of climate catastrophes all over the world due to our unrestrained use of fossil fuels. This could be referred to as the “great oxymoron.”
While we need clear and cohesive policies to address these issues, we are at “war with ourselves”; unable to have an intelligent debate between political parties and pass legislation based on compromises “across the aisle”. With the square to Neptune, we are experiencing desiccation, disunion, confusion, and descent into religious fanaticism that has moved into the interpretation of the law itself. Author Margaret Atwood is stating that she had no idea that so much of her book “The Handmaid’s Tale” would be playing out in America. The founders’ decision to separate church and state has been thrown aside with the ending of the protection of women’s reproductive rights in Roe v Wade, forcing young women throughout the nation into a territory strewn with catastrophic decisions. However, recently the FDA approved the sale of over-the-counter birth control pills. Chemical abortion pills are already available and can be mail ordered, but are running into problems with certain states “outlawing” them. Some states are scrambling to make the procedure accessible to women coming in from other regions.
Immigration, another hot issue, is a hot mess. After “haunting” multiple presidents’ terms of office over decades, Congress has been unable to pass new laws that would define how people may come into the country from abroad and under what circumstances. Instead, a noticeably vocal percentage of the population simply declares their “hatred” of immigrants, demonizing and blaming each other for the problem. Meanwhile, because of economic and government collapses, and climate catastrophes, historic numbers of suffering people are fleeing their nations of origin to come here. We now have one of the worst track records in the world when it comes to violent public shootings that seem mindless and insane. Our social and economic structures (controlled by a billionaire class and giant banks) have been failing for decades and it is all “showing up” now.
The COVID pandemic is still alive and well as it spreads widely with each new variant. Now, Monkey Pox is spreading in the US. Recently, cases of the dreaded Marburg Virus (related to Ebola) are appearing in Africa. The transit of Neptune in Pisces symbolizes the spread of contagious diseases globally. This transit will not come to an end until the period between 2025 and 2026. Extremely hot temperatures are plaguing the Southern and Western US, Spain, France, Italy, and the UK and are the causal factor behind record-breaking wildfires. Eventually, as the polar glaciers melt, humans will be forced to migrate into the Global North.
Interestingly, former Pres. Donald Trump is a Gemini (under investigation from the Jan. 6th Committee for instigating the overthrow of the government), and so is the Prime Minister of the UK (who just resigned his office) and the Prime Minister of China (who is torn between threatened economic interests with the West, banks going under, and wishes to defy the US by a take over of Taiwan). It is not a “leap” in thinking to suggest that they are all in serious trouble.
In January of 2023, Mars will go direct in Gemini on the US. Uranus, inconjunct transiting Mercury that goes direct Jan. 18th. Saturn will transit the Moon of the US in Feb. This would suggest a major crisis in the life of the US president.
The Mars transit in Gemini will continue from Aug. 20th through March 23rd, 2023. I will continue to discuss this in ongoing newsletters.
Politics and the Economy:
Pres. Biden, under the highly stressful August transit of Mars in Taurus and the Uranus/Saturn Square, is taking hits from all sides. He has “inherited” a multitude of crises. His party criticizes him for not doing enough after the destruction of Roe v Wade, even though he cannot legally do very much without Congress, which is deadlocked and will not presently pass a law enforcing women’s reproductive rights. Oil price hikes and ensuing inflation, over which he has little or no control are also hurting him. Inflation, which is the dreaded consequence of the global pandemic, supply chain limitations, and the Russia/Ukraine war is hitting the US but is hitting the rest of the industrialized world even more severely. His “build back better” bill has been nixed by Democratic Sen. Joe Mansion who sees the bill as being inflationary. He may be able to get a rescue package for health care along with a few remnants of a greatly reduced bill.
The war in Ukraine has Europe and people here in the US supporting Biden’s decision to help Ukraine, which is taking its toll on global oil and gas prices. He is “caught” between a series of “rocks and hard places”. Having sworn to not do business with Saudi Arabia he is now doing business with Saudi Arabia to attempt to control oil prices and protect Israel. Israel, whose chart is under the current transit of Saturn in Aquarius square Uranus in Taurus is hit by Mars this month, is embroiled in its struggle to govern itself, and is dealing with the disappearance of the water in the region… Global oil and gas companies and the wealthy barons who control them (including Vladimir Putin) continue to profit while the earth floods and burns. A deal was recently struck at the UN with Russia allowing Ukrainian wheat to be exported. More “deals” connected with this war lie ahead.
The wild and crazy fluctuations in financial markets will continue this month. With higher interest rates a factor, housing sales have declined. People will be “confused” as to whether we are in a recession or not. Prices of gas will continue to fluctuate, giving people some relief at the plump. Airlines will continue to suffer from a lack of staffing and cancellations of flights. Congress needs to pass the “Chip” legislation to encourage Intel and others to bring chip manufacturing back into the US and separate us from dependency on China and Taiwan where most chips are made. Congress is “off” this month.
Recently, I have been surprised by the dramatic rise in the value of the dollar and the extreme fall in the price of gold, in a time of massive inflation. In an article entitled: “Paper Gold Price Manipulation – Rigged to Fail” by Matthew Piepenburg, posted on July 11, 2022, he reports: “Despite thousands of daily long contracts (i.e. buy orders) in the OTC forward contract markets, if just 7-8 banks wish to use massive leverage to short any metal, they can effectively fix the gold price via artificial manipulation of derivatives contracts, to which only a small number of banks have access. He goes on to report how this is currently happening on a chart from the US, Comptroller of the Currency that – “clearly reveals the extreme extent by which just a handful of highly pocketed (and central bank supported) banks like JP Morgan and Citi can use extreme turns of derivative-based leverage to short (i.e. keep a permanent boot to the neck of) the paper gold price.” If this is not blatant manipulation of a commodity, then I do not know what is. It is worth it to read the whole article with accompanying graphs that prove this is exactly what is going on.
What Next:
The Democrats are famous for infighting and often lack cohesiveness to win elections. The Republicans are now split into two parties – Trump voters and traditional Conservatives. My prediction – elections in the Fall will be decided by registered “Independents”. I believe that the Democrats will do better than currently expected.
On November 8th, the Mid-term election is scheduled with a Lunar Eclipse conjunct Uranus and opposed Venus and Mercury and all square Saturn. These astrological signatures are so unstable that it is likely we will see seriously bad weather with severe storms, breakdowns in electrical and internet service, violence at the polls, and delays in knowing who won or lost. The Sabian degree description where the eclipse takes place at 16 degrees of Taurus in the book: The Zodiac by Degrees by Martin Goldsmith is “Sword-wielding crusaders battle the Saracens to secure a bridge into enemy territory.”
This does not sound like peace, progress, and cooperation to me.
We will have to try to survive, make important decisions at the polls, and know that opportunities to correct our course and invent our way out of the multiple crises that are upon us, will begin to reveal themselves next year.
Science and Technology:
In the July issue of Scientific American, an article was published entitled: “Mental Illness and Dementia”. The article points to an extensive study from New Zealand, which looked at health records of 1.7 million New Zealanders born between 1928 and 1967 covering 30 years ending in mid-2018. “It found that those with a diagnosed mental disorder – such as anxiety disorders, depression, or bipolar disorder – had four times the rate of ultimately developing dementia compared with people without such a diagnosis. For those with psychosis such as schizophrenia, it was six times the rate. Among people who developed dementia, those with a psychiatric disorder were affected by 5.6 years earlier, on average.” They go on to report: “In 2020, the British-based Lancet Commission on dementia prevention estimated that four in ten cases could be prevented or delayed if society did a better job of addressing 12 modifiable risk factors, including such psychosocial contributors as depression, poor social support, and low education level.” They go on to suggest: “In an ideal world, Langa and other researchers say, efforts to prevent dementia would begin in childhood with strong investments in education and the inculcation of healthy habits.” with varying causes. Similar personality disorders are emerging in the young men who are involved in the mass public shootings that are currently plaguing us. Parental support, excellent schools, and good dietary and exercise programs are known to help our society in a multitude of ways. The enormous inequality in wealth and failure to finance public programs is a tragedy we are now being forced to confront. Let us hope we get the message.
As all of you know who have been reading my newsletters, I am reporting constantly on the progress in nuclear fusion – the Holy Grail of Energy that will eventually eliminate the use of hydrocarbons and, possibly, save the world from climate catastrophe. Progress continues to be made both in the production of the fusion reaction and in solving the problems that have emerged. The standouts are Commonwealth Systems in Cambridge, MA, Helion in Seattle WA., and TAE and Livermore, both in California. I will report more on this as new articles are posted.
We are now looking at pictures from the James Web satellite observatory that reveals the cosmos millions of years ago. We are seeing multiple universes that are violent, massively destructive, massively creative, and absolutely amazing to human eyes. All this stretches our psyches and imaginations beyond anything we have ever seen before., Beam me up, Scottie!
Final Thoughts:
What lies ahead for the future of life on earth depends upon a “humanity” that needs to look at itself and determine what is “hard-wired” into its nature – and what can be changed to both grasp and conquer the challenges that lie before us. So many people say to me that “human nature never changes”. If this is true, we will simply continue to make selfish, dark decisions, until we go extinct, and take most life on earth with us.
In my opinion, we need to move away from characterizing ourselves like goods coming off an assembly line – seeing our lives in a highly mechanized environment – losing sight of inventive and creative forces within us that can and often do bring about significant changes in direction.
Astrology suggests our personal connection to a wider, even infinite universe, out of which we were all created. It suggests constant movement and change – just as we move around the Sun and our solar system moves through the constellations. The technological inventions we have created in just the past 200 years boggle the mind! It is the primal, emotion-charged nature of ourselves that, often unconsciously, takes over – the “predator-prey” world of survival in the wilderness. This simply will not cut it today in a world of great complexity that requires a new intelligence.
We could actually wake up and see that we are not alone. Wondrous people are here among us – smart, inventive people who are capable of cooperation, listening to each other’s perceptions, holding hands, and bringing hearts together to co-create a new world beyond any we have ever known before.
This is called “teamwork”. It is called “friendship”. It will be the calling card for the Age of “Aquarius“.
Blessings,
Linda
Important Points of Reference for Astrologers:
Full Moon at 19 degrees Aquarius square Uranus Aug. 12; New Moon at 4 degrees Virgo square Mars Aug. 27; Mars in Taurus will square Saturn Aug. 7 and will trine Pluto Aug. 14; Venus in Cancer will trine Neptune Aug. 7 and will Oppose Pluto Aug. 8; Venus goes into Leo Aug. 11, will trine Jupiter Aug. 17, will square Uranus Aug. 26 and will oppose Saturn Aug. 31; Mercury goes into Virgo Aug. 4, will trine the North Node Aug. 15, will trine Uranus Aug. 16, will inconjunct Saturn Aug. 18, and will trine Pluto Aug. 20; Mars goes into Gemini Aug. 20 and will go back and forth direct, retrograde and direct) in this sign until March 23, 2023.
