Right now the United States and the entire world are suffering under a Saturn opposing Pluto aspect. The first time it peaked was Aug 5th and it will peak again November 2 at 1:09 am in Washington DC. In relationship to the US chart, the aspect brings severe limitation to the people(Saturn in first house) through terrorism (Pluto in house of enemies--seventh house). Besides this Saturn Pluto aspect, Mercury is also retrograde presently, which causes disasters and mishaps in transportation, communication problems, and difficulties with the mail. The anthrax scare is a combination of these two astrological factors. Many of the scares are hoaxes or mistakes; the ones that are genuine all involve the mail. What an awful combination of planetary aspects to occur at the same time.

Mercury will not longer be retrograde beginning October 22, which should bring some relief from the anthrax scares. Saturn opposing Pluto will be out of influence November 11 but it will come back in May of 2002. There might be more trouble for the people with regards to terrorism, if problems aren't addressed before that date. Not only do we have to break up terrorist cells, we have to be well on our way towards addressing the causes behind these attacks. If we do not see our responsibility, more karma will accrue and we'll be devastated again.

The last time Saturn opposed Pluto was April 23, 1965. We were in the middle of the Vietnam War. Saturn was in the 10th house of the Government, opposing Pluto in the fourth house of the family or the land. The government was plagued by angry protestors to end the war, but tried to wall them off rather than deal with them and their issues effectively.

The time before that, Saturn opposed Pluto February 17, 1931. We were, of course, in the middle of the Great Depression. With respect to the US chart, Saturn (limitation) was in the second house of money and opposed Pluto in the 8th house of debts.

You can see how devastating this aspect can be. Luckily, at this juncture, we do not have the planet Uranus mixed up with the Saturn/Pluto aspect as we did in 1931 and 1965. Perhaps this time around, the effect of the negative energy will not last as long.

Interestingly, during the three times this aspect has peaked, the Moon was in the sign of Aquarius. This is no coincidence as the Moon is also in Aquarius in the U.S. birth chart. Since the Moon rules the common person, we can see how much all of us have suffered from these three disasters. With the Moon in the 10th house (executive branch of government) of the U.S. chart, the effect of the Saturn Pluto opposition has also always put significant strain on our democratic form of government, particularly now with George Bush in office. He was chosen by the will of the Supreme Court and not the will of the people.

Besides dealing with Saturn Pluto on a global scale, there have been many personal tragedies I'm sure that have not directly involved the terrorists attacks on the World Trade Center. This difficult energy affects everyone. Recently, an old friend of mine died at the age of 94. Well, you say, it's to be expected at her age, 94 is quite an old age, after all. And, of course, that is so. But when someone gets to be that old you also have an idea, perhaps subconscious, that they will go on forever. When they are gone, it's quite a shock and not easy to get used to. Mary was always there with a clear mind and a kind heart. Unlike other old people, Mary never suffered from dementia or Alzheimer's. Her personality was intact up until she had the stroke, which finally killed her. She was an Irish woman who was always easy for me to talk to, and even without much of a formal education, had cogent and insightful remarks to make about people and the world situation. Mary was a good cook, and made the world's best chicken gravy. She loved football, and had a special place in her heart for Joe Montana.

Last Friday, almost a week after she died, she gave me a message. Her voice was distant but it was clearly hers, with her slight but pleasant Irish brogue and her plain speaking. She said to tell Tom (her oldest son) and the others (her four other sons) "Im alright. I'm here with Dad (her husband, who died thirty years before), and it's good here." Now we're not to worry about her because she made it to the other side and she likes it where she is, in Heaven.

To make things even more interesting, at the same time that I was getting a message from Mary, another friend of mine was sending me an email. Generally, he sends just gang email, but right then he chose to send me a special message. It had a link to a funny little cyber movie with a strange little character singing, "You have a friend in me." The timely juxtaposition of these two messages was no coincidence.

After experiencing the sadness of her death, my message from Mary was a blessing. So was my email from Peter. I can hope that blessings will be given to all of us after bearing the tragedies of September 11.