StarCycles by Georgia Stathis

To this day I find the sky remarkable. I often wonder who or what put together such a marvelously perfect system where the same things occur in three, four or five very powerful horoscopes and all at the same time. The horoscopes I am referring to are the Federal Reserve, the McWhirter New York Stock Exchange chart (rectified by Alphee Lavoie), and the chart of the United States to name a few. The remarkable cycle to which I refer is, of course, the current ongoing Saturn Chiron opposition in Cancer and Capricorn that ‘officially’ began on September 23, 2003 and continues through 2006.

This rare occurrence doesn't frequent history. When it does, however, it tends to move nations, businesses, and individuals out of their fixed and secure Saturnian positions by the slower moving Chiron. Saturn represents current structure and Chiron, the slower moving of the two and whose orbit requires 50 to 52 years to return to the same position, acts as a hybrid force that melds two very extreme opposites.

Chiron is the comet that acts as a contact bridge between traditional Saturn and non-traditional Uranus. In some circles, Chiron is known as the Rainbow Bridge, because of its erratic orbit as it reaches to Saturn and then swings back to Uranus. In this respect, Chiron acts as a major catalyst for change, particularly in business and industry, particularly as it forms a rare opposition to Saturn. This 180° relationship seems to create tension between traditional and liberal mindsets. This tension continues to blast at us through 2006.

Currently, Chiron, the slower of the two planets, moves slowly through tropical Capricorn, where it began its cycle in December 2001. The interesting point about this particular transit is that when Chiron entered Capricorn in mid-December 2001, it was shortly after this that large companies like Enron and World Com fell from grace as secrets surfaced regarding their misuse of funds, their continuing bilking the American public out of their invested monies and, thereby, creating great losses of money as well as faith from the public. Recently, tapes were released of conversations between employees supporting these accusations.

The last time Chiron transited through Chiron was in the early 1950s when McCarthyism and its resulting paranoia branded many people as un-American taking them away from their livelihoods while shaming them in the face of their peers. It was a scandalous time, where no one was safe and where no one was safe from being branded a Communist. Many talented people in Hollywood, California, for example, were blackballed from their industry for many years. Similar to the current paranoia of inherent terrorist actions, hidden chemical weapons and, even, security leaks currently brewing in Washington, D.C., the current opposition between Saturn and Chiron suggests that past illegal actions will be revealed during the course of this transit and affect our industries, our indexes, and our politics. This includes not only the 'Enrons' of the world, but the threat to national security under the guise of protecting us from terrorism.

Both Saturn and Chiron moving through the Solstice Signs of our zodiac, known in ancient times as the Gateway of Man (Cancer) and the Gateway of Heaven (Capricorn), are two signs which were considered to be the points of the zodiac where new souls came in with new purposes (Cancer) and other souls exited (Capricorn) in order to make way for the new. Both Saturn and Chiron have a lot to do with the concept of "debts paid and debts owed" and the principal of inherent karmic debt. Saturn, the planet that prunes cosmically, is also known for its ability to correct past inequities.

Known as the planet of Karma, where it moves through a horoscope, whether it is an individual chart, or a larger chart such as that of the Federal Reserve, the New York Stock Exchange, or, the United States itself, expects responsibility and administers harsh doses of reality to those parties or entities not operating in a responsible and clear way.

By itself, Saturn requires this over the course of its normal 2-year cycle, but accompanied by its slower counterpart, Chiron, the level of 'payback' is increased tenfold. Chiron was a great teacher, born of his father, Saturn, who in his blood thirsty search for Jupiter (the God of expansion and opportunity), fell upon a young nymph who fell prey to his baser instincts. Out of this union of greed was born the young centaur, Chiron.

Chiron became the 'by-product' of Saturn's lust and greed and a half brother to Jupiter. Saturn, known for its traditional, as well as conservative view of things, is about struggle, and, properly accessed has the capacity to work for long, arduous periods of time to build new foundations. With the current opposition from Chiron and its passage through Capricorn, corporate crime and criminal profits are revisited, government failures discovered along with abusive methods used by an untrained military, continuing epiphanies regarding prior knowledge of security leaks, discoveries of corporate communications detailing the criminal mistreatment of prisoners, systems, and methods are all up for review.

Old models for financial profits decline as new forms of currencies and complementary currencies emerge throughout the world. In other words, those methods and systems that were tried and true (Saturn) are dissolving away as new systems and methods accompanied by more intricate technologies emerge that have as their foundation, environmental values. As we receive bad news, i.e. rising gas prices, we finally see good news such as the new hybrid technology. Think of it, just ten years ago, Toyota of Japan was at the drawing board about to release the first hybrid cars and that technology has now entered the mainstream of American car production. The lack of supply and the resulting high costs incurred act as catalyst for new thinking (Saturn opposite Chiron forces us out of the box of the tried and true.)

Capricorn is about efficiency and the advent of nanotechnology, a primary example of 'small, but mighty' power chips that save space and energy, is one of the manifestations. The same is true for the new fuel cell technology, which is focusing on a new way to solve the power grid problems in the world. Capricorn also has much to do with natural resources and the 'reality' of declining supplies. This is due primarily to an increase in world population, which grew from approximately 2.3 billion people in the early 1950s to the current world population of 6 billion people! Every time someone is born on the earth and doesn't die (we do have longer and longer lives due to medical support), each person shares the same dollar!! The perception is there are limited opportunities, fewer jobs (though recent reports suggest an increase in national employment), and lack of resources, when in fact this perception is only the result of the current models of energy, of currency, of possibility.

In addition, the fear that has increased due to the continuing paranoia that has been intrinsic since September 11, 2001, keeps us from moving past fears and trying new models of behavior, new models of economy, new models of investment, and new possibilities. The one thing that is very true of Saturn and the sign that it rules, which is Capricorn, is that a long enough discomfort leads to new solutions. These solutions may take a while, but, in fact, are shifting as we move into 2005 and witness Chiron slowly entering the sign of Aquarius, which represents global cooperation and cooperative efforts. It is also the sign of dictators and authoritarian figures as well as revolutions of the peoples of the earth.

For example, the idea that as each person is born, the value of the dollar is reduced. This idea comes from a basic idea that more people have to share the same value. But, what in fact, would change, if we were to view currency in a different way. In Bernard Lietaer's book, The Future of Money, he explores the possibility of Sustainable Abundance with complementary currencies. As a side note, Lietaer is a known authority on world currency. He worked on the creation of the single European currency and was named the world's top currency trader by Business Week in 1989. He was Professor of International Finance at the University of Louvain, Belgium and a Fellow at the Center for Sustainable Resources at the University of California, Berkeley.

He asks four very important questions regarding time compaction and money. The are as follows:

How will society provide the elderly (a Saturn/Chiron issue) with the money to match their longevity (again Saturn)?
How can we provide a living to additional billions of people when our technologies make jobless growth a clear possibility?
How can we resolve the conflict between short-term financial interests and long-term sustainability?
How can we prepare for the possibility of a monetary crisis? ¹

He asks a question that is very much a Saturn, Capricorn, Chiron question which
is that of survival. "How can we solve the four 'money questions', and engender Sustainable Abundance within one generation. The key is to introduce – in parallel with the existing money system – complementary currencies that have already proved that they can contribute to solving these uncompromisingly tough questions."² To take a moment to define complementary currencies, these are agreements among groups of people or corporations to accept non-traditional currencies as mediums of exchange. There are several models working in the world today that are 'out of the box' and 'hybrid' possibilities, acting as transition models and which are which are the one of the definitive outcroppings of the current Saturn and Chiron opposition.

Some of these currently in use and primarily found in foreign countries are paper scrip and electronic scrip for specific regions as Ireland, Scotland, Amsterdam, the Vallecas district of Madrid Spain; eco-money, a concept developed by the Director of Service Industries Division of the Ministry of International Trade and Industry (MITI), Toshiharu Kato, which coordinates business, government education and community to work together as one organization and which operates as a direct exchange method of items and services, thus preventing inflation from a straight currency model; these are just a few currently operating in the world. Their founders are thinking outside of the box and their thinking is geared towards the future. These developing systems are 'bridges' for the transition into future world currency transactions. Just because our historical model of money and survival is based on pay for work, pay for a job, doesn’t suggest that this has to continue. As our population increases exponentially, so must our problem solving of the unequal distribution of resources throughout the world.

That our markets are volatile, vacillating and questioned by traditional investors is not a big surprise in lieu of the bigger picture of world economic growth. Emerging markets and increased outsourcing to other countries suggests that these are issues that are to be addressed. When Michael Gorbachev began Glasnost where the borders and boundaries of the Soviet Union were dissolved, Uranus and Neptune were conjunct in the sky, an effect that only occurs every 171 years and seems to accompany world dissolution of borders historically. Currently, we see Uranus in Aquarius and Neptune in Pisces, both planets are considered to be in mutual reception, or, operating as a conjunction. This possibility for at least another 7 years supports the above comments in regard to the current Saturn Chiron configuration, its opposition, the fact that both planets are at optimum declination (furthest south and furthest north in declination), supports the "two out of three" rule, where there are major planetary alignments, and several occurring at one time and for a considerable length of time emits change from its very core!

This article is just a very brief overview opinion of what is developing in terms of economy and new models. Hopefully, these innovations offer some solutions to current problems facing our markets and their volatility and the ongoing problem of unemployment at the same time we find ourselves addressing the need to expand to accommodate our growing world populations and independent economies. In a future article, I would like to explore how some of these models and others are contributing to a larger transition point that is due in 2010 to 2011. For now, however, it is worth reviewing the above.

¹Lietaer, Bernard, The Future of Money, Century-London Publishing, 2001. Page 18.

²Ibid, Page 29.