Jupiter Meets Comet
Zip Dobyns
Mark was able to use his computer modem to access the astronomical telegrams which reported the sightings of the fireballs resulting from Shoemaker-Levy 9’s fragments diving into Jupiter. The first sightings came from M. Kidger at an institute in the Canary Islands and from the Max-Planck Institute in Germany. The timing was given as a percentage of the day (July 16.845 UT) so it is only accurate within about two minutes, but that is enough to work with. The chart offered here is calculated for Washington, DC, but interested readers can calculate house cusps for any geographical region in which they are interested. Just keep the UT constant and adjust the houses. The UT in clock time is 20:16:48 plus or minus a couple of minutes.
Theoretically, the chart could be a key to how the earth will respond to the Jupiter principle in the coming years. Since we have no prior experience of sighting such an event, we can just watch the chart as transits aspect it, using the local angles for different regions and comparing them with local circumstances and events. I have only had time to look at the Washington, DC angles, but plan to check other areas when I have time.
As usual, when I am working with a chart I do not plan to progress, at least initially, I put the heliocentric planets in the outer circle. G Pluto is just above the horizon in Washington but its H position is exactly on the Ascendant. Of course that can signify many different details for our country. The debt problem is far from solved. All we have managed so far is to reduce the RATE at which the deficit is growing. The disparity in wealth between the rich and poor continues to expand so the potential for power struggles remains. Crime is a front page issue with the Crime Bill being debated. Pluto can signify death, whether a threat to power people or to ordinary citizens with Saturn on the IC. I was struck by the fact that the midpoint of G and H Saturn is on the IC and the midpoint of G and H Chiron is on the MC. Vesta exactly squares Saturn and Mars and the Mars/Vesta midpoint square the MC.
The potential for violence could point to war. So far, we have not invaded Haiti but we are still unable to deal with the influx of desperate people from both Haiti and now Cuba. The factors discussed so far are in mutable signs which involve issues of intelligence, practicality, and spiritual values, ethics, and morals. The Washington, DC East Point in Sagittarius in the first house completes a mutable cross with wider orbs to the angles, but it is only five minutes of longitude beyond the one-degree square to Saturn and only one degree and twelve minutes from Vesta which is moving into the aspect. The combination with Chiron (an alternative Jupiter) on the MC, one corner of the cross in Sagittarius, and one corner in Pisces, the sign coruled by Jupiter, is certainly appropriate for a message from Jupiter, the planet of religion. Jupiter symbolizes our search for the Absolute including the danger of turning fragments of life into idols.
If we needed any more reinforcement of the message of the chart, it would come with the exact conjunction of the Moon and Jupiter. The Moon and Earth are a closely knit pair in the solar system carrying the shared meaning of the physical earth, the structures built on it, and the people who draw their sustenance from it, who look to it for security, for life itself. The peoples of earth have been reminded that their beliefs about the nature of reality, truth, and morality are crucially important and will shape the events to come. We should not need to be reminded of that when we look at Bosnia, North Ireland, Sri Lanka, Rwanda, Egypt, Israel, Iran, and many more areas where covert or overt civil war takes its toll.
As usual, the themes of the chart are repeated in many ways. The nodes of the planets carry the same meaning as the planets themselves. The nodes of Pluto in this chart are at 20 Cancer (N) and Capricorn (S). The Part of Death with the Washington house cusps is in 20 Cancer on north Pluto. The nodes of Saturn are at 23 Cancer (N) and Capricorn (S) so they fall exactly on the Sun-Uranus opposition. The south node of Juno which is like Pluto is in 16 Aries exactly on the midpoint of Saturn/south lunar node, a major lesson point. Saturn/north lunar node squares it at 16 Capricorn and north Vesta completes a T-square at 16 Cancer. The repeated theme involves people and power.
The new asteroids add their bit to the picture. The moral issue of Bosnia will continue to trouble our conscience with Beograd (Belgrade) on the Descendant and Srbija (Serbia) on the MC in Washington. Toyota is also on the MC as the U.S. worries about its trade deficit with Japan, while Juewa (the star of China’s fortune) on the IC with Themis (divine justice) says we are or should be still thinking about China’s handling of human rights. America is on the midpoint of the Ascendant/MC, supporting the authenticity of the chart as an accurate key to the current world. But the shadow of death is repeated by Hel (Norse goddess of death) on Ate (a goddess called the personification of evil) with octiles to the Ascendant and a quincunx to Libitina (Roman goddess of death).
Joining the Mars-Vesta potential for power struggles and alienation from relationships, Aletheia (goddess of truth) and Peking (capital of China) are on Mars while Phaethon (overreach) is on Vesta so they participate in the mutable cross. Siva (Hindu god of destruction) is quincunx the Ascendant from Aries and octile Saturn and Vesta, at their midpoint. Washington(ia) is quincunx Winchester (guns) in Aries. Maybe we will at least outlaw assault weapons which are not used in deer hunting.
Whether the chart will be useful as a key to our handling of beliefs and morals remains to be seen. Though it certainly suggests that we will have continued religious tensions for some years to come, perhaps out of the ferment will come the end of the belief in scientific materialism. I do not see how anyone could look at the asteroids and continue to believe in chance. The chart is provided here so others can test it in the years ahead.