Astro-logical Forecast for Thursday 9/24/2015: The Pope & the Naked Capitalist

Today’s Moon in humanitarian Aquarius makes an easy connection to Mercury at 12:08PM ET, supporting a flow of communication and ideas. Mercury is in Libra, seeking balance and harmony as it weighs alternatives. Sweet and rational as Mercury in Libra may be,  it may also present as intense, no-holds barred and corruption-exposing, as it squares Pluto at 6:32PM ET.

I’m listening to Pope Francis sweetly share his thoughts in a joint session of Congress today. Transiting Mercury is exactly trine his Moon in Aquarius and it seems to be going very well. His own Mercury is at 11 Capricorn — supercharged by today’s Mercury-Pluto square at 12 Libra-12 Capricorn, especially since Pluto is at a standstill now, about to turn direct at 2:55AM ET on Friday.  This is a mighty persuasive transit for a natal chart which already expresses a need for practical ideas, taken to a rarefied level with an easy connection to visionary Neptune.  He’s just sweetly suggested to Congress that it ditch the death penalty.

Later tonight, innovation and tolerance are well supported by a contact to the Moon from Uranus at 10:04PM ET. At 10:18PM ET Mars, the action hero planet, leaves regal Leo for service-oriented Virgo. Perfection and detailed organization in action are Mars in Virgo’s strong points, and with Mercury currently retrograde, cleaning and organizing your files, diet and other elements of your daily routine would be a worthwhile project.

You’ll feel the boost of energy Mars can provide more personally if you have a planet or angle around the early degrees of Virgo, Pisces, Gemini and Sagittarius.

Oh good…the Pope is talking about the need to stop trashing the planet (applause). And stomp out poverty. That’s not enough for one climate scientist, who has dismissed the Pope’s agenda as “raving nonsense” because in the scientist’s mince-no-words opinion, the Pope is missing half of the story.

Ship it today if it must ship this week, as the Moon will be void just after midnight tonight, not to enter Pisces until 3:44PM ET on Friday.

And now, the news.

Celebratory social expression that belongs to everyone? Could be a reflection of yesterday’s Moon in Aquarius, coupled with a trine between Venus in party-hearty Leo and Uranus in me-me-me Aries, as a judge ruled that everyone’s favorite song — http://www.theguardian.com/business/2015/sep/23/us-judge-rules-happy-birthday-is-public-domain-throws-out-copyright-claim“Happy Birthday” — was in the public domain and has been for a decades. Will those millions of dollars in royalties paid to the music publisher who claimed it owned the copyright now be refunded?

Meanwhile, lack of focus and attention to details. The potential for gaffes increases when Mercury is retrograde. Consider the news director at WGN in Chicago who issued an apology after the station aired a Nazi symbol to illustrate a story about Yom Kippur.

Yesterday I explained how the Sun is at the Aries Point at the beginning of each season, suggesting prominence. Also at the Aries Point now and conjunct the Sun is the North Node, a.k.a. the nodal axis. The Sun refers to leaders. One way to interpret the nodal axis is that it suggests meetings or connections with the public. I find it interesting that this week we have Pope Francis meeting with leaders in Cuba and the U.S. We also have the Chinese president — Xi Jinping — meeting with President Obama.

Elsewhere, a huge public meeting has become prominent catastrophe, as over 700 were killed in a pedestrian traffic jam outside Mecca

… when two large groups of pilgrims who were preparing for one of the last major rites of their trip met on an intersection of two roads, Saudi authorities said.

Meanwhile, shock and outrage continues to be lobbied at Martin Shkreli, the 30-something former hedge fund manager who infamously jacked the price of a life-saving drug from $13 to $750 per pill  overnight. Mr. Shrkeli has since backed down on the price hike, whilst noting the reduced profit may necessitate staff cuts. Mundane astrologers in assorted chat forums have been scrambling to see what kind of horoscope would produce such a naked display of greed at the expense of saving lives.

Mr. Shkreli was born in Brooklyn on April 1, 1983 — he’s an Aries whose Sun was supercharged by Uranus and Pluto in recent years, more power to him. His Moon is likely either at the very end of Scorpio or very early part of Sagittarius, with an ambitious agenda likely triggered by transiting Saturn in recent weeks. He has a tough-as-nails Saturn-Pluto conjunction opposed by a high-functioning Mars (action) in pioneering me-me-me Aries. This suggests militant, persuasive, take-no-prisoners action.

It is fascinating that Neptune (drugs, vision, intangibles) is at 29 Sagittarius, at the Aries Point and conjunct the South Node. So we can see how drugs could become a point of fame in his horoscope — and to a classical astrologer, perhaps a point of self-destruction. To a modern astrologer, we’d note the potential for some bewildering mother issues. Anyway, all that was just triggered by the Sun-North Node at the Aries Point, squaring his Neptune.  Oh and he has Jupiter conjunct Uranus in Sagittarius (there’s your potential high-risk, big dream, hedge fund speculator)…and that big dream potential is currently being squared by Neptune (scandal, visions, drugs). And let’s not forget his Mercury in Aries, currently supercharged by transiting Uranus. What a buzz this man has going on!

But here’s the thing.

Everyone is angry at this guy — rightfully so. But just a couple of days ago, the NYT ran a story about how, under the so-called Affordable Care Act, insurance companies are slooooooowly increasing premiums and raising deductibles to a level where middle-class consumers are refraining from getting possibly necessary and life-saving care because they can’t afford to pay the out-of-pocket costs: deductibles and co-pays. And their premiums are getting higher. So yes, everyone has insurance, but they Care the are getting in return is hardly Affordable.  But the insurance industry is booming.

Where is the outrage?

Really, according to planetary patterns, it should be well on its way…

Thank you for reading this forecast.