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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.
Politics: A Tidal Wave of Emotion
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
Right-wing nationalists have won the elections for the European parliament here in the UK. This is the first time a fourth party has won a nation-wide election for more than 100 years.
For anyone living in England, this victory has been quite obviously on the way, an unstoppable freight-train rolling down the tracks. Every conservative or liberal voter that I've spoken to -- outside Oxford itself, but in the countryside -- planned to vote for the UK Independence Party. It was simply a matter of UKIP not messing up too much before the election.
UKIP's promise is Britain's withdrawal from the European Union. Across Western Europe -- with a few exceptions -- voters have sent the same message: we don't like the EU. In Germany and Spain far right parties took a chunk of votes. In France and Britain, far right parties won. In Greece, the winners were left, but the message was the same: we hate the EU.
Politics is all about emotion. To win an election, you need to reflect the nation's the mood; and then you need to stoke it. This is something that Goebbels understood, of course..
Here in Britain, the people are sick of the traditional parties. The Conservatives are led by a tiny cabal of ham-faced public school boys; the Labour Party is led by the same tiny cabal that wrecked the economy; and the Liberals reneged on their promises just too outrageously.
This vote for UKIP is a protest vote, but it's bigger than that. It's a sea- change.
Astrologers have been waiting some time to see how the Cardinal Cross shakes down on the UK chart, since it actually hit the angles exactly a few years ago now. We can see that Gordon Brown's time in Number 10 may have marked the beginning of an unravelling of the British political class and perhaps the electoral system. Pluto destroys first; the transformation usually trails behind.
Pluto is still within orb of the UK Sun and the IC -- but he has gone past the exact conjunction and will not be returning for about 200 years.
The planet that is striking the UK chart with some force this week is Uranus -- who upsets, disrupts, shakes down. Uranus is conjuncting the UK's North Node in the house of partnerships. Despite what UKIP made have us believe, Europe is the UK's most important trading partner by far.
Now the leader of UKIP Nigel Farage is an Aries, and guess where his Sun is -- yes it lines up exactly with the UK North Node and his Sun is currently being by Uranus the Awakener. The Cardinal Cross is jet-propelling him. And he is realising a destiny to affect the destiny of this country.
Then there's the emotional temperature in the country at the moment. Jupiter, the planet of exaggeration, and expansion is conjuncting the UK Moon. The Moon in a mundane chart is the populace, it's the mood of the mob. The people are feeling extreme. But there's more astrologically. That Moon in the natal chart is trine Neptune in Scorpio: this is what gives the UK it's romantic bent, the dreaming imagination that we export so expertly in the form of books and music.
Transiting Jupiter is part of a Grand Trine in emotional water, right now -- Neptune and Chiron in Pisces, Jupiter in Cancer. This is affecting everyone, but it is locking right into the UK chart. Neptune, the earth-shaker, is a little wide to be part of the current configuration, but because the UK's natal Neptune is involved, the feelings are still large.
The body that's really linking in from Pisces is Chiron, trining both the UK Moon and Neptune from the 6th House of service and health. Well, the National Health Service is certainly being wounded (possibly mortally) at the moment, but it's more than that. It's that people are feeling hard done by on a personal day-to-day level which is also the province of the 6th house. So that feeds the emotions of the Moon, mix it up with idealistic Neptune and you conjure up a get-out-of-jail-free card: UKIP.
Maya Angelou:
Phenomenal Woman
Poet, dancer, dreamer, darer, storyteller, Maya Angelou, died yesterday. Her life was a hero's journey from mocked child to lauded grand dame. Her own life story became a mirror for America to reflect on. And then there are her pithy observations on everything from creativity, intelligence, politics, sex, racism.... She fulfilled the promise of her North Node in Gemini...
Some of us live our charts more fully than others.
Here is Maya Angelou in her own words from the poem Phenomenal Woman with some astrological observations in parentheses.
Pretty women wonder where my secret lies.
I’m not cute or built to suit a fashion model’s size
(Sun-Jupiter conjunction in Aries)
But when I start to tell them,
They think I’m telling lies.
Neptune Rising)
I say,
It’s in the reach of my arms,
The span of my hips,
The stride of my step,
The curl of my lips.
I’m a woman
Phenomenally.
Phenomenal woman,
(Ceres on the Descendant, Juno Rising)
That’s me.
(Sun-Jupiter conjunction in Aries, Leo Rising)
I walk into a room
Just as cool as you please,
(Aquarius on the descendant with Mars)
And to a man,
The fellows stand or
Fall down on their knees.
(Libra Moon)
Then they swarm around me,
A hive of honey bees.
I say,
It’s the fire in my eyes,
And the flash of my teeth,
(Leo Rising)
The swing in my waist,
And the joy in my feet.
(Venus in Pisces)
I’m a woman
Phenomenally.
Phenomenal woman,
That’s me.
Men themselves have wondered
What they see in me.
They try so much
But they can’t touch
My inner mystery.
(Venus-Mercury in the 8th, Lilith on the IC)
When I try to show them,
They say they still can’t see.
(Neptune Rising)
I say,
It’s in the arch of my back,
The sun of my smile,
(Sun in Aries)
The ride of my breasts,
(Pluto in Cancer)
The grace of my style.
(Venus in Pisces again)
I’m a woman
Phenomenally.
Phenomenal woman,
That’s me.
Now you understand
Just why my head’s not bowed.
I don’t shout or jump about
Or have to talk real loud.
(Saturn in Sagittarius)
When you see me passing,
It ought to make you proud.
(Full Moon in Libra opposite Jupiter-Sun Aries)
I say,
It’s in the click of my heels,
The bend of my hair,
the palm of my hand,
The need for my care.
(Pluto in Cancer)
’Cause I’m a woman
Phenomenally.
Phenomenal woman,
That’s me.
