HomeAn Australian Republic?
Mundane musings by Richard Smykowsky
January 1st 2001 was Australian Federation’s 100th birthday.
Is the Republic issue likely to come up again?
If it does, will it meet with a more favourable reception than the previous attempt?
What do the Australian people want from a republic?
A fundamental astrological approach to answer a mundane question like this might be to:
In the application of this approach I would like to distinguish three possible avenues of exploration:
Here we may choose certain historical horoscopes as representing a particular nation state and its political experience.
Here we look at past events which we would associate with the general concept of "republic" and attempt to discern its astrological signature(s). From there we would observe the meaning of these signatures for the Australian political situation and future potentials.
Here we observe history as an embedded series of moments in continuum, always interacting and contributing to the ongoing experience of life, imprinting themselves into the degrees of the zodiac. Hence we would seek to explore the degrees of the zodiac and their activation which relate to "republic" in general and "Australian republic" in particular.
I will choose, in this instance, to employ the national horoscope as the tool of delineation and projection.
The national horoscope is the basic tool of mundane astrology in the modern world..(4)
The first decision to be made is the choice of a moment and a chart which represents Australia’s "national horoscope".
The obvious choice and the one suggested by the question itself is the moment of Australia becoming a federation.
..a horoscope for the founding of an independent nation state is obviously the most important horoscope for a state, and will be so for as long as that state continues to exist...(5)
Here we are given a specific date, 1st January 1901. However, for that day two times and places present themselves.
The first is the chart cast for midnight in Melbourne (the new capital), the legal moment. View Chart 1
The second is a chart for 13:35 local time(6), the swearing in of Lord Hopetoun at Sydney’s Centennial Park(7), the ceremonial moment. View Chart 2
The federal system, together with de facto independence (although constitutional ties to Britain remain), was instituted on 1 January 1901. As in so many cases there were two key moments, one legal, the other ceremonial.(8)
While both charts, being only hours different, will share the same planets in sign and aspect, the respective house positions will differ. I will examine just the planets in sign and aspect, leaving a consideration of the house positions for another occasion.
There are two notable planetary aspect complexes to take account of here:
The first one is Sun conjunct Saturn in Capricorn trine Mars in Virgo (which in the legal moment chart completes itself in an earth grand trine with the Moon in Taurus).
The Sun is the principal planet in any horoscope, and in the national chart it represents the supreme authority in the nation - the head of state including queen, prime minister, president. This planet can represent both the effective political leader and the symbolic head of state. Thus the issue concerning popular election or parliamentary appointment of the president of a republic would be symbolised by the Sun.
Interestingly, there are two important charts in British history that also have the Sun at this point in Capricorn. They are the coronation of William 1 after the Norman Conquest and the Union of Great Britain with Ireland (United Kingdom). Therefore the Sun in Capricorn of the Federation chart also represents Australian ties to the UK and the circumstances under which that might change.
Saturn represents the State and its institutions, including the legal system.
Saturn shows a nation’s attitude to law and order, hierarchies, taboos and old practices. It shows reactionary forces and the fear which resists change. It governs authority and tradition.(9)
Mars is the energy, assertion, aggression, force and violence associated with the maintenance and disposition of the state.
Mars represents those forces which hold a State together or drive it apart in terms of aggression......It can also show what helps a society grow and to assert itself. It can act divisively.....(10)
In this context Mars may well indicate the energy and vigour with which the political status quo is defended, and alternately the articulate and persuasive effort needed to change the existing constitutional monarchy.
The Moon symbolises the population of the country or state, in particular women and women’s affairs.
The Moon is that on which the Sun, the authority in the State, depends. It is the masses, the common people, and the population as a whole.......In general it represents popular opinion, popular and mass ideologies.
With regard to the republic issue, the Moon indicates the nature and quality of public opinion concerning change to the system, and in particular, the attitude of women to such proposed changes.
This earth element aspect pattern would emphasise pragmatism, realism, and reliability. The Capricorn Sun and Saturn strongly suggest conservatism and traditional order, the Taurus Moon suggests security, and the Virgo Mars suggests methodical and practical action to achieve functional purposes and results. This pattern then is generally representative of the section of the community currently against constitutional reform and an elected head of state. The strength and resonance of the grand trine pattern points to the resilience of the status quo. It also suggests a certain fear of unknown possibilities and outcomes.
The Sun-Saturn conjunction also represents the actual form and structure of government, such that aspects to this conjunction would indicate the timing and success of changes to this authority hierarchy. It is the crystallisation of beliefs, ideologies and policy into working legal and political systems.
The second planetary complex is the conjunction of Mercury, Jupiter and Chiron in Sagittarius, which opposes Neptune in Gemini.
This aspect pattern is in mutable signs suggesting processes of change, and the alteration and improvement of existing circumstances. The Gemini-Sagittarius axis is oriented to expansive and idealistic growth and populist inclusive politics, along with new ideas and open and transparent information and communication. This then symbolises the forces for a republic, an elected head of state, and change of the existing political system.
Mercury is about communications and thought, intellectual movements and trends, political speeches and announcements, and media events.
Jupiter rules common beliefs and values that hold a society together. It is also the law and legal systems, forms and processes.
It also represents the monarchy, and its meaning overlaps with the Sun in its rulership of the highest authority in the land. In a more institutional sense it actually represents the courts.....It represents the higher mind - ....publishing, philosophy...It also represents larger than life images.....(11)
Thus Jupiter may well image the struggle for the hearts and minds in the debate, the sense of Australia’s image in the global community, and the direction towards an inclusive body politic that is tolerant, multicultural, cosmopolitan and globally focussed. Here is the essence of national political debate and collective consideration of the best solution.
Chiron, only discovered in 1977, is a recent inclusion in the mundane field. Here it could indicate the incongruence of the current political system, the wound and division in the national psyche that the republic debate has engendered, and the sense of the wholeness and well-being that could potentially emerge. It also points at the underlying theme of racism and reconciliation, which would be a necessary part of political reform and healing of the nation as a whole.
Neptune in a national chart suggests the "ideal society", collective vision and inspiration, and the quest for mythic possibilities. It can also represent subversive, deluded and undermining forces in the collective political arena.
..it rules socialism, and all new visions and dreams of the perfect society, and the people who promote such dreams. It represents the need of a collective to be perfect, but it can also rule delusions and therefore disillusion.....a nation’s self-image and the image presented to others.(12)
In the context of the republic issue, we can see Neptune as the overt idealism for a better society, the promise of a more perfect political system taking Australians into the future of a better life. But it can also be the misinformation, and undermining campaigns mounted during the republic debates. It underlines the "vision thing" involved in the movement to a republic, but equally the challenge and obstacles to its functional realisation through consensus politics.
Mercury conjunct Jupiter signals the wealth of ideas, "common sense", and optimism - emphasised further by the placement of Jupiter in its ruling sign Sagittarius. It also points out the role of significant, almost larger than life individuals, and their persuasive and even tendentious role in the political life of the nation. There seems to be implied, as well, a sense of exaggerated representations and an inflated identification with certain beliefs and ideologies. There is breadth of perspective and a deeper dialogue to the meaning of political change and the nature of a republic. In the public debate there could be a lot of attachment of people to their own beliefs and perspectives - the "god on our side" attitude - and glossing over opinions, ideas or information which is contrary. Here we see the tendency to prevail through inspirational oratory and great enthusiasm.
Mercury opposite Neptune highlights the necessity for rigorous truth and honesty, in contrast to delusions and propaganda.
This complex, rich and interesting combination of planets, is symbolic of the broad republican debate; the multiplicity of options and solutions; the scathing sense of humour in the Australian psyche about the current incongruous political form in a post-modern world; the drive to a "fairytale" consensus solution taking account of business, academia, political parties, media interests, multicultural concerns, as well as popular opinion; the messianic mission of the republican movement; and the impulse to create the position of an elected president as the new head of state.
In summary we can dichotomise the federal chart(s) into the complex involving Sun with Saturn in Capricorn as opposed to the complex involving Jupiter in Sagittarius opposed to Neptune in Gemini.
The Sun is the leadership of the state, Saturn is its political, legal and administrative forms, and Capricorn informs a conservative, traditional and pragmatic style. This part of the chart represents the constitutional monarchists. It also signals the formulation and implementation of a working model of government.
Neptune is associated with the concept of a "republic" and Jupiter with a "republican party".(13) They represent the ideal of republicanism, the parties supporting that ideal, the public debate of the matter, and the consequent constitutional referenda to effect the necessary change with broad public support. Interestingly, the opposition of these two planets seems to symbolise the split in the republican movement over the direct election question.
If we simply make a dynamic analysis of the Mercury/Jupiter/Chiron/ Neptune complex using the transits of Uranus, Neptune and Pluto and some secondary progressions the following correlations can be seen in federal politics:
1904 - Uranus conjunction/opposition to Jupiter/Neptune etc. - second federal election; Deakin retains office; Deakin resigns and Watson became Prime Minister at the head of the first Labor government.
1909-13 - Pluto opposition/conjunction - Period of Fisher Labor government; Deakin unites "Liberals"; the modern 2-party system dates from this time.
1918-19 - Uranus sextile/trine - the Commonwealth Electoral Act provided for a common roll for state and federal elections. It retained absent voting, restored postal voting and brought in preferential voting.
1920-22 - Neptune sesquisquare/semisquare - The Australian Country Party was formed Jan 22-23 1920; the Communist Party of Australia was formed Oct 30 1920.
1926 - Uranus square - The government failed to carry referendum proposals on "industrial powers" and "essential services".
1927-29 - Neptune trine/sextile - Parliament first met in the new capital, Canberra, with the Duke of York delivering a message from the King; a referendum amended the Constitution to allow the Commonwealth to take over and manage state debts and to set up the Loan Council.
1933-34 - Uranus trine/sextile - WA held a referendum to secede from the Commonwealth. Carried by a 2:1 vote of the 90% who participated, it was declared constitutionally unacceptable by the British Government; the Commonwealth Grants’ Commission was established.
1940-42 - Neptune square - Curtin commissioned as PM; With the Japanese defeat of British naval power in SE Asia, Curtin made the significant press statement: "Australia looks to America, free of any pangs as to our traditional links of kinship with the United Kingdom".
1946-47 - Pluto sesquisquare/semisquare - A successful referendum gave the Commonwealth power to legislate in the social services area; Chifley attempt to nationalise private banks.
1948-49 - Uranus opposition/conjunction - A referendum seeking additional power to enable the Commonwealth to control rents and prices was defeated in all states; the Senate and the House of Representatives were enlarged; ACT gained representation; proportional representation for Senate elections was brought in, doing away with the "winner takes all" system; Chifley banking legislation challenged and invalidated by the High Court and the Privy Council; end of Labor office until 1972.
1954-56 - Neptune and Pluto trine/sextile - Labor Party split; Petrov Commission; Menzies enlarges Ministry with inner and outer cabinet.
1957-59 - Uranus sesquisquare/semisquare - Democratic Labour Party formed.
1961-62 - Neptune semisquare/sesquisquare and Uranus trine/sextile - Britain’s proposed entry to EEC.
1967-68 - Uranus square - By a record 90.8% referendum vote, the Australian people approved the ending of constitutional discrimination against Aborigines; PM Holt disappeared in the surf at Portsea.
1970-71 - Pluto square - Vietnam moratorium; end of Liberal era.
1974-75 - Uranus sextile/trine - Historic joint sitting of both Houses passed 6 Bills previously rejected by the Senate - 3 electoral Bills, 2 health Bills and the Petroleum and Mineral Authorities Bill; the Workers’ Party was launched; series of events leading to the downfall of the Whitlam Labor government and the dismissal of Whitlam by Kerr.
1977-78 - Uranus semisquare/sesquisquare - formation of the Australian Democratic Party; approval to build new Parliament House; mixed success for May 1977 referenda.
1982-83 - Neptune conjunction/opposition and Pluto sextile/trine - The Premiers and the Commonwealth agreed to abolish appeals from State Supreme Courts to the Privy Council, thus making the High Court the final court of appeal. Several other of the few remaining constitutional links with Britain were also to be severed; release of Costigan report into the Ships Painters and Dockers’ Union began a series of revelations about tax fraud; Fraser requested a double dissolution, Hawke replaced Hayden, Labor victory and the end of the Fraser years; Hawke’s Summit meeting sought consensus of approach to many economic problems.
From the foregoing historical correlations it can clearly be seen that this planetary combination (Mercury/Jupiter/Chiron/Neptune) in the federation charts has been very responsive to major party political and constitutional events in Australian federal politics.
We could perform a similar exercise with the Sun/Saturn/Mars/Moon complex, however time and space do not permit an extended discourse, and I believe enough has been done to assure that the federation chart(s) is radical, that is of sensitive relevance to the republic debate.
To determine whether the Republic issue is likely to come up again, and the potential outcome, there needs to be a consideration of several events of the republic debate’s recent history in the light of transits and secondary progressions to the federation chart(s).
The recent history of republican debate commences with the Bicentennial in 1988 and coincides with first the Saturn/Uranus conjunction intensely aspecting the federation chart Mercury/Jupiter/Chiron/ Neptune, which was strongly amplified throughout 1989 by the Saturn/Neptune conjunction hitting the federation chart Sun/Saturn!
Pluto semisquare/sesquisquare Mercury/Jupiter/Chiron/Neptune
Pluto opposite Moon
Neptune conjunct Sun/Saturn and trine Mars
Progressed Sun square Saturn
Uranus conjunct Sun/Saturn
Uranus trine Mars/Moon
Uranus trine Mars/Moon
Progressed Moon square Jupiter/Mercury/Neptune/Chiron
(Note no major positive dynamic aspects at this time - The Advisory Committee was not astrologically well established or connected to the federation chart! However the overwhelmingly important Uranus-Neptune conjunction was happening, marking a new epoch in collective endeavour.)
Progressed Moon square Saturn/Sun
Progressed Venus square Saturn
Progressed Moon sextile Jupiter/Mercury
Uranus square Moon
Uranus semisquare Jupiter/Mercury/Chiron
Uranus sesquisquare Neptune
While these transits at such an important time are tense, chaotic and not well-disposed, it should be noted that the transiting North Node was conjunct federation Mars, and moving to trine federation Sun and Saturn - the people’s active involvement in discussing and formulating a new form of popular government. Also the transiting Uranus/Pluto midpoint was conjunct federation Saturn, suggestive of the immense application of effort to transform the existing form of government and the indelible resistance to that effort.
Uranus square Moon
Uranus semisquare Jupiter/Mercury/Chiron
Uranus sesquisquare Neptune
Pluto square Mars
An analysis of this chronology of republican events suggests that it was a strong and positive series of aspects from Saturn, Uranus and Neptune to the federation chart in that signalled the commencement of the republican debate of the 1990’s.
The republic movement failed to create the necessary support for change in late 1999, during crucial hard transits of chaos, confusion, misinformation, tricky politics, and surprisingly brutal struggle. The republic is off the agenda and not available to progress or resolution while Pluto continues to square federation Mars right throughout 2000. Recriminations, blame and manipulation will probably still abound!
The next important positive aspects to the federation chart emerge with transits of Uranus sextile to Jupiter/Mercury/Chiron commencing March 2002. This is the first, next time that the republic issue will get new energy, leading to some concrete policies and strategic directions around Aug-Dec 2002 when Saturn in Gemini trines transit Uranus and supportively joins the interaction.
However, this momentum will stall and be distracted and diffused (if not downright undermined) as Neptune makes a series of hard aspects to the federation key planets throughout 2003 and 2004.
When Uranus sextiles federation Saturn and Sun in 2005, some inventive and progressive solutions and directions for pragmatic change will occur, a functional middle ground.
The national consideration of this matter yet again will be supported by progressed Sun trine federation Jupiter in 2006-2007. Also transit Pluto conjunct federation Jupiter in 2006 and conjunct Mercury in 2007, lends a fateful imperative to the working out of the unresolved political issues.
Matters will be hotly debated and contested while Uranus squares federation Jupiter/Mercury/Neptune/Chiron in 2009 and 2010. However, this may just be the harbinger of real change. Idealism, vision and goodwill can prevail as transit Neptune casts sextile to federation key planets and comes to the trine of its own natal position throughout 2010 peaking for the last time on Australia Day in 2011.
From early 2008, when Jupiter in Capricorn and Saturn in Virgo make positive aspects to federation Sun and Saturn, practical concern and organisation will be focussed on the republic issue and constitutional change. There is further supportive energy for an honest and positive debate as progressed Sun trines federation Mercury and sextile Neptune during 2008. This culminates with the triple conjunction of Jupiter, Chiron and Neptune in Aquarius through 2009. The visionary constellation of Aquarian energy here, which is in positive aspect to federation Jupiter/Neptune, presents the best timing for a successful republic referendum. My choice of the date would be May-July 2009 or Dec 2009.
Looking at Secondary Progressions we note that between 2006-2008 the progressed Sun in Aries will trine/sextile with support from the progressed Moon trine/sextile in 2009 peaking at the Progressed New Moon in 2009.
Ongoing support comes from progressed Venus trine/sextile in 2010-2011, which also goes on to conjunct the progressed Sun.
(Interestingly, these progressions of the federation chart in Aries have a degree correlation with the station of Jupiter in Aries in late 1999)
The way would then be open for a transformation of Australian political life and forms of government as transit Pluto conjuncts federation Saturn/Sun through 2012 and 2013.
From this analysis and evidence using the chart of the Australian Federation (without houses and a necessarily exact time), I conclude that the republic issue will emerge again, and has a great opportunity for a successful outcome. However, certain pitfalls and obstacles remain to be navigated in the course of the next decade. This can lead to a true rehabilitation of Australian political culture and expression, such that the next century can be both a cooperative and productive one for all Australians.
What do Australians want from a republic? Many words have spilled out concerning that question throughout the decade of the 90’s. However, I will contain myself to purely astrological thoughts on the matter derived again from the Australian Federation chart of 1901.
The feature of this chart that screams the idea "republic" is, as I have stated earlier, the conjunction of Jupiter with Mercury and Chiron which opposes Neptune. This is where real meaning can emerge as to the expectations and desires that Australians have for a republic.
Perhaps the paramount requirement for a republic would be a democratic, multicultural and egalitarian society, which offers equal opportunity, mobility, and education within the context of a modern welfare state. It is an alchemy of the "vision splendid" and Popper’s "open society". Australians want to be able to feel distinctly Australian, with pride in their achievements, and a sense of solidarity and identity in the larger world community. From this deepened security of themselves can come greater confidence in competing globally, while at the same time remaining open to the aspirations of other nations and open to a collective global involvement (Australia’s recent involvement in Timor exemplifies this quality in the Australian people). This all emerges from the sign polarity Sagittarius/Gemini. There is essentially a sense of openness and opportunity, with vision and hope for the future, and an unsinkable belief in the special qualities of being Australian. (More cynically this can be seen to devolve into what has been called "the land of the long weekend").
This positivity, and almost naive self-belief and idealism, are essential antidotes to the darker (Mars apex of a T square connecting the Uranus-Pluto opposition) and more dour (Sun conjunct Saturn in Capricorn) qualities of Australian history and culture, geography and isolation. Within these complex symbolisms lurk the history of genocide and dispossession, the ignorant environmental destruction of a pristine land, and the brutal and degrading social roots of a convict society.
A republic would hopefully deal with some of these more difficult issues. There would need to be a political acknowledgment of reconciliation and collective apology and forgiveness; renewed national pride leading to both greater economic welfare and environmental regeneration; restored respect and integrity for Australian political institutions and processes, and a renewal of trust for politicians and public figures; an opportunity to mature and grow beyond the imperialistic and colonial roots of the past (Sun/Saturn Capricorn).
The positive idealism and vision that a republic could restore for Australians goes far beyond political and governmental mechanisms. It restores power to the people in true democratic fashion. To achieve this I believe Australians would want to elect a presidential leader that could be identified as Australia’s leader. This is definitely what Jupiter/Neptune wants. At the same time it forestalls and manages the more violent, disruptive, and amorally anarchic forces beneath the surface of Australian life, which the Mars/Uranus/Pluto t-square suggests is truly present as a shadow to the sunny, easy-going positivity of Australians. Without the clear political unity that a republic offers, there might be a fearful descent into interminable division and subversion.
A republic would nevertheless need to be a workable arrangement of political and social forces, institutionalised and formalised, and retaining some acknowledgment of our past heritage and achievements (Sun/Saturn Capricorn).
While the stagnation of Australian political life (Sun/Saturn Capricorn) in a two party compromise (planets opposing Neptune in Gemini), and the subsequent minor party and independents fragmentation (mars/Uranus/Pluto t-square in mutable signs) can be seen in this chart, it is the overarching embrace of political transparency, vision, generosity, inclusiveness and good-spiritedness combined with intelligence and freely flowing information that is what Australians most want from a republic (Sagittarian Jupiter opposing Geminian Neptune) - a circuit-breaker to a stuck and devolving status quo.
Finally and perhaps most significantly, Australians would want a republic to offer a clearly independent national identity held with pride and generosity which embraced and supported all Australians whatever their ancestry. This would need a new flag to represent us in the world. We could then be seen uniquely in the global community for our splendid and diverse accomplishments and the health of our democracy (Jupiter/Mercury/Chiron in Sagittarius opposite Neptune in Gemini).
My understanding and synthesis of this national chart suggests that a republic really represents unity in diversity, a common vision connecting all individuals and groups to a larger collective identity. It is the health and well-being of this identity (the republic) that serves and protects all the members of the Australian community.
Refinements and more technical tools for this analysis could have been employed, such as midpoints and heliocentric perspectives.
Equally, other charts could have been examined, including the successful referendum of 1900 leading to federation, the charts of various Australian states, the Invasion Day chart of 1788, and Cook’s landings at Botany Bay and Possession Island.
In fact horoscopes are also drawn for events apart from coronations, general elections and other constitutional points, events which are important because they legitimise (make legal) the transfer of power in the state.(14)
Other approaches could have been engaged and pursued to confirm (or conflict) my conclusions.
They include what I previously referred to as the "Elwell" approach to mundane astrological analysis:
The essence of the problem is to discover the categories in which the cosmos itself operates, instead of inviting it to endorse some ready-made categories...(15)
And the "Harding" approach:
If we are to adopt the idea of such a primal zodiac then it will be necessary to stop thinking of Time as it is conventionally portrayed by astrology - as a series of discrete moments to be analysed in isolation as separate charts - but instead seeing it as a flowing sequence of events that merge into each other: time as a continuum. The meaning of each instance remains within the zodiac, to be picked up again and again as it is touched by future transits, to be in turn modified or reinforced by the nature of the later occurrences.(16)
However, this would require in depth historical examination, charting and research, and there is not the time, space or necessity for this given the context of the question.
Solar Fire 4.19 - Esoteric Technologies
Parliamentary Background Paper 11 1997-98
The Recent Republic Debate-A Chronology:1989-1998
(update of Background Paper No. 9 dated 25 June 1996)
Carolyne Hide; Karen Davis; Ian Ireland - 2 February 1998
Reinhart, Melanie: Chiron and the Healing Journey (Harmondsworth, Arkana, 1989)
Tompkins, Sue: Aspects in Astrology (Longmead, Element, 1994)
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