by Edith Hathaway © 2025
“Barack Obama weaponized the entirety of the government… and he did it for 8 years…. Tulsi Gabbard just exposed to the world and to the American people … the greatest crime in the history of the United States of America. This was a crime so bad that the majority of Americans in many cases still can’t believe it that a coup would actually occur here in the United States of America by one President against another President. But that’s in fact what we now are facing.” ~General Michael Flynn, July 21, 2025, The Benny Johnson Show
The most recent Mercury Stationary Retrograde on July 18, 2025 (12:46 am EDT) has coincided with numerous notable events, the most important of which – in the United States – was the announcement that same day of a major Intelligence scandal led by then-President Barack Obama and his national security team in Dec. 2016. The announcement was made by the current Director of National Intelligence, Tulsi Gabbard. It involves newly declassified documents from 2016, a project she has been working on diligently since her confirmation in Feb. 2025, and points to evidence of a crime committed by former President Barack Obama against incoming President Donald Trump, his administration and millions of his supporters. U.S. Intelligence has been doctored previously to start wars, as in the early 2000s with Iraq’s so-called “Weapons of Mass Destruction.” But it is unprecedented for an outgoing president and his team to try to destroy an incoming presidency.
Astrologically, we can vouch for the potency of this news. It is not a passing soap opera. This is due to the confluence of various planetary factors, not least of which is the powerful Rahu-Mercury Dasha (planetary period) running in the USA chart from Sept. 9, 2023 to March 29, 2026. This correlates closely with natal Rahu and Mercury in Cancer in the USA 8th house of scandals and with the Mercury Stationary Retrograde in Cancer on July 18, 2025 Both involve the snake-like Ashlesha nakshatra, which is closely associated with intrigues that often involve psychological manipulation within families or nations and whose planetary ruler is Mercury, the messenger and planet of communications.
Moon-ruled Cancer always has tribal implications, with emotions and memories that run long and deep. Former President Obama is now reported to have run this operation and kept key documents hidden in a CIA vault since 2016. With Ashlesha nakshatra, the labyrinth of unfolding information has many serpentine layers, as the doctored intelligence in this case was immediately fed to Obama’s allies in the mainstream media. Tulsi Gabbard is telling us that the mainstream media is complicit in these treasonous acts because they all knew the information was false but published it anyway and even won Pulitzer prizes in a few cases! The New York Times and The Washington Post received Pulitzers “for deeply sourced, relentlessly reported coverage in the public interest.” Except none of it was true.
The U.S. mainstream media worked in tandem with U.S. intelligence, running for years with doctored intelligence they all knew to be fake. But the propaganda served the official narrative that Trump was bad, Russia was bad, and together they were trying to undermine the U.S. and swing the 2016 U.S. Election for Trump. This is The Russia Collusion Hoax in a nutshell. For this, Trump’s first presidency was severely impeded, he was impeached twice, with subsequent efforts up to 2024 to destroy him politically, financially, legally, if not physically by assassination. No wonder mainstream media is so far almost completely silent on the topic of Tulsi Gabbard’s latest revelations. Or they refuse to acknowledge that there is any real basis to the information she is delivering.
Rahu (north lunar node) magnifies any planet near it in the same sign, and it eclipses the Moon. The USA chart has Rahu conjunct Mercury in Cancer and Tulsi Gabbard has Rahu and Moon in Cancer in her birth chart. (Both charts are further below.) Rahu-Mercury in the 8th house of the USA chart describes how communications, news and culture emanating from the United States tend to travel fast throughout the world and have major influence, even exaggeratedly so at times. It also hints that the U.S. can be very effective at spreading propaganda. Tulsi Gabbard’s announcement on July 18 and on many subsequent days after the initial announcement was about exposing propaganda from an Obama directive in Dec. 2016:
“There is irrefutable evidence that details how President Obama and his national security team directed the creation of an Intelligence Community Assessment that they knew was false. They knew it would promote this contrived narrative that Russia interfered in the 2016 election to help President Trump win, selling it to the American people as though it were true. It wasn’t.… There was a gross politicization and manipulation of intelligence by the Obama administration intended to delegitimize President Trump even before he was inaugurated, ultimately usurping the will of the American people.” ~DNI Tulsi Gabbard, July 23, 2025, in the White House Briefing Room
The United States may have invented the Public Relations industry, especially from the World War I Era onward and as noted, has excelled at spreading propaganda in the mainstream news. There is a common quip that U.S. mainstream news is like “Pravda on the Potomac” and that by comparison at least in Russia the people know they’re being lied to! In fact, it was Trump’s 2016 Presidential opponent Hillary Clinton who had a Russia problem, with the sale of Uranium One and the Clinton’s attempts to buy Russian influence. All this was researched by Peter Schweitzer for his 2015 book Clinton Cash: The Untold Story of How and Why Foreign Governments and Businesses Helped Make Bill and Hillary Rich. In addition, Putin was expecting Clinton to win in 2016 and was holding back some dirt he had on her until she was elected, including about her serious health issues and substance abuse. Putin favored a Clinton win if only because she was a known factor politically and Trump was as yet unknown and unpredictable as a political leader. Obama and his team knew this in 2016 while pushing the lie that Trump was a Russian asset. Now we have proof of all this.
Mercury Retrograde in Cancer
Mercury transits in retrograde motion for three weeks three times per year. During 2025 it occurs in the three sidereal WATER signs: Pisces, Cancer, and Scorpio. The current Mercury retrograde is in Cancer – sign of home, family, real estate, nation, tribal matters, and generally, as with all WATER signs – emotional or highly charged communications. It runs from July 18, 2025 (12:46 am EDT) to Aug. 11, 2025 (3:30 am EDT), turning Stationary Direct at 10°02’ Cancer.
As with all Mercury retrogrades, this can involve long hidden or buried matters that have never been resolved and remain simmering just beneath the surface of life. Further, Mercury in a WATER sign is extra treacherous in that Mercury as the messenger can get drowned in emotions. Mercury does least well in the WATER element. Even so, it can be highly effective tackling subjects with enormous emotional impact. In Ashlesha nakshatra, the shakti (capability, capacity) is poison, and the desire is to defeat enemies. The deity ruling Ashlesha is Sarpa, the snake. The nakshatra symbol is coiled snakes. Much psychological power is associated with Ashlesha – perfect to reflect information casting doubt on whether critical government intelligence is accurate.
Coincidentally, though not coordinated in any way with Tulsi Gabbard, a long planned mini documentary on Obama by television broadcaster Steve Cortes made its debut on July 20, 2025: You Don’t Know Barack: Exposing Obama. Among other topics the video describes how Obama’s Presidential Library in Chicago is 5 years behind schedule, 3 times over budget (now at nearly $1 billion) and suffers from major construction problems, crumbling foundations and cracked cement. By Obama’s choice, workers were hired on the basis of DEI (diversity, equity, and inclusion) over merit. Lawsuits abound and the opening is perpetually postponed.
Brief review of How to Read a North and South Indian chart. Underlined planets are in retrograde motion.
Mercury in a WATER sign is extra treacherous in that Mercury as the messenger can get drowned in emotions or overly wed to emotions. Mercury is weakest in the WATER element and is debilitated in Pisces. However, as noted, it often has to deal with subjects containing enormous emotional impact. In Ashlesha nakshatra, the shakti (capability, capacity) is poison, and the desire is to defeat enemies. The deity ruling Ashlesha is Sarpa, the snake. The nakshatra symbol is coiled snakes. As noted previously, much psychological power is associated with Ashlesha – ideally suited to reflect information that casts doubt on whether critical government intelligence was accurate. Or was it fabricated in order to stage a coup d’état? It appears so.
In the chart of this Mercury Station there is the added intensity of a Kala Sarpa yoga (translation: Time-Snake yoga). This occurs when all classic Vedic planets are contained within the eclipse axis, i.e. Rahu and Ketu, the North and South lunar nodes, respectively. Closely contacting Ketu is tr. Mars, both fiery planets in the FIRE sign of Leo, also coincidentally the Ascendant and natal Mars of President Donald J. Trump. The current Kala Sarpa yoga is in play for as long as the faster-moving Moon is travelling between the late degrees of Aquarius to inside the late degrees of Leo. Those dates encompassing the Mercury Stationary Retrograde are: July 15 to July 22, 2025. This intensifies the several days on either side of the Mercury Stationary Retrograde on July 18, 2025.
A planet at its Stationary degree is very powerful. Both tr. Mercury and tr. Saturn fit this picture. Tr. Saturn turned Stationary Retrograde on July 13, 2025 at 7°43’ Pisces (12:01 am EDT) and is still within 2’ orb of that Stationary degree as of July 18, 2025. It was closely conjunct Neptune at 7°56’ Pisces. Saturn-Neptune in combination can cut through waters of deceit. This planetary combination is associated with things of long duration, chronic conditions, or even pestilence.
Coincidentally, on the night of June 16, 2025 was the infamous incident at the Coldplay concert in Massachusetts at a stadium holding some 65,000 people. This was where Andrew Byron, CEO of Astronomer, was caught on the KissCam jumbotron in an embrace with his HR Head, Kristin Cabot. Both of them were married to other people, which was quickly apparent by their sudden and evasive reactions. Both of them were put on leave immediately and both resigned within the week.
Well over 100 million people around the world have viewed this 15-second video clip online, commenting on the situation, and/or entering betting markets to predict how soon they would lose their jobs and/or marriages. This incident is worth mentioning in the larger context because the chart of the Mercury Station describes the potential for important revelations, the psychological or even sexual intrigue, the long and deep emotional repercussions, and most of all – the sudden and irreversible way in which the couple was caught in their illicit embrace.
While you could say this is unrelated to matters of national importance, the Kiss cam incident has had a huge impact on how people view trust within work and marriage situations. Likewise, for a nation, if there are no guiding moral principles, then intelligence can be fabricated to send a nation in whatever direction someone decides, unrelated to the common good or the will of the people – whether to undo election results or start wars. In the same way that a marriage and a family can be torn apart, a nation can be torn apart. They are all ruled by Cancer and the Moon.
Back to the specifics of the Mercury Stationary Retrograde chart from July 18, 2025, the Navamsha (9th divisional) chart is also strong, hinting at themes of hidden things and detective work behind-the scenes. Moon is exalted in Taurus in the 12th house opposite Mars in its own sign of Scorpio in the competitive 6th house. Mercury in Capricorn is in the 8th house in a Parivartana yoga (mutual exchange of signs, energies) with Saturn in Virgo. Mercury gains more solid grounding in the Navamsha chart in an EARTH sign and in the mutual exchange with Saturn, reflecting the possibility of concrete evidence to expose what has long been hidden. Navamsha Mercury and Moon are both mental planets and in the 8th and 12th houses, respectively, houses associated with hidden things. So among other things we see in this case the Director of National Intelligence Tulsi Gabbard making an announcement on July 18, 2025 regarding documents that originated almost 10 years ago. She is a prominent and assertive woman (exalted Moon opposite Mars in Scorpio, its own sign) making this historically bold announcement, initially on X:
“Americans will finally learn the truth about how in 2016, intelligence was politicized and weaponized by the most powerful people in the Obama administration to lay the groundwork for what was essentially a years-long coup against President Trump, subverting the will of the American people and undermining our democratic republic.” [She goes on to outline how they did it, starting with the creation of the Russia hoax.]… We are turning over all documents to the DOJ [Department of Justice] for criminal referral.”
Depending on the actions of the DOJ, this could lead to the imprisonment of a former president (President Obama) and many people at the top of his administration who assisted him in pushing forward a plan to either steal the election from Donald Trump, or ensure the destruction of his presidency if he were to be elected. It is not clear yet whether Obama is protected by presidential immunity, as was granted recently to President Trump in a U.S. Supreme Court decision, or whether the crime of treason is even protected by presidential immunity.
Of course like all planets tr. Mercury impacts the whole world, but the chart of the United States (using the Kelleher chart, given further below) is experiencing the current Mercury Retrograde in what has to be recognized as historic implications. In another synchronicity, Ian Trottier’s book was published July 21, 2025 – just three days after the Mercury Stationary Retrograde in Cancer: High Stakes Treason: How John Brennan Compromised American Security for Millions.
This book documents serious financial fraud committed by Obama’s CIA Director John Brennan, in the process allowing terrorist events to happen so he could profit financially. Apropos Tulsi Gabbard’s current allegations, John Brennan was the top national security leader who was carrying out Obama’s wishes to doctor the intelligence. The Intelligence Assessment up to Dec. 8, 2016 said that Russia was not a deciding factor in the Nov. 2016 U.S. election and that there was no Trump-Russia collusion. Nevertheless, President Obama wanted instead to go against the previous Intelligence Assessment and move towards the debunked Steele Dossier that the FBI knew was full of lies. The DNC, FBI and Hillary Clinton campaign had paid for it. Steele was a former MI6 British intelligence officer.
Sadly, according to longtime intelligence veterans, fabricating intelligence is nothing new. But to do so in order to swing a U.S. election or to systematically destroy a U.S. presidency that you do not favor – these treasonous acts have to be stopped once and for all for the Constitutional Republic of the United States to continue as a viable nation. The only way to stop it is to demand accountability.
The USA (Kelleher) Chart
Brief review of How to Read a North and South Indian chart. Underlined planets are in retrograde motion.
The first thing to notice about the connection between the USA chart and the recent Mercury Stationary Retrograde in Cancer is: 1) Mercury is also Retrograde in Cancer in the USA chart, though in the more benign Pushya nakshatra; 2) Mercury is in the 8th house of the chart, and the 8th house can bring scandals and matters related to sex and/or finances; 3) USA Mercury is conjunct Rahu in the less benign Ashlesha nakshtra, and Rahu magnifies whatever planet it contacts; 4) the USA chart is currently in Rahu-Mercury Dasha, or planetary period (Vimshottari Dasha system). This runs from Sept. 8, 2023 to March 29, 2026. This is followed by Rahu-Ketu period up to April 16, 2027, which could repeat some of the same themes as Rahu-Mercury period, since Mercury is on the same axis.
During the Rahu-Mercury period (up through March 29, 2026) we can expect to see the height of propaganda operations and/or revelations and detective work of potentially great magnitude –- ideally in order to raise the level of communications to a higher level. A giant house-cleaning is needed. All of this is of course fraught with danger, as the perpetrators will not hesitate to be ruthless in fighting back against those who are exposing them. Meanwhile, they are accustomed to having the support of mainstream media, Hollywood, and academia. In fact they often control their narrative. This has been going on for over 100 years, but more so since the early 1980s, when far fewer corporate owners began to control the media. This was marked by the Jupiter-Saturn conjunction in Mercury-ruled Virgo that occurred three times, 1980-1981. Coincidentally, Tulsi Gabbard was born close to one of those JU-SA conjunctions in spring 1981. (Her chart is coming up next.) Her role is so monumental in all this that it has to be reflected in her birth chart.
The mainstream media has lost its complete monopoly on consumers of news due to the Internet, social media and independent media, but also due to the public’s rejection of being lied to – i.e. propaganda being delivered as credible news. The media has played a major role in spreading and perpetuating the Russia Collusion Hoax, with The New York Times and The Washington Post even winning Pulitzer prizes for their stories on this topic. The Russia Collusion Hoax is being exposed as propaganda to an increasingly larger public, as is the matter of the Epstein Files – all this exploding into the news with the July 18, 2025 Mercury Station as a catalyst.
In any case, astrologers can look at these confluences of planetary patterns and earthly events and see the timing as highly significant and not just another round of stories soon to be forgotten, with no action taken to match the extent of the crime, and no punishment to fit the crime. With such a serious topic we like to have some periodic relief, especially if it seems there is some real chance of a punishment to fit the crime. W.S. Gilbert made this a laughable topic in one of his songs from The Mikado (1885), an operetta by Gilbert and Sullivan. Here is a short segment from the song titled “A More Humane Mikado”:
My object all sublime
I shall achieve in time—
To let the punishment fit the crime—
The punishment fit the crime;
And make each prisoner pent
Unwillingly represent
A source of innocent merriment,
Of innocent merriment.
Hopefully The Russia Collusion Hoax will not disappear down a memory hole as it seemed like it was doing. This is no doubt a vicious fight, but astrologically it has all the hallmarks of a well-organized and thorough investigation that is intended to sort out some deep underlying problems that could easily recur if they are not cleaned out now and people held accountable.
Just in time for the 250th birthday of the United States in July 2026, this current July and Mercury Stationary Retrograde sets the stage for a purging of the components that threaten to destroy the U.S. Constitutional Republic.
Tulsi Gabbard Birth Chart
Brief review of How to Read a North and South Indian chart. Underlined planets are in retrograde motion.
This birth chart of Tulsi Gabbard is my speculative rectification of her birth time, slightly after 12 noon to give a Pisces Navamsha Ascendant with Mars, Sun, Jupiter in the Pisces Ascendant, and giving her an auspicious Hamsa Mahapurusha yoga, with Jupiter in its own sign in the Ascendant, also Digbala. The birth Sun and Mars are both Vargottama (repeated in the Navamsha and other divisional charts), plus their 10th house position in the birth chart is excellent for dominance and visibility.
The birth chart is notable not only for being close to a Jupiter-Saturn conjunction in Virgo, but also Sun and Mars closely conjunct (2°15’ orb) in Pisces, with Neecha Bhanga Mercury also in Pisces. The JU-SA conjunctions in Virgo were extra powerful due to there being three consecutive conjunctions: 1) Dec. 31, 1980; 2) March 4, 1981; and 3) July 23, 1981. Though the March 1981 conjunction was closest to Gabbard’s birth date and occurred at 14°29’ Virgo, her natal Saturn at 11°33’ Virgo is closest to the July 1981 conjunction at 11°20’ Virgo.)
Her Ascendant lord Mercury is debilitated in Pisces, but it is also Neecha Bhanga Raja yoga, meaning that after some initial setbacks and obstacles in life she becomes much stronger over time, especially in her speech and communications (Mercury). With this birth time the first 16 years of her life are in Mercury Dasha, so she learns this early on. Mercury in Pisces and Jupiter in Virgo are in a Parivartana yoga (mutual exchange of sign lords), and Sun and Mars are the top two planets in terms of celestial longitude, making them a Jaimini Raja yoga, both planets also Digbala (best possible angle of the chart). When Sun and Mars are very strong and well positioned in the chart, this gives good health and gives status and visibility – excellent for public prominence. As U.S. Director of National Intelligence, Tulsi Gabbard has jurisdiction over 18 U.S. Intelligence agencies. She was sworn into office Feb. 12, 2025.
Though this is a rectified chart, it makes sense that this powerful Virgo-Pisces axis would be in angular houses of the chart, especially given her versatility in having strong careers in both the military and in politics. Five planets so strongly placed in Virgo and Pisces supports her impressive character traits which convey reliability and integrity and being able to fend off detractors with ease and grace. The Pisces planets indicate how she has been victimized to some extent over the years with false accusations, yet unafraid to speak out and continue to advance in public life.
She campaigned as a presidential candidate for the Democratic Party in the 2020 election. Then in Oct. 2022 she left the Democratic Party, calling their leadership “”an elitist cabal of warmongers driven by cowardly wokeness.” Using this rectified time of 12:10 pm we see that Gabbard entered her auspicious 6-year Sun Dasha on Feb. 29, 2024. By then Trump’s presidential campaign was going very well and she was being strongly considered for a cabinet position in Trump’s next administration, should he win in Nov. 2024. After he won that election and during the nomination process, she was in the highly favorable Sun-Mars period from Dec. 18, 2024 to April 25, 2025. This would be hugely important in her life. During this period she has been doing work of extraordinary importance which had to be prepared extremely carefully for this moment in July 2025.
Using a birth chart with a time anytime between 10:56 am and 1:04 pm on April 12, 1981 at her birth location, Gemini is rising and Mercury, Sun and Mars are in Pisces in the 10th house opposite Jupiter and Saturn in Virgo. This to me gives a lot of support to this time frame for her birth chart, as she comes into major prominence in Sun Dasha with Sun as Atmakaraka (planet at the highest degree of celestial longitude) conjunct Mars (the Amatyakaraka), both planets in Digbala position (best possible angle of the chart). She had significant opposition in getting confirmed as Director of National Intelligence, as there were many secrets the Deep State wanted to keep from Tulsi Gabbard, and she was clearly not one of them. Now we find out, as of July 18, 2025 how tough Tulsi Gabbard is, and let us hope too that she has well trained and totally loyal secret service agents.
Steve Bannon and General Michael Flynn call this a “Coup d’Etat,” also perhaps now finally creating a catalyst for the Dept. of Justice to totally destroy the Deep State at the 250th anniversary of the United States. Tulsi Gabbard uncovered the Deep State’s 16-year plan to destroy the U.S. (8 years of Obama followed by 8 years of Hillary Clinton). Trump’s election destroyed their plan, so for them – his presidency had to be destroyed. Now is the time to restore integrity on so many levels to the United States Constitutional Republic. This Mercury Retrograde is giving us plenty of action in that direction and towards that end.
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Copyright © 2025 by Edith Hathaway. All rights reserved.