Good morning from New York (though it will be late afternoon or early evening by the time this is written and published because research).

Highlights for this last week of Mercury retrograde are:

• New Moon in Virgo on Thursday
• Mercury turns direct on Friday
• Sun trines Uranus on Friday
• Venus squares Jupiter for yet another time on Sunday

It goes like this:

• MONDAY: Moon in Leo continues to drive the reigning need of the day, seeking opportunities to shine, shine, shine — and help others shine, too. Harmony with Mars at 8:05 AM ET may get you up and at ’em.  A meet-up with Venus at 3:31 PM ET boosts creative play and regal social expression. A square to Jupiter at 7:54 PM ET makes it all larger than life. Moon cruises without interference until 11:05 AM on…
• TUESDAY…when a square to Uranus suggests a surprise twist to a possible bubble of drama. Chill during the ensuing 14-hour Moon void. You know the Moon-void drill: roll with the twists and flakes, and don’t make a mountain out of a (possible) molehill crisis (of runaway drama). Take time to wander if you can; stick to routine tasks and/or CHILL!
• WEDNESDAY: Moon enters Virgo at 1:18 AM ET, ready to clean up the confetti from Moon in Leo’s party. If the morning news is heavier than usual, it is aptly reflecting the cuts and losses of the Virgo Moon’s quest for exacting detail, opposed by Saturn. After another long stretch of Moon traveling without interference, its need to get things right meets up with Mercury — now slowing to a virtual standstill — at 6:04 PM ET. Clarity on a remembrance of things past?
• THURSDAY: we are now in the balsamic phase of the lunar cycle, with no light from the Moon to illuminate us. Such times are apt for clandestine meetings and other actions you’d prefer to remain hidden (unless they’re happening on a eclipse, in which case, I’d argue there’s a higher potential for being outed…eventually). It’s not unusual to feel a bit listless or restless, sensing that the new cycle is just around the corner. A jovial mood may be yours upon waking, reflecting Moon’s trine to Jupiter at 8:27 AM ET. Then…another long stretch of Moon-in-Virgo organizing and refining until 9:39 PM ET, when the Moon meets up with the Sun.

Here is the New Moon in Virgo, set in Washington, DC:

Observations:

• A New Moon offers us an opportunity to re-set  intentions and goals for the next lunar cycle.  Last month’s New Moon in Leo focused on creative self-expression, inviting you to consider how you express your bliss.Keywords for a New Moon in Virgo include perfection, discernment, work, service, integration, and analysis.  We are invited to consider whom/what our creative self-expression serves. How does it function? How can we better co-opt and  integrate it into our daily routine?Virgo also rules the digestive tract, which separates the wheat from the chaff. It processes elements that provide nourishment and eliminates those which do not. Some digestive systems work more efficiently than others. What is your process? Is it efficient? What does your gut tell you?
• Our collective national gut may be a bit frustrated and inflamed with respect to cooperation, labor, health, and process, and I say this because Mars (action, assertion) is in Libra (which generally loathes conflict; ergo, possibly frustrating the direct expression of Mars) is in the 6th House — of labor, health, diet, cooperation. Upside: more peace-keeping efforts. Perhaps that UAW (Mars rules cars) strike can be avoided.  [TRUE CONFESSION: in the first draft of this Forecast, I added, “but on the other hand, Mercury retrograde does suggest a higher probability of a strike.” Wish I’d left that in — as the auto workers have — as of Thursday 9/15 — gone on strike.] Downside: inflammation and/or passive-aggressive avoidance.
• The New Moon falls in the 5th house for the US — hospitality, entertainment, children, speculative ventures. It is trine to Uranus (technology, space, aviation), suggesting innovation in those areas, and reaching across the aisle in general. It is also trine to Pluto, so we have a Grand Trine of planets in Earth signs, suggesting the projection of an aura of material abundance and self-sufficiency.
• Pluto is on the Midheaven, drawing attention to the power of our national CEO.
• Uranus is on the Taurus Ascendant, suggesting a disruptive front. Jupiter is also on the Ascendant, which suggests an expansive, confidence presentation, for better or worse. Venus — this chart’s ruler — is square to Jupiter, suggesting adjustments in expansive ventures need to be made.
• Note that the Sun-Moon is also opposing Neptune, suggesting themes of peace-keeping, healing, oceans, water, drugs, toxins, oil, spirits of all kinds, and scandal, mirrors, and fog. Add that to the aforementioned Earth Grand Trine, and we have a pattern called a kite, explained here. With Neptune as the focal planet of this kite pattern, the potential is indeed high-flying. Imagine and make it real..grounded in that earthly trine!
• I’ll have more to say about the patterns among Uranus, Neptune, and Pluto when I talk about the news.
• Mercury is at it station — i.e., not moving — yet highly-focused in Virgo, where its influence is likely to be most felt during this lunar cycle in matters of money and worth, as well as the 5th house matters described above.
• The Sabian Symbol for this New Moon is “a royal coat of arms.” This suggests themes of authority and power based on privilege and position, with those in power being challenged. Astrologer James Burgess notes that royals have traditionally been seen as spiritual leaders — which fits nicely with this New Moon’s opposition to Neptune. We’ll probably see efforts by those in authority (who come from a dignified lineage) to inspire faith, one way or the other. Meanwhile, astrologer Lynda Hill notes the downside potential of this Symbol. If royalty applies only to the select few, who’s going to do all the actual work? And will the royals — with their coat of (defensive?) arms — treat the workers with dignity?
• You are more personally affected by this New Moon if you have planets around 22 degrees of Virgo, Pisces, Sagittarius, and Gemini. This include many, many, many people in the US who have risen to power or captured our imagination. Why? Because this New Moon engages the US Mars-Neptune square, often mentioned in this forecast. Here’s was going on in September 2019, when the Full Moon activated this very same Sabian Symbol (and US Mars-Neptune square).

Back to the daily forecast:

• THURSDAY: After the New Moon, innovation is supported by Moon’s trine to Uranus at 11:37 PM ET.
• FRIDAY: Note your dreams upon waking. Moon opposes Neptune at 6:30 AM ET, with added depth courtesy of a trine to Pluto at 9:49 AM ET. Astrology supports a slow, deliberate start to this day, as Moon will be void until 1:44 PM ET, when it enters Libra, seeking prominent expressions of fairness and balance in relationships. Mercury turns direct at 4:21 PM ET — so be mindful in all forms of travel and communication. This whole week may feature news of global cooperation and/or freedom of expression, especially in technology, aviation — and hey — maybe astrology, too — given the Sun’s trine to Uranus, exact at 9:23 PM ET. This evening, given that the Libra Moon travels without interference until 3;52 PM ET on…
• SATURDAY…we may be in a long stretch of “on the one hand; on the other hand.” And then, a focused assertion or action in matters of justice and balance, as the Libra Moon meets up with Mars. Your Saturday night date could be sweet and indulgent, as Moon sextiles Venus at 7:57 PM ET. Humming in the background, and exact at 2:09 AM ET on…
• SUNDAY…is the last of three squares between Venus and Jupiter. The first two happened on June 11 and August 22. A square between the two planets collectively known as the Lesser and Greater Benefics suggests good times and great fortune. The flip side — and there is always a flip side — is wretched excess. Another challenge in this case could be a stubborn clash of values, which then affects who gets what sized slice of the available pie (i.e., material resources, budgets, land, etc.). Will we be hearing more about a threatened shutdown as certain elected representatives in Congress argue about budgets and spending? In your own personal world,  if you have planets or angles — or angels — around 15 degrees of just about any sign, you could try your luck on a lottery ticket or two. But also watch any potential for expansion…or going overboard.

No sleeping in on Monday. The Moon will not be void. Humming in the background through the weekend is the annual opposition between the Sun and Neptune, exact  next Tuesday. Here are headlines from the Sun-Neptune opposition in 2017.

Here’s how Beth Owl’s Daughter’s always-in-sync Tarot Card of the Week sees it.

And now, the news.

This headline — published at 9:38 AM ET on September 9th — caught my eye:

• “Mystics stuck in seventh seed after stumble vs. Dream in home finale”

We’re talking about women’s basketball here. The Mystics are in DC; the Dream play in Atlanta. The headline contains words associated with Neptune (mystics, dream), and I was inspired to look at the chart for the headline for corroboration. I didn’t write about Neptune in last week’s forecast. Why was I seeing this symbolism now?

Take a look at the chart for the New Moon in Virgo, and you’ll see an answer to my question — in the form of a sneak peek of a much-anticipated future exact alignment among Uranus, Neptune, and Pluto. I believe this alignment is being reflected now in mundane affairs in the form of sweeping global developments in ideals, technology, healing, and power & resources — just to name a few. If you read historian Heather Cox Richardson’s nightly Letters from an American, she presents the latest on global alliances and shifting balances of power that will make history, so you won’t miss a thing. In her last Letter, for example she begins with a recap of last week’s G20 summit in India.

Uranus refers to innovation, upsets of the status quo, shocks to the system, flashes of enlightenment, and wake-up calls. Uranus is in Taurus, where its mission since 2019 has been to disrupt matters of material comfort and security: food, housing, land; ownership (or lack thereof); physical senses and connections, especially when it comes to what is deemed to be appropriate in matters of touch. Here are predictions from 2019.

Neptune is in Pisces, currently within range of a sextile to Uranus. Neptune refers to oceans, drugs, intuition, dissolving of all things material, spirits, refugees, and oceans (among many other things), and it’s been in Pisces since 2012 — here’s what was written back then.  Neptune rules Pisces in modern astrology, so multiply those themes times ten, and you’ll understand much of what’s happening in the mundane world.

 A sextile is an aspect of cooperation and communication. We’ll have the first of five exact sextiles between Uranus and Neptune in November 2025 — over two years away, and they will continue into 2027. The last time Uranus and Neptune connected was in 1993, in Capricorn. That was the year The Addams Family was released, with a one-sheet of the family dressed in black, with the tagline “Weird is Relative.” The mission of Uranus-Neptune in Capricorn was to plant seeds for the innovation, disruption, dissolution, and/or idealization of All Things Capricorn (governments, patriarchy, banking, mines, etc.). The last time we had a series of sextiles between Uranus and Neptune was between 1966 and 1968.

This morning, an op-ed by imprisoned Russian dissident Vladimir Kara-Murza appeared in the Washington Post. Kara-Murza argues that “a window of opportunity for the reestablishment of the state on democratic principles will soon appear again in Russia,”  suddenly and unpredictably. He reminds us that no one saw the sudden collapse of the Soviet Union coming in the summer of 1991 (except the astrologer Noel Tyl, as Tyl often told his students), but collapse it did by the year’s end. Russia’s new constitution was out in 1993 — during that wiggy Uranus-Neptune conjunction. If a change of form were to happen in Russia, between now and the end of the series of Uranus-Neptune sextiles, it would make sense astro-logically.

Here are other world events from 1993.  Some are indeed otherworldly, as a Uranus-Neptune conjunction would suggest.

Meanwhile…

Avid Readers may recall that 1965 and 1966 were especially significant astro-logically because that’s when we had the last series of conjunctions (three) between Uranus and Pluto, which happened between 16-18 degrees of Virgo. Here is an article about those conjunctions, written in 1965 by the legendary humanistic astrologer Dane Rudhyar.

Avid Readers may also recall that between 2012 and 2015, we had a series of seven squares between Uranus and Pluto, all of which were documented in this forecast (here’s a link to the 7th one).  The series of squares advanced the themes of the seeds planted during the conjunctions. The next stop in the Uranus-Pluto cycle is a series of trines, the first of which will be exact in 2026.

Astrologer Jamie Partridge succinctly expresses what plenty of astrologers anticipate will be reflected by the Uranus-Pluto trine (with Neptune sandwiched in between in a supportive sextile) in the mid-2020s:

So from 2026-28, we can expect some radical social, political, and economic change and perhaps the consolidation of political power in the hands of a few powerful eccentrics…[but] With Uranus sextile Neptune and Neptune sextile Pluto, the social, economic, and political transformation ahead should be more ethical and enlightened. [than what happened in the last Uranus-Pluto trines of 1921-22]

Note that these exact harmonies won’t occur in their current respective signs (Taurus, Pisces, and Capricorn). They will happen in Gemini, Aries, and Aquarius. In other words, these three outer planets will be moving out of Earth and Water, and into Air and Fire.

Planets at the end of signs are often reflected by a sense of urgency about completing whatever they are suited to do in that sign. By early 2026, all of the outer planets will have left Earth (Taurus & Capricorn)  and Water (Pisces) behind, and thus we can appreciate why we are seeing such a push for structure and management of Earth and Water concerns — quite literally — now.  Imagine what will be in the news on  July 1, 2026, when Venus and Jupiter will be in Leo; Saturn and Neptune will be in Aries; Mars and Uranus will be in Gemini; and Pluto will be in Aquarius.

I can imagine a few  topics making headlines, and I’m reading it about them now in The Future of the Mind, by the physicist Michio Kaku, which Wikipedia says:

…discusses various possibilities of advanced technology that can alter the brain and mind. Looking into things such as telepathy, telekinesis, consciousness, artificial intelligence, and transhumanism, the book covers a wide range of topics. In it, Kaku proposes a “spacetime theory of consciousness”. Similarly to Ray Kurzweil, he believes the advances in silicon computing will serve our needs as opposed to producing a generation of robot overlords.

This book was published  in 2014, right in the middle of the Uranus-Pluto squares. When Uranus and Pluto begin their scheduled series of trines in 2026, many of the innovations Kaku foresees may become the norm. See how this works? Here’s what else was happening in 2014, per Wikipedia.

Meanwhile…

19-year-old Coco Gauff dispelled any silly stereotypical notion that Pisces are wishy-washy. Gauff won the US Open in a “thrilling” game. We don’t have a birth time, and looking at a horoscope cast for noon on March 13, 2004 in Atlanta, you might not see the potential for such a stunning victory. But if you’re an astrologer who uses solar arcs (another way we have of measuring time), you absolutely, positively would see — immediately — why she’s such a break-out star now, making waves for her fierce independence and her faith. Astrology is amazing.

Simone Biles is a Pisces badass, too, as recent headlines confirm — once again.

In other news, the timed horoscope of VP Kamala Harris continues to function as designed.

• “Kamala Harris says she’s prepared to serve as president ‘if necessary.'” That was the headline, and this is the point. She was on CBS’s Face the Nation on Sunday, and she also said, more importantly, that she didn’t anticipate a need to serve as commander-in-chief. But transiting Saturn is at the top of her horoscope right now — and will be through the end of the year, so astro-logically, she should be at the top of her game, as anticipated years ago in this column written for Mountain Astrologer. Transiting Pluto is back in touch with her Libra Sun and Aries Moon, which also suggests empowerment. Last week, Harris made news in Indonesia when she defended a reporter’s right to shout a question at her while attending the U.S.–Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) Summit and the East Asia Summit.

Finally, as a resident New Yorker, I can’t forget that today is September 11th a.k.a. 9/11. Here are thoughts on that unimaginable day — first published here in 2015.

Stay tuned to this channel for continuing updates…and thank you for sharing this forecast.

Here’s the 411 on personal consultations. We will have a fine discussion together.