 
As Mars
(l., Velasquez 1599-1660) tires out, will Saturn (r., Goya,
1746-1828)
eat his children?...
"This is not the end. It is not even the
beginning of the end. But it is, perhaps, the end of the beginning."
–
Winston Churchill, November 10, 1942.
Back in
1998 in an article for Dell
Horoscope
entitled “The Hammer Of Destiny" we surmised that the coming
(then) transit of
Pluto to the U.S.A. Ascendant (12 Sagittarius, the Sibly chart) in 2000
would
indicate a suppression and then a transformation of the
country’s
world power
and the transfer of control and influence to a cooperative mix of
nations in
the world community. And that was only if war was avoided and if the
country
adapted without resisting the hammer-like transit of Pluto. The history
of both
nations and individuals shows that when you roll with this transit, you
rise
and grow, but when you don’t, it’s like beating
your head
against a wall.
Unfortunately war was not avoided, and the country’s response
was
to fly in the
face of implacable Pluto and fire its guns in all directions, mostly in
solo
disregard of the rest of the world. It was as if its superpower status
was by
divine right, and thus unassailable.
Unfortunately,
the mill grinds slowly but exceeding small, and one of the prime
wisdoms of
power has gone largely unnoted: you don’t fire all your guns
all
the time or
you run out of ammo. That’s not only true here below,
it’s
true above, where
Mars inevitably goes retrograde and pulls back once every two years. In
the
case of the U.S., its natal Mars by progression has just gone
retrograde this
July (July 16th
for the 12 Sag. Chart, at 18 Libra), and
will remain
so for another eighty years. It could be said the unflagging energy of
this
tremendous, expansive chart has reached its outward limits, and a
withdrawal is
about to begin. Whether that will be an orderly and graceful
rearrangement
is yet
to be determined, because the progressed Sun only just entered Pisces
the day
of the last presidential election, hard upon progressed Mercury going
retrograde. It would seem from all of this that there really
isn’t a plan, and
a confused, Neptune fog has settled upon the whole nation in the midst
of its
outer and inner challenges. That will change, as it always has. More
about that, and the march of the U.S.
progressed Sun here.
Is there help around the corner? Probably not, at least
until 2008-9. Until then, those in power, whoever they are, simply
can’t help
being, as we have pointed out, on the
wrong side.
But after then,
what?
A nick-of-time
scramble to get
back on the right track, fired by a new set of elections? With
America's progressed Moon full at the new presidential inauguration
2009, that’s
greatly to be
hoped for -- but, for those who think the world will end in
2012,
it should only be so
swift. In this promised world without end, amen, there is more yet to
be borne.
That year sees the American progressed Moon conjoin its natal Saturn,
then its
progressed Saturn the year following, ensued by a first-time-ever
affliction
that is a phenomenon in itself: the race of progressed Moon with
transiting
Saturn.
Progressed
U.S.A. Moon
is
neck-and-neck with transiting Saturn as Pluto joins Jupiter-Saturn
conjunction.
The cycle of the progressed Moon is approximately 27 ½
years while the cycle of transiting Saturn is approximately 29
½
years, so on
average the progressed Moon gains about 0.8 degrees on transiting
Saturn every
year. That means when they make an aspect, they stay there, in and out,
for
about a decade. The mean conjunction of the U.S.
progressed Moon and Saturn occurs in 2020, but the Moon will see the
ravages of
retrograde Saturn geocentrically several years before then and its
touches will
continue for several years after that time. It will be a long, slow
slog when
the people (Moon) will have a burden to bear (Saturn) that will be
difficult to
shrug, shortened only by the fact that the progressed Moon is
fortunately swift in
motion
and pushes through in half the usual time (an echo of Mark 13:20).
What will that burden be? The huge debt amassing now and
due then (2nd house)? The historical reputation that must be rebuilt
(8th house)? It’s hard to say, but it will be
severely illuminated through some other dark lenses as well. After
Uranus smacks progressed Venus and Neptune derails the progressed Sun
in 2018-19, 2020 sees
the
progressed Moon and transiting Saturn conjoin natal Pluto (27
Capricorn) within months of each
other, and a triple Pluto return in 2022. Not an easy twilight for baby
boomers
whose early lives escaped the last world conflagration but
whose
later years may see wholesale decline due to self-inflicted injuries of
political pride and selfishness. Meanwhile, their
children, who will be running the show by that time, will share the
price of their wholesale neglect and hopefully set things right again.
Certainly the twenty-year Jupiter-Saturn conjunction, which tends to
mark world political shifts, will mean some serious corners turned
during and just after 2020, as it did in 2000 (opposite Pluto), 1980,
1961, 1940 and so on. This is the first Jupiter-Saturn
conjunction with Pluto since 1444, when there was another pair, one
opposite, one conjunct, in a row: 1444 & 1464 at the rise of
the
Ottoman Empire and the fall of Constantople. Only two more such sets
have occurred since the time of Christ, 709 &
729 at the high tide of Muslim expansion checked by the Battle of
Tours, and 1265
& 1285 at the height of the Christian reaction and the last of
the
Crusades. Pluto seems to have a fondness for the Middle East and its
issues, so don't expect this time around to be any different.
Saturn and Pluto call the
shots when the
next generation takes charge -- are they looking at Mordor?
This year’s progressed Mars retrograde is perhaps most
symbolic of the end of the early stages of this latest shift, as the
dogs of war are released in the Mideast while America loses
the focus and the stiffener needed to see the situation through all by
itself. And
when Mars
is no longer up to it, Saturn goes back to eating his children until
Pluto
finally puts a stop to it all. So what do you do? It’s a
rough
backslide for America, though some other portions of the world may
benefit from the rearrangements as the momentarily solo superpower
learns to share credit, blame and responsibility. Perhaps
it’s destiny,
perhaps
it's partially about a nation
finally growing
up.
Nevertheless, if the Pluto transit of 2000 was the beginning of the
end,
unregistered by most, then perhaps this is the end of the beginning.
But with a
lot to look forward to…
-- John Townley
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