Libra Full Moon, Aries Solar Festival, April 2026 Cosmic Weather Forecast

Welcome to the April 2026 Cosmic Weather Forecast by Curtis Lang with Jane Sherry.

Here at Satya Center, March has been the hottest March in Winston Salem history, about 10 degrees above normal, and for the last week or so, as spring unfolds, we are seeing a day or three of 20 degrees above normal and then a day or three of temperatures 20 degrees below normal. 

We're on a weather rollercoaster!

Kraken Roller Coaster, Sea World, Orlando, 

Libra Full Moon Cosmic Weather Forecast

This year the Libra Full Moon occurs on Wednesday, April 1st, at 10:12 PM Eastern time, four days before Easter Sunday, as Catholics celebrate Holy Week.

For some beautiful meditations on the Risen Christ and on the Divine Mother, see our blogpost entitled Eastertide: Uniting with the Cosmic Christ - Honoring the Divine Mother.

Catholics call the Wednesday before Easter Spy Wednesday, because it is the day when Judas Iscariot sold Jesus out to the Chief Priests in Jerusalem for thirty pieces of silver.

Bargain of Judas, fresco by Lippo Memmi, 14th century, Public Domain via Wikimedia 

Archimedes Ascending from his Bath, Prior to his Eureka Moment,
16th Century woodcut, Historia N° 767 - Novembre 2010 - page 38, Public domain, Wikimedia Commons

There are ominous indications of a new global desire for such Crusades arising among fundamentalist factions of all three Abrahamic monotheistic religions simultaneously, at the exact time of the Saturn/Neptune conjunction at the Aries Zero Point.

Louis VII Fights the Saracens during the Second Crusade, 14th Century French miniature, 
anonymus, Public domain, via Wikimedia Commons

"A combat-unit commander told non-commissioned officers at a briefing Monday [March 2] that the Iran war is part of God’s plan and that Pres. Donald Trump was 'anointed by Jesus to light the signal fire in Iran to cause Armageddon and mark his return to Earth,' according to a complaint by a non-commissioned officer," according to veteran investigative reporter Jonathan Larsen's Substack.

". . .More than 110 similar complaints about commanders in every branch of the military had been logged by the Military Religious Freedom Foundation (MRFF). The complaints came from more than 40 different units spread across at least 30 military installations," Larsen reported.

Meanwhile, Israel's most arch conservative rabbis have embraced a vision of a vastly expanded Israel built on the rubble of their neighbors' homes. 

Map of Greater Israel shows new borders accepted by prominent rabbis.
Remiel at English Wikipedia, Public domain, via Wikimedia Commons

On August 12, 2025, Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu told i24 TV news that "he feels he is on a historic and spiritual mission, and that he is very attached to the vision of the Promised Land and Greater Israel."

Firing Iran's Qadr Cruise Missile from a truck launcher in Velayat-90 Naval Exercise
Mohammad Sadegh Heydari, CC BY 4.0, via Wikimedia Commons

"Many of the 13 military bases in the region used by American troops are all but uninhabitable," according to The New York Times, as of March 25th.

To make the geopolitical drama more complex, Sunni Arab states, which have always been some of the most aggressive proponents of Islam in the world, are allied with the US and Israel against the Shiite state of Iran in this 21st Century Crusade to gain control of global flows of oil and liquid natural gas. 

Sunni and Shiite Muslims have been fighting with one another for 14 centuries, since a dispute arose concerning who should be the prophet Muhammed's heir and leader of global Islam.

That is why Iran has successfully targeted Gulf Arab states like Qatar, Kuwait, the United Arab Emirates and Saudi Arabia over the last several weeks.

Qatar hosts the largest US military base in the Middle East, and is the second largest global supplier of liquid natural gas (LNG) after the United States, so it was not a big surprise that Iran targeted Qatar's LNG infrastructure, doing enough damage that Qatar closed down all LNG production. Qatar estimates it will take four years to repair the damage and return to normal.

Strait of Hormuz, Goran_tek-en, CC BY-SA 4.0, via Wikimedia Commons

Iran has taken control of the strategically vital Strait of Hormuz, through which 20% of world fossil fuel supplies flow, sometimes allowing ships from friendly nations access, and reportedly charging tolls of $2 million per vessel.

In less than a month of war, Iran has cut off 20% of the global supplies of both Liquid Natural Gas and oil, creating the worst oil shock in history.

“We’ve not seen anything like this — there's been no disruption of this scale in the past,” Gareth Ramsay, chief economist at oil and gas giant BP, told the S&P Global Energy Conference in Houston on March 26th. “It’s every oil analyst’s study piece or worst nightmare — one that we never thought would happen.”

Unlike the global economic disruptions caused by the Trump tariffs, the fallout from the US/Israeli/Iran war of 2026 will be felt for months and years to come.

Asian countries, which buy the bulk of fossil fuels shipped through the Strait of Hormuz, are already seeing shortages and European countries are scrambling to find new sources for vital fuels. 

The US will also feel the pain.

Market Mayhem, Photo by Maxim Hopman on Unsplash

The Iran War will fuel a surge in US inflation to 4.2% this year, the highest in the G7, according to a newly released OECD forecast. 

This uptick in inflation will slow growth in the US economy and has created a scenario in which the Federal Reserve is already considering rate hikes in response, rather than the expected rate cuts Wall Street was counting on to keep the bull market roaring.

The probability of a US recession in the next 12 months is now 30% and climbing according to Goldman Sachs, and there is a 49% chance of an American recession, according to Moody's Analytics. 

The Iran war looks set to ignite a global bout of stagflation that could make the aftermath of the 1970s oil shock look like a permanent vacation in Southern Italy.

There is also another factor to consider when analyzing US economic performance and asset values.

AI Apps, Photo by Aerps.com on Unsplash

It's the AI Joker in the financial deck of cards.

Economic growth and the rising value of publicly traded stock indexes in the US depend almost entirely upon the exponential rise in capital investments by companies engaged in the race to build Artificial Intelligence chips, software services, data centers and applications.

The Iran war threatens US AI giants in ways apparently never expected by anyone in Washington or Silicon Valley.

Global supplies of helium, used in the manufacture of AI chips, are throttled, since helium is a byproduct of LNG.

The global helium shortage could lead to rationing of chips or even a halt in manufacturing.

Data Center, Planet Volumes, For Unsplash+, Licensed under the Unsplash+ License

Tech companies building vast new AI data centers across the United States were already encountering opposition from people in every part of the country who know that the US energy grid can't supply both current electricity needs and the tsunami of demand the AI data centers will unleash, driving up prices to unsustainable levels for consumers and most corporate customers.

Not to mention how AI data centers create a giant sucking sound that irritates everyone nearby.

That giant sucking sound is the sound of water being sucked up out of public reservoirs and deep aquifers that nourish the entire region around them. Oh, yeh, and it's also the sound your new water bill will make -- it's like a vacuum cleaner attached to your billfold.

Data centers may not be built during an ongoing, lengthy global fossil fuel shortage, since US electric generation relies so heavily on affordable supplies of fossil fuels. 

Simple diagram of electricity grids in North America. 

United States Department of Energy, by User:J JMesserly,

Public domain, via Wikimedia Commons

If data centers cannot be built or powered because of global energy shortages that spike the prices of already relatively scarce electrical energy in the US, the valuations of the AI tech giants currently propping up the US stock market and the broader US economy will crash.

If the cutoff in helium supplies crushes production of AI chips, all these companies are in deep trouble, because the chips are obsolete in less than two years time.

Without new chips to pop into their growing army of data center servers, these companies can't innovate, they can't produce the next generation of AI. Then they would lose all competitive advantage globally and their stock prices will surely fall.

If AI tech companies' stock valuations fall, the vast debts those companies have taken on could also default, creating severe disruptions in private equity funds lending to the AI giants and in financial markets generally.

Can you say, long, deep financial crisis? I know I can.

President Donald Trump welcomes Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu at the White House, February 5, 2025
Dan Scavino, Public domain, via Wikimedia Commons

There is also an ever increasing danger the Iran war will escalate and widen since Trump and Netanyahu appear to have fallen into what war historians and geostrategic analysts call the escalation trap.

When a dominant military power enters into a war of aggression expecting to be able to achieve lofty war aims such as regime change utilizing air power alone, the results have historically been disastrous for the aggressors.

For example, in 1965, US President Lyndon Baines Johnson thought that he could defeat the Viet Cong using air power, but was disappointed with the results.

It appeared that the South Vietnamese government would soon collapse,  so Johnson deployed a limited number of ground troops to protect US airbases, and then, as advisors.

The Americans achieved one tactical victory after another by every metric analysts applied to the war, yet strategic goals remained tantalizingly out of reach and the South Vietnamese government remained on continuous life support.

The solution was further escalation. Johnson increased air strikes and the troop deployments ballooned in size, yet victory remained elusive.

B-52 wreckage in Huu Tiep Lake, Hanoi. Downed during Operation Linebacker II, its remains have been turned into a war monument. calflier001, CC BY-SA 2.0, via Wikimedia Commons

Soon, Johnson was caught in an escalation trap. Vietnam became America's quagmire.

Johnson had been drawn into a much more complex, costly and protracted conflict than the White House had thought remotely possible. Bloody war crimes became the norm on both sides of the battle.

The Vietnam war busted America's fiscal budget, created a political nightmare at home, as the anti-war movement exploded onto the world stage, and humiliated America's war machine. Ultimately there was no choice but ignominious retreat from Saigon.

On March 31st, 1968, President Lyndon Johnson made a surprise announcement: "I shall not seek, and I will not accept, the nomination of my party for another term as your President". 

In November, Richard Nixon would be elected President. The Democratic Party in Lyndon Johnson's home state of Texas has never recovered to this day.

Now it appears that Benjamin Netanyahu and Donald Trump are caught in a 21st Century version of the escalation trap.

Trump and his White House appear to have launched the Iran War with massive air strikes designed to decapitate Iranian leadership, and instill shock and awe in average Iranians, who would then revolt and instigate regime change that would put a Trump puppet in charge of the vast Iranian fossil fuel fields. 

Trump said Iran would surrender "like Venezuela."

President Donald Trump participates in an interview with Fox News’ Bret Baier in the Chapel Room of the Kaseya Center in Miami, Florida, Wednesday, November 5, 2025. The White House, Public domain, via Wikimedia Commons

Quite the opposite. The Iranians appear to be winning this war since they have established control of the Strait of Hormuz, and are precipitating a global energy crisis that will morph very soon into a global financial meltdown unless the Strait is reopened.

Airpower alone appears to be insufficient to topple the Iranian government, so that leaves either sending in the 82nd Airborne and the Green Berets or else escalating all the way to nuclear war. 

The problem is a nuclear attack on Iran would most likely render the entire Middle East energy infrastructure radioactive.

So as of today, the US is reportedly sending about 15,000 Special Forces and paratroopers to the region, and could be preparing for some kind of limited invasion of Iran to capture oil infrastructure, to destroy Iran's nuclear materials or to seize control of the Strait of Hormuz.

Many observers and journalists believe a US ground strike on Iran could come before or at the time of the Full Libra Moon on April Fool's Day.

But not so fast. Is that even possible? A quick history lesson is in order here.

It took the United States months of planning and logistical heavy lifting to put 250,000 troops and all the needed ships, aircraft and supplies in place prior initiating the ill fated 2003 Iraq War.

Mission Accomplished Banner on the USS Abraham Lincoln, 

Military experts are unanimous in their opinion that since Iran is much larger and much more populous than Iraq, with proven deadly stocks of drones and missiles, and more than one million fighters ready for battle, the United States would need a force of at least 750,000 troops for a full scale invasion.

There would obviously be lots of American casualties in even limited ground incursions on the Iranian coastline. 

Iran says today that if America attacks on the ground, Iran will close access to the Red Sea, which currently offers an alternative for transport of fossil fuels out of the Middle East to the rest of the world.

In addition Iran could cut the undersea Internet fiber cables that carry MidEast traffic, or even destroy the vast, expensive, desalination plants that American allies in the Gulf Arab states rely on for drinking water.

At some point all this damage to the world's energy supply chain, and to Middle East energy infrastructure will certainly create a global financial meltdown. 

The world will blame Donald Trump, Benjamin Netanyahu, the United States, and Israel.

That will be the true beginning of the end of the American Empire.

Unless he is very lucky, Donald Trump's Iranian adventure may make Lyndon Johnson's Vietnam quagmire look like the golden age of American military prowess.

The Pentagon is preparing for "weeks" of ground operations in Iran, according to The Washington Post. 

So will Trump fall into the escalation trap? That is the question.

I think maybe Mars, the warrior planet, ruler of the Zodiacal sign of Aries, may have something to say about that.

Mars, sitting on a rainbow with a sword and a sceptre, excites men to war, 15th Century 

April's astrological outlook indicates the potential for widening and escalation of the current Iran war.

On April 17th at 7:51 AM Eastern time, seven planets will gather in the sign of the god of war. 

Sun, Moon, Mercury, Saturn, Neptune, Mars and Venus will all be in the sign of Aries, along with the planetoid Chiron, associated with the archetype of the wounded healer.

Mars, Mercury, Neptune and Saturn will be conjunct in Aries, which is inauspicious, since a Mars/Saturn conjunction generally indicates overly aggressive behavior in the face of seemingly intractable obstacles.

Outright cruelty can be one expression of this martial energy signature.

Mars is also in strong sextile with Pluto in Aquarius which contains the potential for uncontrolled outbursts and acts of aggression.

If there are military escalations during the middle part of April, and if the conflict de-escalates shortly thereafter, there is also the potential for a renewal of extremely dangerous military confrontations around May 5th when Mars squares Jupiter, a well known symbol for a widening, escalating war.

The war is widening day by day. As of March 30, the Houthis have entered the war on the side of Iran, and threaten to block shipping through the Red Sea, which would impact traffic through the Suez Canal.

The Houthis have demonstrated their ability to block that shipping route, and to block all US attempts to open the Red Sea route through military action.

On Sunday, 8 March, Iraq’s top Shia cleric, Ali al-Sistani, issued a fatwa (religious ruling) declaring that supporting and showing solidarity with Iran is a “collective duty” for millions of adherents of Shia Islam.

Soon the US/Israel/Iran war could spread and set the entire Middle East crescent on fire, with Iraq, Yemen, and Syria supporting Iran.

Just coincidentally, Israel will be happily pursuing its goal of establishing Greater Israel, looking for the opportunity to get the Americans to pave the way for an Israeli takeover of parts of Iraq, Syria, Lebanon, and more.

In that case we will see a full fledged religious war between the Sunni Muslims of the Gulf petro-monarchies allied with Israel and the US fighting the Shia Crescent which has historically dominated the entire Middle East. 

In response to this ongoing global crisis, let us raise the banner of World Peace.

Madonna Oriflamme Banner of Peace, painting by Nicholas Roerich

The Banner of Peace was first created by the Theosophist and painter Nicholas Roerich in the 1930s as a global symbol of protection depicting Past, Present and Future as a Unified Space-Time Continuum under the watchful protection of the Great Mother. 

This symbol is associated with the Roerich Pact, the first international treaty designed to protect, religious, cultural and historical sites during times of war. The pact enshrined the proposition that humanity's collective cultural, scientific and religious heritage has innate value that outweighs any military purpose or consideration.

The Banner of Peace was flown over cultural and religious sites around the world during World War II and was respected by combatants on all sides of the conflict, but the idea that the cultural and religious heritage sites of combatants should be protected under international law has never been explicitly recognized or implemented to this day.

During the interval governed by the Libra Full Moon and the Aries Solar Festival, let us all work together in our individual ways to flood the collective consciousness of humanity with the energy of unconditional love and the light of the Holy Spirit, so that struggling humanity may awaken from the long nightmare of incessant warfare on this planet, and begin to desire and work toward peaceful resolutions of disputes in every area of life.

Let us join Pope Leo XIV in rejecting the sectarian religious warfare that currently threatens to plunge the world into a global depression and destroy much of the infrastructure of the Middle East.

On Palm Sunday, Pope Leo made his position crystal clear in a rousing antiwar homily. 

“Brothers and sisters, this is our God: Jesus, King of Peace, who rejects war, whom no one can use to justify war,” Pope Leo said. “He does not listen to the prayers of those who wage war, but rejects them, saying: ‘Even though you make many prayers, I will not listen: your hands are full of blood.’”

Curtis and Jane Selfie, Mickey Coffee Pot, Old Salem, North Carolina

Jane and I affirm that we all receive the grace and guidance we require to navigate these turbulent times with ease and grace.

We join all those on the spiritual path in affirming that peace shall prevail upon the Earth.

Often the darkest times descend just before dawn.

As we shall see in next month's newsletter, there are some beneficial cosmic weather currents coming our way in the near future.

Until then, stay strong and keep on keeping on. 

Meditation Moment: Wind, by Ranjit Hoskote

At rainscatter twilight
     in a palace
past soldiers turned
             to stone chessmen

you led us up
             abandoned stairways
leading to art galleries
                                    of thinnest air

In your breath
                      I could hear the wind
tell tall tales
           of tying a gantry to a passing cloud

and clapping its hands
       as a thresher in a wheat field sang
songs of revolution
               in a year with no name

I sang sang the wind as long shadows broke
            and fell from their pedestals
leaving their feet
             trapped in marble

I sang the stories of all I'd lost
           when those marble shadows marched across
wide forests with fire and spade
        when they choked lakes
left them to clot and dry to salt
                   knotted river currents
at tidemouth and blocked 
                     harbours with wrecked ships

No peace as I swept
                 through this palace
at twilight
                no consolation

as our soldiers and theirs
       turned on each other
into each other
       in the rainscatter light
stone chessmen