Friday Bite: 28 February 2025

Shock and Awe

IT IS GETTING harder and harder to keep up. With the shuttle diplomacy across the Atlantic gathering momentum – President Macron visited the White House on Tuesday, Prime Minister Sir Keir on Thursday and President Zelensky later today – I almost forgot that Germany has potentially changed its fortunes with the election of Friedrick Merz as Chancellor.

I’m going to start with Germany.

ON SUNDAY, GERMANY held its federal elections, which were won by the CDU/CSU bloc led by Friedrich Merz. Merz is the head of the Christian Democratic Union. The far-right party, Alternative for Germany (AFD), doubled their seats and is set to become the main opposition to the new government. The Chancellor-in-waiting has vowed to form a government by Easter.

The election of Friedrich Merz amounts to a sea-change for Germany. Herr Merz, a former Atlanticist, has voiced his concerns over the new US administration led by President Trump. Speaking after last Sunday’s election, the soon-to-be Chancellor called upon Europe to unite as the continent was facing its “five-to-midnight” moment: “[my] priority will be strengthening Europe [so that] we can achieve independence from the USA.”  He added that he was not sure that NATO would exist in its present form for much longer.

Until 1990, the above chart was the natal chart of Germany, and it is still in use and preferred by some astrologers. Nine degrees of Capricorn rises, which makes a certain sense, since it is the Sun of the European Union.  Germany’s economy remains the largest in Europe, which is surprising given that Neptune rules the second house of finance and is placed in the eighth house of financial partners. However, Neptune acquires strength and prominence by being the most elevated planet in the horoscope and trining the Sun, Venus and Mercury. Also, counterbalancing the vicissitudes of Neptune, Jupiter rises and although it may not be conjunct the Ascendant, it is strong in the first house and part of a Grand Trine involving the Sun, Venus and Neptune.

Solar arc progressed Neptune is currently opposing natal Uranus while the progressed Moon is conjoining Uranus. Progressed Mars is on its way to opposing natal Jupiter and progressed Mercury has reached Saturn (the ruler of the chart), all of which suggests that Germany is on its way to reinforcing its role as the “leader” of the European Union, which had slipped during Olaf Scholz’ time as Chancellor. The prominence of Uranus in the progressions underlines the unexpected change of direction Germany has been propelled into during recent weeks.

However, I believe the above chart, which represents the reunification of Germany after the Berlin Wall came down in 1989, resonates better with Germany as we now know it. Here, Leo rises with Jupiter conjunct the Ascendant and in-sextile to Mars in Gemini and the Sun in Libra – the latter forming a mini-Grand Trine. The Sun is conjunct Venus and squaring the powerful stellium in Capricorn, which is made up of Uranus conjunct Neptune conjunct Saturn – the Saturn-Neptune conjunction having placed its signature of the collapse of the Soviet Union and the reunification of East and west Germany – East and West, period.

At this point in time, Pluto at three degrees of Aquarius is conjunct Germany’s Descendant while transiting Jupiter is conjoined to natal Mars, and transiting Saturn conjoined to the Moon. The solar arc progressed Midheaven is a little over a degree away from an opposition to natal Pluto reinforcing the notion of a Germany in transformation and certainly in transition.

Curiously, or not so curiously given we’re talking astrology, the 1949 chart and that of the reunification share several features. 1949’s Venus is reunification’s Mars, both of which are currently under a Jupiter transit while the 1949 Midheaven at 17 degrees of Scorpio is the reunification’s Pluto. And while the 1949 Ascendant falls at 9 degrees of Capricorn, the reunification Sun is 9 degrees of Libra.

Sadly, but predictably, we do not have a time of birth for the Chancellor-in-waiting, however, he seems to me to be a man whose time has come. Beaten to the leadership of the Christian Democrats in the year 2000 by Angela Merkel, in 2018 he emerged from the political wilderness, winning the leadership of the party in 2021. Once a staunch believer in the European-American alliance he is now bent on galvanizing Europe to stand alone. He has pledged to reboot Germany’s economy, crack down on immigration and wrestle back votes from the AFD.

Given that Merz has his Sun at 18 degrees of Scorpio, conjunct the reunification Pluto and the 1949 Midheaven, and sextiling his Jupiter-Pluto conjunction, he looks as though he is the man to lead Germany out of the weeds and into battle! And with Pluto currently squaring his Uranus-Chiron opposition he could be seen as the great Awakener and healer of a broken Germany.

I certainly hope so, but time will tell, especially since in a few short months, Uranus will square that mighty Jupiter-Pluto conjunction of his. Plus, Venus is poised to turn retrograde on the reunification chart’s Midheaven.

MEANWHILE, ACROSS THE Pond, the shocks, surprises, U-turns and car crashes continue unabated. While Macron and Starmer were well met by Trump, there were no guarantees regarding Ukraine’s protection post any cease-fire agreement with Russia nor any robust assurances that Britain would be excluded from any trade tariffs. It’s going to be difficult to trust a man who declared he couldn’t remember calling President Zelensky a “dictator” for not holding elections during wartime and lying about the US providing $350 billion to Ukraine when the correct figure is around $100 billion, which is less than Europe has contributed, and, incidentally, none of that $100 billion is missing.

Far worse, of course, was the United States standing shoulder to shoulder with Russia, North Korea, Belarus and Hungary at the United Nations against a resolution condemning Russia for its aggression in Ukraine and calling for it to end its occupation of this sovereign land.

And on a lighter note, on Google Maps, users changed the name of Trump’s Florida club Mar-a-Lago to “Kremlin Headquarters.”

Despite the euphoria surrounding Sir Keir’s apparently successful mission to secure the continuance of the “special relationship” between America and Great Britain, based on Trump’s Quixotic personality, nothing can be assumed. Even a hand-written invitation from King Charles for an “unprecedented” second state visit might not be enough to preserve the alliance.  And with a lunar eclipse on its way, conjunct Saturn, followed by Mercury’s turning retrograde, I think more U-turns are likely.

WHICH BRINGS ME neatly along to all the hoo-ha about the great planetary parade that is to be seen this very night.

Here is an astrological picture of that parade.

What you are looking at are seven planets with the exception of Pluto on the same side of the Sun at the same time. It is rare but not that rare. On March 10, 1982, there were eight planets, including Pluto, on the same side of the Sun. There was a huge furore about the parade in 1982, largely because of The Jupiter Effect – a book, written by John Gribben and Stephen Plagemann. The authors claimed that the effects of the parade on the solar wind, which in turn affects Earth’s weather, would inspire a number of catastrophes including a great earthquake on the San Andreas Fault.

In the event, no such earthquake occurred, although the alignment presided over a year of significant global events. Israel invaded Lebanon (again), Argentina invaded the Falkland Islands, which led to Britain going to war with Argentina in order to reclaim its territory. There was a change in Soviet leadership with the death of Leonid Brezhnev, and Prince William and Princess Catherine were born. 1982, of course, was the year of the Saturn-Pluto conjunction in Libra.

And we can certainly point a finger at the current parade for presiding over the unparalleled events that have occurred since the beginning of January – the Los Angeles fires, the baffling earth tremors in the Aegean Sea near Santorini, the inauguration of President Trump and all the extraordinary developments in the United States.

As I write these words, a little voice is to be heard in my head telling me that we ain’t seen nothing yet, and there is more, even greater, shock and awe to come.

Friday Bite: 21 February 2025

There is no Friday Bite this week because I am at Ammerdown with Steve Judd presenting our conference, Decoding the Divine.
I will be back next week when the world will have surely shifted on its axis. again.
Love, Penny

Friday Bite: 14 February 2025

A Picture is worth a thousand words

“The same old serpent that says you work and I eat, you toil and I will enjoy the fruits of it. Turn in whatever way you will—whether it come from the mouth of a King, an excuse for enslaving the people of his country, or from the mouth of men of one race as a reason for enslaving the men of another race, it is all the same old serpent.” Abraham Lincoln

“Our oath [of allegiance] was not to the Republican Party, not to the Democratic Party, not to Joe Biden, not to Donald Trump, but…to defend the Constitution. And…right now —literally at this moment—that Constitution is under the most direct and consequential assault in our nation’s history, an assault not on a particular provision but on the essential structure of the document itself.” Senator Angus King (I-ME)

ON WEDNESDAY THE daily podcast from the New York Times posed the question: is President Trump merely testing the boundaries of power or triggering a full-blown constitutional crisis? The consensus, apparently, is yes. “Our founding fathers created coequal branches of government to ensure that no one man can be king. But here we are.” Adam Liptak, Supreme Court correspondent for the NYT.

It was the beginning of a hugely eventful day. It was the day of the full moon in Leo, which squared Uranus. I had already pointed out that this configuration was going to turn out to be pivotal for Russia, Ukraine and America, and I was not wrong. (The full Moon flanked Russia’s Ascendant-Descendant Axis and conjoined Ukraine’s and the US’ Moons.) On Wednesday, hours after the above photograph was taken, President Trump said that he had had a “lengthy and highly productive” phone call with Vladimir Putin in which they had agreed to begin negotiations to end the war in Ukraine.

On Thursday, Pete Hegseth, US Defence Secretary, while in Munich at the Security Conference, announced that a return to Ukraine’s pre-2024 borders was “unrealistic” and that the US does not see NATO membership for Kyiv as part of the solution to the three-year-long Ukraine war.

To say that this was a slap in the face for President Zelensky is an understatement. Not even, apparently, invited to the table for the “peace” discussions. There has been a little rollback by the US since Hegseth’s announcement, but Trump has been making clear his intentions regarding Ukraine, NATO and the war in Ukraine for months so this should not be a surprise to any of us. After predicting that once he was in the White House, he would end the war in twenty-four hours, it has taken a mere twenty-five days to get to the point at which “heads are being knocked together” and peace talks, albeit without Zelensky and any European leaders, in the process of becoming.

Whether or not you like Trump or any of the goings-on in the halls of power right now, you’ve got to admit he’s doing what he promised to do, and at a breath-taking pace.

Mr Hegseth wasn’t finished though. Still on Thursday, he had a shock in store for NATO. And with one statement, he threw the world’s biggest and most enduring alliance into disarray. “… [I will] directly and unambiguously express that stark realities prevent the USA from being primarily focussed on the security of Europe… we must – and we are – focussing on [the]security of our own borders.” He further explained that NATO, of which the United States is the biggest part, “will not come to the rescue of any European nation involved in that force if it is attacked by Russia.” This statement is unequivocal. The UK and Europe must go it alone if it is to defend Ukraine or any other member of the alliance.

Churchill and Roosvelt must be turning in their graves.

NATO was formed in 1949 to counter the threat to European security posed by the then Soviet Union. In the intervening years, it has gone from an alliance of twelve nations to a body of thirty-two. The United States is the most powerful member and spends more on defence than any of its partners. The US also far outweighs other nations in terms of its military might.

In many ways the chart of NATO is manifestly fit for purpose. Scorpio rises with ruler, Pluto, conjunct the Midheaven and in the tenth house of leadership and governance. The Sun, the ruler of the Midheaven, is conjoined to the Moon and Saturn – the alliance was formed on a new moon signalling growth while Saturn’s position reflects the ability of the alliance to fulfil its serious commitment.

At this point in time, solar arc progressed Pluto is within a degree of the Ascendant, pointing to a defining period for its future. One way or another, NATO will be transformed and become a new version of itself in the coming months. Maybe one without the United States.

On the above chart, I have drawn in the relevant transits (red) and progressions (black): Wednesday’s full moon squared Uranus while transiting Uranus opposed a progressed Moon-Saturn conjunction, forming a Grand Cross in fixed signs. What was decided at that point in time has been set in stone. You may also note that Mars is currently retrograding in Cancer close to its natal position. Once Mars turns direct (24 February), it will go on to conjoin its natal position and by April will be opposed to transiting Pluto. (The gloves will definitely be off by then.)

As I mentioned earlier, there is much to admire in Trump’s getting down to business, and aiming to settle both the Russia-Ukraine war and the Israel-Gaza conflict, and maybe, just maybe, he is preventing or at least staving off a third world war. And yet, and yet…

In the shadows of a negotiated peace lurks the spectre of a new world order.

Go to many, if not most, astrology channels and you’ll hear astrologers waxing poetic about Pluto’s entry into Aquarius and “top-down power” being upturned and a new age of people power established. Certainly, back in 1778 – 1798, the people of France revolted and overthrew the monarchy, America kicked out George III, and democracy was born, but we almost have the reverse now and democracies are being overturned and authoritarian regimes established. And in the case of the United States, this unimaginable state of affairs has occurred in less than a month, since the inauguration of President Trump and the Sun-Pluto conjunction.

When Pluto was last in Aquarius a new world order came about, so if we are using that era as a model, then it makes perfect sense that democracy, which gathered momentum over the course of 248 years, is in the process of being replaced by an authoritarian new world order, one which is being carved out in front of our very eyes.

The next few weeks are going to prove pivotal to America’s future, and, as we can see, to the rest of the world. If President Trump and Chief Controller Musk continue to steamroller their way through the bastions of government, simultaneously trashing the constitution and breaking up with old friends in foreign parts, unless the Republicans, the Democrats and the judiciary develop some cahones, the only thing that stands between the country and a kleptocracy is the people. 

But if ordinary Americans do indeed rise up, as we have seen in Georgia and Belarus, then we might just fulfil the promise of Pluto in Aquarius and give birth to a new world in which the power of the people overcomes the might and the will of the state.