The Oxford Astrologer

Capricorn Self-Portraits: Solid Intense

2012-02-09T12:28:00.000Z

Lawrence Alma-Tadema (8 Jan) painted this self-portrait when he was 16.

During his lifetime, he was one of the richest, most sought-after painters of his day, creating vast fantasies of Roman decadence and fairyland luxury. His charm lay in the way his people looked so real – and yet there they were in these unbelievable settings.

After he died, Lawrence Alma-Tadema's work fell out of fashion, but perhaps to the surprise of last century's critics and connoisseurs, his work has never ceased to have appeal for the ordinary punters.

He has everything you'd expect from a Capricorn: precocious talent, solid skill, high status, and look at that gaze, steady as a rock.

Untitled #96. 1981

Here's who it reminds me of – oddly – because she is looking away from the camera, but she has the same solidity. The photographer Cindy Sherman is also famous for putting a contemporary (herself) into antique or vintage settings. Here she is dressed in 50s gear for one of her "conceptual" self-portraits.

This picture recently became the most expensive photograph ever sold. How satisfying for a sea-goat.

Like Alma-Tadema, Sherman achieved recognition and respect by her mid-20s. Capricorns, of course, often achieve at a young age. Also like him, a lot of her work is about dressing up.

Matisse (Dec 31)

And how about those earthy colours for the cardinal earth sign.

Paul Cezanne (Jan 19)

Hepworth (Jan 10)

Here is Paul Cezanne, a contemporary of Alma Tadema but during his lifetime quite unrecognised, in fact rather despised. But he persevered, another great sea-goat quality, against all the criticism and lack of popular success. In fact, he famously said he wanted to die painting.

Here's what else he said: "The artists makes things concrete and gives them individuality."

And just when we were getting comfortable with earthy colours, here is Henri Matisse and his Fauvist self-portrait. I love the way he gets the colours talking to each other in this picture – allowing each one it's own integrity.

There is another element to the intense solidity of Saturn-ruled artists and that is sculpture. Two of the 20th century's most important sculptors, Barbara Hepworth and Louise Bourgeios, were born under the goatfish. Hepworth clutching a lump of rock, Bourgeois apparently with her head in an egg.

Louise Bourgeois (Dec 25)

Augustus John (Jan 4)

And speaking of old goats, here is a superb self-portrait by that notorious shagger, Augustus John.
He even looks like a goat with those whiskers and long eyes.

Massacres in Syria

2012-02-08T12:46:00.000Z

Bosnia: concentration camps in the 1990s

What's happening in Syria is very, very nasty. It's reminding me too much of Bosnia in the early nineties, when the UN decided not to intervene and the result was horror.

In June, I wrote a piece about Syria which is accurate. Please click here to read it. It contains two charts – one for the Assad regime and one for Syrian independence – and explains the background.

Right now, Mars is retrograding through the 10th house of government in the Assad regime's chart. This is in Virgo, the regime is "cleaning up". Pluto, the oppressor, is also in that house natally. We are going to see more violence from Assad as long as Mars is in this part of the chart. That is until mid-June. They may appear to be winning.

However, there is an important transit taking place which may augur well – in the long run. Neptune has just swept past the regime's North Node on the IC and into hopeful Pisces. Let's pray he sweeps away the regime's foundations. In other words, it's actually "all over bar the fighting", but the fighting could go on a long, long time.

The question then for the people of Syria will be who's in charge? Foreign intervention could also last a lot longer than anyone bargained for.

With Uranus, the planet of revolution, in the first sign, Aries and still opposing the Assad regime's natal Pluto, it could be time for a another new chart for one of the world's oldest civilisations.

Astrology of Now: Storm Damage and Waiting

2012-02-08T10:42:00.000Z

JMW Turner. Snow Storm.

Let me tell you why you haven't heard from me for a few days.

This is how it was meant to be. I was meant to go out to France on Wednesday and come back Sunday, having graced my elderly parents with my presence, and caused as little disruption to the smooth running of my own household and work routine as possible.

Here's what really happened. I got there all right, then things began to slide out of order.

On Friday, Neptune roared out of Aquarius, plunging Europe into a deep-freeze.The water in my parents' house was cut off because the pipes froze. No joke when you want to flush the toilet and you're having seven guests to lunch. By then I'd already lost the internet access, but that seemed negligible beside the loss of water.

On Sunday I tried to leave. The day started fine, and I arrived at the airport in good time and said goodbye to the Aged Ps.

But then the snow began to come down heavily. I realised as I watched the blanket of white thicken and the air turn dark, that I should have paid heed to Mars retrograde. You can't do anything quickly under this transit, especially if it's opposite your own Mars. This was never going to be a quick trip.

Moon was opposite Pluto on the first day I tried to get home.

I had been waiting for the plane for seven hours or so by the time it was cancelled. And Mars retrograde was squaring my Moon (home): it was never going to be straightforward.

My philosophy is though, in general, don't let astrology stop you from doing things. You will just experience them in a different, less linear way and you might learn something interesting. And so it went...

My parents, insisted on coming to fetch me back from the airport, a short drive from their house. But they simply did not show up. The airport staff phoned the gendarmerie. They explained that there had been so many accidents on that stretch of road in the past hour that they weren't sure who had been involved yet.

A few minutes later, the hospital phoned the airport. There was my mother: in one piece, but upset. My father: a head injury. Tr Mars (accidents) was opposing his Saturn (bone) from his first house (head).

Mars was also opposing my own Saturn (Dad). We have a Saturn conjunction, which is quite common in parents and children, because people often have children at around the age of 30.

Reader, he's OK.

But the car is unfortunately also under Mars, as ruler of his natal third house. It's finished. And interestingly, it's lasted exactly one Mars cycle since he bought it two years ago.

So I got them home in a taxi, up the mountain, through the snow, back to the house with no water. My mother was heroic. (Saturn rising, Uranus just past return, and, tr Saturn conjunct Mars.)

Saturn teaches us patience. Mars makes us take action. Saturn teaches us discipline. Mars is moving forward. If you can get these two energies working together, you have a perfect soldier. If a Mars retrograde involves your natal Saturn or Mars, watch out or wait it out.

What it Beckett's play Waiting for Godot really about?

Waiting, waiting at the airport, in the hospital. Mars retrograde in Virgo, the healer's sign. Saturn stationing in the sign of balance.

But do you know what? Despite the series of unfortunate events, all of us still felt lucky. We felt as if a guardian angel had been watching, because, believe me, it could have been so much worse. Both my parents have Jupiter (said to be the guardian) on their ICs, one of many aspects they share. My mother has the big J in Pisces at an exact angle to her Sun-Mars.

My journey home the next day was an obstacle course: roads blocked by snow, a strike on the railway, a credit card that failed, passport control, an airline strike, security checks, frisking, dead mobile phone. I got past everything, running, but only after I prayed wholeheartedly to the mother goddess and goddess of mothers did I begin to swim with the energy correctly.

I prayed for a taxi and a delayed plane. The taxi was waiting and the plane was delayed. If it had not been, I would have missed the flight by two minutes.

Where, you ask, was Mercury, ruler of flight, in all this? Mercury was still combust the Sun, which is in detriment in Aquarius. I'm going to remember that next time I book a flight.

And who was my guardian angel? And what was the correct energy?

The correct energy to get something done, seemed to be violent bursts of activity (I nearly had a heart attack running through the airport) punctuated by total calm and submission to the circumstances. Driving through snow can only be done at the snow's pleasure.

Venus in Pisces, the most mother goddess of them all, was conjunct my Mercury. My feet truly did have wings as I flew home to my children.

The Virgin of the Lilies by Bougereau.
courtesy Wikimedia Commons

February Horoscopes

2012-02-02T16:36:00.000Z

I'm on a whirlwind visit to my parents way down in the south of France. It's snowing and they say it going to be -10 C tonight.

I am wearing gloves (fingerless) to type this, such is my dedication - and besides it's keeping my fingers warm.

The overall view for this month is kind of slow (Mars and Saturn retrograde) but pleasant.

Click here to read your horoscope.

12 Ways to Feel the Magic of Neptune in Pisces

2012-01-30T10:22:00.000Z

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.

I have to admit – on a personal level I am very excited since I have a huge amount of Piscean energy in my chart. I feel sure I can hear the mermaids calling – or is that my imagination?

Neptune often acts malevolently – drugs, alcohol, the creeps, masochism, lying, deceit. But I want to think about how you can use this transit positively, especially since it's going to be effecting your life for the next decade and more.

Neptune will be in Pisces from now (with a brief retrograde back into Aquarius this autumn and winter) until January 2026. That's a long time.

0°, where Neptune is now, and will return to later in the year, is often a significant moment. Pay attention to yourself now and how you are feeling and see if you can find any clues about how Neptune in Pisces may work for you later.

So I've been wondering how Neptune's sign change will work on a personal level. Obviously, it depends on the shape of your chart – how strong Neptune is natally, how much Pisces you have and which natal planets Neptune will transit by conjunction, square etcetera.

In the very broadest sense, everyone born with Neptune in Scorpio – which is rather a lot of people (anyone born in the mid-50s to early 70s) – should be able to drink in this new Neptune energy with greater ease than in the previous decade. However, that is too wide a generalisation to be truly useful.

Here are some thoughts I've had about the signs, but please think of this as opening a window onto new possibilities, not a definite prediction. I figure if you read your Sun sign and rising sign, you should be able to think the Neptune, but if you read the lot you'll be able to feel the Neptune.

Aries - Dreams
Neptune is in its own sign and house: this is good, but powerful. Your magic comes in the area of ancestors, the past, your psychological inheritance. Neptune has left the part of your chart associated with aspirations, so you may find that you take that reality, in some way brings you up short at first, but once you get in to this transit, I feel that Neptune will become your friend. Also certain friendships that have been part of your life for the past decade may now fade away. I have some personal experience of this and can tell you that this is a very comfortable placement for Neptune. Of all the signs, you should be feeling the most relaxed about this change.

Taurus - Fellow Feeling
You may find that the direction your desires take you changes subtly over the next decade. Whereas before you were focused on material stability, you may find yourself seeking a deeper spiritual connection to the world and to the people around you. Neptune has left your status and career sector, suggesting that he has done his work there perhaps expanding your ambitions or helping you carve out a career in a "Neptunian" industry such as film, music or even fishing. I know someone who has been building bridges. On the other hand, you may have felt oddly directionless for a Taurus – unable to make a job stick, strangely dissatisfied if it did. That feeling should be truly over now as you move into the next decade.

Gemini - Imaginative Work
There are two obvious ways this could work: either your career could go very off course or you could find yourself shifting focus into a more Neptunian sphere – film, music, caring, charity – anything associated with water. I have seen more than one person with this transit who has found the audience (or clientele) for their creative work go global. As a Gemini, you could well suffer from living life in the shallows but Neptune in the career sector of your chart will help you connect your work and ambition with wider and deeper humanity.

Cancer - Faith
As a water sign, you have some affinity with Neptune and he will be at a nice angle to your Sun for the next decade, lending a certain glamorous aura to you personally. I think he'll simply help you become even more attractive (is that possible?!). He is also traveling through the house of religion and higher knowledge for you, which is an excllent place for him. You may well look back on this time and see it as an inner pilgrimage. By the way, if you've had any difficulty keeping tabs on investments or other monies (not salary), that time should be over.

Leo - Touching Souls

Sunrise with sea monsters - JMW Turner

You have been hosting the dissolute one in your house of partnership. This may well mean you married a Pisces and that you created a deep spiritual connection with partners. But it's also likely that you have felt a certain lack of support from significant others – lawyers, business partners, lovers. Whenever you thought you had someone to rely on, they just kind of faded away. That, thank goodness, is over. Neptune is moving into a "water" house, where, I suspect, you will find him a lot more comfortable. This is the eighth house of sex, death and psychism (also debt). There are several ways this could work out. Tantric sex - yes. A direct connection with the "other side" – yes. That famous Leo gut instinct could get even more accurate. Look also for a deeper spiritual connection to your in-laws. One word of warning though, keep an eye on all of your unearned income – stocks, shares, inheritance, royalties - you don't want it to just fade away.

Virgo - Power Partner
Your partner is about to become far more powerful and active than you would have thought possible. This may not be obvious immediately, but over the next decade watch your darling grow from strength to strength. If you're single, look out for Neptunian types. I know they have a bad rap in astrology - drunks, junkies, leeches - but they are also poets, musicians, sailors and simply sun sign Pisces. I have come across people with Neptune natally in the house of partnerships and I've seen all of these potentials play out. You've had Neptune disrupting your daily routine for almost a decade now, perhaps with some indefinable illness or a chronic complaint. You may not leave this behind now – that's not how astrology works – but you may find you have greater clarity about what exactly you need to do to cope on a daily basis. One word of warning, watch out for needy Neptunian types coming into your life.

Libra - Everyday Magic
You like things in your day to day life to be just so, dear Libra, but you may find that you have far less control of your routine over the next decade. The time has come for you to go with the flow. Your best tactic is not to fight it, but allow the Neptunian energy to take you where it will. Neptune has been at an especially lucky angle for you in the last decade, giving you true artistic inspiration. Don't worry, this won't go, but think about taking that inspiration and applying it to every aspect of your life. Allow your inner artist to touch everything you do.

Scorpio - Artistic Inspiration
Lucky you - a decade of inspiration. Your artistic nature is about to be touched by Neptune's magic wand. As a water sign, you have a natural affinity with the big blue planet and he will be at a lovely angle to your Sun for the coming decade.Your children may also be a source of inspiration for you but if you have teenagers you may find that you need to keep a close eye on them. If you're not on the ball, this could be the decade when your child drifts away from you while your head was turned. If any of your children are musical give them all the support you can.

Sagittarius - The Sea, The Sea
Have you thought about moving to the seaside? Or going to live by a lake? For you, embracing the energy of Neptune in Pisces is probably more straightforward than anyone else. Make your home near water or, if that's just not possible, bring water into your home – sea paintings, a fish tank, a fountain. When you have this kind of major transit it's a good idea to embrace the Neptune rather than run away; since in some way I can't define, the boundaries of what you call home may become hazy.

Capricorn - Music

Remember what Odysseus had to do to pass the sirens…

Let the music of Neptune into your life. You may be one of the musical Capricorns – of which there are many – Elvis, David Bowie to name two - in which case your world is already about music. But prepare for Neptune to take that to a whole new level. Neptune is in your sector of communications. Music is the upside of this; the other side of the coin could be that somehow you find it hard to make yourself heard. This means you will find new, creative ways to communicate.

Aquarius - Cashflow
Your experience of the noughties may have been, well, weird. Neptune transiting Aquarius saw the rise of that most Aquarian of activities - social networking - but how did it effect Aquarians personally? Well, you know, speaking uber-broadly, I've seen quite a lot of romance - and Neptune is romantic. I've seen you being idealised and pedestelled and the things Aquarius stands for (humanitarianism, technology, science) glamorised. Take that with you into the next decade, because actually, this Neptune placement could see you making a lot of money. I know you don't care tuppence for gold, but better money flowing in than out - right. Because that's the other way it could go. Use your talents to benefit everyone, and you will benefit morally and financially - it's that simple.

Pisces - Grace
One thing's for certain, the world's about to get a swamp of a lot more Piscean over the next decade, so it should be nice and wet for you, little fishes. Your friend Aquarius has been having this transit since 1997, so take a good look at what happened to Aquariocity in that time, and think about how that could apply to fishiness. Neptune often shows us what's fashionable, glamorous, sexy - that's going to be you and the stuff you like. Be yourself as deeply as you can be Pisces – and I don't mean get drunk and fall down, or get confused and go to sleep. Dream your dreams, but now is the time to share them.

That Tiger Mother

2012-01-30T00:05:00.000Z

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.

The book is a memoir by Amy Chua of how she brought up her two daughters with no playdates, no sleep-overs and two hours instrument practice a day. Since so many parents already seem to schedule their children up the wazoo (French lessons, band practice, therapy) – and then put them on prescription drugs if they don't conform – I really hope we don't start taking this shite seriously.

Time is unknown

So I thought it would be fun to see where Amy Chua's Ceres, the planet of motherhood, fits into her natal chart. I have her birthdate but not her time of birth – still it made me laugh.

Ceres is in Leo in an out of sign opposition to Jupiter in Pisces. Maybe that's a very big need to show off about being a mother. Leo is all about the performance, and at its lowest extremely self-centred.

When asked to discuss the book Chua's daughter said: “I’m sure it’s all about you anyway.”

And what about her Moon, the traditional planet of mothering? It's conjunct Dark Moon Lilith – the planet of anti-mothering and Mercury (children and communications) in Libra. Libra is an intellectual air sign, so it's no surprise that her approach to parenting was, to say the least, rather cerebral, with Mercury there I guess she really had to tell everyone about it. The DM Lilith can be our most unacknowledged darkness, the thing we really cannot bear to look at. What's interesting is that Chua clearly had not realised how much she inadvertently revealed her own darkness in the book.

But there must have been tremendous emotions for Chua because her Sun is in watery Scorpio exactly trine Jupiter in even waterier Pisces. This is a potentially obsessive combination, and frankly her behaviour tips over into bonkers. Some of the things she describes in her book are incredibly emotionally cruel, a speciality of a poorly developed Scorpio. In fact, some of it, for example not allowing her daughter to drink or go to the loo, is simple child abuse. Mars opposite Saturn is a classic signature for violence. Mars (pain) is in Leo (the self) and Saturn (discipline) is in Aquarius (the other, them, society).

I wonder what the reaction to her behaviour would have been if she were not a professor.

She says she feels no guilt – but with Jupiter in Pisces, she will. Her daughters will be able to tell her exactly how good she really was as a mother when they have their own children, unless she's put them off the whole idea of breeding altogether.

Chua's back in the news at the moment because of some research that shows Chinese parenting might be rather horrid. To read an article about that click here.

Me, I'm off to indulge my children.

Correction - Which Planet Rules Which Metal

2012-01-29T21:14:00.001Z

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

2012-01-28T18:06:00.001Z

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.

Thatcher has Saturn Rising in Scorpio, one of the warrior signs. Scorpio is ruled by Mars the planet of iron. Her daughter Carol wrote this about her: "I always thought of Mum as being 100% cast-iron damage proof." It was the Russians, apparently, who dubbed her the Iron Lady.

When Saturn conjuncted Thatcher's Midheaven at 8 Virgo, she was elected Prime Minister. It was the culmination of 30 years hard work. Saturn often brings great rewards and enormous responsibility when he crosses the MC, the angle of career and one's public self.

As the lady said herself, "One's life must matter." Saturn on the MC asks us to make our lives matter; in her case to make a commitment to public life possibly at the expense of family. In the natal chart the MC is opposed to the house of home and family, so making those two parts of one's life work together is a challenge for all of us.

When Saturn entered the sign of the scales in 1980, Thatcher was already the most hated prime minister of all time. Yet by the time Saturn left Libra 1983, she was (widely) adored and she won a resounding electoral victory.

What had happened to change her fortunes? The Falklands War. It was in some ways the perfect war: someone else started it, it was short, the objective was clear and victory was complete. Coming after the decade of decline that was Britain in the 1970s, it was a triumph and a symbol (for some) of Britannia getting back to her feet. That helped her popularity.

Thatcher, who has Mars, Sun and Mercury in Libra had spent those two two years, thanks to Saturn, getting even more steel in her already stiff backbone. Saturn favours the hard worker.

Her 1983 election victory cleared the way for her government to make sweeping economic and social reforms from which we are now suffering the results. The seeds of the extreme consumerism and unbridled capitalism were sown.

The deregulation of the City (London's Wall Street) took place in October 1986, by which time Saturn had moved into expansive Sagittarius, where it was at 7°, exactly sextile the UK's Libra Ascendant, which seems pivotal in the country's economics. The Big Bang, as it was called, led directly to the swollen pay-packets of today's "bankers".

Thatcher destroyed the British mining industry,
but the miners and their families put up a hell of a fight.

And as the ruler of iron passed through Thatcher's 12th, 1st and 2nd houses, it put yet more steel in her backbone. The left side of the chart is the personal side. She became more and more rigid, more autocratic, finally an unrestrained bully. Thatcher's downfall came soon after Saturn passed over her North Node, the point of destiny, and into her third house of neighbours, siblings, people very, very close to you. Thatcher was despatched with a knife in the back from her own cabinet colleagues, who realised that she had become calcified.

Saturn's back in Libra now. When it went over the UK Ascendant at 7°, we got Chancellor George Osborne's frightening first budget, so reminiscent of that 1981 Budget from Geoffrey Howe (also delivered with Saturn at 7° Libra), which, by the way, even Thatcher had to rein in in the end. (There is a scene about this in the film, although it must be hard to fathom if you don't know the history.)

Looking back at her period in power now, it's possible to see a bigger theme – and ironically (because she never identified with feminism at all and really did not have much time for women), it is a robustly feminist one. She was intent on dismantling and freeing up networks of male power – the union "closed shop", the old boy network that ran the City, the nationalised industries run by the mediocre, the miners. Thatcher broke all of those open.

In her natal you can see this tendency to tear things down.
Saturn in Scorpio: you have to destroy in order to rebuild.
Pluto, the destroyer, in Cancer, the mother exactly opposite Jupiter in Capricorn, power structures. Her Pluto is 4° from an exact opposition to the UK Sun. According to rumour, the Queen really couldn't bear her.

So it's a bit depressing now to see that the Conservatives in power now far less diverse than they were 30 years ago. Not a single one who didn't go to private school. While Labour was in government the Tory party was retaken by the toffs. She wouldn't like that. Socially, we're looking back behind from where we came.

Economically, we're looking into a mysterious fog, as Neptune starts to envelop the UK's natal Pluto, our power. (Last time that happened, of course, we came back fighting with a wonderful PR stunt called The Great Exhibition, a bit like the Silver Jubilee and hosting the Olympics, but that is another post.)

Canary Wharf now. The Docklands Development Corporation was a
Thatcher initiative that rebuilt a huge part of London's
derelict East End. Now it's the home of fat cat bankers.

Streep, The Iron Lady and the Chameleon Aspects

2012-01-27T17:48:00.000Z

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.

First there is the striking Sun-Uranus conjunction at a critical degree, 0° Cancer. The planets are just one minute apart. That is magnified by an exact quincunx from Jupiter in Aquarius, which is ruled by Uranus, giving the outer planet extra strength.

Cancer Sun is tremendously sensitive, with an instinctive ability to feel and reflect a mood, just like the Moon, her ruler, reflects the light of the Sun. The Moon is in the 10th house of career and renown in Streep's chart and exalted in Taurus.

Uranus is the magician's planet – and part of Streep's talent is sleight of hand. In The Iron Lady, we concentrate on just how she holds her lower lip with her teeth – exactly like Thatcher – and forget that she has a quite different face really. In her chart, Uranus is embedded right in her self (the Sun).

A lot of film stars have prominent Pluto on the Ascendant or the Midheaven, aspecting personal planets. I've always associated it with sex appeal, a helpful thing to have on the silver screen. But I think the key word for Meryl Streep's chart is transformation. Pluto is the transformer.

So what happens when you have Pluto in Leo (the performer) in the first house (the self) in exact aspect to the 10th house (career) Moon (what comes naturally) in earthy Taurus? Meryl Streep is famous for her ability to change her voice. (Taurus rules the throat and therefore the voice). But she also seems able to transform her very soul to become another person.

So what about this particular part? I guess Streep really did dig deep to find the Iron Lady. When she was making the movie, Saturn (the iron planet) was crossing her Neptune (movies and illusion) and her IC.

As you know if you read this blog, I favour exact or very close aspects. Here is what I found looking at a few charts of actors I consider (very subjectively) have the chameleon quality.

DiCaprio - Uranus-Mercury in the 1st 29 Libra - exact. He also has Pluto rising.

Caine - Uranus opp Moon - Aries-Libra - exact. Pluto in the first trine Sun in the 10th. 2° different.

Winslet Uranus 1 Scorpio - Saturn 1 Leo - exact. Pluto rising conjunct Sun, Moon and Part of Fortune.

Day Lewis - Sun 8 Taurus - Uranus 7 Leo - 1°.

Seymour Hoffman - Aq Moon qq Virg Uranus - exact (but no birthtime)

Kidman - Pluto and Uranus Vir, Can Mercury exact sextile at 20 - exact

Sean Penn - Sun 24 con Uranus 21 in Leo trine Jup in Leo 23 - exact on the midpoint.
Moon-Pluto sextile - exact

Thank You

2012-01-24T16:42:00.000Z

Thanks to everyone who's been using the Amazon button. Much appreciated.

For those of you who don't know: when you feel the urge to splurge, by clicking through to Amazon using the button on this site, you painlessly give a percentage of the sale to The Oxford Astrologer.

Yes it helps to keep the site going.

Unpacking My Library: A Lover's Discourse

2012-01-24T12:13:00.000Z

“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.

Reading Barthes' words on the most magical, painful human condition, being in love, was like having a very kind uncle take me by the hand and say, it's all right, you're not alone, I've been there too.

With Venus, the planet of both the lover and the beloved, in that most romantic of signs, Pisces, right now, what better notion to meditate on than love, the deepest romantic love, the kinds that overwhelms you, that sends you into the land of dreamers and poets, full of passion and anguish, pain and joy.

But also Mars, the planet of sharp, is in Virgo, the sign of criticism, and that fits too, because Barthes slices and dices the state of being in love, analysing each nuance of emotion – jealousy, lust, despair – with a semiotician's precision. If you are in love and it's not going quite according to plan, this is the book to read.

By couching his discussion of love in the language of post-modern criticism instead of poetry, Barthes reduces the pain to bearable bites. The book is divided into short discussions of particular words or phrases - to be engulfed, waiting, to hide, habit, embarrassment, magic, ravishment, union, night and so on - this recalls one particular aspect of love to me - obsession.

Here is Barthes writing about hanging on the telephone:

".. If the other has given me this new telephone number, what was that the sign of? Was it an invitation to telephone right away, for the pleasure of the call, or only should the occasion arise, out of necessity? My answer itself will be a sign, which the other will inevitably interpret, thereby releasing, between us, a tumultuous maneuvering of images. Everything signifies: by this proposition, I entrap myself, I bind myself in calculations, I keep myself from enjoyment..."

"I bind myself in calculations"– oh the pain of it. I may be pressing A Lover's Discourse on my next heartbroken client (who can bear reading a French semiotician).

.

What Astrologers Are Saying About Mars Retrograde

2012-01-23T13:05:00.000Z

Sandro Botticelli's painting depicts exactly what will be happening in the skies at the beginning
of February when Venus opposes sleeping Mars.

Mars the planet of action aggression and war is about to go retrograde in the sign of skill, precision and organisation, Virgo. As you doubtless know, Mars has been in Virgo since December, so we may all already have a bit of a feel of what that means.

Where Mars transits your chart, you are most likely to have real action in your life. For example, Mars in the second house would indicate that money is either coming in or going out faster than usual. Mars in the twelfth might show a lot of activity in the bedroom. Mars crossing the IC is often a good indicator of a change of address or just getting the builders in.

What's different right now is that because Mars is going retrograde, he's spending an unconscionably long time in Virgo. And also because he's retrograde the action may be stalled (rather frustrating) or inward (much better use of the energy). Take a look at your chart to see which house Mars is transiting right now, and you'll get a flavour of where there's bound to be a lot of energy (blocked or not) in the months to come.

Mars retrograde is a strange period because this is the planet of action, but retrograde implies an inward experience. In the painting, Mars is asleep, and while he is asleep the satyrs play with his weapons. What is he dreaming of? At the start of February, Venus will oppose Mars from Pisces, the sign where she is said to behave most beautifully. I am hoping for an outbreak of peace somewhere in the world. Maybe Syria, whose natal Sun is at 22° Virgo.

The fact that this retrograde starts on a New Moon in humanitarian, future-focused sign Aquarius at around the same part of the chart as the Arab Spring leads me to believe that this is start of a new phase in the Middle East process towards self-determination.

In case you were wondering about specifics, Mars is stationing retrograde at 23°. If you have any planets there or in opposition or square to that point, you may feel full of energy but somehow unable to act.

Here are what some other astrologers have to say about Mars retrograde in Virgo.

Rob Tillett is excellent and thorough.

Lynn Koiner has an interesting take.

Molly's Astrology gives a nice summary of Mars retrograde in general.

Lynn Hayes gives a general mood piece on Mars retrograde.

Unpacking My Library: The Confessions

2012-01-20T13:41:00.000Z

Bascove: Reading in Bed

I found myself yesterday, rather to my own surprise, urging a client to read The Confessions by Jean-Jacques Rousseau, a book which was written more than 250 years ago and which I last read about 350 years ago.

This is how it begins and I think you can read a Uranian sense of uniqueness in these words:

I have entered upon a performance which is without example, whose accomplishment will have no imitator. I mean to present my fellow-mortals with a man in all the integrity of nature; and this man shall be myself.

I know my heart, and have studied mankind; I am not made like any one I have been acquainted with, perhaps like no one in existence; if not better, I at least claim originality, and whether Nature did wisely in breaking the mould with which she formed me, can only be determined after having read this work.

Whenever the last trumpet shall sound, I will present myself before the sovereign judge with this book in my hand, and loudly proclaim, thus have I acted; these were my thoughts; such was I. With equal freedom and veracity have I related what was laudable or wicked, I have concealed no crimes, added no virtues; and if I have sometimes introduced superfluous ornament, it was merely to occupy a void occasioned by defect of memory: I may have supposed that certain, which I only knew to be probable, but have never asserted as truth, a conscious falsehood. Such as I was, I have declared myself; sometimes vile and despicable, at others, virtuous, generous and sublime; even as thou hast read my inmost soul: Power eternal! assemble round thy throne an innumerable throng of my fellow-mortals, let them listen to my confessions, let them blush at my depravity, let them tremble at my sufferings; let each in his turn expose with equal sincerity the failings, the wanderings of his heart, and, if he dare, aver, I was better than that man.

Confessions is the first modern autobiography and if you wan to know how the energy of Uranus-Pluto conjunct in Virgo might work in the chart of a genius, read it. If you were born in the 1960s, you have exactly this planetary signature yourself.

It's very easy reading because Jean-Jacques is such an engagingly rubbish human being with such a big mind. He got rid of his five children, he framed a fellow servant, he has various weird and disgusting health problems. All his failings he explains with scrupulous detail. There's the Pluto exposing the truth.

So why suggest to my client to read it? And how come it popped into my head? I had been handling it when it came down from my attic but it was more astrological than that.

Uranus is just about to oppose my client's Sun, making her question her own unique identity. Pluto has just gone past the square, so she'd already had the total exposure of the truth.

I thought she might find Jean-Jacques a helpful companion on her journey into the next phase of her life.

Obi Wan Kenobi vs Darth Vader: Saturn vs Pluto

2012-01-19T18:50:00.000Z

Here is the question that Iris asked on this site: Could you say a bit about how you would distinguish the cutting away of the unnecessary by Saturn from the letting go of the unnecessary by Pluto? How might they feel different?

Iris is right: both of these planets bring loss and even death. Saturn is personified sometimes as the Grim Reaper himself and Pluto is indeed Lord of the Underworld, King of Hell. But although they both bring about endings, the quality of the energy is quite different.

If a person comes into your life under a Saturn transit, he is likely to be a wise, older person, a counsellor, a parent figure, a teacher, even an astrologer; he may be cold and old and settled in his ways, but he is unlikely to wish to harm you as long as you play by his rules (although his rules can be stifling). His main rule is work at it. A Saturn transit well-handled can be profoundly satisfying.

If a Pluto person comes into your life, she may be a sadist, emotionally or even physically; violent, cruel, irrational; brutally honest. Pluto might want to hurt you or use you. Sometimes, you just don't know what Pluto wants because the game she plays is far bigger than you can imagine. Mainly Pluto wants you to see the truth however difficult. A Pluto transit well-handled can be exhilarating, cleansing but almost never without some pain.

So you can see already how the energy is not the same.

Saturn

Saturn is earthy, practical and real. The key words for Saturn transits are duty, responsibility and work. When the planet transits points in your natal chart, you are asked to take responsibility for certain parts of your character or of your life. If you grab that responsibility, you are rewarded. For example, when Saturn crosses your MC, you are just as likely to gain responsibility at work through a promotion, as you are to lose your job.

With Saturn transits you are often given a choice: stay or go, break or build, embrace your responsibility or run away from it. You reap the consequences – often surprisingly quickly but sometimes over a lifetime.

Saturn transits are not as bad as they are painted. But you have to be willing to do your duty.

Let me give you a clear example from my own life. When my first child was born Saturn was on my Moon, which is the planet of motherhood, and also your own inner child. Now if you read the textbooks, they'll tell you that transit is about depression or feeling lonely or emotional loss.

In fact, it was about my becoming a mother. The child in me became a mother in that moment - and because I was ready, my experience was euphoric and joyful. I stepped into motherhood wholeheartedly and grabbed the responsibility that was offered. Saturn rewarded me handsomely. This was a harvest. I had waited a long time (Saturn) to have children and the time was ripe.

Saturn likes patience.

Sometimes it is hard to sort out transits anyway. For example, the 1950s Saturn in Libra lot had Pluto transiting Saturn on their last Saturn Return, so how can they really be sure what is Saturn and what is Pluto?

Pluto

Pluto does not give you a choice. You are often forced to act and if you don't act, someone will do it for you – often brutally. Pluto transforms you. Saturn helps you build or destroy yourself, the choice is yours. With Saturn your circumstances may change, with Pluto your soul may change.

Pluto is more ruthless than Saturn. Because he is so far out in the Solar system, he is even more impersonal. A Pluto transit can feel like a deus ex machina has just walked into your life and skewered you with his light sabre.

Something ugly or inconvenient is often revealed. Secrets and lies come out. Pluto deals with the truth but often seems to take a bitter pleasure in the more unpleasant truths. For example, the scandal of paedophilia in the Church came out under Pluto's transit of Sagittarius (organised religion).

My last big Pluto transit was an opposition to my Moon. My grandmother died and my relationship with my mother was changed as a consequence. A veil was torn away and I suddenly saw things much more clearly. It wasn't nice, and I don't think I handled it as well as I should.

For a good Pluto transit I give you my friend L, who had Pluto squaring her Sun about 10 years ago now. She's an astrologer and so she booked herself in for deep healing of a very intense sort. She knew she would be transformed somehow so she went the whole hog. She looks back at that transit with gratitude, a time when she really understood herself (Sun) very deeply.

I could actually write a book, but I hope that gives you a feel for the difference.

Is This The Most Challenging Saturn Return Ever? Part 2

2012-01-18T14:55:00.000Z

Saturn is in Libra

Oct 29, 2009 - Apr 7, 2010 Jul 21, 2010 – Oct 5, 2012

Sept 21, 1980 – Nov 29, 1982 May 6, 1983 – Aug 24, 1983

Nov 20, 1950 - Mar 7, 195 Aug 13, 1951 – Oct 22, 1953

Oct 7, 1921 – Dec 20, 1923 Apr 6, 1924 – Sep 13, 1924

Before addressing the Saturn Return, let's talk about Saturn in Libra in general. You know, I can't emphasise enough what a good placement this is. (OK, it might not feel like it just now.)

Saturn is exalted in the sign of the scales. That means he is at his best. He behaves better here than in any other sign. His obsession with rules and regulations is modified by a balance and fairness, by partnership, by intelligence.

The more people I meet with this placement, the more I admire and respect them as a group. People with Saturn in Libra are blessed with the following:

practical fairness,
clear, rational problem-solving,
a sense of social justice and duty,
an understanding that personal relationships are serious,
loyalty to partners, commitment, the desire to work at relationships, these people are grown up about relationships,
practical intelligence Libra is a very bright sign, like all the air signs, but this sometimes gets overlooked. With Saturn here, that Libran intelligence is put to practical purpose. Saturn is not a personal planet, so the intelligence tends to be less foregrounded, more subtle. It manifests more in how Saturn Libra gets things done.

Even Shiva and Parvati had their problems.

Why is it such a special placement? Because Saturn in Libra, when well expressed, truly supports a partner, puts other people first. Saturn in Libra shares.

Here is the downside. Obviously the main area of difficulty is likely to be relationships which come under the rulership of Libra.

working on relationships that aren't worth the candle. Getting stuck in a partnership that is a bad habit.
choosing difficult partnerships. It may not feel like it at the time, this is ultimately a growth experience. You need to look at it rationally and ask yourself: are we better off together or apart
fear of commitment. You must face this fear (if you have it) and figure out how you are blocking yourself. Are you deliberately choosing the wrong people? Are you staying single for too long?

The 1980s generation
Right now, this generation is experiencing their torrid first Saturn Return. Saturn is important for many of them anyway, since they may have a Jupiter conjunct Saturn natally, which is one of the most challenging and character-building aspects. These big planets are the two kings of solar system with opposite ways of ruling the world. Saturn contracts, Jupiter expands. The conjunction (which happens every 20 years) promises great potential. But they fight each other. Saturn is about contraction and Jupiter about expansion. In the second house for example, this combo often shows people who are always broke but always able to earn a crust.

It took them years to get to the altar, v Saturnian.

Or they may have a Pluto-Saturn conjunction, or a Saturn-Jupiter-Pluto conjunction. Pluto plus Saturn is really tough. In Libra, this would suggest the early experiences of partnership (e.g. their parents' marriage) may have been pretty harsh. (I can't help thinking of Prince William, born in 1982 with Jupiter, Pluto, Saturn, Mars in a stellium. His parents marriage was exactly a paradigm he did not want to follow. He learned the lesson (Saturn) of bad marriage.)

Pluto plus Saturn in the long run suggests people who can transform partnership, take it to a new level. But in the short term, it can mean that life deals you some tough lessons. You may even have had to grow up fast.

Of course the power and intensity of these planets depends on how they interact with the rest of the chart. If they are well integrated with the more personal planets (Sun, Moon, Mercury and so on), then you may deal with these energies so well that you hardly notice them.

The 1950s generation

Isabella Rossellini (b.1952) and her
then-partner David Lynch. Picture says it all really.

You'd think that the previous generation born with Saturn in Libra in the early 1950s would have had an easier time with relationships – after all they have dreamy, romantic Neptune in Libra too and Saturn would be in a handy sextile to wicked Pluto in Leo for many of them.

Far from it. Neptune's idealism has made partnership really quite difficult: there is no such thing as perfect. But with Saturn there, you just keep on trying – and you take relationships really, really seriously. And with Pluto in Leo one of your most important life-missions is the transformation of the self. You may well have effected this through relationships.

These are the flower children born with Uranus in Cancer, who did so much to change how we think of the idea "mother".

You can see how this pattern starts to work. The whole structure of families shifted thanks to these people and I expect more shifts as they become grandparents.

So Saturn has returned for these generations born with such powerful alignment of planets. They have come of age. And what have they walked into? Oh - just the biggest planetary firestorm since the 1960s.

More in the next post....

But meanwhile here are some related posts.
The Royal Wedding: Celebrating Power
For all the Royal Wedding/Middleton posts click here.

The Oxford Astrologer on Facebook

2012-01-16T13:59:00.000Z

I've just started an FB page for The Oxford Astrologer. I'm still trying to get my head around how to use it properly, but meanwhile here's the link. Do go and like it.

Is This The Most Challenging Saturn Return Ever? Part 1

2012-01-16T13:54:00.000Z

Father Time by Edmund Dulac.

I started writing this post a while ago and realised there was so much to say that I'd have to split it into three to do justice to the subject, so here is the first part.

In the past 12-month, I have read a lot of charts for people experiencing either their first or second Saturn Return. And the more I have looked at these charts and talked to these individuals, the more I have asked myself: did these Saturn Return generations get dealt the nastiest planetary hand to play in the hardest game of astrological poker ever? The answer was yes – and no.

If you have Saturn in Libra (born in the early 1950s or early 1980s), I'm talking about you. But everyone else (including me) can learn something from your experience.

Before plunging into the specifics for these generations, I think it's useful to remind ourselves of exactly what a Saturn Return is.

Put simply the Saturn Return is when the planet of responsibility and duty comes back to the place he was on the day you were born. It will have taken about 29 years for the old boy to make his way around the zodiac, bringing challenges and lessons to each sign he passes through.

Your first Saturn Return is when you officially come of age as an adult. Your second is when you step into the true seniority and find yourself at the beginning of the "third age". If you're lucky enough to get to a third Saturn Return, then I'd really like to hear what you can tell me about it.

Quite often the Saturn Return brings with it a feeling of now or never. You feel you have to take your life in your hands and make difficult choices if you want to live a full existence. Much depends on what you have done with the previous 28 years. If things haven't gone too well, the Saturn Return can be pretty miserable, but if you're doing OK, this can be a time of real achievement.

The first two Saturn Returns happen at around 29 years of age and around 58, but really the Return is the entire period that Saturn is in the same sign as he was when you were born, so it spans about two and a half years. What is more, Saturn usually hits the natal degree three times – forwards, backwards and then forwards again. Although if you're lucky it might happen just once and, if you're really get whipped, five times.

Until the discovery of Uranus a couple of hundred years ago, Saturn was the considered the boundary, the full stop at the end of the solar system. That's important in understanding the planet's symbolism. The Saturn cycle marks eras in your life. You can look at it in seven-year chunks (that's a quarter a cycle) or 28 year chunks and you are bound to find a pattern. The Saturn Return marks a full stop at the end of one life chapter and the beginning of the next one.

Melancholy by Edvard Munch, painted in 1891 during his first Saturn Return.

In your natal chart, he appears in the area of life (house) where you will have to learn some serious lessons. It's where you will have to overcome obstacles in order to become a fulfilled individual. He also symbolises the father and the part of your own psyche which acts as your "father", the maker of rules, the disciplinarian (or not), the critic. It's where you may block yourself, or be blocked.

Saturn is rock, earth, solid. Saturn is about building, about working, about striving.

He spends about 2.5 years in each sign. What does he do while he visits a sign?

Saturn' is maturing. He rules the harvest. So when Saturn arrives in a sign, it's ripe. This is metaphorical, of course. He is Father Time himself, carrying a long sharp scythe, ready to cut away what is unnecessary and what is simply ready to be threshed. He establishes boundaries. He brings responsibility. He makes foundations.Wherever he transits your chart you may experience difficulties but also garner rewards for jobs well done.

Imagine a peasant (in buckskin and rabbit fur if you like), cutting down his wheat, and remarking the boundaries of his field, walking the land he cultivates, weighing the flour from the miller, taking stock. Saturn rules the deep winter months of Capricorn and Aquarius, when the world is at its stillest.

The first time that Saturn returns to the degree where he was on the day you were born, you can expect a reckoning to take place. There will be a tally of how well you have done and how far you have to go. It's time to face reality and ask yourself the hard questions, like, am I on the way to living the life I want? Am I the person I want to be? All too often the answer is, not really.

Remember that Saturn is exalted in Libra, the sign of the balance, used for weighing and measuring.

Many astrologers would say that you aren't fully adult until after your first Saturn Return and the whole time that Saturn is in the sign he was at your birth is time of testing.

And your second Saturn Return may well be just as tough. This at a time when you have enough life behind you to really be able to judge yourself. If you feel you've done your best in the circumstances, this can be a good feeling, but if you feel you've wasted a lot of time and effort on nonsense, the second Saturn Return can be even harder than the first. You will be acutely aware that time is running out.

On your Saturn Returns, he asks this crucial question: "How well have you spent your time on Earth?"

Part Two of this comes on Wednesday, when I'll look at Saturn in Libra. Meanwhile here are links to an excellent series on the mythology of Saturn by Isy, which was published here at The OA over the summer.

Castration, Rape and A Sharp Blade: Saturn's Tricky Childhood

The (Kind of Creepy) Birth of Venus

When Saturn Goes Off The Rails

The major book on the subject is by Liz Greene. I've come across a lot of people for whom this was their first encounter with real astrology. It's excellent despite being past it's first Saturn Return.

Burma's Thaw: Managing Inevitable Change

2012-01-13T10:25:00.000Z

Burma's generals.

Why has Burma's junta, which has ruled the country for decades with steely ruthlessness, decided that this is the time to start making peace with its rebels, release political prisoners and allow elections?

Could it have anything to do with the fact that the generals who run the country consult astrologers before every decision?

I think it might.

It's obvious that we are in a period of great change globally. To a Western astrologer, this evidently corresponds to the alignments of the outer planets - Uranus, Pluto, Neptune and Saturn. The Burmese use a system closer to the Vedic or Indian one, which traditionally discounts planets discovered since ancient times. But clearly their astrologers have reached the conclusion that change is inevitable, so it is better to manage it.

The current group of eclipses has been batting across Burma's Ascendant-Descendant axis, and last

This date and time were chosen by astrologers to
ensure a powerful start for Burma. Jupiter rising, Mars on the MC.

January saw a solar eclipse on Burma's Sun. This June there will be a lunar eclipse just 1° from Burma's crucial Jupiter rising. These all indicate change – especially in strategic partnerships. But there is much more change to come.

You can see that the next six months will be a time of change for the country, as Mars, the action planet, crosses and recrosses the MC, which represents the Burma's rulers. Mars in Virgo can be about housekeeping, getting everything nice and tidy for the next step.

The progressed Moon, which signifies the people, has moved to the third house of communication and is currently exactly opposite that dominating Pluto at the top of the chart. This may suggest a greater equality in the relationship between the people and their rulers, more balance. The third house transit of the progressed Moon shows the people may finally be getting a voice.

Pluto, the planet of transformation, is slowly approaching Burma's Capricorn Sun and will conjunct it in 2014. This is the same year that Uranus, revolution, opposes the natal Moon. Major change is coming. So Burma's rulers are wise to try to go with that energy.

But Uranus-Pluto can be a pretty brutal combination and we are hoping for an orchid revolution with Aung San Suu Kyi leading the country to democracy. With Jupiter stimulating her natal Mars-Venus conjunction and Mars transiting her natal Jupiter, the Lady has a lot of power and luck on her side this year. Her profile is going to be exceptionally high, which means she has more cards in her hands than usual.

Neptune, idealism and faith, will sweep across the IC in the next decade, suggesting a wave of nationalist feeling (or floods, of course). Let's hope the nationalist feeling is caused by the successful move to democracy.

One last thought, this is a potentially very rich country in a strategic location sandwiched between China and India. Burma's ability to transform itself into a fairer, freer place and remain independent of foreign influence could have a major beneficial impact on the region's balance of power.

I have written quite a lot about Burma in the past.
To read more about Aung San Suu Kyi's astrology and her relationship with Burma, click here.
To read more aboutt the astrology of Burma in general, click here.

Unpacking My Library: The Mystery of Numbers

2012-01-12T12:47:00.000Z

I moved into this house four years ago and, what with one thing and another, up until December half my books had been packed in boxes up in the attic. This has been a source of grievous discontent to me, but the ingress of action planet Mars into bookish Virgo saw a couple of boxes come down and oh joy, there was a whole cache of books for my esoterica (mostly astrology) library.

So I thought as an occasional series, I'd tell you about some of my favourite books. These are the ones I use again and again – for inspiration, for reference or just for fun.

The Mystery of Numbers
Annemarie Schimmel

This is a ragbag collection of pretty much everything Schimmel could find out about numbers, but since she was one of the foremost professors of Islamic culture in the 20th century and a general know-all, it makes for quite a collection of stuff. It\s as if she opened the top of her head, reached in and rootled around, and yanked out a handful of crazy facts about each number. Mostly she's interested in mysticism, religion, myth, symbolism and astrology. And just occasionally some maths.

Randomness is why I like this book. It's organised from 0 to infinity with a short or long entry depending on how much there is to say.

Here are a few things I learned from reading it.

The Pleiades disappear for 40 days every year.
The idea of a seven-fold path to enlightenment is common to Siberian shamans and St Teresa of Avila as well as most other mystics in between.
The German god Odin had a horse with eight legs. And this is a shamanic symbol too, used in Siberia to express ecstatic experiences.
Who knows why a football team has 11 players? Is it because 10 is a perfect round number and 11 expresses human imperfection?
The Jewish Kabbalah and the Muslim sufi tradition have quite a lot in common, including a fondness for the number one.

To buy this book at Amazon (and help support this site) click on the picture.

Astrology of Now: Goodbye to Neptune in Aquarius

2012-01-09T23:40:00.000Z

2011: Idealism + action / Neptune + Uranus

Neptune, the god of idealism, illusion, fashion, faith, glamour and mist, is in the very last degree of Aquarius now. This is momentous because he will not return to this spot for, oooh, another 160 years or so.

We are in the very end game of Neptune in Aquarius until February 3. It'll be interesting to see if anything unfolds over the next three weeks that somehow sums up the misty one's tour through the sign of the geek.

The things that have been in fashion for the past 14 years have had an Aquarian in flavour – and not always in the way one might have predicted (Why weren't we all dressed like a cross between Ellen DeGeneres and Eddie Izzard?). But looking back, it's easy to see certain themes that have been extremely Aquarian.

2006

We talk about the "celebrity culture" of the noughties. The truth is that as long as there's been the gutter press (like since the first newspaper), there's been celebrity journalism. What was different about the noughties was the raising of ordinary people to celebrity status. The "common man or woman" is ruled by Aquarius. Need I say reality TV to you? TV is ruled by Neptune.

Aquarius also rules computing and high-tech, and especially social networking. Have you noticed how geekdom has been glamourised in the past ten years. I mean someone made (a rather good) movie about Faceboy Zuckerberg for goodness sake. Then there's the near-deification of Julian Assange and Steve Jobs.

2010

How about the maths wonks on Wall Street and in the City of London. Every bank had to have a room or two full of quants working away at their algorithms. Yes, the algorithms that hid the bad housing debt that got us all in the deep doodoo. With Neptune's mystification it didn't seem so important that no one could actually understand the formulae. Will the wonks finally get their comeuppance when Neptune takes away the glamour? I jolly hope so.

2011

This past year, we've seen how people all over the world have stood up for those Aquarian ideals (Neptune again) – fairness and freedom. Neptune (faith) in Aquarius (humanity). People have stood up for the people.

This is exactly what happened last time Neptune was in the 29th degree of Aquarius, in the so-called "Year of Revolutions" 1848. (To read more about this click here.) Just a few days after Neptune moved into Pisces, the Communist Manifesto was published - a document full of Aquarian ideas about raising up the common man.

So what will happen when Neptune moves on? Will those high, beautiful concepts just fade away? Well, the Communist Manifesto didn't and eventually the 1848 dream of universal suffrage became a reality across Europe - but not until very recently for many of the countries that saw those 1848 uprisings - Hungary, Slovakia and Poland for example.

Interestingly, most of those countries had to wait until 1989, when Neptune swept through Capricorn, the sign of government. In fact in 1989, Neptune was where Pluto, the destroyer, will be this year. Makes you think doesn't it.

All the outer planets bring change. But when Neptune helped to change the face of Europe back in 1989 it was on a wave of jubilation. (Things soon went wrong in the former Yugoslavia, of course, but that is another story.)

In the case of the Middle East and the Western Occupy movement this year, the demand for change has come from the generation weaned on Aquarian technology. The idealism of Neptune has been an important part of the mix. Without idealistic, self-sacrificing Neptune in this critical last degree of Aquarius, would the Uranus-Pluto square have brought anything other that violent rebellion?

I think the altruism of Aquarius has been absolutely evident in 2011. But what will happen when Neptune moves to Pisces?

Well, to me two important things eventually came out of those 1848 revolutions: the end of feudalism in Austria and Prussia, and ultimately the end of serfdom in Russia. And on the same theme, the last leg of Neptune's tour of Pisces saw the election of Abraham Lincoln and the start of the Civil War that brought an end to slavery in the USA. (Yes, I know it wasn't all plain sailing after that.)

And now, in 2012, who are the slaves that need liberating, I wonder.

Will 2012 See A Falklands Rematch?

2012-01-05T21:21:00.001Z

Margaret Thatcher in her prime in 1983.

I have a few thoughts on potentials in the UK chart for 2012. Here's one of them.

Back in 2010, I predicted riots and a royal wedding for 2011, since I thought we were likely to see some themes from 1981 repeat.* In 1981 the riots were a lot more serious and the wedding turned out to be a sham, but you can see the parallel worked.

So if it worked for 1981-2011, how about 1982-2012. History never repeats itself exactly, but I do think there's one event to which we should pay some heed.

In 1982 Argentina invaded the Falkland Islands, a British protectorate just off the coast of South America. Margaret Thatcher sent the fleet down to recapture the islands. Back then Pluto was in the UK's first house along with Saturn. With those two heavy hitting planets on our side, the war was over very fast. The navy was a sledgehammer. Thatcher, who had been very unpopular, suddenly struck political gold.

Right now, Argentinian generals could not choose a better time to take back the Malvinas. UK Chancellor George Osborne has just decimated the navy, and the military is weak and dissipated thanks to cuts and two lengthy, draining engagements (Afghanistan and Iraq). In December 2011, South American countries united to block Falklands vessels using their ports.

This time the power is distributed differently in the UK chart. Uranus is approaching the seventh house of friends and enemies – equals. Britain should look forward to a year of surprise moves by both partners (the EU and USA) and enemies (Argentina). The other guys have a lot more firepower and the element of surprise. Saturn is in the first house again, hence these austere times, but he does not have the support of Pluto.

In fact, Pluto, the destroyer, is sailing dangerously close to the UK Sun and IC. This has never happened to this UK chart because it was born in 1801. The last time Pluto was in Capricorn (1767-1784), Britain gained Bengal (via the East India Company) which set the country on the way to becoming an empire and lost America.

My advice to David Cameron? Sell the Falklands to the highest bidder and pay off some of our national debt, please. Now that would be a radical move. And come to think of it, why stop there? Surely there are a few other islands we could flog...

*This is to do with how Saturn works in the UK chart. To read that piece, click here.

Absolutely Fabulous Astrology

2012-01-04T21:02:00.000Z

Heaven - gawping at Edina and Patsy.

Last night, my beautiful daughter came downstairs trembling in her pyjamas after having gone to sleep hours earlier.

"I heard a witch laughing and it scared me awake."

"Oh," me, sheepishly. "I think it was me."

"It was you, mummy."

I lo-o-o-ve Absolutely Fabulous. It does make me shriek with laughter though.

While my sweetie was getting back to sleep (with the help of the warlock), I checked out the show's astrodynamics. Interestingly, the three central characters have been given birthdays and I think they portray the worst of their Sun signs rather well.

Patsy - Scorpio (Oct 30, ???) - mean & voracious (but stylish)

Edina - Leo (6 Aug, 1951) - monster ego (but generous)

Saffy - Pisces (17 March 1975) - doormat (but intelligent)

I think Jennifer Saunders has been reading an astrology book, don't you?

Myth-making in a City of Scholars: JRR Tolkien, C S Lewis and all

2012-01-04T00:28:00.001Z

I still get a small thrill when I walk past number 20 Northmoor Road after dropping my kids off at school. Half a century ago, JRR Tolkien wrote The Hobbit and the first two volumes of The Lord of the Rings in that unprepossessing suburban house.

I've often wondered if there were something particular about Oxford, this damp, introverted, ancient town of scholars, that particularly encourages the invention of other worlds. Is there something about living in this riverine place where the Isis, the Windrush, the Cherwell and the Thames mingle, that makes one's imagination expand? Or does the bone-chilling damp make one desperate to be elsewhere?

I wonder this walking down Northmoor Road, because it's not just JRR Tolkien who lived and worked and dreamed here. Lewis Carroll sent Alice down the rabbit hole from his rooms in Christ Church; C S Lewis imagined a faun with an umbrella walking through Narnia here; Philip Pullman dreamt up Lyra; Diana Wynn Jones conjured Chrestomanci.

This is a Capricorn town according to the Renaissance astrologer William Lilly, who was a frequent visitor to Oxford, so the city is ruled by father time himself, Saturn. And it's certainly the heart of the British establishment, and old, and stony, and rule-bound and full of ritual – all Saturnian things. Scholars are keepers and measurers of time.

But Capricorn is not a sign we associate with flights of fancy. On the contrary, Capricorn is about keeping it real.

I suppose you could argue that one thing these authors have in common is the consistency and realness of the world's they create. Middle Earth, Narnia, Chrestomanci, the rabbit hole – all make sense within their own rules. Middle Earth is so clear that I think most readers would recognise it immediately if they were transported there.

C S Lewis (Sag), Lewis Carroll (Aq), Philip Pullman (Libra), Diana Wynn Jones (Leo): each has invented and explored other worlds, imagined with such detail and conviction. Then there's JRR Tolkien himself. It's his birthday today (Jan 3).

Here is his chart.

And what a perfect chart for a fantasy writer. He has a writer's signature – Virgo rising, Gemini on the career angle. Both signs are ruled by Mercury, the communicator: Virgo edits, Gemini tells stories.

Then there's the beautiful grand trine in intellectual air. At the top there's Pluto (transformer) conjunct Neptune (fantasy) approaching the Midheaven from the religious and philosophical 9th house (which incidentally also rules publishing). Pluto-Nepttune surely shows dark vision. His generation would have seen two world wars, which were enough to make anyone see through a glass darkly.

Venus (art) joins the grand trine from Aquarius, a sign that's brilliant at seeing invention and seeing how ideas fit together. And Saturn (exalted in Libra) gets things done from the first house. Saturn in the first works hard, but with that trine it's productive.

Mercury, the storyteller, is also in productive Capricorn, squaring the Saturn. It's interesting that this is another 0° Capricorn planet. I've said it before and I'll say it again, Capricorn is the sign of the shaman. Previously, I was writing about singers with this placement pulling music from the bowels of the earth. Here we have an author pulling stories out of Middle Earth. (To read my previous piece, click here)

Mercury is neatly sextile the Moon. Although the birth time looks suspiciously rounded off, I'd guess the Pisces moon is right. It fits with the huge imagination and also with the devoted father and husband. Apparently, he adored his family.

It's interesting to see Uranus in the house of talent. It's the planet of genius and eccentricity, of course, and you'd expect it to be strongly placed, which it is, striking sparks off nearly all the other planets. No one would have thought that a children's book could be so culturally significant or so darn lucrative. The second house is income too. I expect Tolkien was pretty surprised by the amount of money he made. He'd be even more surprised if he knew how much his legacy was worth.

In case you were wondering, when the films came out in 2001-2003 his chart was very active. Yes, charts carry on telling working post mortem. On his birthday in 2001, Jupiter was transiting his Neptune-Pluto Midheaven; he became, if possible, even more famous. Saturn was on his North Node, a time of destiny. Neptune was exactly trining his Uranus, a flood of money. And Pluto was on the IC - his legacy was transformed.

I wonder if Peter Jackson consults an astrologer for these things, because when The Hobbit movie is released in December this year, guess what, Jupiter is going to be right back up there tickling Neptune-Pluto under the chin again. Jupiter works in 12-year cycles remember. What's more Neptune will have moved into Pisces, conjuncting Tolkien's moon. Something about this movie is really going to feed into the collective mood of our times. The story will speak to us even more powerfully than it ever has before.

Here's what Tolkien wrote in his poem Mythopoeia, which is a defence of myth makers, fairy tales, and story tellers of all kinds. (I would include astrologers,) I think this may have something to do with the effect the movie will have.

"Blessed are the legend-makers with their rhyme
of things not found within recorded time.
It is not they that have forgot the Night,
or bid us flee to organized delight,
in lotus-isles of economic bliss
forswearing souls to gain a Circe-kiss
(and counterfeit at that, machine-produced,
bogus seduction of the twice-seduced). .."

Hmm, sounds like our times does it not.

He believed that stories, in particular myths and fairly tales, show us truths far more profound than any so-called fact. Tolkien's vision was grand and deeply spiritual (Jupiter in Pisces). Perhaps he needed the solidity of this place to keep his feet on the ground while he allowed his mind to grow as big as a whole universe.

[Oh my goodness, I almost forgot.] You could buy a copy of The Hobbit.

How Adele is a Shaman

2012-01-02T18:34:00.000Z

Listen to this.

You wouldn't think that the British singer Adele turned 21 last May, would you? She has the voice of, well, experience.

When I hear a voice like hers, I ask myself where's the Capricorn?

Nina Simone...what a voice

This is because I've noticed that Sun or Moon in Capricorn often (not always) goes with really big voices, or just old sounding voices like Eartha Kitt's. Sometimes Capricorn seems to give the ability to reach right down into the guts of the earth and drag out music, like Janis Joplin. It is after all the sign of the shaman. There's a quality of earthy experience there that seems quite natural to these singers.

Here are some singers with Sun in Capricorn: Elvis, Shirley Bassey, Patti Smith, Scott Walker, Joan Baez, Annie Lennox, Beth Gibbons (Portishead), Captain Beefheart, Michael Stipe.

And it's no surprise that some Capricorn musicians – Dolly Parton and David Bowie for example - have excellent heads for business.

Here are some singers with Moon in Capricorn: Sarah Vaughn, Tammy Wynette, Patsy Cline, Stevie Nicks, Wynonna Judd, Billie Holiday, Nina Simone, Dinah Shore, Elisabeth Schwarzkopf, oh and David Byrne. That's a lot of country music and some serious blues.

She's a shaman for sure.

Just in case you were wondering, according to the given birth time for Amy Winehouse, she was born with the Moon at 0° Capricorn: that's a critical degree which means extra power. It's also the same degree as the great diva Maria Callas' Venus.

So what about Adele? She has not got the Sun or the Moon in the sign of the goatfish. Instead she comes from a generation with a stellium of outer planets in Capricorn, including Neptune who we associate with musicality.

That Neptune trines her Sun-Jupiter conjunction in Taurus, the sign that rules the throat and often goes with a beautiful voice. With Jupiter there, it's no surprise that she has such a huge sound.

Adele's Uranus (a spark of genius) is at 0° Capricorn too.

I think we're in for a treat with the Neptune in Capricorn generation coming of age now.

January Horoscopes

2012-01-02T11:25:00.000Z

Hallelujah! January horoscopes are here. Click this link to go to them.

Meanwhile, clean your braincells with this from Ron Minis.

New Year's Resolutions

2012-01-01T10:43:00.001Z

The Orphic Egg from
which the first god hatched.

Happy New Year, everyone.

Like quite a lot of people, I spent a while last night thinking about New Year's resolutions. And you know, I can't think of one that I have made or kept, so I thought this one should be different, especially since we had an intriguingly powerful planetary line up as 2012 was born.

The 'Lights', the most important 'planets' in the chart were aligned with the the Uranus-Pluto square that has dominated the cosmos this year, bringing so much upheaval.

The Sun, bringer of life, was lined up with Pluto, bringer of death and transformation, in this month's sign, Capricorn. You can end something, bury it, finish it off.

The Moon, our emotions and instincts, was lined up with Uranus, change and revolution, in Aries the sign of beginning. You can start something, instil a new habit, change the way you feel.

With this kind of help, we might just be able to keep this year's resolution.

I've made some suggestions here by Sun sign, since the Sun is the core of our identity. How we treat the Sun, allowing it to outshine all the other planets, or suppressing it is vital to our well being, so think about how you could nurture your Sun or encourage it to behave in a way that is contrary to its nature and therefore soul-expanding.

It's your oyster.

Aries - I will have an adventure
Taurus - I will share - my talent, my hoard or my time
Gemini - I will make a point of concentrating on a project and completing it
Cancer - I will stop squitching and take care of someone who's not family
Leo - I will be completely, totally and consciously me at least once a day
Virgo - I will take a risk however small, once a week - and I will not listen to that critical voice

Libra - I will stop worrying about what other people think or do, and examine my own actions and conscience.
Scorpio - I will forgive - other people and also myself
Sagittarius - I will listen properly and consciously at least once a week and see what I can learn from that.
Capricorn - I will have fun and forget my responsibilities and strategies once a week without fail
Aquarius - I will allow myself to feel
Pisces - I will use my mentality, wake up to reality

The Breath of the Zodiac

2011-12-29T22:23:00.000Z

I love this time between Christmas and New Year. I like to stay quiet in my lair and think and talk and stare at the fire. It's a pause in the year's activity like the white space at the end of a paragraph.

It's deeply, profoundly, awesomely yin - that is dark, introverted, earthy, connected to the bowels of the world. The world is taking the deepest in breath of the year. Just as Aries shouts, Capricorn takes the big belly breath.

Think of the world breathing with the Zodiac: exhaling on the positive signs (fire and air), inhaling on the negative signs (earth and water).

Here's what I wrote about the Yin of Capricorn last year.

Merry Christmas!

2011-12-24T14:49:00.000Z

Heart was purring, but you wouldn't think so to look at him!

Hey, it's rather an auspicious Christmas this year. Who'd have thought it!

Astrologically, it's a pretty thrilling couple of days - with a New Moon in earthy, sensible Capricorn today (Christmas Eve) at 6.30 pm GMT, followed by the planet of jollity (and over-doing it) Jupiter rolling forward at just past 10pm GMT on Christmas day. Jupiter is in lovely aspect to the New Moon from pivotal 0º earthy Taurus.

At the same time that Jupiter starts to go forward, the Moon sends a perfect beam to Mars, the action planet, who's cruising through earthy Virgo. So you see, it's all kicking off.

You couldn't have a better time for initiating something. Nice on baby Jesus' birthday.

Peace and joy to you and all of your loved ones. Make it a lovely day.

That Link on the Left

2011-12-21T16:22:00.001Z

I don't do ads on this site. But I have just added this Amazon button.

It works like this. If you were about to buy something on Amazon and you clicked through here instead of going straight to the big A, The Oxford Astrologer would get a percentage, but you wouldn't pay any more for the product.

That seems OK to me, but tell me if you think otherwise.

Sagittarian Self Portraits: Half Human Half Beast

2011-12-20T13:12:00.000Z

Lucien Freud, Dec 8, 1922. Not someone you'd want to take to tea with grandma.

There's a darkness to Sagittarius. Often it's hidden behind a bold front – a big belly, a tornado of talk or just loudness.

Sagittarius is the first sign of the zodiac to be represented by a mythical creature, a centaur, half human, half wild. The tutelary deity of this sign is Diana, goddess of the hunt, also half wild. And often Sagittarians seem like that, like half-tame beasts in you drawing room, as they knock over the flowers and insult your partner. They strain at the leash, and civilised like sometimes gets them down - whether or not they know it.

Edvard Munch

Lucien Freud - old, saggy, craggy, wearing a pair of unlaced boots - holds a palette knife in one hand lifted in gesture at the canvas we look at. I think this is his masterpiece. It's merciless, ugly. He looks at himself and sees man as monster. He's famous, of course, for his portraits of other people. But those never reveal the character of the sitter; they simply show Freud's loathing of humanity and his agility with a paintbrush. In this self-portrait, he reveals himself boldly. Did he like himself?

Bernini, 7 Dec

Here is another Sagittarian looming out of the darkness. Edvard Munch saw monsters too. Here he is surrounded by shadows. A while ago I went to a seminar with Frank Clifford who mentioned that he often found Sagittarians, contrary to what you read in the astrology books, were prone to depression. I have found this too. I know more people with strongly Sagittarian charts who are on prescription drugs or who self-medicate than any other sign except maybe Pisces. This is interesting because both are ruled by the king of jollity, Jupiter. I should add that the two people at the seminar who did have strong Sagittarius in their charts were both perfectly happy and full of benison, which just goes to show that you can use this energy positively or negatively.

One reason for this depressive tendency is that Sagittarius has such high expectations of life's adventure.

Paul Klee - hardly sees himself
as human at all.

Gian Lorenzo Bernini also emerges from the darkness in this magnificent self-portrait from around 1623. He's best remembered for his stunning, dynamic sculptures. You are probably familiar with his St Teresa. Here is his interpretation of the Medusa, her beautiful features drawn with pain as she realises her fate. He seemed to have an understanding of the inner beast.

Wassily Kandinsky - an
icon of himself.

And then there's Sagittarius the professor, the teacher, the lecturer. Probably the most famous art school of the 20th century was the Bauhaus in Weimar, Germany. It was founded by the architect Walter Gropius in 1919 and closed by the Nazis in 1933. The ideas taught there still influence the way we see the world and are taught about art today.

Diego Rivera

Two key professors? Paul Klee and Wassily Kandinsky, both serious, daring artists in their own rights as well the inspirers of generations of art students.

At the same time, on the other side of the Atlantic, larger than life Diego Rivera husband of the equally famous Frida Kahlo (Cancer) was making art that would inspire generations of Mexican artists. He was a famous bon viveur, of course, fat, greedy, womanising, full of life - the embodiment of Jupiter himself. Hell to be married to, of course. But in this portrait he looks like a professor.

Another artists' union, between Picasso (Scorpio) and Francoise Gilot (Sagittarius), caused something of a sensation mid-century. He was old enough to be her grandpa. The relationship overshadowed the strength of Gilot's work. This self-portrait seems to be all about freedom - another preoccupation of the centaur.

Francoise Gilot (Nov 26)

North Korea: The Tyrant is Dead, Long Live the Tyrant

2011-12-19T20:48:00.000Z

A stamp commemorates Kim Jong Il's
meeting with Hu Jintao.

Well, it's been quite a year for departures, has it not. Ben Ali, Mubarak Bin Laden. Berlusconi, Papandreou, Havel. Kim Jong Il, North Korea's beloved, is just the latest leader to vacate his throne. Will North Korea come out of the cold as a result?

I don't have a birth time, so this chart is set for noon on Korean independence day, 9 September 1948. The Moon is cuspal, although I'd be surprised if it was not in Scorpio which fits so perfectly with N. Korea's isolationism. I've put in the transits for today and you can see that Mars is exactly on the natal Sun, and Jupiter is 2° from opposing natal Mars. I think the South Koreans are right to be on alert. Mars, of course, could be read as the young heir coming to replace the old Sun.

What is more the current transiting Uranus, planet of change, is in hard aspect to the natal Uranus in nationalistic Cancer. Transiting Uranus challenges that nationalism. Will the new leader disappoint? Jupiter, expansion, supports the natal Uranus, so I'd expect to see a huge outpouring of manic nationalistic fervour.

North Korea*

What's interesting is that Mars is spending a long time in Virgo this time around. Mars usually only spends about two and a half months in each sign.

The action planet will pass over that same degree in February and then in June 2012. That could be quite interesting. In February, Neptune (mass consciousness) will trine the natal Uranus (awakening). Both planets are in water signs, with Uranus in the sign of motherland Cancer and Neptune finally returned to its own sign, Pisces.

This is certainly a time of change for the country, but I don't think North Korea will join neatly into the pro-democracy movements that are sweeping the rest of the world. In fact, I think these may be quite dangerous times ahead for the Koreas. China, enormous and powerful, sitting on Korea's northern border, may be waiting for just this opportunity to influence a new young leader, and distract from its own internal problems.

To read my closer examination of the chart and the two Koreas' toxic sibling rivalry, click here.

*Nick Campion in his excellent Book of World Horoscopes suggests September 10 for North Korea, although he's not terribly convinced. That gives Sagittarius Moon, but I think this is the better chart - and it is for the day actually celebrated as independence day, which I feel counts for a lot. For disputed national charts, I always try to use more than one source.

Last Minute Presents For The Empty of Wallet

2011-12-19T13:27:00.014Z

You've been making one of these right.
Tell me if you know who took this pic.

How do you choose something really special without breaking the bank?

Well, clearly you should have spent the last 12 months handcrafting a variety of exquisite crocheted garments for all your friends and family. However, if you're like me, you are frantically realising that you completely forgot you'd be seeing whatsername over the holidays and he/she/it will be expecting something...

Well, the Mercury retrograde is done, so there's no excuse to delay any more.

Here are some suggestions for last minute giftlets. I'm assuming we're all on the same austerity budget, so if you're expecting me to recommend a Ferrari for the Leo and a trip to the Bahamas for the Sag, forget about it. We're talking skinflint with a heart here.

Read the Moon and Rising signs if you know those. You'll know what fits when you read it.

Fire - A gift that inspires
Aries need to feel unique and special, but they are not - as a rule - greedy. So for a the most fiery person in the Zodiac, a bag of interesting chillies. But write something good and flattering to go with it.

Red Hot Chilli Peppers for Aries

Books: Anything adventurous - Touching the Void (mountaineering), King Solomon's Mines, Biggles, Round the World in 80 Days

The Lion notoriously likes classy, but this list is all about cheap, right. It's too late to whip up a jar of marmalade, but really delicious, speciality honey from a local beekeeper, beautifully wrapped should work. Truly, there's all the energy of the Sun in a little glass jar.

Books: The Line of Beauty (only for gay Leos I guess), Big Book of Cats, Henderson the Rain King, Who Moved My Cheese

Centaurs often don't like to get presents anyway, it makes them uncomfortable. On the other hand, they can be wildly generous, so you need to think of something that can't be broken and that won't matter if it's lost - like a promise. The promise of an adventure - say a day's walk across London or Manhattan or Sydney (your nearest metropolis in short) from the centre to the suburbs, or a free taster half-hour doing ceramics, or a meeting at the local spiritualist church. Think of something new, exciting and free - you have five days.

Book: Whatever book you choose is bound to be wrong, so how about a DVD. My Saggos are seduced by martial arts which combine athleticism with exoticism (unless you're from Hong Kong of course). I've just been checking out this blood-curdling Thai flick Chocolate from 2008.

Earth - A gift that comforts
No problem pleasing the Bull: the way to a Taurus' heart is through his stomach. Home-made fudge, crystallised fruit, peppermint creams or you still have time to whip up some jam.

Books: Any cookbook the Bull hasn't got yet.

Ideally, you have been cultivating a cutting for your Virgo friend with the green fingers, but in case you killed the cutting, Virgo really would appreciate a well-chosen book, neatly covered, with a tidy inscription inside. These guys are ruled by Mercury after all, the words planet.

Books: Any excellent novel (no trash thanks).

A spoonlet of caviar is within budget

Capricorn - This is hard because Capricorn appreciates a designer label and general status enhancing bling, but keep in mind that it's the quality that they're really interested in. You need to get Cappy something superb: a single perfect truffle shaving is a little hard to come by and even 100 grams of caviar is over our budget. But we can afford a small quantity of maddeningly exquisite chocolate. I recommend Rococo in London who also have an on-line shop, but I expect there's someone closer to home for you.

Books: Middlemarch, War and Peace, A Suitable Boy, The Corrections - you get the idea, big, fat, classics.

Air - an interesting gift
Geminis are the flaneurs of the Zodiac, so appeal to that. Offer an afternoon people watching. Where is the closest place to where you live that you can both nurse a cup of coffee for an hour or two and watch the world go by? Gemini will love that. Alternatively, you could deliver a piece of juicy gossip wrapped with a bow.

Books: Edie, Blink, the Power of Thinking Without Thinking, the latest best-sellers in the bargain bin. Frankly anything really. Geminis are the most voracious consumers of information. And check it out, your Gemini may have a secret love of poetry. They aren't all shallow, you know.

79p on Amazon.

Libra's are pretty tricky because in general they have good taste. You can't go giving them just any old tut. And what's worse is they take gift-giving seriously. Libra will have a perfectly wrapped whatnot all ready for you, so don't try to compete on the same level. For Libra, the gift does not have to be luxurious but it does have to be tasteful. A very nice lavender bag made form your own bush is ideal, but I'm guessing you don't have the bush or the bag, so buy a tiny exquisite drawer scenter.
.
Book: Any beautiful art book will do. Since we're going for under a fiver, I recommend the old Thames and Hudson series on individual artists and movements. But be warned, if you choose wrong, it's worse than nothing. Libras tend to have artists they adore and artists they absolutely can't stand. If I gave my mother a book about Francis Bacon, she'd take it as a mortal insult.

Oh don't bother with Aquarius: this sign is above mere materialism. Oh all right then, if yours is still in the material world, something sparkly and silver. If your Aquarian has a tree, a Christmas decoration would do it or some cool, crazy costume jewellery.

Book: Hitchhiker's Guide the the Galaxy - obviously, The Selfish Gene,

Water - A gift with emotional resonance

Remind Cancer of childhood.

Cancer is the most sentimental sign, as you well know, so a souvenir is what you want - a pebble from the beach, a shoelace. You can give Cancer the same thing every year so they can form a collection, just something small, like a china Santa from the charity shop would do, but they love continuity and repetition. If you haven't got time for that, give Cancer the some of the food you made for Taurus..

Book: Children's annuals - Beano, Rupert and friends. Memoirs about the period when Cancer was growing up.

Oh dear, you have to get Scorpio's gift right, so I'm a little worried about recommending anything at all. But this person is likely to have an obsessive interest, such as photography, potholing or pigeons. Go with that. Alternatively, if you're feeling really creative, you could give them a mystery to solve, or a puzzle to do.

Book: Anything by Stephen King, The Secret, Stieg Larsson's trilogy, old crime novels to add to their collection.

Spirited Away - Pisces dreaming.

The fishes don't care how much something cost, as long as it's a surprise and fits them like a glove. This is actually incredibly hard to achieve, Pisces moves in mysterious ways. This is why it's often a waste of time to spend a lot of money on Pisces. What they really like is something you have thought about for weeks - a poem, a song, a portrait. If you just aren't that creative, a small volume of poems or a DVD of Spirited Away by Hayao Miyazake.

Book: Moby Dick; Feel the Fear and Do It Anyway; Song of Ice and Fire; Tales from Earthsea; Memories, Dreams, Reflections.

Go On - Give 'em A Reading

2011-12-16T14:10:00.000Z

Are you tired of giving Great Uncle Matthew a bottle of port and a piece of your mind? Are you bored with buying your sister yet another useful kitchen utensil?

Would you really like to get all your Christmas shopping done now?

Or do you simply know someone who could really do with an excellent astrological consultation?

Well, send them along to me. I have a lovely coal fire and some delicious mince pies. Oh yes, and I know a thing or two about the stars and stuff.

Consultations in person are £75 for an hour and by Skype £80.

Drop me an email at christina @ oxfordastrology.com (get rid of the spacing to make it work), so we can fix up a time in the New Year, and I will send you a lovely voucher to give to your lucky friend, relative or even lover.

Studio Neptune

2011-12-13T12:29:00.000Z

Sometimes you get an overwhelming sense of one planetary energy from a particular room. I have a friend who's North Node, destiny or even destination, is conjunct the planet Neptune, the planet of music and the sea.

Sitting in her studio for an afternoon is immersion in Neptunian vibes

Her studio is in a tower on an island. Shimmering light reflects on the ceiling from the river rushing below. There's not much wall space because mostly there are windows, but where there's room she's hung paintings of the sea, shells, mirrors.

There's just room for a baby grand piano.

What does she do in this luminous space? She makes jewellery from sea glass.

Truly she is following her right path.

Merkozy: Valkyrie

2011-12-12T12:11:00.001Z

Merkozy: Scorpio Rising, Taurus Sun - not to be messed with.

In Europe, there is someone in charge now and her name is Merkozy. It's taken her a while to sort herself out, but she's really beginning to wield the whip now. It's not going to be easy, but for the first time in a long time, it looks like we may have found a Western leader willing to take the reins and move the carriage out of the ditch.

The combined will, strength and brainpower of French President Nicholas Sarkozy and German Chancellor Angela Merkel has the potential to steer Europe through this crisis. Let me be clear, I think the euro as we know it is finished, and I even think the EU as we know it is finished. But the ideal of a united Europe is not over; it can evolve and indeed strengthen.

The eurozone crisis has created an opportunity to clean up Europe. One of the advantages that France and Germany have over many other EU members, is that there systems are not riddled with corruption. They're not perfect, but compared to the other guys, they are pure as the driven snow. One of the lessons we are learning from Pluto's sojourn in Capricorn is that corruption has debilitated our entire political and economic system here in the West.

But the financial disaster unfolding is far from over. Merkozy needs to keep her nerve and there is always the danger of internal politics in France and Germany splitting her back into her weaker constituent parts.

A composite chart is what you get when you combine two natal charts. Take a look at this and you'll see why Merkozy is such a force to be reckoned with.

Pretty strong chart, nicht war? There are two dominating patterns – a dynamic T-square and a 'mystic rectangle", which is, as far as I have found, an eminently practical set of aspects. And what a watery chart – emotional, instinctual, deep. The emphasis on fixed signs explains why Merkozy has taken some time to get herself off the chaise longue and on to the battlefield.

I'll leave you to enjoy the detail of this composite chart but there are a few things I want to highlight, especially the current transits.

Natal Pluto (power) dead on the MC (public face/career), suggests that Merkozy is very controlling indeed. She is the epitome of political power. Don't mess with her.

Saturn Rising in Scorpio gives strength, longevity and authority to Merkozy - also that terrifying Scorpio will. It conjuncts the EU's natal Scorpio Sun at 8°.

Natal Moon in Pisces in the fourth, house of homeland (Europe herself in this case). That's interesting. It's a very sensitive Moon, but it connects with the collective more than any other. It's also idealistic, it widely trines glamourous Neptune in the 12th. This gives a very Piscean flavour to the whole chart.

The Moon also trines the ascendant in watery Scorpio. Merkozy is partly a product of the desires of the people perhaps.

Sun opposite Venus. In a composite chart for lovers this opposition is taken as a very good sign. It shows a balance of power and mutual affection. They may actually start to like each other. In their natal charts they have excellent Sun/Moon synastry. Sarkozy has Sun in Aquarius near Merekel's Moon and her Cancer Sun trines his Pisces Moon.

But look at what's happening to the Merkozy Sun right now: it's being expanded by transiting Jupiter. Her power is being enhanced by the king of the Zodiac.

My understanding of Lilith is
that she is like the Valkyries,
who, with the ravens, decide who will live and
who will die in battle.

I've been fiddling around with Dark Moon Lilith recently, and I'm intrigued to note that she plays an important part in the Merkozy story. In the natal chart, she's in Scorpio rising in the first house conjunct Saturn, master of boundaries and rules. Some astrologers suggest that Lilith represents a very cool part of the chart, anti-emotion, a place where issues are completely clear cut, black and white. Lilith may be absolutely ruthless. She acts like a knife, a female Pluto.

During last week's meeting Lilith was opposite the natal Pallas, strategic planning, who sits right on the Ascendant. Two female warriors were working together. Merkozy is a very intelligent composition (Pallas rising), and nothing was going to stand in the way of that plan. David Cameron's attempt to hold it up were unceremoniously lasered.

Absolute ruthlessness may actually be what's required right now and Lilith herself is about to conjunct the Merkozy Sun.

The combination of Scorpio rising, Pluto on the MC and Lilith rising give Merkozy a very fierce strength. I wouldn't want to mess with her on a dark night. Lilith is also said to show a willingness to sacrifice, and this is reiterated by the watery Piscean flavour to this chart.

Merkozy has a project, saving Europe, and she's going to give it her best shot, making the essential sacrifices along the way.

Whether her plan is the best one, only time will tell. But this is certain: this is both a practical and idealistic chart; Europe is in for some serious housekeeping.

Revisiting Cameron

2011-12-12T10:25:00.001Z

Back in October I wrote a piece about David Cameron, which I think is worth re-reading. Here is the link.

I asked this question: "Will he choose class or country?

I ended with this short paragraph which turns out to have been on the money.

"His country needs him. He urgently needs to pull himself together and fully embrace the fact that he is Prime Minister. It's a lonely job, so get used to it, Dave. The times call for greatness not political point scoring."

And since we've just been told we're in recession, here's what I said about the economy in that piece.

"...as a nation we are about to see our debt balloon out of control – and if you think our earning power is reduced now, just wait until Saturn goes into Scorpio in 2012."

Sorry to be gloomy. The question we should all be asking ourselves in response to these times is personal: "What can I do?"

Britain in Europe: An Identity Crisis

2011-12-10T17:38:00.001Z

Eclipses always signify endings. Some more major than others. This ending is a biggie.

On Friday, by rejecting closer fiscal co-operation, UK Prime Minister David Cameron put Britain in a minority of one within the European Union. The British departure from the European project has closed one chapter in the book of Europe.

Henry VIII stepped outside Europe too.

Outside is a place where many Britons quite like to be. Many others are deeply uncomfortable with it, of course. But Britain's singularity has a history.

England in particular has traditionally defined itself against Europe. For example, they eat garlic; we do not. They are Catholic; we are not. They are racist; we are not. We won the war; they did not. As you can see from these examples, this can be a silly way of viewing the world; and it's also a gross over-simplification – there are plenty of Catholics here, and plenty of racists. But since it's emotional, not rational, national identity does not have to make sense.

A key part of English national identity is eccentricity. The maverick, the eccentric, the outsider who is also an insider. Lord Byron, Swinburne, Churchill himself. The Brontës, the Romantics, Punk. England renews itself by embracing the outsiders and turning them into the establishment. Look at Damien Hirst.

There are, of course, limits to the kind of eccentricity that's acceptable. I'm thinking of Oscar Wilde - lauded for his wild cleverness, then reviled for it - and now a 100 years after his death, fully embraced by the establishment. A person's story does not alway end with death after all.

Nearly half a millennium ago, another English eccentric made a choice to break away from the rest of Europe, and reshaped the core identity of all of his countrymen and women as a result.

In 1529, the Reformation Parliament paved the way for King Henry VIII to marry the dynamic, sexy Protestant activist Ann Boleyn. On the way to getting his oats, the king repudiated the authority of the Pope, dissolved the monasteries, got rid of the saints, idols and relics, and declared himself head of the new Church of England.

HenryVIII's passion for Ann (and his desire for a son and his greed as he stripped the monasteries of their riches) led him to play a pivotal role in breaking the hold that Catholicism had had over the hearts and minds of Europeans for the previous 500 years (more or less).

The rest of Europe was still Catholic - but soon after the Wars of Religion broke out which tore the continent apart. The Reformation and the Counter-Reformation reshaped the way Europeans felt.

Europe has been through many cycles of unity and disunity. Long periods of relative harmony have been followed by fragmentation, bloody wars, wars that went on for decades. Before Henry VIII's time there had been plenty of wars, mostly to do with succession, and plenty of peasant revolts, mostly to do with unfairness. But everyone had shared a religion except on the very fringes of the continent, and all educated people had shared a language, Latin, for the previous 1500 years. The divine right of kings to rule had gone essentially unquestioned on most of the continent.

All this was about to change. Smashed and dissolved. Great things came out of the liberation from the Catholic Church – the Enlightenment, science, maybe even democracy. But much was lost.

It may sound a little dramatic to suggest that this is the beginning of the end of the EU, and you could also argue that the seeds of its destruction were sown when the EU expanded so dramatically and emotionally in the 1990s. But this is a turning point, not just for the UK, but for all of Europe.

What we need now is leaders who are capable of unifying the continent emotionally as well as politically. Tough times are ahead and it's vital not to start going at each others throats. David Cameron is for another post as I have run on too long already, but I fear he has made a grave tactical error.

And the astrology? Well you'll be interested to hear that in 1529, Pluto, the planet of transformation, was in Capricorn, the sign of the establishment (the Church and super-State), just as it is today. What is more Neptune, the planet of idealism, dissolving boundaries and spirituality, was in his own sign Pisces, just as he was at the beginning of this year and as he will be for the next decade. So we have a similar energy going on as our ancestors did at the beginning of the Reformation. Interesting times indeed.

Here's a Swedish band singing about a French defeat in English in the Eurovision song contest back in the 1970s.

Astrology of Now: Helter Skelter

2011-12-07T10:24:00.001Z

Blimey!

It's been quite a year. The rebel planet Uranus has fast-tracked the whole world into a revolutionary ferment. And Uranus is about to catapult forward on the same day as the Full Moon Lunar eclipse on Saturday. Fasten your seat belts.

Also, if there's something you want to start and do fast, fast fast, start it on Saturday. Uranus is about to station direct at 0º Aries, the very first degree of the entire Zodiac. This is his third and final pass over this point. It is the end of the beginning – so go to it. Don't be afraid, the energy of the time is change.

The eclipse is the starter pistol. Then Uranus turns direct. Then three days later Mercury goes direct. Then on Christmas day, Jupiter goes direct.

To give yourself a feel of the energy, watch this film of the Beatles back in November 1968 - when Uranus was at 1ºLibra. Yes. that's opposite the rebel position now.

Paul McCartney, who really drives this tune, has Uranus conjunct Saturn trine Neptune on his ascendant.

10 Things to Do With Mercury Retrograde in Sagittarius

2011-12-07T09:49:00.000Z

Ahh bless him. Revisit David
Sshwimmer (Nov.2) and his Friends

Oh my goodness – I do try not to get in a fritz about Mercury Retrograde. Indeed I laugh in the face of the doom mongers telling you not to move a muscle for weeks.

But...

Here's what has happened in the past week or so. I have lost my mobile phone, nearly cut my thumb off (OK nicked it but it was with a chainsaw), two of my child's school books have just vanished, two people whom I used to know a lifetime ago cropped up oddly, I've had my comments fixed and then found they still do weirdness...

There are only a few more days to go to do those Mercury Retrograde tasks. The planet of mischief and patron of thieves goes forward again on the 13th. There's some extra energy in the whole Merc Rx thing because Mars, the action planet, is going through Mercury's own sign of nit-pickery, Virgo, so take advantage and revise, review, rethink, rework.

I'm guessing you've been going over old paperwork, getting in touch with old friends and fixing your bow and arrow, so here are some more ideas for how to while away the next six days of mayhem.

Fall off the wagon - resoundingly. Splash. Better yet, wake up the next morning with no recollection of what took place.
Give a history lecture - preferably on a subject you have studied before. If you do it on something new, it may be a bit of a flop.
Deeply revise a subject. I am reading a book about Mesopotamian astrology. From the Omens of Babylon: Astrology and Ancient Mesopotamia (1994) by Michael Baigent. Even better for Merc Rx. it's out of print.

Harpo, another Sag, Nov 23

Read an encyclopaedia of anything. Because I'm an astrology nerd, I'm reading up on Dark Moon Lilith - and in perfect MercRx way, noticing how she helps explain some sticky situations a long time ago.
Go to a very grand religious ceremony - e.g. high mass - especially if you haven't been in a long time or if you've never been.
Retract anything stupid you've said in the last month. It's not too late.
Bore your friends with a series of long-winded anecdotes. While you listen to the words burble out of your mouth, feel mild surprise.
Hold a nostalgia party - e.g. Austerity Christmas - for which everyone has to bring something ridiculous
Make do and get someone else to mend it.
Slob around watching old episodes of Friends or Marx Brothers movies.

Are You Cinderella or An Ugly Step-Sister?

2011-12-05T10:31:00.001Z

The ugly step-sisters flank Cinderella in last year's panto at the Oxford Playhouse.

What is it about our brothers and sisters?

It's the longest relationship for most of us. And so often it is a knot of jealousy and loyalty, love and loathing, betrayal and trust. We share a history, we take each other for granted, we totally misunderstand each other, we know each other better than anyone...which is it?

It may well be the most complex relationship any of us have. And if you're lucky (or unlucky) enough to have a brother or sister, this relationship will have coloured the whole formation of your character – although you might not thinks so. Were you bullied or a bully? Were you babied or a baby? Were you the responsible one? Or the temperamental one?

Cain kills Abel. Gustav Doré

In the past month or so, a number of people have come to me for readings with a similar issue at the core of their charts. They've been prompted to come for a wide range of reasons, but all have turned out to have a deep issue with a brother or sister.

Seldom does the subject of the sibling come up at first, but after we've been talking around things for a while, after we've started to really get into the chart together, the toxic sibling surfaces. Several people I've talked to have not spoken to a sibling for more than a decade.

Sibling relationships are amazingly rarely discussed in the psychological literature. It's a curious oversight, because this is likely the longest relationship that most of us will have. On the other hand, sibling relations are a central theme in folk and fairy tales. The disappearance of brothers and sisters from our discourse about the family is a feature of 20th century thinking.

The same thing has happened with astrology. There's a focus on father, mother, self and partner that excludes other relationships to the detriment of really understanding how an individual ticks.

And there's a key word - individual. I don't know why we lost sight of our brothers and sisters last century, but it could be to do with a central story of our current culture: boy meets girl, they marry, they breed, they die. This romantic trajectory is still supposedly the main life journey on which we are all engaged. But as we know, especially if you study astrology, life is a lot more complicated.

Brother has been turned into a little deer in
this illustration by HJ Ford in the Red Fairy Book

In astrology, the third house is reserved for siblings, so is the sign Gemini and the planet Mercury. Planets in the third or Gemini or conjunct Mercury will tell you something about how you feel about your siblings. If you have nothing that chimes with this, look at the ruler of your third house.

Remember that these planets are not your brother or sister per se, but how you perceive them, how they are to you.

Here's something different that I have found to be important.

Keep in mind that your natal chart is a snapshot of the situation you are born into (as well as a portrait of you). So you can also find clues to the sibling relationship in the first and seventh houses. For example, planets exactly on the descendant often describe the older brother or sister, or simply the situation with them.

Why?

The seventh house is the house of equals, also rivals. If you were born with, say, Chiron, on the descendant, who would that Chiron be? Think about it.

Dig around on Donna Cunningham's excellent site, Sky Writer, for some insights into sibling relationships.

December Horoscopes

2011-12-01T16:48:00.000Z

Despite Merc Rx fandoodlemayhem, the scopes are here. This month is so cosmically amazing though that I'm going to be doing quite a few overview posts. Just to whet your appetite may I point out that on the eclipse, Uranus turns direct at 0 Aries and on the New Moon (Xmas Day eve), Jupiter goes direct at 0 Taurus.

Meanwhile, here are the December horoscopes by sign. Enjoy yourself.

One Night Stand

2011-12-01T09:35:00.001Z

Pluto abducts Proserpine. Bernini.

Venus meets Pluto tomorrow (December 2), setting the tone for a very "interesting" month ahead.

Venus and Pluto do have two very important things in common: sex and money. And their one night stand is in the earthy moneybags sign, Capricorn.

Pluto's association with wealth is interesting, because he has rulership both of riches, vast wealth – and vast debt. Yes, the world is in massive debt; that's not news. But it is significant that the world's banks got together and announced today that they are going to act in a co-ordinated manner to pour money (Venus) into the debt hole (Pluto).

You may remember that last year Venus spent an unconscionably long time in Pluto's sign, Scorpio, giving us all a chance to ponder that combination of energy. I wrote a long piece called Death and The Maiden about it. Click here to read it.

On a personal level, the best place to really enjoy Pluto plus Venus is in bed. Go to it.

Ken Russell: Dedicated to Dionysus

2011-11-28T13:35:00.001Z

Film director Ken Russell made big, messy pictures with a lot of sex and music in them. His fluid, emotional, freewheeling camerawork is still like no one else's.

Yesterday at the age of 84, the old maverick was taken by his maker (Uranus Returns, Jupiter conj Chiron).

His chart is fascinating – very pure. I've seen a few other artists charts like this. It's almost as if they really have got just the one task to do for the gods while they're here; all the energy needs to go into that.

All the outer planets are intimately linked to Russell's personal planets: Pluto with the Sun, Neptune with the Moon, Jupiter, Uranus and Saturn with Mercury. There in a nutshell we have him. He needed to communicate (Mercury) himself (Sun) emotionally (Moon) and the heavy planets mean he needed to do that to and for the collective.

Russell's task was to create movies which at their best have the overwhelming emotional and physical power of a great symphony. He managed to make a few of those, and quite a lot of dreck. Sometimes his work is plain ludicrous, but when he hits the notes right, it's fantastic.

So look at this beautiful chart. It absolutely sings.

Moon (emotions) Neptune (cinema) Venus (art) tightly conjunct in the film-director's sign, Leo. How perfect for such a heartfelt director.

Sun in sensitive, artistic Cancer, applying to powerhouse Pluto gives him incredible personal energy and drive. No wonder he lived to such a ripe old age despite the legendary drinking.

This chart has Pisces Rising, so it is ruled by Neptune (imagination) and Jupiter (expansion). The first house Jupiter shows Russell's big personality and, conjunct Uranus, his maverick status. He wanted to shock; he needed to shock. This conjunction is locked into the tremendous, tight Fire Grand Trine that dominates the chart.

The trine links practical, productive Saturn in Sagittarius, the sign of thinking big. It shows an ability to make vast ideas actually become real. It's linked tightly to little Mercury in Leo. He could communicate like a leader; well you need that to make movies. This also indicates a certain amount of commercial savvy. Russell actually made a lot of money at certain points in his life, and part of him must have liked the idea of selling his product. But the super-useful trine between Mercury and Saturn in inspirational fire locks in tightly with Uranus-Jupiter, which changes the nature of the contact.

Russell was an innovator, an experimenter - this is Uranus. He liked to break rules, push boundaries; sometimes his taste was just bad, and sometimes it was thrilling. But you never know sometimes if you don't try – and that must have been how he felt.

Unfortunately, there is something compulsive sometimes about a Grand Trine, especially one as instinctive as this one. He could not stop himself pissing people off – and eventually he annoyed everyone so much that they refused to fund him any more.

Neptune is the other chart ruler. As we know, Neptune is our collective dreaming, it is the cinema and it is music. Russell more than almost any other director instinctively understood how music works with the moving image. There are parts of his films which are "music videos" before such things existed.

Neptune is so strong in this chart, sitting there next to the Moon and Venus. There are many, many dream sequences and fantasy sequences in his films which reflect this perfectly. Mars is applying to this group, so in the progressed chart it would have hit when Russell was around eight and carried on igniting the natal planets for the next three years. This is when he got his first film camera – and I wonder when he discovered alcohol.

Also Mars plus Neptune is often a dancer, and there are some memorable dance scenes in his movies, I'm thinking of Glenda Jackson prancing in front of a herd of bulls in Women in Love (great) and Salome's Dance (tacky but compelling).

The Sun in watery Cancer applies to Pluto, god of sex and death. Russell loved eroticism. His movies are full of flesh. Sometimes his treatment of sex and desire is truly powerful and sometimes it's embarrassing - always it is Dionysian, consuming, compulsive.

He also felt the link between sex and religious ecstasy. In The Devils, Vanessa Redgrave and Oliver Reed eroticise the crucifixion. As all astrologers know, there is a connection between sex and death and it is symbolised by Pluto (next to the Sun here), and by Scorpio, where Russell has his legacy-building Saturn, and by the 8th house, where that Saturn resides. His fascination with the erotic may have been grounded in his own hang-ups and inhibitions. He was the opposite of most people, in that it was boundaries that scared him, not freedom.

Pluto is also where we are compulsive. You can see that Russell was driven to create: Pluto is in the 5th house of creativity with the applying Sun. Mercury (communications) is also in that house and in the sign of self-expression, Leo. Ultimately, Russell's movies were about himself. He was exploring his own personal dreams, but because he was so connected to the collective by those powerful outer planets: his dreams were also our dream too.

Unfortunately, somewhere along the line, he lost touch with the music and dedicated himself to the bottle. I am afraid that is often the fate of a follower of Dionysus.

Astrology of Now: Eclipse Energy

2011-11-25T19:37:00.001Z

Race ahead during an eclipse like this chap
in the film Stagecoach

All of us, without exception, are on a journey of evolution and change. Sometimes the road is smooth and even, we roll along at a steady pace; sometimes we stop for a long, long time at a roadside cafe pausing perhaps to enjoy a Jupiterian hubble bubble or a Cancerian cuddle, sometimes we fall into a hole or crash into someone going the other way, occasionally we get taken hostage. The highway of life is crowded with fellow travellers, highwaymen, pedlars and players.

Sometimes, we fly. The horses just have a burst of speed and we find that we've galloped way ahead into a whole new country. That's what happens when you are taken by the energy of an eclipse.

Eclipses occur for about two years across the same pair of signs. At the moment those are the signs of communications and education, knowledge and skill, Gemini and Sagittarius. In every chart this will work differently.

It's important not to get carried away with the idea that it's incredibly unusual. This is the fifth eclipse this year. And there will be a Lunar Eclipse in Gemini on the 10th of December.

You'll feel this particular eclipse strongly if you have planets in early Gemini or Sagittarius. But everyone with planets anywhere in these two signs will have been affected – to a greater or lesser extent – by this series of eclipses.

This Gemini-Sagittarius series began in December 2010 and finally finishes in May 2013, overlapping at both ends with other eclipse pairs. Right now we are in the midst of it.

Eclipses repeat in a similar position every 18 years. So to understand today's eclipse, you could look back to 18 years ago and see if anything special happened for you in December 1993. I know, it's hard to recall these things, but it could give you a clue to how this current eclipse might work for you.

This eclipse was not a full one but it did make a lot of aspects to the heavy planets. In particular, the quincunx to Jupiter, the planet of larging it, is important. Why?

The eclipse is in Sagittarius, which is ruled by Jupiter, therefore the king effectively rules the eclipse. But he's going backwards right now. You could say he's not quite in his right mind. He's in Taurus, the sign that rules what we value, also money. I'd say while Jupiter continues to go backwards very little will really be resolved with the world debt crisis. Jupiter is also just about to enter the "critical degree" 0 in Taurus. Jupiter goes forward again on Christmas Day, which is rather jolly.

Father Christmas is a
personification of Jupiter.

Mercury (communications) went retrograde also in Sagittarius yesterday. So both the court jester and the king are pulling their energy inward.

A New Moon – which is what this eclipse is – is also a moment of inward energy. It's the time for planting a seed. It's the time of darkness when intentions are set. It's also a time of endings. Since this is a solar eclipse, this ending may have something to do with the "suns" in your life – a man who is important to you.

Mercury is closer to the Moon's node than the Sun or Moon, so this highlights the concerns of the little planet.

This eclipse is about talking. It may even be about taking back something you have already said, or saying something that has been unsayable. The whole series asks us to think about how we communicate both personally and as a society.

It's also about the media in general. In the UK, we watch as the Leveson Enquiry exposes the degradation of the tabloid press. This is a watershed. There will be legislation after this enquiry. And maybe things won't go this far again.

The way to use this energy for yourself is to look at the houses where these eclipses fall. Think what you want to change in that area of your life and allow it to happen.

This year
Solar Eclipse Nov 25 2011 6:20 02° Sagittarius 37'
Lunar Eclipse Dec 10 2011 14:31 18° Gemini 11'

Next year
Solar Eclipse May 20 2012 23:52 00° Gemini 21'
Lunar Eclipse Jun 4 2012 11:03 14° Sagittarius 14'
Solar Eclipse Nov 13 2012 22:12 21° Scorpio 57'
Lunar Eclipse Nov 28 2012 14:33 06° Gemini 46'

Grandma Love

2011-11-25T01:17:00.000Z

Alison Uttley's Little Grey
Rabbit has the bright eyes and
busyness of my darling
mother out law

I am blessed with a very lovely mother-out-law, who is both charming and sweet-tempered. What is more, she really loves my children. The feeling is mutual.

The astrology is so apt, it makes me laugh. Grandma's Venus (love) is conjunct my elder daughter's Moon (soul), and her Sun (self) is conjunct my younger daughter's Venus. Both conjunctions are exact to the degree.

Do I see a bit of her in both my little girls? Yes, her DNA shines through, little chips of glittering Grandma in the mosaic of their characters.

George Harrison: Water Boy

2011-11-23T10:44:00.000Z

George: Sun, Moon, Jupiter, Venus in water signs.
Marty: Sun, Moon, Mars, Venus, Mercury, Jupiter in water signs.

"Who's your favourite Beatle?"

When I'm feeling difficile I like to reply Yoko Ono, but the truth is, for me, it's always been George.

Why? I've never really thought too hard about it before; the point is to answer instinctively. The Beatles offer a clutch of archetypes.

Ringo, the kind childlike joker. (Cancer Sun)
Cheeky, clever Peter Pan Paul. (Gemini Sun)
Angry peace warrior John. (Libra Sun)
And moody George, the seeker. (Pisces Sun)

By answering that question you reveal something about yourself. Me, I like moody seekers.

I loved this film about George, because it is beautifully made. But also because it's not your usual biopic with nerdy dissection of influences and recording sessions. Instead it asks the questions George must have asked himself.

What do you do with incredible fame?
What do you do when you have all the money you'll ever need?
What is the point?

He answered those questions more intelligently and sensitively than most of his contemporaries. And you can see from his chart with its complex interweaving of aspects that those answers would never be simple.

Here's a thought for you. The Beatles broke up when George was 27, the same age that the following musicians died: Kurt Cobain, Amy Weinhouse, Jimi Hendrix, Janis Joplin. That was his first Saturn Return. On his second one, he was called to a better place and transiting Jupiter was one degree from his natal Jupiter.

Egypt: More Work To Do

2011-11-21T14:12:00.001Z

Praying in Tahrir Square

Back in February, I concluded my piece on Egypt with this remark: "Meanwhile, it remains to be seen if the junta makes way for a genuine democracy. Getting rid of Mubarak may turn out to have been the easy part."

To read the rest of that post, Killing the Father, and another called Egypt, Your Enemy Is In The Mirror, both written during February, click here and here.

What I said then still holds true, and indeed seems even more apposite.

Now Mars (the military) has moved into Egypt's first house. They are now showing their hand openly. It was always obvious that the junta which runs Egypt had never let go of power. Thousands of people have been arrested since February and "tried" in military courts. Unfortunately for the people of Egypt, Mars is hanging around in Virgo, "cleaning up" until next June.

The other big change is the move of Jupiter into Taurus and Egypt's ninth house of religion. I suspect the importance of the Muslim Brotherhood will become very apparent in the months to come. I religious leader may come forward.

Meanwhile, Mercury will retrograde in Jupiter's sign Sagittarius. I wonder if certain promises are about to be unpromised.

Astrology of Now: Mars in Virgo = The Big Clean Up

2011-11-20T12:00:00.000Z

I have been down at the bottom of the garden this week, turning my compost, mulching the autumn leaves, sawing up wood, stacking old flowerpots and sharpening blades. It's creating a surprising amount of room under the laurel trees.

The action planet Mars has gone into Virgo, the sign of order and routine, and created a beautiful grand trine in the earth signs. Pluto (decay and transformation: compost) is in Capricorn (the soil) and Jupiter (more room) is in Taurus (the garden).

I feel satisfied.

Mars is usually in a sign for about two and a half months, but he's going to be hanging around in Virgo for about half a year, so we, all of us, better get used to this particular energy.

Interestingly, this transit is especially going to effect Gen X born in the 1960s with Uranus-Pluto in Virgo – in fact the last Uranus-Pluto crisis before the one we are currently experiencing.

And already I'm not the only one engaged in a big clean up. The Occupy movement got the brunt of this earth grand trine as soon as Mars changed signs.

Mars always represents the army and the police. The reason given for the removal of the protesters in Zucotti Square was "health and safety", two words very dear to the Virgo heart.

The Egyptians in Tahrir Square last night also got a taste of how Mars works when it has the full backing of power-planets Pluto and Jupiter. Things could get quite brutal as Mars in Virgo does what it sees as its "duty". This is a classic placement for "I was just following orders".

Natalie Wood: Saturn Returns

2011-11-19T12:21:00.001Z

Robert Wagner and Natalie Wood

Hollywood legend Natalie Wood – beautiful, talented, passionate – died in mysterious circumstances 30 years ago. She was 43 years old and had spent the previous 39 years working, loving and living smack in the public eye.

She drowned after a drunken row with her husband, the star Robert Wagner. That much is part of the public record. The then rising star Christopher Walken was also on their yacht at the time of her death – as was the skipper Dennis Davern.

Natalie Wood could not swim and she was terrified of water, according to her sister.

Her body, clad in a nightie and covered in bruises, was found on November 28, 1981.

Thirty years later, the case has been re-opened. Davern is finally publishing his version of events and admits that he did not tell the whole truth at the the time.

Yes, the number 30 should have you sitting up an taking notice. Saturn is currently back in Libra, where it was when Wood died. Libra is the sign of justice, Saturn is the planet of just deserts. With Saturn, you reap what you sow - even if it was 30 years ago. There's unfinished business here... and Saturn has come back for a bit of closure.

Of course, when Saturn transits Libra all partnerships are tested - either they become stronger or they break.

In fact the transits for Wood's death are fascinating – and how they link in with the transits of today is even more fascinating.

Transits on the fatal night

I've mentioned before that Jupiter, the greater benefic, is often involved in death charts (click here to read what I said). I like to believe this is because he comes to take our souls to a better place. Jupiter was opposing Wood's natal Moon.

Transiting Chiron (wounds) conjuncted natal Uranus in the 8th house of death. Uranus in the 8th is said to denote the potential for death by accident. It's opposite North Node in Scorpio, which could also denote death by submergence, but probably says more about Natalie Wood's sex appeal.

Transiting Saturn exactly opposed Wood's natal Saturn in the house of partners.

In fact Saturn, Pluto and Jupiter were all transiting her first house of the body. So she'd been dealing with some pretty harsh energy. She'd just been through her Uranus half-return and was facing a Saturn half-return.

Pluto (death) was opposing her Moon-Saturn midpoint in fiery Aries.

The most striking thing about Wood's natal chart is the tight stellium in Cancer - Sun, Mars and Pluto all within 2 degrees. This is rather violent. She must have had quite a temper and with Mars ruling her house of partners, she must have been attracted to dangerous men.

Why would a Cancer Sun be frightened of water, usually it's quite the contrary? Because Pluto (death) and Mars (violence) were there too. I wonder, was she also frightened of herself.

But what about the transits now - and do they tell us anything about then?

Current Transits to Wood's natal chart
Saturn, back in Libra, is opposite Saturn within 5 degrees. Justice is being served.

Current transits

Pluto is exactly opposite her Chiron - old wounds are being reopened, reexamined and analysed. The truth is going to come out.

Jupiter is transiting her Moon. She's in the news again. And maybe resolving the case will help her rest in peace.

Two days ago the Sun was exactly on her North Node – shining a light on her fame, but also on her ending.

Neptune, the god of the sea who claimed her, is currently quincunxing (is that a verb) her natal stellium in Cancer and conjuncting her natal Jupiter. A quincunx indicates disruption. I'll leave it to you to conjecture about the meeting between the god of the sea and the god of the sky.

Suffice to say that transiting Chiron, healer of wounds, is conjunct Neptune right now and so conjuncting Jupiter also.

In short, her chart is very active right now. The truth, however unpleasantly Plutonian, is coming out. But this could bring healing and redemption (Neptune-Chiron) to everyone who was involved.

Jeff Buckley: Fallen Angel

2011-11-17T23:56:00.000Z

Jeff Buckley, of the astonishingly beautiful voice, the soulful eyes and the strange and tragic death would have been 45 today (Nov 17).

Jeff Buckley (1966-1997)

His natal chart is compellingly simple. Almost everything is tightly aspected, He was born in the vortex of the mid-60s clash between Saturn and Pluto-Uranus. Mars is sandwiched between the two heavy planets, all in the second house of talent and value. Indeed, he was powerfully gifted.

But this harsh opposition is alleviated by such a close stellium in Scorpio. Neptune (music), Mercury (communication-singing), Sun (his self), Venus (art and beauty) all in the depths of the chart in the deepest sign. Creating art and beauty with his voice and talent helped him to get over the emotional pain that must have come with that opposition.

North Node is conjunct the MC: he certainly is known to millions. South Node is conjunct Neptune and the IC. Music was like breathing for him, it came so naturally. But also listening to him, it's almost as if he is channelling the emotion from another place. And he does have the voice of an angel.

But he wasn't so lucky maybe. Jupiter trines Venus and the Sun but it's wide and out of sign and the Aquarius Moon floats alone except for the opposition to Jupiter – a potential combination of alienation and overwhelming emotions that must have been hard to deal with. Listening to him now, he seems so sad.

He never really had a place that was home (Neptune on the IC, that floating Moon), except possibly in his head.

It was Neptune, of course, in his guise as the god of rivers, who eventually swallowed Jeff Buckley up. The singer drowned.

I wonder what more Buckley could have made if he'd lived. But it's hard not to believe that in some ways, he had delivered his gift to the world, so it was OK for him to leave again so soon.

RIP.

I wrote about his death previously here and about his generation here.

Scorpio Self Portraits: The Agony And The Absence

2011-11-17T12:56:00.000Z

Francis Bacon, Oct 28

Don't expect to find this an easy bunch of pictures to look at. We are in the land of Scorpio this month - and this sign like to deal with deeper truth. Not for Scorp the polished surface of a Gemini or the gorgeous patterns of Libra. No, Scorpio prefers to hit us between the eyes with a wallop of dark emotion.

And when Scorpio looks in the mirror what truth is revealed?

Pablo Picasso, Oct 25

Scorpio looks at him or herself and sees more than just an image. These are psychological portraits. Sometimes, Scorpio shows us what is beyond the mirror, the deeper soul shown graphically.

Roy Lichtenstein, Oct 27

Sometimes he even sees a monster. Picasso often portrayed himself as a minotaur, terrifying at times, at times tragic or just plain louche. Francis Bacon reveals his tortured soul. The canvas is like a butcher's block with him being eviscerated.

Roy Lichtenstein, so famous for enormous canvasses of comicstrip heads talking, has chopped up his own face and he is speechless.

Sometimes Scorpio would prefer to turn away entirely; quite a number of very well-known Scorpio artists have left no self-portrait at all. Georgia O'Keeffe seems to have left nothing. Perhaps it was partly because her partner the photographer Alfred Stieglitz took hundreds of pictures of her. But I think it could be a reflection of the Scorpio love of privacy.

Jan Vermeer, Oct 31.

There's a certain primitive magic involved. If your face is recorded, even by yourself, are you giving away some power? Scorpio, of course, will never willingly give up an iota of control.

And then there are the absent portraits. Here are two Scorpios who simply turn their backs.

Rene Magritte, Nov 21

Zurbaran, Nov 8

Here the 17th-century painter Francisco Zurbaran too turns away from the viewer to contemplate something much more important than himself. I wonder how he painted himself in full profile like that. It's interesting and appropriate that he has chosen to contemplate Christ in agony rather than, say, being suckled by Mary. Death is, after all, the province of Scorpio.

Someone else who prefers to distract the viewer from his own visage is William Hogarth, who's subject matter was so often the gutter another Scorpionic domain. He has included his charming dog. But unlike most portraits with pets, this one is dominated by the little fellow. I like his turban.

On the other side of the channel, his contemporary Chardin, better known for his gorgeous still lives, made a few paintings of himself in which he also wears some interesting headgear. It was the fashion and better than putting on one of those sweaty wigs I expect.

But look at those penetrating Scorpio gazes.

Chardin, Nov 2

Hogarth, Nov 10

Antonio Canova, Nov 1

And here is another Scorpio gaze. Antonio Canova, renowned for his sensual sculpture, stares at himself so intently that his mouth is a little open. It's an amazingly intense self-portrait. It looks as if he's holding his breath for a moment.

Hmmm… Just A Touch Of Scorpio?

2011-11-14T23:31:00.000Z

Artist Georgia O'Keeffe born 15 Nov 1887 - Sun, Moon, Mercury, Jupiter in Scorpio opposite

Neptune (illusion, glamour)-Pluto (death again).

Scorpio - death, archeology, digging deep, the bare bones - and sex. Scorpio rules the genitals, of course.

Celluloid-Meltingly Sexy Scorpios

2011-11-10T18:18:00.000Z

Equally beautiful, equally deadly. Alain Delon (Nov 8) and Monica Vitti (Nov 3). It took a Libra, Michelangelo Antonioni, to put them together in L'Eclisse (1962).

Rather appropriately for our times he plays a shallow, materialistic stockbroker unable to connect emotionally. She is a translator unable to turn sex into love. Oh well...

Italy: Waking Up With A Hangover

2011-11-10T11:43:00.001Z

Sophia and Marcello: Marriage Italian Style.
Pluto squares Italy's Neptune.

Some Italians will tell you that their country has essentially been run by a bunch of criminals since World War 2. Some astrologers might agree with that assessment.

The Italian natal chart shows the country's charm (Libra rising, Gemini sun). Its passion (Moon in Scorpio) and its artistic genius (Jupiter and Neptune in Libra). This is a nation that produces beauty (Saturn-Venus). Textiles, fashion, shoes, ceramics, furniture – you name it, Italian design is still the best.

But it's also a place where ideas about beauty and good manners are rigidly enforced (also Saturn-Venus in Cancer, which is a conservative sign). Try walking down the street in Milan in anything other than this year's fashion appropriately adapted for your age and figure. The Italian concept of "bella figura" (good form) is a social straightjacket. This has its ups: no public drunkeness – and downs: oppressive conformity.

What's interesting is that eccentric, wild, dynamic, delightful Sun-Uranus conjunction in Gemini. That's where the endless inventiveness of Italy comes from. And also explains (somewhat) her love affair with the clownish Berlusconi.

The tension between the desire to break free and the rigid rules of decorum in Italy is extreme. Cancer, where Saturn and Venus are, follows Gemini, where Sun-Uranus dance. Signs that follow each other, contradict each other. So Cancer naturally rejects the frivolity, hilarity, anarchism of Gemini anyway. And with combination of planets the contrast is powerful.

Where is the tension defused? In art, cinema, literature, works of the imagination – the 12th house.

But with so much energy going into bella figura, who is actually running the place? The Midheaven (leaders) is closest to Saturn, the planet of rules and duty, but it is in fact moving away from Saturn and towards Pluto, the planet of criminality and subterfuge. Pluto is the lord of the underworld, quite literally.

What's more that Pluto squares and rules the Scorpio Moon in the first house. The Moon is the people. Scorpio is again associated with the underworld, secrets, corruption.

Tearing down the scaffolding at the end of Fellini's 81/2.
"Better to destroy than create something meaningless."

Everyone in Italy is forced into illegality. Famously, the grey economy is bigger than the real one because no one pays taxes. This is a systemic failure. You're a mug to pay taxes if no one else does. And you're a mug to pay taxes if you believe the money goes into the hands of a bunch of thieves. This makes it very hard to reform (which Italian law-makers keep on trying to do) without a revolution. You need to tear the whole thing down and start again, including everyone in the process.

Everything is above the horizon in the Italian chart – except the Moon. Everything is perfectly obvious, in other words, only the people themselves turn a blind eye, perhaps because it is too ugly.

But what of the transits?

Saturn, the planet of comeuppance, is on the Italy's ascendant and exactly squaring the country's natal Saturn: a time of reckoning. First house Saturn transit usually heralds a time of austerity (no kidding) - and a time for playing by the rules.

I checked to see what was happening last time Italy had Saturn over the ascendant. Here is what I found for 1981 on the BBC website:

Italy in crisis as cabinet resigns
The Italian Prime Minister Arnaldo Forlani and his coalition cabinet have resigned following a scandal over membership of a Masonic lodge.
It follows a police raid on the Arezzo home of financier Lucio Gelli in March that uncovered a list of hundreds of members of the P2 (Propaganda Two) Masonic lodge."

Silvio Berlusconi, the current Italian Prime Minister, was also a member of P2 at the time. This secret group was known as "a state within a state". It's members were implicated in the Vatican Bank scandal, which famously erupted when a man was found hanging from Blackfriars Bridge in London. Some believe that the death of Pope John Paul I had something to do with P2.

But it's not just Saturn that's involved.

The North Node has just opposed Italy's natal NN in Gemini, suggesting a change in the country's direction. When the NN was in this spot before, Berlusconi came to power for the first time.

But this may be a long process for Italy – a complete re-invention that takes many years. I say this because Uranus, the planet of revolution, is going to oppose those charming idealistic, good mannered planets in Libra now and over the next seven years, culminating in an opposition to the Italian ascendant in 2016. The "servants" (6th house) will be biting the master's backside. Then Uranus moves into the house of partners, who could turn out to be just as difficult to handle.

As we know, Pluto and Uranus are busy giving the world an upper cut and a sharp left hook right now, so clearly Uranus is not going to be working alone.

Pluto is going through the third house in Italy's chart: unpleasant truths are going to be exposed. The shite is coming to the surface and every time it seems like it's been flushed away, it'll just come right back up.

Pluto has already opposed Mercury (communications) in the 9th house of justice and publishing. The third and the ninth houses rule the written and spoken word - all media and broadcasting. This is Italy's perhaps Italy's deepest problem right now. Here's how Vanity Fair magazine describes the situation.

"…Berlusconi, as prime minister, controls the three public television networks and, as the force behind the $8.6 billion conglomerate Fininvest, owns the three largest of the country’s four private networks, the largest publishing house, and around 40 magazines—not to mention dozens of other companies ranging from advertising to bookstores, to interactive media, to the soccer team A.C. Milan. He also owns film and TV production and distribution companies, insurance companies and mutual funds, banks, radio stations, and his own corporate university. Imagine a President Donald Trump with the media holdings of Rupert Murdoch..."

If you want to understand Berlusconismo,
watch this.

It's about due for a bit of a Plutonian clear out then.

Pluto is at a hard angle to that idealistic Neptune right now, exposing the lies and corruption; shaking the country awake from it's long sleep. But this is also a very disruptive aspect, churning up the mob.

It'll be interesting to see what happens around 2018 when Pluto opposes Italy's natal Venus and Saturn – that may prove to be the year of total transformation. I wonder if some Italy's women might finally decide they've had enough of the men who run the country.

I'd like to mention the astrologer Frank Clifford, whose seminar I attended here in Oxford last Sunday. He shared some excellent, original ideas about the 12th and 1st houses. I've used them here and they seem to make perfect sense even though they go against received opinion.

Astrology of Now: Face the Music and Dance

2011-11-09T09:24:00.001Z

As an über-Neptunian type, I am always excited when the god of the sea turns around and starts to surge forwards. Today's the day.

Dreams, fantasy, ideals. Love, sacrifice, deceit. Mob violence, peaceful activism. Fog, illusion, self-undoing. Music and movies. Drugs and alcohol. Neptune has many faces.

The collective unconscious – all the prejudices, fantasies, obsessions and desires of the group poured into the great bowl of ocean and swirled.

The face Neptune shows you may depend on how he is in your own natal chart and how you have learned to cope with his energy. He's in the last few degrees of Aquarius now, ready to go home to Pisces for the first time since the mid-19th century.

This week he's been opposed by Mars (action) in Leo, the individual, the ego and creative self-expression. This opposition could manifest in several ways, but on a personal level, try to go with this energy. It's powerful and creative.

OK, so it's an opposition. But out of tension comes dynamism. It's better to dance with a partner. Face the music. As the song says,

Before the fiddlers have fled

Before they ask us to pay the bill

And while we still

Have the chance

Let's face the music and dance

Pick up your paintbrush, your camera, your pen. Put on your dancing shoes.

Eurozone: The Leadership Void

2011-11-07T13:04:00.000Z

The Woodcutter. Kazimir Malevich painted
this just before the Russian Revolution.

Say one thing for the current euro crisis, it's cutting a swathe through Europe's ruling elite.

So far this year these heads of state have felt the sharp blade of Father Time's sickle.

Good-bye
Brian Cowen - Ireland - 9 March
Jose Socrates - Portugal - 21 June
George Papandreou - Greece - Nov 6
Jose Zapatero - Spain - going in a few weeks

Please go
Silvio Berlusconi - Italy

There's a certain kind of brutal justice to these departures. When we talk about firm but fair, we talk about Saturn in Libra, which represents a fair application of the rules and also putting a fair time limit on a situation. This combination says, "Enough already."

Take a look at the Euro chart.

Saturn has been sweeping through the first house of the face in the Euro chart, cutting away the old familiar faces.

Meanwhile, the planet of kings, Jupiter, which is associated with leaders has disappeared into the 8th house, one of the hidden houses. Not only that, since the summer he's been retrograde. And how much complaining has there been about the Eurozone's lack of leadership?

But the really telling thing is the Uranus-Pluto square on the axes of the chart. Tr Pluto, planet of drains, sitting right down there on the IC quietly sucking the life out of the leadership. The god of darkness is pulling those leaders down into his own realm one by one like the creature from the black lagoon.

The leadership of the Euro (if I can put it that way) is represented by the Moon ruling Cancer on the 10th house cusp. The Moon has progressed to be exactly conjunct natal Pluto.

And, of course, Pluto squares Uranus, revolution, right on the descendant, enemies – or partners. The Euro is going to have to find some new and surprising friends, if it's to survive.

The good thing about this? It's only by getting rid of the old that we can make way for the new. One of the themes of the times we are living through is clearing out the dead wood.

For more on why the euro has to be completely revamped click here.

Astrology of Now: Mayhem

2011-11-05T11:44:00.001Z

The late lamented Heath Ledger as the Joker in Batman.
Mercury's dark side is on show now.

Here's what happened to this post.

I was lying in bed thinking about how often the word chaos has been in the news in the last couple of days. Some guests at a party have decided to break a few rules, just to see what's going to happen. George Papandreou, the Greek Prime Minister, for example.

Papandreou, like a lot of comedians, is a Gemini, ruled by the trickster planet, Mercury. Currently, Mercury is moving through the heavens hand in hand with Venus, known sometimes as the laughing goddess.

They have just escaped from the gloom and doom of Scorpio where poor Venus was in fall, into jolly Sagittarius.

So I decided the title of this post was going to be Merry Mayhem.

But something made me change my mind.

I came downstairs to find my loved one flipping pancakes surrounded by total chaos, since we have been moving furniture, pictures, plants, pets, books in the last few days. (Mercury plus Venus through the 4th House here.)

He turned around and said: "There's been a terrible pile up on the M5. Apparently, it's mayhem."

Not so merry then.

It's Mercury at work. He rules roads. He's trining the god of shock Uranus, semi-sextile death head Pluto and quincunx Jupiter Rx in Taurus. That backwards Jupiter is supposed to be ruling Mercury as he travels through Sagittarius, but he's not doing his job.

In the sign of the centaur, Mercury traditionally behaves badly. Think of talking a lot of hot air, but also just plain rudeness. The two signs where Mercury is at his worst (Pisces is the other one) are both mutable and rather unconfined. Mercury really needs rules to follow otherwise he's likely to go off the rails. Sometimes this is a minor thing, like failing to edit your writing, but sometimes the consequences are terrible - like a pile up on the M5.

Right now, the king (Jupiter) is going backwards (out of commission), so Mercury is free to wreak havoc. Think of the fool and the king in a medieval court. There you have Jupiter and Mercury. But what happens if the king doesn't keep the fool in check?

This is the beginning of Mercury's "shadow" period, before he goes retrograde on the 24th. I think he's going to spend some time really messing with us.

When the gods laugh, we humans sometimes just don't think it's very funny.

Why India Worships Shahrukh Khan

2011-11-04T11:50:00.000Z

If you've never been to India, it's hard to explain just how important Shahrukh Khan is. He is a V, V, V, VIP.

Imagine someone who has the film star status of George Clooney, Leonardo DiCaprio and Brad Pitt rolled into one, who has the common touch and business acumen of Jamie Oliver, who hosts the most popular game show on TV, who owns the equivalent of, say, the Red Sox or Chelsea Football Club, as well as umpteen other businesses including a lot of alternative energy generation.

In India, Shahrukh Khan's face is everywhere on billboards, on TV, on the back of rickshaws, in every magazine and newspaper, with Google; selling mobile phones, soft drinks, Formula 1, cars, watches, soap. If SRK is not endorsing your product – well, poor you. (Maybe I should get him on OA.)

His net worth is well in excess of half a billion dollars. And his reign in Bollywood has gone pretty much unchecked from the early 90s, when he exploded onto the big screen and stole India's heart.

No wonder they call him King Khan.

So I wondered what the synastry was between India and it's most famous face.

Look, SRK's Moon is exactly conjunct India's midheaven – just a few minutes apart; it's remarkable really. This is a classic placement for a country's "sweetheart". His Moon is in cool, popular Aquarius too, which gives him mass appeal. The thing about SRK is that he seems as if he could be the boy next door (Aquarius). Just a sort of superman version. In his natal chart, that Moon is in 5th House of acting, so it is natural for him to always be playing a part.

SRK, 2 Nov 1965, 2.30AM New Delhi

With the Moon on India's MC like this, it's like his soul represents the very best of the country to itself. SRK is a Muslim; his wife is a Hindu. He is bringing his children up to be both Muslim and Hindu - what an excellent example of how India herself could be.

India, 15 Aug 1947 midnight

Now, one of the other things about SRK is his incredible, screen-sizzling charisma. He has the ultimate movie star gift by the truckload– super-powered sex appeal. The simple truth is, when SRK is on the screen, you don't want to look anywhere else. No matter how daft the storyline, silly the dancing, clunking the dialogue, SRK is mesmerisingly watchable. There is a bit of a cultural gap for westerners to overcome watching Bollywood fare. The idea of what a movie is, is different. But the essence of stardom is exactly the same. Leonardo DiCaprio has the same snakelike fascination; so does Angelina Jolie.

Super-powered sex appeal? Pluto (in this case the planet of penetration) rising and conjunct electrifying Uranus, Sun in sexy Scorpio, the lovers Mars and Venus conjoined in fiery Sagittarius. Plus the Sun is applying to Neptune (glamour, the movies) in Scorpio. He truly has it all. And how does this fit in with Mother India?

For a start, SRK's Mars-Venus is exactly opposite India's Uranus. It's as if his sex appeal gets plugged right into to a high-voltage electric socket. Mars-Venus also sends a beautiful ray to India's Sun-Venus, enhancing her sense of her own identity.

SRK's Pluto Uranus is in India's 5th House of children. And in his own chart, there is some wounding to do with motherhood (Ceres-Chiron pop Pluto-Uranus), which gives SRK dynamic tension, necessary for charisma. But Mother India mothers him. And she too has a Chiron (wounding) -Ceres (motherhood) aspect – an opposition in which Chiron is conjunct SRK's Sun.

India and Pakistan may be sworn enemies,
but SRK is beloved in both countries.

Part of the root of SRK's popularity must be that he helps heal India's wounds - one of the deepest of which is the sectarian divide, which SRK bridges so elegantly, both in his private life and in his films.

SRKs Gemini North Node is conjunct India's Ascendant and India's own Taurus NN. His destiny is tied to India's.

He also explains India to herself. This fits in with India's Cancer Moon (her mothering soul) trining SRK's Mercury (communications). He talks to the soul of the country on an emotional direct line. Both planets are in water signs.

His Jupiter is on India's weak Mars in Cancer. He is Indian masculinity and virility writ large. He is the ideal Indian man. His Neptune brushes India's Jupiter in Scorpio with stardust: together they create huge dreams.

SRK's own MC, the way he is seen by the masses, is in India's first house. He is a representation of India to herself. And that is the key to SRK's incredible appeal. He is both a beautiful son and an idealised reflection back to the country of how India could be.

With Kajol in the 1998 movie Kuch Kuch Hota Hai. A bit of an homage to Fred and Ginger.

Greece's Plight

2011-11-03T16:16:00.000Z

Here is what I wrote about Greece back in June

"This is very, very serious for Greece. And I think it will lead to a complete re-invention of the state, and the journey may be pretty rocky."

To read the rest of the piece, click here.

Occupy Astrology: Resurrecting a Long-Dead Rebel

2011-11-03T15:53:00.000Z

Rome 2011

You will have noticed that protesters from Madrid to Wall Street to the steps of St Paul's Cathedral have been sporting a particular mask.

Julian Assange has one.

No it's not Satan, although it does look rather devilish. It's Guy Fawkes, the Catholic revolutionary who was caught trying to blow up the British Houses of Parliament on 5 November 1605.

Here in Britain we celebrate that date with the most insanely pagan orgy of bonfires, fireworks and the burning of effigies. As every schoolchild knows:

Remember, remember the fifth of November

Gunpowder, treason and plot

I see no reason why gunpowder treason

Should ever be forgot

An effigy of Guy himself is traditionally made by children and then hawked around for pennies, before being thrown on the bonfire. Here in Oxford we're going to have an absolutely massive burning of a wicker man.

The graphic novel

Now Guy Fawkes or Guido, as he sometimes styled himself, has been used for centuries as an excuse for keeping alive the pagan tradition of a festival of fire to herald winter and help us through the darkening of the year. The re-enactment of his burning (in fact he was hanged) was really a very ancient Celtic or even pre-Celtic sacrifice of the corn god.

So it is fascinating that today he has been resurrected again – this time as a symbol of anarchist protest.

How did that happen?

Well back in the early 1980s a comic strip was published called V for Vendetta which featured a vigilante bent on revenge. Written by Alan Moore, it describes a dystopian near-future in which Britain is ruled by a fascist dictatorship. One man takes on the entire system and goes on a killing spree. V, as he styles himself, hides his face behind a mask of Guy Fawkes.

"This visage, no mere veneer of vanity, is a vestige of the vox populi, now vacant, vanished." So that explains it then.

Still from the 2006 movie

The mask used by protesters is the same one that V uses in V for Vendetta, which was made into an American movie in 2006. Time Warner is making a killing from sales of these masks.

But that's not all. Who chose the mask?

The answer is a group styling itself Anonymous, the origins of which lie in cyberspace, specifically a UK site where hackers gathered together to exchange information and discuss potential targets for trolling. For more on this group, here is the Wikipedia article.

Fast forward to 10 February, 2008 when the masks were first used in an Anonymous protest against Scientology. The rebel Guy Fawkes had risen from the dead after 400 years of being burned on bonfires.

Do you want to hear a funny coincidence? Until last week it was illegal for a king or queen of England to marry a Catholic. Buddhist, Hindu, Muslim, pagan – all fine – but not a Catholic. That law had been in place since Guy Fawkes time. Last week the law was changed.

So what about the astrology?

Um, guess what: it's really simple. Here is Guy Fawkes' birth chart. Tradition has it that he was born on the 13th. (He was identified in the propaganda of the time with the devil.) But the truth is, we only have the date of his baptism, which was April 16. No matter for the thing to look is the outer planets.

Which planet do we associate with rebellion? Uranus.
Which planet do we associate with rising from the dead? Pluto.

Here are the transits of Feb 10 2008 (the first appearance of the mask in public protests) to Fawkes' chart.

Transiting Pluto to natal Uranus. Don't forget that the Pluto cycle takes more than 200 years, so it's not exactly a frequent occurrence.

Transiting Uranus to natal Pluto. Uranus cycle is 84 years.

The rebel Guy Fawkes has metaphorically risen from the dead.

My colleague Dharmaruci has commented on how much spooky imagery there is in those protests – zombies, ghosts, masks – and quite rightly posited the idea that it's Pluto, god of the Underworld, at work.

Guy Fawkes was of course equated with the Prince of Darkness himself by his enemies. So it was more than a little strange to see him on the steps of the most important cathedral in Britain, St Paul's.

Perhaps now that the Church of England and protesters are getting along so well we are seeing an alliance between God and the Devil!

Why Paisley?

2011-11-01T23:54:00.000Z

FABRIC BY JANNASALAKDESIGNS

OK – some of you have wondered what the paisley connection is with the November horoscopes. It's just this in my tiny mind. Paisley = fertility = Scorpio.

Paisley pattern, which originates in South or Central Asia depending on who is talking, is said to be an ancient fertility symbol – a mango split in half or a cypress tree or a frond. The truth is no one really knows.

To me it looks like sperm under a microscope, which is about as fundamentally Scorpio as you can get since it's a combination of fertility and analysis.

So the illustrations for this month's horoscopes are an homage to Scorpio.

Crimson Pirate

2011-11-01T20:38:00.000Z

The Crimson Pirate: Sagittarius Rising

Happy Birthday (and RIP, natürlich) Burt Lancaster, superstar Scorp. Was there ever a more robust yet complex specimen of manhood.

Born 2 November 1913: Scorpio Sun (water), Capricorn Moon (earth), Sagittarius Rising (fire).

Trapeze with Tony Curtis

Gemini whispers to Scorpio
in Sweet Smell of Success

He was multi-faceted and used that to good effect playing completely different roles from washed up alcoholic in Come Back Little Sheba to Italian Prince in The Leopard.

He had Venus in domicile in Libra, which gave him both beauty and charm. In which movies did he explore the airy side of his nature? Trapeze and The Birdman of Alcatraz, I guess. Oh and he does a lot of flying around in The Crimson Pirate too.

No one would argue that Burt Lancaster was a one dimensional actor. He was also probably the most successful independent Hollywood producer in the 1950s and directed.

In my book, he's at his best when he's all Scorpio as the terrifying creep JJ Hunsecker to Curtis's brilliantly slimy Sidney Falco in Sweet Smell of Success – a movie he also produced.

But some prefer his earthier side on the beach in From Here to Eternity.

Or when he shows that Libra class combined with a bit of Capricorn hauteur as a Sicilian prince in Visconti's The Leopard. Not bad for a boy from the mean streets.

Which Burt to you like best?

November Horoscopes

2011-11-01T13:28:00.000Z

With an eclipse and a Mercury Rx, November's a bit breathless. Click here to read your horoscope.

Dracula: Scorpio perchance?

2011-10-31T12:05:00.000Z

To celebrate Halloween, I'm revisiting a post I wrote a while ago about vampires and squid and stuff.

To find out if Dracula was a Scorpio or just a very confused Taurus click here.

The God of Cuckoldry Gives Advice on Marriage

2011-10-31T11:40:00.000Z

Imagine you are...
Classical Lady by John William Godward

OK, we are back in Rome, sometime in the 2nd century AD. It's autumn, the grape harvest is in. We've all been celebrating in perhaps too Dionysian a fashion.

Imagine that you are a togaed Roman with time and money on your hands. How would you while away those moonlit hours between eating dormice and having your skin oiled?

As a double Libra (Moon and Sun) you are prone to weaving tangled webs of relationships. Your lover is poor but gorgeous, your spouse is rich but repulsive. This has all worked well for years, but now your spouse has a new darling and you feel jealous.

One evening, you climb the stairs to the rooftop where I practice my craft. Me? I'm an astrologer.

I look at you chart and my advice to you is simple – go to the temple of Vulcan, the smith god, and make an offering. You leave - rather miffed if the truth be told. Oh, and one more thing, I say, as you stand on the top step, think about the tale of Vulcan's net.

Now why would a Roman astrologer tell you to go to the cuckold god for help about a marriage?

Well, it would have been a textbook case.

I've written about tutelary deities before. These are the gods who act as wise counsellors to each sign of the Zodiac, according to the Roman poem Astronomica. They fell completely out of use in the Christian Era, but I think these archetypes can teach us something useful about how to work with the energies of the signs. Libra is a very good case in point.

Photo by Tobias R, Metoc

As anyone who has had the pleasure of spending some time with Libra knows, the sign of the scales has certain wonderful qualities – an instinct for beauty, an ability to make any room lovely, a natural desire to charm, a sense of fair play. And some flaws too – lack of depth, an ability to choose a rotter, applying reason to emotional problems and emotion to reason.

This is where Vulcan might come in. Tutelary deities (I think) sometimes help us to balance out a sign's energies. They point to a way of dealing with a sign which may not be obvious.

As you know, Libra is ruled by Venus, the goddess of love and wife of the crippled smith god Vulcan. Venus was a faithless wife. She regularly copped off with various mortals, immortals and a whole gamut of in-betweeners.

Her affair with the god of war, Mars, was a long-standing off-again-on-again thing, which caused poor Vulcan no end of hurt and shame, not least because they used his bed.

Being a craftsman, Vulcan could make almost anything. So he forged a net and caught Mars and Venus in the act. All the Olympians came and laughed and mocked the pair and agreed to pay Vulcan damages. Although he is physically weak, he has outwitted the strongest of the gods, Mars. Vulcan gets revenge but at what cost?

Craft and guile and patience. The first lesson is: you may not get the girl (or the guy) to love you, but you can make them pay for hurting you. This sounds like alimony. Courts are ruled by Libra, of course.

I don't think that's a very fruitful outcome though, do you? Vulcan is still going to feel bitter.

Here's the second and better lesson: you can create something useful and beautiful from your experience. Vulcan't net is a masterpiece of art and craftsmanship. And here's a thought, Venus may shag Mars, but she (beauty) is married to Vulcan (craft).

And here is a question: do we learn anything about marriage from Vulcan? He is, after all, the tutelary deity of the sign of marriage, Libra.

He might well tell a typical lovely Libra (usually so eager to tie the knot) to learn from his experience and be careful before signing any contract. You may humiliate your rivals but you will still be stuck in a loveless marriage.

What do you think Vulcan might teach us about marriage?

Click on these links to view posts I've written on other tutelary deities: Pallas, Diana, Juno, Vesta. Here is more on Astronomica.

Half in Love with Easeful Death

2011-10-29T22:35:00.000+01:00

Sylvia Plath was not the only poet born under Scorpio to be drawn to death's glamour (see my previous post).

Here is an extract from Ode To A Nightingale by John Keats (born October 30).
...
Darkling I listen; and, for many a time
I have been half in love with easeful Death,
Call’d him soft names in many a mused rhyme,
To take into the air my quiet breath;
Now more than ever seems it rich to die,
To cease upon the midnight with no pain,
While thou art pouring forth thy soul abroad
In such an ecstasy!
...

Like Plath, Keats was dead before turning 30.

For the complete poem click here.

What Astrologers Are Saying About Occupy...

2011-10-27T01:27:00.000+01:00

Outstanding graphic design
has been a feature of OWS.

I have been pondering Occupy Wall Street for weeks. I've been waiting to see my way in to a coherent analysis of the phenomenon. In the mean time, I've looked at what other astrologers have been writing.

The consensus is pretty much - it's the Uranus-Pluto square. I'd concur with this but add a very important factor: Neptune (idealism, mass movements, the collective).

As I wrote previously when discussing the Arab Spring, the last time Neptune was at this point in the zodiac was the Year of Revolutions (1848), when popular uprisings occurred in almost every major city in Europe. To read what I wrote in depth, click here. Sometimes astrology is just so obvious.

I'll have more to say on Occupy soon, meanwhile here are some views that I found interesting.

Michael Wolfstar at NeptuneCafe has done the most accessible astrological analysis I've read.

At Astrotabletalk , Dharmaruci has written two posts on Occupy fever. He has very enlightening things to say about the Plutonic side of it in particular.

Jeff Jawer has written an excellent piece called Taking Back Projections, which dares to point out the parallels between Occupy and the Tea Partiers.

Global Astrology has a fun old rant about it, but you do have to scroll right down to find it.

Mary Plumb at the Mountain Astrologer has done that essential thing of actually comparing the Occupy chart to the US national chart.

Eric Francis also at Mountain Astrologer looks at the birth of the movement with a lot of extra asteroids.

Death: A Most Authentic Experience

2011-10-26T21:03:00.000+01:00

Autumn, A Wood Path
Sanford Robinson Gifford (1823-1880)

It's Sylvia Plath's birthday: Sun Scorpio, Moon Libra, Aquarius Rising.

(b. October 27, 1932)

A real Scorpio has to find the authentic experience. A real Scorpio has to dive deep and come back again, transformed. Death is a very authentic experience. Here is a a fragment from her poem about suicide, Lady Lazarus. Lazarus himself came back from the dead, of course. Plath lives on in her poetry.

"...

Dying

Is an art, like everything else.

I do it exceptionally well.

I do it so it feels like hell.

I do it so it feels real.

I guess you could say I've a call

...

Out of the ash

I rise with my red hair

And I eat men like air."

[fragment from Lady Lazarus]

for the complete poem click here.

Astrology of Now: Juicy New Moon

2011-10-25T22:33:00.001+01:00

Dream by Henri Rousseau

After the serious mood brought on by that Sun-Saturn Full Moon a couple of weeks ago, I'm relieved to report that this New Moon (October 26) is rather luscious. Especially if you're trying to have a baby, get deeper into a relationship or plant the seed of a project that emanates from the very depths of your soul.

Scorpio is traditionally one of the juicy, fertile signs. With Moon, Sun, Mercury and Venus here right now we're talking about planting seeds, loving planting seeds, and the actual plantation or implantation thereof. Do it right and in 40 weeks time you may be bringing forth a baby... or a novel... or the apple tree you plant now may be burgeoning.

That's only part of why this New Moon is so very fruity though. Ceres, the goddess of the corn, of fertility, of (in my opinion) making babies is trining (widely) this New Moon from that other juicy, lush water sign, Pisces. And to round off the fertility story, where is the king of the gods, that Lothario and father of numerous demigods? Jupiter is in Taurus, the sign of spring efflorescence, growth, the earth, sensuality. He is exactly opposing the New Moon. Retrograde, it's true, but that might just mean an old lover and older lover comes roving back into your life. Oppositions suggest enemies and conflict, yes, but also partnering.

The lovers Mars and Venus are at passionate odds tomorrow. But if you fight, you have to make up, right.

But there is more good news. This New Moon is at a sweet angle to both Neptune-Chiron (trine) and Pluto (sextile). This means that the positive sides of all those planets could be manifested. Idealism and spiritual healing from Neptune-Chiron and the power to transform from Pluto.

The only outer planet at an uncomfortable angle to this New Moon is Uranus, the rebel angel, but he is at an exact quincunx, which suggests that he's not out of the picture, just coming in at a slant.

If you don't feel like getting down and dirty with your darling at this New Moon, please take a still quiet moment to contemplate your own deepest desires. What is it you really, really want? The answer may slide into your mind and surprise you.

Libra Self-Portraits: Blending into the Picture

2011-10-21T11:33:00.000+01:00

Suzanne Valadon (23 Sept 1865)

Theoretically, there's nothing more revealing of character than a self-portrait, yet this month's artists don't do that straightforwardly. Their own faces blend into the backgrounds of the pictures, becoming simply part of the motif.

Compare this to the Cancers, for example, whose souls look out of the canvas.

With Librans, it's the complete picture which tells a story. I wonder if this to do with the Sun (ego) being in fall in the sign of the scales. The self is not loudly or directly expressed. I wouldn't describe Libra Sun as self-effacing, exactly, but they can often only find meaning in their relationship to the other, the opposite.

These portraits are curiously indifferent to character, but fascinated by the artistic act itself. Venus (art) rules here of course, but she is in air, the intellectual as well as the social element.

Suzanne Valadon did a lot of self-portraits. I love this one. The more you look at it, the more complex and strange it is – with her head in the upper left corner and a mess of blue marks in the foreground.

Pierre Bonnard (Oct 3,1867

Pierre Bonnard decorated his canvases, flattening perspective, turning them into a singing harmony of colour and texture. In this picture, he hardly seems to be looking at himself as a person, simply observing the effect of his head in the shade against a brightly lit background.

Umberto Boccioni (October 19, 1882)

And the futurist Umberto Boccioni has painted himself like a snapshot, again quite flat. In fact, I wonder if he made this picture from a photograph. He seems to be squinting into the sun. This picture rather echoes the Bonnard with it's expanse of cream.

Alberto Giacometti (10 Oct, 1901)

Gaudier Brzeska (Oct 4, 1891)

This is interesting. Both of these artists, Henri Gaudier Brzeska and Alberto Giacometti were primarily sculptors. In real life Giacometti was thin and wiry just like his work. But here we can see that he could really draw and paint.

If you're still wondering about the self-portrait turning into a pattern I'll leave you with Robert Rauschenberg.

Robert Rauschenberg (October 22, 1925)