DEMONOPOLIZATION, CYBER-ATTACKS AND ROUGH TIME FOR THE EU, WARNS GARY GOMES
INTERVIEW BY GARY O’TOOLE
INTERVIEW BY GARY O’TOOLE
September 15, 2019
Dr. Gary Gomes has been a Vedic Astrologer and teacher for nearly 30 years. He has trained in Vedic Astrology with several teachers, including K. N. Rao. He has also served as President and Vice-President of the Council of Vedic Astrology, been recognized by Bharat Vidya Bhavan for his contributions to Jaimini and has been recognized as a Jyotish Choodamani. He is also a Jyotish Kovid and Swami of the Temple of Kriya Yoga, and holds academic degrees in Education, Business and Sociology from Northeastern University in Boston, Massachusetts and the University of Massachusetts. He is also a faculty member at Kepler College. Gary was one of a very few astrologers who correctly predicted that Donald Trump would win the presidency. I began by telling him how impressed I was that he could do so when a whole tide of astrologers and pollsters who were saying otherwise. I asked him how he gets into ‘the zone’, if he has a specific practice or ritual, or if he does something to focus on the astrology and block everything else out?
Gary Gomes: Well, I think there was something in this election that I really didn't encounter any other election and that was I really didn't care much for either candidate. So, I really didn't have a bias in favor of either. And I think that helps a little bit. The other thing is sometimes I might look at a story and I just see what seems to be there. I just say what I think. I try to say it nicely. I don't like to say it rudely. If I see something I'll just say so. You know, this isn't like a big personal statement but after a while you just must go with your judgment. It doesn't matter whether you're following the crowd, you just must go with your judgment. And that's always been a trait of my personality ever since I was a kid. I have a Jupiter retrograde, so maybe that's why. I go with the crowd if I think they're right. I won't go with the crowd if I think they're wrong. So, I could give you like a bunch of astrological reasons for it but essentially if something is wrong, I will just say. In the work environment that has gotten me into trouble. I don't do it to hurt people. I don't do it to be a smart. It's just something that's always been there in me.
Gary O'Toole: Currently, I think we are all a bit lost and we don't know how things are going. And I would look at that as all the conjunctions in Sagittarius, because we've got no one really guiding us. So, it's great to have somebody who is clear!
Gary Gomes: Well I am clearer. I wouldn't necessarily say I'm always right but I'm clearer, and I know the reasons why I'm saying what I'm saying.
Gary O'Toole: So, with that in mind I suppose the main reason I asked to interview you was because you wrote an article for the magazine and it's all about conjunctions. It's nicely laid out in bullet points and again it's very clear. But I guess looking at that article and the conjunctions that are occurring in 2020 - let's cut straight to the chase: what do you see in 2020?
Gary Gomes: Well, I think 2020 is going to be an interesting year. I'm really not as pessimistic about it as I've seen some astrologers be, because I actually went back and looked at the last time we had a Saturn - Ketu (south node of the Moon) and Jupiter conjunction and that was actually kind of a nasty period, and several significant events happened. It was the Franco-Prussian war, which was a big deal, but it didn't last very long. And it was the end of reconstruction. So that would essentially mean we're going to have some endings to some system reform movements or maybe some start up ones, but I think a lot of countries are sort of like at the cusp of changing leadership. That'll probably happen over the next year or so. So, places that have been teetering like Korea or there may be a change of rule in some of the Middle Eastern countries. But Turkey's been primed for a change of leadership for a while. But it seems to be very difficult to make a change and that seems to unravel this year. And the other parts of the world that I think are going to be hit hard are going to be China and, oddly enough, India. And the reason I'm seeing India is mainly because I use astro-cartography lines and there have been some pretty damaging astro-cartography lines that have been passing through India over the past few months. I'm not sure there's going to be a war. Certainly, over the next few months there'll be a mini trade war and probably a stock market panic, but the panic will not last very long and will probably disappear in February. And during the next year or so, probably around the eclipses in June and July you'll probably see some more economic shocks. but again, nothing will be long lived. And I think the other thing you must look at is Jupiter in Sagittarius along with Ketu which will probably show some large religious institutions suffer severe damage. The Catholic Church is in a lot trouble for a few years now. But I also think larger religious institutions across the globe are going to have a lot of problems. And, higher educational institutions. So those are general concepts that we're looking at. And Saturn essentially doesn't destroy but it does bring problems to institutions and Ketu along with Jupiter will bring revolutionary reform. And I don't think that will necessarily be bad. It will be like a return to spirituality in these institutions as opposed to tearing them down and rebuilding them.
Gary O'Toole: We could say that this is already happening, of course. We know that these conjunctions are close already, as we can see what's happening in Hong Kong. That's just one example. And of course, everything that's been happening in the church recently. Of course, as astrologers we look back and we look at what happened the last time these conjunctions took place, such as the Reformation. You're talking about Jupiter-Saturn and the south node in Sagittarius and all of that mixed up. How do you as an astrologer in 2019 translate that for today, because the thing is, I see a lot of astrologers literally take what happened in history without looking at where we're going. For example, you could say that we're in this kind of war right now but it's not grenades and bombs and all that people would fear in that sense. It may be a war on for information.
Gary Gomes: Well, it's funny you should mention that because one of the things that I was going to talk about was Rahu [the Moon's north node] crossing over into Ardra [lunar mansion between 6° 40’ and 20° sidereal Gemini] pretty soon. Basically, you're going to see increased attempts at regulation and maybe demonopolization of some of the incidents. I think that what's happened over the past few years - I mean, it's already started in Europe, I know that. And the United States isn't going to be much further behind. So, this is essentially like large companies coming in, super-unregulated and just grabbing up a lot of space and a lot of attention and a lot of power, and nobody really imposing any limitations on them. I look at these conjunctions for the United States birth chart. I use Jim Kelleher's United States birth chart which has Sagittarius rising and so we have Mercury and Rahu in the 8th house. So, essentially although no planets are really connected with Cancer, Saturn will be aspecting Cancer next year. So, they'll tend to bring- I won't say censorship - but some kind of an attempt to control the internet and media. So, you'll see attempts at restrictions, attempts at controls and attempts of demonopolization of media over the next few years. And the other thing which I think is kind of up for grabs is bitcoin, because I really can't find a foundation for bitcoin. There’s something that troubles me about it. It's not astrological. I know the astrological chart's very good. But I can't find the backing for it. Do you know what I mean? I mean, you could argue, that you can't find the backing for a federal reserve note because it's issued on the full faith and trust of the United States government. But there's a little bit more to it than that. And I think there are going to be like some shocks or some panics in Bitcoin over the next few months as well. I'm not saying it's going to go away as a saga. I'm not saying I think it's going to crash, but I do think that companies like Facebook, Google, Twitter, all the large providers, Instagram, they're all going to be encountering some kind of increased regulation. And I know there was even a story recently about some of these sites that propagate hate crimes. So, I think you going to see more and more discretion placed on those sites, especially in the United States as an election year looms. And I wouldn't be surprised if it evolved into 2021. The last time the United States was in a Rahu mahadasa [north node great cycle], in the late 1890s, was the Teddy Roosevelt era of reform of big public business, although Rahu was in Leo when this particular mahadasa started. So, I know that not everybody follows that particular model for mahadasas but I follow that particular model. So, if Rahu's in Leo that would give less control to government but more regulation, if that makes sense. So, you'll actually see an attempt at demonopolization - voluntary at first and increasingly becoming mandatory in the communications sector, and you'll also see more cyber-terrorism over the next year or so. I think we've going beyond bombs and things like that. I think you're going to see a lot of countries being attacked in their communication networks. The city I live in actually had a virus invade and the person who perpetrated the attack was asking for 5.3 million dollars in bitcoin to release the city from the stranglehold it was under. And I don't think you're going to see more and more things like that happening over the next couple of years, because with the internet there's all this potential for disrupting traffic systems, for disrupting banking systems. We’ve grown so strongly connected to that. This isn't to scare or terrify anybody. This is a problem which is not unique to the United States, but I think you'll see violence increasing as well. And that's just part of an ongoing trend given the placements of Rahu and Ketu [north and south nodes of the Moon] over the past four years. So, Ketu is growing stronger as it heads for Scorpio and they'll peak over the next year and will then start to fade off a bit.
Gary O'Toole: So, can I ask you then in terms of the transits into the New Year, the end of this year and into the New Year, when we have Mars in February join the south node, Ketu, in Sagittarius. I mean, I saw that, and I thought, okay, a cyber-attack and initially I thought it was okay, because it's not like bombs and so on. But you're right, as you said we're so reliant on technology these days that it's not actually a small event, it's going to be huge because if the Internet's taken down, everything's taken out because we rely so much on it.
Gary Gomes: It is not going to be a victimless attack. I mean, people at hospitals can be affected, people in traffic systems can be affected. I think is going to be a serious. And I worked in vocational education in one of the great fields right now; cybersecurity, so you'll probably see institutions of government attacked. I'm looking at the conjunction of, January 1st, 2020. So, you have Saturn-Sun. Infrastructure may be attacked. Jupiter represents institutions of higher education. We saw a little preview in Notre down, but I think Notre Dame was careless.
Gary O'Toole: Highly symbolic though, I think.
Gary Gomes: Yeah. Oh yeah, definitely. And I think overall when you have combinations like this there's some potential for war breaking out. But the United States is not in a war mahadasa, or if it is it's only in what I would call a ‘control war’ mahasdasa, where there's a war it could not lose.
Gary O'Toole: So, the last north node cycle you were referring to, the last American one which was over a hundred and twenty years ago, was when you had the civil war in America, and of course astrologers could update that to this day and age. But what does Civil War look like now?
Gary Gomes: Well, the Civil War actually happened slightly before this period. Essentially, what happened though was that the Civil War was over. The United States was in a Mars dasa when that occurred. So, essentially, this is post-Civil War. What's happening right now is that transits are similar to what happened after the end of the Civil War. The mahadasa are entirely different. We really didn't have a major war until Jupiter mahadasa and Jupiter, although a good planet, can give, what I like to call, 'excessive patriotism'. So, with Rahu it's essentially greed, like the Spanish- American War which was fought to increase America's interests. Things like world wars where national orders are at stake, world wars to end a war is like large scale wars tend to happen during Jupiter periods in the United States chart. We entered the second Iraq war when Jupiter was exalted in Cancer. That's Jupiter's best placement and we decided to invade another country. And there's also another connection and this is something which you're quite familiar with Gary, and that is Dhanus [Sagittarius] is kind of a war-like rising sign. The Indian art of warfare is called Dhanurveda. So, essentially this is the aspect of Jupiter which will hammer us into submission. What I've seen so far of this administration is there's been a real hesitancy to engage. I mean, he [Trump] doesn't - you know, this may sound like I'm defending Trump, but I'm not - he really does not want to get involved in a war. That's one thing I've seen really. So, he'll talk big, he'll posture, but he really doesn't want to get involved in a world. I think the last one who did, the last one who was willing to get into ware was Bush and it was mainly out of family revenge. I don't think this President or presidency is really interested in war. John Bolton just left the White House. And Bolton was the most hawkish member of the White House staff. And so that's kind of a sign he doesn't want to get involved.
Gary O'Toole: But what about the transit into the end of the year [2019], for example. Jupiter enters Sagittarius from November and Sagittarius being that sign that's warlike and especially the centre of the sign, the lunar sign there. So, what about those transits and the eclipse on the 26th December? As you mentioned, the American chart has a Sagittarius rising, either 8 or 9 degrees, depending on the calculations you use. That's where exactly where we have the eclipse. How would you read that with that cluster of planets and the eclipse in Sagittarius?
Gary Gomes: I think the United States is going to undergo an attack. I think it's going to be a cyber-attack though. And I think it will lead to cyber retaliation. It will not lead to out and out warfare. That's the impression I'm getting. When you get to that eclipse period, Saturn and Sun have almost moved entirely out of after December 26 for the eclipse.
Gary O'Toole: So, my question really was more about the conjunctions in Sagittarius and then leading on into Capricorn. And I know how you read that in terms seeing attacks initially, but then this is the thing I'm wondering about, because you have all of these planets in Sagittarius now; Saturn since 2017 and the south node and it's kind of like really digging away, pretty heavy stuff, and it's kind of 'doom and gloom'. Let's be honest about it. It's all just a bit gloomy at the moment. But Capricorn leads from Sagittarius and Jupiter's coming through Sagittarius and moving into Capricorn. So, I'm looking at it is a very up and down period because Jupiter gives some sort of sense of something, initially, but like you say it's warlike as well. And then it goes into Capricorn and as we know Jupiter it doesn't like being in Capricorn so much. It doesn't promote high ethics and or high moral values, so it's a low point in a sense. But at the same time, it's been a year of fear this year [2019]. It's kind of like when you're anticipating something really bad coming down the line; that is always so much worse than the actual thing happening.
Gary Gomes: I'm seeing this as being more of an economic issue. And I'll say why. Very simple. The war planet is Mars. Mars is so weak in this chart. Mars is just at early degrees of Scorpio. Not a good naksatra [lunar mansion]. But basically, as we have a Sun-Ketu conjunction, with Jupiter-Moon-Mercury. So, essentially, it looks to me like a trade issue. Like a full-scale trade retaliation. It looks to me like a stock market panic. It doesn't look to me like an externalized conflict. That's know I'm reading it. So, it looks like connecting with trade than it is with invading foreign territories or engaging in acts of violence. There will be a lot of power failures. Probably externally generated power failures. And I think that's a real danger during that time. But again, what I've seen more is - because of Ketu there - it will cause some disruptions in power. It'll cause some disruptions because of its conjunction with Mercury and the Sun. So, you'll see actually a couple of governments come close to collapse during that time -maybe not fully but come close to collapse because of that combination. But I don't think you're going to see a full out war during that time. I think it will be more economic issues and more economic panic.
Gary O'Toole: And would you go as far as to say recession?
Gary Gomes: No. I wouldn't because I think this will pass as soon as Saturn goes into Capricorn.
Gary Gomes: As Saturn goes into Capricorn and Jupiter enters, it cancels Jupiter's debilitation.
Gary Gomes: Yeah that's right.
Gary O'Toole: One thing that I find interesting is that just speaking about that either a crash cyber-attack or whatever, it's always interesting to see how in the arts and culture you'll see that coming out first, because it's actually just this week that a book has been released. I cannot remember the name of the book or the author but it's basically about what would happen if the Internet crashed, if it where it was wiped out. And it's not a pretty picture.
Gary Gomes: Yeah. Well, I do think you're going to see some problems connected to the Internet over the next year. I think that's beyond a doubt. And you're going to see a lot of network capacity just overwhelmed and maybe even sabotaged. And I think that's going to be the next evolution in terrorism. It's interesting because I remember when the United States invaded Afghanistan, K.N. Rao said if they do it this time it'll take them at least until 2018 to 2019 to get out. And that's basically held true. I found that particular prediction interesting. Looks like we are slowly eking towards getting out, but I think this latest evolution will be more damaging potentially to economies and to some people than it was a physical terror attack. But I also don't think it will last very long.
Gary O'Toole: Can I ask you as well about Brexit? Have you investigated Brexit?
Gary Gomes: I looked into Brexit. I think this is going to be slightly contrarian. I think England is going to be in better shape in about a year from now than the European Union is. I have looked at the European Union chart and it's astonishing to me: England's, France's and Germany's charts, at least the most recent formations, all of them have Venus in Virgo. It's weird. I don't know how they managed to do that. But all three countries have Venus in Virgo. So, essentially, what's happening is you have Saturn exerting pressure on Venus in the charts so they're going through sort of like problems. Greece had already spoken about leaving the European Union. There are legitimate astrological reasons why the UK may be better off away from Brexit in about a year from now. And it has more to do with the angles of the chart, and the Jaimini aspects from Sagittarius to Virgo and to Gemini and Pisces. And I see the European Union go through a very rough time in the next couple of years or so. I don't think it's really the best they can do in the long term. but in the short term, over the next four to five years, although they may not be better off they'll be spared from a larger set of problems, because Europe's main trading partner, China, is going to be going through some major problems over the next couple of years.
Gary O'Toole: And do you use the Capricorn rising chart for China.
Gary Gomes: Yeah.
Gary O'Toole: And it's starting that mahadasa of Mercury next year. In the ninth house.
Gary Gomes: Yeah. So, I don't know if you look at the European Union chart but it's really not a very good chart. But it's like when all these countries reconstituted it was like they had a really bad astrologer saying, 'look, here pick this date and you'll do great’. I don't know who made the decision. Like I said, England, France and Germany, all have really, really bad charts. I've been looking at astro-cartography lines for France in particular. France has had it harsh and it looks like it's going to be worse next year.
Gary O'Toole: Well, with that in mind. I think, that even though there are some challenging times ahead, this year and next year, we have been living it. We are living it. It's not like it's anything new to us. We know what's coming down the line in many ways. And what you talk about is not like some astrologers who are literally screaming war. You know what I mean?
Gary Gomes: I know. So, the thing is it gives these countries a chance to undertake some long-needed reforms and some long-needed chances to reconstitute their governments. You can look at a bad transit like, 'oh this is horrible, this is the worst thing that could happen', or we can say, 'you know, we could actually make our system better. This is an opportunity to improve'.
Gary O'Toole: And it’s an opportunity for people to improve their own lives. Obviously, this is happening around the world in institutions and governments, the establishment. But what have you established in your life? That's the question to ask yourself. Right? What is it that you need to maybe pull apart and put back together in a better way?
Gary Gomes: Yeah. I have been doing forecasts. I actually have a space on a local cable TV station because they have much better equipment than I could ever afford. I do a show every week and I put it on YouTube. I'll be doing more frequent things like YouTube. But they have much better lighting than I do. And they have a high-quality camera.
Gary O’Toole: So, speaking of that Gary tell people where they can actually go find you online and look up these.
Gary Gomes Well, let me just finish a thought because I was going to say about the transition in June or July. This is a chance for people to really figure out what's important to them and what they really want to bring into their lives; when the eclipses are happening in Sagittarius and Gemini. So, that was all I was saying. I have a YouTube channel. It really isn't well defined yet but look up Gary Gomes and astrology you'll find it. It's easy to find. I have maybe around 40 discreet videos on it by now. Some of them are very specific and some more general. I essentially try to go over what's happening.
Gary O'Toole: I've seen a couple of them. I like the way that you use astro-cartography as well. It's tying it all together and being more specific because otherwise you're just talking about, well yeah, we're talking about these conjunctions but you know where is it going to really affect, because one of the other points we didn't bring up was that these conjunctions are happening for everybody on the planet but in different ways and on different levels. So, it's not as intense for everybody and the dashas [cycles] that we were talking about as well. I mean, for me I don't know how much emphasis you place on dashes versus transits; that ratio; how you split it. But for me, it seems to be way heavier split on the dasha side, the cycle you are currently experiencing.
Gary Gomes: Oh yeah. And I can say right now I have an astro-cartography map for that eclipses that's happening on December 26. The areas that are going to be hit hardest are going to be Texas and Mexico again, unfortunately. Western Africa is going to be hit. Europe is going to be. There's a Mars line running very close, like right between Turkey and Greece and right between Egypt, in the western part of Egypt, and into Sudan down into South Africa and there's a Rahu line right in Russia and again in western India. So, India has got some, you know, I hate to say India because I love India, but it's going to have some problems. There's also a Mars line right between South Korea and Japan, and very close to China, to the east coast of China and a Saturn line. Saturn is not doing that much. Rahu is hitting southeast Australia.
Gary O'Toole: So, you heard it here first folks! And if you want to learn more search Gary Gomes. And look up his Youtube channel. He talks a lot more about these transits and astro-cartography, all of these things he explains a lot more. I know that we've kind of zipped through this. I kind of wanted to get a snapshot of what you think is up ahead in 2020. And I for one, I guess, I'm feeling that, you know, it's not all doom and gloom. I feel that this year is the doom and gloom year.
Gary Gomes: Well, the anticipation of horrible transit is often worse than this transit itself. When you're in the transit you think, 'what the heck was I worried about? Basically, I use the astro-cartography as a shortcut. So, let's say the country is going through a good major planetary period. So, let's look at Haiti for a second. A few years ago, Haiti had that disastrous hurricane. But the country overall was in a shambles already before that. They were they were smacked in the face twice, basically. So, we have situations when an adverse transit is going to be doubly damaging.
Gary O'Toole: Right. And I think another important point to make based on that is in people's lives when they experience certain cycles, and if they're changing cycles or transits; to relate that to how they're experiencing it. An event doesn't just pop out of nowhere, from a void, you know. It's like it's a continuation, it's an organic thing, so it shouldn't come out of nowhere. It shouldn't be a surprise. Always keep it in context, I would say.
Gary Gomes: Statistically, I have seen so many - this is anecdotal - but I've seen so many people with Gemini lagnas [ascendants] coming with problems this year - like legendary numbers. So, at least, with Saturn moving into Capricorn next year you'll get a break. So, that's good.
Gary O'Toole: This is some good news. And we know where we're going in terms of what's going on, globally. I think you've confirmed that for us. I mean, I don't think anything you said is a surprise to anyone. We know what needs to happen.
Gary Gomes: And I wouldn't rule out a war, but I think the circumstances would have to be a little bit more direct for that to happen.
Gary O'Toole: Yeah. Thank you so much Gary. I really appreciate you sharing your knowledge and wisdom. Let's see what happens!
Dr. Gary Gomes has been a Vedic Astrologer and teacher for nearly 30 years. He has trained in Vedic Astrology with several teachers, including K. N. Rao. He has also served as President and Vice-President of the Council of Vedic Astrology, been recognized by Bharat Vidya Bhavan for his contributions to Jaimini and has been recognized as a Jyotish Choodamani. He is also a Jyotish Kovid and Swami of the Temple of Kriya Yoga, and holds academic degrees in Education, Business and Sociology from Northeastern University in Boston, Massachusetts and the University of Massachusetts. He is also a faculty member at Kepler College. Gary was one of a very few astrologers who correctly predicted that Donald Trump would win the presidency. I began by telling him how impressed I was that he could do so when a whole tide of astrologers and pollsters who were saying otherwise. I asked him how he gets into ‘the zone’, if he has a specific practice or ritual, or if he does something to focus on the astrology and block everything else out?
Gary Gomes: Well, I think there was something in this election that I really didn't encounter any other election and that was I really didn't care much for either candidate. So, I really didn't have a bias in favor of either. And I think that helps a little bit. The other thing is sometimes I might look at a story and I just see what seems to be there. I just say what I think. I try to say it nicely. I don't like to say it rudely. If I see something I'll just say so. You know, this isn't like a big personal statement but after a while you just must go with your judgment. It doesn't matter whether you're following the crowd, you just must go with your judgment. And that's always been a trait of my personality ever since I was a kid. I have a Jupiter retrograde, so maybe that's why. I go with the crowd if I think they're right. I won't go with the crowd if I think they're wrong. So, I could give you like a bunch of astrological reasons for it but essentially if something is wrong, I will just say. In the work environment that has gotten me into trouble. I don't do it to hurt people. I don't do it to be a smart. It's just something that's always been there in me.
Gary O'Toole: Currently, I think we are all a bit lost and we don't know how things are going. And I would look at that as all the conjunctions in Sagittarius, because we've got no one really guiding us. So, it's great to have somebody who is clear!
Gary Gomes: Well I am clearer. I wouldn't necessarily say I'm always right but I'm clearer, and I know the reasons why I'm saying what I'm saying.
Gary O'Toole: So, with that in mind I suppose the main reason I asked to interview you was because you wrote an article for the magazine and it's all about conjunctions. It's nicely laid out in bullet points and again it's very clear. But I guess looking at that article and the conjunctions that are occurring in 2020 - let's cut straight to the chase: what do you see in 2020?
Gary Gomes: Well, I think 2020 is going to be an interesting year. I'm really not as pessimistic about it as I've seen some astrologers be, because I actually went back and looked at the last time we had a Saturn - Ketu (south node of the Moon) and Jupiter conjunction and that was actually kind of a nasty period, and several significant events happened. It was the Franco-Prussian war, which was a big deal, but it didn't last very long. And it was the end of reconstruction. So that would essentially mean we're going to have some endings to some system reform movements or maybe some start up ones, but I think a lot of countries are sort of like at the cusp of changing leadership. That'll probably happen over the next year or so. So, places that have been teetering like Korea or there may be a change of rule in some of the Middle Eastern countries. But Turkey's been primed for a change of leadership for a while. But it seems to be very difficult to make a change and that seems to unravel this year. And the other parts of the world that I think are going to be hit hard are going to be China and, oddly enough, India. And the reason I'm seeing India is mainly because I use astro-cartography lines and there have been some pretty damaging astro-cartography lines that have been passing through India over the past few months. I'm not sure there's going to be a war. Certainly, over the next few months there'll be a mini trade war and probably a stock market panic, but the panic will not last very long and will probably disappear in February. And during the next year or so, probably around the eclipses in June and July you'll probably see some more economic shocks. but again, nothing will be long lived. And I think the other thing you must look at is Jupiter in Sagittarius along with Ketu which will probably show some large religious institutions suffer severe damage. The Catholic Church is in a lot trouble for a few years now. But I also think larger religious institutions across the globe are going to have a lot of problems. And, higher educational institutions. So those are general concepts that we're looking at. And Saturn essentially doesn't destroy but it does bring problems to institutions and Ketu along with Jupiter will bring revolutionary reform. And I don't think that will necessarily be bad. It will be like a return to spirituality in these institutions as opposed to tearing them down and rebuilding them.
Gary O'Toole: We could say that this is already happening, of course. We know that these conjunctions are close already, as we can see what's happening in Hong Kong. That's just one example. And of course, everything that's been happening in the church recently. Of course, as astrologers we look back and we look at what happened the last time these conjunctions took place, such as the Reformation. You're talking about Jupiter-Saturn and the south node in Sagittarius and all of that mixed up. How do you as an astrologer in 2019 translate that for today, because the thing is, I see a lot of astrologers literally take what happened in history without looking at where we're going. For example, you could say that we're in this kind of war right now but it's not grenades and bombs and all that people would fear in that sense. It may be a war on for information.
Gary Gomes: Well, it's funny you should mention that because one of the things that I was going to talk about was Rahu [the Moon's north node] crossing over into Ardra [lunar mansion between 6° 40’ and 20° sidereal Gemini] pretty soon. Basically, you're going to see increased attempts at regulation and maybe demonopolization of some of the incidents. I think that what's happened over the past few years - I mean, it's already started in Europe, I know that. And the United States isn't going to be much further behind. So, this is essentially like large companies coming in, super-unregulated and just grabbing up a lot of space and a lot of attention and a lot of power, and nobody really imposing any limitations on them. I look at these conjunctions for the United States birth chart. I use Jim Kelleher's United States birth chart which has Sagittarius rising and so we have Mercury and Rahu in the 8th house. So, essentially although no planets are really connected with Cancer, Saturn will be aspecting Cancer next year. So, they'll tend to bring- I won't say censorship - but some kind of an attempt to control the internet and media. So, you'll see attempts at restrictions, attempts at controls and attempts of demonopolization of media over the next few years. And the other thing which I think is kind of up for grabs is bitcoin, because I really can't find a foundation for bitcoin. There’s something that troubles me about it. It's not astrological. I know the astrological chart's very good. But I can't find the backing for it. Do you know what I mean? I mean, you could argue, that you can't find the backing for a federal reserve note because it's issued on the full faith and trust of the United States government. But there's a little bit more to it than that. And I think there are going to be like some shocks or some panics in Bitcoin over the next few months as well. I'm not saying it's going to go away as a saga. I'm not saying I think it's going to crash, but I do think that companies like Facebook, Google, Twitter, all the large providers, Instagram, they're all going to be encountering some kind of increased regulation. And I know there was even a story recently about some of these sites that propagate hate crimes. So, I think you going to see more and more discretion placed on those sites, especially in the United States as an election year looms. And I wouldn't be surprised if it evolved into 2021. The last time the United States was in a Rahu mahadasa [north node great cycle], in the late 1890s, was the Teddy Roosevelt era of reform of big public business, although Rahu was in Leo when this particular mahadasa started. So, I know that not everybody follows that particular model for mahadasas but I follow that particular model. So, if Rahu's in Leo that would give less control to government but more regulation, if that makes sense. So, you'll actually see an attempt at demonopolization - voluntary at first and increasingly becoming mandatory in the communications sector, and you'll also see more cyber-terrorism over the next year or so. I think we've going beyond bombs and things like that. I think you're going to see a lot of countries being attacked in their communication networks. The city I live in actually had a virus invade and the person who perpetrated the attack was asking for 5.3 million dollars in bitcoin to release the city from the stranglehold it was under. And I don't think you're going to see more and more things like that happening over the next couple of years, because with the internet there's all this potential for disrupting traffic systems, for disrupting banking systems. We’ve grown so strongly connected to that. This isn't to scare or terrify anybody. This is a problem which is not unique to the United States, but I think you'll see violence increasing as well. And that's just part of an ongoing trend given the placements of Rahu and Ketu [north and south nodes of the Moon] over the past four years. So, Ketu is growing stronger as it heads for Scorpio and they'll peak over the next year and will then start to fade off a bit.
Gary O'Toole: So, can I ask you then in terms of the transits into the New Year, the end of this year and into the New Year, when we have Mars in February join the south node, Ketu, in Sagittarius. I mean, I saw that, and I thought, okay, a cyber-attack and initially I thought it was okay, because it's not like bombs and so on. But you're right, as you said we're so reliant on technology these days that it's not actually a small event, it's going to be huge because if the Internet's taken down, everything's taken out because we rely so much on it.
Gary Gomes: It is not going to be a victimless attack. I mean, people at hospitals can be affected, people in traffic systems can be affected. I think is going to be a serious. And I worked in vocational education in one of the great fields right now; cybersecurity, so you'll probably see institutions of government attacked. I'm looking at the conjunction of, January 1st, 2020. So, you have Saturn-Sun. Infrastructure may be attacked. Jupiter represents institutions of higher education. We saw a little preview in Notre down, but I think Notre Dame was careless.
Gary O'Toole: Highly symbolic though, I think.
Gary Gomes: Yeah. Oh yeah, definitely. And I think overall when you have combinations like this there's some potential for war breaking out. But the United States is not in a war mahadasa, or if it is it's only in what I would call a ‘control war’ mahasdasa, where there's a war it could not lose.
Gary O'Toole: So, the last north node cycle you were referring to, the last American one which was over a hundred and twenty years ago, was when you had the civil war in America, and of course astrologers could update that to this day and age. But what does Civil War look like now?
Gary Gomes: Well, the Civil War actually happened slightly before this period. Essentially, what happened though was that the Civil War was over. The United States was in a Mars dasa when that occurred. So, essentially, this is post-Civil War. What's happening right now is that transits are similar to what happened after the end of the Civil War. The mahadasa are entirely different. We really didn't have a major war until Jupiter mahadasa and Jupiter, although a good planet, can give, what I like to call, 'excessive patriotism'. So, with Rahu it's essentially greed, like the Spanish- American War which was fought to increase America's interests. Things like world wars where national orders are at stake, world wars to end a war is like large scale wars tend to happen during Jupiter periods in the United States chart. We entered the second Iraq war when Jupiter was exalted in Cancer. That's Jupiter's best placement and we decided to invade another country. And there's also another connection and this is something which you're quite familiar with Gary, and that is Dhanus [Sagittarius] is kind of a war-like rising sign. The Indian art of warfare is called Dhanurveda. So, essentially this is the aspect of Jupiter which will hammer us into submission. What I've seen so far of this administration is there's been a real hesitancy to engage. I mean, he [Trump] doesn't - you know, this may sound like I'm defending Trump, but I'm not - he really does not want to get involved in a war. That's one thing I've seen really. So, he'll talk big, he'll posture, but he really doesn't want to get involved in a world. I think the last one who did, the last one who was willing to get into ware was Bush and it was mainly out of family revenge. I don't think this President or presidency is really interested in war. John Bolton just left the White House. And Bolton was the most hawkish member of the White House staff. And so that's kind of a sign he doesn't want to get involved.
Gary O'Toole: But what about the transit into the end of the year [2019], for example. Jupiter enters Sagittarius from November and Sagittarius being that sign that's warlike and especially the centre of the sign, the lunar sign there. So, what about those transits and the eclipse on the 26th December? As you mentioned, the American chart has a Sagittarius rising, either 8 or 9 degrees, depending on the calculations you use. That's where exactly where we have the eclipse. How would you read that with that cluster of planets and the eclipse in Sagittarius?
Gary Gomes: I think the United States is going to undergo an attack. I think it's going to be a cyber-attack though. And I think it will lead to cyber retaliation. It will not lead to out and out warfare. That's the impression I'm getting. When you get to that eclipse period, Saturn and Sun have almost moved entirely out of after December 26 for the eclipse.
Gary O'Toole: So, my question really was more about the conjunctions in Sagittarius and then leading on into Capricorn. And I know how you read that in terms seeing attacks initially, but then this is the thing I'm wondering about, because you have all of these planets in Sagittarius now; Saturn since 2017 and the south node and it's kind of like really digging away, pretty heavy stuff, and it's kind of 'doom and gloom'. Let's be honest about it. It's all just a bit gloomy at the moment. But Capricorn leads from Sagittarius and Jupiter's coming through Sagittarius and moving into Capricorn. So, I'm looking at it is a very up and down period because Jupiter gives some sort of sense of something, initially, but like you say it's warlike as well. And then it goes into Capricorn and as we know Jupiter it doesn't like being in Capricorn so much. It doesn't promote high ethics and or high moral values, so it's a low point in a sense. But at the same time, it's been a year of fear this year [2019]. It's kind of like when you're anticipating something really bad coming down the line; that is always so much worse than the actual thing happening.
Gary Gomes: I'm seeing this as being more of an economic issue. And I'll say why. Very simple. The war planet is Mars. Mars is so weak in this chart. Mars is just at early degrees of Scorpio. Not a good naksatra [lunar mansion]. But basically, as we have a Sun-Ketu conjunction, with Jupiter-Moon-Mercury. So, essentially, it looks to me like a trade issue. Like a full-scale trade retaliation. It looks to me like a stock market panic. It doesn't look to me like an externalized conflict. That's know I'm reading it. So, it looks like connecting with trade than it is with invading foreign territories or engaging in acts of violence. There will be a lot of power failures. Probably externally generated power failures. And I think that's a real danger during that time. But again, what I've seen more is - because of Ketu there - it will cause some disruptions in power. It'll cause some disruptions because of its conjunction with Mercury and the Sun. So, you'll see actually a couple of governments come close to collapse during that time -maybe not fully but come close to collapse because of that combination. But I don't think you're going to see a full out war during that time. I think it will be more economic issues and more economic panic.
Gary O'Toole: And would you go as far as to say recession?
Gary Gomes: No. I wouldn't because I think this will pass as soon as Saturn goes into Capricorn.
Gary Gomes: As Saturn goes into Capricorn and Jupiter enters, it cancels Jupiter's debilitation.
Gary Gomes: Yeah that's right.
Gary O'Toole: One thing that I find interesting is that just speaking about that either a crash cyber-attack or whatever, it's always interesting to see how in the arts and culture you'll see that coming out first, because it's actually just this week that a book has been released. I cannot remember the name of the book or the author but it's basically about what would happen if the Internet crashed, if it where it was wiped out. And it's not a pretty picture.
Gary Gomes: Yeah. Well, I do think you're going to see some problems connected to the Internet over the next year. I think that's beyond a doubt. And you're going to see a lot of network capacity just overwhelmed and maybe even sabotaged. And I think that's going to be the next evolution in terrorism. It's interesting because I remember when the United States invaded Afghanistan, K.N. Rao said if they do it this time it'll take them at least until 2018 to 2019 to get out. And that's basically held true. I found that particular prediction interesting. Looks like we are slowly eking towards getting out, but I think this latest evolution will be more damaging potentially to economies and to some people than it was a physical terror attack. But I also don't think it will last very long.
Gary O'Toole: Can I ask you as well about Brexit? Have you investigated Brexit?
Gary Gomes: I looked into Brexit. I think this is going to be slightly contrarian. I think England is going to be in better shape in about a year from now than the European Union is. I have looked at the European Union chart and it's astonishing to me: England's, France's and Germany's charts, at least the most recent formations, all of them have Venus in Virgo. It's weird. I don't know how they managed to do that. But all three countries have Venus in Virgo. So, essentially, what's happening is you have Saturn exerting pressure on Venus in the charts so they're going through sort of like problems. Greece had already spoken about leaving the European Union. There are legitimate astrological reasons why the UK may be better off away from Brexit in about a year from now. And it has more to do with the angles of the chart, and the Jaimini aspects from Sagittarius to Virgo and to Gemini and Pisces. And I see the European Union go through a very rough time in the next couple of years or so. I don't think it's really the best they can do in the long term. but in the short term, over the next four to five years, although they may not be better off they'll be spared from a larger set of problems, because Europe's main trading partner, China, is going to be going through some major problems over the next couple of years.
Gary O'Toole: And do you use the Capricorn rising chart for China.
Gary Gomes: Yeah.
Gary O'Toole: And it's starting that mahadasa of Mercury next year. In the ninth house.
Gary Gomes: Yeah. So, I don't know if you look at the European Union chart but it's really not a very good chart. But it's like when all these countries reconstituted it was like they had a really bad astrologer saying, 'look, here pick this date and you'll do great’. I don't know who made the decision. Like I said, England, France and Germany, all have really, really bad charts. I've been looking at astro-cartography lines for France in particular. France has had it harsh and it looks like it's going to be worse next year.
Gary O'Toole: Well, with that in mind. I think, that even though there are some challenging times ahead, this year and next year, we have been living it. We are living it. It's not like it's anything new to us. We know what's coming down the line in many ways. And what you talk about is not like some astrologers who are literally screaming war. You know what I mean?
Gary Gomes: I know. So, the thing is it gives these countries a chance to undertake some long-needed reforms and some long-needed chances to reconstitute their governments. You can look at a bad transit like, 'oh this is horrible, this is the worst thing that could happen', or we can say, 'you know, we could actually make our system better. This is an opportunity to improve'.
Gary O'Toole: And it’s an opportunity for people to improve their own lives. Obviously, this is happening around the world in institutions and governments, the establishment. But what have you established in your life? That's the question to ask yourself. Right? What is it that you need to maybe pull apart and put back together in a better way?
Gary Gomes: Yeah. I have been doing forecasts. I actually have a space on a local cable TV station because they have much better equipment than I could ever afford. I do a show every week and I put it on YouTube. I'll be doing more frequent things like YouTube. But they have much better lighting than I do. And they have a high-quality camera.
Gary O’Toole: So, speaking of that Gary tell people where they can actually go find you online and look up these.
Gary Gomes Well, let me just finish a thought because I was going to say about the transition in June or July. This is a chance for people to really figure out what's important to them and what they really want to bring into their lives; when the eclipses are happening in Sagittarius and Gemini. So, that was all I was saying. I have a YouTube channel. It really isn't well defined yet but look up Gary Gomes and astrology you'll find it. It's easy to find. I have maybe around 40 discreet videos on it by now. Some of them are very specific and some more general. I essentially try to go over what's happening.
Gary O'Toole: I've seen a couple of them. I like the way that you use astro-cartography as well. It's tying it all together and being more specific because otherwise you're just talking about, well yeah, we're talking about these conjunctions but you know where is it going to really affect, because one of the other points we didn't bring up was that these conjunctions are happening for everybody on the planet but in different ways and on different levels. So, it's not as intense for everybody and the dashas [cycles] that we were talking about as well. I mean, for me I don't know how much emphasis you place on dashes versus transits; that ratio; how you split it. But for me, it seems to be way heavier split on the dasha side, the cycle you are currently experiencing.
Gary Gomes: Oh yeah. And I can say right now I have an astro-cartography map for that eclipses that's happening on December 26. The areas that are going to be hit hardest are going to be Texas and Mexico again, unfortunately. Western Africa is going to be hit. Europe is going to be. There's a Mars line running very close, like right between Turkey and Greece and right between Egypt, in the western part of Egypt, and into Sudan down into South Africa and there's a Rahu line right in Russia and again in western India. So, India has got some, you know, I hate to say India because I love India, but it's going to have some problems. There's also a Mars line right between South Korea and Japan, and very close to China, to the east coast of China and a Saturn line. Saturn is not doing that much. Rahu is hitting southeast Australia.
Gary O'Toole: So, you heard it here first folks! And if you want to learn more search Gary Gomes. And look up his Youtube channel. He talks a lot more about these transits and astro-cartography, all of these things he explains a lot more. I know that we've kind of zipped through this. I kind of wanted to get a snapshot of what you think is up ahead in 2020. And I for one, I guess, I'm feeling that, you know, it's not all doom and gloom. I feel that this year is the doom and gloom year.
Gary Gomes: Well, the anticipation of horrible transit is often worse than this transit itself. When you're in the transit you think, 'what the heck was I worried about? Basically, I use the astro-cartography as a shortcut. So, let's say the country is going through a good major planetary period. So, let's look at Haiti for a second. A few years ago, Haiti had that disastrous hurricane. But the country overall was in a shambles already before that. They were they were smacked in the face twice, basically. So, we have situations when an adverse transit is going to be doubly damaging.
Gary O'Toole: Right. And I think another important point to make based on that is in people's lives when they experience certain cycles, and if they're changing cycles or transits; to relate that to how they're experiencing it. An event doesn't just pop out of nowhere, from a void, you know. It's like it's a continuation, it's an organic thing, so it shouldn't come out of nowhere. It shouldn't be a surprise. Always keep it in context, I would say.
Gary Gomes: Statistically, I have seen so many - this is anecdotal - but I've seen so many people with Gemini lagnas [ascendants] coming with problems this year - like legendary numbers. So, at least, with Saturn moving into Capricorn next year you'll get a break. So, that's good.
Gary O'Toole: This is some good news. And we know where we're going in terms of what's going on, globally. I think you've confirmed that for us. I mean, I don't think anything you said is a surprise to anyone. We know what needs to happen.
Gary Gomes: And I wouldn't rule out a war, but I think the circumstances would have to be a little bit more direct for that to happen.
Gary O'Toole: Yeah. Thank you so much Gary. I really appreciate you sharing your knowledge and wisdom. Let's see what happens!
