The Celestial Wheel Vedic Commentary     August 1 -- 31, 2007     Doug Riemer Certified Vedic Astrologer Sedona, Arizona email VedicPredictiveAstrology.com   Back to The Celestial Wheel

Commentaries are posted on a single web page for each calendar month.  Each new Commentary is placed at the top.  This results in Commentaries appearing in reverse order.

August 25

Update On The Saturn/Ketu Conjunction

     The difficult and injurious conjoining of Saturn and Ketu in the sign of Leo was first identified in the May 3, 2007 Celestial Wheel and detailed in the June 11 Celestial Wheel.  To refresh your memory, Saturn/Ketu harms are magnified and extended because the Sun, Mercury and Venus all transit through their pincer-grip, there is a total lunar eclipse August 28 and a partial solar eclipse September 11.  This results in Saturnian losses combined with tail-of-the-dragon eclipse point Ketu's dissolving materiality for two long months beginning mid August.

     The August 12 Celestial Wheel (below) listed primary predictions for this tumultuous period, and these are repeated here for emphasis. 

     This emphasis is needed because worldly Saturn's organization, form and structure are harmed by Ketu, resulting in a loss of focus, discipline and patience.  So, it's difficult to keep track of things.   Too, otherworldly Ketu stimulates Saturn plans and projects, but Ketu the trickster dissolves these, bringing disintegration, confusion and disorientation.  With repetition of this effect, chaos ultimately results. 

     Interestingly, Dictionary.com defines the word chaos as, "the most ancient of (Greek) gods, the personification of the infinity of space preceding creation of the universe."  Thus, chaos is "the void at the beginning of creation."  Chaos also relates to the words chasm and abyss.  These describe well what occurred with national and international securities markets these past few weeks, as investors reacted to the real estate mortgage industry's revealed failings.  They saw the chasm, looked into the abyss and panicked, but all their defensive plans disintegrated into losses.  Only the intervention of central banks around the world averted a catastrophe, but no one knows if market chaos will kick in again.  This illustrates how the Saturn/Ketu energy operates, and also begins prove out very early the above predictions for the two month interval.

     We can see Saturn/Ketu impacts in our individual lives.  For this astrologer, Saturn is his authorship planet, and composing Celestial Wheels this month has been literally impossible.  Saturn/Ketu predictive concepts come in but have been quickly fragmented and then lost.  I've begun this Celestial Wheel at least a dozen times and am forcing myself today to complete this posting.  For another example, an East Coast client recently reported,

     There isn't much any of us can do to alleviate the harms predicted above, and it would appear we are powerless in our own lives as well.  But, the latter doesn't reflect so much our impotence as it does our natural proclivity to get things done -- and the accompanying unwillingness to accept inaction. A further explanation of Saturn and Ketu energies can be helpful here.

     Saturn and Ketu are malefic planets, and they are also both karakas (indicators) of the twelfth house of enlightenment.  For Hindu's, this is self realization, for Buddhists, enlightenment --  unity with God.  Saturn's losses and suffering bring the detachment from the world needed to advance toward self realization.  Ketu, as a nonmaterial and otherworldly influence, acts in a completely different way to move toward God -- Ketu is disinterested in the world.  He acts to negate worldly reality.  That is why these planets, although both symbolizing spiritual growth, don't mix, like oil and water.  The only way to deal with the Saturn and Ketu combination is to accept that worldly actions fail and insistence upon them leads to chaos -- approaching the chasm and falling into the abyss.  The alternative is spiritual growth, distancing ourselves from mundane concerns and redirecting our interests in developing the self understanding integral to the process of self realization.  After all, if we don't know our karmas -- attachments -- how can we become detached? 

     Benefits can ensue from this worldly disengagement and spiritual engagement.  For example, by stepping back from the material world, we can better understand that Second Gilded Age primacy on wealth is ephemeral and also illusionary.  Of course, basic needs must be met to survival, but does a MacMansion bring happiness?  If it did, nearly every human on the globe would be miserable.  Too, as our possessions can actually own us for having to pay for an maintain them, sometimes less is more.  The material world, is after all, the greatest distraction.

     Keep in mind, the long two months of the Saturn/Ketu conjunction is yet in an early stage.  So, either begin to let go now, or experiences frustrations and failures for the next six plus weeks.  Then, in late October, when the disintegrations from Saturn/Ketu ease off, you can put in place more personally meaningful plans to improve your life, and that of greater humanity as well.

The August 28 Lunar Eclipse

     Early Tuesday morning brings a total eclipse of the Moon -- one of the several planetary influences aggravating the Saturn/Ketu conjunction.  NASA has a surprisingly lyrical description of this event, entitled Dreamy Lunar Eclipse.  The eclipse will be fully visible in the U.S. west coast beginning just after midnight. On the east coast, it will be a just before dawn event, cut off from totality by the rising sun.  Here's a schedule from NASA.

     During an eclipse, the skies darken, bringing this event's blocking effect.  Also, however, the darkened sky allows hidden stars to be seen, which gives the eclipse's revealing quality.  This is most obvious during a solar eclipse but is also operative for a lunar eclipse (The Moon's light white's out nearby stars.).  Because the all-important perceptional and worldly Moon is blocked, major actions and activities should be avoided.  Instead, this is a time to perceive that which is revealed, which can best be achieved by quiet contemplation. 

     Note that Iran's chart is eclipsed, as is Dick Cheney's, which is the reason these are included in the above predictions.  The eclipse occurs at 10 degrees Aquarius, and if you have any planets in that location, or directly opposite at 10 degrees Leo, you will be eclipsed as well.  Note that eclipse effects build to the actual eclipse date, peak and then fall off -- but that also, eclipse effects can last up to six months following the event.  (An example of this is China's industrial production Saturn being eclipsed last March, and the recalls of its eclipse revealed tainted products still continues.)

Sedona -- A Case Study

     Still, despite all the turmoil in the U.S. and around the globe, most dramatically shown in the recent financial markets' turmoil, people are naturally reluctant to accept the world is changing -- or if it does, that their lives will be impacted.  Certainly, most Sedona folks feel protected by the community's prosperity, as well as its isolation.  Too, Sedona has been discovered as a premier destination for visitors, retirees and spiritual seekers.  The truth is that this feeling of being outside the world's traumas is an illusion stimulated by many misdirected New Age beliefs.  Many would benefit by understanding that being spiritual means being aware, not hiding from reality.

     If the predictions for gas prices rising to a new peak, an economic decline and further real estate woes come true, Sedona will not just stop growing but actually shrink.  Further, if the State's new employer sanctions law, due to be effective January 1, survives court challenges, the large illegal alien population will be unable to get jobs and have to return to Mexico.  This will further hobble business -- though it will be great for working residents stuck with low wages and nearly all the affordable housing occupied by illegals -- not to mention elevated crime, the noxious mariachi music blaring from cars and homes..  (Note: There's even reports of a coyote living at the local trailer park, collecting transport fees from illegals he brought there.  Of course, buisness interests are so potent in Sedona that only the little people complain.)

     Let's see what happens.

August 12

Perspective -- What The Hell Is Going On?

     The Celestial Wheel hiatus since July 28 results from this astrologer taking his own advice to reduce expenses.  An opportunity arose to both cancel his house lease and move into a less expensive house share.  The old gas hog Lincoln still remains -- the air bag suspension repair is too expensive in relation to what the car could be sold for.   But a bicycling is alternative transportation for most trips in small town Sedona.

     It is worthwhile noting that the last Celestial Wheel Commentary -- July 28 -- predicted that Wednesday, August 1 would be risky for the U.S.  That was the day of the Minneapolis bridge collapse.

     Yet, with previous forecasting in both June and July explaining the astrology of the difficult Saturn/Ketu conjunction, and also predicting the likely impacts of this mid August to mid October chaos, there truly hasn't been a predictive void.  In fact, it has been useful to monitor world events and conditions leading up to mid August in comparison to previous forecasting.  Certainly the stock markets volatility has been revealing, for stock prices are generally set with an eye to the future. 

      Here's a recap of the major predictions for the next two months:

     Not stated specifically for this interval is the illegal alien problem, which has been a longstanding Celestial Wheel issue.  This too is heating up.

     As gloomy as these predictions are, they can be understood to be a necessary and overdue purification process -- the karmic scales must always be balanced.  It is this sense of the U.S. finally beginning to cleanse itself of G.W. Bush's Second Gilded Age excesses and unfairness that appears to have given the public a certain calm acceptance.  Too, the worry of the other shoe dropping is even more debilitating that the shoe drop itself -- which has obviously already begun in real estate whipsawing financial markets.  Now that the reversals have begun, self protective actions can be taken, and action-oriented Americans typically welcome the opportunity to meet challenge.

     Although mid August chaos inception remains a couple of days away, it actually begins tomorrow, Monday, August 13.  Watch for even more frenzy in the stock markets, which could drop like the second shoe, and other negative news.