The State of the Universe

Tracking Political Change Through Astrological Transits

Hi, Sky Watchers!

Welcome to The State of the Universe, a weekly digest that compiles political news and other current events that affect everyday people. This column is part of my weekly paid content, and I use it to explore American governance and study its operations through the lens of astrology.

Doing so offers insight into how transits develop and aids students in understanding how to approach astrology.

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In my Week Ahead Forecast, I touched on the following transits:

• 2/4 Venus Enters Aries: Turning points around women and trans people, love, relationships, societal norms, pleasure, harmony, art, and beauty. Initiations of selfish leadership, confident boldness, fearless motivation, and competitive trailblazing. Follow-through on promises may be fickle, insincere, flighty, or manipulative.

• 2/4 Jupiter Stations Direct in Gemini: A breakthrough in superficial ethics, moral anxiety, or philosophical inconsistency. The progression of arrogant speech, overconfident youth, overindulgent trickery, and careless or inconsiderate thinking.

How Astrological Transits Predict Political Events

I don’t like the word “prediction” because of all the connotations that come with it. The planets don’t predict anything, but astrologers have noticed historical planetary patterns that co-occur with specific themes on Earth. When you understand how to interpret emerging patterns, you can guess how a situation or scenario will unfold in real time.

Astrologers predict outcomes the same way meteorologists predict storms. They compare historical data to estimate a conclusion, just as meteorologists look at the jet stream and estimate that rain is in the forecast.

Keeping that definition of prediction in mind, the Trump administration began promptly delivering on the celestial “warning of severe weather.”

Trade Tariffs

Photo by Connor Hall on Unsplash

President Donald Trump backed down after a weekend of threatening tariff wars with Mexico, Canada, and China but touted it as a significant victory anyway. On calls with Mexican President Claudia Sheinbaum and Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau, Trump demanded performative actions around border security from both leaders.

Mexico pledged 10,000 National Guard troops at Trump’s demand, but this move doesn’t guarantee success in deterring fentanyl trafficking or discouraging migration. Instead, it puts Mexico in direct threat of being taken over by organized crime since the National Guard will no longer be protecting Mexico’s interests across its own country.

Instead, it will now be focused on border patrol when most fentanyl that comes into the United States from Mexico enters through official ports of entry. By the way, 80% of individuals caught smuggling fentanyl across the US-Mexican border were US citizens.

Incidentally, I attempted to look up how much fentanyl was actually seized last year by US Customs and Border Protection but hit a few roadblocks.

Meanwhile, our neighbors to the Great White North appointed a “fentanyl czar,” and that was enough to get Trump to delay his tariff threat by 30 days. Next to no fentanyl comes into the US from Canada, so the entire production was just an attempt to assert power shrouded in cheap cellophane.

The real reason Trump quickly backed down from his threats was because the Dow plummeted over 500 points on Monday morning in response to the instability created by the announcements. In true Trumpian fashion, he was quoted Monday as saying he doesn’t watch the markets when any political watcher knows that’s a bold-faced lie. Trump equates the US economy with how strong the markets perform, so he immediately turned heel on his policy when the Dow dropped.

Because the transits were minimal this week, you’ll see me discuss money, legalities, and diversion often since those have been the overwhelming themes. All this trade tariff talk was a bunch of Neptunian foolishness. While Venus has separated from Neptune, the fog of confusion doesn’t just subside. The two planets are still within a 3° orb of one another, making matters of money and value more transparent but indicating there are still plenty of things to clear up in this mess.

In 30 days, when these tariffs are supposed to be revisited, Venus will have just started its retrograde. Mercury will enter Aries on March 3 after its own conjunction with Neptune and the Sun squaring Jupiter. We have a lot of astrology between now and then to get through, but the Sun’s superior position over Jupiter suggests unbridled and delusional leadership challenging growth with trickery and inconsistency.

Over the same weekend, Mercury’s transit makes confusing messages loud and aggressive, while the Venus Retrograde could indicate an internalized struggle about money and values. All that heaped under the same umbrella could easily imply more deception is on the way, but instead of lies behind the scenes, they’ll be upfront and on cable news.

Anti-Trump Protests

Photo by Kalea Morgan on Unsplash

Los Angeles was the site of anti-Trump protests on Sunday that targeted the new administration’s policies regarding immigration and its Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) raids. These protests were large and significant enough to close down multiple highways and at least one bridge in LA, and yet there wasn’t a single mention of it anywhere on cable news.