"This is the index of one who is liable to suffer many affronts of fortune, due chiefly to his own incompetence and the attempting of things and enterprises that are beyond his powers. Let him study humility and service of others, and cultivate a proper understanding of his own aptitudes and powers. Thus he may escape a sudden and unlooked-for ruin which otherwise must attend him in the boldest venture of his life. He may go into liquidation and become submerged, and crying for rescue from his helpless state, there may be found none to weep for him save Heaven, which yet is kind in that it permits this warning. Independence is not for those who have no knowledge of their own weakness. The strong swimmer alone can attempt the deep waters. It is a degree of INCOMPETENCE."

This is warning of a nature that is disposed to be brought under the malignant influence of womankind, to his hurt and ruin. Or let it be said that a woman’s influence is here predominant for ill, and a sinister fame attaches to all of the female sex who are generated under this degree. It is a man’s undoing through weakness, a woman’s victory through dishonor: to either sex it is full of warning and threat. Let such as vitiate under this radius look to their charge and the account they shall make of it. It is a degree of PROSTRATING.

It is the index of a nature that will give evidence of a superior faculty, and a disposition for spiritual and religious studies. The mind is firm and dependable, the tastes are monastic and austere, and the whole character luminous yet ponderable, faithful and reclusive. It is a degree of SECURITY.

1. People starting emails with a polite salutation such as "Dear ________."
2. People ending emails with a polite good-bye such as "warmest regards" or "best wishes."
3. People tiring of their computers, cell phones and other electronic gadgets and reading classical literature.
4. People tiring of their computers, cell phones and other electronic gadgets and actually talking to their spouses.
5. If one must be on the computer, refraining from harshness and "flaming" when posting in on-line groups.
6. Adding artistic and aesthetically pleasing visual enhancements to one's web site.
7. Getting actual books from the library to do some intellectually satisfying research about culture and history.
8. Living the aphorism: A book in the hand is better than several PDF files on the computer screen.
9. A deeper marriage of art and science, resulting in sophisticated research papers on technological aesthetics.
10. A general trend in society toward good manners, politeness and respect for one's elders (Saturn's exaltation).

a. Venus, ruling planet of Islam, in 18° Leo on 11 September 2001, the day of the terrorist attacks.

b. Sun-Mars conjunction in 18° Leo on 10 August 2002, the weekend at Crawford, Texas ranch when Bush team of Cheney, Rumsfeld and Rice makes decision to invade Iraq and topple Saddam Hussein with or without the UN.

c. Jupiter stations retrograde on 4 December 2002 in 18° Leo, and France obstructs the U.S.-British foreign policy leadership in the UN Security Council by vigorously opposing the Iraq invasion.

d. Mars returns to 18° Leo on 22 July 2004, the day that the 9/11 Commission Report is released, outlining the actions required to better protect America from future Islamic terror attacks.

1. Sun/Pluto
2. Pluto/MC
3. Uranus/Pluto
4. Sun/Mercury
5. Mercury/MC
6. Mercury/Uranus

Earthwalk School of Astrology Newsletter
15 Scorpio 2006 - 1,535 Recipients

7 November 2006

Dear Astrological Friends,

Volume V - Holographic Transits has been completed and is at the printer.

You are invited to attend The Blast Astrology Conference in Sedona, Arizona March 29th to April 2nd 2007. Many of the up and coming younger astrologers will be speaking at this conference, along with some well known veterans such as Robert Hand, Ray Merriman, Gloria Star and Dennis Harness. To see the faculty and learn more about this unique gathering, please go to:

This correspondent has taken a medical sabbatical due to a recently diagnosed serious health problem. Newsletter articles will resume when he has recovered.

Best wishes,

Robert P. Blaschke

Earthwalk School of Astrology Newsletter
15 Leo 2006 - 1,543 Recipients

Table of Contents

1) Greetings

2) Israel - Lebanon Conflict: Hezbollah and the July 12th Cross-Border Raid

3) Israel's Second Saturn Return: A Sobering Redefinition of National Security

4) Hassan Nasrallah's Progressed Mars-Saturn Opposition: His Impending Assassination by Israel

5) Recurring Neptune-Pluto Septiles: Late 1930s Nazism and Modern Day Islamist Fascism

6) Saturn Inconjunct Uranus: The Indirect War Between the United States, Israel, Syria and Iran

7) In Brief Planet News and Notes: Progressed Stations, Eclipses, Outer Planet Aspects and More

8) Interview in Major Sky Astrological Ezine

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1) Greetings

7 August 2006

Dear Astrological Friends,

Greetings to you and your family, and I hope that those of you in heat-stricken areas are coping well with this hot summer. I am hard at work writing Volume V - Holographic Transits, with an expected publication date of October 22nd. Watch for the upcoming ad in The Mountain Astrologer October/November issue offering a pre-publication discount.

The Middle East has erupted into violence once again, and this issue of the newsletter is largely devoted to analyzing the conflict between Israel and Hezbollah, along with a wider view of the key outer planet cycles that underpin this war. There is much to discuss in the heavenly realms and I send this quarterly mundane newsletter for your perusal.

Best wishes,

Robert P. Blaschke

2) Israel - Lebanon Conflict:
Hezbollah and the July 12th Cross-Border Raid

On July 12th at 9:05 AM local time, near the northern Israeli village of Zar'it, a team of Hezbollah terrorists from southern Lebanon crossed the border into Israel, capturing two of their soldiers patrolling the area and killing several others during the firefight and armored vehicle pursuit that followed. This brazen incursion, ordered by Hezbollah leader, Hassan Nasrallah, who refers to Israel as "the Zionist entity," was designed, as in the past, to use captured soldiers to bargain for the release of Lebanese terrorists held in Israeli prisons. The chart for this cross-border raid has Virgo 2 rising, and from Charubel we find its degree symbol to be:

A man peeping around a corner at a company of armed men, who are in the act of reconnoitering.

The culminating degree of this war chart, which symbolizes the leader of the Shiite Muslim terrorist organization who ordered the attack, reveals the darkness within this man's soul. From La Volasfera, for Taurus 29, we find:

A powerful man, holding a scourge in his right hand, and driving two slaves in manacles.

Mars in 23 Leo on that fateful day applied to a square with Israel's Sun, and Saturn, in 11 Leo, was applying to a conjunction with Israel's Pluto. As a symbol for the intense eruption of extreme violence which has occurred over the last four weeks, Pluto is stationing direct opposite the Israeli Uranus, after having stationed retrograde in square to their progressed Mars. It is also of interest that this war started on the very day of a progressed solar return (transit Sun conjunct secondary progressed Sun), and that Israel had a progressed Moon-Mars conjunction, exact to 06' of arc, at the commencement of hostilities. chart

Israel's military has retaliated forcefully with a massive aerial bombing of Lebanese infrastructure, precision commando raids on Hezbollah cells, and a ground invasion of 10,000 troops into southern Lebanon. At least 600 Lebanese have died in the bombings and artillery shelling so far, because Hezbollah fighters hide among the civilian population. In turn, Hezbollah has fired thousands of Iranian and Syrian made rockets and missiles deep into Israel, killing or injuring hundreds of civilians and forcing almost a million people into underground bomb shelters. What was Hezbollah thinking when it launched this raid, and what has been the reason for Israel's massive counterattack to defend its citizens against these Muslim guerillas?

As this correspondent wrote in his previous newsletter, Israel has its progressed Mars applying to a square with Jupiter, a symbol if there ever was one for a large-scale military operation. The debate in both the Western and Muslim press is over "ethical military proportionality," a Mars-Jupiter issue for certain. Israel began the war overconfidently, bragging how they would crush Hezbollah in just two weeks, yet their bitter enemy has proven to be a difficult adversary to defeat. This Mars-Jupiter square also resulted in poor judgment and an overly optimistic military strategy, with too much of an emphasis initially being placed on prosecuting the war from the air. Pluto is transiting 26-27 of Sagittarius in 2006 and 2007, and will not form the final conjunction to Israel's Jupiter, or the last square to their progressed Mars, until 20 November 2007 when both volatile transits occur on the exact same day. It is the opinion of this writer that a lasting cease fire will not hold.

Hezbollah was officially founded on 16 February 1985 in Beirut, after evolving since 1982 as an amalgam of various Muslim resistance groups trained by the Iranian Revolutionary Guard, when Israel invaded Lebanon to drive out Yasser Arafat and his PLO. Their suicide car bombing of the U.S. Marine barracks, and of French troops in 1983 that killed over 300 total soldiers, makes them rank second only to al Qaeda as America's most despised enemy. Hezbollah has even struck South American Jewish targets in Argentina. They were the first Islamist militant group to reintroduce the guerilla tactic of suicide bombings, and the warlike Venus-Mars conjunction in Aries shows that this organization is tough, aggressive and fearless of death.

Casting a noon horoscope for this violent organization, one finds a Sun-Saturn square in 27 degrees of the fixed signs, attesting to the renowned discipline and rigid military training that their fighters have received from Iran. The Aquarian Sun is opposite Israel's Mars, and the Saturn in Scorpio is opposite the Israeli Sun, and square that Mars. On the positive side, this group, with the Sun in Aquarius, has built hospitals and schools, as well as providing social services for the mostly poor Shiite Muslims in the south of Lebanon. However, to Israel's chagrin, they hide weapons inside those hospitals and schools.

The violent and genocidal philosophy of hatred against Jews espoused by this radical group is seen in their Jupiter-Pluto square. That Jupiter at 2 degrees of Aquarius is exactly conjunct the IC of Israel. The 20th degree of Gemini is rising in this noon horoscope, and we find its ruler, Mercury, in 25 Aquarius. The Saturn retrograde station at 25 Leo in early December opposing the Hezbollah Mercury does not bode well for these Islamic radicals, and much of the blame for the destruction of Lebanon will fall squarely on their shoulders. This correspondent thinks that Hezbollah will become even more radicalized next year, as in 2007 Uranus will square this group's Uranus in 17 degrees of mutable. The North Node of Hezbollah is in the exact degree of the May 2000 Jupiter-Saturn Grand Conjunction, Taurus 23, and its degree symbol from La Volasfera starkly depicts the dark forces in Tehran that are pulling the puppet strings of Mr Nasrallah:

A king sits upon a throne; behind him stands a figure veiled in black.

3) Israel's Second Saturn Return:
A Sobering Redefinition of National Security

On August 19th, Israel will have its second Saturn return since statehood was established in 1948. This Saturn return has become, in a such a short time, an extremely painful lesson in just how vulnerable the country is to violent aggressors beyond its borders using sophisticated and imported weaponry. Since 2000, when Israel withdrew its troops from southern Lebanon after an 18-year occupation, Syria and Iran have been covertly arming the Hezbollah militia with an arsenal of thousands of Katyusha rockets and Zelzal missiles. These latter warheads have a range of 209 kilometers (about 125 miles) and if launched from just south of Beirut, have the capacity to target Tel Aviv, the commercial capital of Israel. Hezbollah possesses the most advanced anti-tank missiles in the world, and has cutting edge technology and communication systems that allowed the group to intercept Israeli military transmissions. At this second Saturn return, Israel's security equation has been radically altered by Hezbollah directly, and indirectly by Syrian and Iranian complicity in this conflict in Lebanon.

To put this into an American perspective, the scenario that Israel now faces would be like Hugo Chavez of Venezuela secretly funneling missiles and laser guided weapons technology through Guatemala to anti-American radical groups in Mexico, and these groups would then launch rocket attacks on Los Angeles and San Diego from deep within the slums of Tijuana, Baja California. The U.S. military would have no option, in order to protect American citizens, other than to flatten Tijuana into a parking lot, regardless of civilian casualties, and to tell Mr Chavez that if he doesn't quit his trouble making, he's in the cross hairs of our cruise missile submarines in the Caribbean.

Bearing in mind that a nation undergoing its Saturn return is extremely sensitive to the security of its citizens, and to the sovereignty of its national borders, one can then understand the intense and ferocious Israeli military response against the Muslim terrorists of Hezbollah. It is realistic to say that the political equation in the Middle East has just been turned upside down, and that a completely new diplomatic and military reality for Israel is now in place. Can the astrologer return to the first Israeli Saturn return between November 1976 and July 1977 and see if history is repeating itself?

In 1976, turmoil also existed in Lebanon. Syrian troops and Lebanese Christians battled Palestinian guerillas and Lebanese Muslims in southern Lebanon. The Syrian army took control of Beirut, Tripoli, Sarda and the highways that ran between these cities. A Christian leader, Elias Sarkis, was elected President by the Lebanese parliament. In 1977, the Palestine National Council called for "an independent national state" on "national soil." Also that year, Egyptian President Anwar Sadat arrived in Israel for the first visit by an Arab head of state since the Jewish state was founded in 1948. Can any of these events from the last Saturn return for Israel in 1976-77 provide insight into the current instability in the region?

Yes, they can. If one stands back and presumes that the strategic aim of Shiite Iran is to control the post-Saddam Middle East, and if one takes seriously their declared threat to "wipe Israel off the map", then one can begin to understand the existential threat that Israel now faces. Israel has peace treaties with the Sunni Muslim nations of Egypt and Jordan, and has a relatively non-confrontational relationship with Sunni Saudi Arabia. Lebanon is being used by Iran and Syria to indirectly attack Israel through the Shiite Muslim guerillas of Hezbollah. What Israel's previous Saturn return teaches us is that a political wedge must now be driven straight into the heart of Lebanese politics by the government in Jerusalem, and by the UN Security Council. This wedge will have to marginalize and disarm the Hezbollah radicals and create a political coalition free of Syrian influence, consisting of secular Sunni Muslims, the Druze leadership, and Lebanon's Maronite Christians.

Today, as the United States and France work together in the UN Security Council to cobble together a resolution calling for an immediate cessation of hostilities, there is a once-a-year Sun-Saturn conjunction, beginning a new synodic cycle for the planet of stability and order. The symbol from La Volasfera for the conjunction degree, Leo 15, is rather revealing:

A figure like the angel of the Sun (Michael), standing erect, and striking the earth with the point of a dazzling sword.

In a bog in the Irish midlands the week of July 17-21, shortly after the Israel-Hezbollah war broke out, a man in a bulldozer dug up an ancient manuscript buried and preserved in the muddy soil. It contained about 20 pages of Scriptural commentary written in Latin, and has been dated to the 9th or 10th century. When found, it was open to Psalm 83:

4) Hassan Nasrallah's Progressed Mars-Saturn Opposition:
His Impending Assassination by Israel

The head of the Shiite Muslim terror organization, Hezbollah, is Hassan Nasrallah. He was born on 31 August 1960 in Beirut, and his violent ways and thinking are seen in a Sun-Mercury-Pluto triple conjunction in Virgo. Casting a noon chart for this man, one finds his IC in the very degree of the USA Moon, lending credence to the FBI's concerns that Hezbollah terror cells may indeed already exist inside the United States. His perverse hatred of Israel is seen in natal Uranus in 22 Leo, the exact midpoint of both the Israeli Mars/Saturn and Venus/Neptune. Whether Israel offers peace to him (Venus/Neptune), or if they threaten to kill him (Mars/Saturn), it makes no difference to this willful extremist (Uranus), as his violent group has the sole aim of destroying Israel. It is also of interest that Mr Nasrallah's Chiron, the shamanic comet, is in the degree of the Hezbollah Midheaven. The Sabian Symbol for this degree, Aquarius 30, as rewritten by Dane Rudhyar, is:

In pondering this symbolism, it leaves one wondering if these Muslim extremists of Hezbollah are practicing some sort of sorcery in their pursuit of the destruction of Israel. Mr Nasrallah's ability to lead a radical political group is seen in his Jupiter-Uranus trine, and it is of interest that the Israeli progressed Moon was conjunct his natal Venus right on the transiting South Node when this war broke out. If the Israeli Air Force cannot kill Mr Nasrallah in his underground bunker with a massive aerial bombardment, as they tried to do early on in this war, the Mossad, Israel's intelligence agency, is determined to assassinate him. Will they be successful?

Examining the Hezbollah leader's progressed horoscope, it appears that his funeral is near at hand. Besides his progressed Moon conjoining the rising degree in the July 12th outbreak of war chart, he has progressed Mars applying to an opposition with Saturn, along with transit Saturn about to form three conjunctions with his natal Uranus. Without his birth time being known, astrologers can only calculate a range of dates within which his progressed Mars will perfect that opposition. This is accomplished by first casting his chart for 12:01 AM on 31 August 1960, and then calculating when the Mars-Saturn opposition perfects. Second, we have to cast his nativity for 11:59 PM on that day, run the progressed calculations, thereby determining the earliest possible date when this aspect could become exact. If one's violent ways were to be curtailed, the progression of Mars into opposition with Saturn is certainly the aspect to bring this about.

The 12:01 AM nativity produces a natal Mars in 18 Gemini 07, with the progressed Mars opposition to Saturn perfecting on 3 January 2009. The 11:59 PM horoscope has Mars in 18 Gemini 43; the progression becoming exact on 11 December 2007. In either case, his progressed Mars has already entered its one degree applying orb to the opposition with Saturn. Employing C.E.O. Carter's Law of Excitation, wherein the transit of Mars or Saturn making a hard aspect to this forming progressed opposition will "excite the direction into immediate operation", one finds that Mars will pass through 11 degrees of Libra on September 25th-26th. The first transit of Saturn over his natal Uranus will take place on October 12th of this year.

5) Recurring Neptune-Pluto Septiles 2001-2011:
Late 1930s Nazism and Modern Day Islamist Fascism

As your correspondent has written in previous newsletters, a total of twenty Neptune-Pluto septiles are forming in the heavens between December 2001 and February 2011. Due to the orbital eccentricity of Pluto, which speeds up and comes inside the orbit of Neptune for 20 years during its 248-year sojourn around the Sun, these are recurring aspects and previously formed seven times between December 1937 and September 1940. During this period, the rise of Nazism and anti-Semitism culminated in the German invasion of Poland in September 1939, and the outbreak of World War II. With Neptune and Pluto once again in septile aspect since shortly after the 9/11 terrorist attacks, when the U.S. declared war on Islamist terrorism, is an equivalent escalation of irrational fascist extremism again taking place on Earth, similar to the late 1930s?

After contemplating the meaning of the 51 3/7 degree septile, one conclusion is that planet Earth is in serious trouble, yet help is on the way. In Sabian Aspect Orbs, this author equated the septile aspect with the Sabian Symbol for Taurus 22:

White dove flying over troubled waters.

Sounds a little bit like the Holy Ghost, eh? In that book, this writer also stated:

From this perspective, a cycle of world history is now ending and a hidden seed is emerging to germinate the new era. The crucial question is, "What exactly is this hidden seed?" For Christians, it will be the second coming of Jesus Christ. Israel is the land where it is prophesied that this will take place. The forming of the State of Israel in 1948, to many Western believers, was the necessary harbinger for this spiritual event to come about. This is a creative and devotional belief, open to all humans regardless of one's religion, and thus inclusionary. It can be theorized that this force comes under the rulership of Neptune.

In Shiite Islam, their believers also await the return of a Messiah, the Mystical 12th Imam. According to their religion, to the best of this correspondent's understanding, in 941 A.D. this Imam entered a cave hidden by a mystical doorway called the Gate of Occultation. This doctrine teaches that Allah (God) cloaked this hidden Imam from human view so as to preserve him until his return. Shiites also believe that this 12th Imam, the Mahdi, will return to Earth to lead the final jihadist battle between good and evil when the world has reached a point of sufficient negativity and degradation.

From their teachings, it appears that humanity has no control over just when this Mystical Imam will return, but a sect within Shiite Islam called the Hojjatieh, to which the current Iranian president, Mahmoud Ahmadinejad, is said to belong, believes the return of the Mahdi can be hastened by the implementation of chaos and destruction on Earth. Mr Ahmadinejad even made references to this theology during his speech at the United Nations. Apparently, it is through this logic that Iran wishes to destroy Israel and bring on Armageddon, thereby causing the return of the Hidden Imam. This is a destructive approach, not open to all humans, and exclusionary. It can be theorized that this force is under the rulership of Pluto.

Thus, in this mind-boggling spiritual scenario, Pluto in the sign of religion, Sagittarius, forms septiles with Neptune in the sign of the Brotherhood of Man, Aquarius, therefore causing a vast struggle on the astral and causal planes over what collective belief system will prevail on Earth. Metaphysically, if one billion Christians and one billion Muslims are sending thought forms containing the mass magnetics of their respective, yet competing, belief systems into the ethers, one can only imagine the epic tug of war taking place in the Angelic Realms at the present time. A key question arises when looking at reality in this way: When, within the nine years, one month and 13 days between the first and last septiles, would something big happen?

Your correspondent has a theory: Of the twenty septiles between Neptune and Pluto, one will occur with Pluto having just entered the powerful cardinal ingress degree of 0 Capricorn. This septile occurs on 22 February 2008 with Neptune in 22 Aquarius 10 and Pluto in 00 Capricorn 44. It appears that at this time, a global religious experience of some kind will occur.

Sober and practical astrologers, who may wish to shun these esoteric speculations, justifiably would want to know when the Judeo-Christian world would have to put an end to Iran's intentions to destroy Israel. By researching the upcoming secondary progressions for this Islamic regime, one finds that a progressed Sun-Saturn opposition will perfect on 24 July 2007. At that time, the Iranian Venus has also progressed to the exact degree of the USA Pluto in 27 Capricorn. With these aspects, it is safe to assume that we are about a year away from a major military confrontation. The Islamic Republic of Iran will then experience its first Saturn return in September 2008. It is doubtful that the present theocratic regime can stay in power beyond this date. It is also no small coincidence that the USA progressed Mars stationed retrograde in the very same degree of the Iranian progressed Pluto, exact to 06' of arc.

6) Saturn Inconjunct Uranus:
The Indirect War Between the United States, Israel, Syria and Iran

Watching the Israel-Lebanon conflict unfold over the past few weeks, it has struck your correspondent just how indirectly this war is being fought. Hezbollah is being armed and financed by both Syria and Iran, with some reports stating that the Shiite Muslim guerilla group receives $100 million from the Iranians each year. The Israeli government in Jerusalem has said that it doesn't want to go to war with Damascus, all the while bombing the highways and bridges from Syria into Lebanon in order to prevent Hezbollah from being resupplied with weaponry. Israel has not confronted Tehran directly, even though it has become obvious that this war was started as a diversion by the Iranians to take world attention away from their uranium enrichment program. In fact, this conflict started the day after the EU foreign-policy chief, Javier Solana, had gone to Tehran to press the Iranians to suspend their nuclear fuel program or else be referred to the UN Security Council for sanctions.

This correspondent has written in several previous newsletters about the current Saturn-Uranus cycle, and how it underpins the War on Islamist Terrorism. During this war between Israel and Hezbollah, Saturn has formed its 3rd and final inconjunct with Uranus, this aspect having just perfected on August 1st. Casting this chart for Jerusalem, its MC/IC axis are in the exact degrees of Hassan Nasrallah's noon chart horizon, and its Mars is in the same degree as his Pluto.

To gain a clearer perspective about the turmoil in the Middle East, one must step back and look at this entire 44-year cycle, which started with the conjunction of these two heavenly bodies in February 1988 at 29 Sagittarius 55. Two additional Saturn-Uranus conjunctions also occurred that year, the middle retrograde conjunction in June 1988, and the final one took place in October. From Charubel, for Sagittarius 30, we find:

A man standing alone in a dark and gloomy valley,
and a ray of brilliant light coming direct from the heavens on the crown of his head.

Denotes one who will have a mission to execute; a cyclic man, not a time man;
one who lives a life beyond his day; not always understood, he suffers accordingly.

The degree symbolism for the beginning of this violent and gloomy cycle of history gives one hope that Christ will return soon.

The eminent French mundane astrologer, Andre Barbault, has written about mundane planetary cycles as such:

conjunction = the current is born
sextile = it takes shape
square = becomes a crisis or an internal conflict
trine = asserts itself and takes wing
opposition = fights or is fought, and meets a final challenge, during which it either surpasses itself or regresses

In 1988, at the conjunction of Saturn and Uranus at the beginning of this cycle, the Declaration of Palestinian Independence occurred, and the first Intifada began against Israeli occupation of the West Bank and Gaza. Also that year, P.L.O. military leader, Abu Jihad, was assassinated by Israeli secret agents. In May 1996, at the first sextile, Israel's Operation Grapes of Wrath had just taken place, killing over a hundred Lebanese civilians in Qana at a UN refugee camp in an attempt to target Hezbollah guerillas who were firing from that area on Israeli soldiers. The outrage over this event added further shape to the resistance movements of both the P.L.O. and Hezbollah.

At the Saturn-Uranus square in July 1999, the new Israeli prime minister, Ehud Barak, offered to conduct peace negotiations with Syria, the Palestinians, and the Lebanese. This Israeli outreach split the resistance movements, and produced internal conflict within their inner circles over their future strategy with Israel. At the Saturn-Uranus trine in August 2002, in a Ha'aretz (Israel) newspaper interview with IDF Chief of Staff Moshe Ya'alon, he was asked about "the theory of the spider web":

These comments by the Israeli Lieutenant General reveal that by the trine between Saturn and Uranus, Israel's Muslim enemies and their resistance movements had begun to "assert themselves and take wing", according to Mr Barbault's mundane cycle theory, believing that Israel was in a weakened position, while they themselves were gaining in strength.

Now, at the 150 degree inconjunct between Saturn and Uranus, an aspect not included by Mr Barbault in his mundane cycle analysis, Israel finds itself fighting an "indirect war." Indirectness is a characteristic of the inconjunct. This difficult to handle aspect produces as much conflict as an opposition, but since it is skewed off at 30 degrees, conflict cannot be confronted directly and must be adjusted to internally. This is the tortuous position that Israel now find itself in at her second Saturn return: Hezbollah cannot be defeated militarily without international outrage over massive civilian casualties, and therefore a UN-brokered cease fire will have to be acquiesced to. Another characteristic of an inconjunct is that it can produce surprise events, just beyond one's peripheral vision. This is certainly the case with Hezbollah's weapons arsenal, as Israel had no idea that the Muslim guerillas possessed the land-to-sea laser-guided missiles that struck the Israeli warship in the opening days of this war, or that Hezbollah's fighters would be equipped with night-vision goggles and sophisticated anti-tank missiles.

Looking forward in time, according to Mr Barbault, at the cycle's opposition a movement "fights or is fought, and meets a final challenge, during which it either surpasses itself or regresses." In this cycle analysis, the real showdown between Israel and its enemies is still yet to come. From November 2008 until July 2010, there will be five Saturn-Uranus oppositions, the fifth and final one occurring exactly on the Cardinal Point of 0 Aries-0 Libra. It is difficult not to view this present Israel-Hezbollah conflict as a preview of the Armageddon to come in 2008-2010. Whether the violent Islamist movement "surpasses itself or regresses" during this time is the key global question of modern history.

7) In Brief Planet News and Notes:
Progressed Stations, Eclipses, Outer Planet Aspects and More

On July 20th, for the first time in American history, the USA progressed Mars stationed retrograde. It will remain so for the next 80 years. A few days after this progressed station, at a Senate oversight hearing, for the first time since the invasion of Iraq, top U.S. military generals admitted that it is quite likely for that country to "degrade into a low-intensity civil war", and that Baghdad may have to be divided into sectarian areas, much like Beirut was during Lebanon's long and bloody civil war.

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Another important aspect also linked to the crisis in Lebanon that may have flown below the radar screen for astrologers has been Saturn in waning sesquiquadrate with Pluto. Three of these 225-degree waning trioctile aspects have formed between September 2005 and June 30th of this year, the third aspect coming just days before the outbreak of hostilities in the Middle East. This cycle began with the conjunction of Saturn and Pluto in November 1982, the year that Israel invaded Lebanon, and also the year when the early beginnings of Hezbollah came into existence.

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The Sun-Mars conjunction of October 23rd, beginning a new 25-month synodic cycle, occurs at 29 Libra 43 and will conjoin the Israeli Ascendant, exact to 08' of arc. The third Jupiter-Saturn square also perfects at this time, creating an exact Fixed T-Cross with the Israeli Sun at 23 degrees. In his Volume V - Holographic Transits, this author has written how a synodic cycle conjunction landing on an angle or on a Luminary will hold its influence for the entire length of that cycle. The planet of war has a synodic cycle lasting over two years, and the fate of Israel until December 2008 looks like it will be quite violent.

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The first of three Saturn-Neptune oppositions will occur on August 31st, the day of Hassan Nasrallah's solar return. This does not look good for his long-term survival. If Israel starts to threaten Damascus or Tehran more directly about their arming and financing of Hezbollah, at this time we could see a blockade by Iran of the Strait of Hormuz, through which most of the exported oil from the Middle East passes by tanker. This potential crisis, along with the recent news that BP is shutting down its Prudhoe Bay refinery in Alaska for emergency maintenance, thus cutting off 400,000 barrels of crude oil production per day, could push the price of oil to as high as $150 per barrel, and cause a gasoline shortage on par with the Arab oil embargo of the early 1970s, at the last Saturn-Neptune opposition. Watch for the Dalai-Lama, born at the previous Saturn-Neptune opposition in 1935, to speak out against Middle East violence at this time.

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On September 4th, Saturn will conjoin the 9/11 chart ruler, Venus, in 18 Leo 24. This correspondent has been on record for the last several years with a forecast that Osama bin Laden will be captured or killed at this time. The time is close at hand.

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The solar eclipse on September 22nd in 29 Virgo 20 lands within a degree of Israel's progressed MC. Israel's progressed Moon will be in that very degree at the time of the eclipse. This is also the degree of the Israel-Iran Davison Time-Space chart's Sun. From La Volasfera, for Virgo 30, we find:

A man standing, either headless, or with the head shrouded in black cloth.

One wonders if the black-turbaned Mr Nasrallah will meet his fate at the hands of the Mossad at this time. Just three days later, Mars transits 11 Libra, triggering his progressed Mars-Saturn opposition.

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Fidel Castro, Cuba's dictator, turns 80 on August 13th. Saturn transits his Sun for the first of three times on September 19th. A long rule, spanning four Jupiter cycles and 47 years, may be coming to an end. Ever the idealistic revolutionary, Mr Castro was born at a Sun-Neptune conjunction opposite Jupiter in Aquarius.

8) Interview in the Major Sky Astrological Ezine

The current issue of Major Sky, published by astrologer Maurice Fernandez, has an interview with your correspondent.

© 2006 Robert P. Blaschke

Source notes:

http://en.wikipedia.org
The Economist (various recent issues).
Charubel, The Degrees of the Zodiac Symbolised, London: L.N. Fowler & Co., 1898.
Charles E.O. Carter, The Principles of Astrology, London: L.N. Fowler & Co., 1925.
Charles E.O. Carter, The Astrological Aspects, London: L.N. Fowler & Co., 1930.
Charles E.O. Carter, An Introduction to Political Astrology, London: L.N. Fowler & Co., 1951.
Marc Edmund Jones, Lecture~Lessons, Stanwood WA: Sabian Assembly, 1931.
Bernard Grun, The Timetables of History, New York: Simon & Schuster, 1975.
Nick Campion, The Book of World Horoscopes (BWH), Bristol, UK: Cinnabar Books, 1996.
Robert P. Blaschke, Astrology: A Language of Life; Volume I - Progressions,
Lake Oswego OR: Earthwalk School of Astrology, 1998.
Robert P. Blaschke, Astrology: A Language of Life; Volume IV - Relationship Analysis,
Santa Monica CA: Earthwalk School of Astrology, 2004.

Earthwalk School of Astrology Newsletter
15 Taurus 2006 - 1,604 Recipients

{article 6) updated 10 May 2006}

Table of Contents

1) Greetings

2) 1846 Declaration of War on Mexico Progressed Solar Eclipse: H.R. 4437 Immigration Reform Bill

3) Sabian Symbol for USA Aries Ingress Rising Degree: Mumps Epidemic in Iowa

4) The Lunar Nodes on the Cardinal Cross: The North Node @ the 0 Degree Aries Point

5) Tough Times for UK Prime Minister Tony Blair: Saturn Transits His South Node

6) Iran Threatens Israel if USA Strikes First: September Solar Eclipse @ 29 Virgo Conjoins Davison Sun

***********************************************************

1) Greetings

5 May 2006

Dear Astrological Friends,

Greetings to you and your family, and I hope that this mid-Spring missive finds you in good health and in good spirits. I have recently returned home from a two week speaking trip to the East Coast that took me to the Midwest Astrology Conference in Cleveland, to see clients in Greenwich, Connecticut, to give a lecture in Pennington, New Jersey to a local astrology group, and to the Richmond, Virginia chapter of NCGR where I taught a workshop on Relationship Astrology. Thanks to those of you who attended my lectures and workshops, and it was good to see all of my friends back East again.

I am presently writing Volume V - Holographic Transits, and my newest book will be published on October 21st. I will be part of the faculty at the NORWAC conference in Seattle later this month and I hope to see some of you there. June finds me in Chicago where I will be speaking at the Friends of Astrology annual luncheon, and the remainder of the summer will find me hard at work on the manuscript for Volume V.

There is much to discuss in the heavenly realms and I send this quarterly mundane newsletter for your perusal.

Best wishes,

Robert P. Blaschke

2) 1846 Declaration of War on Mexico Progressed Solar Eclipse:
H.R. 4437 Immigration Reform Bill

Last Monday, more than a million demonstrators, the vast majority of whom were Mexican or Central American, marched in the streets of major U.S. cities, and on Main Streets in rural American towns, to protest the Immigration Reform Bill passed by the House of Representatives. This legislation, which is now being debated in the U.S. Senate, would criminalize illegal immigrants, and those who employ or provide assistance to them, as felons. This protest was also a planned boycott by the Latino community, with hundreds of thousands of illegal immigrants and their children skipping a day at work, staying away from school, and refusing to buy products or services on that day. The intent was to show America the impact that these illegal immigrants have on the U.S. economy, and to show their value to American society as decent and hard working people who, for humanitarian reasons, should not be treated as criminals, regardless of how they entered the country.

With both the Capricorn and the Aries Ingress charts for the USA having had 9th house Suns, astrologers can plainly see how this issue has grown into such a political controversy. The H.R. 4437 Immigration Reform Bill, passed by the House on December 16th, has some very strong language in it, such as deportation procedures, revocation of citizenship for children born on U.S. soil to illegals, and criminal penalties for employers who hire these illegal immigrants. Is there a larger context in which astrologers can view these societal developments, and in which one can more deeply understand this radical demographic transformation that is now afoot in America? Yes, and to perceive this one must travel back in time to the 13 May 1846 Declaration of War on Mexico horoscope, cast for 12:00 PM LMT in Washington, D.C. chart

Students of American history will recall that in 1835, Texas declared its right to secede from Mexico. After the battle of the Alamo in 1836, Texas won independence from Mexico and became a republic. In 1844, a plan to annex Texas into the United States was rejected by the Senate, but in 1845 Texas was granted statehood. The very next year, negotiations between the U.S. and Mexico for the purchase of additional territory failed and American troops moved into the disputed areas. After several skirmishes between Mexican and U.S. soldiers, war was formally declared by the United States on 13 May 1846.

After U.S. troops captured Mexico City in 1847, the war came to an end with the Treaty of Guadalupe Hidalgo in February of 1848. The United States acquired formal possession of Texas, which had been disputed by Mexico for a dozen years. With the Mexican Cession, the U.S. also acquired New Mexico, Arizona, Utah, Nevada, California, and parts of Colorado and Wyoming from Mexico as terms of the surrender, with the U.S. paying Mexico $15,000,000 for this sparsely populated land. Along with the Louisiana Purchase of 1803, the United States now had fulfilled its "Manifest Destiny" and had become a nation stretching from the Atlantic to the Pacific Oceans. For Mexico, this humiliating defeat left it without one third of its former national boundaries, and losing the war had deeply scarred the pride and the soul of that country.

If one secondary progresses the Declaration of War on Mexico horoscope to 16 December 2005, the day that the House of Representatives passed the immigration reform legislation, one finds that there is a progressed solar eclipse in the 27th degree of Libra. Additionally, the MC ruler, Venus, is opposite the planet of rebellion and awakenings, Uranus, exact within two minutes of arc. chart One also observes that Pluto will station direct this year on the War chart's Moon in 24 Sagittarius. It is also no small coincidence that the United States went to war with Mexico with an elevated 9th house Sun-Jupiter conjunction in Taurus (acquisition of foreign owned land to expand the country's borders). That Sun is in the exact degree of the Jupiter-Saturn Grand Conjunction of May 2000, 22 Taurus, and this 20-year cycle is now activated by the three current Jupiter-Saturn squares. The war chart Jupiter is in the exact degree of the Mars retrograde station from last October 1st.

The astrologer also observes that a Saturn-Neptune conjunction had occurred when the United States and Mexico went to war in 1846. Neptune was discovered at the second conjunction with Saturn later that very year at the Libra Ingress (24 September 1846; 12:14 AM LMT; Berlin). This year, we will have the first Saturn-Neptune opposition in thirty-five years. The progressed Pluto in the war chart is in the exact degree of President Bush's Midheaven, and the upcoming solar eclipse on September 22nd will fall precisely on the war chart's second house Chiron in 29 Virgo. The New Moon just prior to the massive demonstrations on May 1st was in 7 Taurus, the exact degree of the war chart's South Node. So, you may ask, what is really going on here? Are collective forces at work now correcting injustices dating back to Neptune's discovery? As we approach the 165-year Neptune return in the Declaration of War horoscope, is spiritual reconciliation now taking place?

It is the view of this correspondent that a balancing of karma is now occurring between the United States and Mexico. As we are in the last Jupiter-Saturn cycle to occur in the earth element, with subsequent Grand Conjunctions falling in air signs for the next two centuries, any unfinished business from the 19th century, when the earth element Grand Conjunctions began to form, will have to be made right between now and 2020, the year of the next Jupiter-Saturn conjunction in 0 Aquarius.

This balancing of karma by the interplanetary cycle most responsible for cultural and societal realities, Jupiter and Saturn, is being accomplished organically through the demographics of population growth and birth rates, through labor requirements of supply and demand, and, most importantly, through natural spiritual laws of justice and fairness. The soul of Mexico still exists in the Southwestern United States, and its people who come across the border to work in the USA have a natural identification with this land buried deep in the DNA inherited from their ancestors. It is certainly of note that the December 2005 progressed Ascendant for the Declaration of War chart, Capricorn 5, has as its Sabian Symbol:

It is also poignant to contemplate the Sabian Symbol for the rising degree of the Declaration of War chart, Leo 29:

One can visualize, through this symbolism, the hopes and dreams of the hundreds of thousands of migrant workers who trek across the searing hot deserts and swim across the raging rivers just to have a chance to partake of the abundance found in the benefic Venus-Jupiter exalted conjunction in Cancer in the USA horoscope.

A sweeping and historical demographic change is now afoot in America. From small towns in rural Kansas with declining populations being resuscitated by Mexican workers and their families, to the peach orchards in Georgia, to the lettuce fields in Salinas, to the cranberry bogs in Maine, and to the streets of Los Angeles and Chicago where 500,000 marched peacefully in each city last Monday in a show of Neptune in Aquarius "People Power", a rising tide of humanity has made their voices heard. As the 800-year Jupiter-Saturn cycle of Grand Conjunctions pivots on its hinges from the Earth to the Air element, will national borders and sovereign boundaries still be able to artificially separate the races, the cultures, and the ethnicities?

This correspondent vividly recalls a dinner conversation that he and his wife had with the late Jim Lewis in 1994 when he came to Portland, Oregon to lecture. Over an Indian meal of tasty Sag Paneer and delicious Pinot Grigio wine, Mr Lewis spoke about the Super Cycle of Saturn-Uranus-Neptune and its once-in-690-year triple conjunctions. These long cycles, in his research, had correlated with the rise and fall of Persian, Greek, Roman, Arabic and Caucasian cultures. It was his opinion that the Hispanic culture was to predominate over the next seven centuries following the 1989 Super Conjunction of these three heavenly bodies. When this writer asked him about China and the Indian subcontinent, he explained that the eclipse paths over the major Central and South American capitals in the coming century spoke otherwise. His prescience from a Jupiter cycle ago now appears to be coming into manifestation. A fine and exceptional astrologer was Mr Lewis.

3) Sabian Symbol for USA Aries Ingress Rising Degree, Leo 2:
The Mumps Epidemic in the American Midwest

Shortly after the Aries Ingress on March 20th, an outbreak of mumps began to be reported in the American Heartland. As of this writing, the epidemic has reached 1,273 illnesses in the state of Iowa alone, the largest outbreak in the country for several decades. Cases are also being reported in Minnesota and in other nearby states in the midwest. This writer, in his Spring 2006 newsletter chart, had commented on the rising degree for Washington, D.C. in this Aries Ingress chart, Leo 2, and its Sabian Symbol:

In an astonishing example of the literalism and accuracy of Zodiac degree symbols for the rising degree of Cardinal Ingress charts for the USA, cast for Washington, D.C., one finds that this Ascendant could have only been in this degree for about four minutes of clock time on that day. For the technically inclined astrologers who subscribe to this newsletter, this Aries Ingress chart is also a testimony to this correspondent's recommendation of using Geocentric Latitude in lieu of Geographic, in one's atlas preferences in one's astrology software. This Spring Ingress horoscope, had it been calculated with Geographic Latitude, would have had 02 Leo 04 rising, thus giving it the 3rd degree of Leo for its Sabian Symbol. For the U.S. capital, this is seen in the geographic latitude being 38N54, whereas the geocentric latitude for Washington is 38N42. This difference in the measurement of latitude is caused by the earth's surface not being perfectly spherical, with "flat" areas on the globe.

4) The Lunar Nodes on the Cardinal Cross:
The North Node @ the 0 Degree Aries Point

At the Midwest Astrology Conference in Cleveland two weeks ago, this correspondent presented a lecture entitled The Lunar Nodes on the Cardinal Cross. The lecture handouts can be found here. Between 10 June and 22 June of this year the North Node will occupy 0 degrees of Aries, the most powerful manifestation degree of the Zodiac. It would be pertinent now, as this historical event draws near, to review previous occurrences of this phenomenon. As one can see, some very significant world events and important beginnings took place at these times, with these events shaping history for the next two decades and beyond. The length of time of 0 degrees of Aries being occupied by the North Node can vary from six days to 2 1/2 months.

Last occurrence = 19 November to 1 December 1987

Construction begins on the English Channel tunnel.
First Palestinian Intifada against Israel commences.
NASA awards contracts to build Space Station.
US-USSR Intermediate Range Nuclear Forces Treaty signed.
World population reaches 5,000,000,000.

Prior occurrence = 3 February to 19 April 1969

Yasser Arafat appointed PLO leader in Cairo.
Beatles' last public performance (on roof of Apple Records building).
First Concorde test flight conducted.
NASA launches Apollo 9 to test lunar module for Moon landing later that year.
Sirhan Sirhan pleads guilty to Robert F. Kennedy assassination.
James Earl Ray pleads guilty to Martin Luther King assassination.
Golda Meir becomes PM of Israel.
Dr Denton Cooley implants the first temporary artificial heart.

Previous occurrence = 14-27 July 1950

Korean War begins.
National Security Council resolution 68 enacted by President Truman;
sets U.S. foreign policy for next 20 years.

Prior to that = 23-29 December 1931

Pope Pius XI Encyclical on the new social order.
Japanese army invades Manchuria; events leading up to World War II.
Chiang Kai-shek resigns as President of China.
Emperor Hirohito survives assassination attempt.
Mahatma Gandhi arrested by British; Indian Congress made illegal.

Before that = 24 May to 5 June 1913

Rockefeller Foundation begins with $100,000,000 grant.
First Balkan War ends with London Peace Treaty; events leading up to World War I.
Rays from the Rose Cross (Echoes from Mount Ecclesia)
first published by Max Heindel and The Rosicrucian Fellowship.

What is most significant about the North Node reaching 0 degrees of Aries this year is that it occurs during a violent conjunction of the malefics, Mars and Saturn, and that it will also be in effect at the Cancer Ingress. This Summer Ingress chart for the USA looks quite imposing: it has a Fixed Grand Cross in angular houses, with the Moon in application by square or opposition to the other four bodies. The exact Mars-Saturn conjunction occurs on 18 June at 06:02:41 GMT in 08 Leo 45, closely conjunct the Ascendant of George W. Bush and this conjunction is also angular in that USA Cancer Ingress. This union of the malefics is also a Super Conjunction, as Mars and Saturn are parallel when they reach alignment by longitude. Mars rules the MC in the USA Cancer Ingress, symbolizing the leader of the country. It is a distinct possibility that the USA will lose Mr Bush to Tecumseh's Curse at this time.

There is additionally a violent Yod with an apex Pluto that forms at the Summer Ingress. The trigger point of the Yod is 25 Gemini 58 (near midpoint of Mercury-Venus sextile), and triggers dates by the transit Moon during the Summer Quarter are:

The Jupiter-Saturn second waxing square perfects June 22nd, the day after the Cancer Ingress and global economic impact from startling world events should be expected at this time. The last Mars-Saturn conjunction occurred on 25 May 2004 @ 11 Cancer 18 and 1000 people were killed by floods in Haiti and in the Dominican Republic. During that last Mars-Saturn conjunction, at the French Open, the longest tennis match in the history of the sport occurred (6 hrs; 33 min).

This dangerous window of time for Mr Bush extends into early July as well, as on the 4th his progressed Moon forms an exact conjunction with his natal South Node in 20 Sagittarius 35. This once-in-27.3-year progression has a karmic signature of endings and losses, and coming as it does with Mr Bush also having progressed Mars conjoining his natal Moon, some death in his immediate family is possible. On that very day of the South Node conjunction by his progressed Moon, Mars is in 18 Leo, the August 1999 Grand Cross Solar Eclipse degree. chart

As this correspondent has written in previous newsletters over the last five years, each time that this degree is transited important events relating to the War on Islamic Terrorism occur. For a recap of these events, see page 2 of the MAC lecture handouts. When Saturn reaches this degree and conjoins the 9/11 chart ruler, Venus, in 18 Leo 24 on 4 September 2006, this writer has predicted that Osama bin Laden will be captured or killed.

The other major astrological event during the Summer of 2006 is the USA progressed Mars stationing retrograde on July 20th for the first time in American history. Ruler of the Sibly chart IC and 12th house, this progressed stationary Mars will produce more racial tensions and riots within the U.S. prison population, more scandals within philanthropic organizations, such as the Red Cross, and further turmoil within American spy agencies, such as the abrupt resignation today of the CIA director, Porter Goss, all 12th house domains in Mundane Astrology. As the 4th house rules land values, real estate and the opposition party in government, this IC ruler stationing retrograde should also bring reversals in both the housing market and the political fortunes of the Democratic Party. With the USA Libra Ingress chart having a 4th house Sun later in the year, Democrats should once again become the majority party in the House of Representatives this November. chart

5) Tough Times for UK Prime Minister Tony Blair:
Saturn Transits His South Node

After a poor showing by his Labour Party in local elections on May 4th, British Prime Minister, Tony Blair made changes to his ministerial team today. Charles Clarke, the embattled Home Secretary who failed to deport over 1000 foreigners after they had finished prison sentences, was replaced by John Reid, the former defense secretary. Jack Straw was replaced as Foreign Secretary by Margaret Beckett, previously the head of the Department for Environment and Agriculture. Combined with the strong showing by the opposition Conservative party, led now by the young David Cameron, many British pundits are again calling for Mr Blair to resign as Prime Minister and turn over power to Gordon Brown, his Chancellor of the Exchequer.

Saturn is now returning to form the third and final conjunction to Mr Blair's natal South Node in 06 Leo 54 on May 30th. This transit has been in effect since September of last year and Mr Blair has been on the political ropes for many months. With his progressed Venus, ruling an intercepted Taurus in the 12th house of hidden enemies, also applying to a square with his natal Pluto, perfecting on July 7th, he is captain of a Labour Party ship with a crew stirring for a mutiny. With a progressed Ascendant now in nearly partile square with Neptune, then moving into a square with Saturn, Mr Blair was surrounded by the scandals and incompetence of his team in government, and their foolishness has come close to loosening his grip on power.

It would be premature to write his political epitaph, however. Mr Blair is a born fighter with his ruler, Mercury, in Aries. With his superior intelligence, shown by a sextile from the Sun to Uranus, exact to 06 minutes of arc, and his ability to reinvent himself with that Taurus Sun in square to Pluto, he will depart office at his own time and on his own terms. His popularity will become regenerated this Fall when his progressed Moon culminates on his MC on October 5th. It is the opinion of this correspondent that Mr Blair will abruptly resign as Prime Minister on 8 May 2007 when Uranus transits his progressed MC for the first of five times. chart British astrologers will be able to observe this transit closely next year and thus more precisely rectify Mr Blair's angles and his 6:10 AM time of birth.

Tony Blair turns 53 tomorrow and his Solar Return is a fitting celestial document for a triumphant final year in office. chart The MC ruler, Mars, applies to trines with both Jupiter and Uranus, thus guaranteeing success. With a Sun-Jupiter opposition at the spine of a Water Grand Trine and Kite, Mr Blair will have to face some legal problems caused by others during the coming year. The Moon's first and only applying aspect is a trine to Pluto; he will rise out of the apparent ashes of his early demise and renew his grip on power again and again regardless of the political storms brewing about him. With Capricorn 25 rising, and its degree symbol from Charubel a testimony to his fate, he will fare well until May 2007 and resign honorably.

6) Iran Threatens Israel if USA Strikes First:
September Solar Eclipse @ 29 Virgo Conjoins Davison Sun

(updated 10 May 2006)

The high stakes nuclear poker game that Iran has been playing with the West was ratcheted up a notch this week when Iran's president, Mahmoud Ahmadinejad, and one of his top generals bluntly stated that, if militarily attacked by the United States because of its refusal to halt uranium enrichment, Iran would retaliate by declaring war on Israel. With these remarks, the radical Islamic regime in Tehran has further isolated itself from the civilized world and has set the stage for a diplomatic and military showdown with the U.S., as well as drawing closer to receiving stiff sanctions from the U.N. Security Council.

Mr Ahmadinejad, who has come to power during the five transit conjunctions of Pluto to his progressed Sun occurring between January 2005 and November 2006, chart just wrote a letter to President Bush in which he assesses the role of America in the wider world, provides his view about the failings of liberal, secular western democracies, and gives his perceptions of the apparent contradictions existing between Mr Bush's Christian beliefs and the military response of the USA to the 9/11 Islamic terror attacks.

For the president of the country that is the leading state sponsor of Middle East terrorism, and a provider of funds and bomb-making technologies that directly lead to the killing and maiming of thousands of U.S. soldiers and innocent Lebanese, Iraqi and Israeli civilians, the hypocrisy of his lengthy missive renders it absurd from its opening lines. With Uranus stationing on Mr Ahmadinejad's natal Mars from May 13th until July 26th, and then forming three conjunctions with that Mars in 2007, this unstable leader will continue to shock and surprise the world with his sudden reversals and inane inconsistencies. A natal Sun square Uranus has given him the template for these irregular behaviors, and with that Scorpio Sun conjunct Neptune his capacity for crafty deception is rather significant.

Your correspondent has written in previous newsletters that Iran is about to have its progressed Moon leave its 12th house and cross its Ascendant on May 13th. The world will learn more about Iran's nuclear secrets shortly, and as the Iranian national horoscope draws nearer to a progressed Sun-Saturn opposition, the rest of the world is getting closer to reading this rogue regime the full riot act. chart One should take the threat made by Iran about attacking Israel seriously, however, as the upcoming solar eclipse on September 22nd in 29 Virgo will exactly conjoin the Israeli-Iranian Davison Time-Space chart's Sun. chart The Sabian Symbol for the rising degree in this Davison chart, Capricorn 2, also points to further evidence of these two nations eventually going to war with each other:

This correspondent wrote in his Volume IV - Relationship Analysis about the differences between composite and Davison charts. The Time-Space chart was said to represent forces acting on a couple from outside of their relationship, whereas the composite chart symbolized the life-force energy of the relationship itself. With the United States representing the probable "force acting on the Israeli-Iranian relationship from the outside", one can clearly see that the activation of this Davison chart by a solar eclipse is indeed an astrological trigger to be gravely concerned about.

Further complexity is added to this tenuous Middle East equation by two important factors: 1) The nearly partile opposition of Mars and Neptune in the USA Solar Return, exact to two minutes of arc; chart and 2) the looming Saturn-Neptune opposition and its expected result of severe gasoline and oil shortages. With the former, we see a distinct possibility of the United States really going to war over oil (as opposed to the suspect reasons for the Iraq invasion); with the latter, we can also see military action being taken over oil shortages caused by a blockade by Iran of the Strait of Hormuz, through which most of the exported oil from the Middle East passes by tanker.

If this naval confrontation between the U.S. and Iran comes to pass, then the threatened strike against Israel by Iran becomes a very real possibility. The Iranians are well advised not to mess with the Israeli military, however, as the progressed Mars in the horoscope of Israel is applying to a square with Jupiter and the military response from Tel Aviv against Tehran would be huge, brutally fatal, and contain excessive force. chart It is no small coincidence that the upcoming September solar eclipse is also closely conjunct the Israeli progressed Midheaven.

One can only pray that cooler heads will prevail this summer in Washington and Tehran, yet it certainly does feel as if the world is hanging by a thread just now. It is certainly of significance that the USA progressed stationary retrograde Mars in 18 Libra 42 conjoins Iran's progressed Pluto in 18 Libra 49, exact within 07 minutes of arc. The progressed composite chart for the U.S. and Iran now has the Moon, which is progressing a little over one degree per month, tightening the orbs of a violent Mutable T-Cross involving a Sun-Venus conjunction in applying square to Pluto. As the planetary rulers of Christianity and Islam, to your correspondent this religious symbolism is rather striking.

This progressed composite Moon has just passed the degree area where she perfected the powerful midpoint of the T-Cross, and now she is heading toward the exact waxing square with the Sun on July 16th, when escalating tensions between the U.S. and Iran will reach a crisis point. The exact progressed opposition with Pluto on October 15th would be when a violent confrontation takes place. As this T-Cross is both mutable and in cadent houses, one can only hope that perhaps just a war of words will come to pass. However, some words are fighting words, and this outcome can be seen in the composite chart for Mr Bush and Mr Ahmadinejad, the latter's nativity being cast for Noon. chart

Here we find a Sun-Mars square, with that composite Mars exactly conjunct the USA Sibly chart Descendant. Composite Uranus is conjunct both the USA Sun and Mr Bush's Sun. That September 22nd solar eclipse in 29 Virgo will exactly conjoin the two leaders' composite Saturn. If that wasn't enough evidence, the composite Sun-North Node conjunction is in the very degree of Mr Bush's natal Mars. In a remarkable twist of fate, their composite Jupiter is in the precise degree of Mr Bush's natal Neptune (5 Libra), and the composite Neptune is in the exact degree of Mr Bush's natal Jupiter (18 Libra).

These two guys are either going to goad each other into World War III, or, if a spiritual miracle occurs, they could actually open up a splendid conversation about Jesus Christ, Mohammed, Almighty God, Islam, Christianity and the conflict between secular society and religious conservatism. Wouldn't that be something? With transit Uranus in Pisces in trine to that composite Uranus of theirs, anything is possible.

Further confirming the escalating tension, Pluto will station direct on September 4th on the U.S.-Iran progressed composite Mars in 24 Sagittarius, intensifying the militaristic rhetoric between Tehran and Washington. This is also the exact date that your correspondent has predicted that Osama bin Laden will be captured or killed (when Saturn transits the 9/11 Venus in 18 Leo 24). If captured, and he then reveals the extent of Iranian intelligence agencies' complicity in the 9/11 terror attacks, the urge by the Pentagon to reduce downtown Tehran into a parking lot will be harder to contain. As if all of these astrological triggers were not enough, the Lunar Eclipse of March 14th was exactly conjunct the MC/IC axis in the USA-Iran progressed composite chart, unleashing this tide of current hostilities and setting the stage for a fuller awareness of the extent of Iran's state sponsored terrorism, its nuclear ambitions, and its links to al-Qaeda.

© 2006 Robert P. Blaschke

Source notes:

http://en.wikipedia.org
The Economist (various recent issues).
Charubel, The Degrees of the Zodiac Symbolised, London: L.N. Fowler & Co., 1898.
Charles E.O. Carter, The Principles of Astrology, London: L.N. Fowler & Co., 1925.
Charles E.O. Carter, The Astrological Aspects, London: L.N. Fowler & Co., 1930.
Charles E.O. Carter, An Introduction to Political Astrology, London: L.N. Fowler & Co., 1951.
Marc Edmund Jones, Lecture~Lessons, Stanwood WA: Sabian Assembly, 1931.
Bernard Grun, The Timetables of History, New York: Simon & Schuster, 1975.
Nick Campion, The Book of World Horoscopes (BWH), Bristol, UK: Cinnabar Books, 1996.
Robert P. Blaschke, Astrology: A Language of Life; Volume IV - Relationship Analysis,
Santa Monica CA: Earthwalk School of Astrology, 2004

Earthwalk School of Astrology Newsletter
15 Aquarius 2006 - 1,735 Recipients

Table of Contents

1) Greetings

2) Mars Rising in 2006 USA Winter Ingress Chart: A Tension-Filled & Violent Year Ahead

3) USA Progressed Mars Stationary Retrograde: George W. Bush & Tecumseh's Curse

4) Denmark Progressed Mars Stationary Retrograde: Muslim Furor Over Mohammed Cartoons

5) Pluto Stations on Same Day as Solar Eclipse: An Eruption of Violence in the Russian Caucasus?

6) Uranus Conjoins Iranian Progressed Sun: One Defiant Islamic Regime Against the World

7) Pluto Stations on Hamas' Uranus: A Shocking Victory in the Palestinian Elections

8) Canada's Progressed Ascendant Enters Virgo: A New Conservative Party Government

9) Saturn Conjoins 9/11 Venus in 18 Leo 24: The Capture or Killing of Osama bin Laden

10) Where Are We? A Review of Key Mundane Planetary Cycles

11) Book Review by Carol Cilliers: Declination in Astrology; The Steps of the Sun by Paul F. Newman

1) Greetings

3 February 2006

Dear Astrological Friends,

Greetings to you and your family, and I hope that this mid-Winter missive finds you in good health and in good spirits. With Uranus having stationed on my natal Moon, I had unexpected family medical emergencies to contend with in recent months and I have had to postpone my research on Volume V - Holographic Transits.

I travel to Denver in two weeks and I will be giving a lecture and teaching a workshop on Progressions to the Rocky Mountain Astrologers (ROMA) group in Boulder. Please follow my speaking schedule link to find the ROMA web site. In April, I will be at the Midwest Astrology Conference in Cleveland. I will also be speaking in Richmond, Virginia the following weekend. In May, I travel to Seattle for the NORWAC conference. To register for either of these two astrology conferences, click on the banner links at my home page. In June, I will speak in Chicago at the Friends of Astrology annual luncheon. I hope to see some of you at these speaking engagements.

The world is fraught with escalating political and religious tensions just now and there is much to discuss in the heavenly realms. I send this quarterly mundane newsletter for your perusal.

Best wishes,

Robert P. Blaschke

2) Mars Rising in 2006 USA Winter Ingress Chart:
A Tension-Filled & Violent Year Ahead

The Capricorn Ingress chart for the USA (21 December 2005; 01:35:22 PM EST; Washington D.C.), which represents the entire coming year for the nation, has an angular Mars conjunct the Ascendant. chart This Mars is part of a Fixed Grand Cross in angular houses, consisting of retrograde Saturn in the 4th, Jupiter in the 7th, and Neptune in the 10th. A heavy dose of belligerent political rhetoric, despite the president's call for bipartisan cooperation in his State of the Union speech this week, can be expected during this mid-term election year with that Mars-Jupiter opposition lying across the horizon.

A violent or catastrophic act, such as another terrorist attack or an assassination, appears likely this year with Pluto in the exact midpoint of the two malefics, Mars and Saturn (Pluto is also in trioctile aspect with each malefic). What is even more troubling is that the MC/IC axis of 20 degrees Capricorn-Cancer is also the Heliocentric Nodes of Pluto. Shortly after the Aries Solar Eclipse on March 29th, there is an explosive Mars-Pluto opposition on April 8th falling across the 3rd and 9th cusps. A terrorist attack on some important transportation infrastructure is highly likely, such as the Golden Gate Bridge, or a similar major national landmark. The rising degree, Taurus 6, also alludes to this possibility, as its Sabian Symbol is: A delicate cantilever bridge is in process of construction across a higher narrow gorge.

If one progresses the Winter Ingress MC by one-degree-per-day-angular-progression, this Midheaven conjoins that Mars on the very same day as the Mars-Pluto opposition, April 8th. Further supporting evidence of damage to a transportation target is a Mutable T-Cross with an apex Mercury in the 8th house of public mortality. A Moon-Uranus opposition, exact to 28 minutes of arc, anchors the configuration with Mercury. The recent postal workplace (Mercury) killings by an unstable and mentally ill woman (Moon-Uranus) in California attest to the year-long unpredictable and violent nature of this T-Cross. A second manifestation of it has already been seen with the serious injuries sustained by the journalist, Bob Woodruff, co-anchor of ABC World News Tonight, by a roadside bomb in Iraq while reporting on the war. A third example of this 8th house Mercury at the point of a T-Cross is public uproar (Moon-Uranus) over the secret wiretaps by the NSA, monitoring phone calls originating in the U.S. and being placed to Al-Qaeda members overseas.

Mercury is also the ruler of the 2nd and 3rd houses, and this Mutable T-Cross, along with Saturn opposing Neptune for the first time since the early 1970s, certainly appears to predict severe oil and refined gasoline shortages this summer, disrupting the American economy (2nd house) and our national transportation needs (3rd house).

The 9th house Sun symbolizes the year-long interest in the new conservative make-up of the Supreme Court, along with a constant emphasis on foreign policy taking priority over domestic issues. International commerce, ruled by the 9th house in Mundane Astrology, should also take center stage this year, such as the ongoing crisis over trade imbalances with China, and the squabbles with the European Union over commercial and military aircraft contracts. That 9th house Sun is nearly unaspected, with only a wide trine to the Moon, but it is situated in the exact midpoint of Mercury and the MC, so it follows that the president's domestic leadership and moral authority will remain substantially weakened, yet his words and actions will be intensely watched by the international media.

The elevated Neptune receiving an applying square from Jupiter shows that the political scandal involving the disgraced lobbyist, Jack Abramoff, will publicly expose in a big way the extent of influence peddling through the giving of large sums of money to dozens of members of Congress in order to influence legislation. It is certainly of note that an exact Venus-Chiron conjunction in Aquarius is also elevated in the 10th house this year, symbolizing financial shame.

This writer, observing Chiron in Mundane Astrology, has come to the conclusion that the sign position of this comet has a direct correlation to public shame and humiliation being experienced by certain sectors of society. With Aquarius ruling legislators, it is now their turn to be chained to the rock by Zeus and admonished for their transgressions. With Chiron in Capricorn, corporate CEOs were shamed for cooking the books; in Sagittarius, pedophile priests; in Scorpio, a president having sexual affairs; in Libra, trial lawyers shamelessly getting a celebrity murderer off the hook; and so on.

How can astrologers, other than by progressing the angles of a Winter Ingress chart one degree per day until they arrive at conjunctions with the Luminaries and planets, determine at what point during the coming year it would be most likely to contain significant events? For this perspective, one needs to also examine the remaining Cardinal Ingress charts. The Aries Ingress for the USA (20 March 2006; 01:25:46 PM EST; Washington D.C.) also has a malefic rising with Saturn conjunct the Ascendant. chart The Reaper is part of a Fire Grand Trine with the 9th house Sun and a 5th house Moon.

This Spring Quarter, during which the Aries Solar Eclipse on March 29th occurs, along with the Mars-Pluto opposition on April 8th and a long lasting stationary Jupiter in square with Neptune, looks to be a difficult three months for America. As stated by C.E.O. Carter in The Principles of Astrology in 1925, regarding the Grand Trine:

One can apply this analysis to a national horoscope, too. A foreign policy crisis, say, involving Russia, Israel or Iran, would fit the dynamics of a Grand Trine wherein "the fortunes seem to be greatly involved in those of others..." It is of interest that the degree of the MC is last year's Aries Solar Eclipse degree, exact to within four minutes of arc.

Of the three additional quarterly charts, the Cancer Ingress for the USA looks to be the most threatening (21 June 2006; 08:25:54 AM EDT; Washington D.C.). chart A conjunction of the malefics, Mars and Saturn, is rising and is part of a tight five-planet angular Fixed Grand Cross, to which the Moon applies by square or opposition to the four other bodies. The Lunar Nodes are on the Cardinal Point (0 degrees Aries-Libra), and there is a violent Yod pointing at Pluto.

This Ingress falls within a day of the U.S. Mercury Return, ruler of the Sibly chart 7th house of open enemies. The 12th house Sun implies that something secret and hidden is brewing, and the rising degree of Leo 4 has as one of its degree symbols: A cat upon the watch for prey (Sepharial's translation of La Volasfera). Jupiter applies to a retrograde square with Saturn, perfecting the very next day, and some event will occur that drastically affects the U.S. economy at this time. With an Aries MC, and the ruler, Mars, conjunct Saturn, the president will be in grave danger during this quarter.

The USA Solar Return occurs two weeks later and again we have both malefics rising (5 July 2006; 11:38:03 GMT; Washington D.C.). chart The astrologer finds another Grand Trine, this time in the water element, with the 12th house Sun in trine to both a 4th house Jupiter and an 8th house Uranus. As the 12th house, in Mundane Astrology, rules underground movements and secret enemies of the State, and given the malefic nature of Grand Trines, this solar return emphasizes the dangers for the president and the country found at the Cancer Ingress. The tenth house symbolizes the president, and its ruler, Mars, is angular and in an applying opposition to Neptune, exact within two minutes of arc.

Here we see three possible outcomes: 1) a chemical weapon of mass destruction terrorist attack on Washington; 2) an assassination attempt by a mentally ill individual or the crippling of the president through a health crisis; or 3) military action being taken over oil shortages caused by a blockade by Iran of the Strait of Hormuz, through which much of the exported oil from the Middle East passes by tanker.

The Libra Ingress for the USA comes the day after the second Solar Eclipse of the year (23 September 2006; 12:03:41 AM EDT; Washington D.C.). chart The 4th house Sun in effect during this three month Fall Quarter represents an opportunity for the opposition party in government, the Democrats, to regain control of the House of Representatives in the November elections. With the rising degree, Cancer 6, having as one of its symbols, A large tract of land mapped out and enclosed with post and rails, intended for a farm and homestead in the near future (Charubel), it appears that substantial progress will be made at this time in the rebuilding of New Orleans, devastated as it was by Hurricane Katrina in 2005.

The Annular Solar Eclipse at 29 Virgo (22 September 2006; 07:45:00 AM EDT; Washington D.C.) occurs the day before the USA Libra Ingress. chart In Washington, this eclipse falls in the 12th house and has Mars rising. Further cuts to retirement programs by cash-strapped corporations will cause much public anger. There is a Fixed T-Cross that has an apex Jupiter in the 2nd house, anchored by the Saturn-Neptune opposition, and from this it appears that the U.S. economy is going to be severely affected by rising oil prices and severe gasoline shortages during this Fall Quarter. This eclipse squares Pluto and global tensions around this time will be highly escalated.

All in all, with angular malefics rising in the Capricorn, Aries and Cancer Ingress charts for the USA, and in the 2006 U.S. Solar Return chart, this year is looking like "one damn thing after another".

3) USA Progressed Mars Stationary Retrograde:
George W. Bush & Tecumseh's Curse

On July 20th this year, for the first time in American history, the USA secondary progressed Mars stations retrograde. It has already reached its final degree and minute of direct progression, 18 Libra 42, and will remain retrograde for the next 80 years. With the malefics angular and rising in most of the Cardinal Ingress charts this year, a stationary progressed Mars further emphasizes the potential for a year of violence in the United States during 2006. chart With George W. Bush being the last of the Tecumseh's Curse presidents (elected during Jupiter-Saturn conjunctions in Earth signs), astrologers have been watching and waiting for five years to see if the United States will lose another president while he is in office.

This astrologer has been writing about this progressed stationary Mars for several years. The time has come and the country will now live through its effects. A review of the symbols for the stationary degree, Libra 19, provides insight:

The exact synastry conjunctions between Pope Benedict and the United States Sibly horoscope are astounding. The Holy Father's Pluto is 13 Cancer, conjunct the U.S. Sun. His Moon is 14 Libra, conjunct the U.S. Saturn. His Neptune in 24 Leo is exactly conjunct the USA Sibly 9th house cusp, and his Uranus is conjunct the Sibly IC within 13 minutes of arc. With five Catholics on the Supreme Court now, and Pope Benedict having such strong connections to the USA horoscope, one can only wonder how this upcoming solar eclipse will activate U.S.-Vatican relations.

6) Uranus Conjoins Iranian Progressed Sun:
One Defiant Islamic Regime Against the World

The Islamic Republic of Iran (1 February 1979; 9:33 AM IRT; Tehran; BWH 158) elected a radical new president during 2005, Mahmoud Ahmadinejad, who has since taking office pledged to "wipe Israel off the map", denied the Holocaust ever took place, and suggested that Israel be moved to Europe, the continental United States, or Alaska. Is this bellicose rhetoric the sign of an unstable madman, or an intentional strategy to influence the negotiations taking place between Tehran and the world community over the Iranian government's intention to enrich uranium for the building of nuclear weapons?

Iran has had transit Uranus conjoining its progressed Sun during the last year, with the final conjunction having just taken place on January 30th. chart When Uranus leaves the one degree separating orb of this conjunction on February 18th it is safe to presume that the harsh and defiant tone coming from Tehran will return to something closer to reality. The United States has secured commitments from the other members of the UN Security Council that they will support the referral of Iran to this global body for the purpose of sanctions, and it has been made clear to Iran that the world cannot and will not accept a nuclear armed Tehran.

Israel has gone as far as stating that military force will be used to prevent this, as was used in 1981 against Iraq's nuclear reactor in Osiraq. Israel has recently completed a purchase agreement with the U.S. Department of Defense for 500 BLU-109 "Bunker Buster" bombs, which can penetrate more than seven feet of reinforced concrete. It has been reported by various European intelligence agencies that Iran has dispersed, hidden and buried its numerous uranium enrichment facilities throughout the country, with some plants being as much as 75 feet underground.

As this correspondent wrote in an article published in The Mountain Astrologer in December 2004, Iran had a progressed solar eclipse in July of 2004 in the 8th degree of Pisces. From Sepharial's translation of La Volasfera, we find the degree symbol for the Iranian progressed solar eclipse to be:

If one takes this degree analysis to symbolize the ultimate outcome of Iran defying the world community through its insistence of its unalienable right to pursue uranium enrichment, despite the country being a signatory to the Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty, then one must conclude that Iran is deluding itself when it thinks it can challenge the resolve of the global community. When would the rest of the world have to put a stop to Iran's nuclear ambitions?

It is this correspondent's opinion that the time for military action against Tehran will come when the Iranian progressed Sun reaches its opposition with their progressed Saturn on 28 July 2007. It is no small coincidence that on that very day Mars returns one cycle later to its 1 October 2005 retrograde station degree of 23 Taurus. One would suspect that a war with Iran would then last until September 2009, when that Iranian progressed Sun perfects its opposition to their national Saturn. A key date in the near future is 13 May 2006 when the Iranian progressed Moon conjoins the Ascendant and leaves the 12th house. It appears that at this time the rest of the world will come to know how far along Iran is in its path from uranium enrichment to nuclear weaponry.

7) Pluto Stations on Hamas' Uranus:
A Shocking Victory in the Palestinian Elections

On January 25th, under the watchful eyes of international election monitors, including former U.S. president Jimmy Carter, Palestinians voted for a new parliament. To the shock of itself, and to Israel, and to the rest of the world, the terrorist group, Hamas, came out victorious by capturing 74 seats out of 132 in the Palestinian Authority legislature. The rival political party, Fatah, was punished by the voters for its years of corruption, cronyism, and the skimming of millions of dollars off the top of European humanitarian aid money. What happened, and how will the Middle East evolve now?

The founding of Hamas, rooted in the ideology of the Egyptian Muslim Brotherhood, occurred on 14 December 1987 in Gaza. Their founding charter calls on Islam to "obliterate" Israel, and says that no part of historic Palestine can ever be given up. When one constructs a noon chart for this terrorist organization that is directly responsible for the killing of hundreds of innocent Israeli civilians by suicide bombers, one finds a violent Mars-Pluto conjunction in Scorpio in the 8th house of death. chart One also observes that Hamas came into existence during an applying Saturn-Uranus conjunction in the religious sign of Sagittarius, and that Pluto is holding a stationary conjunction to that Uranus from January 21st until June 9th of this year. Pluto was also exactly conjunct the progressed Saturn in the Hamas horoscope at the time of the election, and in 2007 Pluto will conjoin the organization's Midheaven.

It is of interest that Pluto stations in 26 Sagittarius this year, the Galactic Center degree, while holding its stationary conjunction to the Hamas Uranus. This degree is the point in the Zodiac where our solar system orbits around the center of the Milky Way Galaxy. What is less commonly known is that a Super Galactic Center degree of 1 Libra also exists. This degree is where the Milky Way Galaxy orbits around the center of the Universe. It is no small coincidence that this is also the degree of the USA Sibly Midheaven.

It does not take too great of a stretch of the imagination to equate the Galactic Center degree of 26 Sagittarius with the Fallen Angel, Lucifer, who administers the physical creation and the Laws of Karma. It therefore is possible to speculate that the Super Galactic Center degree of 1 Libra is the representation of a Higher Power, the Light and Love of Jesus. It can thus be postulated that, during the station of Pluto in 26 Sagittarius, many evil forces are descending upon Earth to begin the Great Struggle against the Light and Love of the Christ.

Since the election, President Bush has stated that the United States will not deal with Hamas unless it acknowledges Israel's right to exist, renounces violence, and disarms its military wing. Aid money from the European Union and the United States has been cut off to the Palestinian Authority, seen clearly in the Hamas progressed Venus applying to a square with their 8th house Mars (the 8th house rules financial relations with foreign countries in Mundane Astrology). A confirmation of the efficacy of Mundane horoscopes cast for noon can be found in the progression of Mars, the planet of leadership, in application to an exact trine with the Hamas Ascendant.

It would appear almost inevitable that one day the United States would have to militarily confront Hamas, as the U.S. Mars is in exact opposition to the Hamas Sun. Questioned on Air Force One this week while traveling to promote the ideas in his State of the Union speech, Mr Bush stated that the United States would unquestionably defend Israel using military force should our ally ever be attacked. It is certainly of note that the Hamas progressed Ascendant at the time of this unpredictable election result is exactly conjunct the Midheaven of Mr Bush. As Saturn will trine the Hamas Sun on October 6th of this year, one speculates that its governmental leadership will have taken shape by then.

What will become of Israel? chart On January 4th, while transit Pluto was exactly opposite the progressed chart ruler of Israel, Venus, and Mars had recently stationed exactly on the Israeli Sun, Prime Minister Ariel Sharon was stricken with a massive cerebral hemorrhage. He remains in a coma and will not be able, barring a miracle, to ever govern again. As Saturn stations direct conjunct the Israeli Midheaven, acting Prime Minister Ehud Olmert has his hands full with creating effective strategies to deal with the hostile intentions of both Iran and the Palestinians against the security of Israel.

This historic conflict goes back for centuries, but in 1967 when Israel defeated the Arab nations in the Six-Day War and captured the old city of Jerusalem, Venus, the Israeli chart ruler, stationed retrograde by secondary progression and will not turn direct until December of 2010. Not until this 43-year retrogradation of the Israeli progressed Venus ends will there be any hope for a settlement with the Palestinians over the return of refugees, the control of Jerusalem, and the final disposition of the occupied territories. Further compounding Israel's difficulties at this point in history is the very unpredictable stationary conjunction of that progressed Venus to their national Uranus from December 2004 until 2017.

Readers may be interested in contemplating one of the degree symbols for the Israeli Ascendant, Libra 30:

The Sabian Symbol for the Israeli national Venus, Cancer 5, also speaks to the precarious situation in which this nation finds itself:

One ray of hope on the horizon for a non-violent political settlement between Israel and Hamas is the fact that the Israeli Jupiter is exactly conjunct the Hamas Midheaven. The Israeli progressed retrograde Jupiter has just arrived in the degree of President Bush's natal South Node, and past obligations that the United States has felt to broker peace agreements between Israel and the Palestinians during the Carter and Clinton years should now also be acted on by Mr Bush.

If astrologers were to predict when a final showdown would occur between Israel and its enemies, and when an outcome deciding the future security of Israel could be known, one would then have to investigate the Saturn-Uranus cycle that is so prominently elevated in the Hamas horoscope by conjunction. According to the eminent French mundane astrologer, Andre Barbault, an analysis of mundane planetary cycles can be understood as such:

With this present 45-year Saturn-Uranus cycle at its waxing inconjunct now, one can see that the movement of Hamas is between its assertively taking wing phase and meeting its final challenge when it will be fought to the death. The five Saturn-Uranus oppositions, occurring from November 2008 to July 2010, will determine the final outcome of this bloody Middle East drama. It is of note that Pluto will be in the 30th degree of Sagittarius in November of 2008, the very same degree of the exact Saturn-Uranus conjunction in February of 1988, shortly after Hamas was founded.

The Sabian Symbol for this 30th degree of Sagittarius lends hope that the Jewish-Muslim standoff over Jerusalem could be successfully resolved by a third force, that of the Roman Catholic Church:

Charubel's symbol for Sagittarius 30 fills one's heart with hope that the second coming of Jesus Christ will have to take place in order for this violent rivalry in the Middle East to ever be healed once and for all times:

On January 23rd, Canadians went to the polls and elected a new government. Stephen Harper and his Conservative Party won a plurality of seats in the House of Commons, 124 out of 308, and the new Prime Minister will now have to lead with a minority government. What else besides Uranus in trine to the Canadian national Sun, and Neptune in square to the Canadian Saturn, caused this change in political direction for Canada?

The Canadian progressed Ascendant recently ingressed into the conservative earth sign of Virgo on 25 July 2005, ending its progression through Leo where it has been since March of 1964 (Dominion of Canada; 1 July 1867; 12:00 AM LMT; Ottawa; BWH 050). chart The perception of arrogance within the leadership of the Liberal Party, along with the taint of financial scandals, and a succession of prime ministers from the province of Quebec who seemed somewhat indifferent to the needs and values of the prairie provinces, has caused the former ruling party to be booted out by the voters.

Even though the Conservatives did not win a single seat in the larger cities of Toronto, Montreal or Vancouver, Canada has now shown that it has its own version of Red States vs Blue States, and that there are enough voters willing to trust a different government with the helm of the Ship of State. With their progressed Ascendant in Virgo, Canadians will now find that they have a more efficient, better organized, humble and hard working government in the Conservative Party.

Mr Harper, a 46-year old economist and a transplant to Alberta from his native province of Ontario, has his work cut out for him. Because he was elected with transit Jupiter conjunct the Canadian Saturn, his Conservative Party should hold power for the next twelve years. Canada's progressed Moon is currently void-of-course, and the new government may look like it has no traction yet, but at the time of that Moon's ingress into Leo on February 28th the wheels will get turning again with fresh momentum. With Canada also having an exact Sun-Uranus conjunction in the degree of its IC, and the March 29th solar eclipse at 8 Aries in exact square to Canada's MC/IC axis at 8 Capricorn-Cancer, expect some rebellious members in the House of Commons to forcefully oppose the new minority government's direction.

For those Canadians who worried during the election campaign that Mr Harper was a clone of George W. Bush and would be a rubber stamp for American foreign policy decisions, there is no evidence for this in the Canadian progressed horoscope. Rather, with a progressed Mercury-Venus-Mars triple conjunction at 5-6-7 degrees of Sagittarius, and two of those planets progressing in direct motion into a square with the Canadian Jupiter, and into an opposition with the USA Uranus at 08 Gemini 55, watch for Canada and the United States to have quite the contentious relations over the next few years. An opening salvo was fired across the bow by Mr Harper when he confronted the American ambassador over the disputed territorial sovereignty of Canada in its control of the ship passages in the Arctic Ocean.

The most precarious period of time for Canada in the coming year will be when Saturn transits 16 Leo 46 and crosses the country's Saturn/Pluto midpoint on August 22nd. A financial crisis of some sort is likely to occur. Neptune crossed this midpoint three times between March of 2005 and January of 2006 and dissolved the Liberal Party's hold on power.

If one consults an ephemeris for 16 November 1867, the current derived date for Canada's secondary progressions, one finds that the Canadian progressed Mercury has been retrograde since November of 2000 and will remain so for twenty years until October 2020. ephemeris Canada will experience a progressed inferior conjunction of retrograde Mercury and the Sun in May of 2011 and at that time the national consciousness of the country will undergo distinct changes. These progressed inferior conjunctions, wherein Mercury disappears into the rays of the Sun, and which begin a new synodic cycle of the Sun and Mercury, only occur once a century and Canada last experienced this in July of 1900.

9) Saturn Conjoins 9/11 Venus in 18 Leo 24:
The Capture or Killing of Osama bin Laden

In previous newsletters, your correspondent has opined that within our lifetime, the single most significant astrological event will have been the Grand Cross Solar Eclipse in August of 1999 at 18 degrees Leo. chart There had not been a similar eclipse since 1341 when the Black Death (Bubonic Plague) swept across Europe and 25 million people died in just under five years between 1347 and 1352. Now that we are six and one half years past this recent historic eclipse and within the parallel five-year period (2005 to 2010) when the worst manifestation of the 14th century eclipse took place, a sober astrologer must certainly wonder what the next 4-5 years will bring.

Planets transiting 18 degrees of Leo have triggered this eclipse again and again:

a. Venus, ruling planet of Islam, in 18 Leo on 11 September 2001, the day of the terrorist attacks.

b. Sun-Mars conjunction in 18 Leo on 10 August 2002, the weekend at Crawford, Texas ranch when Bush team of Cheney, Rumsfeld and Rice makes decision to invade Iraq and topple Saddam Hussein with or without the UN.

c. Jupiter stations retrograde on 4 December 2002 in 18 Leo, and France obstructs the U.S.-British
foreign policy leadership in the UN Security Council by vigorously opposing the Iraq invasion.

d. Mars returns to 18 Leo on 22 July 2004, the day that the 9/11 Commission Report is released,
outlining the actions required to better protect America from future Islamic terrorist attacks.

In 2006, Saturn finally reaches 18 degrees of Leo and this astrologer has gone on record with a prediction that Osama bin Laden will be killed or captured when Saturn transits the Venus in the 9/11 Terrorist Attack chart on September 4th. Venus is the ruling planet of the 9/11 chart and is found at 18 Leo 24 when the first airplane struck the World Trade Center at 08:46:40 AM EDT on 11 September 2001 in Manhattan. chart For those astrologers who have not looked at this horoscope for a few years, you may recall that the rising degree in Manhattan is exactly conjunct the USA Saturn.

If justice is to be served, Saturn will surely bring it. It is also of note that the first Saturn-Neptune opposition in 35 years is taking place just days before this on August 31st. Neptune transits 18 Aquarius 24 and opposes the position of the 9/11 Venus on March 8th and August 11th of this year. One would suspect that more audio or video tapes will be released by bin Laden himself, or his deputy, Ayman al-Zawahiri around these times as an ongoing cat and mouse game ensues between the al-Qaeda leaders in hiding in the remote Pakistani mountains and the CIA predator drones that are relentlessly hunting them down.

It is also of note that Saturn stations direct on 19 April 2007 in 18 Leo 09, once again in the exact degree of the 9/11 Venus and the August 1999 Grand Cross Solar Eclipse. One can only speculate that the captured al-Qaeda leaders will be on trial in New York City at that time.

10) Where Are We?
A Review of Key Mundane Planetary Cycles

At my recent lecture to the San Diego Astrological Society on January 13th this writer included in his handouts a recap of key mundane planetary cycles. The dates of the cycle conjunctions, the current cycle phases and aspects, degree symbol information, and comments on the meanings of these cycles were all included. The cycles of Neptune-Pluto, Uranus-Neptune, Saturn-Neptune, Saturn-Uranus, Jupiter-Neptune, Jupiter-Uranus, Jupiter-Saturn and Mars-Pluto were outlined and this page of the lecture handouts can be found here.

11) Book Review by Carol Cilliers:
Declination in Astrology; The Steps of the Sun by Paul F. Newman

Declination in Astrology
The Steps of the Sun
by Paul F. Newman
The Wessex Astrologer Ltd
Bournemouth England
2005 - Paper - 198 pp.
www.wessexastrologer.com

THIS TITLE IS REPRINTING AND DUE BACK OUT IN APRIL 2006

Declination is an ancient art of Astrology currently undergoing a vital revival. Paul F. Newman is a recognized name in the forefront of this pendulum swinging back to recapture this lost art. A member of the NCGR Special Interest Group on Declination and a regular contributor to its journal, Paul has also been a general astrological writer and illustrator for the past 20 years, also famous for his astrological cartoons.

As an astrologer who has not delved into Declination personally in my practice, reading this book opened up another dimension, another way of viewing the planets in relation to each other and the cosmos. Declination in Astrology; The Steps of the Sun, takes the reader on a fascinating voyage, spelling out how a variety of techniques work through revisiting famous personages, events and creations, viewed through both declination and longitudinal charts. This gives more of a three dimensional depth, a sense of the planetary relationships viewed circularly as well as above and below the equator. This feels like going from viewing with one eye to two eyes where there is more depth to perception.

The author spells out specifically why, for instance, a yod is more powerful with the apex in a fixed sign, and when viewed with declination in mind, it makes complete sense. Also how the relationship of planets in parallel to each other differ to planets that are contra parallel. Declination helps explain many of the rules that are used in general astrology. A form of latitude rather than longitude, declination describes the planets movements above and below the celestial equator rather than around the zodiac circle.

So along with spelling out the basics of Declination, the author explains in depth the various solar festivals, "we need to make things happen collectively by honoring the Sun at its festivals". These are the equinoxes and solstices, when the Sun is at its highest and lowest declination. Dividing these four points again give us the cross-quarter days, the mid degrees of the fixed signs. There is in depth exploration of how the various holidays came into being.

The author goes into great detail regarding out of bounds planets, those that are beyond 23 degrees of declination north or south, displaying extreme and other qualities, with plenty of case histories that are very educational and entertaining. Northern versus Southern Declinations are distinct in that the North Pole disperses energy that is drawn inward at the South Pole, thus the northern hemisphere is outward and objective, while the energy of the southern hemisphere is more inward and subjective. Planets close to the zero line, the celestial equator are powerful and represent new energies ready to burst onto the planet in either life or death fashion. All of these phenomena are illustrated in great depth.

How to celebrate the solstice explains why festivals and the timing and events were designed the way they were and the benefit of reassuming some of the old rituals. There is also a section on the fixed stars in declination.

The list goes on and on, this little book has a mountain of great information that is practical and enjoyable, a wonderful reference in any astrological library.

reviewed by Carol Cilliers

© 2006 Robert P. Blaschke

Source notes:

The Economist (various recent issues).
Charubel, The Degrees of the Zodiac Symbolised, London: L.N. Fowler & Co., 1898.
Charles E.O. Carter, The Principles of Astrology, London: L.N. Fowler & Co., 1925.
Charles E.O. Carter, The Astrological Aspects, London: L.N. Fowler & Co., 1930.
Charles E.O. Carter, An Introduction to Political Astrology, London: L.N. Fowler & Co., 1951.
Marc Edmund Jones, Lecture~Lessons, Stanwood WA: Sabian Assembly, 1931.
Bernard Grun, The Timetables of History, New York: Simon & Schuster, 1975.
Nick Campion, The Book of World Horoscopes (BWH), Bristol, UK: Cinnabar Books, 1996.

From La Volasfera, we have:
A tiger crouching as in the act of assault.

And from Charubel, for Sagittarius 11 we find:
A lion standing alone with tail erect and in the act of running towards a panther.

The Sabian Symbol from Marc Jones' Lecture~Lessons:
An ugly old human figure is the carved representation of a god; near the left side is an ever-burning lamp.

It is commonly perceived by astrologers that one's progressed lunation cycle First Quarter square is a time of crisis. For Mr Bush, this is additionally evident from the fact that Pluto turns direct on September 2nd while holding a stationary Mutable Grand Cross to his progressed Ascendant, Descendant, Midheaven and Uranus. Shortly afterward, transit Saturn conjoins his natal Ascendant on September 11th, of all dates. On that fateful day for Mr Bush, as the Reaper finally emerges from his 12th house, the Moon also reaches the degree of the Pluto station, Sagittarius 22.

Whether these degree symbols are showing the end for the president through a fatal manifestation of Tecumseh's Curse, or that he himself will authorize the launch of a surprise and sudden military strike against either Iran's or North Korea's nuclear facilities, I cannot say. However, it is clear that with transit Uranus opposing both his natal Mars and his progressed Sun, and all of these bodies being triggered by his progressed Moon, and with his progressed Mars having entered the degree of his natal Moon, Mr Bush is now operating with some fateful, violent and unpredictable forces within and around him.

In the heavens on August 26th, as his progressed First Quarter square perfects, there is also a tight Fixed T-Cross, comprised of Mercury opposing Neptune in the power degrees of 15 Leo-Aquarius, and both squared by Mars in the power degree of 15 Taurus. Something drastic appears to be about to happen, and one can only watch and wait.

7) Fixed Grand Crosses on the Horizon: Mars-Jupiter-Saturn-Neptune

As we draw nearer to the significant Jupiter-Saturn squares and Saturn-Neptune oppositions forming over the next two years, the astrologer can see that, with Mars stationing retrograde in Taurus, several Fixed Grand Crosses are preparing to align in the heavens. The two most compelling of these Fixed Crosses will appear at the Winter Ingress on December 21st, where it is angular in Washington, D.C. chart, and then again on December 27th when Mars perfects his square with Saturn, where again the Cross is angular in Washington chart.

In the former mundane horoscope, the Lunar Nodes slice an Earth-Water Mystic Rectangle right down the middle, creating two Tetradic Yods with the Moon, Mars, Jupiter and Uranus. In the latter mundane horoscope, the Sun applies to a sextile with Uranus, and is in the process of forming a Yod with a rising Saturn as the apex planet. With the Capricorn Ingress chart having impact on the whole of 2006, and with Mars rising and the Fixed Cross in angular houses, next year looks to be especially violent for the USA. This correspondent has written for years about the USA progressed Mars turning retrograde for the first time in American history in July of 2006. Just nine days ago on July 29th this USA Mars reached its progressed stationary degree and minute, 18 Libra 42, which is the exact degree of President Bush's natal Jupiter.

The last time that Mars was entirely retrograde within the sign of Taurus (not stationing either direct or retrograde in Aries or Gemini) was in 1926, the year that Ibn Saud became King of Saudi Arabia. It is no small coincidence that his son, the late King Fahd, reigning since 1982, has just died on August 1st. As I wrote in the 15 Taurus newsletter, with the recent Saturn ingress into Leo, many Heads of State, such as kings, presidents and prime ministers, will die or be assassinated over the next two years.

Also during this previous retrograde period of Mars in Taurus, a weakening of several national banking systems occurred, leading to the 1927 "Black Friday" in Germany, when that country's economic system collapsed. This event started a global ripple effect that eventually resulted in the 1929 stock market crash in the U.S. Here and now in the United States, we have an untenable banking situation, one wherein up to a quarter or more of the new home mortgage loans are of the interest only variety, and tens of thousands more are being loaned with zero money down.

The American banking system cannot sustain this unsound fiscal policy, largely driven by the economic insanity of Internet mortgage brokers who approve home loans with no personal financial history, or with no personal identification being required at the time of the loan application. This combination of Mars spending almost seven months (27 July 2005 to 17 February 2006) in the financial and banking sign of Taurus, along with the transit of Saturn through the USA Sibly chart 8th house until July of 2007, ruling bankruptcies and loan defaults, symbolizes hard financial times ahead. Many Americans will suffer from the looming real estate market crash, winding up with homes worth less than their mortgages. This could result in the declaration of personal bankruptcy by tens of thousands of U.S. homeowners, and leave the banks with their hands full of countless vacated homes caused by defaulted mortgages.

8) Saturn Inconjunct Uranus: Revisiting the Cycle's 1988 Conjunction

On September 21st, Saturn forms the first of three waxing inconjuncts with Uranus; the middle and final aspects in this series perfecting on 19 January 2006, and on 31 July 2006. This 44-year cycle began with three conjunctions of these two celestial bodies in 1988, the first conjunction in February being in the anaretic 30th degree of Sagittarius, the sign of world religions.

Later that year, less than a month after the third and final conjunction in October, a key world event occurred, and one that has shaped history ever since, the Declaration of Palestinian Independence on 15 November 1988. Saturn was dignified in the Cardinal Ingress degree of 0 Capricorn, just one degree after separating from his last conjunction with Uranus. chart Mars in Aries was squaring Saturn, and along with a void-of-course Moon, prophesied the frustrating attempts at the unlikely creation of a Palestinian State.

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a. Venus, ruling planet of Islam, in 18 Leo on 11 September 2001, the day of the terrorist attacks. chart
b. Sun-Mars conjunction in 18 Leo on 10 August 2002, the weekend at Crawford, Texas ranch when Bush team of Cheney, Rumsfeld and Rice makes decision to invade Iraq and topple Saddam Hussein. chart
c. Jupiter stations retrograde on 4 December 2002 in 18 Leo, and France obstructs the U.S.-British foreign policy leadership in the UN Security Council by vigorously opposing the Iraq invasion. chart
d. Mars returns to 18 Leo on the day that the 9/11 Commission Report is released, outlining the actions required to better protect America from future Islamic terrorist attacks. chart

"It is a star outside the zodiac, and beyond the vision of the outer sense. It is one of those suns which revolve about the grand central sun. Its rays impinge this degree, and impart to it a virtue. The native who may have this degree on his or her ascendant never need be cast down. Thou wilt meet with trials, but fear not, "Thy bread shall be given thee, and thy water is sure."

"It indicates one of small wit and lacking in executive power and originality of thought. One who will nevertheless set himself against public opinion and incur severe criticism and loss thereby. There is in the nature a certain foolish pride and obstinacy which is wholly unallied to anything of originality or distinctive merit. It is a degree of FOOLISHNESS."

"It indicates a nature that is inured to arduous and homely work; one who will pursue the beaten track of an unambitious life with but slight regard to his own limitations and still less to the wider projects and life of others. It is a degree of SERVITUDE."

"This indicates one whose thoughts and projects are liable to become chaotic and confused, so that he may be said to be walking in the dark, and to that extent may be led into grave dangers. It may be from ignorance or from want of alertness and responsiveness to his surroundings that he will come by hurt to himself, but save by the helping and directing hand of some wise friend, or the overarching love of Heaven, he cannot escape downfall and ruin. The higher the position he may occupy, the greater the danger of falling. Let him therefore study to walk warily and in humility in the simple ways of life and not aspire to tread paths which are unfamiliar and full of pitfalls for the unwary. It is a degree of BLINDING."

"A degree of mystery. It is allied to the fourth dimensional space. Denotes one who has SOMETHING not in common with the rest of his race."

"It denotes one of an idle and self-indulgent nature, whose pleasure is in his physical appetites and their satisfaction. One who will bring trouble upon himself and over whom the sirens will quarrel while they feed upon him. It is a degree of GROSSNESS."

"It indicates one of a crafty, subtle nature, avaricious, given to treaties and associations of a dangerous character; secretive, revengeful, and of a quick temper. The native will lead a roaming and unsettled life. This degree is fatal to one born while the Sun is above the earth. It is a degree of VORACITY AND SELF-SEEKING."

A man dressed as a groom, riding upon a spirited horse.

"It indicates a person of general aptitude, quick perception, steady mind and able body, who, in some secondary place, will serve the cause of truth: may be as a teacher, or as a priest, or one connected with the Church. Success in life is shown, but not pre-eminence. The life, while useful, will be obscure. It is a degree of SERVICE."

Senator Kerry, a Sagittarian, is perhaps this man of quick perception on the spirited horse who will serve the cause of truth. Accused as he is by the Bush campaign for having no 'signature achievements' in his 20-year Senate career, one sees this reference to obscurity in the symbolism. Regarding being dressed as a groom, my readers may recall that, during the Iowa caucuses and the New Hampshire primary, many Democrats said, 'dated Dean, married Kerry.' It will be highly instructive for the political prophets, who wish to predict the 2004 Election, to know that the rising degree in Washington D.C. of the first Saturn-Pluto inconjunct is 05 Libra 43, precisely conjunct Mr Kerry's MC.

As is seen in the nature of the inconjunct aspect, conflict is present, equal to that of an opposition, but it cannot be confronted openly, and must be dealt with by making an internal adjustment. With the 9/11 Commission Report now before the public's eye, and its recommendations being debated by lawmakers in Washington, by the time of the third waning Saturn-Pluto inconjunct on 23 May 2005 its proposed adjustments to the intelligence community will have been implemented. It is no small coincidence that, on that day, Venus, ruling planet of Islam, is in 16 Gemini, and precisely conjunct the Descendant of Mr Kerry, and that Pluto, in 23 Sagittarius, is exactly opposite his Saturn. chart

Many readers of this newsletter have written to me asking for my thoughts on the future of America as regards the ongoing threat of catastrophic Islamic terrorism in our country. It will be of value for astrologers to scrutinize the chart for the first waning square of Saturn and Pluto in November 2009, when Saturn will be in the 2nd degree of Libra, and exactly conjunct the USA Sibly Midheaven. chart Sepharial's translation in La Volasfera for Libra 2 is most revealing:

A man in the garb of a doctor of the monastic order (misericordia).

"It denotes a person of kindly and humane disposition. but very melancholic and predisposed to religious mania. The native will possess a high order of intellect, capable of investigating the laws of the most recondite sciences; inclined to spiritual pursuits and to the monastic life. It is a degree of SEARCHING."

One sees that the Sun is exactly square to Neptune at this Saturn-Pluto square in 2009, and it would be reasonable to forecast that a dreaded chemical or biological attack could be perpetrated against the USA at that time. It does one no good now, some five years before the fact, to conjure up scenarios of what may transpire in the future, but the simple fact remains that this is a violent planetary cycle, lasting until January 2020, when the next conjunction occurs. This cycle began in 1982, at the Saturn-Pluto conjunction, with Mars conjunct the South Node, and this dreaded aspect to the Dragon's Tail was again in place on 11 September 2001. The one ray of hope which I can offer my readers is that in 2020, at the next Saturn-Pluto conjunction in Capricorn 23, Jupiter will be conjunct the South Node. chart One may travel into that future cycle on the wings of symbolism from Sepharial for this 23rd degree of Capricorn:

A wineglass overturned.

"This is the index of one who will be unable to contain his feelings and passions, and will in consequence run to excesses, extravagance and waste of substance. He will be endowed with a fine intelligence, a genial and pleasant nature, and a generous and convivial disposition. But his inability to control his passions will lead to his reversal and undoing, so that he will - unless he be under the guidance of a strong and steady hand - eventually be left to his fate, denuded of all that makes him a desirable companion or useful agent in life. It is a degree of INCONTINENCE."

4) Iran's Progressed Solar Eclipse:
Uranus Transits and the Nuclear Threat

On 29 July 2004, during a meeting in Paris with delegations from France, the United Kingdom, and Germany, Iranian officials stated the country will not back down on its right to proceed with uranium enrichment. In June, the United Nations nuclear watchdog, the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA), had rebuked Iran for its lack of cooperation with the agency's inspectors. For years, the United States has accused Iran of secretly moving forward in its ambition to develop nuclear weapons. On 13 July 2004, just two we