Tomorrow (November 3, 2020) is election day, and I decided to take up the last Astrological assignment I had given myself in relation to the election. The previous assignments involved sharing with you what I could see in the Astrological Charts of Donald Trump, Joseph Biden, Mike Pence and Kamala Harris.
Tonight, I am looking at the ‘current exams’ affecting the U.S. itself, now and in the next couple of years.
First of all, the big Astrological event of 2020, the Saturn/Pluto conjunction which took place in January, was something we Astrologers knew was coming for some years. And although we didn’t know it would be a global pandemic, we knew it would be something which would have an intense transformative effect on the entire planet.
The house where this conjunction is taking place within your own chart, however, is where this transformation is likely to be personally affecting you. For the U.S. it is taking place in its 2nd House, the Taurus-related house of love and affection but also money and finances.
Now clearly, the whole world has been affected economically by the Pandemic, although some nations worse than others. This is due to the fact that the conjunction was in Capricorn. Pluto has been in Capricorn since 2008 and I have written many newsletters mentioning this in relation to a major transformation of the world economy.
Pluto, however, has been in the 2nd House of the US only since a month after Donald Trump’s Inauguration, effecting an intense transformation of our economy, as well as the need to look much deeper into our relationship to money and finances and love and affection.
Saturn entered our 2nd House at the end of 2019 and, as I said earlier, conjuncted Pluto in that 2nd House in January. So, the arrival of the Pandemic in January ‘upped the ante’ on our need to look into our relationship to money, including the endemic inequalities of our economic reality, something which the Pandemic made even more apparent.
In 2021, Pluto, in the sky, will conjunct the Pluto in our chart, bringing about our first ‘Pluto Return.’ This is where Pluto returns to where it was when you were born. Obviously, it took a long time for Pluto to return to where it was in 1776, and none of us will ever have a Pluto Return ourselves, but the U.S. is having one now.
When writing about Pluto in my book: The Astrological Karma of the USA, I put in a quote from the Astrologer Howard Sasportas from his book: ‘The Twelve Houses,’ about the influence of Pluto in the 2nd House:
With Pluto here it is necessary to discover the underlying motivations which propel such strong and passionate feelings about money and security. For some, money is imbued with the power of a deity, which determines if they live or die. Money and power may be accrued as a way of controlling others…Material success may be sought as a way of enhancing their sexual attractiveness. Some may see amassing possessions as a way of extending their territory of influence and thereby regaining a sense of their lost infantile omnipotence. Or if they have been put down and belittled as children, then acquiring great wealth and status may be the way of proving their worth to the world. (End Quote)
Rereading that, I couldn’t help thinking about the archetypal character embodied in our collective experience over many years, of Donald J. Trump.
To me, this is an indication as to why we are the wealthiest nation in the world, but also, perhaps, the most materially obsessed nation in the world.
Natally, our Pluto is opposite to our Mercury in Cancer. This is what Hilarion* says about Mercury in Cancer:
Cancer . Mercury here if afflicted will make it very difficult for the rational mental processes to operate independently of and unaffected by the emotional life. Negative feelings and emotions will have a way of muddying up the reasoning ability. The main lesson is to separate thought from emotional influences. (End Quote)
To me, this is why we just can’t figure out how to get karmically clear in our relationship to money and wealth.
When transiting Pluto was conjuncting that Mercury and, at the same time, opposing our Pluto in the 2nd House, was during the time of the Great Depression. A time of great economic/financial loss and suffering, but also a time of the ‘New Deal,’ bringing in a transformation of the functioning dynamics of our economy, and an opening to the love aspect of the 2nd House, accepting that the Government could be a source of compassionate support for those who were suffering.
Saturn has already been opposing that ‘muddied up reasoning ability’ of Mercury in Cancer, and will soon conjunct Pluto. Later Pluto will also oppose Mercury, and on April 27, 2021, it will conjunct our natal Pluto, the Pluto Return. I think the unavoidable fated losses already suffered in the economy, which we have been reacting to with some blurred mental thinking, such as thinking that the economy is more important than stopping the spread of the virus, or the Senate Republicans decision to worry about the deficit and withhold the stimulus aid, after giving corporations and the wealthy the biggest tax breaks of their lives, are a reflection of this.
It looks like next year, however, there will not be an easy way out of this. It may, however, also result in a similar transformation as in the 1930’s, when we ousted Herbert Hoover and his ‘self-made man’ philosophy, and brought in FDR and the New Deal.
There is something else, however, that is also looking worrisome to me, this year and, even more so, next year.
Natally, the US has Mars in Gemini of which Hilarion says:
There is a tendency for the afflicted Mars in Gemini to be mentally or verbally combative or abusive. (End Quote)
Our Mars is also in the 7th House of Relationships of which Hilarion says:
Mars in the seventh sector tends to promote the selection of a mate who will allow the aggressive and disruptive tendencies of the native to be brought to the surface, where he can clearly see them for what they are, and can experience their results in terms of conflict with the mate. Generally speaking, most of his love-relationships will be marked by conflict energies. (End Quote)
So, we have a Mars in Gemini which can be mentally combative and abusive, in the 7th House which is going to likely be conflictual in relationships.
This Mars is square to Neptune making it susceptible to illusion, confusion, delusion, victimhood and martyrdom. Difficult Neptune aspects are always likely to create the ‘victim/victimizer program,’ where if you don’t want to be a victim you have to be a victimizer. If you don’t want to be a victimizer you have to be a victim. The only way out is the positive side of Neptune, i.e. unconditional love and forgiveness and spiritual faith, trust and surrender.
The Neptune end of this tension is in our 9th House of philosophy, religion, and belief system. Here we can be truly religious and spiritual, but also susceptible to delusional belief systems, such as the Soldiers of God listening to QAnon, etc.
The tension with that Mars is why our propensity for delusional belief systems can act out with mental, verbal, but also physical aggression and violence. You can do anything when you think God is on your side.
The reason I am focusing on this now is because transiting Neptune, moving through our Gemini-related 3rd House of mental thinking and communication, has already, this year, been squaring the Mars in Gemini in the 7th House. Next year, Neptune will make a ‘T-Square’ of tension, as Neptune moves into opposition to our natal Neptune in the 9th House, at the same time that it continues to square the Mars in Gemini in the 7th House.
So, this could bring about an even greater propensity for Neptunian confusion, illusion, delusion, victimhood and martyrdom. And, the victim/victimizer program. It seems to me, when I look at this, that delusional communications on Social Media, and the: ‘culture wars’ have really only just begun. And in the next two years we are going to have to really face and deal with this part of our curriculum. It is going to demand that we move to a much higher level of consciousness to not get pulled into this fear-based reactionary dynamic.
It does seem that 2022 looks much more harmonious, and 2023 even more so, so I think we will get through this. The next couple years, however, give me the sense that Donald Trump and his ‘base’ will not just go ‘quietly into the night,’ even if Joseph Biden wins the election. I do think, at least eventually, that Biden will win the election.
And while the U.S. will be facing this intense personal karma, the global experience in the next couple of years looks very hopeful and optimistic to me, starting this December. More about that later.
Blessings to you all,
Steffan Vanel
* ’Astrology Plus by Hilarion’, the book which I am always quoting from and has been out of print for some time, is now available as an EBook on Amazon.
* Hilarion’s ‘Nations’ EBook is also available on Amazon