Last time we explored the history of transiting midpoints during the 20th century and how that relates to the mini triangle between Uranus, Neptune and Pluto that’s happening now. To explore what might happen during the current Neptune midpoint we need to look at the history of these alignments to see how they work…

As we’ve seen, transiting midpoints happen two or three times a century when all three outermost planets align with either Uranus or Pluto at the midpoint. Neptune midpoints are much rarer and only happen once every 500 years. These alignments coincide with turning points in the history of civilisation when we see massive shifts in perspective that change how we see ourselves and organise society.

The changes represented by these alignments don’t happen bang on the time of the configuration like a mechanism clicking into place. There are usually many foreshadowing events as the changes fade in and then take even longer to take root and flower.

This is especially true for the Neptune midpoints because the changes that they bring unfold over the following 500 years. Each midpoint sets in motion changes that alter the way we live in ways we can’t imagine at the time. You only have to look back to the most recent Neptune midpoint in the early 1500s to see how different the world was then. The current world was unimaginable from that time.

So to begin this exploration we need to go back to the start of the long cycle between Uranus, Neptune and Pluto. This is the conjunction of all three planets that happened in the 6th century BCE, sometimes known as the Axial Age. There were actually three conjunctions in Taurus between each of the pairs spread over several years from 579 to 572 BCE.

During this period each of the planets took turns being in the middle, although most of the alignments weren’t technically midpoints. I did find a Neptune midpoint in 572 BCE as the conjunctions began to move apart and separate:

This period saw huge changes around the world. The Neo-Babylonian Empire had risen to power just before this and the Kingdom of Judah had come to an end. Celtic culture was spreading through Europe, while in Ancient Greece an economic crisis and popular discontent led to reforms. In 594 BCE Solon established the Ecclesia and laid the foundations for democracy in Athens.

There was a huge outpouring of philosophy, drama, poetry and science in many places, including the teachings of the pre-Socratics in Greece, the prophecies of Jeremiah and the early Hebrew Bible, and Lao-Tzu’s Taoist philosophy in China. Shortly after this time, these ideas would blossom into the works of Socrates and Pythagoras in Greece, and the Buddha and Confucius in India and China.

The developments in Ancient Greece created what became its Classical era by 510 BCE. Meanwhile, the Roman Kingdom came to an end in 509 BCE when the final king was overthrown. This marked the start of the Roman Republic and its power began to spread. By the time of the next Neptune midpoint, they were ready for another change…

The next Neptune midpoint was in 45–43 BCE when Pluto was in Gemini/Cancer square Uranus in Virgo/Libra with Neptune semi-square both in Leo. This period was preceded by the rise to power of Julius Caesar when he formed the First Triumvirate of the Roman Republic, a political alliance that was already unravelling by 55 BCE.

Caesar effectively became dictator when he crossed the Rubicon river in 49 BCE and started a civil war that he won three years later. At some point in 48 BCE he accidently set fire to the Library at Alexandria but it wasn’t destroyed and was rebuilt shortly afterwards. Apparently, the damage was limited and the library was already in decline by that time.

But it wasn’t all fighting and burning things. Caesar created the Julian calendar which came into being in 45 BCE and remained in use until it was superseded by the Gregorian calendar in 1582 (not long after the most recent Neptune midpoint).

Caesar was named dictator for life in 44 BCE but was assassinated shortly after and a Second Triumvirate was formed. More civil wars followed and the end of the Republic was clearly on the cards. It came with the development of a full-blown dictatorship in the form of the first Emperor Augustus in 27 BCE.

This marked the start of the Roman Empire and it began to spread further afield. Meanwhile, Jesus arrived in the Levant around 6–4 BCE and the new cult of Christianity was born. Ironically, despite killing Jesus in about 30 CE, the growth of the Roman Empire allowed Christianity to spread…

The next Neptune midpoint was in 475–482 when Pluto was in Leo/Virgo trine Uranus in Sagittarius/Capricorn with Neptune sextile both in Libra. This coincided perfectly with the end of the Roman Empire and the start of the early Middle Ages. It also coincided with the shift from earth to air in the Jupiter Saturn cycle, just like we have now, as well as a Saturn Neptune conjunction in Libra.

Prior to this, Constantine the Great had become the first Roman emperor to convert to Christianity and he made it the state religion in 324. In 330 he moved the capital from Rome to Byzantium and renamed it Constantinople. Then in 395 emperor Theodosius I divided the empire into Western and Eastern or Byzantine Empires. The differences between Eastern and Western Christianity took root here and peaked at the next Neptune midpoint.

However, the Western Empire was in trouble and was attacked in 410 by the Visigoths. Rome finally fell in 476 when the last emperor was deposed. But the Eastern Empire continued with Byzantium/Constantinople as its capital and it lasted until 1453, just before the most recent Neptune midpoint.

After Rome fell the Empire gradually crumbled until only the Church remained. Christianity started to spread beyond the old empire and the Germanic tribes of Europe slowly converted to the new religion. That included the Anglo-Saxons who were busy invading Britain and transforming the culture, language and rule of law. Although Christianity had already arrived in Britain during Roman times.

The church in the early Middle Ages was mainly based around monasteries and they preserved the knowledge and literature of earlier times. Monarchs also got their power from the church, making the church more powerful in turn. This period lasted until around the next Neptune midpoint…

The next Neptune midpoint was in 991–996 when Pluto was in Libra trine Uranus in Aquarius with Neptune sextile both in Sagittarius. This coincided with the end of the early Middle Ages and the start of the High Middle Ages when the church was at its most powerful.

Just before this in 962, Otto the Great became the first emperor of the Holy Roman Empire, one of the most powerful monarchies in Europe, with the intention of uniting Christendom under one rule. He presided over the start of the Ottonian Renaissance, a period of rebirth in medieval art, literature and science that lasted until 1002.

But the political and theological differences between Eastern and Western Christianity couldn’t be resolved. This reached a peak with the Great Schism in 1054 when the two churches were split apart and it became final in 1472, just before the next midpoint. Meanwhile, the disputes continued to seed ideas that would change the church again at the end of this period.

In China, the Song Dynasty rose to power in 960 and they also experienced a renaissance in science and philosophy, including the invention of gunpowder and moveable type printing. The dynasty fell to the Mongols in 1279 when the Jupiter Saturn conjunctions shifted from earth to air, just like now.

In Europe, the High Middle Ages lasted until about 1250 thanks to the Medieval Warm Period which was great for agriculture and led to a huge growth in the population. The improved weather also meant the Vikings were roaming around looking for new lands to conquer, including Britain where they introduced the Danelaw in the areas they controlled. They settled Greenland in 980 and made it to Newfoundland around 1000. Shortly after this we had the Norman invasion of Britain in 1066.

But the good weather didn’t last and temperatures started to fall around 1300 as we slowly entered the Little Ice Age. This marks the start of the Late Middle Ages when there were famines and plagues and a decline in population. But the suffering also focused people’s minds and they were soon busy exploring and inventing new machines that would lead to another renaissance at the next midpoint…

The most recent Neptune midpoint was in 1501–5 when Pluto was in Sagittarius square Uranus in Pisces with Neptune semi-square both in Capricorn. Depending on the orbs you use, there was also a bi-septile (102°51’) between Pluto and Uranus with Neptune septile (51°25’) both from the midpoint in 1503–5. This period coincided with the end of the Middle Ages and the start of the early modern era.

In Europe the early modern era started around 1400 with the Renaissance, a flowering of the arts, literature, philosophy and science that mixed ancient classical ideas of humanism with modern ideas. This was aided by the invention of the printing press in around 1450 when the West finally caught up with China. It allowed new ideas to spread beyond the confines of the monasteries and the church.

Following the Great Schism in Christianity, Constantinople finally fell to the Ottoman Turks in 1453 and the Byzantine Empire came to an end. The Western church was also under pressure to reform, foreshadowed back in 1377 when John Wycliffe, an English theologian and Lollard, criticised church doctrine and abuses. But the Reformation officially began in 1517 when Martin Luther nailed his 95 theses to the church door leading to the rise of Protestantism and its various offshoots.

This period also coincided with the expansion of European empires, such as the Spanish, Dutch and British, as they explored the world and colonised other countries. Columbus left Spain and set sail for the Americas in 1492, but colonialist expansion actually began in 1415 with the Portuguese and their conquest of Ceuta in Morocco.

The expansion of new ideas during this time encouraged scientific inquiry which challenged the established order. And the Scientific Revolution that would transform the world began when Copernicus published his theory about the heliocentric universe in 1543.

Meanwhile, the Faust legend (the modern myth) began to spread along with the desire to question authority and think for yourself. Marlowe’s version came out in 1589 but the story continued to evolve as the modern era developed. The myth started out as a warning against hubris and the new ideas of progress that were overturning society, but that was soon forgotten.

The Renaissance grew into the Enlightenment and the Age of Reason, starting in the 17th century with a rise in rationalist and humanist ideas, as well as the romantic movement and desire for social change. By the 19th century Nietzsche was able to announce the death of God and predicted 200 years of nihilism to follow – reflected in the most recent version of Faust by Thomas Mann.

The European empires had grown into the ‘West’ and were busy consolidating their power around the world. We’ve now reached the end of this 500-year period and are starting to see the decline of this empire and some of the ideas behind the modern worldview. That includes many of the things we take for granted about history and progress that we internalised during the so-called Enlightenment.

This massively simplified overview of history is an example of that, with its Western-centric focus. Obviously, there was a lot more going on than mentioned here. The Neptune midpoints do seem to line up well with the development of Western civilisation but I’m not sure it applies elsewhere. You can explore further on the 500 Year Party blog here.

In the next post we’ll explore what might come next in the Crisis of Modernity…

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