Weekend Entertainment Guide 7/12/24

Denver International Airport, Democratic National Convention

In a previous post concerning the July 15, 2024, conjunction between Mars, Uranus, and Algol, I recommended looking at the chart of your city or state to see if it would be especially affected by this transit. My home state of Oregon is one that’s getting hit hard. Natally, we have the Sun and North Node in Aquarius square Uranus and Algol in Taurus. The transiting Mars-Uranus-Algol conjunction, as part of Oregon’s second Uranus return, is now interacting with all of that. So far, it has played out in very uncomfortable hot weather.

I plan to spend July 15-18 liveblogging the Republican National Convention from an astrological perspective for paid subscribers using Substack’s chat feature. Start your paid subscription now if this appeals to you!

Denver International Airport dedication chart

I recently returned from a trip to visit relatives in Nebraska. It was my first time on an airplane since 2018, so I was definitely out of practice in terms of packing my bags and lugging them around. At least I made it through two layovers at Denver International Airport without encountering any lizard people.

Conspiracy theories about the Denver airport have been going around for some time — I first recall becoming aware of them while planning a trip in 2016. Since then, however, the divisive handling of the COVID-19 pandemic fueled a vast wave of questioning all kinds of things, and the Denver airport definitely got swept up in that. The most entertaining Denver airport theory I have heard in the COVID-19 era involved an underground highway going all the way from Denver to the east coast.

I cast the untimed chart for the Denver airport given the date on the Denver International Airport Dedication Capstone. Denver Public Library provides a photo of the capstone and a breakdown of various theories about the airport.

For an airport, this chart has surprisingly little in Air signs — at most, it has the Moon in Gemini. The dominant element is clearly Water, with many placements in both Pisces and Scorpio. Transiting Neptune has been going over the airport’s Pisces Sun lately, which could account for the rumors about the airport intensifying in the past few years.

The airport has natal Jupiter in paranoid Scorpio, which may contribute to the atmosphere of pot-stirring. As I talk about in Booby Prize: An Astrological Novel, Jupiter in a particular sign sometimes just gives you more of that sign’s qualities, for better or for worse.

My natal Moon is at 14° Scorpio, so the airport’s Jupiter is conjunct my Moon. Perhaps not surprisingly, I was very pleased with the airport’s food options. Over the course of two layovers, coming and going, I visited a few different vendors, and there were plenty more that I didn’t get to.  

I will point out that the transiting Mars-Uranus-Algol conjunction on July 15, 2024, is going to land on the Denver airport’s natal South Node conjunct Algol in Taurus, which is opposite its natal Pluto in Scorpio. As always, it is important to keep this kind of thing in a realistic perspective. I don’t expect that lizard people will suddenly speed in via an underground highway. However, I would not be surprised if July 15 were a frustrating day in terms of more ordinary travel difficulties.

According to Wikipedia, Denver International Airport opened for use in 1995, nearly a year after the date on the dedication capstone. Both charts emphasize the first half of Pisces, but the opening chart is not as intensely watery as the dedication chart.

Hot on Substack

Cosmographia

, Lunar News: New Moon in Cancer

Cosmographia says of the July 5 New Moon, “The heaviness of the solar and lunar eclipses that took place in March and April are weighing on the luminaries and we’ll be called on to reflect on the changes that have disrupted and re-ordered our lives since that time. We are now halfway between the eclipses of this year and certain themes from the eclipses might show up in our lives.”

D.W. Frauenfelder

, It doesn't Chaaq me

Frauenfelder relays the story of a fiberglass statue of Poseidon recently placed near a beach in Progreso, which is in southeastern Mexico along the Gulf of Mexico: “According to reports, the statue was meant by the municipal authorities in Progreso to be a tourist attraction, but it stirred up a viral hate spree when first Hurricane Alberto, then Beryl, hit the Yucatan Peninsula. To some, the hurricanes appeared because Poseidon, the foreign god, was set up in the territory of Chaaq, the Mayan god of rain, and Chaaq was doling out punishment for the offense.”

Cosmic Intelligence Agency

, Venus Returns as the evening star

Cosmic Intelligence Agency tracks the Venus cycle: “The Cosmic Word is that Venus has returned as an evening star after her long sojourn behind the Sun, not seen since end of April 2024.”

Persephony Fortuna Fortune via

Astrologers' Co-Op

, Cancer III: Cosmic Convergence

Fortune, covering the third decan of Cancer, looks at the three forms of Hekate.

Martha Fearnley

, Astro Weather #32 (abridged): July 9 - 14, 2024

Fearnley points out, “Every summer from now until 2043, the planets that move into Leo will oppose Pluto in Aquarius. On Thursday, Venus leaves Cancer and ingresses into Leo, where it will oppose Pluto for the first part of the weekend. Leo and Aquarius are the axis of individuality, but in different parts of the kingdom. Leo, ruled by the Sun, is a sign that speaks to centralized power, the reign of kings, and the triumph of the spirit. Aquarius, ruled by Saturn, is the hermit outside the city walls, the harsh reality of shared experience, the system of networks that a king could not rule without. Right now (and for the next two decades), Aquarius topics loom large and the Leo experience will be largely defined by the contrasts it reveals.”

Freddie deBoer, Alice Munro is Dead

deBoer is not accepting Substack tags and is not an astrologer to my knowledge. Nonetheless, he absolutely nails the slippery Neptune in Pisces vibe in recounting an online dispute he got involved with in 2021. He wondered how it was possible to simultaneously want to abolish the police and want COVID lockdowns to be enforced more strictly — wouldn’t you need police to enforce the lockdowns?

Another way to express this is to say that, on that listserv, I had taken as a matter of politics that which was really a matter of feelings. They were sincerely moved by the death of George Floyd, and the social conditioning and path dependence of lived politics had compelled them to invest those feelings in the idea of abolishing the police, which probably seemed like as good an idea as any. And they were sincerely moved by the death toll of Covid, to the point that they wanted to embrace extreme action like harsh lockdowns. To recognize that those two simultaneously-embraced policies were the negation of each other was to fail to understand that they were meant only to be felt, not thought, much less to be implemented.

2024 election: big names on the Democratic side

In past posts, I’ve looked at how the Mars-Uranus-Algol conjunction on July 15 will affect various people potentially associated with the Republican National Convention, which will begin on July 15. Mars-Uranus-Algol makes sense for the vibe of the Republicans at this time. They have been out of the White House for nearly four years, and they are angry about much of what has transpired during that time. They want change, and if the process is chaotic, so be it!

However, I think the Democrats are currently more characterized by the Jupiter-Saturn square, which will have its first exact hit on the first day of the Democratic National Convention in August. Jupiter is the planet of growth and expansion, but its efforts are being frustrated by stick-in-the-mud Saturn. Saturn’s associations include older people, and 81-year-old President Joe Biden is still resisting calls to drop out as the party’s presumptive nominee for the 2024 election.

During the convention, the square between Jupiter in Gemini and Saturn in Pisces will actually form a T-square with Venus in Virgo. That Venus-Saturn opposition will land close to Biden’s MC-IC axis during the convention. With transiting Venus going over his Virgo Midheaven, Biden may find a way to make himself look good, whether that involves staying in the race or dropping out.

If Biden, a member of the Pluto in Leo generation, drops out, he would likely be replaced by a member of the Pluto in Virgo generation. The square between Jupiter in Gemini and Saturn in Pisces engages with the natal Uranus-Pluto conjunction in Virgo that many people born in the 1960s have, so this potentially bodes well for one of them becoming prominent in this election.

One such person is Vice President Kamala Harris. She was born in 1964, so she has the opposition between Chiron in Pisces and Uranus and Pluto in Virgo common to many people born around that time. Additionally, she has natal Venus in Virgo joining that configuration.

Harris will be having a Venus return around the time of the convention, but it will be in the context of transiting Saturn opposing both transiting Venus and her natal Venus. Whatever gains she makes will probably come with some significant costs. Venus in Virgo is not an easy placement to begin with, though; by this point in her life, she may have learned how to roll with these sorts of sacrifices and trade-offs.

In this chart set for the first day of the Democratic National Convention, Mars and Jupiter are both about to power over Harris’s Ascendant and North Node in Gemini. This could make her a formidable opponent going into late summer and fall 2024!

One person the rumor mill may be right about as a potential replacement for Biden is Gavin Newsom. The Jupiter-Venus-Saturn T-square during the convention is absolutely blowing up his chart. Natally, he has Virgo Rising with the Uranus-Pluto conjunction approaching the Ascendant. The transiting Venus-Saturn opposition will be on his Ascendant-Descendant axis. Meanwhile, Jupiter and Mars in Gemini will conjoin his Midheaven in Gemini and oppose his Mars in Sagittarius. He’s on fire!

One person the rumor mill is probably wrong about as a potential replacement for Biden is Michelle Obama. Her birth time is unknown, so I don’t know the angles of her chart. Based on what is known, she has a few natal placements early in Pisces and Virgo, but she doesn’t have the tight connections with the Jupiter-Saturn square that Harris and Newsom do, making it less likely for her to be the person of the moment.

I did notice in looking at Michelle Obama’s chart that she has Mercury conjunct the South Node natally, and I wonder if that accounts for her tending to be a magnet for all sorts of weird rumors. Honestly, I think everyone should just make an early New Year’s resolution to stop talking about Michelle Obama and leave her alone.

Four charts are enough for one post, but I will look at some of the less prominent individuals potentially associated with the Democratic National Convention in another post later.

Free online events

T. Susan Chang will discuss her latest book, Dreaming the Decans, for Nightlight Astrology’s speaker series on Saturday, July 13, 2024, at 9 am PDT. I cited another book of hers, 36 Secrets: A Decanic Journey through the Minor Arcana of the Tarot, in my essay for Astrologers’ Co-Op. Register here.

Dorothy Oja's PlanetWeather

will give a presentation through Kepler College on the 2024 solar return of the United States on Saturday, July 13, 2024, at 10 am PDT. Register here.