The Ascendant of the 2011 U.S. solar return chart is 2°50’ Libra, which is closely conjunct the Sibly 10th-house cusp (1°03’ Libra). On September 17th, the first day of the Occupy Wall Street protest, transiting Venus was at 3° Libra conjunct the solar return Ascendant, the Sibly 10th-house cusp, and in a t-square to transiting Uranus/Pluto, which are angular in the solar chart. Venus is associated with banking and money matters.
Note also that the Midheaven of the solar return is 3°13’ Cancer, conjunct natal Venus at 3°06’ Cancer.
I wrote earlier that the Ascendant of the solar return conjunct the Sibly 10th-house cusp “places this year’s very clear emphasis on actions of the government itself, and on the nation’s self-image and role, as well as responsibility and reputation, in the wider world.” Among the calls from the people in the streets: “The whole world is watching.”
Also in the 2011 solar return, Juno, the asteroid associated with balanced power and sensitivity to those who are disempowered, is conjunct the U.S. natal Neptune in Virgo, which squares Mars in Gemini.
The Sun on the 17th, the first day of the occupation, was at 24° Virgo, just past the U.S. Neptune (22°25’ Virgo) and the U.S. solar return Juno.
The solar return Juno, at 23°44’ Virgo, was the last of her three conjunctions to the U.S. Neptune that began in December 2010.
The U.S. horoscope has Mars at 21º Gemini in the 7th house, square Neptune at 22º Virgo, sign of its detriment. I wrote in an earlier blog: “As a nation, we have a collective storyline that includes both nebulous (or ill-defined) actions or motivations, and a susceptibility to propaganda or seduction, side-by-side with a guileless belief in altruistic action.”
Much of the media has reported that the “occupation” has begun with ill-defined or nebulous aims, but those who relate to general feelings of outrage at corporate malfeasance have no trouble relating to the mood of the protestors. (1) (I read several commentators on blogs suggesting a succinct key theme for the occupation: “We want our f…… money back!” How’s that for Venus square Pluto and opposite Uranus?)
The New Moon on September 27th was at 4°00’ Libra conjunct the solar return Ascendant, further triggering that chart, as well as being square Pluto and opposite Uranus. We know the early degrees of the cardinals are highly sensitive now; Uranus stationed retrograde on July 9 at 4°33’Aries. Pluto went direct on September 16 at 4°53’ Capricorn.
The first quarter Moon today is at 10°33’ Capricorn, with the Sun at 10° Libra, conjunct Saturn of the solar return chart. In spite of 700 arrests over the weekend, this morning’s news reports the growing protests in other cities. I’m hoping Saturn suggests a further solidarity and organizing, and not increased repression by the police.
Transiting Mercury was at 15° Virgo on the first day of the Occupy Wall Street protest on September 17th. The mainstream media began writing about the event on Monday, September 19th, by which time Mercury the messenger, in its place of rulership in Virgo, had passed through 17°09’ Virgo, the degree of the three generational marking Uranus-Pluto conjunctions between October 1965 and June 1966. Each of those conjunctions occurred between 16°-17° Virgo (Thanks to Gary Caton for bringing this to my attention.)
Footnotes:
(1) See Another Occupation Without An Exit Strategy?
(2) “September 19 (Day 3) – the stock market opens on Wall Street for regular business. Many major news sources begin to publish articles on the occupation, and Occupy Wall Street caught some mainstream media attention across a wide variety of sources.”
Wikipedia
Some other astrological bloggers:
Leo Knighton Tallarico’s site, Perspectives from the Sky has a new entry, Occupy Wall Street, Hope in America
Jude Cowell’s Stars Over Washington has a video, Wall Streeters mock Occupy Wall Street marchers with champagne toasts
Eric Francis has great photos at Down on Wall Street
Theodore White’s thorough new entry at Global Astrology includes Signs of Uranus Square Pluto: Americans Occupy Wall Street
Some other (non-astrological) commentators:
Virgo Activist Van Jones (born on September 20, 1968 with Uranus and Pluto conjunct the Sun) is co-writer of Wall Street Protest: Which Side Are You On?
Chris Hedges, an eloquent and influential journalist and early supporter of the occupation, writes The Best Among Us.
The Guardian: Occupy Wall Street rediscovers the radical imagination
“The young people protesting in Wall Street and beyond reject this vain economic order. They have come to reclaim the future”
A US Autumn Responding to Arab Spring by Princeton University professor Cornel West
21 Comments
Thanks Mary,
Things like this make astrology a no-brainer, especially if you have charts to compare as you have done. There is order in the Universe!
I was struck by the fact that the U.S. progressed Mars at 18+ Libra and in retrograde and, on 9/17/11, was about to be joined by transiting Saturn, and the asteroids Juno and Atlantis all at 17+ Libra. With progressed U.S. Mars turning the attack in on itself now this demonstration started with the opponent being the establishment, while the subject was the imbalance between relationships and the sinking financial structures.
As you noted Venus is primary in the Solar Return chart for the U.S., but there is also a lot of focus on Mercury as the action end of a yod with the sextile of Pluto and Chiron. He would seek attention being in Leo and in the groupy 11th house, what better way for Mercury to communicate than with a demonstration?
I reckon we will be seeing a lot of this kind of thing in the future and with Mercury about to conjunct Saturn, the next thing could be all about Mercury-ruled stuff like communication or lack of, information, health-care reform or workers rights and jobs.
A bumpy ride that will last for years for sure.
I heard on Monday they had attorneys now across the country helping them get the proper “protest” permits in various cities. Today I received an e-mail which outlines the “official statement” of what they have united for (voted on by those protesting in NY on Wall Street).
It begins: “As we gather together in solidarity to express a feeling of mass injustice, we must not lose sight of what brought us together. We write so that all people who feel wronged by the corporate forces of the world can know that we are your allies…” and continues from there.
Ahh – Libra, and the scales of justice.
I also heard there was a group on a balcony (of the Wall Street building) overlooking the demonstrators and drinking champagne as they were being arrested.
The person telling this, wanted this photo published with the caption: “the wrong people are being arrested”. Similar to all the passion and support for Amanda Knox.
Also heard from radio program (so take it as media) the police in most cities are cooperating because their benefits/pensions have been cut. They are being approached as “we demonstrate for you too”.
I too, will be surprised if this goes away anytime soon. People have wanted a way to take action and I think this will gather momentum beyond anything “they” saw coming. Especially as “peaceful protest” is emphasized and numbers are difficult to deny, over time.
Hi Mary:
Thanks for your interpretation of the planetary positions for the wall st. occupation.
You wrote about hoping that Saturn does not cause increased repression by the police.
I offer for your perusal the following link about veteran marines in full dress uniform coming to the protest to be the line of defense for the protestors.
http://stevebeckow.com/2011/10/%E2%80%98the-marines-are-coming-to-protect-the-protestors-of-occupy-wall-street/
A fair, balanced Saturn in its sign of exaltation conjunct Venus in its Libran rulership?
I was at the protest in NYC yesterday October 5th. And although I did witness reprehensible police behavior, there were also many police officers that clearly sympathize with the movement. One in particular, upon noticing that I was spellbound by his horse that stood across the street, was kind enough to gesture an invitation to walk over to meet and interact with his animal, who was quite the playful, delightfully affectionate, and oh… such a pampered steed. I also had a chance to talk to the officer in question, sharing opinions and philosophical outlooks. And yes!!! They too are hurting and want to see change…
One more note:
These are not active duty service members. They are aware of the fact charges may be filed against them, but say protection is what marines do.
Please pardon my off-the-subject query, but New Jersey Governor Chris Christie has just spent 45 minutes explaining that he will not run for the Republican nomination – but obviously enjoying the spotlight. He made the decision from his “heart” and I would really like to run a chart on him but have no birth time or place. His decision is more politically savvy than he lets on I think. Does anyone have this info?
Hi Rebecca,
According to Wikipedia, Chris Christie was born on Sept 6, 1962 in Newark, NJ.
The Sun is at 13 Virgo, with Pluto at 10 and Uranus at nearly 2 Virgo..
Thanks Mary – this is more info than I had – he is an interesting fellow
Great article, Mary. Thanks for your consistently relevant blogs for TMA.
thanks Tem…there’s so much going on in this interconnected world we inhabit, it’s not hard to find a topic to muse on..
Hi,
Given that this event was timed for Constitution Day, did anyone think to run a chart for the text of the Constitution (sans Bill of Rights), September 17, 1787, at about 3:30 PM local time in Philadelphia? If so, you would have found three obvious transits:
CON — OWS
NE = SA
UR = MA-45-ME
UR/NE = MA/SA
(SO-90-JU) = JU (exact sesquisquare)
MA = (VE-180-UR)
OWS has, it seems, tapped into the upcoming UR/PL, which was involved in this on the morning of 9/17:
MO = SO/NE = (VE-0-UR)/PL
This speaks to idealism over concrete matters, and they are up against Wall Street, the first office of which opened on March 8, 1792, sometime in the morning. Basically, we have this scenario:
NYSE — OWS
UR/PL = UR/PL
Also:
(ME = SO/UR = JU/NO) (SA = SO/JU = ME/PL)
I don’t trust, yet, the leaders of this so-called leaderless movement. It’s probably a contrived CFR maneuver courtesy of Peter Ackerman and the Twitter Revolution crowd that have been enjoying huge success globally this year.
Besides, a real revolution would have more serious demands, not only for more specific financial changes, but for the heads of various Wall Street evildoers.
Don’t be duped — real revolutions have real leaders. I wonder who will be appointed (by the media, of course) to fill the vacuum?
You in your doubts overlook the overwhelmingly Piscean nature of this event. OWS is direct action taken from a new playbook, with new rules – that’s the Uranian part – and is an expression of everything we’ve learned about nonviolent resistance in the past century. Now the model is spreading quickly throughout the U.S. and other countries – how Neptune in Pisces is that!
“We are the 99%” is an expression of oneness. Liberty Plaza and its outposts are where people are going to find their commonalities. The point is to model direct, participatory democracy, outside of the electoral process which has been corrupted. The daily OWS assemblies with their consensual decision-making are copied from the actions earlier this year in Greece and Spain. The value of leaderlessness is acknowledged in their statements. They are aware of how a list of “demands” tends to legitimize the authority of The Powers That Be. In fact, these direct actions amount to a dissolution of the basis of that authority.
The after-effects of the 1993 Uranus-Neptune conjunction are playing out while the Uranus-Pluto waxing square perfects and Neptune enters Pisces. The OWS young people learned from this year’s earlier experiences, and in turn those events drew on established techniques of nonviolent resistance. For example, google Gene Sharp whose public-domain text From Dictatorship to Democracy, published in 1993 in Bangkok, has been translated into many languages and was cited as an important source by the Arab Spring people.
Hi Jean,
I, too, hope that some kind of popular movement will materialize and set things right, but the astrology speaks loudest, and I’m seeing that the Moon transit of UR/PL is dissipated. The arrangement is basically:
MO = VE = UR = PL = (SO-135-JU)/NE
Neptune ever leads us out into the desert when Jupiter is around. I want some concrete Saturn, but he is off doing this:
SA = MA/PL = SO/JU
MA = JU/SA
So, if we get some real teeth in the movement, then I’ll change my mind. I think our fellow budding econo-revolutionaries would do well to study the pressure put on FDR during his first two years and then go marching around the neighborhood with an actual plan that people can get behind.
How come the Greek masses have not been able to oust their own President who basically conceded everything to the Banksters by instituting austerity measures that are treasonous? These non-violent charades are quite ineffective in making real change, unfortunately. After all, this is a defensive action, and the enemy has done us in during a time of war. Peace at this point is quite useless, as you will see in the upcoming years.
I’m glad you brought up Gene Sharp, and no doubt there is an evolution in the way revolutions are to be controlled remotely by big money interests or other industries to dissipate real organic anger. They have us all coming and going in the world of mass psychological brainsquashing, and I mostly blame Paula Abdul for this. In the end, these kinds of dramas like OWS only suck the air out of the room when it comes to the mainstream getting some actual political momentum — that kind of change is going to require some very ugly stuff and much more will have to be put on the line, just like always.
Mary,
Several news reports state that the protesters on September 17 met at Bowling Green Park by the statue of the bull at 12 Noon. A noon chart puts Scorpio on the ascendant and the Moon at 22 Taurus in the 6th house about 6 degrees away from the descendant. This interested me because transiting Sedna was at 23 Taurus 5 rx and at the time was making her conjunction the U.S. natal Atlantis at 23 Taurus 10.
I’ve already commented on the transiting Atlantis-Juno-Saturn conjunction to the progressed Mars, so this combination of transiting Moon and Sedna to U.S. natal Atlantis begged some thought. That it was “the people’s movement” and about money and Wall St. fit with the sign Taurus and the Moon.
It was Sedna that intrigued me enough to recall her story of being abandoned by her father, when, in his effort to save himself, broke her grasp on the boat, the one thing that could have saved her life. This had a ring of similarity to what has happened to many citizens, and with these two goddesses joined at the same place where, in the U.S. chart, the symbol representing the country that sank because of it’s preoccupation with technology and the neglect of it’s people’s needs, I knew you would want to know.
Hi everyone and thanks for all the great comments.
My sister Kate wrote a blog which mentions something I overlooked but think its very significant, the station of Pluto..
http://offtheplumbtree.blogspot.com/2011/10/new-york-city-in-news-again.html?spref=fb
I find the chart for Sept. 17 pretty useful in defining the movements. Just few thoughts: Venus in Libra square Pluto gives strength to the demands on Kevin Zeese’s blog (http://october2011.org/faq). Venus is also opposed to Uranus, so the need for change will not go away. Libra Venus seeks equilibrium and is peaceful. To me it indicates that the resentment will not go away, and while supported by the trine from Jupiter in Taurus, Pluto will actually allow for the reform and wealth distribution to precede with determination. There really is not much violence indicated in the chart with Mars in late Cancer. Mars quincunx Neptune ( and a weaker one with Pluto)
may indicate that idealism may interfere with ambitions and need for action.
[…] Mary Plumb at the Mountain Astrologer has done that essential thing of actually comparing the Occupy chart to the US national chart. […]
Thanks for the insightful article and blogs.I liked Eric Francis’s article too.
Looking at the U.S. natal chart, we have the quindecile (165 degree aspect, publicisaed by Noel Tyl as being one of obsession) which would give the leadership an obsession with control. At the midpoint of this, we have Chiron opposite Juno, at 20 Aries and Libra–a wounded or suffering segment of society reaching out for recognition as an equal partner. At the Sun/Pluto midpoint: being deterred or squashed by the government’s obsession with control.
The point is, that this year Chiron and Juno have reached 13 Gemini-Sagittarius 41 and 57, which conjoins a power point, the midpoint between geo- and heliocentric Mars, 13 Gemini 48. I have been using this midpoint for years, and it really does work.
Glad to hear you’re discussing Occupy Wall Street: great article and thanks for the opportunity to add my comments.
First of all, one feature of the U.S. chart (all July 4 ones) is the quindecile between natal Sun and Pluto. Noel Tyl has oublicized this 165 degree aspect as one of obsession, here with having total control. Then, cutting across this, at its near and far midpoints, is Chiron at 20 Aries opposed to Juno at 20 Libra: a disadvantaged or wounded segment of society reaching out for recognition as an equal partner, this being squashed by those determined to retain control.
This year, however,Chiron and Juno have arced to about 13 and a half degrees of Sagittarius and Gemini, home of the midpoint between natal geo- and heliocentric Mars, and if Eric Francis is right, also the Great Attractor, and are empowered.
The last time this happened, in 1832, we had the U.S. Supreme Court decision that the Cherokee were an independent nation and not subject to the laws of the U.S. or the State of Georgia within their own boundaries, but only to the treaties they had made.
We`also had the Black Hawk War, the last resistance of the Tribes east of the Mississippi, after which most of the Indians east of the river were “removed” across it. “The trail of tears.”
Hi Georgia,
Thanks for the great info…the qunidecile between Sun and Pluto in all July 4 charts is quite provocative..and your fine insights on the arcs of Juno and Chiron with midpoints..very elegant observations..
Many thanks for contributing
Transiting nodes approaching the US ascendant-descendant line. Good time to test the degrees of the ascendant-descendant.
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