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Christina's Blog
The Oxford Astrologer
Culture, Sociey and Astrology
from Mythopia
I don't subscribe to any particular school of astrology, but I do make a point of keeping up to date. I choose the ideas that work when I apply them to a real chart and real life and throw out the ones that turn out to be, well, wishful.
... NeptuneCafe presents ...
Christina Rodenbeck, based in the ancient centre of learning, Oxford, examines living mythology through the lens of astrology. She likes to challenge prevailing orthodoxy, champion
originality and enchant with a good story. She is available for personal consultation. Read more of what she has to say at The Oxford Astrologer.
Angela Merkel
The She-Chancellor
George Clooney Marries - the cosmopolitan lawyer Amal Alamuddin. Clooney was a commitment-phobe, what changed his mind?
Saturn in Scorpio - is going through the last third of this sign, and will be entering Sagittarius soon. What this transit means for each sign.
Jupiter in Leo - 10 fun things to do. It’s time to throw off that cloak of Cancerian wistfulness and embrace the game of life once more.
Tony Blair - has become a multi-multi millionaire. Like Satan himself he has become a fixer, middle-man, adviser to the international .001%.
Two posts! - the UK's Independent Party upsets traditional loyalties, and Maya Angelou and her poem Phenomenal Woman
Chiron, the Wounded Healer - turns retrograde in June at 17º Pisces, a key degree area that has historically coincided with major wars.
Conscious Uncoupling - The astrology behind Gwyneth Paltrow's and Chris Martin's gentle separation, plus a look at their composite chart.
Mars in Libra - Now that transiting Mars is in Libra, have a look at what celebrities born with this placement have to say. Famous quotes.
Woody Allen's UR-PL transits - A look at his horoscope and what it indicates about Dylan Farrow. Plus Mia Farrow and Woody's composite chart
Ukraine - History as Process - Ukraine gained its independence in 1991, but is currently being torn by riots, Here's what its horoscope tells us.
Nelson Mandela's Chiron Return - The famous South African leader gave his most celebrated speech one Chiron cycle before his death.
Doctor Who's Chiron Return - The fabulous sci-fi series first aired in 1963. How does the show’s story lines reflect the British psyche?
The US Fiscal Deficit - is the mother of all debts. Mercury and Saturn combine to stall discussions along with the UR-PL square and eclipses
The Dwarf Planet Ceres - is profoundly connected to nurturing, parenting, fertility: the cycle of birth, growth, death and rebirth
UK Nixes Syrian Invasion - PM Cameron Page's intention to join the U.S. is thwarted by Parliament. Here's how the UK chart is shaping up
Prince George - his Cancer Sun, chart with Scorpio Ascendant and 8th house planets explained. Plus the royal pattern of 10th house planets.-
Turkey's Identity Crisis: As Saturn crosses Turkey's Scorpio Sun, the nation and its neighbors wonder if it's a secular or Islamic state...
Water Grand Trine - This isn't just any old Grand Trine: it's between three heavy-duty planets, Jupiter in Cancer, Saturn in Scorpio and Neptune in its own sign Pisces.
Oxford Archives
Angela Merkel, Germany’s Kanzlerin or she-chancelllor, is indisputably the most powerful woman in the world. And yet she seems so wildly unlike most politicians – where are the flashy smile, the clotheshorse spouse, the sharp suit, the soundbite?
Yes, where are Silvio Berlusconi, Nicolas Sarkozy, Jose Luis Zapatero, Tony Blair, Gordon Brown…? Sacked by the electorate.
Every other European leader has been replaced since the banking crisis started in 2007; only Angela Merkel, the “grey mouse” from East Germany, has not just survived but thrived in these tough times.
Clearly, her appeal to (at least half of) the German electorate is profound. And actually, it’s not hard to see why. She’s led that country through the incredibly tricky economic swamp that is Europe post credit crunch. She has been prudent, restrained, courteous – imagine having to deal with Berlusconi at some of those meetings. She has taken her time making decisions that have turned out to be right for Germany. Not only that she appears to believe that leading a country is a form of public service, that power should be wielded for the public good. When it came to it, she wasn’t afraid to do a U-turn on nuclear power, axing the entire programme and steering Germany towards massive investment in alternative energy sources after Fukushima. She is future oriented, not, like so many politicians, because of her personal “legacy”, but because she takes the long view for her country.
The two stand-out features of Merkel’s chart are the stellium in Cancer, the sign of the mother, so appropriate for a politician known as Mutti, and the planet of mass projection, Neptune, on the Midheaven.
Cancer is one of the political signs – along with Capricorn and Libra. Cancer is not only about mother love, but about the love of one’s nation. Germany has been good to Merkel. She was born in East Germany, under repressive communist rule, and spent her life until her mid-30s in obscurity, working as a chemist and avoiding too much politics. Then in 1989, the Wall came down and Germany was united. It wasn’t long before the new Germany clasped Merkel to its bosom, and she began to climb the political ladder. It seems incredible to think now, when you look at the powerful senior politician, that Chancellor Kohl referred to Merkel rather condescendingly as his Mädchen, his girl.
Angela Merkel’s natal chart the Sun-Uranus conjunction is key to understanding her character. Of course she’s not like other politicians, she’s Uranian for goodness sake — a rebel, an alien, unique.
Angela Merkel — Mars in Sagittarius Rising. Red suits her. She has her hand in the hand gesture dubbed the Merkel-raute, or “triangle of power” — demonstrating the dominant pattern in her birth chat.
Uranus acts like a time machine especially when it conjuncts one of the Lights. We have seen this before in the charts of all writers of historical novels — and Meryl Streep, who is a few years older than Merkel, also has this signature in her chart in Cancer.
But of course Uranus is traditionally associated with futurism, with new technology, with looking forwards. In the case of Angela Merkel gives her intense understanding of her place in history and ability to the both feel Germany’s past and imagine forwards into the future. Because it the conjunction is in Cancer this is an emotional knowing. Jupiter’s involvement gives her a huge view of history, and expands her optimism about the future as well. And it is partly this optimism which gives a clue to Merkel’s success. She believes in the future Germany. Jupiter gives us faith.
This Uranus is further emphasised because it is in mutual reception with the moon in Aquarius. The Moon rules Cancer, and Uranus rules Aquarius. Moon in Aquarius truly is a humanitarian placement. It does give a coolness to the character but that’s probably pretty useful for a politician.
This Moon in Aquarius is absolutely key to her success. Cancer is the most irrational side and without the Aquarius Moon, Merkel might be overwhelmed by emotion and feeling. However the ruler of cancer is in the most rational sign. She is able to analyse and dissect her own feelings.Furthermore that moon neatly trines Neptune On the Midheaven. She has an instinct for the public mood. You can see that it is also opposite Pluto, the planet of transformation, in the house of psychology. I suspect quite simply Angela Merkel is a very good psychologist. And further and she’s not afraid to confront the dark side.
“When it comes to human dignity, we cannot make compromises.” — Moon in Aquarius, 2nd house of values; opposite Pluto in Leo
It’s interesting that Moon opposite Pluto is across the money houses — my money versus your money, with Venus also in the 8th house of other people’s money. Will she eventually make the Plutocrats pay — as she promised all those years ago? Or will European taxpayers continue to foot the bill for, well, everything?
Merkel is clearly a political operator. Just look at that Saturn in Scorpio in the 10th house of public life. Saturn in Scorpio can be a brilliant strategist. Saturn is terribly practical. Scorpio is the sign of the grand vizier, the eminence grise. You might think this would make Merkel an unlikely leader, surely she ought to be the power behind the throne not the queen herself. But her powerful political strategizing is hidden behind a Neptunian smokescreen. And Saturn that high in the chart is vauntingly ambitious. No wonder Her predecessor underestimated her.
“Those who know me know that I’m someone who seeks compromise, who approaches things creatively, and who tries to understand the interests of others.” — Libra MC, stellium in the 7th house
Neptune is also in a close square to Merkel’s Sun-Uranus conjunction. It suggests the politician that we see in partnerships across Europe and even around the globe is not the real Angela Merkel at all. It won’t be that she keeps her private self completely hidden but simply that she is easier to see on a one-to-one encounter.
The stellium in Cancer — Mercury, Jupiter, Uranus and the Sun also suggests a highly intelligent and complex individual, possibly with a tremendous memory for detail (Mercury) as well as an ability to see the big picture (Jupiter). The disciplined thinking comes from the trine aspect between Saturn in Scorpio and Mercury in Cancer.
It looks like Angela Merkel’s faith has been sorely tested in the past few years. First her Mercury then her Jupiter, both in cancer, are under pressure from the ongoing Uranus-Pluto Square. Although we have seen the cool calm Libra MC and the Sagittarian optimist, she must have been going through some dark nights. Yet at the same time she won an unprecedented third term as chancellor, consolidating her power. And with her ascendant in Sagittarius she is flexible when it comes to partnerships, and it’s this which has kept her in power so long..
It will be interesting to see what transpires after the final square between these two mighty planets which directly hits Merkel’s North node, her destiny point. This is in her first house and in Capricorn the sign of ambition, status, earthly power. She truly has followed this destiny which pulled her away from the soft comfort of partnership where she might’ve stayed with her Sun, writing science-fiction novel perhaps and quaffing beer.
Is it possible for her to become more powerful? Or will she be forced to transform her destiny completely? 2015 promises to be quite a turning point for Germany’s She-chancellor.
