The Saturn/Pluto conjunction and the shape of things to come

Recent events have brought up consideration of a rare conjunction of two of the ‘heavy hitters’ in astrology and planetary lore – Saturn and Pluto. OK, so the conjunction of the two is not rare at all, taking place roughly every thirty years, but their conjunction in Capricorn only takes place centuries apart, hence its rarity. So, with the first conjunction coming at the start of next year, it will mark big and fundamental shifts in the world, as we will see in the paragraphs to follow.

Why is the conjunction of these two planets in Capricorn so important, we might well ask? The answer goes to what Capricorn represents: the culmination of worldly efforts and ambitions. Capricorn, operating via Saturn also represents crystallization as a result of culmination. In effect, once one has achieved the desired result in Capricorn, any further effort has the effect of wasted effort, mistakes made and good money thrown after bad, as it were. In other words, Capricorn represents the peak, the limit, after which one can go no further in terms of expansive effort, unless that effort is directed at spiritual discipline. What is called for after such material attainment is a period of consolidation, i.e., shoring up the gains made.

Capricorn also is the natural ruler of the 10^th house (achievement and the pinnacle of effort), and once Saturn transits over the Midheaven in one’s chart, one should turn one’s attention toward consolidation instead of further efforts forward. The law is immutable, as Saturn would suggest.

But Saturn also represents control, while Pluto represents power, and the two together make quite an energetic statement. They show either a very controlled use of power, or an explosive and uncontrolled release of the same if misapplied. In another extreme it can also show as a block of the normal outflow of subconscious forces. The combination in Capricorn normally points to the use of power in a material way, or it can show itself in profound occultists. It can also show itself in mass deaths of a karmic sort, as in wars, mob violence or in mass murder. We recently had two examples of the latter, unfortunately, as Saturn is now within only a few degrees of its full conjunction with Pluto. (article and chart)

Given that Pluto has a cycle of 248 years, it was last in Capricorn from 1762 to the beginning of 1779. Pluto has the effect of shattering the established orders of the time when it appears in Capricorn, IF those orders are no longer suitable to human progress. Probably the most famous event to take place during the afore-stated period was the American Revolution, which began in 1775. That started a wave of revolution throughout Europe and the Americas in the decades to follow. The monarchies of the world and the Church were put on notice. It signaled a marked period of political upheaval. It was the period of The Wealth of Nations, the Cook voyages in the Pacific, Catherine the Great in Russia, and various and sundry wars. But Saturn did not join Pluto in Capricorn during that period.

The last time Saturn and Pluto joined forces in Capricorn was in January of 1518. That is why it was stated that this particular conjunction was rare, because it takes place in Capricorn centuries apart. The time before that was in January of 1284, and before that in January of 783. There is thus a reciprocating cycle of 250 and 501 years for this conjunction in Capricorn. The question we need to ask, then, is what do these periods of time have in common? We have the following years of the Saturn/Pluto conjunction in Capricorn, with the main events:

• 689 BC: Pre-Piscean, little recorded history
• 187 BC: The beginnings of the Roman Republic’s civil wars, which led to the rise of the empire early in the next millennium. Empire began ca. 27 BCE.
• 47 CE: Paul of Tarsus, the missionary principle and principle of universal salvation, Council of Jerusalem convened, resulting in prohibitions on eating blood, meat containing blood, and meat of animals not properly slain, and on fornication and idolatry, sometimes referred to as the Apostolic Decree or Jerusalem Quadrilateral. The Acts of the Apostles.
• 549: Buddhism came to Japan (In 543 all references to reincarnation were removed from Christian texts). In 553, belief in reincarnation was proclaimed to be heresy at the Second Council of Constantinople, called by Emperor Justinian. The Church then had absolute control over unthinking people’s destinies. The death knell to this came in 1518 and general European enlightenment, with many people then posing the question: How could a benevolent, loving God give one person a silver spoon and leave the next to starve in their ostensibly only earthly life?
• 783: in that period, we should say, the Vikings began their raids on the coasts of Western Europe and in the Mediterranean. The Arabs were halted in their western expansion at Constantinople and Tours. The Tang dynasty in China reached its pinnacle and began landing merchant ships on the eastern coast of Africa, bypassing Arab merchants
• 1284: height of the Mongol Empire, after which it began to fragment and saw a rapid decline. This was also the time of Marco Polo, with his travels along the Silk Road, inciting great interest in the East in Europe.
• 1518: the height of the Italian Renaissance. It was the time of da Vinci, the Protestant Reformation, Copernicus, Machiavelli and Michelangelo. Venice began its decline after that, but Spain and Portugal began their great exploration and colonization expansions. It was also the birth of mercantilism in Europe, a new form of economics.

What do we see in common with all these periods?

• • The greatest extent of empires, or their start
  • Trade and commerce with the East
  • Times of exploration and/or conquest
  • Religious schisms or the birth of new practices/faiths.

In true Capricorn fashion, then, we have culmination and then decline. What can we realistically expect this time around? What we are seeing is the collapse of the dominance of the West and the furthest expanse of the ‘Empire’, meaning the furthest extent of the financial and military control of world trade by the US. That control is rapidly being whittled away. And once again China and the Far East are involved. Italy is involved, too, and looks to be re-establishing its links with the old Silk Road, but in a modern way. Having said all this, the conjunction does not signal a specific date in history, but rather the start of the evolution of events that change the path of world history. And there are similarities between the 1518 conjunction and the one about to take place. The 1518 chart is below (bigger):

There is a stellium of planets in Capricorn, with the conjunction also conjunct Mercury on one side and Ceres on the other, with the Sun also in Capricorn. Mars was transiting the south node at the time, an indicator of the end of old orders. And then, we have Uranus in Taurus in a close trine to the conjunction, indicating the change in economic models of the time and the humanistic quality of the conjunction, being trine. Then, we have the current conjunction, coming. The chart is below (bigger):

We also have a stellium in Capricorn, but much tighter, involving the conjunction, the Sun, Ceres and Mercury and also with Jupiter in the early degrees of Capricorn, trine Uranus in Taurus. The latter indicates the expansive nature of the economic changes to come, even though initially conditions are likely to be unsettling. Note in both charts Ceres is involved with the conjunction, indicating a turning point in world history. However, there is a new twist with the current conjunction: Eris is square the conjunction, and the square is close, from Aries. This conjunction is really going to shake things up, and if it is any indication along which directions those bumps in the road might come, we have only to look at recent events and the transit of Saturn as it approaches the 2020 conjunction.

Saturn entered the shadow phase of its retrograde period on 22 Jan of this year at 13 Cap 54. It will reach its retrograde station at 20 Cap 31 on 30 April this year. It makes its direct station on 18 Sep 19, passing the point of the retrograde station on Christmas Eve this year, to finally reach the conjunction with Pluto on 12 Jan 20. That will be its only conjunction. There will not be another such conjunction for another 734 years. The dates just listed are/will be of interest, though.

When Saturn entered its shadow period (the period when a planet transits the zodiacal extent of its retrograde phase, from the retrograde to the direct stations) on 22 Jan, that date was the eve of the coup attempt on Maduro with the much-hyped aid convoy. Since then there has been a continuing and growing sense of frustration on the part of the coup planners. As a result, they have been sending special forces to Puerto Rico and Columbia near the border with Venezuela, turned off the power for days, and a terrorist cell backed by them has been arrested in Venezuela. It has the markings of a color revolution in the making. If there is to be an attempt at some sort of military intervention in Venezuela, we can probably expect it between now and 30 April, because after that, with Saturn being retrograde, it will be more difficult to push plans forward. Saturn rules ambition, and in its retrograde phase it becomes more difficult to manifest one’s ambitions.

Since 22 Jan there has also been the Huawei incident. In addition, there was also the withdrawal from both the US and Russia (the US first) from the INF Treaty, as well as some terrible natural disasters and killings. But there has been more. Since Saturn entered the shadow period the Brexit drama in Britain has reached a critical stage. Trump has gone so far as to recognize the Golan as Israeli territory, against international law. The Syrians have vowed to take it back. The Russians have started to bomb positions in Idlib in Syria. We see, then, there are many volatile situations in development that could precipitate into a crisis.

In closing, Capricorn represents all that is best and worst inn humanity. It represents the depths of materialism and the heights of spiritual attainment. And with Saturn together with Pluto there, what it presents to us are the ‘karmic chickens’ either coming to roost or laying golden eggs. The past decades have seen obscene grabs at wealth with the neo-liberal economic system, one that has set human advancement back and openly promoted selfishness, in the sense that “Greed, for lack of a better word, is good.” It is that which will meet its timely and welcomed end as the ruling economic system, and not too soon, to be replaced by…who can say?

What we are likely to see is a return to some form of semi-socialized economic model. But that, too, is going to involve big shifts in geopolitics, the way we view our environment, our relations with each other and so forth. It will also be the end of empire, at least for the present period. Empire as a model of world governance is a system that is seeing its last days. And there are two nations in particular where empire still holds sway – the US and the UK. Brexit is a signal of things to come, as is de-dollarization. The UK maintains its empire financially through its secrecy locations, and the US through its dollar dominance. And both are under threat now. It all comes down to a quote from a great philosopher: “When the power of love overcomes the love of power, the world will know peace.” We’ll watch those spaces.

Featured pic from Reddit.