Sgt. Peppers, Woodstock and The Summer of Love

The Summer of Love, really wasn’t a summer at all, it was a period of a few years. A time where protest, psychedelic drugs, youth movement, and idealism all came together, with San Francisco at its centre. Though on reflection, “Flower Power”  itself might not have lasted that long, it’s influence on culture has been pretty profound. The whole thing  got underway with the release of the Beatles Album, Sgt. Pepper’s Lonely Hearts Club Band (June 1, 1967, London, UK)  and reached it’s climax with the Woodstock festival in August 1969 (start festival: 15 August 17.07 – source Woodstock site).  The Horoscope for the release of Sgt. Pepper:

I have set the chart for 09.00, which is the time that shops open in the UK. Here Leo rises, and interestingly the Sun is in Gemini in the 11th house. The iconic cover of the album designed by Peter Blake and Jann Haworth’s, depicts the Beatles among a horde of famous (or perhaps infamous celebrities). It remains one of the best selling and most influential records of all times. Uranus conjunct Pluto –   an indication of the times that were definitely changing –  are in opposition to the Moon (the general public) which is in watery and prolific Pisces. The Moon then links up by trine to Venus in Cancer and Neptune in Scorpio. The grand trine in water is a suitable launching pad – for what would later be called “The Summer of Love”. The emotions flow and generate more of the same… At the end of the day – what many people involved with that movement will remember  – is the postive feeling – even though eventually hard drugs, like heroin, were eventually to destroy it.

The Woodstock horoscope:

Woodstock took place during a long stay of Mars in Sagittarius. The music began at 17.07 and finished on Monday 18th August. The clean-up took 5 days. There were two deaths during that period and two births.

Observing the planetary movements during and immediately after Woodstock, the build-up of the most sublime energy is striking. Mercury in Virgo separated from the opening square to Mars, leaving the latter free to quintile Venus, bi-quintile Saturn and quintile Uranus. These are the only aspects Mars made over the whole weekend if we exclude the Moon and the angles. Venus in Cancer made quintiles to both Saturn and Uranus. The Moon separated from the kite formation (involving Venus in Cancer, the Node in Pisces, Neptune in Scorpio, sextile Pluto conjunct Mercury ) on 21 August, and conjoined Mars in Sagittarius.  Add to this Uranus and Jupiter conjunct in Libra – with Uranus actually triggering the  Aries point – the axis of the world – and what do we get? The awareness that something “out of this world” something truly BIG and totally inspiring has happened.  While Uranus/Pluto/Saturn all had major roles to play, and were the driving force behind events, we should not underestimate the role of the watery planets… and the feel good factor they created on the ground. Notice too, the applying Sun/Neptune square, the manifestation of the idealism of the flower power generation etched, fixed forever into this shining moment in time.

Liz Hathway, Master of Arts in Cultural Astronomy and Astrology, DFAstrolS, Qualified Horary Craftswoman (Frawley school)

This piece is adapted from an article first published in the Journal of the Astrological Association, in March 2001 ‘The Long Stay of Mars in Sagittarius’. First published in Astrologieblog, in a post dated 28 July 2010