Originally published in The Mountain Astrologer, Oct-Dec 2021 All transits invite us to grow further into ourselves, each planet in its own way. Jupiter, for example, motivates by giving us a green light forward; Mars motivates us with a boost of adrenalin. Less comfortably, Saturn motivates us by showing us what we could be, but are […]

Originally published in The Mountain Astrologer, Dec’18/ Jan’19 as Seeing the Big Picture: Working with the Transits of 2020 In the scope of one year, 2020, several important planetary cycles are launching. > On January 12th 2020, the Saturn-Pluto conjunction will reach exactitude, the standout transit in a line-up in Capricorn. > In December 2020, the […]

Originally published in The Mountain Astrologer,  Feb/Mar 2017 The opposition between Jupiter (understanding) and Uranus (shifts and shocks) will be asking Americans to get real in a new way this year. Worldwide, it will rattle complacencies. Starting in December ‘16, we saw an upswing of urgency against a backdrop of long-term crises. The confusion and chaos […]

Originally published in The Mountain Astrologer,  Feb/Mar 2017 With his progressed Sun moving into his first house (significant beginnings) and Jupiter trining his Sun/Uranus for most of 2017, Donald Trump’s electoral success makes astrological sense. This is the year of his Jupiter Return, a year to cash in on many fronts (2nd house). Cardinal Cross But it […]

Originally published in The Mountain Astrologer,  2015. What makes someone risk his personal security for a public goal? Some people seem fated to embody the big, difficult ideas with which their collective is struggling. Edward Snowden, for example, was leading a remarkably unremarkable life that exploded into something extraordinary. This happened after he leaked classified data […]

The US Pluto Return Originally published in The Mountain Astrologer,  2014. None of us will live long enough to experience a personal Pluto Return. It takes this planet around 250 years to cycle through the zodiac. But Americans will experience a Pluto Return collectively, in 2022, when this tiny clump of power reaches the degree of […]

Originally published in The Mountain Astrologer,  2016. In any given period, Saturn represents the status quo, while the outer planets represent threats to the status quo. When we track the key angles between these planets, we see the unfolding of humanity’s learning curve: its growth spurts, turning points and breakdowns. Such transits are an astrologer’s best […]

Occupy Wall Street Originally published in The Mountain Astrologer,  2011. Throughout 2011, astrologers have watched the Uranus and Pluto square approaching like a revolutionary advance guard.1 Everywhere in the world, infrastructures are crumbling in the face of this long-awaited transit. The epochal Arab Spring has segued into winter; the European Union threatens to break apart at […]

It was apparent right away that what happened on April 20th in the Gulf of Mexico was no ordinary oil spill. Within days, the disaster moved through several meaning changes in the public mind: from that of an accident brought on by the failure of a mechanical device, to that of an example of how government fails to regulate oil…

Money as taboo Pluto is the planet of taboos. How appropriate it is that the god of Hell is the governor of these festering energies, always in the atmosphere but rarely discussed honestly and directly. The danger attached to these ideas causes baroque mythologies to build up around them, a system of apologias which would provide a fascinating self-study if…