Part One—The Methodology
In Mundane Astrology and Astro-History (astrological analysis of History), the conjunctions, squares, and oppositions of the outer planets, Saturn to Pluto, are usually seen as important inflection points in historical time. As such, they correspond to important shifts, changes, crises, etc., in the history of polities, nations, cultures, or even civilization itself. However, it is often the case that these critical aspects between two outer planets are viewed in isolation and out of context of the planetary pairs’ synodic cycle from conjunction to conjunction. Tony Dickey’s ‘Planetary Wave Theory’ corrects that problem, creating a graph of the cycle showing the relationship between the two planets on a sine wave. But in his theory, there’s no specific interpretive difference between a waxing first quarter square and a waning last quarter square, for example. There is room within the theory to plot historical moments in time corresponding to the waxing and waning semi-square, sextile, sessquare, etc. Again, though, there’s not much discernment between waxing and waning aspects. This is understandable, since without the context of the phase relationship between the two planets, there’s little reason to think of the waxing and waning aspects as all that different from each other.
We can, however, see these cycles through the phase relationship of the two planets in question, which then provides a fundamental difference in interpretation of the waxing and waning aspects. Modeling the phases after the eight phases of the Moon and their interpretations, we can adjust accordingly the interpretations of the waxing and waning aspects of any planetary pair for socio-political purposes. The waxing phases are New, Crescent, First Quarter and Gibbous. The cycle culminates with the Full Phase and the waning phases are Disseminating, Last Quarter and Balsamic. Each phase is 45 degrees in length. The aspects between the two planets can then be placed within the context of the phase relationship, providing important, broadened interpretive insight into the meaning of the aspects. For example, if we are looking at the Jupiter/Saturn cycle, the Crescent phase begins when Jupiter reaches 45 degrees ahead of Saturn (waxing semi-square) and the First Quarter phase begins when Jupiter reaches 90 degrees ahead of Saturn (waxing square), and so forth. If we understand the meaning of the Crescent Phase and the First Quarter Phase, then we can also understand that the semi-square and square that mark the opening of the phases should be interpreted within the context of the phase. That means there’s a fundamental difference between a waxing semi-square in the Crescent Phase and a waning semi-square in the Balsamic Phase, because those two phases have very different interpretations.
The reason for the difference isn’t just because the aspects fall in different phases, but also because the phases are really ‘developmental and dynamic’ through the cycle and not static, and therefore, neither are the aspects. In other words, what happens in the New Phase determines what happens in the Crescent Phase, which in turn influences what happens at the First Quarter Phase, and so forth. Therefore, what happens at the conjunction will inform us how to interpret what happens at the semi-square, which in turn, tells us how to look at the Crescent Phase Septile, Sextile, Quintile, and then they in turn, inform us how to approach the First Quarter Square. And so it goes throughout the cycle from conjunction to opposition back to conjunction, and it seems very much to be an ‘if this…then that’ scenario. You’ll understand what I mean by ‘if this-then that’ below in the interpretive guidelines or rubric for the aspects.
This method of analyzing aspects and using the phase relationships of planetary pairs is not my original idea. I was first introduced to the method in the mid-1970s by the late Marc Robertson in Seattle. What is perhaps my original contribution to the method is using it strictly for Mundane and historical work, re-imagining the interpretive framework for politics and social processes. I developed this over the decades, watching these cycles of outer planetary pairs in their phase relationships and aspects and associating them with specific historical events and periods of time. From that observation, I developed a dynamic interpretive framework for the aspects in their phases. Here’s a graphic of the eight phases with some of their aspects.
Of course, the principles of the two planets involved are the basis for interpreting their cycle. So, let’s take a look at a basic guideline of interpretation for each planetary pair from Saturn to Pluto. (For brevity, I’m leaving out Jupiter in the descriptions, but Jupiter’s conjunction with any outer planet also marks the opening of an important cycle, and its phase relationship to the outer planets is just as important as those starting with Saturn.) These interpretive suggestions are not meant to be complete or comprehensive, but rather just a guideline for understanding a couple basic principles in the pairing. Included in parentheses are the most recent years of the planets’ conjunction, setting off their cycle.
- Saturn/Uranus: reform and/or disruption of social and political structures, agencies and institutions; political realignments. Radical shifts/shocking events in politics/government. New statements of intent regarding political and legal reforms. (1988)
- Saturn/Neptune: governmental chaos, demise or dissolution of old government agencies/forms; ideological shifts in politics/government, idealized cultural past; ideological attacks on government systems. New statements of intent regarding social/political traditions and values. (1989)
- Saturn/Pluto: transformation of governmental institutions and agencies; extreme political power struggles; epidemics; new statements of intent regarding economics and the powers of government in controlling the economy. Historically this conjunction has been accompanied by large losses of life. (1982/2020)
- Uranus/Neptune: realignments of political alliances; social agitation/upheaval and/or revolutions. New statements of intent and sweeping changes in political ideologies. New technologies that shape the future. (1993)
Uranus/Pluto: radical agitation for civil rights; transformation of governmental and political institutions; deep cultural, social and political transformation with new statements of intent regarding equality under the law, the rights of individuals to live free of traditional culture and life-styles, and to have their own erotic life free from government or religious intrusion. (1850/1965) - Neptune/Pluto: dramatic, fundamental changes and transformations in culture and civilization. Long-term (495 year cycle) shifts in cultural paradigms and scientific/technological advancements. (1892)
Now let’s go through the eight phases and the aspects within those phases and some key interpretive phrases to illustrate how they work. These interpretations are generic and not related to any specific planetary pair, although they are still within a mundane, political framework. An important thing to keep in mind while reading through them is the dynamic, developmental nature of the aspects within their phases. Each phase begins with a ‘hard’ aspect and contains 45 degrees of arc. Each phase can generally be described by the conjunction, semi-square, sessquare or opposition that ‘opens’ it.
New Phase–0-45 deg: Conjunction—This phase marks the beginning of the new cycle complete with a shift in political direction. New statements of social, political and economic intent are made, with new goals and policies.
30: Semi-sextile—awareness that the new intentions or policies need compromise and adjustments to real world circumstances. Rigid ideological positions only lead to conflict.
Crescent Phase–45-90 deg: Semi-square—there’s a risk of waning energy to maintain the new policies among those who supported them at the conjunction/New Phase; mobilization of energy and support is necessary to keep the vision and goals alive as there’s push back from those opposed to the new intentions and policies.
51+: Septile—if there was mobilized energy to push forward at the semi-square, this aspect provides unexpected support. If there was difficulty with the semi-square period, some outside influence such as the Courts could step in and thwart the intentions. Some consider this a ‘fateful’ aspect, and, indeed, “Fate” may step in, but not in a kind way. However, I’m inclined to see it in political terms as a period of self-defeat because of mistakes made at the semi-square. Political opposition can gain traction, but they can also lose ground, if the challenges at the semi-square were met by those who support the new policy agenda set at the previous conjunction.
60: Sextile: If the new goals and intentions have worked thus far, expect opportunities to appear to give the goals some practical form. Caution—the ship may have come in, but it’s anchored in the harbor and effort is needed to go after those opportunities. If there were difficulties at the semi-square and septile, the political opposition can now successfully take advantage of the situation.
72: Quintile: If things haven’t worked out thus far, expect opponents to reject, oppress and/or use some authority to force a change. If things are going well, now is the time to find creative ways to keep moving forward.
First Quarter—90-135 deg: Square—this marks a period of the first substantive challenges to the original intentions set at the conjunction. Many people suddenly don’t like the beautifully constructed plans and goals anymore. Political opposition will most certainly launch a major effort to derail the policy agenda. There will have to be a concerted effort to fight to keep the statements of intent and new policies alive. In confronting the opposition, with a lot of effort and political will, much can be accomplished. Supporters of the agenda must resist intimidation and pressure and stand up for the policies. It’s a time to fight back in order to keep the vision alive. If not, the original policies and intentions will simply fade away and the political opposition will gain political traction among the electorate.
120: Trine—if the challenges were met at the square, now is the time for some reward. It’s often an era of ‘good feelings’ as there’s a majority acceptance of the original goals and intentions and a rejection of the opposition. If those who oppose the new intentions and policies find success in thwarting further development of those policies at the first quarter square, they will now find popular support and continuing success.
Gibbous Phase—135-180 deg: Sesquiquadrate—here’s the last challenge to the goals/intentions/plans in the waxing cycle. No resting on laurels here; it requires work to keep the momentum alive. With continued political activism and support for the original statements of intent and new policies, this aspect can give them a boost as the planetary pair moves to fruition and complete success at the opposition. But often those who were receptive and supportive at the trine can suddenly become skeptical and it takes effort and work to keep and maintain public support.
Opponents will likely try again to put an end to the new intentions and policies, or, if they were successful at the square and gained support at the trine, now at the Gibbous phase sessquare, they will be motivated to keep their momentum going. But they will find increasing push back from those who still support the original statements of intent and policies.
Full Phase—180-135 deg: Opposition—here’s the proof in the pudding. The original statements of intent at the conjunction now reach a period of ‘fulfillment’ or maximum success. Goals and intentions receive recognition and become operationalized within governmental and political systems. If things haven’t been going right and wherever opponents have been able to thwart the continued development of the goals/intentions, now is the time when the cycle simply shuts down, the effort to actualize the plans/intentions/goals fails. It’s harder at the Full Phase to start over and any new or alterations in the plan may have to wait until the next New Phase/Conjunction before they gain traction. If the political opposition found success in the First Quarter and Gibbous phases, then they will win the political argument at the Full Phase and their policies will replace the original, new policies set at the previous conjunction.
Disseminating–135-90 deg: (waning) Sesquiquadrate/Sessquare: If all went well during the Full Phase, this aspect opening the Disseminating Phase will be another reminder not to rest on laurels. More energy is needed to keep the plans in motion. There’s a need to disseminate the ideas and broaden the scope of the plans/goals/intentions. If things fell apart at the opposition, and political opponents were able to take control, then at this sessquare, they will expand and disseminate their message and plans.
-120: (waning)Trine: Once again there are political gains, rewards and popular support, but it’s important not to take the success for granted, for the next square is just around the corner.
Last Quarter–90-45 deg: (waning) Square—this is a point of reflection and crisis in awareness of everything that has gone wrong in the cycle, and a time to take stock of everything that’s gone right. The implemented goals and intentions are now facing changing circumstances that could render them obsolete. Popular support could wane as the public becomes aware of problems that weren’t dealt with, or if it is perceived that things became too extreme. There’s a general sense of the winding down of the cycle and there’s a need to start developing new plans and intentions for the future that fix previous problems and support what has become an integral part of the body-politic.
-72 (waning) Quintile: If there is too much that’s gone wrong and political opposition intensified at the square, and the effort to resolve those issues hasn’t been productive, then the waning quintile will make hard demands regarding a shift in direction. If the challenge at the Square was met, then now is the time for creative and collaborative work in creating future plans.
-60 (waning) Sextile: If the Last Quarter issues are creatively resolved at the Quintile, now is the opportunity to purposefully wind down the cycle in preparation for the future New Phase. Again, caution is required, opportunities in moving forward can be overlooked. If the opposition was able to gain traction at the Square and force changes at the Quintile, then they will now have the opportunity to develop an alternative vision for the future.
-51+: (waning) Septile–If things have fallen apart and the opposition has been successful in this phase, once again ‘fate’ steps in, interrupting the process. There’s a big wrench in the works and the political atmosphere devolves into serious conflict. If the process has continued positively in this Last Quarter, then there’s more support coming with the Septile.
Balsamic–45-0 deg: (waning) Semi-Square—Last challenge before the new cycle begins at the next New Phase conjunction. Here there’s often a last-ditch effort for the political opposition to establish its plans for the future. Political conflict can intensify and chisel away at proposals for the future. This can be grievous and unsettling, because those future plans are not yet fully formed and if the opposition is powerful enough, they could subvert the future plans. Regardless, this is one of the most difficult phases and aspects in the entire cycle. Those who are losing the political argument will often make one last, serious effort to remain dominant and relevant. The future is still up for grabs and they know it. Even in relatively stable political systems or a political party, there’s often an attempt to grab power that turns violent.
-30: (waning) Semi-sextile—Now there’s a collective sense of what new statements of intent are being proposed for the future, so there’s a growing sense of what the future will bring. Yet the last little adjustments are necessary to pave the way for the new beginning at the next conjunction. During these last 30 degrees in the cycle, for those who are winning the political argument, there’s a collective sigh of relief. Those on the losing end are often a bit chaotic as they scramble to re-orient themselves. There’s often political in-fighting as they try to put together an agenda that has broad public appeal in hopes of resetting the politics in their favor at the coming conjunction.
Part Two—Uranus-Pluto 1850-1965
As you can see, I am presenting the cycle of a planetary pair, the phase relationship and aspects between them as dynamic and developmental in an ‘if this, then that’ scheme. You can do this with any planetary pair, but for our purposes here, the interpretive framework is strictly social/political, so we’re not looking at the ‘personal’ planets. You can use this frame work for any of the planetary pairs mentioned above, keeping in mind the principles of the two planets you’re watching through their cycle.
It is also important to apply the method to the foundation chart of whatever entity, jurisdiction, country, etc., you are studying, as transits. They are effectively ‘transits’, but instead of looking at them as static, discreet aspects of one planet to a foundation chart, you now have to change that traditional way of seeing transits and view them as part of the dynamic and developmental cycle of two paired planets.
By way of example, let’s look at the historical cycles of Uranus and Pluto in relation to the United States, beginning with their conjunction at 29 Aries in 1850. We will walk our way through that cycle, then take up their last conjunction at 16-17 Virgo in 1965-66 and bring us up to date in 2023. Remember the interpretive principles of Uranus and Pluto together: “…radical agitation for civil rights; transformation of governmental and political institutions; deep cultural, social and political transformation with new statements of intent regarding equality under the law, the rights of individuals to live free of traditional culture and life-styles…”
I use the so-called ‘Powell Chart’ for U.S. independence, which is based on the congressional majority vote for independence that, according to the historical record, took place on 1 July 1776 at 07:00 pm, LAT. And allowing for a few minutes to take the vote and acknowledge the results, I use 07:03 pm LAT (Local Apparent Solar Time). Here’s the chart with the Uranus-Pluto conjunction of 1850.
Immediately, you see the conjunction falls on the I.C., there’s a repeat of the radix Moon-Saturn square in cardinal signs, although the Moon is now at the cusp of the Last Quarter square, not First Quarter, and there’s an imminent Nodal return with Mars near the North Node. This looks rather ominous, and indeed, it was. The key political arguments of the time were women’s rights and the abolition of slavery. But over the decade of the 1850s, women’s rights were put on hold because of the slavery issue. The Missouri Compromise of 1820 involving slavery and statehood had reached its time limit and there was an effort to create a new compromise. The country was in serious turmoil over the abolition of slavery and without a new compromise it could have turned into a civil catastrophe. On 29 January 1850, Henry Clay proposed a package of eight bills that would settle most of the pressing issues before Congress. Clay’s proposal was opposed by President Taylor, anti-slavery Whigs like William Seward, and pro-slavery Democrats like John Calhoun. Congressional debate over slavery and the admission of new territories continued into early summer at the time of the Uranus-Pluto conjunction. The debates over the bills were the most famous in Congressional history, and, as shocking as it sounds, the divisions devolved into fistfights and drawn guns on the floor of Congress.
From an astrological perspective, this was not unexpected with Uranus-Pluto conjunct the country’s I.C. in Aries, square radix Pluto, with Mars near the North Node in the Eighth House. The foundational principles of independence were being challenged. There is no single date for the passage of the Compromise of 1850—it was a series of bills passed over a few weeks at the end of summer, the last of which, the Fugitive Slave Law, passed on 18 September 1850. It was a brutal, grueling congressional session, and President Taylor even died in office on 9 July. However, the new president, Millard Fillmore, unlike Taylor, supported Clay’s compromises, and signed off on all of these bills on 20 September, so we might use that date as the final date in the process. On 20 September, Uranus and Pluto were both retrograde, but still at 29 Aries. Saturn Rx was still at 19 Aries but Mars had moved into opposition at 18 Libra. Clearly, the agreement/compromise wasn’t going to go well starting with Mars opposing Saturn and Uranus-Pluto conjunct the I.C.
Essentially, the Compromise covered the admittance of California to the Union as a free state, the formation of the Utah and New Mexico Territories where the residents could decide for themselves, free or slave, and the boundaries of Texas established. The slave trade was abolished in Washington D.C., but slavery was still allowed, and the Fugitive Slave Law required northerners to return run away slaves. The objective of the Compromise was to create a balance of free and slave states, basically drawing a line across the country, south of which would be slave and north would be free.
Unfortunately, given the Uranus-Pluto conjunction was on the U.S. I.C. and the Compromise went into effect with a Mars-Saturn opposition, it couldn’t be maintained and key elements were ruled unconstitutional seven years later in 1857 in the Dred Scott case. The most ominous was that the political line drawn across the country dividing slave from free states disappeared. That meant a future imbalance in slave and free states and territories, with new territories in the West all rejecting slavery. The South wouldn’t accept that.
The U.S. was on the road to Civil War as Uranus reached its New Phase semi-sextile, 30 degrees ahead of Pluto in 1860-61. Referring back to the aspect and phase relationship rubric, you can see the results of the lack of compromise and holding to untenable positions with this aspect. “…Semi-sextile—awareness that the new intentions or policies need compromise and adjustments to real world circumstances. Rigid ideological positions only lead to conflict.”
The Civil War ended and Lincoln was assassinated in April of 1865 just as Uranus was within a degree of reaching semi-square a month later, 45 degrees ahead of Pluto, opening the Crescent phase (29 May 1865, 2:00pm LMT). On 9 April 1866 the first Civil Rights Act was passed. Uranus and Pluto were still in a Crescent semi-square, Jupiter was at 29 Capricorn square the 1850 Uranus-Pluto conjunction, and, unfortunately, Mercury was retrograde at 27 Aries, nearly conjoined with the 1850 conjunction and squared to the U.S. Pluto at 27 Capricorn. (I won’t go into the Mercury-Jupiter cycle of that year in this article, but the readers can examine it themselves to see the effects of the Mercury-Jupiter First Quarter square in this situation.) For those of us familiar with Mercury Rx in difficult aspect to other planets, the possibility of this Civil Rights Act failing in the future was fairly high. Given this Act was also passed at the time of the Uranus-Pluto Crescent phase semi-square, its failure came during the First Quarter phase square. I’ll discuss that in a bit more detail later.
In 1868, as Uranus and Pluto were hovering around their Crescent Phase sextile, Uranus approximately 60 degrees ahead of Pluto, the 14th Amendment was ratified—”…Sextile: If the new goals and intentions have worked thus far, expect opportunities to appear to give the goals some practical form.” The text of the 14th Amendment is simple and direct: “No State shall make or enforce any law which shall abridge the privileges or immunities of citizens of the United States; nor shall any State deprive any person of life, liberty, or property, without due process of law; nor deny to any person within its jurisdiction the equal protection of the laws.” Secretary of State, William Seward issued the proclamation that the Amendment was a permanent part of the Constitution on 28 July, 1868 about 10:45am LMT, after the last needed state ratified it on 9 July. In regards to civil rights, the 14th Amendment has become one of the most important constitutional supports that came with the Uranus-Pluto Crescent phase waxing sextile.
Remember when I said the Uranus-Pluto cycle also began as the women’s movement was getting started? The Seneca Falls Convention of 1848, the first women’s rights gathering, took place before the actual conjunction, but both Uranus and Pluto were in Aries approaching conjunction. Three important things came out of Seneca Falls: 1. The Equal Rights Amendment was drafted. 2. Suffrage was established as the first priority in achieving civil rights, and 3. Reproductive health was to be supported within the limits of the law. Progressive women began using the U.S. Post Office to distribute information on reproductive health, contraception, etc. When Comstock, the head of the U.S. Post Office found out, he pushed for a law banning the distribution of such information, calling it ‘pornography, obscene literature and obscene articles for immoral use’. It was passed on 3 March 1873 during the Crescent phase quintile, Uranus about 72 degrees ahead of Pluto. Referring again to what the waxing quintile means in the interpretive rubric above, “If things haven’t worked out thus far, expect opponents to reject, oppress and/or use some authority to force a change.” Women had not been making much progress in their fight for civil rights and suffrage since the cycle started in 1850, and this congressional move against women didn’t help. The Comstock Act of 1873 wasn’t just a devastating blow to the women’s movement, however, but also a direct attack on the 1st Amendment’s free speech clause. Such censorship wasn’t declared unconstitutional until the 1970s. We’ll examine this a little more closely when we look into the next cycle that began in 1965.
The first of the three Uranus-Pluto First Quarter phase squares occurred on 21 October 1876, 06:40 pm LMT. The second was on 12 February 1877, 03:30pm LMT, and the third was on 25 August 1877, 12:07am LMT. The degrees affected were 22, 24 and 25 Taurus and Leo (Pluto in Taurus, Uranus in Leo). The U.S. independence secondary progressed chart had 25 Taurus on the Ascendant, progressed Mars at 23-24 Leo, so the Uranus-Pluto square was taking a direct aim at the progressed Ascendant/Descendant and Mars. 1876 was an election year and the election of 7 November 1876 was the most controversial in U.S. history. There were accusations of voter fraud, partisan corruption, and the role of the Vice President in confirming the Electoral College vote on 6 January was called into question. Twenty Electoral College votes from 4 states were questioned and not counted. That created a potential constitutional crisis that had to be resolved. A bi-partisan Electoral Commission was formed in January 1877, and in the end, they gave those 20 electoral college votes to Rutherford Hayes, the Republican, even though Tilden had won more than 50% of the popular vote, far more than Hayes. The Democrats struck a deal with the Republicans to end the post-Civil War occupation of southern states known as Reconstruction and remove all U.S. troops from the South in exchange for giving the election to Hayes. He was inaugurated in a private ceremony on 5 March, a day after the constitutionally required 4 March date. But there was no criticism of it. All of this history begins to sound more than vaguely similar to the 2020 election and its controversies in this cycle’s First Quarter Phase.
We have to remember that party roles had not yet reversed—Republicans then were considered ‘liberals’ and Democrats ‘conservatives’. Republicans were still the party of Lincoln, civil rights, etc., and the Democrats were dominated by conservative, Southern, former Confederates, known as Dixiecrats. The compromise of 1877 that ended Reconstruction was a major victory for the former Confederates. Thereafter, the re-admitted Southern states would reverse all of the liberal progress the radical Republicans had made during Reconstruction since the end of the Civil War. Under this First Quarter Phase, starting with the square, they would succeed in overturning all civil rights laws and initiatives and present their racism as ‘scientific racism’, which even liberals ended up believing. (Basically, Blacks were allegedly genetically inferior to Whites.) Thus, there was no major political push back to the Southern states suppressing the Black vote, segregating them from Whites, and passing laws limiting their access to White society. In short, Southern states passed Jim Crow laws with impunity, in spite of the 14th Amendment.
But let’s review what the rubric says about the First Quarter square: “…this marks a period of the first substantive challenges to the original intentions set at the conjunction. Many people suddenly don’t like the beautifully constructed plans and goals anymore. Political opposition will most certainly launch a major effort to derail the policy agenda. There will have to be a concerted effort to fight to keep the statements of intent and new policies alive. In confronting the opposition, with a lot of effort and political will, much can be accomplished. Supporters of the agenda must resist intimidation and pressure and stand up for the policies. It’s a time to fight back in order to keep the vision alive. If not, the original policies and intentions will simply fade away.” We’re talking about the Uranus-Pluto pairing—the fight for civil rights. And this First Quarter square always promises a backlash to the plans, policies, agenda and intentions set at the previous conjunction. The Confederacy may have lost the Civil War militarily, but they won the culture war that followed under the Uranus-Pluto First Quarter Phase when the Liberals simply gave up and gave in, allowing the South to ‘rise again’.
Part of the Dixiecrat strategy was to get racist judges appointed to the Supreme Court and by the early 1880s, they had a majority on the Court. Between 1877 and 1883 a number of lawsuits against discrimination and civil rights made their way to the Supremes and on 15 October 1883, the Supreme Court ruled that ALL civil rights acts passed after the Civil War were unconstitutional. Neither the Federal Government nor the states could legislate against a person’s attitudes and beliefs about race. So, forget the 14th Amendment. It was actually never used to protect civil rights as a result, not until the 1920s, and then in only two cases. And the racism extended beyond Blacks to Asians as well. Congress passed the Chinese Exclusion Act in 1882. Uranus reached its First Quarter trine to Pluto in late 1884, and the fight for civil rights simply collapsed. Anti-Chinese riots and mass murders occurred with impunity in Seattle, Tacoma, and Rock Springs, WY among other places in 1885-1886.
On 9 September 1888, as Uranus reached sessquare, about 135 degrees ahead of Pluto, opening the Gibbous phase, President Grover Cleveland declared “…the Chinese are impossible of assimilation with our people and dangerous to our peace and welfare”. On 18 May 1896 the Supreme Court decided in the landmark case, Plessy vs Ferguson, that racial segregation was not unconstitutional. From that moment on, increasing racial discrimination and segregation plagued the country. By the time of the Uranus-Pluto opposition in 1901, segregation was the law of the land, and not just racial segregation. Jews and Eastern European and Italian Catholics were also segregated, and real estate practices made sure Blacks, Asians, Latinos and Eastern European and Italian Catholics lived nowhere near Anglo-Saxon Protestants in American cities. Such real estate practices, Jim Crow laws and segregation were less strict in the North and West, but the 1850 intentions to expand civil rights went by the wayside, even if slavery was abolished by the defeat of the South in the Civil War. Nonetheless, the values of Southern racists dominated American culture at the Uranus-Pluto opposition. But this was predictable from an astrological standpoint, realizing that the liberal intentions of 1850 to extend civil rights met with too much resistance in the First Quarter Phase and the conservative, racist element in the American body-politic gained enough political traction to see their vision of America come true at the opposition.
Looking at the US independence chart with the Uranus-Pluto opposition of 1901 (below) at 17 Gemini/Sagittarius, you’ll see Saturn is conjunct the Moon, setting off the radix Moon-Saturn square. The conservative nature of that transit at such an important time as the Uranus-Pluto opposition, is a good characterization of the country’s lamentable situation, at least as we look back at the historical reality of it, it seems sad and lamentable.
It’s interesting that it isn’t just Saturn conjunct the Moon, but it’s really Mars, Saturn and Jupiter in the U.S. 1st House setting off the radix Moon-Saturn square, and then Chiron in opposition to Jupiter, opening the door to more than 15 million immigrants over the next 14 years. With racial and ethnic segregation, American cities developed enclaves and ghettoes of ethnic and racial groups—Chinatown, Japan Town, Little Italy, Polish Town, etc, etc., and of course all-Black neighborhoods. These enclaves had always existed to some extent on a very small scale, but their populations increased dramatically after the Uranus-Pluto conjunction in 1901 and they became a fixture in American urban life.
Moving forward to the Uranus-Pluto Full Phase quincunx with Uranus 150 degrees behind Pluto, 29 Gemini to 29 Capricorn, which occurred on 5 November 1912, another important event related to civil rights made international news beginning on 8 November in Portland, Oregon. According to police records, the situation began at 07:12pm with the interview of a 19 year old who had been caught shoplifting. The Ascendant was conjunct Pluto at 29 Gemini and the young man revealed information about the gay community in Portland. Notice that Uranus squared the 29 Aries 1850 conjunction as well. That evening it was discovered that there was a large community of gay men in the city with their own hotels, restaurants, night clubs, etc. Over 100 men were caught up in the dragnet that followed, including prominent politicians and civic leaders. In the trials that followed it was revealed that similar gay communities existed in most American cities and they were all connected via the railroads. Many young gay men worked as porters on the trains traveling from city to city. The FBI, which had been founded in 1908, established vice squads that then infiltrated gay communities, effectively shutting them down, arresting gay men, destroying the gay subculture that had heretofore existed and driving gay people underground. And thus, the modern concept of the ‘closet’ was born.
On 10 January 1917, 01:00pm EST, Uranus reached sessquare, 135 degrees behind Pluto, opening the Disseminating phase of the cycle. Uranus was at 18 Aquarius, Pluto at 3 Cancer. The Oregon legislature proposed a law that increased punishment for gay men to 10 years in prison and sterilization and it passed in February. Previously, it had been traditional across the country to sentence gay men who had been caught cruising to a couple months to a year in jail. Sterilization had never been considered. The extreme Oregon law became a model for all states and by 1923 all 48 states had similar, punitive, abusive laws that included the eugenic practice of sterilization. The extreme conservative culture that had taken hold of America now found opportunity to further spread their intolerance and discrimination to yet another group, gay men, in this Disseminating phase. Reviewing the interpretive rubric, it says about this phase and aspect, “…If things fell apart at the opposition, and political opponents were able to take control, then at this sessquare, they will expand and disseminate their message and plans.” And they certainly did. The FBI even infiltrated the military and in 1919 exposed a gay community at the Newport R.I. naval training facilities.
The Uranus-Pluto Last Quarter square first occurred on 21 April 1932 at 09:04am EST. The degrees affected were Uranus at 20 Aries and Pluto at 20 Cancer. There were two more exact last quarter squares on 02 September 1932 at 04:30am EST at 22 Cancer and 22 Aries, and the third square occurred on 08 March 1933 at 01:30pm EST at 21 Cancer and 21 Aries. There was very little to report regarding civil rights at the time of the Last Quarter Uranus-Pluto square other than in the new Democratic administration. FDR took office just four days before the final conjunction in 1933 and he made important changes regarding minorities in the government. For the first time Blacks were allowed to work in the Federal Government and he appointed women to a couple very high level posts. The Democrat controlled Congress also extended citizenship to native, indigenous Americans.
However, it was on FDR’s watch in 1936 that the Homeowners Loan Corporation, basically a large mortgage bank, published ‘residential security maps’ that color coded sections of American cities with green indicating ‘very desirable’, a.k.a., all white; blue indicating not all white but ‘still desirable’; yellow indicating ‘a declining neighborhood’, a euphemism for a growing minority population or an all-white neighborhood that bordered a Black neighborhood, and red for ‘undesirable; hazardous’ meaning all Black. Banks based their lending practices and mortgage rates based on this ‘red-lining’ and it completely destroyed Black Americans’ economic viability. Racial segregation was not a side effect but a feature of federal housing policy around this time. From the 1938 Federal Housing Administration’s Underwriting Manual: “Areas surrounding a location are investigated to determine whether incompatible racial and social groups are present, for the purpose of making a prediction regarding the probability of the location being invaded by such groups.” This was bureaucratese explaining that the Federal Government was monitoring cities and their neighborhoods to preserve segregation.
But there was the beginning of change at the same time. A new vision for America was forming in opposition to the racism, segregation and Jim Crow. It would be helped along by World War II when Uranus reached 72 degrees behind Pluto forming a Last Quarter quintile, as well as by the role women and racial and ethnic minorities played in the war effort. The rubric offers a general explanation for why this was: “[The Last Quarter square] is a point of reflection and crisis in awareness of everything that has gone wrong in the cycle, and a time to take stock of everything that’s gone right. The implemented goals and intentions are now facing changing circumstances that could render them obsolete. Popular support could wane as the public becomes aware of problems that weren’t dealt with, or if it is perceived that things became too extreme. There’s a general sense of the winding down of the cycle and there’s a need to start developing new plans and intentions for the future that fix previous problems…” And then the Last Quarter quintile: “If there is too much that has gone wrong and political opposition intensified at the square, and the effort to resolve those issues hasn’t been productive, then the opposition will make hard demands regarding a shift in direction.” The extreme conservative politics that dominated after the Uranus-Pluto opposition in 1901 did receive strong political opposition with the election of FDR and when the War started, the Government came down pretty hard on the discrimination and racism of the conservatives, especially the radical extremists who sided with the Fascists and Nazis.
It is beyond the scope of this article, but we can also trace the development of nationalism from the 1850 Uranus-Pluto conjunction in Aries, the rise of nationalism in Europe through the 19th century, and the Last Quarter square in the 1930s when fascists and Nazis perverted the positive meaning of nationalism as a recognition and celebration of the various ethnic groups who were artificially forced into large European empires, and the desire of those groups to form their own nations. Under the Uranus-Pluto Last Quarter square that became white superiority and extreme nationalism, resulting in a form of inhumane racism that led to the mass use of eugenics and genocide. The U.S. had to cope with such fascist and pro-Nazi groups as well during the 1930s, but their organizations and media presence were shut down by the Government when the war started, threatening them with sedition and treason—the effects of Uranus in a waning quintile to Pluto.
As Uranus and Pluto approached the last 45 degree waning semi-square opening the Balsamic phase of their cycle, Truman racially integrated the military, but then the U.S. had to put up with the crazy backlash to such liberalization with Joseph McCarthy setting off a firestorm in paranoid rants about communists in the government and accusing Truman and then Eisenhower of being ‘soft on communism’. Part of the McCarthy Era paranoia also included accusations that gay men and lesbians were hiding in plain sight in government positions as agents of Russia, or some such nonsense. The result was in 1950 right around the time of the semi-square, there was a government ban on gay men and lesbians working in the government. The public was propagandized into believing there was some conspiratorial connection between gay people and Russia, or at least they were ‘pinkos’…communist sympathizers.
But here is where it gets interesting in terms of civil rights. Black men and women who had served in the military during WWII and then integrated into the military for the Korean War found themselves without the same veterans’ benefits as their white counterparts, and they still had to live with segregation and Jim Crow once they returned from military service. During this very last Balsamic phase of the Uranus-Pluto cycle, these young people began agitating for change. On 17 May 1954, the Black civil rights lawyer, Thurgood Marshall, had successfully argued in front of the Supreme Court to end segregation; the justices agreed in the Brown vs Board of Education decision. Uranus was within orb of its waning semi-sextile to Pluto. If I had been an astrologer then, instead of only four years old, I would have seen the proverbial writing on the wall, and understood that when Uranus and Pluto conjoined again in 1965, it would be the end of Jim Crow, and the beginning of a whole new cycle of fighting to extend civil rights to everyone.
The Democrat and Republican parties had begun to switch their conservative-liberal positions in 1932 with the election of FDR. When it came to issues of civil rights, Truman, as a Democrat, completely angered the Dixiecrats when he integrated the military. By 1964, when LBJ pushed for a real Civil Rights Act, the Republicans and Dixiecrats opposed it, but we were right at the cusp of the conjunction and a totally new phase of American social/political life. Both the Civil Rights and Voting Rights Acts were passed around the time of the new conjunction. The Dixiecrats began leaving the Democratic party to the growing number of liberals and joining the Republicans. That process was complete with Nixon’s Southern Strategy on 5 August 1968, when he invited all the Dixiecrats to join the GOP. They did. The Uranus-Pluto conjunction opening the New Phase of their cycle completely revolutionized America and completed the flip in the political conservative-liberal polarity.
Part Three—Uranus-Pluto 1965 to the Present
The objectives here in writing what is essentially a dissertation on planetary phases and their aspects, exemplified through the historical journey of the Uranus-Pluto cycle, is to 1. Present a framework for understanding outer planetary aspects as a measurement of historical time, and 2. Show the socio-political parallels between the last cycle beginning in 1850 and this cycle that began in 1965. There are, of course, many other astrological factors that need to be considered as well, but the focus here is just on Uranus-Pluto and the phases in their cycle.
Just as the period 1848-1850, as Uranus approached conjunction with Pluto in Aries, was a tumultuous time both in the U.S. and in Europe, likewise the period 1963-1969 was equally tumultuous in the U.S., S.E. Asia and in Europe, when Uranus entered Virgo and approached conjunction with Pluto. Both conjunctions set forth new visions of society regarding national and ethnic identities and civil and human rights. In the last cycle, slavery was finally put to an end and women in the U.S achieved their long-sought after suffrage, even if the efforts to extend and expand civil and human rights ultimately failed, and the U.S. was plunged into the moral turpitude of Jim Crow, segregation, and the persecution, prosecution and incarceration of gays and lesbians. The key moments in history that led to that awful reality were illustrated in the phases of the Uranus-Pluto cycle and their aspects above in Part Two.
Now let’s look at the Uranus-Pluto conjunctions of 1965-1966. Typically, there were three Uranus-Pluto conjunctions: 9 October 1965, 04:19pm EDT at 17 Virgo; 4 April 1966, 3:43 pm EST at 16 Virgo, and 30 June 1966, 05:55am EDT at 16 Virgo. Let’s take a look at the first one, since at least, theoretically, it sets the mold.
For those old enough to remember 1965-1966 and the Civil and Voting Rights Acts, hopefully you also remember how exciting it was that we were finally putting an end to Jim Crow. Segregation had been declared unconstitutional at the end of the last cycle in the Balsamic phase, and immediately thereafter the fight was on to accomplish that and to end Jim Crow. People lost their lives in the struggle. Important civil rights leaders and a president were assassinated. Voting rights and civil rights activists were murdered. It was almost a sigh of relief after the two important pieces of legislation passed that upended about 90 nightmarish years of white supremacy, since the previous Uranus-Pluto First Quarter square in 1876-1877. Through the final Balsamic phase of the last cycle, the fight was on to undo the racism, segregation and lack of civil rights associated with the 1850-1965 cycle and correct course for the U.S.
Referring again to the interpretive rubric for the phases, the Balsamic phase is “…one of the most difficult phases and aspects in the entire cycle. Those who are losing the political argument will often make one last, serious effort to remain dominant and relevant. The future is still up for grabs and they know it. Even in relatively stable political systems or a political party, there’s often an attempt to grab or hold on to power that turns violent.” And the country certainly experienced that violence from the late 1950s to the mid-1960s. The new Uranus-Pluto conjunction in Virgo completely re-set American politics, especially the politics of civil rights.
The country still had to deal with those who resisted the idea of extending civil rights to the various marginalized groups. Housing policies, bank and mortgage lending practices, hiring practices, etc., still discriminated against women, Blacks, Asians, Latinos and LGBT, in spite of the new laws. It took another three years until 1968 to get rid of red-lining in real estate practice that prescribed where different groups could live in cities. There were enforced Black, Asian, Latino, Jewish, Italian, Eastern European and Gay enclaves. The 1968 law eliminated the Federal Government’s racist housing policies, but local jurisdictions were much more resistant to change. People had become so used to these enclaves in cities, that they became almost ‘charming’ elements of urban culture. The redistribution of urban populations and the elimination of these racial, ethnic and cultural enclaves still hasn’t been accomplished, except in a few U.S. cities. For most, the same neighborhoods that were redlined in 1936 have nearly the same demographics today.
The period 1965-1969 became extremely troublesome because of the changes in law which ultimately forced a significant cultural change in American society. Conservatives resisted those changes and all of the marginalized groups still had to protest in the streets to make things happen for them. It’s not hard to see why with Saturn opposing the conjunction. When faced with straight, white, Anglo-Saxon protestants who still controlled the social, political and cultural narratives, it sometimes took violent protest to get their attention. The LGBT Stonewall Riots in New York City at the end of June 1969 were a perfect example. But Uranus and Pluto were still at the beginning of their New Phase, and it was still taking time for acculturation to the new social realities. At the time of Stonewall in 1969, Uranus was just 4 minutes of arc into Libra, only about 8 degrees ahead of Pluto at 22 Virgo. Leaders of marginalized groups were impatient, but Uranus and Pluto move fairly slowly, so it was going to take time to create more equity and equality for these groups. 50,000 women took to the streets in demonstration for equality and liberation on August 26, 1970. ‘Liberation’ was an important element of Second Wave Feminism and they were demanding, for example, that married women be legally autonomous with a right to their own finances, credit, etc. After the Women’s March for Equality, things began to move in congress and through the 1970s legislation was passed to grant married women an economic life apart from their husbands.
Even in 1973 with the APA removing homosexuality from their list of ‘psychological pathologies’ and Roe vs Wade decided, Uranus and Pluto were still only 17-20 degrees apart. We can add the Griswold case during this time as well, that rendered the Comstock Law, regarding using the US Post Office to distribute reproductive information and contraceptives, unconstitutional. Finally, a Court decision that actually supported in a real way the First Amendment. Uranus finally reached 30 degrees, semi-sextile, ahead of Pluto in 1978 and stayed in that aspect through 1979. They wouldn’t reach the Crescent Phase 45 degree semi-square until 1986-87. The most important civil and human rights issue at the time was the struggle to get the Reagan Administration to respond to the AIDS epidemic. The gay organization called ACT UP was founded on the evening of 12 March 1987 in Manhattan. Their tactics included direct confrontation with politicians and bureaucracies to get them to react and respond to AIDS. With their slogan ‘Silence = Death’, they agitated to encourage every gay and lesbian person to ‘come out’, and they organized the first National Coming Out Day on 11 October 1987. The strategy was to make the country understand that gay people were everywhere, in every community, in every walk of life, in order to counter the growing homophobia as a result of the epidemic. The idea was, the more that straight people were made aware of the gay people in their lives, the easier it would become to get political traction in their efforts to get anti-discrimination legislation. Based on the history that followed, they were obviously correct.
In regards to the astrology, the key issue with the Crescent phase is: “there’s a risk of waning energy to maintain the new policies among those who supported them at the conjunction/New Phase; mobilization of energy and support is necessary to keep the vision and goals alive as there’s push back from those opposed to the new intentions and policies.” The lack of response to the AIDS crisis from the Reagan Administration was, in effect, a cynical effort to let the disease kill gay men. It became absolutely necessary to fight back against the cynicism and what was a clear effort to keep gay people marginalized. The gay community did just that and the gay rights movement gained significant momentum thereafter. It’s the kind of civil and human rights activism one would expect with Uranus and Pluto in the Crescent phase.
Uranus and Pluto reached about 60 degrees, sextile, in 1994 and stayed within orb of that aspect through 1996. The most important civil rights law regarding women, the Violence Against Women Act and its important subsets of rights, Title VII and Title IX, was passed on the morning of 13 September 1994. The sextile didn’t coincide with positive outcomes for the LGBT community, however. Don’t Ask Don’t Tell was adopted for the military, which turned into a nightmare for gays and lesbians serving. Also, on 21 September 1996 the Defense of Marriage Act (DOMA) was passed not recognizing long-term, committed gay relationships for federal workers and defining marriage as only between a man and a woman. Marriage equality, as a long-term political objective, was adopted by the Human Rights Campaign, in response to the AIDS epidemic, as a social value that the HRC could promote within the gay community and then in a national campaign. The idea was actually quite ‘conservative’ in that it made the case for committed, stable, gay and lesbian relationships as both a community health issue as well as a way for LGBT to participate more in encouraging social stability. The Clinton Administration’s DOMA was, for LGBT, extremely disappointing. It seemed a bit crazy for the government to demand of gay people more personal responsibility for public health in the face of AIDS and to contribute more to social stability by reducing their promiscuity and developing long-term relationships, but then refuse to create policies and an environment that would lead to those outcomes. Uranus and Pluto may have been in Crescent sextile opening a possible opportunity, but at the time of DOMA, Jupiter was in last quarter square to Saturn, so, although the opportunity was there for extending such civil rights, there was no social or political will to do so. Anti-LGBT conservatives in the Federal Government as well as in state governments simply couldn’t open their hearts and minds to realize the wisdom of marriage equality under the Last Quarter Jupiter-Saturn square.
Moving forward to the Uranus-Pluto First Quarter square, the first of which was on 24 June 2012, 05:12:10 am EDT, Uranus at 8 Aries, Pluto at 8 Capricorn, resistance to the liberalization of the mid-1960s began. The effects of that square began being seen already in 2010 when Uranus first entered Aries. It coincided, of course, with Barak Obama’s first administration, which brought out racist militias like the Oath Keepers and others in reaction to a Black president, and after June of 2015, when the Court decided for Marriage Equality, conservative reaction was extreme.
The backlash to the Great Liberalization of the 1965 Uranus-Pluto conjunction had begun, just like the backlash against the radical Republican’s Reconstruction that started in the late 1870s at the Uranus-Pluto First Quarter square in that cycle. After the exact square, the backlash became extreme enough to elect Trump and a third to 40% of the country supports this MAGA movement. Voting rights have been eroded, women’s reproductive rights destroyed and many states are criminalizing women who seek reproductive health care. They are attacking Trans rights all across the country and attempting to erode hard-won gay rights. The Black community has been under attack from inappropriate policing, since forever, but it became extreme at the Uranus-Pluto First Quarter square, just like the anti-Black racism during the 1870s led to murder and lynching, especially at the hands of the KKK. During the last cycle’s First Quarter square, activist women were also persecuted, prosecuted and imprisoned simply for demonstrating for the right to vote.
And here we are. For those who know the Uranus-Pluto cycle and understand the nature of the First Quarter phase and square, what’s happening now in the U.S. isn’t surprising. Nor is it surprising that a 21st century form of fascism is taking root around the world. No mundane astrologer who has paid attention to these cycles is surprised that someone like Orban has taken control in Hungary, or Putin in Russia, Netanyahu in Israel, Trump in the Republican Party in the U.S., etc., etc. The good news is, this is still the Uranus-Pluto First Quarter phase. Although we’re past the square, we haven’t yet experienced the First Quarter trine and that will tell us much about the future. The trine will occur in 2027. Hopefully, we will be able to avoid a civil war or an existential crisis like WWII over the next four or five years. But it has been clear that the right-wing backlash to the liberalization of the Uranus-Pluto conjunction in the mid-1960s has been formidable.
Democracy, as a principle, is under attack again. Basic democratic and inclusive political principles are characterized by the Right as ‘socialist’. It’s pure disinformative propaganda, but it’s nonetheless effective to a certain degree. There seems to be a large swath of Americans who have no idea what socialism is, and have been propagandized by the Republicans and Fox News to believe any economic policy that isn’t laissez faire is socialist. And any social or political policy that is racially and ethnically inclusive is somehow socialist. Whether it leads to a civil war in the U.S., or a world war is still an open question. Whether the democratic forces in the U.S. and Europe rise up again in direct confrontation with the fascist forces that are so integral to the current backlash, is still uncertain, but it looks increasingly like they will, as we see in the Russo-Ukraine war. For the United States’ domestic problems, the important thing is to stand up, resist and attack the right-wing racist, homophobic, misogynistic and neo-fascist political forces that are trying hard to take control again of the American cultural and political narrative. Resisting the backlash is the necessary behavior recommended in a First Quarter Phase of Uranus and Pluto. We will have a much clearer sense of what the future American society will look like after 2027 when they reach First Quarter trine, Uranus in Gemini 120 degrees ahead of Pluto in Aquarius.
Unfortunately, the U.S. will go through its third Uranus return in Gemini and simultaneously Pluto will conjoin the U.S. South Node. During the two previous Uranus returns at the same time Pluto was in hard aspect to the Nodes, the U.S. went through difficult existential crises, namely, the Civil War and World War II. The results of those crises pushed the U.S. into ever greater positions of power and influence, in spite of the tragedy the country experienced. This is probably due to the Pluto-Node combinations. Every time Pluto in a fixed sign was in hard aspect to the Nodes, the country experienced a crisis, but the crisis always broke in favor of the U.S., not against it. I’m suggesting that will probably happen again, based on the astro-history.
Lest we forget, Pluto in Aquarius in the late 1770s through the 1790s, saw the newly independent colonies successfully conclude the Revolutionary War, establish a new system of government, only to have it fail, and they had to go back to the drawing board, to create a new constitution and a new republican form of government. The independent colonies became a unified nation only after they agreed to ‘perpetual union’ in February of 1781. Transiting Pluto was conjunct the S. Node at 6 Aquarius in the independence chart. The U.S. will experience this transit again in July 2027 at the same time of the third Uranus return. Uranus and Pluto will be in First Quarter trine. The question is, will those who support the liberal policies and intentions regarding the Uranus-Pluto conjunction era civil and voting rights be able to maintain those rights, or was the radical right-wing opposition and backlash that appeared at the Uranus-Pluto First Quarter square successful enough that they will succeed at the coming trine?
I’m inclined to answer the question by pointing to Trump’s 2020 loss as an indication that the radical right-wing has not and will not succeed, but 2024 will prove that point one way or the other. The liberal forces still supporting civil rights must continue to turn out to vote, to promote and advocate for their agenda. There can be no back-sliding during the First Quarter phase. The opposition is looking for every conceivable point of weakness to exploit and they will not back down easily. The hallmark of the First Quarter phase is political division created by the backlash to policies set in the previous New Phase, and the opposition to those policies is always formidable. The lesson in this phase is, whoever stands strong the longest wins the argument at the trine.
I understand that, were I a fascist, I would have a completely different take on the Uranus-Pluto cycle. I would be demonizing democracy, the U.S., Ukraine, and Europe, and promoting and extolling the ‘virtues’ of illiberal systems like Russia and Hungary. I would be an apologist for Tucker Carlson, Vladimir Putin, Donald Trump and Ron DeSantis. But that’s not who I am. And that’s not who my readers are. I can only hope that, because we are seeing a serious show of strength against neo-fascist tendencies in the U.S. and the world, the more liberal aspirations regarding civil and human rights associated with the Uranus-Pluto cycle will this time prevail. This is something that didn’t happen during the First Quarter Phase in the last cycle in the 19th century, and as a result, at the Last Quarter Uranus-Pluto square beginning in 1932, the Fascists and Nazis were able to be as successful as they were. One can only hope these retrogressive reactionary political forces are resisted enough to keep them from gaining support at the coming trine. The astro-history is clear, we must resist them.
