Penny* Thornton's Cosmic Update

Welcome to the COSMIC UPDATE

This part of my web-site gives you an in-look at the current astrological events. I have tried to make it as readable and useful to astrologers and non-astrologers alike but this may not always be achievable. If you do come across some terms that you do not understand, you should be able to find a definition in the SCIENCE BIT. And, of course, you can always e-mail me directly with your queries and comments.

COSMIC UPDATE 6^th MAY

In this week’s C.U.  Ronnie Biggs – train robber extraordinaire

Ronnie Biggs may not be the world’s greatest criminal but he has achieved a degree of notoriety in his fugitive lifestyle that few can equal.

The news this week that he has e-mailed Scotland Yard, offering to give himself up to the British authorities if he is given safe conduct and a passport to England has variously amused, intrigued and shocked the Great British public.

At the time of writing (Sunday, 6^th May) Biggs is expected to leave Brazil at 4.00pm local time, landing on English soil early Monday, morning. His trip back has been organized by the Sun newspaper.

Biggs is partly paralyzed and cannot speak. It is assumed that he will go straight to a medical facility as soon as he lands. Most people believe that his desire to return to Britain has very little to do with his conscience or a deep sentiment for the country but because of the free health treatment!

The Background

In the early hours of August 8, 1963 a gang, including thirty-four-year-old, Ronnie Biggs, held up the Glasgow-London mail train and stole 2.6 million pounds ($7.3 million and equal to $47 million today). Tragically, the train driver, Jack Mills, subsequently died from the blow he received during the robbery, thereby adding murder to the already hefty crime of robbery and assault.

The gang was eventually captured and Biggs was sentenced to thirty years in prison. He escaped fifteen months later by scaling a twenty-five foot wall and leaping into a waiting furniture van.

Biggs then fled to Spain, taking his wife, Charmaine, and his two sons with him. He underwent plastic surgery, moved to Australia and in 1970 settled in Brazil.

Throughout this period Scotland Yard endeavoured to bring him back to England but he evaded every attempt, in 1974 gaining sanctuary in Brazil by fathering a son by a young Brazilian girl.

In 1981 a gang of bounty-hunters kidnapped Biggs and took him to Barbados, hoping to receive a ransom for their public spirited handy-work. However, the Barbadian courts rejected the British extradition request.

Such a colourful character made great copy and Biggs gained a huge following of fans in Britain. Even the detective, Jack Slipper, who led the frustrated hunt to bring Biggs to justice, had a grudging respect for him. He referred to him as ‘a cunning monkey’ yet added, ‘when it comes to the important things of life, like his son and family, he seems to be an honest man.’

The Astrology

RONNIE BIGGS: 8^th August, 1929 – time of birth unknown.
(Click For Enlarged View)

How very Leo of Ronnie to pull off such a daring robbery on his birthday – 8^th August, 1963. Leos like celebrations and with a Uranus trine to his sun, celebrations with a difference! Confidence, style, bravura, theatricality and courage are all the hallmarks of a sun Leo and with Moon and Mars in Virgo, a detailed planner, a craftsman and a perfectionist to boot.

Sadly, I do not have his birth time, nor the place of birth, so I can only guess at his ascendant – perhaps charming Libra or cunning Gemini.

Grand trine in fire

A Grand trine is a formation of three planets, each 120 degrees away from each other. Thus the configuration looks like a large triangle. This formation is considered highly favourable, whatever the planets involved, but in Biggs’s case, with the sun trining Uranus and Saturn, vitality, ingenuity and longevity are his.

Almost a kite

With Jupiter in harmonious sextile aspect to both Uranus and the sun, the Grand Trine configuration almost becomes an even more magical formation known as the kite. What prevents this from being a true kite is the fact that Jupiter is too far away from Saturn (at the opposite point in the zodiac).

Jupiter, of course, is considered a ‘lucky’ influence, although, as has often been discussed in these pages, this planet is also highly inflationary and is often found to be prominent in the charts of megalomaniacs, and certainly individuals with a powerful egos! Excess and misuse of power go hand in hand with a strong Jupiter.

Venus in Cancer

People with personal planets in Cancer (i.e. the sun, moon, ascendant, Mercury, Venus and Mars) are usually very family-oriented. Venus-in-Cancer-man likes to work and be with people he knows and in places with which he is familiar. Cancer tends to breed creatures of habit.

It is Ronnie’s Venus in Cancer that prompted him to flee Britain’s shores, not alone, but with his wife and two sons. And he has a close and mutually supportive relationship with the son he fathered in Brazil. (Indeed, who can forget those photographs of Biggs and his young son living on the beach in Brazil.)

On the 21^st of June 2001, there will be a total solar eclipse within two degrees of Ronnie’s Venus so there are sure to be some important developments regarding his prosecution around this time.

But with Jupiter landing on this same point some weeks later, there is bound to be an upside to his situation – and clearly a huge amount of publicity.

Mercury in Leo

With Mercury as well as the sun in stylish and courageous Leo it is clear that Biggs masterminded the Great Train Robbery – and he is certainly the only member of the gang the public can remember.

His Mercury is trine Saturn so Ronnie has a good head for figures. He calculates well.

But with Mercury also closely conjunct nebulous Neptune, he is capable of serious miscalculation at times. And it remains to be seen whether his current decision is one such severe miscalculation.

The future

Ronnie’s Mercury is the most active planet in his chart at present. Uranus is currently at 24 degrees of Aquarius, thereby opposing natal Mercury and bringing out all sorts of sudden and unexpected actions. Ronnie’s decision to return to his homeland is almost certainly not the result of a long thought out plan but the product of an impulse.

And while there is a huge wave of public warmth for Biggs, British justice is a cold affair and it is almost certain that he will face prosecution and subsequent incarceration, whether in a prison hospital or a prison cell.

December of 2001 sees a lot of activity in his chart – including an eclipse on his Saturn while Saturn conjuncts his natal Jupiter – the theme of which is justice will be done. Chickens do come home to roost.