Did you notice how we’ve been plugged into the Jupiter Saturn 23 Taurus conjunction of May 2000? Now watch, the waxing Jupiter Saturn square is challenging and breaking down traditional attitudes and old regimes and the social and cultural mores of the end of the 20th century now seem truly last century. Feels a lot like that energy of the August 1999 eclipse, too, powerful stuff, that last chance attempt to keep things as they were but look at the way Neptune’s dissolving quality, in the transiting fixed cross has created a cultural metamorphosis which has, in retrospect, dramatically changed the way we ‘do business’-- socially, politically, in the media, even the media we use…everything, everywhere. It’s all a bit much and with so much changing so quickly it’s impossible to take it all in at the same time. We need to break it down and this is where astrology can be so revealing and, strangely, reassuring. Whatever, the prevailing winds have shifted to another direction. Have I already welcomed you to the Brave New World?

Mars Redux: The Mars Rx station at 23 Taurus last autumn, then returning thru it’s shadow in February stimulated hefty triggers along with the current waxing square. Nobody gets out of this year without changes. What’s got YOU goin? Mars? Jupiter? Saturn? The outers? Frankly, everybody’s got something going on and many of us have more than one something (as you do), it’s just that kind of time, and it’s moving faster than ever! That grand fixed square-and the modified t-square version-are squeeeeeezing us all and it ain’t over yet. Here’s some hotspots that have kicked-off, bigtime.

Liberal Democrats bring quick change to political reality. I know this all happened in January but pressure to this chart was eventful to say the least with tr Mars Rx-ing back and forth over its 7th house cusp-23 Taurus!!--for months. That means 23 Scorpio on the Lib-Dem Asc with Pluto in Scorpio in the 12th and those secrets began to ooze out as Mars moved forward through it’s shadow and tr Neptune closing in on natal Mercury. On 7th Jan Charles Kennedy stood down as leader of the Lib-Dem party on account of his drinking, others jumped on the bandwagon as fast as he was pushed off. What a bunch they turned out to be, mostly turned out of the closet. Candidate, Mark Oaten, married, two children, was exposed on 21 Jan as having had an affair with a 23 year old rent boy. On 26 Jan, Simon Hughes, unmarried and long considered a likely candidate for the post, finally admitted, after previous press denials, that he’d had homosexual and heterosexual relationships. This is a fine example of the waxing Jupiter Saturn square, the point is, things have changed so much the public barely blinked at these revelations about Oaten and Hughes which in the recent past might have sunk their political careers forever. Now, Oaten continues as an MP, Hughes is still campaigning for leadership and they stopped talking about Kennedy when the scandals hit…in fact, other than the immediate media shark-fest, life has continued pretty much as before (except for Oaten’s wife, I guess). Basically, who cares anymore? Politicians have a famous predilection for a wee dram and a lil drama, too and it’s all in the charts, much too much to detail, really worth a look.

Liberal Democrat Party: 7 March 1988, 0.00 GMT, Westminster, 51 N 30, 00 W 09, 23 Scorpio Asc. Data: BWH.

Charles Kennedy: 25 Nov 1959, 2.15 GMT, Inverness, Scotland, 57 N 27, 04 W 15, 2 Libra Asc. Data: Gerrard.

Simon Hughes: 17 May 1951, time unknown, Cheshire, Enalgnd, 53 N 15, 02 W 30. Data: Gerrard.

Mark Oaten: 8 March 1964, time unknown, Watford, England, 51 N 40, 00 W 25. Data: House of Commons Website.

Politics is Showtime: I’ve always thought that politics and the entertainment business had more than a little in common. One British politico brought the two together in his occasionally entertaining but unseemly role as a housemate on TV’s Celebrity Big Brother in January this year where his role-play as a pussycat made headlines. No, he didn’t win CBB. But this IS the same guy who faced down the US Senate committee that dragged him in for questioning last year about financial contributions from the 'axis of evil.' George Galloway is on a roll but we’re not sure where. Only days after he was evicted from the CBB house, he was detained in a cell for 16-18 hours at Cairo Airport in Egypt. Why? Yeah, well, he was on a list of 'undesirables'! And what was he doing in Egypt? Gone to participate in a mock trial of GW Bush and Tony Blair for war crimes!!! So exactly what undesirable list was that anyway? Right now it seems all he needs is a stage, any stage, anywhere, he's ready to perform. At least he’s assured us he doesn’t intend to run for office again - we'll see if that's true or not before long, no doubt.

Galloway’s MC is 8 Taurus, tr Mars was dancing all over his 10th house, from last year at his Senate appearance to January this year, opposing his progressed Venus at 23 Scorpio! Let’s see what happens when tr Mars in Gemini opposes his natal Mars at 27 Sag (and tr Pluto) first week in April.

George Galloway: 16 Aug 1954, 6.00 BST, Dundee, Scotland, 56 N 28, 03 W 00. Data: Caroline Gerrard.

Thames Whale: The whale, a young female who got lost in the Thames, really excited the crowds. She was first noticed in the river swimming between Chelsea Bridge and Tower Bridge on 20 Jan at about 8.30am. She was rescued and was being taken out to sea the next day but was in such poor health a decision was taken to put her down and she died about 7pm. Have a look at her story, whale rising at 8.30 that morning. Unfortunately, Jupiter in Scorpio in the 8th house opposed Mars just into the 3rd house.

Denmark’s not funny! So said Muslims around the world who gathered to protest in their thousands across Europe and elsewhere in recent weeks. The protests were sparked by some very provocative cartoons of the prophet that were originally run by a Danish newspaper, on 30 September 2005, as Mars stationed Rx at 23 Taurus in Denmark’s 9th house opposite Denmark’s Chiron in the 3rd. By the time objections from the Muslim community reached boiling point, a few more papers in Europe decided to show solidarity with Denmark by running one or more of the 12 cartoons but was this wise? Then it all went bang when Mars returned, direct this time, to 23 Taurus, having passed thru the trigger-funnel of the fixed grand square, yes, those middle degrees of the fixed square are arcing and sparking all over the place. Denmark: 5 June 1849, 12.15 LMT, Copenhagen, 55 N 40 12 E 35, 22 Virgo Asc.

Britain Quits Smoking! Since the middle of the 16th century, smoking tobacco has been part of the social landscape of Great Britain. Introduced to England around 1566 by John Hawkins, the first English slave trader (the family crest is pretty interesting), and later Sir Walter Raleigh persuaded Queen Elizabeth I to give it a try…she liked it. But on Valentines Day 2006, Parliament opted for a blanket prohibition on smoking in all public places from summer 2007. Tr Jupiter in Scorpio, exactly conjunct UK Neptune in the 2nd house. Tr Neptune conjunct UK Venus in the 5th. Yeah, it was fun, but wow it was expensive! Smoking Ban: 14 Feb 2006, 21.30, Westminster.

(After some thought) Mea Culpa! "I’m the one who pulled the trigger." So said Dick Cheney, VP, USA, after he accidentally shot another member of the hunting party, Harry Whittington 78, (he’s ok) whilst looking for quail. They were only acquaintances and I don’t suppose this incident will bring them any closer (duh). What happened on 12 February 2006? How about tr Mars exactly on the VP’s MC! Exactly! It took a couple of days for Cheney to own up even tho every newspaper and tv news programme in the world reported the event. Of course, the President and his VP aren’t known for fast, timely statements, are they? Tr Sun was conjunct Cheney’s Mercury in the 6th square, square Cheney’s Uranus (23 Taurus!) and tr Mars in the 9th, where Cheney’s also got Saturn-0-Jupiter! If they’d known any astrology, they might have waited until Mars had cleared Cheney’s 9th and the tr Sun moved on, but sadly, no.

Dick Cheney: 30 Jan 1941, 19.30 (CST -6), Lincoln, Nebraska, 40 N 48, 96 W 40, 3 Virgo Asc. Data: AstroDataBank, rated AA.

Planetariums: One Closes Another Opens! The bad news, the London Planetarium, which opened in 1958, was owned by Madam Tussaud’s Organisation who announced it would close the West End attraction due to not attracting enough visitors-oh dear (but it was crap, actually). Transits to London Planetarium chart are a students dream and too numerous to list but you MUST have a look, excellent for a quick learning curve! Planetarium: 21 March 1958, London, 51 N 30, 00 W 10. No time found, I used 10am. The good news? Computer network technology millionaire Peter Harrison’s Foundation has donated £3 million to the Royal Observatory at Greenwich for a new 120 seat, state-of-the-art Harrison Planetarium scheduled to open in 2007. The £3m contribution completed the £15m fund required. So London will have a fab new facility next year. Harrison’s also been in the news re his amicable divorce-the ex got £100 million-hey, I’d be amicable for £100 million! Harrison? No birth data, just Cheadle, Cheshire, not even a year (damn!).

Madonna Splits! No, not from husband Guy Ritchie, although there’s been much speculation about the health of their marriage. In fact, Her Madge had a hernia op in LA (Cedars Sinai Hospital) following the Grammy awards ceremony last February (natal Mars 16 Taurus). Don’t know about you, but I’m relieved to know that ‘the supple one’ is as vulnerable to getting older as the rest of us. The story is revealed by both her secondary progressed Moon and Mars currently (Feb ‘06) astride her MC at 4 Gemini, P Moon on one side and P Mars on the other. Not surprising that her relationship is the subject of curiosity at the moment, tr Mercury met tr Uranus exactly on her natal descendant and tr Mars crosses her MC (and thus, both progressed Moon and Mars, too). A lot more, too but this’ll do me for now and I’ll keeping an eye on tr Neptune as it closes in on her Chiron at 20 Aquarius in the 6th house.

Madonna: 16 August 1958, 7.05am, Bay City, Michigan, 43 N 35, 83 W 53, 8 Virgo, Asc. Data: Clifford.

 

Lunar Eclipse 14 March 2006: Mercury stations Rx tightly square Pluto on 3 March, the build-up begins and as the eclipse at 25 Virgo squares Pluto (preparing to Rx conjunct the Galactic Centre), feelings that were perhaps, more intellectual than emotional at the beginning of the month may erupt from deep within. Have a good ole clear-out.

The Vernal Equinox is 20 March at 18.26. Happy Spring!

Eclipse 29 March 2006 at 9 Aries suggests we’re moving into more personal themes now and the focus is about our willingness to explore and to make new discoveries of our own. First, honestly admitting who we are, what we’re doing and where we want to go is essential, then we can work out how to make the necessary changes to get there. Simple but not easy.

Mercury travels with Uranus again in mid-Pisces from mid-March, stations direct conjunct and doesn’t pull away until the first few days of April. Think outside the box and take those sudden inspirations seriously.

April 13, Full Moon at 23 Libra 37.

April 27 New Moon 7 Taurus 24.

All country charts: Book of World Horoscopes unless otherwise noted.