Starlight News Blog

A shiv in the gut and a menacing threat of far worse, or else be his bitch. This is how Donald Trump gets his way in the world.  We have seen it time and again. He destroyed DACA which would only be fixed if he got his way on the wall and immigration policy. Since that hasn’t worked, we now have the systematic and soul-crushing separation of children from their distraught parents at the southern border. He calls it leverage. I call it a shiv in the soul of the nation.

We have also seen this thug tactic play out in the realm of international trade. Trump puts more and more punishing tariffs on our imports, all with the plan that the pain will be so great for our competitors, including our staunchest allies, that they will bend to his will and drop all of their own protectionism.

Or he threatens “fire and fury” will rain down on North Korea if they don’t agree to total denuclearization. Of course, in that case, the brutish American conman may have been outsmarted by vague promises and a better con from the wily North Korean dictator with the cool haircut. Only time will tell.

And finally, we witness Trump’s shiv in the form of his vicious tweetstorms attacking anyone who doesn’t jump to do his bidding and unqualifiedly sing his praises. If all resistance is not quashed by the first strike, he will attempt career-ending political annihilation. The few Republicans in Congress who have spoken out against him are now moving toward the dustbin of history, as their final term in public office comes to an ignominious end.

Like all good mob bosses before him, Trump blames his victims and his enemies for his own malevolent deeds. If only you had paid your protection money, your store wouldn’t have been burned and your daughter wouldn’t have been raped. If only the Democrats had been completely acquiescent to Trump’s will on immigration, irrespective of their moral principles and ideals, then we wouldn’t have this messy issue at the border. It is somehow the Democrats fault that Trump created and instituted these heinous criminal acts against asylum seekers and their children.

Personally, I am tired of hearing mealy-mouthed politicians saying “This is not who we are.” Yes, it is who we are. We elected Donald Trump, and, thus far, nothing is getting in the way of his path of destruction. The collateral damage continues to grow: the broken and traumatized families at the border; the numerous non-criminal immigrants expelled by ICE; those who are hungry or need health care and are finding their sources diminishing or drying up;  those negatively impacted by the tariff war that is just beginning to unfold;  and the purposefully harsher treatment for those involved with the justice system for even minor infractions.

Donald Trump is a sick man, blinded by narcissism, rage, paranoia, and racism. Everything he does is filtered through the distortion of his grandiosity and conspiracy theories. And it is out of this tainted well that all US policy is now conceived. The only question we should be asking is how we push back hard enough to stop it.

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The widespread and angry grass roots response to the vicious separation of children from their asylum seeking parents at the border is seen in the Inaugural chart by the protracted transit of Mars (stationary at 9 Aquarius) in aspect to the natal Mars (24Pisces21) square to natal Saturn (23Sagittarius30) in which both planets are in minor hard aspect to the natal Moon (9Scorpio22). This transit extends from June 10 to July 7 and is especially potent from June 15 to June 26. This same configuration was activated during the last 10 days of January 2017 by transiting Saturn moving to the exact square with natal Mars, pointing to the angry popular energy behind the Women’s March and the sweeping backlash against Trump’s initial attempt at a Muslim ban.

In the near term, there are certainly periods of difficulty for the Thug in chief. The current Saturn square to his Neptune (5Libra51) from June 14 through June 27 points to the escalating push-back to his grandiose schemes at the border and perhaps the stress created by the lawsuit against the Trump foundation or possibly some new damaging revelations from the Mueller probe. It will tend to bring repercussions (Saturn) to some of his more egregious lies and delusions (Neptune). Moreover, transiting Saturn will be opposite the Sun in the Trump/US composite chart (3Cancer08) from July 22 to August 10 and September 6 to October 4, suggesting some frustration and diminishment in his popular support.

But on the whole, I would say that Trump has some protection, astrologically speaking, roughly through May 2019. This is due to his progressed Sun semisquare natal Jupiter through early March 2019, followed by transiting Jupiter aspecting his natal Sun, Moon, and Node through May 2019.  (This latter transit comes back for one final pass the second half of October 2019).

It is the end of July 2019, however, that will see the shift into a period of diminishment and difficulty for Trump that will continue through 2020.  The Saturn station from July 28 through October 23, 2019, will be semisquare to Trump’s Ascendant (29Leo55), opposite the US/Trump composite Venus (14Cancer25), and square to US Saturn (14Libra48). The US will be experiencing a profound loss of prestige and respect in the world (Saturn square US 10^th house Saturn), while Trump himself will receive a great deal of the blame and lose a lot of support, with no protective aspect to offset this trend.  By 2020, he will be under transiting Pluto opposite his Saturn (23Cancer49) and transiting Saturn opposite his Venus (2425Cancer44) covering much of the year. It is hard not to see enormous difficulties and a general lack of support during that time.

For now, the battle is about holding the line as much as possible, minimizing the damage from Trump’s policies by getting court injunctions and other legal hindrances to come into play. If by some miracle we can get the House and the Senate to agree to push back against the more egregious decisions of Trump, Inc. so much the better, but I am not holding my breath.

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The prevailing wisdom is that the polarization of Left versus Right is the underlying problem in the country today. I would like to suggest that a far more pernicious conflict underlies this political divide and threatens to fracture our very foundation.

On the one side of this canyon of discord are those who believe in integrity, honor, public service, and truth.  These are the people whose personal whims are subservient to the rule of law and an abiding sense of decency.  They have a very clear moral compass and draw a very clear line between right and wrong, between truth and falsehood. Their words are anchored in reality and their deeds are anchored in a striving for the greater good in some form.

On the other side of this abyss are those who bend the narrative around their personal and self-serving agenda. Facts become malleable in the facilitation of self-interest; twisted accusations and usefully false explanations pervade everything. In this realm dwells both unbridled racism and viciousness, in no way restrained by any sense of decency or appropriate behavior. In this realm, the healthy boundaries upon which a successful society depends – the boundary between truth and deliberate falsehood, the boundary between the rule of law and covert dishonesty, and the boundary between basic human decency and the acting out of dark and hateful emotions – are a mild encumbrance to be subverted whenever necessary.

The current occupant of the Oval Office clearly falls into this latter group. His overwhelming and toxic presence in the political theater of the last two years has opened up the floodgates for the self-serving lies and the racist onslaught engulfing the body politic and beginning to pervade US policy, both domestically and throughout the world.  Trade policy, environmental policy, and immigration policy, to name only the most obvious, are no longer grounded in reality and the best, forward-looking agenda for the nation, but instead are conceived in conspiracy theories and steeped in spite and false accusations. 

To give credit where it is due, however, we should not forget that the Republican Party had already been perfecting the art of dishonest and distracting narratives in order to further their own agenda long before the reign of Trump. The prevarication that brought us into war in Iraq, the bogus use of “religious freedom”  and other false narratives to effectively threaten Obamacare, and the nonsense that falsely justified the refusal to vote on Merrick Garland for the Supreme Court are only a few of the myriad examples of this process.

Today, the Republican Party in Congress walks shoulder to shoulder with Trump as he wreaks havoc with his countless lies and his rampant narcissism. On a daily basis, a deluge of vicious and self-serving falsehoods stream out of the White House and are then parroted by the Trump minions in Congress and the right-wing media. It seems that only those Republicans who are not running for reelection have the courage to speak truth to power. Indeed, the only agenda for the rest of the GOP is to appeal to the vilest emotions of the base and the greed of their donors. Otherwise, the country be damned.

On the other side of this battle for the soul of the nation are many former Republicans (never Trumpers), many mainstream journalists, and most of the somewhat enfeebled Democrats in Washington.  This group continues to push facts, national interest, and moral clarity as an alternative to the repeated, dark propaganda of the Trumpistas and their metastasizing grip on the country. It is a bold effort to remind Americans of their innate decency and integrity, as well as the founding notion of e pluribus unum, out of many one. It is a stand against the hate and selfishness that has overwhelmed the other side and an effort to bring back the rule of law and our founding moral code of conduct before it is too late.

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Astrologically, we have just finished the first crossing of Uranus square to the Inaugural Sun (00Aquarius49) from May 12 to June 1. In this configuration, Uranus intensifies the erratic, unpredictable, willful tendencies already strong in Donald Trump, with his natal Uranus/Node/Sun conjunction opposite the Moon. It should also be noted that Trump’s current precedent-shattering, absolutist attitude is further strengthened in his chart by the multi-year progression of his Node conjunct natal Uranus (17Gemini54) through January 2019.

The first pass of transiting Uranus square to Inaugural Sun over the past three weeks has brought with it several abrupt presidential actions that have caused neck-wrenching shifts (Uranus) in the direction of national policy and norms.  The scheduled summit with North Korea was suddenly terminated only to be just as unexpectedly reinstated days later. Several pardons were precipitously issued without the appropriate vetting and discussion, but instead used as a barely covert message to thwart an investigation.  And finally, new tariffs aimed at our allies were announced, setting off the potential for a devastating trade war over imagined grievances from POTUS’ fevered brain.  This Uranus transit square the Inaugural Sun, which suggests unilateral and disruptive presidential action, will return from September 20 to October 18, 2018, and March 1 to March 23, 2019.

In response to the newly declared tariffs, US allies are extremely irritated, indicated by the transit of Mars to the US South Node (6Aquarius36) from June 1 through June 5.  The tension in our current relationships with other nations is also described by the transit of Saturn quincunx the US North Node from June 1 to June 15. Perhaps the tariff issue will shift again after mid-June given the erratic and unpredictable nature of the Decision Maker in Chief.

On the other hand, the second half of June seems likely to bring with it significant disruption to the administration and uncontained presidential fury. Whether this is about fallout from the tariffs, the Korea summit, the Mueller investigation, or some other unforeseen drama, here is the astrological breakdown.

First and foremost is the protracted Mars station which will be quincunx Trump’s Mercury (8Cancer52) from June 12 to July 4, pushing the chronically irascible Trump into weeks of intensified outrage and irritability. The same Mars station will be triggering the problematic configuration in the Inaugural chart of Mars (24Pisces21) square to Saturn (23Sagittarius30) and in minor hard aspect to the Moon (9Scorpio22). The Mars transit to Inaugural Moon and Mars is not quite exact, but the station in semisquare to Saturn will be extremely potent, from June 10 to July 7.  This seems likely to activate an intensified pushback, both legal and among the citizens, against Trump’s most aggressive policies.  Perhaps we will see some enormous and history-making demonstrations during this period, as well as some Supreme Court announcements not to Trump’s liking.

To add further to the mix during the second half of June, transiting Saturn will oppose the US Jupiter (5Cancer56) from June 12 to June 25 and square Trump’s Neptune (5Libra51) from June 14 to June 27. It is possible we will see Market plunge during this period or some other indication of financial contraction (Saturn to US Jupiter). Moreover, Trump’s more grandiose fantasies (Neptune) will get a painful dose of reality (Saturn).

In spite of all the tumult likely in late June, there may be a window of great anticipation and optimism by Trump, perhaps because of the Korean talks, from June 5 to June 17 when Jupiter opposes the Inaugural Ascendant (14Taurus08). It is possible he will come away thinking he was highly successful, only to have the truth of how he was played by far craftier minds become painfully revealed during the Saturn square to his Neptune that follows. Unfortunately, policy and procedures based in paranoid delusion, impulsiveness, and grandiose fantasy rather than actual facts and thoughtful planning, can lead only to failure when they ultimately crash into the shores of Reality.

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The Trump Reality Show continues to entertain with daily upheaval and undisciplined pronouncements, while in the real world, the Trump administration continues to marinate the country in moral decline and ill-conceived policy. This newly discovered extreme sport of rapidly rolling down the American mountainside may be strangely exhilarating in some sickly twisted way, but it is likely to end painfully in a broken heap.

In the past few days, we have seen Donald Trump unilaterally pull the US from the Iran Nuclear Deal that had been painstakingly crafted by 7 nations in order to restrain the nuclear ambitions of Iran. The potential for multiple, metastasizing complications from this one grandiose and self-indulgent gesture is enormous. Already, Iran feels itself unleashed to be more aggressive with Israel, and hostilities between Israel and the Iranian positions in Syria have exploded. (This increase in violence in Israel was predicted previously on this site.)

In Trump’s chart, we are witnessing in real time the solar arc progressed Uranus conjunct natal Mars (26Leo47), waxing in early July 2018. This progression has exacerbated the irritability and impulsivity of an already unstable chief executive. It has been triggered in the past few days (May 8 to May 10) by a Mars transit during which we have seen the dramatic termination of the Iran deal and a 30-minute abusive tirade in a staff meeting against the Homeland Security Secretary. On May 16 and 17, there will be another trigger, this time from the transiting Sun, likely to induce yet more aggressive and rash action.

We are also just now entering the first crossing of transiting Uranus square to the Inaugural Sun (00Aquarius49) from May 12 to June 1, intensely activated by the protracted square of transiting Mars to transiting Uranus from May 12 to May 16. Thus, May 12 will begin a period of impulsive and unpredictable behavior (Uranus) from this administration through June 1, as well as bringing three weeks of unexpected events impacting the administration which cause a sudden shift in the current terrain. This will be especially intense from May 12 to May 16 due to the Mars/Uranus square, with the president acting very aggressively on May 16 and May 17.

Furthermore, it seems likely that trouble will come in the form of American interactions and relations with our foreign allies and adversaries during the first half of June. From mid-May to mid-June, the transiting Node will conjunct the US natal Node (6Leo36), suggesting somewhat of a reset in relationships. Transiting Saturn will join this configuration from June 1 to June 15, suggesting difficulties in these relationships. This will be further exacerbated from June 1 to June 5 when transiting Mars crosses the US South Node (6Aquarius36), bringing turmoil and anger into the mix.

And finally, the period immediately after the much-heralded June 12 meeting between Trump and Kim Jong Un is mostly fraught with tensions for the administration. Transiting Saturn returns to oppose US Jupiter (5Cancer56) from June 12 to June 25. The previous crossing brought a Stock Market plunge of 700 points, and the return of this aspect signals a financial contraction of some kind. Moreover, the same transit of Saturn will be in square to Trump’s Neptune (5Libra51), which indicates intense anxiety, disappointment, and thwarted expectations. The Mars station from June 12 to July 4 will be quincunx to Trump’s Mercury (8Cancer52), again highlighting his irritability, impatience and anger.

And lastly, the most troublesome aspect in the Inaugural chart will come into play with the same Mars station, this time semisquare Inaugural Saturn (23Sagittarius30) from June 10 to July 7, and further irritated when transiting Mars comes close to square Inaugural Moon (9Scorpio22) and semisquare Inaugural Mars (24Pisces21) from June 15 to June 26. This combination in the Inaugural chart of Saturn, Mars, and the Moon, when triggered as they are in June, points to the administration’s aggressive agenda (Mars) being thwarted (Saturn), as well as responded to by an angry population (Moon). We can expect legal (and possibly legislative) frustrations to the Trump agenda, as well as massive protest marches during this period.

It should be noted that the Jupiter transit opposite the Inaugural Ascendant (14Taurus08) will have an impact from June 5 to June 17 and again in July. This aspect points to the extravagant and grandiose build-up to the Korean talks as well as an attempt to celebrate them afterwards, perhaps with the usual Trumpian campaign style rallies. But the stress from transiting Saturn and Mars will begin to take its toll increasingly and drown out any delusion of great victory that Trump would like to proclaim.

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Whispers of War

While the gathering storm of a multitude of legal entanglements tightens its grip, the Tantruming Toddler who occupies the Oval Office looks for avenues in which to vent his rage and distract the masses. Between the FBI raid on Michael Cohen and the release of the Comey book, Trump is almost literally frothing at the mouth. His tweets sound more like fingernails on a chalkboard and are so over the top that they would embarrass a schoolyard bully. Of greater concern, are his threats to send missiles into Syria, angrily warning Russia to get ready for the onslaught.

For the moment, at least, Trump has pulled back somewhat on the menacing verbal assaults on Putin for his partnership with Assad, instead allowing wiser heads to actually plan for a response to the recent use of chemical weapons.  But the well-known, rage-filled impulsiveness of our commander-in-chief has the world terrified of a new escalation in Syria, where the growing conflagration is already edging toward a proxy war between Russia, the US, and Iran.

Of interest astrologically, is the first crossing of Pluto in quincunx to US Mars, stopping 6 minutes shy of exact on April 24 and then diminishing quickly. This has stirred up the more aggressive posturing of the nation, especially with the transit of Jupiter, also quincunx US Mars (21Gemini23) from April 1 to April 13. Although the impact of the Pluto transit will decrease after April 24, the Mars/Pluto conjunction of April 25 to April 26 is likely to give it one last punch. This period from late February through April 26 is giving us a taste of the increased military stance the US will be taking as transiting Pluto crosses and recrosses its quincunx to US Mars through 2019. In addition to April 2018, we can expect this heightened aggression from late December 2018 through January 25, 2019, as well as from late June through August 5, 2019, and October and November 2019.

The current Pluto/Mars configuration is occurring at the same time the Saturn station slowly makes its opposition to Trump’s Mercury (8Cancer52), a very stressful transit which runs from March 9 to May 7. This is becoming a period of ongoing difficulty, frustration, and peril for Trump, bringing increasing legal entanglements, challenges, and embarrassments, as well as the FBI scrutiny of his consigliere Michael Cohen, Trump’s Mafioso-like “fixer.”  The Saturn transit here suggests that any impulsive or exaggerated responses to any situation will have an adverse impact. Ideally, Trump’s attitude and actions should be thoughtful, measured, and cautious, but these traits seem almost oxymoronic when used in the conjunction with Donald Trump. In any event, any military action up to April 26 will also be under this Saturn aspect in Trump’s chart and should be done with the utmost caution and care. Otherwise, major complications and trouble are sure to follow into early May.

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Although the daily firings, scandals, and sleaze are saturating the headlines in the US, unheeded tensions in Israel are escalating. In the past several days, a robust demonstration of Palestinians at the border fence left 15 Palestinians dead and hundreds wounded due to the significantly aggressive response of the Israeli Defense Force (IDF).  A study of Israel’s astrological chart suggests this is the beginning of a period of increased violence through the first few days of June.

Currently, transiting Uranus is trine to natal Mars (28Leo19) in Israel’s chart from March 29 to April 21. This will be joined by the progressed Moon opposite natal Mars from April 17 to May 18 (exact). The overlap of these two configurations will occur from April 17 to April 21, making those particularly dangerous days. In addition, there are further triggers that suggest periods of increased anger and harm. The first of these we have already witnessed at the Palestinian/Israeli border, when transiting Mercury was sesquiquadrate natal Mars on March 30, triggering Uranus trine to natal Mars. The next comes when the Sun crosses the same degree on April 2 to April 3, and the following will bring transiting Mars sesquiquadrate to natal Mars from April 8 to April 10. Moreover, transiting Mercury will trigger the progressed Moon opposition to natal Mars from April 29 to April 30. 

Also of consequence is the first crossing of transiting Uranus to the Descendant of the Israeli chart (00Scorpio53 but possibly a bit earlier) from May 13 to June 3, triggered by a square from Mars May 12 to May 17, exactly as the progressed Moon opposition to Mars becomes exact. Uranus here suggests aggressive, unilateral action, as well as sudden unexpected attacks from May 13 to June 3. The addition of Mars from May 12 to 17 clearly points to another dangerous upsurge in violence.

Although Israel has a long history of strong and successful military action in the face of her enemies, there is concern that she is now in a period of greater challenge, difficulty, and frustration in terms of fulfilling an assertive agenda. In the progressed chart, progressed Saturn has moved into a square with natal Sun (23Taurus41) beginning in June 2017 and waxing to exact in July 2025.  From April 17 to May 12, 2018, the transiting Saturn station will trigger this onerous square by a sesquiquadrate to the natal Sun, thereby manifesting the difficulty and grief of this configuration. Note that as this very stressful Saturn trigger begins to dissipate around May 12, we move into the very strong Mars/Uranus action of May 12 to 17, suggesting significant and unexpected violence from Israel in response to the increased sorrow of the combined Mars (aggression, violence) and Saturn (frustration and difficulty) period from April 17 to May 12.

Unfortunately, the leadership vacuum from Washington, and the Trumpian penchant for grand, ill-conceived, and destabilizing gestures, such as the moving of the US Embassy to Jerusalem, leaves the world much more vulnerable on a number of fronts. Indications are that Israel may prove to be one of many areas where the lack of any tempering guidance or push from the US results in chaos and destruction.

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