As Uranus, Neptune, and Pluto transited the constellation of Leo in the twentieth century, enormous changes took place within the personal and collective psyche, in technology, and the inner workings of governmental rights and power.
Uranus (Aquarius), planet of sudden change, transited Leo 1955~1962, energizing strong will, determination, vitality, forcefulness, rebellion, and catalyzing a fiery civil rights movement. Rosa Parks sowed seeds of discontent when she defied a segregation ordinance by not giving her bus seat to a white man in Alabama. After a nasty battle, the Supreme Court upheld her civil rights a year later. The University of Mississippi was forced to enroll its first black student. President Eisenhower had to send federal troops to Little Rock Arkansas to enforce school desegregation. President Kennedy ordered the National Guard to keep schools open in Alabama. Cultural shame cultivated seeds of positive change. What has happened to that shame, our sense of equality, and our growing need for real civil rights? Immigrants and have nots have become more persecuted than ever. It doesn’t take a ‘stable genius’ to know the consequences of choosing hate, greed, consumption, waste, and short-sightedness over good health and happiness for all.
New inventions promoted convenience and provided more time for recreation and leisure. Kentucky fried chicken was introduced. Play-Doh became popular. Davy Crockett and coonskin caps became fashionable. Pampers became the first disposable diapers. Crest was the first fluoride toothpaste. The first electric toothbrush was made. The Teflon Company introduced non-stick cookware. Smith Corona introduced the first portable electric typewriters. Mattel Inc. introduced Barbie. Felt tipped pens became popular. Soft drinks were packaged in aluminum cans for the first time. K-Mart and Wal-Mart opened. Bank of America and American Express issued the first credit cards. The first transatlantic telephone cable began working. The first transcontinental helicopter flight was made.
Neptune (Pisces) takes fourteen years to change sign. As it does, individual and collective psyches go through ambiguous and confusing changes. Neptune transited Leo from 1916 ~ 1929. Phenomenal world confusion was happening. World War I brought tremendous prosperity to Wall Street while soldiers earning $16 a month were being killed in the trenches. England blacklisted and prevented over 80 US firms from dealing with neutral countries because they were suspected of trading with Germany. Influenza caused over two hundred deaths a day. Approximately one quarter of the US was sick. Half a million people were dead before the end of 1919. Daylight savings time began. Arkansas farmers dedicated a monument to the Boll Weevil, whose devastation of the cotton crop caused them to diversify and become more profitable. By 1927, the farm population had dropped dramatically. Countless farmers hopelessly and desperately sold their farms. Small farms are highly regulated (especially organic farms) while politicians, chemical companies, and banks deregulate chemicals and pollution and promote agri-business.
Neptune rules alcohol. The underworld, mafia, and gangs thrived. National prohibition began in 1920. Liquor smuggling and bootlegging became big business. It’s probable that recreational marijuana will be legalized before Neptune leaves Pisces in 2025.
Congress set quotas limiting the number of immigrants allowed into the country.
A senate subcommittee was formed to investigate the Teapot Dome oil leases.
Walt Disney released the first Mickey Mouse cartoon in 1928. George Eastman created the first color motion pictures. Gershwin’s Rhapsody in Blue was performed for the first time as a new form of symphonic jazz.
Doubt, fear, and panic caused the stock market to crash, leaving farmers, businessmen, haves, and have nots in a state of terrible confusion and crisis.
History repeated itself in the opposition to Leo as Neptune transited Aquarius 1998 – 2012. War brought prosperity to Wall Street. Agribusiness and Chemical companies such as Monsanto and Bayer crushed small farmers, and poisoned our world as they bought politicians and deluded consumers. Oil companies continue to control and manipulate us by encouraging our selfish addictive behavior.
Pluto (Scorpio) takes twenty years to change sign. As it does, it disintegrates, destroys, and transforms psyche. Pluto rules the dark force. Pluto transited the sign of Leo from 1938 to 1957. National and personal pride and power transformed into the New Deal. Ten million people were unemployed in 1939. President Roosevelt increased appropriations for building the Army, Navy, and Air Force. Congress adopted the Naval Expansion Act. Roosevelt transformed the Federal Reserve by creating a ‘withholding tax’, the beginning of social security. He was the first president to appear on television.
The House investigated un-American activities. It was the beginning of huge multi-national business conglomerates. Western Europe tried to appease Hitler with the Munich Pact, which turned Czechoslovakia over to Nazi Germany. Polls showed Americans approved. The Nazis invaded Poland, which caused Great Britain and France to declare war. Winston Churchill asked President Roosevelt for help.
In 1941, Japanese planes attacked Pearl Harbor. Japanese Americans paid a high price as they were forced from their homes into concentration camps where they became innocent victims of hate and prejudice. Fundamentalist devotion to ideologies and tyrants began crumbling. In 1943, fascist dictator Mussolini fell from power. By 1945, most people knew six million Jews had been slaughtered in Nazi concentration camps.
The Atomic Bomb was the ultimate plutonian weapon, destroying Hiroshima and Nagasaki. Japan surrendered. In 1949, we supported a war in Korea that killed three million Koreans in less than a year. In 1950, Senator Joseph McCarthy began a tirade against communist subversives and traitors in the US. Julia and Ethel Rosenberg were sentenced to the electric chair for stealing bomb secrets.
In 1951, the United Nations complex was completed in New York City. AT&T became the first company with over one million stockholders. Christine Jorgensen became the first transsexual to go public in 1952. Norman Vincent Peale’s best seller, The Power of Positive Thinking was published. The first kidney was transplanted. The first mechanical heart worked. Chevrolet introduced the powerful sexy Corvette in 1953. We launched the Nautilus, the first nuclear powered submarine in 1954. The Soviet Union opened the world’s first atomic power station. Reigning British Monarchs made their first visit to American soil. We reached for outer space.
The `ME NOW’ Pluto in Leo generation, 1938 ~ 1957 have employed technology to build personal power. Pluto in Leo rules crony capitalism. Bill Clinton (Leo), George W Bush (Leo rising), and Donald Trump (Leo rising) are all Pluto in Leo Presidents.
Rest assured, if we haven’t destroyed ourselves and our planet by the time Donald Trump and his band of cutthroat thieves’ are locked up, new plutocrats will have no problem finding the money, rights, resources, and technology to own, harness, package, distribute, and sell our own sustainable energy resources to all of us as Uranus returns to Leo (2039 ~ 2046).