Early Signs: Saturn Return for the U.S.

The U.S. Sibly horoscope has natal Saturn at 14º48’ Libra in the 10th house. Transiting Saturn is now at 14º24’ Libra; the U.S. is just days away (i.e., December 3) from the first exact passage of its Saturn return (exact again in March and August 2011).

On Sunday, WikiLeaks again offered classified documents for public viewing, this time with many details embarrassing to U.S. diplomats. (Saturn, exalted by sign in the 10th, suggests highly visible, well-regarded professionals, and Libra rules diplomats.)

According to the Guardian: “The United States was catapulted into a worldwide diplomatic crisis today, with the leaking to the Guardian and other international media of more than 250,000 classified cables from its embassies, many sent as recently as February this year.” (1)

Transiting Mars is also now opposite the U.S. natal Mars (21º23’ Gemini), which squares natal Neptune (22º25’ Virgo) as the documents have been given to the news outlets.

The New York Times headline this morning, “Leaked Cables Uncloak U.S. Diplomacy” seems to include keywords for these planets.

Neptune, which rules the media and, along with idealism and naiveté, can also suggest obscuration and distortion, is in the 9th house of foreign relations and publishing. The natal Mars square Neptune has been triggered when other compromising (or scandalous) details came into public view. (In the spring of 2004 when transiting Pluto was at 22º Sagittarius – conjunct Neptune and square Mars – the infamous and damaging photos of torture by U.S. military personnel at Abu Ghraib prison began to be widely published. There are still human rights investigations going on as a result of those published photos, as well as incalculable damage to the U.S. reputation in the Arab world.)

Trouble-making Mars also showed up for President Obama who got elbowed in a basketball game and needed 12 stitches on his lip on November 26, the day before transiting Mars was exactly square his natal Mars at 22º36’ Virgo.

Of course, any aspect that impacts the Sibly Mars-Neptune square also will impact the President’s natal Mars, as they are square to one another, i.e., 21º Virgo/21º Gemini. (2)

The combination of transiting Neptune conjunct the U.S. Moon, which has been in effect all of 2010, and the Saturn return has combined to leave a sense of confusion and malaise in the air. The Sibly chart has Libra on the Midheaven, ruled by Venus at 3º06’ Cancer. The transiting South Node at 3º Cancer adds another temporary sense of woe, or diminishment of, the reputation of the U.S. Perhaps this also can be interpreted to mean that an overall feeling of happiness and well being in the country at large is connected to a careful observation of our assumptions about what really has value in our personal lives. (3)

In mid-January 2011, transiting Neptune makes its last exact pass to the President’s South Node and the U.S. Moon. Maybe then we’ll be feeling more confident in facing the demands of the time, sure to be obvious as Saturn continues to hold the U.S. to a high degree of accountability on the world stage.

Footnotes:

(1) Reader Supported News

(2) It is not unusual for U.S. President’s to be strongly connected to the Sibly Mars-Neptune square. Some examples:

FDR’s Ascendant is 23º16’ Virgo (with Uranus nearby at 17º55’).

Jimmy Carter’s Mercury is 21º11’ Virgo.

Ronald Reagan’s Midheaven is 22º28’ Virgo.

George Bush, Sr.’s Sun is 21º22’ Gemini, square Uranus at 21º26’ Pisces.

George W. Bush’s North Node is 20º35’ Gemini, conjunct Uranus at 19º09’.

Bill Clinton’s Uranus at 21º09’ Gemini conjunct the North Node at 18º16’.

(3) Even CNN seems to be getting the picture – on the news this morning there was a segment, “Smart is the New Rich.”