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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.
Astrology of Now: Cold Snap
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
Saturday, October 12, 2013 - The weather changed yesterday and a dry, icy wind sent tiny clouds fleeting across the sky, trees rattling and swaying, branches to the floor, drifts of leaves whirling up like spirits. Autumn had arrived overnight.
Today, it's been overcast, drizzling. We've lit the fire and the cats have come in to steam.
The Moon entered Capricorn, the sign of winter yesterday, of course. Meanwhile its ruler Saturn, the coldest planet, is dampening sparky Mercury with a clammy, slow embrace this year. It's especially prolonged because Mercury is braking to retrograde. I've felt it, unable to publish, because I find myself with so much to say and then editing and re-editing, cutting away until there's nothing left. Mercury in Scorpio doesn't like to waste words of course, but combined with Saturn it's been – well – constipating.
Harold Lloyd in Safety Last (1923)
When Saturn meets Mercury, the truth needs to be told, lines need to be drawn in the sand, talks can stall. Since Mercury is going to meet Saturn again on October 29 (Rx) and November 26, this is the flavour of this autumn. Saturn and Mercury together write a rulebook. This is not a warm, cuddly feeling. We're talking difficult conversations. We're talking about running out of time. Both these planets are connected to the passage of time.
The other word that springs to mind with this planetary set up is "intransigence". And boy are we seeing that now in the United States with the prolonged wrangle between the Republicans and the Democrats. Here's what The Economist has to say about it:
Scorpio is the sign of debt, of course, and people around the world are discussing the mother of all debts, the US fiscal deficit. It seems like we're going to be talking about it over and over again judging from the action of Mercury in the months to come. From the same article:
The thing about being a moneylender is that you need a client who can keep on paying the interest, a dead client is no good to at all. The Virgoans among you might enjoy this US National Debt Clock. It's like something from The Hudsucker Proxy.
On October 15, Mars leaves the warmth of Leo for practical, critical Virgo. This is Mercury's second sign, just as Scorpio is Mars' second sign. So these two planets all be in mutual reception too. Virgo and Scorpio work well together. These are the doctors who can cut open a patient and replace his heart. Mars and Scorpio rule sharp things. Mercury is both the mind and conversation. Talks may become even more cut-throat but possibly more solution-oriented.
Baby, it's cold out there, but meanwhile Venus, the planet of money, has gone into the sign of the Big Spender. The only support she's getting is from erratic Uranus, otherwise it's a hostile world. Expect money itself - e.g. the dollar, the world's reserve currency - to go weird, or since it's in Sagittarius, wild.
Finally, there's the little matter of the eclipses on October 18/19 and November 3. The Lunar Eclipse in Aries is a wild card, the Solar Eclipse in November is smack dab in the middle of that chilly Saturn-Mercury embrace.
Since this square hits at 10°, many many governments and international organisations will be feeling it right on their Suns. 10° Capricorn is January 1, a date when many organisations officially started.
When Pluto went into Capricorn in 2008, the credit crunch hit, Saturn was just into Virgo, a fellow earth sign and the queen of detail. So when loans were given proper scrutiny, they turned out to be completely flaky. The taskmaster made his way slowly through Libra - smoothing over the cracks of our financial system, testing partnerships in government between governments, and politics (every single European leader was replaced except Angela Merkel) - and now we're a year into Scorpio. The planets are lining up for a serious dissection of wealth and debt.
"Republicans are setting a precedent which, if followed, would make America ungovernable. Voters have seen fit to give their party control of one arm of government—the House of Representatives—while handing the Democrats the White House and the Senate. If a party with such a modest electoral mandate threatens to shut down government unless the other side repeals a law it does not like, apparently settled legislation will always be vulnerable to repeal by the minority. Washington will be permanently paralysed and America condemned to chronic uncertainty."
"America enjoys the “exorbitant privilege” of printing the world’s reserve currency. Its government debt is considered a safe haven, which is why Uncle Sam can borrow so much, so cheaply. America will not lose these advantages overnight. But anything that undermines its creditworthiness—as the farce in Washington surely does—risks causing untold damage in the future. It is not just that America would have to pay more to borrow. The repercussions of an American default would be both global and unpredictable."
Mercury says, time for a rethink on this one. Saturn says, the debt must be paid. This time there's no finessing, no shirking. Someone is going to have to cough up.
We come up to the fourth hit of the Uranus-Pluto square on November 1. Pluto is in mutual reception with Saturn. In other words, the planets are transiting through each other's signs. This makes them stronger and more co-operative. They are also close enough in aspect to be sextile, which is a dynamic, moving aspect. Both Scorpio and Capricorn are about paying ones dues, accountability. Pluto is the planet of vast wealth. He was the richest god after all. Where has America's vast wealth gone? Who holds the global purse strings now? Who holds the debt? Who is the creditor?
