Friday Bite 17 September 2021

United We Stand Divided We Fall

AUKUS

On September 16th at 22:00, Boris Johnson, Joe Biden and Scott Morrison in a joint virtual press conference announced Australia, the United Kingdom and the United States were launching a pact to counter the Chinese Communist Party’s aggressive moves in the South China Sea. The agreement involves sharing intelligence and technology, cooperating on cyberwarfare and artificial intelligence as well as, for Australia, the acquisition of cruise missiles and nuclear submarines.

The announcement came as a bit of a shock to the French since up to September 16th they thought their £43 billion deal with the US to build 12 submarines for Australia was still in place. Not only was the great French nose out of joint on this count, but today’s launch of the European Union’s Indo-Pacific strategy was completely eclipsed by AUKUS.

France was not the only nation to adversely react to the new pact, China also expressed its displeasure, its foreign ministry spokesman maintaining, “It intensifies the arms race and severely undermines regional peace and stability.”

Nonetheless, the alliance is the most significant security arrangement between the three countries since World War II and the pact has been welcomed by nations with interests in the Indo-Pacific region. It also sends a strong message to China that if it plans to attack Taiwan, there will be consequences.

From an astrological perspective, this is all building up very nicely to big trouble in the South China Sea as Pluto enters Aquarius and a new world order begins.

It was 7 0’clock on Thursday morning in Australia as Scott Morrison took to the rostrum. Mercury rises to the Libran Ascendant, almost exactly squaring the Moon in Capricorn. Considering nuclear submarines play a key part in the AUKUS plans, we might expect to find Pluto in a prominent position. Not only is Pluto squaring the rising Mercury but conjunct the Moon in Capricorn in the fourth house of the horoscope — the homeland.

The significance of this moment in time for Australia can be seen when the horoscope of AUKUS is compared with the nation’s natal chart.

Australia’s Sun at 10 Capricorn is the IC of the alliance chart and its Descendant is within four degrees of the AUKUS Ascendant. Here we see partners (Descendant) coming together to combat severe threats to the homeland (Mercury square Pluto conjunct the Moon in the fourth house). Most crucially, Australia’s Midheaven at 24 degrees of Capricorn is the AUKUS Pluto, which, of course, means the country is experiencing a transit of Pluto to its Midheaven. Certainly, Australia is having its troubles with Covid and some might consider banning its citizens from leaving the country to be a tad draconian.

Australia has a natal Venus-Uranus conjunction — a reflection of its diverse culture — which is opposed to Pluto and squared by Mars (the ruler of the chart), so as a nation they defend their borders, come what may, as any non-citizen trying to enter Australia without a pristine set of papers knows to their cost.

It was ten o’clock at night when Boris made his case for AUKUS. And what a difference nine time zones make. Here, Saturn emerges as the key player — conjunct the Midheaven and squaring the Venus-Uranus opposition. Saturn and the Midheaven are the 1066 (Great Britain) Mars, which informs us this alliance means business and it is not only in place to deter any threats from aggressors but it will retaliate in force should there be one.

Gemini rises, and since Mercury therefore rules the chart, the Mercury-Moon-Pluto alignment retains its significance. Pluto is conjunct the Moon in the ninth house of distant horizons placing the focus on foreign shores.

Joe Biden opened the press conference at 17:00 in Washington. At that moment in time, Saturn was rising to the Aquarian Ascendant and the Mercury-Pluto-Moon alignment occupies the twelfth and eight houses respectively. There is certainly stealth and all things deep and dark about these placements, but with Saturn rising, squaring an elevated Venus which is opposed to Uranus, that message delivered so powerfully from the UK perspective is reinforced by the US.

That AUKUS was born on a Sun-Mars conjunction opposing Neptune is a worry. It seems to me the balance of the astrology points to confrontation, but with Neptune there is every chance of mixed messages, lost opportunities and some truly terrible blunders.

The AUKUS announcement came a matter of days before the Libra ingress, and the warlike tone of the times is playing long and loud in this mundane chart. The reverberations from the formation of the pact will continue over the coming days and weeks, which is one reflection of the two difficult T-squares that dominate both the US and UK ingress charts — Moon opposite Mercury squaring an angular Pluto and an angular Venus-Uranus opposition squaring Saturn — however, I think it fair to say both the US and UK leaders and governments will come under attack in this next quarter.

It’s going to be a divisive three months,

I have explored the Libra ingress on my YouTube video (Full moon in Virgo, 20/21 September) focussing more on the court cases and matters related to justice that I believe will be a major story of the next quarter.

Friday Bite 10 September 2021

Remembering 9-11

It is 20 years almost to the day America faced its darkest hour. The attacks on the Twin Towers in Manhattan, the Pentagon and the downing of flight 93 — presumed to be on its way to the Capitol or The White House — are etched in the minds of all those who lived through that day and witnessed its devastation.

Some years ago, I wrote an article about 9-11, which you may find interesting both from its personal angle as well as the astrology of the time. You can view it here.

Born not to be King?

They say there’s no such thing as bad publicity, but I think the royal family would disagree. 2021 has been a bad year for negative news stories about the monarchy, maybe not quite as bad as 1992 — the Queen’s Annus Horribilis — but the Sussex’s interview with Oprah Winfrey, the sexual abuse civil lawsuit citing Prince Andrew and the current cash-for-honours scandal engulfing Prince Charles are enough to make 2021 an Annus Incommodi at the very least.

I had August 31st ringed in red in my diary, since that was the date by which the Duke of York should have responded to his accuser’s attorneys. But that date came and went with no formal response from Prince Andrew or his legal team. Apparently, Virginia Guiffre’s lawyers have been trying to serve the duke with papers for the last several weeks but to no avail. Monday, September 13th is the next date of interest because this is when the first telephone conference in the case is scheduled at a Manhattan Federal Court. For the moment, Andrew is well out of harm’s way, spending some time in the safety and seclusion of Balmoral Castle. Not that his reputation can hide.

According to Amber Melville-Brown, global head of media and reputation at the international law firm Withers, “Reputationally it may already be ‘game over’ for Prince Andrew… [he] may be damned if he does respond to the allegations and defend the complaint, and damned if he doesn’t…Silence in the face of accusations is not necessarily golden… [it shows] improper disrespect for the court system.”

For now, the duke’s chart is in a relatively calm place, but come May 16th 2022 and a total eclipse at 22 degrees Scorpio — an eclipse that connects with the Queen’s, Charles’ and senior members of the royal family’s charts — plus Saturn at 25 Aquarius squaring Andrew’s natal Moon in Scorpio and Her Majesty’s MC-IC axis, and it’s a whole different story. What happens with Andrew will not stay with Andrew.

On Sunday morning (September 5th) Prince Charles woke to calls in the British press for a police investigation into one of his aides, Michael Fawcett, who is alleged to have offered a Saudi tycoon help in getting both a knighthood and British citizenship. (Said tycoon generously donated £1.5 million to the Prince’s charities.)  Fawcett is one of the prince’s most trusted aides, so valued, in fact, that although in 2003 he was accused of selling royal gifts and resigned after an internal report criticised his running of the royal household, he returned to run Charles’s stately home Dumfries House and in 2018 was made chief executive at The Prince’s Foundation.

Fawcett is probably best remembered for being charged with the task of squeezing toothpaste onto the royal toothbrush when Charles was incapacitated by a polo injury.

The prince was reported to the police by former UK minister for Crime Prevention, Norman Baker who explained, “Charles is heir to the throne. Just imagine what would happen if, heaven forbid, the Queen died today. Do you want this guy on the throne?”

The problem with this stain on the prince’s character is that it is difficult for him to maintain ignorance of any such favours being offered on his behalf. Charles’ judgment is clearly in question: either he really does have no knowledge of what is being done in his name, which is at the very least irresponsible, or he’s quite comfortable with the notion of cash-for-honours, and clearly driven by greed, vanity and an overweening sense of entitlement. Maybe it’s a bit of both.

Unfortunately, for Charles, this issue is not going to go away.

The scandal has broken at a time when transiting Saturn is conjunct the prince’s Descendant, progressed Mars is opposing his natal Pluto and the progressed Midheaven is applying to a conjunction with natal Uranus, which in turn is opposing Jupiter. Were it not for a progressed Venus-Jupiter conjunction, life would be unremittingly bleak, and he might even be forced to step aside sooner than later.

While a Saturn transit to your Descendant could indicate a difficult period for a marriage or some problems related to a partner, in Charles’ case, he is “married” — or at least engaged — to the British people and therefore this relationship is in trouble. Progressed Mercury has also just turned retrograde, which might indicate the beginning of some kind of decline, whether in popularity or otherwise, and transiting Saturn is squaring his natal Mercury. All of which combines to paint a portrait of a prince who is feeling the burden of his responsibilities, especially in regard to the future of the monarchy and his own role in that future.

It took almost two decades for Charles to repair the damage to his image wreaked by the separation and divorce from Diana, and a large part of the country continues to believe he should not be king. In the current climate, no leading figure, let alone a prince of the realm, can afford to have the slightest stain on his character.

There are calls for Charles to make a statement, but like the younger brother he is none too fond of, he probably feels less is more when it comes to explanations.

When Charles was born, more than one leading astrologer of the time expressed concern that his horoscope lacked kingship:

“Top astrologers of the time then said his horoscope belied his royal position: his Scorpio sun sign with a Leo Ascendant and the Moon in Taurus told of a man who mixed passion with arrogance, a strong will with gentleness… his chart did not show an eventual crowning” . View the article here.

“This is clearly rather a favourable horoscope, though whether it is of a royal character is possibly more open to question, since Jupiter is virtually cadent, no less than six bodies being in the obscure N.W. quadrant… If the native should ascend to the throne it would probably be a happy event for the country. But his Sun is closely opposed to the 1066 Neptune!”

This is the esteemed Charles Carter writing in 1951 in his book An Introduction to Political Astrology.

That Carter considered the horoscope to be “rather favourable” is due to a Grand Trine involving the elevated Moon in Taurus trine Jupiter and Saturn. “The obscure N.W. quadrant” refers to the area containing the fourth, fifth and sixth houses, which are more subjective and reactive. But it is his final comment about Charles’s Sun being opposed to the 1066 Neptune that is most intriguing.

“In astrological terms, he was predicting the throne could be lost before Charles was crowned or that he himself would sacrifice it. The Association of Professional Astrologers applied self-censorship and refused to give away the secrets of his charts until recent years.”

The above quote comes from The Free Library and although well referenced, I’m not sure the APA could have refused to give away Carter’s “secrets” since I have a copy of the book in which he made his predictions, which was certainly on sale from 1951 onwards.

In the above chart, Neptune is to be found in the first house at 22 degrees of Taurus. It is part of a Grand Trine involving Mercury in Capricorn and Saturn in Virgo, and since Saturn is conjunct Jupiter, Jupiter can also be said to be part of the configuration. Combined with the Capricorn Sun and the Aries Ascendant, this is a large part of the reason why Britain is Great – a combination of spirit, strength, power and fortitude.

But I digress…

My reason for believing Charles’s chances of acceding to the throne are not as strong as they might be also revolve around Neptune, not the 1066 Neptune but Neptune in his natal chart, which at 14 degrees of Libra is conjunct his IC, and therefore opposing his MC.

In 1987 I included a portrait of Prince Charles in my book Romancing The Stars. I received much media attention over my opinion that Charles may never be king. I cited Neptune’s position conjunct the IC — a position he shares with Edward VIII who abdicated the throne in 1936. Neptune is synonymous with loss, erosion, sacrifice, perfidy and betrayal, and to have this planet up close and personal to the life-direction axis suggests these powerful themes will play a huge part in his destiny and that of the British monarchy, as indeed they did with Edward.

So, here we are in 2021 — the royal Annus Incommodi — and the future King of England is embroiled in a sorry tale of cash-for-honours. And it may turn out to be the beginning of a series of financial scandals that will jeopardise his future as a monarch.

I cannot be sure about this, but it is possible the reason William and Kate have been sent to the front line, so to speak — and I wrote several pieces about this in 2018 and 2019 when a series of eclipses on William’s and Kate’s charts suggested a change in their royal status — is to ensure that whatever comes or goes once Her Majesty is no longer at the helm, the monarchy will continue.

The next four years are going to see many, many changes in the royal family’s fortunes, but 2024/2025 contain some of the most concerning and transformational alignments. At the moment, Neptune is around 21 degrees of Pisces, squaring Charles’ Mars — the ruler of his Midheaven — but from 2024 to 2025 Neptune will be square his natal Jupiter and opposed to natal Uranus. Not only Neptune and his trident-full of loss and sacrifice, scandal and intrigue, but also revolutionary Uranus will be hovering around 22 degrees of Taurus thus opposing Charles’ Sun and conjoining the 1066 Neptune.

And there is more. In 2024 and 2025, Saturn will also be in Pisces, following in Neptune’s wake and applying to a conjunction with Neptune. You may be interested to know the Saturn-Neptune cycle has much to do with monarchical crises, indeed, Saturn in Pisces was opposed to Neptune at the time of Edward VIII’s abdication.

The death of King George V in January 1936 put Edward VIII on the throne, yet on December 10th of the same year Edward abdicated. Indeed, the Saturn-Neptune cycle appears to play a vital part in the changing face of the British monarchy: Queen Victoria died in January 1901, a matter of months after the third and final Saturn-Neptune opposition in Sagittarius (Saturn) and Gemini (Neptune). The present Queen of England, Elizabeth II, ascended the throne in 1952 after the death of her father, George VI, earlier in the year: on this occasion Saturn and Neptune were in conjunction in Libra. Saturn – Neptune Opposition Article

Last but not least, in 2024/2025, Pluto will be in the first degree of Aquarius, squaring Charles’ Moon, and Her Majesty’s Sun. However, we should remember these are periods when the transits are exact and they will be active in 2023, and potentially just as destabilising.

Any one of these transits would pose a threat to the stability of the throne, but altogether, we are looking at a crisis similar to that of the abdication in 1936.

There is a way to avert what is looking distinctly like a moment of terrible truth for Charles and the monarchy, and that is he, like Andrew, must be seen to account for his mistakes and failings. Yes, this might cause the throne to wobble on its plinth, but at this point in time it won’t fall off. But if scandal is to follow scandal over the next eighteen months to two years, the prospects for King Charles III will be looking ever more remote.