Alex's Asteroid Astrology

March 2023 was hopping with activity, from US bank closures and mass protests in Israeli streets, to yet another record-setting development in the Donald Trump saga.  Pluto dipped its tootsies into Aquarius for the first time in a quarter millennium, and whenever an outer planet makes a major ingress the energy flux is palpable.  Aquarius is the Sign of the marketplace, and modern commerce wouldn’t get very far without a healthy banking system; it’s also related to rebellion and protest, as well as the concept of fairness and equal treatment, where not even a former President is above the law.

As March matured into the middle of the month, a rash of US bank closures gripped the nation and sent Wall Street tumbling.  On the 8^th, Silvergate Bank, heavily tied to the collapsing crypto currency market, announced it was shutting down, stating it would “voluntarily liquidate” its assets.  On the 10^th, state and federal regulators stepped in to close SVB, Silicon Valley Bank, after a run by depositors withdrew $42 billion in assets in a single day.  SVB’s implosion was the second-largest bank failure in US history, but it wasn’t the last for that weekend.  On Sunday the 12^th, Signature Bank collapsed as well, after a $10 billion run by investors, the third-largest bank failure.  International financial institutions were affected as well, with Credit Suisse and Deutsche Bank stocks plummeting into fiasco territory as the US closures rippled throughout the global banking system.

Of course it’s never possible to be sure of such things, and the panic could still spread to create a genuine financial crisis, but the skies seem to indicate that March’s banking issues are a temporary blip, though they could be a precursor to larger problems down the road, once Pluto fully commits to Aquarius in the fall of 2024.

The proximate cause of the present brouhaha appears to be asteroid Banks, which has been squaring a tight union of Saturn with Damocles for two-plus months, from mid-February through late April (with the exact squares occurring the last few days of March).  Saturn’s ingress into Pisces, where it rendezvoused with Damocles, occurred March 7^th, just as the bank collapses ensued, and barely two weeks before Pluto’s ingress into Aquarius on the 23^rd.  Saturn with Damocles suggests a period fraught with unexpected peril (Damocles) for any government or societal institution (Saturn), a looming threat (Damocles) to all business and corporate structures (Saturn).  From late Taurus into early Gemini, Banks in square to this duo pulled its focus toward financial institutions, and we can expect that Saturn is cleaning house here, weeding out weaknesses in an effort to shore up the structural integrity of the whole.

US financial institutions are at particular risk, with the natal asteroid Banks placement at 22 Pisces, exactly opposed the nation’s natal Neptune at 22 Virgo.  This promotes confusion, structural weakness, even fraud or deception, and with transit Neptune crisscrossing natal Banks for several years, culminating in its direct station exactly conjoined it last December, some disruption was to be expected.  Hopefully the worst is past for now, but Pluto may be giving us a preview of part of its Aquarian agenda, once it spits on its hands and gets down to it.

Israel erupted into protest in 2023 after the release in early January of a proposal from the government to “reform” its judiciary, essentially stripping it of much of its authority to curtail executive and legislative action, including limiting the power of the Supreme Court and of the government’s legal councilors, and granting the governing coalition a majority on the committee that appoints judges.

Israel has experienced extreme difficulty forming a stable government since 2018, with multiple failed attempts culminating in a coalition of right-wing parties taking power in late December 2022, under former prime minister Benjamin Netanyahu, who has been tried several times over the same period on charges of bribery and corruption.   Just days later the new government’s “reform” plan was announced, which sparked immediate protest in Tel Aviv and other cities.  Weekly weekend protests have been held ever since, but the firing of Israel’s defense minister Yoav Gallant, after he urged a pause in the judicial overhaul on March 25^th, sent record numbers into the streets, with more than 630,000 attending anti-reform rallies, the largest in Israeli history.  On March 26^th, hundreds of thousands of protestors blocked streets in more than 150 locales nationwide.

This massive-scale protest came just days after Pluto’s ingress into Aquarius, ruling both reform and rebellion.  The skies further encapsulated the processes playing out in Israel, with asteroid Benjamina, for PM Benjamin “Bibi” Netanyahu, exactly conjoined Uranus, the ruler of Aquarius, at 16 Taurus.  As well, transit Pluto’s 0 Aquarius placement exactly squared asteroid Benjamina at 0 Taurus in Israel’s nativity (4 PM EET, 14 May 1948, Tel Aviv; Rodden Rating A); together, these aspects made Bibi the focus of the protestor’s ire.

But the issue at hand was also on prominent display, with the Sun at 5 Aries conjoined asteroid Justitia, named for the Roman goddess of justice, at 6 Aries, while Mercury at 14 Aries conjoined asteroid Themis (Justitia’s Greek counterpart) at 17 Aries and Jupiter (ruling the judiciary) at 18 Aries.

Israelis are perhaps more naturally inclined to take threats to the independence of their judiciary seriously and to organize protests against its weakening, by natal Justitia at 23 Gemini conjoined Uranus at 24 Gemini, which links revolt or rebellion and the administration of justice.  Transit Neptune, which represents erosion, weakening or debilitation, has been squaring that pairing all winter, with the exact square commencing just days after the prosed changes were announced and the protests began.

In addition, TNO Eris, now at 24 Aries and often associated with protest and the uprising of populations which see themselves as abused, marginalized or slighted, has been playing tag with Israel’s 23 Aries Descendant, ushering in a new era of how her people relate (Descendant) to the government (with Eris simultaneously squaring Israel’s natal MC, the 10^th House cusp which represents the seat of government).  Focusing the protest on matters of the judiciary is a Grand Trine Kite pattern formed by transit Eris at 24 Aries, trine both natal and transit asteroid Israel at 21 and 27 Leo respectively, and natal Jupiter at 27 Sagittarius, with the String formed by Jupiter’s opposition to that natal Uranus/Justitia pairing.

Finally, Israel’s natal Themis at 10 Scorpio has been activated for a year now, first by a Solar Eclipse in May of 2022 exactly opposed it from 10 Taurus and a Lunar Eclipse due in May 2023 at 14 Scorpio, conjoined.  That may mark the resolution of this matter, one way or the other.

And last, but certainly not least, we have another precedent-smashing record to report in the Donald Trump saga.  Having already made history by being the first US President to be twice impeached, and the first to lose the popular vote twice, by wide margins, The Donald now takes his place in history as the first former US president to be indicted on criminal charges.

On Thursday, 30 March 2023, New York County District Attorney Alvin Bragg indicted Trump, on some 30 counts of document fraud and campaign finance violations, though the precise nature of the charges will not be revealed until the indictment is unsealed when Trump is arraigned on April 4^th.  The crimes arise from how a hush money payment to former mistress and porn star Stormy Daniels was effected and recorded in October 2016, just days before the general election that made Trump president. 

As always, the stars tell the tale.  The Sun at 9 Aries conjoins justice-bringer asteroid Justitia at 7 Aries as well as TNO Salacia at 8 Aries, noted for scandals, particularly of a sexual nature, which Trump was trying to avert by buying his former inamorata’s silence.  Opposing this grouping are asteroids Alvin (for DA Alvin Bragg) and Donn (for Donald Trump), at 2 and 7 Libra, highlighting both men for the day.  Their proximity denotes friction, and its cause is borne out by additional points forming a Grand Cross, with asteroid Clifford (Stormy Daniels’ real name, on the check, which is Stephanie Clifford) at 8 Capricorn, and Mars (ruling sexual activity) at 2 Cancer.  At 10 Capricorn, conjunct Clifford, is asteroid Cohen, here representing attorney Michael Cohen, Trump’s former lawyer and fixer, who facilitated the hush payment to Clifford and has already served time for the crime.

The ongoing Damocles/Saturn conjunction at 1 and 2 Pisces can also be seen as the looming threat (Damocles) to a former president (Saturn, as head of government), joined now by asteroid Manhattan (the office from which DA Bragg operates) at 29 Aquarius, identifying the source of the threat.  This forms a T-Square with an opposition to transit asteroid Storm (for Stormy) at 3 Virgo, with asteroid Stephania (for Stephanie) on the fulcrum at 2 Gemini, refining the threat by using both forms of Ms. Daniels’ identity.  Trump’s natal asteroid Troemper at 2 Sagittarius completes a Grand Cross and ties The Donald directly to this pattern.

Other indicators of the circumstance include asteroid Bragg at 1 Aquarius tightly conjoined Pluto at 0 Aquarius, demonstrating DA Alvin Bragg’s power and ability to wreak devastation (both Pluto) in Trump’s life, by issuing criminal (Pluto) charges.  Just down the celestial pike, a pairing of asteroid Troemper at 14 Aquarius with asteroid Karma at 17 Aquarius, suggests that a long-overdue comeuppance is on the horizon for Trump (Troemper), who will finally be made to pay for prior misdeeds (Karma).  Also here are asteroids Daniel and Daniela at 13 and 16 Aquarius, once again tying Stormy Daniels to the event as a central player.  This grouping squares an exact conjunction of Venus with Uranus at 16 Taurus, depicting the controversy (Uranus) doubtless to ensue in the wake of the indictment, and the threat to Donald Trump’s freedom (also Uranus), based in unorthodox (Uranus again) financial transactions taken to cover up an affair (both Venus).

Further confirmation comes in the form of a cluster of Jupiter (ruling the judiciary, such as the Grand Jury that recommended these charges) at 18 Aries with asteroids Themis (Greek goddess of justice, with the Manhattan DA’s office a part of the New York Department of Justice), Whitehouse (identifying a former US president as key to the story) and Stefani (another referent for Stephanie Clifford, AKA Stormy Daniels) at 17, 18 and 19 Aries, as well as Mercury (breaking news) at 22 Aries.  This cluster is trine to transit asteroid d’Arrest, representing indictments and charges filed, which at 15 Sagittarius is at station, making it a powerful embedded energy in the timeframe, and marking a literal “turning point” (such as the first indictment of a former president in US history).  Note also that d’Arrest is semisquare to the Pluto/Bragg conjunction, indicating who (Bragg) is filing the criminal (Pluto) charges (d’Arrest).  The mid-Aries group is also squared to another stationary point, asteroid Daniels, which at 24 Cancer further establishes Stormy Daniels as pivotal to the charges.

This next shoe to drop from the centipede that is Donald Trump’s legal jeopardy fell just three weeks before a Solar Eclipse opposing his natal asteroid d’Arrest, one of two to activate this point in 2023, and a period AAA has formerly highlighted as being of special peril for the former Reality TV star.  Here’s hoping more will shortly follow!