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.

At the New Moon at 28+ degrees of Capricorn there was a cluster of planets and minor planets in late Capricorn and early Aquarius. The New Moon is sextile to Saturn and Neptune in Pisces and trine to Uranus in Taurus.

The Sun and the Moon were in conjunction with asteroid 5 Astraea, also at 28+ Capricorn. Astraea was the fifth asteroid discovered. The first four (Ceres, Pallas, Juno and Vesta) were considered first as planets, but rapidly after the discovery of Astraea in 1845 more asteroids were discovered, and it became apparent that these were members of new type of celestial bodies. Astraea was a Greek goddess of justice, who was the last of the immortals to live together with humans during the idealistic Golden Age, when no evil existed in the world. But when humans became crueler and more corrupt, Astraea abondened humanity and went to live among the stars in the constellation Virgo. Astrologer Martha Lang-Wescott describes the meaning of Astraea excellently with these phrases: “it ain’t over ’til it’s over”; “go down with the ship”, “wait until the dust settles”; “the famous final scene” (Martha Lang-Wescott, Mechanics of the Future).

Mars and Mercury at 26+ Capricorn are in conjunction with another Astraea family asteroid, 8273 Apatheia, discovered in 1989. In Stoic philosophy, the concept of apatheia refers to a state of mind in which one is not disturbed by the passions. It was the quality that characterized “the sage”, someone who had attained wisdom.

Asteroid 1566 Icarus and centaur Hylonome are in the first degree of Aquarius. Among the keywords of astrologer Juan Revilla for centaur Hylonome are “lost innocence” and “the cry of the poor.”

Asteroid Icarus was discovered in 1949. It is a potentially hazardous asteroid with an extremely eccentric orbit. It comes closer to the Sun than Mercury and goes further out than Mars. It was named from Greek mythology after Icarus, the son of Daedalus. They attempted to escape from prison with wings that Daedalus constructed from feathers and wax. Icarus ignored his father’s advice not to fly too close to the Sun. The wax melted and Icarus fell into the sea and drowned. Astrologically Icarus likes to take risks and wants to escape limitations.

Plutino Arawn is in conjunction with Venus at 1+ Aquarius. Arawn was the ruler of the Celtic otherworld, Annwn. Arawn was a shapeshifter, who switched places with a mortal man. Van Morrison (the Sun conjunct Arawn) has said: “What’s your original face? Know what I mean? Who are you really? There’s so many different kinds of healing but, if you are in alignment with yourself, then that in itself is going to be healing. If you’re trying to be something other, like something superficial, trying to be someone you’re not, then that would take you away from your true centre.”

At 3+ Aquarius there is Pluto, the Greek ruler of the underworld, who kidnapped the maiden Persephone and made her the queen of the underworld.

In Cancer, opposite the New Moon and the cluster, is Cardea, one of the quasi-moons of Earth. It is an asteroid discovered in 2004. A quasi-moon is an asteroid that actually orbits the Sun, but if you watch it from the Earth, it looks like it’s orbiting our planet just like the Moon does. Cardea is named after the Roman goddess of the hinge, the goddess of doorways and transitions, symbolizing the guardianship of thresholds.

The interstellar comet 3I/ATLAS made its closest approach to Earth on Dec. 19, 2025. The comet was at 10+ degrees of Virgo conjunct the South node of the Moon and cubewano Aya. Aya was named last summer from Akkadian mythology after the goddess of dawn. She was the wife of the Sun god and called the “morning-maker”. The Sun was at 27+ Sagittarius, exactly at the Milky Way’s Galactic Center and in conjunction with cubewano Varda. We remember that comet 3I/ATLAS originated in the direction of the Galactic Center. Varda is named after the Star-Queen in J. R. R. Tolkien’s fictional mythology. She created the stars and constellations and also set the vessels of the Sun and the Moon upon their appointed courses in the sky.

At the New Moon in Sagittarius on Dec. 20, comet 3I/ATLAS was at 9+ degrees of Virgo. The New Moon is always a conjunction of the Sun and the Moon, so the Moon was now also at the Galactic Center and conjunct Varda.

On Dec. 21 is the Winter Solstice. The Sun enters Capricorn and the days start to slowly get longer from now on. In the solstice chart the Sun is still in a tight conjunction with Varda. The Moon at 17+ Capricorn is in conjunction with cubewano Máni, another large object named last summer, and asteroid Vesta. In Norse mythology Máni is the personification of the Moon. Vesta is the brightest asteroid seen from Earth. It is named after the goddess of the hearth and keeper of the sacred flame. The interstellar comet 3I/ATLAS is at 8+ degrees of Virgo.

The days have been dark and short, and the Moon is invisible at the New Moon. Professor Emeritus of Space Astronomy Esko Valtaoja has recently stated that seeing light requires conscious effort. Let us seek the light.

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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More Kuiper belt planets have been assigned names.

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

The Sun entered Cancer on June 21, marking the Summer Solstice. The New Moon in Cancer occurred on June 25. Also in early Cancer there are Jupiter, tno Chaos, centaur Asbolus, and comet 39P/Oterma. Cancer is the home sign of the Moon.

The trans-Neptunian Chaos was discovered in 1998. Its orbital period is almost 310 years and its diameter is about 400 – 500 km. Recent studies suggest that Chaos is a binary, possibly a contact binary. It is named after the primeval state of existence in Greek mythology, from which the first gods appeared, including Gaia, the Earth. Wikipedia says that Chaos was the state the universe was in before it was created. Because early christians did not understand how to use the word “chaos” properly, the word’s meaning changed to the opposite of order.

It is easy to draw connection between the mythological Chaos and the scientific origin of the universe. The Big Bang marks the origin of the universe and the start of spacetime. Spacetime is the bending fabric of the universe, blending space and time. The universe started billions of years ago from a hot point which then rapidly expanded, and this expansion is still happening. First the universe was in a chaotic state, but it slowly cooled and the chaos gave way to the orderly cosmos of today. The Solar System evolved and the planets formed.

Cancer is the sign of home, the place where we need to feel safe. Jupiter is the planet of expansion and the symbol of hope and optimism. Centaur Asbolus orbits between Jupiter and Neptune. The name means carbon dust and in mythology he was a seer who made forecasts from the flight of birds. The New Moon is the seeding moment for future growth.

Although the world around us is in chaos, as the meaning of the word is understood today, at this New Moon we can focus on the good in our lives and wait for the seeds to sprout.

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NSF-DOE Vera C. Rubin Observatory

The first images of the powerful new telescope of Vera C. Rubin Observatory in Chile were released on June 23. There is a stunning conjunction of asteroid Photographica and tno Varda at the Galactic Center in Sagittarius. Martha Lang-Wescott interprets that “while useful for showing the importance of photography and visual images, Photographica also relates to the brain’s ability to retain and interpret visual imagery.” The trans-Neptunian Varda is named after the queen of stars and light in J.R.R. Tolkien’s fictional mythology. Varda lived with Manwë, a Jupiter-like deity, and together they saw “further than all other eyes, through mist, and through darkness”, and heard more clearly than all other ears.

Astronomers anticipate that the new telescope of Vera C. Rubin Observatory will soon reveal the location of the so far hypothetical Planet Nine in the outer region of our Solar System. I am eagerly waiting the news!

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

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

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

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

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

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

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