Fwd: The riddle of the US horoscope

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, "sunil nair" <astro_tellerkerala wrote:A seemingly endless controversy has been going on for years concerningwhat should be considered the United States birth-chart. Every year orso some authority comes up with a new chart and claims that historicalevents fit this chart and its transits and progressions more accuratelythan any other. Unfortunately few astrologers try to understand whatthe problem actually is and what the chart they introduce couldpossibly refer to. The idea that nations are collective persons who areborn at a particular time is quite ambiguous; and we find a similarkind of ambiguity prevailing when the "birth-chart" of a social institution or a business organization is being discussed. Ambiguity is never entirely absent from the astrological field.There is a great deal of uncertainty about most of even the basic toolsused in astrology — for instance the zodiac, the houses,progressions, degree symbols — and some astrologers in natalastrology prefer to use charts for the presumed time of conceptioninstead of the time birth. Even what constitutes the exact moment ofbirth has been discussed; is it when the baby emerges from the mother'sbody, or when he takes his first breath? In some cases this may involvea difference of several minutes. Likewise, what constitutes the"birth-time" of a corporation? It is usually believed that it should bewhen the State formally accepts the papers of incorporation; but it isgenerally difficult to find out the exact moment when this has takenplace. When we deal with the "birth" of a nation the ambiguity is evengreater, except perhaps in cases when, in recent times, a new nationhas been scheduled officially to begin at, usually, midnight of a particular day. But even this is open to question, for in a sense thisis the same situation as when an Obstetrician decides to make aCaesarean operation on an expectant mother, or deliberately inducesbirth by drugs. I personally believe that in such cases the surgeon'sdecision is an integral part of the environmental influences which haveled to the child's birth and that what matters is the baby's firstbreath, however separation from the mother was induced. The firstbreath relates the new organism to an open environment in which hehenceforth can act more or less as an individual person. On the other hand, the mother's womb is a closed environment; the child kicks againstits walls, but he is inevitably bound by them and by the source of his nourishment. It is the new organism's capacity to operate in an open environment, and the fact that a definite interaction has beenestablished between this infinitely varied environment and the baby,which constitute its "individuality" — at least which do so in aconcrete, existential and effectual sense. Every thing that occurredbefore should be considered as a process of preparation; also as a kindof recapitulation of previous states of existence — which referstherefore to the karma of the newborn. What happened to his motherduring pregnancy represents the newborn's family karma. The fact that asurgeon might hasten or delay the birth is related to the social-national karma of the child, for it is the result of the peculiarattitude and way of life accepted by the society in which this childwill have to live.The preceding remarks can be most significantly applied to the problemof deciding the time at which the American nation was "born"; but wehave to ask, first of all, an absolutely basic question. What does onemean by "American nation"; or, if we seek to be even more specific, theUnited States as a national organism? Obviously, the United States was not born operating as a"national organism" on July 4, 1776. The Colonies' Army could have beendefeated by the English. The representatives of these Colonies mightnever have succeeded in establishing a definite Constitution —i.e., a set of by-laws for the operation of the organization of the 13States. Success was not at all certain in 1776. If we speak of the U.S.as a definite, working organization, it can only be said to have begunwhen the Constitution was ratified, or proclaimed effective, or when the first President took office in April, 1789. This is so evident thatit should hardly have to be mentioned; and yet most astrologersconveniently ignore these facts — and, interestingly enough, chartserected for July 4, 1776 seem to be very significant. But what do theysignify? They cannot logically or astrologically deal with the UnitedStates as an operative nation, as a working social organism having,like all organisms, a definite structure. If they refer to anything, itcan only be to the fact that, with the Declaration of Independence, thepeople of the Colonies proclaimed to the world — the internationalenvironment — that they had achieved the consciousness of unity, adefinite individuality. Note well the words "proclaimed to the world"; for just as childis really "born" only when he relates himself to the world by breathingthe air sensitive to myriad cosmic influences — and he announcesthis fact by a vocal utterance — so the "American people" were"born" when they declared openly to the other nations their will to actas one people and to exert that will. A merely local event, like whathappened at Concord, cannot be considered a real expression of theunited will to live of the Colonists. Charts erected for July 2nd and July 4th 1776 can only refer tothis united will to live - to the fundamental individuality — of theAmerican people. People, not nation. There was no American nationalorganism before 1789. [see the horoscope for the US Federal Government<http://www.khaldea.com/charts/usafed.shtml> .] And because what isinvolved is a declaration of purpose, and of the reason for thatpurpose, to the people at large and to the international environment,it seems better to use the time of the adoption of the Declaration onJuly 4th than the time of the passage by the Congress of the Resolutionfor Independence in July, 2nd. Strangely enough, however, there, areconflicting testimonies as to when on July 4th the Declaration wasadopted. As far as I can see, there is no real evidence that can be givenfor the time still accepted as valid by the majority of astrologers.Somehow a tradition was established, perhaps fortuitously and sincemost astrologers are intensely traditional and uncritical, it is beingrepeated. It seems rather clear, from various historical sources, thatthe Declaration was adopted "in the evening" and that John Dunlap,printer to Congress, printed the text "during the night of July 4th andthat it was ready for distribution on July 5th." It was not signed onJuly 4th. The official document was engrossed later and most of the signatures were affixed early in August, some later. There are several reasons inclining one to believe that theDeclaration was adopted in the late afternoon, which in those daysmeant "the evening." An at least approximate time was given by Dr.Ebenezer Sibley who was both a physician and an astrologer living inEngland; and that time of 10:00 p.m. Greenwich Time, ties up with what are said to be records in Philadelphia that the Declaration was signedaround 5 p.m. [see the original image of the original, engraved "SibleyChart" <http://www.khaldea.com/rudhyar/aad/aad_frontispiece.shtml> ].Many years ago I rectified that time to about 5:13:55 p.m. EST. Libra2º08' should be on the Midheaven, and Sagittarius 13º10' at theAscendant, as shown below. [see the full horoscope<http://www.khaldea.com/charts/usa.shtml> ]. [images/usaimage.gif]I shall not try to list the coincidences between historical events andprogressions and transits which could be considered as "proving" thevalidity of the Sagittarius rising chart, for the simple reason thateach astrologer favoring his own chart for the United States can alsolist many such coincidences. The relative number of these actuallyproves nothing. I shall only mention one which, when I studied this Sagittarius rising chart in the mid-Thirties, struck me first as most significant: the arc between the Midheaven and Saturn (14º49)corresponds to the period of 12 years and several months separating theDeclaration from the time the Constitution went in force March 4, 1789.[see the horoscope for the US Federal Government<http://www.khaldea.com/charts/usafed.shtml> .] The exact minute of theMidheaven is questionable; but later on in 1946, I rectified it becausethe progressed Mars was on that degree of the Midheaven — whichrefers to the Executive — when F. D. Roosevelt died. Neptune had passed over this U. S. Midheaven during the monthsthe Manhattan Project had been producing the atom bomb; it was reachingLibra 2 degrees when the first man-made nuclear chain reaction had taken place in Chicago. Uranus at its North Node was moving to and froacross the Descendant and Saturn transited the natal Sun on the lastday of June near a famous solar eclipse in July, tying in with thefateful Potsdam Conference. Jupiter was transiting the United StatesNeptune in the House of foreign entanglements. The reason why the coincidence of the Midheaven to Saturn withthe period separating the Declaration of Independence from the Constitution is so significant is that Saturn can be said to representthe crystallization of the "will to live as a nation" which wasproclaimed to the whole world in July 1776 by the leaders of the unitedColonies. If the new-born organism fails to breathe and to proclaim itswill to live in a "first cry," it remains still-born; but the weeksafter this cry are crucial in many ways. Saturn in the Tenth House fitsperfectly the basic structure of the American governmental system inwhich the Executive has powers unparalleled in other democraticnations, and the Constitution is the object of an extraordinary worship, also unparalleled anywhere except perhaps in FundamentalistChurches or in Islam. The usually publicized United States chart withGemini 7º to 9º Ascendant has the Moon in the Tenth House; buthave we had a woman President, and how long did it take for women eventhe vote or to be given equal civic and business rights with men? Of course, the Moon in a mundane chart is said to refer also to"the people"; but American democracy certainly was not meant by theAmerican "Fathers" to be a popular democracy, and it assuredly is notthat today when the real rulers are various kinds of national groupsand organizations, especially the Pentagon and the famous industrial-military complex. Again we have only to compare ourgovernmental system with that of other Western democracies, France's,for instance, where the direct plebiscite has been used effectively. Moreover is it not logical to find Libra at the Midheaven of thechart of a people which was a Federation of ideally cooperative Statesand which so self-consciously tried to "balance" the powers of thethree main branches of the government? An Aquarian Midheaven, ofcourse, may seem very satisfying to people haunted with the dream of anAquarian Age, but I doubt that this dream was in the mind of theColonists in 1776, while the need to build a strong and concrete senseof collective interests and communal values, distinct from those of theEuropean past, was undoubtedly the main driving force.The basic grouping of planets in the July 4, 1776 sky was in the signssurrounding the summer solstice, i.e., Gemini and Cancer. It istherefore important to see where this summer solstice point falls in achart symbolizing the individuality and will-to-live-as-a-nation of theAmerican people. One can evidently make a good point for placing thesix Gemini-Cancer planets below the Ascendant; but if one triesobjectively to evaluate what is most characteristic in the Americanpeople it is not really a Gemini type of intellect (Ascendant) butrather a very, strong Sagittarian stress on the Puritan religioustradition and equally strong sense of self-righteousness, combined witha deep feeling for fellowship and social functions. Sagittarius is alsorelated to sports, long journeys, and a legalistic mentality —whether one follows or tries to evade the laws! And, if one speaks interms of symbolism long-legged Uncle Sam surely looks like a typicalSagittarian. Perhaps more obvious still is the fact that the four planets inthe Seventh House (Gemini-Cancer)symbolize perfectly a society in whichcontractual agreements, installment buying, litigations, marriages anddivorces have reached an unparalleled importance. Let us not forgetthat the Seventh House is the house of wars and divorces as well as ofalliances and peaceful relationships. And the presence of Mars above theDescendant in this Seventh House fits very well all the openinterpersonal conflicts and the vast conjugal problems so prevalent inAmerica. It is often said that Mars cannot be in the Seventh House becauseAmerica "never lost a war." This in my opinion does not make sense;because Mars is in a house does not mean that one should experiencelosses in the affairs related to that house. Mars means activity, andoften stressful activity, but it can be a very profitable type ofactivity. The United States' global power and enormous wealth today hasbeen the direct — and not too moral — result of the two World Wars, during which big business made fantastic profits at the expense ofother nations and of the war effort at home. It is true that ourcountry also loaned, gave or lost huge amounts of money during andafter these wars, but this simply made business power and prosperity athome greater than ever. There is an imperialism of business as well as a cruderimperialism of naked political power. And this big business imperialismis well shown in the place of Pluto in the house of money. Plutoretrograde opposes Mercury retrograde in the Eighth House, the housewhich deals with the fruits of contracts and cooperation — thus with the general business involving the people as a whole. Thisopposition is the only one in the chart, and it therefore should begiven a focal meaning. Indeed the over-all planetary pattern of thisAmerican chart belongs to a see-saw type, at least since the discoveryPluto. There is a basic balancing of planets located within a broadtrine of Uranus to Saturn, and the two winter-signs planets, Pluto andthe Moon. At the time of the War of Independence there were no businesstrusts or the modern type of organization often associated with Pluto;yet there was slavery. It was the power of slave owners who made itimpossible to introduce an anti-slavery clause in the Constitution, inspite of Jefferson's efforts. The Pluto factor was still only behindthe stage; but it led to the Civil War, to the obstructionist policiesof Southern Democrats at crucial times, and to our most criticalpresent situation, particularly with regard to the big cities. As weshall see presently, all the Pluto problems are coming to a head around1972, and one may wonder what might happen and exactly what de factotype of government might develop afterward. [see Rudhyar's 1974 bookThe Astrology of America's Destiny<http://www.khaldea.com/rudhyar/aad/aad_frontispiece.shtml> for anupdate and for material on the Watergate Crisis of 1972-73.] The position of the Moon at the cusp of the Third House is verylogical and instructive; for, if the Moon refers to the "commonpeople," where could it be better found than in the field of shortjourneys, constant eagerness for new experiences and sensations, and intellectual-analytical technology aiming at the control of theenvironment? The Moon in this Sagittarius-rising chart forms a trinewith the mid-point of the pair, Mars and Venus. We can link this aspectwith the tremendous development of interpersonal contacts through theuse of commonly owned cars, to the traveling habits of relativelywell-to-do youth in search of adventures and love, and to a facile useof the mind which leads to the popularization of great ideas and books,and — to the characteristic phrase "that he who runs may read."The planetary emphasis on the sign Cancer adds to the fact that themost expansive triple conjunction of Venus, Jupiter and the Sun occursin the house of relationships. Optimism is the prevalent mood, andoften the refusal to face the real facts of a situation. However, the Sun squares Saturn in the Tenth House, and this can lead to deflation. Interestingly enough quite a number of Presidents have had a discordantaspect of the Sun and Saturn in their birth-charts — which may beanother indication that Saturn should indeed be in the Tenth House,that house of the executive. The square of Mars in the Seventh House to Neptune in the NinthHouse has a very special significance at this time of unending war inVietnam — a war which many people consider highly "Neptunian" inthat it seems based on misconceptions and a good deal of deceit. In anycase, the position of Neptune in the Ninth House, which deals withforeign adventures and diplomacy, is certainly justified consideringthe awkwardness and confused inadequacy of not only our government'sforeign policy, but also of the approach of the American people ingeneral when dealing with foreigners and big international issues. A great deal of idealism has evidently been displayed, but in a ratherineffectual manner. The trine of Neptune to Pluto is also aninteresting phenomenon in this respect. It could be linked with thehuge investments of American big business in foreign countries. One of the most significant planetary positions in theSagittarius rising chart is that of Uranus. If there is a house in whichUranus, symbol of radical change and transformation, should be in theAmerican chart, it is certainly the house of labor and of health-care,the Sixth House. Not to see that is really to refuse to accept the mostobvious facts, for Americans, more than any people in the world, havetotally transformed the techniques of work an conditions of thelaboring classes — mass production, the development of laborunions, etc. America has, moreover, been a fertile field for thediscovery of new methods of healing — osteopathy, chiropractice, andall kinds of "spiritual healing" since the beginning of ChristianScience. The Sixth House is also the house which deals with thenational services — and the Army and the Air Force have brought toAmerica and to the world many new departures, including, of course, theuse of the atom bomb made of enriched uranium. To the astrologers who would insist that Uranus should be risingin a U.S. birth-chart, because the American people themselves havemanifested such a readiness and eagerness to devise new ways of living,and accept radical innovations, I would simply answer that this Uraniancharacter, which is evident enough, can be accounted for far better bythe fact that the Ascendant at Sagittarius 13º is exactly on theSouth Node of Uranus. This is a fact which is usually not given enoughimportance, because people do not really understand what the planets'nodes signify; thus a few words have now to be said concerning thesenodes.The planets' nodes represent the line of intersection of the planes ofa planet's orbit and of the plane of the earth's orbit, the ecliptic.The planes formed by the orbital revolutions of the planets are atvarious angles to one another, as seen from the Sun. They thereforeintersect. The lines of intersection of the orbital plane of any planetand the ecliptic (i.e., the earth's orbital plane) can be considered as an astrological indicator of the most basic relationship between thatplanet and the earth-as-a-whole. It is this relationship which isrepresented by the nodes of a planet. The north node and south nodemust always be considered together; they form an axis, just as theAscendant and the Descendant — the two "ends" of the birth horizon— form an axis. When the nodal axis of a planet coincides, in zodiacal longitude, with the natal horizon of a person - or also thenatal meridian (zenith-nadir line) — this person is stronglyaffected by the typical quality of that planet. The person is more deeply, more compulsively affected than if theplanet itself were rising (or setting). In the latter case the effectrefers more to conscious and perhaps deliberate actions or events, butwhen the planets' nodes coincide with the Ascendant of an individual,this individual becomes, by his very presence, an "agent" of theplanet. In the case of the Uranus nodes, the individual almostinevitably brings change and challenges to transformation wherever helives — whether he intends to do so or not. The "influence" of theplanet acts at the very roots of the individuality, in a more or lessinstinctive manner. Thus the American people have acted in the world asa Uranian force. This force has been released particularly in terms of the house of labor and health because of the planet's position in thathouse. One more point with respect to Uranus in relation to this Americanpeople's chart: astrologers often have remarked that each time thatUranus returned to its natal place — which they assume to bepractically on the Gemini Ascendant of the more well-known chart —the United States experienced a war: the War of Independence, the CivilWar and World War II. There have been other wars also, even if lessimportant; but the point that is so conveniently but forgotten is thatthe house of war is the Seventh House! Therefore, this tends to provethe validity of a Sagittarius Ascendant.Let me repeat here that such a chart should not be considered as abasis for determining external events, for it refers to the state ofconsciousness and the individuality of the American people and notprimarily to what happens to the Government or the institutions of the State. Obviously crucial historical events and political moves will havetheir reflection in, and often be caused by, changes in the collectivementality and the emotional mood of the American people; but thesechanges need not coincide precisely with the events. What is importantis the relationship which the changes have with the overall pattern ofdevelopment of the collective destiny (and individuality) of theAmerican people as a whole. The passage of important planets over the angles and prominentplanets of the chart have proven to be quite significant in that sense.When Neptune moved over the Sagittarius Ascendant in 1812, the War withGreat Britain began; which, by the way, was certainly not aparticularly victorious war and brought a good deal of popular uncertainty. When Neptune crossed the nadir point of the chart, theCivil War was raging. It reached the Descendant in 1895-96, very soonfollowed by Pluto, and the Cuban situation developed which led to theSpanish-American war. Neptune had been transiting the American Moonduring the 1846-48 War with Mexico. This was also the Gold Rush period. Uranus moved over the American Ascendant in 1817 while theSeminole war went on, and the concern with the West took clearer forms.The conjunction of Uranus and Neptune at Capricorn 3º in oppositionto natal Venus (1821) and later their oppositions to the other Cancer planets in the chart increasingly stressed the problem of slavery andthe relationship of the U.S. with other nations (the Monroe Doctrine).When the Morse telegraph was successfully tried out in 1844, Uranus wasat the nadir point of the chart. This development became essential forthe eventual unification of the vast country. As the remotest planetsmoved through the lower hemisphere of the chart, the process ofbuilding the country went on; when Uranus crossed the Descendant theCivil War began, with Neptune at the cusp of the Fourth House. The passage of Uranus over the Midheaven occurred in 1885 withGrover Cleveland as President. This was a time of labor unrest which led to the formation of the American Federation of Labor. We haverecently experienced a recurrence of this transit in the fall of 1968and through 1969, with Jupiter in conjunction with Uranus. This markedthe election of Nixon to the Presidency. The interesting thing aboutthis last transit is that it may be construed as a kind of prelude tothe passage of Pluto over the same degree of Libra on September 30,1972 just before the Presidential Elections. We may also relate thesetwo transits to that of Neptune which I have already connected with thedevelopment of the atom bomb (October 4, 1943 to August 2, 1944) andsuch events of World War II as the Normandy landing. The Pluto transit, as usual, will be repeated three times, thelast time on July 23, 1973, almost exactly 28 years after the firstexplosion of the atom bomb in New Mexico. I might add that there willbe also a conjunction of Mars and Pluto on October 4, 1972 in square toJupiter in Capricorn and a conjunction of Mercury and Uranus on October2nd at Libra 18º05', while Saturn will have moved into the Seventh House of the American people's chart during the preceding June and willbe stationary at Gemini 13º38' February 14,1973. These last-mentioned transits in themselves may not be tooimportant, but because there has been a strong conjunction of Uranusand Pluto in 1965-66 which can be related to the start of some verysignificant youth protests and rioting in Black communities, the timesat which these two planets reach the Midheaven should be considered rather crucial, especially as they coincide with two PresidentialElections. Uranus stirs up action and protest or revolt; and whatUranus begins, Pluto is likely to deepen and make final becauseirreversible, at least for quite a long time. Pluto is now moving fast and coming closer to the Sun than Neptune. It symbolically pierces through the sphere of Neptune, in asense fecundating it, but also tending to make many illusions andUtopian dreams collapse. But all this is further emphasized by the factthat, also in 1972, the progressed Sun of the American chart isreaching the natal Pluto. Pluto was "retrograde" on July 4, 1776; butthe progressed Pluto, now "direct," is at about Capricorn 27º50',having reached its "stationary direct" position around the time theKorean war began. If Pluto is transiting the Midheaven of a chart whose progressedSun is at the same time reaching a conjunction with the natal Pluto,this indeed emphasizes very strongly this Pluto factor. As the natalPluto is in the Second House of the American people's chart, the factorsof wealth, possessions, and even innate characteristics inherited fromthe past, are stressed. The Saturn transit early in the Seventh Housedoes not lighten the situation, especially if one remembers whathappened in the spring of 1943 and though 1944, the last time Saturntransited this section of the zodiac; and the time before was in 1913,the Balkan prelude to World War I. Yet, it would be very unwise to jump to the conclusion that wecan expect a new global war in 1972 or 1973, for what is at stake isnot primarily what happens outwardly in the form of events, but acollective state of consciousness. A variety of public events affectingthis state of consciousness may trigger the Plutonian process. WhenPluto moved across the Descendant of the American chart, PresidentMcKinley was nominated, then elected. The Spanish-American War, it is true, occurred in 1898 under this repeated transit; and later on Plutotransited the American natal Mars during the Russo-Japanese War.However, what is important to consider here is the fact that during theMcKinley and Theodore Roosevelt period, the American upper class wasdeveloping a policy of world expansion, Transiting Pluto reached the natal Sun of the American people'schart in 1925-26, after having stimulated Venus and Jupiter in that chart during World War I; but here again the basic fact is thetremendous increase in economic and political power this war brought toAmerica, and the deep-seated restlessness which followed the War's end— the so-called Jazz Age and the rise of gangsterism as the directresult of Prohibition. And apparently we have not learnt the lesson ofProhibition, for the same pattern is being repeated, with perhaps worseresults, with marijuana instead of alcohol. In both cases thecollective mind of a large portion of the American people — todaymostly, but certainly not only, the youth — is being distorted bythe paternalistic and Puritan concept of a large scale prohibition. Thus we see that Pluto moved, by transit, from the Descendant tothe Midheaven of the American chart during the period 1897 to 1972. Itseems to be evident that what we are facing is the culmination of thefantastic expansion process which took place in the U.S. during these75 years. The conjunction of the progressed Sun of the chart with thenatal Pluto in 1972-73 indicates that collectively we have reached apoint in the evolution of the American consciousness when we have todecide once and for all what we will do with the Plutonian factor in ourmidst. Let us hope that the decision will not be imposed upon us by anoutside power.http://khaldea.com/rudhyar/astroarticles/riddleusahoroscope.shtml