February

The Celestial Wheel

VedicLeaks ©

February 2014

February 1, 2014

New Predictions

Insights have been slow in coming, which sometimes happens. The January 25 entry, which included a prediction-check, appears to be sufficient -- so far. Here's a recap.

Predictions Summary

the public sector is at war with itself

like an earthquake shakes a house on a weak foundation. ...serious governmental discords and gridlock returning the Congress

violences and storms

economic losses and disease

Peak Mars turbulence

the end of February and into early March... ...like an earthquake shakes a house on a weak foundation. (Note: The January 25 entry listed links to article about the debt ceiling, which comes due then. Other Mars harms can certainly result then.)

The January 15 VedicLeaks entry also discussed Mars changing signs from Virgo to Libra, during which interval he is weak for being at the sign edges, called Sandhi -- and also in that VedicLeaks, the Cujo effect. Sandhi results when a planet is within 2 degrees of sign edge. The analogy is that Sandhi makes animal Mars foam at the mouth. Here again is the Mars Path graphic. Mars went Sandhi this past Tuesday, January 28, at 28 degrees and is currently at just over 29 degrees. He'll cross into Libra February Tuesday February 4 and reach 2 degrees Libra on February 13.

Thereby, Mars behaves like Cujo for two more weeks. And then, it will be only two more weeks before Mars gets very close to Rahu, the head-of-the-dragon eclipse point. So, this part of transit Mars journey is particularly challenging.

The Mars' Cujo effects Rahu (the serpent) at the end of February into early March will be much more serious. Sandhi is only weak. Mars with toxic Rahu is virulent. Rahu, true to his serpent's nature, strikes lightning fast, in an unanticipated, and uncontrollable way. This is why specific predictions for this interval are impractical. That being said, we can watch the news for emerging trends -- even as those can delude or mislead, as is also the serpent's nature.

An Overview On The U.S. Chart

The key transit positions of Mars, and also Saturn, show some repetition of karma. Much more than anything else, they impact Aries and Libra, the first and seventh houses of the natural zodiac. Recall the natural zodiac is the background pattern, and specific charts of people, nations... are drawn in the foreground. Since Mars and Saturn are malefics, and because Rahu/Ketu (the eclipse points) are also in this axis, there's tremendous stress there. The first house is the self, the identity and the personality. The seventh house is the other, relationships and the social nature, which relates to business.

For the U.S. chart, Aries is the fifth house of investments and the mind, and Libra the eleventh house of friends, groups and goals and gains.

Thus, the natural zodiac's Aries first house of the self is the U.S. fifth house of wealth and the mind. And, the natural zodiac's Libra seventh house of the other orients to the U.S. eleventh house friends, groups, goals and gains (financial).

We can integrate these influences to suggest: the U.S. Aries is concerned with peoples' wealth and viewpoints on economic fairness; and the U.S. Libra focuses upon relationships in and among groups for financial benefits.

This certainly applies well to current national issues, resting upon the foundation of income and wealth inequality -- the grass roots minimum wage movement, and key legislation for the farm bill, immigration and the debt ceiling, even restoring the voting rights protections.

In regard to the income and wealth inequality issue, we've all seen recent articles like, U.S. Poverty: Census Finds Nearly Half Of Americans Are Poor Or Low-Income,Wealth of Richest 400 Americans Equals that of Nation’s 44 Million African Americans and the zinger, World's 85 richest have same wealth as 3.5 billion poorest.

But this January 13 article brings the issue down to a personal level in showing the economy in your home county, Half of U.S. Counties Haven’t Recovered From Recession. Go to the article to expand the map.

Popular terms pop up that often become emblematic, and this one will soon be seared into the the common consciousness, bifurcated economy.

Everyone knows this to be true, even as the media issues rosy reports, US economy growing at 3.2% in the fourth quarter, official figures show. The situation is reminiscent of the march-up to the Iraq Invasion, discussed in this January 2, 2003 In-depth Forecast, Face-off 2003 Bush/Hussein.

As was stated previously in The Celestial Wheel, Serf's Up!

The Celestial Wheel 2002-2013©

VedicLeaks 2013©
Doug Riemer

February 7, 2014

Heads-up
Mercury Retrograde

Mercury, the planet of the mind, communications and the nervous system, turned retrograde yesterday -- February 6 -- late in the afternoon. Mercury will return to forward motion February 28.

Mercury does a three week retrograde three times annually. As such, Mercury retrograde is not unusual, and it is not always difficult. However, when Mercury retrograde is badly disposed, it can cause havoc.

For an example of a bad Mercury retrograde, consider the last one -- October 20, 2013 to November 11. This was shown in the Z path graphic below, first published in the October 23 VedicLeaks. That Mercury retrograde was difficult for crossing malefic planets Saturn and Rahu in Libra.

But truly, all of October and November were difficult because Mercury was then being harmed by these malefics. Remember the government shutdown October 1 to 16, and also the Obamacare website launch that failed? But, when Mercury finally escaped from Libra December 1, the repairs to healthcare.gov were completed. When astrology works, it really works!

This Mercury retrograde -- again February 6 to 28 -- isn't as difficult, but it still brings challenges, mostly though during the latter part of the month.

Mercury went retrograde in Aquarius and will continue in that sign until February 18. Mercury is unafflicted in Aquarius. So this first part of his retrograde shouldn't signal any havoc.

However, when Mercury goes into Capricorn February 18 for the last ten days of his retrograde, he will be under fire by an aspect from Mars. That aspect (glance) itself won't be that onerous, especially since Mars will be at low degree and Mercury a high degree.

However, there's other stuff going on at the end of February.

Recall, The Totality Of Transit Mars Is The Definitive Karma now. This results from his retrograde keeping Mars in Virgo for many months -- and also marching up to toxic Rahu in Libra at the end of this month. Here's his Z path graphic.

The most sensitive interval here is late February into early March. Then, Mars will be less than two degrees from Rahu, which combination is explosive. Also, however, Mars will become very powerful as he slows down to stop, before he turns retrograde March 1. At the same time, Saturn will become similarly empowered as he is slowing down stop before he turns retrograde March 2. This was discussed in detail in the January 19 VedicLeaks, which entry stated, ...the gut reaction is this looks like an earthquake -- perhaps literal but also figurative? There's a lot of shaking up going on.

To recap, Mercury will become powerfully stationary at the end of his retrograde February 28. Mars will similarly stationary March 1 and Saturn March 2. Actually, because Mars and Saturn move slowly, their stationary power will begin February 28 and continue through March 3. At the same time, Mars and Rahu will be attacking each other.

Very fortunately, the all-important Moon will safely out of the line of fire from Mars and Saturn then, but still, there will be a lot of shaking up going on.

The U.S. Congress not raising the debt limit has been identified as a likely issue. Other problems must result. There certainly would be some Mars/Rahu violences then, and because Venus is afflicted by Mars, Venusian vehicles, especially Rahu airplanes are at risk In this age of rockets and drones, these are included. Certainly the Olympics in Russia will experience rough spots. In fact, it already has with the inception of Mercury retrograde yesterday, 15 signs that Russia is not very ready for the Olympics. Beyond administrative issues and likely violences, because Mercury is skill and Mars is athletics, there will be a lot of upsets, and some accidents as well.

On a personal level, from the end of February into the first several days of March one should use care in activities. Certainly traveling can be an issue, but accidents and illness are other areas of concern.

The Celestial Wheel 2002-2013©

VedicLeaks 2013©
Doug Riemer

February 11, 2014

Keeping Up With Mercury And Mars

This VedicLeaks entry discusses Mercury retrograde and Mars. With Mercury retrograde and The Totality Of Transit Mars Is The Definitive Karma now, these are the planets to monitor. It's important to keep track of predictions and not lose or forget information threads. Besides, the Mercury retrograde, memory is sometimes elusive.

Some Interesting Mercury Retrograde Effects

Accidents during the Olympics were predicted in the February 7 Heads-up (inserted above). Here are three,

OLYMPIC HALFPIPE PROBLEMS MOUNTING

OLYMPIC WORKERS FALL FROM ROOF WHILE CLEARING SNOW

U.S. And Canadian Women's Hockey Brings Plenty Of Heat To The Ice

Accidents occur all the time, especially on the highway. But this these are classical Mercury retrograde in being confusion, combined with Mar's signification for accidents, Wrong-way car crashes in Florida and California kill 11.

Airplane accidents were also predicted in above the February 7 Heads-up. Mars' signification for accidents increases on Tuesday, the day of the week Mars rules. Today is Tuesday. Here's one, Military plane crashes in eastern Algeria, 'killing 100'. It could also be an omen for more to come, especially at the end of the month and into early March. And don't forget rockets and drones!

Mars Discords

Mars being discord, it's natural that arguments increase. The U.S. the January 8 VedicLeaks entry stated, ...this long Mars transit through Virgo is very rough. Recalling that the tenth house of government officials and Saturn there symbolizes greedy and manipulative capitalists, the public sector will be at war with itself -- In Washington DC, the States and locally.

Following President Obama's Superbowl interview with Bill O-Reilly, the far right vitriol increased. Also, as Mars stimulates the political left. Stronger statements from MSNBC against the right pours more fuel onto the FOX fire. How Dare Chris Mathews say we are biased! Followed by, Benggazi is a massive cover up by the CIA as ordered by King Obama who should be impeached. These FOX cries fall into a familiar theme, We're being attacked!, justifying even more vicious attacks against the left. And, of course, FOX loves to endlessly recite their network is the most trusted, while they omit the negatives. Fox is also the least trusted, and these results have been found for the last five years, Fox News still most trusted, least trusted. So guess what Sean Hannity et al, you are also disliked more than any other journalists for five years in a row! Isn't that the fair and balanced news?

A Positive Result From Mars

Malefic planets obviously bring challenge brought by their nature, most notably when their energies combine. But remembering that Only through turmoil comes change, their harms always have a silver lining. Similarly, don't hurricanes often also break droughts?

A recent example of malefics bringing needed change is last summer's Special Section -- A Whirlwind Summer And Fall 2013 analyzed the intense Saturn/Rahu conjunction. In the section, Your Personal Experiences, I wrote,

Saturn/Rahu is pushing ahead hard, remorseless, driven to success.... and those energies express themselves both on the global stage and in your karmas as well...

Still, Saturn/Rahu can bring long needed change, for Saturn is the planet of responsibility and duty, and Rahu, the head-of-the-dragon eclipse point, intensifies Saturn's energies. This combination can blow one out of even the deepest of karmic ruts. A stubborn client, who prefers to describe this penchant as, "I have to learn the hard way you know," finally, after years and years moved, from Arizona to Pennsylvania - to be close to family and support her health --through positive Astrocartography there.

As described in the above, Mars' energy for discord heightens political actions. However, as the hard right's 20% of the population hardens even further, the 20% on the left toughens in response. And the election-deciding 60% in the middle rejects both the bomb-throwing between the two and the mean-spirited nature of the right. It takes a while, but the middle also hardens -- which motivates them to vote.

After all, shouldn't the minimum wage be increased so that people can support themselves? Should food stamps be cut back in a farm bill full of corporate welfare? How are those unable to get a job quickly going to survive without extended unemployment benefits? Is Obamacare truly horrible when 9 million more people already have good health insurance, and that number grows daily? Should women's reproductive rights -- physicals, cancer screenings, contraction, abortion... be restricted by a groups of old white men in Republican run states? Are voter ID laws and other voting restrictions fair, or do they reduce minority turnout? Finally, isn't the ongoing FOX News least trusted issue a bell-weather for voters this year? The December 21, 2013 free In-depth Forecast, Happy Holidays & Winter Solstice Too, stated, Next November will be here sooner than we expect.

Looking ahead to the November 4, 2014 midterm election, below is the transit wheel for the U.S. chart, with the Dasas (planetary cycles) following.

This looks like a major upset, perhaps even huge. Not only is Rahu active in the Dasas, but he's transiting right over birth chart Saturn -- government officials. Rahu will blow many out of office. Transit Saturn is weak and thereby unstable at the house/sign edge, just barely into the twelfth house of loss. This suggests other government officials will be unable to hold onto their positions. Finally, transit Mars is in the first house of the self, and it throws three nasty aspects -- red arrows. This means hard fighting political warfare, with many casualties.

Other stuff will be going on too. After Mars clears out of Virgo in early July, he's going to ram into both Rahu and Saturn. There will be destabilizing eclipses in October..

Despite what the pundits say about midterm elections favoring the administration's opponents and gerrymandered Republican house seats, this information indicates a rout.

Getting back to the 20% left and 60% middle in the U.S., because that chart's Dasa planets are masculine Mars major and feminine Venus minor, women, who are slower to anger than men, will turn out to vote in great numbers to protect their interests. Mom will be cleaning house.

Consequential Results From Past Predictions

Vedic Astrology is vast, and its practitioners can naturally see only some planetary karmas and integrate from these even fewer consequential results. An issue is remembering predictions, especially those made years ago.

This VedicLeaks' section section reveals consequential results from predictions, some made long ago. Remember, The Celestial Wheel was launched in 2002. These recollections happen now because Mercury, the planet of communications, is also this astrologer's the planet of writing and publishing. And, I'm currently running its Dasa -- planetary cycle. So, as retrograde turns Mercury's mental energy inward and backward, predictions pop out of the past to fit into current events -- eureka moments.

California Drought

Everyone knows that drought conditions, which have harmed various parts of the U.S. now for three over years, are catastrophic California. See, California's Drought Could Be the Worst in 500 Years.

In reading about the calamity, memory of the July 2010 In-depth Forecast,

Millennium Contraction Migrations, popped out.

That forecast is basically about drought, History repeats itself. During the 1929 to 1948 Saturn Planetary Cycle in the U.S. chart, the Great Depression's lowered crop prices and drought brought the dust bowl, forcing farmers westward.

Unspoken in this forecast is that during the U.S. 7 year Mars Dasa, the 2011-12 Saturn subcycle signaled the beginning of the drought. Saturn, after all is a dry planet, and we have the above-described dust bowl during Saturn's 19 year Dasa to confirm that influence.

But, why would the drought have continued?

The answer is simple, but unknown, until it popped out, I hadn't seen it. Because Mars aspects Saturn in this chart, Mars is also a drought indicator. Too, Mars being Pitta (fiery) things dry out by heat. This latter influence comes to bear in Mars being conjunct Jupiter, the ruler of the U.S. Ascendant -- self. Jupiter is kapha (watery), and hot Mars dries out the country.

This listing of the U.S. Dasas comes from the December 2004 The United States Through Its Planetary Cycles -- Part I 1776 to 1895. (I mention this in case you haven't read through it -- an amazing recitation of U.S. history via its Vedic Dasas.)

Note that the U.S. ran its first Mars Dasa from 1888 to 1895. I scoured the internet to find if there was a drought then, and it popped out! The Great 1890s Drought.

I looked back further to see if there were also a drought in the Mars Dasa that would have preceded Rahu Dasa at the nation's birth in 1776. No information. I also researched for drought during the first Saturn Dasa -- 1809 to 1828. Again, no information.

We should expect the U.S. to suffer drought conditions until at least the end of Mars Dasa at the end of 2015

But what about Rahu Dasa? At first glance, Rahu does not indicate drought, though it certainly does bring lots of other issues. Match up the two previous Rahu Dasas in the U.S. chart with history. It was Rahu's turbulence that broke America free of its English rulers and also brought the First Progressive Age.

Labor Globalization

Here's something else that popped out. In rereading Millennium Contraction Migrations, I noted this forgotten passage, ...Vedic Astrology can offer some insight on long term trends, even as specific results may not be seen for some time. As discussed in the May 2004 The Jupiter/Saturn Conjunction -- A New Twenty Year Era, labor globalization comes from 2000 to 2020.

No citations are needed to validate that manufacturing was shifted overseas beginning at that time. Unfortunately, that process promises to continue. although it's certainly possible the U.S. will learn how to use it's labor resources more effectively, and labor abuses in third world countries will diminish.

Rahu In Libra -- Aeronautics

And here's another bit of information that popped out. Rahu circles the zodiac every 18 1/2 years. Rahu is airplanes, and Venus is vehicles. We would expect that when Rahu transits through Venus ruled Libra, advances in aeronautics would result. Checking back, the space race began with the U.S.S.R. launching Sputnik October 4, 1957. Rahu entered Libra February 25 1957 and left Libra August 28, 1958.

Rahu is in Libra now with Saturn, which brings technical quality and also victimizing. The U.S. is running its warrior Mars Dasa from late 2008 to late 2015. Rahu and Saturn are in Libra January 14, 2013 to July 6, 2014. Certainly drone warfare has advanced during this interval, but more positively, private spaceflight has taken off, Private Spaceflight.

Hmmmmmm... since Rahu is airplanes, it makes sense that manned flight began during the second Rahu Dasa -- 1899 to 1913. The Wright brothers first flew December 17, 1903, and by 1913, aviation had become common. Wouldn't we expect aeronautics will make similar giant strides during the U.S. chart's upcoming Rahu Dasa from late 2015 until 2033? Could that help the globe deal with climate change, pollution and clean energy?

Sunspot Cycle

Sun spot activity is unusually and unexpectedly low. In researching this topic, another pop out surfaced, Long Range Solar Forecast.

The peak sun spot years looked familiar! I checked back to the August 2013 free In-depth Forecast, Mideast Karma Peaking Again, to find the dates matched up pretty well.

October 23, 1944 to September 23, 1945 -- 1945 King Oil

November 2, 1955 to February 26, 1957 -- 1956 Suez Crisis

January 14, 1968 to May 1, 1969 -- 1968 War Of Attrition

December 2, 1978 until November 3, 1979 -- 1979 Iranian Revolution

December 15, 1990 to April 12, 1991 -- 1991 Gulf War

March 1, 2002 to July 22, 2002 -- 2001+ Afghanistan War

January 14, 2013 to July 6, 2014 -- 2013-14 Saturn/Rahu Conjunction

Interesting, eh?

February 18, 2014

Heads-up

The All-important Moon Will Be Badly Afflicted Tomorrow and Thursday

The January 25 VedicLeaks entry posited predictions for discords and violences due to transit Mars. These were summarized in the February 1 entry,

The peak interval was also detailed in the January 25 VedicLeaks entry,

...at the end of February and into early March, when Mars changes to retrograde, becoming stationary, his pumped-up energy will impact both Rahu and Saturn." ... This weakens Libra's Venusian foundation, making the malefics placed there more destructive -- like an earthquake shakes a house on a weak foundation.

With the exception of the U.S. debt ceiling being passed, these predictions have already born fruit. The financial markets in the U.S. and abroad have been turbulent. The Olympics have been marred by accidents. The Chris Christie scandal continues to unfold like a bad soap opera. The Republicans are at war with themselves. Riots have turned deadly in Ukraine and Venezuela. Winter storms batter the U.S. and England floods. Record drought has hit California and Brazil. Yes, things are always going on in the world -- but this quantity and intensity is abnormal.

And there is even a winter flurry of earthquakes in Oklahoma, Ten Earthquakes Rattle Oklahoma in Just Three Days.

The February 7 VedicLeaks entry discussed the added adverse influence of Mercury retrograde. That entry also noted about the sensitive end of February into early March interval, Very fortunately, the all-important Moon will safely out of the line of fire from Mars and Saturn then. The Moon will be in Aquarius and Pisces then, far away from Libra. (Still, on March 4, the Moon will be in Aries, conjunct Ketu under fire from the malefics in Libra.)

The point of this Heads-up is that the Moon will be passing through Libra tomorrow and Thursday -- as shown in the below chart for tomorrow. The Moon is all-important for being the primary planet in Vedic Astrology and also because it symbolizes worldly benefits and the emotional mind. (Whenever a mass murder or other really extreme violence by deranged people occurs, an afflicted Moon is always involved.)

Given the severity of the various predicted harms Mars has already brought, and that we're close to the most sensitive interval already, tomorrow and Wednesday may be extremely difficult. It's best to keep your head down and your wits about you. Even though the Rahu energy brings intense events that are both unanticipated and uncontrollable, you can still mitigate the karmas to some degree.

February 26, 2014

Heads-up
Turmoil Coming

This Heads-up alerts you to the most stressful interval during this challenging Mars transit through Virgo and Libra, about which The Celestial Wheel has stated, The Totality Of Transit Mars Is The Definitive Karma now.

This peaks stress results from Mars approaching Rahu -- the head-of-the-dragon eclipse point, which combination stimulates violences and destructions.

Because Mars circles the zodiac about once every two years, it runs into slow-moving Rahu at about the same interval. So, Mars/Rahu conjunctions are not unusual, and while they are destructive, they aren't necessarily horrific. Still, we all remember the winter of 2009, when Obama's first term began, and the economy was in free-fall. Plus, there were big winter storms. Mars conjoined Rahu on February 16, 2009.

This Mars/Rahu conjunction is unusually challenging because there are other planetary karmas amping up the destructive energy. These include malefic Saturn also being in Libra with Mars and Rahu; Venus, the ruler of Libra being badly aspected by Mars; Mercury being retrograde.

But, while these are substantive karmas, they are not the really potent ones. What really counts is Mercury, Mars and Saturn will all changing directions within just a few days. Mercury ends its retrograde late morning February 28. Mars turns retrograde at noon March 1. Saturn turns retrograde at noon March 3. I can't recall any other interval when 3 planets have changed direction in just 4 days.

When planets reverse direction, they first gradually slow down to stop. After they stop, they begin reverse direction at slow speed, which quickly picks up. During the period of slowing down, stopping, and starting motion again, the planets move very slowly, and thereby become immensely powerful. It's like the police at night sweeping the bushes with their big flashlights for teenage you hiding with your date and beer, when when they spot you, directing the blinding light beams directly at you.

This is why VedicLeaks entries repeatedly stated, ...the gut reaction is this looks like an earthquake -- perhaps literal but also figurative? There's a lot of shaking up going on.

The February 1 VedicLeaks summarized predictions for this tough Mars transit,

These planetary karmas have naturally been expressing themselves for some months, with February 28 through March 4 being the peak. While all kinds of governmental problems persist and increase, and there are violences and disease, what will stand out is the violences. VedicLeaks previously identified on February 11 aeronautics as an issue -- planes, rockets and drones, and there has been some discussion about earthquakes. The latter deserves further attention because Mercury rules earth sign Virgo, Saturn rules earth sign Capricorn, and Venus rules earth sign Taurus. Earth crust events are thereby predicted, although these could be earthquakes or volcanoes, even perhaps tsunami.

Fortunately, and this is quite amazing, solutions to problems will come quickly, and most beneficially. Here's why. Saturn and Mars are the great malefics, which are then amplified by Rahu, tilting the energetic balance their way. However, after they turn retrograde, they become weak. Venus, a wonderful benefic, was weakly retrograde until February 1, and Jupiter, the great benefic, has been weakly retrograde since early November, 2013. Jupiter turns powerfully forward March 6.

With malefics Saturn and Mars weakened by retrograde, and benefics Jupiter and Venus strengthened by ending retrograde and resuming power forward motion, the energetic balance will dramatically shift from bad to good, from dark to light.

This will be amazing.