Happy Birthday, New Mexico

I find the astrology of a region or country interesting. 

Sometimes, there are problems. Due to conquest, losing or acquiring land or change in the form of government, a region may  be forced into, or willingly assume, a new identity - and thus, a new national “birthday”. For example, czarist Russia had one birthday, the USSR had a different birthday, and the region’s “birthday” changed again when the Soviets lost power. The latest in a series of regional “birthdays” doesn’t show everything about the area: The modern society grows out of and incorporates older traditions and lifestyles; it is an amalgamation or fusion of many prior identities from previous regional incarnations.

In addition, a nation or state may not be homogeneous; there are subcultures, sometimes diverse and radically different from stereotypes of “what that area is like”. For example, we usually say that the “birthday” of a USA state was the day that it officially/legally became a state. So, for example, Pennsylvania has a birthday of December 12, 1787. However, the culture and feel of Philadelphia (historic, multi-cultural, urban with renown educational and artistic institutions) differs radically from that of the Amish communities (rural, isolationist, self sufficient, devout) near Lancaster, and both differ from towns west of the Poconos. When we think of a state, we may think of its largest or best known city, or of its capitol, but this gives an incomplete vision of the complexities of the region’s make-up.

I live in Santa Fe, New Mexico. This state birthday cake appeared in a Santa Fe Facebook page today.

So, I looked at the state chart. I used a “solar” (sun on Ascendent) chart, as the exact time of acceptance into statehood is uncertain (although most likely during “standard working hours”). Thus, some information is missing (We don’t know the Ascendent and can’t place planets in specific houses); however, we can still look at sign placements and aspects. The moon’s placement may be off by a few degrees. Here’s the chart for New Mexico: 

We see a Capricorn sun (trine Saturn in Taurus and opposing Neptune); how is this reflected in the “beingness” of New Mexico? The 2 most obvious and enduring Capricorn traits are the higher altitude/geology and the strong ancestral consciousness of a large indigenous population.

Although not as famous for its mountains as Colorado, New Mexico has several 13K foot high mountains and ski resorts, and the southern end of the Rockies extends into northern central New Mexico; Santa Fe, at an altitude of 7000 feet, is the highest state capitol in the US. “Climbing the mountain” is Capricorn. In addition, New Mexico features many bare rock formations that showcase the Capricornian “skeleton” of the local earth structure. In these pictures, you can see the bones of the earth, jutting forth in mesmerizing geological formations.

Jemez red rock

City of Rocks

A significant part of the population identifies as Native American, dedicated to preserving ancient tribal wisdom and ancestral arts; there are several national/state parks/monuments preserving the architectural remains of indigenous people who lived here 1000 yrs ago (ex., Chaco Canyon). Historical preservation and deep connection to ancestral wisdom - both Capricorn.

Cliff dwellings at Bandelier

Chaco Canyon

Interestingly, with Neptune in Cancer (square nodes), New Mexico is called “the land of enchantment”. (“My land” could point to either Taurus or Cancer). On the negative side, Neptune in Cancer could indicate the dissolution of many families due to national policies - for example, indigenous children being forced to attend Indian boarding schools at a young age, deliberately severed from their families (supposedly, to “help them assimilate” into the dominant American culture).

Roadside Distractions in Land of Enchantment

We see a strong Sagittarius signature (Mercury, Jupiter, Venus are in Sagittarius, with latter 2 squaring Chiron): This line-up resonates with the history of ethic/religious friction, plus wounding of the indigenous people by invading Spanish and later by general US policies. The population consists of 4 main ethnic groups: 1) Indigenous - whom colonizers tried to kill off, who then were forced to accept Catholicism by the occupying Spaniards, then were shunted to reservations per US policy (breaking up families, disrupting cultural practices and leading to the loss of some ancestral ways/knowledge); 2) Spanish, who arrived here centuries before statehood; this group has adopted “typical American culture”/language, but maintains a fierce connection to and pride in its ancestral heritage. 3) Other (non-Spanish Caucasians, African Americans, Asian Americans, etc....who migrated here for all sorts of reasons) and 4) more recent immigrants from Mexico/Central America who may struggle with language (some minimally fluent in English), with finances (often in minimum wage jobs, especially if recently arrived), and with prejudice from civilians and law enforcement (exacerbated with Trump in office) even if they are official US citizens. So, undercurrents of cross-cultural tension and resentment continue, plus severe woundings related to ethnicity.

Local pottery

With Saturn in Taurus: Environmental consciousness is more innately part of the local mindset than in some states.....the understanding that one needs to be a responsible steward (Saturn) of the land and its resources (Taurus). With Saturn pointing to restriction/limitation, there’s a high poverty rate in the state (limitations of Taurean money), but many of the poor live in rural (Taurus) areas with a deep spiritual connection to nature.

Rural home

Uranus (associated with science and innovation) squares the nodal axis, making it important in the state’s evolution. Los Alamos, a major center for scientific (primarily military) research  is in New Mexico. Swathes of sparsely populated land in southern New Mexico were used for testing nuclear weapons in the 1940s/1950s. Uranus squares the nodes, opposes Neptune, trines Mars and is quincunx Pluto.  Mars-Uranus points to the development of technology for military use. The Los Alamos lab (and associated small city, where many lab workers live) is atop a high mesa (8000 feet altitude), surrounded by many miles of unpopulated forest/mountains in all directions - literally, a Uranian creation in the middle of Neptunian wildness. Pluto is trine Chiron and quincunx Uranus: During the 1940s and 50s, the government counted extremely sparsely populated areas as “unpopulated”; nuclear testing resulted in higher cancer and birth defect rates in some areas of New Mexico.....wounding (chiron) thru Pluto-nium and science applied without due concern for individual well being.

Also related to Uranus: New Mexico is the setting for much UFO lore. The Uranus-Neptune connection would call attention to cosmic energies (Neptune), especially those involving advanced ET civilizations/craft (Uranus). In addition to the famous Roswell crash, a popular conspiracy theory hints at underground ET military bases in Dulce, New Mexico (Uranus-Mars, spiced with Neptunian imagination.

 Aesthetics: With Mars in Taurus, local cuisine is hot and spicy (chili being a major ingredient). Venus is also in fire (Sagittarius) conjunct Jupiter: Although Los Alamos architecture is “American drab”, Santa Fe (state capitol) is known as the “city different”, largely due to its colorful, historical architecture that expresses the coexistence of indigenous and old-Spanish cultures. Most buildings are gold/orange faux adobe, with brightly colored doors and shutters; unlike in much of the USA (where people seem afraid of color, and settle on white/light grey or brown buildings), the architectural color palette in Santa Fe (and some other NM cities) is an invigorating (fire) feast for the eyes.

Streets in Santa Fe, with vibrant, historic, true-to-culture aesthetic.

The Great Mother meets the lord of Death

Ceres (Great Mother asteroid/planetoid) is currently conjunct sun, as well as Pluto, Saturn and Mercury. Along with the Cancer/Capricorn nodal axis, this brings needed "great mother" energy to the transformations (Pluto) and building of new structures (Saturn). Could this conjunction of Ceres and Pluto also help in reconciling masculine and feminine energies, thru understanding/compassion for the wounds that each has suffered in recent and remote history...leading to final forgiveness?; such deep reconciliation seems critical for the 2 energies to work cooperatively, as well as for full heiro gamos union.

Symbolically, Ceres carries the "wounded mother" energy: Her daughter Persephone was kidnapped by...eh...Pluto/Hades. Autumn/winter mythologically represent her mourning period (the half year during which Persephone agreed to be in the underworld with Pluto, then returning to the surface for spring/summer. Symbolically, she was the devoted Mother who lost her child (part time) thru no fault of her own. 

However, like real mothers who lose children to illness/accidents, she most likely still suffered guilt - What did I do wrong?; what is fundamentally wrong with me to deserve such a loss (loss as karmic retribution). She feels abandoned, victimized by Pluto AND by her daughter; by the Masculine and by her own offspring (her creations). Love and devotion has been repaid with abandonment, the ultimate betrayal. She is Great-Mother-as-Victim; victimized “benevolent mother” becomes victimizer Dark Mother, who withdraws her fertilizing powers from the earth as an act of revenge against the Dark Masculine and against herself.....against that which grows from her, against her own powers of fertility and nurturing.

If we step into the shoes of the mythic Pluto character, we see more wound-based action ....He was Lord of the Underworld, thus held power. But he lived in the dark (underworld) realm of the dead - so also a lonely, bleak existence. Humans and demigods wanted to be with all the other gods, but who wanted to be with the god of Death? So, profound alienation and rejection, a feeling that his loneliness would last forever.....which led to desperation/despair and the drastic action of kidnapping Persephone. 

Historically, the masculine has been severely wounded in the emotional body - not “allowed” to show emotions (except anger); it’s easier to “not show emotions” if one doesn’t feel those emotions....ie., if they’ve been repressed. Instead of acknowledging, processing and healing emotions as they occur, the emotions are stuffed “underground”. They fester in an Underworld (the existence of which most prefer to deny), creating a toxic atmosphere and growing into full-sized demons of the dark. Pluto dwells full-time in this dark toxic miasma, with these demons; the toxic energy of all those festering underworld emotions clings to him like a bad smell, a darkness in his aura that repels dwellers of the surface realm, because it reminds them of what they’d rather not see. 

Pluto is masculine (is a male god) - so perhaps also suffers guilt and self doubt (“Am I good enough, man enough?”) because he must live surrounded by emotions, because he couldn’t successfully compartmentalize those emotions and hide them away in distant dungeons as a male “should” do.  

So what could it mean, with Ceres in this planetary cluster? 

The sun illuminates....so maybe, a further bringing to the surface and illumination of Mother-wounds (for healing). And, conjunct Pluto (the "perpetrator" in the myth)......maybe a reconciliation of the wounded (and thus wounding) masculine with the wounded (and wounding) feminine, perhaps a new ability to deeply understand the "why"s (wounds) underlying behaviors. A greater understanding of core wounds of both the masculine and feminine, simultaneously. Could such mutual deep understanding of the other lead to a compassion and forgiveness that heals, that de-fangs the Dark Masculine and the Dark Feminine?