Mundane astrology is the study of world events (mundus in ancient Greek means world) by examining the horoscopes of nations and events as if those entities were living and breathing beings, with personalities and characteristics just like humans. I confess that this branch of astrology has never held much meaning for me — my field of interest is in the evolution of the human spirit and character. But there is a lot of buzz right now about one specific event that is getting ready to occur: the change of direction of the Progressed Mars in the chart of the United States.

The date and time of birth of the American nation has been a matter of debate for centuries now. Most astrologers use the “Sibley” chart for the US, named after Ebenezer Sibley, a prominent American astrologer in the late 1700s. According to Benson Bobrick’s excellent work The Fated Sky, Sibley a Freemason was well practiced in the field of mundane astrology, known for his accurate political predictions regarding both the American and French revolutions. Sibley also predicted that America would one day “have an extensive an dflourishing commerce; advantageous and universal traffic to every quarter of the globe, with great security and prosperity amongst its people,” and eventually be “a new Empire that shall soon or late give laws to the whole world. ” This is rather startling considering the fact that Masonic historian Manly P Hall has reported that the US has a secret destiny: “Thousands of years ago, in Egypt, these mystical orders were aware of the existence of the western hemisphere and the great continent which we call America. The bold resolution was made that this western continent should become the site of the philosophic empire. Just when this was done it is impossible now to say, but certainly the decision was reached prior to the time of Plato, for a thinly veiled statement of this resolution is the substance of his treatise on the Atlantic Islands.” (from Manly P Hall’s Secret Destiny of America). But I digress… that is an issue for another discussion entirely.

Suffice it to say that Sibley had a mystical and Masonic background, and since most of America’s founders were Masons and therefore very concerned with matters of the occult, Sibley most likely had direct information regarding the actual time for the birthchart of the United States, and his is the chart that is predominantly used today.

The upcoming event that has mundane astrologers buzzing is the retrograde turn of the progressed Mars in the US chart. Progressions are a system to show the development of a characteristic through an individual’s lifetime; while we remain the same person, we grow and change through time and this is signified by the progressed planets. Before a planet turns retrograde it slows down and is almost “stationary,” and because the progressed planets move more slowly the stationary period is much longer. Over the past year, the US progressed Mars has been stationary in Libra and will turn retrograde this year (there is a question as to when this will happen: Michael Wolfstar says September 1 and other astrologers, including Alphee Lavoie and Gary Caton, says this event will take place July 20. Gary quotes Raymond Merriman as saying, “The implication is that the U.S. is about to make a complete reversal in regards to its entire historical military expression. And what would cause that? Well, obviously (to me) it has to do with this war in Iraq. It seems to me that this war will be the last war of this kind that the U.S. will engage in for the next 70-72 years, once the Bush regime is out of office. There will likely be a profound reversal of how the U.S. utilizes its military after the election of November 2008. The troops will likely come home, for better or worse — and I say that because if the job is not completed, much of the world will no longer depend upon the U.S. to keep its word about protecting its allies. “

Claire-France Perez has lined up a collection of predictions (listed below) – as always, it will be interesting to see how the cosmos brings events that are beyond what we could ever imagine.

1. A nuclear test on June 2 in Nevada. (bomb = Mars)http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2006/03/30/AR2006033001735.html

2. An attack with nuclear weaponry upon the historical sites and cities of Iran (bomb = Mars) http://www.globalresearch.ca/articles/CHO505A.html

3. A bevy of retired generals (Mars = Military) requesting a change in the direction of the department of defense (Rumsfeld)http://www.govexec.com/story_page.cfm?articleid=34007&dcn=todaysnews

4. The destruction of any civil peace in Iraq to continue (war = Mars)http://www.iraqbodycount.org/database/

5. From an interpretation from the Horary tradition, which signals Mars in the 2nd (just another Mars sort of thang) of a Horary chart could signify the “cutting of one’s purse strings,” in this case, for newborns. It is estimated that those born in the next three to five years will each be saddled with $15,000 to $30,000 of debt on their first day in life, along with the rest of the already-born American People. Here’s a painting from Georges de la Tour of Mars’ pickpocket action:http://www.metmuseum.org/Works_of_Art/viewOnezoom.asp?dep=11&zoomFlag=0&viewmode=0&item=60.30

6. And of course we have the new militarily reinforced border, one that was underfunded a year ago, and then whoops! Brought back for another of the world’s greatest photo opportunities for this president. (this article reports on the fund cut from the border patrol a year ago…) I just wonder if a terrorists already living in the country are feeling any safer.http://sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?file=/chronicle/archive/2005/02/09/MNGOKB837T1.DTL

7. The right hand man (a “second”) for the US president, Karl Rove, is awaiting the announcement of his indictment. Impeding the investigation, and various other sins to be proven against him regarding the case of Valerie Plame. (arrest = Mars)http://thinkprogress.org/2006/05/12/matthews-on-rove-indictment-it-could-be-today/

8. It looks like Dick Cheney, the Vice President, also had a hand in the Valerie Plame scandal and is awaiting the investigation to hone more closely upon him. (arrest = Mars)http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2005/10/17/AR2005101701888.html