2012 World Horoscope

Drastic changes to home and family structures, tougher tones in politics, continued focus on new modes of communication, increased impatience in all kinds of partnerships, growing unemploy­ment, but also a blooming entertainment industry and new directions for art - those are some of the events to expect in 2012, according to the world horoscope.


The World Horoscope Chart

Although we have no date for the birth of the world, it's easy to make an astrological forecast based on the year to come. That's done by making a horoscope chart for the start of the year, January 1, at Midnight GMT.

The choice of GMT, Greenwich Mean Time, is obvious: it's the starting point for the world clock system on which all countries agree. Well, there are some local exceptions, but they are insignificant compared to the whole.

So, this is what the horoscope looks like for January 1, 2012, Midnight GMT, with Greenwich, England, as the location:

Now, this type of annual horoscope is consistent from year to year in some ways, and differs in others. The Ascendant (AC), therefore also Medium Coeli (MC) and the astrological Houses, remain in just about the same position from year to year. So does the sun, of course, since it's the heavenly body on which we base the year.

But the other planets move from year to year. That's why they should be observed the most closely, when reading the 2012 world horoscope. Also the aspects, certain angles they form to one another and to the above mentioned persistent points of the horoscope. That, too, changes from year to year.

The Greenwich base for the annual world horoscope will remain as long as we keep the present time zone system. Since the horoscope is based on what the global society has agreed upon, it primarily shows what happens to this our society. Well, that's what we're the most curious about, anyway.


The Starting Point of the Year

We also have to remember that this 2012 world horoscope shows the starting point of the year. This gives a good astrological image of what we are to expect of the year, but a complete reading includes observing how the planets move through the year.

This continued movement indicates what happens to tendencies and circumstances shown by the January 1 horoscope chart. And when the planets form new aspects or pass from one House or Zodiac sign to another, this signifies changes of what was expected from their January 1 positions.

It's a dynamic system. So is society, indeed.


Constant Characteristics of the World Community

Because some things remain the same from year to year in the annual world horoscope based on Greenwich, there are many things about the human world community that remain the same. Quite important things.

Since the Ascendant always reappears at 7° Libra (it changes minutely because of Leap Years), the whole House system is also constant in the World horoscope, as is the Medium Coeli position at 9° Cancer and the 10th House.

The Ascendant shows that our world community likes to present itself as just and balanced, keeping order in the world. It's not necessarily true, but that's the image we want to make of our civilization. The end of the 1st House moving into Scorpio indicates that unrest and drastic change are still to be expected. The order rarely lasts and justice has its exceptions.

Medium Coeli, MC, shows how we see ourselves really, or in this case our society. That's in Cancer, so we strongly feel that society is built on our need to protect one another. A safety net, an institution by which the world population is more secure that it otherwise would be.

As for the twelve Houses, they are actually in the opposite position of their initial habitat in the Zodiac. For example, the 1st House is in Libra although the Zodiac sign Aries from which it got its characteristics is right opposite it, in the 7th House. That goes for all the Houses.

This means that there is a kind of malfunction in every aspect of society, an anomaly that keeps causing trouble and keeps interrupting some basic needs and functions from working as intended. Much of the social unrest in the world is explained by the opposition between the Houses and their original Zodiac signs.

Therefore:
The 1st House shows that individuality is somewhat suppressed for the sake of what's called the benefit of all, and the 7th House shows that we have trouble forming lasting partnerships, since society seems still to be arranged for individualism.

The 2nd House tells that the economy is constantly threatening to collapse, although that rarely happens. We lack control of it, but the 8th House shows that we continue to convince ourselves that we can control things that are really out of our control.

The 3rd House shows that communication techniques and habits aim so far that they tend not to be adequate for everyday contacts in our immediate neighborhoods. We are strangers to the ones around us, but get well acquainted with people very far away. The 9th House shows that still, we don't move very far, although we easily could. The changes to society are often minor and superficial, or plain illusions.

The 4th House shows that the home and family structure is embraced by great ambition and importance, but that tends to threaten security and peacefulness in the home environment. This is where the sun is, so it increases this characteristic of present society. We have tremendous ambitions with our homes and families, which is precisely why our homes don't function as the havens they once were.

The 10th House shows that our social ambition, society's march towards improvement as a whole, aims at security and peacefulness, as if the world society had become the new family structure. I doesn't really work, of course, when people don't feel security and peace in their homes. Medium Coeli in this House is in an opposition aspect (180°) to the sun, increasing the effect and strength of this conflict.

Although we struggle to make society more and more safe, it mainly unsettles our homes and makes family members impatient. Homes break up instead of getting more solid. This is the major problem in our world society. Security should start at home, and land there, but when society as a whole tries to substitute it, homes suffer.

The 5th House indicates that the most encouraged spare time activity in society is that of a continued learning process. We study and learn, but find little time to digest it all. We're expected to spend the time we have on our own to discover what society as a whole is all about and how this can be fulfilled. That's what we want to do, but it proves difficult to accomplish outside our own private zones.

At the opposite, the 11th House shows that individualism is the most successful attitude on the big social scene. That's why dictators keep appearing, although society as a whole embraces democracy. People who exploit society for their own benefit and to make themselves celebrities or leaders have the best chance of succeeding. Altruism meets with many more obstacles.

The 6th House shows that we are eager to work and contribute, but society gives less opportunity to do so. Unemployment is a plague that will not be solved, but probably increase – even so that parts of the population will never have a regular job. Those who do, find that it changes often, whether they like it or not, and they are often unsure about what to expect and what to do at their workplace. It's confusing.

The 12th House repeats this situation by showing that our society lacks room for all of the work force wanting to do their bit. It is difficult to get things done, although so many are ready to dig in.

The above conflicts or anomalies in our society will remain as long as we stick to the present Greenwich based clock. It's an underlying circumstance, so it can be improved and diminished, but never completely solved. And the conflicts quickly return if not constantly countered.


2012 Specifics

Considering the above, we move on to see what's specific for the year 2012. That's done simply by observing the positions of the planets, and the aspects they form.

Sticking to the order of the Houses, we see this:


Upholding Balance by Power

Saturn is in the 1st House of the 2012 world horoscope, approaching the end of Libra. This means that the public social debate is very much occupied with principles of justice and how they should be protected and enforced. Changes to our ethics and morals threaten to rock present foundations, whether they are welcome or not. There is much talk about enforcing the old values and upholding balance by power.

Saturn is rather slow, so it was in the same House in the 2011 world horoscope, although closer to the start of the House and in the middle of Libra. So, the debate about law and moral principles continues from that year, but in 2012 it threatens to create social unrest, maybe also a crisis.

We had a slightly similar situation in 1982 and 1983, when the cold war was still very present. In that period, Saturn was passing through the same part of the world horoscope.


The World Economy Constantly Shivering

As for the world economy, 2012 will be rather uneventful. Nothing of serious significance happens, but Scorpio in that House guarantees that we will still have great fears about the world finances and what they might cause. There's continued unrest in the economy, but no major crash. No prosperous solution either.

Everybody might not agree on it, but 2011 was a much better year for the world economy than 2012 will be. Both Venus and the moon were in the 2nd House of the 2011 world horoscope, so fortunes grew and many parts of the economy were blooming. It was still in Scorpio, so the threat was there, but actually 2011 was a prosperous year for the world economy.

Actually, the greatest threats to the world economy were between 1986 and 1998, when Pluto passed through the 2nd House. This period was also the one with the most drastic changes to the world economy. It's unlikely that the near future has anything more dramatic in store for us, regarding the world economy.


The Era of Communication

In the House of communication, 2012 has good things in store. Both Mercury and the North Node are in the 3rd House. This shows that new methods, techniques and habits regarding communication are introduced and growing. In society as a whole, this seems to be a major development, something signifying the year and its main events.

This goes for every kind of communication – travel, the Internet, language, and so on. Because of Sagittarius in this House, the scope is both nearby and distant communication – sort of making them alter: distant things approach, and nearby matters take off into the distance.

The development of communication has been a major ingredient in the world since the 14th century, when Pluto and Neptune had a conjunction in Gemini, the Zodiac sign of communication. Their next conjunction was in the same sign, at the end of the 19th century. It will continue to happen approximately every 500 years, and for several thousand years ahead it will be in Gemini.

That means the most revolutionary changes in society – since the 14th century – have all been about communication. That's where society progresses the most. At the first conjunction, book printing with types was introduced, at the second the radio was invented. Both were extreme advances in communication. More will come – some small part of it in 2012.


Revolution at Home

In 2012, Pluto enters into the 4th House, that of home and family, which is already very important in the world horoscope of any year. Pluto brings drastic change, something like a metamorphosis or revolution. It takes time and lasts long, but 2012 will see the start of such a thing, regarding home and family.

In Capricorn, this is likely to be a big change in the structure of home and family, all through the world society. Such things are, of course, slow to change completely, because age old habits and traditions are involved. But during 2012 we will see the seed, the start of a new way of forming families and settling in homes. Something more ambitious, but probably neither more secure nor more caring.

In future history books, whatever this change is it will be described as the most important thing happening in 2012 – although we might not see it clearly during this year.

Great changes begin with small events, in the periphery. The Pluto changes often take many years to complete – but they will be possible to detect in 2012, if we just widen our perspective and listen for the small signals. We should not stare at the small events per se, but consider their longtime consequences.

Already during 2013, Pluto passes over the sun in the 4th House. That surely means the ball starts rolling, the metamorphosis of home and family is well on the way. It continues to unfold during all of Pluto's movement through this House, which goes on until 2029.

In the 2012 world horoscope, Pluto is almost exactly at the cusp of the 4th House (at 7°19.5', whereas the House cusp is at 7°06'). This shows that the beginning change of home and family structures is indeed something very significant to this year. It will make the news in many obvious and not so obvious ways.

Pluto is in a square aspect to the Ascendant, which means that the coming change of home and family is in conflict with how we like to regard our society, its balance and justice. This implies that the change causes unbalance and is better for some than for others.

Also the sun, which recurs at the same position for every annual world horoscope, has a square to the Ascendant. So, this tendency is typical for modern society – even in past and future years. Home and family develop into something in conflict with how we as a society like to see ourselves.

Surely, because of Capricorn, the change will make families bigger, not smaller, and somehow more important in society, demanding more resources and getting them, too.


Entertainment Blooming and Art in Transformation

Also the 5th House contains planets marking it as an eventful environment in 2012. Venus appears rather early in the House and Neptune later – both in Aquarius.

The House deals with what people in society do for their own amusement. That's show business, cultural activities, the arts, but also for example sports. Things we don't have to accomplish or consume for our survival, but do for our own delight. That which makes life pleasant.

And pleasure is the key word for Venus, the planet appearing first in the House. It blooms in this House, showing that 2012 will be full of pleasures and delights within the field of entertainment – especially the kind that makes us reflect and become wiser. Our culture advances, explores, innovates, more than most years.

Aquarius is a serious sign, so everything is not exactly joyous in the conventional sense, but definitely interesting and thought provoking. The development of entertainment and art is towards the profound, into depths we have not yet been familiar with.

This in confirmed by Neptune, which has traveled through this House for several years. It entered in 2002, so that's when artists in every genre started to explore what were until then mysteries, seeking new ways of expression and subject-matters of increased profundity. Of course, that's what artists are always doing, but rarely to this extent.

Actually, this dreamlike quality emerging in the entertainment world is quite unique in the history of modern society, since this is the first time Neptune enters this House of the world horoscope.

It was not until 1884 Greenwich Mean Time was adopted world-wide. Before that year a world horoscope like this one was not possible to chart. Neptune takes about 165 years to pass through the whole Zodiac.

During 2012, Neptune will move into Pisces, although remaining in the same House until 2016. This means that the visions and imagination of artists will move from finding to searching, from the known to the unknown. They feel lost and long for new moods of expression. Entertainment will still have the Aquarius characteristics, since show business evolves slower that the artists that contribute to it. But a sense of bewilderment and uncertainty will start to be felt.

Venus has a sextile aspect to the North Node in the 3rd House, showing that much of the creativity in the entertainment world has to do with new solutions for communication. Things like the Internet will have an increased role to play, which comes as no surprise. During this year, other innovations of communication might be initiated by the entertainment industry for its own purposes, but still finding wider use.

Neptune has a trine aspect to Saturn in the 1st House. That means the innovative minds of artists go in harmony with ethical principles we cherish in society. It also means that principles regarding freedom of the arts and of artistic expression stimulate them very much. Artists dare to extend their quests to new areas, feeling the support of society as a whole.


The Hardship of Labor

The 6th House concerns labor, and it is troubled in the world horoscope – not only in 2012. The House is in Pisces, the sign of confusion, sacrifice, and shortcomings. This means that ever since the late 19th century, when this world horoscope was born through the world-wide establishment of Greenwich Mean Time, labor and its circumstances have been troubled, its complications far from their solutions. It's simply and sadly an ingredient in modern society.

We know that industrialization gnawed on the need for workers, gradually replacing them with machines. The computer has done the same with white-collar workers. This process will remain, so unfortunately we can expect to see a continued high percentage of unemployed – for some people all through their lives.

Astrologically speaking, this will not change until new coordinates are established for world time. But changes still take place, some for the better and some for the worse. Uranus close to the end of the 6th House reveals such a change.

Since 2006, Uranus has passed through the Pisces part of the House, but in 2012 it's entered the last part of the House, which is in Aries. Uranus is the planet of insight and invention, and Aries the sign of challenge and drastic action. The outcome is easy to compute.

There will be new developments this year in the field of labor. These will be challenging, so that some adapt to the new situation and prosper, whereas others are left behind. Aries is impatient.

The new developments will be defended as necessary or even unavoidable, but it's not at all sure that they must be so ruthless. This is just the sign of the time. Uranus has no aspects to other planets, so the stern way by which it is expressed in the work places of our society has no outer reason, although this will surely be claimed.

The new order for labor introduced by Uranus will be completed rather quickly, already during 2013, when Uranus leaves the 6th House.


Impatient Partnerships

The 7th House governs partnerships of any kind. Usually, what we care the most about are relationships based on love, such as marriage. But also business relations and other partnerships belong to this House.

In our society all kinds of partnerships tend to be based on individualism. Both parties are eager to guard their own interests and integrity. That's really not much of a partnership, so they break up easily. This is a situation we have to live with as long as we stick to Greenwich Mean Time.

Still, in the 2012 world horoscope the moon is at the very cusp of the 7th House, injecting it with strong emotions, especially that of longing. It means we long for lasting relations, but still only if we can keep our individuality. So, we dream of the right one, a partner with whom these opposites can be united.

The moon moves very quickly through the Zodiac – it completes one rotation in just a month. In the world horoscope, though, it doesn't diminish its influence, especially since it's right at the cusp of the House. This position is significant and enhances the influence of the moon.

The longing it awakens is one for a satisfying partnership – or for breaking out of one that isn't, in order to find one that is. So, both marriages and divorces are likely to increase significantly during 2012.

It's hard to say which one will increase the most, but the Aries sign implies the latter – also it suggests that people will prefer relations that are easy to end. The year will have many examples of very intense but short relations – and this is true for any type of relation, on both personal and organizational level, all the way up to how nations cooperate.

The moon is in an opposition aspect to the Ascendant in Libra. This points out the conflict between the way our society looks at relations and the way we actually live them. We pretend that partnerships are essential and should last for life, but actually we focus more on our own individual needs. This is particularly true and evident during 2012.

The moon also has a square aspect to Pluto on the cusp of the 4th House, which indicates a great and lasting change in home and family structures. Our impatient longing when it comes to partnerships is an obstacle, a complication, in our strife to make something more of home and family than it ever was before.

Towards the end of the 7th House, Jupiter appears. It's when the House has changed from Aries to Taurus. This means that when we learn how to create lasting and rewarding relations, we get countless opportunities to do so.

On the other hand, the quantity of possibilities tends again to make us restless, wondering if we picked the right one. Jupiter in the 7th House leads to several partners and infidelity, even in Taurus.

Jupiter is in opposition to Saturn in the 1st House. It shows that we have the tendency to enter several competing partnerships, although we regard this as immoral and know it can't last.

Jupiter also joins Neptune in the 5th House with a sextile. This is a positive aspect, showing that our tendency to form several partnerships fits well with what new directions our pleasures and entertainments take. Certainly, it's about enjoying life. That might not always work out for the best, but still.

Neptune has sort of a key function, with its sextile to Jupiter and its trine to Saturn, described above in the text about the 1st House. Imagination brings us to new solutions for old situations – when it comes to our moral standpoints as well as our relations.

It's in art and in our fantasies that we find a reason for accepting the conflict between individualism and partnership. Our true need is not multiple partners of whatever kind, nor is it to uphold moral principles regardless of emotional needs, but inspiration by which to pursue an excited discovery of our world and what more it has to offer.


Uneventful Sides of Society

The following two Houses represent environments or fields of society, which are rather uneventful during 2012, according to the world horoscope. That's because they lack planets, which are the active forces in the horoscope.

Still, they continue to express the characteristics given to them by the Zodiac signs they occupy.

First in this duo is the 8th House in Taurus, showing that our modern society tends to have a down-to-earth attitude towards things beyond our control. We neither mystify nor just surrender to them. Instead we continuously strive for methods to control fate in all its expressions. Actually, we have an attitude of refusing to accept that there is anything at all forever beyond our control – not even death.

The 9th House in Gemini shows that we tend to take even major changes lightly, but also that most changes we accomplish are not as big as we would like to think – except for the fact that they involve so many people. Small changes to the life situation of every member of society must be regarded as great changes to society as a whole.


Compassion Meets with Obstacles

MC, Medium Coeli (also called Midheaven), is positioned early in the 10th House. That's a recurring position in the annual world horoscopes, as long as they are based on Greenwich Mean Time. Yet, because it's aspected to planets in a way that's unique for the 2012 horoscope, its function differs from other years.

In itself, MC in this House and the sign of Cancer shows that we regard our society as a caring one, supporting its citizens. In reality, that's far from always the case.

Midheaven has a square aspect to the Ascendant, which is the same every year. It simply points out that society's ability to care for its citizens is often obstructed by the ethics it claims to uphold. Such principles might have been born out of a sense of compassion, but the practice of them often lack just that.

The reverse can also be true: Sometimes the social care for the citizens makes it necessary to brush aside fixed principles.

In the 2012 world horoscope, MC also has a square to the moon on the cusp of the 7th House. This shows that our impatience in partnerships is something that we as a society don't really approve of. Therefore we often tend to close our eyes to it.

Still, the strongest MC aspects are the oppositions to both Pluto and the sun in the 4th House. This stresses the insoluble conflict between society's ambition to care for its citizens and the drastic changes commencing in people's homes and family lives. They lead away from security and the traditional caring environment.

Homes seem instead to become institutions of their own, as if being offices more than homes, with co-workers rather than families. It seems as if society is inverting the social setting with the private one, so that people turn away from their families when they need care.

Now, by the above mentioned squares and oppositions, Medium Coeli forms an aspect figure called the big square: four points of the horoscope joined together by squares. In this case it's MC, the moon, Pluto together with the sun because they are so close, and finally the Ascendant. Such a closed geometrical figure of aspects intensifies the importance and strength of them.

The four corners of the big square form what can be called a system of causes and effects, where each point can be both a cause and an effect. For example, The firm ethics shown by the Ascendant causes problems for the MC attitude of a caring society, as described above. At the same time, the caring society frequently causes the firm principles to be bent. It's the same with all the aspects involved in the figure.

So, there's a pattern of complications between the private and the official, between compassion and ambition, which is particularly obvious in society during 2012. It will be manifested in lots of ways, big and small.

The strongest point in the big square is that of Pluto and the sun in conjunction in the 4th House and Capricorn. Its superior strength comes from the fact that it has two heavenly bodies instead of just one, and that they are so important. The sun is the mightiest of all, of course, although discreet and adaptive in its effect, and Pluto is the one creating the most revolutionary events.

This means that the other points tend to serve more than lead. The Pluto and sun conjunction is the major cause, but also shows where the major effects appear.

As explained in the text above about the 4th House, this is then all about the significant change of the home and family situation in our society. In 2012 this change might be little more than implied by events here and there, tendencies more than big news, but the change is on the way and this year is to a great extent when it starts.


Crisis in Labor

The 11th House lacks planets, so it just expresses the characteristics that remain the same from year to year: The strongest ideals and aspirations in society are individualistic. Of course, this individualism contributes to the conflicts described about the big square. But it doesn't really add new elements to them.

The 12th House, though, has got Mars in the middle, in the sign of Virgo. This pretty much repeats and enforces what was said about the 6th House regarding labor. There are many obstacles in the world wide field of labor, creating injustices and a lot of unemployed.

Mars in the 12th House always creates some trouble or crisis, but also the lack of power to deal with it. This lack of power is often the reason for the trouble appearing. In Virgo this clearly refers to the world of work, employment, and getting things done. So, 2012 will have particular labor problems, which society lacks the force and control to solve.

Mars has a square aspect to Mercury in the 3rd House. This indicates that renewed modes of communication will result in diminished numbers of workers needed. We've seen a lot of that since the introduction of the computer, but this year will have its own events that have this effect. People communicate in different ways, and the result is unemployment as well as other forms of labor difficulties.

See this text on my astrological website:
horoscoper.NET