Aries 2011: Hercules. Dennis Kucinich. US Congress. Gandhi.

Keynote
“I come forth, and from the plane of mind, I rule.”
Aries New Moon: April 3, 2011. 3.32 pm. (London, UK.)
Aries Full Moon: April 17, 2011. 3.44 am. (London, UK.)

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Extraordinary Aries New Moon: Six Planets in Aries
Hercules and the Wild Horses
The USA and Aries-Libra
Congressman Dennis Kucinich: America’s Next President?
Dennis Kucinich: Aries Rising-Libra Sun
Gandhi and Kucinich
November 6, 2012 US Elections Transits for Kucinich

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Extraordinary New Moon: Six Planets in Aries
And so the spiritual New Year begins in Aries. This is the time to initiate those plans and ideas that will set the tone for the next twelve lunar cycles of the zodiac.

Aries rules the head that contains the brain, the instrument of physical expression for ideas that are transmitted from the subtle mental body. The soul ruler of Aries is Mercury, embodying the keynote of Aries, “from the plane of mind, I rule”.

Although Mercury is related more to the intuition or buddhic awareness, it also acts as the messenger from the archetypal realm of ideas to their implementation upon the physical plane. Mars as mundane ruler of Aries is the force that implements those ideas through physical action. Hence this is a period of sowing, whilst the reaping takes place in polar opposite Libra – where the consequences of one’s actions are revealed.

The new moon in Aries (April 3, 2011) has an extraordinary stellium of six planets: Mars, Uranus, Moon, Sun, Jupiter and Mercury. Indeed, Aries 2011 may well start with a bang, in terms of an immediate, sudden, aggressive or even violent impulse in our own lives, collectively or the bang-bang of ongoing military conflicts in Africa and the Middle East.

There are some extraordinary opportunities for leaders with vision to set the right note for the coming year; there are also worst case scenarios of getting it horribly wrong through Aries impulsiveness and decisions based upon emotional reactivity. The one major tempering factor in the Aries new moon configuration is the position of Saturn in Libra opposite all the Aries planets – as a “handle of the bucket” chart pattern.

Hercules and the Wild Horses
These planets are like six wild, exuberant horses galloping furiously headlong, dragging a bouncing coach along a bumpy track. Saturn is the coach driver who sits on top grimly holding the reins, trying to steer a course and rein them in. Humanity is the passenger!

One is reminded of the tale of Hercules in his first test in Aries, where he is sent to capture the fierce horses of Diomedes, the son of Mars.1 Yet through pride and impulsiveness, Hercules’ friend Abderis died and the labour was became a misadventure:

“So great was his [Hercules] delight in the prowess thus displayed that he deemed it ‘neath his dignity to hold the mares or drive them on the Way to Diomedes. He called his friend, saying: “Abderis, come hither and drive these horses through the Gate”.

And then he turned his back and pridefully marched forward. But Abderis was weak and feared the task. He could not hold the mares, or harness them or drive them through the Gate in the footsteps of his friend. They turned on him; they rent and trod him underfoot; they killed him and escaped into the wilder lands of Diomedes.”2

Those wild horses are a symbol of the mind and the imperative to discipline and train it. Aries is a fire sign, symbolic of the mental plane and the divine ideas that emanate from that realm. The realisation of those ideas is brought through Mars, a “non-sacred planet”. Yet its function is to also reveal where the “not-self” resides, usually in the area that Mars rules, the solar plexus, seat of the astral or desire body.

Hence the tendency to colour ideas with the astral nature, distorting them, allowing the lower ego, whose power base is also in the solar plexus, to dominate. Combine this with the exaltation of the Sun in Aries and you have a recipe for ego and mind getting out of control. There is also a connection between Mars and the wild Mares, the latter word relating to “mar”, the sea, the watery feeling nature. When Jesus (who was crucified in Aries), said “there shall be no more sea”,

“… the sea of storm and passion will be superseded by the sea of glass, which directly reflects the higher intuition, and mirrors it with perfect accuracy, being unruffled and immovable. The emotional body will be set apart wholly for service …”3

At the Aries new moon in 2011, two of these “horses” are Mars and Mercury, the mundane and esoteric rulers of Aries, giving great potential for summoning the intuition and allowing it to manifest in definite action.

Mercury is retrograde, giving opportunity to go back over old ground and get things right, whilst at the same time creating frustration and delays for impatient Aries, slowing down the charge. Yet it is a positive factor and greatly aids Saturn in terms of directed, disciplined and controlled action.

This Aries-Libra polarity is a war and peace scenario. It can be a “necessary war to combat evil” versus a peace that might just want to selfishly avoid conflict; or it can be an imperialistic and aggressive war versus a true peace that is connected to non-interference and right human relations.

There may well be some terrible bloodbaths and very fierce fighting, with Mars teamed in tandem with Uranus in early Aries. Yet Uranus is also the hierarchical of Aries (at the level of monad or spirit) and can pass the message from spirit to matter (Mars) without necessarily going through their intermediary Mercury.

The USA and Aries-Libra
With ongoing conflicts in Africa and the Middle East, there are opportunities to broker peace and avoid painful outcomes. Saturn is the key in the Aries new moon horoscope, placed in Libra the Peacemaker, the Law. The USA is poised to commit deeper into yet another war, this time in Libya – that critics say that they cannot possibly afford, as its resources are already stretched so thin, in Iraq, Afghanistan and at home.

The USA is in its Saturn return and this cluster of Aries new moon planets fall directly opposite its Saturn, putting tremendous pressure upon this nation to get it right. (Click here for a discussion about the USA Saturn in Libra 2010.) There are several factors of exceeding importance for the USA and the world as a whole.

Critics in Congress say that the US Constitution (the Law) is in danger of being bent further out of shape because the President and his advisors have made decisions without consulting Congress, the elected representatives of the people. What is the point of having a democracy if leaders ride roughshod over the law?

Are the USA and other NATO nations really getting involved in Libya to “protect the Libyan people from Gaddaffi”? If so, then what about Egypt and all the other Arab and African nations going through their respective conflicts, why not intervene there? Or are there other motives? In the USA horoscope, Saturn may well bring some bitter lessons by the end of its 30-year return cycle in August this year, if the USA makes a wrong decision; and it might also bring the consequences of actions in the past thirty years to bear.

Mars is the ruler of the sixth ray, the personality of the USA that has always constituted a challenging factor around the themes of interference in the affairs of other nations. Mars and the sixth ray of idealism and devotion is “gung ho”, patriotic, zealous, nationalistic, loyal and devoted, with a deep emotional conviction of beliefs. (The author has already written much about these factors and those essays can be found at this website, using the search engine.)

The pair of opposites of Aries-Libra (“to be or not to be”) have been powerfully in expression ever since World War II when the USA held off entering the war because of the blindness and zealotry of the peace movement of that time.

It seems that ever since then the USA has tended to err to the pole of the aggressor, partly through its sense of responsibility as a world leader, through immaturity, partly through internal selfish interests manipulating politically and commercially.

The latter point is most worthy of examination, reflection and discrimination because governments can also use “world evil” as a pretext to proceed with agendas, corporate or otherwise, that do not benefit the people.

Mars and Uranus in Aries make a challenging square aspect to USA’s Venus and Jupiter, whilst the Sun and Moon in Aries both precisely square USA’s Cancer Sun – from the fourth house of the home to the seventh house of relationships.

Saturn completes the T-square in Libra. As the Cancer Sun rules the ninth house of foreign affairs, there will probably be a big debate in that nation about what needs to be done at home, versus frittering away more money and lives in other wars. How is the USA going to pay for it? Print more money? Arms sales? Get Libyan oil? (The latter was achieved in Iraq.)

Congressman Dennis Kucinich: America’s Next President?
The US Constitution is a powerful paradigm for human freedom, hence its diminishment or abuse undermines the whole world, not just the USA.

Aries rising Dennis Kucinich made a powerful speech to congress (March 31, 2001), addressing the US involvement in Libya. Kucinich or “DK” as he is called (that has a nice ring to it!), has been a persistent campaigner in US politics since 1997, earning him the nickname “Dennis the menace”. He was elected to his local council at 23 and at 31 was the youngest ever mayor in the USA, elected in Cleveland. He has tried to bring impeachment procedures against George W. Bush and Dick Cheney. (See Wiki biography for more details.)

He is regarded by some as a zealous peacenik and others as a “liberal’s liberal”. Yet he quite often states that the issues he fights for are beyond the paradigm of liberal-conservative. Kucinich has been called a “true progressive” by admirers such as Ralph Nader, whilst others say that he has achieved what fellow democrat Obama may have wanted to achieve.

This would no doubt come down to the fact that Kucinich has had many years of experience as an elected representative, the last fourteen of which have been in the US Congress; whereas Obama had no real governing experience at all before he was elected, through a wildly successful, highly financed big-spin election campaign – that actually won an award in the advertisting industry! Kucinich claims that he was discriminated against unfairly in that campaign by some media. Nevertheless Obama’s party is still in power and they continue to govern as best they see fit, with successes and failures.

Hence the 2012 US elections are starting to look very interesting. Obama has a complete absence of any good transits and progressions on election day November 6, 2012. By contrast, Kucinich’s ship may well come in on this date, as he has an extraordinary combination of transits. (More on this later.)

That’s if he can survive until then, through what will probably be a dire election campaign with foul play and biased propaganda from some media and groups who despise his uncompromising stance on various issues.

Dennis Kucinich: Aries Rising-Libra Sun
Befitting his Libran Sun, in 2003 Kucinich was the recipient of the Gandhi Peace Award, an annual award bestowed by the Religious Society of Friends-affiliated organization Promoting Enduring Peace. Yet his Aries rising (his soul purpose) is much in evidence with ruler Mars placed in another sign of its rulership, intense Scorpio. Kucinich is a persistent fighter and a thorn in the side of all those he sets his sights upon; he displays great courage and strength of conviction.

The parallels with Gandhi are quite amazing from an astrological view (see later), but also in the way the two have been deeply engaged in the peace process. The zealotry of the peace movement in World War II nearly jeopardized USA’s involvement in it, which could have led to an Allied defeat, and Gandhi’s attitudes almost rendered India vunerable to takeover by the Axis powers. A couple of passages referring to these themes follow, first about USA pacifists and second, about Gandhi:

On USA: “Yet many neutrally minded and pacifist people are unwilling to pay any price for what they profess so much to cherish. A complete refusal to fight on the part of the Allies and of those who are seeing with clarity the issues at stake would open the door to the world domination of the Forces of Materialism and Aggression.

It is upon this that these evil forces count when they face the greatest neutral of all, the United States of America [written early WWII], and for which they are preparing as they disseminate their lying propaganda and plant their agents in every country and every state – preparatory to a peaceful conquest of a people who refuse sufficiently to value the spiritual issues at stake to take positive action.”4

On Gandhi: “The appeasement and the pacifist attitudes – idealistic and impractical and finding their focus today in the attitude of Gandhi. He brings into clear perspective the uncompromising, fanatical attitude which is non-realistic and which will willingly sacrifice lives, nations and the future of humanity in order to attain its object.

If Gandhi were to succeed in his objective now, it would precipitate civil war in India, sacrifice all immediate hope of freedom for that country, permit the Japanese to realise an easy conquest of India, bring about a slaughtering of countless thousands, and permit Germany to join hands with Japan across Asia, with the appalling probability of a totalitarian victory.”5

Fast forward to 2011 and Obama’s speech on Libya:

“It is true that America cannot use our military wherever repression occurs. And given the costs and risks of intervention, we must always measure our interests against the need for action. But that cannot be an argument for never acting on behalf of what’s right. In this particular country – Libya; at this particular moment, we were faced with the prospect of violence on a horrific scale.

We had a unique ability to stop that violence: an international mandate for action, a broad coalition prepared to join us, the support of Arab countries, and a plea for help from the Libyan people themselves.

We also had the ability to stop Qaddafi’s forces in their tracks without putting American troops on the ground. To brush aside America’s responsibility as a leader and – more profoundly – our responsibilities to our fellow human beings under such circumstances would have been a betrayal of who we are.

Some nations may be able to turn a blind eye to atrocities in other countries. The United States of America is different. And as President, I refused to wait for the images of slaughter and mass graves before taking action.”6

Fellow democrat Kucinich rebutted Obama’s plan in a speech to Congress (March 31, 2011) where he made some very important points.

His speech could well signal announcing candidacy for the 2012 presidential elections. Kucinich currently has the new moon Sun, Moon and Jupiter sitting on his Aries ascendant (soul purpose), whilst Saturn sits opposite on his Sun in Libra. The eloquence and largesse of Jupiter was in evidence in his speech, and a page of excerpts follow. (Video here. Transcript here.)

“The critical issue before this nation today is not Libyan democracy, it is American democracy … The principles of world democracy are embodied in the UN Charter, conceived to end the scourge of war for all time. The hope that nations could turn their swords into plowshares reflects the timeless impulse of humanity for enduring peace …

Our dear nation stands at a crossroads. The direction we take will determine not what kind of nation we are but what kind of nation we will become. Will we become a nation which plots in secret to wage war? Will we become a nation that observes our Constitution only in matters of convenience? Will we become a nation which destroys the unity of the world community painstakingly pieced together from the ruins of World War II, a war which itself followed a war to end all wars?

… It is abundantly clear from a careful reading of our Declaration of Independence that our nation was born from nothing less than the rebellion of the human spirit against the arrogance of power. The power to declare war is firmly and explicitly vested in the Congress of the United States under Article I, Section 8 of the Constitution.

Today we are in a constitutional crisis because our chief executive has assumed for himself powers to wage war which are neither expressly defined nor implicit in the Constitution, nor permitted under the War Powers Act. This is a challenge not just to the Administration, but to Congress itself.

The President has no right to wrest that fundamental power from Congress – and we have no right to cede it to him. We, Members of Congress can no more absolve our president of his responsibility to obey this profound constitutional mandate then we can absolve ourselves of our failure to rise to the instant challenge that is before us today.

We violate our sacred trust to the citizens of the United States and our oath to uphold the constitution if we surrender this great responsibility and through our own inaction acquiesce in another terrible war. We must courageously defend the oath that we took to defend the Constitution of the United States of America or we forfeit our right to participate in representative government.

How can we pretend to hold other sovereigns to fundamental legal principles through wars in foreign lands if we do not hold our own presidents to fundamental legal principles at home?

… In two years we have moved from President Bush’s doctrine of preventive war to President Obama’s assertion of the right to go to war without even the pretext of a threat to our nation… Is this is truly a humanitarian intervention? What is humanitarian about providing to one side of a conflict the ability to wage war against the other side of a conflict, which will inevitably trigger a civil war turning Libya into a graveyard? The belief that war is inevitable makes of war a self-fulfilling prophecy.

The United States, in this new and complex world wracked with great movements of masses to transform their own government, must itself be open to transformation, away from intervention, away from trying to determine the leadership of other nations, away from covert operations to try to manipulate events, and towards a rendezvous with those great principles of self-determination which gave us birth.

In a world which is interconnected and interdependent. In a world which cries out for human unity, we must call upon the wisdom of our namesake and Founding Father, George Washington, to guide us in the days ahead.

“The constitution vests the power of declaring war in Congress; therefore no offensive expedition of importance can be undertaken until after they shall have deliberated upon the subject and authorized such a measure.”

Washington also had a wish for the future America: “My wish is to see this plague of mankind, war, banished from the earth.7

This speech captures the essence of the challenge of the USA’s Saturn return, the Law, the Constitution and its working out through Congress, the elected representatives of the people. The Aries new moon of 2011 is setting up the challenge to resolve the pairs of opposites in the USA horoscope, within the American people.

Gandhi and Kucinich
If Kucinich’s speeches, issues and policies are examined, one does not find an unreasonable fanatic. He does have some difficult aspects in his horoscope from Scorpio to Leo indicating frustrations around being in power in past lives; they do not seem to be as difficult as the T-square in Gandhi’s chart with Moon, Pluto and several other planets. Can we compare these two political men in terms of their soul evolution? Were/are they at a similar stage of unfoldment upon the evolutionary path? Perhaps.

Kucinich proposes radical reforms such as the nationalisation of the Federal Reserve and the banning of handguns for sale to civilians. The reactionary forces that would rise up against such a proposal could surely eat him! Nevertheless, politics is fickle and the masses can quickly get behind someone if they feel others have failed them.

November 6, 2012 US Elections Transits for Kucinich
Whether Kucinich runs for the presidency or not, some extraordinary opportunities are unfolding in his chart at that time.

1. Transiting Pluto conjunct the midheaven (career, public). A once in a lifetime transit as Pluto is such a long cycle: A rising into power, authority and recognition of what he stands for. Pluto is the ruler of his potent “warrior” planets in Scorpio, Mars, Jupiter and Mercury – a powerful and persuasive speaker, a dogged and determined fighter. Pluto is also ruler of the first ray which many politicians have and which pours through his rising sign Aries.

2. His progressed rising sign in Cancer is exactly opposite transiting Pluto and the midheaven. The secondary progressed rising sign is symbolic of one’s soul purpose thus far unfolded, hence is most complementary to Pluto and the midheaven.

3. Transiting Saturn in Scorpio conjunct Jupiter. A very powerful transit from the Lord of Karma, connecting to one Kucinich’s best qualities, particularly if he is a Jupiter-ruled second ray soul. This transit will add some tension though, as it triggers the natal Jupiter square Saturn.

4. Transiting Mars conjunct progressed Sun in (Jupiter-ruled) Sagittarius in the ninth house. An excellent transit for his Aries rising ruler, connecting with the symbol of vision and the law.

5. Transiting Jupiter in Gemini conjunct the north node. The node represents his destiny and the beneficient, protective influences of Jupiter.

6. The Moon is in Leo, moving over his Saturn in Leo, triggering the close and very challenging square to Mars in Scorpio. The Moon then moves over his natal Pluto throughout the day.

There are other minor transits but one of the main themes that emerges here is the prominence of Jupiter, a strong indicator of luck, exoterically speaking. At Obama’s election a preponderance of Jupiter was so strong that it led this author to exclaim “jumpin’ Jupiter!”. (Click here for essay on Obama.)

Well time will tell in eighteen months time, a lot can happen in that period – and is bound to, given the rate of current planetary transformation. The key point with all of the above, no matter who takes power, is the preservation of the US Constitution as a template for Humanity.

Phillip Lindsay © 2011.
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1. The Labours of Hercules, Alice A. Bailey. [↩]
2. The Labours of Hercules, Alice A. Bailey. [↩]
3. Letters on Occult Meditation, Alice A. Bailey. p.248. [↩]
4. The Externalisation of the Hierarchy, Alice A. Bailey. p.235. [↩]
5. The Externalisation of the Hierarchy, Alice A. Bailey. p.368. [↩]
6. http://www.economist.com/blogs/lexington/2011/03/libya_4 [↩]
7. http://www.opednews.com/articles/Congressman-Dennis-Kucinic-by-Dennis-Kucinich-110331-883.html [↩]