As I mentioned in my previous article, from August 4th for several months Mars in Aries will be squaring the Jupiter-Saturn-Pluto conjunction in Capricorn.
On the very day of the first square of Mars to Jupiter (August 4th), at 6.08pm local time, a huge explosion rocked the port and city of Beirut, apparently caused by 2,750 tonnes of ammonium nitrate that had been confiscated 6 years earlier. The explosion killed close to 200 people and left an estimated 300,000 homeless.
The explosion (Mars) was triggered by a fire (Aries). Jupiter was exactly on the Ascendant (the most sensitive point), and also Uranus (ruler of sudden events and accidents) was right the on IC (the point of the chart related to the ground and home).
- The angles (Ascendant, Midheaven, Descendant and IC) are always the most sensitive points of any astrological chart. Any planet is only on one of the angles for a few minutes each day.
This was a tragic manifestation, in a country already in deep crisis, of the incendiary time that we are in globally for the next 6 months. With the fiery God of War in conflict with the triple conjunction in earthy, structural Capricorn there are tremendous pressures on the fabric of our society at this time and that energy could come out in explosive ways – whether of natural or human origin.
It’s usually the case that the energy of any planetary aspects is at its peak during the retrograde transit, when events related to the symbolism are most likely to happen. In this case we’re talking about the period from late September to late October. So this intense energy is going to continue building for a while, with one likely expression being the continuation of individuals fighting (Mars in Aries) against the controlling forces of governments and big business (Saturn and Pluto in Capricorn).
I have to say this planetary configuration reminds of the friction and stresses created by the subduction of one tectonic plate under another, the build up of such forces leading to massive energy releases through earthquakes and volcanoes. I think that’s an apt image for what we are going through on the planet at this time.
It’s interesting that the name for rocks formed through tectonic activity is metamorphic. A word very much associated with the archetype of Pluto. Metamorphism means ‘a change in form’. It’s not that the existing rock is changed slightly, but that its structure is completely transformed into something else through the intense pressure created by the tectonic plates grinding against each other.
So ultimately this is a time when the pressure is increasing on the prevailing structures of our society (Capricorn), which has the potential to eventually lead to a change in form. Maybe it is the intensity and explosiveness of Mars in Aries that is required to begin to set this change in motion.
