posted December 14, 2007 04:15 PM            

ABYSSAL EPISTLES
The Astrology of Baron Samadhi von Coppockalypse, Ph.D

Astrology 10th-16th: Empires’ Tide

This week, we take a break from our focus on the personal implications of the planet's positions to consider something on a larger scale. This Tuesday hosts the conjunction of Jupiter with Pluto in Sagittarius. This rare event occurs only once every 250 years or so. Jupiter's conjunction with Pluto in Sagittarius is attuned to the life cycles of the collective, and marks a decisive shift in the currents of world history.

When Mars stationed retrograde last month, there were earthquakes and typhoons within the very day. Although it may color the day, the Jupiter-Pluto conjunction in Sag is a historical marker, not simply a single or quick string of events. Each time it occurs, the form of world power begins to shift. An empire, representing a type of power, starts to decay while another, representing the new form of power begins to rise. A quick look at the outlines of Western history during the last 3 of these conjunctions will make the pattern clear.

Jupiter-Pluto conjunction in Sagittarius, 1260 AD:

In 1260, the Mongol Empire began its decline, facing its first decisive defeat by the Mamluks, at Ain Jalut in Palestine. Kublai Khan succeeds mighty Ghenghis Khan, and presides over the Mongol's waning years. Meanwhile, in Europe, the rising hegemony of the Church is marked by the completion of the Cathedral at Chartres, an achievement that took decades to complete. Construction on 3 more cathedral projects begins soon after. These cathedrals marks the growing power of the Church as the dominant force which binds all of Europe. Papal hegemony up, Mongols down!

Jupiter-Pluto conjunction in Sagittarius, 1509 AD:

The next conjunction of Jupiter and Pluto in Sagittarius happens in 1509. Just as 1260 marked the hegemony of papal power with the Cathedral at Chartres and the decline of the Mongol threat, 1509 hosts 2 events which mark the end of Church ascendancy in Europe. The first is the coronation of England's notorious Henry the VIII. Henry the VIII was the first European monarch who broke from Vatican power and established state control of religion. The Church of England, the first successful large scale revolt against Rome and is considered to have paved the way for the Reformation. It is also interesting to note that Erasmus' Praise of Folly was also written in 1509. Praise of Folly was a wildly popular satire of the Church considered to be one of the seeds of the Reformation. European Papal power, which was on the rise during the last Jupiter-Pluto conjunction in Sagittarius, now gives way to the sovereignty of the European nations, who spend the next several centuries in ruthless pursuit of every part of the world they can get their hands on. Dueling Monarchies up, Papal power down!

Jupiter-Pluto conjunction in Sagittarius, 1758 AD:

1758 is smack dab in the middle of the 7 Years war, whose immediate consequence was to dethrone France from its position at the head of the European pack. In the following years, both France and England's New World colony undergo bloody Democratic revolutions where the Monarchy itself is overthrown. Although England jumps into the top-spot after France, the shift in power here is not simply from France to England. England becomes the world's first global super-power, a position later usurped by its former colony, the United States. Capitalist super-powers up, dueling Monarchies down!

Jupiter-Pluto conjunction in Sagittarius, 2007 AD:

Which brings us to the present. The United States, the winner of the last round's game, is currently in the middle of what may very well be a "7 Year War," and is facing a host of problems, both internal and external. Health care and education are both in dire need of reform, while slumbering economic titans India, China, and Russia are beginning to stir. Does this mean the end of the United States? Certainly not. But it does mark the end of the era of the Global Capitalist Superpower, begun by England at the last Jupiter-Pluto conjunction in Sagittarius. The world emerging will be shared by many giants, not ruled by one. It is the beginning of Global Feudalism, where the nuclear and economic heavy-weights jockey for control of the world and its resources. It is the world foreseen by cyber-punk writers and post-modern theorists, a world of international corporate feudalism. A world of global tribes. World peace? World government? Not a chance. Check in at the next Jupiter-Pluto conjunction in Sag, 250 years from now. Perhaps then we'll see Karl Marx's prophesied transition from capitalism to communism.

If we examine these roughly 250 year periods, we notice that there is an alternation between periods of unity and multiplicity. The West is united under the Church, whose power dissolves, leaving a pack of competing powers. Then the age of competing powers is overwhelmed by the emergence of the global super-power. The era we are on the cusp of is analogous to the last transition from unity to multiplicity, when the Church's hegemony over Europe was broken and the era of competing European nations ensued. Call it Colonization 2.0.

This is a gigantic topic. Little can be done in this constrained format but to scratch the surface of the political, religious, cultural and economic character of this shift. It is important to note that although the Jupiter-Pluto conjunction marks turning points, it is Pluto's movement into Capricorn in the following decades that sees the structure of the old systems decay while those of the new gain ascendancy.

posted January 01, 2008 01:44 PM            

Jupiter conjunct Pluto: No Going Back from Heres
12.8.07

Attention, my mateys! We astro-forecasters are issuing a high drama alert, effective immediately and lasting through the middle of December.

We advise you to be prepared for epic gestures at every turn, as those recently accelerating urges to put it all out there, to tell 'em what you really think, to draw a line in the sand and dare 'em to cross at last hit their apex… and we just can't hold back anymore.

And if the spectacle of it all, whether outward gush or internal surge, becomes so much as to convince you, 'From here on out, my life will never be the same!'… well, folks, it's not an exaggeration. Not in the slightest.

Welcome to the next four years of earthly existence, people. They're tremendous, transformational, even potentially triumphant… and, let's be honest, turbulent as all hell. You think the 21st century has been zany so far? You ain't seen nothin' yet! And forget about crawling back into your pre-Y2K cave and reminiscing about 'those simple times'. There is literally no going back.
Now that I've gotten your attention…

A conjunction of Jupiter and Pluto (exact on Tue Dec 11), the official astrological reason for this bombastic briefing, occurs every 12 or 13 years. On his own, Jupiter is generally read as a good guy, mainly because he expands things past their previous limits (and we have a long-standing cultural habit of associating bigger with better). Pluto, meanwhile, has a darker notoriety: As 'Lord of the Underworld', he forces us to confront our shadowy underbellies, through whisking up the most challenging psychological urges hiding within us… those we've been taught are 'unpleasant' such as raging fury, quivering yearning, unseemly jealousy, and the desire to be uncompromisingly tyrannical or sacrificially submissive.

When observing these two come together, we could be hastily blinded by Jupiter's presence… and jump quickly to a half-complete conclusion this aspect is like a super-good-luck charm, propelling Jupiter's growth orientation even further to a Plutonian intensity. There are certainly astrologers who'd read a Jupiter-Pluto conjunction with this single-minded favorableness, and they wouldn't be wrong, per se. After all, Pluto adds his powerful will—spurred by unresolved feelings from past victories or disasters, internalized messages from unkind parents or formidable foes, or other similarly raw residue—to whatever enriching opportunities Jupiter may seek, virtually ensuring the desired goal will be secured, no matter the costs.

However, please take note of the menacing undertones in 'no matter the costs'. This phrase hints at the fuller interpretive possibilities in a Jupiter-Pluto union—the potent Pluto undercurrent of crazed longing, cutthroat rivalry and a proclivity for complicating passions only gets enhanced and enlarged, as a result of Jupiter's one-pill-makes-you-larger magnifying effect. Despite the promise of 'achieving transformational growth' in one fail swoop, there's also a price (in comfort, in cheer, in interpersonal reverence) to pay. Even if we're 'innocently' going about our inadvertently greedy business, with the earnest action of pursuing our own evolution, we're bound to hit up against other people, projects and institutions. And should they block our path (or merely seem to do so), we're liable to steamroll the obstruction, almost frighteningly determined, intoxicated by the profound high of 'the Journey'.

On the eve of this conjunction, then, we greet a punchy mix of heightened enthusiasm, beefed-up confidence, and potentially fanatical compulsion toward whatever our chosen ends. We might not know precisely what those 'ends' are, yet proceed by gut persuasion, according to our fired-up-ness. Or we might know exactly… and mobilize that focus for near-guaranteed success, especially when we find allies on our ideological highway to predominance.

Of course, in the process, we could find ourselves forced to contend with some pivotal end of the road (for Pluto rules the death-and-rebirth cycle)—and, as part of playing our role to the necessary extreme, bid a definitive farewell to someone or something that's entirely at odds with where we're going.

Whether this impressive coupling of Jupiter and Pluto delivers an easy-to-spot event of immense magnitude, or whether it passes unremarkably through our external existence (and you dare to thumb your nose at those boastful astrologers who promised 'something big')… I stick by my sentiment that, following this conjunction, life will never be the same. Not only is this aspect a commanding symbol of 'there's no going back' progress, it also ushers in a pungent new period of astrological hustle-and-bustle.

One week after its exact conjunction with Pluto, Jupiter moves out of Sagittarius and into Capricorn. Then, in January, Pluto follows suit—only, in his case, this is a much more monumental movement. While Jupiter spends only about a year in each sign, Pluto has been in Sagittarius since 1995. And he'll spend all of 2008 making the transition into Capricorn, where he'll stay through 2023-24. Needless to say, this is huge astrological news.

As if that weren't enough, the striking virility of this shift is further strengthened by the fact it's a movement into Capricorn, a cardinal sign… thus creating a square between both Jupiter and Pluto and the Aries point (or 0 degrees Aries), the single most supercharged degree of the zodiac circle. And within the next two to three years, transiting Uranus will leave Pisces and head straight for that Aries point—ultimately to form a colossally important square to Pluto (within orb from about 2009 to 2017), the defining astro-aspect of our times, slating this upcoming era to be as radically redefining and potentially turbulent as the 1960s. Yes, it's that huge.

But the personal is also always political (or transpersonal, as the case may be)… and whatever little nagging nuisances or pesky energetic imbalances you're currently experiencing, in fact, have everything to do with this epochal revolution. How poignant that, in the midst of this outer-planet drama, we still must contend with Mars retrograde and his odd gear-shifts. But it is no accident. In fact, over these coming weeks, Mars opposes first Jupiter and then Pluto, effectively linking these two levels of astro-consciousness together into one landmark realignment.

But that's another story, to be told in more detail soon…

posted January 01, 2008 02:35 PM              

I guess from everything that I have read that I could assume that it is over and we will never be able to speak cordially to each other ever again, which is not how I want it to be.That day was nothing less than intense for me. Did anyone else have something big happen that day?