Saturn and Pluto

This decade opened with a conjunction of Saturn and Pluto and will close with a square of Saturn and Pluto so let us look at other examples. Hard aspects between Saturn and Pluto are notorious for the misfortunes that befall under such a combination. Here are a few examples of various hard Saturn-Pluto aspects — conjunctions, opposition, and square — and the way the results played out in the real world.

Maine Sunk

The first example is the Spanish-American War. America went into Cuba to fight the Spanish for whom Cuba was a colony. The casus belli in this case was the explosion on board the USS Maine in Havana Harbor on February 15, 1898. As a result of the war the United States, after defeating Spain, got several colonies that had belonged to Spain, such as Cuba, Puerto Rico, Guam, and the Philippines. In addition the United States had a strong interest in Cuba until 1959 and the Cuban Revolution. The United states “acquired” Guantanamo Bay from Cuba in 1903 which the U.S. is still using. In this case the United States chart was strongly impacted by the Saturn Pluto opposition with Saturn on the Ascendant of the US and Pluto on the Descendant of the US. With this lineup the important action took place away from the country — the Descendant represents the other — while the home (Ascendant) was relatively calm. Most observers use the Spanish-America War as the start of the American Empire since this war allowed the US to acquire several oversea colonies. Many Americans, such as the psychologist William James (brother of novelist Henry), steel baron Andrew Carnegie, reformer Jane Addams, and author Mark Twain were strongly opposed to this imperialist action of the United States and formed the American Anti-Imperialist League.

First Tower Struck

Compare this to the chart of 9/11. This was a perilous time for the United States. The presidential election the previous year was stolen from the Democrats by a ruling of the Supreme Court, and no one seemed too upset. There were no charge of the Democrats by the Republicans that they were “election deniers”. Then in September of 2001 two planes crashed into the twin towers of the World Trade Center in New York City, and that event allowed the United States to invade Afghanistan and Iraq. Notice in this case that Pluto is on the Ascendant of the United States, and that is indeed where the action took place, and Saturn is on the Descendant, where the action came from. This is the reverse of the chart for the Spanish American War. I refer to these two events as the Bookends of the American Empire — that started with the Spanish American War and the events of 9/11 were the beginning of the end of that empire.

If one were to invent an astrological chart for the 9/11 event one would be hard pressed to come up with something more appropriate than the actual transits to the Sibly natal chart of the United States.

Afghanistan Invaded

Note that Afghanistan and Iraq were invaded by the United States under the Saturn Pluto opposition: the Iraq invasion, which happened a year and a half after the invasion of Afghanistan, still had Saturn opposite Pluto with an orb of less than three degrees. Note that for Iraq Pluto was right on the MC at the time of the invasion, certainly an apt symbol for what happened to that country.

Iraq Invaded

Franz Ferdinand Assassination

Here is an example of what happens when the Saturn-Pluto conjunction occurs near the Cardinal Axis. In astrology the Cardinal Axis — 0 Aries, 0 Cancer, 0 Libra, and 0 Capricorn — represents a point in common to everyone in the world, and so that Cardinal Axis represents the World. In this chart for the assassination of Archduke Franz Ferdinand, which is the event that putatively started the First World War, we see that Pluto is at 0 Cancer and Saturn is closing on a conjunction with it at 23 Gemini. When the war was declared one month later Saturn had moved to 27 Gemini and the conjunction was much closer.

World War One Declared

Graphical Ephemeris for World War One

From the Graphical ephemeris that covers the whole period of World War 1 we see that the exact Saturn Pluto conjunction occurs in early October 1914, after which both planets go retrograde at the same time, and the final conjunction is in May of 1915. Pluto is close to the cardinal axis for most of the war. Pluto crosses the Cardinal Axis at 0 Caner at 1.

2019-2020 Graphical Ephemeris

For an example closer to the present, let us look at the most recent Saturn Pluto conjunction of January 2020. At the time I though there would be a war with Iran since the United States had just assassinated Qasen Solemani, an Iranian Major General who was in Iraq for talks on battling the terrorist association which was blamed for the 9/11 attacks. This event happened on January 3, 2020 when Saturn and Pluto were less than one degree apart. But that war didn’t happen. Rather, two months later the World Health Organization declared a pandemic and we all know how that turned out.

Pandemic Declared

In the graphical Ephemeris above we can see that the Saturn Pluto conjunction happened in early 2020 and they remained close for most of the year. In addition, Jupiter and Saturn conjoined at the end of the year, marking the beginning of the two decade Jupiter Saturn cycle, the equivalent of a New Moon in planetary cycle terminology.

The Other 9/11

Another example of a Saturn-Pluto hard aspect also occurred on September 11 and in fact the event is often called “the other 9/11”. In 1970 a socialist — Salvador Allende — was elected President of the South American country of Chile. This infuriated US President Richard Nixon and his National Security Advisor Henry Kissinger. The US/CIA attempted a coup of the government of Chile which was unsuccessful. But the military in Chile overthrew the government in a bloody coup on September 11, 1973, creating a dictatorship in Chile that lasted decades. Notice in the chart within the US chart that Pluto was near the MC of the US. Several massive changes happened to the government of the US during this period, such as the Watergate crisis (named for the Washington, DC hotel where it took place and adding the suffix “-gate” to many other crises since) and President Nixon took the US off of the gold standard, an act which still has repercussions for the US and the world more than fifty years later. This episode of Chilean history is covered in the film Missing directed Costa-Gavras which came out in 1982 and book Chile In Their Hearts by John Dinges which was recently published.

National Security Act

The start of the (First?) Cold War is hard to date exactly. Perhaps it was when the atom bombing of Japan happened, which was not necessary to defeat Japan but served as a clear message to the Soviet Union — our partner in fighting World War II — that the United States had the super weapon that it was not afraid to use. Or it could be the “Long Telegram” from George Kennan — a US diplomat in the Soviet Union — recommending isolation of the Soviet Union, or it could be when a US President expounded the “Truman Doctrine”, but I think the best choice — right in the middle of it all — was the passing of National Security Act of 1947 which created the CIA and changed the name of the Department of War to the Department of Defense. Just once Uranus cycle after that the Department of Defense name was changed back to the Department of War. For the start of the Cold War, and especially the Nation Security Act on July 26, 1947 we see that Saturn and Pluto are conjunct.

New Cold War

There was also a Saturn-Pluto conjunction in 1982; this saw the start of Regan’s war in Central America: the US supported a rogue army called the Contras in an attempt to overthrow the government of Nicaragua. There was a book by Noam Chomsky called Toward a New Cold War published in 1982 whose title highlights what was happening. There was also a war between Iraq and Iran with the United States supporting Saddam Hussein who was the leader of Iraq. The United States was selling weapons to Iran (which was under an embargo because of the Iranian Revolution of 1979 which deposed the Shah of Iran who had been inserted into Iran in 1953 when the British and the US deposed the elected leader of Iran) and using the money thus gained to supply weapons for the Contras; supplying weapons directly to the Contras was prohibited by a U.S law.

Japan Invades Manchuria

When Japan invaded Manchuria in 9-18-1931, well before World War Two officially started, there was a Saturn opposite Pluto. This is not terribly obvious from the chart above, but when we look at a graphical ephemeris (below) for the surrounding period it is obvious. The exact oppositions happened in February, July, and December 1931. This invasion resulted in such things as the “Rape of Nanjing” in which case the Nazis were the good guys. Horrible things were done to the Chinese people by the Japanese. One book that covers this is The Rape of Nanking by Iris Chang which discusses this incident which took place several years after the invasion.

Graphical Ephemeris for 1931

But hard aspects don’t just include the conjunction, square, and opposition. Here is a chart (below) for when Italy invaded Ethiopia, one of the many event that heralded the start of World War Two, even thought it was several years before the official start. If we look at the chart we don’t see a hard aspect between Saturn and Pluto; here is where looking at the graphical ephemeris comes in handy. This is in the eighth harmonic graphical ephemeris, which means the when lines cross it indicate a conjunction, opposition, square, semisquare or sesquiquadrate. Here we can see a sesquiquadrate occurred twice before — in May and June of 1935 — the actual invasion and once after — in February of 1936 — so the date of the invasion was sandwiched in between.

Italy Invades Ethiopia

Harmonic Eight Graphical Ephemeris for 1935

In a decade that began with a hard Saturn Pluto aspect and ended with a hard Saturn Pluto aspect, there was also one in the middle of the decade. There was a semisquare of these two planets in May of 2024, September of 2024, and finally on January 26, 2025. Less than a week before that last semmisquare occurred the second inauguration of Donald Trump, whose first year of his second term has been filled with disruption and chaos.

Saturn Semisquare Pluto January 2025

The next hard aspect of Saturn and Pluto will be coming up in 2028 and 2029; it happens three times and the third occurrence is just hours before the Full Moon. As you can see from the chart for this third Saturn-Pluto square many planets line up. One wonders what notable event will happen under this square. Stay tuned….

Third Saturn-Pluto Square in 2029

Saturn Pluto Square Within US Chart

Inflection Point??

On February 20, 2026 Saturn will finally conjoin Neptune, the only exact conjunction of these two planets in this cycle; this conjunction is also conjunct the IC of the United States as well as the Aries Point.

Saturn Neptune Conjunction

Saturn-Neptune Conjunction and USA

I don’t know when this triple conjunction of Saturn, Neptune, and the Aries Point happened previously, but consider that the Saturn Neptune conjunction happens every 36 years, and assume every degree gets the conjunction once, then the last time this happened was 36 X 360 or almost 13000 years ago. Perhaps the significant event at that time was what is called the “Neolithic Revolution” where humans developed agriculture and a more settled lifestyle. Of course, some people argue that everything started to go downhill for humanity after the Neolithic Revolution. But in either case, this was a major turning point for humanity.

Magnified Graphical Ephemeris Saturn Neptune Conjunction

If we examine a magnified section of a graphical ephemeris we can see just how close this conjunction is to both the Aries Point (solid horizontal black line) and the Midheaven (dashed light grey line) of the United States. It is midway between those two points which are in fact close together. So not only do we have Saturn conjunct Neptune at the Aries point, incredibly significant to the world at large (which is represented by the Aries Point since everyone in the world has the Aries Point in common) but also this conjunction is directly opposite the MC of the US — conjunct the IC — and thus the base or foundation of the United States — which is what is represented by the IC — is directly hit by this conjunction. This will certainly shake up the foundations of the United States, which will affect the whole world, but you already can see that.

Saturn-Neptune Almost Exact Conjunction

In July of 2025 the Saturn and Neptune conjunction got within a quarter of a degree of exact and both went retrograde at the same time and thus the conjunction was never exact. In the magnified view you can see how both planets turned retrograde in unison.

Saturn-Neptune Almost Exact Conjunction

Saturn-Neptune Conjunction 1989

The last time this conjunction happened was in 1989. That year the conjunction happen three times; the most interesting was the third, on November 13, when Jupiter was closely opposite the conjunction. This Jupiter-Saturn opposition marked the midpoint — Full Jupiter so to speak — of the twenty year bi-decade that is the Eighties/Nineties. The fall on the Berlin Wall, which heralded the fall of the Soviet Union and other Communist Countries in Eastern Europe, happened on November 9, 1989. This supposedly marked the end of the Cold War (that had started at the end of the Second World War) and according to some this also marked the End of History (see The End of History and the Last Man by Francis Fukuyama which was published in 1992). This also involved a big change in the Western powers (see Cold War Triumphalism edited by Ellen Schrecker and published 12 years later). The United States took victory laps after this happened and President Clinton even managed to determine who the leader of the newly-born Russia was, as a cover story entitled “Yanks to the Rescue” shows. One can easily imagine the uproar if the Russian President was accused of helping an American win the Presidency!!

“Yanks to the Rescue”

Let us look at some other examples of hard aspects between Saturn and Neptune:

U.S. Off Gold Standard

An August 15, 1971 speech by United States President Richard Nixon was a big event for the world economy, but most did not realize how big for many years after. This event is considered the end of the Bretton Woods System that was established after World War II, named after the town in New Hampshire where the agreement was reached. After this statement by President Nixon, dollars were no longer convertible to gold. Among the many ramification was that money was made not through making actual things but through financial manipulation. In the long run, this decision by Nixon shifted power from industry to finance, and so what was capitalism of the Sixties and Seventies is not what capitalism is now.

Nixon Shock Speech

When we look at the chart for August 15, 1971 we don’t see anything specific. But looking at the graphical ephemeris around that date reveals something interesting.

Nixon Shock Graphical Ephemeris

Saturn and Neptune made three oppositions — indicated by 2, 3, and 4 — once before and twice after the speech whose date is indicated by the center line. In addition, the Jupiter Saturn opposition (much like the Jupiter-Saturn opposition which occurred almost twenty years later at the fall of the Berlin Wall) occurred twice before the speech and once after.

But there is also Pluto crossing the Cardinal Axis at 0 Libra — indicated by 1 — and also conjoining the MC of the United States. The period of 1972 and 1973 is known in the United States as the Watergate crisis, which ultimately saw the only resignation of a US President in history. That event is certainly appropriate for Pluto on the Midheaven of the US; at the time many expressed disbelief at what was happening to the government of the country.

The “Great Recession” was a meltdown of the financial markets in 2007, 2008, and 2009. Unlike the Great Depression of 1929, which had an exact date — Dark Thursday (October 24, 1929) — when the stock market fell greatly after booming for much of the decade, we don’t have an exact date for the Great Recession. But by looking at the graphical ephemeris for that period we can see what happened.

The Great Recession

Saturn was opposite Neptune three times right before the “Great Recession” at 2, 3, and 4. In addition Pluto crossed the Cardinal Axis as it enters Capricorn, indicated by 1. Thus Pluto is square the MC/IC axis of the United States. This is similar to the Nixon Shock, where there was also Saturn opposite Neptune and Pluto making a hard aspect to the Cardinal Axis and the US MC. The midpoint of these two events was the conjunction of Saturn and Neptune marked by the fall of the Wall.

Notice that the event of note doesn’t always happen at the time of the exact aspect. It did for the fall of the Wall, but for both the Nixon Shock and the Great Recession there was a time delay. Thus whether or not a significant event happens close to February 2026 or is delayed months is something we will see. Stay tuned….

Uranus Bats Last

In this decade we have the three outer planets changing from negative to positive signs all within a small amount of time. In this blog I have descriptions for those three planets and what they represent in the modern world. What follows is a brief recap of how I see these planets.

Moving from the outermost planet, Pluto represents the One-Percent, the Deep State, everything with “Big” in front of its name, such as Big Agriculture, Big Pharma, Big Oil, etc. And of course the Military industrial Complex or the National Security State or the Power Elite or whatever term you are most comfortable with. As I’ve mentioned in a previous entry (https://500yearparty.com/2025/07/) the conflict between the Pluto Class and the Uranus Class (described below) is the major conflict of our time, playing out in many different forms, though many people (especially those in the Pluto Class or their enablers) want you to ignore this or pretend that it really doesn’t matter.

Neptune is the Virtual World (that is the World Wide Web) and also confusion and deception and disinformation. It represents everything that is not natural but artificial, such as — most notably in this current time — artificial intelligence. Many have compared the development of this virtual world to the invention of the printing press 500 years earlier. The first major item printed with movable type is called the Gutenberg Bible, printed in the 1450s under a Uranus-Pluto conjunction. But of course — since things moved much slower then — it took many years for the effects of movable type to be felt in Europe. Consider the Internet — first used in 1969 — and the World Wide Web — which made the Internet accessible to the average person — developed in 1993 under the Uranus-Neptune conjunction. The printing press had enormous ramifications for the world at large in the last 500 year; the Neptune World Wide Web will have even more profound effects on the world over the next 500 years. This shows the potency of Neptune, but along with it comes the mass confusion, lying, and gas-lighting. Perhaps Neptune will even bring forth a new spiritual mindset, since spirituality is also a manifestation of Neptune, even though it is extremely difficult to observe in most people and especially in governments. In the composition The Planets by Gustav Holst — something ever astrologer should be familiar with — the term associated with Neptune is “The Mystic”.

Uranus represents the people, those who are not in the Pluto class, the common folk, the ” salt of the earth”. In our modern world the dichotomy of Right versus Left is being replaced by the dichotomy of Up versus Down, where Up is Pluto and Down is Uranus. As the poet Shelley wrote in the Masque of Anarchy “Ye are many — they are few” which could be rephrased as “Uranus is many, Pluto is few”. This is the conflict that will be animating the upcoming years — we already see it playing out in real time — even though certain people (hint: Pluto) will try hard to get other people to not believe this conflict, or make them side with Pluto.

Outer Planet Ingresses

Here is a graphical ephemeris for the period from May 10, 2022 to the beginning of April 2027. It is in the sixth harmonic, which means the 0 Aries line — black horizontal line half way down with the red Aries sign to the left of it — represents the start of all positive signs: Aries, Gemini, Leo, Libra, Sagittarius, and Aquarius. Since Uranus goes into Gemini, Neptune goes into Aries, and Pluto goes into Aquarius all of those sign cusps are represent by that black line.

We see the first sign ingress is by Pluto (marked by the 1) in April of 2023. This indicates the rise of the Pluto Power. And looking at the real world you can see that happening on a daily basis. Pluto is finally permanently in Aquarius (at least for 250 years) in early November 2024, just in time for the United States election. Indeed the Pluto Class is riding high.

Pluto Final Ingress Into Aquarius

But for the United States we also see Pluto make a decisive turn: the Pluto Return — the first for a country since governments usually don’t last as long as one Pluto cycle before changing– which occurs in 2022 and 2023. Since this Pluto Return is unique for countries, what we are seeing now is also unique in history. Stand back and watch the Pluto Return plays out as you attempt to ignore it. Pluto first returned to its natal location in early 2022 (marked as 1) and the final brushing the natal position was late 2023.

United States Pluto Return

Then Neptune brushes with a change of sign (at 2 in Outer Planet Ingresses) in July of 2024 and then clearly moves into Aries in April of 2025, finally moving into the new sign for good (at least for 168 years) in February of 2026. And we can certainly see the signs of Neptune activity around us. Nothing is as it seems, we can not trust anything that is said or written or televised, not even your own senses. We have to check many sources. And the virtual world is getting overwhelming, with tales of people being swept up with these virtual events.

Final Neptune Ingress Into Aries

United States Neptune Demi-Return

For the United State we have a Neptune demi-return, which happens every 84 years, and in this position — opposite the natal Neptune — once every 168 years. This demi-return happens in in 2021 (at 2 above) and 2022. But there is also Neptune opposite the Midheaven of the United States and, something that will affect the world at large and not just the US, Neptune conjunct the Aries point. These happen in 2024, 2025, and 2026. So plenty of Neptunian confusion to go around.

Neptune At Aries Point and Opposite US MC

But Uranus has yet to fully change signs. That planet’s first ingress into Gemini took place in July 2025 (at 3 in Outer Planet Ingresses) but then retreats into Taurus. Uranus finally moves into its new sign in May of 2026 (at least for 84 years). Since Pluto and Neptune have been in their new signs for a time, it will take a while for the effects of Uranus to be clearly visible. There are already signs of its activities, but you have to be on the lookout to see them. Ultimately Uranus rules awakening and that is what humanity must do if it is to escape Pluto-Neptune trap that is engulfing the world.

Uranus Final Ingress Into Gemini

The United States will get heavy dose of Uranus in the second half of this decade. First we have Uranus square the Moon of the US in 2025 and 2026 (at 1 below). Then we have the Uranus Return for the United States, the third such since the birth of the country — in 2027 and 2028 (at 2). Finally we have Uranus crossing the Descendant of the United States in 2028 and 2029 (3) . Quite a bout of Uranus for the United States is coming up.

United States: Uranus Square Moon, Uranus Return, Uranus Conjunct Descendant

Notice that the final sign change of Neptune occurs just a few months before the final sign change of Uranus. Thus we will see all the Neptunian fog over the Uranian change and thus be unable to really see what is going on. Thus when the final Uranian awakening takes places it will come as a complete surprise to most people and to the mass media.

This Decade As a Play in Three Acts

The play that is this decade can be divided into three acts astrologically. While you could also call this decade a novel with three chapters, a play with three acts is much more common than a novel with three chapters, so I’ll use the theater metaphor.

Just as in a play the first act sets up the characters that will drive the plot forward. In this case, as I’ve mentioned previously, there are three main events — Covid, Ukraine, Gaza (with the epiphenomenon of Donald J. Trump, who had appeared in the third act of a previous play) — that developed in the early years of this decade and will drive the plot of this decade forward. The third act is where the outcome is shown, the denouement (unraveling) of the play occurs. The middle act is where the plot develops and the characters/events introduced at the beginning behave in ways that will lead to the final outcomes. We are in Act Two now.

Neptune Demi-Return

The first act has as its highlights the Pluto return and the Neptune demi-return. The Pluto return has never occurred before in American history — the 250th anniversary of America is coming up in 2026 and the cycle of Pluto is approximately 250 years so you do the math. The Neptune demi-return occurred before in 1859. The previous Neptune Return was in 1940. The previous post summarized Act One in more detail.

Neptune Demi-Return 1859

Neptune Return

The second act consists of Uranus square the US Moon, Neptune opposite the U S Midheaven and also on the Aries point. As a special bonus we have Saturn conjunct Neptune when Neptune is at those points. This conjunction happened before in 1989 (without Aries Point involvement) which saw the fall of Communist countries in Europe and then the fall of the Soviet Union. This represented a major change in the Twentieth Century. Uranus made a previous opening square to the US Moon in 1941 and most Americans know what happened at that time. The previous Uranus conjunct the Moon happened in 2003 when the US attacked the country of Iraq in what is called the Second Gulf War. So the most likely scenario is a war starting, but already we have so many wars that is difficult to keep track. There is the most overt war between the United States and Russia since the end of the First World War, when President Wilson (along with many other countries) sent troops into Russia to defeat the Russian Revolution. We have a war, financed by the US, of Israel in Gaza. Other possible wars are with Iran and Venezuela. And of course there is always China. And more soon to come. This is not what were expecting by a “Peace President”.

Uranus Square US Moon

Saturn-Neptune Opposite US Midheaven

Uranus Square US Moon 1941

Uranus Conjunct US Moon 2003

During this act all three other planets change sign: Pluto goes into Aquarius (2023 and 2024) Neptune goes into Aries (2024, 2025, and 2026) and Uranus goes into Gemini (2025 and 2026).

Uranus Enters Gemini 2026

Neptune Enters Aries 2026

Pluto Enters Aquarius Late 2024

The last time these three outer planets changed into those signs was in the period 1523 through 1534, a much longer period than this time. which allowed Uranus to move into Cancer before Neptune went into Aries and Pluto into Aquarius.

Uranus Enters Gemini 1523

Neptune Enters Aries 1535

Pluto Enters Aquarius 1532

To mark the half way point in this 500 year party, we saw Pluto go into Aquarius in 1778, Uranus go into Gemini in 1774, and Neptune go into Libra — the sign opposite Aries– in 1778 and 1779. This was the height of the Enlightenment which also saw the birth of the U.S. Some people have called the period we are entering the “Endarkenment” since the lessons of 250 years ago seem to be forgotten.

Uranus Enters Gemini 1774

Neptune Enters Libra 1778

Pluto Enters Aquarius 1778

The last act is the Uranus Return and Uranus on the Descendant of the US. The previous Uranus Return was 1943, 1944, and 1945. The previous Uranus on the US Descendant was 1944, 1945, and 1946. That period, the last couple of years of the Second World War and the early postwar period saw tremendous changes to the Unites States, the United States government, and the world in general. We are still living in the world created at that time. We also have Pluto conjunct the South Node of the Moon and a trine of Uranus and Pluto, which will be dealt with separately.

US Uranus Return 2028

Uranus Conjunct Descendant 2029

US Uranus Return 1944

Uranus Conjunct Descendant 1945

At the end of the play or novel that is this decade we need to get ready for the sequel: This has been a waxing decade and the waning decade pair (after the Jupiter-Saturn opposition which take place at the end of 2029, end of April 2030, and about Thanksgiving (US) 2030) will come after. Being the second half of a Jupiter-Saturn cycle we will see things developed that were hinted at in the first decade of the cycle, much like sequels often do. For example think of the Seventies as a sequel to the Sixties or the Nineties as a sequel to the Eighties. Spoiler Alert: Even though we’ve seen plenty of Neptune so far in this decade, for the US the first three years of the next decade will see even more Neptune, with Neptune trine the Ascendant and square the Sun.

Jupiter Opposite Saturn 2030

The Midpoint Cometh

The main indicator of the end of the 500 year party is the midpoint of the three outer planets happening now with Neptune at its crux, something that only happens every 500 years. This particular one goes on for a long time as you can see from the image below. This midpoint configuration lasts at least the ten years from 2021 to 2031 with the tightest midpoint in 2024, 2025, 2026, and 2027. Notice that in 2025 this midpoint is on the Cardinal Axis making it even more potent.

Neptune = Uranus/Pluto

At the same time as this important midpoint is happening, those three planets also make up a mini-grand trine, which is a trine and two sextiles. This formation goes on for the four year 2025, 2026, 2027, and 2028 which is of course also crossing the Cardinal Axis in those first two years. The graphical ephemeris below is in the sixth harmonic which means that trines and sextiles appear as conjunctions.

Mini-Grand Trine

For the last 500 years, starting in the late Fifteenth Century, this party has been increasing in both a geographical and physical sense until by this time in the early Twenty-First Century more and more of what are called third world countries are joining the party. People seem to believe it can go on forever.

If you want as astrological date for when this started look at the chart for 11-18-1485 where the ten known planets (even though three were unknown at the time) were the closest for 500 years; the next time this tightness happened was on 11-16-1982 for this end of the party moment.

Tightest Planets 1485

But wait! There is a problem called anthropogenic climate change (ACC) that is going to end civilization as we know it. There is just too much carbon dioxide produced by fossil fuel powered automobiles and farming, especially of animals to produce meat and dairy. So we just have to eliminate those things and the world will be much better off.

Tightest Planets 1982

I’ve previously introduced the terms Uranus and Pluto to denote the two real classes that make up our society. Uranus is the people, the plebs, the proletariat. Pluto is the elite, the one percent, the global capitalists (or as satirist C.J. Hopkins calls them Global Cap), the Deep State.

The problems of ACC is something that must be solved by methods that don’t upset Pluto too much. That is why they promote that problem and that solution. But I would argue that the problems resulting from the 500 year party are much more difficult and far-reaching than what they want Uranus to believe, and solving these problems will require taming, if not eliminating, Pluto. And that is certainly not acceptable to them and so they promote the idea of climate change and get everyone exited about it, whether for or against the solutions that Pluto is promoting. It’s another instance of “Don’t look there, look over here”. But of course doing that, following the direction of Pluto, will only cause the problems to get worse. After all Pluto is the ones who are most enjoying the 500 year party, and they have the most to lose if the world really deals with the problems.

When a party is over you need to clean up the messes and replenish your supplies. After a party of 500 years, and especially after the Neptune-Pluto conjunction of the Eighteen-Nineties (to be dealt with in a separate post) there is a massive mess.

Neptune-Pluto Conjunction New Moon

To deal with all the problems created by the huge party civilization has been throwing for the last five centuries will involve first of all dealing with the Problem of Pluto which controls the media and the government which in turn sets the narrative of what is happening that we all believe. And of course Pluto does not want you looking at them, so they make you believe that the problem is something other then them. You would do the same thing if you were the problem. For example, if you beat your wife you must convince her the problem is the noisy neighbors in the apartment below.

The conflict in the world is between two opposing viewpoints: to make it more global, more a one world government or not. But the real solutions will involve more local (Uranus) that global (Pluto) and more natural (Uranus) rather than artificial (Pluto). But the world is moving towards the totally artificial with artificial food, artificial immunity, and the ultimate artificial intelligence. We need to move back towards natural food, natural immunity, and most of all natural intelligence, a characteristic that is becoming more and more scarce.

Over especially the last 100 years and more especially the last 30 years the people of the world, especially those in Western countries, have become more and more estranged from the natural world, and as a result the world has become more estranged from us. We need real solutions and those are not the solutions produced by Pluto.

A Full Moon To Remember

Full moons are always potent — the culmination of a lunar cycle that started with the preceding New Moon. Dane Rudhyar’s magisterial The Lunation Cycle is an important reference to the cycle of the Moon. And the lunar cycle is a prototype for the other planetary cycles such as the Jupiter-Saturn cycle that has been much discussed here. I now want to point out the Full Moon of 8-19-2024 which occurs just before Labor Day when the US election cycle is reaching a fever pitch. It should be noted in passing that the year 2024 will see many national elections, perhaps even a record for a single year. A Full Moon comes about once a month, and it is obvious the connection between the word “month” and moon. Many calendars, and especially religious calendars, are based on the Moon and not the Sun, and many solutions have been tried to harmonize the Lunar calendar with the Solar calendar. There are thirteen lunar cycles in a solar cycle. This is an example of astrology in everyday life.

A Full Moon To Remember

The first thing to notice is that there are two interlocking T-Squares which involve a total of eight of the ten planets; then there are several other indicators that this chart well represents the start of the second half of this decade.

The first T-square involves the Full Moon, with Mercury Retrograde conjunct Sun; the second T-square consists of the first in a series of the opening squares of Jupiter and Saturn which marks the beginning of the second half of the decade. Saturn is opposed to Venus and Mars is conjunct Jupiter at the apex of this T-square.

The apex of the first T-square is Uranus — Uranus squares both ends of the Full Moon — so that this will definitely be a Uranian Full Moon: expect the unexpected. The Jupiter Saturn square is almost exact.

To add further spice Neptune is almost at 0 Aries. This is its first brush with the Aries point and it goes stationary retrograde about six weeks earlier at four minutes from zero Aries. Pluto is at the first degree of Aquarius and will soon make its last brief foray into Capricorn before returning to Aquarius for the next two decades.

Let’s compare this Full Moon to the US chart. When we do that we find more interesting things. This Full moon is right on the US Moon — the people of the country. But the Full Moon also makes a wide aspect — a semisquare and a sesquiquadrate — to the US Sun — the government. Thus this Full Moon makes hard aspect to the two most important planets in the US natal chart.

Full Moon United States

Neptune is opposite the MC of the United States suggesting there will be some confusion in how the country is perceived by other and (since Neptune is conjunct the US IC) how the people think about themselves. Not a healthy situation but we have seen it playing out over the last ten years with first Neptune making a sesquiquadrate to the US Ascendant.

This occasion also marks the Mars return for the US — which is exact two days later, something that happens every two years. In this case Mars is conjunct Jupiter which in humans can suggest pregnancy but in this case that is unlikely. But use of Martian energy is highlighted, more so than has been shown so far in 2024,

Finally there is the transit of Uranus square the US Moon. This is the first pass and it goes stationary retrograde on the Moon a couple of weeks after this Full Moon, right after the next New Moon. Hard aspects of Uranus to the US Moon is an important topic which will be dealt with at length later but for now suffice it to say that the previous conjunction of Uranus to the US Moon occurred shortly after 9/11 when the US invaded both Afghanistan and Iraq.

When talking about what is called “mundane astrology” — which is what we are doing here — it is necessary to distinguish between events and trends. An event is something that happens in this case right about the time of this chart. With a strong Uranus this could be unexpected and sudden. But it is possible that nothing overt will happen at this time. More important is the trend that this Full Moon presages. This trend is something I’ve discussed before and that is that the second half of this decade will be very different that the first in ways that this chart suggests.