The pandemic begins – January 2020

 In 2015 Maurice Fernandez wrote an extraordinary article on the astrology of 2020 that accurately predicted the world changing effects of the pandemic on all of our lives, 5 years in advance of Covid-19: The Saturn Pluto conjunction and the transits for the year 2020

In that article he said the following about the Saturn Pluto conjunction of 2020:

“On January 12, 2020, Saturn conjoins Pluto at 22° Capricorn for a single, and dramatic, pass. With the Sun, Ceres, and Mercury within a degree, and the respective South Nodes of Saturn and Pluto close to this degree, we can expect this cycle to have an exceptionally powerful effect, from the year leading up to the conjunction and approximately two years following it. As previously mentioned, this cycle is bound to stimulate significant geopolitical dynamics that will affect the distribution of power in many structures on a global scale. Angular aspects between Saturn and Pluto are also known to reflect pandemics and natural disasters, including seismic and volcanic activity.”

On this historic day, 12th January Saturn and Pluto are conjunct in Capricorn joined by their South Nodes, the Sun and Mercury, the genetic sequence of the new novel coronavirus which was to change the world was first revealed to the world, as reported by the WHO: “China shared the genetic sequence of the novel coronavirus on 12 January, which will be of great importance for other countries to use in developing specific diagnostic kits.” It also stated: “The (Chinese) government reports that there is no clear evidence that the virus passes easily from person to person. Currently, no case with infection of this novel coronavirus has been reported elsewhere other than Wuhan.”

Until 12th January the novel coronavirus (2019-nCov) was only observed in China and was not seen as a threat outside of China. At the great conjunction however, on 12th January 2020, the FIRST case of Covid-19 was diagnosed outside of China, on a patient who had travelled to Thailand, as reported by the WHO on 13th January. The pandemic begins.

An astrological blueprint for Covid-19 from 2019 onwards

In 2015, the astrologer Maurice Fernandez wrote “The year 2020 seems not to let up in intensity. From the first days of the year until the very last ones, each month accrues critically important planetary cycles that will undoubtedly set the tone for many years to come. Here are the most prominent ones: The year begins soon after a powerful Total Solar Eclipse conjunct Jupiter in Capricorn (Dec 26, 2019), and this is followed soon after by the mammoth Saturn–Pluto new cycle conjunction (Jan 12, 2020), exactly on their own respective nodes, and also tightly conjunct the Sun, Mercury, and Ceres.” In the shadow of the eclipse in Capricorn, followed by a stellium at 22′ Capricorn, this is the timeline of how the Covid-19 pandemic began:

24 December 2019

An unresolved clinical case sparks off the first scientific involvement: a bronchoalveolar lavage fluid (BAL) sample was sent from Wuhan Central Hospital to Vision Medicals in Guangzhou – a private company specialising in metagenomic massive parallel sequencing analysis.

26 December 2019

An elderly couple, both suffering from fever and coughs, sought treatment at the Hubei Provincial Hospital of Integrated Chinese and Western Medicine. Zhang Jixian, director of the Department of Respiratory and Critical Care examined the couple and made the preliminary diagnosis of their illness as something that “looked like flu or common pneumonia”.

27 December 2019

After having observed the elderly couple’s CT scans were abnormal, Zhang Jixian asked the couple’s son to undergo a scan and found the same pattern. Zhang Jixian had been working as medical expert during the SARS outbreak in 2003, and was aware of the signs of a suspected outbreak of an infectious disease. Another patient, a merchant from the Huanan Seafood Wholesale Market, arrived at the hospital with fever and cough that day, and his CT scan showed the same characteristics. All blood tests from the four patients indicated viral infection and a further array of influenza-related tests came back negative. Zhang Jixian filed a report to her superiors and also took the precaution of making a provisional quarantine area.

Wuhan Central Hospital received message from Vision Medicals that the BAL sample taken on 24 December contained a new kind of coronavirus, and the patient was then quarantined. Also at Wuhan Central Hospital, yet another unresolved case caused a BAL sample to be taken. Respiratory samples from a man hospitalised in Paris, France were retrospectively diagnosed as having SARS-CoV-2 virus present. The man presented with advanced symptoms (chest CT of ground glass opacities). His child had previously presented with influenza-like illness. The man had not travelled recently.

Pluto conjunct Jupiter in Capricorn 2020: Covid-19

Pluto will make 3 contacts to Jupiter this year by conjunction: April 4, June 30, and November 21. Pluto destroys in order to transform and rules many things, including viruses. Jupiter expands and amplifies everything it touches. In 2020 it conjuncts Pluto and has sent Covid-19 around the globe.

In 2015 I wrote:

“The keyword for Pluto is transformation. In order for transformation to occur, sometimes things need to break down altogether, or be let go of to allow new conditions to manifest. As Pluto is in Capricorn, this rules structures, order and earthly things, those things that we take for granted as solid and so our very support systems can be eroded. This isn’t the dissolving of Neptune, or the hard lessons of failure of Saturn, but decay of old ways, decomposition and death of something to allow for rebirth. Pluto is an outer planet, so its effects are felt generally by generations, unless Pluto is aspecting a personal planet or angle.”

All generations and everyone around the world is feeling the effects of Pluto in Capricorn conjunct Jupiter destroying the structures of society, culture, corporations and and even our very human need to socialise. We are all squirrelled away in our underground bunkers, with our lives stripped back to the basics, whilst we connect with only those dear to us in trusted bubbles.  What a profound moment in history to be alive. The great reset.

This article explains the key dates of the triple conjunction of Pluto, Jupiter and Saturn: https://astrobill.com/2019/12/22/2020-triple-conjunction-jupitersaturnpluto/

He states that “A very intense “set-off effect” will occur in mid to late March 2020 when Mars joins Jupiter, Pluto, and Saturn in conjunction. The active and violent Mars will stimulate the features represented by the triple conjunction. Confusion, disinformation, and indecision will follow around April 3 when Mercury joins Neptune. Another sign of violent, sudden and disruptive events occurs near April 7 as Mars squares Uranus. Upheaval and unsettling news is certainly indicated by this unusual array of planets.”

This rare conjunction triple conjunction of Jupiter, Pluto and Saturn from mid March onwards coincided with dramatic events for the world’s population (currently 7.79 billion) as this article from Medical Express explains that by April 7th HALF the world’s population were under a stay at home order, confined to their homes as Mars squared Uranus:

“Confinement measures started to make themselves felt in-mid-March as the number of cases of the novel coronavirus soared and the pandemic spread relentlessly around the world. By March 18 a total of 500 million people had been confined , that rose to a billion on March 23, two billion on March 24, three billion a day later and four billion on April 7.”

Pluto transiting natal Ascendant – The Lost 10 years

So its came, the big one. The transit I had my eye on for years.. Pluto transited my Ascendant at 20′ of Capricorn. I first started tracking it in 2016 and much has changed since then. I would say the old me has “died” and I was dismantled and I am in the process of being stitched back together although not yet fully formed. I feel like I am emerging from an underground bunker, blinking into the light. A triple transit of Neptune conjunct my Sun is adding to the confusion, I feel like I have been submerged, swimming through underground chambers. But I can see the light above me now. The image for Pluto Ascendant is of a chrysalis, shedding and letting go of an old you for a new you to emerge. A slow, inevitable process that we cannot control.

Pluto is about letting go of something that needs to be let go of for the soul to evolve. An area of our life, our psyche or ourselves is transformed. The image is of a volcano erupting in a sphere of our world or in our very self or soul, bringing up deeply rooted issues which cannot be held back, spewing forth. At first there can be fear and destruction and possibly pain, but as the new landscape settles, laid waste to what was once there, we see the possibilities for new life and new directions. Just as the ground is stripped and laid bare, at its most fertile after an eruption, our lives and selves are stripped back and transformed afresh for new growth and new beginnings.

So this Pluto transit transformed me in a way I suspected it would…”My life will be transformed and me along with it” I wrote in 2016. From 2016 until now, I went through the menopause and as Pluto moves away from my Ascendant through my 1st house, I am out the other side of that transformative process. My dreams of another child are a firm full stop, so there is loss and profound loss at that, but I feel grateful that everything else in my life has so far remained intact and I gladly sacrifice my womanhood on the alter of Pluto. It is definitely the end of an era and a death of the old me, but with a Pluto conjunct Ascendant transit, I am glad the loss was of something I was willing to lose.

Other than physical transformation, I no longer feel quite the same person I was or have the identity I had 10 years ago and it has gone for good. The excellent astrologer, elsaelsa noted that people can lose 10 years during a big outer planet transit. I  feel like I have been “under the radar” or underground for the past 10 years. 10 years ago I lost my my dream career that I had studied hard and fought for for years. I moved to somewhere where the work was not as valued and the paid less, so I stopped doing it and when I tried to restart, my skills were out of date, overnight. So I started a business in 2010, 10 years ago. This business is “behind the scenes” though, I cannot advertise, market my company or acquire more work directly. The work is passed to me via Government channels and is buried inside a system over which I have no control. How Plutonian! Becoming pregnant 10 years ago was also truly transformative as I paused to devote 10 years to motherhood. In that time, I have raised a child until they are beginning to have some independence from me and I can see a clearer road ahead.

The excellent cafe astrology has an insightful read on Pluto transits. As Pluto particularly moves so slowly, when you look back from your new vantage point, it may feel as though you have lost 10 years in a big outer planet transit like Pluto. But not lost, lost in it, “digging deep” and mining the soul, pushing past fears and letting go to find our soul’s core purpose.

Rejoining Astrological Journeying/Journaling

I took time out for 5 years busy doing other things (and having some major transits! Mostly Pluto/Ascendant but that’s for another post) but now we are in the grip of a global pandemic, Covid-19 I want to research and journal how astrology might inform how we got here and how we will get through it. 2020 was predicted to be a big year of change for the world, by many astrologers, though very few saw a pandemic on the horizon. I saw that some suggested the whole world would be disrupted by the internet, perhaps computer VIRUSES or issues with cryptocurrency but there are repeating patterns in 2020 that echo the astrology during other pandemics, the Russian flu, Spanish Flu, the black death, SARS, AIDS. We are in the grip of a conjunction between Pluto and Jupiter but also Saturn and Mars has made contacts this year and will remain in one sign for 6 months, which is unusual (normally it transits a sign for around 6 weeks). There are some fascinating astrological events linked to major events on earth, such as at one point in April 4.5 billion people on the planet were on a stay at home order, confined to their homes. This is the start of astrological journaling about coronavirus, covid-19, 2020 and beyond.

What has drawn me back to this astrological public blog today? I see that the New Moon is in Virgo, opposite my Pisces Sun. Priya Kale says of this New Moon:
“With the New Moon in Virgo: Get organised, introduce healthier habits, and check-in with your life, work, and daily routines. You needn’t reinvent the wheel, but take stock of the goals you’ve outgrown and those you are working towards, then you can make necessary adjustments. There’s a sense of effortlessness here. The kind when you’re so absorbed in a task that hours go by and it feels like seconds. But what you feed will grow – whether that’s fear, worry, and resentment; or your efforts towards healing. With awareness, you can direct the energy constructively and consciously to make tangible, solid progress over the next two weeks towards something that has long been a life-goal. Virgo is the sign opposite Pisces on the zodiac wheel. If Pisces (water sign) represents cosmic consciousness, spirituality, and divinity, Virgo is a manifestation of this divinity in earthly form. It speaks of selfless service and a divine plan. Virgo can often strive for perfection, but the key is to remember there is no such thing. The Universe is in a state of continuous expansion, there’s always room for improvement, and there are no mistakes or coincidences. This is the school of life, we live, we learn, we learn to forgive ourselves and others, and that’s how we grow.”

So now to learn about the astrology of late 2019, 2020 and beyond and how we find ourselves in a new reality faced by the whole of the world and humanity. I have heard it called “The Great Reset”

Mars in Virgo Opposite Neptune in Pisces

Neptune is still retrograding in Pisces and for the past few days and until tomorrow, it is opposite Mars in Virgo. This transit will be felt most by anyone with planets, angles or nodes between 4 and 8 degrees of Gemini, Virgo, Sagittarius, and Pisces (the mutable signs). This transit it currently exactly trining my Neptune/Jupiter conjunction in the 10th house of careers. At the same time, Saturn is exactly conjunct that Neptune/Jupiter. I’m working hard and learning a lot.

For the past few days and especially today, I am actively chasing a dream. Formation of a new company and new income, something I have wanted to do for the past few years, but I couldn’t see how to before. So far the new business has been under the radar, but I hope to go public with it THIS WEEK. I now have a vision of the future (Neptune in Pisces) and I’ve been fastidiously correcting all the details (Mars in Virgo). Will my idealism be elevated by an active square from Mars, or will I be disappointed? I’m taking a leap of faith on what feels right in my gut to pursue a dream (I am after all, a Piscean!) I wasn’t sure if this was the right way forward, until I received a call out of the blue (Neptune!) today asking to join my endeavour. Its the clue I needed to carry on.

Listen out for clues and messages in dreams, rumours, whispers on the breeze and follow your heart. The devil is in the details (Mars in Virgo), so try not to get obsessively bogged down in those whilst you hold onto your vision. Neptune can deceive though, so be sure of your sources and intentions and know your enemies. Don’t ignore your gut instincts. The energy seems to be picking up today so use it wisely.

Mercury Retrograde in Libra Sept 17 – Oct 9, 2015

Mercury is currently Retrograding in Libra, seemingly “going backwards” in the sky as seen from Earth, though this is merely an illusion. Mercury Retrograde is interesting in that it seems to be have predictable and noticeable effects on everyone and if you are aware of when Mercury is retrograding you should notice it playing out in your life.

Mecury rules communication and intercommunication, including travel, particularly over short distances. Therefore it rules over letters, contracts, local journeys, bicycles, trains, trams, transportation of goods and commerce both buying and selling. It rules all forms of conversations, reading and writing, contracts and agreements and legal documents as well. It also rules emails and computer code, smart phones, Facebook and Twitter! So any of these areas can be affected. So far this Mercury Retrograde period, Facebook has gone down 3 times. Mercury in Greek mythology is Hermes, the Messenger and the god of commerce. The word Mercury is from the Greek word merces, meaning gain, trade or profit. There has been many examples of stock market disruption and crashes during Mercury Retrograde, most famously the Wall Street Crash of 1929.

Mercury is the ruler of all messages and statements can turn out to be false or scrambled under Mercury Retrograde. The god Hermes was also a trickster and fickle, so you could never trust whether his messages got through or not, or were truthful. He was ‘hard to pin down’ hence the description Mercurial, like quicksilver. Nothing is ‘set in stone’ or can be relied upon during Mercury Retrograde. Retrograde Mercury gets a bad press in many ways, with such claims that things are disrupted, scrambled, go missing or break. It is true that it is not a good time to marry, sign contracts, make big purchases or decisions, or make an important announcement, as often those decisions and contracts will need to be REdone once Mercury goes forwards again.

However, I have always found Mercury Retrograde periods to be positive in that they do seem to force me, or I find myself going BACK over things. It helps me to find the time or inclination to REflect and REvisit, REdo or REarrange those things from my REcent past that have been left undone. The latin root of all of these words is re, meaning ‘again’ or ‘back’ and there is a definite period of going back over things and doing them again. This is true of both during Mercury Retrograde for matters in the recent past and again once Mercury is Direct and out of its shadow, you may find important decisions, purchases or contracts need to be redone, or revisited. Hence the reason to wait!

So although you may notice that things are disrupted, break or seem to stop or go in reverse at this time and decisions are hard to make, it is a good time to reflect and revisit things and tie up loose ends. I finally pull out that pile of bills and go through them, make payments, call people back, send a lot of emails, all those things that you have been putting off, or need dealing with, or going OVER. There is a sense of tidying the past before being able to move forwards once Mercury is out of its shadow phase.  It is only once Mercury is Direct and then moved back over the degree in which it slowed down and reversed and out of its shadow phase can its disruptive effects considered past. Mercury goes Direct on October 9th, but is not out of shadow until October 24th, 2015.

Mercury Retrograde can also be about past relationships, particularly with Mercury in Libra. You may find people coming back into your life from the past, or revisiting past relationships mentally. You may rethink current relationships, or have conversations going back over past events.

Life On Mars

Major discoveries in our understanding of the universe have coincided with events and new developments on Earth. Uranus was discovered in 1781. Uranus symbolically represents freedom, revolutionary and radical ideas, inventiveness, change, the lightbulb or eureka moment, lightning and electricity. It was discovered during major advancements in scientific methods and in the same decade as the discovery of Uranium, a previously unknown element named after the new planet. The planet Neptune was discovered in 1846. In astrology, Neptune rules illusions, delusions, dreams, imagination, alcohol, drugs and the unconscious. It was discovered at a time in the mid 1800’s with major developments in the invention of photography and film, anaesthetic and hypnotism. Pluto was discovered in 1930 along with Plutonium and the start of atomic research in the 1930’s. Symbolically it destroys in order to renew and rules death, destruction, rebirth, power all fitting symbols for the nuclear age.

Yesterday, as the Moon was eclipsed in Aries, there was a ground breaking announcement from Nasa – confirmation that they have found evidence of flowing water on the surface of Mars. This is a significant development from the “red planet”, falling on the same day as a blood red eclipsed Moon at 4 Aries conjunct the North Node at 0 Aries. Aries is ruled by the planet Mars and its colour is red. For their to be a major development in mankind’s understanding of Mars on the day of an Aries eclipse could not be more fitting. The presence of water mean that life is possible, a shocking discovery to a planet thought of as dry and barren. Yet there has always been hope of finding life on mars. Nasa stated in their press release:

“It took multiple spacecraft over several years to solve this mystery, and now we know there is liquid water on the surface of this cold, desert planet,” said Michael Meyer, lead scientist for NASA’s Mars Exploration Program at the agency’s headquarters in Washington. “It seems that the more we study Mars, the more we learn how life could be supported and where there are resources to support life in the future.”

After the Lunar Eclipse in Aries: Action Stations

Now that the lunar eclipse has passed, the anxiety and sluggishness has abated and things surging forwards positively. There is a strong sense of taking ACTION. Full moons mark culminations and completion of a cycle and Eclipses have 10 times the power of an eclipse to act on our lives. The energy of the eclipse has released situations that were stuck. Prior to the eclipse you may have felt anxious, or ill even, as those things that need to be purged or let go of manifested as illness. You can now let go of things you fear or have been stressed and anxious about and anything that it does not serve you to hold onto.

With Pluto now Direct we are forced to let go of the old us, or conditions we were hanging onto and with the eclipse falling in Aries, there is a powerful sense of initiation and beginning over. Now is the time to take action and move forwards. This isn’t necessarily new things out of the blue, but solutions to situations that have been stuck or ruminating for months. What have you been striving for since around March/April? Look particularly at anything that begun since Thursday/Friday when Pluto slowed down and stationed and see how things now move forwards in that area.

For myself, several important situations to do with money and property have been resolved this morning. All before midday. What situations have sprung forwards this morning in your life? And if they haven’t already, now is the time to make bold steps and in true Aries style ‘put yourself forwards’ and initiate change. Time to let go of those things you know you need to and send your life in a positive new direction. You may even want to make a list of them and set fire to it, truly letting go under a fiery red Aries Full Moon.

Oh and this morning the Leo got the job 😉

Eclipses – A Point of Prediction

One way to try your hand at predictions or understanding astrology acting on your chart (assuming you have one, or generated one for yourself in Astrodienst) is to look at eclipses. Eclipses come in pairs, one Lunar one Solar every 6 months. The recent eclipses have fallen in Virgo (Lunar) and then Aries (Solar). Eclipses that fall within 2 degrees of a personal planet (Sun, Moon, Venus, Mars, or Mercury) or an angle (Ascendant, Descendant, Midheaven or IC) will have a noticeable effect on your life. So if you have a personal planet or angle in Aries, or Virgo or squared to Aries, the coming eclipse will have a noticeable effect on your life if this is within 2 degrees of the eclipse point (4 degrees Aries). Look for aspects to personal planets by conjunction, square, opposition or trine and within a 2 degree orb or less. Exact aspects, within 1 degree, or less will have a more noticeable, dramatic effect, for good or bad, depending on whether the eclipse is afflicted or aspects an affliction in your chart. Look here (and elsewhere) for a list of coming and past eclipses: List of Eclipses 2003 – 2020.

As there is an emphasis on eclipses in this blog and in my life, I have just looked ahead at eclipses coming in the next few years looking for pairs of eclipses coming up in Leo, as this would affect the Leo and myself (Leo Moon). I spotted this!

21st August 2017 (The Leo’s birthday) – Solar Eclipse at 28 53 Leo EXACT conjunct his Sun at 28 19 Leo in the 9th house with Leo on the 9th house cusp. An exact conjunction of an eclipse to the Sun marks a major event or change of path in your life, an absolute milestone. “One becomes keenly aware of the need to set ones own course, to be who he or she wants to be” (Eclipse Interpretation Manual, Rose Lineman). An eclipse on ones birthday colours the whole year, being prominent in the Solar Return chart. It will be a dramatic, milestone year.

On the same day, 21st August 2017 the Solar Eclipse exactly conjuncts my Moon at 28 11 Leo in my 7th house (relationships). Eclipses to the natal moon stimulate the emotions and illicit emotional responses in the areas ruled by the Moon (7th house again, having Cancer on the cusp). “Events associated with this aspect have emotional impact on the individual and in the case of an exact conjunction, the effect can be traumatic, especially if the eclipse is severely afflicted.” (Eclipse Interpretation Manual, Rose Lineman).

Something big is going to happen that day for us and particularly that year.