TMA’s own Tem Tarriktar gives an update from the publisher’s desk, including an invitation to join us on Facebook.

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There is a letter in the new (June/July) issue of TMA from a reader requesting more articles with an in-depth analysis of planetary cycles and financial information. Ray Merriman’s article, Is It Camelot or an Economic Armageddon?, in the new issue, (which subscribers will have any day, if it’s not there yet) addresses that request in his article.

Merriman coined the term “Cardinal Climax” in 1999, and much has been written on Saturn, Uranus and Pluto all entering cardinal signs in hard aspect to each other. Pluto in Capricorn is the harbinger, followed by Saturn moving into Libra this fall, and Uranus into Aries in May 2010. The impact of the Cardinal Climax is from 2008-2015.

This configuration is currently joined by the rare (i.e., in 3,000 years it has occurred only once – in 1843) mutual reception between Uranus in Pisces and Jupiter and Neptune in Aquarius. Merriman relates the 1843 mutual reception to events surrounding Andrew Jackson’s abolishing the Second U.S. National Bank and what is happening now with our current private bank, the Federal Reserve.

The charts of the current key players are discussed in the article – the U.S. national chart, Obama, the Federal Reserve, Robert Gates, Timothy Geithner and Ben Bernanke (all with planets in early degrees of cardinal signs).

For readers who may not be familiar with Ray Merriman, he is a financial astrologer with a keen understanding of long-term cycles. Even if you’re one of the lucky ones and financial matters are not of interest to you, Ray’s descriptions of the psychological implications of these transits are invaluable.

A brilliant point he elaborates on, for example: Once Saturn is past its last opposition to Uranus (in July 2010), that planet will be in waning phase with all the outer planets. Saturn is fearful, and the last square is fretful. He writes: “With the waning square, the light is on the decrease: The future seems more and more uncertain.” However, the longer cycles of the outer planets (i.e., Uranus, Neptune and Pluto) are in waxing squares to one another, implying a time of growth. ”In the waxing square, the light is still on the increase: The future is brighter.”

I thought Ray’s article was a riveting overview of the great issues that are keeping some awake at night. (Lest this sounds like TMA bragging, I personally had nothing to do with the editing, etc. I read the article along with many of you as it arrived in my mailbox.)

This blog is merely a hint of what he’s written about. Once you’ve read it, come back and let’s talk about it.

Hope you are enjoying our February/March 2009 issue, and look forward to your comments on the articles, especially the articles exploring the Lunar Nodes in-depth. Feel free to post any comments about that issue, or the magazine in general, here. We are currently working on the April/May issue, which includes a major article on President Obama’s chart.

I wanted to write a quick note to call your attention to three new things available on this site. First, we have posted an article written by expert financial astrologer Ray Merriman from our October/November 2005 issue. In that article, he projected likely economic trends and events in the years ahead. Second, we posted the entire June/July 2007 issue as a free pdf download, so that visitors to this site can view a complete sample issue of TMA. Third, we have a special Back Issue sale in effect through March 31; you can get them for only $3.50 each, plus shipping charges. In our “Back Issues” section, you can view the table of contents of the 50 issues we still have available, dating back to 1999. If you are new to TMA, this is an incredible opportunity to get these for your library before even more of these gems go out of print.

We also plan to update our article index in early February, to make it easier to find more of your favorite topics and authors in astrology. And finally, many thanks to our webmaster Mary Plumb for her fortitude in keeping this site updated!
Tem Tarriktar
TMA Publisher

of The Mountain Astrologer:
Our co-worker and TMA’s Art Director Tara Sanders passed away in late November after living with cancer for many years. She was the driving force behind all the visuals that made TMA a more rich experience for our readers. I want to share something from the upcoming issue of the magazine, written by Tara’s friend, Jan de Prosse, who is also one of our editors. (Here is the link to that page and a lovely picture of Tara.)
We wish all of you a meaningful solstice/holidays and a happy 2009!
–Tem

Hello all,

I am writing this from a very beautiful remote ranch in west Texas by the Rio Grande. We are surrounded by distant mountain ranges, including 9,000 foot peaks in Mexico to the south and the colorful Chinatis to the north. It’s a windy day and the sky is becoming a brilliant blue after a gorgeous sunrise.

And, most importantly, I’m working an article on Michelle Obama that I will post later today. Thanks for stopping by and see you soon.
Warm wishes to one and all,

Mary Plumb

Our Dec. 2008/Jan. 2009 (21st anniversary) issue is at the printers now, and it is due to be mailed out to all subscribers in early November. It is packed with useful information, as usual, and I’m always amazed to witness how much care goes into each and every issue. This is what has sustained the magazine’s success all these years, the care and attention to detail — from the writers and editors on down to our friends at Ripon Community Printers in Wisconsin, who have printed every issue of TMA since 1993. In the cover feature of this issue, “The Wild Ride of 2009,” Adrian Ross Duncan looks ahead to geopolitical and economic trends that will likely reflect the planetary configurations of the year ahead. I hope our readers will post their comments about the new issue on this blog.

We are now turning our attention to the Feb./March 2009 issue, which will focus on the lunar nodes in depth, with excellent articles from Brian Clark, Kathy Allan, and Linda Johnsen. Just last Friday, I interviewed veteran astrologer Bill Herbst for this issue, and he gave his views on Obama, the Cardinal Climax of 2009–2014, Pluto in Capricorn, and the transformative forces now facing humanity. Brad Kochunas, Roy Gillett, Hank Friedman, Fern Feto Spring, and Liz Kirkham are also contributors, as well as Student Section regulars Dana Gerhardt and Donna Cunningham.

We haven’t heard much from writers about the new planet Eris recently, but the last Full Moon in Aries was conjunct the current position of Eris, and it sure has been a chaotic month, especially for the economy. I wonder whether Eris will gain traction and be included more and more by practicing astrologers, or whether it will fade over time. (Tell us, should we include Eris in TMA’s chart wheel displays?) We have published a few articles on Eris in the last two years, primarily in the April/May 2007 issue — which reminds me, we’re going to have a big Back Issue sale starting right after the first of the year. Details will be posted on this site as well as in the printed magazine. We have copies of about 45 Back Issues available, from 2000 through 2008.

It has been a sad time at the office lately. All of us here have worked closely together for the past ten years, and during the last 14 months, our Art Director, Tara Sanders, has been on medical leave fighting a serious illness. We have enjoyed her beautiful cover designs and illustrations in TMA over the years. She is a very special soul. Will you join us now in praying for her healing?

I want to thank all of you for what you have contributed to the magazine, whether as subscriber, faithful reader, writer, advertiser, or just someone surfing the Web and spreading the word about us. It all helps, and we appreciate it!
— Tem

Hi, and welcome to the first post of our new exclusive online-only feature, TMA This Week. Each week we will be posting an easy-to-read article on topics including the Best of Astrology Blogs, a streamlined version of our popular column Planet Tracks, and A Glance at the Heavens for the latest on what’s going on in the sky. Our intrepid and versatile TMA staffers will make guest appearances in the From the Magazine section. I will be the editor/organizer of this new feature – three cheers to Saturn’s transit in Virgo – and I’ll be writing as well.

TMA This Week includes a commenting feature, where you, our readers, can respond to what our authors have contributed with your own comments and feedback.

We hope you enjoy this new feature and welcome your suggestions.

Mary Plumb