by Helen Sewell
It is never easy to try and get across astrological concepts to the layperson without using the jargon that astrologers band about like a foreign language, however, this is what I will try to endeavour to do in the most simplistic terms.
Researching the astrology of 2012 has taken me on quite a journey and led me up many interesting and diverse paths and I would like to share with you my discoveries on one of these tributaries that is of particular interest to me. This is the astrology of 2012 and its significance for the UK. The esoteric meaning of the energies of this country are not my field of expertise, but I do believe this ancient land to be unique and special in some way and am more than happy to believe it when people say it is the heart chakra of the world. We are also blessed for some reason with the majority of the crop circles that appear in the world, as if our consciousness is somehow more tuned in to this type of phenomenon.
As a background, I will first give a brief description of the chart that I use for the UK and that is the crowning of William the Conqueror at Midday on the 25th December 1066. Now for many of you it may come as a surprise that countries have horoscopes that can be interpreted just the same as one would for a person. In fact, a chart can be cast for anything that has a ‘birth’ and will embody the qualities of that moment in time. Then as the planets continue on their cycles through the heavens they go on to form new aspects to the planets on the birth chart and it is these transits that give astrologers clues and indications as to the type of energy that is around and the possible events that can then manifest as a result. Astrology is therefore a very powerful tool, as the ancients knew only too well. I cannot say that the transits of the planets actually cause events here on earth but there is certainly something spookily synchronistic that happens. As the old saying goes: ‘As above, so below’. I want to emphasise at this point that I will use the term ‘energy’ very loosely in my writing because I do not actually know what forces we are dealing with here.
If I give you an interpretation of some of the planetary energies which were around when William the Conqueror was crowned (see Fig. 1) you might find that you will be able to recognise some of our more obvious national traits. Countries do seem to have ‘personalities’ and it is quite fun to see how the national characteristics of a country can so easily be recognised from their horoscope. This is why we as a nation are so different from, say, Italy.
Figure 1. Coronation of William the Conqueror
England was ‘born’ when the Sun was in the stable earth sign of Capricorn. So as a nation we are conservative and therefore like to preserve our traditions, a good example being the monarchy. Indeed, the characters of Queen Victoria and our current Queen Elizabeth embody the qualities of loyalty and devoted service to duty that is reflected in our nation. As a people, we are stoic and like to be seen as respectable and responsible, in fact to the point of ‘the stiff upper lip’. We like to grumble and moan (like characters such as Eeyore in Winnie the Pooh, and Puddleglum in the Narnia books) and can be quite melancholic, sometimes taking life too seriously. We err on the side of cynicism and it is difficult to pull the wool over our eyes. However, this is wonderfully offset by our ironic and very dry sense of humour. A character such as John Cleese is indicative of the sort of caricatured Englishman that could be recognised around the world as someone typically British.
I am sure that in the past astrologers would have been consulted about the best times for auspicious state occasions such as coronations and it is probable that Kings would be especially crowned at midday because the Sun would then be at the Zenith of the sky and therefore in the 10th house of the horoscope. This is the house associated with public standing and our status in the world and therefore a very powerful placing in the chart, whether it be for a person or a nation.
Aries was the sign coming up over the horizon at the moment of William’s coronation and therefore this is known as the Ascendant or rising sign. Aries is ruled by the fiery planet Mars, who embodies the dynamic masculine principle of action and desire. Aries rising likes to be a leader and is not content to sit back and be a spectator. He is fearless and likes a conquest, and the spirit of Jason and the Argonauts would be typical of this sign. So, with the combination of Capricorn’s urge to build something solid and lasting, and the Arian urge to conquer, we created our Empire.
The Moon in the chart is in the sensitive sign of Pisces and this helps to soften the harder aspects of Capricorn and Aries, and this I see reflected in our Welfare State and the NHS. It also resides in the 12th house of the chart that rules institutions and, more esoterically, spirituality, music, poetry and the arts. Our caring and generous national spirit can also be glimpsed in the hosting of events such as Life Aid, and people often talk of how caring we are for each other in crises, as was demonstrated in the Blitz. The darker side of this placement is deception and intrigue, which can also be witnessed in our history. Just like a person, a nation has a shadowy side and this I see in the Moon tucked away in the hidden 12th house. This side can be witnessed in our desire to escape from our personal responsibilities and be looked after by the ‘Nanny State’. This placement, I have to say, is also representative of our nation’s drinking habits!
There is a wealth of information in this chart, but as that is a whole essay on its own, the last thing I want to say about England’s chart is that the Moon is in a very dynamic aspect with the Maverick of the solar system – Uranus. This is what gives us our slightly eccentric nature and produces the classic ‘mad inventor’ types. We therefore get to produce programmes like Monty Python, and tend to be at the forefront of contemporary music with our originality and trend setting. It doesn’t, however, make for a very cuddly Moon and this can be witnessed in our attitude towards children – the classic ‘children should be seen and not heard’, and also how unwelcoming we can be to families in pubs and restaurants. There is definitely something rather detached about our emotional life.
The Chart of 21st December 2012
Figure 2. Winter Solstice 21st December 2012
I was very excited when I discovered that the time of the winter solstice was 11:11 Universal Time (see Fig. 2). I have been following this phenomenon since the early 90s and as I do not have any answers to it I am hoping very much that this will be the day when all is revealed! For those of you who do not know about this strange enigma, just type 11:11 into Google.
At this time, the Sun has just entered Capricorn and the 10th House and this, I feel, is particularly significant. Capricorn is the last of the earth signs and if we think of the evolution through the signs it is when we should have reached the greatest understanding of this earthly plane and physical reality. In Geoff Stray’s book, Beyond 2012, he writes extensively about the possible spiritual and esoteric changes that could take place at this time so, if there is one sign when there is going to be an actual manifestation of an event, it would be Capricorn. It is entirely appropriate for instance that – symbolically - Jesus was born under this sign. This speaks to me of the actual physical incarnation of the godhead. It is worth contemplating the meaning of the glyph for Capricorn, which is a creature half goat, half fish as the coming together of spirit and matter.
We can see that Neptune has just moved into its own sign of Pisces in 2012. Neptune is associated with the numinous – all those intangible things, such as the arts and music. Neptune signifies where we seek redemption, and that deep longing to return to that pre-birth experience of being merged with ‘the source’.
All planets have a dark and a light side and the problem with Neptune is when it finds it difficult to cope with the harsh reality of life it often becomes victim-like or escapes into fantasy or altered states of consciousness. We also have to be very careful of delusion, deception and confusion when it is so powerfully placed on the Ascendant of the chart.
Neptune spends approximately 14 years in each sign, and at the moment it is in the airy sign of Aquarius. To give an example of Neptune’s influence on the world during this period, it is interesting to observe how we have been seeking that feeling of oneness with others through the cool detachment of Aquarian technology – the internet and mobile phones in particular. We can be in the remotest parts of the world and still feel connected to others.
In 2012 when Neptune enters the emotional, watery sign of Pisces, we’ll then be seeking redemption through the numinous and in trying to transcend our physical reality. I have a fantasy that we will no longer need to use Aquarian technology to feel connected because Neptune is associated with telepathy. It would therefore be entirely in keeping with the theory that we could all become telepathic during this period. The last time Neptune was in Pisces there was a huge resurgence in spiritualism, hypnotism, and the occult in general.
The next interesting point I would like to draw attention to is the Yod, or ‘Finger of God’, which is quite a rare configuration and is marked by the green triangle between Saturn, Pluto and Jupiter. This again emphasises the spiritual side of this chart. At the apex is the planet Jupiter which is associated with spiritual growth and the expansion of our boundaries. (Perhaps what is also worth pointing out here is that Jupiter is found to be prominently placed more frequently in death charts than Pluto, who is normally associated with death, hinting at expansion literally out of our physical bodies.) Jupiter is the big gas giant of the solar system and whatever he touches he expands that principle. He imbues hope and optimism and the desire to become more that what we are. He gives meaning to our lives and a vision of the potential for a better future. Jupiter is in the sign of Gemini in the 3rd House and both are associated with communication, the acquisition of knowledge and broadening our minds. It is therefore very appropriately placed for the shift in consciousness that the prophecies speak of.
The aspects to Jupiter from the two heavyweights in the Zodiac – Saturn and Pluto – give the whole thing gravitas. Pluto that feeling of deep and permanent transformation, and Saturn bringing a seriousness and reality to it. However, because of the nature of these planets, it does not suggest the transition will be easy.
Now, so far, I feel I have been quite positive about the potentials in this chart given the fact that there are some of the most advantageous positions and aspects of the planets for the possible shift in consciousness and spiritual enlightenment. However, there’s something much more sinister gathering momentum in 2012 and it is this that worries me the most. In fact, this particular aspect could well be the overriding feature of the year and it will be difficult to navigate.
Throughout the whole of 2012 there will be a very volatile 90 degree configuration in the heavens between the planets Uranus and Pluto. These two planets aren’t like the personal inner planets, whose energies are much more easy to integrate and deal with, they are powerful archetypal forces which bring about massive and permanent changes in the collective, and sometimes manifest as catastrophic natural disasters. To expand further, it might be helpful to look into the meaning of these two planets, and what was happening in the world at the time they were each discovered.
Uranus is the idealistic sky god trying to create the Utopian dream – the perfect system that exists on a mind level – and if that means shattering the status quo to obtain it, it will do so whatever the cost. He wants the perfect Universe with all things equal, but his actions are often unpredictable, unconventional and shocking.
Uranus was discovered accidentally in 1781 by William Herschel. There were two revolutions going on in the late 1700s – the American and the French – and the battle cry of ‘Liberty, equality, fraternity, or death!’ totally encapsulates the Uranian spirit coming through into our consciousness at this time. Uranus brings enlightenment and when we suddenly gets those Eureka moments, so you can perhaps see how it is also connected to electricity which was also discovered around this time.
In myth, Uranus mated with the great earth goddess, Gaia, and because his offspring did not meet with his vision of perfection, he could not bear to set eyes on them and buried them deep in the earth. Uranian ideals often come at a high price because, though fair and humanitarian, he is detached from human emotion. Think how many people throughout history have perished in the name of an ideal.
Currently scientific Uranus is transiting through the sign of Pisces and this ordered god is I think struggling with the Piscean lack of clear-cut boundaries, facts and a logical system. Uranus constantly seeks answers through the clear intellect of the mind and Pisces rules mystery and illusion. We can see it everywhere at the moment, especially in the conspiracy theory world. The urge is so strong in us under this transit to try and seek that ‘Uranian truth’ that we are sure must be there, but I doubt that is entirely possible in this current Piscean world of smoke and mirrors, propensity for deception and lies, and fantasy and self-delusion. This aspect is made doubly strong as Neptune (the planet which rules the sign of Pisces) is in Aquarius (the sign ruled by Uranus), a phenomenon known as Mutual Reception. When Uranus moves out of Pisces into Aries in 2011, the fog will lift and there will be much more clarity and action.
Pluto is regarded astrologically as the most powerful planet in the solar system. He rules such fundamental things as birth, death, sex, and transformation. He is also the planet of evolution and the bigger cycles in history, and if that means the annihilation of a species, then so be it. In our psyche, he rules our dark primitive instinctual nature – our raw unsophisticated emotions that lurk in the shadow and when they erupt they threaten to overpower us. Pluto also rules the occult and all things hidden and shadowy in society. I think the reason we fear Pluto so much is because its potential for creation, death and destruction is very great. It requires an incredible degree of consciousness to use this kind of power constructively for good and not evil.
When Pluto was discovered in 1930, the world was in crisis, and the Pluto energy can best be seen in the rise of the Third Reich. This sadly, but graphically, shows how the misuse of this kind of energy can be put to its most destructive use. Also at that time, however, we saw a more positive manifestation in the work of Sigmund Freud and Carl Jung and the birth of depth psychology and the understanding of the complexities of the unconscious mind.
In myth, when Jupiter had overthrown his father, Saturn, and was dividing up the spoils, he gave Neptune the rivers and seas and he gave Pluto the Underworld. This was not however the lesser inheritance because his laws were final, and nobody, not even the gods, was allowed into his kingdom without irreversible change through death and paying his due to Charon. In the Underworld lay the greatest treasure and this is symbolic of the therapeutic process of transforming our darkest sides into something constructive and creative. Shining the light of consciousness onto those shadowy areas is like finding the ‘treasure’ of freedom from our complexes and ultimately enlightenment.
Pluto has been transiting through the sign of Sagittarius since 1995 and will not leave till 2008. Sagittarius is associated with religion, philosophy, higher learning and the ‘bigger picture’. It is a fiery sign, full of potential and the optimistic journey into the future. However, with Pluto, the Dark Lord of the Underworld, here the future no longer looks so bright. The ‘devil’ in whatever form now seems even bigger, scarier, darker and with more potential to overpower and control us. This placement could well represent of the death of religion in its current form and that has caused the current chaos we’re experiencing. Death is something to be feared and the religious fundamentalists do not want to face the prospect of change and are literally fighting to the death to preserve their own particular faith. With Sagittarius, everything is exaggerated and of epic proportions and this is reflected in the films of this time, such as the Lord of the Rings trilogy, and Narnia which pick up on the Zeitgeist: the large-scale battle of good against evil.
[On a very literal level, another example of Pluto (ruling sex and hidden things) and Sagittarius (ruling religion), we have had the whole issue come to light in the Catholic faith of children being sexually abused and the cover-ups that are now being exposed.]
So, bearing in mind the nature of Uranus and Pluto, you can imagine the cocktail when these two planets get together in a dynamic aspect. If we look back in history at the Uranus/Pluto cycle, this particular one started with the conjunction in Virgo in the mid 1960s. An analogy of the conjunction of two planets is the seed planting time when their conglomerate energies collide like a nuclear fusion and new things are born. Looking at what was going on at this time gives us clues as to the potential of these seeds for both good and ill as the cycle matures. There was huge rebellion against the establishment, seen in such examples as the student riots against the Vietnam war in America. It was the time of experimentation with psychedelic drugs and the ‘sexual revolution’ as a way of rebelling against the social norms of the time and to ‘break out’ of restricting , outmoded ways of being.
In 2012, Uranus and Pluto are going to come into their first really challenging aspect to each other and this will create a build up of an incredible volcanic pressure and the tension between the two forces could detonate revolution, rebellion, even earthquakes, and can bring what we thought were established political structures crashing down. This will be especially so, because Uranus will be in the war-like sign of Aries, and Pluto will be in Capricorn which represents authority, political structures and governments.
My vision of one of the possible outcomes of the ‘clash of the Titans’ is this: Our freedoms are gradually and perniciously being eroded away and with Pluto moving into Capricorn, governmental control could well become more extreme. Uranus, particularly when it moves into Aries, will no longer be able to tolerate its freedoms being curtailed and will revolt in a possibly very sudden and violent way.
Figure 3. The UK and the Transits of the 21st December 2012
What I want to draw your attention to now is the chart of the UK on the inside and the chart of 21st December 2012, shown as transits, on the outside (see Fig. 3). This then shows us if any of our personal planets or angles will be affected by the transiting planets. (This is the same as when a person comes to an astrologer for a reading to see which planetary influences are reflecting what is going on in their lives.)
I noticed - with some trepidation – that Pluto is, extremely significantly, exactly on the UK’s Midheaven and Sun, while squaring Uranus in the 12th House of the collective. So all that energy for revolutionary change will be focusing on our national identity in the world. The 12th House is also about hidden enemies, so the ‘rebel’ could emerge suddenly from quite an unexpected source to rise up against Pluto’s power and control with very serious consequences indeed.
The reason for the rebellion of course may not be specifically to do with governmental control, but another issue altogether. That is for us to use our intuition and I invite you to think of the myriad of possibilities that could manifest. The whole religious issue, for instance, is not going to go away overnight and may well escalate to an Armageddon type situation. In fact, when planets transit through Sagittarius, as Pluto currently is, it tends to be in the realm of philosophical thought and it is only when it enters the sign of Capricorn that those ideas are then materialised. And there is quite a bit currently in the media about the ‘End Times’ highlighting how an awful lot of people are trying their hardest to make this rather frightening scenario a reality.
Incidentally, the Uranus/Pluto cycle is connected to the slave trade, and when I mentioned this to Ian Crane, he pointed out that the government is producing a new form of slavery through debt. This has now reached a whole new level whereby students are being tied into huge loans for education which they have to pay back, and now you can even get a mortgage that is impossible to pay back in your lifetime but can be taken on by your children after you’ve died!
Pluto on the Midheaven of the UK’s chart will certainly bring power to the nation and this made me understand why England, in a strangely fated way, won the bid for the Olympic games when it seemed so against the odds. When a person has a Pluto transit like this, they often come into their power and are thrust into the limelight, a good example of this was when Margaret Thatcher came to power. So it is interesting that all the world’s eyes will be on England in the summer of 2012.
Mentioning Prime Ministers, I believe that David Cameron could well be the person in power in 2012 because he was born under the conjunction of Uranus/Pluto in 1966 and will be so very familiar with these energies and, potentially, could be the one to best steer the nation through its transition. This is, of course, wishful thinking because George Bush’ Sun is synchronistically the same degree as America’s Sun and though a good reflection of the nation as if he were fated to be in power, I can hardly say he has served his country in the best possible way.
Just to show you the sort of affects a Pluto transit can have when it hits a sensitive spot on a country’s chart, I refer you to the chart of the USA (shown on the inside) with the transits of the planets at the moment of the first attack on the World Trade Centre on 9/11 surrounding it (see Fig. 4). At this time Pluto had arrived right on the Ascendant of America’s chart and this can literally be interpreted as the Dark Lord of the Underworld (portrayed by the unfortunate Osama Bin Laden) bringing death and destruction to the face of America. Please note Pluto was opposite Saturn in Gemini, with Saturn representing physical structures (the buildings themselves), a financial institution, world status and authority, and Gemini (just look at the glyph for Gemini!) representing commerce and trade. Pluto opposite Saturn does not necessarily have to wreak such catastrophic havoc but, as I indicated earlier, it does require an enormous amount of consciousness to deal with this type of energy.
Figure 4. The USA and the First Attack on the World Trade Centre
It could have been a wonderful opportunity for America to look at its own dark side and how it wields its power and control over other nations. The interpretation would work exactly the same if this were a person; if we do not recognise our own dark side we can be damn sure we’ll meet it in an external form. America projected its own darkness out onto Al Quaida rather than battling its own demons much closer to home. We can use Pluto’s potency for powerful transformation and to change ourselves for the better, or we can choose to only see the ‘bad’ in others and demonise them. America wants us to believe it is the ‘Land of the Free’ - democratic and fair - and that all the opposite traits reside in the enemy ‘out there’. Sadly, we can only use our imaginations to picture a different and more consciousness-raising scenario than the one that actually did occur on 9/11. One with America taking a brutal look at its own foreign policy, seeing where there could be fundamental changes made for the good of the world, and implementing them. This is perhaps a naïve hope considering where we are in reality in the evolution of consciousness, and therefore sometimes there do unfortunately have to be catastrophic and painful events to force a new consciousness.
I decided to scan the year of 2012 astrologically to see when would be the most dangerous hotspots and it would appear that June is the most tension-ridden month of the year (see Fig. 5). In this next chart I have put the Full Moon in June chart around the chart of the UK because Full Moons heighten whatever tensions are in the air and often cause a physical manifestation of an event. What makes it so potentially explosive is that Mars, the god of war, is now thrown into the equation by landing exactly on the nation’s Saturn, representing our stability and structure, and being at the apex of the T-square (90 degrees) with the Sun/Moon opposition. Incidentally, the London bombings last year were on the New Moon which was similarly in a square (90 degrees) to Mars. So this is again a graphic example of the type of aggressive act that can be perpetrated under such an aspect.
Figure 5. The UK and the June Full Moon 2012
With the Uranus/Pluto square in 2012 there will again be another opportunity for growth. How painful this process will prove to be depends so much on what happens between now and 2012. In lots of ways we are already experiencing the affects associated with the whole 2012 phenomenon. When I look around I see people struggling enormously with difficult issues that seem to be coming up thick and fast for them as if on some level we are tuning into the urgency of having to wake up to a new way of being. It is up to us how we embrace those challenges but I do not believe there are any fast track methods to enlightenment. It may be easier for some, but for most of us it is a long and painful process involving deep inner work and soul searching. I would like to think we could reach the consciousness necessary for positive change, but that could be a tall order for people to gain the kind of self-awareness necessary in just over 5 years.
Uranus is associated with the myth of Prometheus who had a special affinity with mankind because he made them. Zeus did not want mankind to become enlightened through having fire because then they would achieve a godlike status and that was threatening to him. However, Prometheus disobeyed Zeus and though he knew the price would be high, stole fire from the god Hephaistos and gave it to mankind thus bringing them the light of consciousness. Zeus severely punished Prometheus by chaining him up in the Caucous mountains. Each day an eagle came down and pecked out his liver and each night it grew back in an endless suffering. To me this is analogous with how those of us who are trying to tear down the veils of hypocrisy, deception and lies in search of the truth, to try and illuminate mankind are being ‘punished’. But sometimes this is the sort of sacrifice that has to be undertaken for the good of mankind. All we can do is work on ourselves to improve our own personal integrity, honesty and, most of all with Uranus in Pisces, compassion for this struggle. Then, and only then, can we be an example to the rest of society and, hopefully, if the hundredth monkey syndrome is to be believed, there is then the potential for a radical shift in the collective consciousness of mankind.
Lastly, I would like to draw on myth again to try and help give us some clues for a way forward in all this. When Gaia (Mother Earth) got fed up with Uranus being repulsed by their offspring and burying them, she got her son, Saturn, to castrate him. When he carried the bleeding genitals down to the shore and cast them into the sea, thus fertilising the ocean, up rose Aphrodite – the goddess of love – out of the foaming brine. This would suggest to me that we have to accept we live in an imperfect world and that the Uranian vision of perfection as seen through the cool unfeeling eyes of masculine logic has to be balanced by Gaia’s earth wisdom, otherwise the feminine will rise up and brutally retaliate. It is interesting to me that it is Aphrodite who is the end product of this story insinuating that it is indeed love that offers the resolution in the end. It is worth noting how there are dire consequences of neglecting the feminine archetype and we would do well to heed this. I do not think it is without significance that the masculine-dominated world of astronomy has recently tried to downgrade the status of Pluto, which represents the dark feminine, as if on some strange level there is a desire to push this energy back into the dark depths of the unconscious because it is just too scary to deal with. Though it is well known in psychology that when we push things into the unconscious they have a nasty habit of growing bigger and darker and can threaten to overwhelm us entirely. On a positive note, it is interesting that both Sedna and Xena, which have both been discovered quite recently, are both powerful feminine archetypes that I feel are wanting to break into our collective consciousness to help bring a balance to our patriarchal society.
H.S.
