Sunday, October 1, 2023

Not yet the end: the 2023-24 Libra-Aries Eclipse season, part one

 


“Everything will be all right in the end. If it’s not all right, it is not yet the end.” —The Best Exotic Marigold Hotel 

  

You may recall that we discussed in a previous post that the astrological events anticipated for early 2024 are likely to get that election year off to a rip-roaring start. To this point we’ve focused on the following: 

  • -The Sibly Progressed New Moon, first exact on March 25, 2024 at 19° Pis 26’ 

  • -The U.S. Sibly Chiron return at 20° Ari 08’, first exact on April 20, 2024 

  • -A new Jupiter-Uranus cycle that launches at 21° Tau 50’ on April 20, 2024 

Missing from this unfolding buffet of cosmic turning points happening between now and then, of course, is this week’s autumn equinox (the September 23rd ingress of the Sun into Libra), the annular solar eclipse that follows quickly on October 14th, the winter solstice (the Sun’s ingress into Capricorn) and, skipping ahead, the widely-publicized total solar eclipse of Monday, April 8, 2024, which will begin over the South Pacific Ocean, first achieving totality over Mexico’s Pacific coast later that morning and going on to slash a path across North America.  

This will be a lot to process, obviously, but between this post and the next one, we will hit some key highlights in the charts generated by all these events. We will pay closer attention to the two eclipses, which play off each other quite significantly, and in the process the goal will be to make sense of it all within the tumultuous and strained planetary dynamics of our times. Strap in, folks...this could be a wild ride!  

 


So, let’s begin 

Let’s first consider this past week’s Libra ingress of the Sun, marking the third quarter of our current 2023 Solar year and a potentially important turning point. From here, the “life” of this year is gradually winding down and waning its way towards completion. The natural world reflects this maturation point with its colorful falling leaves and its expended plants going to seed, putting out their last abundant measure of life-giving energy to the next season. It’s a season of harvest, of abundance and of reaping what’s been sowed. It’s about goslings gaining strength for migration, about young squirrels flexing their new digging and foraging skills and about late generation Monarchs completing their transformations in time to migrate south.   

And yes, we humans also succumb to Nature’s increasingly introspective rhythms: neighbors swap preserves and late harvest garden produce; some are motivated to “put up” tomato sauce and pickled cucumbers—anything to prolong the life of that hard-earned produce. The apple orchards and pumpkin farms overflow with visitors milling about with cider and donuts, followed around by determined late season bees and opportunistic sparrows. We preserve and prepare during this time of year—scarcity just feels imminent, even if the markets continue to carry all we need to eat. Some stalwart souls forage or chop firewood, adding to wood piles alongside houses blessed with fireplaces, and everywhere we look there are leaves, noisily blown into piles. In my region, hunting rifles are cleaned and readied for the seasons just ahead. Hunters or not, we share Nature’s compulsion to stock up for the winter.  

So much more than pumpkin spice lattes are going on this time of year, in other words; the natural world is preserving its energies for the challenges of the coming winter and because humans are of that world, we too are turning defensively inward and considering the needs of future months. I’m told on good authority that fall hunting done right is one small part action, and one very large part silence and patience. We might want to keep this in mind going into the October 14th eclipse.  

But before we get to that soli-lunar highlight of this season, let’s quickly consider the Libra ingress chart, as noted—please see Chart 1 below.  

 


 

The 2023 Libra ingress

Chart 1. The Sun enters Libra, September 23, 2023, 2:49:46 a.m., DST, Washington, D.C. All charts cast on Kepler 8.0 with Tropical Equal Houses and True Node, courtesy of Cosmic Patterns Software.

 

 

Notice that the Sun makes its Libra debut in the Virgo 2nd house of this chart, cast for Washington, D.C., confirming unsurprisingly that earthy, material concerns will be a key focus for Americans this quarter. Libra ruler Venus rises at the Leo Ascendant here, emphasizing the importance of financial competence, harmonious, values-based leadership (the Sun rules Leo and this chart) and creative problem-solving.  

This latter challenge is highlighted by an off-putting pair of retrograde aspects to this new Libra Sun by an early Pisces Saturn in the 7th (so quincunx Sun) and a late Pisces Neptune in the 8th (out-of-sign opposition). Needless to say, the frustrations that go along with a balsamic Saturn-Neptune cycle are bound to characterize this final quarter of the year. Indeed, with all five outer planets and Chiron in various stages of their respective retrograde periods, a heavy sense of dysfunction may persist in our public discourse as our desire for leaders (Sun) to manage challenges (Leo rising) is at times frustrated and confused.  

We’re seeing this play out as I write this, in fact, with the near-desperate brinksmanship that went into the House finally—with only hours to go before shutdown—passing a budget bill to keep the federal government funded for the next 45 days. In a nutshell, threatening to seize Speaker McCarthy’s gavel if he got in the way, the extreme, so-called Freedom caucus on the Right seemed prepared to burn it all down, while moderate Republicans and Democrats proved to be more capable of moving forward. The GOP would have been held accountable for the pain and misery a shutdown would have caused: as McCarthy finally put it to his members,“There has to be an adult in the room. I am going to govern with what’s best for this country.” 

As it turned out, between the House and Senate, more Dems voted for the measure than Republicans, but the job got done and many are celebrating the bi-partisan effort. The major sticking point of support for Ukraine’s war effort was stripped out of this short-term bill that passed, so that will need addressing in some other way, but for now, there’s a more workable path forward.  

Yet, the potential for dysfunction during the period covered by this Libra ingress remains strong and is reinforced by other outer planetary aspects with the Sun as well: Sun sesquiquadrates Taurus Jupiter, an awkward connection that pulls Taurus Uranus in by virtue of its proximity to Jupiter and its square to Sun ruler Venus (Leo). Clashes between the basic elements of air and earth can pit ideology against material needs, which sounds a lot like the tension generated in recent days by unionized American workers going out on strike to gain some advantage in contract negotiations. WGA Hollywood writers and SAG-AFTRA actors have been on strike for months (the WGA shows signs of settling as I write this), and more recently, UAW auto workers began staging additional “stand-up” strikes in 38 plants across 20 states. 

This recipe for dysfunction is reinforced by other outer planetary aspects with the Sun as well: Sun sesquiquadrates Taurus Jupiter, an awkward connection that pulls Taurus Uranus in by virtue of its proximity to Jupiter and its square to Sun ruler Venus (Leo). Clashes between the basic elements of air and earth can pit ideology against material needs, which sounds a lot like the tension generated in recent days by unionized American workers going out on strike to gain some advantage in contract negotiations. WGA Hollywood writers and SAG-AFTRA actors have been on strike for months (the WGA shows signs of settling as I write this), and more recently, UAW auto workers began staging “stand-up” strikes in 38 plants across 20 states.    

The strikes are mostly about reviving and restoring wages that fell stagnant or were rolled-back during the 2008-10 recession, and the role that advanced technologies (Jupiter-Uranus) are likely to play in both industries going forward is an additional focus of attention. This new Libra Sun also widely trines Pluto (Capricorn) in this chart, however: the resistance to worker demands from the deep-pocketed powers-that-be who hide behind the primacy of shareholder well-being won't be easily overcome.  

Will Ford, GM and Stellantis follow suit or continue to play games with lay-offs and bad faith offers? Corporate greed and obscenely compensated CEOs are just fine, in Pluto’s realm.

UAW leader, Shawn Fain.


Still, UAW workers seem more than happy to follow Shawn Fain wherever he leads them, and he seems unusually astute and determined. Last week, the news was all abuzz with Biden’s plans to walk the UAW picket line here in Michigan—of course, those who want UAW support these days must have more than glad hands and glowing words to offer. The workers made the concessions that were needed to save the auto industry’s bacon during the 2008-10 recession and were assured they would share in the progress made from there. Profits have been at record levels for some time now, and CEO wages are up 40%, so...

Sounds easy, but the difficult aspects in this chart suggest that the auto industry may be in limbo for a while: the Sun is widely square the Capricorn Moon and a debilitated Libra Mars tightly opposes Aries Chiron, so action may fall flat, at least for a time. Management has historically sought to divide the workers against each other along whatever lines it can, including race, and the added inconjunct aspects between Mars and the Taurus Jupiter-Uranus conjunction (the orb with Uranus is a bit wide) reflect that negotiations regarding the “two-tier wage system” may be frustrated along divisive lines, challenging worker solidarity.  

The Sun-Moon square suggests that the relationship between leadership (Sun) and the People (Moon) is indeed strained and not just within the auto industry, a situation that could have worsened dramatically had the federal government shutdown happened at midnight on September 30th. Fingers crossed going forward! Disposed by 7th house Pisces Saturn, this stressed-out Capricorn Moon could signal a period of austerity and Sisyphean efforts for We the People, who may well feel overwhelmed and under siege, even if they can’t exactly put their finger on why. Everything seems wrong, somehow, which can nurture the free-floating urge to blame Others for any and all grievances.  

Unfortunately, this potentially contagious type of discontent can be destructive and destabilizing, and unscrupulous power players can do more to stoke the negativity than alleviate it.  

Still, Capricorn Moon people keep climbing that mountain; thousands of striking workers can attest to that, and they represent only a microcosm of the larger dysfunctional American labor force and its often-obstructed path towards upward mobility. Is the so-called American Dream “dead,” as many say? Neptune falls in the Pisces 8th house here and widely opposite the Libra Sun...for this quarter, it may well feel that way. 

And that seems to suit the extremist fringe who wanted to shut the government down just fine: people suffering economic pain and chaos (Neptune) wouldn’t be a good look for Biden’s re-election campaign (Sun widely opposes Neptune), so why not? Of course, the optics of Biden shaking the workers’ hands on the picket line was another use of a Sun-Neptune opposition, so positive uses for this energy are also possible.  

More on these challenges and this upcoming eclipse season in the next post here, but for now, let’s move on to consider the actual chart for the October 14th annular eclipse. 

The 10/14/2023 solar eclipse path.
 

The Annular Solar Eclipse of October 14, 2023

This event is a “ring of fire” annular eclipse, which happens when the Moon isn’t close enough to the Earth to completely blot out the Sun. It is looming just ahead on the 14th of next month and is illustrated in Chart 2 below, cast for Washington, D.C. I mentioned earlier that we might want to approach this eclipse as if we are sitting quietly and patiently in a hunting blind, waiting for our targets to meander into the clearing.   

This approach fits a so-called “Dragon’s Tail” eclipse—the eclipse point falls within a few degrees of the transiting So. Node and is less about vigorous, outward focus than it is about introspection and giving something back to the others in our lives. Or, in mundane terms, for Leaders to give back to (or serve) their People. Choosing to avert the government shutdown was a good example of this—hopefully more People-focused gestures follow as this eclipse takes hold.   

Best case scenario, this October eclipse could represent a desirable turning point for the various crises that have been playing out as the Libra ingress kicked in. If we allow our focus to weaken or to be diluted by societal “noise,” however, this possibility is likely to slip right by us like an elusive doe and scamper off.  

Let’s hold that thought for now and consider a few basics about this eclipse (courtesy of NASA), which does cut a swath across the U.S., angling down from Oregon to Texas from about 9 a.m.-12 p.m. on October 14th. It then moves southward through Central America and into South America, as if to say the fortunes of our respective “Americas” are fundamentally linked. Given the volatility of immigration in American politics, it will be interesting to see how this issue unfolds geopolitically over the lifetime of this eclipse. The issue was a serious hang-up in the budget wranglings that threatened to shut the government down and we can likely expect that its divisiveness isn’t going to be washed away any time soon. 

Meanwhile, the eclipse annularity—the climactic obscuration of the Sun by the Moon—endures for less than 5 minutes and is bracketed before and after by two 1.5 hour periods of partial eclipse.  

Overall, the eclipse lasts for less than 3 hours as seen from the continental U.S., so by the conventional astrological formula, we can expect it to wield some influence over national affairs for the coming 2-3 years, or until Saturn transits over it, providing closure in May, 2027. Interestingly, this same Saturn transit in Libra will “close out” the April 8th eclipse as well, only by opposition to that Aries eclipse point.  

Any major planetary transit over or opposite a sensitive eclipse point can be re-energizing, however—even after the eclipse’s supposed lifetime, but Mars transits seem to be more significant than most, a point we’re seeing here. As I write this (the week of 9/25) and just a couple weeks prior to the actual eclipse date of October 14th, this eclipse point (21°+Libra) is being pre-emptively energized by Mars transit. 

 

Now-retired Gen. Mark Milley, saying farewell.

Could that be why we’re getting dangerously reckless postings by Trump suggesting that the now-retiring Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff should be executed for treason (it appears, for refusing to participate in Trump’s plans to overthrow the government). Trump misinformation campaigns and accusations have taken on a radically Mars-inflected character in recent days and I’m guessing that they are likely to escalate, the more he feels threatened by the many felony indictments against him.  

In fact, this eclipse point trines Trump’s natal Gemini Uranus-Sun-No. Node conjunction (chart not shown-see Note 2), points which happen to conjoin Sibly Mars (Gemini, inner wheel, Biwheel 1 below), signifying the U.S. military. So yes, I suspect we will see more wild accusations and vitriolic targeting of our military figures, a tactic the extreme MAGA caucus in the House is not only echoing but piling onto with ridiculous efforts to defund key military salaries 

This is no passing thing with Trump, apparently, because it fits into the larger context of his attempts to intimidate witnesses and taint the jury pools that will be needed for the various cases against him. The efforts of judges to curtail this behavior have so far been basically toothless 

And if he isn't slandering and threatening people whom he considers enemies (half the nation, it seems), or if he receives any pushback on his claims, he immediately pulls out the victim card, claiming that the Biden administration is “weaponizing the Justice Department against him” for political purposes. Yet, on the 27th, the judge in Trump’s NY civil fraud case issued a summary judgement finding that Trump, his sons and former CFO Allen Weisselberg are liable for massive fraud as pertains to his real estate and businesses in New York state. Falsified financial documents, grossly exaggerated property valuations and square footage, and so on...all, unfortunately, on-brand with Trump.  

The judge accused the Trump Organization of doing business as if it lives in a “fantasy world,” suggesting that perhaps the “real world” is finally coming into view as this October eclipse draws near? Even so, the overwhelming feeling as I write this seems to be that our Rule of Law and constitutional democracy, in which no one is above the Law, is faced with a barely manageable and potentially dangerous situation 

Important point: the fact that both impending eclipses form tight aspects with Trump’s erratic Gemini stellium should tell us that the threat posture Trump has adopted lately is not just a passing thing that we can ignore: indeed, well-respected constitutional scholars and historians warn that we need to take these threats very seriously, and the astrology of this moment—especially the involvement of Mars—confirms those calls for vigilance. Given the 9/26 decision by the judge in New York, Trump may be feeling more and more backed into a corner, and that may escalate his attacks and incite his supporters even further. 


Speaking of Mars, after the actual eclipses have happened, it will then reawaken both eclipse degrees in September 2025 and August 2027 and any time it conjoins either 21°+ Libra or 19°+ Aries (the April eclipse degree). Mid-cardinal degrees tend to be astrologically sensitive to begin with; however, this eclipse and the subsequent one in April will challenge us to be extra-vigilant.  

As we’ll see, Mars is quite potent in both eclipse charts, so it’s bound to influence the “temperature” of national affairs even after the actual events.  

Interestingly, the October 14th eclipse appears, on the surface, to be only moderately powerful, ranking a 3 or 4 out of 7 on the eclipse power scale that expert Celeste Teal recommends. [1] When we provide context by placing this chart next to the U.S. Sibly chart or other nationally-significant charts (like Trump’s nativity), that rating is amplified by the connections it makes. For instance, it makes a somewhat wide conjunction with Sibly Saturn (Libra) and a much tighter opposition to Sibly Chiron (Aries). See Biwheel 1 near the end of this post for more detail. 

Raising the stakes even further, I would say, is the fact that all this is transpiring just months before transiting Chiron is due to return to its Sibly position in April, 2024 (covered in a prior post, here). These Eclipse-Sibly aspects will energize two currently hyper-sensitive Sibly points, in other words—Congress (Saturn) and the national woundedness that Speaker McCarthy’s fringe caucus in the House appeared willing to rip open with its intended federal shutdown. To the extent that our Justice system is also implicated by Sibly Saturn, we can expect the pressure to persist on that institution, as well.  

Thankfully, that shutdown has been averted for now: if it hadn’t been by the time of this October 14th eclipse, my guess is we would see national unrest build up over the consequences between the two eclipses. Perhaps that’s what McCarthy’s fringe caucus was looking for, thinking that violence and unrest during an election year would serve their purposes.  

Again, it would help our society to simply slow down, become intensely focused and quietly, patiently pursue real solutions to our national divisions instead of creating conditions for unrest and then pretending to have solutions. Take care of the People first—sounds simple, but to “hunt” with honor requires honorable intentions.  

Even though this week’s shutdown crisis has been averted, it still bears repeating: because this October eclipse also opposes the degree at which the impending April 8, 2024 Aries eclipse will perfect, both eclipses will tie into the Sibly Chiron return degree, which could throw open a real Pandora’s Box of discontent. The April eclipse will sensitize that return degree just days before the transiting Chiron-Sibly-Chiron conjunction, in fact: it’s difficult to overstate the significance of all this.  

So, the October and April eclipses will literally cross paths: the April eclipse will surge upward from Mexico, trailing across the Midwest and eastern states and heading into Canada. Between the two eclipses, in other words, the entire nation—and its far-from-healed wounds (Sibly Chiron)--will be energized and reawakened. More on this when we examine the April eclipse more thoroughly in the next post. 

 

The dragon’s tail can sting 

For now, however, let’s focus on the actual chart (Chart 2 below) for the opening salvo of this October-April eclipse season.  

Chart 2. Annual Solar Eclipse, October 14, 2023, 1:54:55 p.m. DST, Washington, D.C. 

 
The eclipse point (Sun-Moon conjunction) falls in the 11th house in this chart set for Washington, D.C.. This suggests some highly visible and influential thrust to this eclipse, despite its proximity to the more introspective Dragon’s Tail (So. Node). Prominent public servants and leaders will be challenged to dig deep within themselves to find novel solutions for this nation during the life of this eclipse and its April 2024 “partner.”  

Notice that four of the five outer planets in this chart remain in retrograde motion as this eclipse takes hold, all of which is undoubtedly contributing to the general feeling of public discourse being mired in “whataboutism” and division. In the end, an eclipse chart is simply an enhanced transit chart that remains valid for a stretch of time, but as the planets shown in retrograde here turn direct one by one (all within the active phase of this eclipse and before the April eclipse), those energies should begin helping us see beyond the relentless sea of obstacles and divisions.  

As this chart takes hold on October 14th, however, Pisces Saturn Rx and Virgo Venus will play key roles, with Saturn ruling its Capricorn ascendant and Venus disposing the Libra eclipse point itself. The eclipse itself projects a serious, but determined demeanor, especially with Pluto rising at this Ascendant and still completing its post-retrograde shadow “dance” between Capricorn and Aquarius.  

Also highly significant here is the opposition of those two key energies, Saturn Rx and Venus, across the ever-important 2nd-8th house axis, reflecting the need for very careful reality checks regarding the American “Big E” and “small e” economies.  

Saturn’s usual acumen for reining in destructive excesses and managing finances is a bit slippery in Neptunian Pisces; ideally, Virgo Venus will inject some practical wisdom into financial decisions, but investors may become overly cautious, as well. The 8th house Leo cusp is ruled by this introverted Dragon’s Tail eclipse Sun, so it won’t be surprising if the Market cools down for a bit, heading into the holiday season.  

 

Chiron was a centaur in Greek mythology.
 

Also tied into this cautious Venus is Taurus Uranus Rx—just out of orb for a conjunction with Jupiter (their cycle is deeply waning, in balsamic mode), but as we know from past posts here, the cycle conjunction between these two will be perfecting at the very same time that the April Sibly Chiron return happens—see Biwheel 1 below for more detail. Clearly, another reason this period between now and April is so significant.  

Our technological and industrial sectors will have an opportunity for real, widespread progress once this new Jupiter-Uranus cycle launches in earnest at 21°+Taurus (Uranus will still be in post-retrograde shadow until late May 2024), but between now and then a lot could happen to choke off that progress, especially if there’s a distracting atmosphere of unrest afloat at the time.  

For its part, Taurus Jupiter is disposed by this practical, earthy Virgo Venus, a relationship that should—especially after Jupiter goes direct on January 1, 2024--support the Taurus agenda for slowly but surely building substantive value, especially in the values of tangible properties. “Easy money” is not the quest with Taurus, which suggests that inflation may begin stabilizing in the near term. I wouldn’t count on an end to Market volatility quite yet however—this eclipse season alone and the gradual direct turnings of the remaining outer planets will likely keep the financial world guessing, and then there’s the Jupiter-Uranus conjunction in April kicking in during a potentially volatile time.   

Meanwhile, we have the eclipse point in Chart 1 inconjunct Taurus Uranus Rx. I suspect this aspect reflects the challenging slog that striking UAW workers are beginning to find themselves in as the weeks go by, although things may loosen up as the planets shown retrograde in this chart begin turning direct. Even so, I will be surprised if there’s much progress before the holidays because people will be tuned out more than usual until January. Meanwhile, politics and the media are bound to intrude, stoking any divisions that might be lying dormant with UAW workers and blurring the lines between the Biden and Trump narratives regarding organized labor—Neptune Rx sits in and rules the Pisces 3rd house of communications here. These narratives couldn’t be more distinct; yet efforts to misinform and twist the facts are likely to proliferate.     

I mentioned that Mars will be a significant player in both impending eclipses earlier: here, we see it sitting potently in its home sign of Scorpio, about ten degrees beyond the late Libra eclipse point, sextile Virgo Venus, square late Capricorn Pluto and trine Pisces Saturn Rx, so definitely tied into and perhaps enabling Pluto’s "take no prisoners” power agenda.   

Bottom line, we’ll be witnessing the amazing convergence of a new Jupiter-Uranus cycle and a Sibly Chiron return, all tied together by a pair of dramatic cardinal eclipses unfolding over 6 months. In other words, a lot is at stake in the potentials ahead: I would suggest it’s time to pay attention and avoid distractions, no matter the “shiny objects” being used to dazzle and distract us.  

 


Biwheel 1: (inner wheel) U.S. Sibly chart, July 4, 1776, 5:10 p.m. LMT, Philadelphia, PA; (outer wheel) Annular Solar Eclipse, October 14, 2023, 1:54:55 p.m. DST, Washington, D.C.

 


 Final thoughts 

Again, let’s be thankful that the government wasn’t forced to shut down by the extreme MAGA caucus. Even so, we can still see the possibility for austerity built into Biwheel 1 above, with Saturn Rx (Pisces) still conjunct our late Aquarius Sibly Moon. The way the eclipse point (11th house Sun-Moon) t-squares the Sibly Mercury-Pluto opposition during these latter days of the Sibly Pluto return also speaks to the power dynamics driving the deep-pocketed MAGA wish-list: feed the top tier and maybe something will trickle down on the masses. You know, Lazarus catching crumbs beneath the rich man’s table.  

Realistically, however, this extreme MAGA caucus demonstrated that it could potentially wield the power to shut down the government because—absent strong action on the part of Speaker McCarthy and the cooperation of Dems—they would have had the cover of a complicit GOP party at large. Calls to hold them accountable for being cruel would have undoubtedly followed and still may, given that Ukraine support was stripped out of the funding bill for now.   

But—as astute observers have pointed out—with MAGA extremists, the “cruelty is the point.” Intimidation and thuggery—Plutonian tools, for sure—were being widely employed by this group to leverage their shutdown scheme against Speaker McCarthy (and by extension, the nation). 

This reminds us that the Sibly Pluto return is far from over and will stretch into the coming year, and it’s likely that the economic system under which we live will continue to pull no punches in this climate. Pluto can draw out the worst cruelty in us, especially in a media environment of Neptunian misinformation, panic-mongering and diversionary tactics like a baseless (and comically inept) Biden impeachment hearing 

Yet, there’s a reason this MAGA thuggery is referred to as “extreme”--the great majority of Americans do not want a government that is run by thugs and cruelty. It matters who we put in charge with our votes, in other words, and it might just be time to wake up and choose the best characters we can find in all parties and in all public functions. Perhaps we can, in the end, get back to being a nation in which a tendency toward cruelty, lies and corrupt, intolerant behavior is seen as disqualifying.  

As we know from basic astrology, Pluto effects transformation over long stretches of time in individuals and in societies, but we do, happily, have choices in this society, now undergoing such a transformation: one path ahead promises a Mafia-style regime built around cynical zero-sum thinking that accepts corruption because “everybody does it” and because crushing opponents by any means necessary is the path to “winning.”  

The other path ahead challenges us to recommit ourselves to the strengths and possibilities and gifts of our battered and bruised constitutional Republic and to reject corruption, cynicism and venality on all levels and in all parties. There is a path out of the divisive mire of our present moment, in other words, but we can’t afford to take anything for granted. To my mind, the recent comments of departing Chairman of the Joint Chief of Staff, Gen. Mark Milley, rebuking Donald Trump’s recent accusations and threats against him kind of say it all. From CNN.com: 

“In an impassioned and at times furious speech, departing Joint Chiefs Chairman Gen. Mark Milley defiantly proclaimed that the US military does not swear an oath to a ‘wannabe dictator.’  

It was a bitter and pointed swipe that appeared unmistakably targeted at former President Donald Trump, who has in recent days accused Milley of ‘treason’ and suggested that he should be put to death for his conduct surrounding Trump’s bid in 2021 to remain in office despite losing the presidential election. 

‘We are unique among the world’s militaries,’ Milley said. ‘We don’t take an oath to a country, we don’t take an oath to a tribe, we don’t take an oath to a religion. We don’t take an oath to a king, or a queen, or a tyrant or a dictator.’ 

‘And we don’t take an oath to a wannabe dictator,’ he spat. ‘We take an oath to the Constitution, and we take an oath to the idea that is America – and we’re willing to die to protect it.’” 

Hopefully, Gen. Milley’s powerful words will resonate between now and April, when the next solar eclipse (total) will tear across the U.S. on April 8, 2024 (chart shown below). We’ll investigate it more deeply in the next post. 



Meanwhile, let’s keep this deeply consequential eclipse season in our hearts. As a very wise hotel keeper named Sonny Kapoor once put it, "Everything will be alright in the end...if it is not alright, it is not yet the end." [3]

 


Notes: 

[1] Celeste Teal, Eclipses: Predicting World Events & Personal Transformation, Llewellyn Publications, Woodbury, MN, 2006, pp. 37-45.  

[2] Donald J. Trump birth data: June 14, 1946, 10:54 a.m. DST, Jamaica, NY. Astrodatabank rated AA.

[3] From The Best Exotic Marigold Hotel, directed by John Madden, 2011. 

 

 

Raye Robertson is a practicing astrologer, writer and retired educator. A graduate of the Faculty of Astrological Studies (U.K.), Raye focuses on mundane, collective-oriented astrology, with a particular interest in current affairs, U.S. history, culture and media, the astrology of generations, and public concerns such as education and health. Her articles on these topics have appeared in several key astrology journals over the years. For information about individual chart readings, contact: robertsonraye@gmail.com 

© Raye Robertson 2023. All rights reserved.