Venus (values, banking business, women) and Mars (drive, ambition, men) are hovering in a slow dance to second conjunction during all of September, due to Venus nearing a station retrograde to be exact on October 8. At the lunation the hovering conjunction lights up the mundane second house of our money and values, indicative of many new strategic ventures being initiated; the consummate couple of conception are also in trine to Neptune and Chiron retrograde in the sixth house of health and work, therefore it is hard to tell how many of these new undertakings are rooted in practical reality yet, but we have to give it a try. Venus is a mundane financial indicator; her movements are reflective of happily embracing a first proposition made back in August at the first conjunction, followed by expectations of a formal agreement to be finalized by early October. But there may be good reason for either party to back off and reconsider terms as all is not what it seems. Similar to tangling with a sharp-dressed lover who seduces the mark in September, only to abandon them pregnant and unwed in October.

Mercury (communication, transportation) planetary ruler and current resident of Virgo is hidden away in the lunation twelfth house of secret activities and karma, made doubly mysterious due to being in retrograde motion. Many deals are being struck out of sight at all levels of society, as Mercury glides in easy aspect to Pluto (power) and the Nodes (status quo) located in the mundane signs and houses of parental nurturing. The precise nature of these transactions is likely to become much clearer after elections are done and the North Node of the Moon has crossed Pluto during November, signaling sweeping transformations in politics and status quo. Per the mundane spin, our rulers could be making quiet plans to bandage deficit spending by cutting social entitlements in Social Security, Medicaid and Medicare, along with raising taxes somewhere. Jupiter and Uranus together and mutually retrograde reside in the lunation seventh house of partners and open enemies, still in hard aspect to Saturn and Pluto. Revolutionary developments are brewing on the relational and contractual front especially as pertains to anything connected with home base including home-based businesses, property, water, farming, mining and drilling rights; grappling for advantage starts around September 15, so try to have game and set point nailed down by the end of the month.

Venus will enter Scorpio later during the day of new Moon, shifting the mood around romance, financial transactions and regulatory matters from graciously accommodating to jockeying strategically for advantage. The goddess of love in her sign of detriment revs up the sex drive, unleashes acquisitive passions hitherto held in check. Resentments and vindictiveness can accumulate in the corners; playing fair can fall to last in order of priority.

Also on this day Jupiter will reach 00° Aries, on its way back into Pisces for one last visit. Think back to what was happening in June of this year, when Jupiter and Uranus held their first reunion at this cardinal degree of rude upsets and fresh starts. New alterations in the mandala of being around that time will be undergoing a further period of gestation; sudden birth-pangs can be expected as early as December when they meet once again. However formal crystallizations may shatter and need to be rebuilt repeatedly over the next few years, so keep expectations fluid. Jupiter and Uranus together awaken ambition, audacity, risk-taking and extremist behavior. Together they can act as powerful agents for spiritual revelation, social change and progress; or the energy can materialize as war mongering or losing your shirt instead.

On September 9 Mars will perfect a trine to Neptune at 26° 45' Libra-Aquarius. Spiritual resources and psychic ability are strengthened, sexual allure increases. Intuition and imagination lead the way to potent dreams that can be given form through communicative exchanges later on. Mercury the messenger will station direct on September 12 at 05° Virgo 22'. The three days around the station can be particularly prone to confusion and delays, especially as Mars passes in quincunx to Uranus and Jupiter retrograde at about 29° Libra-Pisces on September 13.

Sit tight as explosions, smokes and flying objects may temporarily obscure clear sight, but then certain pending matters should start to fall from the tree like over-ripe fruit as Pluto stations direct on September 14. Big changes sometimes involving life and death, can happen when the lord of mass social movements, DNA and evolution turns his chariot around in the heavens. This time a marvelous window of opportunity for action opens wide for the next couple weeks or so; affairs will benefit from running the throttle wide open, even if you not sure of the destination.

Also on September 14 Mars will enter Scorpio, the sign of its dignity. The drive to procure what is desired becomes forceful and purposeful. The energy is hard-nosed, uncompromising, determined and fearless, while mode and method of activity remain secret. Enemies can become more dangerous and obviously vengeful; competition for available jobs and resource can be cutthroat. Mars is the lower octave of Pluto so expect visits from the dark side, your own or others starting around mid-month. On the mundane level these two energies working in tandem can promote ruthlessness, violence and atrocity; on the personal level much can be accomplished however fools are not tolerated gladly.

Jupiter retrograde will pass in conjunction with Uranus retrograde at 28° Pisces 43' exact on September 18, which may track as a sensation similar to that of a whale disoriented by a barrage of naval sonar signals. Followed up by Sun in opposition to Uranus retrograde at 28°Virgo-Pisces 36' on September 21, which will bear down like a nuclear-powered submarine passing within inches overhead. Take a moment to find bearings in a quiet cove of retreat, if the coral reefs you paddle into are not the ones you know. In general, the days between September 10 and 22th are fraught with peril for day trading and other investment-oriented activities. But fickle fortune may favor those who can capitalize off of hit-and-run tactics.

Fall equinox this year marks a good time to check in with some of the more exotic heavenly bodies, as they are currently doing a strange tango on points of the natal US Sibley Chart. Most of those listed below are Kuiper Belt objects; their orbit extends from Neptune's orbit to three billion kilometers beyond it. When they make slow contact by transit with natal placements in an astrology chart, the impact can be felt as a slow-burn alchemical transformation similar to that offered by Pluto, which also happens to be a Kuiper Belt object. They reflect themes of operation active at the deeper levels of psyche, be it a personal experience or, as is the case of placement in a mundane natal astrology chart, the ebb and flow of whole national collective currents.

On the date of American independence, asteroid Chaos was at 23°Virgo30' in conjunction with the Sibley Neptune (ideals) at 22°25', in the ninth house of ideology. Now Chaos is at 13° Gemini 59'Rx, conjunct the Sibley Descendant at 12° Gemini 21'; here it can symbolize turmoil and fear externalized, projected out there onto our enemies and our partners. But this transit can also represent the chaotic probability field of fertile potential instead, sowing in new ways to relate where established structures are in the process of breaking down. There is no point to sitting tight this autumn, hoarding a batch of old, dead connections, they are prone to be suddenly removed anyway.

Centaur asteroid Thereus is out prowling also at 12° Gemini 25'; Thereus can be rather mercenary in behavior along with fostering a tendency to identify with one's relationships, job or stuff. Thereus in the company of Chaos can favor wildness and lawlessness as a problem-solving technique. Troubles better left at the office can be brought back home and shared around, or mayhem can reign if engaging an overly competitive spirit. In the US Sibley chart, Thereus is located at 08° Sagittarius 27'Rx in opposition to the Sibley Uranus at 08°Gemini 55'(unbalanced and rebellious tendencies lurking just under the surface). In reference to its current transit to the Sibley Descendent, once again inner primal aggressions may be projected out there, onto a handy partner or onto anybody a little different that lives in our neighborhood. On a personal level expect some panic or flailing about in various aimless directions, maybe a wave or two of multi-dimensional tilt in common communal gathering places such as the grocery store.

Asteroid Quaoar is currently hanging at 19° Sagittarius 54'Rx, in opposition to the US Sibley Mars at 21° Gemini 22'; Quaoar noodles around the Sibley Mars point for the next couple years, including a station direct at 20° Sagittarius 50' in September of next year. Quaoar holds the archetype of a creator god, he who makes new universes out of fertile chaos. Honoring Quaoar consists of surrendering up ego, in letting the unfathomable ultimate in cosmic creativity have its way for awhile rather than (pointlessly) demanding a script of action and form subservient to human interests.

In the natal US Sibley chart Quaoar is at 26°02'Rx in conjunction (union) with the Sibley US Moon (people at large) at 27°Aquarius 10'. Quaoar is now squaring the US Neptune (mass delusion, big oil, the marijuana industry) and opposing the US Mars (aggression, ambition, libido and anger), messing with the American tendency to rove the world, quashing competition and confiscating the resources of others while touting freedom, democracy and support for small businesses. Hopefully Americans will not feel obliged to commit their Martian gun-toting might in the next few years towards indulging a longstanding apocalyptic mood, as per Quaoar matters will not work out as intended. Meeting Quaoar can be likened to an encounter with Beetlejuice- direct hit by a busy, chaotic, mischievous energy that leaves a ruin in its wake while coagulating the will around fresh nuclei of purpose and direction.

Centaur asteroid Cyllarus at 02° Cancer 24' is currently conjunct the US Sibley Venus (values, financial industry) at 03° Venus 06'; Cyllarus will continue on to conjunct the US Jupiter (belief systems), Sun (national identity and leadership) and Mercury (communication, commerce) over the next several years. On the plus side Cyllarus energy is bold, assertive and looks out for itself. Shades of Sarah Palin, Glen Beck and Islamaphobia, it can also wax parochial in spirit and self-important in deportment. It can find nationalistic or racial justification for actively directing purpose and organization towards questionable ends. The image of a self-sufficient, religious-minded 'n rugged, nature-conquering and usually Caucasian patriot has often been held up in the past as a sacred American icon. This cliche is still being trotted out today via the Tea Party as supported by Rupert Murdoch and the Kochs brothers; it still seems to sway many from seeing how freedoms and quality of life are forfeit by not placing some serious limitation the rapacious activities of big business. Natally, Cyllarus is located at 02°Virgo 33' in the US Sibley ninth house of ideology and relations with foreign countries, in sextile to the Sibley Venus (domestic values) at 03°Cancer 06'.

Asteroid Lucifer is not a Transneptunian, but it can do a passable job at representing where a great potential for Evil is likely to reside. Currently Lucifer is in applying opposition (the shadow needs to be integrated) to the US Moon (the people at large) at 27° Aquarius 10', exact around the end of October, 2010. The asteroid will then retrograde away for a bit, perhaps reflective of nefarious tendencies, denial, fear, greed and paranoia collectively percolating both within us and directed at us from the very social structures we trust to keep our country safe and whole; Lucifer will station direct at 20° Leo around April 13, 2011 and reach exact opposition with the US Moon once again by early June. The key here is to take heed of otherwise unconscious currents associated with negativity, the superficial and temptation in general; the high road of doing the right thing may become much harder to take in the coming year, but the light of inner peace and personal redemption lies only in that direction.

The duality in human perspective between true self and conditioned creature that has been ripening especially over the past two years will likely start to break out in full polarized bloom soon. During the summer of 2010 the American public at large presented mostly as laying low (except for some tea parties and outrage over the Gulf oil spill), while a collective nervous breakdown over frays in the American Dream gathered stitches. In the early months of 2011 this author suggests that we will begin to see more visible evidence of a three way social split en vitro.

One faction would seem determined by whatever means available, to stay undead in a Matrix-like world whose holograms of approved sensate value are channeled through our media and other herd-directing complexes, perhaps even broadcast through high frequency HARP or satellite applications. Another faction is waking up to sacred relativity, undergoing an alchemic process of holistic emotional healing that then wants to tinker with practical survival apps in harmony with Gaia, that the mainstream machine may not yet want to support. A third faction is vulnerable to bouts of insanity because being too porous to darker collective dreams, or due to having to chop wood and carry water instead of soaring to more rarified levels in the food chain; they will be prone to destructive psychotic behaviors as human domesticated life continues to mutate wildly over the next six years or so. Of course some of us are attempting to juggle all three venues; consider a shamanic path that runs through many levels as an empowering way to go.

Economically, the reader is referred to the ongoing Jupiter-Saturn opposition; the second pass of which occurred on August 16, 2010, the third and final pass will occur on March 28, 2011 at 14° Aries-Libra. In mundane astrology the Jupiter-Saturn cycle is considered "the ground base of human development which marks the interaction between the perception of ideas, potentialities, possibilities (Jupiter) and their manifestation in the concrete material world (Saturn)...this pair has a great deal to do with the development and evolution of social structures and a sense of corporate national identity."(1)

One Jupiter-Saturn cycle lasts about 20 years from conjunction to conjunction; each conjunction will occur for approximately 240 years in any one element. We are currently in a Great Mutation of Earth emphasizing materiality and mastery of the world, which is to last until AD 2060. At the opposition we are getting ready to undergo a 10-year period of general contraction and consolidation in all social-economic affairs. Meanwhile the ongoing square between Pluto and Uranus at its strongest over the next six years or so, points to reactionary-conservative and progressive-liberal elements (Uranus) within the populace churning up cat fights, while not-so-hidden forces devoted to globalization and corporatization (Pluto)attempt to impose long-term control over the corral. Hopefully, the fractal field of chaos potential will manifest a solution that benefits all species in habitation upon this planet instead.

The square between Sun, Saturn, Pluto and the Moon's Nodes bangs the gong through the end of September. Regardless of sensitive feelings or other delicate considerations, the last two weeks of the month are a very good time to check mate, stock up on supplies, start projects, play politics, complete residential moves, take classes, make major purchases or have surgery done; in short, to look after our own best interests in a very assertive way.

(1) "Cycles in Practice," by Charles Harvey, Mundane Astrology, Thorsens, London 1992, pp.184-186.

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© 2010 by C.M. Hafeman