The Turmoil of the Sixties

- Protests, Rioting, Wars and Racism

- Martin Lass © 2003

(This article follows on from "Woodstock".)

The escalation of rioting during the latter part of the 1960s and the early 1970s was indicative of the reaction to the challenge of Chiron and Pluto during these years. We react to difficult situations, unacceptable truths and to the constraints of the status quo in many different ways. Violence, in the form of protests and riots, was the way some chose to react during these years. Many of the riots were concerned with black civil rights, clashes between African Americans and whites being commonplace during these years. Chiron and its planetary associates during this time shone a light on the Wounds of African American people, bringing what was formerly repressed into the open. (Remember that Chiron in Pisces is concerned with Wounds and issues of victimization, disenfranchisement, injustice and inequities.) Such a challenge necessarily brings conflict, conflict being one of the lever arms of evolution. Other racial struggles were evident during these years, too. These racial issues began emerging in the early 1950s and continued to escalate into the late 1960s.

During this time, rioting was seen in on the streets of London, Paris, Washington DC, Johannesburg, Limassol, Berlin, Northern Ireland, Milan, Buenos Aires, amongst many others.

Amongst the racial tensions that escalated during these years was the whole plight of the Jewishpeople after WWII. The role of Pluto conjuncting Chiron during WWII cannot be overemphasized. During the late 1950s and the early 1960s, the demand for retribution, recompense and justice for the atrocities inflicted upon the Jews reached a new intensity. The focal point was the trial and sentencing of Adolf Eichmann in Israel. He was tried and sentenced to death between 1960 and 1962 for his part in the war crimesagainst the Jews. (See CHART 1--EICHMANN SENTENCED and CHART 2--EICHMANN HANGED.)

CHART 1 - EICHMANN SENTENCED

Wounds of WWII illuminated.

Adolf Eichmann sentenced - Natal Chart

Dec 12 1961, 11:00 am, GMT +0:00

London, 51°N00', 000°W12'

Geocentric Tropical Zodiac

Solar Sign Houses, True Node

CHART 2 - EICHMANN HANGED

Wounds of WWII further illuminated.

Eichmann hanged - Natal Chart

May 31 1962, 11:00 am, CET -1:00

Israel, 32°N06', 034°E46'

Geocentric Tropical Zodiac

Solar Sign Houses, True Node

Ignoring house and Moon positions due to uncertain time, the sentencing chart clearly shows the Sagittarian striving for justice with Sun, Mercury and Mars, all conjunct and parallel (triple occultation), trining and sextiling North and South Nodes, respectively. Venus joins the other three in Sagittarius. Uranus opposes Chiron, as is so common throughout these years, throwing light on old Wounds.

The hanging chart, again ignoring the Moon and house placements, exemplifies Chiron's negative theme of victimization with a grand water trine between Chiron/Jupiter on one point, and Venus and Neptune on the other two. The occultation of Saturn and the South Node says it all in terms of the past coming back to haunt. The quincunxing of Chiron/Jupiter and the North Node impels us to seek a new and higher understanding of events and issues concerning which we are stuck low consciousness.

Wars and conflicts are another way in which we react to Plutonian and Chironic challenges. The 1950s saw the Korean War. The 1960s saw the Vietnam War, The Six Day Warbetween Israel and the Arab states, the Cuban missile crisis and the Bay of Pigs debacle, the taking over of Peking by the Red Army, the Soviet invasion of Czechoslovakia, Soviet and Chinese border clashes, flare-ups in Northern Ireland leading to deployment of British troops, Colonel Gadaffi's coup of Libya, Biafran capitulation to Nigerian troops, post Six Day War clashes between Syria and Israel, US troops invading Cambodia, Israel and Lebanon in border clashes, the Yom Kippur War between Egypt, Syria and Israel, the Turkish invasion of Cyprus, the Biafran War, the struggle for independence of Algeria, Kenya and Aden, the Sharpeville massacre in Africa and so on and so forth.

Pluto, classically associated with war and birth through destruction, played the major role in this respect during the 1960s, spurred on by Chiron's awakening of our Wounds and unexpressed, unresolved issues. The next major aspect of Pluto and Chiron occurred in December 1999, when they conjuncted in Sagittarius. This aspect augurs the 21^st century awakening of repressed and unexpressed issues and Wounds around spirituality, religion, philosophy, morals and ethics, etcetera. The reaction to these may be somewhat violent. An escalation of religiously based wars and conflict seems inevitable. Shortly into the new millennium, we already we saw an escalation of tensions between Israel and Palestine, catalyzing hatred between the Moslem, Jewish and Christian worlds. We also saw tensions and conflict between the Chinese government and the Falun Gong sect and between religious factions in Northern Ireland. The most recent expressions were the September 11 (2001) attack on the World Trade Center towers in New York City and the call for a jihad by such factions as Osama bin Laden, the Al Qaeda group and other such extremist Muslim groups. On the other side of the coin, we see president George W. Bush and the administration of the US government masquerading their version of the Christian ethic behind the so-called War on Terror.

(This article is followed by "The Beatles".)

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