Today we will look at some mundane astrology with a few topics covering questions which have been asked elsewhere on the forum as I feel it’s worth including the astrological perspective with answering some of them. In particular we’ll take a look at a specific transit with its effect on three different nations.
Example 1 -
The Soviet Union and its collapse
The USSR’s collapse has been variously described as having occurred for economic reasons (the union could not keep up with economic and technological development as it was happening in the West) or dissatisfaction of member nations over the central government’s actions and policies. There is some truth to both however it is interesting to first look at what this chart has to say about the national consciousness it describes. From the linked article
For a government set up by a workers revolution it is very appropriate that the chart has the Moon and Ascendant conjunct in Virgo (the sign of the workers ).
The chart has a T Square that sets the tone very well. It is based on an opposition between the radically socialist Uranus in Aquarius and the controlling, repressive and authoritarian Saturn in Leo. What better way to describe the dictatorship of the proletariat. The tensions endemic between these two opposite planets focused by T Square onto an apex Sun in Scorpio. Whenever the Sun is at the apex of a T Square it signifies an extremely dominant and strong personality that has single minded resolve to pursue its own direction very strongly. Scorpio is one of the 4 Fixed signs and they all have tremendous stubbornness and determination and the middle ( around 15 degrees ) of the Fixed signs are supposed to be the most entrenched. Everything that has ever been said about the Soviet Empire can comfortably be contained in the symbolism of this aspect pattern.
Besides the rather interesting interpretation there are a couple of takeaways here – the national chart sun is under intense pressure from the T-square configuration to on the one hand achieve self-sufficiency (the 11th house Saturn square to the sun) without having to cooperate too much with others and to radically do things differently in ways which have never been attempted before (Uranus square to the sun) – this configuration naturally creates a kind of conflict which is difficult to resolve and weakens the sun’s stability from the outset, even though the sun is placed in fixed Scorpio. The 11th house Saturn placement and the Sun-Saturn square will make an appearance in the other charts we’ll look at later.
Enter Pluto, the planet which among things tends to break down “structures and situations which would not have held up well anyway” especially when forming a hard aspect (conjunct, opposition, or square) to another planet. In 1989 Pluto reached 16 Scorpio and formed a conjunction to the Soviet sun causing a complete dismantling of everything it stood for – the dismantling of the actual infrastructure occurred in the prior months with Pluto forming a square to the USSR’s Saturn first and was followed by perhaps the final blow with Pluto squaring Soviet Uranus in the early months of 1990.
The aspect timing and symbolism are both interesting here since they can give us clues about more recent events happening elsewhere and featuring similar transits.
Example 2 – The UK
Like the USSR the UK also has an 11th house Saturn and this led Liz Greene to famously suggest the kingdom would leave the European Union back in the 1970s. This Saturn placement again suggests a kind of suspicion of 11th house constructs (organizations, cooperatives, this forum) with the takeaway that they would not be viewed as friendly or beneficial. The attitude is reinforced by the Capricorn sun placed at the nadir which would seek self-competence coming from within first and would find it very easy to side with Saturn being placed in its sign. The nadir (IC) being the chart's foundation can be thought to represent traditions and customs which although not publicized are of great importance to the nation and with that point falling in one of the two signs of tradition (Capricorn) the importance of these traditions is further highlighted and further establishes Saturn's position.
However actual events reflecting this placement have only happened recently (at least outwardly – though if anyone from the UK would like to comment you are welcome to do so) and if we go back to the last few years we will see Pluto at work yet again.
Pluto passed through 10 Capricorn during 2012-2013 so this time would have generated the internal changes which are being reflected in outer events in the present, although the changes no doubt became more visible in 2016-2018 when Pluto opposed the UK’s Moon in 19 Cancer (it spent much of last year in 19 Capricorn.) Obviously the UK didn’t have the same experience from the Pluto-Sun conjunction that the USSR did but this transit still reflects deep changes within the national structure of some sort. The subsequent Pluto-Moon opposition then reflected an embodiment of those changes which can actually be seen and experienced directly. And since Pluto is done with 19 Capricorn we can surmise the extent of the drastic changes will have concluded with the actual consequences starting to become visible now.
For those interested further discussion of the effects on the UK is available
here.
Example 3 – USA
For the USA we are using the Sibley chart which gives the USA its sun in 13 Cancer (conjunct Sirius!) along with a wide conjunction to Jupiter which itself is conjunct Venus in the 7th house – a very warm arrangement which projects both hope and hospitality, yet the national consciousness also strongly features a desire for community. (Indeed the major area of disagreement with the above is the 10th house Saturn square sun – there is again the strong internal desire for self-sufficiency but this time with our government symbolizing an extreme sensitivity to the world’s criticisms – especially with the 10th-7th house alignment of these planets.)
Crucially the sun’s dispositor (the moon) only makes trine aspects and those are to 7th house planets so this chart also shows a strong foundation with respect to the founding principles remaining strong and relevant through the years.
As with the two previous examples the USA also experienced a Pluto-Sun transit recently, but this time as part of an
astro-Kondratiev cycle square in 2015-2016. 2015 opened with Pluto position in 13 Capricorn applying to exactly square Uranus which was approaching 13 Aries.
The Uranus-Pluto square itself is a revolutionary aspect
[1][2][3][4] being a disharmonious friction aspect between the two planets known for extremist tendencies. Uranus with the boost from Pluto may lead to extremely radical ideology, Pluto with the dispassionate slant of Uranus may lead to extreme ruthlessness – in both cases the result may be described as extraordinary and outside the confines of what would be considered normal. In more mundane terms this can be likened to a fighting match between the two, Uranus desperately wanting to overthrow Pluto while Pluto desperately wants to transform Uranus’ ideology.
With this dynamic in mind Pluto opposed the USA sun starting in 2015 while Uranus created a square aspect to it – while Pluto conjunct Sun is transformation from within (like an imploding building coming down in a controlled demolition) Pluto opposition Sun suggests a transformation forced from without – with the Uranus square Sun square providing the extra jolt (or shock) to bring the effects of the opposition into public consciousness. It can perhaps be argued that the shock came soon after once the transit’s archetypal charge was released by 2015 and converted into manifestation by the end of the following year.
Like the example with the USSR the USA also experienced a dismantling of (governmental and societal) structures with Pluto’s transit square USA Saturn in the later months of 2015 with the gaps becoming evident now in more recent times.
Saturn and Pluto are not done here either as they are set to form their infamous conjunction
[1][2] aspect as soon as 2020 arrives (opposite USA Mercury which rules the USA’s descendant, or relations with others) which is then followed by Saturn conjunct USA Pluto in mid-2020 and the nation’s first Pluto return in 2022.
As we can see the Pluto-Sun transits have coincided with extraordinary changes in the history of all three examples including a complete dissolution in one case. Regardless of each nation’s approach there is a strong sense that things cannot go back to the way there were before the transit once it’s over.
