On the face of it, the New Year’s chart really shouldn’t have any astrological signficance. It is not based on any astronomical event or measurement such planets moving into a zodiacl sign, or moving into exact aspect with another planet. It’s significance is purely calendrical and exists only in human consciousness. Because I tend towards a strictly empirical interpretation of astrology, I was very skeptical of this technique at first. Then after examining many charts, I found that these charts did exhibit a symbolic resonance with the basic contour of events of the year to follow. Heavily afflicted New Year’s charts were normally found for years characterized by war and other calamitous events. Charts with favourable aspects were more typical of years of strong economic growth and relative peace and stability in international affairs. While they are not well-suited for very precise readings, they do provide an excellent thumbnail sketch of the dominant energies of any given year.
New Year’s Chart January 1, 2007 00.00 Washington, DCOverall, the 2007 New Year’s chart is a mixed bag. The chart below is cast for Washington, DC. While the chart differs little for every country and city in the world, the ascendant degree will vary somewhat, as will the degree of the Moon. This will affect the dasha in some cases. So for the United States, 2007 will run Moon-Saturn. The Moon is extremely favourable placed exalted in the 9th house, receiving a very helpful aspect from Jupiter. This might point to economic prosperity (Moon rules the 11th) linked to higher learning or foreign sources (9th house) Bhukti lord Saturn is more problematic, however. It is placed in the 12th house of loss with malefic Ketu. I am also not keen having Venus in a close quincunx with Saturn in this chart. It points to unhappiness generally and probably in far away places. Iraq comes most obviously to mind.
Another negative element to this chart is the close square from Mars to Rahu in the 6th house of conflict and health. This is a classic signal of explosive violence and destruction owing to Rahu’s tendency to exaggerate or distort Mars’ natural tendencies towards aggression and impulsiveness.
Interestingly, the New Year’s chart for the Middle East alters the position of the Moon sufficiently to change the dasha to Moon-Mars for 2007. This would strongly point to activating the Mars-Rahu aspect more directly through the year. In East Asia, Sun-Venus is running for most of the year, so that augurs well for continued prosperity in the Pacific Rim. In South Asia and India, Moon-Moon runs for the first half of the year until Moon-Mars begins in late July. With Mars entering the mix, there may be greater security concerns afterwards. Europe is running Moon-Rahu until spring, and then moves into Moon-Jupiter. Rahu really looks very difficult given its 6th house placement with unstable Uranus and the Mars aspect. Europe may undergo some security worries in the winter and early spring. Jupiter’s bhukti will likely exert a protective effect and will keep the European economy strong.
More specifically, there are a couple of key transits to look for. First, in April and May Saturn will retrograde back to 24 Cancer to a position that is exactly opposite Neptune in this chart. This is a very difficult aspect between two malefic planets. This might indicate death and suffering due to illness and liquids (both Neptune significations). At the same time, Mars and Uranus will conjoin the natal Rahu in this chart, suggesting a sudden attack or event that catches us by surprise.
