ASTROLOGY BY JAN WARREN ALLEN

                                     AUGUST 1, 2008

Everyone is wondering what the Solar Eclipse today (Friday August 1, 2008) will trigger. To backtrack a little, in some of my previous articles, I pointed out some of the events that took place in the U.S. chart I follow (for the signing of the Articles of Confederation…November 15, 1777...12:46 PM..York Pennsylvania.); the suggested chart of deceased astrologer David Solte. So I will recap that information, and add some new findings to it.

 The progressed U.S. Sun slowly coming up to 11 and 12 degrees of Cancer (homes) in the 5th house of speculation to conjoin the natal U.S. north node at 11 Cancer 11 and opposing the south node at that degree in Capricorn and natal Mars at 12 Capricorn 23 (business activity) is what set off the housing crisis last year. But progressed Venus in the 6th house added its weight to the situation, as when it approached 8 and 9 degrees of Leo in the last few months, it squared natal U.S. Saturn and Mercury at 8 and 9 degrees of Scorpio in the 8th house of banking. At the same time, the U.S. progressed Moon was going through 8 and 9 degrees of Scorpio to further emphasize the squares, which triggered all of the banking problems we have recently witnessed with all of the financial giants.

Now we are up to the next scenario in this story as the Solar Eclipse (today), August 1st at 9 Leo 32 which sets off more of the same, as it conjoins progressed U.S. Venus at 9 degrees of Leo in the 6th house and takes its turn to square natal U.S. Saturn and Mercury. Perhaps another shoe will drop bringing more bad financial news. We have already seen an inkling of it yesterday (Thursday) July 31st, as the stock market dropped over 200 points, and the unemployment numbers are  at a 4 year high-up by 5.7 percent (6th house).  

A few other interesting observations of this Solar Eclipse and the stressful aspects it makes in the U.S. chart is how it also relates to Barack Obama's chart, as the Eclipse squares his natal and progressed Neptune at 8 and 9 degrees of Scorpio; the same degrees as the U.S. natal Saturn and Mercury are at. More worrisome also, is transiting Mercury at 12 Leo opposes Barack's progressed Moon at 12 Aquarius from the 6th to the 12 houses.

In looking back in history to see when a previous Solar Eclipse was at the same degree, I found another interesting observation. The last closest one took place on August 2, 1943, at 8 Leo 03. Many people say that Obama reminds them of John Kennedy, in that he has that same kind of youth, charm, and charisma. In fact, John's brother, Senator Ted Kennedy, as well as his daughter, Caroline have strongly endorsed Obama.

Well the interesting connection with Kennedy is that on that very day, August 2, 1943 while in the Navy, and on patrol in the now famous PT-109 torpedo boat, the Japanese destroyer Amagiri sunk it, cutting it two, off the Solomon Islands. A then young, Lt. John F. Kennedy, towing an injured sailor, swam to a small island. He was credited with saving other members of the crew also, however two of them were killed in the collision. An injured Kennedy and the ship's other survivors clung to the wreckage and swam to a nearby island, where two inhabitants found them. The pair then rowed 35 miles through enemy-held waters to summon a rescue boat.

That Solar Eclipse at 08 Leo 03 was in Kennedy's progressed 9th house of foreign places, and squared his progressed ascendant which was at that same aforementioned degree; 9 degrees of Scorpio, the sign of life and death.

The point being is that that dangerous incident almost ended Kennedy's life right then and there. It was only because he was such a strong swimmer, and kept such a cool head that he got himself and his men back to safety. So in seeing the similarity in aspects, hopefully Obama will be protected well and kept safe, especially while traveling in the days to come!

By the way, I tried getting this done and posted before the event, but Firefox must have been doing some end of the month maintenance, and just shut down in the middle of the night while I was working.