Month: December 2016

Assuming that Brexit, Trump, the popularity of Le Pen in France, the re-emergence of nationalist Russia and the crumbling of the EU,  and separatist movements like the SNP which was a forerunner to Brexit, are less a cause and more a symptom of the times, it seems worth looking at what’s coming.

Below is from my Astrological History of the world on Saturn Pluto conjunctions and hard aspects. Next post I’ll try to disentangle my thinking on the post-truth, conspiracy theory, nationalist/fascist phenomenon of the moment. Apologies for its gothic tone so near the festivities.

Saturn–Pluto

Tremendous resistance to adversity and a formidable defensiveness come to the fore when these two tough, essentially masculine energies come together. Their appearance in tandem is usually an invitation to a walk on the dark side of life. Saturn, rigidly disciplined, status-driven, melancholy and authoritarian, has no reason to mellow when combined with Pluto’s power–hungry need for control. If anything, both planets become more entrenched when their energies are merged. Achievements of substance can occur, but only through slow, patient hard labour and usually a good deal of suffering, too. Stamina counts when they are around; some sacrifice is always demanded.

Liz Greene, the Jungian analyst and astrologer, talks of the obsessiveness, intense frustration and self-destructive quality of Saturn–Pluto contacts—purification through ordeal by fire. At the macrocosmic level of world events, they often coincide with wars, massacres and assassinations, as in 1982 with the Falklands War, in 1947 with the bloody partition of India and Pakistan, and in 1914 with the First World War.

At a mythological level, both planets have a connection with death. Saturn as the Grim Reaper points to the inevitability of disintegration through time, or of the cutting short of a lifespan through misfortune. Pluto, ruler of the underworld, oversees the passage to the next life, through the vale of darkness to rebirth in another realm. Saturn forces his father to face his own mortality by castrating him, but then refuses to face his own, preferring to eat his children rather than hand over the staff of authority when old age comes along. Saturn’s great strength in stability and structure is also a weakness when faced with transitions or situations demanding flexibility and compromise. Pluto in a slightly different way is also incapable of giving way gracefully. A world view based solely on power sees only the victorious or the oppressed. There can be no quarter given when compromise is seen as a sign of weakness, a lowering of defences as potentially life-threatening.

Astrologically, Saturn–Pluto also represents the magician, giving the ability to wield occult power at a practical level for good or ill. They do have positive uses in their awesome strength and their ability to withstand extreme pressure and put up with mass misery and suffering. But they do have to be seen as a pairing where good emerges only after times of great endurance. ‘The night is darkest just before the dawn’ is a saying that could be used to describe their energy. In Egyptian mythology, Nut, the great goddess, opens her legs every morning to allow the Sun to be born and swallows it again every night. Saturn–Pluto resists letting the light in to begin a new day and allowing the cycle of waxing Sun and waning Moon to continue on its endless wheel.

Literature

Saturn–Pluto creativity always walks on the dark side. During the 1947 Saturn–Pluto conjunction in Leo, notable emerging literature included The Plague by the arguably pessimistic existentialist writer Albert Camus; The Diary of Anne Frank by a young Jewish girl killed during the Holocaust (written during the Saturn–Uranus conjunction of 1942–43); and Tennessee William’s dark sexual tragedy A Streetcar Named Desire. In the following conjunction in Libra in 1982, Chilean novelist Isabel Allende’s riveting but shocking The House of Spirits came out alongside two major works about the Holocaust, Thomas Keneally’s Schindler’s Ark and Primo Levi’s If Not Now, When? Thomas Mann’s novel Death in Venice (later made into a film by Luchino Visconti), about an older man’s fascination with a young boy in the midst of a deadly epidemic, coincided with the 1913–14 Saturn–Pluto conjunction in Cancer.

In 1883 in Taurus, Friedrich Nietzsche’s Thus Spake Zarathustra emerged as his sanity crumbled. In 1818 in Pisces, Mary Wollstonecraft’s Frankenstein created a terrifying monster. One conjunction further back in 1787, Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart was writing his masterpiece Don Giovanni. This opera combines rampant sexuality with a stark examination of death and the forces beyond the grave; Mozart wrote it when the Saturn–Pluto conjunction was in Aquarius, his own sign perhaps reflecting the composer’s fear of his overwhelming father, who died that year. The opera finishes with the reckless Giovanni being pulled inexorably towards death as a result of his failure to accept responsibility. Mozart himself died four years later, aged just 35.

Religion

Freedom of choice is not a Saturn–Pluto concept, so heresies, or beliefs that do not fall in line with the established order, come under pressure during these conjunctions. In 1616 during the conjunction in Taurus, the Italian astronomer and mathematician Galileo, was threatened with torture by the Inquisition unless he agreed not to teach the Copernican system which put the Sun at the centre of the solar system. He recanted to protect himself in 1633, but the sentence passed on him was, staggeringly, only formally retracted by the Pope in 1992 (during the Saturn–Pluto square).

In 1517 in Capricorn, Martin Luther, Protestant reformer and famously outspoken critic of the Church, nailed his thesis denouncing the sale of indulgences to the door of the Wittenburg Palace church, for which he was excommunicated. But his determination was such that by the time of the next conjunction in Aquarius and Pisces in 1551, his Lutheran followers were assured of their freedom to practise their religion.

Assassinations

In the history of the past 2000 years, there is no shortage of assassinations and violent mayhem, but the Saturn–Pluto effect does appear to coincide with particularly epic acts of murder or execution. Most famously this century, the assassination, on the conjunction in Gemini in 1914, of the Archduke Franz Ferdinand of Austria-Hungary and his wife by a Bosnian Serb student in Sarajevo, triggered the devastating First World War. The beheading of the English king Charles I after the English Civil War took place during the Saturn–Pluto conjunction in Gemini in 1649. The trial of Mary Queen of Scots in 1586, with Saturn–Pluto in Aries, led to her execution a year later. Two other English monarchs met untimely ends during Saturn–Pluto pairings: King Edmund of England was murdered by an outlaw in 944, with the conjunction in Cancer; and King Edward the Martyr was murdered in 978, with Saturn–Pluto in Virgo, probably by servants of his stepbrother, Ethelred II, who succeeded him.

Russian history also resonates to these bleak moments, not surprisingly perhaps since the beginning of the Vanangian Empire of the Ros (the Swedish name for seamen, hence ‘Russia’) occurred as Saturn and Pluto came together in Aries in 849, when Vikings took Kiev. In 1016 in Sagittarius, St Vladimir I, Great Prince of Russia, died; on taking the throne his son murdered his brothers. During the conjunction in Aries in 1584 that sent Mary Queen of Scots to the scaffold, Ivan the Terrible of Russia killed his son in a fit of rage, and then died himself. In 1881 in Taurus, the tsar was assassinated; his autocratic son Alexander III took over, reversed his father’s liberal reforms and adopted repressive policies, persecuting Jews.

The Roman Empire is also littered with murderous moments during these tough conjunctions. In ad 10 in Libra, Augustus lost three Roman legions, massacred by the German leader Arminius. In ad 79, on the next conjunction in Aquarius, Vesuvius erupted, burying Pompeii and Herculaneum in molten lava. Two years later in ad 81, under the same influences, the emperor Titus died, succeeded by his brother Domitian, suspected of hastening his end. In 113, with Saturn–Pluto in Aries, Emperor Trajan mounted a campaign of spectacular conquest, reaching the Persian Gulf. In 175, in Gemini, Cassius suppressed a rebellion and declared himself emperor, only to be killed by one of his centurions. In 243 in Virgo, Gordian III was murdered, while campaigning in Persia, by his army commander, who became the first Arab emperor. In 280, in Sagittarius, Emperor Probius was killed by mutinous soldiers, rebelling against his severe discipline.

This century and last – war

Events of the three Saturn–Pluto conjunctions in each century are a chilling reflection of their destructive, unyielding, repressive energy. Good can emerge, but only after times of endurance, and usually great suffering. Most recently in 1982, when the conjunction was in Libra, the Falklands War between Britain and Argentina flared up. Israel also invaded the Lebanon; and the Sabra/Chatila refugee-camp massacres aroused international anger and condemnation. At the same time, Solidarity, the Polish workers’ organization, demonstrated against martial law, only to have the Soviet authorities tighten their repression.

In 1946–48, with Saturn–Pluto in Leo, the messy partition of India and Pakistan led to massacres and killings; six million people were forced to move state. With the start of the Cold War, the Iron Curtain descended between Russia and Western Europe, a fitting symbol of Saturn–Pluto’s utter determination to build defensive barriers. Japanese and German war-crime tribunals were ongoing, bringing to public awareness the extent of the atrocities of the Second World War. World War 11 indeed started on a Saturn square Pluto.

Back in 1914, the conjunction in late Gemini then Cancer began with the assassination, as we have seen, of Archduke Ferdinand, leading to the appalling destruction of the First World War. One conjunction earlier in 1882, Saturn–Pluto in Taurus saw the outrages in rural Ireland when 10,500 families were brutally evicted. Tsar Alexander III was at the same time exerting an iron rule in Russia, forcing Orthodox beliefs on the population, and persecuting dissidents.

Saturn–Pluto’s repressive tendencies were also on display in 1819 in Pisces, when freedom of the press was abolished in Germany and universities placed under State supervision in an attempt to check revolutionary and liberal movements. The Peterloo Massacre took place in England at the same time: the militia charged a crowd in Manchester for listening to speeches on parliamentary reform and the repeal of the Corn Laws.

During the recent Saturn in Gemini opposition to Pluto in Sagittarius, the suicide plane attacks on the World Trade Center in New York and the Pentagon on September 11, 2001 killed 3000 people, triggering America’s War on Terrorism.

 

 

   

 

The Kardashians in the White House are, in a blackly comic way, providing some light relief from the horrors of the world.

Wife X3 Melania is not going to Washington purportedly to not disturb 10 year-old Barron’s NY schooling, which I don’t buy for a moment as an excuse.  And Ivanka seems to be lining up as stand-in First Lady. Melania is a Sun Taurus and daughter Ivanka is a Sun Scorpio – both of which square Trump’s Pluto. I imagine they do precisely as they are told. Especially Melania who evidently did not see much of the Donald prior to the campaign anyway, tucking herself out of sight in Florida, and any time she was present at his interviews in days gone by, sat demurely and uttered not a word.

Melania’s Pluto squares onto Trump’s Sun opposition Moon so I’d imagine he feels she’s a drag on him; while Ivanka’s upbeat Jupiter Pluto in Libra is trine/sextile his Full Moon and square his Saturn Venus in Cancer, so she’ll be a cheerleader for him.

The Melania/Trump relationship chart always was going to be deadlocked through 2016/17 with tr Pluto opposition the composite Mars; and is a totally controlled relationship anyway with composite Sun square Pluto.

There are no birth times sadly for Ivanka or Melania. But Ivanka, while stressed at times, also has tr Uranus opposition her Jupiter Pluto from April 2017 till early 2018 which looks upbeat.

Melania will have some ups and moments of great insecurity as well.

Barron Trump, 20 March 2006 5.30am New York, does have Pluto conjunct his MC in the 10^th which does suggest a controlling, smothering mother; and a hidden 12^th house Venus, and Moon trine Saturn so his childhood will not exactly be awash with affection. He’s certainly wary of his father, though also fond of him. His relationship with his mother is strained and erratic.

Ivanka and Melania have a sticky interface with M’s Mars in Gemini opposition I’s Sagittarius Moon; and M’s Saturn in Taurus opposition I’s Scorpio Sun. Their relationship chart has an aggravated composite Mars Saturn square Jupiter Uranus – so very up and down; with a cool Saturn opposition composite Sun; and a needs-space Sun square Uranus; and an evasive/disappointing Venus square Neptune. It does look a touch rattled at the moment into January; with worsening aggro in 2018/19.

The what-comes-next question looms large over the Syrian conflict and not just in Syria. Iran is now claiming to be the dominant power in the Middle East and Russia may well find despite its ‘triumph’ in Syria, that it is rapidly pushed to one side. One real possibility is that Hezbollah whose fighters have been under the wing of the Iranian Revolutionary Guard in Syria continue to set up bases in Golan and southern Syria. Intelligence commentators says that if Assad manages to stay in power, he will likely have to surrender con­trol of the Golan to Iran and Hezbol­lah. “Indeed… Hezbollah and Iran plan to connect the Golan Heights to the terror group’s South Lebanon stronghold — to make it one contig­uous front against Israel.”

The relationship charts between Israel and Iran 7 October 1906 and 1 Feb 1979 – and between the Iran charts and Russia/ USA – would point to 2018/19 being the flash point where tensions escalate.

There’ll be rumblings and posturing through 2017, but 2018 is when there’s a major turnaround in relations. The same goes for the Hezbollah/Israel relationship chart.

 

 

There have been protests on streets in many cities as the bloody battle for Aleppo draws to a destructive end. The Eiffel Tower went dark, Qatar cancelled its national celebrations; there were demos in London, Sarajevo and Amman, with outbursts of feeling when the Russia/Turkey cease fire failed to hold as Syrian government and Iranian forces continued to pound rebels and civilians.

The Battle for Aleppo started on 19 July 2012 on a brutal Mars square Pluto; and a Cancer New Moon square Saturn. Saturn has now moved to square the Sun exactly as the city is all but annihilated.

The Syria country chart, 1 Jan 1944 12 am, was always heading for a total meltdown as the Solar Arc Saturn squared the Uranus Mars conjunction exactly over the past few months and weeks. There may be a ray of sunshine from May 2017 onwards with tr Uranus trine the Syria Jupiter.

Despite the ‘win’ Assad’s Presidency chart, 17 July 2000, doesn’t look that upbeat or settled with tr Uranus square the Mars at the moment and square the Sun from late April, on and off for a year; with worsening dangers and frustrations from tr Pluto opposition Mars in 2018/19.

His personal chart with its Virgo Sun Uranus Pluto opposition Saturn in Pisces is also heading for an undermining, uncertain, panicky few years of ebbing power from April 2017 on for several years.

His Saturn is conjunct the Syria Pisces Moon with his Uranus Pluto Sun in opposition so he’s been a disaster for the country over which he’s had an iron grip. Whether he gets dislodged is a moot point, though there are signs of movement on his relationship chart with Syria in 2017/18 so we can always hope.

         

 

 

Vladimir Putin’s Presidency chart, 7 May 2012 12.10 pm Moscow, always did look in for a stupendous triumph as the Solar Arc Sun moved to conjunct the 10^th house Jupiter, exact exact over the US Inauguration 2017 (one minute = a sixtieth of a degree).  His term is over its early instabilities and is definitely flying high with a getting-a-firm-grip tr Pluto trine the Sun, again this January as it has done in 2016, until late 2017. Into 2018/19 tr Pluto is trine the Presidency Jupiter which is more confidence and success.  There’ll be a few wobbles and arguments when tr Uranus is opposition the Saturn and conjunct Mercury in April/May 2017 and on, but the warm glow will continue through till the next election in 2018 when he’s eligible to stand again.

His own chart, 7 October 1952, is facing considerable challenges but he’ll be forging ahead nonetheless with a pushily confident and successful tr Pluto trine his Jupiter in 2017/18. His natal ruthless Pluto in Leo trine Mars in Sagittarius is forming into a Fire Grand Trine with tr Uranus in Aries in trine to both, so his risk-taking entrepreneurial spirit will be sky rocketing, which won’t do nerves in the East European ex-Soviet countries any good. Tr Pluto is opposition his Uranus in 2017/18 which does suggest a major turnaround in his life.

On the downside he’s got a tough tr Pluto square his Saturn this coming year, as last; with a highly-strung tr Uranus opposition his Neptune Mercury; and from 2018 tr Pluto square his Neptune.

His relationship with Rex Tillerson is friendly with a composite Sun Venus trine Jupiter. It’ll get the separating tr Saturn conjunction to the composite Sun, then Venus and Uranus in 2018/19, so may not stay as cosy.

Trump’s relationship with him is more controlling with a composite Sun Pluto conjunction. Putin’s Jupiter is conjunct Trump’s MC so Trump clearly sees him as a road to his success. But these Plutonic relationships have a habit of deteriorating and ending up in a tug of war for supremacy. There’ll be a definite hiccup between them from this May onwards as tr Uranus opposes the composite Mars, and that repeats till early 2018.

The USA relationship charts with Russia 1917 and 1991 look much less cheerful with undermining Neptune transits to the composite Sun Saturn on one and Mars on the other from mid May 2017 onwards  till early 2019. Plus downbeat Saturn transits. So the US leadership may not be singing from quite same hymn sheet as the US population.

 

 

Saturn moves into Capricorn from December 2017 staying till December 2020. Traditionally this was associated with hardship and deprivation and it does affect the USA chart with its Venus Jupiter Sun in Cancer; and the UK, EU, Australia etc with Capricorn Suns.

In fact two of the major financial crashes – Wall Street 1929 and the October 1987 – occurred before Saturn got there and was in late Sagittarius (i.e similar to what’s around this coming year in 2017). The Great Depression kicked in from 1930 when tr Saturn in Capricorn was in opposition to Pluto and square Uranus. Both Saturn Pluto and Saturn Uranus have negative connotations for economic prosperity. The 1987 crash happened with a Saturn Uranus conjunction in late Sagittarius.

Saturn was in Capricorn 1988 to 1991 and was very muddled up with the Uranus Neptune conjunction.  The 1987 crash happened just before. The previous time Saturn was in Capricorn was January 1959 to the end of 1961. There had been a recession in 1958; and another one picking up in April 1960 lasting till February 1961. Then Saturn started in Capricorn on a quincunx to Uranus.

This next Saturn in Capricorn is in orb aspect to Pluto in 2019 but not exact until early 2020. Though the exact aspects are not necessarily involved in major shifts, and the effect of Saturn in Capricorn will have been there since late 2017.

Saturn will oppose the USA Venus Jupiter through 2018 and then oppose the Sun in 2019. In the UK/EU with 10 degree Capricorn Suns the exact Saturn conjunction will come late 2018 into 2019.

By early 2020 Jupiter has moved into Capricorn which will help.

The sum total is that a recession is almost inevitable, perhaps kicking in through this year though there are no hard Saturn aspects to Uranus, only a soft trine. It’ll be tough going through 2018/19 with glimmerings of light by 2020.

The last time Saturn was conjunct Pluto in Capricorn was in 1284 when Wales was incorporated into England; and the Pied Piper led children away in Hamelin (chuckle, lovely analogy). Venice coined the gold ducat, the standard of European coinage for the following six hundred years.

  

 

 

Rex Tillerson, chief executive of Exxon Mobil, has been nominated for US secretary of state. Though his confirmation hearing is likely to be a rocky given his close ties to Russia, his deliberate downplaying of climate change and various controversial oil deals in Canada, Northern Iraq and associations with countries abroad with poor human rights records.

Born 23 March 1952 in Wichita Falls, Texas, he’s an upfront, pro-active Sun Aries with a fearsomely determined and ruthless Pluto square Mars in Scorpio; and a confident, pushy Jupiter in Aries trine Pluto. A big personality. His Sun opposes Saturn in Libra squaring onto an innovative/divisive Uranus in Cancer. With his Jupiter Mercury in Aries in a high-finance opposition to Neptune.

His Sun, Mercury and Jupiter fall in Trump’s 8^th so a strong financial connection. His Venus Moon in Pisces are in Trump’s 7^th which is good for a friendly connection/partnership. Though his Mars Pluto square does rather tangle with Trump’s Mars Pluto. It’ll be a robust working association with Tillerson bluntly straight talking, making unexpected suggestions about new experimental approaches.

Their relationship chart is friendly with a composite Sun Venus though that squares Pluto, which will be a tight connection at the start, moving into power struggles about who gets the last word. There’s also a non-mutually supportive composite Mars Neptune, which suggests egos will get in the way. Two alpha males. There’s nothing much ruffling the relationship chart (without a birth time) apart from an overly confident tr Pluto opposition Jupiter in 2017/18 which may generate too much confidence between them, leading to brash decisions.

He’s an easier fit for Trump than Gary Cohn, President of Goldman Sachs, who’s been handed the job of director of the National Economic Council, which has a key role in policymaking, and does not require Senate confirmation.

Cohn, 27 Aug 1960 New York, is an intense Sun Mercury Pluto in Virgo in a tough trine to Saturn in Capricorn, sextile Neptune (Moon) in Scorpio. [Born four days before Hassan Nasrullah, head of Hezbollah.]

Cohn also has a gung-ho Jupiter in Sagittarius opposition Mars in Gemini square Venus in Virgo.

Cohn’s Jupiter is conjunct Trump’s Moon which will help; but his Mars is conjunct Trump’s 10^th house Uranus and his Uranus is conjunct Trump’s Mars – so a definite clash of agendas and egos.

Their relationship chart has an explosively volatile composite Sun Mars Uranus square Neptune Saturn, trine Jupiter; with Jupiter square Pluto Venus. So huge amount of game-playing and competitiveness in there. It’ll probably start nice with Venus Jupiter Pluto and deteriorate. Mind you almost from square one since tr Uranus will square the composite Mars in February with a discouraging tr Pluto square the composite Saturn at the same time, running on and off for two years. I suspect that one won’t last the full term.

Please add below.  Older posts under News on top bar.

 

The Electors meet in their own states on December 19^th to cast their votes for President and Vice President. These have to be delivered by Dec 28^th to the Senate; there’s a meeting on Jan 3^rd; and another on January 6^th when votes are counted in Congress.

While it seems unthinkable that any rebellion amongst the Electors could overturn what was a considerable win for Trump of 306 to Clinton’s 232, these are bizarre times. And both Trump’s chart and the USA 1776 do indicate serious setbacks over this period. See previous post on Trump facing Saturn, Dec 1 below.

The 19^th sees Mercury going retrograde/stationary at 10.54 am UT till January 8^th.  Tr Saturn will oppose the USA Mars at 21 Gemini from Dec 29 to Jan 5^th; and then squares the US Neptune from January 5^th to 15^th. So anger, confusion, panic, a collision.

Trump, of course, has tr Saturn conjunct his Moon and then opposition his Sun from Dec 29 to Jan 15. Both of which will be deflating.

Not only is the Clinton vote 2.5 million more than Trump; there’s now a major rumpus about the Russians interfering in the election to favour Trump, releasing Democrat hacked info while holding back Republican material. And the Republican FBI chief is being accused of damaging Clinton with allegations which he later retracted as unfounded two days before the election.

All an unholy mess as Trump continues to favour as nominees precisely the fat cats he accused Clinton of cosying up to.

 

 

Prince Andrew has issued what the press are calling ‘an extraordinary public statement’ denying there is any rift between himself and Prince Charles over the status of Princesses Beatrice and Eugenie. He is upset at recent press reports that he wants his daughters’ future husbands to be given earldoms and said the stories were “completely made up”.

It’s no secret the two brothers were never close and recent steps to slim down the Monarchy to the heir and his family have not gone down well with Prince Andrew, nor did the removal of expensive protection officers for the two girls.

Andrew and Charles’s relationship chart has an aggravated, argumentative, competitive composite Sun Mercury Mars conjunction in a cool sextile to Saturn; with the composite Moon square Saturn – so not remotely amiable or friendly.

There’s not much showing at the moment except on midpoints, though their relationship will continue to be tense through 2017. Where it starts to get really sticky is from late in 2017 and through 2018 and beyond as tr Saturn moves across the composite Descendant and starts to conjunct first the composite Jupiter, then Mars and the Sun, Mercury through 2019 as well. So the gulf will widen considerably presumably as HM Queen retreats further into the background and Charles takes more of a foreground role.

Prince Andrew, 19 Feb 1960 3.38pm London, has a tension-erupting Solar Arc Uranus square his Saturn at the moment; tr Uranus is conjunct his MC in early and late 2017 for a change of career or life direction; and a ‘shocking’ Solar Arc Sun square his Mars, exact in late 2017. At that point as well tr Saturn will conjunct his 5^th house Jupiter which will dampen his enthusiasm, especially where his children are concerned. Into 2018 tr Uranus will square his Mars Venus in Capricorn which will fire up his temper and rattle him significantly.

He’s been left without an official role since blotting his copybook a few years back which removed his trade envoy job, and his as yet unmarried daughters, one of whom appears incapable of holding down a steady job and holidays endlessly, are getting a running bad press. His bizarre relationship with his ex-Sarah Ferguson looks to be drifting further apart in 2017/18.