Astrology, Prediction and Comment

Not a great week.  It will be difficult to relax, and there won’t be much scope for having fun.  I suppose part of the problem is last week’s New Moon.  It’s an unsettling influence, which sends a cold wind through our plans and aspirations.  Yet those of us who are ready to break off from the pack, and not be side-tracked by maudlin sentimentality, can quietly benefit.

There is nonetheless some interplay between Venus, Mars and Uranus.  Venus in Pisces makes a square aspect to Mars in Sagittarius, and Uranus makes 45-series aspects to both.  Put another way, Uranus is square the Venus-Mars midpoint.  This can be associated with sudden attractions – they arrive quickly, and leave just as fast.  So if you fall in love with someone this week, consider the possibility that it is just a phase.  And it works both ways – you may be flavour of the day or the week, not the month.

If you’re interested in your particular sign, here are my star sign forecasts for the week starting on Monday January 27 2019:

Aries It is time for the Rams to develop a new friendship.  It’s not about passion, but about shared interests.  You might also consider joining a political party.  Your love life has moments or excitement, but just because you’re attracted to someone doesn’t mean that you’re compatible with them.

Taurus You expect everything to go your way.  However Venus makes a stressful aspect to Mars, and gets buffeted by Uranus.  There are real complications, not helped by a difference of opinion.  Yet in your career you can start a new chapter – but to begin with keep quiet about it.

Gemini Looks are subjective, and however hard you try you can’t please everyone.  So if you’re interested in clothes, fashion or style you can’t please everyone.  Instead you have to choose your audience and refuse to apologize.  One dream launches a thousand possibilities.

Cancer You don’t want to check the small-print.  Maybe it’s out of laziness, maybe you’re afraid about what you might find out.  However the sooner you’re honest with yourself the better.  You can embark on a new financial journey, which in the long run can boost your security.

Leo It’s OK to be assertive, especially in your working environment.  By exercising your power you’ll gain new supporters, and you’ll also be able to break free from some of the restrictions from the past.  One particular relationship can move from one stage to the next.

Virgo When you want to be, you can be a bucket of cold water.  Squelching other people’s plans and aspirations, forcing cold reality onto the uninformed and the overoptimistic.  However, this week you need to back off.  Let other people express themselves.

Libra You can’t  be friends with everyone, and with Venus aspecting Mars there could be a clash of personalities.  But it’s a clash you can win, provided you are not tempted to be someone you’re not.  Elsewhere do something new – for the fun of it.  You never know where it might lead you.

Scorpio Mars, your rules, aspects Uranus. You’re not in full control, and you might be confounded by a surprise turn of events. It is easy to be stubborn, and to refuse to adjust your plans. However the current situation requires flexibility – particularly in terms of money.

Sagittarius You’re buzzing, in that sparkling, Sagittarian kind of way. But action can have unintended consequences, and if you give in to your impulses you could end up being a hostage to fortune. Family members are feeling delicate, and it is important that you don’t upset their finely tuned equilibrium.

Capricorn The average Capricorn is giving serous consideration to money.  However sensible you have been in the past, you know things could be better.  And there may be a way to boost your income, that requires an independent-minded approach.  But don’t take risks!

Aquarius As you birthday month unfolds, you become aware of the possibilities – but also the limitations.  There are some things you don’t want to do, and that’s fine.  Don’t ap0logize for being unfriendly – later on there’ll be time for warmth.  Friends cost money.

Pisces It could be a good week, provided you get your priorities right.  Mars is moving through the career house of your solar chart, where it is aspected by Venus in Pisces.  Be ambitious, and don’t be shy about your ambitions.  Just because people are rude doesn’t mean that they can’t be useful.

The Chinese New Year starts on the first New Moon in the sign of Aquarius.  In other words, we’re talking about the New Moon at 9.24 pm GMT on January 24 2020.

This New Moon is at 4 degrees 22 minutes Aquarius, and it therefore gives us hints about the future.  I say this because the Jupiter-Saturn conjunction in December 2020 is also in early Aquarius.  If we look carefully at the events of early February, we might get a clue about what the world is going to be like in the 2020s and 2030s.  It’s a sneak preview, if you like.  But in a negative sense, we’ll start to realize that many of the things we have taken for granted since the year 2000 are now coming to an end.  For example, if you’re in the UK the New Moon is the herald of Brexit.  The misplaced optimism and globalism of the metropolitan elites is coming to an end.  Indeed,  I would see this New Moon, and the Jupiter-Saturn conjunction, as being the new age concept of Aquarius flipped on its head.  It’s about anti-ideallism, with the fusing of technology and realism.

Matters aren’t helped by the fact that the New Moon is making an 135 degree aspect to the Hades-Admetos midpoint.  Hades is about death and stagnation, while Admetos is the planet of delay.  Alfred Witte sees this combination as being about material neediness.  We don’t have the resources we need, and we feel miserable about it.  Also, the New Moon on the Hades-Admetos midpoint reminds us that the world’s lastest challenge is the corona virus, which has hit South West China and is in danger of spreading.  He wrote “Diseased, oppressed frame of mind”.

Less controversially, the New Moon is square Uranus.  This has the potential for creating shock events, particular in parts of the world where both are angular.  If there is any part of the world that is most vulnerable to this aspect, it is the Red Sea, and countries close to it, such as Israel, Egypt, Syria, Sudan, Saudi Arabia and Eritrea.  The chart at the top of this post is the New Moon set for Damascus, Syria.

However, the New Moon isn’t all bad.  Apollon is square the Sun-Moon midpoint.  Apollon is the planet of creativity and success, and many of us can revel in our achievements.  So in spite of the prevailing pessimism, those of us who have done something genuinely special can start celebrating. Some might regard our celebrations as out of place, but that probably can’t be helped.  I should also say that it is a good time for astrolgers.

Note: Hades, Admetos and Apollon are hypothetical planets, used by the Hamburg School.  They have slow moving orbits.  In the New Moon chart Hades is at 8 21 Cancer retrograde, Admetos at 0 44 Gemini retrograde and Apollon at 3 51 Scorpio.

Amercian astrologers are better at predicting Democrat victories than Republican ones.  And for many astrologers, Trump’s victory in 2016 was . traumatic.  Not only did they predict that he would lose, but they also supported the other candidate.  This is not surprising, because astrologers in the West tend to be liberal, and their view of the world will inevitably bias their predictions.  So if you’re an astrologer, there is a good chance that you believe in some or all of the following:

Manmade climate change
A woman’s right to choose.
Gun control.
Treat people well and they’ll treat you well in return.
Humanity is evolving in a positive way.
Western countries spend too much on defence.
The government should play an active role in society and the economy.
The abolition of the death penalty.
The value of international organizations, like the Europe Union and the United Nations.
Violent criminals can be rehabilitated.
Marijuana should be legalized.
Progressive taxation.
Relatively relaxed immigration policies.

You get what I mean.  There is a cluster of beliefs that tend to characterize liberals, and Western astrologers tend to share these beliefs.  However, I don’t think it has always been the case.  In the 1980s many Reagan Democrats were sympathetic to astrology, and the First Lady, Nancy Reagan, got astrological advice from Joan Quigley.  This advice may well have contributed to Ronald Reagan’s political success – he wasn’t called the Teflon President for nothing.

Possibly the main reason why astrologers parted company with the political right was religion.  In the United States of the 1980s evangelical Christians had an increasing influence over the Republican Party.  Astrology was another demonic new age practice, which could only lead to one place, and that was hell.  This position has a degree of logic.  The only way of entering the Kingdom of Heaven is through Jesus Christ, and if you look for spiritual enlightenment through other means you’re doomed.  In terms of Protestant dogma, you cannot get to heaven through your own efforts, you can only get there through the Grace of God.  Using astrology as a tool of personal and spiritual development is therefore at odds with evangelical Christianity, particularly if you use astrology to predict the future.  After all, the only person who knows what is going to happen next is God.

Move forward into the 2010s and 2020s, and astrology is part of the rainbow coalition.  It allows us to be whoever we like, and at the same time it can give us meaning in a post-religious era.  Astrology doesn’t define us, instead we define the astrology that makes us feel comfortable.  So it becomes part of the tool kit, along with yoga, reiki, crystals and blah, blah, blah.   We can use it to expand our consciousness, and to transcend the divisions that Trump and the Republicans try to impose upon us.

Yet I would contend that to be an astrologer is to be a conservative.  This is because astrology defines not only who we are, but also who we are not.  If we believe in God, then the horoscope represents the hand we have been dealt.  It shows the gifts and challenges that God has given us, and if we step outside the horoscope, and try to be someone else, we will never fulfill our potential.  This is particularly the case if we regard astrology as a system that is handed down from generation to generation, with rules that were formulated over several milennia.  If you have Venus in Scorpio retrograde conjunct the Sun and Saturn, your Venus is badly placed, and nothing can change that.  The role of the astrologer isn’t to make the afflicted Venus go away, but instead to work out the best way of dealing with it.  For example, by avoiding, mitigating or transforming the bad situations that this configuration will attract.

Outside contemporary Western astrology, we can see the fundamental conservatism of the profession.  The country with the most professional astrologers has got to be India, and you can’t really understand Indian astrology without reference to the Hindu religion.  Indian astrology reinforces Hinduism, and indeed can support its social structures.  Hindu priests are often astrologers, and astrology can be used to select marriage partners.  This might seem disturbing to the modern Western mind, but if you believe that astrology works, it’s logical.

Yet one thing that modern Western astrologers share with their Indian colleagues is a belief in reincarnation.  I say this because every astrologer I have ever met believes in Karma and past lives.  In other words, astrologers can’t be Christians, right?  And they certainly can’t be Muslims.  Yet if you go back 1000 years, there were some great Arab astrologers.  The greatest was probably Al-Biruni, who lived in Afghanistan in the 11th Century AD.  I think there can be little doubt that Al-Biruni had a conservative disposition.  From his writings it would appear that he was a devout Muslim, who had contempt for mind-readers and magicians.  He was particularly bothered by astrologers who claimed that they could tell clients about their previous incarnations: “I know of no method of dealing with them except insisting on exposing their vicious decrees  and their leading the querent into crime by the bad advice given him”.

Another astrologer who was conservative in outlook was William Lilly.  He was working in London, around the time of the English Civil War.  He supported the Parliamentary side, though he was careful to hedge his bets.  His magnum opus was titled Christian Astrology, and it was published in 1647, when England was increasingly under the control of Christian fundamentalists.  Lilly made it clear that it was God that had the final say, and not the stars.  He also seemed to accept St. Paul’s dictum in Romans Chapter 10 that we should respect the government.  For example, he described how he used astrology to predict that William Laud, the Archbishop of Canterbury, would be executed by beheading.  Lilly wrote that although he was very sad about the execution, “I account him not a martyr, as one asse did; For by the Sentence of the greatest Court of England, viz. the Parliament, he was brought to his end”.

William Lilly, right at the beginning of his book, wrote “Nihil dictum, quod non dictum prius”.  Which means nothing has been said that hasn’t been said before.  This represents a very traditional view of the world.  In terms of wisdom, astrological or otherwise, there is no point in trying to be original, because someone, somewhere, has said it before.  Taken further, it questions whether modern humans are any better, or any more self-aware, from their ancestors.

Over the last few centuries every generation has had the arrogance to think that it is cutting edge, but it always dies away to do be replaced by something else.  As astrologers, we are aware that planetary cycles repeat.  There may be changes in technology and fashion, but humans are always the same, and any concept of evolutionary progress is fake – certainly of you’re measuring things in small periods of time, like centuries or millennia.  This means that astrology can help us distinguish between the eternal and the transitory.  When people get excited about global consciousness, people coming together, the wonders of human potential, you know it is just a phase.  Or as Macbeth might have put it, “Told by an idiot, full of sound and fury, signifying nothing”.  An astrologer should have seen Trump and Brexit  coming, and a conservative astrologer shouldn’t have been bothered about it.

In fact, astrologers should be weary of liberals.  One of the key features of liberals, particularly those of an intellectual bent, is that they don’t believe in God.  They believe in science, unless science contradicts their social agenda.  And they certainly don’t believe in astrology.  Astrology is not going to pass any scientific test, whatever Michel Gauquelin might have discovered. Furthermore the academic elites that condemn the stupid supporters of Trump and Brexit will treat astrology with only marginally less disdain.

I do of course understand that a lot depends on what you believe in.  If you believe that astrology can be whatever you make of it, that you can interpret a horoscope in whatever way makes you feel happy, then you’re not really a conservative astrologer.  You should nonetheless be aware that you’re chasing a fad, which is not going to last forever.  However, if your astrology is something handed down rather than invented, which describes society rather than reinforces your liberal overoptimism, then you might well be a conservative astrologer.

Piers Morgan is probably Britain’s best known journalist.  He was editor of The Sun, The New of the World and The Daily Mirror.  And at the moment he is  one of the presenters of the TV show Good Morning Britain.  Morgan is one of the leading critics of Meghan Markle, and it could be said that he bears a degree of responsibility for the negative press she is currently receiving in the UK.

There are many reasons why Piers Morgan might have a poor view of Meghan. For example, he may feel that she has been disrespectful towards Britain and the Queen.  However, there may be a personal element.  He described a period of time, lasting a year and a half, where he had got on well with her.  But after meeting her future husband she “ghosted” him.  As Piers Morgan put it, “Bang! She met somebody more important.  Immediately ghosted.  I never heard from her again.  The old slippery slope ladder had gone up. She had social climbed her way out of my orbit”.

So, who was Meghan Markle dealing with?  Here’s Piers Morgan’s horoscope:

Piers Morgan was born on March 30 1965, and he has the Sun, Venus and Mercury in Aries.  He’s assertive, he speaks his mind and he is not too afraid of being rude.  He also has the Moon conjunct Saturn, opposition Mars conjunction Uranus conjunction Pluto.  This configuration is explosive and angry, and once he starts putting energy into something, he might find it difficult to stop.

We then turn to Meghan’s horoscope, which I looked at recently, comparing her chart with Harry’s:

Meghan’s Saturn is at 5 degrees 52 Libra, exactly opposition Morgan’s Venus, at 6 degrees Aries.  Venus in a man’s chart represents women, and Meghan’s Saturn aspecting this Venus could quite literally be the experience of being ghosted.  And I am guessing that on a personal level he felt somewhat hurt.  According to Piers Morgan, he spent around 90 minutes having drinks with Meghan.  It was a friendly conversation, which had the promise of further encounters, but her Saturn hit his Venus… bang!

We might also want to consider Meghan’s Venus, at 13 degrees Virgo.  This Venus makes a sextile aspect to her Mars in Cancer.  She is an attractive woman, but her Venus is poorly placed in Virgo.  In my experience, people with Venus in Virgo find it difficult to live 100% in the moment, especially in terms of relationships.  Part of them is always calculating, and perhaps doing a cost-benefit analysis.  This is particular the case with women – heterosexual men with Venus in Virgo, or indeed any other sign, often project it onto the opposite sex.

Meghan’s Venus in Virgo feeds right into Piers Morgan’s Moon-Saturn conjunction opposition Mars, Uranus and Pluto.  To spell it out, his Moon and Saturn are opposition Meghan’s Venus, his Mars, Uranus and Pluto are conjunct it.  This is important.  Megan’s Venus is her femininity, perhaps the main thing that makes her photogenic and special.  It clashes horribly with the dynamo of Pier Morgan’s personality, symbolized by the conjunctions and oppositions involving the Moon, Saturn, Mars, Uranus and Pluto.  Of course it should be said that Meghan’s Venus is conjunct his Mars.  This is often a sign of strong attraction, particularly on the man’s part.  I am sure, after the meeting, that Piers Morgan was well disposed towards her.  However by ghosting him she may well have sowed the wind.

What are the takeaways?  Decades ago I read a book on the astrology of relationships that referred to “double whammy” aspects.  Megan and Piers have a double whammy – Meghan’s Venus in Virgo is opposition his Saturn in Pisces, Piers’ Venus in Aries is opposition her Saturn in Libra.  This is a toxic configuration, as I’ve explained.  Meghan, when dealing with Piers, should have been aware of this.  His birth date is publically available.  She was probably unwise to have met him for drinks – but as she did, she shouldn’t have ghosted him.