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Earth's Coronation:

The triple conjunction of Saturn, Uranus and Neptune

Terry Lamb, M. A.

Many of us have looked forward to the much-heralded arrival of Neptune, then Saturn and Uranus into Capricorn. It was when I was beginning to study mundane astrology some years ago that I noticed these events. At the time I was curious about the relationship of events to the conjunctions of the bodies beyond Mars. I was therefore quite fascinated with the congregation of these bodies: the cycle of the Saturn-Neptune and Saturn-Uranus conjunction, the triple conjunction of Saturn, Uranus and Neptune and the larger cycle in which they play a part. Although this idea may disturb those of you who use tight orbs, there is nonetheless a broader picture which loose gatherings paint.

Although my notes fail me in attempting to credit the author of these discoveries, I found at the time that this triple conjunction occurs in the following pattern:

Cycle A: All 3 planets conjunct within a year.

Cycle B: After 680 years, the planets conjunct as follows: Saturn-Uranus, Saturn-Neptune, Uranus-Neptune, all within a 5 year period.

Cycle B: After 171 years, the conjunction again occurs over 5 years. This time its order is Uranus-Neptune, Saturn-Neptune, Saturn-Uranus. After this conjunction, Cycle A repeats itself in 680 years.

This comprises a total cycle of 1542 years. In broad terms, the mundane pattern that correlates with this is the rise and fall of civilizations. For instance, one Cycle A began in 1776 BC In 1750 B.C. Hammurabi established the Babylonian Empire based on the Hammurabic code. This roughly coincides in time with the fall of the Indus Valley civilization (in what is now Pakistan). Four major ancient civilizations have risen and fallen near the beginning of a Cycle A: the Nile Valley culture, the Hwang Ho Dynasty in China, the Tigris-Euphrates civilization and Sumeria. Not all civilizations have risen and fallen at these milestones, never the less; great events occurred upon which hinged great changes in the nature of civilization.

New Cycle As have begun in 234 BC and 1308 AD After 1776 B.C., the cycles have occurred as:

1096 BC (Cycle B') Fall of Egyptian Empire; Fall of Shang/Rise of Chao Dynasties; Fall of Aegean-Minoan Culture

920 BC (Cycle B'') Rise of Hindu religion

234 BC (Cycle A) Fall of Chao Dynasty/Rise of Chin; beginning of the Roman Empire

446 A.D. (Cycle B') Fall of Roman Empire; Fall of Gupta Dynasty (India)

622 AD (Cycle B'') Rise of Islam, the Hegira (Mohammed's flight from Mecca to Medina)

1308 AD (Cycle A) Final decline of medieval culture (last of the Crusades); Rise of the Ottoman Empire; Beginning of the Renaissance

In examining these occurrences, we can generalize the influences of these cycles to be:

Cycle A Rise of civilizations

Cycle B-1 Fall of civilizations

Cycle B'' Religious movements form the basis of the next civilization

We are now in the middle of the conjunction beginning a Cycle B'—in other words, the fall of civilization. We can therefore expect a great shift of power on a political level and possibly a transformation in the form that this power takes.

While this sounds like a glum prediction, I think that there are more positive ways of classifying a "fall of civilization." These ways are certainly within the realm of possibility for the coming 171-year period and nothing more than we would expect. Indeed, in some ways we pray for such a "fall" before the current civilizations destroy the earth.

Before developing this thought more fully, I would like to divert for a brief moment to consider something else that I found quite intriguing. This is the much-acclaimed Harmonic Convergence, popularized by Jose Arguelles and celebrated by New Agers the world over in August 1987. I examined the planetary patterns of that time and discovered that for all intents and purposes the triple conjunction began at that time. In fact, Arguelles identified a 5-year time frame of activity that coincides with the term of the triple conjunction.

Of course, the Mayan calendar system has earmarked this as a time of great significance. This is also true in the Hindu, Aztec and Hopi calendar systems. However, it is nearly certain that the Age of Aquarius is not occurring at this time or for at least another 100 years by nearly any means of reckoning. (According to Maria K. Simms, it will be 2700 AD before we enter the Age of Aquarius. Perhaps the triple conjunction is what so many have felt as the end of an old era and a new beginning. Though less significant than the Age of Aquarius, it is still very important. We are at a turning point in Western civilization. If life is to continue, we must lift the panoply of burdens that we have placed on this planet (nuclear warheads, toxic pollutants, loss of the ozone layer and rain forests).

The good news is that there is something that we can do about it. Arguelles feels that two major changes will occur—demilitarization and healing the destruction that we have inculcated upon the planet.

In the short time since the Harmonic Convergence, I have seen a dramatic increase in awareness and activism toward these ends. It is gratifying to see world recognition of the alarming destruction of the Amazonian rain forests. While all destruction of these essential ecological zones has not yet ended, it has at least been dampened.

On a cultural level, I feel that two cultures will bear the brunt of the "fall of civilization." Those that began their rise to power during Cycle A, Christianized Western culture and the Muslim (Ottoman) Empire, are vulnerable. However, because we are now part of one economic unit, every culture will be affected by changes in any other. These two cultures will be affected in profound ways toward demilitarization and a return to a more benign, truly spiritual existence. The I Ching says, "A successful revolution is one in which the professed values of the old order are made the real values of the new order." I think that such a revolution would bode well for both cultures in question.

The big question is how to accomplish this? It has already begun in the return of the feminine to the collective consciousness of humanity throughout the planet. The feminine began to wane with invasions of warlike peoples from the North, descended from the Maglemosian and Kunda of Mesolithic times. These invasions into the "Cradle of Civilization"—the Near East—came into a land of largely peaceful, matrifocal cultures. The overtaking of these people was swift and brutal. It ended by about 1400 BC, the official end of the Bronze Age. The peaceful indigenous peoples were easy to conquer, but it took many centuries to conquer their beliefs. Now, we as a culture must remember full spectrum of feminine nature and recreate it in the present.

While this is the task that we face as a society, what can we as individuals do? This is something we will all struggle with until we reach beyond Saturn—beyond the time constraints of a single physical body, a single lifetime. We must be willing to participate in changes that will take more time than we can see pass with our physical eyes. This is why it is so difficult to gain a handle on a transit of this nature. What can we do to incorporate the tremendous energies of such a powerful conjunction?

We can become functional. Being functional means being able to have and express the seven basic powers which John Bradshaw discusses: to perceive, to interpret, to feel, to imagine, to express, to intuit and create and to want. When we are functional, we have the freedom of our powers. The "side effects" of functionality are the overcoming of all abuses, compulsions and addictions, all co-dependencies and enabler patterns, to become a whole person. Becoming functional means balancing the masculine and feminine within. It means learning to feel without shame or guilt. Becoming functional is the fulcrum in each individual by which the change to a balanced world in a New Age will occur. If every person—or even most—on this planet were functional, there could be no war or misuse of our planetary home.

Since the Harmonic Convergence, there has been an overwhelming upsurge of interest in and awareness of dysfunctionality. The lectures and workshops of John Bradshaw, the success of Alcoholics/Overeaters/Cocaine Abusers Anonymous are a part of this movement. Because of the nature of Western culture, because of what has gone before, because of the loss of the feminine and the spiritual, we have all become dysfunctional—thus creating more dysfunctionality. Through no fault of our own, we have fallen into a vicious cycle that we now are beginning to have the awareness to break.

The old cycle brought in the overly masculinized energy of the current patriarchal worldwide culture. It thrives on power-over or dominance. In the cycle before it thrived on power-from-within, or immanence. This is the ability to express the seven basic powers of functionality. The new cycle must see a return to immanence and this is what I feel can happen, slowly, over the next Saturn-Uranus-Neptune cycle.

Becoming functional occurs in fits and starts; it is the tool of immanence. It is the Great Task of our age. It is the greatest gift we can give our children and those around us. It is essential to a world of peace. It will take several generations to achieve this result, but every step is a great one. It is my supreme optimism that on this path we will be able to rescue our planet and ourselves in time.

References:

Jose Arguelles. The Mayan Factor. Santa Fe, NM: Bear and Company, 1987.

Maria Kay Simms. Twelve Wings of the Eagle. San Diego: ACS Publications, 1988.

Sam Reifler. I Ching: A New Interpretation for Modern Times. New York: Bantam Books, 1974.

Merlin Stone. When God Was a Woman

Barbara Walker. The Woman's Encyclopedia of Myths and Secrets.

For more information on becoming functional, read:

Lerner, Harriet G. The Dance of Anger. New York: Harper & Row,1985.

Beattie, Melody. Codependent No More. New York: Harper & Row,1987.

Covington, Stephanie & Liana Beckett. Leaving the Enchanted Forest: The Path From Relationship Addiction to Intimacy. New York: Harper & Row, 1988.

Bradshaw, John. Bradshaw On: The Family. A lecture series available on video and audiotape through the Public Broadcasting System.

books by Peck, M. Scott: The Road Less Traveled, The People of the Lie, Different Drum. New York: Touchstsone, various dates.