The title of this article comes from an excerpt taken from a 1954 news conference with famed poet Robert Frost, on the occasion of Frost’s 80th birthday. Accounts describe a reporter asking Frost for his definition of “freedom”, to which he answered with the now (in)famous harness metaphor.

“Freedom”, said Frost, “is when you’re easy in your harness”.

Now, it’s difficult for me to express to you just how much inner (and, as Ariel can attest, outer) angst this quote has triggered in me over the years. I mean, this one quote alone has unleashed a flood of natal Mars in opposition to Saturn vitriol. Saturn representing that oppressive force who would even dare attempt to “harness” my sovereign Mars.

But here is what I know to be true: anything that produces such a response is a goldmine for personal growth. If you have the wearwithal to dive in. We project this vitriol outside of ourselves and, like a highly skilled archer, direct it toward the person, entity or situation we see as the anti-us.

The problem isn’t the target, of course. The problem is the Gordian knot of discord within that produces the reaction. Dive into and untie that knot and you take another step toward grasping the keys to the kingdom.

In my case, Robert Frost became the stand-in for every head-in-the-sand push-over who would willingly succumb to oppression. So-called “free Americans”, for example, who would just passively submit to their government acting as no better than a highly organized and deeply entrenched mafia-like organization that would, in addition to a laundry list of frauds against the people, extort blood payment (taxes) for protection from some perceived boogieman. Pay us for protection from said boogieman, or we will break your kneecaps. Classic mafia thuggery. And Frost is telling us to just roll over and submit to that?

Spoiler alert: that’s not at all what Frost was saying (we’ll get to that in a bit), but that’s what I heard. That’s the power, though, of projection. And, too, of unexcavated wounds and traumas.

To add fuel to the fire, my Mars ⸺ who’s time-and-again proven to be my most crafty and difficult to wrangle psychological part ⸺ and who’s locked in this natal Mars-Saturn slugfest, readily identifies with Dyllan Thomas’s “Do not go gentle into that good night. Rage, rage against the dying of the light.” In Mars’s estimation, this is not only a grand, but poetically pristine, two-fisted, middle finger salute to anything or anyone that edges toward control. AKA, Frost’s harness.

And yet, the intensity of this reaction I could not deny. If I were my own client, I’d be sure to drag myself, kicking and screaming, to this watering hole. Because there is for sure some psychological gold therein. The natal chart is a great indication of this internal friction, even if the conscious mind swears there’s nothing there. Both planets are very strong in my chart, with Saturn in the 9th in his own sign of Aquarius, and Mars in the 3rd in Leo. All of which brings up an interesting question: how do you know when an issue is really an issue? How do we know it’s not actually a well-disguised superpower?

In other words, if a client came to me with a chart similar to my own, how would I know when to excavate this particular alignment? Or leave it alone, and let it do its thing?

Ariel and I operate from the foundation that a problem is not really a problem until it is a problem for the client. In other words, an entrepreneur may be leveraging some very destructive habits in order to capitalize on the short term benefits those destructive habits provide to the success of his enterprise. A competitive athlete may sacrifice immediate health for increased short-term performance. Fair enough; we help the client identify the potential incongruence, then leave those habits in place, with the knowledge that, at some point, the problem will become a problem for the client. Especially so if friction in this area is indicated in the birth chart. That’s the nature of karma. And karma, accurately understood, is not a moral failing. Karmas may appear as such, vis-a-vis our societal constructs. But they are actually more accurately understood as energy imbalances that must work their way out and through an individual incarnation, or out and through a societal collective. The sooner we come to terms with that the more equipped we become to navigate and deal with them. Both personally, and at a societal level.

Circling back around now to what Robert Frost actually meant by his “easy in the harness” statement. And how that might apply to you.

First, it’s critically important to understand that, as with any instance of attempting to understand a stand-alone quote, that context matters. The “harness” that Frost was speaking of was not that of imposed oppression, but one of acknowledged and willingly undertaken boundaries. The reason an art is ageless, Frost argued, is precisely because it is incredibly difficult to pull off given the bar against which it is measured. He found that as he willingly accepted the parameters by which incredible poetry is judged, he could enter a space in which his words and ideas could be transformed into poetic magic (my words, not his). Things like rhythm and rhyme and flow and pacing and iambic pentameter comprised the “harness” he willingly accepted as the force against which to forge his art into something spectacular. That is to say, a game with no rules is no game at, all and produces no satisfaction from either participant or observer.

This sentiment is similar ⸺ but not quite the same ⸺ as former special forces operator, Jacko Willink, declaring that “discipline is freedom”. In Willink’s view, the skills gained through disciplined practice and application afford one the capability to deny the oppressor access to control of your life, liberty and pursuit of happiness, as it were.

The overriding idea in both instances is sovereign choice. The choice to enter whatever the arena might be, with full knowledge of what the rules are inside the arena.

So, in knowing that, what might be said of that pesky Mars-Saturn opposition? Mine, or anyone else’s? Is it just there to thwart me and anyone else with such an “affliction”?

The key here, of course, is to identify the nature of the harness. Is this a harness we willingly shoulder? Like Robert Frost’s measuring criteria for outstanding poetry? Or the training discipline described by Jocko Willink?

Or, is it truly the harness of the oppressor? One we choose out of our sovereignty, not to engage in?

Case in point: let’s look at the chart of Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr.

There’s more to an individual’s birth chart of course, than a single, stand-out alignment. And yet, there’s no denying that a high octane alignment like Mars-opposition-Saturn does not greatly affect the life of an individual. And especially so during (Vimshottari dosa) periods when the planets in question are highlighted.

I won’t go into a full-blown examination of MLK’s life vis-a-vis his vimshottari dosa periods; it’s not the purpose of this article. Although I will say the accuracy of these period markers in relation to the events of and in his life are uncanny. As they are, in fact, in anyone’s life.

Our question here though is directed through the lens of how Dr. King’s Mars-Saturn opposition viewed the “harness” of segregation. And if you can imagine a world where he’d come to you as a client seeking directional advice, things get really interesting. Because these are precisely the kinds of questions Ariel and I deal with in client consultations. Things are rarely black-and-white. Both poison and cure often reside in the same alignment. It’s just the nature of incarnation.

On the one hand, Dr. King would not have spearheaded the Civil Rights movement if he’d simply accepted the segregation and oppression of his time as the just “rules of the game” in which he lived. That was a harness he would not ⸺ and, in fact, could not (Mars-Saturn) ⸺ accept. It was antithetical to his very being.

And on the other hand, the eloquence of his opposition to this circumstance was constructed within the harness he did choose: poetic and riveting speech and navigation of an existing and biased-against-him legal system. In the same way that Robert Frost willingly chose the harness of what constituted outstanding poetry as the forge within which his timeless words might be crafted, Dr. King chose the harness of Constitutional law and eloquent word-smithing and spoken delivery to illuminate the obvious incongruences in a system which claimed to be free and equal, but had fallen well short of the mark.

Compare and contrast this to the Mars-Saturn opposition exhibited in the chart of Bobby Seale, the co-founder of the radical 1960s organization, the Black Panthers.

Again, way more to a chart (and hence, a life), than a single alignment. And yet, his is a great chart to examine in light of reactions against the same societal injustice. For his part, Seale engaged in numerous and intense confrontations with police and the state during the volatile mid to late 60s that became central to his public life. During the famous Chicago Eight trial, Judge Julius Hoffman had Seale bound and gagged in the courtroom after repeated clashes over his right to represent himself. An extraordinary example of an inflamed Mars-Saturn opposition.

I don’t claim to know the “correct” way to deal with a Mars-Saturn opposition. Or for that matter, any alignment between these two hard-to-handle planets. Much depends on the balance of the chart, the dharma and karmas inherent in the chart and the circumstance in which these dynamics are playing out. And it’s impossible to say if the Civil Rights movement would have succeeded at all if it were not for the combined actions of Dr. King as the great uniter, and of Bobby Seale as the iron fist of force. Two expressions of the same Mars-Saturn dynamic. And in the greater scope of societal progress, each a perfect expression of the energies required to help facilitate that progress.

The point of astrological consultation is to (pun intended) harness the energies present in the chart to help navigate the client toward his/her stated goal. With the knowledge that today’s goal is likely to be a moving target, ever adjusting to new inputs and societal (or business, or relationship, or family, etc.) currents. In this way, we can help the client make the most use, given the circumstances, of even the most hard-to-handle planetary alignments.

Do you have a Mars-Saturn alignment in your chart? Let us know how you’ve managed it.

The best way to understand what’s going on underneath your psychological hood is to book a reading. Or, if you want to deep dive into learning astrology by deciphering your own chart, join our Functional Astrology community.

⸺Keith

The what, the where, the when and the how…

TLDR: Eclipses have been central points of astrological focus for all of written history and likely much longer. They occur in pairs (sometimes with a third) two weeks apart. One will initiate a severing or removal and one the start of something new. The placement of the eclipse will determine the general energetic signature and area of life where it will occur.

The first in this cycle is the severing portion. A solar eclipse in Cancer, specifically in the Temple of Secrets, followed by a lunar eclipse is Aquarius in the Temple of Liberation.

Look at your chart (sidereal) and find 25°48’ Cancer and 10°30’ Aquarius to know the areas of your life this season will impact the most.

In the U.S. chart this will be in the 8th house and then the 3rd house. This is likely to translate to a greater separation between lived experience and media promoted story. For example, the prices of gas and groceries versus the media saying everything is great. In this eclipse season, some people will further buy into the stories of the media and others will further reject it. This can create more feelings of separation and division in the collective.

Given the war that is escalating and the divorce of media and lived reality plus the additional pressure building on the grid. The invitation is to do what you can to be prepared and most of all find your emotional center.
-Ariel

The world and, more specifically, YOU, will experience a Solar eclipse on August 12th, 2026. The eclipse will occur at 25°48’ Cancer, and Greenland, Iceland, northern Russia, the Atlantic Ocean, Spain, and a small corner of Portugal will witness a total eclipse. Other locations in the Northern Hemisphere will experience a partial solar eclipse that day, including parts of the northern U.S. (from Alaska to North Carolina), most of Canada, much of Europe, and northwestern Africa.

And a very lucky few (“luck” being relative, I suppose) in mainland Europe and Africa will have the opportunity to witness a partial eclipse at sunset. Quite unique indeed.

This will be followed (eclipses happen in pairs; more rarely, a third), by a Lunar eclipse on the 27th (11:15 PM Central) of August at 10°30’ Aquarius.

debates rage among astrologers (and probably always have) as to whether or not one feels the effects of an eclipse if that person ⸺ or in the case of mundane astrology, a nation ⸺ is not in the observable path of that eclipse. It’s been my experience that everyone (and every nation) indeed does feel the effects. The degree to which depends on the birth chart, timing as it relates to what planets are currently “charged” for the individual or nation, and where the eclipse falls relative to the preceding two points.

As an eclipse involves an interaction and relationship between the Sun, Moon, Earth and the Lunar nodes, Ariel and I understand them as karmic events. If the idea of karma is not your jam, you can think of them triggering fated situations and circumstances. We incarnated here in order to learn lessons that ostensibly could not be learned otherwise, and eclipses are a timing mechanism of sorts that trigger events and circumstances that enable us to confront those lessons. How we in fact deal with those inevitable confrontations (karma or, fate) is what we would call free will.

The teasing apart of this one concept alone, that is, the interaction of fate, karma and free will, could occupy the lion’s share of your life’s contemplation. What is the dividing line between fate and free will? Why this fate (or karma) and not another? Do I truly have free will? Or is the idea of free will just a comforting idea (the true “opium of the masses”) that enables a conscious being to go on participating in a meaningless simulation? The truth is, there is no outside authority who can answer this for you. It’s an experience that has to be lived. And, it’s my opinion that it’s a lived experience that can be uniquely approached by swan diving headlong into eclipse energy. Facing all the good, the bad and the ugly the eclipse triggers with reckless abandon. Is there truly any other way to live?

Riddle me this…

It was the late, great, Terence McKenna who once quipped, “You know, sometimes people ask me if DMT is dangerous, and the honest answer is: only if you fear death by astonishment.”

Truth is though, you can experience astonishment quite easily even outside of the DMT experience proper. I say “proper” because even the most ardent anti drug crusader produces DMT quite endogenously. Every living thing on earth does. Which is, in itself, quite astonishing to me. And a rather hilarious cosmic joke at that. Regardless of the incredibly complex chemical process that produces the sense of astonishment, one sure fire way to trigger that response, free of ducking-and-diving the DEA’s schedule I list, is to consider that we can experience such an event as an eclipse in the first place. The math and “coincidences” involved are, well… astonishing.

At the heart of every eclipse is a statistical “impossibility” that just so happens to be. Our Moon is 400 times smaller than the Sun, but it is also 400 times closer to Earth. This perfect ratio allows the Moon to obscure the Sun with near-exact precision; neither too large nor too small, but in a just right, Goldie Locks situation so as to create one of the most breathtaking phenomena known to man.

Coincidence? Let’s break it down, and consider the odds involved.

The Sizes & Distances of the Sun and Moon

• Diameter of the Sun: ~864,938 miles

• Diameter of the Moon: ~2,159 miles

• Ratio of their sizes: The Sun is 400.6 times wider than the Moon

• Average distance from Earth to the Sun: ~92,955,807 miles (1 AU)

• Average distance from Earth to the Moon: ~238,855 miles

• Ratio of their distances: The Sun is 389 to 400 times farther away than the Moon (depending on their elliptical orbits).

This near-perfect 1:400 ratio means that from Earth, the Moon and the Sun appear to be exactly the same size in the sky, allowing for total eclipses to occur.

If the Moon were just a little closer or a little farther away, (or of a different size) the entire phenomenon of a just perfect total eclipse would not exist. Instead, we would only ever witness partial eclipses (if the Moon were smaller or farther away) or annular eclipses (if it were larger or closer). The sheer “coincidence” of these numbers aligning in such a perfect way is staggering.

Study astrology long enough and the sheer volume of these mathematical and harmonic “coincidences”, together with their ability to predict and reflect lived experience on earth, will bend your mind just as assuredly as skillfully administered psychedelics.

Which, by the way, is precisely why those who wish to control the masses (i.e., governments and the banking elite who puppet them), vilify both psychedelics and the occult with such psychopathic fervor. Because your waking up and asking inconvenient questions is a threat to their masquerade of legitimacy.

But what does it all ⸺ eclipses and the astonishing set of “coincidences” that produce them ⸺ mean?

I take it to mean that our culture has accumulated a profound degree of knowledge. Classifications and data and labels and just-so “facts”. AI being the crowning achievement of this accumulated knowledge. And, along the way, humanity has lost a depressingly equal degree of wisdom. That is, the ability to deploy knowledge skillfully in the pursuit of (capital T intended) Truth. Chalk it all up to being mired in the Kali Yuga. But whatever the cause of that wisdom bankruptcy, here we are.

And yet, individually, we can, if we so choose, reclaim that which leads directly to wisdom; our wonder. And in that wonder we can explore and investigate ideas that our “rational” and “knowledgeable” society has deemed snake shit crazy. That which ought not be considered worthy of legitimate inquiry, if you’re, you know… rational and knowledgeable.

Aside from the fact that our “rational” and “knowledgeable” society might want to take a long look in the mirror vis-a-vis the state of our current world before making such proclamations, I propose a deep, DEEP contemplation on what this eclipse might mean for you.

I get that any religious text can be spun a thousand ways from Sunday, but I challenge you to empty your mind of whatever “rational” and “knowledgeable” inclinations you have regarding the “coincidences” of The Sun, Moon and Earth and whatever Western science has to say (in a smug, rather matter-of-fact tone) on the metaphysical meanings of an eclipse. I mean, you can always scurry back to those scientific “facts” if you begin to hyperventilate in your “irrationality”. You could instead, if you choose, take a red letter cue from Jesus:

Truly, I say to you, unless you turn and become like children, you will never enter the kingdom of heaven. Whoever humbles himself like this child is the greatest in the kingdom of heaven.
Matthew 18:3–4

I obviously don’t expect you to take my interpretation of a mystical text as THE interpretation. That, in my opinion, is the very nature of mystical texts; that YOU contemplate them and come to your own conclusions. But what I see the kingdom of heaven as being, at least in part, is wisdom itself. And wisdom, unlike knowledge, is not something you merely ingest and regurgitate so as to please or gain some favor from someone or some entity you’ve erroneously assumed to have some manner of control over you.

So we have a couple of choice points as it relates to this coming Solar eclipse. We can experience it as:

1. A meaningless convergence of random happenings between the 3rd rock from a roiling mass of nuclear fusion and an inert hunk of spacerock, all hurdling through an inconsequential void…
   Or

2. A breathtakingly, mind-boggling, God as expressed in unimaginable mathematical precision that implies an as above, so below correspondence between the smallest subatomic particle and the infinite Universe. With you in the middle of it all.

If you’ve been with us through the years, or if you’re new here and read this far, I’m guessing that no amount of spoon-fed mass distraction, bread-and-circuses or Kabuki political theater could ever take your eyes off the prize of teasing out the magic that’s embedded in the everyday natural world.

So if we use this coming eclipse as a phenomenon of the natural world that’s worthy of deep contemplation, how best could we go about that?

For starters, consider the idea of karma (or fate, if you will), and the lessons that you chose to engage in during your time at earth school. You can think of this in a literal sense, or as simply a metaphor of understanding a larger principle that resides beyond our limited capacity to conceive of the ultimate Truth.

Where this eclipse falls in your birth chart will trigger events in your life over the next 6 months that have the feel and tone of the issues represented by that placement. The magnitude of that impact depends on a multitude of factors, yes. But where it falls (specifically, in what house) is always indicative of the types of issues you’ll encounter. That’s the personalized “what” of the cycle. How you navigate those issues, and the potential outcomes, are also shown in the chart. Within that band, more or less, is where the aspect of “free will” comes into play.

As everyone’s (and every nation’s) chart is a wholly unique tapestry, booking a reading is the surest way to gain insight into the nature of the issues you’ll be encountering over the next 6 months. No matter when we do readings we always look at where the previous eclipse season hit as well as the next upcoming. Because those energies are always present for the individual. Like an inflow and outflow of the tides, each eclipse season merges into another.

Looking at the upcoming eclipses in broad strokes we see that the Solar eclipse is a Ketu (or south node) event, with the Lunar eclipse being a Rahu (or north node) happening. This gives us our first hint of the nature inherent in each of the eclipses, as Ketu signifies energies that must come through to initiate an ending, while Rahu propels us toward new experiences. I’ll run through a quick example using the US chart in the next section if you’re curious as to how Ariel and I, in part, interpret how these energies play through in a given chart

In general though, every entity in this Universe is in a constant state of flux. Nothing is static. And, broadly speaking, that flux is a combination of old energies leaving the system while new energies are being brought in. In a human (and in nations, too), those are experienced as old patterns, ideas, relationships or ways of being that are no longer useful to forward progress that are coming up for resolution (represented by the Ketu eclipse), and those new patterns, ideas, relationships or ways of being that we’re being asked to encounter, absorb, transmute and, ultimately, learn from. It’s an ongoing and never ending cycle.

And, too ⸺ broadly speaking ⸺ the Sun represents our (or a nation’s) purpose and vitality. Our creative or generative power. The paternal line and/or authority. With the Moon representing our “I AM” statement; the maternal line, our unconscious mind, feelings, and reactions. For a nation, the Moon represents the same qualities in the collective, or “the people”. They are the two of the three primary forces that make up a unique “personality”. You cannot know an individual (or a nation) without first gaining a firm grasp of the Sun, Moon and Ascendant.

Viewing the upcoming eclipse season through the lens of the US chart

Astrological predictions are not made in a void. Roughly speaking, they are the result of one part astrological know-how, one part understanding the preexisting energies present in the system (person or, in this case, nation), and one part what we might call “intuition”. That is, of the multitudes of energies entering and commingling with energies already circulating in the system, which are the ones that will hit a resonant chord with one another, and how will that new resonance play out in reality? If you go back to when we first started making our predictions public you’ll find an impressive batting average. It’s why we and our clients are prepared for the coming storm. And no doubt, there is a storm churning.

Every entity undergoes periods where a certain combination of planets (including the lunar nodes) are highly charged and even more influential in the life experience of that entity than would otherwise be the case. I wrote about this previously, but in the case of the United States currently, Rahu and Ketu are those charged influences, and they will remain so until April 10th, 2027. The result of this, in addition to layering on an eclipse season, is kind of like what a Super el Nino is to your run-of-the-mill variety. That alone should grab your attention. I will say this, though: the Universe never spins-up chaos out of the blue to drop in your lap. She offers up sign after sign after sign of what’s to come. That you heed the signs are up to you. That’s the free will part. And this building situation is no different. The signs are very clear and present.

More specifically, the Solar eclipse on August 12th will occur in the US 8th house and, as mentioned previously, at 25°48’ Cancer. In the Lunar Temple of Secrets. In an interesting twist, the natal US Moon rules the 8th house from her position at 7°14’ Aquarius, on the cusp of the 3rd. Pretty much a bullseye hit for the following Lunar eclipse on the 28th at 10°30’ Aquarius, in the US 3rd, in the Lunar Temple of Liberation. So we have a heavy 3rd and 8th house emphasis upcoming.

The first step in understanding what an eclipse has in store is to understand the houses in which they occur. That said, It’s tough to write good sales copy for the 8th house of the zodiac. If you took a poll of all the things people collectively find terrifying or otherwise repugnant you find them all huddled there in the 8th. And those things will be illuminated to the nth degree over the next several months in the US.

Seen through that lens, then, the current confrontation with Iran can only turn increasingly more ugly and will have severe repercussions that will reach our shores. Economically, this is very troublesome. It’s liable to pull the linchpin that’s somehow still keeping the economic house-of-cards standing. And, Unfortunately, we cannot ignore transit Uranus applying into a return to his natal position in 6th house Taurus. That being the area of rank-and-file military and first responders. This points to continued confrontation/military action “over there”, and on our shores. And, too, this does not preclude the potentiality of natural disaster. Earthquakes and/or flooding most likely. Both natural and man-made crises could happen concurrently. Either planned in that way, or a “coincidental,” luck of the draw.

As always, I’m hesitant to write these things because it does absolutely no good to be dumbstruck into inaction by doomsday fear mongering. The point is not to succumb to full-on, deer-in-the-headlights inaction. The point is to take some time to think through the things you can do to prepare for rough sailing, actually do said things, and then go on living your best life.

Back when I lived on the North Carolina coast’s “hurricane alley”, worst case scenario prepping was the antie paid for living in an otherwise beautiful place. It’s just part of life in that area to prep for being completely shut off from 1st world amenities for extended periods. Just take some time to think through the things you and yours need to get through an extended period of empty shelves and no Amazon, no power, no comms, and no public utilities. Then, actually put that plan into action. Being even 3 days up in this area is miles ahead of being completely unprepared.

The other ⸺ and possibly the most important ⸺ preparation you can do is to practice emotional and psychological centeredness. This combination of a 3rd and 8th house eclipse season (in addition to an already boiling over US chart) means that the collective’s ability to remain centered will be tested. I don’t know exactly what will be revealed, or what we will be forced to confront, but it will require an emotional and psychological maturity to weather the storm. Quick situational adaptation is key in chaotic situations, and you cannot effectively do that if you’re emotionally and psychologically scattered.

Another 3rd house emphasis marker of note is the fact that the US experienced a progressed New Moon in the 3rd house (28°42’ Aquarius) in March of 2024. Meaning the US is undergoing a 30-year theme of wrangling 3rd house issues. Communication networks (and the info and propaganda supplied via those networks), internal supply chains and their support networks (roads, bridges, railways, ect.), the power grid, public utilities (including AI as a public utility); all of these will be stressed and transformed during this period. You can put the surveillance economy in this basket, too.

Here is one example of a scenario I see forming, and that will be experienced by the collective (that is, reach a critical mass) triggered by this upcoming eclipse season. AI is fast becoming (or already has become) the de facto arbiter of knowledge for the population at large. Not wisdom (that’s unique to consciousness), but knowledge. And knowledge is, by its nature, prioritized into an assigned value hierarchy. One of the facets of wisdom is the ability to prioritize knowledge in a meaningful way so as to edge ever closer to Truth. Now, what happens when that knowledge prioritization has been co-opted?

Imagine a scenario where this knowledge prioritization has been co-opted by governments. Or more specifically, by those entities that control governments. Now, imagine a scenario in which, in order to gain an edge, trading systems (stocks, futures, derivatives, etc.) are devised that buy and sell based on immediate AI interaction. You immediately have a world then, that mirrors a reality as described by Hans Christian Andersen’s, The Emperor’s New Clothes. A steady stream of “truths” spoken by government officials and prioritized by AI as “fact”. AI powered trades are initiated by AI powered trading schemes to capitalize on those AI prioritized “facts”.

One example of how that plays out currently is the curious case of oil futures trading at a stupid low valuation given the fact that wars are raging (Iran, Russia and the Ukraine) and the major flow routes for oil along with major refineries are effectively shut for business. You feel the drastic pinch of inflation at the store and at the pump, yet the “official” story (and the story AI has prioritized) is that inflation is non-existent. What “truth” do you believe? What you actually experience, or what you’ve been told to believe?

Given the energies already present in the collective, this is, in my mind, a legitimate 3rd house/8th house/eclipse scenario. And the same holds true across the commodities markets in general. Especially so, as it pertains to gold and silver prices. They, too, being crazy low given the current global chaos.

Oil prices are just one example of how this 3rd house/8th house interaction plays out in the collective. But if you begin to pay attention to what prominent heads-of-state (Trump being just one example) say, and the actual reality surrounding the topic they’re speaking about, you’ll begin to question if they and you actually inhabit the same reality. My point is ⸺ and this will be illuminated during the upcoming eclipse season ⸺ that there is a reason behind that. Whether it’s a result of stupidity, incompetence or malfeasance, the end result is that there is a narrative being spun that’s completely divorced from reality. Are you going to believe the narrative, or what you actually experience?

And more to the point, are you actually experiencing the world without the “aid” of an electronic interface?

You might ask what ⸺ if any ⸺ upside is there is to all of this? And my answer is that we are all, to the best of our abilities, learning to be sovereign individuals. Sovereign in mind, body, spirit and soul. And the first step toward true sovereignty is holding emotional and psychological center amidst the chaos that you cannot otherwise control. You can plan, prep, and “batten the hatches” for the physical experience. And I highly recommend you do just that. But the call is to do the same preparation for the emotional and psychological upheaval to come.

— Keith

If you feel like you’re living through a period of unhinged, Holy-hell chaos, well… you are in fact doing just that. With transit Neptune (now retrograde at that), lurking on the cusp of the US 4th house, you can be sure this frenetic intensity that’s surging through the collective won’t go away anytime soon.

That and the uneasy feeling of “you can’t believe anything” is pervasive now in the collective. It’s a world-wide sentiment for sure, but for the US (because of transit Neptune’s position on the highly charged cusp of the US 4th house), that feeling is multiplied exponentially. And what’s doubling down on this now is that Saturn has all but stalled, ready to turn retrograde himself on July 26th. Buckle-up, folks; it’s gonna get worse. Much worse before it gets better. As I said in a recent Note, if you’ve not practiced the skill of holding center in the chaos, you’re going to get some serious on-the-job training in the many, many months to come. It’s either that, or become wholly consumed in the swirl of it all.

Now is a great time to get comfortable doing things that don’t involve a screen. Connect with nature, journal (with pen and paper), garden, exercise, get to know your neighbors, read books, go to your local library and farmer’s market. If you allow yourself to connect to presence and life offline, things won’t seem so chaotic and dire.

Like all planets, Neptune’s energy is a double edged sword. His forte is to obscure reality. To cast a fog over all there is. He makes discerning truth from fiction near impossible, making the on-going kabuki theater you’re blasted with seem like reality. Deep-fakes so real now that even those who are highly skilled at clocking the tell-tale inconsistencies that would mark these as fake are left shrugging their shoulders. That’s the domain of Neptune. And Neptune at home in Pisces? You get 4th of July UFC fights and the promise of alien (ALIEN!!) disclosures to distract you from the multitudes of elites implicated in the Epstein files and a government who’s protecting them. That’s an empowered Neptune at home in Pisces on the cusp of the 4th. What you’re left with is your own gut instinct. Because every other sense (especially sight), is bamboozled by Neptune’s sleight-of-hand.

And learning to trust your own gut is the upside of Neptune. Learning to trust your own inner knowing. Because along with the ability to obscure comes the ability to see clearly through the fog. In the same way that all magic (in the occult sense) emanates from the same source, it’s only intent that separates black magic from the white. Neptune won’t just give up his secrets easily, though. Thus ⸺ and not to beat a dead horse, but it’s true ⸺ you’ve got to face him down from a position of centeredness. Lose that center, and you’re right back in the fog, looking forward to the next bread-and-circus distraction tossed your way. Anything to keep you from looking behind the veil. And you can be sure that your ability to wield the light is capped by your ability to hold the dark. It’s a fundamental truism of Natural Law.

For his part, transit Pluto is again retrograde (and has been since May 7th), pressing back full force once more upon his US natal position and the cusp of the US 2nd house. A nation founded largely upon the rage of being taxed without any say upon representation is again addressing that same question. The revised version of that being the abject absurdity of a government taxing your life force energy (your labor). The absurdity of this on its own, yes ⸺ but especially so in the absence of that government’s demonstrating any modicum of fiscal control themselves, and in absence of being able to readily identify where that money goes. Or, more to the point, hiding where that money goes. Because, don’t forget ⸺ Neptune’s in on the action along with Pluto by way of their sextile alignment.

Which then begs the question of who, exactly, is being “represented” in this taxation arrangement? It’s clear to the most casual observer that it’s not the person whose life force is being taxed. Pluto has been forcing this issue over the last several years. Neptune is doing his part to blur and blind the collective to the truth of the matter. And Saturn is doing his damndest ⸺ albeit hobbled in hostile, Piscean territory ⸺ to bring a just-the-facts-ma’am reckoning to this situation. For more on that, see this.

And for Pluto’s part in this, he is methodically and deftly illuminating the nature of (especially so) planetary returns. Returns force the energies present in the birth chart placement to the surface so as to be dealt with and resolved. Doesn’t matter if it’s in a personal birth chart, or that of a country. And a Pluto return is a big deal. Any country that has endured long enough to see a Pluto return (Rome, for example), is left completely reshaped from the way it entered it that return. Pluto’s promise isn’t ease. He’s in no way, shape or form a benefic energy. His is to transform in the way that a wrecking ball transforms a cityscape.

And transformation is, of course, the way of the Universe. Nothing remains static; nothing remains the same. Empires rise and, either transform or fall. Humans, however, strive above all for things to remain as-is. Ariel and I teach this concept in our trainings; the human psyche wired as it is with the overriding propensity to conflate “sameness” with “safety”, which enables a whole host of trickle down problems. The least of which being a droning sense of suffering. The Buddha summed this idea up quite succinctly when he said that “pain is inevitable; suffering is optional”. Something to keep in mind during this tumultuous period we’re in.

Back on June 15th I said that the US-Iran “peace deal” was going to be a non-starter. That deal, of course, crumbled on the evening of July 7th. This sets up a very interesting next few days as Venus will break kal sarpa (the Serpent’s coil) on July 10th.

As Venus rules both the US 11th house (Congress) and the now highly charged US 6th (first responders, military), this might just be the impetus for some kind of retaliatory action on our soil. Or more likely, given the astrology, a false flag operation. Especially given the disruptive duo (Mars and Uranus) currently traversing that Taurus/6th house territory. I gotta say that, I was really apprehensive about the week surrounding the 4th, as the astrology looked about as grim as I’ve seen. I can usually find a bright spot in any reading, but those several days were looking bleak. Two things: I did not account for the kal sarpa holding the lid on those energies in a positive sense, and I did not factor Venus’s breaking kal sarpa with those energies still very much in play. She being the ruler of the US 6th and 11th adds much to the equation. If you’re curious as to what those energies are, and their potential outcomes, AND what to do about it, see this.

I get that all of this sounds dire. So do reports of a pending hurricane. And if you’re in the path of an incoming hurricane, it’s best to prepare. Same with astrological weather. As always, the smart thing to do is get up a few days on provisions. If you’re up a few days, get up a week. If you’re up a week, get up two. And so on.

Maybe all this astrological energy just dissipates in a way so as not to disrupt the power or communications grid, or the supply chain. That would be great… and yet, I know what I see in the astrology. Our society is built in such a way that the slightest disruption can cause a magnification of downstream effects.

No need to fret about it; just be prepared.

⸺ Keith

Back when I used to surf, I lived by the dictum that a bad day surfing was always better than a great day at work. And it was a true enough statement. At least during that period of my life when I was employed in endeavors that fit society’s expectations of what I should do, versus what truly made me happy and fulfilled. That period when I wasn’t leaning into my dharma, you could say.

That said, I never wanted to miss an opportunity to be in the water when I knew the surf would be at its maximum. And that meant tracking the tide cycles, the Moon’s phase and her distance from earth, storm surges and the like. That now serves for me as a (very) simplified analogy for tracking the astrological weather. Although in the case of astrological weather, the goal is to avoid ⸺ or at least mitigate ⸺ those big swell periods.

And we have one of those “big swell” periods looming on the horizon.

Let’s first lay out the technicalities of what Ariel and I are tracking. Because there’s quite a lot to track. And for this, remember that we are looking at the mundane placements as viewed through the lens of the US chart. We’ll use the chart for July 4th, 2026 as a point of reference. However, this energy will be in play for a week prior to that and a week following. Give or take.

I’ll also include the mundane chart for July 4th as that will allow us to see the transit alignments and aspects without getting lost in the clutter.

If astrological technicalities aren’t your thing, feel free to skip on down to the Interpretation section.

The Technicalities

1. The outer planets are all placed on house cusps as follows:

Pluto (retrograde) - cusp of the 2nd
Neptune - cusp of the 4th
Uranus - cusp of the 6th

As well, these planets are forming what I call a “mini trine” with the focal point being Neptune. That is the 4th house of “the homeland” is the apex of that energy profile.

2. If the natal chart represents (and can be read as) the book of a subject’s life, the US is currently experiencing its Rahu section and Ketu chapter. This is a method of dialing in to what planets are most responsible, in a particular period, for driving the experiential life forward. That said:

Transit Rahu is conjunct natal Moon
Transit Rahu is ingressing the Lunar Temple of Rhythm
The nodal axis is pressuring the 2nd/8th house polarity and Aquarius/Leo respectively
The transit Mars/transit Uranus conjunction forms a T-square with the transit nodal axis

3. Transit Mars forms a conjunction with transit Uranus on the cusp of the US 6th house.

4. Transit Sun forms a conjunction with Natal Jupiter in the US 7th

5. Transit Mercury forms a conjunction with, then immediately retrogrades, the US natal (and retrograde) Mercury, again in the US 7th.

6. Full Moon of June 29th at 14° Sagittarius, on the US horizontal axis.

Interpretation

There is a tremendous amount of energy depicted in these two charts above, but to properly interpret that energy and how it will likely play out, we need to start somewhere. To me the most obvious place to start is with the outer planets and the baseline energy they’ve been providing for the last couple of years.

Remember as we go through this that astrological interpretation is analogous to putting together a puzzle, with each aspect and association acting as a single piece of the whole. And no one single piece does a complete puzzle make. Once we’ve put together enough pieces though, an image begins to appear and, from that, we can make an educated guess as to what the complete picture is. It can also be likened to guessing the phrase, given as few clues as possible, on the game show, Wheel of Fortune.

We’ve incorporated the outer planet alignments in many posts over the years, but Uranus, and the Pending Economic Trainwreck is the most recent. In short, as these planets are interconnected by aspect and each occupies a house cusp position (the US 2nd, 4th and 6th), they are dredging up internal chaos within the US. Specifically in issues related to the nation’s increasingly dire financial woes (2nd house), homeland and borders (4th house), and within the military and workforce (6th house). This will continue to be the baseline energy drumming through this volatile 2-week period. Just one example of this comingling of energies are the actions and uproar over ICE operations.

Think about it this way: if you were to create 12 categories with which to bucket individual news stories over the last couple of years (one bucket for each house), you’d have an overwhelming amount of events having been dumped in the 3 buckets representing the 2nd, 4th and 6th houses. That’s a good analogy for how this stuff works. And, as mentioned in the Technicalities section above, Neptune ⸺ who is currently ever so slowly traversing over the cusp of the US 4th house ⸺ is the focal point of this intense energy, and so with that we have, in the homeland, a war raging between the Left and Right. In fact, there seems to be absolutely nothing that the Left and Right can agree on. One facet of negotiation tactics is to “chunk up” until a point is found where two opposing sides agree. And this is where you begin to hammer out a deal between the two sides. Where is that point now for the factions within the US? Wherever that point may be located is totally obscured by Neptune’s fog. This ideological Civil War is so intense that a live fire war is hardly beyond the realm of possibility. And then the next obvious question is, what would be the final ignition point for such a happening? That’s the kind of energy coursing through the nation now.

Which brings me to the extremely volatile Mars-Uranus conjunction at 9°39’ Taurus on July 4th, precisely on the cusp of the US 6th house.

To begin with, Uranus in Taurus is, for the US, a perilous position. The Revolutionary war, of course, occurred during Uranus’s stint there. Then, the American Civil War I began with Uranus at 17° Taurus with Mars close behind and applying at 14° Taurus. Followed by America’s entry into WWII on December 7th, 1941 with Uranus at 4°36’ Taurus. Is it “coincidence” that warfare on American soil is coincident with Uranus’s 84 year cycle back to Taurus? I’m always open to the possibility of coincidence. And yet, the more I’ve looked for ways to disprove astrology (my chart ruler, Mercury, occupying the very skeptical sign of Scorpio in the 6th), the more evidence I compile to the contrary.

To dig a little deeper here, where ⸺ or under what circumstances ⸺ might this potential aggression take place? I won’t go into the intricate technicalities of how I come to this (our Circle group is where these finer points are discussed), but if an enemy wanted to inflict psychological damage (or “loss”, a 12th house theme) upon an “impenetrable” foe, they’d attack that foe at the point where they might find some remnants of unification, of national pride. In the US chart, Mars is the linchpin here, signifying both national pride via creative and competitive outlets, and hidden enemies, espionage, secret operations and the like and loss coming from those factions. That, in my mind, marks the World Cup matches in the US as the most likely of potentialities. It is also worth noting that when you consider Trump’s chart as part of the mix, things look even more dicey. You may recall July of 2024 when Mars and Uranus met a few degrees from this point in a very sensitive place on his chart.

Moving another layer deeper, the 3rd house is involved here (via Uranus’s rulership thereof) which puts the nation’s “central nervous system” ⸺ including communications, transit, supply chain, electric grid, ect. ⸺ in peril.

Adding to a 3rd house focus, we have transit Rahu having moved into a conjunction with the US natal Moon. Know that a nation’s natal Moon signifies “the people” as a living emotional body; the public mood, collective instinct, mass reaction, popular sentiment, and the like. Add that to the fact that the nodal axis (Rahu and Ketu) are highly emphasised now for the US, and the nodal axis itself is in a T-square formation with the above mentioned Mars-Uranus conjunction, and we have all the makings for a potential aggression on American soil, targeted against “the people” and “the people’s” central nervous system.

That said, we always have to consider the shady operations signified by the 12th house which, because of its association with Mars (as it pertains to the US), is getting rocked. False flag operations might be the best characterization of how the elements contained in this house express. And the psychological truism that the most efficient and effective way to mobilize national unity against “the other” is to perpetuate a planned act of aggression upon something “the people” hold dear. Whatever your thoughts are on 9/11, the USS Liberty, the Gulf of Tonkin incident, and the Japanese attack on Pearl Harbor, the result of all of those incidents was to galvanize “the people” against the perpetrators said to have initiated those incidents. The question to always keep in mind is “who’s best interest is served by uniting a powerful nation’s populace?” The answer is rarely the populace itself. Both Game Theory and common sense show that the way to dissolve power is from the inside out; create divisions within that power by instigating color revolutions and culture wars. Which brings us back around to those unbridgeable divisions between the Left and Right discussed earlier.

The full Moon on the 29th of June at °14 Sagittarius emphasizes the US Ascendant / Descendant axis, arguably the most important chart axis in astrology, pitting “Self” against the immediate “other”. That “other”, in accordance with mundane astrology, can be interpreted as both near-and-dear allies (Israel?) and open and avowed enemies (Iran?). And things get muddled really fast here (here being in the homeland) because who really knows if Israel is a 7th house “ally”, or a 12th house “secret enemy”? With Neptune sitting on the cusp of the 4th and, as mentioned above, being the focal point of the outer planet energy, it’s next to impossible to suss that out.

The last thing to consider here is the curiosity of Mercury stationing retrograde °1 off of his natal retrograde placement at °3 Cancer. There is beautiful math and sacred geometry encoded in this rare occurrence (same with all planetary orbits), but that’s not the focus of this piece. For the purposes of this article, just know that this is a relatively rare occurrence.

At its most basic meaning, retrograde signals a “redo”; a step back and revisit. As it applies to the 7th house, the most obvious interpretation would be a revisit of events covered during Mercury’s most recent direct phase, and covering the 7th house territory that Mercury will backtrack through during this retrograde period. As Mercury will eventually retrograde back to °22 Gemini in this period ⸺ coincidentally stationing direct again in exact conjunction with the US natal Sun ⸺ we can’t help to interpret this as another important piece of the overall puzzle. The most front-facing event during Mercury’s last direct run from °22 Gemini to its most recent station retrograde at °2 Cancer is, of course, the war with Iran. And more specifically, the absolute fog surrounding that war.

Think back to the 12th of June. This was when Mercury, then direct, last transited the US natal Sun at °22 Gemini. These last few weeks, as it pertains to both Israel and Iran, have been a morass of on-again, off-again “agreements”. I hate to be a Debbie Downer here, but nothing is going to get any clearer on that front during this Mercury retrograde period which will last until July 23rd. Mercury, being the US 7th and 10th house significator, will continue to pit allies & open enemies (7th house) against the executive (Trump; 10th house) in this web of obfuscation. A grand Kabuki theater for sure… but for what purpose?

The bottom line is this: there is a tremendous amount of wonky energy in the US chart over the next several weeks, and all energy seeks to express. That’s the nature of energy. Take away the “who’s responsible for what” aspect, and you and I are left with how to best navigate this energy and what to do about it.

I think the most sensible course of action is to avoid crowded areas for the next several weeks. Avoid congested travel, especially public transportation. And, as always, situate yourself with a few weeks of provisions just in case of grid, communications and/or supply chain disruptions.

On a more metaphysical level, everything we see in the collective is a reflection of our internal condition. When we are centered within, we are unaffected from the without. This, too, is a concept we explore fully in our Circle group.

— Keith

There is a strange and uncomfortable convergence hidden in early sidereal Taurus.

In both Jyotish and traditional Western astrology, the Moon is exalted here, with its deepest exaltation traditionally placed at 3° Taurus. Using the Sidereal Lahiri zodiac, that places the exact exaltation within a degree of Algol, the “Demon Star”. How do we reconcile this?

The Moon’s exaltation in Taurus is one of the most familiar dignity statements in both Vedic and Western astrology. And the case made for this is simple: the Moon finds strength in Taurus because Taurus gives the ever vacillating Moon stable footing. The Moon, of course, governs our mood, memory, instinct, nourishment, fertility, fluids, rhythm, and the reflective mind. Taurus, as a fixed earth sign, gives these lunar functions continuity, embodiment, sensual grounding, and material coherence. They go together, one might say, hand-in-glove.

And so on its surface, the doctrine seems simple. The Moon is unstable, changeable, reflective, and impressionable. Taurus steadies that vacillation. It’s easier to do a handstand on the dock than it is in a canoe on a choppy lake. Therefore, the Moon is exalted in Taurus. And, using the flip of that same rationale (and using the same handstand analogy), the Moon is debilitated in Taurus’s polarity sign, Scorpio. Seems cut-and-dry enough.

But early sidereal Taurus also contains one of the biggest problem zones of the zodiac. The slice-and-dice Lunar Temple of Purification. And contained within that, the fixed star Algol.

Algol lurks near 2° sidereal Taurus by Lahiri reckoning. This places it within a degree of the Moon’s deepest exaltation degree. In traditional fixed-star lore, Algol is one of the most feared stars in the sky. Algol is associated with the severed head of Medusa, the Gorgon slain by Perseus after he was sent by King Polydectes on a seemingly impossible quest to bring back Medusa’s head; a task meant to rid Polydectes, once and for all, of Perseus while he pursued Perseus’s mother, Danaë.

This few degree span of the zodiac then includes themes of deception, decapitation, horror, the terror of the petrifying gaze, violence, monstrosity, punishment, and the terrifying power of the feminine when it has become violated and enraged. None of which is popularly understood Tauran themes.

So we are left with a serious interpretive contradiction.

How can the Moon be deeply exalted in a Temple, and near a star, with such a severe reputation?

The easy way out would be to dismiss the fixed-star tradition as ill-aligned to serious astrology, or to soften Algol until she becomes merely “intense.” Neither move is satisfying. The first avoids the powerful symbolism involved. The second domesticates the themes for popular consumption. A better though, more difficult approach, requires holding three layers together at the same time: Vedic dignity, Lunar Temple symbolism, and fixed-star mythology. Because they all matter.

As we’ll see, when those layers are taken together, the contradiction dissolves. What emerges is much more demanding in an interpretive sense. And a hell of a lot more ⸺ dare I say ⸺ functional.

The first point to note here is that exaltation, in no way, shape or form, implies “safe”. Or “easy”, for that matter. In the same spirit of founding father Benjamin Franklin’s quip that “those who would give up essential Liberty, to purchase a little temporary safety, deserve neither,” the Moon’s exaltation near Algol does not mean the Moon is gentle, sweet, or harmless there. It means the Moon is at her most powerful. It is a high-voltage lunar field whose gift is embodiment in the midst of chaos. If not handled well, its danger is possession, violation, fixation, emotional flooding, and the corruption of memory into a tool for vengeance.

In Functional Astrology, exaltation means a planet has the exceptional capacity to express its true nature. That expression may be constructive, destructive, refined, or overwhelming depending on context and the balance of the chart. And, too, this is where free will and choice come into play. We may be heavily influenced by the energies defined in the chart, but we are not (unless we so choose), mere automatons to those energies. A strong planet (even the Moon) is not automatically gentle. A strong Mars may cut cleanly to the bone. A strong Saturn may impose severe order at the expense of all else. A strong Sun may radiate authority so powerfully that others are scorched in the process. Strength is not the same thing as kindness, compassion or empathy. Unless we choose that expression.

The same principle applies to the Moon.

An exalted Moon has extraordinary lunar potency. It can produce keen emotional intelligence, profound memory, fertility, nurturance, popularity, receptivity, somatic awareness, and the capacity to hold, nurture, and protect life. But it can also magnify emotional imprinting, ancestral patterning, attachment, dependency, bodily memory, emotional contagion, and a kind of psychic oversaturation where the person absorbs and clings to more than they can metabolize.

This is especially important because the Moon is not a detached witness. The Moon is the reflector. In Functional Astrology we teach that the Moon represents the “I AM”. It receives, remembers, absorbs, repeats, and responds. When the Moon is powerful, the field of memory is powerful. The body remembers. The nervous system remembers. The family line is remembered. The instinctive mind remembers. Too strong a Moon with not enough emotional intelligence and all that “remembering” is cast in stone. It is not uncommon in our work that we see lineage issues expressed as physical conditions. In these cases a strong Moon can be tapped to move through these (often traumatic) energies rapidly. That same strong Moon in unskilled hands can lock someone in the same condition for a lifetime.

So the Moon’s exaltation in Taurus should not be reduced to ease and comfort. Taurus does give the Moon a stable container, but a stable container can imprison milk, blood, seed, grief, rage, and/or poison. The container itself does not dictate the moral quality of what it contains. It determines whether the lunar substance has the required stability to take form.

The Moon is exalted in early Taurus precisely because its lunar substance can become fully embodied there. Algol’s presence tells us that embodied lunar substance may carry danger when the body has been violated, possessed, objectified, envied, or made into an object of fear.

With great power comes great responsibility.

The Lunar Temple of Purification

That the Moon’s deepest exaltation at 3° Taurus does not fall in the Lunar Temple of Growth, but in the Temple of Purification is telling. This matters enormously. And it’s also why we have to examine the finer divisions of the signs to get the full story of a planet’s placement.

The Temple of Growth, beginning at 10° Taurus and spanning to 23°20’ Taurus, is the lush and more commonly understood field of Tauran lunar flourishing. Here we find themes of fertility, beauty, increase, sensuality, magnetism, and creative abundance.

But the exact exaltation degree of the Moon comes earlier, in the Temple of Purification.

This Temple spans from 26°40′ Aries to 10° Taurus. It is ruled by fire. Its symbols include the knife, blade, razor, spear; all cutting instruments. This is, in fact, the Temple of cutting. Of separation. In this Temple impurities are burned away. Nourishing by indulging is not found here. When nourishment does come in this temple it’s done so by a process of arduous refining.

The Moon reaches its deepest exaltation in the Taurus portion of an intense temple ruled by the Sun and governed by fire. That is a paradox only if one assumes that nourishment must be soft. Some forms of nourishment require cutting. Some forms of protection require separation. Some forms of mothering require torching.

The Temple of Purification brings the power and will to sever what corrupts the pure vessel. It is the flame that sterilizes. It is the knife that cuts the cord enabling a human life to fully enter this realm. It is the discernment and empowered follow-through that says this belongs inside the sanctuary and that does not.

So the Moon’s exaltation here teaches a harder lunar doctrine than is popularly imagined. The Moon is strongest when embodiment is fully empowered and protected by keen discernment.

The ancients understood that creation and destruction both occupy the same continuum. That the capacity to express light is limited by the capacity to hold dark. That the atrocities of the world are committed not by those who hold true power, but by those who crave power and blindly exceed their ability to hold and manage any meaningful power.

This is where Algol’s proximity to the exalted Moon’s degree begins to make more sense.

The Mythology and Lineage of Algol

Algol (the Demon Star, Beta Persei) belongs to the constellation Perseus and is traditionally identified with the blinking eye of Medusa. Astronomically, it is an eclipsing triple star system whose light visibly dims and returns in a regular cycle. Ancient observers saw a star that seemed to blink, vanish, weaken, and revive.

In Greek myth, Medusa is a threshold figure of sorts, and that is precisely why she matters here. She cannot be reduced to a simple monster, nor can she be softened into a simple victim. She belongs to the Gorgons, a class of terrifying beings whose faces, eyes, and serpentine imagery inspire dread. In Ovid’s Metamorphoses, Medusa is a beautiful woman who is violated by Neptune in the temple of Minerva and then transformed into the snake-haired Gorgon. This violation does not erase or ease her monstrosity. It explains the depths of her psychic charge.

Medusa therefore holds several images at once: beauty turned to horror, violation and rage, victimhood and danger, retribution that refuses to be calmed. Medusa’s face is not merely ugly. It is unbearable. To look upon her is to be petrified, literally turned into stone, frozen by the force of what the image conveys.

It’s worth repeating here that Perseus severs Medusa’s head after being sent by King Polydectes on a seemingly impossible quest to retrieve it, a task meant in part to remove Perseus as an obstacle while Polydectes pursued Perseus’s mother, Danaë. This is not unlike the biblical story of King David sending Bethsheba’s husband, Uriah, into battle so as to remove him as an obstacle to his pursuit. An astrological theme to explore at another time.

Keeping the focus here on Medusa: even after decapitation, Medusa’s power does not disappear. Her severed head remains a potent talisman. Perseus uses it as a weapon, and he later gives it to the strategic mastermind behind his victory, Athena. She then places it upon her breastplate, and there, the Gorgon’s head becomes a protective shield; a terrifying image Athena then uses to ward off terror itself.

This is the essential point for the Moon-Algol-Taurus symbolism. Medusa is not only the horror; she is also the shield against horror. Her severed head becomes a guardian image, the fearsome protective talisman placed at the threshold of the sanctuary. The same gaze that petrifies enemies also defends the sacred space and the treasure within. In this sense, Medusa is the lunar sanctuary after it has learned what violation means, and what is required to prevent it.

That is an empowered Moon, standing on a firm, Tauran foundation. The Moon as guardian of the sanctuary. And of what is valuable enough to be placed in that sanctuary.

The Taurus Factor

Do this work long enough and you find that no true healing takes place unless the client is “grounded” first. But let’s first unpack this term, because “grounded” has become another in the bastardized, street corner “shaman” parlance that has completely lost any relevance to deep, psychological transformation.

“Grounded” means that you are so comfortable in your body that you can sit with both the ravishing beauty of the pre-violation Medusa and her hideous, post-violation form without flinching. Each element has its place in our (to put a Jungian spin on it), quest for wholeness. But the “I AM” cannot fully unfracture without the solid footing of earthly Taurus to underpin it.

For this, the story of Buddha is relevant here. Siddhartha does not awaken by escaping the body (dissociation), nor by fleeing desire, fear, temptation, or death. He sits beneath the Bodhi tree and remains unmoved as Maya (illusion) batters him with every seduction and terror his human field can generate. His awakening comes through his immovable presence in the face of everything the “Algol zone” can throw at him. And conversely, he’d never become the Buddha without that confrontation. We see the same theme with Jesus and the temptation.

The embodied world is beautiful, fertile, and nourishing. And it is also exposed and vulnerable. The body can be caressed, fed, loved, harmed, possessed, shamed, worshiped, or violated. The Moon knows this because the Moon is the keeper of all impressions. Nothing that happens to the living vessel is truly forgotten by the lunar field. Healing is not forgetting; it’s forging a new relationship with the event.

Algol intensifies the truth that some memories become monstrous when they are not integrated. The Lunar Temple of Purification adds that purification requires the force of fire. Taurus provides the foundational firm-footing that allows a “grounded” return from the abstract (dissociative), to the body. All of which allow the I AM to unfracture and return to the empowered state.

And all of which is why the Moon’s exaltation in early Taurus is enhanced by Algol’s presence.

Together, this constitutes one of astrology’s deepest teachings about the Moon; these are:

To nourish life, the I AM must also know how to guard and protect life.

To fully receive, the Moon must also keenly discriminate.

To remember, it must also purify.

To heal, it must be willing to confront the horror without becoming the horror itself.

Another Step Deeper…

The Moon’s exaltation at 3° Taurus is shared by both the Greco-Roman and Sanskrit (Vedic) standard schemes. If the exaltation degrees preserve older Babylonian star-position material (likely, but not definitive), then the Algol/Pleiades/Taurus-region issue becomes even more interesting, because the exaltation doctrine may have originally had a stellar or observational basis before becoming abstract zodiacal dignity.

This is where Mesopotamian history becomes important. We are not dealing with an abstract zodiac invented in isolation from observation. Babylonian scholar-priests kept systematic records on clay tablets, tracking celestial phenomena alongside events on earth. Events such as planetary motions, lunar positions, eclipses, weather, river levels, commodity prices, royal affairs, warfare, disease, and other state-level happenings. Their sky was read as a living omen field, a script in which the heavens and the affairs of kings, cities, harvests, and nations were understood to correspond. As above, so below.

This record-keeping extended over centuries. The Babylonian Astronomical Diaries alone preserve roughly six hundred years of observations, and the larger omen tradition, especially Enūma Anu Enlil, shows how celestial events were interpreted in relation to earthly outcomes. The Babylonians also used fixed stars and stellar reference points to track the motion of the Moon and planets. In other words, they were not merely watching “signs” in the modern abstract sense. They were watching planets, stars, eclipses, seasons, and events together, over long spans of time. And from that, they made connections and correlations.

That matters because the exaltation degrees may preserve traces of this older Mesopotamian stellar logic. The Moon’s exaltation at early Taurus may not have begun as a purely symbolic statement about “Taurus being comfortable for the Moon.” It likely preserves an older observational and stellar association, later carried into the Hellenistic dignity system and then transmitted into classical Jyotish through the Yavana stream. India absorbed and reinterpreted this through its own graha, rāśi, nakshatra, karma, and ritual frameworks. But the underlying exaltation scheme appears to belong to a much older cross-cultural inheritance that we’ll explore in a moment.

We have an abundance of cross-cultural evidence that the early Taurus region was part of a heavily observed and symbolically charged stellar field, especially through the Pleiades. In fact, this region of the sky is depicted in the earliest depictions left by modern man that we have discovered. The natural question then is, why that portion of the sky specifically?

To answer that we need to consider what events would have left an impression on the human mind (the Moon) so great that it was never forgotten. An event (or events) that emerged from a portion of the sky that, otherwise, was associated with life itself. And especially so, fertility.

When we include that idea with the Mesopotamian inheritance, layered with the Temple of Purification and Algol’s Medusa symbolism, we are inevitably led to the phenomena of the Taurid Meteor Complex. And the Taurid “fireballs” phenomena ⸺ that is, unusually bright meteors, often bright enough to be seen over a wide area and sometimes capable of producing flashes, fragmentation, or sonic booms ⸺ that appear to radiate from the same broad region of the sky. That convergence becomes difficult to ignore. Because we are not looking at a random patch of zodiacal space. We are in fact looking at a sky-region where observation, omen, fertility, fire, danger, and protection have been accumulating meaning for as long as humans have attempted to capture and transmit knowledge to those who follow.

The Taurid Meteoroid Complex, usually shortened to the Taurid Complex, is a broad debris system associated with Comet 2P/Encke and related bodies. As the Earth crosses different portions of that stream, the debris appears to us as several Taurid showers and, in some years, enhanced fireball activity. If this pattern recurs on millennial timescales, then the Taurid Complex becomes more than a seasonal meteor stream. It becomes a plausible astronomical event cycle etched in human memory. That is, not only a recurring source of enhanced fireball activity, but an increased airburst risk, regional catastrophe due to direct hits, and a resultant mythic memory centered on the Taurus-Pleiades sky.

Why is the Moon exalted here? Precisely because it retains the memory, as if carved in stone, of cataclysm.

This zone’s connection with the Taurids is, in my mind, the most likely candidate for its cross-cultural reputation of beauty turned to horror. The Taurid Complex is not merely a pretty seasonal meteor shower. It is the debris field associated with Comet 2P/Encke, and from the viewpoint of an observer on Earth, its radiants appear in the same broad Taurus region, with the Northern Taurids seeming to emerge near the Pleiades. This does not mean the meteors physically come from the Pleiades; for an observer on earth though, it sure as hell looks that way. A radiant is a line-of-sight effect, the apparent point from which meteors seem to stream because Earth is passing through a debris path. But symbolically, the visual fact still matters: falling fire appears to pour out of the same sky-region already marked by the Bull, the Pleiades, the Temple of Purification, and the mythic field of Medusa.

The Taurids are also unusual because they are not famous for high meteor counts, but for slow, bright fireballs. They are autumnal, dramatic, and visually memorable. In certain years, Earth appears to encounter denser material within the stream, producing enhanced fireball activity. The Taurid Complex includes larger fragments from the breakup of a once-larger cometary body, and the Earth’s periodic encounters with these debris streams have included significant airbursts and impacts in the past.

The Medusa myth now comes into full focus. The once beautiful turned to abject horror. Her hair turned to writhing snakes (comet trails). She having been violated by Neptune/Poseidon in the temple of Minerva, and he being the Earth-shaker; the progenitor of storms, floods, and earthquakes.

As well, the Temple of Minerva / Temple of Purification parallel is difficult to miss. Minerva’s temple is a protected precinct of wisdom, chastity, craft, and disciplined force. In both images, the issue is not softness but sanctity. A vessel has been set apart. A boundary has been drawn. What belongs to the sacred order must be protected from violation. When Neptune, the Earth-shaker and lord of overwhelming waters, violates Medusa in Minerva’s temple, the myth gives us an elemental breach of the sanctuary; earthly upheaval entering the precinct of the sacred. Read through the Temple of Purification lens, Medusa’s transformation is not random punishment. It is the terrible consequence of a sacred vessel being invaded. Beauty becomes dangerous because the sanctuary has been breached, and the violated image eventually becomes shield-power on Athena’s aegis.

We may not have the power to stop the transgression, but we do have the power to face the transgression head-on. To prepare and, by surviving it, transmute it.

⸺ Keith

TLDR: There is a rare alignment occurring that will last for several months and marks a significant change in the collective and specifically the US. This article focuses on the US and the mechanics of the alignment but the energy will impact everyone. This is a time of being able to truly release what is no longer serving and this will occur in specific areas of life for each person. Looking at your chart (sidereal) and finding transit Ketu (or booking a reading) will tell you what area of life will be most impacted. -Ariel

There is a certain planetary alignment that I’m keeping a close eye on these days, that being the Finger of God that is currently forming between the transits of Neptune, Pluto and Ketu (the south node). This alignment is in effect for everyone. However, the energetic ramifications are highly individualized, depending, of course, on the specifics of your own natal chart

The Finger of God (or Yod), is a geometric aspect pattern formed by two planets in a sextile relation to each other, both making 150°aspect (quincunxesor inconjuncts) to a third planet.

Expressed in simple geometry:

Planet A sextile Planet B: 60°
Planet A quincunx Planet C: 150°
Planet B quincunx Planet C: 150°

The third planet (planet C), the one receiving both quincunxes, is the apex planet. That is the point of tension, adjustment, and eventual expression. Agitated as that expression may be.

Currently in the sky we have transit Pluto (retrograde as of May 6th) at 11 Capricorn, transit Neptune at 9 Pisces, and Ketu (the south node) at 12 Leo. Ketu being the apex planet. Because Pluto is shifting to retrograde and Ketu is always retrograde, everything is converging on that 9 degree mark.

In this current alignment, the Pluto - Neptune sextile at the base is cooperative. Those two planets are working together. They share a practical opportunity, a talent, or a support circuit. It doesn’t automatically mean “good things will come”; far from it. It simply means that the energies between the two planets flows well. What type of energy that’s “flowing well” is dependent upon the balance of the chart.

Now, both of those planets are directing energy into Ketu, through quincunxes. The quincunx is awkward by nature because the signs involved usually share neither element, modality, nor polarity. They do not naturally understand or play well with one other. The quincunx expresses as a burr in the saddle; the jagged pebble lodged in your shoe. A tension that you just can’t seem to resolve.

So what we have when we consider the alignment in totality is a feeling of frustration that is directed to and through the apex planet. The base implies that there is a workable solution available. A solution to what, specifically? Well, that’s indicated by looking at your birth and transit charts. At the elementary level of predictive astrology, we know that the planets carry the tone of their birth placements throughout one’s life. And that tone is modulated by the current transit position.

The same thing is true of Ketu in this example. But now, as the apex in this current alignment, he’s receiving a two-way firehose stream of energy that he can do little with. Even though that magnified energy is directed his way, he can do little to express it in a meaningful way. Thus the inherent frustration. The feeling of, “I know this can be done”... and yet, the execution falls disappointingly short, or it requires an extraordinary amount of effort to pull off.

I’m quite sure Sisyphus was dealing with just such an alignment lighting up sensitive points in his chart.

Let’s look at the US chart as an example of how this alignment is likely to express. I’ve highlighted the Yod here, mostly to keep myself on task. Otherwise I’m liable to get lost in the weeds of everything that’s getting lit up in this chart currently.

So yeah, as I’ve mentioned before, there is A TON going on currently with this chart. But for now, let’s focus on the Yod between transit Pluto, transit Neptune, and transiting Ketu.

As we see in the chart above, transit Pluto is occupying the US 2nd house (“resources”), and is not only embroiled in a Pluto return, but also lighting up the nation’s natal nodal axis. I can’t think of a more energized position for a transiting Pluto. Because as I noted here, the nation recently entered a period where its natal and transit nodes are the focal points of astrological consideration and thus, prediction. That in and of itself is setting an ominous tone.

Transit Neptune is, too, occupying a critical position in the nation’s chart. As I discussed here, Neptune is in the same critical area (and opposing his natal position) as during the 1st Civil War, and directly on the cusp of the US 4th house (“homeland’).

So these energies are forming the base of the Yod. A heavy dose of financial system death and rebirth, with a splash of discord in the homeland. You can readily see that even though the energies might be flowing well together, the outcome might not be something we’d judge as being beneficial or productive. And now we funnel that torrent of energy through Ketu in Leo, in the US 9th house.

The 9th house in mundane astrology deals with issues of the nation’s laws. And the philosophies underpinning those laws. And Leo, of course, signifies “rulership”. In our culture and times, rulership is expressed primarily as legacy enterprises (Universities, or the media, for example). And Ketu severs energies that have run their course. That said, we can expect a season rife with big court decisions against legacy institutions, and a major pushback against those in power. The idea of “who is fit to lead” will come into question. And that goes for any position of leadership across government and industry. From CEOs to middle managers. Even extending to who is fit to be an expert ⸺ because experts come to be thought of that way because they have the backing of a (now formerly) trusted institution behind them. It’s not just trust in experts and the institutions that back them that are going to fall, but the very philosophy supporting that structure will be severed as well.

For example, think of the quintessential idea of the American Dream. Work hard, do the right thing, and you will prosper greatly. That idea is essentially dead now. Even as we watch the greatest wealth transfer from the middle class to the elites taking place in real time. The repercussions of that death will likely explode through Ketu in the coming several weeks.

Ketu of course traverses this same zodialogical territory every 18.6 years. But never in the history of the US has it done so while the nodal axis is emphasized in addition to one of those nodes being the apex of a Yod.

These are truly revolutionary times. Ariel and I have been preaching this for the last few years: if you are not prepared for disruption in the form of a grid down / supply chain down scenario, you really need to begin doing what you can to rectify that. Any amount of prep is better than no prep at all. When these systems fail, there will be no heads-up. Everything will be fine… until it is not. This channel IS, and has been for the last few years, your heads-up.

Trump

I’ll do a much more detailed look at Trump’s chart in the future, but for our purposes here I just want to point out that Trump of course has this same transit alignment in his own chart (again, we all do); Ketu however is crossing a very critical section of his chart. That being the ascendant, and his natal Mars, which is rising in his chart. That puts transit Neptune on the cusp of the troublesome and transformative 8th house, and Pluto just inside the tough-going 6th.

Again, I’ll do a more in-depth look at Trump’s chart specifically in the future, but just from this cursory view it’s tough not to see this alignment generating health issues. Specifically heart, accident or inflammation maladies.

I just put that out there because you cannot separate a country from the country’s leader when doing an assessment of the country. There is always a karmic tie between the two.

If you’re curious as to how this alignment will affect you personally, be sure to book a reading with us. Knowing what weather you’re sailing into makes the navigation that much more manageable. The weather is coming either way.

⸺Keith

Consider this article to be an addendum of sorts to the piece I wrote on the subject last month. https://keithnorris.substack.com/p/emphasis-on-the-us-nodal-axis-points?r=9bo26

As I wrote in that article, the US nodal axis is under extreme pressure as the US has entered an astrological period where the north & south lunar nodes (Rahu and Ketu) are greatly emphasised.

Remember that one complete “nodal return” takes 18.6 years. Whether that’s back to the natal position, or any other position of interest we choose to look at. That is, for Rahu (the north node) or Ketu (the south node) to return to the same defined position. But as the nodes travel in a locked pair as one unified axis, it takes 9.3 years for the axis itself to return to the same position (albeit with the nodes flipped0. Picture a bicycle’s wheel, and imagine that the air valve stem represents Rahu. The point 180 degrees opposite that would be Ketu. Every half spin of the wheel brings the axis in line with a defined position. The fork, let’s say. Every full spin brings the valve stem back to its original position. In this way, the dynamic between the opposing signs, houses and Lunar Temples will come to the forefront.

So every 9.3 years the nodal axis traverses the same territory. In our case (with today’s nodal axis positioning) setting the stage for popular uprisings against the establishment. The “monarchy” (Leo) vs the “populace” (Aquarius). Most times that amounts to minor skirmishes and heated protests. Sometimes though, given other supporting astrological weather, that alignment can be so intense as to signal a complete political overthrow.

As an example, let’s consider the American Revolution.

The Leo/Aquarius nodal axis pits sovereign authority, hierarchy, and a kind of symbolic kingship (Leo) against collective self-organization, populism, and networked (community) resilience and resistance (Aquarius). Taxation without representation is a classic Leo/Aquarius theme.

If we turn back the astrological clock during the American revolutionary period, we see that the nodes transited the Leo/Aquarius axis from April 1774 through November 1775. At which point they moved into their natal Cancer/Capricorn alignment.

July 4th 1776 is, of course, understood as the beginning of the American Revolution. But revolutions don’t just appear overnight. Like a volcanic eruption, the rumblings that result in the eruption take time to build. That pressure building period for the colonies reached a no-turning-back criticality precisely in that Leo/Aquarius (April 1774 - November 1775) period. We could say that the fuse was lit during that period, and the balance of the US chart allowed that ferment to carry through to a full-blown revolution.

The April 1774–November 1775 period did not produce the Declaration by itself. It did, however, produce the conditions that made the Declaration both necessary and, in the minds of the Founders, inevitable. Without diverting into a full-blown history lesson, consider the pre-revolutionary events that took place in that Leo/Aquarius period:

• Lexington and Concord - the first armed clashes of the American Revolutionary War

• The Intolerable Acts - passed by Britain in 1774 to punish Massachusetts after the Boston Tea Party and reassert imperial control over the colonial uprising.

• The Second Continental Congress and Washington’s appointment as Commander in Chief established a national command structure with solid foundation and strong leadership.

• The King’s rejection of the Olive Branch Petition and proclamation of rebellion convinced the colonial populace that the imperial relationship could not be repaired.

Note that the American Revolution ended on September 3rd, 1783. When the nodal axis was again in Leo/Aquarius. Also, across the pond in France, the popular discontent that would end in full-on revolution 4 years later was already reaching a boiling point.

I wouldn’t say that the U.S.’s chart today holds the energy for “complete overthrow” ⸺ but I’m not not saying that either. At the very least, it sure holds enough energy to produce some sizable shockwaves. And it takes “sizable shockwaves” to produce any meaningful shifts in government.

In truth though, this is the same Leo/Aquarius story on repeat. It’s a pressure cooker that begins immediately following the last big shock (in this case, WWII), punctuated every 9 - 10 and a half years by the Leo/Aquarius nodal transit. Eventually a mostly neutered government becomes wildly corrupt and out of touch with the governed, has run up a debt tab it can never repay, and saddles the populace with an intolerable debt burden. Tensions build, and in time the relief valve blows. Chaos ensues, the government is rearranged (or completely overthrown), things “normalize”, and immediately thereafter the pressure cooker begins to build once more. The “honeymoon” period lasts for maybe a generation. Just long enough for popular complacency to take hold and the government to bloat with power and corruption.

This (at least in the Kali Yuga) has been a wash, rinse, and repeat cycle. And it’s not just the US government. Every government is subject to the same planetary cycles. Even non-astrologers recognize these cycles, though they ascribe “academically kosher” reasons for them.

As an example, one of these is a 80 - 100 year cycle called the “4th Turning”. This 4th Turning hypothesis, developed by historians William Strauss and Neil Howe, argues that Anglo-American history moves in recurring cycles of roughly 80 to 100 years, with each cycle being made up of four “turnings” or social moods. The fourth and final phase is one of profound crisis, when institutions break down, public trust collapses, and society is forced through conflict, upheaval, and reconstruction that resets the order for the next cycle. It is a model that interprets major wars, depressions, and constitutional realignments as part of a repeating generational pattern.

With a proper grasp of astrology though, we can be much more precise. Ariel and I consider these timelines as a confluence of planetary cycle peaks, including (but not limited to) the nation’s progressed Moon, transit Uranus in relation to natal Uranus, nodal cycles, Neptune oppositions, Pluto and Chiron returns. When those peaks happen to coincide we have the makings of a perfect storm. We are in that “perfect storm” period now.

If you’ve been with us the last couple of years you knew this weather was coming, and you’ve made preparations in advance. We knew “routes and resources” were going to get disrupted in a big way. We knew the grid (power and communications) were going to sputter. WE knew we were going to be inundated with false narratives. That’s the power of predictive astrology. If you’re new here, well… it’s not too late to position yourself accordingly.

This recent astrological weather shift is not subtle by any means, and places a heavy emphasis on the U.S.’s nodal (and if you’re so inclined, karmic) axis. The baseline of this period is set by a Rahu mahadasha, which amplifies blind obsession, distortion, overreach, foreign entanglement, technological and media escalation, and speculative drive. “Fated” events carry a Rahu signature. It should be noted that the U.S. shifted into this Rahu mahadasa period just before Trump was elected the first time around (with Rahu in Leo). These are the energies the nation’s collective soul are driven to experience. It’s almost like a gravitational pull on an experiential level.

Rahu now is traversing the US 3rd house. Which is why you have (and will continue) to be firehosed from all directions by a multitude of opinions, propaganda and lies. In this energetic atmosphere, it is incredibly difficult to discern truth from utter bullshit. It also puts the power and communication grids, and the supply chain (routes) under tremendous stress.

The other half of this energized axis is Ketu, which acts to cut, sever, hollow out, disenchant, and expose the limits of what we’ve become too comfortable with. This is why a Rahu/Ketu period can be so incredibly intense. Both personally (I can attest, having lived through one), and at the collective level. Ketu severs us from experiences we’ve already mastered. Like a lemon we’ve already wrung all the juice we can from. No need toting that peel around any longer. Ketu has us toss that peel in the compost to lighten our energetic load so as to absorb the new lessons Rahu is pulling us toward. Thing is, we’re generally reluctant to toss away what we know. We keep a death grip on that lemon peel! There’s got to be more juice!! No matter how crappy the known is, it does provide a sameness that registers, in our primitive brains, as safety. But safety doesn’t equate to growth, and growth is what we incarnated for. So Rahu catapults us into the fearful unknown even as Ketu pries the known from our grasp to give room to digest all these new experiences.

Ok, great. So what to do with this?

Because Taurus rules my natal 12th house and Taurus’s ruler, Venus, is in my 4th, I want to know the practicalities of what all this means. Even as my chart ruler (Mercury) swims the psychological and transformational depths of my sixth house Scorpio. Surface level platitudes don’t satisfy me. Neither does empty, airy-fairy spirituality. If we can’t predict the astro weather with enough certainty to actually DO something practical with it, then why even waste time discussing it? The bottom line being, things are going to get increasingly chaotic. Supply chains and likely too, the power and comms grids are going to experience outages. Prepare for that. Just as you would prepare for wonky weather.

That said, there’s another big upcoming shift relative to the nodal axis to keep an eye on: in April (4/20/26 to be exact), Ketu slides into the Lunar Temple of Legacy. This particular shift takes place in the US 9th house. Let’s first understand what the 9th house represents in a nation’s chart.

First, there is religion and moral authority housed here. This includes churches, clergy, religious institutions, dominant belief frameworks, and the degree to which public morality is coherent, fractured, or manipulated with the intent of being leveraged. For instance, what percentage of the country views this war with Iran as a “holy war?” How many in positions of power? Probably a larger percentage than what you’re comfortable with.

Second, there is the judiciary and legal philosophy found here. Not day-to-day policing or bureaucratic enforcement (that’s more of a 6th house issue), but judges, courts, constitutional interpretation, legal legitimacy, and the “philosophy” behind the law itself.

Third, there is higher education and the credentialing class. Universities, academia, research culture, and the institutions that shape elite thought belong here. In practice, when the 9th is activated in mundane work, you often see fights over the direction of universities, accreditation, ideology in education, or the authority of “experts.”

Fourth, there is foreign reach by principle rather than by transaction. In other words, there is the defining bedrock ideology of a country’s being vs the actual boots on the ground diplomacy and treaties and such that result from that ideology. This is where the 9th has to be distinguished from the 7th and the 12th. The 7th is foreign relations in a direct relational sense: treaties, allies, enemies, diplomatic counterparts. The 12th represents covert entanglements, secret enemies, and institutions of confinement. Jails fit here. But so do monasteries. The 9th represents the higher-order layer: foreign relations, international (including maritime) law, and, interestingly enough, long-distance traffic, sea and air routes, and the ideology that governs a country’s posture as it relates to the outside world. Theodore Roosevelt’s “Talk softly and carry a big stick” doctrine was a classic 9th house manifestation. How that was actually implemented was a 7th house (primarily) issue.

Notice how this “long distance traffic, sea and air routes” points back again to the “routes and resources” disruption we’ve spoken of at length. And I hate to beat a dead horse here, but the supply chain is going to suffer in the near future. Ketu here is going to see to it.

In a national chart, the 9th represents the founding doctrine of the nation. You can think of it as the part of the chart that answers what tradition, scripture, constitution, founding myth, or civil religion does the country treat as sacred? That is why damage to the 9th so often correlates with a legitimacy crisis. A country can survive weak reserves for a while. It struggles much more when it no longer agrees on what is lawful, holy, true, or worth teaching. Which is why the woke movement was so devastating, and why there were so many “conspiracy” theories surrounding its rise. Because if you want to undermine a country, the fastest way to do so is to kick the pins from underneath the 9th house.

So when the 9th is strong in a mundane chart, you tend to see a nation with clearer moral language, stronger legal-philosophical coherence, healthier educational prestige, and more confidence in its own civilizational mission. When it is damaged or under attack, the distortions usually come through one or more of these channels: activist courts detached from legitimacy, universities losing public trust, clergy scandals or religious radicalization, diplomatic moral posturing without practical footing, or ideological fragmentation so severe that the nation cannot agree on first principles. Sound familiar?

While Ketu in the 9th house may seem like a nation’s undoing, it does not necessarily have to play out that way. Nothing in astrology is meant to destroy for the sake of destruction alone. All is meant to propel one (and a nation) back to source. And no one and no thing can return to source dragging unneeded energetic baggage. Ketu’s imperative is to divorce us (or a nation) from that excess energetic baggage.

So baggage will be dropped, and things will get spicy. Leaders and legacy institutions that cannot carry us forward will be severed. Just how spicy this is for you personally depends on your resolve to settle-in and deal with it ahead of time. The choppy weather is coming, one way or the other. Seeing it is the power of predictive astrology Ariel and I do. Your ease in choosing to deal with it head on is predicated on your own chart. And beyond that, your own determination.

There is an exchange in Ernest Hemingway’s The Sun Also Rises that captures the energy of this time. In it, Bill Gorton asks his friend Mike Campbell, a broke Scottish war veteran, “How did you go bankrupt?” Campbell’s reply is blunt: “Two ways,” he says. “Gradually and then suddenly.”

I anticipate the country’s financial and political systems to transform in much the same way.

—Keith

A few important upcoming dates and “givens”:

The U.S. nodal axis, comprised of Rahu (the north node of the Moon) and Ketu (the south node) will soon be heavily emphasised. And we will soon experience events that reflect that emphasis.

The nodal axis indicates the evolutionary path of (in this case) a country, or more specifically, the evolutionary path of the collective within that country. Rahu indicates what the collective is being pulled toward. It can act as a collective obsession or impulse and actualize as “fated” events. Ketu represents the collective “memory” or skillset, as well as energy baggage that is to be cut loose to facilitate further evolutionary growth. Or, more specifically, energies and attitudes that must be pried from the collective’s grasp. I say “must be pried” because collectives (as with most individuals) generally must be cattle-prodded into evolutionary growth. A feeling of safety is contingent upon the human system knowing what to expect, even if the expectation is misery. It’s a psychological truism that fear of the unknown ⸺ even if that unknown may prove to be exponentially better than the current state of affairs ⸺ far outweighs the safety of the known. No matter how bad the current state of affairs may be. Consider the events brought on by the power of the nodes to be those cattle prods that keep the collective, and individuals within that collective, progressing along the evolutionary path.

March 13, 2026 - Mars / Rahu / Mercury (retrograde) conjunct in mid Aquarius; in Rahu-ruled Lunar Temple of Liberation, in the US 3rd house of communication, infrastructure, routes, supply chain and electric grid.

Rahu (in my estimation) is assigned co-rulership of Aquarius, the sign it is now traversing. Which adds even more weight.

Kal Sarpa begins on 3/17/26. Planetary energies are trapped in a vice that is even stronger now than it would normally be. This will result in very intense polarity swings.

3/20/26 - Spring equinox at 9:46 AM central at 5 Pisces 46, at the Saturn/Neptune (and by definition, Sun) convergence point. Note that this is the actual position, not a tropical astrology abstraction. The energy beamed through that constellation matters, greatly.

The U.S. is currently in an intense Rahu-dominated period and, in fact, the US’s nodal axis (natal and transit) in total will, beginning the 23rd of March, be greatly emphasized.

Bottom line: storms are building. Buckle up, and prepare for a “grid down” (or at a minimum, internet down) scenario. I recommend having a 6 month supply of dry bulk foods on hand as a hedge against the disruption. Keep some cash on hand; don’t just assume your local ATM will spit out money on demand. Keep your vehicles topped-off. Given the astrological circumstances, I don’t think it’s alarmist to stock up and to prepare for what may become a very turbulent transition period.

Why do I say that? Let’s do a little unpacking:

The U.S. is currently running Rahu mahadasha / Mercury antardasha / Saturn pratyantar dasha until March 23, 2026, after which it shifts to Rahu mahadasha / Ketu antardasha / Ketu pratyantar dasha from March 23 to April 14, 2026. That’s a lot of astro tech jargon to say: the US nodal axis is under extreme pressure. Both natally (2nd house and 8th house) and by transit (3rd and 9th houses). That’s astro speak for saying that the U.S. nodal axis, along with the 2nd, 3rd, 8th and 9th houses will feel the intensity.

All that to say, intense weather is blowing in, no matter if we are prepared for it or not. Best to rig the sails appropriately than to be caught flat-footed.

This of course is in addition to the baseline intensity provided by:

• the Pluto return

• Chiron return

• Saturn/Neptune conjunction

• Uranus in Taurus

• Neptune opposition, and

• The sextile/trine/sextile nature of the SaturnNeptune + Pluto + Uranus relationships.

And if I’m wrong and nothing comes of this weather? Well, the prep and rig setting was cheap insurance for peace of mind. An exercise in preparedness that (luckily) did not have to actually be utilized. You’ll be better prepared, mentally, materially and emotionally, for when the storms do hit.

What exactly does it mean that the U.S.’s nodal axis is under “extreme pressure”? In the mundane / transit sense, this means the nation’s central nervous system (including propaganda and messaging outlets of all types), local transport & logistics (the supply chain, in total), the electric and communications grid, and localized, community coordination (protests are one example… but also skilled “apocalypse teams” and community cohesion) are all emphasized. It’s up to us to anticipate what events might transpire to put a spotlight on those themes.

This astrological weather sets the stage for the continued (and I would say, going forward, amplification of) the manipulation and weaponizing of information… otherwise known as propaganda. We tend to think of propaganda as a one way street; emanating from the government and directed toward the populace. But in actuality ANY source with a vested interest in a specific outcome can either produce or perpetuate messages intended to drive a particular narrative. The government is just one of many players here. And with this intense energy present, any of these spun narratives can escalate quickly into mobilization, protests, and reactionary actions. Was said event an organic happening? A false flag? Did it even happen at all? And how are you ever going to be able to make that determination through a screen? A localized, George Floyd-like event (or any event whether real or manufactured) can explode nationally within hours. Ready or not, these “events” are coming. In droves.

Note: interestingly enough, Ariel just told me that she took an assessment that tested her ability to distinguish a photo of a real person vs that of an AI-generated person. I’ve never seen anyone better at examining every detail of a photo, video, audio, whathaveyou and in being able to sniff out the real from bullshit. She scored a 2 out of 6. Meaning she was fooled 4 out of 6 times. Your chances of being manipulated through a screen are essentially a given.

This energy has to run its course. That is THE given. Your reaction to it is the only unknown. Thus, the preparation. Materially, and mental/emotionally. To put a buddhist spin on it: shit happens; energy must run its course. Suffering, though, is a choice. The only way to transmute this energy without it wreaking havoc is to hold center in the chaos. And few individuals are prepared to do that. Certainly not the collective as a whole.

“Routes and resources” has been a mantra of sorts here for the last year and a half. That’s a manifestation of a U.S. 2nd and 3rd house emphasis. This is just nuts-and-bolts astrology, and seeing where energy is being directed. Glaringly obvious if you know what to look for. How does this play out in the real world? Well, most recently we see this playing out with the choking off of the Strait of Hormuz: transportation and logistics disruptions; strikes, blockades, port / rail / supply chain breakage and potential attacks on electric or communications infrastructure nodes (cyber attacks, grid vulnerabilities). All of this will intensify before it eases off.

Then of course there is the (very Saturn conjunct Neptune on the cusp of the 4th) disruption of oil and natural gas. And the discord surrounding who belongs in the homeland, and what to do about it. That energy is far from spent.

But to know what’s coming we need to know how we got to where we are now. Because these energies run in predictable cycles. We need to know the condition of the ship we’re in and its strengths and weaknesses. We need to know if the vessel is seaworthy and how the incoming weather is likely to affect it.

Since the end of WWII, the US has leveraged its military dominance to perpetuate the (very Piscean / Neptunian) shell game of a fiat currency backed by… well, nothing, but the idea that the US’s military might would secure transportation routes and assure an unbroken, just-in-time supply chain. That, and that the US would forever-and-always be in a position to make good on its debt. Never missing a beat paying interest on treasuries held by (in particular) other nations.

Those days are over. You can see it through the clear lens of astrology. Though without that lens things appear the same as they ever were; the game of musical chairs goes on in perpetuity. In a weird, don’t ask, don’t tell kind of way. The ship is taking on water at a crazy speed, but neither crew nor passengers want to acknowledge the fact. Because to acknowledge it is to face it down. And that’s some bitter medicine indeed. Refer back to the “safety in sameness” truism discussed at the top of this article.

I don’t claim to know what the end-game narrative is. I’m just pointing out the fact (with some clear astrological backing) that the ship is listing badly. Not a position you want to be in when there’s a storm on the horizon. Is this war with Iran undertaken to provide cover for the complete control-alt-delete of the financial system? Does the war provide the ready cover and alibi for a false-flag cyber attack on the banking system? Could be. But whatever leavers are being pulled ⸺ by whom and for whatever reason ⸺ results in the same outcome: a financial system that’s going to have to be completely crashed and rebooted (Pluto return energy in the 2nd house) and a world-wide just-in-time supply chain that’s going to be fractured into a million localized economies (2nd, 3rd and 8th house / “routes and resources”).

Not only that, but an entirely new belief system (9th house) will have to emerge to support those drastic changes. The idea of our “invulnerability” will be severed (Ketu emphasis). We are, in the U.S., accustomed to discounting the messiness of handling raw materials and manufacturing. Leave the dirty work to emerging economies even as they shoulder our debt. Those are the spoils of winning a world war. And again, those days are over. This is why you see the mad scramble for resources taking place in the world. And control of the shipping routes. The haves and the have nots going forward will be defined precisely by those who have control of those critical resources (silver being one). And control of the routes that deliver them. Both internally and externally.

By transit, the U.S.’s central nervous system (3rd house) is agitated and inflamed from Rahu’s presence, while the U.S. belief (and courts) system (9th house) fractures under the influence of Ketu. Natally, the dynamic between the nation’s resources in total, and how it shares/distributes those shared resources (the 2/8 axis) is emphasised. The dynamic here being push-pull between the haves and the have-nots as it relates to wealth. The question being asked (the energy that must be transmuted) during this period deals with the democratization of resources. Who sets and maintains the rules for the acquisition of resources? What constitutes a level playing field? No stone will go unturned or uncontested in the realm of resources, finances and monetary doctrine. Even the idea of capitalism itself will be contested. And we’ve already seen as much in New York and Seattle where Democratic Socialists (a politically correct term for “communist”) have been elected. This despite incontestable historical evidence of communism’s abject failure by any metric imposed upon it. Except that it makes the leaders rich. At the expense of the people.

But is it any real shock that this (Piscean/Neptunian) utopian idea has resurfaced? Given that capitalism, in real world practice, has degenerated into a euphemism for the “rich get richer”? This is a text book 2nd/8th house dynamic.

In the US chart, Rahu’s transit in Aquarius is like a high-voltage shock direct to the U.S. central nervous system, pushing communication networks, tech, messaging, logistics, and local mobilization to the point of shorting out. This, even while Ketu severs belief in, the moral authority of, and the very legitimacy of, high institutions and those in positions of power/authority. Put this in the context of the Rahu / Ketu transit positions, and we have a flood of information and infrastructure events that force ideological and legal meltdown. The Epstein files and surrounding outrage is a perfect example of this type of event. And we’ve only just felt the initial surge. What few have put together thus far (but that the astrology is perfectly clear on) is that the same class who fancies themselves above the law as it pertains to “unspeakable acts” are the same class who created and perpetuated our current form of financial indentured servitude. When will this finally dawn on the collective? Probably about the time transit Rahu conjuncts the US natal Moon at 7 Aquarius 15; late June of this year.

As astrology is the study of cycles within cycles, there is precedent to the energy we are dealing with now. It’s not always an apples-to-apples comparison though. As Mark Twain once said, history might not repeat, but it often rhymes.

The U.S. began as a country in a Rahu mahadasha that ran until 9/25/1793. With the intense Rahu/Ketu period running from 3/23/1786 - 4/10/1787. So we’d be well served to look here for clues as to what to expect in the very near future.

And what stands out during this period is Shay’s Rebellion, which was a response to a post Revolutionary War debt and tax squeeze that translated into foreclosures and court actions against war vets and the “common man”, and a broad sense that the our homegrown elites had simply replaced one form of tyranny with one more amenable to themselves. Essentially, that “meet the new boss, same as the old boss” agitation among the working class grew rapidly to the point of bloodshed.

It’s the same story, different time. Look at the similarities between then and now: Shay’s Rebellion was driven by a haves vs have-nots financial crisis, and the frustration that the elites not only caused the problem, but were held to a different standard. They made the rules, and the rules favored themselves.

Notice any rhymes?

The next Rahu mahadasha for the US was from 9/25/1895 - 9/25/1913; the Rahu/Ketu period being 3/23/1906 - 4/10/1907.

The broader U.S. Rahu mahadasha from September 25, 1895 to September 25, 1913 coincided with the rapid growth of a new kind of financial and corporate elite. The Rahu/Ketu sub-period from March 23, 1906 to April 10, 1907 lands right on a hinge moment of the Progressive Era, when public trust in institutions began to fracture, and the federal government formalized new regulatory power with the intent to reinstill public trust in these institutions. In 1906, President Roosevelt signed the Pure Food and Drug Act which was a landmark “truth in labeling” reform.

Government acted quickly, because once the public loses trust in institutions, the charade quickly ends.

It was too little, too late though, as plummeting trust in institutions set the stage for the Panic of 1907, which exposed just how fragile the monetary system can be when public confidence evaporates. This was not unlike the dynamics that set off the Great Depression in 1929.

The end result of the Panic of 1907 was that people and businesses rushed to pull their money out of institutions because they were worried these banks and “trust companies” wouldn’t be able to deliver back their holdings. Then (as now), institutions didn’t keep all deposits as cash on hand, so when a critical mass of people demanded their deposits at once, the system froze. This is the classic mechanism of a bank run; banks only keep on hand a fraction of what has been deposited in their systems. Multiply this exponentially by the very Piscean/Neptunian “Modern Monetary Theory” notion that debt does not matter and you have the makings of the situation we find ourselves in today: a Rahu period which began on 9/25/2015 and will run through 9/25/2033. With the pending Rahu / Ketu period running from 3/23/26 - 4/10/27. And a silver market that has hundreds of paper IOUs for silver that doesn’t actually exist. What happens when these IOU holders actually want to take delivery of real silver… and the vaults are empty?

Modern Monetary Theory (MMT) is the view that a government that issues its own sovereign currency (AKA, fiat currency) can always pay debts denominated in that currency, so its main constraint is not “running out of money” (because you can always print more!) but inflation and real resource limits. In MMT, taxes and bond issuance are used primarily to manage demand, inflation, and interest rates (and to create demand for the currency), not to “fund” spending in the way households fund spending.

As long as everybody believes in the fantasy, the game of musical chairs continues. It works until it doesn’t. And as there is absolutely no real backstop, when the music stops, things get ugly. How ugly? Ugly enough that when this same thing happened in pre WWII Germany, it opened the door for a guy named Hitler to rise to power.

Erosion of trust in the system will be the least of our worries. It’s what that erosion produces that’s troubling. Once that Jinga block has been pulled, the entire financial structure that is backed by trust and trust alone, will collapse. Modern Monetary Theory cannot outrun history, or the physics of actually needing tangible raw materials to make a thing of value. At the end of the day, you cannot eat, or be sheltered by, a paper promise or an IOU. You have to have access to the raw materials that allow life to happen.

I hope I’m wrong about all this, by the way. But I can’t unsee what the stars are clearly pointing to. And so I’m rigging the sails of my own personal ship, even if the collective ship is badly patched and taking on water at an alarming rate.

And even if I ignore astrology and simply look historically, all financial system rut-ros of the past have been initiated either by institutional insanity (as in 2008) or a public confidence crisis (1783, 1907, 1929…). And I think it’s legitimate to ponder how anyone can have confidence in a system’s robustness when “institutional insanity” is standard operating procedure.

But let’s keep in mind the astrological elephant in the room: the nation’s 2nd/8th house Ketu/Rahu axis. As seen through the lens of “resources”, we have

• 2nd house: currency, national worth, reserves, national values, natural resources, the “owned” pile.

• 8th house: debt, shared obligations, other people’s money, taxes, leverage, systemic risk, crises that force restructuring.

One additional thing of note here is that the U.S.’s natal Rahu depositor, the Moon, is located in the U.S.’s 2nd house. Thereby reinforcing and intensifying this 2nd house/8th house continuous feedback loop. Know that nations have karmic energies to work through just as individuals do. This axis is a big deal for the U.S. under normal circumstances. But when Rahu and Ketu are emphasised that raises the stakes exponentially.

The natal Moon in Aquarius in the 2nd can be interpreted as the mood of “the people” being of an Aquarian value system: networks, markets, future-tech, collective ideologies, and the idea that value is something abstract that can be engineered. Maybe even digitized. It’s also intensely democratic; it’s literally a The People mentality. So one interpretation of this Rahu in the 8th disposited by a Moon that anchors back into the 2nd might be:

The U.S. seeks security and power through repeated iterations of debt-crisis creation and mitigation (8th Rahu), but it must constantly manage public confidence in the value system (2nd Moon).

Which is why narrative damage control, media confidence, and “trust in the system” becomes imperative for this system to operate. Not just on all cylinders, but any cylinder.

It seems to me as if the U.S. will keep trying to solve these 8th-house financial threats with 2nd-house narrative management. Salvage and rebuild the trust. That works until it does not. Markets are driven by collective confidence, and confidence is built on trust. When trust in institutions are severed, markets implode. And this implosion is taking place in the eye of a Pluto return storm.

And it’s not like transit Ketu in Leo (in the U.S. 9th house) is doing anything to build trust in institutions, or those in power. Ketu’s job here is to make it painfully obvious that there is a two-class system in operation. The Epstein drama is just one example of Ketu’s energy here. But there will be others.

- Keith

If you are not an astrologer and just want to know what we see without the planetary details, just read the quote box below. If you want to know the details and what we are looking at, read the rest.

The astro weather (and the lived experience of many) shows that the US economy is in trouble. Faith in fiat is collapsing and the paper markets are decoupling from tangible assets. The window to prepare is closing. Every manner of distraction and division that can be used is being used to try and keep the charade going. Anything to keep people from noticing the sleight-of-hand happening in the economy right now.

February 17 sparks a change (see the breakdown of dates near the bottom of the post) and February 26 is likely to be a volatile day in the market, especially commodities.

Mid March the energy intensifies.

The planetary train of energy moving through the US 3rd house of “communication and grids” is unleashing a firehose of propaganda upon the collective. Add to this the fact that sifting through the bullshit is exceedingly tough (Saturn conjunct Neptune in Pisces, late 3rd / pushing into the 4th house of “homeland”), and we have a recipe for a collective delusion and meltdown. And Civil War 2.0.

Pick a news story ⸺ any story ⸺ and you’ll find (if you choose to look), a carefully crafted (along “party” lines) narrative with the sole intent of widening the bifurcation chasm. It’s a cool trick that’s easy to spot if you know what to look for. Everything from Epstein to ICE to the US financial situation is an opportune lens through which to observe how these astrological forces will play out. The trick is to observe, analyze and interpret without getting sucked into the narrative itself.

It’s important to know that in order to give practical and actionable astrological information, it’s best to have a lens through which to interpret the astrological energy. Otherwise, you wind up subjecting yourself to the kind of information overwhelm that results in a deer-in-the-headlights form of inaction. This is true for a personal reading, or when predicting how the energy will affect the collective (mundane astrology).

As an example, do we have ideas of what’s to come of the Epstein and ICE phenomena? We do. And where we believe we can give actionable insight over and above the generalized “heads-up!” You’re being force-fed bullshit by the buckets!”, we will be sure to do so. Until then, we choose the lens appropriately.

And the lens that we’ll look through in this article will be the (fast imploding) US financial system in general. And, specifically, how silver is now (and has been for roughly the last year) the pull-pin in the grenade.

That pin was pulled in November of last year. And there’s no going back.

To say that the US is in an intense astro weather season is an understatement to say the least. On the upside, if you’re interested in learning astrology there’s no better time. It’s one thing to talk about an alignment; quite another to experience those “as above, so below” correlations in real time.

When I was a kid, my grandfather used to have an at home weather station that he tracked meticulously. Wind speed, temperature, barometric pressure, the works. And he kept a copy of the Farmer’s Almanac nearby. He knew when to fish, hunt, plant and harvest. And he knew when to batten down the hatches. No better way to get a visceral feel for weather and how the moon’s phases affect more than just the tides. Astrology (done right) works the same way.

And what do we see when we check the astro weather station?

A Pluto return in Capricorn, in the US 2nd house of “resources and values”. An intense band of astro weather buffeting the Uranus-ruled US 3rd house of “routes, grid and communication”. A Pisces Saturn-Neptune conjunction late in the US 3rd & pressing into the US 4th of “homeland”. A last (anaretic) degree Pisces Chiron return in the house of the “homeland”. Uranus traversing material Taurus in the 5th house of “markets”. I’ve written about all of these individually because they’re all screaming for (and worthy of) headline attention. Put ‘em all together and you get the deep division we see in the country, and an economy on the ropes.

And I know you feel it as well. Every personal reading we’ve given as of late has been greatly affected by the alignments mentioned above. No one escapes the collective energy. Some are just better prepared. That goes for Ariel and I as well. Which is why we meticulously check and interpret our own “astro weather station”. We’re part of the collective, too. Navigating Civil War 2.0, and the inevitable economic collapse.

Early in 2025 it became clear (in a very Saturn conjunct Neptune way) that silver was sitting at the point where two non-negotiable realities (Saturn) were about to collide. On one side, silver is an industrial material with very specific properties that cannot be substituted. At least not in a cost-effective way. It’s the best electrical conductor known, superb thermal conductivity, anti-corrosive, and it’s now embedded everywhere from solar panels and EVs to high-density AI server farms. On the other side, it is a monetary metal people reach for when they stop believing fiat’s (very Neptunian) paper promises. Those two roles are no longer politely asking permission and taking turns. It’s more like they’re in a cage match. Industrial demand has been running way ahead of mine supply for years, while monetary demand is rising in response to plummeting trust in the fiat financial system. Not just in the US, but world-wide (especially India and China). The result is simple: the real world is demanding more physical silver than the system can provide. Not just by a little, but by an unfathomable amount.

Now, to pour gas on the fire, there’s this: for decades, the gap between what physical silver actually exists in commodities vaults and what exists in paper IOUs has been managed with what fiat magicians call “derivatives”. Futures, unallocated accounts, swaps, and ETFs. All of it no more than a vast stack of IOUs that allowed the price of silver to be steered by “paper and screen digits” in New York and London. That charade works when few entities ever asked for actual metal. Same way that bank work (until they don’t) on fractional reserve lending. Hundreds of millions of make believe “ounces” could be (and were) dumped in minutes in futures markets, producing violent price crashes with no corresponding collapse in industrial demand. That pattern, combined with documented cases of market rigging by major bullion banks, makes it clear that the market has been manipulated to favor the banks for years.

That charade is unravelling in real time. Though you’d never know about it unless you’re a commodities specialist with a contrarian streak. Or a damn good astrologer. Because the propaganda being pumped by the banking cartel (which includes the mainstream media and government) is “everything’s fine with the economy!” “Don’t be a fool and chase speculative bubbles!”

Everything is not fine with the economy. You can see it in the astrology. And in the very basic ratio of the ‘cost of groceries’: your stagnant paycheck.

A quick thought experiment:
so there exists hundreds of IOUs for each actual physical ounce of silver that’s available. Who do you think is going to be left holding the bag when the music stops? When entities say, “I’ll cash in my IOU for the real thing, please.”
Hint: as my weather station loving grandfather liked to say, “possession is nine-tenths of the law.” If you do not hold it, you do not own it. That’s how this game ends. Hard assets in hand (Saturn) or paper IOUs (Neptune). The planets do not dictate, but they do compel. Navigation means utilizing the winds. How you utilize those winds are what we call “free will”.

Mundane chart for 2/17/26 at 6 AM central. Solar eclipse at 4 Aquarius 36, square Uranus.

US chart for 2/17/26, midnight GMT

I can’t think of a more appropo, late 3rd house Saturn-Neptune scenario. Sitting as they are, shoulder to shoulder, and sextile the US Pluto return in the 2nd. Sextile as well to the US 3rd house-ruling Uranus in Taurus, in the 5th house of “markets”. Which is, of course, forming a trine right back to Pluto. The material resources underpinning the US economy are getting rocked. The delusion of a fiat currency is being smashed in real time.

You can’t make this stuff up. But you can sure as hell see it in the stars. And if you’re grounded enough to feel the pulse of the collective you can “see” these things taking form before they happen. And act accordingly.

And what exactly is shaping up? Well, the system (the silver commodities exchange, to be specific) is now running headlong into its physical limits. A simple analogy of the situation: when you’re hungry for an actual hamburger, will an IOU for a hamburger suffice? No, you want the real thing. Even if you have to pay more for it now than if you bought an IOU for one next week.

Stripped of all the Neptunian financial jargon, that’s what’s happening now. More people want actual hamburgers because they see the supply running thin. And the new supply (the burger flippers) cannot keep up. Not with existing demand, much less the rapid increase in expected demand. Every day that goes by drains the available “on the shelf” burgers down even lower. Get ‘em while they’re hot, or don’t get ‘em at all.

Saturn is the hard asset; Neptune is the IOU. If you can’t get your hands on an actual hamburger, you’re going to go hungry. If a manufacturer can’t get their hands on actual silver, they go bankrupt. When demand increases and supply is stagnant, price increases. In this case, violently.

A growing premium is being attached to metal that actually exists, in jurisdictions that can actually deliver it. China and India, specifically. Bankers can play all the games they want with paper (Neptune), causing the silver “paper market” to swing violently in all directions. But at the end of the day, manufactures will pay whatever the going price is for actual metal (Saturn) for their manufacturing process. No matter what games are being played in the fantasy market.

A paper IOU for a hamburger that doesn’t exist won’t satisfy your hunger, no more that you can cool an AI data center with a paper IOU for silver. You cannot solder a circuit board with a futures contract. You cannot build a solar farm out of paper claims. At some point, the industrial and monetary worlds both reach for the same finite pool of metal and the hierarchy asserts itself. Violently, in this case. The factories, chip fabricators, and power grids will either get silver at whatever price they can, or they will go bankrupt. It really is that simple. Investors seeking a hedge are increasingly aware of that reality and are redeeming paper IOUs for actual metal and /or direct exposure to mining production. This “reset” is not mystical, though the cover up and propaganda campaign certainly is. It is, in fact, the slow, ugly process of re-anchoring (Saturn) the price of silver to physical demand, in a market that has promised far more metal than it can ever possibly deliver (Neptune).

Saturn has identified the system is irrevocably broken. And the financial fallout that ensues will make 2008 look like a financial penny arcade.

If you’re interested, you can watch the continuing fireworks playout in the silver market that will be set off by the following transits. That stellium that we had grouped in Capricorn last month is now breaking up into a one-after-the-other train of planets that is (1) from Aquarius in the US 3rd house of “routes, grids and comms”, squaring Uranus in Taurus, in the US 5th house of “markets”, then (2) conjunction to Rahu in mid

Aquarius, again in US 3rd, “routes” (among other things like the grid, communications, propaganda, etc.).

Know that Uranus is the swingman here as he rules Aquarius from that 5th house Taurus position. Know too that the US in a Rahu dasha. Meaning that Rahu is carrying a lot of weight in the US chart currently.

The dates listed here are the exact alignment. Alignments are like a tide that rolls in, peaks, then ebbs back out. One square bleeds into the next planet square; conjunctions bleed one into the next.

Mark these dates, keep an eye on the silver market, and get the popcorn ready.

And by the way, you can do this same process in your own chart. You’ll be amazed (but not surprised) at how these energies manifest themselves in your own life. If you see them coming ahead of time you can rig the sails to take advantage of the winds. Rather than just being blown around. The winds are going to blow either way.

2/6/26 - Venus square Uranus
2/11/26 - Mercury conjunct Rahu
The silver commodities market has been violently manipulated by the banking cartels since, well… the inception of the market. This is a massive rabbit hole to dive down. But if you’d like you can begin by exploring “JP Morgan spoofing”. You have to know the true rules of the game for the astrological energy to make sense. 2/6 and 2/11 correspond by heavy and coordinated banking cartel strikes on the paper market, forcing the price to plummet. And take a wild guess as to who is first in line buying the dip. If fiat currency is healthy, why would the issuer of said currency be hoovering up silver (and gold, too)?

2/13/26 - Sun square Uranus
2/17/26 - Venus conjunct Rahu
2/17/26 - New Moon (solar eclipse) at 4 Aquarius 36, square Uranus
These dates correlate to an extended period of Western market closure (holiday on 2/16). Coordinated strikes take time to plan and execute, so expect the 17th to be volatile. However, at this point, the cartel has fired most of the shots available to them. The scared and anxious have already been shaken out. They’ve shown their hand, and the physical market is bifurcating (there’s that word again) from the Neptunian delusion of an inherently rigged and untrustworthy paper system.

The Chinese spring festival / Chinese New Year runs from 2/16 - 2/23/26. Mars square Uranus (this is massive) also on 2/23/26. How will the Chinese market react to western banking cartels’ market manipulation? At some point (and maybe this IS that point?) the West will snap out of the delusion (Neptune) that the fiat system is on solid ground. And that psychological inflection point will be, “if the silver market is a farce, what else in the market is a farce?” The answer, obviously, is “all of it. It’s all a house of cards.” We’re at the point now where those who make the rules know that the endgame is near. And their reaction to that knowledge (scrambling for actual physical resources and secure supply chains) is the tell.

2/26/26 - Sun conjunct Rahu (this is massive, too!)
How do the West’s banking cartels respond to China’s post-holiday response? How do they respond to the reality (Saturn) that they’ve issued infinitely more IOUs for silver than what they actually have on hand? They do their part to make that blatantly obvious. They double down on dumping US treasuries and absorbing every bit of silver (and gold) they can get their hands on. The US 12th house of “secret enemies” (Scorpio) is ruled by a Capricorn Pluto on the cusp of the US second house (resources and values). That same Pluto that is currently enduring a Pluto return. That the economy is going to crash is easy to see in the US chart. We’ve been chirping about it for years. The question now is, what does the scramble out of the rubble look like?

And all of this is moving toward Mars conjunct Rahu on 3/13/26. Which begins a Serpent’s Coil period. And on towards a shift in the US dasha to Rahu/Ketu on 3/23/26, putting even more of a pronounced emphasis on the nodal axis (Emphasis on the US 3rd and 9th houses). and if you want a date for when the commodities market finally capitulates, this is it. Either way, it’s going to be a wild ride. And we’ll explore those alignments in more detail in our March podcast.

And lastly, this: the upcoming (partial) Solar Eclipse at 4 Aquarius 36 (a fixed sign) will be squaring Uranus in the financial/material (fixed) sign of Taurus. Taurus ruling Venus also exactly conjunct Rahu. Also activated through the nodal axis is (due to Ketu’s presence there) the fixed sign Leo (elites, rulers and royalty). Which necessarily begs the question: what’s going on with the remaining fixed sign, Scorpio? You mean the sign ruling the 12th house of secret enemies? The sign which is ruled by Pluto? The sign associated with debt? Notice the sound-bowl quality of these planets and their interactions? The fact of where Uranus is currently positioned and his being repeatedly struck over the next several weeks? Focus the lens and see what you see.

Epstein, ICE, the Super Bowl halftime show, Iran, Venezuela, and every other diversion is being brought out of the woodwork now to prevent you from noticing the sleight-of-hand that’s taking place in the economy. That astrological wind is blowing for everyone, whether or not you rig the sails to take advantage of those winds.

— Keith

If you love this and/or you have things you’d like to hear from us, please let us know.
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-Keith & Ariel

As an example, consider this powerful stellium transit that’s been in play since before we brought in the new year.

The chart above is for the 15th of January, 2026, but you can enter this date and roll it forward and back day-by-day to get a feel for planetary movement. Like watching a storm build in the distance, culminate, and finally dissipate and disperse.

When considering aspects to the Sun, there are two distinct positions planets can occupy when conjunct (within approximately 8 degrees of) the Sun. They are:

Cazimi - classically defined as the planet in question being within 17 arc-minutes of a direct conjunction. A term derived from an Arabic phrase meaning “in the heart of”. So a “cazimi” planet is one which lay “in the heart of the Sun”. Meaning that planet’s qualities have been absorbed by the Sun, and are now an inherent part of one’s purpose.

Combust - Outside of that 17 arc-minute sweetspot and out to approximately 8 degrees from the Sun, a planet is said to be “combust”. I say “approximately 8 degrees” because there are many factors that play into effective orb. Real world work with clients has lead me to an 8 degree span . Your mileage may vary, of course.

Whatever degree you do settle on, the tell is observing the qualities of the planet being overpowered by the Sun. Sometimes to the point that those qualities are (consciously, at least) absent. That quality is still present in the psyche, but there will be work required to get that quality to come out from “under the Sun’s rays”. It’s as if the Sun doesn’t realize that his purpose could be so much more enhanced by the contribution of the combust planet.

Note: as it relates to what the Sun represents, we differentiate between the terms “purpose” and “ego”. Because there is A LOT of confusion in the collective over what the term “ego” even means. The term has been greatly watered-down and has come to mean a kind of “I love me some me” quality. That particular quality is an outward expression of a whole host of psychological parts interactions that are another story for another day. EGO, in the Functional Astrology definition, is simply that part of our psyche that serves as the executive function within our psyches; first and foremost, this a Mercury function.

In real world astrological assessment there is always nuance to interpretation. Hold loosely to the “Cazimi = 17 minute from exact conjunction” definition. It serves as a starting point for assessment, nothing more. There is much to consider here. For example, a weaker Sun, say a Pisces or Libra Sun, is much more likely to absorb the qualities of a conjunct planet than say an Aries or Leo Sun. Other things to consider are the strength of the planet(s) forming the conjunction, any other aspects to the Sun / planet in question and whether (for Venus and Mercury) the conjunction is superior (placing the Sun between the earth and planet in question) or inferior (planet in question between the earth and Sun). These types of things matter greatly and will influence how this combination expresses in the real world, or in the psyche of a particular client.

Why 17 minutes, and not… I dunno, 18?
It’s a good question. It seems as though medieval Arabic astrologers landed on the idea that, as observed from earth, the Sun’s disc occupies 17 arc-minutes (radius) of the ecliptic plane. So anything within that span (applying or separating) is “absorbed” within the Sun’s disc; outside of that (up to approximately 8 degrees), is outside of the disc itself, but still consumed by the Sun’s glare. In real world astrological work, this seems to hold water. Again, if we’re holding loosely to the idea.

Let’s consider a quick mundane example as viewed through the lens of the US chart. Let’s briefly follow transit Mars’ combust /cazimi / combust conjunction path with the Sun. Find the house(s) where this is playing out for you personally and I bet you can find that aspect of your personal life having felt this influence in the past few weeks. And you’ll have an idea of what to expect for the next few weeks.

Note: to be sure, there is A LOT going on in the US chart currently. For more on that, check out our 2026 and January ‘26 forecasts. I am solely focusing on the Sun-Mars aspect here.

Now before we drop in, let’s consider a great Mars - Sun, combust & cazimi analogy: Brad Pitt’s Achilles (AKA, Mars) to Brian Cox’s Agamemnon (the Sun) in the movie, Troy. Or better yet, the story as it’s told in the Iliad.

Either way, the crux of the story is this: Agamemnon (King of Argos, and most powerful ruler of the city states that comprise ancient Greece) wants Achilles to serve him as a prized weapon under his banner. A warrior who will win wars for Agamemnon’s glory. Achilles rejects the idea as absurd, and purposely belittles the king in doing so. He mocks the idea of a king who never fights his own battles and later states that the Trojans never harmed him personally, that he will not be remembered as a tyrant’s mercenary. That is a well aspected Mars holding its own center. The warrior who knows his strength and keeps his autonomy, even while the king keeps trying to drag him fully into his orbit. Not a cazimi Mars… and for sure not combust, either.

Now let’s consider what a combust framing of the story might look like:

A combust Mars is what happens when Achilles, consumed in the Sun’s glare, loses that well aspected leverage. The warrior still swings the sword as skilled as ever, but the campaign no longer belongs to him. No longer autonomous, his courage, anger and initiative are swallowed by the king’s agenda. Outwardly, Mars still looks fierce, battles are still fought, but the terms are no longer Mars’ terms. The Sun decides when and why the war happens, and Mars is reduced to enforcement of the king’s will; he’s reduced to an (albeit fierce) pawn in the king’s glory scheme. The native with Mars combust often feels that same pattern in life: they act, they strive, they take risks, yet their drive keeps getting co-opted by their purpose. A combust Mars can be a wildcard and act completely out of character. Over or under react to a given situation. Or, we can see “toxic masculinity” expressed in this placement. Keep in mind that whether any planet’s actions are a “good” thing or a “bad” thing depends upon context and the client’s desired results. Calibrate on outcome. If the outcome is one that is counter to what the client desires AND we’ve identified Mars (in this case) as being ineffective, we know exactly what the issue is.

In the case of a mundane chart, the US as a particular example, each individual psyche comprising the collective Mars (armed forces and first responders) will have their own individual experience of that collective Sun-Mars interaction. And that will be determined by their own individual charts.

Ok, let’s now imagine how a Cazimi aspect might play out:

If Mars were cazimi in this analogy, that scene would play very differently. Achilles would still be Achilles, but instead of snarling at Agamemnon from the edge of camp, or being overpowered by Agamemnon, he would be seated in the war council at the king’s right hand. Agamemnon would not bark orders at him, he would ask, “How do we take this city?” and then adopt Achilles’ plan as his own. Mars is not overridden here, Mars is in the heart of the Sun. The warrior’s strategy and the king’s purpose are fused into a single intention. In a chart, that looks like a life where drive and purpose are tightly aligned, where the person’s way of fighting becomes central to, and supportive of, their purpose rather than a combust situation where they are continually at odds with their own purpose. For instance, maybe a perpetual “short fuse” temperament hobbles someone’s Aquarian, “team player” purpose.

With that analogy in mind, let’s look at the current interplay between transit Sun and Mars, through the lens of the US chart.

• Mars first went combust the transit Sun back in early December, 2025, at approximately 10 Scorpio, in the first degree of the US 12th house. At this point we can say the US’s purpose is, pick your term: blind to, overpowering, deaf to… the qualities of Mars. Both Mars’ “good” and “bad” qualities. A planet’s being combust isn’t necessarily a “bad” thing… it’s just A thing. Accurate interpretation requires an open, non-biased, non-judgemental approach.
  
  Now, from a 30-thousand foot view, we can say the US’s purpose, with a natal 7th house, Gemini Sun, revolves around alliances, treaties, and dealing with open enemies. The 7th house IS the cosmic mirror; the projection field. Natal Mars occupies the first degree of Gemini in the US chart, but resides in the 6th house, representing the armed forces and, domestically, “first responders”. National Guard, border patrol and ICE? Yep. CIA, FBI, NSA and the like? Yep, them, too. Now, without turning this into a political discussion, I’m sure you can see the predicament of military and first responders being utilized in ways and in circumstances that might not be clearly defined. That is the nature of a Mars combust. Especially so (as in the case of the US) of a Mars traversing the already murky waters of the 12th house; the house of “undoings”, “institutions” (NGOs?) and “hidden enemies”.

• Mars then enters a cazimi stage late on January 8th and remains so until early on January 11th. So there is a brief window of time where Mars is invited into the “inner circle”. Maybe the military’s top brass actually feel as though their recommendations are taken to heart. I don’t know as I’m not privy to that inner circle. But what we can say is that during these couple of days there is a congruence between the US Mars qualities and the US purpose.

• Things get dicey again following the 11th, as the US purpose attempts once more to ride roughshod over the US martian expression. By this time Mars, Sun, and the rest of the stellium have marched into late Sagittarius and the US 1st house. Let’s for a moment imagine there is confrontation with Iran in the next few weeks. I’d be willing to bet that whatever that action happens to be is not the option desired by the military’s top brass. And likely not the one that was agreed to during the 8th - 11th span.

• After the first week of February, we exit the combust/cazimi interactions between the Sun and Mars. At that point, we resume “normalized” Mars-Sun interactions.

Again, there is A LOT going on in the US chart (and, your chart), than just combust and cazimi Mars. I mean, we’ll have (and have had, recently) Venus, Mercury and Pluto in the same combust/cazimi situation. The only generalization we can make is that the US Sun (its purpose) is in a period of flexing on these other parts of the overall US psyche. All of that while in opposition to transit Jupiter. That, and we could do an extensive forensics on the US’s purpose as described by that 22 Gemini in the 7th house potion. Including the aspects. Same with natal Mars.

Free of teasing out all of these individual aspects in your own chart (let us do that) what you can do now is simply find where transit Sun is in your chart, and find what house the Sun is occupying. The Sun is the focal point of astrological energy for the next few weeks. That house (and the one opposite it) are currently being rocked. Is it helpful to dive into all the planetary nitty gritty? Absolutely. The more you know about how the astrological weather is affecting you, the better prepared you can be to buffer the effects. Or better yet, rig the sails to take advantage of the winds.

And sometimes it’s sufficient to grab the low-hanging fruit and focus on that. Remember that action on one small piece of information is better than no action taken on a mountain of information. Find that transit Sun in your chart, set your sails, and navigate that best course.

Curious as to how powerful a personal reading can be? Book yours now.

⸺Keith

Astrology, being the interpretive art that it is, demands that meaningful interpretation be both a left, and right-brained phenomena. That is to say, all left and no right produces a kind of Spock-like, data only, spreadsheet analysis akin to what a well trained AI SOP might produce. Completely blinded to any black swan events that are the true needle movers in life.

With too much right-brained interpretation, though, you get the kind of divorced-from-reality psycho-babble that gives “the occult”, writ large, a bad name.

Our aim then, with Functional Astrology, is to find, as the Daoists would say, the middle way. Feet planted firmly on the ground even as we cast our eyes to the heavens. As above, so below. The trick is in the weaving together of these two modes of interpretation.

It is with this in mind that I look to January 18th, 2026, as the potential cracking point for the US economy. At some point in the future, when we attempt to pull the threads on what caused the financial system’s unraveling, we’ll look to this period as the hinge point.

Take a gander at the mundane chart for January 18th, 2026:

Now, map that over to the US chart…

On the interpretive side we see a New Moon together with transit Pluto, Mars, Venus and Mercury all camped on the US’s natal Pluto. That’s a once every 248 year Pluto return, together with a wrecking crew of additional planetary firepower on the cusp of the US 2nd house. That is, the repository of the nation’s values. And the nation’s financial system is a subset of that.

And, as Pluto is the bulldozer that levels the old so that the new can be rebuilt (as explained, here), our financial system has no other option but to be remade. What remains to be seen is whether or not that will be done swiftly, skillfully, and with the least amount of collateral damage. Or, if a colossal financial trainwreck will ensue.

Astrological energy can be compared to a rushing river. You can either acknowledge the energy and work with the flow, or try to work against it and be swamped. That the nation’s financial system (along with its values writ large) are going to be upended is, in my mind at least (and thanks to the Pluto return), a foregone conclusion. How the nation navigates that transition is another story. History shows (unfortunately) that collectives rarely navigate wholesale change with peace, ease and flow. So take that into account if you’re planning ahead.

But let’s dig a bit deeper: if a crash is imminent (and I believe it is), how might we (1) prepare for it and, (2) actually profit from it?

First, let’s look at Saturn (the Lord of structure, and the patron of hard, cold reality) in his ongoing Texas-cage-match tango with the Lord of deception, obfuscation and delusion ⸺ Neptune. The last time Neptune transited this portion of the zodiac was during the era of the (first) Civil War. Including the pre-war run-up and the worst of the reconstruction era. For more on the severe bifurcation that comes from this pairing, see this piece. But why it matters, and specifically so when the focus is on the nation’s financial system, is this: the constant push-pull between legitimate financial structure and reporting and, well… outright lies, manipulation and a system built on fantasy.

And it’s good to remember at this point that Pluto is, in addition to being the Lord of transformation, is too, the Lord of wealth. An underworld wealth (including metals) that is guarded and hidden, such as it is, by abject terror. Get beyond the gates of that terror and what we have is access to that unimaginable wealth. Few have the wherewithal to see it through to that point, though. For his part, Pluto is more than eager to share that wealth with those who traverse his realm… psychologically intact.

Something to keep in mind during this period. Because the collective seems to be anything but “psychologically intact”.

Back to Neptune’s influence in the financial shenanigans of the times: Ariel and I ascribe to the truism of “calibrating on behavior” in assessing our clients’ progress. In other words, no matter what the client believes to be true about their current state, their actions prove the point. Same is true with the financial system. That is, the only way to actually know the financial truth of the matter is to reverse engineer what is actually taking place.

Problem is, the financial reporting at the highest levels ⸺ and especially so as it pertains to silver (we’ll get to that in a bit) is utter Neptunian delusion. Some of it is wishful, utopian thinking. Most of it, though, is calculated deception.

I hate to put it that bluntly, but these are the times ⸺ Neptune being at home in Pisces and all ⸺ we are currently living in. You either work with the rushing river or you drown in the same.

So we have an entire system on the verge of collapse, and financial reporting that is, at best, obfuscated and, at worst, total fabrication. That JP Morgan Chase can incur a $920 million fine as a “cost of doing business” (see this article), for blatant metals market manipulation ought to set off one’s feet-on-the-ground spidey senses.

Now, where might the first domino in the pending financial collapse originate? Because if we know that we might be able to (1) protect ourselves from inordinate loss, and (2) maybe even end up on the positive side. And for that, we look over to Uranus (the totally unexpected, the Promethean fire) in Taurus, the sign of “tangible value”. And if we do a little “feet on the ground” analysis, and look to what tangible, value-laden commodity might be ripe for out-and-out manipulation, and that would perfectly play the role of upending a house-of-cards financial system, we look to silver.

Now I want to be perfectly clear here: I am speaking about actual, physical silver. Silver in hand. Heavy and cumbersome, actual silver. Any paper commitment, IOU, contract or otherwise, when push comes to shove, will be worthless.

And what I am saying is, push is going to come to shove on this. Saturn will see to it; the bill always comes due. And Pluto and Uranus will see to it as well. My intent here is not to get into the financial weeds (No 1 does a great job on specifics of this, if you’re so inclined). My intent here is to point out the astrology of what’s going on, and to suss out a clear indication of how things might shake out. And really, the only question left in my mind is this: does Neptune, at home and bolstered in Pisces, carry enough obfuscation energy to overcome Saturn’s demand for harsh-reality exactitude?

I don’t think he does. He’s too overpowered by the Pluto, Uranus and Saturn tag-team. And silver’s having more than doubled in price over the last year is indicative of that.

But more to the point, the way in which silver is traded as a commodity ⸺ how it is leveraged and traded in the paper markets ⸺ is set to expose the entire financial system as the house of cards that it is. The bottom line being that there is not enough physical silver in financial institutions to cover the paper IOU float. Much less the actual physical silver required to manufacture things like solar panels and soaring AI infrastructure.

In my mind, this is the first domino to fall. Followed shortly by the hard-reality exposure (Saturn) of the financial system in total. A system backed by… well, nothing. It’s a mirage of wealth that is founded on nothing but a Neptunian, paper promises.

The thing to remember during this time is that hard assets are real. They are Plutonian wealth. Paper, when push comes to shove, is worthless. And silver, for a multitude of reasons that constitute the “financial weeds” I won’t go into here, is uniquely poised to be the flashpoint in this (pending, for the moment), financial dumpster fire.

Forewarned is forearmed. Hold center in the chaos, and plan accordingly.

⸺ Keith

Saturn, having turned direct on November 27th, is now moving toward making another direct (and exact) conjunction with transit Neptune, who will himself turn direct on December 11th. The two will meet again (an exact conjunction) on February 20th, 2026 at 6 Pis 30, very near the cusp of the US 4th house of “homeland”. Remember that these two powerful entities have absolutely nothing in common. And the chaos and “no middle ground” you feel raging in the collective is, in large part, a direct result of this clash.

Saturn demands boundaries and structure to borderless and boundaryless Pisces and Neptune. And Neptune ruled Pisces offers no solid ground to support those Saturnian demands, as the primary positive contribution Pisces/Neptune is focused on the development of compassion; compassion as exhibited in the capacity to feel into the grief, sorrow and suffering of others, and to abnegate self — completely, if necessary — in the alleviation of those afflictions. An alien proposition indeed to a maladjusted Saturn.

The shadow side of any planet is can be difficult to deal with. But the shadow side Saturn and Neptune are particularly heinous. Especially so when in contact with each other. A maladjusted Saturn can twist and contort the dreamy, Neptunian fog into an absolute nightmare of psyops and psychological control. And Neptune can so thwart any sense of structure and boundary under the guise of a utopian vision to the point of self-annialation.

The fact of the matter is though, that Saturn and Neptune need one another to pull each more toward the center of the road. Both Pisces and Neptune have a knack for getting lost in a legitimate desire for expanded & altered states of consciousness. But boundaries (Saturn) and a mature and developed sense of self are essential for the final and most mature teachings of Pisces and Neptune. One manifestation of an “easy” aspect between these two is an incredible and profound wisdom. The ability to “hold center in the chaos”. That, however, is not the current aspect (or state) in which these two find themselves.

Another example: Ariel and I always say that meaningful integration (Saturn) following a psychedelic journey (Neptune) is a non-negotiable. Otherwise, you get the very Neptunian phenomena of “journey hopping”, which is just psuedo-spiritual excuse for what it really is — addiction. And the very Neptunian complete dissociation that comes from that. Any healing spiritual or psychological advancement is then rendered moot. Do the hard work that Saturn demands, though and, literally, all things are possible. Addictions dropped, lifelong traumas eliminated, and chronic, “untreatable” conditions vanquished. That’s the power of an well-functioning Saturn-Neptune relationship.

Unfortunately that’s not what we see currently in the collective.

When these two meet again, they’ll do so with increased powers at their disposal. Neptune is at home in Pisces; Saturn is at home in the particular Lunar Temple in which they’ll square off. So expect the intensity of the battles between the extremes in the collective to increase even further. Left (Neptune) vs Right (Saturn), Communism/Socialism (Neptune) vs Capitalism (Saturn), the military (Saturn) vs the “Narcoterrorism” of Neptune… and just about every other polarity extreme in between. If it feels like the country is being pulled apart at the seams, well… it’s because it is.

And wherever this conjunction falls in your personal chart indicates where you, too, are being pulled apart at the seams.

The question is, will you be pull apart? Or will you expertly “hold center in the chaos”?

Between now and the next full conjunction on 2/20/26 is a great time to get organized and structured and create systems to help you stay that way through 2026, as Saturnian energy will be slipperier and a lot harder to channel once he leaves the current (and one of his 3 “home base”) Lunar temple, (Mid-May, ‘26). So it’s ideal to leverage Saturn’s strength now, and attempt to balance these energies while you can. Otherwise, the fog of a powerful Neptune in his home turf will envelope you.

As Saturn applies once more to Neptune, these two planetary energies bring extreme tension between reality and idealism. Saturn represents order, boundaries, and structure, while Neptune symbolizes dreams, illusions, and the dissolution of borders and boundaries. Together, they catalyze a period where societal structures and collective ideals are not only reevaluated, but (as we see playing out in the US currently), vehemently battled over.

This conjunction, coupled with the US Pluto return (financial collapse/remaking), Chiron return (re-exposure of the core wound), and Uranus in Taurus (very near a Uranus return) are setting the baseline for the collective turmoil being experienced now. This heightens the confusion and hard-line battles around national and personal boundaries, national borders, the financial/economic system dysfunctioning, and the very essence of what America stands for. As beliefs, ideologies, and traditional systems undergo extreme scrutiny (many of those systems will be obliterated completely), the collective will feel the sting of the path forward being trod over shifting sands; less certain, and more nebulous, than ever before. Few are currently alive today who have endured such a precarious time as this. And of those who do remain we pay them no heed. Opting instead for the the 24/7 dopamine drip of the “bread and circuses” of the always on, digital landscape.

Don’t be surprised if the great splintering you’re now witnessing becomes a permanent bifurcation. That is, one faction moving bravely and boldly into the unknown future, while others remain frozen in the thrall of an archaic, no-longer-functioning past. It’s tough to imagine such a happening, and yet it is clearly written in the stars.

—Keith

Neptune is the planet of the ethereal realms. He presides over delusion and the fog of fantasy. Neptune dissolves the hard edges so that we can perceive the hidden, underlying patterns we normally miss. In the same move, though, he erases the clean distinctions we need to formulate a useful, objective reality. The art is in learning how to keep a firm tether on reality, even while plumbing for the pearls only found in the depths.

Neptune offers the unique ability to see behind the veil. The problem being, of course, that the view is very often way too much for the psyche to handle. And so, Neptune offers the other choice as well: the ability to completely duck the truth; to opt instead for the utopian (or dystopian) fantasy of your own making.

Morpheus is the perfect example of the Neptunian archetype. How many of us would actually, of our own volition, would choose the red pill?

And too, Neptune encourages (and hones to a fine edge) the skill of self-delusion. The difference between what you tell yourself you’d do in a certain situation… and what would actually go down. As Jordan Peterson so famously (and accurately) riffed, if you think that you’d have been the one to stand up to authority in Nazi Germany and not load the cattle cars, you’re terribly mistaken.

That’s Neptune in action. The ability to enchant an entire population.

In contrast, the Greek warrior poet, Archilicus, channeled Saturn when he said, “We do not rise to the level of our expectations, we fall to the level of our training.”

He knew Neptune well. And he knew what was required to counter his trance of self-delusion.

That rift you see between these two gods? It’s the same rift you feel in the country right now. Because Neptune is currently in a protracted cage match with his arch nemesis, Saturn. Saturn being the grand architect of a world hard-chisled out of limitations. He being the governor of time, jurisdiction, rank, and the dull but necessary work of maintenance. Saturn is the grind of Sisyphus; budgets must balance, borders must be patrolled. Contracts require signatures and the bill always comes due.

Neptune governs longing, myth, sympathy, credulity, and the powerful currents of collective feeling. Neptune is the utopian dream. Where Saturn erects a hard boundary, Neptune dreams of a borderless unity. Where Neptune would flood the land with milk and honey, Saturn asks, “who pays for the party”?

Neptune is the Marxist utopia; Saturn is Ayn Rand, Atlas Shrugged, and Austrian School economics.

The last time these two met, the Berlin Wall came down, the eastern Bloc crumbled, and the Communist (Neptune) Soviet experiment was put on life support. Two years later, Saturn’s Capitalism read the USSR her last rights.

And the time before that? It was the early 1950s, and Senator Eugene McCarthy had become a tireless crusader against the scourge of Communism in America. In a period that has been commonly referred to as the “Red Scare (and as chairman of the Senate Permanent Investigation Subcommittee), Senator McCarthy conducted hearings on Communist subversion in America, reminiscent of the Salem Witch Trials.

When Saturn and Neptune meet, the reverberations rock both the collective, and (depending on your chart) the individual. And we can see this pattern playing out again in the US. The old Marxist dream (Neptune) never dies, it simply finds new expressions as a counter to Capitalism (Saturn) run amuck. Only now this meeting is really hitting to the core of our existence as a nation. Right on the doorstep of the nation’s 4th house cusp.

We see it, too, in the new law-and-order crackdown (Saturn) on the drug trade (Neptune) that features Venezuela, who is currently in the US crosshairs, and Mexico, who is soon to follow.

And the cartels themselves are an unholy mix of these two adversaries. Neptunian as they are in their obfuscation, fear, rumor, and delusion. Yet Saturnian in their ruthless enforcement of rules inside their own militant (Saturn) hierarchies.

ICE and deportation? Saturn. Porous borders and all are welcome? Neptune. Saturn asks “who pays for it all?” and Neptune replies, “the rich!”. Saturn asks for exactitude in what defines “rich” and who, prey tell, is appointed top dog to administer and oversee such things? From Marx to Stalin, Mao to Pol Pot, Neptune has yet to produce a viable answer.

Every 36 years these two clash, face to face. And the world endures their battle.

When this conjunction is handled well, the fog does not swallow the lighthouse. The beam keeps turning, reliable as a metronome. We start to recognize which parts of our systems are brittle because we never let mercy in, and which parts have turned to mush because we refused to measure them, or expect nothing short of excellence. We accept that people are moved by symbols as much as statutes and we design with that truth instead of sneering at it. We accept that feelings do not balance a budget and we stop pretending that they do.

—Keith

Every few years a headline like the recent, “Your Zodiac Sign Is 2,000 Years Out Of Date” by the NY Times, claims, between exasperated hyperventilations, that your zodiac sign is ⸺ gasp! ⸺ wrong.

What’s really happening here is much simpler, and less trauma inducing: there are two very distinct ways to anchor and interpret the zodiac. One is abstract, and ties the zodiac to the northern hemisphere seasons. This is known as the tropical zodiac, and is the default astrological system of choice in the west.

The other system anchors the zodiac (and its interpretation) to the actual stars. For instance, the fixed star Spica marks the leading edge of the constellation Libra. The fixed star Antares marks the middle of Scorpio. This is known as the sidereal system, and it’s the system most prevalent in the east. Functional Astrology, for instance, is a sidereal astrological system. As is Vedic astrology.

If an abstract zodiac sounds strange to you, I feel your pain. In the formative years of my astrological studies, it did to me as well. Why would anyone want to work with an abstraction (the tropical system) of something that can be clearly observed (the sidereal system)? I mean, with just some rudimentary star gazing savvy, I can look to the heavens and clearly spot, say, the fixed star Aldebaran, otherwise known as the “eye of the bull”. Why? Because it is quite literally the eye of the bull that forms the constellation Taurus. Makes perfect sense. Observe the Moon being nearby that point and I know the Moon is in Taurus. I can see her there, with my own eyes.

Unless that is, you’re using the tropical system. Because under the tropical system, we are told that Aldebaran ⸺ the eye of the bull ⸺ is in… Gemini?

Confused? Yeah; so was I. And for a very long time. So much so that I abandoned my studies for quite a while. This was (for me) pre internet age, and at the time, Vedic astrologers, or any astrological information aside from the popular western/tropical version, was hard to come by.

And, too, I didn’t even know what to ask; I didn’t even know two distinct systems existed. It never occurred to me that a system would completely abstract what was so clearly and readily seen in the sky. All I had to go on was a cryptic “the signs are not the constellations” statement. Though no one I asked could ever explain exactly what the hell that actually meant.

Let’s tap the brakes for just a moment. To understand what’s really going on here, consider that we have three distinct ways to divvy up the night sky:

1. Constellational: the literal “star pictures” that the Sun, Moon, and planets pass through as they travel the ecliptic “highway”. They’re uneven in size, and their boundaries are not distinct. Each constellation represents a cannon of cultural myth that describes the nature of the energy found in this area of the zodiac.

2. Sidereal: takes that same sky path and divides it into twelve equal 30° segments, anchoring key points to the stars. As an example, Spica marking the leading edge of Libra; Antares marking the midpoint of Scorpio. This 12-fold zodiac is then further subdivided into 27 (or 28, depending on lineage) factions that further fine-tune the energy expression of that part of the zodiac.

3. Tropical: the same twelve equal segments, but those segments are anchored to the northern hemisphere seasons by fixing 0° Aries to the spring equinox point. Regardless of where the equinox actually falls, and what is actually observed in the night sky. Note: in actuality, the spring equinox currently falls at approximately 5 degrees Pisces.

Now to understand how the tropical system has drifted so far afield from the observable (sidereal) reality, we need to understand an astronomical phenomena known as Precession of the Equinox.

Precession: a quick explanation

Like a spinning top, the earth wobbles ever so slightly as it rotates about its axis. And because of that wobble, the spring equinox point (along with the fall equinox and summer and winter solstice points) drift about 1° every 72 years against the background stars.

This is a natural, expected and observable phenomena. It’s been known and tracked for thousands of years. And it doesn’t sound like much, but over large swaths of time, that drift really adds up. To the point now where the tropical zodiac is approximately 25 degrees divorced from the stars.

The earth takes about 26,000 years to complete just one “wobble”. This is why Polaris wasn’t always (and won’t always be) our North Star. Within a 26,000 year span, Polaris, Vega and Thuban take turns as the designated “north star”. And in that same 26,000 year span, the spring equinox point (together with fall equinox, and the summer and winter solstice points) will have made one complete round through the zodiac.

The New York Times piece cited at the onset of this article includes a great visual of this phenomenon. That alone is worth the aggravation of the sign-in.

Now, if you lock the zodiac to the equinox (as with the tropical system), your 0° Aries point remains frozen in time, while the actual observable constellations shift over the centuries. This is how you end up with absurdities like the “eye of the bull” ending up in Gemini, and “the heart of the lion” being in Virgo. If you lock that point to the stars (as with the sidereal system), your zodiac remains true to the actual sky, and the equinox point moves, due to precession, relative to that point.

In fact, that’s the crux of the whole tropical - sidereal disagreement in one sentence: Where do you pin the spring equinox point? To the seasons… or to the actual stars? To an abstraction… or to what is actually present in the sky?

So, what’s the practical outcome of all of this?

Well, there’s a very high likelihood, for instance, that your Sun sign is different in the sidereal placement system. That is, the constellation that actually served as the backdrop to your Sun on the day you were born is very likely different from what you’ve been told. If you thought you were a Scorpio, for instance, chances are, you’re actually a Libra. In fact, your entire chart will shift by approximately 25 degrees. And in an art where a single degree matters, where we go through great pains to rectify a chart to the minute, the difference of 25 degrees is (pun intended) astronomical when it comes to interpreting that chart.

Is that a big deal? Well, I guess it depends on your outlook. To me this is a huge deal. Because I believe in the sanctity and infinite intelligence of the Universe. And the Universe has provided me with a perfect sky map; all I have to do is walk outside on any given night and observe it, and from that observation, accurately interpret it. Why would I ever refer to an abstracted map? Especially one I know to be 25 degrees divorced from reality?

At its core, the tropical approach violates Natural Law. That is, the basic, governing principles of our reality.

Natural Law defines “how reality actually works”. It’s the built-in rules of nature that don’t change just because we wish them to be neat and tidy and serve our demands. Or because we don’t understand them. Gravity, for instance, is a factor in our lives, whether we like it or not. In astrology, that means we read the sky as it really is: stars stay put relative to each other, planets move in regular cycles, and the slow wobble of Earth (precession) shifts our view over centuries. We align our charts to that observable sky (sidereal), not to a concocted, sleight-of-hand. No matter how well intentioned the concocted system might have been when it was derived. It’s faulty because it simply does not reflect observable reality. In computing we would call this a “garbage in, garbage out” issue.

In Hermetic terms, Natural Law says patterns repeat: what happens above echoes what transpires below; everything moves in predictable cycles; causes have effects; opposites define each other; and life carries both “active” and “receptive” forces. You don’t have to believe it; you can simply observe it. The point is to work with the grain of reality, not against it.

In the end I don’t have a problem, per se, with tropical astrology. Or those who practice it. To each his own. But calling it “northern hemisphere seasonal divination” would be a much more factual description of the practice. And would let newcomers know, more accurately, what they’re getting into.

I guess what I do have a problem with is lack of clarity. I mean, if there were a branch of the I Ching that used a loaded yarrow stick or coin that consistently skewed what was actually rolled, wouldn’t you want to know that before committing to learn the practice? I mean, you might still decide that that version of the I Ching was your jam. And if so, you’d have made that choice with eyes wide open. Awesome!

I just feel like most tropical astrologers have no idea of the system’s deviation from reality, where it came from and why it was adopted in the west. At least that’s been my experience.

The tropical zodiac is “justified” by its in-the-know proponents by virtue of northern hemisphere seasonality. That is, Cancer (ruled by the Moon) and Leo (ruled by the Sun) are “luminous” because of summer’s peak of light and heat. And, two thousand years ago (when the tropical system emerged), due to the phenomenon of precession, that was true. 0 degrees Cancer (or thereabouts) did indeed mark the summer equinox in the northern hemisphere. Those points though are marching later and later into the northern hemisphere’s summer season. The summer solstice now occurs at approximately 5 degrees Gemini. In another 400 years or so, that point will shift into Taurus. That’s just measurable and observable astronomical reality.

What tropical astrology needs is a cleaner first principle.

If the claim is “astrology reflects the heavens,” or, in Hermetic terms, “as above, so below”, then the simplest discipline is to call the sky as it is. No need for abstraction; Regulus (the heart of the lion) is obviously in Leo; Aldebaran is (obviously) in Taurus. Sirius rises helically when it actually does at your latitude. You can actually observe this with your own eyes to be true. Sidereal keeps those statements literally true by construction.

Again, I’m all for people practicing whatever form of divination they choose. I’m just not so sure that many tropical astrologers actually know the extent and nature of the abstractions baked into their system of choice.

So, how did the west end up with an abstracted zodiac?

Well, there’s a long history as to how the west came to use the abstracted zodiac. I’m actually writing an in-depth book on that now. And I have to say, the history around this is fascinating.

But the long and the short of it is this: in the 2nd century CE, a highly influential Greek astronomer and astrologer (at that time they were one in the same), Claudius Ptolemy, chose to define the zodiac by the northern hemisphere’s seasons. And in doing so, equated 0 degrees Aries to the spring equinox, regardless of where the point actually fell due to precession. And, as no part of Ptolemy’s world existed south of the equator, he made no mention of what to do with this static zodiac when the seasons are flipped. His astrology worked, in as much as it did, in the known Greek empire. Nothing else existed in the Greek mind of that time.

Why Ptolemy chose that route (other than political and philosophical expediency) is the subject of considerable debate; thus, the in-depth book on the subject. But in the end, the choice of an abstracted, seasonal-based zodiac has defined western astrology, for better or for worse, for two millennia.

In fact, this sidereal-tropical split was part of a greater east-west philosophical divide that has only grown wider since the Greeks came to power. Astrology is just one ramification of that divide.

Because meanwhile, in India, astrologers kept the same star anchors (sidereal) and have adjusted as need be for precession. They (as do I) interpret the sky exactly as it is; no abstractions. Like the ancient (and modern day) Vedic astrologers, I see no need to abstract what I can clearly see with my own eyes.

And this, in a nutshell, is why if you go to a sidereal astrologer (like me and Ariel), you’ll get a completely different reading than you would from a tropical astrologer.

At the end of the day, astrology, like any divination practice, can be put to the real-world test. Your system of choice either produces real world results, or it sputters, falters and produces results no better than chance alone. Either way, test the system on what you care about (prediction, event timing, psychology, relocation). Pick the map (and the divination system) that proves itself in your hands. Experience always proves the point. I’ve got nothing to gain or lose by someone choosing tropical astrology. I’d just rather them choose it deliberately, knowing how and why that particular system came to be.

Ultimately the deciding question is simple and philosophical: do you want to utilize a zodiac that’s reflective of the actual sky… or one that’s abstracted, and anchored to the seasons of the northern hemisphere?

Everything else flows from that.

In the meantime, let us help YOU navigate life’s twists and turns; book a reading with us today. It will change your life.

⸺Keith