Pisces 2019: Age of Pisces. Pluto and Fascism. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez. St. Francis of Assisi.

Aquarius (Yuliya Martynova)

Pisces Keynote
“I leave the Father’s home and turning back I save.”
(Pisces Solar Festival: February 19, 2019. 15.53 UT.)

“People born in this sign are frequently to be found serving the race and ministering to its needs upon some level of consciousness. Thus they are prepared for the final sacrifice in Pisces which “absorbs them back into their originating Motive” … It is for this reason that the life of service and the directed intention to serve constitute a scientific mode of achieving release. In Aquarius, the sign of world service, the lesson is finally learned which produces the world Saviour in Pisces. Hence my constant emphasis upon service.”[1]

Pisces Preparation for the New Year
The Age of Pisces is Almost Over
Pluto and the Latent Fascism of Nations
Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez: A Breath of Fresh Air
Saint Francis of Assisi: Pisces Rising
Two New Books

Pisces and Preparation for the New Year
Pisces is the last sign of the zodiac and represents the completion of the annual cycle, in preparation for the new cycle in the following sign Aries. In becoming attuned to the rhythm of the zodiac, now is the time of the approach of the true new year – as distinct from January 1^st in the sign of Capricorn.

(Artist: Johfra)

When a cycle is brought to its conclusion, it must necessarily bring about destruction of those forms which temporarily served as a vehicle for spiritual expression – whether those are thought-forms, goals of living or certain ideals.

Similar to the conventional new year’s period of Capricorn, the month of Pisces always affords an annual opportunity to reflect upon the year that is passing, to identify what was achieved or not achieved, particularly in a deeper subjective sense – and to destroy, relinquish or release those ideas and ideals which will not serve the future cycle.

Unlike Saturn-ruled Capricorn however, where there tends to be a conservation and crystallisation of the form, the energy that can be invoked during Pisces is from its soul ruler Pluto – Lord of the Underworld, death, destruction and regeneration. Here Pluto can be utilised for “constructive destruction” to ruthlessly rid oneself of impediments.

That is of course, if an individual is sensitive to the frequencies of the esoteric ruler Pluto. In the mass consciousness sense of Pisces, most of humanity respond to the lower frequencies of exoteric ruler Neptune – and to a lesser degree, generous Jupiter’s Love-Wisdom.

Jupiter and Neptune are the exoteric rulers of Pisces and rule the two rays that pour through this sign – the second ray of Love-Wisdom and the sixth ray of Devotion and Idealism. These two rays contribute considerably to the meaning of the sign of Pisces and illustrate how much the science of the seven rays is the “missing link” to the zodiac signs. The second ray is known as “the builder” and is intimately involved in the regeneration process, rebuilding after Pluto’s destruction.

Jupiter is also the ruler of the first decanate of Pisces, where the sun is placed on the 2019 full moon. This first decanate, “indicates … the success which is incident to proved discipleship and consequent readiness for initiation, the seeing of the vision with which Jupiter rewards the disciple.”[2]

The Age of Pisces is Almost Over
Around 2,000 years ago, the Christ avatar enunciated principles for humanity to develop during the coming Piscean precession cycle. The second ray of Love-Wisdom is known as the “Christ principle” and is the major ray force underlying our entire solar system. The Christ inaugurated the “age of love”, whereas the Buddha culminated the “age of knowledge” and wisdom. Both avatars stood for those two components of Love and Wisdom. The Buddha for Light and the Christ for Consciousness.

Issa and the Giant’s Head. (Nicholas Roerich)

Pisces is a sign of the medium or the mediator and The Christ was both – as a divine Intermediary. Pisces is a sign of the world Saviour who reveals divinity and establishes world relationships:

“The major impulse driving the Christ towards special work was the desire to establish right human relations; it is also the desire — realised or unrealised — of humanity, and we know that some day the Desire of all nations will come, that right human relations will be found everywhere and that goodwill will implement that fulfilment, leading to peace in all lands and among all peoples.”[3]

The theme of right relations in Pisces emanates from the exaltation of Venus in this sign, the planet of relationships that rules two other signs of relationship, Libra exoterically and Gemini esoterically. Venus is also known exoterically as “the planet of love”.

The externalisation and grounding of the Love principle in humanity as a whole, constitutes the first initiation – and millions have been experiencing that in this past 100 years. But how “successful” has the Piscean dispensation been? In an age fraught with centuries of wars “in the name of Christ”, how much have the principles of Pisces been grounded within Humanity – Love, compassionate understanding, forgiveness, patience, service, sacrifice, sensitivity to the needs of others, caring and healing? Indeed, there are certain groups of Humanity who have not even entered Pisces yet – they still remain in consciousness, “vagabonds at large” and imprisoned in the age of Aries, severely lagging behind as the Aquarian Age dawns.

The groups of humanity who have not yet hearkened to the bell of Aquarius, express the more negative side of Pisces: A blind devotion to ideals, emotional manipulation, mediumistic, psychically polarised, deception, illusion, addiction, a materialistic world view that wilfully denies the findings of science, religious fundamentalism, fascism, racial prejudice etc.

Today, the world is at a tipping point between unawakened Piscean humanity and those who are responding to the new Aquarian frequencies; these two signs also have a correspondence to the outgoing sixth ray of Devotion and the new incoming seventh ray of Ceremonial Order, or Organisation.

As stated in other missives, nowhere is it more evident where these recalcitrant forces have taken root and fundamentalism rules – than in the United States of America; it is reflected in the USA’s progressed horoscope, where the sun is in Pisces, tracked by the transit of Neptune, Pisces co-ruler. Yet USA’s Aquarian soul is stirring and great changes loom upon the immediate horizon. Likewise, this crystallisation is ingrained in many other Western nations such as Australia, Britain, France, Italy and other European nations.

Italy has been strongly conditioned by Catholicism and “churchianity” for many centuries and featured spectacularly as a leading Renaissance nation of the Piscean Age, but also expressed the more negative aspects of Pisces – martyrdom, the Inquisition, religious wars etc. St. Francis of Assisi had Pisces rising, his soul purpose, coming forth from the heart of Italy to express the principles of The Christ. (See more later.)

“There is no angry God, no hell, and no vicarious atonement. There is only a great principle of love animating the entire universe; there is the Presence of the Christ, indicating to humanity the fact of the soul and that we are saved by the livingness of that soul, and the only hell is the earth itself, where we learn to work out our own salvation, actuated by the principle of love and light, and incited thereto by the example of the Christ and the inner urge of our own souls.”[4]

France is a Pisces soul and is currently engaged in much soul-searching:

“France subjectively ruled Europe for the most important and influential part of the Piscean Age. It is this Leo personality which is responsible for the intensely nationalistic spirit of the modern French and which negates in them the more Aquarian tendency to universal consciousness or to the expression of the advanced Piscean soul to save the world; France comes before the world. The lesson France has to learn today is that the salvation of others is the goal of her Piscean soul and in this the self-interest of Leo precipitates conflict — one to which France is slowly awakening.”[5]

Indeed this might be a message for all nations – salvation of others – not slavation, which has been the trend of many governments and big business through these past decades. Again, we see the inverted forces of Pisces – enslavement instead of salvation and cruelty instead of kindness. The current gilets jaunes protests in France are a sign of the soul of this nation revolting against the imposed slavery of government “austerity measures” – and the failure of neo-Liberalism globally; these recognitions are slowly spreading to other nations.

Slavery (bondage or captivity) is a major theme of Pisces and several blows were struck against it during the Age of Pisces, most notably in the USA as a result of the American Civil War in the 1860’s. But slavery and human trafficking is still a huge problem today, and one wonders if the situation has gotten worse than some centuries ago.

Bondage or captivity can also be seen simply as coming into incarnation and becoming a prisoner of matter. Pisces is a dual sign of the two fishes – personality and soul. For long aeons, the soul is the prisoner of the personality until finally an awakening occurs and the personality begins to be the “captive” of the soul. The other duality to consider is Virgo, the polar opposite of Pisces where,

“The fluid, sensitive temperament in Pisces—mediumistic and psychically polarised—must be stabilised in Virgo, in which sign mental introspection and critical analysis become possible and serve to arrest the fluidity of Pisces.”[6]

Violet Bacteria Under Microscope.

Here Mercury as ruler of Virgo and the god of “divine reason”, must supervene over Neptune in its lower octave association with Pisces. Whilst Neptune is currently passing through its own sign of Pisces, this factor of critical analysis is noticeably lacking; this can be seen en masse with the millions of the digitally hypnotised who are constantly absorbing – a very watery Piscean theme!

One recent example was a Fox TV anchor’s ludicrous declaration that, “Germs are not a real thing. I can’t see them. Therefore, they’re not real.” The person in question, Pete Hegseth, although Princeton University educated, has a Pisces Moon – well nobody is perfect! It makes one wonder about media outlets like Fox News and their deliberate dumbing-down of their audiences.

Pluto and the Latent Fascism of Nations
A “creeping fascism” of nations has been noted by many observers in these past decades. The standard definition of fascism is where a system of government is, “marked by centralization of authority under a dictator, stringent socio-economic controls, suppression of the opposition through terror and censorship, and typically a policy of belligerent nationalism and racism.”[7]

In the Holocaust Memorial Museum, 14 signs of fascism are listed, many of which could easily be checked off for major Western nations, even though they may make rather hollow proclamations to the contrary!

Powerful and continuing nationalism.
Disdain for human rights.
Identification of enemies as a unifying cause.
Supremacy of the military.
Rampant sexism.
Controlled mass media.
Obsession with national security.
Religion and government intertwined.
Corporate power protected.
Labor [sic] power suppressed.
Disdain for intellectuals & the arts.
Obsession with crime & punishment.
Rampant cronyism & corruption.
Fraudulent elections.

In 1947 just after WWII, the Master Djwhal Khul wrote some chilling words about a situation which appears to have become much worse:

Its not just the more obvious forms of fascism which focus upon racial and religious discrimination, it is a certain attitude of control enshrined in many Western governments.

“The capitalistic spirit and the latent fascism of the United States are at this time a definite menace to world peace, and the capitalists are blocking the efforts of the men of goodwill … The healing will be brought about through the medium of the New Group of World Servers and by the men of goodwill, aided by the Hierarchy, from which planetary centre the healing energies will be drawn. Imperfection has been drawn to the surface; the evils to be eliminated are known to everybody, and this has all taken place under the influence of the Law of Perfection.”[8]

It appears that 72 years later, latency has become an active potency and deeply manifest. The US development has dragged many other nations into a similar expression, a mass delusion or virus of sorts.

For the USA, the ongoing transit of Neptune in Pisces over its progressed Sun in Pisces, represents this delusion but also an emotionally maturing process. (See here for a fuller analysis: USA’s Pisces Problems.) The imminent realisation of this mass delusion by a critical mass of the population may well propel it forward into greater understanding. There are promising signs that a more discriminating view is emerging as USA’s 2020 election approaches. (See later, Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez.)

So how does Pluto factor into all this? Pluto rules over subterranean forces and is the ruler of the first ray of Will or Power. When Pluto was discovered in 1930, gangsterism was running riot in the Prohibition era. Al Capone was a Pisces rising who tapped into those lower Pluto forces, aided and abetted by a hard-nosed Capricorn sun opposite a belligerent Mars in Cancer – T-square a violent Aries moon!

Victory (Gorynych the Serpent) Nicholas Roerich, 1942.

At the same time in the early 1930’s, Hitler’s brand of fascism was on the rise, with Pluto transiting through Cancer, square to Uranus in Aries. Both planets helped bring on the rise of fascism. Not long after this square pattern, transiting Uranus passed into Taurus and over Hitler’s sun, cementing his radical power – as stated recently in Uranus in Taurus: Then and Now – The Rise of Fascism.

Pluto entered Cancer at the beginning of German-instigated WWI in 1914, leaving Cancer in 1939 at the outset of WWII. Pluto in this sign produced an obsession by mediumistic Pisces Germany for homeland and their ancient mythological roots. As stated in other newsletters, Germany’s Pisces personality was under a mass delusion then, not unlike the USA today.

Now, 84 years later, Uranus has just re-entered Taurus, whilst planet of power Pluto is in the sign of power, oligarchies, fascism, Nazism, and big business – Capricorn. The time for the toppling of dictators and the removal of fascism in all its forms has arrived – this will be aided and abetted by Saturn’s transit through Capricorn, bringing law and order.

The other factor for Pluto as ruler of the first ray of Will-Power, is that it is connected to the planetary centre known as Shamballa. This super potent energy has only recently been “allowed” to impact Humanity directly, without the filter of the Masters of Enlightened Being; it is a calculated risk taken by Hierarchy in order to speed up our laggard evolution. The point of least resistance for the expression of Shamballa force is through dictators and those who lust for power and control:

Shamballa Warrior (Nicholas Roerich)

“It was the acuteness of this [world] situation, and the wide extent of the cleavage, which induced the watching Hierarchy to permit a direct inflow of the Shamballa force (in spite of its attendant risks) to pour into the world. The objective was to stimulate the free will of the masses; the result upon them has been relatively good as it has led to the formulation and expression of the great world ideologies—Fascism, Democracy and Communism as well as that peculiarly distorted blend of Fascism and Communism which goes by the name of Hitlerism or Nazism.

… another result of this inflow of the will-to-power has been to stimulate a certain group of outstanding personalities … so that they have assumed control of the masses and can thus determine the policies and methods—religious, political and social—of the different nations … by force, terror and deception or by persuasion, fair words and the application of ideological motives.”[9]

Today, we see similar forces at work, both by, “force, terror and deception – or by persuasion, fair words and the application of ideological motives.”

Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez: A Breath of Fresh Air
A new contender for the US election is Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, or AOC, having become recently prominent in US politics. AOC’s star is literally rising – as a Sagittarius rising, transiting Jupiter is activating her soul purpose as it criss-crosses her ascendant for most of 2019. Sagittarius is all about the enunciation of spiritually oriented philosophical principles.

AOC was born on the full moon (like fellow Democrat contender Kamala Harris) – a Libran sun with a strong sense of fairness and law, whilst her Aries moon fiercely and fearlessly challenges the status quo. Mercury in Libra is on her midheaven – opposite her Aries moon, keeping its aggressive tendencies in check, whilst maintaining Libran engagement. Mercury on the midheaven (career) is the born public speaker!

This Mercury-Moon opposition T-squares her Uranus in Capricorn, offering some radical and innovative ideas. Uranus is in turn conjunct Saturn in Capricorn, giving AOC the ability to work within the status quo as a reformer.

Sagittarius ruler Jupiter – is exalted in Cancer and sits close to USA’s Sun-Jupiter. USA’s Jupiter in Cancer represents USAs great natural wealth of resources that continue to be abused and misused, such as fracking.

AOC had recent wide exposure at a committee hearing, where she ran a “lightning round”, using her five minutes with devastating effect – to demonstrate the depths of corporate corruption that currently hamstring the US Government. This kind of approach is like using parables for the masses and helps enormously in the development of critical thinking, the Virgo polarity of Pisces.

Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez

AOC’s Sagittarius ascendant is almost at the same degree as USA rising sign in the 1776 horoscope, so there is a deep affinity that AOC has in getting back to essential principles that the nation was built upon. Her ascendant also squares USA’s progressed Sun in Pisces, challenging the nation to rid itself of the current spell it is under.

And speaking of Pluto, AOC arises from the Pluto in-its-own-sign-Scorpio generation – the sign of testing and discipleship. Pluto is well aspected from the 11^th house, indicating a powerful group leader and one not prone to taking prisoners!

AOC’s transits for the November 3, 2020 election certainly show a consolidation of power and many tensions around the theme of power – as she evolves her political experience, although Presidential office may elude her at such a young age. Indeed, as one American colleague informed me, “Ocasio-Cortez cannot run for president under US law. She would also be restricted as a VP as well for the same reason. One has to be at least 35 years old to hold the office, meaning she could not run even in the next election.” Nevertheless,

1. Solar arc Pluto is on her ascendant.
2. Her Pluto-ruled progressed Scorpio midheaven (career) is opposed by Uranus in Taurus.
3. Her Libran Sun is squared by transiting Jupiter and Pluto.
4. Transiting Venus, the ruler of her midheaven, sits on the midheaven on election day.
5. Transiting Chiron in Aries is opposite her midheaven.
6. Transiting Mars in Aries is opposite Mars in Libra exactly.

St. Francis of Assisi (Nicholas Roerich)

Saint Francis of Assisi: Pisces Rising
“Individual salvation and the emergence of outstanding individuals with spiritual sense, vision and achievement to their credit has characterised the mystical history of the past. Some of these people emerged along the way of the heart, the mystical way; such were Shri Krishna, St. Francis of Assisi, and all those Knowers whose way was the Way of Love. To these can be added Milarepa of Tibet and Lao Tze of China. Such also have been many of the saints of the church in the West. The Bhagavad Gita has been the book which has embodied this way superlatively.”[10]

Saint Francis was an Italian Catholic friar, deacon and preacher who founded several orders; he is one of the most venerated religious figures in history and regarded as the patron saint of Italy. Here is a great example of a sixth ray of Devotion/second ray Love-Wisdom disciple who sought to emulate the life of Christ – and succeeded, even down to appearance of stigmata at the end of his life. His famous “Serenity Prayer” is very much a second ray expression:

Lord, make me an instrument of thy peace.
Where there is hatred, let me sow love;
Where there is injury, pardon;
Where there is doubt, faith;
Where there is despair, hope;
Where there is darkness, light;
Where there is sadness, joy;

O Divine Master, grant that I may not
so much seek
To be consoled as to console,
To be understood as to understand,
To be loved as to love;

For it is in giving that we receive;
It is in pardoning that we are pardoned;
And it is in dying of the self that we are born
to eternal life.

St. Francis of Assisi (From Astrodatabank, rectified by Noel Tyl.)
(Note, there are other horoscopes with different dates such as this one.)

There are parallels between the life of Gautama the Buddha and Saint Francis, in that they both came from wealthy families and renounced them:

“Indulged by his parents, Francis lived the high-spirited life typical of a wealthy young man. As a youth, Francesco became a devotee of troubadours [performing musicians] and was fascinated with all things Transalpine. He was handsome, witty, gallant, and delighted in fine clothes. He spent money lavishly.”[11]

The interior of the San Francesco church, Assisi, Italy.

Francis had the Sun in “handsome” Libra, whose ruler Venus was placed in “witty” Virgo. The combination of Virgo and Libra creates an appetite for fine clothes (as does Taurus); his moon was in “wealthy” Taurus, especially with its conjunction to generous Jupiter – hence, “he spent money lavishly”! His love of troubadors may be related to his Pisces ascendant, a sign closely associated with music, considered one of the “mystical arts”. Mars exalted in Capricorn reflects his “gallantry” and his attraction to the glamour of war.

The young Francis studied Latin and vernacular, music and poetry; his father taught him French and Provençal and wanted to start his son off on a merchant’s career, so Francis found himself as an adolescent working in his father’s shop. By age 14, he had left school and become known as a rebellious teenager who frequently drank [Moon-Jupiter Taurus, Pisces rising], partied and broke the city curfew.

He led the other young men of the town in enjoying good food and drink, singing, and dancing. He was also known for his charm [Libra] and vanity. His companions saw him as a carefree youth, calling him the “King of Revels.” Sounds like Francis “raised a little hell” before he made it to heaven! There are several life event dates worth examining in Francis of Assisi’s chart:

St. Francis of Assisi at Prayer. (Bartolomé Esteban Murillo)

“Although many hagiographers remark about his bright clothing, rich friends, and love of pleasures [Moon-Jupiter in Taurus], his displays of disillusionment toward the world that surrounded him came fairly early in his life, as is shown in the “story of the beggar”. In this account, he was selling cloth and velvet in the marketplace on behalf of his father when a beggar came to him and asked for alms. At the conclusion of his business deal, Francis abandoned his wares and ran after the beggar. When he found him, Francis gave the man everything he had in his pockets. His friends quickly chided and mocked him for his act of charity. When he got home, his father scolded him in rage.”[12]

This event happened in November 1202 when transiting Neptune was conjunct his ascendant in Pisces, his soul purpose relating to self-sacrifice and giving. Also, transiting Jupiter was in Capricorn where,

“Jupiter reaches its lowest point of expression in the densest material aspect, and then—as love and selflessness triumph—this lowest aspect vanishes and disappears. It is to the “fall” of the highest aspect that the symbolism refers, and then later to the fall or disappearance of all that is base and low. Love is fallen and blinded when desire is rampant; desire vanishes when love triumphs.”[13]

It is worth pointing out the power of Francis’ Jupiter in Taurus, a planet that when combined with the moon, could be attributed to his younger excesses. But it was also those Taurean placements that gave him a deep love of nature, earning him the title of Patron Saint of the Environment. Jupiter in Taurus also represents his voracious appetite for the acquisition of higher knowledge, his speaking of several languages and broad learning.

As an impetuous young man, Francis resisted following his father’s footsteps as a cloth merchant – and fantasised about being a chivalrous knight (Mars in Capricorn), leading him to join the war between Assisi and Perugia. He was taken prisoner after a bloody battle and held to ransom for a year before he was released.

When he came back to Assisi, he was a very different man – dangerously sick and battle-fatigued. This was reflected in his horoscope by transiting Saturn (restraint) opposite his Sun (vitality) in Libra, whilst transiting Uranus (the future) squared his Moon (the past). This period around 1203 was the turning point, or his recapitulation in that incarnation of “reversing the wheel” – as a young man in his early 20’s.

During captivity he claimed to receive guidance from God and helped erase the glamour of war. The militancy of Mars and the sixth ray was about to be replaced by the pacifism of Neptune as co-ruler of the sixth ray, most likely his soul ray; he is the Patron saint of Italy and that nation is a sixth ray soul. Francis came forth from the heart of the nation:

“He spent an ever-increasing amount of time at a remote mountain hideaway as well as in old, quiet churches around Assisi, praying, looking for answers, and helping to nurse lepers. During this time, while praying before an old Byzantine crucifix at the church of San Damiano, Francis reportedly heard the voice of Christ, who told him to rebuild the Christian Church and to live a life of extreme poverty. Francis obeyed and devoted himself to Christianity. He began preaching around Assisi and was soon joined by 12 loyal followers.”[14]

St. Francis and the Leper.

These events occurred in the spring of 1205 when transiting Neptune was still in Pisces, opposing his Venus in Virgo:

“Venus, pure love-wisdom, falls into generation in this sign and occultly “descends to earth” and stands for the gift of mind and of divinity, embodied in the Son of Mind and thus for the descent of the Christ principle into generation or into matter.

Virgo and Venus are together two aspects of intelligence. The symbolism of the descent of Spirit into the womb of the virgin mother is preserved for us in the astrological fact that Venus falls in this sign; esoterically, she disappears from view and vanishes into the darkness.”[15]

In January or February 1206, Francis was dragged by his father before the Bishop of Assisi, demanding repayment of money for cloth that Francis had given away. Francis stripped off all his clothes, returned the money and renounced both his inheritance and his father. From thereon he dressed in only a rough tunic, not unlike the notorious “hair shirt” of the earlier Church fathers. At the time, transiting Pluto (power, will) was in Leo (self-governance), in direct square to Francis’s progressed Sun (father) in Scorpio (sign of discipleship).

St. Francis’ Life. (Benozzo Gozzoli)

Francis desired to imitate Jesus perfectly by preaching repentance and peace. Several young men left their families and possessions to join Francis.Peace is a major theme of his Libran Sun as well as the sixth ray – a dualistic force that can be extremely militant or pacific. Indeed, there have been many peace activists that ironically express an intense militancy!

On April 16, 1209 Francis founded the Secular Franciscan Order and composed his first regulations. There was an extraordinary cluster of transits to his horoscope on that day – just to mention a few:

1. Pluto, the soul ruler of his Pisces ascendant, was exactly conjunct Saturn (order/the Order, regulations). Saturn rules the 11^th house of the group or community.

St. Francis Wed to Poverty (Giotto)

2. Francis’ progressed midheaven (career) was conjunct ambitious Mars (exalted) in Capricorn. Mars is the ruler of the sixth ray, his proposed soul ray.

“Mars is the God of War, the Producer of conflicts … Materialism, the fight for the satisfaction of personal ambitions, and the conflict with higher spiritual tendencies goes steadily forward, and this most material of all the signs [Capricorn] is the battleground of the old established order and habits and the new and higher inclinations and tendencies.”[16]

By this time Francis was living a life of poverty – as commanded by his Master (Jesus). This vow of poverty is of course in stark contrast to his past lavish lifestyle and a deliberate renunciation of the lower aspect of his Moon-Jupiter conjunction in Taurus.

3. Pisces ascendant co-ruler Neptune (visionary, the mystic), was closely conjunct Mercury in Aries (new beginnings) opposite Francis’ Libra Sun (right relations)

Having refused to marry at 15, Clare was moved by the dynamic preaching of Francis. He became her lifelong friend and spiritual guide. At 18, Clare escaped from her father’s home one night … (more)

4. The Sun was in Taurus conjunct his Uranus, representing radical change but also community life in the cloisters.

5. Transiting Chiron (wounder healer) and Saturn were both in Cancer precisely conjunct his soul ruler Pluto in the fourth house of the home and spiritual family.

Francis went on to establish various orders including a women’s order headed by Clare of Assisi – the “poor Clares”. He and his followers had several meetings with the Pope who gave his blessing to the friars’ work. Many of the stories that surround the life of Saint Francis say that he had a great love for animals and the environment – reflected by his planets in Taurus. (Although Virgo is also associated with animals.) This led to Francis becoming the patron saint of animals, ecology and merchants:

“One day, while Francis was traveling with some companions, they happened upon a place in the road where birds filled the trees on either side. Francis told his companions to “wait for me while I go to preach to my sisters the birds.” The birds surrounded him, intrigued by the power of his voice, and not one of them flew away. He is often portrayed with a bird, typically in his hand.”[17] (See here for the story of St. Francis and the wolf of Gubbio.)

On September 17, 1224 Francis received the stigmata whilst in a religious ecstasy during an apparition of Seraphic angels. His horoscope showed a progressed Moon and Sun together in Scorpio (a progressed new moon), conjoined by transiting Moon and Mars in Scorpio. Scorpio is a most appropriate sign for this event to occur in, for two reasons:

Scorpio is a sign of trials, testings and initiation, generically ruling the second degree initiation. (Francis however, may have achieved beyond this point.)
Scorpio is the sign of a gory, bleeding Jesus on the cross – coloured so powerfully by St. Paul’s (a Scorpio) misrepresentation of the esoteric significances of the New Testament.

Scorpio and Pisces have close links to one another – both are water signs and have the planet Pluto in common as ruler; both are signs of finality and death. Francis died during the evening hours of 3 October 1226.

On that day, Pisces soul ruler Pluto was opposite his Pisces ascendant and the Moon was in Pisces. Pisces co-ruler Jupiter was in Aquarius conjunct Pisces co-ruler Neptune. Sixth ray Mars was prominently conjunct the midheaven in sixth ray sign Sagittarius – for this sixth ray (?) soul! Transiting Uranus was conjunct his progressed Sun in Scorpio, imparting its exaltation in this sign and the promise of future incarnations:

“Uranus is the planet whose characteristics are the scientific mind, which, at this stage of the disciple’s career, means that he can begin to live the occult life and the way of divine knowledge can take the place of the mystic way of feeling. It means also that knowledge can be transmuted into the way of wisdom and of light … Uranus, therefore, initiates a new order of life and conditions and this—when developed in the life of the disciple—in its turn produces an understanding of the causes of things as they are, and the desire to change the old order and the old orientation into the new.”1

St. Francis was also known as a powerful and inspiring speaker; he had Mercury (the messenger) in Libra (equanimity) trine to Neptune (inspiration, idealism). Mercury was also square to Pluto, adding power and persuasiveness to his inspirational oratory. Other Pisces rising souls include: Annie Besant, Edgar Cayce, Alexander Bell, Leonard Cohen, Benjamin Franklin, Allen Ginsburg, Mikhail Gorbachev, Barrie Humphries and Elizabeth Kubler-Ross.

Two New Books

These new titles by the author will be available in the next few weeks: