Several important astral changes are ahead, including Jupiter’s transit into Virgo (ingress) on August 11; retrograde Saturn’s direct station (August 14); the conjunction of Saturn, Mars and the fixed star Antares (August 24); and three eclipses (August 18, September 1 and September 16). These next few months look tumultuous and are setting the stage for a significant transit of Saturn that will being in January 2017 and last through most of the year.

Beginning August 11, 2016, and lasting until September 11, 2017, Jupiter will transit in Virgo constellation, known as Kanya rashi in Vedic astrology. Jupiter transits through one sign every ~12 years, and the last time it was in Virgo was from August 2004 to September 2005. So if you recall what was happening for you then, you might have some sense of how this transit will work again for your own natal chart. This is not an exact measuring technique though, because in the years since 2004-2005, you have entered a new developmental phase, and the other transits as well as progressed cycles (dashas) have also changed.

The upcoming Jupiter in Virgo transit is something I am focusing on in my consultations as it reflects a very significant shift in each of us as well as in the world. In a nutshell, this transit represents an important cycle for practical, common-sense problem solving. For my mundane astrology forecast on Jupiter in Virgo, please refer to my blog post at Jupiter in Sidereal Virgo: August 11, 2016 to Sept 11, 2017.

In addition to the Jupiter-Virgo ingress/transit ahead, retrograde Saturn will finally go direct on August 14, completing his five-month retrograde transit in Scorpio. This may ease up certain burdens for many of us, depending of course on what else is happening in our natal and progressed charts. Then on August 24, Saturn and Mars will conjoin each other and the fixed star Antares, the Rival of Mars and the Star of War, at ~16 degrees sidereal Scorpio, also forming a T-square with the lunar nodes Rahu and Ketu.

The extremely rare and malefic Saturn-Mars-Antares conjunction will occur on the Imum Coeli, the fourth-house cusp, of Washington, DC, while Rahu is on the ascendant there, which represents potential serious threats to the homeland, anywhere in the US actually since Washington is not only the capital but also the astrological symbol of the nation. This conjunction is triggering events forward and backward and indicates the current and future climate of racial and political unrest, as well as domestic and internationalist terrorism and warlike events on US soil and elsewhere in our global community. Also indicated are severe weather patterns (including storms and heat waves), major accidents and seismic upheaval in certain hot spots.

In terms of this aspect triggering events in the past, one example is the very destructive and severe 7.8 earthquake which occurred in Ecuador on April 16 as Mars stationed retrograde near the August 24 Saturn-Mars-Antares conjunction. As mentioned in my blog last February, Ecuador is angular in the August 24 conjunction chart. The Dallas sniper attack of July 7 that killed five officers and injured several more officers and civilians occurred as Saturn retrograded near the conjunction point in a square with Neptune; while transiting Pluto opposed the United States Sun (an aspect that is in place through 2016); and Mars also was transiting through the violent cusp of Libra and Scorpio (in the sign of policemen). Saturn is transiting near the degree of the conjunction all summer long actually and into early fall. These maps below show some of the potential hot spots activated by the conjunction in the coming weeks and months.

This below is the celestial zodiac map of the US:

This below is the celestial zodiac map of the world:
This below is the Geodetic West Mundane Chart (note Pluto square the IC on French Riviera):

This is the celestial zodiac where Turkey has the conjunction rising over Ankara:

On July 6 before the Dallas shootings, I posted a gentle warning on my Facebook blog as I sensed that something very harsh was about to blow; this was clear based on several factors happening in the transit chart. In terms of the Mars-Saturn-Antares conjunction resonating backward and forward, this is ongoing for months more, including being specifically triggered by the New Moon of November 29. For more detail about this conjunction, please refer to my February 2016 blog about Mars and Saturn in Scorpio.

The world is no doubt going through some major turmoil now, and what I am sensing is that this turmoil will escalate, especially related to wars and violent Islamic extremism and its equally extreme backlash. I say this for many reasons, including some triggers to the 9/11/01 first attack chart, which can be read as the birth chart for our current “Age of Fear.” Pluto (death, mayhem, terror) in the 9/11 chart is conjoined the August Mars-Saturn-Antares conjunction; and other activations in the 9/11 chart are possible at least through 2016, including the 9/11 chart’s Half-Saturn Return in November, indicating disruptive events and a karmic turning point; and Pluto in transit through the remainder of 2016 is activating the IC (heartland point) of the 9/11 chart, and will station direct on the 9/11 IC around September 27.

In addition, I predict a bumpy ride ahead for 2017 mostly because Saturn will be transiting slowly forward, retrograde and forward again through the most dangerous or “sensitive” section of the sidereal zodiac between Scorpio and Sagittarius, and this will be for almost all of 2017, if we are using the nakshatra gandanta (read below). This will begin in January and last until late November 2017, but there will be a short relief period where Saturn breaks free of the nakshatra gandanta around mid-March to mid-April 2017. The gandanta is a karmic knot of transformational energy where “water meets fire,” i.e., where a water sign runs into fire sign.This sky map below shows Jyestha and Mula (Moola) nakshatras (thanks to http://bharatkalyan97.blogspot.in for this image).

There are actually a variety of ways to determine the gandanta. One way is to use the nakshatra gandanta (as mentioned above), which spans ~the last three degrees and twenty minutes of a water sign and first three degrees twenty minutes of a fire sign. In this case, it is the last three degrees twenty minutes of Scorpio in Jyestha nakshatra, fourth pada/Pisces navamsa; and the first three degrees twenty minutes of Sagittarius in Mula nakshatra, first pada in Aries navamsa.

Within that nakshatra gandanta edge, the last fifty minutes of a water sign and first fifty minutes of a fire sign are the most troublesome part, known as abhukta mula doṣha in Vedic astrology. It means something that cannot be enjoyed or which causes misery and suffering. Saturn will be transiting in that closer specific abhukta mula edge from ~January 17 to February 4, 2017; June 8 to July 2, 2017; and then again from October 15 to November 4, 2017. During the retrograde phase in June-July 2017, this will be perhaps most inauspicious.

The edge between Scorpio and Sagittarius is the most intense of all these karmic knots as it is near the galactic center. It is considered the place where the gods and demons go to fight their greatest spiritual battle, i.e., where the greatest extremes of duality and conflict take place. To have the lord of karma come through here for such an extended period of time is an extremely unusual event and a portent of great global transformation. This gandanta is ruled by two fierce senior goddesses of the Vedic tradition: Jyestha or Dhumavati in the Scorpion’s poisonous tail, and Niritti in the intense root of Mula nakshatra. They represent destructive and revolutionary change.

Last but not least, we have eclipses ahead. Actually, every six months we have eclipses, usually just two eclipses/two weeks apart, but this summer there will be three eclipses. Three means even more intense changes ahead. The first will be a lunar eclipse in sidereal Aquarius on August 18; two weeks later on September 1, a solar eclipse will occur in sidereal Leo, and will be forming a tension square with the August 24 Saturn-Mars-Antares conjunction; and on September 16, another lunar eclipse occurs with Ketu in Aquarius and the Moon in Pisces.

Eclipses stir the karmic pot and thus reflect significant changes for the planet and certain individuals. We astrologers have to carefully examine what and how they are triggering in a mundane or natal chart along with many other factors in order to fathom their specific impact. Eclipses, like major epoch conjunctions, also resonate forward and backward and usually show longer trends rather than specific events. That said, I prefer to avoid starting anything significant in the eclipse season, and also this is true around the fall equinox September 22. These are times to “lay low,” yet are good for spiritual practices.

The eclipses are occurring in sidereal Leo and Aquarius for all of 2016 and into the first half of 2017. Generally, in mundane astrology terms, eclipses in Leo and Aquarius highlight the seemingly eternal conflict between the oligarchy and democracy. Individually, this axis can point to the challenges we must navigate when we seek to engage our individual, creative “free-will” power out into the world in the collective reality.

Love and light to all,

Juliana