Tag Archives: horoscope

Neptune goes direct: a tale of renewing meditation and returning angels…

The mysterious, mystical planet Neptune turned direct two days ago, on Wednesday 18th November 2015, continuing its long, slow drift through its own sign of Pisces.

Since Neptune’s retrograde turn in June this year, I have been feeling a pull back towards some form of meditation practice: Neptune is still in my Sixth house, playing with the 9 Pisces Descendant, squaring Saturn in the Fourth house. I have been feeling a need to create more of a still centre for myself in the swirling, at times painful turbulence of our extended family life at this particular time.

I’ve always found Saturn/Neptune aspects especially difficult. Some of us are better than others at dancing on a wobbly board suspended over the long drop into chaos! However, as always when the great planetary archetypes combine, the level at which we engage with the combination through our individual birth charts always carries a challenge to become more self-aware, more constructive in our engagement with the areas of life highlighted.

I attended a few drop-in lunchtime meditation sessions at the Buddhist centre round the corner from my office – but found the balance between irritatingly cheerful homily and actual time to meditate not to my liking… then, the day after Neptune went direct, on an impulse I decided to sit in on a guided meditation session in our local Episcopal Cathedral, led really skilfully by a senior member of the clergy. We were given some wonderfully clear, inspiring and practical material to take away to help us follow-up this session in our own time.

I left after the hour feeling not only refreshed, but also inspired to continue – in a Saturn/Neptune, now I do it, now I don’t, manner. A key to managing Saturn/Neptune aspects creatively, is to make sure to stay reasonably on top of life’s necessary demands, but not to expect too much of one’s own capacity for self-motivation or self-discipline in other areas of life.  (I say this as a normally self-disciplined person) Giving in to the desire now and then to lie on the sofa with a good book and a long snooze is important during Saturn/Neptune times!

I went home that evening – to the sofa and the long snooze – and made a delightful discovery. My husband, whilst hunting for something else altogether, had found my missing angel! I am quite a rational, pragmatic person despite all those 12th House planets of mine. But I do like having an angel or two dotted about our home, and had become especially fond of a little bronze image which Ian had bought for me on a visit a couple of years ago to Buckfast Abbey in Devon, England. I called her Maria. She had lain contentedly on my bedside table until her mysterious disappearance some months ago – probably around the time that Neptune went retrograde.

What delightful Neptunian synchronicity! This morning I photographed angel Maria, to share with my readers.

Angel Maria

Angel Maria

And there was more. My Facebook notifications this morning, via Friend June Haygood, invited me to Like a Page called Real Imaginal. This I did, intrigued by the most Neptunian-sounding title, thereby falling into the nebulous delights of Real Imaginal online magazine, “…dedicated to the re-enchantment of Neptune…” It is deep and insightful. Do check it out.

These are only SOME of my Neptune direct experiences this week.  I love it when planetary symbolism speaks so directly: even Neptune does that! What Neptune Direct experiences have you had this week? Do share – giving your feedback is a wonderful way to flesh out those living archetypes with the detail of people’s real lives.

Zodiac

Zodiac

600 words copyright Anne Whitaker 2015

Licensed under Creative Commons – for conditions see Home Page

 

As Mercury goes direct…a tale of three Virgo planets, an astrologer, and a blessed cupcake…

How’s this for astrology in action, emotionally, physically and symbolically? I spent this morning in a highly Virgoan pursuit: going through all my old paper files and systematically weeding out all the masses of stuff I no longer need. So far, so Moon, Venus, Mars and Jupiter in Virgo.

Astrologers at Work

Astrologers at Work

And now it gets more dynamic. My Ascendant is 8-9 degrees Virgo. I decide to check my TimePassages astrology app ( excellent, by the way!) just before leaving the house at around 1345 BST. The Moon is exactly conjunct Mars and both are sitting right on top of my Ascendant.

Looking at the chart of the moment I think to myself “I wonder what woman is going to annoy me today?” At that PRECISE moment, folks, my phone rings: a London number. I answer it. It is a female sales person, trying to get me to report an accident ( which of course I have not had) in order to make an insurance claim. I loathe those calls. “Excuse me! “I shout into the phone, several times, trying to break through the spiel to inform the caller that we do not accept unsolicited calls and that they should remove our details forthwith. At my third attempt to break through, she hangs up, leaving me fizzing. Three attempts to call the number fail. Exasperated, I give up, then realise the precision of the astrology’s relationship to that moment. And calm down.

I take another look at the moment’s horoscope and realise that the Moon is leaving Mars and heading for Jupiter – 12 degrees Virgo conjunct my Ascendant in the First House. “Mmmm…” I think. “And what woman is going to please and cheer me up today, who is in some way connected to health and education?” Holding this thought, I exit my house, walk along the street, and stroll into our local Botanic Gardens – a few minutes’ walk from our house.

A few seconds later there is a cheery “Hello, Anne! How lovely to see you!” and one of my favourite astrology students, a nutritionist and yoga teacher, screeches to a halt, jumps off her bike, gives me a big hug, and walks with me along the riverside through the park towards my office, chatting cheerfully as we go. I tell her about the Moon/Mars/Jupiter /my Ascendant episode, and she beams. “Well, that’s astrology for you. No wonder we love it so.” We part ways, me thoroughly uplifted by the encounter.

Approaching the office, I remind myself, very happily since the last three weeks have been the most trying at every level of communication I’ve experienced for many a long year, that Mercury is about to go direct. I also realise that the transiting Virgo Moon is drawing ever closer to Jupiter in my First House.  “Wouldn’t it be great if that review book I’ve been expecting has arrived?” I think. Yes, there it was, beckoning enticingly in my in-tray.

So, Reader, I lay on the office sofa happily for the rest of the afternoon, drinking coffee, eating the chocolate cup cake recently blessed by the lama at the Buddhist centre round the corner (which I had been saving for a special occasion), and reading. What a perfect beginning to Mercury going direct!

Mercury in Action!

Mercury in Action!

Any tales from my readers demonstrating how jaw-droppingly descriptive astrological symbolism can be, are most welcome. Do share your story by leaving a comment.

Zodiac

Zodiac

600 words copyright Anne Whitaker 2015

Licensed under Creative Commons – for conditions see Home Page of Writing from the Twelfth House

Does astrology wound as well as heal?

It is important at this point to emphasise to readers who are familiar only with Sun Signs that to get ‘beyond the Sun Signs’ requires an individual’s horoscope to be drawn up for the date, place AND time of birth. Human beings are complex and contradictory. It’s not possible to approach any satisfying symbolic exploration of that complexity through the Sun or Star Sign alone.

Astrology itself neither heals nor wounds. Having  arisen aeons ago from attempts to create a meaningful context to human life through observation of the physical movements of the planets in the heavens, whether such a framework is experienced as wounding or healing is heavily predicated upon the attitude of the individuals who choose to use it:

“The fault, dear Brutus, is  not  in our stars,
But in ourselves, that  we are underlings.”

(W.Shakespeare, Julius Caesar, Act 1, Scene 2)

Zodiac

Zodiac

It is easy enough to talk about the positive healing benefits of an astrological framework, providing as it does a major defence against meaninglessness and insignificance. Feeling connected at a personal level to loved ones and friends is recognised as a major factor in promoting and maintaining physical, emotional and mental health and happiness.

Feeling connected at a more cosmic level lets us see that  we are not random accidents in time and space, but threads in the weave of a greater pattern – very small threads perhaps, but contributors nevertheless. This awareness promotes a sense of spiritual well being.

There is also the sheer fun, excitement and intellectual discovery which the study of astrology brings.

Every bright light, however, has a dark shadow; in the promethean nature of our art  lies its shadow too. It is all very well to steal the gods’ fire, as Prometheus did, with the noble intention of  liberating humanity from some of its bonds with the powerful enlightenment which that fire brings.

But fire burns. It is impossible to light up the darkness of our human limitations of perception, without the hand that holds the illuminating fire being burned by it. It’s not so easy to talk about that. But it does less than justice, in exploring the impact of the astrological model on human consciousness, to concentrate on the healing aspects of the interaction,  whilst glossing over the wounding dimensions. Exposure to the model brings both.

I  always attempted to restore a sense of perspective on this issue by pointing out to my astrology  students that for the whole of human history most of humanity has managed to stagger through life without the benefit of astrological knowledge.

On one occasion, I asked a small group of my  tutorial students, who had studied and practised for long enough to experience both the light and the shadow facets of our great art, to write something about its healing and wounding dimensions. I was delighted by the honesty and perceptiveness of their feedback. Here is what Charlotte, 35 at the time of my asking, had to say.

Charlotte

(not her real name – data withheld for confidentiality)

 I’ve never really been asked to consider the wounding aspects of astrology in such a direct way before. I did have a bit of a job focusing on the question without the more positive aspects coming up all the time! I think the serious study of astrology knocked me out of the idyllic vision I had had of my family background. I had to accept that my parents weren’t perfect, and the overall effect of this was enlightening but also disappointing. It kind of knocked me into the real world and showed me things as they were which I found quite hard to come to terms with.

Seeing things in black and white on the astrological chart  led to a lot of resentment on my part, raising a lot of difficult questions which I’m still working hard to understand. I think this can sometimes sidetrack me and stop me getting on with things, and lead to some disasters which might not have occurred otherwise – although I would say I do have a natural tendency to analyse things anyway. Astrology just provides more scope for this.

There is also the question “ why me? Why did I have to have this chart?” which may be quite childish, but did lead at one time to some resentment at the apparent unfairness of it all. Especially when you are grappling with hard Pluto and Saturn aspects. You know you have your work cut out for you, and that life is not going to be easy. The prospect of living your life with these aspects can be quite daunting and depressing, and lead to a lot of despondency at times.

Another factor that’s hard to take on board is that you are responsible for yourself. You can’t go around blaming other people for your misfortunes all the time. You have to take responsibility for your part in the drama. It’s your stuff, and you’re the only one who can deal with it. This can lead to a lot of self criticism on my part, and a good deal of depression if things aren’t working out.

Looking at  it from a promethean point of view, Prometheus stole fire from the gods. He knew he would suffer for it, but he also, I think, knew on some intuitive level that he was doing the right thing. And in the end he was released from his suffering. Personally, I couldn’t not know. Otherwise I wouldn’t have pursued the subject as long as I have. I just hope it works out for me in the end too”.

This is one person’s vivid perspective on the implications of knowing her natal horoscope. I’d be interested to have comments on this issue from my readers.

Zodiac

Zodiac

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1000 words copyright Anne Whitaker/”Charlotte” 2014
Licensed under Creative Commons – for conditions see Home Page

How significant is astrological Pluto in the horoscopes of atomic scientists?

I’ve just read this brilliant article about the significance of Pluto. Do read it!

“…Pluto was discovered in 1930 and astrologers soon began to notice its prominent placement in the birth map (horoscope) of scientist Wilhelm Roentgen, the discoverer of X-rays. The planet also showed up prominently in the horoscopes of other atomic scientists and the event charts for the first sustained nuclear reactor start-up in Chicago, the first atomic bomb tests, the bomb’s subsequent use in World War II and in reactor accidents since then.

For example, when a lunar eclipse occurred very close to Pluto in April 1986, Crawford wrote: “If you don’t feel this one, you’re probably not alive.” That was truly prophetic as the Chernobyl meltdown four days later raised background radiation levels world-wide…”

To read the rest of this article, click below:

Astrology News Service

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Zodiac

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200 words copyright Anne Whitaker  2015

Licensed under Creative Commons – for conditions see Home Page

How do you get the best out of your Saturn/Pluto aspects?

This was the challenging question I was asked earlier today by a fellow blogger –  let us call her Eliza – so I dashed off a quick answer. Here it is – all you folk out there with Saturn/Pluto conjunctions (me!), oppositions, squares, trines, sextiles, inconjuncts, how do you manage those  testing, difficult planetary combinations about which no-one seems keen to write about, very often? (I wonder why?!) And how do you manage friends or loved ones or work colleagues who have them? I would be most interested to hear what you have to say…

Here’s what I replied, off the top of my head and without too much thought. 

SaturnPluto - never give up!

SaturnPluto – never give up!

Ok, Eliza, here goes

Work very hard to face up to the shadow sides of your own nature – power and control issues being paramount with Saturn/Pluto – usually presented via the difficulties you run into with other people. Try over time increasingly to do this without self-punishment but with growing self-acceptance.

This brings a certain amount of freedom:  both to exercise restraint over the harsher facets of the Saturn/Pluto combination – for example the tyrannical, control freak streak –  and to draw on its best aspects, eg the ability to persevere, even in the face of enormous odds, the ability to honour commitments made, however difficult and testing, the ability to apply forensic analysis to sorting out seemingly intractable problems (I have a Mercury/Saturn/Pluto combo) eg in astrological research of which I am very fond.

And – avoid taking the easy way out in situations where you just want to walk in the opposite direction, but know it would be the wrong thing to do.  Saturn/Pluto people never usually get away with taking the easy way out of anything.

Also – lighten up! My Mercury/Saturn/Pluto is squared by a Third House Jupiter; I have quite the gallows sense of humour at times – and a well-developed ability to laugh at my own stupidities. However, be very cautious with a marked tendency to respond to what you perceive as other people’s stupidities in the same vein. I have learned the hard way that this kind of humour is not always appreciated.

Furthermore, I find that a useful life skill to cultivate and practise is that of being forensically honest with myself (especially regarding my own motives at times) whilst realising that other people –  mostly – cannot or do not wish to have that level of honesty applied to them. So – it is very important to develop the ability to know when just to back off and shut up…

There you are, Eliza – I didn’t intend to warble on so much! I do hope some of it at least is of value to you…..

Zodiac

Zodiac

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450 words copyright Anne Whitaker  2015

Licensed under Creative Commons – for conditions see Home Page

Free Book – ‘The Moon’s Nodes in Action’

e-publication by co-occurrence

e-publication by co-occurrence

“… this book is about….  Nodal Returns, Nodal synastries, Nodal ‘trawls’ and Nodal moments.  A knowledge-gathering journey through the lives and charts of the famous and not so famous – yet with the excitement of a personal quest and the inestimable benefit of coming through the pen of a gifted writer. Herein are facts – not theories – that you can use to enrich your own astrological interpretations and personal understanding of the Moon’s Nodes in Action….”

Download the book HERE

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Zodiac

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100 words copyright Anne Whitaker 2015

Licensed under Creative Commons – for conditions see Home Page

Astrology: is it a descriptive or a predictive art?

From your comments on the Facebook Page, this blog, and emails, this month of June 2015, nearly over, has been spent by lots of you in a Mercurial, Saturnian and Neptunian fog. You will have read that yours truly’s highlight – as Mercury went direct and Neptune turned retro – was almost being blown up during a domestic gas leak whilst engaged in a podiatry session, which we completed on the pavement outside our building. I don’t give up easily…

A consequence of a period of exceptional fogginess and disruption was that I missed a very important anniversary. Two years ago, on 1st of June 2013, was the date of my first post on Astrology: Questions and Answers.

This new blog was birthed in May 2013 on a page on  Glasgow, Scotland,UK’s popular West End Website, a brilliant local community resource. However, the response via questions and comments was so positive that I decided to set up a whole blog dedicated to Astrology Questions and Answers. Here, then, to celebrate our second anniversary, is the very first question, which is having its very first airing on this site, having first appeared on the West End Website. Enjoy, and many thanks to all you readers, commenters, emailers and questioners for making those first two years such fun!

Questions, cosmic questions!

Questions, cosmic questions!

Would it be fair, then, to say that astrology is descriptive rather than predictive? It occurs to me that much of the fascination with newspaper ‘astrology’ columns is related to their use as fortune-telling!

……from Linda Leinen, USA…….and my favourite blogger, at the wonderful 

The Task At Hand.

It’s fair to say that astrology is both descriptive and predictive. There are many facets to this statement. However, just a few examples should throw at least some light on Linda’s interesting question.

Descriptive

 A properly drawn up horoscope using your date, place, and time of birth can allow me to provide you with a clear description of the characters who are acting out the play of your particular life, to use a familiar but useful analogy.The Sun represents only one character, thereby revealing right away how limited popular Sun Sign astrology is. The other characters are represented by the Moon, Mercury, Venus, Mars, Jupiter, Saturn, Uranus, Neptune and Pluto (for latest on this contested planet’s status, click HERE ).

The astronomical relationships between the nine planets plus the moon, when drawn onto the horoscope (see picture below – click on the image to enlarge) show the conversations, debates, disagreements and compromises happening between the major characters on your life’s stage.

Charles Dickens

Their action takes place against the backdrop of the twelve Houses of the horoscope, each representing a particular sphere of life. Then I have to take the Ascendant (how you appear to the world) the Midheaven (speaking of vocation/life direction) and several other factors including Chiron (where both wounding and healing take place)) into account. In addition, I need to consider and feed back what the interactions between all those factors are.

Reading a horoscope effectively needs both an experienced, self aware, sensitive astrologer and a client who truly wishes to reflect on their gifts, pains, preoccupations, fears, motivations etc in an honest and open way. A horoscope can be seen as the static drawing of a pattern of living energy ie a human being.

Thus, as an astrologer, I am working with explaining and discussing a number of different levels of manifestation which can and do arise from each symbol. Your birth horoscope is determined by your date, place and time of birth – factors over which we apparently have no control. This can be seen as the fated dimension.

But what you do with those energies depends to a considerable degree (impossible to work out exactly – no wonder reductionist science finds astrology so provoking!) on the levels of conscious self awareness you bring to the choices you make as life unfolds. Therein free will probably lies….

However – you really have to experience a quality astrology reading fully to understand its power and value.

Predictive

Yes, any competent astrologer can predict very accurately when planetary influences from the unfolding energies through time and space, both in the present and in the future, are going to engage with the energy patterns which can be read from a birth horoscope. S/he can also plot out with complete accuracy how long this engagement is going to last; anything from a few days to several years.

But one can only speculate about the level of manifestation of those energies….

Speculation, Mediaeval Style

Speculation, Mediaeval Style

 A simplified example: Venus in your natal horoscope represents relationship(s). The planet Uranus represents the urge to break down old patterns and is unpredictable, disruptive in its impact. If this planet is going to be exactly engaging with your natal Venus, eg for the whole of 2015, then I think you can work out without me telling you that this will not be the most peaceful uneventful year in your relationship life!

I can in this way predict the core of Uranus’ (or any planet’s) impact on any part of a client’s horoscope.Working out what the branches of manifestation arising from that core might be, however, is not something which can be done exactly. Of a few guesses, one might be accurate. Then there is the danger to the client that if I choose a specific branch which I think might manifest, this could well collapse a whole range of possible outcomes into one only. In this way, I as the astrologer may be helping self-fulfilling prophecy along the way.

Personally, I think it is sufficient to describe the core manifestation of a planet’s impact, and work with the person regarding how best to use this information.

A concluding observation on prediction. It is an inexact pursuit for all who attempt it, from economists through weather forecasters through astrologers.The latter failed to spot that World War Two was about to break out, for example, although there are many examples of astrologers delivering exactly the right level at which energies would manifest (ask google about this, especially the famous prediction about the death of Henry the Second of France….).

Modern science teaches us that we live in a universe which conducts a great dance between order and chaos, where probability and indeterminacy, not exactitude, are the order of the day. I like that!

Zodiac

Zodiac

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1050 words copyright Anne Whitaker 2015

Licensed under Creative Commons – for conditions see Home Page

Mercury Retrograde status report: the pain – and the gain!

Well, this so far is the most tricksterish, troublesome Mercury Retrograde I’ve had for many a long year –a little post asking for feedback on my Astrology: Questions and Answers Facebook Page has validated this impression.

Mercury’s fellow travellers Mars and the Sun also in Gemini – opposing Saturn  square Neptune – do, I feel, explain this amplification. Such a complex, contradictory energy pattern also accounts for the accompanying confusion, lassitude, lethargy and feelings of being oppressed by tasks with which which one can’t quite come to grips… 

Gorgeous Mercury

Gorgeous Mercury

Mercury rules my horoscope, and aspects every planet, so I knew things might be a little tricky…the torture started on Tuesday morning, mere hours after Mercury went retrograde, with my losing my office keys.There followed frantic searching – husband helpfully went through all my handbags and coat/jacket pockets in my absence and could not believe how many pairs of gloves, lipsalves, emergency cash, pencils, notebooks, tissues etc etc inhabited those arcane corners of my life.

The keys turned up, eventually – in the cafe in the park across from my office where I’d been with a friend last week. Then, two days later, I had walked half way to work when I discovered I had left my office keys behind and had to trudge all the way back home ….there’s more, there’s more! 

In the last week, I have had to conduct a skype astrology reading over mobile phone because something happened my end and skype did not work. My client seemed much less phased by this than me, and wants to book another half hour very soon. Thank goodness I only do half hour sessions at present –I think I might have passed out if I’d had to do a whole reading between here and the USA over a mobile!

I have also got crossed wires with friends re timing of meet-ups, and offered people appointments which I later had to retract because of double booking. ( I am normally very well organised). And – how used I was to this feature of Mercury Retrograde in the days before my long 2001-8 sabbatical – my client/student cancellations and re-schedulings began just as Mercury stationed, prior to turning retrograde.

Today’s arrangements with two friends – I have given myself a writing day with no clients or students, worn out with the nervous strain of trying to keep my practice on an even keel – have been so interrupted and disrupted I cannot face describing what has happened. I haven’t even mentioned Web and computer glitchiness of which there was plenty. Advice: do not attempt to link your PayPal account to your bank account at these Retro times…

However, lest you readers out there imagine that Mercury Retrograde is all bad news, let me stress a fundamental principle of working creatively with planetary energies, whatever they may be. To quote Liz Greene in one of her 1990s Centre for Psychological Astrology Seminars:

“You have to give the god what the god wants. If it’s Mars, don’t offer a bunch of flowers!”

Capricious Mercury

Capricious Mercury

I have never forgotten this witty, sage advice. So – what should we offer Mercury in his retrograde phase? First of all, philosophical acceptance that, the more Mercurial one is, the more day to day screw-ups on the communication and travel front one is likely to have. Just allow more time to do everything, and don’t expect too much to flow smoothly if it is anything to do with communication or manual dexterity.

And of course, paying attention to the Retro part gives you a clue that going back over matters to do with communication/writing is a constructive use of this time.

I am now beginning seriously to contemplate getting to grips with my next book. So I used last Friday to dig out some material I had put together off and on over the last three years – and discovered that I have actually drafted an outline of my core idea, as well as having already conducted and recorded one of the case study interviews. I spent a happy couple of hours re-reading, refreshing my memory, and re-inspiring myself for the task ahead.

Also, on Monday I got down to completing one of my least favourite chores in the whole world: preparing my previous year’s accounts to send to my accountant. This involves going through receipts in excruciating detail, etc etc too boring even to list. My husband swears he simply has to utter the phrase “Tax Return” to me and steam immediately starts pouring from my ears…BUT…I did it!

So – how have you Mercurial folk out there been getting on this first week? Do let us all know – assuming you can get the Comments box to work!

Zodiac

Zodiac

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800 words copyright Anne Whitaker 2015

Licensed under Creative Commons – for conditions see Home Page

 

The Moon’s Nodes with Uranus and Pluto: disruption, mayhem and a new order emerging…

To read the first post in this tw0-hander, click 

Has the Uranus/Pluto wave peaked? The UK General election may have said “Yes”…

Uranus:Pluto Seventh Exact Square

Uranus:Pluto Seventh Exact Square

click to enlarge

My in-depth research study of The Moon’s Nodes in Action is due to be  published very soon – as a free download from this site – just as  events in our wider collective life appear yet again to be validating the overall conclusion at which I arrived some years ago, after examining the Moon’s Nodes and attendant eclipses from several different perspectives in both famous and “ordinary’ people’s lives, and in life-changing events.

The conclusion is this:

 times of most profound and radical change come in collective and individual life when the combination of the Nodal Axis and Pluto is triggered.

e-publication by co-occurrence

e-publication by co-occurrence

Four years ago, as the North Node crossed Pluto and its applying square to Uranus in Aries, approaching the final stage of the August 2009 – July 2011 season of eclipses in Capricorn (North Node point) and Cancer (South Node point),  Colonel Gaddafi lost his grip on Libya amidst scenes of bloodshed and mayhem as a wave of  protest – mainly from the young – swept the Middle East in what came to be known as the “Arab Spring” of 2011 onwards.

The iron grip of dictatorial rulers was snapped across the Middle East in a domino chain of nations rising in revolt, the world community watching with fascination, horror and a certain excited anticipation of possible positive change in the wake of all this upheaval.

In February 2014, the North Node returned to cardinal mode again as it entered the sign of Libra, regressing in its eighteen-month journey  through that sign, pulling eclipses with it, once again moving toward the turbulent, explosive energy of the Uranus/Pluto square which is currently scouring our world from its first coming into orb in 2009 until it separates in 2017.

In the summer/autumn of 2014, as the North Node drew closer to Uranus/Pluto, we watched with horror the shockingly unexpected, brutal rise of ISIS/ISIL, a fanatical death cult whose depradations across the Middle East have cost thousands of lives and created mayhem ever since.

Focusing in on our small country, the United Kingdom, one can also see in the charts of both the UK and Scotland the powerful emphasis on 5 – 15 degrees of the cardinal signs. This emphasis is shared also in the horoscopes of the UK’s Prime Minister David Cameron and Scotland’s First Minister Nicola Sturgeon, as well as the former First Minister Alex Salmond, who resigned after his Scottish National Party’s 45%/55% defeat in the September 2014 Referendum on whether Scotland should become an independent country.

The radical nature of the changes which are taking place in our small corner of the globe are vividly described symbolically through the Nodes/Pluto/Uranus combination: the UK has lurched to the Right by electing a majority Conservative government. The Labour party has been crushed in the UK and virtually annihilated in Scotland. The Scottish National party has won almost every Scottish seat, turning our small country into virtually a one-party state, never a healthy situation in a democracy. And the UK is set to vote shortly whether to remain within or without the European Union. The old order is dead.

Turning to personal life, those of you who read my Moon’s Nodes research will see the Nodes/Pluto combination occurring natally and bringing with it a life with more challenges of a profound and radical nature, than when that combination is not in evidence. Its impact is radical, profound and life-changing especially when natal, progressed and transiting aspects combine : c/f my long in-depth study of Mary Shelley and  her authorship of Frankenstein.

mary-shelley

mary-shelley

There seems to have been disruption and upheaval ‘right across the map’ of the world:  politically, socially and in terms of the fabric of the Earth itself – witness the recent horrific earthquakes and attendant loss of life in Nepal – in the last year especially. Let us hope that as the Nodal axis moves on, with the seven exact Uranus/Pluto squares completed,  all the turmoil gradually settles down into something more manageable as we survey our world and are perhaps more able to spot what positives have emerged from all the chaos…

So – what are your thoughts on such potent and powerful planetary symbolism both on collective and personal life? Can you report experiences of profound and radical changes when the Nodes combined with Pluto in your life? I’d be most interested to hear!

Zodiac

Zodiac

700 words copyright Anne Whitaker 2015

Licensed under Creative Commons – for conditions see Home Page

Has the Uranus/Pluto wave peaked? The UK General election may have said “Yes”…

Now here’s a thought. There has been a clear shift to the political right in the unexpectedly decisive outcome of the  UK’s general election (held on May 7th 2015) in which the Conservative party was returned to power with an overall majority 0f 331 seats, far larger than anyone, including the Conservatives, had expected. Might this  be a significant sign – albeit in one small country, bereft of its once-magnificent Empire but still playing a significant role on the world stage – that the Uranus/Pluto seven-pointed wave has peaked?

On March 16 2015, Uranus and Pluto formed an exact square aspect in the signs of Aries and Capricorn,  the final exact square in the long series of seven which began on June 24, 2012. As Steven Forrest pointed out in his March 2015 Newsletter which I featured on this site a few weeks ago,”… it is the first time both planets have been direct at the moment of the exact square…”

Uranus:Pluto Seventh Exact Square

Uranus:Pluto Seventh Exact Square

click to enlarge

It has been a very turbulent year in UK politics, the most interesting for decades. Scotland’s Independence Referendum on 18th September, which I wrote about in Uranus, Pluto and the Scottish Independence Referendum , attracted world-wide interest and admiration, not least for the 84% turnout from a passionately engaged electorate. 45% of our nation voted a resounding “Yes” – but a 55% majority voted “No”, carrying the day.

The day after the referendum came the shock of First Minister Alex Salmond’s resignation, with his Deputy Nicola Sturgeon taking charge of the Scottish National Party and the Scottish government. Since then there has been yet another unexpected turn of events: membership of the SNP has surged, and in the May 7 general election the highly competent and charismatic Sturgeon led her party to a stunning victory in Scotland, gaining 56 out of the 59 Scottish seats in the UK parliament, thereby annihilating the long-dominant Labour vote in Scotland.

So far, so Uranus/Pluto, it would seem. However, a closer look at the overall situation now pertaining in the UK Parliament may well be suggesting that we have hit peak Uranus/Pluto, and are now on the way down from its disruptive zenith.

Before the election, there being 650 parliamentary seats to play for, it was confidently predicted that there would be no outright majority. This being the case, the Scottish National Party with their expected 50-odd seats would be in the most powerful position by far of the smaller UK parties outwith the  historically dominant Conservative and Labour blocs alternating in power since the Second World War ended in 1945.

However, an overall Conservative majority greatly reduces the pre-election SNP potential threat to the stability and continuation of the United Kingdom as one nation. Although it has done stunningly well in Scotland, and will provide a very strong Scottish voice now in the UK parliament, the SNP is not in the power-broking position it would have been had the overall vote been less decisive, eg producing a Conservative or Labour minority government or a hung parliament.

Scotland's Horoscope

Scotland’s Horoscope

S0 – what next? Scotland was promised more powers to run her own affairs before the referendum by a UK government desperate to preserve the Union. Although it may take some time to formalise, it looks likely that Scotland may gain full fiscal autonomy. This means that the Scottish Nationalist party will have to face that challenging gap which most of us face in life, either as individuals or nations, put most eloquently by T.S.Eliot in “The Hollow Men (1925) “:

“Between the Idea And the Reality… Falls the shadow”.

A recent example illustrates what very often occurs – especially in political life – when the Idea and the Reality collide. Five years ago, just before the last UK election which resulted in a Conservative/Liberal Democrat coalition, the Liberal Democrat leader Nick Clegg having done extremely well in the TV debates preceding the General Election, was riding with his party on a wave of popularity. ‘Cleggmania’ briefly swept the nation.

Then, as part of the horsetrading which is the keynote of actual rather than theoretical politics, Clegg broke the Lib Dem promise to abolish university tuition fees. For this betrayal, as Lib Dem supporters saw it, Clegg and his party were never forgiven. In the 7 May 2015 election, the Lib Dems were reduced to 8 seats, and Nick Clegg has just resigned as leader of his party.

So – if the Uranus/Pluto square is already showing signs that it has peaked in its impact, that should serve as a warning to the Scottish Nationalist party. In the likely event of fiscal autonomy being granted, then the Idea and the ideals of greater social justice and a fairer society, combined with ‘an end to austerity’, which swept them to political dominance in Scotland, will be clashing with the Reality of the likelihood of at least some of the promises being made to the Scottish nation having to be broken as taxes go up, and cuts have to be implemented in order to balance the books.

If this happens, which in the real world seems likely, then their support could well begin to fade, and the dream of independence recede from the SNP’s grasp.

UK Horoscope

UK Horoscope

Meanwhile, in the UK as a whole, David Cameron has promised to hold a referendum on the UK’s membership of the European Union, which a significant number of  UK citizens (outwith Scotland which broadly wants to stay in) want to leave. However, in the recent general election UKIP, or the United Kingdom Independence Party, which had been building up an impressive head of steam before the election,  only gained one seat. Furthermore, its leader Nigel Farage failed to gain a parliamentary seat and has resigned.

This can be seen as another small but significant sign that the Uranus/Pluto square has peaked and is now slowly beginning to lose power. It may well be, when (and if, since politicians have a long track record of welshing on promises they very much do not want to keep) the in/out referendum is held on European Union membership, the UK population as a whole will feel safer remaining with the status quo.

Looking at the three horoscopes included in this post in broad brush stroke terms – no doubt there will be many detailed analyses of the UK’s interesting political landscape appearing in the weeks and months to come! – the relationship between the Nodal Axis and Uranus/Pluto greatly interests me, especially since my research study The Moon’s Nodes in Action is due to be published as a free ebook download on this site very shortly.

What I see in the Nodes/Uranus/Pluto relationship in our present world climate seems to validate the overall conclusions at which I arrived as a result of my research. To find out what this is, you will have to read the next post, coming up soon!

Zodiac

Zodiac

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1150 words copyright Anne Whitaker 2015

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