Heavy Summer/Fall Transits

Primer On Vedic Transits

Transits are simply where planets are in today's skies.  They move as the planets orbit the Sun --as seen from the earth.  In fact, the word transit means to pass across or through an area.  In astrology, area means the  signs -- the belt of  the 12 astronomical constellations as seen from the earth.  Transits thereby are global in nature.  And when the natural zodiac starting at the first sign of Aries is used to calculate a chart containing the transiting plants, global influences are revealed.  These are general in nature but do apply everywhere and to everyone.  However, because transiting planets move, when they are viewed over time, transits provide a moving picture (movie), which gives specific information.  Transits are akin to a building as seen from a moving vehicle.  First the building comes into view, and as you drive past it, details can be seen.

Transiting planets can also be overlaid upon Vedic birth charts -- people, nations, marriages, new home, businesses... anybody or anything that has a birth, or starting point.  A birth chart is simply a snapshot of the transiting planets at the time and place of birth.  That imprint never changes during the life.  The planets are thereby fixed in the signs and houses.

Transiting planets always move.  Birth chart planets are fixed in place. 

Here's Donald Trump's birth chart.

Transiting planets impact the planets and the signs/houses.  And when transits are viewed over time in reference to a birth chart, we can see very specific influences on that chart.  For that purpose, a transit wheel graphic is used -- the inner wheel being the fixed birth chart planets in signs/houses and the outer wheel the ever-moving transiting planets.  Computer programs animate transit wheels (counter clockwise), which unfortunately can't be transferred to this forecast.  Here's the transit wheel for today for Trump.  

But, if f we inserted Trump's transit wheel for tomorrow, we would see some changes in the moving transits.  The fast-moving Moon has moved downwards in Scorpio to conjoin Saturn.  Jupiter has los its retrograde "R."  The other planets have moved incrementally.

Transits are secondary to Vedic Astrology's primary birth chart planetary karmas -- planetary cycles, called Dasas.  Dasas are long -- 6 to 20 years.  These describe fundamental and significant influences during the life. Dasas consist of a primary planet followed by four minor planets of decreasing influence.  They cycle through a set sequence:  Sun, Moon, Mars, Rahu, Jupiter, Saturn, Mercury, Ketu, Venus.  Derived from the position of the Moon at birth, Vedic Dasas are eerily predictive.

Dasas and transits work together to unveil influences -- karmas.  The Celestial Wheel has often compared Dasas to being on a boat going down the river (of life), and transits being weather conditions on the river.

If a chart is running a favorable primary Dasa and also supportive minor Dasa planets, your boat travels on a beneficial stretch of the river of life.  It catches a strong current and floats safely on wide and calm waters. 

Conversely, if a chart is running challenging Dasas, the river is hazardous with snags, rapids, shallows, whirlpools, sharp turns and nasty currents.

Transits, if favorable, enhance the effects of good Dasas and mitigate the effects of bad Dasas.  Again conversely, if transits are challenging, they impede good Dasas and and amplify bad Dasa planets.  Truly heavy transits, however, can overwhelm even the best Dasa.  A tornado can sink your boat, though you may be able to pump it out to float again.

There are lots and lots of  influences arising from the chart -- whether it's or weak or strong, for example.  We also have to consider the milieu in which the person or nation is experiencing, past actions, temperament, skills, and most important, karmic consequences.  Karma, after all, is cause and effect.   If a person has committed bad deeds in the past, these will harm his present and future, especially if his milieu is ill suited.  Then, heavy transits can sink the boat, and the person ends up swimming over his head.

Of course, if no chart is considered, then transits in the natural zodiac are considered by themselves to describe global influences, good or bad -- natural events like plentiful rains and harvests, droughts and storms and man made events such as political movements, wars, economic growth or strife, technological advances....

This introduction to transits (and Dasas) supports understanding this forecast, which describes unusually heavy transits this summer/fall in a timeline.

(*retrograde -- backward motion)

Here are some general interpretations of how these transits impact globally.

Saturn is a key player here. It has been weakly retrograde since early April.  This is good for easing its restrictive nature but negative for Saturn's necessary qualities of organization, duty and responsibility.  When Saturn turns forward August 25, it will do so with a jolt of reality and force responsible actions.  Saturn in Scorpio from June 19 until October 26 is challenging , for this planet of reality dredges up hidden scandals, especially for government officials -- like last year during the presidential campaigns.

Jupiter has been weakly retrograde since early February. His ending retrograde June 9 (tomorrow) is a real uplift.  Jupiter's higher mind, wisdom,  philosophy , law and justice qualities can again assert themselves to understand and deal with problems.

August will be transformational:  Saturn exerting itself to duty, a powerful total solar eclipse, a destabilizing Mercury retrograde and a violent crash of Mars into Rahu.

Rahu shifting into Cancer September 18 will begin its 18 month stay in this sign of the home, where the dragon will bring al kinds of disruptions.

Subsequent Celestial Wheel entries will apply this transit information to individual charts, certainly those for Trump and the United States, for these are pivotal times for both.

The Celestial Wheel 2002-2017©
Doug Riemer

Why Is Everything So Crazy Now?

The (above) June 8 Celestial Wheel entry, Heavy Summer/Fall Transits, discussed first how transits and Vedic Dasas (planetary cycles) worked -- individually and together -- and then developed a timeline for the significant transit activity this summer and fall.

Here again is that timeline.  It is the dominant planetary karma which we'll use for reference during the next several months,

As you can see, Jupiter is now forward, which is good for luck, fortune, the higher mind and justice.  That is already being expressed by investigative advances about the Russian election interference and the now-billowing smoke from associates of Trump's contacts with Russians, as well as Trump's antagonistic responses.

Saturn is just two days from its retrograde (backwards movement) back into Scorpio. Now at just 0 degrees and 13 minutes, it is very weak at the edge of the Sagittarius.  As Saturn is duty, obligation, form and structure, this current weakness prevents Saturn from exerting control.  Thus, things happen that are clearly out of control. Here are some recent headlines in just the U.S.:

Weather
This ‘ring of fire’ thunderstorm is both stunning and fearsome (see the above thunderstorm image from this article)

Dangerous heat wave to scorch the Southwestern US

Vehicle Accidents
PenFed blimp, deflated, bursts into flames and crashes near U.S. Open at Erin Hills

US sailors missing after Navy destroyer collision off Japan

Hyannis Ferry Crash: Injuries Reported as High-Speed Boat Ploughs into Jetty

Accidents force closing of I-95 lanes

“Violent” multi-vehicle accident on north side injures 7

Mass Shootings
2017 Congressional baseball shooting

Officials identify gunman, victims in UPS shooting

Five Killed in Orlando Workplace Shooting, Officials Say

Escaped Georgia convicts who allegedly killed two guards captured in Tennessee

I just now found this article, Eight mass shootings happened in the US this week. You probably heard about just one of them.

As explained in the June 8 entry, Transits are secondary to Vedic Astrology's primary birth chart planetary karmas -- planetary cycles, called Dasas. ...Dasas and transits work together to unveil influences -- karmas. ... if transits are challenging, they impede good Dasas and and amplify bad Dasa planets.  The U.S. chart is running bad Dasa planets, and this weak Saturn transit combines to bring these numerous and excessive harmful events. Here's the U.S. chart and its current attendant Dasas

The June 8 entry stated, When the U.S. runs Rahu Dasa, the dragon stimulates great fear of foreigners and resistance to established authority. Thus, social, economic and political systems are ripped away to pave the way for a new order -- a progressive age of shared democratic values.  This results because Rahu signifies foreigners and is placed in the evil eighth house of hidden things and calamity.  Rahu's serpent energy dives down into the depths and brings up all kinds of; horrors.  The third level Dasa planet, Mercury, is also placed in the eighth house, where this planet of the intellect is afraid and, where Rahu further aggravates, making Mercury fearful of attack.  The fourth level Dasa planet, Saturn, is in the tenth house of government officials, and its current weak transit position can't hold things together.  This results in both the above listed violences and all kinds of dramas in the U.S. government.

The important, actually overriding karma, however, is Rahu. This18 year Dasa the U.S. chart began December 2015, and its energy is coming in strongly now.  It shouldn't be any surprise that transit Rahu is in the ninth house of the higher mind and philosophy, resulting in bizarre philosophies.  That's a great term for both the Trump administration and the Republican controlled Congress now.

In closing, this first half of June has demonstrated that formerly stable conditions in the U.S. are beginning to go out of control -- because Rahu Dasa is starting to call the shots and the current weakness of Saturn.  This, then, is an appetizer for the main courses of turbulence coming this summer and fall.

PS I missed a key quality of the below listed violences.  They are each exaggerated, not just in quantity but more importantly in quality.   For example, the pictured thunderstorm is huge and incredibly damaging -- not your garden variety of summer thunderstorm.  And, it is just one of a large number meteorologists term a ring of fire.

And consider the U.S. destroyer being hit by a huge container ship, nearly disabling it, with seven crewmen missing.  The USS Fitzgerald is over 500 feet long! When was the last time such a huge Navy ship was damaged -- with numerous injuries and loss of life?

This is Rahu energy, the serpent, reptilian, its attacks are unanticipated, uncontrollable and overwhelming.

This exaggeration in harmful events, then, is what's coming for the U.S., destroying the now to create a new future.

In India, Rahu is well understood. In the West, there is no Rahu, nor truly anything comparable. Well, Freddy Kruger, does come to mind.

The Celestial Wheel 2002-2017©
Doug Riemer

The Celestial Wheel 2002-2017©
Doug Riemer

This today NY Times editorial's title is self explanatory, As Government Retrenches, Philanthropy Booms.  Finally the media is beginning to recognize the real economic situation in America today.   The author did not reach the natural and inevitable conclusion, but he did penetrate some of the major issues.

The Celestial Wheel has long predicted that the three planetary cycles (Dasas) of Moon, Mars and finally Rahu fit into our history of Gilded Age, economic contraction and then progressive age. This sequence, which repeats every 120 years, was first identified in the Free In-depth Forecasts page

The United States Through Its Planetary Cycles Part I, Part II 12/2004
A detailed analysis of the U.S. chart from Independence in 1776 through 2008.

I submitted the below comment, which the Times accepted and published,

Here's my comment as published in the Times, Reader Comments

Now, as Trump is kicked out this fall as predicted, he will have destroyed the old and outdated to make room for the new -- the Second Progressive Age playing field will be ready for new leadership.

The Celestial Wheel 2002-2017©
Doug Riemer

With twitter tempests daily, investigative twists and turns, the Republican Congress pushing hard to pass its agenda (now health care), domestic disharmony popping up everywhere and turbulence overseas... it's very difficult to separate the wheat from the chaff.  So, I've been doubling down by both looking ahead into the fall and upgrading forecasting. In this regard, I've continued to refine The Celestial Wheel to better peer through the fog and communicate effectively.

Although insights don't come at will, and the pandemonium of the U.S. Rahu Dasa (planetary cycle) over stresses, I do my utmost to be informative.  I send entries by easy-to access email, then publish these on a calendar month webpage and finally, place a summary of each entry on the home page.   (This is time consuming but convenient for subscribers.)

I identify long term trends and how they unfold over the short term.   I find a theme to address each month.  I single-topic each entry.  I try to be succinct.  While Vedic planetary symbolism is necessary, I express conclusions in common English.   I insert images to help readers relate to the narratives.  I verify predictive results via links to previous entries, often inserting quotes.   I also link to news articles to clearly connect The Celestial Wheel to current events.  I publish a Celestial Wheel entry about once weekly, not so frequently as to overload subscribers, but often enough to enable understanding over time.

You can best access these on the home page summaries, each of which has a link to the full entry on that monthly page.

The theme this month is a look ahead through October of heavy (significant) transits that will transform America. Obviously, Trump is the core issue, but these transits bring other events into our lives.  Here again is the timeline created to show themes, intensities each month and and trends over time.  (This table has been refined and clarified to give an easy-to-grasp visual.)

Predictions for Trump and the U.S. have been limited, and the truly intense month of August has not been discussed in detail.

Let's review Trump predictions so far.  (Yes, there's some repetition here from both the full entries and the home page summaries, but this quick review is ultimately helpful.)

June 8 Heavy Summer/Fall Transits
Saturn is a key player here. It has been weakly retrograde since early April.  This is good for easing its restrictive nature but negative for Saturn's necessary qualities of organization, duty and responsibility.  When Saturn turns forward August 25, it will do so with a jolt of reality and force responsible actions.  Saturn in Scorpio from June 19 until October 26 is challenging , for this planet of reality dredges up Scorpio's hidden scandals, especially for government officials -- like last year during the presidential campaign.

August will be transformational:   Saturn exerting itself to duty, a powerful total solar eclipse, a destabilizing Mercury retrograde and a violent crash of Mars into Rahu.

Rahu shifting into Cancer September 18 will begin its 18 month stay in this sign of the home, where the dragon will bring all kinds of disruptions.

Trump is ironically newly in his great 16 year Jupiter Dasa -- wealth, luck, power, convincing, optimistic.  But heavy summer/fall transits will overwhelm him, primarily because of earlier bad deeds, but also being ill suited for the presidency.

The U.S. too is in a new Dasa, that of Rahu (18 years), the head-of-the-dragon eclipse point. Rahu is the destroyer of now and creator of tomorrow, especially for this chart.  When the U.S. runs Rahu Dasa, the dragon stimulates great fear of foreigners and resistance to established authority.  Thus, social, economic and political systems are ripped away to pave the way for a new order -- a progressive age of shared democratic values.

June 17 Why Is Everything So Crazy Now
As you can see, Jupiter is now forward, which is good for luck, fortune, the higher mind and justice.  That is already being expressed by investigative advances about the Russian election interference and the now-billowing smoke from associates of Trump's contacts with Russians, as well as Trump's antagonistic responses.

Saturn is only two days from its retrograde (backwards movement) back into Scorpio.  Now at just 0 degrees and 13 minutes, it is very weak at the edge of the Sagittarius.  As Saturn is duty, obligation, form and structure, this current weakness prevents Saturn from exerting control.  Thus, things happen that are clearly out of control.  Weather events, vehicle accidents and mass shootings have been extreme and numerous.

In closing, this first half of June has demonstrated that formerly stable conditions in the U.S. are beginning to go out of control -- because Rahu Dasa is starting to call the shots and the current weakness of Saturn.  This, then, is an appetizer for the main courses of turbulence coming this summer and fall.

June 19 Following Saturn
Saturn's retrograde, changing signs (today), ending retrograde (August 25) and leaving Scorpio (October 26) is a type of repetition of karma by continuing over time.  This makes the planet of loss and reality the dominant player on the planetary field this summer and fall.

...let's consider Saturn now back in Scorpio until late October. I wrote back in Scorpio because slow Saturn first entered Scorpio in early November 2014 and exited Scorpio in late January 2017 -- going into Sagittarius.  It (Saturn has no gender) then turned retrograde in early April of this year, heading back into Scorpio where it has unfinished business in causing suffering and losses.  As Scorpio is the eighth sign in the natural zodiac, beginning with Aries, that evil sign naturally brings harm globally.  In the U.S. chart, Scorpio is the twelfth house of loss, which word, loss, means what it says. So, Scorpio for the U.S. chart is doubly destructive for any planet transiting there.

As Saturn is leadership, and also government officials for being placed in the U.S. chart tenth house of career, it wrecked havoc during the last U.S. national election due to its Scorpio transit -- destroying that which is no longer necessary to make room for the new.

The good news is the Republican fragments won't be able to pass their longed for their nineteenth century laissez faire agenda -- lowering taxes on the rich, gutting the safety net (including Obamacare) decreasing regulation -- even with Democrats also in disarray.  The bad news is with Trump at the helm and his Republican Congress crew disorganized and disobedient, the country could easily be rammed, like the destroyer Fitzgerald just a few days ago.

For Trump's chart, Scorpio is is fourth house of the emotions, where his crazy Moon (perceptional mind) is placed.  Saturn crossed his Moon at year's end, which is why his transition government was so challenged.  Now retrograde in Scorpio, Saturn will cross his Moon again in mid July.  Then, after Saturn turns forward in late August, it will run over his Moon a third time in September.  As the fourth house is the home and the Moon is the home (and both are also emotions) this is why Trump will be thrown out of his home at the White House in September -- and why he'll be increasingly deranged this summer/fall.  Hospitalization is just as effective as impeachment in ending his presidency.

June 20 Finally
This today NY Times editorial's title is self explanatory, As Government Retrenches, Philanthropy Booms.   Finally the media is beginning to recognize the real economic situation in America today.

The Celestial Wheel has long predicted that the three planetary cycles (Dasas) of Moon, Mars and finally Rahu fit into our history of Gilded Age, economic contraction and then progressive age. This sequence, which repeats every 120 years, was first identified in the Free In-depth Forecasts page.

Looking Ahead

Considering the Summer/fall timeline, entries this month have examined events and trends for the first of five consequential months.  There's been a lot going on, and the pace doesn't seem to be slackening!

But, this month, and July too, don't have a serious concentration of heavy transits -- just two each month.  It is true, however, as stated in the June 19 entry about Saturn on Trump, it will run over his Moon a second time in July.  This will wound him further, but like archery, finishing off a bear requires many arrows.  However, August is when the onslaught hits with six major transit events crammed into 31 days.

In August, transit Saturn will continue to maul U.S. government officials and Trump's status and mental stability.  It's turning forward August 25 will bring a major lurch, as it sits on Trump's Moon.

The May 16 entry, observed about Trump's chart, The Augus 21 total solar eclipse, at 4:46 Leo, (will be) just over a degree from his birth chart Mars at 3:40 Leo. While eclipse effects play out over several months, it seems this eclipse shadowing of a man born on an eclipse must spell his doom. Then, with the destroyer of the Second Gilded Age finished with his work, the Second Progressive Age can begin to rebuild. Look for a new leader to emerge. Mars is Trump's power planet -- making him a fighter. Eclipsed, he'll act like rapid dog.  Mars also is a significator of his home, suggesting again he'll be thrown out of the White House.

The lunar eclipse August 7 at 21:19 degrees Capricorn will not be very powerful, and it won't hit planets in either Trump's chart nor the U.S. chart.  Still, the eclipse season is a period of instability, as the luminaries lights turn off -- the Moon's perceptional mind and the Sun's ego and soul.

Mercury's three week retrograde beginning August 12 will be difficult, as it always is for communications, understanding and the nervous system.  Jumping into September, retrograde Mercury collides with aggressive Mars September 3.

Mars conjoining Rahu in late August will be tremendously challenging.  The date of August 20 is when Mars gets close to Rahu, and effects begin.  The exact conjunction is August 26, right on the border between Cancer and Leo.  A major violence and/or downfall can happen.  Because Saturn turns forward then, Trump will take a beating, including on his health.

Overall, it seems that Trump will be beaten down in August.  September and October are the months when he will lose the presidency.   As for Mike Pence, well he's hip deep in Trump's dramas.

The Celestial Wheel 2002-2017©
Doug Riemer