I intend to post about the war in Ukraine in the next few days. Unfortunately, my town, Ballina in Australia, was flooded all last week and I had no phone or internet until Saturday. The worst floods on record, thanks to global warming. A town called Lismore about 30 minutes from here was devastated by flooding, 3.5 meters (11 feet) above the previous record.

But that pales in comparison to the war in Ukraine, with whole families being killed by missiles. It is understandable then, that some of my readers were upset about the title of the March 2 New Moon post, “A Promise of Happiness.”

I gave it that title because the new moon was conjunct Jupiter and sextile Uranus. I did mention that Mercury conjunct Saturn adds a sense of seriousness with the potential for pessimism to outweigh the optimism of Jupiter. And that Mars conjunct Pluto could lead to outbursts of rage, rape, and war.

I generally interpret moon phases at the personal level and not for world events (mundane astrology). I have been writing them for over 10 years, often about themes of love, happiness and optimism. But this is the first time I have received angry comments due to war.

There have, in fact, been many wars over the last 10 years that have killed many people. The ongoing civil war in Yemen has killed 380,000. The war in Syria has killed 600,000. And there are countless other wars over the last 10 years that killed so many. I guess the Ukraine war is different because it is in Europe.

Talk of world war III and conscription on social media has my kids worried. To them, it might feel like the Apocalypse has arrived after living through the pandemic and now record flooding. They have missed so much school, another 2 weeks because of these floods.

But there is reason for optimism. The recent Jupiter new moon sextile Uranus has coincided with the ending of many restrictions that were imposed due to the pandemic. Air travel is opening up and there is more work available.

There will always be war, natural disasters, and suffering somewhere in the world. And Mars conjunct Pluto will always bring out the worst in murderers and dictators. But that is only in a minority of cases. Most people in the world are still quite nice.