The Return of the 1920s?

Posted on September 6, 2020 by ohioastrology

Often in our pandemic news we hear a lot about the Spanish flu pandemic of 1918 and how pandemics recur every so often. If pandemics have a cycle then so do post-pandemics.

After the Pandemic of 1918, which officially lasted a couple years until spring 1920, we had the Roaring 20s, a period of economic growth with women smoking and showing their knees. It lasted a good nine years until the stock market crash of 1929 and the Great Depression. That lasted until the start of WWII which was apparently good for the economy. Then there were the 1950s which in movies and TV was happy and blissful until the contentious 1960s when cultural revolutions occurred in many countries in many different ways. Then the 1970s were a general slump until the 1980s and 1990s brought more sustained growth and the rise of corporate power. Until 2008 the world economy crashed again due to greed and over-leveraging but was recovering until . . . the pandemic of 2019-2020.

Yes, quite a nutshell for a hundred years of history. But if there’s one thing I’ve astrology has taught me is that life is about cycles. When will the pandemic end according to astrology?

Saturn entered Aquarius at the very beginning of the pandemic and its cycle though a sign is two and half years. That seems to correspond to the biology of it.

But to think it will “end” is to forget about cycles. Looking at the 20th century, we see continual ups and downs of the economy and the culture. Experiencing this 2020 pandemic first hand as an American, it’s now clear to me why this happens in my country — the culture is extreme, a type of manic depressive culture. We’re being treated for the depression, but not for the mania.

With the pandemic, the extreme accepters are afraid to leave the house for fear of dying. The extreme deniers believe it’s all a conspiracy of some sort. Our politics follows our culture and is split into two polarizing parties.

Highs and Lows

This year the outer planet energies have been in mostly earth and water – Jupiter, Saturn, Pluto in earth-sign Capricorn; Uranus in earth-sign Taurus; and Neptune in water-sign Pisces.

Earth and water signs are more introverted whereas the fire and air signs are more extroverted. Earth is practical; water emotional. Fire is spiritual and air social. Saturn, the planet of contraction, moving into air-sign Aquarius put fence around social interaction.

Earth and water are more prone than fire and air to pessimism (called “realism” for earth signs) and brooding. Fire and air are more optimistic and tend to bounce back or move away from problems much faster than earth and water.

If the history and cycles of the 20th century are repeating, this low, depressive state will be followed by a euphoric manic state. Astrologically, that begins in 2023 – 2025.

This heavy earth and water energy will be transitioning mostly to air and then some fire. Saturn has already entered Aquarius although it is currently back in Capricorn moving retrograde. At the end of September Saturn will go direct and in mid December it will be back in Aquarius. At just about the same time, Jupiter will also move into Aquarius. The conjunction of these two planets is a traditional astrological harbinger of change in rulers. It’s also social unrest.

The push and pull of social distancing will continue throughout 2021. Jupiter is expansive and Saturn contractive so we will have the “highs” and “lows” of social interaction, politics and cultural trends.

It will take a couple more years, 2023, before Pluto starts to move into Aquarius. The great wave of authoritarian power grabs we are experiencing today will start to shift into Aquarian ideals which are about community and technology. While Aquarius is idealistic, it is not emotional so this is about sharing ideas, not hugs and kisses. Expect more community but also more selectivity.

In 2025, Uranus moves from earth-sign Taurus to air-sign Gemini. The seven-year cycle of Uranus in Taurus from 2018 – 2025 is body, earth and money volatility. When Uranus moves into Gemini, we will see sudden shift and volatility with communication, media and neighborhoods. Gemini rules the lungs so as some news has reported, this illness may leave lasting lung issues. Mask wearing may contribute in some way to lung issues or breathing issues.

Also in 2025, Neptune and Saturn will move into fire-sign Aries. Aries rules the self and is self-assertive and athletic. If Uranus in Aries from 2011 – 2018 brought us the selfie, Neptune and Saturn in Aries will probably having us build statues of ourselves. Neptune in Aries also can glorify war and sports. During Neptune’s last transit of Aries the US had a Civil War.  With Neptune in Aries combined with the Aquarius energy, I’m expecting more but smaller nation-states and redefined interdependencies.

The Roaring 2020s

For those that are waiting for all the illness and negativity to end can look forward to the mid-2020s when we’ll certainly have more parties and probably more fun. We may also have more communities, ones we choose rather than ones we are born into.

But as history and our cycles have shown, when we go too high or too low, the other side awaits us. Cycles describe energy; our suffering from that energy is based on how we entered into it and how we react.

The current lineup of planets in Capricorn sent shudders of fear through astrologers as they watched it approach. Yet if we lived in more harmony and balance on this earth, the same energy might have been less painful and allowed us to evolve social structures more quickly which is what that energy describes. Pluto forces, it does not ask, so now we must change these structures under duress.

Balance is the lesson of astrology. Balance evens out the highs and lows, which are a part of living.

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Kamala Harris: Astrological Tips from Predecessors

Posted on August 16, 2020 by ohioastrology

There’s a lot of excitement about Kamala Harris, Senator from California, being picked as the Vice Presidential running mate of Democrat Joe Biden. It’s a bit confounding since in 2016 had a woman running for the top spot of president – wasn’t that more exciting?

What’s even more confounding is that Harris dropped out of the race quite early and doesn’t even appear on delegate and vote counts. If we like her so much, why didn’t we support and vote for her?

In 2016 when Hillary Clinton was running for president so few liked her not because she was female, they said, but because she was Hillary. With Harris we seem to have flipped our position. Now we like Harris because she is female where a female was promised the spot on the ticket. While we may like her specific qualities, would any female have been enough?

Harris is not the first woman to run for the Vice President. The first, also in the Democratic Party, was Geraldine Ferraro in 1984. Next in female line for Vice President was Sarah Palin on the Republican ticket in 2008. And well before Hillary Clinton there was Victoria Woodhull of the Equal Rights Party who ran for President in 1872 with former-slave Frederick Douglass as her running mate – just seven years after the Civil War and 48 years before women were even allowed to vote!

While it’s exciting to see a talented female rise to the top, this is a very traditional marriage and Harris might want to get some astrological tips from her predecessors who, you may have noted, were not successful. Vice Presidents in general are definitely in the passenger seat on the arduous drive to the While House whether male or female.

And Harris’ chart suggests she is not a silent passenger.

Sun and moon

Harris has sun in Libra and moon in Aries – opposite signs (full moon to the average person). These two signs are cardinal signs and therefore take charge, like to start things (but not necessarily finish them) and are often pushy and bossy.

Libra is the sign of the “other” while Aries rules the “self.” Since the sun represents our conscious self, Libra tends to form its identity by partnering up with others and often taking on some of their personality characteristics. Aries, in contrast, is about self and is courageous and assertive, wanting to be first, and embracing the new. But it’s the moon not sun in that sign which suggests a reactive nature that is impulsive, self-oriented and bold.

Moon in Aries, I’ve discovered, has a type of courage that will challenge even the strongest powers and most established institutions (such as moon in Aries Bernie Sanders). Moon in Aries leads; it does not follow and is highly competitive.

With this opposition of other-oriented Libra and self-oriented Aries, Harris is very aware of the opinions of others and constantly reacting to those opinions. While Aries moon is bold, the weakness of Libra sun in politics is that it has a deep-seated need to be liked. So the balance of force (Aries) and diplomacy (Libra) is always a challenge.

Neither sign likes to be told what to do. Cardinal signs tend to react to advice like cats to having their teeth cleaned. When offering advice to cardinal signs it’s best to provide the advice, listen patiently to their several dozen reactions and then wait. They do listen, but will not demonstrate that immediately.

Harris’ Mars in Leo is a fire trine to moon in Aries. This provides a lot of energy which will be very useful in the political battle to come. Mars and moon in fire also means she never backs down – or apologizes.

Discriminating in Relationships

Mercury in Scorpio trine Uranus/Pluto/Venus in Virgo creates a very discriminating mind and very direct speech. Both signs have perfectionistic tendencies and the “love me perfect” Venus in Virgo expects to give and receive love in a very specific manner.

Uranus/Pluto/Venus conjunct suggests erratic love life with sudden shifts. Since love and sexual indiscretion are the first targets of political attack, I’m expecting some odd Pluto/Uranus type to come forward.

Research shows Harris first marrying at age 50, unusual in this country and highly unusual for Libra, suggesting the prominence of the Aries moon and need for independence. That independent streak may be a problem in this traditional political marriage.

Saturn Return

Saturn in the horoscope is where we feel lack and often is an area of unconscious focus – a wound we keep trying to fix. For Harris, Saturn is in Aquarius, the sign of social organization, individual and group ideals, technology and humanitarianism.

Just this year, Saturn moved into Aquarius. You may not have heard that but you did begin hearing the term “social distancing” at almost the same time that Saturn moved into Aquarius from Capricorn. What a perfect term for this aspect.

Those with Saturn in Aquarius might be loners due to the feeling that they don’t fit in with the group. As with today’s “social distancing,” there are many reasons people and groups ostracize others. Today it’s because of illness, but isn’t this also a good excuse to stay away from people you don’t like?

By running for president with Saturn in Aquarius, Harris will be facing her greatest learning – dealing with acceptance and rejection by the group. Her second Saturn return will occur in winter 2023. Harris’ Saturn is nicely aspected to both the sun and moon. When feeling out of step with the group, Harris may choose Libra charm and diplomacy to assimilate; or she may choose Aries fiery boldness to impress a group that loves technology and new ideas. Or she may choose to use her Mars in Leo opposite to stand with pride and fight.

She has several good astrological strategies for dealing with her Saturn.

Saturn returns in general are about maturity. The first at age 29 is when people begin to “settle down” and “grow up.” If they don’t mature at this time, chances are they never will. The second when one is close to 60 is that portion of life where one decides how they want to live that last portion of their lives.

How will she get along with Joe Biden?

While Harris and Biden have a representation of all elements (fire, earth, air and water), Harris is more comprised of air and fire (sun in Libra, Saturn in Aquarius, moon in Aries, Mars in Leo) while Biden has lots of earth and water (Mars, Mercury, sun and Venus in Scorpio, Jupiter in Cancer and moon in Taurus).

For Harris, Biden is a bit slow and methodological; she processes mentally very quickly and makes decisions immediately. Biden, in contrast, with Taurus moon is slow to react. I expect some behind-the-scenes “talks” from Biden to Harris about reacting to quickly or strongly.

Biden’s Scorpio energy is quite controlling emotionally. Moon in Taurus isn’t controlling so much as seeking certainty which sometimes is through simplicity and “either/or” thinking – which does work well in politics. Biden will focus responses on one or two points where Harris is willing to tackle the complex and ambiguous with a mind that is agile willingly to denounce all 50 of your misstatements.

Harris may initially enjoy Biden’s Jupiter-in-Cancer let’s have Sunday dinner together every week. But this Aries moon may not want meatloaf with gravy every single Sunday until the election and definitely not for four years.

Astrological Tips from Predecessors

As noted above, no woman has succeeded in reaching the US vice presidency or the US presidency. Let’s see what these women learned.

Victoria Woodhull – If there’s one woman who rises to the top on straight courage, it’s Woodhull. She not only ran for president at a time when women could not even vote, she also was the first woman to open a brokerage firm and the first woman to start a weekly newspaper. If that wasn’t enough, she was an advocate of “free love.” This is 1872, remember.

Woodhull was born on the cusp of Virgo and Libra. She formed the “Equal Rights Party” and promoted free love which suggests Libra. She like Harris also had Mars in Leo, suggesting courage and pride and lack of fear. Unfortunately, Woodhull spent the last part of her life in exile in England.

Woodhull’s Saturn and moon were in Scorpio, the sign of sex, death and regeneration. Scorpio treads into these areas that most avoid. For Woodhull, public discourse on sex created an accusation of obscenity.

Lesson for Harris: Women are generally attacked politically for not having traditional female traits. Harris’ Moon in Aries is Annie Oakley singing “Anything you can do, I can do better.” You can. Just don’t say it.

Geraldine Ferraro – Ferraro had sun, Neptune, Mercury and Venus in Virgo which is the very discriminating mind and buckets of intelligence. Moon in Leo provided that fiery pride and energy that appears in the charts of our presidentially-minded females. Jupiter and Mars were conjunct in Scorpio – another energy that seems incline females to seek male power.

After the 1984 election, we didn’t hear much about Ferraro. She ran with a flat Capricorn Walter Mondale. This seems a similar situation to the one Harris faces – both women seemed to have more energy and charisma than than their leading partner.

Lesson for Harris: The more dynamic female partner generally does not cancel out the dominant male partner. Aries moon will try excessively hard to do the work of two. This may hurt Biden.

Sarah Palin – Since the 2008 election, Palin has gone into obscurity. Like Harris, she has Saturn in Aquarius having been born in the same year. As blogged in OHA, Palin has a very similar chart to Axl Rose and a similar volatile quirkiness. Palin was clearly selected as a light-weight counter balance to the serious and brusque John McCain.

Palin like Harris has Saturn in Aquarius, having been born about eight months prior to Harris. But unlike Harris, Palin had a little too much air (Mercury, moon, sun, Mars and Saturn in Aquarius) which created incoherent speech and disjointed thoughts.

The fire in Palin’s chart comes from Venus and Jupiter in Aries. It seems a little Aries or Leo energy is needed to have the pride and courage to challenge the big guys.

Lesson for Harris: McCain’s plan didn’t work; adding a woman to the ticket to challenge the history-making black presidential candidate indicated that gender trumps race. Biden still has to win the election on his merits alone.

Hillary Clinton – Clinton ran for President in 2008 and 2016 and both times was overrun and defeated by a male upset. Clinton has the Scorpio energy (sun, Venus, Mercury) and Leo energy (Mars, Pluto, Saturn) that seems to be in the charts of the few women who make it this far.

In 2008, Barack Obama won 95% of the black vote while Clinton only won 54% of the female vote in 2016. And deeper analysis showed that 64% of non-college educated white women voted for Trump. A woman running for President is not a role model for other women.

Lesson for Harris: Women do not admire and support other strong, successful women. Female low self-esteem will be projected upon you.

What’s Harris to do?

In the effort to compete with men in one of the most powerful positions on the planet, women tend to appease the pollsters that say she must smile more. So far, the advice has not worked.

Harris has a good balance of diplomacy and drive in the horoscope. And Aries moon is not one that accepts defeat. I suspect with Mars transiting Aries throughout the election cycle, Harris will fight back – even if Biden tries to suppress it.

It’s fight or drink a cup of instant smile.

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Mars in Aries Wants Sports

Posted on August 15, 2020 by ohioastrology

Often when the US federal government takes some important, strategic action like bombing or invading another country, the astrological alignments are so precise, I’m convinced there’s a “court astrologer” influencing and timing the actions.

Then there are local governments and the decision to cancel all sporting events while Mars is transiting Aries. Dumb. Here it would be wise to consult the local astrologers.

But you may have noticed that while the local governments are trying to keep people safe from illness, the people are getting increasingly restless and agitated. So while the threat from illness may have decreased, the threat from each other is growing. If people can’t release this energy, there’s more trouble to come.

Mars and Aries

Mars, the mythological god of war, astrologically rules the sign of Aries. Mars went into Aries at the very end of June 2020. Usually Mars transits a sign for a couple months (with a two-year cycle around the sun). But this year — this unusual 2020 — Mars will go retrograde and be in Aries both backwards and forwards until January 2021 – that’s six months of Mars in the sign it rules.

Mars, like Saturn, can get a lot of negative press. Because Mars is the active, male principle there can be lots of violence associated with it. But it’s important to understand that without Mars, we would never take action, start that project, stand up for ourselves, and demand basic human rights. Mars and Aries have courage. Mars stands up for itself.

Aries rules the “self” and it’s no wonder the “selfie” came to prominence during the Uranus transit of Aries from 2011-2018. Self-esteem is critical to the functioning of a self. When there is high self-esteem, Mars and Aries have the courage to stand up for self and demand the intrinsic rights of self. When there is low self-esteem, then Aries and Mars become angry, domineering and potentially violent.

Athletes

Athletes are ruled by Mars due to the drive, goal-orientation, energy and competitiveness needed in an athlete. If a person has Mars in the first house of the horoscope, there is athletic ability, especially if in a fire sign. The sun or moon in Aries also creates a great drive to assert self which athleticism being a popular channel for this.

With Mars transiting Aries, there is also a collective need for this outlet. Not only does the energy of sports provide outlet for natural energy, it also fosters the sense of community that is being challenged during Saturn’s transit of Aquarius which brought us the new “social distancing.”

Violence

While we don’t want people to get sick and/or die from illness, we also don’t want them killing each other. The rise in violence and non-peaceful protests has increased this year which can be attributed to the great transits of Jupiter, Saturn and Pluto through the authoritarian sign of Capricorn.

Aries squares Capricorn so the energy of Mars in Aries will continue to battle the forces of government, authoritarian control, regulation and law during the next six months.

Mars is a personal planet while Jupiter, Saturn and Pluto are non-personal, outer planets that govern longer time periods and society’s shifts and evolutions. Mars generally cannot win against so large a force; but that will not stop Mars from trying.

This is a story that is in many myths of the individual facing a much larger force and winning. Ultimately, Mars is saying that the individual matters. Mars can face this larger force with courage and resolve or it can face this larger force with petty acts of violence.

Mars in Aries Wants Sports

Allowing sports will not solve the global issues that face us, but it will allow the individuals to express the natural, human need for activity. Humans can only drink in front of the television for so long if they have a well-aspected Mars.

Today’s world has much suppression for the natural energies of humans including legal drugs, illegal drugs, and media. We don’t want people to take recreational opiates and fall asleep in the car but we also don’t want them to go outside and play basketball. Alcohol restrictions lift daily (thank you Neptune in Pisces) but this will just create more problems with Mars which as fire does not want to be drowned in water.

What is Mars to do?

Again, Mars may not have the overwhelming strength and structure of Jupiter, Saturn and Pluto. Yet the courage of Mars will not stop it from demanding what the self needs.

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You can’t eradicate half a duality

Posted on July 14, 2020 by ohioastrology

Polarity is a continuum of a particular energy with two extremes – poles. The tai chi symbol is a polarity and teaches that when energy is extreme it becomes its opposite.

Polarity is not duality. Duality is the “fake news” of polarity and creates artificial divides and calls them opposites. The American two-party political system is a perfect example of a dualism where the political landscape is split in two which forces the populace to pick “a side” of two factions that are a mishmash of beliefs that have no particular consistency but are under the guise of certain principles (which have also lost meaning) of “conservative” and “liberal.”

The Western world and the United States in particular are extremely dualistic in thinking. The United States splits much into two great divides with smaller players hanging on the edge: political parties (Republican/Democrat); carbonated beverage (Coke/Pepsi); toothpaste (Colgate/Crest); and big box stores (Target/Walmart).

Dualism creates the attitude of “you’re with me or against me” and also feeds a sense of superiority, regardless of which side of the dualism is preferred. Dualism is the “divide and conquer” strategy of olden times and continues to work effectively even at these times of extreme change when unity is required.

The astrological polarities being activated now are in the cardinal square. Cardinal signs are Aries, Cancer, Libra and Capricorn. Aries and Libra are one polarity; Cancer and Capricorn the other. The Aries-Libra polarity is the first polarity of a horoscope and a good place to start with polarity.

Aries is “self” and Libra is “other.” Aries establishes the self and self-esteem, the positive energy needed to wake each day with energy and optimism. The “other” is Libra, those people “out there.” Libra’s focus is relationship, its skill is charm and its way to maintain relationship is to constantly adjust to the needs of the other. Libra energy reflects off of the other to define self, the self that Aries establishes on its own.

Too much Aries is too much self-centeredness which leads to harm to others. Too much Libra is loss of individuality and manipulation of others to get needs met. All “others” who exist out there come from individual “selves” so self and other are contained within each other. And what human is happy without a connection to others?

This is polarity.

After Aries learns to balance self with others, it moves to the Cancer-Capricorn polarity. Cancer is the personal consciousness, the emotional self that wants to nurture, and be nurtured. While Cancer is personal consciousness, its motivation is to find its family or group to which it emotionally “belongs.” Cancer can feel “motherly.”

Opposite Cancer is Capricorn or the social consciousness. This is where we decide what we want to be in the world, what it means to be successful and how we are going to take care of our family and society through proper laws and social structure. While Capricorn can be coldly ambitious, its motivation is to earn respect from others. Capricorn can feel “fatherly.”

Who benefits from duality?

Currently there are three planets transiting Capricorn, planets that describe social and generational changes: Jupiter, Saturn (just went back into Capricorn), and Pluto. Mars, the planet that rules Aries, just went into Aries for a long six months as it will go retrograde (backwards) during this transit.

The polarities of self/other and personal/social are activated at this time. If Americans weren’t dualistic in their thinking, instead of arguing about a constantly-changing “this” and “that,” we would discuss the polarities: How far do personal freedoms go when they affect others? What is public and what is private? How and when do you cut into private to promote public?

Air is public in its nature – you can’t section off a bit of air (yet). So if I (self) pollute the air, it affects the public (others). This is obvious but when we discuss public health, we can’t seem to create the same foundation of understanding that built highways, airports, and sewage systems.

In the United States, duality has created great ironies. An authoritarian Capricorn system is removing safeguards (rather than putting them in place) in the guise of Aries/Cancer private “freedoms.” Capricorn’s goal is to protect public rules and laws.

Dualistic thinking keeps people arguing while neither private nor public wins. No one wins in a duality. A dual is not a duel where one man dies.

You can’t eradicate half a duality

The lesson of polarity (and astrology) is balance. Polarities are managed by staying in balance. After all these years I understand why the ancient Chinese called it the “middle way.” Stay in the center of yourself and you stay in the balance with your own polarities. There is the path to peace.

By making polarities dualities, the dualistic sides are continuously trying to eradicate each other, as they’ve done throughout history. The most notorious are dualities based on religious or philosophical belief that decided to eradicate the duality, people had to die.

It never works and never will.

In the United States, we want to eradicate racism. But how can we eradicate racism without eradicating the other side of the racism duality which is white superiority which defines the very culture? And how can we eradicate racism when the races are split into two different, dualistic neighborhoods?

Those that promote duality are watching their fellow humans destroy each other and the earth for their own gain. Every time we engage in duality, we give our energy to those that promote duality. They win and we lose energy (and money and property). Duality is like a bipolar disorder that is fed by those that like to watch us swing back and forth draining our life force.

Balance is the key to the horoscope. Some are born with more natural balance; some have to work very hard to achieve it.

We can try to achieve balance and then discuss rationally how to protect public health and also maintain people’s livelihoods at the same time. Or we can continue our historical attempts to eradicate half of a fake duality.

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Trail of Time: July 11, 1843 / July 11, 2020

Posted on July 10, 2020 by ohioastrology

The National Museum of the American Indian is my favorite museum of all time. Why? While it’s technically a museum about the heritage of people who were living on this land before contact, it’s really, truly a museum about how to live on earth, how to cherish the earth and how to live in harmony with it and humbly upon it.

“Tree hugger” is a pejorative term that shows modern man’s complete disconnection from the source of his life – earth. In The National Museum of the American Indian we see images of people accepting that they are dependent upon earth and cherishing it through love and ceremony. That we have to be taught to cherish air and water would be unbelievable to a visitor from another planet, yet it is true.

Consumer culture is attempting to make a certain kind of economic peace with the earth. Yet, much of our sustainability efforts are unmet and constantly challenged by the force of business. Because something can be recycled, for example, doesn’t mean that it is and our goals of sustainability are geared toward keeping up with consumerism rather finding sustainability for essential needs and conserving for future generations.

We’re cycling forward and backward in some interesting ways and with some ironies. For example, the western world is now embracing spiritual and mental practices of the Far East such as yoga and meditation. Is this backwards or forwards?

And technological advances may make us feel like we’re moving forward. But these same advances keep us busier than ever, disconnected from our physical world and allow wealth to be concentrated in a few individuals and organizations as in a feudal state. It this backwards or forwards?

July 11, 1843

In The Ohio Frontier: An Anthology of Early Writing, we learn the last Indians of Ohio, the Wyandots, left on July 11, 1843. This was in the middle of forced Indian migration starting with the Indian Removal Act of 1830 and the Trail of Tears which forced southeastern tribes to migrate west of the Mississippi River.

Our citizens seemed to look upon the scene of their departure from among us with feelings of melancholy interest. To reflect that the last remnants of a powerful people, once the proud possessors of the soil we now occupy, were just leaving their beloved hunting grounds and the graves of their ancestors – that their council fires had gone out and their wigwams were deserted – was well calculated to awaken the liveliest of sympathies of the human heart. No one, we are sure, who felt such emotions, could refrain from breathing a devout aspiration to the “Great Spirit,” that he would guide and protect them on their journey, and carefully preserve them as a people after they shall have arrived at their new home in the far, far west.

The social and outer planet placements on that day: Jupiter 26 Aquarius; Saturn 22 Capricorn; Uranus 2 Aries; Neptune 20 Aquarius; Pluto 22 Aries.

Jupiter and Neptune were conjunct in Aquarius representing visions of the ideal society. Clearly “ideal” is in the eye of the beholder. Pluto and Saturn were square representing the aggressive social imperative. Uranus was in 2 Aries as it was in May 2011 which was during the time of the Arab Spring. Uranus in Aries is about self-awareness and self-assertion. Often this translates into standing up for one’s rights. Uranus in Aries gone bad is self-interest at the expense of others.

Aquarius and Aries are both futuristic signs – Aquarius has the ideas and Aries has the motivation. Together this indicates great scientific and technological advance. Neptune  into Aquarius again in the 2000s and was at 20 degrees 2007-2009; this round brought digital life and digital communities and new ideals based upon technology.

For the Native Americans, it was the Saturn in Capricorn that they experienced; they were not part of this ideal society and had to go. The United States has Pluto in 27 degrees of Capricorn which is evolutionary lessons regarding society, social structure and social consciousness. Transiting Pluto in Aries was square to natal Pluto and decided that forced removal rather than integration was needed.

July 11, 2020

The social and outer planet placements on this day: Jupiter 22 Capricorn; Saturn 29 Capricorn; Uranus 10 Taurus; Neptune 20 Pisces; Pluto 23 Capricorn.

There’s lots of Capricorn energy this year. Saturn moved into Aquarius at the end of March as we began social distancing due to coronavirus. Now it has gone retrograde and is back in Capricorn and, surprise, we are back to where we were in March with increased rates of coronavirus. Scientists and astrologers were aligned on this one . . .

If the evolutionary lesson of the United States involves society, social structure and social consciousness, the current energies are a wonderful opportunity for growth in these areas. Are you loving it?

The very foundation of United States social structure is being challenged. For example, in Columbus, Ohio a statue of Christopher Columbus was torn down in front of a college called Columbus State. The statue is gone but the city name remains. Who are you Columbus? Will your name change? Now that the statue is gone, how will you be different?

Pluto in Capricorn returning to its original placement in the chart of the United States suggests we can take a step up the evolutionary ladder to a higher manifestation of Capricorn. In its lowest form, Capricorn is hierarchical, authoritarian and rigid. In its highest form, it is about respect and the organization of society based on the rule of law to support respect. Class systems come from Capricorn which wants to create a “superior” and “inferior” way of being because of Capricorn’s greatest fear – failure.

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Amy Acton Needs a Hug: But Don’t Try to Give Her One

Posted on June 18, 2020 by ohioastrology

So much chaotic, volatile and shifting energy this year of 2020 with a presidential impeachment (yes, that spanned into this year but I did have to check), a pandemic, physical distancing, an election process all but canceled, protests over race inequality and government control and massive unemployment.

And it’s only June. And astrological indicators suggest it will continue.

The energy of authority, challenging authority and public judgment comes from Capricorn. During this year Pluto, Saturn, Jupiter and Mars are all in or have been in this sign which is about social order, social control and authority. Pluto is destroying and transforming in this area of life.

The social distancing comes from Saturn entering Aquarius which is the sign of humanity, social organizations and ideals. Saturn contracts so has made it difficult to be Aquarius – “social distancing” must have been devised by the gods of astrology.

Efforts to connect and methods of escape or avoidance come from Neptune in Pisces which is empathetic, emotional, and connected but so sensitive that it often escapes through drugs, alcohol or other addictions.

And who better to stand at the podium this year than Ohio’s former Health Director Amy Acton: sun in Aquarius, moon and Venus in Capricorn and Mercury, Mars and Saturn in Pisces.

Acton has recently left the stage; the energy will not.

Amy Acton Rational

Sun in Aquarius and moon in Capricorn is rational, reserved, cautious, and responsible. Both signs are perfectionist and demanding. Both are very, very stubborn. They may comply with rules (Aquarius if they seem rational and Capricorn because they are rules) but will not (and I mean will not) do anything they do not want to do.

Moon in Capricorn is a rather difficult placement of taking on too much responsibility coupled with an emotional reserve and detachment that makes it difficult to connect to others. The recent pandemic response is a situation made for this placement: you can’t prove a negative so Acton’s efforts while viewed by some as excessive could have been the very reason we’re doing okay right now and can complain about it.

It’s a perfect situation to explain how moon in Capricorn tries to help by doing it all but can feel be deprived of the recognition or understanding that others get who are more flashy or self-aggrandizing. Capricorn moon carries the world on its shoulders.

Fire is the element lacking in the chart (although there may be fire rising sign but time of birth is needed to know that). Fire likes the fight for the fight and isn’t shy about taking credit where credit is due (or sometimes not due). Acton isn’t up for a fight unless there are clear, tangible results to winning.

And had the pandemic response been different and had many more died, who would have received the blame? Taking such a responsibility is clearly burdensome and many stay away from it. Capricorn moon is drawn to it.

There are other indicators of her intelligence and rationality including Jupiter in Gemini and Pluto/Uranus in Virgo. It’s no surprise she gets along well with Ohio Governor Mike DeWine who has sun in Capricorn and moon in Gemini who is also detached, practical and intelligent.

Amy Acton Emotional

Then there’s the Acton that is emotional and empathetic with Mercury, Mars and Saturn in Pisces and Neptune in Scorpio. She really would like to hug you, but she has to know you closely and for a very, very long time before that can happen. And then she still would probably shake hands.

But I’m sure after what’s she’s been through since the beginning of the year, she needs some water-sign pleasure: a big hug, a two-month hot bath, a long vacation on the beach, or a bottle of wine – daily; these are a few of the water signs’ favorite things.

With transiting Neptune on natal Saturn making a T-square to Jupiter and Pluto/Uranus, there’s just some sadness about it all, for Acton. She would cry for you, but she’s also hoping you’ll see reason. Capricorn moon doesn’t like to cry too much, especially in public. She may not understand the depth of her sadness. It can come out as irritation and sarcasm but is really sadness.

Amy Acton Worker Bee

Whether she cries for you or thinks for you, she’ll probably continue to work hard for Ohio. Transiting Saturn on her sun and transiting Pluto and Jupiter on her moon guarantee that she will stay in the game, is still interested in responsibility. She might have taken a breather, but she’s feeling a compulsion to continue on with her cautioned, reasoned approach to the situation.

She may try to walk away from what’s “out there,” but most if not all of the “out there” energy is also inside of her. She’ll be back at the podium.

But before that, she really should take a long beach vacation.

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The United States’ Pluto Return: Disillusionment and Transformation

Posted on June 14, 2020 by ohioastrology

Watching the fear, anger and outbursts over the last several months I have same thought: It’s about time.

Disillusionment in Buddhist tradition is a great thing because you are remove your illusions. While many seem to think the United States changed in 2016, history suggests it actually stayed the same but much of the veneer was lost.

In Charles Dickens’ novel Martin Chuzzlewit published 1844, young Martin Chuzzlewit (there’s an older Martin Chuzzelwit as well) goes to America to seek his fortune. Even before young Martin lands on shore, Dickens points out the hypocrisy American culture as he describes the scene of an American gentleman who comes on deck with his belongings:

He likewise struck his hands deep into his pockets, and walked the deck with his nostrils dilated, as already inhaling the air of Freedom which carries death to all tyrants, and can never (under any circumstances worth mention) be breathed by slaves.

The men young Martin meets talk about one thing – dollars.

All their cares, hopes, joys, affections, virtues, and associations, seemed to be melted down into dollars. Whatever the chance contributions that fell into the slow cauldron of their talk, they made the gruel thick and slab with dollars. Men were weighed by their dollars, measures gauged by their dollars; life was auctioneered, appraised, put up, and knocked down for its dollars. The next respectable thing to dollars was any venture, having their attainment for its end. The more of that worthless ballast, honour and fair-dealing, which any man cast overboard from the ship of his Good Name and Good Intent, the more ample stowage-room he had for dollars. Make commerce one huge lie and mighty theft. Deface the banner of the nation for an idle rage; pollute it star by star; and cut out stripe by stripe as from the arm of a degraded soldier. Do anything for dollars! What is a flag to them!

In another passage, Dickens explains what traits American men admire in other men:

He was the greatest patriot, in their [American men talking by the stove] eyes who brawled the loudest, and who cared the least for decency. He was their champion, who in the brutal fury of his own pursuit, could cast no stigma upon them, for the hot knavery of theirs. Thus, Martin learned in the five minutes’ straggling talk about the stove, that to carry pistols into legislative assemblies, and swords in sticks and other such peaceful toys; to seize opponents by the throat, as dogs or rats might do; to bluster, bully and overbear by personal assailment; were glowing deeds.

Does this not sound exactly like today? Does this not describe, exactly, the current president?

Dickens criticized hypocrisy on both sides of the Atlantic. On the British side, the character Tom Pinch is kind, openhearted and guileless and one day, finally, sees the true and hypocritical nature of the man Pecksniff to whom he’s been employed most of his adult life and whom he believed to be a paragon of virtue in spite of the many people who tried to convince him otherwise. Rather than being angry at the scoundrel Pecksniff he has a very wise and rational perspective – the man he thought was Pecksniff never truly existed:

But there was no Pecksniff; there never had been a Pecksniff.

Pecksniff had gone out of the world – had never been in it – and it was as much as Tom could do to say his prayers without him. But he felt happier afterwards, and went to sleep, and dreamed about him as he Never Was.

There are surely some tangible things to lose right now like your house and your job; however, some intangibles we think we lost may never have existed such as peace, fraternity, liberty and democracy. It’s a realization, a clear-view, not a change in external reality, and is the first step in transformation.

Pluto in Capricorn-Manifest Destiny

In a couple years Pluto will return to the place it was in the US chart in 1776. Capricorn’s keyword is “I use” and that has been our evolutionary lesson since inception. The Capricorn desire to dominate and control has been given many names throughout our history including Manifest Destiny, Monroe Doctrine, Reagan Revolution, and recently War on Terror.

In Manifest Destiny and Mission in American History, Frederick Merk writes:

Manifest Destiny, by contrast, seemed on close examination, despite its breath-taking sweep, to be parochial. It’s postulates were that Anglo-Saxons are endowed as a race with innate superiority, that Protestant Christianity holds the keys to Heaven, that only republican forms of political organization are free, and the future – even the predestined future – can be hurried along by human hand, and that the means of hurrying it, if the end be good, need not be inquired into too closely. Undeniably, some Americans were satisfied with such ideals. But a large majority appraised them – at least in periods when the nation was at peace – at their true worth.

The greatest irony to me is that the freedom that Americans think they have or believe they had and have lost was most like the Native American cultures that existed in North America prior to contact. Those cultures had freedom of movement, no government, no police, no prisons, and no “owned” land. A free life means sometimes you move to find food. Sometimes you are killed by others. That’s freedom too.

Neptune in Pisces-Disillusionment and Escape

The current transit of Neptune in its own sign of Pisces provides energy for pure spiritual growth – the kind that is personal and internal and can’t be assessed by others. This kind of spirituality is about the paradox of connectedness and loss of self. But that loss of self is not the psychological kind where you relinquish accountability for yourself and actions by giving your power to another. It’s the kind that frees us from our self-inflicted prisons which make us feel separate.

Possibly Neptune in Pisces can help us understand that freedom is spiritual as well as political.

Neptune and Pisces gone bad is escapism and we see a lot of that too with drugs, alcohol and media abuse which is often encouraged by the outside world who know that disillusionment leads to change and fear it.

Pluto-Transformation

As Pluto returns to its natal position in the chart of the United States, there is increasing awareness that the ideals of our nation are pure, but, like Pecksniff, they never “were” for many segments of the population. Freedom was not for everyone.

As Merk says in Manifest Destiny and Mission in American History, while Manifest Destiny subsided during two world wars, mission did not:

Mission, on the contrary, remained alive and is as much alive at present as it ever was. It is still the beacon lighting the way to individual and political freedoms – to equality of right before law, equality of economic opportunity, and equality of all races and creeds. It is still, as always in the past, the torch held aloft by the nation at its gate – to the world and to itself.

Transform, it’s time!

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The Pandemic Cycle: We’ve Only Just Begun

Posted on May 25, 2020 by ohioastrology

When reading the news these days, I have to constantly remind myself that most don’t study astrology and understand the world as a series of overlapping cycles and patterns.

The common view of the world appears to me to be a ray with a starting point (our birth) and a line extending forever in one direction (life and death).

Before we were born? Nothing.

Eternity, according to DifferenceBetween.com, is “something present at all times with no beginning or end,” while infinity is something “that can’t be measured.” The symbol for infinity is the continuous movement of circular pattern.

Those seeking “eternal life” after death are thinking of a ray. If one believes in eternal life, it’s already here and existed before birth. It’s not something that comes after something else.

Astrology is like infinity not eternity. It is not a religious belief system (although some may make it that) but an acknowledgement of the unceasing circular patterns of our existence.

Cycles

For those that read the daily horoscope, the predictions are based on the faster-moving bodies around us: moon, Mercury and Venus.

The prediction that today you will meet “a tall dark stranger” could be the moon passing your Venus or Venus over your sun.

If that tall dark stranger stays in your life this year, you are involved in an annual cycle of sun, Mars or Jupiter. With positive aspects, these planets provide energy and a sense of life and you are enjoying the tall dark stranger. If negative aspects, this tall dark stranger is meant to provide a different type of lesson such as a pattern you ought to part with.

If the tall dark stranger stays in your life permanently, then Saturn is involved. Saturn is a contracting energy and not always viewed with pleasure by astrologers but long-lasting relationships involve Saturn.

If the stranger rocks your worldly perception as a teacher or spiritual leader might do, then we’re talking about Uranus and Neptune. If you feel uncomfortable, it’s probably Uranus. If it feels comfortable, it’s probably Neptune. But both are meant to evolve you so if you’re uncomfortable with no growth or comfortable but leading toward escapism, find another teacher.

Pluto is the cycle of transformation which normally occurs with the forced removal of your personal nuclear waste. But it doesn’t have to be forceful; you can acquiesce. But we normally don’t. The tall dark stranger in this case is probably more of a force which results in a permanent change to your being.

Outer Planet Cycles

As I watch the world return to “normal” and “the new normal” which appears to be a re-branding of the old normal, I realize we’re caught in ray thinking.

Nothing started and nothing ended. Astrologically speaking, we’re in the middle of intense cycles that are pushing us to growth.

Which cycles?

The broadest, longest cycle is Pluto in Capricorn which began in 2008 and is not complete and won’t be fully finished for 3-4 more years. This cycle tore down our societal structures. We put them back together but pandemic took them down again.

Are we going put them back together the same way a second time? Right now it appears so.

Pluto takes 248 years to complete a cycle so represents the cycle of evolution. Pluto in Capricorn in 2008 is the half-cycle of Pluto in Cancer which began in 1913 when we shifted from family and community security to corporate and government security. For the United States, this represents a Pluto “return” meaning we are meant to evolve.

Our next cycle is Neptune in Pisces which began in 2011 and will last until about 2026. Neptune brings spiritual comfort but can also tend toward escapism. Pisces sun and moon Mr. Rogers has become a resurrected hero during this need for spirituality in pure form (Neptune rules Pisces). Escapism is also rampant in the form of drugs (whether deemed legal or illegal) and excessive media. Since Pisces wants to merge, social distancing creates great spiritual disturbances which are replaced by connection with our addictions.

Our next cycle is Uranus in Taurus, which started in May 2018 and will last until 2026. This is shock and awareness related to money, body, and property. This cycle is also in its early stages. Learn early and the rest of the cycle will be the pure bliss of body and material awareness.

These three outer planets are generational. Those born during it or young during it will have this imprint on the rest of their lives. They do not represent what you will have for lunch tomorrow so you won’t find them mentioned too much in your daily horoscope.

Social Cycles

This brings us to the social planets of Jupiter and Saturn where we meet society at school, work and church. Jupiter is an annual cycle and changed signs (into Capricorn) last December. Saturn just changed signs on March 23 (from Capricorn to Aquarius).

Our pandemic cycle within the larger cycles appears to be a cycle of Jupiter and Saturn. While Jupiter changes signs every year, Saturn takes 2.5 years.

While Saturn went into Aquarius, it will pop back out in July and be in Capricorn again until December. In early December, Jupiter and Saturn will join in Aquarius. The conjunction of these planets have been noted by astrologers for centuries as bringing about social change.

Astrologer Elisabeth Grace has a wonderful article What’s So Great About A Great Mutation? which describes what’s occurring in detail including the 20-year cycle of this conjunction and what it means to be in an air sign (Aquarius).

As the fates would have it, I noticed in my own bookshelves The Jupiter/Saturn Conference Lectures by Liz Greene and Stephen Arroyo that occurred in 1981 with Jupiter and Saturn in Libra. Liz Greene says in one of her lectures:

In Medieval and Renaissance astrology, the Jupiter-Saturn conjunction is always considered to herald a change in rulership – the death of a king and an interregnum of chaos and the emergence of a new king.

We will all read this differently but remember there’s a world of kings out there with many changes occurring simultaneously.

Looking at the astrology of this time for many years already, I’m fascinated by how it manifested. While other astrologers might have seen illness (Neptune in Pisces maybe?), I definitely did not; however, the effects are what was expected from theses transits – sudden and transformative changes to the structure of society, government and authority.

The Pandemic Cycle: We’ve Only Just Begun

The pandemic cycle is the beginning of a two-and-a-half year cycle of how we live as a society. Our 20th century words – democracy, theocracy, socialism, and communism – no longer apply. There are no longer any substantial differences (if there ever were) between governments. We have varying levels of freedoms and varying ruler titles (queen, prime minister, president, king) but the effects are now increasingly homogenous.

As with any cycle, it is the result of our past cycles and leads to our future cycles. We created it; astrology simply describes it. Had we come into the pandemic cycle with sustainable economies, the results would have been different because we would have been farther along in the growth that was meant to occur.

Saturn in Aquarius is the social distancing we’re being asked to maintain. Yet Saturn also crystallizes so the groups and societies formed in this cycle will be long lasting and part of the transformations that will continue to occur in 2024-2026 as Pluto moves into Aquarius, Neptune into Aries and Uranus into Gemini. Those are air and fire signs which are more extroverted and expressive. Today’s energy is earth and water which is more introverted and reflective.

The Pandemic Cycle is forcing reflection as well as the space and time in which to devise new and innovative ways to share the planet.

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Dear Twenty Somethings and Thirty Somethings,

Posted on May 6, 2020 by ohioastrology

You were born with a distinct fate. You are meant to change the entire social structure of the earth. And you are also meant to change how we perceive. Technology is only a part of that of that change. It’s your time although some older generations won’t step aside yet – they are hanging onto the past.

From the mid 1980s until the early 2000s, the planets Uranus and Neptune both passed through Capricorn and Aquarius, sometimes at the same time. Uranus is the planet of shock, awareness and enlightenment. Neptune is spirituality, dissolution and merging.

Uranus brings innovation; Neptune glamorization.

Dear Thirty Somethings,

You were born during great business innovation. There are fewer corporations than ever but their power and influence is also the greater than ever. Many decisions about society are driven by corporate goals. Marketing is now in everything you see and constant consumption is needed for society to remain stable.

Privatization of common good was promoted; public spaces are disappearing and with it local culture. The rise of pharmaceuticals and aggressive marketing behind them has created public health crises such as the opioid epidemic. Financial institutions are too big to fail.

Then in 2008, Pluto entered Capricorn and tore it all down.

You may have experienced hardships then and hoped they would not return. But Pluto wasn’t done and the need to restructure society including financial structure was ignored.

Now a pandemic recreated 2008 in a different way as Jupiter and Saturn joined in Capricorn in early 2020.

This is your time to use your intelligence and innovation to start again, in a different way. Your Uranus and Neptune in Capricorn are looking for stability but also a structure where hard work is rewarded and your efforts to improve yourself have a place to manifest.

Capricorn wants to work hard, to improve things, to fix problems. Capricorn avoids the path of least resistance. Society tumbling down is a great opportunity to put it back together in a better way. This is your time.

Dear Twenty Somethings,

Like Thirty Somethings, you were meant to change society. You have more Aquarius influence than your Thirty Something brethren. Aquarius is more rebellious, more willing to try something new and risky, use technology or new innovation.

Aquarius is idealistic and perfectionist. Capricorn’s ideas appeal to you from an organizational standpoint, but may not be visionary enough. But Capricorn can help because visions take hard work to manifest or they are merely pipe dreams.

Your generation idealizes both business and technology so is in love with the tech entrepreneurs; they are your gods.

More than innovative, you came onto the earth with a whole new way of perceiving. It’s almost like you came from another planet. And, of course, this causes problems because parents want to protect you so do not always encourage your “differentness.” Differentness can cause trouble. Even gender is being challenged! Not to be defined by gender is truly revolutionary.

Saturn is going back and forth in Capricorn and Aquarius this year and in 2021 will go forward in Aquarius for a couple years. It went into Aquarius about the time of the “social distancing” mandates. Expect the next two years to continue certain social distancing practices. It will stifle for a little while your Uranus and Neptune desire to progress into “the next.” Many still want a return to “normal,” which is not an Aquarian ideal.

Neither Capricorn nor Aquarius is emotional or warm. Social distancing is sometimes okay for these signs because they have work to do or innovation to create. They prefer interaction to be clean and tidy. But social distancing is not new; our technologies had already created social distancing which we are now employing to keep business afloat.

Then in 2023 Pluto will leave Capricorn and move into Aquarius as Saturn leaves Aquarius. The tech lords will go through their own destruction and transformation at that time. And you will come into your own power.

Dear Twenty Somethings and Thirty Somethings,

As you get older you get this thing called “nostalgia.” It’s when you think of pleasant events or interactions from the past. Often this nostalgia comes with a side effect that “the past” was somehow better than the present or potential future. In extreme, nostalgia can lead to a belief the world will “end.” [And the opposite that nostalgia side effect is the belief that in the future there will be a “utopia.”]

You’ll get it too, nostalgia for something you do today that won’t be around when you’re 70 years old.

I’ll admit that the social distancing and closing of most business has brought side effects that evoke nostalgia in me: people outside walking and talking. On my bike ride I saw dozens of people, whole families, riding together, which I don’t think I’ve ever seen in this locale. While looking at an albino squirrel in a tree a driver stopped to ask what I was looking at. There are smiles to be had in a situation that would normally take them away.

The pandemic has provided me something I’ve wanted for many years now – time. I suppose the lesson is that space and time are connected.

Part of me wants this shutdown to continue for a little longer as the slower pace, the friendliness, will surely disappear when we all get busy chasing our lives. But this is nostalgia talking — I know people need to work. And I know that as soon as I get back in rush-hour traffic, I’ll have that “get out of my way” feeling again.

I say this because, Twenty and Thirty Somethings, Aquarius is about community and when Pluto moves into Aquarius we’ll be thinking even more about community and localized culture. I expect you’ll talk about self-sustaining communities and promote some of the brotherhood that has started with sharing resources and community fundraising. And I’m sure you’ll do so much more that I can’t conceive.

This is your time. With the break in the continuity of society, you can slip through the cracks and bring forward the new that you were meant to create and deliver.

Some of the older generations that are currently hanging onto power have Pluto in Leo. Aquarius is the sign opposite Leo so what they evolved in regard to self-awareness will now evolve into community awareness. By 2024, Pluto in Leo will not be dominant.

Dear Twenty Somethings and Thirty Somethings,

Good luck.

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2020: Memento Mori

Posted on April 25, 2020 by ohioastrology

Yesterday, for the first time in over a month, the local news site did not lead with the number of pandemic illnesses and deaths. It led with more “normal” news, the kind you’d see before the stay-at-home restrictions – local shootings.

It’s crazy, I know, but this felt “normal.”

Yet “normal” and “not-normal” are looking the same. Pre-pandemic local news led with people dying by each others’ hands. Then it led with the daily death-by-illness. Now we’ve returned to death-by-other.

Death is news.

According to the US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), in 2017 there were 2.8 million deaths in the US (less than 1% of the population).

Number of deaths for leading causes of death:
Heart disease: 647,457
Cancer: 599,108
Accidents (unintentional injuries): 169,936
Chronic lower respiratory diseases: 160,201
Stroke (cerebrovascular diseases): 146,383
Alzheimer’s disease: 121,404
Diabetes: 83,564
Influenza and Pneumonia: 55,672
Nephritis, nephrotic syndrome and nephrosis: 50,633
Intentional self-harm (suicide): 47,173

By volume, that’s a lot of death. If we think about the death of animals, birds, insects, leaves on tress and such then death fairly surrounds us.

Pandemic death is different, of course, in that it is premature death and not of our own causing. We are supposed to die later due to one of the reasons on the CDC list. Yet the pandemic is a memento mori – a reminder of the inevitability of death.

Memento Mori

In Muriel Sparks’ novel Memento Mori, the characters are aged and one of them then others receive telephone calls where the caller simply says, “Remember, you must die.”

In Spark fashion, we don’t learn the identity of the caller but get to peek into the lives of those that must die. Like us, they do this and that; even though we will die we continue with our likes and dislikes, habits and follies, hopes and regrets. Remembering that he will die doesn’t stop character Godfrey from a silly, titillating compulsion.

The year 2020 is a global memento mori courtesy of several planets in Capricorn, including Pluto, Saturn (which has moved into Aquarius but will be back in Capricorn in July), Jupiter and Mars. Uranus in Taurus helps a bit too by reminding us how easily our body and earth can be decayed or destroyed.

Saturn (which rules Capricorn) was once the “last” planet and is the symbolic end or limit. As such it is structure, form, rules and boundaries.

Years ago a man I met said he was going to be traveling to a dangerous place. When I inquired about his safety he replied something like this, “I’m not worried about dying. I know where I’m going.”

This is Saturn talking. The critical word in this sentence is “I.”

“I” is the form of our personality. If you examine the “I” it is always planning, wanting, thinking about next and creating stories about itself.

If we look to Saturn in the natal horoscope, we can see what we are “planning” for when life “ends.” Saturn in fire signs may see great spiritual awareness after death; Saturn in earth might be more practical applying life’s rules to the non-physical state; Saturn in air might view the non-physical as an abstract state of ideas and concepts; Saturn in water is more inclined to seek emotional connection and might focus on meeting up with loved ones.

Our Saturn interpretation is very important to us, very serious, which is why we create so much external discord in trying to defend it. Saturn also represents our shield and defenses which ultimately is our weakest link, the place where we are most intended to grow.

Some Saturn stories bestow rewards; some provide release from responsibility. Some engender new responsibilities. Some offer peace and rest.

Where’s your Saturn?

Memento vitae

A memento mori not only reminds us that we will die, but it also reminds us that we are alive – if I have the Latin right it would be memento vitae.

If the horoscope, the sun, moon, Venus, and Mars are the personal preferences of the “I.” Jupiter and Saturn are where “I” connects to society with Saturn as the end, or the top of the mountain for those ambitious Capricorn and Saturn types. Uranus, Neptune and Pluto are beyond the “I” and are the energies of awareness, connectedness and evolution – where “I” awakens, dissolves then merges.

Avoiding the memento mori is by polarity also avoiding the memento vitae. In the face of premature death, it’s a good time to remember we are alive. While we have an increased chance of dying which we’re working to decrease, it’s important to remember that for many, there’s also a strong chance of living.

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