The astrological causes of the grim "zeitgeist" running now through Europe!

According to the myth, Jupiter the father of all gods in the disguise of a bull abducted the beautiful phoenician princess Europa and brought her to the european continent! In this way the continent of Europe was "inaugurated"! Every myth is rich in symbolism and this specific one is recounting to us the fact that the current European continent was bound to become a blessed land, a land that would display at its fullest the archetypes of royalty, of joviality and of taurean stability and prosperity.


Fast forward some thousand years and Europe today is indeed the most prosperous, serene and cultured continent worldwide. Or at least it used to be. Because in the last few months things seem to have radically changed, due to a series of ferocious terrorist attacks that ultimately spred a lot of terror (deadly attacks and killing sprees both in northern and southern France, in Belgium, in Germany). It seems that the careless years have gone away, no more romantic walks along the river Seine in Paris or anywhere else in Europe, since everywhere now there is an odor of gun-powder on the air! Everybody looks suspicious and each corner (no matter how cozy or romantic) is fraught with danger! The enemy is within and everywhere a potential terrorist is lurking! That's a rather unnerving sensation, causing massive paranoia throughout the European citizens! Their cities are transformed into over-extended prisons! So, what is the astrological reason that brought over this blick, disruptive and fearful “zeitgeist” to the old continent?

Definitely Pluto in Capricorn has a lot to do with it. You see the sign of Capricorn is somehow rapresenting the structured and organized societies - our urban landscape, our cities. And Pluto (the "grim ripper", the bearer of primeval fear) is transiting for 9 years now in the sign of Capricorn (and over the "World's MC" - you may read about the importance of this phenomenon here). Additionally, Pluto is a planet intimately connected to the masses and to the tragic collective events. Of course Pluto transited several times in the last two-three millennia over the sign of Capricorn. Βut its impact upon humanity was rather minimal back then. You see, the disruptive and transformative effect of Pluto in Capricorn escalated from the moment our structured, industrialized societies and mega-cities appeared in the horizon (mostly from the 19th century on. So, humanity is actually experiencing this Pluto in Capricorn effect for the first time ever!)

Pluto has to do with the so called "agoraphobia" too - the fear of crowds. If you are currently in Europe and you walk among many people or if you stand amidst a crowd (i.e. in a concert) then definitely the - not that absurd by now - thought of being shot or even bombed will be repeatedly crossing your mind! And there are other factors contributing to this paranoia: the current Saturn - Neptune square aspect, which is not facilitating us in stop thinking irrationally and in coming to our senses. And of course the overall Jupiter - Saturn - Neptune T-square (with the "double whammy" element of Saturn being in the sign of Sagittarius and at the same time squaring planet Jupiter! That's par excellence the fear of the unknown, of the person standing beside us whom we don't know, the fear of anybody belonging to a different ethnic background or religion...)

Rebellious planet Uranus in the ultra-individualistic sign of Aries has its fair share too! It brings forth the uprising of the individuals. That would be a good thing, if creatively channelled. But if we put in the mix the newly found planetoid Eris then things are getting more dynamic and complex. You see Eris has to do with the people who are “uninvited”, “unwanted”. To the Europeans these “uninvited” people seem to be the muslims (who on their turn perceive the Europeans as invadors and usurpers of their own lands and goods (they call the Europeans “the infidel crusadors”). And the fact is that we are currently in the middle of a volatile triple conjunction between the planets Uranus and Eris, a conjunction that is ever more exacerbating the tension between the uninvited muslims and the european christians! It's not by chance that with this Uranus -Eris conjunction the phenomenon of “the lonely wolf” kind of terrorist appeared! In their perspective, the atrocities they commit on european soil are nothing more than mere "retributions" for the sufferings inflicted upon them by the Europeans!

I've done some research on the impact of the Uranus – Eris conjunction over the human history. Of course it is preliminary to draw any definite conclusions but apparently this conjunction is coinciding with some rather odd and "out of the norm" periods of our history! It coincided i.e. with the outbreak of many revolutionary movements (especially in China). And with the implementation of rigorous dictatorships - where one man/woman is seizing absolute control over his/her entire country (the "lone avenger" seems to be a favorite theme to Eris). It was the case of Stalin back in 1927 (during the previous time planet Uranus was conjuncting Eris in Aries) and it is so far (in July 2016) the case of Erdogan in Turkey - who is apparently seizing absolute control over his country, disposing of (or even executing?) his opponents!

Finally, there are two more elements that I personally think that they have somehow contributed to the current hectic "zeigeist" in Europe. The first one is the long stay of planet Mars in the third decan of Scorpio. That's pretty significant on its own but it gets more significant if we notice that Mars is actually forming an opposition aspect to the mysterious, "harsh" planetoid Sedna - that is located in the 3rd decan of Taurus.

The second element is rather a wild guess of mine: planet Nine. If this legendary mega-planet exists at all then chances are it is transiting now (according to the famous astronomer's Mike Brown calculations) somewhere between the signs of Aries and Taurus.Thus, it might very well be in the third decan of Aries, forming a unique triple conjunction with the planets Uranus and Eris! Undoubtedly, such a conjunction would create a very particular "zeitgeist" worldwide! 

In any case, the decade of 2010's seems very reminiscent of the 1930's decade (astrologically speaking). Thus, some even larger-scale events might be coming over within the next few years to this old, aristocratic continent consecrated to Jupiter and Europa!

Thomas Gazis
Copyright: Thomas D. Gazis