NewsScope for December 9, 2008

The Global Brain at Work
 
Last Friday the Bureau of Labor Statistics reported that 533,000 jobs were lost in November, the biggest monthly decline since December 1974. Since the recession officially began last December, 1.9 million jobs have been lost. To head off the downward spiral of deepening recession, President-elect Obama is proposing a large stimulus package to re-build America's infrastructure and "create millions of jobs."
 
Astrologically, the stressful social conditions can be attributed to the ongoing Saturn-Uranus opposition and Pluto's entrance into Capricorn. Saturn and Uranus are in Virgo and Pisces respectively, and are being activated this week by the Full Moon in Gemini-Sagittarius. As previously forecast*, this mutable Grand Cross is leading to a temporary bail-out of the Big Three automakers, since the Full Moon lands right on the U.S. Mars. 
 
Pluto's entry in Capricorn marks the beginning of a new era of government. Many astrologers have cited the more invasive, tyrannical side of Pluto in Capricorn, like the Orwellian Big Brother. However, with the economic crisis weighing on society, government action is necessary and welcome. And because the economic collapse is global, governments are acting in concert with other governments, which moves us collectively toward a global government.
 
Over the next few years, transiting Saturn and Uranus will form a T-square with Pluto. This indicates that our present economic crisis is just beginning. There will likely be no V-shaped recovery in 2009, or even 2010. One might sense a collective unconscious at work (the global brain), one that creates deep crisis in order to bring conflicting parts into a holistic, organic new world order. The only alternative is chaos.
 
Pakistan's Laskar-e-Taibe
 
Within hours of Pluto's entry into Capricorn on November 26, a group of terrorists unleashed a devastating attack on Mumbai, India's financial capital. The assailants were soon traced to Laskar-e-Taibe (LeT), a radical Islamist network that reputedly enjoys support from Pakistani intelligence and military operatives. The terrorist event has threatened to undo recent peaceful overtures between the two nuclear-armed nations of India and Pakistan.
 
Horoscopes for India and Pakistan are set only one day apart, and both feature a dangerous Mars-Uranus conjunction: Uranus at 25º Gemini is conjunct Mars at 0º Cancer. As transiting Pluto has gone back and forth over this area during the last several years, the most startling developments have unfolded in Pakistan (August 14, 1947; 9:33 am; Karachi), probably since this Mars-Uranus conjunction is right on Pakistan's Midheaven.
 
India's horoscope (August 15, 1947; midnight; New Delhi) places the Mars-Uranus duo in its Second House of Finance. Asteroid-users will note that Vesta is also involved in this mix, making a triple conjunction. Vesta in India's Second House easily refers to economic investments, while Vesta's associations with secret military agencies (notably, the ISI) is the more appropriate interpretation in Pakistan's chart, due to the angular prominence of Mars.
 
In 2009 Pluto will make several oppositions to Pakistan's Mars-Vesta. Pakistan's ISI will be feeling the pressure to reform, or possibly stage a military coup to safeguard LeT and its network of radical terrorists. Then, the next several oppositions between Saturn and Uranus will square Pakistan's Mars-Uranus conjunction, astrologically underscoring that this neighborhood will be the most unstable area in the global village over the next few years.
 
Britney's Circus
 
The last two times Britney Spears appeared in this column**, her life had taken bizarre turns, as she experienced some kind of mental breakdown. Over the past year, she's been attempting a comeback—with moderate success. Last week, as part of her 27th birthday celebration, she released her second attempt at a comeback album, Circus, and announced the dates for her next tour.
 
Pluto has been a major player in her roller-coaster ride over the last two years. Britney (December 2, 1981; 1:30 am; McComb, MS) filed for divorce in November 2006 as transiting Pluto was conjunct her Neptune and squaring her 12th house Mars. By the time she shaved her head completely bald three months later, her progressed Ascendant was conjunct natal Pluto.
 
In 2008, transiting Pluto formed a sextile to her Ceres (as her progressed Ascendant was conjunct Ceres), allowing her to come to terms with her role as a parent, and probably receiving plenty of support from her own parents. However, transiting Saturn is still in her 12th house, and staging a comeback is generally not a good idea until Saturn has cleared all the demons out of her closet.
 
The man behind the scenes (symbolized by Britney's Mars) is Wade Robson (b. September 17, 1982; Brisbane, Australia), who is writing, directing and choreographing much of the Circus tour. His Virgo Sun is exactly conjunct her Mars. The tour opens on March 3 and closes on April 28, but astrologers should be alerted for major snafus around March 24 as transiting Uranus opposes their Sun-Mars connection.
 

*See item #2 of December's Top Five Astro-Events
**See NewsScope February 20, 2007 and January 8, 2008.
 
For close-ups on Pakistan's chart, the credit crunch and other geopolitical developments, please visit www.neptunecafe.com.

 
For more geopolitical astrology and consolidated Obama pages, please visit www.neptunecafe.com.

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