Prior to his death in 1968, the eminent British astrologer, Charles E.O. Carter, stated that he would not delineate an individual nativity without taking into consideration the previous Capricorn Ingress horoscope. It had been his professional experience that a Winter Ingress chart that preceded the birth of an individual would show the wider societal context into which he had been born.
In a similar vein, when calculating the Capricorn Ingress as a mundane horoscope for the nation’s capital, astrologers can observe what the country is likely to experience during the next year. For the USA in 2009, here is our Winter Ingress:
Upon viewing the overwhelming preponderance of planets in the first quadrant, one immediately perceives that 2009 will become a year of survival for the United States. As the only Winter Ingress horoscope in American history to have an exact Sun-Pluto conjunction on the Cardinal Point, the depth and extent to which the United States will have to change during the next year is at the present time unfathomable to all but the astrologers who have the techniques and methods to make such a forecast.
2008 will go down in history as the year in which the worst and most vile practices of free-market capitalism were exposed by the ingress of Pluto into Capricorn. It would be educational at this time to review the Capricorn Ingress from last year in order to see just how the United States has come to its appalling realization of the drunken orgy of greed being played out through a manipulation of financial instruments such as derivatives and mortgage securities in order to obtain illusory, short-term profits:
The Sun conjunct a fallen Jupiter and opposed by a fallen 9th house retrograde Mars speaks volumes about the shameful degradation of ethics and morality within U.S. financial markets. The fiddler playing while Wall Street burned was clearly illustrated by the 2nd house (investments) Venus in detriment and in exact square to a 5th house Neptune (addiction to high-risk financial practices and the casino mentality).
The colossal $50 billion Ponzi scheme constructed by disgraced Wall Street financier, Bernard L. Madoff, has shocked even the most inured and grizzled market veterans. It was indicated in the rising degree of last year’s Capricorn Ingress horoscope.
Libra 13 from Sepharial’s translation of La Volasfera:
A pillar of black marble standing upon a rock, roughly hewn.
“It denotes a person of peculiar and sometimes melancholy and
misanthropic nature; apt to contract false or unprofitable relations with
his fellows and with the opposite sex. The native will make a bad match,
and will be unfortunate in wedlock, with probable separation. The
native, in centering his affections upon one object, will be liable to
disappointment in life. It is a degree of SOLITARINESS”.
The malefic nature of the fallen opposition between retrograde Mars in Cancer and a direct motion Jupiter in Capricorn cannot be overstated. This aspect can only form once or twice in a century and last occurred in the Heavens in December 1913 at the outbreak of World War I, and again in December 1960 in the exact degrees of assassinated president John F. Kennedy’s lunar nodes. (A fallen direct motion Mars in Cancer opposing a fallen retrograde Jupiter in Capricorn recurs in the Heavens after a little longer than either one or two sidereal cycles of Jupiter {11.86 years}. In the 20th century, for example, these oppositions recurred in June 1925, August 1949, May 1972, and August 1996.)
Turning our attention back to this year’s Winter Ingress, one is also struck by the rising Mars to which the Moon makes her first application. It goes without saying that the incoming administration of President-elect Obama will have to be decisive, competent and courageous, all Martian virtues. The MC in any mundane horoscope represents the leader of the country. Mr Obama is the fortunate recipient of an exact trine of Venus to the Ingress Midheaven and he is sure to earn the affection of the populace through his even-tempered handling of one crisis after another.
The Moon in exact sextile to the Ascendant signifies that the public will cooperate with each new proposal put forward by the Obama administration in order to tackle the troublesome economic problems now facing the country. Each application of the Moon tells, in sequence, the story of the year to come. Starting with that sextile to Mars, the new administration will get off to a good start with its bold and decisive governmental programs to help stabilize the middle and working classes.
Unfortunately, however, she next applies to a square with a fallen Jupiter and the money from declining tax revenues in a recession will not be there in the Treasury to finance the enormous cost of the social and infrastructure programs being quickly legislated by the new Congress. By the end of the year, that lunar square to Jupiter will have produced deficit spending at levels unheard of in American history.
The American banking system, shown by the second house in this Ingress horoscope has its ruler, Saturn, stationary retrograde and inconjunct to Neptune. This implies that there are additional structural weaknesses in the economy that have not yet fully come into view. Beyond the subprime mortgage meltdown of 2008 lie two additional financial crises awaiting the American public in 2009.
These are the Alt-A and option ARM loans that are about to cause additional massive defaults and foreclosures similar to what we have seen in the subprime market. The former were foolish loans made with alternative documentation – such as reduced borrower income and asset disclosure; while the latter were loans made with initial low teaser rates that then rolled over into much higher interest rates with a significant increase in one’s monthly mortgage payments after a two-to-five year period. The value of these two additional categories of controversial mortgages is estimated at $1.6 trillion; whereas the subprime market is estimated at $1 trillion.
As we gird our loins for 2009, a year that according to its Winter Ingress horoscope will produce survival conditions in the USA unseen in its 233-year history, one must take comfort in the fact that the economic transmutation of America brought about by its upcoming Pluto return is being guided by higher spiritual forces that will not allow the nation to perish.
However, extreme stress levels amongst the populace should be anticipated during 2009 as millions of additional Americans fall prey to unemployment, lost health care benefits, defaults on mortgages, and all of the other trials and tribulations to which our society will be subjected. This may result in an epidemic of spiritual escapism as a response to natural denial about the severity of the economic collapse occurring in our midst. If these mental coping tactics then fail to work, alcoholism and substance abuse may follow, as portrayed by the rising degree for this Capricorn Ingress chart.
Sagittarius 25 from Sepharial’s translation of La Volasfera:
Three cups of wine standing upon a table in the form of a triangle.
“It is the index of a mind that is given to excessive indulgence and undue
enthusiasm in matters of a spiritual and mental nature; one who will
follow out his projects regardless of consequence, impelled as it were
by a species of mental intoxication. The substance and form of this
symbol is allied to the higher nature, but should the carnal appetites
gain an ascendancy over him, he will in all probability degenerate into a
debauchee. Moderation should be his watchword even in spiritual
things. It is a degree of EXCESS”.
8 Comments
Thanks, Robert, for this thoughtful examination of the Capricorn Ingress chart. I also noticed that the huge Coal Ash spill in Tennessee occurred just before 1 a.m. EST on Monday morning, December 22, with the Sun nearing exact conjunction with Pluto. I wonder what that means for environmental issues and energy issues for the U.S. in 2009 (so much for the “clean coal” myth!).
And Robert, if you have a chance to post the Sepharial translation of the Ingress MC degree, 16 Libra, that would be great.
We’d like to see many more comments on this blog, so don’t be shy, everyone!
Hi Tem,
Here is Libra 16 from Sepharial’s translation of La Volasfera:
An iceberg, at the back of which is seen a display of the aurora borealis.
“It denotes a person of immense reserve forces, of much activity, energy and brilliance: a quick, alert and original mind, which will win for the native some distinctive honours. The native will be disposed to travel to distant northern countries, and may explore arctic regions or pursue electrical science. It is a degree of FORCE.”
Wonderful article Robert. I would add the point that the Sun/Pluto conjunction is nearly exactly square to the Midheaven in the US Sibley chart, and the New Moon on December 27, I believe, enhances and focuses the power of the Capricorn ingress chart.
What do you make of the opposition of the New Moon/Pluto/Capricorn Ingress to Venus in Obama’s chart which also squares the MC in the Sibley chart?
Thank you Robert for the Cap ingress chart and last year’s as well. Have you ever followed up on the moon’s progressing position-using a degree for a month? Then noting that after the square to Jupiter the Moon moves into its fall and sextiles the Sun and then Pluto-maybe guessing that the June/July time frame for some big necessary survival changes to take place?
I am also glad you did not add the transneptunians.
Thank you again
Dear Kate,
At midnight EST on 21 December 2007 the Moon was in 19* Taurus 15′ 44″. At midnight EST on 22 December 2007 the Moon was in 04* Gemini 13′ 50″. Thus, her 24-hour orbital travel on the day of that Winter Ingress was 14* 58′ 06′ (much faster than her mean daily motion of 13* 10′ – a year of many changes).
Dividing that 24-hour lunar motion by 12 we get 1* 14′ 55″. This is the amount we add each month to the lunar position of 04* Gemini 56′ in order to progress that Ingress Moon through the year.
Three months into the Ingress year (21 March 2008) the progressed Ingress Moon would have been in 08* Gemini 40′ 45″, about 3-4 days past her perfection of the square to Saturn in 08* Virgo 33′.
In fact, it was on 17 March 2008 when Bear Stearns, the first of the five major U.S. investment banks to become insolvent in 2008 because of its leverage ratio of 35.5 to 1 in derivatives and mortgage securities, was given an offer by JP Morgan Chase to be purchased for $236 million ($2 per share) just before it faced forced liquidation.
This precision when progressing that Ingress Moon 1/12th of her 24-hour orbital travel on the day of the Ingress per month is rather impressive for predictive work, yes?
Dear Lynn,
During its initial ingress into Capricorn, transit Pluto held a stationary square (within a one degree orb) to the USA Sibly MC from 28 January 2008 to 11 June 2008.
It was rather shocking, even if expected, to witness its immediate impact on the USA economic structure and the subsequent survival response by the federal government (proposal of bail-out programs).
Regarding President-elect Obama, the transit of Pluto in opposition to his IC ruler, Venus, appears to be at the root of the surfacing of his past Chicago political connections with its cast of sleazy characters.
C.E.O. Carter wrote of the Sun-Neptune square that Mr Obama possesses: “The tendency of Neptune to produce scandal is often seen; sometimes the native is to blame, sometimes apparently not. Often the whole affair is involved in mystery, and no one seems to know the truth about it.”
(The Astrological Aspects; L.N. Fowler & Co., Ltd.; London; 1930)
Thanks Robert for your detailed procedure for progressing the moon in ingress charts. And that is amazing. I suppose it will work with personal solar returns. I have been experimenting with progressing the SR moon to both the SR chart and to the natal for months when things will happen, using one degree for each month. It is nice to know that we can get things down to days but knowing the month is ok for me.
Yes I believe in these horoscopes. Eagerly waiting to learn the gambling horoscopes. Thank you for sharing a good information about the horoscopes.
Comments are closed for this article!