Saturn Stations; Mars conjoins Venus; the Neptune-Jupiter-Chiron triple conjunction

Saturn is stationing, and will change direction next week; Mars and Venus are half way through their 5 week conjunction in Aries. Issues of defence and security (Saturn) and war and diplomacy (Mars-Venus in Aries) are in the air.

Saturn is in the middle of a series of 5 oppositions with Uranus (the internet), so it was timely that in the last few days an American General called for the creation of a digital warfare force. The US lack of cyber-security has an issue for some years, and the Mars-Venus conjunction in Aries has triggered a military approach to the problem.

Earlier this week security firm McAfee reported that ‘there has been a 50% increase in the number of detected so-called "zombie" computers since 2008. The figures come as a report from Deloitte said a global approach to cyber-security was needed. "Doing nothing is not an option. Everything that depends on cyberspace faces unprecedented risks,” said Deloitte’s. "This issue is moving so quickly, and with so much at stake economically and in terms of safety and security for people, we don't have 100 years to figure this out.” McAfee also revealed that the United States now hosted the world's largest percentage of infected computers at 18% with China a not too distant second with just over 13%.'

There are still 3 more oppositions from Saturn to Uranus over the next 14 months, so during that period I would expect to see cybersecurity become much more established throughout the world as a function of government.

We can also see the combination of Mars-Venus with Saturn stationing in Pakistan’s struggle with the Taleban. As Mars entered Aries in square to Pluto 2 weeks ago, Hillary Clinton announced that the situation in Pakistan represented a ‘mortal threat’ to world security. This was because the Pakistani government seemed to be rolling over in the face of Taleban incursions into its territory. Pakistan has an estimated 60 to 100 nuclear weapons scattered throughout the country. With the Taleban controlling parts of the country, it would be quite possible for one of these weapons to end up in their hands, via sympathisers in the Pakistani defence establishment.

As American pressure has continued – aggressive (Mars in Aries) diplomacy (conjunct Venus) – and as Saturn has begun stationing, so has Pakistan decided to defend itself, launching a full-scale attack on the Taleban in the Swat Valley, forcing 200,000 people to flee their homes.


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Pakistan is coming to the end of a challenging Neptune transit to its Sun at 21 Leo. This period has seen the government become increasingly weak and chaotic – Neptune has ‘dissolved’ the leadership of the country – while militant Islam has been on the rise – hence the success of the Taleban. Neptune will station at 23.41 Aquarius this November, and after that I expect to see this weakening process unfold more decisively.

Neptune is not operating alone this year, but is making a remarkable series of 3 triple conjunctions with Jupiter and Chiron. This is very powerful, and it represents a big new dream (Jupiter-Neptune) for Pakistan, which some will see as profoundly healing, and others as profoundly wounding (Chiron). With natal Sun in square to angular Jupiter in Scorpio, and in wide conjunction to Pluto, a religious fundamentalist government has always been a strong eventual possibility.

Pakistan’s neighbour India was ‘born’ at the same time, but in a different place, so the chart’s for the 2 countries are similar: the same planetary positions, but different house cusps. India’s Jupiter in Scorpio is not angular, suggesting perhaps that the government is less likely to be taken over by religious fundamentalists. But Pluto is angular, suggesting perhaps that the Indian government is even more prone to abuses of power.


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As for the ‘big dream’ that Jupiter-Neptune is also bringing to India, this would seem to be connected to its rise as an economic power, particularly with the West faltering at present. In some ways it is ‘healing’ (Chiron), because so many people live in poverty, while the country as a whole was treated as a mere British colony until 1948. But the capitalist dream is also a ‘wounded’ dream on so many levels. This is perhaps a meaning of the triple conjunction for the whole western world (particularly as it impacts the US Moon – the people – so closely): a big new dream and hope for the world, based on an understanding of some of the limitations of the capitalist system we have been living under.

I am sorry to see Jacob Zuma as President of South Africa. He is a corrupt and violent man, with plenty of potential for violence in his chart: Sun in Aries sextile to Mars-Jupiter in Gemini; Moon possibly square to Mars. And he was inaugurated today under a Mars-Venus conjunction in Aries. His supporters have a song entitled 'Bring me my machine-gun'. Zuma's Sun is conjunct the South African Mars in Aries, so he is likely to bring out the violence in the nation. South Africa has natal Sun opposite Pluto, so sooner or later it was likely to attract this sort of leader. And he has been fairly elected, he is what the people want, despite his well-known history.

The Full Moon in Scorpio today is at 18 degrees, with the Sun at 18 Taurus, lining up along the South African Sun/MC opposite Pluto/North Node. So this was a very significant election, and I'm afraid the Full Moon activates the dictatotial potential within the chart.


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