Gore Vidal once wrote an essay titled Sex is Politics. We could say that so is love, and so is marriage.
Last week two UK citizens, Celia Kitzinger and Sue Wilkinson, went to the High Court to make their case for having their marriage recognised in the UK. They married in Canada in 2003, but the UK doesn't recognise same-sex marriage, even though it automatically recognises opposite-sex marriages that have taken place abroad. The couple have argued that this is discriminatory, and are seeking a declaration of the validity of their marriage. The UK government is arguing in court against this.
This is clearly an historic court case, and the High Court is expected to give its decision in July. What's more, strange as it may seem to those unfamiliar with astrology, it has cosmic significance.
For some time now the UK has been going through a Neptune (inclusiveness, amongst other things) transit to the nation's Venus (marriage, amongst other things). This transit occurs only once every 168 years, so it reflects a rare process of change.
The High Court case was heard from the 6th to 8th of June. During The Sun was square Uranus in Pisces, and also trine Neptune in Aquarius. This alone gives us the issues involved: equality, human rights, breaking down barriers, moving from discrimination against those who are considered 'different' in society to an inclusive equitable position, and the individual challenging the society in which they live, while the society pushes back against the individual in return.
When they wed in 2003, transiting Pluto was closely square Celia's Venus, and the transiting nodal axis was square Sue's Venus. Venus is the planet representing love and union. Transiting Jupiter was opposite transiting Uranus, and both were square Sue's Mars, symbolising an action that asserted freedom and human rights. For Celia, this Jupiter-Uranus opposition connected primarily with Pluto (a planet often linked with taboos in society), as well as Saturn, Neptune, and the node. (NB Celia and Sue's birth times are not known, and so the all-important Descendant and other house cusps aren't known.)
In astrology there is such a thing as the 'marriage chart'. It's a chart calculated for the date, time, and place of marriage. The time of the marriage is not known but the date and place are. This Jupiter-Uranus opposition was connected on the day with a Sun-Venus conjunction, showing a marriage that centres around liberty. Mars was conjunct Uranus, showing actions that shake up the system, fighting for justice.
Getting into some more complicated astrology, the Sun was on the Venus/Jupiter and Mars/Uranus midpoints, while Mars was on the Sun/Venus midpoint and Uranus was on the Sun/Jupiter midpoint. All of these show a union that is a socially provocative event, thus sowing the seeds for the court action that would develop from that moment.
Looking at the transits for the High Court action last week, Celia had transiting Uranus directly opposite her Venus, showing the agitation for reform being channelled through her marriage, as well as transiting Pluto sextiling her Sun showing an intensely transformative period of her life. Sue had transiting Pluto in sextile to her Venus, showing a similarly intense transformation going on but channelled through her marriage. Transits from Uranus and Pluto to Venus show the need to change one's relationship status: sometimes people get married during transits like this, sometimes they get divorced. In this case, Sue and Celia are using the transit as the most opportune time to have the 'Civil Partnership' status conferred upon them by the UK legal system changed to 'married' status instead.
Here is a link to the Equal Marriage Rights website which provides more information on Celia Kitzinger and Sue Wilkinson's court case and an outline of the government's defence:
www.equalmarriagerights.org
And this is a link to the article written in May 2005 - over a year ago - that discusses the transit of Neptune to the UK's Venus:
www.astrology21.co.uk/c1ukneptunevenus.html
