We’re about to experience the final Saturn Neptune opposition 25 June (is that a collective sigh of relief I just heard?). On this final pass between them, Jupiter is still trine Saturn which will certainly bring some passion to the party along with igniting our belief systems for better or worse. Mars enters Aries 15 May where it stays until the last week of June pumping the fire trine and while these are not easy times hope, and more importantly faith, springs eternal, honest.

The Full Moon on 2 May at 12 Scorpio illuminates a dynamic month beginning with a fixed grand square, we may be forced to change if we haven’t already decided to make changes. Jupiter and Uranus square off on 10 May urging yet more change, be willing to experiment, this could also introduce major technological advances. One idea that could catch on in a big way now is the ‘Stop Shopping movement’ as the Sun in Taurus stokes our growing desire to live with ‘real’ values begins to overtake our quest for material ones. The New Moon 16 May at 26 Taurus will challenge us to put up or shut up on that particular issue. Things are not what makes life worth living, we’d better figure out what will. UK elections in May are very likely to bring some surprises.

June has two Full Moons in the UK, in the US in May - an interesting dichotomy. This isn’t a particularly rare occurrence but one worth noting. A Full Moon brings change, it reveals and manifests what was begun at the previous New Moon. However it also raises the emotional temperature and may create a raucous environment…police departments around the world report higher incidences of mayhem and murder at the Full Moon. 1 June Full Moon at 10 Sagittarius, 15 June New Moon at 24 Gemini, 30 June Full Moon at 9 Capricorn. So May and June may be a particularly energetic months with lots more fiery explosive events involving everything from more bombs and explosions to religious and political dissent.

Russian Demonstrate against Putin Opponents unhappy that the Russian leader has been rolling back democracy attempted to stage a peaceful protest march in Moscow on Saturday 14 April. Oof the 2000 demonstrators, 200 were arrested, including Gary Kasparov the international chess genius and a vigorous opponent of Putin, but most were released several hours later. One of those arrested, and fined £20, was Gary Kasparov, the international chess genius and a vigorous opponent of Putin. There was a second demonstration with violent clashes between riot police and about 700 anti-Kremlin demonstrators the next day, Sunday 15 April in St Petersburg. Russia is in the tight grip of Putin and his Soviet style tactics and altho much of the population of Russia seem to appreciate the stability and economic growth his administration has brought, there’s growing opposition to that tight grip as democratic freedoms begin to slip away. Things are expected to escalate. Transits to Russia’s Independence Proclamation chart are dramatic. Tr Sun on the MC, tr Moon opp Jupiter, tr Mars square Mars, tr Uranus square Sun, tr Jupiter (S/Rx) conjunct Sun and much more. Whew, this will get worse.

Russia Independence Proclamation: 8 Dec 1991, 17.45 GMT, Moscow, 55 N 45, 37 E 35, 14 Leo Asc.

Paul Wolfowitz, appointed head of the World Bank Group in March 2005, has stepped right in it. At the time of his appointment, tr Saturn was conjunct his Pluto and tr Pluto was opposite his Saturn, which could have lead to deep restructuring of procedures, in fact he promised to root out corruption and poor governance in developing nations. Unfortunately as tr Pluto hit his Sun, 30 Sag, he was revealed to have pulled strings to get his girlfriend promoted with a huge salary increase. The USA went apeshit, actually It didn’t go down well anywhere. Somebody shoulda told him, when transiting Pluto conjoins your Sun you may get enormous power but it can also bring you down and leave your life in ashes before it moves on. Wolfowitz, a neo-con, is credited as the intellectual architect of the invasion of Iraq in his former role, deputy defence secretary. Hmmm, created a little bad karma there, then. In addition to Pluto on his Sun, on the day he defended his position, 5 April, tr Uranus, Moon and North Node opposed his Chiron at 15 Virgo. The Sabian symbol for the New Moon on 17 April: ‘a large audience confronts the performer who disappointed its expectations.’ !!!

Paul Wolfowitz: 22 Dec 1943, Brooklyn, 40 N 38, 73 W 56, time unknown. Data: Wikipedia

Gordon Brown expresses his sadness at
the Prime Minister's resignation

Gordon Brown believes he’s entitled to assume the post of Prime Minister of England but recent revelations may slow his ambitions to a crawl. On 15 April headlines shouted out what looked like serious incompetence of his decision years ago to sell off the UK’s gold reserves at rock bottom prices (the Chinese are said to have made at least a £billion on the deal) and he’d just been mercilessly (and deservedly) harassed by the media for his callous destruction of pension funds. By the time this column is published, local UK elections will be taking place and Tony Blair will be under final pressure to step down from his post as PM. Gordon’s a real 12th house guy and transits in the run up to May brought a pile-up there as well. He’s not comfortable anyway but these revelations will be making him squirm. His natal Chiron is 0 Capricorn 53 at the top of his chart, 2008 could be an extraordinarily difficult year. Consultation, Gordon?

Gordon Brown: 20 Feb 1951, 8.40 UT, Goffnock, Scotland, 55 N 48, 04 W 20. Asc 15 Aries. Data: Caroline Gerard, 2nd Data Collection House of Commons.

As Pluto Runs Out of Road/Rail in Sagittarius it will certainly leave a legacy, like these.

Part of the Large Hadron Collider

Big Bang? Scientists working with the Large Hadron Collider (LHC) particle accelerator, (100 meters below ground) at Cern near Geneva, Switzerland were hoping to answer some of the world’s biggest mysteries but no. Somebody screwed up the maths and the £2 billion accelerator exploded deep in the tunnel, which lifted a 20 ton magnet off its mountings (meaning 24 magnets in the 17 mile accelerator have to be stripped down and repaired), filled a tunnel with helium gas and forced a frightening evacuation. Pier Oddone, director of Fermilab the American national physics lab that built the magnets, was furious and embarrassed by the huge f**kup. He wrote to his staff that they had caused ‘a pratfall on the world stage’ and wondered ‘how we could have missed the ‘balance of forces’ and why nobody picked them up during years of development and review. I laughed out loud, no disrespect but on 4 April 2007 the day of the experiment, Mars had just pulled away from Neptune and both, along with Chiron, opposing Saturn. How to miss the balance, indeed. Now this would be of interest in any case given the general curiosity factor but researchers were hoping to gain a glimpse of ‘the god particle’ the Higgs boson, which supposedly gives everything in the cosmos its mass. This particle is assumed to exist. Remember £2 billion has been spent on this project and it went expensively wrong. It’s amusing to think that scientists are so quick to rubbish astrology when they are able to justify their grand expense of ‘maybes.’ One team member said, ‘You get the first little hint that something strange is happening and that things are not quite what they seem.’ And they can’t respect astrology??? Who knows, maybe ‘god’ will let them see the particle, they’re certainly spending the earth, that must buy the answer to one universal mystery.

Secret Talks Open Way to Nationalise Rail Network! Strange, it was a front page headline in The Times 12 April, what’s so secret about that? Reality bites and breaking up and privatising British Rail in the 90’s was perhaps the stupidest political decision of Margaret Thatcher’s administration. Short version, separating responsibility for operating trains and maintenance of the tracks wreaked havoc and created ‘damaging fragmentation. It’s been an unmitigated disaster. So, they’re going to experiment in Scotland and if it’s successful (duh), they’ll reintegrate and take it all back into public service, saving £billions in public subsidies. Well, Pluto entered Sag and dismantled British Rail, when it enters Capricorn maybe re-nationalisation will actually restore value, safety and efficiency all under one roof (you think?).

The Young Ones

Buy now - going cheap!

William and Kate Split: You’ll have heard by now that Prince William and Kate Middleton, his girlfriend of 4 years have parted company. Friends said they met 5 years too early…how silly, they met when they met. Anyway, what’s more normal than a youthful relationship coming to an end and it’ll probably happen again before the 2nd heir to the British crown settles down. It’s worth bearing in mind that William has an exact Venus Chiron conjunction which suggests relationship, umm, ‘issues.’ I wonder if he’ll ever be particularly passionate, sexual yes, Venus in Taurus and a Sun Moon conjunction in Cancer are quite sensual placements. That said, there’s little fire in his chart, only the outers Uranus and Neptune in Sag. It will be interesting to see what happens when transiting Pluto reaches exact oppostion to his Sun, remember he’s 0 Cancer Sun in the 7th house, so 2008 promises to bring some kind of drama. For now it’s tr Pluto on his Ascendant.

Prince William: 21 June 1982, 21.03 BST, Paddington, 51 N 32, 00 W 12, Asc 28 Sag.

Amy Winehouse, Joss Stone, Corinne Bailey Rae, KT Tunstall and Natsha Beddingfield, all British, female and uniquely talented SOLO musicians, have taken the US by storm in the last couple of years. In fact, they could be seen as the most successful export from the UK in the 21st century. What have they got in common? Well, Neptune in Sag and, with the exception of Tunstall who’s a bit older and has Neptune at 10 Sag, the other 4 have Neptune from 20 to 27 degrees of Sag and Pluto surged over those points during the last few years as each of them rose to acclaim...and fortune. It’s worth noting too, that in the US chart (Sibley) Sag rises so all these gals have Neptune in the US 1st house, the US ‘gets’ them. The US Moon at 28 Aquarius is totally open to the universality of their real life stories, written and sung from the heart. They’re honest and engaging, and a roaring success.

Amy Winehouse: 14 Sept 1983, Enfiend, England, 51 N 40, 00 W 05. No time.

Joss Stone: 11 April 1987, Dover, England, 41 N 08, 01 E 19. No time.

Corinne Bailey Rae: 16 Feb 1979, Leeds, England, 53 N 50, 01 W 35. No time.

KT Tunstall: 23 June 1975, Edinburgh, Scotland, 55 N 57, 03 W 13. No time yet.

Natasha Bedingfield: 26 Nov 1981, Sussex, England, 50 N 55, 00 E 15. No time. All data Wikipedia.

TA DA! Introducing Lewis Hamilton, English boy racer most excellent! He’s young, gifted and black and the most successful Formula One rookie of all time! Also gorgeous (ladies, he’s worth watching even if you’re not into F1) and he couldn’t have picked a better time to start his professional career… bang in the midst of a Mars return which put him on the winners podium each of his first 3 races, 3rd, 2nd and 2nd…way to go!!. Lewis has a Mars Venus conjunction, loves action, and they’re trine Pluto…powerful drive (pardon the pun).

Lewis Hamilton: 7 Jan 1985, Stevenage, England, 51 N 55 00 W 14. Sorry no time. Data: Wikipedia

Kenny thought that watching the president playing
golf in 3D was the funniest thing he had ever seen.
The others weren't so sure.

Saturn opposite Neptune…reality vs fantasy, this is good! There’s fun to be had in the not too distant future. Those of us old enough to remember the original 3-D movies will also remember being enthralled by the sensation of being right in the middle of the action. It was exciting technology in the 50’s with its green and red lens glasses. Directors have been experimenting with new 3-D movies and test audiences love it. They say we’re in for some thrilling stuff, 3-D’s moved on and if you’re ready for some fun courtesy of Saturn opp Neptune, prepare for Spider-Man 3 and the new Harry Potter film releases and many more. It IS big and it IS clever…this is just the kinda relief we need. Can’t wait.