HEAVENS ABOVE...LOOK OUT BELOW
from Susie Cox, Astrologer
as reported by Leslie Shumate 8-23-2001

The planets around us are presently joined in configurations that astronomically are quite spectacular and astrologically are indicating it’s a good time to make major personal changes.

Susie Cox of Tucson, Arizona is a world class Astrologer and is also an astronomer, combining the two ancient sciences into one as they once were centuries ago.  Speaking astronomically she recommends to everyone a pre-dawn eastern sky show of parading planets.  Just before sunrise, beginning at the horizon, sky-watchers will see the brightest member in the line, Venus.  Next comes Jupiter shining brightly and highest in the sky is Saturn, not quite as brilliant and radiating a yellowish hue.  Once a month this group is joined by a sliver of moon and is visible until the sun rises and blots the others from view.  Further enhancing the display is the constellation Orion just to the east and a nearby grouping of stars known as the Pleiades. The line up of planets is in the ecliptic path, the overhead track followed daily by the sun from sunrise to sunset, and is taking place in the zodiac sign of Cancer. According to Cox this exceptionally visual configuration will be with us for about two more weeks and is especially showy right now. {until the end of August]

Jupiter takes 12 years to orbit the earth.  Saturn’s orbit takes 30 years.  Once every 20 years the two planets meet to travel together and history shows a repeated pattern of major events each time they join company...which leads into astrological evaluations of the present conjunctions.

A second alignment is not as visually spectacular but is the one getting the most world wide astrological attention due to its synchronicity with the first grouping.  The planets involved are Pluto and Mars traveling together in the sign of Sagittarius with both powerful planets in total opposition to Saturn in Gemini. 

In astrology each planet (along with its position in relation to other planets)  is credited with certain concurrent behavioral patterns on earth which have evolved from thousands of years of noting earthly activities as compared to astronomical events.  After centuries of record keeping there are universally agreed upon meanings for each of the current players involved. 

The first grouping is taking place in Cancer.  Cancer relates to home, family, security, children, animals (to some people pets are their children) and real estate.  These will be strong for the next year and while basically positive can also bring up issues in all categories which Cox said are “tweaking and regrouping relationships.”    Results among her clients include an increase in marriages, divorces and career changes.

Jupiter symbolizes the “King” or person that is in charge.  Saturn is obstacles, working things out, legal situations, challenges.  It is this combination which has been recognized throughout history and especially the presidential history of this country.

With only one exception every president since the eighteen hundreds, elected in a year which ended in zero has failed to complete his term.  The exception was Ronald Reagan who was elected in 1980 and served two terms.  Reagan survived an assassination attempt two months after his 1980 election and hopefully stopped the ought year tradition which began with the 1840 election of William Henry Harrison.  Harrison  died of pneumonia shortly after his inauguration in 1841 and was the first US President to die in office.  The twenty year Jupiter-Saturn cycle happens to coincide with the ought year pattern. Preferring a more positive approach Cox said she would not be mentioning the negative ought year belief except for the fact it has been brought up by media and the historic astronomical correlation which definitely indicates, “That’s the time the ‘King’ has trouble.”  Cox calls the Supreme Court legal issues  (Saturn) revolving around President Bush’s entrance to the White House, “...a rocky beginning for sure.”  She said when Jupiter and Saturn are joining it’s not a good time to be elected and in charge.

With Pluto (which represents politics, the boss, the person in charge) and Mars (the planet of action and war) added to the mix in an attitude of opposition, Cox calls the intense combination a tough alignment that needs strength and courage on the part of human kind and said it is not an easy time for some. 

To define the players further she calls Pluto and Mars “the bully” and on international levels sees the recent friendship between Russia and China as two bullies posturing and aligning themselves against another potential bully, the United States and its leader. 

Putting the planet configurations on more personal levels Cox said, “The phrase and the energy of this summer is, ‘freeing ourselves from the bully.’  I’m asking all of my clients, ‘Who is your bully?  Who presents a bully in your life?’”  She said the “bully” can be everything from an ex husband to the IRS to a boss, a job or even a lifestyle.  “It doesn’t really matter what the bully is but people right now are freeing themselves from the bully...whether they want to or not.”  She believes if a person gets separated from a bully situation without wanting or asking to be freed it means there is something else they are supposed to do, where they won’t be bullied.

The majority of planets involved were lined up during the last two weeks of May and first two weeks of June putting the configuration in Gemini which represents speaking the truth. Cox said the authority figure (Saturn) is speaking the truth (Gemini) and that equates to, “...basically, people speaking the truth against people who are in positions of power.  And that’s happening on a wide variety of levels.  It’s not just happening in Washington, DC  It’s happening in a lot of communities, a lot of families, a lot of towns.  The people who are in charge, because of the ‘metal snake’ year and because of this whole Jupiter-Saturn/Mars-Pluto on top of it, are being the bully and think that they have the right to control other people.”

In Chinese astrology this is the year of the “Metal Snake.”  Cox explained, in Eastern astrology there are 12 animals and five elements in a 60 year cycle as compared to Western astrology’s 12 zodiac signs per year and four elements; fire, earth, air and water.  In Eastern astrology each animal sign reigns for a full year (beginning February 5) and each element for two years.  The elements are, in cyclical order, fire, earth, metal, water and wood.  This is the Chinese year of the snake occurring in the second year of the element metal.  Last year was the Metal Dragon, next year will be the Water Horse.  In this year’s combination both the snake and the metal element have pronounced aspects of greed concerning the power and love of money which makes for a double concentration  in the realm of finances.  Cox said symbolism of the snake’s shrewd controlling use of power... out to get what it wants in sometimes secretive ways...and metal’s being invincible, brittle and hard, is an intense combination.  “They think they’re really strong, they’re forward and there’s a sense of a metal snake being kind of ruthless.”   She thinks the metal snake occurring at the same time as the Jupiter-Saturn conjunction, which is the tearing down of an authority figure, could indicate underhanded and ruthless tactics.

The Saturn-Pluto opposition has been building through the summer to its most direct confrontation which took place August 5. On October 2 the configuration will enter a “retrograde”(where it appears to move backwards but in reality doesn’t) which Cox said is a “back to the drawing board” time to work things out and can be a difficult passage.  On May 26, 2002 the planets resume a direct path which Cox said will be the time of wrapping things up, “... now that all the bugs have been worked out.”

Although many may be aware of the different energies caused by these planetary dances those likely to experience them most are Gemini’s born between June 2 and 8 and Sagitarians born between December 2 and 12.  People with Cancer birth dates of June 27 through July 5 could also make good use of the opportunities for change.

In summary Cox said, “This is freeing ourselves from bullies so we can feel secure.  Remember I started off with all those planets in Cancer being about security?  So, if we can free ourselves from whoever our personal bully is then we’ll come into a feeling of more well being and comfort and security.”  She said the essence of the summer of 2001 is, “...freeing ourselves from our personal bully so we can feel better about our life.”