I think russian history is one of the best ways to see astrological patterns and to demonstrate how planetary cycles dictate world events. Let’s look how pivotal the Saturn-Neptune cycle is for Russia… and for other parts of the world, especially on a geopolitical scene.
A quick list of all the things that heppened during each Saturn-Neptune conjunctions in the last couple of centuries:
- Conjunction in Virgo, 1773: the first partition of Poland where Russia took parts of it.
- Conjunction in Sagittarius, 1809: Russian Empire wins over Sweden and the annexation of Finland.
- Conjunction in Aquarius, 1846: peasant uprising that later on led to June Edict.
- Conjunction in Taurus, 1881: assasination of Alexander the II, Alexander the III takes over (has a natal Saturn-Neptune conjunction), pogroms and russification of Poland. The assasination took place when Saturn was still in the very late degrees od Aries but once in ingressed Taurus, things took a quick turn).
- Conjunction in Leo, 1917/1918: Russian revolution, assasination of Romanov family, Lenin takes over, start of the communism in Russia.
- Conjunction in Libra, 1953: death of Stalin, supposed birth of Putin (mind you, we aren’t 100% sure of his birth date).
- Conjunction in Capricorn, 1989: the fall of the Berlin Wall, the beginning of the end for the ZSRR.
The fall of the Berlin wall is actually the best example of a Saturn-Neptune conjunction. On top of that, it happened just days before both planets exactly conjoined – they were already in the same degree. But why it’s such a great example? Well Saturn is restrictions, authority, rigidity of rules, BOUNDARIES, tradition and stability (or stuckness). Neptun on the other hand stands for spirituality, ideals, fantasy, BLURRING of the lines, fogginess, sentiments, the LACK of structures and orientation. Two opposites. When those two come together we experience polarities and clashes of two worlds. In the context of global issues this results in tensions and pushing and shoving – both metaphporical and literal.
So if Saturn means frames and rigid rules and Neptune means something that is infinite and unbounded, a lot of the times it leads so dissolvement of those boundaries.
It is a double-ended sword though because on one hand it can foreshadow the end of regimes and working to create equality or building new structures in the name of higher ideals. On the other hand, it can blur boundaries through taking over foreign lands and through endless growth of one nation. Often it’s radical authoritarianism under the disguise of democracy – it’s when Neptune brings out deceit. It’s power that is lead by strong beliefs, often religious ones. It’s also a war between what’s factual and what’s a pure belief and the tension between hopes and the realities of life.
Currently we’re in this energy again, with those issues arising slowly since Saturn and Neptune were co-present in PIsces (will exactly conjoin in Aries in late February next year). And some might say, “well, but those issues are present all the time… somewhere”. Yes and no because it’s about what’s the hot topic right now: in the US it is the hightened tension regarding immigrants and the huge ICE protests. In Poland things look very similar with the ongoing narrative regarding immigrants and borders, where at some point, people – civilians – were “taking things into their own hands” (and I put that in quotes cause it’s ridiculous imho) and forming impromptu groups that were supposed to “guard” the Polish-German borders so that no one “unwanted” would go through. There’s also a whole additional issue there cause Germany was literally throwing out unwanted immigrants on the Polish side… you know, throwing them out like thrash basically. So this is extremely on brand for Saturn-Neptune.
And of course not to mention the rise of the far-right in many countries as well as, obviously, the Russian conflict with Ukraine. And interestingly, when Saturn stationed direct recently they almost signed a deal. Wonder what will happen next when each will ingress back into Aries and when the conjunction gets exact but we gotta remember that both planets will be together in Aries for the next 2-ish years so there’s still plenty to happen I fear.