Each
time the nation has sunk into a great depression a grand
cross pattern has existed. This grand cross has been formed
by transiting Saturn in mid-Capricorn and another "heavy" planet in
mid-Aries, both opposite and/or square the United States’ natal Sun
square Saturn.
In
Part One, we covered how this grand cross repeated during the great
depressions of the 1780s and 1840s. In this part, we will see that
the grand cross pattern repeats with the great depressions of the
1870s and 1930s.
The
Depression of the 1870s
The
United States suffered its third great depression during the 1870s.
This time Saturn's trip through Capricorn formed a square with
Neptune in Aries to create the grand cross with The U.S. Sun and
Saturn, with Mars in Libra adding power to this most malevolent
aspect.
The
Depression of the 1930s
Sixty
years later, the U.S.A. went through what is arguably the worst
great depression of its history. I say "arguably" because
existing historic data indicates that the great depression of the 1780s
was as bad, or worse.
A
biwheel chart for January 1, 1931, near the depths of this great
depression, shows transiting Saturn at 13 degrees Capricorn square
Uranus in Aries to form the grand cross with the U.S. Sun and Saturn.
Ominously, Pluto was nearly conjunct the U.S. Sun in Cancer at this
time.
What
About the 1960s?
When
Saturn arrived in mid-Capricorn opposite the U.S. Sun in the early
1960s, there was no heavy planet squaring Saturn from mid-Aries, and
there was no great depression. Instead, the developments of the 60s
were unprecedented (Uranus) and transforming (Pluto).
The
Boom of the 1990s
Economists
who track the 30- and/or 60-year rhythm of great depressions were
sure the 1990s would send the U.S.A. into another. Dr. Ravi Batra's
book, The Great Depression of 1990, was a bestseller in the late
1980s. But this time, when Saturn moved opposite The U.S. Sun, it
was accompanied through Capricorn by Uranus and Neptune, with all
three sextile (60 degrees from) Pluto in Scorpio. There was no grand
cross, and no great depression.
Instead,
during the 1990s we have had a record run-up of stock prices
(speculative bubble), coupled with a widening gap between rich and
poor, the two conditions that have always been extant when previous
great depressions arrived.
Will
the Bubble and Gap Bring Us Another Depression?
As
we move into the new millennium, Saturn isn't due to arrive opposite
the U.S. Sun until January 2019. At that time, it won't square
another "heavy" in Aries. Thus, based on past astro-economic
correlations, we can expect to suffer no great depression during the
2020s.
However,
we are not likely to make it to 2020 without suffering something
like a combination of the 1930s and 1960s. This is because Pluto,
when it arrives opposite the U.S. Sun, will be square Uranus in
mid-Aries to form a grand cross with the U.S. Sun and Saturn.
A
Pluto-Anchored Grand Cross
What
can we expect from a grand cross anchored by Pluto instead of
Saturn? Past history of Pluto-Uranus combinations are instructive.
Pluto
was conjunct the U.S. Sun in Cancer and square transiting Uranus in
Aries during much of the great depression of the 1930s. Pluto and
Uranus were conjunct in Virgo, with both conjunct the U.S. Neptune
(which squares its natal Mars in Gemini) for that dramatic decade of
upheaval now known as the 60s.
Pluto
and Uranus in the 1750s
The
last time Pluto was in Sagittarius was the 1750s. At
the beginning of the French and Indian War, Pluto was at 12 degrees
Sagittarius (about where it is right now) and Uranus was square
Pluto at 11 degrees Pisces. This war was a major turning point,
setting off the holocaust that decimated Native Americans and
coincided with the social ferment that led to the American
Revolution.
For
a colony to rebel against its mother country was unprecedented
(Uranus) and spelled the death of old kingdoms and the birth of new
democracies (Pluto). The American Revolution virtually turned our
assumptions about governance upside down.
Pluto
and Uranus in the 1960s
The
Pluto-Uranus conjunction of the 60s changed American cultural
assumptions about race, gender, economic justice and the right of
government to induct people into the military.
It's
therefore a good bet that when Pluto and Uranus create a grand cross
with the U.S. Sun-square-Saturn in 2014, we can look for another
time of social upheaval and changing cultural assumptions. Whatever
revolutionary angst has built up the most force will manifest
(Pluto) in ways that cannot be predicted (Uranus).
Tied
to the Past
Although
the Pluto-Uranus combinations of the 1700s and 1960s moved us toward
democracy, something like an umbilical cord continued to tie us to
medieval autocracy. What had developed by the 1990s was governance
by plutocracy masked as democracy. The rich still controlled
democratically elected lawmakers.
The
Pluto-anchored grand cross of 2014 appears destined to sever the
umbilical cord to medieval autocracy and establish a purer form of
democracy. How this will come about, however, is unpredictable
(Uranus).
For
more information, see Saturn
and Great Depressions Part One
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