The UK General Election II

Astro-fact of the day: the UK is experiencing a Uranus Opposition. Under the last such Opposition, in 1929, there was a General Election resulting in a hung Parliament - and the first Labour government, in coalition with the Liberals. This time it again looks like a hung Parliament, and probably a Labour government in coalition with the LibDems.


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Uranus is currently in late Pisces, and together with Jupiter will station in late June in early Aries, opposite the UK’s natal Uranus, which is Angular and in the political sign of Libra. (The Angularity makes our Uranus cycle particularly potent; the current opposition to Saturn ups the ante even further.) So it could take some time after the election is over before a new government is able to form. Brown, for example, having led Labour into a 4th term, may find the price of that is his own leadership in the month or so after the election, in order that a coalition becomes possible. Even then, the UK has a year of Uranus opposition, so the situation could remain unsettled and unstable throughout that time, with another election in 2011/12.

Gordon Brown has always been gaffe-prone, which is just one of the many reasons he does not make a good leader in our media-age. Yesterday he forgot to switch his microphone off before referring to a voter he'd just been speaking to as a ‘bigoted woman’. I don’t mind him saying that, as that’s the least of what many of us would say in private if we were feeling grumpy and under pressure. Any maybe she is a bigot and he’s just calling a spade a spade. But when you are in a position of leadership, you have to be kind to people and be seen to be so, even though you also have to let off steam in private.

The irony is that I think Gordon Brown does care about people. He personally rang up a friend of mine a couple of years ago to give him his support for a school he is part of in Palestine. There were no votes in it for Brown, and he is known to do this. I trust him to do his best for the underprivileged in society. I do not trust the Tories to do this, as their record under Thatcher shows, even though they may make a better job of running the economy.

Gordon Brown is a Pisces, a sign that hates to hurt anyone else. I am sure his pain is genuine for the distress he caused that voter.

Gordon Brown hung on till the last moment before he called an election, and it was bad timing astrologically. All that astrological good timing represents is what you’d come up with if you properly consulted yourself about when to do something. Astrology can point us towards that, but it can also take us away from it if we get too hooked into what the stars are saying. It’s a balancing act of taking the stars seriously, and then backing off.


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Venus represents popularity in a politician, and it was just coming up to square Brown’s natal Moon when he called the election. The Moon is our ability to connect emotionally with people, so this square suggests a difficulty with that. Mercury is the politician’s ability to get across his message, and it was just coming up to station almost exactly square to Brown’s Moon before going retrograde for most of the campaign. Brown could hardly have chosen a worse moment to call the election, and it shows just how bad are his instincts as a politician. Yesterday’s gaffe was part of this Merc Retro square his Moon (the Moon in Scorpio, opposite Mercury, also squared his Moon yesterday).

If Brown had any political sense, he would not have had the TV debates either (though personally I support having them.) It was the first time they have happened, so he would have had a say in it. Cameron and Clegg perform much better than him in this situation, where he comes across as a tired old man.

If Brown had called the election in late February (for it to happen a month later), then during that period, both Mercury and Venus would have passed over many of his planets in 12th House Pisces (which have difficulty communicating themselves) and would have been on to his Aries Ascendant by the time of the election. It would have been about as good as it could get.

Brown is not a good leader, and his party is currently trailing 3rd in the polls. But that doesn’t mean he won’t be the next Prime Minister. The Tories look like they will have the most seats, while remaining short of an overall majority. Labour will have the second largest number of seats, and the instinct of the LibDems will be to support Labour in a coalition. Clegg, leader of the LibDems, will be the kingmaker. He is understandably distancing himself from Labour at the moment so that the LibDems will be taken seriously as an independent party. He is also saying that he will only back Labour of they get rid of Brown. But Brown is tenacious, and is unlikely to go without being pushed.

Whatever happens, this election was called under a Saturn-Uranus opposition which became exact just after the first TV debate, which upset the apple cart. The opposition will still be very operative on election day. So the result is hardly likely to be business as usual, as Saturn-Uranus overturns (Uranus) the status quo (Saturn).