A Look at Coronavirus with a View From the Stars

According to WHO, the World Health Organization, the first case of a new virus was reported on December 31, 2019, originating in the Chinese city of Wuhan. (1) The epicenter for this disaster was a crowded seafood market where live animals are bought and sold. The hunt is on for the animal that transmits this disease to humans, killing the weak and vulnerable, particularly the elderly. There is speculation that the virus is carried by a snake, a bat, or a pangolin.

Not having an exact time of day, I am presenting the chart set for noon (12:00 p.m.), Wuhan, China, on December 31, 2019.

COVID-19
December 31, 2019
12:00 p.m. AWST
Wuhan, China
30°N36’ 114E17’
Koch houses, True Node

There are three very obvious themes to emerge from this chart:

1. Asteroid Hygeia opposite Mars along the axis of Algol (red)
2. Comet Chiron conjunct Black Moon on the World Axis (blue)
3. Saturn conjunct Pluto in Capricorn, both in a pretty tight square to Eris (green).

The first configuration that struck me is the health-related asteroid Hygeia facing an opposition from war-like Mars, as both passed through the territory of the Fixed Star Algol at 26° Taurus. Algol contains a deep and rich mythological, psychological, and archetypal symbolism, but its essence reduces down to the potential for creating monsters, both collectively and personally. This star has a reputation of frightening people out of their wits. It stirs up fear, controversy, and in the face of it all, extreme denial. The more this particular shadow is denied, the stronger it becomes.

Algol is located in the constellation Perseus, where this mythological hero is depicted killing the gorgon Medusa by severing her head. The story goes that Perseus took Medusa’s snake-entwined head back to goddess Pallas Athena, who then wore it on her shield. It is said that when men gazed upon Medusa’s head, they were so frightened that they turned to stone. The world’s reaction to the coronavirus is similar in that it is frightening people to the point of turning them to stone — fear makes us feel as if we cannot move, we are immobilized like stone. Algol could be thought of as a monster, and this virus is indeed looking like more of a serious threat with each passing day.

On a collective level, when Algol is activated by a transiting planet or an eclipse, the world receives a projection of something we humans want to immediately turn away from. It’s not easy to look this beast squarely in the eye, no matter how heroic one might be.

Hygeia

In Greek mythology, Hygeia is one of the three daughters of Asklepius, the famous healer. All three daughters carry on his healing work, whereas both sons are warriors as well as healers. The name Hygeia means health; it has the English word hygiene as its descendant. If you break down the Greek, this word also contains the name Gaia — hy-geia, or Mother Earth. In fact, it is quite possible that Hygeia’s lineage as a priestess of the Earth Mother existed long before Asklepius. So, she’s akin to the Earth Mother, but with a special reference to healing and maintaining good health, both for ourselves and for the planet. In a collective sense, Hygeia points to becoming healthy and taking the necessary steps to prevent illness and disease.

In 2019, asteroid Hygeia passed through Taurus for six months. Toward years’ end, while in the last degrees of Taurus, Hygeia entered Algol’s territory, which depicts Medusa, the image of a frightening monster. That passage was immediately followed by the introduction of the coronavirus  (COVID-19). At that time, Mars reached 28° Scorpio, making a direct opposition to the conjunction of transiting Hygeia at 28° Taurus and Algol at 26° Taurus, intensifying the energy even more.

In a sense, Algol is the backdrop, the setting, of this drama. So, when planetary bodies wander through this region of space, they are answering to Algol. Hence, just as Hygeia comes to visit, Mars shows up across the way in the late degrees of Scorpio. While at this late degree of Scorpio in the tropical zodiac, Mars is also in early Scorpio in the sidereal zodiac, so there is no question that Mars is extremely potent in its own sign. (In traditional astrology, Scorpio is Mars’s night sign.)

When envisioning Mars in Scorpio opposing Hygeia, we can begin to formulate the image of an insect bite or sting; an animal clawing or biting; or a kind of angry attack coming from an unconscious, shadowy place. This is indeed what hit the world with the inception of this new, potentially terrifying global virus that began in a seafood market in China on New Year’s Eve. (2)

The Sabian symbols for Mars, at the 28th degree of Scorpio reads:

The King of the Fairies Approaching His Domain: This degree has always made me chuckle, partly because it is highly active over the skies of San Francisco (geodetic MH). But with Mars in Scorpio (biting, attacking, chewing, clawing), it makes one think of something being afoot in the devic kingdom, perhaps a type of prankster/trickster figure. And Mars isn’t exactly trodding gently upon this guy.

Hygeia at the 29th degree of Taurus reads:

Two Cobblers Working Side by Side at a Table, indicating that two heads are better than one. Hygeia’s presence here is to pull the world together in a joint effort to cure this disease. There may be two strains of a vaccine that need to be developed, or two people who are instrumental in delivering what is needed, and/or resources becoming available for research and prevention. In the long run, this is the positive news regarding the virus. The not so positive possibility is a competition between two nations that claim to be the victors in this race. They may see the solution completely differently and fight about it, instead of accepting both possible solutions as ideas worthy of exploration and integration.

Chiron and the Black Moon

Centaur Chiron is another mythological significator of health. In Greek mythology, he is both a gifted healer and the victim of a serious wound that causes him great suffering. At the same time the coronavirus arrived on the world stage, the Black Moon was conjunct Chiron. The Black Moon is considered frightening to many people simply because it can represent something living in and emerging from the shadow. We are often frightened by something we can’t see.

The conclusion I drew from observing these two shadowy and frightful symbols (Algol and Black Moon) directly connected to two of the main healers (Hygeia and Chiron) suggests we have a serious situation on our hands. And because of the shadowy nature of both Algol and Black Moon, the world is being locked into a perpetual state of fear.

The third pronounced signature of fear that took place in early January was the Saturn-Pluto conjunction — a once-in-36-year event. Saturn represents a type of collective fear while Pluto refers to death. When these two planets come together, they can produce a global fear of death. The last Saturn-Pluto opposition in 2001 brought us the 911 attacks, while the Saturn-Pluto conjunction in the early 1980s introduced the AIDS virus to the world. Interestingly, the conjunction was then in Libra, the sign of joining or partnering with another. Suddenly people became fearful of intimacy and sexual engagement.

The current conjunction has wrapped Jupiter within its embrace, and this free-spirited travel planet, albeit in Capricorn, seems to have had its wings clipped, as all sorts of international travel have been grounded. Perhaps more importantly, the current Saturn-Pluto conjunction is occurring in Capricorn, a sign representing maturity and the elderly, and they are the most vulnerable population threatened by the virus.

Below is the chart of the virus with the geodetic zodiac. (3) It is startling to note that this conjunction falls on the IC of Wuhan, the angle of the astrological chart that represents the roots, home base, or origin of an entity.

COVID-19
Geodetic (R.A.)
December 31, 2019
12:00 p.m. AWST
Wuhan, China
30°N36’ 114E17’
Koch houses, True Node

Welcome to the new decade of global transmission — both of deadly viruses that attack organic life and the dangerous viruses infecting our cyber networks. This may be one of the darker side effects of the Aquarian Age. This virus jumped outside one busy marketplace and, in the blink of an eye, it traveled around the world. In the first two months of the new decade, thousands of deaths have already been reported. Hopefully, this will pressure the leaders of the world to end their petty quarrels and come together to find a solution to this crisis.

Asteroid Hygeia is now in air sign Gemini, emphasizing the transmission of information which we are seeing both in the virus and the breaking news. The global news network and every type of media outlet is freaked out about this virus. Gemini can be thought of as many birds sitting on a wire, chirping loudly, squawking at one another.

Hygeia in Gemini, a sign governed by Mercury, is prone towards being hyper-nervous and anxious. Hygeia in Gemini suggests one’s mind feeding frenetically on the widespread fear of disease and death, aligned with the media frenzy on the matter.

Hygeia will remain in Gemini until June when there is a Venus Star Point in Gemini, with the North Node there as well. (4)

Venus Star Point Gemini
June 3, 2020
1:43:29 p.m. EDT
Washington, DC
38°N53’ 77W02’
Koch houses, True Node

The lineup in Gemini this spring is emphasizing the air theme of inter-connectedness on a global scale. In the chart for the star point (June 3, 2020), Mars at 14°30’ Pisces is approaching a conjunction with Neptune at 20°51’ and both are in a 4th quarter square from Pisces to Gemini. The Pisces/Gemini squares, being in mutable signs, may contribute to the widespread anxiety in the collective mind, which does not help quell any sense of panic.

But amidst the fear, I believe there are some hopeful signs. On March 9th asteroid Vesta passed over Algol (26° Taurus) in the COVID-19 chart, and on March 15th Vesta visits Hygeia (28° Taurus). Passing over Algol may produce more panic, but Vesta in Taurus can also provide the necessary funding to continue the work of resolving the issue. Universal health care is one of the hot-button political issues in this U.S. election year — a widespread virus outbreak may invigorate that discussion.

On March 30th Venus arrives at Algol’s degree (26° Taurus), and on May 9th Mercury also gets to 26° Taurus. On May 14th Jupiter turns retrograde at 27° Capricorn, trine to Hygeia (28°) and Algol (26°); Jupiter will passing over these degrees two more times through 2020. Jupiter’s role is always to expand and broaden. We can see this is expanded knowledge leading to a cure, or as an expansion of the disease. Both scenarios, of course, are possible.

By mid-May both Mercury the messenger and Sun the healer will have also reached the positions of Algol and Hygeia in Taurus. With all three bodies — the Sun and Mercury by conjunction, Jupiter by trine — coming to aspect Algol and Hygeia, the possibility for understanding the virus and getting it under Capricornian control (as well as new insights about this strain of virus) is likely.

Let’s remember that Algol represents the shield of Athena’s sword. The asteroid Pallas Athena is at 22° Sagittarius in the COVID-19 chart, but by early January she had left the global-related Sagittarius and ingressed into Capricorn. As Pallas climbs the summit of the mountain goat’s terrain we could also see some good news. She will conjoin Saturn in Capricorn on March 19th and Pluto in Capricorn on March 22nd. On March 29th she is sandwiched between the Jupiter-Pluto conjunction at 24° Capricorn, forming a three-way alliance — this is a date to pay close attention to. And by April she will sextile and trine the COVID-19 positions of Mars (April 15th and Hygeia (April 17th). On May 17 Athena retreats (turns retrograde) at 0°59’ Aquarius, and goes back into Capricorn; she will make two more passes over these degrees in Capricorn through the fall of 2020.

We need Athena’s guiding wisdom, along with a very sturdy shield to protect us at this time.

Footnotes:

(1) Wired.co.uk

(2) Editor’s note: The symbols are from The Sabian Symbols as an Oracle, 2nd edition (2002), Lynda Hill, White Horse Book, Avalon, Australia.

(3) The Geodetic Zodiac is a system based on the the pairing of the astrological zodiac with the longitudes of the World. The author has written about this many times over the years, in TMA and elsewhere.

(4) The Venus Star Point is the author’s term for the Venus-Sun conjunction. Find out more about her unique work here: Discovering the Star of Venus

Bio: Arielle Guttman began her formal studies in astrology in 1974 in San Diego, CA. She has lived in Santa Fe for many years and spends part of each year in Greece. Arielle’s work primarily focuses on private one-to-one client sessions, group seminars, and writing books on astrological subjects. Conversant in the many fields of astrology, her specialty areas are reflected in the five volumes she has written and published for the astrological community. Since the publication of her fifth book, Venus Star Rising, Arielle has been touring the country to introduce the Venus Star Point® theory, a revolutionary new astrological point that transforms a person’s chart and their perceptions of how they can function most harmoniously in life.
Contact Arielle via email: arielle@sophiavenus.com, or visit her website: SophiaVenus.