CHAPTER FOUR:
A Birth Chart for the United States of America - 10

I do not wish these remarks to be construed as a criticism of national politics; for, according to my teleological approach to astrology, this position of Saturn represents a direction — an operative message — which was meant to give a basic and meaningful character to the American nation and its people. The Saturn principle was presumably necessary to build a creative-dynamic tension with respect to the highly expansive Jupiter-Venus pair. That pair of planets (which, to the traditional astrologer, represents the acme of beneficence and good fortune) is particularly important, not only because it is in an angular House, but also because Jupiter rules the zodiacal sign at the Ascendant (Sagittarius) and Venus rules that of the Mid Heaven (Libra) — the two most determinative points in the circle of Houses.
      The symbol of the degree on which Jupiter is located adds an interesting touch to the meaning and purpose of the planet, Game birds feathering their nests. The symbol is interpreted as "an instinctual dedication of self to new forms of life . . . A new way of life is starting and a concrete preparation is made for it." At a social level (game birds implies a social context), "we can speak of the pioneering efforts dedicated to the building of a new culture, new institutions." Birds, in symbolism, always refer to spiritual forces, and we can relate the meaning of this symbolic picture to the phrase Novus Ordo Seclorum on the reverse side of the U.S. Seal, for Jupiter rules the Ascendant of the U.S. chart.
      The symbol for the fourth degree of Cancer on which Venus is placed is — A cat arguing with a mouse. A symbol of self-justification — "One argues with oneself, hoping to convince oneself that the old impulses [belonging to the Old Order] are still legitimate . . . The mind is very clever at not facing the consequences which follow from. desires or even from restlessness. Attempts at RATIONALIZATION are experienced and should be understood." Venus rules the Mid Heaven, which refers to the Executive (cf. the Watergate episode filling the collective mind of the nation as this is being written), but the Mid Heaven also deals with the achievements of the American people, achievements all too often requiring practices and actions which call for clever rationalizations in view of what is outwardly being professed as one's ideal of morality, justice, equalitarianism, love and religious belief.
      The symbol for Mercury, on the other and, is truly in tune with the mental destiny of America – even though the retrograde motion of Mercury at the time of the adoption of the Declaration of Independence calls into question the ease with which what it reveals could be fully implemented in the life of the nation (Cancer 25°): ."A will-full man is overshadowed by a descent of superior power. The response of spiritual forces to the integration of personality through positive will-full endeavor . . . In this symbol we witness a more transcendent expression of 'success.' It is not merely external success, as is given by society to its prima donnas, (a previous symbol of the fivefold sequence), but a spiritual response, a sign of inner strength and uncommon endowment."
      Because the opposition of Mercury to Pluto is basic in the U.S. chart, we can relate the symbol for Mercury to the symbol for Pluto (Capricorn 28°). It reads as follows: "A large aviary. The enjoyment of spiritual values by the soul able to familiarize itself with their implications." I already said that birds symbolize spiritual forces; thus the aviary presents us with a picture of these forces (or desires) contained within a mind open to the light of psychic or Soul realities and bringing joy and harmony to consciousness.
      Such a symbol might not seem appropriate for the planet Pluto which ordinarily is given a somber meaning. But the significant point here is that Pluto in the U.S. chart is found on that one degree of the zodiac carrying a message of what we could call "spirituality." The aviary symbol nevertheless has some implications which were not mentioned in An Astrological Mandala.(6) The most important of these is that the birds are captive and made to satisfy the needs or wishes of a particular person. Perhaps each bird is given a name; at any rate a process of personification of the spiritual is indicated.

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6.An Astrological Mandala (P. 2.46). Only a few of the possible meanings of each symbol were mentioned in the book; otherwise a very large and unwieldly volume would have been required. When astrologically or oracularly used, each symbol should be studied and interpreted in terms of the planet or the situation to which it is made to refer.  Return