Twitter-shaming forced the supposedly compassionate Christianity of a mega-rich Houston megachurch to belatedly open its door to flood victims. The pastor Joel Osteen, 5 March 1965, who is worth some $50 million and lives in a $10.5 million home, preaches a prosperity gospel. This promises that God blesses good Christians with material wealth. So he argues the Lord has rewarded him because of his piousness; the converse being if you’re poor then it’s your fault for lacking faith. CNN writes: ‘It’s no coincidence that the most religious states in America also have some of the worst social services, spending little on welfare, health care and education, and as a result, letting high proportions of their populations languish in poverty and ill health.’ And allowing developers free rein to build on green land which exacerbates flood problems.

Osteen is a Sun Jupiter in Pisces trine Neptune perhaps trine a Cancer Moon. So a Watery, self-protective chart, which can be healing but also overly self-contained blocking out real empathy. If it is a Water Grand Trine then it is formed into a Kite by Sun opposition Pluto, which seems likely – giving him a driving need for control and influence. His Mars in flamboyant Leo opposes Venus in Aquarius which will make him not always sensitive to others’ needs. With Saturn Mercury also in Aquarius square Neptune. Certainly a very Neptunian/Piscean chart which can be spiritual, sometimes sympathetic but also evasive. The clash in his chart between Water and Air will make for inner conflict which may send him off into fantasy escapism. Though with his gold-plated life style he’s made his dreams come true.

His what-gives-him-pleasure 9^th Harmonic is strong and lucky. His 11^th harmonic is also heavily aspected – it brings an obsessive dream, can be idealistic but its downside can be fanaticism, irrationality, dishonesty, greed, self-indulgence.

Strongest of all is his 10^th harmonic – the wheel of Fortune”, bringing prosperity and abundance, but also containing the seed of both rise and fall, of the good and the bad. His healer’s 12 doesn’t say much at all.

He’ll certainly find out about Neptune’s undermining tendencies as it is conjunct his Sun this year till the end of 2018, and catches two of his midpoints as well through this September and in January 2018. Regrettably once clear of these blips her looks to be forging ahead with tr Pluto sextile his Jupiter in 2019/2020. Although, although he also has Solar Arc Pluto square his Mars by 2019 as well which will grind him to a halt, no doubt temporarily. He does have a good deal of activity around his North Node in Cancer – with tr Uranus square at the moment into 2018; then Solar Arc Uranus square in 2019 when the tr Saturn Pluto will be in opposition. The lessons of this node are about losing pride and an over-developed sense of arrogance, moving away from materialism and extravagance towards genuine emotional connection. One can but pray.

Gospel of St Matthew: “Again I tell you, it is easier for a camel to go through the eye of a needle than for someone who is rich to enter the kingdom of God.”

 

 

 

 

The Saturn Pluto conjunction comes together in 2019 to early 2020, though there may be slight hints of it through 2018.

These are older posts on Saturn Pluto.

* Two tough, essentially masculine energies.

* Saturn’s great strength in stability and structure is also a weakness when faced with situations demanding flexibility and compromise. Pluto in a slightly different way is also incapable of giving way gracefully. A world view based solely on power sees only the victorious or the oppressed. There can be no quarter given when compromise is seen as a sign of weakness, a lowering of defences as potentially life-threatening.

* Freedom of choice is not a Saturn–Pluto concept, so beliefs that do not fall in line with the established order, come under pressure.’

From The Astrological History of the World:

Saturn–Pluto

Tremendous resistance to adversity and a formidable defensiveness come to the fore when these two tough, essentially masculine energies come together. Their appearance in tandem is usually an invitation to a walk on the dark side of life. Saturn, rigidly disciplined, status-driven, melancholy and authoritarian, has no reason to mellow when combined with Pluto’s power–hungry need for control. If anything, both planets become more entrenched when their energies are merged. Achievements of substance can occur, but only through slow, patient hard labour and usually a good deal of suffering, too. Stamina counts when they are around; some sacrifice is always demanded.

Liz Greene, the Jungian analyst and astrologer, talks of the obsessiveness, intense frustration and self-destructive quality of Saturn–Pluto contacts—purification through ordeal by fire. At the macrocosmic level of world events, they often coincide with wars, massacres and assassinations, as in 1982 with the Falklands War, in 1947 with the bloody partition of India and Pakistan, and in 1914 with the First World War.

At a mythological level, both planets have a connection with death. Saturn as the Grim Reaper points to the inevitability of disintegration through time, or of the cutting short of a lifespan through misfortune. Pluto, ruler of the underworld, oversees the passage to the next life, through the vale of darkness to rebirth in another realm. Saturn forces his father to face his own mortality by castrating him, but then refuses to face his own, preferring to eat his children rather than hand over the staff of authority when old age comes along. Saturn’s great strength in stability and structure is also a weakness when faced with transitions or situations demanding flexibility and compromise. Pluto in a slightly different way is also incapable of giving way gracefully. A world view based solely on power sees only the victorious or the oppressed. There can be no quarter given when compromise is seen as a sign of weakness, a lowering of defences as potentially life-threatening.

Astrologically, Saturn–Pluto also represents the magician, giving the ability to wield occult power at a practical level for good or ill. They do have positive uses in their awesome strength and their ability to withstand extreme pressure and put up with mass misery and suffering. But they do have to be seen as a pairing where good emerges only after times of great endurance. ‘The night is darkest just before the dawn’ is a saying that could be used to describe their energy. In Egyptian mythology, Nut, the great goddess, opens her legs every morning to allow the Sun to be born and swallows it again every night. Saturn–Pluto resists letting the light in to begin a new day and allowing the cycle of waxing Sun and waning Moon to continue on its endless wheel.

Literature

Saturn–Pluto creativity always walks on the dark side. During the 1947 Saturn–Pluto conjunction in Leo, notable emerging literature included The Plague by the arguably pessimistic existentialist writer Albert Camus; The Diary of Anne Frank by a young Jewish girl killed during the Holocaust (written during the Saturn–Uranus conjunction of 1942–43); and Tennessee William’s dark sexual tragedy A Streetcar Named Desire. In the following conjunction in Libra in 1982, Chilean novelist Isabel Allende’s riveting but shocking The House of Spirits came out alongside two major works about the Holocaust, Thomas Keneally’s Schindler’s Ark and Primo Levi’s If Not Now, When? Thomas Mann’s novel Death in Venice (later made into a film by Luchino Visconti), about an older man’s fascination with a young boy in the midst of a deadly epidemic, coincided with the 1913–14 Saturn–Pluto conjunction in Cancer.

In 1883 in Taurus, Friedrich Nietzsche’s Thus Spake Zarathustra emerged as his sanity crumbled. In 1818 in Pisces, Mary Wollstonecraft’s Frankenstein created a terrifying monster. One conjunction further back in 1787, Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart was writing his masterpiece Don Giovanni. This opera combines rampant sexuality with a stark examination of death and the forces beyond the grave; Mozart wrote it when the Saturn–Pluto conjunction was in Aquarius, his own sign perhaps reflecting the composer’s fear of his overwhelming father, who died that year. The opera finishes with the reckless Giovanni being pulled inexorably towards death as a result of his failure to accept responsibility. Mozart himself died four years later, aged just 35.

Religion

Freedom of choice is not a Saturn–Pluto concept, so heresies, or beliefs that do not fall in line with the established order, come under pressure during these conjunctions. In 1616 during the conjunction in Taurus, the Italian astronomer and mathematician Galileo, was threatened with torture by the Inquisition unless he agreed not to teach the Copernican system which put the Sun at the centre of the solar system. He recanted to protect himself in 1633, but the sentence passed on him was, staggeringly, only formally retracted by the Pope in 1992 (during the Saturn–Pluto square).    In 1517 in Capricorn, Martin Luther, Protestant reformer and famously outspoken critic of the Church, nailed his thesis denouncing the sale of indulgences to the door of the Wittenburg Palace church, for which he was excommunicated. But his determination was such that by the time of the next conjunction in Aquarius and Pisces in 1551, his Lutheran followers were assured of their freedom to practise their religion.

Assassinations

In the history of the past 2000 years, there is no shortage of assassinations and violent mayhem, but the Saturn–Pluto effect does appear to coincide with particularly epic acts of murder or execution. Most famously this century, the assassination, on the conjunction in Gemini in 1914, of the Archduke Franz Ferdinand of Austria-Hungary and his wife by a Bosnian Serb student in Sarajevo, triggered the devastating First World War. The beheading of the English king Charles I after the English Civil War took place during the Saturn–Pluto conjunction in Gemini in 1649. The trial of Mary Queen of Scots in 1586, with Saturn–Pluto in Aries, led to her execution a year later. Two other English monarchs met untimely ends during Saturn–Pluto pairings: King Edmund of England was murdered by an outlaw in 944, with the conjunction in Cancer; and King Edward the Martyr was murdered in 978, with Saturn–Pluto in Virgo, probably by servants of his stepbrother, Ethelred II, who succeeded him.

Russian history also resonates to these bleak moments, not surprisingly perhaps since the beginning of the Vanangian Empire of the Ros (the Swedish name for seamen, hence ‘Russia’) occurred as Saturn and Pluto came together in Aries in 849, when Vikings took Kiev. In 1016 in Sagittarius, St Vladimir I, Great Prince of Russia, died; on taking the throne his son murdered his brothers. During the conjunction in Aries in 1584 that sent Mary Queen of Scots to the scaffold, Ivan the Terrible of Russia killed his son in a fit of rage, and then died himself. In 1881 in Taurus, the tsar was assassinated; his autocratic son Alexander III took over, reversed his father’s liberal reforms and adopted repressive policies, persecuting Jews.

The Roman Empire is also littered with murderous moments during these tough conjunctions. In ad 10 in Libra, Augustus lost three Roman legions, massacred by the German leader Arminius. In ad 79, on the next conjunction in Aquarius, Vesuvius erupted, burying Pompeii and Herculaneum in molten lava. Two years later in ad 81, under the same influences, the emperor Titus died, succeeded by his brother Domitian, suspected of hastening his end. In 113, with Saturn–Pluto in Aries, Emperor Trajan mounted a campaign of spectacular conquest, reaching the Persian Gulf. In 175, in Gemini, Cassius suppressed a rebellion and declared himself emperor, only to be killed by one of his centurions. In 243 in Virgo, Gordian III was murdered, while campaigning in Persia, by his army commander, who became the first Arab emperor. In 280, in Sagittarius, Emperor Probius was killed by mutinous soldiers, rebelling against his severe discipline.

This century and last – war

Events of the three Saturn–Pluto conjunctions in each century are a chilling reflection of their destructive, unyielding, repressive energy. Good can emerge, but only after times of endurance, and usually great suffering. Most recently in 1982, when the conjunction was in Libra, the Falklands War between Britain and Argentina flared up. Israel also invaded the Lebanon; and the Sabra/Chatila refugee-camp massacres aroused international anger and condemnation. At the same time, Solidarity, the Polish workers’ organization, demonstrated against martial law, only to have the Soviet authorities tighten their repression.

In 1946–48, with Saturn–Pluto in Leo, the messy partition of India and Pakistan led to massacres and killings; six million people were forced to move state. With the start of the Cold War, the Iron Curtain descended between Russia and Western Europe, a fitting symbol of Saturn–Pluto’s utter determination to build defensive barriers. Japanese and German war-crime tribunals were ongoing, bringing to public awareness the extent of the atrocities of the Second World War. World War 11 indeed started on a Saturn square Pluto.

Back in 1914, the conjunction in late Gemini then Cancer began with the assassination, as we have seen, of Archduke Ferdinand, leading to the appalling destruction of the First World War. One conjunction earlier in 1882, Saturn–Pluto in Taurus saw the outrages in rural Ireland when 10,500 families were brutally evicted. Tsar Alexander III was at the same time exerting an iron rule in Russia, forcing Orthodox beliefs on the population, and persecuting dissidents.

Saturn–Pluto’s repressive tendencies were also on display in 1819 in Pisces, when freedom of the press was abolished in Germany and universities placed under State supervision in an attempt to check revolutionary and liberal movements. The Peterloo Massacre took place in England at the same time: the militia charged a crowd in Manchester for listening to speeches on parliamentary reform and the repeal of the Corn Laws.

During the recent Saturn in Gemini opposition to Pluto in Sagittarius, the suicide plane attacks on the World Trade Center in New York and the Pentagon on September 11, 2001 killed 7000 people, triggering America’s War on Terrorism.

 

 

Saturn, bringer of woes and hardship or of rewards for hard work moves into its own sign Capricorn this December to stay until late 2020. As ever, looking back over past occurrences in the 20^th century, every 29 years, the outcome is very dependent on what other aspects are in place. The 1959/1961 Saturn in Capricorn was generally prosperous in the US, UK and Europe, although the US was running a major deficit for the first time. During that phase there was a Saturn Jupiter conjunction in Capricorn.

The most recent one in the late 1980s/early 1990s was so muddled in with the conjunction to Uranus Neptune, it’s impossible to extrapolate what effects came from which planet. Though there was a significant global economic downturn.

The more worrying similarities crop up with the 1930/32 Saturn in Capricorn which occurred just after the Wall Street Crash and through the Great Depression. At that point Saturn moved in square to Uranus, which is usually a time of economic instability, then opposed Pluto, bringing great hardship to some and Jupiter in Cancer, which would bring a harvest for the lucky few. In this next phase Saturn will conjunct Pluto by 2019, which usually brings its share of deprivation, though mercifully Saturn misses the square to Uranus which has moved into Taurus by then. In 2020 expansive Jupiter moves into Capricorn for a year. So it’s a watered down version of the early 1930’s Saturn in Capricorn; with a hint of the 1960s one which was more upbeat.

There was a previous Saturn Pluto Jupiter conjunction (as we have coming up in 2020) in 1819/20. In fact it never came together as all three since the Saturn Pluto conjunction in Pisces of 1819 had separated before Jupiter caught up in 1820.  ‘The Panic of 1819 was the first major peacetime financial crisis in the United States followed by a general collapse of the American economy persisting through 1821. The Panic announced the transition of the nation from its colonial commercial status with Europe toward a dynamic economy, increasingly characterized by the financial and industrial imperatives of laissez-faire capitalism. Though driven by global market adjustments in the aftermath of the Napoleonic Wars, the severity of the downturn was compounded by excessive speculation in public lands, fueled by the unrestrained issue of paper money from banks and business concerns.’ (wiki)

Interesting that the financial collapse – Saturn Pluto = deprivation – was followed by a resurgence from Jupiter. It was certainly a major turning point at least for the USA.’ That is a useful parallel.

 

 

Pluto has been grinding its way inexorably through Capricorn since 2008, pulling down old structures – in the Capricorn-ruled arenas of finance and government – razing the old status quo to ashes, with the hope of rebuilding better on the far side.

Then Pluto moves into Aquarius in 2024 staying till 2044. Past experience associates this phase with an upsurge of more significant rebellions than usual and a flowering of inventions.

Previous Pluto in Aquarius phases:

1778 -1797: The USA had declared independence in 1776 so the Brits were in retreat, though elsewhere were fighting the French, Spanish, Dutch and Indians in different spats. The French Revolution of 1793 had a dramatic effect and not just in France, though this was partially due to Pluto being opposition Uranus. The Industrial Revolution was in full swing having got under way during Pluto in Capricorn. James Watts’ improved steam engine revolutionised production.

Aquarius is scientific, so no surprises there were major advances in chemistry. And, with blissful syncronicity, William Herschel discovered the planet Uranus, which rules Aquarius. Explorers, another Aquarian strength, were also out and about with Captains James Cook and William Bligh leading the way to ‘new’ lands.

It was a productive period for philosophical and social thinkers – Emmanuel Kant and Thomas Paine (Rights of Man); with cultural highpoints from Mozart and Scottish poet Robert Burns, who later established a global footprint.

1532 – 1552: Henry V111 declared himself head of the Church in 1531 and was excommunicated in 1533 by the Pope. The RC versus Protestant schism got under way in earnest, which led to centuries of conflict.

1287 – 1307: Welsh Rebellion against the English. Edward 1 of England put John Balliol on Scottish throne with William Wallace rebellion following.

1041 – 1061: Macbeth succeeds to throne of Scotland. Great schism between the Western RC church and Eastern Orthodox churches.

796 – 816: Charlemagne becomes Holy Roman Emperor in 800. He unites most of Western Europe, laying the foundations for modern France and Germany. He dies just as Pluto is about to exit Aquarius.

551 – 572: the Prophet Muhammed is born.

So world-changing events during Pluto in Aquarius.

This next time round tr Pluto in Aquarius will march in time to Neptune in Aries (2025 to 2038) and initially to Uranus in Gemini (2025 to 2033) – so early on there’ll be a Uranus trine Pluto sextile Neptune after the mid 2020s – innovative and creative. Of the earlier historical happenings which might repeat, we can expect more advances in science and exploration (outer space/bottom of the sea/under Arctic ice?). For the rest – the US and France will have come full circle back to their first Pluto Return or the immediate aftermath, so significant shifts/adjustments, epochal events in both countries. Sometimes empires that rise on one Pluto cycle, fall on the next.

Please add below. Older posts under News on the top bar.

 

 

Violence erupted from a 100,000 strong crowd in India when a controversial Indian guru was sentenced to 20 years in prison for rape. 38 died and over 200 were injured as the supporters of Gurmeet Ram Rahim Singh, known as ‘the guru of bling’, voiced their disapproval. He denies charges of murder in two cases due to be heard next month and has been accused of forcing 400 followers to undergo castration to “get closer to god”. He is leader of a sect, which claims to have 60 million followers around the world. In addition to spiritual guidance, and some admittedly constructive charitable and social welfare work, he performs at rock concerts, acts in films and even has his own line of food products.

Born 15 August 1967, he is unsurprisingly a Sun conjunct Jupiter Leo with Mercury also in Leo. His Sun Jupiter squares a showbizzy conjunction of Mars Neptune in Scorpio. And he has a challenging Yod of Venus sextile Mars inconjunct Saturn in Aries, which requires maturity and self-discipline to operate well, otherwise it self-destructs.

His 10^th Harmonic is exceptionally marked – the wheel of fortune bringing material abundance but also containing the seed of the rise and fall, the good and the bad.

   

 

Can you spot a potential killer from a chart? Or even a lack of moral conscience? It’s an astrological conundrum to which there isn’t always an easy answer.

Niels Hogel, a German nurse, serving a life sentence for murdering two patients is now a suspect in at least 84 other murder cases. The two identified victims received lethal drug doses at units where he worked.

Born 30 December 1976, he’s a Sun Capricorn sextile Uranus and square Pluto – ambitious, innovative, controlling; with Saturn in Leo opposition Venus in Aquarius square Jupiter in Taurus – wants to be important, emotionally cool, superficially charming. His Mars, planet of aggression,  is not especially notable.

In some ways he’s superficially similar astrologically to Harold Shipman, the UK doctor suspected of about 250 deaths. Born 14 January 1946 8.40am Nottingham, England, Shipman was also a Sun Capricorn conjunct Venus opposition Mars Saturn in Cancer square Jupiter in Libra. The Mars Saturn might give a clue to a temperament which could turn cruel, covered over again by Venus Jupiter’s saccharine charm.

Donald Harvey, an American medical orderly despatched around 50 victims, 15 April 1952 5.50am Hamilton, Ohio. He was a Sun Jupiter in Aries trine Pluto and opposition Neptune – pro-active, with high ambition; with Venus Mercury in Aries opposition Saturn square Uranus – emotionally cool and erratic. Plus Mars in Scorpio square Pluto and trine Uranus which might give a clue since he would have a potential for ruthless behaviour.

Michael Swango, 21 October 1954, a doctor who may have been involved in 60 fatal poisonings, is a Sun Neptune in Libra square Mars opposition Uranus Jupiter in Capricorn – highly strung, volatile, disruptive, a risk-taker; with Venus in Scorpio square Pluto and trine Jupiter Uranus – emotionally intense, jealous and able to turn on the charm to order.

Beverley Allitt, 4 Oct 1968 9.15am Corby, England, a nurse convicted of killing four children and harming another 9, is a Sun Libra with Saturn in Aries; a confident Jupiter Pluto in Virgo and Mars also in Virgo but not conjunct. There’s not much that would catch the eye from her chart except for a challenging Yod of Pluto Jupiter sextile Neptune inconjunct Saturn, which usually brings retribution if badly handled.

There is a strong Cardinal element in these charts which gives initiative, ambition, restlessness and a low boredom threshold but that’s nothing pass remarkable.

This is where harmonic charts come in handy which show the less visible aspects between planets. The one which shows up most clearly in all of the above is the 18H – twice 9. The 9^th harmonic is what brings pleasure. Initially it was thought to be a harmonic that was community-minded, fostered inclusiveness and was humanitarian. But it figures strongly in charts of financial fraudsters like Bernie Madoff and Charles Ponzi, so clearly has an immoral, indulgent and irresponsible side as well.

18 in numerology, on which a good deal of the harmonic interpretations are based, can bring material success, but also conflicts and enemies, and has an explosive quality.

In Beverley Allitt’s natal chart her Mars is sparsely aspected. But in her 18H, the Mars squares Saturn, and is trine Sun. Niels Hogel’s 18H has Mars opposition Sun square Pluto, so drawing his sparsely aspected Mars in the natal chart into tighter contact.

Michael Swango, whose natal Mars is firmly tied into Uranus Jupiter Neptune Sun, in his 18H has Mars conjunct Saturn trine Pluto, which has a much more brutal feel.

Kristen Gilbert, a nurse who killed 4 and attempted two more, 13 Nov 1967 5.01pm Falls River, MA, doesn’t have an overly notable Mars natally, but in her 18H it is conjunct Saturn, inconjunct Uranus and square Sun.

Mars Saturn sometimes tied into Pluto appears in the 18H charts of non-medical serial killers Ted Bundy, Thomas Hamilton (Dunblane shootings), Jeffrey Dahmer.

The 18H isn’t necessarily a serial killer identifier since it is strong also in the charts of Jemma Beale, the rape fantasist (see post below) and Joe Arpaio. But it certainly can indicate a cruel, conscience-free  streak.

Many of the above medical killers also have a heavily stressed Mars tied into Saturn, Uranus and Pluto in their healer/victim 12H.

Harmonics is an evolving field, so it’s as well to keep an open mind about the spectrum of meanings that each number represents – and keep checking with examples as they pop up.

 

Crypto-currencies like bitcoin and ethereum are soaring, up 800% in the past year and of key interest in the financial industries. Though there are with warning flags about bubble-bursts ahead as well as money-laundering risks.

NB: I know zero about them and struggle to understand quite how they operate. Ordinary shoppers appear not to like them since there’s a 10-minute time lag for confirmation as opposed to instant credit card/paypal. Though nefarious buyers do like them for drug purchases on the Dark Web. You buy them with ordinary currency but since their value fluctuates much like other stock market shares, you can lose as well as gain.

The original bitcoin was launched 3 January 2009 and looks to be making heavy weather of the next three years with tr Pluto trine Saturn, Solar Arc square Pluto and Solar Arc Pluto conjunct Sun.

Litecoin, 7 Oct 2011, looks similarly stressed 2017 to 2020, with a dead-halt in 2021.

Ethereum, 30 July 2015, is up against it in a major way in 2019/2020 – boxed into a corner.

Ripple, 1 July 2013, has a solid chart with a Water Grand Trine of Sun Jupiter in Cancer trine Saturn in Scorpio trine Neptune, with Sun opposition Pluto. It doesn’t have the pressures the others have, though tr Saturn in Capricorn will drag down confidence in 2018/19. But it’s heading for a successful 2021 with Solar Arc Jupiter conjunct the Sun.

   

 

An epic catastrophe, the worst disaster in Texas history, an incredibly unique event, unprecedented floods, all impacts are unknown and beyond anything experienced, the most extreme rainfall ever witnessed – the descriptions of Hurricane Harvey struggle to encompass the scale of the damage wreaked by battering winds followed by two to three feet of rain falling within 24 hours, with more to come. The disaster covers thousands of square miles of Southeast Texas, but worst hit is Houston, the US’s fourth-largest city, which is barely above sea level and sits next to the stormy Gulf of Mexico.

So the Great American Eclipse did – with eerie synchronicity – accompany an immediate disaster (see post August 25 2017). Both the August Lunar and Solar Eclipses were at their highest elevation when located to Texas. Not on the path of the solar eclipse, but catching its strongest effect.

The Texas state chart, 2 March 1836 was always going to be vulnerable to a majorly disruptive event with the Leo Solar Eclipse opposition the Texas Mars Mercury in Aquarius and Uranus, possibly conjunct its Moon as well – so a shocking (Mars) and sudden (Uranus) collision affecting the population (Moon) with significant disruption and destruction. The 12 degree Pisces Sun is also sinking under a tr Neptune conjunction over coming months, as it attempts to cope with the flood damage.

Houston was founded on 28 August 1836 and incorporated on 5 June 1837. The incorporation chart has tr Neptune square the Gemini Sun over the next eighteen months, so again a swampy and confusing phase. The Solar Eclipse was opposition its Mars.

The Houston founded chart has Solar Arc Neptune conjunct its Jupiter in Leo – oceanic Neptune drowning Jupiter’s optimism and flamboyance. The Solar Eclipse was opposition Uranus on this chart, tugging on a Water Grand Trine of Uranus trine Saturn trine Mars, with Uranus opposition Sun – so shaking the central configuration of the chart with damaging consequences.

When Katrina happened in late August 2005 with major loss of life tr Neptune was squaring the New Orleans Neptune Sun in Taurus, which is relatively similar to the Texas and Houston Inc chart at the moment. The eclipses in 2005 were highly stressed. The closest Solar Eclipse in October having Pluto on the IC for New Orleans inconjunct Mars; with a Yod of New Moon sextile Saturn inconjunct Uranus as the US government made a botch of the rescue efforts. The Lunar Eclipse in October had the Full Moon exactly on the Desc/Asc axis for New Orleans; with the Sun sextile Pluto inconjunct Mars. So not the same as the Texas hurricane but the Eclipse planets on the chart angles do check out.

   

 

Trump’s U-turn on Afghanistan, sending more troops into America’s longest running war, not only broke a campaign promise, it also threw a hand grenade into relations with Pakistan, which could provoke a blowback. He quite rightly called Pakistan out for playing to both sides by supporting NATO and at the same time harbouring Taliban terrorists. But he also asked for India’s help, which according to commentators would put the wind up Pakistan, whose greatest fear is India with whom it has already waged three wars. An Indo-US-Afghan pact would put Indian troops on two sides of Pakistan’s borders, which could well spark another conflict between the two nuclear nations.

Taking the USA/Afghan war first: It started on 7 October 2001 at 4.25pm on an Air Grand Trine of Sun trine Uranus trine Moon Saturn, formed into a Kite by the war-like Saturn Moon opposition Pluto. And an opportunistic Jupiter opposition Mars.

The Vietnam War also started in 1965 with a Pluto opposition Saturn and finished ignominiously when tr Saturn had moved to square Pluto, with tr Neptune undermining the central planets by square.

There’s a relatively similar set of aspects to the Afghan war chart with tr Neptune square Moon Saturn and Pluto in 2017/18 and the Saturn Pluto conjunction in 2019. Nothing that looks like spectacular success.

Relocating Trump’s chart to Kabul does put his Jupiter on the midheaven, so there’s a degree of hope. But it also puts his Pluto and Mars in the 8^th which looks very trapped.

The story going around is that in order to persuade him, HR McMaster showed him a photograph of mini-skirted girls in Kabul in the 1970s, when Afghanistan was moving towards a liberal and westernised lifestyle; with an attempt at an elected parliament, freedom of speech, a largely secular legal system and political parties. That was all wiped away as the country descended into the horror of the Soviet invasion, then the Bush/Blair fiasco, with the Mujahideen and then Taliban taking advantage of the chaos.

The more likely reason for his change of heart is someone floated Afghanistan’s mineral wealth under his nose – gold, silver, platinum, iron ore, uranium, zinc, tantalum, bauxite, coal, copper, natural gas and lithium for batteries – though experts say that extracting it is a pipe dream, given the lack of paved roads and rail links needed, pervasive corruption and a messy bureaucracy, never mind the insurgencies.

Since Trump’s Jupiter natally is in his financial 2^nd house that might make sense of the glint in his eye when he considers Kabul.

The Afghanistan country chart, 19 August 1919 12 am Kabul, was given a jolt by this August’s Leo Eclipse conjunct its Leo Sun opposition Uranus square Taurus Moon opposition North Node. It will soldier on with some events of explosive insecurity early September to early October this year, and again in early 2018. With some relief and luck in 2019; but it’ll be the mid 2020s before there is any significant shift. Relations with the USA look to be slogging on in a discouraged fashion in 2018/19 with increasing divergence. So 2019 may well be an exit point for the USA, as costs in money and lives mount up.

Relations between the USA and Pakistan are sagging badly in 2017/18 with tr Neptune opposition the composite Jupiter Saturn; upset in 2018 with tr Uranus square the composite Sun, and more so in 2019 as tr Uranus opposes the composite Pluto and is conjunct the composite Moon. So tensions will escalate.

The India/Pakistan chart will be aggravated around late December this year and across 2018; more so in 2019/2020 with feelings running very high as tr Pluto opposes the composite Moon.

The theory is that Pakistan’s fall-back is an alliance with China but that relationship looks under even more serious stress in 2019/2020 and isn’t exactly supportive before then. China is already in a border dispute with India (see post July 7 2017) – so the whole situation could turn exceptionally messy.