I’ve been scouring the news headlines daily for evidence of the cardinal T-square manifesting in real life. Goddess knows, there’s plenty to be found: floods in Pakistan, mudslides in China, a broken glacier in Greenland, and record heat and fires in Russia, compounded by the threat of radioactive smoke.

As if that’s not enough, Scarlett O’Hara’s dresses are on the brink of ruin. In tatters. So worn and fragile that they’re not fit to be seen in public. The Harry Ransom Center, owner of the collection, is trying to raise $30,000 to restore the dresses in anticipation of the 75th anniversary of Gone With the Wind in 2014.

There you have it, folks. It’s what happens when Venus (feminine beauty) conjoins Saturn (durability) opposite Jupiter (tradition, opulence, and the biggest anything), square Pluto (regeneration). We’d like to restore these dresses, but gee, where are we going to get the money? Uranus and Jupiter retrograde in Pisces ought to come in very handy for that, Pisces being the sign of the past and the collective unconscious.

Sarcasm aside, there’s some wonderful symbolism in this story. First, let’s take the character of Scarlett O’Hara, one of the most despicable heroines ever to come out of Hollywood. She is selfish, self-serving, spoiled, and vain. She steals other women’s husbands. And yet, we root for her. Despite her many flaws, we admire her iron will to survive when the world is collapsing around her and others lack the strength to carry on.

The curtain dress perfectly symbolizes Scarlett’s dual resourcefulness and deviousness. Faced with losing the family plantation unless she can come up with the cash to pay an enormous property tax, she resorts to her feminine wiles to land a man with money. Alas, she has nothing to wear!  Without a shred of sentiment, she tears down her dear, departed mother’s curtains and orders Mammy, her slave nursemaid from birth, to make her a dress. Her plot works, and her property is saved, at least for the time being.

Scarlett O’Hara and her curtain dress may turn out to be our inspiration as the global economy continues to languish under the T-square and society as we know it changes forever. Those of us with Scarlett’s pragmatism and resourcefulness will have a leg up. Those who don’t know they have it may discover it.

Unbearable stress can push us to grow in ways we never anticipated.

Pat

P. S. Just for the heck of it, I looked up the birth data for Vivien Leigh, the actress who played Scarlett. Ironically, she has a cardinal T-square in her natal chart with Venus in Libra at the apex. Noted for her exceptional beauty, she considered it an impediment to being taken seriously in her profession.