The Chilean miners, the Cardinal Grand Cross and Saturn in Libra

A blog follower asked this question in response to my "An intense week" posting from October 8 -- and I thought it deserved an entry of its own! Here's the question:

Pam -- What are your thoughts on how the astrological configurations tie in with the Chilean miners and their rescue? It's nothing short of a miracle -- and the fact that the reason they survived is being put down to working together -- both the miners underground and the whole team put together to rescue them. There seems to be some very strong Libran themes to this and I'm wondering how it ties in to the cardinal squares.

I agree that there are very strong Libran themes! It's also very interesting to see the astrological influences that were involved at important stages of the unfolding situation:

• When the cave-in occurred, on August 5, we were dealing with very strong energies from the Cardinal Grand Cross, energies that were being triggered that week by Mars' alignment with Saturn. 

To review, the planets involved in the grand cross were Pluto/North Node in Capricorn, Uranus/Jupiter in Aries, Saturn in Libra and South Node in Cancer. The cross brought about stressful situations that required us to overcome excessive emotionality and blaming (negative sides of South Node in Cancer) and to focus on specific goals with intention and integrity (North Node in Capricorn).

• Seventeen days later, when the drill reached the miners and they sent word to the surface that all were still alive, Saturn was opposite the position of Jupiter and square Pluto in the Cave-In Chart (the "CIC") -- the manifestation (Saturn) of hopes and optimistic beliefs (Jupiter) and the "return from the dead" (Pluto).
• On August 30, when the drilling began of a pilot rescue hole, Saturn was conjunct the CIC Mars -- the fusion of focus, responsibility, authority (Saturn) and aggressive effort (Mars) in a cooperative venture (Libra).
• Now, with the rescue efforts proving successful, Pluto has returned to where it was at the time of the original mine collapse -- the god of the underworld returning to the surface and bringing the resurrected souls with him.
• And, Saturn is now square the CIC Nodes -- manifesting through the worldwide outpouring of support and nurturing (a positive side of the South Node in Cancer) and through renewed commitment to find sensible solutions to the safety issues involved (North Node in Capricorn).

As already noted, this situation has provided significant opportunities for people to learn lessons of cooperation, of working together to achieve a common goal. These themes are quintessential Saturn in Libra. The success of the rescue -- which involved experts and technicians from around the world and from many industries -- and the efforts of the miners to work together and support each other while they were underground, are strong evidence of our human potential for cooperative effort. And, the fact that this has been broadcast worldwide means that we are all affected by the events and its outcome.

It will be an interesting challenge for each of us -- and, no doubt, especially for the miners and for each person who was involved directly in the rescue -- to extend what we have learned about the power of cooperation into other situations in our daily lives.

Saturn in Libra will be very happy with us for making this a priority, and will reward our efforts.