Uranus-Pluto Update

In late July, Uranus and Pluto will come to within just over a degree of squaring each other, and then begin to separate. The first actual square won’t be until 2012, but this is still pretty close. Collectively, we are now in the thick of this transit. Uranus has catalysed, disrupted and shoved us into Pluto’s lair.

The collective goes through a major shift every time you get a challenging angle between 2 of the outer planets. Roughly every 20 years. The last was the Uranus-Neptune conjunction of the early 90s, that saw the collapse of Russian communism. The one before that was the Uranus-Pluto conjunction of the 1960s, which also re-shaped the western world, but culturally rather than geo-politically.

The 2 clearest manifestations of the current transit are the recession and the political change across the Middle East. The latter is classic Uranus-Pluto: the empowerment (Pluto) of radical change (Uranus). This radical change could just as easily become Islamic fundamentalism as it could become western-style democracy. That is why we have seen both Obama and bin Laden praising the uprisings.

But what about the recession, or what is becoming known as the Great Recession? I was wondering about it, thinking we’ve got this big transit going on, but not a lot seems to be happening, we’re just sort of stuck in this recession that won’t shift. But then I thought that is exactly how personal Pluto transits can be: your previous life doesn’t work so well any more, if at all, and you can be apparently stuck for some years with not a lot apparently happening. BUT the real change is going on under the surface, much of it beyond your awareness. And eventually, the seed of something new presents itself, life returns.

And that is what is happening with this recession. We do not directly participate in the work of Pluto; or if we do, it is under his supervision, and we do not know the half of it.

Our primary experience, like a personal Pluto transit, is of the old life, the old economy, not working as it used to, and having to sit it out while underneath, in the collective unconscious, the dwarves are busy at work, building something new. Being a nation of dwarves anyway, the Germans seem to be uniquely beating the recession, making enough things for export to have achieved a record trade surplus last month. This as other European countries like Ireland, Greece and Portugal continue to struggle for their economic survival.

So the economy will take off again. But it will be a different world, and astrologically I think we need to let Uranus and Pluto make some exact squares before things begin to come right. So it will be mid 2012 at the earliest. And then the exact squares will continue until early 2015. So it’s a long change.

The chart for Pluto’s entry into Capricorn was a favourable one. Pluto in a stellium with the 2 benefics, Venus and Jupiter, and trine to its dispositor, Saturn.

Click for larger image.

Although personally I haven’t felt sure of the economic outcome of Pluto’s time in Capricorn as it was squared by Uranus, astrologically I have been in no doubt that the world economy will eventually rebound after some deep structural changes, primarily the addition of some major new players to the world economy, a gradual shift in the balance of power, and the price of basic resources going up as demand for them becomes more widespread.

So despite my reservations about the nature of modern economies, I think the ‘good times’ are going to return, and will be tentatively visible after June next year, but not properly in place for 2 or 3 years after that.

A lot hinges on China becoming a consumer economy. People save their money in China, as they have a background of poverty and lack social safety nets. Women will not marry unless their future husband owns a house. So young men save up. This will change in the coming years. More consumerism on a vast scale horrifies me, but I think it’s what’s going to happen, and we’ll all be on a roll again. For the West, a vast new market will be opening up.

I had been hoping that this Uranus-Pluto square would force the world to confront the issue of finite resources and that we would start to see serious moves towards something more sustainable and earth-friendly. But I don’t think that is going to happen. We are just too good at finding, for example, new sources of oil. We haven’t even started in the Arctic yet, for example; and America is sitting on a load of shale-oil reserves.

And you could argue that a Uranus-Pluto square on its own is not enough to describe such a world-changing series of events. As I say when I’m doing personal readings, one major transit means a shift from one phase of your life to the next. A series of them, and you shift from one life to another.

And for the world to live in a sustainable way, you need a shift from one life to another, it is mega, you need more than one major outer planet hard transit. And we are indeed going to see two such transits in a row, but not until 2039-2048, as Uranus first squares Neptune and then opposes Pluto, with only a couple of years between.

There is an added factor here, which is a subject in itself. Since 1993 we have been in a rare period in which all three outer planet pairs – Uranus-Neptune, Uranus-Pluto and Neptune-Pluto – have been in the waxing phase of their cycles with each other, and will remain so until the year 2046, when Uranus will exactly oppose Pluto and begin the waning phase of its cycle.

The outer planet cycles govern the longer-term patterns and developments of humanity. The waxing phase of a cycle is a creative, constructive phase, which reaches its culmination at the Opposition; after that comes the waning phase, when the fruits of the waxing phase may be lived out, but which also results in the decay of the old pattern and the eventual planting of the seed of the next cycle.

The last time that all 3 outer planet pairs were waxing was during the years 1479-1538 AD, when the Renaissance was spreading through Europe; and the time before that was during the years 965-1029 AD, the period when most of Europe finally came under Christian influence. These were both periods of cultural re-birth, shaping the character of the western world for centuries afterwards.

So the outer planet pairs are telling us that we too are living in a rare time of cultural re-birth, and that what is happening now will fundamentally shape the character of our culture for centuries to come, presumably until the next time all 3 outer planet pairs are waxing, from 2508-2553 AD. Because it is a time of cultural re-birth, it is also a time of a death of the old culture, just as paganism pretty much died out when Christianity gained ascendancy, and just as the Catholic Church as a unifying cultural force began to die at the time of the Renaissance.

It is hard, if not impossible, for us to know very clearly what it is that is being born and what it is that is dying, because we are living through it, we ARE it. But astrology does at least give us the insight that such a tectonic shift is occurring.

So the years 2039-2048 will be crucial. 2 hard aspects between outer planets, and the seed of something very new at last becoming visible as the outer planets start to move out of their mutual waxing phases. This will be the time, I suspect, that we will be forced to confront the issues of finite resources and what we are doing to the planet. Of course, we are all already aware of these issues. But we are not yet being forced to confront them. Collectives are not usually very intelligent, and will not do something they do not want to do unless they have to. But the astrology seems to be telling us that this world, in which we treat resources and economic growth as potentially infinite, is dying, even though we probably have one final phase of the ‘good times’ left. The party will be over, but not just yet.

The primary meaning of the present Uranus-Pluto square, you could argue, is a major shift in the world balance of power, resulting from far more people starting to partake of the prosperity that modern economies provide; but that new prosperity will also bring forward the date at which we we have to confront the underlying weaknesses of our economic model. And it will be a world problem, a reflection of the accelerating globalisation that began in the 1990s under the Uranus-Neptune conjunction and Pluto in Sagittarius.

Readings (Part II); the Importance of Being a Mess

I’ve decided to offer written astrology readings in response to specific issues and questions.

The more information you give me, the more specific I can be. Job, career, relationships, house-moving, impossible parent, horrible transit, life falling apart…. I’ll write about half a page. Price £30, or £20 if you’re hard up. My email address is on my profile on the right of the page.

It’s not my job to make decisions for people, but I might be able to point you in a useful direction. Nor is it my job to predict the future in a definite sort of way. But I’m happy to be nebulous!

I’ve been thinking how useful it can be to feel like you’re a mess and you don’t know what to do about it. That’s when a lot of change can happen, and often does happen, though maybe over a period of years.

There’s the light and the dark. The light is following your deeper interests, whatever it is that gives you joy. It is also doing the things that make you happy in an ordinary kind of way, and feeling it’s OK to do that – which, remarkably, people don’t always feel.

But I think it’s also important that there are periods where it all stops making sense, where much of what gave your life meaning no longer seems to. And you’re scrabbling around feeling like this retard who can’t make their life work, unlike all the jolly, directed people up there above your private underworld.

As an astrologer, you’re more likely to encounter people when things aren’t working, rather than when they are. And you can re-assure them that no, they are not a retard, it’s a normal and often necessary experience that gives depth to your life.

‘Spiritual’ paths are often presented in terms of movement towards the light. Towards ecstatic experience, union with God, your original self etc. But I think if you’re a teacher (which I’m not), your real job is often being around for people when their life doesn’t add up anymore. And helping them focus on finding their own way through it, rather than latching on to someone else's 'answers'.

It’s very easy for ‘spiritual’ teachers to stop their own underworld journeys, or even never to have been there properly in the first place. You can see it in them: the unprocessed scripts, classically the desires for power or sex or wealth or success, running alongside the undoubted gifts and insights and probably charisma. These people are betrayers. Their 'rightness' or their success is more important to them than you are. Ironically, betrayal can be what is needed, it can pull someone's world apart in a way that is ultimately useful.

I'm sceptical that teachers with followings can ever take people beyond a basic level. The next level, after you've heard what they have to say, is often claiming your power back by leaving! Followers create a collective projection and a handing over of power which even a good teacher can do little about. You see people hanging around for years, trying to advance themselves, when their next real step is actually to leave.

I think we often only end up an underworld mess if there is conflict in us, if there is a deeper element that goes no, I can’t live like that. You see many people happily leading their lives from relatively narrow motives or worse, but it doesn’t bother them.

They appear successful, and it’s we who can’t live like that who can appear to be the ones with ‘problems’. But as is so often the case, the reality is the opposite of what it appears to be. And part of what gives you depth in this sort of situation is that you are not having the approval of the world to make you feel OK about who you are. You have to find it for yourself, independently. But the confidence you emerge with is real, it stands on its own.

Pluto in Leo, Pluto in Capricorn and Death

There’s a test coming out this year, costing about £400, that will tell you how long you are likely to live. It is based on the length of your telomeres, lengths of repetitive DNA at the ends of your chromosomes that help keep them intact. Every time the cell divides during the course of your life, the telomere shortens. Eventually it is no more, and then the chromosome itself starts shortening at every cell division and soon becomes ineffective and the cell dies.

So there is a general association between the lengths of your telomeres and how quickly you will start to age. It seems to hold as a general rule, though there are for example some species of seabird where the rule doesn’t hold.

The generation who are now entering retirement, for whom ageing is the big issue, are the Pluto in Leo generation. Pluto is associated with both the power to live and with death, and Leo is associated with youth. So this generation is likely to live longer than previous generations (Leo and youth) and also have a harder time accepting the process of ageing (Leo and youth again!) But also, some are likely to remain young in spirit as they age.

This is happening under Pluto in Capricorn, a sign that is associated with old age. So there is rich symbolism here. Puer aeternus meets senex, eternal youth meets old fogey. Opposites are needed to create an interesting synthesis, and this is what we have. The best of this Pluto in Leo generation will keep the power to live as they age, they will see their lives as having a future.

I think that the notion of death as extinction, as the opposite of life, tends to create pessimism about old age, which can seem like a long process of delaying the inevitable, even of denying it. The Pluto in Leo generation, functioning through Pluto in Capricorn can, and probably are, changing this. CG Jung analysed many old people, and he said that the unconscious did not behave as though it was going to be extinguished, it behaved as though it were going to continue. So life itself (the unconscious) does not see death as the end of life, and who are we to argue with that? Do we know better? We do not know, we cannot know, what death holds in store for us. But I don’t think deep down we feel it to be an extinction. It is a matter of which we trust: our feelings, or scientific materialism.

So Pluto in Leo will be the first older generation to have a fairly good idea, barring accidents, of how long they are going to live. I think Science is doing us a service here, because it will be giving us information we didn’t previously have. It will have huge consequences for the nature of old age, it will be uncomfortable for many, I find myself slightly balking at it, but I don’t think it serves anyone to ignore information that is there waiting to be had. It would be like a family secret, an elephant in the room.

What Science is capable of doing with that information, on the other hand, is not the same thing. It is one thing to discover information, it is another to take action with it. There are enzymes called telomerases that can rebuild telomeres, and you find a lot of these enzymes in cells that need to do a lot of dividing, such as stem cells (remember them?) and certain white blood cells. Here it is: scientists have injected telomerases into lab mice, and they have in many ways shown dramatic rejuvenation. The effects of ageing were not just prevented, they were reversed.

"What we were expecting was a slowing or stabilisation of the ageing process," Professor Ronald DePinho told the BBC. "Instead we witnessed a dramatic reversal in the signs and symptoms of ageing. These animals had their brains increase in size, they improved their cognition, their coat-hair was restored to a healthy sheen and their fertility was also restored."

There is a Holy Grail here. How long before the process is refined and a billionaire sets up a lab on his private island and injects himself with the stuff? It will be the fulfilment of an ancient fantasy. The first Emperor of a unified China, Qin Shi Huang, sent expeditions to find the elixir of life so that he could live forever. The emissaries never returned, knowing they would be executed when their mission failed. The Emperor ironically died as a result of Mercury poisoning, ingested to prolong his life.

This issue hasn’t entered mainstream discussion yet, but it will. Firstly under Pluto in Capricorn: power (Pluto) over old age (Capricorn). But then under Pluto in Aquarius: Science (Aquarius) appearing to defeat Death (Pluto.) Again, it will be the Pluto in Leo generation who will initially have most to gain from the possibility of rejuvenation. And it is a puer aeternus vs senex issue: that aspect of Leo, more than any other sign, that wishes to remain a child, versus the realities of life.

But which of us wouldn’t be tempted by the possibility of physical rejuvenation? For many of us as we age it is, or could easily become, a deep longing, and you can’t just say no to that. You could have a whole nation wanting it. Paradoxically, if you prolonged life indefinitely, people could not be allowed to have children. By extending life in one fundamental way, you curtail it in another.

This possibility and its implications feel almost too big to talk about, especially in just a few short paragraphs. But there is astrology around it worth pointing out, and the issue itself needs flagging up as one that seems to be on its way.

I think like nuclear power and GM, these things cannot be stopped. The issue is how we deal with them, what attitude to take. If you just say you're anti, that's all very well, but it doesn't change anything; it doesn't add the complexity and ambivalence that the wider culture needs, where the debate is often quite black and white due to the influence of politicians and the media.

Leo understands that life is eternal, that it is a deep, ever renewing source to be tapped into. That is the Leo path: to become that source, but each in their own unique way. Death, therefore is not to be feared, because it is not the end of life. But that is the self-aware, the integrated Leo. The archetype of eternal life will always be at work in a Leo, however aware they are. In its more primitive form, the archetype is literalised and an egotistic desire for eternal life is attached to material existence. The debate about rejuvenation, which has yet to start, could hardly be starting under a more appropriate outer planet configuration – the Pluto in Leo generation encountering Pluto in Capricorn.

Meanwhile, research in separate studies in the UK and the US has revealed that the length of your telomeres, and therefore the speed at which you will age, depends on how educated you are. And that education needs to have taken place when young. The 'better' educated you are, the more slowly you will age.

As one of the Professors put it: "Education is a marker of social class that people acquire early in life, and our research suggests that it is long-term exposure to the conditions of lower status that promotes accelerated cellular ageing."

The studies corroborate well-established links between health and socio-economic status. But even if you acquire high status and education as you get older, it's the early conditioning that matters. Which suggests to me it's not just about lifestyle, it's also about how you think about yourself. Humans are pack animals, and we are deeply conditioned to think in terms of status, of pecking order. (Hence celebrity worship, which is nothing new.)

Our education system does not produce rounded people, but it does produce people who feel they are high status, and it seems to me that that feeling somehow translates into physical well-being. It's not fair and it's primitive, but it's there. It also seems to me a clear example of the mind-body connection that goes as far as influencing our DNA, but the researchers didn't go into that. With Pluto in Capricorn, we can expect plently more research into ageing (Capricorn) as well as its connection to social status, another Capricornian consideration.

Webcam Astrology Readings

I’m not a technophobe, just a bit sluggish and wary. 30 years ago, during my misspent youth, I was living in a Buddhist Community. We bought a washing machine. I carried on as before, doing my laundry by hand. 18 months later I began to use it. I don’t like reading instructions for new gadgets, but I usually find they work if I do. I didn’t get the internet till 2002, and this sets the lie to the astromyth that Aquarians are good with computers. We’re not, Virgos are, we just like the vision of where they can take us. It took me 4 years to get a subscribe button on my blog, even though I knew all along I needed one, and I’d have a lot more readers now if I’d had one earlier.

I’ve made my point. I now have a webcam and skype. If you’d like an astrology reading by webcam, email me (address on right below my photo) and we’ll sort something out. And you'll get a recording. If you buy a webcam specially, I’ll reduce the cost. Skype costs nothing to join and nothing to use. Even I managed it. With a webcam, put in the CD that comes with it, follow the instructions, and it’ll become part of your skype.

That was the bit that I balked at. I was sure that the webcam and skype wouldn't talk to each other without specialist help, because I'd have missed something obvious. But they did, they were meant for each other, they have a beautiful relationship.

Internet Writing and the Ownership of Ideas

I started wondering yesterday if Facebook was superseding my blog, because of the sheer amount of exchange of comments and links that you get on Facebook – including links to my own blogs. And the fact that my last 2 blogs were composed either of links or short, independent, paragraphs.

But no, my main blogging consists of longer pieces that would exceed by a long way Facebook’s limit. And then I thought there is a hierarchy (in a neutral sense) going on now in the publishing world, that goes in 2 directions. There is firstly a hierarchy of length and finish, at the top end of which you find books, which are highly edited and hopefully thought through at length, developing themes over hundreds of pages. Then you successively get magazine articles, blogs, facebooks and finally twitters, each of which become gradually shorter and less polished.

But then, in the other direction, you get a hierarchy of flow and exchange of information, at the top end of which is twitter, and at the bottom end of which are books, where you have to go to a great deal of trouble firstly to read and then perhaps to comment on an author’s work, and he/she may well not reply – or if they do, it may be a standardised letter. And to get the book in the first place, you have to find it and buy it. One of Britain’s national treasures, the anti-astrology Stephen Fry, is at both ends of this hierarchy, writing the odd book while maintaining a following of hundreds of thousands on twitter. Although if you have this sort of following, only a few of you can actually exchange information with the twitterer.

So you have this hierarchy - books, magazines, blogs, facebook and twitter - which going in one direction encourages depth of thought, and in the other encourages exchange and flow of information. In a way all this is obvious, and I’m sure it must have been said many times before. But I’m not going to search people out and credit them, partly because I thought of it myself, and partly because I don't see the need to do so.

Which brings me to another point, which is ownership of ideas. If someone directly quotes me, fair enough, credit me, though I won’t be heartbroken if you don’t. But if you take an idea from my blog and run with it, I really don’t mind if I am not credited with it – I would just be glad to see it out there, getting woven into astrocyberthought, unencumbered by a name tag. (NB I do, nevertheless, tend to credit other people for their ideas!)

Internet writing is not yet based much around money, it is hard to control, and I think that frees us from ownership of ideas. OK, you may one day put your blogs together into a book, but I don’t think it’s going to affect sales just because some of ‘your’ ideas have become well-known in an unattributed sort of way. Just make sure you write in an engaging style!

I think a lot of it is just egotism. Medieval religious artists used to not sign their names on their pictures. It was the work that mattered. And I think it’s the same with ideas. (There is something about publishing a book that can make some people feel they are real in a way they weren't previously, it makes them a 'name'.)

I had a daft situation arise a while ago, that got me thinking about this. I had interpreted some charts on my blog, and someone was miffed because they had apparently put on Facebook and Twitter the idea that these charts needed interpreting, and were now claiming ownership of that idea and wanted me to credit them. Note they had not actually interpreted these charts, they had just had the idea that someone else should do so, charts which were in the public domain anyway. It was a ridiculous situation.

Internet writing is transitory, and the ideas get passed around. Some of my readers weren’t very enthusiastic when I experimented with audio blogs, because what they wanted to do was read my pieces quickly and move on. That is also how I work on the internet. I pick up the basic ideas and move on. Longer pieces, such as you’d get in magazines or books, often also have just a few basic ideas, but expounded at length. That is why I resist giving talks or writing magazine articles.

Because it seems to me it often involves trying to find a way of saying something in 10 pages instead of 2, or finding a way of talking for an hour instead of 10 minutes. For the same reason I often find it hard to read astrology articles in magazines, or listen to astrology talks.

Significant ideas can be communicated quickly, and you will keep your audience. And the audience can interact. On the blog, we exchange comments. If I’m talking, I like to keep it brief and then see where the ‘audience’ takes it. Ownership of ideas starts to seem a bit daft in this sort of context. It’s for wannabe bigshots who take themselves far too seriously!

I don’t know where that leaves ownership of photos, but again, with so many people putting their pics on the net and passing them around, it’s hard to keep control of what is ‘yours’. I don't know who 'owns' the pictures I use on my blog, and I'm not sure what purpose it would serve to put a name under them, though I would do so if asked.

With both ideas and pictures, whatever the rights and wrongs of ownership, the fact is that we have a situation that is very hard to control. The net is a free-flowing universe in its own right, and I think the best thing is just to let go and be part of it. The free flow and exchange of information is its strength and getting too hung up on what is ‘yours’ just gets in the way of that. You are playing into the hands of those who want to over-control the net.

Links: The Empathic Civilisation;What the Internet is Hiding From You

RSA Animate - The Empathic Civilisation (Greek) by tvxorissinora

Shamanic Bits and Pieces

I took a look at Facebook first thing this morning, and there was Tom asking if anyone wanted to talk about shamanism. Liz Jones Iwasiuk had commented, “From what I understand it's a very very old way of life........I met one about three years ago and he was very interesting. He said to me that "women are the leaders of men and as soon as a man relaxes and lets his woman lead him life is much much easier" ........he has a point!

I then made 6 comments in the next 25 minutes:

I'm reading 'The Secret Fire of the Philosophers' by Patrick Harpur (who wrote Daimonic Reality). It's a History of the Imagination, but it's grounded in the experience of daimons in the natural world, from pixies to animal helpers.

Neptune is in Pisces for the next 14 years, so I think there's going to be a lot of interest in the Dreamtime.

I tend to think that for many men, their strength is in getting things done, and for many women their strength lies in the wider vision of what needs to be done and how to go about it. Women can act as a sort of soul guide for men, who also need to woo their own anima, move towards a sort of ecstatic union within. It probably works the other way round too, though I wouldn't know how. (Any women out there care to comment?) I think women's leadership can be esoteric, not everyone will see it.

A shaman or a poet who is a man has more than the usual sense of the feminine within, which is experienced as ecstatic. He follows it and trusts it, it is what gives his life meaning. There is little place for this in our society, where it is having a job that validates you!

What is the opposite of Death? The answer is Birth. We think the answer is Life, and that causes a lot of problems. That when you die, life ceases. That is not traditional. The dead are dead, but they are still with us, they have moved on, they have had the next initiation. (Pinched from Harpur’s book above.) Jung found that the unconscious of very old people did not behave as though it was about to be extinguished, it behaved as though it were continuing indefinitely.

You've caught me when I've just got up and thoughts come to me! I think the above might go on my blog! I guess when I'm just up I'm fresh, but still close to the dreamworld.

;) Emoticon with a hairy right eyebrow.

End.

It is because we fear death that Pluto appears to us as a dark god. That is our own projection. Pluto is certainly a god of power, the power to live and the power to survive. He is weighty but has a sense of humour. He is the power beneath our feet, pushing upwards. If you live from that power, then you don't need to fear him. He is the bountiful nature of life.

Here's an interesting quote from Harpur's book that brings together fairy abduction and conspiracy theory:

The Sidhe need human robustness, wrote Yeats, while we need their wisdom. Just as they take young mothers to suckle their babies and young women for wives, so the modern 'aliens' - the so-called greys - take female ova or foetuses in order to strengthen their race. The lack of reciprocity in early versions of this interesting folklore was later amended when it became widely believed that the aliens were in cahoots with the government, who sanctioned their activities in exchange for their 'wisdom' - in this case an advanced extraterrestrial technology.

Here's another one I picked up from Facebook, by John Perkins (who wrote The World is as You Dream It, as well as Confessions of an Economic Hitman):

How Long Will the UK Coalition Government Last?

Unlike the US, the UK government is not elected for a fixed term. The government can call an election at any time, and may stay in power for a maximum of 5 years. We currently have a coalition government, very unusual for the UK, and an expression of the Uranus Opposition that the country is experiencing.

The UK Uranus is at 2 Libra, and Uranus will be passing back and forth across this point all year. So we are having a mid-life crisis, which is classically how the Uranus opposition, which occurs for a person aged 40-42, is described.

Actually, the Uranus opposition is only the beginning of the ‘mid-life crisis’. Being Uranus, it cuts into the life we have built up in sudden and unexpected ways. It gets the process going. But in the ensuing years, we all experience Pluto square Pluto, Neptune square Neptune and Saturn square Saturn. It is a long period, lasting until at least the mid 40s. It is like a big ship being gradually moved around. But it often begins with not knowing what we want anymore – or wanting different things – and that is the position the UK finds itself in. The UK is not 40 years old, so the other outer planet transits will not be there.

Click to Enlarge

But our Uranus Opposition is leading into something just as powerful, which is Pluto and Uranus hard aspecting both our Sun/IC at 9-10 Capricorn in 2012/13, and our Cardinal Angles, which has already begun. Our sense of who we are is being gradually redefined in a big way. The SNP winning an overall majority in the Scottish Parliament last week flagged up one possibility, which is a break-up (Uranus) of the UK. Astrologically, it seems to me quite probable over the next 5-6 years.

So we have the present time of instability leading the way into a much bigger change. A world in which we have split from Scotland, and in which Britain’s standing in the world inevitably diminishes as China and other parts of Asia rise. A world in which limited resources will be spread more evenly as other economies grow.

And a coalition government is, for us, part of that instability. Or is it? I thought I’d take a look at the chart for the present government, set for the time David Cameron took office at 20.35 on 11 May 2010.

Click to Enlarge

Sun in Taurus, Scorpio Rising. A Fixed Chart, and a government that is therefore likely to endure. (This doesn’t mean I support it or don’t support it!)

How long will it last? The next major transit to this chart is not until 2014, when Saturn crosses the Asc and Pluto almost conjoins the North Node. Which suggests to me the coalition will last as long as most governments, about 4 years.

It’s possible it could last a year longer, but it doesn’t look like the chart of a short-term government. The Tories, the dominant party, would have no reason to call an election, which would not happen unless the LibDems pulled out of the coalition. And the question is what would the LibDems have to gain by doing so? Like many parties in government, their ratings have sunk, and what parties in that position usually do is to hang on for as long as they can in the hope that their ratings will rise.

With Sun in Taurus and Scorpio Rising, this is very much a government based around the economy (Taurus) and facing some harsh realities (Scorpio). Such a government is not likely to be popular until the economy turns round and people start feeling wealthy again. And this seems likely to take some years. Ergo no election until 2014/15.

It is interesting that the chart has Sun on the 7th House cusp and Venus in the 7th. This House corresponds to the sign of Libra, and David Cameron has Sun and Venus in Libra. So he is well embedded as leader. Libra is a sign of partnership, so where else, when you have a coalition, would you expect the Sun to be but in the 7th House? I’d say that the LibDems, the junior partner, are Venus in this chart. In Gemini, this is in Nick Clegg’s natal 7th House of partnership.

You often see major outer planet transits, as you’d expect, to the charts of leaders while they are in power. And just because they are challenging doesn’t mean they’ll fall from power. It often suggests the dynamism (hard aspect) and connection to the collective (outer planet) that is needed to keep them in power.

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Cameron came into power as Uranus finished hard aspecting his Angles. He currently has Pluto squaring his Venus. Venus is popularity in a politician’s chart. It is also a planet of money, so you can see the connection right now with the government spending cuts. Over the next few years, Uranus will begin to oppose, and Pluto to square, his Sun. It will probably propel him into a second term; but that will be that.

His transits come to an end about a couple of years after the start of the second term, and he will not win a 3rd term, if he is still leader by then, which looks problematic. (By the way, I was about 6 months out with Blair when I made this sort of prediction in 2003. In his case, it was Neptune transits coming to an end.)

Nick Clegg also has major transits. Currently, Pluto is squaring his MC.

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This is much bigger than Cameron’s transit, suggesting it is more than his popularity which is being challenged, it is his leadership itself. Uranus will be opposing his MC next year, so the issue is not going to settle.

Being a very able politician, he may well turn it round. But he also has Neptune squaring his Moon, beginning this year, and exact next year. This is his popular touch. Obama has the same transit (his Moon is at 3 Gemini, Clegg’s is exactly opposite). In a successful leader, I’d read that as in their favour. In the case of Clegg, who is struggling in the polls and with his party, it could mean the end of him as leader of the LibDems. Come the next election, Neptune will be squaring his Asc, and then he has Pluto conjunct Sun after that. Putting all that together, because his major transits are continuous for quite some time, there’s a case for him being around and in a position of power for some years yet – but it’s going to be difficult for him.

A scenario I hadn’t considered but which makes sense of all the astrology is that at after the next election there will be another Tory-LibDem coalition, but it will only last a year or two. This brings both Cameron’s and Clegg’s major transits to an end, while dissolving Neptune will then be opposing the MC of the original coalition chart.

With the extent of the changes that the UK (and the world) is going through, people will want to vote Tory at the next election. The Tories are the party of what is known and safe.

At the same time, the economic feelgood factor may still not be there yet, as this is no ordinary recession. It is demanding deep restructuring. So the Tories may win, but not outrightly so. Astrologically, Saturn will be crossing the Asc in Scorpio of the coalition chart. It will be an election about survival and about caution.

The Morning Sky

Since the start of May, Mercury, Venus, Mars and Jupiter have been moving together in Aries, and over the last day there has been a particularly tight conjunction of Mercury, Venus and Jupiter. The morning dance between these 4 planets will continue for the rest of the month, gradually moving into Taurus.

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The Sun is in Taurus/Gemini this month, so these 4 planets, being a sign behind the Sun, will rise in the sky just before the Sun does. They are the last planets to rise before dawn, they lead in the day, if you like, they put their signature on it.

You can see this in your own chart. What is the planet behind the Sun? Too close, and it wouldn't have been visible due to the coming light of the Sun. So you might need to judge this one. But that is your leading planet, it is how you first approach any new situation. If it is the Moon, you come in with your emotions; Mercury, your mind; Venus, you look for harmony; Mars, you oppose. You could argue that the outer planets, not being visible, are not included.

On 2nd May, the day bin Laden was killed, the rising planets were a tight Mars-Jupiter conjunction in Aries. (The Moon, I think, was a bit too close to the Sun to have been the rising planet.) So they characterised that day. Jupiter is also suggestive of the ideological conflict behind the killing. And whatever you think of it, it was exceptionally daring and bold.

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Right now the Rising Planet continues to be Mars, which it has been since early March, reflecting the time of conflict across the Middle and Near East. By the end of this month, Mercury, and to some extent Venus, will have taken over, suggesting a move away from war and towards negotiation.

Below is a short video from NASA that shows the patterns made by Mercury, Venus, Mars and Jupiter in the dawn sky this month.

Pluto in Aquarius

Pluto will move into Aquarius in 12 years time. Aquarius is associated with birds, and Pluto is associated with irrational fears. Saturn also has this association (Pluto took over some of the functions of Saturn.) Hitchcock’s film The Birds was released in March 1963 with Saturn in Aquarius square to Neptune (film).

Under Pluto in Aquarius we are likely to see a rise in cases of Anatidaephobia, which is defined as a pervasive, irrational fear that one is being watched by a duck. The anatidaephobic individual fears that no matter where they are or what they are doing, a duck watches.

Anatidaephobia is derived from the Greek word "anatidae", meaning ducks, geese or swans and "phobos" meaning fear. As with all phobias, the person coping with Anatidaephobia has experienced a real-life trauma. For the anatidaephobic individual, this trauma most likely occurred during childhood.

Perhaps the individual was intensely frightened by some species of water fowl. Geese and swans are relatively well known for their aggressive tendencies and perhaps the anatidaephobic person was actually bitten or flapped at. Of course, the Far Side comics did little to minimize the fear of being watched by a duck.

Sometimes that fear can become so intense as to completely stop a person's ability to maintain daily functioning. Unchecked, Anatidaephobia can become a debilitating condition that interferes with the person's social life, their personal life and job responsibilities. Untreated, Anatidaephobia touches every aspect of a person's life.

Meanwhile, from Greg LeFever on Facebook we read that The White House has finally released a photo confirming the death of Osama bin Laden: