CHAPTER FOUR:
A Birth Chart for the United States of America - 4

Sun and Moon
I have discussed at some length the symbols of the four Angles of the U.S. chart because they seem to tell a most meaningful story. That story fits remarkably what not only I, but a whole tradition, have been asserting concerning the purpose and essential meaning of the United States of America. Unfortunately such an assertion has usually been made in terms of the glorification of a nationalistic ego-consciousness, and in terms of the seemingly amazing "success" of the American experiment. But the kind of material success that obviously is for everyone to see — and in some instances to fear — is largely a shadow of the spiritual destiny of America, even though this shadow may, and should, herald the coming of the Light-bringer.
      The four Angles of a chart establish the archetypal pattern of the essential being, a frame of reference for all that occurs during the life of an individual person. The planets and other secondary factors, like Nodes, Midpoints and Parts, reveal what is taking place within this pattern, or the way in which the Architect's idea of the building (i.e., of the concrete personality, body and psyche) formulated in the blueprints is actually working out. Among these "planets" — in the modern astrological sense of the word — the sun and the Moon are most important. To the Ancients they were not planets, but rather the two Lights, the light of the day and the light of the night. The Sun referred to the vital force that made all organic activity possible, and the Moon represented the night-life of the soul the hidden realm of feelings and the protective presence of the Mother and of partially invisible spiritual entities within the home or the holy places of the communal religion.
      The Sabian symbol for the Sun's degree in the U.S. chart brings us the picture of A very old man facing a dark space to the northeast. I interpret this symbol as "Fulfillment in transcending and changeless wisdom" because the archetypal figure of the "wise old man" is very basic in most systems of symbolism, and particularly in Carl Jung's interpretation of the archetypes within man's psyche. Northeast is the direction from which spiritual-cosmic forces enter the Earth sphere, because of the inclination of the polar axis some twenty-three degrees away from the perpendicular to the plane of the ecliptic (or Earth's orbit).
      This picture fits quite well in the sequence of symbols referring to the four Angles. It suggests that the power undertoning the life of the United States — as such a life took form in 1776 — has a deep spiritual character, linked with a — planetary source of strength. From a merely historical point of view, it is also evident that the guiding power of early America came from the northeast section of the country. The father figure that put an as yet indelible stamp upon the character of the American nation was represented by the English tradition and its attitude toward law and politics. The United States as a nation can be said to be related to England in the same way in which imperial Rome was related to republican Rome. It is only relatively recently that this Anglo-Saxon (or WASP) tradition has been challenged not only by racial, but even more significantly by "counter-culture," minorities. A similar development, in the form of the introduction of Near Eastern religions and ways of life, occurred in imperial Rome. Similarly, when the Roman people could no longer accept military duties far away from the metropolis for the "containment" of Germanic tribes, an army of mercenaries came to power just as, under Nixon's leadership, we see the rise of a "professional" and well-paid Army from the experience of Vietnam. The massive influence of the Pentagon over all aspects of our national life could eventually parallel the rise to imperial power of one general after another in old Rome — a rather disturbing analogy!