SIGNS OF THE TIMES
Facing the Future:
The Barbault Basket & Mundane Cyclic Index
Is It Pain For Spain?
Plus,
Mundane Astrologer William Stickevers
Prediction:
Iran - The Decapitation Gambit
GLOBAL ASTROLOGY
by Theodore White, mundane Astrolog.sci
And it shall come to pass afterward, that I will pour out My Spirit upon all flesh; and your sons and your daughters shall prophesize, your old men shall dream dreams, and your young men shall see visions." ~ Joel 2:28
In this mid-year edition of Global Astrology, we explore the ongoing and soon-to-be historic events that are taking place in the mid-2020s.
The events to come will define our entrance into the 2030s, a new decade that is just four solar years from its start.
The good reader would be advised to have your personal astrological transits and secondary progressions reviewed as the time now, into the years 2027, 2028, 2029 and 2030 call for particular attention to your own preparation for the next decade ahead - just a little under four (4) years away.
In light of the recent Saturn-Neptune historic conjunction I have been receiving many requests for personalized forecast readings. I offer practical forecast sessions for clients looking to pre-act ahead of world transits and their own secondary progressions.
To have your personal horoscope and progressions read, you can contact me at astro730@gmail.com
When you write, please include your birthdate, time and place of birth. Also include brief comments on what your aspirations, goals and plans are for the next 3-5 years.
Try to focus on business, your personal and professional affairs, as I provide practical and extensive financial forecasts for individuals and entrepreneurs who seek a successful path forward into the late 2020s and into the early 2030s. guidance.
I also offer Compatibility and Relocation Forecasts. My kind of astrological practice is focused on practical information and guidance for you to go about your daily business and personal life while easily knowing the weather to come and how to prepare.
In these complex times, it is important for the individual and their families to know what the path forward into the future really looks like.
And as I predict the weather and climate as an Astromet, I provide clients with in-depth personalized forecasts in how to plan, navigate and dress for the 'weather' ahead their own lives so the opportunities are known in advance and can be prepared for in advance.
Include:
- Your Day, Month & Year of Birth
- Your Time of Birth (am or pm)
- City, Town & Country of Birth
- City, town and nation of current residence
The good reader should know that here, in the mid-2020s, the world as it is now reflects the solar, lunar and planetary transits as they apply to the human condition.
Much of the mainstream astrological chatter of July 2026 concerns what is being called the 'Barbault Basket' - named after the late French mundane astrologer André Barbault.
It is a 'cosmic cradle' that is also being called the 'Barbault Basket,' which is a rare astrological configuration named after Barbault, who wrote that it would bring significant societal shifts in the middle of this decade.
The cosmic cradle configuration taking place between 19-25 July 2026 is characterized by a specific alignment of the outer planets, namely Jupiter, Uranus, Neptune, and Pluto, which form a network of sextiles and trines underpinned by a Jupiter-Pluto opposition - sort of resembling a basket shape on the zodiac wheel.
This configuration of the planets positioned at 4° of their respective signs: Jupiter in tropical Leo, Uranus in Gemini, Neptune in Aries, and Pluto in Aquarius is considered special due to its precise aspects, which are within a quarter of a degree of exact, amplifying its potential impact.
The energies at play here are strong enough to set some people into turning molehills into mountains via means of unbalanced acts, so be aware of your surroundings. See this one example that took place in New York City under the current skies of July 2026.
However, I would remind those just learning about Mundane Astrology, whose practitioners have long been aware of configurations like these, that the effects of outer planetary can play out over a long period of time - in this case, for 2-3 years more or less.
The planetary transits of July 2026 lead into the eclipse season of August with its effects into September, October, November and December 2026 as the months count down to the common new year of 2027.
TRANSITS OF JULY 2026
*all positions are geocentric relative to Earth
July 19th - Mars sextile Saturn 15-degrees Gemini-Aries
July 20th - Jupiter at 4-degrees Leo trine Neptune at 4-degrees Aries
July 20th a major Jupiter opposition to Pluto occurred at 4-degrees Leo & Aquarius
July 21 - Jupiter at 4-degrees Leo sextile Uranus at 4-degrees Gemini
The Sun entered tropical Leo on July 22nd
July 23rd - Transiting Mercury station direct at 16-degrees Tropical Cancer
July 25 - Neptune at 4-degreesAries sextile Pluto at 4-degrees Aquarius
July 26th - Transiting Saturn stationed retrograde (until Dec. 10th) at 15-degrees Aries
July 29th - Full Moon at 6-Aquarius
Transits of August 2026
*all positions are geocentric relative to Earth
August 5 - Venus turns 0-South in Declination
August 12 - New Moon, Total Solar Eclipse at 20-Leo
August 28th - Full Moon, Partial Lunar Eclipse at 4-5 Pisces
Meanwhile, the planetary configurations of Uranus, Neptune and Pluto will continue to play out in this fashion from July-August 2026 to July of 2027 and some will extend further, into March 2028.
What the good reader will notice in 2026 onward into the new decade of the 2030s will be a series of transformation that redefines global society and its behavior - and that will impact your personally.
It will continue the theme of breakthroughs in technology, communication, science, as well as individual, cultural and collective movements for freedom and expression.
The key aspects of the alignment relative to Earth: Jupiter trines Neptune, sextiles Uranus, and opposes Pluto - while Uranus sextiles Neptune and trines Pluto.
The influences globally are those that have already been forecast; such as impending phases of collective transformation, geopolitical conflicts, advanced technological innovation, spiritual evolution, and societal reorganization.
My predicted outcomes are mixed in that the mid-to-late 2020s hold a kind of evolutionary moment for the world in that it promises the possibility of ushering in a more hopeful, collective era countered by potential for disruption by means of inflated egos, viral misinformation and spiritualized manipulation.
The planetary configuration marks a significant turning point, not just for individuals, but also for nations and their populations, as it coincides with additional astrological events such the February 2026 Saturn-Neptune conjunction and the Lunar Nodes shifting onto the Aquarius-Leo axis from July 2026 to March 2028.
I see this configuration as an opportunity for growth, innovation, and positive change, but I also warn of potential challenges and uncertainties left over from the events of the previous 25 years of the 21st Century.
I examine eclipse season of August 2026 as well as the 'Barbault Basket' of the Mundane Cyclic Index and what it shows for the mid-to-late 2020s and beyond in this edition of Global Astrology.
We look into the events of the ongoing U.S.-Iran-Israel War. Let us begin this edition of Global Astrology with a presage from mundane astrologer William Stickevers' on the events in the Persian Gulf.
Mundane Astrologer William Stickevers
PREDICTION:
IRAN - THE DECAPITATION GAMBIT
by William Stickevers, mundane Astrolog.sci
"As we enter the opening phase of the August Eclipse Corridor, I believe the coming U.S.–Israeli campaign against Iran may extend far beyond power plants, refineries and missile installations.
My forecast is that another wave of leadership-targeting operations could be embedded inside the broader bombing campaign - particularly against surviving IRGC commanders, intelligence officials, Basij leadership and the regime’s internal-security apparatus.
The sequence would likely unfold in three stages:
1. Disrupt the system.
Strike electrical infrastructure, communications networks, missile logistics and command centers.
2. Expose the leadership.
As communications fail, surviving commanders are forced to relocate, activate backup networks and assemble at emergency command posts - creating signals that American and Israeli intelligence can detect and target.
3. Risk the fracture.
If enough senior figures are eliminated, Iran may lose centralized control over its missile forces, naval units and regional proxies.
That could produce a succession struggle, rogue retaliation and horizontal escalation across the Middle East.
This is the paradox:
Tactical success can produce strategic chaos.
Removing the people capable of ordering attacks may also remove the people capable of ordering them to stop.
Washington is pursuing vertical escalation - increasing the intensity and destructive power of its attacks.
Tehran is answering with horizontal escalation - expanding the conflict geographically by threatening American bases, regional ports, shipping lanes and energy infrastructure.
Each side believes escalation will shorten the war.
Together, their strategies could make the conflict larger, less controllable and far more difficult to terminate.
The astrological timing is extraordinary:
🌑 July 31: Pre-Eclipse Pivot
☀️ August 12: Solar Eclipse at 20° Leo
🌕 August 28: Lunar Eclipse at 4° Pisces
The Leo solar eclipse places rulers, executive authority, national prestige, and leadership succession directly under pressure.
The Pisces lunar eclipse points toward confusion, humanitarian consequences, dissolving boundaries and the loss of clearly defined war aims.
Therefore, my prediction is not merely that heavier strikes are coming.
It is that the August Eclipse Corridor could mark the moment when the Iran war shifts from a controlled military campaign into a struggle over the survival and succession of the Iranian regime itself.
If decapitation strikes occur, watch what follows - not merely 'who' is eliminated.
The decisive question will be:
Who still possesses the authority to control Iran’s remaining forces - and who, if anyone, can make the war stop?"
The White House on Friday, July 31st responded to questions about reports of a potential expansion of U.S. military operations against Iran, saying that President Donald Trump remains committed to a diplomatic resolution but will continue responding to Iranian attacks.
In a statement, White House Press Secretary Karoline Leavitt said:
“The United States signed an MOU with Iran and they broke it, shot at commercial ships, and killed American soldiers. President Trump is not going to stand by and allow this terrorist behavior to occur. Iran will continue to pay until they come to the table in, what President Trump deems, a meaningful way.”
The president is convening his cabinet at Camp David over the weekend of August 1-2 on the conflict, but said on Friday, July 21st that Americans should be prepared for the fighting with Iran to continue, predicting Tehran would eventually "peter out" as U.S. strikes steadily weaken its ability to retaliate.
Top Iranian adviser reportedly says U.S. has ‘no role’ in Strait of Hormuz
“They got used to, for 20 or 30 years, not just the U.S., but the broader world, allowing them to get away with things like lying, breaking deals, tricking people into agreements.”
"We are in an essential and existential war with America," said Tehran's top negotiator Mohammad Baqer Qalibaf.
Although that remains to be seen, Iran said that it had already targeted American bases in Kuwait and Jordan:
"Our neighbors should know that providing a base to the Americans and allowing them to fire on Iranian soil is unacceptable and will not go unanswered."
This is, of course, in keeping with what the Iranian regime has said before; it is not clear that this time will, in fact, be different.
But the situation does look to be escalating to all involved and for many, it is not clear what the path to a solution looks like.
Iranian media reports said the U.S. twice on Thursday, July 23rd attacked a military target in Bushehr, near the country's only operating commercial nuclear power reactor, marking three strikes there in two days.
State TV reported two people were killed and 11 wounded in what a Khuzestan provincial official described as a U.S. missile attack on the Shalamcheh border crossing with Iraq.
Despite statements from Washington, Iran has demonstrated it continues to resist in using what is left of its missile and drone capabilities.
Iran pounded vital water desalination and energy plants in Kuwait this week and targeted U.S. military assets there, in Bahrain and in Jordan.
Each side has also reported an escalating human toll.
An Iranian health ministry official said 53 civilians had been killed and 592 wounded since late June 2026.
The war has led to the deaths of 18 U.S. service members and injured more than 450 troops.
Trump attended a ceremony on Wednesday, July 22nd at Dover Air Force Base in Delaware for four U.S. service members killed in Iranian attacks on military bases over the last few days - three in Jordan and one in Iraq.
"For me it's one of the hardest things to do as a president. But it has to be done," President Trump said before leaving for the ceremony.
Later, at a speech in Georgia, Trump struck a different tone, saying of the war, "I call it a skirmish."
The planetary transits do not look favorable when it comes to settling matters with the Iranian regime as it continues to repress its own people while threatening Israel and its neighbors with missile and drone attacks since March 2026.
Global oil prices hit $100 a barrel on Thursday, July 23rd after Iranian-supported Houthi forces announced attacks on two oil tankers from Saudi Arabia, a U.S. ally.
The price of benchmark Brent crude oil rose 6% following the Houthi attacks in the Red Sea. The strikes raised market fears that a second vital oil shipping route in the Middle East could be closed or restricted.
The Houthis, a political-religious faction in Yemen, announced the Red Sea blockade July 20th.
The group controls a narrow waterway known as the Bab el-Mandeb Strait, one of the world's most important oil shipping routes.
Closing the Bab el-Mandeb Strait could trigger a fresh surge in crude prices, disrupt fuel supplies and add strain on the global economy.
In a social post, U.S. President Donald Trump said the United States would inflict punishment on Iran for future Houthi attacks.
The Houthis said they attacked two Saudi oil tankers, the Encelia and the Layla. Saudi state media reported an attack and fire on Encelia, but the Layla strike remains unconfirmed.
Iran had been pressing the Houthis to close the Bab el-Mandeb Strait if the United States continued to attack Iranian power infrastructure.
That would put two of the world's most vital energy arteries at risk.
A full closure of Bab el-Mandeb could reduce global oil supply by 7% because it would leave most Saudi oil exports unable to leave the region, adding to the 10% cut in oil flows from the war in the region.
Gasoline prices generally rise and fall with crude oil costs. Crude is the largest component of the retail price of gasoline, says the Energy Information Administration.
Because of the massive amounts of petroleum, other liquids and liquified natural gas that flow through them, chokepoints – narrow passages along popular international maritime routes – are vital to the world's energy trade and security.
The simultaneous disruption of several transportation routes, including energy, shipping and air cargo, is expected to increase global inflation and put key world economies at risk of stagflation.
That is on top of existing political and tariff disputes
And, for the first time since a memorandum of understanding paused fighting in June, the United States launched two big waves of air strikes in one day back on Wednesday, July 15th - mostly on targets near the coast in southern Iran.
Iran responded with missiles and drones fired at U.S. military bases in neighboring countries, including a major barrage at a recently expanded air base in Jordan.
The week of increasingly intense fire has tested the limits of escalation that both sides set during four months of fighting before last month's truce.
But in the midst of the attacks, President Trump hailed the release of a U.S. citizen in Iran as a "gesture of goodwill".
Human rights lawyer Jared Genser identified her as Dena Karari, who he said had been "trapped in Iran since December 2024 on bogus charges" and was "now safe and traveling back to the United States". There was no comment from Iran on the case.
Over decades of confrontation, the release of U.S. citizens held in Iran has been managed through behind-the-scenes contacts that persisted when formal diplomacy was cut off.
Meanwhile, the U.S. State Department on Saturday, July 18th issued a worldwide caution, advising Americans - particularly those in the Middle East - to “exercise increased caution,” as the war between the U.S. and Iran continues.
“Due to heightened tensions in the Middle East, the security environment remains complex with the potential for unforeseen escalation. We remind Americans in the region of the continued need for caution,” the State Department said in a social media post.
“U.S. diplomatic facilities, including outside the Middle East, have been targeted. Groups supportive of Iran may target other U.S. interests overseas or locations associated with the United States and/or Americans throughout the world.”
Saturday’s alert comes after the US military announced the death of two service members, with another missing in action, as a result of Iranian strikes in Jordan.
The State Department last issued an advisory of this nature in March.
SHIPPING HALTED AGAIN
The re-escalation has once again nearly halted traffic through the Strait of Hormuz, the world's most important shipping route for oil and gas, sending global energy prices shooting higher.
Oil prices have jumped as fighting has intensified in recent days, and more war would deliver another shock to global markets.
Consuming countries have drawn down their oil stockpiles to the lowest level in decades with little breathing room left to endure another extended closure of the Strait of Hormuz.
The U.S. established an alternate route through the narrow water to bypass an Iranian corridor, but the renewed fighting has effectively it shut down.
But prices are still well below wartime peaks, suggesting traders anticipate the crisis could abate.
By early Sunday, 19th July 2026, the United States launched new strikes against Iran, Central Command said, after it announced earlier that two U.S. military personnel were killed in Jordan and another was missing following an Iranian attack.
Before the strikes on Saturday, Iran's supreme leader said that Washington would pay for "seeking to escalate the conflict."
Central Command said in a statement that the airstrikes began at 6 p.m. ET (2200 GMT), at President Donald Trump's direction.
"The strikes are designed to further degrade Iran's ability to threaten commercial shipping in the Strait of Hormuz and swiftly punish Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps forces who launched attacks against American service members in Jordan last night," it said, without providing further details.
Iran's Mehr news agency said the U.S. carried out an attack near Sirik in southern Iran, adding that no casualties or damage to infrastructure have been reported.
Central Command said the two deaths occurred on Friday, July 17th, and that a third U.S. service member was missing in action.
The announcement brought the number of U.S. service members killed since the war began to 16, this, while more than 420 have been wounded.
U.S. Department of War Secretary Pete Hegseth posted on X: "Godspeed, heroes. Their sacrifice only stiffens our resolve."
Iran appeared to target Saudi Arabia as well as other U.S. Gulf allies and Jordan on Saturday, July 18th, after U.S. attacks on Iranian bridges, power facilities and other infrastructure.
In a written statement carried by the official social media accounts of Iran's supreme leader and Iranian state media, Supreme Leader Ayatollah Mojtaba Khamenei said repeated U.S. breaches of the interim deal had shown that Trump's signature was "utterly worthless and devoid of credibility."
"Now that the American enemy is seeking to escalate the conflict thereby incurring even heavier costs and further humiliation, it should know that the noble nation of Iran and the Resistance Front have unforgettable lessons in store for it," the statement said. The White House did not immediately respond to a request for comment.
Khamenei's whereabouts remain a mystery.
As Iran’s President Masoud Pezeshkian walked alongside the coffin of Supreme Leader Ali Khamenei in Tehran last week, some of the black-clad mourners chanted directly at him: “Death to the compromiser.”
Not far from that site, Abbas Araghchi, Iran’s top diplomat who negotiated a ceasefire with the Trump administration, was forced to flee the funeral after a mob pelted him with rocks and accused him of being a “traitorous sellout.”
The hostility directed at top officials during the funeral reflects a theory that has been gaining traction within Iran’s most radical factions for months: that Iran’s wartime leaders who negotiated and signed the agreement with Washington are staging a soft coup against the Islamic Republic and its revolutionary ideals.
The hardline factions that attended the funeral in large numbers believe that instead of avenging Khamenei’s killing, Iranian officials have surrendered by signing an agreement that defies the orders of Supreme Leader Mojtaba Khamenei, the late leader’s son and successor.
But Khamenei has remained hidden from public view, yet to visibly assert his authority even as officials negotiate or govern in his name.
Hardliners have accused Iran’s visible leadership - those running and representing the country as Khamenei remains in hiding - of plotting to consolidate power by suspending parliament, defying his orders in negotiations and attempting to disperse the nightly street rallies that had become a potent power base for fundamentalists.
To be sure, Iran’s economy is reeling and conventional forces were decimated, but does the Islamic Republic have enough combat power to scare away commercial shipping?
Iran’s Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) has warned that those who attack Iran will be met with the same force, as it launched strikes on American allies in the Middle East region following a fresh wave of US attacks.
“Since there is no international institution to prevent the brutality of the US military, we have no option before us except the Qur’anic command:
‘Whoever attacks you, then attack him in the same manner as he attacked you,’” the IRGC said, according to Iran’s state-run Islamic Republic of Iran Broadcasting (IRIB).
The IRGC is an elite wing of the Iranian military, established in the aftermath of Iran’s revolution in 1979 as a parallel security institution to the national army.
The group’s goal was to protect the revolutionary government and its leaders, although it grew to be seen as a deep state more powerful than the army and one with a vast business empire.
The Revolutionary Guard chief reports directly to the supreme leader, now Mojtaba Khamenei.
The IRGC holds deep influence over domestic politics and the economy, with interests extending to and beyond the construction, telecommunications, auto and energy industries.
In 2009, its Basij subgroup cracked down on anti-government demonstrations and helped secure the position of hardline then-President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad.
Designated “terrorists”: US President Donald Trump officially designated the IRGC a terrorist group in 2019.
Iran’s Supreme National Security Council then declared the U.S. a “state sponsor of terrorism” and American troops operating in the region as “terrorist groups,” according to IRNA, Iran’s state-run news agency.
American allies in the region also consider the Revolutionary Guards a major security threat, with Bahrain and Saudi Arabia adding the IRGC to their terror lists in 2018.
The European Union declared the group a terrorist organization this year after Iran’s violent crackdown on anti-government protests, while the United Kingdom designated the IRGC a national security threat earlier this week.
Meanwhile, hopes for a new round of talks to cobble together another ceasefire are vanishing as the adverse planetary transits of July play out over the region.
Previously, some officials appeared to leave the door open to negotiations despite Tehran’s defiant statements in the face of U.S. strikes.
That was after pragmatists inside Iran privately admitted that the initial naval blockade had crushed Iran's economy, with the blockade’s resumption reportedly deepening a rift between pragmatists and hard-liners who want to fight more aggressively.
The conflict, which began when the U.S. and Israel launched strikes on Iran at the end of February hoping to disable its missile program and its regional proxies, has led to the major disruption to energy supplies, fears over global inflation and a battle for control of the Strait of Hormuz.
Iran's Revolutionary Guard said that it had struck a U.S. military support center at Kuwait's Camp Arifjan and destroyed a radar facility at Ali Al Salem Air Base.
Kuwait Petroleum Corporation later said one of its oil facilities had been hit in "repeated Iranian attacks", causing significant damage and some injuries, according to the state news agency.
As well as hitting Kuwait, it appears that Iran targeted a site in Bahrain where U.S. combat aircraft were gathered at Sheikh Isa Air Base and an intelligence data center, according to statements made by Iranian media.
Iran said that it also destroyed at least two U.S. fighter aircraft and three other aircraft during a missile and drone attack early on Saturday on the U.S. base in Al Azraq, Jordan, according to Iranian state TV but additional news services could not independently verify the reports.
Saudi Arabia's early warning system issued alerts early on Saturday urging residents of Al-Kharj and Yanbu to seek shelter. Al-Kharj, east of Riyadh, is home to a military base that hosts U.S. troops, while Yanbu, on the Red Sea, has a key oil export terminal.
Two people briefed on the matter said an Iranian missile attack, the first on Saudi Arabia in more than three months, had triggered the alerts. Saudi state media did not say what had prompted the alerts and the government media office did not respond to a request for comment.
Iran made no mention of any attack on Saudi Arabia.
THE FIGHT FOR CONTROL OF THE STRAIT OF HORMUZ
Earlier, U.S. Central Command said that it had hit Iranian surveillance sites, military logistics infrastructure, underground weapons storage and maritime capabilities.
U.S. airstrikes early on Saturday, July 18th were said to have killed three people and wounded eight others in the southern Hormozgan province, which borders the Strait of Hormuz, while two bridges and a road tunnel were damaged, Iranian state TV reported.
The U.S. carried out further airstrikes in the same province on Saturday afternoon, the semi-official Fars news agency said, quoting provincial authorities.
Iran's Health Ministry said on Saturday that 50 people had been killed and more than 500 wounded in U.S. strikes on the country over the past three weeks.
Iranian Foreign Ministry spokesperson Esmaeil Baghaei accused the United States of seeking control over the Strait of Hormuz, which usually handles around one-fifth of the world's oil supply.
Both sides have taken aim at shipping traffic, with the U.S. saying it is enforcing a naval blockade and Iran saying it targets vessels violating its rules on navigating the strait.
The European Union and Gulf states called on Iran to immediately and unconditionally halt all attacks and interference with maritime navigation and to keep the strait open without conditions or fees, according to a joint statement reported by Saudi state TV on Saturday.
Spiraling Conflict Risks Turning Into Broader Regional War
Persian Gulf states are looking on with growing apprehension as the conflict between Iran and the United States escalates again.
A pattern of strikes and counterstrikes is firmly bedded in, with the additional complication of growing tension between Saudi Arabia and the Iran-allied Houthis in Yemen, who are determined to break a blockade against them.
Yemen's Iran-aligned Houthis said on Monday, July 20th that they were imposing a naval blockade on Saudi Arabia. That is a move that opens a new front against the United States in its war on Iran and widens the threat to global energy supplies and trade beyond the Gulf.
Iran had been pressing the Houthis to close the Bab el-Mandeb gateway to the Red Sea if the U.S. continued to attack Iranian power infrastructure.
The full closure of the strait would cut global oil supply by 7% as it would leave most Saudi oil exports unable to leave the region.
The disruption would add to the massive cut to global oil flows from the war in the Gulf, which has already reduced shipments by 10% of global supply.
In their statement, the Houthis' armed forces said they were declaring "a maritime embargo against the criminal Saudi enemy, based on the equation of 'an eye for an eye', effective immediately" in response to what they called "an unjust and oppressive siege" imposed on Yemen by the Saudis.
There was no immediate response from Saudi Arabia.
The announcement came despite signs that Tehran and Washington wanted to resume diplomacy to halt an escalating cycle of attacks that has all but wrecked a fragile interim agreement signed last month.
Oil prices briefly rose after the Houthis' statement but fell back due to traders' hopes for a diplomatic breakthrough.
Iran’s Revolutionary Guards quoted the Quran in warning that those who attack Iran will be met with the same force, as it launched strikes on U.S. allies in the Middle East region following a fresh wave of U.S. attacks.
There have been days of back-and-forth strikes between the U.S. and Iran focused on control over the strategic Strait of Hormuz with no sign of de-escalation.
“Since there is no international institution to prevent the brutality of the US military, we have no option before us except the Qur’anic command:
‘Whoever attacks you, then attack him in the same manner as he attacked you,’” the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) said, according to Iran’s state-run Islamic Republic of Iran Broadcasting (IRIB).
The IRGC went on to issue a warning to neighboring Gulf states, saying that, therefore, “countries hosting U.S. occupying forces, which have provided their territory to these invading criminals to launch attacks against Iran, should be prepared to receive a corresponding response.”
The diplomatic track seems moribund for now. The flurry of Pakistani and Qatari delegations visiting Iran in an effort to sustain the ceasefire has given way to pessimism among regional diplomats. Qatar itself has been hit twice in the recent flare-up.
Iranian drones have also targeted Oman, days after negotiations between the two states on a management scheme for the Strait. And Iran’s Islamic Revolutionary Guards (IRGC) has struck ships sailing close to the Omani coastline.
Traffic in the Strait of Hormuz is down to a trickle.
Iran has repeatedly warned it is ready to step up strikes on neighbors that host U.S. military facilities and a semi-official outlet – Fars – published a list of five ports in Bahrain, Saudi Arabia, Kuwait, Qatar and the United Arab Emirates that it said could become targets if Iranian infrastructure were attacked.
American targeting in recent days has included tunnels, roads, bridges and railways, according to Iranian state media – heightening anxiety that the conflict could spiral.
“Every US escalation is met by an Iranian escalation, as each side seeks to establish new deterrence thresholds with every exchange,” according to Israeli analyst Danny Citrinowicz.
Rather than force Iran back to the negotiating table, “an equally plausible outcome is a conflict that spirals beyond either side’s intentions, expanding into a much broader regional war with diminishing opportunities to restore diplomacy,” Citrinowicz posted on X.
A senior Iranian official told Reuters on Monday, July 20th that Tehran had received a proposal from mediators for a 10-day ceasefire in an effort to salvage the interim deal, intended to pave the way to a lasting agreement to end the war that began on 28 February 2026 with US-Israeli attacks on Iran.
Iran's Foreign Ministry said mediators had recently presented proposals to Tehran, signaling that diplomatic contacts remain active.
Neither the ministry nor the official who spoke to Reuters gave any further details on the putative ceasefire discussions.
Separately, two Pakistani government sources said that Iran's Interior Minister Eskandar Momeni, on his second visit to Islamabad in less than a week, had asked Pakistan to resume its mediation role in Iran's conflict with the United States.
The diplomatic push followed another night of U.S. strikes on Iranian cities and attacks by Iran's Revolutionary Guards on US military assets across the region.
President Donald Trump, under mounting political pressure at home over rising gasoline prices, defended the latest strikes on Iran as honoring the deaths of up to three American service members in recent Iranian attacks.
'IRAN SAYS TANKERS EXPLODED'
The IRGC said earlier that two oil tankers had exploded after attempting to transit the strait via an "unsafe" route. On Sunday, July 19th, the IRGC had said two ships were involved in an "accident" in the same area. It was unclear whether the two incidents were related.
Separately, a vessel was struck by an unknown projectile off Oman's coast, overlooking the Strait of Hormuz, the United Kingdom Maritime Trade Operations agency said. The vessel remains adrift but the crew are safe, it said.
In Iran, explosions were reported in Tabriz, Chabahar, Konarak, Bandar Mahshahr and Bandar Imam Khomeini. One person was killed and several others wounded southwest of Tabriz, according to state news agency IRNA.
The IRGC said it targeted U.S. aircraft at Jordan's Aqaba airport with ballistic missiles, as well as military assets at Kuwait's Al-Adiri camp and Ali Al Salem Air Base, and positions in Syria.
Sirens sounded in Bahrain throughout Monday, while Kuwait's army said it again intercepted Iranian drones.
'DESALINATION PLANT ATTACKED'
Kuwait's government said a desalination plant had been attacked on Sunday for a second day running, causing a fire, in what it called a direct strike on vital civilian infrastructure.
Desalination facilities supply most drinking water in many Gulf states, serving tens of millions of people in one of the world's driest regions.
Iran, which accused the United States of hitting one of its own desalination plants, has repeatedly said it would target such plants in Gulf states in retaliation. The US did not confirm that it had struck an Iranian desalination facility.
Meanwhile, U.S. Secretary of State Marco Rubio vowed that the United States would continue to target Iran as long as it attacked global commercial shipping.
"As long as Iran insists on controlling an international waterway, we're gonna have to respond to that. The United States always remains open to a diplomatic solution," Rubio said.
Iran's Foreign Ministry signaled that Tehran also did not rule out a return to diplomacy when asked if the door to talks with the U.S. was now closed.
Confirming that Tehran had received "proposals" from mediators, ministry spokesperson Esmaeil Baghaei said he could not provide details. "The main point is that in recent days, both the diplomatic apparatus has been active and ideas from some mediators have reached us," he added.
The conflict has killed thousands of people, mostly in Iran and Lebanon.
In the chart above for July 19-20, 2026, you will see that the planetary cycles in opening sextiles and trines that is highlighted by a new opposition of Jupiter opposite Pluto.
The opposition of Jupiter in tropical Leo and Pluto in tropical Aquarius signifies cultural, business and geopolitical power struggles that are mixing within the planetary climate of 60-sextile and 120-trine aspects between the planets Uranus, Neptune and Pluto.
Chiron (the symbol of a key) entered tropical Taurus in June 2026 and is a part of the so-called cosmic cradle. This planetoid was discovered in 1977 as it had left tropical Aries and had entered Taurus.
Chiron has a highly eccentric orbit that ranges between 8.53 AU (perihelion) and 18.87 AU (aphelion), orbiting the Sun approximately every 50.71 years. It is classified as a 'centaur,' with its orbit located between the planets Saturn and Uranus.
From June to September 2026, Chiron will transit tropical Taurus until it re-enters tropical Aries in mid-September 2026.
By mid-April 2027, Chiron will then re-enter Taurus for good where it will transit there for seven (7) years until the year 2034.
The configuration - including Chiron's foreshadowing transit in tropical Taurus - will remind some of the years 1976 to 1984, when economic concerns, job and career prospects were highlighted in the financial Sign of Taurus.
This was a period defined by economic turbulence, the aftermath of the early-to-mid energy crisis, and a cultural renegotiation of what security and material life meant.
Before that, Chiron was in Taurus during the years 1927 to 1934 - and during the years that the Great Depression struck.
Back in 1976-1984, there were a number of shortages when it came to resources and those span of years also included a significant recession (1981-83) that highlighted the need for people to learn how to adjust to the shortages of resources needed to live and work.
Food shortages in the mid-to-late 1970s were a significant issue in the United States, but they were largely addressed through various government programs and initiatives. This led to a notable reduction in hunger during that period.
The late 1970s to early 1980s food shortages highlight the importance of investing in agricultural production and ensuring food security through sustainable practices. These lessons emphasize the need for preparedness against price surges and reliance on diverse food sources to prevent future crises.
Chiron's transit in Taurus from 1976 to 1984 also highlighted collective wounds around self-worth, material security, and economic stability, with themes of scarcity, financial restructuring, and ecological responsibility emerging during that period.
The economic challenges of Chiron's transit in tropical Taurus during the late 1970s and early 1980s were characterized by economic turmoil, including inflation and unemployment, which led to a reevaluation of financial systems.
The cultural shifts at that time also saw a rise in materialism, where societal values began to emphasize possessions over personal worth and misuse of resources, creating feelings of inadequacy among many.
This era prompted significant policy changes aimed at addressing economic disparities, including initiatives that sought to redistribute wealth and improve social welfare.
Chiron's influence during this time encouraged individuals and society to reflect on their values and the deeper implications of materialism, setting the stage for future healing and growth.
Those who did best at that time were individuals who were flexible, resilient and patient while at the same time practicing prudence when it came to the company they kept and how they managed their work and personal lives.
These outer planet waxing aspects of 2026, along with Chiron's transit, signify a major part of what will make the mid-to-late 2020s important when looked back on by the mid-2030s.
The world is at a crossroads so to speak in that generational change is happening during a expanding decade of technological, political, cultural and social transformation.
It is my advice for those reading this is to strongly consider making stable, but flexible plans for the future - say the next three to seven years, more or less, and to consider making financial adjustments before the years 2027, 2028, 2029 and 2030 arrive.
Individuals who want to know how these planetary transits will affect them individually should see a professional astrologer to ascertain their particular transits and progressions in 2026 and what it means for them into the years just ahead. Again, I can be contacted at astro730@gmail.com
When you write, please include your birthday, time of birth, place of birth and your comments and/or questions ahead of a scheduled forecast session.
Here are the influences of each of the planets involved during mid-July's planetary configurations with some lasting for several years through the mid-to-late 2020s and into the 2030s.
Uranus sextile Neptune
A span of time through 2026-2027 where there a will be opportunities to develop increased psychological and spiritual understanding. At times during 2026 and 2027 this is excellent for the stimulation of insights into spiritual growth and for work that relies on creative imagination and artistic ability.
Individuals can use this configuration to put new ideas into action for business purposes. There also can be inheritances and/or gifts received that assist in meeting one's aspirations, goals and plans for the future.
Uranus trine Pluto
Since 2008, mundane astrologer William Stickevers has been lecturing on the Barbault Planetary Cyclic Index.
Other than myself, I consider Stickevers to be among the few modern expert practitioners of this mundane tool to forecast the future.
Gouchon was a French astrologer born March 1, 1898, and he passed away on October 5, 1978. He is best known for his influential work, the 'Dictionnaire Astrologique,' - a key reference book on French classical astrology.
Like my tutor Charles Jayne, Henri-Joseph Gouchon was trained as an electrical engineer and was a strong advocate for primary directions. He emphasized their importance over transits in astrological practice and transitioned to mundane astrology in his 40s and 50s.
The graph that Gouchon produced showed the sum of the angular distances between the five superior planets: Jupiter, Saturn, Uranus, Neptune, and Pluto.
Gouchon discovered that the markers on his graph depicted the high and low spans of international crisis across the years and decades of time.
The gaining of light from the Sun to the Moon, its 'waxing' phase from the New Moon to the Full Moon, while the decline in light is its 'waning' phase from the Full Moon to the New Moon.
The waxing, or expansionary phase is one of growth; while its contractionary phase is 'waning' with its decline of light.
Following the mundane astrological work of Gouchon and Barbault, Claude Ganeau also utilized this principle to the ten cycles of the outer planets, from Jupiter to Pluto.
Ganeau wrote:
“The stability or instability of the world is directly related to the difference in the sum of the phases of all waxing cycles of the five outer planets, and the sum of the phases of waning cycles of planets.
While the resultant figure remains positive, the Earth will tend to experience relative stability and a period of evolution; when the resultant figure is negative the Earth enters a period of crisis and involution.”
Baubault later adapted this new mundane tool and included it in his own astrological work.
In Mundane Astrology, we use astrological data sets to determine how the configurations of the planets over periods of time affect all manner of things in the world - including world psychology over the eras.
Andre' Baubault said:
"The reading of this index is easy. When the solar system dilates in the expansion of a set of waxing cycles (from 0° to 180°), the line goes up and it corresponds to an expansion, a development, an achievement of world society.
When it retracts, with the waning cycles (from 180° to 0°), the line goes down and world society regresses in the grip of its problems.
The minimum index, at the lowest point of the curve, corresponding to the conjunctions, is all at the same time the trough of a wave, a final point of crisis and an inversion of current, a contraction before it rises again.
In the same way, the maximum index, with the curve at its peak, according to the quality of the configuration of the moment (oppositions or harmonics) has a value of peak, of summit, of expansion, or of limit from which the line goes down which leads to a new crisis.
The ups and downs of this curve reflect a phenomenon of expansion and contraction corresponding to the dilatation retraction of the planetary field that matches the dilatation contraction of the ocean and its tides."
The cyclic index focuses on the outer planets - Jupiter, Saturn, Uranus, Neptune and Pluto - and adds up the sum of the arc between them.
The rising and declining phases of the arcs of the transpersonal planets show mundane astrologers what the overall emotional, confidence and mass psychological levels will be throughout the world over years.
Remember, markets are driven by confidence, or, by mass psychology.
The mundane scale used is from 1,000+ to 1,000 minus. The index is split in half with positive periods above 0+ and negative arc periods below 0-minus.
I wrote about the Cyclic Index back in August of the year 2010. See more here.
For now, at this time in July 2026, the planetary configurations of the outer planets Jupiter, Uranus, Neptune and Pluto will be at 4-5 degrees of the geocentric Signs of Leo, Gemini, Aries and Aquarius and call on us to evolve as we pass the quarter point of the 21st century.
On July 19th, the transiting Moon in Libra will gave the 'Barbault Basket' a kind of 'handle' that call for assessing previous damage and seeking ways to mitigate what has gone before into the near future so as to not upset the basket, so to speak.
These outer planet configurations were part of the pre-eclipse season that was the month of July that leads into eclipse season of August and into the autumn of 2026 in the northern hemisphere.
Over the next nine (9) years, the Earth will experience seven (7) total and annular solar eclipses stretching from Australia, Iran, Egypt, Spain, and Sudan that will see the skies darken from the central shadow of the Moon.
In Mundane Astrology, event that take place in the days around an eclipse are often memorable.
For most eclipses, a span of plus or minus 7-10 days before an eclipse can witness events play out in an unexpected fashion.
According to my childhood tutor, the mundane astrologer Charles Jayne, "affairs take turns that are not anticipated."
Solar eclipses can have an effect up to 3 to 6 months before they occur and can extend their influence as long as one year afterward.
Lunar eclipses have been known to have an effect for about 6 weeks before and after the lunar eclipse takes place.
As seen primarily throughout Europe, the August 12th total solar eclipse and its presages speak to coming events that the populations throughout much of Europe must deal with and must face.
For many Europeans, the 12 August 2026 solar eclipse will take place at sunset.
- London will see 91 percent of the Sun obscured, Edinburgh 91%, Cardiff 93% and Belfast 93%.
- In the Republic of Ireland, Dublin will see 94% of the Sun obscured, while Cork will see 96%.
- This will be an early evening eclipse for the UK and Ireland, where observers will see the Moon begin to pass in front of the Sun at around 18:15, local time, with maximum eclipse occurring about an hour later and the event ending shortly after 20:00.
- As for Canada and most of the United States, the solar eclipse will occur in the afternoon of August 12th.
- Observers in North America will see a partial solar eclipse, but further north, the better the solar eclipse will be, with the Moon obscuring more of the Sun when seen from more northerly regions.
- That makes Alaska the best state to see the solar eclipse as the Sun rises there; while more northeastern states along the Canadian border will get good views as well.
- In Canada, more easterly provinces will see more of the Sun obscured, making Quebec, Nova Scotia, Newfoundland and Labrador good places to see a deep partial solar eclipse.
Sites where the approximate maximum obscuration (fraction of the Sun’s diameter is covered:
Amsterdam, Holland ~40–50%
Eastern Canada: Kuujjuaq (far north): Just over 50% obscuration. Québec City: Around 24% obscuration.
Best views from Maine (19% in Portland).
Boston, Massachusetts 16%
New Haven, Connecticut (12%)
New York City (9.5%)
Washington D.C. (3.7%)
click on graphic to enlarge
Marc Edmund Jones provides the official meaning of this Sabian symbol in his seminal work, 'The Sabian Symbols in Astrology:
Leo 20° The Zuni sun worshippers
This is a symbol of man’s recognition of higher and natural forces from which he receives his life and strength, emphasized here in his everyday ritualization of his loyalties and in his self-buttressing through a preservation of older values in any evolution of new ones.
The normal individual is endowed by custom with an effective assurance which is centered in his fellows as well as in himself, and he has self-fulfillment as he is true to his group tradition.
The keyword is FIDELITY.
When positive, the degree is an inner and absolute realization of the self’s illimitable resources in situation and background, and when negative, a surrender of all personal reality to meaningless ceremonies.
The eclipse of this August 2026 comes a year before what will be called the 'eclipse of the century' in August 2027 will also take place in tropical Leo.
That event will occur on Monday, 2 August 2027, when the Moon will completely block the Sun for up to 6 minutes and 22 seconds which will be the longest period of totality on land in the 21st century
Before that, it was the April 8, 2024, total solar eclipse across Mexico, the U.S. and Canada that saw a maximum totality of 4 minutes and 28 seconds - which is considered unusually long.
The total solar eclipse of August 2027 will see its path of totality crossing parts of 11 countries, mostly across North Africa and the Middle East.
That 2 August 2027 solar eclipse will be visible over Spain, Gibraltar, Morocco, Algeria, Tunisia, Libya, Egypt, Sudan, Saudi Arabia, Yemen and Somalia.
A partial eclipse will also be visible across most of Africa, Europe and southern Asia and it is over Spain where pre-eclipse events have been playing out in the last days of July.
Image: FARO TV via REUTERS
In our signs of the times, we witness planetary transits that reflex the challenges and crisis events taking place with increasing speed worldwide.
There are also the solar and lunar transits to consider.
For instance, on Wednesday, 12 August 2026, there will be a total eclipse of the Sun. The eclipse falls on the degree of 20-Leo.
While Iceland will certainly get spectacular views of the total solar eclipse – and the entire country will get to see at least a partial eclipse – the best country to view totality will be in Spain.
Most of Portugal will see a partial solar eclipse on 12 August 2026, but the further north you are, the deeper an eclipse you will see.
And, as eclipse season approaches the signs of the times appears to be sowing in Spain.
Image by: Reduan Dris/EPA
click on image to enlarge
Already in pre-eclipse season, events in Spain have already been signaling a brooding and dangerous time ahead.
Consider this:
News broke on Thursday, 30th July 2026 that Spain will deploy its military to restore order at its border with Morocco in Ceuta, Spain, after thousands of migrants poured into the tiny Spanish territory, with at least nine dying in the attempt.
By the time 24 hours from Thursday, 30 July had turned into Friday, 31st July, an incredible estimated 49,000 people crossed into Ceuta. according to Reuters reports citing Spain's interior ministry.
He said the Tarajal border had been opened “under unusual circumstances” on Thursday morning and people had crossed over.
He also called on the central government to declare a national emergency over the crossings.
It also announced that Spain's Prime Minister Pedro Sánchez would join Interior Minister Fernando Grande-Marlaska in a visit to Ceuta on Friday.
"It's not possible to give precise numbers, but there are thousands of migrants crossing," he said, adding that the border had "totally collapsed."
While the majority appeared to be young men, there were also families with women and small children.
It did not provide details on the circumstances of the deaths but bodies could be seen floating in the water. Dozens have died this year trying to reach Ceuta, according to local authorities.
Both countries agreed to work together "for the return, as soon as possible, of all the people who entered Ceuta illegally."
Others attempt the crossing from the nearby town of Belyounech, where the distance is shorter.
Image by: Fabian Bimmer/Reuters
click on image to enlarge
As of July 15, nearly 3,000 migrants had entered Ceuta by land or sea this year, according to ministry figures.
Its mixed population of Christians and Muslims, Spanish and Moroccan residents and day workers, live in relative harmony behind a border fence that many desperate migrants from across Africa attempt to cross for a better life in Europe.
Just two weeks later, after the total solar eclipse of August 12th there will be a deep partial lunar eclipse that signifies by its position and degree the importance of taking care during in the weeks to follow into September and October 2026.
THE LUNAR ECLIPSE OF 27-28 AUGUST 2026
It is part of the broader framework of sidereal astrology, which differs from tropical astrology by using fixed stars as reference points.
This point is essential for practitioners of sidereal astrology, as it helps define the zodiac signs based on the actual positions of stars rather than seasonal changes.
The lunar eclipse will be visible from various locations around the world, including:
North America
South America
Parts of Europe
Parts of Africa
The best views are expected in North and South America, where the eclipse will be fully observable. Weather conditions will play a crucial role in visibility, with areas like the western U.S. and northern Chile offering the clearest skies.
This deep partial lunar eclipse will cover about 96% of the Moon at maximum - making it look nearly total, but not quite a Blood Moon.
The best views will be in the Americas, especially eastern and central North America, Central America, and South America, while parts of Europe and Africa will see the eclipse low near the moonset.
The entire eclipse will last for more than five hours, with the maximum eclipse occurring at 04:12 UTC on 28 August 2026.
My forecast on this partial lunar eclipse is to express caution, patience and prudence as the eclipse at such a sensitive world degree.
In light of the geopolitical and economic events of the first half of 2026; this partial lunar eclipse calls for taking things slow enough to be able to see over the next hill.
MUNDANE ADVICE
PLANETARY TRANSITS, THOR'S HAMMER & BARBAULT'S BASKET
by Martin Velek
"Thor’s Hammer – a pivotal full moon on July 29, 2026 (10:36 a.m. Washington, D.C.; 6°30′ Aquarius) heralding solar and lunar eclipses in August 2026.
This full moon can serve as an opportunity to study this and other extraordinary and rare planetary configurations.
It creates a series of more or less significant crisis decision points and trends regarding the direction of conflicts in Ukraine and the Middle East, and whether they will begin to intersect in some way, particularly following Ukraine’s attack in the Caspian Sea on an Iranian ship suspected of trading military equipment with Russia.
1. Thor’s Hammer
The most significant of these is a very precise configuration within 1° known as “Thor’s Hammer” or “God’s Fist,” according to British-American astrologer Bill Tierney:
A full moon in sesquiquadrate (135°) to Venus and simultaneously in sesquiquadrate (135°) to Mars - that is, Venus and Mars are in a square (90°).
The tip of the hammer is thus directly at the full moon, near revolutionary Pluto in Aquarius.
The tip of the hammer at 06°30′ Aquarius strongly tests resilience in these areas of horoscopes and among world leaders (the consequences occur exactly opposite, i.e., in an exceptionally precise Sun-Jupiter conjunction in Leo at approximately 06°30′):
- The roots (IC) of the 1947 Pentagon chart (consequences opposite the MC). This tests the Pentagon’s ability to wage or support wars in several parts of the world, including the straits of the Middle East.
It is no coincidence that, starting on July 27, the Pentagon began analyzing which units could be withdrawn from Europe, and reports are emerging that the U.S. does not have enough ammunition for the originally planned major offensive starting on July 24, which subsequently had to be called off.
- The global value of the U.S. (South Node in the 2nd house) U.S. 1776 (opposite the North Node); part of Thor’s hammer is Mars, which has now returned to its natal position in the U.S. 1776 chart and is stirring up U.S. relations.
The second planet of the hammer’s base is Venus. It, in turn, is in conjunction with Neptune in the 1776 U.S. chart. Here, the U.S.’s global doctrine of intervening in the world as the sole global policeman is being put to the test.
- MC of the outbreak of the Korean War in 1950 (consequence opposite the IC). A period of significance for two alliances of nations is returning, similar to 1950.
Previously, it was the West and the East; now, it is the West and the dictatorships led by the China–Russia–Iran–North Korea axis, with some countries in the world not definitively aligned with one side.
Amid this year’s ongoing crisis involving the U.S. and the 1920 San Remo border system in the Middle East (see previous articles), another shock is unfolding for the U.S. and the Pentagon.
Trump’s composite horoscope for the 2025 inauguration is under a double square to natal Pluto in the 5th house of creativity.
Other implications:
Furthermore, Zelenskyy’s hammer blow is striking the strong natal Sun-Venus conjunction in the 9th house of foreign affairs. The 5th house of the French Republic, representing luck (Jupiter), is under a tense double square from the full moon and the Sun.
Russia, on the other hand, is shielded from the adverse impact thanks to favorable aspects to its MC/IC.
Turkey is also shielded by other aspects. The full moon acts as an uncompromising trigger and a stress test for the global architecture.
It creates a rare and harsh configuration of Thor’s hammer, whose sharp tip is aimed directly at the sensitive points of the global (American) leadership of the planet.
2. Activation of the Star Dragon for Washington, D.C., USA
Although the activation of Churchill’s Star Dragon of New Leaders is occurring only in the U.S. (following the change in the signs of all four stars after 2,160 years), but it also confirms that this is not a random fluctuation, but rather a potential profound ethical test in the U.S. following the new moon on Regulus in August 2025 (at the secondary direct point of fortune on the U.S. IC), which will also occur just before the eclipses.
click on chart to enlarge
The Sinistra Star (the dragon’s tail on the IC of the full moon in Washington, D.C.) - Mirach - Regulus (and D. Trump’s Ascendant) - Menkalinan (the dragon’s head on the MC of the full moon).
Trump’s attention is thus directed toward the dragon’s head of the stars at 1° Cancer in the 11th house of politics, associations, and friends.
This full moon serves as a relentless prelude and foreshadowing of the upcoming solar and lunar eclipses in August 2026 and correlates precisely with unprecedented changes in global politics; it could signal a shift in the U.S. toward deep internal self-reflection.
As is often the case, such a change does not occur against a backdrop of only positive events.
Today, the U.S. repelled Iranian attacks on its bases in the Middle East and, in turn, launched a joint attack with Saudi Arabia on pro-Iranian militias in Iraq, killing, among others, several advisers to the Iranian Revolutionary Guard.
The Dragon of New Leaders is activated in the U.S. during the period May 10 - August 13, 2026, when extraordinary rivalry among the superpowers is evident during the last favorable constellation within 1° of Makemake on the Aldebaran–Antares stellar axis since 2022.
This is taking place as the axis of the U.S.’s natal lunar nodes from 1776 is activated by a full moon.
Furthermore, in 1776, this axis of lunar nodes was also favorably aligned with the Aldebaran–Antares axis to within 1° due to precession.
A convergence of these constellations during simultaneous visits to the White House by Zelenskyy and Netanyahu would certainly be highly unlikely.
This year, the U.S. is also facing a crisis conjunction in its secondary directions:
The secondary directional (s. d.) MC is on Uranus of the U.S. 1776 for the first time in U.S. history, and likewise, the s. d. Asc from Virgo is in square to the Asc of the U.S. 1776 for the first time.
3. The Octile Triangle
Mars and Venus form a 90° angle with each other, and at a medium distance lies the Sun-Jupiter conjunction in Leo - that is, this conjunction is 45° from both Venus and Mars. This is a highly dynamic planetary configuration.
The Octile Triangle does not function in isolation, but uncompromisingly further strengthens and energizes the effect of Thor’s Hammer itself. It creates an internal engine of tension that leaves no room for delay.
Jupiter is in a very precise conjunction with the Sun, known as “in the heart of the Sun” - an exceptionally spiritual, regal, and spiritually consecrated constellation.
It is precisely at this center of enlightenment and executive authority that both the direct consequence of Thor’s hammer strike (from the opposition point at 06°30′ Aquarius) and the exact Venus–Mars midpoint converge.
Executive power, national sovereignty, and the very consciousness of leaders thus find themselves caught between the pressure of war and the necessity of a diplomatic agreement.
It is very difficult to reach agreements during this approximately 14-day full moon period, because every decision is subject to this higher spiritual and ethical filter.
4. Barbault’s Basket
While Thor’s hammer and the octile triangle represent a lightning-fast surgical incision and a stress test, the backdrop of the first year of the New Era in 2026 is framed by the configuration known as "Barbault’s Basket."
This harmonious and constructive planetary configuration - composed of an opposition and two isosceles triangles of genius (Jupiter/Sun in Leo, Neptune at the beginning of Aries, Uranus in Gemini, and Pluto in Aquarius during the Jupiter/Sun–Pluto opposition) - could point to the historical significance of the entire tension. An ethical filter before renewal.
The pressure of Thor’s hammer at 06°30′ Aquarius could begin to eliminate old, exhausted doctrines and assumptions. It could function as an inexorable filter, without passing through which one cannot enter the new cycle.
French astrologer André Barbault defined this as a possible transition from a deep crisis-driven retreat (2020-2022) to a dynamic phase of global regeneration, development, and the search for new forms of cooperation.
Once the catharsis of the July full moon and the August eclipses has run its course, the constellation of the basket, among other things, could free up space for changes in society at large, a further shift toward competition for technological and energy sovereignty and hegemony between the U.S. and China, but at the same time also a world architecture built on inner integrity and ethics.
So much for trends in global politics. We will continue to closely monitor how these trends develop, particularly in connection with the solar eclipse on August 12 and the lunar eclipse on August 28, 2026, which will be very significant for this landmark year."
Astrologer Elizabeth Joyce:
"The Six Weeks That Could Change Everything."
The Opening Act: July 4th–15th
Mars activates Uranus, Neptune and Pluto
We are heading into one of the most explosive astrological periods of 2026.
During the next six weeks, as we prepare for the powerful August eclipses, much of what has become outdated will need to be dismantled before something stronger can emerge.
We are on the final runway before profound change. Financial, political, technological, and spiritual shifts are all gathering momentum.
This isn’t just another month of astrology. It feels like the beginning of a completely new cycle of human consciousness.
The sequence begins on July 4th, when Mars in Gemini catches up to Uranus, bringing an atmosphere of unpredictability and breakthrough during America’s 250th birthday celebration.
At the same time, Pluto stands at 4 degrees of Aquarius while Neptune occupies 4 degrees of Aries, forming a harmonious sextile that remains active until the middle of August.
Mars activates Uranus, Neptune, and Pluto throughout early July 2026, becoming exact on July 15th. From an astrological perspective, this entire period should be viewed as one unfolding event rather than several separate transits.
What makes this alignment so extraordinary is that these outer planets have all recently entered new signs at nearly the same time. Such a concentration of fresh planetary energy is rare.
Jupiter has now moved into Leo, where it begins forming harmonious sextiles and trines with these planets, creating a powerful triangle of flowing energy.
The opportunity for breakthrough, expansion, innovation, and transformation is remarkable.
As we move toward the middle of July, the energy continues building.
On July 19th, Saturn joins the picture, bringing discipline, responsibility, patience, and the promise of long-term rewards as it forms a sextile with Mars, the planet of action.
Together they offer us the ability to reorganize systems that have become blocked, allowing genuine forward movement where obstacles once existed.
These are not ordinary planetary movements. They describe a season of acceleration. Doors that have remained closed may suddenly begin to open, while structures that have outlived their usefulness may finally give way and disappear.
Although change can sometimes seem chaotic in the moment, it is often clearing the space for something far greater to emerge.
As we approach the August eclipses, it becomes increasingly important to remain awake, flexible, and willing to move with the new currents that are unfolding around us.
Saturn Joins the Story
As the middle of July approaches, the planetary picture continues to strengthen.
On July 19th, Saturn joins the larger pattern, bringing discipline, responsibility, patience, and the promise of long-term rewards as it forms a harmonious sextile with Mars, the planet of action.
Saturn reminds us that lasting success is rarely built overnight. Instead, it asks us to create solid foundations that can support future growth.
This combination gives us the opportunity to reorganize systems that have become blocked or ineffective, allowing genuine forward movement where obstacles once existed.
Whether those systems are personal, financial, political, or societal, Saturn encourages practical solutions while Mars supplies the courage to act.
These are not ordinary planetary movements. They describe a season of acceleration. Doors that have remained closed may suddenly begin to open, while structures that have outlived their usefulness may finally give way.
Although change can appear chaotic in the moment, it is often clearing the way for something far greater to emerge.
As we continue moving toward the August eclipses, flexibility will become one of our greatest strengths.
The more willing we are to release what no longer serves us, the easier it becomes to recognize the opportunities waiting just beyond the horizon.
History Repeats in Cycles
André Barbault, the Berlin Wall, the Pandemic & Why Long Planetary Cycles Matter
One of the fascinating qualities of Astrology is that history often moves in recognizable cycles.
The planets rarely repeat events exactly, but they frequently echo familiar themes, offering humanity another opportunity to learn, grow, and choose differently.
The renowned French mundane astrologer André Barbault became well known for studying these long planetary cycles.
He accurately anticipated the fall of the Berlin Wall during the Saturn-Neptune conjunction that culminated in 1989 and continued unfolding into the early 1990s.
We have recently entered another Saturn-Neptune conjunction in 2026, suggesting that we may once again witness the dismantling of long-established structures and beliefs.
Barbault also associated the Saturn-Pluto conjunction of January 2020 with the potential for a worldwide pandemic - something I also discussed in my December 2019 forecast. Although astrology cannot predict every event with certainty, these major planetary alignments often coincide with profound turning points in world history.
Barbault believed that the harmonious relationships among Jupiter, Uranus, Neptune, and Pluto represent one of the most constructive planetary configurations of the twenty-first century.
These rare combinations often accompany periods of remarkable innovation, cultural transformation, scientific discovery, and spiritual awakening.
Human beings have a remarkable ability to overlook extraordinary opportunities simply because we fail to recognize them when they first appear. This is not the time to drift back to sleep.
We are standing at a threshold that may shape the next chapter of history.
Exactly how these energies will unfold remains uncertain, but they clearly point toward significant financial, political, technological, and cultural developments.
These are long planetary cycles whose effects may require years - or even decades - to fully reveal the hidden currents, underhandedness, and damage that eventually come into the Light.
The Opportunity Hidden Within the Chaos
Trines, sextiles, ascension, Tibetan teachings, cooperation instead of conflict.
Whenever powerful planetary cycles unfold, our first reaction is often to focus on the uncertainty they bring.
Yet astrology reminds us that periods of disruption are also periods of extraordinary opportunity.
Every ending contains the seed of a beginning, and every challenge invites a higher response.
Throughout July 2026, the harmonious trines and sextiles are abundant. Air and Fire are considered the masculine elements, encouraging movement, initiative, creativity, and inspired action.
Water and Earth are feminine, inviting intuition, emotional wisdom, compassion, and practical grounding.
Together, these elements create a remarkable balance that can widen the pathway for humanity’s collective awakening.
Tibetan Buddhism teaches us to “stay away from the illusions of the body; go up and out into the universe.” In other words, do not become trapped by fear or appearances. Rise toward Spirit. View life from a higher perspective where greater understanding becomes possible.
Many people believe that success comes only through effort and force. Yet the true energy of a sextile is cooperation. It teaches us that progress often comes when differences begin working together instead of against one another.
Different beliefs, talents, and viewpoints can suddenly discover common purpose, much like thousands of people cheering together for the same team. Individual voices become a unified field of intention.
Squares and oppositions work very differently. They often create tension, resistance, and the feeling of a tug-of-war between competing forces.
Their purpose is not to punish us, but to challenge us to grow. They reveal what is out of balance and encourage us to make the adjustments necessary for lasting progress.
Mercury retrograde in Cancer (June 29-July 23) also becomes part of this larger picture. It asks us to pause before making important decisions, to review our emotional responses, and to revisit conversations, relationships, and plans that may need greater clarity.
Rather than fearing Mercury retrograde, think of it as an opportunity to slow down long enough to hear your own inner wisdom.
This is why I believe July represents one of the greatest astrological turning points of 2026.
We are not simply witnessing planetary movements - we are being invited to participate consciously in them. The more we choose cooperation over conflict, wisdom over reaction, and faith over fear, the more gracefully we move with these remarkable cosmic currents.
The planets never force our choices. They simply illuminate the doors that are opening before us. Whether we walk through those doors has always been - and will always remain - our decision.
From both an astrological and intuitive perspective, these planetary alignments feel unlike anything we’ve experienced in many years.
We’ve explored the larger planetary cycles shaping our world, but each of us will experience these extraordinary energies in a deeply personal way.
~ Elizabeth Joyce
By Rogé Karma
The great mystery of the Iran war is why that hasn’t happened - why, nearly five months later, oil prices have scarcely surpassed $100, even as countries around the world have been forced to dip into their oil reserves.
Then, weeks after the conflict broke out, the country abruptly slashed its oil purchases, eventually cutting them by half compared with prewar levels.
That appears to be why global prices have risen so much less than experts predicted.
The shift also poses mysteries of its own. No one outside China knows how exactly the country has managed to meet its energy needs while forgoing imports, nor why its leaders chose this course.
And no one knows how long the situation can last.
Countries found ways to make up for some of that loss, including by releasing barrels from strategic stockpiles, but not enough to avoid a price shock.
If demand stayed constant, buyers would be forced to try to outbid one another to secure the scarce remaining supplies.
The amount of oil that China stopped buying, about 5 million barrels a day, represented about a quarter of what was lost when the strait closed and is equivalent to the entirety of imports to India, the world’s third-largest importer.
This significant and unexpected drop in Chinese demand freed up those barrels to go elsewhere, preventing the kind of shortage that might have led to truly catastrophic prices.
“China was definitely the most important factor in keeping prices down,” Rory Johnston, an oil-markets analyst who writes the widely cited newsletter Commodity Context, told me. “And the thing is that nobody - and I mean nobody - saw it coming.”
There is no evidence that China has done so. Unlike during the coronavirus pandemic, when the country essentially shut down, most indicators of energy consumption, such as traffic congestion, have hardly budged.
The reduction also can’t be explained by a shift to clean energy.
China has been investing heavily in renewable energy and electric vehicles for decades, but its economy remains reliant on imported oil.
Such a dramatic change would have required millions of Chinese consumers to suddenly switch to EVs virtually overnight.
“It’s a genuine puzzle,” Erica Downs, a senior research scholar at Columbia University’s Center on Global Energy Policy who specializes in Chinese energy markets, told me. “We’re in one of those rare moments where even the experts are forced to rely on a whole lot of speculation.”
Since 2022, the Kremlin has been shipping huge amounts of oil to China using a “shadow fleet” of tankers that hide their point of origin to avoid Western sanctions.
But it’s one thing to try to obscure where a given shipment of oil comes from; it’s another to hide the physical barrels that show up on Chinese shores, which are carried by giant tankers and unloaded at major ports.
If Russia - or anyone else - were sending millions of extra barrels to China, the world would know about it.
But the giant outdoor tanks where China keeps much of its known oil reserves have remained full since the war began.
This fact has given rise to yet another theory:
On top of its known reserves, perhaps China has been stashing oil, as well as refined diesel and gasoline, in secret facilities, which it is now using to keep its economy running.
“I sometimes feel like I should put on a tinfoil hat when I start talking about this,” Johnston said. “We have almost no evidence of it. And yet, it’s really the only explanation that makes any sense.”
Several energy experts told me that when a nation taps into its reserves, it typically coordinates with other countries to make sure that no one is shouldering too much of the burden. Then, once the price of oil falls, it starts replenishing the depleted stockpiles.
China has done the opposite.
It unilaterally and without warning chose to reduce its imports far more than any other country, even after the price of oil fell below the point at which China would have historically started buying again.
Others have suggested that Beijing saw the Strait of Hormuz crisis as an opportunity to show the world that it could successfully withstand an oil shock.
Eighty percent of China’s oil imports arrive through the Strait of Malacca, a narrow waterway that could be cut off in the event of a conflict over Taiwan.
This has long been considered a potentially decisive advantage for Taiwan and its Western allies.
Perhaps Beijing wants to subtly warn the rest of the world that it could not be brought to its knees by an energy blockade.
But if any of those geopolitics-focused hypotheses were true, then China would presumably have taken credit for its actions. Instead, its leaders have been completely silent.
China’s economy relies on exporting huge amounts of cheap goods all over the world.
If its biggest customers across Europe and Asia suddenly experienced a recession, the journalist Max Fisher recently argued, China could lose “half its export market and a bunch of its economy with it.”
Providing an energy lifeline to the rest of the world might have been a necessary step to keep its own economy humming.
This possibility, unlike the others, would explain China’s silence:
Beijing likely wouldn’t want to loudly declare to the rest of the world that it has a vested economic interest in helping to cushion future oil shocks.
As long as the Iran war continues, China’s leverage over oil prices gives it the ability to inflict immense pain on American consumers, and really the entire world, at a moment’s notice.
Even if China doesn’t choose to do so, the fact that it can might be enough to give the country even more sway over international affairs.
“For the last 50-plus years, whenever there was an oil shock, the first thing the U.S. president did was call Riyadh to try to persuade the Saudis to help out,” Jason Bordoff, the founding director of Columbia’s Center on Global Energy Policy, told me.
“Maybe the place everyone needs to call now is Beijing. That’s a very powerful position to be in.”
Copyright © 2007-2026 Theodore White
Excerpts may be republished with attribution in the body of the material.
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