{"id":3605,"date":"2015-08-02T10:02:25","date_gmt":"2015-08-02T10:02:25","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/blog.lanawooster.co.uk\/?p=3605"},"modified":"2015-08-02T10:20:02","modified_gmt":"2015-08-02T10:20:02","slug":"aspects-for-the-week-beginning-2-august-2015","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/blog.lanawooster.co.uk\/?p=3605","title":{"rendered":"Aspects for the week beginning 2 August 2015"},"content":{"rendered":"

The Bloomsbury Group:\u00a0 A Soul Group \u2013 Introduction<\/strong><\/span><\/p>\n

A new three part drama entitled \u201cLife in Squares\u201d began on BBC2 (Mondays at 9 pm) this week.\u00a0 It owes its title to a quotation from Dorothy Parker, who described the Bloomsbury group lifestyle as \u201clived in squares, painted in circles and loved in triangles\u201d.<\/p>\n

I have long been interested in this group, undoubtedly a Soul Group, but will start modestly with just a few astro-vignettes.\u00a0 Sometimes I start a theme, and if there is not much interest, don\u2019t take it further.\u00a0 But hopefully there is enough interest out there for this subject.<\/p>\n

Virginia Woolf<\/em><\/strong><\/span><\/p>\n

Virginia Woolf, or Virginia Stephen as she began life, formed with her sister Vanessa the core of an intellectual group starting in the early 20th<\/sup> Century in London.\u00a0 Though the group were famed for their liberal sexual mores, there is no doubt that they were among the most talented contributors to the culture of their age.\u00a0 Virginia herself was a profound author, though her writing style indigestible to some.\u00a0 She struggled with her mental health and was possibly bi-polar, but perhaps that enhanced her work and creativity.<\/p>\n

Her chart identifies her as a Soul Group leader with North Node exactly sextile her natal Sun (exactly at the Midheaven), with an entrepreneurial trine between Jupiter and Uranus.\u00a0 Her delicate mental structure is identified in her chart by Chiron exactly square Mercury.\u00a0 There is a depth of relating shown by Venus closely trine Pluto, and mental innovation from Chiron trine exactly Uranus.\u00a0 She had no water planets, which may have been a source of struggle in emotional expression, coupled with an exact square of Saturn to her Sun.\u00a0 Further indication that she didn\u2019t do anything by halves is shown by 6 of her 10 planets being in the Fixed signs. She married political theorist Leonard Woolf who was karmically linked through his Sun being conjunct her North Node.<\/p>\n

Vanessa Bell<\/em><\/strong><\/span><\/em><\/strong><\/p>\n

Virginia\u2019s sister Vanessa Bell was a painter, and became close to Clive Bell through a mutual love of painting.\u00a0 She later married him, and he also formed a close relationship with Virginia.<\/p>\n

Her Sun in Gemini is within 1 degree of Virginia\u2019s, which indicates a close personal bond.\u00a0 Her cultural interests and talent are shown by Mercury exactly sextile Venus in her chart.\u00a0 There is an elevated spiritual quality about her exact sextile between Jupiter and Neptune.\u00a0 North Node trine closely Pluto shows a profoundly driven karmic mission.\u00a0 She has an exact conjunction of Chiron and Neptune in Taurus, a complex artistic talent possibly used as a route to her own self-healing.\u00a0 This conjunction sextiles Jupiter, assisting success in that field.\u00a0 In her marriage to Clive Bell, with her Pluto exactly conjunct Clive Bell\u2019s Jupiter they built a focus of power.\u00a0 Clive Bell\u2019s Neptune was exactly conjunct Virginia Woolf\u2019s Jupiter and he was able to sensitively critique her work.<\/p>\n

Lytton Strachey<\/em><\/strong><\/span><\/p>\n

Lytton Strachey, author of \u201cEminent Victorians\u201d, was a highly charismatic member of the core group, and predominantly homosexual (related with John Maynard Keynes and Duncan Grant), though he had a passionate relationship with painter Dora Carrington.\u00a0 His Venus trine Mars is a sign of lack of sexual inhibition.\u00a0 Mars also exactly squared his Uranus, bringing a continual need for excitement.\u00a0 He too was a leader, with the Sun sextile his North Node. He had Mercury conjunct Jupiter, a sign of success in writing.\u00a0 Virginia had these two planets closely square, showing the range of her intellectual interests.<\/p>\n

His death through illness led to the grief stricken suicide of Dora Carrington, which was a contributory factor possibly to Virginia Woolf\u2019s own suicide.\u00a0 His Moon squared Venus, often a sign that the females in someone\u2019s life do not get on, and certainly Virginia Woolf and Dora Carrington had a troubled relationship. Dora\u2019s Pluto was exactly conjunct Lytton\u2019s Mars, which may have been destructive, but it was also exactly trine his Venus and they had a deeply magnetic relationship.\u00a0 They were also involved in a m\u00e9nage a trois with Ralph Partridge.<\/p>\n

John Maynard Keynes<\/em><\/strong><\/span><\/p>\n

Economist John Maynard Keynes, like Lytton Strachey, was a product of the Cambridge University culture of the time.\u00a0 Arguably his legacy is one of the greatest of all the Bloomsbury Group, as his economic theory is now coming back into fashion after the failed experiment of Neo-Liberalism.\u00a0 He was born on a New Moon in Gemini with the Part of Fortune on the Ascendant, bringing in new thought for the time.\u00a0 He had a psychologically heavy triple conjunction of Saturn\/Chiron\/Pluto in Gemini, and the independent controversial thought of Mercury exactly square Uranus.\u00a0 Venus conjunct the Midheaven in Taurus describes well his career as an economist.\u00a0 He had no fire in his chart, so relied heavily on the 5 out of 10 planets he had in intellectual Air to make rational sense of the world.\u00a0 His relationship with Lytton Strachey and painter Duncan Grant was very much a love triangle.<\/p>\n

E.M. Forster<\/em><\/strong><\/span><\/p>\n

Also associated with Cambridge, E.M. Forster\u2019s novels earned him many nominations for the Nobel Prize in Literature.\u00a0 Notably, his novels are much easier to read than Virginia Woolf\u2019s.\u00a0 I was required to read them all at \u2018A\u2019 Level, and our set text \u201cA Passage to India\u201d, though not difficult, was perhaps the most complex and enigmatic.\u00a0 He shares many natal aspects in common with other members of the Bloomsbury Group, some of those aspects being personal and some collective in nature.\u00a0 The Chiron-Neptune conjunction in Taurus which Vanessa Bell channeled into painting, can be seen in the complex enigma that is \u201cA Passage to India\u201d giving that work a haunting quality.\u00a0\u00a0 There is an engaging portrait of E.M. Forster by Dora Carrington and they share the aspect of North Node conjunct Jupiter.\u00a0 Like Lytton Strachey, he had Mars square Uranus.\u00a0 He also had a very exacting square between his Mercury and Saturn.<\/p>\n

Vita Sackville-West<\/em><\/strong><\/span><\/p>\n

Trio<\/em><\/p>\n

So well she knew them both! yet as she came
\nInto the room, and heard their speech
\nOf tragic meshes knotted with her name,
\nAnd saw them, foes, but meeting each with each
\nCloser than friends, souls bared through enmity,
\nBeneath their startled gaze she thought that she
\nBroke as the stranger on their conference,
\nAnd stole abashed from thence<\/em><\/em><\/p>\n

Poet and Horticulturalist Vita Sackville-West had Sun, Mercury and Jupiter in Pisces.\u00a0 She had a brief affair with Virginia Woolf, and was immortalized by Virginia in her book \u201cOrlando\u201d.\u00a0 Vita herself came from an aristocratic background and was brought up in a 365-room mansion, Knole, in Kent (North Node in Taurus conjunct I.C.).\u00a0 She had a very interesting 5th<\/sup> House of Creativity, which included her North Node conjunct I.C. (many of her poems were about her ancestral home).\u00a0 Another notable feature of her 5th<\/sup> House is an exact conjunction of Neptune and Pluto in Gemini, which lends depth to her work.\u00a0 She was also involved in a love triangle, between her husband Harold Nicholson and a school friend novelist Violet Trefusis.<\/p>\n

There are so many more characters and intricacies involved in the subject of the Bloomsbury Group, which I hope to explore at some stage.<\/p>\n

Aspects<\/strong><\/span><\/p>\n

There is a prolilfic line-up of aspects this week, something to occupy you each day, so without further ado, and with precise times (for the U.K.):\u2013<\/p>\n

Saturn turns direct today at 5.53 a.m., bucking the retrograde trend with Venus, Neptune and Pluto still retrograde, not to mention Asteroids Chiron, Pholus, and Ceres who are all retrograde at the moment.\u00a0 You may find a chink in the brick wall now, and start to be able to move something which has been resistant for a while.\u00a0 Saturn has been retrograde since 14th<\/sup> March.<\/p>\n

At 14.50 Hrs Mercury trines Uranus, so you may have a lightbulb moment just after lunch, whether inspired by a great meal or an earlier breakthrough.\u00a0 Take time to be open to new ideas before you go about your afternoon planned activities.<\/p>\n

Tomorrow, Monday (3rd<\/sup>) holds the most important key of the week, the aspect of Jupiter square Saturn at 10.36 a.m.\u00a0 You may find you are chasing your own tail, at least initially, until you realize that the task is to balance two ostensibly incompatible forces in your life.\u00a0 Jupiter is freedom, and Saturn is restraint.\u00a0 Jupiter is in the fun-loving sign of Leo, and Saturn is in the darker sign of Scorpio, so there are two contrasts already.\u00a0 Depending on where they are placed in your birthchart, there will be more factors to balance.\u00a0 Identifying the task is half the battle, then expanding your consciousness to look at the bigger picture may provide a way of dealing with it, or thinking about it.<\/p>\n

You are in for a treat on Tuesday (4th<\/sup>) with the happiest of aspects, Venus conjunct Jupiter at 21.47 Hrs in the early evening.\u00a0 As Venus is now retrograde, you may remember the recent occurrence of this aspect on 1st<\/sup> July, when you may have received a reminder of the unconditional love and abundance ever-present in the Universe!\u00a0 There may be romance, and the promise of weddings or engagements in the air.\u00a0 Friendships too are blessed.\u00a0 If you receive a social invitation, take the opportunity!\u00a0 Couch potatoes can always catch up on their favourite programme on i player or nearest equivalent.<\/p>\n

Be prepared for a slump in mood the next day Wednesday (5th<\/sup>) when Venus then squares Saturn (the antithesis of Venus conjunct Jupiter) at 15.08 Hrs.\u00a0 Could be that you may have underestimated the enduring nature of the previous day\u2019s euphoric events (if indeed you did benefit).\u00a0 A more realistic tone in relationships now ensues.\u00a0 For example, a suitor may have proposed marriage on Tuesday, and on Wednesday you realize there may be some impediment and the road may not be clear in practical terms.\u00a0 You may be able to clear this on a level of consciousness, e.g. determining a negative thought in relation to past relationships which is still lurking and may yet be cleared.<\/p>\n

Another step forward occurs the next morning, Thursday (6th<\/sup>) with Mars trine Saturn at 8.29 am.\u00a0 There literally may be an action you can take to move things forward in the direction of your goals.\u00a0 Seize the day; the early bird will catch the worm.<\/p>\n

Still seizing, next, at 14.25 Hrs Mercury is conjunct Venus, favouring literary and artistic pursuits, and forging on with documentation, diplomacy and discussion.<\/p>\n

In the afternoon, after a fruitful and creative early afternoon, stop seizing the day, and turn to reflection and meditation.\u00a0 For in the evening, at 20.19 Hrs Mercury will square Saturn, and you will be required to slow right down, and calm and focus the mind.\u00a0 There may be a specific task concerning documentation or calculation which needs to be dealt with, or some difficult news to process or digest. The week may by now feel like a mini-roller coaster.<\/p>\n

So it will not be difficult to imagine that another beneficial aspect is coming your way on Friday \u00a0(7th<\/sup>) \u2013 Mercury conjuncts Jupiter at 7.08 a.m.\u00a0 If you have entrepreneurial designs for Friday, especially involved with the dissemination of information, you will be able to sail through them.\u00a0 Teaching and travel are especially favoured.\u00a0 The up side or silver lining of yesterday evening\u2019s news will reveal itself.<\/p>\n

Early evening at 19.15 Hrs Mercury moves from hedonistic Leo into conscientious Virgo, so you may switch from holiday mode right into work mode.\u00a0 A deadline may present itself to get stuck into a project or assignment lasting approximately the length of Mercury\u2019s stay in Virgo which is until 27th<\/sup> of this month – it\u2019s time to tackle my Tax Return!.\u00a0 Perhaps the task is something preparing for the Autumn term, if you are a teacher or student.\u00a0 It would involves the mental faculties.<\/p>\n

Summer is not over though, fear not!\u00a0 On Saturday (8th<\/sup>) your physical energies will be back surfing the waves of the holiday season with Mars leaving Cancer (the sign of home and family preoccupations) and entering Leo.\u00a0 Perhaps you are basking in the sunshine home or away, are enjoying a staycation, or have been invited to a summer wedding.\u00a0 Celebration, display and show are once more highlighted.\u00a0 Whether you are a main player, supporting act, or behind-the-scenes worker, don\u2019t hide your light under a bushel, behind the curtains, or under false humility.\u00a0 Everyone\u2019s a winner!<\/p>\n

The week in bullet points:<\/p>\n