This conjunction is active from 14th December through until 3rd January 2014. It occurs at 19.34 degrees Scorpio.
Zuben Eschamali sits in the constellation of Libra the scales and is one of the stars in the Symplegades, the clashing rocks through which Jason and his ship the “Argo” had to sail through in the Quest for the Golden Fleece. This star is more self interested than it’s southern partner Zuben Elgenubi, representing the Southern Scale and it shows the qualities of helping and aiding social reform, but in a way that promotes your own self interest and improves your position in life, your power and maybe your financial position. Through the connection with Saturn we have ambition to further your aims. These two stars and the constellation of Libra itself were initially thought as an extension of the constellation of Scorpio, as the claws of the scorpion, and when the planets traverse this part of the universe it can be a perilous journey fraught with danger and hazards.
I personally think that in global terms this is a pretty nasty connection, but in personal terms it can benefit you. Why? Well in your life, you may feel it is now time to make some reforms and changes in your own ambitions, ones that will effectively benefit you in the long run. Saturn on Zuben Eschamali can encourage you to take some tough and quite radical decisions to further your aims. The path you choose may be a long, hard and difficult one, but I think it can be ultimately fruitful, on this particular occasion because of the Jupiter Saturn trine that is now effective. What is started now will will develop in May and be even more effective in September 2014 as this is a conjunction that will occur three times because of Saturn retrograde later on next year.
In the world and on a more global level there are many people who would want to bring reform or progress to their countries, but also gain or consolidate power and prestige at the same time. To do this, you have to sometimes move someone out of the way who is blocking your progress, and the harshness of Saturn combined with the cold driving ambition within this planet connected to the stars of Libra could encourage one to commit almost any kind of shameful acts to achieve one’s aims. In 1984, when Saturn was last in the constellation of Libra for most of the year, there were a series of them occurring in India.
That year saw a period of social upheaval, especially in the Punjab region where the revolutionary leader Jarnail Singh Bhindranwale was advocating the breakaway from India of the Sikh populated regions and majority states in the north west of the country. During early July 1984, Indira Gandhi, the then Prime Minister of India issued operation Blue Star, the storming of the Golden Temple of Amritsar and in it Bhindranwale the rebel leader holed up inside the temple was killed in the subsequent massacre.
This stirred up a lot of revenge and anger and at the end of October and at the start of November, Saturn approached the star Zuben Eschamali. On 31st Oct, primarily in revenge for the Amritsar crackdown, Gandhi was assassinated by her Sikh bodyguards. This immediately led to 3 days of riots across India in early November 1984 in which more than 3000 Sikhs were killed. The ambition of Saturn in the stars of Libra to create social reform stoked the fires which exploded as the final connection between Saturn and Zuben Eschamali in 1984 was made.
It is noticeable that in Ukraine, in Thailand and in the Central African Republic there is a lot of social upheaval and revolutionary spirit going on now, indeed there is also much public unrest still going on in Brazil too. I have a feeling with Mars now starting to oppose Uranus and square to Pluto throughout December while this connection is active that we may eventually see some “action” on a par with that which happened in India in 1984. In astrology, one needs several influences by different planets to get a major event occurring and it may be that the conditions will be ripe once Uranus stations and starts to drift forward again from 17th of this month. Saturn while making this star connection is also making a trine to Jupiter in Cancer so there will be a lot of optimism and hope that any action taken now will work. Cancer is the sign of the nation state, and any reform or trying to overturn the status quo will be caused by concern of the overall direction that these countries are taking. Indeed, the 18th of the month just after the Gemini full Moon on the 17th is fraught with possibilities as the Moon conjunct to Jupiter gives us a taster of what is to come in the late winter and early spring of 2014, forming as it does as a Cardinal Cross with Mars, Pluto and Uranus. We may see a brutal crackdown on the public somewhere in the world on that day. Of course there are two more connections to come, so what is developing now may be resolved in September.
In terms of how things will ultimately work out I think of the sky picture in this manner. The planets sitting on the fixed stars set the script and the directions for the actors to act, and the aspects between the planets determine the nature of the performance. Right now, the scene is set for the public in certain areas of the world to rise up. I think that those with ambitions to greater things will be poking their heads above the parapet now, and those already with the power in response will start to flex their muscles…