Astrology works so well – in retrospect. The future is murky territory and navigating that territory through predictions is a dangerous game – rewarding when you get it right, very forgettable when you get it wrong. Every time, with Trump, I get it wrong. But, getting things wrong is the first stage of getting things right in the end, certainly in consultations, when intelligent questioning finally leads to a correct understanding. You can do that with clients, but not with politics.

Mistakes are made when we think the cosmos deals in the same categories as we do. The cosmos does not deal in names, like Trump or Harris, or in parties like Democrats and Republicans. What the cosmos says is:
“What has to happen on Earth that best reflects future planetary movement?”
That is the starting point, and the intrepid astrologer must work backwards from that point to find correlations playing out socially and politically. And, in retrospect, one thing is clear: All the outer planets are moving from feminine (sensitive and reactive) signs to masculine (rational and proactive signs).

Transition to Masculine Signs

Masculinity
That sheds a completely different light on things. The USA was birthed in revolution, the indigenous population ethnically cleansed, and slaves imported to work the land. It was the gun and the whip. In the USA today, the old demons are emerging. The public mood is not attuned to “bleeding heart liberals” or woke folk. No, the election proved that it wants masculinity in the likes of Vance, Joe Rogan and Trump, even if it is toxic. Trump vowed to be the protector of women “whether they like it or not”. 53% of white women voted for Trump, so they liked it.

Many people wonder how it is that people voted for a narcissist who flirts with dictators, betrays his wife with a prostitute, sexually assaults women, and vows revenge on his enemies. A man who lies and bullies. But it is not despite these flaws that people voted for him, it is because of these traits: people want to be like Donald Trump. They want to be Apprentices.

Trump is an expert at pushing the fear buttons. His eclipsed Moon in Sagittarius in the 4th house shows how his personal projections become the country’s projections – fear of foreigners invading the USA and eating their cats and dogs. His Sun-Uranus-North Node conjunction in Gemini and the 10th house opposing the Moon is like a lightning conductor splitting his chart – and the country – in two.

Trump horoscope

Donald Trump. June 14, 1946. 10.54 Jamaica, New York

Whilst Democrats went on about the threat to democracy Trump most surely represents, those who voted Republican did not care. According to a BBC analysis, only 18% of Republicans (versus 80% of Democrats) worried about democracy, 90% worried about immigration (versus 9% Democrats) and 80% worried about the economy (versus 19% Democrats). Seen in that light it is easy to see why Republicans won the election.

Poor Americans Getting Poorer
Republicans understood what voters cared about. Democrats were asleep. The economy, according to Trump, was being ruined by all those immigrants streaming in and stealing jobs, all that money pouring out to support Ukraine, and all those offshore jobs resulting from globalism. Voters do not make the connection that large parts of the economy are dependent on the slave wages paid to undocumented immigrants, they care about their paycheck and the groceries they cannot afford.

That is understandable. Whilst college-educated people have experienced a rise in income since Reagan, the majority of people, who are not college-educated, have not. Not for 50 years. They are struggling with two jobs or underemployment, little or no medical care, drug addiction and marginalization, so when East and West coast intellectuals with their medical insurance and kids in college wring their hands at Trump’s victory, these forgotten people feel that retribution is being exacted – and that is just what Trump promised. Democrats really need to get their act together and become an anti-establishment movement.

The Demise of Elites
This IS Pluto in Aquarius. The last time Pluto traveled through this sign was the time of the American and French revolutions. In France in the 1780’s, the elites went to the guillotine. The “sans-culottes” – ordinary folk who did not wear fancy clothes, took power. Old ladies knitted all day watching around 15,000 rich folks lose their heads in the Reign of Terror. Including the King and Queen. At that time Pluto opposed Uranus – this time there is a trine, so things are less apocalyptic.

Paradoxically and very successfully, it is billionaire Trump who presents himself as an anti-establishment figure, but the people who voted for him will not see the improvements they hoped for. He’ll bring tax cuts for the rich, introduce tariffs which will create inflation, income inequality and a larger federal deficit. Wall Street and the fossil fuel industry will boom, and the rich will get richer.

Immigration
Under the Biden administration, there were eight million migrant “encounters” and almost two million evaded authorities and now live somewhere in the USA. With Trump, these figures were less than half this. The porous nature of the Mexico-US border is reflected by Saturn and Neptune in Pisces – best of luck trying to build a wall with that configuration. But, as Neptune and Saturn simultaneously move into Aries in 2025, then move back into Pisces, then back into Aries in 2026, it is obvious that initiatives will be taken to fix a leaky border. Mass incarceration and repatriation of undocumented immigrants, for example. It was a clear astrological giveaway that the party that supported border initiatives would win popularity. Trump pushed that button.

Building a wall with Saturn-Neptune in Pisces?

Ukraine Loses Land – and a Leader
When Trump assumes presidency, on January 20th, 2025, his appointees will start to find ways to stop the war in Ukraine, and they have powerful leverage on Zelenskyy with the threat to stop supplying weapons and finance. There are sure to be decisive events taking place in 2025 and 2026. The Ascendant ruler in Ukraine’s national chart (note 1) is Saturn at 1.31 Aquarius, which Pluto transits during 2025. This influence suggests that a large bite is taken out of Ukraine’s territory. Furthermore, when Pluto hovers around 5 degrees Aquarius from May 2026 to November 2027, it will activate sensitive points in key horoscopes for Russia – the 1991 Independence Moon and the Flag-Up Saturn – which will also bring upheaval in Russia.

Pluto also falls on Zelenskyy’s Sun-Venus conjunction at the time (Note 2), which could mean that he no longer will have a leadership role in Ukraine.

Russia Loses Putin
Whatever deal is done to end hostilities in Ukraine is unlikely to involve Ukraine giving up more territory than Crimea and the Donbass – it is difficult to see how Ukraine would agree to more. In Russia, which has sustained an estimated 750,000 casualties in the war, probably rising to a million by the end of hostilities, there is a likelihood that the Russian people (not the oligarchs or military who do not dare confront Putin) are going to vent their anger. With Uranus, Neptune and Pluto in the first degrees of Gemini, Aries and Aquarius respectively, convulsions are likely, not least as Uranus transits Putin’s Moon in Gemini from July 2026 to April 2027. Russian mothers destabilized the Soviet Union during their war against the Mujaheddin in Afghanistan when only 15000 soldiers were lost, so what will happen when all the mothers and children share their stories about a million losses in Ukraine?

Putin Moon Transits

The Next Four Years
On the date of the 2025 Presidential Inauguration, there will be a Sun-Pluto conjunction for the first time in USA’s history. In an earlier article, I naively imagined this would signify a Black president. Really, this calls to mind something else, and that was Trump saying he would only be a dictator “on Day 1”. With retrograde Mars in Fall in Cancer on the IC of the Inauguration chart opposing Pluto and the Sun, it looks like the USA is in for not one day but four long years of authoritarian rule.

2024 Inauguration

Inauguration. January 20, 2025. 12.00 Washington. DC.

There are indications that the next four years will be disruptive. The Saturn-Neptune conjunctions in 2025 and 2026 at 1 Aries fall on the IC of USA’s (Sibley) chart, which, whilst showing the attempt to cut immigration and incarcerate/expel undocumented immigrants, could indicate a further undermining of conditions for poorer Americans.

Uranus and Revolutionary Change
If USA’s horoscope is progressed to the 2024 election, the MC is at 7.44 Gemini on progressed Uranus at 7.13, and as 2026 begins, the MC conjoins radix Uranus in USA’s 6th house. This was a hint that a disruptive leader would take power – not least because Uranus transit is exactly on Trump’s MC in 2025. This indicates a time of radical change for US institutions, the job market and administrative organizations.

USA (Sibley) July 4, 1776. 17.11. Philadelphia, PA

This Uranus influence, channeled through a President with a Sun-Uranus conjunction in the 10th house, gets a double emphasis because Uranus also returns to USA’s radix Uranus in Gemini for the third time since independence. The first time was the Civil War (the US split in two) , the second time was D-Day (Europe split in two), so the third time is also likely to be… eventful. USA’s third Uranus return begins in July 2027 and stretches to May 2028.

World Upheaval
The conclusion must be that if anyone thinks that Trump’s second term is going to be measured or stable, it will not. The USA is ripe for radical change. As change is also likely in Russia because of the repeat of the Saturn-Neptune cycle, which has traditionally brought radical leadership change, and in China as Pluto transits the Moon at 3 degrees and Ascendant at 5 degrees Aquarius, it is very likely that the world itself will be in an upheaval process.

In an earlier article, I pointed out that the horoscope for the United Nations – which after all is composed of 193 nations – can be seen as a horoscope for the World. In this chart, progressed Mars moves retrograde, returning to its radix position and conjoining Saturn in Scorpio as the war in Ukraine breaks out. In 2027, the Sun progressed conjoins natal and progressed Mars. Then the progressed Ascendant conjoins Saturn and Mars from 2029-2031. This seems like a continuation of warlike trends.

UN with progressions

United Nations: October 24, 1945. 16.45. Washington, DC

I could be wrong, but it looks like the last years of this decade will see a deterioration of the world situation. Readers can take heart that the great astrologer André Barbault was more optimistic and wrote:
“… for more than a decade now a lively interest has arisen in me for the gigantic and imposing configuration of 2026-2030, bearer of a renewal of civilization…”
The configuration he is referring to is firstly the harmonious configuration of Neptune, Uranus and Pluto, (which will bring the predominance of artificial intelligence and the electrification of infrastructure), and secondly the Saturn-Neptune conjunction right at the beginning of Aries.

Let’s hope Barbault’s optimism is justified.

Adrian Duncan
December 9, 2024

  1. Ukraine: August 24, 1991. 17.00 Kiev
  2. Zelenskyy: January 25, 1978. 14.00 Krivyi Rih, Ukraine