Sept. 10 – Oct. 10: Jupiter square Neptune: This square (90° angle) between Jupiter in Scorpio and Neptune in Aquarius begins to form on Sept. 10, and is exact on Sept. 25. Saturn in Leo exacerbates the square, forming the third leg of a T-cross in the second half of September.

For the general significance of this square, see Jan. 1 – April 15, 2006. The T-cross with Saturn adds the unstable elements of unforeseen changes and uncertain conditions, suffering caused by bad judgments and dissatisfaction with one’s circumstances, manifesting for some as stress-induced illnesses. Mercifully, this square is only a month in duration, and soon gives way to the beautiful trine that comes next. Yet it could prove exceedingly impactful, especially in financial matters, and speculative risk-tripping is exceedinly dangerous now not just for the individual investor, but for the other rice bowls that are connected to his.

For the details on this very momentous aspect, see The Price of Poker, the mythic prelude of the UFC for September, 2006.

Sept. 30 – Jan. 6, 2007: Saturn trine Pluto: Saturn in Leo trines Pluto in Sagittarius through the last quarter of this year, and again in the middle of 2007.

Many people will look on this long Saturn-Pluto trine, which encloses the very intense Scorpio month of 2006 (see next) as the true godsend of the year, the indicator that some things do indeed remain sacred, and that not all traditional wisdom and practice has been swept away in the swirl of passion and desire from the end of 2005 through the summer of 2006. This time strongly favors the formation of spiritual community and the teaching of ritual and myth that will resonate deeply in the memory, and the immediate concerns, of the tribes who learn them.

Oct. 24 - Nov. 21: Stellia in Scorpio: Two stellia -- that is, alignments of five or more planets in the same sign -- form in Scorpio for almost the entire Scorpio month of late October through late November. From 10/24, the Sun, Mercury, Venus, Mars and Jupiter are all in Scorpio until Venus exits into Sagittarius on 11/17. Then on 11/18, the Moon enters Scorpio, replacing Venus, forming another stellium with the other planets. As the planets in Scorpio move and conjoin each other through the month, they also form squares with Saturn in Leo and Chiron and Neptune in Aquarius, and trines with Uranus and the Moon’s North Node in Pisces.

We would need this entire page to cover in detail which planets align at what angles with what other planets on each day of this nearly four-week period. It is enough to point out here that as Scorpio is the sign of death and transformation, we will likely see now, a few days before the start of the next tun in the Galactic Creation cycle, a period of very high intensity in which the relatively easy changes that human beings have resisted the chance to make -- both personally and collectively -- will now have to be made with much more difficulty. As all the planets in the stellia are the "inner" planets that are visible to the naked eye, this moment has a paramount emphasis on the ways in which our individual lives impact mass movements, sweeping social changes and the planetary environment. Many will gain new, shocking and guilty insight into the consequences of their clueless habits and ignorance routes. Widespread changes affecting many people will occur; but the seemingly smaller personal changes are far more important, determining in ways that few can see how the great changes will play.

Nov. 23: Jupiter enters Sagittarius: Jupiter enters Sagittarius, the sign of his rulership. He'll be here until December, 2007. In the coming year Jupiter will square Uranus in Pisces (January) and the Dragon’s Head (February), move trine Saturn in Leo and sextile Neptune in Aquarius (March-April), then be sextile Neptune again in October-November.

The year’s last notable synchronicity is that on the same day a new tun (next) begins, Jupiter enters the sign where his power is greatest, and his most “positive” and “beneficent” energies are likely to prevail. The upshot of the aspects noted above is that friction in the Jupiter-ruled areas of law and government is most likely at the beginning and end of the year, when shocking revelations about official misdeeds will occur, and will alter political loyalties, both among individual citizens and in bloc alliances among factions and parties. From March to September, there will be mild relief from recent oppressive control. There will have to be, if only to forestall cataclysmic changes. The main Jupiter challenges come, however, from late next year, when Jupiter enters Capricorn and conjoins Pluto from December, 2007.

Nov. 24: Ninth Tun and Fifth Day in the Galactic Creation Cycle: This tun -- a period of 360 days in the Mayan Calendar -- is the "Fifth Day" in the Galactic Creation Cycle described by Swedish Mayanist Carl Johan Calleman. It begins the transition from the phase of Awakening in 2003 – 2006 into the phase of Glamour in 2007 – 2009. During this tun, new technologies of light will begin to emerge with such astounding brilliance that we may look for a moment as though we’ve all got it, and universal peace and understanding are at hand. If only it were so. We will see now such a parade of “spiritual” images, many of them illusions, that one true test of the time will be whether our hearts and our eyes have been introduced and are in accord, or whether our eyes fly off like birds on a wire to places where the heart prefers not to go. 

“Among other things,” Calleman writes about this Fifth Day, “the mechanisms by means of which banks ‘create’ credit will become transparent. The old abstract calculations of the left brain half will then no longer be consistent with the emerging values of the right brain half, which sees reality concretely. This conflict between perceptions will be the deeper and more fundamental reason that the world economy will reach a point where no further economic growth will be possible and if anything a negative downward spiral will start.”

Dec. 5: Full Moon Alignment: This last Full Moon of 2006 may be the most highly charged of all, as so many planets join in complex relationships. Uranus in Pisces is the middle leg of a T-cross between the Sun in Sagittarius and the Moon in Gemini, Jupiter in Sagittarius is sextile to Chiron in Aquarius, and is linked by a quintile to Uranus. Pluto and Venus in Sagittarius are square to the Dragon’s Head in Pisces, and trine to Saturn in Leo, who is square to Mercury and Mars, conjunct in Scorpio and square Neptune in Aquarius.

Feb. 3 - April 5: Saturn opposite Neptune: This is a recurring aspect. For the second time since August-September 2006, Saturn in Leo is opposite Neptune in Aquarius. For more on the first opposition in this series, see August 2006 UFC prelude.

From late February through March, Jupiter in Sagittarius is trine to Saturn, and also sextile to Neptune. This three-planet combination recurs briefly in late May.

The practical import of the Saturn-Neptune opposition is that we can expect, again as we did six months ago, a concerted effort by established religious institutions and their allies in control-obsessed governments, against the new, communal spirituality of Aquarius. Most of this action will be propaganda and polemic, but some official harassment can be expected as well. The February – April period will in some ways set the tone for the three-year Glamour Phase that is to follow. Those who have been tardy in building courage and forming alliances will do it now. Others who have started 2007 in greater readiness will prepare their countertricks.

Feb. 11 – May 2: Moon’s North Node (Dragon’s Head) conjunct Uranus: The Dragon’s Head, moving backward through Pisces, is within 3° of Uranus for most of the Saturn-Neptune oppositions we’ve covered above. The Uranus-Dragon's Head conjunction is exact on April 1, just before the April Full Moon.