for the four weeks beginning July 26, 2018
If you are unfamiliar with the methods and interpretations of Sidereal mundane astrology, see my free book Sidereal Mundane Astrology. (A link to the current edition can always be found near the top of the Publications sub-forum.) For standard interpretations, see Chapter 8 of the current (15th) Edition.
LONG-TERM (Solar Ingress) PATTERNS
The 12 months beginning January 15, 2018 are unstable, revolutionary, revising, remapping, anti-establishment, and often anti-government. Here are the highlights from the Capsolar (most of which have already been manifesting all year exactly as written in January):
Pluto (0°08') & Uranus (0°42') angular. A spirit of revolution assaults current systems, tearing at iconic structures. Victory in the 2018 elections will fall to those who present best as rebels. PLUTO: High-impact events that sever connections. Mainstream and counter-establishment sensibilities clash. Leader crises, financial crises, severing historic relations. Natural disasters include hurricanes, earthquakes, floods. URANUS: Explosions (literal or metaphorical); sudden rupture, shock, surprise, overflowing normal boundaries & limitations. Disclosures, revelations, surprise attacks, changes in leadership, protests, and revolts and their suppression.
Foreground SUN-VENUS-URANUS: Changes in foreign relations are a certainty. Shifting social values, including increased liberty in Venus matters. "Culture wars" kick up more intensely for the midterm elections. The voice of rebellion is concentrated on those in the highest office.
MOON conjoins MERCURY & SATURN. Expect economic narrowing and backtracking on the recovery: recession is not unthinkable. Capsolars had close Moon-Saturn aspects in 1819, 1837, and 2008, which should concern students of American money crises. Its record for violent inhumanity is heart-stopping. Climate destabilization will escalate faster in 2018 than in previous years, with tragic, life-smashing consequences.
- Mercury + Saturn. Restrictions, delays, failures, & calamity in transportation & communication. Communication fails for technical reasons & because people stop listening to each other. Information flow is interrupted & rationed. Data integrity is increasingly doubted; cybersecurity is a greater priority than cyber-expansion. Commerce is interrupted: More newspapers go out of business, more small businesses close their doors.
- Moon-Mercury: the media remains much of the story.
- Moon-Saturn: hardship, narrowing, sacrifice, loss, sadness, with few causes for celebration. Bereavement, deprivation, disappointment, destructive assaults by people & nature; other hardship centers primarily on alienation and divisiveness. It will be a good year for undertakers.
- Saturn in Sagittarius: Internationalism, immigration, aviation, elitism, hierarchical economic separation, & missiles dominate headlines.
Cansolar (July 17)
Moon exactly rises (0°22') in 0°16' PVP square to Neptune, part of a Moon-Venus-Neptune PVP T-square. Saturn is widely foreground. This construct primarily suggests passionate waves of populism sweeping us toward the fall elections.
Moon foreground shows powerful response by the masses feeling strongly about things, the herd’s collective will surging up powerfully from mass mind. Human-interest stories move the public emotionally to an unusual degree and children are highlighted in the news (so, for example, the current story about immigrant children being separated from their families likely will continue). Moon-Neptune reiterates extreme waves of emotional reaction, fervor, herd-mind arousal, and even hysteria accompanied by confusion, disorientation, uncertainty, and an undermined sense of security. Venus-Neptune signals intense devotion, passionate belief, compelling fantasy or role-playing, and performance art; disillusionment, betrayed alliances, perceived offenses, and diplomatic embarrassment.
MEDIUM-TERM PATTERNS (The Bridge)
July 26 to July 30 remains a SATURN-PLUTO Zone, as Saturn conjoins Capsolar Moon and Pluto squares Capsolar Ascendant. Harsh, dramatic tragedies or hardship (sometimes with an apocalyptic tone) bring profound feelings of irrevocable loss or separation. Do not overlook deadly weather events as possible outcomes. Times of Saturn's transit to solar ingress Moons or their progressions are stained with greater tragic death and hardship worldwide than average.
After July 30, the rest of the month is a PLUTO Zone. Pluto represents the unlikely and unprecedented, even the miraculous; but this "unlikely and unprecedented" has become our long-term baseline. Our "quiet norm" is still marked by almost daily high-impact news that stuns the senses and halts the mind, usually involving separation, severing of connection, division, or a confrontation between mainstream and counter-establishment sensibilities.
SHORT-TERM (Lunar Ingress) PATTERNS
Caplunar (July 26)
The Caplunar covers July 26 to August 23, especially July 26 to August 3. Sun closely sets, opposite (0°15') a rising Mars, both of them square a non-angular Uranus. Mercury is on Westpoint (0°32'), also opposite Mars (1°40'). Moon is widely conjunct Pluto.
This ingress places us in a state of emergency, poised and attentive, with no chance to relax vigilance. The tone is combative, with an emphasis on surprise attack and upsetting apple carts. Sun-Mars is aggressive and willing to fight, its events commonly being fiery, explosive, violent, and destructive. Sun-Uranus heightens the chance of explosiveness (psychologically if not physically) and is at least startling and derailing. Mars-Uranus ties these together with the "surprise attack" theme. Combativeness in Washington is only one possibility: Across the nation, wildfires will surely burn, perhaps at a record pace.
Conflictual Mercury themes will be context-appropriate. Transportation accidents grab headlines, while the press surely will come under heightened attack. It seems a time of abandoned diplomacy with limited opportunities to reconcile or find peace.
On 7/26-27, CanQ IC catches two Saturns. CapQ angles catch two Marses July 27, the day of a Sun-Mars opposition in space, so that's the most combative day of a combative week. In fact, July 26-28 will be downright bad.
Arilunar (Aug 3)
The Arilunar covers August 3-9. Jupiter squares Ascendant (0°30'), and Sun and Uranus are each 3° off Ascendant and MC, respectively. Jupiter squares the rising Sun ecliptically and (much more closely) Sun squares Uranus mundanely. Add an exact Mars-Uranus square, a close Mercury-Jupiter mundane square, and the favorable tilt of the Moon/Jupiter midpoint on the meridian.
Possibilities are numerous. In fact, a basic theme of these planets and aspects is future possibility. Planets portray the psychological state of bold, decisive new directions committed to a future of expanded possibilities. Tech marvels are part of this (or, at least, expect fabulous back-to-school computer deals!). If diplomacy works well any week this month, it will be this week. Expect bold moves furthering the expansions of business (especially large corporations). We come out of the week noticeably better than we go into it.
There are no QUOTIDIAN crossings this week.
Canlunar (Aug 9)
The Canlunar covers August 9-15. It will be a sad, emotionally haunting week for the nation. Neptune is the most angular planet, square Ascendant; this always signals emotional extremes, generally with confusion and more smoke than clarity. In the foreground, Venus squares Saturn (0°14'). Moon opposes Pluto. These are marks of amplified grief and loss.
Of course, fires raging across the nation and other climate-originated terrors are among leading possibilities. Some especially heart-wrenching news about the federally confiscated immigrant children may hit the news (or something with a similar emotional force). The market probably looks more like a bear than a bull this week. Most broadly, powerful love coexists with severe loss, fun is spoiled, and there is a sense that “the party is over.” Hate, remorse, and loss of alliance prevail over kinship. People hurt emotionally.
August 9 has better portents than the rest of the week, with CapQ MC square transiting Jupiter and some Mercury. Jupiter repeats on the 13th, joined by Neptune. (Jupiter does not fit with everything else unless the Canlunar portents involve weather crises.) August 11-15, CanQ angles cross various Plutos, which is more representative of the feel of the times.
Liblunar (Aug 15)
The Liblunar covers August 15-23. The ingress chart feels like a week of frustrations and aggravations. Sun, 0°03' from Descendant, squares Neptune (1°20' PVP). Mercury opposes Mars mundanely (both much closer to the horizon than they look ecliptically). Also mundanely, Moon opposes Uranus.
If this were a personal lunar return, we might expect to show a little more ego and generally be "too big for our britches;" not divisive per se, but rather aggravating and uncooperative. That spirit probably will prevail.
Most often, angular Sun concentrates attention on a head of state, the government in general, or other local ego-hubs of authority. Aspected by Neptune, the key themes are maelstrom-like chaos and disorientation. Mercury-Mars, besides suggesting vehicular accidents and violent ferocity of the air (it is hurricane season, after all) is tactical and positioning, impeding diplomacy or even agreement. In an atmosphere of nobody quite knowing what's so, agreements are tough to reach and shouldn't be trusted if they manifest.
CapQ MC squares Mars & Asc squares Neptune 8/17: Aggravations tip up to toxic hostilities for a couple of days. 8/18 & 8/22 CanQ angles cross Sun, echoing main theme of the Liblunar. Also 8/22, CanQ MC opposes the nearly stationary transiting Mars.
