Democratic Debate Tonight During Mercury Retrograde in Pisces = UH OH!

With the Moon, Mars, Jupiter, Saturn & Pluto in Capricorn, Venus in fiery Aries, and Mercury Retrograde in Pisces, tonight's Democratic Debate should be SPARKY, and confusing.

Misinformation should be watched for very closely. If I were the campaign manager for any of the candidates I'd be drilling them hard on actual verifiable and demonstrable facts all day today.

Transiting Venus in Aries directly opposite Mayor Pete's natal Mars in Libra, and conjunct Bernie's Moon/Mars. Watch for sparring between those two, which inadvertently may strengthen Bloomberg's Venus-ruled Mars in Taurus.

Don't count Warren out yet. Though we don't know her birth time, her natal North Node at 23 Aries is hard-squared by the 2020 Capricorn Cluster (22-25 degrees), making 2020 her do-or-die year. Her biggest astrological problem is her Sun/Uranus conjunction at Zero degrees Cancer ("a planet is not established in a sign until it reaches 1 degree), making it nearly impossible to pin down who she REALLY is - we think we know her in some way, but she's not really "knowable" by the public. BUT her natal Jupiter is at 0 degrees Aquarius: the degree where the Jupiter-Saturn conjunction of December 2020 takes place. Don't count "weird luck" out of the equation. 

Biden's Sun, Mercury, and Venus in Scorpio are all sextiled by the Capricorn Cluster, which normally is a supportive angle, and his natal Jupiter (his ruling planet because Sagittarius Rising) at 25 Cancer in his 8th House (things he shares with others including values, valuables, resources & intimacies) is opposed by the Saturn/Pluto/Jupiter Capricorn Cluster in his 2nd House (stuff that belongs to him). He literally believes he "owns" the nomination, and is increasingly shocked as days and weeks go by to find that he in fact, does not.

And Amy? Her Mars in Aries (like Bernie's) makes her a hardcore fighter, and going into the DNC nominating convention in July transiting Venus in Gemini will be conjunct her Sun/Moon/Mercury in Gemini and retrograde Mars in Aries will be conjunct her natal Mars, and her natal North Node at 21 Virgo is harmoniously trined with the Capricorn Cluster. She is having a Very Good Year and may end up in a powerful and advantageous position at the DNC. Of course we'll have to wait and see. First let's get through tonight's debate, and on to Super Tuesday & the rest of the primaries (Mercury Retrograde in Pisces on Super Tuesday - balloting MAY be an issue, as well as misinformation around exit polls - just sayin').

Amy Klobuchar's Natal Chart

Joe Biden's Natal Chart

Mike Bloomberg's Natal Chart

Pete Buttigieg's Natal Chart

Elizabeth Warren's Natal Chart (TIME UNKNOWN)

 

Bernie Sanders Natal Chart (Whole Sign)

The Saturn - Pluto Conjuction: Destruction of the Old, Making Way for the New

#Saturn / #Pluto conjunction (exact today after a tortuously long build-up) at 22 degrees of Capricorn. Destruction (Pluto) of systems, structures and constrictions (Saturn) which previously seemed useful but are now exposed as impeding progress and prosperity.

Decay/Death (Pluto) of structures and systems (Saturn) to make way for the new. Separation of the essential / useful from that which no longer serves. End of the cycle which began in 1982/83 - death of the last remnants of the NeoCons, for one thing (though their death-throes be nasty with long-lasting effects; they're still dying). Collective and personal grief and loss over the destruction of the status-quo; breakdown and failure of social and economic systems consolidating power and wealth in the hands of the few. 

They that are not busy being born are busy dying (Dylan, more or less). That's the theme of this transit.



The Saturn-Pluto opposition September 2001 brought us 9/11. There Saturn in Gemini (information, communications, immediate environment i.e. "our neighborhood") was opposed by Pluto in Sagittarius (religion, "foreign" people, places and things). We all know what happened.

At the conjunction of Saturn/Pluto in Capricorn we've seen the US and Iran at the brink of war last week. Iranian students are being seen refusing to trample US and Israeli flags after discovering their leaders lied about shooting down the Ukrainian passenger plane last week.

It's interesting to note than in his Sefer HaOlam, Ibn Ezra gives the zodiac signs and planets associated with certain cities and countries. He states that Bagdad (the capital of Persia during his lifetime as well as during other periods of Persian history) was associated with 21 Cancer: exactly opposite today's Saturn/Pluto conjunction. 

It's also interesting to note that in the natal chart for the Islamic Republic of Iran, the Saturn/Pluto conjunction is exactly opposite the current Iranian government's natal Vertex. I call the Vertex "the rabbit hole" because in my experience as an astrologer it's the point where, like Alice in Wonderland following the White Rabbit, one unconsciously follows patterns which lead to repeating the same mistake over and over again until the lesson is finally learned. How many times must one fall down the rabbit hole until one learns not to follow that White Rabbit? 

The Vertex has to do with unchosen but seemingly "fated" encounters, those that seem compelled. In the Islamic Republic of Iran's natal chart, the Vertex at 23 Cancer in the 8th House (values/valuables/resources & intimacies we share with others) opposite Saturn/Pluto seems to be saying: Wait a minute! Was that really a White Rabbit I saw running past me, and do I really have to follow him down the rabbit hole again?

The consequences and long term effects of this conjunction will unfold this year as Jupiter and Pluto make three conjunctions in Capricorn, enlarging (Jupiter) the Pluto effect: death/destruction in order to create transformative change. Like the phoenix rising from the ashes of his own self-immolation, Pluto (modern planetary ruler of Scorpio)  doesn't do things halfway. There is no half-death and partial transformation: it's all or nothing now. Leading up to December 2020's Jupiter-Saturn conjunction at Zero degrees Aquarius (classically ruled by Saturn; modern ruler Uranus), by the time we get to the end of 2020 we'll be looking at ourselves and our world in the mirror and asking: Who is this? What are we becoming? Let us hope the angels of our better/best selves collectively agree we're getting better, not worse, as a human race.