Photo by Lanvi Nguyen. All photos below are from Whiteface Mountain in the Adirondacks.

Dear Friend and Reader:

This odd sense that everything is growing more chaotic and uncertain by the minute is described magnificently by Mars conjunct Eris in Aries. This is Mars nearly in position to go retrograde on Sept. 9. One of the central concepts Eris represents astrologically is the result of electrical technology on one’s state of being.

Twice-presidential candidate Ross Perot (1930-2019) made great use of his phrase, “The giant sucking sound,” which was his description of a free trade agreement he opposed. Today, the sucking sound is souls being vacuumed into the synthetic astral plane known as digital, AI and virtual and enhanced reality.

Whatever may be going on medically and politically on the planet right now, the moment is all in the direction of astral/digital. This is an actual plane of reality (a concept some esoteric students may be familiar with). The astral is the nonphysical state closest to physical, the one accessed in dreams, fantasies, drug experiences and related activities. Many people spend their lives there, and did long before the internet.

Yet the internet opened up a new, electrically powered dimension of existence and experience that drew in millions of otherwise well-incarnated people. This happened by gradually replacing nearly all physical points of reference and many physical objects with nonphysical equivalents.

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“World War III [will be] a guerrilla information war with no division between military and civilian participation.”
— Marshall McLuhan, 1970

Dear Friend and Reader:

As we move through these unusual and even singularly strange times, there are both large markers describing our era, and seemingly small ones. Yet astrology is holographic. You can take a slice of a chart, or even the details of two houses, and get a plausible reading on the whole scenario. The story of our times is told in the seemingly large moments, and in those that are seemingly small or insignificant.

This week we are in a particularly telling stretch of astrology, as Mars makes a square to Pluto and a conjunction to Eris. Both are slow-moving planets that define eras of history. These days Pluto spends under 20 years in a sign, while Eris is in the process of crossing Aries — which began in the late 1920s and wraps up in 2048. Pluto and Eris are now dancing in a 90-degree angle that is the heart of our current astrological region, and which astrologers unfamiliar with Eris and its actions are unlikely to observe.

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Dear Friend and Reader:

Currently we are within range of many square aspects. Monday is the first quarter Moon, which is a square in the Moon-Sun cycle. Additionally on Monday, Venus in Gemini is square Neptune in Pisces; Mercury in Cancer is square Mars in Aries; and in a few days, Mars in Aries is square Pallas Athene in Capricorn.

All of these involve planets close to the immediate human sensory and emotional experience. It’s easy to see and feel what is unfolding, including a new wave of protests across the country (this time against what’s been going on in Portland, Oregon: federal tactical police, without insignia and driving unmarked vans, in the style of Vladimir Putin’s military, arresting protesters).

The slow-moving Mercury-Mars square describes the anger and the direct action (Mercury is still slow and powerful after the recent retrograde). Similarly slow-moving Venus square Neptune is describing a degree of emotional deception and self-deception, where the “sides” of the issue are blurred: a Gemini placement in the thrall of Neptune.

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Photo by Lanvi Nguyen.

Dear Friend and Reader:

Today’s New Moon in Cancer is the second in a row — the first was the annular solar eclipse on the solstice, way back on June 21 (okay, just four weeks ago; it seems like longer, but I guess objects in the rearview are closer than they appear).

This is an unusual New Moon for other reasons, one of which is how much presence and activity there is in the sign opposite the conjunction, which is Capricorn. This creates balance and it also creates polarity; the two are related. It is also one of the official Last Hurrahs before the massive Capricorn part of the past 12 years winds down with the entry of Jupiter and Saturn into Aquarius in December.

But let’s stick to the local news — what is happening today, which is the New Moon opposite Saturn in late Capricorn. The graphic at the right shows you what that looks like — focus on all the planets with a 28 next to them: there are three, the Moon, the Sun and Saturn.

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Photo by Lanvi Nguyen.

Dear Friend and Reader:

Mercury retrograde is mostly behind us — everything except for the part where we repeat the aspects of the past few weeks, our friend the trickster moving in direct motion. It will be making aspects to many slow-moving planets, as I described in Thursday night’s issue.

At 5:08 am EDT on Tuesday, Mars forms a conjunction to Chiron in Aries. This happens on an approximately two-year cycle; the prior event was in very late Pisces in December 2018, as Chiron was in the process of changing signs into Aries.

There is something initiatory about this aspect: something I have seen can work to get us to the next phase of our lives, and place of awareness. Particularly with Aries and Mars involved, we have the potential to be at the beginning of something. First, let’s consider the factors involved as elements of consciousness and how it manifests in our conduct.

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Full Moon as seen from Croom, Maryland. Photo by Lanvi Nguyen.

Dear Friend and Reader:

Overnight Sunday to Monday, the Moon formed a conjunction to Saturn in Capricorn (exact Monday at 5:35 am EDT / 2:35 am PDT / 10:35 am BST). This was the last stage in the events associated with the eclipse of the Moon that occurred overnight Saturday to Sunday.

This was the third lunation in a row that included an eclipse. While these were not “big” eclipses, they were similar to a barge moving through canal locks, gently following the lay of the land. We don’t need any waterfalls right now. We need the gradual, gentle equalization of pressure.

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Photo by Lanvi Nguyen.

Dear Friend and Reader:

This week we are at one of the peak events of 2020: the conjunction of Jupiter and Pluto in Capricorn. The alignment using conventional Earth-centered astrology is Tuesday, June 30, at about 1:46 am Eastern Time.

While this conjunction (which means start of a new cycle), is not as famous as Saturn conjunct Pluto, which happened Jan. 12, from the standpoint of spiritual, mundane or psychological astrology, it is a significant development — one whose manifestations we can see in the world. In fact we are looking right at them.

Before I interpret a bit, first a technical note. This aspect spans from April 4, when it first lined up, through Nov. 12. Often aspects between the slower-moving planets happen three times during that cycle due to the quicker planet making a retrograde that involves the slower one. That did not happen with Saturn-Pluto. It is happening with Jupiter-Pluto. When there are three expressions of an aspect in a short time (which are all the same thing), the “real” one is the middle event; that’s the one closest to the conjunction from the viewpoint of the Sun.

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Thursday, Venus stations direct in Gemini. It’s been retrograde since May 13. Venus is retrograde the least of all the planets (about 8% of the time), so they are all meaningful, if not memorable.

First, a brief recap of the weekend’s astrology, which included the northern solstice on Saturday and an eclipse of the Sun early Sunday morning. We are in one of those fulcrum moments, where tapping the telescope can shift the view by hundreds of light years. Pay attention to those moments where you can move on your pivot just a little, and alter the trajectory of your life.

These moments are not always easy to see, though it’s fair to imagine that you’re always in one; that every choice is relevant, and more significantly, every decision gives you practice in the basis by which you choose. Ultimately, each decision is a reflection of who you think you are, and what you think you are — so that is the thing to focus on and, in a real sense, the most significant decision you make.

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