If you've had a chance to read my column on the
karmic Solar Eclipse of July 1, 2011 @
9Can12, then I don't have to tell you that the eclipse manifests snugly between America's natal Sun and Jupiter - actually precisely upon our national Sun/Jupiter midpoint.
The importance of the July 1st Solar Eclipse 'hit' to or triggering of the expansive point of Sun/Jupiter relates closely to financial and spending matters, material loss, and to issues of striving for more power and control, recognition, and/or to conflicts caused by arrogance, pretentiousness, or lawlessness.
Perhaps a crook or two will be outed by the light of the July 1, 2011 eclipse, the first to launch in a new Saros Series. Often an eclipse 'acts' early and you probably heard that a fugitive
mob boss from Boston was arrested just today in California after 16 years of giving the FBI the slip.
Historical Horoscopes Alive!There is another triggering of historical importance because the July 1st eclipse conjoins *Thomas Jefferson's natal Neptune/Chiron conjunction @ 9Can26 and 9Can37 respectively, in 6th house of Military and Police Service, Health, Daily Lives, and Work (Employment.)
Now the eclipse (Sun/Moon) forms a midpoint picture with Mr. Jefferson's nebulous, spiritually oriented Neptune (made more **sacred by Chiron's ministrations):
Sun/Moon = Neptune: illusions and deceptions; becoming easily upset; inner discontent; realizing the importance of thinking through plans and ideas; dreaming of options for redirecting plans; delusions about what can be done and how hard people will work to accomplish it; misunderstandings in relationship. Solar Eclipses are of course oppositions of the Sun (consciousness) and Moon (unconscious) and in general denote relationship and/or awareness issues.
To the extent that our third president Thomas Jefferson may be taken as an archetypal symbol of America and the US government, I surmise that the midpoint picture formed synchronistically by the July 1, 2011 Solar Eclipse is instructive concerning the pertinent issues of our day.
And perhaps the Sun/Moon midpoint itself should be considered more specifically in the realms of Politics and Business. From Michael Munkasey's book
Midpoints: Unleashing the Power of the Planets, we find potentials that are up-to-the-minute on several levels including to raise or not to raise the US debt ceiling and war making decisions of President Obama:
Thesis: the international reputation of the country; how the will of the people is is applied (or not! jc) to taking the country into new or important directions; reading the attitude of the people when creating internal policy.
Antithesis: a loss of face in international politics (leaving Afghanistan? debt ceiling/default? jc); smears on the national reputation; pessimism flowing through the population or lawmakers (or both. jc)You remember that the recent transiting Neptune/Chiron conjunction has mirrored disasters involving water such as regional flooding and levee breaches, BP's Deepwater Horizon Blow-Out of April 2010 which effectively sabotaged our Gulf Coast and its people, and which may have been an inspirational factor in this May 2011's World Will End prophecy with Chiron now in mystical, spiritual Pisces. And of course, 'water' is a stand-in for The Spirit in the Aquarian archetype of The Water Bearer, the sign in which the exact conjunction/s of Neptune and Chiron occurred last year.
Now what of such a close Neptune/Chiron conjunction in Watery Cancer in Jefferson's natal chart and psyche? Since it is about to be 'eclipsed' and highlighted on July 1, 2011, let's first take it apart including its apparent placement in Jefferson's 6th house (see below for his *birth data and the time I am using to set up his natal chart.)
Watery Neptune in Watery Cancer indicates a generation of folk with strong psychic ties to home, family, security, and the Earth (ecological interests.) Jefferson's love of home and family is well-known as are his regular rides across his lands with his daughter after his wife died and before, so naturally, his love of Monticello comes easily to mind.
Neptune in Moon-ruled Cancer denotes an emotionally sensitive and religious nature yet there is a still-ongoing debate as to Mr. Jefferson's religiosity (the Jefferson Bible; was he a Deist? an astrologer? etc) but these deep issues are beyond the scope of this column. However, his philosophical interests and talents are never in question.
Notable is the resonance between Neptune as the higher octave of Jupiter (the priest, guru, hierophant, philosopher) through their rulership of mystical Pisces, sign of
Jefferson's natal Mercury. Thinking upon such inspired topics came easily to his highly idealistic nature; plus, Neptune in Cancer can also give mediumship or channeling abilities either from a higher
or a lower plane.
His natal Neptune/Pluto trine indicates a response to the more positive side of the invisible realms but in modern times, we're stuck with a Neptune-Pluto septile (51 degrees 26 minutes), which is a fated, karmic 7th harmonic aspect.Assuming that Neptune is posited in his natal 6th house, the placement emphasizes one whose work and service are done in a spiritual manner and/or for collective purposes. Yet with Neptune in detriment in 6th H, these issues will bring difficulties yet they had to be addressed for the sake of Jefferson's evolutionary progress (and America's, as it turned out.)
Many sacrifices are demanded by Neptune in 6th H, and we think of his desire to be home with his family instead of in Philadelphia attending and plying his penmanship of the Declaration of Independence at the
Continental Congresses of 1775 and 1776. (The First Continental Congress was held in 1774 but Mr. Jefferson did not attend until 1775.)
Yet Jefferson's Sun in Aries Was Ambitious to Get On in the WorldThe red-haired young man arrived (unwigged yet
Whiggish) in Philadelphia on June 20, 1775 with Neptune in Virgo (spiritual, devoted, and/or inspired work) snugged between Mars 18Vir55 and Saturn 2Lib18...hardworking
Mars/Saturn = inspired Neptune: self-torment about identity (his fame and repute were yet to be established and his wordsmith genius known except by a few - he was a whippersnapper!); confusion; feeling threatened; pretenses or cover-ups about the state of preparedness.
But the whippersnapper did all right by us, didn't he? Perhaps that's because the difficult placement and conjunction of Neptune/Chiron were greatly eased by a natal trine to Pluto at
Eagle Point, near Midheaven (Career, Aspirations, Public Status.) Plus, without difficult natal placements, one seldom bothers to stir oneself to make a sustained effort, does one?
Chiron in Cancer describes a "crisis over cultural roots and/or a crisis of personal protection" (Clow.) Cultural roots of the American experiment and personal protection reminds me of how America's Founders would have been strung up if their secret deliberations on independence from Britain had become known abroad.
In Cancer, Chiron tends to be
tied to the past (a conflict for such a
visionary futurist as Mr. Jefferson: home life v career ambitions), and reveals
insecurity issues which are underscored by TJ's natal
Moon out-of-bounds in Sagittarius which, when Moon is the only OOBs planet, points to one whose childhood connection with the mother was faulty or non-existent; a wounding (Chiron) from the mother (Cancer) is indicated as well, and TJ grew to have contempt for his mother and showed little, if any, regret at her passing. Jefferson had chaffed under her parentage after his father's death.
With Chiron in Cancer, a tough battle ensues to break Saturnian control (of his personal father/controlling mother and of colony-oppressing Great Britain!) and thus utilize the brilliance of Uranian genius, a task which he certainly managed to do. For his natal Uranus in Capricorn had a willing container in which to pour by way of Saturn's rulership of Capricorn, sign of Government. The inconjunct between natal Saturn and Uranus, though indicating crises and turning points, was better to have than no contact at all since the inconjunct (aka, quincunx) gave the creative ideas of Uranus a form (Saturn) in which to become practically realized on the earthly plane.
However, extreme consciousness of aims and objectives were necessary for the success of his Saturn/Uranus endeavors and he was nothing if not self-reflective while answering the call of service to the collective.
Another interesting factor to note in the 1743 horoscope of Thomas Jefferson is that the position of **Fixed Star
SIRIUS, so intricately linked to America's natal horoscope and founding, closely conjoins his natal Neptune/Chiron conjunction by degree and thereby increases the conjunction's sacred nature.
In Astrology, the key phrases for SIRIUS (Alpha Canis Major; aka,
the Dog Star, the Shining One, or, the Scorcher and relates to the annual flooding of the Nile River, and to
gaining much more than was expected - Brady's
Book of Fixed Stars) are:
the mundane becoming sacred and
the fire of immortality.
Few would disagree that Jefferson's work devoted to the founding of this country by penning the Declaration of Independence and through his service as Secretary of State, Ambassador to France, Vice President, then President (1801 - 1809), has garnered him an immortal name as well as high recognition in his day. Of course, founding the excellent
University of Virginia in 1819 has increased his renown as well.
So! Will the July 1, 2011 Solar Eclipse @ 9Can12 relate to Mr. Jefferson, his era and its politics, or to the very founding of our nation? Independence Day 2011 soon follows, after all. Will UVA be in the news? Or will another
dance-off protest occur at the Jefferson Memorial in Washington DC with strong-arming police arresting peaceful American citizens? (I suspect the freedom-loving Mr. Jefferson would be very ill-pleased and disapproving of such arrests, don't you?)
These and other related concerns may turn up soon on the US menu and in The Press whose freedom he eloquently championed and my hope is that if they do, you will give a small, perhaps fond, thought to the Sage of Monticello!
~:~
For further reading you may wish to follow a link to the
Monticello website or perhaps check out Thomas Jefferson's
Wiki page. Also of timely interest may be
The Cultural Contradictions of the American Media which contains his famous quote concerning the continuance of a
free press in America:
"The basis of our government being the opinion of the people, the very first object should be to keep that right; and were it up to me to decide whether we should have a government without newspapers or newspapers without government, I should not hesitate to prefer the latter."*Thomas Jefferson April 13, 1743 Shadwell, Virginia; birth time most often used: 1:53 am LMT though a day time birth may be a possibility; at 1:53 am: ASC 00AQ52, Sun 22Ari54, Moon 10Sag47; Neptune/Chiron conjunction in 6th house; 9th house Pluto at Eagle Point (15 Scorpio) conjoins MC; NN 18Tau57 conjoins IC 22Tau02...he'd rather have been contemplating and studying at home (Monticello), thanks.
Midpoint pictures: Tyl, Ebertin, Munkasey.
