Carl has really outdone himself here. He never does anything half way. His analysis is long, but so well done and he always tells us how these alignments can affect our day-to-day lives and on the global scale. Thank you, Carl.
We are sometimes reminded that while the cosmos contains opportunities and trends, it does not have the final word. We are beings of free will, and as such have the power to shape our present and our future. The stars set the stage, we write the script.
Thanks also to MacD for telling the techno-weenie how to paste Facebook text without having to completely reformat. ~ BP
Carl Boudreau
December 4, 2017
[A quick note: I apologize ahead of time for this lengthy and sprawling post. It was probably the inevitable result of my effort to get a handle on the astrology of our times. As I hope you all know, I try for brief, concisely worded posts, and I had the same goal when I began this post. It turned out to be one of my longest posts ever. I guess I had to go through this stuff sooner or later. And I sincerely hope it helped me get a handle on the current astrological situation.]
From my discussion with others with similar interests, my impression is that most, including those with astrological experience, are having a hard time understanding current aspects and making sense of events. Aspects and the events they cause differ markedly from those we are used to.
National, regional and world events are affecting all of us more deeply and personally. Disruptions follow one another without a break. The inner turmoil caused by invasive – and poorly understood – events catch us up more than events used to. Inner peace is succumbing to the prolonged lack of outer peace.
Textbook interpretations of astrological aspects don’t seem to explain the complexity, depth and degree of disruption we are experiencing on so many levels. There seems to be a disconnect.
We don’t understand the individual aspects or the overall astrological trajectory. Neither do we understand the events they are causing nor their psychological and spiritual effects.
How might we get a better handle on current astrological conditions? Can we continue to use astrology to understand outer events or our increasingly tumultuous inner lives?
Efforts to understand music follow the logic of part and whole. Studying individual notes helps us understand the whole piece. Conversely, studying the whole piece helps us understand individual notes. We move back and forth between individual notes, small groups of notes and the whole piece. The same thing is true about books, movies, world events and astrology.
I have found that what is true about music and so many other things, is also true about astrology. By studying a selection of past, present and future astrological aspects, individually and as a sequence, we can better understand current and future astrological aspects.
Accordingly, let’s look at a selection of more or less recent aspects to see what they tell us about the astrological influences we are now experiencing. Everything in this post should probably be considered tentative, just another, beginning step in my efforts to understand these energies.
Let’s begin with a look at what I have called the oligarchic alignment. By July 1972, all three powerful outer planets, Uranus, Neptune and Pluto, had all settled into the last six signs of the Zodiac, Libra thru Capricorn, the signs of the 1%. The three outer planets would all remain in the signs of the 1% for nearly forty years.
Each of the last six signs of the Zodiac governs some facet of our political and economic power structures. The presence of the three powerful, slow moving outer planets in these six signs for so many years, supported the concentration of political and economic power in these institutions and in the hands of those employed in them. The oligarchic alignment, then, further empowered those already empowered by their membership in this political and economic group.
So Uranus, Neptune and Pluto, all three of these powerful, slow-moving astrological power houses, remained in the signs of the 1% for 37 years, until 2010-1 when Uranus entered Aries, a sign of the 99%.
Predictably, the long-term concentration of planetary forces in the signs of the 1% massively empowered the 1% relative to the 99%. Knowingly or not, intentionally or not, the 1% used this astrological advantage to further their own interests. The upshot of this 37 year alignment was, manifestly, an immense concentration of economic and political power – oligarchic power – in the hands of the 1%.
Given existing patterns, structures and trends, it should be no surprise that the oligarchic alignment moved the world toward oligarchy – governance by a relatively few wealthy and powerful people. With this potent, long-term astrological support, the 1% could hardly fail to establish political and economic dominance. This was especially true given the way the world worked when the oligarchic alignment formed.
All things considered, in my opinion, if the oligarchic alignment had not started breaking up when it did, global oligarchy would have become firmly ‘cemented’ in the world order. As it turned out, the oligarchic alignment began its agonizingly slow and complex break up when Uranus moved into Aries.
Uranus moved into Aries in 2010-1. This deprived the 1% of the powerful, disruptive and transformative energies of Uranus. These energies began flowing through the signs of the 99% (Aries thru Virgo) instead.
The departure of Uranus from the oligarchic alignment significantly reduced the power of the 1%. They no longer controlled the transformative, changeful powers of Uranus.
Uranus’s move significantly increased the power of the 99%. The 99% would now control the expression of Uranian powers of protest, resistance, rebellion and innovation.
Uranus in Aries does seem to have eroded the once insuperable political and economic power of the 1%. The 1% can no longer count on easy achievement of their agenda.
The 99% are only beginning to discover the power that Uranus in Aries is giving them. Resistance has only begun to grow. The newfound power of the 99% will surely grow as Uranus continues its transit of signs associated with the 99%.
Nonetheless, as elites tend to do, and despite the continuing erosion of their power, the 1% seek to preserve, solidify and extend the power the oligarchic alignment gave them. They are still born along by inertia. They are trying to use what remains of the oligarchic alignment, for as long as it remains, to perfect and complete total oligarchic control of the world.
Another possible interpretation: Many among the 1% and their supporters do sense the erosion of their power. However, in response, they are trying ever more desperate measures to preserve and extend their power in the face of this ongoing erosion. But once the underlying astrology has shifted away from a group, their eventual demise seems to me to be just a matter of time.
Thus, Uranus has been in the signs of the 99% since 2010-11. It will be in the signs of the 99% (Aries thru Virgo) for more than forty years. Its effects are already clearly visible, both in lessening the power of the 1% and the growing resistance of the 99%.
One doesn’t want to underestimate the transformative powers of Uranus applied steadily and relentlessly, over a period of forty years. As Uranus forms aspects with Neptune and Pluto the power of the 1% will erode further and faster. Conversely, the power of the 99% will grow. But I also think we will learn never simply reverse the present power imbalance. And as we will see, Uranus is not the only force eroding the power of the 1%.
What I will discuss below clearly suggests that the power of the 99% to frustrate oligarchic ambitions will grow. It is to be expected that there should be confusion about whether the 99% will eventually regain power from 1%. The confusion, ambiguity and turmoil we are seeing is typical of transitional periods like this one, when planetary influences are driving a deep social, political and economic shifting.
We would probably all like to see the 99% gain greater power or use it more effectively. It will doubtless take time, though, for the 99% to be able to fully utilize the powerful transformative powers of Uranus. For now, the Uranus in Aries appears to be enabling the 99% to slow or block some of the oligarchic agenda.
For their part, the oligarchs will likely learn greater respect for the growing power of the 99% and come to terms with the lessening of their own power. But this will all take time. And whatever happens, we won’t be switching from oligarchy to a dictatorship of the people.
We are headed toward a new and greater balance between the 1% and the 99%. However, existing patterns and structures don’t support such a balance and it will take a lot of time and effort to create patterns that will.
The complexity and intricacy of the transition we are experiencing will lead to a greater understanding of the need the 1% has for the 99% and vice versa. These aspects will lead to intricate detailed re-examination of virtually all important social, political and economic issues.
The aspects I examine in this piece suggest a complex and in depth transition. It further suggests that astrological conditions will continue to slow the momentum of the oligarchic agenda but not allow the 99% to seize control and impose their own agenda.
I think the present transition will lead to a dialogue between the 1% and the 99%. They will come to understand each other’s importance. I think the eventual outcome must be greater cooperation between the 1% and the 99%.
Perhaps, as both sides adapt to the new planetary placements, we will see an evolution from bitter trench warfare to grudging dialog. Eventually we will see cooperation between the 1% and the 99%. In any case, I think we will soon begin to see more balanced relations between the 1% and the 99%.
I had initially hoped that the oligarchic alignment would shift quickly to an alignment that decisively favors the 99%. That is, I looked for a quick, straightforward resetting of the balance of political and economic power.
That was not to be, however. For one thing, the planets involved move too slowly. It will take a long time for Neptune and Pluto to move into the signs of the 99%.
Slow moving Neptune and Pluto, and now Saturn, are in the signs of the 1%.The political and economic momentum of the 1% remains strong despite the shift of Uranus into the 99% camp. Meanwhile, we are all stuck and adrift in inscrutably complex energetic circumstances. We are unsure of where we’ve come from, of what’s happening now and what is coming next.
I believe we got our first clue about the shape of 21st century energies from a major astrological aspect that formed a few years after the Uranus Aries ingress. This elaborate aspect would lessen the power of the oligarchs but would not contribute to a new power imbalance that favored the 99%.
I’m referring to the formation of a loosely structured but powerfully effective T-Square in mutable signs. This T-square would help us understand the 1%’s ability to form an oligarchy. It would help us understand what was needed to stop the 1%’s continuing drive for power and to unwind established oligarchic power.
The mutable T-square revealed that the 1% was able to push us toward oligarchy in large part because of ancient, flawed patterns existed in individual and collective consciousness and in the deeper recesses of the collective unconscious.
Essentially, then, the 1% was able to move us into oligarchy because of defective patterns solidly embedded in consciousness at many levels. To me it demonstrated that undoing oligarchic power structures would be about becoming aware of these defective mental and emotional patterns, releasing them, and correcting or replacing them – a tall order. The mutable T-square began this task. While it was in effect, the mutable T-square dredged up, released and dissolved many of the flawed patterns rooted in consciousness on which oligarchy depends.
At its peak, Jupiter and the North Node were in mutable Virgo opposite Neptune, Chiron and Nessus in mutable Pisces, the home sign of Neptune. The North Node, Jupiter and Neptune, all squared Saturn in mutable Sagittarius. Chiron and Nessus made us aware of the difficulty, discomfort and effort that would be required to change these patterns.
There was never a moment when all of these aspects were exact. But mutable T-square’s energies nevertheless (and by all accounts) had a pervasive, sustained effect. I think it is like the difference between a stream of water issuing from a hose and a long, steady downpour. In either case, people can get soaked. Things will be eroded.
The mutable signs – Virgo, Sagittarius and Pisces – all govern some facet of our mental or intellectual lives from the day-to-day to the philosophical, metaphysical and theological. And because they were either squaring or opposing each other, the planets involved all exercised a powerful disruptive and corrective force.
In undermining existing patterns, even stubbornly embedded ones, this loosely structured mutable T-square marked an important, but preliminary, stage in the breakdown of the oligarchic alignment. it was not about an abrupt, radical shift of power from the 1% to the 99%. It was, rather, about undermining the basis of oligarchy at conscious and unconscious levels.
The mutable T-Square sent surges of transformative, disruptive, corrective energies through just about every facet of human conceptual life – into every area and level of collective awareness. It also went deep, stirring up the deeper, stubborn, sedimentary layers of the collective unconscious.
The profoundly disruptive energies of the mutable T-square powerfully affected everything about every facet – every pattern and structure – in many of the world’s belief systems. These changes had implications for our individual and collective, mental and emotional lives.
This T-Square was a complex and deeply transformative influence, too much so to summarize here. Those interested are invited to look at an article I posted while it was in force.
I date the beginning of this mutable T-Square from December 2014, when Saturn entered Sagittarius. I believe the T-square firmed up in November 2015, when the North Node entered Virgo. In my opinion the effects of the mutable T-square lasted until May 9, 2017, when the North Node left Virgo for Leo.
As I’ve said, the mutable T-Square was never exact, but its energies flowed through our mental lives for nearly a full year and powerfully affected our spirituality, our conscience, our psychology, intellect and motivation.
In essence, the mutable T-Square relentlessly dredged up flawed mental and emotional patterns and structures, including those in the deep layers of the individual and collective unconscious. People were made to see and feel the effects of the flaws in these deeply embedded patterns. I believe many, many of the patterns affected were ancient.
This T-square was not about political or economic conflict, yet by so deeply affecting the patterns in consciousness, it triggered change and laid the groundwork for greater changes to come. The mutable T-Square, exposed, softened and eroded the foundations of existing institutions, agencies and policies. It weakened and changed many of the patterns in collective consciousness that formed the foundation of the oligarchic order.
What we are beginning to see, here, and what we will continue to see, is not planetary power moving through the signs in an orderly, decisive way. It is a gradual, many-layered, multi-faceted, incremental shift that leads to growing instability and, eventually, to reform.
Future aspects, which I will now discuss, indicate that the ground will continue to shift beneath the oligarchs. The 99% will be able to maneuver more effectively and achieve a stronger position. This will happen as they learn to use the power granted by Uranus in Aries and other helpful transits. But, I repeat, this will be a slow – perhaps even agonizingly slow – process. It will proceed in gradual stages with which all involved will doubtless grow impatient.
For the foreseeable future, we will continue to experience a constantly shifting stew of somewhat chaotic transformational forces. I see no quick end to that.
However, a range of hopeful astrological considerations should help counteract negative expectations. For example, it is true that Pluto will remain in the oligarchic signs until 2066-8. However, Pluto enters Aquarius in 2023-4. This will actually undermine the power of the 1% and accelerate the liberation of the 99%.
Aquarius, of course, is a Uranian sign. Uranus governs Aquarius. Like Uranus, it is frequently associated with reform, protest and rebellion. Pluto in Aquarius will augment and accelerate the change process supported by Uranus in the signs of the 99%.
Thus, we can expect Pluto in Aquarius to speed up the erosion of the 1%’s power. It should also accelerate the growth in power and influence of the 99%. Although it is likely to increase levels of individual and collective confusion and turmoil.
The changeful effects of Pluto in Aquarius will doubtless intensify further as Uranus transitions into Taurus from May 2018 thru March 2019.
Taurus is, of course, a sign associated with the 99% and Uranus in Taurus will further empower the 99%. But there’s more to it.
In the US chart, Taurus is in the 6th house, the house of organized labor. Historically, the American labor movement has been a powerful, highly active, politically progressive force. It is certainly not an ally of the 1%.
As Uranus moves into Taurus and the US 6th house, we should expect to see a resurgence of the US labor movement. The US labor movement will once again become a vigorous agent for change in the US. Like Pluto in Aquarius, Uranus in Taurus will further intensify the influence of Uranus in the world.
Also, organized labor is a far flung international movement. Hence the revitalization of the American Labor Movement will almost certainly have international implications. The revitalization of the US labor movement will continue as Uranus moves through the signs that follow Taurus – as the Taurus/Uranus cycle unfolds over the next 84 years.
So, even with Neptune and Pluto still in the oligarchic signs, we can look for the growing destabilization and instability of the oligarchic establishment and a continuing improvement in the status of the 99%. Despite the inertia and lingering strength of the oligarchs, their power is likely to weaken at an accelerating pace and the power of the 99% is likely to grow more quickly.
Outer and inner turmoil is likely to continue and intensify, though. Uranus and Neptune are related to global spiritual life. And beginning in 2025-6, Uranus and Neptune will both be in the signs of the 99%. This will likely bring global spiritual and moral renewal with even more change and more turmoil as spiritual and moral forces attack the crumbling foundations of global oligarchy in our consciousness.
Thus, it is true that, over time, with the planetary placements just mentioned, progressive forces on the ground will be progressively more enabled and emboldened. Even so, none of these new placements point to a simple, quick swing of the political and economic pendulum from the 1% to the 99%.
People must be aware and prepare accordingly. This process will continue to be unusually slow and complex, with facets, many layers, many twists, turns, paradoxes and subtleties. Both inner and outer turmoil will continue.
The 20th century seemed to have worked in terms of sharp polarities and big swings of the pendulum: Democracy vs. Totalitarianism, Liberal vs. Conservative, Democrat vs. Republican, Rich vs. Poor, Capitalist vs. Communist, and so on and so forth. As I said above I think we are approaching a time when these traditional rival groups will develop a deeper understanding of each other leading to deeper dialog, a deeper understanding of the issues involved and greater political and economic stability. Eventually.
On December 20, 2017 UT, Saturn will enter Capricorn for the full transit. Saturn governs Capricorn hence its placement in Capricorn is a strong one. That is partly because Saturn rules Capricorn. But it’s also true because Pluto is also in Capricorn.
Saturn and Pluto are among the most intense of planetary energies. Like the sign of Capricorn itself, both Saturn and Pluto are also closely associated with the exercise of governmental power.
So while Saturn is in Capricorn we are more likely to see continuing turmoil and deep change at governmental levels. However, because of the work of aspects like the mutable T-square, government structures have been softened and made malleable. So, despite the intense power of Saturn and Pluto, we are unlikely to see sudden, catastrophic changes.
Saturn, as noted, is the ruler Capricorn, the sign of legislators, executives and political leaders, and so on. Hence, as Saturn demands a higher standard from government personnel on all levels, it will put a break on the exercise of government power, across the board, on all levels. At the same time, Pluto’s presence in Capricorn will counter Saturn’s dampening effects. This will lead to contradictory and disruptive pressures.
Saturn in Capricorn will call for a profound re-think of all things governmental. This re-think will last for many years as Saturn’s Capricorn ingress will begin an entirely new Capricorn/Saturn cycle.
With its dampening effect on the exercise of governmental power, Saturn in Capricorn will also further reduce the power of the 1% and increase the leverage of the 99%. That is, Saturn in Capricorn is more than likely to add to the difficulties oligarchic governments are having in the face of growing grassroots resistance.
Capricorn is associated with the 1%. It is an oligarchic sign. Saturn will remain in the signs of the 1%/oligarchs for roughly 6.5 more years. Its transit of these signs will accelerate the weakening of oligarchic power.
The ground beneath the feet of the world’s governments will continue to shift and soften while Saturn is in Capricorn. Increasingly, people will continue to question and challenge the assumptions that underlie political systems and governmental institutions.
Pluto and Saturn are both intimately related to the exercise of political power. The combination of Pluto/Saturn energies in Capricorn will produce a kind of a double whammy.
Saturn will simultaneously increase criticism of governments, increase resistance and multiply obstacles to effective government action. But Pluto will be demanding action, perhaps drastic and quick action. Saturn will conjoin Pluto in Capricorn in January 2020.
Just think of high speed, high intensity, long-term pressure and flux. It is very difficult to do justice to the complexity and intensity of this Saturn/Pluto conjunction in Capricorn, especially, coming, as it does, after years of unprecedented softening and flux of the patterns that govern political and economic policies and practices.
The Saturn/Pluto combination is more than transformative, more than explosive, more than revolutionary. This will be true during the runup to Saturn/Pluto conjunction and during the conjunction itself. As the Saturn/Pluto cycle unfolds, the effects of the Saturn/Pluto conjunction in Capricorn will continue to ripple through world events.
The impact of Saturn and Pluto in Capricorn comes after the patterns in the individual and collective unconscious, which is the foundation of governmental power, have been pummeled continuously in slow motion for several years by powerful and poorly understood forces.
After Saturn’s transit of Capricorn and its conjunction with Pluto, we will probably not recognize the world. It will have transformed in ways we probably never thought possible as the result of forces we have not experienced in our lifetimes and cannot easily imagine.
Everything governmental will be – or is being – sucked into a vortex of exceedingly strong, exceedingly powerful transformative black hole. Politics, for its part, is going down the rabbit hole.
During 2025-6, Neptune will transition into Aries and the signs of the 99%, where it will remain for roughly 80 years. I believe that for all practical purposes, Neptune’s Aries ingress will bring a definitive end to global oligarchic rule.
But the chaotic, global political and economic flux will continue into the indefinite future. It is hard to tell at this point how long the turmoil will last. That will depend on how the human race responds to the forces at play and how quickly we solve the issues of rebuilding.
I think we can be sure that the tumult will last for at least a decade. Very probably, longer than a decade. So I think we should be thinking in terms of enduring this tumultuous change process rather than outlasting it or waiting it out. We can’t just run out the astrological clock.
In looking over all of the above, I think we have entered a time when we must be aware of the influence of old (even ancient) patterns in our individual and collective lives and our tendency to fall into them again and again.
Fortunately, I think we are now becoming increasingly aware of these flawed patterns and the pitfalls they represent. I think we will become increasingly aware of the negative consequences of falling into these pitfalls and the importance of avoiding them.
I think we will increasingly appreciate the need to stand up, to point out the flaws in our patterns, to warn others about them and to resist the imposition, or re-imposition, of these patterns in our individual and collective lives.
Finally, for the foreseeable future, astrological phenomena and the events they cause will be about uncovering and re-constructing the flawed patterns buried deep in our consciousness. And dealing with the inner and outer turmoil this reconstruction process will inevitably generate.
I think it is clear that this process will continue well into the next decade and beyond. It’s what our lives will be about for the foreseeable future.
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