for a brief period beginning JANUARY 6, 2019
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 (16th) Edition.
LONG-TERM (Solar Ingress) PATTERNS
The 12 months beginning January 15, 2018 are coming to a close. They have been described remarkably well by the 2018 Capsolar. I repeat one last time what was predicted for the year now ending and invite your comparison of it to actual events.
We knew in advance that this year would be unstable, revolutionary, revising, remapping, anti-establishment, and often anti-government based on the following factors:
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.
MEDIUM-TERM PATTERNS (The Bridge)
The entire period is a SATURN-PLUTO zone. This combines the strongest themes from the 2018 Capsolar and brings its year to a climax. There is an engulfing severity and loss, a sense of a line having been crossed, a doorway passed through which we cannot go back.
From January 6-9, Mars joins Saturn-Pluto. Remarkably, Mars both opposes CanQ Moon and squares Capsolar Moon, especially within a day of January 7 when transiting Mars, CanQ Moon, and Cansolar Saturn are all exactly aligned (with Mercury a day joining them later). Such Mars-Moon transits (especially in the severe context of Saturn-Pluto) reliably bring violence, blood, fire, natural disasters, accidents, and other deadly destruction; in short, a sense of threat and crisis with real severity and damage. These likely involve obvious Mercury themes.
SHORT-TERM (Lunar Ingress) PATTERNS
Caplunar (Jan 6)
The Caplunar covers January 6 to February 2, especially the first week, January 6-14. Mercury sets (1°53'), square a non-foreground Mars. Jupiter squares Neptune (1°13') in the foreground.
With Mercury leading, we expect obvious themes of commerce, communication, transportation, and technology. In an era of ubiquitous news coverage, angular Mercury still distinguishes times that mobilize the news media much more than usual, with critical breaking news, "special broadcasts,” media events, and other forms of media saturation. With Mars' square, we expect this will have an unusual sense of threat and agitation (not to mention the greater vulnerability to travel tragedies and other transportation crises). All of this seems rather normal in today's life, but somehow it will be more acutely obvious during the period of this Caplunar.
Yet, it seems the Jupiter-Neptune will add the most distinctive flavor to the time. This is the aspect of compelling unreasoned optimism, which religion calls faith. Economically, it is inflationary: Despite current market pessimism, this could drive accelerated speculative investment (what most people call "gambling"). This aspect contrasts sharply with Mercury's serving of facts: One can expect belief-driven platforms seeking to overwhelm positions grounded in facts and reason. More generally, Jupiter-Neptune can mark events of powerful inspiration, faith, and idealism, passionate opposing bigotry, excess, over-abundance, immoderation, and glut.
Though the tone seems optimistic (unreasoningly and excessively so), Jupiter-Neptune also speaks of scandal. Skeletons well-hidden in closets may start rattling their bones.
The Northeast U.S. is open to drenching weather all month. Angularities in this Caplunar (partly echoed in later lunar ingresses) suggest mighty Atlantic storms off the NE will risk of flooding through much of New England. Inundation is also suggested for the area around New Orleans and nearby parts of Mississippi.
SATURN crosses CapQ IC 1/6, so expect a bad day for the folks in Washington and a brief downturn of optimism. However, the spotlight shines most intensely on 1/7-8 when transiting Sun conjoins CapQ Moon exactly on CapQ IC (with Saturn still in orb). Moon-Sun aspects can signal many specific kinds of events, especially those that spotlight national leaders (especially the chief executive), regulated matters that draw great attention from the government, matters of national pride, the institution of marriage, and cyclical phenomena such as acute stock market shifts.
Arilunar (Jan 14)
This will be discussed in US Forecast Jan 15 - Feb 2, 2019 here:
https://solunars.com/viewtopic.php?f=46&t=2806
, as is the continued success of Aquaman). 
when rock/roll takes center stage.
