Month: April 2023

Mercury is once again retrograde for the next 3 weeks. Be mindful of all communication in this period. You may well be misunderstood. Don’t be too quick to press the send button – you may regret it. Don’t worry when things get delayed – you may need to gather more information. What about when things go missing like house or car keys. Put them in the usual place – that may help. There could be delays and or frustrations signing contracts so be patient. Schedule elective surgery post this period – could be better for recovery process.

This central theme of liberalism is to protect and enhance the freedom of the individual. Liberals believe that governments are necessary to protect individuals from being harmed by other individuals,  but also recognise that governments themselves can pose a threat to liberty. Laws, judges and the police are there to secure an individual’s life and freedom. There is an understanding that this system should prevent those who govern from abusing their power.

Neoclassical liberals believed that this was all that should concern governments. Modern liberalism believes that governments should also concern themselves with removing obstacles like poverty, disease, discrimination and ignorance for individuals to reach their potential.

Throughout much of history individuals have been subjected to their clan, tribe, ethic group or kingdom. Liberalism is preoccupied with the liberation of the individual from subservience to the group, a relaxation of the hold of authority and custom. Liberalism focusses on the emancipation of the individual. Underlying this system is the settling of disputes through dialogue and compromise. Contestation is also an important aspect of liberalism – electoral, market and legal.

Liberalism has a close but sometimes uncomfortable relationship with democracy. At the centre of the democratic doctrine is the belief that governments derive their authority from popular election. Liberalism is most concerned with the scope of government activity. Liberalism is averse to sudden changes in society and this sets it apart from radicals. Conservatives are concerned that change results in losses rather than gains.

History

The ambitions of rulers in the 17^th and 18^th centuries to expand industry and commerce led to the increased wealth and power of the state. This was a problem for the emerging middle class and this challenge played a significant role in the great revolutions in England, France and the USA. The American Revolution (1775 to 1783) and the French Revolution (1789) are significant as we consider the Pluto ingress into Aquarius as this cycle is about to start again.

The early liberals worked to free individuals from religious conformity and aristocratic privilege. Most 18^th and 19^th century liberals feared popular sovereignty, and for a long time voting was limited to property owners. Racial and sexual prejudice also served to limit the vote. Efforts to extend the vote to women had little success until the early 20^th century. Despite the misgivings of men in the propertied classes, a slow but steady expansion of the franchise prevailed throughout Europe in the 19^th century. Liberals in Britain propelled the abolishment of the slave trade in the early 1800’s.

Liberals were concerned about limiting the power of the democratic majority and the solution was the separation of powers. The government compromised the legislature, the executive and the judiciary. This system of checks and balances was a fundamental aspect of the creation of the Constitution of the United States of America.

Periodic elections was another mechanism created in a constitutional democracy to make sure the power of the current majority was checked by the verdicts of other majorities.

From a liberal perspective individuals are not only citizens who share a social contract with each other, but they are also people with rights upon which the state may not interfere. Hence people need to be free to exchange their views and also the freedom to associate and organise without fear of harm. Freedom is a fundamental right for individuals to live their own lives.

Liberalism favours the market economy. Governments should provide education, sanitation, law enforcement and other public services that are beyond the capacity of a private entity. Liberals believed that government should not do what individuals can do for themselves. The main problem was that the profit system had concentrated wealth in the hands of a few and failed to benefit those working in these factories. The new liberals asserted that the rewards of the market economy did not benefit those who lacked opportunity or those who were exploited.

To look at the distortion of wealth and income, two major strategies were developed. Workers could organise themselves into trade unions who could negotiate with employers and improve their bargaining ability. The other strategy involved the development of social services, things like free public education, work accident insurance and programs for the unemployed and those in retirement. Meeting these directives required the redistribution of wealth through a graduated income tax and inheritance tax system.

WW1 and the Great Depression significantly disrupted liberalism in the 1900’s and overturned 4 of Europe’s great imperial dynasties – Germany, Austria-Hungary, Russia and Ottoman Turkey. Europe was reshaped by the Treaty of Versailles on the principal of self determination. The League of Nations was created in the hope that negotiation would replace war as a means of settling international disputes. Dissatisfaction with the peace settlement in Italy set the stage for the takeover of the Fascist Party in 1922 and the Nazi seizure of power in 1933 in Germany. Liberalism was also threatened by communism in Soviet Union. The Great Depression threatened the market economy with the boom and bust cycle and rising unemployment produced real pessimism about capitalism. The New Deal in the US expanded the government’s activities and increased regulation of business.

Liberalism’s strategic alliance with Soviet communism triumphed over fascism in WW2. Liberal democracy was once again established in West Germany, Italy and Japan. Western governments switched focus to full employment, the maximum use of industrial capacity and the maximum purchasing power of citizens. Governments concentrated on growth rates and used their power to borrow, tax and spend to counter the contractions of the business cycle. Growth was encouraged to expand the economy.

By the 1960’s the social welfare state was well established. The liberal democratic model was adopted in Africa and Asia in the 1950’s and 1960’s as new nations emerged from the dissolution of the British and French colonial empires. New nations adopted constitutions and established parliamentary governments with mixed results. Many nations became military or socialist dictatorships.

The 3 decades of prosperity in the Western world post WW2 marked the high point of modern liberalism. Slowing economic growth rates in the 1970’s presented a serious challenge to liberalism. By the end of this period economic stagnation and the growing cost of the welfare state pushed governments to unsustainable levels of debt and taxation. Governments continued to spend of social programs aimed at stimulation of the economy, but the result was often increased inflation and smaller declines in unemployment.

Contemporary liberalism remains deeply concerned with reducing inequalities and helping the poor. The American civil rights movement of the 1950’s and 1960’s fought to end discrimination against the African American minority. In the 1970’s similar movements fought for the rights of women, gays and lesbians and those physically and mentally disabled.

With the election of Thatcher and Reagan in the early 1980’s the deregulation and privatisation of the economy gathered momentum. Unregulated markets would generate prosperity. Many of the New Deal regulations were relaxed in the banking, insurance and financial sectors in the 1980’s and 1990’s. The resulting lack of oversight was a major factor in the 2008/2009 financial crisis which led to the Great Recession in the period 2012 to 2015. This sector was once again re-regulated.

Humanity finds itself once again at cross-roads. Slowing economic growth, unemployment, inequality and corruption are eating at the social cohesion in society. In the late 1700’s ordinary people got fed up with the gluttonous monarchies ruling France and Britain and the social disruptions led to the American War of Independence and the French Revolution. It was during this period that Pluto moved from Capricorn into Aquarius – April 1777 ending in December 1798. This cycle has started again with Pluto moving into Aquarius between March 2023 and Jan 2044.

Sun and Moon 29°Aries 50′

This eclipse is all about self, family and children. There is an indication of certain difficulties personally and within your family, but it looks like these issues can be resolved at this time. It is about finding direction and taking action. Jupiter connects with both Sun and Moon magnifying the issues. Does your family grow and or do you move? What changes? Your financial situation perhaps changes unexpectedly which creates an opportunity to change the situation at home. There is a certain amount of instability and or unpredictability financially.

Sun and Moon conjunct Mirach and this star is associated with fertility, receptivity and creativity.

This eclipse belongs to the Saros Series 7 North. This family of eclipses is very sensual and gives rise to sudden sexual passions and procreation drives.

William Lilly wrote that a solar eclipse in the last 10 degrees of Aries indicated a period of mourning and weeping and the death of a noble woman. It was also associated with the destruction of lesser cattle – sheep and goats.

Eclipse Path of Total Solar Eclipse on 20 April 2023 (timeanddate.com)

Eclipses are more potent where they are total on earth. Check out the path of the eclipse as it touches Australia and moves through Indonesia and Papua New Guinea.

The conjunction with Saturn and Jupiter is an important marker for progress in society.

These conjunctions took place in earth signs between 1900 and 2000, with the only air sign conjunction taking place in 1980/1981.

In 2020 these 2 planets joined again at 0 Aquarius – an air sign. For the next 100 years these conjunctions will take place in air signs. There is a big contrast between earth and air elements. Earth is associated with status and financial success. Air is associated with concepts and ideas and the connecting of people and ideas.

In addition, we also have the outer planets changing signs in the next few years. Uranus into Gemini (Air) and Pluto into Aquarius (air) and Neptune into Aries (fire). There is a lot of air influence in the future. Fire and air are complimentary elements as air feeds fire.

1901 – Capricorn – earth – 13 degrees
1921 – Virgo – earth – 26 degrees
1940/41 – Taurus – earth – 14/12/9 degrees
1961 – Capricorn – earth – 25 degrees
1980/81 – Libra – air – 9/8/4 degrees
2000 – Taurus – earth – 22 degrees
2020 – Aquarius – air – 0 degrees
2040 – Libra – air – 17 degrees
2060 – Gemini – air – 0 degrees
2080 – Aquarius – air – 11 degrees
2100 – Libra – air – 25 degrees

Uranus – Gemini – Jul 2025 to May 2033 – air

Neptune – Aries – March 2025 to March 2039 – fire

Pluto – Aquarius – March 2023 to Jan 2044 – air

Saturn – 0 and 1 degrees of Aquarius in the charts of these countries. The Soviet Union collapsed and with-it communism. Independence was declared by these territories. This all took place between 1989 and 1991. Pluto will conjunct Saturn in these charts, implying a breaking down of systems/institutions/corporations/land/boundaries over the next few years.

0 – Russia end Soviet Union
1 – Kyrgysztan Independence
1 – Uzbekistan Independence
1 – Azerbaijan Independence
1 – Moldova Independence
1 – Belarus Independence
1 – Ukraine Independence
1 – Latvia Independence
1 – Estonia Independence

European Union – Treaty of Rome – March 1957 chart – Moon 2 Aquarius
The Moon represents the people especially women and children – what changes for the European Union?

EURO – 1 Jan 1999 – Brussels – Neptune 1 Aquarius
Neptune describes illicit schemes – drugs and narcotics – what dramatic changes happen to the currency? Neptune is also associated with oil and gas.

During this period the Cape Colony extended its eastern border right to the Fish and Bushman’s River by decree of the VOC council (Dutch East India Company). Many armed confrontations between the Dutch and the AmaXhosa ensued. A number of frontier wars raged. There was also much strife within the AmaXhosa community following the death of Phalo. The AmaXhosa split into 2 groupings – followers of his 2 sons – Gcaleka and Rharhabe . Clashes continued between farmers and herders.

Shaka, the future King of the AmaZulu was born in 1787.

War between the Netherlands and England (1780 to 1783) hastened the demise of the VOC (Dutch East India Company). The French stationed troops at the Cape to support the Dutch for a few years. In 1798 the VOC was dissolved. This once powerful company ceased to exist.

As Pluto once again ingresses into Aquarius over the next 2 years it will be interesting to follow the historical journey of SA and the changes that occur. This period will last 20 years until 2044.

Asc – 1 degree Aquarius (the image of the country)
Sun – 28 Aries – in 4th house ruling 7th (land/opposition/known enemies)

Pluto has been activating this chart as it squares the Sun between 2022 and 2023 – the leadership, opposition and government. Something fundamental needs to change. The sun in astrology is associated with gold and in 4th house of mining it certainly could also be time to expose the hidden matters associated with the gold trade in Zimbabwe.

Pluto will conjunct Asc in 2024 and 2025 – the image of the country. This implies a very difficult period. Pluto speaks about death and loss, destruction and fundamental change. Needing to let go of a path that no longer serves the country positively.

Uranus opposition – June 2023 to March 2024 – big changes indicated in the government and opposition. Lots of pressure for significant change. Youthful and radical?

This is certainly something to watch as Pluto moves into Aquarius over the next few years.