Monday 8/7/2023: Sneak Peek at the Week; Surprise, Surprise; Cazimi Venus & More

Allllllrighty then!

I’m feeling optimistic at the start of this week, even with a few surprises in store.

Here are the highlights:

• Venus squares Uranus on Wednesday
• Mercury trines Jupiter on Wednesday
• Venus conjunct Sun on Sunday

Here’s how it goes:

• MONDAY: Moon in Taurus drives the start of the work week with a need to build and maintain material comfort and security, preserve a status quo, i.e., someone’s vision of The Way Things Ought To Be. A cooperative aspect (sextile) between Moon and Saturn at 11:45 AM ET helps your plan for world domination. Moon travels through the rest of the day with no interference. As the evening progresses, big news may be on the way, reflecting the harmony (trine) between the Moon and Mercury (news) at 1:09 AM ET on…
• TUESDAY…which is followed by a meet-up with Jupiter (big) at 4:10 AM ET. Moon’s need to build security has its work cut out for it today, as we’re likely to see upon waking. Its need is challenged by the regal authority of the Leo Sun around 6:28 AM ET, when the Third Quarter Moon is exact. An energetic flow of detailed analysis and/or action is suggested around 10:46 AM ET, as Moon trines Mars. As afternoon segues into evening, note the potential for a surprise twist around 7:50 PM ET, as Moon meets up with rebel Uranus. The surprise may involve a clash of value systems, given the Moon’s square to Venus at 8:20 PM ET.
• WEDNESDAY: Note your dreams upon rising. Moon sextiles Neptune at 3:59 AM ET, and a trine to Pluto at 6:38 AM ET adds depth. Any buzz in your feelings or behavior in recent days would be an apt reflection of the disruptive, innovative and/or exciting potential of a square between Venus (who, what and how we need to love) and Uranus, exact at 7:08 AM ET. This is the second of three Venus-Uranus squares we will have in a concentrated time period, as Venus continues her retrograde cycle in Leo. The first square was on July 2, so matters that were hot back then may be hot now. The third one happens on September 29. You are more personally affected by the disruptive potential of these squares if you have planets or angles around 21 – 24 degrees of Leo, Taurus, Scorpio, or Aquarius.
• WEDNESDAY: Moon enters Gemini at 9:05 AM ET, driving the next two days with buzz, buzz, buzz — no doubt about whatever disruptive news broke in the wake of the Venus-Uranus square. As the day progresses, a block or other expression of authoritative control may assert itself, as Saturn squares the Moon at 6:45 PM ET. Oh, but the buzz continues…reflecting the big news potential of Mercury — expressing itself in exacting detail as it travels through Virgo — trine Jupiter (big) in “just so” Taurus, exact at 8:47 PM ET.
• THURSDAY: More buzz, buzz, Moon-in-Gemini buzz — seeking facts, entertainment and diversity in news and communication. Where it’s going may not be clear until around 2:02 PM ET, as Moon finally makes contact with a planet — Mercury — and sorts out the facts from the fluff. An easy connection between the Sun and Moon at 7:36 PM ET helps sort things out…but sparks may fly around 10:27 PM ET, as Mars squares Moon. A sextile between Moon and Venus at 2:51 AM ET on…
• FRIDAY: may help the medicine go down. Facts may be foggy midday, as Moon squares Neptune at 1:27 PM ET…and then goes void for six hours. You know the Moon void drill: roll with the twists and flakes. Stick to routine concerns. Take time to wander if you can. Avoid impulse purchases. Don’t make a mountain out of a molehill. CHILL!! Plus, it’s Friday, and at 6:52 PM ET, Moon enters Cancer, for a reasonably happy and comfy stay over the weekend.
• SATURDAY: Moon in Cancer needs emotional and home security, especially within the family, whatever that means to you. Whatever makes you feel nourished is an apt pursuit for the weekend. A practical application of this need is gifted by a trine between Moon and Saturn (structure, ambition) at 4:37 AM ET. Optimism and a grand indulgence may be facilitated by a cooperative flow between Moon and Jupiter, exact at 12:05 AM ET on…
• SUNDAY. Communication is supported by another cooperative flow between Moon and Mercury, exact at 5:25 AM ET. Humming in the background — today and all week — is the conjunction of Venus and the Sun, exact at 7:15 AM ET. Sun-Venus conjunctions suggest idealism, for better or worse. Some astrologers consider Sun-Venus conjunctions lucky for love and money. If you stumble across social media posts raving about the “cazimi Venus,” that’s what they are talking about. But is it for real?  The Sabian Symbol for this particular Sun-Venus conjunction is “chickens intoxicated,” and we can imagine that drunk chickens would indeed be in a idealistic state of mind. Enjoy the weekend buzz — perhaps without fully being seduced by it. With Venus now at the halfway point of its retrograde cycle, we may not know for sure if what we find attractive now will be as appealing once the buzz fades and sobriety sets in. Astrologer/Sabian specialist Lynda Hill has a fascinating take on what happened in 2015 when retrograde Venus arrived at 21 Leo . That’s when House Speaker John Boehner resigned — and let the record show that Boehner’s fondness for drink was legendary, and his memoir is entitled, “On the House.” Will we see another prominent person known for foggy/idealistic thinking make a sudden break, either when 1) the Sun squares Uranus next Tuesday and/or 2) Venus squares Uranus for the third time at the end of September? Let’s watch! Sunday afternoon supports action, assertion and innovation, as Moon sextiles Mars and Uranus at 12:56 PM ET and 4:30 PM ET, respectively.

No sleeping in next Monday. The buzz is far from over. The Moon will be in Leo — not void — and the Sun will be supercharged by its square to Uranus on Tuesday. We anticipate upsets in the world of technology, leaders of state and business, seismic action, aviation, and astrology. Not only that, but we’ll be in the balsamic phase of the Moon, which is ever-so-accommodating for meetings behind closed doors.

Here is Beth Owl’s Daughter’s Tarot Card of the Week, which offers a more sobering take on this week’s inevitable buzz…with coping strategies if the buzz is keeping you up at night.

And now, the news.

It’s worth bearing in mind that the last time Venus was retrograde in Leo was July-August of 2015. Planets move in cycles. These cycles are reflected in mundane events. Therefore, mundane events move in cycles, too. Here’s what was going on in the U.S. eight years ago — from the archives of this Forecast.

Last week, the focus of the aforementioned subject of that 2015 post was indicted and arraigned for the third time, but on a different set of charges. Yes, Donald John Trump, a Gemini with Jupiter trine his Sun, can’t help but be diverse in his chosen expertise. This set of charges aims to hold him accountable — possibly along with six unnamed co-conspirators — for conspiring to defraud the United States, conspiring to disenfranchise voters, and conspiring and attempting to obstruct an official proceeding.  This indictment is directly related to his attempted coup on January 6, 2021. This is significant astro-logically because the attempted coup happened during certain planetary patterns in  his horoscope that were repeated on July 15th. That’s how a skilled mundane astrologer could zero in on the last half of July as a time for karma to do its karmic thing, and if you’ve been reading this Forecast for more than a year, you saw it coming, too.

If you’d like to listen to the details on the timing of last week’s arraignment, and the horoscopes of Jack Smith (the prosecutor), Tanya Chutkan (the judge), and Ginni Thomas (you’ll find out why when you listen), check out Episode 46 of  Off the Charts: A Stellar Newscast. This one is not exclusively for patron subscribers, and in it you’ll also hear co-host Whitney McKnight and I tell you about two useful life hacks that — in the spirit of Venus retrograde — could be good for your bank account.

As I am typing this Forecast, media company Paramount Global announced it is selling book publisher Simon & Schuster to KKR, a private equity firm, for over a billion dollars. File this story under the “big news in publishing” potential of Sun square Jupiter; Mercury trine Jupiter, combined with the disruption reflected by Venus square Uranus.  Also reflective of these patterns:

• ‘Barbie’ makes history as first film directed by a woman to gross a billion dollars at the box office.
• “Team USA crashes out of Women’s World Cup; loses to Sweden on penalties” — definitely an upset, and Team USA isn’t the only one delivering surprises. The Moroccan women’s team is making history — and don’t you just love that their team is the Atlas Lionesses?
• It’s been 18 months since Hank the Tank — a 500lb brown bear with a penchant for break-ins and gluttony — first made headlines. Over the weekend,  Hank was captured…and it turns out Hank is female, surprise, surprise…
• “How I ‘bribed’ a justice to take a no-expenses-paid trip to Mississippi” answered burning questions raised in an AP report that Justice Sonia Sotomayor’s staff “has often prodded public institutions that have hosted the justice to buy her memoir or children’s books, works that have earned her at least $3.7 million since she joined the court in 2009.” Compare this saga to this Sunday NYT bit on Justice Clarence Thomas’s really really BIG motor coach — purchased for him by a friend for only $267,000.
• There is a really BIG special election in Ohio on Tuesday.

Remember how last month’s New Moon in Cancer was notable for its square to Eris, Goddess of Discord? Turns out that around the time of the First Quarter Moon, a new Covid mutation — EG 5.1 — took hold in the UK. It’s nickname: Eris — and now, in the aftermath of last week’s illuminating Full Moon, Eris is making headlines. Coincidence or conspiracy?

UPDATE: on imprisoned Russian dissident Alexei Navalny. His horoscope is in a daunting period of development, with hard aspects to Saturn from transiting Pluto through 2024, and transiting Neptune in contact with all the angles of his horoscope. It’s hard to see hope for relief in the near-term future, and over the weekend, as Mars squared his Sun-Neptune opposition (a potential attack on vitality), he was given another 19 years of jail time for his “extremism.” Here is a write-up of Navalny’s horoscope.

UPDATE: on Lizzo, whose horoscope was last written about in October 2022.   In what we believe we know about her horoscope,  we note that her powerful t-square involving Mars, Pluto, Sun, Mercury and Jupiter was eclipsed last November…and triggered in recent days by transiting Jupiter. Translation: a curtain falls…or a genie jumps out of the bottle…in a big way! Not only that, but it’s likely that Venus stationed retrograde on her Leo Ascendant, drawing our attention to how she needs to be seen. Not only that, but it’s likely that transiting Uranus is on her Midheaven, disrupting her public status. So what happened? From the Guardian: “Lizzo: singer who shot to fame calling out bullies accused of being one.”

What’s going on in your horoscope? Here’s the 411 on personal consultations. Yes, I take horary questions. Yes, I’d be delighted to speak to your group, company or any other gathering. Astrology is amazing!

Thank you for reading this forecast — and sharing it with your friends.

An ancient statue of Venus gets a modern facelift, courtesy of unconventional Uranus