THE
I am a reporter with a unique beat. I use my understanding of planetary cycles to provide advance notice and analysis on the Zeitgeist of the day. If you have ever wondered “why is this happening now,” my insights will transform your experience of the headlines, adding new meaning and understanding. Call it Astrology for News Junkies. If you’re curious to know why the Impossible Burger is trending…or why the outcome of the 2019 Israeli elections was likely to be a shocker …or why “Woodrow Wilson, Stud Muffin” was a New York Times headline in December 2013, you will find it here, in over a decade’s worth of historical research and reporting.
Note that I do use astrological jargon in The Forecast in my effort to show how the planetary patterns are reflected in mundane events. I explain what the jargon symbolizes, so that all who want to understand the connections between astrology and the news may do so. However, I do not use astrological jargon in personal consultations, just plain English.
Astrol-logical Forecast for Friday 7/27/2012 & the Weekend: the Olympics Opening Ceremonies
/in The ForecastI don’t about you, but when the Moon is void-of-course for more than several hours, the experience of time seems to slow down. It’s like swimming through a giant vat of Whip’n Chill. It’s been 13 hours of emotional freefall in the watery depths of Scorpio, and as I type this, we’ve got another 24 hours or so to go…or maybe 13, by the time you actually read this. Chill! Brainstorm! Breathe! Go with the flow! Moon voids often bring twists to the usual routine, and this is not a cause for alarm. Here’s an example: yesterday, three of my colleagues and I all showed up at the office at the same time. As we entered the lobby of the building, one of the guys moved toward a door I’d never opened before. And the rest of us followed his lead up a flight of stairs and took a totally new — and faster — way to get to our desks than the usual route. We went with the flow on a Moon void and did something different. Sometimes it’s that simple.
If you have to move in a straight line today — stay focused and practice patience. Look out for your neighbors and colleagues, who may not be aware of planetary patterns. Check for typos, like this one. Oops. Lord knows there are typos everywhere on a daily basis, including this forecast. But on days like this, they stand a greater chance of making headline news. These conditions may prove especially challenging for the opening ceremonies of the Olympic Games at 9PM in London (that’s 4PM in New York). More gaffes, tech woes and other snafus — with a twist? Quite possibly.
The chart for the scheduled beginning of these Games suggests an obsessive outpouring of emotion and idealistic playful/regal national pride. Loving Venus and dazzling/nebulous Neptune are prominent, suggesting a spectacular show of charming and clever social expression. Neptune also refers to drugs — and over a hundred athletes will not be appearing in the Games after flunking doping tests. Back to the opening ceremony: Chiron, the wounded healer, sits exactly on the Ascendant — making a huge statement of “can’t we all just get along”? Meanwhile, certain key midpoints in the chart suggest record ratings and records broken. Stunning upheavals and dogged — perhaps even militant — determination are also suggested, which bodes well for superhuman athletic performance. Of course that’s what we expect from an Olympics, but isn’t it interesting that the astrological measurements support them.
Moon enters Sagittarius at 1:18Am ET on Saturday, getting the competition off to a rollicking good start. Generally a feel-good weekend, excellent for international adventures, philosophical debates, taking a gamble or a gambol (do something physical — especially outdoors), or expanding your mind (with a film, a trip elsewhere). Moon goes void on Sunday at 5:01PM ET…enters practical Capricorn at 3:29AM ET on Monday, which means if you’re not on vacation, there will be plenty of work to be accomplished.
Astro-logical Forecast for Thursday 7/26/2012: When Mercury Retrograde Meets Moon Void
/in The ForecastMoon moved into Scorpio at 10:29PM ET, after an 11-hour void. Did you feel that void? Could you go with the flow? If you enjoyed it, get ready for another one that begins at 11:38AM ET today…and ends at 1:18AM ET on Saturday. Roll with any twists or delays or spaciness that may arise, if you’re trying to move in a straight line. If you can go with the flow, this can be a creative and regenerating break. If you are new to the forecast and don’t know what a void-of-course Moon is, click here.
Moon in Scorpio can be intense. It needs knowledge for the sake of power and control. It needs to be seen as having depth and substance…sometimes only with a few chosen intimates. Scorpio has a reputation for being secretive, which others may find frustrating. One of the US presidential candidates has a Scorpio Moon, and yesterday it made the homepage of the New York Times.
Getting back to the Moon void — and the fact that Mercury is retrograde. This combination is soooooo ripe for communication snafus. Just look at two stories that hit the wires during yesterday’s Moon void/Merc retro combo: “Whoops! Wrong Flag Accompanies North Korean Names; Delays Match” (at the Olympics) and “Oops! A Typo Mars A Bill on Regulation” (a snafu in the US House of Representatives). Please double check everything to make sure it’s spelled right, clearly understood, still open, plugged in…you get the idea. Scorpio is also known for integrity and a strong code of honor…and it can react with a vengeance if it feels the code has been violated.
Mercury retrograde is time when old friends tend to show up for an unexpected reunion…and when long-lost objects may be found, like this one. These are the positive potentials of this time — enjoy them!
Another op-ed that caught my eye yesterday reflected the futuristic vision of the innovative Uranus-Mercury trine. Called “Alone in the Void”, it also captured an ambitious reach based on a sobering reality (Moon conjunct restrictive Saturn). Often when my clients are in a phase of feeling isolated, depressed or limited, Saturn is involved. It’s a phase — and while difficult, it is usually necessary. The serious focus has a silver lining: to get real about what is limiting or lacking, so they can get clear about what needs to be done in order to be fulfilled. And when they know what to do — they can move forward.
Astro-logical Forecast for Wednesday 7/25/2012: A Day of Revelation
/in The ForecastKeeping tuning in to the cosmos and download the stream of innovative ideas and inspiration that can be yours when mental Mercury makes an easy connection to Uranus, the rebel genius, at 9:28AM ET. Serious ambition — or feeling of loss — is suggested by the Moon (in cerebral Libra) in a tight hook-up with disciplined Saturn at 11:22AM ET. Those are the two exact aspects setting the tone for the day.
After the Moon-Saturn hook-up, Moon goes void of course until 10:29PM ET, and then enters Scorpio.Go with the flow of whatever twists or flakes you encounter during the void — and maybe spend some more time brainstorming on those nifty ideas that hit you in the past 24 hours.
Or, if you’re more moved by the gravitas suggested by the Moon-Saturn connection, combined with nebulous Neptune (film, escape, drugs, vision) currently running wild, and you’re also moved by last week’s Colorado theater shootings (Mars-Pluto-Uranus), why not take two hours and watch Bowling for Columbine. This brilliant 2002 Academy Award-winning documentary seeks answers in the aftermath of another massacre in Colorado — this one at a high school. Why is there so much gun violence in America — compared to other nations? Watch the film for free on this YouTube link — courtesy of the filmmaker, Michael Moore. The issues raised may well be related to the challenges posed by the First Quarter Moon (to the New Moon agenda set on 7/19), exact at 4:56AM ET on Thursday.
Astro-logical Forecast for Tuesday 7/24/2012: Expansive & Inventive
/in The ForecastThe Moon in relationship-oriented Libra — as of 6:38PM ET on Monday — seeks peace, balance, appreciation and thoughtful, rational discussion. Achieving these objectives in the early AM hours may be tricky, as Moon is challenged by Pluto at 7:59AM ET and opposed by rebel Uranus at 9:26AM ET. Sudden insights or jolts and/or deep emotional connections — or confrontations –relating to power and control are possibilities.
Optimistic, inventive and expansive thinking is suggested all this week, as Mercury (mindset) makes a supportive connection to Jupiter at 3:15PM ET today and another easy connection with technogeek Uranus at 9:28AM ET on Wednesday. Write all of your great ideas down…just keep in mind that they may require further fleshing out once Mercury turns direct on August 8th.
Other aspects for the day: an impassioned connection between Moon and aggressive Mars is exact at 3:09PM ET — helpful for a creative pitch; note that debates might be especially heated. If you’re in the Western hemisphere, this is the only full work day we’ll have without a Moon void — ship it today if you can
Astro-logical Forecast for Monday 7/23/2012: More on the New Moon; A Look at the Colorado Shootings
/in The ForecastAs you know from Saturday’s forecast, Moon is void of course in perfectionist Virgo as I type this on Sunday evening…not to enter Libra until 6:38PM ET. What does that suggest? If you can take the day off, more power to you. If you can take the week off, even better. Mercury is retrograde (REtreat, RElax, REorganize) and there are so many long voids all week long (read the list in Saturday’s forecast). You could do worse than to chill and brainstorm.
If you don’t have the luxury of getting out of Dodge, here are some strategies for the week. First, don’t believe everything you hear, lest you get all excited about something that turns out to be much ado about nothing. This is especially true of what you may read or hear about in the news. Double check everything that crosses your desk, especially if it involves communication and transportation. Second, make PATIENCE and FOCUS your two middle names. You will need them to cope with unexpected twists in all efforts to move forward in a straight line. If you can go with the flow, you may find a silver lining in tech snafus, detours and delays. Hang out with some of the old friends you haven’t seen in ages — I know you’ve been hearing from them. REview a few old projects — perhaps you will be inspired to breathe new life into them.
Shall I tell you about the Sabian Symbol for the New Moon last Thursday that I just could not process when I was writing the forecast on Wednesday? Here it is — for 27 Cancer: “a violent storm in a canyon filled with expensive homes,” suggesting (writes Dane Rudhyar, another Sabian Symbol superstar), “a confrontation with a social upheaval demanding the reconsideration of static values”. All the money in the world that is spent to preserve homeland security may simply not be enough to withstand forces of natures, such as a violent storm. And the thing about a force of nature is that is so….random. Bottom line: this Sabian Symbol, coupled with the fierce volatility of last week’s exact Mars-Pluto-Uranus T-Square, strongly suggested “a crisis situation produced by uncontrollable karmic forces that could lead to a successful CATHARSIS”. And I confess I resisted writing those words, fearing I might give concrete form to thoughts of gloom and doom. Ha! (“Man plans; God laughs” — Yiddish proverb).
What silver lining could possibly come of Friday’s headline-dominating shooting in a Colorado movie theater, an event reflecting an extreme potential suggested by planetary patterns? In my dreams, everyone on the planet wakes up tomorrow and collectively decides to melt down all weapons of destruction, turning the recycled metal into a giant amusement park. Or solar panels. Or electric cars. In my dreams.
Meanwhile, as police and reporters search for answers on what could have triggered the “suspect” to perpetrate such violence, a sixty-second glance at the available birth data paints a compelling picture. In the horoscope of James E. Holmes (December 13, 1987 — time unknown), strong signatures jump out. First, we see a high-flying, fiery, opinionated Sun in Sagittarius together with reserved, disciplined Saturn and eccentric, rebel Uranus. This measurement suggests a drive to put a new spin on an old form. My first instinct in this sixty-second analysis puts the Moon toward the end of detail-oriented Virgo, challenging the Sun, Saturn & Uranus, reinforcing the potential for erratic ambition stemming from a sense of isolation or lack. An exact square between Venus in late-blooming (i.e., emotionally immature) Capricorn and Jupiter in me-me-me Aries suggests the potential for huge demonstrations of social expression, with ego recognition being the reward sought. Big ideas and idealized statements of opinion are echoed by mental Mercury hooked up with the Sun and trine expansive Jupiter. Instant red flag: militant Mars and “take no prisoners” Pluto are tightly conjoined in equally ruthless Scorpio — this hook-up threatens to run away with the entire personality system. Also running wild is nebulous Neptune, suggesting fantasy, escapism, idealism, illusion, spirit, confusion, delusion and other intangibles taken to the extreme. When details begin to emerge about the early home life, it would not surprise me at all if a significant maternal influence is mentioned.
The trigger for action, as seen in the chart for 12:30AM ET in Aurora, Colorado shows the Moon and mental Mercury needing dramatic expression in theatrical Leo exactly challenging Holmes’ ruthless Scorpio Mars-Pluto conjunction. Also a trigger: Pluto at 7 Capricorn sitting right on top of Holmes’ potentially fanatical Neptune (also at 7 Capricorn), with aggressive Mars and unpredictable Uranus squaring it. Pluto in contact with Neptune strongly suggests (to quote astrologer Noel Tyl’s keywords) “enormous intensification of sensory activity; possible loss of frame of reality; subterfuge; possible introduction of drugs and alcohol”. And would you believe that at 12:30AM, when Holmes entered the theater in costume (dressed as the Joker with bright orange hair and in full battle armor), the Midheaven (career, public status) was EXACTLY conjunct his Venus, suggesting the potential for “career advancement in the arts”.
Guess who was born on December 17, 1987 — four days after Holmes — in Crescent, OK? He is driven by Moon in Scorpio, which seeks knowledge for the sake of power and control, and needs to be seen a person of depth and substance. Do you think we might see similar themes related to “loss of reality” manifesting in his life right now? And here I would be thinking of Bradley Manning, accused of releasing thousands of US classified and unclassified documents to Wikileaks, who was arrested over two years ago and is still awaiting trial. On Saturday, a military judge apparently ruled that defense lawyers might not use “evidence to contend that there was little “actual harm” from the enormous leak of secret government documents.” Did you know Manning was nominated for a Nobel Peace Prize? Me neither — I just found that out in my “Bradley Manning” Google search.
To wrap this long post up, the Colorado shooting isn’t the only “violent storm” raging in the headlines in these volatile planetary times. I’m seeing reports of car crashes with multiple fatalities and violence — in Bulgaria, Syria and Iraq. In other news, twenty-one people suffered burns at a fire walk organized by motivational speaker Tony Robbins. Caterpillar, a corporation with record profits, is shows no sign of budging from a six-year wage and pension freeze on its workers, who have been on strike for three months. And in China, a brutal enforcement of its “one child” policy is apparently leading to calls for the law’s repeal. Catharsis, anyone?