Astrology and History: Uranus/Pluto Conjunction–Breaking the Vessel, part 1

(Astrology Explored) Michael Erlewine wrote on his FB page his perception that the use of acid in the ‘60’s changed society:

The main lesson of LSD (and I have discussed this with many folks over the years) is that this particular drug is capable of resolving the habitual subject/object dichotomy, which simply means the assumption that thinks: I am here in my head looking out at you (and the world) AND the world I am looking at is independent of me and what I think. . .

The ‘60’s was a time where a society that had patched itself up from the trauma of the a severe Economic Depression and the Second World War kept tripping over its own scars. In a way, America was suffering from a case of PSTD. Though the Post War economic boom brought prosperity to unprecedented numbers of people, the societal roles crafted by this prosperity fit poorly on a populace that grew up with doomsday hanging over their heads. It was as if society was waiting for the other shoe to drop.

The stylishly retro AMC series Madmen provides a window into America before the drug culture and sexual revolution burst into the culture. In the final scene of the episode titled Signal 30 one character is seen working on a piece of fiction that hauntingly captures the ennui of the times:

“He imagined Beethoven, deaf and soul-sick, his heart broken, scribbling furiously while death stood in the doorway, clipping his nails. Still, Coe thought, it might have been living in the country that was making him cry. It was killing him with its silence and loneliness, making everything ordinary too beautiful to bear.”

The astrological hallmark of the 1960’s was the conjunction of Uranus and Pluto. Exact in 1965 and again in 1966 this conjunction is the midpoint of a decade of endemic societal change. Yet, the sixties is not unique. In the course of history, the conjunctions of Uranus and Pluto straddle important societal developments in our species.

A conjunction of Uranus and Pluto presents a union of the revolutionary arising and the plutonian (intensified) depths. Uranian creativeness aligns with the Plutonian breakdown – and together they become a relentless force for change or disruption. This influence is seen worldwide; the period in which the close conjunction occurs needs to be carefully looked at to see the thrust of directional energy and the emergent trends for social development that develop in following decades. Many things fall into place in the ensuing decades, but it seems to take until the two of them make their first waning square, 46 years later (in our present case), for a clear picture to emerge as to how successful or not the changes have been. Our experience of the mid-sixties Uranus/Pluto conjunction is going to be tested from 2012, when the first waning square gets under way.

Looking backwards we see a pattern of social change associated with these conjunctions that seem to break like ferocious waves upon a beach. Not that change is confined to a singular event but it does seems to be tied to an approximately decade long process of Uranus applying then separating from a 10 degree orb of Pluto’s position. Events 5 years before and 5 years after are part of the energy of the combustible conjunction of Uranus and Pluto.

In these waves of societal change we find the temporal and economic powers that govern the affairs of the populace pitted against no less than the spiritual evolution of humanity. The result is breaking the vessel of society and rebuilding it into a new paradigm.

Tomorrow–Breaking the Vessel, part 2, The Black Death As A Game Changer

Photo published under a Creative Commons as issued by user garann on Flickr.

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