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Calm
waters and clear skies make sailing the oceans of time pleasant, but long-range
success attends those who navigate stormy times. The worst storms for the US economy
have hit when Saturn has moved through mid-Capricorn. Does this mean Saturn causes
economic hardship?
"Planetary
events are not causing events here on earth. Rather, both planetary and earthly
events happen simultaneously and are mutually reflective. Neither is the cause
of the other. Both are the product of the moment...one acted out in the heavens
above, the other here on the earth below." (1) There
is no cause-effect relationship but there is simultaneity, coincidence, correlation.
I think of Earth as part of the Solar System environment, and we earthlings as
participants in our planet's adventures in that much larger realm. In turn, the
Solar System exists in the seemingly infinite and ever-changing universe. The
trick is to isolate planetary cycles that coincide with times of economic adversity.
If we can predict economic storms, we can prepare for them.
Saturn
in Mid-Capricorn  Even
before the United States was born on July 4, 1776, Saturn's sojourn in mid-Capricorn
has coincided with major events in American history. When the first English colonists
sloshed ashore at Jamestown (in what is now Virginia) in 1607, Saturn was in mid-Capricorn,
opposite Mars at 15 Cancer, conjunct where the US natal Sun was to be found 169
years and/or approximately one orbit of Neptune later. The struggles Jamestown
colonists endured, climaxed by what is called "the starving time" in
1610, now provide romantic tours of the reconstructed colony.
Saturn
next arrived in mid-Capricorn in 1636 to coincide with Holland's "Tulip Mania,"
mother of the speculative bubble. This stimulated Dutch migration to what is now
New York. War
on Witches The
famous Salem Witch Trials of 1695 coincided with Saturn's next trip through mid-Capricorn.
Rooting out practitioners of Wicca was done then with as much enthusiasm as the
war on drugs would be 300 years later. The Salem trials brought the 1,200-year
war on "witches" to a climax and denouement. The
French and Indian War began with Saturn's 1754 visit to the second decan (2) of
Capricorn. The outcome of this, said to be the bloodiest conflict to that point
in history, was to establish English language and culture in all of North America.
Indians who had not died from imported diseases by the 1750s would soon be almost
totally annihilated, then "celebrated" in circuses for the amusement
of European immigrants. First
Great Depression The
first Great Depression coincided with Saturn's next arrival in mid-Capricorn in
1784, simultaneous with Mars in mid-Aries, Uranus opposite Saturn and conjunct
the US Sun in Cancer. Neptune was conjunct the US Saturn in Libra and thus also
square transiting Saturn. This formed a grand cross anchored by Saturn. It was
a pattern which would coincide with every Great Depression thereafter in US history.
To visualize this grand cross, one must hold in mind the US natal chart's
Sun-Saturn square, and then "see" the ringed planet Saturn hovering
in mid-Capricorn and 90 degrees square another "heavy" in mid-Aries.
When other outer planets are also part of this big X pattern, the resulting Great
Depression is especially severe. With Saturn, Mars, Uranus and Neptune involved,
some economic historians believe the 1780s was the worst in US history. Photography
did not exist then so the Great Depression of the 1780s must be ascertained from
what written records were preserved.
Washington
Burned When
Saturn moved through Capricorn about 30 years after the 1780s, in 1810s, no heavies
were in Aries square Saturn and no Great Depression occurred. The War of 1812
was underway, however. The newly formed American Navy defeated the British on
Lake Erie and British troops burned down the new nation's Washington, DC capitol.
The
Great Depression of the 1840s coincided with Saturn's next sojourn in Capricorn,
and this time it was also simultaneously square transiting Uranus in mid-Aires,
forming the grand cross with the US Sun-Saturn square. Making matters worse, Mars
was conjunct the US Saturn during the depths of this one. Economic
Cycles Great
Depressions, as Dr. Ravi Batra and other economists have noted, have historically
occurred in 30 and/or 60-year cycles.(3) One cycle of Saturn after the 1840s,
the Great Depression of the 1870s arrived. At that time, Neptune was in mid-Aries
to form the grand cross with the US Sun-Saturn square. It's notable, too, that
Chiron was conjunct Neptune in Aries during this time. This era was marked by
bank failures, bad harvests and the rise of the Ku Klux Klan. Republican
President William McKinley was re-elected in 1900 as Saturn next moved through
mid-Capricorn. It was during his administration that the US arose as a world power.
McKinley was assassinated and Vice President Teddy Roosevelt became the youngest
President. TR took on big corporations and pushed through a variety of socially
and environmentally friendly laws. No grand cross formed at this time and no great
depression occurred. The stock market, however, went through some wicked gyrations,
as the US natal Mars-Neptune square was adversely aspected by transiting Uranus,
Neptune and Pluto.
Photographed and
Filmed Thirty
years later we had "the big one," the Great Depression of the 1930s,
now known simple as, "The Great Depression." It was the first to be
photographed and filmed, creating a graphic record. At the point many consider
its bottom Saturn was at 13 Capricorn, square Uranus at 11 Aries, and opposite
Pluto in Cancer. So this grand cross to the US Sun-Saturn square was formed by
Saturn, Uranus and Pluto. Since the 1930s, every time the stock market plunged,
ghosts of the Crash of '29 were sighted, or imagined. Follow
the awful 1930s, Saturn arrived in mid-Capricorn in 1960, but at this time no
other heavy was in Aries and no Great Depression occurred. Saturn was conjunct
Mars in early 1960 as the Cuban Revolution ended US control of that island, and
the Vietnam War was in the planning stage. The Vietnam War and anti-war
movement kicked into high gear in 1965 when Mars and Saturn came conjunct again,
this time in mid-Pisces where both were opposite a conjunction of Uranus and Pluto
in Virgo, afflicting the US Neptune, with all four transiting planets also square
the US Mars in Gemini. Inflated
Panic Many
investors thought we were in for another Great Depression in October 1987 when
stocks did a record dive. But this turned out to be strictly a financial affair.
It barely caused a ripple in the overall economy. For financial panics I look
for adverse aspects to the US Mars-Neptune square. And sure enough, Saturn and
Uranus were both in Sagittarius opposite the US Mars, with the Moon conjunct Neptune
and Chiron conjunct Mars. Jupiter opposite the US Saturn appears to have inflated
this panic. When
Saturn next arrived in mid-Capricorn, America had not suffered a Great Depression
since the 1930s and no small number of economic theorists believed another was
inevitable. Foremost among those economists was Ravi Batra, whose book The
Great Depression of 1990 became a runaway bestseller, coinciding with
the arrival in mid-Capricorn of Saturn, Neptune and Uranus.
But surprise
surprise! No grand cross, no great depression. Even though those three heavies—Saturn,
Neptune and Uranus—were opposite the US Sun and thus square the US Saturn,
no heavy occupied mid-Aries and Pluto showed its power at 14 Scorpio, trine the
US Sun and sextile the Saturn-Neptune-Uranus trio in Capricorn.
It was
at this time that I came to the realization that every time Saturn anchors a grand
cross to the US Sun-Saturn square, America suffers a Great Depression. Every time
Saturn arrives in mid-Capricorn without being square a heavy in mid-Aries, historic
events occur but no Great Depression. Roaring,
Pawing, Snorting This
is not to say that the late 1980s and early 1990s were good times for all. The
slogan that best captured the mood at this time was "Wall Street danced,
Main Street wept." And what loomed ahead were the unprecedented (Uranus)
and deceptive (Neptune) roaring, pawing, snorting bull market and ballooning speculative
bubble of the 1990s. This
was to be followed by the deflating of history's largest speculative bubble as
the new century got underway. Which in turn was to be followed by the current
rash of exposés about corporate-government bribery, fraud, lies and executive
thievery, as Pluto (the subtle but all-powerful) moved slowly opposite the US
Mars-square-Neptune. Looming
Ahead This
segues to what looms in our not too distant future, the next grand cross to be
formed by heavies in Capricorn and Aries. It will break the 30 or 60-year cycle
because it will be anchored by Pluto in mid-Capricorn, not Saturn. As in the 1930s,
it will again be Uranus in mid-Aries, where it arrives about every 84 years. This
grand cross will begin to form in 2008 and will be most dangerously precise by
2014. It
will also coincide with a Maya astrological event called the 13 baktun,
a cycle of 5,128 of our years, due to complete at the winter solstice of 2012.
Some have interpreted this as "the end of the world." I believe a more
accurate translation would be the end of our present way of perceiving the world.
Batten
Down the Hatches The
last time Pluto moved through mid-Capricorn coincided with the years of social
upheaval in the 13 original colonies that led to the American Revolution of 1776,
and the birth of the United States as a separate nation. My guess is that, given
the record long lasting nature of this upcoming Uranus-Pluto square (off and on
from 2008 till 2019), we are in for what the Chinese I Ching calls
"interesting times." Put
that together with the Maya forecast, the dire projections of environmentalists
and currently growing corporate-government corruption, and it looks like today's
scandals are the first freshets of an approaching hurricane. Prepare to wrap the
main sail and batten down the hatches. Notes:
1.
Astrology for Beginners by William W. Hewitt, Llewellyn Publications,
1996, page 4.
2. Decan is a term applied to a subdivision of signs into 10
degree arcs, referred to as the first, second and third decanates or decans.
3.
Besides describing the 30 and 60-year cycles of great depressions, Ravi Batra
offers these definitions on page 106 of The Great Depression of 1990.
"A recession usually lasts for one to three years, during which the rate
of unemployment, while rising, is generally below 12 percent. When a recession
lasts for more than three years, and/or the rate of unemployment lies between
12 percent and 20 percent, the economy may be said to be suffering from a depression.
When unemployment remains high and business stagnates for six or more years, the
nation's plight may be called a great depression. Thus, depending on its severity
in depth and length, the downswing of the business cycle may be defined as a recession,
depression, or great depression." | 
