2024 Preview - A look ahead Part 2 - National Charts and World Leaders
(If you wish to listen to the show instead, here is the link on BlogTalk or Apple Podcasts)
We took a look at the general astrological conditions for 2024 in our last show on January 7th, so I thought we would turn our attention to specific charts in today’s show. Though there are a number of ways to approach Mundane or Worldly Astrology for an understanding of world history, one of the most common is to treat organizations, whether they be community-based, political formations, corporate entities, nations, or international organizations, to treat them just like we would any human individual with their chart.
We look at the beginning of an organization, its incorporation or announcement or a significant event, and create a “birth chart” for it. Then we analyze its inherent nature and consider the timeline of its development through its natal progressions and transits, just like we would with an individual’s chart.
USA
Let us will begin with the chart of the USA, and the two leading candidates for President in the 2024 election, which are Joe Biden and Donald Trump. We did a show on September 17, 2023, where I looked at 2024 for the USA chart, and at both charts for the candidates, (and if you wish to review that show the transcript was published on my blog on September 20th). Some of what I am going to say will be a review of what I said then, but I am going to add to that first look as well.
The primary indicator of where the USA is for 2024 is shaped by where it is within the progressed Sun/Moon cycle of approximately 29 years. 2024 will be the year in which the USA has its 9th New Moon, which indicates a time when a seed is planted, and a new infusion of inspiration and energy will begin to inform its journey. This New Moon will occur on March 24, 2024, at 19 degrees and 26 minutes of Pisces, which astrologers will commonly round up to be 20 degrees of Pisces. In my practice with individuals, I will often refer to the Sabian Symbols to interpret a New or Full Moon for a client, and the Sabian symbol for this New Moon degree is this, “A table set for an evening meal”.
Now that might seem a rather odd and not very relevant image, but with symbolic languages we must remember to stretch our hearts and minds to move beyond mere appearances and look deeply into the significance of a scene or image. An evening meal implies the end of the day, which indicates we are at the end of the cycle (even though this refers to a New Moon, to a seed being planted, it is really about the meaning or understanding of an ending too). So, for us in the USA, we will find ourselves at a moment when we are to experience the results, what comes to us at the end of a cycle, enjoying or facing what we have provided for ourselves by our own efforts. Spiritually, it would signify that after a “long day”, after a series of moments for the USA, which in our case may mean since the last New Moon in 1994, or truly going back to the beginning of 1776, that we are now to experience a return to our soul or spiritual roots, a return to our spiritual source or home, a return to our foundations.
I would see this as a sign that we are being guided to remember and to return to the integral agreement of our founding, to our Declaration of Independence, and perhaps equally to our second founding after the Civil War and Lincoln’s memorable restatement of who and what we are. The way I like to frame this is that the USA was founded upon a compact and a pledge to be guided by a fundamental principle, that we the people of the United States would seek to fulfill our livelihoods and dreams, that our individual happiness would only be made possible, by our mutual understanding that we are to be one another’s means for self-fulfillment. That each one of us belongs to and finds our fulfillment through many communities, and by holding these together as the fields of mutual self-realizations, it is by our fellowships that we forge our Union so that our livelihoods are made and sustained. That we hold as our central truth, that in the end what we hope and wish for, which is that we all should be able to pursue our happiness, means that what unites the vast majority of us is far deeper and much wider than what divides us, or by those who seek to divide us.
I would also argue, that given this central theme that is America, that those who seek to divide us from one another, those who pit “us against them”, will continuously lose the support of the vast majority of Americans, and that this is what has happened since 2018 with the so-called MAGA movement. MAGA (and a greater portion now of the Republican party), keeps losing elections up and down the ballot, as it did in 2018, and again in 2020, and in 2022 and in 2023. And the more they lose, the more their leader doubles-down on his principal vision, witnessed in his words and deeds that strive to divide Americans from one another. Trump, whose claim to fame is that he is the greatest winner continues to be the biggest loser, and I do not see that changing in 2024.
With regards to the major transits in the USA chart, the most important one is the waxing square of Uranus to the USA Moon. The Moon in a national chart is said to rule or indicate “the people”, and Uranus is the planet that brings a quickening of Individuality, a stirring and stimulation of what I like to call the Quintessence, which in our example concerns the nature of the people of the USA.
The USA has its Moon in Aquarius, which means that the people of the USA are to be inspired and shaped by a firm belief in the specialness and uniqueness of each individual, group, and community, and by extension to the very notion of the USA as a whole. As our motto so succinctly puts it, “Out of many, one”, which means we celebrate our diversity as our strength, our collection of cultures and peoples as being what it means to be “American”, and that tolerance and understanding is what creates a community and a society where the individual flourishes, where our humanity and love for one another is the core principle for helping to make our dreams come true with and through one another. This is what de Tocqueville noted in his writings about America in the 19th century, that the character and strength of America was to be found in its voluntary associations, of a people coming together to help one another.
Of course, we have not realized that fuller dream of America, but it is the dream that we are here to become. It is by joining together, person to person, group to group, community to community, that we made what we are and holds our promise of what we aspire to be. We look to our seers, our artists, creators, dreamers, but most especially to all those who do build and support communities to make this better world we imagine. And we look to our leaders to remind us of who we are, where we are and what we must do to make our dreams come true. So let us look at what the planets say about Joe Biden and Donald Trump for 2024.
Joe Biden/Donald Trump
The planetary influences for Joe Biden and Donald Trump this year are both supportive and challenging. The progressions and transits in any chart will have a hierarchal dimension of effects that range downwards, moving from the spiritual plane, to the mental, to the emotional and finally to the physical body. With this in mind, we are all very aware that we are examining two rather older men, and the grueling journey of a presidential campaign, not to mention the demands of a four-year term in office, well that should make us realize that it is not at all certain that either one of them will be able to weather such intense pressure this year or in the years to come. Nevertheless, let us see what is in store for them both this year.
Joe Biden
For Joe Biden, the most favorable influence in 2024 is the trine aspect by Neptune to both his Sun and Venus. Neptune holds the influence of the second quality of Spirit, that the entire Universe is formed by and made from Divine Unconditional Love. The Sun in a chart of an individual represents the Self, the pure potential of that person; Venus represents the personal values and the human expression of love for that person. Building through 2023 and climaxing here in 2024 there is a powerful influence that is shaping Joe Biden to be inspired by and guided in a spiritual attunement to a selfless and sacrificial purpose. Where he faces an opponent filled with anger and resentment, who promises revenge and retribution, Joe Biden is focused upon a path of compassion and healing and love.
And what is remarkable about this moment, is that Joe Biden was born with Neptune in his chart so that it forms both a sextile to his Venus and to his Sun, and that Neptune’s placement in his chart is in the 10th house of his public life and responsibilities. This is, in some sense, the very time in history that Joe Biden was made for.
The most challenging influence in 2024 for Biden is Pluto squaring his Moon. There is no doubt that this is a difficult energy. Pluto rules the power of the will, and principally for an individual forms their capacity for self-control and determination, of how they both preserve their own sacred space while equally respecting the sacred space of others. Biden will experience extraordinary pressure emotionally this year, from family, from friends and from the world around him, trying to bend and make him yield to their needs or wants or fears. Biden’s challenge is to remain centered in his truth, to his moral compass and to not listen to or be swayed by guilt or manipulation. Fortunately, once again, it is Neptune which will help him here, because at the very same time that Pluto is squaring his Moon, it will be making a trine to his Neptune. He will be inspired to be guided in his actions by his uppermost planet to stay on the path of true sacrifice, and to understand that at the root of all these negative energies around the world, and of those directed at him, that they all originate from fear. By remaining faithful to his truth and path, he will not over or under react (Pluto squaring the Moon) but remain steadily purposeful to lead by the example of love.
Donald Trump
For Donald Trump, the most “favorable” influence in 2024, (and it is by no means certain that it will be favorable), is being brought by Uranus moving into his 10th house of the public life, of one’s career, of one’s purpose and standing in society. Uranus is the planet of Individuality, which is the incessant spiritual energy within each monad of the divine, and that propels us to be an ever truer and freer expression and experience of who and what we are.
I call Uranus “the awakener” as it brings about shocks and surprises that are meant to free the individual from their self-limitations, which may close a path if it is no longer right and perhaps lead to another that is more significant or appropriate. Typically, Uranus brings about circumstances that break open and shake up things, all in order to free you. The key to knowing whether it will lead to greater freedom or not will depend upon what you bring to this moment, which is the character and quality of what you have done in the world, and what your motivation is with regards to Uranus’ message of freedom.
When I first examined Trump’s chart in depth in 2016, I noted that one of his principal features was that he was born with Uranus next to and leading his Sun, and opposite to his Moon. This two-fold alignment forges an individual who believes in their being exceptional, being an iconoclast, a breaker of icons. But because this disruptive energy influences both his essential nature and his emotional being, he will be a person who is unpredictable, unstable, and more often than not chaotic. There is no certainty with Uranus, except to expect the unexpected. Uranus is returning to where it began in Trump’s chart, and he will be reaping what he has made of his life and be faced with the consequences of his own making.
The most challenging influence in 2024 for Trump is really a double transit to his ascendant being formed by Neptune and Pluto, each of which is forming an inconjunct or 150-degree aspect, with Neptune from his 8th house and Pluto from his 5th house. When two inconjuncts form together in this manner, it is called by astrologers a Yod formation. The ascendant is your persona, the presence you have as you walk through time, as you make your journey through the Eternal Now. Here we have these two shapers of our journey, Pluto the planet of the Will and of self-control, and Neptune the planet of Unconditional Love and sacrifice, each of them is pushing and pulling on Trump’s way of being how he holds himself and presents himself to the world. The challenge is two-fold, to maintain self-control and neither be controlling or out of control, while at the same time being compassionate and sacrificial without playing the role of victim or martyr. This would be quite a challenge and achievement for any individual, but from what we have seen of Trump, he is certainly seems unable to control himself, nor is he has ever shown an ability to sacrifice himself.
And this brings up another interesting indicator that I have not mentioned before, at least not publicly. There is another class of indications one can use to determine the meaning of various points in a chart, which may be especially relevant in the case of a well-known individual. Astrologers have studied the influence of what are called the Fixed stars of our local space Zodiac, with each such star holding various qualities of character that come with specific warnings too.
In Trump’s chart a truly important star is right on his ascendant, on his presence in the world. It is the star Regulus, which is called “the Heart of the Lion” and the “Watcher of the North” and is found in Trump’s chart at 29 degrees of Leo, which is also Trump’s ascendant. It is one of the great four or Royal fixed stars, each of which endows a person with the potential to gain great success and to fulfill their ambitions, but only if that person faces and overcomes a particular nemesis. The nemesis that must be conquered with Regulus is Revenge. Which means that with Regulus prominent in the chart, you will have the potential to gain great fame and fortune but if you ever stoop to revenge you may lose your power and your position.
So, we find ourselves here in 2024, with the gift of Regulus for Trump, which offers the blessing of being able to attain fame, power, and fortune, and with Pluto and Neptune triggering this degree, which means that he may find his path to success being brought to an end by his inability to forgive or let go, by his incapacity to feel for anyone other than himself.
There are a number of other important aspects occurring in both Biden's chart and Trump's chart, and in the USA chart, and perhaps we will examine those in a future episode. But I do see that our time is precious, and I need to turn to you, the audience, at some point here. So, what I will do is rather than going into any detail with these other “worldly charts” of countries and leaders I will just do an overview, and then we'll come back and look at them in more detail for our next and future shows.
Ukraine/Russia
Starting with Ukraine and Russia, and that means also looking at Zelenskyy's chart and Putin's chart for the Ukraine/Russia war. What does 2024 hold, and even looking to 2025?
It was going to be a very confusing year for Russia in 2023 with some pitfalls and mishaps in terms of misreading things. But as we move into 2024, it seems there is less confusion and disruption and more purposefulness and determination. Whereas for Ukraine, which seemed to be holding its own under the under some very difficult aspects in 2023, some really challenging aspects are showing up in the chart of Ukraine for 2024 and even moving into 2025.
When we take a deeper look at both of those charts for Russia and Ukraine, in a future episode, I will go into more detail about those indications might be. But I do think that things are not going to look too well for Ukraine, at least from this view.
And if we look at the charts of the individuals leading these two countries, at Putin's chart and Zelenskyy’s, chart what do we see? Putin was under the similar influence as that of Russia with a strong Neptune aspect in 2023. That would have caused him to find that his efforts were being somewhat thwarted, sort of misdirected or misplaced. But in 2024 that is lifted, and he will be able to focus more on achieving what he may wish to achieve, at least in the short term.
Whereas Zelenskyy finds himself under tremendous pressure. The pressure that was there in 2023 remains the same in 2024. So, the stress he has endured will not be letting up for him whatsoever. When we meet next, I will look at 2025 and see how that looks for both him and for Putin. But it looks to me that the war between Ukraine and Russia is going to be rather difficult for Ukraine in 2024, and given what current news reports have been indicating, that seems to be no great surprise to me, or probably to you.
China/Xi Jinping
If we then look another major player on the world stage, and we will into more detail with our next show, let’s look at what happened to China and Xi Jinping in 2023. There has been a great disruption over the issue of value in China because of a major planetary transit. Uranus opposite to China’s Venus. And for Xi, spanning both 2022 and 2023, he has experienced a great loss of confidence and self-assurance, leading to self-doubts about himself and what he is doing, with Neptune squaring his Sun. That may lead to him during 2024 to continue to pivot in terms of his aims and actions of his goals and means as Pluto aspects his Mars.
But there may be some kind of great disruption coming to China, leading to the question of the security or stability of the land in China in 2024. That is because Uranus, the planet that shakes things up moves into the 4th House of China, which is the root of the chart, of where we come from, but also literally the land issues of a country. And one of the big problems we all know that has occurred in China of late is this very large real estate and building bubble, that they are trying to resolve. But with all of that debt hanging over China, a couple of big failures there could really cause them great difficulty. So, it looks like more challenges are to come and that could lead to some kind of a reckoning and realignment for China in terms of security and stability, especially with regards to their foundations in 2024.
North Korea/Kim Jong Un
And then right next door, of course, we always want to take a look at North Korea and Kim Jong Un. For Kim, he has reached a moment in his own life where he's looking at the dreams he has of his life and seeing how some dreams have come true and some dreams have not come true. He is going through his midlife crisis. This happens to all of us when we reach our late 30s and early 40s. But of course, with him being a world leader, this is playing out on the world stage. So, he is struggling with how he can realize the dreams I have for myself and perhaps for my nation, and it is uncertain as to what to do. So, he may act in ways that send out very mixed signals as a result of his own personal “crisis”. I think we will get through 2024 without any great difficulty coming from North Korea. But I do look at 2025 as being much more of a challenging year, because that is the year when the planet Pluto becomes much more active in Kim’s chart, going over his Venus and going over his Saturn too. And that will coincide with Pluto going over the Venus of North Korea as well. So, there are a lot of alignments coming in 2025 that should definitely give us pause.
Israel/Benjamin Netanyahu
Let’s take a quick look at what is happening here with Israel and Netanyahu and with Hamas. But with Hamas, well that is much harder to do because it is not a nation state per se, it is an organization founded and declared to be founded on a certain date, which people might commonly use. But is that the real date to use? We are always wondering. We can be much more certain about what is happening in Israel's chart, and certainly with Benjamin Netanyahu's chart.
Israel
The principal influence that is hanging over Israel both in 2023 and 2024, and then something changes here in 2024, is that the planet Neptune, which bring about the possibility or necessity of dissolving boundaries, of moving into a wider understanding of whatever we are encountering, but always when it's working, that very dissolving function and movement into a wider, more encompassing realm, that we all will go through a period between the old reality and the old understanding and the new, we enter that space in between, and we call that confusion.
There was a great deal of confusion last year and it continues into 2024. Neptune is transiting Israel’s Jupiter, the planet that rules truth, the planet that rules our belief systems, whether those be scientific or spiritual or religious or legal. We know that there was this very real crisis in Israel in 2023, with a major legal struggle between and over the kind of democratic structure of that state of Israel. Netanyahu’s coalition was pushing for changes in the balance of power between the legislature (the Knesset) and the judiciary. This struggle over the balance of power and governing code of Israel brought about the largest protests in Israel’s history. At the root of this struggle was the very nature of the state of Israel, of people questioning, “what is our truth, what is the way we are supposed to be?” And that question continues to reverberate down into 2024 for Israel. So, at the very root of Israel’s troubles is a struggle over truth and beliefs. I would say that the people of Israel are very confused about the nature of truth, of what they believe and what kind of nation they will be.
Then what is coming in 2024, and which was not there in 2023, comes from the fact that the nation of Israel is a Taurus nation, and the planet Uranus has been moving through Taurus for a number of years now, and in 2024 Uranus will be going over Israel's Sun which has never happened before. This is the first time Israel has experienced an exact conjunction to the Sun. Every time Uranus touches the Sun, we get shook up and we are made to go through a shock or series of shocks, that leads to a breakthrough and a breakdown, and to the release of new a host of new possibilities ultimately. But it can make for a very great period again of uncertainty, and instability that could lead to a great sense of vulnerability. But it also can be a surprising time, where what was not possible, what was not even conceivable, suddenly becomes normalized and the change that could not be happens. So, a shock is going to be delivered by Israel as well as received by Israel, that is what will happen in 2024.
Netanyahu
When we look at Netanyahu’s chart, he has had the planet Neptune forming an alignment to both the planet Mars which rules desire and action, the planet that determines the thrust in life, and to the Sun in his chart which is his experience of himself. It is like what is happening in Trump’s chart with the Yod Formation. For Netanyahu, Neptune is lining up to Mars in one part of his chart, and at the same time to his Sun in another section of his chart. So, this is a twin influence. Neptune dissolves whatever it is influencing, and it will often appear to be bringing about some sort of weakening for whatever it is touching. Mars is your vitality, so there is definitely a draining of vitality, a confusion about desire and direction often leading to misunderstanding and misdirection. For 2023 this influence affected his vitality and his sense of himself, and his assuredness in himself.
And in 2024 this influence remains, with Neptune continuing to influence his Sun. It is a two-year process, of being not sure of himself and uncertain of what is going on, which others will probably take advantage of his apparent weakness. He will not feel himself, and he will not be fully present in whatever he is doing, and he will send out mixed messages.
We will take a deeper look at all of these charts and at some others that we have not yet considered. We don't have enough time to do this today, so I will go into more depth with these matters and consider them in a future show.
USA
I also just wanted to go back and just remind us of the importance for the USA with this new moon that is taking place in March of 2024. Remember this will happen every 29 years or so. The last new moon in the USA chart was 1990. Before that was 1965, and before that was 1935 and so on. So, it happens repeatedly, and it is an interesting way of looking at periods in the USA's life in terms of themes that may be released and then developed in the course of those 29 years.
So, what is happening now in the USA? We are at the end of what has been going on since 1994, and we are moving into a new era here from 2024 onwards. It is an interesting way of framing and characterizing an era in American history, simply through an examination of these progressed new Moons. But we can and should look at the full Moons too to see the result or climax of that cycle, which will happen about 14 to 15 years later. The new Moon of 1994 reached its climax in 2008, which of course coincided with a collapse of the USA economy, the bursting of the debt bubble and the mortgage crisis. This second "great depression" had been formed by the corporate and governmental policies and actions that had been pursued since 1994. It was this that led to the collapse of our economy and really for the world economy.
The previous new Moon was 1965, and it was the seed being planted that led to a full Moon harvest which was in 1979. That again was a year of a painful economic harvest, of what became termed “stagflation”, to a stagnation in jobs and growth and an inflation in prices. So, these new moons and full moons function like our bookends, sort of framing the history of the USA in one sense. Perhaps in a future show we will look at more of the entire series of new and full Moons to see our history through that method of analysis.
