“None of us can change the past” was King Charles’ attempt to tackle the reparations row over the transatlantic slave trade at the Commonwealth Heads meeting. From 1500, the British government and the monarchy were prominent participants in the centuries-long slave trade, alongside other European nations. British ships are reckoned to have transported over three million enslaved Africans, mostly to colonies in the Caribbean and North America. Britain also had a key role in ending the trade in 1833. Some Commonwealth leaders have called for the UK to pay financial compensation estimated at more than £18tn ($23tn).
The Commonwealth of Nations, is an international association of 56 member states, the vast majority of which are former territories of the British Empire. It dates back to the first half of the 20th century with the decolonisation of the British Empire through increased self-governance of its territories. It was formalised on 11 December 1931. The current Commonwealth of Nations was constituted on 28 April 1949. The Head of the Commonwealth is Charles III. He is king of 15 member states, known as the Commonwealth realms, whilst 36 other members are republics, and five others have different monarchs.
The 1931 chart has an enthusiastic Fire Grand Trine of Sagittarius Sun trine Uranus and trine Jupiter; five planets in earthy Capricorn trine an idealistic Neptune; and a hard-edged though innovative Saturn opposition Pluto square Uranus. With fittingly a go-it-alone North Node in Aries.
The 1949 chart has a similarly energized mix of Earth and Fire with a Taurus New Moon plus Venus and Mercury; with Pluto and Saturn in Leo and Mars in Aries. There was a mainly Fire but mixed element Grand Trine of Mars trine Saturn trine Jupiter; with a super-confident Jupiter on the focal point of a yod to Uranus sextile Saturn. Also with an Aries North Node.
Both charts hint that 2026/27 will be years of major upheaval. On the 1931 chart the Solar Arc Uranus conjunct the Pluto and opposition the Saturn will upend that T square. Fractious arguments will precede it with the Solar Arc Mars square the Mercury in 2025.
The 1949 chart has a tension-erupting tr Uranus square the Saturn from mid 2025 into 2026; with a road-blocked and infuriated SA Pluto opposition Mars as well as a can-be-fanatical SA Neptune conjunct the Uranus in 2026/27; followed by a deconstruct and reconstruct tr Pluto square the Sun in 2027/28.
From a previous post April 3 2023. Slavery reparations – righting historical wrongs
The history of British/English involvement in slavery has danced to the tune of Uranus Pluto with its participation in transatlantic slavery beginning in 1592 under Uranus Pluto in Aries; and taking over the slave trade to South America in 1713 under Uranus Pluto in Virgo.
Uranus Pluto is more commonly associated with rebellions and revolutions, present during the civil rights unrest in the USA in the 1960s with Uranus Pluto in Virgo in place and over the independence from colonial rule for 12 African states. But that Uranus Pluto conjunction also oversaw Nelson Mandela’s imprisonment as well as Martin Luther King and the Kennedy brothers’ assassinations.
During the previous Uranus Pluto conjunction in the 1840s and 1850s Natal in eastern South Africa, became a British colony and another Anglo-African War broke out. In the USA Harriet Beecher Stowe published Uncle Tom’s Cabin.
In the eternal war between the forces of total oppression (Pluto) and the will for freedom (Uranus) sometimes one wins, sometimes the other. There is not another hard Pluto Uranus aspect until the 2040s. But it may be that Pluto moving into Aquarius, ruled by Uranus, combining as it does the two conflicting energies raises the same mood.
The moves to abolish slavery came in stages in the UK, first with a ban internally in the UK and only after 1833 in British overseas territory.
What is intriguing is that the two key acts – the Slave Trade Act 28 March 1807 and the Slavery Abolition Act 28 August 1833 both had Pluto square the North Node – and the 1833 Act had Uranus in Aquarius. Pluto square the NN is puzzling at first glance but perhaps a hint that the zeitgeist/spirit of the Age was moving against Pluto’s need to control and to project its hatred and contempt towards those who are different and therefore deemed inferior.
The post Commonwealth – a fork in the road ahead + colonialism Africa first appeared on Astroinform with Marjorie Orr – Star4cast.
