Los Angeles is facing the same escalating homeless and addiction problems as San Francisco and feeling the pressure from weather challenges and the Hollywood strike.
The foundation chart of 4 September 1781 is facing its Pluto Return in 2026/27 and before then will wilt slightly under tr Neptune in Aries hard aspects. I’m not sure I don’t prefer the incorporation chart of 4 April 1850 which has been labouring under a transformational tr Pluto square the Uranus in recent years and now square Pluto, finishing up late this year. Tr Saturn in Aries in 2026/27 will bring a few hard realities to bear as it is conjunct the LA Inc Mercury, Saturn, Sun, Venus, Uranus and Pluto in the run up to the 2028 Olympics. But the Olympics does launch on its Jupiter Return year which should help when the moment comes.
Hollywood, 1 February 1887, will be unsettled with tr Uranus square the Venus in 2024 but its greatest test comes as tr Uranus moves into Gemini in 2025 to early 2027 and squares the Mars and opposes the Hollywood Pluto. That looks high-risk and unnerving. Maybe dirt coming out into the open as well as a major upheaval. Plus major setbacks from Solar Arc Saturn square the Mars now as production grinds to a halt; with major blockages into 2024. And ditto ditto with SA Mars conjunct Saturn in 2025. The glitz and glitter will give way to gnashing of teeth.
The California state chart, 9 September 1850, like LA Inc has Uranus Pluto in late Aries plus Saturn also in Aries. It will continue to rock n’ roll uncomfortably through this year and next as tr Pluto squares its Uranus Pluto and moves on to square the Venus. California like LA Inc has Jupiter in Virgo which will be on form in the Olympic year.
LA Inc, California state and Hollywood all have a Leo North Node so they will reassert their supremacy having been churned through the mill for a few years. They won’t be down and out for ever.
The 4th September chart resonates strongly with my chart. I moved there for 2 years in 1981 when I was 21. At the time Pluto was crossing my libra ascendant.
This chart has Pluto on my natal sun. (I degrees Aquarius).
My time there was deeply Plutonian. My friends turned into heroin addicts. I was stalked by a rapist. I saw a prostitute beaten to death in Broad daylight.
I was obsessed with the occult and there were numerous occult shops near where I lived in West Hollywood.
In Hollywood, I worked the night shift in various photo labs, taking public transport in the middle of the night. Which was incredibly dangerous. I had numerous run ins with thieves and stalkers.
I also for the only time in my life, had black depression. I’d feel black like almost literally see black before I woke up.
I also lost an extreme amount of weight, becoming obsessed with exercise, working out 3 times a day. I was transformed.
At the same time I was very lucky, nothing bad happened to me personally.
Sorry 0 degrees aqua. And believe me I’m going through another transformation right now with Pluto hitting my sun.
When I was a girl the John Birch Society was considered old fashioned not extremist. The truth is that both parties tread the extremism line. Sadly America has become more and more like a banana republic.
I went by gut reaction and decided on the Founding Chart. Pluto return will also tie into what is happening to America, as it is a State, not a country. Perhaps the awakening of change will start next year? As transiting Pluto in Aquarius will come in orb of its Pluto/Moon sextile. A Pluto return in Aquarius will principate change, couple this with Pluto in sextile to the Moon in Aries and I can’t see this change going smoothly. Mars/Moon Aries – the people – will be very robust in their talks, or even through rioting is not listened to. What is more interesting is the Moon’s opposition to Neptune and in trine to Pluto – who will be undergoing its return. There is certainly going to be discussions about equality and sharing the money. Hollywood has always had the Lions share of the money in California – I reckon this is going to be challenged. There is also a Quincunx between Pluto and Uranus. Pluto and Uranus are going to give California quite a testing time in the next few years. As there are the two main Planets, along with the Moon (the people) If this Chart is the strongest out of all the Charts presented above, then I think Californian’s will demand a fairer society then the one they have now.
I’m just sharing a link to the site of the original pueblo of my city. When I started teaching I had a third grade class and in California children learn about their city/town in third grade. https://elpueblo.lacity.gov/history-el-pueblo
The native people that lived in California of course were already here. Perhaps my city, state and country, with these Pluto transits, are being forced to recognize what was done to the original inhabitants. I taught the kids about how the indigenous people were put onto mission properties and were essential used as slave labor AND were indoctrinated into the Catholic religion. That was in addition to the story of the Pobladores -the explorers that came from Mexico- and their difficult journey to get here (deserts block the way, the coast is rocky and dangerous.)
Regarding the homeless situation–there is progress! I live in Venice and huge camps on our beach’s boardwalk and the surrounding areas have been cleaned up and many who lived there have either taken offers of housing or have moved to other locations (many locations nearby). I see vans around my neighborhood with young men who have surfboards and wet suits as much as I see the down-on-their-luck types. The problem is the sky-high rents in both L.A. and S.F. (Is London like this? Paris?) It’s a problem throughout the country–housing is unaffordable for many.
I was in college the last time the Olympics were here. Many Angelenos left fearing traffic jams. It was great fun. They missed out.
Our new mayor is, so far, wonderful.
The city itself has 3 million people (the county 10 million). There are over 200 languages spoken here. I lament not being well traveled, but it’s a gift to live in a an international, cosmopolitan city. In addition to the Hollywood economy we still have some aerospace and business and tourists are creeping back. We have the same troubles that other places have faced caused by the pandemic–many empty stores and office buildings.
I love it here and consider it a great blessing to have been born here.
@KG, we live in San Diego and really enjoy visiting LA, which is a great city despite its sprawl and typical urban problems. We especially enjoy staying at the California Club downtown overlooking the Central Library, where we can immerse ourselves in the club’s extraordinary collection of California plein air art, which foresighted members started purchasing at its founding in the late 19th century (and continue collecting).
A truly great city, though much maligned. And Karen Bass is doing a much-respected job as mayor, infinitely better than our disappointing mayor, Todd Gloria.
I love San Diego too!
(The library is beautiful! My dad worked downtown when I was a kid so we often went to Olvera Street and rode Angel’s Flight)
Thanks Marjorie. Having spent quite a lot of time in Los Angeles for various reasons, it is fascinating to see these charts. It occurs to me that the incorporation chart you like reflects the Gold Rush era. A similar kind of ‘gold rush’ could be credited to the early film businesses and associated trades, in the early 20th century. It seems to be a ‘now what?’ moment now, with Pluto and Saturn, as you say. Both gold rush and the movie business have elements of fantasy, illusion, deception and delusion. And there’s Neptune in Pisces, which may also be linked to all the health and spirituality trends and fads associated with California.
This, from Brittanica.com, is interesting:
“The Gold Rush had a profound impact on California, dramatically changing its demographics. Before the discovery of gold, the territory’s population was approximately 160,000, the vast majority of whom were Native Americans. By about 1855, more than 300,000 people had arrived. Most were Americans, though a number of settlers also came from China, Europe, and South America. The massive influx gave rise to numerous cities and towns, with San Francisco gaining particular prominence. The Gold Rush was credited with hastening statehood for California in 1850.”
And re the long history of cults and communes in California, dating back to the mid 19th century, there’s a fascinating article written as long ago as 1946 in The Atlantic archive. “The Cults of California by Carey McWilliams”, March 1946, is a thought provoking read. There are purple-haired priestesses, alien beings, St Germain, nudists and so on….long before the hippies of the 1960’s, or the secret weirderies of Silicon Valley types today.
“Southern California, wrote Michael Williams, is a “vertiginous confusion of modern idolatry and sorcery and superstition,” which is finding philosophical justification as a “new paganism, made up of Theosophists, Rosicrucians, Christian Mysticism, Hermeticism, and New Thought.” Most of the movements described here represent cultic phenomena — that is, they are not sects which have split off from some established faith; they are new cults.”
It is also worth reading about rocket scientist Jack Parsons, a founder of the Jet Propulsion Laboratory, and Parsons’ occult beliefs, his Californian commune, and friendship with notorious occultist, Aleister Crowley in the 1930s.
There’s definitely something in the air in California! Maybe the Pluto/Uranus quincunx Jupiter has something to do with it?
@Jane, though California is now reliably blue/Democratic in the coastal region and cities since the ’90s, it’s also been home to many extreme right-wing cults including the John Birch Society and other right-wing extremists who controlled wealthy Orange County, adjacent to LA and San Diego Counties. San Diego has had and still has its share of right-wing racist groups, though some of those have also taken over the government in inland Northern California. There is a recurrent movement to split California into three states, with the greatest pressure coming from the extremely conservative poorer northern parts of the state. They don’t understand that they’re being subsidized by the rich, Democratic coastal areas and cities. The same is true of poor Republican or red southern states which are subsidized by tax revenue from more prosperous and better educated blue (Democratic) states.
Orange County is now far more progressive (and Democratic) than in the old Richard Nixon days, but still elects some Republicans, especially Asian Republicans.
Thanks Nicole – the splits you mention are very interesting, and reflected in other countries too. Is it some fundamental part of human nature to be so ‘tribal’ and intensely local? There are people I’ve met here in the UK who’ve never been south, and vice versa. And yet there is plenty of evidence for very long journeys across Europe on foot by our Neolithic ancestors.
Re the cults – they do seem to proliferate in California don’t they? All manner of types and philosophies too. Of course they exist everywhere, but perhaps not to this extent.
Thanks, Marjorie! I’m eager to read others’ takes on these charts as well.