Archive for February, 2021

Full Moon in Virgo – February 27, 2021, 08:17 UT

Saturday, February 27th, 2021

The Full Moon is in exact conjunction with centaur Aphidas retrograde at 8+ degrees of Virgo. 121725 Aphidas was discovered in 1999 and named after the Greek centaur who remained in a drunken sleep during the battle between the Centaurs and Lapiths.

The myth and my earlier studies on Aphidas proposed to me that astrologically Aphidas may represent one’s complicated relationship with publicity and some kind of withdrawal. Many celebrities with a prominent Aphidas have a difficult relationship with the media and have even withdrawn from their career at the peak of their fame.

A week ago the Duke and Duchess of Sussex, Prince Harry and Meghan Markle, confirmed that they will not be returning as working members of the British monarchy. Harry and Meghan announced their intention already, about a year ago, and are now living in Southern California. Meghan Markle retired from acting in 2017 when she became engaged to Prince Harry. Yesterday Prince Harry revealed in an interview that he stepped back from his royal duties because the British press was toxic and was destroying his mental health.

The aforementioned news propelled me to check Aphidas in the charts of Harry, Meghan and some other members of the British royal family. Divorces in the royal family are interesting in this respect too. The royal duties of the other party are simultaneously taken away with the divorce. Uranus is the classical indicator of divorce, but I was curious to see if also Aphidas had some part in these cases.

Both Prince Harry and Meghan Markle have a Chiron-Aphidas conjunction in their natal charts. Harry’s conjunction is in Gemini opposite his Uranus in Sagittarius, and Meghan’s is in Taurus. Meghan’s Chiron-Aphidas conjunction at 21-22 degrees of Taurus, forms a yod configuration with her Pluto in Libra and Neptune in Sagittarius.


In a direct chart comparison Harry’s Moon at 21+ Taurus is exactly conjunct Meghan’s Aphidas, and thus also affected by all the planets in Meghan’s yod. Also Harry’s Sun at 22+ Virgo is aspected by those planets. The transiting Aphidas in Virgo is now tightly squaring Harry’s natal Chiron-Aphidas conjunction in Gemini and also his natal Uranus in Sagittarius.

Princess Diana’s death in 1997 and the role of the press in it traumatized Prince Harry in his childhood and contributed to his recent reactions and his willingness to protect his own family. In the natal chart of Princess Diana, she has the conjunction of Aphidas and Varda at 23+ Libra right at her Midheaven, the cusp of the 10th house. She really was the Star-queen, the queen of the light, symbolized by Varda. The 10th house represents one’s most cherished goals and the “calling” in the life. While the aggressive press certainly was not anything what she aspired, it was what she encountered, and it is one of those things that we instantly remember when we think about her. Thus we can understand Aphidas at her Midheaven.


When Duchess of York, Sarah Ferguson was born, the Sun was in conjunction with Aphidas and Varda in Libra. She has been constantly in the tabloids. Prince Andrew and Sarah announced their separation on March 19, 1992. Sarah did not carry out royal engagements after the separation. The transiting Aphidas at 2+ degrees of Cancer was opposite Sarah’s natal Saturn in Capricorn and strictly squaring Sarah’s nodes of the Moon on the Libra and Aries axis. The lunar nodes symbolize our karmic pathway from the past to the future. When a planet is in a square aspect to the nodes, it must be addressed before growth can be attained. The transiting Uranus-Neptune conjunction in Capricorn was squaring Sarah’s natal Aphidas in Libra.


When the marriage of Prince Charles and Princess Diana was dissolved, and Diana also resigned from most of her charities on Aug. 28, 1996, Aphidas was transiting in Cancer in conjunction with Venus and Mars. These three planets made a transit square to Diana’s natal Aphidas at her Midheaven.

New Moon in Aquarius — February 11, 2021, 19:06 UT

Friday, February 12th, 2021

There is a powerful concentration of energy in Aquarius, a stellium of six planets including the Sun, Moon, Saturn, Jupiter, Venus and Mercury, and asteroid Pallas. A stellium is a cluster of planets in one zodiac sign or astrological house. The two benefics, Venus and Jupiter, are in exact conjunction. Mars and Uranus in Taurus are causing friction by squaring the stellium. The New Moon is in exact sextile to Eris in Aries.

Aquarius is an unconventional and community-oriented sign. It is the sign of freedom and rebellion. Lately we have seen a lot of rebellion, as there have been huge political protests in Russia, Belarus, Myanmar, and protests against corona restrictions all over the world. The coronavirus is still spreading, and we have to do our best to cope with it. At the same time there are also other serious concerns which demand attention and must be dealt with, such as global warming. We need Aquarian collaboration and innovativeness if we want to survive.

A study which was published last year indicates that the oil and gas industry has had a worse impact on the climate than previously was believed. The global warming is accelerating the loss of species, increasing the risk of pandemics, and producing extreme weather events. Last Sunday a Himalayan glacier broke and caused massive flooding in India, smashing a dam and killing people. The impact of global warming is greatest in high latitude regions.

The New Moon in Aquarius is forming a t-square with two distant minor planets which are named after deities from the Arctic region. The Sun and the Moon oppose Sila-Nunam in Leo and square Sedna in Taurus. When Sila-Nunam was discovered 24 years ago, there was also a stellium in Aquarius then.

Sedna was discovered in 2003. The orbit is extremely long and elongated, taking approximately 11,400 years to complete. Sedna was named after the Inuit goddess of the sea, and she created the sea animals.

Sila-Nunam is a binary system discovered in 1997. The components are of almost equal size and both are elongated with their long axes pointing to each other. The bodies are named after Inuit deities. Sila was the Inuit god of the sky, weather, and life force. Nunam was the Earth goddess, Sila’s wife. She created the land animals and, in some traditions, the Inuit people. Sila breathed life into the Inuit.

June 16, 1962 – The serialization of Rachel Carson’s Silent Spring began in The New Yorker. This environmental science book was released as a book on Sept. 27, 1962, giving rise to the modern environmentalist movement. Carson accused the chemical industry of spreading disinformation, and public officials of accepting the industry’s marketing claims unquestioningly. Rachel Carson (May 27, 1907 – Apr. 14, 1964) was an American marine biologist, author, and conservationist.

Carson had attended the White House Conference on Conservation in May 1962, where the upcoming serialization of her book was promoted. The Sun conjoined Sila-Nunam in Gemini on June 1, 1962. When the serialization began on June 16, Mercury was conjunct Sila-Nunam in Gemini. Rachel Carson has natally the Sun in Gemini sextile Sila-Nunam in early Aries. On June 16, 1962, the conjunction of Mercury and Sila-Nunam was transiting her natal Mercury.

June 15, 1971 – Norway began oil production in the North Sea. The Sun was in conjunction with Sila-Nunam in Gemini.

June 23, 1980 – The 1980 United States heat wave was a period of intense heat and drought throughout the summer of 1980. It is among the most devastating natural disasters in terms of deaths and destruction in U.S. history, claiming at least 1,700 lives and massive agricultural damage. In Dallas/Fort Worth, Texas, high temperatures exceeded 100 F (38 C) a total of 69 times, including a record 42 consecutive days from June 23 to August 3. The Sun was conjunct Vesta and Sila-Nunam in Cancer, sextile Jupiter in Virgo.

Feb. 3, 1997 – 79360 Sila-Nunam was discovered. Later the same year an international treaty known as the Kyoto Protocol was adopted. For the first time the industrialized countries agreed on targets to cut their greenhouse gas emissions.

July 26, 2005 — Mumbai, India receives 99.5 cm of rain (39.17 inches) within 24 hours, bringing the city to a halt for over 2 days. The Maharashtra floods of 2005 refer to the flooding of many parts of the state, including large areas of the metropolis Mumbai, in which at least 5,000 people died. The Sun was conjunct Sila-Nunam in Leo and square Deucalion (association with flooding) in Scorpio.

Jan. 9, 2012 — 79360 Sila-Nunam was named after Inuit deities. The next day the news announced that Alaska saw record snowfall. Sila-Nunam was in Leo. The Sun in Capricorn was trine Sedna in Taurus and sextile Huya (named after a rain god) in Scorpio. During the previous few weeks, almost 15 feet of snow had fallen on Cordova. The town issued a disaster declaration on Jan. 6.

May 1-4, 2012 – The Greenpeace activists protested the Finnish icebreaker Nordica’s involvement in Arctic oil drilling. Nordica was chartered for Shell Oil Company to support exploration drilling operations. The activists tried to prevent Nordica from leaving Helsinki, they boarded the icebreaker at sea, and they stopped boats in front of the icebreaker. The Sun in Taurus was square Sila-Nunam in Leo, Jupiter conjunct Sedna in Taurus.

Aug. 18, 2019 — 100 activists, officials, and other concerned citizens along with Iceland’s Prime Minister Katrin Jakobsdottir and former United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights Mary Robinson hold a funeral for Okjökull glacier, which has completely melted as the direct result of climate change. The memorial plaque reads: “Ok is the first Icelandic glacier to lose its status as a glacier. In the next 200 years all our glaciers are expected to follow the same path. This monument is to acknowledge that we know what is happening and what needs to be done. Only you know if we did it”. The Sun was conjunct Sila-Nunam in Leo and opposite Damocles in Aquarius.