Friday Bite 13 June 2025

Mayhem

The angles of the charts of India and the crash of the Dreamliner are interconnected. The Moon at the time (three degrees Capricorn is within minutes of India’s Midheaven and part of a T-square (Moon opposition Jupiter, Mercury and MC – squaring Neptune, Saturn and the Descendant). If nothing else the astrology is underscoring the enormity of the incident in terms of India’s history. However, it may also have a larger meaning in that it is an external manifestation of far more explosive and dangerous forces gathering within.

This random, devastating event has come at a time when India is well on its way to becoming a super-power and exerting its influence on global affairs. (India has surpassed China to become the most populous country in the world, and its $3 trillion economy, already the fifth-largest, is growing at a faster rate than any other major nation.) However, it is also beginning a seven-year period of intense transformation, which could result in its becoming a fully-fledged a super-power to rival China, but the country could just as easily implode.

India’s MC-IC axis (3 degrees Capricorn-Cancer) and its Ascendant-Descendant axis (five degrees Aries-Libra) is the focus of the Neptune-Saturn conjunction. And since natal Uranus is 1 degree Cancer and conjoined to the IC, the Neptune-Saturn conjunction is squaring that too. Pluto at 3 degrees Aquarius is a hair away from its natal Sun and squaring its natal Moon. The recent “skirmish” with Pakistan is a warning of how easily the two countries could come to all-out war again and the Western Himalayan border between India and China is another potential flashpoint.

A MATTER OF hours after the crash of Air India flight 171, Israel struck Iran. Operation “Rising Lion” was chiefly aimed at Iran’s nuclear facilities but it also targeted its military commanders and scientists. The attack should not have come as a surprise to Iran nor indeed the world since the day before the United States withdrew its diplomats from Iraq and urged military personnel and their families to leave the country.

Less than three hours before Israel launched its first wave of attacks against Iran, President Trump reiterated that the United States was committed to its diplomatic efforts with Iran. Nevertheless, support for Israel, particularly among Republican leaders, remains strong.

In his address on Friday, Israel’s Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu made a powerful argument for striking Iran and taking out its nuclear capability before it posed a nuclear threat to the western world, not just Israel. The next few days should reveal how successful Israel has been in weakening Iran without inspiring all-out war.

THE PREVAILING WAVE of discord and disaster has been taking place on an applying Mars-Uranus square, backed by a Venus-Pluto square and Mercury’s square to Neptune and Saturn. Quite the explosive cocktail. It has presided over President Trump’s decision to send the National Guard into Los Angeles to deal with demonstrators protesting raids by federal agents at workplaces. A controversial action which he compounded by sending in the marines. To many observers, and certainly to Gavin Newsom, California’s governor, sending in the California National Guard without his consent was not only illegal but entirely disproportionate to the level of protests.

In response to the protests in LA, other US cities – New York, Washington DC and San Antonio, Texas among them – have joined in.

I should also mention that heavy-handed dealings by federal agents are not just limited to workers in the Los Angeles fashion district. On Thursday, Alex Padilla, California democrat senator, was forcibly removed, thrust to the ground and handcuffed by Secret Service and FBI agents after attempting to ask Kristy Noem, Secretary of Homeland Security, a question at a press conference.

And all this before Saturday’s spectacular military parade on the streets of Washington DC.

I REFERRED TO this unprecedented occasion in last week’s Bite. I was already concerned that the Mars-Uranus square was not only exact on Saturday, but in high focus at the time of the parade and impacting Donald Trump’s natal Mars. And that was before the president called in the National Guard and Israel attacked Iran. In light of such things the danger posed in the chart of the event is even greater.

You couldn’t make it up. A huge military parade at one end of the country and a massive military presence on the streets of a major city on the other. Many generals have voiced concerns about the wisdom of such a parade and the dangers it poses at this time. Not only are the optics bad: the cost of the event is rumoured to be between $25 – $100 million and a time when the administration is cutting hundreds of thousands of jobs, but there is a danger of the parade turning into a “Tiananmen Square” which saw a lone protestor placing himself in front of a tank.

This parade is honouring the United States Army – it is its 250th anniversary – however it is also President Trump’s 79th birthday. And ever since he was present at the Bastille Day parade in Paris in 2017 he has always wanted one. In his first term, the Pentagon prevailed – General Paul Selva maintaining “Dictatorships do that. Democracies don’t.” and former Defence Secretary, Jim Mattis, declaring he would rather swallow acid – but Pete Hegseth, the current Secretary of Defence, is keen to humour his president.

And so we have this hugely controversial event taking place at an astrologically inauspicious time.

Mars is in a prominent position. It is the most elevated planet and in one of the key Gauquelin zones. (Although Michel Gauquelin’s research in the 1950s/1960s/1970s was related to famous sportsmen et cetera, I consistently find his key areas to be highly relevant in “ordinary” natal charts and mundane horoscopes.)  Mars is exactly square Uranus, which is angular (on the Descendant) and therefore super-strong. The Moon has just conjoined Pluto and is squaring Venus (ruler of the Descendant – partners and enemies – and the 11th house of collaborations and group interests and activities). This chart is at the very least redolent with simmering tensions but it is hard to see how the event could go ahead without some kind of incident. Maybe any protest will be swiftly dealt with or hushed up, but there will be repercussions.

There are a matter of hours to go before this big beautiful parade takes place. It might go off without incident. It might not. But however it unfolds, it is emblematic of how the United States has changed in less than five months. Who would have thought we would see such scenes in the streets of America’s cities and the halls of Congress. And who would have thought we’d see a Kremlin style parade in this once great democracy. This is what a Pluto return and a Neptune-Saturn conjunction to a nation’s IC can do.

Friday Bite 6 June 2025

Big Beautiful Bombardment

In order to accurately strike the aircraft parked on the tarmac, the attack had to take place in daylight. Operation, “Spiderweb”, probably began around noon, but since Virgo was rising slowly over the Ascendant, we’re only talking about a difference of 15 degrees from 12 noon when 5 Virgo was rising to 1:00 pm when 15 degrees of Virgo was ascending.

 At 12 noon Uranus was culminating squaring a Moon-Mars conjunction in the twelfth house. (Could you have a more fitting picture of this audacious attack, which came out of nowhere and decimated a country’s military air capability.)  Not only are the Moon and Mars squaring Uranus – the planet of revolution and the planet of technology; the planet of wake-up calls and explosive developments – but the conjunction makes significant connections with the charts of Ukraine, Russia, Zelenskyy and Putin.

I have drawn in the connections between the charts of the above and the horoscope of the attack. As you will see, the Moon-Mars conjunction fell on Zelenskyy’s MC-IC axis, squared Putin’s MC-IC axis and Pluto, squared Russia’s Venus-Pluto conjunction and opposed Ukraine’s Moon. Transiting Jupiter was conjunct Zelenskyy’s natal Jupiter (he is experiencing his Jupiter-return) while the Ascendant at the time of the strikes was on Russia’s natal Jupiter.

These connections inform us that this is not just any attack in a three-year-long war but a pivotal attack, and one that will almost certainly alter the trajectory of the conflict.

The United States has gone to pains to play down the damage perpetrated by the Ukrainian strike, as predictably has Russia, but painstaking research on the part of Jake Broe, whose channel I urge you to watch, reveals that at least 28-30 aircraft were definitely damaged or destroyed during Sunday’s attack, at a cost of approximately $4 billion to Russia.

In the wake of the Ukrainian strike, Vladimir Putin disappeared for three days. The Russian people heard from him on Wednesday in a televised address where he focussed primarily on the damage to railway bridges perpetrated by Ukraine. In response to Zelenskyy’s statement that were Russia to have agreed to a ceasefire, Operation “Spiderweb” would never have taken place, Putin called the attacks terrorist strikes and posed the question why Russia would hold peace talks with terrorists.

On Wednesday, Donald Trump and Vladimir Putin spoke on the phone for over an hour during which the US president reassured his Russian counterpart that he had not been warned in advance of the Ukrainian strike. Commenting later on TruthSocial, Trump added, “President Putin did say, and very strongly, that he will have to respond to the recent attack on the airfields.”

Whether or not the massive attacks on several Ukrainian cities including Kyiv early this morning were that response we do not know. However, I think it unlikely. Certainly, looking at next week’s explosive cocktail of transits, all of which form a background to a full moon, I would suggest that response is coming within days.

The full moon in Sagittarius of 11 June, cuts across Zelensky’s Ascendant-Descendant axis and squares his MC-IC axis while Uranus at 28 degrees of Taurus is squaring his natal Saturn and Ukraine’s natal moon. Donald Trump is also in line for “the week from hell” since the full moon flanks his nodal axis and falls within a degree of his natal Sun-Moon opposition. Which, of course, means that full moon is a matter of days before his seventy-ninth birthday and the Big Beautiful Parade.

Speaking of which.

ON SATURDAY 14 June the US Army celebrates its 250th anniversary. It will coincide with the president’s birthday so he will finally get what he has long yearned for – a military parade. The day will be filled with festive events but the parade itself will begin at 6:30. Of course, I couldn’t resist setting up a chart for that moment.

You’re ahead of me aren’t you. Where is the exact Mars-Uranus square? I’ve drawn a line between Mars and Uranus: Mars is perpendicular to the Ascendant-Descendant axis and Uranus is conjunct the Descendant. This is not the chart you’d choose for an event you hope will go off smoothly. Of course it is a celebration of the army, so you might expect Mars to be prominent, but the square to an angular Uranus is not ideal. Plus, the Moon is conjunct Pluto and would have been exact around one in the afternoon. Maybe the parade will pass without incident, but at the very least we can expect protests during the day and security needs to be super-tight for the parade itself. If I were advising Donald Trump, I’d make sure security was tighter than ever and that he was wearing a helmet and a bullet-proof vest.

THE US PRESIDENT is already under attack, and from his one-time best buddy, Elon. The war of words that broke out on Thursday was shocking. The opening salvo came from Musk who made known his feelings about the Big Beautiful Bill. By the end of the day the bitter exchange had descended into mud-slinging of the highest order. In what could have been the coup de grace, Musk posted on X:

Time to drop the really big bomb. Donald Trump is in the Epstein files. That is the real reason they have not been made public. Have a nice day, DJT. (Musk provided no evidence for this accusation, although there has been considerable speculation about the president’s involvement with the murkier depths of the Epstein era.)

At the time of writing the back-and-to has stopped, but that doesn’t mean the feud is over. It seems Musk is determined to get rid of Trump. He has called for his impeachment and maintained the tariffs will cause a recession. But he’s dealing with Teflon Man, and I suspect Trump will see off Musk’s threats and live to gloat over the entrepreneur’s fall from grace. That’s if next week’s planetary fire and fury doesn’t get in the way. Then again, it wouldn’t surprise me in the least if the two were back in business together next week. As in Dallas, it was all just a dream, all just great television.

It was always on the cards that the two billionaires with billion-dollar egos would eventually come to blows. That it has taken six months is the surprise. You can certainly see the attraction between them – Elon’s Venus is conjunct Trump’s Sun-Uranus conjunction and Musk’s Sun is conjunct the president’s Mercury. However, the real problem is that they are both raging narcissists and two alpha-males cannot co-exist. Musk believes he should be president and was never content with being the power behind the throne. And Trump is president and won’t tolerate usurpers. It all had to end in tears.

Their composite chart puts the Sun in the eleventh house conjunct Saturn, which is a pretty good indication that their relationship is one of frenemies. Currently, Jupiter is conjunct their Sun-Saturn conjunction, which far from inspiring a celebration of their bond, has fanned their ingrained resentment and frustration with each other. Jupiter isn’t all good news, it can intensify and escalate the negatives.

To be continued…