Loop!

These days we wistfully remember the Grand Trine and are now rather cautiously welcoming the emergence of a Grand Cross. After all, we could only complain about the constant back and forth of Uranus and Pluto up to now; although many ills that we actually did not want to see were visible, resignation usually quickly spreads once again following a brief outcry and general indignation. But this back and forth, this wavering and hesitating, could only have been the calm before the storm.

Because Jupiter – the biggest chunk in the planetary choir and lord of the last fire sign – is coming into play. It opposes Pluto and therefore also the old structures and realities of the Capricorn archetype. Things will become fierier: Fire and water produce steam and therefore pressure in the closed cauldron of systems and concepts. And at some point, this pressure must find an expression or outlet. As so often is the case, there are at least two possibilities for this to occur.

The first is that things stay as they are. Global terror warnings are obviously already circulating and this is not completely wrong from the astrological perspective. The last oppositions between Jupiter and Pluto occurred on 26/05/2001, some months before the attack on the World Trade Center in 2001; on 11 September, Jupiter was not far from its current position in Cancer. In the review of this aspect, crises and upheavals were not individual cases as the two of them opposed each other in the years 1962 and 1963 (on the axis of Virgo – Pisces at that time); the Cuba Crisis developed into the biggest threat since the Second World War. And 1988, under the opposition in the signs of Taurus and Scorpio, was the beginning collapse of the Warsaw Pact and the Soviet Union; a short time later, the walls of the divided Germany also fell.

We can also assume this time that movement will come into deadlocked situations since this is just the start of a dynamic that may possibly just find its conclusion in the year 2020; this is when Jupiter, Saturn, and Pluto will stand together at the end of Capricorn in a major conjunction. So the course will also be set in the coming weeks and months, and we can only hope that the responsible people in business and politics are aware of this.

The image of a sudden and enormous energy discharge corresponds very much with the archetypical pattern of all three involved planets. Uranus is responsible for the surprise moment and this almost always means: First, things turn out different; second, they are never as we expect them to be. Pluto in Capricorn stands for tension within the crumbling structures, whether this is related to the economy, political systems, or nature itself. There are also "major events" happening on the Sun right now: the magnetic field is flipping, the poles of the Sun are springing around, and a new eleven-year cycle is beginning. So a Jupiter cycle and the old father of the gods now absorb all of these tensions, exaggerate them, and create the preconditions for all types of discharges as a result. Not all of this will occur at the same time and not tomorrow or the day after tomorrow; this is a medium- to long-term process. Its perceptible climaxes will still be determined by other factors.

But we should be clear that the times of "just keeping on" are now over. The opposition between the Lord of Olympia and the Lord of the Underworld no longer leaves any more space for arbitrariness and faceless opportunism. And this also provides an opportunity to finally end the standstill in many areas of life and developments.

Making Three Out of Two

Up to now, the square between Pluto and Uranus has led to a strange balance. Both principles actually stand for transformation and/or upheaval, but the radicalism of the one (Uranus in Aries) keeps the old structures of the traditional (Pluto in Capricorn) alive precisely because an implementation, an integration of these new ideas on the basis of brittle systems just is not feasible. However, the fear of a bigger crisis (Pluto in Capricorn) in turn prevents the start of a radical renewal of the system (Uranus in the Aries). This is always the crux with a quadrate tension that is only occupied on two ends. Cosmic ping-pong: sometimes one side wins and sometimes the other. And just slowly, very slowly this back and forth almost randomly causes changes that can establish themselves and also have a continued existence at the end of the process.

Now that a third player joins in, which is Jupiter in this case, this will change quickly. The half square that now forms has a tip-like arrow that points in a certain direction. And this is where Uranus stands. The tension that will now increasingly build between Jupiter and Pluto, which must therefore also find an expression in the Uranian. And this is also what it will do. The question is only how.

Uranus - Aries

After all, Uranus is generally considered to be the opposite of the sun-like individual, the loner, the I archetype, where consciousness only knows one center. Uranian experiencing is related to infinitely many "centers," which act alongside and with each other as equals. However, this only occurs after the individual has experienced a long process – which has virtually gone from Aries through all phases of a development – just to enjoy the high blessings of a multidimensional and linked consciousness before the Neptunian end of the whole. But the position of Uranus in Aries already clearly indicates that a new cycle has just begun in this process. This new consciousness is still raw and unpolished, still unformed and wild, but nevertheless powerful enough to bring many new impulses into the world.

When searching for this "new" consciousness, we should never forget that the astrological systems just illustrate the reality in a different way. This is not necessarily a matter of finding unknown and secretive correlations for this three-way constellation and speculating wildly about it. Instead, the archetypical symbols just show another perspective and new approaches to the topics that are already in the world.

And the world has really become a village in recent years. When a dog in China grunts instead of barking today, the cows in Upper Bavaria will meow in step with it. Although this is really nothing new, it is the principle of dependent creation. But today we can – due to the network and speed with which information spreads – directly understand and comprehend these correlations. The old thinking and acting that is still related to countries, nationalities, and former boundaries are no longer modern. But this does not even involve a pseudo-globalization in which everything is controlled by one single headquarters. Uranus stands for the precise opposite: for a decentralization. This is the only way that the potential of the many can really be used while the competences remain where they belong.

The Uranian idea of a community is therefore in no way comparable with the old herd and power structures; it is the amalgamation of the many on the basis of the individual's independence, his or her autonomy and special characteristics. That this often sounds like an irreconcilable contradiction at first is simply due to the fact that we have not yet internalized this type of thinking. But in a time in which one single tweet can reach and move millions of people, even the individual – the Aries archetype – has received a new significance. Its possibilities of exerting an influence have never been as great as today. The principle of networking offers each of us at least the precondition that everything we want to think and communicate is heard and/or read everywhere in the world. In both good and bad, the prism and tempora are just the reverse side of this coin.

But this new community of worlds also requires new rules and a corresponding ethic. And this development begins with each individual; above all, in the handling of new possibilities. Up to now, we are more like playing children, always astonished at the speed in which the technical development offers increasingly more, for which we inwardly are really not forearmed yet. The virtualization of our life then leads to more distraction, more dissipation and fixation on contents that are abstract and remote from everyday life instead of connecting us with each other. This leads to isolation and splitting off the individual from the community.

The WoW Gamer generation is an example of this. The intellect and thoughts experience fantastic adventures on distant server planets with a group of like-minded avatars; but in the all-inclusive reality, these people are sitting alone and isolated in front of a little screen while their own perception assembles countless digital blurs of color into apparently living processes and realities. We spend large portions of our life in front of machines that are dumber than bread: They basically can only differentiate between zero and one or yes and no. But even this is enough to create virtual universes in which we can endlessly lose ourselves. Primarily because time is no longer bound to its own rhythms there, we can skip processes, take short-cuts, assume identities, and enter into friendships that do not exist like this in our "real" life. All of this seems profusely cool and distanced, a bit like the nerds from the "Big Bang Theory" series. Everything would also be in best order for them and they could also find a technical solution for every problem, if it were not for these damn irrational feelings.

Jupiter in Cancer

This is exactly where Jupiter in Cancer positions itself in these days. First the integration into the major Water Trine that has once again lured all of us into the big pond of emotions and sensations (which also includes every hope and fear) and now the excessive increase of tension through its integration into the square of Pluto and Uranus. "Back to the roots" could be its motto these days, but this means back to our own inner roots. To the origin of our feeling, this uncontrollable chaos, this constant oscillation between attraction and rejection, between happiness and suffering, between hope and fear.

What would the greatest 3D movies or the wackiest interactive role plays be if no one would even have the slightest of emotions? Everyone, truly everyone in this beautiful new world – whether Hollywood, the advertising industry, or the political parties – is dependent upon us as individuals to involve our feelings. In the new car, the new minister, the new video game, or the new app. Because no feeling = no relationship = no one is interested in it = no one buys it = it can no longer be produced = it is dead.

Jupiter in Cancer "illuminates" an area this time that has just apparently shifted increasingly into the background: the power of our sensations and emotions. But the truth is that this still determines where the journey takes us. Yet, precisely this ability to feel also makes it possible for us to be manipulated. We can be blackmailed. We only need to be made sufficiently afraid of the threatening calamity, of Osama and the evil robbers who are in turn once again planning something evil, or of the "weapons of mass destruction." And then we are already prepared to surrender our private sphere, let ourselves be spied on or even led into a war in order to placate this fear. We only need to be told that the economy will collapse tomorrow if we are not willing to work for even less pay and do more work today. And then we will already stand in the ranks of the willing to just mitigate our fear of uncertainty and change.

Or we must simply be convinced that we can buy a bit of freedom and joy by purchasing a new cell phone or tablet and then we are already prepared to charge into the next store in order to possess this new happiness, even if we must put ourselves into debt to do so.

But all of this can only function as long as we are not conscious about the strength and power of our sensations. When we no longer sense how much the longing for a lasting happiness determines our life (Jupiter). And how greatly we fear the finality of death and consciously experiencing and accepting the constant state of change (Pluto-Saturn). However, this consciousness contains the key to actually being or becoming a liberated individual in this new time (Uranus-Aries). When we can no longer be manipulated through our hopes and longings and can no longer be blackmailed through our fears, then we can freely and independently decide what we think is right or wrong. To share this with others and therefore mutually create an atmosphere and a climate in which the progressive adaptation to the necessities of this new time becomes possible. Even against the resistance of the old "guards," who still dream of a world that can be perfectly controlled. And as long as this dream of a few people continues to be dreamed in this manner, we must assume that the old suspects will once again be found among the coming developments. It is exactly these terror warnings, bank and currency crises, or dangers in yellow, red, and green that are directed at our fears and hopes.

We must brace ourselves against this and be prepared not to give up all of our ideals and moral principles in the "case of an emergency" due to panic. When even the new pope has now called upon the youth of the world to rise up and protest against injustices and the "globalization of apathy," then it really must be time to take a position. And no power in the world can prevent us from developing and expressing empathy and benevolence. Getting involved on behalf of the changes that we as individuals consider important and right is also in the interest of the many. Each of us in our own way and with the means that we now have available to us.

If Uranus in Aries as the tip of the square is to bring the resolution of the tensions, then the future motto can only be: "I am the people."

Not in the sense of a megalomaniac ego that wants to control everyone else, but in the sense of a new consciousness that attributes the same importance to freedom and the needs of the individual as the necessities that arise from the coexistence of many people.

Pluto - Capricorn

The third message, from Pluto in Capricorn, says: Whatever comes from this uniqueness into the world is important. As an action and as a result. Just being unique or just feeling without this aspect also becoming visible and tangible for others does not help and will not change anything. And there is even more to this: Whatever can be done must be renewed every day. Getting involved one time or helping once is not enough. All of this must be newly aligned time and again, as well as adapted to the constant change and transformation. Connected with the consciousness about our own transience and knowledge of the possibility that everything will be over tomorrow. Carpe diem – this is why whatever can be done should be accomplished today.

That yesterday of all days – on the eve of the first opposition – the efforts of many on behalf of an individual took a positive turn (Mollath is free: Congratulations, Gustl!), which can be interpreted as a good omen. It is at the least a start that shows what is possible when empathy and commitment are used with the means of our times for positive efforts. Under the sign of this connection between Jupiter, Pluto, and Uranus.

Pictures: Gameboy by Jordiferrer (own work) CC-BY-SA-3.0 via Wikimedia Commons; Fear by maido155 CC-BY-SA-2.0 via Wikimedia Commons