IN THIS WEEK’S COSMIC UPDATE:

William Hague – A dignified departure. But forever?

Jeffrey Archer – The fall, rise and fall of the man who would be Prime Minister

WILLIAM HAGUE

I am not going to devote a great deal of time to the soon-to-be exiled (to the Back Benches) leader of the Tory Party, William Hague, but for those astrologers interested in putting together a data base I have included his chart and will make a few comments on what appears to be relevant for now.

But I will begin by taking you back to my comments in last week’s Cosmic Update.  

The British General Election

I have been less than occupied with my country’s General Election, mainly because it seems to be such a foregone conclusion. Tony Blair and the Labour Party are, according to most polls, twenty-five points ahead of the Conservatives and it is hard to imagine what in the next few days could change the predicted landslide victory for Labour.

Still, all that Pluto activity will make a dent somewhere and even if that primarily means the Conservatives must rethink their policies, or more particularly consider turning to Michael Portillo to lead the party, Labour will have a moment of truth. Somehow, somewhere.

Well, I wouldn’t call the loss of a handful of seats in Parliament exactly a moment of truth for Labour but the low turn out and the rise and rise of the Liberal Democrats certainly represent an amber light for the Party. And Tony Blair’s assertion that he isn’t going to rest on his laurels, so to speak, but to put policies into action underlines a general feeling that Labour may be the only credible Party to lead the country at the moment but the jury is still out as to whether it really can put Britain back on its feet.

Within seconds of William Hague’s resignation speech political commentators were already touting Michael Portillo as the next leader of the Tory Party, although several other names were mentioned, including Anne Widdecombe – my personal fave. (A true English eccentric who will liven up the dreary British political scene no end.) However, in reality Michael Portillo is the logical choice for the flailing Tory Party to make. But we shall see… watch this space, as they say.

WILLIAM HAGUE: Mar 26 1961, Rotherham, 06 00am.
(Click For Enlarged View)

William Hague never captured the heart or even the serious attention of the British people. Maybe it was because he was bald. Maybe it was because he spoke in a funny accent. Who knows. But he has had a long and extremely successful political career (giving his first speech at a Tory Party conference when he was still a schoolboy) and his wife, Ffion, is as decorative as she is intelligent and charming. So, what now for Mr Hague? The political wilderness? Or is he, like Peter Mandelson one of the come-back kids?

The time of birth for Mr Hague (given by himself, by the way) is ‘around 6 am’, which puts late Aquarius on the Ascendant and mid Sagittarius on the Mid-heaven. However, if we nudge the time backwards a tad – a mere seven minutes – we end up with a chart that truly reflects the current state of play.

Transiting Pluto is within a degree of the Mid-heaven – the area of the chart signifying the role in life and the life direction. That his political life has been turned upside down necessitating a change of role and a change of direction stands testament to the process evoked by Pluto, the Great Transformer of the planets. Also, transiting Uranus hovers around the Ascendant – a factor coincident with sudden, unexpected events which forge change on a grand scale. I’m not sure that the events of the past week could be considered exactly unexpected but his decision to resign was as sudden as it was irrevocable – entirely in keeping with Uranus.

It should also be noted that William is experiencing his Uranus opposition (see The Science Bit) so he is at a life cross-roads and this past week was therefore a highly appropriate moment to discover that you have run out of road in some area of your life!  

WHAT THEN IN 2003?

But if he was born exactly at six o’clock or a little later, events of a sudden and transformative nature will happen a few years hence. (This would leave the Uranus opposition solely in charge of the present upheaval.) Thus, we should keep an eye on Mr Hague because he could unexpectedly hit the headlines in early 2003. And while he and Ffion seem entirely happy at this stage, the reason he and his life become newsworthy in a few years time could be because of a martial split. (Pluto’s position in the relationship zone indicates some huge ups and downs in regard to relationships and marriage, with some attendant pain and loss.)

IS HE A COME-BACK KID?

Sun in Aries and Moon in Cancer give him courage, chutzpah and, most important of all, persistence. The close opposition of Saturn to the moon also adds to his tenacity of purpose. Indeed, the moon-Saturn opposition is intersected by Venus, forming a ‘T’-square in Cardinal signs – a factor that may add fuel to the fire of speculation that he and Ffion will come adrift, very possibly at the time transiting Saturn in Cancer triggers this configuration (2005).

I believe William Hague has made an excellent tactical decision at this point in time. At just forty (still young for a politician) he has anything from ten to twenty years to make it back to the top – and to lead the Tory Party once more. And it may take that long for the Conservatives to get back into power!!

An angular Pluto or a strong Scorpionic theme would give William the capacity to make a come-back.

Pluto is a tad too far away from the descendant to be considered angular but Pluto forms the apex of a Kite formation. Which is of great significance. (In this case the Kite is formed by a grand trine made up of Mercury, Mars and Neptune in water signs with Mercury opposing Pluto, in turn sextiled by Mars and Neptune.)

A Kite formation represents a very potent cocktail of disparate influences. A Kite marks out the individual as special, gifted and with a life of destiny and significance. And given that Pluto is in such an eminent position it is fair to say that Mr Hague has the capacity to reinvent himself and to rise like a phoenix of the ashes of any situation, including his career.

And while he may not be able to change his voice, grow back his hair or endear himself to everyone in the country, he is basically a man of honesty and decency – rare, if not extinct, in a politician. And this counts for something, as I hope we will see.  

JEFFREY ARCHER – the fall, rise and fall of the man who would be Prime Minister

Lord Archer is currently defending a charge of perjury at the Old Bailey. In 1986 he was awarded £500,000 in damages after suing the British tabloid, The Daily Star, for libel when it alleged he had slept with a prostitute. Lord Archer is denying seven charges brought against him, including perverting the course of justice and perjury in relation to the libel action.  

Jeffrey: a personal insight

Most people know Jeffrey Archer for his fast-paced novels about business and politics. What a lot of people don’t know is that Jeffrey nurtured a fierce ambition to become Prime Minister. An ambition thwarted by a surfeit of arrogance and a shortfall in honesty and common sense.

I met Jeffrey in the mid-1980’s. I was doing a series of interviews for a forthcoming book (Romancing The Stars). Initially, I had had my request for a meeting turned down by Mr Archer’s secretary, non other than Angela Peppiatt, now a witness for the prosecution in the current case brought against Mr. Archer for perjury. However, thanks to the intercession of writer, Jilly Cooper, Mr Archer suddenly found a space for me in his diary.

On the day of the interview I was ushered into Jeffrey’s tenth floor apartment overlooking the Houses of Parliament. For at least forty minutes I remained a seemingly invisible presence standing beside a large potted plant observing a constantly in motion Mr Archer choosing paintings to adorn his walls. When he eventually signalled me over to him I asked him how long we had for the interview. “Oh, about fifteen minutes.” He replied, adding, “Of course, I don’t usually see people like you!”

Not a good start.

By the time I came to write up the interview I realized I was a fact or two missing. Thus I rang the helpful Ms Peppiatt.

“Could you tell me what Jeffrey read at Oxford?”

“Oh, er… um… I believe it was education.”

Now, education is not a subject on the curriculum of Oxford University so, after a little probing and a lot of telephone calls I established that Jeffery did not actually study at Brasenose College, Oxford, as he claimed, but Headington Polytechnic. Jeffrey had also been a rather economical with the truth about his public school. Yes, he went to Wellington but not the Wellington in Berkshire but a minor public school in Somerset.

The irony is that if Jeffrey had given me just a little more time and not been so rude and disparaging this biographical misrepresentation might never have been discovered. As it was when the book was published Private Eye picked up on the anomaly, thereby informing a much larger portion of the British population.  

Who is Lord Archer?

I never understood why Jeffrey felt he had to embellish his academic history. He had clearly achieved great things, all of which were all the more impressive for his relatively lowly background. But this trait is central to Jeffrey’s present dilemma.

Again, for those of you who know nothing whatsoever about Lord Archer he was, in the style of William Hague a precocious political animal. At twenty-six he became the youngest ever Member of Parliament then in 1974 a company in which he had invested heavily, Aquablast, went down the drain and almost took Jeffrey along with it. On the brink of bankruptcy and with debts of half a million pounds he resigned from the House of Commons, contemplated his bleak future then sat down and wrote a best-seller, Not A Penny More; Not A Penny Less. In the years that followed he returned to politics becoming the Deputy Chairman of the Conservative Party in 1985.

This, however, was not the beginning of his assent up the political ladder to its pinnacle as Prime Minister.

In October 1986 a scandal of spectacular proportions broke when the British tabloid, The Daily Star, alleged Jeffrey had paid a prostitute, Monica Coghill, for sex. In July the following year, after some of the most sensational court scenes of the Eighties, Jeffrey was exonerated and the Star was ordered to pay him half a million, plus costs. At the same time Jeffrey’s first play, Beyond A Reasonable Doubt was running in the West End to packed houses.  

A Grand Comeuppance

Which brings us to today. As Jeffrey sits in the dock at the Old Bailey, contemplating the ashes of his reputation and the remains of his recent play, which lasted less than a month in the West End, his situation could be said to be case of deja vue all over again!

Hubris… chickens coming home to roost – all such labels could be attached to his current dilemma. No doubt Jeffrey has friends and family who continue to support him and wish him well but in corners across the nation there are ex-colleagues, spurned lovers, rejected employees and singed observers smirking and delivering the verdict: he had it coming!  

The astrology

JEFFERY ARCHER: 15 APRIL 1940, 11 45 AM: 51N14 2W50
(Click For Enlarged View)
(data provided by Lord Archer himself)  

The Aries Factor

Quite synchronistically, both subjects of my Cosmic Update this week are sun Aries. And both have been immersed in politics since an early age – William having made it to the leadership of the Conservative Party and Jeffrey, its Deputy Chairman. But while we see the courage, frankness and honesty of Aries shining through Hague’s actions, we see in Jeffery the essential weakness of this ambitious and headstrong fire sign – overweening arrogance and the triumph of ego over good judgement.  

Sun conjunct Jupiter and Saturn

That the sun is close to Jupiter in Aries inflates the already strong tendency towards self-glorification and fearless, foolhardy actions. This conjunction has also made him a millionaire several times over – and caused those spectacular losses.

It asks a lot of Saturn’s proximity to the sun to hold all that extravagance and self-indulgence in check, but Jeffrey has lived to fight another day on more than one occasion and he has managed a long and successful career as a novelist. So Saturn has clearly had its uses. (We’ll come back to Saturn shortly.)  

Cancer rising, moon and Pluto conjunct the Ascendant

As a writer it is always helpful to have the moon rising – in fact moon conjunct the Ascendant occurs with great frequency in the charts of writers and speakers. That the moon is in Cancer reveals great imagination and a strong sense of family unity.

Moon conjunct Pluto speaks volumes about his deeply complex relationship with his mother. (A factor Jeffrey hotly refuted in his interview with me, by the way, but since his father died when Jeffrey was fifteen years old this conjunction could simply show the overriding influence of his mother in his life.)   

The Pluto/Phoenix effect

Again, synchronistically, a strong Pluto in a chart will give the individual the capacity to survive all manner of downfalls and crises. And, like William Hague, even in the face of abject and very public failure he can and will fight back. I am tempted to add that the moon-Pluto conjunction on the Ascendant in Cancer suggests he, like the proverbial cat, has nine lives!  

Mercury in Pisces trine the Ascendant/Pluto/moon

Mercury, the planet of communication, is clearly enormously helpful to Jeffrey in his career as a writer. (Astrologers would say that this trine ‘relieves’ the difficulty inherent in the sun/Jupiter/Saturn square to the same point.)  

Mercury opposition Neptune – rim of the ‘Bowl’ shaping

Mercury gains even more significance in Jeffrey’s chart because it leads all the other planets around the circle of the horoscope and, with its opposition to Neptune, contains the rest of the planets in what is called a ‘Bowl’ shaping.

Mercury is in imaginative, artistic, mystical and compassionate Pisces. But we must not forget that Pisces is also a sign synonymous with subterfuge, self-delusion, escapism and betrayal. These qualities – good and bad – are exacerbated by the opposition to Neptune, the ruler of Pisces.

Thus, Jeffrey’s headstrong Arian personality is further hampered by a Piscean tendency to confuse fact with fiction!

Will the synchronicities ever end. William Hague also has Mercury in Pisces and his Mercury trines Neptune and forms a linchpin of a Kite formation.

These shared factors serve to show how radically different the expression of any one astrological principle can be. While Hague is an idealist and high principled, Jeffrey has joined the ranks of the con-merchant.  

Mary, the Capricorn long suffering wife

Who can forget the words of the judge in the 1987 case against The Daily Star when he referred to Jeffrey’s wife, Mary, as fragrant. The term has entered the annals of legal history and journalistic hyperbole.

It continues to be a bit of a mystery why the deeply intelligent, self-effacing Mary married Jeffrey in the first place and more, continues to play the loyal wife, despite his very public embarrassments and his infidelities.

Jeffrey has Capricorn on the cusp of the seventh house of relationships so Mary fits neatly in with his wifely criteria. Jeffrey’s moon in Cancer is also descriptive of his need of and experience with women and this would certainly supply a reason for his determination to hang on to Mary, whether she wishes to leave or not.

In his interview with me fifteen years ago Jeffrey said of his marriage:

“We have a good and happy relationship… I’m better educated because of her. She walks in a quiet, gentle and academic world – she’s very reserved – while I am a politician who is by nature in the centre of the stage. She has immense common sense – painfully honest. She wouldn’t have made a good politician…”

Venus conjunct Mars in Gemini

When, in 1985, I saw a Venus-Mars conjunction in this variety-seeking, commitment-phobic sign I wondered why there had never been any murmurings about Jeffrey and ‘other women’. It took until 1986 and the allegation that Jeffrey has handed over money to a prostitute for the first hint of this conjunction to emerge.

Now, as the perjury case grinds its way through the High Courts, we hear almost daily about Jeffrey’s past girl-friends.  

Will the marriage survive?

We will probably have to wait until 2005 to find out. Saturn’s transit of Cancer between the years of 2003 and 2005 will affect Jeffrey’s relationship axis and make connections with all the aforementioned planets in Aries and Cancer.

There is a case for saying that because the marriage has lasted some thirty-seven years it will go on ad infinitum but my gut feeling is that they will divorce.  

Will Jeffrey go to prison?

I assume he will, albeit for a shorter time than another individual might spend for the same crime.

Saturn’s transit of the twelfth house of incarceration may, in Jeffrey’s case, work out quite literally. And it is interesting to note that at the time Aquablast went belly up and Jeffrey was facing bankruptcy, Saturn was in exactly the same sign of Gemini as it is now. Furthermore, in 1986 when Jeffrey had to resign his position as Deputy Chairman in the wake of the Daily Star expose, Saturn was in Sagittarius, exactly opposing his Venus Mars conjunction in Gemini. A year later when Jeffrey won his case against The Daily Star, transiting Jupiter was conjunct his sun-Jupiter conjunction.

Copyright © 2001 Penny Thornton