Astrological Services and Information
By Janet Booth
Tuesday
Today’s Rating: 1 MR Today’s Message:
It may seem like affection or support is being withheld. Many people will respond by withdrawing rather than confronting. Evening holds the greatest potential for conflict or a clash of values. Harsh words spoken then are likely to reverberate into tomorrow.
Days are rated 1 – 5 (1 = most challenging; 5 = easiest)
MR = Mercury Retrograde
By Janet Booth
Monday
Today’s Rating: 3 MR Today’s Message:
Friendly overtures set the tone for a great day socially, whether that involves romance, business partners, friends or fellow members of a group. A healing or some form of improvement may be a happy side effect. Strive to have clear, realistic expectations.
Days are rated 1 – 5 (1 = most challenging; 5 = easiest)
MR = Mercury Retrograde
By Janet Booth
Sunday
Lunar Eclipse Full Moon 12:44 AM EDT, 13º38’ Capricorn
Today’s Rating: 2 P MR Today’s Message:
Enjoy the easy-going mood that graces the morning because it wears off by afternoon, replaced by complaints about unfairness. Attention turns to the big changes in process and how they’re ensconced in a stew of chaos. Everybody has a judgment and opinion.
Days are rated 1 – 5 (1 = most challenging; 5 = easiest)
P = Extra powerful version of the rating number
MR = Mercury Retrograde
By Janet Booth Leave a Comment
It’s our country’s “birthday” and not very often is there a Full Moon at the anniversary of our independence. It’s even more special if it’s a lunar eclipse! Since eclipses can repeat after nineteen years, this has happened before. A lunar eclipse occurred on July 4 in 1936. Repeats came within a day or two of the fourth, and thus in a 1-2° “orb” (or range of influence) of our “solar return” (the astrological equivalent of a birthday), in 1944, 1963, 1982, 2001 and 2020, which is the last in this series.
With such a big deal as a lunar eclipse on a birthday, we’d expect big events to be associated with it or to occur “around” that time (possibly months before or after). Looking back, we indeed see these years have indeed been very important.
1936
We were in the midst of the New Deal during the Depression and the three-year “dust bowl” was coming to an end. Gone With The Wind was published. African-American athlete Jesse Owens won the 100-meter dash at the Berlin Olympics. The US joined an international brigade to help fight for Spain in the Spanish Civil War.
1944
The tide was turning in the Allies’ favor in WWII with D Day and the liberation of Guam. The gang rape of a black mother by six white men in Alabama, and the failure to indict any of them, provokes nationwide protest and activism among the African-American community. FDR was re-elected for an unprecedented fourth term (which he would not complete). A Supreme Court decision ended “white primaries” in the South in which only whites could vote.
1963
Travel, financial and commercial transactions between the US and Cuba are outlawed. In George Wallace’s inaugural speech as governor of Alabama, he proclaims, “Segregation now, segregation tomorrow, and segregation forever!” amidst a year of major Civil Rights protests. The Supreme Court rules that state courts must provide counsel in criminal cases for defendants who cannot afford their own attorneys, and that Bible-reading in schools in unconstitutional. And of course, the assassination of JFK was the biggest story in 1963.
1982
Amidst a powder keg of anti Asian-American animosity in Michigan, a young Chinese-American was beaten to death in a strip club at his bachelor party by two white auto-workers (a planet supervisor and his laid-off stepson), who thought he was Japanese and the cause of the declining American auto industry. An economic downturn from July 1981 to November 1982 was triggered by tight monetary policy in an attempt to fight inflation. (This was the worst economic downturn to date in the US since the Great Depression.) Democratic Speaker of the House Tip O’Neil and Republican President Ronald Reagan reach a deal to cut spending and raise taxes. After November election, the stock market soars to a new high.
2001
The giant game-changing story of 2001 was the terrorist attack on 9/11, so you might not remember other key events. For instance, despite a recession beginning in March, a giant tax cut favoring the wealthy was passed in May and signed into law in early June, two days after Vermont Senator Jim Jeffords left the Republican Party, shifting control of the Senate to Democrats. In April, an unarmed Black teenager was shot in a police pursuit (wanted on misdemeanors like driving without a seat belt), sparking four days of protest and unrest considered the largest urban disturbance in the US since the 1992 Watts uprising. Following 9/11, the Patriot Act gave sweeping surveillance powers to the government, infringing on 4th Amendment privacy rights. The US invaded Afghanistan, President Bush withdrew the US from the Anti-Ballistic Missile Treaty, and China was granted permanent normal trade status with the US.
2020
President Trump was impeached by the House of Representatives for attempting to withhold aid to a foreign government in exchange for information he hoped would affect the upcoming election. He was not convicted by Republican Senators, who refused to hear witness testimony. A virus pandemic enveloped the globe and the US has failed in its response, reaching record cases and deaths. Black Lives Matter marches have continued non-stop since the Memorial Day murder of George Floyd, an unarmed Black man suspected of passing a forged $20 bill. Just ahead of our birthday, news emerged of Russian bounties paid to Taliban fighters to kill American soldiers in Afghanistan, where the 19-year-long war continues. The President claimed not to know and now seems disinclined to do anything about it. And we’re only half-way through 2020.
The US was born with Mercury in retrograde and we seem to repeat some of the same situations over and over, not learning our lesson. Get ready for more of that. Mercury was ending a backtrack at the 2000 election and remember that hanging chad debacle? Mercury ends its retrograde this November on Election Day, too; don’t be surprised by unclear results or disputed vote counts.
Mercury is retrograde at our birthday, a time when the influences present extend their sway for the coming year. We should think twice before doing anything major to try to avoid what we might regret. Mercury is in a troublesome “T-square” pattern across from the Moon, both perpendicular to the duo of Mars and Chiron, which are a little over 5° apart. Mercury in Cancer inclines us to be whiny and express our feelings, although the Moon in mature Capricorn counters with a stiff upper lip. The Mars-Chiron combo adds gripes about illness or wounds. These two are in Aries, fomenting heated discussions with hurtful potential.
Mars, Aries’ ruling planet, spends the second half of 2020 in a long visit in its home sign due to a retrograde there beginning mid-September. Arguments and impatience are likely to cause trouble and the possibility of armed conflict or martial law are not out of the question, although not necessarily occurring in America. Hong Kong comes to mind as a hotspot and this lunar eclipse is accentuated on the North/South line there. The Middle East is always precarious, as well. At the summer solstice (providing indications for the summer season), Mars and Chiron lines enclosed Israel, Jordon, Lebanon and Syria. When Mars entered Aries on June 27, one of its lines ran right through the Straits of Hormuz, through which a fifth of the world’s oil travels.
This year, we can’t get away from the Jupiter-Pluto conjunction in Capricorn, which promises big changes in finances, governments, laws and international relations. Pluto also happens to rule viruses and death. The second of three occurrences was on June 29 (the first being April 4 and the last coming November 12). Throughout their alignment, both are square Eris, the dwarf planet of discord and rivalry. Mars joined in the fray around the time of the spring equinox as it passed through Capricorn and will add to the trouble when it joins Eris in Aries three times: August 17, October 3 and December 22. Seeing this coming down the pike and noting the lunar eclipse at our birthday, last fall in my 2020 Highlights, I remarked “Holy Uncle-Samoly!” not knowing what all would develop. Current events are even more dramatic than anything I could imagine, and who knows what’s coming next. Enjoy the fireworks!
By Janet Booth
With Mercury Retrograde, it’s an appropriate time to revisit something written earlier. So I dug up my post from three years ago and found it’s still interesting reading and rather prescient. See what you think.
July 3, 2017
Uncle Sam’s Foreboding Birthday
The USA was born of rebellion and to this day, protesting is in our blood. Somebody’s always fighting about something somewhere – we’re a rowdy bunch. In the nation’s birth chart, we see this signaled by our Moon (one’s emotional nature and what one feeds on or hungers for) in the sign Aquarius. (While the Moon is important in any chart, it’s especially so when the Sun sign is Cancer, ruled by the Moon. Born in early July, the USA has the Sun in Cancer.) Aquarius is the sign ruled by Uranus, the planet of the common man, and is the sign positioned opposite Leo, the royal sign. We united in opposition to the crown and declared all men to be equal, as the most egalitarian sign, Aquarius, would be prone to do! Uranus, said to rule revolution, was discovered in 1781, about midway between the revolutions in America (beginning in 1774) and in France (1789). Some charts for the USA (including the one I usually use) are based on an early morning time when Uranus was rising at the eastern horizon, which is a key position in any chart and indicates what is being manifested. I think this fits well with our national character, but since there is not a definitive, agreed-upon time for the USA’s birth, I will restrict this analysis to apply to July 4, 1776 in general, no matter what time.
A key planet related to fighting is, of course, Mars, named for the god of war. At our inception, it was in Gemini, a sign of communication. “Them’s fighting words,” old Westerns used to say, although sometimes we battle with more than our tongues. Gemini is also a sign of siblings and neighbors. In some instances during our Civil War, brother fought against brother and neighbor against neighbor. Gemini’s ruling planet, Mercury, is named for the messenger of the gods, who also carried a moneybag. Astrology associates Mercury with commerce. In America, business has long been a bone of contention. In fact, our first act of war was heaving the Brits’ tea into Boston harbor. Mars is situated in the USA chart about halfway between Uranus and Venus at their “midpoint” (which blends their influences). Venus shows what one loves; we love to rebel and we do so with our words and wits (Mars in Gemini).
The Sun in a country’s chart represents its leader, even if not a king; there’s a regal or high-ranking implication (the Sun rules Leo). At the USA’s birth, the Sun was in a 90-degree angle (indicating friction) relative to Saturn, the planet of rules and the law. Saturn was in Libra, the sign of equality and justice. Our tenant is no one is above the law, not even our President. This Sun-Saturn abrasion also represents limitations (think of Saturn’s rings) that affect our leader or even our nation as a whole (the Sun in a chart indicates identity, one’s very being).
The USA is blessed to have the two planets most favored by ancient astrologers, Venus and Jupiter, paired only 5 degrees apart at the signing of the Declaration of Independence. Big and bright and the easiest of the planets to spot in the night sky, they were dubbed “benefics” (good do-ers), and indeed their combination often yields positive results. They herald the bounty and riches of our nation. Our “bread basket,” love of country and “family values” are consistent with the sign Cancer, where Venus and Jupiter joined. The iconic American Dream is to achieve abundance, usually thought to include home ownership (Cancer rules real estate).
Three Presidents of the modern era were all born relatively near a solar eclipse in the summer of 1946 at 6°49’ Cancer, only a degree away from Jupiter’s position at the USA’s birth. This solar eclipse was 7 degrees from George W. Bush’s Sun, 2 degrees from Donald Trump’s Mercury, and less than a degree from Bill Clinton’s Midheaven (the important top point of a chart, indicating career and status). All three men present Jupiter’s qualities of hope, humor and homespun philosophy, which America found appealing enough to put them in the White House.
However, also in the summer of 1946, Chiron, an asteroid nicknamed “the Wounded Healer,” was traveling in Libra, teamed up with big Jupiter, which magnifies all that it contacts. Both Jupiter and Chiron came to the USA’s Saturn degree, 90° from the USA’s Sun. This can be interpreted as each of these men, born with their natal Jupiter and Chiron activating the USA’s Saturn-Sun abrasion, present the potential for big harm to the respect (Saturn) of the country’s highest position (Sun). Of these three Presidents, Trump’s Chiron is closest to the USA’s Saturn and thus the injury he can do may exceed the wounds of the other two. Thus far, we have seen Clinton nearly thrown out of office over a lie and Bush taking us into the prolonged and basically unwinnable Iraq war based on a lie (that Saddam Hussein had weapons of mass destruction, which were never found). Will a lie, or perhaps his many lies, also be the undoing of Trump? Time will tell. And the time may be upon us before long. To add a little spice to this stew, consider that Vladimir Putin’s Sun is in Libra only a degree from the USA Saturn and exactly 90 degrees from the USA Sun. He is not a friend to America and he may well play a role in the unfolding drama.
The USA’s 2017 Birthday
The Moon at our birthday is in Scorpio, the sign of transformation and evolution, a water sign signifying deep emotions. The Moon is a key indicator of the people, and as our country’s Sun-sign ruler, it definitely signifies the populace. We are shifting and our feelings are an important part of the process. Women, also related to the Moon, will play a key role in the coming changes.
At our birthday, Jupiter is in Libra, close to the exact degree of the USA’s Saturn and Trump’s Chiron (both 9 degrees from the square to the USA Sun). Jupiter closes in on that degree about a week later, around July 12 (the exact date depends on the unknown USA birth time but it’s within a day or two, at the most, of the 12th). Jupiter is famous for bringing things out into the open. Keep your eyes on Putin’s and Trump’s first face-to-face meeting as world leaders on July 7 or 8 (details to be determined) at the G20 Summit in Hamburg, midway between our July 4 birthday and the July 12-ish Jupiter visit. Whatever these two do or do not discuss may not seem tremendously significant at the time, but I suspect it will set some wheels in motion that will turn out to be very important. It probably won’t be a love-fest since Venus is in a rough relationship with Jupiter at the USA’s 2017 birthday. Although these two had a good relationship at the nation’s birth, the current connection isn’t likely to deliver the wished-for goodies since it activates the difficult link between the natal and birthday Sun with natal Saturn. Venus is the planet of values. Russia’s clash with America’s, but whose will Trump tout? So far, he hasn’t criticized Russia or Putin on any issues. But an altercation may be in the offing. Mercury and Mars are conjunct at our birthday, roughly 6-7 degrees apart, echoing the USA natal Mars in Mercury-ruled Gemini. Lots of heated discussions are in store, as is our wont. We love our fightin’ words, which is where we started this discussion. And oh, by the way, Trump’s Sun is at the degree of the USA Mars. He exemplifies our pugilistic nature. And rather than making American great again, it’s more like he’s at war with the nation he was elected to lead.