Midlife Transits

The 2010s will have global aspects that are similar in a number of ways to the aspects around the time of the Great Depression and the 1930s. One of the reasons the news was filled with phrases like “worst since the Great Depression” around the time of the economic collapse in late 2008 was that the astrology was similar. People don’t have to know astrology to be able to detect the similarity in an historical cycle.

Back in 1929, when the stock market crashed and essentially set off the Great Depression, Uranus and Pluto were in a wide square with each other, Saturn was in a wide square with them both, and Jupiter was in wide opposition to Saturn. In 2008, when we had our own meltdown, Uranus and Pluto were in a wide square with each other, and Saturn was in a wide opposition to Uranus. Jupiter was in the contraction sign of Capricorn.

To put this in perspective, Uranus square Pluto is not one of those aspects that happens regularly. In fact, we hadn’t seen that aspect since the 1930s. This is a mighty planetary dispute that takes years to play out and is associated with major historical trends. In other words, we are living the so-called Chinese curse of living in interesting (and rare) astrological times.

Although we won’t see a repeat of the events of the 1930s in the 2010s, it’s still instructive to look back a little. In the 1930s, the astrology was dominated at first by a cardinal T-square formed by outer planets. That means outer planets were in cardinal signs: Saturn was in Capricorn (contraction); Uranus was in Aries, and Pluto was in Cancer. Jupiter also played a role in triggering events.

During that decade, 2 separate but related things were  going on. One was the severe economic contraction symbolized by Saturn in opposition to Pluto. In the US, the Federal Reserve let the money supply shrink at an amazing rate, which put the economy in a stranglehold so that unemployment shot up. Saturn in Capricorn worries about deficit spending, so Hoover tried to keep a balanced budget. This was not good, and his attempt to raise taxes only made things worse (by the way, scholars disagree about the causes of the Depression; I’m talking about the astrology here, not the historical debate).

It took until late 1932 for Saturn to move out of Capricorn. Around that time, the economy bottomed out. Roosevelt was elected, the mood began to change, and the economy began a long slow climb out of the pit it had fallen into. The US economy was not out of the woods yet, but the trend was reversed.

As it so happened, during 1932 Uranus and Pluto also made their first 2 exact squares. When two major outer planets form an exact ‘challenging’ aspect, it often functions like an earthquake. That is, it relieves the strain that has been building up, and releases some of the energy. Uranus and Pluto made 2 more exact squares in 1933, and one more in 1934. In 1934, Uranus moved into the money sign of Taurus, effectively ending the clash of cardinal signs. Economies around the world begin to recover.

It took about 4 1/2 years for the astrological economic cycle to play out back then. With Pluto in the sign of nourishment (Cancer), one of the major developments of that time was widespread hunger. There were crop failures and, in the US, a severe drought in farming country that eventually culminated in the Dust Bowl disaster that drove thousands of poor farmers from their land.

With Uranus in the violent sign of Aries, another major development was widespread rioting and protest. In the US, a group of veterans sometimes called the Bonus Army marched on Washington to demand bonuses that had been promised them for their service in WWI. Hoover wouldn’t pay, and essentially chased them out of town by turning the army on them.

The other major development occurring at that time was the rise of extremely repressive government structures in the forms of fascism, Nazism, and Stalinism. Fascism was so widespread that there was an attempted fascist coup in the United States in 1934 (as reported by Smedley Butler, a highly decorated military figure of the time).

The rise of fascism and Nazism and Stalinism was symbolized by the square between Pluto and Uranus. Cancer is the sign of nationalism, Pluto the planet of brutal power. In this case the brutal power was exercised by nationalist and repressive governments that gained some of their power partly as a result of the upheaval caused by the economic contraction. Drastic Uranus was in Aries, the sign of the individual. There was essentially a war between individuals and their governments, with individuals rioting and protesting, and governments brutally repressing them.

In any conflict between outer planets, the betting money is on the planet furthest out, in this case Pluto. Pluto, representing government, won virtually all of the battles between governments and individuals. Individual freedoms were crushed in this decade. The US  and Great Britain were notable exceptions that showed it was possible to successfully resist totalitarianism. Government power and its relationship to the individual were still transformed (Pluto) in the US during this time, but in a different way than in much of Europe.

The clash between governments and individuals did not resolve until Pluto left Cancer and entered Leo. In 1940, Jupiter and Uranus and Saturn all ganged up in Taurus to wage a massive fight with Pluto in Leo. That fight manifested as World War II. By 1945, Uranus and Pluto were in astrological harmony again, and WWII was over.

A long period of peace between Uranus and Pluto began and the world settled down considerably for a long time. It took about 16 years for Uranus and Pluto to decisively settle their differences.

It won’t take as long this time. But it will take a good 7 years. Uranus and Pluto will reach exact square in 2012 and will make a series of squares all the way into March 2015. Part II gives a blow by blow of the aspects for astrology wonks. A look ahead at the 2010s will give more general information about the trends for people who don’t want to know about all the aspects.

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