JANUARY 2006 FEATURE ARTICLE

Karmic influences are simply past experiences and behavior reflected in current times. Character and destiny are the sum of past actions.

We can see karma in every planet, sign, house, and configuration in a birth chart. However, some parts of a chart emphasize karma more than others, e.g., the twelfth house (and all of the water houses), the Moon’s Nodes, Saturn, Neptune, Pisces, and retrograde planets, to mention a few.

Several karmic convergences in the U.S. Sibly chart jumped out at me for 2006.

For starters, 2006 is an “8” year, a karmic year for all of us.

I have found that in an “8” year, we reap the seeds which we have sown during the last seven years. 1999, seven years ago, was the year the Republicans dealt a huge blow to the Democrats with the impeachment trial of Pres. Clinton, from which the Democrats have not yet recovered.

The President then proceeded to bomb the life out of Kosovo and Serbia (prompting the film, “Wag the Dog”), and Halliburton began building mammoth U.S. military installations in the Balkans. On the media, talk continued all year about “getting Saddam.”

China was much in the news, and the U.S. concluded a major trade agreement with Beijing. The U.S. Chamber of Commerce insisted that China be allowed to join the WTO.

In November 1999, we had the Battle of Seattle, the opening guns for continued protests against the inequities, for ordinary people, of corporate globalization.

These have all been continuing, and growing, trends since 1999. Look for consequences in 2006.

The U.S. progressed Sun entered Pisces at the end of 2004.

Pisces is the last sign. It is the end, the completion of a cycle of incarnation, our last chance to redeem ourselves, to make up for our karmic imbalances. Sun in Pisces is extremely creative. It also involves sacrifice, surrendering some (no longer needed) part of ourselves. That surrender happens despite our resistance, and thus progressed Sun in Pisces is challenging.

Natal Neptune tells Pisces’ story. Neptune in the U.S. chart is in Virgo in the ninth house, square to Mars. It speaks to all of our foreign adventures—e.g., trade, war, propaganda, oil, and exportation of popular culture. This Neptune is the focal point for the U.S. progressed Sun in Pisces for the next 29 years. These are the areas in which our “sacrifices” will occur.

Part of the Pisces-Sun-Neptune karma for the U.S. is the current transit of Pluto, the great Transformer. Pluto has squared, or challenged, U.S. Neptune all during 2004, and continues to square Neptune and progressed Neptune into 2007.

Furthermore, Pluto in the U.S. natal chart rules the 12th house of hidden things, a high-lighted karmic house.

Pluto represents birth and death, stress and crisis. Thus it is rebirth time for this Neptunian-Piscean energy, but it is not an easy birth.

The U.S. Nodal Axis is activated by Saturn and Chiron in 2006.

The Moon’s Nodes denote the places where the Moon’s orbit crosses the Sun’s orbit. They are the most obvious karmic representations in a chart, with the South Node showing the types of experiences with which the entity is very familiar, and the North Node showing the soul destiny of this incarnation. North Nodal experiences are new and challenging. South Nodal experiences are part of our toolbox for moving in the direction towards which the North Node is pointing us.

The U.S. has its North Node at 7 Leo and its South Node at 7 Aquarius.

Martin Schulman says about this polarity,

“The Leo North Node symbolizes a struggle with the will. The individual is learning to develop strength within himself… He is not the easiest of people to understand, for he will do anything to retain and emphasize his own sense of individuality… In the past he felt free to go his own way. Now he takes pride in being unique and different, caring only for whatever rules he has set up for himself… His main difficulty in this life is a lack of control.” (1)

We can see clearly how the Leo Ascendant (and Mercury and Pluto) in George Bush’s natal chart conjoins the U.S. North Node. His persona does express the U.S. Leo destiny, with all of its problems and handicaps. In this way he provides a demonstration to the nation of where and how its path needs correction.

Schulman says about the Aquarius South Node:

“If he builds on past life knowledge, he has a great ability to do something for the human race for he is capable of depersonalizing his actions for the good of all humankind… Happiness is reached once principles are found to dedicate the life to…. His greatest achievements occur after he has surrendered his personal will to the service of humanity.” (2)

In the U.S. chart, these nodes are in the 2nd and 8th houses, the areas of resources, of values, and of priorities.

There is much more in Schulman’s book, and it is all very descriptive of where the U.S., and Bush, are right now. I must add that integrity is an intrinsic quality of the Leo-Aquarius polarity, and this is a huge correction which the nation needs to make.

The beginning of that correction can happen this coming year, for Saturn, the karmic teacher, has entered Leo and will be conjuncting the U.S. North Node 3 times. The first pass was in early September, and others occur in February and May of 2006. Saturn does insist on the necessary discipline to make something real. And royal Leo tends to resist any constraint. Saturn, nevertheless, will pound Leo into shape with its lessons.

This is a co-teaching situation, for Saturn has the help of another great teacher of the zodiac, Chiron. Whereas Saturn shapes us into form, Chiron moves us out of old forms, and helps us to find new paths of integration.

Chiron will move into Aquarius in December, and it will more or less oppose Saturn during 2006. Chiron passes over the U.S. South Node in February, August, and December of 2006. Chiron can stimulate the latent Aquarian ideals of the nation.

Schulman re the Leo North Node:

“This is good leadership material so long as the ingrained past-life Aquarian sense of fairness is never violated.” (3)

Rebalancing our nation to establish equity and justice is a major challenge of 2006. Careful choosing of Supreme Court justices signifies this challenge.

That justice is central to the U.S. destiny is further shown by the sign of Libra, the scales, on the chart midheaven, or 10th house cusp. This is further emphasized by the U.S. natal Saturn in Libra in the 10th house. The 10th house shows our specific purpose in this incarnation. Saturn placed there shows that we have much karma in this area. Planets in the 10th house, at the top of the chart, are seen by the public. Thus the karma shown by Saturn cannot be hidden. And, in fact, ours is broadcast to the world.

Saturn and Chiron together, conjoining the U.S. Nodal Axis, will greatly re-align the U.S. destiny.

U.S. natal Mars turns retrograde in July 2006.

U.S. natal Mars is in the 7th house at 22 Gemini. It is now being opposed by powerful Pluto, at 23 Sagittarius. Here are two fighting energies, challenging one another.

Judy Hall says, “Mars in the seventh house indicates old pain and karma coming from an aggressive relationship.” (4)

The big news is the U.S. Progressed Mars, which is about to turn retrograde for the first time in the nation’s history. It will remain retrograde for about 70 years. Retrograde times are periods to turn the clock back, to look at the past, and to make revisions. During retrograde periods we get to re-experience the past, so that we can re-evaluate our past reactions in the light of the reality of the present.

One can see the challenge of a retrograde by reversing the planetary symbol. The normal Mars has the cross of matter (in the form of a thrusting forward arrow) atop the circle of spirit, showing the spiritual foundations of Mars’ actions. The retrograde Mars puts the circle of spirit on top of a backwards-directed arrow. Martin Schulman says of this image,

“It is as if the Circle of Spirit is trying to meet the present while dragging as a weight under and behind it the physical desires from the past.” (5)

(Examples of recent retrogrades in the U.S. progressed chart are Saturn, the planet of government, which turned retrograde in Scorpio in November of 1994, when the Gingrich Republicans swept the Congressional elections and brought in the Contract on America. Progressed Mercury turned retrograde about 1998, when the Republicans again weakened the Democrats with the Clinton scandal. Saturn will remain retrograde for about 115 years, and Mercury will turn direct about 2020, the year we enter a brand new 160-year airy social cycle. Notice that the reversed retrograde symbols of both Saturn and Mercury show us as acting from material rather than spiritual foundations.)

(This retrograde phenomenon bears on the current nostalgia for and reversion to the past in the U.S.)

The U.S. Mars turns retrograde at 19 Libra, where it has been stationing for perhaps a decade—again as the Republicans took over Congress.

Martin Schulman says about retrograde Mars in Libra:

“This is perhaps the most difficult position for retrograde Mars. Here the individual (here, the nation) not only has difficulty identifying his own desires but also takes on the desires of others thinking they are his own. Consequently he experiences a state of limbo. He brings with him a karma of not truly understanding what he wants. He experiences difficulty in finding his own center of being. …He tries to inter-relate with the Aries quality of every person he meets. Karmically he is being forced to know who he is.” (6)

This retrograde Mars is particularly important because it is in the U.S. 10th house of purpose. It is the stage where we perform for the world.

19 Libra is a very challenging degree. It squares 19 Capricorn, the degree of Black Hole Hel. Alex Miller-Mignone says about Hel:

“Hel was the Norse Goddess of Death and the Underworld…Odin, King of the Gods, consigned Hel to hell and gave her power over nine worlds. She became immensely wealthy, with great tracts of land surrounded by high fences and a high, strong gate… Her knife is Hunger and her plate is Starvation. The threshold of her home has been translated as Pitfall, her resting place is called Sickbed, and the curtain surrounding it is Awkward Disaster.” (7)

In her legends, Hel shows insatiability, and refusal to concede even an inch. Astrologically she seems to have an affinity with vast energy and mass destruction. Examples of connections to her are the first controlled nuclear reaction, and the first use of the atom bomb on Hiroshima. Both GW Bush’s Jupiter, and Iran’s Pluto almost exactly conjoin the U.S. stationary Mars, and thus also square Hel. (In a showdown, Pluto dominates Jupiter.)

The Sabian Symbol for 19 Libra is “A GANG OF ROBBERS IN HIDING. The key words are GROUP PROTEST.” (8)

In the U.S. natal chart, Mars in Gemini is disposited by Mercury, retrograde in Cancer. Moon, associated with Cancer, is in Aquarius. It appears that the U.S. carries a great deal of world karma regarding centuries of war, pillage, and oppression, and struggles against those tyrannical forces.

This nation was conceived in that cauldron, and may be charged with bringing resolution to such conflict. After all, our midheaven sign is Libra, the sign of harmony and balance.

The Sabian Symbol for 2 Libra is

“THE TRANSMUTATION OF THE FRUITS OF PAST EXPERIENCES INTO THE SEED-REALIZATIONS OF THE FOREVER CREATIVE SPIRIT. The key words are CREATIVE CENTRALIZATION.” (9)

Notes

1. Martin Schulman, Karmic Astrology: the Moon’s Nodes and Reincarnation, Weiser, New York, 1975, p.38.

2. Ibid., p. 39.

3. Ibid., p. 40.

4. Judy Hall, The Karmic Journey, Arkana, London, 1990, p.208.

5. Martin Schulman, Karmic Astrology: Retrogrades and Reincarnation, Weiser, New York, 1977, p.87.

6. Ibid., p. 95.

7. Alex Miller-Mignone, The Black Hole Book, self-published, Philadelphia, PA, 1995, p. 91-92.

8. Dane Rudhyar, An Astrological Mandala, Vintage Books, New York, 1974, p.184.

9. Ibid., p. 172.