Chart USA: Solar Return 2011

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 Chart USA Solar Return 2011

April 10, 2011 - 1:37am EDT/+4 - Appomattox, VA

As an astrologer, it seems obvious - if ironic - that in a moment when political considerations have the United States government posed to shut down that the nation should get a new Solar Return chart.

When? As of April 10th at 1:37am (EDT/+4). Though the United States celebrates its independence on July 4th, there are many reasons why that chart doesn't work - and a whole line of reasoning, not to mention astrological functionality, for why a chart drawn for Appomattox Courthouse, Virginia at the moment when Lee and Grant sat down some hundred and fifty years ago to end the Civil War is the 'real' Chart USA.

If you want to read the whole of this discussion, here's the LINK to CHART USA Part One blog. It's a multi-part series, all of which is posted here at astroPPM; the rest of the segment links can be found in the sidebar.

And yes, this astrologer does find it highly notable that this impending shutdown/budget crunch comes right down to....when? The very date on which the old Chart USA year ends, opening the door to Chart USA's 2011-2012 solar year.

The original chart - dated April 9 1865 - is also posted here...a bit down the blog. To those who aren't familiar with solar returns, it may seem odd that the return is for April 10th where the original chart is dated April 9th. The difference has to do with the fact that the solar year is 365.2422 days long - that quarter day which ever four years becomes our 'Leap Year Day' accounts for the fact that all solar returns move back and forth a bit. It depends on where in any given four-year cycle you were born, and where in the cycle you're now casting a solar chart for.

So anyway...what does this solar chart say?

Let’s start with the idea that 3 degrees of Capricorn is the rising sign. While Capricorn is the 5th house of the Chart USA natal chart, the specific degree falls in the 4th house (of the people and the physical land), where it’s conjunct TNO Orcus (consequences) and Facies. Astrologically treated/known as a fixed star, Facies is actually a cluster of stars (a nebula); considering its ruthless reputation which often plays the victim and aggression cards (conjugate as: the aggressive victim, victimization through aggression, aggression playing on  victimization, etc.)…considering all that we might as well think of Facies as a cluster %$@# point in the zodiac.

And hey, every zodiac must have a couple, considering how much of that energy is around.

Like all other degrees, that of Facies does have a positive side – it can deal with and act to cure every ill Facies points out. But because we’re talking a rising degree, that’s harder to think will happen. The Ascendant of a chart is a calculated point. As such, it doesn’t have mass. A planet, even a tiny asteroid has mass. They’re something you can literally (and thus metaphysically) ‘get hold of.’

A Grizzly Bear fishing in Brooks Falls

photo credit: Dmitry Azovtsev (www.daphoto.info)

But an Ascendant? Like a Descendant, Nadir, MC, Node (etc.) – that’s harder. There’s literally nothing grab onto. Moreover, with the Ascendant, we’re literally talking about the ‘Now.’ And how many of us think through every little living last thing we do in the Now?

With all the good intentions in the world, that’s a really hard thing to do.

Not that the US won’t try. With Pluto at 7 Capricorn and conjunct Facies, it’s likely the USA will spend its year trying to eradicate all the Facies "badness" it finds…including substantial attempts to eliminate such qualities from its own actions.

And this is not just any Pluto sitting just inside the solar Ascendant…no, this is a Pluto on station sitting there in the solar 1st house. That says the United States – as a nation – is at a ‘turning point’ in its existence. With Pluto natally in the national 8th, that energy would be coming from a house which on the national level speaks to the willingness to commit itself to war and attempts to control the destiny of other nations.

Once a year the Japanese cherry trees (Sakura) given to the

United States in 1965 by the country of Japan burst into bloom

along Washington D.C.'s famous Tidal basin - cause enough

for an annual Cherry Blossom Festival, no?

photo credit: Scott Bauer of the USDA

This is also a point speaking very specifically to debt. Classically, astrology would describe this as the United States either going into debt, totally losing its head and spending like there’s no tomorrow or taking control of debt. And while again, it’s hard for a person (never mind a nation) to watch its p’s and q’s in every moment, considering the US is well past starting into debt (ha!) and unlikely (given the political climate) to start spending like the proverbial drunken sailor, that suggests that the US is going to turn towards fiscal discipline.

And with Pluto opposition a Cancer Moon at 4 Cancer, that’s a lot of what the rest of the world is going to hear from the United States. They’re going to hear the American people talking about money. They’re going to hear the American people getting pretty obsessive about their homeland.

But this isn’t going to be pretty. At 4 Cancer, this 7th house Moon has a deeply spiritual quality but then again is on one hand prone to trying to make sense of that which is nonsense even while the sense being made gets chewed up and garbled by others.

Beyond that, this Moon opposition Pluto, while it should be a seizing-of-the-idea and running with it, is likely to be more of a pro/con – con/pro sort of teeter totter, one which gets properly fervent in some moments and fervently nonsensical in others.

Because the Descendant is what others ‘see’ us doing, this also displays the qualities of Moon/Mirzam to the rest of the world – Mirzam being a fixed star which ‘announces’ but which doesn’t always follow through. Considering that this is the Moon we’re talking about, with the Moon of the natal chart being a Libra Moon and conjunct Diadem (the crowning glory), this is a whole ‘will of the people’ statement as well as a ‘democratic process’ statement. So the rest of the world is likely to hear the US and its people (and one supposes, its Congress) going through a whole lot of back and forth and sense and nonsense about all of these subject.

But more than that…when we look to Chart USA in natal form to see what’s conjunct this 4 Cancer Moon (and thus by implication, activated by the people, their representatives and thus seen/heard by others around the world) we see not just Mirzam but the delightful duo (NOT!) of Ixion and Alhena.

 Chart USA

April 9, 1865 - 3:53pm LMT/+5:15:18 - Appomattox, VA

Long known by the great Arab astrologers as a point of immortal destiny, Alhena represents both a great strength and a vital weakness. So the very beliefs of the US may be seen as something of a weakness around the world. Or as something to exploit, perhaps – though with Pluto stationary and in opposition to the Moon that would be one huge sleeping giant to be poking with any stick!

But Ixion…? Ixion is a point of entitlement. So while America and Americans can be expected to be all about eliminating arrogant entitlement in others, they should be aware: they’re likely to be seen as entitled and due for a comeuppance by many around the world.

This is a no-kidding issue, so if you’re not up on the whole Ixion story, here’s the LINK to IXION BLOG. And it’s probably to be aware that with Neptune – the planet which physically controls the orbits of both Ixion and Pluto – having just gone into Pisces spells a lot of exacerbating circumstances on their way not out, but in.

That’s right – we can expect more of the worst of human behavior on the global stage in general. (LINK to blog on NEPTUNE entering PISCES) This is not the fault of the US of A – this is a sign of the times. Old ways of doing and thinking and despot-ing and hoarding and being entitled are on their way out. But let’s face it – those who have been fully dedicated to being ‘have’s in a world of ‘have not’s are not likely to give up their premium status without a tussle! Over the next few years (say, about ten, while Neptune works its way through the first and second decanates of Pisces) divides around the world are going to enlarge. Blindness – particularly willful blindness – is going to be ever-more revealed and ever more relevant as a generative force behind world situations.

After that comes some five years or so of the world reaping what it has wrought. Oh, good times…!

(Yes, I’m being facetious here.)

Speaking of Neptune, in the USA natal chart Neptune resides in the 7th house. It’s part of that ‘land of opportunity’ and ‘world savior’ thing people have long thought about the United States and which the United States has put itself out there as in the world.

The Grand Granyon's South Rim at sunset

photo credit: MeckiM@c (May 5, 2003)

This year Neptune is at 0 Pisces in the solar chart and in the 2nd house. This is the great indicator of the United States as a nation being at a point of questioning its  values to the point that many feel so fervently about their ideals that they're willing to shut down the government, no matter how much havoc that wreaks in the lives of military families, the poor and literally hundreds of thousands of government workers.

Why would people be willing to go that far? What's the astrological indicator? Easy: this Neptune stands conjunct Hel/Chiron (both at 3 Pisces) and fixed star Fomalhaut, forming a whole little "stellar" parcel of confusion and conviction that something has to be done trine the solar Moon, its apparent the citizenry of the US is going to be seen as incapable in their own right.

Why? Because from that Moon (the people) in the 7th to Neptune (Hel, Chiron, Fomalhaut) in the 2nd is a ninth sign harmonic. And that describes several  things: the US people struggling with one of its premier founding precepts (freedom/tolerance of religion), legalities – particularly in areas of medicine and toxicity/intoxicants - and education.

The whole Neptune ‘we need to embrace this but how to embrace it when I don’t want to pay the emotional and physical cost for embracing this’ is going to be a big US issue now - and for the whole of this year. There is blindness on all sides, blindness enough to go around. Delusion is not the providence of any single party - nor will be the 'Hel' which is to be paid.

Lest we think this is not really about the people of the US (certainly with the Moon in 7 some Americans will argue this is all about ‘them’ (those foreign folks) and not ‘us’ (We the People). And that might seem apt except for the Sun being conjunct Eris at 20 and 21 Aries (respectively) conjunct a 25 Aries Nadir in this solar chart.

Let’s start with remembering that Chart USA has an 8th house natal Sun. Then let’s toss in that Eris is at this moment, in being at 21 Aries, activating the Chart USA asteroid Lilith, which itself is opposition to fixed star Spica with delicious exactitude.

Asteroid Lilith are all those things we want to deny which are equally important to that we’re okay with dealing with. Eris’ activating that natal point is a clear indicator that this year is going to be full of disruption or activism (the Eris choice) on all the many matters Lilith in 8 would indicate. The sure fire bets here? Debt, interest rates, loans, war, sex, issues concerning conception, death and taxation, particularly as that applies to inheritances, trusts and all their merry fiduciary paperwork cousins.

(Can you tell I used to work in finance?)

And as if that’s not something to make your itch twitch, all this is posed right down at the bottom of the chart – this solar return having a 25 Aries IC (Nadir) point.

The bottommost point of any chart being the ‘foundation’ which must be well laid and sound for anything built atop it to stand solid and tall, it’s worth noting that 25 Aries is all about pride. Can the US convert its considerable national pride towards truly constructive ends? The alternative spoken of by this degree is fractious difficulties due to an inability to compromise and through constructive discussion, arrive at positive directives.

So…what does the chart say about what those ‘constructive ends’ might be?

A grand rainbow over the Big Island of Hawaii

photo credit: DB King (March 2007)
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The first thing we would do is see where 25 Aries is in the natal chart. Answer: 25 Aries falls in the 8th house of the natal chart conjunct ‘shape shifter’ Haumea at 27 Aries…which is exactly in opposition to Saturn (retrograde) at 27 Libra in the 2nd house.

Part one: the USA is meant to learn limits and limitations on both expenditures and national its values through experience – the ‘experience’ thing being the retrograde attached to the Saturn.

Part two: the South Node is at 0 Taurus in the 8th house (with Haumea as the joiner to 25 Aries) which puts the North Node at 0 Scorpio in the 2nd house (conjunct Saturn). This is on one hand collecting on what is owed to you and not allowing for ‘shape shifting’ in the financial and tax realm. If you know the story of Hawaiian god Haumea, you know that shape shifting didn’t work for her, either. Oh sure, for a while she was able to fool people and have her way with them, but in the end it all backfired.

And when all backfired on Haumea, she was slain. Those Hawaiians, they don’t kid around! Their gods don’t get any immortal get-out-of-Hades-free cards, either!

In point of fact (this is kind of interesting…) Haumea is killed by the Hawaiian ‘trickster’ god – which in astro-planetary terms is Mercury.

And guess where Mercury is in this return chart? at 19 Aries, right behind the Sun at 20 and Eris at 21 Aries…and oh yes – Lust (intense focus) at 22 Aries…all leading to that 25 Aries Nadir all about whether the US, as a nation, is capable of ending the political  bickering/posturing in favor of actually being the nation it wants to be.

Or at least the nation is claims it wants to be!

But this is not just the government. For this crowd (which we haven’t yet fully explored) to be lurking down near the IC, influencing the 4th house also clearly says this is about the American people.

With Jupiter at 17 Aries (conjunct Mercury, Sun, Eris, Lilith, Lust) we can count on the United States being home to and the subject of vast splurges in spouting off. But maybe more to the point, all this Aries energy (which includes Uranus/Black Moon Lilith, by the by) is ruled by Mars. And that Mars is also in Aries, though its sitting in a Pisces-ruled 3rd house.

The third house in a national chart would be what? Information. Roads. Infrastructural communications and transport. It’s not a direct indicator of education but since the 3rd certainly covers writing, reading and learning, we’ll toss those considerations in.

The third house is also the traditional house of ‘neighbors’ – hello, Canada? Mexico? Cuba? Jamaica? Haiti? Dominican Republic?

(BTW, we mean physical neighbors here, not philosophical ones.)

The first ruler of that Pisces cusp is Jupiter. So the nation really needs to consider what it chooses to get involved in. Unfortunately, Jupiter in Aries in the 3rd conjunct Mercury is likely to ‘trick itself’ into thinking it can do more than it can do.

And thus we arrive at the ‘outcome’ ruler of Pisces: big blue Neptune, which is sitting in the 2nd house of this house – the house of the national self worth of the nation, and its treasury…not to mention its assets.

In this 2nd house we have Neptune, Chiron/Hel, fixed star Fomalhaut (dreams granted only when uncorrupted, please…) Ceres (intelligent nurturance) and Venus – which in Pisces and the 2nd house is a pretty darn strong Venus!

Cutting through the astrological thicket here, this is a picture of national assets being wasted – and we’re not just talking financial assets, but people assets. This year the US is likely to start realizing that the ‘money for money’s sake’ and ‘riches for status sake’ is not the same as supporting the national interest. Ultimately the people of a nation and that nation's faith in the capacities of its people is a country's most valuable  resource.

San Francisco at sunset

photo credit: Digon3 (September 2005)

Neptune here is an interesting signal. It tells us that the US is about to start figuring this out at the same time as it is wrestling with the idea that some people don't count. Because Neptune is in the 2nd house there is a wide split between the 'if they're 'worth it' they'll make it on their own' perspective and believing that it is the nation's 'job' to provide the fertile ground - the faith in the people - which in essence fosters growth and prosperity.

The really interesting marker here (at least to me) is the Chiron/Hel + Fomalhaut equation. It really talks about those who learn the hard way – through paying a terrible price. That’s not just the nation – that’s its people…which we know because of Jupiter (primary ruler of Pisces) being at the head of that cluster which points at the IC of the chart – the house of ‘the populace.’

With the North Node of this solar chart at 25 Sagittarius in the 12th house activating a natal 28 Sagittarius Jupiter in the 4th house (of the people)…and with this natal chart Jupiter natally in opposition to a Gemini Uranus in the natal 10th…

…In part, this describes the democratic process: the ability of the American people to vote politicians in and vote politicians out. Their ability to mount petitions and repeal things they disagree with as a people.

On another hand, here we have a solar chart with the society should do indicator (the North Node) on Jupiter. That means get informed. That means not just legalities, but fair play. This is an indication of the power residing in the hands of a people, particularly when their government seems to be acting like they don’t care about the needs of the everyday person.

And remember – that’s not just ‘some’ everyday persons, that’s all everyday persons: everyone who is a citizen has the right to have the US as a nation respond to their needs, providing they are contributing to the national welfare at whatever honest capacity level they can.

There’s been a lot of conversation about shutting down the government of late too…and this solar nodal layout seems to speak to that rather clearly. With the solar South Node at 25 Gemini conjunct the natal Gemini Uranus in the 10th house in a late degree indicating not a control over matters but the requirement to respond to what others say/feel/require....and with Gemini being ruled by Mercury (which in the solar chart is in the 3rd house and part of the symbol complex asking that (Aries) will of the (4th house) people be the generative and end point...

 

 The Liberty Bell

photo credit: Tony the Misfit (2008)

...well then, the answer would seem to be not shutting the government down, but shutting down those in the government who are not (Jupiter) honest, who don’t know the (Sagittarian) facts or follow the (Sagittarian) laws and rules of parliamentary conduct...and wresting power from those who in the end, don’t have a workable (North Node) plan which (Uranus) breaks through all the (Gemini) rhetoric.

The aim should be ending discussions of faith and theory (North Node in the solar 12th) in favor of dealing with everyday basics and the structural needs of the (4th house) US nation and its people.

You know..."We the People"?

Will the country get back on track however that happens? According to this chart, probably not - which is to say, not during this solar year. Looking at a  stationary Pluto opposition Moon and Neptune in the 2nd, it would take and external dose of Hel(l) to get the US Congress and its people to pull together instead of against the national interest. Both sides think they have it right. With Neptune in the 2nd the problem is more like the fact that people so believe in 'sides' and 'winning' as a measure of good.

The concept of 'winning' is all about someone else losing. When you apply that to a nation, the nation cannot help but suffer.

That Pluto opposition Moon across the Ascendant-Descendant might be described as a year of a nation playing chicken - within the leadership, with the people,and with the world. Or blind man's bluff, which here might be otherwise known as a major national case of 'blind man, but...'

Fortunately, there's always next year. The US is a big and actually good-hearted country. It's biggest problem may actually be its history of success. To have a nation which cares more about the stock market than the education of its children and more about tax breaks than the survival of its citizens is the description of a nation which though it has a stunningly beautiful heartland, has no real moral, ethical or beating human heart.

And when you get right down to it, isn't federalism versus states rights plus economic profit versus the value of human life really the reason why the Civil War got fought to begin with?

Astro/Political Not-So-Quick Takes: Algeria

 Earth's eastern hemisphere

photo credit: NASA/JPL-Caltech

Far more than just Egypt's ousting of President Mubarak has been firing up the news...other populations in other countries in and around the Mediterranean and Middle East have been protesting for change and demanding to be heard.

Frankly, there’s just so much going on its impossible to take it on in detail while keeping up with astro-doings, but here is a modest look at one of the subjects in the list: Algeria. Surging crowds in the streets of Algiers (and elsewhere) have been meeting up with police. Feelings continue running somewhere between high and frothing over.

With that said, to the chart: Algeria is currently (formally) known as The People's Democratic Republic of Algeria and functioning under a constitution which went into effect on July 5, 1962…

 People's Democratic Republic of Algeria

July 5,1962 (Algiers)

By convention the chart is set at noon, a standard for national charts when what you're talking about is a nation 'coming into its own.'

Notable on this chart is its having zero degrees at all four cusps. Generally, this is considered a sign of ‘starting something’ in this world, which may say that Algeria will become a leading nation in some area or concern. The other way to see this is that the taking on of a constitution is the 'beginning of a process' which is about Algeria itself.

This may be a really apt way of looking at these zero cusps, considering how with Pluto just moving out of orb in Algeria's 4th house (Pluto natively being in Virgo and the 12th house) Algeria has erupted in discontent.

The 'erupting' part seems very much in keeping with the axis points being in cardinal signs - cardinal being astrology's do now, ask questions later modality. That what the people are demanding are jobs and a better quality of life is here expressed by a Pluto passionately placed in the 12th house - a house where Pluto tends to stand for the denial of a thing and the yearning for some thing.

In Virgo, the first items on the docket would be health, work, service - or, since this is a national chart, maybe  services is a better way to put it.

Virgo on the 12th is often a statement thing 'functionality' is denied or that things just aren't working. But with Pluto having traveled on from its natal position in this chart, now we have Pluto in the cardinal 4th house cusp of the homeland and citizenry.

But to chat about Pluto is sort of to cut to the end of the story, a chart story which starts with obvious pluses and minuses pictured by a Grand Trine in water.

As we often say, water is emotionality. But water isn't just 'emotionality' - it's also the basis of primal emotions like security, sexuality, faith and loss. The nurturance which comes first from our natal family and later on from our home life and having a home is (Cancer). Cancer is also the sign of real estate, one's homeland and a nation's population - those which call that nation 'home.' 

Investments, inheritances, control, surrender, war, life, death and sexuality are Scorpio. Scorpio - as we have often discussed - is not just interactive emotions, but all our interactive choices and activities which elicit emotionality in us.

Fantasies, longings, ecstasy, faith and loss are all Pisces - as are all forms of passive income (pensions, royalties, etc.) or forms of income from something you've done and are now capitalizing on - like a patent.

Since nations are not people (duh!) water in a national chart tends to be primarily about wealth, finance and national resources. It can however, tell us about the behavior of those in charge of that wealth or those resources - or as to how those running the country treat  national monetary issues.

The points of Algeria's Grand Trine include:

1. A Scorpio Neptune, Part of Fortune, Industria, Kassandra all in a Libra ruled 2nd house. Scorpio is always "interactive money": investments and 'joint finances.' In a national chart, the 2nd house is the "national treasury."

2. In the Cancer 10th house of government and national leaders Algeria has Ceres, Orcus, Sun/Juno and fixed star Sirius all in Cancer.

3. With Pisces ruling a 6th house which rules the functionality of health, work, service - which in a national chart would include civil servants, the military and the general job market/environment, here we have the third point of the Grand Trine: Chiron and Jupiter not only  conjunct in Pisces but also in opposition to the 12th house Pluto.

Oh….and did I mention that said 12th house Pluto is the apex of a Yod?

Uh…yes. Said Yod is composed of Pluto in the 12th as the apex ("bottom") of the Yod's "Y" figure with Eris (Discord) at 10 Aries in the 7th house as one branch of the 'fork' and Saturn/South Node in the 5th as the other branch of said "Y."

Why, oh Y....yes, that is the cry of those who have a Yod, probably accounting for it's nickname as "the Finger of God." Then again, it would also seem highly probable that the name itself has a tie to the traditional ritual pointer used by Jews when reading from a Torah. Called a 'Yad,' these pointers are made to look like a hand with finger outstretched to "trace" under the line as we read...or as most of us used to read as children.

A Torah and the Yad used in reading from it

photo credit: Big Synagogue Museum, Wiodawa, Poland

Why the names would be similar is a whole other discussion; suffice it to say that Judaism goes straight back to Abraham in the same ancient Babylon in which astrology evolved. Lingo is language, and there are a smattering of common 'language pools' from which all the rest of languages have evolved.

Anywho...Yods pose challenges - as do Grand Trines, without question. And considering that Algeria's people seem to feel they have a lack of financial and personal opportunities (freedom of operations/ability to operate as individuals) both configurations would seem to be in play.

But why? And how?

Since understanding the Yod will help us understand  understand Algeria's Grand water Trine, we'll look more in that direction first.

The Pluto in this figure is conjunct House (feeling 'at home'), fixed star Thuban (a struggle to speak or be heard) and Deucalion (the moral path) all in the 12th house. This 12th house could be seen here to be fear, restrictions or a national sense of spirituality and either the need to be restricted by it or simply being restricted by it.

That would be the point - the apex - from which this Yod "springs."

The Eris in Aries - at 10 Aries Eris displays an emotional nature. And being Eris, that nature is to be discordant, or to act or be in such a way which creates discord - the classic "bringing it upon you" sort of thing. In the 7th house, this quality of cause/effect is very pronounced... that it's a national chart tells us this is either how the government acts with/to it's people or to the world and/or because of how its received by the world (or the national citizenry.)

With Eris conjunct Niobe, we heave a great sigh as we acknowledge that pride (as they say) here goeth before a fall in Algerian/Eris doings - in how the nation acts with its own people and in/to this world, generating a response from said world.

Next is Eris/Niobe sitting in conjunction with Klotho (beginnings). This is something of a classing 'they started it!' sort of combination which isn't likely to actually be true....but with Eris/Niobe in Aries, there is a need to think one's self 'all that.' It doesn't work, but the need is there.

And when the nation isn't taking this position, others do. It's a really tough situation - especially as part of a Yod!

Nor is Algeria prepared for what can happen - that we see as we grasp that this Eris/Niobe/Klotho trio leads to TNO Chaos - an endless pool of what can happen or 'come out of' what the nation is, does, or doesn't do.

Of course, there is a whole other side of Eris! And Chaos. Both can be tumultuous and problematic, and yet when Eris acts as a social reformer, it can do incredible and wonderful deeds. The key to this question probably lies with the whole idea of all this happening in Aries, bringing up the great Aries question: will you try to make matters "about" you? Or will you use your abilities to improve life for all?

The big trick to this is that since this is the 7th house (and thus the 3rd quadrant of the horoscope), the strength of the Aries "I AM" cannot be allowed to override the fact that others have opinions too. Aries here will tend to say 'they're wrong, I know how to do this!' but that's very undermining. Aries here is about innovation which helps those who want to be helped in areas where they ask for help.

The third point in this Yod is a perfect 9 Aquarius South Node-Saturn conjunction in the Aquarian 5th house. This is a really interesting conjunction in that Saturn speaks to what one grows (or restricts) and in the 5th is notoriously arrogant about thinking it's way is best.

This can be an incredibly productive position - but there will be a tendency to say 'I want to do what I WANT to do!' ...and no, don't confuse me with facts!

With the South Node always being a signature of 'the easy way out' and the Nodes of a national chart being about its society and it's place in world society, Algeria is likely to want to 'define' itself rather than to become something which would define Algeria.

Having said this, then we add in 9 Aquarius. And 9 Aquarius is a degree known for a lot of energy which is highly theoretical (very Aquarian air sign-ish) and non-materialistic (let's hear it for the spiritual side of Pluto in 12 here...). This is a degree known for putting a lot of energy into what is believed and an ingenuity which can be quick...even too quick for it's own good...with 'sudden events' being capable of turning things around in mid-stream.

There's one more thing to note about this Saturn/South Node in the 5th...because the 5th is the house of children and 'youth,' with the South Node being a societal symbol, the younger the population age in Aquarius, the more they are going to destabilize the 'fateful' quality of the Yod.

And about that Virgo Pluto in 12 - that's a placement we would also think of as behind the behind-the-scenes operations.
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 The City of Algiers

photo credit: Damien Boley (2005)

The nature of a Yod is to create tension. With the 'forks' of the Yod in the 5th and 7th house, the youth (5th house) and overall creative expression will be one focus, and Eris-driven relationships and relating to the people of Algeria and the people/nations of world is the 7th being the other.

So that's the Yod, against which we have a Grand Trine in water. The 10th house melange (Ceres, Orcus, Sun/Juno-fixed star Sirius) speaks to Algeria’s need to have someone leading their country who cares (Ceres) about the people enough to plan and work on their regard (Ceres). That needs to matter more than being a (Sun/Juno) national leader. With Juno and the Sun in the same degree however, that's hard - Orcus (consequences) with Ceres speaks to both what it takes to become a leader in Algeria and so much which has already happened there, shaping the nature of governance. That 12 Cancer carries with it a sense that one 'only finds out down the road' echoes other issues in this chart and is not made any easier to cope with, seeing as Sun/Juno is the heart of a Grand Trine in fiscal water.

But it is to be thought - considering Sirius the beloved Dog Star is here too - that little things count and that all is never lost for Algeria. Little by little it can get where it wants or needs to go. And the more that Algeria's leader is 'one of the people' the better of things are likely to be.

Not that there aren't other challenges, though. A Scorpio Neptune/Part of Fortune in the 2nd house is a significant indicator of 'a lack of cohesive values' which is here pictured as being somehow embedded in Algeria’s national thinking. With Industria here, that says there's a lack of work or effort. Is this on the government’s part, the people’s part or both? Considering this is a national chart, this Scorpio Industria may also speak to a lack of investment in industry too.

Just to make it all a little more complicated (as if it needed to be?) Kassandra is also in this 2nd house mix. Situated not just in any old emotional degree of Scorpio but at Scorpio and the 3rd quadrant's cross-quarter point, the question seems to be at least partly about getting things off the drawing board (out of the discussion stage) into implementation.

Or to put it another way...there's a lot of talk and not much doing!

But at the base of this melange is always Neptune. And whether Neptune here means 'pie-in-the-sky' dreaming, self-delusion on the part of the Algerian government, perhaps out and out lies...there's a lot of mistrust in the works and like as not at least a few dirty deeds, a bit of financial slight of hand and a smattering of self-serving choices as part of the greater national problem, whole and specific.

Grand Trines are notorious for describing patterns (in this case, a national pattern) which are difficult to break out of. Far from being the figures of eternal grace so many would like to think they are, Grand Trines often  picture a “closed circuit” which has the native...or in this case the country...seems "trapped" In.
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 The Roman arch of Trajan at Thamugadi (Timgad)

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Astrologically, the 'solution' either comes when a transit (or eclipse) strikes a “hard" aspect (square, inconjunct or opposition) to one of the points of the Grand Trine or when some planet in the chart which is natally in such an aspect goes on to create a transit which ‘cracks’ the egg. Or maybe "interrupts” the circuit would be more apt!

And we do have that planet! It would be....Pluto! Remember? Pluto is in direct opposition to Jupiter-Chiron, and Jupiter-Chiron is the third point in the Grand Trine.

Positioned in the 6th national house of civil servants, the military and jobs....this Jupiter-Chiron spells a 'strength of' (Jupiter in Pisces) 'weakness' (Jupiter in the 6th house) which exacerbates (Jupiter) need (Chiron).

Got that?

All the 6th house things are needed in this country: health care, jobs, a chance to excel and make something out of yourself - your own chance to be a leader in your own life. National charts should picture the opportunities of their people, apart from the nation's fortunes. Considering the objections being heard from the Algerian people, evidently that's not working all that well.

Plus...not to put this too succinctly, but the degree of Algeria's situation is rather bluntly put by said Jupiter-Chiron being at the midpoint of the forks described by that Yod we were talking about!

Check it out....

 And how are Yods "solved"? Yods are “solved” through relying on the dynamic at the midpoint of the “Y.”

On in this case, Chiron/Jupiter.

But this has been true since 1962, right? Yes, it has. So what changed now?

When Pluto entered Capricorn back at the end of 2008 it did so by rolling over 0 Capricorn. To be exact here, the Nadir (IC) foundational point of this national chart is at 0 Capricorn 55 minutes - almost 1 Capricorn. And that wasn't reached until mid January 2009.

Remembering that the Nadir/IC is also the cusp of the 4th house of 'the land' and 'the people' (in a national chart) that we haven't seen any fractious uprisings until now would then be....about what?

Two things. One: given that transits have a 5 degree orb, when you're talking about a national population and an image like Pluto ("transformative emotionality") such pools of feeling take some time to brew.

And interestingly, this chart does pose Edisonia (the new idea) at 5 Capricorn, the very degree Pluto took station and went retrograde at back in April 2010 and which it then came back to re-activate mere days before the January 2011 Solar Eclipse at 13 degrees went off  one degree off perfect opposition to Algeria’s Sun/Juno in 10.

So here we had the eclipse setting off the Grand Trine by opposition and the natally opposing planet into this Grand Trine (Pluto) setting off the Grand water Trine.

One other as-yet unanswered question: what does it mean that the greatly Scorpio 2nd house actually has Libra on the cusp? Since the rule is that the ruler of the sign on the cusp determines the good and bad which comes from symbols in that house, Libra on the cusp points us to Venus.

And where is that Venus? It’s sitting in the 11th house of society, economy, the marketplace and greater national functionality in the world.

In Leo, this Venus is conjunct both the Moon (that Moon which would rule the Cancer 10th house of government/leadership) and Uranus.

 Village of Blida on Algeria's Mount Chrea

photo credit: Nsoumer (Dec 2007)

Oh...Uranus?

Yes, Uranus - planet of breakthroughs and discoveries, anarchy and change, innovation, universality and rejection.

And in Leo? Uranus-Moon-Venus in Leo is feisty if nothing else! And with this trio describing the Algerian 2nd house cusp it would considerably toughen the Scorpio Neptune within.

Of course, it would also represent Neptune as having 'sold out' to making the country a 'marketplace' of societal innovation...or disruption - take your pick.

Which do we think it is? With Venus at 21 Leo conjunct Sabine (enslavement) this is a whole jam jar of pride and inability to act in other than a manner you're hell-bent on defending. Adding in Pelion at 24 Leo tells us that it's a mountain of effort and a mountain of pride and a mountain of conflict about how the world does or should work.

Or how you wish it would work!

But then we add Uranus. We already have been 'told' that pride is at work in this chart. And that Algeria is a proud nation is fine. But Uranus with Moon/Venus can also describe a vast divide between rich and poor, which especially in Leo suggests a divide that nobody wants to talk about - or heaven forbid, reveal. It can also be a taking pride in disrupting the national economy - or the economies of other nations in the world economic marketplace...which isn't so good!

But then we get to Regulus. Remember Regulus, that Royal Star of Persia which says success is achieved IF vengeance is avoided? When we get to Uranus, to find Uranus conjunct Regulus means Algeria may completely ignore this line in the karmic rule book - but ultimately at its own peril.

Or at least at the peril of it's status quo.

If you line up all the planets in this chart, Uranus is the “last” one in line - numerically. That is another signature of outcome, besides the fact that Uranus always describes the outcome of all things Aquarian.

And yes, therefore 5th house, which takes us back to the median age of the Algerian population. The younger it is, the more prone to overturning the status quo things become - which is evidently what has happened as Pluto's transiting position and the eclipse have begun to demonstrate.

When Uranus colors the outcome, that outcome is at the near end, 'innovation' or 'discovery'...half way down the line it's 'change' or 'breakthroughs.' And at the extreme, it's a big, giant 'kaboom!'

But let's not forget Regulus. The less 'vengeance' (and associated bloodshed, one would guess) the better for all, particularly those who are taking things into their own hands.

A last comment on this Uranus, to note it's position in square a 28 Taurus Pallas in the 8th house of national joint finance. That would be debt, credit, investment, war. A nation's 'joint' finance is with other nations. So one should wonder not just about what is going on in Algeria, but what we – and more importantly, the Algerian people – know about their nation’s fiscal operations?

But taken all together...? This does all suggest that  Algeria may - ultimately - become a force in 'alternative' energies, like solar...which certainly would work, considering where it's located.
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 Mount Tahat, Algeria's tallest mountain in the country's southern district

photo credit: Maurice (2007)

That there will be a July Solar Eclipse at 9 Cancer which conjuncts the Ceres-Sun/Juno of this chart suggests we will be hearing a lot more about Algeria in short order.

Will Algeria's youth become its technological future? It could be. If so, Algeria may yet become a force which works for social/societal innovation which supports individuality around the world (the positive end of an Aries Eris in 7), supporting its infrastructure and people (Chiron-Jupiter) and providing a passive, clean form of income for the nation (Neptune/Part of Fortune in 2) for the foreseeable future.

We will wait and see...and hope for the best, as Algeria's best could certainly be in the rest of the world's favor.

Not to mention Algeria's..