The USA, WikiLeaks and the Future

I am a personal astrologer, I specialize in reading charts for people. But every now and then something very interesting about an event or about the politics of a nation comes to my attention. This is one such case. I will make some quick passing comments about the USA and recent events, particularly the “WikiLeaks Scandal” which exposed the nefariousness of government secrets. I will maybe even offer some quick suggestions about the likely near future of the United States of America based on what I see in the passing course of briefly writing this blog post.

The Power and Wealth of the USA

First, lets say that America was “born” at 17:57 on July 4th of 1776, in Philadelphia – because this is the time and place when America officially declared her existence as a separate nation.

This creates, in the natural sidereal zodiac with natural whole-sign houses, a “birth chart” for the USA where the expansive and moralistic Sagittarius rises under a very direct and strong aspect from the independent, maverick, ambitious, and military planet: Mars.

A whole plethora of special alignments for political power form in this chart. These alignments are “Power Combinations”, a.k.a. raja-yogas - resulting from a mutual link occuring between lords of trines and angles (aka. “konas and kendras”).

1. 1/4L Jupiter + 9L Sun
2. 1/4L Jupiter + 5L Mars

Then rotate the chart to the Moon’s perspective (an imperative practice when assessing alignments), and note that the above combinations are particularly powerful ones because they recur from the Moon’s vantage point.

• The Sun is lord of the moon’s seventh house and Venus is lord of the moon’s ninth house. Their conjunction thus forms a Power Combination.
• Mars is lord of the Moon’s tenth house, so his conjunction with Venus (9L) forms yet another Power Combination
• Venus is herself a One-Planet Power Combination in this context because she is a single planet who owns both an angle and a trine. Her participation on Power Combinations therefore amplifies their potency.

These are the obvious links formed by conjunction. You must also look for links formed by mutual exchange among signs and nakshatras (which is not present in the USA chart), and those formed by mutual aspect.

Aspects have been completely oversimplified and destroyed by “Vedic astrologers” who have not even comprehended their most fundamental book on the topic: the Brihat Parashara Hora Shastra. Using a genuine Vedic aspect system (which is beyond scope to define here, unfortunately) each one of the four planets in stellium in the seventh house of this chart is in mutual aspect with Saturn in the tenth house of the chart (who is a significant source of political power all on his own, having a very high True Dignity – vimshopaka scores it as 15 – and a very high Sixfold Strength – shadbala scores it at 175%).

• Mars and Saturn link via mutual aspect with 60% efficiency
• Venus and Saturn link with 65-80% efficiency
• Jupiter and Saturn link with 85% efficiency
• Sun and Saturn link with 75-100% efficiency

From the vantage of the Ascendant these mutual aspects indicate a very wealthy country because the combination of the lords of the houses of wealth (2 and 11) with the lords of trines form Wealth Combinations (dhana yoga). Saturn and Venus own the two wealth houses for the United States, while Jupiter, Mars and the Sun own all three trine houses. Thus the United States of America has every possible wealth combination in the links formed between the Saturn and the four planets in the seventh house!

From the vantage point of the Moon these same mutual aspects form Power Combinations and Wealth Combinations, intensifying the potency held by these mutual aspects to create the most powerful and wealthy country in modern times at least.

WikiLeaks and Current Events

America has been going through rough times for the past few years – particularly as the nodes, Rahu and Ketu, have transited through an “opposite nodal return” and then into the first house / seventh house axis – during which time the draining, sudden and secret Ketu transits each of the four planets in the seventh house of the USA “birth” chart.

The USA is currently in the Mars era of her 120-year planetary cycles. Mars involves himself in Power and Wealth combinations in the US chart, as I illustrated above. But also the combination formed in the mutual aspect between Mars and Saturn creates poverty, recession and depression because Mars owns the house of financial loss and Saturn owns the house of financial gain. Saturn has greater Sixfold Strength than Mars, so the United States is not a poor country. But the fantastic wealth of this nation is punctuated by troubling periods of significant depressions, recessions and downturns whenever Mars and Saturn transit or cycle in ways which give Mars the upper hand on Saturn.

For example, during the beginning of Mars era (mid 2005 – mid 2007) the country enjoyed a huge boom of prosperity especially connected to real estate speculations (Mars, owner of the speculative house [5] and planet of real estate). But when the Saturn cycle within the Mars era began in mid 2007 there was a drastic, dramatic crash and all sorts of financial hell broke lose.

The presence of “natal” Ketu in the US’ house of wealth encourages whatever downturns occur in US economy to be particularly dramatic, sudden, and severe.

It is also instructive to note that real estate speculations was the main precipitator of the current financial crash – and that Mars / Saturn combinations (in whose Era/Cycle the collapse began) are well known classical indicators of real-estate in every school of astrology.

Currently the USA is just towards the end of the Ketu cycle of her Mars era. Ketu is the planet of secrets and hidden things. Ketu / Mars combinations are well known, well documented causes of sudden calamity. An unprecedented number of classified government secrets of a most repulsive sort were suddenly exposed to the global public by a website and agency called WikiLeaks. This occured exactly as Ketu applied her transit to the US’ Jupiter – ruler of the first house of the US chart and Mars applied his 100% aspect to the US Ascendant itself!

Ketu is a planet I personally admire deeply. I love how the US government and associated outlets react by saying, “How can Wikileaks expose so many national secrets!!! That is treason!!!” This is very indicative of the Sun (governments) reaction to Ketu – and currently the Sun transits Ketu’s counterpart Rahu in the US chart.

Allow me to give voice to the thoughts Ketu itself holds. It asks the Sun, “You blame me for revealing such horrible secrets!? But who blames you for keeping such horrible secrets!?“

Indeed that is Ketus role, and Ketu often fulfills its role flawlessly.

The Future

Real predictions as would be made by great astrologers of old would require a lot more time than I am able to give (I am already way beyond what I expected to give to this post!), and probably a lot more expertise than I currently have. But I will offer you a few quick thoughts of mine. Take them with a grain of salt.

Relatively soon, Rahu will begin his long 18 year era. Coincidentally this happens at the end of 2011, right around the popular “2012″ date. I think we will need to wait for that time to start to see any real end to the prolonged and protracted wars that the Mars era involved us in. We may have to wait until Venus has a significant turn in the Rahu era. Perhaps when Jupiter transits the US Venus during that era – which could be in the Summer of 2013.

The Rahu era is going to reinvent the United States.

Reinvention is an exciting process but one of many mistakes and regrets. The positions the US takes at the beginning of the Rahu era she will adopt the polar opposite of by the end of the era, around 2029. And it is only in the following Jupiter era – the 16 years after 2029 – that the reinvented USA will be able to regain significant footing and once again become stable and positive in a significant and overall manner.

In the near term… I expect major bumps in the road to occur each time Ketu transits a seventh house planet. And I expect also that when Saturn enters the first degree of sidereal Libra in August of 2012 America will make move to try to assert her power and dominance in the world in a heavy handed and aggressive way.

May the Supreme Godhead help us all open ourselves
to true wisdom and love.

- Vic DiCara

www.vicdicara.com

© 2010 Vic DiCara, All Rights Reserved

Symbols and Glyphs of Astrology

I am a huge fan of the glyphs developed in the West to represent the signs and planets. The essential meaning of every planet and sign is encoded into these fascinating symbols.

Glyphs for the Planets

Each planet’s glyph is made of the same primary symbols: a circle and a cross.

The circle is symbolic of life. The top of the circle is your original self, the bottom of the circle is your material identity. Life is a cyclic process of the original self transforming into a material being and then returning to a truer understanding of itself.

The cross is the symbol of effort. “We all have our crosses to bear.” The specific location of the cross on the circle reveals a lot about the meaning of a planets glyph.

There are two secondary symbols used in the glyphs: the half-circle and the arrow.

The half-circle is symbolic of evolution and development. The exact type of half-circle used in a specific glyph reveals a lot about it’s exact symbolism for that planet.

The arrow is simply a blurred cross, distorted due to the energy of the arrow’s movement. Only Mars has the energy to transform the cross of effort  into the arrow of ambition.

☉The Sun’s glyph is a circle with a dot in the middle. The circle is life. The dot in the middle of the circle is symbolic of the fact that the Sun is the center of all things in life. The center of life is your identity – the core of your conscious awareness.

☽The Moon’s glyph looks a lot like the moon, which is handy. It is the only glyph without a complete circle in it. Instead the left side of the circle has folded over or reflected to the right so that there are two half circles linked together on the right, making the characteristic crescent moon shape. Why? The Moon is your emotional self, a tricky reflection that creates and satisfies feelings of incompleteness which arise from our interest in a world of dualities.

The half-circle represents evolution. The Moon (emotions) allows evolution in both directions – towards the true self and away from it.

☿Mercury’s glyph is a circle with a cross at the bottom and a half circle at the top. The cross at the bottom shows that Mercury facilitates the effort for the true self to become a real manifestation in the material world. The half circle at the top is unique to Mercury. It shows that he alone can truly facilitate the evolution towards the higher self. This glyph encapsulates in a single symbol the fact that Mercury is your intelligence, which creates the ability to communicate as well as understand.

♀Venus’ glyph is like Mercury’s, without the half circle at the top. She gives you a physical body replete with fascinating senses through which you can truly experience the wonderful manifest world in your life.

♂Mars’ glyph is a circle with an arrow (a distorted cross) at an odd angle towards the top of the circle. This symbolizes that Mars is your energy. He is the passion and ambition which prods you to going off in your own unique direction with your own angle on life.

♃Jupiter’s glyph is a cross supporting the right side of a half circle. The right side of the circle represents evolution towards a deeper understanding of life. Jupiter is supportive of this effort. He encourages it and rewards it and provides the systems of religion, philosophy, and law which do the same.

♄Saturn’s glyph is a cross to which the right side of the circle is affixed and bound. The evolution towards a deeper understanding of life is nailed to the inescapable realities which Saturn generates: death, old age, decay and misery. We evolve by coming to grips with these realities.

☊Rahu’s glyph has no cross. In fact only the five real planets have crosses and represent effort. The Sun, Moon and the two nodes Rahu and Ketu are not literally planets. Their glyphs contain no crosses. They manifest their nature without any effort or evolution required.

Rahu and Ketu are the only planets to contain two complete circles. Their glyphs consist of these two circles joined by the arc of a half circle. The two circles represent two different lives, two different worlds. Rahu’s arc connects the two – bridging the present to the future, creating the ability and need to move upward and outward, and causing the possibility of nearly instantaneous change and movement.

☋Ketu’s glyph is identical to Rahu’s except that Ketu connects the two circles with a downward arc, while Rahu does so with an upward arc. This glyph symbolizes Ketu’s essential nature as a like between the present and the past, the ability and need to move inward and downward with the possibility of nearly instantaneous change and movement in those directions.

Sign Glyphs

♈Aries is the beginning of the zodiac – where the one (at the bottom) splits and becomes many (at the top). This symbolizes the tremendous energy and ambition of life itself.

♉In Taurus the energy forms a stable unit (a circle) which is like a womb for the new energy of life. The circular womb will cause things to grow and develop upwards (the half circle at the top).

♊ Gemini is the sign in which the incubated energy of creation is born and becomes a distinctly separate being. The many created at the beginning by Aries have developed by the support of taurus, and now become a second being, a truly individual self capable of its own experiences and ideas.

♋ In Cancer there are two circles attempting to connect. The new being of Gemini finds that she wishes to integrate her new self with her former self. Therefore Cancer is a place where energy directs inwards and emotions are examined rather privately.

♌ Leo begins a new cycle of evolution – the evolution to understand our own powers. A newly integrated single circle moves sets out with a new identity.

♍Virgo‘s glyph like taurus, creates circles. The three lines of the “m” represent the three layers of the world. The last line of the “m” weaves around itself, creating circular environments. In Virgo the newfound personal power of Leo enters these circles and attempts to more deeply and practically understand and express itself.

♎ Libra‘s glyph evokes both a balance and an equal sign. It shows a balance of desire to work equally with the world as well as on it. In Libra we attempt to achieve the delicate balance between our own personal strength and the personal strengths possessed by the other people in the world, to whom we relate.

♏ In Scorpio we complete the mastery of our own powers. Thus an arrow develops at the end of the three lines – the three layers of the world. This shows that we and now ready to move to a new stage and apply our newly understood personal power on a higher level.

♐Sagittarius’ glyph shows the arrow which appeared in Scorpio moving beyond the line of the “new level” of operation. Thus, in this sign we begin to truly explore the various ways in which we can develop ourselves on higher levels.

♑Capricorn’s glyph, like Taurus and Virgo before it, possesses circles. The straight lines from Sagittarius resolve into curves which create circles. This glyph shows that the new levels we discovered in Sagittarius can now enter a safe “womb” and incubate here to become more deeply and stably realized.

♒ The glyph of Aquarius, like Gemini and Libra before it, is dominated by two lines. These lines are wavy, showing that Capricorn’s effort to evolve a deeper understanding of life are now vibrant with power and potential.

♓ Pisces‘ glyph is two half circles bound together by a line. In Pisces we reach the end of one cycle of evolution. The new levels we discovered in Sagittarius, developed in Capricorn and expressed in Aquarius are now ready in Pisces to bear their final, deepest fruit: the ability to transfer us to an entirely new cycle of evolution. One of the half circles is the end of the old cycle. The line is Pisces effort to transport us to the other half circle, the beginning of a new cycle of evolution.

- Vic DiCara

www.vicdicara.com

© 2010 Vic DiCara, All Rights Reserved

Two Faces of Dualism

In this brief post I want to share an exploration of the two sides of the dual zodiac mode, and how the two lunar mansions in the dual sign, Sagittarius, very nicely illustrate each side.

Moola and Poova Azhaadha are both in Sagittarius, and Sagittarius is a dual sign. But Moola is ruled by the impulsive and sudden Ketu, while Poorva Azhaadhaa belongs to the wise and calm Venus. Thus Moola expresses the wild nature of duality, and Poorva Azhaadhaa expresses it’s beneficial nature. The negative side of the dual mode is that one can’t stay put on a single topic or in a single pursuit long enough to get anything accomplished. In this vein, Moola is digging for meaning, searching for the underlying roots of meaning – wildly searching here and there. Without plan, digging with bare hands, digging wherever looks promising. Abandoning a hole suddenly when another root catches your eye.

The positive side of the dual mode is that one becomes open minded and can hear advice from all angles and understand topics from multiple points of view. Poorva Azhaadha is the lunar mansion expressing this nature of Sagittarian dualism. In Poova Azhaadha we stop digging, sitting down for a second. We take out a fan and cool off after all that insane work. We drink a glass of water and pause. Then we hear from the great guides, Venus (who owns the mansion) and Jupiter (who owns the sign) and make plans and strategies about the best way to dig out and uncover the root of the meaning of our life.

Sidereal, Sagittarius, Cancer, Capricorns, Relationships, Ascendant Aspects, & Mars Transits

Tropical & Sidereal – Same Aspects?

I did a calculation for my sidereal natal chart, the houses & aspects are exactly the same in my tropical chart, the only difference is the signs in the planets. Is the Tropical & Sidereal such similar methods that the houses & aspects don’t change?

When you do a sidereal chart it is not very helpful unless you look at it from a sidereal perspective. There is a reason why both sidereal and tropical astrology can yeild accurate results: because they both have systems of interpretation developed around them which maximize their strengths. So to take your chart and set it to sidereal, but continue to look at it through a tropical system will just wind up being confusing. And really this is why many people walk away from sidereal astrology saying, “it doesn’t work.” or “It doesn’t make sense.” or “It doesn’t seem to apply to me.”

So when you want to see your sidereal astrology you should learn the sidereal system, or even go to a sidereal astrologer. Here are a few important fundamentals:

- Sidereal astrology relies on the whole sign house system

- The interrelationship of various house lords is very useful in interpreting sidereal charts. Much more than in tropical charts.

- The system of aspects is different, because sidereal planets influence signs themselves, not just planets within orb. In general every planet influences the 7th sign from it, but the outer planets also influence/aspect two additional houses.

There’s a bunch to learn about, but it is extremely well worth it, and I encourage you to devote some effort to it.

As for the aspects of the tropical system… these measure the number of degrees between one planet and the other. It pertains to the distance from one planet to the other, not to the placement of those planets in the zodiac. So changing the method of calculating the zodiac will not affect it. If your Jupiter is 90º away from your Moon, it will ALWAYS be 90º away from your Moon regardless if you are using a zodiac system that is Tropical, Sidereal, Draconic, etc. etc.

A simple way to understand the difference between the Sidereal and Tropical zodiac is that the Tropical zodiac has currently slipped just about 24º *ahead* of where the real constellation-based zodiac borders are. So subtracting 24º from every point in your tropical chart (including Ascendant, and Midheaven, they are no exception) will give you the real / sidereal location of the bodies in your chart. As I said, though, to make SENSE out of those locations you need to view them through a sidereal astrological perspective. I highly suggest Vedic astrology for that perspective, though I admit it is quite frustrating sometimes finding a reasonable and somewhat engaging explanation of how to do Vedic astrology.

I am currently writing a book on Vedic / Universal Astrology! =)

Is Sagittarius a good sign?

Every sign is both good and bad. Every sign has strengths and weaknesses. Sagittarius has inherent strength towards moral experimentation, growth and learning, but has some weaknesses as well. For example Venus is the closest Sagittarius has to an outright enemy. She owns the 11th and 6th Houses from Sagittarius and therefore tends to present challenges and blessings concerning the mixing of friends and enemies. Sagittarius is a place in which friends can act like enemies and be argumentative, but where enemies can be made peace with and turned into friends. Often this is a cyclic experience.

Why dont Cancer men say what they feel when it comes to love?

Always beating around the bush. I just want to shake the **** out of them!

Cancer is the 4th house of the zodiac… the 4th sign. Therefore it is quite shy and private. Why are you asking Cancer influenced people to rip off their emotional clothes in front of you? It’s not fair to them. What you can learn from Cancer is to calm down, take your time, and let the “clothes” come off gradually, with trust, and in time.

~~~

As for those who report “Cancers” not acting like this. Remember that you are only talking about their Sun sign. A person who is strongly influenced by Cancer will act like this (unless their planets are very unusually positioned). The strongest influence is to have the Ascendant in Cancer, the Next is the Moon in Cancer. The next is the ascendant lord in Cancer. Then comes the Sun in Cancer…

Why are Capricorns and Leos attracted to each other?

They are NOT attracted to one another.

What you are probably doing, though, is referring to two people with **Sun** signs of Capricorn and Leo. These individuals may be attracted to one another **in spite of** their incompatible Sun signs, because their Moons & Ascendants are in compatible alignments.

When you look at a natal chart do you make an interpretation Of how the person may be?

Say you were to meet someone (a stranger and only know their gender and age), and were given their natal chart to possibly make an interpretation of how they would be, would you? Do you believe that you would be right? If they were an Gemini, for example, known to be talkative, would you suddenly become talkative yourself? Take on extroverted characteristics to accommodate them, yourself to them? If there were Square aspects from Mercury to other placements, how would you interpret that? A slow mind? Would you feel superior to them thinking that those aspects may make them have trouble communicating, learning, etc? Just as an example, again.

It really doesn’t matter if you do or don’t because whether you know what’s happening between you or not, it’s going to happen. In general I think it is an EXCELLENT idea to look into the chart and interpret it as you outlined in your question, so that you can be proactive and productive about the destinies that will unfold in your relationship. Although in practical reality, you would probably only want to do this with relationships you consider very important unless you have a lot of extra money to pay an astrologer, a lot of free time to spend developing trustworthy interpretations on your own, or a lot of naivety to put your trust in some free website.

Planets aspect Ascendant?

Since the Ascendant is about someone’s appearance, how would people view me based on the planets that aspect my Asc?

Sun trine Ascendant – orb +0.18

Mars trine Ascendant – orb +2.35

Pluto trine Ascendant – orb +2:53

Midheaven square Ascendant – orb -2.56

Mercury square Ascendant – orb -7.50

The Ascendant is not merely about the physical appearance. It is the tangible self. Part of that is physical appearance, but it is not everything.

Midheaven is quite often square to the ascendant. I would ignore that.

I would ignore pluto, because I am a traditionalist. =)

The Sun, Mars and Mercury will operate differently depending on how they are related to the planet who owns your rising sign. But to get a very rough starting point idea, the Sun will contribute some authority/confidence/ and interest in self-realization. Sun and Mars together will allow you to be commanding, self-determining, and a leader not a follower. Mercury squaring your ascendant will make you have some childlike faults and can cause you to have a somewhat impractical intellectual process. (Mercury’s orb is quite large, so it won’t be too strong an influence).

These are just starting points, but they should make some initial sense to you and ring some bells. To go further with this you need to read the whole chart as an integrated unit. You can’t really do more than make educated guesses without that.

Duration of Mars Transits

Do Mars transits to natal planets or points in chart usually last for 5 days within 1 degree? And is this when Mars energy is really felt? how this differs when Mars is in “retrograde”? is Mars usually slower in motion when in “retrograde”? why and how for this?

Mars moves at different speeds all the time, almost all the planets do. The Sun and Moon are the most constant. Therefore the duration of a Mars transit will always be different. If for example Mars pulls to Station and then retrograde over your chart point, the duration of that transit will be far greater than if he is just whipping by it in the middle of one retrograde to the next at full speed.

Mars travels at various speeds while in Retrograde. But a planet’s fastest speed is when moving forward. This is simply do to the ruberbanding effect of relative orbits. You could look it up in an astronomy textbook or website.

Transits are felt to build up and intensify as they “apply” which means as they come together / move closer in degree.

Planets are STRONGER when they move just a little under their top speed in either direction (forward or retrograde). This is an elaborate topic, you could start by looking up “Cesta Bala” (Strength of Motion) under the heading of “Shad Bala” (The Six Strengths of a Planet), but you will need a stiff black coffee, because it is extremely technical and arithmetical stuff.

Practically speaking Stations and slow motion are very important in transits – for exactly the reason you hint at in your question – it causes the planet to influence the particular points in chart for longer durations of time.

- Vic DiCara

www.vicdicara.com