THE SATURN/NEPTUNE OPPOSITION OF 2006-2007
PART TWO

copyright 2006 Arielle Guttman

Historically, the Saturn/Neptune cycle completes itself every 36 years. The cycle we are now witnessing is at its halfway point, beginning with the conjunction (0°) of Saturn/Neptune, 18 years ago, in 1989. What happened in 1989-90 at the beginning of this Saturn/Neptune cycle we are currently at a halfway point in? Following is a handy reference guide to Saturn/Neptune encounters over a 100 year period.*

Aspects in this order:
• Cnj= 0° conjunction (new)
• Sqr=90° waxing square (1st quarter)
• Opp=180° opposition (full)
• Sqr=270° waning square (3rd quarter)

The Saturn/Neptune conjunction of 1989/90 gave humanity some very big history-making events, some of which are:

• The collapse of the Berlin Wall
• Saddam Hussein invades Kuwait; the U.S. sends troops to the the Gulf War, “Desert Storm”
• The Exxon Valdez Oil Spill in Alaska
• The collapse of the Soviet Union
• The demonstrations in Tiananmen Square

As is the nature of the opposition, the world was divided on many fronts. The senior Bush, hailing from an oil economy state, was the U.S. president. That presidency’s objectives were to control the world’s oil markets. That presidency began the military involvement in the Persian Gulf with the Gulf War in its term. That presidency witnessed the greatest oil spill that the world had ever seen, endangering and bringing to extinction untold millions of wildlife in the Alaskan gulf with the Exxon oil spill. That presidency was supported for the Gulf War, even though the apparent objectives of that war (to get Saddam) were not met. What was accomplished was the insurgence and insertion of American politics and companies to begin to influence that region in a much greater way. The U.S. now had a legitimately U.N. sanctioned reason to continue to occupy the Persian Gulf.

Let’s not forget one of Saturn/Neptune’s more benevolent acts upon recent history – at least in some parts of the world. This was the year that the Berlin Wall fell, unifying east and west Germany. What followed in the Communist world over the next few years was the collapse of the Soviet Union. The former communist bloc in eastern Europe and Russia would begin to explore democratic reforms over the next decade. The force of that planetary alignment gave us, in the same year, a demonstration in Tiananmen Square in Beijing, where a large contingent of the Chinese population cried out for democracy, causing an immediate crack-down where the response by the Chinese government was to initiate martial law and even tighter controls on the freedom of the people of China. Let’s see what happens to both of these areas in the coming Saturn/Neptune opposition, like a very timely progress report on the situation, for the world at large. My guess is that China will re-examine the situation and its power in view of its rising economic influence. And that a reunified Germany will give it a potency it has not enjoyed for some time.

Here as we are now arriving at the halfway point in the cycle, something that began then is now approaching crisis and reorientation, or the “full moon” period of Saturn and Neptune. The opposition implies two possibilities, continuation and flowering of what was begun at the conjunction, or a stand-off that makes staying on the course seem impossible. Rudhyar gives a very fine analysis of this phase in The Lunation Cycle.** This phase gives the united we stand or divided we fall implication as well as the glaring finger-pointing and shouting matches that can take place when you are standing on one side of the issue and I am standing on the other. At the opposition we must encounter the zero-point where both come together, totally in separateness joining the other’s separateness and thus becoming one. The outcry of the oppressed and disenfranchised members of our human family can inspire the law-makers and leaders of the world to show inspired leadership, but as the saying goes, “many are called, few answer.”

Oil, of course is one of the biggest issues of the time. Remember, Neptune’s ancestral predecessor – Poseidon -- was the god of the waters and as such, controlled the wealth beneath the sea. Poseidon controlled ships, shipbuilders and shipping lanes of commerce. What is the wealth beneath the sea that controls the world economy by the few that possess it? The more obvious one is oil, but of course there is much more treasure than even that, which lurks beneath the sea. What would Saturn like to do with all of that? If one were to offer a psychological assessment of Saturn, one could easily say that this is a planet who more difficult to integrate within the human psyche, resulting in people reflecting a difficult Saturn by acting from a place of deep insecurity, lack or impotence. The “I don’t have as much as the other guy” syndrome. When Saturn is threatened, it will act one of two ways — total withdrawal of power or over-powering attempts to control the substance or issue at hand. There we stand right now, at the threshold of this current planetary pattern.

As we begin the current Saturn/Neptune opposition, Israel and Lebanon are at war. Now, obviously the history of these two peoples stretches far beyond the containment of just a Saturn/Neptune cycle, and in fact, Israel’s recent (past 60 year) war cycle does not coincide with the Saturn/Neptune cycle. But curiously, this particular aspect is showing up in the place exactly where what started as a border skirmish, has the power to escalate into something much greater, involving many other countries. Looking at the Astro*Carto*Graphy© map of the event in the geodetic zodiac***, we observe the following. It’s much more complex than this, but briefly one could say from looking at these maps that the wealth inside of Iraq is greatly benefiting those who own it and the stakes are very high, and the religious war that so many extremists have been dying for is happening on the radical fronts that reside in proximity to the borders of Israel, Lebanon and Syria.

An enlarged area of the Middle East where Saturn/Neptune begin their opposition

PART THREE of the article

* Table from Solar Fire Astrological Software published by AstroLabe, Brewster, MA
** Rudhyar, Dane: The Lunation Cycle (1967) Aurora Press, Santa Fe, New Mexico
*** The Geodetic Zodiac is an Earth-Based system whereby the 360 degrees of celestial longitude (the signs of the zodiac) are superimposed upon the 360 degrees of terrestrial longitude (the earth’s surface) to view current planetary pictures as they affect the Earth. I have written many articles and lectured extensively on this zodiac.