I saw the Neptune, Jupiter, Saturn fixed T square in the late summer sky and thought of Alcoholics Anonymous. ‘Why?’ you ask? Well, Neptune beckons us into transcendence and one of the low roads to that is alcohol. Jupiter is excess and optimism and Saturn demands responsibility and limitation. In the UK about 1 in 4 men, and about 1 in 7 women, drink more than the safe levels and about 33,000 deaths a year are related to drinking alcohol, a quarter due to accidents. It is estimated that 3 in 10 divorces, 4 in 10 cases of domestic violence, and 2 in 10 cases of child abuse are alcohol related¹. Police estimate that alcohol is present in a half of all crime². It is a huge problem that isn’t much discussed. We’re in collective denial.

The other reason is that I lived with an alcoholic for several years and experienced first hand the bleak despair, isolation and huge emotional toll borne by those who love an addict.

Alcoholics Anonymous (AA) was founded on 10 June 1935 in Akron Ohio., by two alcoholics Bill Wilson and Dr Robert Smith (known in A.A. circles as Bill W. and Dr Bob respectively).

Innovative for its time, A.A. offered a free self-help treatment programme for everyone, framed alcoholism as a disease not a moral weakness and regarded the route to recovery to be a spiritual one. Jung’s view was that there was only one hope for alcoholics: a genuine spiritual conversion experience and this idea influenced Bill W. The A.A. 12 step programme (see www.alcoholics-anonymous.org.uk for details) requires spiritual work as well as replacing denial with responsibility. Saturn requires that Neptune must be honoured and expressed in a different way. Is this shown in the chart?

The mid day chart for A.A. (below) does not reveal the strong 12th and 11th house emphasis there surely must be in an organisation that offers anonymity and group support. A.A. embraces everyone regardless of age, race, gender, faith, social class or occupation (Venus square Uranus) as alcoholism is indiscriminate. The Sun is in Gemini, the sign of communication which is a strong element in A.A. meetings where members are encouraged to share their stories (Moon in Libra, Mercury square Mars) and support each other. Deep and lasting relationships are formed (Pluto conjunct Venus) as members bare their souls and face up to their demons.

The Sun is at the apex of a T square involving a Saturn/ Neptune opposition. Saturn is in the Neptune ruled sign of Pisces, a sign that longs for oneness and escape. Neptune is in Virgo, the sign of healing and service. The north node is in Saturn ruled Capricorn. A.A.’s mission is abstinence from alcohol, leaving behind the flow and inappropriate self nurturing of the Cancer south node (trine amplifying Jupiter), just ‘one day at a time’.

The growth of A.A., especially in its early years, was striking. In 2002, there were more than 100,000 A.A. groups in 150 countries, with a total membership of approximately two million recovering alcoholics. The A.A. model and 12 step programme has been successfully adapted to other addictions; narcotics, overeating, gambling.

Bill W., and Dr Bob are significant figures as founders of this approach. What Neptune, Saturn, Jupiter (Pisces, Capricorn, Sagittarius) themes might we find in their charts?

Bill W was born in East Dorset, Vermont on 26th November 1895. After a troubled childhood, he became an alcoholic at age 22. In the 1920s he was one of the first stock brokers and became quite rich until the market crashed in 1929, mainly as a result of the insider trading schemes that he was involved with himself. (Transiting Pluto was squaring his Venus at the time). He struggled with his addiction for years, then one day, while in a hospital recuperating from a drinking bout he had a religious vision (later described as a ‘spiritual experience’). He claimed his obsession with drink vanished at once and he became sober. This was 11th December 1934, just as transiting Jupiter conjuncted his Saturn having recently trined his north node in Neptune ruled Pisces.

However, the following May while a business trip to Akron Ohio, he was tempted to drink again after the deal failed. Instead, he phoned local clergy from the hotel lobby to ask if they knew of alcoholics he could talk to. This led him to a meet Dr Bob, and from their friendship was born Alcoholics Anonymous.

Bill’s big Sagittarian Sun (trine Jupiter) opposed Pluto describes his path from excess via a long descent into the underworld to rebirth and on to helping others along the same 8th house journey through the creation of what became an international fellowship. This is also echoed in the Scorpio stellium and the powerful Venus trine to Neptune and Pluto.

His Sun, Neptune and Pluto all square the nodal axis and Saturn trines it. Transiting Saturn had been exact on his Pisces north node on 10th May 1935, the day he met Dr Bob. Bill W. came into his humanitarian destiny with that encounter. His Mercury conjunct Uranus shows how he was able to take ideas from a variety of sources and shape them into the extraordinarily successful 12 steps.

Dr Bob was born on 8th August 1879. He began drinking heavily in college yet managed to qualify and practice as a medical doctor. Every route to sobriety had failed until aged 45 he met Bill W. He then realised that only another alcoholic could really understand his problem and also, ‘The spiritual approach was as useless as any other if you soaked it up like a sponge and kept it to yourself’. The purpose of life was not to ‘get’ it was to ‘give’. He had his last drink on 10 June 1935, when transiting Saturn conjuncted his Jupiter in Pisces and opposed his Mercury in service orientated Virgo.

His chart shows a fixed square between Neptune and his Leo sun. His Capricorn nodal axis exactly mirrors that of the A.A. and Saturn in fall squares the nodal axis, suggesting he struggled until he found his own form of self discipline and then became a pioneer for the path to sobriety (Saturn in Aries). With Neptune conjunct Mars, alcohol sapped his drive until he found a spiritual motivation after which he personally helped more than 5,000 alcoholics without charge.

A.A. has been going for over 70 years and has helped millions but alcoholism and other addictions are an even bigger global problem today. Maybe as a collective we need a new leap in consciousness as indicated by that T square. There are better ways to deal with our emotions and fulfill our spiritual needs than with booze, coke, cake, gambling and shopping.

My ex-partner recovered as transiting Saturn squared his Sun, which natally squares Neptune. He has been dry now for over 3 years and is training to be a counsellor as well as running his local A.A. group. His turning point occurred in a detox clinic of that name, but A.A. support was critical in his early days of sobriety and has been important ever since.

Our current T square is accompanied by Pluto in the sign of excess, and the transiting north node in Pisces. Uranus, the planet of innovation, is also in Pisces. Is it time for a new approach to addictions? Can we get past our collective denial into facing what is happening around us? We live in a binge drinking culture of socially sanctioned drug induced escapism, promoted heavily in the festive season as the sure route to a good time. The outcome is a collective hangover. Happy Christmas.