US astrology chart

The real astrology chart for the US – 2017 edition

Sibly astrology chart

This post is updated from previous articles. 

Any person, place or event with a date of origination has an astrological chart. Humans have birthdates, companies have incorporation dates, and countries have their own dates of origination (we call this “mundane” astrology). Mundane charts are not always easy to define since we must accurately pinpoint the exact time at which the current incarnation of the place began.

The chart for the United States that is most typically used is called the Sibly chart which uses a date of July 4, 1776 when the Declaration of Independence was signed, and has Sagittarius on the ascendant (Sagittarius “rising”).

A Scorpio chart used by many astrologers uses a date of November 15, 1777 when the Articles of Confederation and Perpetual Union were signed.   Other charts use the date that the Constitution was signed. There are also Gemini rising charts (including this one which uses a rectified time that is unsubstantiated in fact), a Virgo rising chart that uses a time when the signers convened to discuss the details of the terms,  and a rarely used chart for July 2nd when a resolution to declare independence was adopted.  This was famously the day that John Adams declared to be the birth of the nation, “to be solemnized with Pomp and Parade, with Shews, Games, Sports, Guns, Bells, Bonfires, and Illuminations from one End of this Continent to the other from this Time forward forever more.”  

There are also a few adherents to a Scorpio ascendant that some say is based on the fact that the clocktower on the back of a $100 bill was set to 2:22 pm.  But if you look carefully at the image you’ll see that it could also […]

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The Solstice Chart and its Meaning for the US

Robert P. Blaschke has written an elegant piece for The Mountain Astrologer website on the chart for the Capricorn Ingress.  The Capricorn Ingress is the Wnter Solstice in the tropical zodiac that occurs when the Sun enters Capricorn and begins a new year.  Robert writes,

Upon viewing the overwhelming preponderance of planets in the first quadrant, one immediately perceives that 2009 will become a year of survival for the United States. As the only Winter Ingress horoscope in American history to have an exact Sun-Pluto conjunction on the Cardinal Point, the depth and extent to which the United States will have to change during the next year is at the present time unfathomable to all but the astrologers who have the techniques and methods to make such a forecast.

This tremendous change to be seen in the US is also reflected, as I’ve written before, in the transiting square of Pluto to the Midheaven in the chart for the United States.  Pluto represents the power for change and transformation, and the Midheaven in a national chart represents the government and leadership of that nation.  Pluto often begins with a breakdown phase, and we are certainly seeing that phase now.  But if we navigate the breakdown phase successfully, there is a regeneration phase on the other side that brings transformation and regeneration that in the end will make it all worthwhile.  When a system is broken, there is sometimes no way to fix it but to begin anew!

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By |2020-11-03T13:28:11-05:00December 29th, 2008|Astrology|Comments Off on The Solstice Chart and its Meaning for the US

Happy July Fourth! And a look ahead

There is a lot of disagreement among astrologers around the exact time that the United States was born. The actual declaration of independence occurred with a unanimous vote on July 2, but the actual document was not signed until July 4. You can read more about this and why I prefer the Sibley July 4 chart here, and you’ll also find my predictions for the past twelve months.

But now, let’s take a look at the US solar return chart and see what could be ahead in the coming year:

The Solar Return chart is cast for the moment that the transiting Sun returns to its place in the birthchart. The return chart gives us a hint as to the energies of the upcoming year, although no prediction of the future is set in stone.

The chart for the 2008 US Solar Return shows Sagittarius rising, with Pluto rising in the first house of identity and personality. Sagittarius is rising in the version that I prefer of the US natal chart as well and signifies the expansive colonialism of the US and the desire to spread its philosophy around the world. Pluto is retrograde, signifying the waning of power, although in the first house it is still attempting to flex the muscles of that power and show the world that the power is still present.

Uranus, planet of innovation, change and rebellion and also retrograde, is in the third house of communication and it forms a square to the ascendant, or persona. To me this seuggests that the speech and efforts of the US to communicate its goals and ideals will be out of sync (Uranus) with the rest of the world (perception of persona) and although there is an effort to make changes […]

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By |2020-12-12T17:43:25-05:00July 4th, 2008|Politics|Comments Off on Happy July Fourth! And a look ahead

The US Progressed Sun: The Next 30 Years

This is part III of the series on the US Progressed Sun. Catch up with Part I here and Part II here.

The Sun of the US astrological chart (Geeky astrological note: I use the Sibley chart with Sagittarius on the ascendant) progressed into Pisces on the exact day of the 2004 Presidential election. We saw in Part I and Part II how the progressed US Sun has brought major shifts in the attitudes and circumstances of the United States culture, and I expect this cycle to be no different.

Pisces is the last sign of the zodiac: it is the sign where we long to transcend the boundaries of ordinary reality and attain an experience of the beyond. For the devout this takes the form of a longing for god; for the atheist the transcendent experience may come through music. Some, such as Richard Dawkins, spend their whole lives fighting against the transcendent impulse within them. The darker expression of the Pisces impulse brings us into a state of confusion and delusion when reality becomes blurred and undefined. It is easier to look back and assign astrological significance than to predict the future, but let’s see what we could see under the Pisces influence.

After the terrorist attacks of September 11, the US nation was united and strong in their resolve to battle the forces of darkness, but by the time the 2004 elections came about Americans were beginning to have doubts and that national resolve began to splinter. Just after the election Colin Powell resigned, the first chink in the Bush administration to fall. Pisces tends to obscure the truth, and suddenly the world appeared far […]

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By |2018-11-19T21:46:02-05:00September 5th, 2007|Favorite posts, Longreads|Comments Off on The US Progressed Sun: The Next 30 Years

The Progressed Sun in the US Chart

Part I: 1945-1975

The progressed chart shows the evolution of the individual – although the natal chart, or birthchart, remains the same the progressed chart describes life changes that occur as we age and grow. The progressed Sun changes signs every 30 years, and the US Progressed Sun had been in Aquarius since April of 1975 following a stint in Capricorn.

The passage of the US Capricorn progressed Sun, from November 1945 through April 1975, beginning with the end of World War II and initiating a nationwide building period thatexpanded middle-class affluence throughout the country (unless you were African-American, but that’s another story). The GI bill made housing affordable for more and more families, and communities of tract housing such as Levittown sprang up across the country, beginning the suburban sprawl that would ultimately increase our dependence on automobiles and foreign oil.

The Oxford History of the United States includes a volume called Grand Expectations which covers the Progressed Sun in Capricorn period between 1965 and 1974. From the description on Amazon:

Beginning in 1945, America rocketed through a quarter-century of extraordinary economic growth, experiencing an amazing boom that soared to unimaginable heights in the 1960s. At one point, in the late 1940s, American workers produced 57 percent of the planet’s steel, 62 percent of the oil, 80 percent of the automobiles. The U.S. then had three-fourths of the world’s gold supplies. English Prime Minister Edward Heath later said that the United States in the post-War era enjoyed “the greatest prosperity the world has ever known.” It was a boom that produced a national euphoria, a buoyant time of grand expectations and an unprecedented faith in our government, in our leaders, and in the American dream–an optimistic spirit which […]

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By |2007-09-03T11:32:00-04:00September 3rd, 2007|Favorite posts, Longreads, Politics|Comments Off on The Progressed Sun in the US Chart