In preparation for writing my weekly forecast, I try to make sure that I have a good grasp of current events. This week, the task has been overwhelming.

Then yesterday I realized that astrological events are pretty overwhelming, too. “As above, so below.”

I’ve been reading news reports on the violent protests in Kiev, trying to figure out the truth of what’s going on and, even more confusing, who all the players are. But I am clear on the astrological signatures underlying these historical events.

On Wednesday, we experience the second of three exact squares between Jupiter and Uranus, both in conflicting aspect with Pluto. The first one occurred on August 21, the day of a horrific chemical weapons attack in Syria. This time around, Kiev is on fire. The players are different, but the pattern is startlingly similar: Protests erupt against a corrupt political leader, who orders a police crackdown. Police brutality ignites more protest, with violence and death. In both situations, the United States is involved on one side against Russia on the other, with accusations that the West deliberately sowed dissent for economic gain. Energy resources are a major factor in both situations, although little is written about it in the corporate media.

Before Syria, there was “Arab Spring,” a series of uprisings in North Africa and the Middle East that erupted in 2010 as Uranus began approaching a square to Pluto. Violent protests also have broken out in Thailand, Venezuela, and Brazil, to name a few. Uranus represents rebellion, while the use of deadly force against protesters corresponds to Pluto in Capricorn. In July 2012, not long after the first exact Uranus-Pluto square, the Red Cross declared that the Syrian uprising had escalated to a civil war. International observers are predicting the same fate for Ukraine. In all, there are seven exact squares of Uranus and Pluto between 2012 and 2015. The next one falls on April 21.

Pluto also represents covert operations, government corruption, and the frightening power of multinational corporations. It’s now clear that the United States has been instigating a regime change in Ukraine, all the while saying that the people should be allowed to choose their own destiny. Where have we heard that before? What we have now that we didn’t have last summer is a leaked recording of a conversation between a top State Department official and the ambassador to Ukraine plotting exactly how the United States would install a new government in its own interests – which of course means in the interests of U.S. banks and corporations such as Monsanto and Chevron. As it so happens, Chevron last November signed a 50-year deal with the Ukrainian government to develop oil and gas there, likely through fracking. At the time, it appeared that Ukraine was on a track toward joining the European Union. Just a few weeks later, President Viktor Yanukovych suddenly changed direction and chose to deepen ties with Russia, triggering the first wave of protests. Ethnic divisions in the country are an important piece of the story, which is far more complicated than I can deal with in this space. We also have to presume that if the United States is playing dirty, so is Russia (and everyone else). More and more, we hear about a new Cold War.

Jupiter opposed Pluto earlier in February, so the T-square has been active all month. I am hopeful that the crises in Ukraine, Venezuela, and other hotspots around the world are early manifestations of the Jupiter-Uranus square and that we won’t necessarily have a more-violent development on Wednesday. The thing is, when Uranus is involved in an aspect, you just never know, and Jupiter is stationing to return direct on March 6. Planetary influences are at their strongest when a planet is “stopped” (what it looks like from down here) and about to change direction.

Besides that, we have three planets changing direction in the space of three days, several other aspects, and a New Moon. Planetary stations usually correspond to shifts in world affairs and in our personal lives. But with two planets turning retrograde, one turning direct, and another turning direct the following week, it’s hard to know what will shift, in what direction, and how far.

Mercury’s return direct normally corresponds to movement in communications, financial transactions, and work projects following a few weeks of frustrating obstacles and delays. If you used Mercury’s retrograde to edit, revise, or review a project or contract, you’ll be ready to move forward after Mercury returns direct on Friday. But then we’ll have to contend with Mars and Saturn retrogrades on Saturday and Sunday, so by Monday, when we’d normally expect communications and business-related deals to get back on track, relationships and career issues could pose challenges. The square from Venus to Mars on Sunday (March 2) could aggravate personal relationships as well as foreign relations. Since this is going to be a long post, I’ll write more about the significance of these retrogrades next week. By then, we might also have some idea of how they will shake out, especially in terms of world diplomacy and the fate of embattled political leaders.

Mars turns retrograde eight hours after the New Moon in Pisces on Friday. Although the chart for this New Moon is dominated by the cardinal T-square, the New Moon is in favorable aspect to Jupiter and Pluto and so might provide a “way out” for some of the tension. That said, I’m hesitant to predict entirely positive outcomes. Not only does Pisces have a dark side, but the Sun and Moon are in conjunction with Chiron. We might think of it as something like a healing crisis. If you’ve ever experienced the phenomenon, you know that it can lead to revitalization and renewal, but first you have to suffer excruciating pain, often due to the surfacing of accumulated toxins about to be released. One might look at the entire world that way right now. Collectively, we have a lot of accumulated trauma from millennia of violence. If the body has to release toxins before it can heal, it makes sense that the “body” of humanity follows a similar process.

I’ve written in a similar vein about the Uranus-Pluto square and intermittent T-squares. As a species, we’ve arrived at a crossroads between evolving consciousness and destroying ourselves. Uranus and Pluto break up old patterns in sudden and violent ways. Uranus explodes the energies holding these old patterns together, resulting in temporary chaos. Pluto can destroy with terrible force, but he also destroys by slow rot, and then that energy is released to create something new. However, there is no guarantee that the “something new” will be better. Indeed, with Saturn and Pluto in mutual reception (each in the sign ruled by the other) and in a close sextile for most of last year, it seemed like trying to build anything new was nearly impossible. New patterns emerged, only to be broken down before they were fully formed. My take is that this probably was a good thing, because the new patterns weren’t different enough from the old to be sustainable in the long run. For humanity to survive, we need radical change on a deep, subconscious level – which happens to be one of the attributes of Pisces.

Pisces rules the collective unconscious, with all its demons, traumatic memories, and maladaptive survival mechanisms. If you’ve ever gone through intensive psychotherapy, you know that accessing the unconscious is incredibly difficult, and what you find there can be so destabilizing that you feel temporarily insane. Eventually, once you process and integrate the buried information, you become more whole and authentic. I believe that humanity as a whole is going through a similar process – especially the temporary insanity.

The above notwithstanding, it certainly is possible that breakthroughs in healing can occur at this New Moon, especially those that have been close to the surface, just waiting to happen. I know that many of you have been suffering through extremely challenging situations – as have I – ready and waiting for a leap forward. There is reason to be hopeful.

There is one other aspect this week worth mentioning, the sextile from Venus to Saturn on Monday, which is all the more potent due to Saturn’s imminent retrograde. Also, Venus is in Saturn-ruled Capricorn, which strengthens the relationship. Positive Venus-Saturn aspects often represent durable commitments in relationships, be they personal or professional, because the parties can be more mature and realistic about what to expect from each other. I would venture to say that, with Saturn stationed to go retrograde, relationships that failed previously due to unrealistic expectations could be revisited and possibly revived.

On a completely separate note, I’m starting my annual fund drive. Perhaps it’s not a good idea to launch it while Mercury is still retrograde, but I need your help. I’m coming up on some big expenses at the beginning of March, including the biennial renewal of my hosting service and domain registration fees, without which RealAstrologers can’t exist. As you know, I’ve had to cut back on consultations and reports due to health issues, but I’ve continued to write the weekly forecast, which is the only reason that many of you visit this site. If you haven’t made a donation since last year, please consider helping out so that RealAstrologers can continue to serve its loyal readers.

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Wishing you all much love and courage,
Pat

© Pat Paquette, RealAstrologers.com, 2014.