"Houston, Tranquility Base here. The Eagle has landed."
These few words marked a huge change in human history. Man had left Mother Earth and stood on a different celestial body.
The date was July 20, 1969 (20:17:40 UT) and the chart for this event is both interesting and sobering in that it shows Uranus and Jupiter at zero Libra - almost exactly opposite the postion they are today (you may remember both planets entering Aries: Uranus in late may and Jupiter in early June of this year).
Whatever your politics and opinions on space travel, the unity of Uranus and Jupiter at zero Libra is a huge astrological statement. Libra is the sign about who we show ourselves to be. In this case, nobody was there watching, so this was greatly a statement BY mankind TO mankind about what we are truly capable of, as echoed by Pallas (wisdom) standing at 26 Sagittarius - location of our own galaxy's black hole core and a postion well known as being about giving to the world...or as they say in films, 'beyond.'
With supermassive Black Hole M87 standing at 1 Libra, this Uranus/Jupiter is at the point of 'falling across the singularity' - a singularity being the name of a black hole's edge. Thus this is a picture of humankind being drawn into the 'alternative reality' represented by any black hole: it's a moment of inexorable wonder as we grasp ourselves capable of being truly part of a universe so vast as to boggle the imagination.
The Moon here - representing the body and spirit of mankind stands in a late minute of 7 Libra, a degree fraught with the profound challenge of understanding what love and power and existence really mean. That it is conjunct Diadem (the crowning glory) and Polyhymnia (happiness) expresses well the elation of that moment. But with Diadem having been at that time positioned at 8 Libra, the 'widow's degree' we also get a very clear message that for all the glory of the achievement, mankind is still aware of feeling very alone in this universe.
And how maybe we are most in mourning for our own ability to be loved and respected by our own kind. Libra is a sign all about respect and honesty - and given the enormity of this moment, that not decades later it would be questioned, even marketed as a hoax is a sad thing indeed. Can we not as a race simply accept our achievements?
Pictured by Eris (discord) conjunct Sappho (universality) in a challenging opposition to Moon-Diadem-Polyhymnia, apparently not. Does one person's joy always HAVE to earn denigration? In this picture, the Libra Moon's connection to a Gemini Venus conjunct Nessus (poisonous jealousy) and Hebe (service to/of others) in a degree prone to confusion or confusing the issue suggests the real issue is projection.
In other words, who is making that accusation and why do they feel it so necessary an accusation to make?
This again brings us back to Libra's hallmark 'cause-effect' in the world of human relations and relative peace - or lack thereof. This is particularly important now as Saturn is poised to commit to its transit of Libra and the juxtaposition of these events is so acute as to suggest a metaphysical tie reminding us that one of the first and most important rules of human psychology...sadly...is that we will always (always!) accuse others of our own worst fault. The jealous will accuse others of jealousy, the materialistic will accuse others of materialism - and so on.
This chart is certainly one for us to reflect on. In the forty-one years since Neil Armstrong took that 'one step for all mankind' Jupiter and Uranus have moved to the opposite (Aries) pole of their synodic (interactive) zodiacal cycle. And here we all are dealing with floods, famines, wars and disastrous oil spils.
We took one big step for mankind, yes. But apparently that step wasn't big enough. Let's hope that in the next forty-one years we right some of our own ineptitudes and attitudes. This planet is bigger than we are. We talk about hurting the planet but the reality of it is we aren't hurting the planet, we're hurting our own ability to LIVE on this planet.
That's the crux of Aries. And as Saturn moves into Libra we may be sure that we are going to hear much more about that. Jealousy means nothing when compared to the very survival of life.
As the Zen masters say...walk on.
Or to quote Toy Story's Buzz Lightyear, 'to infinity...and beyond!'
Our infinity started with that first step on the Moon. Where will we go from there?
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