* “Great Secrets of the Tarot”    * “Planetary Combinations in Astrology Charts”   and  * “100 Scary, Creepy Movies”.  The third book is ILLUSTRATED with 21 of my edgy,  somewhat “dark”, cartoon-type drawings!    “Planetary Combinations” is 473 pgs. long. There is SO MUCH Astrology in that book!  I think you’ll enjoy it.  “Great Secrets of Tarot”  uses all my experience and knowledge of 40 years of work with the Tarot!  I have several SYSTEMS in the book you might enjoy.  “100 Scary, Creepy Movies” is basically MY list of 100 scary Horror & Sci-Fi type films, with 21 illustrations.  It’s my chance to show off my edgy, weird drawings!

  Great Secrets of the Tarot

• Kindle Edition
• Current Sales Rank: #356,631 in Kindle Store

     I will also put these titles up on Amazon’s ‘ChangeSpace”, which is their softcover edition publisher, so you will soon be able to choose between an e-book and a paperback version of the same book. 

I am so sorry..  I’ve been so busy with this 3-book project that I forgot some client-birthdays!  HAPPY BIRTHDAY to everyone I might have missed during this very creative time of writing!  I would like to “catch up” to each and every one of you –  please!  My prices are going up soon nationally and internationally because of extra attention caused by my series of books, but my prices are staying the same for my TUCSON AREA and OTHER FORMER & PRESENT CLIENTS.   You know who you are!    THANK YOU! 

   I know have an Android / Smartphone so you can Call OR Text:   (520) 305-8768

Planetary Combinations in Astrology Charts

Kindle Edition

Kindle Edition

But before I forget — I wanted to say:  I am having a $5.00 discount on my hourly rate, from $40.00 to $35.00 an hour, for chart analysis and also Tarot consultations — via Internet and/or phone.  IF you order a SECOND Internet / telephone chart analysis or Tarot reading, that one will be only $30.00.  This is a GREAT TIME to see what the YEAR AHEAD may have in store, and your chart and/or cards will tell something about that!  This is a NEW YEARS’ SPECIAL and will end on JANUARY 15th.  Present “turn around” is 24 to 48 hours, but this may change as I get busier. So just give me a call and we can work out the details!  If you are getting a link to this article, I probably already have your chart!   Now!  The testimonials!  I’m so PROUD to show these to you, because they are ALL quite RECENT.  This means I am “at the top of my game!”   and really able to do a good job for you or your friends!   *** (520) 305-8768 ***  You may also TEXT me at that number, if you wish, 24/7.  Thank You!

Ed, I just don’t know what to say.

Some of it is hard to hear, and admit, but even those parts fit.

Here’s another one. This one’s from Leeds, England:

Why Him? Why Now? 

Adam Lanza, born April 22, 1992, was the undoubted shooter of the 20 school kids and 8 adults, including his mother and himself, in Newtown, Connecticut.  He was in the middle of a planetary double-whammy which the kid just didn't have the good common sense or life experience to extricate himself from without a disaster happening.

Bad Decision on Gun Security

It didn't HAVE to lead to mass-murder, but the man is the son of the mother, and his loving mother kept weapons within reach, so it seems,  in the house, as well as lots of ammo… NOT locked-up properly for safety, or how else could he have gotten to them, and used them on her?  And, she had made the mistake of having these beloved weapons (she was quite a collector),  made a veritable fetish out of them,  right under the nose of her unbalanced son who lived with her.

That was all bad enough. Mistake compounded by bad judgement. But not even that was the whole problem: the revolutions of the heavenly bodies contributed to a culmination of a great amount of stress in Adam Lanza's mind, and in that suburban home.

Mars. Planet of Anger and War!

First, MARS went over his Capricorn Moon, causing a bad, prolonged misunderstanding with his mother, (represented by Moon in his chart). The anger was going on for as long as two weeks, although his overall frustration with her might have lasted a lifetime.. Her position in his chart is indicated by Moon, and it is in Capricorn, and does not indicate a very close or warm relationship, especially if he was born later in the day(from Noon on), because then Moon would be conjunct his Uranus and Neptune, making things even more bizarre in his life and in relations with his Mom. The next thing that happened was Mars in the heavens heading toward his Uranus and Neptune, with Mars-Uranus indicating accodents, arguments, or weapons, and Mars-Neptune, sick, unhealthy fantasies activated by Mars into action. Adam was born with a “Clash of the Titans” going on in his chart: a conjunction between Uranus and Neptune. In most charts an aspect, even a conjunction, between outer planets like these would be called “merely generational” and not affecting any one individual. But not in this case, because they were less than one degree apart.

Unstable Affections; Violent Energies.

And his Uranus-Neptune squared his VENUS in his chart, the planet of affection. His affections were unstable (Uranus) and overly whimsical, romantic or unrealistic (Neptune). He had no girlfriend! His sexual energy was channeled into things like “gaming” and vivid, violent, fantasies. Uranian, that is, violent hardware of explosive kinds, was coupled with Neptunian — obsessions and compulsions and an "other worldly" mindset.  Affection inside him and outside him (his family, the community) was stunted and redirected by the square (90 degree aspect) by Uranus and Neptune. For one thing, he was a gamer. He'd spent YEARS killing zombies and monsters. That is both Uranian AND Neptunian!  Those planets move very slowly. No wonder the heart of the generation of 20-something's is drawn into that nonexistent world of fantasy and gaming. But only a very, very few of them lose total touch with reality like Adam did. 

Google It Up!

You don't believe me?  Google-up these combinations of aspects and you will see it is not my theory, it is database.  Thousands of astrologers have witnessed these kinds of connections and 'coincidences' with the recently discovered Outer Planets going back more than a hundred years. And the database on the actions of the inner planets go back three thousand years.

In the Adam Lanza family, It was all just begging for bizarre, fanatical “solution” to the Moon-Mars-occasioned argument, leading to a disaster.

Moon : The "Trigger-Finger!"

It is possible nothing might have happened at all, other than simmering feud. But then MOON, which acts like a “trigger-finger” , setting off other things going on in the chart, swept around into Capricorn and went over its natal place in his chart, and then it was conjunct to transiting Mars, and then, Adam's Uranus and Neptune. This effect of the Moon has been known for thousands of years, neglected only by skeptics, who are not as smart as they think they are, and anything BUT "open minded' to something that's outside their specialty.

It was a double-whammy… Moon and Mars… affecting the most sensitive and dangerous area of his chart… and linked with his mother… since Moon (the mother) was the first thing both Mars and Moon contacted in their transit, in his chart..  The feud had been simmering for weeks (Mars going over his Moon), and then Moon went over that same place in his chart…  and all hell broke loose.

I would like to do both a natal chart and then a chart comparison between Adam and his mother to see what the energy was between the two of them. This indirect method of looking at HIS chart, simply shows her to”feel” cold and unavailable to him. It measures HIS FEELINGS ABOUT HIS MOTHER, not necessarily how she realy was.

                           Years of Isolation, Even Within So Much Wealth!

I theorize that Adam felt years of neglect. He felt, openly or deep within, that his Mom gave all her attention to the little kids in her class. She must have talked about them, mused and discussed them. All the while Adam wished she'd spent more time and thought on him. So after he'd dispatched her with a number of gunshots, he drove to her school and executed all the kids whom she would have taught... the youngest ones. His anger was such, and his ammunition sufficient, so that he must have shot each child a number of times so that only one or two who were shot, survived.  

Why Were Children Targeted?

All this action was going on in the Sign of Capricorn. Why were children targeted? Cancer is the OPPOSITE SIGN of Capricorn. Cancer, ruled by the Moon, is patron to mothers and very young children. Planets and Moon going through the opposite sign, Capricorn, indicate an emphasis on materialism and property and a lack of true love for children at that particular time. 

Some obsessed maniac slashed 22 kindergarteners with a knife as they got off a school bus in China, just 1 or 2 days before the Connecticut disaster.  These two events were linked by transiting planetary energy. (The other possible link is that Adam saw or heard the news reports of the China stabbings!)  Anyone with too much negatively aspected Capricorn energy will probably be a materialist. Christmas itself is materialistic.

The Materialism of a Saturn & Capricorn Christmas

Anyone with too much Capricorn energy will probably be a materialist. Christmas is materialistic. We try to please our children during the Christmas season, but it happens when the Sun is in Capricorn, so everything really comes down to materialism, giving presents, “Santa” bringing presents, etc. rewarding or buying the affection of others through presents. Not much spirituality of the Jesus Christ kind, or any other spiritual kind, there. Saturdays are named for Saturn, the Lord of Capricorn. Everyone knows Saturdays are the day to scratch around making pennies at yard sales or going to thrift shops or doing necessary, unpleasant repairs. All of that is intensely Saturnian-Capricornian.

Only A Child Who Didn't Need The Money

Back to the disaster in Connecticut, the disaster in the hearts of the nation: I will leave the question of why suburban residents in a wealthy, quiet neighborhood with some of the lowest crime statistics in the state, should feel they needed powerful, loaded weapons around the house within easy reach of possibly immature, unbalanced, children. And Adam was not an adult. His chart shows that he was mentally, spiritually, emotionally – only a child. And the man is the child of the mother. Oh, that's another question! Where was the father in all of this? He had divorced and gone. He is paying $2,500 a month to Adam's mother, but the family was broken. How much love does $2,500 a month purchase?  Not much in the eyes of a child. That shows up in Adam's chart: Love is not something he felt was permanent in his life.

Best Wishes to All  ———-Ed    

Please note my NEW Tucson-area phone & text number:  (520) 305-8768

.
What are my credentials to write about Tarot?  I was introduced to Tarot by two female Tarot readers who were living in the same apartment building I was, on Nob Hill in San Francisco, in the “Summer of Love”, 1967.  They lived and breathed Tarot and I was a frequent visitor.  They were mystical and they were cute!  I fell in love with the exotic imagery and I quickly got my own deck and began experimenting.   It was the following spring that I did Tarot readings at a festival near Tower Hall on the San Jose State campus.  I retained a fascination for Tarot through several other careers, and returned to the cards in the mid-1980′s in the first of several occult shops / book stores that I owned and operated.   This book is a follow-up, of sorts, to “Secrets of the Ouija” which I and Nikki Ligtelyn wrote and published at Mystic Books in California in 1997.  I would suppose I have done 5,000 Tarot card readings, so the images, in all their exotic splendor, look like old friends now.  Over the years one gets familiar enough with the cards to come up with new ideas, new lay-outs and new perceived correspondences.

In this book I draw upon the knowledge and wisdom of people like Eliphas Levi,  Aleister Crowley,  S. L. MacGregor Mathers,  Hajo Banzhaf, Paul Foster Case, and others such as my mystical and helpful California friends, Nikki Ligtelyn and Cheryl Petrovich.   But in much of the discussion on imagery, allusions, astrology, etc., I have evolved my own ideas.  I think the astrological correspondences of the Higher Arcana are fascinating and a subject for much discussion.   I see the experts have quibbled about many of the factors that connect Tarot with Astrology.   In most of this, I take the side of the Hermetic Order of the Golden Dawn and its teachings on the matter, as exposed to the public by Aleister Crowley in the first decade of the 20th Century, and as further developed by Paul Foster Case and others.  The only place I really quibble  about the Golden Dawn theory, is that they ascribe three of the Higher Arcana to the elements Fire , Water and Air,  but fail to include Earth….  I feel you either include all four elements -- five, if you include Spirit or Akasha as one of them — or you include none.  The elements are too important to pick and choose one or two and ignore the others!  Therefore I have removed the attribution of the Fool, the Hanged Man, etc.,  from the elements and have attributed them to astrological factors instead.  Fortunately, removing the three elements means I can add Uranus, Neptune and Pluto — three planets which were neglected by the Golden Dawn…. especially Pluto, since it wouldn’t be discovered for another 30 years!  What’s remarkable is that these three planets fill the gap in the Order of the Tarot cards, planets which were not attributed amongst the cards for the entire 20th Century.

This is great fun to write, but also a challenge of my mental abilities to organize the material.   I hope I am doing a good job on the subject, and I hope that my special reading methods, such as my 78-card method and my Astrological Tarot method, become more popularized.  If you want to receive a copy of “Great Secrets of the Tarot” when it first “hits the stands”, (so to speak!),  or if you just wish to exchange some ideas with me,  let me know, please, by sending me an e-mail to:  Ed@edaugusts.com  

I’ve decided to PUBLISH THIS BOOK as a Kindle E-BOOK and soon after that, as a CHANGE SPACE quality SOFTCOVER.  Watch for Further Details!   Thank You! 

It turns out that Holmes has exactly the kind of sad, pathetic, tight-as-a-drum ‘wiring’ that you would expect in someone who goes sociopathic and ballistic, including a tight Mars-Pluto conjunction, just like Bolshevik Leon Trotsky, just like several generals who “got even”,  I think mostly of Douglas MacArthur, not that he was a sociopath, but that he was a dominating, aggressive individual who vowed “I shall return!”  and boy, did he…  Was he in any way a ‘hothead’?  Was MacArthur in any way a danger to himself or others?  Well, he DID advocate using atomic weapons on China in the Korean war, which might have been a dicey thing to do, from a political and social point of view…  It might hav3e caused World War III, or it might have toppled the Reds — we’ll never know. His planetary indications are that aggression was in his spirit, and generals need that.  But do science majors in their mid-20′s need that?  What works, what can be sublimated to good effort in the chart of a general is a thorn in the side of an average guy.  There are some other people, steeped in emotional “drama” who have Mars-Pluto in conjunction.  But Holmes has it, just 1–1/2 degrees from exact, which means the twin energies of the two malefic planets are working keenly, and in Scorpio, the sign of perhaps the most passion, stealth, and intensity in the whole Zodiac. Scorpio is co-ruled by Pluto and Mars, after all.  When Holmes appeared in court yesterday, it looked like his head had been spray-painted orange-red… a Mars color if I’ve ever seen one!   Here is the Holmes chart:  Our great thanks to Dark Star Astrology for it:  http://darkstarastrology.com/wp-content/uploads/2012/07/james-holmes.gif

You will see that Holmes’ chart is full of stress-and-violence factors, including a tight 1 degree conjunction of Mars and Pluto;  a depressive, over-controlling conjunction of Sun and Saturn;  a mirthless, loveless, square between Moon in Virgo and two or more Sagittarius planets, including Saturn and the Sun, and other factors including Venus square Jupiter, showing he may have been spoiled or duped as a child.

How about Sun conjunction Saturn, one of Holmes’ other major aspects?  Mobster Bugsy Siegel had it.  So does Vladimir Putin, President of Russia.  So does Lt. William Calley, ultra-conservative author Ayn Rand, asnd the Notorious B.I.G. (a rap shooting victim).  The people who have this apsect see things kind of “rough.”  Maybe they, like Ayn Rand, expect the worst from human nature, or have a lack of sentimentality or sensitivity.   Or they just “follow orders” as Calley did in Viet Nam.  Sometimes they get tripped-up by the enemies they create, as some of these people have been!  Sometimes their charts are powerful enough to smash through their opponents and maintain some kind of order around them, as you can see in Vladimir Putin’s chart.
By the way, Holmes enjoyed a Sun-Jupiter trine.  This is one of the best aspects possible in terms of sheer “good luck”.  You scoff?  Well, he shot 70 people and was himself NOT injured in the gunfight.  He surrendered or was subdued, but he is still alive, as of this writing. It would take Sun-Jupiter to create an option to be so destructive and yet live to tell of it.   This aspect tells me, he may never be fully punished for his acts,  he may idle away many years in an institution.

By the way, for the sake of precision:  The Moon position is not known exactly in the Holmes chart. It uses 12 Noon as a birth time. But even if he was born 11 hours earlier or 11 hours later, his Moon would not vary by more than about 5.30 degrees either earlier or later, so it would still square Saturn at the center, and either Mercury on the low end, or Uranus on the high end.  Either of those two squares to the emotional Moon is extremely negative.  If he has Moon square Mercury, his mind and emotions aren’t wired correctly;  he just doesn’t know what he wants, his thinking and feelings work against each other, rather than positively. His thinking is twisted no matter what of the aspects he has.  If it is Moon square Uranus, his thinking is subject to strange and quirky changes. He is quick-thinking but tends to be wrong-thinking.  Uranus is a planet that ranges from genius to anarchy.  A revolutionary energy is at the heart of it;  but most of the people around him won’t ever feel the need for his kind of rebellion — so he is alone!  The more alone he feels, the more dangerous he becomes.  If he was born from late morning through early afternoon, he has BOTH these ‘squares’ operating in his chart at the same time, whereas one would be bad enough!

It is the oppressive combination of the negative aspects in his chart that made Holmes the kind of person he was, and do the kind of thing he very evidently did.  You can’t convict someone from their astrology chart, although it sure would be wise to know who and what a person REALLY is, based on their natal chart!

Comments are open now, after years of being closed.  Best, —-Ed

My Astro_Psychic Group has been up since (2003? I think!)  It has thousands of messages, questions, and answers about various metaphysical topics, chiefly Astrology with a smattering of Tarot and other (mostly) related subjects.  Sometimes it was like “one big family” and we strayed off into other areas…

A paperback book exists of the best of Astro_Psychic.  Here it is:  http://www.lulu.com/shop/ed-augusts/augusts-astrological-archive/paperback/product-6132758.html

But it’s also available from me directly as a $5.00 e-book. It’s the third book down on THIS page:  http://www.edaugusts.com/?page_id=32

All-seeing Eye of God, with Masonic symbols

Controversial?  Of of my 3 groups, it is undoubtedly Mystic Truth, or rather:  mystictruth.  It was started by a good California friend of mine, who turned it over to me and I really have been challenged to do as much with it as I should.  The premise may be shocking to some people:   YHWH (Jehovah) is NOT God!  A real God, a god worthy of being worshipped, does not torture people in hell, etc.  Something intelligent people intuitively realize, but not if one’s been brainwashed by sermonizing control-freak parents and preachers since early childhood!  “Train them on Kool-Aid, they’ll always drink it!”   The question is:  If Jehovah is NOT God, who is?  If there is a God.  Mystictruth seeks clarity on that point.   Find it, read it, join it, at:  http://groups.yahoo.com/group/mystictruth/?yguid=312870125

Finally, MY MOST POPULOUS Yahoo Group…  Occult_Imagery.  Yahoo Groups don’t seem to have quite the same activity that they had 5 or 10 years ago, but that may be a fallacy.  Any web-based groups are only as active as the people who read and post messages!  I have been guilty of starving my Groups in recent year, despite having nearly 700 members in my Occult_Imagery Group.  I think that’s because at a certain point my interests matured to a point where images of mystic, occult, graphic or controversial things just weren’t of that much interest anymore.  Yet, the Group is still there and I want to start doing RIGHT by it… So read, comment, post, etc.   I do moderate my groups to avoid them becoming total SPAM buckets.  And once in awhile I DO post stuff….

Just this morning I found a nice archive of mystic symbols of various kinds and posted a new ALBUM to Occult_Imagery.  (They are all in the public domain, by the way, so feel free to copy!) These particular images had to do with Freemasonry, although some look suspicious to me… there might be some “occult” but not necessarily Masonic images included.  You’ll see what I mean.  Have a look and tell me if these are REALLY all Masonic symbols!   http://groups.yahoo.com/group/occult_imagery/?yguid=312870125   Click “photos” on the left column.

A few things... This was set-up as an ADULT site.  Yahoo is very watchful about any young people getting onto this and similar sites,… so PLEASE!  It’s for “18 and over” only.  Secondly, don’t be spooked by the first appearance of the site, it is NOT devoted to either witchcraft or Satanism, per se.  Finally,  you DO have to join in order to post  or comment.  UNLIKE my Blog, where I have now opened up a COMMENTS section, which I thought would be a good way to make friends, express views, ask questions, etc.  I do moderate all comments, however, and SPAM will not be tolerated, any more than it is on Occult_Imagery or any other Yahoo groups!

Okay!  Let’s all have a great day!

I’m using my book as PART of what I do, when I interpret astrology charts for people!  I can tell anyone what famous or notorious people they, or their friends or family, resemble. Most of us are a combination of 2 to 4 major ‘types’.  Hopefully, they’re all “good”, but occasionally, some of us have 1 or 2 facets of our personality that take us into unconventional realms or which makes us aggressive, antisocial, obsessed, psychopathic, etc., at least in PART of our ‘natures’.  Often the worst aspects are repressed by the good ones, but when there are 2 or 3 ‘malefic’ aspects in the foreground of the birth chart, they do eventually come out and sometimes cause havoc. 

This is a patently obvious tool which can be used to decipher human nature — with forensic sharpness — which our ‘system’ is not set-up to use,  but which any thinking person can clearly see with the slightest perusal of the data.  As for me, all of this is just an added weapon to the arsenal of interpretive tools I have.

Here’s a an example of a few names from my book, that all shared a certain aspect.  Let’s visit the Mars-Pluto conjunction!  See for yourself!

MARS-PLUTO ASPECTS

Conjunction

MARS, the God of War and Male Energy.  in conjunction with PLUTO, planet of intensity, of secrets, of Plutocracy, of raw power!  There is an amazing toughness in these people, even the women are tough as nails, with early and powerful ambition, and knowing what to do to succeed (marry Bill Clinton; marry the Prince of Wales; go after modeling jobs as a young teen; be as tough as Ripley on the Alien series!) The men build weapons, win wars, start revolts and revolutions. It’s weapons or strange metal jewelry or explosive rockets for the men. The women are tough, or forced to become tough… in & of themselves.

802. MARS-PLUTO. There is an exact (within ½ a degree) conjunction of these strong, capable, and controlling plantets, in Leo, in the birth chart of Hillary Rodham Clinton. This combination makes her tough as nails, and shows that she likes taking center-stage. No wonder she could withstand all that media and Congress threw at her husband in the Lewinsky scandal. No wonder she ran for President in the 2008 election, only to be ousted by the supporters of Barack Obama, possibly because even though Mars-Pluto makes a person tough and feisty, a worthy fighter, it doesn’t necessary make a person appear to be very approachable or personally likeable, especially in Leo, which always has a spotlight shining down on it.

803. MARS-PLUTO are six degrees apart in Virgo in the birth chart of Lady Diane Spencer, Princess of Wales (See: Above). They point to a woman who just could not be “in second place”, waiting for all her ‘cues’ from her dear husband, patiently conforming and living out a storybook life, because such a life must have felt phony to her. The Virgo sign placement suggests plenty of verbal criticism of anything in the status quo she didn’t like. The combination of this aspect with her Moon opposition Mars, indicates abrasiveness, fireworks, and possibly intimidation and threats. I’m sorry, but the planets suggest: It could only have ended badly.

804. MARS-PLUTO is also in conjunction in a 1-1/2 degree conjunction in Leo, in the natal chart of screen actress Sigourney Weaver, (See above), whose bravery and fortitude (Mars) under the pressure of relentless, slavering aliens (Pluto) in the “Alien” series, as well as a keen environmentalist, and after “Gorillas in the Mist: The Tale of Diane Fossey”, makes us say: Behold! A (5′-11-1/2″) woman of wonders!

805. MARS-PLUTO. Speaking of “a woman of wonders”, (Weaver), there is a just-under 4 degree conjunction of Mars and Pluto, together with Uranus, which is also part of the conjunction, and with Mars closely opposed by Saturn in 16 Pisces, in the chart of young starlet and model Brooke Shields (See: above). All these aspects are really impinging most heavily on Mars, which, opposed by Saturn, keeps her from being ‘her own person’ throughout a childhood dominated by others, such as (I presume), her ‘stage door’ mother. That she was perceived as a sex object in a number of films such as the New Orleans prostitution saga “Pretty Baby”, rather than as a unique gifted and innocent individual and child, is evidenced by the rough treatment Mars gets no less than 3 malefics. The oppression of it all, is clear in these planets! (See also: Sun conjunction Jupiter and Mars opposition Saturn).

806. MARS-PLUTO. Mars, the planet of energy (and war) as well as intense activity, possibly of a sensitive or secret nature (Pluto), are in a 3 degree conjunction in the Twelfth House, the house of secrets and mysteries, in the natal chart of Werner von Braun, (March 23, 1912), German scientist, developing secret new weapons for the Nazis, who was (luckily for him) recruited to continue rocket research for the United States at the end of World War II. His lucky career move to the United States is seen in his Mercury-Jupiter trine, which bespeaks travel, continuing education, publications, etc. Interestingly, the Mars-Pluto aspect could just as easily appear in the chart of a criminal, positing a similarity between work (Mars) for the military (Mars) and possible criminal activity (Pluto). Look for the use of weapons in various guises, showing-up as a combination of Mars and Pluto natal energies. Von Braun got a second chance after the collapse of the German military machine; most Mars-Pluto conjunctees are not so lucky.

807. MARS-PLUTO. A close conjunction between Mars, the red planet of energy, masculinity and battle, and Pluto, the planet of intense dedication and obsession for power, occurs in Taurus on the Tenth House side of the Midheaven in the natal chart of General Douglas MacArthur, in charge of the American forces in the Pacific during World War II. This conjunction may not have worked out quite so well for MacArthur but for the fact that Mercury was in a close trine to both Mars and Pluto, showing an exceptionally powerful thought-process. Taurus is often about stubbornness, and MacArhtur was inflexible in his opinions and decisions, making both friends and enemies. Ultimately, he was replaced, but not until he had supervised the surrender of Japan and the conversion of Imperial Japan into a peacetime state. He must have supported the use of the Atomic Bomb, based on Pluto (atomic power) being in the foreground of his chart. He advocated using atomic bombs against the Communists to win the Korean War. The chart makes it seem he was, indeed, a hothead, but a well-informed and shrewd one who probably had the right answer for the situation.

808. MARS-PLUTO are in a 3 degree conjunction near the Midheaven, where their energies are more in the ‘foreground’, in the chart of Bolshevik and Communist Party strategist Leon Trotsky (November 7, 1879). This aspect shows he was eager for power and control, but it can also be a fatal aspect, showing a ‘fall’ – at some point. In fact, the first part of one’s life is filled with glory, but then Pluto (in its role of the ‘dark side’), catches up with flamboyant, or bloody, Mars. It is then that The Fates may strike. In Trotsky’s case, he was pursued by Stalinist assassins who chopped him in the head with an axe in 1940 Mexico. He could run, but he could not hide. Jupiter in opposition to Uranus is also a sign of the “outsider”, the anarchist (Uranus) who thumbed his nose at the standards of law (Jupiter).

809. MARS-PLUTO. This pair is conjunct in 6 and 11 degrees of Cancer in the chart of “Nation of Islam” spokesman and later, Sunni Muslim (just prior to his assassination), Malcolm X (May 19, 1925). Saturn in Scorpio trines Mars-Pluto, but it also opposes Mercury, (Which: See), implying lots of challenges and criticism (Saturn) of Malcolm’s statements (Mercury). There is some doubt as to the positive energies of Saturn trining a Mars that has Pluto adjacent to it, or Saturn trining Pluto that has Mars adjacent to it.

810. MARS-PLUTO are in a conjunction, just 10 minutes of longitude from exact, in the chart of occult author Dennis Wheatley. (See: Above). Although the conjunction is part of a Mars-Neptune-Pluto trio, the Mars-Pluto portion is much more powerful than the rest. This fits into the military (Mars), as well as occult subject matter categories (Pluto). Unlike some who skirt the subject of the occult, Wheatley dove into volumes of fiction that included Satanism and Witchcraft with an eagerness and believability.

811. MARS-PLUTO are conjunct in Virgo, by a little more than 3 degrees in the chart of a metal-worker and jeweler, whom we can call Metal Jeweler who invents little metallic gadgets as well as silver and metallic jewelry of unique kinds. Assisting his Mars-Pluto, are two sextiles: Mercury in Cancer, and Neptune in Scorpio, on either side of the Mars-Pluto. The Mars-Pluto is very physical. He has a side-line, a rikshaw business, and drives around at night, selling rickshaw rides. There is also a rough side to Mars-Pluto, there are problems with religion; and there are problems with a rough life that sometimes involves gangs and fights. The ornamental, artistic, and inventive side of Mars-Pluto vies for power with the anger (Mars) and control (Pluto) side of the aspect. I saw Metal Jeweler freak-out at a “fire scare”, when he thought someone was trying to burn down his building: He squeezed through a raw air conditioner duct, slicing himself in a dozen places in the process. A “fire scare” can be seen as control and fear issues (Pluto) having to do with fire (Mars).

812. MARS-PLUTO are two degrees from an exact (fairly self-contained) conjunction in the Sign of Taurus in the natal chart of Anthroposophy and Waldorf School founder, Rudolph Steiner (See: Above). Recent suspicions about the policies of the Waldorf Schools have added some slightly sinister nuances to the parochial, Germanic writings of Rudolf Steiner.  Someone with Mars-Pluto in such a strong conjunction is a veritable soldier for what he believes in.  So, the question becomes:  Do we want what he is selling?

813. MARS-PLUTO are in a 1-1/2 degree conjunction in the natal chart of the flamboyant Zelda Fitzgerald, (July 24, 1900), wife of F. Scott Fitzgerald. The highs and lows, adventures and jealousies of their life together became material for books each of them were separately writing. Jealousy and anger (Mars) about hidden, subterranean dalliances (Pluto) disturbed her marriage and a Jupiter-Uranus conjunction kept her moving, never truly willing to settle down, and never really able to follow the rules (Jupiter) if adventure (Uranus) beckoned. Diagnosed as a schizophrenic, she spent much of her later life in mental institutions, where she died at an untimely age, in a fire. She was minded to be very competitive, which Mars-Pluto has to do with, using her husband as a foil. Mars-Pluto also inflames the passions, it was not to be that her life would be a timid or easy venture; and, seen in people who live violently, and go off to battle, the red planet Mars together with Plutonian intensity, may even at times inflame a catastrophe such as the one that killed Zelda.

814. MARS-PLUTO opposition MOON. Mars and Pluto are in a tight, 29 minute conjunction in 24-25 degrees Cancer, and both are in an opposition to the Moon in 24.03 Capricorn, in the nativity of General Norman Schwarzkopf (August 22, 1934). The Mars-Pluto is a stellar aspect of a commander, and appears to give great power; but the opposition to the Moon is a bit of a puzzler. There must have been quite a bit of moodiness in this personality, despite him rising to be a top general, along with Colin Powell , who both rose up during the same era. (See: Above).

815. MARS-PLUTO opposite SATURN. These two, Mars and Pluto, are in a wide conjunction in Cancer, but with Saturn forming an opposition in Capricorn that falls inbetween their orbs, this therefore unifies the aspect as a trio. This occurs in the natal chart of Rupert Murdoch (See: JUPITER-URANUS above), whose conjunction seems to take on some of the more sinister qualities of square or opposition between Mars and Pluto because of the Saturnian involvement which really does make it fall into the “sinister” column.

Above text is all Copyright (c) 2012 by Ed Augusts.

I’ve discovered that my using the 950-odd sections of data as a kind of ‘template’, a sort of “Who’s Who” in a wide array of biographies that run the gamut of ALL the major aspects between planets, enables me to analyze many of the character traits, abilities, etc., of any individual.  My charts are powerful, revealing, and inexpensive.  I can usually complete them for you within just 24 to 48 hours.  Click  http://www.edaugusts.com/?page_id=210

If you Google Search “Isaac Asimov” and get his Wikipedia biography,  you will find he was born on January 2, 1920.  But if you Google Search “Isaac Asimov born”  you will get: October 4, 1919, Smolensk Oblast;  If you return to the first Wikipedia ‘January 2, 1920′ item, you will see a little superscript “1″ next to it, and clicking on that informs you that Asimov himself didn’t know exactly when he was born.  He even mentioned that it COULD have been as early as “October 4, 1919″,  but he was okay using the January 2, 1920 date — ” it doesn’t matter.”

Sorry, but your actual birthday does matter, sir!  Because I looked at the astrotheme chart which they show for a January 2, 1920 birth, and it isn’t Asimov.  There are no useful Mercury aspects that would show a PROLIFIC and wide-ranging author with an ability to lecture and a good sense of humor.  There is a 5 degree trine to Jupiter and a wide, 4-1/2 degree sextile to Mars, but, in my experience, that does not translate into the author of 500 books.  There is also nothing that would show Asimov’s succumbing. in 1992,  to the HIV infection he picked up from tainted blood transfusions while undergoing surgery in 1983.

On the other hand, a chart crated for 12 Noon, Smolensk*, Russian Federation, October 4, 1919, has Sun and Mercury together in 10 and 15 Libra, respectively, both sextile (60 degree), a creative and harmonious aspect,  to Jupiter and Neptune in 11 and 12-1/2 Leo.  It is this ‘nourishment’ of Mercury by expansive Jupiter and imaginative Neptune that makes a writer — a good, popular writer!  Only a Mercury that is flush with Jupiter-energy could write about 100 different subjects in a lifetime outpouring of 500 different books and compendiums.  Only a strong Neptune or Venus could influence Mercury to be imaginative enough to do Sci-Fi or Fantasy well enough to be world-famous.

I suggest that Asimov was born late in the day on the 4th of October, because that will move the Moon into a position where it will trine both Sun and Mercury, and the Moon-Mercury trine makes for mental brilliance. It will also bring Moon into opposition to Neptune, which explains the dangers Asimov faced when he went on an operating room table — Neptune in bad aspect is associated with infections and other unknown risk-factors. 

Odd that Isaac Asimov was quoted saying “it doesn’t matter” whether he was born on October 4 of 1919 or January 2 of 1920.  Because — yes it DOES matter!  The January birth date is inconsistent with both his work as a writer and thinker of great intellect and merit, and it does not explain the circumstances of his major illness and death. The October 4th, 1919 birthday fits all these factors – and more — better than the 1920 date. Adjusting the date, and then tweaking it by moving the time of birth up into the evening — will make the chart consistent with the person’s abilities, accomplishments,  and… even the dangers he faced.  Hence, I feel Google is RIGHT when they answer the question:  “Isaac Asimov was born”  October 4, 1919.  Astrotheme?  Revise your facts. You have astrologers there, compare the dates!  Wikipedia?  Revise the birthdate, yours is false! Google has it right.  Good Going, Google! 

His Sun in independent Aquarius squares his Mars in angry and impatient Scorpio.  Sun square Mars is one of the signs of a hothead!  I usually don’t see too many Sun-square-Mars people in my counselling sessions because often they feel they have more knowledge, backed up by aggressive self-confidence, than anyone else.  This is the kind of guy capable of going to war because he wants to kill people, and of coming home (or staying home), to brutalize his wife or his children.  The anger and frustration in a Sun-square-Mars is hard to imagine for someone who doesn’t have that kind of militaristic fetish.

His Mars. the macho planet, makes only one aspect. His Neptune, the planet of ideals and delusions, makes four.

Jupiter conjuct Uranus is one of his strongest aspects;  the planet of righteousness is joined to the planet of anarchic, spontaneous nuttiness. Genius comes with Uranus, but with Jupiter next to it, it takes itself and its mission too seriously.  This is the kind of guy who can imagine himself Pope or Dictator.

His most confused and bizarre planet in his natal chart is Venus, the planet of love.  His Venus, in the very last degree of Pisces, a position where it is the weakest, opposes Uranus, Pluto, and Jupiter.  The Jupiter aspect shows overindulgence. In the last minutes of Pisces, I’d say Breitbart was at least a social drinker, if not a self-destructive drinker.  Opposed to Pluto, Venus shows difficult if not horrible issues dealing with his personal life at any early age.  He may have suffered in some way since childhood with an aspect like that.   But the worse of these is probably Venus opposition Uranus, because it shows an unsteady, questionable, erratic, changeable, love life.  He is simply attracted by too many people, and he is not always attracted by women.  Work by various astrologers over the past 20 years has indicated that someone with a Venus-Uranus aspect in their chart is often, if not always, ambiguously sexed.  Sure, you say, Breitbart left behind a wife and four children.  But it doesn’t seem he spent as much time with them as other men his age.  We hear of him tromping around to bars and clubs in various cities in his political travels.  How did his wife and four children fit into that kind of life?  No.  He must have had reasons to leave his family behind and go out seeking other friendships.  The very night he died, he’d met some new folks and had drinks with them in a tavern.

Breitbart supported, helped, and served on a governing board of a gay group of Republicans, GOProud.  The story is quite complex.  There is no obvious reason why Breitbart, as a committed Republican, would have taken this outspoken stand which is so keenly opposed to the spirit of the far Right Wing — the Religious Right — of the Republic party.  But looking at his quirky and slightly unbalanced aspects, such as Moon opposition Mercury, noted above, makes it clear that he did not have a balanced mind.  I am not necessarily saying he was insane — you just shouldn’t believe a guy whose thoughts and feelings are so confused.  How could someone stand with and even lead a gay group when gays are blasted from nearly every right-wing pulpit?  Or, perhaps the question is:  How could someone who stands by and identifies with the gay cause — be a champion of the ultra-right?   Gays are told they are going to go to HELL by hundreds of right wing pastors all across the Bible Belt.  For Andrew Breitbart to be able to be BOTH an ultra-right Republican AND Gay — and be married and have children — calls back to that Moon opposition Mercury again, a card that I would link with  THE MOON CARD  of the familiar Waite-Rider-Smith Tarot deck… the dog and wolf, and crayfish, looking up at the dominant Full Moon in the deep night sky…  symbolic of a confusion of thoughts and feelings… the STARS say — THAT was Andrew Breitbart!

Unless it turns out that Breitbart was born quite late in the day, in the evening of February 1st, 1969, then he was born with a Grand Trine between Moon, Neptune, and Venus. This is a “good luck” aspect which makes it almost too easy for him to achieve many of his dreams, including his dreams of family and friendships.   But it also made him a social maven, it made him have to entertain far and wide during his travels.  Grand Trines often weaken the personality because too much is taken for granted.  It is a sign of luck in family life, relationships, entertaining, luxuries.  It is not helpful when it comes to waging bitter culture wars replete with name-calling and stab-in-the-back manoeuvres.

Going back over the highlights of his career, I could not believe the stuff he had to say about Ted Kennedy right after Kennedy died.  It is SO nasty… should I repeat it here?  I will give you a link and then quote Breitbart as well:

http://thinkprogress.org/politics/2009/08/26/57997/breitbart-kennedy-twitter/?mobile=nc      — it’s there on display.

Right after he heard Kennedy had died, Breitbart began a series of tweets in which he said:  “Rest in Chappaquiddick”, and then, over the next 3 hours, called him a “villain“, a“bastard’, a “big-ass motherf*#^)#“,  a “prick” and a “special pile of human excrement.”

Andrew Breitbart found, and used, savagely degrading epithets to say as a Memoriam to someone who’d spent the best part of 50 years in the U.S. Senate.  I wouldn’t think anyone other than an enemy of what the United States has done for the common man over the past century… raising the standard of living of the working man, cutting back work hours from 70 or 60 to 40 hours per week…  making the lives of its most vulnerable citizens more secure through Social Security, Medicare, and other improvements that make the minds and emotions of those libertarians and right-wingers that oppose them look petty, jealous, hateful of the lower classes — even when they, as they often are, are in the lower classes themselves…  would have torn into Ted Kennedy like Andrew Breitbart did.   There is no doubt Breitbart, just as other hyenas,  did or would have reproached F.D. Roosevelt, reproving Woodrow Wilson,  but never admitting that if they had lived in the 1930′s they would have been isolationists who would have kept us out of the war against Germany and Japan until it might have been too late to defeat them.  Rich isolationist plotters who wanted to control the United States in those days,  the same way the industrialists of the German Ruhr supported Hitler in his rise to power.

I didn’t see ANY indications in Breithart’s transits over his natal chart that this was a moment when his heart would give out and he would die, all of a sudden, without previous symptoms, without any visits to the hospital…  Dead at 43!  What happened?  In the Astrological column,  “Stars over Washington”, the author has some strange things to say about Breitbart’s death, and hopefully will fill-in-the-blanks sometime soon.  He said:

asking if anyone involved [in] the investigation is looking for a tiny puncture wound or for an untraceable toxin in his bloodstream

I’m sad that Breitbart had to die — so young,  and so confused about what justice is and who really wields justice versus injustice and bigotry.  He died far from the best and highest ideals that he could have opted to support, and the bountiful blessings of home life, as seen as potential, in his birth chart. Yes, I am very sorry that Breitbart had to die…  But if someone shortened his life with a secret formula, a tiny needle, a noxious drink, a poisoned condom, or whatever —  I would try and try again to find words to express sorrow at his early departure, hopefully words that are less ugly and vindictive than what Breitbart had to say about Ted Kennedy. 

For an intense look, including videos, of Breitbart carrying on with some harsh and controversial talk — including “Civil War” and “American Military” talk that some might view as dangerous, and a possible ‘lead’ in trying to figure out why he died so young:  here’s a link:   http://www.towleroad.com/2011/09/when-liberals-call-him-gay-andrew-breitbart-fantasizes-about-civil-war-video.html  That site is not my ‘cup of tea‘, but getting information is worth going to wherever you have to go to get it.  A video of Breitbart wanting to bring-on a Civil War is worth it!
Best. ——-Ed Augusts

Let us start with Vladimir Putin, who was very recently, and not surprisingly, elected to the office of President of Russia.  I think this link will take you to the link I’ve been using to view and analyze the chart:  http://www.astrotheme.com/portraits/9x8Nb4T2Pvmp.htm

What do we see?  SUN in the House of Friendship and Associations, so he is well-connected. He does certainly have friends in powerful places.  His Sun is conjunct Saturn by only 3-1/2 degrees.  This is THE marker of a very serious mind.  The realist.  The dogmatist, perhaps, because Sun conjunction Saturn represses the best of feelings and the most sensual of feelings:  It is not usually a happy combo,  Putin is nothing at all like his predecessor, Boris Yeltsin, who knew how to have a few vodkas once in awhile.  Putin is about as exciting with this Sun-conjunction-Saturn as an old photograph of Woodrow Wilson or Calvin Coolidge.  You wonder if the man knows how to have fun. Ah, where he gets FUN is through power.  Sun conjunction Saturn is a strict father, the “Father of his Country” who, in this case, makes the rules and punishes the bad little boys and girls who want to have too much freedom.  Well, he WAS the head of the KGB, after all!

PLUTOCRACY and POWER cry out in his chart… Pluto. which is Plutocracy itself, is at the very Midheaven, so matters of control and influence, as well as forecasting that his may well somehow involve the very rich, the heart of an empire, the Plutocracy and Oligarchy of Russia… dominate his chart and affect his success… which is exactly what has evolved for Putin and Russia over these past two decades.

Here is how Stephanie Clement defines the Pluto conjunction Midheaven aspect on her site, Sky View Zone:  Please note, she was writing how this aspect works for the millions who have it, not just one individual, which, in fact, through its overarching quality, helps validate it, to even the skeptical mind.  Because how many people do you know that have an abundance of these following qualities?  :

Through sheer force of will, this conjunction inclines one to seek a mission in life and to fulfill it. As the ego consciousness is focused on life’s mission, personal power is mobilized to attain success, to organize one’s life and to express personal authority. Any misuse or misdirection of personal power can lead to disasters. Power out of control is like a race car without a conscious driver, dangerous in the extreme. This conjunction indicates power, authority, fame and attainment of recognition.

Venus is in the First House, in Scorpio.  He exudes a boyish charm that is completely different than all his predecessors in power.  He is like the ‘blond-haired boy’, the ladies must think he is really something, as Venus Rising makes for popularity, attractiveness, and in Scorpio, an undeniable sensuality, even if is kept under wraps.

But even more weight can be given to the following powerful elements:  Putin has 3 planets in the 12th House of Secrets, Mysteries, Skeletons-in-the-Closet, and Self-Undoing. The 3 planets, Saturn, Neptune and Mercury, are the most significant thing in his chart; his Mercury-Neptune conjunction makes him good at his hunches. He has a nearly mystical ability to see through things as well as use his imagination most effectively.  So in some ways, he could be, but really is not, a visionary, a true “reformer”.  What keeps this energy dark and with an implacably practical, efficient aura, is that Mercury is also conjunct with Saturn, and Saturn is Neptune’s polar opposite. It shreds away layers of mysticism and obfuscation as if they were the layers of an onion.  Perhaps Putin fights a battle sometimes between hard-line conservatism (Saturn) and the reformist energy within him, (Neptune), but the fact they are in 12th, means their energy is mostly behind-the-scenes, unmasking his opponents, dethroning his adversaries.  Wasn’t Vlad in charge of the Soviet Secret Police?  Secrets are the heart and soul of the 12th House, so he has a perfect chart for that kind of job.  With his mystic Neptune, he has psychic flashes. For decades as he climbed the rungs of success within the KGB, he must have surprised his mentors and superiors with the way he was able to envision things through the eyes of the enemy.  Russia has always had sinister leaders, and Putin is part of this grand continuing succession of subtlety and sneakiness. His planets prove it.  The fact the 12th House consists of secrets means there must indeed be many “skeletons in his closet”, but the 12th House is zipped so tight, we may not find out for 50 years what they are or were!

Putin must also have overwhelmed his mentors with his dynamic energy, a “macho male” energy, but not a necessarily nefarious or violent energy. It could be said that Mars rules for the GOOD cause in Putin’s chart, and that therefore he will grab the stick at the right end, NOT make enemies, NOT enter into self-destructive power struggles…  He is a survivor partly because he is such a hard worker!  His MARS makes NO “bad” or hard aspect to any planet.  His Mars is in a nice sextile to Mercury, giving him an admirable ability to communicate smoothly and with the right jargon, the right “line”, to suit her purposes and soothe his listeners. Mars is also in a trine to the Midheaven, to Pluto, and to Lilith.  The Mars-Pluto trine is a wonderful thing, it gets a man where he wants to go when factionalism and struggles of any kind appear.  Here is part of a definition of Mars-trine-Pluto from “Cafe’Astrology.com”,  as good a source as any. The aspect definition was, like the previous aspect, written for anyone (in tens of millions!) who has this aspect, it was NOT written with Putin’s chart in mind, and yet, you see, it rings true:

    You are usually decisive, and often unwavering, once committed… You possess a fascinating and commanding aura… You employ strategy when you are going after something, and you are very talented at this, saving time and energy… perfectly capable of outwitting others as a natural psychologist…  The spiritual lesson is to learn moderation… to learn to be more like one of the pack instead of always being the leader.

Thank You, Cafe’ Astrology.

Why does he perceive his enemies to be the true revolutionaries, the reformers, of Russia?  Even though during the most liberal progressive years after the breakup of the U.S.S.R., Putin swam at the head of the pack of fish?   It is because all three of his 12th House planets square planet Uranus, the planet of anarchy, reform, and revolution,  Putin is not a revolutionary, he is the antithesis of a revolution — he is Law and Order, as symbolized by Saturn.  Saturn’s natural function is put down anarchy.  Putin is in power when Muslim terrorists kill hundreds of Russian civilians.  Putin is in power when revolts break out in distant Russian provinces.  Saturn is quite repressive, in Putin’s chart, at the noxious presence of anarchistic, overly-democratic Uranus in the 9th House, the House of Education.  One of Putin’s pet peeves must be the overly-liberal professors and academics whom, he must feel, are leading their students and proteges into wayward paths. The media are not his friends, either, because they thrive on the 9th House radicalization of the academics, as well as bring strains of unseemly entertainment to Russia.  Putin is an enemy of anything radica;. although his chart is smart enough and adaptive enough, to roll with the punches so that he was NOT purged in the democratic revolution that swept the Soviet Union away.  Somehow he was able to maintain and even strengthen his position.  It is because he can use the Uranian energy when he wants to.  He RULES it, in this chart.  But when the smoke clears, there’s Putin, in a balancing act between the goal of a democratic Russia and an oligarchy of plutocrats and ex-Soviet strongmen.

His vision of protecting the Old Guard from destruction at the hands of anarchy and liberal reform must include having no generosity or understanding at all for radical clerics of what he must see as dangerous religions.  During his rule, the Muslim extremists in Russia’s southern provinces did not get gentle treatment.  If only Putin and American leaders could see they have a joint long term mission to preserve the West, which includes Russia, from extremists who send their children as bombs to kill civilians. and threaten mass destruction.  But this “man of secrets”,  12th House Putin, is so shrewd, he plays his cards so close to his vest,  nobody knows his real thoughts on the matter.

But the chart makes it look as if, in Putin’s mind, anything that smacks of an uprising needs to be quashed.  This extreme need for “law and order”, even at the behest of violence and suppression, can be seen lately (February, 2012), in Putin’s (i.e., Russia’s) support of the repressive regime in Syria. I think it is obvious from the chart that Putin would rather see some tens of thousands of “Arab Spring” demonstrators silenced, even at the cost of their lives, than let an ally like Syria go down the same path that Libya and Egypt have gone.  Putin sees much better bedfellows in dictators than in fundamentalist clerics and nutcases, as we are seeing in Iran and other nearby countries. Stability = Saturn, and that’s what is driving him… the urge toward stability rather than possible future disaster, such as some time in the future when a wall of Muslim countries will stand right up to Russia’s soft underbelly. 

A hint of the possibility of his Saturn-Uranus aspect being useful in his career, and to his nation, is part of the definition of the aspect by skyscript.co.uk  :

….When usefully employed it can provide the means to stabilize explosive environments as well as conquer and destroy destructive and inhibitive situations.

Well, that’s what the head of the KGB must do… and the head of Russia, as well. In most unevolved individuals, it would not be possible to use this aspect in a positive way. The positive MARS aspects in Putin’s chart reinforce the fact that he could use even the Saturn-Uranus square energy in a way that helps stabilize things.  Unfortunately, his recent unflagging support of the Syrian dictatorship, which is, as I am writing, shelling its own people, shows that he may go a little too far in the Saturn-direction, which is regardless of human life and sensitivity.  If he could grapple with this side of his nature, and overcome worst side of the 12th House planets, and go with the strong Mars energy, and his Mercury-Mars ability to communicate well, he could overcome those parts of his being that are repressive.

Was the election which just occurred in Russia an honest election?  That depends on your definition of honest. The KGB definition may be different from ours.  Putin’s chart, with its awesome combination of Pluto at the Midheaven, a valiant Mars, but a problematic Saturn-Uranus aspect and a secretive 12th House,  make it clear that Putin would exert as much behind-the-scenes control as he possibly could, but in as unobtrusive way as possible, to achieve his goals. 

Putin had a tough year.  For more than six months he was plagued with Saturn transits going through that very House of Secrets, the House of Self-Undoing.  Judging by all the recent election protests, he just barely did make through this past year!  As Saturn criss-crossed, through both direct motion and retrogradation, his Sun, Saturn, Neptune and Mercury up to three times in six months, the transit indicates he just barely survived. It was an ordeal. The loss of much public esteem was noxious.  His current situation of being trapped in a policy that favors Syria’s ruthless despot does not bode well.  Putin doesn’t want to stick out like a sore thumb in the media of world opinion.  He has not fully ‘made it’, by the way, Saturn is only 5 degrees away from conjuncting Putin’s Rising Degree.  It is months away,  but when it does so, his career may be in jeopardy.  He has too much Mars energy in his chart to have as cool a head as he should have, in his esteemed position at the head of the Russian Federation.

Just as Czar Nicholas and his family had Rasputin, the mystic monk, assisting in the “spiritual” realm,  so, too, Vladimir Putin needs to have an astrologer, helping him attain the best side of his vision for a good future, more clearly. and with a minimum of repression and a maximum of freedom.  They are in his chart… if he would use them!
Best, ———-Ed Augusts