Astrology and News
Astrological thoughts on the Air France plane crash
I was recently asked about the Air France Flight 447 plane crash, which happened en route from Rio de Janeiro to Paris. In particular, I was asked whether there was any chance of finding any survivors. Logically there was next to no chance of finding anyone alive, so there didn’t seem to be any point in exploring the matter further.
Indeed, what was there to say, of any use? Astrologers are a morbid group, and love looking at the horoscopes of recent disasters, and they’ll always find something. Hindsight is a great thing! And as I didn’t predict it, shouldn’t I shut up about it?
Well, the place crash does raise a few issues. For example the fate of the individual and the fate of the group. There is also the issue of whether I should have predicted it, and whether or not, as an astrologer, I would have been crazy to board the plane.
I believe that it’s possible to predict someone’s death. Though I must stress that I never make death predictions for my own clients. So is it possible, looking at the horoscopes of everyone on board Flight 447, that one could predict their individual deaths?The answer is no. The accident happened for some reason that went beyond the individual horoscopes of the passengers. And this underlines the point that astrology can never have a perfect relationship to reality, however skilled the practitioner.
Nonetheless, there was something disturbing about the flight, and it isn’t just about hindsight.
If one looks at the horoscope for Flight 447’s take-off - according to most sources it was on May 31 2009 at 7.03 pm, in Rio de Janeiro - there are some dangerous signs.
A few hours after take-off, there was an 135-degree aspect between Mars and Saturn. Mars and Saturn, as a pair, are connected with death. Indeed in astrology it’s THE signature of death. The angular separation of 135 degrees is particularly stressful, being three-eighths of the circle.
However stressful aspects between Mars and Saturn are not unusual, and they’ll happen every few months. There’ll be hundreds of take-offs under their influence, and there’ll be few if any mishaps.
Yet Flight 447 was hit particularly badly by the Mars-Saturn aspect, and this is connected with the Ascendant, which moves on average a degree every four minutes. At the time of take-off, the Ascendant was 6 degress and 51 Capricorn, while the Mars-Saturn midpoint was 7 34 Cancer.
In other words, the Ascendant was exactly opposite the Mars-Saturn midpoint. So Flight 447 picked up the negative energy of the Mars-Saturn 135-degree aspect, in a very direct way.
Reinhold Ebertin said of Ascendant on the Mars-Saturn midpoint, in his The Combination of Stellar Influences:
The necessity to economize, illness, separation, mourning and bereavement.
Mercury was also on the Mars-Saturn midpoint, making a 45-degree aspect to it. I suspect this is the trigger, that made the Mars-Saturn aspect so deadly. At the beginning of April there was an 180-degree aspect between Mars-Saturn, which loosely coincided with the Italian earthquake. However there wasn’t the instant punch, that we got this time round. The reason being, I believe, that there wasn’t another planet, providing the trigger.
Ebertin’s description of Mercury on the Mars-Saturn midpoint is spot on, except perhaps the last word:
Thoughtlessness, hopelessness. - Thoughts on separation, illness, death or the next world beyond. - News of mourning and bereavement (murderers).
Of course there is speculation as to whether or not there was terrorist involvement. At the time of take-off Uranus, the planet of accidents and explosions, was almost exactly on the lower meridian.
The lower meridian - the ‘Imum Coeli’, in the jargon - is the point of the chart that’s most hidden, and we can think of a mishap that might have come from the very bowels of the aeroplane. An accident from within rather than without. To me this isn’t the symbol of weather damage. An explosion of some kind seems more likely, though that doesn’t necessarily mean that it was a bomb.
I’m sorry if the astrological events I describe sound obscure, but to an astrologer these are clear, unambiguous signatures of death and destruction. They’re not open to interpretation, and they’re quite obvious from even a cursory look at the chart. So if I was about to board that flight, knowing that take-off was at 7.03 am, would I have walked away? In theory yes, but in practice… I don’t know.
Copyright © 2009 Archie Dunlop
Keep visiting www.elnu.com!
Capricorn Phil Spector sentenced to nineteen years
For almost half a century Phil Spector has been a major figure in the music industry, and as the reports keep telling us, he’s particularly famous for his ‘wall of sound’, that he pioneered in the 1960s.
He worked with many of the great names in music, for example John Lennon and Tina Turner, and he would seem to have been in a charmed position. Yet on a psychological level all was not well, and he developed an unhealthy relationship with guns.
On February 3 2003, the Aries actress Lana Clarkson was shot dead in his presence. Six years later, on April 13 2009, Phil Spector was convicted of her second degree murder, and on May 29 2009 he was sentenced to a minimum period of nineteen years in prison.
What went wrong?
Phil Spector is a Capricorn, born on December 26 1939. The fact that his Sun is in Capricorn tells us little. Capricorns have a reputation for being hard-working and for devoting themselves to a task with everything they’ve got… which isn’t the same as being a killer.
Yet his Sun is in the Eighth House, a sector of the chart that’s very brooding, that’s often associated with death.
And this Sun is making a ninety-degree aspect to Jupiter, the planet of exaggeration and excess.
We therefore get the image of powerful feelings getting exaggerated. He might have been able to express this through his music - Jupiter is BIG, after all, and what’s bigger than a wall of sound? Unfortunately there were other, more dangerous ways that he expressed himself, a situation not helped by the fact that he was born around the time of a Full Moon.
Phil Spector also had Mars making an 180-degree aspect to Neptune. Mars is the planet of dynanism and energy, Neptune is the planet of fantasy and confusion. Additionally, Neptune has an association with alcohol and drugs. At times Phil Spector didn’t know how to channel his energy, so guns were something he should have stayed away from, particularly when drunk - as he apparently was, when he shot Lana Clarkson.
His victim was born on April 5 1962, just after a New Moon. Being an Aries she liked to make quick decisions and I’m sure that she valued her freedom. However she did have Mars in Pisces, like the man who eventually killer her.
Although Phil Spector and Lana Clarkson had only just met, their chemistry would have immediately activated. Having Mars in the same sign would have created the possibility of an argument, and Phil Spector’s Saturn in Aries could have clashed with Lana Clarkson’s Sun in Aries - she might have felt that he was restricting her freedom.
As for Phil Spector’s feelings, it’s worth noting that at the time of the killing Mars was close to his descendant. This makes me believe that the murder verdict was wrong - voluntary manslaughter would have been more reasonable.
The descendant is ‘the other’. Phil Spector, who was drunk, perceive a threat, or an insult, and reacted to it. I doubt very much that he intended to kill his victim. So in a sense Lana Clarkson was the wrong person, at the wrong time, at the wrong place.
But how could Lana Clarkson, that happy-go-lucky child of a New Moon, possibly have known what she was getting herself into? It’s not as if she had a doctorate in clinical psychology. Maybe it was just fate. She had done as much as she could in her short life, and there were better opportunities in a new incarnation.
Copyright © 2009 Archie Dunlop
Keep visiting www.elnu.com!
Who is Lady Gaga? An Aries with Neptune in Capricorn
Just as one thought that the age of celebrity was coming to an end, one has to deal with Lady Gaga. I’ve noticed she’s everywhere, and the tabloid newspapers can’t get enough of her.
On the off chance that you’re less well-informed than me, she’s a singer and song-writer, whose eccentric style and wardrobe are an essential part of her brand.
She was born in March 1986, though there is some confusion as to whether it’s the 20th or 28th of the month. Yet there seems a growing consensus that it’s the later date, March 28, so that’s what I’ll go for.
As an Aries Lady Gaga is going to be very dynamic, the kind of person that just gets on with it, without spending ages and ages asking complicated questions. Yet her Sun in Aries receives a favourable aspect from Saturn, the planet of discipline and hard work. So she is able to structure her energy, and turn it into something very real.
We must nonetheless remember that in a female horoscope the Moon can be more important than the Sun, and Lady Gaga has the Moon in Scorpio. It’s a sign that’s emotional, that keeps a lot back, that tends to be uncomfortable discussing its feelings.
By all accounts Lady Gaga is an intelligent and talented woman, and I suspect that her sensitivity gives her the edge - being able to absorb things almost unconsciously. Especially as in her chart Mercury, the planet of communication and learning, is in Pisces, one of the most sensitive signs of the Zodiac.
However what really interests me about Lady Gaga is her generation. In astrology we have a way of marking generations, by means of the slow-moving outer planets, such as Uranus and Neptune.
The planet Neptune has a long cycle, and it will stay in a sign for well over a decade. In 1984 Neptune entered Capricorn, and it stayed here until 1998. So in many respects Lady Gaga is an exemplar of the generation born between 1984 and 1998.
Neptune is the planet of dreams and fantasy. Capricorn is the sign of money and materialism. So Neptune isn’t very happy in Capricorn.
A Neptune in Capricorn person will be inclined to monetise fantasy. Something which should be subtle and mysterious is often straitjacketed, for material purposes. You chase the fantasy, and deep-down, when you’ve peeled away the many layers of the onion, you find a pot of cash and not much else.
I’m a poor cultural commentator, but from the pictures I’ve seen of Lady Gaga, it appears to me that she’s trying a little too hard, and the word ‘contrived’ comes to mind. Hence the concept of a straitjacketed fantasy. But does that really matter, if people buy her music and go to her concerts?
Which brings me on to the question of whether Lady Gaga is a permanent fixture, a musician whose fame will grow and grow, perhaps in the manner of Madonna.
Not having Lady Gaga’s birth time, I asked the following question, setting a horoscope for the time I asked it:
Will Lady Gaga be more famous in three years time than she is in one year’s time?
Astrology or no astrology she’s going to be a major name in a year’s time, in 2010, even if interest in her wanes a little. But how will she build on her fame, in the years from 2010 to 2012?
She’ll make more money, but in other respects it’s probably as good as it gets. And in the chart for the question, the Moon was moving towards a stressful, 180-degree aspect to Saturn. I doubt very much that she’ll be more famous in three year’s time than she is in one’s year’s time. Styles and tastes change, and I’m unconvinced that she’ll be able to keep up.
Also, I think her generation will have to understand that the planet Neptune must be honoured and not used. You’re supposed to go with the flow and not just profit from it!
Copyright © 2009 Archie Dunlop
Keep visiting www.elnu.com!
Taurean Joanna Lumley and the Gurkhas
This is an interesting story from the UK. Joanna Lumley is an actress who is very famous in our country. She is attractive and glamorous, and her roles in The New Avengers and Absolutely Fabulous made her name. Recently she has been campaigning for the rights of Gurkha soldiers to have settlement rights in this country.
These soldiers are an important part of British military tradition. They are recruited in Nepal, and are renowned for their bravery and skill. However there has been a growing feeling that they been shown insufficient gratitude, and that once their service is over they’re left to fend for themselves.
Joanna Lumley was born in Kashmir on May 1 1946, and her father was an officer in the British Army, who had seen action against the Japanese in the Second World War. His life was saved by a Gurkha fellow-soldier, and his daughter wants to repay the debt - after all without the Gurkha’s action she would never have existed!
At the time of Joanna Lumley’s birth, there was a New Moon, in Taurus. The sign Taurus is often associated with beauty and attractiveness, and clearly she’s benefited from its influence. Also, her voice is very distinctive, and well-modulated, and this can be another Taurean trait. Yet she’s got Mercury, the communication planet, in bold and brash Aries. When she wants to be she can be vocal, even argumentative.
It seems likely that Joanna Lumley was born around sunset, in which case she’ll have Scorpio rising. Scorpio is a sign that can be very intense, and also very committed. Particularly as Mars, ruler of Scorpio, makes a conjunciton to Pluto. So when she finds the right cause, she’s capable of giving it everything she’s got. We can also deduce this from her star sign - Taureans can be very stubborn.
On a psychological level, I feel that with her campaign for the Gurkhas she is trying to reconnect with something. Her horoscope is quite ‘up in the air’, in the sense that she has a lot of planets above the horizon, in the limelight. At times in her life she might have felt a distance from her roots and her past, as she confronted the challenges of being a celebrity.
In the year 2000 there was probably a big change in her life, and I think she has had more time to reflect. Yet from the Spring of 2008 through to the end of 2010 she is going through something very powerful, and she is able to project her personality and her desires with great effect.
However I’m not convinced that her struggle for the Gurkhas is over, and from September onwards she might feel a certain sense of frustration - because in the Eastern Zodiac, Saturn is moving into the same sign as her Jupiter. Ideally she’ll take action to strengthen her Jupiter, for example by fasting on Thursdays, or by wearing a yellow gemstone, such as a topaz or a yellow sapphire. That way she’ll win through, and complete the process of linking with, and honouring, her past.
Copyright © 2009 Archie Dunlop
Keep visiting www.elnu.com!
Eastern Europe - astrologically, politically, economically doomed
When making forecasts for nations and regions, one doesn’t have to restrict oneself to astrology. One also uses one’s on-the-ground observations, plus whatever knowledge one has of politics and economics.
Over the last seven years I’ve spent a lot of time in Poland and Slovakia, and I’ve been trying to work out what’s going on. I’ve read the newspapers, observed how business works and of course set up the relevant horoscopes. The picture is grim, and the same astrological forces that destroyed Communism in the late 1980s will destroy the thin veneer of democracy and freedom that right now holds Eastern Europe together.
Going back twenty years, to the fall of Communism in 1989, one could say that the West, in particular the United States, won a stunning victory. The ‘evil empire’ of the Soviet Union was defeated, and the enslaved people and nations of Eastern Europe were set free.
Yet this wasn’t the kind of victory that the Allies had over Germany and Japan in 1945. In 1945 Nazi Germany and Imperial Japan were totally defeated. Allied troops occupied their territories and governed directly. Senior Nazis were put on trial, and in Germany there was a prolonged attempt to ‘denazify’ the country.
In Europe, in 1989 and afterwards, this process didn’t happen. The Communist rulers were certainly under enormous pressure to stand down, but in most cases they gave up power voluntarily – there were meeting and accommodations, and very few Communists were tried or imprisoned. Indeed they were free to switch their political allegiances – and even stay in power.
A great irony of Communism’s fall was that the people who benefited most from it were often the Communists themselves. The idealistic youth on the streets of Prague and Budapest were the ultimate suckers. The elites they helped bring down knew the system and they knew how to benefit from its collapse. As state-controlled industries and property got privatised, it was so often ex-communists that got their hands on it, for next to nothing.
Communism might have been defeated, but its culture is alive and well. This culture could only have been destroyed if, in 1989, NATO troops have moved into Eastern Europe as Communism fell, and outside administrators had been brought in, to run the countries economically and politically. In the manner of Douglas MacArthur, who was Supreme Commander of the Allied Powers in Japan. Only after five years or more was government returned to the Japanese.
If MacArthur-like figures had been installed in Eastern Europe after 1989 then the vestiges of the communist culture and government could have been removed, and state-controlled property could have been privatised in an orderly way, where the possibilities for theft, corruption and cronyism would have been minimised.
The victory of the West and NATO was a victory for capitalism, and one of the main challenges of any administration in East Europe would have been to create a capitalist culture. For the previous forty years a communist culture had held sway, so there were minimal possibilities for individual initiative – the state looked after everything.
A capitalist culture has not developed in Eastern Europe, in spite of the best efforts of the West to create one. Twenty years have flown by, and all that’s been created is an illusion of capitalist prosperity. Yes, there are rich people driving Porsche SUVs living in concrete, bunker-like mansions, bristling with security, but few of them have made their fortunes through honest entrepreneurialism. Instead it’s wealth through good contacts, and perhaps corruption and crime.
The illusion of prosperity has been further bolstered by the wall of money that has gone into Eastern Europe. The European Union has been generous with its grants, and big companies have located to the region, attracted by the cheap and skilled labour force. However these benefits have come from outside, and are not a reflection of internally-driven development. Big car companies can move to Slovakia or the Czech Republic when conditions are right, but they can just as quickly move out.
In this sense, with reference to the old Czechoslovakia, the situation is arguably worse now than it was in the 1930s. Before the Second World War, Czechoslovakia had some major home-grown industries, which were world leaders. For example the Baťa shoe company, that was built up through the entrepreneurial genius of Tomáš Baťa. The company weathered the great depression, partly because of Baťa’s visionary approach – rather than lay off workers, he reduced his prices.
There was also the Škoda motor company, an important contributor to Czechoslovakia’s industrial base. It was appropriated by the Nazis after 1938, and under the Communists was a shadow of its former self. Then, after the fall of Communism, it was bought out by Volkswagen. Although Volkswagen did wonders for Škoda’s quality and reputation, it seems unfair that a German company was the ultimate benefactor of a destructive process which Germany itself had started, with their 1938 invasion.
Now, in 2009, there aren’t any East European Tomáš Baťas. There is little comprehension of what it takes to develop a successful enterprise, and one of the main principles of many businesses seems to be ‘the customer is always wrong’. The aim is to make money now, from the current transaction, and there appears to be little concept of developing customer loyalty through the forsaking of short-term profit. If you buy a product or a service that doesn’t work, it’s your fault, not the supplier’s. Customer satisfaction has a very low priority.
Yes, there are slogans about the importance of the customer, and in Slovakia the billboards love saying ‘pre vas’, for you, but they’re just slogans, empty and meaningless like the ‘Forward for Socalism’ of a past generation.
Probably the only dynamic part of the East European economy, that appears to have grown internally, is the construction industry. There has been a huge amount of building in the region. Infrastructure projects, some of which have had European Union support; shopping centres, office and apartment blocks, and of course private homes for the people who have prospered since the fall of Communism.
Yet the construction industry relies on economic growth. The money coming from outside, the Western businesses that are investing in Eastern Europe during times of economic prosperity, the developments that have been built with easily-borrowed money, in the halcyon days before the credit crunch. As the global economy retracts, the construction industry will be hammered.
The economic recession that the world is now facing is likely to hit Eastern Europe particularly badly. That might sound surprising, when one looks at the terrible state that the British and US economies are in. However in Britain and the US we’re used to boom and bust. The political systems are long-established, and historically very high unemployment has never threatened the fabric of society – even in the Great Depression.
In Eastern Europe there is still considerable poverty, particularly outside the capital cities. Millions and millions of people have not benefited from the economic and political changes that have happened since the fall of Communism, and in fact they’re probably worse off. There is still the promise that things will get better, but it’s a promise that’s beginning to wear thin. As foreign-owned factories and business close down or relocate, unemployment will rise and rise, and there’ll be no Tomáš Baťas to keep going through thick and thin. We’re therefore going to see feelings of immense betrayal, as the standard of living across the region collapses.
Democratic institutions in Eastern Europe, unlike in the West, are extremely fragile. They have survived for the last twenty years because the economy has been expanding, and their inherent weaknesses have been papered over. In reality corruption is inherent, and those with the money and influence can do pretty much what they like, helped by their friends in government.
In Slovakia if a developer wants to tear down or drastically alter a building – for example add an extra story – they often need to get permission, or else face a fine. Yet the fine tends to be so small that it’s dwarfed by the profits of the development. So they go ahead with the work anyway, and the fine is just another cost, along with the workers and the material. Which means, in this small area, that the rule of law has broken down.
I have also noticed in Slovakia a fatalism that extends to fear. Ordinary people believe that there is little they can do to resist unpopular policies and developments, and they don’t want to get involved, in case there is a negative impact. For example, there can be unwillingness to sign a petition against a new building project, that will wreck the local environment. They take the view that if they give their names and addresses, they could be at risk of an unspecified reprisal. Which raises the question of whether, in real terms, people are freer now than they were under Communism.
In the Slovak context, there really is a case for saying that there was more freedom under Communism, at least with reference to the environment. In the 1980s, in the dying years of Communist rule, there was consultation about the environment, and local groups, with grassroots support, had genuine power. Now, developers have a free hand, regardless of what ordinary people think.
Astrologically, the forces that destroyed Communism in 1989 are coming back into focus. In 1989 the planets Jupiter and Saturn were making an 180-degree aspect, and this aspect created huge tensions. It was in fact the final trigger, that broke the Soviet Union and its empire.
This aspect, which occurs about every twenty years, can cause a great deal of damage. It coincided with the beginning of the Great Depression in the early 1930s, and also with the French Revolution in 1789.
In 2010 and 2011 there’s another 180-degree aspect between Jupiter and Saturn. It’s going to be really heavy, and things that are under pressure will break. It’s at this stage that the global economy will move into stormy waters – the economic problems of 2008 and early 2009 were just a starter, and in late 2009 and early 2010 we might be fooled into thinking that there’s a recovery.
At the same time as the Jupiter-Saturn aspect, there’s an opposition between Saturn and Uranus. A stressful influence, which can cause enormous tensions. It can also break things up. The European Union will come under increasing pressure, and some form of fracture is likely. And many of the countries of Eastern Europe will have to fend for themselves.
In 1919 Marshal Foch, when considering the Treaty of Versailles, said that it was not peace, that it was only a twenty year armistice. And as he predicted, just over twenty years later, the peace ended and the Second World War broke out.
The fall of Communism in 1989 ended the Cold War, and ended Soviet domination of Eastern Europe. Just over twenty years later, as the Jupiter-Saturn opposition returns, the events of 1989 will be revisited. Russia was humiliated but not destroyed – rather like Germany in 1919.
Although it’s very unlikely that Communism will return, Russia is going to reassert it’s influence in a big way. The Ukraine will return to the Russian fold, as will Belarus. Other countries in Eastern Europe will discover that EU and NATO membership won’t protect them from Russian influence as much as they had hoped. Particularly as their own political and economic systems will be imploding – with the result that criminal syndicates will have an increasing influence.
Russia itself won’t stay the same over the next few years. Some form of revolution or coup is on the cards, which will probably create a new and highly centalised government, with any semblance of democracy removed. Its foreign policy will be expansionist, and this could have implications not just for the old Soviet Republics of the Ukraine, Belarus and Georgia, but also for the Baltic states.
I know, it all seems very unlikely. Yet in the mid-1980s no-one expected Communism to fall so quickly. And now, with Jupiter and Saturn moving towards an opposition, something has to give.
Eastern Europe will soon be in tatters, and it’s a question of whether the main benefactors will be Russia or the Mafia. Or both.
Copyright © 2009 Archie Dunlop
Keep visiting www.elnu.com!
Aries, condoms and religion - Richard Dawkins and Pope Benedict XVI
Richard Dawkins is a famous Atheist, author of The God Delusion. He’s also an Aries and until recently he was Professor for the Public Understanding of Science at Oxford. He is known as a vocal critic of religion and other ’superstitious’ practices.
Not surprisingly, Richard Dawkins doesn’t see eye to eye with the Catholic Church. He made the following criticism of fellow Aries, Pope Benedict XVI, as quoted by The Daily Telegraph:
I wonder on what basis anyone can say condoms make Aids worse. The Pope is either stupid, ignorant or dim.
Aries has a reputation for being angry, for venting its opinions in an open, no-nonsense way. And clearly Richard Dawkins doesn’t mince his words. He suggests that the Pope’s view on condoms is so wrong that his knowledge or intellect must be at fault.
When we look at Richard Dawkins’ horoscope, we see something interesting. He has no planets in Air signs - in other words in Gemini, Libra or Aquarius. Air signs are connected with the intellect, and in particular intellectual flexibility. Many people with no Air in their horoscopes are extremely intelligent, but there can be a single-minded dogmatism. People with a lack of Air can find it difficult to sympathise with ideas that are different from their own.
Dawkins’ statement about the Pope and condoms seems to convey this lack of Air. While it seems plain wrong to condemn the use of condoms, Pope Benedict XVI is neither stupid nor dim. Like Richard Dawkins he has a first class intellect, and as well as being a priest he is a noted academic. And I doubt very much that he’s ignorant.
Pope Benedict XVI, unlike Richard Dawkins, has got planets in Air Signs, namely the Moon in Libra and Mars in Gemini. I know, the Moon isn’t really a planet, it’s a satellite, but in a functional sense astrologers treat it as one.
The Moon in Libra is telling. Traditionally the sign Libra is connected with balance, with trying to harmonise oneself with the outside world. However the Moon is making a 90-degree aspect to Pluto, the planet of power and control, and maybe it’s working in a different way? Perhaps the Moon’s instinctive response is to make the outside world harmonise with the Pope’s own ideas? Or should I say intellectually-derived beliefs?
The Pope has a fantastically strong Jupiter - it’s in Pisces, the sign of its rulership, and it’s in the First House. It also rules his Tenth House of career and his Ninth House of religion.
In traditional astrology the planet Jupiter is closely connected with religion, and it can be very dogmatic. Holding fast to religious beliefs, even if they seem to contradict material reality.
So it’s possible that the Pope opposes condoms because of his intellect. He is a theologian, and presumably he has a view about what might happen if the Catholic Church doesn’t condemn their use. The medical evidence strongly suggests that condoms can save lives, but a churchman is looking at the big picture. The moral health of humanity is potentially at stake, and some people might argue that that’s more important than its physical well-being. Though to be fair the Pope is saying that condoms make the AIDS problem worse, a view which happens to tie in with his theological standpoint.
And here’s what the Pope recently said about AIDS, again from The Daily Telegraph:
…a tragedy that cannot be overcome by money alone, that cannot be overcome through the distribution of condoms, which even aggravates the problems.
I would guess that Richard Dawkins would regard theological arguments against condom use as being preposterous, but nonetheless they are arguments, and they do represent a particular opinion. I doubt that such arguments can be confronted from a purely scientific stance, however little one believes in God. You probably have to fight theology with theology.
Returning to the subject of Jupiter, Richard Dawkins’ Jupiter looks pretty strong, though I don’t have his time of birth. His Jupiter has a couple of dignities, including a mutual reception with Venus. That means that these two planets are in signs which each other rule - his Jupiter is in Taurus, a sign ruled by Venus, while his Venus is in Pisces, a sign ruled by Jupiter.
Richard Dawkins is obviously not religious, but one can perhaps substitute a belief in a god for a belief in rationalism, the scientific method and evolution.
The sign Aries has a reputation for being very clear about its opinions, for not compromising. This is something that Richard Dawkins and Pope Benedict XVI have in common. Throw in a strong Jupiter, and you have two people who are advocates and defenders of a particular viewpoint.
And amazingly, both men have been described as Rottweilers. Pope Benedict as ‘God’s Rottweiler’, Richard Dawkins as ‘Darwin’s Rottweiler’.
Though personally, I think the two of them are barking up the wrong tree.
Correction, April 5 2009: On his website, Richard Dawkins has corrected the quotation reported in The Telegraph, with the word ‘wicked’ emphasised:
I did not say the Pope is “stupid, ignorant or dim” – I hope I would never say anything so repetitive. My exact words were “stupid, ignorant or wicked.”
Copyright © 2009 Archie Dunlop
Keep visiting www.elnu.com!
Warning - Mars-Saturn opposition on April 4-5
Traditionally Mars and Saturn are malefic planets - Mars representing anger and violence, Saturn representing frustration and delay. And when they come together there can be negative results. Indeed their pairing has been described as ‘the death axis’.
At 1.55 am London Time on Sunday April 5 Mars and Saturn form an 180-degree aspect - in other words they’re exactly opposite each other, Mars being in Pisces, Saturn in Virgo. If you’re in New York, that’s 8.55 pm on Saturday April 4, in Bucharest 3.55 am on Sunday April 5.
However the precise timing doesn’t really matter. We can just say that over the weekend of April 4-5 Mars and Saturn are making a stressful aspect, and the immediate influence of this aspect is probably going to last from Friday April 3 to Tuesday April 7.
I’m not making any finite predictions. For thousands of years astrologers having been very good at heralding some dread configuration, which in the light of day had zero or negligible impact.
What I am doing is giving a warning. The next few days are dangerous, and all of us should avoid taking risks. And it’s probably a bad time for starting brand new ventures. There’s also the possibility of some bad event, that hits the news headlines. Regions of the world to watch out for include Eastern Brazil, Iran, Japan, Madagascar and Papua New Guinea.
But don’t get too excited. The full Mars-Saturn cycle is just over two years long, so aspects between these two planets are relatively common.
Still… you might want to know what astrologers will be thinking about over the weekend. For example my wife wanted to drive over the Tatra Mountains to Poland on Sunday or Monday, and I suggested to her that that might be a really bad idea, even in a Volvo.
Be careful out there!
Copyright © 2009 Archie Dunlop
Keep visiting www.elnu.com!
Barack Obama - has the Leo President run out of luck?
To be successful in politics you have to be lucky, and Barack Obama seems to have the golden touch. Or at least he did, until a few weeks ago. Now people are starting to ask questions about his competence, in the face of an economic crisis that must stretch any politician to breaking point.
From my own point of view, Barack Obama has already taught me a valuable lesson. Never underestimate the birth chart. In spite of the obstacles in his path, he was able to come through and win the 2008 presidential election. His Hindu horoscope is very strong, and from November 23 2007 through to March 24 2009 he was going through an incredibly lucky period.
When politicians have strong charts, all sorts of strange things can happen. George Bush Junior, for example, had a fortunate chart, that got him into the White House twice. George Bush was a man who in many people’s eyes was completely unqualified for the presidency, but he was nonetheless able to reach the heights of power. In Barack Obama’s case, we have someone who was running too early for the top job, but who still managed to get his hands on it.
Yet the great tragedy of Barack Obama isn’t his inexperience. People can learn on the job. It’s the fact that until 2012 no president can make a difference. They simply have to respond to the legacy of George Bush Junior. No, it’s the 2012 election that will matter, not the 2008 one.
As far as Barack Obama’s luck is concerned, the American electorate behaved rather like a stock market investor, who bought shares in a fashionable company at peak price. Obama’s luck was running high in November 2008, but it couldn’t get any higher. Then on March 24 2009 his luck changed, very much for the worse.
In a broad sense Barack Obama’s unlucky period lasts from March 24 2009 through to July 24 2012, though the most intense and dangerous phase will finish on Febuary 28 2010. I believe that few things will go right for him, and if he’s not careful he’ll be completely debilitated by the pressures of his job. At the same time, his various relationships, on all levels, could be severely tested.
Which brings me to the connection between the Land and the King. Can a country prosper if its leader is going through a bad patch? I don’t know the answer to this question, but I’m reminded of John Boorman’s film Excalibur, where Merlin tells Arthur:
You will be the land,
And the land will be you.
If you fail, the land will perish.
As you thrive, the land will blossom.
We read success and failure from the horoscope, and it seems to me very likely that at least until February 2010, and probably until 2012, Obama will fail, and that’s going to have a negative impact on America.
This applies not just to the economic realm, but also to international politics. Can a man who’s horoscope is afflicted stand up to America’s enemies and rivals?
Looking at threats to Obama’s life, one can’t make predictions. One can, nonetheless, give warnings. As I’ve said the period from March 24 2009 to February 28 2010 is dangerous, in many ways. This is a time when Obama shouldn’t take risks. Until September 9 2009 he needs to be extra careful. From April 13 2009 through to June 4 2009 he needs to be extra, extra careful. But I must emphasise that everyone goes through dangerous phases, and in the vast majority of cases nothing much happens.
Unlike a growing number of pundits, I’m not writing Obama off as a one-term President. As I’ve suggested in a previous article, Barack Obama should probably be seen as a trainee Richard Nixon, except in reverse. Nixon’s first term was reasonably good, his second term was destroyed by Watergate. In Barack Obama’s case there is a big change in July 2012, which could save his political career.
In the astrological jargon, on July 24 2012 Obama moves from a Jupiter to a Saturn dasa, or phase of life, which is probably good news, because in his Indian horoscope he has a very strong Saturn.
On the other hand, I’ve noticed that in the charts of politicians, a change of dasa can bring an end to their political career. This was the case with Margaret Thatcher - an eighteen year dasa finished on September 23 1990, and two months later, at the end of November, she was no longer British Prime Minister.
My feeling with Obama is that in 2012 there will be a great element of choice. Assuming there hasn’t been a mishap, then in the last half of 2012 he’ll have the opportunity to rescue his presidency and win a second term. To do this he’ll have to adopt the right approach. He must stop relying on other people’s advice, and start thinking for himself. Past allegiances must be thrown out of the window, and he mustn’t be afraid of being ever-so-slightly dictatorial. That’s what the electorate will want.
Yet we should consider the possibility that Obama decides that he doesn’t want to stand for a second term. Maybe he’ll take the view that the whole presidency thing is just too much effort?
Copyright © 2009 Archie Dunlop
Keep visiting www.elnu.com!
Gemini Jade Goody dies - but what does it mean?
Sorry to report on another death, but in the UK it’s a big story. Jade Goody was an ordinary, working class girl, whose appearance on Big Brother transformed her into a celebrity. She was known for her forthright language as well as her apparent ignorance of well-known facts. For example, she thought that Saddam Hussein was a boxer.
While appearing on the Indian version of Big Brother last year, she found out that she had cervical cancer. The disease had already spread, and it soon became clear that she was dying. Even then, she was not afraid of cameras and publicity, and in her final months the media circus continued. She got married with a morphine drip attached to her wedding dress, and she and her two young children were baptised in a hospital chapel.
Jade Goody died yesterday, at the age of twenty-seven, and whatever one thought of her, there can be no doubt about her bravery. How many people could have handled that level of publicity, with death staring them in the face?
Jade Goody was born on June 5 1981, which makes her a Gemini. The sign Gemini can manifest in two, very different ways. Some Geminis can be deep thinkers, who take the world they live in very seriously. For example Jean-Paul Sartre, the French existentialist philosopher.
Yet other Geminis are apparently quite superficial, and they often do very well in the media. They flit from one thing to another, not taking anything too seriously. They’ll have lots to say, about lots of subjects, but there isn’t a great deal of in-depth knowledge. This aspect of Gemini seems to best fit Jade Goody, though of course one has to be careful about making generalisations.
As for Jade Goody’s horoscope, I haven’t got a birth time, so it’s difficult to make sense of it - especially as both Venus and Mars changed sign on her birthday, so I don’t know which sign either planet is in.
However if we want to understand the real importance of Jade Goody, we don’t have to worry about all this. Because we’re looking at things from a collective rather than individual point of view.
Jade Goody was born at the time of a Jupiter-Saturn conjunction, which took place in Libra. The sign Libra is very sociable, and she was an exemplar of her generation, marked for fame.
As an aside, only a few months before her birth, on the other side of the Atlantic, Paris Hilton was born, with this same Jupiter-Saturn conjunction in Libra. The two women might have been born into completely different worlds, but they shared the same astrological signature. And it’s interesting that both of them, fairly or not, have been labelled as being famous for being famous, the two shock-troops of celebrity culture.
Jupiter and Saturn have a twenty-year cycle - so there’s approximately 20 years between successive conjunctions. On May 28 2000 these planets formed a conjunction, and less than two months later, on July 14 2000, the first UK series of Big Brother started. The stage was being set for Jade Goody’s success, and in the summer of 2002 she was a contestant in the third series, and her ascent to stardom began.
So what’s really going on? Over the last decade and more there’s been something in the cosmos that’s been pushing and promoting celebrity culture. And this has created the tantalising possibility that by being ourselves, without having any obvious talents, we can be famous.
One manifestation of this trend was reality TV, and in particular Big Brother. We then saw particular individuals being caught up in this cosmic trend, and Jade Goody became its personification. She didn’t win Big Brother in 2002, but she caught the zeitgeist, the spirit of the times, and she become incredibly successful.
Unfortunately Jade Goody’s position had its disadvantages. She was arguably a pawn of the cosmos, and part of her role was to reflect the ebb and flow of reality TV. And on the day she died Jupiter and Saturn were exactly 150 degree apart - according to Yahoo! News her death was 3.14 am, and thirteen and a half hours later, at 4.46 pm, the 150 degree angle was formed. This angle is unfortunate, and it represents two things that on the surface have little or no connection. On one hand the triviality of reality TV and the frantic search for fame, and on the other hand the absolute seriousness of death and dying.
Copyright © 2009 Archie Dunlop
Keep visiting www.elnu.com!
Taurean Natasha Richardson’s skiing accident
Astrologers might appear to be a sick bunch. Every time there’s an accident or a disaster, they go scurrying to their computers, to analyse what was going on in the heavens. This is even the case when scores of people are killed. I’m afraid it’s the nature of our profession - we want to know what happened, and how a similar event might be avoided in the future.
I’m therefore not going to apologise for looking at the horoscope of actress Natasha Richardson, who yesterday was critically injured in a skiing accident. Particularly as her accident was 101 stuff - any beginner astrologer would have told her it was a dangerous time, when activities such as skiing should have been avoided. This isn’t benefit of hindsight nonsense, it was obvious, and it makes me fairly certain that she didn’t consult an astrologer before taking her skiing trip.
Natasha Richardson is a Taurus, born on May 11 1963, a member one of Britain’s great acting dynasties. Her grandfather was Sir Michael Redgrave, her mother Vanessa Redgrave.
The sign Taurus is ruled by Venus, the planet of beauty, so it’s probably a good sign for an actress to have. Also, many Taureans have excellent voices, because Taurus rules the throat. And in Natasha Richardson’s horoscope Mercury, the planet of communication, is in Taurus, along with the Sun.
Her career prospects are further helped by a favourable, 120-degree aspect between Venus, the planet of female sexuality, and Mars. Not only is she attractive, but she also knows how to project herself.
The sexuality of Venus and Mars, and the earthiness of her Taurus star sign, are perhaps summed up by a comment she made to The Guardian newspaper in 2003:
I’m much more liberated in my own body and certainly with my sexuality, I think. There’s nothing like standing in front of an audience and singing and dancing half-naked to make you feel comfortable with yourself.
It’s true. Taureans are in tune with their bodies and they often love being naked.
Yet there’s a darker side to Natasha Richardson’s horoscope. She has the Sun in the Eighth House of death, making 90-degree aspects to Mars and Saturn. This is a tough configuration. Reinhold Ebertin describes Sun on the Mars-Saturn midpoint as follows:
Weak vitality, the inability to meet all demands or to master all situations, the necessity to overcome illness. - The illness or the death of members of the male population.
I’m not sure how well this fits Natasha Richardson, though in astrology, and particularly in a female chart, the Sun often relates to the father.
Natasha Richardson’s father, Tony Richardson, died of AIDS, and she has put considerable time and effort into fund-raising for AIDS research. So as a down-to-earth Taurus, with the Sun in the Eighth House, she was confronting the issues and getting involved.
Yet she appears to have ignored the stars when planning her skiing trip. She has the Moon at 22 degrees and 46 minutes Sagittarius, and at the time of the accident Uranus, the planet of accidents, was at 22 degrees and 53 minutes Pisces, while travelling through her Sixth House of health. In other words Uranus was making a precise, 90-degree aspect to her Moon. A classic signature of an accident, though I probably would have warned about a leg or foot injury, rather than anything life-threatening.
Also, Natasha Richardson in her horoscope has Uranus in the second degree of Virgo. At the time of the accident Mars was opposition her Uranus, in the second or third degree of Pisces - in astrology the signs Virgo and Pisces are opposite each other.
Of course this raises the question of whether the accident could have been avoided. She might have been a skiing beginner, but she had an instructor, and was on a beginners’ slope. In Indian astrology she is going through an extremely dangerous phase, lasting from February 2007 through to February 2014, when one could certainly say that her life was in danger. It’s ruled by Mars, which in turn rules her Eighth House of death. Furthermore this house, in Indian astrology, is covered by the sign Aries, which has a special connection with the head - and it was a knock to her head which caused the damage.
But the fact remains that if she had consulted any conscientious astrologer, even a novice, and she’d followed the astrologer’s advice, she wouldn’t have gone skiing and she wouldn’t have had her accident.
Copyright © 2009 Archie Dunlop
Keep visiting www.elnu.com!