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You are here: Home / Archives for Pluto

December 22, 2021 By Janet Booth

Overlapping Mercury and Venus Retrogrades

For half of January 2022, Mercury will be retrograde at the same time as Venus is. Mercury is retrograde for 21 days, about half the duration of Venus’s 41-day retrograde. Such an overlap doesn’t happen every year. In fact, looking back to 2000, there were no such incidences through 2016. Beginning in 2017, it has happened 9 times in 14 years. So we can’t say this is rare but it’s also not something to which we’re accustomed.

We have a hard enough time when one or the other of these ordinarily quick planets backtracks and spends an extra long time in one small part of the zodiac. It’s doubly difficult when retrograde simultaneously. The information and communication mix-ups for which Mercury Retrograde is famous bleed into the arena of finances and relationships, which come under the purview of Venus. Are you getting the idea that January is not going to be a month where we charge ahead and make great progress?

Venus is retrograde 12/19/21 until 1/29/22. Mercury is retrograde 1/14 – 2/3/22. The two weeks they are both in reverse are from 1/14 – 1/29. And not only do their time frames overlap, the degrees where they zigzag also overlap, barely. Venus marched from 12º to 26º Capricorn before turning retrograde to repeat those degrees. Mercury descends from 10º Aquarius to 24º Capricorn before ascending through those degrees again. So that little 2-degree slice, 24º-26º Capricorn, has both Mercury and Venus passing through it three times.

This just happens to be in the neighborhood where Pluto is travelling at 25º-27º Capricorn. Both Venus and Mercury pass by Pluto three times. Venus joins Pluto on 12/11/21, 12/25/21 and 3/3/22 (this last time, Mars teams up with Venus and Pluto). Mercury gets together with Pluto on 12/30/21, 1/28/22 and 2/11/22. Pluto throws an additional monkey wrench into the works. As the planet related to banking, investments, insurance, taxes, the economy and all joint financial and shared monetary matters (while Venus relates to individual finances). With all three in Capricorn, the sign of rules, organizations, business and government, you can see the potential for big problems.

Add to this, Pluto isn’t finished with its 90º abrasion (“square” aspect in astrological lingo) with Eris, the dwarf planet of chaos and battles, known as a trouble-maker. Eris is S-L-O-W and spends a long time in any one degree. Currently, Eris is moving between 23º and 24º Aries. Pluto, which is associated with viruses and death, hit 24º Capricorn five times in 2020-2021 and its five squares with Eris correlated rather closely with waves of COVID-19. Apparently, we’re not done yet. Even though there won’t be another exact occurrence, their positions relative to one another are not far off that 90º mark and the bottom line is about the same. From early August through early November, Pluto is less than 2º from an exact square with Eris. And at the 10/25 Solar Eclipse, Mercury at 22-1/2º Libra forms a T-square with Pluto at 26º Capricorn and Eris at 24º Aries. Mercury rules the respiratory system and Libra is sign of the Air element, so the possibility exists that we might still be dealing with airborne viruses well into the fall of 2022.

Venus is square Eris 3 times, on 12/7/21, 12/30/21 and 2/26/22. These are points where partners could have disagreements or mistakes may be made in personal finances. In the midst of this, Mercury and Venus are conjunct on 12/29/21, a time around which we are reminded of our most important values and when we have a stronger chance of being tactful about any harsh realities we need to communicate.

The Venus-Eris square on 12/30/21 occurs close enough to the New Moon on 1/2/22 that it still is powerful then and impacts the following four-week lunar cycle. At the next New Moon on 2/1, Mercury sits at the 24º spot, 2 degrees from Pluto and square Eris by one degree, again a dicey indicator that affects the following four weeks. The New Moon on 3/2 finds Venus, Mars and Pluto around 27º Capricorn and all three square Eris with a leeway of 3-plus degrees from exact, still pretty darn close. Again, the following four weeks fall under their sway. So there go the first three months of the new year, a tough time for finances and relationships, and all forms of communication.

If you have planets in your chart in the range of 23º-28º of any sign, they’re being shaken up. In fact, the degree range of 24-26º has eleven key planetary phenomena happening in 2022, including the Lunar Eclipse on 5/16. Fasten your seat belt! Whatever your planet(s) indicate in your life is apt to get a lot of your attention and go through major changes this year.

You can find the dates of Venus’s and Mercury’s “stations” (turning points) and the exact degrees where they go retrograde and return to direct motion on 2022 On a Page, a free downloadable PDF at AstrologyBooth.com. You’ll also see those other occurrences at 24º-26º (be sure to read the note at the bottom about Eris).

Even though the dates when phenomena discussed are precise and are the most potent times, these influences are still strong for days before and after these dates. So stay on your toes!

Filed Under: Featured Post Tagged With: COVID, Eris, Mercury, Pluto, retrograde, Venus, virus

December 9, 2020 By Janet Booth Leave a Comment

Big Planets Big Meeting IS a Big Deal!

They are the two biggest planets in our solar system. On December 21, 2020, Jupiter will join Saturn. They do this dance every twenty years in what is called a Great Conjunction (conjunction means a coming together and “great” because they’re the biggest planets. Their cycle is the longest of the original planets, prior to the discoveries made possible by the invention of telescopes. So is this a big deal? In a word, YES!

There are two ways in which this conjunction is extraordinary. The first has to do with proximity. In their travel, planets go around the zodiac as well as up and down within a certain band-with. Not every time they reach the same point on the orbital racetrack are they at an equivalent vertical position, said to be “parallel.” Riding at the same elevation in the sky, they practically merge, appearing like one big star to the unaided eye. With magnification, Saturn will look like it is sitting atop Jupiter. That definitely does not happen every time the quicker giant planet overtakes its ringed neighbor. When I looked across more than eight centuries, from 1600 to 2420, there were only two other instances of Jupiter and Saturn appearing as one bright object, in 1623 and 2417. There were a half a dozen other times when they’re almost as close but are distinct: a trio of conjunctions in 1682-83, 1961, 2080 and 2140. Had you been alive in 1623, you probably could not have seen their merging because they were so close to the Sun they would be obscured by the Sun’s brilliance. If you’re young enough, you may live until 2080 and be able to check how close they are then (on March 14) – they wont be quite as close as this year. This is definitely the best viewing until 400 years from now. Maybe in a future incarnation you can see this very rare phenomenon again!

This article from EarthSky.org has a great explanation and helpful illustrations.

If you haven’t seen Jupiter and Saturn, you’re missing something!

Though they travel near one another in the zodiac for several months, more often than not, when Jupiter passes Saturn in their dual-decade dance, it happens just one time. Rarely, they join in a series of three instances, spaced months apart. You might think this is not so rare if you only examined the past hundred years, when there were two triplets, in 1940-41 and 1980-81. In the same period mentioned above, there were only three other triplets, in 1682-83, 2238-39 and 2279. This conjunction is not a triple but it’s special in another way, having to do with the element of the sign where it occurs.

Jupiter-Saturn meetings strike a drumbeat for cultural changes and developments, and this one holds the promise for a whole new era. The 2020 meet-up heralds the end of almost two centuries dominated by Jupiter-Saturn conjunctions in signs of the Earth element and ushers in a period of over a century when Jupiter’s and Saturn’s paths cross in Air signs. This is part of a long-term cycling through the four elements, usually with seven pairings in an element before migrating to the next.

The Earth element is associated with material objects, practical concerns, and wealth and tangible assets. The Earth era premiered with a Jupiter-Saturn conjunction in 1802, but it was followed by a throwback to the prior era with a conjunction in the Fire element in 1821. The long stretch of Earth conjunctions began in 1841. Soon afterward, transportation progressed from steamships to railroads, then trucks and automobiles, followed by airplanes and space travel. Communication technology developed beyond books, letters and newspapers to telegraphs, telephones and satellites. In the 20-year period from the first conjunction in an Air sign in 1980 to 2000, the last conjunction in an Earth sign, we added personal computers, the internet, cell phones and the Apple watch, which was only dreamed about in 1946 in the cartoon strip Dick Tracy. The growth of banks and financial institutions and the amassing of great personal or family fortunes accompanied these other advancements. And in the process, the earth itself has been abused and trashed. And in the last Earth period from 2000 to 2020, income disparity and the wealth gap between the “top one percent” and everyone else has skyrocketed.

We’ve now moved past the Industrial Revolution and Robber Barons of the Earth period and we’re living in the Information Age. Communication and information are associated with the Air element, as are relationships. As with every element, there are three signs in Air. Gemini correlates with education, neighborhoods and community. Libra is about connections (who you know), cooperation and fairness. Aquarius is the sign of friendship, associations, humankind and humanitarianism. The long period of Air sign conjunctions will run from 2020 to 2159, with an extension for two more cycles from 2179 to 2218, after which the prominent element shifts to Water. Thus this 2020 conjunction is the turning point, and is known as a Great Mutation, a Great Conjunction that shifts to a different element. People will matter more than things.

For forty years, since my early years of studying astrology, I have been waiting for this time of Air sign Jupiter-Saturn conjunctions. Living through the period initiated by the 1980-81 conjunctions, I was upset that we weren’t making enough progress in equality and fairness, and that we weren’t following the example of the first Earth Day in 1970. Reagan was elected in 1980 and removed the solar panels Jimmy Carter had installed on the White House. Racial tensions have not calmed down. Women have not ascended to an equal status. I had and continue to have high hopes, although reality has not always lived up to the ideal. (Jupiter relates to optimism; Saturn to realism. There’s always a balancing act between them.) With the conjunction at the first degree of Aquarius, I thought this would be the true beginning of the Age of Aquarius, a time of “brotherhood.” Many people erroneously think the Age of Aquarius occurred in the hippie days of the late ‘60s when the associated song came out. Actually, it’s an astronomical phenomenon related to a cycle of more than 26,000 years, with periods of approximately 2,160 years assigned to each of the twelve zodiac constellations according to where the spring equinox occurs. (Here are two articles, one I wrote and one written by a colleague, describing the Age of Aquarius in more depth.)

I do think we’re headed toward more equality and harmony among the people of the world, but it won’t happen immediately. What I didn’t anticipate was the extreme fight a dying breed would put up. Power in the hands of (mostly) white (mostly) men won’t easily yield to the demographics of an increasingly multi-racial population. And the trend, worldwide, toward more authoritarianism caught me off-guard. Capricorn is the sign of authority and control and Pluto is the planet of big bucks and power (which go hand-in-hand in America even more so since the Citizens United decision in 2010). Pluto moved into Capricorn in 2008 in the midst of the subprime mortgage crisis and ensuing Great Recession. But that didn’t quell rising wealth inequality. And during the pandemic, the uber-rich have gotten even richer and the poor, poorer. Governments have clamped down on the populace, especially in places like Hong Kong and Chile, but we’ve seen civil rights violations by unidentified armed federal agents attacking protestors in this country, too.

The trio of Jupiter, Saturn and Pluto traveling together through most of 2020 brought international (Jupiter) virus and death (Pluto) as well as restrictions (Saturn) and widespread (Jupiter) economic (Pluto) hardship (Saturn). The concentration of these three powerhouse planets in one sign has been too much! Saturn and Pluto are usually very difficult while Jupiter normally has a reputation of being beneficial. As the biggest planet, it’s main function is to expand whatever it’s contacting. So it made the bad stuff worse. We’ll be happy this combination ends before the New Year and the three planets start to spread out by the end of January. Had the Great Conjunction been in the final degree of Capricorn, the ripple effects of this heavy energy would have continued over the next two decades. Instead, because Jupiter and Saturn beat their drum in Aquarius, we have a Great Mutation and the beginning of a New Age. And none too soon.

Think about this: Aquarius = Aqua (water) + r + i + us = the connecting force of water + R (plural of to be: we aRe), shifting from I (Individuals) to Us (Unity).

Filed Under: Featured Post Tagged With: Age, Capricorn, conjunction, Jupiter, Mutation, Pluto, Saturn

March 28, 2020 By Janet Booth

The Capricorn Connection

On March 13, 2020, I wrote the following paragraph for a short article in the Astrological Society of Connecticut, Inc. newsletter [brackets indicate subsequent edits]:

Four major planets are now in Capricorn: the two “prime malefics,” Mars and Saturn [which has now moved temporarily into Aquarius, but will return to Capricorn], as well as a planet the ancients likely would have characterized as a malefic, Pluto. The lone benefic, Jupiter, is known as a magnifier and thus is not always a good influence. Keywords point to rapid (Mars) restrictions (Saturn) facing a mortal threat (Pluto) that is international (Jupiter). All the planets in Capricorn take turns being square to Eris, the dwarf planet of chaos and disruption, in Aries, a sign of fighting for survival. Capricorn relates to systems and governments, and the Mars-Saturn blend points to slow responses. This virus apparently affects the elderly (Saturn-ruled) the most. [A peak of the panic came] roughly around the full moon March 9 in Virgo (a health-related sign) when the Sun was conjunct Neptune in Pisces (the planet and sign associated with communicable diseases, fear and the unknown). The stock market (Pluto) was drastically (Jupiter) reduced (Saturn) very quickly (Mars). With hindsight, it is easy to interpret the signs. Did anyone see this coming?

After writing this, I added some more keywords: laws (Capricorn or Saturn) mandating enormous (Jupiter) expenditures (Pluto) were passed quickly (Mars).

Until COVID 19, I had not thought about what planet rules viruses. Usually for diseases, especially communicable ones, I think of Neptune. Right now, it is powerful in the sign it rules, Pisces, but it is not in any exact harsh aspects (angular relationships of influence). The important term there is “exact” because it is still “in orb” (in the range of potency, only a degree or two from a perfect angular relationship) of the semisquare with Uranus that had five occurrences from 2018-2019. Such a combination can mean an unusual (Uranus) illness (Neptune). This virus which has never before invaded humans certainly fits that bill. The Rulership Book by Rex E. Bills (1971) shows the ruler of viruses as Pluto (although it is listed in parentheses, meaning there is not agreement about it). This situation seems to confirm the role of Pluto.

Pluto, ruler of viruses, is in the middle of the main action in 2020. It receives three conjunctions from Jupiter, one each from Saturn, Mars and Ceres (the dwarf planet related to nurturing and support, as well as harvests and food production), and it makes five squares to Eris. Quick Mars contacts all these slower planets near the time of the spring equinox, significantly impacting the entire season.

The only astrologer I have encountered (though I have not searched them all) who mentioned a virus epidemic as a potential with the current Pluto aspects is British financial astrologer Cristeen Skinner in her January 2020 newsletter. In her March newsletter, she points to the April 7 full moon (the peak of the cycle which began at the March 24 new moon) as being very difficult for the USA chart with transiting Pluto opposite the USA natal Mercury. This aspect is in place for over a year, so this it is not only this full moon that is problematic. However, this full moon does make a wide Grand Cross with the USA natal Mercury-Pluto opposition, as did the full moon last October 13, which was in a precise T-square with transiting Pluto. (Transiting Pluto does not return to its natal position in the USA chart until 2022 but some astrologers think we are already feeling the effects, or at least the beginning of the major peak of economic issues and shift of structures, laws, etc., that the USA Pluto Return portends.)

Skinner did not point out how transiting Pluto – and its conjunctions by transiting Mars (March 2020), Jupiter (April, June and November 2020) and Saturn (January 2020) – is also opposite the natal Saturn-Venus conjunction in the chart of Donald Trump. Adding in Eris, there is an ongoing T-square, filled into a Grand Cross by the Moon in Libra at the April 7 full moon. The President is under tremendous pressure, obviously, and this may impact his health. The health-related asteroid Hygeia in his chart at 21° Aries is in a T-square with his Venus-Saturn conjunction at 23°-25° Cancer and his Vertex at 23° Capricorn, all accentuated by the current transits. For instance, Eris is at 23°-24° Aries for years. Ancient astrologers used the chart of the leader of a land to forecast what happened in the country. Following that tradition, we might expect the contraction, control and restriction features of Saturn, as applied what is associated with Venus (wealth, resources, peace, happiness), could be thrown into chaos (Eris), necessitating the rapid (Mars), big (Jupiter) changes (Pluto) in travel and international relations (Jupiter), affecting immigration and trade policies. Prior to the current pandemic, we already had a shake-up in trade from Trump-instituted policies and even without the virus, we would have been examining their progress and feasibility with the Jupiter-Pluto conjunctions of 2020.

Most of the astrologers I have encountered who discuss the Capricorn planets in light of the current economic and virus are focusing primarily on the Jupiter-Pluto conjunctions (the first of the three occurs on April 4) and sometimes throwing Saturn in, too. Based on this, they speculate that by the end of the year and the final Jupiter-Pluto conjunction on November 12, this virus will be mostly behind us. The only person I read mentioning Eris is Steven Forrest (see his ForrestAstrology blog). Like me, he thinks the squares from Jupiter and Pluto to Eris are significant. If that is the case, the Pluto squares extend into October of 2021, so I do not think we are “out of the woods” any time soon. Also frequently mentioned is the Saturn-Pluto conjunction, which occurred just once on January 12, followed quickly by the Saturn square to Eris on January 16 and the first Pluto square to Eris on January 26. As the ruling planet of Capricorn, Saturn casts its dark shadow on the dire circumstances signaled by these planetary connections emanating from Capricorn.

In a YouTube presentation as a guest of Lada Duncheva, discussing the virus and the economy, Lee Lehman examined the seasonal charts beginning last fall and going forward for two years. She see evidence of some kind of epidemic being present into 2022, whether it is COVID 19 or something else.

You might want to read the March 22 post by Anne Ortlee “We’re All in This Together” on her website and I have permission to share with you this excellent newsletter from Kathy Rose. And here’s another, from Tad Mann:

Like so many other astrologers, they do not allude to Eris. I do like their positive suggestions, though, for this challenging time when it is so important to not succumb to negative energy.

Our “new reality” is a huge departure from our old lives, one in which we will have to deal with the need to have better health care practices in place and take better care of ourselves and of one another, even at the monumental expense of government in its role to “provide for the common welfare.” One pundit I read remarked how ironic it is that to save capitalism, we need to employ some socialism. My dear friend, numerologist Sally Faubion, since 2000 has been talking about how 2 is the number of cooperation and it is replacing 1, the number of competition, in every date of every year of this century, compared to the last century. It is now time for “we” and “us” instead of “I, me, mine.” Wow, has that hit home since we entered the year with two 2s after a decade of “1” in every year number (2010-2019).

I also think it is important to remain positive and I believe that contributes to a strong immune system. A resilient approach to life will also be a key to sanity and survival now. We need to find humor amidst the craziness, and focus on love rather than fear. The nature of Jupiter is philosophical and optimistic, and I hold onto that now.

Pain is inevitable. Suffering is optional.
Dali Lama

© 2020, Janet Booth
You may reprint or share this post provided the author is cited.

Filed Under: Featured Post Tagged With: Capricorn, equinox, Eris, Jupiter, Mars, Pluto, Saturn, spring, virus

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