new scenarios emerge

the january 2005 forecast

see my past forecasts.

note: although not required, i am accepting donations to support this publication. to contribute, go to www.paypal.com. this month, i will donate 50% of all contributions to agencies assisting the earthquake/tsunami relief efforts in south asia.

saturn is retrograde.

venus conjoins pluto	22°50' sagittarius	january 3
mercury conjoins pluto (3rd of 3)	22°51' sagittarius	january 4
venus enters capricorn	0°00' capricorn	january 9
mercury enters capricorn	0°00' capricorn	january 9
new moon	20°21' capricorn	january 10
venus sextiles uranus	4°27' capricorn/pisces	january 12
mercury sextiles uranus	4°27' capricorn/pisces	january 13
sun opposes saturn	23°53' capricorn/cancer	january 13
mercury conjoins venus	4°55' capricorn	january 13
sun enters aquarius	0°00' aquarius	january 19
chiron squares the moon’s nodes	27°17' capricorn/aries-libra	january 20
mars sextiles jupiter	18°38' sagittarius/libra	january 21
mercury squares jupiter	18°42' capricorn/libra	january 22
venus squares jupiter	18°44' capricorn/libra	january 24
full moon	5°33' aquarius/leo	january 25
mercury opposes saturn	22°56' capricorn/cancer	january 25
venus opposes saturn	22°45' capricorn/cancer	january 27
mercury squares the moon’s nodes	26°53' capricorn/aries-libra	january 28
mars conjoins pluto	23°38' sagittarius	january 28
mercury conjoins chiron	28°01' capricorn	january 28
mercury enters aquarius	0°00' aquarius	january 30
venus squares the moon’s nodes	26°44' capricorn/aries-libra	january 30

all dates are based on pacific time.

what can we expect from 2005? one thing is certain — it will be eventful. along with the usual yearly planetary milestones, some less frequent ones are worth noting: saturn finally leaves cancer, entering leo in mid-year; not to be outdone, chiron plays tag with it, continuing its long-term opposition to saturn and moving into aquarius; venus occults mercury in june; mars makes its biennial retrograde late in the year, this time in taurus; venus begins its sesquiennial (every 1 ½ years) retrograde just before the end of the year, this time in aquarius.

say farewell to saturn in cancer.

during the last six months of saturn’s visit in cancer, we get the chance to finalize a more mature understanding of closeness, family, and emotions and how they work (especially fear, saturn’s domain). these tie to our primal sense of belonging. since saturn induces limitations to teach us spiritual laws, in cancer it offers an understanding of belonging — how to create it, how it helps us feel secure and free of fear.

during the last months of a planet’s transit through a sign, mature manifestations come through. in an evolved individual, this can result in efforts to develop connectedness across great divides, overriding partisanship and petty conflict. it can be a peace-engendering influence, and let us hope that this is what occurs — it is possible. although we cannot control others’ responses to it, we can control our own. this is our chance to mend rifts in our own lives, to encourage the recognition of what common causes join us with others who may have taken issue with us in the past. it is a time to recognize that the past both frees and limits us: it frees us from the need to repeat the mistakes of others and limits us if we cling to those mistakes and carry the negative emotions that can be attached to them. grudges and the revenge that arises from them do nothing but perpetuate a destructive cycle. this is a golden chance to go beyond entrenched blood feuds and tribal loyalties to express and experience forgiveness. we can potentiate this thrust by enacting the same things in our own lives, urging others to do so who are open to us, and holding a vision of their perfection for those who wrangle with this issue on a collective (i.e., national, world) level.

an event that is precipitating this type of connectedness is the south asian quake. it is drawing people together from around the world, creating a sense of being part of one huge, diverse community to which we all belong and all of whose members affect each other, just as critically as the lungs and heart are vital to each other’s health. it is giving the bush administration to put on the face by which the us has been traditionally known — a great mother provider sharing her largesse in times of need. (we are, after all, a cancer nation.) in other ways, the bush administration is, after many mistakes, quietly returning to public policy positions, especially in foreign relations, that were developed carefully during the clinton years and before. while it is too early to completely embrace this shift with any confidence that it represents a sea change, it does suggest that the swing of the pendulum away from extreme behaviors cannot be resisted for long. a recent example is bush’s endorsement of pathways, a program that gives the homeless apartments with no strings attached, setting them up with $1200 worth of household goods to get them started and offering to teach them the skills to keep their home, such as how to stick to a budget. (see the current issue of mother jones.) it seems that pragmatism has finally won out in this administration, at least with this issue, because incredibly it costs far less to provide a home to a homeless person and get them started in a “normal” life than it does to take care of them on the street.

the best lesson of saturn is that in all areas it is best to be self-limiting. now that congress has a burgeoning republican majority — now that we have an all-republican government — we are seeing a few glimpses of this spirit. this past week, the republican majority in the house decided not to adopt draconian new rules which would prevent the ethics committee from having any teeth at all. the new rules would make it possible to completely overlook ethics violations. it remains to be seen whether the filibuster will be eliminated in the senate.

saturn, fear, and the 2004 election

the hardest thing about saturn in cancer is overriding the fear that our need for security (safety) is not being met. what was the biggest issue of the past three years in the us — “homeland” (a hitlerian word that invokes hyper-nationalist feelings) security. people have responded with fear, and a fearful people will not make changes or indeed even use their minds to analyze a situation objectively based on facts. by this definition, the us presidential election could not possibly have been resolved based on the issues. it was going to be won by the person who projected the strongest image of “daddy”, who seemed to be the most powerful and protective. based on issues, it could be said that the average person voted against their own social and economic interests, but they would not perceive it that way. they “felt” their way through the election, and they voted their own interests in the most important way — for the person who made them feel safe. dogged, oversimplified consistency of message, even if it is blatantly wrong, is better than a constantly evolving honest (the way a healthy awareness works) expression of one’s opinion when the listener needs to feel more secure. a protective father will tell his children that they are safe, even when they are not, so they will sleep better at night.

no amount of post-election analysis will explain this fact away. there’s no demographic mandate, no group that can be identified that the democrats missed with their message. that’s because people were afraid. they voted based on their fears, so by definition no logical argument could enter into it. the arguments that people offered as to why they voted a particular way in this election were irrational, because the fear response arises out of the limbic part of the brain, the “animal nature”. it is not thinking and does not respond to logic. when we try to apply logic to decisions we’ve made based on limbic responses, they don’t make sense. any psychologist can tell you that this drove the voting decisions of many voters. whether the voter was afraid of gay marriage, the wolfowitz doctrine, or terrorist attack, fear was in the background and driving the vote.

saturn’s peak in january

on january 13^th, saturn reaches the peak of its current year-long cycle, one which began last july. situations and life patterns which began at that time will reach their peak then. if you’ve been making the most of it, you’ll have a higher than usual pitch of activity toward defined goals with concrete results if you complete the process. to the extent that you’ve overlooked responsibilities, they will come up to be resolved at this time as well. this energy will color events until after mercury and venus oppose saturn on the 25^th and 27^th and conjoin chiron on january 28 and february 1^st.

the cardinal energies are strong now, as they will be until saturn enters leo, because saturn, chiron, and jupiter are forming a strident pattern in the cardinal signs of cancer, capricorn, and libra (respectively). although jupiter will “refrain” (to use traditional terminology) from making an exact pattern with saturn and chiron, other planets will carry them forward, as they did with the south asian quake. we can expect that survival issues will play a major role in the coming months. the fact that jupiter doesn’t actually chase down saturn before each changes to a fixed sign (i.e., scorpio and leo) only delays the inevitable waxing square that will activate social and economic changes (in 2006).

until then, we’ll be “between the worlds”, waiting for the other shoe to drop, even as we watch it get ready to do so, in whatever forms it will take. (look at where leo, scorpio, and aquarius fall in your own chart for clues to its effects on you.) while these planets are active in cardinal signs, we’ll experience a crisis in action and identity. the cardinal signs are the signs which act out the initiating force. if they make significant contacts to your chart, you’ll be reshaping your picture of who you are, which impacts every area of your life. in spite of the challenging configuration, it is a great pattern under which to start something, because it stimulates growth.

the events around the 13^th are central to this process. by paying attention to what happens, you’ll be seeing the next six months. then, you may be able to imagine what it will morph into when the planets change signs, a scenario that will play out over the next following 18 months (for a total of 2 years).

turning the page

in july, we turn the page to a new chapter when saturn enters leo. now we will learn more about what makes us happy, about where our heart lies. i speculated in the last forecast about the areas that will be suppressed so that we can learn. values will assume an even greater role in the public debate, as they do with any of the fixed signs. people will have to ask themselves what values they want to project onto others, how do they want to be known? are their values truly humane? since leo is the first sign to begin to make accommodations for others in the progression through the zodiac, people will begin to think about the impact that their ideas have on others more. fear-based responses are self-centered, and with saturn’s move into leo, the consciousness of the public will shift subtly to more conciliatory tone in the long run. however, leo is a fixed sign, so at first people will become fixed in their ideas because they’ll be sure that, if only they can present them in the right way, others will surely see their value. leo is optimistic, and we can expect optimism to be suppressed when saturn is there. shallowly based values and habits will be revealed as empty and meaningless. the thrill of driving the glistening new gas-guzzling suv fades when gas rises to $3 per gallon and you’ve lost your job. that’s not to say that the economy will be universally weak, but that each of us will have our moment of truth about what we value and what makes us feel happy and fulfilled. wealth may seem to be slipping away as the world responds to shrinking oil supplies and growing demand. the dream of wealth american style will have to shift to a new ideal, one which will be created starting when saturn is in leo. it will take much longer, however, to gain a following, to capture the hearts and minds of the population. it will start with the charismatic leadership of someone who can convey a new vision to others in a compelling way.

yet, opportunity lies in every storm cloud. people will be looking for their heart and their heart’s path. we can be there to show the way to those who are open to our approach. healing the wounded heart is the underlying theme for this period.

traveling companions

although they in general travel together because their orbits are both inside that of earth, this month mercury and venus give us a one-two rhythm of experiences throughout. once they enter capricorn on the 9^th, they begin to trigger the cardinal planets and give us a way to access these energies. they are likely to bring new awareness in communications, especially interpersonal. peak dates for these planets interactions are january 3–4, 9, 12–13, 22–24, 25–27, and january 28–february 1. on the 12^th and 13^th, their conjunction and harmonious sextile to uranus reach a high point which coincides with the saturn crescendo mentioned above. this suggests that challenges can be turned into opportunities. there are so many intertwining interactions during january, there is never a time when this pattern is turned “off”. it lasts through february 1^st.

mars and pluto interact.

on the 28^th, mars and pluto conjoin, a volatile event which occurs every two years. they are commonly associated with violence, but they can be used positively to spur initiative and drive toward a goal of great potential impact. in sagittarius, there is likely to be high idealism as well as its downside, zealotry, stimulating actions taken now. the events on this day will tie to those of the 3^rd and 4^th, when mercury and venus contacted pluto. it will also hearken back to events of december, when mercury made two potent contacts with pluto during its retrograde cycle. since this is a new cycle, it is helpful to take note of what occurs around this date, as a thread related to these events will be seen in mars-pluto periods over the next two years. surely this suggests that the scheduled iraqi elections will be difficult and deadly.

pluto’s lesson from the bench in sagittarius

pluto in sagittarius lurks in the background of all these issues, making ideological divides especially intractable. well understood, sagittarius brings out the awareness that we are all linked by powerful universal commonalities that can form the basis of the ideals of human civilization. the ideals of the past 200 years are currently being challenged from within their point of origin — the united states. this is a necessary part of the reshaping and rejuvenation of those ideals in a form that everyone can feel and support. in the short run, there are major differences that it seems will never be overcome.

when facing opposition from others whom you think to be in the wrong, the i ching teaches that it is best to hold to your inner truth. there are those in the democratic party who think that 55 million voters can’t be right if they didn’t win. they’re looking for ways to move the party more toward the center. that is not the path to a better way for america. if you know something to be true, you wait patiently for the others to figure it out rather than capitulating on your own wisdom or hiding your identity. although we often find that our version of things isn’t completely correct, giving in to something we believe or know to be false will not quell the conflict. this is based on the fact that each person knows the truth deep inside, and we do not have to make ourselves responsible for informing them of it. indeed, that will only delay their inevitable realization of what lies within. we can leave it to each individual to discover it through their own path, because the sage (in i ching terminology) has a relationship with each of us and will take care of it.

in the meantime, we can be patient and try to understand those around us who differ from us so much. once we are at peace within ourselves, conflict cannot exist around us. we cannot resort to the broken-record mis-messages that issue from the current leadership, but we can from our own calm certainty in our cause prevail in the long run, once the shrillness and insincerity of the current government becomes apparent to a majority of people.

the ideological turn that the us has taken is part of the swing of the pendulum, or again using i ching terminology, the zig-zag path. this turn is a reaction to events and ideals long buried in the american psyche. they are being released now with fury and vengeance, but they are not in balance with nature, so they cannot endure. we must do our part when the ball is tossed our way to play out our role responsibly by taking action when it is called for. however, trying to convince those of something they are not ready to hear will only produce the opposite effect. when great cataclysms like the south asian quake occur, they draw us together, reminding us that we share humanity with all others of our species. we all breathe the same air and swim the same seas. it makes politics seem petty in the face of such unspeakable horror, insuperable need, and worldwide compassion.