THE AMBITION OF THE PRINCESS OF WALES

I just watched the final series of The Crown on Netflix. The Princess of Wales, Kate Middleton, and her mother Carole were both portrayed as scheming and ambitious when it came to the matter of landing Prince William. It makes good drama, and typical license that Americans can take where the English couldn't, but isn't that really all it is? Not if you look at Kate's chart. Sun in Capricorn square to Saturn-Pluto in Libra. You don't need to know much astrology to see the power (Pluto) of the ambition (Capricorn) around marriage (Libra). It's actually a t-square with the Moon in Cancer, emphasising the centrality of her aspiration/ambition. Her mother also has Moon (mother) opposite Saturn (ambition).

Poor old William has a New Moon in Cancer in the 7th opposite Neptune. They saw him coming. The facts as portrayed in The Crown seem outrageous, yet they seem to be true: after William announced his uni plans - taking a gap year then attending St Andrews - Kate promptly dropped her plan to attend Edinburgh that year and copied William. She had never even met him at this point. And she did go to places, like Chile, where William was also known to be going during his gap year. She set out to land William, with her mother behind her, and she succeeded. She isn't stupid, and once at uni she would have turned it into a case of 'He chased her until she caught him.'

 

Now women aren't supposed to do this. It's OK for men to plot to land a woman, but not the other way round, particularly if the man is of higher rank: that makes the woman some kind of scheming gold-digging slut. So it has to be covert. No-one talks about Kate's early moves, now she is mother to 3 heirs to the throne. But The Crown talked about it, and well done them, for it is what happened.

But is it really not OK for a woman to aim high for a prospective husband? Is it not what happens all the time? Are not certain men 'good catches'? Let us be real about this. A competent or high-ranking man is good father material, and probably an interesting guy, and well done if you land one. There is also a big biological component to the way we choose mates. So let us not be too quick to judge her.

Let's look at the charts again. William's chart seems very soulful (Neptune Rising in Sag) and oriented around relationship (New Moon in the 7th, opposite Neptune). With its very strong Saturnian/Plutonian influence, Kate's chart is much harder. There are no Sun-Moon interactions between William and Kate, so it is not very soulful, though the Mars-Venus interactions give a sexual connection.

But Kate's Moon is in Cancer in William's 7th House. He feels nurtured by her. It would be easy to say he needed a mother figure because his mother Diana died when he was 15, but I'm not going to go there. That is too easy to say, and it is mere pop psychology. It is normal for men and women to be wanting to be cared for in a motherly or fatherly way by the spouse, but it is not spoken about, because it is the opposite of romantic. When it starts to become conscious - if it does- it often leads to a crisis in the relationship. We no longer want or need an 'other half'. But that is a whole other subject.

So the bedroom is good, and William feels cared for, but his deepest self is not addressed. Does he even know who he is deep down, with his life planned for him from birth? Maybe he is happy to go along with that, as many would be. His father wasn't, to his credit, but most would. With Sun-Moon in the 7th, and Neptune Rising, William can - up to a point - be content to let others tell him who he is.

Let us drag in Fate, the bigger picture. Kate's Sun-Moon/Node opposition lands bang on the UK Moon at 19 Cancer. She is meant to be the Queen, the people (the Moon) will feel comfortable with her. She will be very responsible too. I find this placement remarkable. This is a bigger consideration than whether or not her and William are compatible at all levels. What couple is, for heaven's sake, particularly if they are regular folks living out the norms of their community?

That said, I suspect there will be points at which William is drawn to women who do engage his Sun-Moon, and he may not understand why he is drawn. With her unusually ambitious chart - Sun-Moon-Saturn-Pluto t-square - Kate will do her best to stay slim and sexy and a good mother and everything she is meant to be, especially in the face of any infidelities on William's part. She has a super-hard shell. But there is something in William that I think will always elude her, his brooding Cancerian self, that may well reach for a mistress, as royals are entitled to do.

Watch out for Neptune squaring his Desc now, and his Sun-Moon in the coming years. Whatever does happen, we will probably not hear about it. Putting on a good show is something the royals do well.

 

THE PARENTAL FALLACY

James Hillman was a Jungian, a fan of astrology and a very influential archetypal psychologist. I think what he says here has a lot of bearing on anyone who considers themselves to be a psychological astrologer:

"If any fantasy holds our contemporary civilisation in an unyielding grip, it is that we are our parents' children and that the primary instrument of our fate is the behaviour of your mother and father. As their chromosomes are ours, so are their mess-ups and attitudes. Their joint unconscious psyche - the rages they suppress, the longings they cannot fulfill, the images they dream at night - basically form our souls, and we can never, ever work through and be free of this determinism....Psychotherapy compounds this fault."

From The Soul's Code by James Hillman

As astrologers, we know that the chart, not our parents, reveals our Fate, don't we?

 

 

WHEN TO AVOID RELATIONSHIP ASTROLOGY

Relationship astrology can be a bit like electional astrology, in that one is using astrology to see if an event/relationship is a good idea in advance, so to speak. And in that way bypassing the inner guidance that it is the job of astrology to support.

I always say to people who are asking for a propitious time to do something, to do it when it feels right, or maybe just to get on and do it. The chart for when they did it will then tell them what they have done, it can help them understand that thing in themselves that took action. I tend to say no to electional astrology.

And I think it's the same with relationships. Avoid looking at the charts till it's well underway. The astrology won't tell you if it's 'right' or not. All the Sun-Moon and Mars-Venus connections you could hope for won't make it right. And all the traditional incompatibilities or lack of aspects won't make it wrong. But then astrology can do an excellent job of unpicking the dynamics of the relationship.

Two people getting together is a soul thing that may take years to understand, and you know deep in yourself if it is the right thing to be doing or not. And it doesn't have to last forever. The fact that your charts 'miss' each other, for example, may provide a compelling desire to be around that person who sees life so impossibly differently. It may mean you can see each other clearly 'from the outside', so to speak, which can be a great gift. Square pegs and round holes can be just the thing. The one thing you don't want is boring!

The battleground in ourselves is often between wanting it to be 'right' and our knowing that it isn't, and overlooking that. And maybe using astrology to persuade ourselves it is right. And it's hard for an astrologer not to think so too if he sees all sorts of flowing aspects. Putting that knowing first, in the face of our wants and fantasies and compulsions, is where we grow.

At the end of the day, as I say, it is a soul thing. It is about a synergy beyond words and reason. Everything we do is a soul thing - coming, as it were, from the centre of the chart, outside of space and time. It is the soul thing we need to learn to trust. You've gotta let life do its thing. And then trust what the astrology says about it. But don't put the cart before the horse: that way lies religion, the looking outside of oneself for guidance.

 

THE AQUARIAN DAIMON

The daimonic destiny of the Aquarian is to never be recognised by establishments of any sort. In this way one has to find that recognition for oneself, and that is a deep thing. It is a higher level of its ruler, Saturn. 

 

This struggle to find and live from that unique source within, comes naturally to the opposite sign of Leo. That is why the Sun is in its fall in Aquarius. But what a gift it is, if you can stay the course.

 

ASTROLOGICAL MAGIC

The astrologer doesn't need to tell you anything more about yourself than you know already for you to feel that the universe knows you, loves you, has your best interests at heart. And that the universe itself is alive, enchanted. We bring magic to people's lives.

Moving forward, the gods, in the form of the planets, speak through the astrologer: her job is to help you align with their callings, which find voice through what it is you love to do, or would love to do if you dared. That which you cannot resist, and which never goes away. That may take a major transit for you to take seriously.

 

 

THE ASTROLOGY OF THE DEVIL 

I watched a recent long-form interview with Jeff Bezos (founder of Amazon.) I was reluctant, because he's got such a reputation as a nasty piece of work. But it was Lex Fridman doing the interview, and I like him. Besides, the people who hate Bezos tend to hate anyone who is wealthy and powerful. So I watched, pushing myself through my prejudice, and I found I quite liked him. 

 

Like many very successful people, he has some exceptional qualities, which are worth imbibing. We don't have a birth time for him, but there is still a lot we can tell. He has Sun conjunct Mars in Capricorn - would you expect less from a man who can build a huge business over decades? I reckon it is what attracts the 'bad guy' projection - which of course makes the rest of us feel comfortably virtuous. We can congratulate ourselves we are not ruthless and heartless like Mr Bezos 🤣 

 

I was struck by the way he worked: he calls meetings in which someone will have spent 2 weeks preparing a paper. They all begin by spending 30 mins in silence, reading it. And then there is a free-form, wandering discussion. That made me think that this man has got Saturn and Neptune working creatively together: they are often opposites in people, creativity vs diligence, order vs chaos. I looked at his chart, and found Venus conjunct Saturn square to Neptune. Amazon as a whole expresses this spirit: on the one hand it has become very big and substantial (Saturn) while being very innovative (Venus-Neptune.) 

 

He gave up being CEO of Amazon a few years ago, to concentrate on his space enterprise. Like Elon Musk, he is dedicated to making humanity an interplanetary species. It is fascinating that there are people actually trying to do this. Much of the interview was Bezos talking about the ins and outs of spacecraft and rocket engineering. He has a wide square from his Sun to Jupiter in Aries: there is the adventurer. And he probably has Moon in Sagittarius. 

 

Amazon occupies the shadow place in the psyche of many, that MacDonalds did 20 years ago. The Great Satan, just as the US is to the mullahs in Iran. I will say just one thing: it is a simplistic position, as these things usually are. Beyond that, in the interests of your psychological stability, I will leave undisturbed your need to see Jeff Bezos and his offspring Amazon as the Devil Incarnate 😈 Here is the interview.

 

 

TO ALL THE ODD UNCLES AND AUNTS AT CHRISTMAS

The Jungian psychologist James Hillman talks about the importance of the odd uncle or aunt. We may not know them very well, we may only have ever met them once or twice, but they can nevertheless occupy an enduring and important place in our psyches. What they stand for is the possibility of a different life, a different way of being amidst the particular set of values with which our parents have brought us up. The possibility of living by the call of the outer planets.

It is inevitable, I think, that there will be rigidities and narrownesses in our parents, because that is the human condition. And, as we grow up, we may feel restricted by those values, because they do not reflect who we are. So the 'odd' uncle or aunt, who does not fit in very well with society, says to us by their very presence that there are alternatives, we do not have to be like our parents. And this is a powerful thing, we will probably remember that odd uncle or aunt strongly for the rest of our lives.

If you are on this site, the chances are that you too are an odd uncle or aunt :) So remember the unspoken impact that you have. And that the black sheep is often in reality the white sheep.

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I offer skype/FB video astrology readings, by donation. Contact: BWGoddard1 (at)aol.co.uk

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And that we probably have our own journey to make around feeling OK with our families. I think the main point here is to stop being critical of them, stop needing them to be something other than they are. Once I accepted that my Dad was essentially a simple materialistic guy, and couldn't help but see and judge things the way he did, then that freed me to become happier with who I am. When we are younger, we may need to fight our way out and be very critical. But then I think we reach a point where we need to let go of all that and just let them be who they are, and that enables us to be who we are. It is a relief. That took me until my fifties, but it was very easy once I realised all I had to do was accept him for what he was.

Meanwhile my Dad had an older sister who had a degree in literature. She had some education in the real sense, she knew things and was interested in things for their own sake. I grew up with money around me, and with a lot of pressure to be like that myself, but it was at the same time a cultural desert. This aunt was also quite troubled, but when I was talking about her at another relative's funeral a couple of years ago, I found myself in tears, because what she stood for to me when I was a child was very important. I was hungering for something richer and more cultured, and she embodied that possibility. And as an adult I have repeatedly put myself in situations that starve me, because that was what was familiar to me as a child, I do what I 'should'. But then I listen to that voice of something else in me, that my aunt stood for, and I get out, and I am one more round up the spiral of finding the centre of my wheel, of living closely to my Spirit - which is what this whole thing is about.

I think in a saner society there would be more elders around to take by the hand the children who have something else going on, so they don't have to go through so much of a journey of self-doubt. It is maybe the inevitable result of a large society that we end up living by rules instead of relationships. And that way tends to be more rigid. Though we do also have our freedoms in our current society.

So give yourself credit for the struggle you may have been through to become who you are. Yes you have a shadow side that maybe feels like a miserable worm, but we need that shadow: value that as well, it keeps our feet on the ground, keeps us humble and human, and keeps us learning. It will always be there. In your 80s you will still have sides that are problematic to you.

Meanwhile, don't undervalue what you stand for to others, not just nephews and nieces. The possibility of escape from the self-imposed strait-jacket (there is no evil conspiracy forcing us to be like that) that large societies seem to need to give its members a sense of certainty and security. We are the shamans, the medicine people, because we serve the outer planets. We do not need those certainties and rigidities. And because of that, Spirit can flow freely through us. That is where our power to help and heal comes from. And remember, we are not truly the 'odd' ones, we are the sane ones.

Aquarians

I was watching an interview with James Hillman, the archetypal psychologist. And he was saying how important it is to have a ‘wonky’ friend, the friend who can’t do normal, who can’t make his life work like everyone else can. This friend releases us from the pressure of being straight. He pointed out also how the ‘odd’ uncle can have this effect, he lodges in your mind as a kid.

Grayson Perry

This is a very Aquarian theme. Aquarius is classically someone who is both very involved with groups of people, yet is always on the outside looking in, having his or her own critical take on the group. The Aquarian wants to belong, yet does not want to follow the rules that belonging requires, may not even notice those rules.

Aquarians are the free spirits of the zodiac. Well, not the only ones, the Fire signs don’t do badly in their own way. But Aquarius has this thing about rules. At best it sees the necessity for them for an orderly society, but it also sees how people are often trapped by them: trapped into being straight, into feeling that unless they are like everyone else, they will be an inadequate person, not a person that other people will respect. And this is a big pressure.

Well, for some people it’s a pressure. Others don’t seem to mind so much either way. And one of the functions of Aquarius is to be an example of being free, and in so doing allow others to be free. Of course, some people will look down on you for being different, they will feel better about themselves because they perceive you as inferior, and you just have to live with that, it is one of the prices you pay for being free.

Aquarius grows out of Capricorn, the preceding sign. Adjacent signs do not aspect each other. A bit like signs that are 5 apart, they don’t have anything in common to challenge or flow with the other sign. And yet they do, adjacent signs grow out of each other, beginning with new-born Aries and ending with old-soul Pisces. In the case of Capricorn and Aquarius, there is both a lot in common, as well as mutual incomprehension.

They are both Saturn-ruled, though Aquarius also has its modern ruler Uranus. And being towards the end of the zodiac, their gaze is directed towards the collective. They are both leaders. Capricorn feels a responsibility towards society, to its smooth running and to its traditions and its success in relation to other collectives. Its responsibility is based on the past, on maintaining and building that which has been handed down. Aquarius also feels a responsibility to society, but the emphasis is based more on the future, how things might be, correcting the wrongs and limitations that have been handed down.

To an Aquarian, Capricorn can seem like a dusty old fogey. And to Capricorn, Aquarius can seem like an immature rebel.

I think Aquarius needs to find its peace with institutions without losing that outsider’s ability to critique.

And in finding peace with institutions, with convention, if you like, Aquarius also finds peace within him or herself. And this can take decades. It can be a lifelong task. With Leo being the sign most classically at ease with itself, the opposite sign of Aquarius has claims to be the sign least at ease with itself.

One of the Aquarian fears is that if they conform, they will lose their individuality, they will lose that spark of magic that makes life worth living. But they need to get over that. Because if you can’t also be part of the normal world, your insights are of no use, your benign desire to help the world will come to nothing. And we can see this tension in the 2 rulers of Aquarius, Uranus and Saturn. Uranus, if you like, is afraid that his son Saturn will come along and castrate him, just like he did in the myth.

Aquarians look outward to the world they want to change, and they also tend to live in a world of ideas, which can be held quite rigidly, Aquarius being a fixed sign. The freedom they seek is inner, it is essentially beyond conformity vs rebellion. Aquarius has a powerful feeling nature – they are, after all, the water bearers – but they are not always very aware of it.

Aquarians need to peer inside that urn of water and see their own reflection, the emotions they have that are the same as everybody else’s – it is easy to think of yourself as superior if you are Aquarian - and which therefore give them that sense of belonging. And which will also enable them to come from that inner place, that inner voice that makes you at ease with yourself and gives you the freedom you seek.

All signs of the zodiac are possessed by a god. Or in the case of Aquarius, 2 gods. Our lives are in this sense fated. There is a particular spirit that wants to live through us, and will create the conditions for that to be possible.

So an Aquarian who keeps finding him or herself on the outside, always in that rebellious place: well maybe there is some work to be done, maybe there are issues with authority that come from earlier in life that need a bit of looking at. But maybe that’s just half the story. Maybe that god of Aquarius (and I don’t find Uranus completely convincing in this role) needs us on the outside, rebelling, pissing people off, maybe sometimes with good cause, sometimes we get it wrong, but always stirring the pot, bringing in troublesome ideas from the outside. Who knows what larger purpose the god of Aquarius has in putting us in this awkward place? Who says that it is our purpose to become at ease with who we are? On the deepest level, we can only really be happy if we are serving the gods that have claimed us, and that may mean we spend our whole lives in that awkward Aquarian place, for reasons we might never understand, but would we want it any other way?