Starlight News Blog

It is a very grim time in America and around the world. We are being slammed globally by a pandemic tsunami. In the US, this burgeoning catastrophe has been made exponentially worse by the self-absorbed stupidity of the Bloviator-in-Chief. Dismantling our pandemic response team, refusing tests offered by the World Health Organization, delaying any testing other than the flawed CDC tests for weeks, refusing to offer a coordinated national effort to supply hospitals with equipment, and continuously downplaying the seriousness of the epidemic have all led to a slow, clumsy, and ineffective response to this life threatening illness. The consequences to such willful negligence are lethal. Increasingly, Trump will have a deluge of blood on his hands.

Astrologically, four configurations come to mind that might account for and help describe this ongoing, endless nightmare. The first of these is found in the New Year chart for 2020, drawn for the first moment of the year in the capital of whatever country one wants to consider. Globally, every New Year chart contains the Saturn/Pluto conjunction within a one-degree orb, with Saturn (21Capricorn46) waxing toward Pluto (22Capricorn29). If one does a one-day-per-month progression, we find that tertiary progressed Saturn will wax to the exact conjunction with Pluto in September 2020, and that tertiary Saturn will conjunct tertiary Pluto (22Capricorn47) in December. Thus, the entire year is overshadowed by the deep anxiety and the intense and transformative struggle found in this combination.  Moreover, tertiary Sun will conjunct New Year Saturn for all of November and will then conjunct New Year Pluto for all of December 2020. It is hard to know exactly what this presages for the last two months of the year, but the implications are not good, including deep stress and a severe power struggle.

The second chart that shows significant problems directly impacting the US population over the entire course of 2020 is the solar eclipse chart of December 26, 2019, 12:14 AM, Washington, DC. In this chart, the eclipse point (4Capricorn07) falls in a square aspect with the Ascendant (4Libra45), suggesting a particular potency to this eclipse energy.  Classically, a solar eclipse’s impact is expected to last a year, and, if strongly aspected, it can point to some kind of calamitous, if anomalous occurrence. This kind of prediction, however, must be corroborated with other planetary data. Nonetheless, the eclipse chart points to the possibility of difficulties for the entire year.

The third combined configurations are the transits of Saturn and Pluto in the US chart that weave back and forth over the year.  The most potent of these is the transit of Pluto opposite the US 8^th house Mercury from January 25 to June 26, 2020, and again from November 29 to December 31, 2020. In the natal US chart, we find a Pluto/Mercury opposition spanning the houses of finance, the 2^nd and the 8^th. This combination suggests the deep well of financial power that quietly manipulates much of what goes on in the US, especially regarding resources and wealth. The current transit of Pluto shines a bright light on this reality, intensifying it and revealing much of what has been hidden and corrupt, as well as enabling transformation. Moreover, the 8^th house is the house of death, as well as of hidden power and investment, and the very threat of death and the loss of many among us is very much at the forefront of people’s minds during this transit. Thus, the weaknesses of our health care system and the greed of pharmaceuticals and manufacturing are being revealed for all to see. Pluto also brings about a profound power struggle for survival, even against death itself, and the need for constant vigilance and struggle in order to succeed.

The fourth manifestation of Saturn and Pluto over 2020 falls in Trump’s birth chart. The first crossing of Saturn opposite Trump’s Venus came during the impeachment trial. After that rather brief crossing, Saturn will make a long station opposite Trump’s Venus from August 18 through October 23, signifying intense stress, significant criticism, and loss of popular support.

The first transit of Pluto opposite Trump’s natal Saturn occurred from January 15 to February 14, much of which was also during the impeachment and subsequent trial. The second crossing will be from May 1 to July 12, which suggests the country will be harshly judging Trump for his performance on handling the virus during that time. The final crossing of Pluto opposite Trump’s Saturn will happen from October 4 through December 13, during the final month of the campaign and the first month after the election. Pluto tends to greatly intensify whatever planet it impacts, and natal Saturn is often the repository of our fears, grief, and insecurities, as well as the area in life where the need to confront the harshness of reality is the greatest. Thus Saturn and Pluto as they weave their way back and forth opposite Trump’s Venus and Saturn during 2020 do not bode well for the malefic character who more resembles the villain in a Batman movie than a president.

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Onward and upward. Somehow, we will get through this.

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As Dana Milbank recently wrote, “Trump’s economy caught the coronavirus.” Certainly, the Stock Market plunge of the past 10 days and the rapid global economic slowdown, all due to fears of the rapidly spreading coronavirus, suggest Trump’s seemingly “titanic” economy may have hit a giant iceberg in the North Atlantic in mid-winter.

If we look at the US chart, we find Mercury (24Cancer12) in the 8^th house opposite Pluto (27Capricorn33) in the 2^nd house. This opposition in the houses of finance is an important indicator of the US economy. Pluto here represents concentrated and enormous wealth, which can be intensely avaricious, controlling, and manipulative. To me, it indicates the great potency of corporate and billionaire wealth in the US that has so much impact on governmental policy and decision making. Mercury in the 8^th house represents investments, the Market, trade, communications and transportation, all of which are to some degree directed by that powerful 2^nd house Pluto (big money).

From February 14 to February 26, we have had the first crossing of Saturn to US Pluto, causing enormous contracting pressure on the big corporate wealth. If we use the birth time for the US chart as 5:13 PM, the Ascendant is 12Sagittarius 59, which receives a semisquare transit from Saturn (February 17 to 28) at almost exactly the same time as the Saturn crossing of Pluto. This Saturn semisquare to US Ascendant brings the anxiety and stress of the Saturn transit to US citizens in a very personal way (Ascendant), such as is currently being felt while the value of their 401-K’s diminishes and their fears of coronavirus expand.

Saturn will return to US Pluto from July 22 to August 4 and from November 6 to November 21, 2020. It seems likely that at those times, there will other events that seem to put stress on the concentrated wealth of the country. It is noteworthy, that Bernie Sanders has gained significant momentum during this first crossing in February, and that his actual ascendancy, should he win in November, could be a manifestation of the final crossing of Saturn to US Pluto just after the election. I am not predicting this at this point, but it is one possible reading of this configuration.

We should also note the first crossing of Pluto opposite US Mercury from January 25 to February 29.  This Pluto transit is another indicator of pressure and anxiety on US Markets (8^th house). It remains within orb and therefore continues to have impact until it intensifies again on April 26 when it begins to retrograde opposite the Mercury degree through June 26. The last few days of this week saw both the Sun in semisquare to Pluto and Venus in square to Pluto, both triggering this Pluto opposition to US Mercury. Health concerns over the spreading virus and fears about the plunging Market were greatly exacerbated during that time. Pluto will return for its final crossing opposite US Mercury from November 29 to December 31, 2020.

If we look at the chart for the Madman of Mara Lago, we see that the first crossing of Saturn opposite his Venus (25Cancer44) occurred during the height of the impeachment events, January 29 to February 7, clearly a deeply stressful and upsetting time for him. Transiting Pluto was also opposite his Saturn (23Cancer49) during these events (January 15 to February 14). When Saturn returns for a protracted and painful crossing of his Venus from August 18 to October 22, his self-serving actions, moral bankruptcy, and harm to the nation will once again be microscopically examined, dissected, and roundly criticized.

The current Market plunge and the slipshod and largely condemned handling of the emerging coronavirus has occurred with a Neptune transit triggering Trump’s progressed Midheaven conjunct progressed Saturn (3Leo10) from February 2 through March 3. Neptune suggests confusion, dishonesty, and delusion hovering over the extremely difficult challenges described by the Saturn/MC progression. This configuration will return from September 25 to December 6, 2020.

Given that the first crossing of several of these difficult transits impacting both the US and Trump charts have ended or are about to end at present, we may find the Market restabilizing in the next few days. We may also find the narrative for the virus shifting to more of a general acceptance that there will be a flu-like illness that hits a lot of people over the next few months, and we should stock up, wash our hands, and avoid crowds.

It is possible that the worst of the virus will come in May and June when Pluto stations opposite US Mercury (4/26 to 6/26), while additionally stationing opposite Trump’s Saturn (5/1 to 7/12). The progressed US Moon (24Capricorn36) will also be crossed by transiting Pluto during this time (5/12 to 6/6) pointing to stress and anxiety among the US population. And finally, transiting Saturn will be crossing Inaugural Sun (00Aquarius49) from March 20 to April 4 and again from June 8 to June 27, suggesting onerous challenges for the administration. One possibility is the need to deal with an overstressed health care system during this period.

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