Health in the New Millennium -
Astrology and the Horoscope for the New Millennium.

Maggie Kerr (AAT.Dip.Couns.)

Well it’s been an interesting couple of years since 2000 clicked over hasn’t it? Are you feeling a tad exhausted by the energies of these past few years? How’s your health? Feeling somewhat tested in so many ways?

Well here’s a few ideas I’d like to share with you as to why this may be the case… and central within them is a core concept which is of a very Spiritual nature. Humanity is currently in the midst of an accelerative process which is heralding a major evolutionary ‘spurt’, and the purpose of this is for each of us to connect with the “Divine” at work in the world… and in our own nature.

Astrology is a marvelous and bountiful tool, as it can be used in oh so many ways to diagnose and make sense of the Cosmos and our place within it. All things are, after all, “written in the Stars”, and it has been my pleasure during the past 20 years to seek understanding of these matters. I make no definitive claims here, as each person’s truth is indeed subjective. However, what has resonated loud and clear throughout my studies, is the thread which is central within all great cosmologies. We are Spiritualised beings, and we are subject to the Laws of Metaphysics.

The 7 Laws of Metaphysics.

The “Hermetic Principles” are what we may loosely describe as the seven primary “Universal Laws” of Metaphysics.

1. THE PRINCIPLE OF MENTALISM. “The All is mind - the Universe is mental’ (or our thoughts create our realities).
2. THE PRINCIPLE OF CORRESPONDENCE. “As Above, so below - so below, as above’ - (or what happens at the collective level is part of and interconnected with the individual level).
3. THE PRINCIPLE OF VIBRATION. “Nothing rests, everything moves and vibrates” -
4. THE PRINCIPLE OF POLARITY. “Everything is dual; everything has poles; everything has pairs of opposites; like and unlike are the same; opposites are identical in nature, but different in degree; extremes meet; all truths are but half truths; all paradoxes may be reconciled.
5. THE PRINCIPLE OF RHYTHM. Everything flows out and in, everything has tides; all things fall; the pendulum swing manifests in everything; the measure of the swing to the right, is the measure of the swing to the left; rhythm compensates”.
6. THE PRINCIPLE OF CAUSE AND EFFECT. “Every cause has its effect; every effect has its’ cause; everything happens according to Law; ‘chance’ is another name for Law not recognised; there are many planes of causation, but nothing escapes the Law”.
7. THE PRINCILE OF GENDER. “Gender is everything; everything has its Masculine and Feminine principles; gender manifests on all planes”.

Thus we are subject to the law of “cause and effect” or Kharma, we are part of The Great Universal Oneness, and our individual energies have everything to do with Global Energies - or Gaia. Now in case it has slipped your notice, Gaia is in the midst of a healing Crisis. The planet Chiron was first sighted in 1977. This coincided with the beginning awareness and revelation within the Scientific community, of holes in ozone layers, the real impact of deforestation and fossil fuels, and the next phase in both space exploration and health technology.

So if Gaia is in a healing crisis, what does that tell us about ourselves?

Astrology - The Great Ages and Evolution
There’s an interesting phenomenon in the timings of the discoveries of the “modern planets” as they are described - Uranus who is known for his revolutionary and scientific rulerships, was discovered in 1781 the decade of the American Civil War and the French Revolution - he is the ruler of Aquarius and therefore the “New Age”. Neptune who is known for his Spiritual and psychological rulerships was discovered in 1846, coinciding with romanticism, the trade in narcotics and the beginning of the spread of global spiritual movements. And lastly Pluto ruling transformation, death and re-birth was sighted in 1931 coinciding with the “cracking of the atom” and the rise of global power structures.

This “Triunity” as they are known, are the frequencies or energies which are responsible for the journey through the doorway of these few hundred years, or cuspal period between the 2,150 year Great Ages of Pisces and Aquarius. A great process is unfolding… and we are all subject to it, and part of it! The rise of western culture during the past 4,000 years (or Age of Aries and Pisces) has been a rapid and dynamic story, and during this evolutionary drive toward increased creativity, we have experienced the result of exploitation without awareness of the impact of unchecked greed - i.e. we have been “unconscious”..

And now Gaia is hurting very much - and so are we. When we realise that we are all Souls incarnating with intent and purpose, it is both very sobering, and also exciting to realise that we have chosen to be here on Earth right now at this crisis point in our evolutionary journey. The next stage of this journey which is revealed to us through the understanding of the Aquarian essence, is that it is now time to recognise our individual place within the “great Collective” or “group mind”, so during these next few decades enormous changes are set to sweep through our world…and our minds…if we are to save and heal our planet. Yes… it is time to become “conscious”.

The health impact of the 1960s and beyond…
Enter the New Age Movement or whatever you want to call it…the title is irrelevant… the reality is that we are all impelled to change our thoughts and our actions so that we can adapt to a radically changing world - and thrive within it. This movement began during the revolutionary 1960s, when two of the modern planets met in conjunction in the mid 1960s. Uranus (Mr Revolution) and Pluto (Mr Transformation) met in the sign of Virgo, which is said to be the sign which rules work, health and service.

Paradoxically in terms of health, two things happened which counteracted each other, and opened the door for our collective healing crisis. The World Health Organisation embarked on a 10 year program to eradicate cholera, smallpox and typhoid, and they pretty much succeeded. The resulting problem was, however, the global population began to increase exponentially! Around the same time vaccination for many childhood diseases and illnesses became the norm - and our Immune Systems began to weaken.

The other result of this time was the development of the next phase in the psychotherapeutic movement - a whole new batch of therapists emerged who began to deepen our understanding of the human psyche, and to admit and integrate the Spiritual dimension of our drives, and to define this as separate from ‘religion’ as such. Since then “therapy” has become part of the healing movement in terms of seeking interface between our physical health and our emotional, psychological and spiritual health, in much the same way as the sacred temples and priestesses did this for us in ancient times. The legacy of this voyage is that many of us have begun to seek this wholeness, as we try to make sense of our own urge to crisis and transformation.

Four Levels of Health
Now that I see this relationship so clearly, it has begun to offer me in some sense an understanding of the whole Immune System issue which so many people are currently experiencing. In the past few years many people I meet in the course of my classes, clients, friends and my own family are presenting with Immune System problems, and I have been intrigued to try and make some sense of why. As usual I return to core ideas within Astrology and the wholeness process to develop an answer.

In the Esoteric Astrological model each planet carries a ‘Ray frequency’, or energetic impulse, which directly affects an organ or body part within the whole person. After all this stands to reason. If the Moon affects feminine cycles and emotional processes in general, then how could it not be that all the other planets have impact also. Each planet affects or rules us physically (hormonally and cellularly), psychologically and emotionally. In turn each of these four levels synthesise with each other, so it is obvious that each of us experience physical health as a direct result of our psycho-emotional health! In other words our thoughts (both conscious and unconscious) create our wholeness on every level! This is the first Law of Metaphysics!

Now Neptune rules the Immune System within the physical organic. The Immune System is responsible for protecting our body from bacterial and viral infection. Neptune also rules Spirituality and sensitivity within our emotional body, which is why Neptune rules the final zodiac sign Pisces - the sign of the artist, romantic and mystic. So if something is wrong with the immune system then something must be wrong with the Spiritual system…once again this stands to reason (if you accept my offerings so far!).

I feel this essential link is integral to the core issues which are presenting themselves within both the collective, and individual, during these years. Our current accelerative rate of growth and change is very taxing on all of our bodies - stress and anxiety are so prevalent in people’s daily lives, and we have little on offer from our orthodox western religions in the way of Spiritually nourishing or sustaining philosophies to counteract or balance our stressed out times. Very interesting! Indeed my call is that generally our culture is very low in meaningful essence at all!! There are so many disaffected and emotionally damaged people, as a result of our western drive for success measured through money and possessions.

This is at the heart of the matter. The Sun is responsible for energy and life force and astrologically rules the heart - the heart is the 4th or middle Chakra, and if it is closed or damaged emotionally, then the capacity for love and true connection with meaningful energy usage is also damaged. This is reflected in the huge rate of heart disease in recent decades in the west. So culturally we are out of heart… out of love… out of meaning. Ultimately we are out of Spirit - the essence which infuses the heart.

So now we have the link between Neptune and his immune system rulership and the Sun and his rulership of the Leonine heart! The spiritual teachings which I enjoy, tell me that we are at our best and most balanced as whole people when we are operating our energies from a state of inspiration. To be inspired - “inspire”… to take in life. So where do we get inspiration? From our relationship with our Spiritual life. Every human being is ultimately a creative individual, who has the capacity to connect with the Spiritualising inspirational source from which we all come. So why do so few of us really know how to do this? And why is it so very important that we begin to learn how to do this at this time?

The Horoscope For The New Millennium
A horoscope can be cast for anything! At any moment in time we may record the planetary positions as viewed from earth and receive insight as to the inherent “potential” of the person or event which was “born” at that moment. So the January 1st 2001 chart is cast for midnight and I always use Greenwich which is 0 degrees or the Prime Meridian. What makes this chart especially important is that it is not just the chart for the next 100 years, but indeed is also the chart for the next 1,000 years - the period of the Millenium to come.

I remember clearly my first sighting of this chart 18 years ago and my eyes fell not to the Sun, (as all January 1st charts always have the Sun in Capricorn in the 4th house), but I immediately noticed the Moon which falls in Pisces and in the 6th house. I couldn’t help but spontaneously (or was it intuitively) say out loud - “this is a plague chart”, and quickly admonished myself for being somewhat dramatic. But many times in discussion in groups and classes since, I have found myself coming back to the same words and realising they are very close to probability.

The Moon in a Mundane or Collective horoscope represents the emotional health of the people - also their capacity for nourishment (food etc) and nurture. Spiritually The Moon is also the group Soul, and the themes of the passage of this group Soul during the period involved (in this case 1,000 years). So Moon in Pisces is ruled by Neptune as we have seen, and tells us about the whole psycho-spiritual theme I have already outlined. And she is also in the 6th house which is the house of health, work and service. Sum total here is - the emotional health of the group or collective human species is totally linked with the Spiritual health of said human species. So the immune system is up!

We saw the first powerful expression of this during the 1980s as the AIDS Virus made its appearance. This continues to be a major threat to global health for the moment, and although we hear very little in the way of current statistics (perhaps it has paled as a media draw card), Africa in general and South East Asia have alarming infection levels. But this is only one of many new and insidious viri which are arriving on the scene, and I must say I agree with those who think we have been overly immunised since the 1960s, and this has weakened our ability to protect our bodies. I am reminded of the myth in which the dragon is beheaded and sprouts 7 more heads…and so on.

The next feature worthy of a mention in this chart is the relationship from the Moon in Pisces, to both Pluto and Chiron in Sagittarius in the 3rd house. They form a square or hard challenging aspect, which denotes stress within the challenge to integrate their potential energies. Pluto rules death, regeneration and renewal - Chiron rules the crisis which results from a “wounding” and leads to a healing process. Put these two sets of words together and I think you’ll get the idea!

The sign of Sagittarius is the 9th stage of the Zodiacal process. This tells us that after the proceeding 8 stages we are ready to journey through the quest for meaning and purpose.

• We have begun with the first Arian stage where we take our raw and undifferentiated courage and begin our life in the world.
• Next we must find our true inner worth and security in Taurus.
• The third sign of Gemini offers us the opening of the reasoning intellect so we can collect data and exchange ideas and information.
• Then we must become emotionally safe and allow ourselves to nurture and be nurtured in the 4th sign of Cancer.
• Once this is well then we can explore our creative and dynamic energy in Leo.
• The sixth sign is Virgo, where we must learn the lessons of discipline and service for our Leonine ego.
• Next comes Libra, where we learn that we are nothing without others, and that they are our mirrors in relationship.
• Scorpio is the eighth stage where we must descend into the unconscious and burn away the lower ego nature if we are to find true inner empowerment.
• The ninth fold Sagittarian process contains the freedom to learn and form a meaningful belief system, once we come to terms with the true nature of Scorpionic power.
• The 10th stage is Capricorn which sits at the top of the Cross of Initiation whereby we begin to take responsibility for doing our Dharma or work once we have found our meaning.
• Aquarius is the 11th sign and stage, where we make the connection back to humanity out of the personal and offers us the chance to bring reform and change.
• Pisces is the final stage where we dissolve our lower ego as we become Spiritualised, and resonate from a place of compassion and inspiration for others.

I think you will agree that the very thing that many folks simply do not have these days is this Sagittarian meaning and purpose. So perhaps Chiron conjunct with Pluto in Sagittarius in this chart is the opportunity to gain this meaningful belief system as the result of physical, psychological and emotional health crises! I must say there are countless examples of people whose lives change for the better once they get very sick. Indeed this is what it takes for most people to re-evaluate their lives and re-decision their priorities!

Ultimately these planetary energies speak of the need for people to really begin to learn about the mind/body relationship - indeed the true nature of metaphysics as an underlying philosophy in our culture. Pluto gives us contact with the deeper subtle drives within the unconscious ‘programming’ within our psyches, and in Sag. connects us with the power of the Ancient Mystery Teachings - Chiron in Sag. offers us the chance to heal the collective psyche by working within this philosophy of “wholeness and oneness”. The third house deals with the networking or spreading of the “word”.

Again there are countless examples of people who grow and thrive on all levels once they start working within humanity - be it either environmentally if they are Earthy types - health and healing if they are Water types - motivation and leadership if they are Fire types - and invention and technology if they are Air types. Simple really isn’t it? By committing our energies to the improvement of the world we automatically up the ante on our Soul growth - our Soul starts to buzz and express its’ true purpose - and our Spiritual energies are enlivened; we begin to feel more whole and balanced within our emotional bodies!

To work toward healing and re- balancing the feminine nurturing Soul essence within our society, we must work with the Moon in Pisces which is ruled by Neptune. In our modern world we have come to undervalue Neptunians, as they are the “dreamers” and the mystics…the artists and muses…the compassionate healers... the B type personalities. We value “stalkers” or A type personalities…cut and thrust ambitious consumption is our ‘motif’ or value system, and yet this is the very problem!

So my friends to honour and balance ourselves from here we need to begin to get our Neptune healthy! Let’s do a dysfunctional/functional list and get clear:

These are the basic themes of Neptune. I see many clients and students in the course of a year, and the most common theme in recent times is around the individuation process. To become “the self who I really am” or “fully autonomous individual” requires that we use our own Sun (in which ever sign it is in) as functionally as possible. To do this we have to come out of old style co-dependant needy relationships, where we are symbiotic with others. This is also another theme of Neptune, which plays out victim/rescue games to get our needs met!

Enter the “new or modern woman”, who is aggressively independent in her quest for selfness - often to the detriment of her ability to love and be nurtured. Conversely or at the other pole, we have the needy dependent woman we meet so often constrained within marriage, where ‘he pays the bills’ and she takes care of his feelings for him! That is indeed the exchange or contract within old style co-dependant marriage. The price she pays for his being her Sun for her through his “action in the world”, is her loss of autonomy.

So relationship issues are also very powerful these days aren’t they? In their quest for greater autonomy and individuality women are asking men to feel their own feelings… and Men are expecting women to stop being helpless and overly needy! To heal and restore our planetary psyche, we must open the “feminine” for restoration and re-balancing onto the planet…and thus into our own natures. The drive of the feminist movement, (also a result of the revolutionary 1960s along with civil rights activism) over these past 30 years, was to gain the right for women to be in the world on an equal footing with men. However, women are often aggressive in this process and carry huge amounts of “feminine unconscious rage”. Many women have yet to learn or realise, that we must also heal back into our softer more nourishing essence, and that being angry with Patriarchy isn’t going to heal anything. So it’s not just about the boys needing to soften my dear ladies…it is also about us!

Ultimately our true Plutonian power lives in our Neptunian compassion - our ability to be kind and tolerant of ourselves and others, and willing to go through the healing journey in our own lives so that we may become these things. As each of us heal, the Planet heals, and at this point in our journey I make this a top priority! May you all heal and grow in these changing times.

The Kybalion Hermetic Philosophy by Three Initiates Yogi Publication Society

Maggie Kerr is an accredited teacher, and counsellor in Astrology and psychotherapy and has worked for 20 years in the field. She has written the series Universal Astrology, which incorporates 5 Workbooks and is available as a correspondence course. To find out more, click here

Copyright © Maggie Kerr