“When you don’t follow your nature there is a hole in the universe where you were supposed to be.” Dane Rudhyar
We have been examining the horoscope of the United States to get at the heart of our American character, to identify our strengths as well as our weaknesses so we can see what we need to change and what we need to nurture. We stand on the threshold of Spiritual Adulthood. To step into our mature identity and highest potential, we need to pause and take stock: what is working? What isn’t? What do we really value? What kind of future do we envision?
We are well aware of our dysfunctional society. Our Union is in disarray. Our problems seem overwhelming and unsolvable. But there are solutions. We just need to dig for them, down to the roots of our collective unconscious. Luckily we have a map, the astrological chart of the heavens at the moment the USA was born. In the acorn lies the potential oak; in the infant lies a potential destiny. For our nation, as Pluto completes its 248 year cycle around the zodiac and approaches its birth degree, the United States enters a period of initiation. Like the rites that test young boys to prove their manhood, we are being asked to prove our mettle. Are we courageous enough? Are we wise enough? Do we have the maturity to step into Spiritual Adulthood?
2019 is a year of reflection. Reality is reflecting to us the many choices we must make. It is demanding self-reflection, to find the best within ourselves – our inner strength, our compassionate hearts, our wisdom and virtue; and to examine our flaws, acknowledge our mistakes, take responsibility for our impact and choose something better. It is time for our nation to assume its Spiritual Destiny.
The world changes as we do, thus the only way we evolve our world is to evolve ourselves. This stage of our evolution is voluntary. We can make futile attempts to return to some imagined past or we can start dreaming up the best, most glorious future we can imagine. We can remain self-centered adolescents or become responsible adults. We can argue for our limitations or step into our power and become “Evolutionaries,” agents of transformation. Saturn is key to this process.
All astrological symbols reflect a spectrum within our psyche. They range from the highest potential all the way down to the most destructive possibilities. In Chapter 3, I posted a chart of possible manifestations of Saturn. You can use it as a guide for self-reflection. Where are you on the Saturn scale?
We are in crisis now because we have made some very bad choices, ignored our finest qualities and succumbed to our lesser selves – not just as a nation, but on every level down to where the buck stops: right here with you and me. A collective doesn’t fail because of its leaders. It fails because the majority of its individuals have lost their moral compass, their hope, their will, their faith. We let down our spiritual guard and darkness is rising.
Saturn in the USA chart is in the 10th house, meaning it was near the midheaven in the sky when the Declaration of Independence was signed in 1776. Those patriots envisioned a nation of equal, free, industrious individuals, morally strong, spiritually righteous, with the will and power to create a great nation. Saturn was a beacon of integrity, hard work, perseverance, self-discipline and the right use of will.
Saturn was in Libra at the time. Libra’s sigil is similar to an equal sign with a curve in the middle of the top line. She is best portrayed by a blindfolded woman holding up the scales of justice. Her province is law and order, balance and harmony, equality and justice for all. She presides over relationship and is ruled by the guiding starlight of Venus. Thus Libra is associated with law, culture, art, beauty and peace which is derived from loving, harmonious relationships, including those we have with others, with ourselves and with all of nature. Relationship is the province of Venus.
Venus is the highest standard of beauty, the highest ideal of love. But she too has a dark side. A dysfunctional Venus can turn her love toward material wealth, luxury, extravagance. She can become complacent in her comfort. She can be a jealous lover, a demanding mistress, an engulfing addiction to pleasure and affluence.
Venus in our nation’s chart is holding hands with Jupiter, the planet of expansion, seen as a sign of good luck, but Jupiter has its dark side that shows up as excess. With Jupiter conjunct Venus and the USA Sun, we love our creature comforts, our luxury cars, big houses, home entertainment systems where we watch “The Lives of the Rich and Famous” and dream of limousines, gaiety on yachts, champagne fountains. Rather than hard work and self-discipline, we want to get rich quick, win the lottery, come up with the next billion dollar invention. The cautionary tale for this group of planets is Midas – the King who worshipped gold to the point that he acquired the power to turn everything he touched into gold. When he embraced his daughter, she too was transformed and he lost what he truly valued – love.
I speak of Jupiter and Venus because they are 90 degrees away from Saturn in the USA chart. We say they are in a square aspect to Saturn. The word “aspect” means relationship. In astrology, aspects are based on divisions of the 360-degree circle of the Zodiac. Conjunct means they occupy the same or very close degrees. Opposition means the planets are 180 degrees apart. Squares are 90 degrees and represent one of the most uncomfortable relationships in the Zodiac. We are not intimate with it, we can’t see it across from us, it’s off to the side in the far periphery of our vision where we rarely look, so a square can side-swipe us. Its influence can remain unconscious.
Saturn, which should be our guiding star, is undermined by Jupiter, Venus and our very own Sun. Our self-destructive behaviors stem from this unconscious influence. Because Saturn is so weakened, we are ruled by Jupiter, king of excess, and Venus who lures us into comfort and pleasure. Worse, Pluto has taken over our collective will. As a society we have turned to greed and become destructive in the process. As we pursue wealth, we plunder the Earth’s resources and release the byproducts of our economy into her air, water and soil. I’ve said this before; I’ll say it again, we are committing global suicide.
So how do we pull ourselves out of this quagmire, this spreading swamp of greed, corruption and injustice? We strengthen Saturn. This may sound dangerous. Saturn has a reputation for being the inspiration of authoritarian values, control issues, power struggles, competition amidst scarcity, fear, anxiety and misfortune. True, but that’s a weak Saturn, a Saturn that serves a dark master. At its finest Saturn becomes the master of dysfunctional and destructive behavior, of responsibility, inner strength, faith and integrity. It follows a moral compass. It is the perfect expression of the protective masculine energy, efficient, productive, self-disciplined, mature, self-possessed and the ideal leader. With Saturn in the 10th house, America is destined to be a world leader. In the sign of Libra, we should be leading the way to world-wide peace and prosperity. Instead, we throw our weight around, hold the world hostage with our military might, plunder and hoard the world’s resources and waste them shamelessly.
Jessica Murray in her book Soul-Sick Nation suggests that what America is looking for is a Big Daddy to keep us safe and sound. That would certainly make sense with our Sun in Cancer – the nurturing mother – and our adolescent level of evolutionary development. We’re all looking for a Father, one like Atticus Finch or Captain Picard, one who will always make the right decision based on moral intelligence, provide our daily bread and protect us from evil.
The challenge for all of us is to grow out of our adolescence into spiritual adulthood. We can’t look for a benevolent authority to take care of us any longer. And we can’t afford to think only of ourselves. Our problems are no longer local. We must think globally, not to dominate the world, but to cooperate with other nations to address the greatest challenge humanity has ever faced – our climate crisis. We need to find a way to live together that embraces the whole of our reality – all kingdoms of nature, all humans on Earth. We must become the caretakers that we were meant to be.
Remember that next January Saturn will conjunct Pluto. This is a crucial crossroad. Will our weak Saturn remain in its darkest expression and serve Pluto, lord of death and destruction? Or will we fill that Saturn gap ourselves? Will we claim our own highest expression of Saturn, take responsibility for our crumbling nation and make wise choices for the protection and welfare of all?
Saturn has another key aspect. It is opposite Chiron in Aries. Next time we explore the myth of Chiron, “the Wounded Healer,” and his consort Chariklo, the Florence Nightingale of Astrology.
Maryann
Thank you.