The temperature gauge is over-heating in the Middle East with fears of a flash point coming as US and UK forces have retaliated against Houthi shipping attacks in the Red Sea and a drone attack which killed three US soldiers. There were joint strikes on 36 Houthi targets in Yemen; and the US hit 85 targets in Syria and Iraq.
Jeremy Bowen, BBC International editor writes: “I don’t think anybody is in control over the rate at which this happens. Don’t forget: war is messy, things happen.” To date the conflicts have been with Iran-funded proxies and Biden is clearly cautious about engaging Iran directly. As indeed is Iran who have internal problems with a restive younger population. The leaders were not best pleased about the Hamas October assault since it blocked millions that was to be released by the US for a prisoner exchange. But they will have been happy enough to see the rupture between Israel and Saudi Arabia. A ceasefire in Gaza might be enough to cool tensions down pro tem.
There are two astro-warning flags ahead – one is imminent, with Mars entering Aquarius on February 13th to conjunct with Pluto. The other is July 2024 when many of the political ‘players’ on both sides have planets affected by the Mars, Uranus, Algol conjunction at 26 Taurus. The Hamas attack in October started on a Mars square Pluto; the Gaza Invasion of 2008 started on a Mars Pluto conjunction.
This has been covered in previous posts. But to recap. The alarming nature of Biden’s presidency with its explosive Mars Uranus square Sun Saturn Jupiter was always going to throw up trouble at some point. The past few months with the Solar Arc Saturn closing the square to Mars Uranus in October 2023 exactly, brought matters to a head with the Hamas Attack. The SA Sun is conjunct the Saturn exactly now and by this June the Solar Arc Saturn will conjunct the Jupiter exactly. So there is a convergence of a really tricky combination of planetary influences – high tensions leading to eruptions and violence. Plus the midpoints on his Inauguration chart will be rattled severely from June, mounting in anxiety in July and aggravated in August and onwards.
Biden’s personal chart has tr Uranus opposition his Scorpio Sun from August this year for jolts and unwelcome surprises.
The USA chart has the SA Saturn conjunct the Mars exactly this July which has military associations and will be a risky collision of sorts.
Anthony Blinken, Secretary of State, 16 April 1962, has one lucky influence in June this year and then tr Uranus square his Uranus at 26 Leo in July plus a panicky-failure tr Neptune conjunct his Mars mid May to late August this year (and further on).
One might wonder why UK forces are involved given the parlously rundown state of the army and navy. Though disruption of shipping through the Red Sea with goods from Asia to Europe could send consumer costs soaring and affect the Chancellor’s ability to make tax cuts.
David Cameron, the Foreign Secretary, 9 October 1966 5.30 am London, looks ominously over confident this year, no doubt grasping a chance to strut the world stage. He has tr Pluto opposition his Jupiter this year and next and has his Jupiter MC lines through the Red Sea. Usually this is successful but it could send him over the top and tempt him to imagine himself as omnipotent and incapable of failing – upon which rock of hubris many a career has perished. His Mars at 26 Leo will be on high alert in July; along with tr Uranus in aspect to two of his Jupiter midpoints, again boosting his confidence.
The UK chart is not showing much in the way of risk from violence this year, though in 2025 the SA Uranus conjunct the Mars might. This year and on it has swampy influences around money and the economic situation.
Thank you Marjorie. I imagine it likely that the aspects from the Leo planets made his successes more likely. Do you consider mystic rectangles in your analyses?
ps – sorry but in mentioning Baryshnikov I’m not trying to get away from the Suez, am just wondering how the astrology at a given point of time may evolve into something perhaps good.
Saturn Pluto gives resilience, staying power and grit which can be helpful in creating/sustaining success. Hillary Clinton, Bill Clinton, Queen Camilla etc. But out in the universe it tends to have associations with war and deprivation.
Ah I get it. Thank you Marjory.
Interesting that with the Suez Canal being threatened by all this, I happened across a Youtube that states Panama Canal is also having problems due to lower water levels.
So global shipping is struggling there too with the choice between the 20,000mile trip round South America or waiting longer to get through the canal.
Apparently it was 40 ships per day in about 2017, down to 22 in November last year and predicted to be around 18 at the moment.
What will happen when Neptune, god of the seas, enter Aries?
I know I’ve read one Spanish (I think amateur) astrologer say “Oceans [Neptune] will boil [Aries].”
Suez Canal began construction on 25 April 1859 according to Wikipedia. The chart has the Sun at 4 Taurus conjunct Pluto at 6 Taurus square Saturn at 5 Leo. It also has Mars at 29 Taurus conjunct Uranus at 1 Gemini. These planets are all going to be hit by either by transits of Pluto or the Uranus over the next few years. I think current problems in the Red Sea are just harbingers of more stress to come.
That’s interesting Hugh. The date for the start of the Suez Crisis, 29 October 1956, has Sun 5 Scorpio square Uranus 6 Leo, with Pluto 0 Virgo and the Mars you mention conjunct tr Nodes 29 Taurus in 1956.
I looked at the opening of the Suez Canal, 17 November 1869. Sun 24 Scorpio about to have a Uranus opposition, and its Neptune 17 Aries square Uranus 21 Cancer in line for April’s Aries Solar Eclipse. It has Mars 21 Sagittarius conjunct Saturn 16 Sagittarius – these, in the sign of travellers, will be challenged by both Saturn and Mars in watery Pisces in the Spring too. So business as usual doesn’t look as if it will be easily restored, as you suggest.
Plus, it has Jupiter 14 Taurus, conjunct Pluto 16 Taurus, quite powerful financial themes there. Jupiter returns, and then conjuncts Pluto this Spring too. Meanwhile, tr Pluto is conjunct the Opening’s South Node in Aquarius – crime and alliances, secretive deals and subversive groups could be highlighted here? Suez crisis had Neptune 0 Scorpio, so the Nodes may be a sensitive point.
It’s also intriguing to see that tr Saturn in Pisces will be opposing the Pluto/Uranus conjunction in Virgo for the closure of the Suez Canal on 5th June 1967, in May.
Tr Uranus opposes Neptune 22 Scorpio in that 1967 chart then as well – disrupting the waterway, and maybe coming to a head when Jupiter and Uranus align in April? Pluto will oppose 1967’s Jupiter at 2 Leo, while Neptune is conjunct its Chiron, 29 Pisces, a sacrificial kind of feeling there? The Opening of the Suez Canal 1869 also has Chiron, 29 Pisces, along with other links to 1967, and this year.
You might want to look up plans for the Ben Gurion canal through Israel and Gaza. Perhaps also the transits around January 21, 2025.
the plans for the Ben Gurion canal are in a previous post.
I always understood that the main problem with the Panama Canal is that it is too small for modern ships to get through. Tankers and passenger liners are ‘morbidly obese’ in comparison to those that were around at the time it was built.
Cameron’s Jupiter is exactly conjunct the U.K. 1801 Jupiter 1 Leo so that Pluto transit is going to impact both his personal chart and Britain’s national chart. There have been rumblings in the press recently that Britain was thinking of recognising the Palestinian state which would upset the Israelis. Cameron when he was Prime Minister did once comment he thought Gaza was a giant prison. The reality is more likely that the UK will just blindly follow the US position as we seem to have given up having a distinct Foreign Policy since the Thatcher era. With regard to the Red Sea trade could just sail round the Cape as it did between 1967 and 1975 when the Suez Canal was closed. It is not clear why the U.K. should be paying millions to defend international shipping for global corporations that have chosen to offshore manufacturing to the Far East and to use ships registered in tax havens to ship their goods.
I am genuinely asking: perhaps because shipping all around Africa would hugely increase the costs – which it already did – and make people even poorer than they are now and goods even less affordable? And in any case, merchants will use any excuse, no matter how founded in reality, to increase the costs, even if the Red Sea crisis is not affecting them at all or is in a very minor way.
And isn’t it also true that corporations exported manufacturing elsewhere because in their home countries it became much more expensive to do so? Not only in terms of labour costs, but also workers’ rights. And workers should be paid fairly and have rights. No question about that. But then we as a consumer cannot demand items at lower cost, but have to deal with stuff being increasingly more expensive.
Or is my reasoning and wondering completely faulty?
Regarding the Red Sea, the issue is oil and gas.
Britain is not self-sufficient in oil and gas, not least because environmental groups are litigating every single new licence to drill in the North Sea so it can take years before drilling starts. For example, the Rosebank oil field off the coast of Shetland was discovered in 2004, but only overcame the opposition in 2023, and won’t produce output till 2026.
Prior to the Ukraine war, we bought gas from Russia via the pipelines going through Germany.
Now we buy Liquefied Natural Gas from Qatar, and it’s shipped to us via the Red Sea and Suez canal. Of course we don’t want those tankers blown up.
Germany ought to be helping the UK & US to patrol the Red Sea as they now buy gas from Qatar via that route too. The EU as usual is free-riding on others’ efforts.
About 12% of the global trade and 15% of world trade goes through the Red Sea. The route is of minimal significance to the USA but quite important to mainland Europe. It does beg the question why up until recently it has been largely left it to the Americans to protect shipping. It seems the EU is finally getting round to putting some sort of organised naval force in the area later in February. It should be noted that all the attacks are in the southern Red Sea. The big Saudi oil terminal at Muajjiz in the Northern Red Sea is not impacted so its tankers are still sailing through Suez as normal.
Ernst & Young says:
“The conflict poses a risk to global trade as the Suez Canal is a vital artery of global trade flows with around 15% of global trade and 25%-30% of global container shipments transiting through this waterway. 1 It also raises concerns about a revival of global inflation pressures as importers face surging shipping costs.”
In 10 days, there is a Mars conjunction Pluto, at 0° Aquarius 46′. Is that anything?
Then from November 2024 until April 2025 there are a few Mars opposition Pluto, the one in November with Pluto in Capricorn.
Mars conjunct Saturn is on 10 April 2024.
One opposition is in August 2025, another in April 2026.
It’s not just Mars conjunct Pluto. It’s that they’ll be square Joe Biden’s moon at 0° 58′ Taurus.
If you look at Kamala Harris’s chart, her midheaven is at 2° 25′ Pisces, which means tr Saturn is going through her tenth house. It’s beginning to oppose her natal Uranus at 13° 15′ Virgo conjunct her natal Pluto at 15° 27′ Virgo in her fourth house.
Given that she’s already been elected Vice President it may indicate unexpected responsibility (Saturn) for the homeland (those fourth house planets).
Likely the Border, which is what I thought she was supposed to be working on. Even I think it is now a big problem.
Well it would be nice if Congressional Republicans did their jobs instead of cowtowing to Trump so he can use immigration as a campaign issue.
The House Majority Leader who is a Republican just stated that there will be no vote on the just-released bipartisan Senate bill.
And lots of House Republicans want Biden to take executive action on immigration.
If Biden is dumb enough to take that bait (which he isn’t) Republicans will criticize him whatever he does and wash their hands of the matter abdicating their constitutional duties as usual.
Turns out, it really is not just Mars and Pluto – it is also Moon, in Taurus, square those two. I hope we get out of that safe and sound.
This whole thing is getting scary indeed. Who is there that’s strong enough to say everybody pause and take a deep breath for a minute? Implications are ….!
I am noticing that searches on world war 3 have ramped up on Google and the media is in a writing frenzy speculating about this.. I also note only one world leader advising the media to stop promoting that narrative. They need to stop.
It is not an absolute but I would be considerably more worried if there was a hard Saturn Pluto aspect coming up which there is not for some years ahead.
There is a square on
24 June 2028
15 November 2028
29 March 2029.
Those are Taurus–Aquarius.
Opposition – Leo–Aquarius – happens on
17 October 2035
1 January 2036
28 July 2036.
There is another square in 2044 – 0° Sagittarius – 0° Pisces (retrograde Pluto) – exactly on 4 November 2044.
WW1 started with Pluto just into Cancer conjunct Saturn. WW11 with Pluto just into Leo square Saturn. Falklands War/Sabra Shatila camp massacres 1982 on a Saturn Pluto conjunction in Libra. The late 1940s Saturn Pluto saw the bloody partition of India and Pakistan and the birth of Israel.
Conjunctins, in Pisces, are in 2053–2054.
My neighbor was born in 1947 with a Moon in Leo conjunct Saturn and Pluto. She had an explosive relationship with her adoptive mother which showed me the power those planets have together.
Many of that generation with Saturn/Pluto in Leo had fathers (Leo, Saturn) who fought in WW2 and returned from the war shattered and traumatised. I associate that particular conjunction with the hardship & austerity as well as the demolition and reconstruction of the post war period.
That makes sense. Her father did fight in WWII and his injury was such that he couldn’t father children which led to them adopting her.
Now this is interesting… Doesn’t the generation from the 1990s somewhere have the Uranus–Neptune conjunction, which maybe, and maybe not, contributes to their very particular kind of psyche? So what might that be about?
intrigues me that Michail Baryshnikov the dancer/actor also has that Moon/Saturn/Pluto in Leo (on a rectangle) so I assume it can also be very powerful in positive ways.
Mikhail Baryshnikov was born in Riga, in the Latvian SSR, Soviet Union. His parents were ethnic Russians: Alexandra (a dressmaker; née Kiselyova) and Nikolay Baryshnikov (an engineer). According to Baryshnikov, his father was a strict, nationalist military man, and his mother introduced him to the theatre, opera and ballet. She died by suicide when he was 12