The next Solar Eclipse on 26 February 2017 is at 8 Pisces conjunct Neptune in a Saros Series Bernadette Brady describes as bringing pleasant surprises, sudden happiness, joyful events and lucky breaks or wins. Positive changes in people’s lives.

There is also at the time of the eclipse an adventurous Jupiter opposition Uranus Mars square Pluto which could go several ways – over-confident pushes to prove a point, too much control and an aggressive Saturn trine Mars Uranus – but none of these are in aspect to the Eclipse itself so should have less long term effect. Eclipses tend to cast a shadow over the following six months, and just before.

It’s difficult to tell where it will brew up events in the world. The midheaven runs through Greenland and down through Brazil. UK/London is catching Mars Uranus.

The Lunar Eclipse of 11 February 2017 is at 22 Leo/Aquarius in a Mystic Rectangle trine/sextile Uranus opposition; a three-quarters Grand Sextile with Saturn involved – it could be lively. Jupiter always helps. New Zealand is catching it on the MC/IC axis.

The 21 August 2017 Solar Eclipse is at 28 Leo, conjunct Mars and trine Saturn and Uranus. A Fire Grand Trine. With a Cardinal Grand Square of Jupiter opposition Uranus square Venus opposition Pluto. [See previous post November 11th]. It’s in a series which puts pressure on personal relationships, with tiredness and maybe health issues. Hasty decisions warned against.

It’ll be seen across the USA and does impact on Donald Trump’s Ascendant Mars, so could be quite a jolt. Mars triggered by an Eclipse tends to go into fighting gear and usually provokes a crisis.

The Lunar Eclipse of 7 August 2017 is at 15 Aquarius/Leo conjunct Mars and trine/sextile Jupiter, so confident and combative. The USA catches that on the MC/IC axis.

     

 

Poland seems to be rolling backwards in terms of democratic rights which is giving Brussels yet another headache and pulling demonstrators out onto the street. They are protesting about government plans to restrict journalists’ access to parliament. And the outgoing president of Poland’s highest constitutional court has accused the ruling right-wing Law and Justice party (PiS) of a systematic attempt to destroy oversight of government activity, describing the country as “on the road to autocracy”. The European Commission is to consider sanctions for what it has described as a “systemic threat to the rule of law in Poland”.

The Poland 24 Aug 1989 1.05pm Warsaw chart has a panicky-failure tr Neptune opposition Mars, on and off till late 2018; and Solar Arc Pluto opposition the Gemini Moon in late 2017 which suggests a mutinous-population feeling oppressed.

PM Beato Szydio’s swearing in chart, does have an uncertain Solar Arc Saturn square Neptune now. Though there’s a bullishly confident tr Pluto triune Jupiter in 2017/18 which doesn’t suggest much back-tracking.

The relationship chart between Poland and the EU looks very stressed through 2017 with tr Uranus opposition the composite Uranus and Mars; with a radical shift in the relationship come 2018/19 with tr Pluto opposition the composite Uranus. By 2019 tr Uranus will oppose the composite Sun, which may well lead to calls to break away altogether.

Poland acceded to the EU on 1 May 2004 which has a highly restrictive, enraged Mars Venus opposition Pluto square Moon – which is under severe strain in 2017 from tr Saturn in hard aspect to all four planets; with a disruptive tr Uranus trine Pluto and sextile Venus Mars as well. Plus Solar Arc Uranus opposition Moon, exact in early 2017; and a bad-tempered Solar Arc Mars conjunct Saturn just after mid 2017.

So it’ll be tense times and not just for Poland. Other countries also joined that day – Bulgaria, Cyprus, Czech Republic, Estonia, Hungary, Latvia, Lithuania, Malta, Romania, Slovakia and Slovenia. All in different ways will be feeling aggravated and uncertain about the EU. Tr Uranus moves to conjunct the Taurus Sun of that 2004 accession chart by 2020, which is when the EU chart itself is under hugely challenging influences as tr Uranus catches its Fixed Grand Square.

Brexit may be just the beginning. .

 

Zsa Zsa Gabor, Hollywood socialite and one of the first ‘famous for being famous’ celebrities, has died aged 99. She married nine times, outstripping her elder sister’s six weddings, and her mother and other sister’s three weddings apiece.

Born 6 February 1917 8.08pm Budapest, Hungary she came to the US during World War 11. Her mother had a jewellery store and pushed her daughters towards acting and publicity.

Zsa Zsa was unashamedly flamboyant and wittily upfront about her approach to men and marriage.

“I never hated a man enough to give him his diamonds back.”

“To be loved is a strength. To love is a weakness.”

“Husbands are like fires. They go out when unattended.”

On former husband George Sanders: “We were both in love with him. I fell out of love with him but he didn’t.”

She had a 5^th house Sun Uranus Mars in Aquarius, so loved socialising and having an audience, was volatile, explosive, stubborn and never scared to take a risk. Aquarians often make good comedians. She also had Saturn in Cancer (and Neptune in Leo) opposition Venus Mercury in Capricorn square an 8^th house Jupiter in Aries. Venus Saturn can be promiscuous which plus an independent-minded Aquarius Sun Uranus and argumentative Mars would not make long term relationships easy. Her Jupiter in Aries hints at an ability to attract money as does her Jupiter square Neptune. She was born at the time of the Leo Full Moon so she’d certainly enjoy a five-star lifestyle but again would be ambivalent about close relationships .

She also had Pluto in the 10^th which can often go with becoming a ‘legend’, is highly controlling, and a sign of her mother’s stage-pushiness at getting her daughters out into the public arena. Her mother died aged 100.

 

The bitingly-funny television and food critic AA Gill died a week ago from cancer leaving a gap for many Sunday newspaper readers for whom his eviscerations of actors, directors and restaurants were the week’s highlight. Those on the receiving end would laugh ruefully (mainly) since despite, his fierce sarcasm, he was much loved.

He had an ongoing feud with the Isle of Man after he wrote: “The weather’s foul, the food’s medieval, it’s covered in suicidal motorists and folk who believe in fairies.” Later despite complaints in the Isle of Man parliament he said the citizens fell into two types:  “hopeless, inbred mouth-breathers known as Bennies” and “retired, small arms dealers and accountants who deal in rainforest futures.”

Born 26 June 1954 7.55pm, Edinburgh, Scotland (Astro com BC) to a TV director father and actress mother, he had a brother who was a Michelin-starred chef but mentally fragile who disappeared in 1998 and has not been seen since. Gill himself was severely dyslexic and had a major drug and alcohol problem which nearly killed him in his twenties. He cleaned up and despite his problems with reading and writing was amazingly erudite; and compassionate about wider world problems amongst refugees in the Congo, Jordan and Lampedusa.

He was a Sun Jupiter in Cancer in the 8^th opposition Mars in Capricorn; with Mercury Uranus in Cancer in the 8^th square his MC and 10^th house Neptune. His indulgent Taurus Moon was in the entertaining 5^th. Very intense with four planets in the 8^th and influential. Plus a much-travelled Venus and opinionated Pluto in the 9^th; a conscientious Saturn in Scorpio was trine his Sun and sextile his Mars.

He had multiple quintiles and septiles – 5^th and 7^th Harmonics – artistic, creative, could make his life work and the 7H can be prone to addiction.

Not an easy chart or easy life but he surmounted significant problems to shine.

 

 

Kellyanne Conway, the first woman to lead a successful US Presidential campaign as manager and strategist for Donald Trump, was born 20 January 1967.

She has quite a chart with an ambitious (probably) Capricorn Sun opposition Jupiter square a combative Mars in Libra. She’s also got (possibly) two Grand Trines.  A definite Water Grand Trine of Jupiter trine Saturn in Pisces trine Neptune, formed into a Kite by Jupiter opposition Sun – so creative, healing for others, talented and ego-driven.

She’s also got her Sun trine Uranus (Pluto) in Virgo maybe trine a Taurus Moon, which may in turn be opposition Neptune; so possibly two Kites off that with the Sun opposition Jupiter as well. She’s quite a powerhouse. An Earth Water chart with no Fire – practical, business-minded with a strong intuition and finger on the public pulse with Water and Moon highlighted.

Her Moon may be conjunct Trump’s Taurus MC with her innovative Uranus Pluto and Sun trine his MC. It wouldn’t be the easiest of relationships since her focal point Mars squares his Saturn in Cancer, which would be aggravating.

She has evidently turned down his Press Secretary role and says she’ll work outside the White House/West Wing but still in support of him. Their relationship chart has a heavily aspected Uranus square the composite Venus and trine Sun, so they’ll need space from one another; plus there’s a jockeying-for-the-upper-hand Jupiter Pluto, which can work well short-term but will probably be better suited to an arm’s length connection. Plus an irritable Mars trine Saturn.

She certainly looks in for a major success with her Solar Arc Jupiter conjunct her Pluto in 2017; though with some losses from tr Neptune; and insecurities or shocks as well from tr Uranus opposition her focal point Mars in late Feb/March.

   

 

Crime writer Agatha Christie’s Witness for the Prosecution which was the short story turned drama that turned her from a success into a phenomenon in 1953 has been remade for the BBC’s Christmas schedule. She is the best-selling writer of all time with 80 detective novels. Only the Bible has sold more than her four billion copies. No mean achievement especially for someone known as slow as a child, possibly dyslexic.

Born 15 September 1890 4am Torquay, England, she had an isolated childhood, home educated with her two elder siblings off at boarding school. She started writing to stave off boredom encouraged by her mother. Her first marriage produced one child. It lasted 12 years until her husband left her, at which point she disappeared for 10 days causing a hue and cry. She subsequently, aged 40, married an archaeologist who was only 26, which lasted for 36 years, though he seemed to have a mistress in the background.

She was a Sun Virgo square Mars in Sagittarius, so hard-working and feisty. She also had a communicative Air Grand Trine of a Libra Moon trine a creative, slightly paranormal Neptune Pluto in Gemini in her 10^th trine Jupiter in Aquarius. Pluto in the 10^th makes for influence, Neptune is artistic and the combination of the pair can be larger than life as her output and achievements showed.

Her 2^nd house Mercury in Libra was widely trine Pluto Neptune and the North Node in Gemini. She was clearly designed for a money-making and ambitious life from unlikely beginnings.

Her second husband, Max Mallowan, 6 May 1904 had a Taurus Sun which fitted well with her Virgo Sun and possibly an Aquarius Moon conjunct her Jupiter and trine her Libra Moon. His Jupiter was in her 8^th so a deep and supportive bond; with his Mars Mercury on her midheaven so he’d promote her ambitions.

It was an adventurous match with Mars Jupiter conjunct in their relationship chart and his Venus falling in her 9^th house of travel – she accompanied him to the Middle East on digs. But not always easy or overly emotional. With so much Air in her chart and a self-sufficient Virgo Sun she’d be quite detached.

 

Jude Law who was the unexpected lead for Paolo Sorrentino’s sumptuous 10-part television drama The Young Pope rose to the challenge and inhabited the part to the manner born. He played a young American laid-back, smoking, cherry-coke drinking primate who turned out to have hardline views on the key issues for the Vatican. As to be expected from Sorrentino who directed Oscar-winning The Great Beauty, it was gloriously shot, awash with red and gold, sliding in and out of dream sequences, with a wittily quirky plot as well as some telling jabs at the Vatican.

Law, 29 Dec 1972 6am Lewisham, England, made his name with The Talented Mr Ripley and more recently The Grand Budapest Hotel and Guy Ritchie’s Sherlock Holmes. But he’s been in need of a splash and he will certainly be in line for awards for this, with a second series planned. He’s had a complicated love life, which at times overshadowed his acting career, with five children by three different relationships.

He’s a Sun Capricorn square Pluto on his Libra MC with Jupiter also in Capricorn in his 2^nd. He has a handsome and charming Neptune, Venus, Mercury and Ascendant in Sagittarius opposition a 7^th house Saturn; and a restless Moon Uranus in Libra. Not an easy chart for emotional relationships, with Moon Uranus, Venus Saturn; and such a strong Pluto.

His creative 5^th and 7^th Harmonics are strong, as is his actor’s 15H.

In 2016/17 he’s got tr Pluto conjunct his Jupiter which usually accompanies a great success and confidence and financial boost. Though he may also be taking it more quietly with tr Saturn dipping below his Ascendant.

Paolo Sorrentino, 31 May 1970 11.50pm Naples, Italy, has filmic Neptune in his 10^th house of career on the focal point of a Yod to Mars in Gemini sextile Moon in Taurus. A Yod focal point Neptune yearns for calm and beauty and times of seclusion – Leonardo Da Vinci had one such as did Marlon Brando. His Gemini Sun is trine an 8^th house Uranus, with Pluto also in the 8^th; and Mars in Gemini in the entertainment 5^th is square both Pluto and Uranus – so driven, risk-taking and volatile. It’s an Air Earth chart with no Fire, so he’d be drawn to a subject like The Young Pope which focussed on the struggles around faith – his missing element.

He also has strong creative harmonics – 5^th and 7^th – and leaving-a-legacy 17H.

Sorrentino’s Sun falls in Jude Law’s 7^th so a good partnership; with PS’s Uranus conjunct JL’s Pluto MC – so a catalytic relationship that moved him in a new direction.

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

 

 

How did we get to a situation where truth and facts appear to be disposable entities and opposing viewpoints are clung onto with aggressive and closed-minded hostility? Politicians have always lied and humanity for millennia have fought over the ‘we’re right and you’re wrong’ scenario, especially in religious conflicts. But those tendencies have magnified to a pathological degree in recent times.

‘The late US senator Daniel Patrick Moynihan used to say: “You’re entitled to your own opinion, but you’re not entitled to your own facts.” But that distinction seems to have broken down. Now people regard facts as very much like opinions: you can discard the ones you don’t like.’ [URL: goo.gl/2Ox0Zy]

Part of it can be ascribed to the emergence of the internet which gave free rein and a free platform to vicious trolls and conspiracy theorists, letting loose an underbelly of anger and wild fantasy. Plus admittedly more beneficial things.

The WWW was launched on 6 August 1991 with a highly-strung Uranus Neptune North Node in Capricorn trine Mars in Virgo, sextile Pluto in Scorpio. Uranus Neptune can be inspired leading to advances in social thinking, science and art, but what the combination can lack is common sense. With no Earth grounding and thus no limits, it can rise to magnificent achievements; or it can foster irrational fanatical thinking, so extreme that it misleads. Uranus Neptune is impervious to rational discussion since it clings onto its vision/ideas even when faced with evidence to the contrary. Mars Pluto Uranus in aspect can be transcendentally enraged, brutal, explosive, especially with an immoveable Fixed Pluto on the midpoint.

The downside of Neptune can be destructive as well as oddly powerful and almost impossible to argue with.

The tendency to shut out opposing views is only likely to worsen as Saturn Pluto draws closer. In the 20^th Century Saturn Pluto was around through the birth and rise of fascism first in Italy on a Saturn Pluto conjunction in Cancer; and then the rise of Hitler on the back of the Saturn Pluto opposition in 1932 which also saw the early BNP spawned in the UK which was later reformed on the Saturn Pluto conjunction in the early 1980s. Saturn Pluto comes round reasonably regularly in hard aspect so its function won’t be to precipitate radical shifts, but it will consolidate what other influences have initiated.

Fascism which went hand in hand with an obsession for nationalist identity had/has a peculiar mindset based on delusional narcissism. There is a false idealization of the self, a delusional grandiosity which seeks to sweep away the past and forge a future entirely of its own creation. It’s a group delusion where those who do not think as the group does are excluded, harassed, killed or declared insane. It entertains no doubt or uncertainty and distorts the views of opponents to render them less intelligible and credible. They have to be discredited because no separation of view is possible from the accepted one. They are smeared, denigrated, caricatured and then deleted from mind. It’s us or them, black or white, no room for middle ground. Or for complex thinking which can appreciate there is good and bad in the same situation or person.

Keeping an open mind and admitting to mistaken opinions as new information comes to light is no easy matter, harder for some temperaments than others. It’s more difficult in an atmosphere where the ‘true believers’ rain bile on the heads of anyone who dares disagree and dismiss any new facts as fakes, false flags and the like – and never EVER admit they were wrong, even way down the line after events have conclusively trounced them. But all the more important, as Michelle Obama, said not to stoop to their level but stand firm for truth and real facts and, even more importantly, decency. And if there’s one thing Saturn Pluto is helpful for, it’s grit and perseverance in the face of repression and suppression.

Roll on Jupiter Saturn in Aquarius in 2021.

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.