The big question on everyone’s mind this week is whether the crisis in Ukraine is going to blow up into a major global conflict.

I’m not ready to predict one way or the other, but I can tell you that astrologically, we are in an extremely dangerous period, and it is going to get steadily worse into April and May, with the last two weeks of April being the most volatile period.

I’ve written so much about the Uranus-Pluto square that most of you know by now that it has been an unmistakable signature for the revolutions we’ve seen since 2010 and the violent response by police and military. The Uranus-Pluto square extends into 2015, but will have a “ripple effect” for several years afterward.

Last August, Jupiter moved into opposition to Pluto and square to Uranus, forming a volatile cardinal T-square. Right as that configuration was at a peak, Egyptian security forces shot nearly 200 people protesting the military removal of Egypt’s first democratically elected president. That was the first of three T-squares with Jupiter, Uranus, and Pluto. I wrote at the time that the crisis would intensify at the second T-square and then hopefully resolve at the third. The second was last month, with Jupiter in an exact square to Uranus on February 25. The day before, Egypt’s entire cabinet resigned in a move seen as paving the way for the general who ousted the president last year to run for the presidency.

The third and final square of Jupiter and Uranus will be in April, and that is the one I’m most concerned about, as Mars will join the configuration. Mars, the planet of war, is in Libra, the sign of peace and harmony. I’ve seen references to Mars as the “warrior for peace,” but in traditional mundane astrology (the astrology of world events), Mars is considered dangerous in Libra and Cancer. Mars entered Libra in early December. Normally Mars stays in a sign for about six weeks, but due to his retrograde cycle, he’ll be in Libra until July 25th. From the middle of April to the middle of May, Mars transforms the T-square into a grand cross, further intensifying social unrest and geopolitical conflict. As if that’s not enough, there are two eclipses in April.

Three days before last week’s Jupiter-Uranus square, protesters seized the office of Ukraine’s corrupt but democratically elected president, who went into hiding. On Saturday (March 1), Russian troops moved into Crimea in Ukraine, just as Mars was turning retrograde. The current cardinal T-square and upcoming grand cross with Mars activate critical degrees in the charts for the United States and for Russian President Vladimir Putin. The United States is facing several crises at once, but Putin is under crushing pressure. And for him, it’s personal. Consistent with what we’re seeing already, the Aries ingress chart for Moscow suggests that he’ll be most concerned with the national wealth and foreign trade. President Obama’s chart isn’t as heavily impacted by the T-square, suggesting that he’ll fare better. The Aries ingress chart for Washington further indicates that he’ll have the country behind him.

Although the grand cross with Mars doesn’t come into play until next month, we’re nevertheless going to remain in a pressure cooker throughout March and April, because Jupiter is stationed and barely moving (from Earth’s perspective). He returns direct this Thursday, but won’t move out of contact with Uranus and Pluto until the end of May. It’s disheartening, I know. Although not all of us are in the belly of the whale, everyone is going through a lot of stress. I read an article the other day suggesting that many people are suffering from post traumatic stress disorder. Normally, we connect PTSD with combat exposure, but there are other kinds of trauma that can lead to the debilitating anxiety common with PTSD. I’m not suggesting that everyone with anxiety has PTSD, but the point of the article was that the relentless barrage of stressful events has made many of us jumpy. We often describe it as waiting for the other shoe to drop, but these days it’s raining shoes.

The “good news” is pretty much what I’ve been saying all along: that real change is taking place, and what we’re seeing now is the inevitable chaos that precedes the emergence of new structure and form. Again, I know that’s not much consolation for those who are suffering. Much has been written already about Pluto’s opposition to the U.S. Sun and square U.S. Saturn, indicating that the country is undergoing profound changes that will bring maturity and the ability to be a leader in the best sense of the word instead of the world bully.

Back to this week, we start out Monday with the Moon in Mars-ruled Aries, which doesn’t bode well for diplomacy. However, there’s also a Sun-Pluto sextile on Monday that is favorable for some serious negotiating. Then, it likely will be behind closed doors, so I’m not sure we’ll ever know what kind of horse-trading went on or who gave up what.

On Wednesday, Venus changes signs for the first time in more than two months. Due to her retrograde cycle, she has been in Capricorn since December 21. Venus in Capricorn is more about finances than love, but in matters of romance, she can be quite calculating. Although she’s not terribly warm and fuzzy in Aquarius, either, she’s friendlier and more sociable. Humanitarian causes get an extra boost, too. Aquarius is forward-looking and can think out of the box, and it’s the sign of hope – not a moment too soon.

Finally, I’d like to thank those who donated to RealAstrologers last week. Please know that I appreciate every one of you.

Wishing you all much love and courage,
Pat

© Pat Paquette, RealAstrologers.com, 2014.