Saturday, Sept. 3, 2005 THE VIRGO NEW MOON happens later today, at 8:45 pm Europe time, 7:45 London time, and mid-afternoon in New York City, and so on. I've offered a somewhat detailed account of the lunation down a few entries, under Wednesday's blog, and also on http://Cainer.com in the Q/A section. We come to a distinctive turning point with this lunation; we're now one month to the day from a solar eclipse (in Libra); six weeks to a lunar eclipse (in Aries); and these next 45 days will gradually gather intensity and momentum in a way that may feel quite unusual even for an eclipse, because they are mingled with the energy of Mars retrograde. It is fortunate that the disaster in the southeast occurred at the end of a lunar cycle, and that help is arriving as another begins. But this chart suggests there are a few more surprises coming, because today we have a New Moon in a close opposition to Uranus, the planet of things we're not quite expecting. The Mars retrograde suggests a similar situation. However, it's difficult to say that nobody was expecting this. In my daily scan of the news sites today, I uncovered this gem on the cover of CNN.com by Justine Redman. Read it and shake your head in bewilderment and wonder. Here is the snipped URL: http://snipurl.com/hesd Apparently, it really is up to local communities to be prepared for local emergencies, because often the states are bankrupt, most of the local National Guard is in Iraq (which is not helping recruiting any), and the Feds can't show up for a week. Suffice it to say, shit happens, so keep your flashlight batteries charged and water and a case of dog or cat food in the trunk of car in case you have to evacuate with your critters on short order. Even if you don't eat for a few days, you'll feel better for knowing that your cat, dog or rabbit can. In other astrology news, someone on the Centaurs list pointed out that Chiron is making an exact conjunction to Pluto in one of the most important USA charts -- Scorpionic America by the late, great David Solte. This is the chart for the 1777 signing of the Articles of Confederation, one of the two very reliable USA charts I've worked with. Chiron transiting exactly over the US natal Pluto has the feeling of Uranus on New Orleans natal Pluto (see Katrina the Awakener article, below). Just as with Sept. 11, Pluto is a big player in this scenario, and we can be sure that this means progress -- of one kind or another, in one direction or another. Chiron to Pluto is particularly hopeful because the suggestion is that we will be waking up that often hidden, unconscious evolutionary process that Pluto signifies. An example of a Chiron to Pluto event was the first antiglobalization protest that occurred in Seattle in the autumn of 1999 -- the infamous "Battle in Seattle" against the World Trade Organization, where all those sweet little Seattle hobbits got in the way of imperial stormtroopers, their rubber bullets and CS gas. That set off a chain of similar protests that went on for several years every time the banking and trade boys came to someone's town; now they seem to avoid this by holding their meetings behind 24 barbed wire barricades on the far side of the Moon. Thanks for your emails, and please remember to save newspapers, save Web pages that get your attention, email me if you hear of anything strange, and please tape a few hours of the television news. You will be glad you did -- this is history in the making.     e