Having recently made a deeper commitment to being a Kiwi (I'm originally from England), I've been drawn into a deep dive into the astrology of New Zealand which turns out to be absolutely fascinating. As it is the 14th anniversary of the 2011 earthquake here in Christchurch, it felt like the right moment to look at the astrology for that event and to explore what emerges from the symbolism in the New Zealand astrology charts.
A disclaimer here; I will not being attempting to predict quake activity nor speak to any controversy that was rife at that time back in 2011 that speculated on the power of the Moon to activate seismic activity. My approach is focused on the symbolic, archetypal influences at play as illustrated in the charts because it is my belief that the dynamic dance between these forces are reflected in the zeitgest, metaphorically certainly but often literally too, especially when tension comes to a head and there are seismic cultural, psychological or physical shifts. I do this in the spirit, not of science, nor even of mystical divination but in the spirit of playing imaginatively with the symbols, stories and ideas to see what meanings emerge. (The late Rachel Pollack, titan of the tarot world, makes a beautiful case for this kind of imaginative play in A Walk Through The Forest of Souls; an incredible book that I highly recommend for anyone interested in tarot or divination).
Let's begin by taking a look at the New Zealand birth chart and I take my lead here from the prolific Jessica Adams who has looked at the various potential charts for the "birth" of New Zealand as a nation state. I agree with Jessica that the chart that is uncannily accurate is suprisingly not the date of the Treaty of Waitangi nor the date of the first Constitution, but is in fact the date that New Zealand became a dominion within the British Empire.* Here's the chart.
Venus and the Sun conjunct in the 10th house hold the power in this chart acting as the seat of authority and governance. This is fascinating because it represents the authority (Sun) as the love of harmony and equality (Venus in Libra ) but it also hints at something that may have influenced New Zealand deeply and is still playing out. The 10th house can represent the mother and I wonder whether here it represents the mother country but I also wonder whether it represents Queen Victoria, who had been dead less than seven years by 1907 but whose powerful legacy was still very much alive throughout the British empire. Furthermore, for many immigrants, Victoria would have been sovereign when they left. It's as if she is still alive in the psyche of the newborn nation as a queenly mother authority.
Now, New Zealand has a very interesting history of women being prominent in positions of power from Prime Ministers Jenny Shipley and Helen Clark in the 90s and early 2000s to most recently Jacinda Ardern. But it is Ardern who most keenly epitomised this queenliness as both loving mother but with a steely, uncompromising authority, sharply polarising public opinion in the process. She even gave birth while in office!
The polarisation is also interesting because Venus and the Sun in the 10th are in Libra, the archetype that aspires to balance through compromise and equanimity but which often has to swing between extremes to work through that process.
At the root of the chart, Saturn is on the Immum Coeli (IC), deeply embedded into the heart or root of the dominion symbolised by a stoic, practical and emotional self sufficiency, so far away from the mother country.
Meanwhile, Mars is on the South Node in the 1st house indicating that the masculine psyche is very in touch with old (South Node) battles, defeats, victories (Mars). It's as if to suggest that the drive (Mars) to emigrate was born from historic generational hardship (South Node) and since Mars is in Capricorn (where it is exalted) this drive is so strong, absolutely determined to build a better way of life through hard work and graft.
Over in the 7th house of relationships, contracts, agreements and marriage, opposite the South Node, the North Node is conjunct Lilith suggesting an intensely powerful evolutionary desire for personal freedom. This is the "contract" as it were, spoken or unspoken behind the formation of the nation state. Lilith can denote where shame is felt and/or projected onto and here it's in Cancer, the mother archetype or probably more accurately, the mother/child archetype. There is an inherent vulnerability felt in Cancer, deep seated fears about safety and security and a tendency to avoid conflict. Depth of feeling goes unexpressed especially anger but is expressed nonetheless passive agressively.
Putting all these themes together to consider how British immigration might have shaped different elements of the New Zealand psyche, there is a confrontation between a passionate drive (Mars) for freedom from the historic constraints (South Node) of the mother country whilst the emotion and feelings brought up by the vulnerability (Cancer) of emigrating including the feelings that come up by to this primal drive (Lilith) are projected into the shadows (7th house). The psyche of the nation state is trying to resolve the ensuing tension through stoic emotional detachment (Saturn on the IC), keeping calm and carrying on whilst electing authoritative mothers into power (Venus & Sun in 10th house) to replace the symbolic one that has been lost.
If these primal energies are being projected, who or what are they being projected onto? Could the land itself play a role in this? Let's look at the February 2011 earthquake event to see what we can discover that relates to any of these themes. Here's the chart for the earthquake as a transit chart along with the NZ birth chart.
The first thing that I notice is that Venus (on the outside left in orange in the Quake chart) and Mars ( in blue on the inside NZ Birth chart) are exactly conjunct at 20 Capricorn, also conjunct the South Node of the birth chart. The indication here is that unresolved (South Node) love or values (Venus) have combined with the formidable drive of an exalted Mars. As Venus is in Capricorn she is her own authority. She values commitment and stability yet may seek to undermine anything that does not validate or recognise her authority. Capricorn is the natural ruler of the 10th house evoking the NZ birth chart's 10th house (where all the power lies) and Venus now meets up with Mars and since this is an earthquake, if we think about this in geological terms it's really interesting! For Mars is essentially magnetism and Venus is electricity or electrical current. Their interaction forms electro-magnetism, one of the fundamental forces of the universe that "acts between all particles that possess electric charge, positive and negative; like charges repel, whereas opposite charges attract".
Anomalies in electro-magnetic activity are typically observed in earthquakes (although research is ongoing to sift through the complexity of why this is). So whilst we don't understand yet quite how the interrplay with magnetism and electrity (Mars & Venus) impacts on seismic activity we know that it does and this is certainly borne out by the exact conjunction between Mars and Venus in the two charts. Furthermore, the drive or magnetism of Mars has gathered in intensity in the quake chart and is especially powerful. In the Feb 22nd earthquake, in spite of the relatively low magnitude of 6.1, the peak ground acceleration, which is a measure of the force of impact, was exceptionally high, one of the highest ever recorded globally in an urban environment. Mars in the quake chart is in the 10th house (again, where the power is) AND it's on the anaretic degree at 29 Aquarius The 29th degree accumulates all the energy of the sign that the planet has just travelled through from 0 degrees towards 30 before changing signs. (In horary astrology, it's even stronger still, as it on 'terms' here). In Aquarius, Mars disrupts the status quo making abrupt statements that pull the rug out from underfoot. The symbolic affinity with earthquakes is clear.
Mars appears to act as a trigger for the quake which then releases an abundance of energy into the 11th house where we see lots of of planets and points (and therefore energy). The 11th house is ruled by Uranus who represents sudden, shocking disruption, liberation and release. Here are the Sun, Chiron, Lilith, Uranus itself and Jupiter. The Sun, conjunct Venus in the birth chart is now conjunct Chiron (core wounds). Lilith/Sun echoes the birth chart with its primal desire for personal freedom whilst Jupiter expands or magnifies, increasing the magnitude of the release.
Since Uranus represents ground shakingly sudden disruptive shock, as one might anticipate, the earthquake has a clear Uranian signature (11th house planets, Uranus in the 11th). Reinforcing this signature with a kind of exclamation mark is Pluto. The planet of transformation at the time of the quake is conjunct the natal Uranus. But let's go beyond the surface and dig deeper to consider the symbolic meanings of this.
Uranus in the NZ birth chart is buried deep in the collective unconscious of the 12th house. Uranus as a slow moving outer planet symbolises themes for generations of people not just individuals. If Mars is the trigger, then somewhere buried deep in the national psyche is the explosive seed of this quake. What might this seed be? If we remember from the themes that emerged in the NZ birth chart, there is a confrontation between a primal drive for personal freedom (Mars in 1st house) and the need for emotional security and belonging (North Node, Cancer in 7th).
Anyone who has migrated, willingly or otherwise to another country will recognise some element of this confrontation and the tension that goes hand in hand with it. For me personally, it has been a 15 year process where the tension built to almost fever pitch. In Jungian depth psychology, one of the foundational principles is holding the tension between opposites. This means to consciously acknowledge and allow space for seemingly contradictory aspects of onself to coexist without immediately choosing one over the other so that the personality collapses into one-sidedness. Instead, if the tension is held, the idea is that an opening will spontaneously occur, a third possibility through which the contradiction can be resolved, creating potential for personal growth. If we apply this concept to the tension created by the opposing drivers (freedom vs security) in the NZ birth story as it became a dominion of Great Britain, does the earthquake represent on some level a sudden collapse into one-sideness or a creative opening for growth? If it represents a collapse then what might be lurking in the collective shadow that is not being addressed?
To acknowledge and allow space for things, one has to be aware i.e. conscious of them. Without awareness there is no chance of being able to hold the opposites and collapse is inevitable which begs the question what is there in the NZ psyche that is not being acknowledged?! There's a hint in the birth chart that it has to do with a shamed, outcast Lilith in the 7th house conjunct the North Node - a primal urge for liberation. There are also clues from the way that Saturn appears in both charts. In the NZ birth chart, stoic, emotionally repressed Saturn is at the root, base or heart at the Immum Coeli (IC) and as ruler of Capricorn it is also the 1st house ruler where Mars' drive and ambition show up.
Capricorn is all about authority, who has it and our relationship to it; do we comply, protest or revolt? do we follow rules or march to the beat of our own drum? It's as if the primal urge for independence, freedom and to be one's own authority is attempting to loosen the grip of the old world structures of power without revolting fully against or destroying them. "Don't throw the baby out with the bath water" springs to mind with Mars and Saturn working in a harmonious trine to forge a new path of freedom but that somehow doesn't jeopardise the status quo. Yet with Lilith conjunct the North Node in the 7th house there is an unacknowledged deeper urge for complete liberation that has been relegated to the shadow. Perhaps this also speaks to repressed, taboo, unheard or shamed objections from others especially Maori or even different nationalities with no ties to Britain. Outcast, wrongfully treated Lilith certainly might speak to the profound failure of the Empire to acknowledge Maori sovereignity or to include appropriate Maori representation in the status and governance of the country.
The denial or suppression of emotion and feeling about all this is signified by Saturn on the IC, the root or foundation upon which the birth chart is built. Here it is in Pisces, as it is now (the NZ birth chart is experiencing its fourth Saturn return) and amongst the many interpretations that get stirred up by this coupling some really stand out to me.
Saturn in Pisces in the context of emigration is like the moment when fantasy (Pisces) becomes reality (Saturn), when the dream of a new life confronts the cold, hard, material facts of life on the other side of the world cut off from all that you have known and that has previously supported you. There is a terrible grief that is the price of emigration. Other species migrate to other parts of the world of course but they always return each season. Emigration is not like this. And back then, there was no email, Facebook, Whats App or even the telephone to stay in touch with relatives and friends. Some people may not have even been able to read or write to exchange letters with their kin.
The sense of loss and isolation may be impossible for us these days to imagine yet one of its legacies is surely the heartbreakingly high suicide rates in New Zealand especially amongst men. For the other aspect of the Saturnian influence is the suppression of emotion and of expressing deep feelings. Folk uprooted not only from kin but from their motherland, its soil, animals, seasons, the flora and the fauna, the landscape and all of the thousand of years of its stories and myths. Cutting the cord with one's motherland causes a deep rupture within the body and the psyche. Perhaps on some level the violent rupture of an earthquake mirrors this. In the Christchurch quake the epicentre was the Port Hills above Lyttelton, still a bustling port but in those early years Lyttelton served as one of the main entry points immigrants arriving by ship.
Has the land, the earth here, Mother Gaia herself somehow taken into her these unacknowledged deeper feelings as newcomers rooted into the soil here? Saturn in Pisces also represents collective or shared grief. This was very much evoked in the aftermath of the earthquake where so many people bonded in the intimacy of a shared traumatic experience. Perhaps in its own way, this sharing alleviated some of the built up pressure of generations that did not get to experience such intimate exchanges and carried their feelings deeply buried within. I can't help but notice that the 11th house in the quake chart (i.e. where all the energy is being released) is in Pisces, as if all these pent up Saturn in Pisces feelings finally find expression.
As I have been writing and researching for this article, studying and contemplating the charts, I have noticed something beautiful emerging out of the shadows; an uplifting, elevated vision that perhaps also provides an eagle's view of these shifts and themes as part of a wider cycle of time and evolution. I look forward to sharing more but for now, just to whet your whistle and to conclude this article, here's a brief glimpse.
In the NZ birth chart, Saturn in Pisces is at the root of the chart on the IC at 23 degrees. The Sabian Symbol for this degree is "The Tiny Island Seems Lost in the Broad Ocean, but it's Happy Inhabitants have Created a World All of Their Own". Honestly, you just couldn't make this stuff up!
Here's the description for the Sabian symbol.
This shows living with others, sharing the same space or efforts to create a happy life. The people pictured all live together and have "Created a Great World All Their Own". No matter how well people get along, people still have to compromise and give and take in order to sustain good community relations. Drawn together by similar hopes and ambitions it is ironic that sometimes compromise is the only way to successful coexistence. Making the most of what is available, even though it is restrictive, will help dispel any feelings of being cutoff and isolated. Who are you comfortable sharing your space with? Who would you have sharing your desert island?
Adaptability and cohabitation. Considering others. Coexistence. The need for new people to grow and flourish. Apartments. People moving in. Seeing like minds. Social intrigues.**
*Please note that highlighting this chart and focusing on the experience of British immigration is simply a lens to look at emigration themes and patterns through and I feel in some way qualified to explore these as a British immigrant myself drawing on my own experience. I fully recognise that the experience of indigenous Maori is not part of my exploration, in part because it is a history and experience I am in no way qualified to talk about but also because by the time pakeha arrived in New Zealand, Maori had a well established relationship to the land, nature and ecosystem with a wealth of stories and myth in stark contrast to the arriving immigrants).
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