Welcome to the COSMIC UPDATE

My COSMIC UPDATES are a way of looking at items and people in the news from an astrological perspective. And while I try to make the text as understandable as possible I realize that some of the astrological jargon baffles the general reader. 

COSMIC UPDATE: 6^th August 2001

INCLUDED IN THIS WEEK’S COSMIC UPDATE: 

• AN EXPLOSIVE WEEK  - The Ealing Bomb.

• THE QUEEN MOTHER - A Celebration and a Concern.

AN EXPLOSIVE WEEK: The Ealing bomb

Well, it had been rather quiet on the terrorist front in Britain – that is until midnight on the 3^rd of August. At 11 33pm on the 2^nd the police received a coded message from the Real IRA warning of a bomb. But since the precise location of the device was unclear, half an hour later a Saab containing a forty-pound bomb exploded just outside Ealing Broadway station. Fortunately no one was killed but of the seven injured one was serious.

I might not have included this event in my Cosmic Update had not the horoscope been so riveting. Once again, the chart that follows is, to my mind, pure astrological poetry.

THE EALING BOMB
3^rd August 2001, 00 01, Ealing, London
(Click For Enlarged Image)

The Usual Suspects – Uranus, Neptune, Pluto et al

What to me is so synchronistic about this chart is the placing of an exact Mercury-Neptune opposition on the MC/IC axis. (Mercury gains even more prominence by its rulership of the chart.) Why is this aspect so synchronistic? Well, Neptune is synonymous with smoke and mirrors. When you lose your way, lose the plot and everyone is running around in circles Neptune is always acting as ring-master. The coded message from the terrorists gave the name of the road incorrectly and thus sent the police on a wild goose chase. That no one was killed was something of a miracle. Then again, Neptune is also synonymous with miracles!

The angular Saturn-Pluto opposition

By angular I mean that the current Saturn-Pluto opposition in Gemini and Sagittarius is ‘sitting’ on the Ascendant-descendant axis. This placement shows the gravity of the incident. Adding an extra powerful punch is war-lord, Mars, closely conjunct Pluto, just above the cusp of the Descendant. With this extremely violent set-up on one of the two major angles of the horoscope it is truly amazing that there was no loss of life.

Certainly the terrorist group intended to make a fatal point with this bomb. That it did not owes much to the timing of the incident, both in the sense that there were few people out on the streets at mid-night on Friday and the Mercury-Neptune opposition falling on the other major angle of the chart.

An ‘envelope’ of fate

The two oppositions flanking the two angles of the horoscope are both relieved (an astrological expression meaning that another harmonious aspect is softening the effect of a difficult one). In this case Neptune trines the Saturn-Ascendant conjunction and sextiles the Mars-Pluto-Descendant conjunction while Mercury trines the Mars-Pluto-Descendant conjunction and sextiles Saturn-Ascendant, thus creating an aspect pattern resembling an A-4 sized envelope.

Uranus in the tenth house

Uranus almost always plays a lead part in any explosive proceedings and this case is no exception. Uranus may not be the most elevated planet – that role belongs to Neptune, but it is in the tenth house and therefore highly prominent. Rather more interestingly, Uranus is unaspected. When planets remain unconnected to any others in a chart they exert an all-or nothing effect, usually the former. In this case the unaspected Uranus may well have been a contributory factor to the bomb’s failure to fulfil its deadly brief.

Jupiter conjunct Venus and the North Node

On the other hand the applying Venus-Jupiter conjunction may have helped save the day too. This is a highly beneficial and protective aspect and, since the North Node is sandwiched between the two an element of divine intervention cannot be ruled out.

Thank heavens!

THE QUEEN MOTHER – a celebration and a concern

Not that the Queen Mother needed to draw more attention to herself but this beloved member of the Royal Family entered hospital two days before her one hundred and first birthday, suffering from anaemia. She walked unaided from her car and paused briefly at the door of the hospital to wave to the battalion of camera men lined up on the opposite side of the street. And after an overnight stay for a blood transfusion she left in a similarly upright, cheerful fashion. Well, what do you expect from a Lion Queen!

Of course, concern over her condition remains. Anaemia can be an indication of a more serious condition, internal bleeding, perhaps, so although she would have received an immediate benefit from the transfusion, it may not prove to be a long-term solution.

THE QUEEN MOTHER
4^th August 1900, 11 31am, London, England
(Click For Enlarged Image)

Neptune opposition sun-Mercury

Neptune has already transited the IC of her chart (the cusp of the fourth house, which among many factors represents the end of life). But now this planet is opposing natal Mercury and, if nothing else, giving rise to some mystery over her state of health.

The full moon in Aquarius  

The 4^th’s full moon at 11 degrees of Aquarius closely opposes her Leo sun on her birthday, so at one end of the spectrum it seems her life is full, she is at a peak, she is complete. Yet at the other end of the lunar spectrum there is tension and crisis in her life.

Indeed, because of this powerful full moon I decided to take a look at her solar return for the coming year – a chart set up for the moment the sun returns to its natal position. 

THE SOLAR RETURN

QUEEN MOTHER SOLAR RETURN
August 3^rd, 21 30, London, England
(Click For Enlarged Image)

What stands out in this chart is, of course, the envelope configuration discussed in the previous topic. Here the Venus-Jupiter-North Node conjunction ‘sits’ precisely on the MC/IC axis, thereby generating a hugely beneficial and protective influence. The Neptune, Saturn-Pluto, sun/Mercury combination that produced the envelope puts Mars a little further out of the picture but draws in the moon.

I could make a prediction about the year ahead for the Queen Mother but I am naturally hesitant to do so. What I will do instead is draw attention to some connections between the natal chart and this solar return, some astrological points of debate and mention some dates of interests to watch out for during the next twelve months.

1)       In the Queen Mother’s natal chart she has a Uranus-Pluto opposition, which is currently being triggered by the Saturn-Pluto opposition. However, although Saturn has already passed over natal Uranus, Pluto has yet to reach its precise opposition to natal Pluto, which it will do at the end of May 2002. Indeed the third and final Saturn-Pluto opposition of this cycle takes place on 26^th May at the same time as a lunar eclipse at 5 degrees Gemini/Sagittarius. The Queen Mother has a Jupiter, North Node, Uranus conjunction in the first decanate of Sagittarius. There are two other eclipses before that time, one of which (30^th December) occurs at 8 degrees of Cancer, which is the Queen Mother’s natal Venus. On Christmas Day the sun will have reached the IC of the solar return chart, thereby also conjuncting the North Node and Jupiter.

2)       It is only in the last decade of the twentieth century that we have seen an increase in the amount of people who reach their Pluto opposition, so we can learn much about the true nature of this transit from individuals, like the Queen Mother. But clearly, the death and re-birth theme of Pluto must play loud and long at the time of its opposition.

3)       Venus is a planet that not only gives us our most loving and pleasurable experiences in life but it does have an uncanny way of being there at the time life-landmarks occur.

4)       While the Queen Mother will hopefully live for a long time yet she is entering a year of her life where, according to the solar return full moon, closures and completions of one sort or another will be par for the course. And maybe we should also look to the next full moon on the Leo/Aquarius axis (28^th January 2002) for further amplification of this concept.

Points of interest on the natal chart

Libra Rising

Not only is Queen Elizabeth, the Queen Mother, a great and glorious Leo – a diva of the highest order – but gracious and graceful Libra rises.

As a young woman, Elizabeth Bowes Lyon was beautiful, fun-loving, flirtatious and hotly pursued by the most eligible men of her day. She grew up in a loving and relaxed family atmosphere. When she married George Windsor, second in line to the English throne, she never imagined she would one day become Queen. And the generally held view is that it was a role she never wanted.

An ineluctable fate

The abdication of Edward VIII transformed Elizabeth’s life and, as she believed, shortened her beloved husband’s life. Nevertheless, like all fire signs, especially when they have a moon in Scorpio too, once presented with an unwanted set of circumstances she simply got on with it to the best of her ability – and triumphed.

During the war years the Royal Family under Elizabeth’s guidance regained its popularity – they were seen as a family, not remote figure-heads. And if one single event endeared the Monarchy to the British people it was the sight of the King and Queen picking their way through the rubble that had been part of their home and Elizabeth musing that at last they could look the East End in the face.

Venus in Cancer

That the Queen Mother’s ruling planet, Venus, is in the nurturing sign of Cancer certainly provides one reason for the way the Monarchy became a family in the truest, almost coziest, sense of the word during George VI’s reign. And, of course she has been both the nation’s mother and its grandmother. Interestingly and synchronistically in view of the previous topic Venus is unaspected in her chart. I think we can safely say that in the Queen Mother’s case, she has an excess of Venusian love, grace and elegance. However, we should also consider that since her husband died in 1952 she has been celibate for forty-nine years!

Mars-Neptune conjunction

And speaking of George VI’s premature death… Mars, the ruler of the seventh house of relationships, is conjunct Neptune so although this aspect describes a Pisces/Neptune partner, one who could be a soul mate, it could equally well indicate that the partner is a dependent type, someone with an addictive personality, a weak and feckless man. As it was George VI had very poor health; he was also shy – he suffered from a stammer – but he was kind, gentle, loving and honourable. And given that Mars-Neptune conjunctions are redolent with loss and betrayal, in Elizabeth’s case, George VI betrayed her by dying.

Glamour, of course, is a Neptunian phenomenon too. And one of the hallmarks of the Queen Mother is her sense of style and the glamorous image she radiates.

Also food for Mars-Neptunian thought is the Queen Mother’s belief that the Monarchy, while serving the people and not remaining in an ivory tower should nonetheless retain its mystique. As Jenny Bond, the BBC’s royal correspondent put it:

The Queen Mother is ‘instinctively suspicious of diluting the mystery of monarchy’

Which brings us on to a key component of Elizabeth’s chart.

Moon in Scorpio

The Queen Mother is known to exert a tremendously strong influence over the Royal Family. According to more than one royal biographer, she never forgave Edward VIII for abdicating and she was almost single-handedly responsible for his and the Duchess of Windsor’s decades of excommunication. It has even been rumoured that Prince Charles will not marry Camilla until the Queen Mother has departed this mortal coil.

A moon in Scorpio makes a strong woman. Passionate, revengeful, determined, loyal, unchangeable and unchanging. You cross the Queen Mother at your peril. I think we can also see reflected in the moon in Scorpio the tremendously strong grip on life that she has – that stubborn insistence on walking unaided into hospital, on being at home for her birthday – and for obtaining her own gin and Dubonet at the bar of the Royal Enclosure!

I will finish with the words Prince Charles once said of her:

She is “ indefatigable and unstoppable. Ever since I can remember, my grandmother has been the most wonderful example of fun, laughter, warmth, infinite security and, above all, exquisite taste. For me, she has always been one of those extraordinarily rare people whose touch can turn everything to gold.”