12 Ways to Feel the Magic of Neptune in Pisces

Thought it was time to revisit this post, which I wrote back in April. Neptune goes back into Pisces on the 3rd or 4th of Feb, depending upon where in the world you are. Catch that wave.

Neptune's Horses by Walter Crane.

Neptune, the great god of the sea, has dived into the ocean of Pisces. This is a moment laced with magic for each of us. How and where can we find it? 

That great numinous beast (with the help of his white horses) spreads glamour, confusion, dissipation, illusion, an indefinable feeling of God, the desire to disappear into the great ocean of the universe. Where Neptune goes, boundaries dissolve, what was once reliable disappears, mirages manifest. All this is more so now that he is super-powered in his own sign.

That Tiger Mother

Tiger Mom: me me me

As an indulgent, child-worshipping Western mother, the Tiger Mom thing really gets up my nose.

In case you missed it, (which I'm sure you didn't), last year a law professor at Yale published a book explaining how she was a brilliant mother as well as a fabulously successful academic. I expect she can cook and do really athletic stuff in the sack too. Oh well.

The premise of Battle Hymn of the Tiger Mother is that strict Chinese-style parenting is much better than namby-pamby Western parenting. 

Correction - Which Planet Rules Which Metal

I see I wrote that Saturn rules iron in my post about Mrs T. It's a bit more complicated than that. She has Saturn in Scorpio, which is ruled by the iron planet Mars. In Western astrology, Saturn rules lead, Mars rules iron.

However, in Vedic astrology, Saturn does rule iron.

I'll leave it there, shall I?

No.

OK. Here's the traditional western list

Sun - Gold 

Moon - Silver
Mercury - Quicksilver
Venus - Copper 

Mars - Iron
Jupiter - Tin 

Saturn - Lead

And there's a certain amount of disagreement among Vedic sources, but most agree on this:

Sun - Copper 

Moon - Silver
Mercury - Zinc
Venus - also Silver

Mars - Brass  

Jupiter - Gold 

Saturn - Iron 

For more on the vedic associations of planets click here.

Thatcher's Legacy, Saturn and Iron

Thatcher: Saturn Rising

Recently, I asked a businesswoman friend, who was complaining about bankers' bonuses, when she thought the rot had set in.

She answered with one word: "Thatcher."

And she's right, what we are experiencing now, financially and socially is the result of decisions that were taken back in the 1980s. The planet of consequences, Saturn, has made one complete loop of its cycle through the Zodiac and returned to where it was in the early 1980s, to Libra, the sign of justice and balance.

So it's interesting that The Iron Lady, the biopic of that Libran Mrs Thatcher, who became Prime Minister in 1979 should be released now, and set us all thinking about her period in power.

Streep, The Iron Lady and the Chameleon Aspects

Meryl Streep inhabiting Margaret Thatcher

Meryl Streep's impersonation of Prime Minister Margaret Thatcher in The Iron Lady is almost frightening in its accuracy, believability, naturalness and depth.

How did Streep dig down and find that character and then make her live so vividly on the screen?

Now some film stars are wonderful just being themselves - Clint Eastwood, say, or even Jeff Bridges. They find the character in another aspect of themselves. Meryl Streep is not like that. She transforms herself. She actually seems to become another person. It's more than mimicry. I felt almost spooked by how Streep could be Streep and Thatcher simultaneously.

And with this role, she is being a character we all know well. We already know Thatcher's screen persona and there she is – except with greater depth.

Both Streep's Sun and Moon form exact aspects to outer planets, which, I think go some why to explaining her prodigious talent. The closeness of the aspects, within minutes is critical and the fact that it is the Lights which are strengthened means the outer planet power is right at the core of her being.

Thank You

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Yes it helps to keep the site going.

Unpacking My Library: A Lover's Discourse

“Am I in love? - Yes, since I'm waiting." The other never waits. Sometimes I want to play the part of the one who doesn't wait; I try to busy myself elsewhere, to arrive late; but I always lose at this game: whatever I do, I find myself there, with nothing to do, punctual, even ahead of time. The lover's fatal identity is precisely: I am the one who waits.” 

– Roland Barthes. A Lover's Discourse: Fragments

Venus with a Mirror by an unknown
Renaissance artist. 

If you have ever been heartbroken, here is a book for you.


I'm still brushing off dust, thumbing through old pages and putting my books back on the shelf. Yesterday, I came across an old copy of the French philosopher Roland Barthes' A Lover's Discourse. I haven't opened it in years and I was surprised to see that I'd annotated it. 


That reminded me of what a useful book it was when I was deep in the moil and madness of love. This is not a book to read if your love life is going fine, but if it's a disaster, use it like a crutch. Here is a precise, thoughtful anatomy of heartache written like an encyclopaedia. It's a dissection of the inner dialogue that every lover has: Does she love me? Will he phone? When will it end?

It's the conversation you have with the mirror when your heart is full to bursting. The book brings a little air into the torrid heat of passion.