‘Midwinter Sacrifice’ harks back to Sweden’s distant past, and may hint that no matter how thoroughly suppressed, violent inclinations are part of every nation’s history and psyche. Carl Larsson 1915 {{PD-Art}}

This is from the current issue of ECLIPSE, published last Thursday. For more, please subscribe!

Riots are spreading through certain enclaves of Stockholm, specifically those housing immigrants; claiming marginalization and segregation from the mainstream is increasingly prevalent, claiming racism and class-ism in a country known for its efforts at equitable treatment, protesters are lighting cars and property on fire and attacking responding police and fire units–and this has been going on for days. This crisis seems to have been building for many years, so I wondered what we might learn about the dynamic here by looking at the chart generally considered appropriate for the founding of modern-day Sweden, 6 June 1523 no time known in Stockholm, with current transits to it.

I randomly drew the transit chart for about 10 AM local time in Stockholm for the 22nd of May. The first thing I notice is that Jupiter is just 1 degree 51 minutes from conjunction with Sweden’s natal Gemini Sun. The Sun in the chart of a country can stand for the leader, the King or President, but can also stand for the ‘energy heart’ of a nation. Jupiter meets the country’s Sun; this could be seen both as ‘foreigners’ meeting the heart of the nation, but also as the populace, society at large, applying to the nation’s identity. Attempts to expand Sweden’s social arena are now being seen for what they are by all accounts, lacking an inclusive and accepting quality.

This same Jupiter also trines the country’s n Sedna, while t Sedna and t Mars are conjunct and in semi-sextile to the Sun. Things are coming up from the depths of the national psyche, and spurring anger/ violence (and the setting of fires! so very Martian), yet Sedna also conveys a lack of awareness here: both rioters/ immigrants and entrenched native Swedes do not see themselves or these events with any clarity–which promises the tensions will continue.

Interesting, too, that t hZeus is exactly conjunct Sweden’s n Juno=ambitions and wants are coming ‘from the outside’ and demanding equal empowerment. We also note a natal aspect of Vesta opposed Pluto, with a soon to occur Pluto Return! The natal aspect itself could imply that for many years Sweden has elevated the highest ideals and honored the worth of home and family structure, while denying internal darkness or destructive urges–and certainly, in modern times they have made a point of non-aggression. The question becomes, though, if you have this aspect, once you transform your system into your ideal, the most advanced (from your viewpoint) possible, where does the Plutonian energy go? You’ve created a system that claims to value all equally, perhaps never anticipating the influx of immigrants so culturally different from Swedes. This Pluto Return may bring that dilemma up to the surface, and out into the light.