“ ‘I know what you’re thinking
about,’ said Tweedledum:
‘but it isn’t so, nohow.’
‘Contrariwise,’ continued
Tweedledee, ‘if it was so, it might be;
and if it were so, it would be;
but as it isn’t, it ain’t. That’s logic.’”
--Lewis Carroll,
Through the Looking Glass, and
What Alice Found There
(1871)
Of all the outer
planet cycles that make our solar system such a lively place, the
Saturn-Neptune cycle is perhaps the most puzzling—and worrisome, as there
always seems to be a crisis of some kind brewing. Like our “Looking Glass”
heroes above, Saturn and Neptune represent quite contrary impulses—one likes to
separate (as in the “real” from the “imaginary”) and one likes to confuse the
differences between such categories (is it “real,” or is it “Memorex?”). Saturn
contains and limits; Neptune undermines and erodes all limits. The only thing
Tweedledum and Tweedledee can agree upon is their perpetual battle—as laid down
for them in the nursery rhyme Alice remembers:
“Tweedledum and
Tweedledee
Agreed to have a
battle;
For Tweedledum said
Tweedledee
Had spoiled his
nice new rattle.
Just then flew down
a monstrous crow,
As black as a
tar-barrel;
Which frightened
both the heroes so,
They quite forgot
their quarrel.”
In Through the
Looking Glass, the Tweedle brothers dutifully accommodate Alice’s imagining
by living out the rhyme once again: the “spoilt rattle” appears, they agree to
have a battle, Alice reluctantly helps dress them for battle (one sword between
them, a saucepan for a helmet), but there’s little enthusiasm for the fight:
“We must have a bit of a fight, but I don’t care about going on
long,” said Tweedledum. “What’s the time now?”
Tweedledee looked at his watch, and said “Half-past four.”
“Let’s fight till six, and then have dinner,” said Tweedledum.
In fact, the
Saturn-Neptune cycle is all about manifesting a vision—nursery rhyme visions,
included. Since the present cycle began in November 1989, the visions have been
largely dark—like Dee and Dum, they always seem to end with the “monstrous
crow” of death swooping in. Waves of near-apocalyptic anxiety (a specialty)
have come and gone, with peaks leading up to “Y2K,” (which went off with a
whimper, instead of a bang), post-9/11 and now.
The fact is, the
Saturn-Neptune cycle is manifesting fearsome effects around the
world: the final quarter of any outer planet cycle involves “reaping what’s
been sown” earlier in the cycle, so it shouldn’t surprise us that we’re seeing
the consequences of trends set in place around the time of Saturn-Neptune’s
conjunction at 11+ Capricorn in 1989. One such development is economic globalization—what
economist Thomas L. Friedman dubbed the “flattening” of the earth. International
trade dates back over two millennia, but so-called “free trade” (trade free of
barriers, as noted) is a post-WWII phenomenon.
First conceived as
part of a long-term vision for the post-war “financial order,” the evolution of
that “flat” world order and today’s globalized economy has been marked by a
series of major Saturn-Neptune milestones:
- The 1944-45 Saturn-Neptune waning square (the final square in their August 1917
cycle begun at 4°+Leo).
First exact at 1°+Cancer-Libra
on July 2, 1944, this transit was perfectly timed for the opening of the
Bretton Woods Conference in New Hampshire, at which the International
Monetary Fund and the International Bank for Reconstruction &
Development (precursor to today’s World Bank) were created (chart below).
- The 1952-53 Saturn-Neptune conjunction kicking off this mid-century cycle (first exact on November 21, 1952 at 22°+Libra) squared both Uranus (Cancer) and Mars (Capricorn), reflecting the lingering, never-quite-resolved conflict in Korea and the absurd dynamics of the U.S.-Soviet Cold War (speaking of “Tweedledee and Tweedledum!”). Throughout the 1950s and 60s (the lead up to the Vietnam conflict), the U.S. exercised its post-WWII “superpower” status by expanding its international reach, fixing its sights on overseas resources and paving the way for much later military/trade agreements. Obama’s back-burnered Trans-Pacific Partnership (perhaps yet to pass once the current Saturn-Neptune confusion clears up) may have its genesis during this period.
- The 1971 Saturn-Neptune square (first exact on June 26th with Saturn
at 00°52”Gemini and
Neptune Rx 00°52
Sagittarius) coincided with two major trends related to globalization: 1)
the rise of Milton
Friedman’s economic theories (specifically, “shareholder hegemony”):
“…because shareholders owned the corporation, the only social
responsibility of business was to increase its profits;” 2) the
publication of the controversial Vietnam-era Pentagon Papers by
military analyst Daniel Ellsberg.
Even though the American public had been led to see the “spread of
Communism” in a decidedly Neptunian light, as a contagious disease about to
become a pandemic, the appearance/reality disconnect proved toxic to official
ambitions. The brutal reality (Saturn) was delivered to people on television
news every evening, cutting through the Neptunian illusions. In fact, the
waxing square phase begun in 1971 laid the groundwork for a lot of today’s
geopolitical turmoil: the Vietnam conflict was just winding down when the 1973
Oil Embargo ensued, sowing the seeds for the long-term resource-related turmoil
that continues to haunt us in the Middle East.
- The 1979-80 Saturn-Neptune square (first exact on September 14 at 17°+Virgo-Sagittarius) was the major aspect
that dominated that election year, undermining Jimmy Carter’s presidency
(Neptune transited his Jupiter) and sinking his bid for reelection in the
quicksand of the Iran hostage crisis (a relationship that has resurfaced
powerfully under today’s Saturn-Neptune transit). As it turned out, Ronald
Reagan’s resulting landslide victory in 1980 was right on cue for the
cause of globalization: his anti-regulation and anti-labor policies strengthened
the conservative cause of market liberalization (the fewer restrictions
the better) that Republicans are hoping to perpetuate with Election 2016.
- The 1989 Saturn-Neptune cycle (first exact on March 3 at 11°+Capricorn). This new cycle, in close
concert with the 1988 Saturn-Uranus cycle, has brought us the presidencies
of George H.W. Bush, Bill Clinton, George W. Bush and Barack Obama—a
period during which the interwoven trends of Middle East “regime changes”
and the “flattening” of the global economy proceeded in tandem. Obviously,
the government-managed economies of the Communist world were an obstacle
to globalization in the late 1980s, and this cycle addressed that with
startling speed.
On November 9th that year, with Saturn-Neptune still
conjunct and accompanied in Capricorn by Venus and Uranus, all opposite Jupiter
in Cancer, citizen efforts to dismantle the Berlin Wall were rewarded—the barrier
between East and West Berlin was officially dissolved and the reunification
process began. As Michael Moore reminds us so eloquently in his new film, Where
to Invade Next, the Wall didn’t fall by a top-level edict, however; it fell
because ordinary citizens began bringing their hammers and chisels, literally chipping
away at it.
This new Saturn-Neptune conjunction set conditions in motion for other
mind-boggling developments—most notably, the wave of protests across Eastern
Europe that precipitated the December 26, 1991 implosion of the Soviet
Union (chart below)—in many ways, a function of the world economy
globalizing around them, threatening to leave them behind. Uranus’s transit
through Capricorn (integral to the Wall’s fall) was certainly a factor,
especially since it was transiting within orb of its coming new cycle with Neptune
(exact on February 2, 1993, at 19°+Capricorn).
Amazingly, all these major developments unfolded with the planets of social
change planted firmly in this Capricorn “power sector.”
Importantly—the sensitive 2nd decanate Capricorn Zodiac
sector also opposes the U.S. Sibly Sun and George W. Bush’s Sun (both at
13°+Cancer), so
Saturn-Neptune’s conjunction opposite that point not only laid the groundwork
for the September 11, 2001 terrorist event, but also facilitated the enhanced
Executive powers (Sibly Sun = the Chief Executive) adopted under the G.W. Bush
administration.
Executive powers have since that time been powerfully challenged by
Pluto’s transiting opposition (allowing a 5° orb, from January 2012) and will remain so
through at least October 2018. The Supreme Court’s “stay” of Obama’s Clean
Power Plan over his alleged “executive overreach” (and the general lack of
cooperation he has experienced) are certainly related.
More generally, though, the growing tendency of Americans to blame government
for all their ills, forgetting that we are supposed to be the
government, is also key. The next president will inherit this Plutonian
challenge to his/her leadership and this toxic view of government; for better or worse, our international
reputation and stature in the world (also Sibly Sun) are in Pluto’s hands right
now; the right use of power is critically important.
Dissolving
barriers, climbing on the roller coaster ride
Long story short,
at this point in the 1989 Saturn-Neptune cycle, globalization’s mandate for dissolving
regulations pertaining to finance, the environment and labor —so-called “trade barriers”—
has basically reinvented local (Saturn) economies around a global (Neptune)
economic model that the so-called “99%” find so toxic today. It’s not
surprising that the U.S. Stock Market’s current roller coaster ride is fueled
by dread over the Chinese economy (if their markets sneeze, we get the flu—clearly,
their recently-found capitalism has its own “epidemic” potential) and the
ever-shifting price of Big Oil, to which currency values and investor
confidence are pegged.
Neptune’s rulership
of flowing substances cuts to the heart of this dilemma and, as nebulous as the
logic behind oil prices is, we can only imagine what is actually happening
behind the scenes to perpetuate the economic/geopolitical turmoil. When we
stare into Saturn-Neptune’s “Looking Glass,” the way forward is anything but
clear, but there are guiding questions: What vision do we wish to
manifest? Which structures and institutions have outlived their usefulness and deserve
to be broken up and dissolved? What would those same institutions look like if
they were rebuilt for the good of all?
Dum, or Dee?
As it always does,
the current Saturn-Neptune cycle pushes for accountability in the midst of
confusion, smokescreens and passive-aggressive power plays. Individuals—and countries—are
either part of the problem, or part of the solution (Dum, or Dee?), but figuring
out which is which is always a challenge. When nothing makes sense, perhaps it
matters that we’re in this “nursery rhyme” together?
“’And hast thou slain the Jabberwock?
Come to my arms, my beamish boy
O frabjous day!
Callooh! Callay!’
He chortled in his joy.”
Raye Robertson is a practicing astrologer, writer and former university English instructor. A graduate of the Faculty of Astrological Studies (U.K.), Raye focuses on mundane, collective-oriented astrology, with a particular interest in current affairs, culture and media, the astrology of generations, and public concerns such as education and health. Several of her articles on these topics have been featured in The Mountain Astrologer and other publications over the years. Raye can be contacted by comment here, or at: robertsonraye@gmail.com.
© Raye Robertson 2016. All rights reserved.