Theresa May – no cheer in sight

   

 

‘Like the Living Dead in a second-rate horror film, the premiership of Theresa May staggers on oblivious.’ Even given former Chancellor George Osborne’s personal axe-grinding, his words do strike a chord amidst growing alarm of UK voters and businesses about the non-progress of the Brexit negotiations. There are two views about the Brussels contest of wills between the chosen chefs Barnier and Davis. One view says the EU are incapable of negotiating anything, which was Greek finance minister Yanis Yaroufakis’ experience; he said early on ‘just walk away’. The other is that May’s cabinet is so riven with dispute they can’t agree on anything much and she’s running a rudderless Government, in office but not in power. Both may well be true.

Theresa May’s Government chart, 9 June 2017 12.35pm, London, does not generate confidence with a split Full Moon of Gemini Sun opposition Moon on the MC/IC axis square Neptune on the Descendant – conflicted, confused, delusional, impractical, uncommitted. There is an inspirational Fire Grand Trine of Saturn trine Uranus trine Node, but all in hidden houses, formed into a Kite with Saturn opposition Sun = difficulty of turning dreams into reality and bedevilled by delays and setbacks.

Senior Tories are muttering publicly she has no chance of making it to the next election and with tr Neptune in the panicky-failure conjunction to her Mars (early 2017, repeating March 2018 and again late Oct to end December 2018); and tr Neptune in an enthusiasm-denting opposition to her Jupiter in 2019/2020, they are almost certainly right. But as to when she’ll actually jump ship or more likely be pushed isn’t clear, given there are no obvious successors and with the risk that an early election might shoe-in Jeremy Corbyn. She does have Solar Arc Uranus conjunct her Sun, anywhere from the end of this year to late 2018, depending on her birth time. That usually coincides with a considerable jolt which pushes her off track.  Certainly her 2018/2019 looks shockingly difficult with tr Pluto conjunct her Mars/Saturn midpoint from March 2018 onwards till late 2019, which presages disasters.

Where her government chart looks in most trouble is by 2019 when tr Neptune squares the Sun and Moon. That’s the point where tr Pluto squares her personal Jupiter/Saturn midpoint, which usually coincides with career losses.

Her relationship chart with the Conservative Party is at nerve-stretch at the moment, in a mood of explosive insecurity in Dec/Jan 2018, devastated and confused in 2018/19 and desperate to separate again next April. They’d happily feed her to the fishes now.

May is keen to sidestep Barnier and negotiate directly with Merkel, but that relationship chart is jolting and jangling from this October onwards, more so in 2018, and thoroughly ill-humoured in 2019.

Best guesses would be that she goes in 2019 when the Brexit impasse ends up in a heap on the floor.

Michel Barnier, EU negotiator, 9 Jan 1951 4.40pm La Tronche, France, is also swamped by Neptune with tr Pluto square his Neptune and conjunct his Sun in 2017/18; and then conjunct his MC in 2019. So he’s not winning too much.

It could actually come down to a ‘no deal is better than a bad deal’ – which means the EU has a huge hole blown in its budget; and the hardline Brexiteers have to put their money where their mouths have been and create a self-starting independent UK with no trade agreements in place.

Taylor Swift – on a Trumpian never-my-fault roll

 

 

Taylor Swift having retrieved her reputation over the DJ groping court case has now brewed up a storm of agitated comment over her latest musical offering ‘Look What You Made Me Do’ that scored a record-breaking 28 million views in its first 24 hours. Described by one commentator as ‘an amazing tour de force of deflective petulance: It’s essentially a catalogue of every public feud she’s had that, without naming them, manages to extend, mock, and, most important, commodify them.’ It hits the Trumpian mood of the moment – I’m never to blame, it’s always someone else’s fault.

The cynical view is that controversy creates cash, and the much-hyped feuds between Taylor and sundry other high-rollers in the music business is as much fake rage as the Mayweather/McGregor boxing brouhaha which rolled in $700 million.

Though a combination of factors in her chart might suggest it also fits her temperament. What dominates her chart is an opposition between Moon Jupiter in self-defensive Cancer opposition Uranus, Mercury, Neptune, Saturn. Oppositions often set up an internal tug of war between competing forces and this is most often lived out by projecting the less favored end of the opposition onto AN Other. This way the inner turmoil of trying to hold opposing needs together is lessened. Except it doesn’t work. Blaming the Other for what she dislikes about herself is self-defeating.

She also has an unaspected Sun, which tends to produce an overdose of pride and high self-regard; and less need of others’ approbation, so intensely self-centred.

Add into this zodiac soup, a vengeful Mars in Scorpio, which is sparsely aspected with only an out of sign sextile to Venus – and that adds to the self-centredness or lack of awareness of the effects of her aggression. It will also make her hyper-active.

Her birth time is questionable but on 8.36am it gives her an influential and highly controlling Pluto in the 10th, which does like to invade the space of others, especially rivals, in order to mark the territory as her power domain.

She’s on her Nodal Half Return with the August Lunar Eclipse falling conjunct her Aquarius Node. This lesson here is to abandon pride (Leo South Node), stop looking condescendingly down on others and to learn to walk lightly. Might not be as lucrative, so unlikely.

(See also post Aug 12 2017)

India & neighbours – worst floods in decades

 

 

Record-breaking floods have also been occurring in Asia, across India, Nepal, Bangladesh and now moving towards Pakistan. About 1,200 people have already been killed and over two million have been forced from their homes.

The two August Eclipses located to Texas put the Sun and Mars for both on the midheaven. India/Bangladesh have the reverse with the Eclipse Sun Mars on the IC.

The India 1947 chart did have the Lunar Eclipse opposition their Saturn Pluto IC with Moon on the MC; and the Solar Eclipse fell in the India 4th house of domestic affairs, conjunct the India Leo Sun. Bangladesh has Venus in late Aquarius so picked up the emotional shock of the Solar Eclipse in opposition.

Harmonics – the spiritual essence of numbers

 

 

Harmonics was first brought to prominence in the west by John Addey, though David Hamblin’s Harmonic Charts and Michael Harding/Charles Harvey’s Working with Astrology are the two most readable and useful books. Otherwise Bob Marks has a helpful outline. http://www.bobmarksastrologer.com/harmonics32.1.html

It’s an under-researched area, especially in numbers above 9, so sometimes the interpretations don’t fit with ongoing experience from a wider spectrum of charts – there is latitude for original thinking. And like all of astrology there’s usually a plus and a minus side. The 5th Harmonic can lead to a productive career where disparate elements are pulled together to create a successful lifestyle; or it can turn into a control-freaky desire to impose an individual’s worldview on others. 9H can be humanitarian and community-minded or a financial con-artist.

As more is learned it becomes clear there is a reasonable similarity between numerology interpretations and harmonics. And Vendla, who is a serious and skilled numerologist, drew me up a list up to 22, which does usually check out against the examples which crop up here.  Though these can be amplified from Hamblin and Harding/Harvey’s writings (Below).

Interpreting the harmonic chart is a question of seeing which planets are drawn into aspect (tight orbs of only 2/3 degrees) in that harmonic, which aren’t in aspect in the natal chart. So it gives a deeper dimension of meaning when the natal chart isn’t giving you a full reflection of the life and talents. I tend to look for configurations in the Harmonic chart e.g. Grand Trines, Grand Crosses, T Squares, which marks them out as a strong influence in that individual’s life.

VENDLA’S NUMBERS:

1: The pioneer; Originality, innovation, ambition, determination. Also loneliness, egotistical, vain, dominating.

2: Cooperation, sensitivity, kindness, harmony. An entertainer at heart or at least artistically oriented (painting, music, writing). Also: Irresolute, deceitful, gossiping.

3: Charm, ambition, determination, artistic and verbal skills. Also cold, can be deceitful.

4: A fated number. Forever contradicting and in opposition to authorities. May have to start over and over again. Practical skills, organisation, strength, courage and perseverance. Also: Intolerance, dogmatism, ruthlessness.

5: Always on-the-go. Inventive, freedom-lover, fast-thinking, “sexy”. Also: Lack of concentration, irresponsibility, sensationalistic, self-indulgent, deceitful, “the player”.

6: “The Cancer number”; Sweetness, parenting, protecting home and family. The flipside is conventionality, stubbornness, unyielding, want of domination.

7: Seven is traditionally regarded as a spiritual number, endowed with a different kind of imagination, often artistic skills. Need peace. Perfectionism. A seeking soul. Also: too sceptical, too critical, sarcastic, cold, self-centred, attracted to alcohol/ drugs and occultism.

8: A fated number. “Karmic debt”. Soul wounds, bad luck or loss may follow this number, which also gives an abundance of strength and stubbornness in the face of difficulties. The road to success is often bumpy and hard, and if it comes easy, or at all, it will not necessarily bring happiness.

9: Strength, determination, the humanitarian. A philanthropic or artistic attitude to life is required, because if lacking, the number will “fail” to work constructively and could bring forward aspects such as frivolousness, immorality and irresponsibility.

10: “The wheel of Fortune”. Contains the innovation and creativity of the number 1, but even if 10 stands for prosperity and abundance, it also contains the seed of both rise and fall, of the good and the bad.

11: So called Master Number, which means that it is a difficult number to live up to. The positive aspect of number 11 is idealistic and inspired imagination. The negative aspects are fanaticism and unreasonableness, but also dishonesty, greed, self-indulgence and even perversion. From a different position, 11 warns against hidden trials, disloyalty and betrayal from others.

12: The sacrifice. Being sacrificed or becoming a victim to other persons’ (or entities’) plans, ambitions or intrigues. 12 warns against being a victim of circumstances, or dragged into other people’s affairs where you will be the one suffering the consequences. 12 may also make a conscious sacrifice. Also: Creativity, writers.

13: Upheaval, change and rebirth. This number is associated with exploration, genius and breaking with the orthodox. It warns against the unknown and the unexpected. It requires adaptation to change to be successful.

14: Movement. This number contains an (over)excited and nervous energy. It is connected to all kinds of communication, through the media, across national borders. Money, business and speculation is strong, but there is always a risk of loss connected to the constant movement in this number. Warns against natural disasters of all kinds.

15: A magic number according to the old masters of numerology. It rules magicians, alchemy, black magic, want of erotic experiences, actors and eloquent speakers. In my personal experience this is the actor’s number. It is a “tricky” number, not always lucky, and sometimes it can be associated with illness.

16: Destruction. This number warns against all kinds of catastrophes. Disappointments, humiliations, threatening dangers, accidents, disasters. Life as you know it might change completely. Sometimes this is self-inflicted, sometimes it is not. A special sensitivity is present, often artistic.

17: Hope and faith. Despite its fated core number 8, which represents trials, difficulties and obstacles, the 17 promises victory, inner enlightenment and “immortality” in the sense that those with a strong 17 may create their own mark on history and gain both in wealth and fame, which sometimes continues after their death. (Steve Jobs)

18: Strength, sometimes great material success, but also conflicts and enemies, “war & revolution”, fire and explosions, including from natural elements. (Serial killers)

19: This number is regarded particularly lucky for personal success, happiness and prosperity. However, the position of the number may change its meaning. 19 in traditional numerology is not a lucky number, it’s a ‘karmic’ number in the sense that the person is forced to develop their individuality. (Mel Gibson)

20: A major upheaval that leads to an awakening which changes the ambitions, ideals, goals or plans for one’s life. Not a good material number, but is considered good for spiritual development. Delays and obstacles.

21: Is regarded a very positive number, yet it tests one’s determination and will give victory after a long struggle for whatever is the right way to go or the right thing to do for the person in question. As far as I have seen, 21 is a creative number, and is often found in connection with writers and authors (like the number 12).

22: So called Master Number, which means that it is a difficult number to live up to. The positive aspects of number 22 is powerful imagination and/or strong leadership. The negative aspects are despotism or immorality. From a different position, 22 warns against lack of discernment, of being overconfident, relying on the wrong persons, and being deceived. (Elvis Presley)

Joel Osteen – a camel through the eye of a needle

 

 

Twitter-shaming forced the supposedly compassionate Christianity of a mega-rich Houston megachurch to belatedly open its door to flood victims. The pastor Joel Osteen, 5 March 1965, who is worth some $50 million and lives in a $10.5 million home, preaches a prosperity gospel. This promises that God blesses good Christians with material wealth. So he argues the Lord has rewarded him because of his piousness; the converse being if you’re poor then it’s your fault for lacking faith. CNN writes: ‘It’s no coincidence that the most religious states in America also have some of the worst social services, spending little on welfare, health care and education, and as a result, letting high proportions of their populations languish in poverty and ill health.’ And allowing developers free rein to build on green land which exacerbates flood problems.

Osteen is a Sun Jupiter in Pisces trine Neptune perhaps trine a Cancer Moon. So a Watery, self-protective chart, which can be healing but also overly self-contained blocking out real empathy. If it is a Water Grand Trine then it is formed into a Kite by Sun opposition Pluto, which seems likely – giving him a driving need for control and influence. His Mars in flamboyant Leo opposes Venus in Aquarius which will make him not always sensitive to others’ needs. With Saturn Mercury also in Aquarius square Neptune. Certainly a very Neptunian/Piscean chart which can be spiritual, sometimes sympathetic but also evasive. The clash in his chart between Water and Air will make for inner conflict which may send him off into fantasy escapism. Though with his gold-plated life style he’s made his dreams come true.

His what-gives-him-pleasure 9th Harmonic is strong and lucky. His 11th harmonic is also heavily aspected – it brings an obsessive dream, can be idealistic but its downside can be fanaticism, irrationality, dishonesty, greed, self-indulgence.

Strongest of all is his 10th harmonic – the wheel of Fortune”, bringing prosperity and abundance, but also containing the seed of both rise and fall, of the good and the bad. His healer’s 12 doesn’t say much at all.

He’ll certainly find out about Neptune’s undermining tendencies as it is conjunct his Sun this year till the end of 2018, and catches two of his midpoints as well through this September and in January 2018. Regrettably once clear of these blips her looks to be forging ahead with tr Pluto sextile his Jupiter in 2019/2020. Although, although he also has Solar Arc Pluto square his Mars by 2019 as well which will grind him to a halt, no doubt temporarily. He does have a good deal of activity around his North Node in Cancer – with tr Uranus square at the moment into 2018; then Solar Arc Uranus square in 2019 when the tr Saturn Pluto will be in opposition. The lessons of this node are about losing pride and an over-developed sense of arrogance, moving away from materialism and extravagance towards genuine emotional connection. One can but pray.

Gospel of St Matthew: “Again I tell you, it is easier for a camel to go through the eye of a needle than for someone who is rich to enter the kingdom of God.”

 

 

Saturn Pluto – the long read

 

 

The Saturn Pluto conjunction comes together in 2019 to early 2020, though there may be slight hints of it through 2018.

These are older posts on Saturn Pluto.

* Two tough, essentially masculine energies.

* Saturn’s great strength in stability and structure is also a weakness when faced with 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.

* Freedom of choice is not a Saturn–Pluto concept, so beliefs that do not fall in line with the established order, come under pressure.’

From The Astrological History of the World:

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 7000 people, triggering America’s War on Terrorism.

Saturn in Capricorn – a hard taskmaster *updated

 

 

Saturn, bringer of woes and hardship or of rewards for hard work moves into its own sign Capricorn this December to stay until late 2020. As ever, looking back over past occurrences in the 20th century, every 29 years, the outcome is very dependent on what other aspects are in place. The 1959/1961 Saturn in Capricorn was generally prosperous in the US, UK and Europe, although the US was running a major deficit for the first time. During that phase there was a Saturn Jupiter conjunction in Capricorn.

The most recent one in the late 1980s/early 1990s was so muddled in with the conjunction to Uranus Neptune, it’s impossible to extrapolate what effects came from which planet. Though there was a significant global economic downturn.

The more worrying similarities crop up with the 1930/32 Saturn in Capricorn which occurred just after the Wall Street Crash and through the Great Depression. At that point Saturn moved in square to Uranus, which is usually a time of economic instability, then opposed Pluto, bringing great hardship to some and Jupiter in Cancer, which would bring a harvest for the lucky few. In this next phase Saturn will conjunct Pluto by 2019, which usually brings its share of deprivation, though mercifully Saturn misses the square to Uranus which has moved into Taurus by then. In 2020 expansive Jupiter moves into Capricorn for a year. So it’s a watered down version of the early 1930’s Saturn in Capricorn; with a hint of the 1960s one which was more upbeat.

There was a previous Saturn Pluto Jupiter conjunction (as we have coming up in 2020) in 1819/20. In fact it never came together as all three since the Saturn Pluto conjunction in Pisces of 1819 had separated before Jupiter caught up in 1820.  ‘The Panic of 1819 was the first major peacetime financial crisis in the United States followed by a general collapse of the American economy persisting through 1821. The Panic announced the transition of the nation from its colonial commercial status with Europe toward a dynamic economy, increasingly characterized by the financial and industrial imperatives of laissez-faire capitalism. Though driven by global market adjustments in the aftermath of the Napoleonic Wars, the severity of the downturn was compounded by excessive speculation in public lands, fueled by the unrestrained issue of paper money from banks and business concerns.’ (wiki)

Interesting that the financial collapse – Saturn Pluto = deprivation – was followed by a resurgence from Jupiter. It was certainly a major turning point at least for the USA.’ That is a useful parallel.

Pluto in Aquarius – world changing phase ahead

 

 

Pluto has been grinding its way inexorably through Capricorn since 2008, pulling down old structures – in the Capricorn-ruled arenas of finance and government – razing the old status quo to ashes, with the hope of rebuilding better on the far side.

Then Pluto moves into Aquarius in 2024 staying till 2044. Past experience associates this phase with an upsurge of more significant rebellions than usual and a flowering of inventions.

Previous Pluto in Aquarius phases:

1778 -1797: The USA had declared independence in 1776 so the Brits were in retreat, though elsewhere were fighting the French, Spanish, Dutch and Indians in different spats. The French Revolution of 1793 had a dramatic effect and not just in France, though this was partially due to Pluto being opposition Uranus. The Industrial Revolution was in full swing having got under way during Pluto in Capricorn. James Watts’ improved steam engine revolutionised production.

Aquarius is scientific, so no surprises there were major advances in chemistry. And, with blissful syncronicity, William Herschel discovered the planet Uranus, which rules Aquarius. Explorers, another Aquarian strength, were also out and about with Captains James Cook and William Bligh leading the way to ‘new’ lands.

It was a productive period for philosophical and social thinkers – Emmanuel Kant and Thomas Paine (Rights of Man); with cultural highpoints from Mozart and Scottish poet Robert Burns, who later established a global footprint.

1532 – 1552: Henry V111 declared himself head of the Church in 1531 and was excommunicated in 1533 by the Pope. The RC versus Protestant schism got under way in earnest, which led to centuries of conflict.

1287 – 1307: Welsh Rebellion against the English. Edward 1 of England put John Balliol on Scottish throne with William Wallace rebellion following.

1041 – 1061: Macbeth succeeds to throne of Scotland. Great schism between the Western RC church and Eastern Orthodox churches.

796 – 816: Charlemagne becomes Holy Roman Emperor in 800. He unites most of Western Europe, laying the foundations for modern France and Germany. He dies just as Pluto is about to exit Aquarius.

551 – 572: the Prophet Muhammed is born.

So world-changing events during Pluto in Aquarius.

This next time round tr Pluto in Aquarius will march in time to Neptune in Aries (2025 to 2038) and initially to Uranus in Gemini (2025 to 2033) – so early on there’ll be a Uranus trine Pluto sextile Neptune after the mid 2020s – innovative and creative. Of the earlier historical happenings which might repeat, we can expect more advances in science and exploration (outer space/bottom of the sea/under Arctic ice?). For the rest – the US and France will have come full circle back to their first Pluto Return or the immediate aftermath, so significant shifts/adjustments, epochal events in both countries. Sometimes empires that rise on one Pluto cycle, fall on the next.

Guru of bling – undone by Saturn

 

 

Violence erupted from a 100,000 strong crowd in India when a controversial Indian guru was sentenced to 20 years in prison for rape. 38 died and over 200 were injured as the supporters of Gurmeet Ram Rahim Singh, known as ‘the guru of bling’, voiced their disapproval. He denies charges of murder in two cases due to be heard next month and has been accused of forcing 400 followers to undergo castration to “get closer to god”. He is leader of a sect, which claims to have 60 million followers around the world. In addition to spiritual guidance, and some admittedly constructive charitable and social welfare work, he performs at rock concerts, acts in films and even has his own line of food products.

Born 15 August 1967, he is unsurprisingly a Sun conjunct Jupiter Leo with Mercury also in Leo. His Sun Jupiter squares a showbizzy conjunction of Mars Neptune in Scorpio. And he has a challenging Yod of Venus sextile Mars inconjunct Saturn in Aries, which requires maturity and self-discipline to operate well, otherwise it self-destructs.

His 10th Harmonic is exceptionally marked – the wheel of fortune bringing material abundance but also containing the seed of the rise and fall, the good and the bad.