Thoughts on Mundane Astrology
Mundane astrology is the astrology of the Collective. It deals with large-scale social trends as well as acts of God (e.g., weather and natural disasters) and other things affecting mankind or nations as a whole. Personally I have very little interest in this branch of the astrological art, but while reading about the fragile (near collapse) state of the Spanish economy and its wider potential effects, it occurred to me that perhaps we might learn something about astrology by using the signs in their natural significance [unless we are dealing with a specific country whose "birth chart" is known and proven by previous experience there can be no houses in mundane art].
Specifically, in the case of Spain, the corrolation between the Eighth House and the sign of Scorpio comes into focus. The Eighth House in any horoscope is the house of debt. It shows money or other assets which are locked up, frozen, bound to others and not readily available to the native; the Second House shows "liquid assets" and the Eight "frozen assets." So if, in mundane astrology, we assign these same sorts of things to Scorpio, maybe we can see the present situation in Spain and the world "illustrated."
It is axiomatic in astrology that what is shown in one house may also express or manifest in the opposing house, because two opposing houses, or signs, are simply the two extremes of a single polarity. One is the "north pole" of the matter under consideration with the other being the "south pole" (i.e., the positive/negative extremes of any quality or situation) and therefore activation of one pole reverberates at the other. For example, if I owe a large amount of money to the bank (Eighth House affair), it will directly affect the amount of liquid assets and credit I control or have access to (Second House matter.) This is just a reflection of how life works and is not rocket science.
We can therefore take the Scorpio/Taurus polarity as the direct significators of "money matters" having to do with the Collective, or society and the world seen globally, and the state of either and both of them should give us a description of the state of the world's (or a country's) financial affairs at a given moment in time, the conditions affecting its economy.
Now with Scorpio, although in natal astrology I employ Mars as lord of that sign, it seems to me that Pluto is more appropriate or useful as lord of that sign in the mundane sphere because its reach goes much deeper than Mars and its effects are enduring. We are now within a new epoch of human history and the world has in fact become a global village. The three modern planets have, since the discovery of Uranus in 1781, been given a collective meaning anyway; these three planets -- in natal astrology -- show how the individual affects and is affected by the social collective. They are "outside the personal realm" whose boundary is Saturn.
Pluto entered the sign of Capricorn (significator of civilization and governance, or the highest authority) on 26 January 2008, although he had been in the very last degree of Sagittarius -- where he had his retrograde station -- a full year earlier. On this date, his ingress into Capricorn occurred while in conjunction with Venus, lord of Taurus, the sign opposing Scorpio. According to the ideas I set forth above these two planets co-rule our two signs dealing with the collective financial state, or world economy. The timing of this ingress (together with the station of Pluto in the last degree of Sagittarius, a degree of transition, corresponds very closely with the emergence into the public consciousness of the world economic crisis we are now experiencing. What these positions imply is "Intense economic pressures directly and strongly affect civilization as a whole." The condition is shown to be incipient because it corresponds to the entry of the two ruling planets of finance into the sign of civilization. Pluto will remain in the sign of Capricorn for the next 20 years or so. [We note that Pluto, at the time of his discovery in 1930 -- which corresponds to the beginnings of the Great Depression -- was in Cancer, the sign opposing Capricorn where he is today, a fact which supports the idea that opposing signs often act in and through each other.]
The energies of Pluto have to do with "deep transformation, death and regeneration, uprooting of forms which are obsolete or no longer useful, tectonic forces that completely change the structure and topography of what they affect." These planetary energies are irresistible, implacable, deep-reaching, permanent. In the words of the Bhagavad Gita, "do thy duty willingly, or thou shalt be compelled to do it unwillingly." [paraphrased] In other words, we change our now defunct system willingly, or the forces of nature will change it for us, which can be less pleasant than willing compliance.
The facts of life in the world today are that we (the world as a whole) are governed by huge corporations who employ governments as their proxy. Because the sole purpose of a corporation is to enhance the bottom line, they are wholly amoral and unconcerned with the wefare of the individual or the world as a whole. Therefore, it is not to be hoped that these Powers will willingly change anything for the benefit of the world, and thus any changes will be of the unwilling sort. The meanings of Pluto go much deeper and broader than what I outlined above, and show some rather unpleasant (from my point of view at any rate) developments and consequences. The course of history cannot be changed by human intervention anyway. It boils down to Grin and Bear It. How The New World Order is met depends solely on the individual.
Mundane astrology is the astrology of the Collective. It deals with large-scale social trends as well as acts of God (e.g., weather and natural disasters) and other things affecting mankind or nations as a whole. Personally I have very little interest in this branch of the astrological art, but while reading about the fragile (near collapse) state of the Spanish economy and its wider potential effects, it occurred to me that perhaps we might learn something about astrology by using the signs in their natural significance [unless we are dealing with a specific country whose "birth chart" is known and proven by previous experience there can be no houses in mundane art].
Specifically, in the case of Spain, the corrolation between the Eighth House and the sign of Scorpio comes into focus. The Eighth House in any horoscope is the house of debt. It shows money or other assets which are locked up, frozen, bound to others and not readily available to the native; the Second House shows "liquid assets" and the Eight "frozen assets." So if, in mundane astrology, we assign these same sorts of things to Scorpio, maybe we can see the present situation in Spain and the world "illustrated."
It is axiomatic in astrology that what is shown in one house may also express or manifest in the opposing house, because two opposing houses, or signs, are simply the two extremes of a single polarity. One is the "north pole" of the matter under consideration with the other being the "south pole" (i.e., the positive/negative extremes of any quality or situation) and therefore activation of one pole reverberates at the other. For example, if I owe a large amount of money to the bank (Eighth House affair), it will directly affect the amount of liquid assets and credit I control or have access to (Second House matter.) This is just a reflection of how life works and is not rocket science.
We can therefore take the Scorpio/Taurus polarity as the direct significators of "money matters" having to do with the Collective, or society and the world seen globally, and the state of either and both of them should give us a description of the state of the world's (or a country's) financial affairs at a given moment in time, the conditions affecting its economy.
Now with Scorpio, although in natal astrology I employ Mars as lord of that sign, it seems to me that Pluto is more appropriate or useful as lord of that sign in the mundane sphere because its reach goes much deeper than Mars and its effects are enduring. We are now within a new epoch of human history and the world has in fact become a global village. The three modern planets have, since the discovery of Uranus in 1781, been given a collective meaning anyway; these three planets -- in natal astrology -- show how the individual affects and is affected by the social collective. They are "outside the personal realm" whose boundary is Saturn.
Pluto entered the sign of Capricorn (significator of civilization and governance, or the highest authority) on 26 January 2008, although he had been in the very last degree of Sagittarius -- where he had his retrograde station -- a full year earlier. On this date, his ingress into Capricorn occurred while in conjunction with Venus, lord of Taurus, the sign opposing Scorpio. According to the ideas I set forth above these two planets co-rule our two signs dealing with the collective financial state, or world economy. The timing of this ingress (together with the station of Pluto in the last degree of Sagittarius, a degree of transition, corresponds very closely with the emergence into the public consciousness of the world economic crisis we are now experiencing. What these positions imply is "Intense economic pressures directly and strongly affect civilization as a whole." The condition is shown to be incipient because it corresponds to the entry of the two ruling planets of finance into the sign of civilization. Pluto will remain in the sign of Capricorn for the next 20 years or so. [We note that Pluto, at the time of his discovery in 1930 -- which corresponds to the beginnings of the Great Depression -- was in Cancer, the sign opposing Capricorn where he is today, a fact which supports the idea that opposing signs often act in and through each other.]
The energies of Pluto have to do with "deep transformation, death and regeneration, uprooting of forms which are obsolete or no longer useful, tectonic forces that completely change the structure and topography of what they affect." These planetary energies are irresistible, implacable, deep-reaching, permanent. In the words of the Bhagavad Gita, "do thy duty willingly, or thou shalt be compelled to do it unwillingly." [paraphrased] In other words, we change our now defunct system willingly, or the forces of nature will change it for us, which can be less pleasant than willing compliance.
The facts of life in the world today are that we (the world as a whole) are governed by huge corporations who employ governments as their proxy. Because the sole purpose of a corporation is to enhance the bottom line, they are wholly amoral and unconcerned with the wefare of the individual or the world as a whole. Therefore, it is not to be hoped that these Powers will willingly change anything for the benefit of the world, and thus any changes will be of the unwilling sort. The meanings of Pluto go much deeper and broader than what I outlined above, and show some rather unpleasant (from my point of view at any rate) developments and consequences. The course of history cannot be changed by human intervention anyway. It boils down to Grin and Bear It. How The New World Order is met depends solely on the individual.
