I DON’TTRUST THEM

The difficulty with a retrograde planet comes from its reception rather than its expression, and since one influences the other, that’s basically the same thing.

Sam Altman has Venus retrograde in Aries, conjunct Mercury. It is not witnessed by his Pluto and Saturn in Scorpio.

I have… bouts of optimism. The latest one leads me to believe this aversion is a good thing, as it “shields” him from the malefic nature of Saturn. But (and that is a major but) aversion does not necessarily mean protection. It means a lack of direct testimony. Sometimes that removes direct affliction; other times, it may mean that the planets cannot coordinate.

Evading accountability through carefully self-serving manoeuvres behind the scenes?

His retrograde Saturn in Scorpio is rough, but he’s not completely powerless here. His first-house stellium tells me he generally has the shoulders to bear the limitations set in front of him. But is it resilience or ruthlessness?

We will need to monitor what happens with him or OpenAI when Venus transits over his natal Pluto. Because of the signs involved (Aries and Scorpio), I am worried about the implications of a possible scandal surrounding duplicitous behaviour in the shadows. Will there be another reveal about him being a pathological liar? He was called “King of the cannibals” for a reason. Would you believe it was said affectionately at the time?

I bring it up because the upcoming Venus retrograde will pass over his Pluto in September, October and December.

The last time she did (2025), Sam was trying to transform OpenAI from primarily an AI software and research company into an organisation operating at the scale of major industrial infrastructure. The question, then and now, was: who would carry the enormous risk required to make that happen?

There could certainly be another enormous financial arrangement. Venus is still Venus, and this is still his seventh house. But the surrounding configuration is much more confrontational. And now, with him openly saying he thinks we will reach artificial general intelligence by the end of this year, I do think we all benefit from paying attention to the transits. So it’s up to us schizos.

ChatGPT Astra’s announcement chart gives me pause. On the one hand, Venus in domicile in the twelfth house scares me: Venus at her best doesn’t witness the event? The Scorpio Ascendant, ruled by a fallen Mars in the ninth house, could mean greater involvement with the United States government than is being let on. Or it could be the will of the event itself: to parade the most sophisticated weapon the state currently possesses. It will have an uncanny ability to cause division within that country. The second decan of Cancer is the image of the Walled Garden. Any place can be a battlefield when you remember that wars are not fought only with swords and bows.

The chart tells me this is decidedly a major step towards “AGI” or whatever these nerds actually aim to manifest. The Moon–Uranus conjunction tells us exactly that. Mercury was revitalised by his conjunction with the Sun in Virgo, a sign that certainly doesn’t miss the South Node.