THE ASTROLOGY OF FEAR – Part Two

Gustav Dore, The Fourth Horseman

In part one I defined fear, and then began to explore the astrological symbolic correlates of this emotion, namely Saturn, but secondarily Neptune.  We still have Saturn moving through the mutable sign of Sagittarius until the end of 2017, and we have Neptune moving through the mutable sign of Pisces for much longer—all the way to the spring of 2025.  Much greater collective fears will no doubt arise between now and then as the impending threat of Global Warming continues to melt the ice at both poles and the sea levels rise.  I have written many times about Neptune in Pisces, so I will not be redundant in this article.  Neptune’s many meanings include dissolution.  Much is dissolving away in the forms that we have become familiar with.  This, too, arouses increased anxiety collectively.

Please refer back to my definitive article Saturn in Sagittarius and Neptune in Pisces:  Form and Formlessness published on April 8, 2015 for a review of the square aspect that is now beginning to ebb away.  Back then I tried to put a more positive spin on the possible meanings of this configuration, but we can certainly see the enormous swelling of vague unease, and downright fear that this past 18-month long, drawn-out campaign in the USofA created.  In 2016 alone these two were in an exact square to each other in June, July, the end of August on through September.  They were still in orb in early October.

I look back on this and continue to reflect on how meaningless words are when politicians use them.  Truly it has seemed to me that these people are merely actors on a stage playing their scripted roles, because once the ‘play’/campaign is over it’s as though someone else emerges from the bloody fryer with an entirely different tone and and demeanor, all rosy and appropriately diplomatic once again.  Everyone is friends making polite conversation after hurling insults, accusations, and outright threats for 18 months.  What are we to believe?  Do words mean anything at all?  This is undoubtedly part of another cycle involving transit Uranus, awakening us to the use of politics and media, as it squares the USA Mercury in Cancer. (manipulation of the mind via communications)

Fear is obviously a tool used to manipulate the general populace as described in an article in The Atlantic entitled “Donald Trump and the Politics of Fear” by Molly Ball.  In this article she outlines the fact that fear ‘pervades Americans’ lives—-and American politics’ and shows us that fear ‘makes people hold tightly to what they have and regard the unfamiliar more warily.  It makes them want to be protected.’  We know that in America there is an abject fear of ‘the other’, those foreign terrorists lurking anywhere and everywhere (Neptune).  These unknown threats arouse a need for someone big and strong to come along and offer protection and solutions like strong walls (Saturn) to keep all of them out.  Ms. Ball quotes Rick Wilson, a seasoned ad maker as stating “Fear is the simplest emotion to tweak in a campaign ad.  You associate your opponent with terror, with fear, with crime, with causing pain and uncertainty.”

So there it is.  Saturn/Neptune at work in a big way and now finally over.  Mission accomplished.

William Blake’s Nebuchadnezzar

What comes next?  Saturn square Chiron.  This aspect will be exact on January 1, 2017!!  We will be feeling it strongly in December and it will actually continue on and off until December of 2017.  Keep in mind the cycle of Saturn is approximately 30 years around the Sun, so it hits all other planets in what are called ‘hard’ aspects every 7+ years starting with conjunction, waxing square, opposition, and waning square.  These cyclical patterns are what I look for.

Chiron in mythology was the rejected son of both Saturn/Chronos and Phyiria, a sea nymph who had turned herself into a horse to evade the lecherous Saturn.  Barbara Hand Clow in her book on Chiron states that ‘therefore Chiron is half-animal and half-human, and he is of the Earth and the sea.’.  Now with Chiron in Pisces there is a double meaning collectively in the drama unfolding between a dying patriarchy and the Chirotic healing that is necessary to maintain our human connections with both the Earth and the ‘Divine’.

Since Saturn is in Sagittarius we see a collective contraction going on where beliefs and philosophies are concerned.  In America this translates to a temporary strengthening of arch-conservatism where there is basically too much Saturn creating rigid, fearful, and judgmental positions as anyone outside that box is deemed an enemy or worse.  This Saturn/Chiron square will re-emphasize a basic wound that needs healing.  Saturn/’father’ may wound through persecution and/or domination.  That’s one possibility.  The rising up of a Yahweh type authority ‘god’ who punishes all ‘wickedness’ may merely repeat the mythological story of a Saturn who swallows up his children for fear any one of them will eventually overthrow him.  Orwellian themes come to mind as suspicions overtake the imagination of the public and blaming the other escalates with each authoritarian dictate from the higher ups.  This is a waning square so it will be a crisis of consciousness.  If there continues to be climate denial more strongly in place through governmental lack of oversight our relationships with the physical realm could become increasingly more and more difficult as brittle defenses crumble when environmental disasters unfold and extreme vulnerability of the populace increases.  I know I’m painting a worse-case scenario, but our scientists predict possibilities far more dire.

Keep in mind that this aspect would be in place irregardless of who was elected in America or elsewhere.  Seeing the bigger picture is important here.  A systemic, underlying structure of a patriarchal mind-set must be dealt with and it permeates to this day most religions, economic, and political platforms whether West or East.

This is, however, an aspect of potential healing which is the counter-movement swelling through the collective mind-set and emotional bodies of thousands upon thousands of individuals (hopefully millions!).  Saturn/Chiron together imply a need to be grounded firmly on Earth.  It is an aspect which demands resonance with Earth Wisdom and a need to call on Elders who are wise with a more natural sense of authority based on spiritual rather than religious understandings.  This aspect forces an encounter with all our collective fears and our penchant for scapegoating someone else for what ails us.  It requires self-examination with compassion and a resolution to focus on what really matters which is a Pisces theme; we are all in this together.  We sink or swim ultimately as one species on a planet now in deep jeopardy and we don’t have much more time to right the ills we have inflicted on it.  That will be the pressure of Saturn square Chiron as Saturn heads for Pluto.

Artist B.A. Vierling

Saturn will conjunct Pluto from 2018 through 2020.  Richard Tarnas elaborated on this very important conjunction in his seminal book Cosmos and Psyche.  He outlined the dates of this conjunction which have correlated with World War I and World War II.  Pluto is always activated powerfully during any Saturn/Pluto alignment.  Tarnas tells us that their cycle ‘coincides with especially challenging historical periods marked by a pervasive quality of intense CONTRACTION: eras of international crisis and conflict, empowerment of reactionary forces and totalitarian impulses, organized violence and oppression, all sometimes marked by lasting traumatic effects.’

Grave times ahead.  Yes.  I continue to reflect on that book written so many years ago The Last Waltz of the Tyrants, for a Saturn/Pluto conjunction implies hardened and encrusted power structures leading to massive problems with authority for the general populace.  Donna Cunningham wrote a beautiful article in The Mountain Astrologer’s December 2001/Janaury 2002 issue entitled “Between a Rock and a Hard Place—What the Saturn-Pluto Generations Share”.  We’ve had one other conjunction of Saturn/Pluto since WWII:  the 1981-1983 generation when they were in Libra.  Donna points out that the years between 1971 and 1984 (Pluto in Libra) were when the Women’s Liberation Movement and the Sexual Revolution peaked and began to decline.

With this next Saturn/Pluto conjunction in Capricorn, another Cardinal/action sign we will experience the Saturn/Pluto in Leo generation of people like Hillary Clinton moving through their seventies and probably still fighting.  These are the Baby Boomers.  This later generation born in the early ’80s are now in their thirties and are ready to fight.  So while Saturn/Pluto together implies great difficulty it also implies stamina, endurance, perseverance.

 Hillary Clinton has been a prime example of that with her Scorpio energies in full square to her Mars/Pluto/Saturn conjunction in Leo.  Her opponent, Mr. Trump, continues to admire her strength and fighting spirit.  Back in 2002 Ms. Cunningham referred to Clinton’s chart by reflecting on her painful love and betrayal issues, yet her ability to endure such public humiliation, and continue to stay in her marriage.  This theme of endurance through the most utterly loathsome experiences characterizes the absolute strength of this aspect.

I mentioned in Part One that courage is the antidote to fear.  We will be witness to immense courage in the years ahead no doubt.  That is why I’ve always loved the mantra ‘When the going gets tough, the tough get going’.  The themes outlined in Donna’s article will continue to make headlines most strongly during 2018 through 2020:  clashes with authority, wealth, and power, growing up the hard way, playing hardball with sex, power and powerlessness.  We will need plenty of steel in our bones to live through the Capricornian times ahead.  Please note the following four charts to see the progression of this dynamic.

 New Years 2017 shows Saturn still in Sagittarius exactly in square to Chiron in its Balsamic Waning Cycle with Pluto.

New Years 2018 shows Saturn in early Capricorn with Venus/Sun/Pluto all conjunct in that sign.

New Years 2019 shows Sun conjunct Saturn as it edges yet closer to Pluto and the South Node in Capricorn (ouch!).

New Years 2020 shows a massive stellium in Capricorn with Mercury/Jupiter/South Node and Sun all conjunct and the Saturn/Pluto in a very tight conjunction.  By then Uranus has entered Taurus.  There is much here to discuss for a later time.

2020 and US chart

I also refer you to the New Year 2020 chart as it impacts the United States Sibley chart.  We can see that Saturn/Pluto conjunction about to align with the nation’s Pluto and opposite the nation’s Mercury, while Neptune is beginning to oppose itself and square the nation’s Mars.  These are highly disturbing indicators of immense change on many levels and don’t exactly indicate America’s greatness.  Keep in mind that America is dependent on its relationships with other nations.  It should be inter-dependent, but if it takes a isolationist tactic and makes further enemies with the other nations of the globe it will be in deep trouble.  We cannot dismiss the dissolving nature of Neptune here with the war-machine of Mars in Gemini.

Back to the astrology of fear:  We all have Saturn someplace and we have Chiron and Pluto placements as well.  Look to see how these transit themes will impact your life.  Not everyone gets impacted harshly when a dynamic aspect is in the heavens for us all.  Not everyone responds with fear either.  Fear needs to be faced, but courage needs to take fear by the hand and keep walking.  That’s my philosophy at least.  We should never allow ourselves to be paralyzed by fear, though I remember nightmares as a child where that was so.  There are very real threats to be afraid of.  That’s why we have Saturn to help us defend ourselves.  Saturn rules our bones and skin; our structure and our first line of defense.  Our ego creates defense mechanisms to cope with real and perceived threats as a child.  We then have the work as adults to understand those and move on through them to strength and wholeness.  We have to do the same thing as a collective now.  We are not children in consciousness any longer.  We have to grow up and face things and act like adults and handle them.  ‘When the going gets tough, the tough get going.’  I am seeing that everywhere now with the people I know.  How about you?  Most people want to do what is right and I continue to believe in the goodness of humanity.

I did say in Part One that I would examine, as examples, the fear index in both Hillary and Donald’s charts.  Because I couldn’t find the time to write earlier and now we know who had to face their ultimate fear in this contest the most—that would be Hillary AGAIN—let’s look at Mr. Trump, America’s President elect.

 But before I do, a quick look at Clinton’s reveals that transit Saturn was in trine to her Mars just before the election, and in trine to her Pluto almost to the day of the election.  Transit Uranus has also been in trine to her Saturn in Leo, though transit Saturn is now in a semi-square (waning cycle) to her Sun.  Transit Saturn will trine her natal Saturn exact on December 31st.  I’d say she has taken in stride her fears and disappointments.  The ambition of Saturn in Leo, based on any underlying fear theme, would be the drive to be authentic, respected, and seen as strong like the Sun itself.  Saturn in Leo fears mediocrity archtypally.  Keep in mind that Leo wounds may run deep, but the classic Leo prefers to lick their wounds in private for there is great pride to be defended.  Hilary’s concession speech maintained her dignity and pride I feel.  She is strong and that is why so many women do admire her and why so many also loath her.  Strength brings both out in people.  My guess is that she will NOT fade into obscurity.  She is fixed and strong and she will endure to rise up Phoenix-like in some new form with that Scorpio/Leo dynamic so prominent in her make-up. (Note that I have shown two versions of her natal map.  The first is for a rectified 2:18 AM birth time; the second is for a 8:02 AM birth time.  Being the secretive Scorpio that she is, no one knows exactly the time of her birth in the astrological world.)

Below is Mr. Donald Trump’s chart:

For the sake of this article we are zeroing in on his Saturn/Venus conjunction in Cancer, for this is his ‘fear in-dex’.  Saturn in Cancer can be the fear of being ‘eaten up’ by the feminine element; the fear of dependency, the fear of emotional vulnerability, the fear of too deep emotional attachments, the fear of diving into one’s one feelings too deeply. With Saturn in the 11th house next to Venus I would wager that there is also a fear of not being loved by an audience enough, or the fear of being isolated from that adoring audience.  Liz Greene, ever the astute examiner of the human psyche, also has said that these individuals need to glamorize their uniqueness in order to feel superior, rather than ordinary and isolated.  They can not abide having equals for it is ‘painfully difficult to express their similarity with every other human being’.  Other astrologers like Bill Tierney talk about Saturn in Cancer being thin-skinned, therefore like the crab symbol, they insulate with a psychological shell.  There may also be the fear of chaos coming at them through groups where the energy is unregulated.

I have found that Cancer energy strongly placed in men’s charts can promote the opposite nature of a motherly, nurturing, kindly behavior due to the threat of appearing weak or vulnerable.  This would then become the classic male, chauvinist attitude.  My father was one of those men.  He was born in 1911.  Trump, born in 1946, likes to project the paternalistic, protective qualities of male strength without the vulnerability.

There was a telling article in The New York Times by Michael Barbaro back in October entitled “What Drives Donald Trump?—The Fear of Losing Status”.  Within the article the author points out several fears which act as a motivating force: his deep-seated fear of public embarrassment (vulnerable), his fear of falling from grace, of failure (vulnerable again), his dislike of self-reflection (“I don’t like talking about the past”), his lack of sympathy or understanding for weakness in others, his fear of being bested in public (vulnerable again), and ultimately, according to Barbaro, his ultimate fear—-more than anything else—-is being ignored, overlooked or irrelevant (11th house Saturn).

Weaving into this article was also Mr. Trump’s love of fighting.  We can see that clearly via his Mars in Leo rising next to his Leo Ascendant.  Under the heading ‘Lust for Fighting’ he states that he loved to fight, and has always loved to fight—-all types of fights, and any kind of fights.  He loved the regimentation of Military Academy and ‘seemed to revel in the masculine culture of confrontation there.’  This sounds like the ego-defense mechanism of Saturn in Cancer in the 11th conjunct Venus coupled with Mars in Leo and Sun/NorthNode/Uranus in Gemini, not to mention Moon in Sagittarius!  He has a massive Yang emphasis with only those Cancer planets intercepted in the 11th belying his great vulnerable, underlying fears.  These may also be turned to strengths, as no symbol is positive nor negative.  It is our consciousness which brings out those qualities.

This Saturn/Venus in Cancer could be his love of family and families and his genuine desire to protect and champion them all.  He has said as much himself.  It could be his sense of responsibility and his need to respond to the weak and vulnerable with a willingness to provide for them.  Certainly those who support him must believe that he has these qualities and will be there for them with his common touch and contact with the working class of America.  The baseball cap pretty much said it all that he DOES identify with all that is loved by America. What’s more American than baseball?  Still the troubling aspects of this Saturn/Venus in Cancer intercepted is a fear and great sensitivity to being rejected, a discomfort for the world of sentiment, and a mistrust of women that necessitates his keeping them under his control.  Americans will soon know which of these qualities are a prevailing force.

His Saturn square Jupiter in Libra suggests a see-saw temperament swinging between hopefulness and despair, trust and mistrust, success and failure.  It is actually the signature of someone who can make bad judgments in business and loose through speculation.  As an administrator of an entire nation this is hardly one to illicit confidence.  Since Jupiter is in an easy trine relationship with his Sun/N.Node/Uranus the yang shock jock, cavalier attitude of Gemini relies on stronger, better, faster pulls out of whatever holds one down or questions ones authority.  What’s to fear with Zeus in charge?  Or Prometheus?  Stealing fire from the gods is easy!  Excess may rule rather than prudent conservatism, and the unpredictable is always ones ace in the hole when things get too boring.  And Trump hates to be bored! (Sun conjoined with Uranus).

Saturn in conjunct his Moon in Sagittarius presents another interesting dilemma because he actually needs strong and independent women at his roots (4th house) and he usually gets them.  Thus his defense mechanisms sometimes get triggered such as the incident with Ivanka on the ski slopes where she outshone him in her prowess physically much to his chagrin.  This is an aspect of physical adjustment and his inner female is quite unique and ‘different’.  What he values (Venus) and what he needs (Moon) are extremely different from each other.  Moon in Sagittarius is decidedly a ‘don’t fence me in’ comfort zone.  I was reading with interest a news article where he wanted to know how many nights he’ll actually have to sleep in the White House each week.  He loves the freedom of returning to his own Trump Tower bed or flying to his resort retreat away from it all.  He will certainly be required to make major adjustments to his lifestyle once President.  He may fear the confinement of public office which demands that he play out a role as ‘public servant’ with less horsing around (Moon) and more decorum (Saturn/Venus).  What will happen to this dark horse when transit Saturn goes over his Moon and contraction takes place in his own personal life?  Watch the dates starting end of December through October of 2017 as transit Saturn conjuncts his Moon and opposes his Sun.  During that same time period, however, he will have the off-set of transit Uranus in trine to his Moon and in sextile to his Sun.  He does have a lucky signature in his natal map all right (Sun/N.Node/Uranus trine Chiron/Jupiter).  There’s much to explore in the next year with this character for he has some incredible aspects for jumping in and out of fenced areas.

This is a short exploration of Trump’s Saturn/fear in-dex but what about anyone’s fear of him?  There are plenty who don’t fear him but embrace him, enough to have elected him President.  Dani Rodrik, professor at the John F. Kennedy School of Government at Harvard, wrote an article on November 9th in the NYT with the title “What’s the Biggest Fear of a Trump Presidency?”  His assessment is not economic but the threat of his undermining of the norms that sustain a liberal democracy.  He feels that the traditions of checks and balances and of rule of law that are the United States standard bearers will be tested strongly.  He also feels Trump will fail economically because the global economy is not going to change to the extent that Trump has promised.  Technology has changed our world.  I will end by writing out his full quote “When the full scale of his economic disappointment sinks in sometime during his term, Mr. Trump may well react in the time-honored fashion of global populists like President Vladimir V. Putin of Russia.  To keep his base mobilized and insulate himself from economic troubles, he may take shelter in an intensified form of the identity politics that worked so well for him during the presidential campaign.  this would rip American society further apart along racial and ethnic cleavages….The ugliness that characterized politics during the presidential campaign may be nothing compared with what may be yet to come.”

I encourage you to study the links between Trump and the Sibley chart of  America.  I want to write about these as time unfolds, but there are connections galore between the two natal maps as if Mr. Trump was fated to mirror this country at this time in history.  Ms. Clinton doesn’t even come close to such close and extraordinary links in spite of her years in public service.  By links I mean close conjunctions between one and the other.

None of these probabilities outlined in this article are written in stone of course.  There’s no point allowing fear to control us even if we know Saturn/Pluto is yet ahead.  It behooves us all to simply face what scares us the most and deal with it by whatever means our courage calls us to do.  Some will pray, some will meditate, some will protest and march, some will put their bodies on the line, some will argue and debate, some will get involved in politics themselves, some will write about what they perceive, some will preach from the mountain tops.  What will you do?   Freedom IS a constant struggle and freedom always runs alongside the shadow of Saturn’s fear.