Category: astrology

Astrology Musings – Brexit, 1066 and Hostile Takeover

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Unless you are a mole (no offence, moles), or have somehow managed to insulate yourself from the news over the last three years or so, you must have heard of Brexit – even in the USA.

Well, astrological charts can be cast for nations as well as people. It’s called Mundane Astrology and has a long history. Can it reveal anything?

Well, one method of prognostication is to cast a ‘birth’ chart for a nation (or can be an event) at an important juncture, such as the Norman Conquest of 1066, in England’s case. This, arguably, was the last time England was conquered by military force, so one would think it has to be very significant astrologically speaking, a time when the country was reborn, for good for ill, with a hostile takeover.

Coronation of the Conqueror

To do this, normally the date and time of William the First’s coronation on Christmas Day 1066 at 12 Noon, is taken, bearing in mind that the old Julian calendar was in operation at that time. Adjustments must be made.

Over many years it’s often been said that this chart still ‘resonates’, still represents the character of the nation even and its sensitivity to the movements of the planets today, their positions, including the three ‘outer planets’. These are called transits.

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In this chart the sun is in Capricorn and Aries is rising, two signs which represent the tradition, business and enterprising, often belligerent and warlike nature of England over the past 950 years.

What I find most interesting however, is at the present time we have Uranus and Pluto in the earth signs of Taurus and Capricorn. Saturn is also in Capricorn, which it rules. So, with almost equal measure, you could say that the forces for change vie with the power of the establishment. Who will win?

Force for Change

Looking beyond England for a minute, even for the world as a whole the presence of these two forces for change, Uranus and Pluto, in two earth signs, represents political and financial intrigue, change and chaos, most particularly since Uranus’ entry into Taurus last year. Saturn in Capricorn, however, represents authority, the need to keep things established the way they are.

And right now transiting Pluto is in square (difficult, challenging) aspect from the 10th house to the Ascending (and thereby descending also) degree of the 1066 chart.

Intransigence

I think this represents the fundamental intransigence of the political situation right now. Pluto is stirring up the mud, perhaps slowly ‘draining the swamp’ in the political situation in England, bringing existential questions to the fore about the nation itself, about what it is, where it is going, how it relates to the world. Saturn in Capricorn however wants to resist any such change.

The intransigence is of course between the forces of those who wish to implement the referendum result right now, and those who do not, or if at all, symbolised by Saturn in Capricorn. It is not as straightforward as saying this is radicalism versus conservatism.

Either way, however, drastic, lasting political change is definite, I think. We may see a glimpse of what is to come today, Thursday May 23, when the EU (including the UK) votes in the new European elections.

Mars the driving force?

Pluto has been in Capricorn for some time but Uranus has been turning things over a bit in Aries (England’s rising sign), passing over England’s 1066 ascendant, and now in early Taurus, both sensitive areas of the 1066 chart.

Uranus moving into Taurus hints of sudden financial changes, which might well be to do with whatever deal the UK finally gets, if any.

What is more, when I cast the chart for the moment the polls open at 7 am on May 23 (set for Westminster, London, UK), astonishingly I found Mars closely conjunct a Cancer ascendant, exactly sextile Uranus. I also found the waning Moon just passing the Saturn Pluto conjunction in Capricorn.

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Pluto – now not even considered a true planet, might still have a strong generational effect.

What does this mean? One interpretation is that the forceful, emotionally patriotic stance of the people, who wish to embrace positive change (Mars conjunct Cancer ascendant in good aspect to Uranus) will be very evident in the character of the poll, its driving force if you will.

Fallout

The Moon conjunct Saturn Pluto in Capricorn in the 7th or 8th house (depending on which house system you use) in the electional chart, might indicate the triggering of the fundamental political change, the beginning of manifest constitutional change which will alter forever England’s and the United Kingdom’s stance in the world and how it relates to it.

These are musings only, but I shall be very interested to see what picture begins to emerge with the counting on Friday.

And we may not see the full fallout, that is, what kind of country England finally emerges as, until Pluto leaves Capricorn in 2023 and Uranus leaves Taurus in 2025.

Astrology musings: Gemini, is it all about duality?

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Gemini, ‘The Twins’, is the third sign of the zodiac, the first of the air sign triplicity and the first mutable sign.

The symbol or glyph of the sign appears to represent two columns, or perhaps the Roman number for 2, II.

Here we also see relation symbolised, the third mundane house of relations, the mind and local environment, also associated naturally with Gemini.

The glyph may simply represent duality; we have two hands, arms and lungs, all traditionally said to be ruled by Gemini.

Dexterity

And then there’s the ruling planet of Gemini, Mercury, the Ancient Greek Hermes, the fleet footed messenger of the gods in myth.

Here we see the essentially communicative nature of the sign. Gemini is of course very often a great talker, versatile, perhaps a ‘jack of all trades’ – but does that mean he or she is really a master of none?

What is more, we also find with Gemini the comic, the comedian, or at least the ready wit, and the mimic, the ability to act and play roles.

In other words, Gemini is capable of being dexterous mentality and physically, quite often both.

‘Bad Press’

Nevertheless, I don’t think Gemini deserves the ‘bad press’ for being a ‘bit shallow’. Except in more extreme cases, where the other mutable signs may also be involved, or a very prominent Mercury, I don’t think this is true.

We just have to understand the function the predominantly Geminian type person carries out. Just as Mercury is the messenger, Gemini’s can bind together the local community in which he lives. He or she can be the happy face who’s always available. That’s good, isn’t it.

He is often out and about, yes, probably doing a variety of things, tasks, jobs, often involving a variety of skills, but this is needed a lot of the time. He will see and know a lot of people and this is what community is all about, isn’t it?

We need Gemini. It’s not so much about duality but being of service. So don’t criticise the messenger too much.

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Astrological Musings on Mercury – “Stop fidgeting, boy!”

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In astrology Mercury is associated with the signs Gemini, Virgo and the corresponding third and sixth houses of a chart.

Mercury, closely following the sun at all times, is said to represent the mind, how we think, communicate, our nervous system, their strengths and weaknesses depending its conditioning.

Take Luke (not his real name which is protected), a former teacher who’d taken early retirement a while ago. He came to me wanting to know why he’d become so restless and nervous. He explained that he’d always been a bit restless, but especially of late. He knew his birth time to within about five minutes, so I calculated his birth chart.

Raised Eyebrows

Immediately, one of the ‘reasons’ he described himself as restless leapt out at me from the computer screen. His Mercury was closely conjunct a Capricorn ascendant, trine Mars in Taurus, sextile Jupiter in Scorpio. There were no so-called difficult or hard aspects, no squares or oppositions to Mercury. He seemed curious as to why my eyebrows were raised. At the time he came to see me, transiting Pluto had been lurking with intent around his native Mercury for a few months.

Over the years I’ve found it remarkable (a lot of the time) how people ‘speak’ their charts. In Luke’s case Mercury here was doing all the talking!

Mercury in Capricorn represents a practical mind, that likes to spend its time productively; teaching would be one good outlet. Close to the ascending degree and energised by Mars and Jupiter, one might expect the native to be a little fidgety – he was, constantly scratching his head, re-arranging his seating position. He just had to be doing something!

Positive Energy

So with all that positive energy from Mars in Taurus, which only increases the pressure to ‘do something’ practical like making money, and from Jupiter in Scorpio, encouraging him to go deep, plumb the depths of knowledge, it’s probably not surprising that Luke was a bundle of unresolved, nervous energy which now ceased to have a proper outlet or channel.

“Can you write?” I asked, rather glibly, picking at Mercury’s communicative qualities.

He nodded. “Yeah, I do it all the time.”

“Professionally?”

He shook his head and laughed. “Just jot things down and scribble, you know.”

But I could see something opening in his eyes, some kind of realisation.

“Don’t get me wrong,” I said, tentatively, “I can’t advise you to do anything but what might help is to find a project, a writing project, to really get your teeth into, to fill the gap that teaching filled. Something like that.”

Second Career

He seemed interested, but with all that earthy mental energy, I figured that creative writing might not be the best outlet for him. “Serious themes, perhaps,” I continued, “history, religion, psychology, geography…”

“Ha!” he exclaimed, “I taught geography for thirty five years!”

“OK, apart from teaching it, have you written about it, expressed our own ideas, opinions? Have you done research, for instance?”

“Not since university.”

Chance Meeting

It was around six months later when I met up with him again by chance, not in my house, but in the high street outside a butcher’s shop of all places.

“You were right about the writing, by the way?” he said, smiling nonchalantly.

“Really?”

“I’m a regular contributor to a science magazine now… and I’ve started giving talks on geography and geology for adult education locally. In fact, I’ve been invited up to Sheffield next week to give a talk.”

I tried to disguise my own smirk. It would seem that his native Mercury, which may have given him the impetus to become a teacher in the first place, had now inspired a second career in his retirement, as a writer and speaker. Pluto’s close proximity to his native Mercury at the time, may just have done a little prodding from behind the scenes.

Ultimately, I think this example also shows a need to look for the obvious, stand out features of a birth chart first. “Keep it simple, boy!”

Happy Birthday – Stevie Wonder

Venus doubles up with Taurus and Libra and puts it out there. A quick look.

There are few more remarkable musicians than Stevie Wonder. A great singer, songwriter, multi-instrumentalist, who infuses his songs with passion and intelligence.

But what might the luminaries say?

Well, to begin, we have a Taurus sun conjunct Mercury closely trine Mars in Virgo. It suggests a very strong singing voice, Taurus, after all, rules the throat and Mars will only add virtuoso power and strength from Virgo.

What is more, here also is a practical (earth), highly dexterous potential, with innate, multi-faceted (Mercury) skills.

There is Libra on the ascendant, like Taurus also ruled by Venus. Amongst other things, Venus is closely associated with music.

Close to the ascending degree we have Neptune. This ‘outer planet’ can provide an air of inspiration, mystique, glamour, attraction when placed so close the the AC, and Libra rising is often noted for its powers of diplomacy and attraction.

The ruling planet, Venus, is in Aries in the 7th house of relationship, the natural house Libra. This combined with an Aries Moon suggests ardent feelings for others – the ‘You’.

Happy Birthday indeed.

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Musings on Pluto’s Mask of Invisibility

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By NASA/Johns Hopkins University Applied Physics Laboratory/Southwest Research Institute/Alex Parker – Public Domain, https://commons.wikimedia.org/w/index.php?curid=71082408

I have done a little research on and off for a few years now regarding the ‘outer planet’ Pluto and his supposed effects. Put it this way, I have not been satisfied with terms like ‘transformation’.

I shall not go into it too much here as it is ongoing, but suffice it to say that I find I’m in agreement with many these days who think that Uranus, Neptune and Pluto, the so-called outer planets, only really come into serious play by their placement, their relationship if you will, by either being angular or in close aspect to the true planets, or both. I don’t believe (yes, it is a belief) that Pluto rules Scorpio, for instance.

Demotion

Of course Pluto was demoted from planet status several years ago, it being essentially classed a kind of minor binary system involving a sibling called Charon (the ferryman of Hades in myth), with whom Pluto does this merry dance in the remote, dark reaches of this solar system. Yet, despite this, there doesn’t seem to be any lack of interest in him in astrological circles.

Pluto was first discovered officially in 1930 and many have attributed the dark, ‘underground’, extreme forces that were appearing in the world at the time to the planet’s arrival in the mainstream.

Does he have a name?

Then of course we have the name of the planet. I mean why call him Pluto? The work of Percival Lowell led to the discovery of Pluto, and of course his initials are the first two letters of the name. Then of course we have Mickey Mouse’s dog, Pluto, named after him.

So the question is, did the recognition of each ‘outer planet’ reflect the time of its discovery?

I have seen it said that Uranus, discovered in the late 18th century, coincided with the American and French revolutions, plus the beginning of the Industrial Revolution. Well, I suppose Uranus has a reputation for turning things over.

Neptune was discovered in the mid 19th century, though it is far less clear what was going on then (spiritualism?) which we could call Neptunian – but maybe that’s just Neptune being Neptune, hard to make out really.

Synchronicity

And then Pluto around 1930 and the rise of fascism, communism: I get the point. Pluto is the Roman name for the Greek Hades, king of the Underworld. In mythology Hades had a helm, cap, or mask, which reputedly made him invisible, sometimes also called the Helm of Darkness. All these are what we might associate with Pluto. Either way, the mask allowed the wearer to disappear, or be undetectable, a bit like Pluto on his 248 year travail around us. I’m not sure I believe in synchronicity.

But the mask of invisibility only belongs to Pluto/Hades, others wore it to become undetectable, it is not Pluto himself. So maybe, to conjecture, in astrological terms Pluto by close aspect lends secrecy to whomever he is masking/aspecting? I don’t know, it’s something I’m looking at.

Can you keep a secret?

Nevertheless, we all know how dangerous and devastating secrecy can be, hiding true intent, a bit like the cloaking device used by the Klingons in Star Trek, or even like a ‘bird of prey’ using extreme speed (peregrine falcon for example) to disguise its final, devastating kill.

As an example, take a native with Mars closely conjunct Pluto, might the interpretation be that the Martian energy has the potential to be hidden, yet also potentially more focused and dangerous as a result? And if that energy is hidden, suppressed even, then there may be deep psychological implications too. If Neptune were conjunct Mars we might expect dissipation of that force; with Uranus we could see sudden, violent outbursts of energy.

I will leave the musings there but I intend to try and use living examples in later posts. I’m trying to keep an open mind, with the understanding that the whole truth can never be known. Thanks for your patience – these are just my musings.