for the four weeks beginning SEPTEMBER 19, 2018
If you are unfamiliar with the methods and interpretations of Sidereal mundane astrology, please see my free book Sidereal Mundane Astrology. (A link to the current edition can 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 portrays 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 issue of 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. (Expect much mob-like emotional frenzy from political rallies this summer.) 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)
All month is a PLUTO Zone (transiting Pluto squares Capsolar Ascendant). This reiterates and concentrates Pluto elements in the Capsolar interpretation above.
Beginning Oct 13, transiting Saturn conjoins Capsolar Moon, changing this to a SATURN-PLUTO Zone. Periods of such Saturn transits (which lasts until 11/8, just after the U.S. midterm elections) reliably produce a few weeks when death, loss, sadness, sacrifice, and severe hardship dominate headlines worldwide, either from human action or the destructive impact of nature. Paired with Pluto for the U.S., this takes the form of harsh, dramatic hardship with a sometimes apocalyptic feel, such as catastrophic disasters with profound feelings of irrevocable loss or separation.
SHORT-TERM (Lunar Ingress) PATTERNS
Caplunar (Sep 19)
The Caplunar covers September 19 to October 16, especially the first week, September 19-26. A single aspect, a closely angular MARS SQUARE URANUS, defines the period. (Mars is 1°00' past IC, Uranus 2°16' before Descendant, and they are 0°12' from exact ecliptical square.)
In a word, Mars-Uranus squares are explosive, bringing startling violence, surprise attacks, and psychological (if not physical) “bombshells.” The planets of fire + explosion anticipate bombs and collisions. These can be purely psychologically and verbal (it is an election year, after all) or can be physical explosions and attacks or sudden, raging natural disasters.
Widely angular Venus and Moon are unlikely to soften this. Rather, Moon and Venus likely identify the context or target, such as children or perhaps women figuring vividly in the events. For the U.S., this will bring particular sadness or occur under especially arduous, demanding conditions because Washington's Caplunar has a Sun-Saturn mundane square that does not exist for the world at large. Even though background, it is geographically localized, adding lead to the tragedy side of already heavily-tipped scales.
September 22-24 brings CapQ angles to PLUTO then SATURN, so especially hard news hits on these days. (JUPITER crosses CanQ Ascendant 9/23 but should not reverse this meaning. It may provide other details, e.g., judicial action is center stage.)
Arilunar (Sep 26)
The Arilunar covers September 26 to October 3. Neptune is solely angular, 2° from Ascendant; but the most striking feature is a T-square of Moon with Uranus (only 0°05' away), Venus, and Saturn.
Our best hope is that the main events anticipated by this ingress are due to the unfriendly combat of election season. Yet, September annually begins to unleash nature's storming fury; especially in a year when the Capsolar has a strong Moon-Saturn we must anticipate its lash. All of the Arilunar aspects are consistent with the month's Mars-Uranus-themed Caplunar.
Therefore, at best, the new week keeps us off balance and repeatedly scrambling for solid footing. At worst, it forces a bubble-bursting confrontation with harsh reality, as we try to scurry back into the psychological comfort of our lovely bubbles.
Angular Neptune always signals extreme excitement, the insanity of a crowd whether at a sports event or acting as a mob: madness, panic, confusion, uncertainty, and disorientation. Events stir doubt and uncertainty about the near future.
Moon-Uranus, the other strongest influence, signals sudden, shifting conditions. Changing circumstances (whether environmental or social changes) require quick adaptation and reorientation, new learning, and new, nonreflexive responses. To this, Moon-Saturn adds hardship, sacrifice, loss, sadness, and disappointment, probably with an emphasis on alienation and divisiveness. Whatever happens, people are not helping each other. Contrasting Uranus and Saturn themes provide all the conditions of a highly polarized election season, including wide polar swings (freedom-restriction, liberality-conservatism, the forces of change vs. the status quo), so perhaps that is the whole of it. (But don't get too comfy with that possibility, given the tone of surprise and insecurity spread throughout this week's charts.)
Bringing Venus to the mix brings powerful emotions gripping the heart. In this chart, Moon-Venus does not mean peace, celebration, or kindness but, rather, powerful emotions in response to unstable, hurtful, and unhappy conditions. A central story in this fury may be about love itself. Otherwise, this planet-mix speaks of love coexisting with loss, spoiled fun, and a sense that “the party is over.” In this particular election season, hate and remorse themselves may take leading roles.
CapQ WP continues through Capsolar Moon-Mercury-Saturn for the first half of the week, triggering everything written above about these aspects in the Capsolar section. Angular SUN (squared by URANUS) on 9/30 puts the president especially in the spotlight.
Canlunar (Oct 3)
Due to two dormant lunar ingresses following, the Canlunar covers October 3-24. Additionally, the chart repeats the strongest features of the Caplunar, so it not only picks this last half of the month as when the main Caplunar themes will explode on the landscape, it also extends them an extra week into next month.
Uranus sets (1°51'). Mars is more widely on IC (3°49'). Their square is within 2° in mundo. Expect everything described for Mars-Uranus above, in the Caplunar section.
However, there are two important changes this week. Not only is Mars less acutely angular, Venus is much closer to an angle (0°27' from Eastpoint). Partly, this softens the tone. Perhaps in response to last week in particular, people are more focused on making a difficult situation better. Shifting relationships with other countries are always anticipated when Venus and Uranus are the two strongest planets (echoing their Capsolar foreground square) but, more broadly, this week starts letting people smile again and share something exciting and perhaps promising.
At the very least, last week's obscurity and uncertainty shakes out into greater clarity about the future, which might even give people motive to take that future into their own hands. Raucousness and disagreement this week are probably a healthy sign after last week's blur. That clarity probably comes from new information and clarifying facts, because Moon squares Mercury for Washington (0°09' in mundo). The media plays a large role in this, and itself is probably a big party of the stories of the week. Watch the news especially for anything about security of voting machines.
October 7-8 brings transiting URANUS to an angle, with PLUTO coming in on its heals. These will be disruptive days, concentrating the shocking focus of the week. Almost the same days (10/7-9) CanQ IC crosses Neptunes
Liblunar (Oct 9)
The Liblunar is dormant, which is a shame because the planets almost in the immediate foreground would have been interesting to interpret. (Instead, expect Mars-Jupiter news from Cuba.)
In any case, the Caplunar and Canlunar still characterize this new week. To the Caplunar and Canlunar expectations, add discovery & revelations as major themes of the week. Something that was secret becomes disclosed, and that's a pivot for whatever else happens.
CapQ MC squares PLUTO to start the week. Ingress URANUS crosses MC on 10/14. Expect the usual sorts of events (see SMA Chapter 8 if you want a list).
