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home    consultations    courses    ideas    irish astrology        Bill Sheeran


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[Note: If you see next to any link in the text, clicking on the link will bring up the relevant horoscope in a separate small window.]

The Observer Observed part 3, page 2

Structural Coupling
The Act of Union has its own horoscope, one which is still very relevant today, it being the most commonly used chart for modern Britain. However, this horoscope is simultaneously a set of transits to the postulated 1791 Irish republican chart. This means that there is an intimate connection in the astrological plane between the destiny of the United Kingdom and the goal of Irish republicanism.

horoscope for the Act of Union, Jan 1 1801, London jpg

Horoscope for the Act of Union, January 1st, 1801, Westminster, England, 00:00am LMT.

This intimate connection has its astrological consequences. For example, transits to the 1801 UK chart's Saturn necessarily coincide with transits to the Ascendant in the , as both chart factors inhabit the same degree. Similarly, planetary transits to the UK Uranus or Neptune will coincide with transits to the 1791 chart's AS/MC midpoint and eclipse complex respectively. By eclipse complex, I mean the eclipse axis itself at 18Ar40 and 18Li40, along with the Mars/Uranus/Pluto alignment along the 18 - 20 Leo/Aquarius axis that aspects it.

It is worth noting that the AS/MC midpoint for the Act of Union horoscope set for Westminster (51N30, 0W07) lies at 23Le15. This highlights considerably the significance of Saturn (23Le22) in the chart for the UK, but also amplifies the extent of resonant connection between these two horoscopes, bringing the Ascendant of one into conjunction with the AS/MC midpoint of the other.

I use the term structural coupling to describe this in-built resonance which can exist between horoscopes. My feeling is that it is especially significant if the horoscopes so coupled refer to real world circumstances where there is indeed an important relationship characterised by a sequence in time. For example, in the case under discussion, the UK's birth was partly prompted by the earlier expressions of the 1791 eclipse chart - i.e. militant republican activity. This is a different situation from straightforward synastry between horoscopes that are initially contextually disconnected, as is the case with strangers who meet and become lovers, for example.

A Vortex Analogy
I'd like to introduce the analogy of a vortex here to help as an aid in visualizing points made later in the text.

A vortex emerges in a flowing system such as a countryside stream. It is a structure which emerges as part of a process, and which manages to persist for a period of time - it has a certain transient inertia, if you like. In order for the vortex to remain in existence, there have to be certain conditions of movement and flow in the system. A vortex can never exist separately from the system in which it emerges, and there is a lot of exchange involved (communication) between the vortex and its environment.

Imagine that the weather has been gentle and the flow of the stream is fairly uniform. Not a vortex in sight. As rain starts to fall, more water enters the system and the flow rate increases. Depending on various factors such as the depth of the stream, the presence of rocks, the uneven nature of the stream's bed and so on, at some point a vortex will appear. As the flow increases, more vortices appear. As the rains continue to pour and the flow rate increases further, all structural integrity disappears and turbulent conditions replace the vortices. Then it stops raining. As the flow starts to diminish, the turbulence subsides, and vortices once again appear in the stream. As the flow decreases further still, these vortices become increasingly shallower and slow moving, before finally disappearing into what becomes a uniform flow once more.

I use this model to describe what I see as the transient relevance of collective level horoscopes as used in mundane astrology. Such transience may spread out over a prolonged time frame of several centuries, or for much shorter periods.

In my analogy, and taking a leaf from C. G. Jung, I would imaginally postulate a collective psychic stream. This can be approached on any scale. For example, the collective European psyche. If one reduces the scale, one might postulate within that larger European stream a collective current which represents the dynamics of the Anglo-Irish relationship. Within that at a lower scale again, the separate collective psyches of the Irish and the English, and so on. The streams I am focusing on in this article are those for the Anglo-Irish relationship and for Ireland herself. I will be using this analogy to help visualise the emergence of 'psychic' vortices in these streams. Each imaginal vortex is associated with a horoscope. The central idea is that while the vortex still spins in the collective stream, the horoscope is still alive and relevant.

The 1791 Vortex
Back to Ireland, 1791. Let’s assume the 'flow rate' in the collective stream on this level has increased due to environmental (socio-political) pressure. A vortex appears in the collective Irish psychic stream which reflects a similar vortex turning on the 'higher' European level, for in Europe it is an era of republican revolution. This vortex starts turning slowly at first, marking the emergence of an aspiration to create a future Irish Republic. The initial overt material expression of this aspiration (and its vortex) was the formation of the Society of United Irishmen (sic) on October 14th 1791. As mentioned above, somewhat idiosyncratically, I choose to focus on a lunar eclipse horoscope for two days earlier. For me, this chart symbolizes the covert potential of the Irish Republican aspiration.

Feeding off the energy of the broader socio-political environment, the 'republican aspiration vortex' deepens and gathers speed. There are effects in the real world. In other words, the vortex is also feeding back into its environment. Astrologically, the potential of the horoscope is unfolding and finding manifest form. Most obviously, this is evident in the bloody insurrection of 1798, a military failure for the republican movement. This began on May 23rd when 1791 Mars had progressed to the Ascendant, and Mars by transit sat conjunct 1791 Pluto.

As the pressure increases, other vortices appear in the stream, coinciding with either traumatic or highly significant political events, all of which are related to the original aspiration towards establishing an Irish republic. These I would see as constituting a family, each member being represented by its own horoscope.

Back to Structural Coupling The United Kingdom was one consequence of this increased pressure. This is clearly a robust political entity, just as the Irish aspiration to independent republican statehood is also robust. We can therefore conceptualize the UK as another vortex with considerable inertia, its potential signified by the horoscope for its emergence on January 1st 1801. This and the 1791 Irish republican vortex are part of the same system and as noted above are astrologically coupled with each other. This is indicated not only by the shared degree positions of important planets and points. Until 1922, the whole of Ireland was contained politically within the UK. The struggle for an independent Ireland entailed breaking the United Kingdom, and the fortunes of both have been intertwined as a result for 200 years. At this moment in time, 6 of Ireland's 32 counties still remain in the UK, ensuring that the linking remains solid, and that both vortices are still spinning.

Copyright: (2001) - Bill Sheeran     | page 1   | next |