Venus Occultation Of The Sun 2012

The Occultation of Venus on 5th June 2012 heralds a pivotal moment in the communication industry, particularly the unstoppable rise in electronic books and the death of print newspapers. It also heralds a pivotal moment in the travel industry; but more of that later.


So why deduce that the occultation of Venus relates to communication and travel? Normally anything to do with either of these would be more akin to Mercury. The answer is where the Venus occultation always takes place, in either Gemini or Sagittarius, which are the signs that resonate with the 3rd / 9th house axis.

The Venus occultation takes place in pairs, around 7 or 8 years apart, approximately every 121 years.

The way we see the delivery of information is undergoing a rapid change, particularly in the case of the phone hacking scandal currently being investigated in the UK under the Leveson Inquiry. In the meantime, whilst Mr Murdoch, of the company ‘News International’, confirmed in his witness testimony to the very real demise of print newspapers, there are reports elsewhere of an ever increasing trend towards the purchase of electronic books. This is in many ways a completely foreseeable prediction, at least in the notion that from the birth of electronic books there was an intention by Time Warner, Amazon and Microsoft, announced around the year 2000, to make it a successful and competitive industry by 2020.

This means that the demise of the newspaper may be considered loosely as relevant to the Venus occultation because the timing in and around the introduction and rise of electronic books and the decline of print newspapers envelopes the dates of the two occultation events of 2004 and 2012. But is it really big enough to warrant association with an event that occurs only every 121 or so years?

Some of the historical events that can be considered as subject matter relating to the Venus occultation and occurred close enough in tolerance to the time of the Venus occultation are well documented in Venus Transit by Anders Bjarstedt and Carl Johan Calleman Susan Custer’s Transit of Venus 2004. In terms of tolerance, I believe it is perfectly reasonable to include the time from the Venus Hesperus opposition to the great conjunction. The articles mentioned offer different perspectives of what may happen with the current 2004 – 2012 occultation, however, I believe that some relevant historical events have been overlooked, which if we include them here, makes sense to the indicators of real events happening just before the occultation of 2012.

In order to make sense of current events, it is important to view them in the light of the events that occurred under previous Venus occultation events; the premise being that such a rare event must surely produce an event equally as rare in the history of the human race that is global in its impact.

1519 – 1526

In 1519 Ferdinand Megellan set out to sail around the world. The first time communication with other countries would become perceived as a round earth and not a flat one. The perceptual shift in people’s values would have been tremendous. While Megellan himself did not complete the voyage (he was killed on an island in the Philippines in 1521), some of his crew completed the journey by 1522.

1631 – 1639

The Danish mail service began 1624, Sweden 1636 and in May 1631 the first French Newspaper was founded. The above is cited by others as being synonymous with the Venus occultation. However, I believe the timings of these events are way out of tolerance. Instead, I believe that the publication of Galileo’s “Dialogue Concerning the Two Chief World Systems” is much more relevant. Would it seem too much of a coincidence to have evidence in the previous Venus occultation that the world was round, and then to have it proved that the world went around the sun? Once again our value systems are challenged and our awareness reprogrammed.

One must not forget in all this that the emphasis is placed on the printed word. The ability to read was becoming essential to many but its popularity would be fomented by availability and cost. So the first printing press in 1639, set up in Massachusetts, made available the one powerful medium outside of public speaking that was capable of altering the perceptions and understanding of the masses.

1761 - 1769

Astronomers, 120 of them, unite around the world in an attempt to measure the distance between the sun and the earth in June 1761. Where Galileo was arrest for heresy for stating that the earth travelled around the sun, observers were able to predict the next occultation and observe it. A second attempt was made by Captain James Cook, who sailed to Tahiti to observe the Venus transit.

Science was advancing beyond in other areas too. An important event in 1769 was when James Watt was granted a patent for improvements to his steam engine that became the catalyst to starting the industrial revolution and the popularity of travel by train. Such advances made it possible for people to reach greater distances in shorter times, while at the same time expanding the opportunity for knowledge to be shared.

1874 - 1881

The invention of the telephone by Alexander Bell in 1874 was in its infancy but the race to patent it in 1875 demonstrates that the idea existed in more than one place in the world. The communications revolution that emanated from this invention was phenomenal.

Likewise, in 1875, George R Carey of Boston, Massachusetts, outlined the earliest system relating to what we know in the 21st century as film and television, proposing the use of selenium as a means for transmitting photoelectric images.

Bell and Thomas Edison formed the Oriental Telephone Company in 1881 just a few months before the second transit of Venus. However, Edison was forming many companies throughout 1881 in connection with the electric light, which changed the world of communication in many ways and light has proved to be just as valid in terms of communication in the twenty first century via fibre optic cables.

2004 – 2012

In June 2004 ‘SpaceShipOne’ became the first private manned spaceflight. Mojave Air and Space Port was licensed as the first commercial space port. This is the only reported connection that fits the profile in relation to previous Venus occultation events. The world of travel is a theme that fits, starting from going around the world in person, circling the Sun, plotting the distance to see how far the Earth travels, travel by train, travel by sound and by light and travel by image.

The Venus occultation occurs in the sign of either Gemini or Sagittarius. Both houses are connected by axis to communication and travel. In essence they provide the mediums by which people connect to each other, be that through the written word or on an aeroplane. Venus reflects the values we place on our lives, our environment in relation to our sense and the things we appear to possess. And as the Venus occultation occurs in no other sign, one may infer that our perceptions of how we connect and interact with our world and with others is of particular importance, because the more we come into contact with people and places, the greater is the opportunity for knowledge.

In 2012, at the time of writing this article and about four weeks from the Venus transit, it was announced that plans were being made to mine asteroids in space. Whilst the commercial aspects fit into the thread of all the above pioneering work, the most relevant aspect of this venture is the formulation of turning water in outer space to liquid oxygen and liquid hydrogen to use as fuel, thus pioneering the next stage in much longer distance space flights. At first the company plans to use robots for mining (travel by robot?) but it will not be long before humans are needed to enter space for commercial reasons, and what is currently way beyond the reach of everyday humans may have the potential to become part of some people’s everyday work. Therefore it is not unreasonable to consider our solar system as the next region of travel will be the next step in the scientific advancement of the human race.

The next Venus occultation occurs in 2133. Perhaps the prospect of interstellar travel may become possible. Or is it likely that we will see the beginning of communication through mind alone? In either case it seems certain that science will be the driving force behind whatever new advance we make. But curiously, it also appears that Venus occultation turns up particularly at the time we make important scientific advances in the field of communication and travel. Unfortunately it will be 121 years before we can observe what turns up at the next Venus occultation, but I am confident that if I am right about mining in space, it will be an event that becomes a reality within 50 years of 2012.

Barbault: The Prediction Revealed

Written by Shane P Ward
Publication date 3rd May 2012

Planetary cycles in astrology, it would appear, can reveal powerful forces at work that processes in which events may be deduced. This is quite different from examining one planet and its relationship to an astrological sign or of transiting planets to a national chart.

When two planets occupy the same degree point in the zodiac they are said to be in conjunction. This is the point where the energies portrayed by the planets in question are full of potential and anything can happen. It is a seed that will grow into something. The faster moving planet then pulls away from the slower moving planet and will make many aspects to each other including squares, trines, oppositions and more. At the first outgoing square there is a chance to make a correction to the course of what was started. At the opposition there is the full view, the flowering, of what was started. At the waning square there is the necessity to understand all that has gone before so that when the two planets meet again, there is a new seed to grow again.

Every planetary pairing completes its own cycle but the ones I have studied for the purpose of this article are the societal planets of Jupiter and Saturn and the generational planets of Uranus, Neptune and Pluto. They are the planets relevant to the Barbault Scale.

My first mention about the method devised by Henri Barbault was in May 2008, around two months before the credit crunch had been heard of and companies like Lehman Brothers collapsed (Neptune Ingress Into Pisces). We were aware of concerns around ‘sub prime’ mortgages from around 2007 but there was no indication of what happened next.

Then I wrote about the Barbault Scale proper in 2008 when the credit crunch became known and again with the Barbault Warnings in 2009. This article represents the third in the series.
I predicted that we were in for a bad time from 2016 to 2020 but I wasn’t sure how it would work.

It was then that it became apparent that Pluto was about to transit the 9 to 10 degrees of Capricorn that sits at the root of any nation with a New Year chart – of which there are many. It was an opportunity not to miss in terms of mundane astrological prediction. If Pluto passing the 4th house of so many nations did nothing, it would be difficult to argue for the validity of astrology ever again.

As it turned out, I had the knowledge of something in the economic world sounding a bit ominous, the Barbault Scale telling me that something unpleasant would have to happen to make the scale valid. So I had stuck my neck out in 2003 and made a prediction that we were going to experience something not very great in 2009. In fact the beginning of the credit crunch could be claimed to be as early as August 2008 but I could live with a variance of four months.

So the Barbault Scale had told me that something was going to happen in 2009 but I had no idea what at the time. But if what I now believe is right, then 2009 was just a light Hors d’oeuvre compaired to the main course that is yet to be served.

The pessimists will simply agree with the findings I place before you with a nod and no great surprise. The optimists who think that someone is going to wave a magic economic wand and the nightmare of austerity will go away will surely want to reject my findings as a fantasy devised from meaningless and impossible symbolism. When I first began studying astrology, it was my intention to prove that it worked – or did not work. And to do that one must study hard and deeply to understand the subject and then to produce something from it. This is my intention today.

So before I offer you the evidence supported by the planetary cycles that pertain to future events, I wish to make it plain from the start that my findings support the notion that there will be a global economic depression from 2016 (possibly up to a year earlier) to 2020. It is my belief that because the causes have already happened we are merely going to witness the effects. But it will not be pleasant and I do not rule out the possible spin offs of hostility, poverty and destitution. No one will come out of it unscathed. I do not see this as a pleasant prediction but a very important one.

The planetary pairs I have investigated are as follows:

Pluto Neptune
Pluto Uranus
Pluto Saturn
Pluto Jupiter
Neptune Uranus
Neptune Saturn
Neptune Jupiter
Uranus Saturn
Uranus Jupiter
Saturn Jupiter

Each pairing has its own connection, perhaps better understood if you use colour as an analogy. If for example Pluto were blue and Neptune red, the combination would produce purple. What shade of purple depends on the amount of each colour used of course. If Uranus were yellow then Pluto Uranus would be green and Neptune Uranus would be orange. The picture we end up with depends very much on our use of the colours available. It is a simplified explanation but sufficient to understand how I have examined the planetary cycles that follow.

Barbault and the outer planets

Pluto Neptune

Pluto ingressed into Capricorn (2008 to 2023) just in time to throw some material perspective into how fair our capitalist system serves our society. Clearly the credit crunch proved that the unnecessary risks taken with the world’s money was unsustainable. Pluto in Capricorn demands material evolution. This involves changes to systems that do not serve humanity as a whole and will, if necessary, result in some painful processes. As the world hit a debt crisis that will take many years to pay the price for, it will become impossible for the system of capitalism to continue as if nothing had happened.

Neptune was in Aquarius (1998 to 2012) when the credit crunch occurred but was also in Aquarius when it started. The Barbault scale began with a very healthy plus period from 1996 to 2002, suggesting the rise of the ‘yuppie’ (Young up and coming person). Even though credit cards were an invention of the 1970s to try to bring a stagnant economy into some semblance of growth, the 1990s was in many ways the boom period of the ‘buy now – pay later’ society.

Consider that the generation that was born in the 70s grew by the 90s into the first adults to live by the credit card as if it had always been there; it is not so unreasonable a suggestion with the outer planets, that the effects produced are over a long period of time.

Neptune’s ideal to benefit the group did not exist within selling of toxic debt packages but unfortunately, those with the power to disregard the well being of the collective could only be stopped by the universal principle of cause and effect. Without proper boundaries, the selling of debt for profit outgrew itself and went the way of the dinosaur.

Neptune ingressed into Pisces (2012 to 2026); the point just beyond where this article is written. The ideals of society are tested for their appeal to humanity as a whole. Therefore special interest groups, or elite members within small groups who cannot prove to be helpful towards society as whole, will be either opposed by the collective or dissolved to make way for something that will. Neptune is strong in its own sign, so it would seem reasonable to expect a greater moral compass coming out of the debacle that the world debt crisis is proving to be. But the broad brush strokes of how the humanitarian fight back is to manifest must be looked at in the Pluto / Neptune cycle.

In 2012, the Neptune Pluto cycle is in a waxing cycle that is in a septile aspect (51 degrees: The circle divided by 7) and will reach the sextile aspect by 2030. Having said this, it must be said that the Neptune/ Pluto aspects hover back and forth for many years. The first septile aspect from the conjunction in 1892 occurred in 1937. Since then the Neptune / Pluto cycle progressed to a sextile aspect in 1951 before slipping back to the septile aspect in 2002.

Much is not understood about the septile aspect because it is not traditionally employed by many astrologers. I do not propose to explore it in this article but one many wish to consider history from the semisextile of 1917 to 1937 and then the septile from 1937 to the sextile of 1949 to consider the collective unconscious mood of the world over that time. The sextile of 1950 to the peak of its progression in 1971 is quite easy to see, being that it was a period of progression from World War 2 to the point where the world economy had overstretched itself in distorted ways to prompt difficult times throughout the 1970s. One can therefore infer that the progress of our evolution reached a certain point where a period of reflection should have prevented us from going horribly wrong.

But the fact is that we did go horribly wrong in 2008 and we are possibly going to relive the rather stark times of the 1970s (this from a UK historical perspective) as a result. The fact that the previous 52 degree aspect between these two planets occurred in 1938 should leave you with no doubt that if anything is true about the septile, it is that we live in times of great uncertainty. Conversely I do not believe that we are about to plunge into World War III but have no illusion that conflict will arise. The question we must ask is whether our solution to the conflict benefits the whole world and not just a part of it.

Pluto Uranus

Uranus, the planet of divine discontent, in Aries (2011 to 2019) places an individual perception collectively into the mix that demands reform. The Arab Spring is an example but there are many reforms in progress that is likely to change our world remarkably over the next ten years or so.

Uranus is in a waxing phase from Pluto that will reach a critical square in 2016. This is an extremely important moment that we must pay full attention to. The original conjunction in 1965 signalled our breaking away from the outmoded attitudes of the post-war era and into one that placed an emphasis on the building of work and individual worth to the collective. But by doing so, people aimed for a better life style that broke away from the notion of the class structure that existed in the previous Uranus / Pluto cycle (1850 to 1963). The shattering events of the previous wars made way for new ideas and new opportunities.

So by 2016, fifty three years after the cycle began, we can see if the path the world has chosen is producing the material fruits of the vision laid out at the conjunction. What we find presently is that the divide between rich and poor still exists, so although the principle of class structure is long since rejected, the opportunity to better one’s way of life is still dependent on affluence. This will perhaps be felt more so when the effects of austerity measures created by the debt crisis, caused by the greed of the rich, begin to hit the less well off to the point of crisis. What the Uranus / Pluto square will do is force a change – be it through protest or insurrection at worst, to relieve the burden of poverty from those who will bear the most pain and are given no choice but to force reform for survival.

Pluto Saturn

Saturn and Pluto (1982 to 2020) made a conjunction in Libra starting a new cycle that explored the right way to develop trade and diplomacy within a collective framework. Within this structure the beginning of the Euro came to pass, evolving the vision of the European Union conceived within the previous Saturn Pluto cycle.

In 2012, Saturn is in its waning phase from square to the last sextile in 2013 before a new cycle begins in 2020. As Saturn is the structural planet that creates an appropriate framework for society to function, we begin to see how critical this period really is.

Saturn will be in Scorpio when the closing sextile occurs, suggesting a crackdown on illegal activities and investigation into wrong doing in general. In the UK the Leveson Inquiry is a good example of what I mean, albeit that this particular issue started a year before the sextile, however, one must argue on this point that the kind of influences I am talking about do not just happen smack bang on an aspect. The cycles referred to here are long term events that move slowly. Saturn and Pluto is a 33 year cycle so one might accept that there is a natural evolution that carries the cycle forward rather than a sudden event at a certain point. In contrast, the Neptune Pluto cycle is just under 500 years long.

Saturn essentially demonstrates the structure that we live in at this particular moment. Like all structures it is subject to change and improvement. With Pluto there is a demand that an evolutionary momentum of a certain level is maintained. If it is not then the world can hit a crisis under which that change is forced. It seems clear, given the current situation and also that money available until around 2020 is going to be scarce, that basing our evolution on the current monetary system is not an option.

Because Saturn is a societal planet, the Saturn Pluto cycle is one of the more noticeable events in Barbault’s revelations. For example, the digging up (Pluto) of hidden (Scorpio) evidence for the sake of natural justice (Saturn) may well relate to revelations about nuclear capability in Iran as much as it may reveal structural weaknesses in corporations.

But most important is the way in which the Saturn Pluto cycle plays out on a level that many people feel they can actually do something. In as much as the law (Jupiter) is there to see justice done (Saturn) the laws that no longer reflect the needs of an evolving society must change. Examples of how the law changes include the obvious refrain of humanity to offer human sacrifice, the abolition of slavery and the development of human rights enshrined in law. So when the Saturn Pluto cycle is in conjunction in Capricorn in 2020, there lies the possibility of us examining how our world is administered, its regulations and the effectiveness of its functions; including the way capitalism presents an unfair path to security and lifestyle for many.

Pluto Jupiter

The Jupiter Pluto cycle is the fastest of the Barbault cycles. The current cycle started its conjunction in Sagittarius in December 2007 and will complete in Capricorn in November 2020. So if Pluto in Sagittarius reflected our evolution into globalisation then Jupiter reflected our participation in it. Consequently it follows that our participation at the conjunction of 2020 will be (it is hoped at least) wholeheartedly in line with the will to regulate what goes on in our capitalist system to ensure that nothing like what we are yet to experience in its full horror will ever happen again.

Jupiter opposes Pluto in 2014, which is the time where we are likely to understand the full extent to which our complicity in the current austerity measures will cost and, crucially, what we as individuals will have to contribute. It is probable that with Jupiter in Cancer, we will be inclined to look to our own nations for some form of protection from the onslaught. Not everyone will be in a position to escape it. However, it will be a time for governments to exercise compassion as well as responsibility. It will be a time when political ideals will count for nothing if the electorate suffer because of them.

Neptune Uranus

This last point brings us rather neatly back to Neptune, having completed all the Pluto cycles in Barbault. Neptune’s first cycle to a lesser planet is with Uranus. The current Uranus Neptune cycle started at the conjunction of 1993 in Capricorn. The ideals (Neptune) of freedom (Uranus) from regulation (Capricorn) begin here. With this notion the banks took off in pursuit of ever greater profit but without thought to the consequences. It took just 15 years for it to collapse and the cost of this is now very evident.

Likewise within the same time period, the Euro came into being. Because of the spectacular way the debt crisis went global there is every possibility that the Euro will cease to exist in its present form; the opportunity to examine this arrived at the first waxing semi sextile in 2011. The first major casualty was Greece whose debt structure demands crippling austerity measured that few people seriously believe is manageable. Behind them are Ireland, Italy, Spain and Portugal. Unemployment is at record levels and there are no green shoots of recovery on the horizon.

The Uranus Neptune cycle’s first hard aspect is the semi square (45 degrees), which will occur in 2019, placing yet more pressure on the year 2020 to seek release from the current oppressions. With Uranus then in Taurus there is a strong indicator for the ideal (Neptune) to tackle purposefully (semi square) the reform (Uranus) of finance (Taurus with Venus in aspect). Indicators exist therefore to suppose the very real possibility that the Euro as a currency will have to be abandoned because the structure upon which it was built has proved not to work across all member nation states. Curiously it may be possible that abandoning the Euro could be the very thing, said now to be an important mechanism for growth, to stimulate the growth in the economy that governments of the world hope for.

Neptune Saturn

The Saturn Neptune cycle conjunction began in 1989 in the year that the Berlin Wall fell. Soviet communism had dissolved towards the end of the previous Saturn Neptune cycle that began in 1952. The previous cycle started in November 1916, just two months before the start of the Communist Revolution began. What became a superpower in the 20th century took just two Saturn Neptune cycles to fall apart.

Neptune dissolves what Saturn structures. Communism is a very Neptunian ideal that promised opportunity for everyone. History reports that the real effect of any communist system in the world has not produced the ideal for which it was designed. Saturn, on the other hand, is a planet of perspective and a sense of belonging that must be present to give structure and stability the Neptunian idea.

Saturn opposed Neptune by aspect in June 2007, challenging any structure that did not have a secure structure appropriate for the time. It is not so strange then that the sale of debt (debt comes under Neptune) started to unravel with sub prime mortgages in 2007 and ultimately crashed in 2008.

The waning square occurs in November 2015 and with Saturn in Sagittarius and Neptune in Pisces, the ‘correction’ that needs to be applied will have a global impact. Politicians in the UK who seem to be incapable of honesty named the ‘credit crunch’ but insisted there would be no recession. Then the credit crunch turned into a recession and became known as a debt crisis, but there would be no double dip. Then there was the double dip recession. Apparently we cannot trust those who control the very monetary systems that we invest in. Ordinary tax (Saturn) payers (Neptune) paid millions to shore up the banks. Following on from this will be massive job cuts across the board, high unemployment and higher taxes. In 2012 we have only seen (in the UK) about 12 percent of all the proposed cuts. When the waning square hits in 2015, the ordinary tax payer will have a much clearer idea of what the credit crunch really did and what must be done to ensure that it is never repeated.

Neptune Jupiter

The Jupiter Neptune cycle originating in January 1997 reached its closing semi square in January 2008. The belief (Jupiter) in an ideal (Neptune) is a pretty powerful combination and resonates strongly to the confidence that money markets need to promote growth in the financial sector. On the other hand it also resonates to fraud, which one could say that – certainly without the factual structure of Saturn – the entire stock market is based on a lie. The share prices are worth what they are worth because that is what they are believed to be worth. Money in its physical presentation is exactly the same, which is why countries believe they can print more money if necessary without devaluing the currency. Quantitative easing was so defined by Japan in 2001 as a means to pull the country out of sudden danger of deflation. It turned out to be unsuccessful.

Since the credit crunch, a number of countries, including the United States, have issued bonds as well as quantitative easing to halt the economic downturn (another phrase used in the UK rather than recession) while pushing interest rates to as low as they can go. But confidence (Jupiter) of the banks, particularly affecting the inter-bank lending (LIBOR) rate squashed virtually all lending by banks to each other, making it very difficult, if not impossible, for business to borrow at a reasonable interest rate. As a result several large businesses were among the many thousands that could not survive. I believe that more well known businesses will close before 2020.

Banks in the UK were deregulated at the time of the Jupiter Neptune conjunction in Capricorn of 1997. It was within the waning square of 2006 that issues arose around sub prime mortgages and the cycle finished with the collapse of the entire financial system. According to comments by Mervyn King, the governor of the Bank of England, in May 2012, he believed that he could see what might happen in 1997 but was powerless to interfere. He regrets that he and his colleagues did not 'shout from the rooftops' about the impending financial disaster.

By the Jupiter Neptune conjunction of December 2009 (Aquarius), the first recession had been established. By April 2012 the double dip recession was confirmed, with the economy bobbling along flatly. The Jupiter Neptune square in June 2012 can only acknowledge the reality resounding around Europe that with record unemployment and no confidence in the worldwide economy that the recession is set to continue. If anything, by the time of the opposition in September 2015 we will see at the very least the chance of a triple dip but I suspect that Barbault’s five-year minus period will prove to be an economic depression of global proportions. At the waning square of September 2019 we may see the first very tentative green shoots of recovery but proof of true confidence in the world economic recovery may not be observed until the new conjunction in Pisces of April 2022.

Uranus Saturn

The Saturn Uranus cycle is the challenge for us to change with the times. That which we structure (Saturn) may be right for today but our structure of just 30 years ago would not. We either adapt as a society or get left behind by those more able to embrace what is needed to evolve. The cycle began at the conjunction of 1988. Russia tried desperately to restructure its society with ‘Perestroika’, revolution in Estonia paved the way for a number of breakaway countries from the USSR and the break-up up of Yugoslavia, already showing discontent, erupted just three years later. There were many countries in Europe whose economic structure was out of touch with the developed world and the breaking down (Uranus) of structures (Saturn) that do not work very well was inevitable. Those economies that do not create a constructive and dynamic structure within their society run the risk of opening up a vacuum for dictatorship (Uranus) and death (Saturn) or at the very least a crystallized and uncompetitive market that cannot succeed.

The waxing square occurred in May 2000 just days after the ancient seven (Sun, Moon, Mercury, Venus, Mars, Jupiter and Saturn) combined in the sign of Taurus; all opposing Pluto and all square to Uranus and Neptune by astrological house. At the very least this was suggesting that the whole world, both personally and societally, was going to experience some serious changes. The last of the seven planets was Venus, which in its own sign of Taurus has very strong financial implications. Add to it a Saturn Uranus square and the suggestion of the need to examine where our financial market was heading is glaringly obvious in hindsight. At the time, however, there were world changing events taking place in Europe that one may argue mattered more than money. After the war in Kosovo followed the World Trade Centre in 2001 and then the invasion of Afghanistan and Iraq. The breaking down of structures was happening everywhere.

The Saturn Uranus opposition, November 2008, occurred just a couple of months after the announcement of the collapse of Lehman Brothers. Where there may have been a possibility at the square to change course and adopt the right financial structure, by the opposition it was too late. With the damage already done we now had to rebuild that which should not have been torn down. In many ways this was a great example of too much Uranus and too little Saturn. Change is always necessary and it is right to feel the need to develop. But change without structure is chaos, which in this case ended up with global financial markets staring into the abyss of complete meltdown.

The next opportunity to begin to repair the damage and – this time – to build our economic structure with proper safeguards and regulations – will be at the point of the waning square, which is not until February 2021. The chances are we may know well before hand what it is that we want to achieve, but it may not be feasible to enact those changes until this time.

Uranus Jupiter

The Jupiter Uranus conjunction of 1997 occurred in Aquarius, suggesting that the social trend (Jupiter) undergoing changes (Uranus) was a collective one (Aquarius). The explosion of Internet and globalisation changed many things we did as a society including online shopping and electronic books. Computer technology exploded and has yet to stop falling over itself. The want now, have now, pay later culture fed voraciously on these new consumer led outlets without remission.

In 2010 the next conjunction occurred in Pisces, the last sign in the zodiac cycle, suggesting that the social trend is towards changing our ideals and finding confidence in a world that is not so hung up on target driven results. Jupiter Uranus in Pisces is a great place to share visions of the future and generate the confidence to have them realised. Yet we may not see the fruits of these visions until the waning square of January 2021. Having said that, the 2010 Jupiter Uranus conjunction remained in conjunction aspect right the way through to January 2011 when the Arab Spring began. When one considers the results so far of what has happened in many countries in the Middle East, the strength of belief (Jupiter) in reform (Uranus) it suggests that this particular cycle is very strong and will produce many changes that should ultimately lead to a better and more inclusive global society.

Saturn Jupiter

The final planetary cycle in the Barbault scale is Jupiter Saturn, the societal planets. It is a 20-year cycle that defines where we belong (Saturn) in the grand scheme of life and how we participate (Jupiter) within it. In May 2000 the new conjunction occurred in Taurus. Both Jupiter and Saturn had to square with Uranus before making conjunction, so with Uranus still applying by waxing square just two degrees past, the notion of opportunity to change ones life was incredibly strong. With the benefit of hindsight it is once again easy to see how the confidence of Jupiter and the opportunity of Uranus overshadowed the generally cautious Saturn. With the conjunction in Venus’s sign what ‘I have’ was emphasised more than what one could possibly afford or sustain. As this attitude spread also through financial institutions, the risk raking increased in tandem with increasing targets for greater and greater profits and bonuses. By the time of the Jupiter Saturn square of December 2005 the machine was unstoppable.

The Jupiter Saturn opposition occurred in December 2011. Greece was already feeling the debt crisis by May 2010 but in December 2011 the International Monetary Fund (IMF) were signing off billions of Euros to Ireland and Portugal, Italy were placed under an administrative government, Spain has 24% unemployment, the highest rate in Europe, both the UK and France have plans for making the bulk of their cuts between 2013 and 2016 and Germany wants to make huge cuts even earlier than that (2014). Imagine viewing this cycle opposition as being ‘look (Saturn) at what you’ve done (Jupiter)’. But by the opposition the damage is done and we now reap what we have sown until the waning square in August 2015. What is left in the aftermath is what we have to work with until the new Jupiter Saturn conjunction of December 2020, which begins at the critical degree of zero degrees of Aquarius.

After 2020

There are at least 30 years of financial stability after 2020. It may well be a cautious world that ventures out with a more robust financial structure but it may not be bad thing to have factored a little moderation into daily life. Much would have been learned from the mistakes of the past. It looks certain that safeguards will be put in place to make sure that the kind of greed that created the financial crisis cannot be repeated.

However, the fate of the world was not intended to be decided by the few and it is precisely because the fate of the world was decided by the few that the financial crisis was allowed to happen. Every one of us has a right to participate in how our world evolves. For many of us it might only a small part, like voting in elections but the more involved we become in our community, our country, our world, the greater the opportunity will be to ensure that the voice of reason and balance is weaved into important decisions.

My reason for writing this article was not to pour doom and gloom into an already unhappy situation but to express the opportunity for us to not only learn from past mistakes but to actively engage in formulating a good and long lasting solution for the future. The so-called experts should have had the knowledge to stop the financial meltdown but they did not. So we cannot expect that the same experts will not simply attempt to regurgitate the same old solutions. The Universe demands reform and we must comply.