Astro-logical Forecast for 2/24/2014: Sun-Neptune in the News; Sneak Peek at the Week

This week brings an interesting mix of startling revelations and upsets, against a cosmic backdrop that may not be sure if it’s coming or going.  Monday offers lingering effects from Sunday’s bewildering, bedazzling Sun-Neptune hook-up, which translates into a need for a rose-colored vision or escape. But once the Moon enters earthy Capricorn — engaged as of 8:50AM ET — it demands practical application of all those dreams. And fortunately, cooperative connections from the Sun, Mars, (action) and Neptune (vision, intuition) are only too happy to oblige. Meanwhile, a cooperative connection between Venus (money, women, art, social expression) and disciplined Saturn (patriarchy and other corporate structures)  at 11:50PM ET affords you an opportunity to productively get down to business. Work it out!

Major planetary patterns this week include the spectacular windfall potential of expansive Jupiter squaring rebel Uranus, exact on Wednesday at 2:33AM ET and another buoyant expansion potential with Jupiter trining the Sun late Friday night. Sunday features a potentially juicy or cranky clash between Mars (men) and Venus (women), which colors all relationships a few days in advance. But wait — there’s more: mental Mercury turns direct on Friday;  Mars (action!) and Saturn (structure, ambition, contraction) turn retrograde on Saturday and Sunday; Jupiter (expansion) turns direct on March 6th — next Thursday. OK, so — like I said — a cosmic backdrop that’s not sure if it’s coming or going, but quite certain it’s ripe for change. Oh, and there’s a New Moon on Saturday, too. Change!

Moon voids this week — schedule your rest periods during these times, not events you wish to be of consequence: Monday 4:25AM ET – 8:50AM ET; Wednesday 5:51AM ET – 9:55AM ET; Friday 5:55AM ET – 9:53AM ET…not too much interference with regular business hours, at least in the Americas.

And now, the news.

Check out the lede on this AP story that hit the wires on Saturday evening:

KIEV, Ukraine — In a stunning reversal of fortune, Ukrainian opposition icon Yulia Tymoshenko left imprisonment Saturday and spoke to a massive, adoring crowd, while her arch-foe President Viktor Yanukovych decamped to eastern Ukraine and vowed he would remain in power.

“Stunning reversal of fortune”…what an apt reflection of patterns involving Jupiter and rebel Uranus, triggering a release of greater tensions built up in the never-ending revolutionary Uranus-Pluto square. If you haven’t been following the drama that’s been unfolding in the Ukraine in recent weeks, the New York Times explains it all succinctly right here. Meanwhile, the surreal magical mystery tour of the Saturday’s Sun-Neptune hook-up was added to the mix when “street fighters” entered Yanukovych’s residential compound — peacefully, mind you — and discovered its “bizarre vision of opulence” (noted added subtext: corruption exposed, courtesy of Pluto in Capricorn).

In another stunning reversal of fortune, also tinged with Sun-Neptune themes, this one involving drugs: the “world’s most wanted man,” Mexican drug kingpin Joaquín Guzmán Loera (El Chapo), was arrested — apparently also peacefully — in his home state.

More Sun-Neptune: the “sometimes elegant, sometimes flashy, sometimes bewildering” closing ceremony of the Olympic Games at Sochi received a rhapsodic, rose-colored review. A story about “asylum, (immigration) fraud and an industry of lies” in New York’s Chinatown was on yesterday’s NYT homepage. So was this piece about redemption: men exonerated — released from prison — after serving time for crimes they did not commit. And then there’s this man in New Jersey who was falsely accused by police of resisting arrest…until a videotape of the incident that had apparently been withheld by the law enforcers proved otherwise.  With Neptune, often things are not as they seem.

Oil and water  are also Neptune themes, especially with Neptune in watery Pisces…and here’s a story about an oil spill that impacted water supplies around New Orleans. And finally — Neptune refers to themes of empathy and healing. Here’s George W. Bush, in an interview with ABC’s Martha Raddatz talking about how he’s working to help veterans of the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan.