Venus and Mars in Capricorn are in a long conjunction, which was already suitably valid for Valentine’s Day on Feb. 14. The Moon had opposed the conjunction from Cancer on Feb. 13. The exact conjunction of Venus and Mars took place just before the Full Moon in Leo on Feb. 16. These aspects can indicate passion and romance, but there are also more serious tones in the chart.

The Moon in Leo and the Sun in Aquarius are tightly square the lunar nodes. Sedna is at the North node of the Moon in Taurus. The Sun is in conjunction with Damocles.

Astronomer Mike Brown, the discoverer of Sedna, has described Sedna as the most scientifically important trans-Neptunian object found, because understanding its unusual orbit is likely to yield valuable information about the origin and early evolution of our Solar System. The astrology of Sedna and the myth behind its name may also help us understand the future of our planet and our own influence on it.

One orbit of Sedna around the Sun takes approximately 11,400 years. Because Sedna was the coldest and most distant body in the Solar System at the time of its discovery, it was named in honor of the Inuit goddess of the Arctic Ocean and the mother of all sea creatures, who rewards the Inuit with food from the sea. If Sedna is not happy, the people will starve. There are several variants of the Sedna myth, but in all of them Sedna’s father takes her out to sea in his kayak, throws her over the side, and chops off her frozen fingers when she tries to climb back into the kayak. Her fingers become the seals, whales, and other sea creatures. Sedna becomes the goddess of cold waters.

Myths tell symbolic stories. They rarely manifest literally in someone’s life. However, the Finnish astrologers were astonished when Mike Brown at the press conference on March 15, 2004, announced the discovery of mysterious Sedna and the name he had chosen for the object. At the time we in Finland were following the drama at the North Pole, namely the disappearance and search for Dominick Arduin, a French-Finnish wilderness guide and arctic adventurer from Lapland. The case had some striking similarity with the myth of Sedna.

Dominick Arduin was born in Paris (Feb. 7, 1960). She had moved to Finnish Lapland 15 years prior to her second attempt and subsequent disappearance, and wanted to become the first woman to ski alone to the North Pole. She reached the Magnetic North Pole in 2001. Her first attempt to reach the geographic North Pole in 2003 failed. She had fallen into freezing water and due to frostbite most of her toes had to be amputated.

On March 5, 2004, Arduin began her second attempt from the Arctic Cape, Russia. If the ocean had frozen well, it would have already been possible for Arduin to ski on ice at the beginning of the expedition. In 2004 it was not the case and there was a huge area of open water stretching out to sea from the cape. She had a satellite transmitter with her and a small kayak for crossing open waters. The next day her support team lost contact with her. The search for Arduin proved futile and ended on March 21, 2004.

Sedna was discovered at 17+ degrees of Taurus from images taken on Nov. 14, 2003. Five days earlier, on Nov. 9, 2003, a total lunar eclipse took place at 16+ Taurus at the North node of the Moon, and in tight conjunction with Sedna. The lunar eclipse and the transiting Sedna fell square to Dominick Arduin’s natal Sun at 17+ Aquarius. Her natal Sedna at 26+ Aries has an exact aspect to many of her natal planets: sextile to Mercury and Chiron in Aquarius, trine Jupiter in Sagittarius, and quincunx the North node in Virgo. When she disappeared on March 6, 2004, the transiting Damocles was at 16+ Aquarius conjunct her natal Sun, and the slowly moving Sedna still at 17+ Taurus squaring her Sun. Arduin’s solar arc directed Damocles at 26+ Pisces was in aspect to all her natal placements at 26+ degrees of their signs. Her solar arc directed Sun was at the Aries Point. Although Arduin did not achieve the world record as the first woman to ski solo to the North Pole, she got fame, sadly through her disappearance.

Even today, a woman has not reached the North Pole alone, and perhaps one never will. The British adventurer Rosie Stancer got close in 2007. She was only 89 nautical miles short of reaching the goal. It was too risky to land the helicopter on the melting ice to pick her up later, and she didn’t want to risk the lives of the pilots. Ambition probably drove Dominick Arduin to her second attempt so soon after her failed one, but I’m sure she also understood how the worsening ice conditions at the Pole due to climate change would soon decrease possibilities for success.

The effects of climate change are not the same everywhere. The polar regions, however, are warming faster than other places. According to climate forecasts, the total disappearance of summer sea ice in the Arctic is possible by 2040. The ice-dependent species are more in danger than ever. I also read recently that the highest glacier on Mount Everest is melting rapidly. It has lost more than 50 meters of thickness in last 25 years, and the ice that took 2000 years to form has now melted away.

We suffer from the effects of pollution, too. Chemical pollution has passed safe limits for humanity and microplastics threaten the health of children. The total mass of plastics now exceeds the total mass of all living mammals.

Astrologically Sedna is linked to climate change. Damocles at the halfway of the lunar nodes is like a symbol of the current situation, when things can slip in either direction. Sedna’s warnings are not subtle anymore; she wants us to notice our bad situation. The Full Moon at the Leo-Aquarius axis emphasizes the responsibility of both individuals as well as communities in the endeavor for the better future.

The Full Moon took place in Cancer. The Sun was at the midpoint of Venus and Saturn. The Sun in Capricorn was in conjunction with Pluto and 55576 Amycus. Venus continues to retrograde in Capricorn. Mercury stationed retrograde on Jan. 14 in Aquarius.

Centaur 55576 Amycus enters Aquarius in 2023. Amycus was discovered in 2002 and it is named after one of the centaurs in Greek mythology. The centaurs are best known for the battle between the Lapiths and the centaurs during the wedding of the king of the Lapiths, Pirithous. The drunken centaurs lost their control, and one of them tried to rape the bride. Pirithus’s friend killed him, and Amycus was then responsible for the first death of one of the Lapiths. Amycus also lost his life and the centaurs had to flee from Thessaly.

Archbishop Desmond Tutu has said: “We think of ourselves far too frequently as just individuals, separated from one another, whereas you are connected and what you do affects the whole World. When you do well, it spreads out; it is for the whole of humanity.” We choose our actions, and our choices have consequences, and not just for ourselves. The following people have not been afraid to take a stand, speak, or act on their beliefs.

Irena Sendler (Feb. 15, 1910 – May 12, 2008) was a Polish humanitarian, social worker, and nurse who served in the Polish Underground Resistance during World War II in Warsaw. She participated, with dozens of others, in smuggling Jewish children out of the Warsaw Ghetto and then providing them with false identity documents and shelter with willing Polish families or in orphanages, saving those children from the Holocaust. The number of Jewish children saved through Sendler’s efforts is not known, but she claimed that she had saved 2,500 children. – Amycus conjunct the Sun and Venus in Aquarius, semisextile (30º) Eris in Pisces, and trine Pluto in Gemini.

“Heroes do extraordinary things. What I did was not an extraordinary thing. It was normal.”

Desmond Tutu (Oct. 7, 1931 – Dec. 26, 2021) was a South African Anglican bishop and theologian, and anti-apartheid and human rights activist. He was a friend of Nelson Mandela and committed to non-violent activism. The African Ubuntu philosophy that recognizes the humanity of a person through a person’s relationship with other persons is best known through the writings of Desmond Tutu. Ubuntu defines what it means to be truly human. – Amycus at the Aries Point conjunct Eris in Aries, opposite Mercury in Libra, sesquiquadrate (135º) Jupiter in Leo, and sesquiquadrate (135º) Mars-Ceres conjunction in Scorpio. The Aries Point joins individuals with the collective.

“My humanity is bound up in yours, for we can only be human together.”

Gloria Steinem (born March 25, 1934), “The Mother of Feminism”, is an American journalist and social political activist who became recognized as a leader and a spokeswoman for the American feminist movement in the late 1960s and early 1970s. – Amycus conjunct the Sun, Mars and Eris in Aries.

“The story of women’s struggle for equality belongs to no single feminist nor to any one organization but to the collective efforts of all who care about human rights.”

Michael Moore (born April 23, 1954) is an American documentary filmmaker, author, and left-wing activist. His works frequently address the topics of globalization and capitalism. – Amycus conjunct the Sun in Taurus, and trine the Moon-Mars conjunction in Capricorn.

“I don’t use the words ‘political activist,’ because I think it’s redundant. If I’m a citizen of a democracy, it means I’m automatically a political activist. I have to be. All of us have to be. If we’re not active, it ceases to be a democracy.”

Alexei Navalny (born June 4, 1976) is a Russian opposition leader, lawyer, and anti-corruption activist. In August 2020, Navalny was hospitalized in serious condition after he was poisoned with a Novichok nerve agent. He was recovering in Berlin, returned to Russia in January 2021 and was immediately arrested at the Moscow airport. He is recognized by Amnesty International as a prisoner of conscience. In October 2021, he was awarded the Sakharov Prize for his work on human rights. – Amycus conjunct the Sun and Venus in Gemini, sextile Eris in Aries, and opposite Neptune in Sagittarius.

“I am not ready to back away from my views.”

Edward Snowden (born June 21, 1983) is an American former computer intelligence consultant who leaked highly classified information from the National Security Agency (NSA) in 2013. His disclosures revealed numerous global surveillance programs and prompted a cultural discussion about national security and individual privacy. In 2020 a U.S. federal court ruled that the U.S. intelligence’s mass surveillance program exposed by Snowden was illegal and possibly unconstitutional. Snowden was granted permanent residence in Russia in 2020. – Amycus in early Cancer conjunct the Sun in the last degree of Gemini, and quincunx Jupiter in Sagittarius; the Sun-Amycus conjunction is square the Aries Point.

“My sole motive is to inform the public as to that which is done in their name and that which is done against them.”

Greta Thunberg (born Jan. 3, 2003) is a Swedish environmental activist who is known for challenging world leaders to take immediate action for climate change mitigation. In August 2018, at age 15, she started protesting outside the Swedish Parliament. Soon other students engaged in similar protests in their own communities. Together they organized a school climate strike movement under the name Fridays for Future. – Amycus in Libra opposite Eris in Aries, sextile Jupiter in Leo, and sextile Pluto in Sagittarius. Amycus is involved in a kite configuration. Eris, Jupiter and Pluto form a Grand trine in fire. The Eris-Amycus opposition forms the spine of the kite and Amycus is the apex of it.

“It will take a far-reaching vision, it will take courage, it will take fierce, fierce determination to act now, to lay the foundations where we may not know all the details about how to shape the ceiling.”

Winter Solstice – Dec. 21, 2021, 15:59 UT

Full Moon occurs in Gemini on Dec. 19 and lightens this dark season a bit. The Moon in Gemini and the Sun in Sagittarius align exactly with the Galactic Center. Venus is in close conjunction with Pluto in Capricorn.

Venus stationed retrograde on Dec. 18, and at the Full Moon it is still stationary, which means that it is powerful and deserves our attention. Anne Massey writes in Venus: Her Cycles, Symbols and Myths: “A stationary Venus, like the final note of a piece of music, echoes long after the musician has struck the last chord, holding a powerful influence. Stations stay active for a long time, leaving a permanent marker, which Venus will revisit time after time.”

On Dec. 21 the Sun enters Capricorn and marks the Winter Solstice in the Northern Hemisphere, the shortest day of the year. After the solstice the days start gradually get longer again. By the solstice the Moon travels 30 degrees from Gemini to Cancer, and is tightly opposite the Venus-Pluto conjunction.

Usually my focus tends to be in the distant icy Kuiper belt bodies, but now I am introducing to you a new discovery from the opposite direction, inside the orbit of Venus, namely asteroid 594913 ʼAylóʼchaxnim, “Venus Girl”. Asteroid ʼAylóʼchaxnim is in conjunction with Venus and Pluto in both charts.

The Main asteroid belt is located between Mars and Jupiter. During the past twenty years or so, 25 asteroids have been found orbiting entirely within Earth’s orbit. 594913 ʼAylóʼchaxnim is the first asteroid discovered to have an orbit completely within Venus’s orbit! Its orbit is moderately eccentric and grazes that of Mercury. The orbital period around the Sun is about 150 days. At about 4.1 million years from the present, ʼAylóʼchaxnim will most likely collide with Venus. The diameter of ʼAylóʼchaxnim is approximately from 1 km to 1.5 km.

In the geocentric astrological chart the only major aspect Mercury and Venus can form with the Sun is the conjunction. This applies also to ʼAylóʼchaxnim, since it is inside Venus’s orbit.

ʼAylóʼchaxnim was discovered on Jan. 4, 2020, at Palomar Mountain in California. The name was approved on Nov. 8, 2021. The name means “Venus girl” in the indigenous Luiseño language of southern California. The name celebrates the location of the discovery, which is on ancestral land of the Pauma Band of Luiseño Indians, and the fact that ʼAylóʼchaxnim is the first discovered asteroid to orbit entirely within the orbit of Venus.

According to Wikipedia, the name is derived from ʼaylóchax, “morning star” (also “food left overnight”), which in turn derives (ʼa-ylócha-x) from yulóchax “to stay the night, be kept overnight”. Of course, the morning star refers to Venus, which can rise ahead the Sun as morning star or behind the Sun as evening star. Venus stations retrograde when it is evening star, and it stations direct after the interior conjunction with the Sun, while it is morning star again.

Constance Goddard DuBois notes in her study The Religion of the Luiseno Indians of Southern California (1908), that it is possible that in the old times the Luiseño recognized the motions of the planets, but only Venus was distinguished by a special name, Aylucha, “that which is left over from evening till morning, food or anything of the kind.” Only the most important stars had names.

In Roman mythology, goddess Venus was born from the sea foam as an adult woman. Now we have a celestial body named as “Venus Girl”. Is she perhaps representing some so far missing aspect of Venus, which mankind needs in its present time?

The Full Moon at 27+ degrees Taurus is a partial lunar eclipse. The Moon and the Scorpio Sun are square to Jupiter and Damocles in Aquarius. The Moon is in conjunction with Sedna at 28+ degrees of Taurus. Sedna is named in honor of the Inuit goddess of the sea, who lives at the bottom of the frigid Arctic Ocean.

The 2021 United Nations Climate Change Conference in Glasgow has ended. The conference has been criticized a lot. The future actions will determine if it was a success or a failure. I think it is important that the leaders of the world gather on a regular basis to consider the situation.

The global warming rate is most rapid in the Northern Hemisphere. For example, since the mid-1800s, Finland’s annual average temperature has already increased by more than two degrees Celsius. In the Arctic region glaciers and sea ice are melting. The lunar eclipse in Taurus in conjunction with Sedna is emphasizing the importance of the work that all nations must do.

When Sedna was discovered in 2003, nothing of its kind had been seen before. Its orbit is extremely elongated and it takes about 11,400 years from Sedna to orbit around the Sun. The solar system turned out to be different from what we believed before. Discoverer Mike Brown has described Sedna as the most scientifically important trans-Neptunian object found, because understanding its unusual orbit is likely to yield valuable information about our Solar System.

Sedna has given its name to a population of similar kinds of distant minor bodies like itself, but so far only two besides Sedna have been discovered, namely “Biden” (2012 VP113) in 2012 and Leleākūhonua in 2015. Possibly there are many more sednoids. The sednoids belong to the category of ETNOs (the extreme trans-Neptunian objects). Astronomers suspect that a yet undiscovered planet in the outer solar system, Planet Nine, is shepherding these distant bodies into similar type orbits.

In Inuit mythology, Sedna is the goddess of the Arctic Ocean, and she rules the sea animals. If she is not respected, she sends storms and starvation. Then a shaman must visit her and comb her black tangled hair and calm her down. When she is happy again, she releases her sea creatures and allows people use them for food. The myth of Sedna is told with many variations, and according to one of them, before becoming a goddess, Sedna was a young girl with an enormous appetite, who even tried to eat her father’s arm. I can easily associate this with the greedy humankind, which is exploiting Mother Earth.

Astrologically Sedna can be linked to climate change. The World Ocean Conference 2009 raised awareness of the importance of oceans in climate change. It was an international conference held in Indonesia from May 11 to May 14, 2009, in order to develop a common understanding and firm commitment to address the impact of climate change on the state of the world’s oceans. When the conference started on May 11, the Sun was conjunct Sedna in Taurus. The big astrological event of 2009 was the triple conjunction of Chiron, Jupiter and Neptune in Aquarius. The conjunction is tight in the conference chart.

Sedna will come to perihelion in 2076. Perihelion is the point nearest to the Sun in the path of an orbiting celestial body. Hopefully the mankind has succeeded in the combat against the global warming long before, and Sedna will be happy. Cooperation was essential in Inuit culture for survival, and it is essential now for the survival of our planet.

The Full Moon chart looks intense and heavy. The Moon in Aries opposes the Sun, Mars and Haumea in Libra. The Moon is in conjunction with Eris. Pluto in Capricorn squares the planets both in Aries and in Libra. When two planets are opposite each other and a third planet squares both, the aspect pattern is called the t-square. There is confrontation, stress and high energy involved.

The Moon in Aries is spontaneous, and combined with Mars’s initiative it can lead to hasty action, arguments, and even aggression. Eris is the warrior sister of Mars. Pluto can represent the collective shadow. Don’t let your emotions take control over you.

Mercury stationed direct on Oct. 18 in Libra opposite Chiron. When Mercury turns direct, secrets are revealed and the truth comes out. Spain’s literary world is said to be in chaos now that the praised female crime writer Carmen Mola, whose work has been considered as “feminist reading”, turned out to be the pseudonym of three male television scriptwriters. They are now accused of fraud by many fellow writers.

Dwarf planet Haumea was discovered by Mike Brown’s team in December 2004, a little earlier than dwarf planet Eris. It was nicknamed “Santa” because it was discovered just after Christmas. Haumea is officially named after the Hawaiian goddess of fertility and childbirth, with many children who sprang from different parts of her body. She can take many different forms and use disguise. Mike Brown has described Haumea as the strangest and the most interesting object in the Kuiper belt.

The mythology of Eris, the goddess of strife and discord, and Eris’s discovery leading to the debate over Pluto’s status and astronomers’ vote for the definition of the term planet have contributed to the astrological meaning of Eris. This fact and the revelation in the Spanish literary awards ceremony last weekend made me think about the discovery circumstances of Haumea.

There was controversy over who should receive credit for Haumea’s discovery. Mike Brown’s team had first found the body in 2004, but a Spanish team announced the discovery first, claiming that they had found it in July 2005 on images taken in March 2003. In science the first to announce takes the credit. However, the Caltech observation logs showed that the Spanish team members had accessed the logs just before their announcement of the discovery. Brown accused the Spanish team of fraud. The body was officially named in 2008 as Haumea on the proposal of Brown’s team. However, the discovery date was listed on the announcement of the Spanish team as March 7, 2003, and the name of the discoverer was left blank.

It is not automatically illegal to use a pseudonym. The same goes with ghostwriters, which can be hired for instance by political leaders or celebrities and for numerous reasons. A ghostwriter is someone whose works are officially credited to another person as the author. What is the most intriguing ghostwriter case in the world? Some respectable figures like Charlie Chaplin and Mark Twain, among others, have expressed their doubts if William Shakespeare actually wrote the works that are credited to him.

During the decades several candidates have been proposed as the real author of Shakespeare’s works. One of them is Christopher Marlowe, a contemporary poet and playwright of Shakespeare. The two likely knew each other. Marlowe died at the age of 29, only a week or two before Shakespeare’s name appeared the very first time in any publication. The “Marlovians” believe that Marlowe’s death was faked and he continued writing using Shakespeare as a front.

In 2016 Christopher Marlowe was the first time officially credited by Oxford University Press as Shakespeare’s co-writer on the title pages for three plays. The research, by 23 international scholars, has identified 17 of 44 Shakespeare plays as being co-written with other authors. The new research involved both traditional textual analysis and the use of computerized tools to examine the scripts. Marlowe’s presence in those three plays had been verified strongly and clearly enough.

In Shakespeare’s time a child was customarily baptized three days after its birth. Only the baptism day is documented for both Marlowe (Feb. 26, 1564) and Shakespeare (Apr. 26, 1564). However, Astro-Databank at www.astro.com also gives a speculative birth chart for Shakespeare (Apr. 23, 1564 at 08:30 a.m. LMT), which I have used. Since Mercury is the planet of writing, my focus is on Mercury and Haumea. Marlowe and Shakespeare were born so close each other that the slow planets in their natal charts, such as Pluto, Eris and Haumea, are in conjunction with those of the other person.

William Shakespeare’s natal Sun at 12+ Taurus is in tight conjunction with his Eris. His Mercury at 16+ Aries is semisextile (30º) his Pluto, Haumea and Midheaven (10th house cusp, the house of career, ambition and reputation) in Pisces. Haumea is exactly conjunct his 10th house cusp at 17+ Pisces. Christopher Marlowe’s natal Sun at 16+ Pisces is conjunct his Pluto and Haumea. At the time of his baptism the Sun and Haumea were in the same degree. In the chart comparison Marlowe’s Sun is in conjunction with Shakespeare’s Midheaven.

Christopher Marlowe died on May 30, 1593. The transiting Pluto (transformation, renewal) at 16+ Aries was exactly conjunct Shakespeare’s natal Mercury. The transiting Mercury at 29+ Gemini was in conjunction with Shakespeare’s South node of the Moon (past, where we are coming from).

Solar arc direction is one of the astrological techniques, by which the positions of the planets are progressed to some specific moment. At the time of Marlowe’s death, Shakespeare’s solar arc directed Mercury at 14+ Taurus was conjunct Shakespeare’s natal Sun-Eris conjunction. The solar arc directed Haumea was at 15+ Aries conjunct Shakespeare’s natal Mercury. Marlowe’s solar arc directed Sun at 15+ Aries was also conjunct Shakespeare’s natal Mercury. At the time when the news about Marlowe as the co-writer was published in October 2016, Marlowe’s solar arc directed Mercury at 28+ Gemini was conjunct Shakespeare’s natal South node of the Moon.

The meaning of Eris is much more profound than just the indicator of discord. Pluto symbolizes many things from the Hells Angels to rebirth. No doubt also the meaning of Haumea is broader than what I am presenting here. This is just one facet.

Autumnal Equinox – Sept. 22, 2021, 19:21 UT

The Full Moon in Pisces was in conjunction with Neptune and trans-Neptunian Borasisi. The Sun in Virgo is in conjunction with Mars, brother of Eris. Mercury, the ruler of Virgo, is opposite Eris. The Autumnal Equinox falls on Sept. 22, when the Sun enters Libra.

Mercury is already in its shadow phase, and it will station retrograde a week later, on Sept. 27. Mercury retrograde is famous for disruptions in technology and communication, and sometimes the effects can be experienced already in advance. Now it is important to stay calm and think before you act or speak.

We can associate Neptune with confusion and delusion, among other things. Borasisi may tell about the tendency of accepting untruths, because they make one feel better than the unpleasant truths. The Moon opposite Mars means strong emotional reactions; it is prone to act on feelings. Uranus in Taurus opposite Typhon in Scorpio is capable of adding volatility in situations.

Eris is astrologically more complex energy than just the source of strife and discord, but opposite Mercury it can cause provocative communication and arguments. Its positive manifestation could be intelligent thinking outside the box, for instance. Eris and Mars/Ares are children of Zeus and Hera. According to some myths Eris was the daughter of Nyx, the personification of the night. Asteroid 3908 Nyx happens to be in Virgo in conjunction with the Sun now.

One of the daughters of Nyx and sister of Eris was Apate, the Greek personification of deceit. I noticed that there is a main belt asteroid discovered in 1989 and named Apatheia after a philosophical word that means “an immovable soul” in Greek philosophy. According to Online Etymology Dictionary the noun apathy means “freedom from suffering, passionless existence.” The Greek apatheia originally meant a positive quality, without the negative connotation that the word nowadays has. Asteroid 8273 Apatheia is now at 1+ degrees Capricorn, squaring the Full Moon in Pisces and the Sun-Mars conjunction on the Virgo-Libra cusp.

Draw on Virgo’s analytical nature and capacity for sorting information, as well as asteroid Apatheia’s calm energy in the coming weeks.

The first Full Moon in Aquarius happened a month ago, when the Sun and the Moon lined up opposite each other in the early degrees of Leo and Aquarius. This is the second Full Moon in Aquarius. Just before opposing the Sun in the last degree of Leo, the Moon made contact to the Jupiter-Damocles conjunction in late Aquarius.

There is a kite configuration in the chart. The Leo Sun and the triple conjunction of the Moon, Jupiter and Damocles in Aquarius form the spine. Chaos in the last degree of Gemini and Hidalgo, which has just changed signs from Libra to Scorpio, are the wing tips of the kite. These minor planets are apt symbols for the present situation in Afghanistan. The situation of women and children is most alarming.

According to the official naming citation of 5335 Damocles, “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.”

Both 5335 Damocles and 944 Hidalgo can be classified as centaurs according to the definition of the Jet Propulsion Laboratory (JLP). However, different institutions have different criteria for classifying the centaurs. Therefore the Minor Planet Center does not consider them such. Damocles was discovered in 1991. It is the namesake of the damocloids group. Its orbital period is nearly 41 years. In the astrological chart it spends most of it, around 30 years, in Aquarius, and then hurries through the eleven other signs in about ten.

Hidalgo was discovered already in 1920 and named after Mexican revolutionary Miguel Hidalgo y Costilla (1753 – 1811). He was a Catholic priest and leader of the Mexican War of Independence. The orbital period of Hidalgo is 13 years and 9 months. It has traditionally been considered an asteroid, but its elliptic orbit takes it from the inner edge of the asteroid belt as far as to the orbit of Saturn. Hidalgo was possibly once a comet.

According to astrologer Martha Lang-Wescott (Mechanics of the Future: Asteroids, revised edition,1996), in its most specific and mundane manifestation, Hidalgo shows as an affinity for or contact with Spanish, Mexican, South or Latin American cultures, languages or influences. But she continues: “Hidalgo also deals with Church vs. State conflicts (ie., the abortion issue) and ‘revolutionary’ governments, or governments based on strong religious or political ideologies.”

August 19 is celebrated as Independence Day in Afghanistan. When Afghanistan gained independence from Britain in 1919, the Sun at 25+ degrees of Leo was opposite Chaos and Hidalgo at 24+ Aquarius and Uranus at 29+ Aquarius. The Taliban declared the “Islamic Emirate of Afghanistan” a few days ago, on Aug. 19, 2021, when the transiting Sun was strictly opposite the current Jupiter-Damocles opposition. The aforementioned oppositions align tightly together, as does today’s Full Moon.

President Biden decided to withdraw the troops from Afghanistan, but Trump had already started the process. This Full Moon puts pressure on both of them. The Sun-Moon opposition falls right on Joe Biden’s lunar nodes in the last degrees of Leo and Aquarius and square to his natal Sun in late Scorpio. In addition, his Chiron is conjunct his North node in late Leo. Trump’s descendant is in the last degree of Aquarius, and his Mars is rising in Leo, a few degrees away from the ascendant.

The Full Moon in early Aquarius is in conjunction with Chariklo. The Sun entered the opposing sign Leo on July 22. The Sun is in conjunction with Cyllarus. Both Chariklo and Cyllarus are centaurs, minor planets orbiting the Sun between Jupiter and Neptune and crossing the orbits of one or more of the giant planets.

Astrologically Chariklo can be linked to death and mourning, but specifically to holding space for the process of grief. According to Melanie Reinhart, “her qualities and themes include a particular capacity for silent witness and reflection which can be an essential part of healing.” Caring and compassion are important keywords for Chariklo.

July 22, 2021, was the 10th anniversary of the Utøya massacre. Ten years ago the right-wing extremist Anders Behring Breivik killed eight people in central Oslo and 69 people, mostly teenagers, on the island of Utøya at an annual summer camp of the Labour Party’s youth division. In 2011 when the shooting on Utøya started, Chariklo was rising near the ascendant.

When the memorial service in Oslo started on the morning of July 22, the Sun was still in the last degree of Cancer (just like it was ten years ago). Mercury in Cancer was in conjunction with asteroid 2254 Requiem. Mercury represents youth, among other things. Asteroid Requiem was semisquare (45º) to Venus in the first degree of Virgo and sesquiquadrate (135º) to Jupiter in the first degree of Pisces. The Mercury-Requiem conjunction was exactly opposite centaur Hylonome in Capricorn.

2254 Requiem is a main belt asteroid discovered in 1977 and dedicated to the memory of the discoverer’s mother, who died on the same day that this asteroid was discovered. The Requiem is a mass held in honor of the dead. Astrologically, Requiem indicates acknowledgement of grief or acceptance of loss. Centaur Hylonome is another indicator of grief. It has showed up in the event charts of mass grief. Hylonome was a female centaur who lost his beloved husband Cyllarus in the battle against the Lapiths. The Sun is currently conjunct the centaur planet Cyllarus.

At the highest point of the memorial chart, at the Midheaven in Taurus, is asteroid Ceres. In mythology Ceres is the Mother Goddess who grieves the loss of her child. Ceres’s position in the chart in a way reminds us specifically of one of the first victims on Utøya, Monica Bøsei, the island hostess, known as ”Mother Utøya”, who had been organizing the summer camp for over 20 years.

At the descendant of the chart in Pisces is 57 Mnemosyne, a large main belt asteroid. Mnemosyne is the goddess of memory in Greek mythology. The name means “remembrance” or “memory”. The descendant is the angle of relationships; it is the point where the self meets the other. We can encounter the victims of Utøya only by remembering.

Many of the survivors are still suffering from serious health issues. Some of them have been threatened. In ten years hate speech has only increased everywhere and the right-wing extremism is still alive. The 2011 attack was political terrorism aimed at democracy, it was not just an isolated act carried out by some lunatic. “We must not let hate stand unopposed,” said Prime Minister Erna Solberg at the ceremony. We all must work for empathy and tolerance.

Never again July 22!

Full Moon in Capricorn — June 24, 2021, 18:40 UT

In many parts of the Northern hemisphere, including Finland, people are sweating under a heat dome. The severe heatwave arrived early, fueled by global warming. We are facing the consequences of climate change.

The Sun entered Cancer on June 21, 2021. The summer solstice is the longest day in the Northern hemisphere. Saturn in Aquarius is square to Uranus in Taurus. The Moon was in Scorpio, opposing Uranus. In the solstice chart Mercury at the middle degrees of Gemini was still retrograding. It stationed direct the next day, on June 22. The Full Moon in Capricorn takes place on June 24. The Sun is conjunct centaur Echeclus in early Cancer and trine Jupiter in Pisces.

60558 Echeclus was discovered in March 2000 and initially classified as a minor planet. In December 2005 a large chunk of Echeclus broke off, possibly caused by an impact, and a cometary coma was detected. The body was given also the cometary designation 174P/Echeclus. Echeclus burst out again in 2011 and in 2017. It last came to perihelion in April 2015. Typically, when a comet approaches the Sun, the ice vaporizes and the coma shows. Also centaur Chiron is classified as both a minor planet and a comet. The orbital period of Echeclus is 35 years and its orbit crosses the orbit of Saturn.

Echeclus was named from Greek mythology after one of the centaurs that fought with the Lapiths at King Pirithous’s wedding. The centaurs were guests at the party, but they got drunk and tried to abduct the bride and other women. Echeclus was killed by the Lapith Ampyx, the son of Ophion, who had thrust his lance that lacked its point into the face of Echeclus.

When the cult film Fight Club was released at the Venice International Film Festival on Sept. 10, 1999, the Sun was in conjunction with Mercury and Echeclus in Virgo. The film is based on Chuck Palahniuk’s novel of the same name. Plahniuk (born Feb. 21, 1962) has the Sun-Chiron conjunction in Pisces. His Sun is in tight opposition to Echeclus in Virgo.

The director David Fincher (born Aug. 28, 1962) has a Sun-Echeclus conjunction in Virgo in his chart. He is a perfectionist and demands one retake after another to capture a scene perfectly. Fincher’s Sun-Echeclus conjunction is sextile Mars in Cancer and opposing Jupiter and Chiron in Pisces. Martyrdom and alienation are examples of themes in his film. The characters are often troubled and flawed, and they act on their dark, inner impulses. “We sort of attach the sinister to the mundane in order to make things interesting… I think it’s also because in order for something to be evil, it almost has to cloak itself as something else,” has Fincher explained.

At the time of the release of the film, the transiting Jupiter in Taurus was trine to David Fincher’s Sun-Echeclus conjunction in Virgo and sextile his Mars in Cancer.

Fight Club starred Brad Pitt (born Dec. 18, 1963) and Edward Norton (born Aug. 18, 1969). Brad Pitt was having his Echeclus return during the filming and at the time of the release. Pitt’s natal Echeclus is in exact conjunction with his Pluto in Virgo and trine to his Mercury in Capricorn.

Edward Norton’s Echeclus is conjunct Jupiter in Libra, opposite Chiron in Aries, and novile (40º) his Sun in Leo. When Fight Club was released, the transiting Echeclus was right at his Midheaven at 14+ degrees of Virgo. The transiting Mars in Sagittarius was sextile to his natal Jupiter-Echeclus conjunction.

Another interesting case study is the release of the film Face/Off on June 27, 1997. The director John Woo (born May 1, 1946) has natally Echeclus conjunct Mercury in Aries, sextile Uranus in Gemini, and opposite Chiron in Libra. Chaos in Pisces is exactly squaring his nodal axis of the Moon. Woo’s films are action films and he is known for highly chaotic action sequences.

At the time of the release of Face/Off, Echeclus was in the beginning of Virgo. The transiting Echeclus was square to Woo’s natal Venus in Gemini, sesquiquadrate (135º) to his natal Mercury-Echeclus conjunction in Aries, and formed a semisquare aspect (45º) to his Chiron in Libra. The semisquare and the sesquiquadrate belong to the same family of challenging aspects with the square and the opposition. They are not weak aspects, if the orbs are tight.

Nicholas Cage (born Jan.7, 1964) and John Travolta (born Feb. 18, 1954) played the leading roles in Face/Off. In Nicholas Cage’s chart Echeclus is conjunct Pluto in Virgo and trine the Sun in Capricorn. When the film was released, the transiting Echeclus was in sesquiquadrate aspect to his Sun in Capricorn.

John Travolta has natally Uranus in conjunction with Echeclus in Cancer. At the time of the release of Face/Off, the transiting Echeclus in early Virgo was opposing his Sun in the last degree of Aquarius and his Venus in early Pisces.

Face/Off was written by Mike Werb (born June 21, 1977) and Michael Colleary (born Jan.1, 1953). Michael Colleary’s Echeclus is in exact conjunction with Uranus in Cancer. They are opposite the Sun-Chiron conjunction in Capricorn. His Mars in Pisces is sesquiquadrate to the Echeclus-Uranus conjunction in Cancer.

In Mike Werb’s chart Echeclus in Sagittarius is opposite his Mercury in Gemini and with wider orb also opposite his Sun in the first degree of Cancer. The transiting Echeclus in early Virgo at the time of the release of Face/Off was sextile his natal Sun.

Mike Werb is also the screenwriter of The Mask, which was released on July 29, 1994. The transiting Echeclus was then in Leo sextile to Werb’s natal Mercury in Gemini and trine to his natal Echeclus in Sagittarius. It was also in conjunction with the North node of the Moon of Jim Carrey, who starred The Mask. Carrey’s performance helped his way to superstardom.

The Full Moon in Sagittarius is a total lunar eclipse. The ruler of Sagittarius is Jupiter, which recently changed signs from Aquarius to Pisces, about two weeks ago.

Another notable sign change happened only three days ago when the trans-Neptunian Manwë moved from Pisces to Aries. It is now at the Aries Point. It was named after the fictional deity in J. R. R. Tolkien’s Middle-earth legendarium. Both Jupiter and Manwë are sky gods and leaders of their pantheon. You can read more about Manwë here: The Vernal Equinox — March 20, 2021, 09:37 UT

Jupiter has a magnifying effect. In tight conjunction with Jupiter in the first degrees of Pisces is Damocles, the unusual object on an orbit of high eccentricity and inclination, crossing the orbits of Mars to Uranus. Damocles travels almost 41 years around the Sun, but in the astrological chart it spends most of that time, around 30 years, in Aquarius. Damocles entered Pisces in April and turned retrograde yesterday. It was named after a courtier of the tyrant Dionysius the Elder of Syracuse. Damocles was invited to a feast, where he was seated below a sword hanging in a thread. The ”sword of Damocles” has become a symbol of impending disaster, faced especially by those in positions of power.

In July both Jupiter and Damocles are retrograding back to Aquarius and will stay there the rest of the year.

At the moment the Europe is shocked about the hijack of a civilian airplane on Sunday. Ryanair flight 4978 from Athens to Vilnius was forcibly diverted to Minsk, Belarus, and journalist and activist Raman Protasevich, who was aboard, was arrested. The authorization of this outrageous action came personally from President Alexander Lukashenko.

The lunar eclipse at 5+ degrees of Sagittarius squares Lukashenko’s natal Sun at 6+ degrees of Virgo and the transiting Jupiter-Damocles conjunction in early Pisces opposes his Sun. The Jupiter-Damocles conjunction transits also Lukashenko’s natal Mars in early Capricorn and his Damocles in the first degree of Aquarius. Belarus declared independence on Aug. 25, 1991. The Sun of Belarus is at 1+ degrees of Virgo, and thus the current Jupiter-Damocles conjunction opposes also the Sun of Belarus.

Is the sword of Damocles finally going to hit Lukashenko? EU leaders have condemned his action and agreed on sanctions against Belarus. Lukashenko has been in office since 1994, the same year that Damocles ingressed from Capricorn to Aquarius. Hopefully the era of Lukashenko is coming to its end now that Damocles has started to change signs again.