Discord is an online web-forum with live chat features. It’s super-segmented and has numerous different chat channels, and you can’t join a chat that you haven’t been invited to; some of them are super-open, and others are pretty thoroughly locked down. In one of these chats, I posted a series of one-paragraph looks at the years ahead for the United States, basically through to 2027. It’s the farthest I’ve ever looked ahead. In some ways, looking too far ahead is not very useful: although I was uneasy about the spring of 2020 before 2020 arrived, based on the astrology — I only predicted archetypes rather than the actual experience on the ground that we’re dealing with.

I’ve chosen to post my elements of that conversation in late May 2020 here on my blog.

Elsewhere on this blog, I’ve written columns on Judicial Astrology — which is the art of studying the planetary positions to guess at the experience of nations and cities (here, for example, is the March 2020 column, and the Lunations 2020 column). The basic technique is always the same: one uses the standard techniques of astrology to find the moment that the Sun crosses over the line from 29° Pisces 59′ to 0° Aries 0′, over the nation’s capital. The Ascendant tells you how long the chart is good for (a quarter-, half- or full year); the Sun’s placement indicates the national leader’s primary or principal concerns; various planets and houses indicate the political and economic concerns of various sectors of society; and the Moon indicates what the ‘loud’ or vocal portions of the society have to say about the issues of the day.

There’s two things to keep in mind as you read:

First: At this scale and speed — a ten-minute chart-study and a paragraph-long report — the chart says very little about who will win or lose elections; which party will hold the legislature; what the key economic issues are, or the hot-button political matters; or whether this or that cause celebré or celebrity will be front and center on stage. It doesn’t unpack the Twitterverse or the latest controversial meme on Facebook. Treat this for what it is similar to — a 50,000′ view out the window of an airplane as we occasionally lift the shade and get a vague sense of the ground below. We have no idea what that landscape looks like up close: this isn’t a map, and it isn’t the territory: it’s a patchy set of satellite photographs, and no more.

Second: recognize that the next six years are disturbingly stable, at least in a year when there seems to be a lot of tumult in the streets and in the corridors of power. March 2020’s chart prevails for the entirety of the year until March 2021 — and the same holds true for the chart of March 2021. The charts for March 2022, September 2022, March 2023 and September 2023 all indicate long, quite-similar stretches; March 2024 and March 2025 are also stable charts good for a full year; and in March 2026 we see the return of six-month charts again. If you were looking for a radical overhaul of the whole country by Christmas… this is not your year. In fact, 2027 and 2028 look pretty stable too, from 50,000′ feet up. It’s not until 2029 that the United States of America has a chart that promises significant shifts of priorities every quarter.

March 2020

Ascendant in Scorpio: Fixed Sign, chart good for 12 months, and the ‘silent’ part of the people seething with martial resentment… a lot of their effort being directed into highly-emotional channels. The Sun cadent in sixth house, so the President aligned with the working class and military, but not as powerful as he’d like to be. The Moon in the fourth house, so the ‘noisy’ or ‘outspoken part of the people having a lot of concern for rural voices. Mercury in the 5th house, indicating the prioritization of the economic and cultural elites’ voices in media. Uranus and Venus in 7th house in Taurus, indicating disruptions to food supply, but also foreign interference in political processes.

March 2021

Ascendant in Aquarius: fixed sign, chart good for 12 months; the ‘silent’ part of the people the intellectual and historically-important social classes; the elderly, the courts and legal professions and ‘aristocratic’ professions like doctors and engineers limited in some fashion. The Sun cadent in third house: the president focuses attention on transit and communcations systems with a kind of slash-and-burn activity. The Moon, the ‘noisy’ part of the populace, as well as the military, tend to side with the economic and cultural elites. In the 2nd House, Mercury/Neptune/Venus cause a fair degree of upset in the finances of the tourism industry, telecommunications, fashion, and entertainment issues. Uranus in Taurus — ongoing disruptions in food production and distribution. Midheaven, South Node, and Lot of Fortune all in 11th House: local/state governments significantly disempowered by private expenditures to control them. Pluto in 12th house — ongoing toxicity/poison/illness in hospitals & prisons.

March 2022

The Ascendant is Gemini: mutable sign, chart is good for 6 months (Libra Ingress), the ‘silent’ part of the population is going to be increasingly of two minds. Sun in 11th house — the president will increasingly involve himself in the affairs of the upper house of the legislature, and the regional and local governments. The Moon, the ‘noisy’ people, is in the fifth house, indicating that they’re catspaws or spokespeople for the financial and entertainment industries’ elites. With Venus besieged between Mars and Saturn in Aquarius, the creative elements of higher education, and the travel/tourism industry will be besieged; air travel is likely to cease for a period of time. With Mercury, Jupiter, and Neptune with the Midheaven in the 10th house, we can expect a more generous and communicative attitude from the federal government generally. Allies will be friendlier to the US than in several of the past years, but more responsive to Congress than the administration.

September 2022

Ascendant in Taurus: Fixed sign, so normally good for 12 months, but second chart of the year, so only good until March; The ‘silent’ part of the people experiencing signficant disruptions to their religous life and to their long-term duty and to their elders, and shifting toward an ‘urgency’ of sex-drive/body-consciousness. The Sun cadent in sixth house, conjunct Mercury: the presidency has signifcant control over the media at this time, and uses it to spotlight working-class and military issues, as well as the relative toxicity of “expertise” and intellectual culture, as well as downplaying the value of travel (particularly to wilderness areas… expect to see the closure/privatization of a number of national parks, I’d say). Venus in Virgo: the degrading of a number of cultural or entertainment resources, or their confinement to a more-elite audience. Jupiter in Aries: the legal profession, the courts and the socialsystem finally takes a long hard look at prisons… a harsher approach may be selected, unfortunately. Saturn in Aquarius: significant limits on the national goverment, while Neptune in Pisces indicates a broader mandate for state and local governments. A decline in relationships with foreign allies due to South Node with Descendant in Scorpio… at least one turncoat ally begins to think of itself as the US’s enemy. Mars and Lot of Fortune in Gemini in 2nd house: significant financial turmoil that the national government is unlikely to alleviate.

March 2023

Ascendant in Virgo: Mutable sign, so good for six months (revisit Libra 2023 chart); the ‘silent’ population are at work in their gardens and changing their relationship with the land. Sun in 9th house, succedent, so President more powerful than in the past several years, but not at supreme strength; still largely in control of the media and communications; they have mastery over the bureaucracy, the taxation apparatus, and the judiciary. The trio of planets in Pisces indicates a substantial reorganization of relationships with foreign natons — and signficant foreign interference in the operations of the US government by the Moon’s placement here. The Moon, the ‘noisy’ part of the populace, have largely sided with foregin powers and allies, and at least some of those on this side are the elderly who may feel abandoned; the internet will essentially be in the hands of foreign bot-nets. There will be a lot of loud political work to try to jumpstart the US economy by various government groups, much of it unsuccessful.

September 2023

Ascendant in Leo: chart good until March 2024; the silent part of the population are actually spotlighted to some degree, and are being recognized in some way by the creative and entertainment industries for their short term successes. The Sun is Cadent in the 3rd house: the presidency is wrangling with economic issues related to transportation and communication; Mars, South Node, and IC here indicate/signify a lot of talk that doesn’t really go anywhere and doesn’t resolve much for the travel industry, even though there’s a lot of desire for a ‘big fix’. The Moon, the ‘noisy’ populace, is working-class, rural, and military — a lot of frustration about the disappearance of working-class pleasures and happiness, a lack of ‘normal’ food and drink. A lot of decisions made from a place of appeasing a rising anger. Jupiter and Uranus in the 10th house indicate greater interference by the judiciary in governmental functions, and new restraints on the bureaucracy. Mercury in Virgo indicates a boost to the telecom industry’s finances.

March 2024

Ascendant in Scorpio: Fixed sign, the chart is good until the following March; the ‘silent’ people are seething with fury again, and militancy/public displays of intellectual rebellion are likely, may even break out into dreams of forceful action. The Sun is cadent in the 6th house: continued alignment between presidency and working classes, with more media attention to this group’s leaders and heroes than usual. The Moon, the ‘noisy’ populace, is more active in the government than in previous years — but has difficulty achieving its usual perks of better private education, travel and tourism; the presidency still dominates government affairs, though, and the people face opposition in getting what they want. Disruptions to agriculture and animal husbandry due to bad weather; eldercare and women’s rights dominate the media; foreign interferences dominate the judiciary’s court-docket this year. The president is relatively weak in an election year.

March 2025

Ascendant in Aquarius: fixed sign, chart is good for 12 months; a lot of toxic behavior from the ‘silent majority’, and a bit of a stalemate between generations; some political leaders may high-tail it fom the US. Sun in 3rd house — presidency again wrestling with transportation and communication issues. 2nd house Saturn/North Node/Neptune signifies financial profits from medicine and health care issues, but a lot of turmoil in the markets overall. Mars in 6th house in Cancer indicates possible rebellion/mutiny in the rank and file. Moon in 11th house signifies the ‘noisy’ population seizes some level of control over local governments, maybe the upper house of Congress, this year; this might require foreign assistance. Weather disrupts growing and harvest season in the US.

March 2026

Ascendant in Gemini: chart good until September 2026; the ‘silent’ population equally divided between options. The Sun and Moon both in 11th house — a contest between “noisy” populace and the President’s and their party for control of congress and local governments, with the rights of creative types, women, elders, immigrants and marginal communities all on the line in one way or another. Military affairs and control ovf communication channels are a signficant government priority. Legal and other ‘aristocratic’ professions see a resurgence of wealth and privilege. The active political sphere exhibits a great deal of churn relative to the economic sphere, which is seen as damaged or bleak at the moment.

September 2026

Ascendant in Aries: the chart is good until March 2027, as the March 2026 chart indicates six-month charts. A headstrong fury among the ‘silent’ populace, possibly expressed as active militancy, supported by elder money and minority pushback against the majority. The Moon, the ‘noisy’ population, acting against the advice of judiciary and legal and religious elites, urges use of force. The Sun, angular for the first time since we started looking in this series, is closely aligned with allied powers and is mostly concerned with foreign relations. Storms and heat potentially lay waste to portions of the US agricultural harvest this year. Disruptions to the transportation network continue.

March 2027

Ascendant in Leo, a Fixed sign: the chart is good for 12 months. The Sun in Aries rules the people through a loyal military and judiciary, but there’s significant underlying weakness due to the presence of the South Node; age and unusual conditions both put significant pressures on the cabinet and bureaucracy; the weight of loyalty to the institutions is likely to crack under some strains, but there’s a strong element of a desire to restrain the people. The more vocal or noisy part of the population is struggling with financial conditions, and puts considerable pressure on Congress to shift legal frameworks for the benefit of stockholders, pension funds, and the financial industry; a bailout of failing banks is possible, but the general populace will not benefit from such a move. Foreign intervention in US economic matters is likely, with significant and potentially aggressive action between the populace and immigrants. The US may experience “brain drain”.

March 2028

Ascendant in Scorpio, a Fixed sign: a chart good for 12 months. Considerable unrest throughout the year, but relatively few changes: the working class, the military, and the service underclass largely aligned with the Presidency represented by the Sun, but the Sun is cadent and unable to make many shifts ‘stick’. Media presents only an elitist point of view. Local affairs prominent with issues of soil toxicity and pollution affecting harvests; several large windstorms affect landscape in difficult ways. Congress ineffective. Fortunes in the transportation and logistics industry. The rights of women are prominent, and may require foreign intervention to protect; members of the creative classes may move abroad; the judiciary aligned with the political party strongly in the minority, but also supporting state and local governments against the central powers which are in decline or diminishment. The president’s popularity with the working class seems a weakness to the media, which stands apart from the leadership, but a surprising range of powers are aligned with the person in the Oval Office.

The year 2029

Things change rather swiftly in 2029. As we look at the four charts of this year, keep in mind that this indicates that much that has not been up for grabs, suddenly is. Change comes rapidly for the first time in ten years, with each quarter-year bringing potentially-swift shifts in how the country is managed.

March 2029

Ascendant in Capricorn, a Cardinal sign: the chart is good for three months. The ‘silent majority’ is wild and fearless, unwilling to be controlled, and relatively hostile to the presidency. The Sun, representing the president, is tucked into a stellium straddling the Pisces-Aries line, caught between the delusions of Neptune and the more deliberately-communicative and creative skills of Mercury and Pisces — logistics and logic are in a seeming war with the land itself. The more vocal part of the population, especially the elderly concerned with comfort in their waning years, side with certain political, economic and cultural elites, pushing back against the growing strength of regional and local governments. Congress begins to rein in both the judiciary and military; foreign influence is considerably restricted; mutinies and strikes among both the army and the mining industries are possible.

June 2029

June sees the Sun in Cancer in the seventh house, a President largely answering the call of foreign allies. The vocal part of the people are largely in control of Congress, the courts, and the military, while economic interests rule the bureaucracy. Ongoing disruptions in mining, the working class, and the rank-and-file of the military are exploited by new technologies, with part of each sector supporting the extant government and part unable to see their own manipulation. The perceived needs of the elderly become a talking point for the political and economic elites, but significant storms and flooding affect the countryside and the ‘silent majority’ feel unusually empowered by a financial sector meltdown.

September 2029

December 2029

The Sun enters into Capricorn like the president into his office in December 2029, with a close but loosening grip on media and creative services, and the darling of the people. The military has some level of control over the economy, but there is significant conflict over the banking system. Fire and flood and storm affect the nations crops and harvests. The judiciary sides with the minority political party, and with regional and local efforts, which are substantially driving the larger political conversation. The elderly, and our responsibilities to them, are another high-level conversation nationally, and retirement benefits may outweigh the working population’s ability to provide. Upheavals in the mining industry and the factory working-day classes eat away at normal union structures and create a bifurcated response, isolated from the agricultural sectors and logistics. A loud and vocal fraction of the people stand on the side of certain foreign factions, whose financial support for some sectors of the American economy keep the machine going. The political scene is relatively peaceful, concealing a turbulent underground stream of economic difficulty out of sight. This forecast holds until March 2030.

So that’s the decade, the long view: It’s hard to know who’s in charge, and some years are better than others. There’s complexities with logistics, with turbulence in financial sectors, with agriculture and with mining. There’s the usual challenges of political scandal and social turmoil; there are times when it appears that the heavy hand of a government may lay hard upon the world. There are hard times ahead, but some good times, too. People will continue to get married, to have babies. There will be protests, and counter-protests, and reforms, and counter-reforms too. Life goes on.

And maybe that’s the important message here —there’s no point where things instantly get better in the next ten years. Tumult in the streets, calls for change, for reform… all of that is good. But nations change the same way that bankruptcies happen — so slowly that you don’t see what’s happening, and then all at once. There’s no place I can point to and say, “This… this is the year that everything changes for good.” Time marches on. We all get a decade older, one day at a time. Washington and the nation change here and there, but with a wearyingly slow pace that will never be good enough for us humans. The decade ahead has some hard months, some rough years… and some good too.

Don’t give up hope. But recognize that the decade is much longer than a marathon — you’re looking at the equivalent of cross-continental trip on foot. Pace yourself.