Thailand – Holding it’s breath as the floods approach.

Thailand has been beset by floodwaters, probably the worst of their recent history. This post was prompted by a question posed to me by one of my readers, thank you John. Bangkok now waits and hopes that the worst will pass, and so a city of 12 million people will escape personal and commercial disaster.

Thailand is a constitutional monarchy ruled by King Rama XI and his firm control as head of state is confirmed by a Scorpio ascendant. Pluto likes control of all things. The Thai Sun is in Sagittarius in the 11th house so this is a link that although the monarch is head of state, government is party lead and democratic in nature. Thailand is a Sagittarian nation representing the open and outgoing nature of the country in general and the Moon in Taurus in the 4th house shows the link to the countryside. Half the population still work on the land, Taurus is the most earthy sign of all 12 in the zodiac. The Moon is trine to Mars and Neptune and Uranus is trine to the Sun, so public protest and mob action against the rulers is something that will continuously affect the country.

Everyone knows the very liberal attitude yet dark sexuality in Thailand, and with Jupiter in the 8th house of sex and secrecy at the point of a mini grand trine sextile to Pluto and the Midheaven, no wonder the country is known for a very dubious underground scene. Looking at faith,Thailand is very much a Buddhist country and the gentleness and equality of the country’s beliefs, ones that pervade throughout the country are clearly seen through Venus in the 9th house of faith in fair minded Libra conjunct the ascendant. Venus here also may contribute to the women of Thailand being very popular as foreign brides. The 9th house represents an international link.

It is interesting that Saturn does sits in Pisces’ house, the 12th house associated with suffering and that there is a natal square between Uranus & Pluto, a square which is now again in operation until 2015. In this regard, I believe that the floods were very much signposted. Just look at the South Node on this chart. The South Node is a point of detriment, a point where things can go wrong. Closely conjunct to South Node is Mars and more pertinently Neptune. This conjunction makes a rather difficult inconjunct aspect to the Thai Aquarian ascendant and the conjunction sits in Virgo square to Mercury, Mercury’s Sign. Neptune is the god of the seas and of course rules water and rivers along with the sign Pisces. With Saturn sitting in the Pisces house (12th) Thailand unfortunately was always going to find problems at some point in it’s history with a water caused disaster.

Right now by transit, Saturn is making a very nasty opposition to natal Uranus and is square to natal Pluto, lighting up that destructive natal square between the two planets. This is pretty much as bad as you can get. The opposition to Uranus was exact in the first week of October when the flood risk began and the square to Pluto will be exact in the first week of November. As I write, we are near the peak of the floods, but not quite yet.

Looking at the Solar Arc charts, Solar Arc Jupiter is exactly square the nodal axis, to the minute. Jupiter here accentuates the size of the problem, remember the South Node is conjunct Neptune and Mars. This is and enormous build up (Jupiter) of forceful (Mars) water, sweeping through the whole country. Notice also that Solar Arc Neptune is quindecile to the Moon, another extremely focused link to the floods affecting the population, and Solar Arc Mercury is quindecile the triple combination. Travel and communications have been horrendously disrupted by this disaster. The boat, or what ever floats has become the only way to get about. Finally Solar Arc Saturn is square the Ascendant, a clear indication of hardship and problems affecting the whole country.

I hope for the Thai people that the flood barriers hold, as the destruction of Bangkok would not only be a disaster fro Thailand, but a devastating hit for the whole South East Asia region.

Dan Wheldon –The astrology of the British racing legend killed in a fiery crash in Las Vegas.

A tragedy happened yesterday as Dan Wheldon, the current Indy 500 champion was fatally injured during a 15 car pile up at the Las Vegas speedway oval during the last Indy Car event of the season. It appears that the drivers were nervous before the race, which saw 34 cars running at high speeds on a relatively small track. The risks certainly were high and unfortunately the incident on the 13th lap claimed the life of the universally popular British racing driver.

Dan was born on 22nd June 1978 in Olney, Buckinghamshire in the UK and was a contemporary of British F1 drivers Jenson Button and Lewis Hamilton. Dan was a Sun sign Cancerian with a workmanlike Capricorn Moon. I have no official birth time for Dan however I suspect that he was born early in the morning (see below). That would have given him a t-square formation in his chart based around a Moon Jupiter Mercury opposition. That Jupiter Moon opposition bestows an optimistic cheerful disposition, and that is what everyone said in memory of Dan. The t-square would have given him the tension needed in his life to go and do great things. Pluto is a powerful motivator, but often you need to break ties to achieve what you want. Dan of course left the UK for the United States and it was abroad where he found his greatest success. A 3am birth time would have given him a 9th house Capricorn Moon, indicative of someone who would work in a foreign land. It also brings Saturn, the planet of ambition into the 5th house of sport as well as Mars, the planet of speed in highly technical Virgo. To drive well at high speeds needs fast reactions, and with Mars in Virgo, Dan’s would have been lightening quick. Not fast enough sadly to avoid the crash that killed him.

Moving back to the rest of the chart we have a highly motivated Jupiter Mercury conjunction square to Pluto, which is in my view the biggest indicator of wealth creation in the zodiac. Jupiter square Pluto thinks big, acts big and achieves big. Uranus in Scorpio was trine to Mercury and Jupiter which is very tech savvy and bubbly. Like Dan’s Sun, all three planets are in security conscious Cancer. It is a crying shame and also deeply ironic that at the time of Dan’s passing, he was testing a new racing car design which was supposed to prevent the vehicle from flipping into the air when it hit somebody else from behind. I am sure as a Cancerian, Dan above anyone else in Indy Car would have had safety at the forefront of his mind, and I hope that the organisers of the series will beef up safety, both on the track and in the makeup of the cars to prevent such an accident happening again, one where the driver in the car is in desperate danger flying towards a concrete wall at 200 plus miles an hour.

So astrologically, what was the astro weather at the time of the accident? Well, the first thing I noticed was that transiting Uranus was conjunct Dan’s South Node and also square to his Sun. This is a very risky position. Any contact with a Node indicates a time when your fate is not entirely in your own hands and Uranus conjunct the South Node brings the idea of an accidental happening which will not tend to end up favourably. Transiting Uranus square to the Sun is always a time when one should be careful, little accidents are always on the cards.

 

We also have natal Mars being hit by 2 trines, one from transiting Jupiter and one from transiting Pluto. This shows high speed, very high speed. Had Dan had only the Jupiter connection, maybe he would have been lucky, and survived the crash, but Pluto here bring the risk of death. Using the 3am chart, Pluto would itself have been transiting the 8th house of change transformation and death, very much increasing the risk of something nasty happening and Jupiter would have been moving through the 12th house of suffering and sacrifice. We also have transiting Saturn square to the natal Moon, lighting up that troubling yet motivational t-square including Pluto and transiting Neptune opposite Saturn. Maybe the dream of winning $5 million by entering the race and being successful blinded him to the dangers of the day?

Finally, transiting Mars was trine to natal Neptune and this Neptune was also receiving a conjunction from the transiting  North Node. Was Dan being over optimistic that day? Taking too many risks? Neptune can bring you down to earth in a flash. From having you dreams right before you, you can end up ultimately with crushing disappointment. One’s judgement under this influence can be severely impaired. In the natal chart, Dan’s Sun was quindecile Neptune. He would have always been searching for the ideal. In a racing driver’s life that is the need for speed, the need for recognition, the need to dream and reach unimaginable heights, the need to win. Sometimes that tends to push you just over the edge. In a way, the Neptune North Node conjunction has been born out over the past few hours since Dan’s death. Here is the personality floating in the clouds, receiving a sense of appreciation, put on a pedestal, someone who as I just mentioned lived the dream itself, and the accolades he has received since the fateful crash have flooded in from all over the world. Dan was supremely talented, and during his short life touched the stars and experienced the successes that few racing drivers fully achieve. In worldwide motorsport, he will always stand out as a legendary figure, something he would have always wanted to be.

My condolences to all his family and friends.

Lokomotiv Yaroslavl Air Crash – Russian ice hockey team victim of a “Moon Wobble”

Today just after 16.00, one of the most devastating in a series of recent Russian air crashes occurred. An airliner on a charter flight from the Russian city of Yaroslavl bound for Minsk in Belorussia carrying the city’s ice hockey team failed to lift off properly after take-off and hit a riverbank in a ball of flames, pretty much wiping out in one go the whole team, and plunging a nation into tears of sadness. Ice hockey is the national sport in Russia, however this tragedy will be felt worldwide, as the team had several star international players and a Canadian coach.

The heavens have been rather fraught recently, based around the Pluto Uranus square. At the approximate time of the crash, we found destructive Pluto in the first house and Uranus, the planet of accidents in the 3rd house of transportation. There were also several t-squares in operation. There was a rather difficult Moon Mars Saturn t-square with Saturn at the point in the 9th house of long distance travel and yet more crucially I think a batch of t-squares based around a North Node Ascendant conjunction.

Many years ago, an astrologer and mathematician called Carl Payne Tobey did a series of charts of plotting the position of the planets when major disasters happened including fire, weather related incidents & major accidents with loss of life etc. He found that many of these incidents occurred when the Nodal Axis was conjunct the North or South Node, but not exclusively so. He also found a big correlation between these type of events when the sun was forming a t-square to the Nodal Axis – at 90 degrees. He calculated that if the Sun was within 5 degrees either side of square to the Nodal axis, there was a far increased chance of a loss of life through an unfortunate incident. Tobey nicknamed this position the “Moon Wobble”.

I don’t usually include squares to the nodal axis on my natal charts, however on looking at this particular chart, I noticed that the possibility of a square inducing this accident existed. The Sun today was at 14 Virgo, just within that 5 degree range of the North Node at 19 Sagittarius. I am not saying that there will always be a disaster during a Moon Wobble, but if the other planetary factors are also stressful and appear in certain areas of the chart, then the potential really does exist.

At this particular Moon Wobble there were also a couple of other interesting factors. The Sun was found in the 8th house, Scorpio’s house where death can be found. Venus also in the 8th was almost exactly square to the Nodal Axis as well. Taurus ruled by Venus sat on the cusp of the 5th house of sport, indicating that this was an area where unfortunate happenings could occur. Pluto was closely quindecile the South Node, a focus of destructive energy impacting on the Nodal Axis and Pluto’s sign Scorpio was found on the cusp of the 11th house of team affairs. Finally Neptune was making an opposition to Mercury again in the 8th house, and a close quindecile to the Sun. Mercury traditionally rules travel by air, and Neptune’s influence may well have disrupted the flight. Neptune quindecile the Sun often shows the effect of being or feeling powerless to act. It seems that the accident by all reports was caused by some catastrophic failure. Interesting too that the plane ended up burning on the water’s edge, surely the influence of Neptune at work in some way?

It may be worthwhile exploring if future Moon Wobbles coincide with future accidents or related incidents. For the moment however, the Russian people will mourn the loss of one of their foremost hockey teams. Hopefully it will precipitate the tightening the air safety rules in a country that desperately needs some.

The Twin Towers Attack – A look at the astrology of 9/11, the event that shook the world.

It is 10 years on, and the pictures still chill one to the bone. I personally had just got home from work just before 2pm UK time, I switched on the TV to watch in disbelief one of the Twin Towers was ablaze. Then an airliner appeared from the right of the picture (I knew it was a large passenger plane from the shape of the aeroplane) and smashed straight into the second tower. I sat in my living room transfixed and horrified as the shocking drama played out.

Going back 10 years to look at the astrology chart of the day, a view of the event clearly forms. We know the target of the attack – the Twin Towers. The twins immediately lead us to think of Gemini, the sign representing twins in the zodiac. Sitting in Gemini in the international 9th house (this was an attack that was felt across the world) were just 2 planets the Moon and Saturn.

Think of the chart as a picture, we see the Moon represented the people and Saturn represented the buildings and authorities standing side by side. Both the Moon and Saturn are under attack from three planets. Saturn receives a direct opposition from Mars in Capricorn from the 3rd house, and the Moon receives an opposition from Pluto exactly on the cusp of the 3rd. Also we see from Mars to Moon and from Pluto to Saturn are intensely focused quindecile aspects. Saturn receives a trine from Mercury on the Ascendant and the Moon receives a trine from unpredictable Uranus. Pluto is the planet of mass destruction, death and also of feeling trapped. You can sense the intense emotion that this Moon/Pluto opposition created and the force unleashed in the Pluto/Saturn quindecile destroying the buildings where so many people were left helpless waiting to die. Mars is the warrior planet and signifies the action, the attack and the force on both planets in Gemini. Extending the chart out a little Mercury, ruling Gemini also rules Virgo which sits on the cusp of the 12th house, the house of secret enemies and also of sacrifice. Those enemies had awaited their moment with precision and stealth, striking with ruthless efficiency at the same time sacrificing their own lives.

Notice the 3rd/9th angle, the transport and travel axis on the chart being highlighted. This is also backed up by Mercury on the ascendant. Mercury represents transport, the airliners being used as weapons and being central to the attempt. Uranus in it’s own sign of Aquarius trines the Moon the fifth house, providing the swift, shocking aspect of the attack on the people. The pattern of these trines zooming into the opposition and quindecile aspects mirror the path the two airliners took as they crashed into the towers. Stripping away the other planets opens up the picture, doesn’t it? Sometimes seeing less is more…

Just a couple of other things to notice. Mars was at the time of the first hit tightly quindecile the Midheaven in Cancer. This was an action aimed at the people and security systems (Cancer through the Moon rules both) to focus US public attention. There is a t-square from the Saturn Pluto opposition to the Sun at the point. The Sun shows the people at the top (the President) in Mundane Astrology and the 11th house represents the parties and government systems. The other target was a strike at the US Government itself, and later that morning the Pentagon suffered severe damage from a third plane crashing into the building.

The Midheaven on the day was receiving a conjunction from lucky Jupiter which was itself square to Mercury and the Ascendant, so fortune was favouring a successful attack at this time. Lastly, Neptune sat peregrine in the 4th house and alone away from the rest of the planets and thus dominating proceedings. Here is the indication that a spiritual (Neptune) leader sitting at home (4th) was behind the whole operation. We now know that man to be Osama Bin Laden, and ten years on from the shocking crime he masterminded, his assassination has for now provided a sense of closure to the US people over the unforgettable events of the 9th September 2001.