Last month, we witnessed the annual stationing of Pluto, once again in the sign of Capricorn, on April the 10th /11th. Coming on the back of the double-whammy of the Mercury and Mars retrogrades, which resulted in major travel delays, loss of data, and a distinct decrease in physical vitality or the ability to make good progress, this stationing also coincided with the resignation of arch-conservative Republican candidate, Rick Santorum, from the US presidential race, on April the 10th at a press conference in Gettysburg.[1]
Given that Capricorn is very much the sign that rules conservative politics and the mainstream establishment, this event seems astrologically significant. Interestingly, whilst still in the race, Santorum was briefly endorsed by Rupert Murdoch, who tweeted that he was the ‘only candidate with genuine big vision for the country.’[2] As I’ve mentioned elsewhere (see my Daily Astro-Insights on Facebook and previous monthly Astro-Insight columns), Rupert Murdoch happens to have a fairly prominent Pluto in his natal chart (Capricorn rising with Pluto in the 7th house in Cancer, opposing his natal Saturn, ruler of his chart, also in Capricorn; and squaring his natal Uranus in Aries). Perhaps one might consider Murdoch’s endorsement of Santorum to be symbolically the kiss of death to his political career.
On April the 25th, the day of a Mercury-Pluto square, Murdoch was recalled to give a second round of evidence to the Leveson Inquiry looking into allegations of phone hacking and police corruption. This enquiry has already led to the closure of News of the World, a Murdoch newspaper, along with huge compensation pay-outs to the victims of illegal phone-hacking, a string of resignations and arrests, including a senior government advisor, Adam Smith, who was forced to resign, when it emerged that he’d leaked sensitive inside information concerning the BSkyB bidding process to a PR man who had passed it on to James Murdoch. [3] In true Plutonian style, he also couldn’t resist making a dig at former British Prime Minister, Gordon Brown whilst on the stand.
According to Mary Plumb, columnist and blogger for the Mountain Astrologer:
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‘Pluto’s function, in part, is to expose what needs to be changed. We can count on the continued disclosure of information that some would prefer to keep hidden.’[4]
It was therefore not entirely unexpected, then, on the day to see Murdoch admit to a cover-up at the paper, which he said was badly handled.
I noted with interest last year that the scandal involving his British newspaper group, News International, seems to have occurred very much in tandem with the first ‘near-hit’ of a series of Pluto-Uranus squares which will officially peak over the summer of 2012. Given that the transits of Pluto seem to be very much entwined with key dates involving Murdoch, the fate of News International, and the exposure of corruption within some of the UK’s most powerful institutions, can we expect further, perhaps more shocking revelations still to come with the next wave of Uranus-Pluto squares due towards the end of June? (24 June and 19 September). Rupert Murdoch’s admission, made during the second day of his testimony to the Leveson Inquiry, that he feared there may further “bombs under the newsroom floor,”[5] sounds rather ominous.
Watch this space…
References
[1] Rick Santorum bows to the inevitable and quits presidential race’, The Guardian [posted 10 April 2012] at:http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/2012/apr/10/rick-santorum-quits-republican-race
[2] ‘Rick Santorum suspends US presidential campaign,’ BBC News at: http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-us-canada-17671077
[3] ‘Jeremy Hunt adviser resigns over e-mails,’ BBC News at: http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-politics-17840912
[4] Mary Plumb, ‘The Day Pluto Stood Still’ [Posted April 5, 2008] at:http://www.mountainastrologer.com/planet_tracks/pt_archive/pluto_station/pluto_station.html
[5] ‘Leveson Inquiry: Murdoch admits missing hacking ‘cover-up,’ BBC News at http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-17850093
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