Alllllllllll-righty then!

Boy or boy did I get carried away by the drive of the Moon when it entered Aries yesterday morning. Feels like I got a truckload of things started, but it’s now after midnight on Tuesday and I’m just sitting down to write the Forecast for the week. Where did this day go?

Hopefully you got your sneak peek of this Sneak Peek at the Week via the Whether Forecast, a five-minute video that is a proud part of Avid Reader Alison’s podcast 2022: The Year of Love. The Whether Forecast is evolving, and for the past few weeks I’ve been using the Sunday NYT as a prop, so viewers can see how front-page news reflects planetary patterns, without having to click on a link! The Whether Forecast is usually posted by Sunday night.

Here are the highlights for this week:

• Mercury opposes Pluto on Monday
• Mercury enters Leo on Tuesday
• Sun opposes Pluto on Tuesday
• Chiron turns retrograde on Tuesday
• Sun enters Leo on Friday
• Mercury trines Jupiter on Saturday
• Venus squares Jupiter on Sunday, if you live on the West Coast

So…after Tuesday’s intensity, the week unfolds with the joyous potential of Beth Owl’s Daughter’s Tarot Card of the Week — always in sync with planetary patterns.

• MONDAY: Moon enters Aries at 7:17 AM ET,  driving the next two days with a need to lead courageously – and often impulsively – sometimes selfishly – which explains why that rude driver cut in front of you on the freeway. See if you notice an uptick in the pace — as in fast and furious — over the next two days. A conjunction between Moon and Jupiter ends the day on an expansive note. Meanwhile, while you were sleeping, Mercury (how we need to think and communicate) opposed Pluto at 3 AM ET. Mercury is at the verrrrry last degree of Cancer, so thoughts about emotional, home and family security may feel as if they are at a crisis point. If you need to make an especially persuasive argument or do some down and dirty research – especially involving power and resources, these next two days could be fruitful, especially with the Sun (at the verrrry end of Cancer) also opposing Pluto on…
• TUESDAY: …AT 9:38 PM. This suggests a field day for investigative reporters, and let the record show that recent missives from the journalists I follow on Substack (Greg Olear is one) have taken no prisoners, as Mercury-Pluto aspects are wont to do. Meanwhile, the Aries Moon travels without interference all day. However, Mercury makes a shift — from Cancer into Leo — at 8:34 AM ET. From now until August 4th, we can expect thoughts and communication to be filtered through Leo’s need for drama and regal entitlement. What a show!
• WEDNESDAY: A bumpy morning, perhaps, as the Aries Moon squares Pluto at 9:20 AM ET and then squares the Cancer Sun at 10:18 AM ET. Power plays and catharses are possible, as the Moon in Aries’ crusading, self-centered drive collides with the energy of the sensitive, emotionally-focused Cancer Sun. Chill during the four-hour Moon void — i.e., roll with the twists and flakes that may disrupt efforts to move forward in a straight line, and don’t make a mountain out of a molehill. No impulse shopping!  Moon enters Taurus at 2:22 PM ET, driving the rest of the work week with a need to turn Moon-in-Aries initiatives  into something tangible. If your need for comfort includes a massage or other sensual delight, go for it; otherwise use the practical earthy energy of the Taurus Moon to fortify your kingdom. Example: I’ll be turning my pitch for a public speaking engagement (an astrology conference in Colorado) into an actual PowerPoint presentation, now that my pitch was just accepted. I’ll be fully prepared for the potential mental block that may crop up around 8:18 PM ET, as the Moon square Mercury. A sextile to Venus at 9:16 PM ET suggests it will work itself out.
• THURSDAY: Today’s only exact aspect is a conjunction between the Moon and Mars — in stubborn Taurus — at 12:06 PM ET, likely reflected in the news in some form of “nevertheless, they persisted,” for better or worse.  Another J6 Committee hearing is scheduled for 8 PM ET, and the chart for that time in Washington, DC has explosive potential. Pluto is close to the 22 Capricorn Ascendant, echoing the January 2020 Saturn-Pluto conjunction at 22 Capricorn, suggesting extremes of control and anguish. The Taurus Moon is exactly on the IC — the root of the horoscope — separating from bull-in-a-china-shop Mars in Taurus and on its way to an upsetting meet-up with rebel Uranus, exact at 2:13 AM ET on…
• FRIDAY. Surprise? An effort to regain control or block an advance weighs in around 12:17 PM ET, as Moon squares taskmaster Saturn. An effort to pour oil on troubled waters — or find a dreamy escape route is suggested around 3:45 PM ET, as Moon sextiles Neptune. Minutes later, at 4:06 PM ET, the Sun exits Cancer for it home sign of Leo — and there was much rejoicing in the land. This is the height of the summer season in the Northern Hemisphere, and no matter what came down this week, everyone is encouraged to play, shine — and help others shine, too. Moon goes void on a trine to Pluto at 7:44 PM ET; chill for the rest of the night.
• SATURDAY: Fun and games are facilitated when the Moon enters Gemini at 1:10 AM ET. The Gemini Moon love’s of a good buzz (of information) is supported by a trine between Mercury (news) and Jupiter (big), exact at 1:52 PM ET. Watch for significant stories involving publishing, court opinions, sports and foreign affairs — and maybe health issues involving sugar and the liver/pancreas. I say this because on…
• SUNDAY: …there are no exact aspects among the planets, including the Moon. Humming in the background, however, is an energizing square between Venus (sugar) and Jupiter (liver/pancreas), exact on MONDAY at 2:13 AM ET. Any connection between Venus and Jupiter — the two “fortunate” planets in traditional astrology — is an opportunity for indulgence. Yes, it’s possible to go overboard, so perhaps we will see stories involving expansive or expensive themes in art, money and women. There might even be a jackpot to be won, and if you have planets around 8 degrees of just about any sign, I wouldn’t fault you for buying a couple of lottery tickets.

Because this Forecast is later than anticipated, I’m shipping it now — but will keep writing (i.e., add the news) for a few hours — so check the Forecast page on my website later this afternoon. Meanwhile, I offer you Episode 11 of “Off the Charts: A Stellar Newscast.” Co-host Whitney Fishburn and I are thrilled by the support we’ve received, and as you’ll hear in the podcast, we will be answering questions from listeners in our next episode, which we will record early next week.

Several hours later…

Last week marked the second exact hit of the U.S. Pluto Return, which we anticipated would try our collective soul and challenge our nation’s existence. How are we doing? What came out in last week’s J6 Committee hearing — again — was just how close our democracy came to being hijacked by corrupt members of all three branches of government, with help from a bizarre assortment of non-government types, like this one. Here’s the recap from Heather Cox Richardson.  And here’s another HCR recap, focusing on the stunning — and illegal — “purge”of texts exchanged among Secret Service agents on January 6, 2021. “Purge” is an excellent word for an activity reflecting Pluto. More corruption of power exposed.  The third pass of Pluto to the U.S. Pluto happens in December.

Themes of Plutonian resources and power plays involving leaders arrived on schedule yesterday as Senate Energy & Natural Resources Committee Chair Joe Manchin was credited with formally torpedoing legislation intended to combat climate change. As expansive as his horoscope was last year, with transiting Jupiter opposing his Virgo Sun, he may be in for a squeeze next year, when Saturn follows suit. Similar patterns will be active in the horoscope of Jim Jordan.

Meanwhile…

Here’s a truckload of headlines reflecting patterns involving Neptune (with Venus, Sun and Mercury last week). They involve spirits of all kinds, victims, empathy, art, lies, fairy tales and the surreal — all Neptune buzzwords:

• “How I became a pathological liar“
• “Taking the magic out of magic mushrooms”
• A class action suit filed against candy maker Mars claims that Skittles are toxic and “unfit for human consumption”
• A sculpture of a Victorian ghost emerging out of a mirror was an apt reflection, pun obviously intended. Here it is on Twitter.
• While everyone was marveling at the clarity of those breath-taking galactic photos from the James Webb telescope, it seems that the dazzling colors weren’t quite for real.
• A self-portrait of Vincent VanGogh was discovered, hidden under another painting. With transiting Jupiter almost conjunct his Aries Sun, we can see how an expanded ego identity would present itself at this time. It doesn’t matter that VanGogh is dead. The horoscope lives forever, as I’ve been saying for years.
• For the first time ever, women were appointed to the bishops’ advisory panel
• US Secret Service claims the dog ate all the texts that were exchanged among agents on January 5 and January 6. OK, they didn’t say that, but they might as well have for all the times head honchos at USSS have changed their story. Now the National Archives is investigating — this surreal disappearing act, sponsored in part by Neptune.
• Anti-choice activist Catherine Glenn Foster testified before Congress, claiming that if a 10-year-old victim of sexual assault became pregnant, the termination of her pregnancy wouldn’t qualify as an abortion. Surreal? 
• The story reported last week about an actual 10-year-old girl who was sexually assaulted and had to travel to Indiana to terminate her pregnancy because the procedure is now illegal in Ohio is still generating headlines. First, the Wall Street Journal, Rep. Jim Jordan (R-OH) and Attorney General Dave Yost of Ohio said the story was a lie. It wasn’t, and a suspect has since been arrested. Not to be outdone by Ohio, the Attorney General Todd Rokita (R-IN) made false claims about the OB-GYN who treated the 10-year-old abuse victim, and Rokita has since been served with a claim for damages.
• Neptune refers to selflessness and sacrifice. In Louisiana, pizza deliveryman Nicholas Bostic rushed into a burning home — twice — to rescue five kids. A Gofundme has been set up to pay his hospital bills.

Fun fact: planetary patterns are reflected in the work of writers who are not necessarily reporting news. Exhibit A: Greg Olear. The post he sent over the weekend under the spell of impressionable Neptune was called “Wanderer’s Nightsong.” It was written in Berlin (Olear’s dreamy escape), and it included musings on the poetry of Goethe, whose horoscope is also pretty dreamy (note the Grand Trine among Jupiter, Neptune and Pluto; Venus sextile Neptune).

Fast forward a few days to the ruthless and persuasive needs of the Sun-Mercury opposition to Pluto. Neptune was in in play, and Olear’s post on that day was a scathing skewering of “Alitocrats” (people who think like Samuel Alito, author of the delusional Dobbs decision). It is their belief in “fantasy and fairy tales” that produced the cruel prohibitions on abortion that will cause women to suffer — physically and economically.

Exhibit B: astrologer Bill Herbst’s weekly essay centers on a fable The Boy Who Cried “Wolf”– and it is ruthless. Neptune and Pluto. Herbst’s weekly essays may not address specific news stories, but they still reflect the zeitgeist of then-current planetary patterns.

Exhibit C: Steve Schmidt’s latest Substack column is a brutal assessment of the disastrous response to the Uvalde school massacre, in which nearly 400 law enforcement officers were on the scene for over an hour (in a Neptune fog?) — and did absolutely nothing. 400!?!?!

Astrology is amazing.

To find out what all these patterns mean in your own personal world, here’s the 411 on consultations.

Thank you for reading this forecast.

Pepper is auditioning for a guest spot on our next podcast!