Art Horoscope:

OVERVIEW
Some wise soul said that “the foundation of all fearlessness is to know that nothing can happen to us, unless it somehow belongs to us.” Or, as Jung said, “Nothing comes into a man’s life, unless it is reflection of something within the self.”

We must view this sentiment as applying to us all collectively on a global macrocosmic level as well as on an individual level. This can help us all try and get our heads around the fine socio/economic/political/environmental mess we seem to find ourselves in. We clearly have somehow invited it, possibly at our collective unconscious request. It can simply be all about global hubris and nemesis. That is the only way we learn.

However, Neptune entering in Pisces for 13 years from the 3rd does bring a ray of hope for some redemption, as the energies engendered (caused or reflected?) by this position bring the promise of some rebalancing of energies.

As Louis Pasteur said, “The controls of life are structured as forms and nuclear arrangements in a relationship with the motions of the universe.”

The concept of “As above, so below,” is an axiomatic one in astrology.

In Chinese astrology, we have just entered the year of the Water Dragon. The last time this happened was 1952 (another U.S. election year, when Dwight D. Eisenhower was elected, ending 20 years of Democratic control). According to the Chinese this is a year of the unexpected (no surprise there) and good fortune for many (unusually/refreshingly upbeat, for our times) but with major issues and crisis over water predominating, with natural disasters likely to be high on the agenda. Water/the seas will be a big issue for us, and western and eastern astrology seem to concur on that.

Neptune leaves Uranus-ruled Aquarius on the 3rd where he has been for the last 14 years. From that sign he has overseen the idealisation/virulent/addictive/collective/uniting (Neptune) growth of the power of technology, notably of course the internet (Aquarius). The power this energy has correlated with has created an influence that has affected and changed our lives and habits inestimably. The populations of the globe have been able to access endless information and communities of communication via the social media, instantly, for good or ill. It has certainly fostered and highlighted the elusive power of the collective unconscious. It has allowed us to live, shop and communicate and cross boundaries (Neptune) in cyberspace (Aquarius) instantly. It has also more or less dissolved (Neptune) socialism (Aquarius) as a viable political force on the world stage as most countries have embraced various degrees of neo-liberalism (for good or ill). It has made possible amazing breakthroughs in science that would have defied the imagination only 20 years ago. The fantastic and unimaginable (Neptune) has been the stuff of scientific/cosmic inquiry and in quantum physics exploration (Aquarius). It has also created scientific (Uranus /Aquarius) exploitation of the seas (Neptune) as well as an increasing wake up call of the need to protect the oceans from pollution and the industrial hoovering of the seas. Innovative mechanisms (Uranus) for increasing exploration of deep water oil fields (Neptune) with attendant risks (Uranus) have been evident.

A sort of farewell artistic nod and wink to the arguably downside of Neptune (art) in Aquarius (clinical/scientific/over rationalised) seems to be embodied in the current onslaught of Damien Hirst (and his team’s) spots paintings which are on display in 11 Gagosian galleries around the world. The almost computerised regularity and rather antiseptic mass- produced sense of predictability of this artwork could be interpreted as almost a parody of itself and already seems somehow dated. Combined with Pluto in Capricorn from 2007, art also tended to become increasingly enmeshed in and dominated by a market driven (and rather soul-less) driven world.

However the move of Neptune into Pisces on the 3rd, as already outlined in last month’s column, puts Neptune in a new role. He will be a very strong natural force in his own right, as he inhabits his own natural home sign. A new breed of artists will emerge whose passions lie more intrinsically in the work, with financial gain more a fringe benefit, than the driver. Financial struggles make for greater collaboration in the arts.

The frenetic pace of our communication and information overload sodden lifestyles will be questioned and the sound of silence will start to be reclaimed, valued and promoted. Addiction to harmony, beauty and nature (as opposed to technology) will become more evident.

Neptune in Pisces is a numinous energy, totally connected to increased emotionality and spirituality, the power of the collective unconscious, spiritual longings and a heartfelt attunement to nature and a great desire to alleviate suffering. It awakens compassion and the desire to preserve the beautiful and unsullied on the planet. We can anticipate an upcoming increasingly impassioned uprising in collective movements to respect the planet and its creatures and peoples. Music and film and the arts in general will be a main purveyor of social conscience and will be informative. Dreams and idealisations will shift slowly away from the worship of and pursuit of riches/wealth and the acquisition of material status. What will be increasingly longed for will be shifted to the desire for a new more equitable and compassionate world order. This will increase as the upholders of the dying economic system flail about desperately and ruthlessly to maintain the status quo, by brute force if necessary (Pluto in Capricorn). Trying to fight the increasing power of the collective unconscious and peoples’ really impassioned ideals, will be a task that prevailing oppressive governments and markets will only achieve at the expense of igniting increasing collective serious hostility towards them.

The English (Capricorn) government is ruthless (Pluto) in the pursuit of thrift to solve our fiscal woes, but very selectively, as the now well publicised income inequality rapidly intensifies. Most economists, the IMF and indeed the U.S. government, warn against the disparaged Milton Friedman School of “cut hard, deep and fast” economics. (N.B.the economist Maynard Keynes’s statement about “the paradox of thrift” in which he shows that rapid massive cuts merely depress the economy even more in the short and in the long term.) Indeed, the unemployment figures in the U.S. have decreased, by not following this regime. The Cameron coalition government will soon be an example to the world of just what won’t work. Greater equality matters because not only is it morally sound, but also because it fosters economic productivity.

Despite all this, the British government’s economic policies are hell-bent on squeezing the poor, disadvantaged and middle classes till the pips squeak whilst continuing to pay mere populist, toothless lip service to possible ways of limiting the ongoing massive financial rewards of the big players in these sectors, who of course are often the main financiers of political parties.

Ignoring history is what politicians often do best.

The predominant mover and shaker in the global economy is now making money from money and not from productivity. This has led us into a dark place. The crucial role of the arts is to intelligently challenge the values of society, rather than be purely a puppet of it. It was always meant to be a force for enlightenment.

Pluto in Capricorn, however, is a will be a serious and desperate protector of the plutocratic world.

Definitions of success will shift and dissolve (Neptune) over the coming 13 years and people will start to defy classification and the recently prevailing value systems. Ego is undermined when Neptune is powerful and the current capitalist tendency for money alone; not people (or the planet) being the centre and priority of our society, will be undermined. The upholding and perpetuation of class systems will be challenged. Quite simply boundaries will be defied. Neptune and Pisces don’t do boundaries. Boundaries, obvious or subtle, that often conveniently uphold an out dated system will become less distinct. People are probably nicer than many governments think and that will proactively emerge.

Cross fertilisation of different aspects of the arts will also flourish as boundaries between mediums fuse. Anticipating this, between January 13th and 14th was a performance work that was collaboration between Israeli composer and choreographer Hofesh Shechter and British sculptor Anthony Gormley at the Barbican, in London. It was a combination of the power of music, including 100 children drumming, coexisting with a focus on Gormley’s almost wordless staged choreography of dancers and a Gormleyesque living sculptor. Behind this was a backdrop of powerful film sequences including the use of a night vision camera to reflect back the faces of individuals in the audience. In the program, the two collaborators describe themselves as “two lost particles in a universe of many particles.” The audience too were presumably meant to feel that they too are simply more of these particles and to make of what they see, what they will, in a random manner. The performance was called Survivor. Gormley said of the collaboration, “. . . the urgency of the work strikes me as being significant for us now; it comes from the divisions at the heart of the world and seems to speak of our predicament of being controlled but desiring extension. We are grappling with being survivors in a world awash with information and events about which we have no control and little direct contact.”

Neptune in Pisces will also create a collective sentiment that will simply confuse and baffle many politicians who will just not understand the power of the collective human spirit as it starts to reclaim a different value system. Alongside the ongoing maverick politicised influence of Uranus in Aries challenging the old school of Pluto in Capricorn, the new Neptune factor will create stirrings in all sectors of society and this will emanate increasingly from non political, peaceful and spiritual sources. The compassion for mother earth and concern for issues relating to her welfare will predominate out of dire necessity. N.B. the power of the seas (Neptune /Pisces) and focus/ crises round the oceans and water will be strongly in all our faces over the coming 13 years. Nostalgia (sentimentality) for the past, in art forms and social values, indulgent or not, will also become more powerful. N.B. The recent success of the silent film The Artist.

When we harm the planet we harm ourselves, and somehow most of us know this instinctively, as we are part of nature too. The addiction to growth and wealth has hopefully temporarily blinded so many of us to the price we pay, but there are some things that are too important to leave solely to an antiseptic “intelligence” focused on the desire for economic gain alone. The heart and soul will be awoken. We have lived through a few decades of an almost psychopathic disregard for the consequences of the pursuit of unsustainable growth, wealth and greed and now we are facing the consequences; a nemesis that only the intelligence and logic of the heart (Neptune and Pisces) can truly understand.

Separation from nature, resulting from the majority of the world’s population now living predominantly urban lives, has done much damage to our psyches and prevents our ability to make a connection between our activities and its effects on the natural word. Nature Deficit Disorder is a condition recently identified by psychologists, especially in poor urban kids. Neptune in Pisces will restore a need for reconnection with the natural world.

The huge popularity of David Hockney’s new exhibition “A Bigger Picture” at London’s Royal Academy, running till April 9th, indicates a need to celebrate the beauty of nature. It is a complete devotion by Hockney over the last eight years to the painting of the landscapes of his boyhood home in Yorkshire. The largest is a massive 15 metres across. The colours are vivid and in some of the works there is an impression of an overlay of the tricks of technology/Photoshop and the use of his IPad in his later canvases are strong and bring a rather cartoon or Disneyesque feel to the paintings. Maybe this reflects his stylised approach, but it also reflects a need for an overlay of human interference to mould what is natural, to our own taste and for our own purposes. There is a strong reminder of Van Gogh in this work. The exhibition is a celebration of the impact of the power of nature on the human spirit and imagination and reminds us of what we have both taken for granted and what we have underestimated in its value to our soul’s health. He is reported as saying that he tells his friends back in L.A. that in his Yorkshire landscape he is “on location.”  

It is an interesting fact that it is become an assumption in recent decades, that people are driven only to do a good job because they are paid a lot. This is an insult to human motivation and does not stand up to scrutiny. It reflects a blind belief in and a worship of money as being the only human value system that really carries weight. We forget that people do good jobs because of a work ethic and a love of the successful outcome of their projects for their own sake, or even because they just intrinsically love their job. Working for the greater good, to actually help others, as opposed to merely help ourselves, is something that has been downgraded in status and value. Also as journalist George Monbiot has pointed out, “High pay is both counterproductive and unnecessary.” He quotes Jeroen van Der Veer, former chief executive of Shell, as saying of his job, “If I had been paid 50% more, I would not have done it better, if I had been paid 50% less, then I would have not done it worse.” Monbiot also points out that the link between pay and results in the financial sector in the case of traders and fund managers, is not in fact related to skill, but it is rather random and is in fact mostly a “reward for blind luck.”

Neptune in Pisces will elevate other values other than mere fiscal ones and the financial masters of the universe may well find themselves increasingly out of tune.

A rather weakened Obama (who seems to us in England more of a left of centre Republican at times), is still presiding over increasing economic inequality, but is fortunate to be opposed by a party that is tearing itself apart, (without him lifting a finger) and whose ideological “Fox” driven agenda appear to have spurned candidates whose stance often seem to have no basis in sound intellect, morality, experience, history or even logic. The problem is that the power of idealism with Neptune in Pisces can be manifested in delusional religious fervour (as opposed to a spiritual sensitivity). The vexed question of Mormonism has also created huge divides for the Republicans. But the Mormon presidential candidate Mitt Romney has been very clever at wooing the religious community. Carlos Eire, professor at Yale University is reported as saying that “Obama has acquired a nearly apocalyptic dimension in Republican circles. He embodies the decline and possible fall of America. The animosity is deep enough to make any Mormon who is willing to joust with him not only acceptable, but perhaps something of a hero.”

In Ecuador there has been a triumph of a balanced and rounded emotional intelligence working in concert with rationality. The two should be and are, far from contradictory. A project engendered by the minister for the environment for Ecuador has been successfully achieved. Some months ago he pleaded to world governments and all willing donors to grant his country enough money to invest in the sustainable alleviation of poverty, so that he would not have to gain the much needed revenue by allowing Big Oil to drill in the Yasuni national park, an area of a pristine rainforest ecosystem. The good news is that many governments have complied, as did many evolved wealthy individuals, (including Al Gore). Enough has been given to allow the Ecuador government to say no to the oil exploitation. This change of priorities and value system as reflected in Neptune’s home coming will also be evident in the instincts of many in the years to come. Wise use of resources can serve the planet. Severe and violent social unrest will also continue to be part of the picture as a reaction to the refusal of the old guard to acknowledge the collective need for a paradigm shift and a new discourse.

The huge success of the play and movie Warhorse is testament to the positive power of the human heart and it can take such productions to make us stop and feel. It is interesting that the global Brooke charity, that supports suffering working horses, donkeys and mules, has apparently reported an increase in donations as a result of the play and film. More of the same artistic power will be engendered with Neptune in Pisces (film/photography).

Because Neptune in Pisces equates with an eroding of boundaries and encourages a diffuse, protean and spreading energy, a possible downside of this position is that it may correlate with a widespread spreading and mutation of viruses of all sorts ( technological or literal).

There will also be a rapid development of synthetic biology, as nano technology allows us break natural boundaries to engineer bacteria, cells and molecules, which can ultimately change the face of medical treatment and indeed the planet, with all the many ethical implications. The issue of drugs and alcohol (Neptune/Pisces) will also be an increasing focus in many contexts.

This is the month of the air sign of Aquarius, ruled by Uranus, the awakener and enlightener and something of a magician. The phrase associated with the sign is “I know” often with an intuitive knowledge. The archetype of the sign is naturally wise ( different from and not necessarily academic) fixed and cool and often very detached, able to see the big picture, their context in larger society, without the power of subjective ego getting in the way. For emotional water signs their detachment can be quite unnerving. It is an innovative, free thinking, scientific, futuristic sign, with great cool and logic. It is a charismatic sign and often has an electrical charge and clear quality to its persona and it often creates a willowy tall physicality (especially when ascending, as in Obama’s chart) It has a great sense of idealism for the planet and is concerned with the betterment of the collective human condition and the application of theory to achieve that end. Aquarians will often work tirelessly in humanitarian /altruistic roles. It is stubborn and hates to compromise its principles and can be very maverick and iconoclastic and often very individualistic to the point of what some would call eccentric, at the least they are original thinkers. It is a sign drawn to occult (hidden) wisdom, and has a belief in alternative theories and regimes, being aware and open to the fact that there are forces and patterns at work that we cannot fathom or measure, but as a sign it is less inclined to be involved with mystical or psychic dabbling. The sub ruler of Aquarius is Saturn, and as such they often very serious with a sense of propriety and discipline and with a surprisingly conservative streak, when it serves a required purpose. For them friends are often as if not more precious than family, and the only aristocracy for this sign is the aristocracy of the worker, and once aroused and inspired they are indeed tireless workers. They can be unpredictable (Uranus) and reserve the right to sudden change of plan or attitude and as such, along with their strong independence and need for freedom, they can be tricky in partnerships. Their sympathy is impersonal and their response is largely intellectual. Their cool Facade and hide a real inner anxiety. They need to keep their circulation healthy as it can be not too efficient and they can suffer from cold extremities. Aquarius rules the lower leg, especially the ankles which can be vulnerable.

The above as ever with sun sign descriptions, represents the pure archetype.

Mars now retrograde in Virgo (which rules Greece) will put much on hold as many changes are going on unconsciously, both globally and individually and behind the scenes. All will be confused and seemingly paralysed, but behind the seeming stasis, is a gradual shift that will set the tone of a shifting socio/political discourse from mid April when certain showdowns are manifesting. The fate of Greece will be critical and have large consequences, probably evident by late summer.

Scotland, (like the USA) is a Cancer country, the opposite sign to Capricorn (England). Last month it decided it wanted a referendum re the choice to be totally independent of England. The first minister of Scotland, Alex Salmond has declared that an independent Scotland would become a model for English voters for a more fair, just and tolerant society. Increasing isolation of England is it seems part of its current destiny or nemesis, while Pluto occupies Capricorn. The dreaded and unchallenged (why?) ratings agencies will probably be on England’s case soon, creating another self fulfilling prophecy

Saturn in Libra turns retrograde on the 7th. This indicates a period till June 25th where much globally and individually feels beyond our control. We will all, to some extent feel more like observers rather than controllers of events and indeed of testing times. China (Libra) will probably start to show cracks internally in its model of state capitalism, despite is growing economic hegemony on the world stage. The Chinese can make money, which is now a god to many of them, but they can’t dissent.

Powerful dates this month when the Sun combines with Neptune are around the 19th and 20th when we will see the real meaning of Neptune in Pisces underlined and when the arts will be a true conveyor of the mood for the next 13 years.

Mercury in Pisces from the 14th will certainly emphasise the power of music and film, and the voice of the people will be heard. The 14th too is a time when the writer can thrive and the photographer is blessed.

Days of significant protest on the world stage are around the 23rd when Mercury in Pisces is opposed by Mars retrograde in Virgo, and on the 10th when Venus combines with Uranus in Aries, the power of innovation and breakthrough politically and creatively should not be underestimated and note well that the power of the sea and water in general will not be far from our consciousness during this month in many contexts.

The full Moon is at the 19th degree of Leo on the 7th and the new Moon is at the 3rd degree of Pisces on the 21st. The period between the 19th and 21st will remind us of what we can expect to predominate as a collective force over the next decade or so.

N.B. If you know your ascendant (rising sign), you should read the general trends for that sign, in conjunction with your Sun sign, for a more accurate forecast. In astrology, the nature of the planet symbolises the type of energy that is happening, the sign it is in how it is happening and the house it is in where it is happening.

LEIGH OSWALD is a London-based astrologer and teacher. She welcomes your comments to her website at www.astroanalysis.co.uk.