In my 2006 article: SCORPIO – the Sign of the Times published in the Astrological Monthly Review (Vol. 68, No. 11, November 2006, pgs 27-31) I stated:
“The world has arrived at another hotspot which stretches from 2005 to 2015 but the most potent time is between 2010 and 2015. Already some early indicators of Scorpio’s increased presence is making itself felt. One of the most noticeable aspects is a new concerted push to expand nuclear energy production. Australia, the major supplier of uranium in the world, is moving towards increasing the number of mines and production and possibly even introducing nuclear reactors into Australia. Other nuclear developments are North Korea’s claim in 2005 that it had developed a nuclear bomb and the belief in 2006 that Iran was developing a nuclear weapon. If the last Scorpio hot spot is any guide, some nuclear calamity due to aggression or accident may be around the corner, especially between 2010 and 2015.”
The key nuclear issue (to date) associated with the current Scorpio hotspot is the Japanese disaster at the Fukushima nuclear plant following the tsunami in March 2011. Until this accident, the current Scorpio hotspot had seen a sharp revival of interest in building more nuclear reactors around the world to a level not seen for decades (since the previous Scorpio hotspot). Currently 60 nuclear plants are under construction – with the majority in Asia and many existing plants are being upgraded. The plants in operation in 2009 provided 15% of the world’s electricity. 155 nuclear reactors are in the planning stage with another 320 proposed.[1] As one adverse aspect of this new push towards nuclear energy, the German government suffered some serious political humiliation early in 2011, after the Japanese tsunami, due to its strong promotion of nuclear power prior to the Japanese accident. Japan naturally has put on hold plans to expand its nuclear energy. In my 2006 article I stated that the current Scorpio hotspot would see
“…. a new concerted push to expand nuclear energy production”.
The Fukushima nuclear disaster may not be the only “accident” in this period. Apart from some other similar nuclear accident, there is also the possibility of a dirty bomb or increased threats to use nuclear weapons by rogue states. We are not out of the woods yet. With the increased fervour to build many more nuclear reactors, there will be the increased chance in the future that further accidents will occur for the same reason that no matter how safe new jet passenger airlines are constructed, some will still crash! One key time for future nuclear accidents will be the next Scorpio hotspot due in 2059 to 2069 with the most potent time 2064 to 2067.
Of course, the desire to produce electricity by nuclear power is driven by the needs of an energy hungry world trying to cut its addiction to carbon-based power stations and their attendant pollution. The real solution, supported by the sign, Scorpio – the sign of our times, is that the world’s population needs to drastically decrease, people need to consume far less and there should be a greater reliance upon sustainable power sources. The vested commercial interests, generally represented by the conservative political parties and therefore supported by an enormous number of the general public around the world, believe that the sustainable approach to ecology will have a disastrous effects upon the capitalistic world economy.
The sustainable ecological approach will be fiercely resisted until people are dropping due to the adverse effects of pollution. And even at this point there is no guarantee that the moneyed class and supporting political apparatus will effectively respond when people start dying from pollution. China is giving us a preview of this now. By 2009, it was estimated that air and water pollution was prematurely killing 2 million people a year in the world, with at least 656,000 of these in China and over 500,000 in India.[2] In 2007 China suppressed the release of a report on this problem for fear on inciting social unrest.[3] This is the coming reality for much of the world. It reminds me of some graffiti I use to observe in Sydney in the last Scorpio hotspot (1960s-70s)
“mutate now, avoid the rush”.
The strong Scorpio flavour at our part in the Aquarian age suggest that the world will continue on down its current path until it goes past the point of no return, and then try and rectify the situation when most of the calamity has occurred or the damage is mainly irreversible. This dire forecast however is offset by another astrological reality that will commence to unfold in the world at an increased level from around 2029 onwards. From 2029 onwards, the astrological energy shifts to ‘anti-expansion’ due to a Gemini sub-age decan overflow (2029 – 2089).
Therefore there will be two opposing forces in the world for most of the 21st century. On the one-hand, the expansionary overflow from the Sagittarius sub-age decan and overflow (1612–1791–1970), that is linked to the Industrial Revolution and world-wide population explosion, will meet its opposite sign, Gemini at its peak power from 2029 onwards. In association with the frugal and contracting archetypal nature of the Scorpio sub-age overflow (1970-2148), the world should see the brakes consistently applied beginning 2029. The tensions between these expansionary and contracting archetypal energies will define most of the rest of this century. There are early precursors to this evolving situation now (see When Will the World Slow Down? )
One of the reasons why the world is so ineffective in taking a stance against the coming peril of climate change due to extreme pollution is that the first third of the Aquarian age is ruled by the Libran age-decan (1433 – 2148), with Libra building in tempo as it approaches its highpoint in 2148 whereupon it should reign triumphant. Libra promotes ease and comfort – including all the modern labour-saving conveniences that are available since the Industrial Revolution. Libra is also anti-war but lacks will and decisiveness. So it is easier to feed the world cheap consumer goods (often from the heavily polluted factories) rather than promote frugality, anti-consumption and sustainability. This wishy washy approach to climate change will seriously “bite” the world in the coming decades.
So while the world remains in the current Scorpio hotspot until 2015, and especially strong until 2012, we must expect the strong possibility that either another nuclear incident will occur, or that the medium-term effect of the Fukushima nuclear plant incident will reverberate around the world truncating the rising demand for nuclear power. This may be wishful thinking as commercial interests do not like being blocked from securing future profits.
This part 2 blog on revisiting Scorpio, the Sign of the Times, is part of a series that will update that 2006 published article with a strong focus upon the prime concepts associated with Scorpio:
- Revolution and general instability
- tyrants with their cruelty
- terrorists
- spiritual regeneration
- death, assassinations and murder
- waste products from any process, which naturally includes sewage and pollution
- atomic energy and bombs
- almost everything associated with sex
- taxes and debt (including credit cards)
- underground criminal organisations
- spy networks
- minimalism
In Part 1 of this series I concentrated upon tyrants and revolution. When I commenced writing this series I was aware that ‘assassination and death’ (included in the list of above Scorpio archetypes) seemed under represented. However the recent assassination of Osama bin Laden by American forces in Pakistan has corrected this situation. This event has multiple Scorpio archetypes attached to it – terrorism, revolutionary leader, assassination, spy networks (CIA and the Pakistan intelligence service) and finally an undercover operation resulting in bin Laden’s death. Assassinations and death will be explored later in this series. The next blog in this series will be part 3 on the Scorpio activities of taxes and debt – which has also recently risen significantly in stature as the US faces its many trillions of burgeoning debt.
Continue: SCORPIO – the Sign of the Times …. Revisited Part 3 – Taxes & Debt
[1] “Plans For New Reactors Worldwide”, http://www.world-nuclear.org/info/inf17.html, downloaded 22 April 2010
[2] Kevin Holden Platt in Beijing, China, “Chinese Air Pollution Deadliest in World, Report Says”, for National Geographic News, July 9, 2007, http://news.nationalgeographic.com/news/2007/07/070709-china-pollution.html, downloaded 22 April 2010
[3] Clifford Coonan in Beijing , “China ‘suppressed report on pollution deaths’”, 4 July 2007, http://www.independent.co.uk/news/world/asia/china-suppressed-report-on-pollution-deaths-455834.html, downloaded 22 April 2010
Demystifying the Aquarian Age 