The new CIA warnings that Al Qaeda will attempt an attack on the United States in the next 3-6 months is not a surprise to those of us monitoring the stars.  The square of Saturn to Pluto that occurred on January 31st, just two days before the announcement, is an aspect of fear and challenge.  After all, the opposition of Saturn to Pluto, the last major cycle of these two planets, coincided with the attacks of September 11.

The final phase of the Saturn/Pluto square occurs August 21st and that would be a likely time for another attack.  Saturn is in Libra right now, with Pluto in Capricorn.  Both are “Cardinal” signs, meaning they are the signs that mark the turning of the seasons.  Cardinal signs are action-oriented and create a great deal of movement and initiation of new things.  Uranus will enter Aries in late May of this year, and at that point we will enter what Ray Merriman calls the “Cardinal Climax” and other writers have called this event the “Cardinal Crisis,” but I prefer to use the term “Cardinal Drama,” even if it means losing the alliteration of the double “Cs”.  There’s no guarantee that this will be a climax of any kind, or even a crisis.  But there will certainly be drama.

This Cardinal Drama is a major event lasting for the next three or four years, in which Uranus in Aries will face off first against Saturn in Libra, and then enter into a square to Capricorn Pluto which will continue from 2010 to 2013.  (For more on this subject please see the radio show/podcast on the Astrology of 2010.)  Uranus in Aries will bring about violence (Aries) by individuals (Uranus) rather than nation against nation, especially as Uranus gets involved in a challenging square to Pluto’s repression in Capricorn.

Leon Panetta, CIA director, is more afraid of individual extremists acting alone:  “It’s the lone-wolf strategy that I think we have to pay attention to as the main threat to this country,”  The planets agree with this assessment.  In addition, cybersecurity is a concern with Uranus involved since Uranus rules technology of all kinds, and in Aries, the sign of aggression and warfare, suggests that cyberbattles are a very real threat.