It is fitting that Vladimir Putin has several planets in and at the cusp of the 12th house, because hidden operations were and still are the autocrat’s modus operandi. The Soviet Union’s KGB was typical of behind-the-scenes activity as the 12th house well represents. Putin’s 16 years of experience as a foreign intelligence officer laid the foundation for his ongoing political appointments both clandestine and later in the public eye.
Putin’s planets in the 12th house relate to his devious plans to eliminate the power of his adversaries by one means or another. He has silenced them, and the truth, by taking over all Russian media, and has secretly and openly murdered his political opponents. His invasion of Ukraine holds the entire world hostage with the occasional brandishing of his nuclear arsenal. He did, however, underestimate the resistance of the free world presently united around a courageous Ukraine. Even Russian soldiers, themselves, fled the country when they awakened to the fact that they were hapless pawns in the autocrat’s brutal methods to maintain control and power.
Progressed Neptune
To deceive others as well as himself is the result of Putin’s progressed Neptune still within its conjunction to natal Mercury in the hidden realms of the 12th house. The Neptunian propensity for intrigue permeated his mind through Mercury, to conjure a plot to overthrow a neighboring country.
It is rare to see a slow-moving, progressed planet merge to make an aspect with a natal planet. However, when it does so, attention must be paid because these alignments have a long-term influence on a person or nation. Putin’s progressed Neptune was exact in its conjunction with natal Mercury in 2011. In 2022, it was just minutes beyond its intense conjunction when he took the unprovoked offensive against Ukraine. This dynamic1 conjunction reveals his concentration on the Mercurial, detailed tactics going on deep within the dark recesses of his unfathomable psyche. The progression is ultra-slow and points to Putin’s irrepressible Neptunian delusions of grandeur that have finally come out of the 12th house closet for all to see.
Neptune is also associated with the positive upliftment of soul through faith and the belief in beneficent higher forces. The planet’s meaning includes a concern for the welfare of the community along with a strong sense of belonging and inclusion. When in its negative mode, one can be lost in an impractical and illusory world where a clouded vision leads to escapism through an addiction to drugs, food, or alcohol, or with involvement with insidious cults, and at times, simply by a blatant sense of superiority. Such is the case in Neptune’s present progression in the sign of Libra which normally is synonymous with balance and harmony. When out of balance, the sign is conflict-oriented and can provoke outright enmity. Authority then devolves into autocracy and dictatorship for anyone in a leadership position.
The 12th house “hosts” hidden opponents while the 7th house indicates open enemies in direct warfare. Putin’s war invokes the tactics of both houses. The 12th house dynamic activity helped fabricate the outlandish narrative of a fear of Nazism to justify his deadly 7th house attack on Ukraine in February 2022. If the motivation to eliminate Nazis were true, then Putin should be the first to go, as his aggression committed against Ukrainian civilians, mirrors albeit to a lesser degree, the genocide perpetrated on the Jews during World War II.
Added to the drama of the Neptune to Mercury conjunction is Putin’s progressed Mercury station that went direct in 2016. Corresponding to this reset of planetary and real-life direction is Russia’s unapologetic interference in the US presidential election of that same year. The line on the ephemeris graph shows the secondary progressions for the age of the Russian president in 2022. The circled station-direct of Mercury above it is astrological “evidence” of cyberspace tampering with the US 2016 elections documented in the Mueller Report.2
Transits and Progressions
A focus on the Nadir of the chart shows a combination of dynamic aspects working together in conjunction with the natal North Node. Transit Saturn and progressed Mars were both conjunct the North Node in the initial days of the invasion and both planets are edging ever closer to an exact opposition to natal Pluto, elevated at the Midheaven. Saturn acts in a more immediate way because its transit moves far faster than the Mars progression. Saturn moved on to oppose natal Pluto on April 9, 2022, then stationed to go retrograde on June 5, 2022, at 25 Aquarius 15. It returned to oppose Pluto in early August of the same year. On October 23 it went direct, opposite Pluto at 18 Aquarius 35. In late December 2022 through early January 2023, Saturn was exact again in its final opposition in this series of tense aspects with natal Pluto. Saturn’s proximity to Putin’s 4th house cusp brings attention to the desire on his part to establish new territorial boundaries, whether he succeeds in doing so or not.
Natal Pluto, Point and High Focus
The longer-term progressed Mars follows Saturn’s advances but takes approximately four years to complete its ominous progression. First, it will enter Putin’s 4th house before it reaches its exact opposition to natal Pluto due in 2026-2027 (see Dec. 1952 ephemeris). This is highly significant because Pluto is the Point Focus of the T Cross created by the foundational opposition of Venus to Jupiter. Pluto is the opposition’s outlet for any stress and strain formed by the polarized aspect, and its powers are intensified by its elevated position in very tight conjunction with the Midheaven. These factors bring Pluto into High Focus as well as Point Focus, and for the politician wishing to make an impression on the world, this planet is Putin’s greatest astrological “ally.” Unfortunately, the use of his powers has been a negative expression of the planet revealed by the suppression of the rights and freedoms of the people he rules, and by the brutal slaughter of innocent men, women, and children of Ukraine.
Because Putin is the leader and surrogate of the Russian people, everyone in the country is subjected to his chart with its natal and dynamic aspects. They experienced, along with him, the constructive initiatives he put into action that improved the economic situation in his early political career, but the populous is also exposed to the effects of the extreme sanctions currently imposed upon the country as a punitive measure.
Astrological Influences and Sabian Symbols
The astrological influences are:
Transit Saturn conjunct the Nadir opposite natal Pluto 2022 – 2023; The Progressed New Moon July 31, 2023, and The Progressed New Moon conjunct natal Mars July 31, 2023.
The Sabian symbols shed great light on the inner world of a native’s subconscious. Natal Saturn is in close contact with Putin’s natal Sun, making for a hypersensitivity that compensates through sheer shrewdness in the creation of a fortress of self-deception, defensiveness and self-justification. Under a veil of confidence and prowess, there is a suggestion of moral deviousness with Saturn’s Sabian symbol degree rounded to 18 Libra, Two men placed under arrest. The symbol’s description hints that the dictator may be accountable for war crimes at some point. The symbol’s keyword is CONSEQUENCE. In Marc Edmund Jones’ Sabian Symbols in Astrology, he writes, “When positive, the degree is a heightened challenge to every special talent, and when negative, total inappropriateness of impulse and act.”
In their negative manifestation, the progressed and transit aspects active on February 24, 2022 drove Putin out of his 12th house subjectivity and onto the 7th house open battlefield. Progressed Jupiter, at the onset of the full-scale invasion, was exact to the minute at 11 Taurus 42 in opposition to natal Venus in Scorpio. The intensified polarization of the two normally benefic planets activated the wide orb T Cross to Pluto at the Midheaven. This tension-producing progression of Jupiter was further amplified through the proximity of the Uranus transit applying in conjunction with it in opposition to Venus within 15 minutes of exactitude.
The Progressed New Moon
A powerful astrological indication of the possibility of a dramatic outcome and finale for Putin’s atrocities is the imminent Progressed New Moon exact on July 31, 2023. It is normal for a Progressed New moon to indicate an extreme redirection in one’s current life path.
Among the vast number of individuals whose lives illustrate the power of Progressed New Moons is President Joe Biden. It was when his Progressed New Moon was minutes of being exact that the former US Vice President in the Obama Administration announced his run for president in the campaign season of the 2020 elections. Upon his win, Biden left the private life he settled into in Delaware, to serve the public once again in the nation’s capital. Biden has gone on to live a vastly different life than what he experienced before his monumental life transition, associated with Progressed New Moons, took place.
The actual time-orb of influence of the progressed-to-progressed Lights is approximately a year and a half before and after the New Moon takes place. Some astrologers give as much as three years before and after. Considering its wide orb allowance, Putin’s future is already being influenced by this dynamic aspect foretelling a great life reconstruction.
The meeting of the progressed Lights within the Progressed Lunation Cycle marks the completion of a phase of life that ultimately makes way for the next. The unexpecting native will encounter a need to leave behind patterns of behavior to which he is accustomed and at the same time cultivate the intent to go forward with what is likely a vague and unpredictable future. The aspect list shows the core dates of the second of the three possible Progressed New Moons that can occur in Putin’s lifetime.
The progressed Lights now traveling through Putin’s 2nd house of economic affairs reveal that the heavy sanctions, among other burdens placed upon the country, may very well be the beginning of his and his country’s serious self-examination. This reveals a crisis in national consciousness that Putin and his people are bound to encounter. There have been predictions made by several individuals that may have inside information or at least a familiarity with how things work in the Kremlin. In an interview on CNN, Mikhail Khodorkovsky, the exiled Russian businessman and at one time wealthiest Russian, stated, “I’m convinced that Putin hasn’t got much time left. Maybe a year, maybe three.”3 However, what he is basing his assumptions on is not clear. Another prediction is based on rumors of Putin’s bad health, when Sir Richard Dearlove on his co-hosted podcast, stated, “I think he’ll be gone by 2023 – but probably into the sanatorium, from which he will not emerge as the leader of Russia.”4 Interestingly, Dearlove, the former head of UK’s Secret Intelligence Service, puts Putin’s possible fall from power exactly in the year of the profound astrological event of his Progressed New Moon.
The Revealing Sabian Symbols
Circled on the ephemeris graph for December 1952 shows progressed Mars taking four to five years from Putin’s present age, for its opposition to Pluto to become exact. Natal planets need to be referenced when interpreting their dynamic movements. Mars in its natal expression is very telling in its Sabian symbol rounded to Sagittarius 27, A sculptor. The keyword for Sagittarius 27 is IMMORTALIZATION. Jones writes about this image stating, “When positive, the degree is exceptional self-expression through a gift for building all experience into a personal fulfillment, and when negative, callous impersonality and overambitious pretensions.”
More significantly, the Progressed New Moon in July 2023 will conjunct natal Mars. This direct activation of Mars and its Sabian symbol will create an overwhelming boost of energy. First, the Progressed New Moon will tightly conjunct the birth Mars, then progressed Mars will carry that seeded aspect-event toward the opposition to natal Pluto a few years hence. The New Moon conjunct natal Mars foretells of a 2nd house reordering of the Russian economy. Progressed Mars at the Nadir, opposing Pluto, may just be what it takes astrologically to bring the autocrat to his knees.
It is likely that any immortalization (the symbol’s keyword) of Putin will be a reflection of the negative expression of the natal Mars degree. In lieu of a more positive manifestation of the chart, we have a tragic waste of life potentials shown in this otherwise extremely promising horoscope with two T Crosses; one to the powerful elevated Pluto and the other to planets in a stellium5 that includes the natal Sun. In place of enjoying a gratifying summation of his life’s work, the dictator leaves a deep footprint of destruction behind him in the world. Putin’s reputation is forever tarnished, and he will go down in history as one whose evil acts brought about his own condemnation. At the same time, his unforgivable aggression has catapulted his Ukrainian “adversary,” President Volodymyr Zelenskyy, to heroic heights. Putin managed to unite almost the entire world against him, illustrating the negative expression of his Pluto Sabian symbol, Leo 23, A bareback rider. The keyword for Leo 23 is AUDACITY. Jones states, “When positive, the degree is uncompromising courage in the everyday business of living and a carefree assurance in meeting the problems of a modern society, and when negative, idle self-display and intemperate desire for applause.”
The world is watching and waiting for the war to come to a favorable end, especially for those in harm’s way. While there are astrological harbingers foretelling imminent change, there is nothing to do but to witness the mysterious connection between the celestial movements and events taking place before our eyes.
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- Dynamic refers to the moving transits and progressions as they activate natal chart potentials
- Full title of the Mueller Report: Report On The Investigation Into Russian Interference In The 2016 Presidential Election
- www.businessinsider.com/exiled-russian-oligarch-Mikhail-Khodorkovsky-predicts-ukraine-end-putins-regime-2022-3
- https://www.businessinsider.com/putin-out-of-power-by-2023-sanatorium-former-mi6-chief-2022-5
- A stellium is a cluster of three or more planets located in the same sign and/or house