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The Roles of Pallas Athene and Mercury in the Cardinal Grand Cross

“Be realistic, demand the impossible.”

Anonymous graffiti, Paris, May 1968 (1)

April 21, 2014 will be the fifth of seven squares between Uranus and Pluto during the current decade. Because Mars and Jupiter are joining the action and creating a “cardinal grand cross,” a lot of people in the astrology world seem to think that this square (i.e., the fifth in the series) is going to be different, perhaps more like what we were expecting — a return of the widespread revolutionary fervor of the 1960s. I happen to agree, but for different, additional reasons.

Chart: April 21, 2014, Washington, D.C., 2:15:28 p.m.  Geocentric, tropical, whole sign houses

The first reason I see this square as potentially more active than the first four is that the asteroid Pallas Athene has recently stationed near the far midpoint of Uranus-Pluto. I wrote an article for the print edition of TMA in 2012 about the historical impact of this asteroid stationing on each side of the separating Uranus-Pluto conjunction in the cultural revolutions of May 1968, in France and elsewhere around the world. (2) It seems obvious to this astrologer that the nature of this asteroid had a re-vivifying effect upon this conjunction that was beginning to separate significantly. In a word, the nature of Pallas Athene is hot — in the sense of the Aristotelian qualities.

Because of this hot or active nature, I believe that Pallas can be seen as an octave transformer between Mercury, Jupiter, and Uranus. Also, all these archetypes are associated with somewhat unbounded mental creative principles, so we could say that these four bodies constitute a sort of “archetypal complex.” Since Air is a volatile, yang element, the phenomenology of the experiences related to all these archetypes is likely to be characterized by the experience of release, creative breakthrough, and unexpected emergence into new possibilities. We can see in the horoscope for the fifth Uranus-Pluto square (above), that Pallas Athene is making a trine to Mercury, a semisquare to Jupiter, and a sesquisquare to Uranus. So these archetypally-related bodies are also related via aspect. This chart appears to have the potential for a tremendous release of pent-up mental or social energy.

Along with the connection between Pallas Athene and Uranus-Pluto, there is another interesting tie to the year 1968 that is active throughout 2014. This is related to a phenomenon I call the Mercury Elemental Year. All three of the Mercury retrogrades in 2014 will happen in Air signs, just as they did in 1968. Furthermore, because it has been 46 years, Mercury will trace almost exactly the same path through the sky as in 1968. (3) Every single Mercury synodic event — be it his stations, conjunctions with the Sun, or elongations — will happen within a degree of where it did in 1968.

The preceding tables are from a 51-page report I compiled in the winter of 2012. This e-book report contains 125 years of ephemerides for the Mercury Elemental Year, along with theory and instructions on how to use these cycles for personal transformation. (The report is for sale via my website for ten dollars.) (4)

The basic idea is that since, each year, Mercury spends about as much time in one single Elemental triplicity as the other three elements combined, this single element represents themes that reverberate and echo most deeply throughout the collective discourse. Thus, this year, the most profound themes communicated socially will be Airy ones. In addition, we have a series of aspects between three or four Airy planets in the chart for the fifth Uranus-Pluto square. So, what can we expect all this Airy energy to look like?

First, let’s go back a few years to see how this pattern has played out recently. Just before the first exact Uranus-Pluto square, we were under a Mercury Elemental Year of Fire, and within one day of an inferior conjunction of Mercury Rx, with the Sun at 29° Sagittarius, a street vendor in Tunisia practiced self immolation, setting himself on fire in protest and beginning what became known as the Arab Spring.

In late 2012, as the Mercury Elemental Year was about to move into Water, I wrote a blog for TMA suggesting that in 2013 a protest movement could gain the kind of mass cohesion (water) we saw via the Summer of Love movement in 1967, 46 years earlier. (5) Sure enough, in Brazil that year, we saw a mass movement, with not just hundreds of thousands but millions of people taking to the streets; there were an estimated one million people out in the streets of various cities on June 20 alone. (6) These were not only the biggest, but also the most successful protests — from the point of view of the protesters — thus far in the current Epoch of Revolution, with many protester demands being met by the government. (7)

So now we have a worldwide protest movement that is maturing and gaining cohesion. It is time for the protesters to get smart and use what they have learned. Looking back, we can see that the May 1968 movement in France was in large part an intellectual revolution, as it was inspired by the artistic sensibilities of groups like the Situationists. (8) An important event leading up to May 1968 was the Strasbourg scandal. (9) A group of students managed to use public funds to publish a pamphlet, which circulated thousands of copies and helped to make the Situationists well known throughout the non-communist left. (10) Although it is thought that some of the core revolutionary events of 1968 may have been the brainchildren of as few as one or two dozen people,  ultimately the general strike would involve 11 million — more than 20% of the population of France. (11) (12)

In 2014 we have another chance to see a repeat of the energy of the fabled 1960s. Just like the Mercury Elemental Year of Water in 2013 helped to bring and hold millions of people together in Brazil, the Mercury Elemental Year of Air should find the People united and activated around powerful ideas. The alchemical symbol for Air involves an upward-pointing triangle, symbolizing volatility. As a yang or masculine element, it is the nature of air to move up and out. And the lessons of Mercury and Pallas seem clear — small planets and small people matter. Sometimes they seem to make all the difference.

References & Recommended reading:

(1) Books.google

(2) “The Synergy of Pallas Athene with Uranus-Pluto,” TMA June/July 2012 issue. Online readers can find a link to the article here.

(3) Mercury synodic events (Stations, Maximum Elongations from and Conjunctions with the Sun) recur near or in the same zodiacal degree every 46, 79, or 125 years.
MAA.org
The planetary synodic periods were well known to Mesopotamian astrologers and indeed made possible the birth of ephemerides and horoscopic astrology. Later, Ptolemy used them in his Almagest. The modern astrologers Ruperti, Munkasey, and Blaschke have done in-depth research on these cycles.

Alexander Ruperti, Cycles of Becoming: The Planetary Pattern of Growth. Previously published in 1978 by CRCS Vancouver, WA. Re-published 2005 by EarthWalk School of Astrology Publishing, Port Townsend, WA.
Michael Munkasey, “Station Cycles” — an as yet unpublished research article shared with interested members of the community.
Robert P. Blaschke, Astrology: A Language of Life: Volume 5 – Holographic Transits, EarthWalk School of Astrology Publishing, Port Townsend, WA, 2006.

(4) Dream Astrologer

(5) The Mercury Elemental Year 2013

(6) Wikipedia and Reuters

(7) Wikipedia

(8) Wikipedia

(9) Wikipedia

(10) Library Nothingness

(11) Wikipedia

(12) Wikipedia

Bio: Gary P. Caton is an eclectic Astrologer who embraces an organic process-oriented approach of spiritual exploration, personal growth, and transformation via the Living Sky. Gary has studied and practiced Spirituality for over 24 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 Astrology practice over the last 20 years. Visit Gary at his website Dream Astrologer

4 Comments

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