World War 11 started on 1 September 1939 as Germany invaded Poland and a few days later Britain, France, Australia, Canada and New Zealand declared war on Germany.
It began on a close Saturn in Taurus opposition a Scorpio North Node square Pluto – so a classic war signature; with a volatile, explosive Earth Grand Trine of a divisive Uranus on the Taurus Midheaven trine Mars trine Neptune.
The two preceding Eclipses in April/May were fairly stark as were the two following in October. The May Lunar Eclipse especially had a brutal Pluto opposition Mars square Saturn; with the Lunar Eclipse Uranus in Taurus exactly conjunct the Germany 1871 8th house Pluto. But you would have been hard pushed as an astrologer to pinpoint in advance an outbreak of a global war involving 100 million people from 30 countries.
And I have been staring irritably at charts for two days trying to work out why more does not show on the UK/Germany relationship chart. The chemistry was always there for a conflict with a composite Sun opposition Jupiter square Pluto setting the scene for constant power struggles and contests for the upper hand. But there was little affecting that bar tr Jupiter conjunct the composite Pluto which recurs every 12 years and is mild enough. The tr Pluto square tr Saturn opposition tr North Node does collide with the composite Neptune Venus which would produce a sense of emotional devastation and confusion. But it doesn’t seem stark enough for a major war.
The charts do share almost the same axis so the house transits will be the same, most notably tr Pluto through the 10th which had been running since just after the start of World War 1 until the end of WW11 in 1945. So it was a long phase of searching for power and/or a sense of purpose and direction – which clearly brought a headlong confrontation as aims and ambitions clashed.
The outbreak is more obvious in the Germany/France relationship chart with tr Uranus opposition the composite Sun and square the composite Moon. On the Canada/Germany chart with tr Uranus conjunct the composite Pluto; the Germany/Australia with tr Uranus moving to conjunct the composite Neptune and Moon/Neptune midpoint and trine the composite Mars which tr Neptune was conjunct. But the UK not so much which is odd.
Although having checked, it does show marginally more clearly in the composite Germany/UK Solar Arc chart with tr Neptune opposition the composite Solar Arc Sun; tr Pluto opposition the combined Solar Arc Mars; and tr Saturn opposition the composite Solar Arc Ascendant – though none of these is exact exact.
Thank you for this interesting post, Marjorie. I wonder if the fact that the UK was not invaded or occupied may be why it seems relatively unscathed compared to say France, Greece, Netherlands. Maybe the charts for individual cities such as London, Coventry, Liverpool would show more difficult contrasts with the German chart as they suffered most. Basically Britain didnt starve and more or less carried on unhindered by foreign troops invading. A friend in Holland ate rats, had to have their cat for Xmas! The Greeks starved too, my cousins over there died of consumption. Britain didn’t suffer that way, thank God.
From the BBC online, 12 October: “The little-told story of the massive WWII pet cull”
“https://www.bbc.com/news/magazine-24478532”
“At the beginning of World War II, a government pamphlet led to a massive cull of British pets. As many as 750,000 British pets were killed in just one week. This little-discussed moment of panic is explored in a new book.”
The date should be 12 Oct 2013
During the German occupation of Paris, a French acquaintence told me stories of how there was so little to eat…even to buy. She & her siblings would eat once in 3 or 4 days. No one had pets. How could they?
I just came across this in the Book of World Horoscopes – it may be of interest:
“…a few days prior to 15 April 1945 Goebbels…was attempting to persuade Hitler that all was not lost. ‘In the course of the discussion they sent for two horoscopes of the Fuhrer drawn up on January 30th 1933, and the horoscope of the Republic, dated November 9th 1918.” (quoting Hugh Trevor-Roper)
The November 1918 (01.30pm CET) chart has its Capricorn Moon right opposite the UK 1801 Moon, its Uranus opposite UK Saturn in Leo, with its Saturn at 27 Leo close to the UK’s at 23 Leo. The Scorpio Sun/Venus of Germany links with the Venus, Neptune, and Mars of the UK. The Pluto at 6 Cancer is close to the UK’s MC and Sun.
The lunar eclipse of May 1939 was opposite the German Republic’s 8th house Sun and Venus. The Solar eclipse was trine Saturn and Mars in that chart.
Marjorie, I have long felt that there was only one war, WW2 being in effect a continuation of WW1, though that’s putting it rather simplistically of course… I was going to suggest, like Hugh, that the chart for the outbreak of WW1 might shed a clearer light on WW2.
As a historian I would be looking at events leading up to the First World War for the causes of the Second World War as the two cataclysmic events are inextricably linked.
Astrologically the UK 1801 progressed Mars tracked across Cancer during both conflicts. It conjoined with Pluto and Saturn in the Great War, crossed the UK 1801 Midheaven in 1920, opposed the UK 1801 Sun at 10 Capricorn shortly after, was conjunct the UK 1801 Moon at the outbreak of the Second World War and conjunct transiting Saturn in 1945.
Mars in the Germany 1871 natal Chart at 5 Libra was exactly square the UK 1801 progressed Mars at 5 Cancer at the beginning of the First World War. It also was square the 1927 UK progressed Mars at 4 degrees Cancer in 1939 which remained within 2 degrees of orb throughout the Second World War. The German progressed Mars was retrograde throughout both conflicts which I believe is usually not the time to start wars of aggression which may explain its defeat (incidentally something the US should note at the moment).
This is a good call, but I would look at Germany surrending in November 1918 and/or Versailles Peace Treaty June 28th 1919. These were incredibly humiliating events for Germany. I doubt Hitler had gained such a traction without the deep wound these caused German(ic) mentality (and yes, my history studies were mainly at a faculty with many Annales influenced members 😉 ).
Thanks Marjorie. I wondered if the “phoney war” that ended on 10th May 1940 might have something to do with this puzzle? On that day, when fighting really kicked off, the solar eclipse for April 1939 was triggered by transiting Jupiter at 28 Aries activating the eclipse degree and Pluto. On 10th May, Mars was at 25 Gemini – squaring the SE Jupiter in Pisces, which was opposite May 10th’s Neptune at 22 Virgo. Saturn and Mercury in Taurus were close to the eclipse chart’s nodes, and Chiron had reached the opposition to the eclipse chart’s Mars. The Sun had just passed the eclipse Uranus in Taurus.
What’s also quite curious is that Uranus is at 27 Aries in the chart for the UK House of Commons (1265), and the nodes are at 26 Aries in the UK Great Britain chart for 12th May, 1707.