SATURN-PLUTO and THE ENDING OF THE PANDEMIC

The lockdown restrictions started easing as Saturn changed direction in early May: it is the nature of retrograde motion to undertake a review. This phase will conclude at the end of September, when Saturn goes Direct. There may well be restrictions left at that point, but they are likely to be ongoing, such as a restriction on large gatherings of people where there is little space between them; and a requirement to wear masks on eg public transport.

Since the pandemic started under the Saturn-Pluto conjunction, we may not see 'normality' return until Saturn starts to put some serious distance between himself and Pluto. That will be mid-December this year, when Saturn will be 7 degrees from Pluto, and in a different sign. That, at any rate, seems like the earliest point at which Covid will no longer be the main point around which the world is revolving.

Indeed, with the Saturn-Jupiter conjunction occurring in Aquarius a few days later, on the 21st Dec, 12 hours after the winter solstice, that is likely to be the time when we seriously begin to discover, or re-imagine, what world we are living in post-Covid. This excites me :) Aquarius is the sign of the future, moving beyond the outworn traditions of Capricorn.

It is interesting that the 2 solstices this year are so powerful: the summer solstice on 21st June occurring on a solar eclipse, and the winter solstice so close to the new 20-year age of the Saturn-Jupiter cycle. This really is a year of turning points.

SATURN AND THE STOCK MARKET

Saturn is currently going backwards at the end of Sagittarius. When a planet is going backwards (retrograde) it’s good to be thoughtful, and get things sorted for when the planet goes forwards again.

The most well-known retrograde phenomenon is Mercury, which happens 3 times a year for 3 weeks at a time. It’s when things notoriously go wrong, particularly Mercurial things like travel arrangements or vehicles or phones or paperwork. And it can create a sense that the planets work in a fated way. But I think it’s more like underlying problems get revealed, and if we pay attention to that, then we can move forward again once the planet does. And if we aren’t thoughtful in that kind of way, it will just seem like things are determined to go wrong.

I think there IS a fated element that astrology reveals, in the sense that it is, say, next month not this month that it is time to address certain things. But there is also free will and neither contradicts the other, even though they seem to. It is one of those apparent contradictions that is good to live with, it makes our mind more flexible, more subtle, less inclined to need everything pinned down.

On a collective level, thoughtfulness is an unusual quality. So collectively, we usually have to learn things – if we do – the hard way. And I think we are seeing this with Saturn in Sagittarius and the stock market. Sagittarius is a sign that likes to expand, but if it does so under Saturn retrograde in that sign, it points to inflation, a bubble, rather than genuine expansion, based on underlying realities. At the same time, we have also had a square between Jupiter and Pluto, and this leads to the same kind of problem.

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A report was issued by one of the big financial bodies a few days ago, pointing out that we had not dealt with the underlying debt problems that the financial crash of 2008/9 revealed. Western countries are just as indebted now as they were at that time, and the response has been to keep interest rates very low, so that debts can be serviced, rather than corporations and individuals going bust. But it doesn’t address the underlying problem. Since then, this problem has spread to the East. China now has high levels of debt as well.

DOW JONES 2012-17

This problem of debt, combined with Saturn’s final days in Sagittarius, and the end of the Jupiter-Pluto square, points to a correction to the stock market, which has had a long bull run. In late August, Saturn will start to move forward into Capricorn, and there is no stronger signature for a reality check than this. Saturn, the planet of proportionality and rectitude and responsibility, in its own sign of Capricorn.

It will also point to the final economic outcome of the Uranus-Pluto square, which began at the time of the 2009 crash, revealing the problems, problems which as I say we have still not dealt with, only delayed.

As Saturn enters Capricorn, it will begin to move towards a conjunction with Pluto in that sign in 2½ years time. Not long. So the stock market check that is soon to begin will not be temporary, it will be ushering in a major restructuring over the next few years. In the UK, people are understandably fed up with austerity. But we have been living beyond our means ever since the last Labour government failed to control the banks, and was forced to bail them out at huge cost. Other governments also failed in their job. But that doesn’t excuse our government, and the Chancellor in the years leading up to it, Gordon Brown.

So there will be a new economic order on its way as Saturn enters Capricorn and moves to conjoin Pluto. Austerity is not yet over. The stock market will go down, and there may be a recession. These things often happen in a panicky way. But overall I think it will be more of a significant correction than a crash, because that is the nature of Saturn and Capricorn. And the bubble is not huge: the Dow Jones is only about 25% higher than it was in the bubble of 1999.