Trends in Germany and worldwide
It was 30 years ago that a thousand hammers chipped away at the most depressing construction of the 20th century – the Berlin Wall. How Berlin has suffered! After the First World War, the depleted (male) population of Germany struggled through inflation, strife between the communists who wanted to replicate the “success” of Soviet Russia and fascists inspired by the clear-cut and brutal ideas of Hitler. And finally the defeat of Nazi Germany with the occupation of East Germany by Russian troops, eager to exact revenge for the depravities they had suffered at the hands of the German invaders.
The Destruction of Berlin
Most Germans were keen to surrender to the Allied forces, rather than the Soviets, but the people of Berlin had little choice, as their destroyed city was diced up under the British, Americans, Russians and French. As the years went by, communist sympathizers and opportunistic bureaucrats, working under Soviet control, created a new and oppressive country, East Germany, which prompted many people to seek refuge in the West.
The solution: a wall.
Creation of Berlin Wall. 13 Aug.1961 kl 1.11 Berlin AS 10 CN (Note 1)
The wall was decided by a Warsaw Pact directive followed by its immediate construction – it appeared overnight on August 13th, 1961. (Note 2). This wall was more than a wall through Berlin; it represented the Iron Curtain and the polarity between the communist and capitalist world. The horoscope for its appearance shows a conjunction between Jupiter and Saturn in Capricorn, and as such the consolidation of two political systems. How appropriate to see a Moon-Pluto conjunction on the 4th house – reflecting the barriers that went up on what became known as Stacheldrahtsonntag or “Barbed Wire Sunday.” All in the name of protecting the citizens of East Germany from the pernicious influence of the West of course.
The Dissolution of the Wall
Approximately a Saturn cycle later, amidst worldwide amazement, the Iron Curtain came down, border guards stepped aside, and people streamed into the West from the East. This was not a deliberate move from East German or Soviet authorities, rather a series of mistakes and misunderstandings, which resulted in an unstoppable momentum. Only through a brutal massacre of the sort that had taken place six months earlier at Tiananmen Square in Beijing could the process be reversed, and that was something Russian president Gorbachev could not contemplate.
Berlin Wall fall. 09 Nov,1989 18.57 Berlin AS 6 CN
The dissolution of the Berlin Wall coincided with a conjunction of wall-building Saturn with wall-dissolving Neptune. This conjunction takes place every 36 years and historically each conjunction has been a milestone in socialism, from the publishing of the communist manifesto in 1848 (just after the 1846 discovery of Neptune) to the 1917 Russian revolution, the 1953 death of Stalin, the dissolution of communism in Eastern Europe in 1989, and the (coming) disappearance of Putin in 2024-25.
The Fate of Communism
It is notable that at the dissolution of the Berlin Wall, transit Pluto (conjoined by Mercury) was at 15 Scorpio, which was exactly at the Mercury/Sun conjunction of the Russian Revolution chart. (Note 3). The combination of the Saturn-Neptune conjunction, which fell on the MC-IC axis of the USSR (30 Dec 1922 11.59 Moscow) and the Pluto transit to Russia’s Sun was what made it possible for astrologer Michael Baigent to predict the following back in 1982:
The Soviet Union will experience from January 1989 to November 1991 … some basic restructuring of the nation … with regard to leadership and style of rule. This period will herald some new revolution … the tight command structure will fail and the country will collapse back into the numerous autonomous states it once was.” (Note 5)
What made the dissolution of the wall a euphoric event, astrologically speaking, was the opposition of Saturn-Neptune to Jupiter in Cancer – all three planets exactly placed at 10 degrees. The reader will note that this opposition falls exactly on the Ascendant-Descendant and Venus of the creation of the wall and – significantly – on the Sun-North Node conjunction of the iconic chart for the German Empire. (Jan 1st, 1871).
Saturn and Barriers
It is a classic astrological truth that constructions of all types are related to the time cycle of Saturn, and they are susceptible to major structural change in tune with the 29-30 year Saturn cycle. For example, the inauguration of the World Trade Center (April 4, 1973) had Saturn at 15 degrees Gemini, and when it crashed down, Saturn had returned – now at 14 Gemini. The devastation was indicated by Saturn’s opposition to Pluto at 12 Sagittarius, and the fact that this happened in the USA was reflected by the opposition falling on the Ascendant-Descendant axis of the US (Sibley) chart.
The suppression of student unrest in Tiananmen Square took place on June 4th 1989, and the current upheavals in Hong Kong (2019) reflect the return of Saturn to this position. As China has a Mercury-Neptune conjunction at 13-14 Libra, this clearly represents the discontent of young people, and the urge to suppress it. This may well work for the Chinese authorities – until Pluto arrives at its Ascendant-Moon conjunction around 2026, then it will work no longer.
Israel has gone to great trouble constructing a 700 kilometer concrete wall separating it from the West Bank. Built during the Second Intifada, which started in September 2000 with Saturn entering Gemini (barrier between two peoples), we can expect a major development in 2030 at the Saturn return. This will be the time of a progressed new moon conjoining Israel’s Pluto, so some transformation of the State of Israel may take place at this time, especially as Venus progressed, which has been retrograde in Gemini (two-state solution) finally moves back into Cancer at this time, suggesting a single-state nation.
The Rise and Fall of Angela Merkel
The dissolution of the Berlin Wall, and the subsequent dissolution of the Soviet Union, which was a process that stretched from November 1989 to December 1991, was also reflected by momentous upheavals in Germany, leading to the reunification of East and West.
German Reunification 3rd Oct 1990. 0.00 Berlin AS 4.22 LE
A new Germany was formed, characterized by the square of the Sun in Libra to the Uranus-Neptune-Saturn conjunction. German pride was restored, nicely reflected by Jupiter rising in Leo and harmoniously interacting with a strong Venus in dignity and a weak Sun in fall in Libra. This was to be a new, more peaceful giant.
Angela Merkel, the Chancellor of Germany since 2005, has come to symbolize the tolerant face of Germany, but now she is on her way out, whilst right-wing forces are on the Ascendant. Merkel is born with a Sun-Uranus conjunction in Cancer exactly square Neptune on the Midheaven (mirroring the Sun square Uranus-Neptune in Germany’s horoscope), which shows a radical and idealistic politician behind a protective and unassuming shell. With Mars rising in Sagittarius trine Pluto (just like Putin) she is a resilient fighter, and with Ascendant ruler Jupiter conjoining Mercury in Cancer in the 7th house, she is a brilliant and empathic listener, completely attuned to the people.
Horoscope: Angela Merkel. 17th July 1954. 18.00 Hamburg. AS 16.30 SG
Of course, the Sun square Neptune shows a weakness, and it is a weakness which resonates with the Moon in Pisces in the 9th house of the reunified Germany horoscope. This shows porous borders, or, if you like, a compassionate approach to refugees and immigration, combined with a pragmatic view that they will provide labor at a time when population decline also threatens Europe. This would reflect the Moon in Pisces in sextile to the Saturn-Neptune-Uranus stellium in the 6th house.
When the full moon in Pisces activated Jupiter in Virgo opposing Neptune in Pisces in the autumn of 2015, refugees streamed into Europe, seeking to escape the catastrophic situation in Syria and elsewhere in the Middle East. Merkel welcomed almost a million refugees into Germany, saying that Germany could cope and urging other European countries to follow suit. They did not, with the possible exception of Sweden. Merkel did not get a Nobel peace prize for this – in fact her popularity in German fell for the first time, and it is widely considered that the influx of refugees contributed to the rise of the AfD – the far-right Alternative für Deutschland.
Merkel has announced she will not seek re-election, but the next federal election can be as late as October 2021, so she could be around for some time yet – in theory. Whether she will survive this long is another matter. Firstly Neptune will be conjoining Germany’s Moon at 18.53 Pisces right up until 2021, which could represent a descent into chaos, more discontent with immigration, and the undermining of executive power by the people. It could also – and will also – show a new greener Germany, at the forefront of the e-vehicle revolution and climate initiatives, but popular discontent is likely to rise, and when that rises, then AfD probably gets more power.
What is more serious for Merkel is the coming grand conjunction of Jupiter, Saturn and Pluto opposing her Sun, which starts to peak in January 2020, with Pluto making the final opposition to Merkel’s Sun in November 2021 – just after the election. This suggests that it will all be crisis management for Merkel, but she may well hang on until the end of her term. As she is one of the few politicians currently in power who shows empathy and is a humanitarian, the longer she is there to counterbalance people like Trump and Putin, the better.
Adrian Ross Duncan
September 12th 2019
1. Information from excellent blog:
https://astrologymundo.wordpress.com/2008/09/10/saturn-returns-the-world-trade-center-an-the-berlin-wall/
… and from Astrodienst www.astro.com*
2. According to Frederick Taylor in The Berlin Wall: A World Divided, 1961-1989, construction began at 1:11 a.m.
3. Russian Revolution: Nov 8, 1917 2.12 St Petersburg AS 14.20 VI
4. “Mundane Astrology” (1984)