Aries Ingress 2013

Today is the first day of Aries and so after ducking for cover underneath Mercury for a couple of weeks I am back with an article on mundane astrology.

The Aries Ingress 2013

Spring Mandala

The practice of mundane astrology is one of the most ancient forms of astrology and involves a study of charts for political and social entities such as nations, religions or political parties, essentially anything in which events emerge that shape the mundane world. There are many fascinating and enlightening philosophical issues raised by this area of study, not least of which is deciding when such an entity is ‘born’, a matter which natal astrology considers vitally significant and relatively simple but which is revealed to have a more fluid significance and greater complexity in mundane astrology.

Aside from the study of charts for events and countries mundane astrology also makes use of ingress charts, charts calculated for the moment the Sun enters a new sign at the equinoxes and solstices. These charts, cast for the location under consideration or its capital city, are interpreted as indicators of the patterns presenting themselves to that place and its people. Since the moment of ingress into a new sign by the Sun will be identical for everyone on the Earth, the various charts for an ingress will only vary in where the planetary pattern is placed, its orientation with regard to the 12 temples – the planetary pattern itself will not change, only its emphasis on the temples and its overall significance for that land or people. For example, if the Sun is square to Saturn when it enters Aries at the equinox then it will be square to Saturn in every ingress chart, no matter where it is cast, only the position of that square in the temples and thus its emphasis in terms of events will shift.

The Aries ingress is considered the primary ingress. A chart will be cast for the moment the Sun enters Aries at the capital or heart of the country or region. The first determination usually made is how long the chart stands for before a new one replaces it. This is ascertained from the sign that rises, the sign of the 1st temple. If that sign is an Active sign (Aries, Cancer, Libra or Capricorn) then the chart is an active one which expires after three months and a new chart will need to be cast for the Cancer ingress at the solstice, and following that a new chart must be produced for every ingress into an Active sign. If a Stable sign rises, however, then the nature of Taurus, Leo, Scorpio or Aquarius ‘fixes’ the pattern into place and it does not expire until the next Aries ingress a year later. If instead a Reactive sign rises (Gemini, Virgo, Sagittarius, Pisces), then the pattern persists until the ingress of the Sun into Libra, six months later, and the chart for that will be the chart for the remaining half of the year.

• Active signs rising (Aries, Cancer,  Libra, Capricorn): Cast a new chart for every ingress of the Sun into an Active sign for the remainder of the year, producing 4 charts, one for each quarter.
• Stable signs rising (Taurus, Leo, Scorpio, Aquarius): Cast a new chart next year at the next Aries ingress.
• Reactive signs rising (Gemini, Virgo, Sagittarius, Pisces): Cast a new chart at the ingress of the Sun into Libra, making two charts for two halves of the year.

The interpretation of the planets and temples in these charts can be based off the description of the planets and temples given in natal astrology (and The 26 Keys) but the essential meanings must be perceived through a collective prism, i.e. the 2nd temple becomes the nations wealth rather than a persons bling and their savings. The core essential meaning of the 2nd temple – that of self worth and the value we place on material security – remains intact, but its significance is played out on a bigger stage.

Some keywords follow to give you a general idea.

The temples in mundane interpretation:

• 1st: The national identity. The general health and condition of the nation. The state of being.
  
• 2nd: The national treasury, money markets and the banks. The national assets and self worth.
  
• 3rd: Internal transit systems. Publications, media and communication networks. Folklore, urban myths and gossip. The influence of faerie folk and nature spirits.
  
• 4th: Property and land, agriculture and weather, the opposition from the government or ruling authority. Domestic issues.
  
• 5th: The arts and entertainers, a peoples children, the birth rate, ambassadors, leisure interests and sports, capacity for joy to be experienced.
  
• 6th: The armed forces and other national services, workers and trade unions, healthcare and issues affecting public health and safety.
• 7th: Foreign relations, marriage and divorce statistics, diplomats and representatives of the state, known enemies of the state as well as partners.
  
• 8th: National debt and foreign investment, purges and uprisings, taxation, the death rate and the loss of life.
• 9th: Universities and other educational institutions, religious institutions, imports and exports, long distance trade or communication, the law courts, the constitution.
  
• 10th: The government or commanding authority, the famed among the people, the perceived reputation or credit status, power and influence.
• 11th: Allies, NGOs, communities and their ruling bodies eg town councils, parliament. Hopes and the sense of fellowship. Politics in general.
  
• 12th: Prisons and asylums and the welfare state and hospitals, spies and saboteurs, conspiracies, occult societies, dreams and nightmares.
  

The planets and Lights in mundane interpretation:

• Sun: The commanding power or authority, the president, prime minister, ruler or monarch and their closest personnel , anyone held in high esteem and given power and influence such as a national celebrity or hero.
• Moon: The mood of the people, the common experience of the masses, the word on the street, issues affecting women.
• Mercury: Journalists, authors, intellectual thinkers, inventors and the ideas captivating the media.
• Venus: The resonance moving through art and culture, the quality of comfort and pleasure being experienced, the arts and crafts.
• Mars: Military actions, any kind of attacks, fire and other emergency services, the will of the nation, its drive towards something.
• Jupiter: Priests and judges, wealth and resources, capacity for growth or going bust from extravagance and overextension.
• Saturn: Austerity, oppressive and heavy karmic conditions, struggles, burdens or pressures, the reality that is being grappled with, the elderly, pestilence or epidemics and mineral resources.
• Chiron: Breakdowns, failures, cuts or setbacks, the health of a nation and its state of racial and cultural integration.
• Uranus: Uprisings, rebellions, revolutionary spirit, shocks, major scientific breakthroughs, new patterns emerging in the collective awareness.
• Neptune: The zeitgeist, the imagination or vision, conspiracies and spiritual awareness, drug and vice related issues.
• Pluto: Destruction or corruption, the potential for renewal, nuclear power plants, sewers and recycling plants, caverns and hidden places.
  
• The Dragon: networks and support groups of all kinds, (re)emergenece of new and old trends, pathways and junctures.

Signs have to be interpreted as processes, never as types of people or institutional components. Aries, for example, is not descriptive of the military but is instead part of the creative processes at work (along with Libra). Aries-Libra for example is definitely involved in the process of change that the institution of marriage is being subjected to at this time (nods to Uranus in Aries), but that doesn’t mean that Aries and Libra are the signs for  gay marriage.

So lets look at a bunch of charts (drawn up using Solar Fire v7). I wont be giving detailed delineations of these charts as that would take up too much of my time and all I really want to do is point out some of the things that seem significant to me and demonstrate how I read these things. Additionally, I wont be casting any charts for the rest of the year if the chart for the Aries ingress requires it, Ill leave that to you. Ill start with the chart for the USA.

USA Aries ingress 2013

The Aries ingress chart for the USA has a Reactive sign rising and so lasts until the Sun enters Libra, six months later. Note that there is a strong emphasis on Reactive and Active Water, that Venus is close to the angle of power and that Saturn and the Dragon are dancing together in the 8th.  The Moon is powerfully placed and clearly emphasizes domestic issues but the opposition from Pluto in the 10th is somewhat foreboding and indicates a potential for extreme oppression on the part of the ruling government. The Sun, Mars and Uranus are all placed in Aries in the 1st, signifying some kind of hunger and thirst for change and a potentially dangerous boldness and impulsiveness, but the cluster of Chiron, Neptune and Mercury in the 12th is a great concern given the threat to health-care in the USA. Jupiter in the 3rd in Gemini suggests an excessive amount of speculation going on in the media. This is a strong Jupiter given his ancient rulership of Pisces and thus of this chart but his entanglement with Neptune in the 12th speaks of obfuscation, deception and/or excessive optimism potentially bringing about some kind of ruin of his opportunities.The most troubling planet in this chart is probably Saturn in Scorpio in the 8th, who is clearly symbolic of the US debt crisis, among other things.

UK Aries ingress 2013

By contrast, the UK ingress chart has Cancer rising which is an Active sign and so these conditions do not stick around so long, the UK will get 4 ingress charts this year and each one will be different. Things rapidly change under such an ingress. The Moon is especially significant for this chart, and she is placed in her own sign in the 12th. As I pointed out earlier, the planetary pattern itself has not changed, only its position, so this Moon is still in opposition with Pluto, but he is now in the 6th. In fact they are both so close to the angles of power that they are behaving as if they are conjunct the ascendant and descendant. This makes this opposition an especially significant and powerfully active force in the UK for the next 3 months. Chiron on the midheaven indicates a potential split opening in the governing coalition or a sense that it is inflicting pain. The cluster of Aries planets at the juncture of the squares from Moon and Pluto also suggest a struggle lies ahead for this government as a need to change direction becomes forced. Mars is on fire in this picture and needs to cool it. The influence of Saturn has moved to the arts, children and the birth rate, while the influence of Jupiter has moved to the 12th. The cluster of Mercury, Neptune and Chiron in Pisces is found in the 9th, but Chiron is really of the 10th.

Greece Aries ingress 2013

The chart for Greece is nearly identical to the UK one. This is because there is only a small distance geographically between London and Athens. So this map shows us that mundane conditions – things that happen in our world – have geographical centres and that nations which are small and/or very close together often share ingress patterns, sometimes identical ones or with slight differences. Precisely how they experience those patterns and why and what they do with them are matters of karma and free will. Note here that the embattled planet Uranus has found his way to the midheaven, indicating a series of changeable situations at the top, and a clustering of worlds in the 9th pointing to significant changes in the law and the constitution as well as in education. The heavy emphasis on the 9th can also signify a religious or nationalist resurgence and the influence of foreign powers. The health and social services and the workers receive the Moon-Pluto opposition but Saturn and the Dragon remain in the 5th. With Jupiter in the 11th all of Greeces hopes and opportunities are placed with her allies.

Germany Aries ingress 2013

The German chart is similar to the previous 2 but with a later degree of Cancer rising bringing significant differences – Venus in Pisces is placed at the crowning place of the midheaven, strongly mitigating the abrasive qualities of the Aries cluster in the 10th. This may reflect the softer way in which the German people view their government, they will probably not feel as disgruntled and dissatisfied with them. However the German chart is so closely echoing that of the Greek that aside from this they seem essentially intertwined with one another and have essentially the same pattern to work with. Once again the Moon-Pluto opposition is given to the 6th and 12th temples and Saturn to the region of the 5th. This chart also represents the ingress for Syria with only small changes – the essence of the pattern and its placement through the temples is essentially the same. Again this is an example of geographical commonality in terms of astrological influences affecting cultures and societies.

China Aries ingress 2013

The China ingress chart shows Libra, another Active sign and so there are 4 in the sequence of charts for China this year. The fact that so many of these national charts give us transient conditions indicates that there are active, fluid times ahead. The power of the planetary pattern itself also carries a message of profound or historical events (Moon opposite Pluto with Mars and Uranus square them both and Saturn with the Dragon in Scorpio are very potent forces). In the Chinese chart almost everything has focused itself below the horizon onto the 5th and 6th temples. Saturn has moved into the 2nd and the powerfully Magnetic Moon is at the place of power and destiny on the midheaven. However, note with care the presence of Pluto on the cusp of the 4th, in the depth point in Capricorn. The Moon-Pluto opposition here has been given to the land and the governing powers, with the land coming under great plutonian strain. Note the similarity with the US ingress chart regarding this, but with Moon and Pluto reversed. These are environmental issues and they dominate the Chinese chart along with a fractious and touchy Uranus on the cusp of the 7th – volatile and dangerous foreign relations also seem to be present. It is clear that the economy is likely to slow when Saturn in the 2nd is considered but he is away from the cusp which relieves pressure somewhat considerably.

North Korea Aries ingress 2013

Finally, the North Korean ingress displays similarities with that of China and is another 3 month chart. The differences here are that first the Moon has moved from the place of power and destiny at the 10th back into the 9th and Pluto has likewise moved back into the 3rd. This is a depiction of a war of words, ideologies and concepts and great pressure placed on educational institutions and travel and communication infrastructure. The sharpness and significance of the Aries cluster has been muted in comparison to the Chinese chart, sinking into the 6th away from the touchy and confrontational angles and more into the area of the workers and the services and the social system (yet the military belong in the 6th and the Aries cluster is placed with them) and Saturn has drifted close to the cusp of the 2nd indicating greater poverty and a lack of needful things, unlike in China where the embedding of Saturn deep into the temple makes him a more stabilizing influence but still one of needing to tighten belts.

…

I hope this cursory look at the Aries ingress charts for 2013 has peaked your interest into a fascinating area of astrology. We can see that events are ‘active’ and that changes are afoot, but that each geographical area experiences them differently with the shift in emphasis being not on what the essential meaning being presented is, but how and where it emerges, with places nearby sharing greater commonality than with those further away.