Obama the White Man

I recently watched a film, ‘Pierrepoint’, about Britain’s last public executioner. He hanged hundreds of people, including 202 Germans after the various war trials. After his career ended in 1956, he commented that it left a bitter aftertaste, saying that, ”I have come to the conclusion that executions solve nothing, and are only an antiquated relic of a primitive desire for revenge which takes the easy way and hands over the responsibility for revenge to other people...”

Revenge is something that as a self-aware human one needs to forego. It is based on hatred and a desire to destroy. It is essentially life-denying rather than life-promoting. This doesn’t mean that sometimes certain people don’t need to be ‘taken out’ (one of a series of US military euphemisms that have entered our vocab in recent years – collateral damage; extraordinary rendition etc). But motive is all.

The desire for revenge is a natural human emotion, and when a nation is feeling it strongly, as the US has felt about bin Laden for many years, you cannot simply stand in its way. The job of the leader is to introduce some dignity into the process, to treat the enemy as human, and not to let people rationalise what is happening, saying ‘justice’ when they mean ‘revenge’.

This is not what President Obama is doing. His words on hearing the news of bin Laden’s death were “We got him,” a deliberate quoting of George Bush at his cowboy worst on hearing the news of Saddam’s capture. With Bush, it was merely a capture; it is far more distasteful to say it of a death. Obama has shown only joy at the death of his fellow human, and being a leader who is adept at using symbolism, has made a beeline for Ground Zero.

After he had hanged someone, Pierrepoint treated the body with respect and care as he prepared it for the undertakers. His point was that whatever they had done to deserve being killed, they had paid for it and were now innocent.

From a US point of view, bin Laden was an enemy who needed to be killed. The trouble with America is that they don’t have much conception of treating your enemy with honour. They are so convinced of their own rightness, of American 'exceptionalism', that anyone who opposes them is simply a mindless terrorist to whom the normal rules of war do not apply, they are ‘illegal combatants’.

It is well known that during the First World War, there would be ceasefire on Christmas Day and you would even get enemy forces coming out of their trenches and playing football with each other. Wars aren't what you'd want, but it is a case of each soldier fighting for his or her own country, and you can’t begrudge them that. It is what most of us would do if it came to it, however pacifist we might think we are. And honour among soldiers involves recognising that your enemy is in the same position as you are in. He is not ‘bad’, not the demon your government would have you believe. You would still kill him without blinking if necessary, but because you have to, because your country’s security is at stake, not because you hate him.

And this applies to bin Laden. 9/11 was a terrible thing to do. But so was invading Iraq without proper forethought, causing hundreds of thousands of deaths (a hundred-fold more than 9/11), all for the purpose of controlling a region because it supplies your oil. Meanwhile allowing your people to wrongly think Iraq had been involved in perpetrating 9/11. This is the nature of war. People and nations do terrible things. And yes, if you can you will probably kill the leaders of the other side.

And sometimes you can take the moral high ground, particularly when your enemy is not fighting for its own security, but in order to expand its sphere of influence and control.

But this was not the case with bin Laden. America cannot take the moral high ground, not after what it has done, and not when you consider that bin Laden’s desire was to fight American control in the Middle East, and that he was fighting an enemy that vastly outnumbered him.

There are plenty of Americans who can see this. Famously, or notoriously, Obama’s erstwhile mentor Rev Wright, who said about 9/11 that, “America’s chickens are coming home to roost.” Obama would not have any of this, and disowned him.

I think events around the death of bin Laden are very revealing about Obama. His Mars at 22 Virgo conjoins the US Neptune at 22 Virgo and squares the US Mars at 21 Gemini. Mars-Neptune is the cowboy aspect in the US chart, the glamorisation of violence, the delusion of America’s undiluted rightness.“We got him,” says Obama after the gruesome death of his enemy codenamed ‘Geronimo’, another glamorisation.

Like bin Laden, Geronimo was a warrior fighting the expansion of US control over his people. And like bin Laden, he did some terrible things, evaded capture for many years and pulled off some stunning feats. So you can see the connection, and Obama needs to own up to it. (Obama’s Mars squares the Sun of Geronimo the Gemini and opposes the Sun of bin Laden!)

Obama needs on the one hand to own up to the grudging respect it shows for his enemy, and at the same time the racism it shows towards the Native Americans, the way they were treated like vermin to be removed from land the Americans wanted.

An Afro-American aware of his heritage would never have used the term Geronimo. Obama is half Kenyan and half white American. He does not have in his black background the centuries of racism and brutality that white Americans have inflicted on other races. If he does have it, it's in his mother's white background. He thinks like the white American who is able to believe that the US is essentially a good and religious nation with respect for human rights, that is promoting freedom around the world. He has had relatively little experience of being at the sharp end of America’s ability to trample over anyone and anything that stands in its way.

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We have had a lot of experience of the Obama who has Sun in Leo square Neptune. What we haven’t seen so much is the Moon in Gemini square to both Pluto and Chiron. The Moon isn’t so visible anyway, and in Obama’s case it is also hidden away at the bottom of the chart, and hidden by secretive Pluto. The Moon becomes more visible when you are familiar with, and at ease in a situation. I have often wondered about his Moon. Anyone who casts a light as bright as Obama once did has got to have a corresponding shadow lurking somewhere, and I always felt his Moon would have something to do with it.

Gemini is the twins, it is light and dark, it is Jekyll and Hyde, or at least can be. If you are not reflective, then it probably will be. And when it comes to America’s shadow, the way America treats others, Obama has repeatedly shown himself to be blind.

Obama’s Moon is at 3 Gemini, and Neptune has recently entered Pisces, the sign that squares Gemini. With the natal square to both Pluto and Chiron, this Moon can express itself in a really bad way if someone is not conscious. I think Obama’s unalloyed joy and cowboy attitude at the death of bin Laden, and his collusion with the US at its mob worst, is a sign of this Moon relaxing and becoming activated as Neptune moves in to square it. It is populist, and will likely win him the next election; but anyone who is hoping for more is likely to be disappointed. The fine words though, as always, will be there.

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In Obama's Progressed Chart, over the next year we will see Prog Mars opposite Prog Asc, and Prog Moon moving into Aries. So Obama the warrior is likely to become more prominent, and the Nobel committee will be wondering what they must have been thinking in 2009.

SWEET REVENGE: THE DEATH OF OSAMA BIN LADEN

The man who 2 years ago won the Nobel Peace Prize has now gained an equal amount of political capital through achieving the death in a military operation of America’s public enemy No 1, Osama bin Laden.

Let’s make no mistake about it, bin Laden was not a ‘bad’ man in the sense of being worse than any political leader who is protecting, through military means, the interests of his people. Obama protects the interests of America, and bin Laden protected the interests of the Arab world. It is very hard for many Americans to hear this, because 9/11 was such a wound to the American psyche, and America sees itself as a moral leader on the world stage.

In Buddhism there is a category of being known as gods who are not used to suffering, so when they do suffer, it is terrible for them, reality itself has been upturned. This was what 9/11 was for America.

The death of bin Laden is, for America, primarily revenge for 9/11. It is as simple as that, and many Americans will be rejoicing. Of course Barack Obama, like any US President, will make speeches about the justified death of a bad man. But it is sweet revenge. That is why there are crowds outside the White House chanting “USA! USA!”

The method of bin Laden’s death shows all too clearly why many in the Arab world have a big problem with America. It took place in Pakistan without the knowledge of the Pakistan government, which has cravenly attempted to take some of the credit for the operation.

In cutting off a head of the Hydra in this manner, several more will replace it, as the fires of anti-Americanism are stoked in Pakistan. It is a matter of national dignity, and it is the Islamists who are standing up for it. If America wants an Islamic revolution in nuclear-armed Pakistan, they are doing exactly what they need to achieve it.

You can see it from both sides. It is not a moral issue, though it ought to be. It is a matter of instinct and survival. America is vitally dependent on Middle East oil, so it will do what it has to in order to ensure those oil sources are under its control. This infringes the sovereignty of the Arab world, and it fights back by whatever means, including flying passenger jets into buildings.

It is tempting to take the Arabs’ side because they are the underdogs, but what would they do in the same position? There would be a determined attempt by many to impose Sharia Law (as opposed to Coca-Cola) on the rest of the world.

This war is not Jupiter, Human Law, or righteousness, which is how both sides present it. It is a struggle for survival on both sides, which is Pluto.

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As the operation to kill bin Laden ended, Pluto rose over the Eastern horizon. Jupiter was also Angular, but hidden on the IC next to Mars in Aries. Jupiter, if you like, provides the justification for the war (Mars) at home (IC). But Pluto was the planet being given expression to (ASC). Pluto and the hidden Mars show the secrecy behind the operation.

The operation began at 22.30 and was over at about 23.15, so I estimate bin Laden died at 11pm. Any black ops readers care to comment?

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What about 9/11 and the death of bin Laden? Saturn is the planet that describes the reaping of consequences. The Asc of the 9/11 chart is at 14 Libra, exactly conjunct the US natal Saturn. Since last August, when the hunt for bin Laden began in earnest, Saturn has twice crossed the 9/11 Asc, and has one more crossing to go, in late August. So bin Laden/Al Qaeda have reaped the consequences for 9/11. 9/11 itself was a reaping of consequences for the US (as US Saturn conjunct 9/11 Asc shows), and there will be further consequences to reap for the killing of bin Laden. Given the movements of Saturn (not to speak of the Uranus-Pluto conjunction), there could be more major events before the end of August. From the point of view of Al Qaeda, there has to be major retaliation or it will be seen as a sign of weakness.

With both Progressed Mars and Saturn now moving backwards (for the first time) in the US chart, American power is on the wane, and the death of bin Laden is a temporary success in a war they cannot win.

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We don’t have a birth time for bin Laden, but the date of 10/3/57 seems to have some credibility. And it gives a mutual Mars connection with Barack Obama: Obama’s Mars at 22 Virgo opposes bin Laden’s Sun at 19 Pisces; and bin Laden’s Mars at 25 Taurus is opposite Obama’s MC at 29 Scorpio. With Bush, who failed to capture bin Laden, there was a mutual Uranus connection: Bush’s Uranus squared bin Laden’s Sun, and bin Laden’s Uranus conjoined Bush’s Asc.

Under Bush, bin Laden was an elusive figure and we weren’t even certain he was alive. Bush stoked the fires of collective anger against him, set him up as public enemy No 1. All this is Uranus. Whereas Obama isn’t one for creating scapegoats, and in a straight fight (Mars), he won.

At the same time, the US has Mars at 21 Gemini square to Neptune at 22 Virgo. Gemini is light and dark, and it is in the 7th House of foreign countries, so having a foreign enemy is almost necessary for the US, and there is glamour and delusion (Neptune) and dubious legality (9th House Neptune) around it. Obama’s Mars at 22 Virgo is at home in this national complex. So even though he doesn’t stoke the fires of enmity like Bush did, he buys into the badness of America’s enemies.

Assange, Obama and Bush: the Outer Planets and Collective Projections

There was a period in 2008, when Barack Obama was campaigning to be the Democratic Presidential candidate, when you weren’t likely to get a good reception if you said anything critical of the man. He was sweeping people away on a wave of hope for a better world. One astrologer told me at the time that my Saturn in Sagittarius gave me a fear of faith, which was stopping me from seeing Obama as he really he was. (I’d say it gave me sense!)

It was all very Neptunian, and it was Obama’s natal Sun square to Neptune that gave him the ability to sweep people away like this. Even the Nobel Peace Prize Committee got swept away by his promise. Now, 2 years later, he appears much more ordinary. Smart and trying to do a good job, but also at ease with the less savoury tasks that come with his position – wars, black ops, no doubt a certain amount of torture, putting pressure on big companies and other countries to do America’s bidding, and so on. America has changed a bit, but its big resistance to change has also become clearer.

Now, in late 2010, we have a similar situation with Julian Assange, the Great Rebel, who has become a cultural hero to many, especially as his leaks have provoked the inevitable response from the US and other western countries. He is now not just the Great Rebel, he is also the victim who needs protecting. (My last piece, suggesting a less savoury side to Mr Assange, has come under sustained, irrational attack in the comments section.)

I am not trying to say here whether or not I think Wikileaks is helpful. It is complicated, and how you view Wikileaks will probably determine whether or not you think he is a cultural hero. This time the relevant planet is Uranus, which natally squares Assange’s Sun and which is the planet of rebellion. (Chiron, which makes a t-square with the Sun and Uranus, gives him his victim/scapegoat status.)

The world is as it is because human nature is as it is. Why do we think that an Obama or an Assange can make it radically different? Why do we need the world to be radically different? I think that what happens in these situations is essentially a projection onto the world, and onto prominent individuals, of our own unrealised potential, or even our own dissatisfaction with ourselves.

To the extent that you feel the outer planets to be consciously operative in your own life, to that extent you won’t get carried away by these figures. It’s going to be a mixed thing for most of us. And what others are collectively feeling also affects us.

Living the outer planets is not an easy task. It takes many years, and is always work in progress. And it’s not really under our control either. The temptation to be drawn into collective projections of the outer planets, to have someone else seeming to live those planets for us, is quite natural. And maybe a bit embarrassing afterwards. But that is precisely how we can learn, how we can become more conscious.

Say you find very appealing Julian Assange as a harbinger of revolutionary change. He may or may not be – that is beside the point. The real point is that deep appeal, which is like a gift in that it contains the potential for awakening. In this case, it is a call to live Uranus more fully. It is a call to allow a constant sense of progressive change into your life, to welcome the unexpected, and to be deeply unconcerned by what the neighbours think. Uranus breaks us away from convention. In its unsophisticated form we enjoy the breaking away, the rebellion, for its own sake, and maybe project it out onto the world. In its more developed form it enables us to progress our own lives, to have a deep sense of our own very individual life, unhindered by what others (family members!) may or may not think.

And say you find/found Barack Obama deeply appealing. He embodied the hope for a better world and a leader who could be completely trusted. OK, people were sick of George Bush and all he stood for and of course they wanted someone different and hoped Obama would be. But the feeling around Obama went much further than that, it was religious, it was numinous; for many, for a while at least, he could do no wrong. And in this sense he was a call to live Neptune more fully: a sense of being part of the ocean of life and a sense that life is always unfolding and that you are part of that and you can trust that process and that just being part of all that makes life meaningful and hopeful. Again, we may start with someone out there – and with Neptune in the 9th Obama carries the ‘spiritual teacher’ and ‘redeemer’ archetypes – but wisdom and compassion and trust in life are ultimately to be found within.

What about Pluto? I think this type of cultural figure is more obviously dark to start with. And we can look to our old friend George W Bush, who like Obama and Assange has the ability to stand for something. Bush has Pluto Rising. He came into his own once he had a clear enemy to focus on, which was firstly Al Qaeda and Bin Laden, and then Saddam Hussein. And he had much of America behind him, often in a very ignorant way – like the people who thought that Saddam was responsible for 9/11, which Bush was happy to let stand.

So Bush keyed into the unconscious shadow projection which collective humanity is prone to, and the lies and deceit that goes with it. Hitler was also, via the demonization of the Jews, a Plutonian figure (as well as, in other ways, a Neptunian figure.)

The real lesson here is to become conscious of our own darkness. What gives the game away is the sparse knowledge we often have of the people like Bin Laden to whom we attribute ‘bad’ qualities. Classically, the evil we associate with them is precisely what we are ashamed to admit about ourselves.

I was on a Liz Greene seminar once, and she said that our shadow is that which we are ashamed to admit to. She said some people claim to be at ease with their shadows, and may list off certain ‘bad’ things about themselves. But then that is not their shadow. The shadow is that which we are ashamed to admit to, and it may not be anything that is harmful to anyone else. You might just be a secret cross-dresser or something!

What is needed with Pluto is honesty and a lack of being judgemental of ourselves. There is nothing ‘wrong’ with being the way we are. We are what we are. It doesn’t of course mean we always have to act on it. And it doesn’t mean we can’t transform. But in a way the transformation isn’t up to us, with our limited human perspective and narrow sense of ‘good’ and ‘bad’. Our job is just to show up, and let Pluto take care of the transformation.

Sooner or later the public figures who carry the outer planet projections will let us down, and if we haven't spotted the projection before, that time of betrayal is also when we can learn. Or we can stay feeling betrayed, and carry on hating Neptunian Tony Blair or whichever figure it is.

Barack Obama, Tony Blair and transiting Neptune

The newspapers have been full of how awful for Barack Obama the US mid-term elections were. I think he hasn’t done too badly, when you look at Bill Clinton and GW Bush, who ended up losing control of both Houses of Congress. Obama has only lost control of one of them, the House of Representatives, so I call that a good result, given that Presidents expect to lose ground in mid-term elections.

On the other hand, the results were also the biggest swing to the Republicans since 1948. But again, that has to be expected when a President is elected on such an unrealistic wave of hope. You get a backlash. This is Neptune’s realm: hope and disillusionment, usually naïve in the way that collectives tend to be. Tony Blair in the UK had the same thing, and when the backlash came it was, and still is, vicious. Blair’s time in power was characterised by major Neptune transits.

Next year Obama will have an exact square from Neptune to his MC at 29 Scorpio. During 2008, the year of his election, Neptune reached 24 Aquarius, 5 degrees off the exact square, but I think we have to see the transit as having been strongly operative then, as he was elected on such a wave of hope.

The MC is our place in the world, how the world sees us, so the transit was perfect for someone to be elected to public office on a wave of hope: the hope that Obama’s new ideas (Neptune in Aquarius) would bring transformation and healing (Scorpio MC). When he came to power, Tony Blair had Neptune conjoining his MC.

The time when a planet is standing still before changing direction is often a time when telling events occur, or a process moves into a new phase. Neptune was (and is) standing still during the mid-term elections, a time when the disillusionment setting in around Obama was given concrete expression.

As Neptune finishes squaring Obama’s MC in a couple of years, so will it have started squaring his Moon at 3 Gemini. Obama’s natal Moon is opposite his MC, showing his ability to emotionally engage (Moon) the public (MC) through words (Gemini).

So the transiting Neptune square to Obama’s MC is by no means the end of the story. In about 2003 I made a prediction about Tony Blair, saying that it was Neptune that had put him in power, and that as long as he had major Neptune transits, he would remain in power. I turned out to be right within about 6 months.

To me it looks the same for Obama. Sure, there will be waves of disillusionment along the way, but he will not lose power until Neptune has finished with him. Obama has natal Moon square to Pluto at 6 Virgo. So his Neptune-Moon transit will not really be over until Neptune has also finished with Pluto – which, if you like, is simply power. That transit will be exact in 2014, half way through his second term as President, which is about the time that Presidents inevitably become ‘lame ducks’, because they are on their way out. That is when we will see a dissolution (Neptune) of his power (Pluto.)

So it is an uncannily similar trajectory, astrologically, to Tony Blair, who was a similar type of leader (though less thoughtful and reasonable.) Blair has natal Sun square to Pluto, and it was as Neptune opposed his Pluto, having squared his Sun, that he finally lost power.

Obama is thoughtful and reasonable, and this is his Aquarius Rising, how we personally present and express ourselves. A lot of Americans experience him as a bit cool, a bit unengaged with people. I do not agree with this, and as one ordinary American said, he’s just thoughtful, he thinks about things, and Americans aren’t used to this in their leaders. George W Bush, with his Leo Rising, could present himself as the life and soul of the party, as warm and engaging. But in reality was he more connected to people than Obama, did he care more about people? I think not, it was show. You need to take into account the Rising Sign, but you also have to look beyond it.

And one thing we see if we look beyond Obama’s Rising Sign is a Moon that is hidden near the IC at the bottom of the chart, and square to Pluto in the seventh. It is Angular and powerful and not at all obvious, partly because that is the Moon’s nature, partly because of where it is in the chart, and partly because of the challenging aspect to secretive Pluto. In a successful politician, this clearly points to a strong need (Moon) for power (Pluto). Which is kind of what you’d expect in a leader, how else would they have the motivation to get there? But I think Obama is very good at hiding that side of his Moon. What you see is the reasonable Aquarian and the visionary, inspirational Sun in Leo square to 9th House Neptune. And the powerful way with words of Gemini and Pluto.

I’ve always suspected, mainly from the astrology, that there is another side to Obama that we do not see. The sign of his Moon is Gemini, which is good for articulating (Gemini) what the people are feeling (Moon opposite MC). But Gemini is a tricksy sign, it has light and dark (Tony Blair has Gemini Rising.) So I suspect we will start to see a different Obama, one who is less reasonable and tolerant, as Neptune moves into Pisces next year and begins its square to his Moon. With Tony Blair, it was as Neptune began to make an exact conjunction to his Moon in 2002/3, and the run-up to the Iraq War began, that he definitively changed from people-pleaser to intolerant ideologue. It will be at the next Presidential election in 2012 that Neptune will start to exactly square Obama’s Moon: so we can expect to see another instalment of Obama the visionary redeemer, but in a different way. And the world will be changing in a deep way at that election, due to the exact square in 2012 from transiting Uranus to transiting Pluto, which is a bit mega.

The planet Mercury, which rules Gemini, takes 176 earth days to rotate on its own axis. This is quite interesting, because it means the planet is divided into light and dark in a fairly fixed way. Any one place on the planet experiences about 3 earth-months of light followed by 3 months of dark. And this corresponds to the division of Gemini into light and dark.

The Astrology of Sex-Strikes; the 3-month Mars-Venus Conjunction

On Wednesday, thousands of Kenyan women went on a week-long sex-strike in protest at the government’s internal squabbling. The wife of the Prime Minister is supporting the strike, though she refuses to comment on her husband’s opinion of the matter. It is his dispute with the President that is at the centre of the impasse.

The PM’s wife, Ida Odinga, ‘refused to be drawn on whether the fiery wife of President Mwai Kibaki would join the movement. Questioned whether she would ask Mrs Kibaki to join her in the strike, she replied: "Please let me not answer that question, you can ask her." Lucy Kibaki has a notoriously fiery temper.’

It’s fun, but the women are in earnest. They fear that the row could lead to further unrest: after disputed elections in Dec 2007, 1500 people died and 300,000 were forced from their homes. Ida Odinga points out that this tactic worked in Liberia when it was at war. Sex is not talked about in public in Kenya, so the issue is deeply embarrassing for Kenyans.

The strike began on Wednesday, time unknown.


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As you can see, there was a Mars-Venus-Moon-Pluto t-square. So the women of Kenya (Venus) are taking action (Aries) through sex (Mars). They are very angry (Venus conjunct Mars in Aries) on behalf of the people (Moon) and are engaged in a power-struggle (Venus square Pluto) with the government (Pluto in Capricorn), who they do not see as serving the needs of the people (Pluto in Cap opposite Moon). The resolution of this t-square lies in the missing sign, Libra, which is a workable peace between the Presidential and Prime Ministerial factions.


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Kenya has Sun in Sagittarius square to Pluto, so the country naturally tends towards power struggles (Pluto) around its leaders (Sun), and probably eventually it will be a dictatorship, which Sun in hard aspect to Pluto often indicates: misuse (square/opposition) of power (Pluto) by the leader (Sun). Russia, Iran, South Africa and Zimbabwe all have Sun in hard aspect to Pluto.

Kenya also has Mars at 5 Capricorn, which is closely aspected by this week’s Moon-Mars-Venus-Pluto t-square. So the Kenyan men (Mars) are under attack (square Mars) from angry women (Venus in Aries conjunct Mars).

As the strike ends, so on that exact day will transiting Venus move out of an applying square to the Kenyan natal Mars.

Sex-strikes by women have a long history. At the end of last year, the women of Naples threatened a strike unless something was done about illegal fireworks on New Year's Eve. They were inspired by the ancient Greek play Lysistrata by Aristophanes, in which the women of Athens refuse to have sex unless their men folk forge a truce with their rivals from Sparta. The recent Naples strike would have taken place under a Mars-Pluto conjunction. The campaign began some time before in a town called Lettere, possibly around the Venus-Pluto conjunction in November 2008.

In October 1997, the chief of the Military of Colombia, General Mañuel Bonnet publicly called for a sex strike among the wives and girlfriends of the Colombian left-wing guerrillas, drug traffickers, and paramilitaries as part of a strategy — along with diplomacy — to achieve a cease fire. At the start of that month, there was a Mars-Pluto conjunction, and a week later there was a Venus-Pluto conjunction.

In 2003 there was a 2 month sex-strike by Cameroonian women over the destruction of crops by cattle. During that time, Mars squared Pluto and Venus conjoined Pluto.

In September 2006, wives and girlfriends of Colombian gangsters called for a sex-strike to curb gang violence. At the beginning of that month there was a square from Mars to Pluto, and at the end a square from Venus to Pluto.

So in all cases we hard aspects between Mars (men and sex) and Pluto (power struggle), and Venus (the women) and Pluto. In some cases Saturn (abstinence) is involved, and even then not necessarily as a hard-aspect. This suggests that the real issue is the power struggle, rather than the forced abstinence. And the tactic often works!

It is an interesting time for relations between men and women, because Mars and Venus are undergoing a 3 month conjunction – mid-April to mid-July – which is very rare. I can’t find another example of it. It is happening because Venus, which usually moves much faster than Mars, went retrograde for a while recently, and as she backed into a standstill in April, so Mars came up to join her. After a planet has stood still, it only picks up speed again slowly, slowly enough in this case for Mars to be able to keep up with Venus for a while before she finally leaves him behind in July.

For a short time in April, Mars was conjunct Venus and Uranus in Pisces. Then there was a 2 day period where Venus was exalted at the end of Pisces conjunct Mars in early Aries, the sign it rules. This was the time to hit the bedroom, and if you didn’t, I can only offer my condolences, because you are unlikely to see this aspect again in your lifetime. You just missed out on the best sex you are ever going to have.

Until the end of May we have Mars conjunct Venus in Aries. It’s an excellent time for starting relationships, for hot sex and for plain-speaking. But that can so easily turn into a fight, with neither person able to see the other’s point of view. From early June to early July, Mars will be conjunct Venus in Taurus. This will be a lot easier, and a time to focus on pleasurable activities together. After that, Venus will start to move away from Mars, and the 3 month focus on relationships will draw to an end.

The US Progressed Chart (Sibly) has an exact opposition from Mars to Venus at the end of May, and a one degree orb for a year either side of that.


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With Prog Mars in Libra and Prog Venus in Aries, each in the other’s sign, issues of war versus diplomacy are being strongly raised. It is fascinating that this opposition should be exact in the middle of a very rare 3-month conjunction of Mars and Venus. There has been a new approach to foreign diplomacy under the Obama administration, and this coincidence of transiting planets and progressions suggest the intensity and urgency with which negotiations are being conducted, whether or not we hear about it in the news.

The Prog opposition is in the 4th-10th house axis of the US natal chart, indicating that America’s standing in the world, and the perception of that at home, are involved; and this opposition is also in the 2nd-8th house axis of the prog chart, indicating that the weak economy (2nd) and reliance on foreign resources (8th) are also factors behind the new diplomatic strategy. But you didn’t need astrology to tell you all that!

Progressed Chiron is just over a degree from Prog Venus in Aries, and this suggests to me obstacles that will not easily be overcome due to America seeing things too much from its own point of view (Aries). This chimes well, for example, with Obama's outraged denunciation last year of the idea that 9/11 was in any sense 'chickens coming home to roost'. If you cannot understand why your enemies would want to attack you, then you are only going to have limited success in negotiating a peace.

The Dorothean Triplicities

I’ve started listening to one of Bernadette Brady’s studyshops on medieval astrology. There is something called Dorothean Triplicities, out of which you can generate planets that rule the 1st, 2nd and 3rd parts of your life respectively. I tried it out at my astrology group last night, and it seemed to work pretty well.

I’ll describe the technicalities later, but I’ll use Barack Obama’s chart as an example.


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Using the technique, we find that Mercury rules the 1st part of his life, Saturn the second and Jupiter the 3rd. These periods are not set number of years; rather, by listening to someone’s life story, you can see where the periods change over.

So Mercury and the first part of Obama’s life. It is in Leo, and what his background does seem to have generated, for better or for worse, is a unique individual. Mercury is also associated with thought and curiosity and travel, as is Jupiter, which Mercury is closely opposite. All this fits with his early years. In his chart, Mercury rules the 8th, which describes his exploration of his ancestry, and the 5th, which describes the creativity that led to his books.

I’d say that he has moved into the second phase of his life, which is Saturn. Say no more! You could say it started around 1996, when he first assumed public office, as a member of the Illinois Senate. I’d also say there had been a gradual shift from Mercury to Saturn going on for some years before that. His Saturn is strong in its own sign of Capricorn, and in his chart rules the 12th House, describing his responsibilities (Saturn/Capricorn) for the collective in its widest sense (12th).

The final phase of his life will be ruled by Jupiter. It is in Aquarius in the 12th, conjunct his Saturn, and ruling the 11th House. So I see the last part of his life as being expansive, with a return to the community-based work of his earlier years, but with the world as his arena. He will be a world statesman, with a vision for the future.

I don’t understand why the Dorothean Triplicities are as they are, but this is how you generate them. Firstly, you need to identify the leading planet. If the Sun is above the horizon – a diurnal chart – then the Sun is the leading planet. If not, then you have a nocturnal chart, and the Moon is the leading planet. You then note the element the Sun or Moon is in, and read the following chart:


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In Obama’s case, his leading planet is the Moon (nocturnal chart), and it is in Air. So we read the Air line, which is Saturn, Mercury and Jupiter. As the chart is nocturnal, we swap round the first 2 planets, and we get the series Mercury, Saturn and Jupiter.

In the case of say George W Bush, he was born with Sun in Cancer in the 12th. So the Sun was above the horizon, and it is a diurnal chart. So the Sun is the leading planet, and it is in water. Reading this off, the relevant planets are Venus, Mars and Moon respectively.


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So Venus in Leo ruled his youth. He was the eldest son, the prince of a political dynasty (Leo) that was also wealthy (Venus). He indulged himself (Venus in Leo) and did not seem to fit in anywhere (Venus sextile Uranus). Venus rules the 4th House Libran Cusp, which is the political home he grew up in, and it also rules intercepted Taurus in the 10th, which describes the difficulty he had in establishing a career.

The second phase of his life, which I would say is now ending, is ruled by Mars, and I’d say this phase began when his life began to work: he began to be able to take effective action, which is Mars. This was from 1988 onwards, starting with being part of his father’s successful run for presidency, then making money through his share in Texas Rangers, and then his career as Texas governor and then US President. Mars rules the 10th House of career in Bush’s chart, describing how his ability to take action translated into career success.

Bush described himself as a ‘War President’, which is very Mars. His Mars is in Virgo, which you would expect to be analytical and considered and service-based. But it is also unaspected, which means that it functioned on its own, without being reined in by the rest of the personality. It was primitive and confrontational, and was ultimately disastrous for American foreign policy. It only seemed to be Virgo in the sense that he had a clear idea of who his targets were, too clear even, and therefore simplistic.

The final phase of his life, which I’d say he is now entering, is ruled by the Moon, which is in 3rd House Libra. Bush governed more by instinct than by reason, and this final phase of his life may be a time when the wreckage of the last years of his Presidency may give him pause for thought; it may be a time when he brings thought (Libra/3rd) to his instinctive responses (Moon), and develops a more balanced view (Libra) and even some wisdom (conjunction to Jupiter). The Moon square to his Cancer Sun further describes this need to balance head and heart. With the conjunction of Jupiter to the Moon, however, he may also return to his youthful self-indulgent ways, and develop a complacent view of his political career.