“’The
fact that we are connected through space and time,” evolutionary biologist Lynn Margulis observed of the
interconnectedness of the universe, ‘shows
that life is a unitary phenomenon, no matter how we express that fact.’
—Maria Popova, Brainpickings.org
—Maria Popova, Brainpickings.org
One massive wake-up call that stands out from what is now known as the COVID-19 pandemic is its passive ability to infiltrate communities by way of asymptomatic and mostly unaware infected individuals. The situation today in the U.S. (and in many nations)—is marked by a rising tide of social distancing shut-downs (sports, schools, etc.) and a general halting of the wheels of everyday life.
The eerie
sculpture installations in Jason Decaires Taylor’s Underwater Museum (MUSA)
come to mind in times like these (see above): as a society, the U.S.—and other
impacted nations—are entering an almost literal state of suspended animation.
 |
| In the absence of protective masks, people will get creative! |
The big question now is, how can we best respond to our current
reality? It’s tougher than we might think—Neptune can undermine our
capacity for clear thinking and it can zap our motivation to do the right
thing. We might accept responsibility for being part of the solution instead of
the problem, but the overall reality of a new viral pandemic is beyond any one
person’s control, and that can work on a lot of our minds. For those rugged
individuals among us, this can be especially difficult; as all Neptunian
challenges require that we must work
together for the sake of all.
This can manifest in a number of ways, from
volunteering to keep local food pantries stocked for families who find
themselves out of work, to providing child care for kids whose parents have no
choice but to work during this time of closed schools, to leaving that extra
package of toilet paper on the shelves because someone else might need it more
than you do.
Perhaps the best contribution any of
us can make to our neighbors and local communities, however, is to practice the
CDC’s recommended hygiene and social-distancing protocols—willingly and persistently.
 |
| Split-screen responses have only confused people; we need to hear from experts only. |
Ideally we would have helpful, coherent
leadership at the top, but if that’s not to be, at least our local states and
municipalities seem to be stepping up, giving us clear facts and making the
difficult decisions. In Neptunian times, the “big picture”
is often cloudy, distorted and overwhelming; better to break that down into
manageable, relatable pieces where taking action might make a difference.
In fact, we’ve seen a relentless parade of leadership failings by those at the top, but let’s not dwell on the blame game here. Let’s celebrate those who are getting this right and do whatever we can to see that they get all the help they need to do their jobs.
As for the astrological puzzle for
today, it’s a topic that’s difficult to pin down to a single chart or planetary
cycle and more about exploring ways in which the Cosmos and Nature (in our Earth
realm) work together—quite a relevant topic, given the pandemic we’re dealing
with. We don’t always view our mundane analyses through the lens of natural
systems, but I’ve long thought we need to incorporate more of this perspective—certainly
for today’s situation, but also for the sake of more deeply understanding the
astrology of climate change. The
difficulties we’re experiencing coming to grips with both these phenomena has
to do with us, not with Nature,
despite how elusive and frankly threatening
it feels at the moment.
For instance, consider for a moment the amazing Neptunian dynamics driving this pandemic: water and water-based fluids (including cough-and-sneeze-borne mist) are perfect solvents, and since fluids, like oceans, are always in motion, substances that find their way into these waters are almost instantly dissolved and dispersed throughout.
That’s why scientists testing water
samples in one small part of a lake can assume that what they’re seeing in
those samples exists throughout that body of water. Not only that, but the same
substances dissolved in those waters will show up in the tissues of any
resident flora and fauna, from the largest fish down to the smallest plant life
and microbes. Molecular transmission such as this needs no overt force to drive
it; it simply happens because this is what the nature of the water medium provides
for. This is why we can assume that if the COVID-19 virus is present anywhere in our environment, it may very
well be everywhere. The sooner we
operate on that assumption, the sooner we will “flatten the epidemic curve,” as
the experts are saying.
For instance, consider for a moment the amazing Neptunian dynamics driving this pandemic: water and water-based fluids (including cough-and-sneeze-borne mist) are perfect solvents, and since fluids, like oceans, are always in motion, substances that find their way into these waters are almost instantly dissolved and dispersed throughout.
 |
| The science of water can tell us a lot about viral epidemics. |
So the astrology of the
situation—the long tradition that says Neptune rules epidemic transmission
of disease—must have been derived from observing these dynamics in Nature. What
we’re experiencing today is Neptune on steroids, of course—it’s
about mid-way in its transit of home sign Pisces, which clearly amplifies its
basic dynamics considerably. Has every pandemic in history happened under
a Pisces
Neptune? Of course not, but there was an abnormally high number of such
events during Neptune’s last tour of this sign between 1848-1861.
Wikipedia documents the history of such
events and the list is quite startling during that pre-Civil War era. I’ve
reproduced the list of events that reached North America in Table 1 below. Other mass disease
events were happening around the globe, as well, including a third cholera
pandemic between 1846-60.
Table 1. Infectious
disease mass events in No. America during 1847-1861.
Location
|
Date
|
Infectious
Event
|
Disease
|
Canada
|
1847-48
|
Epidemic
|
Typhoid fever
|
U.S.
|
1847
|
Outbreak
|
Yellow Fever
|
N.A.
|
1848-49
|
Outbreak
|
Cholera
|
U.S.
|
1850
|
Outbreak
|
Yellow Fever
|
N.A.
|
1850-51
|
Outbreak
|
Influenza
|
U.S.
|
1851
|
Outbreak
|
Cholera
|
U.S.
|
1852
|
Outbreak
|
Yellow Fever
|
U.S.
|
1855
|
Outbreak
|
Yellow Fever
|
Worldwide
|
1855-60
|
Bubonic Plague
|
|
N.A.
|
1857-59
|
Outbreak
|
Influenza
|
Notice that after beginning a new
cycle in April, 1846 at 27°+Aquarius
(conjunct
Sibly Moon), Saturn
and Neptune transited Pisces together from February, 1848
to November, 1848, and then again from December, 1848 to April, 1849. These
were key months in the wave of revolutions that swept across Europe in 1848—yes,
Neptune
is thought to rule such mass movements, and Saturn’s weak position in
Neptune’s
home sign would have undermined national governments and their
“immunity” against mass uprisings. It
should be said that hard economic times also compromise societies in a number
of disruptive ways.
 |
| Deep divisions seem to be a hallmark of Pisces Neptune. |
Here in the U.S., for instance, 1846
saw one of the first major events leading into the U.S. Civil War—the Wilmot Proviso. Congress
careened from one impossible plan to another between then and our
disintegration into two halves in December 1860, followed quickly by the Civil
War in April 1861, the very month that
Neptune
entered bellicose Aries.
The fact that all this was
transpiring under a new 1850 Uranus-Pluto cycle in late Aries
only reinforced the volatility and the Neptunian dynamics then
fueling the South’s uprising. Is it any
wonder that our current times, which bear certain resemblances astrologically (Pisces
Neptune, 3rd Q Uranus-Pluto square, from Aries-Capricorn), are
marked by the deepest, most destructive polarization that we’ve seen since the
1850s?
Too far off to spend any time on
right now, but still a future concern, Saturn and Neptune will again be
transiting Pisces together in the years leading into their new 2026 cycle,
which will launch at 0° Aries.
This will be a time period to watch for
its parallels to the 1848-49 period.
Returning to the issue of epidemics,
however, because of its association with fluids and tides, we must also look to
the Moon
for her contribution to disease transmission: in medical astrology, the
Moon
is thought to rule a long list of issues.
From expert Jane Ridder
Patrick[1]:
·
“The limbic system
·
Circadian rhythms and body cycles in general
·
The menstrual cycle
·
Fertility, pregnancy and lactation
·
Feeding patterns
·
Habits
·
The right eye of a woman, the left of a man
·
Lymphatic system
·
Body fluids”
Ridder-Patrick attributes the
character of our general health to our Moon placements, and not
surprisingly, there’s a “fluid” connection. As she reminds us, the Moon’s
“…sign and aspects show the flow of vital force rather than its quality. A
disturbed flow will cause fluctuations in vitality and therefore ill health.
The Moon shows instinctive, reflex actions, the quality of response to the
body’s needs and how the body adjusts to everyday challenges and stresses.”[2]
 |
| All of this works together to influence our emotional lives. |
The limbic system (“a complex set of
structures in the brain which appears to be primarily responsible for the
emotional life”)[3]
is a big part of how the body adjust to stresses because it works through the
hypothalamus (in concert with Jupiter) to regulate important
emotional responses, and these responses can either enhance or weaken the
all-important factor of immunity.
All of this applies on both the
personal and the mundane levels of
society, of course, where intense periods of toxic, heightened emotions can
undermine any society’s “immune system”—those institutional defenses that keep
systems functioning with at least some stability and effectiveness. We’ve
witnessed this exact situation for several years now, which is why it’s so
important for our response to the COVID-19 virus that we get beyond divisive
emotions and start acting as a coherent, interconnected body politic.
 |
| Confucius is credited with influencing China's collectivist culture. |
It’s often been said that eastern
cultures like the Chinese are more “collectively” oriented—more focused on the
well being of the whole, as opposed to the needs or desires of each individual.
On the flip side, American culture is deeply individualistic and skeptical of
anything that smacks of collectivism (Bernie Sanders is finding this out as
deep-rooted biases against “socialism” surface against his campaign). Trouble
is, this narrow focus renders us incapable of thinking collectively when we
really need to—like now. Is it really
so hard to leave a little toilet
paper on the shelves for the next customer? The mindset driving that inconsiderate
hoarding behavior is going to endanger our overall COVID-19 response if we let
it.
In Neptunian times, it helps
to think and behave with the collective’s well-being at heart—if we can do
that, our own well-being will be assured as well, but this calls for empathy, compassion, cooperation and as
much loving kindness as we can
muster.
 |
| Onlooker, or connected? |
Along these lines, it’s not
difficult to see how what happens in that Neptunian ocean we considered
earlier also happens in epidemics—we humans are but “fish” swimming in a global
web of inter-connectedness—a fact that facilitates virus transmission, even when
we’re extremely careful. Of course, the silent, invisible breaking down of
defense barriers (including those provided by our immune systems, since this is
a “novel” coronavirus) and the seemingly uncontrollable nature of such
transmission are big factors in stoking panic—another
Neptunian
phenomenon. We humans tend to feel more secure with some sense of boundaries and structure (Saturn), and Neptune
works to erode both.
Notice that there’s a subtle
difference between Neptune’s facility for spreading an epidemic and that other Neptunian
“superpower,” sabotage. Indeed,
Foreign Policy put all this into
perspective in an article titled “Trump has sabotaged America’s Coronavirus
response.” An extended excerpt is warranted here:
“For the United States, the answers are
especially worrying because the government has intentionally rendered itself
incapable. In 2018, the Trump administration fired the government’s entire
pandemic response chain of command, including the White House management
infrastructure. In numerous phone calls and emails with key agencies across the
U.S. government, the only consistent response I encountered was distressed
confusion. If the United States still has a clear chain of command for pandemic
response, the White House urgently needs to clarify what it is—not just
for the public but for the government itself, which largely finds itself in the
dark.”
.
The fact is, even though some
measures the administration has made are starting to make more sense, Trump created the chaos that has squandered
the time we had to prepare for this pandemic. He did this by dismantling the
bureaucracy that was charged with making our response work seamlessly and
transparently. Was Trump simply oblivious to the challenges posed by several
epidemic-level threats in the recent past, or did he simply not care? Foreign Policy.com again:
In the spring of 2018, the White House pushed
Congress to cut funding for Obama-era disease security programs, proposing to
eliminate $252 million in previously committed resources for rebuilding health
systems in Ebola-ravaged Liberia, Sierra Leone, and Guinea. Under fire from
both sides of the aisle, President Donald Trump dropped
the proposal to eliminate Ebola funds a month later. But other White House
efforts included reducing $15
billion in national health spending and cutting the global disease-fighting
operational budgets of the CDC, NSC, DHS, and HHS. And the government’s $30
million Complex Crises Fund was eliminated.
In his Rose Garden emergency declaration this past Friday (finally!), Trump
denied knowing anything about these cuts and he called a question that was
asked about them “nasty,” as if it wasn’t exactly the right question to ask at
the time. Yes, the facts matter here—and since no one else could have made
those cuts, which indeed did happen, who
else can be responsible? Bottom line, his raging against the media for reporting the facts is irresponsible and is going to hurt all of us.
Perhaps the bigger question is whether Trump made these cuts
to help fund his precious border wall, or just because many of the programs he
was targeting were Obama programs?
Either way, the blind arrogance it takes to destroy programs that could mean
the difference between life and death for the American people so he could put
that money towards anything else is
simply gob-smacking.
As for the cost of the
administration’s “make-it-up-as-we-go-along” response, how could it not cost
all of what he tried to cut from health programs and more? Prevention is always less expensive than playing
catch-up, and it’s also more responsible. But then, to be responsible, one must
be able to respond to others’ needs,
and that may just be asking for too much.
 |
| Brazil's Jair Bolsonaro meeting with Trump, et al at Mar-o-Lago. |
Foreign
Policy also reported that Trump himself may have been exposed
to the virus, yet he spent days being evasive about whether he would be
tested or not. Finally, on Saturday, his White House physician announced that
he was tested and was deemed negative. Considering all the hands he
continues to shake, despite all kinds of advice to the contrary, this is good
news for a lot of people. Unfortunately, several individuals who attended a
gathering with Brazilian president Jair Bolsonaro at Mar-o-Lago were exposed to
Bolsonaro’s press secretary, who did test
positive, but they have at least taken the initiative to self-quarantine.
So the editors of Foreign Policy called upon Trump to
follow the precedent set by Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau, who has
quarantined himself after his wife, Sophie contracted the virus overseas. Perhaps
that’s why Trump finally agreed to the test (let’s hope he and his doctor
wouldn’t lie about this)—there was a growing chorus of people calling his
behavior irresponsible.
What
we can do
Psychologists concerned with
minimizing public stress levels (high stress and anxiety levels wear down
immune systems) are suggesting that we impose structures on our own lives while
we’re stuck at home, and this makes perfect astrological sense—Saturnian
measures always help to maintain a bit of control during Neptunian
times. Schedules, goals and reasonable limits on immersive Neptunian
screen time will help. Exercise and competitive activities (especially
as the weather warms up) will help keep minds and bodies
(and emotional wellbeing) going, and there’s no reason to fall out of contact
with key people in our lives—we just may not be doing as much face-to-face
communicating for a while.
Parents are challenged to step in
where teachers have been forced to step away, and as long as Congress provides
some relief for lost incomes, perhaps everyone can find constructive uses for
this increased family time. Nothing will go entirely to plan, of course, but we
can strive to be as intentional as possible about forced isolation. Again, the
more structure and purpose we can build into our days, the less we’ll suffer
from “cabin fever” and general boredom and malaise.
For those whose families have flown
the nest, we can catch up on reading and spring cleaning, learn something new
that’s been collecting dust on our “bucket lists,” write letters to the powers
that be, participate in phone canvassing for causes we care about—the
possibilities are out there and we might as well enjoy the “gift” of the
slower-paced period of time we’ve been given! Whatever adds to our enjoyment
and wellbeing, whatever makes us part of the solution instead of the problem, sounds like fair game to me.
One thought nags at me about how the
powers-that-be in D.C. handled this crisis early on: China began its fight
against the COVID-19 crisis in December, which
should have given us ample time to prepare our response. Instead, our leaders chose
to enable (Neptune) the crisis
rather than lead a coherent response to it. IMHO, we’re within our rights to wonder
what Trump’s aims were in taking this approach. Was he just trying to calm down
the stock market, seeing that a strong market has been his claim to political
fame? Or did he passively enable a crisis so that he could then look like the
“hero” saving the day? Does he simply
assume that American lives (not to mention others!) are his to jerk around as
he likes? Where are the official programs for responding to the virus in institutional settings, like prisons and the military? Will returning soldiers be quarantined for a period to avoid the tragic mistakes of 2018-9 (more on that ahead)?
We need to raise these questions and keep at them until there are answers, because Neptunian inertia is clearly the default mode in D.C.
We need to raise these questions and keep at them until there are answers, because Neptunian inertia is clearly the default mode in D.C.
These levels of irresponsibility and inertia seem frankly inconceivable, but did Trump really think that deny-deny-deny
and lie-lie-lie would work for this particular challenge? It didn’t work in
1918 when the so-called Spanish Influenza pandemic hit the U.S. like a sledge
hammer, and it won’t work now. Trump tried to claim that he didn’t know that
flu could kill people, when in fact, that
1918 epidemic killed
his own paternal grandfather!
In fact, that 1918-1920 event is a
precedent worth considering in more depth. From Wikipedia:
“The Spanish flu infected 500 million people around the world,[2]
or about 27% of the then world population of between 1.8 and 1.9 billion,
including people on isolated Pacific
islands and in the Arctic. The death toll is estimated to have been anywhere from
17 million[3]
to 50 million, and possibly as high as 100 million, making it one of
the deadliest epidemics in human history.[4][5]
Infectious diseases already limited life
expectancy in the early 20th century, but life expectancy in the United
States dropped by about 12 years in the first year of the pandemic.[6][7][8]
Most influenza outbreaks disproportionately kill the very young and the very
old, with a higher survival rate for those in between, but the Spanish flu
pandemic resulted in a higher than expected mortality rate for young adults.[9]
To maintain morale, wartime censors minimized early reports of illness and
mortality in Germany, the United Kingdom, France, and the United States.[10][11]”
Unfortunately, minimizing the true
dangers of the Spanish flu did nothing to save thousands of soldiers—military
camps were hit especially hard, and returning soldiers were often inadvertent
carries of the disease, as well: 500,00 to 675,000
Americans died in that event. To understand a bit better, let’s take a quick
look at a chart for this pandemic, set for January 1, 1918 in Washington, D.C..
The dates are given as January
1, 1918 to December, 1920, so this is about as exact as we can be.
Chart
#1: The Spanish Flu Epidemic, January 1, 1918, 12:00 p.m. ST, (no exact
time known), Washington, D.C. Tropical
Equal Houses, True Node.
Sun (Capricorn) conjoins Mercury (Capricorn)
and inconjoins Saturn/Neptune (midpoint, Leo). Communications surfaced,
revealing “delusions among the leadership…Leaders deceive about the exercise of
control…respected persons in questionable practices…a leader capitulates.”[4]
Attempts to squelch information about the Spanish flu for the sake of wartime
“morale?” Whose morale, we have to wonder?
T-Square:
Pluto conjoins So. Node (Cancer) and
opposes No. Node (Capricorn); this axis squares Vesta (Aries). This
fits stories I’ve heard that nearly every American household was hit with loss
during the 1918 pandemic—another reason we need to avoid complacency today,
with Nodal
axis again transiting Capricorn-Cancer. Thankfully, Pluto
has transited well beyond the So. Node in Capricorn today, but
there’s also too much Capricorn energy afloat today to let
down our guard.
Mars (Virgo) opposes Chiron-Eris (Pisces). This
configuration demanded purposeful, health-centered action in a time of
disruptive, collective suffering—certainly a good fit for the situation in
1918, as Europe’s most bloody war was winding down.
 |
| The Women's suffrage battle was being waged in the midst of the Spanish flu! |
Uranus conjoins Venus-Juno (Aquarius) square Pallas (Scorpio). The U.S. was one short year away from finally giving the vote to women at this point, so we can see the impetus for that cause here. It looks here that the suffragettes’ message was framed as a call for justice (Pallas) for wives (Juno-many widowed by the war), and it’s possible that it resonated more strongly during this terrible period of suffering and disruption. Uranus was strong in its home sign Aquarius, which may also have been a winning factor. Notice that this aspect may have “radicalized” women somewhat – the Roaring Twenties were right around the corner!
Final
thoughts
We started this post by talking
about the passive nature of our
response to the COVID-19 crisis thus far, and I would only add that there’s been
an aggressive edge to that passivity as well. Willfully confusing people,
sabotaging the needed response by stoking turf wars between agencies and
issuing testing protocols that only make sense if you’re trying to stop testing are Passive Aggression 101,
and we might even call it a type of passive tyranny
because the American people were basically left hanging, with little
control over our own destinies. Exactly
the opposite of what we need right now.
Meanwhile, the House of
Representatives has passed an
emergency relief package that should help working families get through this
crisis while workplaces and schools are shut down—that’s if our passive aggressive Senate can be coerced into cooperating
and moving the bill along! The Washington Post offers the best list of details about how this will work that I've seen--click here for more. Also late-breaking news, the Fed has cut interest
rates to Zero, to head off the
dangers of a recession. Investors don't seem to like the idea (the Market's tanking again today), but at least families or businesses that need to borrow
money to make ends meet will have an interest-free lifeline.
So
life will be far from normal for the foreseeable future, but every individual
who takes prudent, considerate action gives us reason for hope. Let’s not
forget the power of cultivating a positive, loving collective mindset in Neptunian
times like these. I’m reminded of the following potent words from the
Buddhist practice of Metta (loving-kindness)[5]:
“May all beings’ minds be filled with the thought of
loving-friendliness, compassion, appreciative joy, and equanimity. May they be
generous. May they be gentle. May they be grateful. May they be relaxed. May
they be happy and peaceful. May they be healthy. May their hearts become soft.
May their words be pleasing to others.”
What more can we ask for? – stay safe everyone!
 |
| We'll get through this! |
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 2020. All
rights reserved.
[1]Jane
Ridder Patrick, A Handbook of Medical
Astrology, 2nd ed., CrabApple Press, Edinburgh, Scotland, 2006,
p. 68.
[2]Ibid,
p. 48.
[3]Ibid,
p. 48.
[4]Michael
Munkasey, Midpoints: Unleashing the Power
of the Planets, ACS Publications, San Diego, CA, 1991, pp. 292-93.
[5]Bhante
Gunaratana, Loving-Kindness in Plain
English: the Practice of Metta. Wisdom Publications, Somerville, MA, 2017,
p. 17.
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