{"id":8648,"date":"2025-12-14T14:35:28","date_gmt":"2025-12-14T14:35:28","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/blog.lanawooster.co.uk\/?p=8648"},"modified":"2025-12-14T18:18:59","modified_gmt":"2025-12-14T18:18:59","slug":"aspects-for-the-week-beginning-14-december-2025","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/blog.lanawooster.co.uk\/?p=8648","title":{"rendered":"Aspects for the week beginning 14 December 2025"},"content":{"rendered":"

Sophie Kinsella and Joanna Trollope<\/strong><\/span><\/p>\n

Friends, and Sagittarian Storytellers<\/em><\/strong><\/span><\/p>\n

Sophie Kinsella (1969 \u2013 2025)<\/strong><\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cEvery one of Sophie\u2019s 40 million readers knew how funny and smart she was.\u201d<\/em><\/p>\n

~ Jenny Colgan<\/p>\n

\u201cShopaholic\u201d author Sophie Kinsella died this week of glioblastoma, at the tender age of 55.\u00a0 She will be missed by her many readers, and earned the title \u201cthe queen of romantic comedy\u201d, given to her by Jo Jo Moyes.<\/p>\n

Birth Chart<\/em><\/strong><\/span><\/p>\n

Sophie, whose birthday was 12th<\/sup> December, was born with the Sun in Sagittarius \u2013 confirming last week\u2019s Storyteller Archetype for this sign.\u00a0 She died on 10th<\/sup> December, two days before her birthday. Friends found her joyful, a quality from her ruling planet Jupiter.\u00a0 Her Sun was unaspected (showing a free spirit) except for a square to the Nodal Axis (a strong sense of destiny).\u00a0 We have no birth time, but a noon chart reveals two exact Moon aspects, so even if she was born at the extremes of the day they may still be relevant:<\/p>\n

Moon at Noon exactly square Saturn, some understanding of depressive moods<\/p>\n

with<\/p>\n

Moon at Noon exactly sextile Chiron, some understanding of how to heal<\/p>\n

Mercury square Uranus and Chiron in a Cardinal T-square \u2013 and as Mercury rules shopping, this may have been the driving force behind the Shopaholic alter ego (or is it an Archetype??!).\u00a0 Mercury square Chiron can imply problem solving ability.<\/p>\n

Sophie\u2019s Venus in Sagittarius was closely sextile with her Uranus, indicating an ability to express the sensuality of life and shopping.\u00a0 Mars closely trine Jupiter described the feelgood and humorous vibe of her writing.\u00a0 Jupiter opposite Saturn can make decision-making difficult; but Neptune trine Chiron shows the healing nature of her work<\/p>\n

Life and Career<\/em><\/strong><\/span><\/p>\n

Sophie was born in Roehampton, her real name being Madeleine Sophie Townley.\u00a0 She was educated at various schools, then at New College Oxford, where she took Music, then switched to Philosophy, Politics and Economics (Philosophy being a province of Sagittarius).\u00a0 She began her working life as a financial journalist, but found the job dull.\u00a0 She was inspired by the work of Joanna Trollope to try her hand at writing novels, at the age of 24.\u00a0 After several were published under the name Madeleine Wickham, she hit upon the idea of writing about a financial journalist with an addiction to shopping:<\/p>\n

\u201cI thought, wait a minute, shopping has become the national pastime, and nobody has written about it.\u00a0 It felt very much like an experimental project.\u201d<\/em><\/p>\n

Her work has been labelled \u201cchick lit\u201d, but she preferred the term \u201cwit lit\u201d.\u00a0 Her first two novels were made into a film \u201cConfessions of a Shopaholic\u201d in 2009.\u00a0 At the time, her transits included:<\/p>\n

Pluto trine her Saturn (serious progress)<\/p>\n

Jupiter sextile her Venus (success)<\/p>\n

Jupiter trine her Uranus (sudden success)<\/p>\n

North Node trine her Uranus (surprise karmic reward)<\/p>\n

Her heroine, or alter ego, was called Becky Bloomwood, and the story takes in the inability to manage her own finances despite her expertise in the subject, an obsession with shopping, and a relationship with Luke.<\/p>\n

Sophie\u2019s books sold over 50 million copies, in more than 60 countries, translated into over 40 languages.<\/p>\n

She met her husband Henry on her first day at Oxford University, and they had five children.\u00a0 He has helped manage her affairs, and looked after her with great care throughout her illness.\u00a0 She described him as an optimist, and said that during her illness:<\/p>\n

\u201cEvery morning, he brings me a cup of tea. And he comes to me with a story of hope. I’ve already lasted more than the average. So, you know, that’s how we get through. … We just hope.”<\/em><\/p>\n

I confess that I have not read any of her books (in my defence, I am not a shopaholic!).\u00a0 But she also wrote a book series for children, called \u201cMummy Fairy and Me\u201d, which has a special place in my own granddaughter\u2019s heart.<\/p>\n

Joanna Trollope (1943 \u2013 2025)<\/strong><\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cIt is a grave mistake to think there is more significance in great things than in little things”<\/em><\/p>\n

~ Joanna Trollope<\/p>\n

A friend of Sophie\u2019s, Joanna\u2019s birthday was 9th<\/sup> December, and she died this week on 11th<\/sup> December, two days after her birthday, and one day after Sophie passed.\u00a0 Joanna reached the ripe old age of 82.<\/p>\n

Birth Chart<\/em><\/strong><\/span><\/p>\n

Joanna was also born with the Sun in Sagittarius, (the Storyteller Archetype again), and her work did contain humour, but also a much more dark side of the human experience (from Pluto exactly conjunct her North Node).\u00a0 She described her novels as \u201cquite subversive, quite bleak\u201d. With Mercury exactly sextile Venus \u2013 she had<\/em> a marked<\/em> Writer Archetype!\u00a0 Furthermore, Mercury trine Jupiter gave her a wide ranging mind.\u00a0 She had a very energetic chart, with emphatic Mars and Pluto aspects.\u00a0 Uranus was sextile her North Node, making her a trailblazer in her field: books set in rural England and focussing on domestic life and relationships.\u00a0 Her work too was labelled, in her case \u201cAga Sagas\u201d, a label she disputed as agas were barely mentioned.\u00a0 She was quoted as saying in 2006:<\/p>\n

“Except for thrillers there was nothing in the middle ground of the traditional novel, which is where I think I am.”<\/em><\/p>\n

Life and Career<\/em><\/strong><\/span><\/p>\n

She was born in Minchinhampton, Gloucestershire, and was a distant relative of \u00a0the author Anthony Trollope.\u00a0 She attended Reigate School for girls, and then, like Sophie, received a further education at Oxford University (at St. Hugh\u2019s College), reading English.\u00a0 She worked initially as a civil servant, before beginning a writing career in 1980.\u00a0 She also originally wrote under a pseudonym.\u00a0 Her big breakthrough came with the novel \u201cThe Rector\u2019s Wife\u201d in 1991, which was an enormous and immediate hit, toppling Jeffrey Archer and Jilly Cooper off the top of the charts.\u00a0 Her Progressed Sun was trine her natal Uranus at the time (a sign of sudden success).\u00a0 Transiting Jupiter at the time was encouragingly sextile her natal Mars, and added fire came from a transit of Mars squaring her natal Jupiter.<\/p>\n

In 1994, The Rector\u2019s Wife was adapted for television, starring Lindsay Duncan and Ronald Pickup.\u00a0 I was always struck by the resemblance between Joanna Trollope and Lindsay Duncan, although the work is not deemed autobiographical.<\/p>\n

Joanna married twice, had two daughters, two step-children, and was a grandmother.<\/p>\n

She died peacefully at home, with Pluto square her natal Venus, Chiron sextile her natal Saturn, and Mars trine her natal Jupiter.<\/p>\n

\u201cShe has a gift for putting her finger on the problem of the times\u201d<\/em><\/p>\n

~ <\/em>Fay Weldon<\/p>\n

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

The first aspect today is Neptune squaring Mars.\u00a0 This could be quite tricky, or over-emotional.\u00a0 Mars likes to act unimpeded, but Neptune forces it to be more sensitive, and possibly also more spiritualized.\u00a0 Energies may be frittered, and water currents could be flowing in unhelpful directions, e.g. leaks.\u00a0 Generally under such an aspect, meditation can be helpful, and particularly those activities which combine physical movement with a stilling of the mind, such as Tai Chi.\u00a0 So perhaps a spot of those activities during the day could contribute to more harmony.<\/p>\n

Later in the day, the Sun trines Chiron, introducing a healing note.\u00a0 For example,\u00a0 you may have a desire to heal a particular issue.\u00a0 Look for clues and insights today on this theme, which may help\u00a0 you.\u00a0 Healing is illuminated by clarity, and solutions may appear to conundrums which have been recently aired.\u00a0 There is a sense of wholeness about this aspect.\u00a0 Creativity and healing have a symbiotic relationship under this aspect.<\/p>\n

Tomorrow (Monday 15th<\/sup>), Mars enters Capricorn.\u00a0 This may have the effect of slowing down action, but action taken will be firmed up, based on realism, more authoritative.\u00a0 You may need to make a more respectful approach to something or a project, give it more decorum.<\/p>\n

We have a square between Saturn and the Sun on Wednesday (17th<\/sup>).\u00a0 This aspect needs some caution in the playing.\u00a0 It may bring disappointing or deflating news, \u00a0delay or frustration.\u00a0 There is no shortage of such material on our news programmes, certainly.\u00a0 The Sun-Saturn square is an opportunity to think through what you are doing, and your strategies.\u00a0 If you are making economies, are they the right ones, based on your optimum values, for example?<\/p>\n

A mellower aspect follows the next day, on Thursday (18th<\/sup>).\u00a0 Venus will trine Chiron, which may aid healing and recovery.\u00a0 Try to keep the heart open; it is the antidote for many things.\u00a0 The healing power of love comes to the fore.\u00a0 There may be a real opportunity to re-group your healing energies and feel harmony within your being.<\/p>\n

Celia Fenn has a reminder for us for Friday (19th<\/sup>):<\/p>\n

\u201cThe 19th of December will probably be a whammy. On this day the Earth transits the Galactic Centre at 27 degrees of Sagittarius AND experiences its closest transit to Interstellar object 3I Atlas just 2 days before Solstice. Very deep Galactic energies expected at that time.\u201d<\/em><\/p>\n

Then it\u2019s on to a new beginning on Saturday (20th<\/sup>) with a New Moon at 28 degrees Sagittarius.\u00a0 Sagittarian New Moons are more upbeat than most, focussing on expansion, the planning of holidays, deep study and learning, global issues, and matters of faith.\u00a0 Re-play your affirmations, with more confidence.\u00a0 You can have powerful inner conversations under this New Moon.<\/p>\n

The last aspect of the week, on the same day, is the Nodal Axis square to Mercury.\u00a0 Karmic information may come into your awareness, and communication in groups will be important.\u00a0 Past life exploration may beckon, for some!\u00a0 A good day for group reunions.\u00a0 As it is Mercury confronting karma, it may be a good day to tackle your Inner Shopaholic, the Christmas Inner Shopaholic being comparatively on steroids!<\/p>\n

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