Hello readers…World News is back…and in print, too! Interesting, my first World News column (1997) began with Labour’s successful campaign. Will wonders never cease? Not as long as the stars are in the sky. All country charts: BWH unless noted otherwise.
The New Moon on 10 March at 20 Pisces was brought to you courtesy of Neptune with an Aquarius electric spin and Venus in the mix. I was spellbound watching and reading the news, unfortunately too much and too late to include it all. But here’s a good one.
The Dalai Lama in his annual Tibet Uprising speech (10 March) made conciliatory statements about his country’s relationship with China, now the fastest growing economy in the world. He said Tibet should remain part of China with the hope that the association would help to develop Tibet’s economy and bring modernisation, too. This, despite his mention, same speech, of China's awful human rights record and lack of real democracy. The speech was made as tr Sun, Moon and Venus made their way across his natal Saturn (10 Pisces 03) in the 9th house, opp natal Moon (10 Virgo) in the 3rd and tr Uranus getting ever closer to conjunction with that Saturn. Also, tr Mars exactly conj his natal NN in the 7th. A sign of changing times and very Venusian. Dalai Lama: 6 July 1935, 4.38 (LMT –6.45), Tengster, Tibet (36 N 32, 101 E 12), Asc 10 Cancer. Speech: 10 March 2005, 9.30am (IST –5.30), Dharmsala, India (32 N 13, 76 E 19) Asc 18 Taurus. Data: from HHDL office.
Eclipse Season: It’s behind us now but what an interesting spring. With Uranus and Neptune in mutual reception in signs of humanity and Jupiter in Libra, relationships of every description and the people bringing people together were in the spotlight. The headlines triggered by the 8 April Eclipse at 19 Aries, are guaranteed highlights of 2005. I’m thinking the Venus transit (8 June 2004 thru 6 June 2012) is bringing the world some relief, she was showing herself everywhere (as she does), with plenty of planetary support. In the build-up to the solar eclipse, Venus and the Sun spent March and April in lockstep and, tho' they’ve begun to separate now, women dominated the news while they were together. A splendid manifestation arrived 4 April (tr Moon sextile tr Sun/Venus, a special issue of Newstatesman, for one week only, titled Newstateswoman, virtually all articles written by women and about, purrfect.
Chas & Camilla’s original wedding plans totally eclipsed. Still, 35 years after meeting, a failed marriage each, a list of scandals and a clutch of children later, Charles and Camilla are finally married. Eclipses are part of the package with Charles and his loved ones, you smile when they announced the date for the wedding? I cracked up. Then the Pope died and his funeral was announced, raised eyebrows! But it all turned out so well on 9 April, at 12.30 the civil ceremony repeated both C & C ascendants and MCs. They both have early Leo rising and Aries MC, well, so did the wedding. All that fire, so much passion and pageantry, a beautiful day, the bride was lovely and look…a smiling Queen Elizabeth. Venus rules again, ok? Data everywhere!
General Election, 5th May just in time for Tony Blair’s solar return! I’m not into writing about the election—others will—but who could resist this mention of Venus ruled Taurus PM Blair. My take? I think Labour will be re-elected. Tr Moon is exactly conj Blair’s natal Venus (4 minutes applying) and tr Venus is conj his natal Mars and Jupiter and trine his MC. Michael Howard (Conservative challenger) has tr Venus conj natal Saturn and Uranus and trine natal Neptune but tr Moon is exactly square his natal Sun. There’s a lot more, but—she said, sticking her astro-neck out—while the voting public aren’t crazy about the PM, Venus, at the close of polls, says they’ll stick with him. Blair: 6 May 1953, 6.10 (BST –1), Edinburgh, Scotland (55 N 57, 03 W 13), Asc 5 Gemini. Howard: 7 July 1941, Gorseinon, Wales (51 N 40, 04 W 02), no time. Data: Caroline Gerard's 2nd Data Collection Members of Parliament.
Saturn in Cancer: Finale
Off Your Trolley? There’s a call for supermarkets to label products with the number of ‘food miles’ travelled. The Evening Standard, 8 March, bought a trolley of food and found that the total distance travelled by the items was equivalent to a one-way trip to the moon—230,000 miles! Local produce, in season, grown in a field near you just makes sense, for local producers and our bodies which respond best (nutritionally) to those seasonal foods—you know what I mean. Campaigners claim reducing food miles is even more important than buying organic food because the cost of transporting groceries round the world is environmentally unsustainable…aviation is the fastest growing source of the main greenhouse gas, carbon dioxide. We talking Saturn in Cancer, or what? 8 March 2005: Sun trine Saturn, Mars opp Saturn, Moon trine Jupiter. Oh, and an unaspected Mercury just thru it’s shadow in Aries.
London chef, Jamie Oliver, had the kind of Saturn return we all wish we'd had. Following his TV series Jamie's School Dinners, which aired earlier this year and created quite a fuss, this guy has managed to get the government to agree to endorse spending almost twice as much for kids school meals (tr Saturn was stationed bang on his Venus when it aired). A revealing moment in one episode shocked even junk-food loving students when he showed how their favourite 'turkey twizzlers' were made—mostly leftovers and turkey-skin fat, ugh gross. Government was shocked, too. Jamie’s Saturn (16 Cancer 27) is conj Venus, nice, and tells his tale. Natal Mercury (24 Gemini) trine Uranus (29 Libra 03) and sextile Chiron (26 Aries 21) says he could keep surprising us with his literally hands-on approach to improving school food quality and nutrition for youngsters. However, his programme also put the heat on food executives around the nation, one said, "The impact of what he’s done will be felt far outside the educational system because he’s made people think hard about children’s food in general." Natal Sun sextile Mars, he’s bold, he’s smart, he’s fearless, he’s a dreamer (Sun opp Neptune)…he’s great! Oliver: 27 May 1975, Grays (Essex) England (51 N 29, 00 E 20), time unknown. Data: His website. Somebody gimme a time! Saturn on an angle would make sense.
Joss Stone
The fabulously talented teenager from Devon hit the R&B charts in America in late 2003 so fast and so soulfully people in the US actually thought she was black, talk about ‘crossing over.’ She’s happening and now rich, too. Jocelyn Stoker (aka Joss Stone): 11 April 1987, Cullhompton, (50 N 52, 03 W 24). Time unknown. Data: various internet bios. Stone has been selected as the new face for the Gap, replacing another Aries, Sarah Jessica Parker of Sex and the City (who’s old enuf to be her mum and also rich). It’s rumoured that Parker wasn’t best pleased that her replacement was a virtual unknown but now that SATC has finished, Parker will have to find somewhere else to paste her face. The 8 April eclipse hit Parker’s Mercury (bring on the kids) but Stone got the hit on her Sun trine natal Saturn. Ah, youf. Parker: 25 March 1965, Nelsonville, Ohio (39 N 28, 82 W 14), time unknown.
The Death of Death?
WOT! Well, according NewScientist, 9 April, the scientists working on it believe death is nothing more than 'an engineering problem' waiting to be solved. Oh. The new immortalist movement, including futurologist Ray Kurzweil, 56, (who predicted the global domination of the internet when it was exclusively a government tool in the 80’s, invented the flatbed scanner, music synthesizers, the first print-to-speech reading machine for the blind, cybernetic art and lots more—he’s no flake—he’s a genius!) is part of a movement that believes radical extension of life is not just possible but inevitable. The basic idea? Use whats available now to prolong your life, and by the time you’ve exhausted that, technology will have moved on and you can do it again with the next new developments in life extension. He calls this strategy "a bridge to a bridge." Sounds like Chiron, and yes, Chiron is the focal point in a T-sq, squaring Mars and Saturn on one side and the Sun square the other This T-sq is offset by Sun trine Uranus sextile Jupiter. Love his Progressed Sun at 19+ Aries, the exact eclipse point as the story was published. Kurzweil: 12 Feb 1948, Queens, New York, 40N 43, 73 W 52. Time unknown. Data: www.en.wikipedia.org. Another scientist, Dr Aubrey de Grey, a self-taught biologist, of the University of Cambridge says, "If I make it to 110, I reckon I’ll have at least a 50:50 chance of making it to 1000…" and he’s working to raise £100 million to fund a new centre for his research. His inaugural anti-ageing conference at the University of Cambridge in 2003 attracted an impressive list of speakers, the September 2005 conference also has a list of world class speakers. De Grey: 20 April 1963, 3.55 AM, London. Asc 18 Aq 34. Data: From him to me.
Space
It’s been more than 2 years since NASA sent a shuttle into space. Sometime between 15 May and 3 June, Space Shuttle Discovery is preparing to launch. The space shuttles ferry components of the International Space Station and since the disintegration of Columbia, 1 Feb 2003 (see World News March/April 2003) the US hasn’t delivered any. So this is a big deal for the US, for NASA and for the international community all partners in this development. Appropriately, leading the mission is Commander Eileen Collins, 48. A veteran of 3 space flights already, she was the first woman to pilot a space shuttle in 1995 and the first woman to command a shuttle in July 1999—on Columbia! Collins, a Scorpio, has wanted to be a pilot since childhood and although we have no time of birth, she has an telling conjunction in early Sag, Mercury 1 Sag 16 conj Saturn 4 Sag 25, trine Uranus 7 Leo opp Chiron at 7 Aq. Given that Nick Campion says, in Mundane Astrology, (p 440 2nd edition), that 5 Sag was on the MC of the first powered flight, she the right gal for job. Collins: 19 November 1956, Elmira, New York, 42 N 5, 76 W 48, time unknown. Data: www.jsc.nasa.gov/Bios
Last but Not Least
In honour of the Vernal Equinox, the largest expansion (Jupiter trine Neptune) of higher education colleges since 1992 brought 6 institutions full university status, including the home of the Sophia Project—hearty congratulations to Bath Spa University.