NEWNESS

2020 has begun, for me, with a variety of new stuff. Even as I prepared this post there came a new word to add to my vocabulary. I had to look up this word from the quote on the right: Evanescent definition: vanishing, fading, fleeting. Also new for me this New Year: a new(ish) computer with new operating system, as mentioned in earlier posts. Another newcomer will be a new washing machine, delivered next week. We were reliably (I trust) told that the issue which caused our washer to stop in mid cycle, a few days ago, is not repairable - the major mechanical part involved in the breakdown of our 15-year old machine is no longer manufactured by Maytag. So, off we had to go to the Maytag store to order the 2020 version of our old washer.

What else is new for me, this New Year? A new piece of knitting - a shawl knitted in 'V' shape, up one side and down the other in some pretty but slightly awkward yarn called Homespun, I chose a colour called Tourmaline (a rich dark blue-green) . The photo comes from the online free pattern.






Also, on the knitting front, I forced myself to finish the disliked work of joining together multiple 8" squares I'd knitted during the weeks before Christmas, while playing with a bunch of colours, mixing and matching. It's not big enough for a blanket but will provide a warm throwover for the knees, or a colourful piece to "pop" - somewhere in the bedroom when Okie weather returns once again to sweaty heat.

Astrologically, there's something new too. Pluto and Saturn, planets which I believe have been bugging me for the past 2 years health-wise, moving to-and-fro opposite my ascendant and close to natal Mercury, are at last moving forward. They will soon be out of range (I hope!) It has been uncanny and at times unnerving to note how health-related stuff coincided with the movement of these two planets. Pluto and Saturn have, from time immemorial, been known to have a few unpleasantnesses to dole out when transiting close to personal planets in the natal chart. My own experiences include diagnosis of breast cancer leading to lumpectomy, mastectomy, excision mastectomy, radiation. For the metastatic bone cancer in femur and hip: local procedures and radiation; not to mention a variety of medications - not particularly nasty in themselves, but with nasty side-effects such as joint pain, nausea, hair thinning (not all lost - yet!) Lymphatic colitis emerged in the midst of all this, and led to colonoscopy and various remedies. It does often turn out that the unpleasantness experienced when these planets visit was a necessary development - something which needed to happen in order for the native to move on. Hmmm! It's a great pity that the effects of those two planets' transits are not more... erm.... evanescent!

Pluto's Transit of Capricorn

Pluto moved from Sagittarius into Capricorn in 2008. Back in 2011 I asked in a post: "Are we standing far enough back yet to discover how Pluto's transit of Capricorn is manifesting?" Inspecting a large oil painting up close, one sees nothing but wild brush strokes, a jumble of colours. Stand well back and a clear picture emerges. Astrology in life is like that. Not many of us want to believe it though. We want to see prompt results for planetary transits and major moves. Pluto's Capricorn transit will continue until 2024 - we are now on the last lap.

Before the transit began many astrologers offered predictions of what Pluto's new domicile would mean for the world. Pluto is known as the transformational planet (or dwarf planet, or whatever). Capricorn is the cardinal Earth sign linked to business, structure, tradition. Not surprisingly most early predictions indicated changes to the structure of society, consolidation of corporate power, upheaval of the status quo and traditional institutions, political or religious. Pluto is not the only outer planet whose transits astrologers find to be significant. While Pluto is in Capricorn we now have Uranus in Taurus and Neptune in Pisces. These variations, and others including Saturn transits (also now in Capricorn) factor in to astrological issues. A Pluto transit, though, because of its length (248 years to transit the entire zodiac), could be seen to indicate a specific "era" all by itself, irrespective of placement of the other outer planets.

What we saw during the first few years of the Pluto in Capricorn transit started to match those early predictions. Banks (institutions) in trouble; "Arab Spring" a challenge to tradition in the middle-east; the strengthening of corporate power on government in the USA - and in other parts of the developed world; a massive oil spill in the Gulf of Mexico might, in time, present restrictions as yet not envisaged by the general public; earthquakes and tsunami in Japan - likewise.

In January 2008 Australian-based astrologer Douglas Parker made a good clear assessment of what Pluto in Capricorn has meant historically, and what he considers it will mean for us in the future. The link I added in 2011 is now defunct, but the predictions remain in my archived post as follows:

I've picked a handful from Mr Parker's list of predictions, and added comments of my own:

Massive popular revolts are likely to occur in countries, that will shake the very foundations of government and power of those countries.(This one is working out well, so far!)

There will be a Peoples Revolution against Big Business and the way in which governments function. Laws will be written to control the power of BIG business. (This is the one I'm waiting for. Bring it on!!)

Massive volcanic eruption, possibly in January 2020, causing global climate change for several years is possible. If not, massive, devastating earthquake activity is possible, as are tsunamis. Global climate change shocks will become apparent between 2008 and 2023. (We can already see some evidence of this one coming to pass)

Some of the greatest Empires in history were born or destroyed with Pluto in Capricorn. A great country will be formed or will begin to crumble into dust during this time. Also some of the great conquerors, like William the Conqueror and Napoleon, were born in this time. So a warrior leader with gigantic power will be born in this time. (Interesting. We shall see!)

The greatest explorers in history set out with Pluto in Capricorn. Last time it was James Cook, The time before that it was Magellan. This time another great explorer will write his name into history before 2023. (Will he/she be a space explorer, I wonder, or an explorer beneath the oceans, or into another dimension? Exciting!)

Another great Golden Age in the history of Music and Art is beginning. (I'm not feeling it - not even in 2019!)

We did appear, back then, to be "in the Puto in Capricorn groove".

What's certain, is that by the end of Pluto's journey through the sign of Capricorn, the world will have changed just as it changed since Pluto moved from Scorpio to Sagittarius in 1996. During the period 1996 to 2008 my own, personal, world underwent transformation in every respect, and during part of that time span Pluto conjoined my natal Venus in Sagittarius. Nothing, not a single thing, is the same for me now as it was then. Now, in 2019 with Pluto in Capricorn and conjunct my natal Mercury, close to the descendant angle of my chart, my life has been, and is being, disrupted again, this time due to medical issues.

I suspect that Donald Trump's ascent to the US presidency in 2016, and the vagaries of Brexit in the UK, during the past few years of Pluto in Capricorn, are both relevant reflections of a Pluto transit transformation of some kind, positive or negative - or of things working towards an eventual transformation.

I may not be around, myself, to see Pluto move from Capricorn into Aquarius in 2024, but do hope to see some indication of how things will turn out, before my final exit.

Midweek Music ~ Vale Scott Walker !

I felt sad when I read about the recent death of Scott Walker. I pulled out my post, from 2010, about him, and his astrology:

https://twilightstarsong.blogspot.com/2010/11/music-monday-scott-walker-jacques-brel.html

Interesting to note, from his natal chart in that post, that transiting Pluto had been conjunct his natal Capricorn Sun in recent months, and is still only a few degrees away from it. Pluto transits pack a punch! Perhaps more on that topic tomorrow.

Annus Hospitalis

The story so far:

In February this year I was diagnosed, after a routine mammogram, with early stage breast cancer. I had surgery - a lumpectomy. All was well, except that the medication prescribed by an oncologist, to hopefully prevent any recurrence of cancer didn't suit me, possibly due to my aged body chemistry (I'll be 80 on 27 January).Pluto was visiting my natal Mercury as all this happened. (Mercury lies close to descendant angle in my natal chart, quite an important placement). As Pluto moved ever so slowly on, some time after surgery, I was given alternative medication, to also deal with early stage osteoporosis of the spine, as well as helping with the breast cancer problem. I began feeling good once more.

The plan is that I am to be checked every 3 months via either breast MRI or mammogram with ultra sound scans when more info is needed. Possibly this is just for the first year - or maybe for two years. On my 6 month check, last week, I had a breast MRI. I was called back for "more information" and an ultra sound scan. Dread returned to the pit of stomach!

I had the ultra-sound scan on Monday. I'd worried myself sick over the weekend. The fact that Jupiter was transiting conjunct my natal Mercury gave me some hope that the malignancy actually hadn't resurrected itself. The very nice, highly efficient radiology doctor, who remembered me from my previous radiology adventures, assured me, after doing three scans, that what caused the MRI to have recorded a problem was just some scar tissue. This will not be a worry unless it enlarges during the next 3 months, when he'll scan it again. If any change other than decreasing in size occurs, he'll take a tissue sample. He fully expects that all will be fine.

I was so reassured after the scan, I broke my teetotal habit, in place since last February, and we went to Applebee's to have a drink. A double Glenlivet and soda cleared away the weekend's stress!

My husband has had his own medical issues this year: new pacemaker last month, cataract surgery next month. This is not annus horribilis, it's annus hospitalis!

2010 - 2030 - Yet another cycle?

Five years ago, Patrice Guinard of C.U.R.A. (The International Astrology Research Center), made a "true and wonderful" prediction for the twenty years 2010-2030 . It's brief, read it HERE. (I'm not able to access the noted "provisos" though.)

The prediction doesn't fill me with eager anticipation! It is based on Pluto - say no more!

SNIP

With its high latitude, Pluto cannot easily form aspects, especially the conjunction or opposition, with any planet. But when its latitude is lower, these aspects are possible.

What's this about latitude? I did once get into the declination thing in astrology, but discarded it as being either not useful or "a bridge too far" when combined with the many other variables available. Latitude is another way of describing declination in astrology (I think).

From astrologer Paul Newman's piece Declination for Beginners

In a nutshell, declination is a form of latitude rather than longitude. It is the measurement of planets north or south of the celestial equator, which is the Earth"s equator extended into space. It is worth remembering that when we talk of an exact conjunction of planets in a zodiac sign—for example the Moon and Saturn in Leo—these would not necessarily be conjunct in the sky. They would be conjunct by longitude (maybe appearing one above the other) but not necessarily conjunct by latitude or declination.* Similarly, the Moon and Saturn may be conjunct by declination (parallel to each other) but from different zodiac signs and therefore not conjunct by longitude. Separately either of these types of "conjunction" (longitude conjunction, declination parallel) has an equal force, but the strongest possible conjunction in astrology is when two planets are conjunct by longitude and parallel by declination at the same time. They would then appear to be conjunct in the sky. This may also help to explain why some transits seem stronger than others.

Here's what librarising.com has to say on astrological latitude

The ecliptic or Sun's apparent path is a belt of some 16 degrees thick(8° north and 8° south) where all the planets including our Earth orbit. Only Pluto and the dwarfs(as well as most stars) deviate from this belt. Wheareas east-west on the ecliptic is measured as LONGITUDE(in degrees), north-south of the ecliptic is measured as LATITUDE(in degrees). So planets in longitude and latitude in astrology refer to their position with respect to the sun's plane or ecliptic as seen from Earth. How this all translates to terrestial co-ordinates is another matter.

So then, taking Patrice Guinard's prediction into account, here's yet another potential cyclical pattern in astrology. Is it likely to be as significant as some other, better known cycles though? At least, it needs to be taken into account when considering them. When Pluto is involved in other cyclical patterns - aspect cycles such as the Uranus/Pluto squares we've experienced in the past few years, if any points in that Uranus/Pluto cycle coincided with Pluto's low latitude cycle (they all did), results could prove to be more intense, more clearly defined. What we need to be doing is looking for any other cyclical patterns involving Pluto, from now until around 2030, and marking 'em with an asterisk!


Staying on CURA's website, a piece titled Astrological Cycles in History by Palden Jenkins is well worth a good long read. There's a lot to digest there, but as a taster, maybe try starting part-way through the piece at the section headed Uranus-Pluto cycles and the storms of history.

Penultimate paragraphs of the piece (it was written in 2002 by the way):

At present, many prophecy buffs look toward the year 2012 as a time of drastic change. Though end-of-the-world type anticipations might turn out to be exaggerated, there nevertheless is a Uranus-Pluto square from 2012-15. At a square, new impulses arising from a conjunction are put to the test - there is a manifestation crisis. The astrologically-logical likelihood for 2012 is that the paradigm-shift issues of the 1960s will be forced by circumstance to deliver their goods: ecological ideas, women's power and techno-globalism, to name but three bundles of issues, will probably have to handle an emergency. War, institutions and boundaries (Aries-Capricorn) are predictable front-runners for likely trouble. Knowing how things are nowadays, this aspect is likely actually to bring a hailstorm of major issues.

But the choices now are fundamental. We need to realise, for example, that war no longer resolves conflicts as once it did. This is now a pragmatic issue, not solely a moral one or the domain of lettuce-eating pacifists. In the twelve years up to this aspect, we possess the choice to make major proactive forward-steps, or to continue delaying and avoiding such challenges as long as possible. As in 1930, on the previous square, when economic and social crisis demanded drastic action, so around 2012 we tread perilous paths along which the choices we make might have enormous and rapid outcomes. Ten years after 1930 the world was at war. What will the world be like in the decade following 2012?

PLUTO

In a survey of historical events on this day, 18 February, through the years is listed:

"1930 - US astronomer Clyde Tombaugh discovers Pluto."

The anniversary of the day Pluto first entered our consciousness is a good day for a few Pluto-related thoughts.

Pluto, small and far away as it is, is thought to have a transformative influence on "the collective", as it transits the signs. Effects are seen most clearly and accurately in hindsight. Pluto's transit is slow, 248 years to complete a circuit of the zodiac.

Back in 2008 Pluto entered Capricorn, to transit that sign until 2024 - 16 years. We're not quite halfway through that transit yet, still fairly deep into the first half. What were astrologers predicting for this Pluto in Capricorn period as the transit began? I dug out an archived post from December 2007 and found I'd quoted a couple of astrologers, this is what they had to say.

Snips from predictions by astrologers Eric Francis and Eric Meyers in late 2007:

Eric Francis: :
"Pluto in Capricorn is, among other things, about massive changes to the structure of society. It is about the consolidation of corporate and government power to a degree that far exceeds anything we have seen so far."

(Me):Yes, we can see that coming, in the USA, even now, just before Pluto has reached its new abode in Capricorn. This scenario could continue, and intensify, for a variety of reasons, and would form stage one.
Eric Meyers' interpretation could well form stage two. Other outer planets will have moved on into new positions. (The link I had to the article from which the following quote was taken is now defunct.) Eric Meyers' website is HERE though.

"When Pluto moves to the earth sign of Capricorn, our structures and institutions are bound to face upheaval and drastic change that will reflect the shifting spiritual and moral processes that are currently occurring while Pluto is in Sagittarius.

Leagues of people will be challenged to release attachments to paradigms and structures they thought were stable and enduring. Changes in government, education systems, infrastructure, organized religions and the general sociological organization of society could endure needed face lifts in order for our collective evolution to take its next step."

(Me): Several scenarios could bring about a swing from the corporate and government clamp down of stage one, to the kind of collective evolution described by Eric Meyers. What is certain, is that by the end of Pluto's journey through Capricorn the world will have changed, just as it had changed after Pluto moved from Scorpio to Sagittarius in 1996.

Eric Francis couldn't have been more accurate could he? The next couple of years will likely see still more of the same. Phase two, from around 2016, ought to bring in something different, but only gradually. Let us hope so, and hope it will be different in some way beneficial to the planet and all of its peoples!

Inspecting a large oil painting up close, one sees nothing but wild brush strokes, a jumble of colours. Stand well back, very well back, a clear picture emerges. Astrology in life is like that too. Not many of us want to believe it though. We keep hoping to see prompt results for planetary transits. Pluto's brush strokes haven't formed a fully discernible picture yet.

5 (+1) Young Males, Agents of Atrocity and Pain ~ Astrological Links.

Five names we wish we could wipe out of recent history: Cho Seung-Hui, James Holmes, Adam Lanza, Tamerlan and Dzhokhar Tsarnaev. Agents of atrocity and pain.

Putting on my amateur astrologer's hat again, I thought it worthwhile to show natal charts of the five young males together in order to highlight any similarities. The simplest similarities, those I see as most significant are ringed in red.

Chart images follow a few notes:

In the natal charts of Cho Seung-Hui and James Holmes Mars and Pluto are conjoined in Scorpio. Mars and Pluto, two of astrology's potentially most malign and explosive factors in their ruling sign!

In the chart of Tamerlan Tsarnaev Sun is in loose out of sign conjunction with Pluto in Scorpio. So - Pluto and Scorpio featured prominently again, and in connection with Sun (the self). His natal Moon (though we don't know exact degree without a birth time) is likely to be in harmonious trine to natal Mars in Aquarius.

Adam Lanza and Dzhokhar Tsarnaev both have Uranus and Neptune conjoined in Capricorn, a generational aspect for those born in the early 1990s, but in these particular cases the conjunction links to personal planets. In Tsarnaev's case the Uranus/Neptune conjunction links to Mars in Virgo by trine aspect and in Lanzas's to Mars in Pisces by sextile aspect. That potent linkage to Mars again!

It seems significant that linkage of outer planets to Mars could, when other factors are in place, hold potential for.......well, we only have to look again at those five names. 20th century British astrologer C.E.O. Carter wrote that:
"Hate is one of the most extreme Martian vibrations, through Scorpio rather than Aries, and probable generally with an admixture of Saturn or Uranus. The last-named is often violent in its antipathies, and, like Scorpio, may remember slights and insults after long periods. In maps (natal charts) capable of nourishing hatred and revenge the benefics are usually obscurely placed."

I must add that dire outcomes such as those I'm highlighting here will not be the case in every instance where outer planets are linked to Mars. Additional factors such as environment, family background, adverse experiences, and general health, mental and physical, would need to be clearly and negatively involved in order to turn an astrological potential towards the worst possible manifestation. The "astrological atmosphere" of the times these individuals did their deeds will come into the equation too. In four of the five cases featured here, the events took place while Pluto is transiting Capricorn in square aspect to Uranus in Aries (one of the signs ruled by Mars).
Just on the face of it that sounds like a fertile atmosphere for trouble.

While preparing this post it struck me that the generation with a Uranus-Neptune conjunction in Capricorn in their natal charts could prove to be an interesting study in future years, as they continue to mature and come into their power. The eccentricity and unexpected change which connects to Uranus combined with the foggy delusion for which Neptune is famous, in the sign of Capricorn known for its ties to the establishment, status quo, business etc. could prove to be one of astrology's oddest and possibly "iffiest" combinations. The last time the two slow-moving outer planets conjoined in this sign was in the 1820s, so the generation born then would have seen, and been involved in, the mushrooming of the industrial revolution - arguably the biggest change humanity had experienced for centuries.

The five charts:
Birth data for Lanza, Holmes and Seung-Hui taken from Astrodatabank, for the two Tsarnaevs it was gleaned from available sources, so may not be 100% accurate. Charts set for 12 noon where birth times are not known.

 Cho Seung-Hui (Virginia Tech massacre 2007) born 18 January 1984, Seoul, S. Korea

 James Holmes (Aurora theater shooting 2012) born  13 December 1987, San Diego, Ca.

 Tamerlan Tsarnaev (Boston Marathon bombing 2013)  born 21 October 1986 in Kyrgyzstan

 Adam Lanza (Sandy Hook elementary School shooting 2012) born 22 April 1992, Kingston, NH.

 Showing link to Mars - sextile aspect

 Dzhokhar Tsarnaev (Boston Marathon bombing 2013) born born  22 July 1993  in Dagestan

 Showing link to Mars - trine aspect

Postscript: Yet another ill-famed young male had slipped my memory while preparing the above: Jared Lee Loughner, born September 10, 1988. (Shooting in Tucson, Arizona, on January 8, 2011, shot and severely injured U.S. Representative Gabrielle Giffords, his target, and killed six people.)

Not as clear a similarity here, but there's still at least one Mars/Pluto link. From the small chart a Yod (Finger of Fate) can be seen with Pluto at its apex linked to Jupiter and Mars by two 150* aspects. Astrologers would interpret that as the "energies" of the two sextiled planets, Jupiter (in Gemini) and Mars (in its own sign Aries), being channeled through Pluto (in its own sign, Scorpio) at the apex.

Arty Farty Friday 15 March

15 March 44 BC : Julius Caesar was murdered on the Ides of March.
Typogravure of a 19th century painting by Karl von Piloty:

Julius Caesar, the "dictator for life" of the Roman Empire, murdered by his own senators at a meeting in a hall next to Pompey's Theatre. The conspiracy against Caesar encompassed as many as sixty noblemen, including Caesar's own protege, Marcus Brutus. Caesar was scheduled to leave Rome to fight in a war on March 18 and had appointed loyal members of his army to rule the Empire in his absence. The Republican senators, already chafing at having to abide by Caesar's decrees, were particularly angry about the prospect of taking orders from Caesar's underlings. Cassius Longinus started the plot against the dictator, quickly getting his brother-in-law Marcus Brutus to join.

Caesar should have been well aware that many of the senators hated him, but he dismissed his security force not long before his assassination. Reportedly, Caesar was handed a warning note as he entered the senate meeting that day but did not read it. After he entered the hall, Caesar was surrounded by senators holding daggers. Servilius Casca struck the first blow, hitting Caesar in the neck and drawing blood. The other senators all joined in, stabbing him repeatedly about the head. Marcus Brutus wounded Caesar in the groin and Caesar is said to have remarked in Greek, "You, too, my child?

From This Day in History.






Nearer to our own time:

Janet Leach was born 15 March 1918 in Grand Saline, Texas, USA died 12 September 1997. She was a studio potter working in later life at St Ives, Cornwall in England. In 1956 she married Bernard Leach, a famous British studio potter. Janet was a potter in her own right before meeting Bernard and her independent spirit ensured that her work was quite different from much of her husband's in style. She never felt the need to pay reverence to her husband's work, was sometimes even critical of it. In return her own work was not always valued within the St Ives Studio, much of it remained hidden. David, Bernard Leach's son from one of his previous marriages, stated before his father's death: "Janet must be the one person who has worked closely with him for a number of years without being visibly influenced. She is so strong in herself that she has maintained more independence than anyone else who has been as close to that dangerous fire, my father!"

See more about Janet Leach HERE and HERE








Aldo Giorgini, artist and scientist, pioneer in computer graphics, was born in Voghera, Italy on 15 March 1934. He was one of the first computer artists to combine software writing with early printing technologies, leaving an aesthetic legacy in the field of the digital arts. He died in 1994.








Ruth Bader Ginsburg United States Supreme Court Justice was born on
15 March 1933, in Brooklyn, New York. Simmie Knox, under commission of the United States Supreme Court painted this portrait of her. She is the second female justice (after Sandra Day O'Connor) and the first Jewish female justice. She is generally viewed as belonging to the liberal wing of the Court. Before becoming a judge, Ginsburg spent a considerable portion of her legal career as an advocate for the advancement of women's rights as a constitutional principle. (Wikipedia)






Finally - another link to the date, and - stretching things a bit to achieve arty-fartyness - a famous ceiling painting by Caravaggio (the only ceiling painting by him).

The date:

Every 248 years Pluto moves inside Neptune's orbit for about 20 years. The period January 23, 1979 to March 15, 1999 was the last time Pluto's very eccentric orbit carried it inside the orbit of Neptune. During that time, Neptune became the outermost planet in the solar system.

For 35 interesting facts about Pluto, see Random Facts, HERE



The painting:

The fresco, features Jupiter, Pluto and Neptune as allegorical representations of alchemy. The artist used his own body and facial features as model for the figures. Jupiter stands for sulphur and air, Neptune for mercury and water, and Pluto for salt and earth. The fresco was commissioned by Cardinal Francesco Maria Del Monte for the ceiling of a small second-floor alchemy lab of his hunting lodge in 1597.

On his eagle, Jupiter swoops down towards Neptune and Pluto, who are standing at the opposite edge of the ceiling, as if he were making the sky light up with a crystal ball. Any interpretation of the gathering of the gods, seen, unusually, from below, must shift between mythology (the gods, identified by the animal associated with each: an eagle for Jupiter, a sea stallion for Neptune and the three-headed dog Cerberus for Pluto); astrology (zodiac signs can be seen on the globe), and alchemy.

Hat tip to Guia Bargigli at THIS BLOG for clear representations, information and interpretation of the painting.

Pluto's Peregrinations Tropical and Sidereal

Reaching a clear conclusion about whether the sidereal or tropical zodiac gives more accurate results isn't easy. Using natal charts as a yardstick doesn't often provide sufficient difference, when the whole chart is considered. Using mundane astrology (how the world at large is affected) might prove more fruitful. Pluto, a far distant body interpreted by astrologers as representing transformation, often following a type of cleansing or upheaval, completes its cycle of areas of the 12 zodiac signs around the ecliptic in around 248 years. Pluto's transits provide a good focus point from which to get a bird's eye view of "atmospheres" on planet Earth as Pluto traversed each zodiac sign - using both tropical and sidereal calculations. Will transformations noted, transit by transit, more closely resemble the qualities of the tropical zodiac sign involved, or the sidereal ?

Hat-tip to Planet Waves for the diagram below:


Many astrologers have written about the tropical "eras" of Pluto. There's a concise assessment by Adrian Ross Duncan HERE, for quick reference. I'll contrast those findings using sidereal calculation. It has to be borne in mind that the two other outer planets, Uranus and Neptune, also have their own "eras" and their own areas of relevance; their cycles vary from Pluto's, clear-cut indications of combined eras are questionable. I guess it'd be a matter of layering, and deciding which layer is the strongest influence at any given point of time.

Using extracts (in italics below) from Adrian Ross Duncan's linked article as a guide, I've added my notes on sidereal contrast in blue. Dates used may not be not exact to the month, I don't have a sidereal ephemeris for reference, and my mathematical ability is negligible!


TROPICAL
"The Pluto in Cancer period, from 1913 (just prior to World War 1) to 1939 (as World War 2 started) brought the upheaval of hierarchies and families, as a great levelling factor transformed society. Men in Europe were slaughtered in their millions in the initial phase of this transit, elevating the role of women and preparing the ground for the beginning of political equality. Similarly the privileged classes lost much of their influence – no more so of course than in Russia , where they were eradicated."

SIDEREAL
Pluto in sidereal Gemini covered the years between (approx.) 1908 to 1934, most of the same middle ground as above, with adjustment at start and finish. Without contradicting any of Mr. Duncan's tropical assessment, we could say that during the period of Pluto in sidereal Gemini, communication blossomed and was transformed in every way, from economical mass reproduction of magazines, illustration, and books, to the rise and mass production of the automobile, a very important development, enabling wider travel and, consequently, transforming communication and life in general..

This is rather like looking into a multiple-sided mirror in a clothing store's changing room: look straight ahead and you see one view, turn to a mirror at the side or behind, and see a different version, equally valid.

On we go:

TROPICAL
"Pluto in Leo from 1939 to 1957/8 brought the rise of the superpower, based on the destructive power of the bomb. Schoolchildren practiced hiding under their desks, as the spectre of intercontinental ballistic missiles brought the possibility of destruction to each individual on earth. On the other hand this was the time when colonial powers lost their power, as individual countries asserted their right to be independent. The Pluto in Leo generation is obsessed with youth and self-indulgence. This first generation to grow up under the shadow of the bomb was the first to confront the fact that humanity really could be destroyed, that Armageddon could be a reality, and therefore they seized life with all their power."

SIDEREAL
Pluto in sidereal Cancer covered years 1934 to 1954/5, again the same middle-ground with adjustment at both ends. World War 2 is the most important, transforming, event included in both eras. I could argue that during this time Pluto radically transformed the home (represented by Cancer). Children were left without fathers for years, sometimes for ever. As Mr.Duncan mentioned, children "hid under desks". The whole population of my homeland, Britain, hid at some point during the war in bomb shelters. Hiding in fear under a tough protective layer brings Cancer the Crab clearly to mind! There was an abiding fear that life in the home would be forever transformed in a disastrous way, stripped of freedom and all warmth. Because of heroic action by military forces from Britain, Europe and the USA , mercifully this didn't happen. Towards the end of this period, home-life resumed for those lucky enough to have survived. For most, wherever they lived, a transformation of some kind had occurred.



TROPICAL
"Pluto in Virgo from 1957 to 1971/2 brought the transformation of work, medicine, agriculture and the service industry. With the introduction of the first computerised robots, employees performing nightmarish tasks in heavy industry were released (into traumatic unemployment) and service industries began their rise. Farms became automated, pigs and chickens became production units, so we could have egg and bacon every day. The Pill enabled women to gain control over their biology – sex was on the rise, but, for the first time, birth rates started falling. Pluto has its own medical solution to the so-called population explosion."

SIDEREAL
I find that Pluto in sidereal Leo from around 1954/5 to the end of the 1960s much better describes the period than Pluto in tropical Virgo. It was as though the sun (Leo) had begun to shine once again after the dark years of fear, depression and war. The youth of Europe and America found a voice, and in the 1960s we heard it loud and clear. The hippie era seems now almost like a stage musical (very Leo), the fashions and fads, even the long manes of hair common at that time seem to me to fit Leo's image far better than Virgo's.


Thus far, I think an argument could be made for both tropical and sidereal viewpoints. One could cherry-pick items from any era to support almost any argument though, and there's the problem of mixed influences from Uranus and Neptune to consider. It's a matter of how we each see the overall flavour of a particular, well-defined era.

TROPICAL
"For those to whom marriage was sacred, Pluto had a very special surprise when in transited Libra from 1971 to 1983/4. Aesthetics and femininity were transformed, as bras were burned, and equal rights insisted on. Roles were reversed as men renounced masculinity, and women demonstrated that they could manage very well without the opposite sex. Men loved men, and women loved women – leaving the Pluto in Libra children to ponder about love and relationships... and to create the single culture of today. This was the era of MAD – mutually assured destruction – the nuclear balance of power between the Soviet Union and USA . "

SIDEREAL
Sidereally Pluto was in Virgo for much of the same period as above, actual sidereal period was nearer to 1969 - 1980. The overall feel of that era certainly included the beginnings of equality for women and gays in Europe and the USA. Britain had its first woman Prime Minister, Margaret Thatcher. Virgo is represented traditionally by a female figure, so symbolically there is a correspondence here, in the slowly moving transformation relating to gender equality and perception. There was an energy crisis, too, requiring restrictions and rationing, and in Britain strikes cost millions of working days. In the USA Richard Nixon rose and fell ignominiously, perhaps causing a transformation in the way Americans were to view their leaders in future years - more critically, with less passivity. The aftermath of the Vietnam war left many injured, mentally and physically. These instances equate more to transformation in Virgo's realms of economy, critical reaction and health concerns than to Libran diplomacy, and emphasis on relationships, in my view. And the beginnings of environmental awareness arose in this era - in 1970 the first Earth Day was celebrated - in keeping with Virgo, an Earth sign.


TROPICAL
"After so much sexual experimentation, Pluto in Scorpio from 1983 to 1995 brought the spectre of AIDS. Now even the most natural act in the world could result in death. Back in its home sign, Pluto focussed paranoia on sex itself, and this led to a drastic change in sexual habits, not least in a new openness amongst governments regarding sexual health. Condoms were everywhere. Economically this was the time of the yuppie, of junk bonds and how to get rich by screwing others – happy times for Reaganites and Thatcherites. Banks crashed, then merged to create huge financial entities."

SIDEREAL
Roughly the same era (give or take a few years at each end) is covered by sidereal Libra.
Fall of the Berlin Wall, Tiananmen Square protests of 1989 in China, a gradual transition into the computer age, the Reagan era in the USA. These could all connect to Libra rather than Scorpio, in my view. Libra, an Air sign, symbolised by the scales, representing balance, a striving for justice, love of peace. Libra is an Air sign, with mental focus, aiding transition into an increasingly computerised era. Pluto in Libra could be seen to relate to all of these.


TROPICAL
"Pluto in Sagittarius from 1995 to 2008 has of course evoked the spectre of international terror and religious fundamentalism. As a mutable sign Sagittarius creates polarity, and today we have the idea of a war of civilizations. The root cause of terror is probably injustice, which Pluto in Sagittarius seeks to redress by its own methods, but the terror of Muslim extremists is also about fighting the Great Satan of America, and the sexual flagrancy and material indulgence of the West... a last-ditch attempt to save an outdated worldview."

SIDEREAL
Not exactly the same period - actually around 1993 to 2006, Pluto lay in sidereal Scorpio. The over-riding aspect of this period was terrorism, as mentioned in the tropical assessment, terrorism and the Iraq war/occupation. As I see it, terrorism equates more to the passion and fixedness of Scorpio, ruled by Mars and Pluto, than the extremes and expansiveness of Sagittarius, ruled by benign Jupiter. Let's not forget that Pluto is very much at home in Scorpio. It's possible, though, to view this from both perspectives.


And now we are watching the future unfold as tropical astrologers consider that Pluto is transiting Capricorn, sidereal astrologers consider that Pluto is transiting Sagittarius. Transformation in business and established institutions (Capricorn) : a work in progress, I guess! Transformation relating to religion (Sagittarius): Roman Catholic priestly scandals, Pope retiring. Transformation (to come?) in the curbing of excesses (Sagittarius).

I don't see a clear overall bias to either tropical or sidereal, past or the present. That could be partly because the two zodiacs do run in tandem for part of the time, so in taking a bird's eye, long distance, view there's bound to be a blending of the qualities and traits of the two signs involved. So this exercise didn't really clarify things any more than does comparing sidereal and tropical natal charts. Any thoughts?

Uranus Square Pluto - Brush Stroke in a Vast Oil Painting

Our internet connection went south for a while earlier, it led to my delving into a couple of astrology books to see what the authors had to say about a matter currently claiming astrologers' attention: the square aspect (90 degree angle) now being formed between Uranus, planet of revolution & change, and Pluto planet of transformation following some kind of "clearing away". Square aspects in astrology, by the way, denote conflict and challenge.

On first thought it would seem that these two outer planets, with somewhat scary reputations, might indicate events more troublesome when in harmonious aspect, working together via - a trine (120 degrees), for instance. Could the challenge of a square lessen the likelihood of a turmoil-laden scenario the two slow-moving planets might be seen to reflect when working in tandem?

Astrologers look to history and consider what has happened in previous planetary cycles when similar aspects occurred. Using historical reference as yardstick isn't particularly reassuring though.

From Planets in Aspect by Robert Pelletier (1974)

Uranus and Pluto were in this relation from 1931 to 1934, when dramatic events stirred the world. While people were deeply preoccupied with the Depression, trying to find work and food, Hitler made his move. He effectively restored order amid the chaos in his own country and stabilized its economy, but the price paid by the people was extremely high. He enslaved them and gained domination over those willing to serve his madness.

You must be constantly alert to pay the price you will pay if you fail to respond to the danger signals of any popular movement or political development. there will always be individuals who will try to rise to power when the public is apathetic.

That's something to keep in mind - whilst also remembering that the rest of the planets are in very different positions now, in 2012, from the way they were during any previous Uranus/Pluto squares. The world has changed some too - though not nearly as much as one might wish!

The result of current astrological indicators won't be properly clear for at least a couple of decades. It's as if now we're looking, with a magnifiying glass, at a single brush-stroke in a vast oil painting. There is no way of knowing what the complete painting is all about.

Another of my books, E. Alan Meece's Horoscope for the New Millennium tells how current astro positions might play out in humans born at this time:

"Lonely rebels" 2011-2018 (Generation Z-b) (Uranus in Aries square Pluto in Capricorn; Neptune in Pisces).
This group will be similar to those born in the early 1930s. Like them, they will be confused rebels or lonely seekers in their youth. Growing up in times of crisis, they will insist on breaking free from authorities and blazing their own path, however unsure of where it might lead them. Highly visionary, in later years some of them will be able to adapt and find a powerful leadership position within society.

PATTERNING THE FUTURE

Speculative fiction writer William Gibson, in his novel Pattern Recognition, wrote :

“We have no idea, now, of who or what the inhabitants of our future might be. In that sense, we have no future. Not in the sense that our grandparents had a future, or thought they did. Fully imagined cultural futures were the luxury of another day, one in which 'now' was of some greater duration. For us, of course, things can change so abruptly, so violently, so profoundly, that futures like our grandparents' have insufficient 'now' to stand on. We have no future because our present is too volatile. ... We have only risk management. The spinning of the given moment's scenarios. Pattern recognition”.

Pattern recognition is something astrologers use, too, when attempting to predict the future. Future configurations of the planets, similar to configurations which have occurred years, decades or centuries before, small patterns and huge ones, are basic ingredients of astrological prediction.

We humans have inbuilt patterns: habits, species-wide; one of them is a fascination with the future, yearning to know what it might hold for us.

In 1987 a then sci-fi writer L. Ron Hubbard, better known now for his Scientology thing, threw down a challenge to other sci-fi authors and some scientists to write letters to the people of 2012, setting out ideas and predictions of how life in that future world might be. 2012 then lay 25 years ahead. Their now 25-year-old thoughts are interesting, some were off mark, some, whose authors more clearly understood pattern recognition, have proved to be reasonably accurate.

The whole article is a good read -
Time Capsule Predictions 1987.

Here are just a few lines from some of the entries:

ISAAC ASIMOV
Assuming we haven't destroyed ourselves in a nuclear war, there will be 8-10 billion of us on this planet—and widespread hunger. These troubles can be traced back to President Ronald Reagan who smiled and waved too much.

GREGORY BENFORD
Oil is running out, but shale-extracted oil is getting cheaper. The real shortage in much of the world is…water.......Most Americans are barely literate, think in images rather than symbols, and think the future is something that will happen to somebody else…just as today…......Bases on the moon, an expedition to Mars…all done. But the big news will be some problematical evidence for intelligent life elsewhere.

ALGIS BUDRYS
The most socially approved-of individuals will constitute a narrowly focused aristocracy, and will be at the mercy of dull functionaries and secretive rebels who actually perform the day-to-day maintenance of society. Social regimentation will then have become so deft that most people will regard any other social milieu as pitiable.

SHELDON GLASHOW
Japan will be the central economic power in the world, owning or controlling a significant part of European and American industries......The American economy will have experienced a gentle yet relentless decline. Our children will not live such comfortable lives as we do. The spread between the rich and the poor will have grown, and crime will have become so prevalent as to threaten the social fabric. The rich and the poor will form 2 armed camps. Most automobiles and heavy machinery will be manufactured in Japanese owned planets located in America. Yet, agriculture and higher education will be our most successful exports..........

FREDERIK POHL
All the evidence of what is going on in the world today leads to the conclusion that none of these good things are going to happen, because our country, the richest and most powerful nation in the history of the world (and, I have always thought, the best) is bankrupting itself to recruit and train terrorists in Latin America, give arms to terrorists all over the world, develop and employ fleets, armies and weapons systems which have no purpose except to pound any country which disagrees with us into submission. Since, unfortunately for us, the people who disagree with us have terrorists, fleets, armies and weapons systems of their own, the most plausible future scenario is all-out nuclear war.

ORSON SCOTT CARD Americans will see the collapse of Imperial America, the Pax Americana, as having ended with our loss of national will and national selflessness in the 1970s. Worldwide economic collapse will have cost America its dominant world role; but it will not result in Russian hegemony; their economy is too dependent on the world economy to maintain an irresistible military force. A new world order will emerge from famine, disease, and social dislocation: the re-tribalization of Africa, the destruction of the illusion of Islamic unity, the struggle between aristocracy and proletariat in Latin America—without the financial support of the industrialized nations, the old order will be gone. The changes will be as great as those emerging from the fall of Rome, with new power centers emerging wherever stability and security are established. The homogeneity of Israel will probably allow it to survive; Mexico and Japan may change rulers, but they will still be strong. If America is to recover, we must stop pretending to be what we were in 1950, and reorder our values away from pursuit of privilege.

JACK WILLIAMSON If we had a time-phone, now in 1987, we would beg you to forgive us. We have burdened you with impossible debts, wasted and polluted the planet that should have been your rich heritage, left you instead a dreadful legacy of ignorance, want, and war.

What might a batch of today's writers and scientists predict for the year 2037 - 25 years from now? Included in their assessments, for sure, would be climate problems, water shortage, consequent food shortages, limits on use of electric power and oil-based fuels. Technological progress will have slowed due to already mentioned issues. The economy? Who knows?!

Using a little astrology: Pluto planet of transformation will have been transiting Aquarius, sign of the rebel, since 2025. Transformation, Pluto-style occurs only after an often painful purging of all that has outlived its usefulness. Pluto's previous transit of Capricorn would have left behind much that was in need of a good purge! At some point between now and 2037, probably soon after 2025, the population of several countries will be roused to outright rebellion against systems then in place...."the purging effect". By 2037 the worst should be over, with problems still to be faced - but with hope and fresh enthusiasm.

VENUS TRANSIT of the SUN

I hesitate to bring up this topic, it has been done and dusted by all and sundry already, but as today/tomorrow will see the second half of a once-in-a-lifetime pair of astronomical events, when Venus's transit crosses the face of our Sun, I ought not to let it go without note. The other date in our lifetimes when this event occurred, the first of the pair, was on 8 June 2004.
(Illustration from Live Science.)


For a good explanation of the astronomical side of the event I'd recommend a article from 2004 written by Dave Muller. The page has excellent illustrations and diagrams.

From an astrologers point of view, an important consideration has to be how previous Venus transits of the Sun have seemed to manifest here on Earth. It appears that these transits have seemed to mark shifts, or even jolts, of progress in geographical and scientific exploration, as well as the rise of industry and early technology.

I enjoyed Alison Chester-Lambert's article from Midlands School of Astrology website. There are numerous others online. I also liked Lynn Koiner's piece HERE .

What can an amateur like yours truly possibly add to the plethora of information already on the net? Not a lot.

I'm conscious that, although this pair of events happens only once in a lifetime, there are other cycles just as rare, or even more rare. Transit of Pluto over a personal planet is one easy example. I experienced a transit of Pluto to my natal Venus in Sagittarius at the end of 2003/beginning of 2004. That transit coincided (almost) with the first of the current Venus transit of the Sun pair in 2004. My life changed then.....and how!! My partner of 33 years died. I met my now husband, we married, I sold my home in England and most of my possessions, emigrated to the USA with new husband at the end of October 2004. There could hardly be a more all-encompassing life change than that. But was it linked to Pluto's transit of my natal Venus, or to the Venus transit of the Sun? Or neither? Or both?

Questions like those can be presented regarding every event or series of events which can be surmised to have flowed from Venus transits of the Sun through the centuries, as described in the astrological articles linked above.

This rare event definitely warrants note, but possible manifestations of it may only become clear to people in the future - perhaps people observing the next such event in 2117, and wondering.

Music Monday ~ Pisces, Neptune/Pluto Generation, Townes Van Zandt, Jimmy Nail, Nostalgia.

Two singer/songwriters (and in one case, /actor) with Sun in Pisces came to mind via a kind of chain reaction. March 7, this Wednesday, would have been the birthday of Texan singer/wongwriter Townes Van Zandt. One of his songs, Pancho & Lefty, is a favourite of mine, when feeling country-ish. Searching YouTube for another of his songs to feature, I noticed his version of Dirty Old Town. Huh? That song, another longtime favourite and one that sends pangs of homesick feelings through my bones, was written by Ewan MacColl about the northern English city of Salford. Strange to hear it being sung by an American artist, and a Texan at that! Townes Van Zandt must have admired the song and managed to infuse a different flavour into it, but for me, his cannot equal the songwriter's own version, featured in a post last year - SEE HERE.

Listening again to Dirty Old Town had me longing to hear another homesicky song - one written and sung by actor/singer/songwriter Jimmy Nail: Big River, then I realised that Nail, born 16 March, also has Sun in Pisces.

Pisces probably rules nostalgia, and mild melancholia - homesickness. Several songs of both artists have that in common. I wasn't born in either Salford or Newcastle-on-Tyne (the Big River), but in another northern city on a river: Hull. I suspect that this kind of nostalgia is common to all English northerners (and Scots, and the Irish) when far from home.

These two guys, Townes Van Zandt and Jimmy Nail, born 5,000+ miles, 9 days and 10 years apart, have few things astrologically in common apart from their Sun and Mercury in Pisces, and the fact that neither has any planet in Earth signs. Without access to their times of birth I've set the charts at 12 noon. Both guys' natal Moons were at 21 Leo at noon; natal Moon of both would have to be somewhere in the second half of show-bizzy Leo, whatever their times of birth.

Townes Van Zandt, born into a wealthy Texas oil family fell into severe drug addiction and alcoholism early on, died, too soon, at age 52 .

Jimmy Nail was born in Newcastle-on-tyne, in the north east of England, best-known for his acting roles in TV series Auf Wiedersehen, Pet and Spender; seen in the movie Evita playing the part of Magaldi. He has around half a dozen cd albums to his name and his autobiography, A Northern Soul, was published in 2005.






Why one of these guys would fall into a swamp of addiction and suffer an untimely death wasn't clear to me from his chart initially. However, there's a configuration astrologers call a Yod (Finger of Fate) in Van Zandt's chart. It links Neptune and Pluto in sextile (60*) both planets link to Mercury via quincunx (150*) aspect.

The Neptune/Pluto sextile is a generational one, it'll be common to all born between (roughly) 1943 and 1956 with Neptune in Libra and Pluto in Leo transiting at around 60* apart. This is the generation who came to maturity in the 1960s, Van Zandt was one of the avant garde of that highly creative group, many of whose lives did, eventually and sadly end due to overwhelming addictions. Astrological Neptune connects to addictive tendencies, Pluto to darkness and death.

Bear in mind that Neptune is ruler of Pisces where both guys' Natal Sun and Mercury were at the time of their birth, making Neptune highly significant in the life patterns of these two artists.

Nail was born in one of the last years of that same Neptune/Pluto generation. His chart also has the Yod, in his case it links to his natal Sun - but - perhaps here's the big difference: Nail has a Grand Trine involving Neptune too: Neptune/Jupiter/Mercury. Could it be, I wonder, that this harmonious link of Mercury to benign Jupiter and creative Neptune has outweighed, or at least balanced Neptune's sextile to Pluto in Nail's life pattern, diluting the potential of Pluto's negativity? Just a thought.


And

RIP Davy Jones.