Illustrated by Sue Robertson
Moon mother
yin maiden
smiling from your silver
empress throne
Spin dreams and silken fantasy
glide noiselessly on cloudless skies
holding ancient pearly wisdom
in your womb
Nurture gently your creation
Send fertile seed to earth like rain
pulling softly on the tides of
time and change
(c) Sue Robertson 1987
Esoteric Keyword Phrases for Cancer
The Personality asserts: Let isolation rule and yet the crowd exists.
The Soul sounds its note: I build a lighted house and therein dwell.
Cancer Ingress & the Winter/Summer Solstice
Happy Birthday to all the Cancerians who celebrate their birthdays between June 21 and July 22. The Cancer Ingress coincides with the Winter Solstice which occurs 21/22 June at 1.57.48 am AEST Sydney time.
People around the world celebrate the day, which is also known as the Summer Solstice in the Northern Hemisphere and the Winter Solstice in the Southern Hemisphere, with feasts, bonfires, picnics, and traditional songs and dances.
Solstices in Culture
Over the centuries, the June solstice has inspired countless festivals, midsummer celebrations and religious holidays.
One of the world’s oldest evidence of the summer solstice’s importance in culture is Stonehenge in England, a megalithic structure which clearly marks the moment of the June solstice.
In the Southern Hemisphere, where the June solstice is known as the shortest day of the year, it marks the first day of astronomical winter, but the middle of winter in meteorological terms.
Cancer is one of the three water signs along with Scorpio and Pisces. Water is the element which denotes emotions, feelings and sensitivity. Cancer is one of the 4 cardinal signs – the others being Aries, Libra and Capricorn. In the Northern Hemisphere the summer solstice begins at 0 degrees Cancer while in the Southern Hemisphere it marks the winter solstice. For about three days the Sun remains at maximum latitudinal elevation, hence it is known as the Gate of the Northern Sun.
Esoterically, Cancer is known as the Gate into physical incarnation, and the glyph for Cancer is the two breasts, symbolising nurturing and motherhood. It is the sign of the Universal Mother and fertility, the sign which heralds the Northern summer with its pulsating life force coming to the fore. Cancer the crab not only symbolises nurturing but also tenacity, delineated by the crab’s claw. Originally in Babylon in 400 BC, the sign of Cancer was represented by the tortoise, and then in ancient Egypt in the Zodiac of Denderah it was replaced by the scarab the symbol of immortal life. The scarab meant ‘only begotten i.e. birth into incarnation. The month of June in ancient Egypt was called “meore” which again means rebirth
The Constellation of Cancer
Even the constellation of Cancer encompasses the theme of nurturing, with the constellation Praesaepe which means the manger or crib. In his book,’ Alan Oken’s Complete Astrology’, Alan Oken writes that modern astrologers refer to it as “the beehive” Cancer was called “the coffin” by the Hebrews and “the grave of Lazarus” or “the womb”. Cancer rises backwards in the sky eluding its adversaries. There is no bright star in Cancer, in keeping with its being a sign of hiding and retreat. Alice Bailey, in ‘The Labours of Hercules’ elaborates on the esoteric symbolism for the glyph for Cancer: The glyph for Cancer is composed of two “asses” tails and these again link up with the gospel story with the story of the manger. There are two asses connected with the birth of Jesus, the one which the Virgin rode to Bethlehem prior to the birth, and the other on which she rode to Egypt, after the birth. Close to the sign Cancer are two bright stars, one called Asellus Borealis or the northern ass, and the other, Asellus Australis, or the southern ass. There is also the third time, when Christ rode into Jerusalem during his brief moment of triumph on Palm Sunday.
Moon, the Ruler of Cancer
The Moon, the ruler of Cancer, along with the Sun is referred to as one of the ‘Lights’. The sun is known as the ‘Light of day’ and the Moon, the ‘Light of night. The Moon is representative of the feminine principle, Eros or relatedness and the yin. Primitive people attributed great powers to the Moon, believing that it could cause women’s pregnancy. It was a symbol of fertility, responsible for planting, fertility and pregnancy. The waxing moon was regarded as benign but the waning Moon was seen as destructive – something to be feared. In the mythology of most cultures the Moon was symbolic of the Great Mother Goddess, often portrayed with the symbol of the Moon. In Egypt she was represented by Hathor with her horned crescent headdress; Hecate was portrayed as the three headed hound symbolising the three phases of the moon – Persephone, the maiden or New Moon, Demeter, the matron or Full Moon and Hecate, the dark Moon or crone. The Mother Goddess had a dual role as Opener and Closer of the Womb. In her light phase she was life-giver, but in her dark phase she was life destroyer, as was the role of grieving Demeter, the goddess of the grain, when she stopped all living things. The ancient Chinese revered Kwan Yin, ‘Lady of the Moon’, as the World Mother in her capacity as Goddess of Mercy and protectress of children.
Lunar Cycles and Conception
The Moon is associated with the pull of the ocean’s tides and with women’s menstrual cycles. In fact in many cultures and languages, the word for moon is synonymous with menstruation. The Moon’s phases are symbolic of the womb shedding its lining, and the snake shedding its skin. Many goddesses were portrayed with snakes accompanying them. The snake also symbolises the subterranean and phallic power associated with the goddess.
Eugene Jonas, the Czech psychiatrist, rediscovered the ancient secrets of how the moon affects a woman’s ability to conceive, the sex of a child, and the viability of the embryo.
In his study of the mentally ill, Dr Leonard Ravitz of Duke University, discovered marked changes coinciding with the phases of the Moon in both normal and mentally unstable people. The more disturbed the patients were the more the Moon affected them. This especially showed on the night of the Full Moon. Medical emergency staff have attested to the fact that their busiest night of the month always occurs on the Full Moon. Hence the word,’ lunatic’, referring to a crazy person affected by the Moon. Cancerians, being ruled by the Moon are often regarded as moody, their moods reflecting the fluctuating phases of the Moon and the ocean’s tides.
Dane Rudhyar, in his book, ‘The Lunation Cycle’, delineates the 8 moon phases, and depending under which phase we are born i.e. Full Moon, New Moon, etc. it describes our personality and destiny.
The Labour of Hercules – The Capture of the Doe or Hind
In the book, ‘The Labours of Hercules’, Alice Bailey relates the test for Cancer in the fourth labour of Hercules. Hercules’ teacher tells him that he has to capture the doe which belongs to Artemis, but Diana, the goddess of the woods, also lays claim to it. However, he is told that it belongs to neither of these deities but to the Lord and that he must rescue it and bear it to the holy shrine of Mycenae. Both goddesses foil Hercules’ attempts to capture the doe for a whole year. Finally he captures the elusive doe while it is sleeping close to a quiet pool, wearied from its flight. He bears it in his arms close to his heart.
On returning to his teacher and reporting that the labour is done, his teacher points him in the direction of the hill and there again is the doe. The teacher explains to his pupil that the test must be done again and again. The doe is very elusive and no sooner has Hercules glimpsed it, than it has disappeared again. Alice Bailey comments that this is one of the shortest stories but it is one of the most profound.
There is no success for the aspirant until he transmutes instinct into intuition just as intellect needs to be balanced with intuition. Cancer is the sign wherein the duality of form and of the soul is unified in the physical body. There is deep symbolism attached to each of the characters in this story. When Hercules carries the doe into the shrine, it is recognised by Apollo, the Sun god, as the spiritual intuition. A battle ensues amongst the three of them. For Diana, the huntress, the doe represents intellect, for Apollo it represents spiritual intuition and for Artemis it represents instinct. To sum up, intellect carried into the holy shrine by Hercules is transformed into intuition, which becomes aware of spiritual realities that neither intellect nor instinct can reveal to him. There is also some significance in the fact that Hercules bears the doe close to his heart, representing love and compassion, which are traits to be developed during the Cancerian phase.
Cancerian Hall of Fame
Being the nurturer of the zodiac, Cancerians are drawn to caring professions such as nursing, midwifery, teaching, social work and healing. Cancer, ruling food and beverages, is well represented in the hospitality industry as restaurateurs, chefs and waiters. They are also attracted to high finance, as well as making great performers in the arts, with their vivid imaginations and zany sense of humour. Nelson Rockefeller and John D. Rockefeller symbolise the Cancerian’s money making ability.
Diana Princess of Wales – 60th anniversary on 1 July 2021
Cancer has its share of much loved icons such as Diana, Princess of Wales, the people’s princess or in her own words, the ‘Queen of Hearts’, whose tragic, untimely death caused a global outpouring of grief. Her son, Prince William, who shares his mother’s good looks and charisma is born with both the Sun and Moon in sensitive Cancer. On 1 July 2021 Diana would have turned 60 but like so many icons who had untimely deaths such as Marilyn Monroe Diana will remain forever young looking beautiful 36 years old the age when she was tragically killed in the car crash in a Paris tunnel.
Diana, princess of Wales, baptised Diana Frances Spencer, was born July 1, 1961, Sandringham, Norfolk, England—died August 31, 1997, Paris, France), former consort (1981–96) of Charles, prince of Wales; mother of the heir second in line to the British throne, Prince William, duke of Cambridge (born 1982); and one of the foremost celebrities of her day.
Diana was born at Park House, the home that her parents rented on Queen Elizabeth II’s estate at Sandringham and where Diana’s childhood playmates were the queen’s younger sons, Prince Andrew and Prince Edward. She was the third child and youngest daughter of Edward John Spencer, Viscount Althorp, heir to the 7th Earl Spencer, and his first wife, Frances Ruth Burke Roche (daughter of the 4th Baron Fermoy). Her parents’ troubled marriage ended in divorce when Diana was a child, and she, along with her brother and two sisters, remained with her father. She became Lady Diana Spencer when her father succeeded to the earldom in 1975. Riddlesworth Hall (near Thetford, Norfolk) and West Heath School (Sevenoaks, Kent) provided the young Diana’s schooling. After attending the finishing school of Chateau d’Oex at Montreux, Switzerland, Diana returned to England and became a kindergarten assistant at the fashionable Young England school in Pimlico.
She renewed her contacts with the royal family, and her friendship with Charles grew in 1980. On February 24, 1981, their engagement was announced, and her beauty and shy demeanour—which earned her the nickname “Shy Di”—made her an instant sensation with the media and the public.
The couple married in St. Paul’s Cathedral on July 29, 1981, in a globally televised ceremony watched by an audience numbering in the hundreds of millions. Their first child, Prince William Arthur Philip Louis of Wales, was born on June 21, 1982, and their second, Prince Henry (“Harry”) Charles Albert David, on September 15, 1984.
“Princess Di” rapidly evolved into an icon of grace, elegance, and glamour. Exuding natural charm and charisma, she used her celebrity status to aid numerous charitable causes, and her changing hairstyles and wardrobe made her a fashion trendsetter. Behind the scenes, however, marital difficulties between the princess and prince were growing. Diana struggled with severe postnatal depression, low self-esteem, eating disorders, and the mounting strain of being constantly pursued by both the official media royal-watchers and the tabloid press, particularly the paparazzi. The marital breakdown became increasingly apparent amid mutual recriminations, tell-all biographies, and admissions of infidelity on both sides, and the couple formally separated in 1992. Diana presented her side in Andrew Morton’s controversial book Diana: Her True Story (1992) and in an unusually candid BBC Panorama television interview in 1995. After prolonged negotiations that left Diana with a substantial financial settlement but without the title Her Royal Highness, the couple’s divorce became final on August 28, 1996.
After the divorce, Diana maintained her high public profile and continued many of the activities she had earlier undertaken on behalf of charities, supporting causes as diverse as the arts, children’s issues, and AIDS patients. She also was involved in efforts to ban land mines.
To ensure that William and Harry had “an understanding of people’s emotions, their insecurities, people’s distress, and their hopes and dreams,” Diana brought her sons with her to hospitals, homeless shelters, and orphanages. To acquaint them with the world outside royal privilege, she took them to fast food restaurants and on public transportation. Her compassion, personal warmth, humility, and accessibility earned her the sobriquet “the People’s Princess.”
Long one of the most-photographed women in the world, Diana’s unprecedented popularity both in Britain and abroad continued after her divorce. Although she used that celebrity to great effect in promoting her charitable work, the media (in particular the paparazzi) were often intrusive. It was while attempting to evade pursuing journalists that Diana was killed, along with her companion, Dodi Fayed, and their driver, Henri Paul, in an automobile accident in a tunnel under the streets of Paris in 1997.
Her death produced unprecedented expressions of public mourning, testifying to her enormous hold on the British national psyche. The royal family, apparently caught off guard by the extraordinary outpouring of grief and by criticism of their emotional reticence, broke with tradition in arranging the internationally televised royal funeral. The image of Prince William, then age 15, and Prince Harry, then age 12, walking solemnly with their father behind Diana’s casket in her funeral cortege became iconic.
At Diana’s funeral Sir Elton John performed a version of his classic song “Candle in the Wind” (originally written about actress Marilyn Monroe) with lyrics that had been revised by his songwriting partner, Bernie Taupin, to reflect on the life and death of Diana, including
Goodbye England’s rose;
May you ever grow in our hearts.
You were the grace that placed yourself
Where lives were torn apart.
The recording of that version of the song became the most successful pop single in history to date, selling more than 30 million copies.
Diana’s life, and her death, polarised national feeling about the existing system of monarchy (and, in a sense, about British identity), which appeared antiquated and unfeeling in a populist age of media celebrity in which Diana herself was a central figure.
Diana’s grave is on an island in an ornamental lake known as the Oval within Althorp Park’s Pleasure Garden, which has been the Spencer family home for centuries. The ground was consecrated by the Bishop of Petersborough prior to the burial. After the princess’s death, 36 Oak trees were planted at the estate, each marking one year of her life – along with hundreds of white water lilies and roses.
A statue of Diana, commissioned by her sons, William and Harry will be unveiled in the garden of Kensington Palace on 1 July on what would have been her 60th birthday.
There has been some confusion about Diana’s birth time. According to Oxford Astrologer Diana was born about 2.30 pm not at 7.45. (Penny Thornton gives 2:00 PM, “just before the start of play at Wimbledon.” This birth time is contradicted by the following information. The Princess has employed several astrologers; separate and various reports have confirmed the time of 7:45 PM) (In Nov/Dec 1997 Astrological Journal, Vol. 39, No. 5, Nick Campion writes, “When Diana’s engagement to Charles was announced her birth time was given as 2.00 pm on 1 July 1961, Sandringham. However, the 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 (note 15, p 168). This is the time used by Debbie Frank, Diana’s astrologer for the last eight years, and I would recommend that it remain the Princess’s officially recognised birth time…Debbie Frank told me that in the eighteen months before Diana died she raised the question of Diana’s birth time with her, and Diana was insistent that she was born in the evening.”) Biography: Sally Bedell Smith, “Diana in Search of Herself,” published August 1999 DIANA’S DATA Nicholas Campion, ‘Diana Princess of Wales’, Astrological Journal, Vol. 39. no 6. c There can be strong cases made for a birth time of either 2.30 pm or 7.45 pm.
In 1986 after five tumultuous years of marriage, Diana sought the help and guidance of astrologer, Penny Thornton, in an effort to find solutions to her unhappiness. Diana’s exact birth time was not recorded, so the initial ‘guess time’ of 7:45 pm turned out to be wrong. Many websites today still publish this natal chart based on the time of 7:45 pm, July 1, 1961 at Sandringham. Astrology Detective in Oxford Astrologer lays out their support for the 2.30 pm birth time below.
Seen over hundreds of years, the pattern of British monarchs is an emphasis of planets (and other positionings) in the the ninth and tenth houses. This oft-repeated pattern of the British monarch includes Saturn or Jupiter…. or both Saturn and Jupiter positioned in the 9th and/or 10th houses. The reliability of royal birth times…. results in accurate charts and the pattern emerges for anyone to see! Royal spouses with a profound impact on ‘the public’ also tend to have groupings of planets and positionings in the 9th and/or 10th houses. Diana’s pedigree is impeccable – British royalty, daughter of the 8th Earl of Spencer with excellent lineage that dates back to the 15th century, the 11th cousin once removed to Prince Charles, heir to the throne of the U.K.
She was seven when her parents separated in 1969 and she and her brother Charles stayed with their father after a bitter custody battle. Though the family was not demonstrative, she adored her father. A shy, insecure child, she was raised largely by nannies. When she was nine, Mary Clarke became her governess and they remained friends for the rest of her life. She loved to swim and ride.
When her father met Raine Cartland, it was a major blow to her security; the family nicknamed their stepmother Acid Raine. Diana was already in boarding school in Kent when her father married Raine in 1975.
Having been the personal astrologer to Diana…. Ms. Thornton wrote in July of 2001 on the Astrolutely.com web-site:
“When I began my association with Diana I was also working on an incorrect time of birth. It was at least a year before she said to me one day: ‘You know, Penny, I notice you’ve got my time of birth time as 7:45 pm. It wasn’t. I was born just before the start of the men’s finals at Wimbledon – about 2 pm.”
“Thus, instead of adventurous, extravagant and independent Sagittarius rising which is the chart cast for 7.45 pm, Diana had gracious, graceful, charming and diplomatic Libra on her ascendant –– a perfect recipe for the ‘fashion icon’ that she became and her involvement with the British relationship organization Relate.”
The detail of “I was born just before the start of the men’s finals at Wimbledon – about 2 pm,” is compelling. While not an exact birth time, a specific starting place in a 24-hour period is very helpful!
The message and timing mechanisms of a 2 pm chart would be hugely different from a chart done for 7:45 pm. Ms. Thornton decided on a 2:15 pm birth time…. resulting in a Libra ascendant and it appears she continued to use that time as Diana’s astrologer.
After however, doing multiple, possible natal and progressed charts (‘rectification’) with 2:00 pm as a starting point…. I suspect Diana was actually born around 2:30 pm which also gives a Libra ascendant. When the transits based on a 2:30 pm time, are applied to all Diana’s charts (natal, progressed and horary) the correlations with actual events are astounding!
Diana was an immediate ‘star’ with the Public. A natal birth chart for 2:30 pm places the Sun, Mercury, Uranus, North node, Mars and perhaps Pluto in Diana’s critical, ‘royal’ 9th and 10th houses…. which is consistent with her massive, celebrity appeal and impact on the public around the world. The results of a 2:30 pm time are extensive.
Among many examples…. significant, dated events in Princess Diana’s life correlate with the 2:30 pm birth time in a fascinating way:
1) In Diana’s natal chart: Saturn is conjunct the IC (4th house cusp ruling home and family a very unusual positioning and indicating profound and troubling challenges (Saturn) in the childhood home from the beginning of Diana’s life. She was seven when her parents separated in 1969 and she and her brother Charles stayed with their father after a bitter custody battle. Though the family was not demonstrative, she adored her dad. A shy, insecure child, she was raised largely by nannies. When she was nine, Mary Clarke became her governess and they remained friends for the rest of her life. She loved to swim and ride. When her father met Raine Cartland, it was a major blow to her security; the family nicknamed their stepmother Acid Raine. Diana was already in boarding school in Kent when her father married Raine in 1975.
2) In Diana’s progressed chart at five to six years of age: progressed Jupiter was at that time conjunct the progressed 4th house cusp (mother, family, home) indicating a ‘big’ (Jupiter) change in these circumstances. Diana’s mother left the family home when Diana was six years old, leaving Diana and her siblings in their father’s custody.
Regardless of which chart is the correct birth time, Diana’s impact on the world and in particular on the institution of the monarchy will not easily be forgotten. Despite all her flaws and her troubled personal life, her devotion to her boys, her charm, empathy and compassion were evident in her charity work. Her love, especially for children extended far beyond the confines of her own family. She embraced AIDS victims, sick children and land mine survivors all which strongly encapsulated her Cancerian essence. Her Moon in Aquarius was expressed by her many humanitarian endeavours and in her future oriented approach breaking with tradition of the aloof manner in which royalty approached their subjects.
Another much loved icon is the Dalai Lama whose Buddhist teachings espouse love and compassion. Cancer, ruling home and country has produced two outstanding patriots in Nelson Mandela and Xanana Gusmao.
Perhaps the youngest example of a shining light of a Cancerian is the courageous young Pakistani Malala Yousafzai, who was shot in the head and the neck by the Taliban for her championing education for girls. She received a standing ovation after addressing the United Nations on her 16th birthday 12 July 2013. President George W. Bush and Donald Rumsfeld also demonstrate the Cancerian tendency to march to the patriot’s drum as does their nemesis, Cindy Sheehan, the Cancerian grieving American Mum whose son died in the war in Iraq.
Dan Brown, the American whose controversial blockbuster book and movie, the Da Vinci Code, champions the feminine principle is also a Cancerian. Tom Hanks, the hero of the film is also a Cancerian. The lonely heart balladeer, Chris Isaak whose soulful songs have touched so many, is also a Cancerian. Other Cancerian celluloid heroes include Charles Laughton, Donald Sutherland, Tom Cruise, Harrison Ford, Isabelle Adjani and Meryl Streep.
Comedians include Phyllis Diller, Red Skelton, Robin Williams, Terry Thomas, Mel Brooks and Dave Allen. Other famous Cancerians include Elizabeth Kubler Ross whose groundbreaking work on death and dying lifted the taboo on the subject of death. Cancerians whose vivid imagination has been expressed in prose include George Orwell, Herman Hesse, Marcel Proust, Saint Exupery, Franz Kafka, Ernest Hemingway, and Barbara Cartland, the Queen of the Romance Novel, and step-grandmother of Diana, Princess of Wales. Musicians of note include Ringo Starr, Louis Armstrong, Edward Elgar and Oscar Hammerstein.
Another Cancerian who has featured prominently in the news is the Australian born Julian Assange of Wikileaks fame. Julian has always been a controversial figure, polarising people with some viewing him as a hero while other proclaiming that he is the devil incarnate. Assange has been in custody languishing in Belmarsh high-security Prison since September 2019 after being arrested at the Ecuadorian embassy in April 2019. He spent seven years in the embassy after seeking asylum when he lost a legal battle over extradition to Sweden over sexual assault allegations in 2012. The Ecuadorian ambassador told Mr Assange his political asylum was being revoked on the morning of 11 April 2019, just half an hour before he was filmed being dragged out of the embassy and into a police van. Sweden has subsequently dropped its investigation and the corresponding arrest warrant. Assange has served his sentence for skipping bail in Britain, leaving the US case as the only outstanding charges.
Proponents for Julian Assange fear for his life with his deteriorating physical and mental condition. He was too ill to attend the latest court hearing in his battle against being extradited to the US, a court has been told. The Wikileaks founder is wanted by American authorities to face 17 charges under the Espionage Act and conspiracy to commit computer intrusion after the publication of hundreds of thousands of classified documents in 2010 and 2011. He is currently being held in the high-security HMP Belmarsh prison where he has been since September 2019, while the court system tries to reschedule his full extradition hearing, which was postponed due to the coronavirus pandemic. Supporters from the Don’t Extradite Assange campaign said he was at “high risk of contracting Covid-19 due to an underlying lung condition exacerbated by years of confinement”. Edward Fitzgerald QC, representing Assange, said the extradition would be the “height of inhumanity”, exposing the WikiLeaks founder to a lengthy sentence in prison and leading to a “high risk of suicide”.
Mr Fitzgerald went on to say it was “completely misleading” to suggest Assange and WikiLeaks were to blame for the disclosure of unredacted names and suggested that the Trump administration was “making an example” of Assange. The lawyer also alleged that spies had considered kidnapping or poisoning Assange while he was living inside the Ecuadorian embassy in London. That claim was made by a whistleblower who also said private security agents from the Spanish firm UC Global, acting on behalf of the US, were involved in “intrusive and sophisticated” surveillance. Successive Australian governments have hung Assange, an Australian citizen, out to dry, not lifting a finger to advocate for his release.
UK Government approves the extradition of Assange to the US
The former British Home Secretary, Priti Patel, signed off on the extradition of Julian Assange to the US. Assange’s legal team had 14 days to appeal. Leading up to this was Ithaka, the 2 part documentary featuring Julian’s father, John Shipton, and Julian’s wife, Stella, produced by Julian’s brother, Gabriel Shipton, televised on ABC. The documentary follows the 76 year old Shipton on his tireless campaign to save his son. Assange has become the symbol of freedom of journalism versus government corruption and unpunished war crimes. Now with Julian facing a 175 year sentence his family members are confronting the prospect of losing Julian forever to the abyss of US justice. This David and Goliath struggle is personal but also has implications for the collective with the rights of free press at stake.
The Trial of Julian Assange: A Study of Persecution by Nils Melzer, UN Special Rapporteur on Torture
What is more damning of the treatment of Assange is the recently released book, The Trial of Julian Assange: A Story of Persecution by Nils Melzer, UN Special Rapporteur on Torture. In 2019 Nils Melzer, UN Special Rapporteur on Torture, started his investigation into how the US and UK governments were working together to ensure a conviction. His findings are explosive, revealing that Assange has faced grave and systematic due process violations, judicial bias, collusion and manipulated evidence. He has been the victim of constant surveillance, defamation and threats. Melzer also gathered together consolidated medical evidence that proves that the prisoner has suffered prolonged psychological torture.
Melzer’s compelling investigation puts the UK state into the dock, showing how, through secrecy, impunity and, crucially, public indifference, unchecked power reveals a deeply undemocratic system. Furthermore, the Assange case sets a dangerous precedent: once telling the truth becomes a crime, censorship and tyranny will inevitably follow.
The momentum for freeing Assange is increasing with more pressure being put to bear on the Albanese government. PM Albanese said that he stands by his statement that enough is enough that this has gone on long enough. Former Labor premier, Bob Carr, had an opinion piece entitled To free Assange, just ask Biden, in the Sydney Morning Herald 20 2022. In this piece he made the salient point that Chelsea Manning who gifted Assange the material exposing US war crimes in Iraq that Assange published in 2010 had his/her sentence commuted by Obama. Carr points to the fact that Manning, the American who slipped the material to Assange goes free, while Assange who publishes it faces extradition, trial and the rest of his life in cruel confinement in a high security jail, likely on the plains of Oklahoma. Carr lists the way Australia is a good ally and partner of US a fact of which Albanese doesn’t have to remind the US. Carr says that it is enough he suffered three years in Belmarsh prison, sometimes with his arms and legs shackled as if Hannibal Lecter, on top of eight years of self-imposed exile in the Ecuadorian embassy. Carr progresses his argument in favour of Australia’s case for requesting the US to release Julian Assange by saying that Biden and his advisors might conclude that it is time to let go of all the baggage of Afghanistan and Iraq. Carr lists the terrible consequences that the US and its allies unleashed on the world in the form of Islamic State and that pursuing Assange makes it look like unfinished business of these wars devolves on the pursuit of one shackled Australian, even as if snatching Assange is the last expression of American frustration at the battlefield defeats by ragged insurgents. It’s time the giant closed the books on the disasters of George W. Bush. Carr reports that Bill Clinton said he feared for America’s future as a “constitutional democracy”. He was referring to laws enacted by the Republican state governors that make it harder to vote and easier for state officials to overturn a popular vote and the return of Trump. Fifty percent of Americans think their country is headed for civil war; a similar number think their country will end up a dictatorship. Carr argues that America can redeem itself by honouring its First Amendment right to freedom of expression and prove that it is nation of laws if the threat of extradition of Assange is lifted.
In May last year 2023 Julian’s wife, Stella Assange, visited Australia originally planned to coincide with President Joe Biden’s proposed visit for Quad talks, to lobby for the US to stop the pursuit of the Wikileaks founder. Biden pulled out of his proposed visit because of the debt ceiling crisis in the US. Despite Biden’s absence Stella Assange decided to go ahead with her visit and along with Julian’s Australian lawyer, Jennifer Robinson, addressed the National Press Club (see picture of Stella Assange and Jennifer Robinson above). In an impassioned plea for her husband, Julian’s welfare, Stella Assange, said that her husband’s life is in the hands of the Australian government. “We must do everything we can to ensure that Julian never, ever sets foot in a US prison. Extradition in this case is a matter of life and death,” she told the National Press Club. She further argued that the treatment of Julian Assange has emboldened authoritarian regimes to clamp down on press freedoms around the world. Support in Australia is growing with Albanese and the opposition leader, both agreeing that Assange has been incarcerated for too long. On 9 June 2023 a single judge rejected Julian Assange’s appeal against an extradition order, bringing him dangerously close to being extradited to the United States, where he could face years in prison or worse permanently impacting the climate for journalism around the world. He has one last chance in the UK courts that is to submit an appeal of only 20 pages to a panel of two judges who will convene a public hearing. It is noteworthy that while one whilstleblower Assange is fighting for his freedom another most famous whistleblower, Daniel Ellsberg, an American political activist, economist and military analyst has died at age 92.
Julian Assange’s 2023 – 2024 Transits
It is interesting to examine Assange’s current transits. He recently completed his Chiron Return which can be a physically and emotionally wounding period and we know already that he suffered a stroke in 2021 and his mental acuity has been impaired from what Nils Melzer has claimed has been systematic torture. However, from his birthday in 2022 his planetary period shifted from the heavy restricting energy of Saturn to the liberating energy of Jupiter and will prevail until March 2024. Transiting Pluto is still trining his natal Pluto, as well as transiting Uranus squaring his Midheaven which indicates some kind of radical transformation and sudden change in his circumstances. Transiting Saturn also squared his natal Saturn in September and December 2023 which indicates some kind of restriction.
It is also interesting to look at the dynamics between Julian Assange’s natal chart and Australia’s chart. Julian, being a Cancerian, has his Sun opposing Australia’s Capricorn Sun and Saturn. Australia’s Uranus in Sagittarius trines Assange’s karmic South Node in Leo as well as his Chiron in Aries. Australia’s Pluto in Gemini also trines Assange’s North Node in Aquarius. There are many other powerful correspondences between Assange’s and Australia’s chart indicating that it is very significant karmic relationship. Watch this space to see how the relationship unfolds. Transiting Pluto in Capricorn in Australia’s 10th house of status and reputation is currently squaring Australia’s Aries ascendant indicating some challenges for Australia. Transiting Neptune in the 12th house of karma is squaring Australia’s natal Neptune in the 3rd house. In a personal chart this occurs during one’s midlife crisis so it may be said that Australia is going through its midlife crisis. This could relate to the fact that Australia is at a crossroads as far as its reckoning with our indigenous peoples with the upcoming referendum on the Voice to be decided later this year. The transiting North Node which represents our future collective destiny is square Australia’s midheaven which implies damage to our reputation and this as the Justice Anthony Besanko found the Sydney Morning Herald, The Age and the Canberra Times had proven that Australia’s most decorated war hero, Ben Roberts-Smith, was a war criminal who unlawfully killed and assaulted unarmed Afghan prisoners.
Since I wrote this piece on Julian Assange in 2023 so much water has flowed under the bridge.
| On May 20, 2024, Julian Assange was granted leave to appeal by the UK High Court. |
| This will enable Julian to challenge a previous finding, which had cleared the way for the UK Government to extradite him to the US. |
| The decision presents an opportunity for Prime Minister Anthony Albanese to increase pressure on the US to drop the charges, as Greg Barns SC wrote in the Guardian. |
| In attendance at Julian’s hearing were John Shipton, Julian’s father, and Gabriel Shipton, Julian’s brother. |
| Afterwards, Julian’s brother, Gabriel, went to the US, where Congressperson Chuy Garcia, whom Gabriel met in April, joined 11 others in cosponsoring House Resolution 934, which calls on the US to drop all attempts at Julian’s extradition. |
| At the same time, Julian’s father, John, went to Italy, where Julian was made an honorary citizen of the town of Chiusi. |
| Another interesting development was that Australian artist Shaun Gladwell’s portrait of Julian was announced as a finalist in the 2024 Archibald Prize. Gladwell was unable to take a pencil and paper into HMP Belmarsh; so, to meet the competition’s requirement of at least one live sitting, he took up Julian’s suggestion of using chocolate to sketch him on a bank note. |
Looking at Julian’s 2024 transits there is some hope with some very positive Jupiter transits which indicate hope and the potential for freedom. Jupiter makes an harmonious trine to change agent Uranus on 7 July and then on the 5th August Jupiter makes a trine to the karmic North Node which indicates his future direction. Jupiter makes a sextile to his Midheaven which favours a change in his status and goals. He also has a harmonious trine between change agent Uranus and transformative Pluto in August and September this year and in May next year. Time will tell how these planetary movements will work for him.
Claudia Sheinbaum – first female Mexican President wins in a landslide
Claudia Sheinbaum, a Cancerian, (born June 24, (birth time not known) 1962, Mexico City, Mexico) is a Mexican politician and environmental engineer who is the President-elect of Mexico. She is the first woman and the first Jewish person to be elected to the post. Sheinbaum previously served as mayor of Mexico City (2018–23) before stepping down to run in the presidential election in 2024 as a candidate for the National Regeneration Movement (Movimiento Regeneración Nacional; MORENA). She won a landslide victory in June.
Sheinbaum is also known for her scientific research and policy advocacy on matters of energy efficiency, sustainability, and the environment. She was one of the scientists and policymakers who shared the 2007 Nobel Prize for Peace for their work on the United Nations Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC).
Sheinbaum is the second daughter of Annie Pardo Cemo, a biologist and professor emeritus at the National Autonomous University of Mexico (UNAM) in Mexico City, and Carlos Sheinbaum, a chemical engineer. After spending her childhood in Mexico City, Sheinbaum enrolled at UNAM to study physics. For her master’s and doctorate degrees (also at UNAM), she studied energy engineering and conducted her doctoral research at Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory in Berkeley, California, U.S. Her dissertation compared trends in energy consumption in Mexico with those of other industrialized countries. Sheinbaum returned to UNAM as a member of the engineering faculty in 1995.
Sheinbaum was politically active as a student and professor in the 1980s and ’90s. Although she helped found the student-led Revolutionary Democratic Party in 1998, she wouldn’t hold office until the turn of the 21st century. In 2000 she was appointed Mexico City’s environmental minister by Mayor Andrés Manuel López Obrador, with whom she shares strong political ties. In the role, she oversaw the introduction of the city’s bus system, Metrobus, and the construction of a second story of the Periférico, a beltway road that encircles Mexico City’s urban zone. After López Obrador lost his bid to become Mexico’s president in the 2006 election, Sheinbaum returned to UNAM, where she contributed to the climate change mitigation section of the IPCC’s fourth and fifth assessment reports (see also global warming policy) and continued her scientific research. The IPCC was awarded a Nobel Peace Prize following the fourth assessment’s publication in 2007.
Early Life and Education
In 2015 Sheinbaum was elected mayor of the Tlalpan district of Mexico City. In this role, she stressed the importance of water rights and fair usage. Although she received criticism for accidents occurring in the infrastructure she oversaw during her term of office, including several deaths that occurred during a magnitude-7.1 earthquake that struck Tlalpan in 2017, Sheinbaum’s political stock continued to rise. She was elected mayor of Mexico City in July 2018, receiving 50 percent of the vote in a field of seven candidates. Sheinbaum was the first woman and the first Jewish person to hold the office.
Political Activism
As in her earlier positions, Sheinbaum took on public transit and environmental issues. Her government expanded rainwater collection, reformed waste management, and began a reforestation program. She also announced plans to overhaul the city’s subway system—long in disrepair—with massive investments in modernizing trains and shoring up existing infrastructure. However, her critics have pointed to continued deadly accidents on the subway despite her attempted reforms.
On June 12, 2023, Sheinbaum announced that she would step down as Mexico City’s mayor to seek the presidency, running as a candidate for MORENA. Many see her as an ideological successor to President López Obrador (2018– ), as she has embraced similar leftist positions, such as that all citizens have basic rights to health care, education, shelter, and jobs. Sheinbaum has rejected certain aspects of the ruling party’s approach to governing, however, particularly those pertaining to climate change and job creation. Whereas López Obrador stimulated economic growth by propping up Mexico’s petroleum industry, Sheinbaum rejects this policy. She has pushed for a transition away from polluting fossil fuels toward nationally subsidized renewable energy.
Claudia Sheinbaum’s natal chart
Since we don’t have birthtime for Sheinbaum, I have cast a chart for noon. Being born on 24 June 1962, Sheinbaum has her Sun in Cancer as well as three asteroids, Juno, Ceres and Vesta which would make her dedicated to her country and issues that concern women in particular. She has Mars and Pallas Athena in Taurus which would encourage her advocacy of environmental issues, especially renewables which she champions. She has Mercury in its own sign of Gemini which would endow her with intelligence, curiosity, and the ability to communicate and network. Mercury is also trining Saturn in Libra which would enable her to be grounded and pragmatic. With Saturn conjunct her South Node she is bringing wisdom from her past lives. Depending on her time of birth she has either a Moon in late Pisces or early Aries. She also has Jupiter and Chiron in Pisces trining Neptune, the ruler of Pisces, which would endow her with compassion, sensitivity and visionary qualities. She has a preponderance of planets in water so would be empathetic and sensitive to people’s needs. She has Venus conjunct her North Node in Leo as well as Uranus in Leo which would give her a natural charm and charisma and the ability to be a leader in her field.
Vale Donald Sutherland – another notable Cancerian – 1935 – 2024
Just as I was writing this post for Cancer on 21 June Sydney I heard the news that Donald Sutherland, the Canadian actor, has passed away aged 88. Sutherland was born on 17 July 1935 at 11.30 am at St John, Brunswick, Canada. Canadian-American actor onscreen from 1963 in a variety of character and lead roles ranging from the stage to TV series.
His quality of work in many minor roles was markedly different in each portrayal, however he did not receive great notice until he played Hawkeye Pierce in “M.A.S.H.” He appeared in over 84 films including “The “M*A*S*H,” 1970, “Klute,” 1971, “JFK,” 1991, “Six Degrees of Separation,” 1993, and “Instinct,” 1999. He was the winner of an Emmy Award for “Citizen X,” 1995.
Sutherland grew up in the Canadian Maritimes, the son of a gifted salesman and a mathematician mum. One of five kids, he worked as a dj in Nova Scotia at age 14 and after graduating from high school, attended The University of Toronto to study engineering, supporting himself by odd jobs and performing with local theater companies. Informing his father that he wanted to be an actor, (Dad did not discourage him), Sutherland was accepted to The Royal Academy of Dramatic Arts in London in 1950. Following lengthy tours of the provinces, he moved back to London to TV work and then straight into his first film, “The Castle of the Living Dead,” in 1965. After B movies in the late ’60s such as “Die! Die! My Darling,” it was his performance of Hawkeye Pierce in the classic “M*A*S*H” in 1970 that served as the final launching pad for his career. Since then the 6’4″, 200 lb. actor has worked steadily. An anti-Vietnam War activist, he formed “Free Theatre Associates” with Jane Fonda as an alternative to Bob Hope’s USO tours. He and Fonda had become friends when they co-starred in the award-winning film, “Klute.”
Sutherland has suffered from ill health, as he has combated pneumatic fever, polio, hepatitis, an appendectomy, scarlet fever and pneumonia. He had a near-death experience when he had spinal meningitis. His son with Shirley Douglas, Kiefer, has followed in his footsteps to become a noted actor.
Sutherland is best known for his enormous versatility and wide range of characterizations. “It is characters who make pictures. Essentially, my job is to provide information about them. My first concern is that I’ve been correctly cast. After that, it’s my job to express the director’s image and make sure our channels of communication are open. Your best work comes in relation with other actors, but the director is the key to it all. I’ve often described that relationship as sexual. I’m his concubine. Once the movie is over…the relationship is over. I can’t go back to it.”
Sutherland’s two marriages, to Lois Mary Hardwicke and Shirley Jean Douglas, (daughter of former Saskatchewan premier Thomas C. Douglas) both ended in divorce. He has five children, all named after directors, Kiefer, twins Rachel and Douglas, Roeg, Rassif and Angus Redford. His companion since 1974 has been French Canadian Actress Francine Racette and the couple maintain three homes, in Montreal, Vermont and Paris.
His son fellow actor, Kiefer Sutherland, paid tribute to his father. Kiefer Sutherland has broken his silence after the death of his father, Donald Sutherland.
“With a heavy heart, I tell you that my father, Donald Sutherland, has passed away,” Kiefer, 57, wrote via X on Thursday, June 20. “I personally think one of the most important actors in the history of film”
Kiefer added that his father’s acting talent and ability to assimilate to any role was an inspiration.
“Never daunted by a role, good, bad or ugly,” the 24 star continued. “He loved what he did and did what he loved, and one can never ask for more than that. A life well lived.”
In addition to the touching tribute, Kiefer shared a throwback photo of him and his father. The black-and-white photo showed the father-son duo from when Kiefer was a child and the pair gathered closely as they smiled for the camera.
Donald’s cause of death was not listed, but Deadline reported that the 88-year-old suffered from a “long illness.” According to the outlet, a private celebration of life will be held by the Sutherland family.
Donald Sutherland’s natal chart
Looking at Donald Sutherland’s natal chart what struck me first was the Pluto Sun conjunction in Cancer square his Mars in Libra which explains his ability to play roles that convey intense or even scary emotions such as in the psychological thriller, Don’t Look Now. Adding to this intensity is Jupiter in Scorpio. He has the Moon in unconventional Aquarius in the 5th house squaring Jupiter in Scorpio which he expressed through his political beliefs joining Jane Fonda in protesting against the Vietnam War as well as other political causes he espoused. He was destined to have a prominent career with his Sun, Pluto and Mercury all in the 10th house of career and goals. Leo, ruling the 5th house is strong in his chart with Pallas Athena and Ceres in Leo which would imbue him with leadership qualities and charisma. His Moon in the Leo ruled 5th house would enable him to display a gamut of emotions. He also has a strong 12th house with Neptune, the ruler of the 12th house, being there as well Venus. This could give him this otherworldly presence that he was able to convey in many of his movies. The 12th house also rules hospitals and he had many different illnesses during his life including pneumatic fever, polio, hepatitis, an appendectomy, scarlet fever and pneumonia. He also had a near-death experience when he had spinal meningitis. Tributes have been flowing to him from his fellow actors. He certainly made his mark in his chosen field of acting in both film and theatre.
Cancerian Health and Anatomy
In her book, ‘Astrology and Biochemistry’, Vanda Sawtell notes that physiologically the fourth sign, Cancer, pertains to the breast, stomach and spleen, and governs expansion and contraction, elasticity and tenacity. It is a fluidic sign and all the organs which it rules are concerned with the secretion of fluids. 1. Mother’s milk (breast). 2. the chyle (digested food elements of the stomach) 3. the white corpuscles of the blood (spleen). Cancer is the most fertile of all the twelve signs. Cancer, being ruled by the Moon is concerned with growth and reproduction. However, the hidden power within this sign is that of Nature’s power to reproduce otherwise the body would not be able to recreate itself daily. It has to do with the ceaseless formation or birth of corpuscles within the spleen, and not with procreative germs which can only be accomplished in the testes and ovaries.
The biochemic salt related to this sign is Calcium fluoride, a hard substance possessing nevertheless a peculiar property of elasticity. Calc. fluor. is an important constituent of the enamel of the teeth, the finger nails, bones, crystalline lens of the eye, and in the elastic fibre of the muscular tissue. When this cell salt is deficient the skin becomes cracked, and fissures and splits tend to form. Prolapsed organs, varicose veins, hardening of the arteries or testicles, valvular heart troubles, haemorrhoids, receding gums, and loose teeth are all indications that the tissues have lost their elasticity. Cataracts, blurred vision, hard growths and osseous lumps are all evidence of a lack of this salt.
There is another interesting and important function of this salt which must not be overlooked. The brain has a fine membrane like a spider web covering it, called the Arachnoid, and Calc. fluor. is a constituent of this membrane. When the spider web-like filaments of this membrane are plentifully supplied with Calc. fluor. They are elastic, pliable and strong, and thoughts are easily connected, and we have the characteristic of Cancerians, a good memory, or a tenacious memory which is the ability to hold on to thoughts. When this cell salt is deficient, however, the tiny web-like filaments become flabby, like a worn out piece of elastic. Connection of thought becomes difficult, and so we get a poor memory or forgetfulness which is lack of mental elasticity. The individual becomes hesitant, finding difficulty in expressing themselves as though the words were actually held in leash by elastic threads which had become worn, and lost their power to contract.
The symbol of the crab for this sign is very aptly chosen, not only because of its tenacity, but because it is a crustacean, having a hard shell or crust. The word crustacean in Greek means crystal, having the power to crystallise or harden: it also means a hard coating or covering, a shell or horny substance. One can see how well the symbol fits the function of Calc. fluor. the cell salt allocated to Cancer.
Cancer rules the colours light blue, silver and white and their birthstone is ruby. They also respond to the energies of pearl and moonstone. The metal for Cancer is silver in keeping with the appearance of the Moon.
Healing aromas include chamomile, jasmine lily, myrrh, sandalwood and rose. The healing musical note for Cancer is E. With the Cancerian proneness to digestive problems, foods which ferment in the stomach such as refined breads, sugars, pastry and meats should be avoided at all costs. Fish is a better option for the sensitive Cancerian digestive system. Diet for Cancerians should include the cabbage group such as cabbage, kale, broccoli, mustard, greens, watercress and cauliflower. They should drink plenty of water, fresh fruit and vegetable juices.
Overview for Cancerians for 2024
Lucky Jupiter has moved into your spiritual sector. Your social sector is activated by Uranus and Mars. Your career sector is highlighted by Hygeia, Chiron, Eris and the karmic North Node as well as a solar total eclipse. Transformative Pluto has just moved into your joint finances sector. Currently Pluto is in its retrograde phase. Serious Saturn and Neptune continue their passage through your travel and education sector. Your domestic sector is highlighted by the karmic South Node and two eclipses.
Relationships
Planetary visitors to your relationship sector are Venus, Mercury and Mars with Pluto re-entering here from 2 September to 20 November 2024. Gentle Venus graces your relationship sector with her presence from 23 January to 17 February 2024 bringing love and harmony in your primary relationship and any business partnerships. Quicksilver Mercury will visit your relationship sector from 14 January to 5 February 2024 facilitating any communication with your partner. Feisty Mars will make its presence felt here from 5 January to 13 February 2024 which could signal a time of conflict with your significant other.
Career
Your career sector is highlighted by Chiron, the wounded healer, the dwarf planet, Eris, goddess of strife the karmic North Node and a solar total eclipse which occurred on 9 April. Chiron, the wounded healer, continues its passage through your career sector which could cause you to be drawn to careers in healing, counselling or mentoring. Eris’s presence here would encourage you to stand your ground in any work disputes. Other planetary visitors are Mercury, Venus and Mars. Mercury pays a visit from 10 March to 16 May 2024 promoting communication and networking in your career. Part of Mercury’s passage here will be in its retrograde phase from 2 – 25 April 2024 which could lead to misunderstandings or confusion with colleagues or your employer. Positively, it is an ideal time to reflect and review issues to do with your career and goals. Gentle Venus pays a visit here from 5 – 29 April 2024 promoting harmony and creative inspiration in your career. Dynamic Mars will make its presence felt here from 1 May to 9 June 2024 which will imbue you with the energy to achieve your goals. However, it could cause conflict with colleagues if you allow this energy to get out of hand.
Health and Work
Cosmic visitors to your health and work sector are Mercury and Venus. Quicksilver Mercury will be in your work and health sector from 3 November 2024 to 8 January 2025 promoting communications and networking in this area of your life. Gentle Venus will grace your work and health sector with her presence from 18 October to 12 November 2024 bringing harmony in this area of your life.
Finances
Cosmic visitors to your finance and values sector are Mercury, Venus and Mars. Mercury will pay a visit here from 2 – 26 July 2024 making it an ideal time for you to network and communicate about your finances. Venus will grace you with her presence in your finance sector from 12 July to 5 August 2024 enhancing your finances. Dynamic Mars will makes its presence here from 4 November to 2024 to 5 January 2025 which will give you the energy to put your finances in order. Transformative Pluto has just recently entered you sector of joint finances, debt and taxes so there may be some changes in this area.
Home and Family
Your domestic sector is highlighted by the karmic South Node and two eclipses, the first eclipse is a lunar appulse eclipse which occurred on 25 March 2024 and the second one is a solar total eclipse which occurs on 3 October 2024. Cosmic visitors to your domestic sector are Mercury and Venus. Venus, the goddess of love, in its own sign, Libra, will bring harmony to the home and hearth when she pays a visit to your domestic sector from 29 August to 23 September 2024. You may feel the urge to beautify your home as your home is your castle. Mercury’s visit here from 26 September to 14 October 2024 facilitates communication with your family and is an ideal time to do repairs and renovations.
Creativity, Children and Romance
Planetary visitors to your creativity and romance sector are Mercury, Venus and Pallas Athena. Gentle Venus graces your creativity and romance sector with her presence from 23 September to 18 October 2024 bringing harmony to your relationships with your children and opportunities for enhanced creativity. Mercury will pay a visit here from 14 October to 3 November 2024 facilitating communication with your children as well as giving you an opportunity to get in touch with your inner child. Pallas Athena’s presence here will enable you to tap into your wisdom and strategic powers in handling these areas of your life.
Friendships, Groups and Goals
Your social sector is activated by change agent Uranus, lucky Jupiter and dynamic Mars. The change agent, Uranus, continues its passage your social sector bringing a certain air of unpredictability and excitement to your social networks. Jupiter, the planet of good fortune, pays an extended visit here from 17 May 2023 to 25 May 2024 which will give you opportunities for an expanded social circle. Sun, Mercury and Venus will highlight your friendship sector. The Sun’s presence here from 19 April to 20 May will enable you to show your leadership skills in your social circles. Mercury pays a visit to your social sector from 16 May to 3 June 2024. Mercury’s presence here will encourage networking and ensure a busy social calendar. Venus’s presence here from 29 April to 24 May 2024 will ensure harmony and pleasurable activities with your friends. Feisty Mars will make its presence felt in your social sector from 9 June to 21 July giving you boundless energy to devote to your friendships provided that you respect your friends’ and associates’ boundaries, particularly on 16 July when feisty Mars and unpredictable Uranus unite.
Travel and Higher Education
Cosmic visitors to your travel and education sector are Neptune, Saturn, Mercury, Venus and Mars. Neptune, the planet of spirituality, continues its passage through your 9th house of travel and study. You may be drawn to undertake a spiritual pilgrimage to some exotic foreign country that you have always yearned to visit or you may take up some creative or spiritual studies. Saturn, the Lord of karma, entered your travel sector on 8 March 2023 and will remain there until mid February 2026. Saturn’s energy is diametrically opposite to Neptune’s dreamy energy. Wherever Saturn falls in your chart it indicates a need for hard work and responsibility to achieve your goals so it would be an ideal time to undertake a course of study provided that you are prepared to do the hard yards. Quicksilver Mercury pays a visit here from 23 February to 10 March 2024 motivating you to do research or study. Venus graces your travel and education with her presence from 12 March to 5 April 2024 bringing harmony and pleasure here. It would be an ideal time for that secret getaway. Mars will make its presence felt here from 23 March to 1 May 2024 imbuing you with the energy to pursue your goals in this area of your life.
Spirituality
Cosmic visitors to your spirituality sector are Mercury, Venus and Mars. Quicksilver Mercury pays a visit here from 3 – 17 June to 2024 maybe inspiring you to study some spiritual books or undertake some spiritual courses. Gentle Venus will grace your spirituality sector with her presence from 24 May to 17 June 2024 bringing harmony and creative inspiration to this area of your life. Mars pays a visit here from 21 July to 5 September 2024 making it an ideal time to take up martial arts or yoga to channel this martial energy productively.
New Moon in Gemini 2024
The New Moon in Gemini occurred at 16 degrees Gemini 17 on 6 June. Gemini rules our communication and thought processes. It rules our perceptions, what we think about, facts and information. One noteworthy feature of this New Moon is that Venus reaches superior conjunction. Added to that Venus is exactly aligned behind the Sun symbolising commitment to the most valued aspects of our lives. With the Sun, Moon and Venus squaring Saturn there are likely to be some boundary issues to negotiate. Saturn will provide a reality check to our ideas. The Jupiter-Mercury conjunction will bring some balance to restrictive Saturn aspects providing scope for handling daily activities and planning ahead. The Jupiter Mercury conjunction promotes study, travel, personal growth and abundance. The Jupiter-Pluto trine is a very positive expansive aspect focussing on human rights and precipitating the collapse of the old order. More secrets are likely to come to light The stellium in Gemini is a very social configuration promoting communication and networking. It shines the spotlight on social media platforms. Gemini’s ruling planet, Mercury, is reminiscent of Shakespeare’s character, Puck in all its mischievous antics. At this New Moon there is a line up of 5 planets in Gemini – Jupiter, Mercury, Moon, Sun and Venus all of which is mutable air so is a very adaptable, flexible energy. It supports such social media platforms as Tik Tok and Twitter with its snippets of information. Pluto in Aquarius trines Jupiter and Mercury in Gemini which encourages the development of new perspectives, focussing on the the power of our thoughts and speech. This aspect should mitigate the rather scattered energy associated with Gemini.
Chiron and Hygeia, both associated with health, will put the focus on health and healing. Mars, the god of war, is closely aligned with his mythical sister, Eris, the goddess of strife so this could cause some conflict or standoffs. Black Moon Lilith is 27 degrees Virgo 27 and this combined with Eris is strong feminine energy demanding sovereignty and total social inclusion. The dwarf planet, Sedna, which has recently entered Gemini makes a trine with Pluto in Aquarius and which will accelerate the proliferation of AI. There is even a new AI iteration that is called Gemini. There is a yod or a finger of God between the two dwarf planets, Sedna in Gemini, Haumea in Scorpio with Neptune in Pisces. Sedna signals metamorphosis of humanity while Haumea represents the regenerative principle and this linked with Neptune at 29 degrees the anaretic degree which embodies the invisible ethereal oneness.
Cancer Winter/Summer Solstice 21/22 June 2024
The Cancer Winter/Summer Solstice occurs on 21 June at 6.50.58 am AEST Sydney time. This Solstice marks the official start of winter in the southern hemisphere and summer in the northern hemisphere. The Solstice takes place just before the Full Moon and signals a process of adjustment that could take some time to work through. Transformative Pluto in Aquarius is opposite Vesta in Leo. This is passionate and focussed aspect which harnesses intense energy for honing into specific issues and interests. However, the semi sextile/quincunx aspects they make to the Sun suggest a feeling of annoyance at having to manage a number of irritating distractions. Meanwhile the Sun and Neptune are in a tight square. All these aspects indicate a rather confusing and uncertain period ahead. There is a harmonious sextile from Mercury and Venus to Mars, which will help to pave the way to achieve the desired outcome in this quarter, despite any distractions or confusion. Chiron, Hygeia and Eris remain closely aligned making it an ideal time to address any underlying health concerns.
Full Moon in Cancer
The Full Moon occurs on 22 June at 11.07.50 am AEST Sydney time. It occurs just after the winter/summer solstice so there are many of the same aspects. Nebulous Neptune is at the ‘anaretic’ degree at 29 degrees 54 Pisces so it is a focal point here and it will be a key feature at every solstice and equinox for at least the next 18 months while it slowly drifts into Aries. This means that the Neptune archetype will be a prominent feature in world affairs for quite a while. Neptune can lead to confusion and misunderstandings. Positively, Neptune can be inspiring creatively and spiritually. The Moon is semi sextile Pluto and quincunxing Vesta. On the one hand Pluto’s opposition to Vesta indicates passion and focussed intensity but the quincunx provides a shapeshifting energy to this Full Moon. This chameleon like energy could could put unforeseen obstacles in our path thwarting our goals forcing us to make adjustments and compromises. Such is the nature of semi sextiles and quincunxes.
Vale Dr Michael Mosley
Many people were shocked to learn of the tragic death of Dr Michael Mosley aged 67 on the Greek island of Symi. His family, along with his colleagues and friends as well as those of us who enjoyed his spirited presentations on TV about many aspects of our health were all hoping that he would be found alive but sadly after a few days of searching the tiny Greek island his body was recovered on a rocky terrain. The coroner on the island of Rhodes stated that he died of natural causes and would have died of heat exhaustion within 4 hours of setting out on his fateful walk. There was an outpouring of grief on social media saying that although they had never met him they felt him knew him as he had been a force for good for many years with his friendly face and sense of humour being beamed into our lounge rooms.
I remember when watching his most recent program on ageing he prefaced it by saying that he knew of no male in his family who had lived beyond the age of 75. His own father who also suffered from diabetes died at age 74. We all remember how he embarked on his famous diets after he was diagnosed with diabetes and he was always happy to use himself as a guinea pig, not only to test a hypothesis but also to enliven potentially dry subject matter even so far as to ingest parasites for his 2014 documentary, Infested! Living with Parasites.
In a recent replay of an interview on RN Mosley discussed his insomnia and his wife’s parasomnia (sleep walking) which she said she still suffers from to this day and recounted how he humoured her when she was sleep walking helping her to rummage through her files until she was ready to go back to bed. He also recounted how his children also suffered from parasomnia while young and one of his sons while sleep walking actually fell out of a window falling on his head in the dead of winter and would have perished from the cold if it had not been for a neighbour coming to his rescue. His own experience with insomnia inspired him to write his book, Fast Asleep in 2020. There is so much more one could write about Michael Mosley but one thing that stands out his desire to take experiences including health issues from his own life to educate the general public with his pioneering approach to medicine.
Michael Mosley was born on 22 March 1957 (time not known) in Kolkata, West Bengal in India making him an Aries. Since there is no known birth time, I have cast a chart for noon. His father was a banker, while his maternal grandfather was an Anglican bishop. Michael himself had a brief career in banking after reading Philosophy, Politics and Economics at New College, Oxford. After 2 years of banking he changed course studying medicine at the Royal Free Hospital Medical School where he met his future wife, Dr Clare Bailey, with whom he co-wrote many of his books. From there he jumped into broadcasting where he never looked back.
Even before discussing Mosley’s chart, I was struck by his numerology since he was born on a number 22 day and his birth year also adds up to 22. The number 22 is one of the master numbers in numerology which indicates a humanitarian sensibility. The number 3 month indicates a sociable person with the gift of creative expression. Looking at Mosley’s natal chart, he has Sun conjunct Mercury in Aries trine Uranus which indicates his ability to convey his unique ideas with great enthusiasm. As well as having his Sun and Mercury in a fire sign, he has the dwarf planet, Eris, in Aries and his Moon in fiery optimistic, goal oriented Sagittarius. The ruling planet, Mars, is in eloquent Gemini adding more passion to his communication. Fire signs such as Aries and Sagittarius, with their pioneering zeal and spirit of adventure are the zodiac’s risk takers willing to push the boundaries. This ability Mosley demonstrated in his research into health issues and in the way he presented his ideas to his audiences and readers whose lives he influenced across the world. As well as the element of fire he also had a strong element of water, with Venus conjunct Pallas Athena, Juno. Hygeia and Vesta all in compassionate, intuitive Pisces. With Venus in Pisces he would be compassionate and empathetic with his loved ones. Neptune, the ruler of Pisces, rules film and Mosley was a master of utilising this medium to convey his message to the world. Jupiter, the ruling sign of his Sagittarius Moon, is in the sign of Virgo which demonstrated his crusading for better health. Both Virgo and its polar opposite sign of Pisces are concerned with a life of service to others which Mosley’s life epitomised.
The placement of Uranus in Leo made Mosley a unique leader in his field, being open to exploring unconventional ideas, a leader in a new field, and on the cutting edge of scientific and medical advancements. His dramatic nature and gift for theatrics has inspired many people. His innovative ideas would help others to break free from tradition and his visionary nature promoted progressive change in the field of medical research. His egalitarian nature would encourage people to empower themselves to take charge of their own health and well being. Vale Dr Michael Mosley. He will not easily be forgotten and will have a special place in many people’s hearts.
Sources
Cancer Greeting Card Illustrated by Sue Robertson
Cancer Poem by Sue Robertson
Esoteric Astrology Volume 3 Treatise on the Seven Rays by Alice A. Bailey
Soul-Centred Astrology: A Key to your Expanding Self by Alan Oken
Alan Oken’s Complete Astrology by Alan Oken
The Labours of Hercules by Alice A. Bailey
Astrological Keys to Self-actualization & Self-realization by Clara A. Weiss
Astrology and Biochemistry by Vanda Sawtell
The Inner Planets by Howard Sasportas and Liz Greene
Insight Newsletter by Michele Finey
The Next Step by Pam Gregory
Kiefer Sutherland breaks silence after father Donald Sutherland’s death: ‘A well lived life’
Diana, princess of Wales Editors of Encyclopaedia Britannica
Princess Diana birth time Astrology Detective Oxford Astrologer
Diana, Princess of Wales AstroDataBank
Ithaka – documentary on Julian Assange by John and Gabriel Shipton
The Trial of Julian Assange: Story of Persecution by Nils Melzer UN Special Rapporteur on Torture
To free Assange, just ask Biden by Bob Carr, The Sydney Morning Herald, June 20 2022
Sagittarius Goodwill Full Moon – June 2023 by Simone Matthews
Astrology Talk Cancer Season with Sally Kirkman & Christina Rodenbeck Oxford Astrologer
Kiefer Sutherland breaks silence after father Donald Sutherland’s death: ‘A well lived life’ by Kaitlin Simpson US Celebrity News, 20 June 2024
Obituaries Michael Mosley 1957-2024 Exuberant medical broadcaster who popularised the 5:2 diet, The Telegraph London, June 11 2024
Leave a Reply
- SUBSCRIBE TO THIS BLOGRSS – Posts
- RECENT POSTS
- May Astromusings – Happy Birthday Geminis! Happy 80th Birthday Bob Dylan! New Moon in Taurus, Jupiter in Pisces, Saturn square Uranus – Fortress Australia, Full Moon SuperMoon in Sagittarius – lunar eclipse, Mercury and Saturn station retrograde
- April Astromusings – Happy Birthday Taureans! New Moon in Aries, Full Moon Supermoon in Scorpio, Taurus Wesak Festival, Pluto Stations Retrograde
- March Astromusings – Happy birthday Aries! New Moon in Pisces, Women March 4 Justice, Blessings for the Autumn/Spring Equinox! Full Moon in Libra, Saturn square Uranus
- February Astromusings – Happy Birthday Pisceans! Full Moon in Leo, New Moon in Aquarius, Chinese New Year of the Golden Ox, Retrograde Mercury, Saturn square Uranus, Full Moon in Virgo, Amanda Gorman -Piscean Poet Laureate
- January Astromusings – Happy Birthday Aquarians! Armed Insurrection in the Capitol in the US, New Moon in Capricorn, Inauguration of Joe Biden, Full Moon in Leo, Mercury stations retrograde
- December Astromusings – Seasons Greetings, Happy Birthday Capricorns! New Moon Total Solar Eclipse, Summer/Winter Solstice, The Great Conjunction of Jupiter and Saturn in Aquarius, Full Moon in Cancer
- November Astromusings Happy Birthday Sagittarians! Mars stations direct, Full Moon in Taurus, New Moon Supermoon in Scorpio, Full Moon Lunar Eclipse in Gemini, Neptune stations direct
- October Astromusings – Happy birthday Scorpios! Pluto stations direct, Aries Full Moon, New Supermoon in Libra, Mercury stations retrograde
by ANNEFERTITI’S ASTROMUSINGS on JUNE 21, 2022 • PERMALINK • EDIT
Posted in UNCATEGORIZED
2 Comments
- August Astromusings, Happy Birthday Virgos! Virgo Baz Luhrmann’s success at the box office, Full Moon in Aquarius, Uranus conjunct Mars conjunct North Node – Stabbing of Salman Rushdie, Liz Cheney vs Trump, Scott Morrison’s secret power
- September Astromusings – Happy Birthday Librans! Vale Olivia Newton-John – a special Libran, Death of Queen Elizabeth II and accession of King Charles III, Mercury stations retrograde, Full Moon in Pisces, Putin’s escalation of the war i
Leave a Reply
- SUBSCRIBE TO THIS BLOGRSS – Posts
- RECENT POSTS
- May Astromusings – Happy Birthday Geminis! Pluto stations retrograde, Full Moon Lunar Eclipse in Scorpio, E. Jean Carroll versus Donald Trump, Mercury stations direct, Jupiter in Taurus, New Moon in Taurus
- April Astromusings Happy Birthday Taureans! Two Inspiring Taureans – Jessica Watson, John Muir, Full Moon in Libra, New Moon Solar Eclipse, Mercury stations retrograde, Fox settles out of court with Dominion
- March Astromusings – Happy Birthday Aries! Pedro Pascal – Aries action hero and activist, Full Moon in Virgo, Saturn in Pisces, March Equinox, New Moon in Aries, Pluto in Aquarius – People power in Iran, Israel and France, Putin charged with war crimes, Trump indicted
- February Astromusings – Happy Birthday Pisceans! Full Moon in Leo – Earthquake in Tukiye and Syria, New Moon Supermoon in Pisces
- January Astromusings – Happy Birthday Aquarians, Full Moon in Cancer, Mars stations direct, Mercury stations direct, New Moon SuperMoon in Aquarius, A tribute to an Aquarian, Lisa Marie Presley, Uranus stations direct, Chinese New Year of the Rabbit
- December Astromusings – Happy Birthday Capricorns, Neptune stations direct, Full Moon in Gemini, Summer/Winter Solstice, New Moon Supermoon in Capricorn
- November Astromusings – happy birthday Sagittarians! Full Moon Lunar Eclipse, US Mid term elections, New Moon in Gemini, Jupiter stations direct
- October Astromusings – Happy Birthday Scorpios! Pluto stations direct, Full Moon in Aries, UK PM Liz Truss resigns, New Moon Solar Eclipse in Scorpio, Halloween
- CALENDAR OF POSTSJune 2022MTWTFSS 123456789101112131415161718192021222324252627282930 « AprJul »
BLOG AT WORDPRESS.COM.Open publish panel
- Post
Annefertiti's AstroMusings 