MARS CONJUNCT SATURN: TROPICAL VS SIDEREAL ZODIAC
In his 13th century treatise on Mundane Astrology, Italian astrologer Guido Bonatti described the Mars-Saturn conjunction as a cyclical indicator of potential conflicts. These conjunctions occur about every 2 years in different signs. He argued that those occurring in the first decan of Cancer are the most powerful, since the sign of Cancer is the detriment of both planets.
This correlation could be used as a test of the validity of the sidereal zodiac compared with the tropical zodiac, since wars and conflicts are generally well documented. The first decan of Cancer will differ significantly in absolute location depending on the type of zodiac. The Mars-Saturn conjunctions occurring in the “true” zodiac system should lead to significantly more war-like events than other zodiac systems.
To carry out this test, I used the Electional Search facility of the SolarFire astrology software. I searched for all instances of Mars conjunct Saturn in the first decan of Cancer for the past 300 years. I first used the tropical zodiac and then repeated the same search, using the sidereal zodiac (Fagan-Allen). I retrieved 5 instances of a Mars-Saturn conjunction in early Cancer for each system.
For the dates of the conjunctions, I searched Wikipedia for war-like events including declarations of war, battles, sieges, mass murders, and acts of terrorism. I limited the event search from one month before the conjunction to one year later. I gave a score of one to each event, and tabulated the sums as shown below. I also made a note of the main aspects to the conjunction, including fixed stars.
There were a total of 33 belligerent events using the tropical zodiac, whereas with the sidereal zodiac there were 47 events, an increase of 42%. What was even more striking was the amount of variation in the number of events from year to year, even though all were taking place in early Cancer. The absolute lowest (1 event) took place in 1887, in which case the Mars-Saturn conjunction was sextile Venus and square Jupiter, the two benefics. Another “quiet” year was 1739, with 3 events. In this case the conjunction was with Neptune, and trine Venus. The highest score took place in 1799, with 19 events; the conjunction was also a parallel in declination, and biquintile Pluto, quintile North Node, and biquintile Moon.
I would argue from the above that the zodiac location of the Mars-Saturn conjunction is less important than the actual aspects from other bodies in forecasting subsequent conflicts. Aspects to the benefics may be followed by a low number of conflicts, whereas multiple hard aspects to the Nodes, Pluto or the luminaries may increase belligerent activity. In this small study the sidereal zodiac gives better results, but a larger, more systematic review would be required for statistical significance.
The last Mars-Saturn conjunction took place on April 10th, 2024. The chart for Washington DC has the conjunction angular on the descendant in 19* Aquarius (sidereal). Aquarius has traditionally been linked to both Russia and Iran, and on the 7th house sets them up as potential adversaries. This conjunction was sextile to a satellitium that included the Moon, Jupiter and Uranus. It was also conjunct the fixed star Achernar, which has positive, Jupiter-like qualities. Hence these features should mitigate the potential dangers to Washington. The next Mars-Saturn conjunction is not due until 2026.
