Election Predictions: Mercury Stationing Direct on a Jupiter-Pluto Conjunction...Will the Third Time Be the Charm, or the Perfect Storm?

With Mercury stationing direct on US Election Day, it is very unlikely that the results will be determined tonight or even tomorrow, particularly since Mercury will soon square transiting Saturn in Capricorn (indicating delays) and US Pluto in Capricorn (indicating all kinds of frightening, underhanded, violent, criminally oriented possibilites). Mercury is in Libra, the sign of the Scales (the symbol of justice), so it's also very likely that the Supreme Court will be involved.

Mars, the planet of war, aggression, and desire, is still retrograde in its ruling sign Aries until 11/13, the day after the final of three Jupiter-Pluto conjunctions in Capricorn, so until then there is also a sense of pushing hard without quite breaking through. As I wrote earlier this year, I believe the signature of Covid-19 is the Jupiter-Pluto conjunction in Capricorn; each time this aspect that expands/magnifies (Jupiter) pestilence and death (Pluto) nears the exact conjunction (April 4, June 30, November 12), there has has been a corresponding wave or surge of this pandemic. This holds especially true for the United States, since Jupiter will also pass over US Pluto, though Europe is currently facing a second wave. The key difference, of course, is that the US government, steered by the Republican majority in the Senate, cut off aid to individuals and small businesses months ago; economic hardship (also symbolized by Jupiter in the sign of its fall) foisted on those who need the most help has effectively set up a lose-lose situation. Many claim that the cure (lockdowns and less extreme restrictions) is worse than the disease, yet the two undeniably depend on each other. The politicization of public health has been an unfortunate side effect of this heavily Capricorn year, though Saturn's three-month stay in Aquarius (from late March till early July) manifested in the highly unpopular social (Aquarius) distancing (Saturn).

Although I believe that Biden will prevail in the end, due to his own natal chart lining up better than Trump's with the US's natal chart this year, over the next four years, with the United States coming up on its Pluto Return, revolution is inevitable, both from without and within. The United States must either regenerate and transform (Pluto actions) or die under a fascist plutocracy. Trump may wind up in jail, but the fact that almost half of the US voters continue to believe in his vision, as well as the rise in Far Right groups such as QAnon, is highly concerning. Over twenty years ago, I predicted that the US would have another civil war, despite the messy geographical boundaries. Now it seems more than ever that the US is headed for a messy divorce.

It remains to be seen if the US will wind up on the right side of history by the time the biggest global crisis since the Great Depression and World War II has ended with either a bang or a whimper.

Election Day: Civil War II?

THE SECOND COMING

Turning and turning in the widening gyre
The falcon cannot hear the falconer;
Things fall apart; the centre cannot hold;
Mere anarchy is loosed upon the world,
The blood-dimmed tide is loosed, and everywhere
The ceremony of innocence is drowned;
The best lack all conviction, while the worst
Are full of passionate intensity.

Surely some revelation is at hand;
Surely the Second Coming is at hand.
The Second Coming! Hardly are those words out
When a vast image out of Spiritus Mundi
Troubles my sight: somewhere in sands of the desert
A shape with lion body and the head of a man,
A gaze blank and pitiless as the sun,
Is moving its slow thighs, while all about it
Reel shadows of the indignant desert birds.
The darkness drops again; but now I know
That twenty centuries of stony sleep
Were vexed to nightmare by a rocking cradle,
And what rough beast, its hour come round at last,
Slouches towards Bethlehem to be born?

--William Butler Yeats (1919)

Dear readers, I plead guilty to the sin of procrastination. Yes, I have been run down, burned-out, too engaged in my paying work and with my drama-filled life, but I still feel obligated to try to make some sense of this crazy-ass election cycle...not so much to predict who will win the U.S. presidency today, or to reiterate what many of you might have already read about Mars being in the last degree of Capricorn on Election Day, and how the Moon will change signs from Aquarius to Pisces. Instead, I want to explore the U.S. natal chart and its progressions, transits, and its next Lunar Return (which happens today, 12:44 p.m. EST).

When I gaze a little ways down the cosmic road, I do not like much of what I see for America.

Over and over again on this site, I discussed the Uranus-Pluto square of 2012-15 and the more recent Saturn-Neptune square of 2015-16. I still believe these ridiculously horrendous aspects, operating on a mass level because they involved the outer planets, were what made this ridiculously horrendous election cycle possible.

What I somehow missed was that transiting Pluto opposed U.S. Sun throughout 2015 (a classic power-tripping aspect that also points to nefarious underground, illicit activity). This opposition was heightened by the fact that U.S. 1st and 7th Houses were involved, lending a highly polarized "you vs. me" flavor. Pluto has been transiting U.S. 1st House since December 2000; it was conjunct U.S. Ascendant on the heels of 9/11, with transiting Saturn opposing it in Gemini, the sign of the twins (or twin towers). It is safe to say that for the past decade and a half, America has been going through a classic Pluto-transiting-1st-House identity crisis.

Pluto does transform -- but not always for the better. Pluto first entered U.S. 2nd House in March of this year and will go back into the 2nd House for good in the first week of January 2017. So right now, we are at the tail end of this particular chapter of U.S. history, of Pluto transiting the 1st House. And in so many ways, America has become unrecognizable...not just in its appearance (downside: obese; upside: increased acceptance of transgendered individuals; downside: crumbling infrastructure and chain-store-ification; upside: more underground/alternative scenes) but in a deep-rooted sense that is not at all visible yet still palpable on a psychic level. Aside from blossoming shamanistic healers, the vibe has been dark, menacing, hostile, morbid, nihilistic. In other words, Plutonian.

Transiting Uranus has also been making plenty of noise in the U.S. chart. As Pluto slips into the U.S. 2nd House, Uranus remains in the angular 4th House and will continue to square U.S. Mercury, as it did in the summer of 2016, till April 2017. Interestingly, Uranus comes within a hair's breadth of squaring U.S. Mercury again at the very beginning of 2018, but turns direct just before the exact aspect. Given the signs and Houses involved (Aries/Cancer, 4th House to 8th), I suspect that we will narrowly avert a disaster of potentially apocalyptic proportions right around New Year's Day 2018. However, we may not be so lucky on that front this coming April. That does not mean I am predicting THE apocalypse when spring comes, but it suggests homegrown terrorism and/or Civil War II. The climate is very ripe for such brutal, intransigent tragedy, the likes of which we have not experienced in America since the 1860s. Even if we all breathe a collective sigh of relief in January 2018, transiting Uranus will have been squaring U.S. Pluto (June and September 2017) and will not finish doing so till April 2018.

So basically, Uranus has been, and will continue, triggering America's natal Mercury-Pluto opposition: one of America's worst aspects. (The other one is the Mars-Neptune square, which will soon be triggered by transiting Saturn in Sagittarius.) Uranus is genius but also insanity; Uranus is a rebel with a cause; Uranus is a lightning bolt that could zap America's collective brain, forcing some of us to wake up while encouraging others of us to succumb to violent paranoia and scratch an itchy trigger finger.

No matter who wins the U.S. election, I see the potential for mass deception, depression, and imprisonment, as transiting Neptune continues to conjunct U.S. progressed Sun in Pisces until spring 2018. (The conjunction began this past spring.) On the upside, I also see some wonderful movies, literature, dance, and other art forms being created and released -- though some of the art could well be banned or suppressed if it lacks the necessary propaganda and "spin." Another positive manifestation of this very strong Pisces conjunction could be increased medical or recreational legalization of marijuana in America. As you are probably aware, the issue of marijuana reform is on the ballot today for nine states. If all the measures pass, that would make almost a quarter of the U.S. population (not a quarter of the actual states) eligible to indulge in recreational pot use.

I see an influx of immigrants with U.S. progressed Moon in Sagittarius entering U.S. 1st House at the dawn of spring 2017, but also a wave of people emigrating due to religious or philosophical differences. More worrisome is the fact that U.S. progressed Moon exactly opposes U.S. Uranus in Gemini just two weeks after Election Day. Emotions will be running high and not at all rationally; at the risk of repeating myself, another read of this opposition is Civil War II. At the very least, some quarters will be experiencing a meltdown or nervous breakdown of epic proportions.

I implore those of you who can vote in the U.S. election to do so. Yes, the upcoming aspects are deeply troubling and downright alarming, no matter which candidate wins; but I am not saying that it does not make a difference who wins...far from it. It is also crucial that the Democratic Party regain the Senate. One cause I have for optimism is that the U.S. Lunar Return features the Sun and Mercury at the Midheaven in Scorpio, and Hillary Clinton is a Scorpio. Capricorn is Rising in the Lunar Return, with Mars close to the Ascendant and U.S. Mercury exactly conjunct the 7th House Cusp. This suggests that women voters will be particularly important, but that some poll centers will be a very unpleasant experience, with or without police presence.

What my study of transiting aspects indicates is that no matter which candidate wins, the hatred, extremism, racism, sexism, greed, and xenophobia that have moved from the lunatic fringe to the alt-right (which I refer to as alt-control-delete, since that better describes their agenda) will not magically vanish in a puff of acrid smoke if Hillary Clinton wins America's next presidency. There are simply too many of them to discount, and not all of them are uneducated and poor, either. It is conceivable that the inconceivable could happen; consider how British voters did not come to their senses earlier this year, resulting in "Brexit." According to Bill Maher, this election is a referendum on decency. I would go even further and say it is a referendum on evil. Unfortunately, as Yeats put it so well nearly 100 years ago, "The best lack all conviction, while the worst / Are full of passionate intensity."

It would be pretty swell if those of us who aspire to be our best selves (human beings who, for example, do not grab the best piece of cake and put barbed-wire fence around the rest) dare to be passionately intense, intensely passionate. Now is the time for those of us who are compassionate and curious to stop numbing ourselves out with various panaceas, pharmaceuticals, and passivity. It will hurt, because Uranus and Pluto squares and oppositions don't tickle. Nor would another Civil War tickle. But the alternative is allow ourselves to believe that the rise of the alt-control-delete movement in America is the new normal, to sleepwalk into the 21st-century version of the Third Reich.

Fallout from the Uranus-Pluto Square and Saturn-Neptune Square: I Am Ready to Blow a Gasket over the Damn Election

I'm back after a three-month hiatus...has anyone missed my misanthropic, profane astrobabble?

It's just been too damned depressing to post lately. Everything out of everyone's mouths has been about the US election. I know how crucial it is, believe me. I am just sick of it, all of it. The Saturn-Neptune square may finally be over, but this aspect of collective mental illness (specifically, insanity) continues to reverberate, especially when planets in mutable signs (i.e., Gemini, Virgo, Sagittarius, and Pisces) trigger Saturn and Neptune.

But on a Sun-Pluto square, a stressful power-tripper of an aspect, the pain has gotten so intense that I have got to get on my virtual soapbox. You've been warned. If you want to read your Sun Sign horoscope or learn what color lipstick you should wear according to your Venus sign, please go to another astrology site -- at least for today.

(Deep breath, long exhale.)

I figured that the greatest danger of a dictator/demagogue's being elected US president was four years ago, at the dawn of the Uranus-Pluto square (2012-15). After all, look at what happened in Germany during the last Uranus-Pluto square (1931-35). However, although Mitt Romney is many mean, nasty, horrible things, he's not quite a Hitler type.

And Obama held on to the presidency, the economy officially took a turn for the better, the Affordable Health Care Act took hold (at least in most states), and the world did not come to an end, as the doomsday crowd fond of taking the Mayan calendar out of context kept predicting.

Not that everything was roses and sunshine. Examples of the cruelty, brutality, fanaticism, and poor impulse control that define a Uranus-Pluto square included Syria, the Ukraine, the rise of ISIS, and Edward Snowden (who might have been a real hero had he only exposed the US government's Big Brother surveillance on its citizens instead of also revealing the secret-sauce technology that kept tabs on terrorist activity).

Still, it came as a surprise to me that it was not until this election cycle got under way, with the Uranus-Pluto square finally in our rear-view window, that the next Hitler emerged from the shadows, on our very shores.

Think I'm exaggerating? Here is a quote from a new book by Volker Ullrick, Hitler: Ascent 1889-1939: "Hitler adapted the content of his speeches to suit the tastes of his lower-middle-class, nationalist-conservative, ethnic-chauvinist and anti-Semitic listeners ... He peppered his speeches with coarse phrases and put-downs of hecklers. Even as he fomented chaos by playing to crowds' fears and resentments, he offered himself as the visionary leader who could restore law and order." High-ranking officials around the world refused to take Hitler seriously, calling him a "clown."

Remind you of anyone?

The Uranus-Pluto square of 2012-15 was what made possible the extreme disenchantment, and extremism in general, that defines a sizeable and still-growing percentage of voting-age Americans. Even a broken clock is right twice a day, and some of the concerns and criticisms of even the most bigoted, hateful members of our citizenry are valid. For example, with all the employment numbers pointing up, how many unemployed, working-age people are no longer even counted because they no longer receive unemployment benefits? What kinds of jobs are being created? Why is the term "working poor" part of the "new normal"? How does minuscule gains in income truly help a person get a leg over the runaway cost of living? And what good is "Obamacare" if you can't really use it, due to a ridiculously narrow provider network and sky-high deductible?

Under the Uranus-Pluto square, growing numbers of fed-up people became less interested in trying to fix The System, The Powers That Be, Politics, etc. and more enthusiastic about the prospect of just blowing the whole thing up, even if they did not survive the fallout from the explosion. Not surprisingly, another signature of the Uranus-Pluto square is nihilism.

Throw in the delusional, downright idiotic nature of the Saturn-Neptune square, which began on Thanksgiving 2015 and lasted till September 10 of this year, and it is frighteningly obvious that the collective has reached a new low. And the US media cannot wash its grimy hands of the phenomenon of DT (short for "distemper" or "delirium tremors"), for the media gladly gave him tons of free publicity while pointedly marginalizing Bernie Sanders, a true public servant, as a cranky, eccentric grampa -- and a horse-race election always brings in more subscribers and money than a shutout.

I was plenty nervous about the election of 2000, with Mercury stationing retrograde on that Election Day. I am plenty nervous about this one, as well -- not only will the Moon be changing signs, so early returns may not reflect the ultimate reality, but the Moon itself will end up in Pisces, a sign that calls reality itself into question. Mars will be in the last degree of Capricorn, just past US Pluto; in the days leading up to the election, this may not manifest in literal assassination, but character assassination. Authority in general, and government in particular, is ruled by the sign Capricorn. As a cardinal earth sign, Capricorn will fight to hold its ground so it can ascend, but Mars is not known to be gentle and reasonable.

I hope I will be proved wrong in my fear that even if the much, much, much lesser of two evils wins, and even if it is by a landslide (a possible read of Mars on the cusp of Aquarius), and the US Supreme Court is saved from turning into the next Third Reich, this will not be a sweet victory by any means -- just a four-year breather until a smarter, saner demagogue appears on the political scene.

Storm Warnings: Election Day in a Uranus-Pluto Square Era

As many of you are aware, 2012 marked the beginning of a three-year era defined by a Uranus-Pluto square. History does not always repeat itself, but it often rhymes; therefore, especially for a nation as willfully amnesiac as the United States, it is crucial to look back about 80 years, when the last Uranus-Pluto square was in effect. The early 1930s was the Uranian "crash" of the stock market and the end of the decade-long party known as the Jazz Age; throwing Pluto into the mix ensured extreme measures would steer the economy (a Plutonian domain).

On this Election Day (or what may turn out to be Election Week or Election Month), America stands at a crucial crossroads that will seal our collective fate and global reputation. The path taken will reverebate for the next three decades, until the next Uranus conjunction occurs. (Keep in mind that the last Uranus conjunction defined the 1960s.) Mercury has not even turned Retrograde yet (that happens at 6:04pm ET), and already frustration, confusion, long lines, and malfuctioning machines are occurring at the polls.

If Barack Obama retains the keys to the presidency, America will have the chance to flower into a new "New Deal," the seeds of which have been sown over the past four years despite the constant obstruction, bad-mouthing, and downright hysteria from the opposing party. If President Obama prevails and presides for another term, he will represent the changing face of America, and its future (represented by forward-thinking Uranus). Echoes of FDR's dictum, "the only thing we have to fear is fear itself," will become so strong and so present that it will cease to become an echo. For Americans, the five remaining Uranus-Pluto squares between now and March 2015 may feel more like growing pains and less like an extended death knell -- unless ever more extreme weather patterns become the norm.

If you have not yet cast your ballot and are not in love or even in like with Obama, consider the alternative. If the election goes the other way -- whether it is stolen or not -- America could come to resemble 1930s Germany minus the death camps, which are probably too extreme a "Final Solution" even for the most irrational, cold-blooded members of the RepubliCons. However, friendly little expulsions of various groups could occur. Debtors' prisons and workhouses could enjoy a renaissance as gated communities turn into steel-armored fiefdoms with toxic moats. The United States may remain a democracy on paper, but a plutocracy in reality. Its most lasting effect on the government will be on the judicial branch: a Supreme Court dominated by the Farthest of the Far Right. An entire nation will be ruled by fear, suppression of countless freedoms, wholesale censorship, irrationality (the downside of Uranus), propaganda (the downside of Pluto), and scapegoating of groups that are not white, well-off, and wishing for a return to the 1950s (minus the financial security that many Americans were able to achieve during that postwar decade). If you are a woman -- even a white, well-off woman who wants to be a housewife and mother -- you may eventually lose not only the right to control your own reproductive system, but your right to vote. The five remaining Uranus-Pluto squares between now and March 2015 could be marked by socially sanctioned violence. Citizens may first be gently encouraged, then not so gently ordered, to report "suspicious" individuals, even family members and friends. New forms of taxation and unnecessary rationing will all rise in the name of "patriotism" while serving their true function: to keep the populace scared stiff, stirred up, and in line.

I realize the above paragraph is quite extreme in its predictions, but it is an informed point of view (i.e., not gleaned from Faux 5 News). It is also not just about America having the choice to take the "New Deal" path or to spiral down into the cesspool of a fascistic 1984 scenario. Thanks to technology as well as various contracts, nations are connected to one another as never before, so we are more affected by the actions and policies of one another. This means that there needs to be a far greater sense of accountability across the globe, which I also realize is easier said than done -- without such necessities as food, clean water, shelter, and other supplies, as well as access to education and technology, there is only so much an impoverished nation can do to shake off the shackles of a plutocracy or an insane, abusive tyrant. Deep-rooted dysfunction cannot be cured by lectures, sanctions, or Band-Aids. The United States cannot keep on being the world's policeman . . . especially if we are showing definite signs of being unable to police ourselves in a just, rational manner.

Hurricane Sandy: The Aftermath / Election Day: Oh, Boy

By now, many of you astrology hounds have undoubtedly unearthed many fine articles about Hurricane Sandy as well as the upcoming presidential election. I am adding my thoughts mainly because I feel a certain responsibility to astrologize, even though those two cents may as well be two drops in the cyberspace bucket. I know that I am not alone in feeling a certain ambivalence toward the up-to-the-second online updates that sometimes makes the information age feel more like information overload. (Did the acronym TMI even exist back in the '90s?)

Just read over the above paragraph. Aren't I a little ray of sunshine today? The Sun is coming up on its annual conjunction to my Moon, which sounds like it should be a ton of fun, except that the sign involved is Scorpio, which can be ecstatic but rarely happy.

Pressing on regardless:



Of course the Full Moon increased Hurricane Sandy's power, since the Full Moon translates into higher than usual tides. But what is even more striking about the chart of Hurricane Sandy as it reached landfall by slamming into Atlantic City at 8pm on Monday night is Jupiter in Gemini on the Ascendant with Mars setting in Sagittarius (the sign traditionally ruled by Jupiter). Jupiter always does things in a big way, and Mars can indicate aggressive destruction. The opposition between Mars and Jupiter occurred the day before Sandy hit landfall, but since these two planets are on the most sensitive angles of the chart, this opposition cannot be dismissed as "separating" (i.e., diminishing in intensity). Interestingly, Jupiter also rules gambling, and Atlantic City is one of the top two gambling spots in the nation.

With Gemini Rising, the planet Mercury is of crucial importance as well. Mercury has just entered Sagittarius (traditionally considered a detrimental placement), is placed in the 6th House of health and work, and is just separating from a square to Neptune (ruling the sea and floods), the most elevated planet at just 9 degrees from the Midheaven in the 10th House. Obviously, business was not able to go on as usual as the storm cut its devastating swath through the tristate area and beyond, with loss of life and homes, as well as electricity and dwindling food and gas supplies. Halloween this year turned out to be more about tricks and less about treats -- though with that elevated Neptune, the blessing in disguise was the in-your-face confrontation of how man-made climate change is resulting in extreme weather patterns. (Ironically, right before Halloween last year NYC was hit by a so-called freak blizzard.)

As someone lucky enough to have gotten through Sandy in good company (boyfriend and boyfriend's affectionate little gray tabby), with electricity (though no heat) and plenty to eat, my cell phone the only thing not working throughout the week, I still feel compelled to mention a disconnect within the lucky camp that I feel is represented by the Mercury-Neptune square. There were salaried workers who were able to stay home and telecommute (or not work at all) without any loss of income, but there were also plenty of workers who had to commute four hours to receive $10 an hour starting on Wednesday, with the MTA barely functioning, or who lost a week's worth of income because their workplaces were shut down. I myself was able to do a phone interview for a job midweek (I did not get it, boo hoo) only because my boyfriend has a land line, and a work package I was expecting to receive on Tuesday will not get to me until the messenger service is up and running again. Not that I would trade places with someone who has a steady job but no home, or someone who drowned during the storm.

With so many people in NYC still going without, especially in Staten Island, it is fortunate that yesterday the mayor rescinded his tone-deaf, gung-ho attitude about the annual marathon -- but if he had stuck to his guns, the disconnect would've been even more severe come tomorrow. A Mercury-Neptune square is not known for clear thinking or good judgment calls.

______________________________________________

Plenty has already been written about the upcoming Election Day occuring when Mercury turns Retrograde (just as the polls are closing on the East Coast). It is too bad that the U.S. government cannot delay voting for another three weeks -- though come to think of it, the 2000 elections occurred the day Mercury stationed Direct. It is clear from an astrological perspective that we may not find out who the true winner is for weeks, if not months, as Mercury will square Neptune two more times. I think this is also an indication of lingering trauma from Sandy effecting the ability of storm-struck individuals to vote. Whatever happens, I hope that any lingering sense of complacency will have been replaced by urgency and an unwillingness on the public's part to settle for a stolen (or even "borrowed") election, even if the candidates want to do so for the sake of peace, harmony, and moving forward. In the United States, we get the government that we deserve. We cannot afford not to rock the boat -- another interpretation of the Mercury-Neptune square.