The Laws of Mundane Astrology

Some Principles of Mundane Astrology

In studying the laws of astrology certain self-evident principles of mundane astrology need to be applied. If these precepts in mundane astrology are not applied, what results is a mishmash of gobbledygook.  In this section, I explain and apply these laws. Hopefully, they will assist the astro-historian in diagnosis and practice. I have included a list of these laws at the bottom of this page for easy reference.

THE BOSTON MARATHON MASSACRE OF 2013

A major law of astrology (the Second Law of Contexts, see below) states that planets and moons and the sun in the solar system and suns in our Milky Way galaxy occurring at the time of an event in time exert an influence on a person, thing, founding of a nation or any other event for which a time or founding exists. Simply stated, the timing of an event is not enough; it must be also applied to a chart of an earlier event. It is not enough to say that at the Boston Massacre there was a Saturn Uranus exact inconjunct, though one occurred; or that there was an almost exact Uranus square Pluto, though there was.

The question is how this event applies to a chart.

If we examine the chart of the USA, the Sibly chart, we find there was a major aspect occurring: Pluto by transit was opposing the Sun of the natal USA chart. It was 1⁰44’ out of exact; it was stationary: it would sit at 11⁰35’ Capricorn from April 7^th through April 20th,2013. Stationary outer planets exert vast influence. Pluto rules terrorism, bombs, gangs, conspiracies. In this episode, the bombing killed three people at the event, caused thirty people to lose legs and other limbs, and  it wounded 170 others; an entire major American city was closed down under martial law for several days. And the whole drama was broadcast on media to the entire planet. Referencing the American chart, this was a plutonian event.

Could this terrorist attack on the streets of Boston have been predicted? Not by astrology. A number of us have been watching the approach of Pluto to the opposition of the natal US Sun. Pluto came up to the Sun touched it by opposition and now is moving away. What can astrology do here? How does influence work?

What the mundane astrologer, the astro historian can do is to analyze the charts of other nations that have had this opposition, or a similar Plutonian aspect, review how that was dealt with, observe what the players did, and how they met their challenges. If we examine, for example, the conjunctions and oppositions of nations— Britain in 1915, and England in 1674, or the Soviet Union in 1990 or the USA in 1924—we can get more of a feel as to how this influence works.

 

United Kingdom 1915-1919

By October 1915 Pluto had moved to 3⁰ 19’ of Capricorn, or 29 minutes off an exact opposition to the British natal Sun. One of the disasters of this war was Gallipoli, an attempt by the British to take Turkey, and then by uniting with Russia, to launch another attack at Germany in its rear. It was hoped that this thrust would obviate the need for trench warfare that was stalemating the war in Europe. The attempt failed for a number of reasons. The naval commanders of the fleet that sailed to Turkey were timid; they were afraid to lose their ships. In peacetime, if you lost your ship, you lost your command and position. The admirals were fearful of losing their ships. And the generals were no better.  Ian Hamilton, the general who commanded at Gallipoli, was slow, stolid, and mediocre. Gallipoli required speed, daring and a willingness to take deadly risk: None of these requirements were met. What the generals and admirals gave the United Kingdom was more trench warfare. When they appeared off the Turkish coast, they waited and waited and waited, then finally landed. The Turks had had plenty of time to entrench, build defensive lines, etc. Gallipoli was a failure of leadership.

On July 1, when the Battle of the Somme commenced, Pluto was less than a degree of exact moving into the opposition of the British Sun. The Battle of the Somme saw the death of one million soldiers, and it was inconclusive—five and a half months, a million dead.

Pluto was moving very slowly these years, which means it was exerting an even greater influence. On December the 5, 1916, it was exactly retrograde at 3° Capricorn 48′, H.H. Asquith, the Prime Minister, was forced out of office. He was replaced by Lloyd George, a remarkable prime minister who came up with remarkable solutions in a very dangerous times. In peacetime, Asquith would have survived; in this Plutonian war, he was chewed up and thrown onto the ash heap of history.

England 1672-1674

Charles the Second, King of England from his Saturn Return until his death, had studied in a hard school. Under the protective shield of Eris (exactly conjunct his natal Sun) in his early adult years, he wandered about the landscape of hard revolution, carried the command of armies at a very early age, had to suffer the beheading of his father, experienced the death of friends, was shocked by the sudden betrayals of others, plus he carried the burden of all the poverty and lack and humiliations foisted on him in foreign courts. His years of exile and danger in Europe had toughened him to be the willow that could bend to the ground in the hurricane. His reign of as King of England began with Pluto still hovering over his Eris/Sun conjunction. He had been broken and crushed many times, and had returned each time stronger, and cleverer and wiser.

In March 15, 1672, about half way through his 25 year reign, the day Pluto went direct at 2⁰ Cancer 3’ (the opposition to England’s natal Sun and would become exact June 29, 1672) he issued a Royal Declaration of Indulgence. This was meant to create more religious toleration for Protestants and Catholics. Later, the king was forced to repeal his Declaration when Parliament passed the first Test Act of 1673: he bent to the wind; he survived. And so did the ideas of religious toleration.

Three weeks after Pluto opposed the English Sun exactly (13 May 1673), he declared the third Anglo-Dutch war, a war primarily about who got to keep what in trading routes and colonies. Mostly this was a naval war, and while it was inconclusive as Plutonian wars often can be, the Dutch came off a little better tactically, while the English won strategically. The Treaty of Westminster of Feb 19, 1764 permanently transferred New Netherlands into New York, a British colony. America was becoming British America. A relatively quiet time.

 

The First Conjunction of America’s Sun by Pluto

On August 2, 1923, on the day America was beginning its fifth Saturn Return. When Pluto transiting at 11⁰ Cancer 26’ was less than two degrees away from the conjunction of the USA Sun, Warren G. Harding, the President of the United States, died. He was succeeded by Calvin Coolidge. The Plutonian conjunction on America’s Sun would remain in effect for three years or so, through April of 1927. Pluto at this time was also transiting Calvin Coolidge’s natal Sun (see his chart). In his case, as in Charles II of England, this transit of Pluto over his natal Sun marked an ascent to power.

Historically, this was a quiet time. Prohibition was in effect, and no one paid much attention to it. It was one of the first attempts in America of the politicians and bureaucrats to impose social engineering on the people.  And the people shrugged it off, as they mostly do with social engineering.  It was the Roaring Twenties, a time of great prosperity and fun in America. It was the era of George Gershwin, new fraternities and sororities, new styles, prosperity, hard work and play. One of the most notable people in this era was Aimee Semple McPherson (Oct. 9, 1890), the Pluto-Neptune evangelist whose church membership in Los Angeles comprised a tenth of the population of the city.

President Coolidge, an extremely responsible chief executive, was concerned about the monies the government spent. He would run contests among bureaucracies awarding medals and certificates of appreciation to those managers who cut the most fat out of their budgets. He understood economics as well as any president ever has and in this area of expertise was probably the equal of Alexander Hamilton. Pluto is a ruler of economics and wealth. Under his watch the nation became extremely wealthy. When he ran for president on Nov. 4, 1924, he easily defeated his Democratic and Progressive party opponents. For more, read Coolidge by Amity Shlaes .

 

The First Conjunction of the Soviet Union’s Sun by Pluto

Communism was the first secular religion to rule a large nation state. That nation including Russia, the Ukraine, Georgia, the Baltic states and others, was called the Soviet Union. The philosophy of this religion grew out of the ideas germinating in the 19th Century German university system. Based on the ideals of equality and brotherhood, its ideology believed that the rule of a few highly qualified elites who would, for the common good of all, by applying their enlightened administration, improve the public  good.

The experiment lasted for around 73 years (see chart for Founding of Soviet Union). By the 1980’s the reality of this ideology had become apparent to most citizens in the Soviet Union: Communism turned out to be a structure of vast dysfunctional bureaucracies that provided minimal goods and services to the population; these bureaucracies benefited mostly those who ran them. Everyone else except these elites was poor; alcoholism was epidemic; bribery and nepotism replaced the rule of law; no one believed in the state religion anymore. The society was corrupt.

A favorite joke in the Soviet Union in that era was: “They pretend to pay us, and we pretend to work.”

Along came Plutonian influence and the Soviet Union fell apart and died. In 1989, when Pluto was exactly conjunct the Soviet Union’s natal Sun at 15⁰ Scorpio, the Eastern European states fell away. That includes Poland, Hungary, East Germany, Czechoslovakia, Bulgaria, and Romania. In 1990, with Pluto moving back and forth at 17⁰ and 15⁰ Scorpio, the Baltics and the Ukraine fell away. The last desperate attempt to preserve the old corrupt ways occurred on Aug 20, 1991, called the August Coup. Pluto was at 17⁰ Scorpio 42’, conjunct the Mercury of the founding chart of the Soviet Union. The coup lasted a few days, people fought back, and it collapsed. The Soviet Union formally dissolved, ironically, on Christmas day, Dec.25, 1991.

The entire dissolution of the Soviet Union can be measured by the slow transit of Pluto backwards and forwards over the Sun of this chart from 1989 through 1991.

This was not a quiet Plutonian era. Yet it was a relatively peaceful dissolution; it could have been very violent. But it wasn’t.

Conclusions

In this inquiry I have employed both the conjunction and the opposition of Pluto. What conclusions can we draw when we study the influence of Pluto transits on nations and on the players in history?

Pluto can be very quiet or very noisy. Each historical situation it applies its influence to is unique. Yet the influence of the planet is inexorable and must be dealt with. From his early adolescence, Charles the Second of England wandered the dark corridors of Plutonian power. By the time Pluto opposed the English natal Sun, he was able to handle a Dutch war, easily, a recalcitrant Parliament, easily. By this time it was all second nature to him. His brother James, who succeeded him, never learned to handle Plutonian power and thereby lost a kingdom.

The leadership at the beginning of the First World War—H.H. Asquith, the prime minister, many in his cabinet, the generals, the admirals—was totally unprepared for the devastation of total Plutonian war. Leadership changed and became effective when Lloyd George came to power. Still, an inconclusive ending occurred, and the war would have to be fought all over again, the second time with far more effective leadership.

The transit of Pluto over the US natal Sun was relatively quiet. At its very beginning a president died in office. He was succeeded peacefully with no turmoil by President Coolidge, an economic thinker who was economically illumined, and who would make the executive branch he led lean and efficient.

The transit of Pluto over the natal Sun of the Soviet Union, well, it destroyed it. Yet it was a peaceful dissolution.

The Plutonian influence was there at each situation in history. Yet, as each situation was different, each outcome manifested in different events.

 

The Laws of Astro-History

THE LAW OF INTENSITY: The slower a planet moves in its orbit around the sun, the more powerful its effect on the affairs of the world.

THE LAW OF THE FAST MOVERS: The inferior planets, Mercury and Venus, the Luminaries, the Sun and the Moon, and the planet, Mars–­all work as triggers for events orchestrated by the influence of the outer planets.

THE LAW OF SYNODS: When two slow moving outer planets move together in the sky in a synod, their energy is squared. And they often trigger mass movements in history.

THE LAW OF CONTEXTS: To connect an aspect that is happening in the sky to a circumstance, event, or occurrence that is taking place in the world, the astro-historian must be familiar with that event’s past, significance, and context.

THE SECOND LAW OF CONTEXTS: The chart of an event must relate to the chart of another event. This law thus requires two charts, the chart for the act, and the chart for what is acted upon.

THE LAW OF THE SLOW MOVERS: The slower a planet moves in its orbit around the Sun, the more powerful its effect on the affairs of the world.

THE LAW OF SOURCES: If one doesn’t have an original source for a birth time, then one cannot use secondary progressions or other direc­tions.

THE LAW OF EVENTS: Transits will always manifest an appropriate historical occurrence.

THE LAW OF UNIFIED LANGUAGE: In order to establish a unified astrological language of history, no rectifications are to be accepted.

THE LAW OF SOURCES: The authenticity of an astrological chart depends on the precision of its researched historical data. All forms of speculation, including rectification and dreams and clairvoyance, have no legitimate function in the disciplines of astrological history.

THE LAW OF SIMPLICITY: Keep it simple.

THE LAW OF CUSPS: If a validated historical time does not exist, angles, cusps and houses may not be used in interpretation.

THE LAW OF RETROGRADES: When Mercury, Venus or Mars move in a retrograde motion, the influence of this motion is as powerful as that of an outer planet.

THE LAW OF STYLE: A Uranus/Neptune synod will always transform cultural style in the arts.

THE LAW OF BRIGHT STARS: If a bright star be found on the ecliptic, or if it is one of the twenty bright stars in the sky, and if it is a bright star and close to our solar system, and if it is in conjunction to a planet or luminary, then it exerts influence. The orb of influence for a bright star is one degree for a planet and two degrees for a luminary.