July 2013 - Building Global Astrology’s Knowledge-Base

By DW Sutton

Subheadings:   April, September, December 1937   May, June, July 2013  

Aspect Agenda by Peak Power and Harmony Date  

Mars conjunction Jupiter:  July 22, 2013 at 2.35am EST, Washington – 77W01; 38N53

Mundane astrology is primarily an observational science. To learn the current influence of a planet on global affairs astrologers must observe and match astrological events in the sky with what’s happening here and now on Earth. Observation starts the research trail and mundane astrologers in 2013 owe a huge debt of gratitude to Elbert Benjamine’s mundane astrology class and the painstaking research it conducted during the 1920’s and 30’s that has now become the foundation of modern mundane astrology. So what did the class actually do and how can we benefit from its research methods?

April, September, December 1937

Seven years after Pluto’s discovery in 1930 Elbert Benjamine was actively building a Pluto fact-file. And the lead article in the June 1937 issue of the Church of Light Quarterly was titled: What the opposition of Jupiter revealed as to the influence of Pluto. Here’s what Elbert wrote:

‘We had been looking forward to the period around April 22, 1937 as a time when we should be able to learn more about the influence of Pluto, the planet which, since its discovery seven years ago, has had so much to do with the trend of world affairs. Whenever a planet, either in the sky, or in its cycle, makes unusually powerful aspects, the things it rules on earth are given commensurate importance. They respond to the added volume of astral energy, which in vibratory rate is the same as their own, and gain an activity, making their influence conspicuous.

We felt therefore, if we scanned the periodicals issued near the date of April 22, when Jupiter came to the opposition of Pluto in the sky, that they would confirm the evidence we already had collected, by showing these things now to be highly active; that this new planet is related to coercion, group activity and mass production, the discovery of the operation of the inside of things, invisible forces and the borderline which separates life from death.

As expressing the quality of Pluto’s influence, near April 22, the newspapers reported on a number of extortion cases, the one gaining the most publicity relating to the popular movie star, Clark Gable. For a week the newspapers gave the Extortion Trial, as they called it, tremendous publicity and the verdict ending the trial was brought in by the jury on April 23. And on April 22 there were not less than a dozen major strikes in progress, some of the sit-down variety, and popular as Clark Gable is, the trial in which he acted as witness could not compete for newspaper space with the accounts of these mass efforts (Pluto) to force the employers (Jupiter) to meet the demands of labor.

These heavy aspects in the sky not only influence the activities of individuals, but also the steps taken by nations. As indicating the group activity characteristic of Pluto, the newspapers of April 20 chronicled that 27 nations had combined to place a sanitary cordon of warships around Spain. And as revealing the typical manner in which the consolidation of one group to affect a given purpose is met by the consolidation of another group to defeat the efforts of the first, the newssheets of April 23 bear headlines that London and Paris had formed an alliance for mutual defense; and to counteract this, as recorded in the newspapers of April 26, Italy is negotiating a military alliance with Germany. These group activities were largely instigated by the wealth that the planet (Jupiter), which is in opposition to Pluto, rules.’

Elbert then explained: ‘We have found that people in whose birthcharts the planet Pluto is unusually prominent, generate in their brain and nervous system electrical energies which, while probably having less potential that those ruled by Uranus, radiate wave-lengths which seem to be shorter and of a higher frequency. They are specifically adapted to the transmission and reception of thought at a distance. Telepathy, both at the sending and receiving end, seems to be directly under Pluto’s rule.

Those with Pluto prominent in their birthcharts frequently experience thought-transference when a progressed aspect to Pluto forms. And it’s not confined to intelligences occupying the physical plane. Through Scorpio, the sign associated with death, Pluto has a special affinity with the four-dimensional plane. And it frequently happens under a progressed aspect to this planet that, over some considerable period of time, telepathic conversations are carried on with some discarnate entity. But whether the intelligence is of the four-dimensional or three-dimensional plane, if the aspect to Pluto is discordant, all too often the coercive quality of the planet becomes manifest and the telepathic experience takes the form of some person, either on the earth or on the astral plane, trying to force the telepathic individual to do something.

Which brings us back to the opposition of Jupiter to Pluto on April 22, and the outstanding news reported in periodicals near that date as being significant of Pluto’s influence. The Literary Digest of April 24 for instance gives almost two pages to the mass (Pluto) experiments, some 500,000 tests, carried out over the past few years by scientists in a dozen universities, by which telepathy and clairvoyance have definitely been proved.’

Then, in the December 1937 issue of The Church of Light Quarterly Elbert Benjamine reported on the influence of the Neptune-Jupiter-Uranus grand trine on the movies. He explained:

‘Musicians and artists in general are ruled by Venus, which means that those following these vocations have the mental factors within their unconscious minds mapped by Venus unusually active.  But those who are able to dramatize their music to an extraordinary degree and thus attain high recognition, and to a less extent those who are lovers of classical music, especially the symphony, pick up the energies from Neptune in more than common volume. Neptune is the upper-octave expression of the Venus vibration so the more refined and intricate forms of music are ruled by Neptune. It is also the planet which rules the movies.

Uranus, on the other hand, has nothing in particular to do with music, but its influence is in the direction of things that are new, innovative and original.

During September 1937 Uranus and Neptune came well within orb of a trine aspect in the sky and we expected something new relating to music and the movies. And as Jupiter, the planet of patronage, made the trine aspect to both of these planets, the planet indications were particularly favorable to the presentation of some new art form, especially as on September 14, Jupiter turned direct in motion to move toward completing the trine with Neptune.

It was under these aspects in the sky that an entirely new type of movie was presented to the public. For the first time in screen history, undiluted classical music was joined in dramatic unity with the comedy, pathos and suspense which go to make a great picture. Wagner’s Third Act Prelude to Lohengrin, Liszts’ Second Hungarian Rhapsody, the Finale of Tschaikowsky’s Fifth Symphony, Mozart’s Alleluja, and the drinking song from Verdi’s Traviata, were skillfully woven into a plot which unlike musical films of the past, has not been subordinated to the entertainment factor.’ The movie, One Hundred Men and a Girl, starred Deanna Durbin who, according to Elbert, ‘sang amazingly’.

But life on Earth highlights extremes – great beauty and great wickedness – and at this time Elbert was compelled to comment on the influence of Pluto on a sex-crime wave. In the December 1937 issue of The C of L Quarterly he wrote: ‘But the (Neptune-Jupiter-Uranus) grand trine has not been the only powerful aspect in the sky. And if we are to gain a proper insight into the workings of planetary forces we must consider the sordid as well as those beautiful, and it seems that adverse aspects to Pluto bring out that which is criminal and sordid as nothing else can. It may be that Pluto, as co-ruler of Scorpio, tends somewhat to an association of sex with its crimes. But even when sex is not involved, the most atrocious crimes, and the most viciously criminal, come under its influence. Consequently, with Pluto being so heavily afflicted in the sky by the opposition of Jupiter, this year has witnessed an unusual number of particularly revolting crimes. The newspapers heralded this summer as marking an unprecedented wave of sex-crimes. And while it is to be doubted if such crimes were more numerous than in other years when Pluto was badly afflicted, yet many of the sex crimes against children were particularly drastic.’

And now, in mid 2013, astrologers are again observing the top news stories to match events here on Earth with their astrological correlates in the sky. 

May, June, July 2013

In May, 2013 Uranus and Pluto moved to form their fourth square aspect in the sky. The aspect was perfect on May 20 and on May 4 the two planets moved into the critical one degree orb. At this time both Malaysia and Pakistan held general elections which were marred by claims of cheating, fraud and vote rigging. And in Pakistan over one hundred people were killed in Taliban attacks and Ali Haider Gilani, the son of former Pakistani Prime Minister Yousef Raza Gilani, was kidnapped. But the main news story that grabbed headlines around the world was the Cleveland kidnapping and the release of Amanda Berry, Gina DeJesus and Michelle Knight on May 6, 2013 after being held captive for ten years. Pluto is the planet of kidnapping and insidious crime and Uranus is the planet of freedom, shocks and sensational news. Then on May 19 it was reported that North Korea – a lower-Pluto rogue country – had launched three short range missiles from its eastern coast into the sea – the hysterical threats continued.

On a positive (harmonious) note an aspect in the sky that is having a constructive influence on the global agenda is Saturn trine Neptune. With a 10 degree orb its beneficial influence has been evident since February 2013. But it’s when the two planets move to within one degree of the perfect trine and the aspect is at its peak power and harmony that its impact will be most noticeable. Saturn and Neptune are within this critical one degree orb from May 25 to August 6, 2013 and their perfect trine aspect is formed on June 11, 2013 at 11.26pm UT and July 19, 2013 at 1.20pm UT.

Saturn is the planet of work, unemployment, hardship, homelessness, security issues, The United Nations Security Council, land and buildings, economy, crops on the ground, basic commodities, minerals, farming, mining, practical planning, foresight, conservatism, orthodoxy, tradition and established custom. And Neptune is the planet of idealism, visionary schemes, imaginative proposals, great expectations, breathtaking exaggeration, razzle-dazzle, mystical thinking, complexity, the aviation, pharmaceutical and drug industries, air travel, oil, inflation, fraud, slavery, celebrity, Hollywood and pornography. And under the influence of their luck (trine) aspect the matters they rule will blend in harmonious cooperation resulting in fortunate developments and good events.

So while the Uranus-Pluto square aspect in the sky is serving up a non-stop supply of horrible news stories the Saturn-Neptune trine is providing harmonious energy and fortunate events and it’s the Saturn-Neptune trine on July 19, 2013 that has the astrologer’s attention.

On June 6 the situation in the sky gets even better when Jupiter moves to form luck (trine) aspects with Saturn and Neptune so there’s a Jupiter-Saturn-Neptune grand trine. Jupiter is within the critical one degree orb of Saturn and Neptune from July 14 to July 22, 2013. The Jupiter-Saturn trine is perfect on July 17, the Jupiter-Neptune trine is perfect on July 18, and the Saturn-Neptune trine is perfect on July 19, 2013.

Jupiter is the planet of expansion, prosperity, abundance, good-will, honesty, mercy and tolerance. He rules banks, capitalism, financial markets, money, wealth creation, commerce, trade, treaties, legal matters, law, the courts – The World Court – publishing, ships, shipping and religion. So the astrologer will be scanning all the news services for the outstanding news stories that the Jupiter-Saturn-Neptune grand trine in the sky is destined to deliver.

Then on July 1, 2013 Mars in the sky moves to form a prominence (conjunction) aspect with Jupiter and on July 6 it moves to form luck (trine) aspects with Saturn and Neptune. These aspects can be given a 10 degree orb, but their influence will be most noticeable when they are within the critical one degree orb from July 19 to July 24, 2013. The Mars-Neptune trine and the Mars-Saturn trine are perfect on July 20 and the Mars-Jupiter conjunction is perfect on July 22, 2013.

Mars is the planet of strife, energetic effort, initiative, construction, destruction, violence, conflict, war, disputes, bloodshed, guns, bombs, explosions, fires, accidents, the military, army, navy, police, firemen, competitive sport, gambling, alcohol, mechanics and manufacturing.

So, in the sky, from July 20 to July 24 Mars is conjunction Jupiter and trine Saturn and Neptune. Jupiter is trine Saturn and Neptune. And Saturn is trine Neptune. There are two grand trines – a Mars-Saturn-Neptune grand trine and a Jupiter-Saturn-Neptune grand trine. Mars and Jupiter are in Cancer – the home, family matters and oceans; Saturn is in Scorpio – debt, taxes and death; and Neptune is in Pisces – relief measures, disappointments, crime and rivers.

Aspect Agenda by Peak Power and Harmony Date

Saturn is trine Neptune on June 11, 2013 at 11.26pm UT
Jupiter is trine Saturn on July 17, 2013 at 5.31pm UT
Jupiter is trine Neptune on July 18, 2013 at 12.14am UT
Saturn is trine Neptune on July 19, 2013 at 1.20pm UT
Mars is trine Neptune July 20, 2013 at 7.42pm UT
Mars is trine Saturn on July 20, 2013 at 9.34pm UT and
Mars is conjunction Jupiter on July 22, 2013 at 7.35am UT
Times are from Raphael’s Ephemeris for 2013. 

Individual charts, constructed for each of these astrological events, will reveal the departments of mundane life that benefit from the supply of harmonious astrological energy but there is no one chart that will tell the whole story so our main interest is in observing what’s going on and matching the good news stories here on Earth with their astrological markers in the sky. Let’s hope that the disaster and misery obsessed media can cope with the influx of good news and give it the time, attention and analysis it warrants.

Mars conjunction Jupiter:  July 22, 2013 at 2.35am EST, Washington – 77W01; 38N53

At Washington the Mars-Jupiter conjunction is in house 1 – the American people – and the conjunction is trine (luck) Saturn (security) in house 5 (schools, children, speculation, Wall Street, sport and entertainment); and trine (luck) Neptune (idealism) in house 9 (new laws, The Supreme Court, trade, shipping, religion and advertising.) Mars and Jupiter (new gun laws) form an exact trine aspect with the Midheaven and with Neptune conjunction the Midheaven the good-news story for the American people will get national and international publicity.

Published 5/23/2013