Want to Know What 2018 Will Bring? Look Skyward for Some Clues

[caption id="attachment_75317" align="alignnone" width="800"] Kate Plumb watches the stars in the night sky at Long Beach on Thursday, 12/13/12. Michael Heller photo[/caption]

By Annette Hinkle

“These late eclipses in the sun and moon portend no good to us.”

— Shakespeare’s “King Lear,” Act 1, Scene 2

In times of trouble, humankind has frequently turned its gaze to the heavens in search of answers as foretold in the stars. From the movement of constellations to the timing of solar eclipses, explanations for earthly matters and transitions that may lie ahead have long been sought by looking skyward.

Astrology was highly regarded in Shakespeare’s day, and more than 400 years later, Nancy Reagan was certainly no stranger to it during her husband’s presidency in the 1980s. Perhaps that’s because in volatile times, many civilizations found it useful to draw parallels and lessons or seek solace from historic events that occurred when objects in the universe were similarly aligned.

Sag Harbor’s Kate Plumb feels there are still lessons to be learned by studying the movements of stars and planets, but she is well aware of the fact that these days, astrology is not a practice that is universally accepted as a legitimate science.

“I think all astrologers think about that, because in medieval times during the scientific revolution, astrology lost some of its legitimacy and since then has been looking to get it back in some ways,” says Plumb. “Why does it work, how does it work? It couldn’t be seen as cause and effect, so it didn’t make sense.”

Plumb, who refers to herself as a planetary cycles scientist, is well aware of the stigma surrounding the practice and admits to often being reluctant to share her knowledge of it. But this Sunday, she will be offering her insight in “Astrology: What’s in the Stars for 2018,” a talk at the John Jermain Library in Sag Harbor from 3 to 4 p.m.

“Personal legitimacy is different than scientific acceptance. I’ve always been shy about who I was and what I did,” admits Plumb. “Astrology is using your intuitive faculties, but there is also a mathematical process to setting up someone's birth moment. The moment you’re born, the planets are in a certain position and they will dance around the sun in your lifetime, so you’re going to experience the sequence of things in your life that are right for you.

“Every astrologer has to come up with an understanding of what they’re doing,” she adds. “Often it confirms what people feel inside.”

No matter where people come down in their belief in astrology, Plumb finds it illuminating and useful to examine what the stars and planets will be doing in the coming year, and posit on how their conjunctions and movements may impact what happens in the wider world. After all, as Plumb points out, in the current scientific mindset (where it still exists in this alternative-fact filled universe), there is still much going on in the universe that we don’t fully yet understand — electromagnetic fields, for example.

“The planets have been going around the sun for billions of years. There’s something about the repetition of planets returning to the same position that infuses energy in that spot,” she says. “All the planets are doing this, and of course there are millions of solar systems. This backdrop creates its own kind of repetition and motion emphasis.”

To illustrate her point, Plumb tells the story of Christiaan Huygens, a 17th century Dutch scientist who invented the pendulum clock and discovered the concept of coupled oscillation — the phenomenon by which pendulums located near one another will eventually begin swinging in sync.

While charting one’s personal astrological information is interesting, on the larger front, Plumb feels that astrology can also help people gain a sense of control and understanding when the world seems as if it’s gone off the rails, bringing a realization that, just like the stars and the planets, where we are in the present moment does not represent a permanent situation.

“It’s important to understand what we’re going through now in this country,” says Plumb. “If you feel stabbed in the heart every time you look at the news, it’s a mistake to think this present moment doesn’t have an end or isn’t coming at the end of a process.”

She explains that astrologically speaking, we are now nearing the end of the Reagan economic era which began in 1980 and ‘81 when Jupiter and Saturn went into conjunction.

“We had another conjunction in May of 2000, and there will be another in December of 2020. Through the last 200 years, those conjunctions have concerned earth science — the using of the earth’s resources and the focus on money and banking,” says Plumb. “We have exhausted the value of being in earth and the understanding of that material. In 2020, Jupiter and Saturn will enter another 200-year period in air science — it’s the idea of new technology, ideas of young people to clean up the oceans, new currency, the digital and the invisible.”

Astrologically speaking, Plumb also sees 2018 as a year of reckoning. She refers to President Trump as the great disrupter and adds that if Hillary Clinton had won the presidency, none of the stories of sexual harassment that have been so pervasive in recent weeks would have come to light.

“These women wouldn’t have come out. But they’re sick of it, it’s been awakened,” explains Plumb. “Yes, there’s lots of suffering going on and it’s so painful, but there is another way, and that’s being kind to one another. On an individual basis, that has to take precedence for sanity.”

She adds that other meaningful celestial events included August’s total solar eclipse which cut across the whole United States and was the first eclipse to do so in a century.

“Eclipses are big, both solar and lunar. This is the shadow time. Any country that systemically destroys every Native American tribe and puts people in enslavement doesn’t have great karma,” says Plumb. “There’s some justification for us going through tough times.”

While the August eclipse occurred on Trump’s Leo ascendant, making him an aggressor, the next partial solar eclipse coming up on February 15, 2018 in the southern hemisphere will be in opposition, which means Trump might be the one getting confronted. Plumb says we are also entering a period filled with multiple planetary shifts, including a meaningful one that just occurred in October when Jupiter entered Scorpio.

“Scorpio is the underworld. That’s about your secrets, like the Paradise Papers, or the sexual harassment cases and women who have kept their secrets, or the fact Trump didn’t let anyone see tax returns, or Michael Flynn getting money from the Turks,” she says. “Secrets come out. Jupiter entered Scorpio and the next day the Ronan Farrow piece on Harvey Weinstein came out in the New Yorker.”

“There will also be an elemental switch in 2018, which means less drama and more compassion, more accountability,” says Plumb. “Saturn is also moving into Capricorn. The last time Saturn was in Capricorn, the Berlin Wall fell and there was the Tiananmen Square revolt.”

History plays a strong role in guiding astrologers who read the charts then look back at earlier celestial conjunctions to see what significant events coincided with them in order to get a sense of what might lie ahead. While it remains an inexact science and there are many things happening world-wide that have people worried, Plumb remains optimistic and encourages others to do the same. And come December 2020, Plumb says we will be entering a 12-year period when government will be in tune with the collective and its cultural needs.

“I have a hopeful viewpoint, as long as we can stay focused on person to person relationships,” she says. “Create your life the way you want it to be. Don’t go to the extremes of fear and paranoia. It’s a matter of connecting with what we don’t see and being ever present with the help of the spiritual world.”

Kate Plumb’s talk “Astrology: What’s in the Stars for 2018,” is Sunday, December 17 at 3 p.m. at the John Jermain Library in Sag Harbor.

She will also present her astrology talk at the Rogers Memorial Library in Southampton on Thursday, January 4 at 5:30 p.m. To register visit myrml.org or (631) 283-0774 ext. 523.

Some dates to watch in 2018 per Kate Plumb:

From January 2 through March 9, 2018 all the planets are moving forward which is an unusually long period for this to occur. This means we can expect things to happen fast with no “do overs” in our own lives as well as in the collective.

Around February 15, the solar eclipse bookends the one last August, stimulating the American public who were attacked by Trump's natal Mars and ascendant. Last August he did the attacking. This spring he is being attacked as the power shifts.

On May 17 Uranus enters Taurus, a new sign after seven years in Aries. Planets changing signs is significant. The last time Uranus was in Taurus was June 1934 when Franklin Delano Roosevelt was president and the struggle for democracy vs. fascism began in earnest.

June 26 Mars makes a station — through August 27, any aggressive action should be avoided as chances for success are lessened.

The partial solar eclipse on July 13 is also very ominous, setting off a crisis. The shadow falls over largely uninhabited areas near Australia. Afghanistan, Albania and Syria are likely to be hot spots; but North Korea quieter.

Partial solar eclipse on August 11 is also worrisome. Events in 2018 will hearken back 18 years ago to 2000 (U.S./Cuba relations with the Elian Gonzalez affair), 1982, 1964 as these eclipses repeat themes from then. This will be true in your life as well.