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Gary@DreamAstrologer.com

Goddesses & Transformation in the US Chart

Currently, the US Government seems to have underestimated the dire situation facing its own economy and the repercussions upon the World economy. So, what Astrology shows this financial crisis as a World transformation?

 Certainly Pluto is a factor, but we will see he is clearly not the only one. As an emissary of Saturn –Pluto in Capricorn earlier in the year seemed to want to enforce an opposite agenda to the expansive idealism of the previous 12 years. The past 6 months were a time for one last hurrah –the curtain call for Pluto in Sag. 

 The Pluto in Sagittarius Era began in 1995 when Jerry Garcia died. This was the first year where the Dow surpassed 2 millennium marks in a single year. It would do it again in 1997, 1999 and 2006. Pluto=other people’s money & Sagittarius=expansion. Now, as Pluto has moved within 1.5 degrees of Capricorn, the expansion has been painfully reversed. Governments and central banks around the world grasped at measures to contain the fast-spreading financial crisis on Monday, but global stocks still plummeted.

The ingress of a planet into a sign is always powerful. What is so Monumental about Pluto ingressing Capricorn is that he is crossing the Mundane or World axis -defined by the solstice and equinoctial points –the foundations of the tropical Zodiac.

 

The other important parts of this World Axis are the cross-quarter points of the Celtic Sabbats –defined in Astrology as 15 degrees of the Fixed Signs. These points are halfway between the equinoxes and solstices and represent portals of incredible raw power –due to their fixed nature. For instance, the deadliest Hurricanes in history have been preceded by Eclipses near these points.

 

Venus –as the Babylonian Goddess of Re-birth, Ceres –as the Greek Goddess of Re-birth, and Pluto –as Greek God of the Underworld –all have to do with the processes of transformation and death/rebirth. Venus, Ceres and Pluto in the nativity show how naturally involved the person is with the process of transformation on the personal, social and philosophical levels. At the moment, all 3 planets mythically associated with transformation and death/rebirth currently reside at critical junctures within the structure of the tropical Zodiac –near either 0 degrees of a Cardinal sign or 15 degrees of a fixed sign. So, this is clearly a signature of World Transformation.

 

Also contributing to the World situation are the crossing of Venus, Vesta, Ceres, Chiron and the Lunar Nodes of the “cross-quarter” points or 15th degree of fixed signs –the degrees halfway between the solstices and equinoxes. These supposedly “minor planets are forming a Grand Square across the World Axis!

Of particular interest, in terms of the Goddess Astrology 3 step process of Transformation (Demetra George Asteroid Goddesses ACS 1986 -pgs. 9-11) we have been working with, is of course Vesta! As the first step of Transformational process she represents a period of compression. Exacerbating this is the fact that she is currently retrograde in the sign of the Bull. Traditionally (and even today in some tribal societies) wealth was measured by how many cows you owned. Recently Vesta stationed retrograde right on top of the US Sibley chart's Vesta. So, the US is currently experiencing a Vesta return. We noted on Goddess Astrology Podcast Episode 17 that the Vesta return was the signature associated with Bob Dylan’s motorcycle crash (see the Goddess interview pt 2 for charts)

Now, Vesta returns every 4-5 years –so obviously this one is particularly important. In addition to the complex alignments with the World Axis outlined above, we can see that Vesta has recently issued an Omen in the form of a visual appearance near two other important Stars. We know the current crisis has its roots in the sub-prime mortgage fiasco which reached a head in 2007. That year Vesta made a rare Visual appearance which, if we were paying attention, should have told us that a period of compression was coming for the US.

 
How many planets can you see using your eyes alone? The usual answer is five: Mercury, Venus, Mars, Jupiter, and Saturn. But two additional objects also qualify fairly easily. Uranus and Vesta can both become as bright as about magnitude 5½. Uranus is detectable in a dark sky for a few months every year. But Vesta, the brightest asteroid, achieves naked-eye visibility only rarely — and 2007 was one of those times!


Jupiter, the brilliant "star" that rose in the east in late evening, was our guide; Vesta was several degrees north of it (as shown in the visual above and below). In early May, Vesta brightened to magnitude 6.1. It peaked at magnitude 5.4 in late May and early June, then it faded back to 6.0 by July 1st and 6.7 on August 1st. So, there was a triple alignment of Antares, Jupiter and Vesta in the middle degrees of Sagittarius –exactly on the US Sibley chart’s Ascendant! This should have been a clear Omen to anyone who knew how to read it.


Bernadette Brady says of the 4 Royal Stars of Persia (Antares, Aldebaran, Regulus and Fomalhaut –who form a perfect cross in the heavens) “All four Royal Stars are connected with the supreme Persian deity Ahura Mazda, father of Spenta Mainyu, beneficent spirit, and Angra Mainyu, the destructor. Thus to have your chart connected in some way with a Royal Star means that there will be this duality between light and destruction interwoven into your earthly journey. Great glory is promised to you but only if you can overcome the nemesis which can destroy.”( Starlight Software. © Barnswood Ltd and Bernadette Brady)

Of Antares: “To the Persians, Antares, the Watcher of the West, was the god of the dead, Yima, impelling a person to generate success by encountering a cleansing life-and death experience…Fulfilment of the promise of glory takes a person through an encounter with passion, mania and compulsion and the shadow side embodied by Angra Mainyu, the destructor. (1999 Brady’s Book of Fixed Stars, Samuel Weiser Inc: York Beach, Maine) .For Jupiter with Antares: “A talent for taking random events or problems, and seeing the way forward. The extremist holds power.” (In Star and Planet Combinations)

Accordingly, On July 19, 2007, the Dow Jones Industrial Average hit a record high, closing above 14,000 for the first time. By August 15, 2007, the Dow dropped below 13,000 and the S&P 500 crossed into negative territory for that year. Yet, as Vesta returns from this rare visual appearance to her place in the US chart, (and retrogrades across it) she brings the cleansing compressive forces and consequences of the shadow side of our financial sector. The Dow is now below 10,000 –almost 30% off its all time high of only one year ago.

The obvious question now becomes: Which Presidential candidate can invoke the creative release of the Pallas stage of Transformation and begin to invite a new Story for the US to inhabit? In the most recent debate Barack Obama said he believes he can create a whole new economic boom similar to that of the dot com boom by creating an alternative energy industry here in the US. He noted that it only took us ten years to get to the Moon once we had a President who made the commitment to the Vision to get there. Personally, I believe in him and his Vision –without reservation. But for the sake of objectivity, let’s look at the charts.

Ever since 9-11 the US has basically been in the Vesta stage of transformation. The Vesta stage is characterized by a compressed state of heavy emotions where we are called to focus on who we were, who we are and who we want to become. So, there should have been a Mundane event which would easily point this out, right? Well, that’s easy. The last major Mundane events were the Jupiter-Saturn conjunctions of 2000. These were the last conjunctions in the Earth element and so represent a rare point in the conjunction cycle (roughly every 200 yrs) where they “mutate” from one element to the next. Starting with the 2020 conjunction in Aquarius –they will fall in air signs for most of the next two centuries. So, where did this very unusual Jupiter-Saturn conjunction of 2000 fall in relation to the US Sibley chart? Well, let’s see –right on US natal Vesta! (the often observed parallels between 9-11 and Pearl Harbor can be seen Astrologically in the fact that the 1940-41 Jupiter/Saturn conjunctions also fell conjunct US Vesta)


And so the next question is: what is the next major Mundane event and does it signify entering the Pallas stage of Transformation and creative release from the compression of the last 8 years? Well, the next major Mundane event are the triple conjunctions of Jupiter, Chiron, and Neptune next year in 2009. These will occur in the latter part of Aquarius, from 24-26 degrees. Well, what do you know –that is very closely conjunct US natal Pallas! The proximity to the US Moon suggests that the one thing John McCain has said which rings true is that The People (Moon) of the US are indeed its creative engine.

And this brings up the next question: If the US is poised to enter the Pallas stage of Transformation, how do we know that Barack Obama is the person to lead us? Well, I could argue that we don’t really need to look at candidates charts for this, but simply listen to their message. In the most recent debate, McCain said he wants to buy back and re-negotiate mortgages and also impose a government spending freeze? That sounds like more compression/Vesta to me. Obama, on the other hand, says he wants to create a whole new Industry around sustainable energy in this country –one that would eliminate our dependence on foreign oil and that we could eventually export to other energy hungry countries like China. He says we can accomplish this in ten years if we make the same commitment that President Kennedy made to landing on the Moon. That sounds much more like the Pallas stage of Transformation to me (hint: remember The Moon is conjunct Pallas in the US chart!). But hey, let’s once again look at the charts for objectivity.


When we place Obama’s chart on the outside of the US Sibley chart –we can see right away that Obama’s S Node is conjunct US Pallas and Obama’s Uranus opposes US Pallas. This seems to back up the idea the he is in touch with (and perhaps a reincarnated version of) Uranian US leaders of the past (Lincoln and Kennedy). If you are not a big fan of hard aspects, we can also see that Obama’s MC is trine to US Pallas –so he embodies as a leader principles which are very flowing with US Pallas.

Next, if we look to see how Obama’s Pallas impacts the US chart, we can see right away the soft flowing aspects to the two retrograde planets (Pluto and Mercury) opposed in US 2nd and 8th. So, he softens the innate conundrum between the two main financial houses. Additionally, Obama’s Pallas is conjunct US IC –indicating he can add the qualities of grounding and rooted-ness. These qualities are important in helping his Mars cut through US Neptune’s tendency toward foggy delusion with money (US Neptune is connected to the two retrograde planets in houses 2 & 8). I believe Barack Obama can achieve his Vision and that he will go down in history as one of the Greatest US Presidents –not only because he fixed the horrible mess handed to him by one of the worst –but more importantly because he saw within that mess an opportunity –the opportunity to spring forth like Pallas –and revive the American Dream.

 

 

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