Tuesday 4/14/2020: Late Sneak Peek at the Week; Sun Square Pluto-Jupiter(Power & Resources)

As you know, the start of the work-from-home week was driven by the enterprising needs of a Moon in Capricorn. However people and things may be used to make things happen, make it so. Networking among friends is facilitated by a trine (harmony) between the Moon and Uranus at 6:36 AM ET  — and that’s it for the rest of the day.

The advantage of posting the Sneak Peek a little bit late is that I can now share Tarot Diva Beth Owl’s Daughter’s Card of the Week — and here it is.

Meanwhile…

• TUESDAY — the Sun in pioneering Aries squares Pluto in Capricorn at 7:04 AM ET. Big empowering initiatives from CEOs and other chief executives, is what I’m thinking, with a splash of fantasy or inspiration, reflecting a harmony between the Moon and Neptune (note your dreams).  Here are the headlines from that pattern in April 2019. If you have a planet or point around 24 degrees of Aries, Cancer, Libra or Capricorn, you’re likely feeling the pressure to push the envelope. Even if you are not in a work situation at present, consider positive ways of purging or repairing broken systems and structures. And here I would be thinking of a quote Avid Reader Karen recently shared — from an article by Rebecca Solnit in The Guardian:

• When a caterpillar enters its chrysalis, it dissolves itself, quite literally, into liquid. In this state, what was a caterpillar and will be a butterfly is neither one nor the other, it’s a sort of living soup. Within this living soup are the imaginal cells that will catalyse its transformation into winged maturity. May the best among us, the most visionary, the most inclusive, be the imaginal cells – for now we are in the soup. The outcome of disasters is not foreordained. It’s a conflict, one that takes place while things that were frozen, solid and locked up have become open and fluid – full of both the best and worst possibilities. We are both becalmed and in a state of profound change.

  I was struck by the image of a chrysalis, as it corresponds to the Sabian Symbol we encountered in early March, when Mercury turned direct.

• TUESDAY — More empowered statements in the evening, as the Moon meets up with Pluto at 6:01 PM ET. Choppy waters follow, reflecting the challenge between the Aries Sun and the Capricorn Moon, exact at 6:56 PM ET. Grand statements of status and exuberance may bellow around 7:47 PM ET, as the Moon meets up with Jupiter. Chill during the subsequent Moon void, which ends on…
• WEDNESDAY…at 3:37 AM ET, when it enters Aquarius. An Aquarius Moon needs to be recognized for its unique social significance within a group of intellectual and innovative souls. Time to network with your besties, courtesy of modern technology. The morning may feel somewhat…manic-depressive…is the word that comes to mind. On the one hand, Moon meets up with Saturn at 6:21 AM ET, demanding focus and control in pursuit of a serious ambition. On the other hand, the Sun squares Jupiter at 6:59 AM ET, suggesting willpower to the max, with rewards going only to those who have earned it. A twist or upset presents itself around 3:09 PM ET, as the Moon is squared by rebel Uranus. A chatty evening leads to an assertive action or aggressive explosion around 1:42 AM ET on….
• THURSDAY…as the Moon meets up with Mars. And that it for the Moon, leaving Mercury (thoughts and communication) to carry the ball for the next couple of days. How so? Well, on…
• FRIDAY — the Aquarius Moon goes void at 10:34 AM ET. Roll with whatever twists and flakes show up to disrupt your efforts to move forward in a straight line. Do not make mountains out of molehills. At 2:29 PM ET, Moon reboots in Pisces, facilitating empathy, intuition and ideals. The expression of ideals is further facilitated by a sextile between Mercury in Aries and Venus in Gemini, exact on…
• SATURDAY — at 1:36 AM ET. This is one of the Mercury patterns that’s been active for the past few days. Mercury in Aries needs to solve the problem not now, but RIGHT NOW. Venus in Gemini has a thousand different way of thinking it through. all of which may be clever and entertaining. Both planets are in harmony with Mars in Aquarius, which needs to execute a humanitarian action plan. This is a best-case scenario. A caveat to consider is that Venus — which represents who, what and how we need to love — a.k.a. our values, including money, aesthetics and social expression — will turn retrograde on May 13th, suggesting all that is pushed forward now will be up for review in mid-May through the end of June. This is echoed by the fact that while Venus is close to an exact harmony with Mars, that exactness does not happen. It’s too soon. The last time Venus was retrograde in Gemini was in May 2012…and here’s what was written back then. Can you believe I’ve been writing this forecast for over ten years? Wow!
• SUNDAY — Moon meets up with Neptune in the early AM — note your dreams. Sun leaves Aries for Taurus at 10:46 AM ET. Count your blessings in the afternoon, as Moon sextiles Jupiter and Pluto. Pisces Moon goes void at 7:31 PM ET; chill for the rest of the night.

And now, the news.

Here at the Home Office, Sunday’s travel-loving Sagittarius Moon inspired me to watch Roman Holiday, with Audrey Hepburn and Gregory Peck. Then I made the pasta recipe I shared in the last forecast. Anyone else try it? Almost like being in Italy, though more than one significant news story reminded me that I was not.

This aptly-timed investigative piece from the NYT is especially compelling: “He Could Have Seen What Was Coming: Behind Trump’s Failure on the Virus.”  It includes a link to 80 pages of emails from public health officials wringing their hands watching Emperor Nero fiddle as Rome burned. (Sorry, but I can’t get Roman Holiday out of my head). I especially appreciated this March 12th email from Dr. James Lawler of the Global Center for Health Security. It was written right after Mercury turned direct, during the 12-day window of Mercury in Aquarius (thinking scientifically) that was sandwiched in the middle of two and half months of Mercury in Pisces (thinking based on feeling):

We have thrown 15 years of institutional learning out the window and are making decisions based on intuition. Pilots can tell you what happens when a crew makes decisions based on intuition rather than what their instruments are telling them.
And we continue to push the stick forward …

Another compelling read warns us of the extremely persuasive effort we can expect from the Powers That Be in their effort to take action on the go-go-go impulse of Mercury in Aries (mindset based on Getting Things Started — NOW). “Prepare for the Ultimate Gaslighting” opens with perhaps the most gorgeous Los Angeles skyline I have ever seen: crystal clear and blue. Before rushing back to “normal,” shouldn’t we pause and consider preserving some of the silver linings in this global shutdown? This is what the article’s author argues — with a stern caveat emptor against the aforementioned PTB. Their “happy talk” is sure to be out in full force this summer, reflecting Jupiter in Capricorn’s contact with Pluto (as we’ve been talking about in recent weeks), but also with Neptune (the inventor of magical thinking). Jupiter in Capricorn needs to reward those who have worked hard and earned it, and I can see how its easy contact with Neptune (three sextiles on Feb 20, Aug 27 and Oct 14) may reflect our rose-colored dreams of forgetting the realities that are staring us in the face.

Planetary patterns strongly suggest that what’s normal must be — and will be — forever changed over the next few years, especially in these United States. One astrological argument for such change is the U.S. Pluto Return that will be exact all through 2022 — but is in effect now. A Pluto Return happens roughly every 248 years. It suggests a potentially extreme gut renovation, and for the U.S. it is likely to be felt most keenly in our sense of self-worth, values and finances. Many astrologers saw this period as a potential breakdown of government, but not being psychic, they couldn’t imagine the exact circumstances of how this breakdown would occur. Thus it is fascinating to see how governors of the West Coast states (CA, OR and WA) and the North East (NY, DE, CT, NJ, PA, RI & MA) are now working together — separate from the federal government — to formulate a plan for COVID-19 healing and economic recovery on their own timeline, thank you very much.

How would we expect P45 to respond, given patterns in his horoscope? Today (4/14) he has transiting Mars opposing Pluto, so we expect him to aggressively assert himself in a power play. His Pluto sits in his natal 12th House, suggesting a need to whine about not being understood by the rest of the world, and that his power needs may be the source of his self-undoing. At his daily televised campaign rally  White House press briefing yesterday (4/13), P45 declared that “The President of the United States calls the shots,” and that the governors couldn’t do anything without his approval, as his authority was “total.” For more on these false assertions of presidential power — and what else happened at the briefing, here’s Heather Cox Richardson.

Looking back to the timeline on P45’s horoscope posted back in December, we note that Mars (the energy of action and aggression) will be all over his Midheaven, Mars and Ascendant on May 4, May 8 and May 12. This is when we can expect him to attack or provoke — or respond to attacks and provocation from others.

In other news, the email Avid Readers received yesterday included a write-up of Mitch McConnell’s horoscope, published last fall in Mountain Astrologer. It was fascinating to see that on the third exact square to his Venus (money, women) from transiting Uranus (upsets, revelations), the New Yorker published an in-depth expose by Jane Mayer (author of  the must read Dark Money). The focus: Moscow Mitch‘s love of money and his uncanny resemblance to Emperor Palpaltine, a.k.a. Darth Sidious the women in his life. His current wife — Elaine Chao — fulfilled his ambition of marrying rich. His first wife — Sherill Redmon — is a feminist scholar at Smith and mother of his three progressively-minded daughters, and is writing a tell-all memoir. Wow!

Extremes of power and resources have certainly made themselves known in the Southeast, where tornadoes have downed trees, cut electricity and claimed lives.  Dear Avid Readers in the Southeast, are you OK? Is the power back on?

As we approach the beginning of another corporate earnings season, we are hearing dire forecasts from more than one financial institution. Morgan Stanley thinks we will have “rolling lockdowns” that are COVID-19 related well into 2021. I would bet at least a dollar that more than one person at Morgan Stanley keeps tabs on the writings of  financial astrologers. JPMorgan says its 1Q profits are down 70%, as it must set aside billions to cover expected loan defaults. Not to worry, though as it appears that the coronavirus relief package that was negotiated in the dark of the last New Moon contains a tax savings provision that benefits mostly millionaires — to the tune of $90 billion that won’t be collected by the IRS. To everyone else, your $1200 check is in the mail (or about to be deposited into your back account).

UPDATE: on the Wisconsin primary election that the US Supreme Court ruled could not be postponed, forcing voters to choose between exercising their right to vote and protecting their health. That election happened on a revolutionary square between Mars and Uranus, and the results have been deemed an upset, as Democratic candidate Jill Karofsky soundly defeated incumbent Daniel Kelly, who was appointed to his Wisconsin Supreme Court seat by then-Governor Scott Walker (R-WI). WaPo columnist Jennifer Rubin offers analysis and schadenfreude.

What in the world is going on in your horoscope? I deeply appreciate Avid Readers who have reached out for insights and helpful coping strategies. It is a joy to be of service. Here’s the 411 on personal consultations — and here’s a reminder from Avid Reader Diane that if you enjoy these forecasts, please support them by contributing to the Cosmic Tip Jar. Several options for doing that are available here.

Thank you for reading this forecast — and sharing it with your friends.

Pluto says hi.