A bold claim? There are bold moves afoot in the heavens and these will be felt on every level of human existence, from the deeply introspective and personal to the global, and those effects are going to influence everyone alive today; it is my view that we, as a global community, have planted a dubious seed, and now it’s harvest.
The chart you see below is the Grand Cross which reaches a critical stage of cardinality on August 1st 2010 at 13:23 UT. This is the point at which the transneptunian Hades crosses into Cancer, thus switching the configuration into full effect. This has been a long time coming of course; the Saturn – Uranus oppositions that have so characterised recent months began in November 2008 and will complete – critically – 5 days before this event; so that impasse is a done deal: Hades crosses sign, a mistake is revealed, or the full and difficult consequences of that past error are finally appreciated and the Grand Cross starts to kick off. Bear in mind that here we have a Grand Cross containing both Mars and Uranus in opposition; thus there are hasty, impulsive actions, attempts to negotiate out of a confrontational position (Mars in Libra flatters to deceive here and is oppressed by super-strong-armed Saturn in his exaltation and ruling Pluto: this is important, as we shall see.) The quality of cardinality is to attempt to run before you can walk; this pattern has recklessness, impetuosity and lack of proper planning and preparation written all over it.
Okay, let’s slow down, because this is a complicated picture, which I shall try to describe in more detail. We have a grand cross formed from (Jupiter + Uranus + Hebe) squaring (Minerva + Hades + Kronos + Isis) squaring (Saturn + Mars + Lilith + Panacea) squaring Pluto. Trust me when I tell you that it’s not easy to decipher.
And too this is going to work at two levels. If like me (and Noel Tyl, Harrison Ford, Leonardo DiCaprio, Derek Jacobi, Sissy Spacek) you have the four angles of your chart on the four Aries’ Points of the chart then you’re probably in for a hell of ride. You can join that club too if you’re experiencing your Saturn return, Uranus half-return or Pluto square in the next few months, and too, you really ought to take serious notice if you have important planets on or near any of these Cardinal hotspots or indeed within a degree or so of 15° of the fixed signs. If any of these conditions are true, then this Grand Cross is not going to be particularly abstract for you: indeed, it’s going to get very personal. I can explain how it’s likely to affect you if you fall into this category (and I shall in a future article), and actually, you’ll already be feeling the effects, probably quite intensely.
On the other hand, even if you’re not in the target group, due to the inherent weight of energies of these major patterns in the stars and the crucial observation that the Cardinal points by their very nature have global reach, you’re still going to be affected. Rather synchronously too, this event is all about the in group and the out group as we shall see.
Now we already understand that the Cardinal Cross is about impetuosity, about precipitate action, about plans which haven’t been thought through properly, but in this particular configuration, Saturn is the real powerhouse and he is running the show; he is in his exaltation, triplicity and term, while Mars is struggling to stand up and be counted; this suggests to me that negotiation and compromise is the favoured strategy; Saturn lends caution and restraint, diplomacy is the order of the day, but really, the situation demands action; this Cross has a feeling of too little, too late about it.
Let’s break it down. Jupiter, Uranus and Hebe ruled by and opposed by a Mars that is forced into a compromise position says that the subservient group (those not in power) is pushing for action; people want something done – Hebe on the Aries Point puts the working man (and woman) in the spotlight, while Uranus is pushing for a change, it’s volatile. Jupiter wants equity and fairness but Saturn is opposed; the authorities, the law-makers are resistant.
Then we have Minerva, Hades, Kronos and Isis squaring this position. Here then we have a cacophony of contradictory expert opinions about how to fix the problem, strategies are devised, but nobody knows what to do, who to believe? Do we believe the government, our religious leaders, philosophers and legal experts or do we just look out for ourselves? Remember we have a Grand Cross, whichever direction you take, all you’ll achieve is to create an imbalance.
Now there’s Saturn, Mars, Lilith and Panacea; and here we have passive-aggressive diplomatic efforts that are tasked with trying to find compromises and solutions, but with a hidden agenda (Mars in Libra is manipulative, not necessarily dishonest, but it can’t get what it wants by asking for it outright, so it charms, it flatters, it gets you into its way of mind) and with Lilith there are choices being made about who to save and who to sacrifice. And despite the fact that Libra is involved, don’t expect it to be women and children first while the men stalwartly smoke cigars and the string quartet plays on.
And then finally we have Pluto, sitting menacingly in the shadows and pulling the strings, but crucially he is under Saturn’s influence, vying for his customary control but having to take the Capricorn perspective into consideration.
Now, consider the polarities alongside the rulerships. Pluto is in Capricorn ruled by Saturn, so the aggressive diplomacy, deal-brokering and compromise of the government is a cover for the real people who are running the show: big business. The Hadean mistake that opposes this is in Cancer, so the problem relates to property, and with Pluto, property loans, mortgages, credit obtained against the value of real-estate. We’ve seen this dynamic over the last couple of years plain as day in the so called credit (Pluto) crunch (square Saturn), but this Cardinal Cross is the crisis point because the financial experts (Kronos) made a big mistake (Hades) and now the piper has to be paid. Jupiter is retrograde and opposed by Saturn/Lilith, I’d say this means that the ordinary people are the ones that lose out; contracts get broken, confidence collapses and everyone starts to realise just how big (Jupiter) the mistake (Hades) is. I’m no financial expert (hey, I’m a full time astrologer!) but what I see here is that there is an enormous financial hullabaloo due to a property collapse (Cancer/Capricorn), and it’s going to be a deeply unchivalrous fight for survival (Aries/Libra). I see correlations everywhere. Hades conjunct Minerva squaring Lilith suggests strategies that are purposefully designed to save some at the expense of others. It’s an updated class war, a Marxist historian’s perspective writ large, where the ‘ordinary man’ is sacrificed to ensure the survival of a privileged élite.
I also think it’s significant that Pluto is in Capricorn because the Pluto in Virgo generation is switching into the easy power dynamic of the Pluto trine; the reins of power are being handed over by the Pluto in Leo generation so the agenda has changed. Pluto destroys what it values the most, often as a reaction against the preceding generation’s dynamic: Pluto in Cancer destroyed the family: refrigeration freed women from the kitchen so they could go out to work for the first time while the men fought nationalistic wars. I wrote about this in some detail in a previous article if you want to follow that logic further, but crucially the Pluto in Virgo generation are getting a big push in the direction of manifesting their agenda with this configuration. There will ultimately be a levelling: that’s the Plutonic agenda, Virgo wants us all to be equal, not because, like Libra, it values harmony, but because of inverted modesty: it’s the equality of the socialist, the trades unionist, the proletarian.
We live in a world of dwindling resources and increasing appetites. A miniscule minority live like Emperors while a desperate and precarious majority scrabble their way from one day to the next. The danger for the Virgo generation is that in wanting to fix the inequality of its forbears, it uncovers a problem which cannot be solved. There isn’t enough to go round, no matter how you cut it up, analyse it, quantify it. But better, says Pluto in Virgo, that we’re all peasants together, subsisting in a Stalinist dystopia than we have to suffer aristocrats, plutocrats and kings.
Now if you think this is off the mark, then read this BBC column and see how it’s steeped in Virgoese (it’s just two days old, and Obama has Saturn within minutes of the eclipse point of January 15th: the cogs are clicking into place and it’s happening right now. He’s not so much the leader of the free world as it’s accountant.) So yes, there will be a reckoning, but the die-hards of the old-guard are going to go down fighting, they’ll take no prisoners and ask no quarter, but when the dust finally settles, the world will look different. Will it be better?
Not for a while.
