Mercury turned retrograde on Feb. 26, 2026. Mars squared Uranus on Feb. 27, 2026, and the next day the United States and Israel began a series of strikes against Iran. Violence and accidents are commonly associated with the Mars-Uranus square. Now only a few days after the challenging square, the Full Moon at 12+ degrees of Virgo is accompanied by a total lunar eclipse. There are usually two lunar eclipses a year. This is the last total lunar eclipse until New Year’s Eve 2028. The Sun in Pisces is in exact conjunction with asteroid Pallas. The Moon in Virgo is tightly sextile to centaur 39P/Oterma in Cancer.

There is no clear orbital distinction between centaurs and comets. Centaur 39P/Oterma was discovered in 1943 by the Finnish astronomer Liisi Oterma. At the time it was an active comet, but a close approach to Jupiter in 1963 put it on its current inactive centaur orbit between Jupiter and Saturn. 39P/Oterma’s orbital period around the Sun is nearly 20 years. For the time being I am not able to get centaur 39P/Oterma appear in the chart wheel, but its location is currently at 12+ degrees of Cancer conjunct Jupiter.

There is another comet in Cancer more closely conjunct Jupiter, namely the interstellar comet 3I/ATLAS. It was discovered on July 1, 2025. It may be the oldest comet yet seen. It came from the direction of the Milky Way’s Galactic Center. Comet 3I/ATLAS cannot be traced back to its original parent star because it has been traveling around the Milky Way for billions of years. It passed closest to our Sun on Oct. 29, 2025. It will pass Jupiter on March 16, 2026, before heading further to the outer regions of our solar system and then escaping back into interstellar space. The opportunity to catch the message that the interstellar comet 3I/ATLAS came with will soon be lost.

The Sabian symbol for the Full Moon is Virgo 13, A strong hand supplanting political hysteria. “This is a symbol of the real weight of human personality as emphasized here by the direct intervention of outstanding individuals in the affairs of their fellows. They must provide an over-all ordering for each moment of history if it is to count for much in the lives of the others around them, since there is always a counsel of confusion to take over when events are allowed to drift or when the immediate leadership proves deficient. The greatest opportunity for self-discovery lies in the transient crises of everyday living. The keyword is POWER. When positive, the degree is consistent effectiveness in dramatizing personal potentials, and when negative, loss of all opportunity by timid action.” (Marc Edmund Jones)

Instead of order, the political leaders are providing us chaos and destruction. The symbol of the strong hand hardly refers to them. Asteroid Pallas is named after the Greek warrior goddess of wisdom, foresight, and well-planned warfare. Demetra George points out that in the sign of Pisces Pallas embraces the wisdom of compassion, and can be a devotee of nonviolent resistance, for example.

The New Moon on Feb. 17, 2026, at 28+ degrees of Aquarius is an annular solar eclipse and it is the first eclipse of the year. The unprecedented Saturn-Neptune conjunction at the Aries Point is about to become exact within a few days. The eclipse squares Uranus in Taurus.

A solar eclipse can take place only when there is a New Moon. An annular solar eclipse occurs when the Moon is at or near its furthest point from the Earth, and the Moon appears smaller than the Sun’s disk. The golden ring of the Sun stays visible around the Moon during the eclipse. The astrological trends that the solar eclipse shows are valid about the next six months. The current eclipse is at the future oriented North node of the Moon.

This eclipse is a member of the Saros series 10 North. The initial eclipse of this Saros was tightly conjunct Mercury, and Saturn was on the midpoint of the New Moon and Neptune. So Saturn and Neptune were involved in determining the quality of the original eclipse too. Bernadette Brady has delineated: “There is a very strong emphasis on communication and, at the same time, frustrating or inhibiting events may come into the person’s life via news, paperwork or a young person. The person may feel tired and drained, and this is therefore a good time to take things quietly and work through the difficulties one at a time.”

The conjunction of Saturn and Neptune takes place roughly every 36 years. However, since the beginning of the common era this is the first time that it is happening at the Aries Point, the first degree of Aries. Neptune entered Aries on Jan. 26 and Saturn followed on Feb. 14. Now the conjunction is developing to its full precision at the Aries Point. The historic Saturn-Neptune conjunction takes place on Feb. 20, 2026. The energies have been felt long before the peak moment.

The Aries Point is the starting point of the zodiac. It strongly symbolizes new beginnings. Saturn and Neptune operate in opposite ways. Saturn builds boundaries while Neptune dissolves them. No wonder that the world is in chaos now. The rebellious Uranus, the ruler of Aquarius, is shattering the structures of Saturn too. The eclipse forms a challenging square to the unpredictable Uranus. We are unlikely to get relief anytme soon and Uranus keeps offering us surprises.

The eclipse is opposite the peace planet Praamzius in Leo. The Sun and the Moon in Aquarius, Uranus in Taurus, and Praamzius in Leo form a t-square. A new round of peace negotiations has just begun in Geneva between the Ukrainian, Russian and US officials. Since communication, negtiations and making deals fall under the dominion of Mercury, which is strongly colouring this Saros series, I had a quick look at the charts of Ukraine and the European Union too. Ukraine has a triple conjunction of Venus, Mercury and Jupiter at 25-28 degrees of Leo, which receives the transits of the eclipse and other points of the t-square. The eclipse and the t-sqiare also transit the Moon-Mercury square of the EU.

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.

***

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.

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.

The New Moon at 10+ degrees of Libra was an annular solar eclipse. In the same degree with the Sun and the Moon were two main-belt asteroids, Astraea and Mnemosyne, and one of the largest trans-Neptunian objects, Makemake. Mercury was in a close conjunction with the eclipse.

Libra is the sign of relationships and balance. The eclipse appeared on the South node of the Moon. The South node is said to represent familiar things and the past. Sue Tompkins has suggested the keywords “association, joining, entanglement, connection, meeting, remembrance” for the South node (Sue Tompkins, The Contemporary Astrrologer’s Handbook, 2006).

A solar eclipse occurs when the Moon passes between Earth and the Sun. The Moon’s orbit around Earth is slightly elliptical, and that’s why the Moon sometimes appears smaller than the Sun. A solar eclipse that occurs when the Moon is near its farthest distance from Earth is called an annular eclipse. The Moon doesn’t completely cover the Sun, and the Sun appears as a very bright ring, surrounding the dark disk of the Moon. On October 2, 2024, ”the ring of fire” was visible in parts of South America. The eclipse was seen as a partial solar eclipse in parts of South America, Antarctica, North America, the Atlantic Ocean, and the Pacific Ocean, including Hawaii.

Rapa Nui (Easter Island) was in the relatively narrow path of the annular eclipse, which is noteworthy considering that the eclipse was in exact conjunction with Makemake.

136472 Makemake is one of the three big discoveries that were announced at the end of July 2005, namely Eris, Haumea and Makemake. Makemake is the largest cubewano and the brightest trans-Neptunian object after Pluto. It is fairly round and the estimated dimensions are 1434 x 1420 km. The orbital period is about 306 years. Makemake will reach its aphelion in 2033. Makemake was long thought to be alone, but in 2015 a moon was discovered and nicknamed ”MK2”. There may be another large, undiscovered satellite orbiting Makemake.

A recent study from February 2024 challenges our understanding of distant icy worlds like Makemake. The James Webb Space Telescope (JWST) gave scientists a surprise. Evidence of internal geochemical activity on Eris and Makemake suggests that there may be water oceans beneath their surface.

The discovery team of Makemake nicknamed the object “Easterbunny” because of its discovery shortly after Easter. The official name Makemake was chosen in part to preserve the object’s connection with Easter. It is Polynesian in origin and is the name of the creator of humanity and the god of fertility in the mythology of the Rapa Nui, the native people of Easter Island. Makemake was the chief god of the Tangata manu bird-man cult and was worshiped in the form of sea birds, which were his incarnation. His material symbol was a man with a bird’s head.

The bird-man cult included an annual dangerous competition on Rapa Nui. The contestants had to swim to the nearby island to collect the first egg of the season of a certain tropical seabird, and then swim back to Rapa Nui. Many lost their lives. The winner was entitled to gifts of food, and his clan would have sole rights to collect the wild bird eggs and fledglings of that season. The winner had to go into seclusion for a year and spend his time eating and sleeping, and could not engage in any other activity. He did this for his community.

Easter Island is one of the most isolated inhabited places in the world. The island is famous for its monumental statues called moai. Rapa Nui history has been presented as a warning for humanity’s overexploitation of resources. There was an environmental collapse and a cultural collapse on the island. The trees were cut down, and when the wood ran out, the islanders couldn’t even make canoes and became completely isolated from the rest of the world. The few hundred people left were unable to remember their past, they lost their collective memory. According to the newest research, although the residents did cut down the trees, they were able to adapt to the changing environment. The island never had more than a few thousand people prior to European contact. Europeans brought disease and slave traders took a third of the island’s population. In the 1870s, there were only 110 people left on the island.

Asteroid 5 Astraea was discovered in 1945. The four first asteroids, Ceres, Pallas, Juno and Vesta, were first classified as planets. However, after the discovery of Astraea, new asteroids started being discovered at a rapid pace, and it became apparent that there were thousands of members of this new type of celestial body. Astraea’s orbital period is little over four years and the mean diameter is 125 km. The fifth asteroid was named after Astraea, the Greek goddess of justice. She was the last of the immortals to live with humans during the Golden Age. As mankind became wicked, she was the last to stay on earth. Zeus then placed her amongst the stars as the constellation Virgo. The scales of justice she carried became the constellation of Libra. According to myth, Astraea will one day come back to Earth, bringing with her the return of the utopian Golden Age.

Martha Lang-Wescott suggests that Astraea may have something to do with the difficulty of letting go of things, people or events. This can be a virtue or a hindrance. Astraea gives persistance, or it can make you cling to situations longer than is good for you. Astraea can make it difficult to know exactly when things are starting or ending. Also, one can become the observer, the witness who stands without judgment and ”insures that a cycle has truly reached completion (Martha Lang-Wescott, Mechanics of the Future, 1996).”

57 Mnemosyne is a large asteroid discovered in 1859. It’s orbital period is over 5 years and the diameter is about 113 km. It is named after the Greek goddess of memory and remembrance, and the inventress of language and words. The Theoi Project site mentions that she “represented the rote memorisation required to preserve the stories of history and the sagas of myth before the introduction of writing.” Asteroid Mnemosyne emphasizes planet Mercury’s function in the chart, as Mercury is associated with memory, and with written and spoken communication.

Memories can fade or become distorted. Perhaps one of the challenges of this eclipse is to find the right balance between the memories you hold dear and carry with you and the ones you’d better let go of. Rapa Nui has slowly revealed some of its secrets, as has the planet Makemake. Scientific research will continue, and so does the astrological research of Makemake.

Salvador Dali (May 11, 1904 – Jan. 23, 1989), the Spanish surrealist artist, had Makemake in Taurus in conjunction with his Sun, Mercury and Mars. His Makemake is occupying the midpoint of Astraea and Mnemosyne. One of Dali’s most famous works is The Persistence of Memory, which depicts a surrealistic image of soft, melting pocket watches. It has been interpreted that in the painting, everything created by man is perishable, the only permanent thing is the cliffs in the background, where the true permanence of memory resides. In his last years Dalí became withdrawn and he lived almost in isolation.

The New Moon in Aries is a total solar eclipse visible across North America. A total solar eclipse occurs when the Moon passes between the Earth and the Sun, completely obscuring the light of the Sun momentarily. All three bodies are in line. In the astrological chart, the Sun and the Moon are in conjunction, as always at the time of the New Moon. Even if the eclipse is not visible where you live, its astrological significance is not reduced because of it. In addition, the eclipse degree can remain as a sensitive point for years to come.

The eclipse occurs exactly in conjunction with the centaur planet Chiron, in the same degree and down to arc minutes. The trans-Neptunian Eris is also prominent in the chart. It is in the same degree with Mercury retrograde. Mercury turned retrograde on April 1, 2024.

We associate both the New Moon and Aries, the first sign of the zodiac, strongly with new beginnings. The eclipse intensifies the power of the moment. The eclipse is like a transition point that gives a chance to adjust the direction that we are taking. In Aries there is pioneering spirit, self-motivation and action.

Each solar eclipse is a member of a specific Saros series. Each series starts as a tiny partial eclipse at either the North or South Pole, produces an eclipse every 18 years, and finishes at the opposite Pole. Each eclipse family has the characteristics of its own. Today’s eclipse belongs to the Saros series 8 North, which started in 1501 at the North Pole. We can cast the chart for the initial eclipse and use it to help interpreting the current eclipse chart. The initial eclipse was in Gemini (ruled by Mercury), and astrologer Bernadette Brady has delineated it like this: ”Inventiveness and flashes of genius are the hallmark of this Saros Series. The individual will have intuitive leaps, insights, good ideas, visions or vivid dreams. This new-found inspiration will pull the person away from his or her social life or relationship, thereby causing strain in the private life. This is a time when the person needs to be free, if only for a few weeks.” (Bernadette Brady, Predictive Astrology, 1992)

Centaur planet Chiron was discovered in 1977. It orbits the Sun on an elliptical orbit that is merging the realms of Saturn and Uranus. The orbital period is about 50 years. Observations in 1989 showed that Chiron had developed a cometary coma. A tail was detected in 1993. Today it is classified as both a minor planet and a comet. Chiron has three rings (yes, three rings!) and their structure is constantly evolving. The evidence of the rings was provided by several observations of occultations, the latest of which was in 2022. What a maverick!

Sue Tompkins and Melanie Reinhart have written: ”…In this sense Chiron bridges the realms of Uranus (radical change, revolution and the overturning of old collective structures) and Saturn (lord of manifestation and preserver of existing forms). By weaving both impulses into a higher synthesis, more uniquely personal than either planet, Chiron’s process may help us to individuate beyond the various pressures of the collective to which we are all subject. Commitment to the healing of ourselves, others and our environment is the price this minor planet seems to be asking us to pay.” (Sue Tompkins, The Contemporary Astrologer’s Handbook, 2006)

According to Barbara Hand Clow, ”Chiron is a knife-like tool you can use to dissect levels of awareness.” (Barbara Hand Clow, Chiron Transforming Bridge Between the Inner and Outer Planets, 2004)

Mercury is now retrograding in Aries. Retrograding planets work a bit differently than planets in direct motion. Their energy is said to be more introspective. Martin Schulman has said: ”…through one’s Retrogrades, it is possible to ultimately become one’s own Guru through the enormous self awareness that emerges the minute the ‘not me’ identity is no longer a strong vibratory force in the person’s life.” By the ”not me” identity Schulman means the part of us that society, tradition, and our parents have taught us.

Although Schulman writes about ”Retrograde Mercury Personality”, the following can be adapted to transits as well: ”Once the communication barrier is passed, there is a tremendous amount of insight that comes out of the Retrograde Mercury. To make this easier, the Retrograde individual should not try to make the form of his life fit into the ideas and opinions of others around him. Instead he can find more comfort in being grateful for his rather unique way of seeing things.” (Martin Schulman, Retrogrades and Reincarnation, 1977)

Now Mercury and Eris are in a tight conjunction in Aries. Eris is is the most massive and second-largest known minor planet in the Solar System. It was discovered in 2005 and the next year named after the Greco–Roman goddess of strife and discord. It is a TNO in the scattered disk with the orbital period of almost 560 years.

Amy Shapiro writes about Eris-Mercury aspects: ”Mercury, like the chemical element, in its purest state is a tool of reflection, as a mirroring surface for what is near it. Eris polarizes all that she encounters.” (Amy Shapiro, Inviting Eris To The Party, 2014)

The last quote is from Henry Seltzer, and he too is talking about natal aspects between Mercury and Eris, but we can apply this again to the current transits as the stepping stone on our path to find our true ”me” identity: ”All the intellectual roads that you traverse have the power to bring you into closer connection with yourself. It is a life-long study to discover who you really are, on the inside, and once you do, you find that you are in a far better position to express your unique attitudes to the world around you.” (Henry Seltzer, The Tenth Planet, 2015)

Vernal Equinox – March 20, 2024, 03:06 UT

The new astrological year has begun with the tinge of lies and self-delusion. The Sun entered Aries on March 20 in triple conjunction with Neptune and 66652 Borasisi. The trans-Neptunian Borasisi followed the Sun into Aries on March 24. Borasisi is in the middle of its sign change; this was its second ingress, and the last one takes place in January 2025. The Full Moon in Libra on March 25 is a lunar eclipse. The Sun is still only five degrees apart from Borasisi. Pluto in Aquarius is sextile to Borasisi.

Borasisi is a binary object, a pair of bodies orbiting around their common center of mass, the barycenter. It belongs to cubewanos, which are given mythological names associated with creation. The companion’s name is Pabu. The names come from Kurt Vonnegut’s novel Cat’s Cradle. The novel is satirizing issues of science, technology, the arms race, and the purpose of religion. Borasisi and Pabu are the personifications of the sun and moon in the cosmogony of Bokononism, the fictional religion, which is based on living by the untruths that make one happy. Astrologically Borasisi represents these themes and how we choose what comes to truth and lies.

If you have been following the news recently, you can’t but help notice the echoes of the themes of Vonnegut’s novel. The lunar eclipse draws our attention to these issues.

Putin won the presidential election in Russia. Actually nobody believes that the vote was free or fair.

It is now more than two years since Russia invaded Ukraine, and for the first time Kremlin has used the word ”war” instead of a ”special military operation”.

The leaders of European countries had a meeting in Brussels. Among other topics, they discussed the need to strengthen the defence industry due to the changed security situation in Europe.

The award-winning Finnish journalist Matti Kuusela caused a scandal by revealing that he has written self-invented material in several articles during his career. According to him, readers should understand that not all articles are completelty true. In the name of journalistic credibility the publisher removed hundreds of articles from the web.

Finland was ranked the happiest country in the world for the seventh year in a row. The young people whose quality of life is weakened by both the poor economic situation and increased mental health problems hardly agree. Nor do those people whose social benefits have just been cut. More than half a million social welfare recipients will receive less support starting April 1. While the government says it aims at halving the number of those who receive income support, Kela (the Social Insurance Institution of Finland) estimates that the number of people receiving income support will actually increase.

The reading skills of Finnish youth have weakened, especially in reading that requires critical thinking. Every third high school student has difficulty distinguishing a lie from the truth when reading online texts. We are all exposed to propaganda, conspiracy theories, and the products of artificial intelligence on a daily basis. Using the internet a lot does not make one a good critical reader. Thinking skills have to be learned separately. Young people need support in this.

In natal charts a prominent Borasisi can represent creativity and for example, a talented fictional writer. The famous detective writer Agatha Christie (Sept. 15, 1890 – Jan. 12, 1976) had her Sun conjunct Borasisi in Virgo. William Faulkner (Sept. 25, 1897 – July 6, 1962) and F. Scott Fitzgerald (Sept. 24, 1896 – Dec. 21, 1940) had their Sun conjunct Borasisi too. The first three Matrix films were written and directed by the Wachowskis. We can recognize the themes of Borasisi in the film series. Lilly Wachowski (born Dec. 29, 1967) has both her Sun and Mercury in conjuction with Borasisi in Capricorn. Lana Wachowski’s (born June 21, 1965) Borasisi in Capricorn is opposed by the Sun and Mercury in Cancer.

The Full Moon at 5+ degrees of Taurus is a partial lunar eclipse. Eclipses occur twice a year during the period that is called an eclipse season. There are usually two eclipses during the season, one solar and one lunar. A lunar eclipse occurs at the Full Moon when the Earth is between the Sun and the Moon and the shadow of Earth obscures the disc of the Moon either totally or partially. A solar eclipse in Libra two weeks ago is now followed by a lunar eclipse in Taurus. The Sabian symbol for the eclipse degree is A bridge being built across a gorge.

At the lunar eclipse we may be emotionally touchy. The eclipse is said to be a turning point that allows us to have a fresh start. Quoting Demetra George, ”During a lunar eclipse, it is the past, symbolized by the Moon, which is obscured and can be released. In the absence of the conditioning of the past, the possibility emerges of meeting experiences in a new manner.” (Demetra George, Finding our Way Through the Dark, 1994)

The Sun is in the emotional, intense and transformative sign of Scorpio. Besides the Moon, there are Jupiter and Uranus in Taurus. Uranus is in conjunction with a peculiar little body 39P/Oterma. In the past 39P/Oterma has went through a transformation, and in the future its orbit probably will be transformed again.

39P/Oterma is a Chiron-type comet currently on a centaur-like orbit contained between Jupiter and Saturn. This small family of comets is named after its largest member Chiron, officially designated as both a comet and a centaur, which blurs the line between minor planets and comets. 39P/Oterma’s diameter is around 4 – 5 km and the orbital period is nearly 20 years.

Comets are named after their discoverers. 39P/Oterma was discovered by the Finnish astronomer Liisi Oterma on April 8, 1943, in Turku, Finland. The letter P in the name stands for a periodic comet. It was discovered while it was an active comet. A close approach to Jupiter on April 12, 1963, put it on its current inactive centaur orbit. It came to perihelion in July 2023. According to Wikipedia, the orbit of 39P/Oterma keeps its overall characteristics at least until the beginning of the 24th century.

The comet was discovered in 1943 at 4º 50’53” Libra (the Sabian Symbol: ”A man teaching the true inner knowledge”). The close approach to Jupiter in 1963 that put it on its centaur orbit occurred at 1º 37’15” Aries in conjunction with Jupiter (the Sabian Symbol: ”A comedian entertaining a group”).

In astrology the planets can be divided into three groups: the personal planets (Mercury, Venus and Mars), the social planets (Jupiter and Saturn), and the transcendental planets (Uranus, Neptune and Pluto). The social planets Jupiter and Saturn connect the individual with society and represent the interaction between the individual and the larger world. 39P/Oterma’s orbit between Jupiter and Saturn suggests that its influence is connected to a person’s participation in the world at large.

In the standard Finnish language there is currently no such word as ”oterma”. The name is possibly derived from an old Finnish word ”ota”, which means wild hay. It could also mean a thorn or a spear. There is Lake Oterma and Oterma village in the Northern Ostrobothnia. The area is old Sami residential area. Since there isn’t any mythology behind the name of the centaur 39P/Oterma, perhaps these subtle clues help the astrological delineation.