As we wait, on tenterhooks, for results of the New York primary later today, I've decided to play around with an old post of mine from early 2008 during that election season, adjusting the detail - just for fun. The post was titled:
Spirit of Idealism in the USA:
It's fascinating to observe the patterns and passions erupting, from a variety of perspectives, during this long election season in the USA. The conundrum I puzzle over a lot these days: sidereal versus tropical zodiac, nags me regularly as I browse news articles.
There's an interesting phenomenon occurring in the USA now. On first thought it seemed to me to be classic Uranus inAquariusAries, tropically, but in the sidereal zodiac, Uranus is now in tropical Pisces. Sidereally Neptune is in Aquarius.
"Change", a keyword of Uranus and Aquarius, is the buzzword of the moment here. American youth has suddenly become avidly interested in politics, passionately supporting their almost messianic hero, presidential candidateBarack Obama, Bernie Sanders, whose message encapsulates Aquarian ideals.
The movement towards Aquarian ideals isn't only for the youth of the USA. Those left unmoved byObama's oratory and celebrity endorsementsBernie Sanders' proposals are enthusiastically supporting an equally determined Hillary Clinton, whopassionatelydemands very little change from the way the country has been run for the last 7 years. Even the old-fashioned Republican party has taken a wee step towards more Aquarian thinking bysupportingbeing shocked by the unexpected in the form of Donald TrumpJohn McCain,who, though still something of an egomaniacwarrior,isconsiderablyever so slightly more humanitarian (Aquarian) in his views on a scant few fronts than his party would traditionally have been.
Uranus in siderealAquariusPisces initially seems like an oddgoodfit, but because we currently have Neptune intropicalsidereal Aquarius and Uranus intropicalsidereal Pisces, the two planets are in what astrologers call "mutual reception", each is in the home sign of the other. Astrologer Robert Wilkinson says (here) that mutual reception "is a very strong influence. It is as though the two planets feed each other, and grow stronger, for good or ill, in their ability to dominate those affairs in the chart." Using thesiderealtropical zodiac, Neptune currently lies inCapricornPisces, mutual reception with Uranus in Aries is absent.
It's not a clear-cut choice to decide which fits the situation better, sidereal or tropical zodiac. It could be argued that Uranus insidereal Aquariustropical Aries is a good match for events in the USA, it could also be proposed that Neptune's influence is involved from its home sign, Pisces. In a paragraph above I used the word "messianic" quite automatically, and only later, when searching for information in my astrology books, noticed that Grant Lewi, when describing Neptune in Aquarius in his book "Astrology for the Millions" said
"There is a tendency to messianic feelings of social and economic reconstruction, perhaps an inclination towards dubious methods of accomplishing worthwhile goals (an "end justifies the means attitude")".
Rosa Brooks' article "A National Mood Swing", in the Los Angeles Times discusses the current phenomenon (see here)
In conclusion, she writes: [my deletions and additions for 2016]
"It’s far too soon to say if the newfound spirit of idealism that’s sending voters (including many independents) to the Democratic primaries in record numbers will endure, paving the way for an era of energized new social movements and reforms. But I’d bet that we really have turned a page. On the Republican side too, there’s a palpable desire for a candidate who doesn’t fit into a rigid ideological box,one who can tap into and reflect our best instincts instead of our most craven fears.
Whether the idealistic yearning for change endures probably has little to do with who wins and who loses the Democratic nomination (or even the White House). Losses can galvanize social movements just as much as victories, and whoever wins the White House will be president of an America different from the one that greeted Bush’s inaugurations in 2001 and 2005 [ added: or Obama's in 2009 and 2013] It will be a morehopeful, lesspartisan nation,one unitedin its rueful awareness of the ways formerBushpresidencies went wrong, a nation [hopefully] more ready to pull its socks up and get to work to put things right."
Conclusion: Tropical zodiac may describe this particular situationmore exactly thansidereal, depending on one's viewpoint, but sidereal would still describe it well enough.
Astrology aside, the hope in the hearts of everyone is surely that the phenomenon occurring here [among young voters] survives the election, then grows and blossoms, so the world and the planet itself will benefit.
I know you don't put stock in mundane astrology, Twilight, but the birth of a nation is often considered when viewing planetary transits, whether sidereal or tropical. The USA is definitely different than other countries and vice versa. Does each country have a unique natal chart that correlates with astrology and defines its inherent characteristics?
ReplyDeleteThere's also the global chart or the world axis, tropically defined as Sun at 0* Aries at the time of equinox (or subtract 23* for the sidereal). Your post today is a consideration whether tropical or sidereal astrology best fits the characteristics indicated by the current (or previous) election characteristics using the world axis, not transits (or progressions, returns, etc) to the USA natal chart.
Likewise, you are considering strictly the sidereal-tropical longitudinal positions of Uranus and Neptune by constellation sign. Planetary aspects will probably be a major factor, whether by current transits (global-world axis) or to the USA natal chart. One can also say that the presidential wannabes' natal charts are factors, additionally considering each candidate's astrological resonance within the electorate. What filters the overall electorate into subgroups of individual candidate supporters?
The following aspects are valid for both sidereal and tropical (the planetwatcher link is displayed in tropical):
2008's presidential election had Saturn opposed Uranus and inconjunct Neptune:
http://planetwatcher.com/#1225821600
2012's election had Uranus square Pluto and Saturn trine Neptune:
http://planetwatcher.com/#1352224800
2016's election has the remnants of the Uranus-Pluto squares, with the Jupiter-Saturn-Neptune T-squares dissipating by election day. Jupiter will be square Pluto, inconjunct Neptune, and Neptune conjunct the S Node:
http://planetwatcher.com/#1478628000
To address your post, when I consider the global events of the past several years, I identify that as uniquely Uranus in Aries, Neptune in Pisces, Pluto in Capricorn. However, the harsh astrological aspects are the same, whether sidereal or tropical...maybe it's more the geometric angle and not the sign.
BTW - Astrologers identify a planetary conjunction by longitude more often than not, ie two or more planets occupying the same degree of a sign. Latitudinal conjunctions are rarely used nowadays. Eclipses are longitudinal and latitudinal conjunctions. We have a true conjunction (eclipse) of Sun-Mercury on May 9th:
ReplyDeletehttp://www.skyandtelescope.com/astronomy-news/observing-news/get-ready-for-may-9th-transit-of-mercury-041320162/
Here's a 1901 to 2050 Sun-Mercury transit ephemeris (there have only been 21 transits in that duration):
http://eclipse.gsfc.nasa.gov/transit/transit.html
mike ~ Thank you for these observations. I adjusted my 2008 post to fit 2016 just to see what would emerge, not really to make any specific point, astrological or political - other than, maybe, that we voters are still part of the same dance formation we were in 2008, just a little further around the dance floor. I didn't know what, if anything, would come out of the exercise - probably not much has! My brain became scrambled just in the post preparation!
ReplyDeleteIs it at all significant that in 2008 there was mutual reception tropically and in 2016 there's mutual reception sidereally, between Neptune and Uranus?
mike ~ Considering also the title I gave to the post in 2008 : "Spirit of Idealism in the USA" - idealism could be said to be a combination of Neptune and Uranus?
ReplyDeleteI would ascribe Jupiter (Sagittarius) to the role of idealism, at least in the basics of astrology. The four mutable signs help formulate: the mind and collection of data of Mercury-Gemini; organizing and analysis of the data of Mercury-Virgo; formulating higher concepts, ideologies, philosophies of Jupiter-Sagittarius; transcending the mental toward universal abstractions of Jupiter-Neptune-Pisces.
ReplyDeleteJupiter has synodic cyles and the synodes with the slower planets are considered very important in individual and collective evolution. Jupiter's conjunction with an outer planet starts a new cycle, wrenches thrown-in at the two squares, and tested at the opposition.
Jupiter-Saturn 20 year synode:
"The most significant circumstances in the life of a nation, especially a democratic republic of free institutions and the rule of law, happens when those in power, at the time of the conjunction and often at the time of the opposition, pass that power on to a whole new group of people.
At this time, during the period of its new phase, or the full phase, a political party that may have been in power for years, or a group in government who followed a certain political philosophy, might simply go out of power, or be voted out of office."
http://www.historicalastrology.com/planetary-synodic-cycles/150-years-of-jupitersaturn/
Jupiter-Uranus 13.5 year synode:
“In world transits, the cyclical alignments of Jupiter and Uranus correlated consistently with condensed waves of celebrated milestones of creative or emancipatory activity across many fields. The conjunction of the two planets occurs approximately every fourteen years. During each of these, as well as during the intervening oppositions, decisive crests of remarkably synchronous breakthroughs and innovations appeared to take place within a brief period of time in many areas of human activity. The evidence suggested that the continuing long-term cultural developments that we saw associated with the longer Uranus-Pluto cycle (and with other longer outer planet cycles . . . such as Uranus-Neptune) consistently burst forth in a more frequent cyclical efflorescence in coincidence with the Jupiter-Uranus alignments. These cyclical waves of creative and emancipatory cultural activity occurred either as intervening crests between the longer, less frequent Uranus-Pluto alignments or as climactic moments during or just after the period of the longer alignment.” –Richard Tarnas, Cosmos and Psyche, p. 294
https://graycrawford.net/2014/09/16/the-jupiter-and-uranus-cycle/
The Jupiter-Neptune opposition has just occurred. Jupiter-Uranus opposition is early January, 2017. Jupiter-Saturn square is upon us now. Jupiter-Pluto trine is upon us now.
Note that Jupiter was conjunct Neptune early 2010, then conjunct Uranus one year later. Tarnas' notation that a Jupiter-Uranus synode occurring just pre or post to the Uranus-Pluto square would be expected to be of greater significance. The Jupiter-Uranus opposition January, 2017, is post. The Jupiter-Uranus conjunction and opposition bracket the many Uranus-Pluto squares of the past several years, as does the Jupiter-Neptune synode of conjunction-opposition. Maybe this is why things seem so kooky-balooky right now.
mike (again) ~ I always think of Jupiter in terms of excesses, so I guess idealism is an excess of optimism and philosophical thought. :-) I do seem to remember reading that Neptune has some involvement in idealism too though. In Neptune's case it probably has to do with attempting to escape reality, dissolving the boundaries of what is and isn't possible. Uranus' possible idealistic bent, to my mind comes from a continual push for new things - new and better, presumably! Because we don't know what we're dealing with in astrology it's wide open to argue in lots of directions.
ReplyDeleteThanks for all these extra astrological points.
mike ~ I've just watched a 36 min video of an interview by Cenk Uygar with Dr. Jane Sanders - if you've not seen it - it's well worth viewing.
ReplyDeletehttp://elitedaily.com/news/politics/young-turks-host-says-media-afraid-bernie-sanders/1462863/
I hadn't heard Jane Sanders speak beyond one sentence prior to this interview, but as she points-out, Bernie hasn't received more than a few minutes here and there on mainstream news, so the media doesn't have time for Jane, either. I already knew the interview topics and discussion, so I certainly agree with her on the subjects covered. I enjoyed the brief how-we-met!
ReplyDeleteI saw on the national news that NYC had tremendous problems with their elections, from broken machines, closed precincts, and possibly up to 126,000 voters purged and made ineligible to vote, many from Bernie's Bronx.
Sanders' campaign manager is asking for a probe into Hillary's "Victory Fund" and its association with the DNC, which is taking advantage of a loophole. The DNC has been a Bernie frenemy this entire election process.
Like you, I have contempt for Hillary. At this time, she's about 60% to Bernie's 40%...she was just announced the winner. Ugh. It appears she has managed to finagle her nomination. Seven more months until the election...get busy Mdme Defarge!!!
mike (again) ~ Dang! Dang! Dang! I had hoped Bernie would hold Hillary to a tighter race, at least. As you say, there have been some questionable problems for voters in NYC - and I've just read somewhere that Bernie won the large majority of counties/districts (presumably in upstate NY - many more than Hillary did....also that NY, especially NYC is, and has been, well under the thumb of the DNC establishment, led by the Clintons. Perhaps that's sour grapes...sounds reasonable though.
ReplyDeleteWe'll see what he sees as his route going forward - I'm sure there'll be e-mails coming for further donations. I don't believe he'll withdraw at this point, unless forces - and I don't think they can force him to do so.
Polishing the knitting needles and winding the wool is my next job! ;-)