What Astrology Reveals about the Real Princess Diana

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Diana Princess of Wales, Dodi Al Fayed, Prince Charles, Prince George, Prince William, Princess Diana

I recently had the privilege of working on a documentary about the late Princess Diana, which proved to be rather eye-opening on a number of levels. Like many people who grew up during the 1980’s and 1990’s, I was completely fascinated by her as a child, and her sudden and shocking death in 1997 left a lasting impression on me.

Over the years, she has indirectly touched my life in strange ways, the most notable being in 2001, when visiting Paris for the first time, I was nearly knocked down trying to cross a busy road near the Eiffel Tower. Not used to foreign conventions like driving on the opposite side of the road, I stepped into the street, only to be yanked swiftly back by my travelling companion, who was fortunately more switched on than I was and had seen the cars zooming out of the tunnel to our right. Once we had safely made it across the road, we headed up the slope to the Place de l’Alma, where we came across a monument shaped like a golden flame, on the top of the overpass. It was only when I read the inscriptions and written tributes surrounding the Flamme de la Liberté that I twigged that this was the tunnel where the fatal car accident that killed the princess and Dodi Fayed had taken place during that fateful night in August 1997.

In previous articles about eclipses, I have mentioned the strange connection between these soli-lunar events and the British royal family, Diana included – her wedding to Prince Charles took place two days after a solar eclipse (29 July 1981), and her first born, Prince William, arrived on the day of a solar eclipse on the 21st of June 1982. Charles and Diana formally separated on the day of an eclipse (9 December 1992) and Princess Diana died on the 31st of August 1997, one day before the solar eclipse of the 1st of September.

Conducting research into the last two years of her life, however, I was forced to confront the untainted, rather fantastical image I had of her as a child and see her for the complex, fragile and all too human individual that she was. When I first saw her astrology chart some years ago, I found it hard to believe that this was the person I had seen on television and in magazines – other than her obviously caring and nurturing Cancer Sun, I couldn’t relate the natal chart to the image of the woman I was presented with in the media. However, having recently had the opportunity of speaking to people that knew her, and read the detailed biographies written about her by journalists such as Tina Brown and Richard Kay, my natural inclination was to look at her natal chart again to make sense of everything.

NOTE: Here I should add that there is some discrepancy with regards to her time of birth. According to her first astrologer, Penny Thornton, Diana gave a birth time of 2:00pm. However, her this time was then corrected to 7.45 pm and confirmed in a letter to Charles Harvey from the Queen’s assistant press secretary as being from Diana’s mother. This is the time used by Debbie Frank, Diana’s astrologer for the last eight years of her life. As you can see, depending on what house system is used, her house cusps do change dramatically, so clearly some of the house placings I use here are somewhat elastic and open to interpretation.

DIANA’s NATAL CHART

With all this fresh insight into her motivation and character, for the first time, I could see why she had Sagittarius rising (enthusiastic, open-hearted, vivacious and athletic). Many people close to her described her as childlike and innocent, which can be true of Sagittarius, especially when combined with the Sun in Cancer – with this placement, people tend to become either very maternal or very childlike and need taking care of. Provided there are no other strong influences on the character, people with strong Sagittarius can sometimes be so honest and straightforward that they verge on the gullible and tactless. I think the combination of Sun in Cancer and Sagittarius AS probably made her very young at heart, as well as someone who liked to horse around and have a laugh and a joke.

LIKE MOTHER, LIKE SON

Very often, we find certain astrological patterns running through families, and in Diana’s case,  I find it fascinating that Prince William also has the Sun in Cancer and Sagittarius rising. This may explain why the two polar opposite signs, Sagittarius and Gemini, seem to be so prominent for the Duke of Cambridge and his family (see my discussion about this in my  blog about the imminent royal birth). It is also interesting that he has both the Sun and Moon in Cancer. This double dose of lunar energy suggests that his mother (both in life and death) had an enormous influence on him, especially in terms of his emotional development. This theme seems to be repeated in his new family: wife, Kate, has the Moon in Cancer, and his son, George happens to be a Sun Cancer. We’ll look more at William’s chart later on when we consider Diana’s legacy.

SHARP AS A PENCIL

At the same time as having Sag rising, Diana has Gemini on the Descendant (witty, sociable and media-savvy) and a Sun-Mercury conjunction in the 7th house of relationships (emotionally intelligent, expressive and relationship-oriented). This suggests that, despite constantly putting herself down and calling herself ‘thick as a plank’, Diana was actually very quick to catch onto new concepts and understand what made people tick – something that no doubt allowed her to be underestimated by many people of more obvious power and stature. Many who knew her claim that she had an instinctive approach to decision-making (Sun in Cancer) but that although she wasn’t academically gifted, she was astonishingly bright. One woman friend who knew her well told Sally Beddell Smith that Diana was “sharp as a sharp pencil” and “fast with repartee. She got the point of stories. She got the point of all the people in the room.” It was probably also what made her an arch-manipulator of the press and public relations.

Diana had a sense of the media, a strong sense of how the royals could get their image right. You never saw pictures of her coming out of nightclubs with her skirt up. She never looked a mess, or inappropriate. And she was very strict with her children when it came to manners.[v]

MARS-PLUTO: A DEEP DESIRE FOR LOVE

Those close to her also frequently referred to her tendency to behave impulsively, sometimes erratically, and occasionally veer between extremes. In her biography about Diana, Sally Beddell Smith writes:

Because of her quicksilver temperament, Diana could slip easily from one mood to another, confounding those around her. “If she would say we will do this or go here, she was totally reliable,” said fashion entrepreneur Roberto Devorik, a long-time friend. “But in her actions, she was like a roller coaster.” In his eulogy, her brother Charles lauded Diana’s “levelheadedness and strength.” In some circumstances-giving advice or supporting friends in distress-she admirably displayed these traits. In many other situations, usually those in which she was emotionally involved, she could as easily be irrational and weak. “She was a curious mixture of incredible maturity and immaturity, like a split personality,” said one of her friends. “It was so extraordinary how she handled ordinary people, but at the same time she did silly and childlike things. She was very impulsive.

The key here is “emotionally involved” which immediately brings the Moon to mind. The fact that Diana had the Moon in Aquarius – a rather unexpected position, given that that it is usually quite stand-offish and cool, and can often result in emotional distrust and a difficulty committing emotionally – seems to reinforce the Uranian aspect of her character and may explain why sometimes she could be quite rebellious, erratic and impulsive. I think the impulsive behaviour to which Oonagh and others have referred was very much triggered by a natal T-square in Diana’s birth horoscope which incorporates the Moon in Aquarius (2^nd), Uranus in Leo (8^th) and Venus in Taurus in the 5^th house of love affairs and gambling. She was rather prone to getting caught up in love triangles, and such a natal placement, taking in the houses of love affairs, sex & intimacy and the planets governing relationships and emotions, points very much to this pattern. A Moon-Uranus square can often cause people to feel like emotional outsiders or have abandonment issues, which may explain her early experiences with her stepmother, Raine, whom her father married secretly without informing his children, and her description of her marriage to Prince Charles as being ‘quite crowded’ because of the constant shadow of Camilla Parker Bowles in the background. The fact that she had the Moon in the second house of self esteem and self worth is also significant because it does point to a deep-seated insecurity which baffled many people, given how beautiful she was and how adored she was by her public.

She is also said to have had a tendency to get fixated with people. The art dealer, Oliver Hoare, for instance, had to call the police after his home was bombarded by over 300 silent crank calls – thought to have been made by the Princess of Wales, after she supposedly developed an obsessive crush on him.[i]  Such behaviour would not be out of character for someone with a Mars-Pluto conjunction in the 8^th house, which can be associated with obsessive, often compulsive behaviour, especially in relation to sex and other people’s possessions. This is classic of people with strong Plutos and being in the 8th house of intimacy, which is naturally ruled by Scorpio, I can see why this was almost a driving need for her – it was a force over which she had little conscious control.

It also speaks of a deep need for intimacy, as well as latent healing abilities, if channelled in the right direction. Her former acupuncturist, Oonagh Shanley-Toffolo wrote in her biography that Diana was constantly in search of love and a close bond with that special someone. “She could not focus her life without love, and her capacity for it was enormous,” she writes in The Voice of Silence.

When her boys went away to school, she was lonely and forlorn. There was no partner to share the joys or sorrows of the day with … Diana’s judgement was impaired by this isolation. She had her flings and believed often in the wrong people.

Add to that a Libra Midheaven, it is not surprising that one of the things she strove for was fulfilling relationships, and with Venus in Taurus as ruler of her Midheaven in the 5^th house, it seems natural that these would be predominantly expressed through love affairs and her bond with her sons. I remember being quite struck by the fact that her grandson, Prince George, has a Mercury-Mars-Jupiter conjunction in the 8th house – all at very similar degrees of Cancer to Diana’s Sun-Mercury conjunction – which made me suggest when I wrote about Prince George’s birth chart, that he may well play a key role in promoting Diana’s legacy one day. I wonder whether he too will have healing powers like his grandmother?

Unfortunately, Mars-Pluto can also be indicative of a vindictive streak, while a Moon-Uranus contact can easily result in the tendency to just up and leave, or suddenly cut people out of their lives – and there are many stories of how she would drop friends or get staff fired if she fell out with them or thought they had been disloyal. According to Richard Kay, who is quoted in a Vanity Fair article, Diana changed her mobile phone number every six months or so, which not only protected her from potential invasions of privacy but also served as “an incredibly effective way of dumping people.” According to Richard, towards the end of her life “she had cycled through many of her friends, owing to perceived or actual slights, and sometimes out of simple boredom” so that, “By the end, the number of friends she had you could count on one hand.”

NEPTUNE – GLAMOUR, SPIRITUALITY & A CALLING TO HELP OTHERS

On a more positive note, Diana’s Moon is trine to her Midheaven, which helps to explain her ability to know intuitively where she was heading in life and through her public profile, make a positive contribution to the humanitarian causes that were close to her heart. It is also clear from what some of the alternative therapists close to Diana have said, that she had a strong interest in spirituality and healing.  According to Oonagh Toffolo, “Her spiritual life was very private and she got her strength from prayer and spiritual reading.”[ii] Certainly, many have commented on her enormous capacity for empathy, which is very clearly signified by a trine between her Sun-Mercury conjunction in caring Cancer in the 7^th house and her natal Neptune in Scorpio. With the latter placed in the 10^th house of career and aspiration, it seems that helping  those less fortunate than her was nothing short of a vocation for her. Indeed, some claimed to have trained her to perform spiritual healing techniques, and that this is she was actually doing when she touched or held the sick, wounded and dying on her countless tours of hospital wards, cancer centres and hospices. Whatever is true, she certainly broke barriers down when she did things like touch AIDs patients without gloves and hug sick children – something that I think is possibly an expression of her MC-Uranus sextile. It is interesting that Uranus is so close to the North Node in her chart – it suggests a strong, almost karmic need to devote her life to making the world a better place by breaking down barriers and affecting change – something she certainly seem unafraid to do.

Neptune in the 10th house is, I think, also the key to Diana’s glamour and subtle allure, as well as being responsible for her sometimes uncanny ability to foretell the future. There are many instances quoted by biographers where Diana had flashes of clairvoyance or experienced a strange sense of foreboding, such as just before her father, Earl Spencer, had a stroke. Some of her friends and acquaintances also report that she seemed strangely certain about her marriage to Prince Charles – many people claim that she seemed absolutely convinced that she would marry him, even before they were even an item (her elder sister Sarah actually dated him first). She also told her father, Earl Spencer in her early teens that she would marry someone in the public eye. [iii]   Many have put this down to an over-developed fantasy life fuelled by too many Barbara Cartland novels, but perhaps there was something else going on here – access to a different order of knowledge, which led her to these seemingly crazy conclusions which proved in the end to be right.

PREMONITION OF HER OWN DEATH?

Some say that Diana even  foresaw her own death. Certainly, she told friends like Roberto Devorik, and wrote in a letter to her butler, Paul Burrell, that she feared that she would be killed in a car accident as part of a plot to get her out of the way and “make the path clear for Charles to marry”.[iv] Between 1995 and 1997, she became convinced that someone would tamper with the brakes of her car, leading to a fatal crash, which, in the wake of what did happen to her, does seem rather chilling. However, it could equally be seen as the result of her increasing paranoia, no doubt fuelled by frequent visits to innumerable dodgy psychics, along with the pressure she felt she was being put under by the establishment to be quiet, ‘behave’ and stop making waves about her marriage and politically sensitive topics like landmines.

Many, like Mohammed Al Fayed, have claimed that the princess’ death was anything but an accident, citing a vast array of conspiracy theories that point the finger at everyone from Prince Philip to MI5 and even the arms industry. With peace-loving Libra as ruler of Diana’s natal Midheaven, it is true that she definitely acted as a peacemaker and spokesperson for her various campaigns. It is perhaps no coincidence that just a few months after her death, the Anti-Personnel Mine Ban Convention, known as the Ottawa Treaty, was signed by over 40 countries, amongst them the UK[v] – something she had lobbied strongly for during the last few years of her life, most notably in January 1997 when she called for a ban on all landmines during a visit to Angola.[vi] But did her public work really get her killed? Let’s have a look at her transits around the time of her death to see if we can elicit any answers.

TRAGIC ACCIDENT OR CONSPIRACY PLOT?

Her tragic death came on the night of August 31^st 1997 in Paris. At the time of her death, the Moon in Cancer, ruler of her 8^th house (traditionally associated with death and legacies) was exactly conjunct her natal Cancer Sun (identity), while transiting Uranus in Aquarius, harbinger of sudden and unexplained events, was making a conjunction to Diana’s natal Jupiter, her chart ruler (physical body). Coming as it did just one day before the solar eclipse in Virgo on 1 September 1997, a sign considered to be a very malefic portent for royalty by the ancient Babylonians, this double attack on the two symbols representing her life force must surely be considered an ill omen.

To compound the matter further, transiting Uranus was opposed to the transiting Sun in Leo, which happened to be passing through Diana’s 8^th house (death). At 4:07am, when Diana was officially pronounced dead, this Leo Sun, a symbol so emblematic of British royalty, was exactly square to Diana’s natal Neptune in Scorpio, a sign associated with death and spiritual transformation, but also, as we have discussed, a symbol of her public image and humanitarian work. Was ‘the firm’ trying, as she believed, to snuff her out because of what she stood for?

It is tempting to see transiting Mars, the lesser malefic, in the chart of August 1997, as a possible symbol of assassination, given how it sits on her Midheaven and makes a square to her natal Saturn in the first house. But then again, it could equally represent a terrible accident. Certainly, one can’t help but notice the squares between transiting Pluto in the 12^th and Diana’s Mars-North node conjunction in the 8^th, together with one to her natal Moon in the 2^nd.

PLUTO SQUARES AND A BRUSH WITH DEATH

Most chillingly, as an astrologer, it is hard to overlook the fact that she was about to experience her Pluto square – one of the most challenging of the midlife transits — one that can often bring about the first intimations of mortality. Looking at Diana’s transits, I notice that when she died, her Pluto square was about to come into orb. In fact, it would have begun to make itself felt on the 10^th of September 1997 – just a few weeks after she died. This aspect, whilst very seldom about literal death, is very much about clearing out deeply entrenched patterns and casting off old psychological habits or relationships that disempower you – a process that can sometimes bring out people’s survival instinct quite strongly. However, coming as it does at around 36 years of age, this transit does often often coincide with the death of a loved one or a symbolic brush with death, perhaps in the form of a health scare, serious accident or difficult illness, which often serves as a stark reminder that life is brief, and that time could be running out to accomplish all that you set out to do in your twenties. It has been documented that Diana was feeling just like this. She allegedly told a friend, Roberto Devorik that she feared for her own life, saying on a helicopter flight that he should cross his fingers because they might get blown up any minute. She also visited her lawyer to make a recorded meeting in 1995 in which she claimed that she had heard from ‘reliable sources’ within the intelligence services that she was in danger and that the establishment wanted her gotten rid of. One of her therapists also told me that she listened in on a telephone call from a senior official at the ministry of defence in which she was threatened with the phrase “accidents can happen.”

So, was she assassinated, as some believe?

THE 12^TH – PARANOIA AND SELF-UNDOING

Well, at first glance, it is hard to ignore the fact that her Pluto square takes place across her 8th house of death and her 12th house of secret enemies – a traditionally malefic house associated with scandal, hidden secrets, as well as death. As well as transiting through the 12th, Pluto also happens to rule the 12th house cusp (depending on what house system you use), so could be interpreted a rather strong symbol of exactly what Diana feared – being asssassinated by dark, unseen forces.

However, the 12^th house is also the house of the psyche and of self-undoing. In Diana’s case, her natal 12^th house happens to be ruled by Scorpio, which is one of the most paranoid and touchy of the zodiac signs. With a natal Mars-Pluto conjunction in the 8^th house of death, and Pluto transiting the 12^th house of sub-conscious fears, an overwhelming terror of death or of dark forces could well be one of the ways in which her Pluto square could have manifested itself.  It is easy to see how, in the wake of her divorce from Prince Charles, which resulted in her being stripped of her HRH title, she may have felt more than a little vulnerable about her position in society, and indeed, worried about her future as a divorcee, especially given Sarah Ferguson’s experience when she divorced Prince Andrew.[vii]

Pluto is also very much a planet associated with betrayal and if you think about it, Diana may have perceived much of life to be a series of betrayals – from her mother leaving her children for another man to her father remarrying another woman without telling his children or inviting them to the wedding, to a husband whom she feared was having an affair behind her back, to the many friends, lovers and confidantes who sold her out to the media. I don’t think it a coincidence that she has a natal Pluto-Chiron opposition, which does suggest something of a persecution complex and a deep-seated fear of rejection. Very early on in her marriage to Prince Charles, when she was suffering from post-natal depression and a serious case of bulimia, he asked Laurens van der Post, his aged friend, to counsel her. Afterwards he told his daughter, Lucia that ‘Diana had shown “great paranoia” and had spent a lot of time “looking through keyholes.”[viii] Her paranoid state of mind may also not have been helped by the fact that she visited a string of “psychics, holistic healers, spiritual advisers and mediums during this period. Some were reputable – many others were charlatans and quacks.” It isn’t hard to see how some of them may have fed her paranoia with their irresponsible predictions of doom.[ix]

Although she may have been referred to as a ‘loose cannon’ by certain politicians, and allegedly threatened on the phone by the Conservative MP, Nicholas Soames (though he categorically denies this ever took place), this may well have been nothing more than bluster from a misogynous MP who didn’t appreciate a woman meddling in politics. Soames was named as one of the most vulgar and sexists MPs in a 2005 book about women in parliament.[x] The fact that he worked for the ministry of defence at the time that he made the call to Diana needs to be weighed up against the point that he was also once Equerry to Prince Charles and took his side in the ‘War of the Wales’.

MERCURY – MEDIA, CARS AND A TRAGIC ACCIDENT

Furthermore, any allegations of conspiracy were found to have little or no substance to them in 2008 by a judge and jury when the inquest into Diana’s death ruled it an accident caused by gross misconduct on the part of Henri Paul, the driver of the car, along with the reckless behaviour of the paparazzi[xi] who followed the vehicle into the tunnel on the back of motorbikes. The bodyguards who were hired to protect them that night also deny that there was any whiff of an assassination plot, the one finally choosing to leave the services of Mohammed Al Fayed because he refused to go along with all the conspiracy theories.[xii]

And here, it is hard to overlook the presence of transiting Mercury in Virgo (travelling, cars, media) on Diana’s natal Pluto in the 8^th house (death), from where it opposes Chiron, the wound in Pisces. Courting media attention, represented by her Sun-Mercury conjunction, together with Neptune, ruler of the 3^rd (self-expression) in her 10^th house of fame and publicity, perhaps in a bid to make a former lover jealous (the link between her Venus and the Midheaven), may well have proven to be her weak spot, as symbolised by transiting Chiron, located in her 10^th house and conjunct her Midheaven on the day  that she died.

The day of Diana’s funeral is one of those days that many people my age remember very clearly – they knew exactly where they were and what they were doing with a vividness that comes only with intense emotional recall. On this day, the themes of Diana, Cancer and the Moon all seemed to come together again in Charles Spencer’s eulogy when he said:

It is a point to remember that of all the ironies about Diana, perhaps the greatest was this – a girl given the name of the ancient goddess of hunting was, in the end, the most hunted person of the modern age.

Tina Brown, the former editor of British Tatler and Vanity Fair, and author of The Diana Chronicles,  makes an interesting point in her biography about Diana when she claims that on the night they died, Diana and Dodi left the safety of their suite at the Ritz no fewer than three times to venture out in public – once to view Dodi’s apartment on the Rue Arséne Houssaye, once to go to a restaurant called Chez Benoit before changing their mind and heading back to the Ritz, and again, just after midnight on that fateful journey through the Point De Alma.

That Diana and Dodi didn’t just remain closeted in their suite from the start for a quiet romantic evening  — and that now, back in that haven, they don’t stay the night, rather than plunge themselves again into the vortex of media aggravation for a third time, as they are about to do – suggests an almost compulsive need to be seen.

Transiting Saturn in Aries (misfortune as a result of accidents, fire or sharp objects), conjunct Diana’s IC (falling into the grave, end of the matter) from the 3^rd house of communication and self-expression, as well as short journeys, serves to further reinforce this, as does the conjunction between transiting Neptune (ruler of the 3^rd house) in Capricorn and Diana’s natal Saturn in the first house of health/life force/the body. Brown’s assessment, together with that of Dodi’s uncle was that ‘both had the publicity bug’ and fed off the oxygen of publicity. This, together with the fact that the driver of the car had an extremely high blood alcohol level (3 times over the limit) and was not qualified to be a chauffeur, makes it clear that it was not just the paparazzi that were to blame for what happened, but rather that it was a perfect storm which led to an unfortunate and tragic accident.

THE FIRM & THE FOURTH ESTATE

Which brings us full circle to the question of the relationship between the media and the royal family, or as someone recently put it, “the first family and the fourth estate.” According to sources close to William and Harry, after Diana’s death, which brought about a major crisis within the British media industry around the question of privacy and media intrusion, the princes were understandably very angry about what had happened and like their uncle, Charles Spencer, blamed the paparazzi for the accident. Many say that the phone hacking scandal did little to erase this view from their minds. In fact, according to journalists, the whole experience has left Prince William so determined to protect his personal privacy and that of his family that it has, to quote a recent press article, “understandably become a virtual obsession.”[xiii]

Of course, it is easy for us to be so glib about it all when we are not the ones who have lost their mother to what was obviously a preventable tragedy. However, as Arthur Edwards, the photographer who has known the princes since they were babies, once said in an interview:

“Prince William is extremely shy and hates the media with a passion…William’s brother Harry has a much more spirited attitude to life. … He rushes in and knows no fear. He holds his head up at all times – even at the lowest points of his life. I remember when he and William, with their father, were looking at flowers and tributes outside Kensington Palace a few days after their mother’s death. Harry held his head up high but fought back the tears. Even at 12 years of age he shows great strength of character and has accepted his destiny. William could learn a lot from his younger brother in how to cope with the trials and tribulations that they will both face throughout the rest of their life.”[xiv]

WILLIAM – A MOTHER’S SON BUT ALSO HIS OWN MAN

I think it is important at this juncture to point out a few fundamental differences between William and Diana’s charts which may offer some additional reasons, beyond that of personal experience, for what appears to be their quite divergent attitudes towards the press and public life. While Diana and William both have the Sun in the 7th house,  and share a Gemini Descendent, their luminaries combine very differently with the other planets in their horoscopes. Unlike his mother, who has a Sun-Mercury conjunction, which often gives an airy, more Geminian feel to the way the Sun expresses itself, (suggesting that Diana may have had a somewhat more analytical perspective about the realities of life in the public eye and the necessary evil of keeping the media onside to further her public causes), William has a Sun-Moon conjunction in Cancer making him much more emotional. This by itself is suggestive of someone who is quite private and introverted by nature. Add to this an extremely sensitive and quite reclusive Neptune in the 12^th house, opposing the Sun, and we get the sense of someone with a very thin skin who feels terribly exposed under the glare of publicity and who can easily become overwhelmed by public attention or indeed, his relationships with others, to the point where he may feel as though his very identity is under threat.

Diana, by contrast, has quite a public Neptune in the 10^th house, which I think explains her ability, much like Marilyn Monroe, to wear her vulnerability ‘on her sleeve’ and use it as a means of eliciting sympathy, even of seducing others –switching effortlessly between glamazon and victim, depending on  her needs at the time. It is no accident that many described her as having the potential to be a great actress because of this chameleon-like quality. In this way, she reminds me a lot of Marilyn, a comparison that I am not alone in – I don’t think it is a coincidence that Sir Elton John sang ‘Candle in the Wind’ at her funeral, a song allegedly about the late Marilyn Monroe, who incidentally also died at the age of 36. According to some, Diana herself felt a strong affinity with the Hollywood actress, telling friends that she felt they were kindred spirits because of her battle with the Hollywood studios  – for Diana, Marilyn was “another woman against the world.”[xv]

However, with Mars and Saturn in Libra, William is much stronger emotionally than his mother and probably is better at asserting himself and forming healthy boundaries within relationships – something it sounds like she wasn’t terribly good at, but is also probably the reason she was so empathetic with the poor, suffering and needy. Furthermore, while his mother’s chart ruler, Jupiter, is in humanitarian and democratic Aquarius, William’s Jupiter happens to be in secretive and touchy Scorpio, which speaks of someone who fervently believes in the right to privacy and needs to feel in control, perhaps to an obsessive degree – something that Stephen Hewlett asserts is the case in his documentary about the royal family’s love-hate relationship with the media, Reinventing the Royals.[xvi]

THE MOON & THE PEOPLE’S PRINCESS  – DIANA’S MEMORY & LEGACY

Whatever did take place that dreadful August night in 1997, one thing is for sure – despite her all-too-human faults, Diana made a difference. As with many icons, it is always better to set aside their human failings and remember the contribution they made to society.  Her legacy will continue to touch the lives of millions around the world, from the ground-breaking anti-landmine treaty that was ratified soon after her death, to the many charities that benefitted from her foundation.

For many women, Diana’s personal struggle to balance public with private life, and come to terms with a desperate need for love and affection in a modern age where gender roles are continually shifting, epitomises the plight faced by many modern women today. As the ‘people’s princess’, (crowds and the populace are incidentally, ruled by the Moon) Diana always felt she had more in common with ordinary people than the stuffy upper classes and this is what made her so appealing. It is interesting to me that in mundane astrology, the populace, crowds and public gatherings are all ruled by the Moon, and the fact that the ‘Queen of Hearts’ was born with the Sun in Cancer seems very fitting.

However, to those that knew her, her appeal lay beyond that of someone with ‘the common touch’ to something much more intangible: Many people describe an almost luminous quality about her, rather like a halo. According to her friend, Rosa Monckton, Diana’s ‘bright side was that of a luminous being.”[xvii] Rather aptly, the name Diana, named after the Roman Moon goddess, means ‘luminous or shining.’[xviii] Very often it is suffering that makes us more compassionate and empathetic, and Diana certainly endured her share of heartbreak and misery over the years. Tina Brown, her most recent biographer, obviously concurs, writing in The Diana Chronicles that, ‘pain made her luminous’.[xix]

Echoing these themes at her funeral, her brother, Charles Spencer said of her:

Diana explained to me once that it was her innermost feelings of suffering that made it possible for her to connect with her constituency of the rejected.”

And here we come to another truth about her. For all the status, the glamour, the applause, Diana remained throughout a very insecure person at heart, almost childlike in her desire to do good for others so she could release herself from deep feelings of unworthiness …

The world sensed this part of her character and cherished her for her vulnerability whilst admiring her for her honesty.

It has always been significant that during 1997, two key humanitarian figures passed away within a short time of each other –  Princess Diana on August 31 and Mother Theresa, less than a week later, on September 5, 1997. Both were much-loved icons of compassion and nurturing who dedicated their lives to helping those less fortunate than themselves, and when they died,  both were mourned by millions of people around the world.  It is perhaps rather fitting then that Diana was buried with a rosary in her hand given to her by Mother Teresa, thereby somehow closing a circle.

The tunnel in which Diana died, the Pont De l’Alma means ‘Bridge of Souls’, which seems a fitting place to ‘cross over’ into the world of spirit. Although she was taken from the world too young, in a way, it has allowed us to remember her forever in a fairytale fashion. In the words of Martyn Gregory, author of Diana: The last days:

I think that because Diana died young, at the age of 36, she joins James Dean, JFK, Elvis and John Lennon, all icons who died young. And because she died young and in an accident, she and her memory is preserved as if an aspic – forever.[xx]

The romance of Neptune endures.

REFERENCES

[i] http://www.people.com/people/archive/article/0,,20103997,00.html

[ii] http://www.independent.ie/unsorted/features/princess-diana-and-the-irish-nun-26056107.html

[iii] See this and other examples in the book by Richard Kay, Diana: The Untold Story, first published in serialised version by the Daily Mail, 1998.

[iv] http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/uk/3206486.stm

[v] http://blueandgreentomorrow.com/features/on-this-day-1997-princess-diana-landmine-row/

[vi] BBC, http://news.bbc.co.uk/onthisday/hi/dates/stories/january/15/newsid_2530000/2530603.stm

[vii] See this article: http://www.dailymail.co.uk/columnists/article-228806/The-lonely-princess-racked-fear-haunted-enemies.html

[viii] As relayed by Tina Brown in The Diana Chronicles, p. 197

[ix] http://www.mirror.co.uk/news/uk-news/psychic-told-diana-she-was-going-to-die-511575

[x] http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/uknews/1497730/Female-MPs-round-on-sexist-Soames.html

[xi] http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/uk/7328754.stm

[xii] See the article by Martyn Gregory in the Dec 15 2006 issue of the Daily Mail.

[xiii] http://www.radiotimes.com/news/2015-02-19/reinventing-the-royals-spin-in-the-house-of-windsor-3>http://www.radiotimes.com/news/2015-02-19/reinventing-the-royals-spin-in-the-house-of-windsor-3

[xiv] BBC – Q&A with Arthur Edwards – http://news.bbc.co.uk/hi/english/static/diana_one_year_on/q_and_a/wed_response.stm

[xv] https://dianacelebrationkc.wordpress.com/2011/04/06/diana-a-celebration-union-station-kansas-city-the-parallel-lives-of-princess-diana-and-marilyn-monroe/

[xvi] http://www.radiotimes.com/news/2015-02-19/reinventing-the-royals-spin-in-the-house-of-windsor-3>http://www.radiotimes.com/news/2015-02-19/reinventing-the-royals-spin-in-the-house-of-windsor-3

[xvii]https://www.nytimes.com/books/first/s/smith-diana.html

[xviii] http://www.suppressedhistories.net/secrethistory/diana.html

[xix] http://www.dailymail.co.uk/femail/article-460673/Tina-Brown-reveals-Diana-knew.html#ixzz3QW9qdcuM

[xx] http://www.aparchive.com/metadata/UK-Diana/1f29460e8373aaff5248473913327b32?query=Mother+Teresa+dEAD&current=3&orderBy=Relevance&hits=4&referrer=search&search=%2Fsearch%3Fquery%3DMother%2520Teresa%2520dEAD%26allFilters%3DVarious%3ASource&allFilters=Various%3ASource&productType=IncludedProducts&page=1&b=327b32

Could the astrology of AirAsia Flight QZ8501 provide clues to unlocking the mystery of MH370?

Tags

Capricorn stellium, Cardinal Grand Cross, under the sunbeams, Uranus-Pluto square

2014 has not been a great year for air travel. Since March, when Malaysia Air flight MH 370 went missing a few hours after take-off,  and still remains to be found,  we have witnessed a number of fatal accidents that have killed nearly 762 people so far this year, including another Malaysian Air flight MH17, which was shot down over the Ukraine  in mid-July.

With 2014 drawing to a close, another aviation mystery began to unfold as a second plane went missing from the same region of the world under similar circumstances, which seems bizarre, to say the least!

Although the pane has since been found off the coast of Borneo, which has made the original blog I was working on somewhat redundant, I thought it was still worth having a look at the even chart of the plane’s take-off to see what the astrology might reveal about what precisely happened to the aircraft, as well as put the theories I used on the horary chart of flight MH370 to the test to see whether they appear to work or not in terms of locating the whereabouts of phenomena such as lost aircraft.

According to news reports, the doomed AirAsia flight QZ8501 took off at 05h35 local time on the morning of Sunday, the 28^th of December from Surabaya airport for Singapore. After a brief exchange with air traffic control in Indonesia at 06h12, it disappeared from both satellite and radar shortly after 06h14 local time whilst flying over the Javan sea.

So, could the take-off chart reveal any clues as to what precisely may have happened?

Strangely, the chart bears more than a few similarities to that of the horary chart that I drew up for MH370, which you can see in my blog for March 2014.

First of all, it has Sagittarius rising again, which as I pointed out at the time, is radical for a plane undertaking an international flight, since Sagittarius rules long distance travel and foreign relations. AirAsia flight QZ8501 was travelling from Surabaya in Indonesia to Singapore, a trip that crosses international borders and usually takes just over two hours to complete. This makes Jupiter in Leo the main signifier for the aircraft.

As with the MH370 chart, Jupiter is located in the 8^th house, which in traditional astrology, was considered to be the house signifying death.  Jupiter also happens to be retrograde, weakening it somewhat. Although in March, Jupiter was direct, it had only just emerged from a three month retrograde spell two days’ previously on March the 6th, making it still not quite ‘up to speed’, which I thought may have dulled its usually highly beneficial influence. The retrograde state of Jupiter could suggest that the plane may perhaps have been ill-equipped or somehow not quite prepared enough to deal with whatever problems it encountered, but we will only be able to tell this once crash investigators have determined what went wrong with it.

Unlike March, when Jupiter was in Cancer, Jupiter was in the sign of Leo, a fire sign, which could be significant. Jupiter, as many people know from ancient mythology, was the god of thunder, and on this particular occasion, we know that, shortly before air traffic control lost contact with the plane at 06h16, the pilot had radioed in, saying that they were flying through a very bad thunder storm and asked for permission to change course and climb in altitude in order to avoid it. In this chart, Jupiter is very close to a quincunx with Venus in Capricorn in the first house, which usually indicates the need for an adjustment of some kind. Perhaps this points to an adjustment of course and altitude?

In terms of direction, Jupiter’s position in the 8^th house, close to the cusp of the 9^th puts it in the south-west quarter of the sky. However, if we look at direction by sign, then we get a north-westerly direction, which fits with the plane’s planned trajectory: we know that that the passenger jet was traveling in a north-westerly direction towards Singapore, but had later requested a diversion from the normal route, turning slightly left, i.e. further westwards to try and avoid the huge stormfront in its path. This fits with the position of Jupiter in Leo, which would put it in the NNW sector of the chart. Clearly, then, direction by sign, rather than house, seems more appropriate here, as it also proved to be with flight MH370.

Uranus-Pluto and the Cardinal Cross

The other similarity with the MH370 chart is that Pluto and Uranus are once again in orb of a square to each other.  This is an especially nasty and intense configuration, bringing together the symbol of death, rebirth and irreversible change (Pluto) with the outer planet associated with cutting, severing and sudden freak occurrences such as explosions as well as technology and electricity (Uranus). Although a very ‘modern’ planet, Uranus is largely considered malefic by many traditional astrologers, perhaps because it was discovered during the time of the French revolution, when chaos, disruption and beheading reigned – something that seems to have made a comeback in recent years amongst jihadi terrorist organisations.

It should pointed out that these types of difficult meetings between two of the outer planets are relatively rare – although we are currently going through a five year spell in which these two heavenly bodies clash approximately twice a year, we have not experienced anything like it since the 1960’s. You can read more about the most recent stages of this five-year transit on the Mountain Astrologer website.

On both occasions, the square between Uranus & Pluto happened to be extending outwards, a bit like a black hole, to suck in nearby phenomena orbiting in the region. Back in March 2014, Uranus and Pluto happened to form part of a T-square to Jupiter. In December, rather than implicating Jupiter, these two ‘death stars’ happened to form a T-square with the lunar nodes.

Known in Asian astrology as the head and tail of the dragon – the axis where the Sun & Moon cross orbits, the plane where eclipses happen. In astrology, these have come to be interpreted slightly differently. Some see them as the hand of fate and a symbol of karma/reincarnation, while those less inclined to an evolutionary perspective tend to see them as representative of the ‘herd’ mentality of humanity as a collective. In this case, I think it is significant that the nodes are in Aries and Libra – the cardinal signs, which have been active in stirring things up since the Cardinal Grand Cross of 2010. Aries is currently also the zodiac sign through which Uranus is currently transiting, and thus far, it seems to have been associated with an inordinate number of riots, wars, demonstrations, flash violence and terrorist attacks, many fought in the name of social justice and the need to address political/economic inequalities. The last time we saw a flare-up of this cardinal energy was in April 2014 when Uranus and Pluto again clashed swords amidst another manifestation of the cardinal grand cross, peaking on April the 22^nd, and it was during the build-up to this exceptionally challenging event that flight MH370 went missing.

Capricorn Stellium

I commented last week that we currently have a stellium of planets in Capricorn, flanking Pluto, that are one by one, re-activating the most recent incarnation of this dreadful planetary combination, which peaked for the seventh time in five years on December 15 2014 – the day of the Sydney Siege. It therefore seems strangely and spookily in keeping with this cosmic pattern that, just at the juncture in December 2014 when the cardinal planets are once again constellating around latest pass of the Uranus-Pluto square, another airline tragedy unfolds.

In the AirAsia chart, the Capricorn stellium is situated in the first house, indicating that each of the planets reflects something about the conditions of the plane/flight at the time of its fateful journey.

One of the planets involved this stellium was Mercury, planet of journeys and transportation, which entered the fray of the Uranus-Pluto square on Christmas Day when it squared Uranus, which I think contributed to the travel chaos UK commuters experienced over the Christmas break that left many people stranded, sometimes overnight,  just as temperatures began to plummet.

In this chart, Mercury is the ruler of the Descendant and the Midheaven – two of the angles, which usually indicate significance or prominence–and happens to be separating from a conjunction to Pluto, Lord of the 12^th house (death, hospitalisation and oblivion). Located in this house is another malefic planet – Saturn, ruler of Capricorn, and therefore, all the planets located in that sign in the first house – which may not be a great omen overall.

Now, Mercury is the natural ruler of transport, travel and communications, and being in the first house, it is also a co-signifier of the plane. In this case, it may represent the aircraft tracking and communications systems, which allow contact with others (DS). It could also perhaps represent the plane’s course or route, since the Midheaven, which in this chart is ruled by Mercury, can be interpreted as the captain of the ship, or pilot of the plane – and it is he who determines the plane’s trajectory. Pluto, is amongst other things, symbolically associated with invisibility or disappearances, so it may be significant that Pluto and Mercury are so close, given that communications just suddenly seem to stop at around 06h15, with the aircraft appearing to just disappear without a trace from the screens of all tracking devices at around 07h24 local time. Many wonder why the pilot made no distress call, and the lack of communications by the pilot (Mercury, ruler of MC conjunct Pluto) seems to fit this scenario – he was probably too busy trying to save the aircraft to relay what was happening to ground control?

The Sun, located at around 5 degrees Capricorn, forms the outermost flank of the stellium. Interestingly,  Pluto happens to be within 8 degrees of the Sun, which technically puts it under the sunbeams, a condition that is said to weaken the influence of a planet, and therefore, the condition of the plane. The Sun also rules the sign of Leo, which is the sector of the zodiac where Jupiter, primary significator of the plane, was found. Could glare from the rising sun have temporarily blinded the pilot, or somehow contributed to what happened? I guess it can’t be ruled out altogether…

Now that we have a sense of where the plane was before the crash, let’s look at what may have happened next by examining approaching aspects amongst the key planetary players.

Approaching Aspects

First up: Jupiter. We have already discussed the fact that Jupiter was approaching a quincunx to Venus, which probably indicates the diversion/adjustment that he had to make to turn the plane away from the storm. The next aspect is more sinister: an approaching opposition with Mars, the lesser malefic.

This could represent the encounter with what looks on weather maps to have been a violent supercell thunder storm. Many experts now think that this violent storm may have indirectly caused the plane to stall and crash into the sea, in a scenario similar to that which led to the downing of Air France flight AF447 back in 2009.[1] This aspect, then is pretty key to what may have happened.

Now that the plane has been discovered quite close to the site of its last known position[i], it does look as though the pilot may have encountered a large and violent (Mars) supercell thunder storm (Jupiter) measuring some 600kms across, through which it tried to fly. However, like Icarus who got too close to the sun, flying upwards through such bad conditions can sometimes overtax the engines, or make them lose power (Sun-Pluto), possibly leading to a stall and then, like Icarus, a fall from the sky.

Mars is the ruler of Aries, which is where we find Uranus, as well as the south node, the tail of the dragon, which, however you interpret it, is considered to be the less fortunate of the two nodes.  Mercury, symbolic of the pilot, is just separating from a square to the nodes, an omen that the fates are not with him on this occasion. The opposite node, the north node, is situated at 15 and a half degrees in Libra, and is therefore considered to be in the via combusta, a part of the sky associated with the underworld. You can read more about this in my previous column on the death of Whitney Houston. Ruler of Libra is Venus in Capricorn, also located in the 1^st house and a member of the stellium.

By itself, the Jupiter-Mars opposition does not look good for the plane. If we then factor in Mercury’s square to the nodes, which may have been the denial by air traffic control for the plane to ascend to 38,000 feet because of other air traffic in the area, we have the recipe for what may have been a bad decision by the pilot to attempt to ascend through the storm anyway. It may also be significant that both Uranus, ruler of the third house of communications, and Pluto are also approaching that formidable T-square to the nodal axis., which does seem to indicate stressful, unforeseen, sometimes life-threatening circumstances that are beyond one’s control. Clearly, the odds were against the pilot  none of these aspects are positive, so we can hardly expect good news from them.

To top it all off, the Moon, often significant in horary charts, is in Pisces and has recently made a conjunction to Neptune, ruler of the sea, emphasising the ocean and lots of water. Key is the fact that she rules the 8^th house in this chart – the house where Jupiter (the plane) is located – and a house which, as I have already mentioned elsewhere, is strongly associated with death.

In this chart, the Moon is separating from a square with the Ascendant, which is the primary significator of the aircraft towards an opposition with the Midheaven, representative of the pilot. This is because she is heading for a conjunction with the IC, which, as I relayed in my article about MH370, can be another significator of death, or the end of the matter. Given that the Moon will soon change signs, it also suggests that it is she who signifies the end of the matter.

Sadly, her sign and position testify to what we now know to be true – that the plane and its passengers ended up in a watery grave beneath the waves of the Javan Sea. Further reinforcing the Piscean/fishy end to this sad tale is the report that it was a local fisherman who found the wreckage of the plane floating in the waters near the Tuju islands just off the coast of Borneo, and later reported it to the authorities.

Final Position of Aircraft

So, how far off course was the plane, and is this reflected in the chart? The most important aspect in this chart is the approaching opposition between Mars and Jupiter, which at the time of take-off, was just over 4 degrees (4 degrees 11 minutes) from exactitude. This equates to a distance in miles of 4 x ¼ mile (Leo and Aquarius are fixed signs, so a quarter mile is considered), which is just 1 mile or so off course, according to Derek Appleby’s method.

Ivy Goldstein-Jacobson uses another method, which equates to: the degree of the significator (22) x 3 miles for a planet located in a succeedent house in a chart with a southerly latitude, which = 66 miles. This number must then be multiplied by the number of degrees separating it from the Moon (in this case, 142 degrees), which comes to a rather ridiculous 9372 miles. As Derek Appleby points out, “…this is probably too far away to judge distance accurately.” No kidding!

A Rethink about Distance Calculation

However, according to the authorities, the wreckage was around 66 miles from the plane’s last known location, somewhat further than the first method of calculation denoted and a lot less than 9000-odd miles, so a recalculation may be in order here!

This may also be why we were fell rather short of where flight MH370 was thought to be located in the southern Indian Ocean, based on the search areas combed between March 30 and April 28, although it remains to be seen whether or not the plane did actually fly south, as the satellite data indicates, or whether it exploded and fell from the sky over the Andaman Sea, close to the initial search areas of March 8-15, where the plane was last detected by radar.[ii]

Of course, it may well be that we have chosen the wrong indicator for our locational data – perhaps the position of the applying planet may be more appropriate? In this case, we are dealing with Mars in Aquarius in the second house, giving a SSE direction (Aquarius), which is correct, but the distance calculations remain the same.

What if, instead, we used the actual zodiac degrees of our chosen significator but base direction on sign? If we choose Jupiter in Leo, then this would equal 22.02 degrees x 3 miles (succeedant house in southerly latitude) = EXACTLY 66! Here, we may have found our answer. But then the dircetion would be NNW? But, if we consider the position of Jupiter – retrograde in Leo – i.e. moving backwards from its NNW position, then it does make sense that the debris was found a few miles to the south (i.e. backwards) of where the plane was last detected on radar.

If this is correct, then the calculation for the final position of flight MH370 would in fact be as follows:

Jupiter: 10.5 degrees of Cancer x 3 miles (succeedant house in southerly latitude) = 31 miles in a northerly direction from its last detection point, if you base your directions on signs, and not house position.

However, if it is house position you are using, then the direction is 31 miles WSW…Food for thought…

Whatever we discover in the days and weeks to come will certainly help us to clarify our techniques for future use, but they will not change the tragic facts of the situation for those relatives of the passengers who have lost family members and loved ones. To the, I send my heartfelt sympathy and hope this is article does not prove too distressing for anyone.

Going forward, though, it is clear that the current spate of Uranus-Pluto squares are no joke, and that the periods around them should be navigated with care, especially for those people who have prominent fixed signs or planets located at around 15-19 degrees in their natal charts.  Below is a fairly strong warning from mundane astrologer, Louis Acker, about what could lie ahead in the spring:

The seventh and last Uranus-Pluto square will be March 17, 2015. Mars in Aries conjunct Uranus and square Pluto between March 8 and 15, 2015 activates this last Uranus-Pluto square. This is an explosive, highly dangerous combination that could precipitate assassinations, riots, revolution, war, bombings, and industrial accidents.[iii]

As it happens, this extremely intense transit will occur near to a solar eclipse, which I will cover, along with more pleasant transits, in my Astro-Insights for January 2015, which will be put up in the next few days. Visit astro-sphere.com for further details. Happy New Year, everyone.

REFERENCES

[1] See the coverage on the Independent website, which discusses the weather conditions present at the time of the plane’s disappearances, as well as hypothetical scenarios about how these could have contributed to a crash: http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/worldnews/asia/indonesia/11315486/Air-Asia-missing-plane-Sunday-December-28-as-it-happened.html

[i] See map at New York Times website: http://www.nytimes.com/interactive/2014/12/28/world/asia/airasia-flight-qz8501-map.html?_r=0

[ii] See map of possible lfight paths on NY Times website: http://www.nytimes.com/interactive/2014/03/17/world/asia/search-for-flight-370.html

[iii] Louis Acker, 2014 and beyond, Mountain Astrologer, http://mountainastrologer.com/tma/2014-and-beyond

Can we expect Royal Twins?

Tags

baby cambridge, double-bodied signs, second royal pregnancy, twin births, william lily, zadkiel

Since it was first announced by Clarence House that the Duchess of Cambridge was pregnant with her and Prince William’s second child, the speculation and guessing around details of her pregnancy and the future birth has continued unabated.

The question that is on most people’s lips right now is: “Will the next little Cambridge be a girl or a boy?”, whilst the question uppermost on most astrologers’ minds is most likely to be: “When will the little prince/princess be born?” and, “What will their natal horoscope look like?”

As a continuation of my first blog on this royal matter, I thought it might be a good time to look at trying to answer some of these two questions using the techniques of William Lilly, one of England’s most famous astrologers.

Lilly’s Take on the Astrology of Childbirth and Pregnancy

As I have said before, predicting birth dates using astrology is tricky, especially when we are not sure exactly when conception is likely to have occurred. However, since the original pregnancy announcement back in the autumn, we now know that Kate is due to give birth in the spring, somewhere around April 2015, which does help to narrow things down a little.

According to William Lilly, the well-known 17th century astrologer, one can glean more information by observing several horary techniques, which were commonly practised by medieval astrologers (who didn’t have sonograms and blood tests to work from, so had to work with what they had!) to determine more information on a pregnancy within a horary chart.

The horary chart I cast to try and answer this query is  simply based on the time and date I decided to pose the question to the heavens. 

A PDF file of the chart can be opened by clicking on the link below:

Royal Pregnancy Timing Chart.

The resulting chart is rather interesting symbolically for a number of reasons:

Firstly, we have the signs of Gemini-Sagittarius across the AS-DS axis. These two signs seem to come up a lot in conjunction with this particular royal couple. For example, if we think back to the lunar eclipse in Gemini on 21 December 2010 and the solar eclipse in Capricorn that followed it on 4 January, these were the nearest set of eclipses to take place prior to the Royal Wedding in 2011, which I interpreted in my eclipse chronology column at the time as being symbolic of Kate’s transition from commoner to princess, and the couple’s evolution from sweethearts to husband and wife. The announcement that Kate was pregnant with Prince George also came less than a week after the lunar eclipse in Gemini-Sagittarius on November the 28^th 2012, which I predicted would bring news concerning a royal pregnancy in my Eclipse Chronology for November 2012.

So, lunar eclipses in general, and the signs of Gemini-Sagittarius in particular, seem to be significant for this couple. No doubt the fact that Kate Middleton was born close to a lunar eclipse, and Prince William has Sagittarius rising (and Gemini on the cusp of the 7th house) may account for this to some degree. We still don’t know what sign Kate has rising – it could be Gemini or Sagittarius – but without any official announcements about her exact time of birth, her natal horoscope remains open to speculation.

Just as an aside, it is also perhaps worthy of our attention that both the signs of Gemini, Sagittarius and Pisces are considered to be ‘double-bodied’ signs, and as such, are often associated with twins…More on this later.

Secondly, in this horary chart, we have Jupiter in Leo close to the cusp of the IC in the 4th house of family, roots and heritage. After the Sun, which rules Leo, Jupiter is the next planet most associated with royalty, so this seems significant in terms of the royal family, the line of succession etc. Fertility astrologer, Nicola Smuts, has spoken of the importance of lucky Jupiter in increasing fertility[i] (Jupiter is, after all, exalted in Cancer, the sign par excellence, of mothers and motherhood), so having Jupiter located in the 4th house seems fittingly ‘radical’ for indicating a royal pregnancy.

Thirdly, the Moon happens to be in Pisces – the very same sign it was in for the horary chart I cast around the time this pregnancy was announced back in September. Interesting synchronicity. At the time of the announcement, however, the Moon was also conjunct Neptune. However, I do feel I need to mention that some astrologers associate a link to Neptune with miscarriage in pregnancy horaries.  It has been reported that Kate allegedly had a miscarriage prior to conceiving this baby, but nothing has ever been confirmed by palace officials. Whether this is true or not, the Duchess has suffered quite severely with acute morning sickness, which can lead to pregnancy complications.[ii]

Given that the Moon in this chart is separating from a conjunction to Chiron and Neptune, it seems likely to be a sign that Kate is now moving away from her earlier health problems and into a much less precarious state in terms of her pregnancy and any potential complications. As she is now past her first trimester, this seems a fitting interpretation of the situation.

Birth Date Prediction

So, what of the potential birth date?

Well, according to Lilly, one should look to the location and sign of the Lord of the fifth house, which rules births and babies,  for more information.  In this case, the 5th house cusp is in Virgo, which makes Mercury the significator we are most interested in. (Echoes of Gemini again!) In this chart, Mercury is in the 6th house, which on its own, suggests that the birth will occur in six around months’ time, that is, around May 2015. However, Mercury is in Sagittarius, a mutable sign, and according to Lily, ‘a Planet in a moveable Signe doth somewhat hasten the time,’ so it would seem we are looking for a due date of less than that.

How long has Kate been pregnant?

Lily goes on to add that you can get a more accurate picture of the length of pregnancy by looking at which of the Moon and the 5th house ruler are closer in terms of the degree of separation from their previous contact. In this case, it is Mercury, which is separating from a square to Neptune by 46 minutes of arc, as opposed to the Moon, which separated from a square to Venus  7.5 degrees ago.

He then says, ‘If the separation be from …a square, she is in the 4th month.’[iii] As it happens, spokesmen from Kensington Palace confirmed on the 20th of October that the Duchess was due to give birth sometime in April[iv], which would confirm the calculations arrived at via Lily’s method.

So, when exactly in April 2015 is it likely to be?

Will he or she arrive in time for Mom and Dad’s wedding anniversary on 29 April? Or in time for the Queen’s actual birthday on 21 April?  Neither can be ruled out. Of course, Prince George was quite late in arriving, so the same may be true of his new brother or sister, which adds a wildcard into the mix.

Given that the Moon is generally significant in births, and that we seem to keep having important royal events and announcement around eclipses, it is interesting that we do have a total lunar eclipse in Aries-Libra scheduled for April the 4th. Will the little prince or princess arrive that early? I guess we can’t rule it out at this point.

Another possibility to consider is when the Moon will be in Pisces, since the combination seems to keep cropping up in relation to this baby. Interestingly, the Moon transits through Pisces between the 15th and 16th of April – just before the New Moon in Aries on the 18th, which does seem to fit with Lilly’s prediction formula.

At this stage, though, one can only speculate so much. For now, I think it best to wait until closer to the time to see if any of these dates, or any others, seem more viable.

Let’s  move on to the next part of our query…What sex is this child likely to be?

Gender – Will Prince Charles’ wish for a girl be granted?

William Lilly claims that an astrologer can try and ascertain the sex of the child by looking for the following astrological signs:

Jupiter in the 7th, she is impregnated of a male childe: Sagittarius or Pisces in the 7th, she is with childe of a Girle; this must be understood when all the rest of the Significators are equall, and ballance not the judgment, then if you finde Sagittarius or Pisces in the 7th, you may judge the party shall have a Girle.

Zadkiel reports that Lilly advises you to weigh up the duality/sect of key planets relating to pregnancy (i.e. the rulers of the AS, 5th house and the Moon, as well as the signs on the cusp of the AS and 5th house) and see if the majority point to a male or a female. The sign of the Moon’s dispositor may also be considered.

In our chart, the ruler of both the 5th house cusp and the AS is Mercury, which by itself, is considered neutral. But it is in the sign of Sagittarius, which is diurnal/masculine by nature. The ruler/dispositor of the Moon in Pisces is either Jupiter, if you are a traditional/medieval astrologer, or Neptune, if you prefer modern rulerships. Jupiter is a diurnal planet, while Neptune is generally considered to be feminine in nature. As a water sign, Pisces is considered to be feminine/yin in nature, so this throws up a bit of a dilemma.

Jupiter is not in the 7th house, BUT we do have Sagittarius on the 7th house cusp, which according to Lilly, indicates a girl. However, Lilly tells us that we have to balance this indicator with the average we find when weighing up all the other indicators.

So, what are the overall scores?

• AS in Gemini = Masculine

• Ruler of 5th house cusp is Mercury (neutral) in Sagittarius = Masculine

• DS in Sagittarius = Feminine

• Sign on 5th cusp is Virgo = Feminine

• Ruler of Moon in Pisces is either Jupiter (masculine) or Neptune (feminine)

So, depending on which dispositor we opt for when considering the Moon, we have a pretty even score.  So, at this point, it is difficult to give a judgement. 

Going back to my earlier statement about Gemini and double-bodied signs, I can’t help wonder whether we have one of both sex, i.e. TWINS on our hands? There have been a few rumours swirling about that the Duchess may possibly be pregnant with twins[v],  so perhaps the next step might be to consider whether this could be the case.

Twins for Kate?

Ever since Catherine, Duchess of Cambridge became pregnant with Prince George, there has been speculation and rumours about HRH having twins. Now that she is pregnant for the second time, the rumour mill has once again gone into overdrive,  reaching fever pitch in early October when all bets were eventually suspended at bookmakers, William Hill, after a spate of wagers on Kate giving birth to twins raised suspicions about a possible information leak.[vi] Clarence House later released a statement which implied that there was, in fact, only one prince or princess on the way in a press statement on 20 October. But it was fairly vague, so could it simply be a ruse to knock everyone off the scent?[vii]

Let’s look at what the astrology says. If we have a pair of royal twins on the way, it might explain why we don’t get a clear answer on the sex of the child, and why the sign of Gemini seems to come up such a lot in relation to this pregnancy, as discussed in the section above.

William Lilly says the following about how to examine a horary chart for signs of a twin birth.

If suspicion be of twins, and you find, upon that question, the ascending sign be double-bodied, and a fortunate (benefic) therein, or the same of the 5^th house, and the Sun and Moon be in double-bodied signs, and the lords of the AS and 5^th be the same, you may judge twins. But unless all, or nearly these testimonies occur, it is not safe to judge.[viii]

According to Zadkiel, the double-bodied signs are: Gemini, Virgo, Sagittarius and Pisces.[ix]

Going back to our horary chart, let’s tot up the scores:

• AS in Gemini = double-bodied

• Ruler of 5th house cusp is Mercury (neutral) in Sagittarius = double-bodied

• Sign on 5th cusp is Virgo =   Double-bodied

• Sun in Sagittarius = double-bodied

• Moon in Pisces = double-bodied

That’s FIVE testimonies for twins! So far, so good. However, there is no sign of Venus or Jupiter being in either the first or the fifth house…Instead, Jupiter is found in the 4^th house (families & heritage), and Venus in the 6^th house (health) …But is this really so far off the mark? In my mind, the average really does seem to tip in favour of twins. Of course, in some pregnancies,  one of the twins dies, so it is possible that only one baby may survive.

Lilly also implies that one should cast a separate horary chart specifically designed to answer the question on twins, which we have not done here  – something we’ll have to leave for another time.

In the interim, though, I too, am betting on twins!

REFERENCES

[i] Sunday Times, ‘By Jupiter, planets may help women become pregnant’, Nov 2010, http://www.thesundaytimes.co.uk/sto/news/uk_news/National/article446759.ece

[ii] ‘Hyperemesis Gravidarum’, University of Maryland Medical Centre, http://umm.edu/health/medical/pregnancy/specialcare-pregnancies/hyperemesis-gravidarum

[iii] Lily’s Astrology [transl. Zadkiel, 1939], p. 151

[iv] BBC News, http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-29688969

[v] Daily Express, http://www.express.co.uk/news/royal/517031/Twins-Kate-Middleton-Royal-pregnancy-betting-suspended

[vi] Daily Mail, 1 Oct 2014, http://www.dailymail.co.uk/femail/article-2776084/Is-Kate-expecting-TWINS-Bookmakers-suspend-betting-receiving-200-wagers-two-hours-leading-suspicions-inside-information.html

[vii] Clarence House, Press Release, 20 Oct, http://www.princeofwales.gov.uk/media/press-releases/the-duke-and-duchess-of-cambridge-are-expecting-baby-april

[viii]Lily’s Astrology [transl. Zadkiel, 1939], p. 150

[ix] Lily’s Astrology [transl. Zadkiel, 1939], p. 16

 

Lilly on the astrology of pregnancy & birth

Tags

astrology of births and babies, birth prediction, Duchess of Cambridge, horary astrology, William Lilly

Lilly’s Take on the Astrology of Childbirth and Pregnancy

As I have written elsewhere, predicting birth dates using astrology is tricky, especially when we are not sure exactly when conception is likely to have occurred.

If you finde that according to naturall causes she may have a Childe or Children; and the Querent is desirious to know neer what time: See then where you find the Lord of the 5th house, viz. if in the ascendant or lst house; then judge the lst yeere; if in the 2nd house, the 2nd yeere; if in the lOth house, the 3rd yeere; if in the 7th house, the 4th yeere; if in the 4th house, the 5th yeere.
And herein you must be carefull in considering what Signe the Lord of the 5th house is in; for the Swiftnesse of a Planet in a moveable Signe doth somewhat hasten the time; a double bodied Signe doth not manifest so soon; fixed Signes prolong the matter; however, this is worthy of your consideration, that let the Significator be in what Signe he will be, yet if he be swift in motion and direct, he doth make the more haste in performance of the businesse he is a Significator in, and causeth the matter sooner to be accomplished.

Lilly also claims that an astrologer can also predict the sex of the child using the following techniques:

The Dispositor of the Moon and the Lord of the houre in Angles; Mars in the Signe of the 7th House, she is newly conceived (this is to be understood if he be well Fortified:) Saturn in the 7th, the party is quicke, or her Infant moveth: Jupiter in the 7th, she is impregnated of a male childe: Sagittarius or Pisces in the 7th, she is with childe of a Girle; this must be understood when all the rest of the Significators are equall, and ballance not the judgment, then if you finde Sagittarius or Pisces in the 7th, you may judge the party shall have a Girle.

“Besides, the Moon in the 5th applying to Jupiter or Venus argue the same. You may ever predict true Conception, if the Signe ascending be fixed, and a Fortune therein placed, or the Lord of the 5th strong in the Ascendant or 10th House.

In my latest post, I put some of these techniques to the test on a horary chart cast to shed more light on the pregnancy of the Duchess of Cambridge, with some surprising results!

Another Royal Pregnancy

Can astrology tells us anything about the second royal baby at this point?

From one Kate to another – all focus once more returned to Kate Middleton aka Catherine the Duchess of Cambridge during September as Clarence House announced that Britain’s most popular royal couple were expecting again.

Speculation had been rife ever since their trip to Australia and New Zealand in April 2014 that Kate was pregnant again – rumours that were very quickly quashed by the royal press office and by the couple themselves. Clearly, though, Prince William and Kate had been trying for a second child because just four months’ later, the Duchess was indeed pregnant again.

Further proof that the pregnancy had been planned came in the form of an announcement in August that Prince William planned to take a job as an air ambulance pilot in East Anglia from early 2015, situated very near to Anmer Hall on the Sandringham estate in Norfolk, given to them by the Queen to mark the birth of their first child, Prince George, who turned one in July. Anyone interested in an interpretation of his natal chart can visit my blog entry on it, or read his Zodiac Child Report.

Some have suggested that, rather than be an occasional country retreat, the couple plan to make it their main family home as it offers them the perfect place to bring up their children away from the glare of the media, and close to nature. The Duke’s change of job fits in with this idea very nicely.

At this early stage, it is unclear how far along the expectant Duchess is in terms of her pregnancy, making it hard to even attempt to predict a possible birth date for the child. However, traditional astrologer, Christopher Warnock writes that:

Questions involving pregnancy, fertility and childbirth can be among the most important. Horary astrology, which answers specific questions and provides concrete predictions, can be of great assistance for those waiting to see if they are pregnant or if they have issues regarding fertility and childbirth

By judging the position of the heavens at the birth of the question, rather than the birth of a person, horary astrology can determine whether or not one is pregnant or fertile. If the answer is positive, it is often possible to determine timing.

I thought it might be fun to cast a chart for the time of the initial announcement of the pregnancy to see if this could provide us with any clues as about the child or the circumstances of their birth.

Pregnancy Announcement Chart

The first announcement of Kate’s pregnancy was made at 10h49 BST on the 8th of September by Clarence House via their Twitter account.

This gives us a chart with Scorpio rising.

What if anything can this chart tells us about the pregnancy?

The Moon, a planet that frequently symbolises the mother, is in the 4th house of family-related matters and conjunct Neptune in Pisces, which happens to rule the 5th house of the chart. The 5th house in horary and mundane astrology is closely associated with children , fertility and childbirth. This conjunction therefore seems to confirm that, yes, Kate (the Moon) is literally ‘with child’ (Moon + Neptune).

The Moon also happens to be waxing to full. In fact, the Full Moon in Pisces occurred just a day later on 9 September at 02h38 BST, which seems appropriate. Kate has the Moon in Cancer natally, so lunar imagery and symbolism does seem to resonate well with her in terms of motherhood and pregnancy – her pregnancy with Prince George was announced close to a lunar eclipse, which always occurs at full moon, and around the time that I predicted in an article back in 2012.

The Moon is also close to Chiron, which may serve to confirm her battle with hyperemesis gravidarum – or severe morning sickness. We can also see the astrology confirming the details of the circumstances that led to the premature announcement: Pluto, the chart ruler, is in the 3rd house of statements and speeches, and is square to Uranus, ruler of the IC, in the 6th house of health and work – so Clarence House were forced to make the pregnancy public suddenly (Uranus) ahead of the three-month mark because of ill health (6th house). The Moon’s impending opposition to the Sun, ruler of the Midheaven and located in the 10th house of public office, shows that her private struggles with morning sickness were preventing her from performing her public duties .

As if to confirm that this is the announcement of a royal birth, we have Jupiter, co-ruler of the 5th house, conjunct the Midheaven in the regal sign of Leo.

Interestingly, the Moon happens to be conjunct the fixed star, Fomalhaut which marks the mouth of the southern fish in the constellation of Pisces. According to Bernadette Brady, this star is an early ‘symbol of life and fertility, for it was the one that carried the egg, drinking the sperm or water of life’ gushing from the jar of Aquarius, the water bearer.[i]

And, as if to possibly back up the theory amongst some media pundits that the announcement was also quite strategic in terms of its proximity to the Scottish Independence Referendum[ii], Brady interprets the Moon-Fomalhaut conjunct as indicating ‘a time when patriotism is stressed by the media.’[iii]

Not really. If truth be told, there are a few strictures in this chart, which means that, strictly speaking, we really shouldn’t be reading the chart at all.  In fact, according to the rules of horary astrology, the early degrees of the Ascendant is traditionally a sign that it is too early to tell what the outcome of the situation will be, and this is very obviously true  – Kate needs to get past the first trimester mark before we know that her pregnancy is safe and she is likely to carry to full term. So it is very early days.

Still one’s curiosity has been piqued and one can’t help but want to speculate further. So, are there any other techniques that might be able to give us more information? Yes, there are, especially within the work of William Lilly. However, in the interests of space,  that will have to wait for a future post where we can look at these in a little more depth.

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References

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[i] Brady (2008) Star & Planet Combinations, Wessex Astrology, p. 169

[ii] The Telegraph, 8 Sept 2014, ‘Kate Middleton pregnant: Could Scottish royal baby fever keep the union together?’, at http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/uknews/kate-middleton/11081715/Kate-Middleton-pregnant-Could-Scottish-royal-baby-fever-keep-the-union-together.html

[iii] Brady (2008) Star & Planet Combinations, Wessex Astrology, p. 170

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Photo Credits

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All pictures come from the official website of the Duke & Duchess of Cambridge, where further details concerning copyright information can be found.

Oscar Pistorius Trial – Guilty or Not Guilty?

Tags

Judge Masipa, legal matters, mercury in libra, Mercury-Neptune opposition, murder trial, oscar pistorius trial, Sun-Saturn sextile

On this day, of all days, the trial of the South African paralympic athlete, Oscar Pistorius finally comes to its conclusion.

Given how much media attention this court case has received worldwide, and my own ties to South Africa, I could not help myself from consulting the stars to try and get a heads-up on his verdict…As we wait for the end of the lunch recess to hear the last part of Judge Masipa’s verdict, here is a quick breakdown of a horary chart, cast for just after midnight this morning and what it seems to suggest.

HORARY CHART

Firstly, Gemini is rising which points us in the direction of Mercury, currently in the sign ruling law and legal decisions, Libra, which seems radical.

Mercury is coming off of a square to Pluto and a sextile to Jupiter. The former hints at a draconian application of the rules/law, while the latter suggests leniency and a strong attempt at impartiality – “innocent until proven guilty.” At this stage, then, things could go either way. Given Pluto’s position in the 7th house, it would appear that significant others, including members of Reeva’s family and perhaps even some of those close to Pistorius, think he is guilty when all is said and done.

But Jupiter rules the 7th house cusp, which points to the judge being less certain and perhaps fairly kindly disposed towards the defendant. Jupiter’s positive aspects to Mercury and the Moon appear to back this up, but they are SEPARATING, so in the process of leaving. Also, as ruler of the 6th house, Pluto in Capricorn, coming off the square to Mercury, means that she feels she must apply the letter of the law meticulously to the case – after all, her own reputation as a judge may be at stake if she gets it wrong under the glare of such intense scrutiny.

Now, when one looks at legal judgements, it is usually the cusp of the 9th house that tells us which planet represents the verdict. In this case, it is Uranus, ruler of Aquarius, which is located in the 10th house of public office and positions of leadership. Uranus happens to be approaching a conjunction with the Moon, a significant player in any horary chart. This suggests a surprise for the public (the Moon can rule public opinion) which is certainly what we got this morning when the judge ruled out the two charges of premeditated murder and homicide with intent to kill.

Uranus is also moving towards an opposition with Mercury in Libra. This hints at unexpected twists and turns, as well as surprise decisions. Will Oscar walk free? Although for many, this is an unbelievable prospect, given all the media coverage and how poorly he performed in the witness box, with Neptune ruling the Midheaven and positioned in the 9th house of judgements, and moving towards an opposition with Mercury, it does look as though he may well get away with it. As if to confirm this, the Moon becomes void of course after her conjunction with Uranus, which means that nothing further can be done to alter events – their course is set as long as the Moon remains in Aries.

Could anything prevent this seemingly incredible turn of events from occurring?

Here, we need to look to Saturn, co-ruler of the 9th house as the former traditional Lord of Aquarius. Situated in the 6th house, ruled by Pluto and in mutual reception to Pluto (they are in each other’s sign), it is currently approaching a sextile to the Sun in Virgo, ruler of the 3rd house cusp – announcements, decisions, speeches etc. This combination represents authority figures who are both cautious in their style of thinking and way of expressing themselves, but also strict (Virgo and Scorpio) in terms of applying the letter of the law and conservative (Saturn) in approach. Is this a better description of Judge Masipa than the overly confident and flaboyant Jupiter in Leo?

The Sun is moving off from a contact with Chiron in Pisces in the 9th house of legal judgements, so away from the possibility of the judge continuing to feel sorry for Oscar and sympathising too much with his apparent emotional distress,which might cause her judgement to be temporarily clouded.

It’s movement towards the sextile with Saturn (solid, perceptive if potentially severe judgements) and its position in the third, roughly opposing the Midheaven, hints that all is not as it at first seems. The Sun is Virgo is a stickler for the rules and excellent at processing fine details, so this judge will be very nuanced in her verdictand leave no stone unturned with regards to legal tests and landmark cases.

Exact at just after 5pm local time in South Africa, this aspect is the last transit scheduled for the day, so may just prove to be the clincher. Will he be convicted of culpable homicide? If the Sun and Saturn are anything to go by, then yes. But if the Moon has the final say, then no. I can’t help but notice that she happens to rule the 2nd house of money, which may point to a bribe or financial exchange of some kind, which is of course a real problem in South Africa, which could of course sway the decision in Oscar’s favour.

Whatever the outcome, I would go so far as to speculate that the judge may privately think that Oscar Pistorius is guilty, but may publicly stress that the evidence against him is not irrefutable enough to convict (nebulous Neptune opposing Mercury in Libra). This has certainly been true for the first two counts. Let’s see if he passes or fails the last one, which has very strict criteria. With Mercury heading for an opposition to Uranus, I am not sure he will.

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Photo Credits

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“Oscar Pistorius-2” by Oscar Pistorius.jpg: Elvar Pálsson
derivative work: Coda.coza – Oscar Pistorius.jpg. Licensed under CC BY 2.0 via Wikimedia Commons.

August Astro-Insights – The Return of Kate Bush to the Stage

Tags

Kate Bush, Neptune in the 12th, Pluto-Mercury conjunction, Sun-Uranus conjunction

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Kate Bush – Tortured artist or reclusive misfit? An attempt to pinpoint a timed birth chart for the enigmatic singer …

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The April 2014 Grand Cross

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Cardinal Grand Cross, lunar eclipse in Libra, malefic planets, Mars in Libra, Pluto in Capricorn, Saturn in Scorpio, Uranus in Aries

CARDINAL GRAND CROSS & LUNAR ECLIPSE For many, April was a month when the ground literally seemed to move. A …

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March Mystery: What happened to Flight MH 370?

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Astrology, Aviation disasters, Calculating location of lost items, Directions in astrology, Flight MH370, Jupiter in 8th house, Jupiter in Cancer, Jupiter-Uranus-Pluto T-square, Lost persons or items horary

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I couldn’t really write about March without stopping to consider the rather bizarre, tragic and gripping episode of Malaysian Airlines …

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NELSON MANDELA: The Jupiter-Saturn trine and the celebration of a remarkable life

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Jupiter-Pluto, Jupiter-Saturn trine, Mandela Death Cover-Up, Mandela funeral, Mandela natal chart rectified, Nelson Mandela, Saturn in Scorpio

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A life celebrated One of the most famous and admired men of our generation, 95-year old Nelson Mandela, or Tata …

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