Mundane Matters –
Cycles: Historical Markers

March 2007

Observing the aspects between transiting planets is an addictive pursuit and not to be undertaken lightly. Once you start it’s a short step to spending days with books such as Timetables of Science or various other timeline related material, and you’ll never be able to go into a museum or art gallery without thinking about when in the cyclical stream of time the thing that you are looking at was created. Having said that, it’s a fascinating way to spend your time, but don’t say I didn’t warn you.

To try to stay in line with the theme of this issue I’m going to look at how the larger cycles mark out turning points in history [1] and will be referring to scientific breakthroughs rather than history in general. Let’s start with the longer cycles. Pluto and Neptune form the longest cycle; from conjunction to conjunction this is around 492 years. Uranus and Neptune take around 172 and Uranus and Pluto take around 127 years. Uranus and Saturn, the next longest cycle, come in at 45, which puts them in the medium/short term basket and out of the scope of this article - concentrating, as I am, on long-term cycles. I’m not using Chiron, as the accuracy of its position outside of the last 100 years is a bit dubious, and using the outer planets before they were discovered is enough of a jump for most people without slinging in bits of rocky ice, too.

This gives us three cycles – the various combinations of Uranus, Neptune and Pluto, to consider. There is one more cycle, which we should bring in – that of Jupiter and Saturn. Now, from one conjunction to another is around twenty years. If we’ve dismissed a forty-five year cycle how can this help us? Well, Jupiter and Saturn have two super cycles, which we can consider. Subsequent conjunctions of these two planets will be in the same element and will remain so for around 240 years and then move on to the next element taking around 960 years to go round all four. These were the long-term cycles, which were used before the discovery of Uranus.

Currently we are reaching the end of conjunctions in earth and moving to conjunctions in air. There is usually a crossover period. 1980 saw the first conjunction in air, 2000 saw the last conjunction in earth and 2020 will see the first of a continuous stream of conjunctions in air, starting with Aquarius. This is a cycle with three phases: from conjunction to conjunction – 20 years; conjunctions in one element – 240 years; conjunctions passing round all four elements – 960 years. Hence I described them as super cycles.

So we have five cycles. These long cycles are the broad brush strokes that form the base notes of history. Don’t get too carried away, they need shorter cycles to bring them to life. Let’s begin with Pluto Neptune.

Pluto Neptune – 492 years

These two planets are currently in sextile to each other, have been so since the beginning of the Second World War and will not complete this aspect until after 2030 - that’s nearly one hundred years. Think for a moment of the changes that have taken place over this period. This is what I mean by broad strokes. These are the base notes that change the tone of the chord but don’t form the melody. As each cycle is so long there aren’t many of these cycles to look at:

-83 Jul 2 17 Taurus
-83 Oct 27 16 Taurus
-82 Apr 3 16 Taurus
411 Jul 1 23 Taurus
411 Nov 12 22 Taurus
412 Apr 2 22 Taurus
905 May 27 28 Taurus
1398 Jul 1 3 Gemini
1398 Dec 5 3 Gemini
1399 Apr 2 2 Gemini
1891 Aug 2 8 Gemini
1891 Nov 5 8 Gemini
1892 Apr 30 7 Gemini

You can see that you either get one or three conjunctions. This is due to the retrograde motion of the planets.

A cursory look at the dates does link with significant periods in history. 411 closely aligns with the fall of Rome; 905 gives us the first use of paper money; 1398 is fifty years before the start of the renaissance and sees the founding of many universities, the establishment of the printing press and development of its techniques. Coffee was also first made into a beverage in Ethiopia at the start of the fifteenth century, but this is probably best treated as an aside.

1892/3 saw the development of many things that define the modern world. Although many developments were made during the nineteenth century, it seems that many of the breakthrough developments were saved for the final decade. Examples are the development of the diesel engine; the first cathode ray tube was developed as well as rayon. This is only a small sample of examples.

Uranus Neptune – 172 years

This is still a long cycle, but the phases don’t stick around for whole lifetimes like the Pluto Neptune cycle does. This cycle is very much associated with the development of knowledge and the “unfoldment of civilizations” (Baigent, Campion, Harvey p178).

1136 Oct 24 27 Libra
1307 Nov 15 13 Scorpio
1478 Dec 15 29 Scorpio
1479 Jul 4 28 Scorpio
1479 Aug 30 28 Scorpio
1650 Jan 18 16 Sagittarius
1650 Jun 13 15 Sagittarius
1650 Oct 16 15 Sagittarius
1821 Mar 22 3 Capricorn
1821 May 3 2 Capricorn
1821 Dec 3 1 Capricorn
1993 Feb 2 19 Capricorn
1993 Aug 20 18 Capricorn
1993 Oct 24 18 Capricorn

1136 relates to the flowering of Islamic science in Spain and the re-awakening of lost ideas, such as Aristotle and Euclid in the west and translations of Arabic texts into Latin. The first lectures at Oxford took place in 1133, although it was not made a university until 1167 or 1168.

1307 sees the first mechanical clocks; Marco Polo published the book of his travels in 1298.

1478 puts us thirty years into the renaissance; this is an echo of the previous cycles as we see even more lost knowledge coming to light following the fall of Constantinople.

1650 catapults us firmly into the early modern world with the beheading of Charles I in 1649, the creating of the first air pumps, which could create vacuums, and the barometer was first demonstrated in 1648.

1821 is right at the heart of the first phase of the industrial revolution. There was significant development of electricity by Faraday, Ampère, Arago and Schweigger in 1820 and 1821. Babbage develops the difference engine in 1822. Incidentally the Catholic Church lifted the ban on teaching the Copernican system in 1821 and removed Galileo’s Dialogues from the banned list in 1822.

1993 saw the final phases of the dissolution of communism following the fall of the Berlin wall in 1989. 1992 saw hypertext – which would form the World Wide Web - revealed to the world and in 1993 Mosaic, a graphical interface for this was developed.

Uranus Pluto – 127 years

Still long, but getting shorter. This cycle is more regenerative than the others. Anything that is ready to be replaced will almost certainly go.

1201 Aug 5 28 Cancer
1343 Jun 19 11 Aries
1342 Aug 24 11 Aries
1344 Mar 10 10 Aries
1455 Oct 2 13 Leo
1456 Jan 21 13 Leo
1456 Jun 24 12 Leo
1597 May 2 20 Aries
1597 Nov 24 19 Aries
1598 Jan 22 19 Aries
1710 Sep 7 28 Leo
1850 Jun 26 29 Aries
1850 Sep 25 29 Aries
1851 Mar 23 28 Aries
1965 Oct 9 17 Virgo
1966 Apr 4 16 Virgo
1966 Jun 30 16 Virgo

1201 brings us to the crusades, Constantinople was sacked in 1204.

1343 is just before the Black Death came to Europe and the first evidence of a gun in Europe in 1347.

1455 is just after the date commonly recognized at the start of the Renaissance – 29 May 1453 – with the Turk’s capture of Constantinople. Guttenberg brings in the era of moveable type in 1454 and the remaining years of the decade see some of the great navigators setting sail: Magellan, Henry the Navigator and Vespucci.

1597 is immediately prior to the Scientific Revolution and sees Galileo, Brahe and Kepler developing the new astronomy.

1710 is quiet in the books of timelines, perhaps related to the fact that this is a single conjunction. Developments of interest are the introduction of the use of coke for iron smelting in 1709, the invention of three colour printing in 1710, the founding of Sweedenborg and Polhem’s society in Sweden and in 1712 Newcomen erects the first practical steam engine to use a piston and cylinder.

1850 sees the first statement of the second law of thermodynamics, the development of a hydraulic accumulator, making hydraulic machinery independent of water sources, and the invention of the Teletype printer. In keeping with the uncertain theme of this cycle 1849 sees the first aerial bombing, from a balloon over Venice. 1851 sees Faucault use a pendulum to demonstrate the Earth’s rotation and Lord Kelvin propose the concept of absolute zero. The years following this conjunction saw the Great Exhibition and the Crystal Palace in London. You should also bear in mind the wave of revolutions that swept Europe in 1848.

1965/66 is right in the middle of the swinging sixties. As well as the artistic, cultural and political changes, which are well documented, there are significant scientific developments over these two years. The programming language BASIC is developed, as are measles vaccine and soft contact lenses. There is loads of space research – don’t forget this is leading up to the Apollo landings in 1969. Fuller understanding of the four forces of nature was shown in 1967, moving us on from Newton’s analysis.

Jupiter Saturn

As there are so many I will just note the transition phases between elements, known as Great Mutations. You can see that sometimes there’s more of a transition than at other times. These are broader slices of time so we’re more likely to be looking for society changes, rather than specific discoveries.

1166 Dec 18 21 Capricorn
1186 Nov 15 12 Libra
1206 Apr 23 25 Taurus
1226 Mar 12 2 Aquarius

Foundation of Universities, increase in conceptual ideas, the Chinese develop a sign for zero, first reference to a magnetic compass. This period saw knowledge being pursued for its own sake – air.

1345 Apr 1 19 Aquarius
1365 Nov 2 7 Scorpio
1385 Apr 17 25 Gemini
1405 Jan 25 23 Aquarius
1425 Feb 23 17 Scorpio

This doesn’t show up any particularly significant scientific or technological progress. There were other social changes in this period, mainly due to the opening up of the world and the instances of plague and associated population changes.

1583 May 3 20 Pisces
1603 Dec 18 8 Sagittarius
1623 Jul 16 6 Leo
1643 Feb 24 25 Pisces
1663 Oct 16 12 Sagittarius

This is the high point of the scientific revolution. Kepler and Galileo made their major advances in the first decade of the seventeenth century. This is also the transition from water to fire, the end of the grand cycle, and with it came a paradigm shift in thinking that it’s difficult to see beyond our current position.

1782 Nov 5 28 Sagittarius
1802 Jul 17 5 Virgo
1821 Jun 19 24 Aries
1842 Jan 16 8 Capricorn

This period is the start of the industrial revolution. The previous cycle was in fire, centred around ideas. Now, as the cycle moves into earth, it focuses on practical application of these ideas and material gain. We see greater mastery of the principles that hold matter together as we move through the period culminating in the ability to split the atom and manipulate on the subatomic level. See the Neptune Pluto conjunction section above.

1961 Feb 19 25 Capricorn
1980 Dec 31 9 Libra
1981 Mar 4 8 Libra
1981 Jul 24 4 Libra
2000 May 28 22 Taurus
2020 Dec 21 0 Aquarius

This is where we currently find ourselves. We can already see themes reflecting the movement from earth to air. We are more globalised and connected than ever before. People talk of a post-industrial society. Sticking with our theme of science we see the development of computers and communications technology as a dominant theme.

Pulling it all together

You can see clearly that several cycles interact, and that’s before you start looking at the aspects within each cycle; we’ve only considered the conjunctions here. Some periods will see activity from all the major cycles. For example, the Renaissance starts with a Uranus Pluto conjunction and then has a Uranus Neptune conjunction thirty or so years later. You can also see a Neptune Pluto conjunction and a Jupiter Saturn element change in the preceding fifty years. You can almost feel the build up of tension.

The examples I’ve given are from a very tight period around the date. If we consider the Uranus Pluto conjunction of 1965/66 we can see a build-up of related activity earlier in the decade and reactions to it afterwards. This illustrates the idea that the zone that can be related to the cycle is wider than the exact year. The examples have been specifically scientific to fit with the theme of this issue. If you extend your focus to bring in art, culture, social reform you can go on for some time. Those of you interested in this type of analysis may be interested in Richard Tarnas’s new book Cosmos and Psyche, which was published last year.

There will always be more than a single astrological factor behind any event. Don’t try to pin things on a specific factor. Just as we’re more than just our sun sign, periods of history are more than a single cycle.

References

[1] Tables of Planetary Phenomenon, Neil F. Michelsen, 2nd Edition. ASC Publications, San Diego.

[1] Mundane Astrology, Baigent, Campion and Harvey, Aquarian Press, London, 1992.