An Eclipse Series ended in 1931: The End of an Epoch

1931: Britain's Financial Change of Direction and a New Social Order

by Jude Cowell

Many of the historical events of 1931 are significant and a few of them stand out to me such as the 'United Kingdom abandons the gold standard' on September 20/21, 1931 under the influence of the 5 Old South Series (chart shown, below) which ended on September 11, 1931 (in the US; September 12th in the UK).

Oddly enough, 40 years later in the US, Dick Nixon took the US off the gold standard in 1971, the year the 9 Old South Series ended with a final solar manifestation @29Cancer on July 22, 1971. (Perhaps astrologers were involved!)

Inconveniently, I have no information concerning 5 Old South eclipse themes which ran in the background of society in 1931, but I do have a bit concerning 1971's 9 Old South themes: 'idealism, great energy', and/or 'reunions' (B. Brady). However, the initial eclipse in the 9 Old South Series, which began on June 23, 727 OS @4Can16 (conjunct what would become America's 1776 Venus and Jupiter positions), also contains hints of 'quarrels' and 'perverse inclinations' (BB). Could the 'reunion' be American bankers joining British bankers off the gold standard? Just a thought.

So for readers interested in financial topics, here's a pdf from 2012 by Michael Kitson of Cambridge University concerning the advantages (or not) of utilizing the gold standard, titled, End of an Epoch. Perhaps you're familiar with Kitson's work but if not, there it is.

Now I suppose a posting of the the final 5 Old South Eclipse Horoscope for September 1931 would ideally be set for London but since this is Stars Over Washington, below is the September 11, 1931 eclipse chart set for DC, as we always called the capital city when I resided there many moons ago.

Notably, financier Jupiter is in Sun-ruled Leo, the sign of gold, wealth-hoarder Pluto is in the financial 2nd house in business-oriented Cancer, and there's a deceptive if creative Mercury-Neptune conjunction in Virgo with Mercury retrograde in 3rd house of Communications, near the IC of the horoscope. In the 5th house of Speculation and Risk-Taking is Mars in Libra where the planet of energy, motivation, and action can express himself with too much frankness which can cause conflicts in relationships.

Then as you see, the disruptive, 'change of direction', 'cosmic blink' Solar Eclipse itself is posited in the 4th house @19Virgo (near US 1776 Neptune in Virgo, sign of Work, Employment, Service, and Health), a placement which was opposed by transit Neptune in 2020 from contagious, secretive Pisces, and suggests that Britain's financial 'change of direction' in 1931 affected the US economy as well which would be naturally expected between the two nations:

As you see, a dynamic T-Square between the harsh Saturn-Pluto opposition (across the avaricious Cancer-Capricorn axis of investment, business, and ambition) squares erratic, disruptive Uranus Rx in Mars-ruled Aries (in 11th house in DC but revealingly in the corporate 8th house in London). Now even by itself, Uranus in Aries denotes potentials for 'blind zeal, fanaticism, violence', plus, Utopian idealism and can indicate radical political reform. Add both Saturn and Pluto squaring the planet of anarchy, Utopianism, and war, and a dangerous mix results replete with negative karma. Years of financial mismanagement is suggested (which I believe there was).

Many of the karmic Saturn-Pluto-Uranus trio's variety of potential expressions are listed on the chart lower right and across the bottom of the chart but I'll type them for you here, mainly because they imply that it was not only in the financial realms that turmoil and upheaval were occurring in 1931, and suggest, of course, the rise of despotism and tyranny which tends to have an easier time gaining a claw-hold when a Uranus-Pluto square is in force which suggests apathy in society, and a Saturn-Uranus square forms which denotes a period when an old order can give way to a new order:

'Sudden violence; mass murder; harsh conditions; cruelty; poverty; power plays at the top'; "brutal efforts to start a new order" (Tyl).

So as you know, dear reader, society has been under the influence of such planetary squares in our day as well, first between Uranus and Pluto, now between Saturn and Uranus, as tyranny and totalitarianism challenge Democracy in the US and in various locations across the globe. You'll recognize the tendencies of certain anarchists toward blind zealotry and acts of violence for they're easy to spot along within the concurrence of similar attitudes and objectives from the 1930s brought into our era as 'fascism' attempts again to take control of society, particularly in America. After all, if America should fall, so goes the rest of the world.

The Social and Economic Order of the 1930s

Then revealingly, another highly influential event occurred in 1931 (May 15th), especially among those of a Catholic persuasion, which relates to the above topic squarely within the economic realms of society, and this was the encyclical Quadragesimo anno (the 'reconstruction of the social order') issued by Pope Pius XI in which he dicusses "the ethical implications of the social and economic order" and "the major dangers" "arising from unrestrained capitalism, socialism, and totalitarian communism." Well, yes. The Vatican hierarchy does interfere at times - certainly in the Nazi era with the church's famous capitulation in 1933.

In closing, and if you wish, follow the above link for more 1931 events which may grab your fancy with other 'endings and new starts' among them.

Two Solar Eclipses and Nixon's War On Drugs

April 27 2021: By now most Americans are aware that Richard Nixon and his enablers invented America's War On Drugs, which he announced in 1971, and was intended to incarcerate his 'enemies', those unruly African Americans demanding their Civil Rights and anti-Vietnam-War protesters, made up mostly of my idealistic Flower Power Generation of peaceniks.

So becoming curious to see if the 9 Old South Solar Eclipse of Summer 1971, which ended with that particular manifestation, affected its own initial eclipse in the series (June 23, 0727 @4Can17, inner chart, its genesis or birth), I set up a bi-wheel of the two eclipses, as you can see, below. Also note that Nixon's taking the US off the gold standard in 1971 was also an issue of the final 9 Old South Eclipse (endings) and we can see that, yes, a few financial factors are involved along with the drug war and subsequent incarcerations. Exs: 1971 Pluto-Chiron midpoint (Plutocracy; exploitation; primal violence; racism) @5Can51 conjuncts US natal Jupiter @5Can55 of 1776 ('6 Cancer' = "Game Birds Feathering Their Nests"), and the 1971 Jupiter-Neptune duo (speculators, visionaries, hypocrites, wastrels, and political conflicts conjuncts Midheaven in 1971 and rises in 0727). As you know, it's primarily the hypocrisy of and speculation by wealthy entrepreneurs taking over the cannabis industry that's in the news these days so that profits can be made after 40 years of oppression and imprisonment of young people and non-violent offenders. This seems a classic example of 'do as I say, not as I do'.

Yet as noted, political conflict is the basic reason that Nixon declared the 'war' in the first place - to remove his enemies from the playing field. Making a windfall must have seemed a bonus for wealth-hoarder Pluto @27Leo50 which was actually eclipsed in 1971 so, listed on the chart are potentials for: 1971 Sun-Moon = 0727 Pluto: 'changed circumstances lead to critical stages of development; power; gang wars; criminality; rape' (R. Ebertin).

And as we now find, drug arrests and long sentences have long fueled America's massive prison system, a lucrative, cruel, and malicious scheme for profit for certain politicians, judges, lawyers, police departments, and others, thanks to Tricky Dick and his co-conspirators in 1971.

Then for the passage of legislation, you see that 1971 Saturn, planet of restriction and law, opposes 0727 Uranus, planet of freedom and rebellion. This transit identifies the "passage of restrictive legislation" that Nixon finagled in order to make his oppressive actions seem legal! Meanwhile, we might also note that the May 26, 2021 Lunar Eclipse will 'eclipse' 1971 Saturn, a Sun-to-Saturn transit suggesting serious circumstances and legal issues that involve authority concerns.

So below you see a bi-wheel of both the initial and the final 9 Old South Eclipse with themes of: 'idealism' and 'great energy via a forceful, controlling, manipulative Mars-Pluto influence' (Brady). Naturally, there are other chart factors which may be of interest to you so feel free to mention them in an on-topic comment if you wish:

Transit Saturn and the United Arab Emirates (Dec 2, 1971); plus, Nixon's Golden Error

1971 Solar Eclipses: 9 Old South ends, 9 New South begins

For astrological purposes, a previous post details the proclamation of December 2, 1971 which created the United Arab Emirates. The federation, now in the news, is one of four Arab member states in the anti-ISIL/ISIS coalition.

The UAE proclamation date seems fairly auspicious falling within the 9 New South Saros Series of Solar Eclipses which first manifested on August 20, 1971 @27Leo (conjunct the Descendant in the UAE natal horoscope and thus prominently angular.)

Now, in February 2015, transit Saturn @3Sag conjoins the UAE's natal Neptune (the 'grim reality' or 'wish come true' transit) while opposing natal Saturn, a period when authority is challenged by another authority. Therefore, the UAE's Saturn-Neptune opposition of paranoia is being activated in a fearsome way by karmic Saturn so that reaping what's been sown may become prominent as the past catches up with leadership (Saturn; MC/IC)--on one level in the sphere of security measures. Plus, citizens of the region may be seriously affected with tr Saturn soon to oppose UAE natal Moon.

Hopefully other planetary influences will mitigate the Saturnian picture and provide protection for the good people of the UAE no matter how their leaders proceed to act or not act for a natal Sun-Neptune conjunction when activated by tr Saturn denotes a time of persistence and consolidation alternating with frustration and delay.

Usury vs the American People

Another event of historical importance occurred in 1971 and was influenced by the ending of the 9 Old South Saros Series, the Pre-Natal Eclipse of President 'Tricky Dick' Nixon's economic measures concerning gold convertibility. As of 1971, our debts became ever-lastingly unpayable into infinity....perpetual debt.

There's even a name for it: Nixon Shock and much has been written in hindsight about its deleterious effects on the US economy, a collosal mistake as noted in a commentary published in Forbes on August 15, 2011, the 40th anniversary of the profound changes Nixon proclaimed as directed by the secretive Fed (the central world bank). To quote, August 15, 1971 "...marked the beginning of the worst 40 years in American economic history." {Edit June 5, 2023: The article link is no longer Live for me, but if you know your way around Forbes Magazine perhaps you can locate it, if interested.

So Fare Well, 9 Old South, you did your part to serve Planet Earth before your energies ran slap dab out.

Wait. What? A beginning described by an ending? Yes, 'twas an ending influenced by a never-ending monetary condition...an end to being able to end one's debt burden? Well, eclipses do herald change so thanks, privately owned 'Federal Reserve' and your cat's paw, the White House. Eclipse conditions of 1971 demonstrate that our debt-based economy is wrong on a cosmic level as well as on every other level of decency, fairness, and justice that can be named.

Included in the Forbes feature is a link to Nixon's Sunday night address from the Venusian Oval Office on August 15, 1971 during which he slipped in the announcement of the ending of the post-WWII Bretton Woods era...ah hah! There's our 'ending' and it's proven to be a very unfortunate cluster 'ef', as you know. And note that the current Jupiter Rx period--Jupiter, the banker, the politician, guru--activates August 15, 1971's Sun @22Leo and Venus @19Leo; tr Saturn has recently conjoined--and will again--1971's Neptune @00Sag, ruled by moneybags Jupiter, which suggests to me the 'grim face of reality' for the US economy and US workers but a 'dream come true' for global bankers and those they fund and enable to oppress us with perpetual debt and usury interest rates while implementing their 'new economic order'.

Yes, how wonderful the Fed's grand promises that were to result from the monetary changes of 1971: more American jobs, smaller trade deficit, avoiding recessions, international competitiveness for US workers (job loss), price stability, and more--which all now show themselves as the lies and fraud they were from the start. And the liars--including mouthpiece Nixon--knew it all along.