The Panic-demic and the Planets: The Astrology of 2020
Moira Lake
It was obvious from way off that 2020 was going to be a decisive year, for humans and for Earth herself. The signs were written clearly in the sky for astrologers, most of whom ignored them, and in many other places for anyone who cared to look, although few did. But in the truly crazy times now upon us, more people every day are realising that the institutions of human life, in every field, are being run in ways that are hostile and dangerous for the people they are supposed to serve, and for planet Earth. I have learned all too well that the only way to freedom and peace is to face what there is, both the light and the dark of it, internally and externally, and in the process to find a creative power in ourselves that we’ve yet to dream of.
The complex board game of this year’s events has developed over many years, in fact you could follow it over thousands of years, but for the sake of a short article let’s keep it simple and look at the last twelve. If you remember no other public event of 2008, you will at least recall the great financial crash, which devastated the lives of so many, and created billions of wealth for a few. That is when Pluto entered the sign of Capricorn and had its first great impact. Look at what it has done since. Capricorn is the constellation associated with convention, restriction, suppression, long-term planning, the slow accumulation of wealth, age, old people and established authority. In these years we have seen one institution after another revealed as deeply toxic and its nasty secrets exposed: one thinks of the Church, the Police, the world’s governments, the financial institutions, the telecommunications industry, the news media, the entertainment industry, the pharmaceutical industry, and the discoveries of paedophile rings in high places. These revelations have brought both cleansing, and a confusing loss of innocence to a public which likes to trust authorities. Thank you Pluto, we needed both.
But Pluto is ultimately about tremendous power, neither good nor bad in itself – and its fierce intensity is both profoundly destructive and profoundly creative. It drags up secrets from the depths and forces one to confront them. As Pluto passes through it destroys, and yet the creation it enables will depend on the focused intention and the creative power of the consciousness aligning itself, for good or ill, with that Plutonian force. Tremendous transformative healing in this world is still possible. It is also possible for what is created to be far worse than what was destroyed. I hope I am making myself clear. Please excuse the bold typeface but sometimes it is difficult to make oneself heard amidst all the blather.
When we take on our responsibility, we take on our power. It is time for humans to grow up, and to take our fair share of responsibility, not only for the world we have created – or allowed to be created – for which many are expressing pious regret as they sit obediently in their homes during the current lockdown. It is also time to take responsibility for the world we are creating, right now, moment by moment. By ‘responsibility’ I do not mean blame, or guilt, or self-flagellation - I mean fully owning our creative power. We are essentially creative beings, and there is never a moment of our lives when we are not creating. We have no choice about whether we create, only what we create. Collusion, passive consent and silence are ways in which most of us have used our creative power for most of our lives. I am not on my soapbox projecting onto others here, I have done this myself too, sometimes speaking my truth and sometimes not, according to calculations of safety or a convenient belief that I was protecting others. But as William Blake said, ‘I must create a system, or be enslaved by another man’s.’ A system, after all, is an interconnected, functioning whole – potentially a world. So let’s look at the astrology for 2020, to see what system is being created on our behalf at the moment.
I am trying to keep astrological technicalities to a minimum, while giving you enough to feel confident that my comments are on a sound astrological footing – I have been a professional astrologer for the last thirty years. Please bear in mind that in mundane charts, which relate to world events, the planets represent certain roles or institutions within society, rather than the psychological dynamics within an individual. So, imagine this. In a secluded room, a group of people are conferring: the Prime Minister and the Queen; those in charge of agriculture and food supplies, together with certain leaders of the Green movement; leaders of the police, law enforcement agencies, and the intelligence services; mega-powerful change-makers, the manipulators of secret wealth and the hidden government; and finally, the telecommunications industry, and the media, standing ready to broadcast the results of this meeting. And what are they all talking about? A threat to the health of the nation. And where are the people of this nation whose health is being discussed? Far away, ignored and dis-empowered. They wanted to be at the party but they weren't invited. So they are far from the action, absorbed like children in their personal concerns. The army is alert and prepared for trouble, but not yet directly involved. Anything else? Oh yes, look, there is the medical profession and the health workers taking the stage to tell us something important. All the attention is on them, no-one is looking at the people conferring in that crowded room.
This is a simple report of the situation depicted in the astrological chart for the moment of the Saturn/Pluto conjunction on January 12th 2020, as experienced in the UK. (I am not saying that there was necessarily one meeting involving all these people, but the imagery of the chart shows clearly that they are involved, willingly or unwillingly, in a common enterprise.) You can see the chart for this event on this page. You will see the cluster of five planets on the right of the chart, and the Moon all by herself isolated on the opposite side. (The planetary energies of the chart will be largely the same for all parts of the world, although the Moon’s position and house cusps will differ.) So following the order above, we have the Sun (nominal ruler of the nation represented by both PM and Queen), the planet Ceres (agriculture, food, the natural environment), Saturn (police etc), Pluto (hidden power and wealth) and Mercury (communications and media), all within the space of just over one degree, constituting the most potent conjunction of recent times. It takes place in the sixth house, the house of health. This is also the house of the ‘common people’, the ones who are not present but are clearly due to take the brunt of these events. The Moon, representing the people, is as far as it could be from the seat of power (the conjunction) and is weak and isolated in the chart, reflecting the experience of lockdown. In the present chart the army (Mars) is in a charged relationship with Saturn/Pluto, indicating its readiness for deployment. Chiron, associated with health workers, is close to the Midheaven, the most public point of the chart, attracting attention and presenting the benign face of this event.
A few years ago I gave several talks on the then forthcoming Saturn/Pluto conjunction. My audiences tended either to walk out, accusing me of fear-mongering, or said enthusiastically that it was fascinating and immediately forgot it. I did not predict the Covid-19 pandemic, although with hindsight I wonder why not. What I did predict, unless there was a powerful collective effort to prevent it, was an intensification of deeply oppressive measures to be used against the people of this country (and indeed the world) by a comprehensive power base which had been built up in secret. This was in collusion with the telecommunications industry, slavish media, and a hijacked and distorted version of the Green movement, leading to destruction of the economy and creation of mass unemployment and poverty, and a level of social and mental control of the population which we have never seen before, and few have imagined. You did not need to be an astrologer to foresee all this, you just needed to walk around in the world with your eyes open, watching it all fall into place. But to see the planets arranged in this way shows us vividly what we are dealing with, and what possibilities exist for creating positive ways for those planetary energies to express themselves.
Saturn/Pluto conjunctions are not particularly rare in themselves, tending to occur every 32-38 years. This one is particularly powerful, partly because it takes place in Capricorn, the sign in which Saturn is strongest, for the first time since 1518, and especially because three other planets are involved in the conjunction. Saturn/Pluto conjunctions in general are associated with significant conflict: the last, in 1982, coincided with the Falklands war, executions by Carlos the Jackal (the rich ex-public-school playboy who became ‘the world’s most wanted terrorist’), and the Israeli invasion of Lebanon. The previous conjunction, in 1947, brought the partition of India into the two countries of Pakistan (of which East Pakistan later became Bangladesh) and India. This led to appalling violence, the chaotic migration of fifteen million people and around one million deaths. That year also saw the UN recommend the partition of Palestine into separate Arab and Jewish states, with all-too-familiar consequences. The conjunction before that fell in 1914 and brought the First World War. These examples are enough to make clear the divisive and warlike nature of any Saturn/Pluto union and this remains a theme in the current conjunction. But sometimes the nature of the war may be more hidden. An interesting feature of the year 1982 is the rapid advance of digital technology, to the extent that Time magazine named ‘The Computer’ as its Person of the Year for 1982! A little sinister, given the subsequent campaign to present artificially intelligent objects as our friends, servants and lovers.
One more historical example, from 1518, the last time we had a Saturn/Pluto conjunction in Capricorn. An oddly interesting event of that year was the Dancing Plague of Strasbourg, later followed by similar outbreaks in settlements along the Rhine and Mosel rivers. One day a woman went into the street and began dancing wildly, refusing to stop. When she was still dancing the following day, she was joined by other women, then more, until around 400 people of both sexes were dancing frantically, unable to stop until they collapsed and in some cases died. This went on for over a month. With no conclusive explanation, it has been attributed to collective stress or a mass ‘psychotic’ episode brought on by the intense anxiety due to poverty and starvation suffered by the people. Perhaps as the craziness of 2020 continues, the parallels between that event and today will become clearer?
Astrology offers precise and vivid messages if we can receive them. A major conjunction like that of January 12th casts a shadow before and after it, and continues to resonate through the other major planetary configurations of this year. There are key points in the year by which, if we value freedom, we need to have intervened effectively – on political, energetic and spiritual levels – to change the direction now being imposed on us. Let’s look briefly at these points.
On 5th April 2020, and again on June 30th 2020, we had a Jupiter/Pluto conjunction two degrees from the site of the Saturn/Pluto conjunction. Jupiter, which rules the Church, religious institutions and the judiciary, had now caught up with the action, so all the official authorities of this country were now united and entrenched. On the 23rd March, the day that Mars conjoined Pluto, the Prime Minister announced restrictions on movement and business operations, and on the 25th March these regulations became the Coronavirus Act, having received Royal Assent. On the 31st Mars conjoined Saturn, when Jupiter had almost reached the conjunction to Pluto which became exact on April 5th. If you think of the cultural roles played by these planets, as described above, you will see the oppressive picture which is building up. You could also, perhaps, see this as a picture of government departments co-operating intensely to protect the public. Wouldn’t that be nice? It’s just such a shame that in each of these charts the people of this country are so strikingly shown as isolated and dis-empowered, although there are signs of increasing resentment and challenge to authority.
This Jupiter/Pluto conjunction was promoted on several websites, run by people who are shy about identifying themselves, as a marvellous day when the union of these planets would be somehow linked with the opening of a portal (a portal to or from what was not specified) and we were all to focus our meditations on the ascension of the human species. A portal is a doorway, and doors are generally two-way. I’m sure you know that it is not wise to go around opening, entering, or inviting unknown entities through ‘portals’ which you know nothing about. Nor is it a great idea to offer up the potential power of your beautiful focused loving mind, without any idea who is going to use that power or what they are going to do with it. I have great respect for the focused power of our creative minds – ultimately it is the greatest power we have for creating the world we truly want – and that is why I do not want to see this power travestied or abused any longer. I said it was time for human beings to grow up, and indeed it is. Please also be aware that many people who claim to be spiritual teachers, and throw in vaguely grandiloquent statements about astrology, know very little about the field and contribute greatly to the ignorance and confusion of their ‘followers’.
In the chart for the second Jupiter/Pluto conjunction, on 30th June, the two planets and Saturn are back in the house of health and the people, indicating that this is still the official focus, but the people are showing signs of being really fed up with the situation. The Moon is yet again in an isolated position far from the real action, but it is fast approaching the opposition to Uranus, associated with breaks for freedom, revolutions etc. Uranus is up in the most public part of the chart (10th house) so perhaps there will be public actions or unrest, not only about coronavirus restrictions, but about the increasing poverty and the ruin of the economy. Importantly, Uranus also rules digital technology, so there may be strengthened opposition to the imposition of 5G. Also interestingly the presence of both Mars and Chiron are at the top of the chart. The disease is still grabbing all the attention – perhaps because infection rates have risen again – and the enforcers, most probably the army, are now high-profile, perhaps as protectors of the public against those who are flouting restrictions, perhaps as helpers in the hospitals. Or does this indicate the attempt to enforce vaccinations?
The chart for the Mars/Pluto square on 9th October is tense, with Pluto, the force behind the scenes of this game, holding the balance of power on the midpoint between the reasoning influence of Jupiter and the repressive influence of Saturn. Mars is becoming increasingly powerful, both in terms of growing public discontent and in terms of the potential for violent action against it. The foundations of the country are looking decidedly wobbly.
The last chart in this series is set for the final Jupiter/Pluto conjunction, on November 12th. Jupiter and Pluto are back on the exact degree of the original Saturn/Pluto conjunction in January, and activating its power, again in the house of health and the ‘common people’ (or as Henry Kissinger liked to call us, the ‘useless eaters.’) Just a little ahead of them is Saturn. These three planets are still presenting a very united front, in which they are challenged by the people, who are becoming more insistent on their own rights while suffering even greater intrusion of heavy-handed government into their personal choices. If we have not already been subjected to enforced vaccination, this would be the time for it to be carried out. Unless we have acted conclusively to create a different outcome, we will have created a world for ourselves where we can be forcibly injected with a mix of poisons, which could disable what is left of our intelligence and health. All of this in the name of public protection against a virus about which there is no medical or popular consensus in terms of its diagnostic identifiability, or testability, or whether a vaccine will in fact have a preventative role.
There is one more interesting fact which shows clearly in the five charts I have discussed. Normally, while Pluto is often associated with viruses and deep disease states, the kinds of viruses and bacterial infections which can be transmitted through contagion or airborne particles are ruled by Neptune, which also rules oxygen deficiency. This planet has generally featured strongly in the major epidemics of the past, wherever they have occurred. But, although Neptune may show up in the death charts of specific people who have died from Covid-19, it is surprisingly inactive in the five charts of collective importance. Such an absence just where you would expect it to be prominent seems to confirm that the events of this year are not actually prompted by concerns about a highly contagious virus, but about the themes that do show strongly in the charts: the erosion of rights, the manipulation and intimidation of the public and the establishment of an entirely new level of social control, physically and mentally. Our right even to say such things is increasingly under threat, shown vividly by Mercury locked into the Saturn/Pluto conjunction of January 12th. The suppression of speech perfectly expresses Saturn conjunct Mercury, and it is noteworthy that the doctor Li Wenliang who became known as the ‘Coronavirus whistleblower’ for being officially silenced after having warned his colleagues about the new virus, was taken into hospital on Jan 12th. He became a focus for demands for free speech and the right to criticise the authorities, and even his death appears to have been managed for the media. While those close to him state that he died soon after his oxygen levels dropped on 6th Feb, the hospital remains emphatic that staff fought for hours to save him until he died many hours later in the morning of the 7th. It seems that all the crucial issues embodied in the Saturn/Pluto conjunction are crystallised in the final few weeks of this young man’s life.
I want to end by asking the obvious questions: how do we respond to this situation? How do we halt this process which is already so far advanced? How can we work creatively, in a grounded and powerful way, with the planetary energies of this time? How do we avoid being dis-empowered and made compliant by fear? How do we avoid being dis-empowered and made compliant by vague claims about undefined portals, salvation by unvetted extra-terrestrials, or Mother Earth, like a kind of Old Testament Yahweh in drag, dispensing punishment? This is a decisive year. Everything we do, say, love, create and destroy over the next few months will be part of making the world that we see as we look around us in November. What are we creating right now? What world are we creating with our thoughts, our hearts and bodies? We need to answer ourselves clearly, because every minute our thoughts and feelings are taking us somewhere – but are they taking us to the world we want to live in?
The planetary spirits of our solar system do not belong to those who presume to dominate us. They are sacred energies, like water and wind, and we can work with them as well as our rulers can. Better in fact, because we seek alignment rather than cruelty and separation. The cleansing and disruption of Pluto is exactly what we need to ensure that we collectively are no longer submissive; the patient endurance of Saturn, its ability to bring ideas into manifestation, will enable us to construct the world we plan; the optimism and generosity of Jupiter will anchor us in our trust in spirit when things are at their worst. And the other three members of the Saturn/Pluto conjunction? The Sun is our great teacher, stepping down cosmic energies and feeding them into our hearts; Ceres is an Earth goddess, better known as Demeter whose daughter was abducted by Pluto. I cannot say more here about the struggle for control of Earth, which is the greatest abomination of all, but Ceres/Demeter is at the heart of the conjunction whatever happens. And Mercury the messenger, spreads the news and teachings we need to share. So you see how the planets at this time are also compatible with an intensely positive outcome. Why did I not simply give you this version? Because it requires us to be alert and to be committed to the work needed on our part. The version I gave you earlier is the one that will occur if we do not ensure a better version. If we do not create our own world, we will be enslaved by the one chosen for us, in which case we will continue to roll down the slope towards our extinction – the notably popular word of our time.
Here are three suggestions which I think are the most fundamental and necessary things to do, because they are the foundation for everything else. When you have these, your next step will be clear to you.
I am not saying these things to be cynical or destructive, quite the reverse. I know the power of true healing, I know the immense power of the help available from spirit, and the astonishing glory of Earth. These things hold me steady whatever happens. We need to find the ways to say ‘no’, simply and absolutely, to the abuse we are being made to suffer by the present rulers of this world. We are here on Earth. What an honour. We came for many reasons, and they were not just about our individual learning. We are a collective being with a chance to create the world of love and beauty in which all life is honoured. Either way, we are risking our lives, there is no doubt about that. Not risking our lives is not an option. Shall we risk our lives creating the true world of our hearts, or obeying the rulers who despise us?
The complex board game of this year’s events has developed over many years, in fact you could follow it over thousands of years, but for the sake of a short article let’s keep it simple and look at the last twelve. If you remember no other public event of 2008, you will at least recall the great financial crash, which devastated the lives of so many, and created billions of wealth for a few. That is when Pluto entered the sign of Capricorn and had its first great impact. Look at what it has done since. Capricorn is the constellation associated with convention, restriction, suppression, long-term planning, the slow accumulation of wealth, age, old people and established authority. In these years we have seen one institution after another revealed as deeply toxic and its nasty secrets exposed: one thinks of the Church, the Police, the world’s governments, the financial institutions, the telecommunications industry, the news media, the entertainment industry, the pharmaceutical industry, and the discoveries of paedophile rings in high places. These revelations have brought both cleansing, and a confusing loss of innocence to a public which likes to trust authorities. Thank you Pluto, we needed both.
But Pluto is ultimately about tremendous power, neither good nor bad in itself – and its fierce intensity is both profoundly destructive and profoundly creative. It drags up secrets from the depths and forces one to confront them. As Pluto passes through it destroys, and yet the creation it enables will depend on the focused intention and the creative power of the consciousness aligning itself, for good or ill, with that Plutonian force. Tremendous transformative healing in this world is still possible. It is also possible for what is created to be far worse than what was destroyed. I hope I am making myself clear. Please excuse the bold typeface but sometimes it is difficult to make oneself heard amidst all the blather.
When we take on our responsibility, we take on our power. It is time for humans to grow up, and to take our fair share of responsibility, not only for the world we have created – or allowed to be created – for which many are expressing pious regret as they sit obediently in their homes during the current lockdown. It is also time to take responsibility for the world we are creating, right now, moment by moment. By ‘responsibility’ I do not mean blame, or guilt, or self-flagellation - I mean fully owning our creative power. We are essentially creative beings, and there is never a moment of our lives when we are not creating. We have no choice about whether we create, only what we create. Collusion, passive consent and silence are ways in which most of us have used our creative power for most of our lives. I am not on my soapbox projecting onto others here, I have done this myself too, sometimes speaking my truth and sometimes not, according to calculations of safety or a convenient belief that I was protecting others. But as William Blake said, ‘I must create a system, or be enslaved by another man’s.’ A system, after all, is an interconnected, functioning whole – potentially a world. So let’s look at the astrology for 2020, to see what system is being created on our behalf at the moment.
I am trying to keep astrological technicalities to a minimum, while giving you enough to feel confident that my comments are on a sound astrological footing – I have been a professional astrologer for the last thirty years. Please bear in mind that in mundane charts, which relate to world events, the planets represent certain roles or institutions within society, rather than the psychological dynamics within an individual. So, imagine this. In a secluded room, a group of people are conferring: the Prime Minister and the Queen; those in charge of agriculture and food supplies, together with certain leaders of the Green movement; leaders of the police, law enforcement agencies, and the intelligence services; mega-powerful change-makers, the manipulators of secret wealth and the hidden government; and finally, the telecommunications industry, and the media, standing ready to broadcast the results of this meeting. And what are they all talking about? A threat to the health of the nation. And where are the people of this nation whose health is being discussed? Far away, ignored and dis-empowered. They wanted to be at the party but they weren't invited. So they are far from the action, absorbed like children in their personal concerns. The army is alert and prepared for trouble, but not yet directly involved. Anything else? Oh yes, look, there is the medical profession and the health workers taking the stage to tell us something important. All the attention is on them, no-one is looking at the people conferring in that crowded room.
This is a simple report of the situation depicted in the astrological chart for the moment of the Saturn/Pluto conjunction on January 12th 2020, as experienced in the UK. (I am not saying that there was necessarily one meeting involving all these people, but the imagery of the chart shows clearly that they are involved, willingly or unwillingly, in a common enterprise.) You can see the chart for this event on this page. You will see the cluster of five planets on the right of the chart, and the Moon all by herself isolated on the opposite side. (The planetary energies of the chart will be largely the same for all parts of the world, although the Moon’s position and house cusps will differ.) So following the order above, we have the Sun (nominal ruler of the nation represented by both PM and Queen), the planet Ceres (agriculture, food, the natural environment), Saturn (police etc), Pluto (hidden power and wealth) and Mercury (communications and media), all within the space of just over one degree, constituting the most potent conjunction of recent times. It takes place in the sixth house, the house of health. This is also the house of the ‘common people’, the ones who are not present but are clearly due to take the brunt of these events. The Moon, representing the people, is as far as it could be from the seat of power (the conjunction) and is weak and isolated in the chart, reflecting the experience of lockdown. In the present chart the army (Mars) is in a charged relationship with Saturn/Pluto, indicating its readiness for deployment. Chiron, associated with health workers, is close to the Midheaven, the most public point of the chart, attracting attention and presenting the benign face of this event.
A few years ago I gave several talks on the then forthcoming Saturn/Pluto conjunction. My audiences tended either to walk out, accusing me of fear-mongering, or said enthusiastically that it was fascinating and immediately forgot it. I did not predict the Covid-19 pandemic, although with hindsight I wonder why not. What I did predict, unless there was a powerful collective effort to prevent it, was an intensification of deeply oppressive measures to be used against the people of this country (and indeed the world) by a comprehensive power base which had been built up in secret. This was in collusion with the telecommunications industry, slavish media, and a hijacked and distorted version of the Green movement, leading to destruction of the economy and creation of mass unemployment and poverty, and a level of social and mental control of the population which we have never seen before, and few have imagined. You did not need to be an astrologer to foresee all this, you just needed to walk around in the world with your eyes open, watching it all fall into place. But to see the planets arranged in this way shows us vividly what we are dealing with, and what possibilities exist for creating positive ways for those planetary energies to express themselves.
Saturn/Pluto conjunctions are not particularly rare in themselves, tending to occur every 32-38 years. This one is particularly powerful, partly because it takes place in Capricorn, the sign in which Saturn is strongest, for the first time since 1518, and especially because three other planets are involved in the conjunction. Saturn/Pluto conjunctions in general are associated with significant conflict: the last, in 1982, coincided with the Falklands war, executions by Carlos the Jackal (the rich ex-public-school playboy who became ‘the world’s most wanted terrorist’), and the Israeli invasion of Lebanon. The previous conjunction, in 1947, brought the partition of India into the two countries of Pakistan (of which East Pakistan later became Bangladesh) and India. This led to appalling violence, the chaotic migration of fifteen million people and around one million deaths. That year also saw the UN recommend the partition of Palestine into separate Arab and Jewish states, with all-too-familiar consequences. The conjunction before that fell in 1914 and brought the First World War. These examples are enough to make clear the divisive and warlike nature of any Saturn/Pluto union and this remains a theme in the current conjunction. But sometimes the nature of the war may be more hidden. An interesting feature of the year 1982 is the rapid advance of digital technology, to the extent that Time magazine named ‘The Computer’ as its Person of the Year for 1982! A little sinister, given the subsequent campaign to present artificially intelligent objects as our friends, servants and lovers.
One more historical example, from 1518, the last time we had a Saturn/Pluto conjunction in Capricorn. An oddly interesting event of that year was the Dancing Plague of Strasbourg, later followed by similar outbreaks in settlements along the Rhine and Mosel rivers. One day a woman went into the street and began dancing wildly, refusing to stop. When she was still dancing the following day, she was joined by other women, then more, until around 400 people of both sexes were dancing frantically, unable to stop until they collapsed and in some cases died. This went on for over a month. With no conclusive explanation, it has been attributed to collective stress or a mass ‘psychotic’ episode brought on by the intense anxiety due to poverty and starvation suffered by the people. Perhaps as the craziness of 2020 continues, the parallels between that event and today will become clearer?
Astrology offers precise and vivid messages if we can receive them. A major conjunction like that of January 12th casts a shadow before and after it, and continues to resonate through the other major planetary configurations of this year. There are key points in the year by which, if we value freedom, we need to have intervened effectively – on political, energetic and spiritual levels – to change the direction now being imposed on us. Let’s look briefly at these points.
On 5th April 2020, and again on June 30th 2020, we had a Jupiter/Pluto conjunction two degrees from the site of the Saturn/Pluto conjunction. Jupiter, which rules the Church, religious institutions and the judiciary, had now caught up with the action, so all the official authorities of this country were now united and entrenched. On the 23rd March, the day that Mars conjoined Pluto, the Prime Minister announced restrictions on movement and business operations, and on the 25th March these regulations became the Coronavirus Act, having received Royal Assent. On the 31st Mars conjoined Saturn, when Jupiter had almost reached the conjunction to Pluto which became exact on April 5th. If you think of the cultural roles played by these planets, as described above, you will see the oppressive picture which is building up. You could also, perhaps, see this as a picture of government departments co-operating intensely to protect the public. Wouldn’t that be nice? It’s just such a shame that in each of these charts the people of this country are so strikingly shown as isolated and dis-empowered, although there are signs of increasing resentment and challenge to authority.
This Jupiter/Pluto conjunction was promoted on several websites, run by people who are shy about identifying themselves, as a marvellous day when the union of these planets would be somehow linked with the opening of a portal (a portal to or from what was not specified) and we were all to focus our meditations on the ascension of the human species. A portal is a doorway, and doors are generally two-way. I’m sure you know that it is not wise to go around opening, entering, or inviting unknown entities through ‘portals’ which you know nothing about. Nor is it a great idea to offer up the potential power of your beautiful focused loving mind, without any idea who is going to use that power or what they are going to do with it. I have great respect for the focused power of our creative minds – ultimately it is the greatest power we have for creating the world we truly want – and that is why I do not want to see this power travestied or abused any longer. I said it was time for human beings to grow up, and indeed it is. Please also be aware that many people who claim to be spiritual teachers, and throw in vaguely grandiloquent statements about astrology, know very little about the field and contribute greatly to the ignorance and confusion of their ‘followers’.
In the chart for the second Jupiter/Pluto conjunction, on 30th June, the two planets and Saturn are back in the house of health and the people, indicating that this is still the official focus, but the people are showing signs of being really fed up with the situation. The Moon is yet again in an isolated position far from the real action, but it is fast approaching the opposition to Uranus, associated with breaks for freedom, revolutions etc. Uranus is up in the most public part of the chart (10th house) so perhaps there will be public actions or unrest, not only about coronavirus restrictions, but about the increasing poverty and the ruin of the economy. Importantly, Uranus also rules digital technology, so there may be strengthened opposition to the imposition of 5G. Also interestingly the presence of both Mars and Chiron are at the top of the chart. The disease is still grabbing all the attention – perhaps because infection rates have risen again – and the enforcers, most probably the army, are now high-profile, perhaps as protectors of the public against those who are flouting restrictions, perhaps as helpers in the hospitals. Or does this indicate the attempt to enforce vaccinations?
The chart for the Mars/Pluto square on 9th October is tense, with Pluto, the force behind the scenes of this game, holding the balance of power on the midpoint between the reasoning influence of Jupiter and the repressive influence of Saturn. Mars is becoming increasingly powerful, both in terms of growing public discontent and in terms of the potential for violent action against it. The foundations of the country are looking decidedly wobbly.
The last chart in this series is set for the final Jupiter/Pluto conjunction, on November 12th. Jupiter and Pluto are back on the exact degree of the original Saturn/Pluto conjunction in January, and activating its power, again in the house of health and the ‘common people’ (or as Henry Kissinger liked to call us, the ‘useless eaters.’) Just a little ahead of them is Saturn. These three planets are still presenting a very united front, in which they are challenged by the people, who are becoming more insistent on their own rights while suffering even greater intrusion of heavy-handed government into their personal choices. If we have not already been subjected to enforced vaccination, this would be the time for it to be carried out. Unless we have acted conclusively to create a different outcome, we will have created a world for ourselves where we can be forcibly injected with a mix of poisons, which could disable what is left of our intelligence and health. All of this in the name of public protection against a virus about which there is no medical or popular consensus in terms of its diagnostic identifiability, or testability, or whether a vaccine will in fact have a preventative role.
There is one more interesting fact which shows clearly in the five charts I have discussed. Normally, while Pluto is often associated with viruses and deep disease states, the kinds of viruses and bacterial infections which can be transmitted through contagion or airborne particles are ruled by Neptune, which also rules oxygen deficiency. This planet has generally featured strongly in the major epidemics of the past, wherever they have occurred. But, although Neptune may show up in the death charts of specific people who have died from Covid-19, it is surprisingly inactive in the five charts of collective importance. Such an absence just where you would expect it to be prominent seems to confirm that the events of this year are not actually prompted by concerns about a highly contagious virus, but about the themes that do show strongly in the charts: the erosion of rights, the manipulation and intimidation of the public and the establishment of an entirely new level of social control, physically and mentally. Our right even to say such things is increasingly under threat, shown vividly by Mercury locked into the Saturn/Pluto conjunction of January 12th. The suppression of speech perfectly expresses Saturn conjunct Mercury, and it is noteworthy that the doctor Li Wenliang who became known as the ‘Coronavirus whistleblower’ for being officially silenced after having warned his colleagues about the new virus, was taken into hospital on Jan 12th. He became a focus for demands for free speech and the right to criticise the authorities, and even his death appears to have been managed for the media. While those close to him state that he died soon after his oxygen levels dropped on 6th Feb, the hospital remains emphatic that staff fought for hours to save him until he died many hours later in the morning of the 7th. It seems that all the crucial issues embodied in the Saturn/Pluto conjunction are crystallised in the final few weeks of this young man’s life.
I want to end by asking the obvious questions: how do we respond to this situation? How do we halt this process which is already so far advanced? How can we work creatively, in a grounded and powerful way, with the planetary energies of this time? How do we avoid being dis-empowered and made compliant by fear? How do we avoid being dis-empowered and made compliant by vague claims about undefined portals, salvation by unvetted extra-terrestrials, or Mother Earth, like a kind of Old Testament Yahweh in drag, dispensing punishment? This is a decisive year. Everything we do, say, love, create and destroy over the next few months will be part of making the world that we see as we look around us in November. What are we creating right now? What world are we creating with our thoughts, our hearts and bodies? We need to answer ourselves clearly, because every minute our thoughts and feelings are taking us somewhere – but are they taking us to the world we want to live in?
The planetary spirits of our solar system do not belong to those who presume to dominate us. They are sacred energies, like water and wind, and we can work with them as well as our rulers can. Better in fact, because we seek alignment rather than cruelty and separation. The cleansing and disruption of Pluto is exactly what we need to ensure that we collectively are no longer submissive; the patient endurance of Saturn, its ability to bring ideas into manifestation, will enable us to construct the world we plan; the optimism and generosity of Jupiter will anchor us in our trust in spirit when things are at their worst. And the other three members of the Saturn/Pluto conjunction? The Sun is our great teacher, stepping down cosmic energies and feeding them into our hearts; Ceres is an Earth goddess, better known as Demeter whose daughter was abducted by Pluto. I cannot say more here about the struggle for control of Earth, which is the greatest abomination of all, but Ceres/Demeter is at the heart of the conjunction whatever happens. And Mercury the messenger, spreads the news and teachings we need to share. So you see how the planets at this time are also compatible with an intensely positive outcome. Why did I not simply give you this version? Because it requires us to be alert and to be committed to the work needed on our part. The version I gave you earlier is the one that will occur if we do not ensure a better version. If we do not create our own world, we will be enslaved by the one chosen for us, in which case we will continue to roll down the slope towards our extinction – the notably popular word of our time.
Here are three suggestions which I think are the most fundamental and necessary things to do, because they are the foundation for everything else. When you have these, your next step will be clear to you.
- Learn how to ground yourself. Most people find it difficult to do this because they have not been taught properly. If you want to learn, contact me for free tuition.
- If you have reached adult years, stop dreaming that Mummy and Daddy will look after you. If people stop giving their authority to parental governments who they believe must surely have their interests at heart, and instead look at what is in front of their noses, we will be strong.
- Learn to use discernment in all areas of life. Be aware that our corrupt rulers, and the still more corrupt rulers of the rulers, work on all levels, including through the channellings and self-serving aspirations of many dubious ‘teachers’ and ‘healers’.
I am not saying these things to be cynical or destructive, quite the reverse. I know the power of true healing, I know the immense power of the help available from spirit, and the astonishing glory of Earth. These things hold me steady whatever happens. We need to find the ways to say ‘no’, simply and absolutely, to the abuse we are being made to suffer by the present rulers of this world. We are here on Earth. What an honour. We came for many reasons, and they were not just about our individual learning. We are a collective being with a chance to create the world of love and beauty in which all life is honoured. Either way, we are risking our lives, there is no doubt about that. Not risking our lives is not an option. Shall we risk our lives creating the true world of our hearts, or obeying the rulers who despise us?
Moira Lake: I have been working in the fields of healing and astrology for over thirty years, thanks to the endless creativity and humour of Grandmother Earth and Spirit. I am writing a book about healing, walking among the worlds, plant spirits and the nature of reality, which will come out towards the end of 2020.
www.hearthstarhealing.com
www.hearthstarhealing.com