September 06, 2004

The Celestial Tempest: Sun, Mars, and Pluto

Pluto's annual retrograde cycle ended last week when our solar system's most distant planet turned direct on August 31. Pluto's direct station generally coincides with great disasters, tragedies, and catastrophes involving many people, and last week was certainly no exception. Horrifying terrorist actions in Russia, Israel, and Iraq competed with Hurricane Frances for the most devastating events.

This coming week promises no relief from an astrological perspective. This year's Pluto station was likely aggravated by the approaching square from Mars in Virgo, which grows in strength until it becomes exact on September 9. The violent, treacherous combination of Mars square Pluto fosters extremism of all kinds. In geopolitics cooperation and diplomacy get thrown out the window as being ineffective strategies. What seems to work best is raw brute force.

The Sun joins forces with this Mars-Pluto square. The Sun and Mars are traveling together through Virgo, the sign of military service. The Sun squares Pluto on September 11, and goes on to conjoin Mars on September 15. This coming week, leading into the third anniversary of 9/11, is bound to be excruciatingly tense with political, military, and religious conflict topping the news.

Those with natal planets in the middle to late degrees of the mutable signs (Gemini, Virgo Sagittarius, and Pisces) will be most influenced by the current celestial storm. This includes candidates Bush and Kerry, heart patient Bill Clinton, Vladimir Putin, and many more world leaders. Florida's horoscope (March 3, 1845) features the Sun in Pisces opposite Chiron in this precise degree area, marking this state for another hurricane disaster.

Siege in Russia

The siege of a school in southern Russia ended Friday in the worst case scenario, with well over 300 hostages dying and another 650 rushed to hospitals following a pitched battle between the terrorists and Russian troops. At least ten of the dead attackers were Arabic, giving credence to President Putin's claim that Chechen rebels are being supported and financed by Al Qaeda.

The hostage crisis and recent terrorist events can be seen in Russia's horoscope which is set for the Bolshevik Revolution (November 8, 1917; 2:12 am BAT; Petrograd*). This chart features a Moon-Mars conjunction in the twelfth house of secret enemies. Transiting Uranus the planet signifying separation and independence, is opposing the Russian Mars, as Chechen insurgents fight the Russian army for their liberation.

The explosive situation symbolized by transiting Uranus opposite Mars was activated last week when transiting Mars arrived on Russia's Virgo Ascendant. Uranus reaches its most powerful point in mid-November when it turns direct while exactly opposite Russia's Mars. From late October through the end of November, Uranus will be less than 0 degrees 05 minutes from being exactly opposite Mars, ushering in an exceptionally rare and extremely dangerous time frame.

Meanwhile, transiting Neptune is in a long term square to Russia's Sun, bringing all things Neptunian to the surface. Corruption becomes a huge issue, both in Chechnya and in the Kremlin. Another major factor is oil: a major international oil pipeline flows through Chechnya which has a huge geopolitical strategic value. Chechnya is as much a fight for political control as control over oil.

Cindy Crawford and PETA