Golden Opportunities
Part Two
by E. Alan Meece
As as you read this the events of early 1997 are unfolding. Jupiter has
now joined the Uranus-Neptune conjunction, just as Saturn did in 1989,
which means that its significance for humanity is being magnified. Will
there be more liberating revolutions as in 1989, or just the usual stories
in the headlines about crime and terrorism? Will there be wars or breakthroughs
for peace? All these things are possible now.
1997 could be the jumping-off point for our new renaissance. With the
bouyant Jupiter bringing the imaginative, far-away currents of Uranus
and Neptune closer to earth, our vision could be expanding to see long-term
goals. Renaissance projects could begin in sacred sites around the world;
new earthworks or temples to the goddess or the Great Spirit within One
Humanity could begin, and new networks and foundations may be starting
to help and encourage today’s visionary artists and musicians. Liberation
is in the air as peoples around the world who still live under oppression
rise up, bouyed by a new "Marseillaise" spirit and creative
energy.
Some initiative could come from Washington, because many of the charts
for this Spring put the conjunctions on the Midheaven there. This will
not be as easy as I hoped, since although Clinton was re-elected (as I
predicted 2 years ago) he did not carry a Democratic Congress with him.
Cynical longings for lost "securities" of yesterday still reign
in America, and we could well continue to spin our wheels until the nation
itself breaks apart in the mid-2020s. For as long as "liberal"
and "new age" continue to be dirty words, and progressive ideas
in general continue to be frowned upon and ignored, we cannot possibly
move very far forward. Still, in the first months of the new term, some
major "achievements" could be made that put the nation on an
optimistic course this year and help foster the atmosphere of revival
that could be sweeping the world at large.
It is important to emphasize that what we are seeing in the cosmos this
month is not just a conjunction of Jupiter with Uranus, but also a conjunction
of Jupiter with Neptune (the date of this exact alignment is January 9,
1997). It is in fact a triple conjunction of the three planets; thus its
great significance. What’s more, with Pluto, Saturn and Mars forming
supportive sextile and trines to this triple conjunction, it is a planetary
figure that may be unique in our lifetimes. Astrologer Jim Fournier has
been pointing out that on the Full Moon of January 23, a 6-pointed star
(including the Ascendant) forms at the time that early Gemini rises that
day at any location. Thus we see a double golden triangle that signifies
our golden opportunities for 1997. A global meditation will be held this
date, focusing on our emerging global "noospheric" consciousness,
and this event may indeed be a catalyst for this new "renaissance"
spirit I have forecast if it is followed by further visionary activities
in the coming months. Indeed Mars, Saturn and Pluto supporting this alignment
of three visionary planets emphasizes that we can take real constructive
action that makes our expanding consciousness visible in concrete ways.
Our feelings of alienation and pessimism stem only from the fact that
we do not know our purpose on Earth and can see ahead only more of the
same boring routines. But we DO have a purpose: to create a new civilization
and golden age on Earth by nourishing and participating in those creative
trends that have been emerging over the last few decades. Every other
civilization has sought to orient itself to the cosmos so that it could
make itself the reflection of its order here on Earth. A hundred years
of destruction through industry and war has left us as lost souls wandering
aimlessly in a society dedicated only to economic survival and technological
convenience, but we are due now to wake up and remember this purpose once
again. Our horizons are widening for us, for since the end of the Cold
War the "aggressors" are no longer threatening to come over
that horizon to get us. Therefore the long reign of fear and terror has
ended (although Reagan’s former Defense minister Caspar Weinberger
is still out there trying to keep the fear alive).
As we glimpse back in history, we can get some more specific ideas of
what the conjunctions might be bringing now. We need to look at both Jupiter-Uranus
and Jupiter-Neptune conjunctions (for both are equally significant, historically),
as well as the last time all three planets were together. That occured
in 1817 in Sagittarius, when a great throng of German student activists
celebrated the anniversaries of Martin Luther’s Reformation and the
victory over Napoleon, taking the opportunity to protest their own oppressive
conditions in Germany. It was a great, bouyant awakening of political
spirit, and we could very well be seeing such an event somewhere today
(already visible in Serbia). Keep in mind, though, that in the short term
this celebration in 1817 led only to more oppression and terror in the
coming years-- something we could see again after August 1999.
Although not always positive (since we are still human), no planetary
conjunction has had a more benevolent significance than Jupiter-Neptune.
Taking a look first at this Jupiter-Neptune combination through history,
we see that it coincided with the start of Joseph II’s reign in Austria
in 1780, the greatest and most daring of the "enlightened despots"
of the 18th Century, anticipating much of the French revolutionary program.
When the planets next met in 1792, the courageous citizens of France rose
up with bouyant, revolutionary patriotism, singing the "Marseillaise"
for the first time (now the French national anthem) as they held back
the royal invaders seeking to overthrow their new Republic. Napoleon became
the last "enlightened despot" during the following conjunction
(crowned in December 1804), and then promptly aroused his people to "defend"
against the foreign tyrants again as he went off to battle them in 1805.
In late 1830 during another Jupiter-Neptune conjunction the people of
many European countries rose up again against their tyrants. This conjunction
was also in effect during the great Pullman Strike of 1894 that rallied
the world-wide cause of labor. Under the conjunction of 1958 Castro brought
his own spirit of socialist "liberation" to Cuba that still
inspires rebels in Latin America today. Thus Jupiter-Neptune has often
served to arouse the bouyant spirit of the masses of people to action,
and we could look forward to this again in 1997.
Jupiter-Neptune also has an unmatched record of reigning over human efforts
to bring peace to the world. When Tsar Alexander II ascended the throne
under the conjunction of March, his first act was to settle the miserable
Crimean War that his predecessor had been waging with France, England
and Turkey. German Chancellor Bismarck put together his international
security system under the conjunction of 1881, concluding a treaty with
Russia on the exact day of this planetary alignment on June 18. In 1907
leaders met under Jupiter-Neptune at the first world disarmament conference
at The Hague, which paved the way for the League of Nations in 1920 under
the next conjunction. Although the League fell apart because the U.S.
Congress failed to support it, under a later Jupiter-Neptune conjunction
in 1945 it became the model for today’s United Nations founded that
year. In 1971 a great breakthrough for peace occured when detente between
the U.S. and the Communist powers brought a "generation of peace"
(as President Nixon described it). In 1984 a dangerous crisis with Syria
was averted when Jesse Jackson negotiated the release of an American captive.
Benevolence and reform are also legacies of Jupiter-Neptune. Besides in
enlightened despotism and the French Revolution, we saw this when the
new Tsar announced in 1856 a reform program that led to the emancipation
of the serfs, and when Bismarck (simultaneously with his new security
system) propounded the first social insurance system in history. The U.S.
Civil Service was created following Garfield’s assassination the
same year. These events in turn inspired the great New Deal reforms that
came under the Jupiter-Neptune conjunction that reigned in early 1933.
In 1958 DeGaulle aroused a new "Marseillaise" spirit in France
where the new 5th Republic was created. Perhaps most telling and inspiring
of all is what happened during the previous alignment in 1984. At that
time the horrific famines in Africa inspired great musicians around the
world to sponsor massive concerts to raise funds for relief. Over the
next several years many such events occured, culminating in the worldwide
"harmonic convergence." Perhaps these events encapsulate most
clearly the benevolent potential of Jupiter-Neptune to arouse the people
to act together to help one another and bring true peace and well-being
to the world. It is time now for world "new age" and creative
leaders to mobilize the people in this way again to create bridges of
harmony and "hands across the world."
The significance of Jupiter-Uranus has frequently been felt in a more
striking and explosive way than Jupiter-Neptune. It frequently (but by
no means always) brings important and constructive reforms and revolutions.
This conjunction was in effect in 1776 just before the Declaration of
Independence (coinciding with publication of Paine’s Common Sense),
and returned in 1789 for the outbreak of the French Revolution and the
massive set of reforms that followed the Fall of the Bastille. Revolution
almost toppled the venerable British monarchy in early 1831, but this
was averted by the Great Reform Bill introduced during the exact conjunction
in March. The Bill brought the first advance toward real democracy to
the island. In June 1872 a strike achieved the 8-hour day in New York,
and a wave of strikes in 1886 under the Jupiter-Uranus conjunction in
Libra that year culminated in the Haymarket Square riot in Chicago. Its
leaders were tried and hanged in the first "Chicago 8" trial.
The Spring of 1914 saw important reforms in Wilson’s "new freedom,"
such as the Clayton Anti-Trust Act and the Federal Trade Commission. As
Jupiter joined Uranus and Pluto in the late 1960s the spirit of a new
revolution had profound effects-- such as the first anti-pollution laws,
and the first successful attempt by the people of America to stop a foreign
war (Vietnam). The "Woodstock Nation" first met under Jupiter-Uranus
in Libra in 1969, showing in almost miraculous fashion the human potential
for utopian community through music. But more riots in Chicago at the
Democratic Convention in 1968 led to another infamous "Chicago 8"
trial, in which anti-war leaders were blamed for the riots. All these
precedents indicate that under Jupiter-Uranus in 1997 the spirit of reform
and change will be alive and well in the world, and that it could take
constructive (but also explosive) directions that rattle the nerves and
pockets of those in power.
Another striking historical pattern of Jupiter-Uranus is its coincidence
with technical breakthroughs (Uranus) that bridge long distances (Jupiter)
and make the world and the universe smaller. Exactly during the conjunction
of April 1844, Morse sent the first message "What hath God Wrought"
over the first telegraph, and the railroad boom was sweeping Britain.
Under the next conjunction in May 1858 the first trans-Atlantic cable
was laid. In July 1927 Lindburgh ("the Lone Eagle") dazzled
the world by making the first solo flight across the Atlantic as Jupiter
joined Uranus at 0 Aries. When Jupiter joined Uranus at 0 Libra (the opposing
point), Neil Armstrong stepped out of another "Eagle" and walked
on the Moon. Jupiter was exactly aligned with Uranus on that momentous
day, July 20, 1969, and the Moon itself was aligned with it too. When
Neil Armstrong and Buzz Aldrin looked up, they saw the Earth itself at
"Midheaven" exactly over their heads.
Perhaps the other conjunction, Jupiter-Neptune, may now also signify a
new rhythm of high-tech advances. Under the conjunction of 1971, the innovators
who created today’s personal computer networks began their work at
"Zerox Park" in Palo Alto California. Their work finally bore
"fruit" (but not for Zerox) when Apple Corporation in nearby
Cupertino launched the MacIntosh during the next conjunction in January
1984. Could we be seeing another breakthough in this series in 1997, involving
the internet? (A giant new supercomputer was just announced at Intel the
last week of 1996)
We also can’t forget that Jupiter-Uranus conjunctions have figured
in the past in dangerous foreign crises and wars, such as the outbreak
of World War I in 1914 (which became a "war of liberation" that
toppled 4 empires), and Germany’s invasion of Russia in 1941. World
War Three may have been averted when the U.S. did not react to Russia’s
shooting down of a Korean Airliner under the conjunction of 1983, but
it was a tense moment (made more so by Reagan’s actions that year
in Lebanon and Greneda). We can expect rumors of wars to cloud our widening
horizons in 1997, and in this connection it is notable that it was under
Jupiter-Uranus and Jupiter-Neptune conjunctions in 1804 that the Serbs
expelled their Turkish overlords. With a new spirit of liberation now
dawning again among the Serbs, they could be the spearhead for today’s
revival and create a new "Marseillaise" this Spring; but complications
could endanger peace there by 1998-99.
Let us take advantage of all these precedents for change and benevolent
cultural revival. As Jupiter joins Neptune, and then Uranus, in early
1997, may the spirit of Woodstock, and of the "Marseillaise,"
return to lift our spirits and help us climb over the "widening horizon"
to glimse new possibilities in a more peaceful New Millennium.
Excerpted with revision from an article published in Welcome to
Planet Earth magazine,
Aquarius/Pisces 1997 issue
E. Alan Meece is author of Horoscope
for the New Millennium and The Horoscope of Humanity, and host of
Mystic Music and Mystic Musings on KKUP-FM in Cupertino/Santa Clara CA.
You can reach him by email at eameece@california.com
or visit the web site for his radio show (with many interesting links)
at:
http://www.kkup.com/ericm.html
Copyright 1996 by E. Alan Meece (Eric A. Meece);
all rights reserved. |