In the narrative below, we pick up the story begun in the March 1st post here about the Mundane Moon and the impending March 25th launch of a new U.S. Sibly progressed lunar cycle. This excerpt will take a close look at our current (1994) cycle’s 1Q turning point in June, 2001..if we only knew then what we know now, what could have been different?
From The Mundane Moon: an evolving cosmic story of “We the People:”
From fears to reality: the 2001 Sibly progressed 1Q
In mid-2001 the 1994 progressed cycle hit its 1st quarter (1Q) mark, and the nebulous, Y2K-style feared attacks gave way to real attacks, notably on the World Trade Center on September 11, 2001, followed closely by two wars in the Middle East that we’ve yet to fully resolve. That Mars-triggered trend towards greater Executive power discussed earlier manifested in the October 26, 2001 U.S. Patriot Act, enacted with Mars transiting over Sibly Pluto, Uranus conjunct Sibly Moon and Neptune conjunct Sibly So. Node (Biwheel#1 below), while Pluto and Saturn transited tightly opposite from Gemini-Sagittarius, cutting across the Sibly 1-7 houses.
Heavy, volatile power plays were the order of the day and the People—Sibly Moon—were too shocked and confused by the events of 9/11/2001 to resist. The attacks had been a breathtakingly tragic wake-up call, and we just wanted a strong and immediate “fix.”
Biwheel #1. (inner wheel) U.S. (Sibly) chart, July 4, 1776, 5:10 p.m. LMT, Philadelphia, PA.; (outer wheel) U.S. Patriot Act passed, October 26, 2001, 12:00 p.m. (noon chart), Washington, D.C. All charts are cast on Kepler 8.0 with Tropical Equal Houses and True Node and courtesy of Cosmic Patterns Software.
To appreciate how the early lunar themes of this 1994 progressed cycle carried over from one quarter to the next, let’s consider that June 10, 2001 (1Q) transition point more deeply. Perhaps it will lend some insight into how this quarter paved the way for yet another tragedy to come in 2008, when, by the time the cycle’s second quarter (2Q) phase dawned at the end of that year, the Stock Market and the Housing markets had collapsed spectacularly, triggering a deeply impactful global recession.
The aggressive, confrontational mood of this 1Q period (June, 2001-December, 2008) is captured strongly in Triwheel #2 (to follow): in the TMars/TPluto midpoint (both Rx, Sagittarius, outer wheel) opposite TSun and Sibly Mars (inner, Gemini), which is reinforced and further militarized by TSaturn’s conjunction to Sibly 6th house Uranus and TJupiter’s conjunction to Sibly Mars (Gemini). Weaponized and explosive confrontations characterized this period, anticipating the 9/11/2001 World Trade Center attacks and prolonging its aftermath by energizing the wars that we launched during this quarter in response. Justified or not, we were quite simply spoiling for a fight!
Triwheel #2: (inner) the U.S. Sibly chart, July 4, 1776, 5:10 p.m. LMT, Philadelphia, PA; (middle) Sibly chart progressions for June 10, 2001; (outer) transits, June 10, 2001, 12:00 noon, Washington, D.C.
This triwheel shows TUranus (Aquarius) conjunct Sibly PSun and both conjoined Sibly radix Pallas-Moon (Aquarius) and squared PMoon (a waxing square) in Taurus—leadership decisions during this quarter would stress out a People that was just trying to keep their families’ lives together. With Saturn and Pluto approaching their 1982 cycle’s opposition in volatile Gemini-Sagittarius, all this explosive force demanded an “enemy” to focus on. This opposition was first exact in August 2001 and stretched across the Sibly ASC-DSC. A brutal wake-up call was literally on the nation’s horizon.
When the first plane pierced a World Trade Center tower at 8:46 am that horrendous September 11th (Biwheel #2 below), TMars (outer wheel) had just entered Capricorn and was closely aligned with the TSo. Node and opposite Sibly Venus-Jupiter (inner wheel)—it soon became clear that Osama bin Laden had deliberately targeted the U.S. financial sector with the terrorist attack. The “dot.com boom” (1995-2002)12 was already going bust by that time, but that seemed trivial by comparison to the human tragedies. The Sibly PMoon (not shown) had moved into Gemini by 9/11/2001 and was within a few months of conjoining military-minded Sibly 6th house Uranus. Sure enough, war was looming ahead.
Biwheel #2. (inner wheel) U.S. (Sibly) chart, July 4, 1776, 5:10 p.m. LMT, Philadelphia, PA.; (outer wheel) World Trade Center Attacks, September 11, 2001, 8:46 a.m. DST, New York, NY (40°N42'51”, 74°W00’23”). Source: Wikipedia.org; author cast.
Bottom line, Triwheel #2 foresaw some disturbing developments: greater growth to Executive power (TJupiter conjoined Sibly Sun), and a literal attack on the People (TUranus conjoins Sibly Moon).
By Election 2008, the Sibly progressed lunar 1Q was fast melting into the progressed opposition 2Q phase, which would perfect that coming December 24th. George W. Bush’s approval ratings were already at record lows by that September, when a bevy of “too-big-to-fail” financial institutions started teetering and crashing, threatening to bring down the entire U.S. financial system with them.
Lehman Brothers declared bankruptcy on September 15th, 200813 (Biwheel #3 below), while Bush’s economic heads and the Federal Reserve rushed to contain the ensuing panic. Investments and pension funds disappeared overnight; some were regained after the fact, but many were not. The stress to our Sibly Moon—the People—is starkly evident in the event chart, of course: Neptune-No. Node-Chiron were transiting (outer wheel, Biwheel #3) close in Aquarius, revisiting the 1994 progressed cycle point (20°Aqu) and conjoining our Sibly Moon.
Adding further disruption and speaking to the global geopolitical dimension of our Middle East wars, Pisces TUranus was in mutual reception with TNeptune, opposite Sibly Neptune (Virgo) and square Sibly Mars (Gemini). We were still fighting a war on two fronts, which probably distracted from some equally pressing anxieties and desperation in the homeland.
Biwheel #3. (inner wheel) U.S. (Sibly) chart, July 4, 1776, 5:10 p.m. LMT, Philadelphia, PA.; (outer wheel) Lehman Bros. Crash, September 15, 2008, 12:00 noon DST (no time known), New York, NY (40°N42'51”, 74°W00’23”). Source: Wikipedia.org; author cast.
All of this led to an outpouring of popular support for political change, which Barack Obama, a bright young biracial senator from Illinois, turned into a strong victory in November 2008 over the since-deceased Vietnam war hero and GOP “maverick” John McCain. Obama’s nativity (Chart #1 below) features Aquarius rising, with chart ruler Uranus (Leo) conjunct his No. Node and opposite Sibly Moon (Aquarius). He fit the moment to a tee, although he also became a convenient foil for disgruntled domestic extremists looking for scapegoats.
Chart #1. Barack H. Obama (natal), August 4, 1961, 7:24 p.m. ST, Honolulu, HI (21°N18’25” 157°W51’30”). Source: Rodden, AA.
More on these internal pressures ahead in the next excerpt, when we discuss the 1994 Sibly progressed lunar cycle’s 2Q inception point--arguably a major turning point in American democracy that bears a close look.
Notes & References
12 “Dot.com Bubble,” Wikipedia.org, https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dot-com_bubble. Accessed 1/18/2021.
13 “Bankruptcy of Lehman Brothers,” Wikipedia.org, https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bankruptcy_of_Lehman_Brothers. Accessed 2/8/2021.
Raye Robertson is a practicing astrologer, writer and retired 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, U.S. history, culture and media, the astrology of generations, and public concerns such as education and health. Her articles on these topics have appeared in several key astrology journals over the years, including most recently, the TMA blog. For information about individual chart readings, contact: robertsonraye@gmail.com.
© Raye Robertson 2024. All rights reserved.
