Part III of III
by Marilyn Muir, LPMAFA
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At the time of America’s Declaration of Independence, a new country was birthed, conceived from the frustration of the existing foreign governing conditions of that time and the need for personal liberty of our Founding Fathers. These men were tradesmen, farmers, and townsmen who were never trained in warfare or self-governance. They were driven by an internal dream. They believed that a better life was possible if they had the faith in themselves to set it in motion, fertilize it with their personal efforts and sacrifice, and then have the tenacity and perseverance to see it through to completion. From my research into the astrological birth pattern of the USA, three themes were dominant for that founding: freedom and independence, powerful communications, and spirituality.
In part I of this mini-series, “America – Independent and Futuristic – The USA Aquarius/Uranus Theme”, I wrote of our country’s drive for freedom and independence at its birthing. Part II discussed “America’s Communication Quandary – Our Mercury/Pluto Opposition”, the second of our nation’s primary drives. In this article I will discuss the third theme I see as central to our founding. This was the heart of America, our innate spirituality, our Neptune. My research was based on my conclusion of the Virgo rising USA wheel as valid and is also the basis of these articles.
Using that Virgo rising wheel, Neptune is located solidly in the first house and rules (has affinity for) the seventh house. What does that mean? The ascendant represents the initial emergence onto the world stage of whatever entity is represented by that specific sky pattern. Whether that entity is a person, a corporation or a country, something distinctive was birthed into the universe at that moment. This represents an individualization of universality, a separate and distinct example of universal potential as specific expression. In this instance that was the birth of our country, the USA. At that moment within potential, actualization occurred. The universal initiated individual expression. At that moment potential was stirred into realization.
Potential blossomed into a distinct entity, full of promise, and instantly became a work in progress. Birth implies the beginning of a process, not its totality. As whatever is born in a moment of time moves forward into experience, it is the blossoming into physical existence that astrologers are able to first map and then follow through its life process. We diagram that first moment to study and understand the entity’s intent and purpose. Then we must allow that entity to develop through its own personal process using a series of sky maps of the emerging and changing entity to delineate its progress.
That birth moment and the energy we map is critical to understanding the overall process. What was the inherent nature of that moment in time? In the USA birth energy, Virgo rising illustrates that we were a hard-working, practical people – farmers, herders, agricultural-based, and tradesmen by necessity. As a country, we were service-oriented, with a strong work ethic hardwired into our citizenry. We were people of a message and a vision. As we moved forward into experience from that birth moment, spirituality, which is also known as faith, was the first energy to be encountered and incorporated into our emerging coping skills and the face we presented to the world. Neptune and all it represents is part of the face of our country, that which others see, and also lies at the core of our self-projection onto the landscape we call our world.
Neptune represents the dream of a better life, our vision of the future. It is not specifically about freedom and individuality. That energy is better represented by Uranus and Aquarius, another dominant theme for our country. Neptune understands the sacrifice necessary to achieve a waking dream, to yearn and to allow that yearning to lead us forward into possibility. In some instances, Neptune represents “the grass is greener elsewhere”, so I’m certain that kind of doubt was present as the privations and sacrifices demanded by the war of necessity made even the patriots doubt their actions and the costs. If the dream is strong enough, those who must manifest that dream will keep reaching for the dream until it does manifest. That is what drove the patriots, what represents the sacrifices they made and what is at the core of America as a country.
Neptune is not an easy energy to understand. Does it represent a dream or a pipe-dream? Is it a call to our better selves or is it the lure to our own destruction? Is it inspiration or illusion? My favorite analogy for Neptune is the cartoon of the donkey with a carrot suspended on a string just in front of the donkey’s nose. The string is attached to a pole that is in turn attached to the donkey itself. As the lure of the carrot inspires the donkey to reach for it, the donkey must move forward. Attached to the donkey as it is, the carrot moves forward as well and remains slightly out of reach of the donkey. The prize inspires or lures us forward, but seems to be forever out of reach. Is it wrong to reach? Of course it’s not wrong to reach. The lure has inspired us to forward movement, to reach for more, to even know more is possible. That it is slightly out of reach means we will keep moving forward, toward possibility. Each temptation, each effort develops us further even though it has obvious built-in frustrations. This is the faith of a farmer that is inherent within us as a people.
Neptune represents our nation’s spirituality, that within us which recognizes its universal roots, seeks the highest and best for us, inspires, occasionally frustrates, yet leads us continually forward towards more and better. Religion refers to that as the God within or without, according to individual perspective. Spirituality goes beyond the codification of religion into at-one-ment with the universe. Spirituality instinctively knows it is part and parcel of something larger that is not religiously codified. Neptune rules (has affinity for) the sign of Pisces, the concept of universality itself… “I am one with the whole”. This affinity is on the USA point of partnership, alliance, connected-ness to others, the world. Do you suppose that is why we as a people continually reach out to others in need, even when our own needs have not been met?
As I write this, the Haiti earthquake is a few weeks old and Chile’s devastation is still making screaming headlines. There is much discussion of whether we as a country should be reaching out to help others when our own country and its people are reeling under our own economic devastation. The answer is yes, we should be and we must be for that drive is at the core of our nation. The natural and inborn drive to respond to our environment (first house) is to reach out to others (seventh house) with our spiritual essence. We instinctively know human heartache and must do what is within our means to assist, to heal and to inspire. Our innate spiritual drive reaches out to others with the instinct that we are our brothers’ keepers, that sacrifice might be necessary and that for humanity to be human it must act in a humane way. This is hard-wired into our being as a country and lures us into becoming more than we have been. It is the universe placing that proverbial carrot so it is visible to us yet slightly out of reach so we will move forward in our humanity.
First published on All Things Healing website September, 2010, republished with slight editing.
This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike 4.0 International License.