THE
FORECAST

Alll-righty then!

Moon is in Cancer, continuing its weekend quest to establish home and homeland security. I don’t know about you, but I found myself drawn to tackle a couple of home improvement projects I’d been putting off, egged on by the proactive focus of Sunday’s meet-up of the Sun and Mercury in go-go-go Aries. The need for fast and furious thinking shifted this morning at 6:29 AM ET, as Mercury entered Taurus. From now until May 3rd, the way we need to think and communicate is slow, steady, deliberate — and perhaps just a tab obstinate, especially when it comes to preserving the status quo.

The Cancer Moon trines Neptune at 10:55 AM ET, which accounts for any spacey-ness to your deliberate focus. At 4:33 PM ET the Sun follows Mercury’s lead, leaving me-me-me Aries for mine-mine-mine Taurus. Happy birthday to all the bulls and cows!!! Now is the time to build something solid out of all those Sun and Mercury-in-Aries pioneering ideas. Tend to your garden; take time to stop and smell the roses. Spring is really, truly in the air!

At 8:03 PM ET, the Cancer Moon’s need for emotional security is challenged by an opposition to Pluto, suggesting a power play, purge or emotional catharsis. Chill during the ensuing void. The rest of the week goes like this:

• TUESDAY:  Moon enters Leo at 2:10 AM ET, looking for an excuse to party and issue regal pronouncements. Within minutes, the Leo need to shine is challenged by the Taurus Sun’s need for stability at 2:58 AM ET. Happy First Quarter Moon. These challenges continue through the day, as the Moon squares Mercury, Venus and Uranus at 6:08 AM, 4:20 PM and 9:10 PM ET, respectively. Adjust accordingly.
• WEDNESDAY: Last night’s Moon-Uranus jolt is followed by a face-off at 1:55 AM ET between the drama queen Leo Moon and Saturn in Aquarius. How might the masses challenge an entitled leader, hmm? On this day Vladimir Putin plans to make his annual address to parliament, while supporters of Russian opposition leader Alexei Navalny plan to take to the streets (as anticipated in the last forecast). This is a critical time for Navalny, with Mars making hard contacts with all the angles of his horoscope. A few days ago, his Twitter feed reported that he was in danger of death; today it was reported that he has been transferred to a hospital ward in prison.
• Note that the Moon travels without interference all day and night on Tuesday, perhaps like a snowball rolling down a hill. As it rolls, it’ll reflect Mars — planet of action and aggression — pushing boundaries at the very end of Gemini, and gaining prominence as it prepares to enter Cancer on Friday. Themes of freedom, unconventional alliances and other disruptors to the status quo are suggested by Thursday’s meet-up of Venus (money, art, values, women, social expression) and Uranus (technology, astrology, aviation, revolution, mutations).
• THURSDAY: Night owls had good reason to stay awake, channeling a surge of energy suggested by an opposition between the Moon and Jupiter (big!) at 3:54 AM ET, followed by harmony with Mars at 8:04 AM ET. After a one-hour void, Moon enters Virgo to clean up the party confetti and set things right. This is an awesome day for sorting out practical details as you build your empire. Venus and Uranus meet up at 9:01 PM ET, surprise, surprise. This is an excellent pattern for coming up with innovative ways to preserve the resources of our precious planet Earth, and perhaps we’ll see that potential in President Biden’s global climate summit, happening on this day. With transiting Jupiter squaring his Sun (exact on Sunday), we can appreciate how he would expand his influence at a world summit at this time. Jupiter rules his Sagittarius Ascendant; the Sun rules his 9th house — of travel, foreign affairs, collective beliefs, etc. This is also the day the House is scheduled to vote on granting statehood to the District of Columbia so its citizens can have a Congressional representative who can actually vote (not to mention two senators).
• FRIDAY: The Virgo Moon travels without interference all day, building to a potential dreamy or befuddling face-off with Neptune at 11:09 PM ET. Do your best to get it right.  Mars is the focus this morning as it leaves Gemini for Cancer at 7:48 AM ET.  Look for prominent action related to home and homeland security — or general Mars matters such as iron, guns, cars and steel. Note that on this particular ingress, Mars will activate the eclipse we had on last year’s summer solstice, increasing the potential for prominent action and/or aggression. FYI, here’s a story that popped up when Mars entered Cancer in 2015 — about an axe thrown by a Fox & Friends host that missed its target and hit a West Point drummer instead. Mars will be in Cancer until June 11th. You are more personally affected by transiting Mars entering Cancer if you are Barack Obama, Elizabeth Warren, Adam Schiff, Ted Cruz, Prince William and Derek Chauvin. Will the jury reach a verdict? Chauvin was born with Mars at 0 Cancer square to the Sun at 29 Pisces, so we can certainly see how the end of this week may be provocative. Plus, he has transiting Pluto at a virtual standstill, opposing his natal Saturn, a potentially anguished pattern.
• SATURDAY: the buzz leading up to the weekend reflects the conjunction of Mercury and Uranus, exact at 2:41 AM ET. More disruptions in technology, likely in Taurus matters of property, food, fashion and beauty. The Virgo Moon will be void between 6:48 AM ET and 12:05 PM ET. Time to chill, sleep in and roll with the twists and flakes you may encounter. At 12:05 PM ET, Moon enters Libra, seeking fairness and balance in relationship. Note the potential for a clash around 1:19 PM ET, when Mars in Cancer’s emotional security needs may overstep boundaries for the sake of defending somebody’s homefront as it squares the Moon. Your Saturday night date may reflect the serious cuts or advances suggested by Saturn’s square to pleasure-seeking Venus, exact on…
• SUNDAY: ...at 12:21 AM ET.  More sobering communication is suggested around 7:57 AM ET, as Saturn squares Mercury (how we need to think). Put on your big-girl panties and strive for balance, supported by a trine (harmony) between the Moon and Saturn (structure). As serious as the past 24 hours may have been, a 6:19 PM ET conjunction between Mercury and Venus in Taurus facilitates comfort in material silver linings. The downside would be clinging to the status quo in spite of screaming cues to make a change.

If you’re enjoying these forecasts, Avid Reader Diane suggests you join her and the few dozen other Avid Readers who provide Faithful Monthly Expressions of Appreciation for these astro-logical insights. She says it makes her feel good to support something she loves with the equivalent of a modest glass of pinot noir.  Thank you, Avid Reader Diane– and cheers!

And now, the news.

Last week was as anticipated, wasn’t it? Sun and Venus squaring Pluto suggested extremes of emotion and power plays. “Stick a fork in it; I’m done” is how Beth Owl’s Daughter described last week, in her always-in-sync Tarot Card of the Week.  Add in boundary-pushing action and aggression reflected by Mars being literally out-of-bounds from our perspective on Spaceship Earth. This OOB Mars has been especially active in the horoscope of the United States, as it conjoined the U.S. Mars and squared the U.S. Neptune around April 9th. What does that mean? It means an awful lot of horrible and frankly embarrassing stories about gun violence, including 13-year old Adam Toledo being shot dead by Chicago police, even after complying with an order to put his hands in the air.

On the plus side of Mars square Neptune, half of all Americans have received one dose of the Covid vaccine, way ahead of President Biden’s original goal. We flew a helicopter called Ingenuity on Mars, and the Pentagon confirmed that a video of a UFO was for real.   Also for real: Russia interfered in the 2016 election on behalf of the former guy, and as a result, the U.S. Treasury issued a bunch of “sweeping new sanctions“ against some of the parties involved. In other words, there was collusion between that campaign and Russian operatives. It wasn’t a hoax, not that this Forecast ever argued otherwise.

The Mars-Neptune square in the U.S. natal chart suggests that if the United States was a human being, you’d immediately notice a certain glamour and magnetism. That person would likely have issues with intangibles like movies, video games, drugs, oil, spirituality, idealism, sex appeal — and DREAMS! Let’s not forget dreams, especially The American Dream. There might be an idealization of all things ruled by Mars: e.g., guns, soldiers, courage and cars.

Yesterday’s post by Heather Cox Richardson focused on the downside potential of the U.S. Mars-Neptune square in its current stressed-out state. This downside is the persistence on the part of certain Republicans in keeping The Big Lie alive, i.e., that the 2020 election was stolen. Avid Readers should not be surprised by this development, given this forecast from last year:

Over the next year or so, we are at the end of an old order, come hell or high water — and probably both. Resistance is futile. Professor Heather Cox Richardson offers this historical perspective, and I wonder if she’s at all hip to planetary cycles. Seeds for a major new cycle will be formally planted in December — symbolized by the Great Mutation between Jupiter and Saturn in Aquarius. You can read more about that here.

In these United States, we are simultaneously surrounded by fog, while beginning a gut renovation this country has never experienced since its inception in 1776. This would be a Pluto Return — and it works like a Saturn Return (which most Avid Readers know about). Pluto refers to breakdown and transformation, for the purpose of empowerment. The U.S. gets the first exact hit in 2022, but it’s in effect now.

Also in effect now — but not exact — is transiting Neptune in Pisces, squaring the U.S. Mars in Gemini and opposing the U.S. Neptune in Virgo. This pattern will be exact in 2021. Avid Readers will recall that the U.S. Mars-Neptune square reflects this country’s romance with war, religion, opiates, oil and Hollywood. It’s why we need to have this thing we call The American Dream. What’s it like to have transiting Neptune on your Mars (your ability to assert and take action)? Ask Special Prosecutor Robert Mueller, who has this pattern active in his horoscope all through 2019 and 2020. His two-year investigation into l’affaire Russe is being  erased, as charges are dropped and jailed guilty parties are released from prison and sent home.

Neptune dissolves whatever it touches. Thus the United States is at risk of having its assertive capabilities erased. The last time the U.S. had this kind of Neptune transit was during the Carter Administration — especially 1979. We had an oil crisis and a hostage crisis in Iran, which many viewed as embarrassing. We also had an upside of the healing potential of Neptune: the Camp David Accords, which resulted in a peace treaty between Israel and Egypt. This Wikipedia entry summarizes the Carter Administration; you’ll see other shades of Neptune in the issues of that time.

Neptune patterns often reflect disappointment, as people operating under Neptune’s influence look for greener pastures. President Jimmy Carter lost his bid for re-election by a landslide in the Electoral College, winning only six states (plus the District of Columbia) and 41% of the popular vote.

The fog of Neptune lifted in 1981, as Ronald Reagan was inaugurated (with just 50.7% of the popular vote). The Republicans won control of  the Senate for the first time since the 1950s, just in time for two important seed-planting cycles that happened in late 1980-81 (Jupiter conjunct Saturn in Libra) and 1982 (Saturn conjunct Pluto in Libra).

At the end of Sunday’s letter, HCR asks the rhetorical question, “Where do Republican lawmakers think this is going to end?” Astrologically, if they keep this Big Lie alive, the election in 2024 could be even more bonkers than the last, given the shifts we see at the fall of that year and into 2025. Plus, the Mars-Neptune will be activated by Jupiter, which suggests big actions, assertions, aggression and faith – good and/or bad.

The Big Lie was the focus last night on 60 Minutes, as seen in its segment on the Oathkeepers, a nationwide organization of armed citizens (including many with formal military training), who are dedicated to the defense of a Constitution they do not seem to truly understand. A founding member of the Oathkeepers who participated in the attempted coup at the Capitol on January 6th pled guilty to charges last week. One of the Oathkeepers in the 60 Minutes interview called out a series of dates that were significant to the growth of the militia group, and they correspond to patterns in the U.S. horoscope during the 2011-2016 series of Uranus-Pluto squares (this is an excerpt from an early forecast):

One more point about cycles repeating themselves. There’s a lot in the press comparing these times in the U.S. to 1968 — and of course there would be. 1968 was the aftermath of the disruptive seed-planting opportunity of Uranus conjunct Pluto. We hadn’t had one of those since 1848 (think about that, history buffs). Avid Readers will recall that between 2012 and 2015, we experienced the next stage of the Uranus-Pluto cycle in the form of seven squares between Uranus in Aries and Pluto in Capricorn. This post from 2014 talks about those squares in light of the protests that happened in Ferguson after yet another unarmed African-American man was murdered by the police. May it offer insights on the present unrest in these United States.

Anyhoo.

While I was sitting at my computer for a seeming eternity today, wrestling with these heavy patterns, Beth Owl’s Daughter was wrestling with a heavy card for this week — and we both ended up writing about the same thing — The Big Lie. Coincidence or conspiracy?  Beth’s post offers an honest and helpful perspective.

Meanwhile, on April 15, Heather Cox Richardson laid out the details of the sanctions against the Russians who interfered in the 2016 election. In her analysis, she hit on a key shift we expected in the aftermath of last December’s Great Mutation of Jupiter-Saturn in Aquarius: success will not be measured by those who exploit the earth and die with the most toys. Success will come to those who control networks, information and airwaves. Obviously, HCR doesn’t refer to astrological patterns. She observes that the U.S. decision to 1) pull all of its troops out of Afghanistan (ending a “forever war); and 2) retaliate against Russia through sanctions that impact access to funding suggests that conventional “boots on the ground” wars fought with conventional weapons are on the way out. And they are, in this shift from the element of Earth to the element of Air.

In other news…

Queen Elizabeth II will be 95 on Wednesday. It is not unusual for members of the royal family to publish a new portrait as part of a birthday celebration, but that’s not happening this year. The Queen buried her husband on Saturday, and this was one of WaPo’s headlines: “Image of Queen Elizabeth II sitting alone at Philip’s funeral breaks hearts around the world.” That link will take you to a story in The Guardian that doesn’t have a paywall. The heartbreaking photo is the second one down in the article.

In the language of astrology, Saturn refers to loss and isolation. In the Queen’s horoscope, Saturn rules her Capricorn Ascendant. She needs to be seen as a woman in charge, and there is no doubt that she is. Transiting Saturn will oppose the Queen’s Leo Moon three times in 2021. The first opposition was on April 11th. Her Moon is in the 7th house of significant others, and it rules the 7th house. We can see how this transit of Saturn would coincide with the loss of a consort. The color of Capricorn — and Saturn — is black.

Finally…

“Bhutan sat on coronavirus vaccines for months, awaiting auspicious rollout date — then delivered shots to 93% of adults in two weeks.”   As the WaPo article explains, 

Despite receiving a supply of vaccines in January, the small Himalayan kingdom didn’t begin immunizing its population until March 27, a date that was selected through astrological consultations with Buddhist monks.

Given that the first person to receive the vaccine had to be born in the Year of the Monkey, we must assume that Bhutan used Chinese astrology to elect its auspicious date and time. Translated into Western astrology, there is a lot to like about this chart. How can this be? Well, it makes perfect sense if you think of astrology as a language. German and French are also languages, and it would be silly to say that German is valid, but French is not. Same goes for Chinese astrology vs. Vedic astrology vs. Western astrology. Different rules may apply, but they all make sense.

Thank you for reading this forecast. That glass of pinot noir is calling. Here’s the 411 on personal consultations.

Happy birthday, Taurus!