I have found the past few weeks hard to write about because of so much internal healing, and wordless mystery unfolding around me. The current events are troubling but they are nothing new; we are seeing an exposure of what goes on every day in this country and this world. Why are these things surfacing right now? The summer solstice tends to heighten activity, and we can’t forget the Cancer ingress saw the Uranus, Eris, Ceres conjunction as Phillip Sedgwick pointed out. Saturn/Neptune square is still bringing our dreams into a harsh reality. I’m seeing a lot of activity around the Cancer planets, although Venus and Mercury have moved into Leo now. One thing is Uranus squaring Cancer which can explain the upheaval and exposure at this time of year, and Pluto opposing Cancer will also dredge things up from the bowels of the American psyche. The Cancer planets also move through the midpoint for the Saturn/Neptune square (25′ Cancer) which creates a Thors Hammer. Venus and Mercury have already filled it out, but the Sun will do so on the 16^th and 17^th.

The United States has a Cancer Sun after all, and the Rx Mercury of the U.S. is at the midpoint of transiting Saturn/Neptune and will be for the remainder of the Summer. The Sun will shine on this point this weekend. The United State’s birthday was the day of a New Moon. The Full Moon in Cancer next week is going to be exactly on the U.S. Pluto. To top it off, we’re in a 30 yr time period of the United State’s Pluto return.

It was also Black Lives Matter’s 3^rd birthday, yesterday July 13^th. This brings BLM into a 3^rd house profection year, which we know is about communication, home-audiences, and grass-roots organizing. In honor of these events, I’m going to take a look at the natal chart of BLM and how it interacts with the chart of the U.S. I’m still trying to determine a birth time for this organization.

What immediately jumps out at me about this chart, regardless of time, is the presence of two grand water trines and a complete lack of air. This speaks to me that this movement is more about compassion and the expression of emotional experience than trying to establish social harmony. We can easily this in the way people react so to the phrase black lives matter; it is emotionally charging. Certain people can’t cope with the energy of two grand water trines and try to intellectualize in defense, “all lives matter”. But this is not a time for airy notions of equality; it is a time to feel the emotional undercurrent of a huge group of people. To feel the emotional undercurrent of the history of country, a history that lives on this very day. I almost want to say that there is no point intellectualizing the BLM movement; it exists to be felt, to permeate into the lives of “everyday Americans” and touch the deepest parts of ourselves. There is a great opportunity to open ourselves to empathy. So many people fear emotions, and perceive a violence coming from the BLM movement, that it seeks to destroy something white Americans hold dear. My theory is that it is the Saturn/Neptune square that is destroying what we might have believed to be true: that we are not engulfed by systems of oppression that target African Americans.

The point being, BLM has an out of bounds Mars on the Summer Solstice point. This is a heroic placement. This is an eruption of courage, grasping for the fire of the Gods to hold close and dear. Mars is conjunct Jupiter in Cancer, trine to Saturn at 4 Scorpio and trine to Neptune at 5 Pisces; the first grand water trine. It almost speaks for itself. Saturn in Scorpio is born of sorrow, of sickening truth, of the deepest knowing, of resilience, of the plunge to reclaim, the ability to commune. Neptune opens to dream, to see possibility, to inspire vision.

The second grand water trine consists of a Rx Mercury at 15 Cancer, the North node at 14 Scorpio and Chiron at 13 Pisces. The importance of this is strengthened when put against the chart of the U.S. But can you see how this is a movement that was born out of painful silence(#silenceisviolence)? There is a deep need to communicate – strengthened also by Venus squaring the nodes –  a proclamation is in order. A Mercury combust is a voice that is perceived to be unheard; but the strength of Mercury, closest to the Earth and climbing out of the underworld to be reborn as morning star is a symbol of new hope in the area of communication. Mercury has dignity by face, but has hard contacts to Uranus and Pluto. This is something that has needed to be spoken, but is not easy coming out.

This Pluto, by the way, is the midpoint of the Cancer planets. You see Pluto is the midpoint of Mercury/Jupiter, and Sun/Mars; which truly connects the two grand trines into a kite pattern. It is Pluto that spurs this movement in motion (modern ruler of the north node as well). This is a movement truly bent towards deep change, and the exposure of old wounds to the light of day so that they may be healed. Lets take a look at the BLM chart around the natal chart of the U.S.

So many things jump out at once here, of course all the Cancer planets stand out. Cancer begs the questions who am I, where did I come from and what are we together; what can we identify as. There is legacy, history, ancestry in the Cancer that is formed into a current feeling or experience of identity. We see both charts have a Rx Mercury illuminated by the other’s Sun. Whether this speaks of voices being outshined, or true, deep communication we shall see. BLM is of course a Jupiter return for the U.S. indicating renewed hope. Unfortunately, the U.S. Jupiter is combust which speaks of always striving for greatness and never seeing that we already have it; pushing too far past the boundaries and not seeing the great gifts in front of us. It is also our god complex, manifest destiny, and the ideals that we often fail to live up to as a country.

The BLM Mars is conjunct the U.S. OOB Venus. The OOB Venus expresses to me the desire to forge a new community; the lash out in freedom to find a new family. When the hero merges with Venus there is a union; it is a heroic union blessed by Jupiter. But this Venus may reject what is deeply needed; a combust Jupiter will not see the greatness that is. And so the heroic Mars will fight for the Cancer maiden; fight for the mother he desperately needs and who desperately needs him. The first grand water trine in the BLM chart also aims at this point, asking America to see and feel the true reality of what is going in black lives. To accept, to take in this true reality, we might try to access our combust Jupiter and Venus. America’s Venus is just barely morning star; about to head into combustion; it reminds me that in this country we are always on the brink of understanding unity but have a long journey of darkness ahead to get to our ideals.

Will this union be heard? Can the heroic black spirit be nurtured by the mother U.S. and vise versa? If we ask the Moons, we see they are inconjunct. It will need constant tending to create nurture here. There is no time for the BLM chart, but at noon, the Moon was exactly conjunct U.S. Neptune. The Moon in Virgo seems to look for a place to be; it is a rhythm of work, practice and care. I almost see this as the need for the images of black bodies to be restored to a place of emotional purity. There is a cleaning with Moon/Neptune in Virgo; a chance for this place in society to be restored; for the rhythm of life to be enriched and fully live. This is of course the ideal; and we hope these Neptunian images are not too engrained in the collective American psyche to be reimagined. With the right work, they can be.

There are strong Chiron/Sun contacts, which can be healing but also exposure of wounds. I notice the exact trine from the BLM Chiron to the U.S. Sun, and the close Square from the BLM Sun to the U.S. Chiron. I recently attended a lecture at NORWAC on the astrology of the first slave ship, given by Vernon J Robinson. He has done quite a bit of research on getting an exact chart for the ship landing. In this chart we see the South Node at 13 Cancer. Exactly on the U.S. Sun with the trine to the BLM Chiron. The north node of the BLM chart is 14 Scorpio remember, and so the destiny of this movement is deeply linked with the past. I cannot help but feel that this is extremely important. We also see Jupiter at 13 Aries in the ship chart and Uranus at 12 Aries in the BLM chart; these points are squaring the nodal axis of the first slave ship, indicating a liberation of faith. And Vernon Robinson has done a LOT of work on comparing moments in black history with this chart. It is astonishing and we’re all waiting for his book to come out.

In terms of challenges for the movement, I see the strong air in the U.S. Chart being a problem. We have already seen that the rigidity of law (Saturn in Libra) is a great problem. In the U.S. Chart, Mars is at the Moon/Saturn midpoint – all in air signs- which speaks to violence born out of rythmic law (action because of habit and societal law). I think of police brutality relating to this. This Mars does violence to the Virgo Moon of BLM which translates to black bodies and emotions. The Aquarius Moon for the country reminds me of “ask not what your country can do for you, but what you can do for your country,” which is a beautiful quote, except when the country is doing active harm to a group of people. These people need a proper place in society, before they can contribute in an ideal JFK kind of way. BLM is going to have a lot of water for a long time, which speaks to me as an emotional connection that can go through your TV into your living room (yes I think two grand water trines can do that). I just pray that America can open up to the extent that a living, breathing bond can be formed instead of the cancerian nature to curl up and hide; or the aquarian nature to detach from unpleasant emotions. The lack of air in the BLM chart worries me in terms of getting actually policy change, but leave it to Scorpio to go beyond that barrier.

There is quite a bit more to be said about all of these charts, so I encourage astrologers to see what they find. One last piece I will leave you with, is the progressed BLM chart shows the Moon moving into Scorpio last month where it will be for two and half years. We will see a Moon/Saturn conjunction over the next 6 months where I see the movement taking on a strong commitment. The chart will have an exact grand water trine with Jupiter/Saturn/Neptune all at 4 degrees until Feb 2018 and then Mars will take Jupiter’s place the following year; which means we seemingly have a strong movement over the next few years. The solar return chart for this year has a Moon/Lilith conjunction in Scorpio (moon at apogee is a darker side); Venus just emerging as evening star in Leo (courageous beauty); and a grand water trine with Sun, Mars and Chiron (healing through action and unity).

This coming weekend should be interesting politically and personally as we will have a grand water trine with Sun in Cancer/Mars in Scorpio/Chiron in Pisces all at 25 degrees [which connects to the Saturn/Neptune square]. If you don’t find yourself aligned with political experiences, there is an opening to healing personal courage as well. This healing may be around how you see/create reality around your emotional needs. The Full Moon on Tuesday will also highlight this, but more on this later.

Resources:

Vernon J Robinson: http://univastro.com/

Date for the first slave ship White Lion: Aug 25 1619, 12:06 pm Hampton, WA

Date for the Black Lives Matter movement: 07/13/2013, time unknown.

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