The Full Moon in Gemini is exactly square to the lunar nodes. Mercury, the ruler of Gemini, turned direct on Nov. 29, 2025. The Sun in Sagittarius is in conjunction with minor planet Hidalgo.

From geocentric viewpoint the lunar nodes are the two points where the monthly path of the Moon and the yearly path of the Sun intersect. The ascending node can be associated with the future and the descending node with the past. The nodal axis is a symbolic path which involves, quoting Melanie Reinhart, ”not only our incarnate life, but also other levels of existence, some known to us and others not.” She calls the degrees squaring the nodes ”balance points”. Now the luminaries occupy those degrees.

944 Hidalgo, possibly once a comet, was discovered in 1920. The Minor Planet Center classifies it both as a Main-belt asteroid and an unusual object. It has traditionally been considered an asteroid, because centaurs were not recognized as a distinct class until the discovery of Chiron in 1977. Actually Hidalgo is the first member of centaurs ever to be discovered. Its eccentric orbit takes it to the inner edge of the asteroid belt, crosses the orbit of Jupiter, and grazes the orbit of Saturn. Its diameter is approximately 52 km and the shape likely elongated.

Centaur Hidalgo was named after Mexican revolutionary Miguel Hidalgo y Costilla, who is recognized as the father of Mexican independence. Hidalgo can show affinity for Spanish-speaking countries and cultures. Acting on one’s beliefs, showing courage to challenge authorities, and protecting the weak can be manifestations of Hidalgo.

Retrograde Mercury meets the New Moon at 28+ degrees of Scorpio. There is an awesome and complex Grand Cross in the fixed signs.

Mercury turned retrograde on Nov. 9 and re-entered Scorpio on Nov. 19. The New Moon occurs in conjunction with Mercury and several trans-Neptunian bodies, all either in the same degree with the New Moon and the retrograde Mercury, or within two degrees.

The Sabian symbol for the New Moon is Scorpio 29 An Indian squaw pleading to the chief for the lives of her children. “This is the symbol of the stark sacrifices the self must make in the common interest and of the high responsibilities the group must accept for the welfare of each individual, as these factors together create a functioning society and enable man to control his everyday world. Here is emphasis on the give-and-take in human allegiances, and a call for a balancing of rights and wrongs as a result of direct experience with the problem of self-fulfillment.” (Marc Edmund Jones)

The trans-Neptunians at the 28+ Scorpio are Deucalion, Dziewanna and Typhon. Deucalion is a cubewano with the orbital period of almost 296 years. It was named from Greek mythology. Deucalion and his wife Pyrrha were the only people who survived a great flood. An oracle told them to “throw the bones of their mother” behind them. They understood that their mother is Earth and her bones are stones. The stones they then threw over their shoulders became people who repopulated the world.

Dziewanna is a scattered disc object with the orbital period of 592.5 years. Dziewanna was discovered during the Polish Optical Gravitational Lensing Experiment of Warsaw University, and there were a couple of Polish astronomers involved in the discovery. So the planet was named after the Slavic goddess of the Moon, wild nature, forests, and hunting. She is a maiden goddess having much in common with the Roman goddess Diana.

Typhon is a scattered disc object and a centaur, when using the extended definition of a centaur. Typhon was the first known binary centaur. The orbital period is almost 237 years. Typhon was a giant monster in Greek mythology, associated with typhoons, hurricanes, earthquakes, volcanic eruptions, and hot winds.

One of the recently named cubewanos, Goibniu, is at 29+ degrees of Scorpio. The different populations of the Kuiper belt and the scattered disc are not always easy to distinguish. Goibniu is also classified as a scattered-extended object. The orbital period of Goibniu is about 271 years. It is named after the Irish god of metallurgy and hospitality. He made weapons for the gods and furnished feasts for them. Goibniu was the metalsmith of the Tuatha Dé Danann (“the people of the goddess Danu”), the race of gods who populated Ireland before the Celts.

Directly opposite this heap of planets is the unpredictable Uranus at 29+ degrees of Taurus (conjunct Sedna). There are two trans-Neptunians tightly in conjunction with Uranus, namely Alicanto and Lempo.

Alicanto at 28+ Taurus is an extreme trans-Neptunian object (ETNO) with the orbital period around 6000 years. Alicanto was named after a nocturnal bird from Chilean mythology. Alicanto has wings that shine at night with beautiful, metallic colors. A miner who follows it can find treasures, but a greedy one will be guided off the cliff.

Lempo at 27+ Taurus is a triple plutino named from Finnish mythology. The orbital period is 248 years. Is Lempo the goddess of love and fertility or the devil? The name Lempo is connected to fire. Erotic love has been described like a flame which flares up within a person. After Christianity came to Finland, the reputation of Lempo worsened. Love can turn dangerous, and even lead to destruction.

The other opposition of the Grand Cross consists of Damocles in Aquarius and Praamzius in Leo. Praamzius is a cubewano with the orbital period of 278 years. It is named after the chief god from Lithuanian mythology. He was the god of sky, peace, and friendship and played a role in creating the world.

Then there is Damocles at 28+ degrees of Aquarius. Damocles is a damocloid and a centaur. The damocloids is a group of minor planets which may be inactive nuclei of the Halley-type and long-period comets, tells the Wikipedia. The Sword of Damocles is an expression which describes the imminent and ever-present peril faced by those in positions of power. According to Wikipedia, “More generally, it is used to denote the sense of foreboding engendered by a precarious situation, especially one in which the onset of tragedy is restrained only by a delicate trigger or chance.”

The last degrees of the signs are called “anaretic degrees”. They are often referred to as the degrees of crisis. The late Finnish astrologer Raimo A. Nikula once noted that it’s precisely the 28+ degree of a sign that is often the most difficult one, not the last degree. According to him there is always a paradox involved in last degrees: they can be both punishing as well as be spiritually very rewarding, because the individual has in his possession the whole experience and extension of the sign. He said that the last phases carry the possibility to purify the soul so that new life experience is possible, but first the individual may have to face things that rise from the unconscious.

Supermoon in Taurus glows big and bright. One of the many Kuiper belt objects named in late summer, centaur Petraios, is in conjunction with the Scorpio Sun.

(696315) Petraios is a centaur discovered in 2016 and named in August 2025. Its orbital period is about 91.5 years and diameter around 77 kilometers. According to the official naming citation, “The centaur Petraios took part in the battle at the wedding of Pirithous, a symbolic clash between primal chaos and social order. His name means ‘rocky’, evoking strength and stability. As Ovid tells, Petraios fell while grappling with the rooted Earth. Like this minor planet, he marks the edge between structure and upheaval.” How aptly descriptive of this time!

In Greek mythology Petraios was the grandson of Chiron and Chariklo. The battle between the centaurs and the Lapiths is called Centauromachy. The centaurs were guests at King Pirithous’s wedding, but they got drunk and tried to abduct the women, including the bride. The Lapiths won the battle. It was Pirithous himself who killed Petraios (Petraeus). Ovid describes: ”I saw Petraeus trying to uproot an acorn-laden oak and as his arms embraced it and he forced it to and fro, rocking its tottering trunk, Pirithous, hurling a lance that pierced Petraeus’ ribs, pinned fast his writhing chest to the tough wood.”

Centaur Petraios is depicted in a vase from ca. 565 BCE fighting with a Lapith.

Image: The Francois vase.

Actually there were two separate centaurs named Petraios or Petraeus in Greek mythology. The other one was the “laughing tippling” leader of the satyrs. He was one of the Lamian Pheres, twelve rustic spirits of the Lamos river. They were instructed by Zeus to guard the infant Dionysus and protect him from Hera’s wrath, but she transformed them into ox-horned centaurs. Later they joined the army of Dionysus and accompanied him on his wanderings to India.

Dionysus is the god of wine-making, intoxicated ecstasy, and fertility, also known as Bacchus. His wine, music, and ecstatic dance were considered to free his followers from self-conscious fear and care, and subvert the oppressive restrictions of those in power. We could say that this other Petraios represents the battle between chaos and order seen from another perspective.

We have a rare visitor in our solar system. The interstellar comet 3I/ATLAS was discovered last summer, and now this oddity is in exact conjunction with the New Moon in Libra, in the same degree with the Sun and the Moon.

Long-period comets originate from the distant Oort cloud, whereas short-period comets come from the Kuiper belt. The recently discovered main-belt comets form a group of their own. They orbit in more circular orbits within the Main asteroid belt.

Our visitor came from interstellar space, the space between stars. Comet 3I/ATLAS is the third interstellar object discovered, after Oumuamua, the “first distant messenger” in 2017, and the first observed “rogue comet” Borisov in 2019.

We don’t know where exactly comet 3I/ATLAS is coming from or where it is heading after its orbit around our Sun. It seems that it originated in the direction of the constellation Sagittarius, near the Milky Way’s Galactic Center. Astrologically the Galactic Center is often thought to be an intense energy point and symbolize the higher purpose or the door to deeper understanding. In the chart the Galactic Center is located around 27+ degrees of Sagittarius.

Comet 3I/ATLAS may be the oldest comet yet seen. It could be at least 7 billion years old – older than our solar system, which is about 4.6 billion years old. The diameter of its nucleus is not big, perhaps less than 1 km. Initially, the comet had a red coma. When the sky darkened due to the total lunar eclipse on Sept. 7, 2025, astronomers took advantage of the opportunity to observe the interstellar comet and found it to be green.

Comet 3I/ATLAS was discovered on July 1, 2025 (astrologically in the early degrees of Capricorn). It passed by Mars on Oct. 3, 2025. It will reach perihelion (the closest distance to the Sun) between the orbits of Earth and Mars on Oct. 29, 2025. Then it will pass by Venus on Nov. 3, 2025. It is expected to make its closest approach to Earth on Dec. 19, 2025, but it will not come very close us. It will pass Jupiter on March 16, 2026, before heading back into interstellar space.

Comet 3I/ATLAS is in solar conjunction on Oct. 21, 2025, the day of the New Moon. It means that the Earth, Moon, Sun, and the comet are aligned with each other so that the Moon is between the Earth and the Sun, and the comet on the opposite side of the Sun as seen from Earth. It is not visible from Earth’s perspective now, but space probes will continue to observe it.

Ancient astrologers considered comets to be harbringers of doom, predicting the death of a king or some other disaster. Although comets are unpredictable, modern astrology sees them in a bit more positive light. Comets bring a message of change. Considering the current state of our world, a message from the center of the Milky Way, from the Source, is bringing hope and a broader perspective to humanity.

The Full Moon in Aries is in conjunction with the trans-Neptunian Leleākūhonua, ”The Goblin”.

The nature of astrology is cyclic. There are rapid cycles, such as the monthly rotation of the Moon, and the annual rotation of the Earth around the Sun. Then there are some extremely long ones.

There was a time when Saturn represented the edge of our solar system. It was the farthest planet visible to the naked eye. The invention of the telescope pushed the limit further out. Pluto held its position as the boundary of the known world for a long time. Today thousands of new planets beyond Neptune have been detected.

Leleākūhonua was discovered ten years ago in October 2015. It is an extreme trans-Neptunian object (ETNO) and a sednoid. Based on its discovery date near Halloween and the letters in its provisional designation 2015 TG387, the object was first nicknamed “The Goblin” by its discoverers. It was first observed at the Mauna Kea Observatories, Hawaii. Students in the Hawaiian-language program A Hua He Inoa got to suggest the formal name and so the object was named Leleākūhonua, “it flies until land appears”. The object reminded the students of the kolea, or a Pacific golden plover, a migratory bird which migrates from Alaska to Hawaii.

Leleākūhonua orbits the Sun once roughly every 55,000 years. It is now close to us and coming to perihelion in 2078. For over 99 percent of its orbit it is so faint that it could not have been detected. The diameter is around 220 km.

The Moon is the main cause of the tidal phenomenon on Earth. The Earth’s axial tilt and its orbit around the Sun causes the change of seasons. Leleākūhonua’s orbit is so long that it is difficult for our minds to even comprehend it, let alone understand its astrological significance. All the same, the body exists and its orbit is as true and dependable as the return of migratory birds.

Autumnal Equinox – Sept. 22, 2025, 18:19 UT

The New Moon in the last degree of Virgo is a partial solar eclipse. The next day is the Autumnal Equinox, when the Sun enters Libra.

In August there was a kite configuration formed by Mars and the slowly moving planets Uranus, Pluto, Saturn, and Neptune. Now the Sun and the Moon have taken Mars’s place at the back of the kite. Full Moon in Aquarius – Aug. 09, 2025, 07:55 UT

Eclipses may bring events that feel “fated”. Now even more so, because asteroid 3811 Karma is in conjunction with the Sun, Moon and Mercury. Asteroid Karma was discovered by astronomer Liisi Oterma in 1953 in Turku, Finland. It is a Main-belt asteroid with a diameter of about 30 kilometers and an orbital period of just over four years. The concept of karma is universal and means the influence of cause and effect. All actions have consequences. Also the lack of action counts. The astrological meaning attached to the asteroid follows roughly the same.

Today the UK, Canada and Australia have recognised the Palestinian state. According to Finland’s constitution, our foreign policy is led by the president in co-operation with the government. President Alexander Stubb has said that he would be ready to recognise a Palestinian state if the government were to propose it. He would have liked Finland to be “on the right side of history”. Shamefully our right-wing government is not willing to do it, Finland is not recognising Palestine.

The solar eclipse and the transiting asteroid Karma are conjunct Finland’s natal asteroid Karma in early Libra and squaring Finland’s lunar nodes and Mercury in Capricorn.

The Full Moon is eclipsing in the sensitive sign of Pisces. Very fittingly, one of the newly named trans-Neptunians, Chiminigagua, is present. The Muisca indigenous people were praising their chief god Chiminigagua by adoring the Moon and the Sun.

The New Moon occurs when the Sun and the Moon are in conjunction. The Full Moon is the opposition of the Sun and the Moon. Eclipses can only take place at the New Moon or at the Full Moon and when the Sun and Moon are at or near the lunar nodes. The nodes are the points where the yearly path of the Sun and the monthly path of the Moon intersect as seen from Earth.

The word “eclipse” comes from the Greek word meaning “disappearance”. A lunar eclipse occurs when the Earth is between the Sun and the Moon, and the shadow of the Earth obscures the Moon. Today the Moon darkens but we are not without light. This lunar eclipse in Pisces occurs at the North node of the Moon. The Sun in the opposing sign Virgo, is in conjunction with the South node of the Moon and Chiminigagua.

Chiminigagua is a scattered-disc object discovered in 2013 by Scott Sheppard and Chad Trujillo at Cerro Tololo Observatory in Chile. Chiminigagua is a binary. The primary has a diameter of about 740 km and the yet unnamed satellite about 190 km. The orbital period is about 450 years. The orbit is highly tilted and elliptical, typical for the SDO’s.

Chiminigagua was named on Aug. 11, 2025, after the creator god of the Muisca people that inhabit the Andes mountains in the central part of Colombia. When the world was created there was only darkness and the only light was given by Chiminigagua. She first opened her gigantic belly from where light was shining. Then she created two black birds and launched them into space. The birds spread light from their beaks which produced light in the cosmos. Chiminigagua ruled over all the other gods. She was never praised directly, yet through the lesser gods of the Sun, Moon and fertility.

The Sabian symbol for the eclipse is Pisces 16 The flow of inspiration. Like countless generations before us, we can look to the sky tonight and seek inspiration from its lights and their interaction.

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The WGSBN has been busy. Four more large trans-Neptunian minor planets have been named on Sept. 1, 2025. The WGSBN is a working group of the International Astronomical Union (IAU) and responsible for assigning names to minor planets.

Cubewano Uni is named after the Etruscan goddess of love and fertility. Its satellite is named after the Etruscan sky god and Uni’s husband, Tinia. Uni’s orbital period is 282 years and its diameter about 660 km.

Another cubewano is named after Goibniu, the Irish god of metallurgy and hospitality. Its diameter is around 680 km and orbital period about 271 years.

Xewioso, approximately 500–600 km in diameter, is named after a thunder god in the mythologies of the Ewe and Fon people of Western Africa. The orbital period is about 231 years.

Rumina is a scattered-disc object named after a Roman goddess who protected breastfeeding mothers. Her domain extended to protecting animal mothers too, not just human ones. The orbital period is 888 years and the approximate diameter 644 km.

The New Moon in the first degree of Virgo is in conjunction with the binary cubewano Sila-Nunam and square Uranus-Sedna conjunction in Gemini. The Sun, the Moon and Sila-Nunam form the apex of a yod pattern. Other planets involved in the yod are Pluto in Aquarius and Saturn-Neptune conjunction in Aries. Potent forces are present.

Ukraine celebrates its independence tomorrow. The declaration of independence was issued on Aug. 24, 1991. President Zelensky, president Trump and European leaders met in Washington on Aug. 18, when the Sun was in exact conjunction with the peace planet Praamzius. However, there are no great hopes for peace. This New Moon is right at Ukraine’s Sun. The New Moon is also conjunct asteroid Cardea in the last degree of Leo. Cardea is named after the Roman goddess of doorways and transitions, symbolizing the guardianship of thresholds. Is Ukraine now at a hinge moment of history? Time will tell.

This summer Finland experienced a record-breaking heatwave with 22 days exceeding 30C. The heatwave would have been impossible without human-caused climate breakdown. There were dead reindeer in Lapland because of the heat. The climate is warming fastest in the north.

Also worrying is the news from Spain that Posidonia, “Neptune’s weed”, the most important carbon sink in the Mediterranean, is disappearing. Posidonia grows on the seabed and binds more carbon dioxide than anything else in the world. It is one of the oldest living organisms in the world, partly up to 10,000 years old, and grows extremely slowly. The warming seawater is a significant threat to Posidonia.

Sila-Nunam and Sedna are both named from Inuit mythology. The entire Inuit way of life is under threat as the sea ice melts. Sedna is the goddess of the Arctic Ocean, who created the sea animals. Sila is the god of the sky, weather, and life force. Nunam is the Earth goddess, who created the land animals and the Inuit people. The presence of these Arctic deities in the chart reminds us that despite wars and other serious problems, combating climate disaster should be our priority.

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More Kuiper belt planets have been assigned names.

On July 21, 2025, cubewano Ritona was named after the Celtic goddess of river fords. Ritona’s orbital period is 267 years and its diameter approximately 679 km.

Centaur planet Petraios was named on Aug. 11, 2025. The orbital period is around 91 years and the diameter approximately 77 km. According to the official naming citation, “The centaur Petraios took part in the battle at the wedding of Pirithous, a symbolic clash between primal chaos and social order. His name means ‘rocky’, evoking strength and stability. As Ovid tells, Petraios fell while grappling with the rooted Earth. Like this minor planet, he marks the edge between structure and upheaval.”

Chiminigagua is a scattered-disc object and a binary named on Aug. 11, 2025. Chiminigagua is the creator god of the Muisca people that inhabit the Andes mountains in the central part of Colombia. When the world was created there was only darkness and the only light was given by Chiminigagua. The orbital period is about 450 years and the diameter about 740 km.

When the Moon in Aquarius opposes the Sun in Leo, there is an awesome kite configuration in the sky. It is mostly formed by the slowly moving outer planets. The Saturn-Neptune conjunction in Aries and Mars in Libra form the spine. Uranus in Taurus and Pluto in Aquarius are the wing tips.

The kite pattern is composed of one opposition as well as trines and sextiles. We have an image of a delicate kite flying in the sky with the wind. Although trines and sextiles are so-called easy aspects, this time the kite reminds me more of a taut bow. The aspects of this kite are tight, and Mars is steering.

The Moon and the Sun are in contact with the kite planets by two pairs of semisquare (45°) and sesquisquare (135°) aspects, which resemble a square. According to Robert Hand, “these two aspects represent times of crisis similar to the square but usually not as intense.”

The world situation is so strange and tense that anything could happen. Whatever it is, it’s someone’s plan. Asteroid Pallas, the symbol of strategic planning, is in conjunction with the Moon.

The New Moon at 2+ Leo is tightly in cojunction with centaur Echeclus and opposite Pluto at 2+ Aquarius. The Echeclus-Pluto opposition is exact on July 26, 2025. Echeclus and Pluto oppose each other five times between September 2024 and June 2026, and this is the midmost of those oppositions.

Echeclus was discovered in 2000 and classified as a minor planet. However, it has undergone several outbursts since its discovery. In 2006 it was also given a comet designation. Also Chiron and a few other objects are cross-listed as both a comet and a centaur. Echeclus belongs to a small subgroup of comets called Chiron-type comets, whose other members include Chiron and 39P/Oterma. The orbital period of Echeclus is about 35 years and its diameter about 60 kilometers.

Echeclus was named after the Greek centaur who fought in the battle between the Centaurs and the Lapiths. He was killed with a hit in the face with a lance that lacked its point. Loss of face (figuratively) or having one’s identity shattered has been suggested as the astrological meaning of Echeclus. Taking this a little further, espionage could be related to this, especially when Echeclus is in aspect with Pluto. A spy operates secretly and pretends to be someone other than he/she is.

I think the factors of the discovery chart of Echeclus support this. Echeclus was discovered on March 3, 2000 at 16+ Virgo, in exact square to Chiron and Arawn at 16+ Sagittarius. Arawn was the Welsh ruler of the otherworld, who switched places and appearance with a mortal man, and then back again. Nobody noticed. The Sabian symbol for the Sun’s degree 14 Pisces is “A lady in fox fur”.

Image: Madame Craucher with her chauffeur Boris Wolkowski in 1930s (Wikipedia)

Minna Craucher (Aug. 23, 1891 – March 8, 1932) was the false name of Maria Lindell, a Finnish socialite and spy. Her home was a noted salon for various writers and artists, and a gathering place for the literaty group Tulenkantajat, for instance. Minna Craucher can be considered a fictional character that Maria Lindell created for herself. In addition the name, she also created an education and a noble family background for herself. Craucher became involved in the right-wing Lapua Movement. She began to be suspected of being a communist agent, which led to her murder in 1932. Craucher’s Echeclus in late Leo is in conjunction with her Sun, sextile to Uranus in Libra, and semisextile to Mercury in Virgo.

Another famous Finnish spy and salon hostess was the writer and cultural influencer Hella Wuolijoki (July 22, 1886 – Feb. 2, 1954), known for her Niskavuori series. Wuolijoki was a member of the Finnish Parliament and also served as the director of the national broadcasting company, YLE. She had secret connections with the Soviet intelligence. She maintained a transit point, the most famous user of which was John Reed, while traveling from the United States to Russia. Wuolijoki was arrested in 1943 for hiding a Soviet paratrooper spy on a mission. She was sentenced to prison for treason. Hella Wuolijoki’s Echeclus in early Leo is in conjuntion with her Sun in the last degree of Cancer, sextile to Pluto in Gemini, and sextile to Jupiter and Uranus in Libra.

Alger Hiss (Nov. 11, 1904 – Nov. 15, 1996) was an American government official who was accused of espionage in the late 1940s and convicted of perjury. Whether he was guilty or not continue to be debated. The Scorpio Sun of Alger Hiss is in conjunction with Echeclus.

Stig Bergling (March 1, 1937 – Jan. 24, 2015) was a Swedish Security Service officer who spied for the Soviet Union. He was arrested and sentenced to life imprisonment in 1979. His escape and defection to Moscow via Finland in 1987 caused a great stir. For health reasons he voluntarily returned to Sweden in 1994. Bergling’s Echeclus in late Libra is squaring tightly his Pluto in Cancer and opposing Venus in Aries. The time of his birth is unknown, but in the noon chart Echeclus is exactly conjunct his Moon.

Alexander Litvinenko (Aug. 30, 1962 – Nov. 23, 2006) was a former officer of the Russian Federal Security Service, who had fled to London and was granted asylum in the United Kingdom. In November 2006, Litvinenko fell ill because of polonium poisoning. Litvinenko met with two former agents earlier on the day. He died a few weeks later. A British investigation identified a former KGB agent Andrei Lugovoy as the main suspect. Litvinenko has a stellium in Virgo. The Sun is in tight conjunction with Echeclus, and the other planets in Virgo are Uranus, Pluto, and the Moon.

The second Echeclus-Pluto opposition of the current series took place on Dec. 26, 2024. On the previous day happened the Estlink 2 cable incident in the Gulf of Finland (Dec. 25, 2024, 12:26 EET -2:00). The oil tanker Eagle S, part of the Russian shadow fleet, intentionally caused the cable ruptures by dragging its anchor. The officers of the ship are suspected of aggravated vandalism and aggravated interference with telecommunications. An expert has estimated that Russia’s shadow ships may be commanded by an invisible captain. In reality, the commander who makes the decisions would be in a lower-ranking position than the captain on paper. An “invisible captain” and a spy have a lot in common, both are busy in the shadows doing something completely different than what is visible to others.

A week ago, coinciding with the third Echeclus-Pluto opposition aspect, we were surprised by the sighting of an Indian warship sailing in the Gulf of Bothnia. The Tamal frigate is Russian-made and was handed over to India in July. The reasons for the ship’s strange route can only be guessed at. The authorities were closely monitoring the situation. There have been speculations that the ship was spying for Russia.