Mutation Charts of Jupiter-Saturn Conjunctions
Rob Hand's article in the April-May, 2002 issue of The Mountain Astrologer described some of the techniques of Islamic astrologers in the Middle Ages as well as still earlier theories from the ancient world. As Rob pointed out, early astrologers placed great emphasis on the conjunctions of the planets, especially Jupiter and Saturn as keys to the world scene. However, they lacked the precise planetary positions to be able to calculate the horoscopes for these conjunctions, so they used the preceding Aries Ingress in their forecasting. Since we now have the data to do these calculations, I explored the potentials of the mutation conjunction of Jupiter and Saturn for 1842 when it occurred in the earth sign of Capricorn. It had previously occurred in Virgo in 1802, but then had returned to the fire sign of Aries in 1821 before coming back to stay in earth signs until the next mutation when it will shift in 2020 into air signs for over 100 years.
Even though we now have three planets with orbits beyond Saturn, plus thousands of asteroids that we can see with telescopes, Jupiter and Saturn remain appropriate keys to the bigger world beyond the life drives to meet personal needs and to develop the capacity to handle face-to-face, interpersonal relationships. With Jupiter as a key to beliefs, whether the information source is religious or scientific, and to the ethics based on beliefs, and with Saturn as a key to the laws of nature and societies, and the authorities who wield the power to enforce the laws, the conjunctions of these two planets offer insight into their following time periods. Preliminary study suggests that the mutation conjunctions do seem to be especially important when they change to a new element.
Neil Michelsen's Tables of Planetary Phenomena, published by ACS in San Diego, provides the precise data for a huge variety of astronomical events, including the planetary conjunctions. The Jupiter-Saturn conjunction of 1842 occurred on January 26 at 6:12 AM UT. When calculated for the US capital, Washington DC, the MC is in 18 Leo 40 and the Ascendant is in 10 Scorpio 56. I also checked the house cusps in New York, which give an MC of 21 Leo 48 and an Ascendant of 12 Scorpio 40. It has become a truism to say that September 11, 2001 was a major turning point for the USA, so my first test of the usefulness of the chart involved doing secondary progressions for that critical date.
Looking initially at the natal chart, the Jupiter-Saturn conjunction is in 8 Capricorn 54 in the second house in both Washington and New York, using my preferred system of Placidus house cusps. The conjunction is not strongly aspected, though it has a sextile to the Washington Ascendant and is octile (semisquare) the East Point, an auxiliary Ascendant. The chart emphasizes the transpersonal signs, with additional factors in Capricorn plus some in Aquarius and Pisces, but they are placed in the personal houses. The combination implies that our country will be dealing with world issues, beliefs, humanity in general, ecology, etc., in a very personal way, seeking to protect our own interests and security (houses one to four) while interacting with the larger scene. The placement of Chiron, the Moon, and the south lunar node in Cancer, Pluto and Ceres in Aries, and Venus and the north lunar node joining Jupiter-Saturn in Capricorn, emphasize the cardinal quality. When we add the power signs of a Leo MC and Scorpio Ascendant in Washington, we suspect that the US will play an active, eventful (cardinal) role in the world, including the likelihood of power struggles.
Adding the Antivertex to the chart, another auxiliary Ascendant that is placed in 23 Sagittarius 56, produces a grand trine in fire signs that includes the MCs in both Washington and New York and the Pluto-Ceres conjunction in Aries. The East Point in 23 Scorpio 29 completes a grand trine in water signs that includes Uranus and Pallas (and Mars widely connected) in Pisces plus the close conjunction of Chiron, Moon, and south lunar node widely connected to the other water factors from Cancer. The elements of fire and water signify strong emotions, while the Capricorn emphasizes the focus on coping with material reality and the “rules of the game” that is required to survive in a physical world. Air is present with the Sun, Mercury, and Neptune in Aquarius, but they are not supported by factors in other air signs and their squares to the Scorpio Ascendants in both major US cities support the likelihood of power struggles during this period of Jupiter-Saturn conjunctions in earth signs.
Mundane charts are relevant to all of earth, but the houses and especially the major angles clarify the way that different regions are likely to handle the issues of life. Having most of the occupied water signs in natural fire houses (one, five, and nine) tends to intensify the emotional reactions. But the trines to the major angles in our two major cities support the probability of success in going after and getting what we seek. Letter eight in our astrological alphabet (Pluto, Juno, Scorpio, eighth house) describes the ability to handle joint resources, possessions, pleasures and power, including inheritance, return on investments, taxes, debts, etc. Pluto was exactly trine the Washington MC in the natal chart and progressed Pluto has maintained a trine to the New York MC, our financial capital, for much of the period covered by the chart. Its position in the sixth house of efficiency in the details of one's job, along with its rulership of the Ascendants, pictures our success in coping with the material world. Fire signs in earth houses can operate as steamrollers, combining the innovation and confidence of the fire with the practical competence of the earth.
Squares and oppositions involving factors in both cardinal and fixed signs are typical of power struggles, with freedom drives confronting security needs (Cancer and Scorpio), and limits (Capricorn), whether the latter are imposed by natural laws, cultural regulations, authority figures, or an internalized conscience. Aquarius supports the fire desire of Aries and Leo to do what we please, but also contrasts with fire by suggesting that other people should be allowed freedom and equality. The world is currently engaged in a struggle between the hierarchical rule of one or a limited number of powerful individuals versus democracy that theoretically lets everyone participate in political decisions.
The emphasis on idealism is also striking in this conjunction chart, with Mars, Pallas, and Uranus in Pisces, and Juno in Sagittarius. Mars and Pallas are in the fourth house in Washington and New York, linking religious concerns to our homeland and need for security. Sagittarius in the first house and the Antivertex in Sagittarius show our identification with religious beliefs, education, and also connections with other countries. Factors in Cancer in the ninth house also tie our homeland and security to the search for knowledge and the “ultimate,” with the implication that we will travel wherever we need to in order to find the desired “ultimate.” Except for Native Americans, US citizens have come from other regions, and despite periodic arguments over isolationism we have become increasingly involved with the rest of the world.
The position of Neptune on the IC is especially significant. P Neptune reached the one-degree orb to conjunct the IC in June 1877, but it was just one minute over one degree in January 1877. It will remain in aspect until the end of the period of Jupiter-Saturn conjunctions in earth signs. Interested students can explore in more depth the historical events in that winter of 1876-7. I will just mention here that the election of George W Bush was not our first disputed election. In January 1877, an electoral commission composed of five each US senators, representatives, and Supreme Court justices denied Democrat Samuel J Tilden his marginal victory won in 1876, and gave the presidency to Republican Rutherford B Hayes. The vote was strictly partisan, since the commission had eight Republicans and seven Democrats.
P Neptune turned retrograde in January 1958 in 19 Aquarius 16. In that year, Krushchev replaced Bulganin as chairman of the Soviet Council of Ministers. His term in office is usually considered a turning point in the policies of the USSR. There were also major political developments in the Arab countries of the Near East. France voted for the Fifth Republic which is still in effect, and invited its overseas possessions to decide whether they wanted to become more autonomous. There were major developments in dealing with nuclear issues, involving the US, Canada, Britain, and Russia, and many other events relevant to the subconscious faith and ethics symbolized by Neptune. Though Neptune's change of direction at this time is relevant for all countries, its position exactly on the IC in the conjunction chart calculated for Washington connects it most intensely to the US homeland and security (IC) and our handling of the “rules of the game” with its opposition to the MC.
Turning now to the conjunction chart progressed to September 11, 2001, we can see that the P Ascendant in Washington squares N Mercury and opposes the N Ascendant in New York, while the P Ascendant in New York squares the N MC in Washington as well as P Neptune. These two major cities are thus connected in a conflict pattern that includes the angles of both. P Sun is trioctile the N East Point in New York to repeat the interconnection, and it also is quincunx N Mercury and octile the P Moon. P Pallas, a Libra asteroid, squares the N MC in New York. Pallas is typically featured where there are issues of fair play, social justice, and litigation. It is often prominent in the charts of lawyers and consultants of all kinds. P Juno, the Scorpio asteroid, on the NY Antivertex adds more intensity to the picture, carrying the meaning of Pluto. Plus, both cities have the P Antivertex on Pluto: the Washington P Antivertex on N Pluto and the New York P Antivertex on P Pluto and N Ceres. These angles connected to different expressions of letter eight in our astrological alphabet point to the potential for financial challenges and for endings, including death. Mercury is prominent with P Mercury square Pluto and the P Antivertex in Washington, quincunx P Neptune, and opposite P Jupiter. The Mercury emphasis fits the media attention to the attacks at the time and continuously since then, as well as the association of Mercury with transportation.
The planets that are the source of the natal chart are also connected to the angles of these two featured cities. P Saturn is octile the New York N East Point while P Jupiter is quincunx the Washington N MC. They are also connected to the planet we know has to be featured in a chart for an event involving fire and violence – Mars. P Mars opposes N Jupiter and Saturn in the chart progressed to September 11, 2001! However, this is not a new aspect. Note that P Mars and P Sun remained in a conjunction with each other for several years in the mid-1990s as P Sun gradually passed P Mars. From early in the decade, they moved through octiles to the Washington MC and trioctiles to Neptune which were in 18 degrees of fixed signs, then they were quincunx to N Sun, octile the New York N MC, and finally formed oppositions to the N Jupiter-Saturn conjunction. P Mars was still in that opposition within one degree on 9/11.
This period through the 1990s is described in Bodansky's book Bin Laden: the man who declared war on America. When bin Laden returned in early 1990 from helping drive the Soviets out of Afghanistan, he was a hero in his home country. However, his criticism of the Saudi rulers led to threats against him and his family and he moved to Sudan in 1991. The country had been taken over in a coup by a Moslem general in June 1989. But bin Laden again came under pressure from Saudi Arabia and the US, leading him to move with his forces to Afghanistan in May 1996. Throughout the decade, bin Laden was organizing and training terrorists from several Moslem countries, including his native Arabia, other Gulf states, Sudan, Somalia, Algeria, Egypt, Iran, and Pakistan. He worked closely with officers in the intelligence services of Pakistan, Iran, and Iraq, but also cooperated with officials in many countries including Syria and Lebanon. After his successful fighting against the Soviets in Afghanistan during the 1980s, he played a major role in many terrorist bombings and other violence. While still based in Sudan, he organized bombs in South Yemen on December 29, 1992 and violence in Somalia throughout 1993, culminating in fights that brought down US helicopters and killed US service members on September 26 and October 3, 1993. After this, the US decided to withdraw from Somalia, and most of our forces were out of the country by March 1, 1994. This triumph for the Islamists, Bodansky's name for the Islamic revolutionaries, was added to our withdrawal from Lebanon after bombs killed 63 individuals in the US Embassy on April 18, 1983, and 241 US military forces in Beirut on October 23, 1983. Bin Laden was convinced that the US was a paper tiger. He believed that continuing terrorist attacks on US targets could force us to withdraw from Saudi Arabia where our presence defiled the holy sites of Islam.
This article could turn into a book if I discussed the progressed Jupiter-Saturn chart for even a few of the terrorist attacks that involved bin Laden, including the angles for the localities of the attacks. In each case, the local angles had relevant aspects to the planets in this amazing mutation chart. US service personnel were killed on June 25, 1996 in Dhahran, Saudi Arabia when their residence building was bombed. US embassies in Kenya and Tanzania were bombed on August 7, 1998, though most of the dead and injured were innocent local citizens rather than US citizens. A US ship was bombed in the harbor of Aden, Yemen on October 12, 2000, killing navy personnel. An early attempt to bomb the World Trade Center on February 26, 1993 produced limited damage and loss of life.
Looking back still farther, 1979 was a turning point for the Islamists. On February 1, 1979, Khomeini entered Iran in triumph. The Shah was driven out and an Islamic Republic was established. According to Bodansky, from its beginning, Iran supported terrorism in many countries. A group of Arab revolutionaries captured the Holy Mosque in Mecca, Saudi Arabia, on November 20, 1979, though they were defeated after about a two-week siege. Then, at the end of December 1979, the Soviet Union invaded Afghanistan, where for ten years it held the cities and fought Mujahedeen guerrilla raids from the mountains.
Up to now, we have ignored the extra asteroids, but as usual they are phenomenal. The asteroid America had turned retrograde, and was progressing in Capricorn in recent decades. It reached a conjunction with the natal Jupiter-Saturn conjunction just before the Iranian revolution. The exiled Shah was considered a US puppet. Soon after P America left Jupiter-Saturn in 1988, it moved into a trioctile to the N MC in New York, and later into the trioctile to the Washington N MC. It also opposed P Mars and P Sun for years in the 1990s as they moved through early Cancer.
Another asteroid that has proved to be highly meaningful was discovered and named fairly recently. Rubicon was a river north of Rome. If Caesar crossed it with his army, heading south to Rome, it meant he was going to war against Pompey, who shared the rulership of Rome at the time. Rubicon symbolizes a point of no return. N Rubicon was in 20 Taurus 48, within one degree of the asteroid Georgia that was named for George Washington, but “works” for anyone named George. P Rubicon had entered early Cancer and was quincunx Juno for the Iranian revolution. P Sun caught up to it and was conjunct it for the Dhahran bomb in 1996 and the Embassy bombs in Kenya and Tanzania in 1998 while it opposed the N Jupiter-Saturn conjunction. By September 11, 2001, P Mars had caught up to P Rubicon, and they will remain conjunct for years since Mars is just a little faster than the main belt asteroids which orbit between Mars and Jupiter. P Rubicon had also reached an opposition to P Saturn by 9/11.
We also expect the asteroid Arabia to be featured in the events of the recent decades. N Arabia was in 1 Scorpio 5, just out-of-orb to conjunct the death goddess, Hela, and Erynea, the bringer of plagues, which are both in 0 Scorpio. Though I limit aspect orbs on the new asteroids to one degree, often there will be overlapping aspects from other factors that connect them in an aspect network. In this case, the lunar nodes in 29 Cancer-Capricorn form a T-square to Hela and Erynea and they are octile N America in 14 Sagittarius. N Arabia was trioctile N Mars. P Arabia in 22 Libra 57 had left its squares to the P lunar nodes and its opposition to P Pluto, but on 9/11 it was still in orb to oppose the P New York Antivertex that was on P Pluto. It also had an interesting square to one of the three asteroids named in response to the 9/11 attacks. P Compassion was retrograding in 22 Capricorn 36. Another of the asteroids named in memory of the attacks, P Solidarity, squared N Mars from 15 Gemini 1. The third, P Magnanimity, was in 18 Virgo 51, opposite Pallas and quincunx Pluto.
There is no way to do justice to most of the relevant asteroids without writing a book instead of an article. There are more death goddesses, asteroids named for geographic regions, personal names of people in the news, etc. Perhaps enough has been said to show that the chart gives information about the past, and we need to look ahead, to see what we can see for the future. One of the first things we can spot is that there will be a progressed new moon before the chart ends in 2020. On February 7, 2005, the P Moon will catch up to the P Sun in 15 Cancer 38, with P Mercury just past them in 16 Cancer 41. Note that the new moon is also conjunct P Georgia and closely trine Mars, though also quincunx N America and the P eighth house cusp, both in 14 Sagittarius, and N Neptune in 16 Aquarius. The network of aspects fits prominence and military success for George, almost certainly a second term in the presidency, but also the potential of a major change of direction with the double quincunx or yod. The 150 degree aspect of the quincunx is usually associated with separations, and moving in new directions.
Other aspects include N Washingtonia, for the US capital, conjunct N Fama (fame) in 14 Scorpio, and the new moon is within a one degree trine to Washingtonia to form a grand trine that includes Mars. P Quincy is also in 14 Scorpio, the nickname bestowed on George W by his father in memory of a previous son who followed his father into the presidency. P Brucia (for Cheney's middle name) in 13 Scorpio is conjunct N Fama and N Ascendant in Washington. Nemesis in 14 Virgo and P Anacostia, named for the river in Washington D.C., in 15 Virgo, support the new moon but they also oppose Mars. There will still be military concerns and power issues, but the chart certainly looks like the ability to handle them.
Moving on to other factors in the chart, P Mars in 12 Cancer trines the N New York Ascendant and P Brucia is on the Ascendant. As a cautionary note, P Hybris (hubris) is also conjunct the Ascendant and other asteroids associated with over-confidence, overreach, and a fall are also aspected. P Bellerophon is on P Hephaistos, who produced the weapons for the gods of Olympus, and they oppose the N East Point in Washington. P Phaethon trines the Sun, encouraging overreach, but it is octile/trioctile the P lunar nodes and Ceres. The new moon and Georgia also oppose N Icarus. P Icarus retrograding in 13 Aquarius opposes Nobel, inventor of dynamite, in 13 Leo. P George in 15 Leo is quincunx N Mars and P Libitina, another death goddess, in 15 Pisces. Dozens more aspects could be listed, but to summarize, the mutation chart suggests continued power and success for George W, along with a warning against hubris and overreach.
In the later years of the current term of office, P Mars continues to move through the opposition to P Saturn. The US will continue to deal with the Near East with squares from the P lunar nodes to N Chaldaea for years. Chaldaea and Sumeria were named for the area that is centered on modern Iraq. P Pluto also opposes N Chaldaea for the balance of the life of the chart, that is, up to 2020. P Sumeria will reach 1 Leo by the new moon, moving through squares to N Hela and N Erynea and then N Arabia. P Herberta, Bush 1's middle name, is coming to N Sumeria. Both father and son are determined to get Saddam, but despite the positive aspects in this chart, there are also enough indications of violence and death to call for caution. In light of the length of this article, we might wait for a second installment to see whether we can pinpoint the timing on the proposed attack on Iraq.
Zip Dobyns
Copyright © 2002 Los Angeles Community Church of Religious Science, Inc.
