July_2018

July 2018

July 4, 2018

Does Vedic Astrology Work On Mars?

It was December 4, 1999. I was taking lessons for my Vedic certification at the American College of Vedic Astrology after trekking across country from Florida to Sedona AZ a year and a half earlier.

A day earlier the U.S. Mars Polar Lander was lost when Mars and Ketu were less than 1/2 degree apart. Here's that chart.

December 3, 1999 3 PM EST
Washington, DC

When I came for my weekly lesson I asked my teacher, Dennis Harness, The Mars Polar Lander was lost yesterday just after Mars and Ketu conjoined. Does that mean Vedic Astrology works on Mars? Dennis' reply was something like, It sure looks like, with a Cheshire grin.

We all know Mars and Ketu are again conjoining, and also again in Capricorn, a sign ruled by restrictive Saturn. There, Mars is exalted (strongest) to better fight his enemy Saturn. So maybe we can look to the actual planet Mars to get some verification about how destructive this combination is.

Spaceweather.com reports on July 1 Mars And Dust Storm.

Mars does not show details of its surface and the dust storm is encircling the planet. A comparison of the imaged region with the 2016 apparition is given. July 1, 2018 01:07 UT (CM 318°). Note also the south polar cup is reduced and less detectable.

Sky and Telescope's article Dust Storm Blows up on Mars (Updated) shows the storm began at the end of May and grew rapidly in early June.

The summer/fall timeline shows Mars conjoined Ketu June 7. So this fits with the dust storm timing. And with Mars' retrograde keeping him in Capricorn until until November 6, which causes Mars to cross Ketu two more times, this Mars dust storm seems to be an even more grave harbinger.

Looking back through old Celestial Wheel entries I found this from October 2004 -- when entries were labeled by number, not month and year as they are now, The Celestial Wheel 10.

To anticipate what untoward event may occur, we can revisit the last four Mars/Ketu conjunctions. Charts for these are shown to the right.

First is the February 6, 1998 Mars/Ketu conjunction in Saturn-ruled Capricorn. As Saturn is form and structure and materials under the earth, it represents the earth's tectonic plate structure.

Mars' aspect to Rahu was to the fiery sign of Leo, indicating the hot magma under the earth's crust stimulated the earthquake.

Since Afghanistan's time zone is nearly a full day ahead of the West's, this killer earthquake occurred just one day before Mars reached Ketu. When a planet approaches another, energy builds up, stimulating an event.

February 6, 1998
( Feb. 4 Afghan earthquake kills 5,000+)

This next chart is provocative, for Mars reached Ketu exactly to the hour when the Mars polar landing craft descended into Mars' atmosphere and was lost forever.

Here we have Mars/Ketu in Capricorn, an air (atmosphere) sign ruled by technical Saturn.

Mars' aspect to Rahu was to Cancer, the fourth house of the natural zodiac, which symbolizes fixed assets, including vehicles. Rahu in Cancer is flying scientific vehicles.

December 3, 1999
(Dec 3 Mars polar landing craft lost)

Here is the World Trade Center attack chart. Mars/Ketu are in fiery Sagittarius in an applying aspect.

Mars aspected Rahu in mental Gemini. There also, were religious and wealthy Jupiter and the Moon, which signifies the home -- property.

These combined for religious retribution destroying great real estate wealth.

September 11, 2001
(Sept 11 World Trade Center Attack)

The February 1, 2003 space shuttle Columbia explosion occurred a few days following Mars' conjoining with Ketu.

Here, Mars/Ketu were in Scorpio, the eighth house of the natural zodiac, which signifies hidden disaster. The suggestion for this catastrophe is that the damage to the space shuttle, which occurred on lift-off, could not be discovered during the flight. The Columbia was doomed when it later attempted to land.

Mars' aspect to Rahu was to Taurus, an earth sign signifying wealth. Saturn's placement in Taurus with Rahu indicated the advanced technical nature of the expensive space shuttle.

January 27, 2003
(Feb. 1 Space Shuttle Columbia Explodes)

Coming up to the November 13, 2004 conjunction of Mars and Ketu, this will take place in Libra, an air sign signifying commerce and ruled by wealthy Venus.

The fiery Sun, indicator of government, also being in Libra, suggests violence against government.

Here, Mars' aspect to Rahu will be in fiery Aries, ruled by Mars, giving a double-signification for explosive violence.

Most disturbing about this date is that Venus, the Sun and the Moon will all be weak in their fallen signs. Venus's wealth, the Sun's government and the Moon's home will thereby all be at risk.

November 13, 2004

With Mount St. Helens now active, its exploding on or about November 13 is a possibility. An eruption of violence in Iraq or a major terrorist attack destabilizing another foreign government are alternatives.

As it turned out, there was a major earth crust event just a week later on Domiica -- Earthquake & Tsunami of November 21, 2004. And there was an uptick in the Iraq War, Second Battle of Fallujah.

The Mars dust storm and these five Mars/Ketu conjunctions matching violence are two more pieces of the puzzle about what this year's Mars/Ketu conjunction brings.

But there is one more piece to this. Vedic Astrology works because there is order to the universe, which the ancient Indian seers were able to decode and interpret. There's no mystic mumbo jumbo here -- just centuries upon centuries of empirical research and resulting insights. Including the actual astronomical Mars within this astrological framework in regard to Mars/Ketu conjunctions is provocative, well at least fascinating.

Too, this concept gives a certain sense of security, that we're more than the result of a planet favorable to life. Perhaps, just perhaps, humanity is part of something larger that has real meaning in the universe. Well, as long as we don't blow ourselves up first....

The Celestial Wheel 2002-2018©
Doug Riemer

July 9, 2018

Slick Willie

I first heard Bill Clinton's Slick Willie nickname while visiting the Outer Banks of North Carolina in 1991 -- a favorite nesting place for retired Washington DC beltway bandits. Whether civilian employees, contractors or military, and irrespective of their political party affiliation, these fundamentally decent civil servants couldn't stand Clinton's seemingly amazing ability to change positions and get away with it -- right through his two term presidency.

This December 20 1998 Washington Post article, It's Come To This: A Nickname That's Proven Hard to Slip about reporter Sam Greenberg, who coined the nickname, is amazing -- a quarter century echo back in time. This article was written one day before the House of Representatives voted to impeach Clinton.

Here are some excerpts,

...to understand how a twice-elected president, handsome and popular and backed by a strong economy, could unravel like kite string, it's helpful to revisit the saga of Slick Willie.

What repulsed him (reporter Greenberg) was Clinton's dance regarding the large number of Cuban refugees who were being housed temporarily at an Arkansas army base. The refugees were part of the Mariel boatlift to Florida, and Clinton had initially welcomed them to his state and sympathized with their "desire for freedom." But by September, following a riot by refugees at Fort Chaffee, following White's TV ads associating Clinton with the disturbance, following the expressed fears of Arkansas citizens, Clinton's rhetoric grew tougher.

Greenberg saw Slick Willie as a waffler, a zigzagger, a master of obfuscation -- the unworthy alter-ego of Clinton, the compassionate idealist. Greenberg concluded that... Clinton had presented a facade of making great progress during his first term when he had retreated on his basic promises. He talked about preserving the environment, for instance, but appeased the chicken industry.

In Slick Willie, Greenberg felt, he had found the perfect coinage. "It doesn't mean liar. It means dissembler," he explains now. "This is a particular subspecies of lying. It's a very lawyerly, sophisticated, elastic lie. In my opinion, the old-fashioned lie would be a step up."

When Clinton ran for president in 1992, Slick Willie... ...became a huge star on the main stage. And so Slick Willie evolved. He became a particular brand of explanation on subjects ranging from whether Clinton slipped the draft to whether he smoked marijuana to whether he slept with Gennifer Flowers. And he became -- most annoyingly to Clinton's enemies -- the symbol of getting away with it.

As in: Marge, you're not gonna believe what I'm seeing. There's a fella outside ice-skating on sand. That fella was Slick Willie.

(Slick Willie) was a handy fella, and repeatedly came to Clinton's aid. He explained what happened to proposed tax cuts for the middle class and why big donors were granted overnight stays in the Lincoln Bedroom. But then he got tripped up at the Paula Jones deposition when asked about Monica Lewinsky.

He made matters worse with that finger-wagging thing ("I did not have sexual relations with that woman, Miss Lewinsky"). He really slipped with his legal-beagle answers to Judiciary Chairman Henry Hyde's 81 questions and his 11th-hour plea for censure on the eve of a Mideast trip. And yesterday, the absolute worst thing happened to Slick Willie, the caricature: The House approved two articles of impeachment against the real Bill Clinton.

"What I failed to see was the inevitability of it," Greenberg says. "His whole political career has been a confirmation that he can get away with it. . . . It was working out golden for him. Then he got to playing with the truth. It's not a thing to be toyed with. It'll come back to slap you."

"What I'm most concerned with right now, " Rother (legislative director for the AARP) says, "is I can't recall ever a time when there's been less willingness to find a middle ground. That's not a function of his credibility but a function of all of these other forces -- the increasing polarization of the parties, the role the extreme right plays and the role the extreme left plays and a weakening of the institutional processes in Congress that usually let people find a middle ground."

"The fact that he is so slick means he can turn on a dime," says Fred Greenstein, a presidential scholar at Princeton University. "He's got the most amazing resilience that we've ever seen in American politics."

"You keep thinking that this time he's gone. Like the cat's going to catch the mouse in 'Tom & Jerry.' Like finally Charlie Brown is going to kick the football."

Like finally Slick Willie slides into a mess he can't slip out of.

Bill Clinton's Vedic chart has the great benefic, Jupiter, the higher mind, in the second house of speech. There always expansive and optimistic Jupiter tends exaggerate words, making people untrustworthy. There's also eloquence, and people enjoy listening to these people.

Here's Bill Clinton's chart with Jupiter in the second house. The red arrow shows Jupiter's aspect (glance) to the eighth house of the hidden things, which gives intuition. (It also holds secrets) That is, Clinton correctly intuited what people wanted to hear, and his lies were thereby persuasive. Of course, running his sixteen year Jupiter Dasa (planetary cycle) beginning in 2001 was a huge lift.

Bill Clinton
August 19, 1946 @ 8:30 AM
Hope, AR

And here's another Clinton -- Hillary -- with a second house Jupiter. We know from her history that, like Bill, she was always well intentioned. But again like Bill, she lied. Bill escaped impeachment. , Yet Hillary lost the 2016 election. But then, Hillary had finished her great twenty year Venus Dasa in 2015, and her fallen (weak) six year Sun Dasa that followed couldn't keep her afloat. Too, she wasn't as intuitive as Bill.

Hillary Clinton
October 26, 1947 @ 7:56 AM
Park Ridge, IL

Now, of course, we have Trump, with his second house Jupiter. And for him, Jupiter is incredibly strong because it had stopped in the sky the day before his birth. This is called Stationary Direct, and as pioneer Vedic author James Braha wrote long ago, that trumps everything. Plus, with Jupiter's aspect to his eighth house, being a house Jupiter rules, the energy is welcomed there. Trump's intuition is amazingly potent, which is why he's been able to divine what appeals to his base and run the presidency without bothering to learn and understand the issues. Of course, he's not well intentioned, and that is his Achilles' heel. Well, he did have bone spurs:-).

Donald Trump
June 14, 1946 @ 10:54 AM
Queens Village, NY

There's more going on, of course, in all three of these charts, as well as the U.S. chart, which is the prevailing karma for all presidents. Yet, just this Jupiter in the second house issue is both potent and amazing for these three politicians, including two recent presidents, for having. We can find this in the U.S. chart, though, by considering that Saturn (government officials) is aspected by Mars, which harms dutiful Saturn making him greedy, manipulative and dishonest.

I had thought Trump would be tossed out of the White House last October. And although he took heavy hits then, he's still there. Let's see if the tumult this summer is enough karma to effect that goal. The house of Trump is increasingly besieged -- both at home and abroad -- and he doesn't share the Clintons' good intentions that would otherwise be a strong shield.

The Celestial Wheel 2002-2018©
Doug Riemer

July 10, 2018

A Busy, Busy July!

Here's the summer/fall timeline updated, along with a chart showing the planetary placements. The chart is drawn for late evening July 12 EDT, when the partial solar eclipse begins. It continues through the early morning hours of July 13. This eclipse will be visible only in parts of Australia.

July is an obviously active month for planetary afflictions, though Jupiter turning forward today is actually a benefit. However, Jupiter in Libra, ruled by Venus, can bring extravagance and excess in optimism and confidence. These are negatives for Trump in his increasingly royal role -- in his own mind. This luxuriousness and carefree attitude can also distract from real world trials and tribulations which impact us all -- and which we should be on guard for to protect ourselves. Jupiter in Libra can be too much of a good thing.

Generally, however, Jupiter turning forward is a positive by unleashing this planet of the higher mind's ethics, spirituality, religion and law. There's also a marked boost in humanitarianism for the Libra placement. Hopefully some of the rancor and rancidness that has permeated U.S. and global cultures will begin to yield to understanding, acceptance and righteous rejection of the politics of fear and hate.

Yet this does not mean Jupiter turning forward in a loving and compassionate sign can dispel the gloom of the Mars/Ketu conjunction and the batterings in Cancer, where Mars throws an aspect (red line). Yes, Venus is now out of Cancer, but Mercury remains stuck there until early September, and the Sun is on its way to Cancer in less than a week. (For Trump, this solar transit is major for it shifts his kingly Sun from the 11th house of gains to the 12th house of loss.) It is these destructive planetary karmas that result in normally placid Jupiter becoming aggressive -- righteous. (Perhaps, then, it's not so bad the public has begun railing against Trump officials in public.)

Plus, the eclipse season has already begun its blocking and revealing qualities. Eclipse effects begin about a week before the astronomical event and continue for a week or so after. Because there are three eclipses coming, this summer is engulfed in a long eclipse season from early July through mid August. One would expect the eclipses darkening the skies, and thus revealing the stars, will unveil many more unsavory secrets in Cancer. The Mueller investigation could begin publishing results; the Michael Cohen situation in New York is another investigative area Trump must fear. And I note that Trump's lies are being called out more firmly, especially in significant areas like immigration, North Korea, Russia and Europe.

Solar Eclipse July 12/13, 2018

The June 8 Celestial Wheel entry Predictions Review For Mars In Capricorn brought forward three listings of predictions. Here's a screen shot of those. You can confirm these from media reports. One that stands out is in the U.S. column -- public disgust.

The Celestial Wheel 2002-2018©
Doug Riemer

July 15, 2018

Into The Maw Of The Dragon

The (above) July 10 entry A Busy, Busy July! discussed some impending planetary karmas riling up the heavens this month.

That entry addressed Jupiter moving forward now, stating Jupiter in Libra can be too much of a good thing. The (above) July 9 entry Slick Willie provided the background here by explaining about the great benefic, Jupiter, in the second house of speech There always expansive and optimistic Jupiter tends exaggerate words, making people untrustworthy. There's also eloquence, and people enjoy listening to these people. Both Clintons and Trump have this placement. We can see this influence blossoming in Trump's truly outrageous exaggerations and lies at the NATO Summit and in England. Of course, there's the Mars/Ketu conjunction in his sixth house of enemies which makes him fight. Finally, entries in June examined his Dasas -- planetary cycles.

Considering the third level Dasa planet is a steering current, his kingly Sun first pumped up his ego in April through mid May. Next his crazy fallen Moon (emotions) came in to make him more volatile, even unhinged to July 24. Finally, Mars comes to stimulate Trump to really fight!.

The July 10 entry then discussed the July 13 partial solar eclipse,

One would expect the eclipses darkening the skies, and thus revealing the stars, will unveil many more unsavory secrets in Cancer. The Mueller investigation could begin publishing results; the Michael Cohen situation in New York is another investigative area Trump must fear. And I note that Trump's lies are being called out more firmly, especially in significant areas like immigration, North Korea, Russia and Europe.

Spock would say, that is fascinating for this announcement the very same day, 12 Russians indicted in Mueller investigation. And his lies are being forcefully called out. NATO leaders, for example, made it clear after Trump disrupted the summit,-- that nothing had changed from the 2014 agreement Obama had encouraged for NATO countries defense spending to 2% by 2024.

Here's another updated summer/fall timeline -- followed by the July 27 total lunar eclipse chart. You can easily see the last half of this month is the really busy part.

First, the Sun moves into the line of fire in Cancer tomorrow. Recall the Sun is a money planet for the U.S. chart, and Cancer its eighth house of catastrophe. For Trump, the Sun is kingship, and Cancer is his twelfth house of loss. These suggest economic problems for the U.S. and career downfalls for Trump.

Second, Mercury turns retrograde July 26, just one day before the lunar eclipse. This will be a total lunar eclipse , giving it real punch. Notice in the below eclipse chart that Mars will be less than 1/2 degree from the eclipsed Moon. (Mars will then be crossing Ketu, as indicated in the timeline.) This is a primary reason for the title of this entry, Into The Maw Of The Dragon. Mercury is not just communications but also a business planet for the U.S. chart and the speech and friends planet for Trump. Also, the Sun will be very closely aspected by fighting Mars and swallowed up by eclipse point Rahu.

It's impossible to know what destructive events -- man made and natural -- may occur. So for now let's just use the term chaos.

Total Lunar Eclipse July 27, 2018

Again recall that the eclipse points in Vedic Astrology are the head and tail of a dragon -- Rahu the head and Ketu the tail. This lunar eclipse is a Ketu-weird blocking. But it is also a Mars/Sun fighting eclipse with fire breathing Rahu. Well, it should be a fertile time for the prognosticators of Armageddon.

July 20, 2018

Trapped

There are many, many ways to decipher a grouping of planetary dispositions. Viewing from different angles of perception reveals new patterns unveiling karmas (influences) which can range from superficial to very deep.

Thinking about these hidden depths of today's celestial map, when the Thailand soccer team was stuck in the cave -- underground, in the dark, rising water, with no prospects of rescue -- the word trapped came to mind. And when they were finally discovered, it was only a tremendously brave and herculean rescue effort that got them out.

The soccer players is the scenario on a micro level that faces all of us on a macro level. Due to retrogrades, Mars and Mercury are also trapped now, and only a similarly miraculous result can rescue us. We're not just talking about Trump's disruptions and accidents but also natural ones. The U.S. is beset with earth crust events, storms, fires, heat waves, tornadoes, and coming soon -- hurricanes. Food poisonings and other infections are also on the rise.

The natural zodiac, beginning with Aries, shows a generalized karma -- for the entire globe. This can also be understood as the background karma for all charts -- like a mountain background in a landscape painting. It's another angle of perception.

That's why using the natural zodiac. together with the birth chart of a person, often shows troubled areas that would otherwise be invisible. For example, if the tenth house of the knees is afflicted, and the tenth sign of Capricorn in the natural zodiac is also harmed, the person has knee problems. As the tenth is also the house of relationship with the father, people with bad knees tend to have stress with their fathers. And as the tenth house is career, folks with bad knees and/or problems with their fathers have career stress as well.

Here again is the lunar eclipse chart from the July 15 entry Into The Maw Of The Dragon. You can see the R symbol by both Mars and Mercury. It is these retrogrades that trap both planets in the Cancer/Capricorn axis, where the eclipse points (Rahu and Ketu dragon head and tail) are lurking and and attacking.

The summer/fall timeline shows Mars' extended stay in Capricorn May 3 to November 6 because of its retrograde June 27 to August 27. It also shows Mercury caught in Cancer June 25 to September 2 due to its retrograde July 26 to August 19.

It's like these planets transited into eclipse caves and can't get out. Their retrogrades can be understood as searching around the cave for an escape route. But failing, they ended up trapped in the same place.

Let's look at what Mars and Mercury signify, as well as Capricorn and Cancer, to glean insights. Mars is the planet of war, aggression, logic, bravery, violences, storms, weapons, brothers and sex -- among its many significations. Mercury is the calculating mind, nervous system, disease, mother, communications and business -- again just some of its significations. Mercury is mutable. We can already plainly see these qualities in events this summer.

Cancer is the fourth house of the ntural zodiac, a spiritual house indicating the home, emotions, family, mother, the past and our deepest feelings and beliefs. It is a water sign. Many people who have a strong fourth house are thereby devotees of a religion or spiritual group and have strong links to their family and ethnicity. Cancer is thereby the inner life. Capricorn across the zodiac from Cancer is the tenth house and indicates the public, career and government officials. Capricorn is an earth sign. It is thus the opposite of Cancer in being the outer life. A strong Capricorn is good for career and public service.

Finding repetition in these qualities gives some hints. For example, the rise of women in politics makes sense considering the Mercury is an indicator of the mother, as is Cancer. Women are coming forward to protect society in a motherly way -- from the dragon and also warrior Mars.

Overall, though, the basic lesson here is that both the inner life and outer life are being challenged by aggressive Mars and mutable Mercury being trapped and swallowed up by the eclipses -- attacked by dragon fire.

How can we escape? The young soccer players were led and protected by their coach, a former Buddhist monk. Detachment through meditation and other spiritual techniques kept them safe until the rescuers arrived. Then, those same skills kept them safe on the perilous journey back to sunlit world. To dispel the darkness, surrounded yourself in the light of detachment.

July 25, 2018

Here Comes The Lunar Eclipse!

The total lunar eclipse is just two days away. Already, of course, it's blocking and revealing karmas are being expressed.

The (above) July 15 entry Into The Maw Of The Dragon explained about this dramatic celestial event (emphasis added).

...Mercury turns retrograde July 26, just one day before the lunar eclipse. This will be a total lunar eclipse, giving it real punch. Notice in the below eclipse chart that Mars will be less than 1/2 degree from the eclipsed Moon. (Mars will then be crossing Ketu, as indicated in the timeline.) This is a primary reason for the title of this entry, Into The Maw Of The Dragon. Mercury is not just communications but also a business planet for the U.S. chart and the speech and friends planet for Trump. Also, the Sun will be very closely aspected by fighting Mars and swallowed up by eclipse point Rahu.

It's impossible to know what destructive events -- man made and natural -- may occur. So for now let's just use the term chaos.

Spaceweather.com recites additional astronomical qualities -- Mars will be closest to the earth and thereby really bright, and this is the longest eclipse in 100 years.

LUNAR ECLIPSE AND MARTIAN CONJUNCTION: Friday, July 27th, is a big night for astronomy. Mars will be at opposition, making a 15-year close approach to Earth. The full Moon and Mars will be in conjunction. And, best of all, the Moon will pass through the shadow of Earth, producing the longest lunar eclipse in a century.

Spaceweather.com explains this eclipse won't be visible in the western hemisphere, but the Moon/Mars conjunction will be,

Because Mars is opposite the sun, it will rise at sunset and stay up all night long. The best time to look is around midnight when the Moon-Mars pair will be at their highest in the sky. The Red Planet will have no trouble being seen through the glare of the full Moon because Mars itself is so luminous -- almost three times brighter than Sirius, the brightest star in the sky.

EarthSky.org offers this, Watch the moon sweep past bright Mars at opposition for viewing Mars and the Moon the next few nights.

The July 15 entry's prediction was general but worrisome, It's impossible to know what destructive events -- man made and natural -- may occur. So for now let's just use the term "chaos."

Here's one way this karma can actualize -- the economy. This is admittedly a stab in the dark, but it's possible now and certainly more likely as the calendar months turn leading to the midterm elections in November.

CNN reports, CEOs are dumping stock in their companies. Here's what that means,

The captains of Corporate America are steering a record amount of cash into stock buybacks.

Companies have announced them this year at a rate of more than $5 billion a day. The buyback boom has been viewed by investors as a sign of confidence among CEOs.

Yet with their own money, executives are quietly taking a much different approach: They're cashing out.

Today's NY Times' article's title speaks for itself, U.S. Businesses Are Bullish Amid Worldwide Instability. Here's my comment,

This is what Robert Shiller and Alan Greenspan called "irrational exuberance."

The already huge federal debt expanding due to tax cuts, congressional spending and entitlement growth is a deadly two-sided blade for the economy. On one side, public funding the debt -- selling bonds and paying interest -- is costly and sucks up private capital.

On the other side, ballooning interest payments require more interest rate hikes to sell the debt.

Inflation takes off as a result of these Republican Congressional actions.

And then there's the direct inflationary effect of Trump's tariffs on prices, plus tariffs breaking global supply chains that cause further price increases.

The Republican's financial irresponsibility can only end in a conflagration, and Trump's tariffs are the match that will ignite the fire of economic collapse.