For Astrologers there is a sequel to last week’s story on Julian Assange in that a birth time has been obtained, though not definitive.  If true, it puts the Nodal Axis in square to the Ascendant/Descendant axis in his natal chart, which is karmically provocative – sounds true.  Watch this space for any further updates on his chart.  The day to watch this week is Tuesday 14^th in the U.K. (Monday 13^th for the U.S.)… busy day >busy day>busy day…  You may have 3 engagements or more on the one day, and/or there may be a defining moment that day.  There are 3 aspects to note in rapid succession, the first being Mercury conjunct Pluto.  As Mercury is now busy retracing his steps, you may remember this aspect as recently occurring on Monday 6^th (quickly consulting your Mercury retrograde log book which should be well under way and backdated by now).  Looking back at my log book, it seems to have been a day when people were having to act quickly to retrieve objects or data.  Be one step ahead, and take preventative steps such as updating your computer anti-virus.  Next Mercury conjuncts Mars and words fly swiftly across the dinner table, and memorable quotations may be rapidly transferred to your diary.  If it’s not worth putting in your diary, don’t say it.  Lastly, and by no means least, Mars conjuncts Pluto.  This could mean extreme action, and again if you wouldn’t want it to appear in your diary, don’t do it.  You may have restless dreams overnight Monday/Tuesday containing dramatic symbolism.  With Mercury conjunct North Node on Wednesday 15^th (retrace this to Saturday 4^th) check crucial detail and facts and you may achieve or retrieve something worthwhile.  Again, prevention may be more effective than cure.  If it is your birthday for instance and you have a special outing, check your rail network website before leaving the house.  This could save you freezing on a cold platform for an hour after a cancelled train.  On Thursday (16^th) the Sun squares Jupiter, and here is another reminder to check detail, because you could so easily go overboard with an idea and miss the obvious loophole.  Enthusiasm abounds, but could be misdirected so try to look at other angles of the picture and not just those which hold special interest for you.  Saturday (18^th) has a mixture of influences: firstly the Sun sextiles the Neptune/Chiron conjunction, so there are possibilities for healing and spiritual attunement.  Try to get in the flow or in the zone, as it may help you with the more difficult aspect of Sun square Uranus which gives the advantage to the unexpected.  You may be able to anticipate the unexpected if you are in the spiritual flow, and use it to your advantage.  Mercury also retrogrades back to Sagittarius on Saturday,  and there may be a mind shift towards optimism, so switch on those Christmas lights, and whistle a happy tune.  And don’t forget to log it!

“Whatever is born or done at this particular moment of time has the quality of this moment of time”

~ Carl Jung

With a New Moon in Sagittarius today, we may adopt a new philosophical outlook for the day, the week, the month or the year.  Where will we find the inspiration, is the question.  Whether we will find it in our own minds or in role models or thought-provoking events?  Stacey Solomon won the Jungle Crown on the strength of her Libran likeability last night.  Elsewhere, eyes are looking out for Julian Assange , the enigmatic founder of Wikileaks, whose birth date first became available to Astrologers this week.  His first set of leaks, about U.S. military practices in Aghanistan, took place on the Jupiter/Pluto conjunction in July, which has not yet run its course because Jupiter retrograded back into Pisces.  At the time of those leaks, the Jupiter/Uranus conjunction was trine his natal Neptune (which represents leaks, mystery, and enigma).  Though he has made information available, he himself is not available at the moment.  And this week, with the second (and more extensive) set of leaks, he has a  more challenging aspect of Uranus opposing his Pluto.  His karmic mission as an I.T. Warrior is shown in his natal chart as a conjunction of Mars and North Node  in the I.T. sign of Aquarius.  I suspect that in February 2011 when Jupiter again squares Pluto, another stage of the story will unfold, and some of the consequences will become more known.  Tomorrow (Monday 6^th) Mercury will conjunct Pluto in Capricorn at 4 degrees, an area of the zodiac which is encountering intense activity these days, so if your birthday is on Christmas Day or thereabouts, life will be very intense at present.  Tomorrow’s conjunction is itself intense for most of us, with the North Node still close to this conjunction, forcing a karmic awareness even where we may not be disposed to such ideas. Thoughts and actions may be going round in a loop around this time, in order to be resolved.  You won’t be allowed to put a foot forward until you have solved the issue, and the stuck record may reverberate in days to come.  But its purpose is in order to solve the mental riddle.  Also tomorrow Uranus is stationary prior to going direct, and although Uranus has been in a challenging square to the Galactic Centre, its impending move forwards means that radical solutions may start to be found.  Tuesday (7^th) brings a steadier state: that of Sun sextile Saturn, and one that may bring a temporary balance or respite to this intense process of finding out what we really think, believe and know (Mercury conjunct Pluto) and how our social structures should be operating (the conjunction in Capricorn).  We cannot act until we truly know, and we are being put on the spot at the moment in order to truly know from deep within.  Later on Tuesday, after our rebalancing and respite, Mars enters Capricorn, ushering the arrival of a new set of energies stirring this conundrum.  More pressure to find out, know and then to act according to that wisdom.  Even those of us who are disposed towards the Taoist way of life feel under pressure to do something under this Martian influence.  Try to resist action until you have as many facts at your disposal as possible.  Wednesday (8^th) brings a sextile between Venus and Pluto, and some of the emotional components of your particular conundrum may fall into place.  You may be surer of your feelings and know the reasons for them.  Discomfort may be afoot for those who are not fans of Mercury Retrograde, for this is featured on Friday (10^th).  This scenario, as many of you know, can (but does not always) feature delays and frustrations to travel and communication.  If you are not a lover of Mercury Retrograde, try starting an MR Log Book, and register your experience, feelings and solutions, to be updated in future vicissitudes.  The same day brings a sextile between Mercury and Venus, which favours starting a log book, of any kind.  Additionally, the conjunction of Mars and the North Node at the weekend in Capricorn helps us to sharpen our personal and collective karmic focus.

“There is a tide in the affairs of men, which, taken at the flood, leads on to fortune”

~ William Shakespeare

Mercury squares Uranus today and it’s a day for battling out mental ideas.  As many of the aspect dates this week are out of kilter with those in the U.S., I will try to provide both dates in today’s blog.  Accordingly, this aspect took place yesterday in the U.S.  Paul Harris in The Observer today reports about the religion debate between Tony Blair and Christopher Hitchens in Toronto.  It was remarkable for Hitchens’ (atheist) clarity of thought: “Blair outlined the work that religious groups in Northern Ireland put in on bridging the ‘religious divide’ in order to work for peace. Hitchens did not allow that one to slip by… Then he delivered the punchline. ‘Where does the ”religious divide” come from?’ he asked to another round of laughter from the crowd.” They apparently both agree that the Iraq war was justified…Just something to think about while you are snowbound in the U.K.  I have been wrestling with the question of which zodiac sign is represented by the animal totem Turkey.  According to the “Medicine Cards” of Sams and Carson, Turkey represents the principle of “Give Away”: “People in modern-day society should study the noble turkey who sacrifices itself so that we may live.”  In Norfolk, one of our few celebrities is Bernard Matthews the Turkey farmer, who died ironically on Thanksgiving.  Looking at his chart, I feel that his Turkey mission is represented by his North Node conjunct Chiron in Taurus.  Bernard Matthews contribution was to produce cheap poultry (Chiron conjunct North Node in Taurus being an economic solution).  His catchword about his turkeys is a curious one, “Boo-i-ful”.  It may represent his Sun/Venus conjunction in Aquarius, but strangely enough when I heard a clip from an interview on the radio, he was speaking in an impeccable BBC accent, and not the native Norfolk tongue which gave rise to “Boo-i-ful”.  Like Gillian McKeith, still surviving down under in the Jungle on “I’m a Celebrity” I am a committed vegetarian, and so have never partaken of the fruits of Bernard Matthews’ life purpose.  I am alone, I think, in feeling sorry for Gillian and thinking the public sadistic for voting her to do all those bush tucker trials.  I think it is a backlash for her trying authoritatively (she has Moon/Venus conjunct Pluto in Virgo) to make us eat healthily.  She has a very strict chart, and can become scapegoated with Saturn in Capricorn square her Nodal Axis.  Tomorrow (Monday 29^th) Mars is square Jupiter, so there is still a lot of aggro going on, but more good humoured slapstick than the serious intellectual divisions of today.  You may be caught between two passions or enthusiasms.  On Tuesday (30^th) [29^th in the U.S. and Toronto] Venus enters Scorpio, so the heart will decide between the passions and enthusiasms.  On Wednesday (1^st December) [31^st in the U.S. and Toronto] Mercury also changes signs, from Sagittarius to Capricorn, sobering up our mental outlook and making us decisive and realistic about our plans.  This paves the way later in the day for Mercury to catch Venus in a sextile, making it an excellent time for a tete-a-tete over coffee or dinner, and for literary events such as book launches.  Co-authors should make it a diary date.  On Thursday (2^nd) Mars sextiles Neptune and folks will be much more sensitive towards each other than at the start of the week.  They may consider that in order to co-author their books, they will need to compromise in order to take into account the other’s needs.  Book titles could be subtly changed, e.g. from “How religion informed war decisions” to “How we agreed about the war”, or “How I felt it was important to promote meat-eating” to “How it is important for people to choose whether or not to eat meat”.  On Friday (3^rd) Mars sextiles in turn Chiron in the Neptune/Chiron conjunction, and healing may be experienced on an energetic level.  Whereas Thursday’s sextile favours an emphasis on spiritual energy, the Friday energy will be more directly focussed on healing and problem-solving.  However, there could be crisis involved, because Mars squares Uranus later on Friday and that is a very incident-prone type of energy.  You may have everything as you like it, but someone may come along and want to do it differently.  The week ends with a conjunction of Mercury and the North Node on Saturday (4^th) [3^rd in U.S. and Toronto].  Life may point out to you a detail you may have missed or chosen to ignore, and a factor which could make all the difference.  It may set you wondering on all those intellectual dilemmas all over again…

We are in the throes of the Pleiadian Full Moon at the end of Taurus today, the Sun is also at the end of Scorpio, and it may seem like the end of a cycle.  You may be able to make sense of a cycle which started a month ago, or two weeks ago.  It is an emotional high tide for that particular cycle now.  In the middle of unrest about Student University fees, and benefits, and how many of our troops are being killed in Afghanistan and why are we there…Prince William and Kate Middleton got engaged, with Princess Diana’s engagement ring, a huge karmic statement.  Sapphire is a strong carrier of telepathy, so they will be conversing constantly with Diana.  I have written separately about the engagement, so as not to clog up this blog.  Today is about emotionally processing the last two or four weeks, and the benefits conundrum is still very much in our minds.  John Bird, founder of Big Issue, writes an open letter to Iain Duncan Smith in this week’s issue, pointing out that “The Big Issue has steadfastly tried to get people back into work with the support of our readers.  By getting people away from dependency we have inspired people to believe in change.  The Big Issue has helped get people off long-term unemployment.  By supporting businesses that take on long-term unemployed people, we have demonstrated it is possible to inspire change.  There are hundreds of social enterprises like us who help the unemployed into work…Your single benefit payment may have legs.  If it is seen to be addressing one of the greatest ironies in social delivery – that is, the fact the vast bulk of social security costs are not in the money the recipients receive but the cost of giving people the money, that is the most costly part.”  That is his contribution to the debate, but frustratingly we do not have his birth date, let alone his time of birth.  Use the Pleiadian connection today to fully explore any emotional or spiritual issues or conundrums.  If you receive higher guidance today, it may be sourced from the Pleiades, especially if it is bringing solutions based on group and community co-operation.  The Sun enters Sagittarius tomorrow (Monday 22^nd), and hopefully today’s wranglings have ended in some resolution, so that you can cheerfully move ahead into a new phase.  This may be signalled by a change of routine, new horizons, a new social scene or even a new philosophy based on a broader perspective (the broader the better, unless you’re Virgoan in which case you will uphold the need for scrutiny of detail – it’s a good trick if you can do both).  The tension between seeing the wood and seeing the trees is a theme for this week, so it is a good week for eye exercises, for example as under the Bates Method.  For as you start to examine the bigger picture tomorrow, you then become aware of its opposite, the smaller picture.  This is because a square is building up between Mercury (detail) and Jupiter (expansion), and this square peaks on Thursday (25^th).  So if you have a tendency to one extreme or the other, it is worth examining the opposite pole and bringing the two together or filling in the gap.  You could find that it is a good game, very satisfying and worthwhile, as the information from one end will inform the other eventually.  So that by the time you get to Thursday, you could be adept and begin to experience life holographically.  If you wish to work with animal totems, you can use the ant for detail and the whale for the bigger picture.  Light worker and animal communicator Teresa Wagner has a superb website dedicated to the whale experience http://swimandcommunicatewithwhales.com/ and her animal communication website link is on my Contact page.  If you have not been working on your communication and vision, you may feel mentally overstretched on Thursday.  Saturday (27^th) is a day pregnant with possibility and meaning.  Mercury is sextile with the conjunction of Neptune and Chiron.  It is a day when mind, spirituality and healing combine, and you can realize the meaning of health in all its multilevel connections: the conventional medicine, the alternative medicine; the psyche and the soma.  In meditation you will sense that It is All One and Everything is Connected.  The Universe is going out for All Unity on Saturday, because the Mean North Node will be conjunct with Pluto, so on an individual level our destiny and our psychology are seeking to synchronize, and on a global or society level our collective karmic mission seeks to unite with objectives for healing the disaffected sections of society.  It is a tall order, both individually and collectively, and could be very difficult if it merely exposes the gap between how we want life to be or our lives to be, and how they are.  So it is a good week to make time for meditation in order to bring together the gaps in our lives and in society, in our minds and in reality.

Q:  Any first thoughts on the Cancer-Capricorn engagement?

A:

Prince William

Prince William is a New Mooner (born on an eclipse) and therefore also has the Part of Fortune on the Ascendant (see previous postbag question).  He therefore has the ability to start anew when he needs to.  As well as having the Sun and Moon in the sign of Cancer (his mother’s sign) he also has the North Node (his karmic mission) in that sign.  They are in his 7^th House of relationship, so emotionally he is very attuned to family life and marriage.  His Air Force career is shown by Mars in his 10^th House of Career in the sign of Libra (often associated with the Air Force).  He also has Jupiter on his Midheaven (Careerpoint) ensuring good fortune in this area of his life, or certainly the opportunity to do what he wants in career terms.  He has a conjunction of Venus and Chiron in Taurus at the end of his 5^th House, which somehow conveys the wounding and poignancy of losing his mother and his relationship with her.  The Cancerian planets emphasize her role in his life.  It is possible that these wounds later in life will be translated into creative and artistic or musical talents, in which he can express what he feels about her.  He may well have a strong paternal urge to create a family of his own.

Kate Middleton

Kate’s Sun Sign Capricorn is the opposite of William’s, and together they create the Cancer-Capricorn polarity which is one of parenting.  As a Capricorn she has administrative skills, and likes to uphold tradition.  Iain Duncan Smith might like to note that she is capable of work in this capacity, and in fact also has Venus conjunct Mercury so may have writing talent, and could write books in the future.  Her Part of Fortune is in the 6^th House of work, in fact, too.  Although born 6 months apart, William and Kate have their Mars’ conjunct, which denotes sexual compatibility and the ability to work together and to pull together in the same direction on a project.  Additionally, she has the Sun trine Chiron and may be a healer in some respects which she is not yet aware of, e.g. she may take an interest in the Homeopathic tendencies of the family she is marrying into.  She and William also have shared Moon signs (Cancer) and that may be a resonance which brought his mother’s engagement ring to her, but possibly even more significantly her Moon is exactly conjunct with William’s North Node, which denotes a karmic connection of the mothering kind.  This may indicate that one of the primary purposes of the union is in order to bring in the next generation.  Karmically too, her Sun is conjunct her South Node indicating past life connections with Royality, possibly in Egypt or Russia.

The Synastry

In addition to the Cancerian connections, and the Mars link described above, the couple have trined Mercuries which indicates good mental compatibility.  William’s Mercury is in Gemini so he likes to chat and exchange factual information, while Kate is also communicative with Mercury in another air sign Aquarius, but perhaps more forward thinking.  But it will be a good combination when they are in discussion over a project or a family matter.  His Mercury trines her Venus, so Art History (which they both studied at St. Andrew’s University) would provide a good topic of conversation, and he may provide ideas if she does embark on writing – she would be able to use him as a sounding board.  His Mars also trines her Venus, a romantic bond between them to be sure.  Her Mars trines his Mercury, so she can encourage him in work and thought.  Her Jupiter trines his Moon, providing emotional uplift.  And her Pluto sextiles his Ascendant (we don’t have a birth time or Ascendant for her) so she is capable of providing solid psychological backing for him, for example in any future role in the Monarchy.  In an anecdote shown over and over on the news last Tuesday  told by the writer Kathy Lette it was intimated that Kate described herself as being allergic to horses, one of the animal totems of the family she is marrying into.  This may be depicted in her chart by the square of Jupiter (horses) to her Mercury/Venus conjunction.  Something to write about.

The Engagement

The chart of the engagement on Tuesday 16^th November 2010 shows the Part of Fortune on the cusp of the 5^th House and trine the Ascendant.  I would see the 5^th House as the Engagement, to the 7^th House as Marriage.  So that is a happy event, with Venus (Romance) at the top of the chart, eliciting a collective “Aaah!” across the nation, or across the section which is not anti-Monarchy.  The Moon is conjunct Jupiter,  promoting good news and buoyancy.   Venus trines the Chiron and Neptune conjunction which occurs in the 2^nd House of Finance, bringing attention to the complex issue of how much to spend on a Royal Wedding in a time of austerity, and conveying sensitivity towards this.

Freedom!  With a trine between the Sun and Jupiter coming up early this week, in the last 24 hours we have heard of two releasings: that of the Burmese heroine Aung San Suu Kyi, and also the release of the British Yacht couple who have been held by Somali pirates.  Jupiter often has a hand in releasing those who have been held in captivity for a long time, for example Natasha Kampusch made her getaway when Jupiter was transiting her Pluto.  These remarkable events take place while we are still held in the force field of last week’s Mercury trine Uranus and tomorrow’s Sun trine Jupiter.  Venus is also trine Chiron, bringing healing to the heart. There is an element of a forced hand for Burma, with Jupiter squaring its natal Uranus, and Saturn transiting its natal Neptune which is trine its Venus.  The act of being freed is one thing, and no one can deny that the aftermath will be tough to deal with for all concerned in many ways.  We wish Aung San Suu Kyi and the British couple heart and strength in the coming weeks and months.  Meanwhile, Conservative politician Iain Duncan Smith would like to free those claiming British benefits from their self-imposed house arrest in their subconscious desire to go to work and the consequent inner turmoil.  IDS was a lack-lustre leader of the Conservative party, and has a difficult T-square in his chart composed of the Sun squaring his Nodal Axis (difficult karma around leadership).  Although he is a pillar of Conservative politics now (North Node in Capricorn) with Uranus exactly on the South Node arm of the T-square he may have a rebellious streak, a habit brought through from past lives, with a possible link with Atlantis if he is an old soul.  The T-square denotes some stubbornness, but Bob Holman wrote in the Guardian yesterday “I no longer recognize the Iain Duncan Smith with whom I have had a cross-party friendship for eight years.  In 2002, as the Conservative party leader, he visited the young people’s project I helped to found in Easterhouse, Glasgow.  I was impressed by his willingness to take local residents seriously.  He has described the visit as a kind of epiphany: ‘I saw the poverty among a swath of forgotten people.  I felt I had to do something and came away a changed man.’ ”   His Moon is in Cancer, so these would have been real tears of sympathy, and galvanized him to what seems to be his karmic mission of this social reform project.  This was his portion of the plan, just as Al Gore emerged from his political defeats to take up the cause of the environment.  Mars sextile Saturn tomorrow (Monday 15^th) is a helpful practical step if you have a social or any other kind of project.  The last week may have seen you ruminating positive changes, and tomorrow is a good day to get going.  If you made strides last week, the Sun trine Jupiter will see you shifting another level.  If you didn’t make strides, you could see a preliminary shift.  Stargazers watch out for the peak of the Leonids meteor shower on Wednesday 17^th, save your wishes for that night and release them all in one go to the Universe.  Thursday 18^th brings a sextile between Mercury and Saturn, when you can in the early hours (UK time) consolidate mentally plans you started to put into action on Monday.  But later in the day the Sun squares the conjunction of Chiron and Neptune and this could bring a spaghetti  junction scale muddle, and not just in the traffic queue.  Health and healing will need clarification in particular.  Later developments save the day, in that Venus and Jupiter both turn direct, and top financial Astrologer Raymond Merriman feels that this is an especially favourable turn of events in the financial arena.  All may end well on the healing front too because this week as Venus turns direct, it is also trine with Chiron.  This at least will be soothing to emotional pain, and may also mollify physical health concerns.  So if you get stung, look for the dock leaf nearby.  On Saturday 20^th the Sun will be trine Uranus, and the creative vision of your original project (e.g. from last Sunday 7^th when Mercury trined Uranus) is renewed, and can flourish or blossom.  Seize the day on that one, as later on tension begins to build and sparks fly, ushered in by a conjunction between Mercury and Mars.  If you are irritable, avoid driving as you could be a menace on the roads, especially if you are arrogant about your driving ability.  Emotionally too your judgement could be impaired with a Pleiadian Full Moon set for the next day.  So to sum up the complexity of Saturday 20^th, start by rounding off a stage of your pet project, then meditate into a harmonious frame of mind, and contemplate the healing qualities of the Pleiades.  The Seven Sisters have long been admired for their beauty, and are for many people associated with an expansion of consciousness.  Their brightest star is Alcyone, and if you wish to work with these stars, there are some mandalas by Barry Stevens named after the Seven Sisters.  Here is a link to Alcyone, Merope and Asterope:

http://www.mandalas.freeserve.co.uk/mandalatour3form.html

Q: What exactly is the Part of Fortune and what does it signify?

A:  It is an Arabian Part calculation, based on the geometric angle between the Sun and the Moon; placing the Sun on the Ascendant, where the Moon would be is where you find the Part of Fortune.

Traditionally, it is your Pot of Gold at the end of the Rainbow.

Martin Schulman in “Joy and the Part of Fortune” says it is where you find your Joy, and you usually find it around the middle of life.  His book was twice in my life lifted from me, and finally I recently bought a second hand copy from the internet – it is currently out of print.

My own interpretation is that it is the refining of one’s philosophy of life that you build up through life and gets you by, but at the same time is a subtle joie de vivre or joy of existence which you can catch sometimes, like a bubble, spontaneously and sometimes out of dimension.  I see it as the zest of life, and it can also point to talents which can become a career doing what you love to do.

A friend of mine has the Part of Fortune exactly on her Midheaven (Careerpoint) and a sustaining feature of her life has been using her talents in competitions, regularly winning holidays and household goods using her amazing facility for writing slogans.

The actress Jennifer Aniston has her Part of Fortune exactly on the cusp between her 10^th House of Career and 11^th House of Friendships and Groups, and her big breakthrough as an actress came through a television show named “Friends”.

The Part of Fortune is a uniquely fascinating feature in Astrology.  If you do not know a person’s time of birth, you can still find out which House the Part of Fortune occupies in their chart, even though the planetary House positions are a mystery.  Thus it can be the only House position known in that case.

When you have a transit of a natal planet to your Part of Fortune, dramatic changes can occur in your life, often for the better, e.g. dreams can come true, long-standing problems can be lifted.

Each day the Part of Fortune makes a revolution round your chart, and at certain moments when it is transiting sensitive areas in your chart, it can produce breakthrough thoughts which help you look at life differently.  However, because it has a very subtle influence, you can blink and miss it.

People born under a New Moon are “Part of Fortune” people!  This is because the Part of Fortune is always to be found natally on their Ascendant, and influences their personality in a positive way – they can always start afresh on a New Moon with a new outlook, and have a useful key to living.

An example of a singer whose inspiration for songwriting is continually self-renewing is Joan Armatrading.  She was born on a New Moon and has always written her own material.  I went to a concert of hers a few years ago, and the atmosphere at her gig was devotional.

My own Part of Fortune is trine with my Uranus (representing Astrology), and I have spent a few days thinking about this topic, since I was asked the question.  As I completed this reply, Chiron (providing a solution) was exactly sextile with the Part of Fortune.  Transiting Part of Fortune is very fleeting, so I am now on to my next question…

The energies of this week are all set up by the planets at the beginning of the week and especially the opportunity for the expansion of consciousness brought about by today’s trine between Mercury and Uranus, so that we are then left to enjoy, or work with them.  As the beginning of next week (Monday 15^th) brings a trine between the Sun and Jupiter we have a positive force field for this week between the two aspects, we do not have tension building, we can literally work with what has been set up, and possibly even have the luxury of living in the Now.  Our beginning standpoint is Mercury trine Uranus today.  The foggy clouds of yesterday (Mercury square Neptune) which may have lost you some of the day (e.g. through a hangover) are fading and we can step into the mental clarity that is Mercury trine Uranus.  This is a wonderful aspect to take through the week with us, and in fact is the only aspect, because tomorrow’s astrological features are changes of zodiac sign, and not inter-aspects between them.  So you can make the most of this and build on it throughout the week.  It’s a good week to cultivate mental acuity, and telepathic transmission, and to keep your higher antennae out for messages from the Universe.  If you have this aspect natally, you have an intuitional mind, which can sometimes by-pass logic, and cut through it to the real truth.  So we can all have flashes of intuition under this aspect, and it’s a good week to hone the connection between the lower mind and the higher self.  If you want to work with the Fixed Stars*, Uranus is connecting with the position of Scheat in Pegasus, and Mercury is connecting with the position of Alpha Centaurus.  This will expand the power of your work with today’s trine.  Alpha Centaurus can enhance conscious meditation or guided visualization for the mind, while Scheat working with the transiting Uranus can enable the transfer of energy to the Crown Chakra.  Regarding Scheat, Rubenfeld and Smulkis offer the following information: “Those who are having a little bit of trouble with this time of great change on Earth and wish to see the larger picture by attuning with cycles to see how things unfold appropriately will do well here.”  Remember in your meditations to project for the whole week.  So today is a launchpad for the week, and tomorrow is a reorientation possibly as a result of utilizing today’s trine.  Neptune and its confusions are standing still today, prior to moving forwards.  You may have a moment of “Oh I see where I have been going wrong, and now I see where or how to go!” on a subtle level.  The rest of the week will be able to respond to this moment of clarity, and a subtle new light can fall on everything.  Today is like turning on a switch, a lot can be sorted out today, to enable the rest of the week to fall into place.  Tomorrow’s events (Monday 8^th) are a change of sign for Venus and Mercury.  Venus retrogrades back to Libra from Scorpio, a chance for her to regain her equilibrium after the arduous challenges of being in Scorpio.  She can waltz a little after her Paso Doble…For all of us there will be a little re-tracing of steps in relationship.  And the last stage setting for the week is Mercury entering Sagittarius, also tomorrow.  Mercury leaves the more exacting rigours of Scorpio and is allowed freer rein in the wider fields of Sagittarius.  This allows even more expansion of the mind, and if nothing arrests this development we may all have an expanded outlook by next week, which will then be able to shift up yet another gear, provided you have been laying solid foundations this week.

*Interpretations from “Starlight Elixirs” by Michael Smulkis and Fred Rubenfeld

Today’s aspect Venus sextile Pluto is well-matched for Halloween events.  If you found last Tuesday’s Sun sextile Pluto constructive and meaningful, today’s aspect is like a different tone of the same colour.  Whereas Sun sextile Pluto was balancing life and death, today’s aspect balances love and death.  Our dinner party conversation last night was about Halloween being a U.S. import.  Our guests were a few years younger than us, but none of us could remember it being celebrated in the U.K. in our childhoods.  Our Yorkshireman remembered they celebrated “Mischief Day” (e.g. scrumping apples) which was then replaced at that time of year by Halloween.  By the time we had our children, tricking and treating on the Scorpionic date of 31^st October had become a way of life.  I don’t have a natural understanding of Halloween, but as far as I can see it is about our relationship with fear and beliefs about death.  We need to become our own Most Haunted mediums or exorcists to negotiate it.  There is also an increasing tradition of celebrating the old celtic festival of Samhain merged in with this.  Oh well, the supermarkets are staffed by witches and warlocks this weekend, and stocking plenty of scary cakes and jellied objects to sink our teeth into…I might just succumb.  Tuesday (2^nd November) is the day of the U.S.A. mid-term elections, and I apologize in advance to the Tea Party in that I am not qualified to speak.  But, we are what we read, and like the Observer leader today, I would like to urge patience to give Obama a chance: “Faced with impossible expectations, Obama has done astonishingly well – on paper.  In two gruelling years, he has delivered on three of the five promises he set up as the pillars of his ‘new foundation’ in a speech of April 2009: healthcare, education reform and financial re-regulation.”  The Saturn-Uranus opposition of his election has now morphed into a square between Jupiter/Uranus and Pluto, more complexity and challenge.  He has been up against this Cardinal Climax, for goodness sake.  Of course I wouldn’t extend the same understanding to our own P.M. David Cameron, who is not in that league of social idealism, having skipped the Saturn-Uranus opposition and come in on the Jupiter/Uranus square to Pluto.  On Thursday (4^th) Mercury trines Jupiter which is a good day for doing business, and for positive thinking (if you believe in positive thinking, that is).  For every action there is an equal and opposite reaction, and there are current ideologies which point out the disadvantages of positive thinking.  For example if employing an affirmation, and if the subconscious backlash is not acknowledged, you might get the opposite effect you were intending.  I once affirmed for a part-time job to be not in front of a computer screen, and landed up with a full-time job in front of a computer screen, for instance.  But, assuming that you like positive thinking, and it’s for you, it’s the day to do it.  On Friday (5^th) Chiron is stationary prior to turning direct, and this favours healing initiatives, and miracle turn-arounds, which might reinforce any positive thinking you may have decided to do on Thursday.  Saturday (6^th) brings a New Moon at 13 degrees Scorpio, a good day for intensive psychotherapy whether in a conventional set-up or your own home-grown version.  And shortly afterwards Mercury squares Neptune as if to test out how well your new psychological structures are holding up, by putting in front of you a litmus test for reality versus illusion.  If you feel that positive thinking is not suited to Halloween week, then you can cut your teeth (not just on jellied spiders) on the conjunction of the North Node and Pluto in the month of November.  These become conjunct at different times according to whether you take the Mean Node or True Node.  If the Mean Node, then 27^th is your date.  If the True Node, then the 10^th and the 22^nd are more pertinent, and may be more spiritual in focus.  [Quote from hubby: “My brain is turning to jellied spiders reading this section”] Basically this conjunction provides an intense focus on karmic and psychological challenges (in combination) in one area of your life (depending on which House it occupies in your natal chart).  You may already know what that is, even if you do not know your Ascendant.  Some deep navel-gazing is called for, seriousness about your karmic mission and the mission of the planet as a whole, and possible past-life researches.  If you do not have time for these ruminations, then life is likely to present appropriate challenges anyway on an outward level, so that you can see what this is about.  Scary stuff?  Ha-ha-ha Halloween!

Shapers of finance last week in the UK were George Osborne, the Chancellor of the Exchequer, and Wayne Rooney who obtained a pay rise from Alex Ferguson, the Manager of Manchester United Football Club.  Under the harmless sounding title of “Spending Review” last Wednesday, Osborne outlined the most savage programme of cuts to hit the poorest members of our society possibly ever.  This came on the day of the appearance of green Comet Hartley, which hardly enhances the reputation of comets.  Mercury also entered Scorpio that day which intensifies cutting speech.  What is it in George Osborne’s natal chart which enables him to be so ruthless?  It may be his Mars square Mercury (also cutting speech), or it may be his Moon square (difficult relationship with the public) North Node (karmic consequences).  On the day of the cutting speech Saturn was transiting his Uranus (bringing out his capacity to shock), and Uranus was opposing his Pluto (extreme action and psychology). …Wayne Rooney has innate talent as a football player (the precision of Mars in Virgo exactly sextile his Saturn) but in estimating his value to the world there may be a touch of arrogance (a T-square between Jupiter, his Sun/Pluto, and his North Node).  In his dialogue with Alex Ferguson he was taking on a shrewd man (who has been called the greatest football manager in the world).  Alex’s natal chart has a close trine between his Mercury and North Node (karmic mission as a Teacher) and Moon conjunct Jupiter (a motivator).  The astrological story is that Rooney was expressing his negative feminine side, in that Saturn was transiting his Venus (his feminine side, and money) and Venus currently in Scorpio (financial desire) was transiting his South Node (karmic habits).  These negative feminine wiles (manifesting last week as a sulk) may have come through from past life patterns therefore.  In calling in his cash karma, he is also creating cash karma for the future.  Alex Ferguson has karma with Wayne Rooney as a benefactor (his Sun trines Rooney’s North Node).  For both scenarios, Osborne’s and Rooney’s, time will tell the consequences.  Today Mars trines Uranus, a go-ahead, sparky day.  If you are meeting a friend, conversation will be lively.  If you are kicking a football around, you could make some surprise success moves.  Tomorrow Mercury conjuncts Venus at 7 degrees Scorpio, which is good for communication, negotiation, and rich descriptive writing.  Conversation will flourish in terms of mutual understanding.  On Tuesday (26^th) the Sun sextiles Pluto, another positive aspect but one which doesn’t pull any punches.  Everyone will have an agenda, and progress can be achieved, but in making your bid you will have to justify your cause.  A minor aspect is worthy of mention for Wednesday (27th) and that is Mercury semi-sextile Saturn.  Dialogue on Wednesday has to be realistic, and if it is, minor gains can be achieved.  However, some could use avoidance tactics under this aspect.  Mars enters Sagittarius on Thursday (28^th) which is another highlight of go-ahead energy.  You might sense an energy shift from ruthless (as in Osborne and Rooney) to beneficent, or at least more straightforward and upfront.  You will feel, in engaging in a group for instance, that you know where you are much more easily, and that hidden agendas are not lurking in the background so much.  In a week where all the aspects are pretty friendly, we end on Friday (29^th) with a lovely conjunction between Venus and the Sun at 5 degrees Scorpio.  If it is your birthday, your cup runneth over.  If it is not your birthday, it is a good day for marriage proposals, engagements and romantic dinners.  You might also try your luck sulking for a pay rise…unless your karmic status has risen above this level, in which case it’s a good day to create your own wealth authentically and with integrity, from the heart.