Signe Wilkinson Cartoon

I am impressed, as always, with the prescient and thoughtful reporting of astrologer Nancy Sommers and her Starlight Blog.  In her latest post of July 13, 2011, she analyzes the events and astrological transits impacting the debt limit talks in Washington, D.C.  A few of her thoughts:

The debt ceiling talks have become mired in intransigence and confusion. The Grand Bargain of combined spending cuts and revenue increases proposed by President Obama, and initially supported by Speaker of the House John Boehner, has been roundly rejected by the fanatics on the Right.  The power-wielding, Tea Party-ruled fringe would rather see us pushed over an economic cliff than permit Congress to bend to some minimal tax increases around the edges. Compromise is not an option.

As of yesterday, Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell proposed a simple rise of the debt ceiling with no spending cuts attached to it, but engineered to make it look like Obama’s responsibility. Needless to say, the zealots are balking, and it is unclear if Boehner can get enough votes in the House to push through even this last ditch effort to prevent default, assuming all else fails.

The underlying theme in this story is the crazed extremism of Republicans, laid bare for the world to see. When given the choice between economic suicide and taxing corporate jet owners and billionaires a few percentage points more, they choose the former. It is doubtful Patrick Henry’s “Give me liberty or give me death” was meant to support insanity.

President Obama is a shrewd player in all of this despite liberal cries for a more aggressive stance. He has mastered the basic tenet of the Eastern martial arts:  allow the momentum in the forward thrust of your opponent to weaken and destabilize him before you strike. The GOP are always willing to oblige the president in this with their obsessive kneejerk extremism. In the debt ceiling showdown, they have moved themselves out on the edge of a cracking limb with no place to go but down. Lawrence O’Donnell is calling it a brilliant game of rope-a-dope.

As we approach the August 2 line-in-the-sand deadline for the debt ceiling to be raised, it is useful to look at President Obama’s chart to see what mood he will be in around that time. Although the Mercury station in late July and early August suggests a very slow and frustrating process getting anything through Congress at that time, it is noteworthy that the station is also conjunct Obama’s progressed Venus (00Virgo41) currently quincunx his natal Jupiter (00Aquarius52), thereby triggering this fortunate progression for several days. This suggests the president is feeling rather contented, at least through August 5, which would imply that the US will not default on its debt at that time.

There is, however, some very wild and destructive energy beginning to unfold in late July and exploding around August 6 or August 7 through August 11 that will quite possibly precipitate one or several crises that keep things very riled up at least through mid-September. It seems likely this will be something other than the debt ceiling crisis, although we cannot entirely rule that out. I have discussed in previous articles the strong planetary configurations that point to increasing tumult and upheaval in August. The Mars square to Uranus and opposition to Pluto from August 7 to August 11 is likely to unleash violence and dangerous weather or natural events worldwide. The transit of Saturn square the US Sun (13Cancer19) during the first half of August and conjunct natal US Saturn (14Libra48) during the second half of August indicates stressful conditions for the US, likely including austerity measures or an economic contraction of some kind during the former and a sense of limited options and diminishing world power during the latter.

But the extreme turbulence of this period comes from the action of transiting Uranus simultaneously in numerous charts, indicating unexpected upsets and a whirlwind of unfolding and ultimately transformative circumstances. The progression of the US Sun (7 Pisces) square to progressed US Uranus (7 Gemini) has been a disruptive influence all year, bringing with it rebellion, agitation, and many unexpected twists and turns. During the period when the Pluto station (7 Capricorn) was activating this progression from January through May 2011, we saw the assassination attempt of US Representative Gabby Giffords, the unprecedented and weeks-long protest movement of hundreds of thousands of people in Wisconsin, the unexpected NATO involvement in Libya, and the surprising but welcome killing of arch demon Osama bin Laden. As of mid-August, the US progressed Moon will move to within a degree orb of 7 Libra, waxing through mid-September in aspect to progressed Uranus and progressed Sun, and triggering this volatile configuration once again.

From August 13 through September 12, we will also see the second crossing of transiting Uranus (3Aries06) square to US Venus (3Cancer06), coinciding with Uranus semisquare President Obama’s Ascendant (18Aquarius03). The first crossing in May marked the successful attack on bin Laden’s compound. The upcoming transit will come during the final part of the US Saturn return, suggesting that whatever unexpected and potent events occur, they will point to the burden of responsibility the US carries in the world, as well as the limits of its options in carrying that out.

Two further charts bear consideration, with each pointing dramatically to August as a time of significant disruption and upheaval. The 2011 US solar return (based on 5:13 PM as a birth time on July 4, 1776) has an Ascendant of 3Libra 28 opposed to Uranus at 4Aries33, with the MC at 3Cancer55. Transiting Uranus is currently retrograding square to the US solar return MC (7/9 to 8/19/11) and will soon be opposite the solar Ascendant (7/28 to 9/3/11), with transiting Mars (3 Cancer) acting as a trigger from August 6 through August 9.

The second additional chart to consider is President Obama’s 2011 solar return, with the Ascendant at 3Cancer23 and Uranus at 4Aries18 in a tight square. Transiting Uranus will be crossing the exact square to the Ascendant from August 5 through September 6, with transiting Mars setting off this volatile aspect from August 7 through August 8. Both charts point to significant upsets and dramatic circumstances in August, possibly with a precipitating event triggered by the Mars transit from August 6 through August 8, during the transiting Mars/Uranus square.

As we navigate the summer of 2011, we find enormous turmoil around the world, with any number of hot spots that could violently and dangerously erupt at any moment. There is also a great deal of economic and social strain going on in the US, much of it exacerbated by a do-nothing Republican Party in Congress. Today’s reality-challenged GOP often live in a fact-free void in a galaxy far from our time-and-space limited, three-dimensional Earth experience. They vociferously ignore the educated studies of economists and scientists, while they heed their own version of Mother Goose. They have proven that they cannot be trusted with intelligently and rationally handling the nation’s problems. Meanwhile, consequential issues – such as unemployment, inadequate revenues, climate change, and growing debt – that actually have reasonable solutions are allowed to fester and grow increasingly troublesome. During the coming wild Uranian energy of August and early September, any one of these issues could flare-up into a painful wake-up call, demanding the nation’s attention away from the latest Barbie doll news cycle. Let us hope the nation actually wakes up.  Go to Nancy’s Starlight Blog here.