The Papal Basilica of Saint Peter in the Vatican is probably the finest new mother gift ever received. The Catholic Church received this gift as she birthed a new religion today generally known as Protestantism. There are over 800 million to 1 billion Protestants worldwide compared to 1.2 billion Catholics. That is a very hefty baby but like all mothers often their children rival them in size given enough time.
The horoscope for the Basilica was elected and the astrologers carefully considered the heavens before Pope Julius II laid the cornerstone. The time elected was 10:00 a.m. on April 18, 1506 (Julian). They were limited in their knowledge just as we are today. The heavens boundary was Saturn; Uranus, Neptune and Pluto were all unknown. Vesta was also unknown. At that moment, Uranus, Pluto and Vesta were strongly engaged. This is not a simple horoscope, it is a masterful work and has nuances that won’t be explored here. As far as the elective time, the Pope would never have chosen this time had they been able to fully understand the implications. Electing charts is probably a fool’s errand. The best we can hope for is to strike while the iron’s hot.
The 11th house represents the Reformation. It is the natural house of Aquarius. This character of the schism is Taurus and Gemini. This is a stubborn and communicative character. The printing press and translation of the Bible into vernacular languages would become major elements. Ceres is building the collective movement and Pallas, being born from Jupiter’s head, representing wisdom and reason is spreading the words.
The Catholic Church is represented by the Pisces Moon in the 9th house. There are many reasons to believe that the Catholic Church is Cancerian. She is known as a mother to her adherents. Probably her most famous symbol is the Virgin Mary, Mother of Christ. She is also the bride of Christ. St. Peter’s horoscope echos these concepts in the 4th house of its mother. The 4th house representing the home has the character of Libra the zodiac sign of weddings and brides and Scorpio the zodiac sign of power, deep things and hell. Present in Scorpio is Vesta, the asteroid of the sacred fire and vestal virgins. The 9th house is places of organized religion and there we find Pisces Uranus, representing the spiritual reformers, and Pisces Moon, representing a church known as a spiritual mother.
The antecedents of Christianity would not allow the adoption of traditional religious architecture in the form of temples. Instead, monumental architecture would borrow the architecture of Roman government, royal basilicas. Monumental public buildings are represented by Saturn and Leo is the zodiac sign of royalty. The Papal Basilica of Saint Peter in the Vatican is surely the Leo Saturn in the 1st house. Therefore in this horoscope, Saint Peter’s Basilica (still incomplete) rules the zodiac sign Capricorn. The 0° Aquarius (30° Capricorn) Neptune is dissolving authoritarian structures and this is what initiates the Reformation and provides the funding of the Basilica.
The Christmas Star of 2020, a grand conjunction of Saturn and Jupiter, occurred at 0° Aquarius (30° Capricorn). A friend asked me to look into it for an article and then here I find the secret executive meeting symbol again. Jungian synchronicity. This 0° (critical degree) is the moment the conditions of one sign cause the switch to the next zodiac sign. A planet on this degree tells you how it will shift. The shift from Capricorn to Aquarius is tyranny to resistance, authority to liberty, rigidity to cleaving apart. The 2020 Christmas Star says the shift will be the Titan War, a clash between the old and their children. In Saint Peter’s horoscope, Capricorn Neptune, first in line with its Capricornian purpose, dissolves small amounts of the Pope’s authority by granting indulgences freeing the dead from purgatory in return for Neptunian alms for the Basilica. Neptune represents dreams, charity, delusion and dissolution. The church authorities purpose was to use their authority to trade relief from a delusion for alms for the Basilica. These alms are in the 7th house of trade. Each alm traded for an indulgence granted dissolves the Pope’s authority. I am not an astrocartographer but the line of Neptune runs awfully close to Wittenberg, Germany, home of Martin Luther.
“50. Christians should be taught, if the Pope knew the ways and doings of the preachers of indulgences, he would prefer that St. Peter’s Minster should be burnt to ashes, rather than that it should be built up of the skin, flesh, and bones of his lambs.
51. Christians should be taught, the Pope, as it is his bounden duty to do, is indeed also willing to give of his own money – and should St. Peter’s be sold thereto – to those from whom the preachers of indulgences do most extort money…
82. As for instance: – Why does not the Pope deliver all souls at the same time out of Purgatory for the sake of most holy love and on account of the bitterest distress of those souls – this being the most imperative of all motives, – while he saves an infinite number of souls for the sake of that most miserable thing money, to be spent on St. Peter’s Minster: – this being the very slightest of motives?…
86. Again: – Why does not the Pope build St. Peter’s Minster with his own money – since his riches are now more ample than those of Crassus, – rather than with the money of poor Christians?”
Excerpt of the 95 Theses, Martin Luther 1517
There are two identifiable personalities in the horoscope. Martin Luther is the Virgo Jupiter and the Pope and subsequent papal successors are the Taurus Sun. Martin Luther became a monk in July 1505 after he was almost struck by a lightning bolt and cried out he would become a monk. He was ordained as a priest in April 1507. As a priest he would be Jupiter even discounting the lightning bolt. Monastic life is strongly Virgo and Pisces. The master work pieces were coming together in preparation for this astrological moment. The core dynamism of the horoscope is the opposition between Scorpio Vesta and the Taurus Sun. The dispositor of Vesta is the Sagittarius Pluto, plotting to transform belief. The church’s indulgence trade gradually dissolves church authority, foments the Reformation, and builds the Basilica from a mass of sins.