Astrologers
have been predicting since the dawn of time. Their observations of the
skies enabled them to foretell the seasonal floods that made the development
of agriculture possible. This basic understanding of natural cycles
and rhythms gave rise to the civilizations on which our modern world
is based.
Today's
astrologers are focusing more on understanding individuals' potentials
than on absolute events, reflecting our choice-based times. Individual
choice, however, is less obvious when it comes to collective cycles
affecting the world at large. Attention to the major planetary trends
for 2001 is a useful way to preview the opportunities and challenges
of the year ahead and to give meaning to these events.
Perhaps
the most significant astrological pattern of 2001 is the series of oppositions
between Saturn and Pluto that start in August and end the following
May. A lineup of this formidable pair symbolizes the need to reallocate
resources in the face of limitations. Such contraction can lead to reducing
waste, which can also benefit the environment. On a personal level,
the challenge is to focus on priorities and recognize which old structures
and activities need to be transformed or eliminated to achieve your
goals. The greatest fears are really about losing what you no longer
need. Attention on the present makes it much easier to step out of the
past.
Thanks
to all of the astrologers who have contributed their ideas here. And,
thanks to all of you for being curious enough to help shape the future
and make this a better world for everyone. Happy New Year.
From January
1 through approximately April 19, Saturn and Uranus form a 90 degree
aspect to one another. This angle always points to the need for conflict
resolution. The rhythm denoted by the astrological skies as we enter
2001 will likely show the Bush administration trying to please, and
probably running throughout the political spectrum in search of support.
President
Bush will be politicking harder than he did to get elected
to get the support he needs to be successful from Congress and the nation.
Saturn is conservative, while Uranus is typically progressive. Right
after the inauguration in January, the clash between rival factions
to influence the Bush administration will be a hot one. The president
may distance himself just enough from the right wing to assure everyone
he is a fair person.
With red-hot
Mars and romantic Venus making wonderfully harmonious trine aspects
an unheard-of four times in 2001, there will be high-profile marriages
and affairs that completely upset the apple cart. The date to watch
for is around March 19, with ramifications well on into June. A headstrong
lady throws aside convention for a passionate romance with a foreigner.
Tremors are felt in high society as a love child upsets moral conventions.
It's a happy first half of the year.
During
2001, the U.S. Uranus will also be "hit" by transiting Saturn and Jupiter.
This combination of the slower-moving, outermost planets can be counted
on to coincide with bullheaded opinions, a protracted bear market in
stocks and a growing rift between conservatives and liberals.
Do our
legislators serve the people or their campaign contributors? That question
may come to public attention during the year 2001. Pluto dredges up
corruption and brings improvements, but change occurs so slowly it's
hardly noticed until later. The decade-long process of change (Pluto)
we're embarking on will be punctuated by explosive and unprecedented
surprises (Uranus).
The Jupiter-Pluto
opposition will be with us right through May of 2001, bringing issues
of justice and injustice to grand proportions. Then, from July onward,
Saturn will take its place in the zodiac, making its first opposition
of a series with Pluto on August 5. It is the culmination of the current
Saturn-Pluto cycle, which started in November 1982 with the conjunction
then at 27 Libra, semi-square to the Saturn-Pluto opposition of 2001.
Pluto-Saturn
works on the level of inner truth. It changes reality, it brings us
to the core of matters, it is deeply, deeply serious. Saturn and Pluto
in opposition in the signs of Gemini and Sagittarius may have to do
with idle words versus truth.
Our belief
systems (our trust in the law even?) and the power of our thinking influence
the world to the greatest extent. "Positive thinking" and convincing
others is a phenomenon belonging to Jupiter-Pluto, but convincing others
won't work any longer with Saturn-Pluto. Saturn-Pluto will probably
ask to convince yourself instead, to do away with idle words and trying
to control matters, and eliminate systems on the outside that are coming
to quite an extreme right now.
All those
issues, which will show loss of control as the year progresses into
the second half of 2001, may in reality ask to change our deep-seated
beliefs of what we can and what we cannot control. What we can control
is our inner mind, but not our environment. All things that "fail" may
in fact mean success on quite another level—success in all things true
to you.
Saturn-Pluto
is a magical quality if we dare to open ourselves to this level. Outer
morality will change into matters of inner conscience. The more we align
with our inner conscience, the better we will benefit from this opposition
in the second half of 2001 and onward.
There is
much to be said about the ancient method of predicting a nation’s future
via the chart of its ruler. Since 1993, the
United States reaped the good fortune contained in William
Jefferson Clinton’s chart, which has Jupiter in his money
sector exactly on the luckiest star in the sky, Spica. Result: the longest
running economic boom in U. S. history. As of January 20, Americans
will become subject to the chart of George W. Bush. The sad fact of
the matter is that the 43rd president-elect’s chart is just not as lucky
as President Clinton’s. In many ways, it is as if we have been in a
very happy dream and we are about to wake up to the realities of the
late 70s, with gas and utilities going through the roof as instability
in the Middle East continues.
The year
2000 ends with a partial solar
eclipse on Christmas Day. Comparing the year 2000 Christmas
eclipse to the U.S. Gemini-rising chart, I would make the following
predictions for 2001.
The eclipse
takes place in the U.S. natal Eighth House, suggesting that the nation's
economy will dominate the news during the coming year. With the eclipse
chart's Sun, Moon and Mercury all opposing the natal U.S. Venus and
Jupiter in the Second House of money, we can expect a significant economic
downturn, most likely a recession within the first six months of 2001.
The Eighth
is also the house of death. With the eclipse chart Midheaven for Washington,
D.C. in the Eighth House and the eclipse chart Saturn in the nation's
Twelfth House of loss and sorrow, there is a likelihood of the death
of an important national figure and a period of national mourning in
2001. In the Astro*Carto*Graphy map of the eclipse, the Saturn, Neptune
and Uranus lines pass through the West coast, suggesting that someone
in that region (perhaps former president Reagan)
may pass on during the coming year.
Mars
in the eclipse chart falls on the U.S. Part of Fortune. Because Mars
is associated with the natal U.S. Sixth and Eleventh houses, we can
expect breakthroughs in medicine and positive developments in our relationships
with our allies. It is quite likely that there will be significant advances
in curing or treating a major illness (perhaps AIDS or Alzheimer's disease)
during 2001.
Finally,
the eclipse chart Uranus at the top of the U.S. natal chart and eclipse
Pluto in the Seventh House of the electorate sextiling the U.S. Midheaven,
suggest that the upheaval seen in the November 7 presidential voting
irregularities will continue to play a prominent role in national politics
for much of 2001. Pluto is a planet of transformation, and I would expect
political action to reform how voting is done in the U.S. during the
year 2001.
Pluto opposes
Saturn in the signs of Sagittarius and Gemini, representing the fields
of transportation and communication. As Pluto is the planet of reform,
and Saturn the planet of law, government, and big business, I suspect
we could see a rather nasty conflict between parties that want to clean
up the environment. One side wants to come down hard on transportation
(and manufacturing) companies that pollute the air, and the other side
is concerned about the terrible economic effects this might have. Neither
side is likely to be in the mood for compromise —that's just not
the nature of Saturn and Pluto. Both believe they are right, and will
argue (Gemini) to the death (Pluto) to stand up for their principles.
This is especially so with Pluto in Sagittarius, which usually isn't
too tolerant of other points of view, and tends to take a rather zealous,
religious, and/or moral stand on the issue.
Raymond Merriman writes Market Week for StarIQ. Additional financial forecasting services from Ray will be available in the Shop@StarIQ in January.
In Chinese
astrology, the metal snake year begins on January 24, 2001. Until February
11, 2002, patience is key. Unlike the tempestuous metal dragon year
2000, there’s a new, seething, quality on the rise. Think before you
step and calculate before you invest time, energy, emotion, reputation
or money into any project. An air of civility
replaces 2000’s flamboyant displays. However, the calm is only on the
surface. A torrent of passive aggression brews underneath. Hard work
keeps you afloat. Playtime is over for a year. Keep vacations and celebrations
to a minimum.
Arlene
Marcia Nimark
G.W. Bush’s
inauguration is on the nodal opposition to Richard M. Nixon’s inauguration.
The North Nodes of both inaugurations fall
in both of their Sun signs, plus the transiting Nodes for both square
the U.S. Saturn. What makes this so bad for Bush is that his Moon is
there as well, and he is a Cancer. There is a lack of trust that will
stalk him and prevent him from truly bonding with his newly-elected
office. The issue of the Florida vote count will not go away. We may
begin to hear more rumbling in that area come February, beginning with
the Mercury retrograde, then direct on the cardinal axis. Then in March,
we will have Venus retrograde squaring G.W.’s
Moon, and Pluto station retrograde on the antiscia of his Sun and Moon
midpoint. The hidden forces will be at work. He will not know who his
friends or enemies are.
Saturn
is retrograde in the sign of Taurus for the first few months of 2001,
and still slowing the economy down. Once it is direct in late January,
the economy should pick up, although slowly. Saturn enters Gemini in
early May and at this time there may be restrictions placed on communication,
like the Internet and email (big brother is listening, what you say
now will be held against you), transportation and air
emissions by government and corporations.
The areas
of the economy that will do well under the rulership of Saturn in Gemini
are government bonds and companies dealing with the elderly in production
of hearing aids and other ways for the elderly to travel and communicate.
Those companies
that have not been going by the rules will
be brought to task around the time of the Mars-Pluto conjunction in
March 2001, when Pluto is stationary retrograde. As Pluto goes retrograde,
the price of oil stocks will fall. Some companies
may even face criminal charges.
Saturn
in Gemini also rules the air we breathe, so
companies selling products to reduce air emissions
and waste will do well. Governments will be pushing strongly for more
stringent rules for companies to deal with
air quality, as the climate changes more drastically
and governments are made to pay up in disaster funds.
One of
the more interesting weather patterns is likely to occur in the first
ten days of July. This cycle produces stronger-than-average winds and,
more than likely, cooler weather in the northern United States. Generally,
erratic jet stream shifts exceed weather norms, creating unusual storms
worldwide. (Saturn square the perihelion of Mars July 8–9.)
A high
degree of political strife occurs between early May (Jupiter opposite
Pluto on May 6) and early August (Saturn opposite Pluto on August 5).
During this time, political wrongdoing and corruption are likely to
be revealed. Expect that a call for official impeachments, trials and
investigations will surface. Particularly, residue from the 2000 election
more than likely bubbles up for final disposition.
A serious
effort at education reform could start in the above cycle. And the obvious
election system reform gets underway.
From May
17–May 28, a strong cycle of moral disruption occurs. This trend reveals
leaders who have fallen from grace in one form or another. These leaders
could be political, religious and, to a lesser degree, sports icons.
This scandal time will cause the outrage over the last administration
to pale by comparison. This era shakes the belief system and foundation
of the politically correct, moral and righteous. (Jupiter to black holes
and anomalistic pulsars.)
There will
be brilliant invention cycles in mid-February and late June, most likely
affecting high-tech and aviation. (Chiron and Jupiter to Galactic Center.)
During
George “Dubya” Bush's term in office, there may well be military action
along his Mars-Midheaven line, in Afghanistan and Pakistan.
We
are all aware of the ongoing human rights violations by the Taliban
in Afghanistan, and their continued protection of terrorist chief Osama
Bin Laden. We tend to be less familiar with the dangers to Western interests
in Pakistan, a Muslim nation with a military government, nuclear weapons,
strong fundamentalist movements, internal sectarian and ethnic conflict,
huge numbers of Afghan refugees and lots of guns. For some years now,
the Pakistani port and metropolis of Karachi has been unsafe for Westerners,
as well as for its own residents.
During
Dubya's term in office, in response to anti-American violence, he may
judge it necessary to threaten or even use force in either Afghanistan
or Pakistan or both. Given the transits of Saturn and Neptune to Dubya's
Mars, I would expect these countries to become a focus of his attention
no later than the last week of June 2001—and then again starting in
mid-December, and on into the following year.
The United
States will see some difficult times ahead as Pluto continues to transit
the U.S. Ascendant (in the Sagittarius-rising U.S. chart) and Saturn
opposes it in August. The last time Saturn opposed Pluto (in 1965),
we had the Vietnam War with student demonstrations, Martin Luther King’s
march from Selma to Montgomery and the shooting of Malcolm X.
In 2001,
we also have the eclipse on July 5 opposite the U.S. Sun, and President-elect
George W. Bush’s Sun as well. Add to this Mars conjunct Pluto on March
18, Mars retrograding at 29 degrees Sagittarius on May 11 and the hornets
nest that was opened in Florida with disenfranchised voters, and the
picture is not rosy.
Because
of the infrequent, if rhythmic, Mars retrograde cycle, Mars will remain
within only 15 degrees of Sagittarius for half the year (covering the
whole sign in seven months). This phenomenon brings international affairs
and global concerns to an extremely volatile place by mid-March and
plays out through mid-September.
In the
U.S., it marks an unstable and highly insecure political structure,
which affects the financial spectrum of America. Relations with the
rest of the world will have degenerated, and the U.S. finds itself in
the unique position of not being seen as the superpower it has been
since the end of World War II.
Revolution
is the norm this year, both intellectual and social. It’s time to watch
the interplay between the old and the new (Jupiter and Saturn) while
they encounter unseen forces (Pluto) and explode into the collective
with the intent of pushing the world to the necessary changes in ways
of relating.Remember, "chaos is the genesis of all things.”
There are
three new primary phenomena affecting world events and global markets
in 2001:
