The 21st Century I

Using the “traditional” planets, there were four major indications in the 1/1/2000 chart, which we consider to be the birth chart of the current Century.  The four are…

• Transformation of Consciousness
• Awareness of the need for Sustainability
• Loss of the Veil
• Polarization

And we’ll comment on a few ancillary influences.

Transformation of Consciousness

There will be much Despair as this process unfolds, making it critical that we remember that Empathy heals Despair.  “You poor Sweetheart, you feel pretty Discouraged about the state of the World, don’t you,” we say to ourself.  We may need to repeat and rephrase until we develop a dialog with our Orphaned Power, its Guiding Angels, and its Executive Function.  We also need to keep in mind that Confusion is the first stage of Growth, as this is about nothing if not Growth in Consciousness.  The root process is that we become Ungrounded, and in so doing Expand our Perspective.  From this “higher” place we can “see the Light,” and begin to Celebrate our Evolution rather than dwelling in Darkness.

Pluto symbolizes Transformation or Trance Reformation – a shift in the Mass Hypnosis that governs the Zeitgeist and the way we see the World.  Chiron represents Despair and Miracle – Discouragement caused by a too-narrow Perspective that cannot see outside of the Box it’s in, and the Liberation that results from transcending the box.  The worst sort of Despair is Unconscious Despair – not even knowing that a World exists outside the Box because we don’t Believe it’s Possible.  

A day or so prior to the dawn of the New Century, Pluto Initiated Chiron at 12 Sagittarius, “A flag turns into an eagle; the eagle turns into a chanticleer [rooster] saluting the dawn.”  The Eagle’s claim to fame derives from its high-flying Perspective and its keen sight.  The flag represents our narrow focus on nationality and parallel narrow definitions of the Self and Community.  The Eagle sees that we are nothing without Other.  The Rooster heralds the Return of the Light.  

Awareness of the need for Sustainability

If you were lucky enough to catch part of Brian Jennings’s tour of the variety of World’s New Year Celebrations, you probably like me developed a whole new appreciation for multiculturalism, while simultaneously realizing how important Home is to everyone.  Most of the World is Water, and it was too easy to envision many of those Homes sinking under the Sea.

As midnight worked its way around the World, Ceres followed it – Ceres (Sustainability) was Rising everywhere on the Planet when the New Year struck.  Lester Brown pointed out several decades ago that the denizens of the Developed World used more than twenty times as many of the Planet’s Resources as folks in the rest of the World.  And that the World does not contain enough Resources to Sustain everyone at the level of the Developed World.  In other words, we will have to come to terms with the fact that Sustainability and Sustenance are opposite sides of the same coin, and accept the fact that the Developed World will need to Eliminate the Unnecessary.  Can we survive on one twentieth of the Resources we’ve been burning?  We absolutely can.  

Learning about the need for Sustainability, and Learning how to work toward it in an energetic and organized way, is emphasized by a Ceres-Ascendant Quintile Yod on a base of Mars-Saturn.

Loss of the Veil

The Veil disguises our Separation, making it seem real.  Like Denial, it is useful to help us focus on specific issues without Overwhelm.  Even cultures that honor the Reality behind the Veil, like Native Australians and the Iroquois, spend much of their time in the “Daylight,” using the Real World as Guidance for operating in the Daylight.  To spend a lot of time on the other side of the Veil, you’d probably need to surrender your Ego to a Hindu saint.  Without the Veil you’d be constantly aware of all of your deceased Loved Ones, aware of all of your Parallel Lives, aware that your friends and acquaintances are from all over the Universe, aware of the sentience of all of the plants and insects and critters and rocks and trees, and aware that We’re All One, All There Is Is Now, and All There Is Is Love.  Busy busy busy.  You’ve probably already Experienced a fair amount of Bleedthrough since 2000 – maybe a floating Chinese city, or a megastructure around a distant Star.  Consider it a trend.

Neptune Conjoined the South Node (“A Hindu yogi demonstrates his healing powers“), making our Karma and the rest of the ZPG more available to us in Trance.  When you’re seeing through Material Eyes, Neptune represents Confusion; when you’re looking through Spiritual Eyes, it represents Clarity.

Polarization

Lord knows we’ve seen this one here in Babel.  It was more pronounced in the first decade of the Century, but it’ll be with us for the duration, and require new models for governance, particularly in the US winner-take-all “democracy” – which it never was.  How can you possibly have a democracy or even an effective governance when All Power goes to this year’s Most Popular, let alone the Most Money.  

We’ve been Living the four poles of the Dualities – Instinct versus Lawn Order and Judgment versus Yintegrity.  Pity the poor politicians and pundits who are still trying to make the World fit into their old dichotomies like Right versus Left; they don’t know that Confusion could be their first stage of their Growth rather than their Downfall, as they try to squeeze their folly into the role of Wise Sages while shooting holes in their feet. 

This Grand Cross was in the chart for the first decade, but more profoundly Polarizing was the Out of Bounds Moon (signifying greater Emotionality) that spanned September 11, 2001 through April 21, 2011.  The Moon will be Out of Bounds again from 2020 to 2030 and much more so than in the first decade (up to five degrees Out of Bounds for five days every two weeks, versus one degree Out for two days every two days), in the first decade of the Digital Age, when employment is obsolete and those who own the robots will have to figure out what to do with the increasing hunger of those who don’t.  We should review that Change…

• 1840-1980: Saturn-Jupiter Initiations in Earth Signs (aka Industrial Revolution)
• 1980-2000: First Saturn Initiation of Jupiter in an Air Sign (introduction of the PC – previewing Digital Age)
• 2000-2020: Final Saturn Initiation of Jupiter in Earth (Dot-Com Crash – debriefing Industrial Era)
• 2020-2160: Saturn-Jupiter Initiations in Air Signs (aka Digital Age)

The 1/1/2000 Grand Cross featured Moon Opposite Saturn (Instinct versus Lawn Order) Squared by Pallas Opposite Uranus (Judgment versus Yintegrity), with Pallas Out of Bounds (Strong Judgment, which many of us have internalized as we’ve been hesitant to remove our Masks), in 11-15 of the Fixed Signs.  The Midpoints of the Fixed Signs are generally considered to be the “Four Horsemen of the Apocalypse.”  Of course the Challenges of a Grand Cross are the Squares more than the Oppositions –

• Moon Waning Square Uranus (Challenge to Let Go of Habits around Yintegrity – the Cycle is “A train entering a tunnel,” but Waning)
• Moon Waxing Square Pallas (Challenge to Trust Instincts around Judgment – “The storm ended, all Nature rejoices in brilliant sunshine“)
• Pallas Waxing Square Saturn (Challenge to Change Boundaries around Discipline – “A fully decorated Christmas Tree“)
• Saturn Waxing Square Uranus (Challenge to Create Patterns that Support Yintegrity – “The Pope blessing the faithful”)

The essence of a Grand Cross isn’t per se the Challenges (though they certainly remain), but because the Squares Complement and Challenge one another, the essence is Skill at multi-tasking, and constant demands to “put out fires.”

So basically the Polarization of the 21st Century is wrapped around Dances between Instinct, Judgment, Discipline, and Yintegrity.  Lots of fodder there for all manner of Drama.  Learning how to use Boundaries to facilitate acceptance of our Yintegrity, and Expanding our Consciousness and our Values to create space for it, are very important themes in these Dances.

Uranus is the focus, and Pallas-Uranus the spine, of a Quintile Kite, with Venus and Jupiter on the arms.  That is, both Venus and Jupiter Quintile Uranus and Tridecile Pallas.  The Sun and Juno are Conjunct at the near Midpoint between Venus and Jupiter, Biquintile to Pallas.

Additional Factors

Growth in Consciousness – through Self-Love, Letting Go of old Habits, and Expanding our Boundaries – will help ameliorate Instinct-Discipline Challenges.  Beliefs and Values will be Realigned (for example maybe the Right Wing will figure out that Hate isn’t a healthy Family Value after all).  Awareness of the need to focus on Sustenance, and Alignment of Values and Beliefs, will ease the Ego Deaths.

The Moon is Balsamic, and the Sun Conjoins Juno (“Cupid knocks at the door of a Human heart“); Sun-Juno forms a Trine Bridge across the Moon-Saturn Opposition; Trideciles separate Jupiter from both Pallas and Sun-Juno, which Biquintile one another.  Venus Conjoins Vesta.  Both Ceres Rising and Venus-Vesta form Trine Bridges across the Nodal Axis.

Many of the Challenges will be dissolved by Transformation of the Zeitgeist.  We need to be careful to give the Transformation priority over our Habitual Discipline and our sense of Order; Curiosity is the best course around what form our new Discipline Patterns will take.

The Pluto-Chiron Initiation forms a Trine Bridge across the Pallas-Uranus Opposition; a Quincunx from Saturn to Chiron-Pluto triggers the Grace in Chiron-Pluto Square Pallas to resolve the Pallas-Saturn Square (a Tricolor Configuration).

In our next installment we’ll look to see how our new friends the dwarfs shift these interpretations.