Saturn in Taurus and U.S. Open Enemies
Last week President Clinton made the expected
announcement that U.S. troops will remain in Bosnia past
the June 1998 pull-out deadline. Meanwhile, the troops
around Iraq remain on full alert, as Saddam Hussein
expanded the list of sanctified territory unavailable to the
U.N. inspection team.
Last week was also when Saturn turned direct, and is now
making a beeline for Taurus, which it will enter on June 9,
1998. Saturn’s two and a half year passage through Taurus
is an ominous phase since it corresponds to the U.S.
seventh house of Open Enemies (in the Scorpio Rising
horoscope*). Every 28-30 years Saturn occupies this danger
zone, and the U.S. military goes to war. Vietnam and
World War II coincided with the last two cycles of Saturn
in Taurus.
Prior to these two major wars, the U.S. was not yet a major
military power. Saturn was in Taurus between 1910 and
1912 when America’s Open Enemy was widely declared to
be the Standard Oil Company and other powerful
monopolies because of their unfair economic influence,
and oppressive heavy-hand over workers.
On May 15, 1911 (as Jupiter and Saturn opposed each other
right on the U.S. Ascendant-Descendant axis) the U.S.
Supreme Court dissolved Standard Oil under the authority
of the Sherman Anti-Trust Act. Watch the Department of
Justice seek ever-stronger restrictions over Microsoft in the
coming year. Raising the profile of the power of
monopolies, Time magazine chose Intel’s Chairman to be
the Man of the Year.
The Seven Signposts to the Millennium: #6
New Moon of May 4, 2000
6. The New Moon in Taurus on May 4, 2000 takes place
only 24 days before the momentous Jupiter-Saturn
conjunction, and activates a difficult square to Uranus in
Aquarius. Whenever the outer planets form stressful
configurations like this, events in our global village will
likewise reflect unusually stressful situations. Earthquakes,
volcanoes, and other natural disasters are likely.
The Jupiter-Saturn conjunction takes place every 20 years,
and corresponds to major turns in the social and business
cycle. Because this conjunction is happening in Taurus, the
sign of material resources, the financial symbolism is
doubled for extra impact. The harsh square from Uranus
will undoubtedly bring severe disruptions in the normal
business cycle, which for the past decade has seen
phenomenal growth due to the harmonious array of outer
planet positions.
Coming in the midst of the next Presidential election
campaign, this combination features a dynamic challenge
posed by an ever-growing global ecology movement. The
first Earth Day was on April 21, 1970 when Saturn was in
Taurus, and the Sun had likewise just entered Taurus. The
Jupiter-Saturn conjunction takes place on Al Gore’s Ceres,
the environmental asteroid.
Coincidentally, Saturn in this chart is in the exact location
it was during the Titanic disaster (of April 14, 1912). This
Saturn in Taurus describes the wealthy upper class, secure
and unchanging in its worldview. Uranus in Aquarius
demands social equality, and calls for dramatic reforms
through radical legislation, or more violent, even
revolutionary tactics.
Titanic Hits Iceberg
This week director James Cameron brings us the $200
million story of the Titanic, a film that pitilessly observes
the different plights of the rich and the poor in an indelibly
wrenching story of blind arrogance and its terrible
consequences. The actual disaster of the Titanic began
when the “unsinkable” ship struck an iceberg at 11:40 PM
on April 14, 1912 (NFT or +3:30 from GMT) just off the
coast of Newfoundland (41N44 49W55).
The Sun in this horoscope is in bold, often arrogant Aries
and is afflicted by Neptune, a planet which blinds with
opulence and glamour, and sometimes just plain old fog, as
occurred on that fateful night. Neptune, as ruler of the seas,
is also associated with drowning, especially when in the
watery sign of Cancer.
This chart shows several disaster indicators, not the least of
which is the presence of Pluto right on the Descendant, and
the Part of Fortune in the last (misfortunate) degree of
Scorpio. The tragedy took place only two days before a
Solar Eclipse (which squared the U.S. Pluto). Vesta, the
asteroid which governs security measures, exactly squares
Saturn: due to outdated regulations, the Titanic did not
have enough lifeboats onboard.
Perhaps most significant to our present era, Uranus had just
entered Aquarius, the sign of class consciousness. The body
count showed to the world that many of Titanic’s first class
travelers survived, while most third class passengers
drowned. Once again, Uranus is in Aquarius, and the
fabulously wealthy are riding a wave of technological
marvels, while the world’s third class citizens watch in
anticipation.