Astrology for the 21st Century

This Sunday's concert for Princess Diana shows interesting connections with Diana's birth chart. Since it would've been her birthday the Sun is of course in the same position as it was when she was born. But Mercury is also almost conjunct Diana's Mercury.

Then we have Venus - a symbol of women - almost exactly conjunct Saturn and opposing Neptune - themes of all sorts from iconic sacrifice to enduring charisma and 'organised love'. This trio will be exactly on the MC for Wembley at 4pm........nothing subtle there then!

Interestingly, the Moon - women, mothers and their children - is in a tense relationship to the Venus-Saturn-Neptune-MC configuration. Placed in Capricorn in the 3rd house, it's a bit stern and formally communicative, not joyous or celebratory. The aspects connecting the Moon with the other planets are 12th harmonic aspects, symbolising tension and an ambivalent attitude. Perhaps this is just representing William and Harry's tension about 'will this be perceived in the right way'.

The Venus-Saturn-Neptune-MC alignment links directly with Diana's Moon-Uranus opposition, in the Signs Leo-Aquarius. This is about emotional connections and disconnections, distance and intimacy. It's about abrupt splitting apart, cutting off, being the outsider, and about finding a place to belong in society, having the common touch - Queen of Hearts.

Venus's position now will be re-traced soon, when it turns retrograde at the end of July. The link with the Saturn-Neptune opposition will therefore be re-enacted. The seeds planted now will be re-visited later. And what are the seeds? They're about love, warmth, deprivation, coldness. They're about judgement and defences and barriers to human interaction and connectedness, and they're about dissolving those limitations so that something genuinely heartfelt arises and stimulates the human spirit.

There is more to be said but no time now to say it, thus this post doesn't do justice either to the astrology or the significance of Diana's life and death in the national psyche. Maybe as Venus returns, more writing will appear on these subjects. In the meantime:-

http://www.concertfordiana.com/

On 23rd June this blog entry said that with Venus closing into a conjunction with Saturn and an opposition with Neptune, there might be further developments with the Cash For Honours police investigation.

Today it's emerged that Blair has been questioned again by police.

This is the man who was the first serving Prime Minister to be questioned by police in relation to a corruption inquiry. A dubious accolade if ever there was one.

The investigation hasn't come to a close yet, and neither has Venus's connection with Saturn and Neptune.

Previous entries on this topic, one written a year ago and one written a few days ago:

http://astrology.blog.co.uk/2007/06/23/cash_for_dishonour~2505194

http://astrology.blog.co.uk/2006/07/17/title~964763

BBC News article: http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/uk_politics/6249300.stm

Further to this blog entry from the other day:

http://astrology.blog.co.uk/2007/06/21/blair_aamp_mercury_retrograde~2492292

At the very minute when Blair went to Buckingham Palace today, the transiting MC (Midheaven) in that part of London was at 7 degrees 25 minutes Cancer, closely conjunct Mercury at 7 degrees 27 minutes Cancer.

Meanwhile, Brown's Premiereship is confirmed as being locked into Uranus at the foot of his chart, at 5 Cancer. The Sun is there today, and it is close to where Mercury was when Blair and Brown made their infamous Granita deal (Mercury: 3 Cancer 09). Transiting Venus, Saturn, and Neptune are all in close aspects with Brown's Uranus too.

On 6th June the Sun newspaper published a short report about crime levels as studied by the police force in Brighton & Hove.

They found that crime increased around Full Moons.

It's not the first time this link has been found by studies.

And I remember, about 20 years ago, police officers confirming it from their own experience.

Here's a link to the story:

http://www.thesun.co.uk/article/0,,2-2007260123,00.html

Today is a day to celebrate - it's the day of the final Saturn opposition Neptune!

This aspect recurs every 36 years, and is a biggie.

It's been (and still is) prevalent collectively, all around the world, as well as individually for a lot of people in their personal and professional lives (just look at the weather and flooding.........)

In the UK we've had a lot of this aspect. We've had Blair, Labour, and Cameron all expressing this aspect through their words and deeds, and we've had the country's Venus and Saturn connecting with it.

Whilst it'll be within orb for a few more months (and if you use an 8 degree orb like most astrologers do, it will briefly return in 2008), today is the final exact aspect of this series, so the evolutionary developments we've been through can now start to 'bed in' and settle down into a more normal pattern of life.

It's a transition point and as with all transition points its worth marking the time with as much joy as you can genuinely muster. So if you've been through a lot these past couple of years I recommend you mark it with a celebration of yourself, and your Self. Give yourself a gift, be kind to yourself, have a treat, do something you enjoy and give it your full attention as a reward to yourself and celebration of yourself. Smile and show gratitude to yourself, your Self, your life, and whatever else you feel thankful for, then celebrate in whatever way, quiet or loud, large or small, you feel like.

Happy Saturn Opposite Neptune Day!

Uranus turned retrograde at the weekend so it's a good time to ask yourself if there's any part of your character or nature that you don't give expression to but would like to, and go inside to retrieve it and bring it forward.

If there are any talents, ideas, or traits that you once abandoned or have never got round to developing, or unusual directions you've wanted to go in but never did for one reason or another, now's the time to review them and see if you want to develop in that way now.

It doesn't have to be a permanent thing either, it can be a temporary 'try out' - no commitment required, full refund available! And there's no rush either, Uranus will be retro until the end of November.

Today we find out that Blair's chum Lord Goldsmith, the controversial Attorney General, is resigning along with Blair. The carefully orchestrated and strategically spun hand-over at the top continues.

With Venus approaching the Saturn-Neptune opposition, lying in the UK's 5th-11th houses, in the signs Leo-Aquarius, one could speculate whether the resignation is pre-empting something afoot in the Cash For Honours situation, or the police inquiry.

After all, it wouldn't be the first time that a pre-emptive resignation was used as an evasion of punitive consequences.

The Venus conjunction with Saturn and opposition with Neptune will be exact on 30th June/1st July, but is closing in now and on 27th when Blair resigns it will be just over 2 degrees from exactitude, closing that gap.

Previous entries on this blog and at the Astrology for the 21st Century website have covered the topic of Diego Garcia, the Chagos Islanders, and the UK and USA governments illegal eviction of the islanders.

Today I received these links to lots of photos and history of Diego Garcia:

http://www.zianet.com/tedmorris/dg/tara.html

http://www.zianet.com/tedmorris/dg/1968.html

http://www.zianet.com/tedmorris/dg/realhistory-2.html

http://www.zianet.com/tedmorris/dg/bbcnewsdg.html

Blair's leadership & Mercury's cycle

A month before Blair was elected leader of the Labour party in 1994, Mercury stationed at 8 degrees of Cancer and turned retrograde.

A month later, Mercury was moving direct again and had reached 8 degrees of Cancer on the day that Blair was elected leader.

This month, when Blair stands down from the role of leader, Mercury will be at 8 degrees of Cancer, moving retrograde.

It will be at 8 degrees of Cancer again, in direct motion this time, on 21st/22nd July 2007.

Connections

The UK's MC (authority, government) is at 9 Cancer.

The Labour party's Neptune (deceit, ideals, hope, inspiration, etc) is at 8 Cancer.

Blair's 3rd house cusp (communication, words, ideas) is at 10 Cancer.

Brown's IC (roots of career, home) and Uranus (u-turns, ideas, social connections) are nearby at 5 Cancer.

Mercury's cycle

The Sun will be conjunct Mercury retro on 28th (within orb for a few days either side), marking a major turning point in the Mercury cycle.

Background note: Between 1st June 1994 and 30th June 2007 Mercury has been at 8 Cancer on 17 occasions.

Mercury will station and turn retrograde for the second time this year on 15th June. There's a lot of material on the web and in books written about Mercury retrogrades, most of which I disagree with. Rather than take issue with it, I thought I'd consult the I Ching (an ancient Chinese book of wisdom, used for divination) on the matter. This article is the result:

http://www.astrology21.co.uk/p1howtohandlemercretro.html

There are four new articles that have just been added to the website affiliated with this blog. They are:

UK's Identity Crisis & Opportunity: Transiting Pluto conjunct the UK's Sun and IC begins sooner than you think.

Parents Through the Eyes of their Children: The image of the parent in childrens' birthcharts, using the charts of the children of Madonna, Sarah Ferguson, and Margaret Thatcher

French Cabinet: A profile of the new President Nicolas Sarkozy's Cabinet

Retrograde Sun: Yes, the Sun is sometimes retrograde!

They can all be read at:

www.astrology21.co.uk