Last year I wrote about the "golden opportunities" that awaited
us early in 1997. 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@global.california.com
or visit the web site for his radio show (with many interesting links) at:
http://www.deepideas.com/kkup/ericm.htm
Copyright 1996 by E. Alan Meece (Eric A. Meece); all
rights reserved.