Eurovision Song Contest 2017

As you may know, there is a tradition of writing about the Eurovision Song Contest on this blog, and this year is no exception.  So look away now if you are not an enthusiast!

Salvador Sobral

The winner of this year’s contest last night was Salvador Sobral, from Portugal.  It was a sensational win for several reasons.  It was the first win ever for Portugal (in 53 years), he won by a mile (gaining 758 points), and he had been unable to perform the first rehearsals because of a serious heart condition, plus the performance and presentation was stripped down to the basics.

Salvador has 6 of his 10 planets in Capricorn (Uranus, Moon, Sun, Neptune, Saturn and Mercury), and certainly managed to convey the pathos of that sign in his performance.  He was born on a New Moon in that sign.  He has the Rebel Archetype (Sun closely conjunct Uranus), but also great sensitivity and vulnerability (Sun conjunct Neptune).  His heart condition (or at least strain on his heart) shows up in his chart through difficult aspects to his Sun (the heart): oppositions from Jupiter and Chiron, and the complex conjunction with Uranus and Neptune.  His emotional sensitivity, which comes through in his singing, comes from a conjunction of the Moon and Neptune.  His Mercury is unaspected, and I suspect that enables him to bypass the mind when he is singing.  He has Jupiter exactly opposite Uranus, the mark of the Opportunist, who knows when to promote himself.

Writing in The Telegraph, Alice Vincent explains the evocative appeal of the singer and song:

“…his whispery, mouth-of-marbles vocals tugged on heartstrings despite the language barrier. Amar Pelos Dois pays tribute to Portugal’s folk traditions, borrowing from the Fado style, an entire genre that mines mournfulness, and Sobral’s vocals were nearly overshadowed by swooning strings and twinkling keys.”

The transits for his win highlight his physical struggle: Uranus square his Mercury (health interference) and Jupiter square his Saturn (overcoming obstacles).  He seemed to take it all in his stride casually, perhaps as a man who has more important things on his mind, for not only did he have the health struggle, but he is a campaigner on behalf of refugees in the European migrant crisis.

The triumph for Portugal itself is registered in the transits by Pluto exactly sextile its Venus (Song), and Uranus opposite its Uranus (a rebellious, no frills performance).  Salvador’s Jupiter is exactly sextile Portugal’s Moon, and he really brought them luck and success.

The song was called “Amar Pelos Dois” (“To love for the both of us”, in English), and was written by his sister Luisa, who performed it with him after the win had been announced.  She also performed it in the early heat when he was indisposed.  Amazingly, it stood out as one of the few songs which were not performed in English.  The subject of the song is about lost love, and was described by Salvador Sobral as “a sad song”.

The win was as much a triumph for Luisa and their partnership as for Salvador and Portugal.  She is a Virgo, which works very well with Capricorn.  She has Mercury sextile exactly Saturn in her chart, amplifying the Virgo precision and application in her work.  She has Venus exactly conjunct the South Node in musical Libra, and was very likely in her past life or lives a singer and songwriter, as an ingrained way of life; they may have been troubadours in the middle ages.  The poignancy of her love song is seen in her Venus square Neptune, Venus square Chiron, and Mars square Saturn, reminding me of the old line of a song “chagrin d’amour dure toute la vie“.  She has Jupiter trine Uranus (The Entrepreneur) which is even more able to make the most of an opportunity as her brother’s Jupiter opposite Uranus.  Their relationship sparks a lot of energy, with  his Pluto sextile exactly her Mars. As to her transits at the win, the North Node trined exactly her Jupiter, producing a karmic reward!

Lucie Jones

Our United Kingdom entry “Never give up on You”, by Lucie Jones, was not expected to do well, because recently we have been at the bottom of the leaderboard, and it was thought that Brexit would severely affect the result.  The song was not brilliant, but Lucie sang it to the best of her ability and with heartfelt emotion,  it gained 111 points, and came in just under halfway at No. 15, much better than we (or Graham Norton presenting) had imagined.  It was our best result since 2011, despite the fact that our usual stalwart allies Ireland and Malta did not vote for us in the Jury section of the voting.  We seemed to draw support from all over Europe, and gained the top 12 points from Australia.

Lucy has a confident Sun in Aries trine Jupiter (quite lucky), with the Sun also loosely square Mars.  She came to fame in the X-Factor contest in 2009, where she lost out to Jedward in week 5.  At the time of this opportunity, she had Jupiter square her Pluto, Uranus square her Mars and Neptune trine her Mars.  She is of the same generation as Salvador Sobral: he was born in 1989 and she was born in 1991.  They both have the complex Uranus-Neptune conjunction in Capricorn of that time.  At the time of her performance in Eurovision, she had Pluto sextile her Pluto, empowering her to sing from her deepest emotion.

17 year olds

Curiously, three 17-year olds took part in this year’s contest, they all performed well and scored well.  Bulgaria’s Kristian Kostov came second in the entire contest.  He has Venus exactly conjunct Mercury in Pisces, a mellow voice for someone so young.  For the result, Kristian had Neptune sextile his natal Saturn.  Ellie Delvaux for Belgium and  Isaiah Firebrace for Australia both had Saturn trine their natal Jupiter.  Hopefully, it is a good indication of the talent rising up the ranks for future Eurovisions (do I hear groans?).

Aspects

Today Mercury is trine the North Node, and you may hear some karmic information to your advantage.  Hopefully, the results of the cyber attacks worldwide are gradually being dealt with, ready at least for the NHS to re-open its doors tomorrow.  I wrote under comments for last week:

“You might be wondering about yesterday’s cyber hacking of the NHS computers and other systems round the world. Because of Mercury retrograde then direct around the planet Uranus in Aries, the conjunction with all its glories and hazards has been lingering for an unusually long time. Coupled with that, experts on the asteroids assure us that this conjunction is also conjunct asteroid Eris, which represents chaos. I was not 100% convinced about the latter, but this event has made me think.”

So today is about recalibrating mentally, and re-aligning with your original plans and purposes.

On Tuesday (16th) Mercury re-enters Taurus, from Aries, which favours following through on artistic, financial, cookery (perfecting your ice cream quenelles technique) and gardening projects.  Mercury is in Taurus, assisting the mental application to such matters, until 6th June.  If it is your birthday on 16th, you may receive a special influx of mental energy.

Thursday (18th) brings us the gift of a sextile between the Sun in Taurus and Chiron in Pisces.  Any creativity we have fostered during the time that the Sun has been in Taurus, is touched by a healing quality and application.  Not only can you bring healing to your creativity, but healing can benefit from creativity.  Your creations truly heal you, coming from your Soul.

Friday (19th) is the most important day of the week, aspect-wise, bringing as it does a trine between two of the big guns, Saturn and Uranus.  This can be an immensely constructive time, perhaps testing out a big project or structure which you have been building in your life.  This trine is good for combining the old and the new, the innovative and the well-worn, moving forward without throwing the baby out with the bathwater.  It is especially good for engineering projects, as well as social projects.  It is about testing the elements of strength in what you have put into place, and hopefully finding that they hold.

Also on Friday, the Sun squares the Nodal Axis, and power issues within groups could be evident.  The fair distribution of power may come up for you in a situation, or may in some way be implied in issues which come up in the U.K. election campaigns.  This is something not easily achieved, but you may be in a position where you have to tackle its complexity.

In the afternoon, Venus opposes Jupiter, and there may be some light relief in the form of humour, intended or unintended.  It is always good to have a laugh that comes out of the blue, and reminds you of its therapeutic value.  As often though, someone may be the butt of the joke, and if so bear in mind that one man’s joke may be another’s misfortune.  Keep it clean.

The Sun enters Gemini on Saturday (20th), and what we lose in Taurean patience and productiveness, we gain in sparkling mental communication and the enlivening of debate.  In the coming month, the emphasis will be on chat: chatting over the neighbour’s fence, exchanging points of interest on social media, developing mental interests etc.  There may also be initiatives regarding Transport and Education, no doubt promoted by one or other of the political parties promising improvements.  Talk is cheap; look at their record, and where their real interests lie, I would think.  There is communication, and there is communication, and some of what we hear in the course of the day is superficial and passed on undigested.  It is an opportunity to be a mindful, clear channel of information!

The week in bullet points:

  • Today – useful information
  • Tuesday – mental application in practical tasks
  • Thursday – creativity and healing combined
  • Friday – strength and progress, power issues, and some laughter
  • Saturday – moving onto the mental plane

 

Date: May 14th, 2017 · Comments RSS · Tags: Astrology