setting up the dominoes

the january 2003 forecast

go to past forecasts.

jupiter and saturn are retrograde.

mercury turns stationary retrograde	28°28' capricorn	january 2
new moon	12°01' capricorn	january 2
mercury conjoins sun	21° capricorn	january 11
mars squares uranus	26°46' scorpio/aquarius	january 11
mars enters sagittarius	0°00' sagittarius	january 16
full moon	27°55' cancer	january 19
sun enters aquarius	0°00' aquarius	january 20
mercury turns stationary direct	12°18' capricorn	january 22
sun conjoins neptune	10°40' aquarius	january 30

all dates are based on pacific time.

you may be surprised by how short the list of planetary events is this month, but don’t let that lull you into a false sense of security. before the dominoes fall, they have to be lined up carefully, and this is the tenor of this month’s energies. it is the nature of planetary interactions that, even when their contacts are not exact, they are still active, albeit in a background way. this is what january is like. to be sure, there will be plenty to learn from what is active, in particular the mercury retrograde; but we can look to future months for the clash of cymbals and the sounding of trumpets.

war or peace?

we are all concerned about war. for reasons which seem unfathomable, w seems bent on attacking iraq, yet he is strangely dovish when it comes to north korea. certainly he knows things that we do not, but it would ease my uneasiness if he would reveal his secrets to other world leaders and they went along with him. if kofi annan were to suddenly read the reports that seem to have convinced bush and blair that an attack is needed, then urge the u.n. to take action, it would feel more to me like there is reason to take action. then we could let the u.n. handle the process as an intervention of international necessity. however, this has not happened.

it is easy to see why bush would want to attack if we consider the petty reasons: personal revenge for unfinished business in his father’s presidency; diversion of public attention away from the economy and other areas where his leadership has been weak. if we consider the more profound but still corrupt economic reasons — the desire to keep oil flowing at cheap prices and to enrich the military-industrial complex, which partially funded his election campaign — the fervor of this administration is even more transparent.

however, i wanted to see what astrology had to say about it. was there an unconscious reason buried more deeply still? would astrology reveal what that was? i looked at the charts of every declaration of war that the u.s. was involved in.

war and the u.s. chart

although there are many planetary events which are active at such times, there is one that stands out in all the charts for the times when the u.s. declared war without the involvement of other entities, such as the u.n. what i found was a planetary contact at or around the 10^th degree of the fixed signs, taurus, leo, scorpio, or aquarius. this triggers the u.s. natal chart at its “eclipse point” (the moon’s nodal axis), suggesting that strident contacts cause our nation to feel threatened and under attack (and at times this was true). in addition, the chart for the acceptance of the articles of confederation (11/15/1777, 5:53 pm, york, pa) also has planets (saturn, mercury) near this degree.

so, is there anything happening at that degree now? yes, there is. just as bush launched his pr campaign for “regime change” in iraq, jupiter was reaching 9 degrees leo. neptune also opposed jupiter at about the same time from 9 degrees aquarius. if this were a one-time planetary contact, i would not be concerned. however, it occurs two more times, so these times are likely to be important to the progression of this conflict, especially if other planets “pile up” with them at the same time. the next contact is in february, and it promises to be a month with more tensions, particularly with respect to the u.s. and iraq. in the meantime, preparations will be made, and with mercury retrograde, plenty of errors and misjudgments will be revealed. however, this is to everyone’s advantage, because it is far better to fully understand both your own capabilities and that of your opponents — it can save lives. what’s more, mercury retrograde gives us the opportunity to reconsider stances and decisions taken previously. this will be the same for everyone, even those in high office.

this is especially significant for george w. bush, as mercury opposes his sun and saturn in cancer and squares his chiron-moon-jupiter in libra. it will also oppose the sun-pluto conjunction in secretary of defense donald rumsfeld’s chart. this can incite defensiveness, then lead them to new perspectives — it depends on their openness.

what does this mean for you?

your month of january will be colored mostly by mercury retrograde, and you will be most affected if you have planets in cardinal signs (aries, cancer, libra, and capricorn). the key lesson that seems to be coming at us now is building structures that produce lasting positive results. this means looking beneath the surface to find what is really going on, then finding a remedy or solution that fulfills the need found there. this lesson will be most available to us on the 2^nd, when we have both the new moon and mercury’s retrograde station; then on the days when the moon is in a cardinal sign: the 8^th, 9^th, and 10^th; and the 15^th, 16^th, and 17^th. the final release of situations related to this cycle will come on the 22^nd, after which time any difficulties will be rapidly resolved that are not related to more deeply seated problems.

as mercury retrogrades go, this one does not contact many other planets, so it is likely to be a low-stress contact for most people. however, if it contacts difficult patterns in your own chart, you will notice events beyond the average. it does not follow, however, that these need to be difficult or negative. often, mercury brings the completion of situations that have been placed on the back burner. while you may not enjoy resolving them, you will definitely derive benefit from doing so. if you finally take care of the home repair that you’ve been ignoring but working around for several weeks, you may groan at the thought of fixing it, but you will regain a feeling of comfort and wholeness at accomplishing this goal. you may also gain real benefit or magical results from previous efforts (remember, mercury brings you the results of your previous focus, both good and bad), especially if you have trines to it from taurus or virgo planets.

what else is going on?

on the 11^th, mars squares uranus, reminding us of the challenges we faced in july and august (and before). the issues which arose during this time were the devastating floods of europe and a number of large u.s. corporations going belly-up. we can expect either more companies declaring their insolvency or more fall-out from those bankruptcies, and perhaps both.

the sun enters aquarius on the 20^th, bringing the heat back to the patterns we saw so activated during the fall. this can include weakness in large businesses, and of course it suggests more developments in the proposed war with iraq. such developments may be highlighted on 25^th and 26^th, and the 30^th and 31^st.

on the 30^th, the sun conjoins neptune and begins to trigger the war pattern spoken of above. on another level, however, this is the beginning of a new yearly cycle related to imagination, spirituality and idealism — how we connect with them and manifest them into our lives. this will especially affect those with planets in the mid degrees of fixed signs (taurus, leo, scorpio, and aquarius). future dates of importance are february 16^th, may 3^rd and 15^th, june 2^nd, august 4^th, and october 22^nd. we can expect whatever issues arise at this time to go through steps of progression at these times.

one pattern we haven’t mentioned is the mutable pattern involving saturn and pluto. it will not be triggered until the end of the month, when venus conjoining pluto on the 25^th suggests the revelation of hidden factors in finances and relationships; and venus’s opposition to saturn on the 28^th introduces the notion of the hard work required to resolve the situation. such relief will come soon, however, as saturn’s retrograde period will be over in the space of a month.

although the times are uncertain, it’s best to stay focused on what’s most important to you and keep working toward your goals, adjusting them as new conditions reveal themselves on the way. in addition, rather than live in fear of the future, plan for it as best you can, then live in the moment, for joy is to be found here.