THE NODAL RULERS IN ACTION

In the October 31^st blog “The Rulers Conflict” I made three predictions based on recurring aspects between Pluto and Venus, the current nodal rulers. On November 3^rd, the two planets would perfect the first hard aspect since the nodal sign ingress, and based on what happened on the two previous dates of contact, I thought that the election, a hurricane, and Israel, would be in the news.

            Of course, with the presidential election on Nov 6^th, that was hardly an insightful prediction. What was interesting was the Republican thread at each contact. With the quincunx, the GOP was asking questions about the killing of the American Ambassador in Libya; with the trine, Romney received a bounce after his stellar first debate. On November 3rd, in the waxing days of campaigning, he and his team foresaw a decisive win, which was not to be.

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            There was hurricane activity around the quincunx and the trine, but superstorm Sandy, blowing ashore on October 30^th, landed before the square. However, on November 3^rd, weather forecasters were warning about a coming bad winter storm, bringing high winds, bitter cold and deep snow – which arrived on November 7 and 8^th, adding further injury to an already devastated region.

            In regards to Israel and Hamas, which now stand on the brink of war, the first signs of trouble occurred on the trine, which followed in the wake of Obama’s perceived UN snub of President Netanyahu occurring on the quincunx. The current conflict can be traced to November 10^th, when Israel and Hamas began firing rockets at each other. The delay, a week from November 3^rd when the square formed, suggests  that one side gave careful thought about what was to come (it is still unclear to me who fired first). With Venus set to sextile Pluto on November 29^th, there is an opportunity for peace.

            On December 24^th, Venus and Pluto will semi-sextile each other, and I would expect more news from the Middle East, more Republican soul-searching, and more bad weather. On January 16, 2013, Venus and Pluto will conjunct, bringing to a close one set of themes, and initiating another. Pay close attention to what happens during the conjunction, for that will set the stage for coming events that will transpire with the ensuing Venus-Pluto aspects over the course of the year, up to the next conjunction. 

HURRICANE SANDY AND THE IMPORTANCE OF THE ECLIPSE POINT

The late-season hurricane formed in the Caribbean in the last full week of October. It skirted the Florida coast on Thursday night, with the eye 200 miles out to sea. I live near the ocean and the wind was whipping, shaking trees and rattling windows. Friday night, I headed for the beach and gawked at the 10-20 foot waves. By now the hurricane was well to the north, but still out to sea, and yet to make its leftward turn. The weekend passed and the storm slowly chugged on as residents in the most populated region of the country prepared to hunker down. 
                 The eye hit landfall at about 8.00 pm on Monday October 28, at Atlantic City, NJ. Twenty hours later, the damage has been incalculable. Currently, thirty-three people are dead, over seven million are without power, and the estimated economic loss is $20 billion.  With a wind span of over 1000 miles, the hurricane merged with two other cold weather systems, and has been called the storm of the century.

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            What was happening astrologically? Even non-astrologers were fearful of the effect of the full moon on the height of high tide. In New Jersey, the eye came ashore two hours after the lunation, and one hour before high tide. Levees were breached and the flooding was massive. Neptune, the planet symbolizing the ocean and massive quantities of water, is retrograde at 0°24 Pisces, strong in its own sign. It is in its degree of station, essentially standing still and exerting an influence much stronger than usual. Mercury, the planet symbolizing wind, is also about to station. At 0°37 Sagittarius, Mercury is in detriment and within minutes of exact square to Neptune. More importantly, both planets are in hard aspect to the solar eclipse of May 20, 2012 at 0°20 Gemini. Mercury is opposite the eclipse point, while Neptune is square it. Eclipse degrees are sensitive and remain sensitized over time; when they are aspected, large scale events happen.

            In addition, in declination, Mercury at 23S09 was on its way out-of-bounds. Planets outside the defining limits of the ecliptic, are, according to Paul F. Newman, extreme, wild and magnified. And there, out-of-bounds, Mercury would find Mars (23S46), adding energy and fuel to an already potent mix. Also in declination, Pluto, the planet of death and destruction was parallel the North Node, and the dark planet manifest outwardly on the physical plane. At the time of the event (and perhaps timing it), Jupiter, retrograde and in detriment, was on the event Ascendant opposite Mars in Jupiter’s sign, on the Descendant, which expressed as extreme vitality and energy that was without balance, temperance or moderation.

            Having lived through at least six major storms since living in Florida, I feel for those with without electricity or water and with damaged houses and flooding. This isn’t an anomaly though. As New York Governor Andrew Cuomo said, ‘We get the storm of the century every two years.’ Climate change has brought extreme weather.  And yet, not one word during this whole ugly presidential campaign about global warming, or an ocean that is 5-9° warmer than normal.