At what point does do-goodery turn totalitarian? An American movement to persuade businesses to follow higher social and environmental standards and to be both transparent and accountable sounds innocuous enough. B Corp started in 2006 and signed up small companies and later multinationals which can prove they follow guidelines to make the world a better place. It has only caught public attention now as it appeared in the Coutts Bank dossier which led to the debanking of Nigel Farage, because his views on climate and race did not align with ‘inclusive values’.
The media storm that Farage subsequently brewed up saw two top brass in Coutts depart and offers to have his account restored – as well as starting a campaign for bank transparency on other closed accounts.
B Corp was started in 2006 by three businessmen who had sold their socially-responsible sportswear company and discovered the new owners had stripped away employees’ and overseas workers’ rights. They set about trying to motivate businesses to be ethically responsible by handing them a certificate. They started on the Saturn in Leo opposition Neptune in Aquarius in 2006 – which is an aspect keen to establish a fairer and better society. There was also a status-quo-upsetting, revolutionary Uranus in Pisces moving to square Pluto as they handed out the first certificates in 2007.
The UK branch, B Lab UK, was registered as a charity (which does not take donations) on 14 January 2015 – when again there was a Saturn square Neptune and a Uranus square Pluto. So a mix of idealism with a degree of hyper-sensitive neurosis plus a desire to collapse the old order. Both aspects can bring positive change; but both can also be overly rigid, and in negative mode lead to confusion and chaos respectively.
I thoroughly dislike Farage for his views and the damage he has done but when did agree-to-differ become forbidden territory? Especially in a banking group which is part owned by the taxpayer. This has all the feel of the Stonewall mission creep which started from laudable beginnings to do real damage.
Why Things Bite Back: the Revenge of Unintended Consequences
There have been many times in history when things have been done that were deemed to be for the public good, only to get out of hand and cause more harm. A case in point being work houses.
The Uranus square Pluto for B Corp and B Lab is interesting. I looked at Monte Verita, in Switzerland, where an idealistic community attracted many free thinkers – from anarchists to celebrity artists and writers at the beginning of the 20th century. It was a kind of hippie era, long before the hippies of the 1960’s (Uranus/Pluto conjunction?), or the so-called ‘woke’ culture of our own times.
“The colonists “abhorred private property, practised a rigid code of morality, strict vegetarianism and introduced health aspects of the German freikörperkultur movement (naturism). They rejected convention in marriage and dress, party politics and dogmas: they were tolerantly intolerant.” Wikipedia
Their first brochure was published in 1902 and has Uranus in Sagittarius opposing Pluto in Gemini. Another Swiss organisation, Eranos, centred on humanistic, religious, and natural scientific studies, held its first meeting in August 1933. Uranus in Aries was square Pluto in Cancer.
… Trying to motivate businesses to be ethically responsible by handing out certificates. There’s quite a jump from this to controlling what their customers do and think. Worrying times.
I noticed something else of interest. The English Civil War was declared on 22 August, 1642, 6.15pm, at Nottingham. The Nodes that day were 15 Libra/Aries, making a connection with B Lab, and the UK 1801 charts. BL’s Moon in Scorpio connects with the signature for the English Civil War, which had Mars 9 Taurus opposing Uranus 8 Scorpio. There’d been an eclipse at 9 Taurus on 29th April that year. In 2014, the year before B Lab was registered, there was a Solar Eclipse at 9 Taurus on 29th April too. Last year, a Solar Eclipse at 10 Taurus happened on 30th April, conjunct Uranus, 14 Taurus.
There are a number of other thought provoking links between the charts. It’s perhaps one way of looking at the idealogical battle that’s happening now, and how disagreeing with the prevailing consensus can be very damaging to individuals these days.
One other thing I noticed, thinking of Saturn’s association with time and history, was Saturn in Pisces (23) for the declaration of war in 1642. The approaching Saturn Return for this chart could be interesting – on 14 March, 2025 there’s an eclipse at 23 Virgo, opposing Saturn, 22 Pisces. The Nodes for the Battle of Hastings were 25 Virgo/Pisces. The Moon for the Glorious Revolution, 1649 is 23 Virgo. One meaning for the Virgo/Pisces pair is the Victim/Saviour theme. That seems to be relevant today, along with the ‘I am’ of Aries versus the ‘We are’ of Libra seen in the Nodal axis for the UK, B Lab, and the English Civil War.
I suppose the key thing to note about many of these organisations are that they are self appointed arbiters of the public good. They have no democratic mandate and essentially try to impose their views by influencing the way corporate bodies and public institutions operate. As a consequence they are largely unaccountable and often weakly regulated by the law.
Braindead little emperors and empresses with no foresight are trying to rule the world
You are so horribly correct
Thanks Marjorie. The ‘desire to collapse the old order’ theme is interesting. I noticed that the B Lab’s Nodes are the exact reverse of the UK 1801’s – 13 Libra/Aries and vice versa. The B Lab’s S Node with Uranus, square Pluto in Capricorn looks very difficult. It would describe alliances, but with Pluto and Uranus involved with the nodes the potential for disruption, secret dealings, hidden information and so on looks quite high. It’s also interesting that it’s themes connect with the tr Pluto square the Aries/Libra Moon’s Nodes aspect of this summer.
B Lab also has the idealistic, squishy, even quasi-religious Pisces Mars and Neptune, conjunct the UK Pluto, and therefore setting off the UK Yod with its ebullient Jupiter in Leo, and legalistic Uranus in Libra. At some point adjustments will be needed there I think.
I would still like to understand how Coutts came to this decision on Farage. There must be a number of very dubious people with accounts there, or have they all been dismissed too?
My first thought on reading “a mix of idealism with a degree of hyper-sensitive neurosis plus a desire to collapse the old order” was that sounded like the EU. I wonder if the EU has any of the same or similar planetary positions.
And with a Saturn Neptune conjunction approaching in a couple of years at 0 Aries I think, feels significant in some way perhaps…
When is that conjunction due?
Neptune Saturn are exactly conjunct 20 February 2026 at 16:52 UTC according to Astroseek. However, it is quite a complicated dance. The Ephemeris shows the planets actually become Conjunct within less than a degree at 1 Aries in August 2025. They then both retrograde back into Pisces for some months before conjoining again at 0 Aries. There is a Neptune Pluto Sextile forming at the same time which indicates this conjunction is going to set the tone for the world until at least the early 2030s
Thank you, Hugh.