ARTICLES FROM CURRENT ASTROLOGERS

Something similar is happening again, 230 years later, as Pluto is coming around to the same spot. This time, however, it's the American government that is putting the squeeze on the people. A Pluto-style transformation doesn't happen overnight, and events that seem at first random and explosive don't come out of nowhere. They have been brewing and simmering for years. While many people will probably be nervous wrecks during the two turbulent decades ahead, many old hippies will come joyfully out of retirement, thankful that the revolution they quit their jobs for 40 years ago may finally be happening. And their kids, born in the 60s and 70s, who grew up embarrassed by their hippie parents, may be shocked to see how right their parents were.

When Pluto goes direct in September of this year, the religious zeal, or madness, that has taken hold since it entered Sagittarius in 1994 will reach a crescendo, ushering in a period dominated by the sign of Capricorn. Our "dialogue" with radical Islam has only just begun. Over the next 19 years or so, America as a Cancer nation will have to deal with troubling confrontations and competition such as it has never known, as well as an internal political struggle, all of which will shake us to our very core.

Capricorn can be pictured as the mustache-twirling landlord in a black cloak pointing outside toward the blizzard while a poor pregnant wretch begs for mercy. Capricorn forces one to grow up, face life, recognize that it's a tough world. It lends you a dime and asks for a dollar in return. It can be the sign of an inspired leader or a controlling, dominating fascist. It can support your existence or threaten it completely. Either way, the presence of Capricorn always indicates big business. And what is America about if not that?

Capricorn represents supremacy and power. And if Capricorn is not the most humanitarian sign of the Zodiac, it always means stability. Capricorn supports organized society, not rabble-rousing anarchy. It is often perceived as uptight and reactionary, mainly because its function is to uphold existing law. It is not progressive or forward-thinking.

It clearly represents the deep streak of conservatism that has always existed in the United States but that seems to be ascendant at the moment. If Capricorn protects the status quo, how did it help sow the seeds of revolution in the original colonies? There's the problem. And the answer? It was not just the presence of Capricorn in America's horoscope, it was the presence of Pluto in that sign that sparked the fight for freedom.