The Power of Perspective

Here's one for the Jupiter-Neptune-Chiron conjunction that's been forwarded to me from the Daily Om.

The Power of Perspective
Hawk Medicine

Hawks have the power to soar high above the earth, giving them a perspective previously only available to the inhabitants of the heavens above. Because of this, people from various cultures throughout history have seen them as messengers of spirit, bringing wisdom from the heavens and the value of their higher vision down to earth. From their vantage point, riding on the wind and sunlight, they remind us today that there is a bigger picture to be seen. When we get bogged down with the details of what is right in front of us, hawks help us remember that we are part of a larger plan and that everything fits together beautifully and perfectly. Once in this expanded frame of mind, we can harness their reputation as visionaries, using their keen eyesight to focus on the exact spot that truly needs our attention. With inspiration and focus on our goal, hawks teach us how to interpret and then follow our personal vision.

Hawks were thought to be able to look directly into the sun and see what is not visible to the rest of us. Using our spiritual vision, we too can look deeply into the inner light that guides us, seeing clearly what is not visible unless sought: our personal truth glowing within us. With that knowledge, we, like the hawk, can confidently ride the winds of chance, moving as one with the flow of whirling energy. This ability is what inspired the Egyptians to make hawks the hieroglyphic symbol for the wind.

The hawk’s ability to live on land but visit the sky is a good reminder for us all. They remind us that their strength and survival comes from communing regularly with the spirit and bringing the guidance received into earthly affairs. Soaring in the province of the heavenly bodies of the sun, the stars, and the wind that moves the clouds reminds us to consider a larger perspective, one that inspires us to move through the world we inhabit with strength, certainty, and grace.

Liz Greene on Barack Obama (sort of...)

At astro.com you can buy a computer generated horoscope reading, text written by Liz Greene. Somebody has obviously bought one for Barack Obama, because I found a Liz Greene computer reading for Obama on another site. Here is a section of it, which I take to be describing on the one hand Obama's Sun in Leo, Aquarius Asc and Moon in Gemini, against the fact that his Moon in twin-sided Gemini is square to Pluto.

The gifts of objectivity and civilised behaviour

You possess the gift of a clear, strong and objective mind, and you are a lover of truth and integrity in all your dealings. You will always favour reason over chaos, and principles over personal reactions. But there is considerable conflict within you - a dilemma between your rational, detached spirit and your intense and sometimes overpowering feeling.


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Another way of describing your nature might be to say that you tend to live in your head - because it seems safer, more civilised, and more "decent" - yet your heart often contradicts what your mind tells you you "ought" to feel, leaving you confused and vaguely guilty about "bad" or "selfish" reactions. Although you may not be an intellectual in the conventional sense of the word, you are naturally quick and articulate, and possess an impressive capacity to assess, weigh and analyse diverse facts and ideas objectively and fairly. This has probably earned you the reputation of being broad-minded, reflective, ethical and considerate of others’ points of view. You are also an excellent planner and can transform chaos into order with the penetrating power of your mind. What you do not wish others to know about you, and what you often try to hide from yourself, is that your real feelings give you a completely different and much more subjective picture of life and of others -and these neglected feelings are often more genuinely perceptive than your usually reliable mind.

Astrodatabank is free

I only found this out recently, but as of 12 March 2009 Lois Rodden’s astrodatabank has been free to use. There are about 31,000 charts available there, mainly of public figures, but also mundane data. Since Lois Rodden died in 2003, her site had gradually declined, but this move has brought it back to life. It’s a wonderful resource. You can find it at http://www.astro.com/astro-databank/Main_Page. Thank you astro.com and whoever else made this happen!


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The chart for the scheduled release of this data shows the goodwill and desire to be of help behind it. Sun in Pisces, Moon Rising in Libra: the authorities behind it (Sun) are thinking altruistically (Pisces) about astrologers (Sun conjunct Uranus) to whom they are releasing this body of analytical work (Sun opposite Saturn in Virgo). The people - i.e. us astrologers - are represented by the Moon, and our centrality is shown by the Moon being conjunct the Ascendant. The sign of Libra represents the cultural endeavour we are engaged in, as well as the generosity and fairness in making this resource available. Venus on the Descendant, opposite the Moon, gives a similar message.

The North Node in Aquarius, widely conjunct Jupiter, shows how this project has moved from being the creative work of one person (South Node in Leo) to an expansive community project (it is now a wiki).

It's a great project, and I hope the Pluto transits in a few years time to the Moon and Angles prove empowering rather than anything else.

Wounding and the Will to Live

I'm away at Glastonbury Festival at present (look for an astrologer in a yurt in the Healing Field and you will find me!), so I've set up a few pieces to be published while I'm away. Below is an extract from an article on Chiron by Liz Greene:

The will to live is a great mystery. Every medical practitioner, with any experience of life-threatening illness, knows that the will to live can affect physical as well as psychological well-being, and survival often depends upon the sick person's desire for life, rather than on the doctor's ministrations. Nor is the will to live necessarily what we claim we feel. We may cry out that we want life; but somewhere inside, we want to go home, and this longing for oblivion may be more powerful than any conscious declaration of intent to "get better". Some people react to conflict, pain and disappointment with a creative response that transforms their perspective and even their circumstances. Other people become bitter and hopeless and live in a grey twilight world, or entirely lose their will to live.

There are not only active suicides amongst those who have inwardly given up, but also those self-architected "accidental" deaths which, although unconscious, are nevertheless fuelled by a powerful yearning to bring an end to suffering and unhappiness. Self-destructive behaviour does not always involve the obvious gesture of the bottle of pills or the knife slash to the wrist.

There is no easy formula to determine why some individuals rise to life's challenges, despite severe misfortunes and handicaps, while others turn their backs on the future, even if fortune favours them. Moreover, loss of the will to live may not always result in self-destruction. It may be expressed as the urge to destroy others, as though, on some deep and inaccessible level, the projection of hopelessness and victimisation onto another gives the suffering individual the illusion that he or she is strong and in control of life. Thus the individual who has, secretly, lost the will to live may, in extremis, try to deprive others of joy -and perhaps even of life - by finding a scapegoat who can be burdened with all the despair that is felt within.

This mystery may have its origin, as so many mysteries do, in the enigma of inherent individual character, and the birth chart can provide us with many insights into the patterns which underpin that character. With any polarity in life, we, as astrologers, always need to look at a polarity of planets; and the polarity of hope versus despair, the will to live versus hopelessness, may be illuminated - at least in part - through the symbolism of the polarity of the Sun and Chiron.

I do not believe we can really understand either of these planets without considering the meaning of the other one. Although they are not in actual aspect in every individual's chart, nevertheless they are both present in every chart, and they form an energy dynamic within the personality. A direct aspect sharpens this dynamic and often becomes the focus of the individual's journey, but the polarity exists in each of us regardless. All the planets, up to and including Saturn, serve the development of the individual ego, best symbolised by the Sun itself; in fact, we might even say that the personal planets "serve" the Sun as the centre of individuality. But Chiron lies at the interface between Saturn and the outer planets, and therefore mediates collective issues which impinge on and wound the individual. By its nature, Chiron's collective implications signify something collectively "unhealable", because the wound exists in the collective and is ancestral. By its nature, the Sun reflects each individual's sense of purpose and meaning in life, and these are intimately bound up with the will to live and to become oneself. Each of these planets needs the other; but if the balance tips too far to one or the other, certain psychological difficulties may ensue.
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Life Creates the Universe, not the Other Way Round

Lynn has put up a piece on “biocentrism, a belief that life creates the Universe… An "external" reality, if it existed, would by definition have to exist in space. But this is meaningless, because space and time are not absolute realities but rather tools of the human and animal mind.” (more…)

It’s good to be reminded of this. In western philosophy, this position is known as Idealism, “the theory that maintains that the ultimate nature of reality is based on mind or ideas. It holds that the so-called external or "real world" is inseparable from mind, consciousness, or perception.” Kant was an idealist, while Buddhism maintains that the universe is Mind created.

Idealism is contrasted in the philosophy of perception with Realism “in which the external world is said to have a so-called absolute existence prior to, and independent of, knowledge and consciousness.” And in the philosophy of mind it is contrasted with Materialism “in which the ultimate nature of reality is based on physical substances.”

All this can sound fascinating but ultimately still just an idea. That Idealism is not just another philosophical position, Buddhist or otherwise, was imprinted on me quite forcibly about 25 years ago when I read Oliver Sacks’ The Man who Mistook his Wife for a Hat.

Sacks is a neuropsychologist, and his book tells the strange tales of some of his patients, all of whom who had various brain dysfunctions. There was, for example, the man who could tell you what something was in general - e.g. that it is a playing card – but not what is was in particular - e.g. that it is the Jack of Hearts. And there was another patient who had the opposite brain damage, so that he could tell you it was the Jack of Hearts, but not that it was a playing card.

Then there was the person who had lost his sense of ‘left’, and could only experience the right-hand half of anything. So he would eat a meal with his right hand, and would eat only what was on the right half of his plate, and then pull his plate round to the right and eat the right half of what was now there, and so on. These patients did not necessarily have a sense that anything that was amiss, even though they had not always been like that, because the part of the brain itself concerned with that function had been wiped out.

As bizarre example piles on bizarre example (including, of course, the man who mistook his wife for a hat), the reader realises in what a profound and basic way his/her external reality is created by the brain. You realise that Idealism is not just a philosophical position, and that the function of the brain is not to order and make sense of a 3-D reality ‘out there’: that 3-D reality itself is created by the brain. It’s quite shocking when it sinks in.

And this brings me back to the start, the idea that “Life creates the Universe”. I find this idea so refreshing. Our basic western conditioning is that the material universe created life, and that is all we are. This deadening materialism is something we all have to struggle against if we have any spark of imagination. So it’s great to see it turned on its head, and see that science itself, pursued far enough, subverts the philosophical materialism that it has done so much to bring about.

It is hard to know what the outcome of the present mass protests in Iran against the rigged election will be. Khameini, the Supreme leader, is starting to clamp down on them, but they don’t look like they are going to go away. More bloodshed seems almost inevitable. There has been nothing like this in Iran since the popular revolution in 1979.

In the usual chart for Iran, that for the establishment of the state in April 1979, we see a Uranus-Mars transit. These transits bring about unrest and protest, but they come and they go. Things can revert to how they were afterwards.

The crucial chart right now is that for the revolution in Feb 1979, because it was about what the people wanted . This chart expresses the desire of the people at that time (Moon Rising in Aries) for a return to traditional government (MC at 2.47 Capricorn).


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Pluto is conjoining Iran’s revolutionary MC all this year and, crucially, the transit will conclude in Sept next year when Pluto stations at exactly 2.47 Capricorn, which is extraordinary.

The Pluto transit shows that things are not going to go back to what they were. The popular feeling may for now be suppressed by force. But there is a process of deep change going on, and in the last analysis, the leadership will be powerless in the face of a determined collective. The Pluto transit shows that the more the government stamps on the protest, the more powerful the protest will eventually become. This issue, in one form or another, is going to dominate Iran until at least the autumn of next year.

Here's a photo of Uma Thurman's Dad, Robert Thurman, who is a professor of Buddhist Studies in the USA. And here is him talking on Youtube about the shortcomings of blind faith.

Uma is named after Dbuma Chenpo, meaning Great Middle Way. You wouldn't have thought it, would you? Uma also stands for Unlicensed Mobile Access. That's more like it.

Robert Thurman is a pioneering, individual Leo, who with Moon in Capricorn has a need for tradition. It is an interesting combination to try to bring together. In his podcast, you could say it is the Capricorn that has allegiance to the Buddhist tradition, and the Leo that is going to make damn sure there is room within that for individual intelligence.

Iran

I think it is important to have a sense of humour when considering people such as President Ahmadinner-lady of Iran. He is a populist politician who denies both the Holocaust and Israel’s right to exist, who is wilfully confrontational and who is pushing hard for the development of a nuclear capability. I don’t see President Ahmageddon as any different to Hitler. I know once you bring in Hitler it’s usually the sign of a discussion that has lost any sense of proportion, but in Ahmadinejad’s case I think that for once the comparison is apt. I think that under the smiles and popular appeal, there is nothing he would not do.

It is of course hypocritical for the West to denounce countries that want a nuclear capability while having such capabilities itself. But in Ahmadinner-jacket’s case it is different, because he would have no hesitation in using them if he thought he could get away with it, whereas the West would have a great deal of hesitation before using them, and has remarkably managed not to for 64 years. It’s like we’re still stunned from the first time.


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Ahmadinosaur was born 28/10/56, time unknown. He has Sun conjunct Neptune in Scorpio. At its best, this combination has passion, insight, loyalty, imagination and compassion. Maybe in private Ahmajihad does. Maybe, like Hitler, he is in private a vegetarian who likes children. But in public we see this combination at its worst, the snake (Scorpio) who can sway the crowds (Neptune). You cannot trust anything he says. He also has Moon in Leo/Virgo, conjunct Pluto. I think his Moon is more likely to be a grandiose, self-serving Leo, and the conjunction to Pluto ties in with his Sun in Pluto’s sign of Scorpio: he has a hunger for power, and knows how to get it and keep it.

It is interesting that Barack Obama, now his principal foreign opponent, has Sun square Neptune and Moon square Pluto. Their Moons square – possibly a bit widely – and their Suns square, again a bit widely. Their Mars’ oppose (7 degrees).


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As with Bush and bin Laden/Saddam Hussein, the stage is set, astrologically at least, for a personal enmity. Obama and Ahmadinejad have a kind of similarity to their charts that clashes. With Obama’s own Sun-Neptune and Moon-Pluto challenges, Ahmadinejad is a reminder to him of his own shadow side. It is hard not to demonise Ahmadinejad, precisely because he is so demonic. When you demonise someone, you write them off as evil, and no longer see their individuality. It will be interesting to see how, over time, Obama deals with Ahmadinejad, now that he has been ‘re-elected’. It is easy to be conciliatory at the start, like he has been. But power changes people. Obama stepped into the Presidency and the limos as to the manner born. I found it a bit worrying the extent to which he immediately felt at ease. Part of it is because Obama is a natural showman. But also, I don’t think he quite gets what power does to people, and this will probably start to show over time. And a typical way it shows, especially when you’re such a ‘good guy’ like Obama, is to have an enemy ‘out there’ who embodies the evil that needs to be fought. America itself, with its Mars in polarising Gemini, tends to think internationally in terms of good guys and bad guys. The Obama administration seems quite happy to maintain the list of ‘terrorist’ states that the Bush administration dreamt up, having recently threatened to put North Korea back on the list.

There is no doubt that Ahmadinejad, his hand strengthened due to his dodgy re-election, will continue to do his best to provoke America. America’s natural response is to demonise, to ‘clench its fist’ (as it now accuses Iran of doing.) Whether Obama will be able to respond differently remains to be seen. But astrologically, it certainly looks like a challenge for him. The wideness of the squares and oppositions between himself and Ahmajihad, though, leaves room for self-reflection.

With his Sun-Neptune in Scorpio, I have no doubt that Ahmadinejad would not hesitate to fiddle an election, and it seems pretty certain that he did, with some heavily pro-Mousavi areas mysteriously voting in favour of Ahmadinejad. The Libran Mousavi was the moderate candidate, who proved no match for the dirty tactics of the Scorpio Ahmadinejad.

As for Iran itself, I usually use the chart for 1 April 1979, when the Islamic republic was proclaimed. But there is also a chart for 1 Feb 1979, when Khomeini landed in Tehran and the revolution effectively happened. I think it is a bit like the USA: we use the chart for 4th July, when Independence was declared. But legally, it happened 2 days before, when Congress voted for it. The 4th July chart thus becomes a chart for the aspirations and ideals of the people, and the 2 July a chart for the state itself.

I think with Iran we could look at it similarly, but the other way round, if that makes sense. In Iran’s case, the earlier chart represents the aspirations and ideals of the people, when Khomeini returned to Iran and the popular revolution took place. The later chart is for the Islamic state, the country as an institution.


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What we are seeing now in Iran, with the popular protests against the fiddled election, is an expression of the February chart, the will of the people. This chart has Capricorn/Cancer on the MC/IC axis, which describes the wish of the people in 1979 to return to their traditions (Capricorn), to the past (Cancer) after the forced pace of westernisation of the Shah’s regime.

With this MC/IC axis being at 2.47 Cap/Cancer, Pluto is of course crossing it this year. So the will of the people is undergoing a deep change. Many Iranians no longer want to be Capricorn/Cancer in its narrow, fundamentalist sense. Islam has a long liberal history (as well as a long fundamentalist history), and the protests against the election are not just about the fact that it was fiddled, but also of a desire to return to a more liberal Islam, which is just as Capricorn/Cancer as fundamentalist Islam.

Because these protests are occurring under a Pluto transit, you can be sure that this wave of popular feeling is not going to go away. The Iranians have done it before with the Shah, so they could do it again with Ahmadinejad, especially as he does not have supreme power; this lies with the clergy, and they have declared the election result to be ‘provisional’ in the face of the popular protests. Since writing this, the mullahs have gone further and suggested there may be a recount.


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The chart for the state itself has Mars at 25.37 Pisces, which Uranus will be conjoining until next February. Uranus-Mars is the perfect combination for violent (Mars) protest (Uranus), so we can expect to see it continue for some time yet. If you put this together with the Pluto transit, and Saturn's involvement as well through its ongoing opposition to Uranus, it is possible that Ahmadinejad could be removed from power. That would mean a less confrontational Iran, which could only help with the Middle East peace process. But even a ‘moderate’ Iran would keep its nuclear ambitions and its opposition to the US, and if we were in their place we would probably do the same. So Iran will continue to be a ‘problem’ for the West whatever happens; it will just go about it in a less confrontational way if there is a more moderate President.

Pluto is currently transforming and empowering the wishes of the people of Iran (Feb Chart); in 2 years Pluto will begin to square the Sun of the April chart, the state itself. The Sun is the leadership, so we can see a process here: the popular feeling for a more liberal state that we are seeing now is likely to lead to a change in the type of leadership in 2 to 4 years time.

Zeitgeist Update

It now seems a long time since the world was teetering on the brink of economic meltdown. It was all of 4 months ago that Barack Obama was inaugurated in the middle of a crisis that seemed like it could result in a 1930s-style Depression, with widescale collapse of banks and industries. Though we are all well aware there is a recession, the sense of crisis has receded.

Astrologically, this is due to Saturn and Uranus temporarily moving away from their opposition to each other. Uranus disrupts and threatens the established order of things (Saturn), and from September through to March, the time of greatest crisis, these 2 planets were never very far from opposing each other.

Since then, Saturn has moved back as far as 15 Virgo, while Uranus has moved up to 26 Pisces, making the opposition very wide and so less operative, for the moment. If we chuck in May’s Jupiter-Neptune conjunction, with its hope for the future, then we can see why things don’t seem so bad economically. Jupiter and Neptune are in Aquarius, and Saturn and Uranus are the co-rulers of this sign, which is quite a nice loop connecting the Jupiter-Neptune conjunction to the economic situation.

Another little loop that ties it all up even more closely is that Saturn also rules Capricorn, and Pluto entered Capricorn last year, reflecting the contraction and sense of proportion (Capricorn) that has entered the economy (Pluto, who is a god of riches.)

So the major events in the sky - Pluto entering Cap, Saturn opposite Uranus, and the Jupiter-Neptune-Chiron conjunction - all weave into a single story due to the signs that Saturn and Uranus rule. What that story is will become clearer with hindsight. But what I think we can say is that the disruption to the established world order brought about by the central connecting aspect, Saturn-Uranus, is facilitating both a return to a sense of economic proportion and sustainability (Pluto in Capricorn), as well as a hope for a better world (Jupiter-Neptune-Chiron in Aquarius). There it is, the astrological zeitgeist in a nutshell!

This story, however, is not just economic, even though the economy is playing a central role, as it usually does. The disruptions and new dreams are happening on all sorts of levels. The political level in America is the obvious one: in a sense, what could be more revolutionary (Saturn-Uranus) and inspirational (Jupiter-Neptune-Chiron) than electing a black man as president, given America’s history?

The world political situation, however, is more problematic, particularly in the Middle and Near East. It is problematic, at least, from the West’s point of view. The temporary easing of the Saturn-Uranus opposition does not seem to have resulted in any easing of the threats to the established order in the region: Iran continues to edge closer to becoming a nuclear power, apparently unstoppably; Pakistan continues to move closer to becoming a nuclear-armed, militant Islamic state; the Taleban continue to make the war look unwinnable in Afghanistan; and the violence in Iraq, which threatens its fledgling democracy, refuses to go away. The new hope of Jupiter-Neptune seems to be more on the side of the regional fundamentalists than of the Western powers.

The Saturn-Uranus opposition finishes in July 2010. The US may well have got it right in planning to withdraw from Iraq by 2011, because the instability may have eased by then as Saturn and Uranus move away from each other. Either that, or the remaining 3 oppositions will bring such huge opposition to the US occupation that they will be forced to leave.

Saturn and Uranus will make their next exact aspect in September – the 3rd out of 5 – and will be getting close to each other in August. So we are approaching the midway point of a process that began last autumn. Economically, we could be due for a fresh round of disruption after what might prove to have been a false dawn this summer.

Some astrologers predicted that things would look better this spring and summer, in which they seem to have been right, but that also it would be a false dawn. I don’t think it is a false dawn, because the western economies have been taking the right Capricornian/Saturnian steps: saving the banking system from collapse (unlike in the 1930s), cutting back unnecessary spending, downsizing inefficient companies like General Motors and investing more in sustainable energy initiatives. Also, the chart for Pluto’s Ingress into Capricorn in 2008 looks nice: Pluto conjunct Venus and Jupiter, and trine to the ruler of Capricorn, Saturn. Saturn retrograde in the chart shows a considered response to the economic crisis.


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So I am economically optimistic. There is a way to go in sorting the western economies. But because many of the right pieces are being put in place, I think that the remaining 3 crossings of Saturn and Uranus will have more of an emphasis on new economic possibilities and new industries, rather than on disruption and destruction, though some of that is also bound to be present.

If we put together the fact that we have this autumn both the concluding phase of the Jupiter-Neptune-Chiron conjunction, and the start of the second phase of Saturn-Uranus, then I think we could see the beginnings of a new economy. Yes, probably still far too like the old for many of us; but at the same time, with more of an emphasis on saving rather than spending (as Obama has said he would like to see in the US), on industries based around new technologies, and on a more responsible use of energy resources.

As Saturn-Uranus draws to a close in July of next year, so will we see the beginnings of an even bigger tectonic shift, as Uranus and Pluto move within 3 degrees of a square to one another. This is the really big shift, because it will hard aspect major points in the charts of all the western powers. So what is happening now is merely preparatory. It could herald big advances in a new type of economy. It also seems likely to herald a Middle and near East that are increasingly beyond the control of the West, intensifying the West’s search for new energy sources.

How a Real Man takes off his Underwear

Mars in Taurus opposite Uranus-Jupiter in Scorpio?

WILL HE STAY OR WILL HE GO?

Gordon Brown is under siege again from his own party, many of whom feel that he will lose them the next General Election, which has to occur before 5 May 2010. A couple of days ago I’d have said he’ll manage to stay on, but now it is looking more likely to me that he will go. More and more senior Labour figures are publicly questioning his leadership, and we still have the European Election results, which are expected to be very bad for Labour, in a day or two.

New Labour in power was really about Tony Blair, and Gordon Brown was always destined to be the end-game, the ‘tail-end Charlie’, like Callaghan and Major. New Labour came to power on 2/5/97 at 3.17am.


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With Jupiter Rising in Aquarius, it believed (Jupiter) it could create a better world (Aquarius). Tony Blair’s Moon in Aquarius harmonised with this, and gave him the ability to connect this vision to the people. The MC in Sag also describes this sense of mission to the world. Mercury retrograde in Taurus square to Uranus and Neptune shows the desire to communicate this vision in a practical way, but not always successfully. Tony Blair’s Sun at 15 Taurus conjoins the New Labour Sun at 11 Taurus (and Venus at 19 Taurus), making him its natural leader (Sun).

When Tony Blair left as leader in June 2007, Neptune had been conjoining the New Labour Jupiter, reflecting the loss of self-belief by the party, the disillusion that Tony Blair had brought about, mainly over Iraq. Brown’s time as leader has seen Neptune finally cross the Ascendant in Feb this year, with 2 more crossings later in the year. Given what has happened so far – and Brown’s leadership has been under question, on and off, almost since the start – this transit looks likely to bring about an almost complete loss of vision by New Labour.

A General Election does not have to be called until next May, but given the amount of disarray that the first crossing of Neptune has caused, before this year is out we may find that we have a government that is too far gone to continue.


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The Solar Return for New Labour for this year shows a leader who is not effective in public (Sun conjunct IC) and at odds with the membership of his party (Sun square Moon). Mars conjunct Venus in Aries square to an exact Pluto-Asc conjunction shows a party characterised by infighting and power-struggles, though with Mars below the horizon, this may not always be visible to the public.


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As for Brown himself, what we see natally is a fiery character with vision (Aries Rising and Leo Moon) who is nevertheless unable to give direction to himself or those around him (5 personal planets in 12th House Pisces). As a Pisces, Brown is able to shapeshift, to project the strong-man image when he speaks. But the rumours have always been of his authoritarianism, indecisiveness and inability to lead. I think his authoritarianism is partly his Moon conjunct Pluto in Leo; but I think it is also that weird, wilful thing you sometimes find in very Piscean people, who seem to sense and fear their own inner powers as threatening and chaotic, and try to control themselves and everyone around them to keep the ocean at bay. It is Canute syndrome.

Although Brown has an Aries Ascendant, its ruler Mars is in 12th House Pisces, which is a very difficult placement for someone who needs to be, and to appear, strong and decisive. It is also opposite an inhibiting Saturn (which, to be fair, has at the same time given him an ability to apply himself long-term to his personal goals). As Tony Blair’s Chancellor, he was a master of passive-aggressive behaviour, never daring to speak out against Blair, not even standing against him in the original election to be leader; he was, however, forever plotting against him. It is not a good quality for a leader – or for anyone, I suppose. For the last year we have seen Uranus conjoining Brown’s Mars, and in some ways we have seen some surprising leadership from him, particularly through his handling of the financial crisis, when the world teetered and Brown saved it (Pisces), or so he seemed to think. But broadly speaking, a Uranus-Mars transit, when Mars is so afflicted, is unlikely to result in the steady leadership that he is so fond of projecting, but which his colleagues clearly do not experience.

Like Blair, Brown has a strong connection to the New Labour Chart, as we would expect, and this is principally through New Labour's Moon in Pisces. Brown connects with the traditionally compassionate element in Labour, and his ideals here seem genuine. Unfortunately, this Moon is opposite Mars, describing the embattled position he has always been in, whether as Chancellor or as PM. Blair's connection to the chart, his Taurean Sun, trines this Mars, showing the relatively easy ride he had with the party for much of the time.

The big transit for Brown during his leadership has been, and continues to be, Pluto conjoining his Chiron-MC in Capricorn. This would be a great placement for say a competent healer, particularly combined with all that Pisces. But once you hit the world of politics, you are in more deterministic territory, where the denizens cannot afford to be too reflective, and where collective currents sweep you along. I don’t think Chiron does too well in this arena, and since the word go Brown has seemed like a wounded beast as Prime Minister. What is worse is that one feels sorry for him, that it would be cruel to laugh at him, which is a necessary tonic when it comes to leaders and their self-importance. Maybe this is why his colleagues find it so hard to finally stick the knife in and replace him. Sun in 12th House Pisces and Neptune conjunct Descendant describe this. However badly a Pisces behaves, somehow we forgive them, we feel sorry for them, we find it hard to hurt them. Like Yakimov in the film series 'Fortunes of War'.

With outer planet transits, it can be hard to time events. Without astrology, I’d say Brown may be gone quite soon. With astrology, I’d like to see Pluto make an exact crossing of his MC at 4.43 Capricorn, or at least begin the run-in to an exact crossing, which brings us to September this year or later. On the other hand, the ruler of his MC, Saturn, is at 1.03 Libra, and Pluto has made 3 out of 5 squares to that point over the last 16 months, which may be enough. So I could plump for the autumn, when Pluto finishes its squares to the MC Ruler, and begins the run-in to an MC conjunction. Brown also begins his second Saturn Return this autumn, a time when we experience the consequences of our actions.

The astrology is certainly telling us that Brown is likely to go next year, as the Pluto-MC conjunction and Saturn Return run their courses. But we know this anyway. The question is whether these transits will be too early in their effects for Brown to go this year. On balance I think they are too early, much as I’d like to see the drama of a leadership election, and someone who is better able to oppose David Cameron leading the government.

America's Real Values

I’m back from the Sunrise Festival, my first for 5 years. I was seeing about 5 people per day, mainly for astrology, but also for tarot and healing work. This was great, as I don’t get many customers at home.

I’ll be at Glastonbury Festival in a few weeks, and the Big Green Gathering a few weeks after that. My next task is to get a van so I can cart my yurt about. And get my tipi to my field, which I’ve felt a bit exiled from ever since Vajramala put her horses there 5 years ago. But I quite fancy hanging out and sleeping in the same field as a herd of horses.

Anyway, Barack Obama yesterday gave an interview with the BBC about his trip to the Middle East. Here is a short extract:

“The message I hope to deliver is that democracy, rule of law, freedom of speech, freedom of religion - those are not simply principles of the west to be hoisted on these countries.

But, rather what I believe to be universal principles that they can embrace and affirm as part of their national identity. The danger, I think, is when the United States, or any country, thinks that we can simply impose these values on another country with a different history and a different culture.

And I think the thing that we can do, most importantly, is serve as a good role model… the United States' job is not to lecture, but to encourage, to lift up what we consider to be the values that ultimately will work - not just for our country, but for the aspirations of a lot of people.”

I don’t think it is quite as simple as that. Once you start viewing your country’s values as somehow universal – and dragging in the whole of the west as support – you are more than half way to being intolerant of those countries that do not share your ‘universal’ values. Muslim countries, for example, would equally see their values as universal, but they don’t go around talking about ‘encouraging’ the west to be like them.

No, it’s America as usual with its cultural imperialism. You want to believe Obama, because he does it so well, he is so apparently reasonable. And he believes it himself. But he is caught in the consensus reality of his own people, like most leaders are. It’s just the way things work.

So what are America’s real values? A quick glance at the Sibly Chart reveals all.


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Our values, what we consider to be important, are described by the 2nd House and its Ruler. The US has Capricorn on the 2nd House Cusp, and Pluto in Capricorn in that house. Capricorn is a sign of commerce and ambition, and Pluto’s presence shows that the US gets its sense of confidence and power from its commercial activities. This is reflected in the House Ruler, Saturn, being in the 10th House: the US wants to be a major economic presence on the world stage. Pluto also indicates that this is where the US shadow lies, that it will do almost anything for its own commercial advancement, and that it will attempt to conceal its essentially commercial values from itself and from others.

That said, we have to remember that the 2nd House Ruler, Saturn, is in Libra, so there is a sense in which the US also genuinely wants to see fairness and justice in the world. But it is inextricably tied up with its own commercial ambitions. ‘Enlightened self-interest’ would describe this combination at its best. Like, say, the remarkable Marshall Plan for European recovery after World War II.

So whatever Obama says about the US being a role model for the Middle East, it is inextricably tied to the fact that the Middle East supplies a large part of US energy needs.

The planet Venus also describes values, and the US has Venus in Cancer in the 7th House. Cancer is home, it is tribal, and the US sees itself as a contained world of its own, even as the whole world – it has what it calls the World Series, in which no other nation takes part. The US is well-known for the percentage of the population who have never been abroad. It has a level of patriotism that we are not used to in Europe, such as schoolchildren saluting the flag. A positive side of this is the degree of integration of immigrants that you find after a generation or two. You don’t get the fragmentation into minorities that you find often amongst immigrants in Europe.

Venus' placement in the 7th House describes the US tendency to export its values to its foreign business partners (7th).

At present Pluto is opposing the US Venus, and in 3 years Pluto will enter the US second house. So we are entering a prolonged era in which US values are up for re-definition. US values have in many ways become world values, threatening the integrity of e.g. Middle Eastern cultures, and causing much of the conflict we see in that region today.

One result of the present Pluto-Venus transit is the change in values that the current Presidency is bringing about: a shift away from the decadent, spendthrift nation of the Bush years towards a nation that saves more and produces more of its own goods, and that is therefore more self-reliant. In a good way, more Cancerian. A recent example of this is Obama’s promise that a restructured General Motors will produce more of its cars at home, for the first time in decades.

Venus is also in the 7th, so the Pluto transit may modify the degree to which the US tries to export to its partners (7th) its own tribal (Cancer) values (Venus). Despite what I said about Obama above, his attitude to foreign cultures is streets more tolerant and accepting than Bush’s was.

Barack Obama also has Venus in Cancer, 2 degrees off the US Venus. So his values are in many ways American values, and it is hard for him to see outside of that, Cancer being a watery, and therefore not very reflective sign.


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But his Venus is in the 5th, and trine to 9th House Neptune, which in turns rules his 2nd House. So that is a nice loop, and despite being identified with US values, he is at the same time able to be creative with them (5th House) and bring in an element of idealism (Neptune) in the US attitude to foreign countries (9th).