One of the more enlightening aspects of Norse astrology is studying how the planets affect human history. We see this most vividly in the slow-moving planets. Loki, who is represented by the planet Uranus, brought revolution and tumult to Asia in the 20th century.
In a personal horoscope, Loki represents how we engender trouble for both ourselves and others. Unlike Odin (Moon), who provokes strife to serve a higher goal, Loki begets strife for its own sake. Loki shows how we make trouble for others. He is the dissident within us, the side that is ready to fight anybody and everybody. Loki indicates how we rebel against people, institutions, and life itself. He reveals how we ignore or defy societal roles and customs. He represents our desire to tear down stifling organizations and structures. Sometimes Loki represents the revolutionary breakthrough that we need to achieve something greater. Loki is the catalyst for change, be it good or evil. He renders everything unpredictable.
Both Norse Loki and Greco-Roman Uranus are shocking and disturbing, and often a destructive force. In the life of an individual person, they are almost always negative. But their influence on society is more double-edged. Naturally, both are disruptive and threatening to the established order. Yet these two archetypes foster discovery and illumination. Though they may promote dissatisfaction, they also raise us from our ruts.
Loki is at his greatest power in Dagaz, the rune of sudden conversion, enlightenment, cataclysmic change, and transformation into the opposite. Dagaz brings us to greatest heights, yet may also signify a plunge from this summit.
On October 1, 1949, while Loki was in Dagaz, the Chinese civil war ended when the People’s Liberation Army proclaimed the People’s Republic of China. China is the most populous nation on earth. This was a drastic change a half billion people, who moved from a backward, feudalistic society into a modern socialist nation. If judged by population, this was the world’s largest revolution. In Dagaz we see the power of Loki to overturn the social order.
Yet his influence was restrained in a few aspects. At the same time, the Norns (Neptune) were in Gebo, and Tyr (Saturn) in Raidho. The Norns in Gebo emphasize the restraints of formal contracts and personal relationships among people. Tyr in Raidho emphasizes ordered, well-defined movement in our societal duties. Thus, the Norns and Tyr provided a means by which traditional Chinese society could maintain itself in the face of a socialist revolution.
The other major historical event accompanying Loki in Dagaz was the partition of India and Pakistan in August 1947. British colonial rule had become untenable in southern Asia after World War 2, and the British government attempted to create separate Muslim and Hindu nations as they departed. The national boundaries that they drew were inadequate to the task, and the antagonistic nations of India and Pakistan were formed amid bloodbaths and mass migration. Again, Loki overthrew societal order, heedless of the consequences. The Norns, as in China, were also in Gebo, but here their position emphasized the insufficiency of formal contracts and agreements. Nationality and religion overwhelmed attempts for a peaceful settlement.
We see the difference between Norse and Greco-Roman astrology by studying the position of Loki/Uranus. The rune Dagaz straddles the end of Gemini and the beginning of Cancer. There is nothing in these two Greco-Roman signs to indicate violent revolution for one third of the world’s population. The mutable air of Gemini is hardly conducive to the radical overthrow of the social order, and peaceful, domestic, traditional Cancer may be one of the worst possible channels for Uranian energy. The Norse runes provide a better historical perspective.
Copyright (c) 2011 Alt Horoscopes, LLC