STARFIRE

April 2008

April 2008 - What Rocks our Foundations This Year?
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What Rocks our Foundations This Year?

Economic whispers fly around the world and become latte conversation. For that, we can blame Uranus (for the technology) and Pluto (for mass media and news that reaches everyone everywhere in seconds). Words like recession get tossed around so lightly, based on one economic indicator at a time. Sometimes we just need to digest slowly and look at foundations.

Finding economic foundations for the United States (let alone the world) is always an interesting question. There’s one primary United States economic cycle, reliable since 1776, which follows the nodes of the Moon. The nodal cycle is accurate but not precise: Economic cycles peak as the nodes pass from Leo to Cancer and bottom out as the nodes pass from Aquarius to Capricorn. According to that cycle, our national economy peaked during the summer of 2000 and will probably hit its long slow bottom in mid-2009.

The economic cycle and the market cycle don’t always flow together. For one thing, the market often anticipates the economic cycle; people invest before the economic cycle makes visible upward movement and divest before it makes significant downward movements. For another, this is the national cycle, and our national market cycle is inextricably international today.

If we were only looking at economic foundations, we might choose the chart for the founding of the New York Stock Exchange. We could look at the Boston Exchange. Or we could look at a chart for the Federal Reserve System. We could even draft a chart for the installation of the current heads of the Treasury and the Federal Reserve. Each of those charts would contribute to our understanding. A chart for the NAFTA treaty would shed light on international implications.

The Declaration of Independence states our principles as a people. But to see how we implement those principles, you have to look at the charts for the signing of the Constitution and for the day the Constitution was ratified and declared to be in effect. The Constitution was signed in 1787 and was amended to include the Bill of Rights even before it was ratified in 1789—but it became the instrument that defines our philosophy and fundamental principles as a nation. We grow and change and modify it. But we don’t start all over. And we don’t change it without contention and struggle as a people.

The chart set for the signing of the Constitution has Libra on the Midheaven, symbolizing the effort to provide checks and balances. Protecting citizens from government shows up in the Pisces Midheaven of the ratified Constitution.

The Constitutional Chart shows how we govern ourselves, what we value, how we see ourselves (and how we hope to be seen by outsiders). The angles of the chart show how we connect to the rest of the world. The Midheaven symbolizes our mission as a nation. So there we are with our Pisces Midheaven, softhearted and eager to do good in the world—but with Saturn as the most elevated planet. Saturn takes the hard line, deals with reality and can be stern as a judge. Theodore Roosevelt’s iron fist in a velvet glove defines us well.

With Mercury in the 10th house, we’ve ordinarily been willing to talk to anyone about anything. Mercury is retrograde, so we have to learn by experience. When we get in over our heads with experience, Saturnian discipline and focus give us the backbone to get out of trouble. It’s no wonder our pioneers tamed the prairies—and helped those who followed them.

Land has always been the foundation of the country. The modern chart shows Neptune, ruler of gas wells among other things, in the fourth house of land and foundations. Certainly gas-fueled automobiles and airplanes have played a big part in our evolution into a modern nation. But Neptune hadn’t been discovered when the Constitution was signed. If the founders looked at an astrology chart, they would have seen farmers and fields as the foundation, with the Part of Good Fortune egging us on to things like the Louisiana Purchase.

Today we see Neptune (gasoline) as a driving force, ruler or co-ruler of the Midheaven and our purpose in the world. The founders would have seen Jupiter, the planet of mercy and expansion (and hype and marketing and whistling when you were terrified of the British troops marching in the dark). Jupiter in Cancer in the first house describes us as a nation that puts home and family first.

The chart shows our dark side, too. The Moon in Gemini is hidden in the 12th house. The Moon always represents the common man (or ordinary woman), the public. Gemini is the sign of small talk, gossip, neighborhoods. So we are a huge nation, but those who are impoverished are often hidden away. They don’t even show up in census roles. Chiron, the symbol of the wounded healer, touches our Moon, so problems do get addressed—eventually.

Throughout our history, we have adjustment periods every 28-30 years that coincide with the cycle of Saturn. Sometimes those adjustments bring us back to the rule of law. Sometimes they bring economic adjustments. Sometimes they remind us of principles that need to be evaluated and either reinforced or replaced.

At the beginning of each cycle, we set a new national course of action. We may be drifting away from a peak of authority or establishing new principles that will take a few years to blend with the consciousness of the voting public. After about seven years, we come to the first checkpoint, a time for re-evaluation and revision. When we are halfway through the cycle, conditions may seem to oppose our original assumptions; we see a bigger picture, with both sides visible. It’s not an easy time. It’s like the Full Moon, but with Saturn the opposition is longer, slower, and cuts to the bone.

The current Saturn cycle started in 1995, a turbulent year for American politicians. 1995 was the year of the government shutdown as President Clinton and Congress stood toe to toe and jaw to jaw. The president and Newt Gingrich captured headlines in their struggle for control. But nothing grabbed our attention like the O.J. Simpson trial or the divorce of the Prince and Princess of Wales. There was a cease-fire in Bosnia, and fighting slowed in Chechnya. The Middle East and Northern Ireland seemed to be on the brink of peace.

Moving slowly through the months before the November election, Saturn will form its opposition to the Saturn in the Constitution chart on September 17, 2008. By the national political conventions, Saturn will be moving into place, putting the Iraq war front and center for the final months of the campaign. (Even if troop deployment drops significantly during those months, the issue of war in the Middle East and our role in it will be a dominant one.)

The Constitution isn’t the only chart, or even the best chart, for tracking the current mortgage crisis. The Saturn transit through the fourth house (land, homes, families, roots) peaking with the September opposition suggests that housing problems will drive the economy down through the summer and into the fall. Long-term policy changes are likely to be needed and will have an impact on the elections.

A transit between Jupiter and Neptune on November 28th suggests that fuel shortages will ease (driving gasoline prices down) by Halloween. That good news will arrive almost too late to affect the elections, but will help holiday retail sales.

Among the health issues on the political agenda this year, drug prices are sure to get play during the elections.

Lasting answers for the United States will come from Uranus moving through the 10th house of the Constitution: Innovation, technology, and a close eye on individual and world freedoms. Short term solutions (in time for the election—or not) could include bringing troops home, easing import rules for drugs, or changing bankruptcy laws to protect homeowners. In an election year, the short run often overpowers the long run.

In the long run, questions of health, alternative fuels, and home ownership rights vs. lender rights may be the ones that reshape our world. Real educational reforms? Probably not. Politicians this year will talk about education when they want to change the subject.

Mary O’Gara, Ph.D.