Astrology of 2017 - a brief thread

TW/ mental health; trauma
• many people point out that 2017 was a challenging year for them in terms of mental health and relationships, so let’s look at the Aries ingress chart to have a better understanding of why this might be.

• What is Aries ingress chart and why am I using it?
“Ingress” means entering, so Aries ingress literally means transit Sun entering Aries at 0°00, around March 20-21, crossing the equator heading into the northern hemisphere. This is the (tropical) astrology new year.

* here for reference I put down Washington DC as the location but this won’t be what I’ll focus on since this won’t uniquely apply to the USA. Aka I will only comment interplanetary aspects and disregard the Ascendant and house placements for a general reading.

One thing I notice is that people *including myself* often use the word “traumatic” to describe 2017. That got me thinking. Then it all made sense. Let us begin.

• T-square between Uranus-Saturn-Pluto.
+ This happens when two planets opposing each other square a third planet (basically a triangle of hard aspects), which we call the apex, the point of tension. Here, it’s Pluto.

What does it mean?
+ Pluto is a generational planet; the collective shadow, taboo, the occult. Pluto is said to be the higher octave of Mars because it’s related to survival - what we repress, reject and quite literally kill in order to preserve ourselves as a society.

+ on a more individual level, Pluto is related to trauma, crisis and secrets. Unlike Mars, it manifest itself psychologically. What did you have to mentally suppress/reject in order to survive? These can be scars from childhood, adolescence that follow you into adulthood.

+ (it should be reminded that in a natal chart, the house placement and the aspects Pluto makes to your personal placements matter more than the sign it is in. Since it’s a generational planet, there’s a whole generation who has Pluto in the same zodiac sign as you.)

Since Pluto is all that’s swept under the rug, how and when does it resurface?
+ Here comes in the T-square; the aspect pattern that triggered all this; resurfacing all that Pluto had repressed. (Again, here Pluto is receiving a square aspect from both Jupiter and Uranus)

+ We say that the apex of a t-square is the planet that ‘suffers’ from the conflict between the other two opposing each other. Here Pluto ‘suffers’ from the conflict between Jupiter and Uranus. (I’ll elaborate)

Let’s have a better understanding of the other components, too (in this context)
+ Jupiter: expands, grandiosity, exaggeration, inflates, explodes- related to war (mythology- Zeus (Jupiter) is the father of Mars)
+ Uranus: sudden changes; unexpected, rebellion; justice; ruptures

+ Jupiter square Pluto: exaggerates the need for transformation; improvement; getting rid of what’s in the way of that
+ Uranus square Pluto: sudden outburst; what was repressed resurfacing unexpectedly. Uranus wants to break free from what holds it back; such as past pain

Overall, this shows the sudden eruption of what you might’ve repressed in the past for your survival, stored away to deal with later. This transit was that ‘later’ telling you that you no longer need to be in survival mode and that it’s time to deal with it in order to let go.

Jupiter wants to achieve great things, along with Uranus which longs for its independence - both planets are idealistic and future-focused. Traumatic past events that resurfaced along with new challenges you were faced with were needed for your growth, for you to move forward.

• Pluto square the Aries stellium
+ This simply reinforces the ideas stated above only, it also focuses on the need for transformation on a mundane level: your ego/identity, your thought patterns and social life; romantic partners and hobbies.

* as you can see, the Sun doesn’t directly make a square aspect to Pluto as it’s not in the orb (19° between them) but I decided to add it anyway because the Sun DOES make a conjunct to Venus which then makes a conjunction to Mercury, kind of like train wagons (= stellium)

+ square aspects between Cardinal signs are, as you can guess, have an initiating quality; facing challenges head on, the ‘push’ one needs, restless energy, the themes could be imbalance between family life and work...

Overall this could’ve been about your social life going through a transformation, crisis related to siblings or cousins; some of you might’ve graduated high school, big change in love life or friendships, beauty related transformations...

• Following that idea, let’s talk about the debilitated Venus and Mars and how that is related.
This simply reinforces weakness of social relations, the fear and inability to fight suggested by debilitated Mars - the challenges the t-square brought rendering us powerless

* please don’t take this personal and apply it to your natal chart, this isn’t a birth chart reading - this is mundane astrology; this interpretation is for the collective.

• Last but not least: Moon-Saturn conjunction square Chiron.
As we did before, let’s take it step by step.
+ Moon: mind; inner self, sense of safety and comfort; nature of one’s emotions.
+ Saturn: fears, delays, authority/father figure, restrictions, discipline&self-control

+ Chiron: the ‘Wounded Healer’; our pain, source of hurt. Things we can’t heal from but help others heal.
+ Saturn-Moon conj.: blocked feelings, excessive restrictions and responsibilities we impose on ourselves, emotional boundaries, walls; fear of emotional vulnerability.

+ Saturn-Moon sq. Chiron: hurt by our insecurities, hurt by reality; authority; parental figure, karmic pain, hurt by emotional baggage; past, pain caused by emotions vs logic...

To conclude, these are the main aspects that might’ve caused 2017 to be this significant and live changing for some. I didn’t talk about the zodiac signs for a reason, but if you have a question, feel free to ask below (and feel free to add to this thread!) Thanks for reading!