Return

Hello all,

I've been away for a while, but am now returning in full force.  I have updated my primary website (http://www.blackunykorn.com) and started a new coaching/web design/document editing site (http://www.philipyoungphd.com).  I plan to blog regularly on various astrology and tarot topics, especially the major current energies in play.

I am now embracing my role as an astrologer and tarot reader full time.  I have expanded my astrological services, especially adding astrocartography ... location/relocation/travel astrology, which is proving to be a much sought after product.

My first astrological book is complete and now in process with an editor and publisher.  I hope to have a copy in hand by the first of next year.

Best to all,

Philip Young, PhD

Pluto in Capricorn/Penn State Scandal; Uranus in Aries/Leave Your Bank Day

I circulate through four main news sites (Google News, Yahoo Finance, Alternet, and Al-Jazeera) and receive financial commentary from Patrick.net, John Mauldin, and Graham Summers.  Today, I read an article from a man my age who is a Penn State grad who said he "had lost all faith in the leadership of my parent's generation."  I can relate.  I have written and spoken about the fact that my generation (born in the midst of the Civil Rights movement) does not have any Elders to guide us; our society has turned our would be Elders into second life teenagers, telling them to forgo responsibility to family and society in favor or vacations and extravagant consumption whenever possible.  Many people I talk to who are within 10 years of me (33 to 53) feel lost or unguided at this time in their lives.  Predictably this period coincides with a Saturn square, opposition, and second square; Pluto squaring Pluto, Neptune squaring Neptune, and Uranus opposing Uranus.  These transits all represent transitions from adulthood to Elderhood and can prove devastating without guidance or enlightening with support.

The Penn State scandal is probably the model we astrologers could use to precisely show how Pluto transiting Capricorn transforms large institutions by revealing the "deep secrets" in such a way that we understand how the very institution is complicit in the secret and the crime.  The tendrils of the situation are just beginning to spread outward and have already consumed individuals who probably thought they were the highest of the high, living without a worry about their safety or security.  The most venerated and successful (Capricornian) coach in college football history was fired just days after the story broke and it was clear that the structure designed to help protect young people (through chain of command reporting and assumed action), supported the powerful and "loved" member of the football team coaching staff over the children abused.  Other similar blow back has happened in other arenas, politics especially.  The Occupy Wall Street movement is rather similar to the Civil Rights movement with all the same tropes and themes that were used at the start of that movement to discredit the protesters.  Keep in mind that Pluto is still in the first decan (the first 10 degrees of the sign).  When it squares with Uranus next year and starts moving into the second decan, watch for the European Union debt can to find the end of the road, no more kicking available.

Once you say something is too big to fail, Pluto says ... "really?"

Uranus in Aries will represent "Awakening to Survival and Independence."  The "Leave Your Bank Day" proved dramatically effective as people leveraged the real vote left in our pseudo-capitalist society ... taking their money elsewhere.  Corporations may have bought and sold our government, but banks are not the only game in town ... at least, not yet.  Each sign interacts with each energy point in different ways, sometimes enhancing, sometimes neutral, and sometimes diminishing.  Believe me when I say that Uranus in Aries is like putting a booster pack on lightening.  The previous Uranian journey through Pisces was about the Awakening of Spirit and Spirituality, largely taking shape through rapid communication technology and the maturation of the Internet.  Social Networking emerged while Uranus was in Pisces.  Keep in mind that Pisces is probably the most fluid and ambiguous sign, especially since it reflects dreams and the mass consciousness (one giant Amoeba).  Aries is the Warrior image, so imagine Zeus hurling thunderbolts and you have some idea of what Uranus will be like moving through Aries.  The journey has just begun and the peak, several years out, will likely see the mass consciousness realize that voting as it currently stands is a choice between a pile of dog crap and a pile of cat crap ... and no REAL choice at all.

Monumental change is on the horizon and likely to emerge and explode between 2012 and 2015.  2012 is not only an ending, but also a beginning.  And like all beginnings involving a movement from the status quo to a new status quo, the transition will be chaotic at times, but Pluto is moving through the sign ruled by Saturn to force transformation from the old ways into new ways.  That will be done by unveiling the systemic corruption present in government and corporate business, by design ... but not before the current players go all in.  Make no mistake that the wealthy will destroy themselves before they give up any of their possessions ... and they will eat their own, just ask Lehman Brothers employees.

The easy to miss and forget transit is Neptune in Pisces; it is watery, ambiguous, delusional, dreamy, and spiritual ... and entering its own sign while Pluto and Uranus do their work.  I think we can expect to see issues with liquids, the two most important being water and oil, constantly entangled with one another as more deep sea drilling must be done to locate new sources of oil and millions of gallons of water must be used to separate oil from the "miracle" tar sands in North Dakota.  And lastly, expect more gas in the water system as Fracking continues to develop with minimal regulation and maximum greed for alternative energy that is just like or just as good as oil.

Uranus square Pluto, Occupy Wall Street, and Karl Marx

I've written quite a bit about the upcoming Uranus/Pluto square, as have many, many other astrologers.  The situation has had me thinking about Karl Marx.  Most people who denigrate Marx or claim Communism is a failed system have not read a page of Marx.  In graduate school I took the opportunity to read not only the Communist Manifesto, but also Das Capital.  Neither of these books are "light" reading.  It's not surprising that Marx would be vilified by the elites and all those in the West who hope to one day be members of the elite group (meaning the vast majority) since he promotes a communal system, a more egalitarian sharing of resources, and the idea that resources are limited and must be managed properly.

Marx not only wrote about a complex problem in a complex way, but he accurately predicted various outcomes and his most important one is coming to pass right now.  Marx argued that capitalism would have to be global before socialism and communism could be viable alternatives because capitalism has to reach the limits of the system in order to show its destructive process to the masses and essentially override any and all propaganda.  He also argued that there was a short cut, violent revolution.  But he provided a caveat, those who overthrew an existing dictatorship or oligarchy would have to give up the power it seized in the revolution, which has not ever happened.  No "communist" country, especially Russia, has implemented Marx's principles; they have just traded one kind of top down power for another and clothed it in the word communism.  In essence, Marx is on the side of the 99 percent.

Occupy Wall Street is in its infancy and will likely sputter along until the European debt crisis matures and wipes out bond holder wealth to a staggering degree.  Look for that event to happen some time between now and the first Uranus/Pluto square in June of 2012.  What Marx wisely predicted was the inherent problem with capitalism, which chugs along just fine so long as there are new frontiers and cheap labor to exploit.  But once the system goes global, then inequalities become more and more apparent.  Western workers are finding that their value is coming in line with the value of Eastern workers, and now that global commerce has taken hold Eastern workers are seeing a rise in their value because there really are no more labor markets to exploit.  As John Mauldin, a very smart economist, entitled his book Endgame, we are beginning to see the Endgame of capitalism as predicted by Marx.  

Many different layers will emerge during this transition period as we begin to reach the limits of our closed system.  Not the least of which is the collusion of technology and population growth.  As technology makes the need for workers decrease and population continues to increase the disparity between those who have and those who do not will continue to grow.  Oddly enough an energy crisis could prove to be a saving grace (in the long run) for the human population.  Watch for problems with liquids (oil and water) as Neptune traverses through Pisces.  And, when energy and jobs become scarce, watch spirituality increase, from the infantile (fundamentalism) to the sophisticated (Hopi and Mayan).

In essence, the world has borrowed about three lifetimes of wealth which cannot be paid back.  We could move towards this future consciously by engaging in some very radical changes, which would include conscious population management, rethinking private and public resources, eliminating corporate charters and the stock market.  But, I suspect and expect the Plutonian/Capricorn elites to resist to the full measure of their greed and wealth, requiring a violent revolution to dislodge them and redistribute resources to the larger civilization.  Nothing new under the sun ...  Don't be surprised if they figure out that they need to shut down the Internet or close it down restrictively if the movement grows and thus dodges the mainstream media.  Once the larger system collapses on itself (debt default), there will be the opportunity for people to come together and look for new, more mature solutions and Marx's prediction of a natural evolution to socialism and communism will prove to be true.

2012 to 2015 - The Coming Storm

In his book on Lunation Cycles Dane Rhudyar emphasizes the cyclic nature of all energy points, not just the Sun and Moon.  To understand the ebb and flow of energy using Astrology, one must understand the current cycle of the energy relationship between two points in the chart.  The one to watch from 2012 to 2015 is the upcoming square between Uranus and Pluto.  Since Uranus is the faster moving of the two, it passes Pluto approximately every 115 years (1850 to 1852 they were conjunct in Aries and 1965 to 1967 they were conjunct in Virgo).  So, looking at the most recent conjunction, the 1960s represented the end of the cycle and the beginning of a new cycle.  In America this transition played out significantly moving the country out of a stratified mind set and into changes that brought new and better opportunities for minorities and women.  The whole period around 1958 to 1972 experienced the combination of Awakening/Transformation in the energy of Virgo, affecting skills, day-to-day work, and health.  Not surprising, the 1960s represent a fairly clear shift from America of 1850 to 1960.

As part of the whole cycle, the energy points will square twice and oppose once.  Significantly the first half of the movement towards the opposition is considered waxing (or increasing in intensity) and the movement towards the conjunction from the opposition is considered waning (or decreasing and preparing for the next cycle).  So, as the full on square approaches in July of 2012, we can expect more volatility that will intensify through 2015 and leave lasting impact on the way to the opposition.  Since the two signs involved are Capricorn (Pluto's transit) and Aries (Uranus' transit), there will be antagonism between big systems going through necessary change and people's survival needs.  The Occupy Wall Street movement will grow as the large systems crumble and people realize that the war is between the 1% and the 99%.  

Greece will default, and even if the European Union provides a bailout now, they will be trapped by all the other countries in need of defaulting or bailing out (Ireland, Portugal, Italy, and Spain).  Sort of, well if Greece gets to cut as much as 50% or more from its bondholder responsibility (or 100% through default), why shouldn't the other countries get the same deal or make the same move.  Basically the EU is backed into a corner.  Iceland has been kept as far out of the news as possible because they gave the finger to British and Scottish banks, defaulted, were froze out of the international credit markets, suffered an economic fall off a cliff, and now (9 months later) are stabilizing and rebuilding their economy in more realistic terms for what the country can produce and sustain.  They are, in fact, living within their means.  The fact that Greece, which probably represents no more than .04% of the world economy, can threaten to bring the whole financial system to its knees helps you can understand how out of control credit lending became while Pluto was transiting through Sagittarius.

I also find it ironically interesting that the "birthplace of Western Civilization" is likely to lead to the "end of Western Civilization" as we have known it pretty much since the last Uranus/Pluto conjunction (during the time of the industrial revolution).  Since the upcoming square involves Cardinal energy, the tension is more likely to be explosive than collaborative.  Jeff Green, in his book on Uranus, points out that Aries represents, at its most primal, the need to survive.  More broadly Aries rules the pioneering spirit, independence, arrogance, and selfishness.  As more and more people see the big systems fail and the corporate and banking ruling class no longer hide as effectively behind both parties, it will become clear that the political system is rigged on both sides of the isle.  Both parties are now, more clearly than ever, the tools of corporate greed, especially now that corporations are people too!  We are also seeing how fully controlled the mainstream media is by the same powers, as they do their best to denigrate the protesters, put as the lead story the release of some woman accused of murder in Italy 2 years ago, and make claims (thank you Hermann Cain) that this protest against greed is Un-American.  I wonder if Mr. Cain would feel the same about Civil Rights protests that helped put him into a position where his "work hard" did allow him to become wealthy.  Obviously he did everything on his own.

Everything will be done to avoid taxing the wealthy since they have so clearly paid to put people in office to protect their interests.  While 2012 may not be the year to throw out everyone from both parties, it will likely be the catalyst year when people finally realize that neither party is interested in protecting the larger populations interest for the common good.  How radical could Pluto become with the antagonism from Uranus?  How about the end of private/corporate donor money to politicians?  Term limits for Congress?  A line item veto or better yet, one item per bill?  The stripping away of corporate charters and the elimination of the stock market and the privatization of all companies?  Maybe at the end of the Plutonic transit.  Right now I expect more the cutting of services and the end of Social Security, Medicare, and other entitlements, even though they will not be nearly enough to cover the debt and the most "essential" service, the military.

Unemployment will continue to increase and power will continue to consolidate.  In the US only 4 banks own all the remaining banks and Bank of America is on its too big way to failing, leaving the other three to gobble it up (the rich eat their own, just ask Lehman Brothers employees).  How many phone carriers remain; the magic number of 4 again (Verizon, ATT, Sprint, and T-Moble) with a merger underway.  And keep in mind that, on the whole, advances in technology always eliminate more jobs than they create, which does not help when the population keeps increasing.  The number they do not talk about in the monthly job report is the 65,000 jobs you need to create just to handle population growth (all those 17 year olds that become 18 year olds each month).  So when you read about 103,000 new jobs in September, make sure to subtract 65,000 from that number to get a more correct number.  Now consider all the months in which there was no job growth.  And keep in mind that every time a Republican suggest cutting the deficit by cutting the budget he or she is really saying "let's put more people out of work."

The sad, difficult truth is that private companies cannot do all the hiring and that the government is a massive employer.  Unemployment benefits keep the peace.  Sports won't be enough to keep the masses distracted when they have to cut off their cable to have extra money to buy food.  2012 will be a big year, but 2013 and 2015 will contain all the real action.  If the wealthy successfully block tax increases and new technology continues to displace people and we keep increasing the overall population, we will begin to see the survival instinct/awareness so basic to Aries begin to grow more restless.  For the first time in human history we are actually reaching the boundaries of our closed system; there is no such thing as limitless growth on a sphere.  And unless we develop a warp drive in the near future, we are likely to meet the boundaries in this century.

The Transitioning of America (Part 3) - Pluto

Pluto just went direct two days ago (9/17), roughly at the time that President Obama presented a budget solution that finally includes raising taxes on the wealthy and the corporations.  All of the other outer planets continue to be retrograde at this time and mostly what we see in the news are ongoing attempts to "return to normal" and avoid the day of reckoning for as long as possible, even though the event is likely just on the horizon.  As he put it today, "we can't just cut our way out of this hole."  Tax increases represent part of the Capricorn energy.  Most people do not know that tax rates on the rich were once 91% (in the 1950's) and cut down to 70% in 1965 and much further (into the 28 to 35%) during the Reagan/Bush I presidencies.

Looming on the horizon is a Greek default, describes not as "if, but when" by economist John Mauldin.  October looks to be the trigger month unless the European politicians "kick the can further down the road," which is always possible.  In November, Chiron (11/11/11) and Neptune (11/10/11) will go direct, creating more "forward moving energy."  If the can is kicked down the road, November may then become the move forward month.  If not then, the end of December and the beginning of January 2012, could provide the final  energetic push when all the outer planets (and Jupiter) will be direct.  Expect fits and starts from now until the end of the year and never underestimate the power of denial.  In the end, 2012 will likely be the explosive year many predict, but probably not because of natural disasters, though they may be part of the picture.  The larger disaster ,considered in terms of human consciousness, is this mess with the global economy.

Basically, Pluto in Capricorn is showing us that we have borrowed our future away and returning to equilibrium is likely to be a very painful process without some very serious and significant changes ... and probably forgiveness of debt obligations.  Many of the "rich" will find themselves in a "former employee of Lehman Brothers" situation if they cannot bring  in the money on the debt they purchased through credit default swaps and they cannot "steal" through another TARP.  Hard choices are coming and the best way to face them will be through local community connection and support.  Clear whatever debt you can and network with friends and family in case you could get caught in the tidal wave looming on the horizon.  The real tests will come between 2012 and 2015 when Uranus and Pluto square.  It is not so much massive earthquakes or tsunamis that we face, but a massive upheaval socially that is already being played out microcosmically in the Middle East through various revolutions.  These near future times will certainly be "interesting" to a degree not experienced since, really, the 1960s.

The Transitioning of America (Part 2) - Neptune

Neptune has moved back into Aquarius, where it will stay until February of 2012. Once out of Aquarius next year, Neptune will remain in Pisces. While retrograde Neptune will almost reach back and touch the US Moon (less than 2 degrees) and is moving back and forth over the very bottom, most private part of the US chart. Neptune is about surrender, dissolving (washing away), and spirituality. As we enter a prolonged period of economic contraction, more and more individuals will find spirituality through scarcity, as well as potential bonding with our fellow human beings.

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Neptune will stay at the bottom of the US chart for the entire duration of 2012.  Coupled with the Uranus/Pluto square and the Saturn Return, we should expect 2012 to be what is generally predicted, a time of tremendous change.  Setting aside doomsday theories, we will likely see one of the most volatile years in America due to the upcoming Presidential election and the ongoing debt crisis in Europe, the US, and pretty much around the world.  As I posted in an early entry, we could also see, throughout the duration of Neptune's transit through Pisces, limits and problems involving all liquids, the two most important being water and oil.

Moving forward beyond 2012, Neptune in the movement through the US 4th House will reawaken spiritual feelings about family and culture.  If another recession or a depression (publicly named) manifest in 2012, we can expect a long duration of adjustment, peaking or bottoming out (depending on the metaphor you prefer) around 2015, when the last Uranus/Pluto square takes place (there will be 7 times the energy points square over the period of 2012 to 2015).  Neptune, rather appropriately, is returning "home" (to its own sign) and doing so in the US chart 4th House (of the Family).  We will all be encouraged to see and engage our family and even address wounds (Chiron in the 4th at the same time).

The Transitioning of America (Part 1) - Chiron

In previous posts I have written about the ingress of the outer energy points (Chiron from Aquarius to Pisces, Uranus from Pisces to Aries, Neptune from Aquarius to Pisces, and Pluto from Sagittarius to Capricorn).  Just one of these energy points changing signs is significant, consider the shift in the US and the World when Pluto moved from Sagittarius (Expansion) to Capricorn (Responsibility) at the end of 2007 and beginning of 2008.  During this current span of five years (2007 to 2012), all the outer energy points will transition from one sign into another and we can expect what we have received so far, a world in massive transition.  

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Our wound to face while Chiron was in Aquarius dealt with idealism across the spectrum of our lives.  Chiron entered Aquarius in March of 2005, just five months before Hurricane Katrina.  The sheer lack of preparedness and subsequent failures following the disaster was a wound of a very different sort than the September 11, 2001 attacks (under Capricorn and to our financial center).  Throughout its journey, which ended in February 2011, America elected a President on the slogan of Change, We Can Believe In and got the Same Old, Same Old.  At the time of this post Congress has one of the lowest approval ratings in American History and the President is fairing little better.

What can we expect with Chiron in Pisces? Pisces rules spirituality, dreams, and the larger consciousness of humanity.  We can expect the wound to take shape around those energies from 2011 until 2019, when Chiron will permanently enter Aries.  In the US chart Chiron resides in Aries in the 5th House (Sibley Chart, Whole Signs System).  Americans actually wound themselves through their independence and warrior approach.  No country has more successfully broken apart community and family at the micro and macro level than America.  The uber independence ideal has created a fractured health care system , a stagnant education system, and host of other ills no longer fully offset by the benefits.  In the current direction, what do you think we can expect when Chiron returns to its original position in April of 2024?  Will Americans heal this wound or be wounded more deeply, thinking the way forward remains the path of extreme individualism?

Chiron also functions as a bridge between the inner energy points, ending with Saturn, and the outer energy points beginning with Uranus, so it connects the individual with larger human consciousness.  Chiron is currently transiting through America's 4th House (of Family and the Inner Life).  One interesting outcome of the Great Recession has been the sometimes forced reconnection of family as adult children and baby boomer parents find that they must rely on each other if one or both get swept away in the tide of economic contraction.  Old or unresolved wounds around family will likely emerge with renewed and forced dependency.  Healing will come in the form of renewed family connections, the creation of new non-standard families, and the re-localization of communities.  In April of 2012 Chiron will conjunct Natal Ceres (the Harvest), retrograde back over nCeres in August, and complete its final forward pass in February of 2013.  The 4th House sees a lot of activity; the Progressed Sun is nearly conjunct nCeres now, Progressed Neptune will reenter Pisces in February of 2012 and conjunct nCeres in April of 2015, and Progressed Pallas is approaching the midway point through the house.  In all, we will see a refocus (pSun) on family while dealing with dreams/illusions/delusions (pNeptune) about family as we strategically think about family and its purpose in our lives (Pallas).

What this time appears to offer through these massive transitions, at least for Americans, is a rejuvenation of family, but not along past lines.  Uranus just finished its journey through the 4th House and "awakened" and "revolutionized" the American family.  If we try to "go back," as will be one of the strong suggestions during this time, we will find greater difficulty than if we find a way to mesh our strong individualism with a strong sense of family ... and, perhaps, more importantly, the inner life.  Do not be surprised if, as resources and wealth dwindle writ large in the coming conclusion to the debt supercycle, people find a greater need for a more secure and abundant inner life instead of an outer life of consumption and constant distraction.  Chiron will focus us all on issues of family and inner life, especially as the placement of Chiron plays out in the specific location of each individual's chart.