An amazing wave of coordinated student
walkouts unfolded across the nation at precisely 10 a.m. yesterday, and
most of them lasted a mere 17 minutes, one minute for each fatality suffered
one month ago in Florida’s Stoneman-Douglas High School. Some walkouts, as in
Colorado’s Columbine High, added an extra minute for each of their own mass
shooting casualties. In all, American teenagers staged 3,100 walkouts—as the NYTimes.com put it, the “biggest student protests since the Vietnam era.”
That may sound ironic, but there’s less
irony involved than survival instinct: in the Vietnam era, students were also
fighting for their own lives—against what seemed to be an unjustified war
itself, but specifically against the military draft that spelled death for so
many. Fast forward to 2018, and students are demanding an end to the dangers
they face every day of their school lives
because easily-accessed military-style assault weapons have turned their
classrooms into potential killing fields.
If we’re looking for irony, it’s in the fact that—because of those 1960s-70s
student protests—we now have a volunteer
military; those who take on that risky life now choose that life. Back at home, our students don’t get to choose their vulnerabilities. And,
IMHO, if the best the NRA and our pro-NRA legislators can offer our students is
an obligatory lifetime of school days in an armed
camp, the burden for gun profits is being placed on the wrong individuals.
Should it be “anything goes” when it
comes to selling guns? What other industry has to answer to no one for public safety? Here’s where
profit-seeking capitalism becomes unacceptably toxic: not just toxic, but
potentially unpatriotic and criminal.[1] As
our student populations are saying so forcefully, “Enough is enough!”
I write this today for two reasons:
1) because the astrological chart for yesterday’s walkouts reflects that
situation on the ground so powerfully, and is worth a look, and 2) because the
chart tells us something about the prospects for what is shaping up to be a new
Pluto in Sagittarius “movement.” Any time a generation
rises up en masse over an issue, there’s an interesting astrological story
to tell.
So, let’s consider yesterday’s
walkout, timed for 10 a.m. in Parkland, Florida. The kids at Stoneman-Douglas
led the way, naturally, so that’s where the curtain opens…
Chart
#1: Student Walkouts, March 14, 2018, 10:00 a.m. DST, Parkland, Florida. Tropical Equal Houses, True Node.
Before we look at significant
aspects, let’s consider a few general highlights of this chart. First, set for
Parkland, Florida, nearly everything is
placed above the horizon, reflecting the solidly collective scope of yesterday’s
actions. The possibilities for a sustainable movement are supported by the
fixed Taurus ascendant, disposed by a feisty Aries Venus. Venus may rule this chart, but she is backed up by
a staunch, demanding Capricorn Saturn, one of two final dispositors of this
chart. Saturn’s support is best gained through effort, which reflects the
Venus-Saturn square we see here—more on this below.
In home sign Pisces, Neptune
is the other chart dispositor, and its energies were well-represented
in the euphoria and emotional outpouring we saw yesterday as kids poured out of
their schools into streets across the nation. Neptune also reflected
the way in which these courageous kids uplifted us all in only a few minutes
time. They articulated their messages very well, demanding action, not words, paid their heartfelt respects to fallen
students, and showed incredible solidarity. Of course, we can always count on Neptune
for some media spin and delusionary rhetoric as well—there was plenty
to go around.
 |
| Students in Minneapolis |
The active spirit of engagement embodied by these kids is strongly
supported in this chart, as well: a fixed Aquarius Moon is elevated in the 10th,
representing a revolutionary “birth” and ruling the 3rd house of education. This energy is complemented
nicely by six cardinal points, Venus,
Mercury, Uranus in Aries, and Saturn, Pluto, MC in Capricorn. This movement may
just be an “idea whose time has come.”
It takes fire to spark a movement and this chart provides plenty, of both
the cardinal and mutable variety: Venus, Mercury and Uranus fall in Aries and
Vesta-Mars fall in Sagittarius. And, in what may be a surprisingly important
placement, dwarf planet Ceres falls in fixed Leo—occupying that 3rd
house of education. Ceres and the Leo No. Node (another key player we’ll
discuss further) are the only points that fall in the lower, more “personal”
hemisphere. These kids are working
for themselves, of course, but they also see themselves engaged in an important
collective quest.
The tendency to see things through a
collective filter is built into this young generation’s astrological “DNA,”
so-to-speak: born under Pluto in Sagittarius (1995-2008), these kids are coming
of age with Pluto in Capricorn. Disposed respectively by Jupiter (Sag) and
Saturn (Cap), both these signs promote a collective focus. This explains a lot,
but the determination and focus of these teens really becomes evident when we consider their Pluto in Sagittarius
ingress chart—a story for another day, soon.
Add to all this the fact that
Neptune has been in Pisces for many of their formative years, and we can see
why compassion might be a powerful motivating force for this generation, as well.
With all that background in place,
let’s consider key aspects:
Sun (Pisces) trines Jupiter (Rx, Scorpio),
sextiles Pluto (Capricorn), squares Vesta-Mars (Sagittarius). These
aspects all contribute to the powerful feel of this chart, with its fixed
angles and well-balanced distribution of elements and modalities. Mars and
Jupiter
form a mutual reception, which reflects a powerful opportunity for the students
to achieve their objectives, but the house placements suggest another
possibility as well: 7th house Jupiter in Pluto-disposed Scorpio could
represent the mega-corporate gun industry/NRA (the Other against which the
teens are working), and its stake in the matter. It’s key here that Jupiter
also sextiles Pluto, providing an opening to grow
profits.
 |
| In Parkland, Florida |
Naturally, 8th house Mars and
Vesta also represent the aggrieved anger
and outrage in American
households that is helping to fuel this student movement. The families of these
students seem to be as passionately involved as their teenagers are, thankfully—the
kids will need that loving support. Some caution is warranted, however: the NRA
has a virtual army of supporters dispersed across the nation, and with an
important mid-term election looming, we can expect a backlash, attempts to
vilify the teens and their cause, intimidation tactics and political fireworks.
This backlash is especially
predictable with Mars also trine Uranus (Aries); thankfully, both
these planets will be moving on into earth signs soon (Capricorn and Taurus,
respectively), where they can get serious about practical movement building.
Moon (Aquarius) squares Jupiter (Rx,
Scorpio). The Moon widely squares the ASC-DSC
horizon, as well, but the square to Jupiter is probably key here. If, as
we saw above, Jupiter represents the “powers-that-be” that will throw their
considerable weight behind maintaining gun rights as they are (fixed energy),
this square accurately reflects the lines of conflict: young people looking for
change vs. powerful lobby working to maintain the status quo.
 |
| In Parkland, Florida |
Venus-Mercury-Part-of-Fortune (Aries) square
Saturn (Capricorn) and trine Ceres and No. Node (separate trines, Leo). We
discussed earlier how significant these cardinal square aspects are, especially
between chart ruler Venus and chart dispositor, Saturn. The teens are
challenging authorities (Saturn) to make proactive
institutional changes and importantly, to
demonstrate with those changes that the lives and safety of American children
are valued over gun profits.
The Mercury-Saturn square
pushes these kids to express their messages in starkly clear terms: it’s us or gun profits…choose! This clarity and focus is a powerful arrow in
their “quiver,” and one they’ll want to protect. The message will both promote
their movement and with Mercury trine Ceres and the No.
Node, it should also give them an outlet for healing.
Ceres is thought to promote healing
environments, and with Ceres and No. Node hovering near
each other in the personal sector of the chart, these teens should find some
kind of catharsis in their protest efforts. With Ceres in the 3rd
house of schools, it appears these students will find a strong support system
in each other and in their school communities: they are both creating and benefitting from the solidarity
(Leo).
Neptune (Pisces) inconjoins No. Node,
sextiles ASC (Taurus) and trines DSC (Scorpio). These aspects may not
look very significant, yet public sentiment will either be swayed to support
the teens’ drive to make practical, life-affirming adjustments to gun laws
(Taurus), or it will be swayed by the NRA’s fear-mongering narrative, that gun
owners will lose their 2nd Amendments rights, that the “government
is out to get their guns” and worse. Neptune can be channeled in two
major directions: towards compassionate solutions to the dilemma at hand, or
into delusional conspiracy theories and extremism.
The teens are clearly aiming for the
compassionate choice, but they should brace themselves for an extremist
backlash, as well. Attempts to sow chaos in their midst and to weaken their
resolve may also be a factor. Here’s where emotionally mature adult supervision
will be helpful.
Neptune’s mutable energies are also embodied
in the exact Mars-Chiron square (Sagittarius-Pisces) that spans the 8th-11th
houses, and they may, over time, create a sluggish inertia that undermines the
movement. Depression is a real possibility in many:
these kids have lost loved ones and as charged up as they may be right now
about their cause, the reality of these losses could weigh on them, and on
their movement. For this effort to be sustainable, it will be important that the
individual participants avoid burn-out as much as possible.
Unfortunately, this brings us to Neptune’s
most frustrating “super-power:” passive resistance, saying “yes, we
care,” and then doing nothing about it. Or, politicians finely mincing their words
and actions and stalling progress. Or dragging things out so that the kids will
simply lose patience and give up. The Mars-Chiron square suggests that not making progress will rip open the
wounds these students have suffered; with this we run the risk of producing a lot of angry young people, and where
will that get us?
Final
thoughts
It’s also significant that Saturn
and Neptune form no
aspects in this chart: as difficult as the interactions of these two energies
can be, it’s almost worse when
there’s no aspect at all! As mentioned earlier, because the planets both transits their home signs here, they share the role of final dispositors in this chart.
So, we can expect that any movement that
emerges from yesterday’s efforts will be somewhat on-again, off-again. The
students and their supporters will at times have no problem channeling their
cardinal drive into well-conceived and orchestrated efforts (Saturn
in Cap), but there will be other times when a persistent undertow of passive
resistance (Neptune in Pisces) seems to overwhelm and mire their
enthusiasm. One of the key virtues of this movement thus far is its passionate
authenticity—that wonderful quality of awakened youth. They clearly believe that change is possible and I
pray they will not be bitterly disillusioned by adults in powerful positions.
IMHO, we must help these courageous
young people to see that their lives are not merely expendable materiel in this
society, but are deeply valued and worth any and every change we need to make.
Above all, I hope our leaders don’t impose their jaded political viewpoints on
these teens: that would be a profound
betrayal. And, it would be profoundly unwise: these Pluto in Sag warriors will
be turning their passion and anger into votes,
very soon!
 |
| In Burlington, MA |
Raye
Robertson is a practicing astrologer, writer and former educator. A graduate of
the Faculty of Astrological Studies fundamentals program (U.K.), Raye now 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 Robertson 2018. All
rights reserved.
[1]
There are a lot of questions about the relationship between the NRA and key
pro-Putin players in Russia and their role in our 2016 presidential election.
Too early to say for sure, but worth keeping an eye on. https://www.bloomberg.com/view/articles/2018-02-07/the-nra-should-disclose-any-russian-ties
