Aspects for the week beginning 14 November 2010

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