The big event as 2017 starts is the inauguration of President Trump. (Practice that word “pres-i-dent”.) This takes place on January 20th at 12.00 in Washington, and channels the extraordinary pattern of Jupiter/Uranus in opposition, both making harmonious contacts with Saturn in Sagittarius from Libra and Aries respectively. This is a pattern that repeats and has relevance up to August 2017, configuring exactly with Trump’s Sun/Uranus conjunction in Gemini opposing the Moon and in trine to Jupiter. With Uranus in Aries, this shows the maverick and outsider trends currently affecting the world, at least until Uranus enters Taurus for a seven-year period in May 2018.
The August 2017 Eclipse
Nothing shows this more clearly than the eclipse that takes place on August 21st right on Trump’s Ascendant. The shadow of the eclipse actually sweeps through the center of the USA.
MAP OF ECLIPSE PATH – August 21st, 2017
It is difficult to believe just how much this so clearly presaged Trump’s election win, and in retrospect this was a far clearer indication than anything else of the election result. Apart from this total solar eclipse conjoining Trump’s Mars and Ascendant, and the incredible interaction between Jupiter, Saturn and Uranus with the lunar eclipse in his own horoscope, Mars returns to Trump’s natal Mars in Leo and Venus returns to natal Venus in Cancer conjoining Saturn.
The Ascendant/Mars conjunction is the part of Trump that prompts him to say:
“When someone challenges you unfairly, fight back – be brutal, be tough – don’t take it. It is always important to WIN!” (Tweet June 27, 2015)
… and:
“I am a man of great achievement. I win, Maureen, I always win… it’s what I do. I beat people. I win.” To Maureen Dowd of the New York Times.
… and:
“We’ll have so much winning, you’ll get bored with winning”
The eclipse of August highlights Donald Trump playing at winning for America and simply screams Donald Trump has won the election and his shadow lies over the United States.
Total Solar Eclipse over USA – August 21st 2017
The Government and Judiciary
What is a more interesting question is: how is this going to be for America and the world? It seems clear that the harmonious relationship between Jupiter and Saturn until September 2017 shows the government and judiciary in agreement. Trump will fill the vacancy in the Supreme Court without appreciable opposition. Congress and the President will work in unison on their agenda, and the gridlock that afflicted the Obama presidency will be over. In all probability the first half year or more of the Trump presidency will be successful and things will get done.
Making America Great
This August eclipse shows a period when Trump finds revolutionary methods for “Making America great again” – as the Sun and Moon make an exact trine to Uranus, and he’ll hold all the cards for getting his way, with major establishment figures supporting him. Mars is almost exactly sextile Jupiter and trine Saturn. As Saturn is on his Moon during all this time, he’ll be struggling with popularity, but everyone loves a winner, and this is what he is built to do.
Donald Trump: June 14, 1946. 10.54 Jamaica, New York
Extrapolating this surprisingly harmonious period to the rest of the world, it is very likely that January – September 2017 will be a constructive period from the point of view of many governments, but it favors right-wing outsiders. Saturn in Sagittarius will build those walls to keep immigrants out without any legal challenges from Jupiter in Libra, which will incorporate all these moves into law. That’s not just the Mexico wall – walls are going up all over Europe. Nobody is going to object. Of course Uranus in Aries opposes Jupiter (December 2016, March and September 2017), so all those people fleeing war and poverty will find inventive ways of getting through, just like governments will be inventive trying to prevent them.
Innovation and Extremism
This Jupiter/Uranus opposition will probably be excellent for innovation, Elon Musk’s electric cars, solar projects and spaceships, for drones and long-distance or cyber warfare. Young people will probably be in a revolutionary mood, but the trine from Saturn suggests that authorities will be conciliator. Perhaps it also shows the establishment channeling the radicalism which has developed as a result of the marginalization of all those people, who never thought multiculturalism or globalization was the right way to go.
Jupiter makes a square to Pluto in the first half of 2017 (November 2016, March and August 2017) and this pattern often shows ideological extremism. This will probably be reflected by the neoliberal policies that the Republican Party and Trump subscribe to and there is unlikely to be much flexibility. The influence of right-wing media groups like Breitbart is going to be really strong and advisors are likely to be impervious to influences outside their own belief systems. It is a kind of survival of the economic fittest philosophy with little room for losers. Neptune and Saturn may care for losers, but Jupiter, Uranus and Pluto don’t have the time, patience or the compassion.
The Big Issue
The major long-term transit in 2017 is the waning trine between Saturn and Uranus, (December 2016, May and November 2017). which only takes place once every 45 years approximately. Oil prices quadrupled during the last waning trine in 1973-1974, which was obviously an extremely destabilizing period leading to recessions in Western countries. At this time, Arab nations formed OPEC and united to limit oil exports after the second Arab/Israel war, whilst in the West governments strove to get more independence from Arab oil.
This was also the time of Roe versus Wade Supreme Court decision which divided America into pro-choice and pro-life camps on the subject of abortion, but basically it was a decision that gave women the right to decide. We can expect revisions of that judgment by the Supreme Court this time around.
This was also the time when the United Kingdom joined the EU, and now they will be negotiating their way out of it.
Those who have hopes that Trump will be impeached for some reason, can draw comfort from the fact that the Watergate hearings started in 1973, leading to Nixon’s resignation.
Building Bridges
Saturn and Uranus are mighty players in the cosmic scheme of things, and generally their influence is to build a bridge between the old and the new. In fact, Turkey built the first bridge over the Bosphorus in 1973 uniting Europe and Asia. In many ways these planets symbolize East and West, and there may be a rapprochement between USA and Russia at this time – the famed and feared partnership of Trump and Putin perhaps. These two giants also represent the old and the young – there was an exact opposition between them when Obama beat old man McCain at the 2008 election. What we will probably see is the engagement of youth in politics, not least because of the realities that became apparent when they were not. The National Exit Poll showed that amongst millennials (18-34) 55% voted for Clinton to 37% for Trump. Turnout was 50% on average, but very low in some states.
The Maverick
Uranus in Aries is a huge risk-taker and voters wanted something, anything, new – as the victory for Brexit and Trump indeed reflected. In Trump, voters gravitated towards this maverick outsider. With the Uranus/Saturn trine harmoniously aspecting his Ascendant in 2017, he is likely to make a dramatic foray into foreign policy, burning some bridges and building others. With Saturn on his eclipse Moon opposing his Sun, he will be struggling with the limitations imposed by the real world, but the August eclipse is going to signify a major move, which shakes entrenched agreements, ushering in a very new approach. Just as the 1973 oil crisis forced countries to completely rethink energy policy, changed circumstances in 2017 will force Trump and other world leaders to rethink global warming, relations to the Arab world, coal and oil, and international conventions in general. We can expect a rewrite of agreements with Trump as chief bully.
From Transparency to Secrecy
There will be a good run until September, but things are going to change when Jupiter moves into Scorpio (October 10th), where is will make three long trines to Neptune in Pisces in 2018 (and sextile Pluto in Capricorn). This is likely to expose the emotional costs on “losers” like refugees, the uninsured, the sick, and the unemployed. There are likely to be even more focus on maritime tragedies with tragic loss of life at this time. At the same time Jupiter in sextile to Pluto indicates the secret machinations of the economic elite. As Trump simply cannot avoid a conflict or a conflation of interests between his economic empire and the American empire, some embarrassing financial secrets will be exposed. For example, at the time of his election, unions were suing, and winning, actions against his hotel interests, but as president he will have the power to influence these proceedings. Theoretically he is handing over his empire to his children, but is he going to do anything that conflicts with their (his) interests? What about his international business interests in places like China? From 2018 to 2020 we will see the slow unraveling of his economy and the US economy.
Economic Redistribution
Things change radically in 2018 as Uranus weaves over the frontier between Aries and Taurus, changing the focus to economic measures for the benefit of the people. When this last happened in 1935 the US was in the midst of the Great Depression, and new Social Security laws were enacted. There has to be a fairer redistribution of income from 2018 to 2025… that is what this period is about, not least when Saturn in Aquarius squares Uranus in Taurus in 2021.
Earth’s Last Tweet
Saturn leaves Sagittarius at the very end of 2017 moving into Capricorn, continuing the emphasis on Earth Signs and the economy. Slowly but surely the stage is being set for the grand conjunction of Jupiter, Saturn and Pluto in 2020, which opposes the US Mercury at 24 Cancer and conjoins the US Pluto at 27 Capricorn. This seems very likely to signal a crisis of capitalistic ascendancy playing out at the next election. Of course Donald Trump has Venus at 25.44 and Saturn at 23.48 Cancer, so this will be when the conflation of his financial interests and that of USA will undergo a meltdown. This is presaged by the eclipse cycle in Cancer opposing Saturn and Pluto in 2019 and 2020.
In fact, Trump has no concept of what Water and Earth signs mean. (He has no planets in Earth). His lunar eclipse channels Uranus in Gemini trine Jupiter and he will govern by Twitter. He has a lightning-fast intelligence – don’t take it from me, he says it himself: “I went to the Wharton School of Business… I’m, like, a really smart person.” – but his experience comes from firing people on “The Apprentice”, not from political or military service, as is the norm. When asked who he got military advice from he responded:
“Well, I watch the shows… and you have the generals, and you have certain people…” (on the shows) NBC August 16, 2015.
No worries there, then.
His riches come from licensing and television, not from building, where he experienced one bankruptcy after another in the late 1980’s and 1990’s. It is his Venus/Saturn conjunction in Cancer that show his channels to Water, but for him this means outsourcing to his children and their partners. These have been his closest advisors in the presidential transition period. When Saturn and Pluto oppose Venus/Saturn, this family bond will collapse into ruin, and the risk is that the US economy will tank at the same time. It is worth mentioning that Trump’s son-in-law Jared Kushner, his close advisor, has his Sun (square Pluto) at 20.23 Capricorn and Mercury at 26.44 right on US Pluto. It’s going to get messy.
Having said that, 2017 is likely to be an upbeat year with a number of revolutionary changes taking place. It is a year for winners, rather than losers, but don’t worry if you are a loser – your time will come.
Adrian Ross Duncan November 16th, 2016.