The Full Moon is in Sagittarius. Jupiter, the ruler of Sagittarius has entered Cancer on June 9. It is now in the first degree of Cancer in conjunction with centaur 39P/Oterma and square Saturn. Centaur Oterma is a currently inactive Chiron-type comet. Mars in Leo is trine the Chiron-Eris conjunction in Aries, which was exact two weeks ago. The Sun in Gemini is in conjunction with the trans-Neptunian Altjira.

The recent study has revealed fascinating information about cubewano Altjira. Altjira was discovered in 2001 and so far has been considered a binary. The secondary was discovered in 2007 and is yet unnamed. There is strong evidence that Altjira consists of three bodies. Two of them are orbiting closely together and the third one is circling them further away. It is a rare setup and Altjira is the second known system of this kind in the Kuiper belt. The first known trinary is Lempo, Hiisi and Paha. Scientists will learn more during Altjira’s eclipsing season, which has already begun and will last several years.

The orbital period of Altjira is 294 years and the size of the two known components is approximately 246 kilometres and 221 kilometres. It was named after the Arrente creation deity Altjira, the eternal creator of the world and humankind. The Arrente people are a group of Aboriginal Australian people, whose spirituality focuses on the landscape and The Dreaming. The concept of the Dreaming has been described as “an all-embracing concept that provides rules for living, a moral code, as well as rules for interacting with the natural environment.” It embraces past, present and future.

There are other exciting news about the distant minor planets. A large cubewano 2002 MS4 was officially named Máni on June 9. It was discovered 23 years ago. The orbital period is almost 270 years and its mean diameter is about 796 km. Máni’s topographic features are among the tallest and deepest known for Solar System bodies. Máni was discovered in 2002 at 23+ Sagittarius in conjunction with Arrokoth and near the Galactic Center. The Sabian symbol for Sagittarius 24 is A bluebird standing at the door of the house. The bluebird is a symbol of hope and happiness. Máni is now at 19+ Capricorn.

Máni is the first distant object named from Norse mythology. Máni is a personification of the Moon and the brother of Sól, the Sun. They must pass through the heavens every day to count the years for mankind. They travel across the sky in chariots and are chased by two wolves, who would eventually devour them. It is the sign that Ragnarök, the final battle between the gods and the demons is about to begin. After Ragnarök the world is reborn.

In May the discovery of 2017 OF201 was announced. It is an extreme trans-Neptunian object (ETNO) estimated to be at least 550 – 850 km in diameter. The orbit is extremely large and elongated. The orbital period is over 24,000 years. It last passed perihelion around November 1930. The orientation of 2017 OF201’s orbit does not align with other extreme TNOs like Sedna, whose orbits are thought to be clustered because of the gravitational influence of Planet Nine. The discoverers first thought that 2017 OF201 would challenge the existence of Planet Nine, but Konstantin Batygin, the co-author of the Planet Nine hypothesis, has argued that it is not the case. 2017 OF201 is not numbered yet, but according to the premilinary data it is located around 8+ Taurus at the moment.

The Mars-Pluto opposition was exact in the early hours of the day. The New Moon in Taurus follows in the evening. The New Moon forms a t-square with the Mars-Pluto opposition.

Yesterday we witnessed the funeral of Pope Francis. Heads of state were gathering, cardinals were dressed in red and gold. But Francis was above all a humble pope of the common people and the poor. Pope Francis died on Easter, which was startling in itself, but the chart cast for the time of his death is one of the most astonishing in a long time.

The unpredictable Uranus, one of the emissaries of change, was at the ascendant of Pope Francis’ death chart. Francis had been discharged from the hospital and just the previous day he appeared in public, so his death came as a schock.

It was the Last Quarter Moon, which is the phase of letting go, the time of release and transformation. The Moon in early Aquarius had just opposed Mars in Leo, squared the Sun in Taurus, and now conjoined Pluto in Aquarius. Pluto means transformation. The Moon symbolizes the common people, crowds, and matters of a public nature. The Moon-Pluto conjunction was exactly at the Midheaven, the highest position of the chart. In addition, in the first degree of Aquarius, as a part of the conjunction and the t-square, was the centaur planet Hylonome, the symbol of grief.

Centaur planet Hylonome was discovered 30 years ago, in February 1995. It is a dark body with the orbital period of 126 years. Astrologer Eric Francis Coppolino has written about the proving moment for Hylonome during the funeral of the Palestinian leader Yasser Arafat in 2004 (The Mountain Astrologer, Oct./Nov. 2012). Tens of thousands of mourning Palestinians attended the ceremony in Ramallah. Eric was watching the funeral on TV at the moment of the Scorpio New Moon conjunct Hylonome. He wrote: “Hylonome has been connected by Centaur specialists to themes of grief and the process of working through grief. This is a theme endemic in the Centaurs, but especially pronounced with Hylonome. As the New Moon took shape conjunct Hylonome in Scorpio, we were witnessing one of the most vibrant public outpourings of grief since the death of Diana, Princess of Wales, almost a decade earlier.” Eric particularly highlights the keywords of astrologer Juan Revilla, “the cry of the poor”.

In Pope Francis’s natal chart, his Midheaven, the cusp of the 10th house, is in the first degree of Taurus. The 10th house represents one’s most cherished goals and the “calling” in the life. At the time of his death, the transiting Sun was conjunct his Midheaven, and all the planets of the transiting t-square were affecting it. Right at the pope’s Midheaven there is the trans-Neptunian Praamzius, the minor planet of peace.

In his final Easter message Pope Francis wrote: “There can be no peace without freedom of religion, freedom of thought, freedom of expression and respect for the views of others.”

We are living in odd times when one almost starts to hope that astrology would not work so perfectly well.

The Sun entered Aries on March 20, 2025, in conjunction with Neptune in the last degree of Pisces and Borasisi in early Aries. The focus stays strongly in Aries with this solar eclipse and with several planets there.

Two weeks a ago at the time of the lunar eclipse, Mercury was starionary at 9+ degrees of Aries and turned retrograde on the next day. Now the solar eclipse occurs at that same degree. Mercury is now retrograding at the Aries point tightly in between Borasisi and Neptune. The next day, on March 30, Mercury steps back into Pisces and meets Neptune. Neptune keeps moving forward and enters Aries later in the day, starting a new 165-year cycle around the zodiac.

Mercury represents thinking, speech, all forms of communication, negotiations, and making treaties. Mercury retrograde is famous for disruptions in technology and communication, and one should be very careful when entering into contracts.

“The Signalgate” is by far the most striking example of Mercury retrograde that I have ever come across. The United States national security leaders accidentally leaked the country’s war plans for Yemen to the editor-in-chief of The Atlantic, Jeffrey Goldberg. The national security advisor Mike Waltz erroneously added Goldberg to the group chat on the Signal messaging service. Pete Hegseth, the secretary of defense, used the chat to share detailed plans. In addition to Waltz and Hegseth, secretary of state Marco Rubio and vice president J. D. Vance were also present. Nobody noticed Goldberg. Also, in the aftermath, the German magazine Der Spiegel reported that they were able to find on the internet some private contact details and passwords for members of the group chat.

Cubewano Borasisi has affinities with Neptune, and now they are in conjunction at the Aries point. Borasisi completed its entry into Aries in January 2025. Neptune dissolves boundaries and can blur reality. It can be difficult to understand what actually is happening. Neptune is associated with dreams, illusions, deception, confusion, chaos, escapism, and leaks, among other things. Borasisi is related to the tendency to live believing pleasant lies, because it makes life feel better than seeing and accepting unpleasant truths.

The ceasefire negotiations to end the Russian invasion of Ukraine are taking place under this disturbing astrology. Europe is watching “the negotiations” with feelings of horror and disbelief. Putin is doing everything he can to delay the process. The parties do not seem to agree on what has been actually agreed. Trump is continuously changing the terms of the agreement. A few days ago, respected British scholar Keir Giles said that we should assume that Trump is working for Moscow unless proven otherwise.

In addition to what is said above, there is a kite pattern in the chart formed by Uranus in Taurus at the apex, Mars and Saturn at the corners, and Narcissus opposite Uranus, steering the kite. The peace planet Praamzius at 24+ Leo is in aspect to Saturn, Eris, Uranus and Narcissus.

The Full Moon in Virgo is a total lunar eclipse, the first eclipse of the year. The Sun in Pisces is in conjunction with Saturn and the Teharonhiawako-Sawiskera binary system. Uranus in Taurus is sextile to the Sun in Pisces, square to Praamzius in Leo, and opposite Narcissus in Scorpio. Eris in Aries is at the midpoint of the Sun and Uranus.

Mercury, the ruler of Virgo, is powerfully stationary in Aries, about to turn retrograde on March 15. Mercury is now in the same degree (9+ Aries) where the solar eclipse at the end of the month is going to occur.

88611 Teharonhiawako is a trans-Neptunian object with the orbital period of 290 years. The two components circling each other are named from the Iroquois creation myth that, in short, tells about the fight between good and evil. Teharonhiawako was the good brother and Sawiskera his evil twin. Humanity is fighting the same battle. In the myth eventually the good brother won.

At the Full Moon there was a perfectly shaped Grand cross in the Fixed signs.

The Moon in Leo was in conjunction with Praamzius, the trans-Neptunian named after the Lithuanian god of the sky, peace, and friendship. However, the world is currently far from peace, even though there is a lot of talk about peace negotiations to end the war in Ukraine, for example.

The Sun in Aquarius is in conjunction with asteroid Ceres. Ceres is the first known asteroid, discovered in 1801, and the largest member of the Main asteroid belt. Ceres is named for the Roman goddess of grain crops, and motherly relationships.

Unlike other asteroids in the Main belt, Ceres is round. It also has other unique features. Asteroids are generally rocky objects, like the inner planets. Ceres has reservoirs of water beneath its surface. In fact, it could be composed of as much as 25 percent water. There are ammonium deposits on the surface of Ceres. I recently saw a documentary, which claimed that Ceres may have formed in the outer region of the solar system, but what may have captured it to its current location is unclear. However, this possible scientific connection with the Kuiper belt object Pluto is intriguing. As we remember, the most famous myth about Ceres is the one where Pluto kidnapped her daughter to the Underworld.

Uranus, the ruler of Aquarius, is in Taurus and tightly squaring the Sun and the Moon. In Scorpio opposite Uranus is the minor planet Narcissus. Narcissus was discovered in 2000 and it is classified as a centaur or as an unusual minor planet. Narcissus is a Saturn-crossing centaur. It is about 11 km in diameter, thus larger than most asteroids. The orbital period is about 18 years. It was named from Greek mythology after the beautiful Narcissus, who fell in love with his own reflection in a pool, and he stared it until he died. The name is the origin of the term narcissism. Astrologically centaur Narcissus represents these same things.

The transiting Uranus is at Trump’s Midheaven and the transiting Narcissus at his 4th house cusp, the house of home. The transiting Moon-Praamzius conjunction is now conjunct Putin’s Pluto and Uranus conjunct his Praamzius. We can probably see reflections from the aforementioned planets in the news in the coming days. Uranus is usually a guarantee of surprises.

The New Moon is in Aquarius, where Pluto has recently entered. Mercury is in conjunction with Pluto. Pluto is trine Sedna in the first degree of Gemini.

Pluto’s trine to Sedna reflects the Doomsday Clock of the Bulletin of the Atomic Scientists being moved closer to midnight yesterday. The Bulletin was founded in 1945 by scientists including Albert Einstein and J. Robert Oppenheimer. The metaphorical clock was now set to 89 seconds to midnight to warn the public and the world leaders about how close humankind is to destroying the world. The factors shaping this year’s decision include nuclear risk, climate change and the potential misuse of artificial intelligence, for instance.

Mars in Cancer is in conjunction with the newly named quasi-moon of Earth, Cardea. Last summer the International Astronomical Union and Radiolab announced a public competition to name one of the quasi-moons of Earth. The winner was chosen from seven finalists and announced on Jan. 13, 2025. Cardea is the Roman goddess of the hinge.

A quasi-moon is an asteroid that actually orbits the Sun, but if you watch it from the Earth, it looks like it’s orbiting our planet just like the Moon does. Cardea is a small Apollo asteroid discovered in 2004 by the Lincoln Near Asteroid Research project (LINEAR). The orbital period is one year. It stays as a quasi-satellite of Earth until around 2600.

Roman doors were hung on pivot hinges. Cardea was one of the deities who preside over doorways. They were said to be “doorkeepers of the earth”, guarding the passage to the earthly sphere. On Radiolab’s contest page Cardea was introduced like this:

”A name imbued with elegance and depth, Cardea is the Roman goddess of doorways and transitions, symbolizing the guardianship of thresholds. This quasi-moon, forever straddling the space between Earth and the cosmos, reflects Cardea’s dominion over liminal states, embodying a celestial gatekeeper of the in-between.”

In its discovery chart Cardea was retrograding at 14+ degrees of Leo tightly opposite Neptune and also with wide orb opposite the Moon. Neptune symbolizes dreams, illusions, imagination and the unconscious. Perhaps Cardea really can turn the hinged door from our everyday reality to another place. The unique director David Lynch died on Jan. 15, 2025. In his birthchart he had 10th house Cardea in late Virgo trine to the Sun-Venus conjunction in Capricorn, semisextile Jupiter in Libra, and square to his lunar nodes in Gemini and Sagittarius.

Oxford English Dictionary defines the adjective ”lynchian” like this: ”Characteristic, reminiscent, or imitative of the films or television work of David Lynch. Lynch is noted for juxtaposing surreal or sinister elements with mundane, everyday environments, and for using compelling visual images to emphasize a dreamlike quality of mystery or menace.”

Lynch himself has said of his attitude to dreams: ”Waking dreams are the ones that are important, the ones that come when I’m quietly sitting in a chair, letting my mind wander. When you sleep, you don’t control your dream. I like to dive into a dream world that I’ve made or discovered; a world I choose…”

Actor Kyle MacLachlan wrote: “What I saw in him was an enigmatic and intuitive man with a creative ocean bursting forth inside of him. He was in touch with something the rest of us wish we could get to.”

Filmmaker Harmony Korine said: ”He embraced his own inner logic and filtered it through a subconscious magic. He created worlds and unmatched vibrations. He hit on things that were inexplicable and sacred and beyond articulation.”

The Full Moon is in conjunction with Mars and Echeclus in Cancer. The conjunction is opposing Pluto in early Aquarius. The Sun and the Moon are square to Eris in Aries. Eris is the Greek goddess of strife and discord. She is the sister of Ares, the Greek counterpart of Mars, the Roman god of war. The Moon is sextile to Uranus. There is tension, impulsiveness and reacitivity in the chart.

One hardly dares to read news these days. Donald Trump wants to buy Greenland from Denmark and will not rule out military force to take it. Russia is using its shadow fleet to cut cables in the Baltic Sea. The situation in the Baltic Sea is serious. Sweden sends three naval vessels and one air force aircraft to a new NATO-led surveillance operation. Prime Minister Ulf Kristersson said yesterday that Sweden is not at war, but there is not peace either. “Real peace means freedom and no serious conflicts between countries.”

For the time being the peaceful decades in the Baltic Sea are history. Europe does not need threats from its partner, nor Elon Musk interfering in its politics.

The Full Moon was in Gemini in an exact conjunction with a large trans-Neptunian object nicknamed “Buffy”. Mercury is the ruler of Gemini, and it was stationary in the opposing sign Sagittarius, about to turn direct.

“Buffy” – officially known as (612911) 2004 XR190 – is a strange object discovered 20 years ago (Dec. 11, 2004) by Lynne Allen as part of the Canada-France Ecliptic Plane Survey (CFEPS). At the time of the discovery “Buffy” was in Gemini opposite the Moon and retrograding Mercury in Sagittarius. The discovery was announced in December 2005.

“Buffy” is an extended scattered disc object with the orbital period of more than 433 years. It has an estimated diameter of 335 to 850 kilometers. What makes “Buffy” so unusual is the orbit, which is difficult for scientists to explain using previous theories of the formation of the outer solar system. “Buffy” is a kind of a hybrid.

Side view of Buffy’s orbit. (Image: Wikipedia)

The orbit is unusually circular for a scattered disc object and the body never comes closer than 50 AU. The other objects discovered beyond that distance have non-circular orbits because of the gravitational influence of Neptune. In addition, it has a high inclination of almost 47° with respect to the ecliptic. The object is the largest object with an inclination larger than 45°. The discoverers nicknamed 2004 XR190 as “Buffy” after the television series Buffy the Vampire Slayer, because it is possibly going to be a theory slayer, as they explained.

The object was numbered in January 2024, which means that its orbit is well enough determined for reliably predicting the position far into the future. “Buffy” can be officially named now. The team has proposed several Inuit-based official names to the International Astronomical Union.

The Sabian symbol for the discovery chart’s ascendant is Virgo 1 A man’s head. The Sabian symbol for the discovery chart’s MC is Gemini 2 Santa Claus filling stockings furtively. Perhaps they offer clues for the meaning of the object. Christmas is near so announcing the official name would be a nice gift from the IAU.

This is the first New Moon after Pluto’s ingress into Aquarius on Nov. 19. The New Moon is opposite Jupiter, the ruler of Sagittarius, and in conjunction with asteroid Urania. Mercury in Sagittarius turned retrograde on Nov. 26. Mercury is in conjunction with asteroid Discovery.

30 Urania is a large Main-belt asteroid named after one of the nine muses in Greek mythology. The muses were daughters of Zeus and Mnemosyne (memory). Urania is the heavenly muse of astrology and astronomy, and also the patroness of those who are navigating seas by the stars. She is depicted holding a globe and a compass. She is sometimes associated with universal love.

In astrology asteroid Urania stands for the capacity of handling theoretical, hypothetical or abstract principles and informaton; the capacity for self-reflective awareness; and the ability to “see the big picture” (Martha Lang-Wescott, Mechanics of the Future: Asteroids, Treehouse Mountain). According to Demetra George, “In her search for celestial truths, Urania uses her mental astuteness to probe both the microcosm and the macrocosm.” Demetra George has presented Urania and Chiron as a pair, where Urania represents the principle of inspired knowledge and Chiron the principle of wholistic understanding. She calls them “The Knowledge Holders” (Demetra George & Douglas Bloch, Asteroid Goddesses, Ibis Press).

30 Urania was discovered by English astronomer John Russell Hind (1823 – 1895) in the early days of the asteroid discovery. Hind found 10 asteroids and was one of the most successful asteroid discoverers of his time. He discovered Urania in 1854 at London.

9770 Discovery was found in 1993 by probably the most famous Japanese astronomer, Takeshi Urata (1947 – 2012), who discovered numerous asteroids. Takeshi Urata’s birthday is unknown, but let’s take a look at John Russell Hind’s chart (born May 12, 1823, Nottingham, England). Asteroid names function often amazingly accurately in astrology.

John Russell Hind’s Taurus Sun is in close conjunction with the trans-Neptunian Arrokoth, which is named in honor of those who are inspired to look up to the sky and learn about the stars and worlds beyond our own. Asteroid Discovery is in exact conjunction with the magnifying Jupiter in Gemini. Both “Knowledge Holders” make harmonious sextiles to the aforementioned conjunctions: asteroid Urania in Cancer is in sextile to the Sun-Arrokoth conjunction, and Chiron in Aries is in sextile to the Jupiter-Discovery conjunction.

An intriguing Full Moon in Taurus is in tight conjunction with Uranus, Lempo and Alicanto. Will we find unpredictable treasures?

Earlier this week we received exciting news about Uranus. A new analysis shows that the Uranian system is more exciting than previously thought. Contrary to the previous understanding, some of the moons of Uranus could have the conditions that are necessary for life. One scientist even vividly described how below the surface there could be oceans teeming with fish.

Lempo is a triple plutino named from Finnish mythology after the devil who brought down the hero Väinämöinen. However, until Christianity came to Finland, Lempo was worshipped as the goddess of love and fertility. According to the myth, a glowing fireball shot from the sky and hit the ground. People started worshipping the sacred Fire Woman, who gave bread, iron and love to humankind, and also escorted the deceased to the Otherworld.

Just a couple of days ago, on the morning of Nov. 13, a brilliant fireball exploded over the U.S. Midwest and parts of Canada. The meteor from outer space provided a fiery spectacle to those who were witnessing it, and some said that it was the most spectacular they had ever seen.

Alicanto is one of the extreme trans-Neptunian objects orbiting in the outermost region of our solar system. How it came to have its orbit cannot yet be explained. The orbital period of Alicanto is more than 6,000 years. The ETNOs may be influenced by gravitational interactions with the hypothetical Planet Nine, predicted to have mass of five to ten times that of the Earth.

Alicanto was named after a nocturnal bird from Chilean mythology. Alicanto has wings that shine at night with beautiful, metallic colors. Alicanto has the ability to decide who can see it. A miner who follows it can find treasures, but a greedy one will be guided off the cliff. The presence of Alicanto is a good luck omen. Since myths are metaphors, we can assume that the treasures are symbolic or spiritual rewards rather than worldly ones. However, my examples are quite worldly, but fascinating.

Catherine the Great (born May 2, 1729 at 02:30 AM, Stettin, Kingdom of Prussia) was empress of Russia from 1762 to 1796. She has Alicanto at her Midheaven in Sagittarius. Catherine the Great had seized power from her husband. The reign of Catherine is often considered the “Golden Age” of Russia, when the Russian Empire became one of the great powers of Europe. The empress was a lover of art and books. She began to acquire valuable works of art from all over Europe for her collections, and art collecting became a fashionable phenomenon among the Russian upper class too.

Vrouw Maria was a Dutch wooden merchant ship carrying a valuable cargo when it set sail from Amsterdam on Sept. 5, 1771, for Saint Petersburg. The ship carried works of art that Catherine the Great and other Russian nobility had bought from Holland. The Sun-Neptune conjunction in Virgo opposed Sedna in Pisces. The ship ran aground in the outer archipelago of the municipality of Nagu, Finland on Oct. 3, 1771 and later sank. The art treasure ending up at the bottom of the sea was a hard blow to the empress.

The shipwreck of Vrouw Maria became one of the most famous treasure ship legends in Finland. More than 200 years passed after the sinking before Rauno Koivusaari discovered the wreck on June 28, 1999. Only a fraction of the cargo has been saved so far. The cargo holds have not been disturbed, and the condition of the precious art on board is unknown.

Rauno Koivusaari gives the time for the shipwreck in Aarrelaivojen jäljillä by Rauno Koivusaari and Heikki Saure (Otava 2009): ”The difficulties began at two o’clock in the afternoon, when the wind turned west and became very gusty. The crew hoisted a reef on the mainsail, which made it easier to steer the ship. The rough seas continued. At half past seven in the evening, the crew retired indoors for a moment of prayer, and only two men remained on deck. Just then, a crash occurred.” In the event chart Alicanto is at the descendant (the treasure descending) and opposing Catherine the Great’s Moon-Venus conjunction in Gemini.

Darrell Miklos (born Feb. 19, 1963) is a deep-sea diver and treasure hunter with the Sun-Alicanto conjunction in Pisces opposite Uranus in Virgo. Miklos is known for the reality television series Cooper’s Treasure (2017). Miklos was a family friend of the late astronaut Gordon Cooper, who participated in Project Mercury, the first human space program of the United States. Miklos claims that while Cooper in 1963 was orbiting Earth in space, he recorded dark spots in the waters and believed that those anomalies may be the locations of shipwrecks. Darrell Miklos had Cooper’s notes and maps, and he started searching the suspected shipwrecks located by Cooper. Whether there is any truth to the story or not, the tv-series was captivating. At least I can assume that Miklos’s Sun-Alicanto conjunction has influenced his career choice as a treasure hunter and rewarded him with a profession he can enjoy.