http://astrology.blog.co.uk/Copyright © 2006 - 2009. All rights reserved.en-UKhttp://backend.userland.com/rss092http://astrology.blog.co.uk/http://data5.blog.de/design/preview/02/7dd32816776b88415fe0d5a3b84e27_160x200.jpg <p>The ongoing saga of the east coast railway services reaches another stage tonight as National Express lose the franchise earlier than originally planned and for approximately two years the service becomes State run.</p> <p>The company formerly known as Abbey Rail Ltd has changed names to East Coast Railway Company Ltd, and is a parent of the newly-formed Directly Operated Railways Ltd which is part of the Department of Transport.</p> <p>According to the official press release National Express's franchise ended at 23:59hrs last night. ECRC (DOR) then took over, trading as 'East Coast'. Here's the chart:-</p> <p><img src="http://data6.blog.de/media/892/4104892_b224630405_m.gif" alt="East Coast"></p> <p>This chart really speaks about the government's policy's repeating failure. They have been forced to take ownership in a literal sense, but don't want to take ownership in the other sense.  That's to say they don't want responsibility, they don't really want to touch this business, like having to pick up a dirty sock when you don't want to go anywhere near it (not that this train franchise is a dirty sock! I'm just trying to conjure the image/feeling of having to do something combined with wanting to be as far from it as possible.)</p> <p>Do you want the good news first?</p> <p>The Moon in Libra in the 2nd house shows the public as the owners, as well as the passengers of course. The Moon is in trine with Jupiter, the planet of long distance journeys. Moon-Jupiter aspects are generally favourable for public opinion too. The problem with Libra and Jupiter is that they both have a tendency to put a positive angle on things, and not face up to harsh facts. Especially so since Jupiter is conjunct Neptune, the planet of deception. The Moon links harmoniously with the UK's Mercury in the 3rd house, so that's another bonus.</p> <p>Mercury, planet of commuting, is emphasised by its placement at the IC, right at the bottom of the chart. It's also conjunct the Sun. These things place it very central, which is fair enough. However in Scorpio things tend to be a bit covered up, more so because this Sun-Mercury conjunction is square to Neptune.... And Mercury is unaspected: do we want an unconnected network? A septile with Mars isn't too welcome either - we don't want everyone getting enthralled with the idea that haste is more important than anything else.</p> <p>On the upside Mercury is on the Jupiter/Ascendant midpoint, a good symbol of travelling being the core activity of the business.</p> <p>I just think that Mercury - especially as the chart ruler - being unaspected means that no-one wants to touch this, and no-one wants to take ownership of it in either sense of the phrase. Look at Saturn in Libra in the 2nd - the burden of ownership. It's square Pluto, so there's a sense of compulsion about it - 'oh well, if we have to....' And also something a little bit shady going on behind the scenes. Other than that, Saturn's only aspect is a septile with the Sun. Saturn's unaspectedness indicates disconnecting from ownership. In my opinion there's a statement in these planets about exploitation for profit.</p> <p>In short, I don't think this franchise will sort out any of the problems that have hampered this large section of the national train service. It seems to me like 'more of the same'. That doesn't mean it's fated; it means that the agenda of the government is of this nature.  I suspect the financing/profitability problems will continue, if not grow. There's a lot of potential here for a 'cowboy' approach, a bit of a slapdash or 'bish bash bosh - job's done' approach. I don't think there'll be the necessary investment of money or management, and I think that the chart is showing that the urgent task will be to minimise financial costs by selling it off as quickly as possible (so that they don't have to spend money running it for a second longer than necessary, or face too much public pressure for investment that they have no intention of making) and doing a sales deal (perhaps a secret one) for a pitifully small amount too.</p> <p> <small> <a href="http://astrology.blog.co.uk/2009/11/13/east-coast-railway-back-in-public-ownership-7366721/#comments">Comments</a> </small> </p>http://astrology.blog.co.uk/2009/11/13/east-coast-railway-back-in-public-ownership-7366721/Fri, 13 Nov 2009 15:03:45 +0100 <p>The EU's Court of Auditors has refused, for the 15th consecutive year, to sign off the EU's accounts because of the number of errors in them.</p> <p>Why are we bothering?</p> <p><a href="http://europa.eu/rapid/pressReleasesAction.do?reference=ECA/09/68&format=HTML&aged=0&language=EN&guiLanguage=en"><a href="http://europa.eu/rapid/pressReleasesAction.do?reference=ECA/09/68&format=HTML&aged=0&language=EN&guiLanguage=en">http://europa.eu/rapid/pressReleasesAction.do?reference=ECA/09/68&format=HTML&aged=0&language=EN&guiLanguage=en</a></a></p> <p> <small> <a href="http://astrology.blog.co.uk/2009/11/11/eu-court-of-auditors-refuses-for-15th-year-to-sign-off-eu-accounts-7350776/#comments">Comments</a> </small> </p>http://astrology.blog.co.uk/2009/11/11/eu-court-of-auditors-refuses-for-15th-year-to-sign-off-eu-accounts-7350776/Wed, 11 Nov 2009 12:45:40 +0100 <p>It's not just the Sun that can produce rainbows; the Moon can too.</p> <p>A photo recently taken by someone driving home at night who happened to see this rare sight was published the other day in the national press, and can be viewed here:-</p> <p><a href="http://www.dailymail.co.uk/sciencetech/article-1224937/Rainbow-dark-Bright-Moon-creates-stunning-arc-night.html"><a href="http://www.dailymail.co.uk/sciencetech/article-1224937/Rainbow-dark-Bright-Moon-creates-stunning-arc-night.html">http://www.dailymail.co.uk/sciencetech/article-1224937/Rainbow-dark-Bright-Moon-creates-stunning-arc-night.html</a></a></p> <p>Stunning photos of other moonbows can be seen here:-</p> <p><a href="http://www.starrynightphotos.com/planet_earth/lunar_rainbow.htm"><a href="http://www.starrynightphotos.com/planet_earth/lunar_rainbow.htm">http://www.starrynightphotos.com/planet_earth/lunar_rainbow.htm</a></a></p> <p>And here:-</p> <p><a href="http://www.atoptics.co.uk/rainbows/bowim51.htm"><a href="http://www.atoptics.co.uk/rainbows/bowim51.htm">http://www.atoptics.co.uk/rainbows/bowim51.htm</a></a></p> <p> <small> <a href="http://astrology.blog.co.uk/2009/11/06/moonbows-yes-the-moonlight-can-produce-rainbows-too-7322445/#comments">Comments</a> </small> </p>http://astrology.blog.co.uk/2009/11/06/moonbows-yes-the-moonlight-can-produce-rainbows-too-7322445/Fri, 06 Nov 2009 21:42:37 +0100 <p>According to the Prime Minister of Sweden which currently holds the rotating EU presidency, the EU Constitution - deliberately and falsely spun as the 'Lisbon Treaty' - has been confirmed as entering into force on the 1st of December this year:</p> <p><em>"With the signature of the Czech President, all EU member states have now ratified the text. The Treaty enters into force on December 1 and all the details must now be put into place." <span>Source: <a href="http://www.se2009.eu/en/meetings_news/2009/11/3/final_piece_of_the_puzzle_in_place">EU Swedish Presidency official website</a></span><br></em></p> <p>Any astrologer looking at the EU's chart would have to admit that there are some extremely major danger signals in it, even if they also want to point out the best and brightest potentials of it.</p> <p>Setting the EU Constitution chart alongside the EU's chart again has to throw up warning signs. Just the fact that the final 'ward in the lock' has happened while Neptune was stationary strikes a note about chaos and fraud, even if we also want to take the - somewhat rosy-spectacled in my opinion - view that it also represents the potential for unity and harmonising.</p> <p><img src="http://data6.blog.de/media/243/4077243_2fd5b8c09f_m.gif" alt="EU and EU Constitution"> <br>Look first at the left hand side where the EU's Ascendant is in 17 Leo 16. The Constitution* chart has Mars at 17 Leo 23, just a few minutes away from being exact. If that isn't a symbol of aggressive power I don't know what is. It's akin to a baby emerging from the womb with boxing gloves on and a crown upon its head. With Mars in Leo and a Leo Ascendant, the divine right of kings is not just idle rhetoric, it's backed up with the legions of an army and the willingness to fight and vanquish all opponents.</p> <p>Tony Blair has Mars on the Ascendant, and as one American put it, Blair sprinkled adrenalin on his cornflakes. Backing down from a challenge, giving in to opposition, is not what these entities do.</p> <p>The EU has Mars conjunct Pluto in Scorpio, directly opposite the Moon, and in square to Saturn - all in Fixed Signs (holding on, staying power, rigidity, acquisitions, resources, money). If that's not large-scale aggressive do-or-die dominance of food (especially agriculture), money, people, and property I don't know what is. Neptune's station, and its subsequent slow movement forwards by the time of 1st December, is exactly square to that natal EU opposition, conjunct the EU's Saturn in the 7th house. That symbolises two things:-</p> <p>1) Taking the 'unison' factor up to a whole new level, having an attempt at making the whole thing borderless, barrierless, and universal - the voracious, insatiable appetite for more land, more people, more power is 'ramped up' to a global and beyond level. Expect the EU's already incredible ambition to skyrocket.</p> <p>2) Total collapse of the above because it's all a sham, gerrybuilt, rests on delusions and the power of getting people to be passive, acquiescent, compliant, docile, servile, conned, defrauded, whatever words you want to use. It's built on corruption, being drunk on power, and, dare I say it, the involvement of Jupiter and Neptune show that there's a deep religious impulse going on in the EU project. Not necessarily Catholicism or Freemasonry or suchlike; it could be just like the religiosity of America where the nation itself is a sacrosanct object of venerative belief.</p> <p>By the way, transiting Jupiter's conjunction with transiting Neptune multiplies all of the above. And if you're interested in Chiron (my mind isn't made up on Chiron's usefulness, so I include it in the chartwheels but don't always use it unless it really stands out) there's a returning to old destructive patterns in this EU project. There's also a locking-in of its financial troubles.</p> <p>There's much more that could be said, but it'll have to wait for a proper article over on the website.</p> <p><em>* I refuse to buy into the PR that we must call it 'the Lisbon Treaty' - it isn't just another treaty, it's a major political constitutional act, just as the EU itself is a major nation-building political project and always has been right from its inception. The architects of it know that it's designed to be exactly that.</em></p> <p> <small> <a href="http://astrology.blog.co.uk/2009/11/05/eu-constitution-expected-to-enter-into-force-1st-dec-7309363/#comments">Comments</a> </small> </p>http://astrology.blog.co.uk/2009/11/05/eu-constitution-expected-to-enter-into-force-1st-dec-7309363/Thu, 05 Nov 2009 00:05:46 +0100 <p>An Australian psychology expert - well, that's what they call them! - has confirmed what astrology has been saying for at least 2000 years: Saturn tends towards carefulness, concentration, accuracy and healthy scepticism, whereas Jupiter tends towards errors of judgement and being slapdash in thought and behaviour but also creativity.</p> <p><em>"Whereas positive mood seems to promote creativity, flexibility, co-operation and reliance on mental shortcuts, negative moods trigger more attentive, careful thinking, paying greater attention to the external world."</em></p> <p>According to the BBC report:-<em> </em></p> <p><em>The study also found that sad people were better at stating their case through written arguments, which Forgas said showed that a "mildly negative mood may actually promote a more concrete, accommodative and ultimately more successful communication style". </em></p> <p><em>His earlier work shows the weather has a similar impact on us - wet, dreary days sharpened memory, while bright sunny spells make people forgetful. </em></p> <p>In Astrometeorology<em> </em>Saturn is associated with wet weather and overcast skies, Jupiter with warmer, brighter weather. Saturn represents the more mature, steady, grounded temperament whilst Jupiter is associated with upbeat moods and a spring in the step.</p> <p>You could say that it's common sense. In which case thank heavens that astrology has been in line with common sense for two millennia and on this topic doesn't need to play catch-up with the social sciences ;-P</p> <p><a href="http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/health/8339647.stm"><a href="http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/health/8339647.stm">http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/health/8339647.stm</a></a></p> <p> <small> <a href="http://astrology.blog.co.uk/2009/11/03/researcher-confirms-what-astrologers-have-said-for-2000-years-7300695/#comments">Comments</a> </small> </p>http://astrology.blog.co.uk/2009/11/03/researcher-confirms-what-astrologers-have-said-for-2000-years-7300695/Tue, 03 Nov 2009 19:19:21 +0100 <p>Scientists, drugs, sackings, and resignations.</p> <p>Nice of them to do it all while Neptune's stationary in Aquarius in the UK's 5th house (what people do for fun), semisquaring the UK's Sun (the leadership), opposite its Saturn (the government), and semisquare its MC (the government). A loss of authority, seeping away; scoring own goals.</p> <p>As previously mentioned*, Neptune's station aspects the Labour party's Sun and the Ascendant of their 1997 'landslide' [sic] election win.</p> <p>As the saying goes, 'the fish rots from the head'.</p> <p><em>* In a <a href="http://astrology.blog.co.uk/2009/10/11/on-the-eve-of-bonfire-night-7140841/">blog entry</a> about Neptune's station and Bonfire Night</em></p> <p> <small> <a href="http://astrology.blog.co.uk/2009/11/02/the-fish-rots-from-the-head-7293209/#comments">Comments</a> </small> </p>http://astrology.blog.co.uk/2009/11/02/the-fish-rots-from-the-head-7293209/Mon, 02 Nov 2009 17:03:16 +0100 <p>Sorry, couldn't resist the pun :-)</p> <p>The ever-wondrous government's announced that it'll create three new chains of banks by breaking up the banks it fully or part owns. Better late than never, maybe. Might as well pull the chain and flush them away.</p> <p>But since it's chained to them in perpetuity and has chained us to them for the forseeable aeons, why not?</p> <p>The idea is to do it in sync with the global Uranus-Pluto Cardinal square and Pluto's transit to the UK's IC and Sun, just to make it especially ground-breaking.</p> <p>By about 2015, in other words.</p> <p>Next time, dear politicians [sic], you could at least look like you're trying to <em>anticipate </em>and <em>prevent </em>the problem.</p> <p>An ounce of prevention is worth a few trillion £s of cure.</p> <p><em>News report is here:</em><br><a href="http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/business/8336286.stm"><a href="http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/business/8336286.stm">http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/business/8336286.stm</a></a></p> <p><em>Related astrology is here:</em><br><a href="http://astrology21.co.uk/c1ukidentity.html"><a href="http://astrology21.co.uk/c1ukidentity.html">http://astrology21.co.uk/c1ukidentity.html</a></a></p> <p><a href="http://astrology21.co.uk/c1uranuspluto.html"><a href="http://astrology21.co.uk/c1uranuspluto.html">http://astrology21.co.uk/c1uranuspluto.html</a></a></p> <p> <small> <a href="http://astrology.blog.co.uk/2009/11/01/government-chained-to-the-banks-7283410/#comments">Comments</a> </small> </p>http://astrology.blog.co.uk/2009/11/01/government-chained-to-the-banks-7283410/Sun, 01 Nov 2009 01:42:37 +0100 <p>The Liberal Democrats have re-affirmed their opposition to the SNP's proposed wording for their referendum proposal on Scotland separating from the United Kingdom.</p> <p>In an astrology article published in May 2007 on the website affiliated with this web log, the current Saturn-Uranus opposition was highlighted as resonant with this issue.  Gordon Brown's involvement was similarly highlighted.</p> <p>The article can be found at the Astrology for the 21st Century website at this URL:-</p> <p><a href="http://astrology21.co.uk/c1uk1707.html"><a href="http://astrology21.co.uk/c1uk1707.html">http://astrology21.co.uk/c1uk1707.html</a></a></p> <p> <small> <a href="http://astrology.blog.co.uk/2009/11/01/scottish-independence-vote-7283367/#comments">Comments</a> </small> </p>http://astrology.blog.co.uk/2009/11/01/scottish-independence-vote-7283367/Sun, 01 Nov 2009 01:27:33 +0100 <p>So, after all the brouhaha Nick Griffin will appear on Question Time on the BBC, representing the BNP's first appearance on the programme. His birth time isn't known but his birth date and birth location is now known from his official European Parliament website. Here's his chart:-</p> <p><img src="http://data6.blog.de/media/412/4031412_1edd6d658a_m.gif" alt="Nick Griffin"></p> <p>Ignore the house cusps, and treat the Moon's position with caution - it could be in Scorpio, or it could be in Sagittarius.</p> <p>Interestingly, his Jupiter is in Sagittarius conjunt the Moon - irrespective of the Moon's Sign - showing an involvement with internationalism and multiculturalism, the home and ethnicity. But it's square Pluto in Virgo, a symbol of what is sometimes called 'ethnic cleansing' - a desire to forcefully eradicate impurities and contamination, expurgating wrongs, and setting things aright. In other contexts, Pluto in Virgo corresponded with the environmental protection movement in the 1960s - banning the pesticide DDT, for instance.</p> <p>One wonders what, in Nick's mother, his childhood, and his ancestry, is forbidden, perceived within the family as 'dark' and therefore inadmissible. Foreigners, presumably, given the involvement of Jupiter and possibly Sagittarius.</p> <p>Nick's Sun is in square to Mars in Gemini, symbolising someone action-oriented with a tendency towards using aggressive will-power, always seeking his own advantage and looking for ways to win at the expense of relationships, bonds, ties, and perhaps ethics.  People with Sun-Mars aspects like this are often very selfish, narrow-minded, and intent on achieving a goal no matter the human cost, because their ego feels like it will die if it loses. Imposing oneself onto the world and being in a dominant, leading role is usually very important to people with this aspect.  They tend to be quite provocative, oppositional, adversarial, and trouble-making. The Pisces-Gemini involvement leans it towards 'sly and shifty' rather than open and transparent - speaking with a forked tongue to impose his will.</p> <p><strong>Star-planet Parans</strong></p> <p>Not having Nick's time of birth, it's impossible to calculate all of his star-planet parans, but it is possible to list the ones that might apply, and the ones that definitely do apply.</p> <p>IMPORTANT - these paran interpretations are not made by me, but are lifted directly, unedited, from pre-written (not by me) interpretations from software designed to calculate and interpret star-planet parans.</p> <p>First, the ones that might apply, depending on if he was born before sunrise, or after.</p> <p><span><em>If born before sunrise:</em></span></p> <p><strong>Sun</strong> <em><br>with Bellatrix<br> </em> Successful, but via the hard or physical route<br> <em>with El Nath<br></em> To strongly and physically focus on one’s goals<br> <em>with Sadalmelek<br> </em> An optimistic, but uncompassionate, attitude<br> <em>with Sualocin</em> <br>Physically talented, vital and alive<br> <em>with Murzim<br> </em> The desire to make a statement</p> <p><strong>Moon<br></strong> <em>with Alcyone<br> </em> Insightful into the darker side of life<br> <em>with Procyon</em> <br>Changes in one’s passions, shifts in likes and dislikes<br> <em>with Zosma<br> </em> The pacifist or the warmonger - to hate, or enjoy, the suffering of others<br> <em>with Zuben Eschamali <br></em> To feel responsible for social, or ecological, problems</p> <p><strong>Mercury</strong><br> <em>with Capella<br> </em> A lateral thinker, a far-sighted person <br><em>with Rigel<br> </em> Strong personal views, to be strong-minded or stubborn <em><br>with Ras Algethi<br> </em> Inquisitive about the nature of objects, people, or the laws of creation <strong> </strong></p> <p><strong>Venus</strong> <em><br>with Arcturus</em> <br>A leader in the arts or in humanistic politics</p> <p><span><em>If born after sunrise (statistically more likely - obviously most of the 24hr period occurs after sunrise):</em></span></p> <p><strong>Sun</strong> <em><br>with Alphard</em><br> A person of strong passions who can become angry, violent or aggressive</p> <p> <strong>Mercury</strong> <br> <em>with </em><em>Acumen</em> <br> Difficult, or tedious, mental endeavours; stressful financial dealings <em><br>with </em><em>Bellatrix</em> <br>The craftsman and a person with alternative interests<br> <em>with </em><em>El Nath<br> </em> The satirist, the one who comments</p> <p><strong>Venus<br> </strong> <em>with </em><em>Alkes <br> </em> Someone with strong social values <em><br>with </em><em>Alhena</em> <br>The desire to reform, either as a social activist, or in fantasy and art <em><br>with </em><em>Facies<br> </em> Anger at injustices, seeking a different order</p> <p><strong>Mars</strong> <em><br>with </em><em>Denebola</em><br> To champion the non-establishment cause</p> <p><em><strong><span>These parans apply no matter what time he was born:</span></strong></em></p> <p><strong>Mars</strong> <em><br>with Antares</em><br> To act, fuelled by inspiration or obsession <strong> </strong></p> <p><strong>Jupiter<br></strong> <em> with Acumen</em><br> A person who puts themselves at risk in response to their social conscience <br><em> with Sadalsuud</em> <br>To benefit by the fortunate turn of events <em><br>with Acubens </em> <br>Joy from one’s children; to be blessed with fruitfulness and vitality</p> <p><strong>Saturn <br> </strong> <em>with Facies <br></em> To be the outsider by beliefs or action<br> <em>with Markab<br> </em> Seeking respect by endeavouring to build reliable structures and ideas</p> <p> </p> <p><strong>Chart comparison with the United Kingdom</strong></p> <p>Here is the UK's chart with Nick Griffin's chart placed alongside it - the UK's is the inner wheel, Nick's is the outer wheel.</p> <p><img src="http://data6.blog.de/media/464/4031464_30c784b5fb_m.gif" alt="UK and Nick Griffin"> (NB Sorry, the blog doesn't allow larger graphic sizes)</p> <p>His Pluto is almost <em>exactly </em>opposite the UK's Pluto - something deep is being constellated between these two.  If you believe that the UK is inherently racist in nature then you might interpret it that way - racism is going head-to-head with racism. However I see it differently.</p> <p>Jungians will talk about the Shadow, and of the Collective Unconscious and the Personal Unconscious. I think that's closer to the crux of it.</p> <p>Currently the world is experiencing Saturn-square-Pluto and Uranus-square-Pluto; the darker sides of humanity are having to be acknowledged, or conversely are being suppressed, sublimated, repressed, and so on. The UK is having direct chart contacts with those global configurations. The connections between the charts of Nick and the UK are part of that microcosmic process.</p> <p>With Pluto we're dealing with all things visceral - disgust, darkness, unrefined, unreformed raw energies of the psyche, hatred, revenge, blood feuds, and so forth.</p> <p>Nick Griffin's Venus is conjunt the UK's Descendant, the part of the chart that symbolises not the 'I', but the 'not I', or in the chart of a nation it is the 'Not us' in relation to the 'Us'.</p> <p>Venus is the planet not only of attraction and love, but replusion of what is not wanted.  What is not wanted is the 'not us'.</p> <p>But Venus and the Descendant are about that which is required for balance, wholeness, and completeness.  Denial is unsustainable, imbalance is unsustainable, and refusal of completion can lead only to atrophy and demise.</p> <p>Looking in the mirror, microcosmically for Nick, and macrocosmically for the UK, is what is being constellated here, to refine that which remains unrefined, unwhole, unintegrated, unlovely in the truest, deepest sense.</p> <p> <small> <a href="http://astrology.blog.co.uk/2009/10/22/nick-griffin-and-the-bnp-7225903/#comments">Comments</a> </small> </p>http://astrology.blog.co.uk/2009/10/22/nick-griffin-and-the-bnp-7225903/Thu, 22 Oct 2009 22:45:55 +0200 <p>Campaigning journalist, newsreader, writer, radio and television broadcaster, Ludovic Kennedy, who died this weekend, was born into relative privilege and spent his life confidently promoting justice and compassion. He helped to end the death sentence in the UK and promoted voluntary euthanasia. Known for his pursuit of justice in cases of miscarriage thereof, he was often controversial and ahead of the pack. He once said:</p> <p><em>"I became committed to revealing hidden truths, and propelled, compelled, by a very heady feeling of excitement"</em></p> <p>He spoke his chart well, and lived it with at least outward success. In his chart there is a Kite formation - like a Grand Trine but with an extra planet on one of the midpoints. It has Grand Trine part involves the Sun in Scorpio, the Moon in Pisces, and Pluto in Cancer, which places Pluto on the all-important Sun/Moon midpoint (i.e. the half-way point between the Sun and the Moon). The extra planet is Saturn in Virgo. This is the signature of someone indefatigably digging into mysterious circumstances, and into matters of life and death, searching for redemption of the innocent, rediscovering hope when it was lost. The houses involved are the 1st, 4th, 8th, and 10th, indicating personal expression, end of life, death, career, and society at large. </p> <p><img src="http://data6.blog.de/media/378/4021378_8a3ec51a41_m.gif" alt="Ludovic Kennedy"><br>His Mercury in Sagittarius in square aspect with Uranus is iconoclastic and truth-seeking, as is his Moon conjunct Uranus (the latter cast into prominence by virtue of its being located at the IC).  Mars conjunct Saturn in Virgo is the hard-worker par excellence, as well as another signature of being drawn to death-related issues. His Jupiter conjunct Neptune in Leo in the 9th house indicates compassionate justice, but also great confidence and a sense of entitlement to do whatever he wanted to do.</p> <p> <small> <a href="http://astrology.blog.co.uk/2009/10/20/ludovic-kennedy-last-of-the-campaigning-journalists-7204590/#comments">Comments</a> </small> </p>http://astrology.blog.co.uk/2009/10/20/ludovic-kennedy-last-of-the-campaigning-journalists-7204590/Tue, 20 Oct 2009 00:40:23 +0200 <p>On the eve of Bonfire Night the planet Neptune will be stationary, turning direct.  From now until then Neptune is slowing to a halt, virtually motionless already.  For a few weeks after the 4th it will be similarly slow, gradually picking up speed after its stasis.  Thus October and November are months of Neptunian flavour, particularly for countries with planets or chart points currently aspected by Neptune.  The UK is one of those countries.</p> <p>Neptune will station at 23 Aquarius 42 in the early evening of the 4th of November.  It's currently at 23 Aquarius 51.  That gives you an indication of how slowly it's travelling.</p> <p>The UK's Saturn is directly opposite, at 23 Leo 22.</p> <p>Saturn in Leo represents, among other things, the nation's ego defence mechanisms.  It also represents the status quo, corporations, and all institutional structures that wield authority in the nation.  All of these are being washed away at the moment, eroded and corroded, undermined and dissolved.</p> <p>From now until the end of November there'll be an intensification of this process.  It's likely that the nation will feel lost, on shaky ground, as if what was solid is now pliable.  It's like being on shifting sands.</p> <p>It's all quadrupled though because of the natal configuration in the UK's natal chart of Saturn, the Ascendant, the MC and the Sun.</p> <p>In the UK's chart Saturn is on the point half-way between the Ascendant and the MC.  It's also happens to be in semi-square aspect to both the Ascendant and the MC.  And it's just out of orb - unless you use wider orbs - of a sesquiquadrate with the Sun.</p> <p>Because transiting Neptune is opposite Saturn it's picking up this whole aspect pattern, constellating all of the issues involved.</p> <p>The Ascendant-MC midpoint is the nation's way of being in the world.  The Sun is it's leaders, its identity, and its innovative spirit. Saturn is its authorities, its boundaries, its barriers and its sense of deficiency.</p> <p>The purpose of the Neptune transit is to wash away whatever is outworn and unuseful to the present and the future.  It's meant to soothe difficulties and bring compassion to what's suffering.  It brings the opportunity of redemption to the nation.</p> <p>What are we using it for?  Compassion or cut-backs?  Saving ourselves or deluding ourselves?  Epiphanies or slipping further into delusionary madness?</p> <p>We ought to choose thoughtfully what we put on our bonfires this year.</p> <p> <small> <a href="http://astrology.blog.co.uk/2009/10/11/on-the-eve-of-bonfire-night-7140841/#comments">Comments</a> </small> </p>http://astrology.blog.co.uk/2009/10/11/on-the-eve-of-bonfire-night-7140841/Sun, 11 Oct 2009 01:57:40 +0200 <p>Labour is about to have the final stage in its years-long meltdown.</p> <p>In November - appropriately enough just one day before Bonfire Night - Neptune will station and turn direct in close conjunction with the Labour Party's Sun.</p> <p>The Party's Sun is at 23 Aquarius 00.  Neptune will station at 23 Aquarius 42.</p> <p>The last time Neptune stationed at this degree - May 2008 - the Labour Party suffered its <em>worst election results in 40 years.</em> It finished in 3rd place with a projected 24% share of the national vote.  And it lost the Mayor of London seat to the Conservatives, as Ken Livingstone was replaced by Boris Johnson.</p> <p>When the outer planets station all hell tends to break loose.  With Neptune stations things tend to be especially chaotic with no-one knowing which way to turn as suspended animation kicks in.</p> <p>The only difference this time is that Neptune will be moving forwards, whereas in May 2008 it was turning backwards.</p> <p>What happened at the two stationary-conjuncts before that, you may ask?</p> <p>November 2008 - Alistair Darling's emergency pre-budget statement was announced, and was called everything from the rather mild <em>'a gamble'</em> by some to the rather more extreme <em>'the day New Labour died' </em>by others.<em> </em></p> <p>May 2007 - One month later, Tony Blair resigned.</p> <p>The chart for the 1997 victory of 'New Labour' also has 24 Aquarius as its Ascending degree.</p> <p>Sinking ship indeed.</p> <p> <small> <a href="http://astrology.blog.co.uk/2009/10/09/labour-party-the-final-stage-of-meltdown-7128532/#comments">Comments</a> </small> </p>http://astrology.blog.co.uk/2009/10/09/labour-party-the-final-stage-of-meltdown-7128532/Fri, 09 Oct 2009 03:24:39 +0200 <p>Italy's Constitutional Court has judged that their leading politician isn't above the laws of their land, paving the way for a corruption and tax fraud trial to resume, and in the midst of sex scandals. This politician has fallen and risen again many times, grabbing power here there and everywhere, living the high life and crossing the line many times but living to tell the tale. All very Plutonic, wouldn't you say?</p> <p>His time of birth is disputed: 5:40am is apparently what Berlusconi himself quotes, which should render it doubtful (people's memories are usually not very accurate about birth times) but most astrologers seem to be happy to go with it.  6:30am is what his birth certificate says, so there is almost an hour of possibility there. Depending on his birth time, Pluto has either just passed, is just passing, or will in the next few years pass across his IC-MC axis (family and career), simultaneously squaring his Ascendant and Descendant (relationships).</p> <p>What's known with certainty though is that Pluto last year and this year has been aspecting his Venus and Mars, both planets of sex and relationships, as well as the law and power.</p> <p>In his natal chart Venus and Mars are in close sextile aspect.  Venus is at 00 Scorpio 34 and Mars is at 1 Virgo 38.  The midpoint of the two is 1 Libra 06, and 1 Aries 06, i.e. within orb of the the 'Vernal point' which actually resonates throughout the Cardinal axis: the first degree of Aries, Cancer, Libra and Capricorn.  Transiting Pluto has been stationary at the Capricorn degree last month, and last year.  In terms of aspects, natal Venus is on the midpoint of natal Mars and transiting Pluto.  These type of geometrical formations greatly intensify the colouring of the period, as does a stationary planet.</p> <p>It's no surprise then Berlusconi has been having to face the music with his wife divorcing him and the courts ruling against his hubris: there are powers greater than him.</p> <p> </p> <p> <small> <a href="http://astrology.blog.co.uk/2009/10/08/silvio-berlusconi-power-obsession-corruption-sex-7127123/#comments">Comments</a> </small> </p>http://astrology.blog.co.uk/2009/10/08/silvio-berlusconi-power-obsession-corruption-sex-7127123/Thu, 08 Oct 2009 20:33:51 +0200 <p>The UK's current once-in-248-years transit to its Sun by Pluto brings an unavoidable and massively significant encounter with debt, taxation, insurance and assurance.</p> <p>The purpose of the transit is to bring things down to rock bottom so that they can be rebuilt, starting all over again, renewing the country from the grass roots upwards.</p> <p>It's an absolutely relentless wholesale review.  No stone left unturned.</p> <p>One of the meanings of Pluto in mythology is 'wealth'.  And as a God of the Underworld it symbolises where wealth comes from: the fertility of the Earth's processes - vegetative, and volcanic.</p> <p>These are literal as well as symbolic processes.  The UK is going through a massive volcanic upheaval.  It's necessary and healthy.</p> <p>There is fear - another Pluto experience - especially fear of loss.  There is a desire to be ruthless, another Plutonic association.  And there is a desperate desire and an urgent need to strip away anything which stifles new growth, anything decaying.  To strip things down to the bare bones, or to use a mechanical analogy, to strip the engine into parts and clean each one before putting the engine back together.</p> <p>Is this what the Convervatives are proposing?  No.  They're doing 'slash and burn' and 'rape and pillage' - two other Pluto experiences.  They're stoking fear to allow them to violate the nation's people, under the guise of 'economic hard times'.</p> <p>Is it what Labour are proposing?  No.  What about the Liberal Democrats?  No.  Anyone else?  Most of them, no.</p> <p>We<em></em> have the chance of a new chapter now, but time is short and the major 'leaders' aren't getting the message.   If you listen to the media you can hear echoes of the wrong Plutonic approach, rather than the right, constructive approach.</p> <p>The purpose of a Pluto transit isn't that we die, it's that we are reborn.  But the powerful social leaders - politicians, business people, the media - can scupper the process and reduce us in harmful ways that lead to a cycle of decay becoming semi-permanent.</p> <p>Which policies do you think will bring a renaissance to the UK? If you find any, or know what would work, please speak up now and spread the word, rather than leaving it to the politicians and their corporate and media friends, because the open door for the UK is not staying open for much longer.</p> <p>More on the time-scales and processes can be read here:<br> <a href="http://astrology21.co.uk/c1ukidentity.html"><a href="http://astrology21.co.uk/c1ukidentity.html">http://astrology21.co.uk/c1ukidentity.html</a></a></p> <p> <small> <a href="http://astrology.blog.co.uk/2009/10/08/uk-debt-taxation-insurance-assurance-7125459/#comments">Comments</a> </small> </p>http://astrology.blog.co.uk/2009/10/08/uk-debt-taxation-insurance-assurance-7125459/Thu, 08 Oct 2009 16:14:21 +0200 <p>The UK now has a Supreme Court that is independent of the House of Lords.  Technically, perhaps we ought to be pleased.  But the whole thing has been done as just another hollow idea, something quickly dreamt up and shoved into action so a box can be ticked.  One of those let's-eff-around-with-things-because-we-can projects, typical of the empty-heads brigade.</p> <p>Were the people clamouring for this?  Was the nation ripe for this change?  Was it well researched?  Was the constitutional adjustment deeply explored in all its ramifications?  Was there a hunger for this change?  Is it the most-needed change in the nation at this time?  'No' to all of them.</p> <p><strong>Swearing in</strong></p> <p>The project dates from when Pluto was in Sagittarius - Sign of law being created - and has come into being as Pluto was at zero degrees of Capricorn - Sign of law being judged.  Pluto was stationary on the 11th of September, and at the beginning of October was still moving very slowly, inching forwards after its retrograde period.  Here's the chart for the time when the swearing-in of the Law Lords was scheduled to begin (I couldn't find a news report containing the exact time of when it happened).</p> <p><img src="http://data6.blog.de/media/340/3978340_1f0f1a4e17_m.gif" alt="Supreme Court Swearing In"></p> <p>As you can see, Scorpio is Rising which makes Pluto the chart-ruler. This has more to do with power contests than law.</p> <p>The chart gives me a weird feeling.  There's something that just doesn't fit about this whole idea.  In theory the separation of powers is not one I disagree with at all, but <em>this </em>set-up, <em>this </em>Supreme Court, <em>these </em>Law Lords, <em>this </em>building (Middlesex Guildhall - it doesn't have the atmosphere of a Court, never mind a Supreme one), and <em>this </em>chart, they just all seem wrong.</p> <p>Astrologically, there's not much to commend in terms of the chart matching the proclaimed purpose.  This constitutional adjustment is vacuous and undermining.  The Sun - the significator of supremacy, and the core of the entity - has no aspects except a sesquiquadrate to Neptune.  For some types of institutions or projects this aspect would be ideal.  For this one it's a huge mistake.  A few descriptive words and images: supremacy is being undermined; it's all at sea; it's swamped; it's thinned-out; it's mystified, obscured; boundaries are blurred; no-one sticks to or knows their correct role, and yet everyone is swept up in self-glorification and self-importance.  There is a disconnection too, symbolising a swing from lack of engagement to overbearing self-reliance.  This isn't signifying separation of powers at all.  It's signifying a confusion of pompous fools with no perspective on what they're doing but having a severely inflated identity that repeatedly won't be grounded or appropriately connected.  Pluto, the chart ruler, is unaspected too.  A separation of power, yes, but  a complete disconnection with the inability to form necessary linkages.  That's not what is needed in the country.</p> <p>Looking at the planets that represent law, Venus and Jupiter, the picture doesn't get any better.  Both are almost unaspected, so we have the same story again.  Neither of them are in Signs or Houses that shout 'Supreme Court!  Justice!  Fair Trial!'  Jupiter is conjunct Chiron and Neptune, so there are issues of a vain hope of redemption.  Venus is in Virgo conjunct Mercury - not a distaster but hardly a symbol of what the constitutional adjustment is purportedly about.  The Sun in Libra is fair enough in both senses, but the whole chart has a 'damp squib' feeling about it.</p> <p><strong>First sitting</strong></p> <p>This is the chart for the scheduled time of the first sitting of the Supreme Court.  Since it occurs just a few days later at just one hour later and at the same location, the Ascendant is still Scorpio and Pluto therefore remains the chart ruler.  Several planets shift houses though, and that's important.</p> <p><img src="http://data6.blog.de/media/341/3978341_fff94fabb6_m.gif" alt="Supreme Court 1st Sitting"><br>This chart is better - at least the 10th house (signifying high authority) is packed. But that's about as far as it goes.  The Moon has moved Signs and is more connected, but not advantageously.  The Moon represents the people, and in the swearing-in chart it was unconnected and placed in a weak position, although on the Jupiter-Uranus midpoint it at least had some sense of humanitarian spirit and was at the centre of liberty and progress.  What's the point in a Supreme Court that weakens the people?</p> <p>In this chart the Moon, i.e. the public, is in a stronger Sign and the public are shown as being more able to stand up for themselves, however the Moon's only aspects are a square with Mars and a quincunx with Saturn.  This paints a picture of over-aggression, both by the people and directed at the people, and an extremely strained relationship with the powers that be.  The judges and the people are not in tune at all, they're very discordant and don't see eye-to-eye.  They openly battle with no consensus reached.  Only the powerful can prevail, but the people aren't the powerful ones here.</p> <p>Stupidly, the Supreme Court website refers to 'customers' and promises to have a 'customer satisfaction' survey soon.  Is it a shop?  Is it a business?  Is it selling something?  The idea of a legal institution providing a recourse to justice for those who've suffered injustice has been deliberately eradicated in favour of the mentality of buying and selling.  The Supreme Court won't work and can't be made to work under these circumstances.</p> <p>The only solution is to get rid of it and start again from scratch, this time thinking it through deeply, widely and properly, researching it comprehensively, sketching it out on more than a beer mat, involving the people in a sincere and profound way, using the mental framework of a legal institution not a business.  No wonder they've launched it when the planetary cycles point not to justice and fair trials and supremacy of good law, but to vacuity and disconnection of power from the people.</p> <p>It was done, after all, by the same Parliament and the same Law Lords that allowed the severe reduction of trial by jury and who ignored the Bill of Rights which forbids people being fined without a trial before their peers, thus demonstrating that  their respect for the public, for justice and for two thousand years of the evolution of legal principles is minimal.</p> <p> <small> <a href="http://astrology.blog.co.uk/2009/10/07/supreme-court-uk-s-constitutional-change-7120697/#comments">Comments</a> </small> </p>http://astrology.blog.co.uk/2009/10/07/supreme-court-uk-s-constitutional-change-7120697/Wed, 07 Oct 2009 21:00:23 +0200 <p>In this article, written and published in April 2006, it said:</p> <p><a href="http://astrology21.co.uk/b1gcdec.html"><a href="http://astrology21.co.uk/b1gcdec.html">http://astrology21.co.uk/b1gcdec.html</a></a></p> <blockquote> <p>In December this year there will be a gathering of planets in a small part of the Zodiac. These planets will, one by one, line up with the centre of our galaxy. What makes this especially important is that Pluto, the slowest-moving of all the planets in our solar system, will be lined up with the galactic centre for the first time in nearly 250 years. <em><strong>This is therefore a potentially epoch-making event.</strong></em></p> <p><em><strong>It is a process of detoxification</strong></em> [it turned out, of toxic debts]</p> <p><em><strong>there is an intense change afoot in the arena of state and corporate power.</strong></em> This applies particularly as Pluto - representing plutocracy - will be within one degree of the galactic centre at various points for the next year or so, and within two degrees for a while longer.</p> <p>the worst case scenario is that the damage intensifies and becomes still more entrenched with even greater levels of passivity on the part of the general public. Abuse of state power and corporate power is ready to change during this aspect. It is up to the citizens of each country to make the changes work for them, rather than against them.</p> <p>Economically, these cultural processes may well affect the economies of the countries involved, and their stock markets too. Shifts in mood in the national and international psyche may reflect [in]<em><strong>investments, spending habits, and levels of fear. Insurance, taxation, and corporate accountability may well be high on the agenda. </strong></em>From October onwards,<em><strong> peaking in December-January, then tailing off before returning around July-August 2007 for further review.</strong><strong> It is most especially this latter period when, history shows, stock markets may be affected by the Saturn-Pluto trine, but in December 2006 when Saturn stations in the later degrees of Leo it will connect with the charts of several of the worlds largest stock markets. </strong></em>Whether that will manifest through institutional restructuring and reorganising, or through market fluctuations, or both, remains to be seen.</p> <p>Looking at previous occurrences of Saturn-Pluto trines we find that the USA's Dow Jones stock market index has usually fallen, however <em><strong>we cannot even 'guesstimate' what may happen to world stock markets this time around. The situation is far too complex, not least because when Pluto was last conjunct the galactic centre in 1758/9 none of the world's stock markets existed, so we have no historical experience to draw upon.</strong></em> And, of course, the world was a very different place in the 18th century.</p> </blockquote> <p><a href="http://astrology21.co.uk/b1gcdec.html"><a href="http://astrology21.co.uk/b1gcdec.html">http://astrology21.co.uk/b1gcdec.html</a></a></p> <p>The full article has more, and can be read at the link above.</p> <p>PS - Sorry for the errors - one is a typo, which has been corrected above, and the other is factually incorrect: in 1758/9 there were hardly any stock exchanges, and they were in rudimentary form compared to nowadays, but it's not true to say that there were none. Amsterdam and London both had stock trading going on at that time. Obviously though what was happening then doesn't give a guide to current times, since it was in a relatively simple system and relatively basic trading, and not a globally interconnected nor systemically complex form as things are now. </p> <p> <small> <a href="http://astrology.blog.co.uk/2009/10/04/financial-crisis-the-galactic-centre-7093809/#comments">Comments</a> </small> </p>http://astrology.blog.co.uk/2009/10/04/financial-crisis-the-galactic-centre-7093809/Sun, 04 Oct 2009 01:23:44 +0200 <p>The Meteorological Office has fallen victim to the Age of Spin, hyping its science for the sake of grabbing headlines.</p> <p>Their 'barbecue' summer has bitten them on the backside.</p> <p>Still watching and observing the astrology of the weather, which was written about here in May '09:-</p> <p><a href="http://astrology.blog.co.uk/2009/05/19/a-hot-summer-6144456/"><a href="http://astrology.blog.co.uk/2009/05/19/a-hot-summer-6144456/">http://astrology.blog.co.uk/2009/05/19/a-hot-summer-6144456/</a></a></p> <p>And here's an article about the Met Office's summer heatwave prediction:</p> <p><a href="http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/sci/tech/8173533.stm"><a href="http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/sci/tech/8173533.stm">http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/sci/tech/8173533.stm</a></a></p> <p> <small> <a href="http://astrology.blog.co.uk/2009/07/30/met-office-s-summer-forecast-6617444/#comments">Comments</a> </small> </p>http://astrology.blog.co.uk/2009/07/30/met-office-s-summer-forecast-6617444/Thu, 30 Jul 2009 13:26:35 +0200 <p>The website affiliated with this blog is moving homes on the web, and undergoing a re-working, and consequently is temporarily offline.</p> <p>This blog is hosted separately and so is still available.</p> <p>Another notice will be posted here once the website is back up and running. Here's a copy of the announcement that was on the website about the changes:</p> <blockquote> <p><strong>Announcement about this website - June 2009 </strong> <em><br>Published: 19th June 2009</em></p> <p>This website is coming up to its 5th birthday and I wanted to let you know that it'll soon be re-worked, both under-the-bonnet and cosmetically. I can't believe how time has flown since its inception in 2004.</p> <p>It seems like just a few months ago that I sat down to dream it up, sketching it out on paper in pencil and wondering what articles to include. The website started with just a handful of writings in each of the three sections, the same sections which are still the central organising structure of the site today.</p> <p>Obviously its grown since then and also the web itself has moved on considerably even in just five years. The original philosophy behind the website has altered a bit since the early days too, following changes in my own philosophy of life and outlook.</p> <p>All this adds up to the conclusion that a re-working is needed.</p> <p>I intend to keep the website easy to use and easy on the eye, without going all gimmicky; I want to keep simplicity of design and navigation as much as possible.</p> <p>I hope too that the transition will be glitch-free!</p> <p>I don't know exactly when the changes will take place but just wanted to let you know so that if the website seems to disappear for a day or two in the next few weeks, you know why, and needn't wonder if its demise has arrived!</p> <p>With that said, all that remains is to say thanks for reading over the last five years, here's to the future, and I hope you like using the new website when it arrives.</p> <p>Regards</p> <p>The Editor</p> </blockquote> <p> <small> <a href="http://astrology.blog.co.uk/2009/06/28/website-temporarily-offline-moving-to-new-home-6416321/#comments">Comments</a> </small> </p>http://astrology.blog.co.uk/2009/06/28/website-temporarily-offline-moving-to-new-home-6416321/Sun, 28 Jun 2009 22:12:19 +0200 <p><span><span><small><span class="huge">An extract from a Spring 2007 article on the <a href="http://astrology21.co.uk/c1ukidentity.html">Astrology for the 21st Century</a> website that gives some historical facts about the UK's experiences when it last had a major transit of Pluto to the nation's Sun.</span></small></span></span></p> <blockquote> <p><span><span><small><span class="huge">The UK as an entity in itself has never before experienced a Pluto conjunction of the Sun. It has, however, experienced an opposition and two squares (besides other aspects). Below are the years of exactitude, so please remember several years either side would need to be examined for the more-than-cursory at the past that we are conducting here:-<br> </span></small></span></span></p> <ul> <li><span><span><small><span class="huge"><span>From 1829 to 1833</span> Pluto was square the UK's Sun and also the MC/IC axis - George IV died and was succeeded by his brother, William IV. George had been forced against his will (very Pluto-Sun!) to agree to Catholic emancipation. In 1831 riots broke out over the parliamentary Reform Bill - Parliament was dissolved and the General Election was fought on the single issue of the Reform Act - this was unprecedented in the history of the UK.</span></small></span></span></li> </ul> <ul> <li><span><span><small><span class="huge"><span>From 1920 to 1924</span> Pluto was conjunct the UK's MC and opposite the UK's Sun. There was the first and only general strike in the UK's history, which echoed again in the 1970s (see below). Women at Oxford were allowed to receive degrees. Ramsay Macdonald became the first Labour prime minister. Irish Civil War broke out. John Logie Baird gave the first public demonstration of television. Winston Churchill - then Chancellor of the Exchequer - returned the UK to the Gold Standard - gold is the metal associated with the Sun. In 1927, the BBC was formed.</span></small></span></span></li> </ul> <p><span><span><small></small></span></span></p> <ul> <li><span></span><span><span><small><span class="huge"><span>From 1975 to 1976</span> Pluto was square the UK's Sun and square its MC/IC axis. The UK joined the EEC, forerunner of the EU. The pound was severely devalued. There was the shortest Parliament since 1681. There was a 'hung parliament' which resulted from the question of 'Who governs Britain, the trades unions, or the elected parliamentary representatives?'. There were the beginnings of the 'Winter of Discontent'. </span></small><small><span class="huge">The world's first test tube baby was born in the UK.</span></small></span></span></li> </ul> </blockquote> <p> <small> <a href="http://astrology.blog.co.uk/2009/06/19/united-kingdom-insights-from-history-6345009/#comments">Comments</a> </small> </p>http://astrology.blog.co.uk/2009/06/19/united-kingdom-insights-from-history-6345009/Fri, 19 Jun 2009 21:02:08 +0200 <p>Two new articles have been published on the website affiliated with this blog, <a href="http://astrology21.co.uk">astrology21.co.uk</a></p> <p>They are:-</p> <p><strong>Financial Summits of the G-20:</strong> Looking at the foundation of the G-20 and its recent series of special summits to address the 'credit crunch' <br><a href="http://astrology21.co.uk/b1financialsummits.html"><a href="http://astrology21.co.uk/b1financialsummits.html">http://astrology21.co.uk/b1financialsummits.html</a></a></p> <p><strong>Parliament: Disclosed, or Closed? </strong>The MPs expenses scandal - ACA, the FOI Act, and the whistleblowing leak of May 2009<br><a href="http://astrology21.co.uk/c1mpexpenses.html"><a href="http://astrology21.co.uk/c1mpexpenses.html">http://astrology21.co.uk/c1mpexpenses.html</a></a></p> <p> <small> <a href="http://astrology.blog.co.uk/2009/06/18/new-articles-added-to-a21c-website-6337656/#comments">Comments</a> </small> </p>http://astrology.blog.co.uk/2009/06/18/new-articles-added-to-a21c-website-6337656/Thu, 18 Jun 2009 22:17:41 +0200 <p>Some new articles added to <a href="http://astrology21.co.uk">astrology21.co.uk</a></p> <p>Tiananmen Square 1989: On the anniversary of the massacre in China the world bore witness to 30 years ago<br><a href="http://astrology21.co.uk/c1tiananmansquare.html"><a href="http://astrology21.co.uk/c1tiananmansquare.html">http://astrology21.co.uk/c1tiananmansquare.html</a></a></p> <p>Banco Santander: Rising during the banking collapse<br><a href="http://astrology21.co.uk/b1bancosantander.html"><a href="http://astrology21.co.uk/b1bancosantander.html">http://astrology21.co.uk/b1bancosantander.html</a></a></p> <p>The USA & the Sun Signs of Obama's Cabinet: Using just Sun Signs to look at how the USA is shaped by this team<br><a href="http://astrology21.co.uk/c1obamacabinetusa.html"><a href="http://astrology21.co.uk/c1obamacabinetusa.html">http://astrology21.co.uk/c1obamacabinetusa.html</a><br></a></p> <p> <small> <a href="http://astrology.blog.co.uk/2009/06/03/new-articles-on-a21c-6226571/#comments">Comments</a> </small> </p>http://astrology.blog.co.uk/2009/06/03/new-articles-on-a21c-6226571/Wed, 03 Jun 2009 02:02:58 +0200 <p>A quote which conveys in a pithy way the current Jupiter-Neptune (and Chiron) conjunction in Aquarius and the 'hot air' society in which we reside:-</p> <p><span><strong><span>"...a society in which, we are told, desperation and despair can only be escaped by being picked out from humanity and elevated to the status of larger than life." </span></strong></span></p> <p><span><em><span>Source:</span><span> <a href="http://www.socialistunity.com/"><a href="http://www.socialistunity.com/">http://www.socialistunity.com/</a></a></span></em></span></p> <p>Escaping desperation and despair = Neptune</p> <p>Larger than life = Jupiter</p> <p>Ordinary humanity versus elevation to the level of the god-like, special, chosen ones = the theme of the Aquarius-Leo polarity</p> <p> <small> <a href="http://astrology.blog.co.uk/2009/06/01/astrology-uk-6216145/#comments">Comments</a> </small> </p>http://astrology.blog.co.uk/2009/06/01/astrology-uk-6216145/Mon, 01 Jun 2009 21:30:39 +0200 <p>From a blog entry on 21st Feb this year:-</p> <p><em><span>Pluto is currently squaring the UK's Uranus and so, at long last, there is some desire for resuscitating the fundamental freedoms that we used to be able to take for granted in this 'free country'.</span></em></p> <p><em><span>Pluto is heading for a conjunction with the UK's Sun, so we are in a process of long-term, radical re-evaluation of who we are and what we're about. </span></em></p> <p><em><span>We used to be a country that stood for fair play, common sense, and basic egalitarianism.  Not that we ever really achieved those things as much as we could've done, but we had some pluck, some free-spiritedness, and some sense of ourselves as a people who ploughed our own furrow and didn't get trodden on by illegitimate authority or invading upstarts.</span></em></p> <p><em><span>We used to understand how to have revolutions without violence. Nowadays we're too scared to even say the word 'revolution' except in hushed tones for fear of being secretly watched, secretly monitored, secretly added to a database.</span></em></p> <p><em><span>These and other transits to the UK's chart denote a time when re-remembering our inherited capacity for non-violent revolution is required, and calls to be put to good effect.</span></em></p> <p><em><span>If we don't introduce life-promoting changes to help us flourish as a people and as individuals, history shows that the revolutionary nature of these transits will be seized upon by those with social power to impose changes upon us of their making, and which augment their power over us.</span></em></p> <p><em><span><strong><span>The choice of these transits isn't 'do you want a revolution, or not?' but 'whose revolution do you want, ours or the government's?'</span></strong></span></em></p> <p><a href="http://astrology.blog.co.uk/2009/02/21/uk-convention-on-modern-liberty-28th-feb-5618679/"><a href="http://astrology.blog.co.uk/2009/02/21/uk-convention-on-modern-liberty-28th-feb-5618679/">http://astrology.blog.co.uk/2009/02/21/uk-convention-on-modern-liberty-28th-feb-5618679/</a></a></p> <p> <small> <a href="http://astrology.blog.co.uk/2009/06/01/quoting-from-february-6213759/#comments">Comments</a> </small> </p>http://astrology.blog.co.uk/2009/06/01/quoting-from-february-6213759/Mon, 01 Jun 2009 14:43:02 +0200 <p>His transits aren't anywhere near as Neptunian as Gordon and David's, but he's not got anything major in his chart at the moment to indicate that he's in a position to climb over their corpses and take the reins of the country.</p> <p>His chart resonates very strongly with the current Saturn-Uranus opposition which makes last year, this year, and next year, in some ways, his time to come forward - his chord is being struck, so to speak.</p> <p>Whilst he doesn't currently have anything major holding him back - unless his Ascendant or Midheaven axis is connecting with something, we don't have his birth time so can't calculate them - he doesn't have anything showing impetus to charge ahead either.</p> <p>As I've written before, patience is a key virtue now that Pluto is in Capricorn, and this 'de-corruption-ising' process is going to take several years. It will not and cannot be sorted out prior to an election, as if all it takes is a dustpan and brush and a few quick sweeps of a minority offenders followed by 'business as usual'.</p> <p>We no longer live in 'business as usual' times.</p> <p>Gordon and David in particular, and to a lesser Nick, need to wake up to the fact that they can't surf these changes as they are, by trying to retrofit the current events into their 'yes, yes I've been saying this all along' spin, and that they need to deeply reform themselves and their colleagues as human beings.</p> <p>They're trying desperately to suggest that they're the right men for the job, but times have moved on and none of them are  fit for purpose, unless and until they alter themselves at core.</p> <p>Speaking half-non-astrologically and half-astrologically, I suspect neither Gordon nor David will be in public office by the time of the next election. They're behind the times, events have overtaken them and made them obsolete, like yesterday's flash cars that today seem archaic.  Despite their mad scramble to climb atop the ever-increasing tsunami of deep change, they're floundering.</p> <p>We're going to go through mess and chaos and we're going to have to have high tolerance of periods of ambiguity and uncertainty before we can emerge as a strengthened nation (or nations). The politicians' pleas for us to elect them to sort out the mess is, quite simply, off-message as far as the planetary cycles are concerned. And we know what happens to off-message politicians, don't we? ;-)</p> <p> <small> <a href="http://astrology.blog.co.uk/2009/06/01/and-nick-clegg-6213539/#comments">Comments</a> </small> </p>http://astrology.blog.co.uk/2009/06/01/and-nick-clegg-6213539/Mon, 01 Jun 2009 14:09:21 +0200 <p>The MP's salary problem can be solved by applying their own rules to themselves.</p> <p>The MPs have worked out the precise amount of £ that a human being needs to receive to live in the United Kingdom.</p> <p>They've put it into law.</p> <p>So, they ought to be happy to have their pay reduced to match it.</p> <p>Here it is:-</p> <p>Source: <a href="http://www.swale.gov.uk/index.cfm?Articleid=1664"><a href="http://www.swale.gov.uk/index.cfm?Articleid=1664">http://www.swale.gov.uk/index.cfm?Articleid=1664</a></a></p> <p>Government booklet for more detailed payment amounts: <a href="http://www.jobcentreplus.gov.uk/JCP/stellent/groups/jcp/documents/websitecontent/dev_015666.pdf"><a href="http://www.jobcentreplus.gov.uk/JCP/stellent/groups/jcp/documents/websitecontent/dev_015666.pdf">http://www.jobcentreplus.gov.uk/JCP/stellent/groups/jcp/documents/websitecontent/dev_015666.pdf</a></a></p> <strong>Personal Allowances for people under 60</strong> <strong>Apr' 09 £</strong> <strong>Single claimant </strong> aged less than 25 aged not less than 25 50.95 64.30 <strong>Lone Parent</strong> aged less than 18 (HB only) aged not less than 18 50.95 64.30 <strong>Couple</strong> both aged less than 18 (HB only) at least one aged 18 76.90 100.95 <strong>Polygamous partner</strong> 36.65 <strong>Dependant child </strong> from birth to the first Monday in the September following the 16th birthday 56.11 from the first Monday in the September following the 16th birthday to day before 19th birthday 56.11 <p><strong>Personal allowances for people over 60</strong></p> <p><strong>Single person </strong></p> <p>Aged 60-64</p> <p>130.00</p> <p>Aged 65 or over</p> <p>150.40</p> <p><strong>Couple </strong></p> <p>Both members 60-64</p> <p>198.45</p> <p>One member or both members over 65</p> <p>225.50</p> <p><strong>Dependant child</strong></p> <p>from birth to the first Monday in the September following the 16th birthday</p> <p>56.11</p> <p><strong>Dependant young person (you must still be in receipt of child benefit for the young person)</strong></p> <p>from the first Monday in the September following the 16th birthday to day before 19^th birthday</p> <p>56.11</p> <p><strong>Premiums</strong></p> <p>Family Premium</p> <p>17.30</p> <p>One (or more) child(ren) aged under one year</p> <p>27.80</p> <p>Family Premium (Lone Parent rate) protected for certain claimants</p> <p>22.20</p> <p>One (or more) child(ren) aged under one year</p> <p>32.70</p> <p><strong>Disability Premium</strong></p> <p>single couple</p> <p>27.50 39.15</p> <p><strong>Enhanced Disability Premium</strong></p> <p>Couple Single people Disabled child</p> <p>19.30 13.40 20.65</p> <p><strong>Severe Disability Premium</strong></p> <p>single couple - one qualifies couple - both qualify</p> <p>52.85 52.85 105.70</p> <p><strong>Disabled Child Premium</strong></p> <p>51.24</p> <p><strong>Carer Premium </strong></p> <p>29.50</p> <p> <small> <a href="http://astrology.blog.co.uk/2009/06/01/mp-salary-problem-solved-6213203/#comments">Comments</a> </small> </p>http://astrology.blog.co.uk/2009/06/01/mp-salary-problem-solved-6213203/Mon, 01 Jun 2009 13:10:11 +0200 <p>And as for Gordon Brown, the Jupiter-Neptune-Chiron conjunction is close to the midpoint of his Ascendant and MC.....</p> <p>My interpretation? He's the embodiment of high hopes and dismal failures.</p> <p>As Neptune returns to the exact conjunction with his Asc/MC midpoint he faces a choice: make a few mollifying false promises and perhaps spread some disinformation thus precipitating the deluge and maybe more leaks and scandals, or come clean and flush things out.</p> <p>--------------------------------------------------------------------------</p> <p><strong>More on the planetary meanings</strong></p> <p>Neptune is the planet of, amongst many other things, fraud and lies.</p> <p>When major transits of Neptune are afoot it's always better to check, re-check, re-check again your information, and still be prepared to subsequently find out that it was wrong all along.</p> <p>Jupiter-Neptune is a classic for delusions of grandeur. At its best Jupiter represents honesty and forthrightness, Neptune the clarity of epiphany and the desire to redeem, refine and rescue that which is gross and decrepit. Together they represent a range from total openness and transparency, to large-scale fraud.</p> <p>The choices the politicians make during these transits will decide which behavioural expressions come into play. Since few things are black and white, we're likely to see a mixture of the best and the worst across the board, but a lot depends on the most powerful leaders, who are of course Gordon Brown and David Cameron.</p> <p>The values they live by will determine their actions and whether they will tend towards continued deception, or genuine transparency.</p> <p> <small> <a href="http://astrology.blog.co.uk/2009/05/31/as-for-gordon-brown-6207690/#comments">Comments</a> </small> </p>http://astrology.blog.co.uk/2009/05/31/as-for-gordon-brown-6207690/Sun, 31 May 2009 16:04:21 +0200 <p>Is David Cameron in a position to win?</p> <p>'Not really' is the short answer.</p> <p>The current Jupiter-Neptune-Chiron conjunction is opposite his Mars, so he's probably having more than a few delusions (Jupiter-Neptune-Chiron) about his prowess, vigour and leadership (all things which Mars represents).</p> <p>With Neptune stationary too, there's a standstill and a reversal going on, where things are likely to unravel further in due course.</p> <p>He doesn't have a green light to go forward; few do, since it's time to take a look back before we can proceed.</p> <p> <small> <a href="http://astrology.blog.co.uk/2009/05/31/is-david-cameron-in-a-position-to-win-6207681/#comments">Comments</a> </small> </p>http://astrology.blog.co.uk/2009/05/31/is-david-cameron-in-a-position-to-win-6207681/Sun, 31 May 2009 15:59:41 +0200 <p>Judging by their statements in the media recently some MPs seem to have forgotten that they are obliged to abide by a code of conduct if they want to hold this particular public office.</p> <p>No, wait, they haven't forgotten, because some of the currently-known-about abusers of their privilege are sort-of quoting from it in the hope it'll get them off the hook:-</p> <p><em>"<strong>14. </strong>Members shall at all times ensure that their use of expenses, allowances, facilities and services provided from the public purse is strictly<strong> in accordance with the rules</strong> [emphasis added] laid down on these matters, and that they observe any limits placed by the House on the use of such expenses, allowances, facilities and services." </em></p> <p>The problem with that is that it's only one section. There is more than one other section that they're in breach of. <a href="http://www.publications.parliament.uk/pa/cm/code02.htm">Section 15</a> is a pretty fundamental one:-</p> <p><em>"<strong>15. </strong>Members shall at all times conduct themselves in a manner which will tend to maintain and strengthen the public's trust and confidence in the integrity of Parliament and never undertake any action which would bring the House of Commons, or its Members generally, into disrepute."</em></p> <p>If only they all acted in accord with that!</p> <p>Here's another:</p> <p><em>"<strong>9. </strong>Members shall base their conduct on a consideration of the public interest, avoid conflict between personal interest and the public interest and resolve any conflict between the two, at once, and in favour of the public interest." </em></p> <p>You read it right, it said 'in favour of the public interest', i.e. the public interest comes first.<em> </em></p> <p>I don't think that refusing to release this information was putting the public interest first, despite the claims of the now-gone Speaker and Andrew Walker on behalf of all the House in their <a href="http://www.guardian.co.uk/politics/2009/may/15/mps-expenses-heather-brooke-foi">taxpayer-funded legal bid</a> to prevent us receiving this basic information about where our money goes, of 'national security' as one of their beneath-contempt excuses for not revealing the addresses of MPs. The House's attempt to preserve this so-called 'national security' and 'privacy' was going to have the curious effect of covering up outright fraud.</p> <p>How about another:</p> <p><em>"Accountability Holders of public office are accountable for their decisions and actions to the public and must submit themselves to whatever scrutiny is appropriate to their office." </em></p> <p>And another:</p> <p><em>"Selflessness Holders of public office should take decisions solely in terms of the public interest. They should not do so in order to gain financial or other material benefits for themselves, their family, or their friends."</em></p> <p>So when they say they're within 'the rules' they're being very selective about which rules they're claiming to be within, aren't they?</p> <p>And there's still the valid response of why should they be judge and jury over their own pay and performance. Being judge and jury over your own public office activities is surely one of the biggest god-like 'perks' that exists in a society, and therefore one of the most dangerous powers a society can lend to a public office-holder since it encourages them to feel that they're in a different league to public <em>servants, </em>not answerable to the public they are meant to serve.</p> <p>Yes, there's a department/office that deals with breaches of this code - the Office of the <a href="http://www.parliament.uk/about_commons/pcfs.cfm">Parliamentary Commissioner for Standards</a> -  but don't worry, it was de-fanged early in 2002 when the office holders started taking their job seriously and the government hounded out the then-Commissioner, <a href="http://www.independent.co.uk/news/uk/politics/elizabeth-filkin-a-woman-scorned-616334.html">Elizabeth Filkin</a>. Her crime was that she investigated their corruption and they didn't like it, so they got rid of her.</p> <p>But that's probably okay-ish (well, not really, given the other sections of it) under this code because it only explicitly forbids leaning on members of the Committee on Standards and Privileges (CSP), not on the Office of the Parliamentary Commissioner for Standards (OPCS). The OPCS comes under the CSP therefore surely requires the same protection from this kind of 'lobbying':</p> <p>"<em><strong>19. </strong>No Member shall lobby a member of the Committee on Standards and Privileges in a manner calculated or intended to influence their consideration of a complaint of a breach of this Code."</em></p> <p>Welcome to the Mother of All Parliaments.</p> <p>And we all know that the Freedom of Information Act (FOIA), like the other Acts that give us access to governmental/council information, is only effective if MPs, councillors and civil servants are fundamentally honest in their work. John Wick, who is the person who went to the press with the expenses information, has said that the government had intended to provide, under the FOIA, a twice-redacted version of the data:</p> <p><em>"Mr Wick said: "There was an un-redacted version and two redacted versions. And the briefing I was given is the fees office had sent them back twice for MPs to cover and take things out.[It was] not going to come out as you have been publishing it, because you'd get the third redacted version."</em>" - <a href="http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/uk_politics/8064731.stm"><em>Source: BBC News</em></a></p> <p>If that's not deliberately conspiring to deceive and even defraud the public then I don't know what is.</p> <p>Any MP claiming to not be part of this mess needs to be able to show that they haven't breached this code. For instance, if you were aware of what was going on but either didn't raise it as a formal complaint or if you did but your efforts were thwarted and you then didn't go to the public and blow some whistles, can you really claim to be upholding standards in public life, valiantly championing the public interest?</p> <p>And finally, in case you were thinking 'this is supposed to be an astrological blog', yes there's some astrology to bring into all this, but it'll have to wait :-)</p> <p> <small> <a href="http://astrology.blog.co.uk/2009/05/30/mps-code-of-conduct-6201021/#comments">Comments</a> </small> </p>http://astrology.blog.co.uk/2009/05/30/mps-code-of-conduct-6201021/Sat, 30 May 2009 03:46:35 +0200 <p>Looking at the chart for the EU Parliament elections due to be held on the 4th to the 7th of June (the exact date varies by country), two things stand out.</p> <p>The first is that the current Jupiter-Neptune conjunction in Aquarius (for those readers interested in the planetoid Chiron, it's actually a triple conjunction of Jupiter-Neptune-Chiron) is at right angles to the Moon-opposition-Mars-Pluto in the EU chart. A mixture of expansion and dissolution, some would argue. Growing dissolution? Growth that dissolves? Dissolving growth.</p> <p>Jupiter and Neptune both deal in the business of hope and vision. We can expect claims of a new start, a new vision, a new hope. A new hype, more like. Venus being on the MC of the European Union's chart adds to the PR exercise, glossing over the unpleasantness and portraying everything as positive, spinning whatever happens as a 'victory', even if it's a comprehensive drubbing.</p> <p>Jupiter-Neptune are also the planets of religious belief. The EU has a religious crisis close to its centre. It's possible it'll enter a new phase.</p> <p>On all these issues the keynote is tension and crisis, since the aspects involved are squares. Issues will be faced head-on.</p> <p>If we want to bring Chiron into this picture, it says something about problematic areas that we keep returning to, all to no avail. That's the EU all right.</p> <p>Saturn will be trine the EU's Uranus-Neptune conjunction, which is the planetary pair that symbolises the core of the EU dream. This transit is about consolidation, solid ground, reality. It speaks of a desire to incarnate the dream, to bring it down to Earth and give it form and substance. To build institutional structures that embody the spirit and concept of a united European continent.</p> <p>With Uranus in trine to the EU's Mars-Pluto conjunction there is a sense of lighting the blue touchpaper and standing well back. Action is sparked easily, both rebellious action to liberate from oppression, and autocratic action to quell dissent and enforce a more powerful will.</p> <p>That's all to the EU's chart though.</p> <p>The EC (formerly named the EEC; the name was changed in 1993 and is likely to change again if the EU Constitution is eventually forced upon us) remains active and so we must take its chart into consideration.</p> <p>In the EC's chart Pluto is heading for a conjunction with the Sun, just as it is in the UK's chart. Although it's a few years away from exactitude, it's within orb and will become exact within the term of this Parliament that we're electing next month. The short explanation of this transit is that the EC is going to die, and then be resurrected in a new form (just as the UK is). What that form will be, nobody can know - life is lived forwards and unfolds organically, not predictably in its details.</p> <p>The EC is going through a rare Pluto-trine-Pluto transit, reflecting a deep, fundamental change and death/renewal process. This transit also symbolises power and the desire to increase it.</p> <p>Transiting Neptune in semi-square to the EC's Sun reflects something altogether more nebulous. Aspects between Neptune and the Sun can indicate increased popularity, but they can also signal a time when popularity declines due to disillusionment. The semi-square aspect tends towards the latter. Where Neptune is concerned, any increase in popularity is often temporary and caused by an increase in projections, rather than based on something reliable and tangible. This type of transit often correlates with feeling undermined, directionless, redundant.</p> <p>There's much more to the charts and transits but this will have to do for now.... will probably return to this topic over the next few weeks.</p> <p> </p> <p><em></p> <p>To see which countries vote on which days, click this link:-</em><br><a href="http://www.europarl.europa.eu/elections2009/welcome/headlines.htm?language=EN&ref=20090525STO56248&secondRef=0"><a href="http://www.europarl.europa.eu/elections2009/welcome/headlines.htm?language=EN&ref=20090525STO56248&secondRef=0">http://www.europarl.europa.eu/elections2009/welcome/headlines.htm?language=EN&ref=20090525STO56248&secondRef=0</a></a></p> <p> <small> <a href="http://astrology.blog.co.uk/2009/05/30/eu-elections-4th-7th-june-6200848/#comments">Comments</a> </small> </p>http://astrology.blog.co.uk/2009/05/30/eu-elections-4th-7th-june-6200848/Sat, 30 May 2009 01:05:09 +0200 <p>Two more new articles have been added to the Astrology for the 21st Century website:-</p> <p><strong>Banco Santander:</strong> Rising during the banking collapse<br><a href="http://astrology21.co.uk/b1bancosantander.html"><a href="http://astrology21.co.uk/b1bancosantander.html">http://astrology21.co.uk/b1bancosantander.html</a></a></p> <p><strong>The USA & the Sun Signs of Obama's Cabinet:</strong> Using just Sun Signs to look at how the USA is shaped by this team<br><a href="http://astrology21.co.uk/c1obamacabinetusa.html"><a href="http://astrology21.co.uk/c1obamacabinetusa.html">http://astrology21.co.uk/c1obamacabinetusa.html</a></a></p> <p> </p> <p> <small> <a href="http://astrology.blog.co.uk/2009/05/28/more-new-articles-on-a21c-6194758/#comments">Comments</a> </small> </p>http://astrology.blog.co.uk/2009/05/28/more-new-articles-on-a21c-6194758/Thu, 28 May 2009 21:52:10 +0200