Monday 11/11/2024: Sneak Peek at the Week; Disruptive Full Moon in Taurus

PLUS: All About Saturn in Pisces

The rose-colored, quiet fog of Saturday's square between Venus (values, women, money, art) and Neptune is fading, replaced by get-real sobriety, followed by illumination that may be experienced as seismic in matters of leaders and technology.

As an example of the Venus-Neptune square that isn't a political story, we have:

• "Identity of casts of victims at Pompeii not all they seem, research suggests." Not all they seem -- the very words that embody the concept of Neptune in the language of astrology.

Highlights this week are:

• Venus enters Capricorn on Monday

• Mercury squares Saturn on Tuesday

• Saturn turns direct on Friday

• Full Moon in Taurus on Friday

• Sun opposes Uranus on Saturday

It goes like this:

• MONDAY: Moon in Pisces drives the day for a need for empathy and ideals, and it starts off big and easy. Moon squares Jupiter at 8:07 AM ET and then trines the Sun. See? Big. Easy. Humming in the background is Venus as the verrry end of frankly speaking Sagittarius, generating attention. An essay about the need for women to fearlessly express their opinions, no matter how outrageous, would be a perfect reflection of this patterns, and writer/comedienne Sarah Cooper delivers with "The week I encourage all women to adopt 'Trump Brain'".  It's excellent advice, echoing what I learned from  improv comedy teacher Cynthia Szigeti decades ago. When on stage without a script (as we are in life), whatever you blurt out in your effort to create a convincing scene needs to sound like THE BEST THING ANYONE EVER SAID.

• MONDAY: At 1:25 PM ET, Venus exits boundary-pushing Sagittarius and enters strategic, social-climbing Capricorn until December 7th. Fiery enthusiasm requires a practical, grounded, action plan. Connect with your networks of like-minded souls, supported by Moon's sextile to Uranus at 5:56 PM ET. Moon meets up with Neptune at 9 PM ET, planting seeds for a potentially soulful or sacrificial vision, with depth added courtesy of Moon's sextite to Pluto at 1:13 AM ET on...

• TUESDAY. No one will notice the 12-minute void, but many should notice the energetic shift as Moon charges into me-me-me-first Aries at 1:25 AM ET. The me-first lunar energy is challenged by a square to Venus at 2:29 AM ET, likely demanding a more practical, establishment-respecting approach. A trine to Mars in regally entitled Leo at 5:37 AM ET is confident it will get away with whatever hard-headed, bubble-bursting news the square between Mercury and Saturn presents around 8:21 AM ET. Note that this is the first of three squares we'll have between now and the end of December. Note today's heavy news and how it progresses around December 6th and December 27th, as Mercury works its way through the next retrograde.  Mercury refers to how we need to think; Saturn refers to controls, like 'em or not. Getting the word out in response to whatever landed this morning is supported by Moon's trine to Mercury at 11:19 PM ET.

• WEDNESDAY: A sextile to the Moon from Jupiter in multitasking, entertaining Gemini promotes an aura of cooperation. Is this the day President Biden welcomes Trump to the Oval Office for a jovial talk about a peaceful transition of power? Yes, at 11 AM ET, as of 11/11. A power play or catharsis builds to a release around 1:49 AM ET on....

• THURSDAY: ...as Moon squares Pluto in Capricorn (power to the Powers That Be) for the very last time in our lifetime. After a nine-minute void, Moon enters Taurus, striving to preserve material comfort and security. The need to keep calm and carry on is provoked -- for better or for worse -- around 6:56 AM ET, as Moon squares Mars and minutes later, trines Venus. Throughout the rest of the day, the Moon's agenda is supported by empathy-challenged controls, as it sextiles Saturn, exact at 10:18 PM ET.

• FRIDAY: Saturn (depression, loss, cuts, ambition, authority, patriarchy) has been blaring like a mad driver leaning on a car horn all week, preparing to turn direct at 9:20 AM ET.

A pause, while we re-post thoughts about Saturn in Pisces, published in March 2023:

Matters of authority, structure and control are expressed in the language Pisces speaks. Which is to say it doesn’t speak much at all. When have you ever heard a fish talk? How are we supposed to set structures and controls with Pisces feelings, impressions, beliefs, ideals and empathy? What boundaries can be set if what Pisces intuits is that there are no boundaries? Y’know, we are all connected.  All. Is. One.

The answers can be found in this lengthy list of keywords for Pisces. We’ll see streamlining and structuring in matters related to oceans, healing, networks, mental health care, emotional trauma, drugs and all other forms of escapism; virtual reality, film, television and all other artistic mediums; oil, chemicals, toxins; victims and refugees — to name just a few. Looking at this morning’s headlines, WaPo has a story on President Biden’s plan to avert a Medicare funding crisis by providing it with a structure.

Saturn’s last passage through Pisces began with a two-month toe-dipping in May of 1993.  It fully committed to Pisces in January of 1994, and stayed there until April 1996. Interesting highlights from that period include, courtesy of Wikipedia — here and here:

• Edvard Munch‘s painting The Scream is stolen in Oslo

• Steven Spielberg‘s Holocaust drama Schindler’s List wins seven Oscars

• Forrest Gump wins Best Picture at the Oscars. At the time, the special effects — which spliced the fictional character into video footage of real-life events was mind-blowing.

• Kurt Cobain, the lead singer of Nirvana, commits suicide at age 27 at his home in Seattle.

• Sega launches the Saturn game console in North America four months before its initial scheduled date.

• Jeff Bezos founds Amazon.  It will be experiencing it first Saturn return.

• Online service America Online offers gateway to World Wide Web for the first time. This marked the beginning of easy accessibility of the Web to the average person in the U.S.

• Fox “News” was developed when Saturn was in Pisces. It launched in April, just days after Saturn entered Aries.

My favorite piece of advice for those born with Saturn in Pisces comes from astrologer Michael Lutin. “Turn your suffering into an art form.” An art form can make a powerful emotional impression.

Speaking of Michael Lutin, I'm sad to report that this master astrologer passed away on November 10th. Here is Michael's must-read article from 2007 -- published in Vanity Fair -- predicting how Pluto's ingress into Capricorn in 2008 would be experienced by the United States. RIP, Michael. The world has lost a shining star -- who never made his birth data public. But it's notable that the man who alerted us to Pluto's ingress into Capricorn timed his exit in sync with Pluto's egress.

Meanwhile...

As Saturn gets back up to its usual speed over the next few weeks, roadblocks are likely to give away and progress can be made wherever Saturn is traveling in your horoscope. Off the top of my head, those personally affected include the United States, Britney Spears and Alexei Navalny, plus anyone born around the 3rd of March, June, September and December...or has planets or angles around 12 degrees of Pisces, Gemini, Virgo and Sagittarius. For the United States, we can expect a severe testing of relationships and values, with likely separations with those who no longer serve.

The Sabian Symbol for Saturn's station is "a sword in a museum,"  which was the Symbol for the New Moon in Pisces of March 2022, days after Russia invaded Ukraine.

• “A sword in a museum” is an image — says Blain Bovee –– of inner power, as in:

a point in the journey of personal growth and refinement where the individual comes back into his or her own. Power lies within, not without.

• To which James Burgess, another Sabian specialist, adds:

Through the consistent practice of self-discipline, human personality can develop into something of real substance. Such gravitas offers great personal power when in service to the commonly held traditional ideals of the community.

In times of uncertainty, when confusion clouds the minds and hearts of less serious people, such a personality is an important counterbalance to collective emotionality. A slow, serious, heavyweight character settles turbulence and encourages caution and practicality; they set a good example.

Blain Bovee looks at  Sabian Symbols in pairs, and thus we should consider what Symbol opposes "a sword in a museum." It is "a strong hand supplanting political hysteria," for better or worse. Insights on the strong hand are here -- from astrologer James Burgess. Meanwhile, Bovee advises us to watch for signs of "maintaining order within chaos; taking matters into one's one hands; drawing on veiled powers at the right moment."

BUT WAIT, THERE'S MORE.

• FRIDAY: At 4:28 PM ET, the Taurus Moon opposes the Scorpio Sun. Two hours later, Moon meets up with rebel Uranus, suggesting a shock or other disruptive revelation -- the first of several to come over the next few days.

Here is the chart for the Full Moon in Taurus, set in Washington, D.C.:

Observations:

• The opposition between the Taurus Moon and the Scorpio Sun suggests a conflict, release and illumination involving the need to preserve the status quo for the sake of material comfort, vs.  the ability to achieve greater depth and substance in our values and joint ventures. Taurus refers to "mine!" Scorpio refers to "ours!" Moon in Taurus operates with an exalted status, FYI.

• We see a continued pattern of heavy-handed planets on the angles. Here, note Pluto at the verrrry end of Capricorn, on the Midheaven. Power, break down and transformation in leadership and our public status.

• Mars is at the root of this chart, as it has been in other significant charts, e.g., the 2024 Aries Ingress and the upcoming 2025 Inauguration. Mars refers to combat, action, aggression, and in Leo, acts with regal entitlement.

• Much has been noted by the astrology community about the fact that this Full Moon is right on Trump's 24 Taurus Midheaven (his public status), and also on Kamala Harris' Jupiter (her need for reward and expansion).

• 24 Taurus is connected with the fixed star Capulus, associated with male sexual energy. Other horoscopes with prominent placements connected to Capulus -- off the top of my head -- include Roger Ailes, Gretchen Carlson, Mick Jagger, Hillary Clinton and David Crosby.

• The Sabian Symbols for this Full Moon are "a mounted Indian with scalp locks" (for the Moon), and "crowds coming down from the mountain to listen to one man" (for the Sun). Of the former, Bovee writes, "Imagine a performer who has such focus that his or her performance stays right on target in spite of derision, distraction and ridicule." The astrologer Saijin says, "When positive, the degree is an unimpeachable control over life through a discipline of the self and its powers, and when negative, a ruthlessness or complete inhumanity in dealing with others." From an objective perspective, it is fascinating to see these particular images demanding our focus NOW.   Sigh.

Back to the week...

• SATURDAY: Moon enters Gemini at 2:06 AM ET, seeking to be the most informed kid in the room. A sextile (harmony) with Mars at 7:59 AM ET supports a flow of action on the ground and in the air. The buzz you may be feeling is the annual opposition between the Sun and Uranus at 9:44 PM ET. As I wrote about this opposition in 2020,

The potential is one of disruption, revolution, shocks and surprises involving heads of state and business, technology, aviation, seismic shocks, uranium and things that are seen as out-of-this-world, including astrology. What was buzzing in the news on last year’s Sun-Uranus opposition? Rep. Katie Hill (D-CA) resigned after a foreign tabloid published intimate photos (an act of revenge on the part of her ex), and P45 announced a U.S. military raid in Syria (resulting in the reported suicide of Islamic State leader Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi). More examples from last year are here, so you’ll know what to expect.

• SATURDAY (CONT): After the shock, the Gemini Moon is squared by Saturn at 10:52 PM ET. Cut your losses; note the authoritarian advances; get some rest.

• SUNDAY: Moon's opposition to Mercury and conjunction to Jupiter at 7:41 AM ET and 9:07 AM ET may offer a sneak peek of the big news I expect may break in the next 48 hours. The first of three oppositions between Mercury (news, data, transportation) and Jupiter (publishing, courts, foreign affairs, expansion) happens at 3:55 AM ET on MONDAY -- but keep your ear to the ground. This pattern will repeat on December 4th and on Dec 26th. I'll have more to say about this in the next forecast.

Here is Beth Owlsdaughter's always-in-sync Tarot Card of the Week, and it's a stunner. Read her musings on the bending of time (which is Saturn, the ultimate control in our material world). I'd love to hear your thoughts in the comment section below.

I may have gotten a sense of the message being transmitted when I attended a concert this evening at Carnegie Hall (instead of taking the time to recap the news, as I will do next time).  A friend sings in the New York Oratorio Society, one of the oldest musical organizations in the United States. They planned tonight's concert months ago, without any prior knowledge of what stories would be dominating the headlines. Funny how that works.

One piece was the world premiere of Cloud Music by Oliver Caplan, based on a poem by Richard Blanco, President Obama's second inaugural poet. Caplan writes:

Diversity is the backbone of our nation. Yet to be different does not necessitate being divided. Just as seemingly disparate swaths of fabric can be enjoined in the most beautiful patchwork quilt, so too can our hearts form a vibrant community fabric. And what is the alternative? To be scraps, littered separately on a cutting room floor?

Every once in a while, I read a poem that resonates so deeply, it makes my entire body quiver...

...and you can read that poem here.

The highlight was Carmina Burana, by Carl Orff. It's a collection of songs from a Benedictine monastery, many of which "celebrate the pleasures of the tavern -- eating, drinking and gambling -- or the delights of amorous adventures," according to the program notes. Sounds right for a Taurus Full Moon (except for the gambling).

There's a prologue -- repeated at the end -- which is heavy-handed, compared to the rest of the piece. I know you've heard it in some movie trailer once upon a time:  Fortuna, Imperatrix Mundi ("Fortune, Empress of the World), and it

defines Carmina Burana's central theme: carpe diem (seize the day!) because Fortune, capricious and unkind, may destroy your life tomorrow...

...which is an apt reflection of the sobering mindset suggested by tomorrow's (Tuesday, 11/12) square between Mercury and Saturn, combined with the Moon in pioneering, proactive Aries, not to mention the liberating potential of the Sun's opposition to Uranus.

Final thoughts, courtesy of Samuel Beckett, in The Unnamable

You must go on.

I can't go on.

I'll go on.

And while you're going on, please take good care of yourself.

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…in which the rose-colored Venus-Neptune square adapts to the weighty focus of Saturn turning direct….