Aspects for the week beginning 28 December 2014

The Diary

At this time of the year, we often receive a diary or two, or buy one suitable to our needs.  Some may have diary writing as part of their New Year’s resolution list.  But a dedication to the art of diary writing isn’t everyone’s priority, and many find it tedious.

On 1^st January (2015) it will be exactly 50 years since I started writing a diary.  My mother gave me a 5-year diary for Christmas.  At the front there was a challenge: “Not many people will complete an entry for every day of this 5-year diary”.  It proved to be a challenge I could not resist.

Those 5 years, from the age of 15-20 were teen angst in the best tradition of Adrian Mole, or shall I call myself Adrienne?  It was vital for venting  hormonal problems, and self-analysis in those crucial years.

After those five years, I continued to write, and have not broken the stream of consciousness for 50 years.  In time, the diary evolved through being a dream diary, to a spiritual diary, and certainly preoccupations changed with the phases of life.

At the end of the 5 years I discovered Astrology.  Eventually I came to realize the incredible value of having a written personal record for many reasons, but especially for the purposes of Astrological research!

Now for the last 7 years I have written this blog, which is very much an extension of the diary, but in online form, and also acts as a historical and astrological archive, and reference to match past aspects with events, both personal and in current affairs.

If you are hesitating, pen poised, wondering “Shall I, or shan’t I?” then maybe being reminded of the value and many applications of diary writing will sway your quill or inspire you to write on line, or blog.

Diarists

Samuel Pepys

Samuel Pepys, the diarist during the reign of Charles II and chronicler of the plague and the great fire of London, was a Piscean, but there is more than one date existing for his birth.

The first gives him an Ascendant of Sagittarius, conducive to diary writing, with the Moon (an everyday application) on the cusp of his 9^th House, which rules some forms of writing.

The alternative chart gives him a Capricorn Ascendant, with the Moon rising (again, a daily discipline).

Both charts provide a conjunction of Mars and the Sun in the 3^rd House of writing, providing an assiduous writing ethic, and much energy ploughed into the task.

Although his work proved a valuable historical document, it was encrypted in a form of shorthand, which method may be ascribed to the secrecy of Pisces.

Anne Frank

Anne Frank was born in Germany, but lived most of her (short) life in Amsterdam.  Her family hid from the Germans during the occupation of Amsterdam in the second World War.

Anne was a Gemini, which is the quintessential writer’s sign, but has the sensitive conjunction of the Moon and Neptune in her 1st House.  The diary is an expression  of her sensitive inner world and the turmoil of the family’s existence.  The Moon conjunct Neptune also reflects secrecy, including the secrecy of their lifestyle, as well as the complexity of her relationship with her mother.

The diary was given to her on her 13^th birthday, 12^th June 1942, which will have strengthened her Inner Writer.  She also has a vigorous aspect on this theme, with Mercury exactly sextile Mars.  She wrote over a period of about two years, and her diary was discovered by her father after her death.

Writing the diary was therapeutic and cathartic for her, and she wrote  about family life, her personal feelings, and events that were going on in her country.

Her last entry was 1^st August 1944, ending on a poignant transit, Mars trine her natal Chiron, at what must have been a heart-wrenching time.

Tony Benn

Closer in time, Tony Benn, who died this year, after publishing his last volume, was a dedicated diarist, and wrote on personal themes, and historical and political ones.  His last volume, which chronicled his physical decline and ageing, is full of references to how tired he was.  In addition to his age (being well into his 80s), he had suffered for many years from a type of leukaemia.

His published diaries are extensive, and cover several decades of political activity, and public life.

I wrote when he died:

“I have read his diaries, and luckily for astrologers, he slips in the time of his birth within these pages. An Aries Sun often takes a lot of colour from the Ascendant in a chart, and in his case the ascendant is Virgo, which gave him a pedantic mind and a great deal of perfectionism, plus a predilection for diary writing.  The warriorship he displayed came from his Aries Sun, and Mars at the top of his chart – warriorship in action in his career and persona out in the world.”.

All these three diarists have left a valuable legacy.  Could your diary hold treasure for future generations?  The Catch-22 element is that a good diary needs the deeply personal element, and not many people would be willing for their work and life to be so exposed.  Samuel Pepys encrypted his, Anne Frank probably didn’t know hers would be published, but Tony Benn made it part of the art of his life to write and record and comment on society alongside living his life and was happy to publish and publicize  his inner and outer world.  He was a very open Sun in Aries.

Aspects

The week’s aspects start on New Year’s Day itself, so there are a few days’ rest to digest the old year, before starting the process of a New Year.

Mars opposes Jupiter on New Year’s Day, an enthusiastic and active aspect!  It is a bit like an eager puppy leaping up at you as you enter a doorway.  So some aspects of that may be a little uncomfortable, unless you are geared for it, or have the energy from within to match and meet the greeting.  So it is a good day for making resolutions, and for physical activities such as power walking.  But it is also an aspect where you may overdo things, or be a bit reckless.

The Sun squares Uranus in the morning of Saturday 3^rd, so again there is a theme of recklessness or incident-proneness.  You may want to take a different route that day, on your power walk.  But be aware of the unexpected, as you go.

Saturday is likely to be eventful, as the afternoon (in the U.K.) sees the entry of Venus into Aquarius.  You may leave behind some of the loyalties of late 2014, and look forward to new encounters.    The power-walk, or the dog walk, may bring new people  into your life.

You may well see Saturday as a signpost for the new year, so look out for signs, hints and clues strewn on your path about the new directions for your life.

The last aspect of the week, the Sun conjunct Pluto, close to midnight on Saturday, should concentrate your mind.  It will challenge you to more depth in your thinking and experience.  The beginning of the new year seems literally full of new departures.

A VERY HAPPY NEW YEAR TO YOU!

Next Week: A look at 2015

The week in bullet points:

• Thursday – frenetic
• Saturday – the spanner in the works, new encounters, deep experiences