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World War Three

Take a drive down any street in America and you will see a similar, familiar vista. Standing there on our peaceful, pristine streets you can find a church near a synagogue near a mosque near a shopping mall, and for that matter near a McDonalds! On holy days you can see congregants entering their places of worship, waving sometimes to neighbors entering diverse places of worship, sometimes inviting friends of different faith to share in holiday feasts that contain elements of ancient religious rituals. And there is peace, harmony and respect. That is life in these United States where live and let live is not only the common attitude but part of the law.

Today on my corner is an empty storefront where once stood an antique store. I've lived in this place for more than four years and although there is no way for me to know how well this business was thriving, it endured until just recently. A couple miles down the street is an elegant outdoor mall, a place I visit weekly to see movies, shop and people watch. The look is decidedly cosmopolitan, with faces of all ethnic types, people who have one thing in common with me-they enjoy strolling outdoors and having fun at the mall. This weekend that mall was not bustling and crowded as usual but a ghost town visited by a mere tenth of its usual customers.

My daughter and her fianc‚ work at Hollywood studios and they have told me of the increased security, the fearful expectation of violence and remarkably, the tendency to search cars of even those who are so famous they can't go anywhere unrecognized-let alone incognito to the studios which have made them stars.

What I have described is the evolving portrait of our America. On September 11, an abomination was visited upon our nation and we all struggle to grasp its meaning in terms of not just our own personal future, but the destiny of our nation as a whole. How will we survive this obscenity visited upon our land by people half a world away? What is there to learn so that we can take all necessary steps to ensure not just the survival of America but of peace and freedom itself? How can we keep the globe on a path that is evolutionary rather than its grim opposite?

Normally after any significant event, I race to my computer to input the data so that I can examine it astrologically. The events of September 11 were so unimaginably horrific that instead I stayed glued to the television for days, like the rest of America, wishing the clock could be reversed and praying against all sanity for the recovery of those lost souls, martyred in this catastrophe. Eventually I did input the data and now it's time to make some sense of the chaos enveloping our great nation.

The significant piece of energy transiting in the sky now is the Saturn-Pluto opposition, which will vibrate through about May 2003. Saturn-Pluto configurations are difficult and complicated and during the course of history have been associated with the World Wars, depression and oil crises. Before discussing that energy and what it means to our nation, let's first review a point or two about Saturn, planet of Karma and earthly life lessons.

Saturn is about building structures into your life. It defines the structure of time as we live it here on earth. It has beginnings, middles and ends, always a sense of progress being made, success or failure. Unlike all other planets, Saturn provides a feature much like a report card. The cycle of Saturn is twenty-eight years, and every seven years we receive a little report from Saturn in terms of our life progress. Generally speaking events provide this report, and if the events are negative it's a sign that either more work is needed or it's time to stop what we're doing and change directions.

This report feature occurs every seven years. That means that as Saturn hits by conjunction, square, opposition and then square again and ultimately another conjunction, this is time clicking through your life, providing you the chance to build your life successfully. Not only is this true when transiting Saturn hits your natal Saturn, but every other planet. So you can see your progress through various areas of your life as Saturn makes hard aspects to each of your planets. And, you can assess how well a project begun on the conjunction is progressing during the squares. During the opposition, you should see some signs of success. During the next conjunction it's time to begin a new phase of challenges in your life.

Basically this means that you have twenty-eight years to confront a challenge, build structures to deal with it and to resolve it successfully so that you have completed the Karma. Obviously we have few twenty-eight year periods in any one lifetime, and that's why life is filled with minutia and why we have to incarnate so many times to learn our life lessons!

The planet Pluto is mighty but less complicated to understand. It is about birth, death, and transformation. This is the energy we use to recycle elements in our life and to transform ourselves emotionally into more evolved beings. Because this energy is so powerful, it's also seductive, and perhaps that's why it's also allied with sex. It's also connected to nasty power struggles in which one person comes under the thumb of another.

Generally speaking, we regard Jupiter as the planet of religion, but I see no sign of Jupiter in the religious issues at the foundation of the current political crisis. Instead, we are dealing with a Plutonian power struggle. One need only examine life in Afghanistan under the Taliban to see clearly that it is Pluto at work, not Jupiter. As scholars of Islam all over the world report, it is a society plunged into the dark ages by a small group of repressive religious fanatics whose self-serving interpretation of the Koran has no connection to the religion they pretend to espouse. Pure and simple, it is about grasping power for oneself and pretending to own God as a justification for doing so. In his efforts to have peace loving Muslims everywhere rise up against the United States, Osama bin Laden is using lies and emotional manipulation to create chaos. Real Muslims know what's what, but the poor, uneducated, unthinking masses so long used to life in the poverty-stricken dark ages of the Middle East have but one thing in their lives-religion, and it is this that bin Laden is trying to manipulate in a typically Plutonian drive for power.

The general definition of a Saturn-Pluto opposition is the overthrow of outworn structures. It is also about receiving a bit of comeuppance when too much power has been grasped and thus enemies have been created. That is the situation in which we as a nation find ourselves. It is also the situation in which the Taliban and their band of international thugs and goons find themselves.

The first event I'd like to examine is the terrorism itself, and I'm using the chart of the New York plane crash. Surprisingly it has Jupiter at the Midheaven, squaring Mercury at the Ascendant-and one way to delineate that energy is an overzealous message about bravery or religion. When I heard that those in bin Laden's camp had the forethought to invest in the market to take advantage of the crisis they were about to perpetrate, it was clear that we had formidable, well-prepared and intelligent opponents.

Another significant aspect is the opposition of Mars and the Moon, one of hostility and disputes plus emotional upset. Another is Venus opposite Uranus, or sudden, weird attractions with unsuitable partners. Clearly that's not the issue we care about here. Finally, and most important is the Saturn-Pluto opposition, making a T-square out through the Sun in the twelfth house of hidden enemies.

Astrology in hindsight can be quite penetrating, but gee I don't know a single astrologer who in foresight would have look at these conflict-laden yet normal aspects and predicted the cataclysm of September 11. Before we stop to look at the way the energy of September 11 affected the charts of the World Trade Center, New York City, the Pentagon and the USA itself, let's look briefly at the chart of our response on October 7th.

It took nearly a month for President Bush to lay the groundwork, gather his forces and begin the return salvo. This chart provides a tiny glimpse into the workings of astrology and the planet Saturn. During a month, the Moon travels through the Zodiac and we see the Moon back in Gemini almost to its exact point on September 11, preparing to cross Saturn again. The Sun had moved to 14 Libra, the point of Mercury and the Ascendant of the chart of the attack. Jupiter had moved to a precise square of the attack Ascendant, and it was opposed by Mars, making another T-square out the Sun, but this one is forceful and optimistic, involving Mars and Jupiter and the tenth house, rather than frightened and manipulative as it was on 9/11.

Very significant is the position of the Saturn-Pluto opposition, right on the Ascendent-descendent axis, making a t-square out through Venus at the MC. Venus plays a significant role in the US chart transits as well.

In just looking at those two charts we could say the difference is between scared and irrational people who want to use religion to overthrow the current order versus the might of those who are confident enough to take action in open air. Despite Jupiter being on the MC in the attack chart, the answering salvo is more serious, forceful and addresses the issues at large-Saturn opposite Pluto. I could write an entire article on the differences in these two war charts and what it means in a general way. Let's just say our reply contained honor, bravery and determination and their attack contained mostly bravado.

Next I want to discuss the chart of the World Trade Center. Its "birthday" is April 4, 1973. Its chart contains a very wide kite configuration involving a trine among Saturn, Jupiter conjunct Mars and Pluto and/or Uranus. The focal point of the kite is out through the Sun-Venus conjunction, which is a great deal of energy for success. With the Sun-Uranus opposition, the building is a bit of a lightning rod, literally because of its height and symbolically because of its stature in the world financial community. This is rather a divisive aspect, however, one of self-importance and lack of compromise. Another significant aspect is the wide Saturn-Neptune opposition, an aspect I always find disharmonious and often relates to financial problems. It's interesting to note that aspect in this particular structure. It symbolizes the difficulty of creating a dream in the real world.

On February 26, 1993 an attempt was made to bring down the WTC, a bomb which caused a great deal of damage and killed some people, yet left the building standing. The transits of that bombing are significant. Uranus and Neptune were square the natal Uranus, widely the focal point of a T-square involving Uranus and Sun-Venus. Also, Saturn was trine Uranus.

Another very significant aspect involved Jupiter, which was prominent in the chart of the 9/11 attack. During the bombing, Jupiter was at the IC of the chart, part of a wide grand cross involving natal Sun-Venus, transiting Venus, transiting Mars, transiting Uranus and transiting Neptune. A grand cross is a chart of chaos, but it seems to me having Jupiter at the bottom of the chart, helped protect the building.

Most significant of all is Saturn however. Although Saturn provided a wide trine to natal Saturn, what matters is it was square transiting Pluto. This is cataclysmic energy and it would have made sense to look for the next pass, the next Saturn-Pluto contact.

Obviously the government isn't filled with astrologers, and even the world of astrologers can't cover every potential crisis. The world's way too large. It would however, have been logical to consider the WTC a target again when Saturn and Pluto moved into opposition, particularly as the same people were still stirring up trouble and that situation had never been resolved.

When September 11 came along, that aspect was now in play. In addition, the WTC was experiencing its Saturn return. This time, a T-square involving transiting Mercury, natal Sun-Venus and transiting Jupiter, which was buried in the twelfth house of the WTC chart. Nobody would look at a T-square out through Jupiter in the twelfth as a harbinger of disaster, so we can't blame that aspect.

The fact that this attack occurred on the Saturn return isn't good. It is a sign that revision and change are needed, but in what regard? That is the question we must answer.

The chart for New York that I am using is for all boroughs, so that's the entire city, not just Manhattan. The "birth time" is at 12:01am on January 1, 1898. The first thing we notice is that the structure of the chart matches that of the terrorist attack-Libra rising, Cancer on the Midheaven, and thus the same transits apply to the angles-Jupiter on the MC, Mercury on the Ascendant, T-square through the Sun in the twelfth. After having seen the role of Saturn all through the previous charts, our eye naturally goes first to Saturn in this chart and we cringe to see it in Sagittarius, opposed by Pluto in Gemini. Thus the transiting Saturn-Pluto opposition is sitting right on the natal one. In addition we note that natal Jupiter is being squared by transiting Jupiter.

I want to mention that it seems to me this chart is probably somewhat off and that an earlier time would push transiting Pluto and Saturn out of the three-nine houses and into two-eight, which would reflect more accurately the loss of life and of money that occurred on 9/11. However an earlier time would push the birthdate back not only a day but into the previous year. We can move the time ahead to noon and that makes more sense, and seems to match the energy of New York more closely. It would be good to know what time we're dealing with but in the case of cities and buildings, it may be more difficult, thus I tend to concentrate more on the planets than the houses in question.

Another significant connection involves Neptune. The New York chart has a Neptune-Pluto conjunction, indicating the power of dreams to transform. The opposition to the Saturn-Uranus conjunction is problematic. Saturn and Uranus don't combine easily-their energies conflict. Saturn is about structure and Uranus about freedom, about breaking down structure. Perhaps that's why New York is a city which constantly reinvents itself yet always stands and is the same. The fact that these two planets together oppose Pluto creates more energy for change, and for disruption. It certainly can explain the tendency toward violence and the moniker the city which never sleeps.

As we compare the charts of the WTC and New York, it's interesting to see how closely they are connected. It's particularly significant that the Saturn of the WTC opposes New York's Saturn and is conjunct New York's Neptune-Pluto conjunction. This is an indication of achievement, of building upwards and outwards, of reaching for a dream to the sky, literally and figuratively. Not only do both charts feature the difficult Saturn-Neptune opposition, but the WTC Neptune lies right on New York's Saturn. These are signs of the expanse of a city that is the biggest and greatest in the world, a city built on dreams and concrete.

More than that, is a sense of mutual purpose and identity. So much of what New York stands for is reflected in the World Trade Center, so it's not so terribly surprising that they are a target. New York is the biggest and the best, the toughest and the most respected place on the entire globe and thus it's a symbol of everything our nation stands for-success, prosperity, hard work, dreams being realized, being able to reach for the sky and grasp it. And the World Trade Center was a visible emblem of those very principles.

I'd like to look at the Pentagon chart as well now. I have April 29, 1942 at 10:30 for that structure. As we cringe in fear at what we're about to notice, it's a relief to see that this chart does not feature a Saturn-Pluto opposition. There is a sextile, out of sign. There is the Saturn-Uranus conjunction again, though. There is a Saturn-Neptune trine as well, but nobody really worries about trines and sextiles. One significant aspect is Sun square Pluto, an indication of power struggles, but perhaps that is fitting in a building about defending the nation against enemies.

As we look at the transits of the attack to that building at 9:43 am, we see only one with resonance-Jupiter about to cross the Ascendant. There is additional resonance for that building in the chart of our response on October 7: by that time Mars had moved to across the building's Descendent to make a tight opposition to Jupiter which hovered at the Ascendant. The symbolism of that energy is clear enough-a response of might to set things right.

Our nation was born at the signing of the Declaration of Independence on July 4, 1776. My inclination is to believe this event occurred after 2 p.m. rather than at 2 am, giving the US a ninth house Sun. There are several charts posited as the right ones for the United States, so rather than engage in a debate about that, I will simply look at the planets and the connection to the terrorism.

There is a nice conjunction of Sun-Jupiter-Venus, making us loving and optimistic and generous as a nation. That's reinforced by the Aquarius Moon, trining Mars for passion and courage of conviction. It also loosely trines Saturn, giving stability. Mercury is opposite Pluto, an interesting aspect of salesmanship in a nation that guarantees freedom of speech. Saturn, in Libra, is trine Uranus and that seems the very essence of our nation-freedom to build whatever life we choose.

As we note that Saturn does not aspect Pluto, there is an early sense of relief. And we also see that natal Saturn forms a trine to transiting Saturn, a sextile to transiting Pluto, also hopeful. The two am chart features the current Saturn-Pluto opposition transiting right on the Ascendant-Descendent axis and that is a quite scary thing, however I just can't imagine that the Declaration of Independence was signed at 2 am in the days of horses and long rides to any destination.

There are other close hits, however. Jupiter is having its return, and that is always a good thing. It's also positive for America that with Sun conjunct Jupiter transiting Jupiter would cross our natal Sun, which it did as part of the Mars-Jupiter opposition, shortly before our strike back. Natal Saturn did get a hit on 9/11-from transiting Sun, and that would give us some significance of that particular day as the beginning of the war. Once again, though, this is a case in which hindsight is so much more acute than foresight might have been.

It's also worthwhile to look at a few of the big transits coming up. Remember first that the cities and structures which have echoes of the Saturn-Pluto transiting energy are most vulnerable. That's why I continue to worry about New York, because there will be more transits affecting it. New York doesn't stand alone, however, and so let's look at the upcoming transits striking our nation for the next couple years.

Pluto approaches an opposition to natal Mars, but not until February 04. If the war is still ongoing, that could indicate an end, although this is not a particularly good transit. It signifies power struggles and death. At that same time, Pluto will also square natal Neptune, making a T-square out through Neptune and that could indicate renewed idealism born of war. It could also indicate chemical attacks.

Uranus is approaching a conjunction with our natal Moon, the first pass coming in February, 02, then again in September and October, 02 and the last pass is in November and December, 02. This energy is quite serious and in other times when Uranus has crossed the natal Moon, there have been plagues. This can be an indications of bombs at home as well as of chemical or biological warfare. It can also indicate strides in technology, new improvements at home, the dissolution of the family and emotional unrest. In my view, it will be this period in which some people will become aggressive peace-mongers, and there will be strife and demonstrations.

This transit will test our mettle as a nation, test our resolve to cleave together and show us what the future will bring. I doubt we will traverse it without some loss of life, but it is in weathering those atrocities that we have drawn together as a people, have reinforced our commitment to each other and to the peaceful world of which our nation is the foundation. It may be only in death and destruction will we find our will to survive and to prevail.

Saturn has several transits in upcoming years. First it will conjoin our natal Mars, and that's one military indication. This happens in June-July, 02, and then Saturn stations at 22 degrees, so that's past Mars. In July 03, it conjoins natal Jupiter, a sign of new hope, rebuilding and renewed enthusiasm for important projects. Then in October, 03, Saturn stations on our natal Sun, a very serious transit. It continues that hit in November, 03 and June, 04. If by then the war is over, we will have obligations to many other nations and life will be all about rebuilding, but if we're still in the middle of battle, we could experience a setback or a need for a new approach. By October, 04, Saturn will be opposing our natal Pluto, within less than a degree orb. The exact hit occurs June, 05. At that time we will be reviewing events generated seven years earlier, when Saturn squared Pluto in May of 98.

As we've already mentioned, Jupiter has returned, crossed natal sun and will be crossing the Mercury-Pluto opposition axis in July, 02. That is a significant time period because it coincides with Saturn crossing natal Mars. In addition, at that same time, transiting Mars will be conjunct Jupiter, giving its hits more power.

In addition, in a very small mention, the grand trine in the US chart experienced a kite configuration during the attack on 9/11, thanks to Venus transiting in Leo widely opposite our natal Moon. Venus will again be in that very same position in July 02. This by itself means nothing because Venus is after all, benign, but any planet in that point helps crystallize energy. July 02 will be a significant point in the war, but I don't know if that is the point at which we shout victory because Saturn on Mars could indicate heavy losses.

There is no question that we are in a very serious situation, that there is the likelihood of more death and more unspeakable actions at the hand on those people who draw no lines, have no morals and use a false connection with God to justify their drive for power. We are in a fight to the death for control of the globe and it's as serious as it can possibly be in this age of frighteningly sophisticated technology and primitive war mongers, a very bad combination.

There is definitely a sense of hope here, but also a very strong message from Saturn. The structures of our society are under threat. There is also a sense, based on the transits in New York, that perhaps we've been guilty of a bit of hubris and have made ourselves vulnerable by the physical evidence of our very greatness. That may be true, but somehow seems wrong, doesn't it? Building tall structures doesn't make us egomaniacs.

The next thing to consider in our search for the answers to this situation is the message from Saturn. As we mentioned earlier, Saturn delivers report cards at 7 year intervals. So we need to ask ourselves what was happening 7 and 14 years ago-what created the seeds of the disaster in which we are now immersed. In the Middle East we were fighting the spread of communism, and we provided succor, training and weapons to those people who were fighting the USSR in their attempt to overtake Afghanistan. Yes! That's correct. Osama bin Laden and the Taliban are the result of those steps we took and they have returned to bite us on the butt.

This is a strong and important sign for us for the future. We can't willy nilly give aid to those who would grab power from our enemies because we can now see what results. Here in American we assume that good will prevail. If we stamp out one form of evil, we assume that okay we've done enough and now leave things alone and good will arise. But that has never been the case in the Middle East because those societies are primitive and paternalistic and the very antithesis of our own. I thought it was most significant when bin Laden first denied his involvement in the terrorism by saying he lived in a country whose rulers didn't permit him to conduct such activities. Not that he would never consider perpetrating such an abomination but rather that Daddy wouldn't allow it! So right now we have to be very, very aware of that mentality as we charge into Afghanistan to obliterate the Taliban and their nasty Plutonian regime. And we have to maintain our sense of responsibility (Saturn) until something positive is created there or in seven years we will deal with this situation yet again.

As bin Laden keeps adding to his list of grievances, it's hard to make sense of what is truly on his mind and it's abundantly clear as of this writing (mid-October) that the Taliban are sleazy liars. But upon reviewing the situation, and on thinking about the nature of Pluto, it's not so hard to imagine his goal. He wants the United States out of the Middle East and feels that if we're made to suffer on our own soil, we will say hey, it's not our problem, let's get out of there and back to our serene and secure lives. Then he will be free to overrun the Middle East and make of it one huge power base. And that brings to mind someone else with a similar goal-Sadam Hussein.

When Sadam invaded Kuwait and we went to the rescue there wasn't overwhelming national support for our actions. Many people felt it was a war about resources-oil-and that it was only money that prompted our noble action. I was one of the few who felt we were right to be there and that we stopped too soon. To me it wasn't about preserving our right to drive gas guzzlers but about preventing him from getting more wealth, more land, and thus more power. Another Hitler we don't need! And now we are dealing with these same issues again. That is the nature of Saturn and Karma-if you do it half way you have to redo it until you finish and get it right.

The other, more serious issue than even bin Laden is the scores of people we see protesting against us all across the world. Who are they and why are they so full of hate? Until we come to grips with this situation, we will not be safe. As we look at life in the Middle East and see people surviving on less than $500 a year, we see a nightmare so far removed from the American dream it's hard for most of us to fathom.

It is poverty, misery and watching their children die of starvation that makes people turn to fanatical religion, promises of a blissful heaven after a dismal life on earth, and to revenge. And in those places with paternalistic, repressive regimes, someone always has the power and someone has to be the villain. It doesn't matter what the truth is because people in those societies have neither the opportunity nor the education to discern the truth for themselves. What they learn is determined by their rulers, and those are the people who foster anti-American sentiment because they know that instilling hate in the masses gives them needed fuel and power to recruit soldiers for their armies. These are the long term issues we will have to confront. Not until we give the people in the street some sense of the American good life and a fraction of a chance of having it for themselves, will they stop hating us.

There is the whole Israel-Palestine issue and the very impossibility of setting that matter to rights because the Arabs are determined to hate the Jews and there is little energy for what we take for granted here in America-a synagogue sitting next to a mosque in harmony. We have to acknowledge that our version of a good solution and a compromise is not really something that works in that part of the world, and we have to become more aware of their points of view so we can find a solution that will work.

Then there's the other Saturn-Pluto issue we are confronting daily--the physical security of our nation. We can't guarantee the continuation of freedom if we all cease to exist. As I write this (mid-October) a television news report reveals that the latest Anthrax victim is an infant. When the terrorist attacks happened, it seemed to me to be the death of our way of life-an apt description of the Saturn-Pluto energy. This crisis has forced us to combat our complacency and to realize that the world encroaches ever closer within our shores.

And with that realization we comprehend the meaning of the angular Jupiter energy-it represents not the courage of our attackers but a need to renew our own courage and system of beliefs here in America. For we are the Jupiter nation, not those thugs who have attacked us, and it is the good life promised by Jupiter that has always been lived here on our land. That is what we must protect.

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