In William Shakespeare’s great tragedy, King Lear, the central character must confront his own negligence of England’s poorest citizens. Reduced to homeless derelict by his own daughters—in large part through his own pride and arrogance—and living outdoors among ragged madmen, Lear has a moment of clarity during a tremendous thunder storm. Lear’s great mad scene in the storm contains some of the most poignant words in the English language. Yelling above the torrential wind and rain, Lear’s words should be engraved in the halls of Congress and the White House:

 

Poor naked wretches, whereso'er you are,
That bide the pelting of this pitiless storm,
How shall your houseless heads and unfed sides
                                                   …defend you
From seasons such as these? O, I have taken
Too little care of this!

 

One of the constant references in news commentary on Hurricane Katrina is the manner in which it exposed that which had been conveniently hidden: the poverty of class and race and the negligence of government.

 

Pluto exposes what’s under the surface. Sagittarius is ruled by Jupiter and represents the Truth. The Truth is being exposed. This has been a theme ever since Pluto entered Sagittarius.

 

Now, with the flooded aftermath of Hurricane Katrina, we have what amounts to a metaphor for Pluto in Sagittarius: the massive storm hurtled ashore and as it passed it swept aside and revealed what was beneath the social veneer. Beneath the Mardi Gras and the French Quarter, the gambling casinos and the white table cloth restaurants…were human beings too poor, too ill, too old, or too disabled to leave the “pelting of this pitiless storm.”

  

The rising sign of the U.S. horoscope is Sagittarius (using the Sibly chart). Pluto crossing into the 1^st house of anyone’s horoscope is going to bring to the surface lots of stuff that others will be able to see. The 1^st house in mundane astrology represents the nation as a whole (according to Charles Carter). Thus we have a great deal of questioning of our underlying national values, who we are as a nation, exposure of under-the-surface stuff, since Pluto passed 12° of Sagittarius (the rising sign degree of the Sibly U.S. chart), which took place co-incident with the events of 9/11.

 

At the time of Hurricane Katrina, Pluto opposed the U.S. Mars by exact degree and closely squared the U.S. Neptune. This configuration creates a temporary t-square. The focal point of this temporary t-square is 22° Pisces intercepted in the U.S. 3^rd house.  These various elements are linked by common Jupiter-Neptune themes: hospitals, water, charitable institutions, and confusion. Mars provides a sharp, violent, and catastrophic overtone when opposed by Pluto.

 

Added to this is Uranus in Pisces, which has brought a whole host of explosive and sudden water-related disasters throughout the world.

 

See also: Shakespeare and Astrology; more about King Lear.