THE PASSING OF AN ERA

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On Thursday 8th September at around lunchtime, the country was informed that doctors were concerned for the Queen's health, and that close family were on their way to see her in Scotland. This was code for the likelihood that she was on her way out, so I whacked up a chart, and this is what I found.

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My first thought had been to look at Jupiter, because that is a planet traditionally associated with the end of life: Jupiter, king of the gods, reaches down and pulls you back up to his realm.

And sure enough, there was the Queen's Jupiter at 22 Aquarius, due to experience a conjunction with the Moon later that afternoon: at 5.26pm, to be exact. The Moon, as the fastest moving planet, is the main activator of the chart in medieval astrology. And like any aspect, it is most potent before it is exact. The Queen's death was announced at 6.30pm, and there is no clear information as to when it actually occurred, but it seems to have been between about 4 and 4.30pm.

One astrologer, in reference to my Facebook post of the above chart that afternoon, commented that it is 'unethical' to predict death. So dear reader, do you think what I did was 'unethical'? I did not insist she was going to die. I simply laid it out as a distinct possibility, given the transits and what we had been told about her health.

What is it with some astrologers calling it 'unethical' to predict death? To me, that just seems like avoidance. People are always grateful that here is one astrologer, at least, who is willing to talk about that possibility, either for themselves or for people close to them. Death is not something 'bad'. It is something we learn to trust. It draws us into the Great Mystery of things, and into the love that the universe has for us.

In fact prediction itself can be a no-go area for many astrologers these days. It is as if they are trying to make their craft seem respectable in a so-called rational world. My view is that there is nothing rational about astrology. There is absolutely no reason it should work, from a scientific point of view, and from its narrow conception of what constitutes rationality. 

(Rational comes from ratio, meaning balanced, in proportion. A worldview that excludes the whispers from the gods is not balanced, not rational. It is in fact science that is, in this sense, irrational.)

I think astrologers may as well be hung for sheep as for lambs, and keep predicting. In the spirit of the laying out of possibilities, as I did with the Queen, rather than a judge from above laying out certainties. We can never lay out certainties, for that would be laying claim to what the gods have in mind. And that is hubris, inviting a downfall. But we can see shapes in the mist, that much the gods allow us to see, and that can be helpful for people in getting a sense of their way forward in life.

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I do astrology and tarot readings. Or I will just sit and talk things over with you. All in this reality or in virtual reality. If asked I may even do some of my shamanic wizardry to help shift the difficult stuff (not online). I live in Devon, UK. I work on a donation basis, whatever is affordable for you. Email BWGoddard1@aol.co.uk.

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 On the announcement of the Queen's death, we immediately had a King, in the form of Charles III. But there had, in another sense, already been a new Queen that week, in the form of Liz Truss, who had become Prime Minister, with the Queen's blessing, just 2 days beforehand.

It was a remarkable archetypal coincidence, and to me emphasised that the UK is passing into a new era. It has been a long, slow and painful birth, with our leaving of the EU as the central event. The UK is on the other side of a series of hard Pluto transits to the Sun, Moon and Angles. Last time that happened, in the 1970s, we joined the EU. We served our time and, it seems, the gods declared it was time to leave. That does not make it good or bad. It is not our job as astrologers to make those sorts of judgements. But leaving was the right thing to do, from the point of view of the will of the gods. That series of transits was mega, and demanded fundamental change of some sort. Leaving the EU was the only game in town that could describe that depth of change.

 

So this is our job as astrologers: to describe, or interpret, the will of the gods. It is not our job to let our petty political preferences, however strongly held, interfere with that. As though the outer planets 'must' be pointing the world towards liberalism (the usual bias.)

So with those Pluto transits disappearing into the past, with the man who carried their will forward probably more than anyone, Boris Johnson, gone at almost the same time as the Queen, it really is time for a new start. We can put the past and the old divisions behind us.

 

UK Progressed Chart

As if to emphasise the point, the UK had a Progressed New Moon in Leo a year ago. The royal sign, harbinger of a change of monarch, as well as a new identity for the British. The Progressed Moon will move into Virgo from Leo in about 10 days. The first inbreath of the Progressed New Moon cycle.

If the monarchy isn't your thing, fair enough. It is kind of bizarre. But what is the alternative? That elected political leaders start to acquire the attributes of royalty. The Clintons, the Bushes, the Obamas and more have the status of royal families in the USA. Treating the President as royalty does not help him or her do their job. They are often prone to that kind of inflation, because they are human. You and I would be prone to it also.

Leo is the sign of royalty, and just look at it in the charts of recent US Presidents: Clinton Sun, Bush Asc, Obama Sun, Trump Asc. Americans want royalty, that is the clear message from the astrology. The sign of Leo tells us what it is that people are seeking in royalty: a connection with the divine. For that is where Leos acquire the abundant life that shines through them: from their own unique connection with the universal.

People need something on which to project the divine, until they are able to incrementally find it within themselves. Far better that it is projected onto a politically and religiously neutralised figure like a constitutional monarch. Our monarchy may be ideologically distasteful to many. But it works.

Speaking of monarchs and Leos, Liz Truss, the new PM, has Sun in Leo. Just as well we have a monarchy IMO. Margaret Thatcher ("We are a grandmother") had Moon in Leo on the MC. We don't know much about Truss yet. She has the ability to lead of a Leo. 

But then there is her Moon in Pisces in a t-square with Venus in Virgo and Neptune in Sagittarius. What are we to do with that? She is a Tory, after all, and it does not do to attribute compassion to a Tory. They don't have any, do they? The Venus in Virgo is evident in her cool delivery. There was little warmth in her announcement of the Queen's death. I noticed myself beginning to judge her for that, then I thought no, this is Liz Truss being who she is. I need to find out who she is, rather than begin by judging her for not being the type of person I think she ought to be.

Liz Truss

 

The astrology says that she does care, very much so. Too much, maybe. But she ain't going to show it easily, not with Venus in restrained Virgo. What do you reckon from her picture? The thing about right and left politically is that they both care, they just have different strategies. The left favours direct support of those who need it, financial or otherwise; the right favours helping people to help themselves. Both have their place. As a Tory, Liz Truss is probably the latter. Her political beliefs, and her coolness, will make it hard for many to see that she has compassion. But I think the astrology tells us very clearly otherwise. How interesting.

Liz Truss's father is a left wing emeritus professor of mathematics. Liz began as a liberal democrat, and gradually moved to the right. When she first campaigned to be a Tory MP, her father would not support her. According to some reports, he found her campaign to be Tory PM deeply dismaying, and could hardly bring himself to talk about it.

Liz, in moving her political position over the years, would appear to be the more flexible of the two. If my son wanted to be an MP, I might not agree with some of his beliefs, but I would be able to see his idealism, and I would support that. 

Prof Truss has Sun in Aries. as well as Mercury, Mars and probably Moon. That is the sign more than any other that divides the world into right and wrong, and what they call discussion can mean helping the other person see the truth that they already possess. The Prof seems to be behaving like Aries at its worst, laudable as some of his ideals may be. More than that, his Sun is square to Saturn in early Leo, bang on top of his daughter's Sun. So their Suns square also. Liz's Chiron in Aries is bang on her father's Sun. His Chiron squares her Sun. Her Uranus exactly opposes his Sun: she brings a generational demand to think outside of the box.

There is wounding, righteousness, expectation and rigidity in this relationship. I favour Liz as the daughter. It is not the parent's job to oppose that which is genuine in your offspring, but to support it. It shows how political beliefs can distort relationships. He is too old, in my opinion, to be identified with his political beliefs to this extent. That is something that young people do, and that is a good thing. It shows they care. But Aries can take a long time to grow up.