Last week at Vauxhall, the car manufacturing company, there was a 'wildcat strike' as news emerged that Vauxhall's parent company, General Motors (GM), may be looking to its UK plants to cut 1000 jobs (a third of the workforce). It's thought that these job cuts would be from the company's Ellesmere Port plant.
Over the past couple of years GM has been having financial difficulties, and although it claimed that it had turned the corner, clearly the difficulties are by no means over. Here is a quick astrological view of GM's and Vauxhall's current and future transits:
General Motors, the international company
Last year Saturn transited across GM's Venus, correlating with financial difficulties, the need for cutbacks and reorganising to avoid losses. This year - in April - Saturn stationed (appeared to stop moving in the sky as we look out to space) on GM's Venus, reflecting an extremely intense crisis in this area. Simultaneously, it trined GM's Saturn, symbolising the need to restructure and retrench, cut back, and 'downsize'.
Throughout 2006 and 2007 transiting Neptune will be conjunct GM's Chiron, reflecting the need to dissolve a thorn in the company's side. A major thorn is Delphi, a former GM company that was spun off in 1999.
Throughout 2005, 2006, 2007 and 2008 GM will experience a very rare transit: Pluto will oppose GM's Pluto. This happens only once every approximately 250 years, which gives a clue as to how dramatically life-changing it is. This transit necessitates a thorough overhaul with no stone left unturned. Under Pluto transits the message is an uncompromising and stark 'change or die'. One of Pluto's main areas is the wealth of a company, and so financial issues are unsurprisingly to the fore, however no part of the company will be 'safe' from this profound process of change.
If we take Jupiter in GM's chart, and Jupiter in Delphi's chart, and find the point mid-way between them, that is where GM's natal Pluto is. If we go around the longer arc of the Zodiac circle and find the other mid-way point, that is where transiting Pluto is from 2005 to 2008. This is why the legal issues (Jupiter is associated with the law) that are outstanding are coming up to the surface again; during Pluto transits, toxins that threaten the long-term survival of a company rise up to be expurgated.
Vauxhall Motors, the UK company owned by GM
Transiting Pluto is conjunct Vauxhall's Mercury. This symbolises the possible death of car production in this company, but Pluto's transits come in two Acts: Act I, Death, and Act II, Rebirth and Resurrection. This transit began in 2005 and will continue until 2008.
Transiting Neptune in square to Vauxhall's Saturn shows (2006 to 2009) management problems, transiting Uranus trine Pluto (2006 to 2008) signifies financial shocks and general turbulence, and transiting Saturn trine the company's Sun (2005 to 2006) shows tough times that challenge the company's vitality.
Vauxhall's Ellesmere Port plant
Transiting Neptune making a square aspect to the plant's Mercury (2006 to 2009) shows confusion, wrong information, and doubts around the car production (Mercury is associated with cars). It could also signify the car going into 'liquidation' (Neptune is associated with liquid and dissolution). Neptune is also making a square to Venus (2004 to 2006), showing financial meltdown and a decrease in material values. From 2007 until 2010 Neptune will conjoin the plant's Saturn, which could correlate with a liquidation of the entire plant. It all depends on how the parent companies handle the transits of their charts - the Ellesmere Port plant chart is subsumed within those larger entities, and so its transits can only manifest within the parameters of the parent companies' actions and decisions.
