for the four weeks beginning DECEMBER 10, 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 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. 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. 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.
Libsolar
This ingress, overlaying mid-October to mid-January, is volatile, combative, and confrontational. Angular Pluto brings many of the year's themes to a head. Moon conjoins Mars within half a degree for Washington: This is outright bloody (in parts of the world, literally spilling blood and counting bodies); yet the conjunction closely squares Mercury, so the "bloodying" we see will be especially with words and disclosures from data streams, documents, and the press and other publications. A close Mercury-Uranus PVP opposition signals discoveries and revelations. These start spilling forth at an accelerated pace through the last half of October and into early November and the elections.
A late hurricane season will impact the Gulf. Saturn is on IC near New Orleans and through the Mississippi Valley where the worst effects will land. Neptune (in the west) and Pluto (in the east) are the only other two planets crossing large swaths of continental U.S., so local climate and cultural crises can be expected. Most worrisome is Pluto on IC along the coast from North Carolina to New York City, while squaring Ascendant in New England. The eastern seaboard, therefore, is as vulnerable to severe autumn storms blowing off the Atlantic as is the Gulf.
MEDIUM-TERM PATTERNS (The Bridge)
All month is a PLUTO Zone. This reiterates and concentrates Pluto elements in the Capsolar interpretation above, continuing to bring primary themes of the year to a head for several weeks.
Much of the month, though, is far more severe and treacherous. December 22-29 joins Mars and Saturn with Pluto. December 30 to January 1 continues with just SATURN-PLUTO, then Mars joins again January 6 and continuing into the next astrological month. Saturn's involvement is that progressed Cansolar Moon squares Saturn.
Mars, though, identifies the worst (most severe, assailing, conflictual, and likely deadly) in this Saturn-Pluto time. From December 22-29, Mars transits Cansolar angles.Within this, December 26-29 Mars also transits Cansolar Moon. This combination of Mars simultaneously transiting a solar ingress Moon AND angle have coincided in the past with history-rocking assassinations and deadly, fiery explosives, the convergence of the two amplifying the severity. That this occurs under a Moon-Saturn progression and under a Pluto transit makes it historically, singularly intense, with an element of overthrowing or downfall.
SHORT-TERM (Lunar Ingress) PATTERNS
Caplunar (Dec 10)
The Caplunar covers December 10 to January 6, especially the first week, December 10-17. It's primary feature is a partile Saturn-Uranus mundane square with Saturn 2°38' from Ascendant and Uranus 1°52' from IC. From this aspect we always expect bubble-bursting forced confrontation with harsh reality. Most mundane manifestations of this aspect center in loss + explosion or their psychological equivalents. These will be the hallmarks of this uncertain, disruptive month.
In theory, we expect tension of opposing factions and wide swings between opposites (e.g., freedom vs. restriction, liberality vs. conservatism, a struggle between forces of change and the status quo), with political and practical gridlock until one side gains dominance. We should watch for these to expand our knowledge of the aspect; but the most likely events are the ones described above.
Something harsh, startling, disillusioning, and destabilizing is likely to hit the populace. Moon, closely conjunct Eastpoint, is in mundane aspect to a Venus-Pluto square, anticipating much more than partisan divisiveness, e.g., tensions concerning our relationships with specific foreign powers. Most often, Venus-Pluto pairings mark final, heart-breaking loss, especially the severing of emotional ties to people and places.
Mercury has mundane aspects with Mars (0°03') and Neptune (1°14') that do not exist ecliptically, meaning they are geographically bound to the capital. Besides transportation-themed difficulties, these are consistent with confusing, disequilibrating occurrences such as bomb explosions.
Saturn rises along the entire eastern coastline, with Saturn-Uranus converging at the coast of North Carolina. Here and nearby will be acutely vulnerable, as will be southern Florida and Boston. Three malefics intersect in Minnesota promising unusual hardship.
Saturn crosses CapQ IC 12/12 and squares its Ascendant the next day, when it also begins to square CanQ Moon, which crosses CapQ Ascendant 12/15. These concentrate the worst of the week.
Arilunar (Dec 17)
The Arilunar covers December 17-24. Uranus sets the tone for the week: It squares Ascendant (1°53') and conjoins Moon (1°15' in mundo).
With Uranus leading, we expect explosion, either literal or metaphorical. Sudden rupture or eruption, shock, surprise, explosiveness, and overflowing normal boundaries and limitations are its unique contributions. Many of these events involve disclosures and revelations.
These core themes generalize through several types of destructive events, including bombs and other literal explosions, mining disasters, vehicular collisions, earthquakes, floods, and building collapses. Uranus events more actively caused by people include surprise attacks, changes in foreign relationships, and changes in leadership.
Keep an eye on western Kansas and nearby areas. Mars scars the entire California coast, so expect fires (even this late in the season) and comparable destructive acts,
No important CapQ crossings occur this week.
Canlunar (Dec 24)
The Canlunar covers December 24-30. The chart is primarily dominated by a single planet, Venus rising in Libra. Two other factors have minor input: Sun is in PVP square to Venus, reinforcing its importance, and Moon opposes Pluto widely (3°56' in mundo).
Since this chart forms on Christmas Eve, and before a week of traditional holiday observances, the easiest prediction is that people are truly happy and social right now, taking opportunities to celebrate. Expect more of an old fashion Christmas with warm wishes and hopes for peace on Earth and good will toward all.
Regardless of time of year, Venus brings peace, love, and other causes for celebration. She directs attention to relationships between nations, our connections to allies and enemies.
The one lump of coal in the chart is that background, wide Moon-Pluto opposition. It suggests events of unusual intensity that set us back on our heels a bit. Given the orb and the broader trend, I don't expect a major event from it. Nonetheless, as we approach those years when Moon-Pluto aspects will appear in every lunar ingress, we should anticipate something stark and confrontive to push its way through the holiday cheer and insist we put our attention on something real and serious.
Pluto concentrates most strongly on Christmas Eve, or a day either side.
Liblunar (Dec 30)
The Liblunar covers December 30 to January 6. After a pleasant Christmas week, New Year's Eve greets us with treachery and harshness. Mars rises (1°45') with Neptune a few degrees above the same angle. Moon opposes Uranus worldwide (3°37').
First, then, we know that as this Christmas season was probably unusually gay, this New Year's Eve will center around a harder push at over-doing things, with rumbles and ruckuses, more auto accidents, and a bit of danger.
Mars foreground instills a general air of crisis or assault, and appears for a wide range of hurtful events. These can include fires, quakes, other rages of nature, and violent explosions and accidents. High profile deaths by inflammatory illness or violence, significant military and police activity, and actions causing great violence and damage. Notice that the Mars line passes through the center of New Jersey, close to both New York City and Philadelphia, sites of concentrated, high visibility New Year celebrations.
Neptune draws out some of the worst sides of this, filtering Mars' surging adrenaline through the distorting and amplifying filters of heightened emotion. A typical response is panic or over-response in general. Mars + Neptune brings increasing risk of treachery, sabotage, other betrayal, poisoned relationships, and scandal.
Filtering Moon's opposition to Uranus through this Mars (or Mars-Neptune) adds the startling or surprise quality of psychological bombshells. For example, we might expect surprise attacks intended to blindside their target.
Sun crosses CapQ IC 12/30, putting maximum attention on the president. Uranus squares quotidian MC 1/2, blowing stagnant things open to light of day.
