Aspects for the week beginning 7 February 2021

Captain Sir Tom Moore (1920 – 2021)

“Tomorrow will be a good day”

“…the doctors and the nurses, they’re all on the front line, and all of us behind, we’ve got to supply them and keep them going with everything that they need, so that they can do their jobs even better than they’re doing now.”

~ Captain Sir Tom Moore

The pandemic which gave us Captain Tom, eventually was responsible for taking away the national treasure which he became.  Captain Sir Tom Moore died on Tuesday last week, 2nd February 2021.  He first came to our attention last April, in the middle of our first lockdown in the U.K.  Wanting to express his gratitude to the N.H.S. for his recent care after a fall, he set upon walking up and down his garden on his walking frame at the tender age of 99.  By the time of his birthday at the end of April, he had raised over £30 million.  It was an eventful year for him, and the nation took him to their hearts.  Many people (including a great number of children) were inspired to raise money through similar exploits, ensuring a positive dimension to our collective experience through this crisis.

Birth Chart

Sir Tom had half his planets (5) in Cardinal signs, which implies leadership.  His Sun sign was in Taurus, the sign of the indomitable spirit.  The Sun exactly squaring Jupiter and the Moon sextile Jupiter showed a character determined to look at life sunny side up.  But at the same time, Sun trine Saturn and sextile Pluto gave him a strong sense of responsibility, and awareness of the realities of life. Leadership may also have been a feature of his past lives, with the Sun on his South Node.  Inspirationally, Jupiter was exactly conjunct Neptune in Leo trine Chiron in Aries, about which I wrote last year:

“… a wonderful feature of his chart is Neptune conjunct exactly with Jupiter (extreme idealism) and together they trine Chiron (the healer and solution to problems).  Chiron exactly trines Neptune and closely trines Jupiter.  That is an amazing planetary line up!”

Mercury conjunct Venus meant that he was good with words – he was also uplifting in his delivery of those words.  Mercury trine Jupiter showed a well-travelled soul with wide interests.

You can see the career in the armed forces, with Chiron, Venus and Mercury in Aries, the sign of Army (through its ruler Mars).  His great hobby motorcycle racing also comes under the sign of Aries, as does the quality of courage.  Mars in Libra loosely trines Uranus, giving him the Engineer Archetype (early in life he took on an apprenticeship in civil engineering).  Great strength is shown by Saturn closely sextile Pluto, and the ability to deal with huge change by Uranus exactly trine Pluto.  He has 6 exact aspects in his chart, which make for a larger than life character.

Life and Career

Sir Tom was born in Keighley, West Yorkshire.  His father was a builder, and his mother a head teacher.  He served in the Burma campaign in the second World War, where he survived Dengue fever.  He became a Captain on 11 October 1944, with his transits at the time showing Saturn sextile his natal Sun (taking on more responsibility), Pluto squaring his natal Sun (deepening his role in the armed services),  the Nodal Axis squaring his Venus (engaging personally with his karma), and Pluto on his natal Jupiter in Leo (intensifying leadership and power).

The Walk

The walk last year started as a family joke.  Initially it was to be a few laps of the garden, the family offered him £1 per lap, then put it online for the NHS.  He had been challenged to do 100 laps by his birthday, but a lot happened in the intervening time.

At the time his walk began, I wrote about his transits:-

“Uranus was trine his natal Saturn; Uranus was sextile his natal Uranus (the power of surprise) and Uranus was sextile his natal Pluto – a big change in his life, suddenly bringing out his power.”  All these Uranian transits were exact.

He performed on a single released of “You’ll Never Walk Alone” with Michael Ball.  I wrote at the time:

“Michael Ball, who has made the most of the opportunity by making a record of “You’ll Never Walk Alone” with Tom taking part, also has the power of Uranus working for him at the moment, with Uranus exactly sextile his natal Sun.  Do they have a link, karmic or otherwise?  Yes, Tom’s Uranus trines Michael’s Sun exactly, Tom’s Mars sextiles Michael’s Uranus (they galvanize each other), and Tom’s Pluto is exactly conjunct Michael’s Sun (Tom makes a profound impact on Michael’s life and psyche).”

The single literally broke records!  It became the “biggest trending song”, and he became the oldest person to reach the number one slot in the U.K. music charts.  Uranus was sextile his natal Pluto at the time, making him a powerful force for change.  He also holds a Guinness record for the highest amount raised for an individual walk.

On his birthday he received 150,000 cards, the single was still number 1 in the charts, and the Queen arranged an RAF fly-past.  As well as the long transit of Uranus sextile natal Pluto, he had a Mercury Return on his birthday – the mental clarity to enjoy the proceedings!

Soon after, at the beginning of May, he received the coveted and rare honour of a gold Blue Peter badge!

But the highlight for him apparently was being knighted by the Queen on 17th July last year, at Windsor Castle.  It was the Queen’s first official engagement after lockdown (he was worth coming out for!), and he was the only person being knighted that day.  His lips were sealed as to the conversation that took place on the occasion.  The transits came out suitably for him: Jupiter squared his natal Venus in Aries (a social honour) and Uranus transiting his natal Sun in Taurus (a wonderful surprise in his life).  She has said she enjoyed meeting him.

Impact of his Fundraising

Other huge funds were raised through the inspiration he generated, including from children with cerebral palsy and spina bifida.  The money raised were spent among other things on well-being packs for N.H.S. staff, devices for patients in intensive care to communicate with loved ones (his daughter and family themselves had to use a video call with him in his last hours), and community after care for patients.

Family

In all the interviews with Captain Tom, we got to see the warmth of his immediate family circle (as well as that famous and well worn garden path!).  His wife suffered from dementia, and she died in 2006.  Subsequently he has lived with one of his daughters, Hannah in Bedfordshire.  He has four grandchildren.

The family took a holiday in Barbados in December 2020, where it is thought he may have contracted covid.  He died of pneumonia, a condition which caused him to be ineligible for the vaccination.  In his autobiography he tells how a promise from his grandmother to look after him when he went to war made him think that she probably did so, and that gave him an open-minded sense of curiosity about what happens in the afterlife.  The transits at his transition showed Jupiter prominent (Jupiter square his natal Sun), as well as Uranus still sextile his natal Pluto; in the elderly this can often mean release and liberation, but I feel that for Tom,  it is the start of a new adventure.

There will never be anyone quite like Captain Sir Tom Moore, but he will continue to inspire wannabes.

“Even to give someone a little smile can brighten their day and the smile you get back will brighten yours.”

“Never give up.  Try to build resilience through optimism.”

~ from his Autobiography, 2020

Aspects

A highly strung square between Venus and Uranus took place at 3.33 a.m. today, so your dreams may have been vivid and involved bizarre socializing.  Alternatively, you might have been socializing yesterday evening or early this morning!  It is not an easy day for meetings.  The way through is to use your intuition, and stay one step ahead.  Relationships can be disrupted.

Tomorrow (Monday 8th) is sparkling in terms of consciousness.  This week and this month are dominated by planets in Aquarius, in a line up not seen since February 1962.  Any babies born this month will have a very futuristic outlook. At lunchtime tomorrow the Sun conjoins Mercury at 20 degrees Aquarius.  As Mercury is currently retrograde, it is a replay of the aspect which occurred on 20th December 2020.  It is a good day to apply your mind with clarity,  concentrate and focus,  make important statements, and look to the future.

On Tuesday (9th) we have a useful stabilizing and healing aspect in the shape of Saturn sextile Chiron.  It is important to take stock right now, as we are in the midst of the winds of change brought to us by Aquarius and Uranus, so we need to evaluate what we need to keep, rather than throwing out the baby with the bathwater.  This aspect enables us to think in a balanced way about our needs and our healing, and our plans for the future.

Helpful karma arrives on Wednesday morning (10th) too, with Mercury trine the North Node.  This ensures that information and communication are accurate and karmically relevant.  If you have something important to say, do so as early in the day as possible.

The energy around communication may deteriorate just after Noon (in the U.K.) however, as Mars squares Mercury.  You may recall this replay from January, as it can bring irritations, wars of words, and minor cuts and bruises.  So, proceed with more caution in the afternoon.  If you are sufficiently centred, you may be quite productive, producing brisk work.

The brightest day of the week is Thursday (11th), for two reasons.  The first is one of the year’s highlights, Venus conjunct Jupiter, at 12 degrees Aquarius this year.  It is an aspect of celebration, social pleasure, and romance.  There may be announcements of engagements, for example.  Look out for some good news, and crack your best jokes.

This precedes a New Moon at 23 degrees Aquarius in the evening.  If you have natal planets in Aquarius, you may find they are stimulated at some point or points this month.  You may especially respond to this very special New Moon, when the Moon, the Sun, Mercury, Venus, Jupiter and Saturn are promoting the Aquarian agenda, with the asteroid Pallas Athena also in Aquarius.  This is a significant push towards the values of the Age of Aquarius, the brother/sisterhood of man, an age working towards freedom and equality.  The New Moon is traditionally a time to focus on your wishes and intentions for a new beginning, and this one projects farther into the future than most.  Joe Biden may be setting out his stall on dealing with the pandemic, on poverty and climate change.  In the U.K. we may be presented with more hope for the elimination of the coronavirus.  It is time to imagine a better world, a time when we have overcome current obstacles and problems, the outlook having been so bleak in the last year.

Mercury conjoins Venus at 14 degrees Aquarius on Saturday (13th) which is a splendid literary and cultural aspect.  It is also a good day for negotiation (take note politicians and diplomats).  Your communications will have an artistic flair, so it’s a good time to get creative.   Captain Tom had Mercury conjunct Venus (good with words), so let us echo his catch phrase…”Tomorrow will be a good day!”

The week in bullet points:

• Today – strange relationships and conversations
• Tomorrow – sparkling consciousness
• Tuesday – stabilizing and healing
• Wednesday – helpful information karma; then irritation and incident-proneness
• Thursday – a welcome brightness; warmth of heart and new beginnings; futurism
• Saturday – good with words; companionable