January 2017 – Joan Porte

Ready for a Little Good News for a Change?

If so, then the universe is bringing us a ray of hope in the miasma of living in Trump world. We have Venus, the Moon, Neptune and Pallas Athena all in Pisces right now. Since Neptune rules Pisces, it is infusing us with a double dosage of the compassion and universality which is the specialty of sign. When we overlay the current chart over that of the United States we see that those Pisces-infused planets are in our third house, that of community and friendship. Venus is the energy of the goddess of love and creativity and the Moon also is a very feminine sign. Pallas Athena is the warrior goddess, ready to take up the cause of the underdog. You can see these energies play out in both the Women’s March on Washington and the impromptu rage against the Muslim travel ban. It is also no irony that the Federal judges acting against the ban were all women!

Pisces cares about the underdog and wants us to live in a world of peace and brotherhood. We need that energy more than ever right now. However, the negative aspect of this sign is escapism. Pisces wants to live in the world of peace and togetherness and has a very hard time handling all of the nitty gritty and nasty details of life. It is easy for Pisces to escape into a world of unreality- of puppies and bunnies – when hit too hard. We can’t afford to do that.

Fortunately, we have structured and authoritarian Saturn in the first house, that of personality and persona. While this can have a depressive effective – (one we can all feel right now) it also forces us to make plans and follow through.

Saturn and Pisces together will help us through.

The “March” of Uranus and Jupiter

A few months ago I did an early 2017 outlook report for my clients and saw a good deal of unrest. I was hoping against hope that my instincts were wrong – that we would never elect a fool like Trump – and that Hillary would somehow prevail but that her election would spark great unrest on the right. I saw the signs but was too horrified to think of him winning.

Now that the nightmare has become reality, it is clear to see that one of the manifestations of troubling planetary placements is the Women’s March on Washington. Uranus, the revolutionary, remains in the masculine, aggressive fire sign of Mars while another titan, Jupiter, is in Venus-ruled, feminine Libra. Both are now facing off, opposed to each other in the sky. An opposition causes friction, a disturbance in the force field, if you will. This is an archetypical clash of male vs. female – Venus vs. Mars. Jupiter encourages growth, expansion and hates boundaries while Uranus just likes to cause disruption and fast change.

Jupiter is the Women’s March on Washington, the large and inclusive force of female energy – facing down the angry white man – the aggressive Mars energy. Oppositions are always difficult but like the process of making a pearl, nothing happens unless the sand irritates the oyster. Beauty can come of opposition if we face them head on.

What is in the middle of the duel? It is Pluto, the instigator of this world upheaval. If you have been following my blog you will see many installments discussing this planet that forces secrets to the surface now in the sign that rules authority. Pluto brings the gunk to the surface – and demands that we clear it lest it destroys us. Trump has brought our racism, homophobia and religious fundamentalism to the surface – and now we must respond or die.

Who will win this battle – Jupiter or Uranus? I don’t know – it all depends on the side we embrace. If you think January is disturbing, however, wait until February, as these placements only tightening and become further influenced by Mars.

On Inauguration Week – What Are Our Values?

As our Pluto return bears down on America’s second house, demanding that we deeply reexamine our values, it is exposing centuries of our monetary and value-based “sins.” We are clearly suffering the penalties of not responding to the banking crises in a way that punished the perpetrators: we are punished with the election of Trump. The oligarchy, the rich ruling class, is now ostentatiously in command. Pluto brings the dark to light.

However, the disease is much deeper and longer simmering. Despite all of our high ideals, slave holding men created us, we executed generations of Native Americans gave some rights to women only grudgingly. In fairness, many of us have strived to become better, to live up to the ideals. Yet, even with those efforts, as a people, we have a school-to-privatized prison system, several classes of citizenship, Sandy Hook, and the ongoing horror at Standing Rock. Literacy and science are under siege. Pluto has laid bare our sinful past and hypocrisies and thrown the consequences in our collective faces. They are on display to a world we believe we lead physically and morally. Now that “leadership” will be through the vehicle of a president karmically installed by a foreign power in a CIA like coup. Pluto exposed the filth kept hidden under the cloak of patriotism. What is true patriotism, if not a demand that expose what is wrong and push to make it right?

How we respond to this administration will set the course for America for generations to come. Will this be a cleansing era, a turning point to a brighter future closer to those professed ideals of two hundred years ago? Will we descend into the darkness suppressed for years? Will there be an earthquake forever separating the red from the blue elements into new nation-states? (Pluto rules Scorpio, the sign of death and transformation.)

What are our values? Who are we? Pluto has no desired outcome. He completed his task.