Under the bridge astrology

Author: admin

  • The shamanic work of David Lynch and the astrology of Twin Peaks

    The shamanic work of David Lynch and the astrology of Twin Peaks

    Twin Peaks had a huge impact on me. I first watched the series as a teenager and it’s been on my mind since reading about the passing of its creator David Lynch.

    So what can astrology tell us about the nature and meaning of the show?

    Twin Peaks premiered April the 8th 1990 at 9PM. I’m using Los Angeles as the location, mainly because it feels right (but ABC has their headquarters in Burbank, so perhaps that gives the choice a bit more legitimacy).

    The chart has Scorpio rising with Pluto near the Ascendant. Very fitting for a tv-show about a murder, but also for one that revolves around a mystery and things not being quite as they seem.

    The Sun is in Aries in the 6th house. This was a pioneering show, not afraid to take the soap opera formula (6th house-ish) and use it to go somewhere completely different.

    The Moon is in Libra in the 11th house so the visual style was an important part of the show’s DNA and that’s what gave it mass appeal (11th house).

    That Moon is also part of an interesting t-square – there is a tension between it and a Neptune/Uranus conjunction in Capricorn in the 2nd house and a loose Chiron/Jupiter conjunction in Cancer in the 8th house.

    This is the key to understanding the nature of the show.

    Here we have that beautiful and pleasing Libra Moon in the house of the collective, in a tense aspect with the planet of the dream world (Neptune) and the planet of creativity, genius and sudden shocks and insights (Uranus) in the second house of safety and security.

    Those placements in turn connect with an inner wounding (Chiron) and the planet of blessings and luck (Jupiter) in the sign of home and the homeland (Cancer) in the complex 8th house of sex, death and money.

    The show spoke to something deep in the American psyche. And, as many writers have mentioned in the days following the passing of its creator, Twin Peaks turned the American dream on its head. It used the visual language of the small town with its picket fences and diners, its football stars and prom queens to worm its way to the rotten juice underneath it all.

    There were the woods where things are not quite what they seem. There was domestic violence, abuse and corrupt businessmen, and a darkness at the heart of the seemingly perfect and “respectable” nuclear family.

    This was exposed in almost a subliminal way and people kept watching – partly because of the feeling and the look (that Libra Moon) of the show.

    The traditional chart ruler Mars also speaks of the show’s purpose. It sits almost right on the IC, the point of home, in Aquarius – close to the North Node in the 3rd house of communication (also conjunct the IC).

    So the show also highlights all that is different and eccentric about the homeland (Aquarius IC) and the absurdity of the stories the country tells itself about itself.

    I think the astrology also suggests that David Lynch, like many genius creators, was able to tap into something larger when he was creating the show. A story from the collective flowed through him and the people involved.

    What is lovely to see in the many articles about him and the show that have been published recently is how he allowed space for that to happen on set.

    In an article in the Guardian the actors remember the atmosphere:

    Michael Ontkean (Sheriff Harry S Truman): David was purely and absolutely attentive to what’s in the air. He was always ready, willing and completely able to incorporate anything and everything into a scene. He calmly conducted the orchestra with all six senses. Number six being instinct/intuition.

    Wendy Robie (Nadine Hurley): He would create something and then it was up to you. He’d leave this big empty box for you to fill. It was wonderful, an absolute faith: whatever bonkers thing he was going to set before you, your job was to fill it, to make it real, to make a human story.

    This is a good lesson for all of us who create. To leave enough space and room for the magic to flow, for the right story to appear.

    As this happened on a film set it makes me think of family constellations therapy, where the participants act out a role that’s been prescribed to them by someone in the group – and somehow (if it all works) there is magic, there is healing, there is something coming through the participants to create a resolution and a release of tension.

    Twin Peaks was cathartic in the same way. Perhaps it was a bit like family constellations therapy for the US as the American dream started to crumble following the end of the Cold War. “What we thought was perfect wasn’t actually perfect.”

    But perhaps there was something even more magical going on.

    In a fascinating profile in The New Yorker the author speculates that David Lynch was able to tap into numinous forces in his work – that he was in fact a sort of shaman.

    The actor Michael Horse, who plays Hawk in Twin Peaks, talks about feeling relief after being able to leave the room where the cast was filming a scene where Bob is possessing Leland Palmer.

    “We were all in that room and I knew we were calling on evil”.

    The article moves on to looking at surrealism and how surrealists like André Breton and his contemporaries believed they were investigating a higher reality and through the art they were connecting their audience to that higher reality.

    The article continues:

    “An acquaintance of mine is an energy healer: she sees spirits and auras, describes her past lives, goes on journeys out of her body at night, and converses with the dead. I can’t bring myself to believe in her experiences—I’m too rational—but I’m moved and fascinated by David Lynch, who explored the world she inhabits …  Lynch knew that the old ways of being were still inside of us, waiting to be found.”

    David Lynch was a shamanic creator. And the numinous was revealed and glimpsed through his work – often it seems as if he was able to channel darker forces and I wonder how he was able to work with and contain this in his own life.

    It would have been part of his natal astrology with his North Node and a Mars/Saturn conjunction in the 8th house of the occult. A big part of his life probably revolved around figuring out how to contain and work with these forces. His Virgo Moon on the Midheaven might have helped as he channeled these energies into his work, he gave them a container and he kept his own mind safe by a rigorous mediation practice.

    So what was it he channeled into Twin Peaks?

    The synastry between the US and the Twin Peaks chart spells it out quite clearly:

    The Twin Peaks Sun sits on top of the US’s inner wounding: Chiron. The Twin Peaks Chiron is on top of the US natal Sun.

    This show brought the nation’s wounds into the light.

  • Why 2025 and 2026 are huge for the British royal family according to astrology

    Why 2025 and 2026 are huge for the British royal family according to astrology

    The British royal family is going to be shaken to its core by the astrological weather during 2025 and 2026. The events during the next two years are going to affect all of them and have an impact on the UK as a whole.

    This is a continuation of the events last year when various health issues and conspiracy theories relating to Kate Middleton lead to another period of heightened interest in the royal family.

    In January 2024 the palace announced that King Charles was being treated for cancer. Later the same month Kate, or Catherine as she is known as now, was taken into hospital for unspecified abdominal surgery. She then disappeared from public view for a few weeks which lead to an avalanche of conspiracy theories and online sleuthing related to her health and her marriage.

    On the 22nd of March she released a statement saying she had been treated for cancer and the speculations mostly died down.

    That was two days before a lunar eclipse at 5 degrees Libra. This was the beginning. What we are seeing this year and the next are the following acts of this story.

    Several members of the royal family have placements in the early degrees of fixed signs – which will now be pinged by powerful Pluto moving into Aquarius. Especially four degrees seem to be a particularly sensitive point for many.

    But Pluto, the planet of the fates, is only one part of the story. Several of the outer planets move signs this year. They are power players in astrology, they move slowly and when they form an aspect to a point in our natal charts we tend to feel it.

    The royal family will be affected by the outer planets changing signs. And it will affect all of them, not just the family members in the UK. Prince Harry and Meghan are also particularly sensitive to this astrological weather, as is the UK’s natal chart.

    There are some ethical questions around going into what this might actually mean. These people might be royalty – and astrologers have written about royalty since day one – but they are also just people.

    My personal view is to take a step back from predictions relating to the lifespan and health of people in the public eye. It isn’t a nice thing to do and it also gives the astrologer more power than he or she deserves or should take upon themselves.

    The astrological weather affecting the royal family during the next two years does speak of change and upheaval, but this can manifest in a myriad of different ways. When looking at the transits it seems like the underlying theme here might be the media storm, not the health of the family members.

    So what can we expect to see in 2025 and 2026?

    It could all start around another eclipse – this one a lunar eclipse on the 29th of March at 9 degrees Aries.

    Eclipses were momentous events in ancient times and they have traditionally been connected to the rise and fall of kings and leaders.

    The royal family also seem to be particularly sensitive to eclipses. Both Prince William and Kate Middleton were born on an eclipse so their birth charts would also naturally resonate more strongly with eclipses.

    The eclipse on the 29th will oppose Prince William’s Mars from his 3d house of siblings and the media. His Mars, his inner warrior, is in the 9th house of foreign places and philosophy. Could it mean a clash of views, playing out in the media?

    This is the start of a massive astrological period for William as Neptune, the planet that dissolves, will square his Moon and then Sun from his third house and Pluto will square his status point, the Midheaven, from his first house.

    A square can be a challenging aspect, it forces us to grow – often because of something happening outside of us, sometimes someone or something challenging us.

    This eclipse affects his brother Harry too, but he might have an easier time as it will trine his Uranus in the 11th house of groups and sextile his Chiron in Gemini the 5th house of childhood, love affairs and children. These aspects speak of an easy flow. Will the flood gates open for Harry? Will he take to social media (or something similar) with that maverick Uranus and speak about some wounding in his childhood (Chiron in the 5th) to a large audience? The eclipse happens in his second house of finances, so it is possible that there is some financial reward in this for him.

    This eclipse is opposite Kate Middleton’s Mars in Libra in the third house of the media, with transiting Mars on her destiny point the North Node, conjunct her Moon and opposing her Sun on the day of the eclipse.

    When the Nodes are involved it often suggests that there is a larger story at play behind all of this. Perhaps an ancestral theme is coming out at this time – and she is part of it. The points in her chart that are affected during the eclipse are very close to Queen Elizabeth’s Ascendant/Descendant axis at 21 degrees Capricorn/Cancer. So whatever happens could also reverberate back through time.

    The eclipse will be huge for King Charles too, as it’s very close to his career point. the Midheaven. Pluto has already squared his Moon and is moving towards the sensitive 4/5 degrees in his chart when it will square his Nodes and cross his Descendant in February 2026.

    The epic-ness of the astrology here shouldn’t be underestimated. The king is a symbol of the country, of its people, and whatever befalls him also affects the whole country. His chart carries with it the echoes of those who came before him and it is also linked with the chart of the UK itself.

    The astrological weather also affects his wife, who astonishingly has almost exactly the same Midheaven and Ascendant as Charles. The eclipse on the 29th will be opposite her Neptune in the third house – so the media might be part of the story for her too. It also squares her Moon and Neptune in the 12th house and trines her Saturn in the first house. A more complicated picture, suggesting it will activate her fiery and steely Saturn in Leo, which is a very visible side of her personality, but might also cause her private pain.

    The other (ex)-royal wife, Meghan Markle, also has almost exactly the same Aries Midheaven and Descendant/Ascendant axis as her father- and mother-in-law. So this eclipse will also be on her career point, with Mars on her Cancer Ascendant.

    The eclipse opposes Meghan’s Moon/Saturn/Jupiter conjunction in Libra in the third house, a very significant placement in her chart that will get a helpful trine from Pluto when the planet of the fates starts to square and challenge many in the royal family.

    Will she be the power player that sets the whole thing off?

    Early 2025 Pluto will cross her South Node, the point that can stand for an ancestral wounding (or a past life wounding according to some). Could that be a clue to the larger story here? Some astrologers have suggested that Meghan is a reincarnated Anne Boleyn coming to seek revenge on the royal family.

    Symbolically that is interesting, but the Windsors are not direct descendants of Henry VIII.

    The simplest explanation to the meaning behind all of this might be to look at the story so far. What is the thing coming up again and again with Meghan, Harry and the royal family? Depending on where you stand on the political spectrum it can be described as either a story of racism and institutional oppression or a story of over-zealous wokery.

    But underneath all of this is an undercurrent, a slow moving theme connected to racism, oppression and imperialism. It is a story that has slowly been developing over the last century – with flash points and sudden breakthroughs.

    The royal family is part of this story, because for better or worse they still represent the British Empire.

    Starting in March 2025 everyone in the family will have a role to play in this drama. It will unfold over the next two years, possibly leading to a permanent change to the royal family and how it is seen by the public – possibly even affecting how the UK is seen by the world.

    This eclipse on the 29th of March is significant for the UK too. It falls on the Descendant of the 1801 birth chart, with Mars on the UK’s prominent 10th house Moon and Pluto opposing the country’s Jupiter from the 4th house of the structures of the nation.

    Astrologers’ have long predicted that William will be the last King of the UK. Stranger things have happened and we live in turbulent and unpredictable times.

    If this is the end of the line for the monarchy as we know it then the beginning of that story will start in 2025 and 2026 with Pluto in the early degrees of Aquarius.

    Photo by Annie Spratt on Unsplash

  • What is next for Elon Musk according to astrology

    What is next for Elon Musk according to astrology

    He’s now even wealthier than the incredibly rich robber barons of the 19th century – and he’s the so called first buddy. So what can astrology tell us about the rise of Elon Musk and what’s next for him.

    A clear connection with the US chart

    Elon Musk has amazing synastry with the US. His Sun is exactly conjunct the country’s Jupiter, his Ascendant and Mercury are on the US’s natal Cancer Sun.

    Like it or not he embodies and gives a voice to an aspect of the country.

    Let’s look a bit closer at that American Sun and what it means to try to tease out who and what he speaks for.

    America’s natal Sun in Cancer in the 7th house of relationships forms an exact square to Saturn in the 10th house in the country’s natal chart. It is a patriotic Sun, but being in the 7th house, it is also enmeshed with the “other”, it is concerned about others. And it wants to share its vision of the homeland with others.

    If the country was a person this could speak of someone who cares deeply about relationships, but struggles to express it fully because of burdens and/or an ambition related to status. Or someone who expresses their views quite forcefully, because they think they know best.

    So perhaps Elon Musk embodies the US’s need to care – and also to meddle. Cancerians can sometimes be quite self-interested and are often willing to go to great lengths to protect those they care about, those in the inner circle.

    What is Elon Musk doing at the moment? 

    He is throwing his weight around, he is commenting on, trolling, governments in Europe, seemingly suggesting that he can influence elections and change the political winds on the continent. 

    Is he speaking for America? There are probably many in the country who agree with him, even though much of what he says is either ill-informed or actual misinformation.

    Pluto playing a part

    Part of the astrological reason for his rise to power is his synastry with the country he now speaks for. 

    But Pluto might also have had a role to play. As it’s traveled through the late degrees of Capricorn over the last few years it has sent a positive sextile to Elon Musk’s career point, the Midheaven, from his 7th house of relationships. His connections have been crucial to his success.

    When Pluto is involved it means the fates are playing a part in this – exactly how this story ends remains to be seen though. What we are seeing now is the first act, the rise to power. 

    And Pluto has been generous. It has also sextiled Elon Musk’s lucky money making Jupiter in Scorpio in the 5th house of the gambler, trined his natal power-player Pluto in the 3rd house of communication and is now moving to a trine with his natal Saturn in the 11th house of groups – leadership.

    The astrology suggests this has been a lucky period for the so called chief troll officer.

    But what’s next?

    Pluto’s journey through Aquarius over the next twenty years will reveal what the fates have planned for him. And just to caveat this, I’m not a fatalist, I believe we can bargain with the Gods and the choices we make are important, but as with many famous people a larger story is playing out through Elon Musk. He has chosen to play that role and that sometimes means being swept along by forces beyond his control.

    The lessons of the Russian oligarchs

    An astrologer might tell Elon Musk to watch out. His natal Sun is in his 12th house. That can sometimes speak of a spiritual person, a person connected to something larger than just the mundane. It is also a house that was traditionally linked with prisons and hospitals.

    When the Soviet Union fell many people feasted on the ruins and took the country’s wealth as their own. They became the oligarchs, but the story didn’t end happily for many of them. Those who disagreed with Vladimir Putin or were seen to have become too powerful ended up dead or in prison.

    Donald Trump has often expressed his admiration for Vladimir Putin. Someone like Elon Musk might want to study the story of the oligarchs who flew too close to the sun. As the fates lift you up they can also tear you down.

    A more challenging time ahead

    In about four years transiting Pluto will start to form the apex of a yod with Elon Musk’s natal Sun and Moon. This is another astrological pattern that speaks of the Gods playing a part in the story. This aspect is also called an inconjunct, it can be difficult, uncomfortable and sometimes speaks of endings.

    At the same time Pluto will cross the US’s South Node in the 2nd house of finances and security, sextiling revolutionary Uranus in the 6th house. This is a transit that could speak of financial turmoil causing an uprising of some kind. The US will also have its Uranus return, the last time this happened was when the US entered World War Two, the time before that was during the Civil War.

    During this period and the years that follow Chiron and then Saturn will cross Elon Musk’s career point the Midheaven. Revolutionary Uranus will square his Moon from the 11th house of the people.

    Then Pluto moves on to a conjunction with his point of fate, the North Node, and Mars in the complex 8th house in the 2030s.

    Chiron in Aries

    It’s interesting that Elon Musk’s rise to power coincides with his Chiron return – one of the astrological milestones in life – when we are faced with our wounds and weaknesses in our early fifties.

    Elon Musk’s Chiron sits in the 9th house in Aries – a Chiron that speaks of a wounding around being the pioneer in a foreign land. His family emigrated to South Africa, a country that was segregated and suffered from deep inequalities. 

    He moved to the US – a country where those same wounds around equality and civil rights lie closer to the surface than many might want to acknowledge.

    And the US has almost exactly the same Chiron placement as Elon Musk. It is just a few degrees later in Aries and in the 4th house of home in the country’s birth chart. His wound is also the nation’s wound.

    It will be part of the story playing out over the next few years.

    The transits coming up for Elon Musk could be described as challenging – but as always with astrology it is difficult to predict exactly how they will play out. And if he leans into his Chiron wound as the asteroid crosses his Midheaven, it is possible that he will be able to use that wound to speak to a part of the US population. Which part though? 

    Perhaps he will speak to the descendants of immigrants and settlers who voted for Trump, who are right leaning and who feel scared of and oppressed by the society that surrounds them. They are, just like his family, pioneers in a land where civil unrest lurks not far from the surface. 

    Musk comes from a country which for decades othered and dehumanised its black population. Where the wealthy shut themselves in gated compounds and drive from one heavily guarded place to the next. Violence still ripples through the country.

    Is this where the US is heading? If so Elon Musk can draw on his experiences from having grown up in South Africa as he will understand what the US population is going through. He will understand this particular expression of Chiron in Aries. 

    But all of that will be more difficult if he falls out with Donald Trump. The two men have a very interesting composite chart with a Sun/Saturn conjunction in late Gemini in the 11th house trining a Jupiter/Neptune conjunction in early Scorpio right on the IC. Both placements also form a sextile with a first house Pluto in Virgo.

    This is a fated relationship, a partnership allowing both men to becoming even wealthier. It will be severely tested as Pluto crosses its Ascendant/Descendant axis starting in 2027.

    What is interesting is that the North Node in the composite chart sits at 17 degrees Aries in the 9th house, right in between Musk’s and the US’s natal Chiron. 

    It all comes back to the pioneer, the settler, themes that are so prominent in Donald Trump’s chart as well. Here we have the settlers, yet again conquering a foreign land, ready to crush all who oppose them and then there is the wound created (Chiron in Aries) in both those who oppress and conquer and crush and those who are oppressed. 

    What exactly does that wound look like? Perhaps a stuntedness and a myopic focus on the individual – an inability to work for balance, harmony and for holistic solutions that serve all (Libra). 

    Mega-wealth

    If I was Elon Musk’s personal peppy astrologer I would suggest that he is now entering a period that will allow him to become even wealthier. 

    In March he will have a progressed New Moon conjunct progressed Venus in Leo in his second house of finances. This is the start of a new thirty year chapter in his life. For some reason the fates are clearly pushing him towards incredible wealth.

    But why? 

    It doesn’t always end well for the people who throughout history have gone down this path. Astrologers have long spoken about Pluto in Aquarius being a time of revolutions. The last time Pluto worked his way through the sign of the people gross inequality lead to the wealthy being beheaded during the French revolution.

    It doesn’t have to end that way this time. But that means those involved in this particular play by the fates have to make enlightened choices and think about what is best for the people (Aquarius) – all of the people – not just the ones that are part of the inner circle. 

    The people might of course also have a say in this too, and they have a will of their own. Take that Aries wounding too far and Libra will rise up to restore the balance.

  • Is football coming home? What watching the Euros taught me about astrology

    Is football coming home? What watching the Euros taught me about astrology

    During the World Cup in 2022 I started looking at astrology and football. Messi had some astonishing transits going on and leading his country to victory was clearly hugely important to him. If I remember correctly the Moon crossed over his Midheaven as Argentina won the penalty shoot-out.

    I thought I’d make another attempt for the Euro 2024 tournament and so far it’s taught me a lot about astrology and perhaps also a little bit about football.

    1. It’s difficult to predict a winner

    Those of us looking at the tournament through an astrological lens aren’t seeing the full picture. In most cases there isn’t a birth time so we’re working without the houses and angles.

    It turns astrology into a slightly more blunt tool and some of the transits are playing out over a long period. Pin-pointing what will happen during one game is difficult.

    Different transits also mean different things to different people, depending on their birth chart.

    So how do you then disentangle what is positive and what is negative?

    Watching how the games unfold and what the astrology means for the players and the managers suggest to me that a transit that might look tough and challenging can also be turned into a positive. It often comes down to how we’re able to work with what we’ve been given.

    2. Working well with what we’ve been given

    England manager Gareth Southgate has a perfectionist, detailed-focus Virgo Sun and a Pluto/Mercury in Virgo conjunction. He has a conservative and stubborn Saturn in Taurus which might find it difficult to adjust and go with the flow, he might be quite fixed and set in his ways.

    He also has a T-square between that Saturn, Mars in Virgo (or Leo depending on when he was born) and Neptune in Scorpio. So that intuitive, instinctive part of his nature could potentially be in conflict with an innate conservatism and a difficulty to change when needed. He might instinctively hold back, or be convinced he’s right, when he should change and listen.

    This is mitigated by the Mercury/Pluto conjunction in Virgo, linking up the placements in a positive way. So perhaps he thinks very deeply about stuff, he’s analytical, he can see patterns and he can communicate this to his players.

    And if the structure is correct at the outset, if he’s made the right calls at the beginning there is no need to change – if he hasn’t then winning comes down to being able to work constructively with the pattern that makes him fear change and spontaneity.

    This tournament is challenging him to do that.

    3. Identifying a transit of the tournament

    The major astrological event for the tournament is a Mars/Uranus conjunction in Taurus which will be almost exact during the final on the 14th of July.

    What does this mean? Perhaps that the nature of the tournament is one that speaks of sudden events or surprises, goals scored late in the game, sudden bursts of energy or a touch of genius on the pitch that will secure a win.

    Several players and managers have placements that are pinged by this conjunction.

    For Southgate it sits almost exactly on his Saturn, trines his Pluto/Mercury and opposes his Neptune. It calls for him to break his pattern, to step away from his innate conservatism. He might need to go with the flow and dare to tap into his instinctive ability to read the game and see patterns (Neptune in Scorpio sextile Mercury/Pluto in Virgo).

    But no matter what happens on Sunday his life and fortune will change when Pluto moves to square his Jupiter early 2026. Too late to be connected to an England win, but a change for him nonetheless.

    4. How to spot a winner

    During the semi-final between England and the Netherlands both players and managers had transiting Saturn opposite Moon aspecting important natal placements in their charts.

    Southgate had it near his natal Sun. Harry Kane had it on his natal Mars i Virgo. Bukayo Saka had it forming a loose grand cross with his Sun, Saturn and Chiron. Goalkeeper Jordan Pickford had it near his Pisces Sun.

    Netherlands manager Ronald Koeman had Saturn on his natal Mercury, which could mean both depressed thoughts or steely resolve. Striker Wout Weghorst had Moon opposite Saturn on his natal Jupiter, so his planet of good luck was activated.

    How come England won?

    Lucky Ollie Watkins scored 90 minutes into the game.

    But was he actually lucky? The astrology shows that the Moon/Saturn opposition during the game hit his natal Saturn and he is having his Saturn return. Not the transit you might associate with success at first glance.

    So the astrology of this tournament has meant a slight reframing of Saturn, which can bring constriction and hardship, but is also the planet that rewards hard work and grit. These players worked hard. Capricorn Ollie Watkins must have worked very hard and dug deep to have this be the moment of his Saturn return – and Saturn has rewarded him.

    5. Who will win the Euros?

    With all of this in mind. Will England win?

    The final is held on the 14th of July in Berlin.

    As I mentioned before I think the big astrological event will be Mars/Uranus at 25 and 26 degrees in Taurus, so I’m keeping this in mind when looking at the charts.

    Spain

    Spain manager Luis de la Fuente has the conjunction trining his natal Saturn, which is also very near retrograding Pluto in Aquarius. Big stuff astrologically. But is it positive or negative?

    The day after the game transiting Mercury is moving towards his natal Uranus and Mars and the Moon is moving towards his natal Neptune. Will his heart swell with the joy of victory or will he be swamped by feelings of anger, frustration and sadness?

    For captain Alvaro Morata Mercury is moving towards his natal Chiron after the game, so his mind might be focused on mistakes and errors. He does have Pluto’s support though, trining his lucky natal Moon/Jupiter conjunction in Libra.

    “Spain’s wonderkid” Rodri has some potentially good astrology with Jupiter, the bringer of good fortune on his Mercury/Mars/Venus conjunction and tapping into a pattern that affects most of his chart. Looks pretty lucky to me. Or big, a big moment in his life.

    Spanish goal keeper David Raya also has some powerful astrology at the moment. The Uranus/Mars conjunction is affecting a powerful and mostly positive pattern in his chart.

    England

    After the game the Moon will cross England manager Southgate’s natal Venus and Jupiter, his feelings might be focused on love and/or victory.

    Jupiter is separating from a trine to his natal Moon and Uranus, so the planet of luck is still sending helpful beams to his natal chart.

    And as mentioned before the Mars/Uranus conjunction taps into several patterns in his chart. The key to his success might be to bend instead of to break, to be flexible even though he might find it difficult.

    After the game Venus will move to conjunct Harry Kane’s natal Sun. Love and adoration iare coming his way, but a few days later Mercury will cross his Chiron so he too might be ruminating on some inner wounds or mistakes.

    The Mars/Uranus conjunction is less helpful for him and is activating some tough points in his chart.

    Saka has Jupiter on his Saturn, opposing Pluto, squaring his Sun and trining his Moon. After the game Venus will return to its natal place and trine his Moon, that looks pretty positive.

    Goalkeeper Jordan Pickford has some tougher transits. Saturn on Sun. Chiron square Moon. Mars/Uranus loosely squaring his natal Mars, but sextiling his Venus.

    After the game the Moon will transit his Jupiter and then Pluto/North Node conjunction in Scorpio.

    So what does this mean? Maybe that the game will go to penalties, so there will be a lot for the different players to process and come to terms with after.

    But what is the clincher? Maybe looking at the 1066 birth chart for England will help?

    On the 14th of July Chiron, the wounded healer, is on England’s Ascendant and the Moon is on the Descendant (the opposite team). Saturn is on the South Node. Neptune is on the natal Moon, squaring Uranus in the 9th house – broken dreams due to something surprising and foreign perhaps.

    Spain has equally powerful astrology. Pluto is on the Ascendant and Venus is on the Descendant. Mars and Uranus are exactly conjunct the IC, the point of home, and opposing the Midheaven. Jupiter is sending lucky beams to natal Pluto/Venus and Jupiter.

    Pluto is transformation, it can mean being lifted up, or falling down. Mars/Uranus is surprise and shock to the homeland. And Jupiter, Jupiter is the giver of gifts and blessings and he is much more active and helpful in the Spanish chart.

    Good luck to both of them on Sunday – a sentence that will probably say more about my understanding of football (outside of astrology) than anything else in the article.

    Photos by Abigail Keenan and Izuddin Helmi Adnan on Unsplash.

  • The astrology of Julian Assange – why was he released now?

    The astrology of Julian Assange – why was he released now?

    Wikileaks founder Julian Assange has left the UK and has landed in Australia. He is now a free man after reaching a plea deal with the US – who had been seeking to prosecute him for leaking military information.

    Assange has spent five years in prison in the UK fighting extradition to the US. Before that he spent seven years in the Ecuadorian Embassy in London.

    During the post-Iraq invasion/financial crisis/Occupy-years he was lauded as a hero.

    Then came allegations of sexual assault in Sweden and questions around his links to Russia. Instead of being extradited to Sweden, where he would have faced charged of rape, he escaped bail in London and sought political asylum and refuge in the Ecuadorian Embassy – just around the corner from Harrods.

    The astrological story of Julian Assange

    Julian Assange has an interesting birth chart with Mars almost exactly conjunct his IC, point of home and the North Node thrown into the mix too. His Sun is in patriotic, home loving Cancer in the 8th house of sex, taboo, power and secrets. His Moon is in perceptive, sharp-thinking and power-hungry Scorpio in the 12th house of the subconscious.

    Cancer is often described as the sign of the mother and the nurturer, but Cancer can also be quite a self-interested sign. It’s interested in nurturing and mothering itself. Which isn’t necessarily a bad thing, just a different expression of those Cancerian vibes.

    To me Julian Assange’s birth chart speaks of a person who has a sharp and penetrating mind, someone who is focused on questions around power and home, and who isn’t afraid to shake things up, to break things in order to change things to how he thinks they should be (IC/Mars/North Node in the maverick sign Aquarius).

    He wouldn’t be afraid to hurt people along the way either with this chart – it’s the ideas and the ideals that matter, not the people or their feelings.

    He has Pluto and Uranus in the 11th house of the collective – so he might appear a bit shocking to the collective, but there is also some kind of deep, compelling or perhaps compulsive link between him and “the people”. The collective might also bring shocking and difficult events into his life.

    Saturn is almost exactly on his Descendant, the point of “the other”, in the 6th house of service. Relationships might not come easily and there might be power imbalances to deal with.

    Finally he has Neptune and Jupiter in the 12th house on his Ascendant in free-thinking, ideological and free-spirited Sagittarius. So who he is seen to be is lifted up by the fantasies of the collective. And at the same time he would be someone who becomes the target of others people’s projections and fantasies – perhaps being made to spend his life playing the role of the archetypal Sagittarius.

    Why was he released now?

    I suspect the discussions around this plea deal might have started when Pluto moved into Aquarius in the spring. That’s when it would have started to trine his Saturn/Descendant and sextiled his Neptune/Ascendant – both positive and supportive aspects suggesting a significant change is in the air.

    Jupiter, the planet of good fortune, would also have been crossing his Saturn/Descendant and opposing his Jupiter/Neptune and Ascendant, sprinkling some extra good fortune on that Pluto transit.

    As Pluto is now moving backward over those points the deal has been finalised and he is released.

    It’s fitting that it is Pluto who will release him as he entered the Ecuadorian Embassy and his imprisonment started with Pluto squaring his natal Moon and opposing his Sun from his second house of finance, security and self-confidence. Mars, the planet of aggression, also crossed his natal Pluto in 2012.

    It’s also interesting that Uranus, the planet of sudden shocks and surprising events, was conjunct his Chiron in the 5th house of children and love affairs in 2012. Suggesting his inner wounding was activated in a sudden and surprising way – and that this wound might be connected to some kind of aggression and sex (Aries and 5th house). Chiron is sometimes a placement that can speak of self-sabotage.

    Saturn would then have crossed his Moon and the other placements in the 12th house, as well as his Ascendant, during the years in the embassy – bringing constriction, restriction and perhaps a period of low health.

    Then, in April 2019 when Ecuador revoked his asylum and he was sent to HMP Belmarsh, Pluto and then Saturn moved from his second house into his third house of communication and the mind. Perhaps suggesting that this was the time when he became serious about how to get out.

    Another significant time for Pluto transits came two years later – around the pandemic. Pluto opposed his natal Mercury, trined his Pluto and sextiled his Jupiter, which could have been a positive shift and lead to breakthroughs around how to move forward, especially with the legal side of the story. Around this time Australian MPs visited the UK in order to help him and his case.

    There might have been setbacks – or hard work – when Saturn crossed his IC and Mars in 2022. He also had his Chiron return. In April that year his extradition to the US was approved.

    Why didn’t it go through? Perhaps his lucky natal Jupiter saved him. On the day when the extradition was approved by the UK courts a Jupiter/Neptune conjunction opposed Assange’s natal Pluto and trined his Jupiter and Mercury – suggesting that the outcome of the ruling might not be negative for him.

    After several attempts to appeal he was given permission to do so in May this year – just as Pluto had crossed into Aquarius and with transiting Sun/Venus/Jupiter and Uranus tapping into the same pattern – on his natal Saturn. This was the point when he won his freedom.

    Ultimately it seems like it was his country that came through for him – or at least claimed the win.

    When Julian Assange touched down on Australian soil on the 26th of June 2024 Australian PM Anthony Albanese said he had fought for Assange because he believes “in standing up for Australian citizens”.

    Quite a fitting end to this chapter in the life of a man with so many placements that speak of home and his homeland.

    The astrology suggests this isn’t the last we will hear of Mr Assange. He had a progressed New Moon in 2020, very near his Midheaven, suggesting the next 30-year chapter of his life might bring more fame, infamy and renown.

    Photo by Markus Spiske on Unsplash and Acidpolly on Flickr.

  • Walking with the fates – A Pluto transit survival guide

    Walking with the fates – A Pluto transit survival guide

    I often mention Pluto in my readings because I know how important and transformative a Pluto transit can be.

    Pluto is fate. He comes in and can often change everything, he pulls us up at the roots, he pulls the rug away from underneath our feet, he’s the forest fire that clears away the dead wood so new green shoots can grow.

    A Pluto transit is often a process of deep transformation, of death and rebirth.

    Some of us will have had more experiences with Pluto than others. The dwarf planet moves slowly through the skies and can stay in a sign for many decades. Those with many placements in Sagittarius or Capricorn – or the two opposite signs, Gemini and Cancer – would have felt Pluto’s power since the mid 1990s.

    The meaning of Pluto in astrology

    Pluto was named after the Roman God of the Underworld and often a Pluto transit, which lasts on and off for around three years, can feel like a descent into his realm.

    But, as we learn how to work with the energies of the transit and with what Pluto is trying to teach us, we start to climb back up, into the light.

    Pluto is power and a Pluto transit can also bring power, fame and empowerment your way. Pluto can lift you up if you’re down, because at its core Pluto is transformation.

    One example of this is Taylor Swift, who had Pluto on her Sun as she began working and performing in Nashville in 2004 and 2005. Pluto lifted her up and brought her onto a predestined path – and someone as successful as her will often channel and represent something in the time or in the collective. Since the early 2000s Pluto has crossed or opposed almost all of the important placements in her chart and brought her mega-fame and wealth.

    As someone born in December in the 1980s Pluto has also crossed or opposed most of the placements in my birth chart. For me the process brought self-knowledge and a slowly unfolding process around how to use storytelling in a helpful and healing way.

    Pluto transits can affect us in many different ways. By working with the planet these periods can be both empowering and bring healing.

    1. Figure out how Pluto will affect your natal chart

    Go to a website like astro.com and find the Extended Chart Selection. Type in your birth details and in the section called Chart Types choose Natal Chart and Transits.

    Then look at your Birth Chart and locate your natal Pluto, the symbol looks a bit like the letter “P”.

    Look up the sign and the house for your natal Pluto. This can tell you, among other things, a bit about the generational experiences that might play out through your life and in which area (house) those experiences might fall. I’ve written more about the generational nature of Pluto in a post about the Pluto square Pluto transit, which all of us will have in our mid-life.

    Your natal Pluto can also give an idea of the flavour your Pluto transits might have. A Pluto in Scorpio in the second house might be confronted with themes around security, safety and finances. A Pluto in Libra in the 5th house might have experiences around relationships, love-affairs and infidelity – or channel that placement into becoming a successful artist.

    The next step when looking at your chart is to find out where Pluto is now. Locate the “P” for Pluto amongst the green symbols circling around the birth chart. That’s where Pluto is in the skies at the moment.

    Which house is he in? And is he aspecting any of the planets in your natal chart? Is he on top of a placement, or perhaps opposite one? Other aspects to look out for are squares, where Pluto sits at a 90 degree angle to a placement in your chart, or a trine where he is at a 120 degree angle. Squares can feel a bit abrasive, trines are often supportive and positive.

    The conjunction (Pluto on top of a placement) or opposition (opposite a placement) are often the transits you will feel the most.

    The easiest way to start figuring out the astrological story is to do some research around the house transiting Pluto (the green symbol) is in. And if you’re having an opposition, square or trine – look up that house too. Those houses will speak of the areas of your life Pluto will be working on.

    Then look up the personal planet that is being aspected. That’s the part of you that will be asked to transform. Pluto on your natal Mercury could mean studying a new subject or your worldview changing somehow. Pluto on your Venus might mean that your relationships, how you love and how you’re loved, will go through a process of transformation. Pluto in your Ascendant might mean that the way you’re perceived in the world and the way you yourself present yourself to others will change.

    Finally look up the signs involved in the story. Pluto is in Aquarius now, the eccentric and egalitarian water-bearer. Over the next twenty years people with placements in the fixed signs Aquarius, Leo, Scorpio and Taurus will be exposed to the power of Pluto.

    2. Let go

    Pluto often asks us to let go of something. And sometimes he takes something away from us. The earlier in the transit you can figure out what it is you’re supposed to let go of the easier the ride might be. The more you cling on to the past or to an old version of yourself the harder Pluto might make you work. So figure out what it is you’re supposed to evolve away from and let go.

    When Pluto transited my Sun in my late teens I suddenly knew I had to walk away from a dysfunctional relationship that was causing both me and my first boyfriend pain. With Pluto there is sometimes this inner knowing that you don’t really have a choice anymore – I knew I was done with the relationship and there was no going back. A wall had been raised between what was becoming the past and my future.

    When the transit was over I had left my boyfriend, my old circle of friends and my hometown. I had graduated high school and I moved to a big city several hours away to go to university. My life changed completely.

    Shamanic healer and spiritual guide Tansy Alexandra, who has also had many significant Pluto experiences in her life, speaks of how Pluto teaches us to step more fully into who we are. Pluto’s transits achieve this by making us let go of old stories around who we thought we should be and what we thought we should do with our lives.

    She puts it beautifully when she says Pluto has brought her: “an understanding of who I am, where I am, and in what existence/experience I am in, which makes what I thought I wanted appear as something of a diversion from what I truly needed and fundamentally wanted in this life”. 

    That is the power of Pluto, he teaches us about what the fates want from us. And the earlier in the transit we can take a deep breath and let go of the old. To shake off our old skin and bravely step up to what is asked of us, the easier the transit will be.

    And that’s where Pluto can show us his other side. He can empower us and lift us up.

    3. Ask for help if you need it

    Sometimes it isn’t possible to work through a Pluto transit on your own. Especially as what the planet asks of you is often a deep and profound transformation. I wish I would have known this when Pluto opposed my Moon. This was the most difficult Pluto transit for me – and from listening to my clients’ experiences I know that Pluto opposite Moon, more so than any other Pluto transits, can be very challenging.

    The Moon is our inner emotional nature, it’s also a point of emotional safety. To have the planet of transformation, the Lord of the Underworld, opposite that tender spot in our chart can feel like a free fall.

    For me it meant that all my coping mechanisms and places of safety were stripped away and I had to find new ways to feel safe.

    Up until that point I had been a confident and extremely self-reliant person. I thought I could take on almost anything and for a long time I had told myself a story of not needing anyone – that relying on other people was somehow a weakness.

    Then Pluto opposed my Moon and brought me many different experiences that took away that confidence and self-reliance.

    I started having panic attacks. For a while I felt like I was walking with death beside me and what was asked of me was to learn how to live with the knowledge that everything can be taken away from you.

    At the time, before I knew this was a Pluto transit, I described those three years as walking into a dark valley, walking through the darkness, and then climbing back up again – which is exactly what a Pluto transit can feel like.

    With hindsight I know that it would have been helpful to seek out healers and helpers at this point in time. Pluto was in my 12th house of the subconscious and spirit opposing my Moon in the 6th house of health, service and worry. Energy work, bodywork and shamanic work – even prayer – would all have been extremely good tools to use had I known it at the time.

    But I didn’t. Instead what that Pluto transit brought me was a budding knowledge that it’s OK to ask for help, that I can’t walk through life alone, that I am and need to be vulnerable.

    We all fall down sometimes, that’s just how life is for most people. And we can’t always do it all on our own. We live in a society where we’re not supposed to show weakness or fear or vulnerability. That makes it so much harder to deal with some elements of a Pluto transit. These can be moments when we do fall down and accepting that is also part of the process, as is being able to ask for help and to let our loved ones know that we aren’t OK. And that’s often where the healing starts.

    Photo by Elly Endeavours on Unsplash and the rest from the British Library on Flickr.

  • A tale of two politicians – fear, hope and the UK general election 2024

    A tale of two politicians – fear, hope and the UK general election 2024

    Two politicians are currently getting a lot of media attention in the UK ahead of the general election on the 4th of July 2024. They represent opposites of a spectrum. One has spent his whole political career speaking to our fears and our prejudices, leaning into feelings of discontent and anger. It has made him hugely influential and he is now running to become an MP for the first time in his life.

    The other politician has had a low profile until now. Suddenly he seems to be everywhere on social media. Journalists are sharing his latest stunts – videos of him looking jolly and joyful, laughing as he’s drumming in a retirement home or going down a water slide.

    In a more serious video he talks about what it’s like to be a carer for his disabled son. He talks about his father dying when he was young and how, a few years later, he nursed his mother when she was suffering from terminal cancer. He speaks of the importance of a society looking after everyone. He talks about carers, about those who suffer, those who are ill and vulnerable and about what politicians can do to help them.

    So here we have the two sides of the British general election – appealing to two different sides of human nature.

    We have the former Ukip leader Nigel Farage, once again promising that the answers lie in getting rid of everything that scares and angers us.

    Then we have Ed Davey, the leader of the Liberal democrats, speaking to the part of this country that wants to be inclusive, to help, to nurture and to support.

    So what can astrology tell us about these two characters and the upcoming election?

    Nigel Farage’s birth chart

    It looks like it will be a good election for Nigel Farage. If the birth data is correct then Jupiter, the planet of good fortune, will be almost exactly conjunct his Midheaven on the 4th of July. He will be lifted up, he will be seen and all eyes will be on him. Perhaps the Tories will fall apart and elect him leader. It’s all possible.

    The North Node has just crossed his natal Sun, so this is his destiny. He speaks to something in the collective consciousness. Often with characters like him and Donald Trump their purpose is to collect all that is ugly and nasty out there and then speak it back to the crowd. They highlight the parts of society that need help, the bits that we haven’t focused enough on. A lot of darkness is channeled through them, to hopefully, eventually be transformed and released. The question is just how much damage those dark urges and instincts can cause while they are being uplifted and given power.

    There is a sense that victory, when it comes on the 4th of July, might be short-lived or a bit of a poisoned chalice for Mr Farage. He will have Saturn retrograding over his Chiron and then crossing his Mars and Sun in the next two years, as well as squaring his Moon. Tough.

    He might be stymied in power. Hamstrung, because his whole career has been about tearing things down.

    Uranus will also cross his Venus, then his Midheaven and move into his 10th house. Lots of change and upheaval.

    And Pluto is squaring his Mercury, potentially a sign of conflict and power-struggles. Although looking at the transits I’m wondering if there might be some domestic stuff going on for him too. Perhaps a love affair or some kind of romantic entanglement that will take up time and energy as Pluto is in the 5th house and his Mercury is in the 8th.

    His progressions also speak of a short period of success, that could be followed by disappointment and disillusionment with his political peers.

    Ed Davey’s birth chart

    I don’t have a birth time for Ed Davey, so looking at his chart will be a bit more hit and miss.

    He also has powerful transits around the time of the election. The first is Pluto on his natal Moon/Mars conjunction. Pluto can bring someone power and Pluto on Moon/Mars means the transit is connected to deep set values and feelings that he is willing to fight for. With that conjunction he is a fighter at heart. And who does he fight for? The Aquarius placement suggests it’s the underdog, the left behind, the misunderstood. Aquarius can also simply stand for “the people”.

    He’s also had Saturn on his natal Saturn/Chiron conjunction, which is opposite Uranus/Pluto. That’s quite the chart pattern. This election has been hard work. It’s highlighted his childhood wounds, but there is a sense that this is an unusual and resilient character who is somehow compelled to work with that wounding.

    Jupiter will be conjunct his natal North Node during the campaign and moving towards his natal Jupiter after the election. All good signs for Ed Davey and the Lib dems.

    His progressions suggest this will be an important chapter in his life. He has recently had a progressed New Moon (in 2022), this is the beginning of a new phase.

    His progressed Moon is on his Chiron in Pisces. So he really is working with his own wounds here, wounds that speak to the collective and might perhaps be healing to the collective. Progressed Venus is moving towards his natal Moon/Mars, another positive astrological sign.

    The connection with the collective

    So what can these two uplifted men say about the UK as country?

    The connections between Nigel Farage and the UK chart from 1801 are uncanny. Farage’s North Node is on the UK’s Midheaven. His Sun is on the chart’s North Node. Yikes. He really is part of the country’s fate and growth.

    His Moon is on the UK’s Mercury. So he can feel into the country’s state of mind. His Saturn is on the UK’s Pluto, channeling and concretising its darker instincts and hunger for power. His Mars is very near the Descendant – he will stand for fighting “the other”.

    What about Ed Davey then?

    The links aren’t as apparent and much softer. There is a Venus conjunction between the two charts – a connection around what we love and how we show it.

    Davey’s Sun is very close to the UK’s point of home and ancestry, the IC. So he does stand for and represent something in the country’s nature. His Pluto/Uranus trine the UK’s Mercury and sextile its Moon from the 12th house of the collective. So he can be a channel for a different story, a different energy. They sit in the sign of Virgo – the sign of service and of those who work in the healing arts.

    Fingers crossed this is the story that starts to resonate on the 4th of July and in the years that follow.

    Photo by Chris Boland on Unsplash.

  • What’s up with the water? The astrology of contamination

    What’s up with the water? The astrology of contamination

    The rivers are full of E coli and we’re told not to go wild swimming. The shores stink of untreated sewage. The Thames is turning into a sewer – again.

    And while this is happening the privatised water companies have payed their shareholders and directors millions and millions of pounds in dividends and bonuses over several decades as the infrastructure crumbles around them.

    It’s bad. But it’s not the first time its happened in the UK.

    Some of you might have heard of John Snow. Not the guy from Game of Thrones, the scientist who was much derided in the 1800s for suggesting that it was the bacteria in the water that was causing waves of cholera outbreaks around the country.

    Back then no one had been able to see these little bugs and Snow’s ideas seemed too far fetched. The medical establishment laughed at him. Even though people were finding pieces of toilet paper in their drinking water.

    This went on for decades. Thousands of people died a horrible death. It wasn’t until after John Snow himself had died that people started to take matters into their own hands.

    They started to boil their water, then they started suing the water companies that had pumped unfiltered water straight from the Thames into their homes. Then the thinking shifted. But it took a long time.

    And now it seems like we’re having to learn the same lessons again here in the UK.

    So why is this country seemingly so bad at looking after its water?

    The astrology of the Great Stink

    One event to look at is the so called Great Stink in 1858, when the stench from the Thames became so intolerable that parliament finally decided to build the city a new sewer.

    What’s interesting about the chart for the day when parliament started to debate what to do with the Thames is the grand trine in water signs.

    Neptune is in Pisces in the 6th house of hygiene trining Mars in the second house and Saturn in the 11th house in Cancer. So the collective had had enough, they had decide to start caring for their water and made sure there were funds available to do it.

    Neptune is in the last quarter of its transit through Pisces in the chart. The issues had been building and building until a point where there was finally a decision to do something about it.

    Neptune is currently in Pisces as well. The watery planet has been in its own sign since 2011 and will stay there until 2026.

    The astrology of the Brixham water contamination scandal

    On the 18th of May there was a modern water scandal here in the UK. That day residents living in an area of Devon were told to boil their water after the bacteria cryptosporidium was found in the supply. Several people fell ill.

    The chart for that day also has Moon in Leo. And there is a positive pattern linking Neptune in Pisces to Sun/Uranus/Jupiter/Venus and Pluto.

    There is an urgent need in the collective (Pluto in Aquarius) to find innovative ways of sorting things out (the very healing and practical Sun/Uranus/Jupiter/Venus conjunction in Taurus). And it’s connected to how we treat our water – Neptune in Pisces.

    Water, the general election and astrology

    The UK is soon about to vote in a general election. And what I’m interested in is if it will have an impact on the 1989 Water Act – that’s the legislation that privatised the water companies and it might be one reason for the current mess we’re in.

    The Act was given royal assent at midnight on the 6th of July 1989.

    The Ascendant is at 27 degrees Pisces. A chart point that Neptune will cross a couple of times before it leaves the sign in 2026.

    This chart also has the Moon in Leo. This time its in an uncomfortable conjunction with Mars/Venus in the 5th house square Pluto in the 8th house. A gambling, dare-devil and devil may care risk taking – leading to financial rewards.

    Neptune/Saturn are exactly conjunct in Capricorn in the 10th sextiling that Pluto. This Act will make some people very rich. And it’s the people – Chiron/Sun in Cancer in the 4th – who will suffer.

    Unfortunately there isn’t much in the transits indicating that things will change soon. Pluto will start to oppose the Water Act’s Venus, Mars and then Moon from the 11th house of the collective as it moves through Aquarius over the next twenty years. The people might speak up.

    Saturn and then Uranus will cross the IC and then Chiron and the Sun, opposing the placements in the 10th. This will change things, but it will play out over the next decade or so.

    What sort of person do we need to sort this out?

    Perhaps someone like John Snow with his grand trine in water signs, a powerful Pluto/Sun conjunction in those final degrees of Pisces, connecting to Jupiter in nurturing Cancer and a genius Uranus in detailed focused and perceptive Scorpio.

    There is also a health focused T-square between a physicians Moon in Virgo, the wounded healer Chiron and Venus in Pisces and visionary Neptune in Sagittarius.

    Just the sort of person we might need to end this sad chapter in the story of the sacred waters of this country.

    But I didn’t answer my question – why has the country gone through periods of neglecting and abusing its water?

    Perhaps the Moon in Leo offers up a clue. It’s a Moon that potentially doesn’t care about anything but itself. Is that Moon having a good time? Is it rolling in money? Then everything is fine. So there is no need to worry about the toilet paper in the drinking water – until the people (Aquarius on the opposite side of the Zodiac) rise up and say they’ve had enough.

    Pictures via Unsplash by: Benjamin Elliott, Paul Macallan and the blowup.

  • The astrology of best-sellers: Lord of the Rings

    The astrology of best-sellers: Lord of the Rings

    There is magic and an epic quest and monsters. But that’s not what made the Lord of the Rings such an enduring classic. The astrology of the book is clear – the story has tapped into a seam in the collective subconscious.

    But what can those of us who write and create learn from its success?

    I’ve previously written about how writers can use astrology in their creative practice and how astrology can help us make sense of why we create.

    In this series of posts I’m going to look at the astrological markers for why and how a book might become a best seller.

    The Fellowship of the Ring, the first book in the trilogy, was published in 1954. The books have since become one of the most successful fantasy series ever. According to the Tolkien estate over 150 million copies of the trilogy have been sold worldwide (fewer than Harry Potter, but more than Twilight, Narnia and A song of Ice and Fire).

    The books have been turned into a successful film trilogy and a series on Amazon. But they weren’t an instant hit and started to take off in the public imagination in the counter-cultural melting pot of the 1960s.

    The author, J.R.R. Tolkien, was a tweed-clad professor of Anglo-Saxon at the University of Oxford and he had written about an idealised England, creating his own universe out of old myths.

    So what can astrology tell us about what was going here?

    This is the chart for the day when the book was published (I’ve chosen the start of the working day in London as the time). There is a stellium in Cancer in the 11th house – a story that speaks of home in a way which is nurturing to the collective. The chart ruler, the intellectual and inquisitive Mercury, is in this house too, conjunct Jupiter –the planet that can lift you up and bring fame, success and good luck.

    There is also a square to Saturn in the second house, showing that success might take time or come late, but that there will be longevity to this project.

    Pluto in the 12th allows the story to pick up themes around a submerged collective trauma – probably having something to do with home, the threat of losing ones home, country or way of life due to war or ideological differences (trine Mars in Sag in the 4th).

    A longed for myth about England

    The series took off in the US, but it’s a story that is rooted in Englishness. Tolkien was an expert on Anglo-Saxon who wanted to create his own founding myth for his beloved country. There is a general belief that he was working with his own trauma of living through two world wars. He served in WWI, fighting at the battle of the Somme where one of his childhood friends were killed.

    Tolkien has always denied that the books were allegories of the wars, but there is clearly something in the books and the chart that speaks of defending ones home against foreign forces of darkness. And that home is the Shire, an idealised version a rural, pre-industrialised England.

    A link between Lord of the Rings and Brexit?

    So what happens to the chart if we look at the transits on the 23 of June 2016, when the collective psyche in England was gripped by a fantasy of this idealised long lost country and Britain voted to leave the EU? It’s fascinating.

    The transiting North Node and Jupiter are almost exactly conjunct the natal Venus (and near the Ascendant). This myth, this dream of a perfect country (Venus in Virgo) is heightened and enlarged by Jupiter. Transiting Saturn is on the IC – almost a sense of a need to force home (the IC) to become something from the past (Saturn).

    Pluto is on the natal North Node, a sense of destiny – as if this is the destiny of its people. Neptune is on the Descendant, so there is confusion around everyone else and everyone who isn’t “us” is seen through a foggy lens. It’s fascinating that this truly English fantasy was being activated at that point in time.

    Which made me wonder if there are any astrological links between the book and the politicians involved in Brexit.

    The prime minister who seems the most connected to this traditionalist and nostalgic view of a long lost England is the vicar’s daughter Theresa May who talked so fondly about running through fields of wheat (the naughtiest thing she’s ever done) and who talked disparagingly about “people of nowhere”, people who didn’t belong.

    Interestingly there are connections between her chart and the Lord of the Rings chart. When she was born there was a Moon/Venus conjunction on the book’s 12th house Pluto in Leo, trining its Mars in Sagittarius in the 4th and sextiling the Neptune in Libra in the second.

    That seems to be the pattern then, the compelling story that connects to a collective and subconscious urge to defend a home against a foreign invader, to save its beauty and its safe, peaceful way of life.

    And would you believe it, Jupiter is on the book’s natal Venus again. The people’s dream of a perfect country.

    What about the new King then? The one who talks to plants and goes to Romania once a year to live among wild flowers and cheese makers? The king who is passionate about a long lost rural civilisation and longs for a by-gone time. Are there any links to his chart?

    Not really. Which is interesting too. His natal Moon is opposite the book’s Saturn, that’s about it. So he symbolises and stands for a different fantasy of England. In the Lord of the Rings there is no king in the Shire.

    A deeper story about a long lost England

    When looking at the success of Lord of the Rings from an astrological perspective it seems clear that the story became popular by speaking to a yearning in the collective subconscious.

    Perhaps the story is linked to something uniquely English, perhaps it picked up a thread, a pattern that is part of this country and its story. But what is that story?

    There are a few different birth charts for the United Kingdom. The one I feel inclined to use here is the 1066 chart, when William the conquerer was crowned King of England. It was the first coronation in Westminster Abbey (which has of course burned down and been rebuilt several times since). The coronation was the result of a conquest and England hasn’t been successfully invaded since.

    There are again some interesting links between the charts.

    The 1066 chart’s Saturn and North Node are on top of the book’s Venus. Uranus is separating from a conjunction with the book’s Mars (connecting to the same pattern as the previous charts). And that’s perhaps what conquest looks like. That mythical and archetypal idea of England that is woven through the trilogy was squashed and challenged in 1066.

    The chart for the union of Great Britain and Ireland in 1801 (the chart that represents the launch of empire) has core wound Chiron close to the IC, the point of home and ancestry. But – Jupiter is conjunct the Sun and Moon, the ideal is wounded but the home is also enlarged and magnified.

    An author able to tackle a profound and ambitious story

    But part of the story of book’s success is of course also found in the chart of its author. So why Tolkien? How was this professor able to tap into this larger myth that spoke to so many people.

    Well firstly Tolkien’s ambitious Sun in Capricorn in the 5th house of creativity is conjunct the book’s North Node – so the books are part of his destiny.

    He has a beautiful grand trine in the air signs (the mind and intellect) between Saturn in the first house, Venus in the 6th house of work and Pluto/Neptune in the 9th house of publishing and higher learning. This is someone with an active mind and imagination who can tap into something profound.

    Mercury, the planet of communication and how we think, has just entered ambitious and hard-working Capricorn. Retrograde, so slightly off-beat and eccentric. It’s in the fourth house of home – and he re-created a myth of his homeland.

    Mercury is also supported by Moon conjunct the Descendant, so he is able to feel into the other, perhaps picking up the underlying need of the time. It’s also supported by Uranus, the genius and the maverick, in the second house of wealth. A potential sign of sudden windfalls and financial success, especially as it’s trining Jupiter.

    When the book was published there was a Jupiter/Mercury conjunction opposite his Sun and the transiting North Node. A good sign. But Saturn was on Tolkien’s natal Uranus in his second house. Success would have to wait until the early 60s when Pluto crossed his Ascendant, a transit that changes how we’re seen.

    Jupiter was back opposing Tolkien’s natal Sun when the first Lord of the Rings film came out in December 2001. But what’s really interesting is that Saturn is almost conjunct his career point the Midheaven and Pluto is on the other side of the chart conjunct his point of home, the IC. Saturn brings longevity to his career, but Pluto the planet of deep transformation sits on the point of home – the films changed the story.

    Finally the book’s destiny point, its North Node, is in Capricorn in the 5th house. There are a couple of way to interpret that. Either this archetypal story of England (as seen through the book) has something to do with building a better future for the children of the country. Or the intention of the author was to write an ambitious story that was supposed to be a fun, exciting and escapist ride. Or perhaps it’s both.

    Images via Unsplash: Oliver Spicer, Birmingham Museums Trust, Samuel Regan-Asante.

  • The astrology of turning 40 – dealing with your first Pluto square Pluto

    The astrology of turning 40 – dealing with your first Pluto square Pluto

    Pluto squares itself around the time when we turn 40. Something that will activate a generational imprint in our birth chart and can bring themes of the collective into our lives.

    Many cultures don’t have initiation rites in a traditional sense any more. But we do have several thresholds to cross as we journey from childhood into adulthood and then old age – thresholds that can be tracked astrologically.

    Between the age of 27 to 30 we experience our Saturn return, when transiting Saturn returns to its place in the birth chart. It’s a time to leave childhood behind, to grow up and take responsibility for our actions and lives. Its exact expression will depend on who you are and where Saturn can be found in your birth chart.

    Then we have Pluto square Pluto around the age of 40 (and also Neptune square Neptune and a bit later the Uranus opposition). These all fall slightly differently depending on when you were born – but they are often described as the mid-life crisis transits.

    First Pluto will shake things up then Neptune might make everything a bit foggy, then Uranus comes in and tells us to break free. Or so the story goes.

    Healing stories of Pluto square Pluto

    A few weeks ago I had the privilege to assist during an astrological workshop run by my friend Amy Bird. With her Leo Sun in the 4th house, Gemini rising and Capricorn moon in the 9th she is a natural and gifted teacher who by being her joyful self conjures up a hearth fire where women feel at home and safe enough to share their stories and bare their scars. What a powerful place that can be.

    We were a mixed group – different ages, different experiences, different lives. And we were exploring how to find purpose in the birth chart. It was only natural to go to those big, generational turning points in life.

    I’m about to leave my thirties behind and I’m coming up to my first Pluto square Pluto transit. At the workshop everyone else had crossed this particular threshold. And hearing their stories impressed upon me how pivotal this time can be for many of us.

    The meaning of different Pluto generations

    Pluto stays in a sign between 12 and 30 years (the difference is down to his elliptical orbit) and the genertional nature of Pluto is a lovely reminder that we are part of a collective. We are born into a particular time and the nature of that time will play out through us and our lives.

    The generation with Pluto in Libra, born between 1972 and 1984, might find that stories and themes around relationships and finding balance are coming up in their lives. They were born to a generation of parents where the woman was able to be other things than a mother, where divorce and new kinds of family set ups started to become more normalised and accepted. They might also have seen their parents having to, or choosing to, work very hard and in some cases look for a different way to live or a different set of values.

    Pluto in Virgo (1957 to 1972) might have had themes around health, work and service playing out through their lives. They would have been born into a time when the giddy relief felt after the war had already become embedded in the baby boomer generation (Pluto in Leo, 1939 to 1958).

    The lucky Pluto in Leo generation has lived through an era where in many parts of the world house prices kept rising, jobs were for life and there was an underlying sense of stability and that things kept getting better.

    Individual stories might of course bring forth different experiences of this, but many of those born with Pluto in Leo were, or are now, able to enjoy a comfortable retirement with the help of the wealth that has been built up during their lives. They are learning how to shine, how to take up space.

    Things weren’t as easy for the following cohort. Pluto in Virgo had to work harder and probably also felt like it had to work hard. This is the rat-race generation, the health conscious generation, the trying to do everything right generation.

    My own cohort is the Pluto in Scorpio generation, born between 1983 and 1995. This is a generation that has popularised astrology, that is turning to mysticism and magic, in order to understand themselves and other people and make sense of the world. This cohort has also made it acceptable to talk about mental health – it’s a generation that is aware of the darker themes in life.

    As young adults or teenagers we experienced a global financial crisis, suddenly the upwardly mobile path was taken away. Then, as many of us were starting a family or had young families, the pandemic hit. So there is a generational theme of learning how to deal with loss, trauma and uncertainty, that deeply transformational nature of Scorpio. We were also the first generation to grow up with the internet – connected to and merging with the collective and its unconscious urges and drives.

    Pluto square Pluto brings the collective into our own story

    At the workshop the collective themes of Pluto could be seen in the stories that were shared. Two women with Pluto in Virgo talked about being pregnant around their Pluto square Pluto and then learning about healing in order to help their child. During the transit they were called to working with, in one case healing minds, and in the other healing bodies, both of which are expressions of Virgo.

    I’ve heard other friends speak of how the Pluto square Pluto transit was a time when they started to do some serious inner work or were set on their spiritual path, when the fates pushed them towards the next phase of their lives. Both are now successfully helping others by working with different healing modalities.

    As I’m waiting for this part of my own Pluto story to unfold I’m also thinking about how we can use the story of the birth chart and its transits in an empowered way – like my friends and the women in the workshop.

    Working proactively with transits with the help astrology

    In an episode of the Astrology podcast fertility astrologer Nicola Smuts Allsop talks about dealing with transits proactively and how she worked with a tricky one in her own life.

    She had an upcoming potentially difficult transit to her ASC/DC axis – the self and the other – and knew there was a risk of her marriage breaking down. She talks about working with the energies of the transit and events fate had brought into her life – she moved abroad and lived separately from her husband for a while. And her marriage survived.

    She uses this story to explain how she helps her clients work with the energies in their own birth chart and with the energy of a transit in a constructive way.

    It’s a fascinating take on astrology and one I’ve come across before, but her way of explaining it made a lot sense to me. She talks about among other things recommending that some of her clients with challenging Saturn/Neptune aspects take up analogue photography in order to express those energies in a helpful and healthy way.

    The point is that we can sometimes take the fates by the hand. By using ritual, by doing, it is possible to find new and different and exciting expressions of the energies and themes playing out through us and in our lives. And the beauty of astrology is that it gives us a hint of what might be coming up and how to work with it. It also places our own lives and selves into a much larger narrative.

    Pluto square Pluto is an opportunity to work with a big generational transit. And to see how our lives fit into the story of the time and the cohort we’re born into.

    I’m inspired by the women who have used this transit to work on themselves and used that knowledge to help others.

    All images from the fantastic British Library Database on Flickr.