At a glance: What is going to happen on the 14th of March

Impoundment on the day of the eclipse

Two things piqued my interest today.

The first was an article in the Financial Times about impoundment. A word I had never heard before.

This is what columnist Gillian Tett had to say:

When his Doge cost-cutting team began their spending review-cum-rampage in January, the White House tested “impoundment” by freezing some funding flows. That was partly overturned by courts. But this March the issue could return on a much bigger scale, potentially sparking a constitutional battle or market jolt. “It’s a crisis in the making,” one legal scholar tells me.

Impoundment is an arcane US law that gives the president the power to refuse to spend money authorised by Congress.

“It may yet make the ‘Doge’ dramas seem a mere distraction from the real political war”, writes Tett.

The budget deadline is March 14th, which of course is the day of the lunar eclipse. This is the day when Trump could halt the spending of government funds.

The second thing that made me wonder about this date was this note by Lexi here on Substack:

My spidey sense tells me that DOGE will launch a major update to federal systems on March 13th … What this means for us: March 13th is our “work back date” to get your household ready for major outages in federal infrastructure.

Alarm bells are ringing and there is a focus on this particular date. Which is good for astrologers as it gives us something real to look at – and I know many of you have very expertly looked at this date already.

Here is my take, partly based on the information above.

The US Sibly chart has the eclipse aspecting its 9th house Neptune in Virgo. The Moon sits on top of Neptune, with the Sun and Saturn opposing from the third house.

Jupiter just separating from the Descendant. Neptune is less than a degree from, and moving towards, the IC. These transits feel like more long-term developments. Jupiter is highlighting the country’s relationship with other nations, and we’ve recently had several world leaders visiting the White House.

Neptune’s transit to the IC is part of a much longer and deeper story around how the country sees itself and the story the US tells itself about itself. This is something I’m hoping to cover in another post.

The eclipse is one of two things that makes this day important.

It shines a light on what could be interpreted as confusion (Neptune) around technical details (Virgo) ending up in the courts (9th house). Or the floodgates opening and boundaries being crossed (Neptune) as previous laws and agreements (Virgo 9th) are dissolved (Neptune).

With the Sun and Saturn in the third house there might be squabbling and disagreements too.

The second important transit to note is Uranus moving through the 6th house and exactly sextiling the US’s natal Mercury in Cancer in the 8th house.

A shock, in the sector representing the workforce, is activating the planet of commerce and communication in the house of power and finance in the sign of protectionism.

This could speak of what Gillian Tett suggested in her column above.

The 8th house Mercury is also trined and sextiled by the eclipse. Mars is moving towards it and will conjunct Mercury in early April. In the US natal chart Mars is opposing Pluto in Capricorn in the 2nd house.

Putting that all together might mean: The breaking down of barriers (Virgo, Neptune), the legal challenges (9th house) and the squabbling (3rd house) is meant to give someone or something more money and power (Mercury 8th house).

Depending on where you stand politically this could be the (mercurial) president and his team – or it could mean trying to make the country more wealthy and powerful (which is what Trump and Musk say they are trying to do).

As we have both Neptune and Pisces placements heavily involved there might be a lot going on behind the scenes that we are not seeing, misdirection and subterfuge. The reasons given for why the economy is shut down might be completely different to why it was actually shut down.

The natal Pluto/Mercury opposition across the financial axis (2nd and 8th house) is particularly interesting here. As is Mars crossing it in early April, which suggests we could see the result of all of this then. Or a big fight.

Donald Trump’s natal Venus and Saturn conjunction sit right on top of the US’s Mercury. One way to interpret this is that the thing he is trying to enrich on this day is himself.

Elon Musk has his natal Jupiter trining and Pluto sextiling the US’s Mercury. In the synastry chart his Jupiter falls in the 12th house, the power behind the scenes. His Pluto is in Virgo in the US’s 9th house, so he might have access to the details that will allow them to pull of this heist.

On the day of the eclipse we also have a Venus/Mercury conjunction in Aries, falling in the US’s 4th house. Venus is retrograding and Mercury will start its retrograde the following day. A stand-still or a slowdown in the country (4th house).

This conjunction is sextiling the US’s natal Gemini Uranus on the Descendant, a sensitive point that is interwoven with the story of the civil war.

Impoundment means control. And a body of water can be formed through “impounding”.

This speaks of both Neptune and Saturn, big players during this eclipse. Boundaries crossed and boundaries created.

Photo by William Warby on Unsplash