It’s hard to focus on anything these days but the cruel attempts to decimate American health care on Capitol Hill, but today, I’m focused on another shady, destructive story that’s been unfolding right under our noses. There's an important astrological story here.
So my purpose here is to connect some important astrological dots.
First dot
A quietly weird, but forgettable story emerged on March 19th, when we learned that the Trump administration has been installing “monitors” in Cabinet-level meetings to make sure that nobody questions or works against the president’s agenda, and that the Cabinet secretaries are “loyal” to him. This, from the Washington Post:
“Most members of President Trump’s Cabinet do not yet have leadership
teams in place or even nominees for top deputies. But they do have an
influential coterie of senior aides installed by the White House who are
charged — above all — with monitoring the secretaries’ loyalty, according
to eight officials in and outside the administration.”
Second dot
The story above was largely forgettable because a much more dramatic event was looming on March 20th, and the nation is still trying to digest and make sense of it: the Senate Intelligence Committee’s open hearing into Russian interference in Election 2016 and the possibility of ties between that Russian effort and the Trump campaign.
Two key revelations emerged from that hearing: FBI Director James Comey testified and 1) repudiated Trump’s baseless wiretapping claims, and 2) confirmed that there is an ongoing investigation into connections between the Trump camp, Election 2016 and the Russians. Clearly, we’re starting to see a much more complex bigger picture, with deeper and deeper layers of deceptive intrigue emerge in this whole story. Have we fallen into a 1940s “Noir” spy thriller dream? Sure seems like it!
Congressional investigations can’t help but evoke memories of the 1970s Watergate hearings—and as we’ll see, there would be a good astrological reason for that—but there’s another, even juicier astro-historical precedent for these shocking Senate hearings that deserves a look-see because it, too is being echoed persistently. I’m speaking, of course, about the 1940s-50s McCarthyist era.
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Third dot
In fact, as I write this on March 21st, it's the 60th anniversary of Truman Executive Order 9835—the order that unleashed that seriously paranoid, repressive era in American history. Here’s a quick summary of the McCarthyism phenomenon from Wikipedia:
“McCarthyism is the practice of making accusations of subversion
or treason
without proper regard for evidence.[1]
The term refers to U.S. Senator Joseph
McCarthy and has its origins in the period in the United States known as
the Second Red Scare, lasting roughly from 1947 to 1956 and
characterized by heightened political repression as well as a campaign
spreading fear of influence on American institutions and of espionage by
Soviet
agents.
It originated with President Truman's Executive Order 9835 of March 21,
1947, which required that all federal civil service employees be screened for
"loyalty." The order specified that one criterion to be used in
determining that "reasonable grounds exist for belief that the person
involved is disloyal" would be a finding of "membership in,
affiliation with or sympathetic association" with any organization
determined by the attorney general to be "totalitarian, Fascist, Communist
or subversive" or advocating or approving the forceful denial of
constitutional rights to other persons or seeking "to alter the form of
Government of the United States by unconstitutional means."— Robert
J Goldstein [2]”
Artists and writers in Hollywood and
on Broadway, and union leaders across America, were particularly targeted for
official loyalty “screenings” by McCarthy’s House Un-American Activities
Committee (HUAC). In fact, McCarthy’s ally in paranoid power at that time, FBI
Director J. Edgar Hoover, was always on hand to investigate and intimidate
anyone with even a shred of liberal-thinking. Hundreds of careers were thrown on the rocks by this intimidation, which often involved forcing interviewees to “name names” and implicate colleagues and others as “communist sympathizers.” The specter of “Commie infiltration” danced in front of McCarthy’s eyes like a band of sugar plum fairies—and no one was safe from his committee’s twisted scrutiny.
To be sure, there were card-carrying communist and socialist party members among American citizens at that time: in fact, it is perfectly legal to have such affiliations under our First Amendment. By 1947, however, the powers-that-be had developed a high stakes reason for not welcoming Soviet influence within the country, and it was a simple “connect-the-dots” exercise in their minds between that influence and those holding left-wing views.
Among other priorities, we were, at that point, the only nation with a nuclear weapon, and the powers-that-be wanted to keep it that way. The reasoning behind Truman’s Executive Order may have been sound, especially so soon after confronting the horrors of Nazi Germany, but its intent was too easily abused.
In retrospect, since we had actually used the “Bomb” to end the war with Japan, it was perhaps a good thing that we didn’t continue monopolizing that horrific power. The “MAD” (mutually-assured-destruction) balance of powers that developed between the U.S. and Soviet Union over nuclear power helped to check against recklessness, even if the arms race itself seemed ludicrous.
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Fourth dot
MSNBC.com reports that on August 29, 1949, the Soviet Union tested its first nuclear weapon, triggering the nuclear component of the Cold War (and a major panic) in U.S. security circles. When Truman announced this test to the public in September, the so-called “Second Red Scare,” which had been heating up like a bed of coals, burst into flame and spread quickly.
This panic presented a major opportunity for McCarthy and those of like-paranoid mind: his hearings became the equivalent of a 20th century “Inquisition” in which he was the “celebrity” windbag fanning those “Red Scare” flames.
To begin appreciating the astrological dynamics at work during this period—and to see why this paranoid period resonates today—let’s consider the charts. First, a triwheel between the U.S. Sibly chart, Joseph P. McCarthy and the 1st USSR Atomic Test in 1949. We will then consider how that history echoes today, as we live out the last 3+ years of the current Saturn-Pluto cycle.
Triwheel #1: (inner wheel) US-Sibly chart, July 4, 1776, 5:10 p.m. LMT, Philadelphia, PA; (middle wheel) Joseph R. McCarthy, November 14, 1908, 3:00 p.m. ST, Grand Chute, WI (rated A: memory); (outer wheel) 1st USSR Atomic Test, August 29, 1949, 12:00 p.m. (noon chart, no exact time known) ST, Moscow, Russia. All charts use Tropical Equal Houses and True Node.
Interchart Cardinal Grand-Cross: Test Mars (Cancer) opposes Test Jupiter (Capricorn), overlaying Sibly Mercury-Sibly Pluto opposition (Cancer-Capricorn); this axis squares McCarthy Mars (Libra) opposite Sibly Chiron-McCarthy ASC. Setting off that atomic test was certainly a “shot across the bow” of the powerful Sibly 2nd-8th axis on the Soviets’ part, and we can appreciate here why it panicked an array of American interests.
National security (Cancer) is always very closely related by house placement (and by Pluto’s role in Capricorn) to resource-related and financial interests in this nation, and the American press (Sibly Mercury) is always an important player, as well: this one Mars-Jupiter opposition set off alarm bells in all those arenas and steeled American opposition to the new Soviet threat.
The connections to McCarthy’s chart are stunning here, tapping his enemy-conscious 7th house Mars (Libra) on the shoulder and calling him to be the heroic warrior (Mars-ruled Aries ASC) he probably felt himself to be—born to heal the “wounds” (Chiron) inflicted on the nation by the “Reds.”
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It’s hard to say if the perversions and abuses of power that arose over the course of his anti-communist campaign were inevitable, but with McCarthy’s Mars sextile Sibly Neptune (Virgo), the cause that drove him was empowered by the myth of American “exceptionalism,” so prominent in those post-World War II days, a myth that’s easily corruptible (Neptune). McCarthy’s Mars also trined Sibly Mars (Gemini), suggesting he was fully invested in battling American adversaries.
This 1949 Mars-Jupiter opposition (outer wheel) was an expression of “expansive power” and clearly there was an aggressive power-consolidating intent, masked as a “security” concern (Capricorn-Cancer). The Soviet Union wanted parity of power with the U.S. then, and its spin-off Russia wants it again now—the only difference is the choice of weaponry.
As we’ve seen in Election 2016, cyber-warfare can undermine an enemy just as effectively as building a nuclear arsenal ever has, and it’s also a lot cheaper.
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We would expect the Soviet atomic weapon test to be a literally shocking, explosive event, and we certainly see that here, with Test Uranus (Cancer) conjoined Sibly Venus-Jupiter (Cancer)—the test was also clearly aimed at making an impression (Sibly Jupiter rules the chart’s ASC; Venus rules the military Taurus 6th house and the legislative Libra 11th).
The Soviets might have exploded their bomb somewhere else, but its message was definitely aimed at us, and McCarthy saw the opportunity. His Part-of-Fortune-MC (Capricorn) opposed Sibly Venus-Jupiter and Test Uranus, and this axis fell square his hardnosed Saturn (Aries): it seems that the Soviet Test presented him with an opportunity to shine by waging his own brand of war.
Interchart Cardinal Grand-Cross #2: Test Venus-Neptune-SNode-McCarthy Venus-Sibly Saturn (all Libra) oppose Sibly Chiron-McCarthy ASC-Test NNode (all Aries); this axis squares McCarthy Neptune-Sibly Sun (Cancer) opposite McCarthy Uranus (Capricorn). This complex set of tense oppositions and squares reinforce how well-suited McCarthy was to the ideological crusade he brought to Congress and how controversial and stressful it all became.
Eventually, his opportunism (his Neptune conjoins and Venus squares Sibly Sun, as well) and aggressive power overreaching (Capricorn-Aries points) seemed to overtake any positives his “loyalty screenings” might have accomplished. By the time he was censured and basically shut-down by the Senate in 1954, one fellow Senator’s famous rebuke was simply, “Senator, have you no shame?”
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It’s a well-worn cliché that if we don’t take history seriously, we’re doomed to repeat it: unfortunately, it appears there is an effort to purposely repeat the McCarthyist era, only this time, replacing the anti-Communist angle with an anti-Muslim one.
It’s an easy swap—simply retool the basic authoritarian state apparatus that became so controversial back in the 1950s for today’s more technologically-advanced society.
Rachel Maddow from MSNBC.com connects the dots on this rehabilitation effort, as championed by Trump advisor, Steve Bannon and the Alt-Right:
“While interviewing an author in 2013, Bannon mocked the idea
that McCarthy was some kind of “villain.” On the contrary, Bannon argued that
the Republican senator and his allies were right in their hunt for traitors.
“The place was infested with either traitors that were on the direct payroll of Soviet military intelligence or fellow-travelers who were kind of compliant in helping these guys get along,” Bannon said at the time. “I mean, there’s absolutely no question of it. How has pop culture so changed it that white is black and black is white?”
“The place was infested with either traitors that were on the direct payroll of Soviet military intelligence or fellow-travelers who were kind of compliant in helping these guys get along,” Bannon said at the time. “I mean, there’s absolutely no question of it. How has pop culture so changed it that white is black and black is white?”
Bannon went on to equate his vision of communist infiltration
in the 1950s with Middle Eastern influence in contemporary America.”
Looking back at that fraught period, President Truman
famously said that McCarthy’s HUAC (the “loyalty” committee) was “the most
un-American thing in the country today.” Yet, the fringe-right GOP and now the
denizens of the White House feel it’s a period worth revisiting.
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As mentioned
earlier, the administration is closely monitoring all Cabinet members for
“loyalty” to Trump. How big a leap is it from this to something far more
pervasive and deeply unconstitutional?
Knowing that McCarthyist-style measures are now viewed as positive certainly puts Trump’s efforts
vis-Ã -vis immigrants (from within our borders and outside them) into a chilling
perspective. How big a leap is it from the new “electronics
ban” on people entering this country from eight Middle Eastern countries—no
one seems to be questioning its legality—to the normalization of much more
oppressive measures?
Astrologically, there is an important cycle involved in both
time periods that deserves a look if we’re going to understand all this. The
August, 1947 Saturn-Pluto cycle that took off at 13°+ Leo, and the upcoming January, 2020 Saturn-Pluto
cycle that launches at 22°+Capricorn.
This approximate 33-year cycle transforms and regenerates the broad power
structures and dynamics in societies, influencing the evolution of cultures and
civilizations as it does.
Needless to say, this rather unforgiving duo can
wreak hardship and destruction on societies as part of that evolution
process.
There was, of course, one additional Saturn-Pluto cycle
sandwiched in between the 1947 and 2020 instances—the November, 1982 cycle that
launched at 27°+Libra.
This is the cycle we are presently seeing through to its completion, so we’ll
consider more about it as the discussion warrants. For now, however, let’s
investigate how this cycle might have laid the groundwork for that harsh, “Red
Scare” McCarthyist era.
For that purpose, we’ll set the U.S. and Soviet charts
against the 1947 cycle chart in the triwheel below, paying special attention to
how the Saturn-Pluto dynamics play out.
1947 Sun-Saturn-Pluto-Venus conjoin Soviet Neptune (all Leo),
semi-sextile Sibly Sun (Cancer) and sextile U.S. Saturn (Libra); the 1947 Sun
(Leo) also sextiles Soviet Saturn (Libra). This means, of course, that
the U.S. and Soviet Saturns are also conjunct—more on how that plays out in a
cardinal t-square in a bit.
The Saturn-Pluto cycle favored the U.S.
chart in some regards, enjoying a more complex sextile grouping than the Soviet
chart did. Even so, bracketed between the Sun and Venus, this cycle
conjunction (Saturn-Pluto) almost appears to be a “gift” of sorts—on some
levels, to both the U.S. and the Soviets
(sextiles to their respective Saturns).
This is the period during
which both built their super-power
status, which in no small way was nurtured by their new adversarial
relationship. This relationship basically drove global politics and the balance
of power for the next 50 years.
On the other hand, the Leo-Cancer semi-sextiles in the U.S.
chart (to Sibly Sun) suggest that a great deal of adjusting was also required.
This was the post-WWII era, of course, so the U.S. was taking on a
greatly-expanded role of leadership in the world, and there were serious
challenges.
For instance, we had little choice but to help rebuild
Europe from the war’s devastation, and not every American politician was on
board with the Marshall
Plan that helped do this. In addition, some of the agreements forged at the
end of the war—especially with the Soviets—opened up their own Pandora’s Box of
complications.
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The Bretton Woods Conference had just taken place that July
(1947), creating a framework to “regulate the international monetary and financial
order after the conclusion of World
War II.[1]”
This agreement
called for open trading markets between member countries and their cooperative
management of the “Western political-economic order.”
The U.S. played the lead
role in this new organization and the “new world order,” so the timing just
prior to the new Saturn-Pluto cycle was more than appropriate.
All of this imposed a massive, long-term responsibility on
the Truman administration and the nation—in fact, the U.S. presidency and our
role in the world were decisively changed during this cycle. Among other
developments, the so-called “security state” was established, with the CIA
launched in September, 1947 and the NSA in November, 1952. A lot of this
threatens to come unraveled under the Trump administration and this lead-in to
the 2020 cycle.
NATO is another organization that arose during the first
couple years of this new cycle—one that is intimately tied in with the Soviet
post-WWII “threat”, and a serious concern in today’s tense geopolitical
climate. NATO is “an intergovernmental military
alliance based on the North Atlantic Treaty which was signed on
4 April 1949.”
Pluto was still conjunct
the 1947 cycle point in Leo on that day, trine Venus-Mars-Sun (Aries),
while Saturn had moved on to the final degree of Leo. An alliance of
warriors (Venus-Mars) was blessed by both Sun and Pluto
in that chart.
Recall that the Soviet Union set off its first nuclear
weapon test in August of that same year—without doubt, the threat they felt
from the NATO alliance was one reason for that show of strength. The existence
of NATO didn’t make the “Red Scare” any less of a panic here in the U.S.,
however—if anything, the new burdens of leadership placed on the U.S. appear to
have raised the volume.
To shore up their own defenses, the Soviet Union established
an alliance with Warsaw
Pact nations in the early 1950s. Some of these former allies joined NATO
since the Soviet Union’s demise and are now feeling intimidated by Russia’s
attempts to draw them back into its sphere of influence.
This is a big reason
that Europe is a bit freaked out by signs that the U.S. commitment to NATO is
on the wane.
It’s not surprising that institutions born under the 1947
cycle might be up for reconsideration by now, but this is the type of
globally-significant institution that needs careful handling, not reckless,
ideological destruction.
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1947 Uranus-Mars (Gemini) conjoins Sibly Mars (Gemini), squares Sibly Neptune
(Virgo)-Soviet NNode (Virgo) and inconjoins Soviet Venus (Scorpio); Soviet
Venus sextiles Sibly Pluto (Capricorn). This set of aspects seems to
foreshadow the abusive, delusionary period we call McCarthyism to a tee: The
Gemini challenge (1947 Uranus-Mars at our 7th
house Mars) would have made the world feel very unstable and
unpredictable to Americans, who were undoubtedly still adjusting to post-WWII
realities. This would have been reinforced by those Gemini squares to our
“American Dream” Neptune.
With the Soviet’s Scorpio Venus (sextile our Sibly Pluto)
lurking in the background (over our 12th), it’s not surprising that
McCarthy could trigger fears of communist “infiltration” (they’re hiding everywhere). The effect this had
on America’s ability to discern truth from insinuation and paranoid
accusations—“the fake news” of the McCarthyist era, echoes a little too closely
today. The Soviet Venus also trined Sibly Mercury, which reflects how deeply
our media was caught up in the fear-driven hype.
1947 Neptune (Libra) squares Sibly Jupiter/Sun (midpoint, Cancer) and
sextiles 1947 Venus -Sibly NNode (Leo); 1947 Neptune squares Soviet Sun-MC
(Capricorn). It would be naïve to assume that stirring up McCarthyist paranoia
(Neptune
square to Sibly Jupiter/Sun) didn’t serve a political purpose—while it
denigrated many, it effectively united the average American against the Soviet
Union and (even more importantly), the communist system. The Cold War was, in
the end, a dialectical war of ideas and economic systems—communism v. capitalism,
oppression v. freedom, and while we’re at it, official State-sanctioned atheism
v. religious freedom.
Stories built around these stark opposing choices and the
political intrigue involved became a staple in American pop culture—from “noir”
spy thrillers (i.e., James Bond) to productions like Fiddler on the Roof that evoked earlier Russian persecution of Jews. One way or another, Russia and the
Soviet Union were cast as the shady, criminal bad guys.
Bottom line, the threat narrative was drawn around the
freedoms and prosperity (Sibly Jupiter/Sun) we would lose if communist
infiltrators weren’t rooted out and banished from society. Vilifying the enemy
and painting it as the most extremist threat possible, hiding in the shadows
(1947 Neptune squares Soviet Sun), was an effective tactic that
carried us into the next generation of anti-communist wars in Korea and Viet
Nam.
These “perks” provided by McCarthyism are not lost on
today’s new generation of paranoid politicians (Bannon, especially—Putin,
maybe?), only now the “threat” they hope to rally around is Muslim. On that
note, let’s consider our current national charts alongside this year’s Aries
ingress.
Triwheel #3: (inner wheel) US-Sibly
chart, July 4, 1776, 5:10 p.m. LMT, Philadelphia, PA; (middle wheel) Russian
Federation, December 25, 1991, 7:45 p.m., Moscow, Russia (BWH, Chart 280, p. 273); (outer wheel) Aries Ingress 2017,
March 20, 2017, 6:16:48 a.m. DST, Washington, D.C. All charts use Tropical Equal
Houses and True Node.
Looking at this triwheel should dispel any doubts we might
have about Russia being a U.S. friend or foe.
Clearly, the Soviet Union’s “rebirth” as the Russian Federation (middle
wheel) did nothing to soften our relationship: if anything, Vladimir Putin’s
destructive designs on us are illustrated pretty clearly.
Let’s consider the dynamics between the Sibly and Russian
charts first, before we bring the current Aries ingress into the story.
Russia Sun (Capricorn) opposes Sibly Venus-Jupiter (Cancer) and squares
Sibly MC (Libra); Russia Saturn (Aquarius) conjoins Sibly SNode (Aquarius) and
trines Sibly Uranus (Gemini). This illustrates how staunchly opposed
Russia is to our ideology (Jupiter) and why they might target our
prosperity and security (Sibly Venus-Jupiter). Their hard-nosed Sun
is disposed by an equally hard-nosed Aquarius Saturn, conjoined our SNode
and trine our Uranus—an interesting “hook” that
reflects how they have been using technology (Aquarius) to exploit our
weaknesses.
The trine suggests that the cyber attacks flow from both
sides; certainly it’s common knowledge that surveillance tactics are used by
both.
Interchart T-square: Russia Uranus-Neptune (Capricorn) opposes
Sibly Sun (Cancer); this axis squares Sibly Saturn (Libra). It was
quite an “accident” of history that the Russian Federation rose from the ashes
of the Soviet Union under the final stages of the 1821 Uranus-Neptune Capricorn
cycle, and a mere year and a half from the new 1993 Capricorn cycle.
There are civilization-transforming implications in this,
but there is also a continuity of hard-nosed ambition and a deeply held sense
of their powerful place in geopolitics, and in the history of civilization
itself.
It’s not hard to see that our government institutions are in
the Russian crosshairs here, with the aspects to Sibly Sun (Executive) and
Saturn (Congress). Current news is filled with
examples of Russian efforts to undermine our structures and national reputation
(recall the Russian Sun squares Sibly MC, as well).
The situation gets even more intense:
Russia Venus-Pluto (Scorpio) trine Sibly Mercury (Cancer). Influencing
our Mercury
is a multi-layered operation: manipulating public perception through a
cyber-avalanche of paranoid “fake news,” which is then used to undermine our
relationships and defense capabilities (Gemini 7th house is ruled by
Mercury).
There’s no accident that Trump’s Gemini stellium (Sun-Node-Uranus) plays
into all this, conjunct Sibly 7th house Mars—is it any wonder he and
his campaign are being investigated for enabling this Russian influence?
Interchart Mutable T-square:
Russia Mercury/Mars (midpoint)-Sibly ASC
(Sagittarius) opposes Sibly DSC-Uranus/Mars (midpoint, Gemini); this axis squares
Russia Jupiter (Virgo). Russia’s restless aggression shoots across the
Sibly horizon here, destabilizing our self-image (ASC) and 7th house
defense capabilities; the t-square reflects that there’s a connection between
their growth (Jupiter) and the use of “information war” (Mercury/Mars) against us
(7th house Sibly Mars/Uranus).
Russia’s Jupiter is elevated over our Sibly
10th house, very widely conjoined Sibly Neptune (Virgo), so it’s
not surprising they might use our “American Dream” against us in some way in their
“infowar” (which is ongoing, we’re told). Attacks on social media were the
obvious way to leverage our biases, preconceptions about politics, and so on. The
oppositions in this t-square reflect Russia’s perennial ambitions for a “parity”
of power with us, and their Jupiter provides some leverage.
On an interesting, related, but totally unsubstantiated
note, there are theories circulating
that Russian steel is being brought in through Canada for the pipeline projects
that Trump has green-lighted, much to the dismay of environmentalists and
Native Americans. If this were true, it would be the cynically ironic
about-face that many would expect from him, considering he claimed U.S. steel
pipes would be required for these projects and then reversed course.
This becomes relevant here because Russia’s Sagittarius Mercury/Mars
opposite our Sibly Mars/Uranus suggests the involvement of steel (Mars) on both sides. We are
seeing more about confirmed connections between Russian
oligarchs and Trump, (Russia Jupiter sextiles and Russia Pluto-Venus widely trines
Sibly
Sun), and business deals would not be inconceivable. This is a
wait-and-see possibility—again, unconfirmed.
Following the dots…
Let’s turn now to the impact this month’s Aries ingress
(outer wheel, Triwheel #3) has on these two national charts and what it might
portend for that relationship in the coming year.
Interchart T-square: Russia Sun (Capricorn) opposes Sibly
Venus-Jupiter (Cancer); this axis is squared by Ingress Sun-Venus (Aries). The
Aries ingress stresses out our Russian relationship every year, given these
cardinal points, but the addition of an Aries Venus at the ingress
suggests that more is at stake this time around.
This Venus actually squares
Russia’s entire Capricorn stellium (Sun, Node-Uranus-Neptune) and pulls
the Sibly Sun into the mix, as well, so they have something to gain or
lose from their anti-U.S. ambitions this year. A friendlier presence in the
White House, perhaps?
Interchart Mutable
Grand Cross: Ingress Neptune (Pisces)
turns the Mutable T-square discussed above into this more stressful grand
cross.
This certainly reflects the use of distortion and “fake news” that
will likely continue to destabilize our relationship. It was certainly powerfully
reflected yesterday, in House Intelligence Chairman Devin Nunes’
decision to blow up his committee’s investigation into Trump/Russia ties.
Ingress Neptune’s quincunx to Sibly Saturn challenges our
ability to get to the facts—the cover of Neptunian “fog” is a constant
struggle. Neptune’s trine to the Sibly Sun enables Trump’s fluid
use of this distortion and cover—constant vigilance and truth-telling is needed
to cut through the “fog.”
Ingress Saturn-Moon-GC (Sagittarius) sextile Sibly Moon (Aquarius),
square Sibly Neptune (Virgo) and trine Ingress Uranus (Aries). The
gathering at the GC will continue inspiring leaks and whistle-blowing, and the sextiles
suggest that this could benefit the American public. The square to Sibly Neptune
(Virgo) will continue stressing out our national “spin-doctors.” We
have to wonder how much longer Press Secretary Sean Spicer is going to hang on.
The volatile Ingress Uranus (Aries) trine to these
Sagittarius points suggests that some revelations may literally be explosive or
at least, brutally shocking. Could such revelations cause shocking, or uncontrollably volatile responses?
These
Sagittarius and Aries points do tie into Russia’s Leo Ascendant, creating a
fiery grand trine, so this possibility isn’t too far-fetched. We may see some
recklessness on their part, where they would normally calculate their moves
carefully (their Scorpio Pluto-Venus squares their ASC).
Another wait-and-see—this Uranus conjoins Russia’s Part-of-Fortune
and Sibly Chiron, so they are perhaps enjoying the chaos we find
ourselves in these days. On the flip side, Russia’s Chiron (Leo) conjoins
Sibly NNode (Leo), so we may also benefit from their pain—so goes the project of having an “enemy.”
Interchart Grand
Earth Trine: Ingress Mars (Taurus)
conjoins Russia MC (Taurus), trines Russia Sun-NNode-Uranus-Neptune (Capricorn)
and trines Russia Jupiter (Virgo). The year ahead seems to support
Russian ambitions, especially in substantive, “earthy” ways. Mars isn’t
particularly comfortable in Venus-ruled Taurus, but its
placement there fits a determined plan to build its world image (MC) around
resource-based revenues (keep an eye on that steel deal). Ingress
Mars
inconjoins Russia Mercury, so they may try to “spin”
any plans they have in the works.
Interchart Cardinal
Grand Cross: Ingress Jupiter
(Libra)-Sibly Saturn (Libra) opposes Ingress Uranus (Aries); this axis squares
Ingress Pluto (Capricorn)-Russia Uranus-Neptune (Capricorn) opposite Sibly
Sun/Mercury (midpoint, Cancer). This tense cardinal tug-of-war pits
Congress (Libra) against the volatile unknown (Aries), and whatever happens
there will impact U.S.-Russia power dynamics.
How Trump communicates (Sibly Sun/Mercury midpoint) reflects
that relationship, especially with Ingress Neptune trining that point,
enabling a constant river of false claims and obfuscations. The tension in this
configuration reflects the difficulty at getting to the bottom of the ongoing
investigations. We will probably see some subpoenas issued to Trump surrogates
and associates (Ingress Saturn quincunxes Sibly Mercury).
Whether the Trump camp will be able to count on more Wikileaks releases timed to distract
from the investigations remains to be seen, but with the fiery grand trine
discussed above, there will likely be more surprises before it’s all behind us.
McCarthyism 2.0?
So, is a newly reimagined wave of McCarthyism supported by
all this intrigue and mounting tension between the U.S. and Russia? The chilling
thing about the alt-right effort to rehabilitate this dark period of our
history is that there’s a new “enemy” fixed in their paranoid sights, and it’s
Muslim, rather than Russian. Russia, in fact, is seen by people like Steve
Bannon as a possible ally in a new anti-Muslim “Scare” campaign.
It’s not hard to imagine how this goes: first, there’s a
travel ban (or watered down, the new “electronics ban”), then a story blows up
in the news that convinces people immigrants from Muslim countries are the enemy, much to be feared (UK
just provided one), then enough of us look the other way as the ban on travel is
quietly reinstated.
What’s next? Cover for those who commit heinous hate crimes?
Round-ups within our borders? They’re already happening for many immigrants—if
it looks like tyranny taking over in baby-steps, it probably is.
Bottom line, exaggerated concerns about “national security”
can wash away a lot of our human and civil rights overnight, if we’re not
vigilant. Trump’s Cabinet secretaries are feeling the heat of suspicion, our
welcoming image in the world is already being destroyed, and Trump and Co. are
just getting started.
Those who want to slam our borders shut and roll-back the
civil rights progress we’ve made since the 1947 Saturn-Pluto cycle
launched are counting on the power of suggestion, innuendo and insinuation. We
may not have just one enemy to vilify
in McCarthyism 2.0—anyone who threatens Trump priorities in any way could find
their way onto that list.
It’s worth remembering that the Viet Nam/Watergate crisis of
confidence in our government (early 1970s) marked the waning phase of that
staunch 1947 Leo cycle; the remainder of that cycle was spent in a serious
recession at home and a stubborn Iran Hostage Crisis, both of which destroyed
President Jimmy Carter’s chances of re-election.
Reagan’s presidency may have been controversial in some
ways, but it ushered in the new Saturn-Pluto cycle (1982)—in airy
Libra, it was time for the public’s mood to lighten up and shake off the 1970s
gloom. As Monty Python put it, “and
now, for something completely different…”
And now…
We are now in the waning 3+ years of that 1982 Saturn-Pluto
cycle (Libra), and we have a situation that is eerily similar to the 1970s,
with another president being investigated. This time, however, the potential
crimes at stake are orders of magnitude more serious. In fact, judging from our
dicey internal and external power dynamics, the situation warrants urgency.
IMHO, we need to hope that Bannon’s stated intent to “deconstruct the administrative
state” (we can read, “to facilitate an authoritarian takeover”) isn’t a preview
of things to come.
The closing days of a cycle like this usually do involve the dismantling of outworn
structures and a “de-cluttering” of bureaucracies—even some notable cultural
and demographic shifts; however, there’s a difference between a productive
clearing process and purposeful, systems-busting destruction. We have some
choices about how close to the bone this clearing out process should cut, but
unfortunately, it appears this time around that we can’t take our leaders’
commitment to democratic ideals for granted. Maybe it’s time to hold our “hired
hands” (we do pay their salaries) to account?
In the next post, we’ll examine that new 2020 Saturn-Pluto
cycle in greater depth—the road between now and then is going to be an interesting ride!
Raye
Robertson is a practicing astrologer, writer and former educator. 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.
She is
also available to read individual charts—contact her at: robertsonraye@gmail.com.
© Raye Robertson 2017. All
rights reserved.
[1]
Nicholas Campion, The Book of World
Horoscopes, 3rd ed., The Wessex Astrologer, Bournemouth, UK,
2004.
