Alex's Asteroid Astrology

It didn’t quite make it to fifty, but for almost half a century legal abortion has been the law of the land here in the US.  No more.

On June 24, 2022, the gavel fell on Roe v Wade, the landmark 1973 decision guaranteeing reproductive rights, overturned 5-4 by the current US Supreme Court.  The test case which led to Roe’s reversal was Dobbs v Jackson Women’s Health Organization, which sought to prevent a Mississippi state law virtually eliminating abortion after 15 weeks from conception.  That law was upheld 6-3, but Chief Justice John Roberts joined the progressive minority on the Court when Roe itself became the target of his conservative colleagues.

A leaked draft opinion predicting this outcome caused a huge stir when it became public on May 2, but that was nothing compared to the backlash brewing now.  Roe undone doesn’t automatically outlaw abortion across the nation, but returns the question to the states.  Some 13 already have so-called “trigger laws”, statutes banning or severely restricting abortion which go into effect automatically should Roe ever fall, and more than a dozen others are poised to enact similar restrictions.  Reproductive rights in America will become a patchwork of regional legislation, subject to the whims of whichever Party controls the state, instead of a universally recognized human right.

The decision also opens the door to a review of other rights based on the “right to privacy” which underpinned Roe v Wade.  Indeed, in his concurring opinion, ultraconservative Justice Clarence Thomas has already opined that the Court “should reconsider” Griswold (affirming contraception rights), Lawrence (legalizing all sex acts between consenting adults) and Obergefell (establishing same-sex marriage).

The rout was made possible by the three SCOTUS Justices appointed by Donald J. Trump, all of whom pledged in their confirmation hearings that Roe was a stare decisis precedent and the settled law of the land.  Two of those seats, now occupied by Neil Gorsuch and Amy Coney Barrett, were stolen from Democratic administrations by Mitch McConnell’s GOP-controlled Senate, making their holders thieves as well as liars.

The skies for the handing down of the decision vividly portray the earthy reality, and also reflect earlier turning points in the case, such as the oral arguments before the Supreme Court last December, and the leaked draft opinion this May.

The cosmos has been signaling trouble to come for Roe v Wade for quite some time now, with asteroids Roe and NOT (a general disqualifier and a symbol of reversal or block to progress) traveling within ten degrees of each other since September 2020, just months after Mississippi appealed the test case of Dobbs v Jackson Women’s Health Organization to the SCOTUS that June, following two lower court rulings against the state. 

The pieces were moving on the celestial board, but the die wasn’t cast until asteroid Wade joined the fray, in square to Roe/NOT, actually coming to its direct station on December 1, 2021, the very day the SCOTUS heard oral arguments in the case.  Asteroids Wade and Roe were exactly squared that day, from 14 Aries to 14 Capricorn, which also featured a Sun/Mercury conjunction at 9 and 10 Sagittarius (appropriate for oral arguments); asteroid Jackson and Uranus conjunct at 10 and 11 Taurus, suggesting controversy and a volatile response; and asteroid Dobson (closest to Dobbs) conjunct Mars at 20 and 21 Scorpio, signifying conflict and a brewing fight over the issues raised by the case.

When the draft opinion was leaked on May 2, a Sun/Uranus conjunction at 12 and 14 Taurus described its controversial nature and the explosion to follow.  That the controversy would be based in a judicial ruling is shown by the Sun/Uranus trine to asteroid Justitia, named for the Roman goddess of justice, at 15 Capricorn, with asteroid Themis, her Greek counterpart, conjoined combative Mars at 15 and 13 Pisces respectively, on the rough midpoint of the Sun/Uranus-Justitia trine, sextile to each (Mars also rules surgical procedures such as abortions, further refining the issue in contention).  The Moon at 7 Gemini conjoined Mercury at 2 Gemini, indicating the leaked document regarding women’s healthcare (both Moon-ruled), as well as asteroids Wade and Child at 8 and 12 Gemini, defining the ruling under review (Wade) and the core issue of childbirth (Child).  With asteroid Roe at 20 Pisces conjoined not only Mars and Themis at 13 and 15 Pisces, but also asteroid NOT, Neptune, Jupiter and Venus at 23, 24, 28 and 29 Pisces, the stage was set for a confrontation (Mars) concerning the voiding (NOT) of the landmark legislation (Roe) guaranteeing women’s (Venus) reproductive freedom, stemming from a religious (Neptune) and political (Jupiter) decision by the SCOTUS (Themis). 

Wade had subsequently backed off the square to Roe for several months after oral arguments, as the Justices deliberated, but returned to square Roe/NOT in early June, linking up with the Sun, while Jupiter, representing the judiciary generally and the SCOTUS in particular, joined Roe/NOT for the release of the decision on June 24^th.

This pattern, with the Sun conjunct Wade at 3 and 5 Cancer, squared Jupiter/Roe/NOT at 6, 10 and 11 Aries respectively, becomes a tragic T-square when early Capricorn points are factored into the equation.  Centaur Pholus at 5 Cap and TNO Quaoar at 6 Cap reiterate the abortion theme and the likely consequences of the decision.  As I documented almost two decades ago in Maya del Mar’s Daykeeper Journal, Quaoar has a special affinity with reproductive issues, pro and con, while Pholus resonates to mass casualties from whatever cause.  Certainly the death toll will rise among American women with this decision, via both unsafe or dangerous pregnancies that are forced to go to full term, and botched back-alley or home remedy abortions by women desperate to terminate an unwanted pregnancy in a state that has outlawed this.

I was unable to obtain an exact moment for the release of the decision, but SCOTUS rulings are generally announced after 10 AM, and the earliest reporting I could find was for 10:08, so I chose 10:05 AM EDT as the closest approximation for the chart, assuming a lag time of several minutes between announcement and posting. 

Set for Washington, DC, this places Saturn at 24 Aquarius, representing restrictions and limitations as well as laws and the power of the State, closely conjoined the Descendant at 25 Aquarius, fundamentally altering the relationship (Descendant) of the government (Saturn) with half the population.  The 25 Leo Rising is appropriate for the situation, with Leo ruling children and procreation.  This theme is repeated by asteroid Child, which at 4 Cancer conjoins the spotlighting Sun and asteroid Wade.

The Moon at 13 Taurus, ruling healthcare, women and pregnancy, conjoins Uranus at 19 Taurus, ruling shocks and upsets, controversy and volatility, and these cluster over the 19 Taurus Midheaven, the focus of all eyes.  Exact on the 19 Scorpio Nadir, the foundation of the situation, is asteroid Karma, suggesting ultimately being called to account for one’s actions, perhaps at the ballot box in 2022 and beyond.  Also here is asteroid Pandora at 29 Scorpio, forming a T-Square with the Horizontal Axis and Saturn, representing the unleashing of unexpected consequences. 

A number of questionable decisions were released this last week of the current SCOTUS term, in addition to the overturning of Roe v Wade, including a mandate for states to include private religious schools in the dispersal of public education funds, and a ruling that essentially legalizes the concealed carry of firearms in public nationally.  This “fuzzy thinking” is reflected in an exact conjunction of asteroid Themis, named for the Greek goddess of justice, with Neptune, at 25 Pisces, known for clouding or obfuscating an issue, as well as having affinities with zealotry and fanaticism, especially in a religious context.  The five black-robed SCOTUS “culture warriors” seeking to advance a Christian Dominionist theocracy have begun making good on that threat.

Also here in this stunning exact triple conjunction is asteroid Nemesis, a source of ruin or undoing.  The conservative Justices are playing both parts in this Nemesis drama, dispensing what they see as divine retribution and justice while themselves becoming the target of disaffection and protest, leading potentially to their own downfall.  Just as they are acting as nemeses to America’s childbearing population, their actions may come back to bite them in the end, enacting Nemesis’ urge for payback and revenge.  Already, barely 25% of the US population sees the Court as impartial or nonpartisan, and that figure is likely to plummet in the aftermath of decisions like these, which are clearly based, not in law or precedent, but in the personal and political opinions of the Justices themselves.

The test case which opened the floodgates to Roe’s undoing, Dobbs v Jackson Women’s Health Organization, is seen in a T-Square from Themis/Neptune/Nemesis at its fulcrum to asteroids Jackson at 23 Gemini and Dobson (closest to Dobbs) at 21 Sagittarius.  A Grand Cross is formed by asteroids Eurydike and Asclepius at 16 and 26 Virgo, indicating a nostalgic desire to return to a former “pure” state which has vanished beyond recall (Eurydike) and a connection to health care and surgical procedures (Asclepius, named for the Greek god of medicine).  Also here is asteroid Thomas at 27 Virgo, for Associate Justice Clarence Thomas, whose concurring opinion opens wide the door for continued erosion of hard-won rights, especially among the LGBTQ+ community.

It’s a black day for freedoms in America, and looking like getting blacker.