PUTIN’S WAR

           The inflationary spiral and economic fallout of the Russian invasion of Ukraine is spelled out in my Financial Forecast for 2022.  The broader impact of a prolonged or escalating conflict beyond the borders of Ukraine depends entirely on Vladimir Putin.

Vladimir grew up in Leningrad during the 1950s.  The city was still a wreck after the 871-day German siege during World War II.  His father was a devoted Communist factory worker with ties to the feared law enforcement arm of the party.  Bullied as a child, Putin learned martial arts and became a fierce fighter with an unusually low sense of fear.  He was the perfect KGB agent – his ideal calling.  The Jupiter/Pluto square in Putin’s natal chart identifies his messianic fixation to return Russia to greatness.  The founding site of his Russian Orthodox Church is Kyiv.  Russian Orthodoxy identifies with the long heritage between early Russian and Ukrainian tribes related to the original Vikings colonists.  To them, Ukraine and Russia belong together.

Putin’s horoscope is classic.  It reveals his megalomania in all naked truth.  Pluto dominates, touching the Midheaven of aspirations, pointing to an obsessive genetic personality geared toward power and control.  The Midheaven is the career point and so Vladimir is KGB to the core: secretive, distrustful, and covert.  He is adept at espionage and spying and assassination.  We need be concerned that he would use thermobaric or even tactical nuclear weapons to decimate masses of people in an instant.  Is he insane?  Bipolar is a better possibility since Pluto is in a wide square with his natal Moon.  A possible lack of nurturing as a child allows him to be detached from caregiving.  Putin’s world is one of ruthlessness and isolation.  His Plutonian ability to manipulate and destroy is magnified by a Jupiter square and a trine to Mars, both planets of power and influence.  Putin is both conniving and ruthless.  Backed into a corner, he will do anything it takes to escape; and he will do anything to attain what he desired – a resurrected Soviet Union.

Natal Uranus is square the stellium in Libra an indication of sudden, unpredictable and surprising behavior.  He is a rebel of the first order and will disrupt the status quo.  His impulsive drive for power will eventually be his downfall.

Putin has a thing for cyberwar and poisoning.  He plots and plans, moving in devious ways as attested to by the four planet stellium rising in Libra.  This is a deeply secretive cluster.  He fears that which he cannot control – germs, and the uncertainties of his own nature.  He hates democracy: Uranus square Sun, Mercury, and Saturn.  He embraces socialism and corruption: Neptune conjunction Sun/Mercury/Saturn.

Putin decided to attack Ukraine during his 69th year – a Venus year based on my DPY method that assigns a planet for each year of life.  Hoping for an easy victory through negotiation, his olive branch overtures hide his aggressiveness (the only aspect to Venus is a minor semi-square to Mars).  Transiting Mars square his Neptune (peaking February 22) and Mercury on the 25th when he ordered the attack on Ukraine is a sign of mistaken judgement and being blinded by idealism.  The monthly transits indicate that he was hoping for a fast and easy victory (transiting Uranus opposition natal Venus 3/5 and transiting Saturn square Jupiter 3/9).  He may eventually have his victory but at a terrible cost.  His unaspected Venus indicates alienation from friends and money.  And when Saturn transits the Nadir of assets and homeland on March 23, the tide will turn against him and he may use drastic means to save his life and win the war.  He is also likely to impose a crackdown on protesters in Russia at this time.  Killing on a mass scale and unleashing a substantial cyber-attack on his oppressors is within reason near April 3 when Mars transits his Nadir.  Mars will then trigger the previous Saturn/IC contact and is followed by a double Mars and Saturn transit to his Pluto peaking April 5 and 8.  Domestic protests and opposition will provoke severe measures from Putin.  Stiff Ukrainian resistance and defeats on the battlefront will push him further to use ‘weapons of mass destruction’.  One additional transit, Jupiter to his Mars of war (April 24), trumpets loud and clear the violence of bloody April.  His response to these transits is to be ruthless and to go to extremes – to be pushed to extraordinary measures.

April is dire for Putin.  The oligarchs may turn against him and try to kill him at home.  Or more likely, as just mentioned, he unleashes additional firepower under increased resistance from the brave Ukrainian people.  Putin’s ultimate downfall is through powerful people in his life, as represented by natal Jupiter near the Descendant of friends and enemies.  Influential power-brokers initially support him by holding back any misgivings (Jupiter retrograde) but eventually overthrow him (Jupiter diurnal square Pluto).  Jupiter also represents adversarial foreign nations that can unseat him.  Putin’s Ukrainian War will be his demise.  He sold his heart to the devil with the China deal and turned NATO nations and most of the world against him.  Unaspected Venus indeed!