I very much appreciate astrologer Maureen Richmond’s perspective on the U.S., as we reach our 250th anniversary. She returns to its 1774-1776 founding to see, even empathize with, the complex, difficult circumstances in which the lives of its founders were embedded — and then moves forward through time, with astrological correlates.

If you’re like me, you’ve never thought seriously about, or even noticed, paid close attention to, both the fact that the founders had to operate in total secrecy, as well as how this fact correlates with the Cancer stellium the U.S. chart!  

She points out that Sun, Jupiter, Mercury and Venus — all in Cancer — guaranteed that Americans would be not just home-loving and protective, but tending to exhibit as well the Cancerian quality of secrecy, wanting to keep things private . . . This secretive tendency has played out in many ways, of course, not all nefarious — and given the original design of the U.S. chart, as long as we remain an intact country, she views secrecy as bound to continue.

In other words, and this is me talking: there’s no sense in judging this quality of secrecy as inherently bad, evil, nefarious, to be avoided — which is what I tend to do!

https://maureenrichmond.substack.com/p/the-birth-of-a-nation-july-2-4-1776

 

 

Excerpts:

Cancer is an introspective and self-protective sign. It does not give up information about itself willingly. Retrograde Mercury in Cancer opposite Pluto in Capricorn in the natal chart of the USA has manifested in numerous ways, but most often in the dynamic of secrecy. The nation itself was born in the most urgent form of secrecy, as colonists met behind locked doors and communicated by code and sign as they contrived to buck the greatest economic and military power of the world at that time. Their lives on the line, the rebelling colonists could do no other than hide their true intentions.

The business of hiding the truth would continue as the nation evolved. In 2026, some of the hidden truth has bubbled to the surface in the form of Congressional hearings on suppressed information, including presidential assassinations, elimination of racial leaders, devious CIA programs, ufo materials, and more. Though the nation was born in a secrecy necessary at the time, that secrecy spawned by natal retrograde Mercury in Cancer opposite Pluto in Capricorn has continued in deeply problematic forms in the years, decades, and centuries since the founding. Perhaps with Pluto again in Aquarius just like it was throughout the Revolutionary War, a different management of the natal chart will emerge. Aquarius is the sign of the people, the demos, the mass of persons – a stark contrast to Capricorn with its emphasis on power, prestige, status, and elitism. As Aquarius is emphasized via the transit of Pluto in that sign throughout the early twenty-first century, the USA natal Moon in Aquarius will be made to shine more brightly.

 

She then points to an amazing set of synchronicites:

As is evident, the sign of Cancer figures largely in the natal astrology of the American nation, with the Sun, Mercury, Venus, and Jupiter in that sign. Gemini weighs in as a secondary influence, with Mars and Uranus positioned in that sign. It is of note that again at the 250^th Anniversary, not only is Mercury back in Cancer and recently turned retrograde at 26 Cancer as before, but also are Mars and Uranus back in Gemini. And to beat all, not only are Mars and Gemini back in Gemini, they are also precisely conjunct on July 4, 2026 – an astounding synchronicity to say the very least.

 

WHEW! Much to unpack here, and she does a lot of it. Grateful for both her perspective that denotes not just idealism, but realism — in her detailed recounting of our beloved nation through time.