When will life be calm and peaceful again, without the terrifying deluge of carnage and mayhem saturating the media channels on a daily basis? What in part magnifies fear is 24 hour news looking for images – if it bleeds, it leads – for stories which fifty years ago might have made a paragraph at the bottom of page 10 of the Times. Plus we all tend to idealise the past – the way life never was – and wipe out unpleasant memories. For some, somewhere, at all times, life has always been a grim business. The difference is we now have it thrown in our faces.
However there was always an astrological expectation of major upheaval at the moment. The Uranus square Pluto has been causing global mayhem since 2012 and is pulling apart now, with no more exact aspects, though it will stay in orb through 2017.
Life is never exactly as it was in the past since other planets are also cycling – you cannot step twice into the same river. But there are enough similarities to draw comparisons with previous Uranus Pluto hard aspects.
The mid 1960s Uranus Pluto conjunction opposition Saturn – oversaw civil rights and anti-Vietnam war demos in the US; the assassination of JFK and Robert Kennedy and Martin Luther King. Parisian students in revolt; and it oversaw the start of Mao’s deadly Cultural Revolution which almost destroyed China and killed countless numbers.
The 1929 to 1934 Uranus in Aries square Pluto in Cancer oversaw the Great Depression with much hardship in the US and Europe. It was worse in Russia under Stalin where a Soviet famine killed 5 to 10 million people; and the forced famine in the Ukraine in 1932/33 killed 3 to 5 million. Admittedly Saturn was also in Capricorn then opposing Pluto which would be part of the extreme deprivation felt.
The 1898 to 1904 Uranus in Sagittarius opposition Pluto in Gemini, also had Saturn involved, conjunct Uranus and opposition Pluto over the first two years. But it’s worth absorbing what went on then, to put the present into perspective. There were several wars started: US v Spain over Cuba; US v Philippines; Brits v Boers in South Africa; Russo-Japanese war over Manchuria; Brits v Tibetans. There was the Boxer Rebellion in China which was anti-foreign and anti-Christian, killing missionaries and 30,000 Chinese RCs etc. Anti-Jesuit riots in Spain; anti-Jewish riots in Budapest. 4 Monarchs and a US President were assassinated mainly by anarchists – Empress of Austria, King of Italy, King and Queen of Serbia and President William McKinley.
This time round the emphasis has been more on the Middle East with the Arab Spring, and the rise of fundamentalist Islamic terrorists waging a guerrilla war against unbelievers. That has been ongoing since the 1990s, but is much more widespread now.
Pluto in Capricorn (2008 – 2024) and Neptune in Pisces (2012 – 2026) have both been associated historically with significant times in Muslim history. Suleiman the Magnificent ruled as Sultan of the Ottoman Empire, during the 16th century with Pluto in Capricorn and Neptune in Pisces. He annexed most of the Middle East and fought against the Christian West. He spread fear across Europe until he was stopped at Vienna in 1529.
What is interesting is that the chart for the Islamic Calendar, 16 July 622 AD JC (OS) was being affected by similar influences when Suleiman was pushed back from Vienna, as it is in 2019 to 2022. Tr Pluto will be square the IC Pluto and opposition the IC Sun and tr Neptune opposes the IC Mars. Though Suleiman did reappear a decade later to recoup some of his losses.
Thank you for putting things into perspective, Marjorie.
Good contrast/comparison, Marjorie. The last great on-soil conflict was our Civil War. Since then, the conflicts are social (racial) and economic. As Americans, we’ve never been invaded or bombed. If one considers the Cuban Missile Crisis and the Cold War as galvanizing activities, the results were focused on the military-industrial complex. The social/economic crises are polarizing, not unifying.
Hi Marjorie, Thanks very much for this thoughtful piece. And thank you too for following up some of my suggestions.
Everyone complains nowadays about the lackadaisical young (first world problem), their lack of drive and ambition, spoilt, narcissistic need to have everything feather- bedded and focussed on them. I’ve always thought the difference for our older generation was that we were brought up (in the UK and Europe) by parents and grandparents who had lived through two world wars. It toughened spines so less nonsense was tolerated.
Paradoxically those who did live through WW11 in the UK, the Blitz etc which killed and injured people and destroyed houses, often say quietly it was the best time of their lives. They felt alive and bonded with everyone else. It was probably true in New York post-9/11 as well.
We all hunger after peace and tranquillity – so we think – but great crisis can have unexpected benefits. It cracks through people’s reserve and makes them more human.
Thank-you, Marjorie, for your good sense. Looking at your comments, there are several decades without the Uranus Pluto hard aspects but they brought their own problems. Loretta is right about our youngsters as it is much harder to accept the rough when things have been smooth. When I talk to the very elderly, they don’t seem at all phased about what is going on in the world having lived through tougher times and they certainly don’t have rose coloured glasses. Perhaps expectations weren’t as high but nothing ,as yet, for those of us who live in the West can compare to the deprivation and danger that they endured.
Loretta, “I was born in a war and may well leave in one but that’s how it goes!”
I feel strongly that we’re definitely NOT here simply to accept “what is” and die just because “that’s the way it goes. ”
About a year ago I was faced with taking certain decisions. Fortune smiled and those decisions are no longer acceptable. In thanks, I make a difference to help as I can offering compassion, kind words, an extra dollar, or a bag of cat food.
Loretta I know what you mean about being too old and tired to cope with much more of this.
Shared this on facebook. You say so beautifully all I want to say but feel too old and tired to do so. So true, its rammed down our throats now and horror can swiftly become mawkish sentiment. Life has always been a tough journey and yet also has so many beautiful moments too even in the most terrible times Many young folk today have had peace and so struggle to understand that nothing stays the same forever. I was born in a war and may well leave in one but that’s how it goes! 🙂
Very interesting. Thank you for your hard work Marjorie. So Saturn and Pluto conjunction in Cap 2019 ish could result in deprivation, famine etc and a hotting up of East/West conflict ? Maybe a culmination. As a Capricorn, not looking forward to the personal affect this might have.