July_2020

July 2020

July 3, 2020

Trump's Mars In Pisces

The June 29 Pandemonium reviewed the June 15 Triple Hit harms of Mars transiting Pisces June 18 to August 18,* weakness from retrograde planets and the summer eclipse season. Predictions for the virus surging, economic losses and popular protests during this two month interval that began June 18 were already unfolding just ten days into this two month interval.

(*A Mercury retrograde calculation error of Mars leaving Pisces August 18 has been unveiled. The actual sign change date is August 16. However, this will only impact mid August predictions.)

That entry also showed Mars' aspects (glances) for the U.S. birth chart. To illustrate, the U.S. square* birth chart (signs and houses) was followed by a current square transit chart (signs only) for the globe and finally a round U.S. birth chart with global transits. (Transiting planets are where they are in today's signs and thus influence globally, as well as upon birth charts.) This last is a composite -- birth with transits -- to show how transiting planets impact the birth chart. This three-chart graphic, then, gives readers information neede to easily understand transits on birth charts. (Sorry the composite chart shows only signs and not houses. That's a limitation in the computer program.)

(*The square shaped chart is easy to read. Each sign and house is contained within a box, into which fit the planets. The twelve sign/house boxes follow clockwise to circle the zodiac.)

This entry fulfills the promise to use this same graphic display for Trump's chart.

Below are Trump's square birth chart, then a square global transit chart for today and finally Trump's round composite chart. (The lines are aspects -- glances -- by destructive Mars and suffering Saturn to other transiting planets and birth chart planets.)

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

Global Transits July 3, 2020

Composite -- Trump June 14, 1946 Birth With Transits July 3, 2020

The June 18 A Big Day For The Planets offered summary predictions about Mars in Pisces for Trump,

As for Trump, Gemini is his eleventh house of friends and groups, where his mental Mercury resides. Expect these to be a sea of turmoil. Also, Mars in Pisces is tremendously dangerous for Trump, as that is the eighth house of calamity in his chart. All kinds of ills can befall him -- accidents, illness, enemies and revealed secrets.

The composite (birth and transits) chart shows transit Mars in Pisces, which as explained in the above quote, is Trump's birth chart eighth house of calamity and is dangerous for him, as well as others as his Mars lashes out. Mars aspects Gemini, and again from the quote, that is his birth chart eleventh house of friends and groups, but also goals, where his mental Mercury resides. Selfish and aggressive Mars influence upon mutable Mercury distorts the truth and is thereby the combination for lawyers, liars, politicians and thieves. Well, Trump scores three out of four on those! Finally, Mars aspects Trump's powerful stationary Jupiter in Virgo, which is his second house of speech. Mars' fiery influence there brings a tempest of lying, forcefully vocalized.

That Mars also aspects transiting the hot Sun and rabid Rahu in his house of goals stimulates him being mean and spiteful, fighting and revenge, which can be hostile and/or indirect. Mars, Sun and Rahu is a tremendously fierce and volatile combination.

These Mars aspects to his birth chart planets and other transiting planets explain a lot about Trump's behavior.

Saturn is a player here too. Saturn, the planet of loss and suffering aspects Mars in Pisces, which is again Trump's eighth house of calamity. Constrictive Saturn on aggressive Mars bottles up Mars' energy, which inevitably explodes, much like a volcano -- spewing hate everywhere.

Saturn also aspects Libra, as does Mars. So, this combination of bottled-up Mars energy that explodes happens again. However, fast Mars also then pushes slow Saturn, inflating it harms. Saturn is, after all, the planet of death. As Libra is Trump's third house of desires, courage and adventures, these are all twisted around -- destructive impulses, fear and nasty efforts.

These combinations are obviously negative for Trump, and unfortunately, also harmful to the country he leads. It almost goes without saying that the triple-hit of the virus, economic loss and popular protests must continue, increase and thereby intensify their harms.

The Celestial Wheel 2002-2020©
Doug Riemer

July 11, 2020

Mercury Ends Retrograde Tomorrow

Mercury, the calculating mind, communications and the nervous system ends its three week retrograde just after midnight tonight. Hurray for reducing mental stresses and being able to think and communicate effectively.

Below is the listing of planetary ills this summer that have signaled all the trauma -- virus, economic and protests, with hurricanes already beginning early in that season. (These were first detailed in the June 15 Triple Hit.)

Planetary dispositions that are over are in red type.

Weakness from several retrogrades
Saturn May 10 to September 29
Jupiter May 14 to September 13
Venus May 13 to June 25
Mercury June 18 to July 12

The eclipse season
partial lunar on June 5 at 21:25 degrees Scorpio
penumbral solar June 21 at 6:13 degrees Gemini
partial lunar July 4 at 19:29 degrees in Sagittarius

Mars the wrecking ball
Mars in Aquarius May 4 -- June 17
Mars in Pisces June 18 -- August 16

This is naturally positive, but like a forest fire that's still spreading -- or Covid 19 -- damage continues.

The issue now is twofold.

First, Jupiter and Saturn, the big planets that protect and steer the solar system -- both astronomically and astrologically -- will continue their weakened retrogrades until mid to late September. This is perhaps like the firemen's hose water pressure being low and thereby unable to fully stop the forest fire.

Second, Mars in Pisces continues and remains deadly -- a rain of Mars' arrows striking vulnerable planets.

As shown in the below transit chart (planets in today's skies), Mars' aspect (glance) to Gemini brings Mars/Rahu violences and aggressions, Mars/Mercury infections and lying and Mars/Sun fighting, notably in government. That Mars is in watery Pisces suggests hurricanes. Also note that restrictive Saturn aspects ferocious Mars, which influence bottles up the energy until it explodes -- like a volcano. This last explains why tropical storms pop up and suddenly erupt.

Clearly, then, Mars continues to be the planet to watch.

Transits July 11, 2020

The Sun will escape into Cancer July 16 -- another positive. Mercury, however, stays in Gemini vulnerable to Mars' attacks until August 1. And Rahu continues in Gemini until September -- after Mars finishes his Pisces attacked August 16. So, there will be some further easing of dissonant energies mid July, and the beginning of August. Yet, to switch analogies, after a ship is damaged in a storm, calming winds and waves will slow damage, but she may still leak and will be defenseless against further rough weather.

So, look forward to the summer continuing to gradually improve -- both world events and your own personal experiences. But keep in mind the forest fires and storms will continue to damage.

Looking ahead -- after Mars shifts out of Pisces and into Aries August 16 -- from that sign he will aspect watery Cancer, which is the eighth house of calamity in the U.S. chart. There, Mercury and Rahu are placed. That's another hurricane karma, but also issues with multiple other cataclysms involving foreigners (Rahu) and business (Mercury). As for Trump, Cancer is his twelfth house of loss where his career planet Venus is placed, as well as his Saturn -- stubbornness and enemies.

Mars will go retrograde September 10, but that analysis is complex, and its too early to take that planetary pulse now.

The Celestial Wheel 2002-2020©
Doug Riemer

July 14, 2020

History Repeats -- But Not Exactly

The May 2 Mars Into Aquarius ended with this personal story about an epidemic - which I later learned was the 1957 Asian Flu, the last major viral flu pandemic before Covid-19.

To nail this down, I'll share a childhood memory. I was about 8 years old, riding in my father's big Buick to the local school, where there were flat playing fields. It was a snowy/cold January, and the school had been shut down for a month with an outbreak of measles, mumps or something else. Suddenly out of the sky came blinding light and a roaring whomp whomp whomp sound. Then a monster appeared -- a huge U.S. Army helicopter. As it landed, my father got out of his car, and in his heavy coat and hat, bent forward against the helicopter wash to meet an Army crew member half way carrying a small cardboard box. It was medicines my father had run out of. No, the vaccines hadn't been invented yet, nor antibiotics that could knock out respiratory infections, but the Army had brought medicines to ease symptoms. I remember my father was grimly happy about this, for while patients would feel better, many wouldn't make it.

In 1957, while President Dwight Eisenhower was on vacation in Newport, Rhode Island, he was recalled urgently to Washington. Instead of driving two hours around Narragansett Bay, which separated him from the airport where Air Force One was parked, or enduring a rough 40-minute ferry ride, Eisenhower opted to fly in a U.S. Marine Corps Sikorsky UH-34 Choctaw. The 10-minute flight to his plane saw Eisenhower become the first president to use a rotorcraft for official duty. Verticalmag.com

As entertaining as this tale is, it gets better. Last week, using the Google Search box on the World Events Forecasting page to find any previous Celestial Wheel virus predictions, I found this entry about the 1996 Bird Flu.

Twentieth Century Pandemic History

There have been three influenza pandemics during the twentieth century, as per the below listing, which includes deaths in the U.S. for severity comparison. {Accurate global mortality rates are not available.}

1918 Spanish Flu 550,000

1957 Asian Flu 70,000

1968 Hong Kong Flu 34,000

Medical advances and improved communications mitigated mortality in the latter two pandemics.

Following are paraphrased articles about the Asian Flu, with coincident facts in bold red. You may note some of my memories were incorrect -- like vaccines hadn't been invented yet. And obviously, the medicine the military helicopter delivered was the Asian Flu vaccine, flown in to tiny and remote Romulus NY by President Eisenhower's administration. But the essence of the tale is true, and haunting for how history repeats, but not exactly.

Influenza A virus subtype H2N2

The "Asian Flu" was a category 2 flu pandemic outbreak of influenzavirus that originated in Singapore in early 1957 lasting until 1958. It was first reported in Singapore in February 1957, Hong Kong in April 1957, and in coastal cities in the United States in summer 1957. Some authors believe it originated from mutation in wild ducks combining with a pre-existing human strain. Estimates of US and worldwide deaths caused by this pandemic varies widely depending on source; ranging from approximately 69,800 to 116,000 in the United States, and worldwide from 1 million to 4 million. Asian Flu was of the H2N2 subtype (a notation that refers to the configuration of the hemagglutinin and neuraminidase proteins in the virus) of type A influenza, and an influenza vaccine was developed in 1957 to contain its outbreak.
The Asian Flu strain later evolved via antigenic shift into H3N2 which caused a milder pandemic from 1968 to 1969.

How the 1957 Flu Pandemic Was Stopped Early in Its Path.

By the time the virus reached the U.S., the country already had a vaccine ready

On April 17, 1957, Maurice Hilleman realized a pandemic was on its way to the United States. That day, The New York Times reported on a large influenza outbreak in Hong Kong. He quickly got to work, putting out the word that there was a pandemic coming and pushing to develop a vaccine by the time school started again in the fall.

The first case of the pandemic had appeared in the Guizhou Province of southwestern China in February 1957. By the time Hilleman read about it in April, the Times reported that an estimated 250,000 Hong Kong residents—or 10 percent of the region’s population—were receiving treatment for it.

“We all missed it,” he later recalled for The Vaccine Makers Project. “The military missed it, and the World Health Organization missed it.”

The 1957 Virus Shifted

By comparing the Navy serviceman’s virus against previous flu viruses, “what he found was that there was this dramatic shift. Both those proteins were completely different from what they had been previously. They hadn’t just drifted, they’d shifted.” This new virus was a completely different strain of the flu.

In his work at Walter Reed, Hilleman had made the critical observation that the two key proteins in the flu virus—hemagglutinin and neuraminidase—undergo slight changes, or “drift,” between seasons (this insight helped him predict the need for yearly flu vaccinations).

Hilleman couldn’t find any evidence of population immunity to this new strain, so he sent the virus to other health organizations to confirm his findings. These organizations found that the only people who had antibodies to the virus were a small group in their 70s and 80s who had survived the “Russian flu” pandemic in 1889 and 1890.

With this knowledge, Hilleman put out press releases announcing a new flu pandemic had arrived, and would reach the United States by September 1957. Though he met some resistance, he successfully convinced companies to begin working on flu vaccines to have ready by then. Fertilized chicken eggs would be necessary for this production, so he told the companies to remind farmers not to kill their roosters at the end of hatching season.

Making a vaccine for a new flu strain is very different from making a vaccine for something completely new like COVID-19, the novel coronavirus that emerged in 2019. Doctors and scientists first developed viable flu vaccines in the 1940s, so they were not starting from scratch when they went to work on the 1957 flu vaccine. Still, Hilleman bypassed regulatory agencies in his efforts to push the vaccine forward because he worried those agencies would slow the process down.

When the new flu strain hit the United States in September, just as Hilleman had predicted it would, the country was ready with a vaccine. The virus, dubbed the “Asian flu,” killed an estimated 70,000 to 116,000 Americans and one to four million people worldwide, but experts suggest it would have killed many more if not for the vaccine -- up to a million Americans.

This is an amazing tail of effective Federal Government virus infection action. With tremendous scientific advances since then, how the U.S. bungled the latest virus from the East can only be laid at the feet of the President. Oh that Eisenhower was with us now.

The Celestial Wheel 2002-2020©
Doug Riemer

July 15, 2020

Now On The Web
History Repeats But Not Exactly

Yesterday's forecast, History Repeats -- But Not Exactly has been posted to the web.

As customary, I clean up the first draft email version when putting the finished version on TheCelestialWheel.com website.

Notably for this forecast, I clarified my personal experience with the 1957 Asian Flu pandemic in relationship to Covid-19.

Here's the applicable paragraph, with the clarification in red bold.

I'm sending this out to you because I keep encountering people who disbelieve the virus real and dangerous -- while Florida's infections skyrocket. And I HAVE PERSONAL EXPERIENCE with the last flu pandemic in 1957. I WAS THERE when the life saving vaccine was delivered to my country doctor father 63 years ago. I AM HERE NOW for this new pandemic when there is no vaccine and people aren't protecting themselves and others with masks and social distancing.

I saw this morning at the Venice FL South Jetty a U.S. Border Patrol agent talking out his open SUV window without a mask to a blond mother with her three year old -- not even 3 feet distant! My cardiologist refuses to wear a mask, making him my former cardiologist. I saw a retiree friend from Oklahoma this morning who said he would have been in the front row at Trump's June Tulsa rally, and he laughed when I told him the Governor of Oklahoma took his seat and yesterday tested positive for the virus. And here's the big finale, the City of Venice yesterday refused to follow Sarasota's lead with a mask ordinance -- being satisfied with a church prayer vigil and a gun show!

Even 20 explanation points in large red type don't emphasize enough this last's utter insanity. Praying away and shooting the virus doesn't work. But here they are anyway.

!!!!! !!!!! !!!!! !!!!!

You know my forecasting has been accurate -- including about this virus, which will continue to rage. So forward this forecast on to anyone and everyone you know. Those who follow CDC guidelines protect themselves and society. Those who don't spread this deadly pandemic. Here's the link again, History Repeats -- But Not Exactly

July 28, 2020

It's Hard To Smile Now

As Mars has been transiting Pisces since June 18, the predicted increases in now familiar travails have unfolded with unnerving, sometimes even shocking severity. Gone for good, it seems, optimism, faith and trust as we experience the wrenching changes that introduce the Second Progressive Age.

It's Hard To Smile Now comes from a dear 87 year old spiritual seeker friend who has seen and experienced the full range of American history -- leading off with the Great Depression, moving through the World War Two, the post war boom, the cold war, the radicalized sixties......

But she's also lived by the mantra Fear Not, understanding that only through turmoil comes change and that society advances despite setbacks that often seem insurmountable.

The June 1 Progressivism Is An Era -- Not A Movement explained the nature of this pivotal shift that restores shared democratic values,

This is not a movement, as is environmentalism, women's rights, ending racism.... It is rather an era -- a collection of these, and many other areas of progress, coming from separate sectors of society -- some independent agendas and others that are related. Those who seek free public universities, for example, also applaud the higher taxes that requires. Those groups are natural allies. But increased minimum wages don't require boosting tax rates. Yet, affordable public universities will increase worker skill levels, stimulating higher pay. So even as free public universities are being pushed by different folks who want wages increased, their efforts are complementary.

Rahu's 18 year cycle began in late 2015 and lasts until 2033. It takes a while for a Dasa to express itself, and obviously we're still early into Rahu. But then Rahu's alien serpent energy comes in massive strikes. As stated, sometimes there are unrelated, sometimes pieces of a puzzle. We can see in 2020 that Rahu has thrust upon the U.S. three tremendous events -- the coronavirus, economic collapse and riots (protests). This last is basically about racism, but that term encompasses all the unfairness's from which people of color suffer.

The coronavirus is stimulating all kinds of changes, and notable must be a transformation in our fragmented, expensive and exclusionary health care system. Clearly a single payer system -- like Medicare for all -- would have responded to the virus effectively, as it has in other first world countries. Those countries -- in Europe and the far east -- by providing health care to everyone, have been greatly empowered in reducing the virus' harms.

The economic collapse must result in restructure the economy and the relationships among employers and employees. For example, the futuristic vision of people working in pastoral settings from their homes is suddenly thrust upon us. Of course, there are many other ramifications, some which make sense, others that are a mystery. We dine out less, eat more nutritious and fresh food at home to become healthier and bond more with our families, friends and neighborhood. But who would have guessed that a drop in fossil fuel use, and really low gasoline prices, would boost sales of bicycles, electric vehicles of all kinds and renewable energy?

Below is a Jetson Bolt -- my girlfriend's July birthday present. It's a folding electric bike -- small enough to put anywhere, light enough at 34 pounds to be pretty fast and even carry around. At 19 mph top speed with a 17 mile range, she can go anywhere locally and park in bike racks next to store entrances. The picture shows the bike at the Venice Inlet, just a mile -- and less than four minutes away. It's terrific for errands to the grocery store, drug store, farmers market, community sales, special events, and yes, the beach. The price was $349, and Amazon drop shipped the Jetson in 3 days -- no assembly required.

Yes, Barbie does does look like Miss Gulch in the Wizard Of Oz, but I'm not gonna show her this Celestial Wheel entry!

Of course, I still have the Italian scooter -- certainly big enough to carry both of us and lots of stuff and go anywhere. Here it is under the canopy, next to the outside shower and just steps away down the bunny trail to our garden -- vegetables for us and sunflowers for us and the bunnies. (And no, I haven't had a car since 2006).

The riots (popular protests) seem more enduring, stimulating fundamental changes, than even the 1960s civil right movement. Now white folks are joining this traditionally black peoples' movement, stimulating a whole raft of changes in our communities and our governments. Yes, Dirty Harry must yield to Sheriff Andy.

So perhaps it's really becoming true that we can live better with less. But note the we here. The Celestial Wheel is not about me but us. So, think about changes you have been making, and will continue to implement, as you swim, willingly or not, with the currents of change.

Getting back to Mars in Pisces, he rages there June 18 to August 17 -- firing up the virus, economic calamity and protests. You can easily see in the below graph how virus infections skyrocketed in mid June -- matching the prediction they would do so starting June 18. You can also see the contrast with the European Union, which countries do not incidentally have single payer health care systems. While single payer alone won't resolve the virus, it does provide that everyone gets health care, which reduces the virus spreading and lowers mortality rates.

Here again is the transit chart for June 18 -- from the June 18 A Big Day For The Planets. It shows Mars in Pisces -- the fourth house of the home for the U.S. chart and eighth house of calamity for Trump. Saturn throws a mean aspect. Mars aspects three planets in Gemini. Without going into the details again, this stimulates the virus infections, economic losses and popular protests. And also again -- hurricanes. We've already experienced the virus surge, as explained above, as well as protests blowing up like thunderstorms. Hurricanes are coming one right after another. Another prediction was for problems with government, which again we've seen. Of course, Trump losing his mind, which is now obvious to everyone (July 2019 entries predicted this several times.)

June 18

Lastly, I've noticed things are starting to break down. The bank is closed, and the ATM only works sometimes. There's a national change shortage from the U.S. mint. Stores remain short on basics, like paper towels. Service businesses are having trouble doing their jobs -- it took four weeks and two shops to do a simple repair to my old Macbook Pro. The medical labs are all backed up. My doctors are confused and have forgotten their community health obligations. (Six weeks ago at my annual physical, my doctor didn't have any masks to sell me and didn't know where to buy them!)

And then there's the whole crazy mask issue, including economic advisor Larry Kudlow leaving his nose open. God help him if Trump gives Kudlow a wedgy.)

In closing, here's a quote from the end of the above July 11 Mercury Ends Retrograde Tomorrow,

Mars will go retrograde September 10, but that analysis is complex, and its too early to take that planetary pulse now.

Pay attention to this. While we know the virus and protests are raging, the economic calamity is truly just beginning. And with hurricanes and other calamities coming as well, plus Trump's mind crumbling like bacon on a Big Mac, the turmoil we've seen so far ain't nothin to the turmoil on its way.