Monday 3/19/2018: Happy New Moon in Pisces; Mars in Capricorn, Mercury Retrograde & Much, Much More!
…and happy Monday, too!
The work week begins with the Moon in me-me-me Aries, challenging you to arise, go forth and conquer. If you were born halfway through Aries, Cancer, Libra or Capricorn — or if you have a planet or angle around 16 degrees of Aries, how are you being inspired by the fierce idealism suggested by a meet-up between Venus and Mercury at 16 Aries, exact two minutes past midnight tonight? Meanwhile, power plays and upsets are anticipated today, as the Moon makes its weekly clash with Pluto and Uranus, at 5:05 AM ET and 3:29 PM ET, respectively. Moon then goes void until 9:07 PM ET. That would be a time to roll with the twists and flakes, stick to routine concerns and refrain from impulse purchases and making mountains out of molehills. Chill!
Once the Moon enters Taurus, see if you notice the shift from me-me-me impulse to “hey, let’s consolidate, organize and keep things as they ARE — especially with respect to material comfort and security.” The Taurus Moon goes void on WEDNESDAY at 1:21 PM ET for 12 hours. It buzzes into info junkie Gemini at 1:30 AM ET on THURSDAY, driving Friday afternoon’s news dump with a dose of likely emotional overkill, courtesy of an exact square between Venus in Amazon woman/virago Aries and potent Pluto. “If I be waspish, best beware my sting.” Ruthless much? Perhaps, and also exceptionally assertive (for better or for worse), given a square between two high-functioning planets: Aries Sun and Capricorn Mars. Bottom line: a busy, busy week. Do something good with all of this potential, won’t you?
Mars finally exited loud-mouthed, boundary-pushing Sagittarius for a two-month stay in Capricorn. That happened over the weekend — on Saturday at 12:41 PM ET. Until May 15th, action and assertion seek practical, enterprising, status-improving expression. The goal is achievement — as in taking care of business, period. Got that? The end of March and early April have potential for an exacting discipline — militant, perhaps — as Mars meets up with Saturn. A rush of action to seize power may be seen around the third week in April, as Mars meets up with Pluto. Twists, shocks and tech advances are likely to disrupt headlines around May 15th, when Mars will square Uranus at the verrry end of Aries and beginning of Taurus. You’re affected by these Mars patterns if you have points or planets around 8 degrees, 21 degrees and 29 degrees of Aries, Cancer, Libra or Capricorn, respectively. When was the last time you consulted with your astrologer? What’s your strategy for managing all of this can-do potential?
Other shifts this week: on TUESDAY at 12:16 PM ET, the Sun leaves Pisces for Aries, marking the first day of spring in the Northern Hemisphere; winter in the Southern Hemisphere. It is also the first day of the astrological New Year. Looking at a chart set for Washington, D.C., we immediately see Neptune right on the Midheaven, yet otherwise unaspected. Potential: all themes Neptune — fog, lies, oil, drugs, spirits of all kinds, wipe-out, scandal, etc. — running wild with respect to leaders, government and corporations. Ya think? We also see Mars and Saturn on the cusp of the 7th House, opposing a 5 degree Cancer Ascendant. Control, cuts and conflict — affecting the need of this Cancer Ascendant to establish emotional/family/home/homeland security. What drives this chart? A high-functioning Taurus Moon, seeking to preserve the status quo, material comfort and security; otherwise resisting change. Hmm. Moon is in an obsessive quindecile pattern with Jupiter retrograde in Scorpio, suggesting a compulsive fixation of those juicy Jupiter in Scorpio scandalous themes of wretched excess in sex, death and money. #MeToo isn’t going anywhere, suggested by the Moon’s meet-up with the Fixed Stars Hamal and Schedir. Looking at the upside potential, Hamal suggests issues involving following one’s path; Schedir refers to power…of a Queen. Should we be surprised that ancient astrological texts gave short shrift to the constellation containing a star referring to power expressed through the feminine? Time’s up, already! And while we’re speaking of Fixed Stars, let the record show that the Sun at 0 Aries is conjunct the Fixed Star Scheat, affectionately pronounced by some astrologers as “sh*t.” Just remember, there is always an upside potential!
On THURSDAY, Mercury turns retrograde at 8:19 PM ET. It backs up through Aries until April 15th, when it will turn direct. You may notice this pattern more personally if you have a planet or angle around 16 degrees or 4 degrees of Aries, Cancer, Capricorn or Libra. Wherever Aries falls in your horoscope is where you may apply yourself to a REview of those affairs. NO WHINGING about Mercury retrograde — here’s your survival guide, if you’ve forgotten the essentials. And yes, I still have a number of my world-famous Mercury Retrograde Bookmarks, so you’ll always know when Mercury is retrograde and how to react to the tech and communication snafus that are sure to be dominating the headlines. Email me for details on how to get bookmarks for you and your friends.
But wait — there’s more! We have to talk about the New Moon in Pisces, exact at 9:12 AM ET on Saturday (last weekend). Set in Washington D.C. (the better to see what’s likely coming down the pike for the U.S.), we immediately note six planets: Sun, Moon, Mercury, Venus, Uranus and Chiron — buried behind the scenes, in the 12th House. This is a focus on self-undoing, hidden enemies and social institutions where we might house the otherwise invisible (e.g., refugees, inmates, hospital patients, etc). Upsets to the status quo (again!) are suggested by Uranus squaring the Midheaven. As with the chart for the Vernal Equinox, Neptune is unaspected — running amok in a fog of dreams and/or lies, aided and abetted by the idealism suggested by the meet-up between Mercury and Venus. Mars is at the verrrrry end of Sagittarius, suggesting boundaries pushed…and the potential for conflict and righteous action is suggested by its square to Sun and Moon.
The Sabian Symbol for the New Moon in Pisces is a curious reinforcement of the Sabian Symbol for February’s New Moon in Aquarius. For February: “a tree felled and sawed.” For this month: “a harvest moon.” Sabian Symbol Guru Blain Bovee notes this as a time of reaping and gathering…cutting down crops and paying a portion in tribute to the Designated Authority Figures. In financial matters, Bovee advises us to pay attention to hidden costs and misappropriated funds. Hmm…like that helicopter Jared and Ivanka took from DC-NY today — instead of flying coach? Or Ben Carson’s $31K dining set for his office at HUD? Or EPA chief Scott Pruitt’s $25K sound-proof booth that actually cost $43K? Probably…and much more. Bovee’s bottom line with respect to this Sabian Symbol is this:
The question is: “How is the pie divided up?”
The operational rule could be this: anything that chips away at what you actually have… such as your own financial reserves… is bogus. Anything that nickel and dimes you is vestige of an old system that will drain your life-blood and wallet as sure as harvest time.
What you need to understand through Pisces 27, is ‘where are you in this process?’ If you do not pay attention, you are going to go broke… and be charged interest on that as well.
Well, OK! Let’s watch and see how this Symbol plays out in the headlines. You are more personally affected by the activating potential of this New Moon if you have a planet or angle around 27 degrees of Pisces, Virgo, Gemini or Sagittarius.
Here’s the 411 on personal consultations. We will have an excellent discussion together.
And now, the news.
Any planet at the end of Pisces — at the very end of the zodiac — is subject to a bit of despair, thinking it’s the end of the world. The Sunday NYT obliged, with feature and front page stories about the end of Easter Island and whether we should allow some species facing extinction to just die out. NYT columnist Nicholas Kristof hit it out of the park again with “A Parable of Self-Destruction.”
In the days leading up to the New Moon last week, we had the dark of the Moon adding a sense of listlessness and restlessness to the mix. We may see some prominent exits between now and the Sun’s ingress into Aries. One that qualified bigly was Friday’s late-evening news dump that former deputy director of the FBI Andrew McCabe was fired — just 26 hours before his 50th birthday, the day he would have been eligible to retire with full benefits. That means that his pension — for 21 years of public service — is in jeopardy. And isn’t is just fascinating that the firing would come as transiting Mars in Sagittarius squared his 28 Pisces Sun. And that his Pisces Sun is conjunct Fixed Star Scheat — suggesting shipwrecks? With transiting Pluto supercharging his high-functioning Mars in Aries this year and into 2020, I anticipate persuasive action from Mr. McCabe during this time. For starters.
“What the caterpillar calls the end of the world, the master calls a butterfly.” Spring is coming!
Meanwhile, this NYT headline sums up two of the major patterns now active in P45’s horoscope: Newly Emboldened, Trump Says What He Really Feels. The patterns are (as noted in prior forecasts): 1) a solar arc between the Moon and the Ascendant, suggesting that — hello — his emotional needs and expressions are right on the surface for all to see; and 2) a solar arc between Uranus and Mars, suggesting a need for risk and daring in action. Right. Emboldened. The Moon-ASC arc will be exact on April 23; the Uranus-Mars arc will be exact June 14th. On August 19th we’ll be seeing the expression of another high-tension arc between Mercury (how he needs to think and communicate) and tech-savvy rebel Uranus. Alert the media. Meanwhile, major transits in P45’s horoscope include transiting Saturn (control, authority, heaviness) squaring his natal Mercury-Neptune square. This is the part of his horoscope suggesting an intuitive, fanciful, idealistic or bald-faced lying need in the areas of thinking and communicating. It’s in heavy focus for the rest of the year, with significant developments around Feb 11, Mar 30, May 6, Jun 27, Nov 11 and Dec 10. I’d argue this activation is being reflected by his recent demand that drug dealers (Neptune) be dealt with harshly (Saturn), calling for them to be executed.
Last week, with Mars at the end of Sagittarius, pulling focus as it approaches the Aries Point (o degrees of the cardinal sign Capricorn), we anticipated an increase in headlines of violence, aggression, assertion and accidents, as well as anyone with planets triggered by the Mars making headlines. For example:
- Vanessa P45 Jr., the wife of P45 Jr., filed for divorce and hired a criminal attorney. In P45 Jr.’s horoscope, last updated here, we noted that 2017 was a year of heavy thinking. Now that Saturn has moved on to conjoin his Venus and will soon be sitting on his 9 degree Capricorn Sun. We see potential cuts in love, money and social expression; it’s quite a potential squeeze. The news of the filing came as transiting Mars squared his natal Mercury at 28 Virgo. In her case, her 27 Sag Sun was triggered, soon to be followed by her Mercury at 3 Capricorn. We do not have a birth time; but if her Moon is in the early degrees of me-me-me Aries, the sobering and separating influence of Saturn squaring that Moon would apply.
- Austin, Texas has a horoscope — as does everything under the sun. Birth time for Austin is unknown, so we do not know if it is late Capricorn or early Aquarius. Feels like Aquarius, given Austin’s reputation for quirkiness, humanitarianism and tolerance. Its Capricorn Sun was hit by a third square from disruptive Uranus, and last week its 28 Virgo Mars was triggered by transiting Mars. Since then, the fourth in a series of package bombs has exploded, killing two and seriously wounding others.
- Last June it was reported that the Russians had developed a cyberweapon that could disrupt power grids of other countries. Last week, with transiting Mars almost exactly opposite where it was last June, comes an update. Not only do they have these weapons, they have actually infiltrated said power grids, etc. How many times will this story need to be reported before people start paying attention?
- Do you think Mark Zuckerberg’s horoscope was affected by transiting Mars last week? Yes, and so was the horoscope for the launch of Facebook . In Zuckerberg’s case it was his Neptune at 0 Capricorn. Mars-Neptune patterns suggest infection, scandal, irritability. In the horoscope of Facebook (launched on Feb 4 2004 in Cambridge — if anyone knows the exact time, let me know), we see Venus squared by transiting Mars…and transiting Saturn opposing its natal Saturn, with transiting Uranus squaring Mercury. We see the potential of an attack on social expression, money and values; a critical point in Facebook’s development with challenges/illumination on the success of its original mission statement; a disruption to the status quo in matters related to communication. The big headline over the weekend was that it banned data mining/research company Cambridge Analytica for using the personal info of 50 million Facebook users in its effort to win support for P45 on social media platforms. With transiting Uranus about to meet up with Facebook’s natal Mars this summer, I wonder what disruptive/daring initiative we might see…
- Fascinating read: “I made Steve Bannon’s psychological warfare tool.” This is by the data-mining whistleblower re: the above.
- Stormy Daniels, whose 26 degree Pisces Sun was activated by transiting Mars and Saturday’s New Moon. She was hit with a $20 million lawsuit by P45 for allegedly breaching an agreement to not talk about an affair P45 says never happened. Meanwhile, her attorney hit back with a no-holds-barred “YES” when asked if Ms. Daniels was ever threatened with physical harm (he did not say by whom). Her attorney is Michael Avenatti. His natal Pluto at 29 Virgo was spiked by transiting Mars. Translation “no holds barred.” Meanwhile, CBS says it will air Ms. Daniels tell-all interview on 60 Minutes…on March 25th. That’s when she’ll have a measurement between Pluto and Moon, suggesting an emotional catharsis.
- Also triggered — Martin Shkreli — once the most hated man in America. He’s was sentenced to prison ten days ago, when transiting Mercury and Venus squared his natal Neptune at 29 Sag. Bewildering for him, to be sure. Over the weekend he had transiting Mars squaring his 26 Pisces Sun and conjoining Neptune. Provocative
Other headlines reflecting a prominent, boundary-pushing Mars:
- Prominent energetic release: the fatal collapse of a pedestrian bridge in Florida.
- Just in: a woman is killed by a self-driving Uber. Mars = cars.
- Male pill could be on the horizon as trial yields positive results.
I am struggling mightily to find a feel-good piece reflecting planetary patterns. So let’s end on a random quirky one. Those weird purple lights in the sky over Alberta, Canada finally have a name. Meet Steve.
If you’re near a computer around 9:30 PM ET/6:30 PM TONIGHT, tune in to HeyZ Radio. The most excellent host of Cosmic Tuesdays — Anthony S. Picco — has invited me back for another fun 90 minutes of dishing about the astonishing synchronicity of planetary patterns and headline news. Otherwise known as Astrology For News Junkies. Here is the link to tune in. Join the chat room and you can ask questions!
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