by Marilyn Muir, LPMAFA
This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike 4.0 International License.
Post World War II, the world had to put itself back together from the devastation and cost of the great war. For one group, the United Kingdom created public corporations to manage nationalized industries for the common good. Royal Assent was required prior to establishment of a Constitution, a public corporation to manage such nationalized industries. That Assent for the coal industry was given July 12, 1946. With royalty and Parliament generally located in or near London, England, probability for time of Assent was between 8 AM and 4 PM. Commonly used with incorporation or business charts, noonmark is the middle of the business day. The same reasoning would be observed for the National Coal Board (NCB) Constitution on July 15, 1946, three days later.
Noonmark chart work is speculative at best. Astrologers prefer an accurately timed chart but that is not always available. In a speculative chart, the house system and angles cannot be fully trusted. The Moon for this time period was moving about 12˚ from day to day which equals 1˚ every two hours on the clock. Moon variable for either of the noonmark charts is +- 6˚ on either side of noonmark Moon. That would be approximately 22 Sagittarius to 4 Capricorn for the Royal Assent and 28.5 Capricorn to 10.5 Aquarius for the Constitutional Moon. The day-to-day position for the other bodies and points are so close to the noonmark listings that I was not concerned in these speculative charts.
According to Rex Bill’s Rulership Book, coal and its mining are a Saturn / Capricorn issue. How do the NCB Royal Assent and Constitution look in general astrologically?
- Assent Ascendant 3 Libra 13 is conjunct Neptune 6 Libra 00 rising in the first house. The duo is tighter for the Constitution Ascendant 5 Libra 19 with Neptune 6 Libra 03 rising in the first house. As I read through the articles about the RCB, there were several questionable, almost shady political maneuvers over the years as it went first from privately held companies… to national control… full circle to eventual privatization (privately held). Along with a major mining disaster to bring glaring headlines, I definitely saw negative Neptune at work.
- So what are the major Assent aspects that bear watching? The Assent Sun 19 Can 29 widely conjuncts Saturn 27 Can 16. The Sun is also closely square Jupiter 18 Lib 34. The Assent Moon, if accurate in the noonmark chart, is void of course, past the opposition to Uranus 19 Gemini 28 and the conjunction of the S Node 20 Sagittarius 41. This corporate entity was viable for decades. I would be surprised if it had a void of course Moon.
- Mercury 14 Leo 16 is conjunct Pluto 10 Leo 44. Powerful communication aspect to the point of power brokering for good or for ill, much as we find in the Mercury opposition Pluto in the US. Declaration of Independence charts.
- The Constitution Sun / Saturn conjunction is tighter but still applying, with a very earlier-in-the-day Moon in opposition. A much later-in-the-day Moon would have moved to the opposition of Pluto. Either opposition could show inherent problems.
Please know that over the years, the NCB operated the managing body successfully in some issues and not so successfully in others. That is common in business. The more positive aspects in the charts reflect the positive attributes and actions of the entity.
Briefly that is a rudimentary picture of a corporate entity. What happened to make this an interesting Revisiting History subject? I am half-Welsh, with strong family ties both here in the U.S. and with more distant cousins in Wales. My own Grandfather immigrated from coal-mining country to a quarry area in upstate New York. This morning a Welsh cousin Facebooked me an article for an old event in Wales.
Twenty years after the formation of the CNB, on October 21, 1966, at 9:15 AM, the unthinkable happened in Merthyr Tydfil, South Wales… coal mining country. Sounds like a coalmine explosion or cave-in, doesn’t it? Nope! When mining of any type is done, there is a lot of throwaway material that accumulates. Such debris was deposited in huge mounds around the mine site. In this instance, there were seven giant debris piles around the Aberfan Mine. There had been ongoing torrential rains that had soaked into those slag mounds called “spoil tips” and had weakened the underlying aquifer. In your mind’s eye, see the top of a mountain of debris. There was a horrible landslide from the most recent tip #7, a mound 111 feet high. The whole of it careened down the slopes taking out everything in its path, so quickly there was no time to warn the populace. Nothing survived that wet, devastating debris as it roared into the village and took out the Junior High School in a life-shattering second. 116 children were killed instantly along with 28 adults from the village. One of the headlines read: “An entire generation was wiped out” for this small village. As I read the article I cried for their loss. My brain cannot even imagine what that village and its people endured. So I set the charts to see what I might see, and there were the connections we Astrologers have come to expect in Mundane Astrology. The charts give the evidence for this story.
- The Constitution chart lists Sun 22 Cancer 20 and Saturn 27 Cancer 39. The landslide chart lists Venus 22 Libra 44 and Sun 27 Lib 29 – a tight square. The accurate landslide Moon is 28 Capricorn 45. That is a separating aspect that relates to the process that led to the eventual slide. I would hazard a guess that the bad situation had turned critical about four hours prior, while the Moon was applying to the pattern; but that activity was hidden, underground… shifting was happening and the stage was being set for disaster.
- In the chart for the landslide itself retrograde Saturn opposes a Uranus / Pluto conjunction and those degrees coincide with that Uranus / N Node conjunction of the Assent and Constitution charts. As mentioned previously according to Rex Bill’s Rulership book Saturn rules coal and mines. I would have looked to Pluto for all things underground. Uranus was the shock and the headlines as the waterlogged and weakened watershed (Neptune) underneath tip #7 gave way and almost instantly obliterated twenty homes and a school full of children.
- The landslide Midheaven is 27 Leo 30 and the Assent Venus is 28 Leo 26.
- The Constitution and Assent Mercury / Pluto conjunctions are squared by the accurate landslide Ascendant 11 Scorpio 44.
As bad as all this was at that moment, the story did not end there. With the usual political maneuvering and “cover your backside” manipulation, the story went on for many years. It did seem to resolve itself positively over the long haul, but only after the victims were put through a years-long ordeal. Imagine losing your town, your people, your family and friends, your livelihood, and then having to fight tooth and nail for every step forward for years and years. An ability the Welsh possess in great abundance is stick-to-it-ive-ness, also known as tenacity!
Can you see how these charts reflect key elements of this story? Yes, we had to use noonmark for the Assent and Constitution, but the timed chart of the landslide is reliable and meshes so well into the two more speculative charts. When we revisit history, especially with the benefit of the world’s largest library, the internet, we learn astrology and can research whatever we choose.
This article is dedicated to the people of Merthyr Tydfil, South Wales, as part of my personal extended family of Welsh relatives. I feel your loss deeply even 51 years after the event. While not a Welsh word, I wish you “Namasté”. I salute the light within you.
Sources:
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Aberfan_disaster
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/National_Coal_Board
Facebook page: The History of Wales
Published in AFA Today’s Astrologer Jan 2018 vol 80#1, republished with slight editing.
This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike 4.0 International License.