Retrograde Mercury in Scorpio - words bite

Another scan of the British newspapers, reveals some quite explosive Retrograde Scorpio Mercury action as the likes of Dr. Watson and Martin Amis have spoken out about taboo topics (racism and Islamophobia respectively) and have then seen their words come back and bite them in the ass via the vehicle of the public's indignation. Interestingly, both have since disowned their statements and said they weren't sure what has come over them.

Faith

Thinking more about Jupiter, and faith, it reminds me of a poem by Sheenagh Pugh (to keep in mind for when we are being pummelled by particularly gruelling transits, or angry constellations in the sky)

Sometimes things don’t go after all,
from bad to worse. Some years muscadel
faces down frost; green thrives;the crops don’t fail,
sometimes a man aims high, and all goes well.

A people sometimes will step back from war;
elect an honest man; decide they care
enough, that they can’t leave some stranger poor.
Some men become what they were born for.

Sometimes our best efforts do not go
amiss; sometimes we do as we meant to.
The sun will sometimes melt a field of sorrow
that seemed hard frozen: may it happen for you.

The Magician and The Party Pooper - influences of Jupiter and Saturn

In my natal chart, my ascendant falls between Jupiter and Saturn, with Jupiter conjuncting it from the 12th house and the effects of these two planets are something I've noticed quite strongly throughout my whole life. When I was born there was a food shortage-Saturn- (my mother didn't have any breast milk, there was no powdered milk available in any stores) but a donation from brought me suitcases full of powdered milk (Jupiter) which satisfied my rather vast Cancerian appetites. And even though throughout my life I kept encountering pretty much every kind of hardship (Saturn), there's also always been some kind of hidden benefactor or protective element (usually in a deus ex machina fashion) to intervene in my favour and see me through. After my father died for instance, and inflation reduced his life insurance money to the cost of a Kinder Egg and my father's friends robbed us, financial help from a relative from abroad (and Jupiter rules The Foreign) saw us through. A gift of foreign money (scholarship) paid for my education when I immigrated. I've had the tendency to get the mildest version possible of chronic, debilitating disease and several times when my life has been in danger strangers have appeared out of the blue to rescue me. When my childhood home burned down (mostly a Plutonic experience at the time, in terms of the planets) miraculously no one got hurt and an exploding window fell down, literally landing at the feet of an off-duty fireman who had happened to be walking down the street at that moment.

Most recently, it occurred to me that the pregnancy is an expression of the two as well - even though my external baby bump is quite compact (limits of Saturn), ultrasounds say that my unseen baby is actually a very long one (hidden Jupiter).

These experiences of hardship and faith have been profound, and ultimately very beneficial to me. I am quite resilient, I have a high threshold for endurance (Saturn) but I also don't live my life by fear thanks to the blessings of Jupiter (the accountant of the Zodiac, Saturn speaks to us through our fears and our cautions). Even when as now, when my family seems hit by one financial blow after another and I've spent my pregnancy beset by a string of irritating ailments I have not fear, that things will work out. Baby will be fine, birth will be fine, money will be found from somewhere, things will work out. That instead of endlessly worrying (Saturn) about the things I can't control, my energy is better spent in letting go, nurturing trust and being open to the appearance of hidden opportunity (12th house Jupiter).

If anyone else has thoughts on how the Saturn-Jupiter aspects have manifested for them (whether natally or by transit) please delight me by sharing. :)

More Scorpio Mercury through the Media

I saw this news story on the BBC yesterday, about Interpol reconstucting the digitally blurred face of a pedophile from child porn footage and posting an appeal to try and identify and stop the man.

I can also tell that Mercury is going retrograde soon because when not dropping things and stamping down the urge to bicker with my partner (never is the urge to tell someone that their hair and shoes are STUPID and they've bought the WRONG KIND OF BREAD and other tragedies, more powerful for me than when Mercury goes stationary prior to the retrograde) I feel endlessly frustrated and near to tears.*

This too shall pass.


*edit to add another Retrograde Merc special: this post refusing to publish itself due to unkown errors, and it taking me three attempts to type in the tags.

Let's talk about sex, baby!

More Mercury in Scorpio action via the medium of the TV listings.

ITV is broadcasting The Secret Diary of A Call Girl based on the books and blog of the funny and straight-talking Belle de Jour.

A perusal of the rest of tonight's channel listings revealed two programs about sex changes as well as Lucy: Teen Transsexual in Thailand

Happy 100th Birthday Granny!

In honour of a century of my granny's life and deeds upon the earth, I thought I'd take a brief look at her chart (and it's apt can't-die-won't-die Pluto Saturn square).

Centenarian record keeping and accounts of childhood ('I was born near dawn') being what they are the time of birth is approximate (although the angles fit very well what I know of her personality).

As a true Sun-Venus in Libra she was celebrated for her beauty throughout her life, and she also exemplified the Libran trait of being convinced of her own fairness even when even when nobody else agreed.

Her Virgo Moon has always shown itself through a need to be needed and her best attempts to demonstrate her love were through doing a service for others. However, her Moon is also trine Uranus and sextile Pluto - no pushover! In fact her caring often had very dark undertones and her self-sacrifice was done in part to bind others to her.

Though passionate and giving in love she was equally posessive and fierce (did not like to share those she loved with anyone else). A steely core, disguised by the glamour of the Libran charm.
A remarkable woman with piercing, electrifying blue eyes (Moon Uranus) an indomitable will (no doubt helped by the prominent Pluto), and an amazingly sharp mind that was incredibly apt at intuitive grasp of truth of people and situations (Moon-Pluto).

One of the most talked-about features of my grandmother is her incredible health. Well into her nineties she was doing headstands every day, had no sign of osteoporosis, required no medication, lived completely independently, cleaned house and walked the dog, cooked all her own meals and had amazing regenerative powers (her broken arm healed in four weeks). And although in the last year she has lost much of her vitality and ability to live independently, her endurance has remained to the degree that astounds the medical profession. She has recovered from two strokes, two lung infections and numerous falls (no broken bones in any of the falls, and any tissue injuries sustained healed within a couple of weeks when the usual recovery time is six months).

Although that crazy degree of health certainly transcends any aspect or chart (rather as I see it, it's some combination of astrology and an x factor in the personality/environment) there are plenty of elements in her natal chart which allude to her amazing stamina (Capricorn Mars, echoed also in the Saturn Mars sextile) and refusal to bow down lay down and die or bow down to mere trifles like conventions of biology (Pluto Saturn square).

Happy Birthday Granny! x

Planetary Transits through the media

Posts on Elsa Elsa about the way that planetary movements preceed and reflect various real world trends have caused me to notice the recent patterns in the British media.

For instance Mercury's current transit through Scorpio (the uber-sleuth and dirt-bringer-upper of the Zodiac) has coincided with headlines relating to the inquest into the long-ago death of Princess Diana. Due to my policy of ignoring as much as possible the antics of the British Royal Family (past and present) I haven't been reading the articles too closely - however all feature and debate various theories about her death (conspiracies, secret pregnancies, abduction, murder and other such nefarious plots). All these were rampant around the time of her actual death and its initial investigation, and it's interesting how they've resurfaced now in an inquiry that pledges not to leave any stone unturned in its search for the truth.

Similarly as Saturn has left the flamboyant Leo for conscientious Virgo and Pluto inches ever closer to good old belt-tightener Capricorn, we are seeing the emergence of new (more subdued and conservative trends) all over the place (including renewed rehab efforts from Britney Spears and Lindsay Lohan, no doubt related to the public's fed-up-ness with their antics).

An article by Fiona McIntosh in last week's Grazia sums it up rather well.

Here are some quotes (with added asides in brackets and emphasis in bold):

"Turn on the lights, call a tazi, the party's over. It was wild while it lasted, but it took a banking crisis for us to realise the Naughty Noughties are over. All the delicious blind greed of the decade (which coincided with Saturn's transit through Leo and the giddy joy of the world not ending in 2000) has evaporated faster than it took Northern Rock investors to empty their accounts. (...) Conversations at dinner have swung from how should I spend my money, to blimey, how safe is my money? (...) Ladies who lunch have begun growing their own lunch in greenhouses at the end of gardens. The fashion phrase of the moment is 'Future Heirlooms' - an investment piece built to last over several seasons is worth so much more than a dirty Primark binge. Belts, the hot new 'now' piece are being tightened both physically and metaphorically. This new Frugality has been bubbling under for some time, fuelled of course by the green movement. But it took the panic of a credit crisis for us to completely re-evaluate our lifestyles. (...) What were we thinking? This rampant consumerism is not only mad, it's vulgar. "