(27 March 2022) With the war in Ukraine now possibly developing into a stalemate, it seems that a negotiated settlement is the only way out of the crisis.  To that end, President Zelensky has stated that he is willing to consider formal neutrality for Ukraine if Russia withdraws its troops.  Unfortunately, US President Biden committed a major gaffe in a speech yesterday that may have inadvertently escalated the rhetoric.  In an ad-libbed comment, Biden appeared to call for regime change in Russia when he said that Putin “cannot remain in power.”   White House officials spent most of Sunday walking back the remarks in order to avoid any misunderstanding.

The gaffe underlines the current difficulties in Biden’s horoscope and the affliction of natal Mercury, the planet of commerce and communication (and speech!).  As I have noted previously, the current March-April period was likely to be very stressful and frustrating for him given the approaching Mars-Saturn conjunction at 28 degrees of sidereal Capricorn.  This conjunction will be exact on Monday, April 4.  The problem for Biden is that this conjunction forms an exact square aspect to his natal Mercury (28 Libra).

Both Mars and Saturn are malefic planets whose aspects mark unwanted and stressful events when they form close aspects with key planets in a natal chart.  Mars symbolizes action, aggression and frustration while Saturn represents loss, obstacles, and disappointment.

Since Mercury is the planet of commerce and communication, the next few days could see Biden and the US suffer from failures in communication and transportation (incl. possible cyberattacks) and setbacks involving the trade and the economy.  For our purposes, we should note that this could include financial markets.

The Mars-Saturn conjunction is part of a much larger alignment involving the Lunar Nodes, Rahu and Ketu, as well as Jupiter and Neptune.  These additional planets could serve to magnify the importance of events in early April.  Of course, Jupiter is usually a more moderating and positive influence so it is possible that could represent stress and uncertainty rather than any manifested event outcome.

Biden’s chart receives a potentially helpful aspect from Jupiter-Neptune.  But the exact conjunction of Ketu (South Node) to his Mercury doesn’t look good.  Ketu-Mercury conjunctions are linked to unexpected situations, especially ones involving the interruption of the status quo.

Meanwhile, there are a few noteworthy patterns this week.  Monday’s Moon-Venus-Saturn conjunction will offer a less tense preview of the early April alignment.  While Venus is a more positive influence than Mars, there is still some downside risk to this pattern.  The contra-parallel of Venus and Mars on Monday (and possibly Tuesday) is another not-so-great influence.  Wednesday’s Venus-Jupiter contra-parallel could be more bullish, however.

Also, the Moon conjoins Jupiter and Neptune on Wednesday so that also looks fairly good.  The late week is quite mixed.  Thursday’s Venus-Saturn contra-parallel is negative although it could be offset by the approaching Sun-Uranus-Chiron alignment.  Friday’s Mercury-Sun conjunction is a plus although the Mercury-Mars parallel could dampen market enthusiasm somewhat.  So maybe the rally takes a breather this week.  Let’s see.

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