America's initial Mars-Pluto Cycle

by Jude Cowell

Recently, we discussed America's initial Mercury-Pluto and Mars-Neptune Cycles. Another significant planetary cycle for our country is the forceful, dynamic Mars-Pluto Cycle, a pair that tends to carry karmic undertones within:

America's Mars-Pluto Cycle, shown above, began with their conjunction on December 24, 1775 @25Cap:35:17 during what were combustible times full of war, brutality, violent assaults, forcible suppression, oppression, subversion, injuries, and death. Yet also in those Revolutionary days, daring and courage were shown by many, along with feats of superhuman strength. Astrologically speaking, when Mars, planet of desire, is the stronger planet within the Mars-Pluto duo, energies tend toward the selfish, greedy, egotistical side but when transpersonal planet Pluto directs the action via highly developed individuals, such base desires are kept under control so that tremendous powers of regeneration are possible and which can actually benefit humanity.

Of course in more modern times, for most Americans it's unsurprising that our nation's Mars-Pluto Cycle in governmental Capricorn, ruled by karmic planet Saturn, directly connects to such things as FDR's Arsenal of Democracy speech and the campaign it announced because weapons of war, the distributing and sales of them, and the implication of protecting the national security of America were and are part of the Pentagon's mission, its reason for existence. 'Spreading Democracy' around the globe is America's typical justification for waging war and carrying out various operations, yet deception and progaganda tend to be necessary in order to hoodwink the American people into supporting and fighting the wars of old men. Motivation is everything, and plundering the resources (and the women) of other lands is a tactic as old as the hills - and unfortunately, the US military has been turned into a gargantuan jobs program which assures warmongers such as private contractors and mercenaries that their gravy trains will continue chugging along the same old crooked tracks.

Now part of it all in relation to the forceful, brutal Mars-Pluto duo, is the fact that US Mars turned retrograde ('Rx') by progression in 2006 - once in multi-tasking Gemini in 1776 and ready for action, then through the years Mars symbolically progressed through Cancer, Leo, Virgo, and into Libra, thereby activating concerns over the moral weaknesses of others. This condition has led to inwardly turned energies and aggression (exs: mass shootings; police violence against non-violent citizens; police officers assaulted on Jan 6th; US soldiers disabled in war, misogyny, pedophilia, hypocrisy, underhanded behavior, anti-social activities such as Klan marches, online relationships instead of real world ones, and more). Obviously, such a Rx condition is frustrating for activist Mars (aka, 'the shooter', 'the assassin', 'the arsonist'), for Mars is the planet that embodies the concept of energetic forward movement. Why, activism is his jam!

Powerful If Invisible Pluto the Plutocrat

Meanwhile, US Pluto was already Rx in 1776 (pulling strings from abroad?) but with the ongoing US Pluto Return all through 2022, powerful plutonian energies are activated in a titanic way, and, thanks to our Mercury-Pluto opposition of 1776, surveillance and the power of secret knowledge are even more prominent in society, with America's 1776 Mercury being opposed once again (in 'real time') by transit Pluto. This transit provides us with an intense, troubled, transitional period of chaos, disruption, and turmoil when investigation, research, secret information, disinformation, and power-seeking are top of the national menu. And this, just as America's structures, systems, traditions, and social fabric are under extreme duress thanks to entities both foreign and domestic. As you've noticed, America as a 'failed state' is the primary goal of saboteurs and it long has been.

Then to make matters more complex, confusing, eroding, and subversive, transit Neptune in Pisces has chimed in by opposing US 1776 Neptune in Virgo with its persecution vibes and a global clash of ideals and beliefs - and that, across the victim-savior Virgo-Pisces axis, with the exploitation of the masses via the utilization of corruption and fraud an ongoing issue for our country, and across the world.

Karma: A Natural Law of Consequences That Even America Can't Evade Forever

Admittedly yes, as a descendant of CSA soldiers, my belief is that promoters of a new version of the old Confederacy now play an integral role in the current campaign to sabotage our federal government, and to divide and conqueror the American people just as such hidden forces did in the mid-1800s (hint: international banking houses and war profiteers, the corporatists of their day). Meanwhile, malevolent, opportunistic operatives have had their own selfish motives for enabling the splitting of America into factions, grudge-filled hatred being one of them, then and now. How very 'Mars-Pluto' of them.

Old Man Capricorn = Government, Law, and Business

Now my suspicion is that everyone following political events through the venerable lens of Astrology knows that the 21-to-30-degree range of Capricorn is highly sensitized these days, not the least of which is due to the harsh, compressive Saturn-Pluto Conjunction of January 12, 2020. Recommended is a 'noon' Horoscope of The Confederacy 1861 where you'll find a cooperative Venus-North-Node conjunction @23Capricorn of 'like-minded individuals'. Plus, here's a link to the Confederate Constitution Horoscope of March 11, 1861 with its North Node @21Cap02 - 'hit' by the January 12, 2020 Great Conjunction of Saturn and Pluto (with NN: 'misery of the masses' - R. Ebertin). Note that the post contains a link to the text of the 1861 document as provided by the Avalon Project. It's a fanciful relic that today's saboteurs are determined to re-animate.

So as you know, eclipse cycles and historical cycles can be compared for they relate to one another in ways that I often refer to as 'cosmic time links'. Therefore, when comparing earthly events with the cosmic occurrences which reflect them during certain periods of history (and considering that "1776" was one of the code words during the January 6, 2021 coup attempt still ongoing), a Timeline of the Revolutionary War might just come in handy.

And as Thom Hartmann always reminds us, "Democracy is not a spectator sport - get out there and get active!"

In 2022: A Frothy New Cycle of Goals Explained Away

Of Midterms, Gaslighting, and Glittering Fairy Dust

by Jude Cowell

Above: a NASA image of the lovely, dreamy Neptune now in Pisces

Tuesday September 28, 2021: As you know, on April 12, 2022 the frothy Jupiter-Neptune cycle of speculation, bubbles, waste, and/or idealism and inspiration begins over again @23Pis59 as it does about every 13 years. If you wish you can view the conjunction's DC Horoscope here or here.

You'll remember that their last Great Conjunction was a three-fer in Air all through 2009 under the presidency of Barack Obama with their energies landing upon US natal Moon (for those who use a July 4, 1776 US Horoscope with Moon in Aquarius). As usual for the last few decades - and perhaps this very week in Congress we see again how Republicans spend like wastrels, gift the wealthy class with tax breaks, and leave Democrats to clean up the financial mess. Then in 2009, the GOP proceeded to criticize the limited methods available to President Obama (and VP Biden!) for repairing the hollowed out US economy as best they could. And then with the US economy patched up, the orange grifter took over the White House and you know how costly his four years have turned out to be as he increased fraud, corruption, and theft on every level.

So looking back, this inflationary planetary pair of gas and promises represented the year 2009 in America quite well with potentials for: "little sense of reality; desire to dream (some voters considered Mr. Obama dreamy!); becoming involved in speculation, instability, wastefulness' (R. Ebertin) - and that, coming soon after the Bush-Cheney Financial and Housing Crash of 2007/2008 which occurred under the previous Jupiter-Neptune Conjunction of 1997 @27Cap09 - conjunct US natal Pluto Rx! (Jupiter-Neptune = Pluto: 'unreasonable plans; far-reaching speculation; a great loss' (RE). From Noel Tyl add: 'major adjustment of life circumstances (ex: eviction); self-projection out of hand' (ex: the expansive neocon PNAC war profiteers - or, just 'good old' American imperialism and the Pentagon's Global Cop-ism) (Solar Arcs, Tyl; #ad). Neptunian graft, bribes, payoffs, blackmail, corruption, fraud, and theft.

So Will the 2022 Campaign Turn Up the Gaslighting? And Who'll Pay the Bills?

Disturbingly, 'a belief that goals and obligations can be explained away once you tire of them' can also be part of a Jupiter-Neptune scenario (M. Munkasey) along with 'frequent misjudgments about the reality of surrounding circumstances' leading to 'tremendous disillusionment' (A. Oken). Yes, misinformation, a polite word for propaganda (including the Big Lie) can do that to a population. One favored GOP tactic: wedge issues - and note that unfortunately the American public may be facing such disillusion again in 2022, especially - in my opinion - if chaos-creating Republicans have anything to do with it. Besides damaging personal finances and the National Treasury, it's the GOP's spiteful "own the libs," you know. Never mind what their malicious scheme does to the rest of us, to our country, the economy, and to the social fabric of society. Politics used to grasp wealth and power are the things.

Meanwhile, as noted today in the Stars Over Washington Reports FB group (join us!), the 'First Session' SCOTUS Horoscope shows a 24 Pisces Ascendant so the frothily gaseous duo's tendencies toward 'sharing great hopes' and 'speculation' will on some level affect the US Supreme Court and/or its Justices with inflated, bloated, or scandalous vibes - or, on the positive side a grand spirit will express. Of course, political conflicts also attach to the Jupiter-Neptune pairing and suggests the many complications expected during our vulnerable 2022 Midterms which will (apparently) be held on the very day of a Taurus Lunar Eclipse at the "Swords vs Torches" degree. So besides 2022 being a 'Jupiter-Neptune' year (this conjunction operative until March 24, 2035 @21Ari21), the 'Midterms Moon Eclipse' certainly casts a 'wild card' cosmic spotlight, perhaps a disruptive one, upon the 2022 Elections, election results, and on the US Congress, yes? Because As Above, So Below!

Jupiter Happily Expands Shadowy Neptune's Magical Wand of Fairy Dust

Meanwhile, mention ought to be made of the cosmic fact that the April 12, 2022 Jupiter-Neptune Conjunction in mystical Pisces is part of the tiresomely ongoing transit of Neptune in Pisces opposing US natal Neptune in Virgo @22Vir25 with its racial persecution vibes and pathological tendencies across the Virgo-Pisces victim-savior axis so let's throw caution to the wind and consider potentials for 'Jupiter-Neptune with more Neptune':

'Seeing events with a religious or holiness perspective; promoting strange or unclear theories; efforts to show others there's a spiritual side to life, and a life beyond physical or earthly reality' (Midpoints: Unleashing the Power of the Planets, Munkasey #ad.)

Now I don't know about you, dear reader, but to me this hints at an even greater increase of religious involvement in Politics as 2022 approaches, something overly bizarre that we've seen more and more in the last few years with odd notions that neglect or supercede for some the Founders' grand ideal of the separation of church and state. Therefore, with political planet Jupiter playing a codified-religion role and spiritual Neptune inflating, undermining, veiling, or infecting whatever it touches with its sparkly wand (often wielded by a complicit mass media and right-wing pundits and blowhards), my fret is that this increase will continue to be a signpost along the diverted path of theocracy America now treads with such influences partially and purposefully hidden as they currently may or may not be for much longer.

So when you cast your votes in November 2022, please be extra careful who you vote for - unless an unrecognizable America forcing authoritarian religion down your throat is your misbegotten goal.

~:~

Speaking of Neptunian fairy dust, here's my pencil portrait of 'Flower Fairy in Rain':

And here's one of my botanical pencil portraits of a tropical fish ensnared within the little fellow's dreamiest surroundings - he's a 'Victorian scalyfin'!

You're welcomed to view more botanical fish portraits in my online gallery Dreamyfish Art.

America is Facing a Toxic Political Fault Line - Thom Hartmann

Wednesday August 25, 2021: This August 24th segment from progressive broadcaster and author Thom Hartmann may be of interest to readers of Stars Over Washington:

As transit Neptune, planet of contagion and paranoia, continues floating through its own sign of Pisces, "toxic" is definitely one of the operative words for our besieged America these days especially since transit Neptune opposes US natal Neptune in Virgo, a long-time-coming opposition stuffed full of karma, loss, disappointment, regret, and persecution. And speaking of the US economy -

Also see Spring and Summer 2021: the Path of Benefic Jupiter (Mr. Moneybags).

And here, as an artful tribute to oceanic Neptune and imaginative, fishy Pisces, is my botanical depiction of an Ornate Butterfish floating in from my online Dreamyfish Art collection of pencil portraits:

The Jupiter-Neptune Conjunctions of 2009 and 2022

Tricky Legalisms, Political Conflicts, Grand Schemes, and Bubbles

by Jude Cowell

January 25, 2021: Here's a lightly edited (for clarity) excerpt written in 2016 which concerns the frothy planetary pair of Jupiter and Neptune and their Great Conjunction/s of 2009:

"Now those readers who were reading Stars Over Washington in 2009 and before know that I have typed a large amount of words concerning Jupiter and Neptune as a pair of energies that represent potentials for 'the grand spirit, visions, big promises, flowery religious sentiments, subversion, surveillance, get-rich-quick schemes, fraud, waste, speculation, hypocrisy (Ebertin)--and irresponsible, abusive, or reckless financial mismanagement. Political conflicts are also within the realms of Jupiter-Neptune (ex: Republicans vowing failure for President Obama since Day One). Such readers may be familiar with astrological principles and if so, they have not missed the significant synchronicity of the three 2009 conjunctions of Jupiter and Neptune perfecting upon the US Moon in late Aquarius as seen on July 4, 1776: mundane US Moon = We the People.

The blend of this grand influence of the societal planet of expansion (Jupiter) and urge-to-merge Neptune (often a leader in fraud, falsehood, deception, smoke screens, masks, veils, loss, failure, theft, dissolution, contagion, mysticism, crime, and planet of The Masses, The Media, and propaganda) induced us in 2009+ to be exploited by our dreaminess, by falling into a swoon, having little sense of reality, becoming involved in speculation and fraud, losing ourselves in plans which brought waste, loss, and instability for a majority of the public (ex: the housing crisis). That America's natal Neptune @22Virgo conjunct fixed star Denebola (to go against society) obscures Barack Obama's natal Mars @22Virgo allowed the effective use of Jupiter-Neptune = natal Moon; meanwhile, those who were aware of the significance of such cosmic occurrences noticed that they timed and chimed with our newly elected "rock star" president (Mars-Neptune). This also relates to McConnell casting Neptunian shade over President Obama's natal Mars (motive, energy, action) to undermine him as every opportunity."

And with nebulous Neptune, as with Saturn, Uranus, and Pluto, the seductive, deceptive influences were karmic or fated for the American people (US Moon). And actually, those same influences have been operative through the hypnotic appeal of Donald Trump - for those who have been susceptible to his "charms." He's a real pied piper, y'know? However, the fumes of 2009's Jupiter-Neptune = Moon energies will dissipate by the next Jupiter-Neptune Conjunction of April 12, 2022 yet some effects may linger in the breeze since the 2022 conjunction perfects in mystical, shady, secretive, and perhaps compassionate Pisces, ruled, and some would say, co-ruled, by Neptune.

So below you see a dual chart of the third of three conjunctions of 2009 (lower left) along with the April 12, 2022 Jupiter-Neptune Conjunction @23Pis58 (upper right) which occurs under the Biden-Harris administration. Study notes are squished upon both charts if you care to enlarge the image and make them out; Solar Eclipses are penned on as well: 11 South (2009) and 5 New South (2022):

Any thoughts?

2018 Trump SOTU aftermath

During last evening's Trump SOTU Address, the PolitiFact server crashed as Americans fact checked Mr. Trump's remarks. His SOTU wasn't as depressing a speech as his Inaugural Address of January 20, 2017 but a 69% 'mostly false or pants-on-fire' rating in the truth department gives a majority of us little to crow over concerning last night's SOTU, the policies Trump touted, or the credit he erroneously assumed as his own (better economic and jobs numbers belong to Barack Obama).

Of course in Astrology, falsehoods (aka, lies) are the province of nebulous Neptune and with America's natal Neptune @23Virgo rising last evening at 9:00 pm est, a 69% rating for lack of accuracy can be no surprise. Even the US natal Mars, which problematically squares US Neptune, at Midheaven is in the dual and duplicity sign of Gemini and is conjoined by Donald Trump's natal Sun, also at SOTU Midheaven as he began his address. This put Trump's natal Moon-South Node conjunction at the IC of the SOTU chart along with starry Ras Alhague as you can see here. Note that the 29-degree chart-and-speech ruler Mercury applies to no other planets so Trump's 2018 SOTU address is likely to have little if any substantial impact. Perhaps the Neptune rising effect has something to do with it for the nebulous speech had no details, only wishful touting and, of course, the usual Trump boasting (propaganda).

All in all, last evening's SOTU with US Neptune rising square US Mars at MC served to place on the world stage Washington's warmongering and our national tendencies toward self-delusion, unreliability, and misdirected action. Am I crowing yet?

Nope I am not. And in retrospect, it seems that America's natal Neptune square Trump's Sun-Moon opposition was always going to be an unstable, illusory connection full of deception and unreliability. In Mundane Astrology, the Sun-Moon duo can represent such concepts as: pessimism flowing through the population, reading the attitude of the people while making public policy, national will forcefully imposed by leadership, and/or a loss of face in international politics. Well, Mr. Trump has not been shy about achieving that last one for it seems to be one of his primary goals.

So let's close by turning to Michael Munkasey's Midpoints: Unleashing the Power of the Planets for information on this planetary picture of America + Trump:

Trump natal Sun-Moon = US natal Neptune: delusions about what you can do or how hard you will work to do it. To which Noel Tyl adds: deception and discontent--and Ebertin's potentials: misunderstandings, illusions, deceptions, becoming easily upset, shared suffering, self-torment, the undermining of associations, and mistakes.

Doubting the bin Laden assassination story?

If all the governmental flip-flopping and murky details concerning the story of the raid and death of Osama bin Laden in Pakistan on May 1, 2011 seem fishy to you and a certain Why Now? feeling persists, you are not alone for Dr. Roberts joins you:

The Agendas Behind the Bin Laden News Event

By Paul Craig Roberts

In Washington-think, a 24% rise in approval rating justifies a staged event. #


Justice? Revenge? False flag op? News event to boost approval ratings and a 2012 election ploy? Siege of Waco and Stand-Off at Ruby Ridge deja-vu? Is our nation's Mars/Neptune square expressing its 'deceptive motivations and actions' side? Or, was it an 'honest' and 'successful' assassination (as if killing is something to crow about)? What do you think?

Further reading: Wiki's Waco Siege page.

Got Obama Disappointment? US Neptune = Obama's Mars

Writing in The Independent, Johann Hari presents The Real Reason Obama Has Let Us All Down (which translates into a Saturn vs Neptune face-off.)

Now I agree with the basic ideas Mr. Hari poses yet it seems to me that GOP undermining from Day One has something to do with how the Obama presidency has not been as effectual as most of us wanted it to be by now. The legendary American impatience is involved as well, yet the article certainly gives a run down of the areas and ways in which we have been disappointed by Barack Obama.

And if you've ever read this blog before (or study Astrology yourself) you may remember that I fretted quite a bit over the fact that America's natal Neptune 22Vir25 and Barack Obama's natal Mars are closely conjoined which, I thought - uh-oh! - would veil the public's eyes from seeing President Obama's actions and motives (Mars) for what they really were and are. The lack of clarity, fuzzy dreaminess, and adoration exhibited by 'rockstar Obama' voters in the early days of his term are so perfectly described by our shared Mars/Neptune conjunction that it isn't funny.

The whole situation isn't funny at all, of course, for those of us who wish America to continue in decent fashion. But the rose-colored sunglasses of glamorous Neptune have made it difficult to face the facts - even now, with a clear-eyed assessment of our disappointments (Neptune) with Obama's failures and deceptions (Neptune) laid out in an article such as Mr. Hari's. Yes, facts and accountability are the provinces of realistic Saturn and not part of Neptune's cloudy, watery realms at all.

But feeling let down is. Plus, US natal Neptune is in Virgo, the sign of work, health, and service!

Ex: If you and a friend were born with one's Mars conjoining the other's Neptune, it can be 99% guaranteed that 'clear-eyed' would not describe your relations and dealings unless the one with Neptune was spiritually honest and on the up'n'up - fraudless and genuine, you might say. And the person with Mars (planet of action, energy, and motivation) could easily get away with all manner of things - basically whatever he or she desired - a confusion which also falls into the 99% range of probability. Others might see the Mars person's true motives, but the Neptunian in the equation probably never would (and would prefer not to.)

Perhaps the walk-on-water Apollo sun god that many of us expected or dreamed of for all our problem-solving needs has had other things to do of a more...material nature. Such as taking care of the wealthy bankers and other power eliters who installed him in the White House. To imagine that it was simply we-the-people who put Mr. Obama in the Oval Office is yet another Neptunian delusion we need to break free from.

So when/if the GOP takes over the House and/or Senate next week, you won't be too surprised for it's another chapter in the globalists' America-down-the-drain script. Then once again, we-the-people will know (or should know) we're being royally had.

Financial Astrology 2009 - 2010: Saturn, Jupiter-Neptune

Master Financial Astrologer Ray Merriman has an article on Saturn's Realities and Jupiter/Neptune Hopes that takes us from 2009 into 2010.

Since financial cycles and astrological cycles may be understood in tandem and one used as a magnifying glass to read the other, I recommend Mr. Merriman's article to you, especially since the current media attention seems focused more on Jupiter/Neptune's dreams and grand schemes than on Saturnian practicalities and realism.

2009, year of the Great Conjunction/s of Jupiter and Neptune. This speculating and possibly religious pair's third and final conjunction will be on Dec 21, 2009 @ 24AQ18, conj US natal Moon (the people.) Shall I type out the midpoint picture this forms one more time? Okay.

Jup/Nep = US n Moon: an emotional swoon; going with the wind; dreaminess deceives; becoming involved in speculation (I know - we've been doing that for years, that's a big part of the problem - sheeple to the slaughter); little sense of reality (engrossing new films and TV shows help divert us; plus, power politics played in front of the cameras); losing oneself in plans; instability; wastefulness. (Tyl; Ebertin.)

2009 is also the year of transiting Saturn's late August-early September visit to America's Neptune in Virgo, sign of Health, Work, and Service (which includes our police and military forces.) This is the 'grim reality' transit - but everything Saturn *changes, for change he does, is necessary for owning up to truth, and for lessoning us into compliance with the way things really are.

"All good things must come to an end," was undoubtedly dictated by Saturn, old Cronos himself...to Mercury, **The Scribe.

But Washington, Wall Street and the gold-encrusted world banks are fighting having their culpabilities and weaknesses exposed, as Saturn always insists upon. Destructuring, transformative Pluto the saboteur is Rx again and in the first degree of Saturn-ruled Capricorn which adds to a general sense of doom, and that fated, karmic reaping-what-we-sow vibe.

Thing is, it was mainly the uppercrust who sowed sorriness, and the common folk are doing the reaping of the power elite's frauds and faulty thinking.

The good news is that Saturn-to-Neptune has the magical ability to bring dreams (Neptune) into Saturnian reality and form, so my wish is that it's Saturn the Grizzly Wizard coming along to create new jobs and opportunities which are more stable and long lasting than any dream we have previously imagined.

Our American character's Neptunian dreams and ideals are of a practical Virgoan nature, after all.

I don't think a decent job (Saturn) is too much to expect (Neptune)!

~:~


*One of the caps Saturn wears is The Time Keeper. He doesn't wear it jauntily either, but he does keep a stopwatch in his hand.

**Mercury/Saturn is 'the signature of the professional writer' as Noel Tyl informed me when consulting on my natal chart a few years back. jc