Hello
Weekly Hello
MONDAY, August 4 – SUNDAY, August 10
Hello!
Unprecedented is a word I have used on more than one occasion this year. And I am about to use it again. As I write this Hello, forming in the sky above is a rare alignment. Two Kites positioned in a way that create another configuration, a Mystic Rectangle, which is in turn augmented by a fourth alignment – a Cradle. To all intents and purposes, when you look at this five-pointed geometric pattern, it bears a resemblance to an open envelope. Link to my 12-Sign Video.
When several planets, including the outer planets, all resonate with each other, unprecedented developments are in the making. In my video on the full moon in Aquarius, I have talked about the significance of the astrology on global affairs, but, of course, these alignments will have an effect on each of us personally, depending upon how they connect with our natal charts.
You may like to think of this point of time as a period of awakening for humanity or you could view what happens as the outworking of destiny – individual and collective.
There’s not a lot we can do about the force of nature or the actions of leaders and governments, but we can be more conscious about the decisions we make and by being more aware, we will be expanding our consciousness. This is not a week for knee-jerk responses but to consider the effects of our actions further down the line and upon other people. And maybe some of us will feel that our time has come or that fate has led us to this moment.
In a way, there is nothing good or bad about this unprecedented configuration: it is what it is, and events to come will reflect its complex nature.
Onward and starward.
Details about my newly reconfigured Astrology Course- Here
Friday Bite
Astrology of the Week’s Main Global Events
by
Penny Thornton
Friday Bite 1 August 2025
Enough Already
“… Those children look pretty hungry to me. There’s real starvation, you can’t fake that.” Donald Trump, in response to Netanyahu’s opinion that “no one is starving in Gaza.”. 29 July.
“Wow! Canada has just announced that it is backing statehood for Palestine. That will make it very hard for us to make a Trade Deal with them. Oh’ Canada!!!” Donald Trump, 31 July.
“It’s the most truthful and easiest thing to say that Oct 7th in Israel was horrific and all hostages must be returned, but so is the genocide, humanitarian crisis, and starvation happening in Gaza,” Marjorie Taylor Greene, 28 July.
GROWING INTERNATIONAL OUTRAGE over the humanitarian crisis in Gaza is shifting the position of some of Israel’s closest allies. On Monday, Prime Minster Starmer announced that the United Kingdom would recognize the state of Palestine in September unless Israel takes “substantive steps” to end the “appalling situation” in Gaza.
Out of 193 countries in the UN, 147 already recognize the state of Palestine. In the last seven days, they have been joined by France, Great Britain, Canada and Portugal.
It seems, at last, as though the Israel-Gaza war could be drawing to an end, and it is certainly, according to the astrology, approaching a pivotal point.
On Monday, President Trump shortened his 50-day deadline to “ten or twelve days” for Moscow to seriously engage on a cease-fire. Three days later, he ramped up his threat to impose further sanctions on Russia. “Fifty days, it used to be 24 hours, it used to be 100 days…We’ve been through all this.” was all Sergey Lavrov, Russia’s foreign minister, had to say.
Seismic shifts of an altogether different kind were in evidence on Tuesday when an 8.8 magnitude earthquake occurred off the coast of Russia’s Kamchatka peninsula. As a result, tsunami warnings were issued and evacuations followed in Hawaii, Alaska, California and Japan. In the event, despite its force, there was no massive tsunami nor any major structural damage and no deaths.
Over recent weeks, the potential for a megaquake in the Ring of Fire, has been the subject of intense speculation by meteorologists, psychics and astrologers. Fears of a super-quake were almost certainly spawned by the Japanese artist behind the graphic-novel The Future I saw, who predicted a massive mega-quake in Japan on 5 July, 2025.
SINCE 21ST JUNE there have been more than 1,000 earthquakes in and around Japan, most of little consequence, but their frequency has supported the belief of a major earthquake to come.
And it came. Not on the fifth of July but the twenty-ninth.
You may remember in my Friday Bite (4th July) that I looked at the astrology for the fifth of July and decided there was not enough material to support the likelihood of a megaquake.
In my research into earthquakes, volcanoes and tsunamis there are some astrological factors that appear with some regularity, specifically full moons, lunar and solar eclipses (or the signatures of previous eclipses), the nodal axis on the angles, the outer planets on the angles or conjunct the Sun or Moon, and a certain degree area – 28 degrees of Gemini.
While this 8.8 magnitude earthquake did not occur on a full moon or a lunar or solar eclipse, it did occur with the Moon rising to the Ascendant, opposing the angular Saturn-Neptune conjunction and squaring Jupiter, which was about to culminate. And this year, the moment one outer planet is triggered, all three are triggered. The Saturn-Neptune conjunction is conjunct Scheat, the fixed star whose presence often coincides with watery catastrophes – tsunamis, typhoons, floods, seaquakes and shipwrecks, for instance. This same combination (Saturn, Neptune and Scheat) was rising as fires engulfed Los Angeles in January – the lack of water to put them out being a major contributory factor to the devastation.
What is also significant in regard to the Kamchatka quake is Venus, which on the day was on that sensitive degree of 28 Gemini.
I have no idea why 28 degrees of Gemini should appear with such regularity at the time of seismic events, but it does. One reason may be that it is opposed to the Galactic Centre at 27-29 degrees of Sagittarius.
Our solar system revolves around an even greater centre – the Galactic Centre. There is no definitive explanation as to its meaning, although some maintain it is a “cosmic gateway to spiritual wisdom, divine truth and expanded consciousness”, however, we may be on more solid ground by seeing it as a “sensitive area”, similar to the nodal axis, so that when planets and points and eclipses connect with it, an event of collective or personal significance happens.
Just for the record, Japan’s natal Moon is 28 degrees Gemini. And Japan is one of the most earthquake prone areas in the world.
I’m not sure that the threat of a seaquake/megaquake in the Ring of Fire is entirely over. Tuesday’s megaquake on the sea bed occurred in Russian waters, but that doesn’t mean the next one will. On 21 September there will be a solar eclipse at 29 degrees of Virgo, which is closely opposed to the Saturn-Neptune conjunction and Scheat, and squaring that sensitive 28th degree of Gemini. On and around this time the tectonic plates somewhere in the world may shift again.
And they will certainly shift in metaphorical terms.
ON NINTH AUGUST, there will be a full moon in Aquarius. While this full moon may not in and of itself have anything important to say, it is occurring at a time when an important alignment is presiding over events – two Kites form a rare Mystic Rectangle and Envelope configuration. Central to these two Kites are two oppositions: Mercury opposition Pluto and Mars opposition Saturn-Neptune.
As next week goes by, this configuration will grow stronger, reaching its maximum over the weekend.
The above chart of 9th August’s full moon is erected from the point of view of Tel Aviv, and I have ringed in black the connections which are being made by the various planets to the natal charts of Israel and Palestine. (A chart erected from the perspective of Gaza is the same.) On the 9th, Mars at 1 degree Libra will be opposing the Saturn-Neptune conjunction and Palestine’s natal Mars – an alignment that smacks of defeat and surrender, on the one hand, and, on the other, a reaffirmation of its commitment to a holy crusade against Israel. At the same time Mercury at 4 degrees of Leo (opposing Pluto) will be conjunct Israel’s Moon indicating a readiness to negotiate while reserving its right to carry out recent threats of even more punitive measures against Hamas, including annexing Gaza’s outer perimeter. Currently, Uranus is hovering over Palestine’s natal Jupiter, suggesting a sudden breakthrough to its benefit.
Full moons resonate with the theme of closure and completion, endings and beginnings. They also bring simmering situations to the bubble. Given these connections to the charts of both Israel and Palestine, together with the full moon’s power to bring about unity or separation, we can see why we are approaching a pivotal moment in this conflict.
It certainly looks as though there is a concerted effort by western and Middle Eastern countries to stop the suffering of the people of Gaza and end Hamas’s control of Palestine. And I believe we will find out how successful that effort will be on or near the ninth of August.
And since Trump’s new deadline to Russia to come to the negotiating table ends on the ninth of August, the war in Ukraine also appears to be at a pivotal point.
Friday Bite 25 July 2025
Summer of Discontent
“Those who foolishly sought power by riding the back of the tiger ended up inside.” President John F Kennedy in his inauguration address, 1961
What America is witnessing is a remaking of the American presidency into something closer to a dictatorship. Trump is enacting this change and taking advantage of its possibilities, but he is not the inventor of its claim to constitutional legitimacy. That project is the work of John Roberts [Chief Justice of the US Supreme Court]. Peter M Shane, The Atlantic 22 July
“Just to be clear: The director of national intelligence for the United States of America is making allegations against a former U.S. presidential candidate based on material from Russia’s intelligence services.” Heather Cox Richardson, Letters from an American
WHERE DO I begin. Over the course of the last eight days, the Sun has been drawing ever nearer to an opposition with Pluto, which is exact today. Pluto, the Lord of the Underworld and the planet of the deeps, is presiding over events that are mired in murk and threaten to emit noxious fumes when exposed to the light of day. I am, of course, referring to the Jeffrey Epstein affair which continues, despite Herculean efforts on the part of President Trump, his administration and the Supreme Court, to deflect attention elsewhere. So deep is the crisis that on Wednesday, during a press briefing at the White House, Tulsi Gabbard, Director of Intelligence, accused former President Obama of treason. Her evidence lay in a report published in 2020, during Trump’s first administration, which blamed the outgoing president for plotting a years-long coup against Donald Trump.
En France, President Macron is similarly attempting to disperse noxious fumes, first and foremost in the form of accusations that the First Lady, Brigitte, is a man. On Wednesday, the Macrons filed a lawsuit against right-wing influencer, Candance Owens, for her repeated allegations over the First Lady’s gender.
Not content with one controversy, on Thursday, Macron announced that France would recognize the state of Palestine as part of its commitment to a just and durable peace in the Middle East”. His statement comes at a time when anger mounts across the world at the deplorable plight of the Palestinian people in Gaza.
Also on Thursday, Jeremy Corbyn announced the formation of a new political party. The new party still has no name – Your Party was apparently simply a working title. Given that Mercury was retrograde at the time, such misunderstandings are par for the course.
IT IS SIX months since Donald Trump took office, and almost six months have passed from the new moon in Aquarius (29 January) to the full moon in Aquarius (9 August). So, we’re at a point of assessment. How far has the administration come in fulfilling its promises? Is it time to abandon the policies that have failed and begin a new, more successful (or controversial) chapter? Is it time to get rid of those who are deemed to have been the architects of failure and bring in a few new faces? Or is it time to celebrate the achievements, and to recommit to the same course?
President Trump was sworn in on a Sun-Pluto conjunction opposing Mars – a configuration acquiring more power by its position on the MC-IC axis. (Planets on angles assume greater significance.) In this opposition alone, we can see the many fierce battles that have occurred on the way to fulfilling the administration’s ambitious and extreme agenda. In a mere six months, the United States has morphed into a new version of itself that many of its global partners and friends do not recognize.
Among the many high points of the last six months (or low, depending on your opinion) the Trump administration has gutted the civil service, removed more than 100,000 jobs, shut down the Department of Education, sent the National Guard and the Marines onto the streets of Los Angeles to quell protests, closed USAID, bombed Iran, embarked on a programme of mass deportation and set about ending birthright citizenship. Leaders of foreign countries have been ambushed at press briefings in the White House and eye-watering tariffs placed on various nations.
According to The Hill, President Trump and the Republicans are in better shape than they were eight years ago; Trump’s approval rating is, on average, 45 percent. According to a July poll from Gallup, however, Trump’s approval rating has slumped to 37 percent. And judging by the millions of people who have poured onto the streets to protest the actions of the administration over the course of the past six months, a growing number of Americans are far from happy with the president and the government. Maybe a tad more than 37 percent.
At this six-month point, the Sun is now opposing Pluto – in fact, there was a new moon in opposition to Pluto on Thursday – and accordingly, events are challenging the president and his administration to prove their legitimacy. Thus, is it any surprise that Mr Trump should find himself embroiled in a controversy that could well dethrone him.
As I mentioned in last week’s Bite, in an effort to appease his MAGA supporters and produce information regarding Jeffrey Epstein’s affairs, President Trump asked Attorney General Pam Bondi to produce “any and all pertinent Grand Jury testimony subject to Court approval”. As expected, on Wednesday, a federal judge in Florida denied the request, writing, “The court’s hands are tied.”
Meanwhile, on Wednesday, the Wall Street Journal reported that Attorney General Pam Bondi had informed the president in May that his name appeared in Justice Department documents related to Jeffrey Epstein – a report dismissed by the White House as “fake news”. On the same day, a House subcommittee voted to subpoena the Justice Department for files in the sex-trafficking investigation into Jeffrey Epstein. Caught between a rock and a hard place (loyalty to Trump and his own members) Speaker Mike Johnson sent lawmakers home a day early for summer recess.
On Thursday, Todd Blanche, the US Deputy Attorney General, interviewed Epstein’s associate in Tallahassee, Florida, where she is serving a twenty-year prison sentence for sex-trafficking.
You see where I’m going. Ms Maxwell’s days in prison are numbered. One way or another.
A Moon-Jupiter opposition flanking the MC-IC axis places a dividing line between the eastern and western hemisphere of Ms Maxwell’s natal chart. All the planets and the lights occupy the western hemisphere, indicating a life largely influenced by circumstance. She epitomizes the poor-little-rich-girl.
Ghislaine was born on Christmas Day, three days before her fifteen-year-old brother was injured in a car crash. The crash left him in a coma for the remaining seven years of his life. In consequence. Ghislaine grew up as an emotionally neglected little girl. She had everything money could buy but no love or attention.
Her father, the late, disgraced newspaper mogul, Robert Maxwell, spoiled Ghislaine, yet he was the proverbial monster and certainly a narcissist. In an interview with a childhood friend, Eleanor Berry, nine-year-old Ghislaine was to say, “Daddy is really nice because he lets me choose the things he beats me with”.
Like so many abused children – not all, I hasten to say – Ghislaine shows many signs of sociopathic behaviour, which certainly explains her willingness to do pretty well anything for the man she loved, Jeffrey Epstein, who in turn used and abused her.
The Moon-Jupiter opposition is squared by Neptune, which reflects the rejection and abuse she experienced as a child. A similar astrological set-up is to be found in Princess Diana’s chart. And while Ghislaine is no Diana, she is a victim as indeed was Diana. Which is why, faced with the might of the powers-that-be ranged against her, a happy outcome is unlikely. Whether she is given a pardon or her case is overturned, her life thereafter will be precarious.
At this point in time, the Saturn-Neptune conjunction is squaring her natal Sun-Mars conjunction – a transit that will continue to be active until mid-2026 – so the jury is out as to whether this is a dream of freedom come true or a poisoned chalice.
I know what I think.