brought a lessening of restrictions and more discipline in
holistic views
brought a foretaste of more socially-conscious power
structures
April
20 Total Solar
Eclipse in Aries
Highlighted
Pluto control issues
Highlighted the volatile
nature of social change
Brought a slower, more
practical outlook
Increased ambitious
tendencies, with problems of dogmatism and fanaticism
June 11 Pluto Retrograde
re-enters Capricorn
Favours more conservative,
strict, rigid tendencies
Brings a period of focused, balanced productivity
Winter Review
To
give a few examples of how that general mood played out, we have Greta
Thunberg, who was involved in some curious incidents over the
semester. There was a curious
Twitter exchange with MMA practioner David Tate. There was also a most
curious
‘staged police detention’ theory, and an equally curious exchange
with Rebel News reporters at the World Economic Forum in Davos (WEF) in Davos, Switzerland.
Curiouser and curiouser indeed, although I do think the police have improved
their Greta removal techniques in a recent Norway
protest.
Moreover, the ever-quixotic Peter Gabriel, ended speculation about an oft-announced new
album by releasing first
new material in over two decades. No exact date release date for the album
has been given, but three songs have been released so far, all released on the
day of the full moon. Additionally, Prince
Harry released his
autobiography, which could quite possibly be the weirdest book ever written
by a royal. In the US, another president has been leaving his
files at home.
Although not as numerous and dramatic as the previous
semester, there were still a few significant protests, notably in Peru
(over deposition of former president Castillo), Israel (over
80,000 Israelis protest against Supreme Court reform), Brazil
(Bolsonaro supporters), France
(retirement age pension eligibility), and Greece
(major train derailment). In
Canada, the results of an inquiry into the Ottawa trucker convoy
occupation revealed a
comedy of errors.
Spring Review
March 24 Pluto
enters Aquarius
April 20 Total
Solar Eclipse in Aries
May 17 Jupiter square Pluto
May 20 Mars opposite Pluto
May 22 Mars square
Jupiter
Some typical events could include a terrible India train crash
and widespread forest
fires in Canada. For more examples, all of the main news events for May
25 could correlate to these aspects. The Nato Resource
Conference was held in Ottawa
on May 23-25, 2023.
June 11 Pluto
Retrograde re-enters Capricorn
We've seen an escalation
in the Russia-Ukraine war and an indictment of an
ex-US president. Some spectacular water disasters,
a Greek migrant boat sinking with 700 casualties on June 14, and
a Sub-Marine exploring the Titanic wreckage had an accident causing five
fatalities, June 18. These could be related to Saturn In Pisces, also Pluto on cusp of Aquarius
& Capricorn, I would relate it also to Mars square Uranus, June 26,
& fading Mars opposite Pluto-themes: meltdowns, watery depths,
unusual, tragic
June 19 Jupiter in Taurus
sextiles Saturn in Pisces
Nato works on first
defense plans since Cold War. Another Saturn in Pisces
related-theme of water regulation awareness occurred on July 11 when a
growing list of countries have also called for a halt to deep-sea mining,
at a key moment for the fledgling industry as the International Seabed
Authority (ISA) meets to determine rules for mining
June 26 Mars square Uranus
July 20 Mars opposite Saturn
A third very volatile month-long Mars aspect in a row occurred with was
Mars opposite Saturn, July 20. Circumstances or people tend to thwart
our will, feelings of resentment or frustration; difficult to assert ourselves;
action & expressing our urges blocked; difficult to complete tasks. There
was also Sun opposite Pluto, July 21, bringing issues of power and competition.
Various incidents around that time included: A mass
shooting in Australia, a third indictment for Donald Trump, a big Tornado
in South Carolina, a UPS and Hollywood writer’s strike occurred, as
well as major Russian attacks in Ukraine and a big heat wave in
the US.
https://www.cnn.com/2023/07/20/us/5-things-to-know-for-july-20-auckland-shooting-trump-tornado-ups-netflix/index.html
https://www.cnn.com/2023/07/21/us/5-things-to-know-for-july-21-ukraine-extreme-heat-strikes-ai-e-cigarettes/index.html
On July 17, Russia suspended its participation in a crucial deal that
allowed the export of Ukrainian grain, once again raising fears over global
food supplies and scuppering a rare diplomatic breakthrough to emerge from Moscow’s war in Ukraine. Record Forest Fire outbreaks in Canada were announced, July 24. There was a military coup in Niger on July
25. On August 4, Ethiopia declared a state of emergency due to militia conflicts.
We lost several important musicians:
Singer and social rights activist Tony Bennett passed
away on July 21. Singer and social rights activist Sinéad O’Connor passed
away on July 27. Singer/songwriter and social activist Sixto
Rodriguez passed away on August 9. Robbie Robertson, the string-bending guitarist and principal songwriter of The Band,
and indigenous rights supporter passed away on August 9.
There were a lot of interesting cultural events over
the Summer that had Theosophical connections:
OZ: A New Musical freeFall Theatre Company Florida Musical about L. Frank Baum with Matilda Joslyn Gage, good run. Indiana Jones and the Dial of Destiny was released. HayaoMiyazaki's fantasy epic The Boy and the Heron. Barbie film has Gnostic Wizard of
Oz elements. Oppenheimer film, he was into the Bhagavad Gita.
Several major esoteric theosophical painting
exhibitions:
Embracing the Esoteric-Inside Mystical Realm of Occult Art June 19,2023 Eli Anapur Museo
Nacional Thyssen-Bornemisza, Madrid
Rubens Chagall Miró Munch Dalí Kandinsky Ernst. In London, another exhibition that brings
together two artists in dialogue opened at the Tate Modern. Hilma
af Klint & Piet Mondrian: Forms of Life. “Another World:
Transcendental Painting Group,
1938–1945” opened for the final stop of its multi-museum tour at the Los
Angeles Museum of Contemporary Art, where it will remain through June. The current Charmion vonWiegand show at the Kunstmuseum Basel is her first solo institutional show
Fall Review
October
8 Mars square Pluto
The oncoming Russia-Ukraine conflict was easier to
predict, because the buildup was highly mediatized. I think that this is the
first time that I was surprised at what occurred in the semester, as I didn't
really see a Sun opposite Neptune (a T-Square with
a Moon square to it) as particularly volatile (although I do find that
difficult Moon aspects can be powerful in event charts). Although the Hamas
attack occurred a day before an
exact Mars square Pluto on October 8, a
volatile aspect where pretty much anything can happen.
Perhaps the meaning of 'conflicts
of a more deceptive, illusory, fantastical nature could occur' could be
related to the surprise, unforeseen nature of the attack (regardless of whether
it was really that unforeseeable). Moreover, a very surreptitious, mobile and
swift attack on a rave
music festival could be considered to fit with the Sun opposite Neptune aspect. It
was a strange twist
of fate that a German-Israeli woman with esoteric interests, Shani
Louk, would become an iconic figure in the Hamas-Israel war, her final IG
post had Hermetic axiom 'As above, so
below'. A "convinced pacifist", she refused to undergo compulsory
military service. Moreover, ' seeing through any illusions,
smokescreens, halls of mirrors, moon mist and gaslight' could correspond
to the complicated
history of the Israel-Palestine conflict in general and the massive
Anti-Semitic and Islamophobia sentiments that the outbreak provoked.
There's also the underground tunnel network apparently being used in Palestine.
Another possible effect of the Mars square Pluto aspect was a major Earthquake in
Afghanistan. Two more events in Canada, related to problems in
discerning identity, with longstanding links to past events occurred around the
same time. Prime Minister Justin Trudeau said there were "credible
allegations" of Indian involvement in the murder of Sikh activist
Hardeep Singh Nijjar, who was gunned down outside a Sikh temple in Surrey, B.C.. and a former
Nazi was somehow applauded in Canadian parliament in the presence of Ukraine
president Volodymyr Zelensky.
Oct 14 New Moon
Solar Eclipse in Libra
(Mars
in Scorpio, water domicile,fully resourced to strive after desires; Venus in
Virgo, scrutinize interactions, pinpoint problems, researching solutions).

Also
in this amazing two-week period, elections
in Poland, Switzerland
and New Zealand brought
in right-wing governments, with a left-wing candidate coming in in Argentina.
In
the area of artistic fantastical mysteries, on October 14, the long, mysterious
saga of the theft of the red slippers from The Wizard of Oz film came to a
conclusion as the accused pleaded guilty, but with many unanswered questions
remaining. Moreover, the
litigation that delayed Dorothy's
dress has been cleared up (sort of) and now the dress can go to auction
(maybe). One of my astrological questions this year was, after years of
announcements of imminent release, will a new Peter Gabriel album finally
happen? It did. And it hit no. 1. Coincidentally, a very astrological release
scheme, which was punctually maintained up to December 1. Morevoer, the Vancouver Art Gallery
has declared that 10 oil sketches supposedly done by the Group of Seven’s
J.E.H. MacDonald and donated to the gallery in 2015 are fake.

The
COP 28 meeting was marked by controversy and confusion as, ' many countries
walked away from the talks frustrated at the lack of a clear call for a
fossil-fuel “phase-out” this decade –
and at a “litany of loopholes” in the
text that might enable the production and consumption of coal, oil and gas to
continue, although a last-minute breakthrough
agreement was achieved, with "nearly every country in the world has
agreed to “transition away from fossil fuels” – the main driver of climate change.'One has to
wonder about the timing of finalizing an agreement on the beginning of a
Mercury retrograde period, December 13.
Coincidentally, at the same time, US Congress voted to launch an impeachment inquiry against the
president.