There’s surely been enough talk, debate and ill-will to go around (both political and from the punditry) about the United States’ debt ceiling and economic situation to bore anyone out of their mental coin purse. Surely there’s another way to look at the problem without all the speechifying?
Of course there is: you look at the astrological charts. So let’s.
The Federal Reserve (December 23, 1913—noon—Washington DC)
The astrological chart for the Federal Reserve (“the Fed”) gives us several very distinct signals.
The first one might notice is the exact (to the degree) opposition of a Gemini Saturn in the third house against a Sagittarian Mercury in the ninth. This is a picture of the Fed as an institutional device which cools off the US/world economy when it gets overheated (Saturn in 3).
The Fed also works to support growth of productivity (Mercury in 9) and commerce/international trade (Mercury in Sagittarius in 9) when US productivity goes down, particularly when that is due to public fears. This last is shown not only by Saturn being positioned in the third, but also with Saturn being out-of-Sect (as they say) in this chart, giving Saturn a very “when things are bad” sort of flavor. Of course with this opposition in square to the Nodes, we have a grand square. So the Fed’s function is really both governmental and societal.
Of course with June 1 having seen a solar eclipse at 11 Gemini, two of the poles of this grand square have been both exacerbated and taken out of action—meaning the problems meant to be stabilized by the Fed are magnified even as the Fed’s ability to do anything about them is disrupted. With the eclipse conjunct Saturn and opposed to Mercury, there’s a whole lot of finger-pointing going on with the Fed’s voice being on one level (public, most likely) unheard, while also getting challenged—probably by the corporate community and foreign institutions.
This eclipse will evolve over the next three years, taking us to 2014. Don’t expect things to settle down all that much during that time. On the flip side, at the end of that time we should see new measures and a new “format” of structure (if not stability) take hold.
The current debt debate has been going on for some time. But that it rose to the howl it is at currently at-around-in the wake of the June 1 solar eclipse is to be expected.
With the Fed’s Pluto positioned in the fourth and at 0 Cancer opposition the Fed’s Sun at 1 Capricorn in the governmental tenth, we also should think back to the collapse of the real estate market and the US government’s massive bailout program, all of which happened as Pluto committed itself to the transit of Capricorn, “setting off” the Fed’s natal fourth house Pluto. The intent was not just to bail out financial institutions, though with a Scorpio Moon in 8 trine a Pisces Chiron (plaintive need) in an Aquarius (corporate/economic) twelfth house it’s easy enough to think of it that way. Chiron and the North Node in the twelfth describes the Fed as an institution created to work behind the scenes. And with real estate being fourth house and US government as a tenth house entity, they become players in the Fed’s operation.
With Jupiter opposition Neptune from the societal-corporate eleventh to the fifth, the Federal Reserve must look at economies, not the lies it gets told, accounting for its participation in measures many would think of as “partial to industry” or other such. That as Jupiter left the first house Aries interception of this chart heading into “security minded” and “use of resources” Taurus it became clear that apart from AIG, all the bank and major industry loans made during the bailout had been recouped with interest (Jupiter residing profitably in this chart in the eleventh) tells us much. Even more interesting will be what happens as Jupiter takes its station and goes retrograde in direct opposition to the Scorpio Moon of the Fed’s chart—an event which will take place at the end of August, 2011.
Since from that point Jupiter will not return to 10 Taurus until mid-March 2012, this is a period of reorganization and financial sorting out.
Meanwhile it’s also of note that Pluto—having signaled the setting off of a US financial firestorm back in December of 2008—has now moved on to a position where it went into station/retrograde at 7 Capricorn back in April of 2011. For those who are avid news-stock-market-economy watchers, that’s really when this debate over the debt ceiling started warming up, though it took a solar eclipse to kick it into public media gear. (A solar eclipse in communicative Gemini will do that!)
What is important about that—in particular—is that 7 Capricorn is the degree of the Fed’s Ceres (thoughtful efforts towards an end) AND Facies, a “fixed star” (Messier, actually) well known for its victim-aggressor qualities.
This Ceres/Facies stands just at the leading edge of the midpoint between Chiron (the frightful necessity to face reality) and the Fed’s Scorpio Moon, which marks Pluto’s transit of this point as one which some might call “tough love” and which others would recognize as the concept that sometimes you have to amputate the leg in order to save the patient. That this occurs in the governing tenth house of the Fed’s chart makes it both an instrument of the problem and of the cure.
Pluto’s exacting transit of 7 Capricorn began back in April 2011 and runs through October 2012. The betting person would expect tough monetary/interest rate notices to be delivered to the Federal Reserve (by the US Government as a whole) and to come out of the Fed at both Pluto stations to be executed during this period (mid-September 2011 and early April 2012) and as Pluto rolls over and through 7 Capricorn during October 2012.
Chart USA (April 9, 1865—3:53pm LMT +5:15—Appomattox, VA)
Looking at this astrological chart for news on the current fiscal crisis situation delivers a bit of bad news…but really a good deal of good news as well.
There is a highly contentious t-square drawn in this chart. It has Neptune and Sedna (not conjunct but both operative) in Aries and positioned in the seventh house—a rather classic sign of immaturity and immature displays. When this Neptune (dot, dot, dot) Sedna acts well, and the US displays its vital faith in good and possibility. When these two put on their nasty hats, we get a nation which acts entitled, arrogance and immature—which probably comes off at its worst with societies and cultures which have been around for maybe thousands of years as opposed to the United States’ couple of hundred.
The “t” in this configuration is a testy, out-of-Sect (i.e., tending to be negative) “I want it my way” Cancer Mars in the tenth house of government and governance. And lest we not get the message here, Mars is at 5 Cancer—a degree which contributes to both the naïve courage of American politics and government. This degree can be incredibly brave. Then again, it can display a marked tendency towards hoarding and selfishness which loses all touch with the situation of “regular folks” and in particular, the impoverished and/or helpless.
This “it can be noble, it can be selfish” quality is wholly exacerbated by the fact that in this chart, 5 Cancer is also the position of fixed star Alhena (“one’s Purpose”) and nobody’s favorite Plutino, Ixion (acts of emotional entitlement). So the US government—and the nation as a whole—is very good when in brave mode and rancidly bad to the point of self-destructive when in any sort of “my way or the highway” or “I want what I want, never mind anyone else OR their standards or beliefs” sort of thing.
That probably rings some bells for us all…not that said sound isn’t discordant!
As Pluto moved into Capricorn at the end of 2008 it was in the national fourth house—the house of the people. Oh yes—and real estate. As the financial markets and banking mortgage instruments melted down and the bailout proceeded, Pluto headed for the national Chaos—this being the Greek Chaos, meaning “endless fertility,” not the modern Chaos meaning “chaotic” or “messy.” As noted previously, the bailout stabilized the banks and the government ended up getting repaid (minus part of AIG’s loan which is still pending) and making a bucket of money on the transactions. Not bad.
But then came Pluto moving over Klotho (beginnings)/Orcus (consequences) at 2 Capricorn. This being the Pluto cycle of 2010, it fell in with the first great cries of “we can’t afford ANYTHING!!” which is apt in the sense that upon having entered Capricorn in 2008, Pluto would have begin “activating” Mars-Alhena-Ixion by opposition. And oppositions mean what, in everyday terms? Either challenges, being challenged, having to “face facts,” and/or finger-pointing. And that’s when the hue and cry of “no, no, no!” to everything and anything started being heard. Nobody likes anything, everybody wants it their (Mars in Cancer/Ixion) way. The Tea Party’s “fundamentalist” point of view (take that to be Constitutional or religious, as you please) is very much Pluto-opposition-Ixion/Alhena/Mars…the whole concept of moderation, negotiation and acceptance of differences seems to have been lost.
The good news is that in taking station at 4 Capricorn come September 2011, Pluto will get over its big bad self and move out of 5 Capricorn by about Thanksgiving time (late November) 2011.
And the current apparent “obliteration” of willingness to talk? That was been signaled by the July 1 solar eclipse at 9 Cancer—conjunct the triad of Mars-Ixion-Alhena at 5 Cancer and in opposition to the national Facies at 6 Capricorn. What this amounts to is Mars in the tenth representing the operational (Mars) government—with the Cancer part being “of the people” (Cancer always being a nation’s population) or the “people’s will” part, which pretty much describes Congress as a body which is supposed to take care of the people (with commerce being shaped to that end).
So the eclipse on this point tells us that this Mars has come to a place of inability-to-act…which rather leaves the Cancer Mars to sputter, snarl and protest.
But we should persist in thinking this isn’t the worst news we’ve heard. Why not? Well, going back to the t-square in this chart, the “t” always being some aspect of the self that you have to get past, with this chart’s Moon at 5 Libra and Diadem (the crowning glory) at 7 Libra, Chart USA’s “We the People” Libra Moon is going through a period of “about as bad as it gets” for a while. There is no instant fix for America or its citizenry, but considering that the Moon in this chart is at 20 Aries, this is not the end of the nation.
Plus there is of course, the idea that Uranus and Eris are in Aries. Eris is important to this conversation as Eris conjuncted Chart USA’s Sun in late 2000 and giving its very, very long orbit “sat” on the very degree of said Sun until late 2004. Considering Eris as “discord,” that is where we should look to for the source of current/ongoing disruptions.
As for Uranus , having entered Aries early in 2011 it hit the opposition point to Chart USA’s Black Moon Lilith (societal grade denial) as of April 2011 in a cycle which lasts until early February 2012. Oppositions, indicating finger-pointing, challenges, confrontation and the “facing” of things here clearly spell a difference between the people’s aims and their government’s actions (or inactions). The Black Moon quality tells us that in this cycle those “not getting over themselves” (here, the Mars in Cancer in 10 quality—the “t” of the t-square) are not going to recognize how badly “they” (Libra) are going to react (Black Moon Lilith) to the negative about what’s being done.
Election year 2012 has Uranus in a cycle opposing the Moon; one suspects this means a wholesale tossing around of officeholders—to say the least! But as for the nation…this Uranus in Aries will begin signaling “breakthroughs,” “insights,” “inventiveness,” “anarchy,” and a “breaking out of restraints” in 2013 as it breaks the 5-degree orb surrounding Chart USA’s 15 Aries Sun—and actually conjunct that Sun in 2014.
That’s when the eclipses of June and July 2011 come to fruition. Considering that Neptune will move over the national Eris in 2015—and that said Eris is in the sixth (house of civil service, the military, health care and everyone in government from the President on down as “employees” of the nation), that is when we can look for a real turn of tides of influence and current emotional undertows.
Jupiter positioned at 28 Sagittarius conjunct the Galactic Center, both powerfully positioned in the fourth house of the people, marks the US as a potent, but not omnipotent, nation. When its people strive to be better and cope with problems, things progress and wealth is built. When its citizenry thinks only of itself, the nation falls gets into difficulties which are triggered by external forces.
With Sagittarius on the cusp of the fourth (ruled by Jupiter), there is a self-involved, almost “myopic” quality to the United States which makes it—at times—its own worst enemy. But this is also America’s strength: the United States can and will pull together when it must.
Apparently the problem is getting the citizenry to recognize “must”—and how “must” includes preservation OF the citizenry. This Sagittarius cusp, Jupiter in Sagittarius combination gives our nation the polarity of Americans as consumers, versus Americans as producers. When this polarity gets out of balance, that’s a problem. This Sagittarius/Jupiter combination is the emblem of a nation as a “melting pot” which benefits from learning from diversity, not trying to impose anyone’s personal view or will on everyone else. Sagittarius is positive when it offers, and negative when it’s dogmatic. Sagittarius and Jupiter are all about the learning process, and in that education becomes a necessity with ideals as the motivation—not the reality. America is strongest when it realizes that the struggle to grow is the journey. That mistakes are human. That differences are to learn from, not stamp out or decry.
The United States is a wholly and even hellishly dynamic nation. It’s altruistic and at the same time highly susceptible to fits of greed and pomposity. That’s all part and parcel of Jupiter ruling the cusp of the fourth and being positioned in the fourth. And it takes something outside of the US to show America when things have gone wrong. That’s just how the chart works.
With a Gemini (coolly intellectual) Uranus in the tenth opposition Jupiter (the very definition of “separation of church and state”) getting the nation back on track is always going to be a slap-in-the-face to the out-of-touch in government against the spanking the citizenry gets when it becomes too self-involved and oh-so-willing to see flaws in others it wants to deny in itself. Still…at least there’s going to be an America to do all that grumbling and squabbling.
And that folks, would be the bottom line really good news.
Boots Hart is an ISAR-certified astrologer of 30 years’ experience, with some 20 years as a magazine and online columnist.
Writer by habit and philosopher by bent (some say very bent…), Boots is a metaphysical science geek spiritualist—a person as inspired by the workings of time/space as touched by the often painful adventures of mankind. Through writings public and private, her aim is to use astrology as cipher, helping us understand. Can we learn how to live a happier life? What does that take? Why are the times as they are? These are the questions. And that answers can be gleaned from cosmic cycles and the reflections of those in our lives? That would seem to be part of our journey—the one path we all take and walk together.
Thanks, Boots, for giving me (and I expect) others, hope for the future of our country. Things look kind of bleak at this time.