Transcript of Radio Show: 2022 — A look ahead, the 2022 Forecast – Part 1
(If you wish to listen to the show instead, here is the link on BlogTalk or Apple Podcasts)
As we say goodbye to 2021 and prepare for 2022, I thought it would be helpful to look out to the year ahead and see what the Astrological indications are for the opportunities and challenges that lie on the path before for us.
Mundane Astrology
Much of Astrology and many Astrologers focus their attention upon what we call person-centered Astrology, which is based upon the examination of the progressions and transits occurring in the charts of their clients year after year. But when we step back and look at Worldly or what is called Mundane Astrology, we consider the larger forces shaping cultures, corporations, nations, and the world.
To do this, Astrologers consider two general types of indications:
- We look at the general planetary alignments, which are the movement of the planets through the signs of the Zodiac, and we also consider the significant angular separations that the planets form with one another over time, which Astrologers call the planetary aspects between the orbital paths of the planets.
- And secondly, Astrologers observe the Planets orbiting through the Solar System and note the aspects they form to the natal planets in any one or any number of charts of say a nation, a corporation, or any other entity. In addition to this we will often consider the charts of the leaders of these organizations or other significant actors on the world stage as well.
You would certainly think, given the conditions that we are witnessing around the world right now, that the general indications of the Worldly or Mundane placements and aspects would be very noticeable, stressful, and significant. But this is not the case, at least not at first glance. Yes, as is true for many things in this world, things are often not what they seem.
In Mundane Astrology, Astrologers focus upon the most significant long-term or long-wave cycles of the planets through the signs of the Zodiac. What we find this year is that from Saturn on out to Pluto, all the planets remain in the same sign in 2022 as they were in 2021. Saturn is moving through Aquarius, Uranus through Taurus, Neptune through Pisces, and Pluto remains in Capricorn. And whereas last year, Saturn was making a Square to Uranus, there is no major aspect between these outer planets in 2022. Does that mean that nothing significant is shown by these placements? Well of course not!
Pluto in Capricorn
As I have continuously noted since the mid 2000’s, we are moving through a period in our history which I (and others) have called the “End of an Age”. Principally, I see this as being indicated by the passage of Pluto (the planet of the Will and Transformation) moving through Capricorn (the sign of Reality and Institutions). If we look to Pluto’s previous cycling through this sign, (1762–1778 and 1516–1532) and compare it to our own period from 2008 to 2024, we can see that the Cultural-Economic-Political order that had been in place since the end of the prior passage of Pluto in Capricorn falls apart and a new order begins to emerge.
Why is this so; why does this happen? Quite simply, every Cultural-Economic-Political order is formed for one purpose; we create a hierarchy of institutions to address or meet our human needs. But over time, the nature of these needs and the ways in which they are met evolve and change to such an extent that the old system begins to fail. Eventually we reach a crisis, like now, and from the undoing of the old order a new one is formed or rises from its ashes.
Pluto and the Will
Pluto rules the Will; it is the vehicle of the spiritual gift as to how we form our boundaries with one another, of how we create and preserve our sacred space within ourselves. It holds the spiritual principle that we must relate to others by respecting their sacred space as much as we preserve our own. This Truth must guide us as to how we must work to create our shared spaces that are founded upon the understanding that we are the means to one another’s self-fulfillment or “Happiness”, and to do this we form our Unions or Shared Sacred Spaces, in which we join, grow, and transform one another and our world. Pluto holds the capacity for “Agency”, to hold ourselves in self-mastery, with the ability to say, “yes or “no”, to join in mutual understanding or to separate from one another when we do not.
Alchemy
Pluto is the Avatar that holds the root driving energy-form of Creation, which we know as Alchemy, and it is by this Spiritual Energy-Form which makes manifests all that is; it is “prime mover” behind the whole of Creation. The Cosmos began as the One becoming the many, and those many went forth in a spiritual journey of becoming, moving through a hierarchy of combinations from the physical to the spiritual, from chemistry to alchemy, and this progression of combinations by these many ones, it is this which creates how we, all the divine Sparks of the One transform one another, becoming ever more complex and interrelated, so that they and we form a veritable River of Creation that is the body of the One or the Cosmos.
We humans exercise our will in numerous ways. As our nature became ever more aware and complex, we formed and expressed our power of the will through a hierarchy of vehicles/institutions to meet our needs for one another, from the family to the tribal group, to larger communities, to various state and corporate structures of our modern world on up to nations and world institutions. All these instruments of our will are made by us to care for one another; we are only able to be and become what we are because we make possible our fulfillment through one another. But if “life is spirit and spirit is life”, and spirit’s purpose is to grow and change, so it must follow that we and our vehicles of self-realization must change too. Any institutional order is formed for a particular time, to meet the needs of that time as best as it can. But it will not and cannot last forever, and so we have watched our communities, cultures and civilizations rise and fall throughout human history.
In many periods of Pluto’s 245-year orbit, we will find examples of the right use of the Will and of Power, and the misuse of it too. Today, as our institutional order that was formed in the 1700s comes undone, we see how the very instruments of our fulfillment, of how we meet our basic needs for food, clothing, shelter, and security, and so much more, how these very means of our living have become the obstacles and perils for life on this planet for us, and for many other life-forms too. The very solutions we created to meet our needs have become the obstacles and perils to our continued existence.
We find ourselves now at the end of Pluto’s passage through Capricorn, as it will begin to move into and out of Aquarius during 2023, before remaining there to stay at the end of 2024 (and continue until 2044). We might like to think (or hope) that the ending of this tumultuous period in Capricorn would lead to a time of rebuilding and peace in Aquarius. But if the previous two passages provide some illumination with regards to this, history seems to indicate that our time of ending will lead to a period of challenges in the 2020’s, 2030’s and 2040’s as we attempt to create the New World.
We can take comfort from this fact, that at least our hearts and minds will not be focused upon what we have watched fall apart. No, instead we will lift our hearts and minds as we will be looking to the far horizon, as we focus our love, faith and hope to build the future and forge a path of light and love of what we may yet become.
Pluto and the USA
As I mentioned earlier, the other approach of Mundane Astrology is to examine the planetary aspects formed by the orbiting planets to the natal planets in the chart of some entity. For some time now we have witnessed the passage of Pluto in Capricorn through the chart of the United States as it made a series of alignments: the opposition to Venus in 2009 and 2010, the opposition to Jupiter in 2011, the opposition to the Sun in 2014 and 2015, a square to Saturn in 2015, and the opposition to Mercury in 2020. Truly we have witnessed a significant and powerful series of challenges from 2008 until now.
But 2022 is the final transit of Pluto in Capricorn to the USA chart, and it is perhaps the most consequential. Because this is the year that Pluto will return, (for the very first time) to its natal position in the chart of the United States; this year we will experience the Pluto return for the United States.
I have spoken and written about this for some time now, and I believe we can understand much of the promise for and peril of the United States by looking at Pluto’s role once again. As I have written repeatedly, this Cosmos, the story of Creation, is formed and powered by what we know as Chemistry (physically) or Alchemy (spiritually), and this Fountain Source or Primal Energy for Creation ceaselessly unfolds as the prime mover or the Self-Becoming energy that forges the innumerable combinations and transformations of the hierarchy of Energy-Forms of the One Spirit. Whether by atoms combining with atoms to form larger atoms, molecules with molecules, organisms with organisms, on up to the planets, stars, and galaxies, what drives Creation is the Protean Power that is Alchemy, which is the magic and the mystery of combination.
This secret to Creation, of Birth, Death and Rebirth, is held by the Sign of Scorpio and the Planet Pluto for us. The position of Pluto in the chart of the USA is integral to our understanding of who and what we are. Pluto is in the second house of Value, and it holds the secret of where our true value comes from, of how we are to make value, preserve value or destroy value as a nation.
Alchemy and Community
For humans, this power of Alchemy is most clearly seen in our partnerships, collaborations, joint ventures, enterprises, communities, cultures, and nations. To form any union, we must make a sacrifice which elicits our change and growth; we let go of our lesser qualities to combine with one another by our deeper values, and by this we move into a greater reality. We forge our own growth and make possible our greater and shared qualities through combination. When properly guided by love and understanding, we give up for one another what we must, but we hold onto the core of who we are, sacrificing our ego but lifting our hearts and minds together.
The USA was founded as a Union, as a sacred compact, an agreement made by individuals who sought to free themselves from tyranny and pledged to one another, and they swore an oath, that established “a new order for the centuries”. They determined and declared that they would create a new kind of society and govern themselves by mutual consent. Their ideals and intentions stated in our Declaration resonate to this day, “that all men are created equal”.
Now of course it is true throughout our history, that humans have always joined together, to hunt and to gather and to grow foodstuffs, and to make the necessities for life like clothing and shelter, to join in groups for mutual protection, and so they formed themselves into families, into bands of families, and into tribes, and they created villages, cities, nations, and empires. The nature and quality of those combinations has varied widely, with a range of agency or “free will” for the individuals within those socio-cultural orders. No matter how free or equal, even in what we may look to as “freer” societies of mutual consent, there was ever to be found injustices and inequalities, of power wielded by the few over the many, of people bound and enslaved to the wills of others.
“Out of many, One”
The Way of America has been an attempt to form a new order for the ages, that as our motto states, “Out of many, One”. But as in any individual being, or group of beings, there are three “directions” that must be forged into the “one way” to make a whole person or a whole society, to make a One; there are three ways to connect within and without to forge wholeness and well-being. From Astrology we take this understanding from the three Water Signs, to find our center from Cancer, by forging connection to one another in Scorpio, and to reach for the sublime by Pisces.
The Water Signs
From Cancer we go down and back, to our origins and roots, to who and where we came from (family, culture, faith), and we establish that which centers us within ourselves and with our fellow members. It is the story we tell about who we are.
By Scorpio we go out to form our unions with one another, our joining in personal, professional, social collaborations by which we make possible our self-fulfillments through one another. We create the share sacred spaces governed by our mutual agreements (shaped by morals that guide our conduct, protected by the laws that embody our truth) and by this we become the means to one another’s fulfillment. It is the way in which we show our love for one another.
To Pisces, as we reach up and out, to that which we hold as our belief in a greater order, and our faith about what we will be and become as we follow the ever-rising spiritual imperative to become what we dream. We find the faith to believe in something greater than ourselves, and that this is equally the gift that makes us who we are. It is the luminous path by which we can be greater than we are.
These three ways of Water, of Cancer, Scorpio and Pisces, these ways of being and becoming a better human, is true for every individual. But this means that these three are also the key to any community, society, or culture. And for the USA, we find ourselves at another great turning in the tides of history for these ways of being have become diminished and are in danger of being broken.
Broken Connections
What we are witnessing at the present time for the USA is an ending. Why? We have become separated from our origin story; so, we do not know where we came from. We have lost the capacity to create our shared sacred spaces because we cannot find a way to overcome the differences that divide us; so, we will not sacrifice for one another. We have lost our faith in the American dream of a better life for one and for all; so, we cannot imagine a world that will be better than what came before.
Now, of course, the story that we told of America had to change. Our origin story was incomplete to begin with, as it left out so many who are part of the heart of the American journey; and, we have changed in so many ways that we need to share our stories with one another so that we might create a new common story.
Likewise, our way of joining with one another, (which should be guided by our morals and laws), is no longer protected by being centered in a common story, so our unions have been ever more diminished and hollowed out, allowing those with influence and power to take advantage of our broken social compact. The values that we create with one another, that are for one another, our social wealth, is stolen by the few for their own private benefit. Our power through combination is lost, and we have retreated into isolation and despair.
It is by these broken roots and severed connections, that we have lost faith in our future. We have wandered off the path of faith because we do not know where we came from, or how we can join with one another. We do not have a common story, nor an equitably shared space for self-fulfillment, nor a faith in a future that is better than before. We find ourselves at the end of our days, and we are confused and scared, and our fears darken the horizon.
America — A New Beginning
Yes, Pluto is returning; the Lord of Birth-Death-Rebirth is here. Pluto is ringing the bell of truth, that what was our American Journey of Value for the past 240 years is over. Pluto says that we must let go of the past that is past, and the only way forward is for there to be a renewal and restoration of our true source of value. For we have never lived fully by the truths we declared to be “the Truth”, and we must take up the challenge of being better than we were once again, which really is the quintessential core of the American Story. We believe that we can be better, and we can be again if we understand that we are for another the means for this bright future.
We must remember the true source of all value, shining at the heart of Creation, and in every particle and being in this Cosmos. At the center of it all is the One True Spirit, and we know, and we feel this gift of Spirit for what it is, which is quite simply and purely that behind all of Creation we feel the splendor that is Unconditional Love.
We must write a new story that lifts our minds and heals our hearts; we must forge deeper unions with one another by knowing that we are the instruments for one another’s happiness, and by this we will restore our faith in a future that is worthy of those who will follow us.
The Way Forward
The only way we can go forward is by truly understanding how we got here. We need to share our stories and listen to one another. We must acknowledge the good efforts and sacrifices of so many who made this nation a little better than before. But we also need to acknowledge the great inequities and injustices that exist among our people too, and to understand that much of this is not an accident, no it is not, because it is the result of deliberate policies and actions that broke our promises to one another. It is the product of fear, from those who profit by dividing us from the truth one way or another. But we must put away these falsehoods now and choose love over fear.
The divisions of well-being by race and ethnicity, the staggering differences in income and wealth, the disproportionate circumstances of security and safety among various groups, all these differences are no accident but the result of our failure to live by the truth that we are here to love one another.
This is going to be hard. It is going to require resolve and kindness, dedication, and compassion, it is going to require passion, intelligence, and forgiveness. Building a better future is going to ask each of us to let go of our fears and believe in one another, to support one another, for we are the wealth of this nation, and the future is ours if we will keep faith and have the courage to believe in one another’s essential goodness and courage to live and love as we were meant to be.
The answer is to live by the Light of Love, where you see the one before you as you see yourself, essentially the same, but also different too. That we must celebrate and embrace the Truth that our real strength comes from our alikeness and difference, combined; we need to be the Truth of our motto, “out of many, One”.
The way has always been thus, to see the light of the Universe shining from the other as it is in you. And you will know the answer is quite simply what it has always been,
You are here to love one another as you love yourself, there is no other way, and this is what you were made to do.
May the Light of Truth, Love and Understanding guide us now and forevermore.
Earth & Neptune — Sacred Geometry
