Mars in Taurus Retrograde Part 1:
Science brought down to Earth, and the Earth rising up in rebellion...
If scientific breakthroughs seem well-represented in history under the earthy,
ambitious influence of Mars in Taurus, then perhaps the retrograde phases of
Mars in Taurus provide the period of germination that enables those flashes of
inspiration or discovery to settle into something concrete.
In 1706, the Greek letter "Pi" was first used to represent the ratio
of circumference/diameter in a circle and Sir Isaac Newton published his theories
on the nature of light in the Latin edition of "Opticks." One Mars
cycle later, in 1722, the first smallpox inoculation was given in Boston, where
the disease had claimed over 200 lives during the retrograde phase the previous
October. In 1753, with Mars again in Taurus and about to retrograde, another
outbreak of smallpox infected some 38% of the population in Boston.
That same year, Dr. James Lind, a British naval surgeon, observed that fresh
fruits and vegetables could cure scurvy and Linnaeus, the "father of systematics," authored "Species
Plantarum," a compilation of some 6,000 plants from around the world.
Two cycles later, in June of 1800, the smallpox vaccination is used for the
first
time in North America.
During the 1785 Mars in Taurus cycle, the American Continental Congress' Land
Grant Act set aside land for schools and the University of Georgia was the first
state university chartered. It was not established until 1801, however, during
the next Mars in Taurus Retrograde. Also that year, James Hutton presented
his Theory of the Earth, which stated that geological features were the result
of processes still occurring (i.e. volcanism, erosion, and deposition).
Mount Tambora erupted in the summer of 1815, just before Mars entered Taurus
retrograde in September, ejecting over a million and a half metric tons of
dust into the upper atmosphere. It was estimated that 10,000 died immediately
as a
result of the eruption, with about 82,000 dying subsequently. Worldwide, many
more died from starvation and disease due to climate change as the reduced
sunlight caused temperatures to fall throughout the northern hemisphere. Mars
remained
in Taurus through the spring of 1816, which came to be known as the "Year
without a Summer."
During the retrograde phase of 1879, on October 21, Thomas Edison used
a filament of carbonized thread to test the first practical electric light bulb
(it lasted 13.5 hours before burning out). On January 1, 1880, construction of
the Panama Canal began and on February 2, with Mars still in Taurus, the first
electric streetlight was installed in Wabash, Indiana.
Illuminating the farthest unexplored corners of the earth, on December 14, 1911,
Roald Amundsen's expedition reached the South Pole during a Mars retrograde phase
in Taurus and, on January 17, explorer Robert Falcon Scott and his team of four
began the 2nd expedition to reach South Pole.
On August 18, 1926, a weather map was televised for the first time, sent from
NAA Arlington to the Weather Bureau Office in Washington, D.C., just in time
for the Great Miami Hurricane one month later, which struck on September 18.
The hurricane devastated Miami, Florida, leaving over 100 dead and causing several
hundred million dollars in damage; equal to nearly $100 billion dollars today.
One month after that, on October 20, another hurricane killed more than
600 people in Cuba.
During same cycle, now the retrograde phase, the village of Rocquebillier on
the French Riviera was almost destroyed on November 24 in a massive hail storm;
three days later, Mount Vesuvius erupted and, on February 14, 1927, with Mars
still in Taurus, and earthquake in Yugoslavia killed 700 dead.
And this trend stretches back as far as your researchers' eyes cared to see;
Mars had just turned direct in December 1879 when part of the Tay Rail Bridge
in Dundee, Scotland collapsed as a train passed over it, killing 75. On January
22, 1959, Mars having just turned direct in Taurus again, water breached the
River Slope mine in Pennsylvania, killing 12 miners and, two retro phases in
Taurus later, on July 16, 1990, a 7.7 magnitude earthquake killed 1,600 in the
Philippines.
So, we've observed that Mars in Taurus retrograde cycles have a habit of pulling
the earth out from under its inhabitants but there also seems to be a rather
nasty pattern involving musicians in flight...
On February 3, 1959, the plane carrying Buddy Holly, Richie Valens and the Big
Bopper crashed in an Iowa snowstorm, killing everyone on board. During the next
Mars in Taurus retrograde cycle on September 20, 1973, singer-songwriter Jim
Croce died when his plane crashed in Louisiana and, during the next cycle,
on August 27, 1991, Stevie Ray Vaughan's helicopter crashed in Wisconsin, killing
Vaughan and four others.
As an interesting aside, on August 13, 1926, Fidel Castro was born with Mars
Retrograde in Taurus and he would go on to become known throughout the world
during another such phase in 1958. Another interesting aside, on September 25,
1973, the three-man crew of Skylab Two splashed down, returning safely to earth
after 59 days in orbit.
Part 2: Battlefield Earth...
On November 2, 1721, with Mars retrograde in Taurus, Peter
I is proclaimed "Emperor of All the Russias." On January 24, 1722,
he introduces the "Table of Ranks," a system which determined a person's
position and status based on service to the Emperor rather than on heredity
or seniority. Under this system, commoners could move up to the highest ranks
in
Russian society.
This introduces another theme of Mars in Taurus Retrograde involving the relationship
between governments and the governed, ruling classes and repressed masses. Historically,
this transit brings the transfer of land into question, to put it mildly, frequently
through war and treachery. This transit seems to involve the heights and depths
that we will go to in order to possess a piece of the earth.
On October 28, 1753, three days prior to the Mars retrograde, Germans and French
Creoles joined in an armed revolt against the Spanish governor of New Orleans.
On November 5, William Johnson negotiated a treaty with the Iroquois for much
of the land between the Tennessee and Ohio rivers and, on December 12, George
Washington delivered an ultimatum to the French, staking Britain's claim to the
Ohio River valley. The French and Indian war subsequently resulted in France
losing almost of all its land possessions in North America.
On November 17, 1800, with Mars retrograde in Taurus, the U.S. Congress
held its first session in Washington, DC. During the same cycle, Napoleon Bonaparte
invaded Italy and defeated the Austrian troops in the Battle of Marengo. Some
of Napoleon's most decisive victories occurred under this transit of Mars in
Taurus but, in 1801, he would be forced to pull his forces out of Egypt and,
one cycle later, his exile on St. Helena would begin under the retrograde cycle
of 1815.
On October 10, 1832, a company of Rangers begin a campaign to evict the Indians
from the east coast in what would later be known as the "Trail of Tears" which
eventually resulted in the deaths of over 4,000 Cherokees.
In December 1832, with Mars retrograde in Taurus, the Skull and Bones secret
society was established at Yale University and John C. Calhoun became the first
Vice President of the United States to resign. The following March, after a
landslide reelection in November, President Andrew Jackson (whose natal Mars
was in Taurus),
signed the "Force Bill," which authorized him to use troops to enforce
Federal law in South Carolina.
Throughout the Mars in Taurus phase of 1847-1848, the Mexican-American War raged,
the Irish Potato Famine brought Irish settlers to the east coast of America in
droves and the California Gold Rush sent thousands of Americans of all nationalities
and ethnicities into the untamed west to seek their fortune on the far coast.
On January 26, 1847, Henry David Thoreau addressed the Concord Lyceum with "The
Rights and Duties of the Individual in Relation to Government," a document
which helped form the basis of modern Civil Disobedience. Less than one month
later, on February 21, Karl Marx published the Communist Manifesto.
On November 1, 1894, immediately following the Mars retrograde cycle in
Taurus, Nicholas II became the last Tsar of Russia. During the next cycle, on
January 1, 1912, the Republic of China was established three days after Mars
turned direct.
On August 18, 1926, a British miner's union began negotiations with the government
and on October 12, two weeks into the Mars retrograde cycle, they agreed to end
their strike. On December 2, British prime minister Stanley Baldwin ended the
martial law that had been declared due to strike.
January 2, 1958, just after Mars stationed direct, Castro's troops entered Havana
and, that same month, the United States recognized the new Cuban government under
Fidel Castro, who also happens to be a Mars in Taurus native.
On August 15, 1973, three days into the most action-packed retrograde cycle we
studied, U.S. bombing of Cambodia ended, marking the official halt to 12 years
of fighting in Southeast Asia.
September 11, a military coup in Chile led by Augusto Pinochet overthrew the
government of President Salvador Allende. In total, some 3,000 people were
killed or "disappeared" as a result of the coup. On October 6, 1973,
the Yom Kippur War, the fourth and largest Arab-Israeli conflict, began as
Egyptian and
Syrian forces attacked Israel during Yom Kippur (the war ended October 26,
one day after Mars turned direct).
On October 10, with Mars still retrograde, Spiro Agnew resigned as Vice President
of the United States, later pleading no contest to charges of income tax evasion
and, on October 20, 1973, President Richard Nixon dismissed independent special
prosecutor Archibald Cox, who had been appointed by Congress to investigate the
events surrounding the Watergate break-in, which forced the resignations of Attorney
General Elliot Richardson and Deputy Attorney General William Ruckelshaus.
Within the next few days, Congress moved to impeach Nixon, setting in motion
the events that would lead to his resignation on August 9, 1974.
With Mars (direct) in Taurus, on August 2, 1990, the prelude to the first Gulf
War began with Iraq's invasion of Kuwait, which was met with immediate economic
sanctions by the United Nations against Iraq on August 6. Hostilities between
the US-led coalition and Iraq commenced in January 1991, immediately on the heels
of the retrograde phase, which ended January 1, 1991. |
