Those who follow the WEB from week to week know that we often come back to columns about the US of A. For many years Athena has looked to the upcoming year's transits and progressions for the nation birthed on the 4th of July, 1776 in Philadelphia, PA and reviewed what was about to happen celestially.

Fourth Fireworks

The trick is then to take the upcoming aspect, and go back with it into the past, to see if it has already happened in US history; when it happened, and what it manifested as at that time. It's like looking up the answers in the back of the book!

  It has been said that those who do not study the lessons of history are doomed to repeat them. But life is not a 'one size fits all' scenario. Not all the lessons of history may be remedied by the same answer, which is what seems to be implied by this statement. The celestial alignments help us better understand some of the underlying causes behind the history, and then we can use the historical information by grafting it onto the future.

  This year we have been watching as transiting Pluto squares the Midheaven. The Midheaven rules the executive branch; the power and authority which derives from members of the hierarchy, the government,

US History

or ruling bodies (king, queen, pharaoh, satrap and the like). With Neptune conjuncting the US Midheaven, our governmental executives take on a Neptunian flavor. This might mean they were a Pisces (Neptune rules Pisces), like George Washington; were a naval commander like Jimmy Carter, or it might mean something else altogether.

  Every now and then, while studying both the US chart and history, one reads something which perfectly captures the essence of what is attempting to be said by the national soul. In Howard Zinn's 'The Twentieth Century', this sentiment of Neptune conjuncting the US Midheaven is perfectly captured. To follow it one need only focus on Neptune as ruler of Pisces and it's relationship to Christianity, the crucifixion, surrender, the saviour and martyrdom.

Jimmy Carter

  "All those histories of this country centered on the Founding Fathers and the Presidents weigh oppressively on the capacity of the ordinary citizen to act. They suggest that in times of crisis we must look to someone to save us: in the Revolutionary crisis the Founding Fathers; in the slavery crisis, Lincoln; in the Depression, Roosevelt; in the Vietnam-Watergate crisis, Carter... They teach us that the supreme act of citizenship is to choose among saviors, by going into a voting booth every four years to choose between two white and well-off Anglo-Saxon males of inoffensive personality and orthodox opinions."

  "The idea of saviors has been built into the entire culture, beyond politics. We have learned to look to stars, leaders, experts in every field, thus surrendering our own strength, demeaning our own ability, obliterating our own selves."

  This notion of surrender and the savior is precisely what the archetype of Neptune is all about. Neptune on the Midheaven is a fundamental faith in our presidency and the government for which it stands. While Pluto has been squaring the US Midheaven and Neptune, it is this faith which is slowly being undermined, as the truth starts to emerge from the shadows, and finally rips open public sentiment in a flood of reactionary feeling.