Great Conjunction of 1921

Executive Summary:

The chart above is the Great Conjunction of September 10, 1921 for Ottawa. This chart lasted for about 20 years, until the next great conjunction in 1941. Thus, this chart covers the Roaring 20s and the Great Depression, as well as the start of World War II. This chart is divided into two based on a shift which occurred in 1930: Pluto’s discovery.

What’s fascinating about it is that this seems to mark a shift in the general conditions of the chart, with Pluto in the first being far more noticeable with the massive disruptions, changes, and suffering which occurred during the 1930s. This is not to say Pluto was absent prior to discovery, but his influence seemed to increase dramatically after.

The first house indicates the general condition of the country, and it is home to Pluto: as mentioned, this seems far more noticeable in the 1930s than the 1920s, but even then, there were massive upheavals and a great deal of focus on illegality during the 1920s: organized crime here got a massive boost from prohibition in the US, and the Communist Party of Canada was a major cultural and political force, despite being illegal.

The first house is ruled by the moon, and she is poorly placed in the sixth house, near the cusp of the 7th. Even more surprisingly, she is opposite the ascendant, which she herself rules! This indicates the tension, conflicts, and debates which dominated society in the 1920s and 1930s over the conditions of the working class (6th house) and the nature of the relationship between Canada and the UK (7th house).

The sun represents the government, and gets a boost from being conjunct the Great Conjunction, but it’s weakened by an opposition with Uranus in the 10th, the house of the government! This opposition helps explain the way that the government tried to resist changing policies which were clearly broken, and the odd way which governments in this period tended to spend a great deal of effort reversing actions taken by prior ones.

Uranus in the tenth, the house of government, indicates reforms and changes to how it operates, but the fact he is retrograde and opposite the sun indicates the challenges this faced. These changes occurred, but only after a great deal of effort, and a fair amount of the reforms would be undone after the next election.

The other interesting thing to look at is the presence of seven planets in the 3rd and 4th houses, more than twice as many as are in the other 10 houses. These thus were central focuses for Canada over the 20 years this chart lasted: the way we travelled and communicated in 1940 was very different from what it had been in 1920, and the period from 1920-1940 saw a massive amount of energy spent on federal-provincial relationships.

1st house

The first house indicates the general condition of the country. In this chart it is ruled by the moon, and home to Pluto, who upon its discovery in 1930 became the ruler of the sixth house. Pluto in astrology is a malefic influence, ruling over the underworlds: organized crime, conspiracies of all kinds, and all things which are socially frowned upon and occur in secret (such as drugs, pornography, theft, espionage, and until quite recently, homosexuality).

His influences in mundane astrology are an open question, but it appears, based on this chart, he indicated a focus on illegal political groups: the On-to-Ottawa-Trek occurred during this period, when a group of disposed and desperate unemployed workmen from BC decided to travel to Ottawa in order to negotiate with or attack (different sources say different things) the federal government; additionally, for most of this period the Communist Party of Canada was wildly popular, and completely illegal. The leaders were arrested, but rallies would routinely gather tens of thousands.

The change in 1930 when Pluto was discovered is also clear: The Great Depression hit, and the conditions of the working class (6th house) became vastly more important to the national discussion. The Great Depression also provided a massive boost to the Communist Party of Canada, as the political establishment seemed unable to do anything productive.

The moon is poorly placed in this chart, being opposite the ascendant, and square the great conjunction and Mercury. This seems to indicate tension and conflict dominating the period, and this is indeed the case. The moon is in the sixth house, applying to the cusp of the 7th, and much of the conflict in this period was focused on those two areas: conditions of the working class, and foreign affairs.

Even prior to the Great Depression, there were plenty of people who argued that the conditions of the working class in Canada were intolerable: debates over it occasionally made the national news, and some were noting massive income inequality.

Foreign affairs were dominated in the period by a shift in the relationship between the UK and Canada: starting from the Chanak Crisis in 1922 when the Canadian government publicly declared if Britain and Turkey went to war we would be neutral, through the Balfour Declaration in 1926 recognizing Canada as equal to the UK, and the statute of Westminster in 1931, the entire process was highly controversial and many opposed it, while others argued it wasn’t going fast enough.

2nd house

The second house, surprisingly enough, is empty. However, it is ruled by the moon, in opposition to Jupiter (growth) and Saturn (constriction); thus, both growth and loss dominated the financial markets during this period, and both tended to be damaging. The bubbles which kept money out of productive investments did a great deal of harm to the economy during the 1920s, while the stock market crash in 1929 caused enormous suffering during the 1930s. Through the 1930s, furthermore, there was a massive debate over what process to use to amend our constitution, with plenty opposed to the idea of bringing it home and wanting to leave it with the British parliament, while others proposed all sorts of methods.

3rd house

The third house is the house of travel and communications. It is a busy house, ruled by the sun and home to Venus, Neptune, and Mars. There was a great deal of discontent (Mars) in the fields, and two massive changes which transformed society in this period: the first is radio (as a mass communication, Neptune), while the second is the automobile. Given the fantastic amount of power involved with cars, it seems reasonable to assign it to Mars in Leo. Venus in the third could be linked to the use of radio for music, but I confess I’m unsure of what it indicates at this time.

4th house

The fourth house is a complex house, but in general it rules the land, and in this chart is a very busy one. It’s home to the sun, the great conjunction, and Mercury, which also rules the house. The government spent much of its time focused on the provinces, and provincial-federal disputes and arguments dominated the headlines. This seems to suggest provinces may be part of the indications of the fourth house. The great conjunction happening here seems to indicate the same: massive changes occurred in the relationship between the provinces and the federal government.

Mercury in this house indicates a degree of intellectual focus here: there were heated intellectual debates over the relationship between the provinces and federal government over this period, debates which died down somewhat after World War II started.

Mercury forms only three major aspects: he is conjunct Jupiter and Saturn, and square Pluto. This square shows up clearly once Pluto was discovered: one of the major problems which exacerbated the Great Depression was the drop in natural resource prices, and caused a great deal of suffering for the working class.

5th house

The fifth house rules entertainment, theatres, music halls, etc. It is ruled by Venus, which is in a relatively neutral condition in this chart. This seems to suggest a fairly uneventful period for these, which was true.

6th house

The sixth house is the house of the working classes, and it is ruled by Mars until Pluto’s discovery, and then by Pluto. Mars is conjunct Neptune, which means that ideals and dreams will dominate; the dreams of the roaring 20s, and the overly idealistic dreams of a rising tide lifting all boats (they didn’t use quite that terminology but it was the same idea) prevented people from seeing how bad things were getting and could get.

Once the shift to Pluto as ruler occurred, this blind optimism, the delusion that things were good for the working class, went away. That this occurred at the same time that things got very, very ugly is probably not a coincidence, but I see nothing in this chart indicating that needed to have been the case.

The moon in the sixth indicates that the focus of the people would be here; the fact it’s in opposition to the ascendant and quite poorly placed further indicates it would be do to things going poorly for the working classes, as indeed was the case.

7th house

The seventh house is the house of foreign affairs, and is ruled by Saturn, but the moon is conjunct the cusp, and so manifests in this house as well. Saturn is conjunct with the sun, and so this is an area of major focus for the government: the presence of the moon near the cusp of the house indicates the people will be focused on it as well. This seems to indicate the intense focus and division which the process of gaining our autonomy and independence from the UK caused; and the fierce debates which occurred in the 1930s over how to complete the process.

8th house

The 8th house is the house of death, and in this chart it is empty, but ruled by Saturn. Saturn is not well placed, but not especially poorly placed either, so things were reasonably quiet on this front. There were no mass deaths, despite horrendous economic circumstances.

9th house

The ninth house rules philosophy, law, justice, morality, among many others. In this chart it’s ruled by Uranus, the planet of radical change, and the understandings of all those things changed quite a bit over the course of the 20 years this chart lasted. Given Uranus is afflicted, not all of these changes were for the better; given the trine with Pluto, it seems likely much of the change related to incorporating the influences of that newly discovered planet. This may thus provide evidence for Pluto’s nature in mundane astrology.

10th house

The tenth house is the house of the government, and here the poor government for the duration of the 1920s and 1930s can be seen clear as day: the house is home to an afflicted Uranus. Uranus is opposite the sun, and this tends to indicate government dysfunction: his presence in the 10th reinforces that read. Uranus is retrograde, which weakens him, and the opposition between a retrograde Uranus and the sun would seem to indicate the reactionary governments which held power during the 1920s and 1930s, and how much effort each successive government spent on undoing accomplishments achieved by a prior one.

11th house

The 11th house is the house of parliament, particularly the House of Commons. It is ruled by Mars, and so the general sense of this chart is that the House of Commons were unusually active, and there was a great deal of activity there. The conjunction with Neptune indicates much of it was based on idealism, which seems to fit well enough, especially after 1930.

12th house

The 12th house is the house of major institutions, organized crimes, and mass movements. In this chart it is empty, which seems to fit the comparatively quiet period. It’s worth noting however that organized crime got a massive boost from Pluto’s discovery, and so a “relatively quiet” period for organized crime was still busier than the norm from prior centuries! The house is also ruled by Venus, which is neutrally placed, and so this chart really does indicate “Nothing here!”