The chart for the moment of the Sun’s entrance into Aries has always been a very important factor in mundane astrology. Traditionally, this chart is cast for the capital city of a country or region. Since we cannot cast the countless charts required for a holistic worldview, this analysis will focus on the chart for the United States. We will also look at things that all ingress charts have in common — the aspects, or relationships, between the planets at the time of the vernal equinox.
The first thing we notice is that Mercury retrograde and Uranus are both conjunct the Sun at the vernal point. This is an extremely rare alignment, which hasn’t happened since the year 755AD! (1) Since that year may not contain much history that can inform our modern world, let’s simplify a little bit. As the late, great Robert Blaschke taught us: “Sun-Mercury inferior conjunctions have a recurrence pattern, falling in the same degree area of the Zodiac as part of a cycle that has durations of 13, 33, or 46 years between conjunctions. After 79 years (33 + 46), or after 125 years (79 + 46), inferior conjunctions can recur in the exact same degree of the Zodiac, or within a one-degree orb of the starting conjunction’s degree in that sign’s cycle.” (2) The following table shows the inferior conjunctions of retrograde Mercury and the Sun near the Vernal Point of 0° Aries over the last 125 years.
Sun Conjunct Mercury Rx: Mar 21, 1887: 1°10′ Aries
Sun Conjunct Mercury Rx: Mar 20, 1920: 29°25′ Pisces + 33
Sun Conjunct Mercury Rx: Mar 23, 1933: 02°16′ Aries + 13 = 46
Sun Conjunct Mercury Rx: Mar 21, 1966: 00°29 Aries + 33 = 79
Sun Conjunct Mercury Rx: Mar 24, 1979: 03°20 Aries + 13 = 92
Sun Conjunct Mercury Rx: Mar 21, 2012: 01°35 Aries + 33 = 125
When perusing the historical record for these years, do we find any correlations to current events? One of today’s hot topics is women’s rights, specifically reproductive rights, which have been brought into question by many Republican politicians. (3) Right away, something jumps out at me: Susanna Salter was elected mayor of Argonia, Kansas on April 4, 1887, becoming the first woman elected as mayor, and the first woman elected to any political office in the United States. Looking onward to the next date in our list, we see that on August 18, 1920, Tennessee became the 36th — and deciding — state to ratify the Nineteenth Amendment to the United States’ Constitution, which prohibits any United States citizen to be denied the right to vote based on sex. In 1933, Frances Perkins became the first woman in a Presidential cabinet, and served as Secretary of Labor during the entire Roosevelt presidency. The National Organization for Women (NOW), the largest feminist organization in the United States, was founded in 1966. The Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Discrimination against Women (CEDAW), adopted in 1979 by the UN General Assembly, is often described as an ‘international bill of rights for women.’ The United States is the only developed nation that has not ratified the CEDAW. (4)
Despite support from both Presidents Carter and Clinton, the U.S. Senate has never ratified the treaty, due to opposition from conservative politicians. (5) In 2009 Senator Barbara Boxer led a campaign for ratification of CEDAW, saying, “It’s a shame that the U.S. stands with countries such as Iran, Sudan and Somalia in failing to ratify the treaty.” (6)
The trend for the Mercury retrograde years outlined above begs the question: Is there any chance that 2012 will be the year the U.S. ratifies the CEDAW? In order to look at this question, we must cast the ingress chart for Washington, D.C., on March 20, 2012 at 1:15:01a.m. EDT.
March 20, 2012
1:15:01 a.m. EDT
Washington, D.C.
Tropical zodiac
Whole sign houses
We see that the traditional malefics, Mars and Saturn, are also retrograde, so it appears things could be “taken back” regarding significations of these planets and the houses wherein they reside. Traditionally, the 11th house signifies the Congress. Saturn in the late degrees of Libra, and retrograde, does not look good for major advancements by the U.S. Congress. Given their current dismal approval rating, I’m sure this is not a surprise to anyone. However, some might argue this could indicate a reversal of some previous position held by Congress, or perhaps even a reversal of Congress itself. It should be noted that with a mutable sign on the Ascendant, the shelf life for this chart is only until the Libra ingress. (7) So, this chart does not speak directly to the fall elections, but does speak to a good portion of the campaign season.
Mars retrograde resides in the 10th house of this chart. This is traditionally the house of the President, the “party in power,” and generally people in authority. Therefore, we should not expect a lot from the President during this time. This makes sense also because he is likely to be fending off attacks from his rivals in the fall election. However, if we read this generally as things being “taken back” from people in authority, this chart could be good for political minorities and groups like Occupy. In fact, the major good news in this chart is that both of the traditional benefics, Venus and Jupiter, are conjunct in Taurus. Since this is the traditional home of Venus, and Taurus is the most traditional financial symbol, this conjunction (and its Earth grand trine with Pluto and Mars) could bode well for slow but sure continued financial recovery.
Since the 6th is the house of workers and employees, we could expect both job growth and advancement of workers’ issues and rights.
Returning to our original question, but from a different angle, we see the very rare conjunction of the 0° Aries Sun, Mercury retrograde, and Uranus falling in the 5th house of the horoscope. This house is generally concerned with entertainment and pleasure, but more specifically with birth, children, and sexual concerns. So, clearly the bizarre throwback nature of public discourse around these issues is likely to continue.
Women’s issues are signified by Venus, and since she is in her own sign, near her greatest brightness, and conjunct Jupiter, it seems perhaps we can expect some progress in these areas, although maybe not from Congress. Venus in the 6th seems to indicate that the fight over framing women’s and sexual issues as health issues (6th) versus religious issues (conjunct Jupiter) will continue, and could possibly end up in court. Also, the plight of women seems to be tied to, or perhaps will find solidarity with, the general plight of workers.
The final and perhaps ultimate consideration in this chart is Rahu, aka the North Node of the Moon, which is rising. Rahu is an extremely complex figure and can plunge any area of life he controls into chaos and mystery, as well as random, uncontrolled growth without wisdom or understanding. At the very least, this suggests that this year’s eclipse season will be very important and perhaps perplexing for the U.S.
Solar eclipses are traditionally an important mundane factor. We have an annular solar eclipse on May 20 at 0°20′ Gemini, which is visible in the western U.S. Gemini is the 7th house of the vernal ingress chart, which governs foreign affairs and relations with other countries, both friendly and hostile. It is possible that some unexpected and/or misunderstood (at least at the time) foreign relations issues will come up in the next six months. Often these events are timed to when planets cross the eclipse degree. The important dates to watch for this eclipse season are as follows: May 5, Mars squares the Nodes at the South bending (opposite Neptune who is nearing the North bending); May 24, the eclipse ruler, Mercury, crosses the eclipse degree; June 12, Jupiter crosses the eclipse degree, and, on June 26, Venus stations direct near the eclipse degree.
References and further reading:
(1) Using Dan Ciubotaru’s configuration hunter website, I found that the previous triple conjunction of Sun, Mercury retrograde, and Uranus within the fist six degrees of tropical Aries was in the year 775 of the Common Era. Configuration Hunter
(2) Robert P. Blaschke, Retrograde Mercury in Taurus: Recurring Cycle for Goldman Sachs & Global Financial Crises, April 26, 2010.
(3) See, for example, any of these recent articles in The Huffington Post:Women’s Rights
(4) CEDAW
(6) Discord Expected Over Women’s Rights Pact
Bio: Gary P. Caton is an eclectic Astrologer who embraces an organic process-oriented approach of spiritual exploration via the Living Sky. Gary has studied Spirituality for over 23 years. After exploring Shamanism and the Tarot, in 1993, his life was changed by a magnificent Dream where he was shown planetary alignments and became an Astrologer. Gary earned a degree in Counseling with highest honors and has developed a unique multi-discipline path to practicing Astrology over 19 years. Visit Gary at his website: Dream Astrologer