Disaffected young people have been rioting in England since the shooting on August 4th of a young suspect (Mark Duggan, age 29 and in his Saturn Return) during an arrest for gun crime in Tottenham in North London.  The riots began as a peaceful protest in Tottenham and escalated to full spread rioting and vandalism, spreading to other areas of London as well as Liverpool, Manchester and other working class cities in England.

Mars entered Cancer on August 4th.  In the emotionally sensitive sign of Cancer, Mars can be very touchy and reactive and as soon as Mars entered Cancer it began to form challenging aspects to Uranus (radical and rebellious activity) and Pluto (death and transformation of the power centers).  As you know if you’ve been reading this blog, we are just entering a four-year period in which Uranus and Pluto will be challenging each other in the sky, during which rebellion (Uranus) against the power structures (Pluto) is somewhat inevitable.

This is the opening square of a cycle of these two planets that began in the 1960s when Uranus and Pluto conjoined in Virgo.  At the time there was a tremendous rebellion against the conservative values (Virgo) of the 1950s and a great deal of pressure to create a new culture of freedom (Uranus).  In order to create something completely new, often something old must be destroyed.

The square (90 degree) aspect creates a crisis that must be resolved, so with Uranus in Aries in a square to Pluto in Capricorn any areas of the world in which liberty (Uranus) for the individual (Aries) is being subjugated by the power elite (Pluto) and the structures that embody that power (Capricorn), the planetary atmosphere is such that conflict is sure to occur.

Mars moves quickly and its cycles last only a few days, but it often serves to ignite the larger cycles.  In July the approaching square of Uranus and Pluto came within a degree, as tight an aspect as it will be until next year, but it wasn’t until Mars got involved that the firestorm of rage in England was ignited.  The young people that are burning down buildings and looting destroyed stores likely don’t know a thing about the death of young Mark Duggan but instead have been caught up in the thrill of rebellion.  One girl that was interviewed by the BBC said “this is our chance to show the rich people and the police that we can do what we want.”  You can clearly hear the voice of Uranus in Aries here flipping a finger to the Pluto in Capricorn power structures.

Young people in England began protesting and rioting against job cuts back in March of last year when Uranus entered Aries where it will travel for the next seven years (it dipped a toe into Aries but quickly retrograded back into Pisces).  Tottenham, where the riots began, has one of the highest unemployment rates in the country.  With no jobs and no prospects, a huge subclass of individuals who live outside of conventional society is rising up but that is just one piece of the rioting picture.  The rioting population appears to embrace all cultures and all races in these poor London communities.

Mars made an exact square to Uranus yesterday, so the culmination of the rebellion has likely passed.  But now Mars is approaching an opposition aspect to Pluto that won’t peak until tomorrow (Thursday August  11th) at which time the opposition from police and other governmental bodies will likely take over.  As the opposition firms up the crowds are likely to scatter, but that doesn’t mean that the chaos will go away permanently, especially on the eve of the Uranus/Pluto square.