Part 3
This paragraph is copied from an article I have in progress, but it fits here as well since it’s part of the Solar Return. I’ll finish the article after this one is posted. “On the 11th of September, the Midheaven of the Solar Return had progressed to 22 Aries 31, squaring the 22 Capricorn 06 midpoint of SR Pluto and the 7th house cusp in opposition to India’s natal Moon. Since the 7th house cusp was already within orb of the conjunction to still retrograde SR Mars, the Pluto-7th house midpoint could be considered having formed a conjunction to Mars as well, an important consideration for a Mars-ruled Midheaven!” These words describe a small but important part of my description of a harrowing last lap of a flight from New Delhi to JFK as the pilots attempted to land. The attempts were futile, and the pilot was urged to land at another airport in an even more harrowing situation.
With all due respects to those who disagree, I have many doubts as to whether any astrologer would have seen this as a packed flight carrying 370 people, its pilot suddenly aware of nearly all computer-assisted mechanical operation having failed, and his need to land without any assistance from the operations manual. In short, he had to “wing it.”
I’ve taken nearly two months now in writing the Solar Returns for Pakistan and India. What came before this was already written before events had taken place.
Ordinarily, I try–especially with the Solar and Lunar Returns–to avoid covering events that will come across as if they’re being written after the fact. In other words, I leave in the events I forecast before I get to publish–even if it’s after the event has taken place. The following, however, is after the fact because this one never crossed my mind in looking at the Lunar Return for October 3. It bears being mentioned here, however, because of the complexities in the aspects that I wouldn’t have even considered. It points to the marvelous interweaving of a chart–possibly with long-reaching after-effects that may still take place. I’m going to mention it in passing, however, simply because I will need to consider things like these for future work with the undecaquartisextile patterns. Such interplay in this Lunar Return opens the door for more studies to see whether the patterns are valid in such intensely complex form. For me, it’s not only mind blowing, it’s a reminder of how much we in the astrological community still have to learn, that none of us are infallible and none of us know all there is to know in this field.
On the 4th of October, Indian newspapers began to talk about an upcoming meeting between Prime Minister Narendra Modi and President Vladimir Putin of Russia. I didn’t even catch it until I saw a brief headline on CNN on the 6th of October, the day after they’d signed a US$5.43 billion arms agreement. I pulled up the new Lunar Return and looked.
Normally, I can determine what’s going on fairly easily; but sometimes, the aspects are so complex, and sometimes points and bodies I wouldn’t ordinarily think of using are involved in those aspects. For me, it has been quite eye opener!
12th house Lunar Return (LR) Juno at 00 Gemini 20 forms a 33-minute partile conjunction to the natal Ascendant and a 15-minute semisextile to natal 1st house Mars at 00 Cancer 35, resolving in a Resonant Blooming Undecaquartisextile at 15 Gemini 28 in square to 10th house LR Neptune. This alone means nothing, so I’ll urge you to watch the path this follows because it’s the string of interweaving that creates the stunning energy. I don’t often make a list like this, but I needed it this time to keep the dust bunnies from floating in!
On the 5th of October, the day the arms agreement between India and Russia was signed, the Lunar Return Midheaven (MC) progressed to 8 Pisces 44, It’s important to know that 8 Pisces 44 has its antiscion at 21 Libra 16. Meanwhile, LR 5th house Mercury at 19 Libra 52 (conjunct the LR progressed MC antiscion within a 1°24 orb) forms a semisextile to LR Jupiter at 22 Scorpio 35 in the 6th house which resolves in an 11th house Resonant Blooming Undecaquartisextile at 6 Taurus 13. This point is conjunct natal Ceres, but the reader may or may not want to take that to heart. For me, I find it less important than the rest of these dynamics since 6 Taurus 13 forms the third point of the Undecaquartisextile pattern and the arm of a Fixed T-square with a 35-minute partile square to natal Mercury at 6 Leo 48 and the 48-minute partile square to Lunar Return Mars at 7 Aquarius 01!
And finally, the natal MC at 14 Aquarius 35 forms an 11-minute partile semisextile to LR Neptune at 14 Pisces 24 Rx on the night of the 3rd at inception of the new Lunar Return for India, resolving in a Resonant Blooming Undecaquartisextile at 29 Leo 29’30–conjunct the LR Part of Fortune at 1 Virgo 56, TransPluto at 2 Virgo 17, the IC at 2 Virgo 18, square the natal Ascendant at 00 Gemini 53, and LR Juno (symbolizing agreements and contracts) at 00 Gemini 20! Of course the agreement would have taken place on the 5th of October!
During the week of October 24th to the 30th, take note of India’s natal Moon/SR ASC conjunction in 2°45′ opposition to SR Mars Rx while the natal Mars/Uranus conjunction in the SR 12th house sits in square to the 3rd house SR Moon. Natal Uranus forms a 51-minute partile square to the SR Moon while natal Mars is still receiving a square from SR Saturn Rx. In addition to SR Mars Rx in Capricorn, the SR Mercury Rx-natal Saturn/Pluto conjunction seems to be hinting that–as usual–the wheels of progress will continue to move slowly, Mind you, that doesn’t mean there won’t be a lot of talk, even brainstorming among the politicians. It’s just that with Mercury Rx during the SR, things will either be slow in coming together to make changes, or they won’t be able to agree on anything to bring about actual changes. It’s also possible that SR Saturn Rx will keep presenting problems why this or that solution can’t be the one to resolve the issues.
Then again, it could be 10th house SR Uranus Rx as the arm of the T-square created by the natal Moon/SR Ascendant in opposition to SR Mars on the Descendant presenting the unexpected cropping up especially at this time. The T-square is certainly capable of stopping a plan in its tracks. Even with the trine to SR Saturn Rx in the 6th, that may be a bit of a stretch; but then Uranus is the planet with the caution, “Expect the unexpected.” Those of you in India may well be shaking your heads in agreement at the thought since this might resemble a gathering of just about any group of people while appearing as if nothing much has been accomplished at all in the planning and implementation of an event! But then yahi zindagi hai, theek na? (Translation for those who don’t understand: That’s how life is, isn’t it?) Unfortunately, when you really need change to take place, such a state of all talk and no action becomes nothing more than hot air!
The fifth house rises in the October 31 Lunar Return, with Venus Retrograde (Rx) in the 2nd house in a 7-minute partile square to the Nodes while Uranus Rx falls in the 8th house in a 21-minute partile square to the Nodes in the 5th and 11th houses. As the rupee dropped again to a new low, 74 rs to the US dollar, in late September or early October (I don’t even remember now), I just shook my head and looked back at 2013 when the rupee was about 62 to the dollar. I remember PM Modi promising the economy would be better, but I didn’t believe it back then either. Now, as I see this Lunar Return for October 31, I still don’t see any stability showing in India’s markets. It seems to me the rupee will continue to plummet. I’m more concerned that this new Lunar will represent another calamitous hit on the economy.
The new Lunar Return for November 27 brings the angles into view again along with the 8th house rising. The reader needs to understand that not all charts with the 8th house rising will mean death–and that’s true whether we are looking at a Lunar or Solar Return. In this case, it seems to me something else will be going on, although I’m inclined to say some tensions are likely to be in the air within the first three days of this new LR. Tenth house Venus at 27 Libra 24 again opposes Uranus in the 4th at 29 Aries 16 Rx and forms a T-square with the 7th house Moon at the arm. The Moon, conjunct the North Node, also adds impact to the T-square through its 18-minute partile square to Venus.
Even though 11th house Mercury is Rx during this Lunar Return, it’s within orb of the square to the 2nd house Mars-Neptune conjunction. Yes, I know some of you will say it’s wide, but bear with me. Neptune will have made its station to direct on the 25th, which can increase the potential for miscommunication especially during the Mercury Rx. With Mars also in the action, it’s quite possible tempers will flare and may even get out of hand since Mercury is also forming a 33-minute partile conjunction to the Sun which sits in the middle of that 3-body stellium. The Sun is also forming a 42-minute partile conjunction to Jupiter. If ever we might not want to take advantage of Jupiter’s expansiveness, the week of the 25th of November through the 1st of December is probably such a time. Tread lightly in contractual agreements and communication lest the heat of the moment will make those involve regret what comes next.
For India, this is additionally fortified with natal Mars’ conjunction to the LR Descendant from inside the 6th house–well within orb of the opposition as well to the LR Saturn/Ascendant conjunction, squaring natal Neptune in the LR 9th house. Someone is always in the midst of the Peeling of Life’s Onion, depending on where natal Neptune (or natal Saturn by the converse view of the transits might be) sits, and this one is India’s turn. The Eastern dominated chart with the 1st/4th quadrant split and the horizon even split cautions national leaders to be responsible to their domestic and international duties while not biting the hands that feed them. This is a time when it can be hard to connect with others, and that may be exactly why national leaders should do so.
And while I’m saying that for India, it’s also wise advice for the reader. Be sensitive to others’ feelings and consider the week one made of crystal. Avoid shattering it and creating irreparable damage. Remember, all of us still need to feel like someone in the world remembers and cares about us.
There’s a saying with Uranus. I don’t know a single professional astrologer who doesn’t know it. Even most students who have gotten their feet wet in Western astrology for so much as a modicum of time, at least by the end of the first year, know Uranus is what we think of when we say “expect the unexpected.” While the December Lunar Return begins on the Christian Christmas Eve, it’s a good time to expect the unexpected and to be alert to everything around you–the familiar and the unusual. The 2nd house rises in this LR, but nothing in particular stands out in that way. Transiting Uranus sits at a 7-minute partile conjunction to the 11th house cusp (Placidus houses here), and that really rings no bells.
Perhaps that position of transiting Uranus forming an 11-minute partile semisextile to the natal North Node could ring bells, but the resolution to the Blooming Undecaquartisextile at 13 Scorpio 31; it seems mild to me however: the resolution point forms a 2°53′ conjunction to LR Venus in the 5th house. Yet since this point falls in the 5th house, it doesn’t hurt to caution readers to watch the children–just in case.
On the other hand, there is another undecaquartisextile pattern that gives me more concern. LR Jupiter in the 6th house forms a 19-minute partile semisextile to 7th house Saturn, resolving at 25 Gemini 20 in a 9-minute partile conjunction to natal Uranus (which forms an out-of-sign conjunction to natal Mars), and a 10-minute partile conjunction to the LR Equatorial Ascendant. The twist here comes with LR Mars forming a 40-minute partile conjunction to the MC, in 15-minute partile square to that LR Equatorial Ascendant and, of course, a 16-minute partile square to natal Uranus! All in the 12th with natal Mars in the 12th and LR Mars squaring these positions? Please be alert. The 12th house not only points to those skeletons in the closet and the nightmares you hope you’ll forget when you wake up, it can be pointing to enemies on the home front. I know: You’re used to that, India. Just don’t let your guard down during any holiday celebrations. Hopefully it will be nothing, but this is one time I’d rather be safe than sorry.
Through the years, I’ve come to understand some of the waves I’ve seen in India’s annual charts–the Solar Returns. With the birth of each new year on the solar calendar, conflict appears to intensify especially on the border of Pakistan and India around Jammu and Kashmir (J&K). This past year, however, has seemed to me to be more active in the J&K region, and January appears more like “just another chapter.” The 8th house rises in the January 2019 LR with a Jupiter-ruled Sagittarius Ascendant and Saturn rising again.
4th house LR Mars forms an 18-minute partile square to LR Saturn in opposition to natal Neptune conjunct the LR MC, establishing a Cardinal T-square again with Mars assuming the role of the bridge. Mars also takes the lead with its semisextile to 3rd house LR Neptune, resolving at a Resonant Blooming Undecaquartisextile in the 9th house of foreign affairs at 29 Virgo 00 in 17-minute partile opposition to LR Chiron. But Neptune and Mars–as all 3-point undecaquartisextile patterns do–each form a single undecaquartisextile to that third point. In Neptune’s case, however, it’s receiving a square from the 12th house Venus-Jupiter conjunction in Sagittarius.
The patterns in this particular LR become more complex still. I discussed one of these placements with John Davenport; but before he gave more serious thought to what I’d seen, he’d spotted Saturn’s sesquiquadrate (135°) angle to the natal North Node (NN) with the LR Sun sitting at the contra-antiscion of the natal NN! I think back to the birth of Indian independence and the conflicts arising at that time, and this kind of interactive dynamic seems to bring that period to mind again.
I believe it was on the heels of Tony Blair’s July 6, 2017 delivery of the Chilcot Report that I’d mentioned the potential of legal problems facing the United Kingdom, and that was immediately followed by notice of India’s plan to sue the UK for the return of the Kohinoor diamond, the 20-carat beauty gracing the royal coronation crown. With the 9th house Resonant Blooming Undecaquartisextile showing so strongly in this return, I can’t help but wonder if this legal matter might have progressed to the courts now. Not that I expect the matter would be resolved easily, but it’s a thought that this kind of situation may be what I’m seeing. Should this be the case, however, that aggressive Eastern quadrant stance seems more like posturing with the 1st quadrant below-the-horizon dominance.
John and I discussed this a bit more, with his noting Saturn’s rulership of diamonds. He pointed to the Saturn/Pluto (SA/PL) conjunction in Libra since he’s been studying this cycle in the course of his research. SA/PL, he said, generally rules mining. “I remember writing about Naomi Campbell and her association with African blood diamonds around the SA/PL square,” he added, closing that thought his belief that jewelry fell under a Venus-Jupiter rulership.
I pointed to Indian history related to the Kohinoor diamond having been confiscated in 1849 in Lahore, today’s Pakistan, years before the British had left India in 1947. “India’s natal Jupiter is conjunct the 1801 2nd house Neptune [opposite Mars]; a sign of theft, or hidden assets. Also LR Pluto is on the Queen’s Ascendant, as the Sun squares the Queen’s Sun.”
We spent hours tracing the history of the Kohinoor diamond from when 10-year-old Maharaja Duleep Singh, upon his mother’s imprisonment and later exile long past the 13 years during which he wasn’t allowed to see her again. This path, however, was crucial to our understanding of the importance of the Kohinoor diamond. It turned out to be far more significant to many nations–and now to the British crown. No wonder more than one book has been written about its history! This reads like a mystery we could call labyrinth before we ever hoped to find whose diamond it actually is. On the other hand, two things caught my eye as I tried to trace this path: That the Kohinoor may have originally been found in the Golconda Sultanate, now known as Andhra Pradesh and Telangana, India. Whether the diamond was part of a large haul from diamond mines there may or may not be known for certain, but India once was home to nearly all of the world’s diamonds.
In the course of our explorations today, we learned that this push to take the Kohinoor diamond case to court is not the first. But the last time India tried was in the early 1950s, around the time Princess Elizabeth became Queen Elizabeth II.
The February LR opens with a Western 2nd quadrant above-the-horizon dominance with the Uranus-out-of-sign Mars conjunction still conjunct the MC even though Mars is also intercepted. I certainly wouldn’t say Mars is silent, or invisible. In fact, I think Mars is positioned in such a way to surprise people. At the same time, Mars forms a square to the horizon while Uranus still squares the Moon. We can’t stop there however. Uranus forms a 37-minute partile semisextile to 9th house Chiron, resolving in a Resonant Blooming Undecaquartisextile at 14 Libra 39–in 57-minute square to 6th house LR Venus.
An Eastern 4th quadrant above-the-horizon dominance presents India as a strong face in the world in the April LR. But it could be an effort to delude and confuse people who are attempting to get a better sense of where India is heading politically at this time. Around the 2nd or 3rd of May (from what I am seeing here, this should be quite accurate), leaders will need to be prepared to act firmly and resolutely without being so strong in communications that whatever the case may be won’t backfire. This month could tend to show India as a very aggressive and even overbearing–if a nation can be so!–stance in its interactions inside and outside of the nation. Measured communication is best used at this time to keep the peace. That doesn’t mean to hand over the “spoils,” rather to maintain a firm eye on the nation’s affairs as well as protecting its borders. This doesn’t have to be a month of anger in the public eye. Diplomatic speech can go far now. I’m sure I don’t also have to remind you of the tendency to skirmishes along the border each year around this time through the autumn months. Be mindful and watchful. The need to be gentler in words and actions except where there is no other choice will be a challenge.
Accusations of economic abuses around May 31 are likely. With the 5th house rising again in the May 10th LR and the Western 3rd quadrant above-the-horizon dominance showing, the accusations may point at funds being improperly used in specific areas of education. Whether or not the accusations are well-founded, this is likely to be a call for politicians and those whose intentions are less savory to get their acts together if they want to continue in their jobs.
On that note, I’ve written far more in this Solar Return than I usually do. It seems to be a busy year ahead, and surprises seem to be in abundance for India. Abundance can be good or bad, remember. Better to take it as it comes and focus on keeping yourself balanced at this time, India!
There’s a lot to think about this time, so I’ll close for now. Until next time…
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bCu6lbk50AU