The Treaty of Westphalia in 1648 was actually a series of treaties. These were devised with the intention of ending the Thirty Years War that had ravaged Germany. It was a time when the nations of Europe decided to acknowledge state sovereignty within a larger context of power.

This “peace” agreement was solidified by an important caveat: that war crimes and atrocities could no longer be prosecuted. The Thirty Years War (1618-1648) killed off roughly 40 percent of the German population. This war was sparked by the religious differences between the Protestant and Catholic states within the crumbling Roman Empire.

This establishment of Eurocentric unity paved the way for settler colonialism in Africa and Asia. Even though European countries remained competitive with one another, this treaty gave them a powerful position in the international hierarchy. Europeans would stop fighting each other and instead focus on their mutual interest in foreign assets.

What was happening astrologically in 1648 is significant. There was a Saturn-Pluto conjunction in Gemini that year, along with a Neptune-Pluto opposition in Sagittarius and Gemini. Uranus and Neptune were conjunct in Sagittarius, with the transiting nodes entering Gemini and Sagittarius. The signing of the Westphalia Treaty on October 24, 1648 happened as Saturn was making a conjunction to the north node in Gemini.

Saturn-Pluto conjunctions happen roughly every 38 years, like the one we had in 2020. The south node was transiting in Sagittarius in 2020 as well, right as the George Floyd protests began. The south node in Sagittarius reminds us every 19 years that cross-cultural awareness is more than just about education. There are often glaring reminders that institutions are myopic; how certain policies are created to suit a particular group while marginalizing (and even killing) others.

Neptune was transiting in Sagittarius throughout most of the 1970s when I was born. Neptune in Sagittarius is acutely aware of how dominant paradigms are inherently disenfranchising. A strong curiosity about how the rest of the world differs from our immediate environments (Gemini) creates a kind of wanderlust. Of course, this wanderlust has a dark side.

Neptune was in Sagittarius in the early 1800s, as Manifest Destiny declared the westward expansion of white settlers in North America. An insatiable desire to expand and explore revealed a darker core – one that upheld the destruction of indigenous communities and engagement with the slave trade.

With the industrialization of the 19th century, the international order was defined along the borders of a European coalition, which included Prussia, England, Austria, France and Russia. European colonization in the 19th and 20th centuries basically broadcasted to the non-white, non-European world that state sovereignty was a privilege they simply did not have.

Professor and author Kelebogile Zvobogo writes: “Europe, justified by Westphalia, divided the world between the modern “civilized” states and conquered those which they did not think belonged in the international system.”

Centuries prior to the Treaty of Westphalia, rulership was determined by nobility, or monarchies (empires). Since monarchies often had pretty extensive boundaries, the nobility were less concerned with having national identities. Their “divine right” to rule was determined at birth by wealth and class.

Feudalism, established by monarchies, was replaced by mercantilism. This transition into what we now know as modern statehood was about how economics could incentivize citizens to expand their livelihoods. Monarchies were eventually replaced by oligarchies, whether capitalist, socialist, communist or even clerical (religious), though a singular figurehead remained (i.e. president or prime minister). This figurehead may appear to have more power than they actually do.

If rulership was no longer a “divine right”, it was still determined by an elite group of well-connected individuals. Oligarchs are simply powerful individuals who benefit from the privatization of state-run industries. Privatization, rather than Nationalization, is what we have been witnessing as an international trend. The U.S. in particular can be looked at as a corporate oligarchy rather an as a democracy.

The League of Nations and the United Nations (and the more recent European Union) took this Westphalian principle even further. An allegiance to supranational governance led to some of the bloodiest, most destructive wars in history.

Let’s look at where we are now. With the establishment of the internet and cellular communication, the concept of national borders (i.e. national security) becomes pretty tenuous. WikiLeaks and cyber warfare are simply a byproduct of globalization. Technological innovations have allowed global communication to take on greater significance than national identity. The wealthiest corporations and investors of the world are now multi-national and have been for quite some time.

Why else would a so-called Democratic Republic like the United States resort to media censorship? To insure that America remains a superpower that its constituents will defend.

In a nation like the United States, with more cultural and religious differences than could possibly be unified, the victims of genocide within our own borders have direct experience with how “sovereignty” has played a vicious game of favorites. Whiteness and neo-colonialism continue to overwhelm the world stage. Even as Putin and the Russian Federation have promised aid and grain to a number of African countries, Africa is still being asked to defer to white supremacy.

Putin’s attempt to redesign Russian nationalism has cost the lives and livelihoods of countless Russians and Ukrainians. Whether or not this was simply a counter-attack with the West doesn’t change the fact that many lives have been lost. African rulers have spoken out against the escalation of war. Africa and some of the poorer countries of the Middle East have born the brunt of this battle between Putin and the West. Some are on the brink of starvation.

What is happening with Israel also brings up the importance of indigenous sovereignty. Who are the rightful inhabitants of Gaza? Technically, it’s the Canaanites, or Black Palestinians. Palestine was a name given to the region by the Roman Empire, but for thousands of years, its indigenous rulership was African. 

In 2007, the UN Declaration of the Rights of Indigenous Sovereignty finally became part of the international political debate. This was at the end of Pluto transiting Sagittarius. This is part of a larger discussion quite prevalent now regarding decolonization. What is happening in Gaza is one of the most horrific examples of how state sovereignty usurps indigenous sovereignty. 

If we are witnessing the end of Westphalian politics, where are we headed, exactly? Americans, Russians, Ukrainians, Israelis, Palestinians and pretty much every national identity in the world are rapidly losing faith in their governments. Citizens are waking up with alarming clarity at how they are being used as pawns to carry out maniacal agendas.

Who can pledge national allegiance at a time like this? Multi-national corporations have managed to undermine national sovereignty. As long as we are beholden to them, they will continue to be the ones who rule (companies like BlackRock, for example). Our global identities lie in some strange chaotic dystopia that is actually our shared humanity.