ASTROLOGICAL CIRCUMSTANCES SURROUNDING THE BIG BLACKOUT OF AUGUST 2003

Rick Riedel,
August 15, 2003

With regards to the blackout yesterday (August 14), I have no idea what happened physically, but I can see some very interesting patterns astrologically.

The obvious configuration was the Moon/Mars/Uranus conjunction that was exact the day before. In the posting I sent you August 8, I said that the previous Moon/Mars/Uranus conjunction was followed within hours by the tragedy at the Santa Monica Farmer’s Market. The next such conjunction was exact on August 13, but the Moon was still in Pisces, within 15 degrees of Mars at the time of the blackout. The most interesting thing to me about this event was the closeness of Uranus (rules electricity) to an exact square to the upcoming eclipse of November 23, 2003.

The way eclipses work is that the exact eclipsed degree becomes a “hot spot” so that when planets traverse or aspect that point, then events are set off in the physical world. The eclipse of November 23, 2003 is the last total eclipse until 2006 and, in a mutable sign, is considered the most powerful of the eclipse varieties. It has been my observation that these hot spots are activated both before and after an eclipse. It is usually Mars that sets off events, since he brings so much energy. The Moon is the final trigger that manifests world-changing events. The attacks of 9/11 occurred when Mars was opposite the total eclipse point of 0 degrees Cancer (eclipse of June 21, 2001), while the Moon was on the eclipsed point.

In any case, at the time of the power outage, Uranus was at 1 degree 13 minutes of Pisces, while the eclipse spot is a perfect square at 1 degree 14 minutes of Sagittarius. Interpreting the event astrologically, with Mars and Uranus both retrograde in Pisces, plus the Moon there, I would suspect someone was asleep at the switch somewhere. Perhaps drunk (ala Chernobyl) or drug-influenced, hence the hush-hush about exactly what caused the problem. Remember, all the planets in Pisces are about behind-the-scenes action, illusion and even other-dimensional activity. It may just be face-up-to-karma time, something else that happens with Pisces.

The next step is to plot ahead to the upcoming Moon/Mars/Uranus conjunction which spans the time range of September 9-11, 2003. This conjunction is particularly powerful because Mars and Uranus will be much closer together than they were yesterday, with Mars being at 2 degree Pisces and Uranus at 0 degrees of Pisces, perfectly embracing the square to the eclipsed point of 1 degree 14 minutes of Sagittarius. What’s more, the Moon will occult Mars, meaning that the disk of the Moon will move in front of Mars, blocking it from view. This is, in effect, an eclipse of Mars by the Moon. This is a very powerful conjunction, and the nearness to the 2nd anniversary of 9/11/01 is chilling. As you can see from the first two events with the Moon/Mars/Uranus conjunction, the effects make perfect sense in hindsight but predicting what would happen is nearly impossible. Heaven only knows what will greet us in September.

Drawing a chart for August 14, 4:14 PM at Cleveland, Ohio (the chart doesn’t change much for various other points in the blackout region), the prominent feature is Pluto retrograde rising right on the ascendant. This is the classic homeowner’s nightmare configuration where the spot of mildew on the shower wall does not come clean when scrubbed, but rather the wall gives way revealing leaking pipes and extensive damage that requires entirely rebuilding the bathroom. Extrapolating to social terms for this event it may be the whoops(!) that exposes a huge, heretofore unchecked problem process that needs fixing. In any case, the blackout is scratching the surface of something much deeper and profound than a little electrical problem. The other outstanding feature of the blackout chart is the wonderful Sun/Jupiter/Venus conjunction in the 8th house in Leo. This is the sort of chart someone would pick to get married under. This big-hearted, smiling configuration showed itself as the goodwill and lack of looting and violence in New York and elsewhere. It also indicates that this situation will bring the grandest and most beautiful things to light. It’s just that, at this time, we really don’t know what those are.

The Big Blackout was not the only item of interest as a result of this Moon/Mars/Uranus conjunction. On August 8, a gas pipeline between Tucson and Phoenix developed a leak, spilling some 10,000 gallons of fuel onto the desert floor before it was contained. The owner of the pipeline promised only some “minor spot shortages” in Phoenix before the pipeline could be repaired. By the time we got to the conjunction on August 13-15, the city of Phoenix found itself completely preoccupied with people trying to find gasoline (associated with Pisces) for their cars. The panic and uproar drove prices up to $4/gallon and spawned stories of line-cutting, near fistfights and heart-warming incidents of human kindness. After waiting in line nearly two hours, one man found that his credit card was overdrawn and would not activate the pump. His wait was apparently wasted. All the others in line chipped in enough personal change to pay for his fill up. The man was in tears of gratitude over the show of compassion from a crowd of strangers. The entire situation is causing re-thinking of the dependency on the automobile and, ultimately, petroleum companies. This is another example of the potent Moon/Mars/Uranus conjunction. Who can imagine what the next one on September 9-11 will bring?