POET: You can seek Poland throughout the whole wide world, young lady; and you’ll never find her.

GIRL: Perhaps searching is a waste of time.

POET: Yet there is just one small space- Now, Jagusia, just place your hand beneath your breast . . . – A tam puka? (Is something beating there?)

GIRL: A cóz za tako nauka? (What sort of lesson is this?) Serce – !–? (That’s my heart!)

POET: A to Polska właśnie. (Exactly. That’s Poland).

—Stanislaw Wyspianski from his play Wesele (The Wedding Feast)

On October 3 there is a planned collective strike by Polish women to protest a proposed law that would make all abortions illegal, in any circumstance including following a rape or when the pregnancy is a medical danger.   Women can face imprisonment for up to five years for having an abortion and anyone who assists with the abortion also would risk prosecution and imprisonment under the proposed law.  Poland already has one of the most restrictive abortion policies in Europe, with abortion legally permitted only when the life of the fetus is under threat, when there is a serious threat to the health of the mother, and when the pregnancy resulted from rape or incest. There has been a call in response for all women in Poland to go on strike for a day, refusing to work or take care of domestic responsibilities in order to gather, meet, protest, or do charity work.  The protest is inspired by an all-out strike by the women of Iceland in October 1975, when 90% of women refused to work, cook, or look after their children for a day.  “Black protests” have been planned in over sixty Polish cities on October 3 with almost 100,000 women having pledged to strike.

How does this relate to the current astrology?  With Jupiter in Libra we are going to be witnessing a lot of protests and a return to social justice issues of oppression relating to events correlating with the tumultuous square between Uranus in Aries and Pluto in Capricorn that dominated from 2011 – 2015.  This is because as Jupiter moves through Libra it will form a square with Pluto in Capricorn and then transfer this energy into its opposition with Uranus in Aries.  Right now in the current lunar cycle, we are at an intense trigger point that lines up perfectly with the strike by Polish women.  This is because Mars in Capricorn is applying now to a square with Jupiter in Libra, and Mars will then move forward to form a conjunction with Pluto and then ultimately a square to Uranus in Aries.  In addition, the upcoming Full Moon on October 16 will be conjoining Uranus in Aries, with the New Moon in Libra a few days ago being conjunct Jupiter in Libra and in square to Mars and Pluto in Capricorn.

While Uranus in Aries in square to Pluto in Capricorn did correlate with numerous protest movements against oppression, there was also strong Plutocratic resistance in global hierarchies of power to do everything possible to subdue and control mass protests that could potentially shatter their grip on power and influence.  In Poland last year, the conservative Law and Justice Party (PiS) won the Polish presidency and then in addition a parliamentary majority.  The conservative Law and Justice Party is supported by traditional nationalistic elements of the Polish populace with strong ties to the Catholic church, while their policies have outraged the liberal and progressive element of the Polish people.  In an article published recently in The Nation, the rise of the conservative Polish party was used as a warning to people in the United States of America that the same element of the American populace roused to elation by Donald Trump, similar to the British element that supported Brexit, could in future presidential elections be used by a more skilled and charismatic American politician to achieve victory.

There is incredible collective trauma in Poland hard to fathom by citizens of the United States, as Poland was partitioned and did not exist from 1795 until 1918, creating subconscious national fear.  After regaining independence in 1918, the second world war saw the indescribable horror and trauma of Hitler, Stalin, and concentration camps visit Poland.  Some have said that attempts at healing the Polish identity have led some to become overly nationalistic.  Whatever the case may be, following a successful revolution that led in 1989 to a democratic transition into the Third Republic, Poland increasingly became a player in wider realms of international policy through membership in NATO in 1999 and then the European Union in 2004.   Up until elections in 2015 there had been a strong influence of more liberal political parties in Poland that were less bound to the Catholic church and more tolerant of difference than the conservative parties that have now seized power.  Some analysts believe the shift to conservative party dominance comes from the economic policies following the democratic transition in 1989 that led to incredible urban economic development in Poland at the cost of factories and farms in more rural areas experiencing economic collapse.

In Heart of Europe: The Past in Poland’s Present historian Norman Davies wrote that in the 1990s the left wing of Poland were quicker in successfully organizing to gain power than the right wing, shocking those who thought “Christian values” would dominate the new democratic Poland.  Davies wrote, “It took some time before the Church hierarchy realized that it could not dictate political developments as in old Ireland, and that direct clerical interference would be counter-productive” (p. 428).  Polish youth were less inclined to follow church dictates blindly, and with the abolishment of state censorship in the 1990s there resulted a revolution of Polish literature shattering previous restraints and fostering open exploration of diversity.  From one perspective the recent rise of conservative political parties in Poland can be seen as a backlash at the changes seen as threats against traditional values resulting from the revolutions of the late 1980s.

Collectively in our global community we have been in a time of darkness that calls for the return of the sacred feminine.  The audacious, courageous decision by Polish women to refuse to submit and instead take direct action to shut down the system if necessary is a beautiful example of the power we all have as individuals within the collective to unite in solidarity on behalf of social justice. I am going to use only two charts to look into this strike, the first being the sunrise chart for Monday 3 October in Warsaw, the current capital of Poland:

The second chart below is for Noon on Monday in Krakow, when organized strike group events are set to begin.  Krakow was the capital during the age of Poland’s kingdom and remains a powerful symbolic seat of power for Poland.  There is an article from the Krakow Post you can read here detailing the planned events for the day.  The organizers have also prepared an English language leaflet you may read here.

You can notice in both charts the trigger of Mars in Capricorn applying to a square with Jupiter in Libra, with the Sun in Libra in square to Pluto in Capricorn.  You can also witness the feminine power of the black protests through the Moon in Scorpio applying to a conjunction with Venus in Scorpio and a trine with Neptune, with the Moon and Venus in Scorpio in sextile to Pluto and Mars in Capricorn.  It is further compelling that Saturn in Sagittarius is exactly on the ascendant of the noon chart in Krakow, with Jupiter in Libra on the midheaven.

I also find it significant that the true node of Black Moon Lilith is conjoining Juno in Scorpio, as this holds the symbolism of rebellious feminine genius gathered in staunch refusal to bow down before patriarchal power structures.  When we look at the chart for the Third Republic of Poland in a moment, you will also notice a recurrence of this conjunction between Juno and Black Moon Lilith in Scorpio.  While I don’t always pay much attention to the Vertex in event charts, I also can’t help noticing that the Vertex in the sunrise chart is conjoining Uranus in Aries, and the Vertex in the noon chart for Krakow is conjoining Vesta in Cancer- this highlights the square between Vesta in Cancer with Uranus in Aries that also has compelling feminine symbolism for the protest strikes.  I don’t have Eris in my astrology program to show on these charts that Eris is conjoining Uranus, but many modern astrologers would also find the Polish strikes to be a compelling correspondence with the union of Eris and Uranus in Aries.

Below is the horoscope of the Poland Third Republic that formed in the wake of communist revolutions and the transition to a democratic Polish government (click here for an analysis of the horoscope for Poland):

This chart is fascinating in connection with the planned strikes because you can see that the current transit of the Sun in Libra on October 3, 2016 is exactly conjunct the ascendant in the chart of the Third Republic.  This also places the current transit of Jupiter in Libra on the ascendant, with the transit of Saturn in Sagittarius in sextile to the ascendant of the Third Republic chart.  You can also notice that the current transit of Pluto in Capricorn is conjoining the IC, Saturn, Neptune, and the Sun in the chart, as well as that the current transit of Mars in Capricorn is applying to a conjunction with the Capricorn Uranus in the chart of the Third Republic.  You can also see that the current transits of Jupiter in Libra and Mars in Capricorn form a t-square with the opposition between Uranus in Capricorn with Jupiter in Cancer in the Third Republic chart.  As previously mentioned, I also find it amazing that the Third Republic chart features a conjunction of Juno with the true node of Black Moon Lilith in Scorpio exactly as takes place on the day of the protests (in this case they are further conjoining the Pluto of the Third Republic chart).

We are now hurtling toward a Full Moon in Aries on October 16 that conjoins Uranus, Eris, and Ceres retrograde, while also containing a conjunction between Mars and Pluto in Capricorn that is in square to Mercury in Libra.  In solidarity with the women of Poland, may we all liberate ourselves and refuse to submit to oppression.

References

Davies, Norman. (2001 new edition). Heart of Europe: the Past in Poland’s Present. Oxford University Press.