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The Astrology of 2012
The anticipation has built over years, maybe even decades, and now finally the year 2012 is here. “Is this the end of the world or civilisation as we know it?” It may be surprising to some that with such a focus on this particular twelve months, the coming year doesn’t really produce the earth shattering astrological configurations we’ve been led to expect. That’s not to say though that there’s nothing of significance being enacted in the heavens during 2012.
An Unfolding Story
A major part of an astrologers work is to study and translate the “story” that’s being told as the planets move through our skies making their aspects and alignments. An advantage the astrologer has through watching the “signs and portents” is that it becomes obvious there’s a continuous unfolding of events occurring in cycles and series that stretch out over differing periods of time. The Sun cycle takes about 365 days to complete, our measurement of a year. Our Moon has a 29.5 day cycle and this in turn has a larger pattern of about 19 solar years. Mars takes around two solar years, Jupiter twelve and so on. Pluto’s slow progress takes 248 years to complete one full turn. It’s from the idea that we are about to complete a very very long cycle that has given this year its apocalyptic status.
Much of the emphasis on 2012 comes from the Mayan long count calendar which covers a cycle of thousands of solar years. Calculations have suggested it will complete on 20 December 2012 with a new long count starting on 21st December. Others have claimed it ended on 28th October 2011. Although an Astrological event may take place at a specific time we experience the effect from the configuration of slow moving planets over several years. Within such huge eons of time an exact date becomes a minor issue and we are actually no more likely to notice anything tangible on those dates than we are at the Solstice or Equinox each year. What we are experiencing now though is the culmination of many cycles and the beginning of a new era. But as with the nature of time, it doesn’t all happen at once!
2008 -2011
The last few years have been dominated by several major configurations featuring planets in cardinal signs making stressful cross and T square formations, notably a series of five Saturn Uranus oppositions. From 2008 to 2011 we experienced a dramatic period of upheaval and a turning point for the majority of the world’s population in which the political, social, cultural, and economic challenges of the last decades reached a peak. Global financial, political and religious structures crumbled as systems of government failed the ordinary people they were meant to serve.
Uranus Square Pluto
By mid 2011, Uranus, planet of idealism and revolution had moved into Aries whilst Pluto, planet of destruction and renewal became firmly established in Capricorn.
The powerful effect of their interaction is seen in the great evolutionary upheaval they initiate amongst the various population groups around the world.
The influence of these outer planets on any of us as individuals depends on where they fall into our own birth chart.
These two heavyweights of transformation started to form a challenging square aspect during July 2011 and we got a taste of things to come. This volatile combination is the signature of the next few years.
The Uranian archetype is altruistic and wants unrestricted freedom of expression. It is innovative and breaks through the constraints of established order. Whilst in Pisces it was prey to self delusion and couldn’t grasp the truth amongst the smoke and mirrors. Now, and for the next seven years, it’s in feisty Aries and we have a call to action, confrontation too if necessary. It serves to overthrow complacency and disrupt the status quo. It may bring chaos and apparent anarchy which will be more difficult for some people than others, but this too happens regularly in cycles. It last occurred 84 years ago during the early 1930’s.
Pluto differs in its expression but also represents an archetype which ultimately works in the interests of our combined evolutionary development. Through the process of degeneration and decay something new can emerge. This is a principal of life and death and an ongoing cycle represented all around us. We often fear this undeniable force and attempt to control its effects but that only creates stress and often pain, emotional or physical. Eventually we all have to let go to a greater force. It has the effect of overthrowing personal agendas in favour of the “good of all”. The Pluto archetype is about a journey which somehow transforms us into something further along in our shared evolution. Whilst in Capricorn, Pluto will be at work on our structures, systems and organisations. Thus we see it working to undermine the control of governments, religion and the judicial systems. Everything that we have built up over time that has crystallised or fossilised, keeping us within its constraints, must now be broken down and rebuilt.
When the forces of Uranus and Pluto come together we can expect some rapid and comprehensive changes. The last powerful combination was during the 1960’s when there were mass demonstrations and social upheavals. There was a lot of experimenting with communal living, mind blowing drugs and anti establishment attitudes. Social norms were overthrown, rigid class divisions dissolved and the “modern” social era emerged.
This current square aspect is the first major challenge to the changes that came out of that social revolution. It first became exact during late June 2011 and will continue its influence until early 2016.
The challenge we have to face is rooted in our sense of individualism. There are serious questions to ask about our own personal integrity. It is rapidly becoming obvious throughout the world that those who we have entrusted with power are now exercising a very questionable authority. But it’s easy to see it in another person. During the coming years the spotlight will eventually turn inwards and we have to look at where we’re in conflict with our own standards of behaviour. If we want to have freedom from material restraints (Uranus) we have to be purged of self importance and become honourable (Pluto).The struggle will be acted out on many levels as we are forced to face ourselves. We have to question what is really true and appropriate and what have we blindly accepted as a convenient or comfortable assertion.
Human rights, individual freedom and choice will be confronted by those who desire to hold power. Suppression, force or manipulation is likely to be used in an attempt to achieve supremacy and we can choose to go along with it or not.
We can expect a build up of increasing pressure until sufficient power exists to crash through the established political, financial and religious structures and remove the outmoded ways of being, within them.
This time period will seem chaotic and disruptive but it is essential to clear away systems, governments and social divisions that no longer serve us. The next few years will be both exciting and confusing. We still don’t know exactly how things are going to take shape and there may have to be several changes before it settles into something workable. Focusing on personal integrity, core values and removing obstacles to social co-operation within your community will help keep you connected to something dependable.
Rare Occultation of Venus
Another completion takes place this summer echoing the theme of new beginnings. On 5th June Venus passes over the Sun at 15 degrees Gemini, in what’s known as an occultation. As with an eclipse the planet passes in front of the Sun and can be observed from earth, a phenomenon occurs in pairs about eight years apart approximately every 121 years. Previous occasions have been 1631, 1639, then 1761, 1769, followed by 1874, 1882. The first of the current phase was on June 8th 2004. This once in a lifetime event often coincides with a period of social and economic reformation and is the herald for a new set of personal and social values. The last few years has seen a shift in values of all kinds, personal yes, but also financial and with how we relate to physical resources like food, water and land use.
Venus, goddess of love and beauty and planet of attraction tells us about what we value. We have an innate desire to interact with others and to be attractive and desirable so we can “belong” to a social group, partner or family. She uses the energy of attraction to bring what we value to us through a kind of magnetism of likeness. When Venus joins with the Sun in such a spectacular way their energies are combined and it’s as if Venus becomes infused with the brilliance of the Suns power, like a light getting turned on, in a big way. It’s as if the Sun, our solar heart, is imparting its message through our social values. The expression “hearts desire” comes to mind with this symbolism and I would expect that whatever yours is, it will be magnified by this conjunction. If you want to know what your true hearts desire is then take time during this rare event to tune in and find out. In Mercury ruled Gemini the emphasis is on communications and making connections. We could see a change in the way we use social media this year. Venus also makes a square to Mars and this event will bring to light the methods used to get what we want and at what cost on a deeper personal level. Expect to experience a heartfelt reaching out to others in direct challenge to those who choose conflict as their form of communication.
Neptune in Pisces
The third major influence this year is Neptune starting a 13 year journey through its own sign, Pisces. It’s been in Aquarius since 1998 and made a temporary move into Pisces from April to July 2011 when we got a taste of its potential. Neptune is another of the evolutionary planets and acts to break down barriers and dissolve physical boundaries that divide us. The sign of Pisces is the last in the Zodiac cycle and represents the return to a spiritual state beyond material limitations. Its territory is the realm of dreams and mystical experience as well as chaos and disorder. At worst we will be prey to deception or a refusal to accept stark realities preferring to remain in a comfortable denial. Potentially though, we can expect a growing wave of compassion and upsurge in yearning for connection with our spiritual home. The principals of brotherly love and human kindness are easily characterized in this combination.
Inevitable Change
2012 is probably the year when we finally see that real and profound changes are taking place. It’s happening so fast now that we cant fail to notice. This is a necessary change because we’ve gone as far as we can down a particular path and the systemic problems are deep and entrenched. The very way people relate to each other will need to evolve before the transformation is complete. The next few years will teach us some hard lessons but humanity will survive. What’s happening now will teach us that individual survival is dependant on co-operating with each other, not opposing, or controlling, but through mutual respect. It will also become apparent as we re-organise our societies that everyone will need to take equal responsibility for the society we live in and it can no longer be delegated to someone else. Humanity is about to “grow up”.
“Become the person who you would like to have around if your well being depended on you” (Anonymous)
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2012 The year ahead for Ireland
Using the 1949 chart for Ireland we can see that transiting Saturn opposes the Sun and Venus from late December 2011 until late September 2012. This is certainly going to make any financial progress hard work and we can’t expect the prospect of renewed prosperity, or regaining independence from higher authorities yet. Property prices are likely to continue to devalue. Saturn restricts and delays whatever it touches so any declaration of economic recovery can be dismissed as spin or misplaced optimism.
As Saturn passes through an area of Irelands chart which represents our outer image or political status it shows that national reputation and autonomy is compromised and we’ll see further restraints on the way the state can operate. The low points will come during late December 2011, late March and mid September.
Saturn’s job though is to make sure we have put down a solid foundation for building on in the future. It teaches us the hard way by making us face the sometimes stark reality we have been avoiding and we finally realise no one else is going to take the responsibility for our future.
During March and April there could be a serious disquiet and upheaval. We can expect to see strong opposition to the government and maybe even a sudden change in the ruling power or state. This influence emerges again in November around the time of the lunar eclipse so if we haven’t already seen changes in government then this might be the time.
Saturn moves into Scorpio in October and as the emphasis changes we could experience isolation from other countries and perhaps find that getting support from abroad is harder to achieve. We may find we have more firm restraints placed on us from abroad.
The Uranus Pluto square directly affects the area of the chart which represents Ireland’s economy and financial policy. It may take several years before we see the financial sector working in favour of the ordinary people. It is quite likely that the ruling government is at “war” with the people during this period.
This year we’ll experience increasing disparity between those who believe in taking and holding the power, wealth and control for their own personal enhancement and those who choose to share power and resources, contributing to the well being of others and trusting in them as a sustainable way of ensuring their own long term well being. Two very different approaches to taking care of oneself.
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Astrology Articles
For my Monthly Planet Update & Forecasts please visit my Blog at Cafe Kakabel.
Use the list to the left of the page to find the articles and additional information of interest. Some are contributions from other websites and others have been gathered from open source pages on the Web. (see individual credits)
William Lilly
Biography taken from Wikipedia, http://en.wikipedia.org
William Lilly (May 1 (O.S.)/May 11 (N.S.), 1602 – June 9, 1681), was a famed English astrologer and occultist during his time. Lilly was particularly adept at interpreting the astrological charts drawn up for horary questions, as this was his speciality.
Lilly caused much controversy in 1666 for allegedly predicting the Great Fire of London some 14 years before it happened. For this reason many people believed that he might have started the fire, but there is no evidence to support these claims. He was tried for the offence in Parliament but was found to be innocent.
William Lilly was born in 1602 in Diseworth, Leicestershire, where his family were long-established yeomen. He received a basic classical education at the school of Ashby-de-la-Zouch, but makes a point of saying that his master never taught logic. At the age of seventeen, his father having fallen into poverty, he went to London and was employed in attendance on an elderly couple. His master, at his death in 1627, left him an annuity of £20; and, Lilly having soon afterwards married the widow, she, dying in 1633, left him property to the value of about £1000.
He began to dabble in astrology, reading all the books on the subject he could fall in with, and occasionally trying his hand at unravelling mysteries by means of his art. The years 1642 and 1643 were devoted to a careful revision of all his previous reading, and in particular, having lighted on Valentine Naibod's Commentary on Alcabitius, he "seriously studied him and found him to be the profoundest author he ever met with." About the same time he tells us that he “did carefully take notice of every grandaction betwixt king and parliament, and did first then incline to believe that as all sublunary affairs depend on superior causes, so there, was: a possibility of discovering them by the configurations of the superior bodies." And, having thereupon "made some essays," he "found encouragement to proceed further, and ultimately framed to himself that method which he ever afterwards followed."
Lilly's most comprehensive book was published in 1647 and was entitled Christian Astrology. It is so large that it came in three separate volumes in modern times, and it remains popular even today and has never gone totally out-of-print. It is considered one of the classic texts for the study of traditional astrology from the Middle Ages, in particular horary astrology, which is mainly concerned with predicting future events or investigating unknown elements of current affairs, based on an astrological chart cast for the time a particular question is asked of the astrologer. Lilly studied thousands of horary charts, most of the time successfully giving correct answers for a wide range of questions from the location of missing fishes to the outcome of battles. Worked examples of horary charts are found in Volume 2 of Christian Astrology.
He then began to issue his prophetical almanacs and other works, which met with serious attention from some of the most prominent members of the Long Parliament. If we may believe his statements, Lilly was on intimate terms with Bulstrode Whitelocke, William Lenthall the speaker, Sir Philip Stapleton, Elias Ashmole and others. Even John Selden seems to have acknowledged him, and probably the chief difference between him and the mass of the community at the time was that, while others believed in the general truth of astrology, he ventured to specify the future events to which he referred.
In 1650, Lilly wrote a preface to Sir Christopher Heydon's An Astrological Discourse with Mathematical Demonstrations, a defence of astrology written about 1608 which was first published posthumously, largely at the expense of Elias Ashmole. Even from his own account, however, it is evident that he did not trust implicitly to the indications given by the aspects of the heavens, but kept his eyes and ears open for any information which might make his predictions safe. It appears that he had correspondents both at home and in foreign parts to keep him conversant with the probable current of affairs. Not a few of his exploits indicate rather the quality of a clever police detective than of a profound astrologer.
After the Restoration he very quickly fell into disrepute. His sympathy with the parliament, which his predictions had generally shown, was not calculated to bring him into royal favour. He came under the lash of Butler, who, making allowance for some satiric exaggeration, has given in the character of Sidrophel a probably not very incorrect picture of the man; and, having by this time amassed a tolerable fortune, he bought a small estate at Hersham in Surrey, to which he retired, and where he diverted the exercise of his peculiar talents to the practice of medicine. He died in 1681.
The above entry was originally from the 1911 Encyclopaedia Britannica.
In 2003 a commemorative plaque was placed next to the disused Aldwych tube station on the Strand. Lilly lived close to this spot.
The publication of a facsimile of the original 1647 edition of Lilly's Christian Astrology in 1985 by the Regulus Press, in England, brought about a remarkable renaissance in astrological scholarship in North America and Europe, and a transformation of the techniques of modern astrology itself. Curiosity about what modern astrology had lost stimulated many initiatives to recover, translate and disseminate the greatest works of astrology's ancient and medieval past. Possibly the most notable of these was Project Hindsight, an ambitious and extremely influential undertaking in translation begun in 1993 by Americans Robert Hand, Robert Zoller and Robert Schmidt, and supported by reader subscriptions. Project Hindsight translated many important Hellenistic and Medieval astrological texts from their original languages (mostly Greek and Latin, but also Hebrew) and published them. Because these translations were made by accomplished practitioners who understood astrological technique, they tended to avoid the misunderstandings that are sometimes encountered in the few academic translations available.
None of this would have been possible without the efforts of Olivia Barclay and other British astrologers who first began to unearth Lilly's astrological work, and who were influential in the eventual re-publication of Christian Astrology. Astrologer John Frawley, author of several books on traditional astrology, is one of the leading proponents of Lilly's methods, particularly in the branch of Horary Astrology. Other prominent Horary Astrologers are Deborah Houlding, Christopher Warnock, Sue Ward, Lee Lehman, Carol Wiggers and Anthony Louis.
Bibliography
- Patrick Curry, Prophecy and Power: Astrology in Early Modern England, Princeton University Press, 1989.
- William Lilly, Christian Astrology, Book 1: An Introduction to Astrology; Book 2: The Resolution of All Manner of Questions, 1647. 2nd ed., 1659. Re-published by Astrology Classics (Bel Air, Maryland), 2004; by Ascella Publications, ed. D. Houlding, London, 1999; and [in facsimile of 1647 edition] by Regulus Press, London, 1985.
- William Lilly, Christian Astrology, Book 3: An Easie And Plaine Method Teaching How to Judge upon Nativities, 1647. 2nd ed., 1659. Re-published by Astrology Classics (Bel Air, Maryland), 2004; by Ascella Publications, ed. D. Houlding, London, 2000; and [in facsimile of 1647 edition] by Regulus Press, London, 1985.
- William Lilly, History of His Life and Times from the year 1602 to 1681, 1715, London, by Elias Ashmole. Re-published by Kessinger, 2004.
- William Lilly and Elias Ashmole, Lives of Those Eminent Antiquaries Elias Ashmole and Mr. William Lilly, published by T. Davies, 1772, London. Reprinted by Kessinger from 1942 edition.
- Derek Parker, Familiar to All: William Lilly and Astrology in the Seventeenth Century, London, Cape, 1973.
- Barbara Howard Traister, The Notorious Astrological Physician of London: works and days of Simon Forman, Chicago and London, University of Chicago Press, 2001.
Nicholas Culpeper (1616-1654)
Nicholas Culpeper was an English botanist , physician , and astrologer. He was the son of Nicholas Culpeper, a clergyman. Born on October 18th, 1616, tragically his father, the Reverend Nicholas Culpeper, died 13 days before his birth.
Nicholas was brought up by his mother at her family home in Isfield, Sussex. His maternal grandfather, the Reverend William Attersole, then minister of St Margaret's Church, Isfield, had a significant influence on Culpeper's early development. Attersole's writings show that he had a great respect for astrology and was conversant with Ptolemy's Tetrabiblos. He taught Nicholas Latin and Greek as well as encouraging a strongly puritanical attitude and a healthy disrespect for the Crown.
By the age of ten Nicholas had started reading astrological and medical texts from his grandfather's library. His grandfather didn't approve preferring he limited his study to the Bible. Notably, Sir Christopher Heydon's Defence of Judicial Astrology (1603) greatly impressed Culpeper. He was fond of reading and looking at the illustrations in William Turner's New Herball (1568). From his early teens he was familiar with all the local species of herbs that grew in his part of Sussex.
In 1632, aged 16, Culpeper went to study divinity at Cambridge University until his childhood sweetheart, with whom he planned to elope, was killed by lightning. His mother was also very distressed and her health suffered. She died soon afterwards. His grandfather, angered by his withdrawal from Cambridge, cut him off from his mother's family. Disillusioned and disinherited, he became apprenticed to an apothecary called Francis Drake of Threadneedle Street, Bishopsgate, London. He later went on to run a pharmacy next door to the Red Lion Inn in Spitalfields.
But, he was a radical republican and opposed to the "closed shop" of medicine. He believed that the use of Latin by doctors, lawyers and priests was a conspiracy to keep power and freedom away from the general public. He wished to make the knowledge of herbal remedies available to everyone, especially the poor who could ill afford to visit a physician. And to this end he published in English a translation of the Pharmacopoeia Londonesis of the Royal College of Physicians, calling it A Physical Directory, or a Translation of the London Dispensary . Of this work he said:
"I am writing for the Press a translation of the Physicians' medicine book from Latin into English so that all my fellow countrymen and apothecaries can understand what the Doctors write on their bills. Hitherto they made medicine a secret conspiracy, writing prescriptions in mysterious Latin to hide ignorance and to impress upon the patient. They want to keep their book a secret, not for everybody to know... "
This act of producing an unauthorized critical translation of the London Dispensatory made him the enemy of the physicians. The College counter-attacked in the periodical Mercurius Pragmaticus . They strongly disapproved of his translation:
"The Pharmacopoeia was done (very filthily) into English by one Nicholas Culpeper who commenced the several degrees of Independency, Brownism, Anabaptism; admitted himself of John Goodwin's school (of all ungodliness) in Coleman Street; after that he turned Seeker, Manifestarian, and now has arrived at the battlement of an absolute Atheist, and by two years' drunken labour hath Gallimawfried the Apothecaries' book into nonsense, mixing every receipt therein with some scruples at least of Rebellion or Atheism, besides the danger of poisoning men's bodies. And (to supply his drunkenness and lechery with a 30-shilling reward) endeavoured to bring into obloquy the famous Societies of Apothecaries and Chirurgeons."
For a long time Culpeper had taken an interest in the work of the famous London astrologer William Lilly (1602-81). Lilly was living in the Strand, near Strand Bridge. One day in November 1635, Nicholas chose to pay him a visit and Lilly subsequently offered to teach Culpeper the 'art of astrology'.
On September 5th 1653, Culpeper completed his herbal The English Physician, or an Astrologo-Physical Discourse of the Vulgar Herbs of this Nation. "- being a complete method of physic, whereby a man may preserve his body in health, or cure himself, being sick, for three pence charge, with such things only as grow in England, they being most fit for English bodies”. This volume remains a significant contribution to Herbal medicine and with his inclusion of an astrological framework for presenting the basis of physic, a major astrological resource. The planet associated with each herb is used symbolically to derive its medicinal use. Encouraged by his instruction from William Lilly in the art of astrology, Culpeper saw how this knowledge lay at the root of the European herbal tradition, which contributed to his statement:
On 10 th January 1654 he died of tuberculosis at the age of 38.
Quotations
"Culpeper, the man that first ranged the woods and climbed the mountains in search of medical and salutary herbs, undoubtedly merited the gratitude of posterity" . -- ( Dr. Johnson ).
Quotation from Nicholas Culpeper himself: "The liberty of our Commonwealth is most impaired by three sorts of men, priests, physicians, lawyers."
References
* 1995. Culpeper's complete herbal. A book of natural remedies for ancient ills (Ware, Wordsworth edition).
* 2004. The Herbalist: Nicholas Culpeper and the Fight for Medical Freedom. Benjamin Woolley. HarperCollins.