The Cancerian Letter 2026

Topics (linked to paragraphs): Roughing it The professional set</a Cancer The dark place of experience Sibyls The full moon Plutinos Ixion Dwarf planets and rulerships Gravitation Ixion, the Mad Rain Man Barbault’s Basket The new moon Current Events The funeral The MoU is dead Washington’s Plan B Religion and self-transformation Leave religion out of it The Gulf monarchies The end of the monarchies? Another TACO Tuesday? A basket of trouble Casualties What to expect, then? A few words on Russia The current narrative The clouds are dispersing In conclusion

Greetings Everyone!

Happy Bastille Day, belated! Revolution is in the air. You can smell it coming in the distance. Once upon a time in the West, Europe used to be a showcase for democratic socialism. The same was true of Australia. Having grown up in the United States and having lived there for the first half of my life, we had no worries about things like healthcare, housing, and food on the table, and so on. That was back when the US was the place to be, as many people at the time thought. The US always lagged a little bit behind in terms of social programs, owing to the American brand of capitalism. But still, America was seen by the outside world and many Europeans as a kind of Promised Land. I used to hear stories among the Italian community when I lived in Australia about how they thought the streets were paved in gold in America and how it was the dream of many of them to emigrate there.

I have been in Italy now for 12 years and when I first arrived I heard much the same about the desire to go to America from many Italians. I used to get asked all the time, incredulously, as to why I would want to come and live in Italy, thinking Italy was so backwards, lacking in opportunities (In reality, we create our opportunities.) and that America offered so many other points of progressive value. Then I would proceed to speak of things like medical costs, the dearth of social benefits, vacation times, mentioning that with many jobs a paid vacation was non-existent. My recounting would proceed to raise eyebrows. The situation with the social safety net and costs has changed across the West dramatically over the past 30 years. Thankfully the social safety net in the EU still exists, although increasingly under pressure. Security would appear to be a luxury and a thing of the past. A recent encounter illustrates the latter point.

Roughing it: We generally take our dogs out in the evenings – the ones that can walk, can see or are not too afraid to go outside – and go out through the city for what usually turns out to be a meet-and-greet, canine and human. The other day we happened upon a homeless man who was making his way in to find his spot and stake his claim. We occasionally help this guy out with a little spare change when we see him. If the spirit moves you with the homeless, one can shell out a lot of money helping them and – as it turns out – many of them do not deserve it. We will come back to that latter point. This time, however, we noticed this man’s threadbare clothing and decided it would be a gesture of kindness to try to give this guy some clothes, at least which had no holes and tears. He wasn’t wearing threadbare clothes as a fashion statement. So we duly went to the local Chinese shop, bought a few items and returned to present them to this man. He wanted nothing of it.

Upon presenting the items he explained that there was some kind of nefarious energy attached to the clothes, going on to explain that he was originally from Finland and had to leave because Vladimir Putin was about to invade and stating he refused to live under a dictatorship. Little does he know about what is coming for the EU. The man was clearly somewhat unbalanced. We will come back to that, too. So we returned with the clothes to the Chinese shop and exchanged them for some items we needed here at the house. The experience with this man brings up some topics that will be discussed as this letter proceeds. But here was this man who left his native country, one which has one of the best social safety nets in the Western world, instead to live rough on the streets with his dog and his banged-up guitar along with the few belongings he had, with all the dangers associated with living on the streets. It always puzzled us as to why he didn’t return to Finland, where he could have received care. But then, we don’t know his story.

The professional set: Beggars are commonplace here in Italy. And there are many varieties of them. There are a few of them who actually do deserve to be helped. But there is also a class of beggars known as the ‘professional set’. They typically greet you with, “Ciao! Amico!” or Ciao Capo (Boss).” The latter class of beggars are people who could work if they wanted to but instead choose to take advantage of people’s kindness instead of supporting themselves. There are a few of them around our house, as in the local city surrounds. You typically find them outside supermarkets. Society strongly advises against giving money or aid to such people. There is one in particular who would frequently accost us with outstretched hand, show us pictures of his kids in what appears to be a nice house in Romania, and proceed to tell us about how there are no opportunities in Romania. These people all have their stories – they are hungry, they want to buy food for their children, they need formula for their infant child, and so on. One gets hardened to it after a while. A few of them just want money for drugs, but they are thankfully few.

We have had a couple of people over the years on separate occasions who have tried to barge into the house and have been very aggressive, clearly drugged out on something. Learning when and how to say no is a useful skill. Kindness is one thing when it is warranted. And one learns to be able to distinguish who actually needs help after being exposed to so many people with outstretched palms. For the others – the professional class — tough love is the best approach. They do not like being lectured as to how it would be better for them and society if they would seek gainful work. And then they leave you alone.

Why bring all this up? There is a particular astrological sign associated with homes, houses and care for the less fortunate, and that sign is Cancer, the Crab. And for the Western world this sign has a particularly powerful influence, with New York being the city that is the synthesizing center for the Western Hemisphere, being ruled by Cancer.^[2] Washington, D.C. is likewise ruled by Cancer, as its soul expression.^[3] New York is also the world’s top financial center, followed by London (also a world synthesizing center) and Hong Kong. Tokyo is also ruled by Cancer in its personality expression, also a world synthesizing center, in that case for the Far East.^[4] Tokyo ranks 10^th in the world financial centers. But here is the thing: New York and London are the centers in the two nations where the battle between capital and labor will primarily and ultimately be worked out.^[5] The root cause of homelessness in the United States is a lack of affordable housing. It is much the same across other Western countries, where housing is used for speculation rather than for living. Of course, there are many causes for homelessness. But to round this up, the Ramadan War against Iran is bringing about sweeping changes in the world financial order, especially for the West, and security issues will be front and center on many people’s minds in the immediate years ahead. From here and with these points in mind we dive into our consideration of the sign, Cancer.

Cancer: Cancer and Capricorn are the two doorways of the zodiac, as follows:

“These two signs are the two great Gates of the zodiac—one opening the door into incarnation, into mass life, and into human experience, whilst the other opens the door into the life of the spirit, into the life of the Kingdom of God, the life and purposes of the Hierarchy of our planet. Cancer admits the soul into the world centre which we call Humanity.”^[6]

Cancer is the sign thereby most intimately associated with the subject of rebirth/reincarnation. Cancer is thus associated with the idea of ‘spiritual imprisonment’, on the one hand, and as a supreme act of sacrifice and service on the other hand.

“It is in order eventually to negate the space-time concept and to prove it an illusion that the door in Cancer opens to the sacrificing, serving soul. Bear this always in mind as you study the subject of rebirth”^[7]

In our waking consciousness we perceive time as being a linear progression of states of consciousness, seen through the lens of events. Events are things, if we could realize it, and as such are forms through which we either learn to see their illusory nature, or from which we can extract wisdom as we work out our karma and learn to serve more effectively. And in terms of the latter, we are looking at expansions of consciousness in response to events. If we react to events we only further imprison our consciousness. It is a matter worth consideration. When we are finally able to attain a state of consciousness wherein we can see all events as illusory then our sense of space-time disappears, replaced by a blissful state of being wherein the future, past and present are known as mere modifications of the mind and space becomes a limitless openness instead of a confining medium. At present few are the souls who are able to attain such a state of exalted consciousness and maintain it for more than the briefest moment. But we digress a little here.

Continuing on the theme of reincarnation, we have the following two quotes for consideration:

“It is the focussed energy of Cancer which makes it a major magnetic or attractive focal point leading to the processes of incarnation. Through the door of Cancer streams the “magnetic magical light which guides the soul into the dark place of experience.”^[8]

The dark place of experience: What is meant by the ‘dark place of experience’? Experience in this sense is heavily laden with the idea of karma. While it is true that we come into any particular life to work out our individual karma, it is worth realizing that our ‘good karma’ outweighs our heavy karma. But we do not incarnate simply to work out our individual karma. We, as souls, come in to perform acts of service and to lift the lot of humanity, to create stations of light in the ‘dark places of physical existence’. And as such we reincarnate in groups, in waves of like-minded souls. We learn – or should learn – love and sacrifice for others through our family life, through our work and our avocations. As a mother cares for her child to the exclusion of all else in the early days of that child’s life, so we make a home for that child and ourselves and enable that child to make its way in the world. ‘Experience’ should by and large then become successive acts of compassion that bring light to the world. Continuing:

“This makes Cancer a place of symbolic imprisonment and emphasises the pains and penalties of wrong orientation. It is the conflict of the soul with its environment—consciously or unconsciously carried on—which leads to the penalties of incarnation and which provides those conditions of suffering which the soul has willingly undertaken when—with open eyes and clear vision—the soul chose the path of earth life with all its consequent sacrifices and pains, in order to salvage the lives with which it had an affinity.”^[9]

Here again we have the concept of karma, with negative karma being the result of wrong orientation. Our orientation in life is meant to be one of lifting the lot of ourselves and thereby the lot of others through the dint of our efforts. ‘Salvaging the lives with which we have an affinity’ should not be taken in a sense of superiority. If we have animals in our lives (and we often do have karma with them), for instance, we show them compassion and expose them to what it is to be human. But little do we realize they often have things to teach us at the same time. We grow through our relationships with all beings. And they mirror us to ourselves. And yet our sense of imprisonment in a body is symbolic on the whole. To quote a song lyric, “We are all just prisoners here of our own device.”^[10] Our ultimate goal in coming in and cycling through these bodies life after life is the full liberation and enlightenment of ourselves and of those around us in the process, making of the entire planet a station of light in our local universe.

Cancer is the sign most associated with instinctual life.^[11] It is the place where water (the astral plane) meets the land (the physical plane). When the water breaks, physical birth takes place.^[12] As such it is a highly emotional sign. Cancerians are most always extremely sensitive to their environment and they will do much to ensure the security of themselves and their loved ones. This is especially true when Cancer is the Sun sign. The instincts to self-preservation, to reproduce and so on are powerful instincts and these lead the Cancerian native to make great sacrifices for themselves and their loved ones. The close connection with the astral plane also inclines the Cancerian to strong psychism at times. But such psychism tends also to be astral psychism and as such unreliable in certain respects. Unless that psychism is paired with a highly developed mental capacity psychism is to be avoided. The astral plane can prove to be very deceptive and every impression should be subjected to mental discrimination and intuitive insight. Intuition in this case refers to buddhic impression. And that brings us to another consideration, given the rapid unfolding of human events and experience.

Sibyls: An interesting topic unrelated to Cancer, not previously considered in these letters, is the matter of mediumship. But it bears a mention here. There is a lower form of mediumship associated with Cancer and Pisces that is to be avoided. But there is a higher form of it based in inspiration, where there is mental clarity and coordination between all the personality vehicles. It is said in the future (as in far ahead) sibyls (trained mediums) will again be employed during the May and June full moons to pass on information from the spiritual Hierarchy relevant to the prevailing conditions of those times. Those are the Taurus and Gemini solar festivals, respectively. Said conscious mediums (HP Blavatsky was considered as such.^[13]) will be carefully trained for the purpose by workers on the 7^th ray. The matter does not concern us at present, but something else that was outlined in the passage noted is important for today, as follows, and which warrants development, meaning critical thinking and the ability to mark and trace events and history based in accurate information. The latter is seen in distinction to what is loosely called ‘news’ these days. News is broadcast for ratings and is most often biased and full of misinformation. The use of such a method of mediumship:

“…will be based upon two factors: First of all, the logical indications to be gathered from the past and present events which condition the immediate future and which must inevitably lead to definite and tangible happenings. Any deep student of human affairs could follow the same line of reasoning and come to approximately the same conclusions, provided he loved his fellowmen enough to see them truly as they were and allow, consequently, for the appearance of the unexpected. And, secondly, what I may say to you is based on a knowledge of the ray influences which are at this time so powerfully and effectively affecting humanity and its coming civilisation and culture.”^[14]

Emphases added. Those ray influences are primarily those of the 4^th and the 2^nd, 3^rd and 7^th rays, with the 4^th ray only beginning its influence.^[15] The influence of the 5^th ray has been removed prematurely because humanity was approaching certain revelations so quickly it would have presented dangers to a world not ready to properly integrate them.^[16]

There is one final note before moving on to the lunations. The sign Cancer is the end result, in a way, of the three major full moons of each year – Aries, Taurus and Gemini. Cancer ‘gives birth’ to the impressions received during those three full moon periods. In the Cancer interval results are set in place – made manifest – of the impressions received. For now we have to learn to be our own sibyl and endeavor to interpret the events we are seeing in terms of larger cycles and the work of world leaders and nations who seek to raise the lot of humanity. There are a few of those nations, and perhaps not the ones we might suppose. And for many people, given the tremendous force of propaganda to which we are subjected, impartial analysis might prove to be an impossible task. That propaganda is being strenuously and rigidly enforced these days. It is becoming harder and harder to gather accurate information. But to make effort, we must do so. With these points in mind we move on the lunations and current events.

The full moon took place at 23:57 UTC on the 29^th of June (30^th in Europe, Africa and Asia, 09:57 AEST). This full moon formed an interesting figure in several ways. The full moon axis formed two t-squares, one separating (with Neptune at the apex) and the other applying (Saturn apex). The applying t-square is the more concerning, because it indicates that important decisions have been made, largely unreported. What those decisions might be are described in the remainder of this letter. The separating t-square concerns the uncertainty the world has faced regarding economies due to the situation in the Persian Gulf. It appears certain parties have made their decisions and we will soon see the results. Referring back to the Cancer ingress for the quarter there is an aspect in that chart that appears in this full moon chart, but which was not covered in the forecast for the Cancerian quarter. We refer here to the square between Mercury and Eris, which manifests as divisive rhetoric in the collective, rhetoric that can lead to war. Eris is the planet of discord, especially relating to fomenting open conflict. Since the signing of the MoU and the G7 meeting there has been a sharp uptake to warlike rhetoric from Western powers. This will be covered more in the topics relating to Russia and Iran. The reason for the increase in such rhetoric is twofold – on the one hand, to distract from battlefield failures by the West, and on the other hand for domestic politics to justify spending and to distract the public from other matters.

Plutinos: There is another factor of interest in the full moon figure, and that is the conjunction between the Moon and the dwarf planet Ixion (link is to an exploratory blog post). Ixion is a plutino, meaning it has 2:3 orbital resonance with Neptune. Pluto orbits the Sun twice for every three orbits of Neptune. In order of their size, the named plutinos are Pluto/Charon (Pluto is a planetary system instead of the singular planet), Orcus, Achlys, Ixion and Huya, the latter being the one plutino not named after an underworld deity,^[17] and thus an outlier in the group. Huya was a rain god instead of an underworld figure. There are connections between Huya, the plutinos and Neptune, but that goes to another story, for another time. By itself Charon would be the largest plutino after Pluto. There is another named plutino which is actually a trio of minor planetary bodies called Lempo. The latter is not considered to be a dwarf planet. There are actually hundreds of plutinos, but the ones that concern humanity at this point in history are the ones that have named themselves (“The planets name themselves.”^[18]). In other words, the named planets and planetary bodies have revealed their influences to us, in a way that other such bodies have not. The unnamed bodies remain outside of normal human consciousness.

All of the plutinos – except perhaps for Huya – have actions similar to that of Pluto, in that they bring about the end of situations and release a person to higher work. At least, that is the plan. If that person or group is not ready or does not recognize the opportunity presented, the plutino involved can lead to an interval where the person or group feels lost and is thrown into disarray. This represents the burning ground according to one interpretation, or one’s journey through the underworld in another sense. They represent purification when they are activated in one’s chart.

Ixion: Unlike many names for planetary bodies, Ixion was not a deity. Instead he was a king. Ixion’s was a particularly brutal mythology, in that he refused to atone for his misdeeds and felt no remorse. “Ixion is emblematic for lust, craving and conceit.”^[19] As a result, he was chained to a flaming wheel for eternity. In other words he had to spend time in the hell realms (bound to the wheel of life and death) before he could achieve redemption. From the linked exploratory post, citing his misdeeds:

“Those misdeeds included reneging on a debt and a promise, killing of kin, trying to seduce the wife of Zeus, and just generally being an ungrateful and irredeemable sort. Ixion was not a pleasant presence to be around. He had driven himself mad through his misdeeds, and hence saw no path to redemption. Nor did anyone else. Therein lies a clue to what he represents in a chart and his actions. We might summarize what he addresses in a chart and by his transits/directions as follows:

• • • Feelings of hopelessness, of worthlessness, of, “What’s the use?”
    • Addressing feelings of revenge, ingratitude, lust, murderous rage, etc.
    • Overcoming self-inflicted mental torment
    • Teaching gratitude for help, benefactors and what one has.”

In its least destructive manifestation, Ixion produces a comedy of errors that leads to self-correction. Some of our most beloved comedians in the world have Ixion in prominent chart placements. In its most negative manifestations Ixion can lead the affected person, group or nation to experience an extended period of castigation for past sins, which if not addressed can result in the affected one becoming temporarily mad, as in insane. But we return to the meaning of this particular conjunction with the Moon in the full moon chart.

Since the full moon we have seen some insane rhetoric exit the mouths of some of our Western leaders, rhetoric that has inflamed tensions with nations with whom we are erstwhile allies and others proclaimed as enemy states. (here, here, here, here, here, here, just for a few examples). Now, one can say, as in the case of Trump, that this is just his negotiating style. But it fails to pass muster as diplomacy, at which older and civilizational states excel. The world is not a New York real estate playground, much as some oligarchs might like to think so. The primary inflammatory rhetoric revolves around the three primaries that threaten the Western hegemonic order – Russia, China and Iran. And any criticism of Jews, Zionism and Israel is strictly verboten, also. Such talk will get one arrested or expelled in some states. However, the intensity of the hatred of the aforementioned states and the cancel culture that is taking place toward them is indicative, actually, of a positive development: It points to the increasing desperation of certain of the old colonial powers to hold on to their positions of power, which they see slipping from their control.

The US, UK, France and Germany are particularly in a panic about the emerging world order. As for the Zionists, their little colony in the Eastern Mediterranean – we all know the one – is being destroyed, with each Iranian strike and internally by its own divisions. There is one more piece to add regarding Ixion and plutinos in general before moving on to the new moon and the minor grand sextile mentioned in the previous letter, also known as the ‘Barbault Basket’.

Dwarf planets and rulerships: We astrologers will eventually assign rulerships and associations with all these dwarf planets. My own assignation of Ixion is with Scorpio, as a sub-ruler, or associate. Its associations with lust, craving and conceit reminds us of the tests of Scorpio to be overcome (see Scorpio letters for details) and the Buddhist three poisons – desire, anger and ignorance. All of the plutinos have Pluto as their ‘big brother’ and guiding light in the dark regions of the human psyche. But all of them, including Pluto, are ultimately subject to the will of Neptune in some manner, through their gravitational linkage. Gravitation is much more than a physical force. It is the driving force of the universe, the force that impels all into being and motion, and finally back into the Source. It is described thus:

“…the power of Fohat, potential Sound, the compelling power of the Cosmos, in itself [is] a power subject only to a higher law, namely, the law of Gravitation; which great mystery is in reality a spiritual power, the manifesting aspects of which are the forces (the Gods), Attraction, Repulsion, Cohesion, Expansion, Extension and Suction. These six aspects or modifications of Gravitation create, control and disintegrate (involve and evolve) all forms of force and energy in manifestation in the exterior fields of Space and Matter.”^[20]

Gravitation: It will not be lost on students of esoteric matters that Gravitation and its six Subsidiaries correspond to the actions of the seven rays. We will not go into that here. The larger point is that all of the grand spiritual Beings in the universe – planets, stars, clusters, galaxies and so on – are at the same time immense gravitational centers, around which the graded lesser centers revolve and are impelled through space. At this point in our own solar system’s evolution and this point in our understanding of it, these plutinos are tied to the actions of Neptune. What does that mean? The simple answer is that the plutinos act to clear away the obstructions to enlightenment, moving from mind (on the mental plane) to pure reason, which Neptune expresses (buddhic plane). And Neptune rules Cancer at all three levels – orthodox, esoteric and hierarchical. The plutinos act as destroyers – of ignorance, of lust, of obstructive thoughtforms and habits. They are active agents of healing and enlightenment, when rightly understood and utilized. Ixion in this case exposes the perfidy, lust for power and coercive measures that have been used for centuries to maintain power and control over weaker nations’ resources, speaking to outer current events.

Ixion, the Mad Rain Man: There is one last bit of information about Ixion that most readers might find interesting. It has recently been posited that the mythology of Ixion was used to explain a geo-astronomical phenomenon. There are times, when there are high clouds, when storms are approaching, that a ‘ring of fire’ (solar halo) appears around the sun in the clouds. Solar (and lunar) halos typically have a radius of about 22°, which just happens to correspond to the maximum distance of the orbit of Mercury from the Sun. The halo is a warning of inclement weather. In the myth, Ixion was chained to a wheel of fire for his sins and was scourged. The ring of fire around the sun corresponds to the fiery wheel in the myth. He was chained there for his attempt to cuckold Zeus. Zeus fooled Ixion and as a test formed an image of Hera (wife of Zeus) as a cloud. Ixion mated with the cloud, which later resulted in the birth of a Centaur, the latter going on to sire the Centaur lineage. So, Ixion was the grandfather of the Centaurs.

For Ixion’s arrogance and betrayal of Zeus, Hermes (Mercury) was tasked with chaining Ixion to the fiery wheel and casting him into the deepest regions of Inferno (Hell). Again, there is some wonderful occultism in the myth, too much to recount here. But when we consider the fiery wheel to be the aura of the mental body and hell as ‘spiritual imprisonment’ during incarnation, and Ixion as the human personality with all of its faults, perhaps some ideas coalesce about what Ixion really represents. But the current point regarding Ixion and this full moon is this: We had the Moon conjunct Ixion at the full moon, which portended ‘stormy weather’ and precipitation geopolitically. Ixion can also be seen as a rain god. Just about a week after the full moon we saw Trump, as Ixion (we could say) breaking the MoU, casting aspersions on whomever had come afoul of his plans, friends and enemies alike, and with the NATO crowd issuing what was essentially a declaration of war against Russia. So, after this long-winded tangent, we can now move on to the basket configuration mentioned above, reaching exactitude on the 19^th of this month.

Barbault’s Basket is a natural, but rare evolution from a triangle of outer planets that has manifested off and on from the middle of last year. That triangle was formed as as the combination Neptune=Uranus/Pluto, with Uranus and Pluto trine, having Neptune as the apex planet, forming sextiles with Uranus and Pluto. That triangle has given us a deeper understanding of the forces driving political projects, exposing the ‘men behind the curtain’ about whom we are supposed to ignore. A veil has been drawn back and we now understand more about our leadership and how the world is run – and also understanding more about ourselves since that triangle has been in evidence. That triangle has in turn brought us to the point where we had the Saturn/Neptune conjunction at 0° of Aries, also a rare event, and at the apex of said triangle. That was the conjunction that pointed to the precipitating event that will see fulfilment from Barbault’s Basket: The Ramadan War precipitated a mere week after that conjunction. Barbault’s Basket signals the evolving financial new world order – one that will see the lot of average humanity lifted instead of devolving into dystopia, all being well. It represents a movement away from financial capitalism and toward democratic socialism in the West, and mixed economies in general.

What the Saturn/Neptune conjunction signalled in the long term was the end of the old financial order set up after WWII by the US and Western Europe. More specifically, the conjunction signalled the demise of the petrodollar system, as well as the demise of Sykes-Picot. The Basket will serve to bring about the fulfilment of that conjunction over the immediate next few years. To be even more specific, Barbault’s Basket signals the demise of the financial capitalist order, the neoliberal financial order championed and led by the United States (must read). That financial order is run out of Washington, DC and New York both of which are ruled by Cancer. Thus far American security concerns has revolved around the preservation and advancing of the neoliberal order. Instead, that order is coming undone. Also subsidiary in the maintaining of the Washington-run financial order and strategy are Argentina, Scandinavia and the Netherlands, all with Cancerian rulership. Turkiye has also played a role in that order as well. When do we see this Basket, then? It is extant now, inaugurated at the new moon of Cancer this year.

The new moon took place at 09:43 UTC on the 14^th of July (7:43 pm AEST). Jupiter has just completed Barbault’s basket, within a degree of orb. The Basket will be particularly energized on the 19^th when the Moon completes almost a Grand Sextile, the missing degree being at the 5^th degree of Sagittarius. Missing degrees in a configuration are as important as the patterns themselves as they present a factor to be incorporated that would fulfil the promise of the pattern. The Sabian symbol for the 5^th degree of Sagittarius is as follows:

• An old owl sits alone on the branch of a large tree. 5° Sag.

Dane Rudhyar had a wonderful synopsis of this symbol, very relevant for today’s events. I quote it below in full:

Keynote: A poised and wise approach to existence based on a clear perception of unconscious factors and their operation.

The owl has always been a symbol of wisdom, and its hooting call has evoked a rise to mysterious and hidden elements in life. The owl functions lucidly in the night aspect of existence. His eyes see what men normally fail to perceive. He represents that consciousness which is active where the processes of life normally escape the attention of the personal ego and its intellect.

This is the last of the five symbols in the forty-ninth sequence. It suggests the possibility of developing a wisdom beyond tragedy, a peace and poise beyond conflict. One might speak here of TRANSLUCIDITY.

Our ‘old owls’ of diplomacy are slowly dying off, but are sorely needed today. What we need is a fresh look at the world, with blinders removed. We need these days a sustained “a wisdom beyond tragedy, a peace and poise beyond conflict”, unmoved by outer events. It remains for us to hold the emerging light steady and not allow even a hint of despair or animosity to intrude. Astrologically, all of the nations with Cancer as a dominant factor, whether by soul or personality, are tied to Washington by the gravity of their financial entanglement and comprador elitism. This must give way if we are to move into a world where all of humanity is lifted and is secure. Conditions are likely to get darker before the dawn of that world breaks, but that light is surely on its way. With these points in mind we move on to our current events and what is likely to eventuate in short order.

Current Events: The following more important events have taken place since the last letter:

• Oman and Iran have reached an agreement on management of the Strait of Hormuz. Maintenance fees will be charged for all shipping. This is common practice worldwide. The Bosporus, the Suez Canal, the Panama Canal – all ships using those passages must pay fees. Hormuz is territorial waters for Iran and Oman, as much as Washington might object. The Europeans have already accepted the fact.
• The Lebanese government, such as it is, signed an agreement with the Israelis for the end of the occupation of southern Lebanon. The Israelis have no intention of leaving Lebanon. The Lebanese president, Aoun, is weak and cowed by the Americans, who have one of the largest embassy compounds in the world in Lebanon. Contingent on the Israeli withdrawal is the disarming of Hezbollah. This scenario is a repeat of 1983 and will not fly. Israel will once again be pushed out of Lebanon by Hezbollah.
• One of the largest – possibly the largest – funeral in modern human history took place for Ali Khamenei and his family in Iran. This is covered in a topic, below.
• The NATO Summit was held in Ankara. The US, having suffered a strategic loss in Iran, has now deflected attention to Europe and Russia.
• The day after Operation Epic Fury was launched, on that historic Sunday Lindsey Graham stated, “The mothership of terrorism is sinking. The captain is dead.” He was referring to the assassination of Ali Khamenei in the opening salvos of the Ramadan War. On another historic Sunday, the world heard that the captain of the warmongers in Washington, Lindsey Graham, is dead. It had been said that Graham never saw a war he didn’t like. He died from a sudden massive heart attack, so they say. It happens. I lost two uncles on separate occasions that way. Such events are often preceded by suddenly feeling ill. The tin foil hats are out, though. We won’t go into prurient curiosity here. He had visited a large drone factory in Kiev the day before he died, which was the day after his birthday. The Russians destroyed that factory the day after his visit. Imagine the shock! Did the Russians get to him? Who cares? He is gone. From the comments I have seen the world is a happier place without him. But we start our examination of current events with the funeral for the man whose assassination Lindsey Graham celebrated.

The funeral: The funeral for Ayatollah Ali Khamenei and his family was the largest funeral in recorded human history. The Financial Times estimated there were between 12 – 15 million people in attendance just in Tehran. Then there were processions in Qoms and then in Najaf, Iraq, equally attended by millions. There were representatives from over 100 nations at the funeral. Overall, estimates from travel records, phone data, crowd density and site measurements put the estimated overall attendance at over 40 million people. The Western press and Iranian opposition in exile were in shock, meltdown and denial, with attempts to explain away the huge crowds and diminish their numbers, to no avail. The message to the West was clear: Khamenei was revered, Iran united. One commentary summarized it succinctly:

“Trump said “Right now their people are very hungry.” Marco Rubio declared that he knows of “no other country where there’s a bigger difference between the people who lead the country and the people who live there.” Scott Bessent stood at Davos and boasted: “This is economic statecraft, no shots fired.” Pete Hegseth thought he could send ground troops into Iranian soil. They all had a theory. Bomb their infrastructure. Collapse their currency. Starve them into desperation. And when they are broken enough, they will rise against their own government and deliver the country to Washington on a platter.

Look at these images.

These are not the images of a broken people. This is one of the largest human gatherings on earth. It’s a civilization expressing itself in full, with all its grief, its pride, and its cohesion. These are millions who chose, freely and defiantly, to pour into the streets to mourn their leader on their own terms. The policy did not radicalize them against their government. It did not hollow them out. It did not manufacture the desperation Washington needed. Four decades of sanctions, two wars in the region, maximum pressure, currency warfare, and a Secretary of Defense openly threatening boots on the ground, and this is what it produced: a people more visibly unified than almost any nation on earth can claim to be. This is the bill coming due for decades of strategic arrogance; the assumption that Iranians were simply a pressure point to be managed, a population to be weaponized against its own state.

Washington never understood what it was dealing with.”

Neither did the Israelis. Maybe now they have a clue. But this brings us to the present state of affairs in that region. This was more than just a funeral. It sent a clear message to the powers warring with Iran that their plans had completely backfired – and much more. Shia and Sunni were united in their grief for Khamenei. Sunni officials and many Sunni people on the street had great respect for him, even though they may not have liked him. The funeral showed that the Iranian people revered their leader – far from despising him, like we have been told. ‘The regime’, as Washington like to call the Iranian state, has been hardened against Washington and Israel and stands united. But there is something wider, too, because the funeral exposed the reality of the culture in the region, where the artificial Shia-Sunni divide was shown to be a sham.

The funeral demonstrated the Iranian civilisation, rather than Shiism and revived a sense of the Ummah across the region – the global community of all Muslim believers, united by their shared faith. Khamenei was no radical. He was a very cultured and educated man. He championed the rise of women in Iranian society. He was a strategic thinker. It was he who oversaw the development of the defensive strategy of Iran, as well as the mosaic command structure. ‘Taking out’ Khamenei and his family was a strategic blunder. The funeral we just witnessed wasn’t simply a funeral for a man. It was a funeral for Western dominance over an entire region. How do we know? We know because every American military installation across that region is being systematically destroyed by the Iranians every time Trump orders a strike, with the tacit or begrudging acceptance by the Arab states there. What about the MoU, then?

The MoU is dead. This is otherwise known as the Islamabad Memorandum. The United States killed it. They did so by trying to open an alternative route through the Strait of Hormuz on the Omani side and seeking to use a military escort for commercial shipping through the Strait, in contravention of the MoU, Art. 5. No one seems to point out that if Iran had coordinated transit for those ships that a US military escort would not be needed. Why was there a US military escort, then, if not to contravene the MoU? The Israelis violated the MoU also, by continuing strikes into Lebanon, a violation of Art. 1. For their part the Israelis never agreed to the MoU. But seeing the US-Israeli axis is one and the same, any violation by the Israelis is also a violation by the United States, looking at the matter historically. The US and Israel have always acted together in the region, with Israel giving the US plausible deniability. Yet, as is often the case, Washington blames the Iranians for violating the MoU. So, what really happened?

On the evening of 7 July there were four ships under US military escort trying to exit through the Omani side of the Strait, when they were all struck with drones. But in response the US bombed 80 sites in southern Iran. The Iranians retaliated in kind, striking 85 US targets in Kuwait and Bahrain. The US re-imposed sanctions on Iranian oil shipments as a result. The Iranians have since closed the Strait of Hormuz once again. This would appear to be yet another own-goal by the Trump administration, who wanted to keep the Strait open – except they wanted the Strait open on Washington’s terms, all the while having agreed to Iran’s terms in the MoU. This is classic lower Sagittarian behavior on the part of Washington. They like to make rules, but they don’t like abiding by anyone else’s rules that don’t suit them. So, for the moment we are back where we started during the Ramadan War. And Trump himself has claimed the MoU is dead, as he calls the IRGC ‘a cancer’ that has to be cut out. Oil prices jumped 5% on news of the strikes. Now we will see escalating rhetoric toward Iran as the Strategic Petroleum Reserves in the US reach critical levels over the next weeks. We can expect the war to resume at some point in the near future. And Netanyahu is due to visit Washington soon, which usually foretells of other coming disasters.

Washington’s Plan B: Unable to unblock the Strait of Hormuz militarily and being unable to abide by agreements, Washington and Israel have turned to a sort of ‘Plan B’ – weaken or sideline the Shia groups that comprise the Axis of Resistance in the region. A map of those groups and a map of the distribution of Shia Islam show what the US-Israeli axis is facing. But there is more to it. Western think tanks had thought the Axis of Resistance was largely degraded, from the middle of last year. Since the Israeli invasion of Lebanon the Israelis found out differently, regarding Hezbollah. Hezbollah has given the Israelis a real shock in southern Lebanon, inflicting heavy Israeli casualties. Hezbollah is centered mainly in southern Lebanon and the Baqaa Valley in Lebanon. What the US and Israel fail to take into account is that they are not simply fighting a group in the conventional military sense. They are trying to overturn a culture. Their misjudging of that situation is turning out to be a fatal flaw in their reasoning and strategy.

Alastair Crooke in one of his interviews on the Judging Freedom podcast, link long lost, laid out this culture very clearly especially as applied to the October 7 Al-Aqsa Flood operation by Hamas. The field operatives in Israel reported that something was taking place, that something was coming, but the people in power in the Mossad and Shin Bet could not bring themselves to believe that Hamas would actually commit to what they saw as a suicidal operation. And even after the guerilla ground war had started and the Israeli troops began taking casualties, they refused to believe that Hamas was a viable fighting force. Well, almost three years after the fact Hamas is still entrenched in Gaza and the Palestinians have refused to leave. Crooke described how one Mossad official declared that the whole established Mossad hierarchy had to be cleaned out and replaced by people who actually paid attention instead of relying on their beliefs and narratives. The same situation exists in the CIA (meaning various intelligence agencies within the US and think tanks) and MI6 in the UK. For their part, the Russians had to purge certain elements within their intelligence communities as a result of the SMO in Ukraine. War is very often a very cleansing experience for a nation and for a people. Then there is Shia Islam.

Religion and self-transformation: Of the two main streams of Islam the more resilient in battle by far is that of Shia Islam. Alastair Crooke, who has had long experience dealing with Islam in negotiations, had the following observation on the differences between Shia and Sunni Islam:

“Sunni Islam gave up reasoning in terms of law and other things altogether in about the 1300s under the influence of Ibn Taymiyya. It was called ‘ijtihad’, by which you could change laws and such and details. And Ibn Taymiyya also ended philosophy and thinking. It was said that this led to innovation, which led to ‘bid’ah’, which was heresy and was not going to be allowed. In Shia Islam it continues. So there was a great flowering of philosophy of different types of thinking [with the Shia] but also a cultural one – music, poetry all of this flowered in Iran and gave and created a real civilizational difference. And of the two, Sunni Islam is much more literal. It’s characterized by externalities. You want to have a mark on your forehead where it shows you pray every day and the way in which you stir your tea or how you make your observations, whereas in Shia Islam the emphasis is upon personal transformation.

A famous Iranian philosopher Kazali said, “You may know the Quran by heart. You may know the hadith that is sustained and the Sharia the law and you know all of that and you’ve read that and you can quote it by heart: You’ll still be no Muslim. You are only a Muslim when you have allowed this to transform you and to change you.” And that means the Iranians are very different in this way and their history is one of having made huge sacrifices. It started with sacrifices [austerities and losses].

It started with the battle of Karbala, where the grandson of the prophet took on the major forces of the caliph with a tiny army…[of 70]…men under arms fighting an army of several thousand and yet that was a victory for him. It was a victory because it preserved the principle and the moral righteousness of his cause, even though literalists would say it was a clear disaster and failure. So Iranians are able to look at what’s happening and the setbacks that they’re facing, they look at those and actually see this as a moral victory. Even if the West says, “Ah yes, but more of your mobile missile launchers have been destroyed in the last day or two.” It’s not seen in that way. It is about a moral victory, a victory of a civilization, of a people, and of their whole culture – and is also a victory that is a religious victory too.”

Perhaps with that little summary we begin to get an idea of the Iranian view on this current conflict. The Sunnis comprise around 90% of Muslims, with the major representation in the Persian Gulf region being in Saudi Arabia, being in charge of the two most important holy sites for all of Islam. The third-holiest site for Muslims is the Al-Aqsa Mosque in Jerusalem, for which rumors abounded about Israeli plans to blow up that mosque at the end of Ramadan that year, which thankfully did not happen. We in the West have little to no comprehension of such Shia beliefs unless we were born and raised with them. We tend to lump all of Islam into the same basket, yet the differences between Sunni and Shia are fundamental. The Arab Gulf states are largely Sunni, but some of them have significant Shia populations, like Bahrain. The West, on the other hand sees war as a zero-sum game, all about the numbers. For Iran this war is a moral and righteous struggle. They will fight to the last, if need be, to preserve their culture and their faith. Surrender is simply not considered by them because it would be seen as a loss of one’s faith.

Islam, being a 6^th ray religion, exhibits certain characteristics when it comes to other religions and especially in battle. Speaking of the 6^th ray soldier:

“He will lay down his life for the objects of his devotion or reverence, but he will not lift a finger to help those outside of his immediate sympathies. As a soldier, he hates fighting but often when roused in battle fights like one possessed. He is never a great statesman nor a good business man, but he may be a great preacher or orator.”^[21]

We see those characteristics in battle especially marked in Shia Islam. Islam and Christianity are both 6^th ray religions, and both of them Abrahamic. So is Judaism (Abrahamic) in its purely religious form. It is an interesting study, too much to address here. But in a nutshell Sunni Islam tends toward the maintaining of traditions, and like Judaism, the letter of the law, if you will. On the other side, Shia Islam tends more to resemble (true) Christianity in its emphasis on self-transformation – that is to say, Christianity based in the teaching of Jesus instead of the Christian Church, the fundamentalists sects of whom love to quote scripture to justify their acts. The origins of organized Christianity, as a religion instead of a practice, can be attributed to the Roman Empire, which eventually devolved and was reborn as the Catholic Church. If we stand back and look at it, the religion of Christianity relies on the letter of scripture and support for the institution, rather than emphasizing individual self-development. The Roman Empire became the Christian Empire. It is something to consider.

Jesus taught self-transformation, the very essence of the Christian faith (in distinction to religion), instead of relying on doctrine. The political Zionists have no such moral compass, being a secular movement. For the Zionists this is a war for territory, for lebensraum. And we know how the latter ended. It died on the muddy and frozen steppes of the Eastern front in WWII. The Zionists will probably go in much the same manner in West Asia. There appears to be little difference these days between political Zionism and Nazism, both of them being ethno-supremacist ideologies, both of them based in ancient hatreds and the conquest of peoples and territories.

Leave religion out of it: There is a further point here, too. In any nation around the world, no matter the faith, people who actually practice their religious faiths to any large extent are in the minority. Yet, there are factions within Judaism and Christianity who would tell us what we are seeing with the attack on Iran is a religious war. It is nothing of the sort. We are told the lie that the US is a Judeo-Christian nation, which in reality is an attempt at a narrative that would bind the US tighter to Israel. But religion is brought into it as a motivating factor to leverage the emotions of people who are emotionally polarized. ‘Israel’ is not the primary problem in West Asia. The United States is the prime mover. With the US removed from the region, which is in process, what will become of the current Israeli state? It would be largely unprotected, unfunded and surrounded by states that have a few scores to settle with it. The Zionists in the US are the people behind Israel, the ones who promote the hoax that ‘Palestine was a land without a people’ and the reason why Israel is so lavishly funded and militarized. Israel is also a laboratory for the US military-industrial complex and the military industries of the two countries are closely linked. Hence, we have seen the recent attempts to make the relationship legally binding, which was just narrowly defeated.

The astral bodies of the majority of people are on the 6^th ray, that ray being the predominating factor at that level of our awareness, which is what we call the astral plane. The plane ‘above that’, to use the inadequate wording, is the mental plane and it is ruled by the 5^th ray. The 5^th ray in many ways is antithetical to the 6^th ray, because reason gives us context and clarifies the astral field. In other words, a thinking person tends to see past an object of devotion and to note cause and effect. When we note cause and effect in the context of this war, bringing in the history, then it is clear this is a war for control over resources and trade routes, as well as being directed at preserving the post-WWII order and stopping the rise of the emerging world. Given the preceding comments starting with Crooke’s statements on Islam, it might help us to understand why and from where these Arab states in the Persian Gulf arose.

The Gulf monarchies: The Gulf monarchies, if we remember our history, were formed starting with the Sykes-Picot act and thereafter at the end of World War II. They are unwitting participants in this war. They knew full well what would happen if Iran was attacked, although a few of them like the Saudis had hoped that Iran would collapse. Now that Iran is winning and destroying the American bases on the lands of these monarchies, they are facing a very uncertain future. At present they are scrambling trying to find some sort of diplomatic resolution to this war. The Iranians are having none of it. The Americans and the Israelis have shown themselves to be non-agreement capable. The Americans have also betrayed the monarchies by pulling air defenses away from the monarchies to protect Israel. They now find themselves in a very precarious position, with the specter of their oil infrastructure being destroyed and their water desalination plants either destroyed or made inoperable. They are also facing unrest within their own countries. The outlook for these monarchies is bleak indeed.

These Gulf monarchies were set up, first by Britain and then in the aftermath of World War II as part of the security structure for the emerging Anglo-American Empire. The Saudis have been the ringleaders in that regard. And it has been revealed that it was the Saudis and the Israelis who cajoled Trump (archived) into being dragged into this war. Every administration for the past 40 years has avoided war with Iran because they knew that a military defeat of that nation was not possible. And all the intelligence agencies in the US warned against it because they knew what is happening now would eventuate if a military action was undertaken. Another factor, too, is that these Gulf monarchies rely on desalinated water for the most part and those facilities are easily destroyed if they decide to become co-belligerents on the side of Israel and the US. Thus far, they appear to be making their situation worse and worse because they are still allowing the US to use the bases on their territory to attack Iran.

The end of the monarchies?: This is an existential conflict for the Gulf monarchies as much as it is for Iran. They also face another problem, in that the ruling factions in these monarchies are a tiny minority of the population, and the people on the street in those monarchies would be happy to see them go. For example, the Saudi Royal Family has around 15,000 members, but only 2,000 of them have the money and the power – out of a total population of over 33 million people. And the native Arab population there is not quite 2/3 of the total population. The power of the Royal Family there relies on the compliance of the police and military to maintain order. If that were to go then a coup would be relatively easy. In the small Arab Gulf states the demographic is striking. In Kuwait, Qatar and UAE the non-native populations are well over 70% of the total population. In Bahrain, the immigrants and native Shia Bahrainis have been celebrating Iranian missile strikes on American bases in Bahrain, for example. The monarchy there has been cracking down hard on pro-Iranian demonstrations. Those monarchies rely on to a great extent on immigrant labor, largely from South Asia and India. It wouldn’t take much deprivation to cause major uprisings within the societies.

With all the focus on oil and transport in the region being affected, there is another important factor which is not being reported, which could end the Gulf monarchies in the matter of a few weeks, and that is the water desalination plants. If those plants are hit, the Persian Gulf states besides Iran would lose their water supplies. Between 70 to 90 percent of the region’s potable water comes from desalination. The Iranians do not want to hit those plants, but if the Gulf states were to enter the war against Iran they would be some of the first targets that would be hit. Without water there would be a mass exodus from all the Arab Gulf states because without water no one could live there. There are no natural surface aquifers on the Arabian Peninsula. There is underground ‘fossil water’ in vast aquifers, but those are non-renewable and are facing critical depletion levels. There are no mountains to collect water. The first concern for the Arab Gulf states would be food, provided they have water, but with water gone that would be the end of the Gulf monarchies. They would pack up and move to their mansions and villas overseas. Those less fortunate left in the region would have to beat a heavy and hasty exodus, probably landing in Europe.

Another TACO Tuesday?: As the situation in the Persian Gulf stands now Trump has decided the Islamabad Memorandum was a bad deal, that the Iranians are ‘scum’ and ‘bad people’ and that he has further decided that everything in Iran belongs to the United States and the Strait of Hormuz is open and will be maintained that way by the United States. This is utter delusion. Having been defeated in the Persian Gulf, Washington has decided it is better to return the state of affairs in the Strait to the way it was before they attacked Iran. Well, good luck with that, as the saying goes. So, the US has escalated by attacking Iran’s coastal areas, with the Iranians counterattacking twice as hard, destroying what remains of the American bases in that region. The rumor has it now that Trump is planning a large attack for next week, with a possible land invasion, vowing to destroy Iran’s infrastructure. Just keep in mind that such rhetoric is typical Trump, seeking to throw everyone off balance in an attempt to extract a more favorable outcome in the long term.

A basket of trouble: Remembering what has just been outlined above, if Trump follows through with the threats just made, Iran will wreck the Persian Gulf, starting with the desalination plants. But that will wreck far more – Trump’s investments in the Persian Gulf, the AI bubble, the world economy, and on and on. It would be a catastrophic blunder if he does what he is saying. But it would also come along coincident with the Barbault Basket, which would hardly feel like the huge blessing many astrologers are painting it to be. Knowing Trump, we might instead be enjoying more TACOs on Tuesday (Jul 21^st), followed by a lower intensity conflict. But what if he follows through? What would a land invasion look like, for instance? For one thing, it would mean huge American casualties, which are already probably much higher than the 14 Washington admits. An American senator just let that cat out of the bag, when he cited hundreds of American soldiers ‘fallen’ (which usually means killed). The hundreds he referenced probably meant wounded, but very few comments I have seen believe only 13 or 14 soldiers have died in the war thus far, given the massive destruction the Iranians have meted out on American bases in the region.

Casualties: Casualty figures are very difficult to ascertain in wartime situations because all sides tend to downplay their own casualties and exaggerate the casualty numbers on the other side. We have seen this consistently with the war in Ukraine. The Russian Ministry of Defence regularly posts casualty figures for Ukraine every day. Ukraine also claims similar figures on the Russian side. But there is little evidence that the Russians have experienced massive casualties. They have prosecuted a slow war of attrition to minimize the number of Russian casualties – and we might add civilian casualties within Ukraine. But there is evidence that Ukraine has experienced terrible casualties during the war, with video footage showing massive military graveyards across Ukraine. Of course the Western public, having been fed an endless stream of propaganda about the war in Ukraine is inclined to believe the Western figures quoting Ukrainian sources. The Russians also have large military cemeteries, no mistake about it. But if recent figures about the exchange of remains between the two sides are to be believed the Ukrainian losses are staggeringly high compared to those of Russia

Thus far in the war against Iran, the US claims only fourteen Americans dead, with Trump and JD Vance having done photo ops with six coffins arriving at Andrews Air Force Base early in the war. There have been no such photo ops since, and there are requests from the military for help in repatriating the belongings of fallen soldiers. They would not be making such a request for only 14 soldiers. Iranian intelligence, collected from extra-regional sources, has a different assessment of casualty numbers on the American side.

In the first week of the war alone the Iranians cite over 3,200 American casualties – 200 dead and 3,000 wounded. That was just in the first week. American equipment losses during that period comprised a critical depletion of air defense stockpiles for both the United States and the Israeli regime, 150 missile launch platforms and 23 Patriot air defense systems, a total of 37 aircraft and helicopters lost, along with 43 percent of US weapons stockpiles having been obliterated. Of course, we never hear about such figures in the West, nor are we likely to. It is a case of the old WWII adage, “Loose lips sink ships.” We can choose to believe or dismiss these figures, but sooner or later information will begin to leak, especially from affected families of service members. There is growing anger and disgust among the American public about this war.

With the above assessment cited, evidence is emerging that US casualty numbers are much higher than what are being reported. The largest US military hospital abroad had halted all labor and delivery services amid this war, suggesting that the system is treating American casualties to the extent that it must exclude local services. This hospital is the Landstuhl Regional Medical Center (LRMC) located near Ramstein Air Base in Germany. The hospital has a primary role in critical combat care in treating patients that are injured during training or combat operations throughout Europe, Africa and the Middle East, according to the hospital’s website. And now we are beginning to see reports like the one about the US New York City Police Department soldier who was killed, “as a result of a medical episode while deployed to Kuwait in support of Operation Epic Fury.” We might expect that we will see such medical episodes sharply increasing as this war wears on. If the US hides casualty numbers, then the Israelis are even more closed mouth about theirs. We know they are experiencing heavy casualties in southern Lebanon.

What to expect, then?: Now that the Strait of Hormuz is virtually closed again and the US has reinstituted its blockade of Iranian oil shipments oil prices have already started to rise. In fact, they are rising sharply and will continue to do so. The war thus far has already cost American consumers a whopping $53 billion in fuel prices alone. Prices were kept artificially low in the lull between escalations between Iran and Washington, primarily because China was not buying oil and was draining its massive reserves. That is no longer the case. They are busy restocking since the US escalated the conflict again. In addition, the Saudis were able to ship their oil via the Red Sea from their East-West pipeline at Yanbu. That is no longer in service, and the Bab-el-Mandeb Strait could be closed at any moment, removing that oil from circulation. The Emiratis were shipping oil through their Fujairah port. That is now closed. The US had lifted sanctions on Iranian and Russian oil shipments. Those have now been slapped back in place. In all the shrinkage in supply was only between 5% – 8% of normal supplies – manageable, and we saw that at the pump. Those extra supplies have since been removed.

What we will see as a result of the extra supply being taken away – unlikely to return soon – are sharply rising prices for transport and flights over the coming weeks. That means prices rising in the shops and supermarkets, which depend upon rail and trucking for resupply. The US can produce plenty of gasoline. But without the sour crude from the Persian Gulf the salt caverns that store the US strategic reserves are in increasing danger of damage or collapsing. And that means an acute and possibly chronic shortage of diesel and jet fuels going into holiday and harvest seasons. And that will also affect the price of heating oils going into winter. Oil from Venezuela could fill the gap, but that would mean retooling US refineries. That is unlikely in the interim. It would be the same for Canadian tar sands. Then, as well, the big oil companies are reluctant to go back into Venezuela to resume operations. Washington’s and Wall Street’s policies have placed the US into a real pickle, from which there is no easy escape – except for admitting defeat and dealing with Iran as an equal partner. How likely is that to happen? At the end of WWII we had the following quote about the US trying to find its place in the world, unused to the new-found power it then possessed:

“…it finds the United States, unused to power, somewhat arrogant, with a strong superiority complex, inexperienced and yet at the same time exceedingly well-intentioned and fundamentally sound. It is the mass of the people who are sound in their thinking and not their representatives in Congress.”^[22]

That superiority complex still persists in the halls of power in the US, along with its arrogance, and in these days such hubris is wholly unwarranted. Perhaps this war and the coming loss of the war in Ukraine, with the consequent humiliation in the eyes of the world will gradually cause a sense of humility to wash over Washington and Wall Street. I am not holding my breath. The British and French establishments still maintain their haughtiness, even though their empires have turned back to sand long ago. The Machiavellian activities of Washington will continue for some time to come. Power shifts over time, though. And regarding the US we have the following prophesy:

“Like Russia, this country is in the making and — as I have told you elsewhere — as the nation’s power shifts, as it will and as it now really is shifting from Washington to New York, the Cancerian influence will steadily lessen and the country will take its place as an adult among the nations. Its Gemini nature and its Aquarian soul should (when developed and balanced) provide a most remarkable channel for human expression.”^[23]

Our policymakers in Washington are still behaving like spoiled adolescents in many cases, still convinced we can do whatever we like in the world and that might makes right. Then there is Brussels, whose top leadership appears to be insane, or just stupid in many cases. This is especially true when it comes to Russia.

A few words on Russia: The propaganda against Russia in the West has been largely successful over the years, keeping the Western populace either afraid, in hatred of, or wholly ignorant about Russia, though that is beginning to change little by little. Russia has generally been characterized as a dark and barbaric place, being ruled by a dictatorship under Putin. In regard to change, though, Russia itself has changed dramatically following the fall of the Soviet Union. It is no longer the despotic Stalinist state it once was. It has chosen a different path under Putin. The revolutionary fervor for spreading communism across the world has been cast off. Under Putin the oligarchy has been reined in and supports the state. Religion has been revived. Russia’s infrastructure has undergone tremendous improvement. I would advise anyone who thinks the Russians are poised to overrun Europe to take a step back, take some deep breaths and learn all they can about that great nation. I would say the same for anyone who views Putin as a brutal dictator.

If one believes the Western propaganda, then one has swallowed whole a stereotype of Russia and Putin that is unfounded and which obliges one to pour one’s tax dollars into defending against an invasion that will never come. As a result of the war in Ukraine and the vitriol poured over Russia as a result, Russian society no longer has any desire to embrace the West. They have turned their attention to the East and their own self-development. They are happy to do business with the West, but as far as our ‘Western values’ go, they are having none of it. The Russians are shaping their own path. We are welcome to participate via business and cultural exchange, but they will no longer look to the West for guidance or as an example. Little as we might realize it, the Russians increasingly view the West as being decadent and failing. They want an end to the war in Ukraine, but it will be on terms favorable to them. They will not be lectured to or bow to Western demands. That brings us to the present state of the conflict.

The current narrative being pushed in the West is that the Russians are losing the war. Any military analyst who has seen combat (many Western officers have not) will tell you the Russians are on their way to finishing the war – with a Russian victory on the battlefield. The Russians are ready for war with Europe, if that is what the European leadership really wants. It was always a given that a Russian victory would be the end result in Ukraine. The Western narrative about Russia losing has been sufficient to ‘justify’ pouring other tens of billions of taxpayer dollars into that corrupt black hole we call Ukraine. And the average Ukrainian citizen has suffered grievously under the Zelenskyy regime. As an example, if Ukraine was winning they would not be pulling every able-bodied man off the street to send as cannon fodder to the front. Ukrainian citizens have caught on to the grift, though, and they are beginning to rise up, attacking the security forces trying to dragoon their men, and in many cases fighting them off. It is a hopeful sign.

In the latest message from the Russian Foreign Ministry Western leaders have been advised to stay away from Kiev, lest they be caught in a Russian bombardment. Von der Leyen was just rushed to a deep bunker under one such bombardment. Many people surmise that Lindsey Graham met his demise in such a manner. Kiev and Odessa are sustaining heavy, brutal bombardment by Russian aerospace forces. Russian ground troops are overrunning the last Ukrainian fortifications in the Donbass. And it is for the reasons just mentioned that we are hearing ‘Ukraine is winning’, in an effort to pour as much money and weaponry into Ukraine in an effort by the West to prop up and prolong that conflict. They think somehow it weakens Russia to prolong it, whereas in fact it destroys Ukraine, drains the West and only enriches a few oligarchs at the cost of the rest of us. We are reminded of another quote, written in 1960:

“I would have you bear these points in mind while you investigate the world picture. This picture is taking shape and warrants recognition. It involves the Jews (who are not a nation but a religious group) the Near East and Russia. In the maps which are to be found in the Archives of the spiritual Hierarchy, the entire area of the Near East and Europe—Greece, Yugoslavia, Turkey, Palestine, the Arab States, Egypt and Russia—are under a heavy overshadowing cloud”^[24]

The clouds are dispersing: The demise of the Soviet Union, followed by the expulsion of the Western carpetbaggers (who were there during the 1990s) from Russia by Putin in the first years of this century marked the dispersion of the dark cloud over Russia. It is still in process there, but much progressed and Russia stands as being much lighter than it recently was. Think what you like about that, but it is worth anyone’s time to sit down and pour ever everything one can find outside of Western narrative about Russia and Putin. The same goes for Iran and China. The forces of materialism (evil, if one wants to use that term) are being driven back, with that dark cloud just mentioned being dispersed in the Arab States and eventually Palestine, dispersed by the war against Iran, which if we could realize it is forcing the US to leave the region, bringing us to a final quote:

“These Forces of Evil work through a triangle of evil, one point of which is to be found in the Zionist Movement in the United States, another in central Europe, and the third in Palestine. Palestine is no longer a Holy Land and should not be so regarded.”^[25]

The point of the triangle in Palestine, just mentioned, is in process of being dispersed as Israel is bit by bit being dismantled, both internally and by external forces. The Zionist project there cannot survive. People now see the evil there. The last legs to fall will be in Central Europe and last in the United States. Zionism is bringing much suffering to the United States and across the West and is sowing strong divisions there, as well as producing a rapidly evolving erosion of human rights. Thankfully, the soul of the American people is beginning to stir, aware of the corruption in Congress and Washington and seeing the need to stop the apartheid and genocide in historic Palestine. It offends the human soul to witness such atrocities.

In conclusion, the human soul always rises even from the deepest pits of Hell. We have been to Hell and back many times. We are well-practiced at it. We just need to remember it. The tired old saying, “It’s always darkest before the dawn” is simply another way of stating the power of Light over Darkness. Now that we are in the midst of the astrology of Barbault’s Basket, keep in mind that configuration marks the start of a process of renewal instead of a singular event itself. In fact, it is simply the continuation of other events, described above, that have brought us to this point. But what is being introduced into our consciousness now is the end of the era of ‘markets make right’ and instead an evolving sense that people matter more than wealth. Keep in mind, too, another old saying: You have to break eggs to make a cake. We are in the egg-breaking stage, and matters will seem to get darker before humanity turns itself around. Soon, as in the decades to follow, homelessness will disappear, will be seen to be itself a crime against humanity, where houses are meant to be homes instead of mere investments for the purpose of speculation.

A new security architecture is evolving in West Asia, championed by Iran and the other Islamic nations themselves, rejecting the American diktat. The West will have to sit at the table with them thereafter, set aside Western pride and make mature deals with those nations who hold the lion’s share of the world’s petroleum reserves. It will be a passing gift of the Piscean Age. If there is not security for one, there is security for none. Soon enough we will all be forced to learn to share and share alike. And then the new world can dawn. Compassion for others echoes far and wide, but sometimes tough love is the greatest kindness. Most of us come at kindness naturally, but there are always the few who seem to have to learn it the hard way. But it is always a lesson well-learned. Be at peace within yourselves. The New Day is arriving. Just hold the Light to ensure it comes.

These letters are sent as a service. If you wish to be added to or deleted from the mailing list let me know. Feel free to pass these along, but do so without charge or alteration.

Suggested Viewing:
Jedaal English: Hezbollah: The Untold Story
Judging Freedom: Is Trump Negotiating with Iran!? Crooke on the petro-dollar
Danny Haiphong: Iran Obliterates US Air Base & HIMARS, Trump’s War Imploding Crooke
Neutrality Studies: Hezbollah Learns from Iran, Winning Big Against Zionism Laith Marouf
Uncover History: The Bankers Who Carved Up the Middle East After WWI — And Why We’re Still Paying for It
Britain Sold Palestine to Pay Its WWI Debt. The Balfour Declaration Was a Banking Deal!
Aramco: How America Quietly Took Over Saudi Arabia’s Oil — and Never Let Go
Warrior Diplomacy: The US Military LOST against Iran? Macgregor/Davis/Kent

Picture Credits:

Silver Crab Zodiac Art: Pinterest (original by Kagaya)
Homeless man: Shutterstock (not the guy mentioned)
Protest sign: Wikimedia Commons (from 1990)
Caged mind: Fractal Enlightenment
Blavatsky: Wikimedia Commons
Eris: Instagram (amadejjs)
Ixion Thrown Into Hades: Jules Elie Delaunay (1876)
Pluto: Wikimedia Commons
Solar Halo: Earth Sky Photo credit: Jolynn Keutzer Bales
Minor Grand Trine: author Barbault’s Basket is found in the sextiles confined between Jupiter and Pluto
Old owl on tree branch: Magnific
Khamenei funeral: NBC News
Islamic world: Map Porn
Axis of Resistance: Wikimedia Commons
Al Aqsa Mosque compound: Wikimedia Commons
British Mandate Palestine: Palestine Portal
Saudi Royal Family meeting: Middle East Eye
Ukrainian military graveyard: Le Monde
Crude stocks: Kitco News
Moscow on the Moskva: Facebook
Sunrise over clouds: Our Planet in My Lens Kim Paffen
Donated tiny house: Inside Edition

1. A bit of madness from Robin Williams, Cancer Sun, who had Ixion prominent in his chart, conjunct Neptune. ↑
2. Bailey, The Destiny of the Nations, p. 93 ↑
3. Ibid, p. 69 ↑
4. Ibid, p. 93 ↑
5. Bailey, Problems of Humanity, p. 26 ↑
6. Bailey, Esoteric Astrology, p. 168 ↑
7. Ibid p. 324 ↑
8. Ibid, p. 336 ↑
9. Ibid, p. 342 ↑
10. The Eagles, “Hotel California” ↑
11. Bailey, Esoteric Astrology, p. 179 ↑
12. Ibid, p. 317 ↑
13. Bailey, A Treatise on Cosmic Fire, p. 757 ↑
14. Bailey, The Destiny of the Nations, p. 28 ↑
15. Bailey, Esoteric Psychology I p. 26 ↑
16. Bailey, The Destiny of the Nations p. 143 ↑
17. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/38628_Huya#Name Further: How Are Minor Planets Named? ↑
18. Bailey, A Treatise on White Magic, p. 439 ↑
19. Mediterranean Archaeology and Archaeometry, Vol. 16, No 4, (2016), pp. 183-189 ↑
20. Temple of the People, Teachings of the Temple, (1925) Halcyon, CA, p.138 ↑
21. Bailey, Esoteric Psychology I, p. 209 ↑
22. Bailey, The Rays and the Initiations, p. 430 ↑
23. Bailey, The Destiny of the Nations, p. 89 ↑
24. Bailey, The Rays and the Initiations, p. 430 ↑
25. Op cit ↑