Astrology for the 21st Century

USA Treasury Secretary Henry Paulson's so-called bail-out plan is getting a lot of attention at the moment.

Do we even need to look at it through an astrological lens to see what an incredibly foolhardy and dangerous thing it is they're now trying to do?

Words seem inadequate to the task of describing the sheer density of trying to expand and spend more and build bigger organisations when everything is telling you to consolidate, make firm, re-attend to your foundations and let go of the hot air balloon that's just gone bust.

Trying to apply the ideology of expansion and 'thinking big' when expansion and bigness has just abruptly contracted in a very nasty way is the definition of insanity.

The problem cannot be applied to itself and renamed 'solution' - the problem remains the problem.

To paraphrase the much-paraphrased Einstein quotation:

We cannot solve problems using the same thinking that we used when we created the problem in the first place.  We have to completely shift to a new way of thinking.

It isn't difficult, and it'd be better not to waste money, time, and lives on chasing the rainbow that just vanished in the attempt to preserve the status-quo-that-no-longer-exists.

The system was rotten, and remains rotten, and their proposed 'solution' is only paving the way to ensure that the financial system spends the next 2 years minimum going through even bigger perturbations and breakdowns.

The old things aren't growing anymore; trying to resuscitate them won't work, it'll only bring more collapse.  A more useful strategy is to turn away from those old things and look around and notice the new things that are beginning to come.

A peaceful revolution in thinking and doing is what is needed.  We won't find one amongst that lot of politicians currently scurrying about the ruins of their broken ideas.

To understand it astrologically, there are lots of entries on this blog and articles on the website, here are the main ones:-

The collapse and malaise that's now hitting the fan:  Saturn-Neptune opposition
http://astrology21.co.uk/c1saturnneptune.html

The process we're now in:  Saturn-Uranus opposition
http://astrology21.co.uk/b1wtoseattle.html
http://astrology21.co.uk/c1saturnuranus.html

The wider context of these two oppositions:
http://astrology21.co.uk/c1biggerpicture.html

New Zealand is having a national election in November this year.  Here's the chart for when polls close, set for the capital, using data from the official website for New Zealand elections:-

Will return to this later, just wanted to post the chart for now.

An update on the Lewes Pound launch.

Correspondence with the people that launched the Lewes Pound tells us that the time of unveiling was 'pretty close to 8:45' in the evening, just a little bit earlier than the scheduled time of 9pm.

Here's the chart for that moment.  When time allows I'll re-visit these latest entries of chart wheels and add some more writing about them.

Official website
http://www.thelewespound.org/

Transition Culture blog: entry about the launch event
http://transitionculture.org/2008/09/11/lewes-pound-launch-a-night-to-take-the-breath-away/

Canada's got a national election next month, their third in just four years.

Here's the chart for the time when polls close, set for the capital city:-

Will have to come back to this and write more later.

Last night the town of Lewes in the UK launched a complementary currency called the Lewes Pound.  The launch was scheduled to take place at 7:30pm.  Here's the chart:-

The triple conjunction of Mercury (trade, exchange), Venus (money, exchange) and Mars (initiating something, striking out on one's own) is good for this launch, as is the Jupiter-Saturn trine, however that Jupiter-Saturn trine links with Venus in a potentially tense way, so there will probably be considerable challenges in getting a synergistic relationship between growth with stability, especially since Venus rules Taurus on the cusp of the 2nd house (money, value).

Uranus in Pisces on the Ascendant reflects the iconoclastic and visionary nature of the scheme.  Lewes had its own currency from 1795 to 1895.

Pluto (wealth) on the MC ruling the 8th house (money) is a 'writ large' statement about this project - their slogan expresses this position: 'we have it in our power to build the world anew' - and its perspective on the global economy, alongside the Moon-Jupiter conjunction in Capricorn.  Capricorn is a Sign traditionally associated not just with financial prudence but with material abundance - the horn of plenty.

The Sagittarius MC with Pluto, the Moon-Jupiter conjunction in Capricorn, Uranus in Pisces rising, the triple conjunction in Libra in the 7th house, the Sun conjunct Capricorn, and the majority of planets being located in the top half of the chart, all indicate that this is not an isolating project or attempt to break away from the world, but exactly the opposite.  It's an attempt at complementary self-support within a global context.

The Lewes Pound's official website:-
http://www.thelewespound.org/

Here's an update on the LHC at CERN (Note: this entry has been updated twice today, in light of further clarification of what the timings actually relate to.)

According to the CERN website a beam completed it's first full circuit around the LHC at 10:28am CET (the website doesn't state the time zone, but I confirmed it with the press office by telephone. Note that 10:28am is given in the press release, but 10:25am is stated by CERN on their Twitter page updates).  The 'first beam' moment was at 9:30am CET, so the previous chart stands, and this chart below is a secondary chart at best.

The second beam to complete a full circuit started at 1:55pm CET and completed its lap at 3:02pm CET, according to the CERN website: "15:02, that's it. Second beam all the way round and the LHC is up and running."

The inauguration of the LHC is due to take place on 21st October 2008 at 3pm CET.


CERN's LHC Twitter updates page with timings and events:-
http://twitter.com/cern

And here's the chart for the estimated start time of the first beam. 

Must say, the Sun-Saturn and Moon-Jupiter trines are interesting, since the Sun and Saturn are 5 degrees apart and Moon and Jupiter are also 5 degrees apart. There's a kind of harmonious arrangement to that, and as they're in Earth signs, symbolising the material universe, and Moon-Jupiter are at the IC signifying 'origins' as well as the underground location of the LHC.......

The Sun's opposition with Uranus across the 6th-12th cusps seems extremely apt too, and I like the Mars-Venus-Mercury conjunction in Libra which is Rising..... the Aries point has several midpoints linking the Sun with that triple conjunction on the Ascendant..... there's something very, very intriguing going on here, confirming that something very exciting could well result from this.

More on this later, if time permits.

Just wanted to very quickly copy and paste this about today's 'first beam' start-up of the LHC at CERN, before it actually goes live.

It's scheduled to begin at 9:30am CET, according to CERN's website.  The longitude and latitude used are those given on CERN's website.

THE BACKGROUND THEMES WHICH CAN BE ACTIVE FOR SEVERAL MONTHS

Uranus - Public opinion, Public expectations
Culminating when Alhena is Rising
Protest, parades, meetings and marches

Neptune - The Hopes and Fears of the Nation
Setting when Deneb Algedi is Setting
The justice of the legal system or the law is challenged
Culminating when Arcturus is Setting
A leader is discredited, or a charismatic leader emerges

Pluto - The Crises or the Changes that Occur
Anti-culminating when Diadem is Rising
A lone sacrifice that can change a nation
Rising when Mirach is Anti-culminating
Earthquakes, the finding of new levels politically or geographically
Anti-culminating when Acumen is Anti-culminating
What appears to be strong is shown to be weak
Anti-culminating when Betelgeuse is Culminating
Benefits or breakthrough achieved in the wake of a disaster

THE ANNUAL THEMES THAT REOCCUR FOR THIS LATITUDE EVERY YEAR IN THIS ERA

Heliacal Rising Star
Alphard - Rising
Emotional upheavals and or distress, criminal activitiy

Heliacal Setting Star
Vega - Setting
A time or wonder, a time of awe

Sun - The stars in paran with the Sun on this day
Anti-culminating when Alkes is Anti-culminating
A national treasure
Culminating when Fomalhaut is Anti-culminating
People and ideals being exalted, or dreams coming undone
Setting when El Nath is Anti-culminating
Issues of attacks, battles, or aggression
Rising when Antares is Anti-culminating
An obsessive person
Setting when Bellatrix is Anti-culminating
The wounded warrior
Rising when Aldebaran is Culminating
A military event

THE ACUTE THEMES THAT ARE ACTIVE JUST FOR THIS TIME PERIOD

Moon - The Emotions of the People
Setting when Rukbat is Culminating
Calmness, the need to be emotionally steady

Venus - The Social Conventions
Setting when Hamal is Rising
The dictator, a person who believes they know what is good for others
On Nadir when Ras Alhague is Setting
Information which aids the community, new skills, new knowledge
Culminating when Betelgeuse is Setting
Opulence and wealth
Culminating when Ankaa is Anti-culminating
A revolution, a rebirth of old issues
Rising when Facies is Anti-culminating
A ruthless approach to social problems, or savage artistic comment

Mars - The Events of the Day
Anti-culminating when Schedar is Culminating
To believe that one's cause is noble, to act with an air of nobility
Setting when Murzim is Anti-culminating
Alarming news, news of events that causes anger and demands action

Saturn - The Law and Civic Order
Anti-culminating when Fomalhaut is Culminating
Personal philosophies becoming political policies

Cern's website:
http://lhc-first-beam.web.cern.ch/lhc-first-beam/practical.html

The current international financial problems are related to the Saturn-Neptune opposition that's just passed, and the current Saturn-Uranus opposition.  They are not primarily crises of economics, but of the refusal to face reality and the refusal to structure society along equitable and compassionate lines. 

The economic crises merely follow those decisions by those in positions of authority to shirk their duty to be caretakers, not controllers, dominators, and exploiters.  The economic crises show that the system put in place - the system of inequity - is unworkable and damaging.

What we're just emerging from........

The Saturn-Neptune opposition was with us from September 2005 through to May 2008.  It was exact 3 times, between 18 degrees of Leo-Aquarius and 22 degrees of Leo-Aquarius.

As the brown stinky stuff of the past few years of gross mismanagement of the economic system has been hitting the fan, some of the larger businesses and government institutions that have been involved in that mismanagement and that have planets in these degree areas, and in square to these degree areas, have been going down the spout.

Fannie Mae has more than one relevant chart to consider.  The main one is the date of the first charter its foundation.  Here's the chart, but no birth time was readily findable so please ignore the house cusps:-

As you can see, the Sun and Venus are conjunct at 21 and 22 degrees of Aquarius, so they've been involved with the Saturn-Neptune opposition of the past few years. 

When the announcement was made that the USA government will re-nationalise Fannie Mae, Neptune was at 22 degrees 16 minutes, exactly conjunct Fannie Mae's Venus.  A step towards this eventual outcome was taken by the USA government on 30th July 2008 when it brought in a law allow it more regulatory control over Fannie Mae.  At this time there was a transiting Venus-Neptune opposition at 22-23 Leo-Aquarius, alongside the Moon's nodal axis at 19 degrees of Leo-Aquarius.

Another major chart for Fannie Mae is for the time when it was rechartered in September 1968.  This chart has Neptune at 24 degrees of Scorpio, in square to the recent Saturn-Neptune opposition.

Here's the chart for Freddie Mac, and again please ignore house cusps:-

In Freddie Mac's chart there is a square between Mercury and Saturn, with Mercury at 18 Leo and Saturn at 21 Taurus.  Both are directly linked to the recent Saturn-Neptune opposition.

What's happening now, and for the next few years......

What's happening now and next is the financial 'crisis' is going to keep calling into question our entire financial system, which is reaching another extreme stage of divorce from reality.  That tension is threatening collapse, and needs to be turned from destructive tension to creative tension.  This will either happen, or completely fall flat on its face, during the Saturn-Uranus opposition.

The Saturn-Uranus opposition is with us from November 2007 through to August 2011.  It'll be exact 5 times, from November 2008 to July 2010, at 19 degrees, 21 degrees, 25 degrees and 29 degrees of Virgo-Pisces, and 0 degrees of Libra-Aries.

Companies, government institutions, and countries that have planets in these degree areas, and in square to these degree areas, are likely to be the main players in the unfoldment of this sorry tale of 'comeuppance'.

We need to use these times to drastically re-align the relationship between the ideas and the realities of our economic system, and the relationship between the elites and the masses which is currently an unbridgeable divide and colossal separation, and reinstate each having a 'fair share' by birthright as the organising principle of our societies and our world.

More information, discussion, and dates for these cycles can be found at Astrology for the 21st Century, which is the website affiliated with this blog:-

The Saturn-Uranus Opposition Series
http://astrology21.co.uk/c1saturnuranus.html

The Saturn-Neptune Opposition Series
http://astrology21.co.uk/c1saturnneptune.html