Pluto has returned to Capricorn!

The ultra-collective and somehow "fatal" planet Pluto exited today (Monday September 2nd at 3:17 AM, Eastern European time) the sign of Aquarius and returned to that of Capricorn! This is a major planetary shift! Each zodiacal "transition" of Pluto is considered extremely important. You see, this planet is considered the most "collective" of them all and exerts a huge influence on the masses and our societies in general. Hence, any change in Pluto's course affects our earthly affairs greatly.

As you most probably know, the planets operate more "externally" when they are in direct motion. When they become retrograde, though, they work more "internally", manifesting their energies in more subtle ways! In addition, a planetary retrogradation might bring back events from the recent past that have to be relived! And since Pluto is retrograde now, we may experience similar events as in the recent past. This time, though, we will have to experience these events more "internally", in order to "feel" them more deeply and fully assimilate their message.

Trump's assassination attempt (is Algol important?)

The news of the assassination attempt against the US presidential candidate Donald Trump dominates all over the media today. Although it would have been more valuable if someone had predicted this particular event BEFORE it happened, we see that there are indeed strong astrological indications now in Trump's chart of a possible attempt against him!

The main clue seems to come from the extremely flammable and explosive Mars-Uranus Conjunction that is taking places these days (and which "mathematically" peaks on July 15th)! This Conjunction is "falling" right on Trump's MC (in one of the most vitalt points of a birth chart! Our MC is closely related to the overall "structure" of ourselves, to our wider professional/social interactions and with our public image!)

The importance of getting along with our own selves (Second House)!

We are "conditioned" to expect love to come into our lives through other people. That's an inherent "pattern" ingrained in us during our childhood, when our parents or other primary caregivers were the ones providing us with love and care. And although we might not be fully aware of it, we are so thoroughly "programmed" by this pattern, that even as adults we ever long for some cherubic "third party" to come into our lives and start loving us unconditionally! 

As the old adage goes, you can't love other people unless you love yourself first. However, there is a problem there, since most people don't seem to get along with themselves! That comes as a bit of a surprise, considering that people in general are quite egocentric and are thus supposed to take the very best care of themselves. But, as if they were plagued by some mysterious virus, they don't! On the contrary, they often are at war with themselves, acting in a self-loathing and destructive manner.

The better the astrologer, the less deterministic the predictions s/he makes!

I think all of us who practice astrology have gone through this phase: to interpret astrological data in a rather rigid, "deterministic" manner. Studying i.e. a chart and concluding that because the person has such and such planetary positions (aspects, domifications etc.) then s/he unquestionably has such and such traits in his/her character, while a specific set of events will befall him/her in the near (or distant) future!

An astrological perspective on a possible Civil War in the United States

As you may know, the so-called transcendental planets (Uranus, Neptune, and Pluto) play a major part in Mundane Astrology. Every single variation of theirs, every new aspect they form, and notably their eventual sign shift, may provide us with crucial information about humanity's future course. 

There is, however, another important but lesser-known feature of the transcendental planets: the "resonance" of their orbits. I've been researching that feature for some years now and I firmly believe it's a quite useful element in the "mundane astrology" toolkit.

Pluto in Aquarius: the dictatorship of the "commonness" and of the "abnormal" (and your money do not belong to you)!

The majority of astrologers considers Pluto's upcoming entrance into the sign of Aquarius as a "positive thing". Probably because they tend to link Aquarius with an impending "golden age"! As a result, they mostly make optimistic predictions like "a new brighter era will dawn," "the common people will rebel against their autocratic rulers" and so on.

What those astrologers overlook is the fact that the "Pluto in Aquarius" "equation" has two coefficients: Aquarius AND Pluto! So, on the one hand Pluto is (somehow) "activating" the sign of Aquarius alright, but on the other hand it is simultaneously attempting to impose its "tenebrious vibrations" on the sign of Aquarius! That's crucial and unless we take that aspect into consideration, we will not be able to interpret Pluto in Aquarius correctly.

The eminent Byzantine astrologer John Abramius

Byzantine astrology is rather unknown among the general public. In fact, many people might be surprised to find out that Byzantine astrology even existed. It did, though, and it was marvelous!

Byzantium was somehow a continuation of the Hellenistic world, so astrology was a natural part of its tradition. Additionally, the Byzantines were geographically close to the Persians and Arabs - who themselves had adopted and developed the Hellenistic astrology. Consequently, Byzantium became a particularly fertile ground for the dissemination of astrological ideas, at the time.

Some of the most competent astrologers of that era originated in this part of the world. Among them was John Abramius, whom I am sharing with you in this article. Aside from his skills as an astrologer, Abramius kickstarted what we might call a “tardive Byzantine astrological school"! Its influence was such that even illustrious figures, such as Cardinal Isidore of Kiev, studied astrology there!