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April 24, 2020

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Neptune Über Alles

We have had a whole lot of Neptune over the last few years, and it is not going to end any time soon. I’ve previously written about the Neptune transits to the Ascendant and the Sun of the United States. The last of those transits has just about finished. But coming up is the Neptune demi-return, the return of Neptune to be opposite its natal position. This occurs at almost the same time as the Pluto return. This is not too surprising, since the period of Neptune — 168 years — is almost two-thirds the period of Pluto — 248 years — so there is a certain resonance to their periods. This Neptune demi-return will be followed soon after by Neptune hitting 0 Aries and Neptune crossing the IC — opposite the Midheaven — of the US, so soon the whole world, and especially the United States, will have more than a touch of Neptune.

Second Neptune Demi-Return

Neptune the planet — who was in Roman mythology (Poseidon in Greek) the god of the Seas (and also earthquakes) — covers many ideas. In the best sense it can relate to spiritual matters, but also deception and illusion in a mundane situation or for those who are not spiritual adepts. Neptune should be strong in actors (witness Elizabeth Taylor’s birth in Neptune-ruled Pisces) who need to behave like someone they are not. But is difficult to manifest the spiritual side of Neptune when we are talking about countries (eg US) or many people in their mundane existence. In such cases Neptune can represent lies, deception, dissembling, but also vapors, poison gas, and illness, especially when the causes are not well know. In particular, with the current COVID-19 pandemic that is engulfing the world, Neptune is a fitting symbol. But remember Neptune symbolizes many things, so don’t get caught up in assigning it just one meaning, as Neptune is more difficult to tack down than other planets. Though is seems a little too obvious, Neptune can easily be associated with plagues or pandemics. More fundamentally Neptune can represent invisible or at least unclear things, as in the term “Neptunian” fog. So things now are very Neptunian — the situation is unclear, and it is almost as if everyone has an opinion of what is happening, and some quote “experts” but in a more general sense, no one really knows what the future will be, but it wouldn’t be “more of the same”.

Let us briefly look at previous times Neptune made hard aspects — conjunction, square, opposition — with its natal position. There are relatively few of these, since Neptune moves slowly around the Sun. In a human being with a limited lifespan, the stages of a life can be measured with the aspects of Saturn to its natal position, most commonly labeled with the term “Saturn Return” though other aspects are important also. But with a country, and especially the United States, the progress of the country can best be measured with the aspects of Neptune, as I indicate in the following paragraphs.

First Opening Neptune Square

The first opening square of transiting Neptune to its natal position was in 1817. This was an interesting time even if there were no stand-out events. The last of the “Virginia Dynasty” Presidents, all of whom came from the state of Virginia, James Monroe, had just been elected. It is known as “The Era of Good Feelings” when past animosities were ended. The War of 1812, which had seen the burning of the nation’s capital city, had ended two years earlier. The Federalist Party, those who had essentially started the country before there were actually political parties, and had been represented by the first two Presidents, was for all intents and purposes dead. This time represents the end of the “childhood” of the country and a time when it moved into adolescence. Not only were Presidents elected that were different than the first few, for example Andrew Jackson in another ten years, but the contentious issue of slavery was about to become very obvious and could no longer be ignored with the Missouri problem that was solved by the eponymously name Compromise.

First Neptune Demi-Return

The first time it was opposite its natal position was in 1858 and 1859. We all know what was happening then: This was the final run-up to the American Civil War, which had been developing for at least forty years since the opening square, but by the time of that demi-return the war was almost here. This Civil War marked America’s entrance into young adulthood after it “solved” a problem that had been with the country since its founding.

First Closing Neptune Square

The closing square of Neptune was in 1898. It is noteworthy how often several important transits happen at the same time — the current decade is a hallmark example of such a phenomena. But this Neptune aspect was also an example; this period saw the Spanish American War and the beginning of the Philippines War while there was a Saturn Pluto opposition. America was now passing out of earlier adulthood which was marked by the Civil War and was becoming a full adult and, wanting to be considered a “successful” country, became an empire. This can be seen as the beginning of the “American Century”.

Neptune Return

The first complete Neptune cycle, which involved Neptune returning to its natal position, was 1938 and 1939; in the same way that that first demi-return was a run-up to the American Civil War, this return was the run up to the Second World War, though most Americans at the time were just happy that the worst of the Great Depression was over. Those who paid attention to what was happening in Europe or the Far East knew something was coming down. By the end of the War, America had achieved the promise that had been set in motion at the closing square: it was truly a world-spanning empire.

Second Opening Neptune Square

The second opening square, which also corresponds to a Saturn-Pluto conjunction and much else was happening in 1980 and 1981. As has been mentioned before, this is the beginning of Neo-liberalism, that branch of extreme capitalism that has dominated the world for the last forty years, and, I believe, is coming to an end with the Neptune demi-return. This closing square represented elderhood for the country, but not in a good way — the country has become older without becoming wiser, like an elderly teenager. This upcoming decade represents hopefully a maturing out of that difficult stage. Unlike a physical human being, countries can have more than one “lifespan”. In this sense the upcoming Pluto return (symbolically, since Pluto can represent death) is the end of that stage most represented by the promise of the first Neptune return.

Since in the US chart, Neptune is close to the Midheaven, it is not surprising that the Neptune returns and demi-returns corresponds closely to Neptune at the MC or opposite the MC, which has been shown before to correspond to a crisis in America. The first such crisis was the Revolutionary War, then the Civil War, then World War II. This next crisis is coming up, and one indicator is the Neptune demi-return that also corresponds to the Pluto return, so one might guess that this return/demi-return of two outer planets will be more impressive/significant than either by themselves. But these returns also correspond to Neptune on the Cardinal axis, either at 0 Aries or 0 Libra so they also represent major changes in the World.

US history in textbooks is often divided into four periods — before the Revolutionary War, between Revolutionary and Civil Wars, after the Civil War but before World War Two, and after World War Two, that is today. So American history is conveniently demarcated by those the events, though all signify ongoing events to which those turning points — Revolutionary, Civil, World War — are significant. And it should be obvious that life before the Revolutionary War, when people were British citizens, was different than life after when they were citizens of a new country. After the Civil War, those who were slaves were now free and could, theoretically at least, vote and travel about. And after World War Two so many things changed that it is often called the Great Acceleration or the start of the Anthropocene — literally a new era in world history. We are soon to reach another one of those turning points. The time after this Neptune demi-return (and many other events which I have talked about before) will be unlike the time before (ie, now). The history of the world, when looked back at from the future, will show that there was a major change that happened in the third decade of the Twenty First century. Neptune is a big, but not the only, part of this, symbolized by the only outer-planet midpoint configuration with Neptune at the apex in 500 years and Neptune crossing the Cardinal axis at Zero Aries, the start of things.

This future could be determined by the same forces that made the last 70 (or 500) years what they have become, or it could be determined in a more democratic way. I believe it was the Scottish Enlightenment philosopher David Hume who said that in all societies the people are the ones that truly have the power, but they have been convinced that they don’t, so it does not matter. In authoritarian societies like the former Soviet Union, it was obvious that the media and the government were lying to citizens and so they paid attention to the samizdat (unauthorized newspapers), but in more “democratic” societies people don’t know they are being lied to, so it is almost a harder problem to convince them that they have the power. What we need to see now is that the individuals come to believe that they are the powerful ones and not allow themselves to be controlled by the government and that handmaiden of government, the mass media, all of whom are owned by large corporations that do not have the interests of individual citizens as their prime concern.

In the chart of the US, Neptune is square Mars. This is an extremely problematic aspect for a nation. The country in question is deluded about its use of power, which in the case of a nation is military power. It — the country — tends to believe that all uses of force are only for the benefit of others and military operations are done with the best of intentions: Deception is paramount. When transiting Neptune is conjunct/opposed the natal Neptune it is also squaring the natal Mars, further emphasizing the ingrained Mars Neptune square. This demi-return could be the time of another crusade to save the world. In the current US this crusade comes in two flavors: straight neoconservative, often the favorite of Republicans, and the responsibility to protect (R2P) which is favored by Democrats (also called “the cruise missile left”). In practical application, there is not much difference in outcome, but the R2P crowd (Samantha Powers is a good example) are often cheered in elite publications. That is the “respectable” type of intervention.

netg2020

In the fourth harmonic graphical ephemeris we can see how close the lines for Mars and Neptune are, near the bottom of the image. Neptune first comes close to Neptune-Mars in the summer of 2020 and first exactly contacts both planets in Spring of 2021. Both planets are contacted throughout the remainder of 2021 and 2022 and the last exact opposition to natal Neptune is at the end of 2022. Also visible in the upper half of the graphical ephemeris is the progress of the Pluto Return which starts and ends a little later than the demi-return.

But I don’t want to be all negative. This Mars-Neptune emphasis could be a time for self reflection (in the country) and a realization of how much the National Security State (aka Military Industrial Complex or Deep State), that was born shortly after World War II, has come to influence and even determine what the United States does. The current media mindset with Russia,Russia,Russia (they’re going to hack our 2020 elections also!) shows how much an enemy is needed. And before Russia the enemy was terrorism, and before that drugs, and before that Communism, and before that Germany, and before that Spain, and before that the South (from a Northern perspective), and before that the British.

Neptune indicates the very fluidity of the situation. It is at such a time that the maximum amount of change can be made, or else we can fight among ourselves and let our “Masters” control the situation and its outcome. But one thing is certain: with Neptune so involved, don’t accept anything at first impression, always look beneath the Neptunian surface.

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August 3, 2018

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Zeitgeist Changes — Part 5

The Fourth Turning is a 1996 book by William Strauss and Neil Howe that was recently popular during the election of 2016. It postulates a crisis for America soon, because previous crises have bedeviled America ever 80 to 90 years since the Revolutionary War. As astrologers, that time period should ring bells, and in fact the cycle has extended longer than Strauss and Howe imagine. As has been suggested by this blog, it is unfortunate that historians don’t know astrology. If they did, they would realize that this pattern extends from before the Revolutionary War and corresponds to planetary periods. By looking at the astrological pattern, we can see this cycle has been occurring since the nation was founded, and is getting more intense with each succeeding cycle. The period of 80 to 90 years is one Uranus cycle and one-half of a Neptune Cycle. Let’s look (again) at what happened every 80 to 90 years in American history.

Starving Time

The first successful colony in what has become the United States was in Jamestown in what is now the state of Virginia in May of 1607. The Winter of 1609-1610 is called the Starving Time: Of the 500 residents of Jamestown in the Fall, only 60 were left by the time Spring rolled around. Domestic animals were killed for food, and some cannibalism took place, as shown in (for example) a New York Times story about a current archaeological discovery on the James River. A fleet from England did finally come, but it had only more colonists and not food. In the summer of 1610 (July 7) as they sailed away, another ship with supplies came and they all returned to the colony, which then was firmly established. This was the first crisis of America. If we look at chart for November 24, 1609, that winter of the Starving Time, we see that Uranus is on the Descendant of the United States. However, looking at the next chart for November 24, 1614, when Neptune first came to the Midheaven, we see that it is a full five year after the crisis, and so this does not seem to fit the pattern. Of course, in this example the crisis only lasted a few months, not nearly as long as the others did. Or perhaps since there was no government (represented by the MC axis) there was no transit of the MC. Note that in this case the Uranus conjunction occured before the Neptune conjunction/opposition, but those two will exchange places over the cycles.

Starving Time 2

King William’s War 1

Several wars occurred in the early colonies, called in general the French and Indian Wars, since both were involved, and each war got a name in the colonies depending on who was the ruler of England at that time. They had different names in Europe, since France was also involved. Both France and England had colonies in North America, and the French were allied with the Native Americans, and those two overseas powers were involved in several wars to determine who would have possession of the New World. Spoiler: England won and would become the dominant force in the world for 150 years.

In 1688, there was the Glorious Revolution in Great Britain that replaced the Catholic King James II (son of King Charles I who was executed in the English Civil War) with Protestants William and Mary from Holland. Thus the first such war in America was called King William’s War, and it was fought in 1689-97 with England, France, the American Indians, and the American colonists. This was about 80 to 88 years after the Starving Time, and from the chart we can see that Uranus was at the Descendant during the War, Neptune reached the IC of the United State (not yet born) in 1697, three months before the end of the war.

King William’s War 2

Eighty to ninety years later, after all the French and Indian wars had died out, and after the important Seven Years War (1756-1763), which saw England defeating France to become top dog in the world, it was time for the Revolutionary War, and sure enough those two planets were in their correct spots.

Revolutionary War 1

The official dates for the Revolutionary War are from the Battle of Lexington and Concord (April 19,1775) to the surrender at Yorktown (October 19, 1781). This first image is for June 23, 1777; that date is not, as far as I know, a stand out date in the Revolutionary War. Notice that all three outer planets are near their birth locations. This is not surprising, considering that this chart is less than a year after birth. What the chart does show is that Uranus is passing over the Descendant and on this date is exactly opposite the Ascendant for the first time since birth. Again, not surprising since the natal position of Uranus is close to the Descendant. Whereas the Ascendant relates to the personal projection – a good synonym is persona – the Descendant is the opposite point, and indicates how we relate to the outside world. In personal astrology, this often is used to refer to the partner or people one draws to oneself or open enemies. In either case, it refer to energy coming to us from outside, which can easily be seen as a war which also comes to us.

Revolutionary War 2

In the second chart, for November 23, 1778 we see that Neptune has come to the Midheaven of the United States. The Midheaven refers to the way the country relates to the outside world or vice versa; one can see it as a public persona as opposed to the private persona of the Ascendant. Perhaps this suggests that a war, which involves the government (MC axis) of the United States is always started under the illusion of good intentions and a peaceful outcome.

Civil War

And 80 to 90 years after the Revolutionary War, along comes the Civil War, sometimes called the Second Revolutionary War, for different reason depending on which side the speaker is on. The dates for the American Civil War are from the firing on Fort Sumter (April 12, 1861) to the surrender at Appomattox court house (April 9, 1865). For the the Civil War there is only one chart, for March 11, 1862. The war had started almost a year earlier. We see both Uranus opposite the Ascendant as in the first Revolutionary War chart, and Neptune conjunct the IC (Imum Coeli –the Bottom of the Sky) of the United States chart, opposite the Midheaven. This is about one Uranus cycle, 84 years, after the first chart. The fact that Neptune is now opposite the earlier position (the second chart for November 23, 1778) is not surprising since the period of Neptune is almost exactly double that of Neptune. Note also that since the natal Uranus is close to the Descendant and the natal Neptune is close to the Midheaven, these periods are also close to a Uranus return and a Neptune bi-return. But we do see a pattern. Notice by this time both Uranus/Descendant and Neptune/Midheaven axis aspects occur at the same time. We will notice later that the Neptune aspect will occur before the Uranus aspect.

World War II 1

The dates for American participation in World War II – the Americans were definitely late to the party – is measured from the attack on Pearl Harbor (December 7, 1941) to the surrender of Japan (Germany had surrendered 4 months earlier) September 2, 1945. One notices that the wars get larger – more participants and over a larger area — and more bloody over time. Starving Time in Jamestown only lasted one winter and less than 500 people died, though of course by percentage of population it is very huge. Compare that to World War II, which lasted for the Americans four years and less than 500,000 Americans died, though it was a world war and many people from other countries, especially the Soviet Union that bore the brunt of the German invasion, died.

World War II 2

Let’s look at the World War II charts. The first chart is for November 5, 1942, the first time Neptune conjoined the Midheaven of the United States in this cycle. Then the second chart for World War II for August 6, 1944, one year to the day before the dropping of the atomic bomb on the Japanese city of Hiroshima, the first pass of Uranus to the Descendant of the United States. Also Neptune is very close – one degree beyond – the Midheaven. This was again one Uranus cycle, and one-half a Neptune cycle since the Civil War. The pattern repeats itself. Notice how the Neptune aspect now takes place before the Uranus aspect. The Descendant is where energy comes in to you from outside, and so Uranus on the Descendant suggests disturbance, upset coming into the country, like for example a war. At least it was in the four cases we looked at. Since we have only the United States as an example, and only five cases to draw upon, we can’t draw a definite conclusion. But in every case there was, the correlation was exact.

What we have seen are five crises, starting at the birth of the colony at Jamestown and occurring every 80 to 90 years with increasing death, violence, and geographical spread, involving the United States. The obvious question is when will this pattern happen next. As you may already suspect, this is coming up soon, and this is one of several cycles that are coming due at about the same time. We will leave for later the exploration of the exact date; but first, we must look at another cycle of great importance.

But how will the next turn of the Uranus/Neptune cycle manifest? One might expect another war, even bigger than World War II. This reasoning was what caused The Fourth Turning‘s notoriety during the election. Several possibilities: Aliens from outer space will invade and the nations of the world will band together to fight them. A bit fanciful, then perhaps it will be an asteroid that will be expected to hit the earth and the nations of the world will band together to fight it. Or perhaps it will be a world wide fight between the 1% and the 99% since inequality will have become so much worse than it is now. Several people consider the state of the United States so divisive and contentious – the term used is polarized — that a new civil war is expected to break out, so that is another possibility. This period could see the Third World War, more horrible that the Second which occurred 84 tears before. Or perhaps this will see the final collapse of the ecosystems of the world. But since I’m an optimist (Jupiter conjunct Sun) my best guess is that the nations of the world will finally decide that the global crises are so ominous that they need to band together in a World War II-scale attempt to fight for the survival of the planet. Of course it should have been done in the 1980s. There is much more that needs to be said about this period, one of the most important of at least the 21st Century, but we need to have more background. If this is the type of crises we will face in a few more years, it suggests that many things will happen between now and then to make the countries of the world think that that type of world wide response is finally necessary. And they are, you need just to look around with eyes unblinded, which is difficult with the constant bombardment of information that we daily receive. But the signs are all around, we just have to see them through all the chaff.

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July 28, 2017

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Odds And Ends

I was asked to look at the Cancer Ingress chart for a Solstice potluck I attended recently. I drew the chart for when the Sun is at 0 Cancer and thus when the first instant of Summer, in the Northern hemisphere, officially starts. The chart’s location is Washington, D.C. because it is the capital of the nation. I did not know what to expect, but the chart only emphasized what we have seen before, and so I will refer you to previous entries. In this chart the most prominent planet near an angle (Ascendant, Midheaven, etc) is Neptune rising and just a few degrees below the Ascendant and in the first house. The second most obvious is Saturn in the tenth house and a few degrees from the Midheaven. If one were born in, say, Jamaica, New York, Saturn would be even closer to the Midheaven. As has been talked about before Neptune indicates that the next half year, at least, will be very Neptunian; it is as if vaseline were spread over America’s perception of the world, even more so now than usually. This manifests itself most clearly in the Russiagate scandal, which polls show is greatly favored by politicians and the mass media, whereas the general public believes there is really nothing there and wishes that politicians would show interest in things like health care and the lack of good-paying jobs. From a distance, it appears that America has gone crazy.

solstice17

Saturn at the top of the chart is simply an indication that things will not go smoothly in the public arena, and the the world will see the country as somewhat hidebound (insert your favorite Saturn world here). For a person born in Jamaica the next six months will only be really bad, with everyone attacking him, as they have been doing since even before the election.

The tightest aspect is a trine between Pluto and the Moon. For this aspect, Ebertin says “striving for power” to which one can only add “well, duh!!”. We already see jockeying for the 2018 midterm elections, of which Russiagate is the Democratic attempt to win back a populace increasingly turned off to their love of the elites.

There was some excitement recently over the fiftieth anniversary — fiftieths are always a big deal, as are a hundred year anniversary — of the release of the Beatles album Sargent Pepper’s Lonely Hearts Club Band, which is considered a landmark, for among other things the year it was released — 1967 — the so-called Summer of Love in San Francisco. Since I had already looked at the release of the Bob Dylan album Slow Train Coming I knew how to handle album releases. It turns out that this album was released on two separate dates, one in England and later one in the United States.

Sargent Pepper released USA

For the release date in the United States, drawn at 12 noon, we have Sun at the MC and the Uranus-Pluto conjunction, which so defines the Sixties, at the Ascendant and thus loosely square the Sun for the day of the release. Since this album was an epitome of Sixties-culture, the fact that the Sun was in aspect to that conjunction on this day is only appropriate. Venus is conjunct Jupiter, suggesting good (sweet) music. On that day the transiting Moon went over Saturn, suggesting that there were some disappointments in the future (see for example the Manson murders (supposedly he rallied his “troops” by using a Beatles song from a later album) and the concert at the Altamont Speedway, for starters) .

Sargent Pepper released in USA

For these transits within the USA chart, we see that that Uranus Pluto conjunction is right on the natal Neptune and straddling it. Neptune reminds one of the mystical experience that that era promised and sometimes delivered, and also drugs, which featured prominently in the album in question. We already saw that Moon-Saturn transiting conjunction, but here the transiting Mars is exactly on Saturn of the United States.; this Mars-Saturn combination has been described as “Driving with the brakes on” but of course nobody realized that at the time. Also interesting is that the Sun for the day is exactly on the Descendant of the United States. It was an important day that people would recognize and remember, but also symbolically the Sun was setting. That June also was the fabled “Summer of Love” where so many young people would be going to San Francisco (with or without, as the popular song of that summer had it, flowers in their hair). Fifty years is a long time ago.

Sargent Pepper released in UK

The album was released in Great Britain on May 26, and I used a natal chart for the United Kingdom for 1801 with the union of Britain and Ireland as a background for the transits of the day. In this chart we see a Jupiter return for the United Kingdom, and certainly the Beatles, and the other bands of the “British Invasion” were good for the bottom line of the country. England was swingin’ in the Sixties! Transiting Venus is conjunct the Moon of the UK — music for the masses indeed. But Saturn is also prominent in this chart, being just above the Descendant. This suggest much the same as the prominence of Saturn in the US charts mentioned above.

But there is another fiftieth anniversary which this summer sees that is not discussed as much, that is of the shooting of a US ship Liberty by the Israelis less than a week after this album was released in the Sates. The USS Liberty was a research ship for the US Navy, and it was attacked by Israeli Air Force planes and torpedo boats. All told, 34 sailors were killed, 171 injured, and the ship was damaged considerably. This incident has never been adequately explained, and there were several “conspiracy theories” that rose up about it. In the wake of the 50th anniversary, Haaretz, often considered the most important newspaper in Israel, published a major article investigating the incident, something that American newspapers shy away from. Men on the Israeli ship realized at the time that they were about to fire an an American vessel, but the order was to continue firing at the Liberty. US troops that were in the water were also fired upon. Later Israel apologized and United States President Lyndon Johnson accepted their apology and the matter was let drop.

USS Liberty Fired Upon

In the chart for the event, which took place about 25 miles northwest of the Egyptian city of Arish, just after a New Moon, where the Moon was less than three degrees beyond the Sun, about six hours after the exact New Moon. And of course we see the signature Uranus-Pluto conjunction in the twelfth house. Mars in the first house is opposite Saturn, and indeed it was a martial adventure, with Mars Saturn problems since there has been a Saturnian coverup of this event in the 50 years since. Jupiter and Venus were closely conjunct — less than one degree — at the beginning of Leo, and semisquare the New Moon, but this event did not bring any of the promises of Venus-Jupiter (great beneficence) to the sailors on the Liberty, but it did for the Israel, since they escaped with only an apology for what could have been an international incident: an ally killing many US troops in a a totally unprovoked attack.

liberty_usa

The chart for the transits to the USA chart for this instant are not that much different than for the release of Sargent Pepper less than a week before, except that the Moon and Sun have moved during the interval. The New Moon is now on the USA Mars — gunfire, violence — and the meaning should be clear as regards this incident.

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June 16, 2017

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Yet More Neptune

Neptune has pride of place in the birth chart of the United States. It is conjunct the Midheaven of the US (a wide conjunction, 8.5 degrees) and is the most elevated planet in the chart. This prominence of Neptune is very visible in the United States, and even manifests itself in US currency. This placement of Neptune is articulated by the term “American Dream” and displays itself in the concept of Manifest Destiny, a term popularized in the 1840s and illustrated by this famous painting. manifest-destiny-3-638

America has been the birth place to many religions and in fact there is a region of Western New York State which is called the Burned-Over District (details are in Whitney Cross’s book The Burned Over District first published in 1950) where many religions erupted, including Mormonism, seemingly after a controversy involving the death of a Mason and the birth of the first third party in America. People new to America are amazed at the strength of religion in the society. Imagine the extreme difficultly of a Non-believer running for any public office, and compare this to any European nation, most especially France. And look at the back of a one dollar bill. There you will see an eye on top of a pyramid, a physical representation of the position of Neptune in the birth chart of the United States. That position was determined in 1935, and was suggested by then Secretary of Agriculture Henry Wallace, who probably had more knowledge of esoteric symbols than any other government official since, though of course the founders of this country were mostly Masons, and I am told the amount of esoteric symbolism to be found in Washington, DC is considerable. This eye on the pyramid was the reverse of the Great Seal of the United States which originated back from the birth of the country.

As has been talked about before the United States is currently having a Neptune transit, with Neptune square the Ascendant of the United States. This has manifested itself in many ways, but two stand out as being featured prominently in the news media, and demonstrating once again that the media is also under Neptune’s influence. In general, people are now disillusioned with the charade of politics as usual, and this plays out in many ways. The key word is disillusioned, a word of Neptune.

Neptune Square US Ascendant

Neptune’s hard transits, since Neptune is a slow moving outer planet, are relatively rare in the history of the country. What we are seeing now is an opening square of Neptune to the Ascendant. As can be see in this graphical ephemeris, it was first exact in early summer of 2016 (black arrow), was then exact in March of 2017 and will make its final passes of an exact square at the end of this year and the beginning of the next year.

Neptune Conjunct US Ascendant

The previous conjunction was exact in 1975 and 1976, forty years ago. In the United States this saw a rise of born-again Christians (“Jesus People”) — at this time my astrology teacher became a “Jew for Jesus” and threw away all her astrology book., It seemed to be a time when many who had believed in political change in the Sixties gave up on that idea and turned to spiritual pursuits. While it is difficult to chose an exact chart for this event, a milestone is the release of Bob Dylan’s first Christian album Slow Train Coming on August 20, 1979. Though this was some years after the exact conjunction, it astounded many Dylan fans at the time since he was not known as a Christian (but rather into his Jewish heritage) even though such a song as “I Dreamed I Saw St. Augustine” from the album John Wesley Harding may have suggested differently (though of course that album was released after his supposedly almost fatal motorcycle accident and showed a distinct change from what had gone before). But the album was also surprising because his previous album, Street Legal, contained a number of reference to Tarot (“between the King and Queen of Swords”) and other esoteric matters.

slow_train_coming_usa

In the chart for the release of this album, seen as transits to the United States chart (left), Neptune is past the Ascendant but still close and in the First House. What stands out is the triple conjunction of Sun, Venus, and Jupiter in Leo opposite the Moon of the US. That day represents some type of culmination of trends in America, and the beginning of something new. As we can see from the event chart for the release (right), Uranus was midway between Neptune and Pluto; This period in history represented the beginning of the Rise of Neoliberalism, discussed at length elsewhere in his blog, in the world whose effects have become obvious by now, almost forty years later. It was indeed the beginning of a new trend.

Neptune Closing Square to US Ascendant

The closing square of Neptune to the Ascendant was in 1933 though 1935, the depths of the Great Depression when Franklin Roosevelt had just taken office. Father Coughlin, a Catholic priest who used the radio to reach a large audience, posed a challenge to Roosevelt whom he first supported; Coughlin later became anti-semitic and began to support some policies of Fascist leaders. Huey Long, the governor of Louisiana, was another early supporter of Roosevelt who split with FDR and offered a “Share our Wealth” program that was more radical than the new Deal of FDR. He was associated with Father Coughlin and was assassinated in the middle of this transit. And of course the Communist Party of the USA saw much gain in its membership as people saw the problems with capitalism. In all these cases, and others, people were all too clearly disillusioned –a Neptunian word — with capitalism. In the graphical ephemeris for this period we can see the squares of Neptune to the US Ascendant; the first exact square is shown by the black arrow.

Neptune Square US Sun

Neptune transits are also very prominent to the United States chart during the bout of McCarthyism in the late Forties and early Fifties. Neptune was on the MC of the US during the first half of that decade, as the country entered and fought World War II. Neptune then was prominent in the US tenth house at the end of the war and shortly thereafter. Then, as shown in the graphical ephemeris above, Neptune was square the Sun of the United States starting at the beginning of 1948 (black arrow shows first exact square) and the last exact square was in late 1949, though the effects continued into 1950. As mentioned in the above link, the late Forties was the period when the Cold War was really started. Truman was laying the foundation of the Cold War (e.g. the Truman Doctrine) and instituted a loyalty oath for government workers which was then ramped-up by the Republicans, as is their wont, and the forerunners of McCarthy, such as Richard Nixon, were practicing their witchhunting of Communists

One prominent example in the current square of Neptune, which has been mentioned before, is now going under the sobriquet of “Russiagate”. This is the belief that Russia and its demonic leader Vladimir Putin are behind most of the troubles in the world today, and that Putin’s noxious influence has determined the winner of America’s last Presidential election. This is a feature of the ongoing New Cold War, which really came into prominence (though it started with the fall of the Soviet Union in 1991) with the violent coup in the Ukraine (though of course it is not called a coup in the mass media, though the President of what has been referred to as the private CIA (Stratfor) has called the event the most obvious coup in recent memory), which took place of February 22, 2014. This was the beginning of a difficult time for the world, and was indicated astrologically by the Grand Cross on April 22, 2014, which can be seen as the starting gun for a dangerous race.

Grand Cross

The charges in Russiagate have filled the news, and most seemingly liberal people, those who supported Clinton’s campaign for the Presidency in 2016, assuredly give credence to this belief of Russiagate. But there is really no evidence for this, as former President Obama, former director of the CIA Michael Morell, and former Director of National Intelligence James Clapper have all said. People need to realize that there is no there there. Certainly there are many sins that they can get Trump on, but instead many people chase this chimera; that alone should suggest that this is part of the plan to further demonize Russia and avoid any possible detente. But this has not stopped the belief, which is featured prominently in the major newspapers and news channels. As I’ve said before, this is Neptune writ large. This is surely a projection by American officials since the United States has “influenced” the elections of other countries more than once. One example was so famous, involving a President of Russia who was far behind his opponent, that Time magazine even had a cover story celebrating the exploit. One wonders if afterwards Moscow was filled with complaints about “Clinton hacked our election”.

Time-Yeltsin-227x300

In fact, now almost any meeting with someone from Russia is suspect, innocent contacts with Russian officials are considered a sign of treason, and academic researchers are urged not too seem to close to Russia. Full disclosure: I had a meeting with two Russian women over the Memorial Day weekend of 2012 in a bowling alley in New Orleans, so perhaps I too have been infected.

But recently something else has gripped the news media, and is strongly related to “Russiagate”: the charge, uniformly accepted by the aforementioned mass media, that the government of Syria attacked and killed many people (including beautiful innocent babies) with a poison gas, identified as sarin. As a result President Trump sent Tomahawk missiles to pound Syria, thus proving he is Presidential by committing a War Crime, as all Presidents of the United States, at least as far back as Harry Truman, have done, and turned around the almost universal hatred of him into much (temporary) adulation. Having committed a war crime was always the advantage Hillary Clinton had over him in being presidential.

But the nature of this chemical attack is very hazy. Note that Neptune rules both poison gas and hazy. Several things not mentioned: Syria has no poison gas, according to the United Nations which destroyed those weapons several years ago. Then, as in any crime, one must asked cui bono — who profits. Since Syria was winning the war and about to engage in a gathering to settle the war (in Brussels) this was surely the absolutely worst time to let off an attack by a chemical bomb, even if Syria’s government had them. But of course the opponents to the government of Syria have much to gain from the attack. Then there is the report, also unmentioned in mass media, by a expert in national security and weapons of mass destruction from MIT that the explosion was from a bomb on the ground and not dropped from the air. And of course there is doubt that the gas used was even sarin, since pictures of first responders show them not using any protections that are required for dealing with sarin.

But this bombing certainly gave a boost to the lagging presidency of Donald Trump. In fact, some commentators at MSDNC have suggested that Putin arranged the chemical attack so that his buddy Donald Trump could appear decisive by his response. The Russians themselves believe that Trump certainly knew this was not an attack by the government of Syria, for the obvious reasons given above, so they think that he is still open to talks with them, and that this was just an action he needed to take since he had been so weakened by the Russiagate attacks. So whichever way you look at this incident, it is totally Neptunian. When an crazy idea seems to take control of otherwise rational people, you can be sure Neptune is involved. As we saw previously, there were strong Neptune contacts to the US chart at the beginnings of the Cold War in the late Forties.

Watching these events happen with a knowledge of Neptune allows one to observe the action of Neptune at first hand. It seems like a fog has swept over America, and the fact of Russian interference with American (and those of other countries) elections is taken as fact by so-called reputable news services. Between Russiagate and President Donald Trump, America must be the laughing-stock of other countries, or at least those who are not swept up in the American bubble. And since almost all people — liberals — concerned with civil liberties hate Donald Trump with a passion, they don’t notice what looks at a distance as if the organizations such as the FBI, CIA, and NSA — the so-called Deep State — are attempting a soft coup to replace the elected President of the United States, just as if the USA were a “banana republic”. They have much practice at replacing elected leaders in other countries, and now their skills are being applied closer to home. It is a fitting close to the American Century. Liberals should remember the famous saying from World War Two: First they came for the Communists and since I wasn’t a Communist I said nothing….

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dak1024

Posted on

July 1, 2016

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History, United States

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Saturn on the Ascendant

Saturn is a relatively fast moving planet, compared with the three outer planets of Uranus, Neptune, and Pluto. Saturn was the slowest moving known planet through all of history before the Enlightenment, and circles the Sun in about a third of the time as the next outer planet Uranus — Saturn takes almost 30 years. So transits of Saturn across the angles of the US chart are not nearly as impressive as those of the slower moving planets, but there is something noticeable. This is important to discuss now, since we are seeing another case of this transit, along with a slower moving transit. As two examples below indicate, when Saturn transits an angle combined with a transit of an outer planet over the same angle, the results can be especially impressive.

saas1898

The first Saturn Ascendant case we will explore is the Spanish American War, when Saturn was conjunct the Ascendant of the US, and to make this more important, Pluto was on the Descendant and thus opposite Saturn at the same time, as was explored in an early entry on this blog. The Spanish America War is considered important to the development of the imperial United States because it was the first time that the US took a colony, and in fact several, outside the confines of continental North America. Not only did the US take Cuba from the Spanish, and it was a “colony” of the United States until it was overthrown by Fidel Castro in 1959, but also an even larger colony of the Philippines, which necessitated a bloody war to put down a rebellion. The American Anti-Imperialist League was founded in 1898 to oppose annexation of the Philippines. Among the prominent members were authors Mark Twain, Ambrose Bierce, Henry James, and William Dean Howells, as well as ex-president Grover Cleveland and industrialist Andrew Carnegie.

saas1942

Saturn was opposite the Ascendant of the United States in 1942 and 1943, when the US had just entered World War II, despite strong reservations about entering the war among the populace, and the war was not going in the Allies favor. The Soviet Union had been invaded by Germany the previous year, and large scale fighting was happening on the Eastern Front, with millions killed. The beginning of the Holocaust was happening, though few in America had an inkling of what was going on.

saas1957

The following conjunction of Saturn to the Ascendant was in 1957 as the first earth satellite, Sputnik, was launched by the Soviets on October 4. The beep, beep, beep that the satellite put out was a sign of fear in the United States; this was the height of the Cold War, when America, which had survived the Second World War with little damage or loss of life, thought that they were far beyond the Soviets, who had much of the war fought on their territory and had lost tens of millions of people. The Americans had real fears when the Soviets were ahead of them in the “Space Race”. The fact that early American attempts at launching a satellite failed did not help the mood in the country. The thought was that the Soviets could launch nuclear-armed ICBMs (Intercontinental Ballistic Missiles) at America with their missile technology. As a result, much like the current emphasis on STEM (science, technology, engineering, mathematics) studies, there developed after this event a push for more science and mathematics education in the US schools, which probably resulted in many computer people who made their mark on the country in the last decades.

saas1972

The next opposition was in June 1972, just as the break-in at the Watergate Hotel was happening (June 17, 1972). This seemingly minor break-in, before a Presidential election, would have profound repercussions for the United States in the next couple of years. In the following years, this seemed like a traumatic event, and the nation’s peoples were rooted to their television sets (no social media at the time, since the Internet was only some three years old and not available to the public) following the preceedings of the Watergate Committee of Congress.

saas1986

The next Saturn conjunct Ascendant was December 1986 as the Iran-Contra Affair was unfolding. In normal cases this incident, which involved the US government trading arms illegally to Iran in exchange for the Western hostages that were held by allies of Iran in Lebanon, would have resulted in the impeachment of President Reagan. But the “Teflon” President scraped through, arguing that he was unaware of the incident. This exposure made many Americans more doubtful about their country. Eugene Hasenfus, an American pilot, was shot down over Nicaragua on October 5, 1986, while carrying weapons to the US-supported Contras which were fighting the government of Nicaragua, thus exposing the whole scheme.

saas2001

The next opposition, when Saturn was on the Descendant and Pluto was on the Ascendant, the opposite of the Spanish-American War configuration, was when the Twin Towers in New York City were taken down by airplanes, known as 9/11. This was discussed in more detail here.

The next conjunction is in this year, 2016, but there is also at the same time a transit of the outer planet Neptune square the Ascendant, and thus this is the transiting Saturn square Neptune aspect also which has been discussed at least twice before. Briefly, this aspect occurs when the people are getting tired of something that seemed like a good idea when it was started. While you can see the link for a full discussion of these events with charts, I will summarize them again. These words were written before the Brexit vote in Great Britain, but the results of that vote are entirely in keeping with the meaning of Saturn in hard aspect to Neptune. The European Union, which a majority of United Kingdom voters chose to leave, is primarily a neoliberal institution, despite the hopes of those who initially had the idea of a united Europe.

These quadrature aspects — conjunction, opposition, square — of Saturn and Neptune often happen near the end of long wars. This is especially true with our current two long running wars — in Iraq and Afghanistan. Of course, America is now involved in so many wars around the world, and attempting to start more wars, that as the saying goes it is difficult to keep track of them all without a scorecard. In fact, the New York Times recently noted that President Obama is the first President during whose entire eight years in office the US was at war. That fact alone says an awful lot about the times we live in.

Saturn was opposite Neptune in late 1862 and 1863 when the Civil War was being fought, the bloodiest battle on the Continental United States. Many people had doubts about the wisdom of this war. Men in the North could pay $300 for someone to take their place in the Army and many did.

The opposition of these two planets occurred again, three times, in 1899, after the Spanish American War had been stated. There was growing doubt about this war which was America’s first attempt at colonialism, as illustrated by the formation of the American Anti-Imperialist League mentioned above.

A Saturn-Neptune conjunction occurred in late 1917 just as America entered the First World War, despite President Woodrow Wilson campaigning on the pledge to keep the US out of the War. The jingoism inspired by this entry to the War changed America and the government in ways that could not have been foreseen.

There was a square of the two planets in 1944, 1945 as World War II was nearing its end, though not all realized it at the time. The battle had been long and bloody, especially for America soldiers in the war in the Pacific.

These was a conjunction of those two planets in late 1952 and 1953, as the Korean War, which appeared to be an easy victory when it started, dragged on for several years to the increasing disgust of Americans.

There was an opposition of the planets in 1971 and 1972 as there was increasing abhorrence of the long running Vietnam War, which had spread to neighboring countries of Laos and Cambodia. Many protests erupted on campuses across the nation after the news about the incursions into other countries became known.

There was a square of Saturn and Neptune in 1979 and 1980, which saw the American hostages captured by Iran after the US-supported Shah had been overthrown in a popular uprising. The American hostages generated continuous headlines in the media and arguably lead to the defeat of President Carter in the election of 1980.

There was a conjunction of the two planets in 1989, discussed further here. This saw the fall of the Berlin Wall, almost on the date of the third exact conjunction, and the downfall of several other Communist regimes.

There was a square in 1998 and 1999, just as the Clinton Impeachment trial was happening. Americans were disgusted either by the tawdry details of Clinton’s affair or the Republicans hounding of a sitting President for a minor event. Meanwhile, there occurred the Battle of Seattle where crowds were protesting the World Trade Organization — another neolibereal institution — meeting in that city.

The previous oppositions of Saturn and Neptune were in 2006 and 2007, as the Wars in Afghanistan and Iraq, promised as quick victories, were still dragging on. But of course US troops are still fighting in both countries, plus many more, as the upcoming square happens on 11/26/2015, 6/17/2016, and 9/10/2016.

In this case, Neptune is square the Ascendant of the United states as well, and so that aspect has to also be considered, as well as the conjunction of Saturn to the Ascendant as well as the square of the two planets which will be felt around the world.

tgsane2016

Here is a graphical ephemeris showing the behavior of Saturn and Neptune over this year. Saturn first crossed the Ascendant of the US (dashed golden line) at the black arrow, and then Saturn is square Neptune and they both cross the Ascendant at the red arrow, and on the center line, at June 15 of this year. Note that the horrific shooting at an Orlando nightclub took place on the morning of June 12. Then Saturn is again square Neptune at the green arrow, and the final crossing of Saturn over the Ascendant is at the blue arrow on approximately October 13.

While currently there are many things that looked like a good idea when started but are now seen to go badly, the most obvious, because there have been increasing signs of discontent from the populace, is Neoliberalism.

Neoliberalism started in the late Seventies and has grown since then. This graph will illustrate what has happened, so it is worth discussing in detail. In all instances, it is common for older people to complain that the world as it is now is not like the world they knew when they were young; this complaint that the world is going to hell in a hand-basket has echoed down through history: there are instances of the ancient Greeks making the same complaint. But as we shall see in the graph below, now the complaint is real: The world is more avaricious now then it was fifty years ago. This change has affected everything. See this link above for more details and what astrological formation represented this major change, and why it was such a major change.

gini

The Gini Index is a standard measure of inequality. A Gini of 0 means total equality of income — everyone has the same income — while a Gini of 1 means total inequality, one person has everything. This graph shows the Gini in the United States and Great Britain (and Holland to some extent) over the last two hundred fifty years. Decreasing Gini show that more equality is happening while rising Gini shows that society is becoming more unequal. From the graph one can see that inequality increased to a peak in second half of the Nineteenth Century and then fell slightly. Then with the Great Depression inequality in the United States fell sharply until it bottomed out about 1950; inequality remained low through about 1975 when it began to rise and right now inequality is as high or higher than it has ever been in the United States. This has been the result of neoliberalism practiced over the last forty years. People in the working class have felt shafted for a long time, and with the Great Recession the middle class, those of that class that are left, have felt it also. But people remained compliant (see, for example, the recent book The Age of Acquiescence by Steve Fraser for details). But over the last few years we have seen a transit of Pluto opposite the Sun of the United States. The last time this happened was before birth of the US, when Britain passed various measures to get more money out of the colonies, and the stage for the Revolution was set. In that case the Sun represented the King and Great Britain. Now the Sun represents the President and government, and people are not happy with them. We’ve seen some of this played out on the political stage over the last year. Any politician who is somewhat wise (I realize that may be an oxymoron) should pay attention to these developments, because they are cresting after an incubation period of forty years. But at best politicians will blame any action against neoliberalism as the result of the deluded thinking of low-information voters.

tgplsu

This graphical ephemeris, for a seven and a half year period centered on January 6, 2015, shows Pluto’s transit opposite the Sun of the US chart – dark yellow dashed line. You can see that in the current times, about two grid lines to the right of the center line, Pluto again comes close to the US Sun, about two degrees from exact, but will not exactly oppose it again this cycle. Depending on the orb you use, Pluto has been opposite the US Sun for five years.

The effects of Neptune squaring the Ascendant are, well, Neptunian. There is much delusion in the public sphere; to me it seems worse than it has ever been, even in the first Cold War. The journalist profession has been greatly reduced by the rise of the Internet, but those that are left have engaged in malpractice by their propagandistic reporting. A couple of examples from the current time is the woeful failure of the news media, supporting the dominant paradigm, in their description of Presidential candidates (Trump is a fascist, Sanders is a socialist, Clinton is a progressive) and their behavior as a stenographer for the government in their covering up of the potential for war (if war has not already started), with a massing of NATO troops at the Russian border, the greatest the world has seen since World War II. It was 75 years ago that the last massing of troops on the Russian border happened — Operation Barbarossa — which resulted in over two million Soviet citizens killed within three months, and the Russians remember this, even if the West does not. The news media propaganda ignores facts such as seen in the map below. Neptune is very heavy in the cover-up.

russia-wants-war

Another more positive manifestation of Neptune is with drugs. The whole war on drugs scenario, which has been going on for a hundred years, and not forty some years as people like to claim, is rapidly being called into disrepute in states of the US and countries around the world. And once people lose their beliefs in the evils of (some) “drugs”, governments may have problems with their populace. This will cause big changes in the upcoming years, because a major lie of most countries and the United Nations has been exposed. People have yet another reason to distrust what they are told; this is not good for keeping the people in line.

Posted by

dak1024

Posted on

March 13, 2015

Posted under

History

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Saturn and Neptune: Disillusion

There are many quadrature aspects — square, opposition, conjunction — of Saturn and Neptune: they happen about once a decade. (Disclosure: The author has Saturn and Neptune configured to a Personal Point.) Saturn represents discipline, discrimination, restriction; it has a bad reputation but without Saturn things would go wildly out of control. Neptune represents spirit, imagination, unconscious drives, illusion, deception. Neptune can be a very transcendent force, but unfortunately many people have a difficulty recognizing it (cf. mental illness) and there seems to be even more difficulty with the forces represented by Neptune when people act as a mass.

Richard Tarnas talks about this combinations representing confusion, doubt, alienation, uncertainty, disenchantment, disillusion, sorrow, and conciliation. Saturn allows you to see through the illusions that Neptune brings, though that is not always comfortable. Sometimes we are happier with our illusions and dreams and do not want to awaken from them and have to face reality. But sometimes we need to face reality to grow.

Saturn and Neptune combinations are difficult to describe accurately — the hard nosed reality of Saturn versus the numinous quality of Neptune. Ebertin gives the principle for this combination as “suffering, renunciation, asceticism”. I think it will be more useful to look at examples of this pair of planets from history.

Korean War

There was a Saturn-Neptune conjunction in the closing years of the Korean War. The Korean War had started out with high hopes among the Americans and their allies, but as it dragged on with no progress but increasing causalities, the war became less and less popular and people became disillusioned (a Saturn-Neptune word). It often happens that after the reality of any war seeps into people’s consciousness, the patriotic and jingoistic feelings they had at the beginning tend to fade. For the Korean War this loss of illusion is illustrated by the movie and later television show MASH.

End of World War I

The closing square of those two planet directly preceding the conjunction of the Korean War was in 1944-45 and indicates the feeling of dread among, most especially the Germans and the Japanese, when people saw that the war started with such high hopes for ruling the word end in such misery. And life in the German and Japanese homelands was not very nice after the Allied bombings of such places as Dresden and Tokyo. For the Allies, even though the end of the war in Europe was clear after D-Day (June 6, 1944) there was still much fighting to do. In the Pacific theater, there were events like the Bataan Death March and the more recent Battle of Iwo Jima that were ominous suggestions that the Pacific war would last for a long while, even though Japan’s desire for surrender was known to high officials.

Roosevelt Depression

The opposition of Saturn and Neptune preceding that was 1936-37. This is often called the “Roosevelt Depression”. After his re-election with a huge majority, FDR felt that the economy was improving so well that he could cease so much government interference in the economy. He was wrong, and the employment rate rose again. The country did not really get out of the Depression until spending for the Second World War started up. The optimism engendered by the New Deal was tarnished when unemployment increased.

Mid-Twenties

The square before that was in 1926. In the United States this was the year of the Scopes trial, celebrated in the play and movie Inherit the Wind. It represented the outcome of the conflict between the forces of modernism represented by Darwin and his theory of evolution, and the fundamentalist who took the Bible literally. In that case the illusions and beliefs of the fundamentalist had came up against the reality of the modern world, and lost. But here we are now 90 years later and it appears that the forces arrayed against modernism are stronger that ever.

World War I

The conjunction before that was in 1917. The war people were being disillusioned with was the First World War (“The War To End All Wars”), which was much bloodier than anyone could have imagined before, and lasted much longer than many had thought. World War I was the first truly industrial war, with poison gas, machine guns, tanks, and airplanes. In some battles only a few feet of territory were captured in a day. The whole generation of people, whether or not they fought in the war , were disillusioned. The escape of the Twenties was one result of a retreat from that war.

Last Transcontinental Walk

The closing square before this was in 1909. One of the events of that year, which takes on much more importance in hindsight, is referred to in a recent book called The Last Great Walk by Wayne Curtis. Though it is difficult, if not impossible, to comprehend now that once, a century ago, many people use to walk for recreation and competition. In 1909 an American Edward Weston (not the photographer) walked from New York to San Francisco and it was covered by the news media. This turned out to be the last time such a walk was attempted because the automobile was taking over the country for transportation and even recreation. This would have many unintended consequences that could not be guessed of at that time, a little over 100 years ago. As a result of the automobile’s increasing dominance of the world, the atmosphere has filled up with car exhaust resulting in the climate change that is becoming apparent now. People’s lack of exercise due to being able to drive anywhere has resulted in increased obesity and many physical diseases that were relatively unknown at the time, as well as many traffic accidents that kill tens of thousands of people per year and result in injuries ranging from minor to crippling to many more people. And the layout and design of cities, and the birth of suburbs and bedroom communities, have been altered the world in a way that is difficult to erase.

Dreyfus Affair

The opposition before that took place at the turn of the century. This time was especially potent as discussed previously and we can see from our perspective that it was truly the death of the old society that had existed up to the Twentieth Century, and Modernism was being born. But on a more particular level, consider the Dreyfus Affair in France. A member of the French military had been sentenced for treason in the early part of the last decade of the Nineteenth Century. Many, perhaps most, at least in France, had initially accepted the verdict. But as time went on more doubts arose, and the actual person who had committed the treason, a relative of Hungarian royalty, was found. Dreyfus had been brought back from the French penal colony on Devil’s Island off the coast of South America for a second trial in 1899. While he was expected to be freed, the second trial also found him guilty. The uproar of such a miscarriage of justice forced the government of France to pardon him, and Dreyfus was convinced to accepted the pardon. What has seemed like a good idea at the beginning of the decade turned out to be a large stain on France.

Civil War

The opposition of Saturn and Neptune before that was 1862-63. This was the Civil War in America, whose disillusion colored the next forty years. Now that we are celebrating the 150th anniversary no one remembers just how bloody were the battles and how many people of the country were affected. This was by far the biggest war ever fought on US soil. One book that tries to capture the horror of the Civil War is This Republic of Suffering by Drew Gilpin Faust.

Death of Kennedy

Moving forward after the Korean War, the opening square after that war was 1963. The young president of the United States, John Fitzgerald Kennedy, was killed by assassination. Many people at the time though this was the end of innocence of America, that the Dream of Camelot was gone. Even now there is much nostalgia for this time and Kennedy is considered a great peace maker, even though during his term the world came closer to a nuclear war than any time before or since, though currently we are trying our best to gin up another war with a nuclear power, under a President who has been compared to Kennedy.

Late Vietnam War

The following opposition was in 1970-71. The Vietnam War had gone on for at least ten years, increasingly bloody, with little possibility of victory just around the corner, even though many government officials always saw a light at the end of the tunnel. There was increasing dissent in the United States, and things were occasionally turning violent. It was also the end of that mythical time called “The Sixties” — a killing at the rock concert at the Altamont Speedway in California the previous year was regarded as the end. Reality was back.

End of Carter Presidency

The square after that was in 1979-80. This was near the end of the Carter presidency in the United States, and people were just plain disillusioned. The hostages from the American embassy in Tehran had been captured by Iranian militants and American were increasingly unhappy with the Revolutionary government in Iran, unaware that the deposed Shah of Iran had been put in place by the CIA over 35 years previously. There was increasing anger towards Iran — the slogan “Nuke Iran” was appearing as graffiti in many places. An attempted rescue of the hostages had gone very bad. Carter delivered his famous “Maliase” speech which portended our current crises, but at that time only depressed people further. Also, an urge for “market solutions” was welling up from the populace, having been propagandize by corporations following the Powell Doctrine, put in place in the early part of the decade by Lewis Powell, who was on the Supreme Court at the time. This doctrine urged businesses to fight back since they were being out gunned by the forces of democracy from the Sixties.

Fall of Berlin Wall

The conjunction in 1989 will be dealt with separately. This time saw the fall of the Berlin Wall and of many Communist countries such as Poland. The Communist experiment, which had first successfully taken control of a government 60 years previously was coming apart at the seams.

Impeachment of Bill Clinton

The square after this was in 1998-99. This was the closing years of the Clinton Presidency and saw the impeachment of that President. The long impeachment of the President went on for months and alternatively filled the news cycle and disgusted much of the American public. By the end of the impeachment any remaining glow of the Clinton Presidency was gone, and the boom of the Clinton years, due to the “”dot.com” bubble that had expanded after the World Wide Web and the public awareness of the Internet, which had existed for 30 years by that point, was about to break. As is typical in modern times, by the last two years of a two term Presidency, everyone was ready for something else.

Iraq War Fatigue

Finally the opposition after that was in 2006-07. The War in Iraq had been going on for a few years, and not only were people disillusioned with that war, in America and abroad, but Americans were also disillusioned with the whole Bush presidency. There was talk about impeaching him. This call was not taken up by the “loyal opposition”, which did not want to rock the ship of state but to only assume the reins of power. There was also a large housing boom, where many, many people were getting into the market, and very few warned that this would end badly.

500 Year Party

An astrological study of history and politics

Tag Archives: Neptune

Neptune Über Alles

Zeitgeist Changes — Part 5

Odds And Ends

Yet More Neptune

Saturn on the Ascendant

Saturn and Neptune: Disillusion