• CHAPTER THIRTEEN •
ASTROLOGY
Mundane is the branch of astrology used to forecast events and general conditions of specific locations, usually countries, cities, and states and provinces. The predictive techniques are the same as those used in natal astrology, with some variations. For example, the second house represents a nation’s economy rather than an individual’s income.
There are two ways to approach mundane astrology: the natal chart of a country, city, or state/province, and ingress and lunation charts. Whether used separately or together, they generally reveal the same indications. The chart of a country, state/province, or city also can be progressed just like the birth chart of an individual and then interpreted using both progressions and transits. (See Recommended Reading list for books that contain this data.)
Ingress and lunation charts can be used to interpret general conditions affecting a particular location during the time frame they are active. An ingress occurs four times a year, when the Sun enters the cardinal signs: Aries, Cancer, Libra, and Capricorn. These mark the beginning of the seasons—spring, summer, autumn, and winter—and each is in effect for about three months. Some astrologers use the Aries ingress as representative of the entire year, while others use all four ingresses. I find the latter method to be more effective.
Lunations are the New and Full Moons that occur every month. New Moons are generally in effect for four weeks, and Full Moons for two. To interpret the effects on a country or state/province, the chart is calculated for the country’s capital.
Ingress and lunation charts are sensitive to transits and progressions, just like birth charts. An aspect in an ingress chart, for example, can perfect (become exact) as the progressed planets advance (or retreat in the case of a retrograde planet), and transiting planets can trigger an event when they contact a planet in the ingress or lunation chart.
In general, the signs signify the nature of the event and its duration, the planets signify the specific type of event or the people or things affected by the event, and the houses represent how or in what arena the event will occur. Aspects are interpreted in the same way as they are in other predictive techniques.
planets
• Sun—the ruler, president, prime minister, dictator, head of the government, people in power or authority
• Moon—the people, food, clothing, and shelter
• Mercury—communication, travel, education, transportation, media
• Venus—the arts, money, favorable conditions
• Mars—strife, war, police, military
• Jupiter—religion, legal matters, education, laws, foreign relations
• Saturn—restriction, ambition, goals, property, structure, conservative influences
• Uranus—change, progressive influences, revolution, riots, rebellion, Internet
• Neptune—ideals, fuel, water, confusion
• Pluto—mass change, transformation/renewal, power struggles
houses
• First—the people
• Second—the economy, money, values, banks and other financial institutions
• Third—communication, postal service, media, transportation, education, neighboring countries
• Fourth—property, real estate, homes, agriculture, mining, security
• Fifth—stock market, entertainment venues, gambling, children
• Sixth—workers, workplaces, civil service, military, health
• Seventh—diplomacy, treaties, war, open enemies
• Eighth—debt, insurance, taxes, death, government financial assistance
• Ninth—justice system, education, international relations, religion and religious institutions, travel
• Tenth—the ruler, president, prime minister, head of government, those in authority
• Eleventh—legislative branch of government, groups, labor unions
• Twelfth—hidden enemies, institutions (hospitals, prisons, jails), welfare, unemployment
signs
• Aries—war, battle, conflict, initiative, action
• Taurus—comfort, money, values
• Gemini—communication, education, transportation
• Cancer—food, real estate, property
• Leo—children, leisure-time activities, stock market, gambling
• Virgo—workers, workplaces, health, pets, service
• Libra—open enemies, allies
• Scorpio—debt, death, destruction,
insurance
• Sagittarius—international relations, education, travel, justice system, religion
• Capricorn—government, corporations, head of government
• Aquarius—Internet, groups
• Pisces—institutions, unemployment,
welfare
signs and duration
of influence
• Cardinal Signs (Aries, Cancer, Libra, Capricorn)—matters occur quickly and are of short duration
• Fixed Signs (Taurus, Leo, Scorpio, Aquarius)—matters are ongoing and of long duration
• Mutable Signs (Gemini, Virgo, Sagittarius, Pisces)—matters are indeterminate in duration
comparison of events:
two ingresses and two lunations
January 2011 was an eventful month in the United States and Egypt. United States Representative Gabrielle Giffords was shot at a January 8 event in Tucson, Arizona, and in Egypt, the citizens revolted against President Mubarak. These two very different events can be seen in the January 4 New Moon chart, but only the Egyptian event is apparent in the Capricorn (previous) ingress.
The winter (Capricorn) ingress chart for Cairo (Chart 65) has the Moon (people) in the ninth house opposition a stellium of the Sun (Mubarak, the president), Pluto (change through force, power struggle), and Mars (war, violence) in the third. All these planets are in a wide square to Saturn (government, structure) in the twelfth. The Moon, which rules the tenth house of the president, is also trine Venus, ruler of the first house and placed in the first house of the people.
Egyptian citizens began their protest January 25, organizing their efforts through the Internet and social media sites (third and ninth houses). In addition to rebelling against Mubarak, whom they termed a dictator, and his government, the citizens were protesting the high price of food (Moon square Saturn), a lack of justice (ninth house), and rampant, high unemployment.
Because five of the planets involved are in cardinal signs, it could be expected that this uprising would be short-lived. Indeed it was, as Mubarak resigned February 17, about three weeks after the initial protest. This ingress chart also shows that the citizens would prevail because the Moon (the people) is trine Venus (ruler of the first house) in the first house (the people). With Venus in Scorpio, a fixed sign, there is every reason for optimism that the end result will be a positive, long-lived one.
On January 25, the date the protest began, transiting Mercury was square ingress Saturn, and transiting Saturn was stationing retrograde within a degree of ingress Saturn. Transiting Jupiter was square ingress Sun. By the time Mubarak resigned on February 11, transiting Jupiter was square ingress Pluto, and transiting Venus was opposition ingress Moon. The people prevailed.
Event Chart / December 22, 2010 / 1:40 am EET / Cairo, Egypt / Placidus House
Event Chart / December 21, 2010 / 6:40 pm EST / Washington DC/ Placidus House
Event Chart / January 4, 2011 / 11:02 am EET / Cairo, Egypt/ Placidus House
The rebellion and ultimate resignation of the president are also apparent in the natal and progressed chart of Egypt. On the day the protest began, transiting Mercury (cell phone communication) was conjunct progressed Moon (the people) in Capricorn (government), and transiting Jupiter (justice) in the third house (communication) was opposition progressed Saturn (government) in the ninth house (justice, Internet). Jupiter also rules the first house of the people. The most telling aspect configuration, however, was transiting Venus (ruler of the tenth house of the president) conjunct progressed Mars in the twelfth house and opposition the progressed Sun (president), which was only a few minutes from crossing the Descendant into the seventh house. Venus would cross the Ascendant into the house of the people within a day, where it would form an exact opposition to the progressed Sun (president). A simple interpretation: The hidden enemies (twelfth house) of the government quickly became the open enemies (seventh house) of the government.
As an astrologer looking at this chart, you would immediately look for an indication for if and when Mubarak would resign. He did that as transiting Jupiter, ruler of the first house of the people, crossed the fourth house cusp and opposed the tenth house cusp of the president.
Now look at the winter ingress chart for Washington, DC (Chart 66), the capital of the United States. The planets are in the same signs and degrees, but in different houses because of the time zone. Finding an indication in this chart of the shooting of Gabrielle Giffords is a stretch at best. The Moon in the twelfth house of institutions (hospital) is opposition the Capricorn planets in the sixth house of health. The Moon is also trine Venus, which rules the eleventh house of legislators. Had I looked at this chart in advance, I would have interpreted it as more concerns about unemployment and housing (square to Saturn in the fourth) with eventual improvement during the season in both because of the Moon-Venus trine. Never would I have considered the shooting that did occur. There is a simple explanation for this: the shooting, although a black day for the country, in no way impacted the legislative process or the business of the government.
Now let’s look at the January New Moon charts for both of these events. The Egyptian event is obvious (Chart 67). The first house of the people is ruled by Mars, which is in the tenth house conjunct the New Moon and square Saturn in the seventh. Saturn rules the tenth house. Mubarak and his government were clearly at risk because of a war started by the people.
How could we know which side would prevail? Mars, ruler of the first house, was approaching a sextile to the lucky Jupiter-Uranus conjunction in the twelfth house (positive change). Transiting Mars would perfect this sextile before the Sun (the president), which was square Saturn (the president) in the seventh house (war), would form the same sextile. As the Moon (the people) transited Capricorn, it would, of course, sextile Jupiter-Uranus long before either Mars or the Sun. In this chart, Venus (ruler of the seventh house and open enemies—protestors) is trine the Jupiter-Uranus conjunction, bringing luck and success to the protestors (open enemies).
Event Chart / January 4, 2011 / 4:02 am EST / Washington DC/ Placidus House
The January New Moon chart for Washington, DC (Chart 68), unlike the Capricorn ingress, suggests an event involving a legislator. Here, the three Capricorn planets are in the second house of values and square Saturn in the eleventh house of legislators. With Mars active in this chart, violence involving the legislative branch or a legislator is a strong possibility.
Venus in this chart offers interesting clues (which are far easier to see in retrospect) to the alleged shooter. Venus, which rules the seventh (open enemy) and eleventh (legislator) houses, is in the twelfth (hidden enemies). The twelfth is also significant because it was suggested that the alleged shooter suffers from mental illness. Mars, which is square Saturn, co-rules the twelfth house and rules the fifth house of children. A child was killed in the shooting. With Venus ruling the seventh, the hidden enemy would become an open enemy of a legislator. The trine from Venus to Jupiter-Uranus indicates that justice would be served and also that the nation would experience a spiritually uplifting time in the aftermath of the event.
cuban missile crisis
The Cold War between the former USSR (Union of Soviet Socialist Republics) and the United States was a dominant global influence from 1947 to 1991. Both countries were superpowers and each had nuclear weapons aimed at the other. The threat of a nuclear blast was never far from American minds. School children participated in drills so they would know what to do in the event of an attack, and many people constructed underground shelters to protect themselves from both a nuclear blast and the ensuing radiation.
A crisis point in the Cold War occurred in October 1962, when a United States Air Force U-2 spy plane photographed Soviet missiles in Cuba, a communist ally of the USSR. The United States immediately demanded of the USSR that all missiles in Cuba be removed and that all missile bases be destroyed. The USSR publicly refused, but an agreement was reached through the United Nations: the missiles would be removed in exchange for the United States. agreeing never to invade Cuba, and the removal of certain U.S. missiles from Europe and Turkey. The hotline—a direct communication link between the White House and the Kremlin—was also established as a result of the confrontation.
The solar ingress chart (Chart 69) in effect at the time of the Cuban Missile Crisis is a good example of how transits affect these charts and activate events. Notice first that Mars, planet of war, is in the ninth house of international relations and square Mercury, ruler of the same house (Gemini on the ninth house cusp), in the first house of the people. The Moon (the people) in and ruling the tenth house of the president is opposition Saturn, ruler of and in the fourth house of home and security. American citizens perceived the event as a very real threat, but were unsure if President John F. Kennedy could handle the situation. Mars is also trine the Venus-Neptune conjunction in the first house (the people), with Venus ruling the same house.
The outcome would be quickly determined because of the cardinal signs on the angles. But what would the outcome be? Based on the chart and its combination of aspects, it could have gone either way. However, the strong presence of Mercury conjunct the Ascendant suggests that communication and negotiation could result in an agreement, which it did.
Event Chart / September 23, 1962 / 8:35:12 am EDT / Washington DC/ Placidus House
Also of interest in this chart is the Sun in the twelfth house trine Saturn in the fourth. This indicates the potential for a threat to the homeland (Saturn) by a hidden enemy (twelfth house). The Moon in the tenth is sextile the Sun, and because Saturn is the natural ruler of the tenth house (president), the Sun-Moon-Saturn configuration also reflects the secret and public negotiations that occurred.
The missiles were photographed by the U-2 on October 14, 1962, the date the transiting Sun emerged from the ingress chart twelfth house and crossed the Ascendant while forming a square to Mars in the ninth. On the same date, the transiting Moon was in the seventh house of open enemies, and transiting Mars was conjunct the ingress Moon in the tenth house. Transiting Mercury, which had turned retrograde September 24 (the day after the ingress), was in Libra in the twelfth house. It turned direct on October 15 at 6 Libra, forming a trine with the ingress Saturn in the fourth house.
As all of these transits contacted planets in the ingress chart on October 14, they brought what was previously hidden into the open and made a U.S.-USSR confrontation and nuclear war very real possibilities. The final trigger was the Full Moon of October 13 at 19 Aries 41 opposition-conjunction the ingress chart Ascendant (the people)-Descendant (open enemy), and square the ingress Midheaven (president)-IC (home and security).
In the two weeks between October 14 and 28, when the agreement was reached, the Sun advanced in the twelfth house, indicating the secret talks. It was conjunct the ingress Ascendant and square Mars on the 28th. Here, too, a lunation had a role. The New Moon (Sun-Moon conjunction) of October 28 at 4 Scorpio 28 was square ingress chart Saturn, concluding the matter (the fourth is also the house of beginnings and endings). The Moon would move on to conjunct ingress Venus and Neptune, and trine ingress Mars the next day as the final details were being worked out.
economic meltdown
The Great Recession (some have called it a depression) began in early 2006, when housing prices peaked and began to decline. This led to the collapse of the sub-prime mortgage industry in early 2007, a year that saw the largest drops in home sales in the previous twenty-five years and the first price decline in many, maybe since the Great Depression of the 1930s.
As the next few years unfolded, the stock market lost nearly fifty percent of its value, countries around the world experienced serious financial problems, hundreds of banks failed, U.S. debt increased to trillions of dollars, and homes continued to decrease in value and go into foreclosure.
October 2009 was a particularly low point. The unemployment rate reached a recession peak of 10.1 percent as companies continued to lay off workers. Others, even those that were rich in cash, were not hiring. The American economy continued to spiral downward, aggravated by the reluctance of many to spend on all but necessities. Saving became a priority. All of this is reflected in the October 4, 2009, Full Moon chart (Chart 70) calculated for Washington, DC.
Event Chart / October 4, 2009 / 2:10:10 am EDT / Washington DC/ Placidus House
The most obvious indication of financial difficulties is the Venus-Mercury-Saturn stellium in the second house (the economy) opposition Uranus in the eighth house (country’s debt). All four of these planets aspect Mars in the twelfth house by sextile or trine. The Sun and Moon in the solar third and ninth houses represent the worldwide nature of this crisis.
On its own, the Saturn-Uranus opposition in the second and eighth houses indicates a severe financial period. Saturn is the universal ruler of business and real estate, and Uranus represents change. Placed in the financial houses, this opposition would affect both. The Venus placement is another indication of the dire straights of housing/real estate as well as the overall economy. Note also that Mercury, the third planet in the stellium, rules the second house of the economy.
The sixth house represents the nation’s workers. Although there are no planets in this house, it is ruled by Saturn in the second house. Its opposition to Uranus indicates a change in employment and in unemployment benefits.
The placement of Mars in the Full Moon chart suggests there was much activity behind the scenes of which the American people were unaware at the time. Confirmation of that can be seen in the Mars sextile to Venus, ruler of the tenth house of the president, and Mercury, ruler of the eleventh house of Congress. Mars sextile-trine the Saturn-Uranus opposition further suggests that the people involved were at odds (Saturn rules and Uranus co-rules the seventh house) over that month’s hot topic: executive compensation and financial regulation.
However, despite the state of the economy and rising unemployment, the stock market continued to rise from its low point in March 2009. At first glance, Pluto in the fifth house doesn’t look favorable for the market. But it was because Pluto is semisquare Jupiter, ruler of the fifth house, and Jupiter is approaching a conjunction with Neptune, ruler of the eighth house. So in the midst of all the dire indications, this financial sector was the exception, and a profitable one, for those who had the money to invest.
Such was not the case earlier in the year. The Dow-Jones Industrial Average hit a low of 6440 on Monday, March 9, 2009, and unemployment reached a new high of 8.9 percent the month before. This was in the midst of the U.S. Treasury Department’s purchase of nearly $2 billion of preferred stock in U.S. banks and its restructuring of its previous assistance to American International Group (AIG), one of the companies heavily involved in the sub-prime mortgage crisis. AIG received $30 billion in TARP (Troubled Asset Relief Program) funds in exchange for $40 billion in stock. A $787 billion stimulus-spending bill was also signed into law.
These are only a few of the many events that occurred in the February-March 2009 time frame, with hundreds more throughout the Great Recession and its aftermath. All of this is reflected in the U.S. chart.
Astrologers have debated the birth time (and even the date) of the United States for at least a couple of hundred years. The chart shown here (Chart 71 / Inner chart) is known as the Sibley chart because it was researched and promoted by Ebenezer Sibley, a well-known eighteenth century English astrologer and physician. Although the Sibley chart is the most widely used, there are many others that are used by various astrologers.
Inner chart: U.S. Birth Chart / July 4, 1776 / 5:10:10 pm LMT / Philadelphia, Pennsylvania
Middle chart: U.S. Chart Secondary Progressed SA / February 24, 2009 / 7:28:27 pm LMT / Philadelphia, Pennsylvania
Outer chart: New Moon / February 24, 2009 / 8:35 pm EST / Philadelphia, Pennsylvania
Placidus House
The United States progressed chart for February 24, 2009, is in the middle wheel, and the outer wheel has the planetary positions for the New Moon preceding the stock market low.
The most prominent influence is transiting Pluto in opposition to natal Venus, the universal planets of money. (This would be true of any United States chart for July 4.) Pluto returned to the same degree in December 2009, when several banks repaid the loans they had previously received from the U.S. Treasury Department. Note that Venus rules the sixth house of this United States chart, reflecting the high unemployment rate reached that year.
The February 24, 2009, New Moon in Pisces (Outer chart) was conjunct the progressed U.S. Sun and opposition the progressed Moon, forming a t-square with natal and progressed Uranus in the sixth house (a new high in unemployment). This New Moon-progressed planet configuration reinforced the realization that the struggling economy wasn’t just a United States problem. It was a worldwide one that would continue to evolve through the summer months of 2010 as Saturn and Uranus formed their opposition in the third-ninth houses. During much of 2009 and into early 2010, the situation worsened as both these planets formed aspects to natal and progressed U.S. Neptune. And there was little the United States could do to lessen the impact of the global economy.
A more positive development associated with this New Moon was President Obama’s announcement of a pull-out timeline for United States troops in Iraq. This war began in 2003, as transiting Pluto in Sagittarius opposed the U.S. natal Mars in Gemini. The progressed Moon was conjunct Mars at the time.
Mars rules the fifth house (stock market) of the U.S. birth chart, with Venus as co-ruler. At the time of the February New Moon, progressed Venus was opposition progressed Mars, and transiting Venus stationed retrograde conjunct-opposition these two planets the Friday before the market reached its low point. The New Moon also triggered the Venus-Mars opposition by semisquare and sesquisquare. Even though the market had been headed downward for some time, that trend was reversed under the influence of this New Moon as Neptune formed a conjunction to progressed Mercury for the final time.
You can learn much about mundane astrology and gain practical experience by observing how transits and progressions affect the chart of your city, state, country, or province. More knowledge and insights can also come from tracking the daily and monthly events indicated in monthly lunation charts, both at the time of the New and Full Moons and as the transiting planets aspect the planets and angles of the charts.