“If
the sweeping ambition of the Green New Deal leads to positive incremental
change, I think that’s the most likely way it happens. But then I also want to
mildly praise the resolution’s anti-incrementalism — because there are virtues
in trying to offer not just a technical blueprint but a comprehensive vision of
the good society, and virtues as well in insisting that dramatic change is
still possible in America, that grand projects and scientific breakthroughs are
still within our reach.”
In less than a month now, on March 6th,
Uranus
will re-enter Venus-ruled Taurus for what’s left
of its 7-year stay, first begun last May 18th (see here
for a lot more on that ingress). As you’re probably aware, this pale blue “ice
giant” with the eccentric orbit—discovered by Sir William Herschel in March
1781—is considered by astrology to be a cosmic rabble rouser that promotes
change in unique and sometimes shocking ways.
The timing for Uranus’s debut was
perfect: the philosophical perspective of that late 1700s period was dubbed the
Enlightenment, aka the “Age of Reason”—perfect for this planet’s naturally airy
(cerebral, intellectual, detached—not to mention yang) energy.
 |
| Why shouldn't the business world be able to work with the Earth? |
But these days we’re looking at Uranus
stepping way out of its airy
comfort zone by committing to the next six+ years (until July 2025) in the
earthiest of earth signs, Taurus. If we consider how much stress and volatility
marked its tour of fiery Aries—exacerbated by the intense cardinal times we’ve
seen since Uranus entered Aries in 2010—perhaps we can appreciate how
appealing a creative, but less bombastic sojourn in earthy Taurus might be. We
might wonder how that will work, in fact—given the Venus-Uranus square in
the re-entry chart (Chart #1 below),
the “Sky God” may chafe at being “grounded!” Just a bit…he’ll get over it.
And why not? In Greek Creation mythology,
Gaia
(Mother Earth) and Ouranos (Sky God) begat the twelve Titans, so opposites do attract and complement each other,
and given the essential role that polarity plays in Life itself—yin and yang—we
wouldn’t be here if they didn’t! So the hope is that Uranus’s time in Taurus
between now and 2025 will generate new and renewed life in a number of
important arenas. Perhaps most hopefully, it will be a time during which
humanity gets serious about working with the
Earth to create something constructive and life-affirming, instead of working against it.
Let’s be clear: the Earth itself
will not cease to exist due to climate change, but it could stop supporting human life without our serious intervention
and commitment.
 |
| What goes around comes around? |
So, it’s not surprising that in this
month prior to Uranus's Taurus re-entry that we’re seeing movement in Congress on
the so-called “Green
New Deal.” On Feb. 7th, Eugene Robinson with the Washington Post characterized this
movement, which evokes the 1930s Depression Era economic/- infrastructure/jobs
program known as FDR’s New Deal, as a key policy framework for progressive Dems,
and one whose time
has come:
“Let’s consider some real news, for a change: Last
year was officially proclaimed the fourth-warmest on record; scientists predict that
melting ice in Antarctica and Greenland could not only raise sea levels but
also further destabilize weather patterns; and
progressive members of Congress are proposing a “Green New Deal,” the first
policy framework ambitious enough to meet the challenge of global warming.”
Representative Alexandria
Ocasio-Cortez (D-NY) and Senator Ed Markey (D, MA) are the chief shepherds of
this 21st century New Deal, but the resolution
has the support of at least four declared presidential candidates, and dozens
of other Dems. The resolution is non-binding, but provides a framework for
moving beyond our present fossil fuel-dependent energy sector (and economy!) and creating thousands of
middle class jobs in the process. Again, the Washington Post:
“The nonbinding resolution calls for a ‘10-year national
mobilization’ on the scale of the original New Deal to shift the economy away
from fossil fuels such as oil and coal and replace them with renewable energy
sources such as wind and solar power. It sets a goal to meet ‘100 percent of
the power demand in the United States through clean, renewable and
zero-emission energy sources,’ including nuclear power.”
 |
| Sen. Ed Markey (D, MA) and Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, (D, NY) |
As for the astrology of the
situation, the historical echoes are suggestive: Uranus was transiting Taurus from the end of March, 1935 to May,
1942. FDR’s New Deal spanned 1933-36, so there’s definitely some overlap with
today’s energies. Besides, the conceptual framework for what’s now known as the
Green New Deal has been percolating for some time already: the term was first
coined by NYTimes.com economics
columnist Thomas Friedman in 2007, under the Uranus-Neptune mutual
reception from Pisces to Aquarius. Looking back, Friedman wrote this week:
“Back in 2007, I wrote
a column calling for a “Green New Deal,” and I later expanded on the idea
in a book, “Hot, Flat and Crowded.” Barack Obama picked up the theme
and made a Green New Deal part of his 2008 platform, but the idea just never
took off. So I’m excited that the new Democratic Congresswoman Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez and
others have put forward their own takes on a Green New Deal, and it’s now
getting some real attention.”
Despite the idea falling flat during
the Obama administration, Green Party presidential candidate Jill Stein carried
the Green New Deal idea forward in 2016, and it should be noted that it’s not just an American idea, either. A British Green New Deal Group report was
published in July 2008, after a year of planning—bottom line, this ambitious
vision of a new economy retooled around sustainable clean energy and
infrastructures may be a global phenomenon—and it’s been hovering in the conceptual
“ether” for over a decade now as Uranus transited Pisces and Aries.
Though it’s hard to envision the
Green New Deal resolution being funded and implemented to its full visionary potential,
I’m cautiously optimistic that this time,
as Uranus
moves into the fixed earthy sign of Taurus, the program will begin to
take practical form. This, despite the fact that Trump
didn’t even mention the environment or climate change in his recent State
of the Union address. Mitigating climate change already is a priority around the world, and back home, for many state-level
programs, with
sustainable energy-based building codes and so on. We can expect that, like
so many things that finally became
federal law, state-level initiatives will catch on across the nation—especially
once the financial benefits become clear.
Taurus is all about amassing
material substance, so the industries that build their business models around
new, green technologies (and are most in line with Taurus priorities) will
probably be the ones to thrive and persist over the long term (fixed sign).
While we shouldn’t be naïve about the lengths to which non-sustainable
industries on the wane will go for survival (the federal government is supporting
their efforts these days), Uranus is a forward-moving energy
that promotes and rewards change whose time has come.
So it follows that certain,
Taurus-friendly types of environmental action and business development will find
the greatest support during this upcoming 6+-year Uranus transit: specifically,
anything that involves not only technology (Uranus), but food cultivation and animal husbandry and
land use (Taurus). Building technologies should also get a
boost, so watch for more sustainable building codes to emerge.
Agriculture in general is ruled by Saturn,
so in its remaining time in Capricorn it will likely also support new
approaches to earthy Taurean pursuits. Saturn first enters Aquarius in
March, 2020, retrogrades and re-enters just before its new cycle with Jupiter
begins on 12/20/2020, a cycle which—importantly—will be disposed by this Taurus Uranus. This raises the obvious
concern for what’s next: the groundwork laid in the early days of this Taurus
transit will have a lot to do with
the priorities we carry forward into the new Aquarius Jupiter-Saturn cycle.
Will we concentrate our energies around the priorities that really matter, or
allow our focus to become scattered and undermined?
For now, let’s consider some specific
“Green” initiatives that could conceivably flourish under a Venus-
and Uranus-powered
Taurus transit.
The following areas are ripe for
“greening” and are explored in detail in a wonderful compilation entitled Drawdown: The Most Comprehensive Plan Ever
Proposed to Reverse Global Warming, edited by veteran economist/environmentalist,
Paul Hawken:
Food Cultivation
& Husbandry
|
Land Use
|
Materials &
Design
|
Plant-rich diets
|
Forest protection
|
Industrial hemp
|
Farmland restoration
|
Tropical forests
|
Living buildings
|
Reduced food waste
|
Bamboo
|
Enhanced weathering of minerals
|
Clean energy cookstoves
|
Perennial biomass
|
|
Multistrata agroforestry
|
Peatlands
|
|
Improved rice cultivation
|
Indigenous Peoples’ land management
|
|
Silvopasture
|
Temperate forests
|
|
Regenerative agriculture
|
Afforestation
|
|
Nutrient management
|
||
Tree intercropping
|
||
Conservation agriculture
|
||
Composting
|
||
Biochar
|
||
Tropical staple trees
|
||
Farmland irrigation
|
||
Managed grazing
|
||
Pasture cropping
|
||
A cow walks onto a beach (seaweed grazing to reduce
methane levels)
|
Clearly, when our ancient forebears
began using tools and implements (technology) to cultivate plants and raise animals
for food and fabrication purposes, the global economy (such as it was) took a
giant leap forward. Uranus is always a factor when these technological transitions
take place: the sign it occupies influences what type of technology emerges and
for what purposes. Interestingly, the U.S. Rural
Electrification Act—an FDR-era New Deal program—was passed in May, 1936,
with electrical Uranus “grounded” in earthy (rural) Taurus.
Fast-forward to 2019, and the Green New Deal is calling for a massive
infrastructure and jobs program, focused on the elimination of fossil fuels and
the total revamping of our transportation systems, including “green” mass
transit systems and the electrification of cars, using sustainable, renewable sources
to generate that electricity. Many of those sources will depend upon rural
communities, of course, as the sites for wind and solar farms, biomass
production, geothermal heating plants, and so on.
If cars are going to be fueled by
electricity en masse, we’ll need
charging stations across the nation—including in rural areas. Such a project
will echo the ambitious scope of the 1936 Electrification Act, and then some. New
technologies will be in demand and ones that have been waiting in the wings for
some time already will be called into action. Once the new Aquarius Jupiter-Saturn
cycle launches in late 2020, such pursuits ruled by Uranus
should be getting the green light. That’s if more troubling uses of
these energies don’t intervene, like senseless wars and manufactured border
crises. Let’s not even go there.
 |
| Sustainable materials allow for a closed loop life cycle with little waste. |
It’s one thing to power human activities, it’s another to build, secure and fortify human habitations (Taurus builds, conserves and secures).
The arena of building materials is a huge area for change--replacing
petroleum-based products with renewable/sustainable ones will take a concerted
effort, but again, states and municipalities can take charge here. Land use and
forest management practices must change
to prevent massively destructive wild fires like we’ve seen in states like
California nearly year-round—these are the true emergencies that all levels of
government need to act on as boldly as possible.
And, as coastal lands erode due to
climate change-induced sea level rise, more thoughtful land conservation will
be essential to make up for the lost acreage. High rise apartments are energy
gluttons if they’re not designed properly, with sustainable materials and
systems. Venus’s pleasing but pragmatic design sense (as ruler of
Taurus) will come into play here.
Less and less land will be available
for traditional crop rotation practices, so technologies and techniques for
reaping more product from less land (without pollutants) will be key—Taurus is
very frugal, so this is do-able. Green roofs, vertical farming and hydroponics
will be options that could become more widespread and further developed. If Uranus
has anything to do with it, we’ll see robots harvesting crops on the bigger
farms—making the most of labor costs will also factor into any new
developments. Unique land-sharing or leasing agreements with municipalities
(urban farming) and countries overseas could also develop.
Unfortunately, as competition for
landed resources heightens, exploitative geopolitical relationships may take
shape, making developing, “debtor” nations particularly vulnerable. This issue
takes in food and financial security
(both Taurus imperatives), and with Uranus involved, the potential for
more powerful nations throwing their weight around is real. The Trump
administration is effectively doing this today with his protectionist,
tariffs-based trade policies.
It’s not likely that these trade
policies will be entirely overturned during a Taurus transit (similar
tariffs-based policies amplified the North/South divide prior to the Civil War,
during that 1850s Uranus transit through late Aries and into Taurus), but to the
extent that Trump’s tariffs make life on American farms untenable, there will
be consequences down the road.
Despite such obstacles, food
cultivation and land management will probably experience some revolutionary
developments during Uranus’s time in Taurus—hopefully with an eye to maintaining the
peace and enhancing cooperation (Venus’s contribution).
 |
| There will never be peace without food security. |
Dealing constructively with food waste is another area ripe for new ideas—the
more such waste in our landfills, the more methane (one of the most damaging
greenhouse gases) is released into the atmosphere. One radically simple solution
involves gathering food that’s likely to go to waste (from markets, restaurants
and institutions) and distributing it (still fresh) to those experiencing food
insecurity (homeless shelters, food banks, etc.. Repurposing waste to not only conserve energy, but
reduce pollution and feed people who need it is a Taurean idea whose time has
come.
So let’s examine the chart for Uranus’s
re-entry into Venus’s earthy realm on March 6th,
2019 and consider some likely highlights of its transit there over the coming
6+ years. I haven’t mentioned politics to this point, but political power plays
and contests will definitely be impacted by this Uranus transit. So will it
live up to its higher Taurean potential, or get bogged down in the political
mire we’ve come to know so well?
Think about all the women who have already declared their
presidential candidacies for 2020: could this Venus-enhanced transit
help one of them prevail? Will the new crop of Congresswomen elected in
November 2018 continue making waves? Will Nancy Pelosi find more support than
obstacles to her House agenda, or will Mitch McConnell continue gumming the
legislative works? We’ll take a quick
look at some representative charts alongside the Uranus ingress in the
next post here. For now, let’s focus on the re-entry chart itself.
The
Astrology
Chart
#1: Uranus re-enters Taurus, March 6, 2019, 3:26:54 a.m. ST, Washington,
D.C. Tropical Equal Houses, True Node.
Saturn rules the chart, conjoins Pluto and
rises in Capricorn; Venus (Aquarius) forms a mutual reception with and squares
Uranus (Taurus). Saturn disposes this Venus, suggesting that—whatever
Taurus agenda takes hold—it will face powerful challenges. There’s also a sense
here, however, that if something is worth doing, it will be pursued. A fixed square between these signs will require
great persistence and ingenuity, focused towards projects that have long term social,
as well as personal value. The coming
elections, in fact, will probably challenge voters to consider where the
personal and collective dimensions of life intersect in their lives, how their
values reflect those intersections and what role they see themselves playing in
that collective.
These placements also confirm that
prominent, action-oriented and tenacious women (Venus also disposes and
widely squares Taurus Mars) will play important roles during this transit: the
Venus-Uranus
square falls spans the 1st-4th houses. Aquarius
can fulfill its revolutionary potential with this Venus, but backlashes are
also possible.
Persistence and focus will win the
day: Mars
(Taurus) trines Saturn (Capricorn)—a nice firm foundation for building
success—those who set off on long projects and ambitious agendas should have
the diligence and focus they need for the long haul.
Saturn effectively conjoins Pluto,
but their cycle is waning (Saturn
hasn’t yet caught up with Pluto, but it’s getting there).
Social and institutional structures are all under review with these two, and
those structures that survive into the new cycle (beginning in January, 2020)
will be stronger and less constrained by old “baggage.” Will federal
investigators (Saturn-Pluto) have totally “drained the swamp” in
D.C. by then? That sounds like the impossible dream, but with this duo rising
just below the ASC, why not?!
Sun-Moon-Neptune (Pisces) sextile ASC
(Capricorn); Neptune sextiles Saturn (Capricorn). Remembering that Saturn
rules this chart makes Neptune’s sextile to it all the more
interesting. We’ll definitely gain from these two working with each other rather than against,
so this is positive. Infusing idealism into material pursuits never
hurts—as long as the net result isn’t paralysis and confusion. This sextile
suggests that the partisan divide in D.C. may be softening a bit—if for no
other reason than “united we stand, divided we fall.”
 |
| Climate change-induced sea level rise will become more costly every year. |
As we can see here, Neptune
is only half-way through its home sign of watery Pisces and it’s
prominent here, conjunct the Sun and Moon. Water issues will
probably figure prominently into the coming 6+ years: flooding and sea-level
rise perhaps (Sun-Neptune square Jupiter in Sagittarius suggests very
high tides, especially with the Moon hovering near), but we might
want to pay attention to the stories coming out of Brazil
about dams breaking and causing deadly mud slides—even a sextile between water and earth (Sun-Neptune
and Saturn) can put pressure on such systems.
As with any food waste, addressing water waste and recycling will also be
key; as the climate continues to warm, droughts will recur more often and drag
out longer, with extremely expensive consequences for municipalities and
states. The nice Pisces-Capricorn sextile in this chart may provide
opportunities to build much needed new water systems and infrastructure.
Jupiter (Sagittarius) squares
Sun-Neptune-Vesta (Pisces). Jupiter co-rules Pisces, so these squares
suggest very idealistic ventures—kind of like the Green New Deal that so many are
already panning as being “unrealistic.” It’s probably fair to assume that the
coming 6+ years will be dominated by what’s going on with this program because
it addresses the burning needs of our times. That “unrealistic” label could be
an obstacle, but if the Green New Deal captures hearts and minds and inspires
grass roots participation (Vesta), it may actually get off the
ground during this 6+year transit.
The
uneasy relationship between Big Finance and its insatiable appetite for
short-term growth and such a complex, all-encompassing public works program—one
requiring massive public investment up front—is reflected in the semi-sextile
between Saturn-Pluto and Jupiter.
Each in its respective home sign, Jupiter
and Saturn are strong in this chart, so the power dynamics between
their respective groupings in this chart seem somewhat balanced despite Saturn-Pluto’s
sheer cosmic “weight.” Given this rough balance, it seems that the powers-that-be
will coordinate in some way to
benefit both Big Finance and the massive infrastructure dreams the Green New
Deal calls for (Saturn-Pluto sextiles Jupiter-ruled Pisces points). The
challenge will be to make sure the values-based goals remain intact and that the intense drive for economic growth (Jupiter) doesn’t derail
everything to focus on short-term goals alone.
 |
| Environment-related protests will continue to grow with Uranus in Taurus. |
Uranus falls in the 4th house and
rules the 2nd. This placement couldn’t be more appropriate
for these times. In the 4th, Uranus reflects grass-roots
disruption, the kind that could easily lead to uprisings, protests and a
fundamental shift in the public’s perspective on issues. Since this house is
naturally ruled by the Moon (with 0° Aries rising), we look to the Moon for
clues about how this disruption could play out. The sextile between Moon-Sun-Neptune-Vesta
(Pisces) and Mars (Taurus) here reinforces the potential for constructive
disruption around "American Dream" issues. This is a late balsamic Moon, suggesting that anything “born”
at this time (Millennial political power?) will be forward-thinking and ready to move on from the current
order.
Uranus’s rulership of the 2nd
house of resources, values and finances tells us what type of concerns could
fuel the disruption. Uranus squares and falls in mutual reception
to Venus, the natural ruler
of the 2nd . Interestingly, Venus just happens to be placed in
the sign that's actually on the 2nd house cusp here, as well, so the signals
are pretty clear. Change is coming, and a certain amount of disruptive
financial turmoil may be involved. Our values and resources are likely to be challenged
and stretched, and the scale of change is likely to be sweeping. Sometimes,
change is best made incrementally; this doesn’t appear to be one of those
times.
It’s key here that Saturn
co-rules the 2nd house with Uranus. This combination suggests
that we could see a Wall Street-based financial crisis at some point during
this period (such as happened in 2008), however a number of factors could contribute:
the national debt forcing issues (waning Saturn-Pluto cycle); corruption
(also Saturn-Pluto)—investigations abound; and reckless or
politically-driven taxation and/or monetary policies.
Despite many avenues for progress
opening up before us, the next 6+ years could be a bit of a financial minefield
if the transition to a new Saturn-Pluto cycle in 2020 and Pluto’s
return to its Sibly position in 2022 are not handled carefully. We need
the most rational and skillful financial minds advising top
officials during this period. Those driven by conspiracy theories and zero-sum
thinking (toxic Saturn-Pluto) need not apply.
Pitchforks
in the street
Thankfully, challenging times tend
to draw forth people who are capable of rising to the occasion—this should
become even truer as Uranus fully commits to Taurus. If
we were living centuries ago in revolutionary times, we might expect to see
masses of people spilling into the streets, pitchforks in hand, demanding a
fair shake. This is basically what happened when Uranus transited Taurus
from May, 1767 to April, 1775 (accounting for a long retrograde period after it
first entered Gemini in June, 1774). This Taurus period fell solidly in the
middle of the 1765-83 “colonial revolt” period we know as the American Revolution,
and Uranus's Taurus energies undoubtedly fueled the financial anxieties (“no
taxation without representation”) underlying that revolt.
Flashing forward, we haven’t seen
pitchforks in the street yet, but self-confessed billionaire capitalist Nick
Hanauer saw them coming back in 2014 due to our economy’s systematic
support for radical wealth inequality:
“If we don’t do something to fix the glaring inequities in
this economy, the pitchforks are going to come for us. No society can sustain
this kind of rising inequality. In fact, there is no example in human history
where wealth accumulated like this and the pitchforks didn’t eventually come
out. You show me a highly unequal society, and I will show you a police state.
Or an uprising. There are no counterexamples. None. It’s not if, it’s when.”
Could it be that Hanauer was just
off by a few years? Trump gained support in the crucial Midwest by convincing
the working classes that he was on their side, against the so-called “elites.” His
supporters may not have been thinking in terms of wealth gaps, but they hoped
that Trump’s policies would benefit their
pocketbooks and relieve some of their financial anxieties. Instead, with a
massive tax break for the wealthiest Americans, many working and middle class
families that used to get a tax
refund no longer will—or their refunds will be substantially lower. If
anything, the working classes are subsidizing the tax break to the wealthiest.
So Trump’s “guy next door” rhetoric
and demeanor may have delayed the
pitchforks—figurative or not—but the recent shutdown certainly revealed how
deeply out
of touch his administration is with the everyday realities of working
people. This growing consciousness makes it more likely that when Uranus
is firmly grounded in Taurus, our economic system—rigged to privilege
the wealthy in all things—may become the hot button issue it deserves to be.
Many would-be presidents have
started tossing their hats in the ring this past month, and in the process, many
ideas have surfaced for addressing wealth inequality, including universal
Medicare, taxing income over a certain level at a higher rate, closing down
loopholes that effectively eliminate taxes on the rich, and so on. My
astrological advice to all of them
would be that anyone who hopes to
capture the presidency in 2020 had better have a realistic, workable plan for addressing pressing finance and resource issues.
This imperative will be reinforced
by the very real possibility of an economic downturn or recession. We could be
in for a financial shock of some sort as Venus squares Uranus (Aquarius to
Taurus) during the re-entry, and this shock (if not handled well) could deepen its
impact during the final months of the current Saturn-Pluto cycle
(between now and January 2020). Bank regulations have been loosened to some
extent since the post-2008 recession reforms were put in place, which leaves
the system vulnerable to reckless players.
As was true during that period, Jupiter
is transiting Sagittarius, so many such players will promote growth, no
matter the ultimate cost. Thankfully, Saturn can inspire constructive
restraint from Capricorn, but paired with Pluto it may lead to the destruction
of some “too big to fail” players, and that’s risky for the overall economy.
We can’t put ourselves in this
precarious situation every 12 or so years and not risk serious meltdowns.
Final
thoughts
Needless to say, there's a long, but potentially exciting road ahead for those watching any of the issues raised above. In the next post, we’ll examine a
couple key figures who will greatly influence how Congress navigates these tricky times. As you might imagine,
Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell is one of those key players who can make
a difference. Speaker of the House Nancy Pelosi is another one, although her
importance may pale in comparison to the field of Democratic presidential
candidates that is mustering even as we speak. This one-by-one roll-out of each candidate's agenda feels premature, but it is providing an interesting sideshow to the cliff-hanger of the week. Will the government be shutdown again, for the sake of a wasteful border wall? Will Trump declare a state of emergency and go around Congress to get his wall funding?
Stay tuned!
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 2019. All
rights reserved.
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