Midpoint pictures of a Neptunian GOP: Crossing the Great Water

Image: You May Cross the Great Water; pencil on paper; Jude Cowell Art 2006+

As you know, the Republican Party, founded in 1854 with Neptune in mid-Pisces, experienced its first-ever Neptune Return, a multiple affair occurring in 2017 into 2018 - the "Trump years." These days, a few pundits have noted that the party is circling the drain, a perfect metaphor describing the dissolution, loss, and ending of what was once an actual political party, now morphed into a Trumpish death cult of violence. These watery circumstances inspire my use of the above image with which to begin this post:

With messenger planet Mercury now retrograde, here's a review and a quote from a vintage SO'W post written and published way back in 2013 (sans edits) which then contained a video that's no longer available for viewing. Remaining, however, is a bit of Astrology concerning the 1854 horoscope and planets of origin of the Republican Party which may be of interest considering the current GOP/maga cult's extreme, seditious behavior against the Federal Government, and their vile threats and acts of violence against Americans who reject their fascist views on behalf of a democratic America:

As you may already know, there's an interesting midpoint picture in the GOP natal horoscope which to my way of thinking, applies closely and basically to their current modus operandi and it involves the 'confused, confusing, or hidden self image' duo of Sun and Neptune:

Sun-Neptune = Uranus: upsets caused by ignoring reality while dreaming; indifference toward others (M.M.).

Now feel free to disagree with me on this (as always!) but both potentials contained within this midpoint picture when added together undergird much of the anti-governing Republicans' lack of good faith behavior these days and in other days when things don't go their way enough to suit their massive egos.

After all, the party's current progressions show another descriptive midpoint picture: Saturn-Pluto = North Node (future direction): a destiny about holding or abusing power. (Michael Munkasey.) And what the Republican Party with their austerity measures has in mind for the future of the American people is found nestled within this midpoint picture's analysis by Reinhold Ebertin: the misery of the masses.

Of course in 2023, what conveniently muddies the waters for many Americans, too busy or apathetic to pay much if any attention to politics, is the fact that Republicans and Democrats 'switched' parties thanks to tricky Richard Nixon's and Barry Goldwater's campaign ploy called the Southern Strategy which turns up in a previous post concerning the The Dixiecrats of 1948. You'll find Tricky Dick's crabby claws involved with 1948's Dixiecrats linked directly to 1968's Southern Strategy.

And whether FDR actually said it or he didn't, my years residing in Washington DC and studying our blighted politics makes it clear to me that, to paraphrase the famous quote: Nothing in politics happens by accident; if it happens you can can bet it was meant to happen. And I must add that timing is the primary ingredient for success, as DC astrologers well know. For only Astrology adds timing to an analysis.

So all this for me begs a question or two:

Are We the People mere pawns in what has essentially become only a One Party System of Politics with one side playing the devil's advocate role in order to create the appearance that our grievances are at least being heard? Is this why progressed policies that would improve our lives have become so difficult to pass into law because 'the fix is in', the ultimate result of the game already determined? Was this starkly revealed in 2017 when transit Pluto reached the 1993 Uranus-Neptune Conjunction (the 'nwo' duo of Enlightenment) with its potential for: "The big picture commands a certain course of action which must be followed; little option to do otherwise"? (Noel Tyl.)

If this is even partially so, then tragically the GOP's current shove toward fascism and nazism can turn out to be a cosmic picture of America circling the drain, to be drowned in Grover Norquist's infamous bath tub, and it will include, to the world's sorrow, the drowning of democracy. Yet this will be made easier for them if we let Republicans win in 2024.

Besides, years ago Grover revealed the GOP's plan for America. Didn't you believe him?

2017: Republican Party Now Having Its Neptune Return

Republican Party Founded March 20, 1854 with Neptune @14Pisces01

by Jude Cowell

Yes, this particular astrologer is a common-good sort of American and since we're stuck with two political parties, my preference is that both parties contain honest men working on behalf of the American people. But in this 'New Millennium', my suspicion is that the majority of We The People realize that this is only a bubbly dream that went pouf! decades ago if indeed it was ever reality at all. Founded on Plato's Ideal Society, most of America's Founders were members of secret societies and held an esoteric mindset full of high 'Enlightenment' ideals which subsequently have been quite easy to 'repeal and replace' with crass materialism and me-first attitudes which are now embodied in a compromised Donald Trump playing POTUS as he rakes in the cash at the expense of our republic.

Today is September 21, 2017 and once again the Republican Party thinks to 'repeal' what they disrespectfully have called 'Obamacare' and replace it with a misshapen version of 'healthcare' insurance that some have called Trumpcare ('Trumpscare' more like). So considering how industriously the GOP has worked since the ACA (Obamacare) was passed into law (March 2010) to undermine its provisions and trash talk it down--as they continue to do--we may wish to consider the current condition of the GOP via its natal Neptune, planet of corruption, fraud, falsehood, scams, scandals, delusions,spirituality and inspiration and its natal degree of 14Pis01, for as astrologers of the Tropical Zodiac recognize, transit Neptune has been precisely on that degree in recent times. In fact, the Republican Party's Neptune Return is a five-er due to Neptune's off-and-on retrograde periods. But first...

Why Use March 20, 1854 6:30 pm LMT Rippon, Wisconsin?

In a forum on the Noel Tyl website data is given for the natal Horoscope of the Republican Party as March 20, 1854 6:30 pm LMT Ripon, Wisconsin with 4Libra23 rising and 5Cancer14 at Midheaven, the Point of Aspirations and Goals. The source cited is The Origin of the Republican Party. A 5Can14 MC spotlights America's natal Jupiter @5Can56 (July 4, 1776) with its telling Sabian Symbol: "Game Birds Feathering Their Nests." Wonder if this is one of the reasons Harry Truman asserted in 1948 that the Republican Party was a party of the rich and that that's all it would ever be?

If you're curious, here's what Harry thought of the Republican Party.

So just what is a Neptune Return? With distant Neptune's approximate 165-year cycle, no human being has ever enjoyed one, of course, but nations and other long-term entities can. Amazingly, we who are now living are in the midst of one at this very moment--the Neptune Return/s of the Republican Party--now 'in control' of our three branches of government. And we can feel how Neptune's typical lack of clarity and fanciful notions are working for us.

So first, let's consider through a common-good Political Astrology lens the meaning of Neptune floating through its own sign of oceanic Pisces, sign of the Two Fishes--one swimming upward toward the highest ideals and standards, and reaching the Divine Source, the other swimming down toward the depths--of shady criminality, the Underworld, corruption, deception, delusion, disappointment, and/or the depths of despair. Yes, drug taking and trafficking are down there somewhere along with damning secrets and leaks of inconvenient truths.

Plus, Neptune in Pisces is a primary indicator of the Collective Unconscious which, at least around Stars Over Washington, relates to the US presidency through America's four-year cycle of Inaugurations on January 20th at noon in Washington DC--with 14Taurus rising and bringing starry Menkar the Whale along with the presidential oath. Keywords: victim of the unconscious. Through the Biblical story of Jonah, this archetype also relates to saying what must be said whether you want to or not. (You know--like a president mouthing words written and directed by higher authorities--'the big picture must be followed', etc. Or dethroning follows.)

As for transit Neptune in Pisces, we are in a period since February 3, 2011 of increased interest in mysticism and the paranormal, spiritual quests, inspired art, music, and literature, psychism, alcohol and other drug cravings, contagions, and/or pessimism. This is also a time when deep pathological tendencies float up from the unconscious minds of those who unfortunately have them, whether through nature, nurture, or both. Transit Neptune will be in Pisces until January 2026 so we all have a ways to swim just yet until the Mars-ruled Aries Point of World Manifestation is reached by Neptune with potentials for the love of humanity, ideas concerning the social welfare, confusion, and/or insane or mad ideas (R. Ebertin).

Now in the natal chart of the Republican Party, we may surmise a bit about their Neptune Return by considering natal Neptune's general condition--aspects, midpoint pictures, house rulership, degree, etc. For as you know, any planetary return repeats the aspects of the returning planet to other natal planets thereby casting a light upon them and their indications. However, for the 1854 GOP, the aspects of natal Neptune in natal 6th house (and ruling it with 9Pis20 on the cusp) are wispily threadbare to say the least for there is only a semi-square (2A28) to natal Pluto @1Tau30 in natal 8th house in evidence. There seem to be a few possible ways we can read this:

Weakening Neptune in a weak square with Pluto which brings periods of social turmoil, the subtle disintegration of social structure, and corrupt political institutions. These are, in my estimation, precisely what the 'political class' is all too eager to provide for us with corporate-bought Democrats as the Party of the Rich's enablers. And note the use of subtlety as they continually attempt to hide their paw prints from their crimes!

And if we consider the GOP's natal Neptune as unaspected, we find materialism to be the inspiring world view with full dependence upon rationality and an inability to believe in the numinous. Lack of aspects denotes that the spirituality of planet Neptune is unable to give lofty insights to the rest of the natal planets, resulting in a dry, serious, or cold demeanor (and a lack of smiles, as you may have noticed!)

Another way to look a the GOP Neptune Return/s is the house position of natal Neptune in the 6th house of Health, Work, and Military, Police, and Civil Services. Now I don't have to mention here how all of these areas relate to ongoing Republican efforts to undermine the US government and the American people so I'll simply mention the Sabian Symbols (M.E.J. version) that apply to the party's natal Neptune--the karmic confrontation degree of '14Pisces' and '15Pisces':

'14Pisces': "A Lady in Fox Fur" (my italic for an obvious reason): "negative expression: amoral opportunism."

'15Pisces': "An Officer Preparing to Drill His Men": "negative expression: uninspiring drudgery."

(The Sabian Symbols in Astrology, Jones.)

In addition, we should mention that Neptune in mid-Pisces conjoins a certain fixed star: Achernar with the key phrases: a risk of rapid endings and crisis at the end of the river. Neptune's position in 1854 also conjoined an asteroid/archetype, Toro, one of the power asteroids that relates to nuclear power and to Wall Street's pagan worship of the golden bull. This also reminds me of Congress' tricky "nuclear option"!

Now let's close with one more thing about the GOP's natal Neptune and that is its involvement in a natal midpoint picture: Neptune-MC = Uranus (10Tau12 in 8th house of Corporatism and Transformation): the desire to bring ideas to realization at all costs.

This sounds just like the GOP and their enablers to me as they dance self-destructively to the tune of their wealthy domestic and foreign donors.

The Republican Party's Neptune Return/s 2017--2018:

1. May 17, 2017

2. July 16, 2017 Rx (the current return)

3. March 7, 2018

4. October 20, 2018 Rx

5. December 29, 2018.

Related Reading: Prospects for a Golden Age: The Meaning of the Great Planetary Cycles by E. Alan Meece.