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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.
Venus Puts a Leash on the
Dogs of War
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
Beleaguered PM David Cameron was born
with Uranus-Pluto conjunct.
Under the square, things are falling apart.
But as he put it himself, "the well of public opinion has been poisoned by Iraq". The public had no appetite for that war back in 2003, either. So then the government lied to us. Remember the dodgy dossier and the death of David Kelly? Remember the occupation of Basra? Abu Ghraib? The "contractors"? Look at Baghdad now. What a mess.
There is a big difference now though. Back in 2003, we had a strong Prime Minister who had been voted into office repeatedly. Today, we have a coalition, a bolshy parliament and we remember the Iraq War with shame.
And since the Iraq War, followed by this farcical banking crisis, no one believes anything any more. Faith in our leaders has not just been shaken, it's been wiped out in the past decade. Neptune, the planet responsible for this loss of faith has actually been opposing Britain's natal Saturn during those years, moving from a conjunction to natal Venus to one with natal Pluto.
The result: parliament voted against supporting American military action against Syria, and the Prime Minister was defeated. Apparently, there were gasps in the chamber when the vote was announced.
The astrology is clear. The lead up to this "intervention" has been under the Cardinal Cross: Uranus opposite Venus, Pluto opposite Jupiter. Venus, the planet of peace, has held up her hand and said stop. She moves on almost immediately, but she's done the job now. She is transiting the UK's first house and she is strong here, because she is in one of her own signs, Libra, also the sign of good judgment, balance and yes, parliament.
Parliament is where opposing parties come to debate. This is an expression of Libra.
U-Plu agitates for war. It's excitement plus violence. But look at how it sits on the UK chart. The vote not to go to war last night was not only pivotal for the situation in the Middle East, it was pivotal for this country. Pluto is exactly on the IC (trined by transiting Mercury too). This is a change in direction for the UK, a change in the nature of governance perhaps. Remember that Pluto takes more than two centuries to make its circuit of the Zodiac, so any transit from this planet has a great deal of impact. This may not be evident immediately, but here's one thing: parliament has never voted against the government when it comes to military action. This is a first. And here's another thing: no political leader came out of this looking good, this was to quote the Guardian a "revolt of the sans-culottes". It's an undermining of political leadership. We are in a leadership vacuum.
The second part of this is to do with allies and enemies: Uranus in the seventh house. In fact, after this, Britain can no longer be relied upon to follow America's lead in foreign policy. This is nothing new. Think of Vietnam -- or more recently Thatcher's fury over the invasion of little Grenada. Britain's status as America's dog was a creation of Tony Blair's, and now it's over.
Uranus in the 7th means our enemies and our partners are unreliable, but also our enmities and our partnerships.
In the UK natal chart there are two yods. One is being activated right now by both Mars and Neptune: war and propaganda. The point of the yod is Pluto (power) in the 5th house. The two arms are Jupiter in the 10th (leadership) and Uranus in the 12th (secret rebellions). Let's put this together.
A yod is a funny thing. It lies there dormant and suddenly gets activated like flicking a switch. Game on, says the yod. This is a yod about who holds the power. Is it government, represented by Jupiter, the king of the gods in the sign of royalty - and legitimacy - in the 10th house of rulership, or is it the rebels, who seem chthonic almost, yet close enough to the Ascendant to be a key part of British identity? This is a balance between forelock-tugging and freedom.
(An example of how these opposing energies are often directed is the pro- and anti-hunt lobbies, both are passionate, relentless -- and deeply British. The hunt is a 5th house leisure activity, yet it is also a symbol of power (Pluto), see. But this is a digression.)
So yesterday, the rebellion took place in parliament itself. The two opposing energies worked together as Mars activated the yod. Neptune has moved on one degree from an exact conjunction to the UK Pluto, and indeed we have been in a haze about who holds the power in this country. The coalition or the shadowy plutocracy. Neptune will not conjunct the plutocracy again for another century, so things should become much clearer.
During the last vote on Iraq, the UK's other yod was activated. That one looks rather nice. It connects the Moon, Venus and Mercury. But it was activated by the transit of Pluto to Mercury -- war in the air. Neptune was approaching a conjunction to Venus, propaganda casting things in a good light. (Hear no evil, etcetera) The Moon is on the point of this yod, the people swayed by war and lies. Mars, the god of war, was on the IC that day, 18 March, 2003.
Today, David Cameron is in a completely different position to Tony Blair ten years ago. Parliament has voted against him, and he has to respect that. This vote has actually set him free of any obligation to follow America's military lead. We were offered a false alternative: cruise missiles or appeasement. There are other ways.
When we talk about humanitarian action, let's do it. That means medicine, food, shelter, doctors, nurses and assistance. There are two million refugees in one camp alone in Jordan. There are plenty of ways we can help.
There is talk today of Britain's reputation being damaged. Hardly. Jupiter is in the 10th house now, Venus in the first. For most of the world, this vote against bombing Syria was an example of real democracy in action. The people did not want to go to war, and parliament voted accordingly. The executive was forced to listen. There is no shame in that at all. This is exactly the kind of influence that people in the Middle East especially have been fighting to gain over the past few years with Uranus in Aries.
Let's just hope the whole thing doesn't go pear-shaped as Venus moves out of the challenging Cardinal Cross. The crisis is a very, very long way from being resolved. Next to run the U-Plu gamut is Mercury, followed by the Sun himself at the end of September.
I'd be interested to hear what you think.
Hooray! The British Parliament has voted against a military intervention proposed by the Prime Minister - possibly for the first time ever.
At the start of the week, Prime Minister David Cameron was all gung-ho about dragging this country into yet another war in the Middle East. He seemed to think it was a done deal.
