India – nationalists flexing their muscles

 

India is in turmoil with demonstrations against PM Modi’s new citizenship law which is seen as anti-Muslim and weakening India’s secular foundations. Modi leads the BJP Party whose core ideology holds that India is a Hindu nation. There are 200 million Muslims in India, about 14 per cent of the population. One analyst said: “There is a feeling that the shackles have come off on the Hindu nationalist agenda.”

On the India chart, the Secondary Progressed Mars is exactly conjunct the Saturn (and Pluto) for an upsurge of anger and frustration – as well as hatred. Memories of the bloody 1947 post-colonial partition of the sub-continent into India and Pakistan with millions displaced and killed are the backdrop to an unhealed and unhealable wound. And one which Modi’s policies inflame.

The violence and mayhem will run on with tr Pluto Saturn opposition the Mars/Saturn midpoint now till late January and again mid August to late November. With more disruptions in February, July and August, and December. There’s a Solar Arc Moon conjunct Neptune by late 2021/early 2022 suggesting a disappointed or discontented populace.

What will have most effect moving ahead is tr Uranus, bringer of forced change and jolting surprises, which is square the India Mercury at the moment with one last hit in April 2020, precipitating excited outbursts. But will cause more disruption and upheaval in 2021/22 as it squares the India fixed Saturn Pluto in Leo, moving on through an opposition to the Midheaven, and squares to Venus and the Sun in 2022/23. So like many other countries there will be a bumpy path ahead. There may also be a lack of direction with tr Neptune crossing into the India 11th in 2020 for many years thereafter.

In 2022/23 as well tr Pluto will oppose the India Cancer Moon for domestic/voter discontent and resentment. Feelings will run exceptionally high.

The Saturn Pluto conjunction is moving through the India 9th house so maybe it isn’t surprising that religious arguments have come to the fore with intolerant Pluto connecting to repressive Saturn. Jupiter may help to bring a little amiability to bear as it moves into the India 9th from March till July and again after November 2020.

Narendra Modi’s 2nd Term chart, 30 May 2019 7.04pm Delhi, hints at financial setbacks and simmering, volcanic anger as well with an 8th house Mars; overly high hopes especially on the money-front and a less than ecstatic population.

12th house – a need for a bolt hole

 

The 12th house has a bad reputation in traditional astrology with gloomy murmurings about prisons, mental asylums, monasteries and the like. However Gauquelin who did a statistical surveys of birth charts found that the 12th and 9th were the strongest houses for successful activity. Not that its much of a recommendation but Tony Blair has a 12th house Sun as did Ariel Sharon, PM of Israel as well as actor Lawrence Olivier and Queen Victoria, so it doesn’t indicate a life of incarceration.

Since the 12th house rules the unconscious, planets there can suggest creativity. But more generally, astrologer Dane Rudhyar thought it indicated a person who does not take his/her identity from relationships or family, career or friends; and they are not easily influenced by other people and will stay committed to their own convictions.

What is crucial for 12th house types, who tend to have more porous psychological boundaries than most, is that they get space and peace to themselves along the way, since they’ll easily get overwhelmed by having constant people around. Liz Greene thought there was a need to come to terms with the unconscious at some point in adult life. Being comfortable with inner space is crucial. Too external a life will run into the buffers at some point. Another astrologer thought 12th house planets did not support the ego in quite the same way as other house placings. Life has to be lived for the sake of doing what feels right whether or not there is glory attached to it.

What may also happen is that the persona (image) that 12th house types project isn’t the real self. Some will have a problem being truly themselves when out in the world which is why they need to retreat from time to time into seclusion – to stop performing for others and be themselves. Larry Olivier suffered from stage fright for ten years and disappeared into relative invisibility in public terms. Queen Victoria also went into virtual hiding for years after Albert died.

Where 12th house personalities have lost the connection to their inner Self, they develop a hyper-active restlessness, a desperate drive to react to the demands of the external reality, while remaining uncomfortable with themselves. And often others get a sense of ‘no one at home’ because what you see on the outside with a 12th house personality isn’t what’s there deep inside.

I have (depending on house system) six planets in the 12th including Sun and Mercury – and I do treasure peace and tranquillity away from other people. Though I all too easily get bunkered down too much and have to shake myself back into society. But it’s no more difficult than a lot of placings that other people have – just part of life’s rich tapestry.

Canada 2020 – sunshine and storms

 

Canada moves into 2020 facing challenges from a sluggish economy and with Saturn Pluto moving through its 10th house of career and direction, it’ll be a fairly uphill climb at times. But there are hints of cheer from tr Uranus picking up aspects to the adventurous, risk-taking Jupiter opposition Mars, on and off all year. Plus tr Uranus is conjunct to Jupiter midpoints in late May/June, again late October to late November, and again in early 2021 which will bring lucky breaks, success and confidence boosts. And tr Jupiter will start a year long trek through the Canada 10th from early January 2020 which usually brings a rise in status, and attracts praise and recognition.

Justin Trudeau’s 2nd Term government chart, 20 November 2019 1.30pm Ottawa would suggest financial headaches with an 8th house Mars Mercury opposition Uranus; but there’s also a successful Jupiter in the 10th to keep spirits buoyant. The Bank of Canada chart, 11 March 1935, would also suggests a fraught two years ahead with a blocked tr Pluto square Mars and a confusing tr Neptune conjunct the Sun.

The real problems for Canada won’t come till 2022 when the tr Saturn in Aquarius square tr Uranus bounces off the Canada Saturn opposition Pluto. The global economic hiccup from Uranus square Saturn will impact strongly on Canada.

Conspiracy versus reality testing

 

Conspiracy theories are rooted in paranoid thinking which is a primitive way of looking at the world. Peasants are typically paranoid and deeply superstitious, which is due in large part to their powerlessness and therefore fragile hold on survival. Central to it is a fear of ‘invasive malevolence’ and ‘imminent annihilation’ from an outer world felt as not just unsafe but destructive. That paralyzing, all-pervasive fear nowadays attaches to authority figures (illuminati for example) who are displacement symbols for malign parents, and are deemed to be ganging together to wreak havoc on the poor defenceless ones.

Paranoid thinking is also inextricably linked with schizoid ‘splitting’ into good and bad, us and them, shining white and the opposite. Nothing can be allowed to contaminate the ‘good’ which in the paranoid’s mind is his/her/their standpoint, so death-rays are turned on anyone who disagrees, points out flaws in cult (political) idols or threatens to let a sliver of factual reality in.

It’s an infantile approach to life. As the baby/toddler matures it becomes possible to tolerate ambivalence and see that people are both good and bad; situations can be right and wrong at the same time. It’s a move into complex thinking, see illustration, larger version on URL below.

As to the astrology? The last time I thought about it, see post March 2 2018, I connected it to the world wide web and specifically to the Uranus Neptune conjunction in Capricorn when it was launched on 6 August 1991. Uranus Neptune can be tinged with genius, produces ‘eureka’ moments of inspiration and is associated with religious art – but it also has this fanatical side which, even faced with incontrovertible fact won’t acknowledge there might be an alternative viewpoint.

The internet has many positive benefits, one of which is it can join together small pockets of people who might otherwise feel isolated and allow them to share their common interests and thus build up a critical mass where their particular hobby horse is concerned, which was not possible before. But, of course, it does the same for the whackjobs and amplifies what is always there in a segment of the population – and gives it a much louder voice.

Most of the conspiracy-nut leaders I’ve looked at are driven by not just anger but black rage, connected to their relationship primarily to their father but not exclusively since mother had to have a hand in their dysfunction somewhere. And that hatred/anger/ferocious fear is then projected out into society at large, hooking onto secret and not-so-secret power figures.

Uranus Neptune isn’t the only culprit since the other ‘paranoia’ signature is Saturn Neptune which were in square in 2016 tied into the North Node for Brexit and Trump’s election, when politicians and the internet disgraced themselves with nonsense, playing on fears for profit and success.

But both of these aspects do come round once in a while so it’s not entirely clear why the effect has been so strong. Neptune in Pisces will be another part of it since it, amongst other attributes, can be delusional and cling onto irrational beliefs.

Yeats’ poem The Second Coming was evidently more quoted in 2016 than ever before.:

“The best lack all conviction, while the worst

Are full of passionate intensity.”

He wrote it in 1919 after the carnage of World War One but it does seem to have touched a chord for the next hundred years. The 20th Century was the most murderous on record with running wars almost throughout, so there may be a touch of global PTSD in those who are more delicately balanced mentally. That’s a psycho-babble thought since regressing back to infantile levels does suggest a degree of unbearable pressure.

Really I’ve no idea astrologically why conspiracy theories have had such a field day in recent years. It is weird and scary. And it extends beyond ‘they are out to get us’ mentality. The whole transgender thing has been blown up into manic and hysterical proportions for what is a small problem in statistical terms. Those who are genuinely conflicted about gender are certainly due sympathy and help but it’s got ridiculous. And anyone who speaks out against the line laid down by the transgender lobby are subjected to the death-ray treatment. There is a definitely unhinged feeling about.

Plus, of course, some conspiracies turn out to be hard fact which doesn’t help. The big bad corporations and corrupt or thick-as-a-brick political leaders don’t do much to calm anxieties.

Social fads and moods tend to go on a pendulum swing so it’s not beyond the bounds of possibility this will swing back at some point as people get irritated and bored by the hogwash spewed out.

Pic: https://www.facebook.com/Acts.Random.Kindness/photos/a.623678174312244/3077106268969410/?type=3&theater

Brexit – untying the Gordian knot not a snip

Sigh. More brinksmanship is promised in 2020 with the new EU chief Ursula von der Leyen saying 11 months isn’t long enough to agree a deal on the UK’s future relationship with the EU. The UK sort-of leaves the EU on 31 January 2020 and will remain in the customs union and single market until the end of the year, with an option to stay within those arrangements for a further two years. If there isn’t a deal in place on trade there would be major disruption to the UK economy, with tariffs and quantity restrictions being immediately applied to goods being sold into the EU market.

Boris, au naturellement, is grandstanding his refusal from the sunny Caribbean and swearing it’ll all be done and dusted satisfactorily within the year. Though I do faintly recollect a do-or-die-in-a-ditch proclamation last year from which came and went with a blink.

What is interesting astrologically is there is a “moment of truth” written into the agreement for 1 July, by which time both sides will need to have agreed on prolonging the transition period or face running out of time. That is within days of the one eclipse in 2020, a Lunar, which affects the UK and Boris’s chart at 13 degrees Capricorn/Cancer. So it will be a critical point.

That 5 July 2020 Lunar Eclipse located to London has an indecisive/confused Neptune exactly on the Midheaven and the Full Moon sitting across the Ascendant/Descendant. Planets on the angles suggest significant events will occur and follow.

That’s also almost exactly (Boris’s birth time being accurate) at the point where his Solar Arc MC is conjunct his Uranus for a jolting change of direction. Before then he’ll have a run of downbeat transits with tr Saturn in Aquarius from late March to early April squaring his Moon, repeating from mid June into early July and again in .late December though at that final hit it will have Jupiter beside it then so will be less discouraging. The Moon in a politician’s chart can indicate his relationship with the public as well as his personal life. Saturn doesn’t suggest popularity. Tr Saturn is also trine his afflicted focal point Mars in Gemini from early April to mid June which will be an uphill and bad-tempered struggle against obstacles and setbacks.   He will have some confident phases – late January to late February, July and August, late November to late December 2020 with tr Pluto trine his Mars/Jupiter midpoint though that’s mild enough.

Ursula von der Leyen is no mean negotiator up against him since she also has a do-or-die-determined Mars in Gemini square Pluto in Virgo, so she won’t budge easy.

Anyways I thought the mid year Eclipse was worth mentioning and remembering when it comes round. Just as we all thought (delusionally hoped) – remainers and brexiteers alike – that at least the deed was done and we could get on with life in some form – mais non. More dragged-out political jousting.

EU 2020 – economy in a spin

The EU is heading into three years of turbulence, mainly financial, but with existential questions also being posed. Economists certainly think the EU economy will slow down in 2020 for the third consecutive year. There are also major divergences over multifarious policies with in some cases west versus east; in others, north versus south or left versus right. Finding agreement is becoming increasingly difficult especially on budgetary matters, since calls for Germany and the Netherlands, who are in a stronger financial position, to embark on a fiscal stimulus are unlikely to meet with agreement.

There has already been panicky confusion earlier this year with the Solar Arc Pluto conjunct the EU 2nd house Neptune with tr Uranus in opposition; and at the moment the Solar Arc MC is in a blocked (and seething)  conjunction to the 12th house Pluto as the reality of Brexit (and eventual withdrawal of UK’s contribution) becomes inescapable. As with the UK, tr Uranus is trine the EU Pluto from this December UK election and through January 2020 for a definite shift; as well as tr Pluto being trine the Solar Arc Midheaven. So the winds of a change of direction with less control in Brussels (12th house Pluto) ahead.

Tr Saturn will damp economic confidence and enthusiasm as it squares the 2nd house Jupiter in early March, July and again in November. Tr Neptune will square the 3rd house Saturn from late March and through April, late August and September, and early 2021 – for uncertainty, indecision, inability to reach agreements, perhaps also transport problems being 3rd house. There’ll be a tremor of financial anxiety in March as tr Uranus opposes the 2nd house Neptune; but where the real rock n’ roll starts is from early July through till late September as tr Uranus is conjunct the 8th house Moon and square Uranus, repeating April 2021 and January 2022 – and that will produce jolting changes in the arena of international finance, with perhaps a natural disaster or two it being 8th house. The Solar Arc Mars will also square the 8th house Moon and oppose the Uranus in 2021/22 for a shocking upset or series thereof.

The Solar Arc Neptune is also in a debilitating conjunction to the EU Sun in late 2022/23 – so it’ll be a longish phase of mishaps, missteps and internal disagreements. Though not as lengthy as for the UK since tr Uranus moves out of the EU 8th by 2024 which should stabilise finances. The UK’s erratic finances will run on till 2027.

The ECB chart and especially Christine Lagarde’s Term chart, 1 November 2019, indicate 2021 through 2022 and into 2023 will be high-stress, disappointing and seriously challenging times.

USA 2020 – who’ll shout loudest?

 

The USA will be into the thick of rancorous and aggravated debates in 2020 as Pluto starts to oppose the USA Mercury opposition Pluto from late February onwards, on and off till late 2021.

Pluto opposition Mercury does hint at a dark, fanatical streak in the US temperament. Ebertin associates Mercury Pluto with: demagogues, plagiarists, those who fraudulently misrepresent, slyness and cunning, irritability, and psychological pressure. Kept under control it can be persuasive and insightful.

Previous times of tr Pluto in hard aspect to the USA Pluto Mercury saw bitter anti-slavery fights under a Democratic President, 1845 to 1851; the Great Depression, 1933 to 1938, Roosevelt’s New Deal and J. Edgar Hoover in the FBI; President Reagan’s swingeing tax cuts leading to soaring budget deficit and high unemployment, a recession and his attempted assassination. Reagan was elected on tr Pluto square the USA Mercury in 1981.

All of this being a forerunner to the USA Pluto Return in 2022/23. See previous posts: November 19 2018 and October 29 2018 – on Pluto Return and Civil War.  Tr Saturn will also oppose the USA Mercury and conjunct the Pluto on and off throughout 2020 which will be discouraging, prone to the glooms and stuck at points, especially late November.

Tr Pluto will also be trine the USA Neptune for a second year running in 2020 – exact in January and mid August to late November across the election. Neptune Pluto has a span of meanings from an interest in the supernatural, to great confusion, obsessive or fantastical ideas, scandals and megalomania. The election is likely to be held under stressful (more so than usual) influences and the January 2021 Inauguration looks exceptionally fraught with Sun, Saturn, Jupiter in Aquarius square an explosive, no-compromise Mars Uranus in Taurus.

The Eclipses will impact the country with the effects of the December 2019 early Capricorn Solar Eclipse in opposition to the USA Venus Jupiter running through early months; the January Lunar Eclipse hitting on the USA Mercury; the July Lunar in Capricorn opposing the USA Sun; and the December 2020 Solar Eclipse in Sagittarius bouncing off the USA Mars and Neptune – some emotional upsets early on and a tendency to over confidence; a critical turning point vis a vis relationships mid year and a hot-tempered finish.

A touch like the UK, with whom the USA seems to be in an odd lock-step at the moment, 2021 in some ways looks even more troublesome with a panicky-failure tr Neptune square the USA Mars and opposition Neptune; the Mercury Pluto effect strengthening; and the Pluto Return drawing nearer.

UK 2020 – nervy wait for what comes next

 

Poised on the brink of a momentous change the UK heads into 2020 with a transformative Uranus trine the UK Pluto, bringing a new order into being. That transit picked up at the recent election and rolls through till early February 2020, across the pull-out of-the-EU date. It seemed mild enough, looked at in advance, but even soft aspects appear to have a significant effect on country charts.

The heavy concentration of Saturn Pluto and Jupiter in Capricorn are all focussed on the UK 4th house which certainly indicates the roots/foundation of the country undergoing a massive shift under great resistance. Emotional tensions will flare from Saturn there and mutinous rumblings will come courtesy of Pluto. Jupiter will help to smooth over a few rough edges. Often Jupiter in the 4th is a time of waiting and it does look as if 2021 is the year when more ructions are likely, of which more below.

Saturn has just cleared the gloomy opposition to the 10th house Moon mid this month – though Saturn’s effects can hang around like rotting fish to make an impact months ahead. The 10th house Moon refers to the monarchy/and or ruling classes, and this transit suggests separation and mourning. Saturn then proceeds to oppose the UK 10th house Jupiter in Leo from April 7th to mid June which will damp national confidence and enthusiasm, perhaps prompting the need for financial cutbacks after a phase of over-spending.

Before then through February there’ll be a nervy mood with tr Neptune square the Uranus/Pluto midpoint and then square the Saturn/Node midpoint in March, which latter influence repeats October to mid January 2021 – and will bring uncertainty, gloom, deception, suffering through falsehood.

Uranus squares the Sun/Pluto midpoint in the second half of April 2020 and again late December 2020 to mid February 2021. Ebertin describes that as “sudden adjustment to new circumstances: carrying out fanatical reforms” – and can, he suggests, be a change into restrictive circumstances.

From the look of what’s around in late December 2020 across the New Year into the crash-out Brexit phase will be exceedingly nerve-stretching and uncertain with both the UK Saturn/Node and Sun/Pluto midpoints being activated. At that point the Solar Arc Mars will be conjunct the 3rd house Mercury provoking noisy arguments – and perhaps transport or communication snafus.

The Progressed Moon will continue in the 10th house through 2020 keeping ambitions buoyant. From the start of 2021 it heads into the UK 11th for a change of focus towards the future with an exceptionally bumpy ride ahead for two years as it squares the 8th house Mars, opposes Venus, squares Neptune and finally is conjunct the UK Saturn. At the same time tr Uranus in 2021 from May picks up the conjunction to the 8th house Mars which will bring a disruptive series of events, financial and otherwise, running on for several years as Uranus follows the Progressed Moon round the UK Fixed Grand Cross. In 2021 in May as well, the Progressed Mercury will square the UK Mars for explosive arguments; made all the more bitter by tr Pluto conjunct the Mercury/Pluto midpoint throughout 2021/22 – which tends to bring hostile debate, fanatical obstinacy and a degree of mental strain.

But for all that Jupiter in 2021 will have moved, along with Saturn, into the UK 5th so there will be some attempt at celebration.

Enjoy the fun or savour the peace

 

Happy Festivities and All the Best for 2020. May it float by on a drift of dreams and fantasies.

My most favourite flowering tree is out. Always the earliest – Pearl Mimosa with a heavenly scent. Otherwise Acacia podalyriifolia.

[I would have written a cheerful message across it but Adobe has messed up photoshop which now means all pics with texts now require too much RAM. Urgh. By next NY will have new specc-ed up desktop.]