Further Discussion
Discussion Thread
Thoughtless Escalation
Donald Trump’s reckless and thoughtless polices toward Iran since the beginning of his term have led directly to the escalating conflict we now find ourselves in. Pulling out of the Iran nuclear agreement and attempting to destroy Iran’s economy with severe sanctions, despite Iran’s full compliance with the terms of the deal, left Iran with no choice but to respond aggressively or risk humiliation. This expanding confrontation, an increasingly unstable and violent proxy war between the US and Iran, has now moved into a dangerously swelling spiral of aggression with the targeted assassination of Major General Qassim Suleimani and the dire consequences likely to ensue.
It is no surprise that the decision to charge forth on the latest chapter of this mad crusade came with the transit of Mars square to Trump’s Ascendant (29Leo55). Under this two-day transit on January 1 and 2, the Toddler-in-Chief’s chronic anger got ramped up into a full-blown tantrum. Whether it was sparked by the Iranian backed mobs attacking the US Embassy in Baghdad or a personally disparaging tweet from the leadership of Iran is unknown. But the resulting high-profile assassination has now caused a major conflagration, with the damage yet to be determined.
Most significant astrologically speaking, is that these events have come at the outset of the Saturn/Pluto conjunction, which runs from January 1 through January 15, suggesting that the consequences of this assassination of the second highest leader of a sovereign nation are likely to be quite grave, especially over the next two weeks. Significant triggers will unfold on the afternoon and early evening of January 3 (which brought another strike on Shiite militia in Iraq) as the Moon moves to square Saturn/Pluto, the afternoon and early evening of January 10 as the Moon moves into an opposition, and the from January 11 through January 14 as Mercury and then the Sun move into a conjunction with a very tight Saturn/Pluto conjunction. These few days in mid-January may be especially stressful.
With the burgeoning impeachment crisis already dogging the president and newly condemning information on that front revealed daily, the implications and aftermath of his impulsive and ill-thought out foreign policy are also likely to cause him serious trouble. Both Saturn and Pluto will be pressing hard in his birth chart, implying failure, frustration, and loss of support, from now at least through mid-February.
Of interest in the US chart during this same period is the brief transit of Saturn opposite US Mercury from January 18 to January 24, followed by the protracted transit of Pluto to US Mercury from January 25 to June 26, repeating in December 2020. This year will also bring the transit of Saturn to US Pluto (27Capricorn33), with the first crossing from February 14 to February 26. And again in late July, early August, and finally in November 2020.
In the US natal chart, Mercury (24Cancer12) is in the eighth house and Pluto (27Capricorn33) is in the second, with (according to some birth times) Pluto in a semisquare to the Ascendant (12Sagittarius50). Although the second house/eighth house focus points to the potency of finance, investment, and hidden, overwhelmingly powerful wealth (Pluto in the second) in the life of the country, Pluto combined with Mercury, and especially if the added connection of the Ascendant is included, also points to the proclivity for conspiracy theories, suspicions and distrust in the intellectual (Mercury) environment of the country. With Saturn and Pluto impacting these planets in 2020, we will see stress not only in the financial sectors, but also a further uptick in dangerous conspiracy theories and suspicions.
Moreover, Mercury represents transportation, communication, commerce, shipping, and trade, all of which will be particularly vulnerable when Saturn crosses US Mercury from January 18 to January 24. The Pluto transit to US Mercury also suggests potential struggle and difficulty in these areas from January 25 to February 29 and again from April 26 to June 26. The Pluto and Saturn transits of 2020 will be further discussed in future posts, but I wanted to bring them up here as January and February mark the beginning of this cycle of aspects. It is not impossible to imagine the initial manifestations of these aspects will include the direct result of the new escalation in the US/Iran conflict, set off heedlessly by the thoughtless aggression of Toddler Trump. It also seems unlikely that Trump will be able to successfully Wag the Dog with his latest scheming, since he will be blamed for all of the fall out of his actions (transit of Saturn to his Venus and transiting Pluto to his Saturn for much of 2020).
Impeachment Looms
It is like the never-ending sound of fingernails on a chalkboard. That is the discordant feel of the Trump years in America. While Democrats attempt to stick to the evidence and the facts, the angry and fear-inducing rhetoric coming from their Republican brethren is crafted to confuse and agitate the already crazed base of the Trump Cult. How far we have fallen. How degraded is a once-proud nation that stood for the Rule of Law and the democratic institutions that we heralded around the globe. The impeachment trial in the Senate, supposedly judged “impartially” by the 100 Senators currently in office, is shamelessly being organized by the Majority Leader, Mitch McConnell, in coordination with the defendant, the president, and his counsel. The fix is in. Reality and the facts will be barely an inconvenience. Indeed, how far we have fallen. How degraded is a once-proud nation.
We will soon be entering the fourth and, hopefully, final year of the Trump Catastrophe. But, no matter how stressful and difficult the coming months will be for Donald Trump, especially January, February, October and November 2020, as well as January 2021, the warped nature of the dystopian reality he has created makes it impossible to promise victory for the forces of sanity and order over chaos and crazy. It will be the final and most brutal test of our institutions to stand firm against Trump’s attempts to steal the election, through propaganda, misinformation, voter suppression, bogus claims of treachery, and other unimagined shenanigans. Nonetheless, I will again attempt to read the astrological tea leaves as we enter 2020.
The current stress and tension for the president began with the announcement of the impeachment process in early November. At this point, Trump’s progressed Midheaven moved into a more than year-long conjunction with progressed Saturn (3Leo10). This configuration points to a slowly building contraction of his reputation and his ability to act in his usual undisciplined way in the world over the coming year. It will be triggered intensively by a square from Uranus (unexpected events) from January 11 through February 15 and by Neptune sesquiquadrate from February 3 to March 3, bringing a layer of confusion, dishonesty, and self-deception.
As of December 16, Trump is also moving into another crossing of Pluto quincunx his natal Sun (22Gemini55) through January 17. The final crossing of this transit will be from July 12 to November 13, 2020. This transit brings added tensions and a feeling of struggle for ultimate survival against powerful forces. The current crossing clearly has to do with impeachment, while the last one will cover the final months of the campaign and the election. The current crossing will also be greatly exacerbated by the transit of Saturn, conjunct transiting Pluto from January 1 through January 15. Thus, during what will most likely be the Senate impeachment trial, Saturn and Pluto will be conjunct with each other and both will be in a quincunx aspect to Trump’s natal Sun, most intensely from January 5 to January 15. There is no question but that this will be an extremely painful and stressful time for him, notwithstanding all the false bravado and attempted deception we will hear.
The month following the Saturn/Pluto conjunction also looks incredibly bruising and oppressive for the president. It is at this time that we find the first crossing of Saturn opposite Trump’s Saturn (23Cancer49) from January 13 to January 20; conjunct the Moon/Mars opposition (24Capricorn05/12) in the Trump/US composite chart from January 16 to January 24; semisquare Neptune (10Pisces16) in the Inaugural chart from January 25 to February 3; opposite Trump’s natal Venus (25Cancer44) from January 29 to February 7; and conjunct the Inaugural MC (26Capricorn13) from February 2 to February 10. In addition, transiting Uranus will be square to the progressed MC/Saturn conjunction in trump’s chart from January 11 to February 15. Taken together, these aspects point to lessening popularity, extraordinary upset, and intense frustration.
April, May, and early June 2020 will bring some amount of resurgence for the president, while significant stress begins to build again from late June 2020 through early January 2021. More details on all of this will come later. Although things look fairly grim for the president around the election, I am not yet willing to predict a loss for him. The signals remain mixed for now.