The Sun entered the intense Scorpio a few days ago and is now in conjunction with Haumea, a trans-Neptunian minor planet named after the Hawaiian shape-shifter. The Full Moon is in Taurus. The Sun and the Moon are squaring Pluto in Aquarius.

We are living in dark times. Pluto’s symbolism includes irreversible changes, social upheavals, power struggles, and economic impact. Our era is marked by greed, rigidity, a lust for power, and a disregard for human dignity. Pluto can bring a person to their knees. We can only trust that in the end, there is light at the end of the tunnel.

Photo: © Kirsti Melto

***

On Oct. 19, 2026, the IAU’s Working Group for Small Bodies Nomenclature assigned the name Geyagugv for one of the ETNOs (the extreme trans-Neptunian objects).

768325 Geyagugv orbits the Sun in the outermost region of the Solar System on a highly eccentric and inclined orbit. The inclination is 54° with respect to the ecliptic. The orbital period is from about 8,856 years to over 10,000 years. Geyagugv fits into the group of ETNOs that led to the prediction of Planet Nine, without which those objects would leave their orbits. Geyagugv has the highest orbital inclination of those objects. The diameter of Geyagugv is uncertain, but is expected to be somewhere between 400 to 700 km.

Geyagugv was named after a Cherokee metaphysical being called upon during a prayer as a messenger to aid in healing and wellbeing. Geyagugv is known to reside in the highest level, galvnati, the sky-vault. This being is one of the many messengers between the Cherokee people and the Creator.

768325 Geyagugv was discovered on Jan. 17, 2015, by astronomers with the Dark Energy Survey (an astronomical survey designed to constrain the properties of dark energy) at Cerro Tololo Observatory in Chile. Geyagugv was then retrograding at 18+ degrees of Taurus. Geyagugv is now retrograding at 13+ degrees of Gemini.

The Sabian symbol for the discovery degree is Taurus 19 A new continent rising out of the ocean. Keynote: The surge of new potentiality after the crisis. “The symbol need hardly be commented upon. When the mind has been emptied and light has been called upon to purify the consciousness freed from its attachment and contaminations, a new release of life can emerge out of the infinite Ocean of potentiality, the Virgin SPACE. What will it be used for?” (Dane Rudhyar, An Astrological Mandala).

The Autumnal Equinox was on Sept. 23, 2026, when the Sun entered Libra. The Full Moon in Aries follows on Sept. 26, 2026. The Moon is in conjunction with Neptune and the trans-Neptunian Borasisi, which completed its entry into Aries in January 2025.

Neptune is associated with denial, delusion, deception, and confusion. It dissolves boundaries and can blur reality.

Borasisi is a cubewano and a binary object. The companion is named Pabu. Borasisi orbits the Sun on a moderately elliptical orbit of 287.5 years. It may have a lot in common with Neptune. Borasisi and Pabu are the mythical personifications of the Sun and Moon in the fictional cosmogony of Bokononism described in Kurt Vonnegut’s novel Cat’s Cradle. The foundation of the fictional religion of Bokononism is based on living by the holy untruths that make one happy. Kurt Vonnegut (born Nov. 11, 1922, Indianapolis, Indiana) has an exact conjunction of Mercury, Jupiter, and Borasisi in his chart.

We are all exposed to propaganda, conspiracy theories, and the products of artificial intelligence on a daily basis. AI seems to be everwhere these days, whether you like it or not. Recently an OpenAI agent hacked Australia’s health system and tried to get the information it was told to find. There are also other cases of AI penetrating secure systems on the open internet. This is unacceptable.

Experts and many heads of state have warned of risks of artificial intelligence. Pope Leo just warned against “losing our humanity amid a paradise of machines invading and conditioning our daily lives.” AI was a major theme at the opening of the UN General Assembly in New York this week. UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres said that humanity is increasingly transferring power to machines and insisted that decisions over life and death must remain under human control. Finnish President Alexander Stubb also called for humans to retain control over AI development.

President Stubb (born April 1, 1968, Helsinki, Finland) has the Sun-Borasisi square in his chart. Another person with the Sun-Borasisi square, Bertrand Russell (born May 18, 1872, Trellech, Wales), who is regarded as one of the most influential philosophers of the 20th century, has said: “People’s opinions are mainly designed to make them feel comfortable; truth, for most people is a secondary consideration.”

In her article Astrology, Ecopsychology & Nuclear Networks: A TNO Case Study (of Borasisi), astrologer and psychotherapist Sally Hildreth tells about how radioactive waste was illegally dumped in the West Lake Landfill, that caught fire in 2010 and was still burning at the time of the publication of her article (TMA issue 223 Sept.-Dec. 2022). “Even the fire isn’t techically a fire (thus you can’t legally call it a fire), it’s a ‘sub surface smoldering event’,” she writes. I immediately associated this with how the Russian authorities continued calling the Russian-Ukrainian war a “special military operation” for years after Russia’s invasion had started.

In the chart of Russia (Dec. 8, 1991 at 17:45 UT, Moscow, Russia) Borasisi is right at the descendant. The chart data I am using is from The Book of World Horoscopes by Nicholas Campion. He writes: “The formal dissolution of the Soviet Union was anounced on 8 December 1991 in Minsk by the Presidents of the Republics of Russia, Ukraine and Byelorussia (now known as Belarus), three of the original signatories. – – – It marks the de facto end of the Soviet Union and the independence of Russia. – – – Boris Yeltsin’s public anouncement of the Minsk Declaration at about 7:45 pm Moscow Time (5:45 pm GMT) represents the public proclamation of Russian independence.”

Finnish author Jari Tervo, known as an opinionated and outspoken figure, wrote a few years ago in his column: “The Russian people remain innocent, decade after decade. They have heard nothing and seen nothing. They are blind eyewitnesses. They pretend not to know about the crimes, because it is more comfortable that way.”

In 2023 the British researcher, historian, and author Jade McGlynn visited Helsinki and was interviewed. She has specialized in modern Eastern Europe, particularly Russia under Vladimir Putin. According to McGlynn, a large proportion of Russians support the war, and an even larger share accepts it. She argues that the role of fear in shaping their opinion has been overstated. Conversely, too little attention has been paid to the fact that Russians want to explain things in the best possible way for themselves; they desire a more comfortable version of the world around them, she said.

It is exhausting to be on one’s toes all the time, but let’s try to stay vigilant in the face of the challenges of this Full Moon.

The Full Moon in Pisces on Aug. 28, 2026, is a partial lunar eclipse. The Sun in Virgo is in conjunction with Mercury. Uranus in Gemini forms a t-square with the Sun and the Moon. The Moon in Pisces is in conjunction with Gonggong and Damocles.

Gonggong is the fifth-largest known trans-Neptunian object after Pluto, Eris, Haumea and Makemake. It is approximately the size of Pluto’s moon Charon. It is a scattered disc object in a rare 3:10 orbital resonance with Neptune. There is only one confirmed object besides Gonggong in this rare resonance state. Gonggong has an atmosphere. It has a satellite.

Gonggong has tended to hide its true nature.

Gonggong was discovered in 2007 and it was long without an official name. At first, Mike Brown was not interested in naming it because he thought the object was not noteworthy and interesting enough. The discoverers nicknamed the object “Snow White” for its presumed white color. However, it turned out to be very red.

In 2019, the discoverers hosted an online poll for the general public to choose between three possible names: Gonggong (Chinese), Holle (German), and Vili (Norse). Objects like Gonggong must be given names related to mythological figures that are associated with creation. The winning name was Gonggong from Chinese mythology. Gonggong is a water god with red hair and a serpent-like tail. He is known for creating chaos, causing flooding, and tilting the Earth.

I have never been comfortable with the name Gonggong. There were rumors that someone had manipulated the poll by using a vote spamming bot. Even if this is not true, I find it hard to see Gonggong as a creation deity, even though by tilting the Earth he created the change of the seasons. Rather, he is described as destructive.

In Norse mythology Vili and Ve are Odin’s brothers, and together the three created the cosmos. Some say that they actually represent the same entity, the threefold form of Odin. The name Vili means “will”, the conscious intention, which is also needed in the creative process. At this lunar eclipse we can purposely choose to move forward as our authentic selves.

The centaur-like Damocles was discovered in 1991 on an orbit that was completely different from all others known. The orbit reaches from inside Mars to outside Uranus. Damocles is now the namesake of a group of objects, the damocloids. Damocloids are believed to be inactive nuclei of long-period and Halley-type comets that have lost their volatile material and are dormant.

“The Sword of Damocles” is the metaphor for the imminent and ever-present peril faced by those in positions of power. It is often used also in a broader sense, and simply means an unexpected peril.

Damocles’s orbital period around the Sun is nearly 41 years. However, astrologically it spends most of it, around 30 years, in Aquarius, and then hurries through the rest of the eleven signs of the zodiac in about ten years. Damocles has recently started a new round and is now in early Pisces.

***

King Harald V of Norway, Europe’s oldest living monarch, is in an extremely serious condition in hospital in Oslo. He was hospitalized ten days ago and his condition has worsened. According to the doctors, it is necessary to prepare for the worst. The members of the royal family have gathered at the hospital.

The lunar eclipse is transiting King Harald’s Sun in early Pisces and his Midheaven at 5+ degrees of Pisces.

During the past weeks you probably have heard about the Barbault Basket, the rare astrological alignment consisting of the slow-moving outer planets Jupiter (growth and optimism), Uranus (liberation and sudden breakthroughs), Neptune (idealism and sensitivity), and Pluto (transformation). The planets in the pattern form a chain of three sextiles, and Jupiter in Leo and Pluto in Aquarius are opposing each other. Now the Full Moon – the opposition of the Sun and the Moon – aligns tightly with the Jupiter-Pluto opposition and activates the planets.

The basket configuration described above is also called a cradle pattern, where four planets are linked together by one opposition, two trines, and three sextiles. The tension of the opposition is balanced by the softer aspects. Astrologer Howard Sasportas (1948 – 1992) called Uranus, Neptune and Pluto as ”the gods of change”. Each planet works on its own distinctive way. He wrote: ”But no matter what specific kinds of conflicts, traumas, paradoxes or dilemmas they bring, these planets all have one thing in common: they don’t want to leave us the same way they found us.”

Perhaps this finally is a turning point in the war that has gone on for far too long in Europe. Ukraine’s position is now stronger than ever since the war began. Relations between president Zelensky and Trump have improved. They met yesterday before senator Lindsay Grayham’s funeral, and according to Zelensky they had a good meeting, where they also talked about restarting peace talks.

The Full Moon and Pluto are transiting in conjunction with president Zelensky’s Sun-Venus conjunction in Aquarius. The current Sun-Jupiter conjunction has just passed over Ukraine’s Chiron in early Leo. The trans-Neptunian peace planet Praamzius is now at 26+ degrees of Leo. It is transiting Ukraine’s triple conjunction of Jupiter, Mercury, and Venus in Leo.

The slow-moving outer planets of change do not only bring conflict and trauma, but also offer potential for growth and development.

The Moon was full just a few minutes before midnight (UT) on June 29, 2026. The Moon in Capricorn was in conjunction with Ixion, the fourth-largest plutino (after Pluto, Orcus and Achlys). The Sun in Cancer is in conjunction with the trans-Neptunian Xevioso. Mercury is stationary and about to turn retrograde in Cancer.

The sign changes of Mars and Jupiter coincide with this Full Moon. Mars entered Gemini the day before and Jupiter enters Leo the next day. Chiron is in the first degree of Taurus. It already entered Taurus on June 19.

Xevioso was discovered in 2002 and named in 2025. The earliest known precovery observation is from 1989. Xevioso’s minor planet category is obscure. Xevioso is a trans-Neptunian object located in the inner edge of the Kuiper belt. It can be considered a classical Kuiper belt object, a cubewano. It can also be technically considered a centaur. The orbital period is about 230 years. Its diameter is between 490 and 640 km. Xevioso was nearest to the Sun in 1926.

Xewioso was named after a thunder god in the mythologies of the Ewe and Fon people of Western Africa. He is the god of thunder, lightning and rain. He is one of the children of Mawu and Lisa. Mawu-Lisa is a creator goddess associated with the Sun and the Moon. Xewioso is a righteous god. Death by lightning is considered a punishment in West Africa. But if a person survives being struck by lightning, he is is considered spiritually chosen and the direct incarnation of Xevioso.

Thunderbolts seem to be the theme of this Full Moon. In Greek mythology Ixion was a creep who was punished with a thunderbolt by Zeus (Jupiter). Ixion was a king of the Lapiths. He killed his father-in-law and was reckoned the first man guilty of kin-slaying in Greek mythology. He became an outlaw. Zeus took pity on Ixion and invited him to dine with the gods. However, instead of being grateful, Ixion tried to seduce Zeus’s wife Hera. Zeus struck him with lightning and expelled him to Tartarus, the place where the wicked received divine punishment.

Ixion is a plutino discovered in 2001. According to the International Astronomical Union’s naming convention, all plutinos must be given mythological names associated with the underworld. The earliest precovery image of Ixion is taken in 1982. Its orbital period is 248 years and the diameter according to the latest measurement is 697 km.

Ixion is said to represent that which we are all capable of. Today, there seem to be more people than ever who cannot distinguish right from wrong. These ancient myths give us hope though. Even the most powerful in the world are not safe from the consequences of their actions.

The Full Moon is in the enthusiastic and optimistic sign of Sagittarius. The Moon and the Sun in Gemini form a Grand cross with the centaur-like Damocles in Pisces and the trans-Neptunian Aya in Virgo.

55565 Aya is a large cubewano named from Akkadian mythology after the goddess of dawn. Aya is associated with morning light and the rising sun. Aya was the second-brightest Kuiper belt object known at the time of its discovery in 2002. It was named in 2025. Its orbital period is 324 years.

5335 Damocles was discovered in 1991 on an orbit that was completely different from all others known. Its aggressive orbit reaches from inside Mars to outside Uranus. It is now the namesake of a group of objects, the damocloids. Damocles, like other damocloids, are believed to be inactive nuclei of long-period and Halley-type comets that have lost their volatile material and are dormant. The diameter of Damocles is only about 10 km. The small size is probably the reason why Damocles has not been observed since 1992, and it is currently ”lost”.

The orbit of Damocles is stable for tens of thousands of years, but there is a good chance that it will become an earth crosser asteroid. According to the official naming citation, “Legend has it that Damocles, a courtier of the tyrant Dionysius the Elder of Syracuse, was invited to a feast, where he was seated below a sword suspended by a thread. Intended to demonstrate the impermanence of power, the ‘sword of Damocles’ has become a symbol of impending disaster. This minor planet, in an unusual orbit of very high eccentricity and inclination and crossing the orbits of Mars to Uranus, could itself be seen as such a sword during periods of its orbital evolution when it becomes an earth crosser.”

“The Sword of Damocles” is the metaphor for the imminent and ever-present peril faced by those in positions of power. It is often used also in a broader sense, and simply means an unexpected peril.

Damocles will reach its next perihelion on Aug. 23, 2031, in Leo. The orbital period around the Sun is nearly 41 years. However, astrologically it spends most of it, around 30 years, in Aquarius, and then hurries through the rest of the eleven signs of the zodiac in about ten years. Damocles has recently started a new round. In April 2021 it visited Pisces for the first time, made a visit back and forth between Aquarius and Pisces five times, and in December 2025 ingressed Pisces for good on the current round.

It is darkest before dawn. From a scientific standpoint this is not true. It is a proverb which reminds us that when things in life feel at their worst, a new beginning is just around the corner. Have faith, there is hope even in the worst of circumstances.

Uranus entered Gemini on April 26, 2026. The Full Moon occurs in Scorpio, and in Taurus the Sun is conjunct asteroid 30 Urania, named after the great-granddaughter of Uranus.

Asteroid Urania is a large ellipse shaped main-belt asteroid with a length of 111 km and a width of 89 km. Its orbital period is 3.64 years. In mythology Urania is the heavenly muse of astronomy and astrology. She is often associated with universal love.

According to Demetra George, astrologically Urania represents the principle of inspired knowledge. ”In chart analysis, a prominent Urania indicates an affinity for astrology, astronomy, music (more theory and composition than performance), pure sciences, mathematics, measurement, or numerology.” (Asteroid Goddesses, 2003)

Asteroid Urania was discovered by English astronomer John Russell Hind in 1854 in London. He was a prolific asteroid discoverer of his time. John Russell Hind was born in 1823 in Nottingham, England. In his birth chart, asteroid Urania is at 19+ degrees of Cancer sextile his Sun at 20+ degrees of Taurus. His Sun is in tight conjunction with Arrokoth, a cubewano, which in 2018 was targeted for the space probe New Horizons’ next destination after it would have completed flyby of Pluto. The name Arrokoth means “sky”. Alan Stern, New Horizons principal investigator said in the naming ceremony, that “the name ‘Arrokoth’ reflects the inspiration of looking to the skies, and wondering about the stars and worlds beyond our own.”

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 Full Moon in Leo occurs in the same degree with plutino Achlys, one of the large trans-Neptunian bodies named last summer.

208996 Achlys was discovered on Jan. 13, 2003, by Chad Trujillo and Michael Brown. Its shape is elongated and it has one known moon. Achlys is a third-largest known plutino after Pluto and Orcus. It has a mean diameter of about 770 kilometers and it is approximately 940 kilometers across its longest axis. The orbital period is 247.8 years.

Achlys was named on June 30, 2025, after the goddess of sorrow and grief. In Hesiod’s Shield of Heracles Achlys is one of the figures described as being depicted on Heracles’ shield, where she is understood as being the personification of sorrow or grief. Homer used the word achlys to describe a mist that is “shed” upon a mortal’s eyes, often while dying.

Nonnus, a notable Greek epic poet, regarded Achlys as a kind of witch. His Dionysiaca describes the life of Dionysus. Zeus had instructed twelve rustic spirits of the Lamos river to guard and protect the infant Dionysus from Hera’s wrath. According to Nonnus, Hera “procured from Thessalian Achlys treacherous flowers of the field”, which she used to sprinkle a sleeping charm over their heads, then “she distilled poisoned drugs over their hair and smeared a magical ointment over their faces”, changing them into ox-horned Lamian centaurs.

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.