Month: July 2024

but her transits

escapatoria

My intent was to write about music this month but the chaos of late was far too interesting, and I’d rather capitalize on what’s interesting when it’s interesting. So, don’t expect the astrology posts to continue, but it’s what’s grabbed my attention for the moment.

This is the same thing as I did the other day, but now looking at the current VP KH. Again, you can easily guess what these letters and abbreviated words mean. I’m trying to avoid idiots ending up here. As always, I use Placidus houses and have been setting aside Uranus/Neptune/Pluto as rulers of signs as I’m finding stronger evidence that Saturn/Jupiter/Mars rule those signs with detailed practice.

So.

She’s a 5th house Libra, Aries moon, born something like 20 time minutes before a full moon. Her Ascendant is Gemini, Mercury in 5th in Scorpio conjunct her Sun/opposite her Moon. Mercury also rules her 4th. North node conjuncts her Ascendant. No 1st house planets. Her Midheaven is Pisces. 10th house ruler Jupiter is in her 12th. Jupiter also rules her 7th. Saturn is conjunct her Midheaven from the 9th/Aquarius.

Between the Libra Sun and Aries Moon, she’s got an extra dose of fire to push her into I HAVE AN OPINION rabbit holes. It follows she’d be interested in women’s and youth rights, as a reflection of quality raising of children, with the emphasis on her 5th. Wild guess that this might be a “wounded healer” situation, with her 5th house ruler Venus conjunct Pluto/Uranus. I would assume she likes writing with the Gemini Ascendant, Mercury in 5th. I haven’t heard her talk much due to trying to detox from the news after 2021 until recently, but she might be a creative speaker if given the space to wander. With Node on her Ascendant, she’ll be known for her face and her words, especially in the sense of duality.

The law/politics thing follows well since she has a 9th house Saturn conjunct her Midheaven. She has Sun trine Saturn, so further attention on the idea and her getting respect for being herself.

The Midheaven and her 7th house both being ruled by Jupiter is interesting since she’s second in command. JB’s 10th house ruler is also in the 12th and he was vice pres first, too. Jupiter in the 12th is a different thing, where instead of issues with sleepy language, we have issues with her likeness being associated with a group or a “loud” (not sonically) partner sooner than with her individuality. If elected, she’ll be the first lady pres and will forever be called the first lady pres, so there’s that, but I think she’s generally going to follow after another thought. Saturn conjunct her Midheaven contributes to being more “solid” but she’ll still be a face for a group/idea or a partnership rather than seen as an individual. At this point she probably knows this, and woe is women in this world anyway, so she’s probably already inclined to make smart partnership decisions and associate-first to push her own thing rather than make floating “I think” statements the way 1st housey jerks like me do. She should steer clear of visible ego to maintain social progress with her ideas.

The recent Mars-Uranus conjunction was also conjunct her Jupiter. Fucking lol. Talk about beneficial that her 7th house ruler was getting hyper-chaosed into submission when her “partner” JB stepped down and her “open enemy” nearly got killed, leading towards her ascension. Someone check on her husband. Is he ok? Looking forward, Uranus will solo conjunct her Jupiter in December and March, echoing the theme and giving space for change to take shape. She has Jupiter in Taurus so it’s cute that her campaign for pres got as much funding as it did in a hurry.

Mars also just crossed square to her Saturn and will be square her Midheaven for a few more days. That’s a tense time where one needs to proverbially buckle down and work hard. Given the nature of the last week and the moment, well… duh. Mars will continue through her 12th house for a bit, coming out on the other side of her Ascendant in late August, so if the DNC goes in her favor, her campaign ought to ramp up pretty soon after. Mars goes retrograde in her 2nd later this year/early next so maybe some funding issues come up, but the retrograde itself is post-voting.

Jupiter in Gemini remains in her 12th house for a while, entering her 1st in May 2025, though it gets really close to her Ascendant around September-October times. It’s still in her 12th but that could be good for folks looking at her positively.

What immediately stood out to me is that, during the DNC when Mars/Jupiter square Saturn, they simultaneously are in orb of square/opposite her natal Uranus/Pluto/Venus in Virgo in her 4th house. Transiting Venus actually conjuncts her natal Venus during the convention, with Jupiter square her Venus and Saturn opposite her Venus. If she’s got any unstable 4th house issues or secrets she’s trying to keep about her private/home/family life, they’re going to be on display and criticized in terms of morality and social correctness. Venus returns are theoretically a good thing, so otherwise it should be a time of social celebration (Jupiter loves Venus even in a square) and recognition (Saturn in her 10th). However, with Jupiter transiting her 12th, Saturn at a tense aspect with her Venus, and what I already said about her Midheaven/7th house/Jupiter situation, she might be wise to play the “us”/unity/big ideas come first card. Represent the concept and not the individual.

When I looked ahead to 2025-2026 before, I thought that a Neptunian sort of person made sense, and was hoping it was not a liar or someone with dementia. Future times call for hope, mass social progress/change, and an intent away from needless aggression and selfishness, and I’m astrologically concerned about the echo from the Civi1 War coming up. I don’t know if she’s that person, but her Pisces Midheaven, Jupiter in 12th, and Neptune in 6th suggests she understands the public servant assignment before it’s even given, even if she does have an Aries Moon, Mars opposite Saturn, et al.

Early February 2025 she has Saturn opposite her 4th house Venus again, suggesting the now-obvious likelihood of moving house for work around that time. Near the day the guard changes in the WH she has Venus opposite Venus… so whatever happens around the DNC is going to be very important in terms of her living situation in January.

There’s a full moon in October that’s close to her own full moon, aka it happens just before her birthday. I’ve otherwise mentioned the big stuff happening near voting times.

I’m not entirely trusting the news even for the news that sits around a few days right now, so it may be someone else comes along yet, but so far this is all looking astrologically compelling. If she picks a strong vice pres that echoes her politics but speaks more for the crowd who are disinclined to vote for a lady, I could see it working out.

Update 8/18/2024

Interesting, with her 7th house ruler (Jupiter) in her 12th house thought, that her vice pres pick turned out to be a Jupiter-esque type, both well-liked and seemingly louder than her in personality. I haven’t looked at his info yet.

Today I saw news about her ramping up her campaign “to begin after Labor Day” (two weeks from now). Pretty close to what I figured with the Mars transit entering her 1st house.

Looking forward to how the next few days turn out, but it certainly already seems like the DNC will be a time of celebration.

In which I read a 300 page book in 2 days because why not.

escapatoria

The intention years ago was to explore where I was with fiction as an adult. I read two different sci-fi things, hesitated to read any horror given the last few years of living it, picked at a biography or two, and then stagnated again. I tried some short fiction, including some absurdist porn in the personal pursuit of fresh adjectives, but that wasn’t really what I meant to be doing. The goal was novels.

A youtuber kept coming across my feed. She’s repeatedly given signs of a tenderness I do not possess as a human being, but I’m into my gathering of perspectives in full-blast Gemini mode, so I listened to what she had to say about some books she read. She gave a simplistic rating scale, including whether things were scary and “spicy”. I don’t trust anyone’s account of what scary or sexy is, but I was listening specifically for those. I gathered a few more potential future reads, thrown into the collection of book-reading ideas that have gone nowhere past research.

Clicking on Verity was to check to make sure it was technologically readable, since I’ve made that mistake before. I’m not sure why now I actually read anything past thinking “yep, that’s English”. But it felt familiar. The main character’s mom just died after she’s spent a while caring for her, so, weird. How’d I end up here in my escapism? Not much happens in that first chapter beyond some scene-setting and character introductions after a catalyst event, but it ends on a cliffhanger. While intriguing, not enough. Thrillers are not my cup of tea… but what the fuck do I know anymore. The whole reason I’m here is because I don’t know. Still, I left it alone to go focus on the million other things.

Maybe a week later, I went back. And I was little confused, trying to make sense of the apparent genre classifications that didn’t feel apparent beyond the first chapter. But it arrives, gradually, then suddenly.

I got distracted early on by the basic plot of the book. It’s about a writer hired to ghost write another author’s book. I got to thinking about how wonderfully synchronistic that is when I have Jupiter transiting my 9th house (publishing) just now, conjunct my Mercury when I grabbed the book then Sun when I started actually reading it. I’m a 9th house Gemini. It’s about two authors. Wild how that ended up being the choice of book just now.

Further reading, it’s strangely reflective of other things in my chart and life. It echoes recent words I’ve put down, pulling similar ideas into different contexts. The other author’s words in the book might as well be my Scorpio Moon, presently squared by transiting Pluto: Obsessive thoughts, over-focus on shitty things, taking things to their lower limits and putting on a blank face while it goes on because the alternative sucks. I ended up thinking about how I’ve never had an original thought or experience in my life, how humans be humaning and we can never escape it. As one does.

It takes a minute to show up, but there’s a lot of matter-of-fact sex in this book. Intellectually I feel like I’m supposed to be titillated, one way or the other, somehow; the focus is quite female gaze without outright screaming “FOREARMS!”. But much of it feels factual, even mechanical, and less experienced. It’s like someone telling a story three days later rather than being in that person’s body (which is, basically, what it is… until it isn’t, and then it feels like the most oddly mechanical, Sahara Desert display yet). So the “spicy” element, while there, is a bit lost on me. However, it could just be me, because, you know. I’m confused by how the human brain ends up interpreting things as sexual. The delayed BJ thing was fantastic, at least. But mostly it feels like porn for people who don’t read or watch porn… which may be a pretty fair assessment of popular book genre readers. And maybe the cleanliness is a reflection of knowing the audience. We don’t talk about wet pussies and the sound of macaroni around these parts, no sir. No switching wigs in the book, guys.

Rewatching the video: ha. I definitely got it because the youtuber was disturbed by the “spice” level. It wasn’t that spicy. Why am I using this word? It was porn lite. Loads of sex, just not especially vivid most of the time.

The thriller element to the book felt on par with a Lifetime movie mixed with something like Gone Girl. I also had Hereditary thoughts, minus the horror element of that movie. Jane Erye also came to mind, though it’s been a long time and I’m not sure the specifics. In any case, there’s fucky minds and fucky results, a man is at the center of the story, and women around him are dealing with their separate issues. That reads wrong: it’s a woman-focused story, but the major events come about due to a particular man’s existence. All the same, I could see the Lifetime crowd of yore eating this up. That doesn’t make it bad, just familiar.

The ending was… a thing, yes. It’s meant to be disturbing, and yes, it succeeded. It’s also a bit frustrating because of what it implies after the story ends. I can see why it ended as it did, but it still feels like there were other, better options here. But the whole book is like that. How come it takes the protagonist so long to get through her obvious need to know what she wants to know? And why are we questioning the choices of fictional characters trapped in a make-believe universe, anyway? Said like a true horror fan. Just here for the ride! el oh el. *brain seizes in acceptance of The Whatever* Art, amirite?

All the same, after the first chapter, I read this whole book in two days, so it obviously kept me intrigued. The writer did a fine job at that for sure. Attention grabbed and escapism obtained. Win!

Whether I’ll read another thriller or romantic thriller remains to be seen, but that I read anything bigger than 10 pages not my own work is a miracle I’d like to continue, so if that’s what hits when I next think to read something, I guess that’s what happens.

Now I’m going to go cry at other reviews of this book. “Graphic sex scenes”? It’s fun when 17 year olds and christian-affiliated people write stuff on the internet, isn’t it.

Take Your Blood Pressure Meds ’24

escapatoria

While I’ve had a glance at their birth days in the past, I haven’t spent any time astrologically going over either of the current most-likely presidential candidates. My astrological interests don’t usually incline towards political goings-ons, and there’s enough of those types of astro people that I don’t feel like I’d be adding anything. But, I was curious, and a lot of big astro people right now use whole sign house astrology (I do not) which hinders my personal learning, so it’s best if I look at things myself. While I’m at it, I’m going to talk about some major transits of the next year.

I won’t be using names here due to the nature of the internet and its variety of looney bin issues. You know who I mean.

THE CURRENT GUY:

The current president’s given astrological data appears to be rounded, so I’m not sure I should trust this chart. The basics appear to be Scorpio Sun, Taurus Moon. If the time is correct, Sagittarius Ascendant, Jupiter in Cancer in the 8th, Sun/Mercury/Venus in the 12th, Moon in 5th. His Midheaven is Virgo, and I just said Mercury in the 12th. This is someone generally subdued and behind-the-scenes with big ideas of ways to nurture people, especially through concepts of shared resources or debt. Virgo MC suggests being seen for being a communicator (speaking or writing or sharing data), though with Mercury in the 12th, the details tend to get foggy on the output. This goes double because he has Neptune in the 10th so his public persona is not the most clear. (His “Sleepy” nickname is astrologically hilarious.) While Sun/Venus are close to his Ascendant, and Saturn is close to his Descendant in his 7th (he had a wife die young, huh), Uranus is right on his Descendant from the 6th house (if this time is 100% correct, anyway). Sun/Venus opposite Uranus puts more attention on him, presumably on his daily/everyday life, health, coworkers, and any instability or odd things going on there.

What does January 2025 look like for this person?

The first thing I see is that Saturn in Pisces will be conjunct his IC/4th house cusp, though still in his 3rd house at that point. If this chart is 100% correct, Saturn narrowly retrograded away from his 4th house in May/June 2024. It returns and crosses his IC in February 2025. This would be a shift towards home, roots, family. It’s like going from doing a day chock full of tedious errands to finally being able to take off your shoes and relax on the couch. Saturn was last here twice in his lifetime, specifically 1995/early 1996 and early 1966, so there are likely clues going on in those years as to the nature of what’s coming for him next year.

Meanwhile, Jupiter in Gemini is presently in his 7th house. It very recently conjunct his natal Saturn on about July 9th 2024 (give or take a day, I’m looking at a GMT ephemeris). If Saturn rules his Aquarius-cusped 3rd house, then it seems appropriate that he would be having slow-on-the-uptake issues speaking/debating near that time, probably for being overwhelmed. It also seems appropriate that people on level with him in terms of partnerships or open enemies or his so-called “audience” would be scrutinizing him just then. Jupiter opened up an old sore point of him being not so great with words despite it being his job and how he’s seen by the general public. It’s fair to assume overdoing things was a problem near that time. Jupiter’s a benevolent, so its transit through his 7th suggests that ultimately his people support him.

Uranus is presently in his 6th and he’s due to have his only Uranus return around 2026-2027. 84 is too old for anything as important as this, but the other one is nearly the same age and will be having his Uranus return in 2029. Sounds horrific in either case. Take your retirement and go read a book, yo. The vice presidential choices seem vital in either case, and after this last week, ugh. Can we start over fresh? Thanks.

Anyway, currently Uranus is opposite his Sun/Venus (it’ll be closer next year). Interesting that he was suddenly called to defend the health of (basically) a coworker at this time due to a surprise event.

I think that’s all I’m going to get out of this without going deep into biography material, so let’s move on to the other guy.

THE OTHER GUY:

His chart is rated AA on Astrodatabank, so it’s highly likely the chart is correct.

He has a Leo Ascendant, Sun in Gemini in the 10th conjunct Uranus, and they’re both opposite Moon in Sagittarius. That explains a lot about his inconsistencies with the truth and why it’s his M.O. to exaggerate reality. That day was also an eclipse in Gemini, with node conjunct his Sun, so he was going to be known for being an over-talkative liar regardless. (Someone else born with this might have inclined towards fairy tales or performance rather than straight up lying, but that’s not what happened here, and we’re working with the reality we got.)

His 24 degree Taurus 10th house ruler is Venus, conjunct Saturn in the 11th, both in Cancer. So, behind the blah blah blah, he is also known for Venus topics wherein he both does and does not at all get what he wants. Amass fortune, lose fortune. This also suggests some adult baby vibes and why he comes across as an unleashed toddler underneath the I-know-everything facade. It’s like a fat kid sitting on the floor with a jar full of cookies stuffing his face despite mom yelling about dinner being spoiled; the cookies are dinner now, RIP nutrition and satiation. It also explains why the result is empathetic, emotionally open, and femme people protesting (Saturn in 11th) his ilk. Capricorn is swallowed in the 5th but Aquarius cusps the 6th and 7th, so if Saturn rules Aquarius, we’re pulling from those houses into the 11th. Hmm. Standing apart from coworkers? Failures with women for sure. Ladies (well, partners) with him purely for the cookies. Being Saturn, it’s a point of insecurity, so that Gemini+Sagittarius is going to exaggerate that he’s better off than he is.

THE OTHER DAY:

The first thing I see is that he has Mars conjunct the Ascendant from the 12th. Has he had rocks, tools, knives, metal objects in general thrown at his head before? Mars rules the 9th (Aries) and 4th (Scorpio) in his chart, so it would be because of family or extended family members, or foreigners, or lawyers, or people he was trying to teach/preach/orate to… which, in the last case, describes the other day.

How was his Mars doing that day? He has Mars at 26 Leo. Presently Uranus is at 26 Taurus, square that spot and not far from retrograde, which is double confirmation that I’m on to something with his Mars being the issue, never mind that we’re talking about sudden surprise violence just now. This is Uranus’ first hit of that point so there are more aggression-out-of-whack surprises to come over the next 10ish months. Uranus will cross over his Midheaven again in December 2024 and March 2025. With Uranus going back into his 9th house, will there be a surprise law decision… which traps his 12th house Mars? In other words, jail. Before yesterday I would have thought that a relief, but then he chose a running mate. There are other expressions for this, but just the nature of Uranus leaves questions, so making an actual prediction about this without a biography full of good data in front of me is not happening.

Anyway, Saturn just went retrograde so it’ll be back to square his Sun (and Node) in March 2025. Far too late for overdue consequences to effect the election before it happens. Saturn is and will be in his 7th house, which returns my thought to law (as in contracts with others), divorce, dissonance with individuals on level with him. I looked back to the last time Saturn was in Pisces around this spot, and it was 1995. He was dealing with investment failures at the time. The law divorced him from said failures, so to speak.

First in line, Jupiter will conjunct his Uranus in mid-August 2024. Jupiter continues on and conjuncts his node in the following months. That’s potential for good news, the spread of good thoughts, a yay-you time. Then Jupiter opposes his Moon as it turns retrograde, so a week-ish transit becomes a two month thing. “WHERE THE FUCK’S YOUR TRUTH?” says Jupiter. This could go really well or really poorly, depending on the health of his Moon. He has natal Moon in 4th, so family, roots, stuff he does at home, stuff about his home comes up. Maybe something about a faraway person/place nurturing/celebrating him, family going on a trip or to another country, property in another country. It’s something not normally seen by the public, something about his private life, getting a look-see and given the Jupiter “WHY?” treatment. Makes me think of a particular person from a particular country given his history. Could also be something about campaigning revealing a previously unseen truth while he’s on the road. I’m sure there’s a clue in the past from prior Jupiter opposite Moon transits. Moon also make me think of health for some reason I’m not clear on, like overdoing something. Then Jupiter goes retrograde and doesn’t conjunct his Sun until May 2025, so party time is on hold.

His announcement of a running mate was while Mars (along with Uranus) was conjunct his Midheaven, approaching exact square to his natal Mars. Sun was also conjunct his natal Saturn and Venus. It’s interesting that he chose a prior critic, someone whose probable self-interests are beyond that of one of union, who is also much younger (Venus+Saturn) than him. Just here for the cookies.

THE ATMOSPHERE:

I was looking at the current Jupiter-Saturn square, which perfects for the first of three times in August (dates below). The present Jupiter-Saturn cycle started in late 2020, and shortly thereafter they both collided in square with Mars and Uranus, which is the atmosphere going on for the sixth of January of 2021. Aquarius all by its lonesome is not the same thing as Gemini-Pisces, but it set the tone for the present square. Until three days ago, I was pondering what that event had anything to do with what was coming. It now seems obvious that it had a karmic level result of a guy inciting violence to get violence thrown back at him. But this is more about the atmosphere of the day… and the exact transit isn’t until August.

Here’s what’s going on in August and the upcoming Jupiter-Saturn squares:

Jupiter square Saturn (#1)
8/14 Mars conjunct Jupiter
8/15 Mars square Saturn
8/18 Venus square Jupiter
8/19 Jupiter square Saturn
8/19 Venus opposite Saturn
8/22 Venus square Mars

12/24/2024 Jupiter square Saturn (#2)
6/15/2025 Jupiter square Saturn in Cancer/Aries (#3)

6/18/2025 Jupiter square Neptune
Saturn goes retrograde just before the exact conjunction with Neptune so it doesn’t happen until February 2026, but they’re in a close dance for a good long while circa 2025-2026.

(And for shits n giggles, the Jupiter-Saturn opposition is in December 2029 and 2030 in Scorpio-Taurus and Sagittarius-Gemini.)

I find it interesting that both of these men are currently on the table as options now and projecting into a future when the atmosphere of the day caters to their incongruencies with fact-sharing. Neither Gemini (where Jupiter is) or Pisces (where Saturn is) are particularly inclined towards hard truths, where both signs are more into perception than one sweeping reality. Jupiter in Gemini: everyone has a thought. Saturn in Pisces: everyone has a feeling. This goes double when the current square makes its last aspect just before Jupiter and Saturn collide with Neptune. Saturn will be conjunct Neptune for a while… so, breaking illusions as much as catering to illusions. But what about? Aries topics. Independence. War. Will the next few years feature more on level of countries (states?!) separating?

I looked at Saturn conjunct Neptune in the past. The last time, in Capricorn, was in 1989 (exact March, June, October). That’s around the time the Berlin Wall came down, which is poetically quite Saturn/Capricorn meeting the dissolution of Neptune. Mid-transit was Tiananmen Square. There were other things, but those are big memorable lasting things from around that time. It’s also worth noting that there were shifts in entertainment at this time, specifically music: Nirvana’s Bleach came out in June 1989.

The prior instance was in late 1952 and 1953 in Libra. This is prime source material for the daydream of “make america great again”. Just like it’s just before Nirvana changed the trajectory of music, it’s just before Elvis changed the trajectory of music, when the seeds of early rock n roll were planted. Being Libra, it’s also (for the US anyway) a time of peace and social growth, in the wake of WWII aftermath and overlapping the end of the Korean War.

Another turn goes back to 1917. 1882. 1846. 1809. 1773. And so on, about every 36 years. Boston Tea Party was in 1773, if at 5 degrees separation between those planets (not to say it happened in a vacuum… things happened, first, to incline to that result). 1809 is when Lincoln was born, Saturn conjunct Neptune by 3 degrees orb: making dreams concrete. Unrelated to politics or social stuff, it’s fun to see Neptune the planet was discovered in 1846 with less than a degree separation from Saturn (it seems that’s not why Neptune was found). Oil companies get started in 1882. 1917 is in the midst of WWI… and also the name of a movie.

Anyway, Saturn and Neptune historically result in issues over boundaries or changing of the guard, and produce things that are larger than life. The band is literally called Nirvana.

When’s the last time Saturn was conjunct Neptune in ARIES? March 1703 at 11 Aries, with it close 1702-1703. My history and ability to get anything out of the internet’s relay of history around this time sucks, so I don’t really understand any correlations here. Neptune was last entering Aries by itself in 1861-1862. Saturn was opposite it then near November 1862. That’s when the Civil War was going on.

America is also experiencing its Pluto return – where Pluto was when the country was founded – so that’s an interesting addition to the paranoid thoughts and increase in blood pressure this whole post added to my life.

I would hope that whatever happens in August (the DNC…) and through the end of the year, it inclines towards visionaries, fairy tales come true, and big hopeful ideas about coming together as positive expressions of Neptune.

In the interim, with Jupiter-Saturn as things are, I wouldn’t trust anything in the news for the rest of the year. A lot of things will be hear-say, grains of truth taken off to mean something entirely false, with blurry data and incongruent nonsense and smoke & mirrors. Reality may not be real for a while here.