JAE 2020 SSR

[Jim Eshelman]

My birthday is still five months away, but I think I owe it to all of you to give you a head's up. In these new, riskier times, my 2020 SSR likes quite dire in ways I will not be able to sidestep. The risk is especially to health. Given the likelihood of a stronger, more widespread virus resurgence in the fall and the announcement today of the first important mutation - to a much deadlier strain - I need to be as prepared as I can for the possibility that I won't make it to October 2021.

My health is pretty good overall. A couple of years ago I rolled back the biggest risks. I do still have a vulnerable breathing mechanism (asthma-like symptoms), though much improved. Other conditions are significantly better than before. I'm settled into an anti-inflammatory diet that sits well with me and is likely keeping me healthier.

I don't tolerate flu shots very well, but this year I will break my usual pattern and will get one as soon as it's offered just to fend off any unnecessary complexities or compounding conditions.

While my first choice is to get as much traction as possible from my the genes of my grandmother who lived past 100, if I half less than a year and a half to live, I have two main priorities. One is to give my wife the best future I can, which will be reasonably easy if I stay employed (health care for now, a very serious employer-supplied life insurance policy) plus (if the stock market doesn't entirely cave in) a large enough 401(k) that she could buy some time and reinvent herself. The other priority is to leave behind a solid platform for Sidereal astrology, preferably through a comprehensive, finely researched and delivered book. I've published the outline (and the layered development) that this book will follow and I know what I have to finish before I can start on the first layer (but it's difficult to do that with confidence under current circumstances).

Anyway, I suppose I better get the hell on with it. Hopefully this forum will continue after me and others can find a way to complete the primary work after me if I don't get it done first.

So... on with the details of my next SSR...

[Jim Eshelman]

The part of the SSR that I cannot avoid by relocating for my birthday is a series of Moon aspects that - in the simplest interpretation - can be very health-impacting, with potential marks of inflammation, injury and death. Not the only possibilities, of course, but I think my mind is rightfully there because preparing for this is the best shot at managing the whole range of possibilities.

Here is a lineup of planets:

22°28' Vir r Sun
23°34' Sag s Jupiter
26°15'Gem SSR Moon
27°13' Pis SSR Mars
27°28' Sag SSR Pluto
28°55' Sag r Mars
0°25' Cap SSR Saturn
1°20' Lib r Neptune
3°20' Can r Uranus
3°37' Can r Jupiter

As you can see, progressed Moon has several aspects, the closest of which are to two Marses and a Pluto that are all connected. By the SQ rate, it will perfect each of these aspects as follows

SSR Mars - November 5 [maybe I'll just be {nassed} about the election?]
SSR Pluto - November 13
r Mars - December 23
SSR Saturn - February 4
r Neptune - March 2
r Uranus - April 26
r Jupiter - May 5

If I can make it until about a year from today, it looks like I'm home free! Getting through two Marses, Pluto, Saturn, and my own Neptune to get there might be tough in pandemic times.

I haven't looked at lunars and other charts for these times. I'll do that later. It will be rough anyway, and I'll be fighting as necessary, but those are the high vulnerability dates.

[Jim Eshelman]

Concern is enhanced because, for Los Angeles, this is all angular: Eastpoint for my home is 29°23' Gemini. Measuring in RA, natal Mars is 0°03' from the angle. Other measurements are Saturn 1°09', Pluto 1°50', and Moon 2°54'. Transiting Mars is 5° off MC, natal Neptune a degree and a half off IC.

OTOH, there are some really positive things. There is an almost partile Sun-Jupiter square and, most importantly, Midheaven 3°18' Aries is minutes from square natal Jupiter-Uranus. Angularities are a mixed bag - it's only the Moon aspects that give deep concern.

Last fall, looking ahead, I thought we might want to get out of town for this one and the only spots I could find that fit are on the East Coast - Venus rising and another line for Venus square MC. Since I've never been to the Carolinas, I thought grabbing those Venus lines might be a lot of fun. We still might do that - although Venus might not be the kind of benefic I need this time. I might be better off with a mixed-bag where Jupiter is closest.

Therefore, I might not want to give up the Los Angeles area and the very angular natal Jupiter. Natal Jupiter would be exact to the minute 0°19' of longitude east of where I live - thus, at 118W00 - which (small a difference as it is) also lets Jupiter take over from natal Mars being the most angular planet with its 0°03' orb. 118W00 is the longitude of the intersection of Highways 10 ad 605 east of LA, roughly at El Monto (and points due north and south). Or just down the hill from Lone Pine on the western edge of Death Valley. This longitude moves natal Mars to a whole 0°15' from the angle.

I'd rather not go farther north, so El Monte it might be. An "I'm not sure which way this is going to go" transit is Uranus partile opposite natal Saturn. It's barely with orb of square Ascendant at my latitude but gets closer the farther north I go (e.g., almost partile for Lone Pine). Buena Park is exactly at 118W00, farther south, but makes very little difference in the Ascendant longitude. Huntington Beach is the farthest south we can go on land.

That's all fine stuff. The main point is that I may be better off staying in the general LA area and owning natal Jupiter-Uranus.

[Jim Eshelman]

For my residence (34N03'46", 118W18'47"), here is the full breakdown of the SSR (with the small stuff trimmed off the edges):

t Saturn on WP -1°09'
r Jupiter sq. MC -0°19'
r Mars on WP -0°03'
r Uranus sq. MC -0°02'
----------------------------
r Neptune on IC +1°23'
t Pluto on WP +1°50'

-- t Mars-Pluto sq. 0°15'
-- r Jupiter-Uranus 0°17'
-- t Uranus op. r Saturn 0°26'
-- t Pluto conj. r Mars 0°34' in mundo
-- t Pluto sq. r Neptune 0°35' in RA
-- t Saturn sq. r Neptune 0°56'
-- t Moon-Mars sq. 0°57'
-- t Moon-Pluto op. 1°04' in RA
-- t Saturn conj. r Mars 1°06' in RA
-- r Mars-Neptune sq. 1°11' in RA
-- t Moon-Jupiter op. 1°32' in mundo
-- t Moon sq. r Neptune 1°39' in RA
-- t Mars sq. r Mars 1°43'
-- r Uranus-Neptune 2°00'
-- r Jupiter-Neptune 2°16'
-- t Moon op. r Mars 2°40'
-- t Saturn op. r Uranus 2°55'
-- t Saturn-Pluto conj. 2°59' in RA
-- -- t Sa/Pl = EP 0°21'

s Moon sq. r Sun 3°48'

Other partile
t Saturn sq. r Sun 0°07' in mundo

[SteveS]

Jim, I understand where you are coming from with the acute Moon-Mars-Pluto aspects, but you have some possible mitigating Jup aspects. Have you looked at Marion's charts to see if she has any confirming symbolism which may/could symbolize your SSR is a danger to your health in a death related manner?

[Jim Eshelman]

Have you looked at Marion's charts to see if she has any confirming symbolism which may/could symbolize your SSR is a danger to your health in a death related manner?

Yes. It's a similar fence-sitting. Her upcoming SSR (end of this month) has Saturn exactly angular here (and a Lunar the same day with the same Saturn exactly rising). There is no getting Jupiter without some Saturn (or, for that matter, Saturn without some Jupiter).

Our current plan is to follow what has been working: Rely on 0°00' angle contacts for overwhelming predominance. In this case, instead of cutting to mid-Colorado for Uranus on an angle (and things might not be opened up yet), we're looking at a spot a little south of Big Sur (the tiny town of Lucia, CA) to put Jupiter 0°00' from square Ascendant event though Saturn is still 1°23' from IC. She'll then return here for Uranus 0°27' from WP, Saturn 1°46' from IC, Jupiter (conjunct Pluto) 6°32' from IC.

Presuming the "where it sets up is the dominant expression for the year" is true, and presuming out 0°00' orb strategy continues to work, this should flip things from a fundamentally Saturn-Uranus chart with some Jupiter to a fundamentally Jupiter chart with some Saturn.

Either way, she has a Moon-Mars opposition that becomes perfect September 19. I don't expect that to be a real problem since it's the same day Jupiter exactly squares my Sun.

As mentioned, I also want to look at my SLRs for the peak of those Moon progressions, haven't done that yet.

[Jim Eshelman]

Marion gets her worst solar arc out of the way this year (this month, in fact): d Venus sqq. r Saturn (with Neptune ssq. Saturn a couple of weeks later). I've thought Ve-Ne to Sa would have consequences in her life (someone close to her) related to this virus, but the timing is wrong for it to be what I'm talking about in this thread.

Next year she has d Jupiter conjoins her natal Sun! I don't see this indicating my death (I don't think this, alone, would dominate for the life insurance pay out ).

BTW, she has Uranus transiting square her MC right now: I see this whole period as a significant opening up of things for her. Creativity is bursting some days.

My solar arcs are more severe. In particular (jumping ahead a year), I have d Saturn square my Sun just as my progressed Venus-Saturn conjunction becomes exact. But that's a year off, in a different SSR that I'm currently discussing, and something to take up a later time.

Switching to secondary progressions, Marion has the most challenging in the next couple of months - ahead of my SSR. I do have an additional inflammation aspect with progressed Mars semi-square natal Mars late in the year, triggered by progressed Moon next February. That is, progressed natal opposes Mars at the same time that progressed SSR Moon opposes Saturn. That is the month to check in particular. (But her progressions and directions are good.)

[Jim Eshelman]

Checking the lunars against the exact progression dates:

SQ Moon to SSR Mars - November 5
SSR Pluto - November 13

10/27 SLR positive (Venus), 11/10 Demi looks a little frail but nothing serious (Neptune).

SQ Moon to r Mars - December 23

The month leading up to it is Uranus backed by somewhat weaker Saturn, both in the 11/23 SLR and the 12/8 Demi. The new 12/21 SLR is probably strong, with unafflicted Sun being the closest aspect (though just as this progression hits is the exact Mars-Pluto square to my Mars, and I get secondary angularity from a Moon-Neptune conjunction, so I may be a little under the weather).

SQ Moon to SSR Saturn - February 4

1/17 SLR is nothing in particular. 1/31 Demi has a Moon-Neptune opposition along the meridian so, I'm at least likely to feel insecure, uncertain, worried, maybe frail. The 2/13 Demi puts Mars right on MC has has closely angular Sun and Jupiter: It's a battle but I probably win.

SQ Moon to r Neptune - March 2

2/27 SLR is mostly Jupiter, the 3/13 Demi is an exact New Moon square Asc.

SQ Moon to r Uranus - April 26
SQ Moon to r Jupiter - May 5

Then, as the positive progressions come in, the 4/9 SLR puts Saturn on MC (square transiting Uranus exactly opposite natal Saturn) - which probably won't be my favorite SLR of the year. Then the 4/23 Demi (which includes both of these progressions) has Jupiter most angular but a more widely foreground Mercury-Venus-Uranus conjunction square Saturn. (I think the Saturn doesn't count: It's not foreground and none of these aspects is quite partile.) So it's Jupiter + Mercury-Venus-Uranus.

The main point is that, at their worst, none of these looks fatal. The February dates (when a natal Moon-Mars-Mars progression also comes to a head) is the worst time.

[SteveS]

Jim wrote:

The main point is that, at their worst, none of these looks fatal.

Heath wise, I think the possible worse is you get hammered (Moon-Mars-Pluto) with some type of health issue, but recover. If you happen to contact the Covid--19 Virus, contact me, I may have an option for you.

[Jim Eshelman]

Huntington Beach is definitely the place within reasonable driving distance because the farther south we go, the wider the nearly precise Sun-Saturn mundane square. I discovered El Monte has mundane Sun-Saturn square within 0°01'. It's still only 0°05' in HB, but I'll take it.

The southern most spot is at the beach, and 118W00 at the beach is a few score yards south of the pier, right in the middle of the fire pits. The target will be as close as I can be to 118W01'00" 33N40'00". Angularities at that location are:

r Jupiter sq. MC 0°00'
r Mars on WP 0°15'
r Uranus sq. MC 0°17'
t Saturn on WP 0°51'
r Neptune on IC 1°47'
t Mars on MC 5°27'
t Pluto on WP 2°08'
t Uranus sq. Asc 2°26'
r Saturn sq. Asc 2°53'

[Veronica]

I most certainly hope nothing at all ill happens.

Being susceptible myself I have opted to take pretty strong reigns on my health. during this lockdown have reread most of my holistic textbooks and herbals and have made some major nutritional in my diet that includes "mega" doses of viramins and mineral suppliments as well as restricting carbs to pretty much only low glyciemic load. I highly recommend 3 or 4 g of vit c a day at least.

Elberberry is something worth taking in flu season IMO.

[Jim Eshelman]

I did look at that. However, I'm working on the assumption we will be blocked from travel.

Also, Mercury-Uranus wouldn't have an effect on the lunar aspects, which are the real threat. The only thing I think would give me a fighting chance against those is an overwhelmingly angular benefic, e.g., natal Jupiter to an angle within 0°01'. That's the gamble.

Nov 5, 2020 SQ Moon sq. s Mars
Nov 13, 2020 SQ Moon op. s Pluto
Dec 25, 2020 SQ Moon op. r Mars
Feb 4, 2021 SQ Moon op. s Saturn
Mar 2, 2021 SQ Moon sq. r Neptune
Apr 20, 2021 SQ Moon conj. r Uranus
May 4, 2021 SQ Moon conj. r Jupiter

At my age and under current world conditions, there is a definite chance that any of the first five progressions listed above will end my life. (There is also the likely added frailty as Neptune catches up to my Moon in 2021-22 and the matter of protecting employment under these changing conditions.)

I don't actually think that's so because the real peak of simultaneous grievous aspects to both Marion's and my charts is about a year later, in December 2021, though there could be connected events (e.g, getting an inflammatory disease under the above that causes permanent damage that catches up to me later, or completely unrelated events).

There's no outrunning the lunar progressions by going to a different locale, just overbalancing them with (as close as I can get to) overwhelming protection from angles. Mercury and Uranus just won't do that.

(Even worse than a horrible inflammatory disease that does massive damage to internal organs leading to my eventual early death - the first two progressions above could signify my reaction if Trump wins the election!)

From a disease perspective, the closer I get to the Moon-Saturn, the more likely vaccines and effective treatment will be developed. As we approach that period, though, we also get Saturn's conjunction with Marion's Midheaven, which is exact February 18. I think, though, I have some protection until her next Solar Return, at which point we have to find someplace safe for that to set up - for LA she gets Saturn, Mars, and Uranus exceedingly close. (Birmingham is a possibility, if travel is possible. Somewhere near Laredo, TX; any farther north on that Jupiter square MC line starts to bring Saturn to Asc. New Orleans puts Sun exactly angular and Jupiter near one.)

OTOH, next year it may be that nobody will be safe. An anticipated surge in the virus by as much as 50x (if past pandemics can be used as a guide) may basically leave no safe haven.

[Jim Eshelman]

Yes, the eclipto Lunar aspects are the same; but within this framework, it's Angles that put experiental emphasis.

I see no practical difference between angularity and lunar aspects in a solar return.

I hadn't mentioned that secondary progressions during the same time period also show inflammatory risks. I have progressed Mars semi-square natal Mars exact December 8, with an effect more than a year before and after; with progressed Moon aspecting those two Marses in February, when the worst of the SSR (and Marion's Saturn-MC transit) hit. That, I think, is the riskiest time. (And then, of course, the important progressions within a month or so of December 2021.)

[SteveS]

Jim wrote:

Also, Mercury-Uranus wouldn't have an effect on the lunar aspects, which are the real threat. The only thing I think would give me a fighting chance against those is an overwhelmingly angular benefic, e.g., natal Jupiter to an angle within 0°01'. That's the gamble.

I totally agree with Jim's thinking here. If there is one thing I have learned from Jim's SSR teachings is the fact our Natal Planets angular in a SSR show us how we will ultimately react to the influences of the SSR as a whole. Jim knows he is under some tough malefic lunar health aspects for his 2020 solar year; so, he wants to afford himself the best protection he can with his Natal benefics---Jupiter! Besides, his natal Jup is tightly cnj his natal Uranus which is Ebertin's "Thank You Lord" aspect. As I have stated before, even if Jim gets in trouble with his health he can then in a knowing way realize he has much higher % for a full recovery with his "Thank You Lord" natal aspect of Jupiter cnj Uranus being tightly placed on his SSR angles for his relocation move for his 2020 SSR.

[Jim Eshelman]

After all this planning... Thursday we discovered we had to run to Las Vegas for personal business. In the course of looking at how I could 'recover' on the SSR planning, I made a very helpful discovery: Whereas I had been trying to maneuver natal Jupiter square SSR MC for refinement - something we couldn't do a few hundred miles east - I wasn't very far from natal Jupiter on SSR EP - the "other" square to Midheaven.

So, I quickly calculated the latitude with that EP that had the best effect - Ascendant at least 2° away from square natal Saturn (I couldn't manage 3°, but at least drove it to Class III angularity), picking the precise square to my Mercury as a best effect. This was (within a few minutes) exactly in Santa Clara, Utah, on the outskirts of St. George.

The good side of this - the Moon aspects to Mars, Mars, Saturn, and Pluto would no longer be also on the angles. (Can't avoid them, but there's some intensity to doubling them up.) The bad side of this - it brought the Mercury-Uranus opposition close to the angles,. What's wrong with Mercury-Uranus, you ask? Well, nothing, really, by itself, and it could be quite good for astrological discoveries. However, this year it comes atop my natal Saturn, Uranus to natal Saturn being famous for uprooting and undercutting one's practical foundation and Mercury to Saturn being usually a long line of nuisances, delays, and assorted troubles.

But it's probably better than the angular transiting Saturn and the Mars squares to Saturn and Pluto along with it. And then there is the natal Jupiter to the angle to try to tip the scales on it.

How did the plan work? Pretty well... not perfectly. There have already been more delays and nuisances in 24 hours than in most months. (This could have been as simple as Mercury's transit to natal Saturn regardless of SSR angularity.) One of these delays is that, despite planning to leave a few hours earlier than we needed to leave, we didn't reach Santa Clara, UT in time. We fell about half an hour short so, GPS armed and loaded, I captured the longitude and latitude of where we were (driving along the I-15) at the exact second of the SSR. It was somewhere near Littlefield, AZ - in that little northwest corner of Arizona that you briefly dip into when driving from Las Vegas around to southwest Utah. The exact coordinates were 36N52'16", 113W57'40".

[Jim Eshelman]

The SSR, therefore, occurred October 10, 2020, 1:20:55 AM MST, 36N52'16", 113W57'40". Here is the breakdown (Class I aspects and Class II angularities). Though there are several "voices" in the chart, by both angularity and aspect precision the strongest factors are two natal aspects, Mercury conjunct Saturn (0°07' orb, planets 41' and 1°43' from an angle) and Jupiter conjunct Uranus (0°13' orb, planets 05' and 08' from an angle). After that comes Mercury-Uranus to natal Saturn. The third layer is Mercury-Uranus to natal Mercury. This, of course, alongside the less comfortable Moon aspects. (I'm curious - no clear expectation at all - what bringing my natal Uranus-Neptune and Jupiter-Neptune aspects into the foreground will mean.)

t Uranus on MC -6°56'
r Mercury sq. Asc -0°41'
r Jupiter on EP -0°08'
------------------------------
r Uranus on EP +0°05'
t Mercury sq. Asc +0°49'
r Saturn sq. Asc +1°43'
r Neptune on IC +6°17'

-- r Mercury-Saturn conj. 0°07' mundo
-- r Jupiter-Uranus conj. 0°13' in RA
-- t Mercury-Uranus 0°15' mundo
-- t Uranus op. r Saturn 0°26'
-- t Mercury conj. r Saturn 0°55'
-- t Uranus op. r Mercury 1°17' mundo
-- t Mercury conj. r Mercury 1°29'
-- r Uranus-Neptune sq. 2°00'
-- r Jupiter-Neptune sq. 2°16'

t Moon-Mars sq. 0°57'
t Moon-Pluto op. 1°13'
t Moon-Jupiter op. 1°24' mundo
t Moon sq. r Mars 2°40'

Other Partile
t Mars-Pluto sq. 0°15'
t Pluto conj. r. Mars 0°26' mundo
t Saturn sq. r Sun 0°54' mundo
t Saturn sq. r Neptune 0°56'

[Jim Eshelman]

A simple observation that had eluded me until this morning:

For both setup location and my home ('natal' and 'relocated'), my natal Jupiter-Uranus is exactly angular - on different angles. There are other angular planets compounding the picture, and recent years have convinced me that the 'relocated' (i.e., at home) angularities probably don't matter; nonetheless, if I'm wrong about that, there is still this interesting echo:

For the corner of Arizona where it set up
r Uranus on EP +0°05'
r Jupiter on EP -0°08'
Their midpoint is 01' or 02' from the angle.

For our home on Gramercy Place in LA
r Uranus sq. MC -0°02'
r Jupiter sq. MC -0°19'

[Arena]

Sounds like a fortunate aspect is going to be touching the SSR angles. Good one!

[Jim Eshelman]

Today, my SQ Moon progresses into Cancer.

I'm not sure if this means anything. First, there's the question of whether SSR Moon's sign means anything: I think, in general it doesn't, but has the potential to occasionally mean have meaning. That is, when I look at individual years to say, "Did Moon in Gemini [for example] fundamentally define this year?" the answer is almost universally, "No" or "Not that I can see." Nothing that big. OTOH, sometimes a lunar aspect will express through the symbolism of the signs in which it occurs: This is easiest to see when lunar aspects show a health crisis that often is in a body part related to the sign (which, by itself, suggests that the sign itself is being expressed). I also remember another year when a rising Moon in Sagittarius opposed by Mars had all sorts of Moon-Mars results but also was a year I became more deeply involved in publishing, a Sagittarius matter.

Generally, though: No.

This makes unlikely the idea that PROGRESSED SSR Moon's sign is important.

However, sometimes subtle factors that, by themselves, don't seem significant will suddenly be significant at the time they make a change. A perfect example, I think, is progressed natal Sun's sign. Though I find that the nativity's progressed Moon's sign seems to set a backdrop for a couple of years of life, I never notice progressed Sun's sign in terms of character or events. HOWEVER, looking back across my life, I can see stages that do widely fall into progressed Sun-sign (very, very general) and, in particular, I've noticed a change in myself when it changes sign. (Then this feeling soon drops into the background.)

I'm wondering if SQ Moon changing sign is the same sort of thing - that I'll notice a Gemini-to-Cancer shift briefly, then stop noticing it. I'll try to keep alert for it.

BTW, as a digression, I'm also not far from progressed Sun changing sign and closing one 30-year period of my life in exchange for another. It's currently at 29°05' Scorpio.

[Jim Eshelman]

As this year wraps up in another two and a half weeks, it's perhaps a good time to look back. The year has been pretty simple - the Covid conditions have kept it constrained to mostly the basics. I have remained well-employed, working primarily from home until the start of April, then back in the office. Health has been better than average (nothing serious). Money has been tight (I wasn't entitled to any of the government subsidies most people got, yet, income was cut back significantly to my annual base - we're barely making it paycheck to paycheck, but we're making it). Our primary "getting away" activities have been reduced to about zero. Our wine business went really well as long as most of the country thought we were still in lockdown, and we got promoted to senior directors in the company, then the word was out that "things were opening up" and we came pretty much to a screaming halt in the spring. Surrounding issues are applying pressure, and some structural things need to change, but the basic reality is that things are going on (one foot in front of the other) in a pretty routine way. Measured around the different parts of my life, in some areas I have better standing today than a year ago, while in other areas I have poorer standing today than a year ago; it all averages out to "about the same."

A lot of effects have come from Neptune's transit to my Moon (which is, within a few minutes, Marion's local Asc). This is primarily psychological and primarily unpleasant. I don't think it relates much or at all to the SSR, but could be compounded by Moon's aspects in the SSR.

The SSR has two main parts. We managed to control the angles to give a more advantageous arrangement. OTOH, there was the worst set of Moon aspects I've ever seen. I was particularly concerned about these progressing to exact (and being transited) during peak Covid times, but this came out OK - no reactions. These Moon aspects involved SSR Saturn, Pluto, and Mars, plus natal Mars, all of which came to exact progression (with Saturn and Pluto transiting Moon as well). There was no more than a bit of increased tension during those times (I've definitely felt Neptune's transit to natal Moon much more - I have to hang in another year on that, but with the last exact pass next March).

There was also a Moon-Jupiter opposition - separating, so it never came to exact, and closer mundanely than ecliptically. This likely helped a bit.

The strongest factors are two natal aspects, Mercury conjunct Saturn (0°07' orb, planets 41' and 1°43' from an angle) and Jupiter conjunct Uranus (0°13' orb, planets 05' and 08' from an angle). This was mostly by design (in the absence of viable transiting benefics), and I think this set the tone of the year. My Mercury, Jupiter, and Uranus were most angular and, besides work and other considerations, it's been a good year for astrological research and related developments. I think placing two natal benefics so close to the angles set the baseline higher, so that biweekly fluctuations were always a little better than they'd have been otherwise.

Next came the Mercury-Uranus opposition on angles - good for astrology and not seeming to relate to much to much else - but with significant transits. Especially, Mercury-Uranus aspected natal Saturn. I see this as primarily Uranus to natal Saturn and, as I mentioned, there are still structural changes (life-structures) that I know need managing and rearranging before the transit fully passes. - Third, Mercury-Uranus to natal Mercury is (again) I think the astrological work of the year.

When the year began, I was curious - no idea what to expect - from the fact that natal Uranus-Neptune and Jupiter-Neptune were foreground. I still have no clear idea. That these are the weakest of the very strong factors means, by itself, that other factors will outweigh them. Also, natal aspects aren't always that easy to see, since they are with us always, though the return chart should bring them out and emphasize them somehow. Uranus-Neptune usually signals wanderlust (only present by its absence, i.e., feeling housebound) and altered states of consciousness (nothing unusual to report). Perhaps there is a background uncertainty concerning moving forward, but no more so than most people are probably feeling as we hover on the cusp of Covid's containment, I suspect. Natal Jupiter-Neptune is comparably inscrutable as a descriptor of the last year.

That leaves only the non-foreground partile aspects. These aren't overly obvious or, where they seem to be, they aren't fully clear. For example, transiting Saturn squared natal Sun (we were constrained like mostly everybody else), but there was also a Sun-Jupiter aspect in the SSR, and it progressed to exact. Saturn to natal Sun mundanely and natal ecliptically connects to some down-and-dreary times, but then there is already Neptune's trasit to natal Moon and the overall Moon aspects. Mars-Pluto to natal Pluto didn't cause any health concerns as feared; and, while there have been conflicts during the year in some quarters, I can't really say that they are more than an average year. - So, these were not especially helpful.

On to the new SSR in two and a half weeks!

[Jim Eshelman]

Looking at this a year and a half later, I now have TMSA to provide more accurate SSR calculations (some seconds of difference) and I want to document the correct structure of the SSR. It's only a few minutes difference on the angles, but the small difference makes a most noteworthy difference in the chart. The correct time per TMSA 4.7.x is 1:21:23 AM MST. Here is the correct breakdown:\

t Uranus on MC -6°49'
t Mercury on N -0°54'
r Mercury on N -0°35'
r Jupiter on EP-a -0°01'
----------------------------
r Uranus on EP-a +0°12'
r Saturn on N +1°49'
r Neptune on IC +7°25'

t Moon sq. t Mars 0°57'
t Moon op. t Pluto 1°13'
t Moon op. t Jupiter +1°24' M
t Moon op. r Mars 2°15' M

t Mercury-Uranus op. 0°15' M
-- t Uranus op. r Saturn 0°26'
-- t Mercury co. r Saturn 0°55'
-- t Uranus op. r Mercury 1°17' M
-- t Mercury co. r Mercury 1°29'

r Mercury-Saturn co. 0°07' M
r Jupiter-Uranus co. 0°17'
r Uranus-Neptune sq. 2°00'
r Jupiter-Neptune sq. 2°16'