Written by Guest Author Judith Goldberg. (Re-printed with permission from the NCGR Memberletter, June-July 2008.)
We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal, that they are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable Rights that among these are Life, Liberty and the pursuit of Happiness. That to secure these rights, Governments are instituted among Men, deriving their just powers from the consent of the governed … Declaration of Independence, July 4, 1776
The 2008 Presidential Election is pivotal in America’s history and will have ramifications far into the future. While many astrologers have weighed in on the possible outcome—dissecting candidate’s charts to determine who has the luckiest stars-- few have looked at the larger cycles, and by extension the larger issues, in play. As planets revolve around the sun, they establish a symbolic hierarchy wherein the most distant exercise the greatest influence on the human collective. By this yardstick, Pluto, though recently downgraded, may still be considered our Great Lord of Destiny. To whit, Pluto’s ingress into Capricorn on January 26, 2008 set a trajectory towards America’s Pluto Return in 2022, our national rendezvous with destiny.
USA Pluto ReturnOn July 4, 1776, a group of renegade American colonists authored the document that would become the cornerstone of a new republic. Pluto was transiting the 27th degree of Capricorn. Two hundred and forty-six years later, on February 20, 2022, Pluto will return to 27 ° of Capricorn and the fulfillment (or lack thereof) of the sacred tenets of our free society, as outlined in the Declaration of Independence, will undergo new scrutiny. Some legacies continue to haunt us-- the founding fathers failure to address women’s rights or the original sin of slavery.
The founders could not have foreseen that political parties would polarize and disempower the electorate for nefarious purposes, that elitism would erode the rights of ordinary citizens and corporate influence would preempt the consent of the governed. Pluto, over the next 14 years, in a back to the future effort to reclaim our revolutionary roots, will present us with the challenges needed to rectify these inequities. He will make it incumbent upon us to acknowledge and transform any shadow parts (Pluto ruled) of our government and institutions that are inconsistent with our stated ideals. It is time for our reality to match our rhetoric.
Saturn/Uranus’ Hard Aspects Define Our HistoryThe 2008 election is a turning point on this transformational journey. The key aspect in the Election Day chart, an exact opposition between Saturn, ruler of the presidency, and Uranus, harbinger of revolutionary change, at 18º 57' Virgo-Pisces is emblematic of the tug of war between the old guard and an emerging new paradigm. A timeline of hard aspects in the Saturn-Uranus cycle, from revolutionary times to the present, sheds light on the historic journey in which this election opens the newest chapter.
- Saturn-Uranus Opposition 1782-1783.
Revolutionary War Era. English House of Commons votes to end the war against the Colonies on February 27, 1782. General George Washington resigns his commission in December 1783. (Aspects: February 15, 1782, 28°59' Sagittarius-Gemini; May 9, 1782, 0°30' Capricorn-Cancer; January 5, 1783, 4° 55' Capricorn-Cancer; July 12, 1783, 8° 23' Capricorn-Cancer; December 2, 1783, 11° 1' Capricorn-Cancer.)
Invention of the cotton gin in 1794 creates a huge demand for slave labor. (Aspects: July 9, 1794, 26°16' Taurus-Leo; September 2, 1794, 29°36' Taurus-Leo; April 23, 1795, 29°09' Taurus-Leo.)
Lewis and Clark reach the Pacific Ocean, birthing the doctrine of Manifest Destiny.
The Missouri Compromise of 1820 promises, but never delivers, the restriction of slavery in territories applying for statehood. (Aspects: April 10, 1819, 24°27' Pisces-Sagittarius; December 6, 1819, 24°02' Pisces-Sagittarius; January 27, 1820, 27°02' Pisces- Sagittarius.)
Amistaad rebellion, 1839. (Aspects: December 3, 1839, 12°32' Sagittarius-Pisces; May 20, 1840, 19°52' Sagittarius-Pisces; Oct 10 1840, 17°15' Sagittarius-Pisces.)
Civil War Era, embracing secession of the South, Lincoln’s election, his inauguration, outbreak of war and escalation of hostilities. (Aspects: December 13, 1860, 9°29' Virgo-Gemini; January 29, 1861, 8°6' Virgo-Gemini; October 2, 1861, 16°17' Virgo-Gemini; May 30, 1862, 15°58' Virgo-Gemini; July 16, 1862, 18°40' Virgo-Gemini.)
Civil Rights Act passed in 1875 was never enforced and subsequently declared unconstitutional. (Aspects: February 16, 1874, 7°43' Aquarius-Leo; August 4, 1874, 10°55' Aquarius-Leo; January 13, 1875, 14°2' Aquarius-Leo; October 21, 1875, 19°24' Aquarius-Leo; November 18, 1875, 19°58' Aquarius-Leo.)
National Association for the Advancement of Colored People (NAACP) founded in 1909. (Aspects: June 6, 1909. 20°23' Aries-Capricorn; November 8, 1909, 17°51' Aries-Capricorn; April 7, 1910, 25°0' Aries-Capricorn.)
Congress of Racial Equality (CORE) founded in 1942.
Civil Rights Era: Volatile Civil Rights Movement of the mid-60s. Lyndon Johnson signs the Civil Rights Act (July 2, 1964) and Voting Rights Act (August 6,1965). Johnson, a Democrat, knowingly hands over the South to the Republicans. (Aspects: April 1, 1965, 11°37' Pisces-Virgo; August 27, 1965, 14°32' Pisces-Virgo; February 24, 1966, 18°06' Pisces-Virgo; November 8, 1966, 23°12' Pisces-Virgo; January 6, 1967, 24°23' Pisces-Virgo. Opposition is the flip side of the present opposition with Saturn in Virgo and Uranus in Pisces.)
