Jupiter’s tour of Capricorn: the Astrology of Politics, the Economy & Public Health

Highlighted states have one or more confirmed Coronavirus cases.

 “President Donald Trump is stuck — caught between his nationalistic impulses and a globalist disease. The Trump playbook has long been to hammer an “America First” agenda…But that approach doesn’t map well onto the coronavirus, a disease that can hop borders with just a droplet on a plane. 

And it’s posing unusual challenges to Trump’s way of doing business with the world.” – Politico, March 6, 2020

Former Detroit Public Health Commissioner Abdul El-Sayed has offered some strong, sane advice for Americans, now that we’re confronted with the reality of an outbreak of COVID-19 on our soil. From CNN.com:

“Trust is everything. The best tool to stop an infectious disease for which there is no vaccine is "contact tracing." Contact tracing involves identifying people with the disease, and then painstakingly tracing literally everyone with whom they may have come in contact -- and exposed to the disease -- while they were contagious, and quarantining them. It creates a quarantine "net" of sorts to catch and kill the outbreak.

But contact tracing is an exercise in trust. People need to trust the authorities in order to tell them where they've been and to remain in quarantine. And the health officials leading the contact tracing efforts need to trust that their leaders will deliver the resources they need to pursue this work -- and that the work won't be politicized, thereby undercutting the community's trust in them.”

El-Sayed also points out the holes that have been punched in that critical trust: recent travelers may fear that their contact list will be used against loved ones with immigration issues, for example—that’s a different sort of contact “net” that’s terrorizing far too many these days. Then there are the facts on the ground about how public health funding has been slashed over the past three years, destroying critical infrastructures that can’t simply be recreated on the spot once a crisis erupts. Trust needs a clear path to the top and that’s not happening right now.

Shaking hands is one way to put politics over public health--not good right now.

Then there are the sheer dangers of politicizing a deadly serious challenge to public health.  Trump’s pronouncement that holding rallies is “very safe” under current conditions is a case in point: will he actually start canceling or postponing rallies if the virus spreads to his usual stomping grounds? This, of course, applies to the Dems as well—at what point does politics give way to public health prudence? 

The allocation of the $8+billion resources Congress and the White House have approved this week provides another potential for politicizing: will the allocation of those dollars be directed even-handedly by the experts who know what is needed where, or by politicians and lobbyists? And what about the health of the overall economy? We know Trump freaks out when the stock market takes a dive because he believes those returns are his ticket to re-election, but there’s so much more that could go wrong and very quickly if the virus takes serious hold. 

Along these exact lines, the Brookings Institute has some important thoughts on what a sane fiscal response to COVID-19 should look like.

From today’s Brookings Brief:

“In addition to measures that directly provide for health-related needs, we should pass policies with automatic triggers that will provide fiscal stimulus if economic conditions deteriorate…

First: Spend money to stop and contain the public health crisis. 

Second: Help states deal with the crisis. 

Third: Fix possible holes in the safety net.

Fourth: Engage in targeted lending/ cushions based on supply chain bottlenecks or temporary losses due to demand cutbacks.

Finally: Get more demand into the economy over time. It is possible, though, that a combination of supply disruptions, confidence effects, and a drop in demand from people avoiding crowds and travel could all generate a more sustained economic downturn. In that scenario, improving automatic stabilizers would be very helpful.”

This is a very skeletal summary of the challenges ahead, but the bottom line is pretty clear: it would be helpful if Trump could leave the health of the Economy up to the experts as well. He’s already pushed the Fed Chairman to cut interest rates because of the virus, but that’s a ham-handed approach to a situation that could require a far more nuanced response, especially for minimizing job losses due to low demand. We know how fragile our economic house of cards can be once a downturn catches on—now’s the time to be planning for it and taking preventive measures.

Such measures might include fiscal stimuli of various kinds to address all the issues highlighted by Brookings above. Unfortunately, the potential for recession can’t be ignored: Jupiter was transiting Capricorn when the so-called “Great Recession” happened in 2008, having just conjoined Pluto in the late degrees of Sagittarius, a conjunction that finally toppled the criminally fraudulent mortgage market that had formed, not to mention other risky investment practices on Wall Street.

The Wall Street "bulls" have been corraled over coronavirus fears.

And now Jupiter’s in Capricorn again, set to conjoin Pluto twice in that same Saturn-ruled sign by the end of the year. Recession’s not a foregone conclusion, but prudent planning and a trimming back of any reckless excesses are definitely in order. At its best, Jupiter in Capricorn acknowledges sane limits to the economy’s growth capacity and cooperates to stay the course until conditions are more open and unconstrained. As any cancer victim knows, unrestrained growth can be toxic, and that goes for the stock market too. Too much sustained, but not very well-founded growth creates fragile bubbles, and we know where those end up!

And all this while we’re trying to elect a new president! This coincidence isn’t unprecedented, however: Obama won in 2008 during the first months of that recession, proving the conventional wisdom that the state of the economy does motivate votes for change. A similar situation put Reagan into the presidency in 1980—the Carter economy had run aground on high inflation and interest rates. So it’s been done. More on this 1980s period ahead—what we’re seeing today echoes loudly.

In fact, today’s Saturn, Jupiter and Pluto placements raise comparisons with even earlier economic downturns in history: notably, the Great Depression of 1929-33. Nothing terribly dramatic leaps off the page in the chart for the actual Stock Market Crash in October 1929, but if we look down the road into 1931, the year prior to the earth-shaking 1932 election of FDR—when the Depression was really starting to be felt very heavily across the nation and people were starting to blame it all on Republican Herbert Hoover—we  saw some significant developments.  

 On May 27, 1931, Jupiter conjoined Pluto in cardinal Cancer (roughly opposite where these two are coming together in 2020), while Saturn opposed Pluto from home sign Capricorn (again, too close to today’s situation for comfort). Wikipedia summarizes the causes of that crisis very well:

“The usual explanations include numerous factors, especially high consumer debt, ill-regulated markets that permitted overoptimistic loans by banks and investors, and the lack of high-growth new industries. These all interacted to create a downward economic spiral of reduced spending, falling confidence and lowered production.^[2] Industries that suffered the most included construction, shipping, mining, logging and agriculture (compounded by dust-bowl conditions in the heartland). Also hard hit was the manufacturing of durable goods like automobiles and appliances, whose purchase could be postponed. The economy hit bottom in the winter of 1932–33; then came four years of growth until the recession of 1937–38 brought back high levels of unemployment.^[3]”

Sound familiar? It should, for those who have been paying close attention to life in the U.S. since the 2008-10 recession. There was even an environmental component to the 1930s depression with the dust bowl, which destroyed the agriculture sector—similar to climate-change challenges that farmers are experiencing today. 

The 1930s dust bowl was a major environmental factor in those Depression years.

There was also a “social upheaval” component to both crises and their aftermaths. In 1931, Uranus squared Pluto from cardinal Aries to Cancer (a first waxing square), paving the way for the tumultuous years ahead, leading into WWII and paving the way for a new international order driven by the victorious allies. Fast forward to the 21^st century and in June, 2012, Uranus squared Pluto—this time from Aries to Capricorn (a final quarter waning square), followed by six more hits to this conjunction between then and 2015—just in time for our tumultuous Trump years and what has turned out to be the practical end of that post-WWII international order.

Such upheavals are typically accompanied by economic disruptions—in the earlier case, the post-WWII depression in Europe (hence the U.S. Marshall Plan) and the pre-Korean War 1948-49 recession.

Not surprisingly, all the cardinal placements we’re considering here tied into several points in the Sibly chart, including Sun, Pluto and Saturn, so the monumental changes that ensued with FDR’s election and Trump’s ascendancy were far from surprising. In fact, with the inception of banking regulations like the Glass-Steagall Act, public works programs like the WPA and social safety net programs like Social Security and Unemployment insurance, FDR’s “New Deal” hit the economic and political status quo of that time like an earthquake, redefining typical Democratic platforms for decades to come.

FDR's New Deal was broadly effective in hard times, but became an instant GOP target.

It also gave the Republican party something to militate against, and they’ve been doing so ever since, working to roll back and/or eradicate the last vestiges of FDR’s legacy programs. To some extent, they’ve succeeded (especially under Trump), but at times even moderate Dems like Bill Clinton have helped! This is especially true when it comes to banking regulations and other middle class labor standards and safeguards impacted by trade deals.

As these safeguards have been dismantled or undermined, the gap between the “99%” and the “1%” has become an increasingly unbridgeable chasm. Meanwhile, education has become heavily corporatized and prohibitively expensive, so opportunities for social mobility—the so-called “American Dream” – have come under serious threat.

All of this decades-long devolution has created great pressures on the American public, of course—pressures that politicians like Donald Trump and Bernie Sanders have been especially adept at exploiting politically. Trump has done so by blaming immigrants and the nebulous “Deep State” government for any and all problems, and Sanders has done so by blaming Wall Street greed and governmental complicity in it for everything negative.

Whether either one of these perspectives prevails in November is unknowable at this point, but there’s no astrological reason to expect that the pressure to reform an essentially corrupt system will disappear any time soon. The question is, will the “fix” be simply more of the same destruction, or something truly helpful and forward-thinking, focused on real challenges to all of us, as opposed to deceptive, race-baiting attempts to exploit tumultuous times?  

That said, the rest of this post will focus on teasing out the role that Jupiter in Capricorn has played in volatile times, and the role it’s likely to play going forward this election year, especially with the added stress of a Coronavirus outbreak to consider.

Experts say inequality levels now rival those of the pre-Depression Roaring Twenties.

First, however, let’s take a quick historical survey of how Jupiter’s tours of Capricorn have correlated with economic disruptions during the 20^th century. Recall that Jupiter transits once around the Sun every 12 years, so it’s easy to follow along historically. The information in Table 1 below is extracted from Wikipedia.

Table 1. 20^th century Jupiter ingresses into Capricorn w/U.S. history of recessions

Jup-Cap Ingress date	U.S. Economic conditions
Jan/1901	Recession 9/1902-8/1904
Jan/1913	Recession 1913-14 – Federal Reserve established to stabilize U.S. monetary policy
Dec/1924	Recession 5/1923-6/1924
Dec/1936	Depression 1929-1933 – Federal Reserve given expanded role
Nov/1948	Recession 11/1948-10/1949
Mar/1960	Recessiion 4/1960-2/1961
Feb/1972	Middle East Oil crisis/recession 1973-4
Jan/1984	Reaganomics/beginnings of globalized economics
Jan/1996	Clinton surplus economy-NAFTA- Glass-Steagall Act rolled back
Dec/2007	Great Recession 2007-2010
Dec/2019	Record Stock Market downturn 3/2020; possible recession

Obviously, Jupiter placements don’t happen in a vacuum—other factors in the charts for all of the events noted above surely had an impact on whether a recession took hold or whether the economy held its ground and kept on ticking. The two Capricorn passages that proved exceptional—1984 and 1996—are the ones we need to understand better. How is it that sometimes Jupiter in Capricorn ends up boosting the economy?  Let’s quickly consider a chart for the 1984 ingress against the Sibly chart to consider this question more deeply.

Biwheel #1: (inner wheel) USA-Sibly chart, July 4, 1776, 5:10 p.m. LMT, Philadelphia, PA; (outer wheel) Jupiter enters Capricorn, January 19, 1984, 10:03:48 a.m. ST, Washington, D.C.. Tropical Equal Houses, True Node.

Notice that in Table 1 above I’ve associated this ingress with a period known as “Reaganomics.”  According to Wikipedia, Reagan brought in an economic agenda that was based on four “pillars:”

“…to reduce the growth of government spending, reduce the federal income tax and capital gains tax, reduce government regulation, and tighten the money supply in order to reduce inflation.^[2]

While Reagan’s approach was widely credited with reversing the economic woes of the 1970s, it wasn’t without its critics, especially from labor unions that he worked hard to undermine. Wikipedia summarizes the criticisms as follows:

“Critics point to the widening income gap, what they described as an atmosphere of greed, and the national debt tripling in eight years which ultimately reversed the post-World War II trend of a shrinking national debt as percentage of GDP.^[5][6]”

Let’s take a quick look at what this biwheel tells us about all this.

Ingress Jupiter conjoins Ingress Neptune (Capricorn) and together these two widely conjoin Sibly Eris (Capricorn), sextile Ingress Mars-Pluto (conjoined in Scorpio) and oppose Sibly Venus-Jupiter conjunction (Cancer). The amazing coincidence of two ingresses into Capricorn (Jupiter and Neptune) at roughly the same time points to how exceptional this particular ingress was—for those who liked Reagan, there was a visionary quality to his economic platform, and Jupiter-Neptune empowered his naturally seductive personality to achieve his goals of smaller government and less regulated corporations.

"Trickle-down economics" didn't work for many.

Every Jupiter Capricorn ingress will oppose Sibly Venus-Jupiter in early Cancer, of course, so they will all trigger some reaction in our economy; however, this Neptune-charged opposition was unique for the enthusiastic reception Reagan’s supply-side economics ideas enjoyed at the time. He was part “savior,” part huckster, pushing the “magical elixir” of trickle-down economics which has since been seriously discredited: the idea was to give more benefits to corporations and the wealthy and somehow when their “cup overfloweth,” the surplus benefits would splash over on ordinary middle and working class folks.

Several tax cuts to the wealthy later, we know just how destructive to the middle class Reagan, et al were with this approach, but the trickle-down theory proved difficult, if not impossible to shake as soon as globalization caught on and the “free market economy” became ideologically (Jupiter-Neptune) mystified and entrenched in our public discourse (Ingress Mercury opposite Sibly Venus-Jupiter). Even though the national debt tripled during Reagan’s time, fiscally conservative Republicans still treat Reaganomics like it was the Holy Grail—Neptune opposite Venus does tend to favor rose-colored glasses!

It helps to remember that this unusually buoyant Jupiter ingress was happening during an anomalous 1980 Libra Jupiter-Saturn cycle. This cycle was considered anomalous because it interrupted a long series of earth-signed Jupiter-Saturn cycles (the “synod”) with an air cycle in a one-off kind of way—the next cycle in 2000 reverted back to earth sign Taurus. 

Madonna captured the moment perfectly with her "Material Girl."

So, it’s no wonder Reaganomics is remembered for being a bubbly, upwardly mobile time for young professional 30-something “Yuppies.” Madonna’s “Material Girl” was released that year and became an instant celebration of consumerism on steroids. This was all a stark departure from the difficult 1970s years in which inflation had to be tamped down with rising interest rates, making housing costs prohibitive (I remember 10% mortgage rates—can you imagine that happening today?) and causing early 1980s recessions. Of these, Wikipedia says:

“The Iranian Revolution sharply increased the price of oil around the world in 1979, causing the 1979 energy crisis. This was caused by the new regime in power in Iran, which exported oil at inconsistent intervals and at a lower volume, forcing prices up. Tight monetary policy in the United States to control inflation led to another recession. The changes were made largely because of inflation carried over from the previous decade because of the 1973 oil crisis and the 1979 energy crisis.^[67][68]

The NBER considers a very short recession to have occurred in 1980, followed by a short period of growth and then a deep recession. Unemployment remained relatively elevated in between recessions. The recession began as the Federal Reserve, under Paul Volcker, raised interest rates dramatically to fight the inflation of the 1970s. The early 1980s are sometimes referred to as a "double-dip" or "W-shaped" recession.^[39][66]”

It’s quite possible that the 1970s inflation crisis (which was triggered by the Nixon administration pulling out of the Bretton Woods Accord and the gold standard for U.S. currency) had such an extended reach because Jupiter transits were maintaining, rather than helping to resolve inflation rates, which gradually dropped from highs over 11% in 1979 to just over 4% in 1984. Of course, it was also significant that this economic disruption transpired in combination with a new Saturn-Pluto cycle that launched in November 1982 in late Libra.

As we’ve noted in previous posts here, that 1982 cycle just completed this past January and relaunched in late Capricorn, almost exactly square the 1982 cycle’s inception point, so it’s no wonder we’re feeling some echoes from that dicey cardinal-heavy period today.

Meanwhile, the 1980s precedent also reminds us that we can expect some substantially different developments when Jupiter and Saturn come together in 0°+Aquarius in December, 2020. That cycle begins a fresh new air sign synod, which should usher in an important new passage on all levels of society. Much more on this to come in a future post.

The 1996 Jupiter ingress also defied the odds and supported the vigorous Clinton economy, which (as he’s happy to remind everyone) produced an actual national budget surplus. Wikipedia describes it as follows:

“President Clinton oversaw a very robust economy during his tenure. The U.S. had strong economic growth (around 4% annually) and record job creation (22.7 million). He raised taxes on higher income taxpayers early in his first term and cut defense spending and welfare, which contributed to a rise in revenue and decline in spending relative to the size of the economy. These factors helped bring the United States federal budget into surplus from the fiscal year 1998 to 2001, the only surplus years after 1969. Debt held by the public, a primary measure of the national debt, fell relative to GDP throughout his two terms, from 47.8% in 1993 to 31.4% in 2001.^[1]”

Again, this strong economy unfolded during that anomalous air-signed 1980 Jupiter-Saturn cycle and under the new globalized economic regime that received a huge boost when Uranus and Neptune began their new 1993 cycle in mid-Capricorn.  Of course, computerization and the onset of the Internet “Information Age” drove the flurry of new development, including new trade deals like NAFTA, which Clinton had pushed into law in 1993-4.

In retrospect, many have blamed NAFTA and other global trade agreements for a new wave of corporate outsourcing, substantial job losses, not to mention the undermining of labor standards and a “race to the bottom” for American workers.

Bill Clinton finished the work G.H.W. Bush began with NAFTA.

Nevertheless, because the economy was perceived as strong during his presidency, Clinton suffered more blowback from his Lewinsky scandal and resulting impeachment than he did from NAFTA. Not nearly enough attention was paid to his rolling back the FDR-era Glass-Steagall Act that deregulated the finance sector. This move, which transpired during the first square phase of another Jupiter-Neptune Capricorn cycle that began conjunct Sibly Pluto (Capricorn) in 1997, likely stimulated the corporate corruption that caused a big part of the 2008 recession.

Consider for a second how Clinton’s first administration (1992-1996, so between the 1984 and 1996 Jupiter Capricorn ingresses) was marked by unusually volatile domestic situations. First was a terrorist attack on the World Trade Center in February 1993—a precursor to the far more serious event which closely followed his administration in September, 2001. A deadly stand-off between the FBI and members of the Branch-Davidian cult in a Waco, TX compound followed in April, 1993, and on the international scene, the Clinton administration was monitoring and responding to the genocidal tragedy unfolding in the Balkans—a tragedy that culminated in the Srebrenica Massacre in July 1995. 

Amazingly, the Balkans situation unfolded during that same period as the Rwandan Genocide (7 April-15 July, 1994) which claimed between 500,000-1 million Rwandan Tutsis and others. Closer to home, 1995 saw the Oklahoma City bombing of the Alfred P. Murrah Federal Building by domestic terrorist Timothy McVeigh.

Perhaps the "Greed is Good" mentality of the 1990s has come back to haunt us?

It’s impossible to say if Jupiter’s presence in Capricorn was key to this unfortunate list of events, but the heavy preponderance of Capricorn energies in general between 1984 and 1996 reflected dire Saturnian times for many, and hardship often stimulates a backlash. Globalization and the rise of the 1990s’ corporate “Greed is Good” agenda was already throwing many societies into disarray by that point, and the result was social disintegration and violence—certainly in the Balkans and Rwanda, but also here in the U.S. Let’s take a quick look at the 1996 ingress chart next to the Sibly chart for some insight into the dynamics at work.

Biwheel #2: (inner wheel) USA-Sibly chart, July 4, 1776, 5:10 p.m. LMT, Philadelphia, PA; (outer wheel) Jupiter enters Capricorn, January 3, 1996, 2:22:26 a.m. ST, Washington, D.C.. Tropical Equal Houses, True Node.

Ingress Sun (Capricorn) opposes Sibly Sun (Cancer); Ingress Sun/Jupiter (midpoint, Capricorn) opposes Sibly Venus-Jupiter (Cancer). Both these aspects point to leadership dilemmas—perhaps disparities between optimistic viewpoints and fiscal realities. Midpoints expert Michael Munkasey points to the Sun/Jupiter midpoint as being about “A religious or philosophical system which ties the effective leadership of the country to a predetermined course of action.”[1]

This makes sense if we consider the neoconservative ideology underlying globalization—promoted most notably by the so-called “Chicago School” of Economics and Milton Friedman—as that “philosophical system.” Globalization developed the aura of inevitability during this period and there was no turning back. Whether Clinton agreed entirely with Friedman’s basic ideology is questionable, but he did little to challenge its hold on American foreign economic affairs.

Milton Friedman's view was that the "Market" (i.e. corporations) should run the economy.

Interchart Grand Cardinal Square: Ingress Neptune conjoin Ingress Mars and Juno and Uranus (all Capricorn); these points all conjoin Sibly Pluto and oppose Sibly Mercury; this axis squares Ingress Nodal Axis (Libra-Aries). Developments on the level of government and the world stage unfolded “from on high” in those days and did have the momentum of “inevitability:” corporations (Capricorn) ruled the day and there was little transparency. Economist David Korten’s When Corporations Rule the World was first released in 1995 and it very aptly described this gathering of forces at Sibly Pluto during Clinton’s second term—perhaps a good reason for clouding over and distracting (Mars-Neptune opposite Sibly Mercury) our national airwaves with a salacious trial seeking to impeach Clinton over his affair with White House intern Monica Lewinsky.

Interchart T-Square: Ingress Saturn (Pisces) opposes Sibly Neptune (Virgo); this axis squares Sibly Mars-Ingress Moon (widely, in Gemini).  This complex of energies suggests a period during which the public was deluded into following questionable leadership. It manifested in such events as the 1996 Iraq disarmament crisis, which in retrospect, probably had something to do with the subterfuge leading us into the 2003 Iraq invasion. Also in the news during this period were the war criminal trials against Serbian leaders who used the Serbian military to perpetrate the Bosnian Muslim genocide—Clinton had deployed the U.S. military to help the Bosnians in prior years, so we had a military (Sibly Mars) stake in the matter.

Again, terrorist events were on the rise: the Centennial Olympic Park bombing happened in 1996 (we’re feeling the echoes with the film produced about it this year) and Osama bin Laden was building his following as leader of Al-Qaeda by issuing a call for the removal of U.S. forces from Saudi Arabia. Bin-Laden co-founded Al-Qaeda in 1988, a year marked by the militant pre-Gulf Wars Saturn-Uranus conjunction in fiery 29°+Sagittarius.  

As for this t-square’s impact on domestic politics, globalization-inspired economic policies were steadily eroding and undermining the economic outlook for American families, despite the illusion of a strong jobs market and economy. Ingress Pluto (Sagittarius) hovered over Sibly 12^th,  quincunx Sibly Venus-Jupiter (Cancer), at the same time that Ingress Jupiter opposed these Sibly points, suggesting that the corporate sector was stealthily at odds with the “small e” economy. Families were relying heavily on credit (Pluto) and leveraged mortgages to maintain (opposition) their middle class lifestyles, and this created a toxic build-up that would come back to haunt so many in the 2008 recession.

Ingress Pluto (Sagittarius) opposes Sibly Uranus (Gemini) and squares Sibly Moon (Aquarius). These aspects only exacerbated the toxic credit issues, and they intensified threat levels in other regards, as well. Recall that this is all happening during the waxing 1^st square between Uranus-Pluto that would perfect during very difficult times in our Middle East wars, and we can almost feel the build-up of tensions happening in this chart, leading into the 9/11/2001 attacks on American soil. Ingress Pluto sextiles Ingress Uranus here, in Saturn-ruled Capricorn, further reinforcing the bellicose energies of that 1988 Saturn-Uranus cycle mentioned earlier. Nothing stimulates the onset of hostilities like a weakened economy, and the supply and price of oil has often played a big role in that story.

The 1993 prelude to the 2001 WTC attacks.

Bush Sr.’s early 1990s Gulf Wars left unfinished business that Clinton was able to avoid dealing with, despite the 1993 bombing of the World Trade Center. Here we see the looming threat to the American people (Sibly Moon) that would manifest in the not-too-distant future, when Pluto reached the Sibly ASC, with Saturn opposite, conjunct the Sibly DSC and Mars/Uranus midpoint (Gemini). G.W. Bush came into office just months before the 9/11/2001 World Trade Center attacks.  Not surprisingly, Saturn opposed Sibly Mars for the March, 2003 Iraq invasion.

So, to make a very long, complicated story short, an array of Capricorn energies—some immediate and short-term, and some longer term outer planetary transits still in progress (i.e., Pluto’s Capricorn transit, the just-launched Saturn-Pluto cycle and the 1993 Uranus-Neptune cycle)—were key drivers of the turmoil that marked the new millennium, so every time Jupiter has returned to Capricorn since then, it’s been time to wonder “what now?”

So to explore that question, we will end here with a quick look at the 2019 Jupiter Ingress chart for Capricorn, again set against the Sibly chart.  Let’s begin.

Biwheel #3: (inner wheel) USA-Sibly chart, July 4, 1776, 5:10 p.m. LMT, Philadelphia, PA; (outer wheel) Jupiter enters Capricorn, December 2, 2019, 2:22:26 a.m. ST, Washington, D.C.. Tropical Equal Houses, True Node.

The usual issues with Ingress Jupiter opposing Sibly Venus-Jupiter apply here, of course, but in this ingress, Venus (Capricorn) also conjoins Ingress Jupiter, So. Node and Sibly Eris, at the same time it opposes Sibly Venus-Jupiter & Sun (Cancer).  This suggests more disruption to the “small e” economy than we saw in 1996, and it points to added pressure on the presidency and the nation at large (Sibly Sun). Venus rules the Sibly 6^th house of health, the military and other public servants and the 11^th house of our political process, Congress and the Judiciary. Certainly apt for a nation that is beginning to feel a serious economic impact from the COVID-19 epidemic during an election year!

Wall Street continues to falter over coronavirus fears.

It’s worth noting here that Trump’s nativity—specifically his Mercury (Cancer) ties very snugly into this configuration and since his Neptune squares that point from Libra, his default response to any challenges to his image and self-narrative (his Mercury disposes his Gemini Sun-Node-Uranus) is to deflect, deny or otherwise attempt to alter the reality in his favor. This doesn’t square very well with the kind of leadership the nation needs during a health crisis: one based on transparent, science-based facts and free from political agendas. So yes, there are pressures on him to do what does not come naturally.

In fact, the Ingress Venus/Saturn midpoint in Capricorn exactly opposes Sibly Sun. Again, from Munkasey:

“Restrictions on the way society is able to function; elderly people in the enterprise who have artistic tendencies; a law enforcement bureau which derives pleasure from restricting the movement of the people.”[2]

I doubt that Munkasey had a Capricorn Venus in mind when he wrote the above description for Venus/Saturn, as artistic tendencies aren’t really the focus with our current situation, but there is a lot of talk about the elderly (Saturn/Capricorn) being the most at risk from COVID-19, and early death toll numbers reflect that reality. The epicenter of Washington State’s outbreak is a nursing home in Kirkland, for instance. As for the law enforcement aspect here—we’ve seen how heavy-handed the Chinese government has been with forced quarantines and restricted movements. So far, compliance here in the U.S. has been voluntary or “suggested,” but if community spread of the virus keeps escalating, who knows?

Notice that Ingress Mars (Scorpio) exactly sextiles Ingress Venus-So. Node-Sibly Eris (Capricorn). It also opposes Ingress Uranus (Taurus) and trines Ingress Neptune (Pisces) and Sibly Venus-Jupiter-Ingress No. Node (Cancer).  Opportunities for aggressive, pro-active leveraging of national resources for political purposes will exist during this Jupiter transit, and this might leave the door a bit too open for those with deceptive and/or corrupt intentions. From the long list of scams that have already surfaced concerning coronavirus “cures” to the fact that the integrity of our election is under fire from several different directions, including Russian online mischief, this year’s watchword should be “measure twice, cut once.” Especially where your hard-earned dollars are concerned, extreme caution is in order.   

Hospital workers are definitely on the front lines of this fight.

Interchart Grand Square: Ingress Saturn-Pluto (Capricorn) oppose Sibly Sun and Mercury (Cancer); this axis squares Sibly Saturn (Libra) opposite Sibly Chiron (Aries). This reads like a government in crisis mode, which makes perfect sense given the conflicting priorities of the moment. Do we pay full attention to the COVID-19 and public health? Or do we worry about electing the next president, not to mention a host of down-ballot Congressional positions, represented by Sibly Saturn? 

Grand crosses can promote so much tension that everything grinds to a halt: could that happen with Election 2020 if things get truly serious with the epidemic? The possibility that the Olympic Games could be delayed and/or canceled this year has crossed a few lips; could that actually happen with an election, too, seriously wounding our election system (Sibly Chiron) in the process?

Or does the show go on, no matter what, even if the candidates are forced to do their electioneering entirely online or via television? Absentee voting could definitely come of age as a major force this time around—I guess we’ll figure all this out as we go!

Experts request that healthy individuals leave face masks for health workers.

Final thoughts

As we’ve seen, Jupiter’s tour through Capricorn is more often than not pretty eventful, which makes sense. This puts our cosmic “big guy’s” natural impulses toward growth and expansion in a restrictive, Saturn-dominated environment that says “you may grow, but this time you’ll follow the rules to do so and you'll expend more effort and discipline in the process.” That’s not to say that there’s nothing positive about this transit. In restrictive times, we tend to learn how to work around obstacles and how to make the most of the conditions we’re experiencing. These are valuable, pragmatic skills worth acquiring, so it’s not all negative. 

For the duration, however, it’ll be prudent to assume that the stock market will continue contracting, but that it will regroup after the vigorous “pruning” it’s receiving, and it will hopefully have more vigorous growth potential once the new Jupiter-Saturn cycle launches in air sign Aquarius this December. Of course, consult your financial professionals for advice that makes sense for you!

Most critically, we may well have a rough ride ahead with COVID-19, and I will in no way minimize the dangers we’re facing because to do so would be irresponsible. If you recall from last post, the Aries Ingress Sun approaching later this month squares Nodal Axis (Cancer-Capricorn). This key cardinal axis denotes a focus on wide-scale events or trends, and the trend places our attention on survival and security issues (Cancer) and the need to take care of each other. Cancerians tend to withdraw to safety, so responsible self-quarantining by anyone suspecting a problem may be our best defense as a nation. Local and national governments need to ensure that people who need to forego work for the sake of quarantine will be supported with paid sick leave and other social services. Here's where we can push our local governments to do the right thing for all our sakes. 

In fact, Some public health officials are saying that COVID19 is a new virus that we’ll be dealing with year after year, and that unfortunately, the first year is the worst because there’s no built-in immunity to it yet. So humanity is faced with a challenge that isn’t going to just “magically disappear” as Trump famously suggested. The worst possible thing we can do is allow our response to this virus to become political! How about some Capricornian common sense (wash those hands!), laced with loving kindness for others and a community spirit? 

We’re not just in this together; we need each other!

The CDC website is a good source for the latest information!

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. 

 

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[1]Michael Munkasey, Midpoints: Unleashing the Power of the Planets, ACS Publications, San Diego, CA, 1991, p. 76.

[2]Ibid, p. 200.