Yesterday, a video was released of Jerome Powell, the Chairman of the U.S. Federal Reserve, discussing potential interest rate hikes over Zoom with a person claiming to be Ukrainian President Volodomyr Zelensky.
The person on the other end of the line was not President Zelensky but was in fact part of a team of Russian pranksters who have previously humiliated other world leaders. Following the release of the video, many online commentators speculated that the typically tight-lipped Powell would never speak so candidly and there were surely safeguards in place to prevent such an incident from taking place.
The only explanation was that the video was in fact a deep fake and therefore could not be trusted. So. What does this have to do with astrology?
Saturn is the planet of authority, order, and limits and its archetype is that of the Elder. Chairmen Powell is the Elder statesman and the person chiefly responsible for creating order and stability within our broken, Ponzi scheme of a financial system.
Over the past year, Powell has attempted to tame inflation by hiking interest rates relentlessly, and we are beginning to see the effects of the rate hikes with recent bank failures. But he is fighting a losing battle.
In the slippery, ephemeral mists of Pisces, Saturn tends to struggle as the attempt to create harmony from disorder is a largely un-winnable game. Pisces is a sign where structures can only be built on shifting sands, where delusions plague the mind, and where gullibility and naïveté lead us into uncertain places.
Saturn in Pisces may be good for creating imaginative fantasy worlds (like deepfakes and AI art) but the planet is poorly suited when attempting to assert its authority in Pisces.
Neptune is the planet of illusions, deception, and the blurring of boundaries. Pisces is traditionally ruled by Jupiter but in modern astrology, Pisces is often ascribed to the planet Neptune. Though we do not share the modern view, there is quite a lot of overlap between the planet and the sign.
In this instance, the element of deception and the blurring of boundaries is evidenced by the pair of tricksters pretending to be President Zelensky. Claims that the video was in fact a deepfake also echo the Neptune/Saturn presence in Pisces. Additionally, both planets are being sextiled by a retrograde Mercury in Taurus. Mercury is the planet of communications, negotiations, and banking. When retrograde, Mercury takes on an almost malefic, trickster quality.
Placed in the earth sign of Taurus, which represents material matters related to agriculture, resources, and money, we have a further evidence of trickery involving communications, money, and banking.
Chairmen Powell has since admitted that the call was in fact real and was not the result of a deepfake. But, recently, a separate AI video of Powell appeared.
As we work our way through the Saturn/Neptune in Pisces, we can expect a further dissolving of the boundaries between what is real and what is imagined. Strange times indeed.
*The images above were made with Midjourney AI using the prompt below. Not what I had intended but still working on how to submit the proper prompts:
“Federal reserve Chairman Jerome Powell, center, facing the camera, seated at a small wooden desk, hand cranks a money printer, dollar bills with clown faces instead of George Washington spill out before him. He is enveloped in billowing pink fog. He has an expression of confused bewilderment. Two men in suits wearing masks with the face of Ukrainian President Volodomyr Zelensky are bent over on either side of the seated Powell, whispering something into his ears.”