The vision recurs; the eastern Sun has a second rise; history repeats her tale unconsciously, and goes off into a mystic rhyme; ages are prototypes of other ages, and the winding course of time brings us round to the same spot again.

James Burns, 1845

“History never repeats itself, but it often rhymes,” goes the maxim, apocryphally attributed to Mark Twain.

It’s also a notion at the heart of astrology.

Psychologist Carl Jung coined the phrase synchronicity to describe meaningful coincidences — two events occurring simultaneously with no traditional causal connection, but which hold deep or archetypal significance in the observer’s mind.

Think “as above, so below” – astrologers see the motions of the heavens and events on earth reflected in one another.

But meaningful links between events can also be found across time, a phenomenon astrologer and philosopher Richard Tarnas has called diachronicity.

In his work Cosmos and Psyche, Tarnas explores how astrological cycles unfold through the centuries, a “continuously unfolding, cyclically punctuated evolution” shaping the course of history and cultures.

But it’s also a phenomenon you can explore in your own life; 2017 brings the perfect opportunity.

Looking Back to Look Forward

Pick up your old journal, or just think back to the week between Christmas and New Year’s Eve 2013.  What happened then?

For many people, that week brought radical and fundamental shifts, particularly in family and relationship structures and dynamics. If nothing occurs to you, be patient. You’ll have opportunities aplenty to remember.

And if you’re one of the multitude whose lives changed obviously and forever then, don’t panic! More installments are coming in the saga, and you may well benefit.

The last week of December 2013 will be reverberating as 2017 unfolds. The themes of that time are coming back for expansion and action throughout this year.

Context Is Everything

Understanding the earlier context will help you capitalize on the upcoming potentials. The tectonic shifts of year-end 2013 grew out of an ongoing cosmic change imperative involving two players that will come into play again this year:  Uranus, agent of sudden, unforeseeable, liberating change and Pluto, agent of unavoidable, deep-level change.

The pair had been traveling in the harsh, action-demanding aspect of a square since 2012 (and would continue into 2015). Their conflict pitted the guy with the lightning bolts, in self-starting, hair-trigger, go-it-alone impulses of Aries, against the lord of death and the underworld, exposing and remodeling foundations in the structures, institutions, conventions and long-term goals of Capricorn.

The battle was hardly subtle, personally and collectively. Think individuals agitating for freedom from the system. Think David vs. Goliath, only with each side certain it is David and its opponent is the big bad guy. Think situations cracking and collapsing, requiring new approaches, arrangements and, in some instances, participants.

The square bridged, destabilized and ultimately reworked the areas of your chart (and life) where Aries and Capricorn fall.  In some way, even if you were spared cosmic pyrotechnics, by December 2013, your way of life was well into the process of changing for good.

The Astrology of December 2013

Then Mars entered the fray. In December 2013 Mars, ruler of our drive, energy and ambition (not to mention the masculine) was in Libra, the sign of relationships, agreements and harmony.

As the month ended, Mars locked into the ongoing Uranus/Pluto square. This movement created a dynamic configuration called a T-square, as Mars moved into an exact opposition to Uranus (on Dec. 24-26) and then an exact square to Pluto (on Dec. 31).

A T-square creates tension between the points of the opposition, both of which put pressure on the planet in the middle, which dumps the pressure into the sign opposite it.

This line-up was a formula for sudden, permanent change. Mars and Uranus have a penchant for making things happen; links between them can bring abrupt breaks, accidents and violence. In this instance, Mars had the upper hand, because he rules the sign that Uranus was occupying.  And both were bearing down on an evolutionary force in structures and traditions, which ricocheted into home and family.

Put more simply, this T-square involved:

Mars: action, drive, assertiveness, aggression, the masculine, a man or men

…in Libra: relationships, agreements

and

Uranus: radical, sudden, unexpected change; epiphany; a shift in perspective; liberation; breaking apart or away

…in Aries: the self, the fighter, the risk-taker

 putting pressure onto

Pluto: unavoidable, deep level change; bringing hidden matters to the surface; non-rational impulses (fears, paranoia, obsession, compulsions)

…in Capricorn: systems, structures, foundations, institutions

 and

affecting Cancer: family, home, traditions, tribal definitions.

What might this have meant for you?

  • A fundamental change in the structure of your family
  • A fundamental change in family dynamics
  • A fundamental change in relationship dynamics or patterns
  • A fundamental change in how you experience men
  • An internal break that opened you to a different way of interacting, nurturing, relating

This might have happened in an instant. (There’s precedent.) It may have played out in multiple events over the week. It might have detonated primarily in your psyche.

Think about what has changed in your life since the end of 2013. If you can’t identify specific events from that time, apply the T-square keywords to your life. Consider how you have changed internally since then. That’s a clue to what’s coming back to the fore this year.

How This Affects 2017

Uranus and Pluto have moved out of their tight square, but their activity in 2013 has renewed relevance now.

This year, Jupiter and Mars are making the same contacts to Uranus and Pluto that Mars did in 2013.

The first waves come from Jupiter traveling through Libra. (He’s in the sign until Oct. 10, and retrograde from Feb. 5/6 until June 9.) Jupiter ups the ante of any action he’s near. In Libra he’s escalating issues involving relationships, agreements and fairness.

On the positive end, he encourages mutually beneficial relationships, negotiating and give-and-take, and seeking harmony and common ground. On the not-so-positive end, he brings more of everything he touches, which could lead to relationship issues being in your face.

As he engages with Uranus and Pluto, he will be creating a loose (okay, very loose) T-square spanning weeks.

This movement will act as a bellows, pumping air into situations that grew out of the December 2013 square. Noticeable, and likely ultimately beneficial developments are coming in relationship sagas as a result.

Mars returns to Libra in late October. As he repeats his December 2013 contacts with Uranus and Pluto, he will be moving us forward in transformed relationship dynamics, building on the shifts of four years earlier.

Hot Times for 2017

Get out your calendar and make a note of these key upcoming dates this year.

Expect expansion and blossoming of the 2013 developments when Jupiter:

  • opposes Uranus Mar. 2 (at 22 Libra/Aries) and
  • squares Pluto Mar. 30 (at 19 Libra/Capricorn);
  • squares Pluto Aug. 4 (at 17 Libra/Capricorn) and
  • opposes Uranus Sept. 28 (at 27 Libra/Aries).

Watch for further action on the 2013 developments when Mars:

  • squares Pluto on Nov. 19 (at 17 Libra/Capricorn) and
  • opposes Uranus on Dec.1 (at 24 Aries/Libra).

Make It Personal

See where these degrees listed above fall in your chart. Pay special attention if you have a planet, the Moon (or its nodes) or an angle nearby. Connect the dots between December 2013 and now. And watch for opportunities to improve, expand, fine-tune and push forward your revamped approach to relationships, agreements, and family.

1 Comment

  1. Nelly on October 1, 2017 at 7:41 pm

    Fascinating, late 2013 I had separated from the father of my children and just started seeing the man I am currently married to. This upset my teenage children immensely. I did a vipassana retreat over this last week of 2013 and couldn’t get this new fella of my mind to concentrate on my practice. It’s been like treading on eggshells with my kids over these years to keep them in my life but this year I couldn’t take it anymore and won’t let them use and abuse me any longer, been insisting on a balanced relationship with them or none. So mostly it’s been none. Also late 2013 I bought my daughter an Apple Mac which was a great expense for me and it’s lasted till now. Yesterday we took it into the apple shop and it’s looking like costing us a small fortune to fix. I spent the weekend reading my diary of this challenging time in 2013.

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