Aspects for the week beginning 22 May 2011

In a week where Venus and Mars have been interacting closely, the issue of rape has been very much in the news, and other issues of the relations between the sexes.  The first character to bring the issue to prominence this week was Dominique Strauss-Kahn, high profile all week.  He has a testosterone-filled conjunction of the North Node and Mars in Aries in his natal chart.  It was reported in the Observer this morning that according to John Gray, author of “Men are from Mars, Women are from Venus”  powerful men have “higher than average levels of testosterone, which they seek to ‘top up’ when their reserves become depleted”.  Testosterone-filled Actor turned Politician Arnold Schwarzenegger, whose emotional life is under scrutiny in the media, currently has Uranus squaring his Moon, urging him to review his relations with the female population.  Conservative Politician Kenneth Clarke was taken to task when he carelessly worded a statement distinguishing different rape scenarios.  Saturn is currently squaring his Sun and this demand for exactitude from the Goddess is likely to plague him for a few weeks.  It has lit up the debate on the subject, and Shami Chakrabarti summarized the issues well on Question Time.  Her words were measured and balanced, as befits someone who currently has the karmic test of South Node transiting her Sun.  Meanwhile a photograph of a less than enthusiastic meeting between Barack Obama and Benjamin Netanyahu appeared in the pages of the Guardian this week.  In the search for peace between Israel and Palestine, their relationship is not an easy one:  Netanyahu’s Pluto opposes Obama’s Ascendant, and Netanyahu himself may be confused at this time with Neptune squaring his Ascendant – this may also highlight his own personality weaknesses.  Today Neptune squares the Sun, highlighting scandals and fuzzy moral issues, and interestingly we had an interview on the Andrew Marr show this morning with Barack Obama.  When I wrote a blog on his inauguration, I received a comment taking me to task for not mentioning the negative side of his Sun square Neptune, which is still somewhere in the blogosphere.  This morning, he was dignified and composed in the searchlight of Andrew Marr’s questioning, and I still believe him to be of a higher order spiritually than your average President.  Yes, Sun square Neptune can result in someone who is a deceiver.  But in someone spiritually evolved, there is a moral struggle going on, which can be expressed in a sensitive awareness.  So today’s Neptune square the Sun is about looking at spiritual issues, seeking for the greater sensitivity and compassion.  More fun and games on the sexual front tomorrow as the Venus-Mars conjunction becomes exact: will we find out who the footballer is, linked with Ms Thomas?  I am not privy to Twitter, and don’t follow football, so may not have heard of the footballer in question.  Venus conjunct Mars is an intense aspect, occurring in the sensual sign of Taurus, whereby we may examine our own male-female balance in our life.  On a personal level, for some it may bring romance and affection.  Wednesday (25^th) brings to us a different way of looking at life, with Sun sextile Uranus.  For those whose lives haven’t yet been fully revealed, there may be further revelations.  For inventors, there may be new inventions.  Incidents of telepathy and synchronicity may be noticed and noted.  It is a day when you can use the lever of the unexpected to improve your life.  On Thursday (26^th) the Sun squares Chiron, so there may be some uncomfortable healing crises or learnings on the spiritual path.  I will be off to the Festival of Mind-Body-Spirit in London that day, to attend a workshop on past lives and another workshop on future lives, so I may not know whether I am coming or going!