January 2025 events

[Jim Eshelman]

Starting.

[Jim Eshelman]

Jan 1, 2025, 3:15 AM CST, New Orleans @ 29N57'22" 90W04'04"

A few days before Marion and I fly to New Orleans, the city is in a somber mood after a terrorist attack in the French Quarter, beginning at Canal and Bourbon during a New Year celebration, has killed 15 people and injured at least 35 others.

A man drove a pickup truck into a crowd of people at the historic, usually festive intersection. The truck had firearms and an Islamic State jihadist flag. In a gunfire exchange with police, he was killed, bringing the casualties to 16. The event is being investigated as a lone wolf terrorist attack.

I am curious whether this constitutes a mundane event or only a personal event. I suspect the former because it has cast a very dark shadow over the mood of the city. The event took place as the 17' Mars-Pluto opposition was joined by Moon. Venus and Uranus were on angles.

The charts are adequate, perhaps better. The Bridge takes an ongoing Neptune transit to Cansolar angles and adds the first day of a CapQ Moon-Mars square. The Cansolar adds Saturn 0°01' from an angle to the Neptune transit, but then also brings Jupiter (festivities? religious fervor?) into the mix, which compromises it a bit. The ingresses are not fabulous, although the Libsolar does give the basic message.

Year: Capsolar {-1}
[Sun-Jupiter, of course, is entirely wrong, it's only claim to fitting is that this occurred during a festive celebration. But the Moon aspects are dead on, so the -2 score is softened to -1.]
Jupiter Asc 1°23' [Eris 6' away mundo]
Sun MC 2°47'
-- Sun-Jupiter sq 1°24'
Moon-Mars 0°18' M
Moon-Neptune 0°25' M
Moon-Venus sq 2°54'

Bridge {+2}
t Neptune sq Cansolar MC -0°57'
CapQ Moon sq s Mars 1°00'

Quarter: Libsolar {+2}
[We even manage a close Uranus-Pluto square, which throws us back to the constant terrorist attack era of the late Obama administration - nearly always marked by Ur-Pl. If this had Saturn for the tone of the city, or if Mars were closer to the angles, I'd give it +3.]
Moon Asc 0°11'
Pluto Z 0°31'
Sun Dsc 2°34'
Mercury & Mars more widely foreground
Plenty of Eris involved in the aspects also
-- Sun-Mars sq 1°56'
-- Uranus-Pluto sq 1°59' M
-- Mercury-Mars sq 2°29' M
-- Moon-Pluto sq 2°37'
-- Moon-Sun op 2°44' M
-- Su/Me on angle 0°57'

Month: Caplunar (Dormant.)
Week: Liblunar (Dormant.) Moon-Mars Moon-Pluto.

Week: Canlunar {?}
Venus EP 0°16' [Eris N 0°21']
Mars WP-a 1°09'
Moon & Pluto more widely angular
-- Venus-Uranus sq 2°48' M
-- Moon-Pluto op 3°17' M
-- Mars-Pluto op 3°35' M
-- Venus-Mars op 3°43'

Day: Cansolar Quotidian & Transits {+2}
t Neptune sq s MC -0°57'
-------------------------------
p Asc co t Saturn 0°01'
p MC co t Jupiter 0°29', s Jupiter 0°58'

Day: Capsolar Quotidian {+1}
p Moon sq s Mars 1°00'
p MC co t Sun 0°28'

[Jim Eshelman]

Began January 7, 2025, 10:30 AM PST, Pacific Palisades, Los Angeles, CA

News source were calling last night Los Angeles' "night of terror" with hurricane-like winds of at least 99 mph driving the eruption and spread of multiple fire, especially in the Pacific Palisades and Pasadena areas. I'll check this more carefully when I get home (we live comfortable distances from both fires) but, in a vulnerable Capsolar-Libsolar setup, I did see that the LA Caplunar had the Mars-Pluto opposition across the horizon. The Arilunar from two days ago is Mercury-Neptune driven (confusion, disorientation, logistics-heavy but mixed messages and confused signals).

The Palisades Fire is being listed as starting January 7. Wikipedia says it was first reported January 7 10:30 AM PST.

LATER: This has now earned the title "LA's worst fire ever." Only five people have died so far, but the amount of property damage is enormous, with over two thousand buildings lost and large sections (especially of the Pacific Palisades) wasted entirely (perhaps $50 billion in damages) . Over 180,000 people are under mandatory evacuated orders thus far (including about half of Santa Monica). Air quality in the entire LA basin is terrible, reaching serious health-threatening levels.

The fire was first sighted as Mercury crossed MC and Neptune rose. Significant concurrent aspects were Mars opposite Pluto and Jupiter square Saturn.

Year: Capsolar {+2}
[California always has severe - especially Neptune-driven - Capsolars showing reactions to fires, earthquakes, and floods.]
Moon Asc 1°08'
Neptune Asc 1°17'
Mercury & Saturn barely foreground
-- Moon-Neptune co 0°09' M
-- Saturn sq middleground Venus 1°098' M
Moon-Venus sq 2°54'

Bridge {+2}
t Neptune sq s MC 0°26'

Quarter: Libsolar {+2 at least}
Saturn Asc 0°37'
Jupiter IC 2°41'
Neptune widely foreground
-- Saturn-Neptune sq 0°06' p
-- Jupiter-Saturn sq 2°04' M
-- Moon/Mars on horizon 0°18'
-- Moon/Pluto on Dsc 0°35'
Moon-Pluto sq 2°37'
Moon-Sun op 2°53' M

Month: Caplunar {+2}
[The Moon-Jupiter is strange - possibly referring to the celebrities involved but, in any case, keeping this clean, obvious Caplunar from getting +3.]
Pluto Dsc 2°49'
Mars Asc 3°23'
Moon & Sun more widely foreground
-- Mars-Pluto op 0°34' M
Moon-Jupiter sq 0°07' p

Week: Arilunar {+2}
Mercury Asc 0°45'
Sun EP 0°17'
Moon & Neptune widely foreground
-- Mercury-Neptune sq 1°23'

Day: Capsolar Quotidian & Transits {+2}
t Neptune sq s MC 0°26'
------------------------------
p Asc co t Saturn 0°27'
p MC co s Venus 0°50'

Day: Cansolar Quotidian {+2 at least}
p MC co t Uranus 0°03'
p Asc sq s Uranus 0°14', s Mars 0°49' (= Ma/Ur 18')

[staragewiz]

Caplunar LA Fires
12/31/24
Mars 1st house angular opp. Pluto 7th house angular
With the Moon on the 7th cusp. Moon gives energy and emotion to the Mars opp. Pluto aspect.Explosive mayhem and destruction fits Mars/Pluto symbolism.

[Jim Eshelman]

Caplunar LA Fires
12/31/24
Mars 1st house angular opp. Pluto 7th house angular
With the Moon on the 7th cusp. Moon gives energy and emotion to the Mars opp. Pluto aspect.Explosive mayhem and destruction fits Mars/Pluto symbolism.

Agreed. The Mars-Pluto is right on target (after a perfect Capsolar and Libsolar setup). Then Saturn came to Capsolar Quot8d8an Ascendant the day it hit, along with Mars-Uranus to Can solar Q Asc.

[SteveS]

No doubt about it LA’s 12/31/2024 Caplunar with the angular Mars-Pluto 180 symbolized the monthly time frame for the terrible destruction from these LA wildfires.

But, If we allow for LA’s 2024 Cansolar angular Mars-Uranus cnj as a Mars-Uranus “outstanding incident” symbolized, we see a most interesting DAILY CanQ with LA’s 2024 Cansolar cnj Mars-Uranus on LA's CanQ Zenith for the start of these devastating fires on Jan 7 2025.

LA’s DAILY Jan 7 2025 CanQ Chart:
https://ibb.co/hmTZKSD

Jim wrote from his SMA book on angular Mars-Uranus symbolism:

“Fire + explosion” and “surprise attack” are recurring themes. The Kiss Nightclub fire began with pyrotechnics. Literal explosions have levelled much of a city with Mars-Uranus impact.

[Jim Eshelman]

Yes, the Capsolar Quotidian and Cansolar Quotidian were both remarkably precise and fitting for this. (See details above.)

[SteveS]

Its surreal Jim what I am seeing happening in the LA area with these wildfires. Can you tell yet how these devastating wildfires may affect your near future?

[Jim Eshelman]

Probably nothing at all EXCEPT living with the smoke for a while. That is potentially health-damaging, but we've minimized it by being out of town for the worst. Since I'll spend most of each day in climate controlled buildings, that will reduce it. But the smoke is still a problem until the fires are out and either rain or wind flushes the basin.

[SteveS]

Good, as long as there are no economic short term repercussions.

[Jim Eshelman]

Good, as long as there are no economic short term repercussions.

Nothing significant. I mean... we're spending a few extra days on the road before going back into town tonight, and that always costs a bit, but that's all. (Not bad for Mars crossing my Jupiter-Uranus yesterday.)

[Jim Eshelman]

Jan 13, 2025, 12:19:32 UT, near Miyazaki, Japan @ 31N48'22'', 131E33'55''

Originally reported as 6.9. Tsunami warning issued then withdrawn. No reported serious damage in the press so far (one injury, some water pipe and road damage).

Saturn and Venus were setting square Jupiter on MC when it occurred. The quake was close to a full Moon suggesting that tidal pressures were part of the picture.

A few quick notes - haven't checked the quotidians which, of course, are important - not expecting a lot since there is little human impact, but a big quake...

CAPSOLAR. Saturn IC 0°22. I actually expected this because we're in the last day or two of the Capsolar and we've seen quakes before that had a bad Capsolar and - on the last day - had the quotidians come back around to the same planets. Whew.

LIBSOLAR. Venus 0°06' from EP and some Uranus. Not a great chart for this (unless you take it as "nobody was really hurt").

CAPLUNAR. Saturn 2°10' from Asc with some Mercury and Pluto. The exactly angular Saturn is in 0°23' PVP square to Neptune.

ARILUNAR. Neptune setting 0°12', Mercury IC 2°00', Mercury-Neptune square foreground and another Saturn-Neptune PVP square, this time with the Neptune angular instead of the Saturn.

[Jim Eshelman]

January 15, 2025, soon before 7 PM EET, Tel Aviv, Israel
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Israeli%E ... nge_(2025)

Reuters announced the event at 8:50 AM PST (6:50 PM EET) with other news outlets following soon after. I don't have an actual time for the agreement, but did see life feeds of large crowds cheering and dancing.

[Jim Eshelman]

This morning, President Biden affirmed that the Equal Rights Amendment has been ratified and is now the 28th Amendment of the U.S. Constitution.

The amendment states simply, "Equality of rights under the law shall not be denied or abridged by the United States or by any State on account of sex," and then gives Congress the power to enforce it with "appropriate legislation."

If you are unfamiliar with the history of the E.R.A., here is a short review of its ups and downs (bypassing, for the moment, earlier efforts to add a similar amendment):

The U.S. Constitution describes the procedure for amending the constitution in the single paragraph that constitutes Article V. One way is that two-thirds of the members of both houses of Congress "propose" (pass) an amendment. which then becomes "valid to all Intents and Purposes, as part of this Constitution, when ratified by the Legislatures of three fourths of the several states."

Congress passed the E.R.A. March 22, 1972 and immediately endorsed by President Nixon. However, Congress imposed a seven-year deadline for the states to ratify the amendment. During those seven years, 35 states ratified the amendment (38 were required). To complicate matters, five states later rescinded their ratifications. Congress extended its deadline for ratification and the extended deadline also passed without 38 states ratifying the amendment.

Here are the important legal issues:

1. The Constitution does not give Congress the power to set a time-limit on ratification. All historic interpretation has been that there is no time limit, and none can be imposed. An amendment passed by Congress during Thomas Jefferson's administration would still become part of the Constitution if ratified by 2/3 of the states today. The 14th and 15th Amendments were deemed ratified despite some states voting to rescind their ratification.
2. The Constitution does not give states the power to rescind their ratifications, but simply says that the amendment becomes law "when ratified by the Legislatures of three fourths of the several states."

Between 2017 and 2020, Nevada, Illinois, and Virginia voted to ratify the E.R.A., bringing the number of states that had voted to ratify it to 38. The simplest reading of the Constitution is that, upon Virginia's ratification on January 15, 2020, the amendment was fully approved and, by language in the amendment itself, "shall take effect two years after the date of ratification," i.e., January 15, 2022.

One more procedural step was required, though: The President of the United States needs to direct the Archivist of the United States to certify the amendment as part of the Constitution. This morning (some time before 10 AM), President Biden took that step.

This will, of course, be heavily contested in legal battles, and one has no idea what the current Supreme Court will do. However, unless SCOTUS supports a novel view that Congress has the power to impose deadlines, exercising powers not given it in the Constitution, there is no basis for overturning this action.

There is room for interpretation on when it takes effect. I don't believe the president's certification is the determining date. The ratification was complete January 15, 2020, and this should now be deemed in effect as of January 15, 2022. Another very interesting legal consideration is that this may remove the effect of the SCOTUS Dobbs decision issued June 24, 2022 because - while the revocation of its earlier Roe v. Wade decision may stand, removing the earlier protection of abortion rights, those rights likely are reaffirmed under the terms of the new 28th Amendment.

[Jim Eshelman]

Astrologically, this should be examined multiple ways: against the ingresses as usual, against the U.S. natal chart, and against the U.S. Constitution chart.

Unless a better time emerges, I will use January 17, 2025, 10:00 AM EST, Washington, DC. The ongoing Jupiter-Saturn conjunction, joined by Venus at the moment, with Moon completing the "T" this morning - joined by the contentious Sun-Mars opposition - seems to capture the right feel of all this.

Year: Capsolar {+2}
[Astonishing! So simple an ingress... and yet the first thing that happens from it is an act asserting the equality of women! - It would get +3 for flawless perfect except that requires more than one factor describing the result.]
Moon EP-a 0°27'
Uranus widely angular

Bridge (None.)

Month: Caplunar {+2}
[Wow!]
Venus WP 0°07'
Uranus more widely foreground
Venus-Uranus sq 0°35'

Week: Canlunar {+1 at least}
Uranus Z 1°19'
-- Moon-Sun op 1°01'
-- Moon-Mars co 1°54' M

Day: Capsolar Quotidian {+2}
p Asc sq s Uranus 0°18', t Uranus 0°16'

Day: Cansolar Transits {0}
t Mercury co s Asc 1°32'

[Jim Eshelman]

Checking against the U.S. natal chart for July 4, 1776, 12:10:43 PM LAT, Independence Hall, Philadelphia.

TRANSITS
t Pluto co r Pluto 0°34'
t Jupiter co r Uranus 0°34'
-- t Jupiter oc r Mercury 0°56'
t Sun op r Mercury 0°00'
-- t Sun oc r Uranus 0°22'
t Mercury oc r Moon 0°51'

SOLAR ARC DIRECTIONS
d MC sq r Mars 0°28'
d Saturn co r Mars 0°29'
-- d Saturn sq r Neptune 0°42'

SECONDARY PROGRESSIONS
None, other than the long-term p Jupiter to natal MC and Saturn, and Mars to natal EP-a.

SIDEREAL SOLAR RETURN
t Uranus Asc -1°18'
------------------------
t Mars Asc +1°09'
t Pluto MC +3°28'
r Pluto MC +3°55'

t Pluto co r Pluto 0°12'
t Mars-Pluto sq 2°19' M
t Mars-Uranus co 2°27' M [Asc = Ma/Ur 0°05']
t Mars sq r Pluto 2°46' M

SIDEREAL LUNAR RETURN
r Venus Dsc -8°23'
t Neptune N -1°12'
r Saturn MC -2°13'
-------------------------
r Neptune Z +0°15'
r Mars Dsc +0°58'
t Mercury Asc +2°16
r Sun WP +0°58'
t Sun EP-a +1°43'

r Mars-Neptune sq 1°11'
t Neptune op r Neptune 1°27'
t Mercury op r Mars 1°35'
r Sun-Saturn sq 1°40'
t Sun op r Sun 2°19' M
t Neptune sq r Mars 2°37'
t Mercury sq r Neptune 2°46'

SIDEREAL DEMI-LUNAR RETURN
t Pluto Asc -7°47'
t Mars Dsc -5°12'
t Sun Asc -1°40'
---------------------
r Mercury Dsc +0°54'
r Sun Dsc +5°32'
t Mercury Asc +8°36'

t Pluto co r Pluto 0°31'
t Sun-Mars op 0°34'
t Sun op r Mercury 1°09'
t Mars co r Mercury 1°43'
t Mars op r Pluto 2°06' M
t Mars-Pluto op 2°35' M
t Mercury op r Sun 3°04' M
r Mercury-Pluto op 3°16'
t Pluto op r Mercury 3°47'

I've never been too sure about return charts and national charts but, in any case, these lunars are BRUTAL. If they actually apply, they seem to describe the battles this will launch. I'm not sure they apply.

OTOH, the demi-lunar has something very interesting: It has a 0°00' Moon-Sun PVP square. We're not yet sure that PVP aspects matter in return charts, but this one is worth noting not only for it's incredible precision but because I can't think of an aspect that better states gender equality than a perfectly exact Moon-Sun aspect!

[Jim Eshelman]

U.S. Constitution: September 17, 1787, 11:29 AM LMT, Philadelphia, PA

TRANSITS
t Pluto op r Uranus 0°54'
t Neptune op r Sun 0°21'
t Venus op r Mercury 0°11'

SOLAR ARC DIRECTIONS
[These are fantastic!]
d Venus sq r Pluto -0°25'
-- d MC sq r Pluto +0°47'
d Asc co r Uranus +0°27'
d Jupiter co r Saturn +0°48'

SECONDARY PROGRESSIONS (Nothing.)

SIDEREAL SOLAR RETURN
[This is awesome!]
r Jupiter MC -8°50'
t Neptune Dsc -6°55'
r/t Sun Asc -6°22'
t Jupiter MC -0°40'
--------------------------
r Venus EP +0°17'
t Mercury Asc +2°43'
t Saturn Dsc +6°39'
r Mercury Asc +6°44'

t Moon-Pluto sq 0°01' M
t Neptune sq r Jupiter 0°08'
t Saturn op r Mercury 0°12'
t Neptune op r Sun 0°35'
r Sun-Jupiter sq 0°43'
t Mercury co r Venus 0°48'
t Jupiter sq r Venus 0°52'
t Moon sq r Uranus 1°37'
t Mercury-Jupiter sq 1°41'
t Mercury-Saturn op 3°58'

SIDEREAL LUNAR RETURN
(Confusing and contentious. I'm not going to type it all out since the demi is going to be the main chart anyway.)

SIDEREAL DEMI-LUNAR RETURN
[Not bad at all!]
t Neptune Asc -7°44'
r Sun Dsc -6°50'
t Saturn Asc -2°38'
r Mercury Dsc -2°16'
----------------------- Asc = t Ve/Sa 0°14'
r Venus WP +0°56'
t Venus Asc +2°11'
t Jupiter N +1°08
r Pluto Asc +5°23'
r Saturn +7°03'

t Saturn op r Mercury 0°25'
t Neptune op r Sun 0°30'
t Saturn op r Venus 1°40' M
r Saturn-Pluto co 1°40' M
r Mercury-Venus co 2°02' M
r Sun-Venus co 2°32' M
t Jupiter sq r Mercury 2°36'
t Venus-Pluto co 3°12' M
t Neptune op r Venus 3°26' M

[Veronica]

What a beautiful event to wake up and read about! Yea! Yea!Yea! I am very happy to hear this, what a gift President Biden has sent out to the nation! I am especially glad to hear Jim say
“ Another very interesting legal consideration is that this may remove the effect of the SCOTUS Dobbs decision issued June 24, 2022 because - while the revocation of its earlier Roe v. Wade decision may stand, removing the earlier protection of abortion rights, those rights likely are reaffirmed under the terms of the new 28th Amendment.”
It certainly does feel like an affirmation to me, I felt empowered and seen just reading about it.

[Jim Eshelman]

January 15, 2025, soon before 7 PM EET, Tel Aviv, Israel
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Israeli%E ... nge_(2025)

Reuters announced the event at 8:50 AM PST (6:50 PM EET) with other news outlets following soon after. I don't have an actual time for the agreement, but did see life feeds of large crowds cheering and dancing.

The ceasefire went into effect today, January 19, shortly after 5:30 PM when the first hostages were released (according to various new outlets). If this is set up for Tel Aviv or Jerusalem, Mars was exactly on EP-a (square Eris exactly), which makes me wonder about the durability of the event. Venus and Saturn were conjunct 0°30' at the time: There will be a lot of pain and remorse today (perhaps discovering that a large number of the hostages are dead?).