Muscling Against the System

The Aries-Capricorn Square

"The person with squares from Capricorn to Aries will sooner or later have to buck the heavy weight of authority and seek new pastures where he can kick up his heels in freedom. Since he is usually dependent on the system against which he reacts, impatience, irritability, and frustration may be his lot. He protests against a routine humdrum life, yet knows himself to reap benefits which come from a well-regulated establishment.

There is plenty of energy and drive but often the system is hard to beat. The individual subject to these influences should study the law of cycles to make time his ally. There are periods when he should remain resolute and endure, and periods when he should strike out boldly. The secret of his success lies in cultivating a sensitivity to the deeper rhythms of life."
The Divine Astrologer

People were wondering what Pluto in Capricorn would bring and the only thing one could be certain of was that some semblance of reality would arrive. And it has.

My discussion of the incoming administration and some of the problems being presented has generated some interest. The main point is that the status quo was destined to be reinstated at first so the forces of change could get to work. The power of resistance -- Aries-Capricorn. There's a year and a half before Uranus gets to Aries but it's not too soon to prepare.

The upcoming transit is potent and when Uranus enters Aries in May of 2010, Jupiter will also just be going into Aries adding fuel to the fire. At the same time Saturn enters Libra forming a T-square and the urge to bring change to the government looks to be especially strong. The square will be tight for unusual lengths of time and it's likely that pressure against the system (some system) will be felt from here on out in varying degrees. People with Aries planets especially might feel the squeeze. It needn't be debilitating, and successes occur all along the way accompanying the customary failures and trials and errors of Capricorn in its quest for perfection. The energy can be used. It is, however, not a time to sit back and wait for things to be done by others or entirely by circumstance. Aries asks for direct personal effort.

Aries was born to muscle against resistance, building strength, courage, and ideally to prove invincibility. Triumph is the Aries aim. I'm a lovely flowing Cancer in theory but it all goes up in smoke with my Aries ascendant, determined to boldly push through life meeting challenge with vigor. The Aries is taut, tense, and always primed for action and conflict. Always seeking a hard entity to thrust against.

When Aries (the body) meets Capricorn (construction) you get the classic body builder, so with Uranus in Aries the part of the body politic seeking progressive reform muscles against the status quo. That's why the old conservative cast of characters is in the new cabinet, the same ones whose policies created the current situation. Pluto plumbs the depths bringing political corruption to the surface for release. And there's a helluva lot there. Underneath the top tier, however, alternatives are percolating and new characters representing that divergence will be in the administration, moreso as time goes on, especially if the citizenry gets to work sensing where they are.

Obama remains an outsider no matter how much he's learned to play the game. And he plays it well. He'll do his part in the corrupt system he's taken on. The most important part, though, is ours. Complacency, lassitude, excessive fear, paralysis and such things could be wisely abandoned, along with the child-parent relationship to government, even if people don't necessarily stay politically involved, but at least move some of the restraining walls in their own lives. It all adds up. The realities can be disappointing, even daunting, but what better force to build strength against than a real one?

In the meantime, there are some helpful aspects in the inaugural chart, primarily a grand earth trine from the Taurus ascendant to Mars in Capricorn and Saturn in Virgo, making the transition more stable. The North Node in the 10th is also good, and the North Node coming to Capricorn soon bodes well for order, even though squares can be difficult. There is also a potent Moon at 29 Scorpio just on Obama's Midheaven and this can be watched with interest as power is divvied up in the new administration and the elements of destruction and renewal are set in motion with Pluto through Capricorn and this Moon as emissary. Pluto in the 8th house of the chart repeats the pattern. The incoming president is a good fit with his repeats of the Saturn-Pluto theme, and his own Saturn conjunct USA Pluto.

This process could have a kind relentlessness to it so all you weary travelers rest now while you can. Saturn as you know stands firm, sometimes seemingly unmovable, and Aries doesn't give up. The ideal result is the introduction of the new into the old in order to expand in a combined dimension, earning the ease of the Uranus in Taurus trine that follows. The completion of a grand cardinal cross with USA Saturn in Libra and Venus, Jupiter, Sun, and Mercury in Cancer makes for huge potential achievement with the initiating talent of the cardinal energy, but not without muscle. Pumping iron, cracking stone, pushing boundaries, tearing down and building up walls, and rearranging the halls of power. Where an Aries goes, heavy machinery often follows.
Photo: swimmer at Victoria Falls:Annie Griffiths Belt