Part I can be found here.

One underlying thread of influence throughout this period is the continuing opposition of Chiron (exposing the wounds in the culture) with Uranus (individuation and radical new ideas). This is too complex to cover in this context but I’ll drop these tantalizing tidbits: Chiron and Uranus were in opposition fairly consistently during the period between 1952 and 1989 with over 40 exact oppositions. The pressure on the culture worldwide to permit individual rights (Uranus) and the painful results of not doing so (Chiron) is one of the overall most important factors in the rise of the empowerment of the Self that we have seen over the past 60 years.

After the cultural upheavals of the 1960s, the final event in the opposition of Jupiter to Saturn took place in November of 1970 coinciding with the passage of Neptune (spirituality) from Scorpio (sexuality, the occult and death), where it had been since the 1950s. During Neptune’s passage through Scorpio, psychedelic drugs became associated with spiritual experiences, and the occult became popular. In 1966, during Neptune’s passage through Scorpio, Time Magazine asked the question on everyone’s mind, “Is God Dead?” about a spiritual movement that arose during the 1960s which argued that the sacred had disappeared from modern culture. The Supreme Court decision banning prayer from public schools was often cited as a cause of this problem, as well as easy access to contraceptives that led to a more lenient attitude about sexuality (Scorpio) and premarital sex became more common.

The ingress in 1970 of Neptune into Sagittarius, the sign of religion and shared ideals, brought a new concept of spirituality (Neptune) into religion (Sagittarius). This was the cusp of the New Age movement in which one experienced God, rather than just believe in God. The dissolution (Neptune) of the role of traditional religion (Sagittarius) must have been very frightened to the more conservative Christians who felt their way of life slipping away, particularly after the increasing demands of power from women and black Americans.

Pluto’s entry into Libra in 1971 marked the explosion of the feminist movement and a decade of that was later termed by Tom Wolfe as the “Me Decade” for its focus on individual rights (Pluto in Libra created a breakdown (Pluto) in established relationship patterns (Libra)). Gender roles for women (Venus/Libra) were transformed, with more women entering the workforce than ever before. The entire system of marriage irrevocably changed during the Pluto/Libra period as families dealt with issues such as day care that had not previously been an issue when women stayed home.

The first sign of the conservative backlash may have been the fight by Phyllis Schafly against women’s rights. While her fight began in the late 1960s, it wasn’t until 1972 when she campaigned against the proposed Equal Rights Amendment that her battle against feminism went public, galvanizing conservatives across the country.

The Supreme Court decision in Roe v. Wade in 1973 that granted women the right to an abortion was perhaps the single most important event in the rise of the Christian conservative movement. The case of Roe v. Wade was first argued in late December of 1971, but reargued in October of 1972 in time for Jupiter to square Pluto, overturning (Pluto) the laws against abortion in Texas and liberating (Jupiter) women to make their own decisions about their body.

After Roe v. Wade, and the decision to ban prayer in the public schools, the conservative Christian movement began to organize. Jesse Helms began a group called the Conservative Caucus as a political action and lobbying group to advance conservative causes, and various conservative Christian groups began to form. After Nixon was forced to resign in 1974 during a square of Pluto to Saturn which created upheaval (Pluto) in the government during the Watergate crisis, the Vietnam War finally ended in April of 1975. Jupiter was conjunct Chiron and squared Saturn, combination which continued into 1976 along with a square of Saturn to Uranus. At times the four planets interacted in a powerful Grand Cross, exposing (Chiron) the Watergate scandal (Jupiter/Saturn), breaking up (Uranus) established patterns (Saturn). This era saw the downfall of Richard Nixon, two assassination attempts on Gerald Ford, the first public right-to-die debate over the fate of Karen Ann Quinlan.

In other parts of the world, Palestinian terrorism increased following Israel’s victory in the Six Day War in 1967 and the Yom Kippur war of 1973, and Islamic fundamentalism begins to grow in Arab states (particularly the Muslim Brotherhood, later run by Al Zahawiri who went on to lead Al Qaeda).

Tomorrow: The final chapter (I promise!)