Friday 1 August 2020

The astrology did not disappoint. This past week, a Mercury-Uranus square and a Mars-Pluto square held the promise of confrontation and controversy, breakthrough and transformation. And that’s precisely what we got.

Confrontation: Tensions between Greece and Turkey rose to proverbial boiling point in a long-running dispute over gas reserves in the Eastern Mediterranean. Greece argued a Turkish survey ship that left Antalya mid-week was encroaching on its continental shelf; Turkey maintained the area in question borders Turkey and therefore cannot be on anyone else’s continental shelf. The two countries have come to the brink of war several times over this same issue in the past, and it now depends on Angela Merkel and the EU to pour oil on troubled waters.

Controversy: On Tuesday, Joe Biden announced his running mate – Kamala Harris, a prominent Democrat and former attorney general of California. During the primaries, she ran for Democratic candidate, but quickly ran out of steam, in part over her inability to reconcile her prosecutorial record with her support for criminal justice reform. Criticized by some for her overweening ambition and abrasive manner, held in high regard by others and seen as “the great black hope” of the party.

Breakthrough and Transformation: On Thursday, 13th, as Mars and Pluto formed a 90-degree angle, Israel and the United Arab Emirates agreed to establish full diplomatic relations. The Abraham Accords, brokered by President Trump and months of “intense backroom diplomacy” on the part of UAE and Israel, will encourage tourism and trade between the nations and help provide a united front against Iran. The agreement included a suspension of Israel’s plans to annexe parts of the Palestinian territories, which somehow appeared not to be the case later in the day, according to Benjamin Netanyahu.

Needless to say, Palestine feels “stabbed in the back” while for Iran the deal is a “nightmare”.

Trouble ahead.

I may not have included the word bonkers in my list of nouns for the week, but on Wednesday, it was announced Britain had entered its deepest recession since records began – and that includes the 2010 – 2014 Great Recession and the 1930s Great Depression. In response, the Footsie rose an astonishing 2%. Across the Pond, the US stock market continued its upward trajectory as investors bet on a fresh round of government spending to lift the economy and counter the effects of the pandemic.

Have we gone through the mirror into a Looking Glass world, I ask myself? Do the markets have anything whatsoever to do with the real state of the economy. Apparently not. But let us not forget that what goes up and up eventually comes crashing down. And there will be a reckoning, I promise. Set your sights on 2022-23.

So, what does the astrology tells us about Kamala Harris. Born on the 20th October at 9:28 in the evening in Oakland, California, Ms Harris is a Sun Libra with the Moon in Aries and Gemini rising. Mercury, the ruler of the chart, is in Scorpio, and trine the Mid-heaven and the Ascendant producing a communication gift of a Grand Trine. With the Sun in people-pleasing Libra and the Moon in frank and fearless Aries, she has the capacity to unite and divide. She is a fierce fighter and a tough negotiator.

There is a belief that were Joe Biden to be elected president, he might only complete one term, leaving the door open for Kamala Harris in 2024. In this way, she would be en route to becoming the first female president of the United States and the second black commander-in-chief.

Harris has already served the nation in her capacity as a Californian senator and attorney-general, so we cannot make as much mileage as we might like over her angular Saturn being conjunct the United States’ Moon in Aquarius, but it is certainly a strong indication of leadership. And regardless as to whether or not she becomes Vice-President, she has just taken a mighty step towards a future presidency.

With a north node in Gemini, she is experiencing her nodal return in 2020-2021, so this is going to be one of four or five periods of her life during which events shape her destiny. The north node is in the first house, rising to the Ascendant, placing the emphasis in this lifetime on developing assertiveness, independence, leadership and courage.  

This is how I explain the role of the north node in the first house in my Building Blocks course:

Your destiny may lie in the armed forces, in occupations and situations that involve speed and danger. You may have to fight for others, you may even have to fight for your life and you could witness events that are controversial and bloody. With your south node in Libra or the seventh house, in the distant past, you have used the power of diplomacy and conciliation to resolve conflict; now you must learn to stand up in the face of opposition, and you will meet situations in which there can be no compromise.

Other key connections to the US (Sibly) chart include her Sun in–square to the US Pluto and her Ascendant-descendant axis a mirror image of the US Ascendant-descendant axis. Her Ascendant and north node are conjunct the US Mars. These connections become even more interesting when you bear in mind the US will experience its first Pluto return in 2022 (thus squaring her radical Sun) while Jupiter, planet of growth, increase and prominence, transits her 10^th house of career and life-goals.

You may also be intrigued to know she shares some astrological planets and points with Donald Trump. He too was born on a full moon – and we have all seen his capacity to both unite and divide – and he also has his north node in Gemini, and is therefore in a destiny-shaping period of his life. Plus his Sun-Moon opposition flanks her Ascendant-descendant axis. And while Trump has Mars in Leo rising, Harris has Mars in Leo nudging the IC. Trump’s Descendant is Harris’s Saturn, and since 28 degrees of Aquarius is the US moon, both of them have a role to play with the American people – Harris’s clearly a more restrictive and repressive role, which her tenure as attorney general has already demonstrated.

I’m going to leave you with the chart of the Abraham Accords, which offers some hope that the agreement will serve its purpose – the Moon in Gemini conjunct the Descendant is loosely on the mid-point of the Sun and Mercury in Leo and Mars in Aries, albeit in tight square to Pluto. And I’m also including the chart of Israel, which was formed on the Saturn-Pluto conjunction of 1948, so that in 2020 – another Saturn-Pluto year – it is reinventing itself to some degree and responding to echoes of its tumultuous past.

Still not quite leaving… I have had a couple of followers email me with comments about the biblical significance of the Abraham Accords, specifically Thessalonians 5:3:

For when they shall say Peace and safety; then sudden destruction cometh upon them as travail [labour] upon a woman with child…