WOW Those Gold Sneakers!

The Orange Hawker Strikes Again

by Jude Cowell

Just a brief post today showing a horoscope of the Venus-Pluto Conjunction @00AQ51:02 which perfected on Saturday February 17, 2024, the day that Mr. Trump hawked gold sneakers at sneakercon in Philadelphia, PA. Promoter Trump's natal Mercury-Neptune square identifies his sneaky mind so he's quite the sneaker himself. And as everyone must agree, Donald does worship gold: real, fool's, or gilded and this makes him something of a wide-girthed King Midas wanna-be - and with Venus-ruled Tauru$, sign of The Bull (golden calf) at his Career and Public Status Point ('MC'). That's the 'public status' that took a major slapping last week in NY from Judge Engoron, smacking Donald where it hurts - his pocketbook and his overblown ego. After Friday's court session, no rolled up copy of Forbes Magazine was found at the scene, last I heard.

What Is He - Made of Money?

Then notably, the Venus-Pluto duo relates to money and to a potential for bankruptcy which some pundits say Trump will be filing for. If so, it will be the first personal bankruptcy filing for the King of Debt, says David Cay Johnson, whose book, The Big Cheat is about you-know-who. #ad

So you've marveled at the shiny tenny pumps, now shown below is the Venus-Pluto Conjunction Horoscope of February 17, 2024 which also happens to spotlight the current Jupiter-Saturn Cycle (began December 21, 2020 @00AQ29) where transit Pluto continues to trod off and on. Pluto hit Jupiter-Saturn again on February 4, 2024, then will stomp twice more on August 8, 2024 and December 11, 2024, with Election 2024 sandwiched between. And of course, 00AQ+ is the position of US Inaugural Sun, the office of the presidency:

Check out my study notes penned on the image for more details.

Trump Mercury Return 2023: Continual Indiscretion

Shown: Trump Mercury Return (8Can51) Horoscope of June 30, 2023 set for Bedminster, New Jersey; a new annual cycle of Mercurial matters and interests begins and includes Mercury ruling his natal 2nd and 11th houses:

As you see, for this post I've had to resort to a hand-drawn horoscope but after this evening, fresh ink cartridges are scheduled to arrive at my door and we can proceed as usual. Please enlarge or print the image to read my astro-notes penned on if need be. Notes include the rounded-up Sabian Symbol for the fellow's natal Mercury "9 Cancer": "A Tiny Nude Miss Reaching in the Water for a Fish" (Jones). Now yes, there is a low-charactered interpretation of this word picture for this particular Mars in Leo bounder, but I'll leave it for you, dear reader, to consider its implications, if you care to. But let's add Jones' negative expression for "9 Cancer": "continual indiscretion."

An additional note: Herr Trump's next Mars Return occurs on July 4, 2023, which times a new cycle of activity for the orange blighter. More on this is planned for a later post. And view his natal horoscope if you must.

Now it's also significant is that every year or so when transit Mercury returns to its natal degree in Trump's chart, it repeats the Mercury-square-Neptune that he was born under with its lack of discrimination, misperceptions, lack of objectivity, and the lies and fantasies he can't stop spouting and hiding behind. The man cannot or will not follow instructions (even those laid down by judges--at his peril!), misunderstandings and disbelief occur, wrong conclusions are drawn, he questions facts with instincts that differ from reality, selective hearing or tone-deafness, and leaks and scandals occur. For him such confusing, deceptive conditions are operative all the time, of course, but his yearly Mercury Return spotlights them in some way or another - and he's off to the races, spinning tales for the gullible, passing around gossip, promoting $chemes, and mouthing insults.

Of course, mundane Mercury (the trickster and communicator) can also act as a trader, or perhaps more of a traitor in this case - certainly a documents thief. So for a few interesting details concerning propagandist Trump's Mercury in Cancer check out a previous post which provides enlightenment via Carelli's Degrees.

And so with agent orange's 2023 Return Mercury in Return 6th house of Health, Work, Service, and Daily Rounds -- and Return Sun (vitality) posited in 6th h, too -- these are the areas of interest and engagement for him over the next year along with his natal 2nd and 11th house concerns which include finances and group endeavors. Plus, we can expect that a medical check-up is on his calendar, as it should be at his advanced age.

Then when we look to the Return Ascendant with 12th house Pluto rising at a critical 29th degree along with the Hera archetype (the legal wife; keeping accounts), we find legal eagle Saturn rising and Rx in 1st house, an inauspicious determinant for his Mercurial year since Saturn rules the return chart and its retrograde condition hints at Trump's usual delay tactic in legal matters. However, there are potentials for a variety of negative outcomes due to karmic Saturn hitting his natal Moon-MC and Neptune-Pluto midpoints such as: 'pessimism; collapse' or breakdown, 'separation; bereavement', and "untenable objectives" (R. Ebertin). Now I'm not wishing, just reading a horoscope here. Disagree and read the chart as you wish!

Then naturally with speedy little Mercury, travel is usually prominent as well via short trips, but for Trump, a journey across the ocean (Mercury in watery Cancer) is possible. After all, he retains possession of his passport, if memory serves.

2023: Two Return Aspects to Trump's Mercury

Then with Return Jupiter (@9Tau17 in Return 3rd house) sextile his Mercury, business opportunities may appear here or abroad, and his (tiresome) publishing efforts could expand. Meanwhile Saturn (@7Pis03 Rx and rising, as noted) suggests legal or other stabilizing help from an established network or system, and commerce is favored. Plus, as previously discussed, Saturn in Pisces suggests "struggling with opponents" (R. Ebertin) so Campaign 2024 is involved with orator Mercury's conditions and indications from now until his next Mercury Return on June 21, 2024 with Return Mars @9Taurus in place of this chart's Jupiter. Obviously, his 2024 Mercury Return will directly affect Election 2024 next November, assuming that Trump is active in election matters next year.

Meanwhile, you'll notice in the chart, above, that at Midheaven ('MC'), the WHY?-Career-Public-Status Point is Cupido Rx which indicates the continued involvement of organizations such as, The Network, The Family (his family, and/or the power-mad 'religious' group), The Mafia, The Criminal Syndicate/s, and/or simply anti-democratic Corporatism.

And speaking of planetary returns, a prominent return for us all has to be the 28-to-30-year Saturn Return for even a controlling person like ole man Trump cannot continue to ignore dealing with the demands of authoritative Saturn forever, with issues and lessons such as the accountability which he now faces because legal eagle planet Saturn has finally caught up with him.

References: The Sabian Symbols in Astrology, Marc Edmund Jones; and, The 360 Degrees of The Zodiac, Adriano Carelli. #ad

Oct 2022: Trump target of Thor's Hammer

Is Goofy Face Politician in Trouble?

by Jude Cowell

With yesterday's resolution by the J6 Committee to subpoena Donald Trump, we find that a Thor's Hammer, with the Saturn-Uranus square at its base, now points to transit Mercury @5Libra and to Trump's natal 2nd house Neptune @5Libra. On an astrological level, this aspect pattern symbolizes the stress and pressure the orange insurrectionist is under from fighting against authority (Saturn-Uranus square) along with his natal Neptune's eroding effects, lawbreaking, thieving tendencies, lies, and fraudulent schemes perpetrated by a fellow who pretended to play president while acting as a foreign agent in the White House.

So let's break down conditions a bit more using the lens of Astrology:

Under the influence of a Saturn-Uranus square, actors of a certain rebellious mindset often act out as if they're a law unto themselves. Resistent to authority, they're emotionally volatile and may resort to violence. Their activist tendencies seldom if ever benefit society on a positive level. Troublemakers!

Reading the pattern (aka, a Fist of God) as midpoint pictures we have potentials for:

Saturn-Uranus = Mercury: 'necessary changes; separation; making great demands on nervous energy; ability to hit back under provocation and to organize resistance' (R. Ebertin); 'monotonous politicians' (M. Munkasey); 'necessary stages of rethinking' (N. Tyl).

Add Trump natal Neptune: 'inability to face emotional stress, falsehood or malice caused through weakness; resigning oneself to the inevitable, abandonment of resistance; weakening strength; mourning, bereavement (RE); 'the delusion that change will improve traditional methods' (MM); 'breakdown under pressure; feeling lost; a new vision fighting to be understood; sadness' (NT)

Plus, with communicating Mercury conjunct the orange menace's natal Neptune, papers, documents, and keys are misplaced or hidden (more documents secreted in other places), and investigations lead to more questions (they do). Confusion clouds issues, facts try to hide, and travel over water may be indicated. Significantly, both Mercury and Neptune relate to theft and gaslighting the public, while America continues to be assaulted by Trump's Mercury-Neptune square of deception, sneaky schemes, spying, and misperception.

And of course, there's Mercury's traditional role in commerce as a trader - of secrets? Then in Trump's case, it's traitor.

Previously on SO'W: America's initial Mercury-Neptune Cycle. Also see: Trump's natal Mercury in Cancer (note that gossipmongering coordinates well with blackmailing for the purpose of manipulating people).

Right-Wing calls for Civil War grow louder

Recently seditious right-wing calls for another Civil War have been re-spotlighted during the current trial of J6 militia leader Stewart Rhodes who calls himself a patriot. In fact, he and his comrades are using his trial for the purpose of promoting the seditious idea.

So perhaps you remember that it was not so long ago we discussed such topics with a display of the 1861 Civil War Horoscope surrounded by transits emphasizing Neptune in Pisces conjunct the 1861 War's Ascendant (the War itself) with the deceptive Mercury-Neptune conjunction rising. Note that Mercury-Neptune with more Neptune = "added dreaminess to thinking and reasoning; contriving ideas and solutions--" (M. Munkasey).

And of course, Herr Trump, cult leader of Mr. Rhodes, would be lost if he couldn't constantly express and use his deceptive, gossip-loving, propagandizing, loose-lipped Mercury-Neptune square which resonates all too well with the 1861 War's Mercury-Neptune = ASC of exploitation.

Pluto in Capricorn: Ready For His Close-Up

So politically speaking, underneath it all the Republican Party's Neptune in Pisces (1854) is being masterfully used for its abilities to deceive, confuse, disguise, cloud, erode, undermine, gaslight, and sabotage what originally is America's Neptune in fact-based Virgo of 1776, and this opposition times a karmic, titanic transit of ideological and generational clashes, along with persecutions of various kinds including those fueled by racism and misogyny. And to make matters more complex and unstable, our Neptunian problems are occurring in tandem with America's first-ever Pluto Return/s ('Mr. Hades' shown above) occurring all through 2022 - and with a worldwide authoritarian political movement recognizing current conditions as a huge opportunity to overwhelm democracy and freedom - long-planned.

Same with the predicted global recession made worse by Fed head Jerome Powell's overdone interest rate increases. Instituting a windfall profits tax in the US would help economic matters but will Republicans agree? Since GOP-ers want societal conditions to worsen to weaken Democrats before the 2022 Midterms, of course not. The US could also freeze oil prices - but one glitch: which politicians hold oil and gas shares in their stock portfolios?

Meanwhile, a wider view shows that such negative societal conditions are being promoted, supported, and funded by the global totalitarianism movement (which tends to rise when the Earth heats up), and unfortunately America's power position in the world has been eroded while we watched.

No wonder America right now is like a kitten tangled in sinister string! My suspicion is that calls for world government will soon grow louder, too, with the nation-state concept thrown under the proverbial bus. Listen for it! And if you can, keep tabs on the transiting positions of Juno, the nation-state asteroid, and Ceres, asteroid of democracy.

Because, sad to say, the world is going to miss America when she's gone.

Three Related Posts: Oct 8, 2022: Pluto Turns Direct @26Capricorn (DC Horoscope shown) conjunct US Inaugural Midheaven, a milestone indicator. And, speaking of a second civil war, riots in the streets, and the long-planned sabotage of America see Who Is Albert Pike? (video included), a plotter of sedition in the 1800s along with his comrade, Guiseppe Mazzini, founder of the Sicilian mafia; plus, Mercury-Neptune and the Presidential Records Act.

Mercury-Neptune and The Presidential Records Act

Selling Secrets and An Unfit President With Odd Ideas

by Jude Cowell

Due to The Presidential Records Act of 1978, legal ownership of official presidential and vice presidential records changed from private to public, and new standards of management were established for records created or received after January 20, 1981. Therefore, changes and standards have been enforced since the 1981 Inauguration of Ronald Reagan, his first.

Now as you know, the requirements of the 1978 law (updated in 2014) have apparently been followed by all presidents and vice presidents until the haphazard "administration" of Donald Trump, a loose-lipped opportunist who thinks, or pretends to think, that presidential records can belong to him! See Do presidents have the right to withhold privileged material from Archives? (MSN August 24.)

Naturally, astrologers can easily recognize such indiscriminate, fantasy-spinning, scheming behavior via Trump's natal Mercury-Neptune square, and notably, astrologer Alan Oken has labeled this particular square aspect, The Sneaky Mind: Mercury (thought processes, communications, negotiations, planning) and Neptune (sneakiness, deception, spying, surveillance, mass media). Word is, that Trump watched the August 8th FBI search at Mar-a-Lago on CC TV from his location in NY or NJ, wherever the brazen blighter was on that day. If so, it's because his Mar-a-Lago resort is wired for surveillance. And why wouldn't it be?

Of course, there are other planetary aspects in faithless Trump's natal chart which can support such sneakiness (and evasiveness) if that's how he chooses to use the energies, but his Mercury-Neptune square leads the bunch, in my estimation, or perhaps I should say, forms the basis of his thought processes.

So, although unknown at the time, a previous SO'W post published in 2009, Reaganomics Eclipse 1981 a Turning Point for America concerned more than that era's decade of greed and financial slights-of-hand (cheered on by Reagan's natal Scorpio Jupiter's ruthless materialism - ex: he and his cronies hung the yoke of student loan debt around our necks) because, on what can be considered a positive level, passage of the 1978 Act was due to Watergate lawbreaking ("if the president does it, it isn't illegal," - R. Nixon - a fallacy that Trump likes to go by).

So now, through the subversive behavior of the orange scofflaw, we can discover more about what was going on under the hood of US Politics by a manipulative Herr Trump, a comrade who played the role of POTUS from January 20, 2017 until January 20, 2021 - and departed the White House thinking he was 'owed' more that he'd got. Obviously, monetizing secrets from down in Mar-a-Lago seemed a lucrative scheme although my suspicion is that he was already in that business while inhabiting the Oval Office (free rent!).

Then and Now: Cosmic Time Links via Eclipses and Evasive Neptune

Significantly, the 1981 Reaganomics Solar Eclipse fell into the 1 North Saros Series as did the King of Alarm Eclipse (of Nostradamus fame) of August 11, 1999 - and The Great American Eclipse of August 21, 2017 during which Trump removed safety glasses and stared directly up multiple times at the Total eclipse ('sun god' he, with Apollo rising along with royal star Regulus). 1 North themes include: "unexpected events loom large; make no hasty decisions since information is distorted and possibly false; tiredness and health problems are attached" (paraphrasing B. Brady). But with Trump, we know that hasty decisions are already baked in.

Meanwhile, perhaps a glance at the above linked 1981 Eclipse Horoscope holds a clue or two such as the fact that transit Neptune at that time was retrograde @22Sag23 - conjunct the natal Moon-South Node Conjunction of Donald Trump. This transit suggests a period of eroding relationships when intrigue, mystery, confusion, delusion, and fantasy surrounded him with a feeling of rootlessness which perhaps inspired a leaning toward underhanded efforts such as (lucrative) traitorous activities which were engaged in as his connection to home and country became estranged or weakened. And as you know, for Herr Trump, loyalty is a one-way street, and this was a period of grand promises of expanded horizons - if he accepted a deal. Why, he even enjoyed an expansive Jupiter Return (17Lib27) exact on September 28, 1981, a transit that can bring an end to a 12-year cycle of beliefs.

So if you have a chance, dear reader, check out transits to his natal planets (June 14, 1946 10:54 am edt Queens, NY) for the 1978 to 1981 period for this was a cosmically transformational time for Trump and his ideological principles (to the extent that he held any). For instance: born during a Full Moon phase, and besides spreading its dissolving energies all over his natal 4th house Moon-South-Node, transit Neptune in 1981 was in process of opposing his 10th house Sun-NN conjunction in often-duplicitous Gemini so that unrealistic notions and uncertainty affected his self-image, undermined his objectives and overblown plans - and he could be easily seduced by false flattery such as the sort that foreign agents may have offered. (Of course, with flattery the ladies are implied as well but that's beyond the scope of this post.)

Plus, another factor viewable in the 1981 eclipse chart is the Jupiter-Saturn Conjunction in progress @5Libra+ for it hit Trump's natal 2nd house Neptune Rx (@5Libra50, part of his 2nd hou$e Neptune-Chiron-Jupiter trio of grand schemes, promotion, and speculation). This thereby formed a midpoint picture for him which includes two potentials that, for me and perhaps for you, triggered a basic part of vengeful Trump's seriously flawed personality so let's close today's fussiness with that - and tellingly in Venus-ruled Libra, lover of luxurious possessions and ease:

1981 Jupiter-Saturn = natal Neptune: "Begrudging the good fortune of others; losses" (R. Ebertin).

Oh, and there are two more potentials to appreciate, added to this picture by Noel Tyl:

"Bewilderment; not knowing which master to follow." My guess is that the orange blighter soon figured it out and for transactional Trump, his "loyalty" went to the highest bidder.

Trump's Mercury-Neptune: Actors and Liars

Tragically, Where Trump Goes, So Goes America

May 6, 2020: Some readers of Stars Over Washington are familiar with the many fusses posted here by yours truly concerning the (s)election in 2016 of a presidential contender born under the auspices of a deceitful, cunning, sneaky, error-prone, refuses-to-listen Mercury-Neptune square - by name, one Donald Trump. But if you, dear reader, are not familiar, for you I shall add again that we could have had a lady president born with a studious, sober, rational Mercury-Saturn square but forces both domestic and foreign worked against our country to undermine her, promote him - and thus to plunder and sabotage America.

So here we are in 2020 still mired within Trump's fantasy world of dread and horror for us, vast profits and undeserved status for him. Appearances are everything to Trump The Superficial (for as you know, the emperor has no clothes except for the 'empty suit' he wears while playing the role of POTUS on TV) and I believe that the following quote from Reinhold Ebertin's The Combination of Stellar Influences speaks in part of the tale of our woe made worse by the charade of his White House (p)residency:

The Combination of Mercury-Neptune

"Sociological Correspondence: Actors, deceitful people, liars."

Footnote: "Under Sociological Correspondence of Mercury/Neptune one should add "so-called saints," i.e., people who are found under this combination sometimes appear in every way perfect, they appear to have no faults until one day it is discovered they are almost the reverse of what they appeared to be. This is sometimes the case with actors who have to wear a mask which is not in accord with their personality, or in the case of diplomats who play a part in the course of their work and say something different from what they think. In these cases this describes the work they do."

So although this mere reality TV host fancies himself a great thespian (and some of his fans are determined to remain fooled by his act) you'll recognize the saintly "appears in every way perfect" and "appear to have no faults" descriptions as one of the many fantasies Trump tries to foist upon the public with his absurd claim that he "never makes mistakes" which mocks all reality and helps to make him - and the United States of America - laughing stocks upon the world stage.

~:~

Basically, Mercury = thought processes, the mind, ideas, communications, trickery; Neptune = lies, fraud, deceit, corruption, erosion, sabotage, mistakes, errors, misjudgments, misconceptions, failure, loss, disappointment, dreams, ideals, inspiration.

Image above: 'Neptune Ascends', pencil on paper.

Trump Whistleblower Complaint and a Leo New Moon

July 31, 2019--August 12, 2019: Trump and Our National Security

Well, according to Fortune Magazine, here is today's update Trump Whistleblower Complaint: Everything You Need to Know by Natasha Bach, and while I can't personally vouch for the accuracy of the update I do know that when Trump allegedly called Vladimir Putin on July 31, 2019, a
New Moon perfected @8Leo37 less than 2 degrees from Trump's 12th house Pluto (10Leo02; Rx and unaspected) which suggests that seeds (ideas) were planted and a new cycle of activity began. Was this mobster calling mobster? Underworld boss Pluto called and answered, if so.

Now as you know, astrological Luna may be used as a handy timing device in horoscopes and the July 31 New Moon culminated with the Full Moon of August 15, 2019 @22AQ24, book ending a time period when the current turmoil over a suppressed whistle blower complaint against Trump making a disturbing, possibly national security endangering, 'promise' to a foreign leader during a phone call, may have begun (July 31) and the whistleblower complaint filed or aired (on August 12--within the August 15th time frame). Of interest may be the rounded-up degree's symbol for the Full Moon: "A Big Bear Sitting Down and Waving all Its Paws," with 'big bear' a traditional symbol for Mother Russia. The symbol's negative/shadow side expression: "frantic efforts to gain and hold attention" (Jones).

Also note that on July 31st, communicating message-bringer Mercury @23Cancer stationed and turned Direct precisely upon Trump's natal 11th house Saturn (seeking or giving advice; serious communications)! Hello Moscow? Is that you, Moscow? It's me, Donald.

Now as it turns out, Ukraine is said to be involved which to me includes Putin, so some people are calling this Trump's Ukrainegate. Do you suppose the Trump-Putin pact to finagle Russia back into the G-8 is any part of this 'promising' picture? For as you know, Putin's actions against Ukraine got him kicked out of the G-8.

Trump's Mercury and a YOD Points to Mars and Crisis

As for America's national security, I confess to being one of those Americans who have considered the loose-lipped Donald Trump to be a major national security risk from the start with a huge clue pre-2016 being his natal Mercury-Neptune square of deception, lies, fraud, indiscretion, fantasy, inability to hear or to learn, and misperception. Naturally there were other clues but the square is a major 'tell' especially since the former reality show host uses his mouth almost non-stop for boasting, propagandizing, demagoguing, promoting, broadcasting, tweeting, insulting, and whining for what feels like 24/7. Aptly, Alan Oken calls the Mercury-Neptune square "the sneaky mind" and on that perhaps you and I can agree.

So was Trump addressing a crisis in a phone call on July 31, 2019? Perhaps so since a crisis pattern--a YOD (also, a special task; a crossroads)--is present in the July 31st New Moon horoscope (linked, above) and points toward fire-starter planet Mars (males; the military; warriors; energy, action, motivation). And if we use the YOD's planets to determine midpoint pictures we get the following potentials (my italics):

Neptune-Pluto = Mars @19Leo09: compulsion to use violence; imminent destruction emphasizes hostility; lack of resistance; used as a tool; and Saturn-Neptune = Mars: defending shabby practices; emotional depression or sickness; listlessness. (Munkasey; Ebertin). Noel Tyl adds: preoccupations that can't be explained.

No, I don't imagine that Trump's true preoccupations can be honestly explained but we know that he and his minions expend a huge amount of energy and time hiding, obstructing, and suppressing them from congressional and public scrutiny. It's the tyrant's way!

Recent and Related: What About Trump's 5th Harmonic Pluto?

Historical Horoscope of The Confederate Constitution

"With Malice Toward None"?

by Jude Cowell

Below is a horoscope of the constitutional document that white supremacists prefer. However, this particular Southerner prefers the US Constitution we have, or I should say, are now clinging to.

As it happened, its writing is based on the US Constitution but with a huge, brutal and tragic nod to the continued slavery of African Americans. The Constitution of the Confederate States was adopted in Montgomery, Alabama on March 11, 1861, ratified on March 29, 1861, and became effective on February 22, 1862 as a radical reaction to the November 1860 election of Abraham Lincoln (see Uranus-NN = Mercury and Neptune, lower right). Seven secessionist states were the original signers: South Carolina, Mississippi, Georgia, Florida, Alabama, Texas, and Louisiana; and other states joined the secessionist movement later. As you see, my home state of Georgia, 'the 13th Colony', is on the list of states soon fighting for their slavery-based economic system and convinced that the white race is superior (which I personally consider to be an anti-Biblical mindset since we are All children of our Creator).

A Speculative Hour for the Adoption Horoscope Must Be Found: enter New Moon

In order to set up the Confederate Constitution's adoption chart, the following horoscope is timed by the New Moon of March 11, 1861 @20Pis59 which perfected at 7:51:55 am LMT in the hidden 12th house of Politics and Karma along with a Mercury-Neptune conjunction in secretive Pisces. Naturally, a New Moon represents a new cycle of activity when seeds are planted and ideas are brought forth for future implementation into reality. The Mercury-Neptune duo provides potentials for faulty judgments, bending the truth, and the tendency to withdraw from a painful reality (ex: Lincoln elected). Planets in the 12th house suggest that hidden activities were carried on in private behind locked doors as such planning must always be in order to keep disruptive challenges and the sheriff away.

And note that America continues to suffer under the deceptive, indiscriminate, mis-perceiving, fantasizing Mercury-Neptune square of the white supremacist lurking in the White House and that a horoscope of the first shot of the Civil War reveals the Mercury-Neptune midpoint rising on the 1st shot Ascendant which gives us a revealing picture of Mercury-Neptune = ASC: 'the state of being exploited, deceived, or harmed by others' (Ebertin). Tyl adds: 'potential overreaction to others'. I'd say waging war is a definite overreaction and that massive harm was perpetrated upon our nation by the 'Civil' War and its backers. For details on the exploitation, see the excerpt below the chart.

Note: The Avalon Project has the text of The Constitution of the Confederate States: March 11, 1861.

Obviously, the 1st house conjunction of forceful, warring, violent, weapon-loving Mars-Pluto is first to rise in this speculative New Moon horoscope, soon followed by erratic Uranus in process of performing a US Uranus Return to its 1776 position of 8Gem55 (9Gemini's negative expression: 'querulous overconfidence and quixotic notions'--sound like Trump? Perhaps because '9Gemini' is his Prenatal Solar Eclipse degree!).

And with the document's North Node of future direction and destiny in governmental Capricorn, a related post partially describes current conditions which peak on January 12, 2020 and flavor the entire year with its harsh imprint of karmic energies which we're already feeling in 2019: DC Horoscope of the Saturn-Pluto Conjunction 2020.

Also in the 1861 chart, above, note the dynamic T-Square between Venus-Saturn and rebellious Uranus = 'sudden separation' (Ebertin). Noel Tyl adds: 'split-off affairs' and/or 'boredom with the past'. Descriptive, I would say! As is a midpoint picture involving the radical reformers pair of Uranus-North-Node for it conjuncts Mercury and Neptune thus creating potentials for: 'impetuousness, meeting with people off the beaten path' (Tyl); 'quick comprehension, criticizing others, fast-traveling news, people who are easily impressed, being deceived', and/or 'the undermining of an association' (ex: undermining a Union).

To read more chart details, please enlarge the chart's image.

Now here's an excerpt from a previous SO'W post (with its link added below) concerning intentions of 19th-century Southerners (and slave-owning Northerners) and the machinations of wealthy warmongers who shamelessly funded and manipulated North and South into killing their own brothers and cousins--for social meddlers and anti-civilization secret societies, then as now, the destruction of families was and is a welcomed side effect:

According to Nicholas Hagger's research (The Secret History of the West), the Priory of Sion wanted America back from the Templars so the Rothschilds planned an American civil war with the North a Sionist British colony, annexed to Canada and controlled by Lionel Rothschild, and the Templar South to be given to Napoleon III of France and controlled by James Rothschild.

To persuade the South to secede from the union, Illuminized Sionist-Rosicrucian Freemasons used the Knights of the Golden Circle (one member: John Wilkes Booth) which had been formed in 1854 by George Bickley with the objective of spreading racial tension; its military arm was the Ku Klux Klan. Meanwhile, Jesse James stole gold from banks and buried it to fund the war (nearly $7 billion!)

The states that seceded would be united in the Confederate States of America with each eventually becoming like an independent country. Abraham Lincoln (inaugurated March 4, 1861) told the American people that, "combinations too powerful to be suppressed by the ordinary machinery of peacetime government had assumed control of various southern states."

Link to full post; contains Civil War midpoint pictures including Mercury-Neptune = ASC.

So for illumination concerning the plan that under-girds today's machinations and 'craziness' you may dare consider Civil War general Albert Pike's letter to Mazzini (founder of the Sicilian mafia), what we may call "An Unsealed Letter" as per the Sabian Symbol for '30 Leo' which is the rounded-up degree and symbol for the natal Ascendant of Donald Trump. The symbol's keyword is "CONFIDENCE"; its positive expression: "exceptional skill in winning and holding the respect of everybody" - a big oops for an unpopular Trump; negative expression: "a genius for indiscreetness" (Jones). Now that sounds like the very stable genius now in process of sabotaging the United States of America. Can we agree?

Nancy Pelosi 2019: Neptune conjunct natal Mercury

Speaker of the House Nancy Pelosi (official portrait; public domain) was born in Baltimore, Maryland on
March 26, 1940, birth hour unknown (RR: X). In such cases, it is typical to set up a natal horoscope using '12:00 pm' and when this is done, Speaker Pelosi's natal Mercury Rx is positioned @17Pis07 and natal Neptune Rx @23Vir49, in wide opposition.

Today I mention Mercury and Neptune, not because of Trump's vastly problematic square between his Mercury in Cancer and Neptune in Libra but because two transits now affect Speaker Pelosi's Mercury and Neptune and both denote periods when being vulnerable to deceit or deception are increased, even predictable: transit Neptune to natal Mercury (3x, third conjunction on or about February 2, 2020) and transit Jupiter square natal Neptune (3x, third square on or about November 3, 2019).

During such transits rational thinking may be hard to attain, grasping reality a concern or a goal, and sticking to an agenda can be difficult. Inspiration increases and high ideals may prosper, it's true, but given that she is in her seventies (as is Trump and other politicians holding on to the their power with all their considerable might!) it seems appropriate to keep an eye on such deceptive transits since the ideals and perceptions (true ones or false) of all politicians inform policies and laws which have major impact on us all. Plus, both Pelosi and Trump were born under the influence of Mercury-Neptune aspects, a similarity that suggests potentials for dreaminess, illusions, and deception--his internal (square), hers external (opposition).

Of course, a strong natal Saturn can mitigate such tendencies (as can other more realistic placements, plus, positive transits and progressions) and I'd trust Pelosi's Saturn in earthy, practical Taurus over Trump's Saturn in watery, emotionally defensive Cancer any day.

So since Speaker Pelosi's natal Mercury opposes her natal Neptune, she is in process of experiencing a generational transit of Neptune in Pisces opposing Neptune in Virgo. This transit may not affect her personally but if it does, some form of persecution may be vaguely felt as generational ideals are pitted against one another.

Sounds much like Speaker Pelosi's tussles (some say "widening gap"--very Neptunian) with AOC and the rest of the Congressional Progressive Caucus (CPC), doesn't it?

June 18, 2019: Trump Opens Campaign 2020 in Orlando

Last evening in Orlando, Florida, survivor Donald Trump introduced the 2020 Campaign to a large crowd eager to chant and applaud their favorite demagogue currently playing the POTUS role. Check out Gabby Orr's Politico article Trump stages his greatest show yet (updated at 10:39 pm edt last evening) for details on the rally's proceedings which began with the familiar chords of the predatory Eye of the Tiger and ended with Trump's usual You Can't Always Get What You Want. One assumes that Trump fans in the chanting crowd may not have realized the irony embedded within the lyrics of that last Stones tune but the title of the album the song issues from is appropriate for a violent man born with Mars-Saturn = Pluto..."Let It Bleed."

Anyway, I digress. Or do I? Well, who cannot when Trump's the topic?

Astrology of His Risings and Settings with natal Neptune at Midheaven

If you wish, please enlarge the image to read my notes messy as they be.

Above is an 8:00 pm edt horoscope of June 18, 2019 Orlando, Florida which I'll most likely use in future as the Opening Horoscope of the 2020 Campaign--at least in relation to Trump's bid for re-election for I've not found the moment he took the stage after Don Jr and Mike Pence spoke (chart time may be adjusted as needed). Note that most of the notes penned on the chart concern last night's rally with few concerning Trump's natal chart itself although his chart surrounds the 8:00 pm chart as a bi-wheel, as you see. This emphasizes Trump's natal South-Node/Moon conjunction rising while his Sun-North-Node-Uranus sets on the 8:00 pm Descendant...placing his transactional nature (Sun-Moon opposition) in the WHAT? and WHERE TO? positions. Unstable Neptune at MC suggests 'hiding in plain sight' but a percentage of his followers refuse to see his fraudulent nature. His problematic Moon-SN does not suggest popularity, you know, although there's a great need for it, and my suspicion is that the general public is not much impressed by last night's performance.

Ascending is 22Sag42 ("23Sag" = "Immigrants Entering a New Country"--one of his favored topics and targets, of course) which makes Jupiter Rx @18Sag25 rising the chart-ruler. Jupiter, the politician, financier, guru, and General, is strong in his own sign (of 'the outsider' or 'foreigner') yet is weakened by his retrograde condition--plus, he makes no applying aspects in the chart. However, even though he's weakened, Jupiter leads a Locomotive shape of the planets signifying the 'ruthless high-power executive determined on success' (Jones). Plus, as noted lower left, you see that Venus opposes Jupiter Rx (6A18), an aspect between two money planets, exact on June 23rd with transit Venus also conjuncting Trump's natal Uranus (17Gem53 in 10th house of Career and Public Status); this, and other current planetary indicators, suggests problems or separations in relationships, particularly with females, and a Venus-Jupiter opposition denotes extravagance, wastefulness, and social climbing--someone child-like and in need of moderation. Wonder who?

Then as you see, Trump's discontented natal Venus-Saturn conjunction snugs around the 8:00 pm 8th cusp of Shared Resources and Big Business with the July 16, 2019 Lunar Eclipse @24Cap04 cosmically scheduled to oppose his watery Venus and Saturn in self-defensive Cancer. And as with all 'wild card' eclipses, revelations may occur and disrupt as more scandals (with the ladies and/or with finances) and inconvenient secrets turn up as Summer 2019 proceeds. Yet it's doubtful that anyone needs Astrology to inform them of such goings-on in the mobster-style life of Donald Trump.

Now as expected, last evening Trump Sr regaled the audience with several golden oldies such as grousing against his 2016 opponent Hillary Clinton and the 2020 Democratic field of candidates, all of whom want to "splinter us into factions and tribes." Tribes! Pot calls kettle on that one and on other insults and brags which you may wish to read about in the Politico article, linked above. A fave of mine has to be when he added a gem of a whopper: "If I deleted one email, like a love note to Melania, it's the electric chair for Trump." So much hokum packed into one goofy claim, and certainly one of his intended distractions! First, he's said to never use email, plus, he surely must be joking about sending Melania a love note! And the "electric chair"? He said it, not I! And of course, the 'royal Trump' does not escape our fatigued attention.

Well obviously, hypocrisy and grand fantasies made their usual cameo appearances in Orlando as they do whenever Trump opens his mouth, wearing his nationalism and tribalism on his sleeve as his natal Mercury-Neptune square of 'loose lips' tells tall tales and misperceives situations. So not much of his rhetoric was fresh last evening but unveiled was Trump's new-ish campaign slogan for 2020: "Keep America Great" which suggests that our nation has been improved under his tutelage, no matter how many brown children must be caged in order to 'make it happen'. On that score alone, I strongly dissent.

Another interesting natal planet of Big T on full display at 8:00 pm in Orlando was his Neptune Rx at Midheaven ('MC'), the Goal/Aspiration Point of any horoscope. Also at MC were three midpoints thus creating a few pictures we may wish to consider to see if they apply to our topic:

Mercury-Jupiter, Mars-Jupiter, and North-Node/ASC conjunct MC and Trump's natal Neptune combined their energies which suggests potentials for: favorable arrangements, zeal, a person fond of talking (guess who?!), bamboozling or misleading people, falsehood, unfaithfulness, plans without a chance of realization, failures, a powerful imagination (his nibs), successful deception, trusting in good fortune, an expression of communal sense (he fibbed), and/or a tendency to 'lose the solid ground underfoot' while speaking (Ebertin). He often does this although my ears couldn't make it to the end of his pontificating to find out. So when he loses the thread he simply continues talking in goofy fashion for after all, he loves the sound of his own voice, as you've noticed. No telling what he'll say off-script!

Now in closing, there's much more to the charts yet I'll only mention two more items--that the lovely, successful, ego-expanding Sun-Jupiter midpoint conjoined US natal Neptune (22Vir25; penned on the chart, lower right) last evening which denotes the crook and/or feebleness, according to Ebertin. Add to that the fact that Trump's natal Sun-Moon midpoint @22Vir03 also conjoins US natal Neptune constantly so we find ourselves with easy upsets, illusions, deceptions, and mistakes. To this I'll add, sad disappointment and loss.

And that's about all I wish to type about 73-year-old Donald Trump today so if you've managed to read this far, I do salute you, dear reader!

Leave your on-topic comments with this post if you wish, and please Share if you care! jc

DC Horoscope: Solar Eclipse December 26, 2019

Well, year 2019 ends with transit Jupiter opposing US natal Jupiter (see lower right, in green), plus, a Capricorn Solar Eclipse perfects @4Cap06:51 the day after Christmas (12:13 am est). Yet much of what I can say about the DC Horoscope of the December 26, 2019 Solar Eclipse in the 3 South Saros Series is messily penned upon the chart so hopefully those who wish to can enlarge the image and read my study notes; be advised that the natal placements of Donald Trump are penned around the chart and highlighted in pink (which is not the new black but his 'favorite' color orange is) - and his nibs' problematic Mercury-Neptune square of fantasy and deception is active and activated upon the ASC-MC angles of the eclipse chart when set for Washington DC:

Edit 6.16.19: since I can't change this on the chart itself I'll add here that the Sun-Moon midpoint (eclipse degree rounded up) should be '5Cap' (not '6Cap'--that's the degree and symbol of both Jupiter and the IC--mea culpa! The Sabian Symbol for '5Cap' is: "Indians Rowing a Canoe and Dancing a War Dance" (which the Trump administration has been recklessly attempting to do against Iran)...'keyword: MOBILIZATION; positive expression: a capacity for aggressive leadership and an unusual effectiveness in sidetracking minor issues for the sake of major achievement; negative' (unconscious/shadow side): 'unnecessary moods and tantrums' (Jones). This certainly adds a different and worrisomely aggressive flavor to the eclipse chart as we end 2019 and enter 2020. jc

In case you missed it, a recent post contains a List of Lunar and Solar (w/ themes) Eclipses from July 2019 through 2022.

And as always, your on-topic questions and/or comments are welcome and all Shares are much appreciated! However, No comments that are actually ads for services or websites will be published no matter how wonderful or accurate they are. jc

December Eclipse ends 2019 w Jupiter and Pluto Issues

December 26, 2019 12:13 am est: 3 South Solar Eclipse @4Cap06 conjunct Jupiter @5Cap20 3rd and 4th houses in Washington DC. ASC 4Lib32 conjunct the natal Neptune of Donald Trump and America's natal Saturn-Neptune midpoint; Hour of Mars (@24Sco30 in 2nd house of the National Treasury and conjunct Trump's natal IC of Endings); Mars is leader of a BOWL shape denoting a selfish trailblazer alone against the world (M.E. Jones).

Saturn-Neptune

Most midpoint pictures and pairs referenced in this post are from Ebertin, Tyl, and Michael Munkasey which you see penned into the center of the chart: "Saturn-Neptune: a leader capitulates."

This is one of the possibilities of this planetary combination which, in America's 1776 chart (5:09/10 pm LMT) conjoins our natal Midheaven (1Libra). Saturn-Neptune also rises in the natal horoscope of Donald Trump (June 14, 1946 10:54 am est Queens, NY) showing his early environment as oppressive and difficult. Whether Trump will capitulate before or by December 2019 is anyone's guess (being the unpredictable Uranian that he is) but I type today on January 16, 2019 with the Bob Barr confirmation hearings ongoing and the ultimate fate of the Mueller report in doubt if/when William Barr becomes Trump's Attorney General. Mr. Barr, if confirmed, may redact or withhold all or part of the findings in spite of the public's need to know.

Now the Saturn-Neptune pair in society may also represents such things as: secret or invisible government, socialism, communism, Marxism, and so on. Weakness, illness, suffering caused by others, oppressive family circumstances, sense of "being out of the group" (Tyl), plus, a feeling of confinement or inhibition may also apply.

Jupiter, North Node, Mercury

Now let's note that fact that although protective Jupiter @5Cap20 conjoins the 3 South Solar Eclipse (themes listed, below), however, Jupiter simultaneously opposes America's natal Jupiter (5Can56) which suggests a period when no one is impressed, efforts are overblown, there is discontent, and a lack of funding and resources. The Jupiterian North Node of future direction @8Can22 points toward the natal Mercury of Donald Trump which, as you know, is afflicted by a square from his natal Neptune @5Libra--which rises in this chart. Some potentials for Saturn-Neptune with more Neptune involve 'presenting newly visualized views of reality or the future; dissolving rigid or outmoded structures; breaking through rigid patterns; inspiration derived from drugs'; and/or, 'illusive heightened awareness using escape' (Munkasey). Now you may agree that at least some of these potentials describe what Trump has done or attempted to do from the Oval Office and he has done them with the oppressive quality of Saturn-Neptune attached. As I type, the Trump Shutdown continues to afflict our nation.

Venus

In the Solar Eclipse horoscope, chart-ruler Venus @7AQ18 is posited in 4th house and conjoins US natal South Node (karma; getting the 'brush off'; bad timing--Ebertin) so we have that not going for us. The lack of aspects by Venus emphasizes the sign and house position of the money planet of relationships, diplomacy, and values (currency devaluation?) so I imagine that American diplomats (if we have any by then) will not be 'acing it' as they already aren't under Putin puppet Trump (boy, did Hillary call it in the 2016 Campaign debate!) But whether or not Trump is history before, by, or just after the end of 2019, America has some serious rebuilding to do from the damage he, the GOP, meddling billionaire donors, Murdoch, Putin, and perhaps others have caused.

Neptune

Then there's the unaspected Neptune in 6th house (Civil, Military, Police Services) still floating through its own shady sign of Pisces but here with a materialistic view of the world for Neptune's usual lofty inspiration is not shared with the others planets--and Neptune's deep sense of isolation increases as its dreams are kept to itself.

Sun, Moon, Nodes, Midpoints

Now I shall briefly mention the midpoints affecting Trump's natal Moon-SN conjunction (or his Sun-NN opposite along with natal Uranus in Gemini) but suffice to say that difficulties ensue caused by Mars-Saturn and Mars-Pluto in the 22--24 degree range of Sagittarius.

Saturn, Pluto, Vertex

Plus, restrictive Saturn is at a critical degree (20Cap) and transformative Pluto @22Cap11 conjoins the natal Vertex of Donald Trump as the two heavy weights ready for their Great Conjunction on January 12, 2020 @22Cap46--spot-on Big T's natal Vertex of fated encounters.

December 2019 Solar Eclipse Themes

Now the initial 3 South Solar Eclipse on August 13, 1208 OS @27Leo10 conjoins the natal degree of Trump's rising Mars (and his ASC 29Leo and royal Regulus) and 1208's Pluto @10Leo15 conjoins Trump's natal Pluto (10Leo02). Therefore, Trump's birth in 1946 basically timed a Pluto Return to the initial eclipse that began the 3 South Saros Series with the following eclipse themes listed, below (which are also penned upon the chart, top center). Plus, a Solar Eclipse in Saturn-ruled Capricorn is all about authority figures and our relationship to them. Karmic progress via the correction of past mistakes is possible only if the negative, constrictive traits of Capricorn are avoided such as selfishness and greed within the realms of government and business. Sadly, that greedy horse left America's selfish barn years ago but this eclipse in Capricorn gives the American people another chance for karmic improvement! Now here are the 3 South Themes:

'Sudden endings of associations or relationships, possibly involving a younger person; traumatic transformation through news received or short journeys undertaken via Pluto content in the initial eclipse' (paraphrasing Brady's Predictive Astrology). And as I said, August 1208's Pluto in Leo = Trump's natal 12th house Pluto--unaspected in his natal chart and "overshadowed by shadows." (For historical comparison, 3 South eclipses also occurred in the years 1911, 1929, 1947, 1965, 1983, 2001, and will again in 2038.)

So yes! For the sake of America and the common good, yours truly is cheering for Donald Trump--to clear outta Dodge before the sheriff arrives if he knows what's good for 'im. And take his sidekick Pence with 'im.

A Very Much Related Previous Post: Will Regulus Assure the Destiny of Donald Trump? with the royal star's caution, "success if revenge is avoided." Too late for that!

Documenting Donald Trump's Lies: Do Americans Care About the Truth? with Guest Daniel Dale

Recently I caught a TV interview with Toronto Star's Daniel Dale and was encouraged by the thought that someone objective was keeping such close tabs on the many lies of prevaricator Donald Trump. Other journalists are doing so as well, of course, but I do like the cut of Mr. Dale's jib.

Yet after all, it isn't as if multiple astrologers hadn't warned over and over about Trump's unfitness for office, his loose relationship with the truth, his magical thinking tendency that allows him to live in his own fantasy-prone world in spite of reality, his misconceptions, and loose-lips-sink-ships indiscretion--all unfortunate features of being born under a Mercury-Neptune square without other chart factors to mitigate the difficulties. And you know that Trump's inability to hear others and his lamentable resistance to learning and lack of curiosity can also fit neatly under the Mercury-Neptune-square umbrella with cloudy, confused Neptune permanently stuffing cotton balls in his Mercurial ears and brain cavity. It's an umbrella he can't close.

Then there's his natal Saturn, karmic planet of realism, authenticity, authority, responsibility, accountability, and limits. However, Mr. Trump's natal Saturn is in its detriment in the Moon-ruled sign of Cancer, a hypersensitive placement full of discontent (Moon-Saturn), a bottomless need for approval, defensiveness, and attachment to material possessions.

And of course, with dysfunctional Saturn in a natal chart and psyche, Papa is always implicated unless Mama wore the pants in the family but in Big T's case, a Cancerian Saturn points toward both members of the parental unit. Sorrowfully adding to the drama, Baby Donnie even sports from birth a dreaded Moon-South-Node conjunction, a Lunar-Saturnian combination suggesting early estrangement from Mom. Talk about a big mess!

Add to all this Trump's negative Geminian tendencies toward duplicity and superficiality, his lack of morals, shifting standards and then, thanks to the 2016 Election, the American people are yoked to a raging dumpster fire in the Oval Office--hunkering down, lashing out, and blaming anyone but the one person responsible for his current woes.

Now who was it said Reality Bites?

And yet we know that, tragically, as Donald Trump goes, so goes America. But does he remind you of an embarrassing trail of bathroom tissue stuck to the bottom of America's shoe? Me, too.

Even so, we'll keep our chins up while checking out an informative segment from the Thom Hartmann program featuring an interview with Daniel Dale himself. And maybe with the help of a still-breathing US Justice Department we can snuff out the raging dumpster fire, its lies, crimes, sabotage, scandals, insults and all!

Saturn hits Trump's Mercury-Neptune Square twice more

October 1, 2018: just a note to say that twice more this year will transit Saturn in early Capricorn 'hit', activate, or limit Donald Trump's natal Mercury-Neptune square of fantasy, falsehood, indiscretion, and misguided perceptions. Saturn represents truth, reality, accountability, authenticity, the legal system, systems in general, and The Establishment along with karmic rewards or losses, whichever applies.

On November 11, 2018, transit Saturn @5Cap50 squares his natal Neptune (5Lib50 in natal 2nd house) at 4:11 am est in Washington DC with trump's natal Jupiter 17Lib27 SD rising. Transit Pluto @19Cap10 sits upon the IC (19Cap34) of this DC horoscope so Saturn rules the 4th house. The Moon @2Cap41 nears Saturn, a pair indicating emotional depression, or alternately, ambition, direction, and strategy. The 12th house of Politics and Karma holds Trump's natal Neptune and his natal Chiron, the Wound or Blind Spot, which sits between his Jupiter and Neptune, the pair of speculation, grand dreams, fraud, over-promising, Ponzi and other get-rich-quick schemes.

Then on December 10, 2018, transit Saturn @8Cap51 again opposes Trump's natal Mercury (8Can51 in his natal 11th house of Associations and Groups). This time, Luna is again in Capricorn but has left Saturn and nestles up against powerful Pluto (enraged women? abortion issues?). Lady Venus, direct and back in sexy, brooding Scorpio after her recent retrograde sojourn in her own sign of Libra, rises @4Sc049 and rules 12th and 7th houses in the opposition chart. Dogmatic bluntness is a feature of the December 10th chart (Sun Sag-Moon Cap) while the November 11th chart with its Scorpio vibes naturally shows more judgmental, control, and detective leanings. One who shares the Sun Sco-Moon Cap blend is Marcel Ophuls who aptly reminds us that,

"Puritanism...helps us enjoy our misery while we are inflicting it on others."

Or perhaps it should be author George Eliot (Mary Ann Evens: Sun Sco-Moon Cap) with the final quote in this Trump-related post since her observation aptly describes so many members of the modern political class including our erstwhile Mr. Trump:

"He was like a cock who thought the sun had risen to hear him crow."

For more information on the effects of the 2018 Saturn transits to Trump's problematic Mercury-Neptune square try this previous post which includes all the dates that transit Saturn squared and opposed his natal Mercury-Neptune, the planetary pair of illusion, confusion, and delusion.

Related Posts: The Saturn Return of Mr. Trump: Authority Challenged and, to prepare for 2019 so soon upon us, try the background noise of The Lunar and Solar Eclipses of 2019 with Themes.

Astro-Notes on the Natal Mercury of Donald Trump

The Objective Truth and Mr. Trump

by Jude Cowell

To my March 2018 post concerning the natal Mercury of Donald Trump and its position of '8 Cancer' in Carelli's Degrees (which is spot-on if you haven't read it), here are some basic facts about Mercury in Moon-ruled Cancer which seem to me to particularly apply to Donald Trump who continues to tease about sitting down for an 'interview' with Special Counsel Robert Mueller in the ongoing RussiaGate inquiry. For as you know, astrological Mercury, our mutable and changeable 'tofu planet', rules many things...among them: the mind, thinking processes, teaching and learning, speech, hearing and all the senses, interviews, testimonies, perjury, negotiations, oaths, decisions, news, gossip, tweets and communications of all sorts along with commerce, trade, travel, and theft:

Mercury in Cancer indicates a mind that is influenced by deep-seated emotional patterns and desires which cause one to look at some facts while ignoring others. This allows bias, prejudice, a lack of objectivity, and incorrect judgments to result. A good memory may be denoted due to the emotional intensity associated with various thoughts and learning often occurs through osmosis rather than by traditional teaching methods. The osmosis accounts in part for his tendency to 'listen to the last thing he heard someone say' and then to spout it as his own thought which can change in a flash due to high susceptibility to the thoughts, opinions, and attitudes of those in his environment (ex: FOX News). Emotional appeals hold particular sway over Mercury in Cancer's thinking with patriotism on the top of the list (Cancer = home, homeland, family, mother, women, real estate, nurturing such as food, comfort, familiar surroundings). As you must have noticed, Mr. Trump exhibits 24/7 the Mercury in Cancer trait of believing that whatever is done or spoken within his environment is directed expressly or exclusively toward him.

Supremely subjective (and with me-first Mars rising), Trump also suffers from being stuck in the past with slights and injuries forever remembered (or imagined) although they may have blossomed beyond recognition into worse than was ever intended; meanwhile, present reality becomes distorted to the point of neurosis and a morbid imagination may be one of the outcomes.

If Mercury in Cancer is negatively afflicted as is his by a square from natal Neptune in Libra, untruthfulness, deceit, and a self-created fantasy world are prevalent such as we see through Trump's Mercury afflicted (squared) by nebulous Neptune, planet of lies, falsehoods, deceit, fraud, loss, misconception, fantasy, tall tales, self-deception, gas lighting, and confusion. These Neptunian effects are made stronger due to the fact that the square from Neptune is his Mercury's only planetary aspect so no other planet adds what could have been a speck of objectivity to his thinking via 'tofu planet' Mercury which soaks up whatever it touches. For Mr. Trump, it only soaks up watery urge-to-merge Neptune!

And as astrologer Alan Oken aptly terms it, a Mercury-Neptune square is an aspect of "The Sneaky Mind" and whether the secretive Mr. Trump tells lies unconsciously or not, Hillary Clinton's natal Mercury-Saturn square in the White House would have been more serious, studious, and fact-based than the morass of deceit, betrayal, and disappointment America stews in now as stirred by Donald Trump--these days always operating in pearl-clutching mode because he can't keep up with all the lies he's told and is afraid to be challenged over his many tall tales.

Recommended Reading: The Astrologer's Handbook by Sakoian and Acker.

Above photo: speedy little Mercury (NASA)

Late June 2018: Sun-Saturn opposition and a Full Moon

On June 27, 2018, Saturn and the Sun oppose one another across the Cancer-Capricorn axis thus fulfilling the promise (or threat!) of their previous conjunction which perfected near if not on Winter Solstice 2017. For transit Saturn had entered his own sign of Capricorn on December 19, 2017 and enjoyed a cozy tete-a-tete with the Cardinal Ingress Sun on December 21, 2017. A variety of political, legal, and business-related events occurred in that month--who am I kidding, in that year, thanks to Trump--and their effects naturally have lasted into 2018 and beyond, plus, these cosmic energies are imprinted upon the Trump 'administration' for its duration along with the eclipses and their themes which have preceded and occurred during his inauguration and his time in the Oval Office.

So with the June 27th Sun-Saturn opposition we may expect a sense of fulfillment, culmination, or at least an awareness such as any Full Moon brings, therefore, the events during late 2017 will turn up in the news cycle again for some level of resolution or completion. Yet separation is also a feature of the Sun-Saturn duo and of any opposition.

As for past issues that may turn up for airing there are three events of December 2017 that I easily remember: Alabama's Senate election being won by Democrat Doug Jones (and not Roy Moore!), Trump's pal Michael Flynn pleading guilty to lying to the F.B.I. and agreeing to cooperate with the Trump-Russia investigation, and Trump's initial pronouncement that, not Tel Aviv, but Jerusalem is the rightful capital of Israel and that the US embassy would be subsequently relocated there. It was just in time to fulfill the 70-year Biblical prophecy.

See December 6, 2017's Why Moving the US Embassy to Jerusalem Is Controversial.

However, with this post let's limit (Saturn!) our consideration to the June 28th Full Moon (see below) and the Sun-Saturn pair of planetary energies which brings in America's natal Sun-Saturn square of July 4, 1776 for any mention of the pair here on Stars Over Washington most always come with a fresh reminder of that dynamic aspect between the 1776 Sun (leadership) and our national exalted-in-Libra Saturn (lawmakers, lawyers, government officials, the judicial system, mid-level managers, authorities, seniors, and such). The square describes our nation's early struggles for authenticity and the reality of becoming a nation, struggles which eventually gave way to maturity, stability, and a tradition of measured decisions and dependability that many may agree have now been forfeited.

For it doesn't help our cause that the travails of Mr. Trump continue to involve Saturnian issues of authority, authenticity, loyalty, leadership, laws, honesty, steadiness, realism, and truth while transit Saturn demands accountability from him for his past (Saturn) actions. We find threads of this current struggle in the consideration of how transit Saturn in early Capricorn is in process of making a series of oppositions to Trump's natal Mercury (8Can51) while simultaneously squaring his natal Neptune (6Libra) which places the 'reality' TV star's fantasy-prone Mercury-Neptune square under scrutiny of Saturn's truth-demanding rays while placing karmic obstacles (square) against his Neptunian dreams and impractical or unorthodox ideas. For Trump it's all about appearances and PR yet this can never satisfy realistic Saturn who demands substance, honesty, and measurable results.

Actually, the next exact aspect from karmic Saturn to his unstable Mercury-Neptune square perfects on the very June 27, 2018 of which we now speak when tr Saturn squares Trump's natal Neptune--and then again on November 11, 2018. Completing 2018, a final opposition from Saturn to Trump's natal Mercury perfects on December 10, 2018 marking a period when his anger and frustration are likely to rise to an even higher pitch due to limitations and restrictions, all thanks to sober, no-nonsense Saturn, planet of The Establishment. The Letter of the Law comes to mind along with the fact (Saturn) that in America no man is above the law. Or at least, we say so quite regularly.

Sun-Saturn-Jupiter

Now over and above Mr. Trump, by way of the June 27, 2018 Sun-Saturn opposition we actually have a two-fer transit affecting or activating America's natal Jupiter (5Can56--'6Cancer' = "Game Birds Feathering Their Nests" an apt description of the Trump 'administration'). Transit Sun conjoining US natal Jupiter brings a brief period of dramatic or flamboyant events (old news with camera hog Trump, I know) when long distance travel, foreigners, and associated issues are emphasized, finances, expansion, and/or development come into sharper focus, and the judicial system is prominent--already the case, yes, but add the weightier opposition from tr Saturn, planet of karma, and a culmination or fulfillment stage, as noted, is perfecting so that what has been sown will be reaped. Plus, with Saturn opposing US natal Jupiter a period arrives when past failures and neglect of responsibility are featured (and perhaps are brought before the court--or will long-neglected bridges fall?), plus, it's a time when rules, regulations, and/or laws may haunt (or convict) those who flaunt them. Ongoing are challenges from authorities who question integrity, honesty, and/or leadership while success-at-any-cost methods tend to result in loss more than gain.

Of course, all these cosmic influences can be affected or moderated by other planetary transits and progressions--and on the physical plane by those who blackmail others in order to keep the demands of legal Saturn abated, delayed, or denied. Yes, Washington DC tends to run on blackmail and there are many who would speak out against the current crop of criminals if they could but they are held in check by threats and intimidation if not outright bribery and pay-offs.

June 28, 2018 Full Moon @6Cap28 12:52:54 am edt

This Full Moon is the culmination stage of the June 13, 2018 New Moon @22Gemini44--conjunct the natal Sun of Donald Trump--and conjunct America's natal Mars (note the militaristic events surrounding the recent Trump-Kim 'Summit' in Singapore, a 'new phase' in US-NK relations). Since Trump was born on June 14 (1946) this lunation was basically a New Moon in his Solar Return 2018 chart, a birthday gift from The Cosmos. A new cycle of activity in his solar year is indicated by such a fortunate condition which we previously discussed via Trump's Solar Return 2018 with His June 26th New Moon (horoscopes shown). It seems that cosmic synchronicity abounds these days for Donald Trump and therefore, for the American people. His fate is our own, more's the pity, though some continue to insist that this is a good thing. We'll see.

Well, that's my post on the upcoming Sun-Saturn opposition, US leadership, and the June 28, 2018 Full Moon, such as it is. My ongoing recuperation from eye surgery makes it difficult to spend much time in front of a computer screen so I'll close for now with the hope that this post has given either of you a little food for thought as we ponder the fate of our compromised, sold-out nation. jc

For more information concerning beautiful Saturn, don't miss astronomer Brian Ventrudo's helpful Guide To Seeing Saturn in 2018 for the ringed beauty will be 'above the Teapot' in late June!

Related: DC Horoscopes: All Four Cardinal Ingresses of 2018.

On Donald Trump as Clumsy Liar

Well, planet Neptune flowing through its own sign of Pisces is busy veiling the truth on a daily basis! And now that the tally of Donald Trump's lies has surpassed 3,000 since January 20, 2017, the serial lies of the demagogue-in-chief are, at times, unbelievable and sometimes only petty yet his fans can't seem to muster a care. Linked below is a May 5th segment from CNN's Anderson Cooper which asks, does anyone care when Trump lies?

And an accompanying analysis by CNN's Gregory Krieg chimes in with How can Trump lie so much and be 'authentic' at the same time? Here's an explanation which in title alone attempts to mush together two antithetical elements for any astrologer: Saturnian authenticity with Neptunian deception. Meanwhile, I've always been told that truth mixed with a little falsehood is a lie, not a truth, yet we know that in the practice of Politics, a half-truth is very often a useful tool, even before Mr. Trump grabbed the Oval Office spotlight and coup'd the bully pulpit.

Well, all this fact vs fiction turmoil has brought on a quote from my all-time favorite journalist and one of my favorite writers, Mark Twain, whose following words are from his On The Decay of the Art of Lying, a tongue-in-cheek affair...or is it? In it Mr. Twain bemoans "the growing prevalence of the brutal truth" so see what you think but do not fret--for we may safely assume that Mr. Trump has never bothered to read such words as these, and besides--he never needed to since he comes by his lying talent naturally as seen by the square (blockage) between his natal Mercury (communications; thinking processes; news) and natal Neptune (lies, deceit; obfuscation; cheating; fakery). Yes, his 'carnival barker' and 'snake oil salesman' personas come from deep within, are applauded by his brash and rising Mars in dramatic Leo, sign of the showman, and are cheerfully supported by his bright Sun-NN-Uranus trio in duplicitous Gemini, Mercurial sign of the trickster.

Now here's Samuel Clemons, aka, Mark Twain:

Lying is universal--we all do it. Therefore, the wise thing is for us diligently to train ourselves to lie thoughtfully, judiciously; to lie with a good object, and not an evil one; to lie for others' advantage, and not our own; to lie healingly, charitably, humanely, not cruelly, hurtfully, maliciously; to lie gracefully and graciously, not awkwardly and clumsily; to lie firmly, frankly, squarely, with head erect, not haltingly, tortuously, with pusillanimous mien, as being ashamed of our high calling. Then shall we be rid of the rank and pestilent truth that is rotting the land; then shall we be great and good and beautiful, and worthy dwellers in a world where even benign Nature habitually lies, except when she promises execrable weather. (My italics.)

Rotting the land? Then maybe Donald Trump has read Twain's words and internalized them as 'authentic' with a spirit of Saturnian seriousness for rotting the land of America seems to be part of Trump's mission--with a lot of help from complicit, overly compromised Republicans.

Related: do you know that 'Mark Twain' shares a double Fire personality blend with recent Pulitzer Prize winning journalist Ronan Farrow? And if you've never seen it, here's a view of Samuel Clemons' C-Rated natal horoscope for the curious.