Simão Cortes alerted us to this remarkable and radical figure, which may be taken to signify World War Remembrances to come. He remarks on the Mercury-Saturn square from the depths of the VIIIth and the setting Moon applying Pluto, a sea of souls passing beyond the bound of words. Eternal silence moves us.
Our current Remembrance Day falls on the 11th Day of the 11th month each year, with Silence at the 11th hour. In its origin it honoured the Armistice, the formal cessation of hostilities of the First World War on 11th November 1918; it was renamed as Remembrance Day after the Second World War. This year the 11th day of November fell on a Thursday, coincident with Cop26, the international climate conference held in Glasgow. Remembrance Day should be distinguished from Remembrance Sunday designated as the second Sunday in November. Military and war veteran ceremonies of remembrance take place on this day, in the UK enacted at the Cenotaph in London. The red poppy became an emblem of remembrance with the second Armistice Day in 1920.
The commander of the US 82nd Airborne Division departs from Afghan soil at one minute to midnight local time, ending the 20-year invasion. The aircraft left Afghan airspace ‘several minutes’ later (Pentagon briefing 31 Aug.)
In the ‘Last Man’ chart the night Fortuna at 22 Virgo, with Mars and conjunct the US Neptune, reveals the failure of current foreign policy on the US Neptune half-return (Sibly VIIth house Mars closely square US Neptune in IXth shows overseas wars, and their danger for the US). Note the radicality of the Last Man Moon on the US Desc. – the very axis of the 9/11 Pluto-Saturn opposition that brought the ‘war on terror’ into being. This suggests ongoing immediate consequences of the withdrawal as Neptune and Pluto complete their current pattern into the Spring of 2022. – MH
Italy v England Thanks to Gerard Delaney for drawing attention to the chart for the Wembley kick-off. He takes Saturn for Italy (classed as the home team in the tournament), choosing to wear blue, and England as the Moon, usually wearing white. He notes the stunning showing of the Three Lions – Moon in Leo, Venus in Leo, Mars in Leo! Gerard says: “ the chart for Sunday’s Euro 2020 Final between Italy and England is a splendid representation of the possible destiny of the ‘Three Lions’ team. And that’s before exchanging the Sun and Moon in mutual reception, which makes it even better. The latter exchange also prevents the Moon moving to the opposition of Saturn.”
Note that Leo Captain Harry Kane has a very close Neptune-Uranus conjunction at 19 Capricorn. The conjunction opposes his Mercury at 18 Cancer, with two outlets to the opposition: trine and sextile to Mars and trine and sextile to Pluto – finding gaps and slipping through. At the kick-off, the Sun triggers this configuration at 19 Cancer, most closely opposite his Neptune.
The Sun’s mutual reception with the Moon by degree creates a Sun-Mars conjunction at 19 Leo, so will the Lion’s Leo captain strike again? In addition, the received kick-off Moon goes by degree to 9 Cancer 49, conjunct the IC of 9 Cancer 55 and opposite the Sun in the English 1066 horoscope. Is it coming home? As we watch the Beautuful Game (Venus in Leo ruling 5th), we can only speculate and be thrilled at the way the chart might be realised.
England Manager Garry Southgate has the dignified transit Jupiter in Pisces crossing his Nodal axis, but opposite his Mars on the South Node. Danger! But, with his own Scorpio Jupiter sextile wily Mars in Virgo, plus curious contacts with the England 1066 chart, he may be putting old ghosts to rest. – MH
Martin Bashir secured BBC TV’s ‘scoop of a generation’ when he interviewed Diana, Princess of Wales, in the throes of her marriage breakdown with Charles. This was broadcast on 20th November 1995 (advertised time thought to be 8pm). Bashir has now been accused by a Judge-led inquiry of serious deception in obtaining the interview. The line of symbolism for the event brings Diana’s intercepted 1st house Saturn at 27Cap48 into focus, with Broadcast transit Uranus 27Cap22, shattering all protocol. Bashir’s coup is shown by his Sun within a degree, reinforced by the major TV inception chart for the BBC (see below) which has Pluto at 28Can46, 4′ from the opposition to Bashir’s Sun, his fame made and ruined by TV. Diana was desperate to get her story out before she would be effectively censored by the Royal Family. The heart of the matter seems to turn on the Sun – Saturn theme of the ‘knight in shining armour’, where the glorious Sun comes to save Saturn from its prison. This is how Bashir must have appeared. The South Node suggests a fallen knight bearing soiled gifts, and behind it the Plutonic power of the Media, compounding ‘fear, paranoia and isolation’. More to come, and serious consequences for the BBC, may take several years as Pluto, currently at 26Cap39r, passes the significant degrees, including its half-return for BBC TV in 2023.
There are strains for the Monarchy, too. The interview was secretly recorded on 5th November, Guy Fawkes Day, commemorating the failed 1605 Gunpowder Plot which sought to blow up James I and his Parliament.
Appended comments on symbolism: Most astrologers glancing at Martin Bashir’s natal chart in the context of the current scandal will be struck by the close Moon-Neptune conjunction in Scorpio. This disreputable combination begs to be tied in with the methods used by Bashir to gain access to Diana through her younger brother Charles, the current 9th Earl Spencer. Connections can always be scraped together with wider orbs and multiple aspects, but we cannot ignore the fact that at a basic transit and synastry level there appears to be no conventional and simple indicative contact to point the way. A ‘wrong chart’ is not the answer, either – this configuration tries hard NOT to be brought into our current framing of events. Some other theme may be in play, which time may (or may not) tell. The evocative imagery of the Knight in shining armour for the Sun in contact with Saturn in a female nativity comes from a comment I heard from Liz Greene, who stresses its particular significance for the woman in relationship to a man. (GC)
