1918 Flu Pandemic similarities with Swine Flu?

While looking up the astrology for the 1918 Spanish Flu Pandemic to see if it's similar to the astrology for the current Swine Flu Pandemic I found a couple of interesting tidbits. My software program is really putting in some weird aspects that the Astrodienst ephemeris doesn't seem to echo about so I'm going to just mention a couple of the outer planet aspects.

The 1918 Epidemic had a couple of very similar aspects to current astrological aspects. So, I guess it's okay to panic. What's a Pluto in Virgo generation to do, after all?

First off, there is the placement of Pluto at the beginning degrees of Cancer which is opposing Pluto's current position in Capricorn. Pluto is prominent here because of the importance of the Aries Point placement (1st degree Cardinal), but also because of its contact with the Nodal Axis (but not exact). Pluto was in out of sign conjunction with the South Node in 1918. In 1910 it will be in conjunction with the North Node (and in square with Saturn, Jupiter, and Uranus).

According to Wikipedia the H1N1 Virus which both Flus share (hope I understand this correctly) kill people in a sort of Cancer/Capricorn Control freaky type of way in that they put the immune system into overdrive. The person actually dies from this overresponse. This certainly echoes the social politics of the time which is connected with the First World War.

Another similar astrological aspect between the two times is the Saturn-Uranus opposition. In 1918 these two spanned the signs of Leo and Aquarius with Uranus placed strongly in its own sign. Currently the opposition is in the signs of Virgo and Pisces. The 1918 pandemic was in Fixed Signs which will show a durable presence. Mutable Signs of today could hopefully show a transitory presence. Saturn in Virgo can indicate a weakening of the health systems, but it could also show the ability to work extra hard to contain health problems. With Uranus in Pisces, we have to be extra careful about water supplies.

1918 also had other strong outer planet aspects going on as well that we don't currently have going on. Jupiter passed over Pluto and the South Node which could have been a strong presence for spreading the disease globally. The disease began when Jupiter was in Gemini, a sign that will quickly spread anything communicable. Then Jupiter moved into Cancer with Pluto. The interpretations for this, as looking back through time can be very interesting in relation to the break out of a major epidemic. Cancer rules home and hearth and family. It can also rule the ability to care for people, and also the involvement of long distances (overseas). This would have been a very emotionally toxic time for people and they were trying to reconcile their love of homeland with their first (Cardinal) real awareness of people from across the seas. This may have been a first awareness that others in the world suffer from the same problem at the same time as those close by.

Also, the Pandemic began with a conjunction of Saturn to Neptune in Leo which could have indicated depression and confusion. The First World War was finishing and issues apparently weren't resolved.

Wikipedia shows a neat graph that shows the peak of the 1918-19 Influenza. Curiously, the deaths from the Spanish flu peaked in numbers around the times that the Sun was in Water Signs. Perhaps this shows Pluto's powerful presence (death, sex, taxes) when it was in strong aspect with the Sun (Vitality). Pluto has a similar need for control, like Cancer and Capricorn. Plus, Pluto has staying power. Either way, all the Water Signs rule Death in some ways. Cancer/H4 rules end of life conditions. Scorpio rules Death. Pisces rules endings of just about anything.

At any rate, from eyeballing the graph I can see that the first "wave" (even uses water metaphor!) came around 6/29-7/27, 1918. As the Sun passed over Pluto it squared Mars at 2 Libra (inflamation) and Chiron (wounding, healing) in Aries.

The 2d Wave came around 10/19 - 12/30. This was the worst wave with the most deaths and appropriately came around the Scorpio Sun which is ruled by Pluto (Death). It involved a Grand Square during this time involving the Saturn-Uranus opposition.

The 3d wave, was, you guessed it, during the time when the Sun was passing through Pisces. This peak seems to have been set off by the Sun's transit over Uranus which was still opposing Saturn. Jupiter was in conjunction with Pluto-SN.

The dates for the entire Pandemic as listed on Wikipedia even correlate with the Sun in Water Signs. Beginning date is listed at March, 1918 (Pisces). Ending date is listed as June 1920 (Cancer).

So, 2010 has some ugly looking aspects with the Jupiter-Uranus-Saturn-Pluto-Node hook-up. But there is no connection between Saturn-Neptune (combination spirt/form) and Jupiter-Pluto (superiority complex) in such close proximity. There could be concern over hygiene and water sources that authorities might want to work extra hard on.