Astrology, Prediction and Comment

As we move into a new week, some of us may be asking whether things can get any worse.  Last week’s Virgo Full Moon was pretty bad, and it was the moment that the coronavirus trully hit home.  This week there aren’t any New or Full Moons, which might come as a relief.  This means that we now have all the pieces of the jigsaw, and between now and the New Moon on March 24 we’ll be putting them together.

Talking about the Full Moon, it clearly had a big effect on the collective, and it didn’t matter what your chart was like.  This is reflective of a mature approach to astrology, which goes beyond the individual.  We can see ourselves as being part of humanity – indeed as part of the creation – and the categories that astrology likes to create are largely irrelevant.  However, there is no doubt that some people were affected by the Full Moon more than others.  From a sun sign perspective, it probably affected Virgoans and Pisceans more than other signs.  There are then individual horoscopes to consider.  The Full Moon was directly on Tom Hanks’ Ascendant-Descendant line, and as I suggested in this blog, any astrologer worth their salt, if asked to look at the chart beforehand, would have predicted that he was in danger of getting coronavirus.  Certainly if I had been advising him, I would have told him not to go travelling, even without the benefit of 20-20 hindsight.  I know, anyone would given the same advice, even without astrology, but indulge me this once.

One fairly important event this week is Mercury moving from Aquarius to Pisces.  Mercury is gathering speed, but it is now in Pisces, the sign of its detriment.  I would see this in terms of chaos and stupidity, and people following the crowd without thinking.  Another thing we might want to do is say good bye to Saturn in Capricorn.  It is on the verge of moving into Aquarius.  Saturn in Capricorn is the passive side of repression, Saturn in Aquarius the active side.  I’ll explain what I mean in a later post.

We also have a build up of a conjunction aspect between Mars and Jupiter, which is exact on Friday March 20.  Charles Carter regarded Mars-Jupiter aspects as the worst in the book.  That might sound surprising, because Jupiter is traditionally a fortunate planet.  One might think in terms of fortunate activity, for example.  However Jupiter is the great exaggerator, and when it is in Capricorn the exaggeration may be malefic.  Mars is the planet of aggression, strong in the sign of its exaltation, so we might get an explosive event.

If you’re interested, the last time there was a Mars-Jupiter conjunction in Capricorn was on October 14 1984.  Two days before the conjunction, on October 12, there was an assassination attempt on British Prime Minister Margaret Thatcher, when a bomb was placed in the Grand Hotel, in Brighton, UK (see picture).  On the basis of this, the authorities across the world would be advised to be on their guard more than usual against terrorist attacks and assassination attempts.

The world has been hit by a pandemic, in the form of coronavirus.  All of us are affected, but not all of use will respond in the same way.  We’ll be influenced by a host of internal and external factors, and one thing that can’t be avoided is our star sign.  If you’re a Scorpio, for example, you’ll have Scorpionic strategies for dealing with problem, and by understanding the strengths and weaknesses of your star sign you’ll have a good chance of weathering the storm.

I mention Scorpio because that’s my brother’s star sign.  It is a defensive sign, which understands that death can always be round the next corner.  I was a bit worried about him.  He’s self-employed, and I assumed that he would be in a bad way, with the crisis destroying his business.  Actually, he was on great form.  He had made some money shorting the stock market, and he had just ordered a generator and an oxygen concentrator.  He reasoned that when coronavirus hits peak, the hospitals are going to be full, and if he got pneumonia, the oxygen concentrator would buy him a few extra days.  Naturally, he wasn’t leaving the house, and all his future purchases are going to be online.

So what I am now going to do is go through the twelve signs of the Zodiac.  For each sign I will have four sections: general reaction, do this, don’t do that and a list of celebrities who have coronavirus.  The lists are a bit short at the moment, but I expect to add to them very soon.  I understand that what I write is a massive generalization, but I haven’t got your horoscope, only your star sign.

Aries

General reaction: You’re an Aries and you want to deal with the coronavirus by taking action.  And you’re not going to allow the virus to get in the way of your basic freedoms.

Do this: Be a leader.  Inspire those around you to protect themselves from the disease.  You can this this through internet discussions, not face-to-face meetings.  And if anyone is being careless or irresponsible, given them a blast of your anger.

Don’t do that: Don’t allow yourself to get frustrated, and don’t get angry if more sensible voices tell you to slow down.  And whatever you do, don’t think that you’re above the coronavirus.  In fact rash actions, typical of your star sign, could get you infected.

Famous Ariens with coronavirus: Mikel Arteta (head coach of Arsenal FC).

Taurus

General reaction: You’re a Taurus and you have a down to earth approach to living and dying.  Diseases happen and they’re part of the human condition – but you won’t let them get in the way of the earthy pleasures.

Do this: Work out a plan and stick with it.  Your stubbornness might be annoying to friends, family and workmates, but you know what you are doing.  When you’re close to plants and greenery you can forget about the virus and relax.

Don’t do that: Don’t touch!  For many Taureans, tactile contact is important, and is something that happens without thinking.  You may even think that physical touch is more important than physical safety. Get your priorities right.

Famous Taureans with coronavirus: Sophie Trudeau (wife of the Canadian Prime Minister).

Gemini

General reaction: Many Geminis find it difficult to take things seriously.  Coronavirus?  Something interesting, which provides facts, figures and gossip.  Indeed by talking about the coronavirus Geminis may be trivializing it.  Famous Geminis include U.S. President and declared germaphone Donald Trump.

Do this: Go and find out as much as you can about coronavirus.  Sift through the facts and explain your discoveries.  Also, be objective, and consider alternative points of view.

Don’t do that: Don’t talk too much, because at a certain stage you might become annoying.  Or you might trash the stock market, if you’re Donald Trump.  And don’t fidget – in particular don’t touch your face when you’re in public places.  In fact, you shouldn’t be in public places.  And don’t trivialize things, for example by writing coronvirus horoscopes for the twelve star signs.

Famous Geminis with coronavirus: Andy Cohen (US talk show host), Boris Johnson (British Prime Minister).

Cancer

General reaction: The coronavirus makes you think about yourself and your vital interests.  You understand which people matter and which people are just optional extras.  The protection of home and family comes first.

Do this: Cancer is a nurturing sign, and while the crisis continues you’ll look after your loved ones.  It is also a great time to show sympathy and emotional generosity.  You may not be able to hug, but you can keep everyone close through digital technology.

Don’t do that: Most Cancerians have a touch of paranoia, and when the world is falling apart you might feel that it’s time for extreme measures.  Barricades, canned food and perhaps even a gun or two.  However don’t be more suspicious than you have to be.

Famous Cancerians with coronavirus: Tom Hanks (actor), Rudy Gobert (NBA basketball player).

Leo

General reaction: You like to be the centre of attention, and if you’re not in a position of leadership you might regard the crisis as being bad for your ego.  Yet many Leos have a sense of the dramatic, and you may enjoy the drama of being in the middle of a zombie apocalypse.

Do this: It is a time when you can keep everyone’s spirits up. Be an example, and tell everyone that they can handle the situation.  If you’re stuck at home with your family, you can be not just a leader, but also an inspiration.

Don’t do that: Don’t go out of your way to seek praise, don’t be the hero who is out volunteering for the sake of volunteering.  And don’t get upset if everyone ignores you.  And if you do get coronavirus, remember that you’re not the only person in the world who has got it.

Famous Leos with coronavirus: Daniele Rugani (Juventus soccer player), Evangelos Marinakis (Greek businessman, owner of the Olympiakos and Nottingham Forest soccer teams), Daniel Dae Kim (actor).

Virgo

General reaction: You may feel that your time has arrived.  After all, 70% of Virgos are obsessed with cleanliness and hygiene.  You want to be well prepared, like the five wise virgins in the parable.  But remember – there were also five foolish virgins.

Do this: Your job is to take care of things, and make sure that all the details are looked after.  Other people might try to help, but they’re just not on your level.  You might also want to hand out detailed plans, so that everyone can stay safe.

Don’t do that: Don’t get obsessed about the disease.  And remember, we’ve all got to die some time.  Also, a large minority of Virgos are hypocrites.  They’ll give lots of advice, and then not follow it.  Like taking off your face mask to kiss your best friend who has just arrived back from decontamination duty at the local quarantine centre.

Famous Virgos with coronavirus: Massoumeh Ebtekar (Iranian Vice President), Idris Elba (actor), Linda Lusardi (UK TV presenter and former model).

Libra

General reaction: If you’re typical of your sign, you’ll regard the coronavirus as a disaster.  You like mixing with people, and social isolation just doesn’t suit you.  Yet if you’re a devious Libran, as a few are, you might see the crisis as a way to take advantage of other people’s weaknesses.

Do this: You’re the link, the person everyone knows.  Reach out to the world through email and social media, and create some online bonhomie.  And if resources become scarce your intrinsic fairness will shine through.

Don’t do that: Don’t be tempted to break the rules.  You might think that you can visit a friend, or go on a quick holiday to the Caribbean, but the price could be the virus.  And don’t allow yourself to be talked into taking risks.

Famous Librans with coronavirus: Luis Sepúlveda (Chilean writer), Francis Suarez (mayor of Miami), Li Wenliang (Chinese doctor who gave first warning about the coronavirus), Nicola Zingaretti (Italian politician), Mario Diaz-Balart (US congressman), Matt Hancock (British health minister).

Scorpio

General reaction: Actually, you’re not particularly surprised.  You know that bad things happen, that pestilence and famine are part of the human condition.  You take the situation seriously, but with a grim smile.

Do this: Enjoy the intensity of the experience.  There’s lots of emotion flying around, and it makes you feel alive.  In terms of other people, you can demonstrate your psychotherapeutic skills, and help heal the surrounding chaos and paranoia.

Don’t do that: Don’t get into death mode.  In other words thinking we’re all doomed, and that there is nothing we can do to prevent the unwinding collapse.  Coronavirus is bad, but it’s not the Black Death.

Famous Scorpios with coronavirus: Rita Wilson (singer, wife of Tom Hanks), Peter Dutton (Australian home affairs minister), Olga Kurylenko (actress), Rachel Matthews (actress), Pere Aragonès (Catalonian politician), Prince Charles (heir to the British throne).

Sagittarius

General reaction: Sagittarians are reacting in many different ways.  Some are feeling depressed about the situation, because their essential freedom is being blocked.  Others are excited by the global extent of the crisis.  But you have clear ideas about the best way of dealing with the situation.

Do this: Make people laugh!  Sagittarians are the comedians of the Zodiac, and there is no harm in seeing the funny side of the virus.  But on a serious note, use your intuition.  Deep down you know what it’s all about and where it is leading.  Your intuitive knowledge gives you power.

Don’t do that: Don’t travel, don’t go to parties.  That seems obvious, but Sagittarians like to keep moving, and that could be dangerous.  And be careful what you say – if honesty gets taken too far it becomes explosive.

Famous Sagittarians with coronavirus: Kristofer Hivju (actor), Ben McAdams (US congressman).

Capricorn

General reaction: You take coronavirus seriously, and you’re taking quiet action to protect yourself and your loved ones.  You’re also annoyed at other people’s incompetence.  Things could have been a whole lot better if they had been properly organized.  If only the US President was a fellow Capricorn… even if that Capricorn was Richard Nixon.

Do this: You know that the buck stops with you.  It is up to you to make sure that everything runs smoothly, though you mustn’t be afraid of delegating responsibility.

Don’t do that: Don’t exhaust yourself.  You’re living in troubling times, but you can’t be responsible for everything.  So don’t get up too early, and don’t work harder than you have to.  Right now you need to be healthy, and your immune system needs to be as strong as possible.

Famous Capricorns with coronavirus: Franck Riester (French culture minister), Quim Torra (Catalonian politician), Karl von Habsburg (Austrian politician and head of the House of Habsburg), Michel Barnier (European politician and negotiator), Fiona Phillips (British TV presenter), Rand Paul (US senator).

Aquarius

General reaction: You’re not the same as other people.  You’re different, and you’re approach is absolutely unique.  This means that your reaction demonstrates your core individuality.  However, it is at times like this that you value modern technology.

Do this: It is true that you have to listen to generally accepted advice about the coronavirus, but that doesn’t mean you have to be a clone.  Be inventive, and work out novel solutions for dealing with the problem.  Let disease be the mother of invention.

Don’t do that: Your individuality can be taken too far.  You are a human being, with the same frailties as other people, and if you break the rules you could become sick.  Also, don’t let the coronavirus catapult you into over-the-top weirdness.

Famous Aquarians with coronavirus: Michał Woś (Polish environment minister), Placido Domingo (opera singer).

Pisces

General reaction: You go with the flow.  You can feel what is going on around you, and you’ll respond accordingly.  In some ways that makes life easier, because you don’t have to make too many decisions.  But don’t be afraid of asking questions.

Do this: Pisces is a sign that is sympathetic and emotionally aware.  You understand people’s worries, and you’re just the person to listen to their problems.  Also, it is a good time to explore your artistic talents. Coronavirus can be a drag, but it can also be your muse.

Don’t do that: Don’t just follow the crowd!  The panic of the crowd could so easily be your panic, and you need to step back and do some critical thinking.  On a different note, don’t be a martyr – in a social setting, a good but stupid deed could turn you into another statistic.

Famous Pisceans with coronavirus: Prince Albert of Monaco (monarch), Harvey Weinstein (movie producer).

While I have got your attention, I am considering offering a free online astrology course.  Now might be a good time to offer a free course – coronavirus means that people have more free time, but also less money.  I have been practicing astrology since 1987, and am familiar with most areas of astrology.  If you are interested, and you are prepared to commit to something like a five-week course, please email me at consultarchie at gmail.com.  Tell me what kind of things you want to learn about.  For example, do you want a beginners’ course?  

The big news this evening is that Tom Hanks has just announced that he and his wife have tested positive for coronavirus, while visiting Australia.  Obviously I wish them a speedy recovery.  However, the astrology of the situation is very obvious, and any astrologer advising him, however new to the game, would have told him to be careful.

Tom Hanks was born on July 9 1956, at 11.17 am, in Condord, California.  Here is his horoscope, with his natal chart on the inner wheel, and the March 9 2020 Full Moon on the outer wheel:

You can see that Tom Hanks has his Ascendant at 21 degrees 46 minutes Virgo, and his Mars at 17 degrees 20 minutes Pisces.  Mars on the Descendant is a major signature, and it not something that any astologer, however inexperienced, would miss.  One would also say, under these  circumstances, that the Mars-Descendant midpoint, at 19 degrees 33 minutes Pisces, is a very sensitive point.  The Full Moon on March 9 was, by definition, an opposition between the Sun at 19 37 Pisces and the Moon at 19 37 Virgo.  This Full Moon was conjunct Neptune, the planet of hidden diseases, at 18 26 Pisces.

So the Full Moon conjunct Neptune smashed into the most sensitive point in Tom Hanks’ horoscope.  I think, in the current climate, that most astrologers looking at his horoscope would have told him that he was in grave danger of getting coronavirus, and would have warned him against foreign travel.  Unfortunately, astrology isn’t always that easy!

If you’re interested in midpoints and cosmobiology, here is what Witte and Lefeldt said about Neptune on the Mars-Ascendant midpoint: “Thoughtless deeds of others.  Deceipt and disappointment through the deeds of others.  Danger of infection.  Danger of destruction”. And Reinhold Ebertin, in The Combination of Stellar Inflences, wrote about it as follows: “Disharmonious working together, illness caused throught others”.

Today, March 11, the World Health Organization declared Covid-19/coronavirus a pandemic.  The declaration was made in Geneva, Switzerland, and the time of the Tweet was 9:26:53 Pacific time, 16:26:53 UK time, 17:26:53 Geneva time.  One can argue on the precise timing, and perhaps discuss the press conference when it was announced, but in the digital age Tweets can be of symbolic importance.  So at least from a Twitter perspective, 17:26:53 was the moment that Covid-19 stepped in the limelight, elevated to the status of pandemic.  This is the chart, set for Geneva, with Witte’s hypothetical planets included:

The chart isn’t earth-shatting, but there are useful observations to be made.  Virgo is rising – it is a health conscious sign, which befits an announcement from WHO.  We also have the Sun and Neptune in the Seventh House of open enemies.  Neptune is the virus, is the enemy.  Virgo wants to create order, but Neptune in Pisces undermines it at every turn.  We also notice that Mercury, ruler of the Ascendant and Midheaven, is in the Sixth House of health. The disease it signified by the ruler of the Sixth, which is Saturn.  Saturn is about to change signs, from Capricorn to Aquarius.  This suggests that the coronavirus is about to change, at least in terms of public perception.  In Capricorn, a cardinal sign, it is an acute problem.  In Aquarius, a fixed sign, it is a chronic problem.  So perhaps we shouldn’t see the coronavirus as something that will be instantly be cured and resolved.  Instead, we’ll get used to it, and find ways of managing and mitigating the problem.

Turning to the hypothetical planets, Admetos is the most elevated planet in the chart – in other words the planet closes to the Midheaven.  In Greek legend, Admetos is the king who wants to postpone his death, even if that means younger people dying in his place.  One gets the image of old men hanging on to power, and refusing to take the proper steps to deal with the situation – because they are afraid of losing political power.  Also, Saturn and Admetos are in trine aspect, with zero degrees Aries on the midpoint.  This gives us the midpoint AR = SA/AD.  Witte and Lefeldt wrote of this combination “General shrinkage, hindrance and lack”.  This combinations tells us about what is going on in the world.  We’re moving into recession.