London's burning

Fri 12 August – Thurs 25 August

Sun in Leo; Mercury in Leo R; Venus in Leo/Virgo 21^st, Mars in Cancer

London’s burning as Mercury retrogrades into Leo, joining ‘ol King Sol and Lady Venus there. Leo the lion is traditionally king of the jungle, able to bring out the generous, kind-hearted benefactor in us, the protector of the poor and benefactor of children, but at present the old king is dying. What was once – until recently - known as the most powerful nation in the world, with the biggest economy, is now revealed to be shackled to the biggest debt in the world, 50% of which is owed to the two other upcoming great nations of the East. No need to mention any names, but it looks like the emperors new clothes are been seen for what they are as the sinking ship, dragged ever further downward by the fourteen trillion dollar albatross around its neck creates a whirlpool that threatens every other nation on the globe with similar disaster. If you like your just desserts double-dipped then this is for you. Stock markets are already bailing ship, along with your pension money. With panic in the streets of London and Cairo and Lisbon and Athens and Tel Aviv and Jo’burg, the people are calling out for a leader to save the day. Where have those leaders with Leonine qualities gone? Even Obama, a Leo, who carries a picture of Hanuman in his top pocket, seems to lack the ability to avert his ship from the rocks. And Hanuman is a servant of that mightiest of Leaders, Lord Rama, who established Rama raja, ideal rule, where even the weather harmonized in reciprocation with the purity of consciousness of the ruler. It’s all very well calling for troops to hang the dj, but somebody has to play the tunes the rest of us want to dance to. So if you have been finding yourself in a quandary lately, as you lose faith, lose hope or lose money, no longer knowing in who do we trust, then remember that you are not alone, and at times like these it is not just death and taxes that are a certainty, but there is also cash in the hand and the holy names, as we are weaned off our addiction to the credit card and all other illusions thrown at us by maya and the banks. The longstanding square aspect between the outer generational planets of Uranus and Pluto is continuing to overshadow attempts to see the sunny side in all of this, despite the attempted boost one would normally expect from the current Leo triplicity of Sun, Mercury and Venus. When is becomes evident that the entire Arab revolution which began in Egypt in January was possibly started by outside forces (read Uncle Sam) to topple a regime that stood in their way (as with Iraq) and that that revolution is spreading like wildfire throughout the streets of the entire region, including Europe, then it’s time to go for gold – or silver – and to stand up and say we have had enough, for cometh the hour, cometh the person, and that person is you. We need to look within for our hero of the day, our saviour in the hour of need. No one out there is going to do it for you. It’s either that or be subjected to right wing extremist Sharia hand chopping, or Fascism. It was, after all, the Great depression of the 1920’s and 30’s that let to the rise of that other infamous leader, the one that galvanized Germany by burning his own houses of parliament and blaming it on external forces (read 9/11) so that he could create his own type of homeland security act which ended in World War 2.  

Leadership required, apply within

Fri 29 July – Thurs 11 Aug

Sun in Leo; Mercury in Virgo; Venus in Leo; Mars in Gemini/Cancer 3^rd

With Mercury in Virgo and Mars in Gemini , both signs ruled by Mercury, the mind will be the place to channel your drive and the mental capacities should be on top form. After all, it’s all in the mind. Just don’t get too mental about anything now either though, (with Mercury going retrograde on 2^nd August) for the tendency may be there to work the mind overtime, depending on your make of model of course. If you have a mind like a Mac then by all means, capitalize on the opportunity to get a lot of mental work done. But if you’re running on a little Toshiba, then be kind and power down occasionally. If that’s an effort, try Melatonin…works wonders. Just don’t take it before cycling home. You may find yourself dozing off at the handlebars.

By August 3^rd Mars will be in Cancer, a place he can struggle in, for unless you are planning to roll up your sleeves and work on that home renovation project, then all that libido in the home can sometimes lead to arguments amongst family members. In this water sign, the influence of Mars can express itself on an emotional level. Let’s hope the visceral influence of Mercury’s attempted transit through Virgo allows for time to think it through objectively as the adjectives fly. Don’t worry, the mood is not particularly physical or competitive as much as emotive. Little things may steal the view of the bigger picture. On the positive side a game of football with the family can be a healthy expression of the current Mars theme. Loyalties can be cultivated and strengthened now. Like those to the club, clan or cause. Or even your significant other. With Venus accompanying the Sun on their promenade through Leo, don’t be shy to get theatrical in your romantic overtures, even going down on one knee – if not two. Indeed if you qualify for Venus’ affection now, she is most definitely willing to shower her affections on you, being fiercely loyal herself to those she deems worthy.  If you can get your mind out of the way then this is a particularly romantic time, so watch those charmers and crooners steal the show, your heart or that kiss. With the present fun-loving mood, you may find the showman in you emerging so work on that stylish outfit but be willing to share the spotlight. This is an outgoing, generous and affectionate transit for Venus, especially when coupled by the Sun, so remember that sometimes the best gift you can offer is yourself at your best for the good of all concerned. Remember that you influence many others around you unknowingly simply by your actions and choices, what to speak of your thoughts, particularly if you’re in a place of leadership.  And real leadership is about being the person others will gladly and confidently follow, the person that brings out the best in others, that empowers others to be the best they can be. A badge or title is not enough to lead in the long term unless it is supported by a warm, person-centered heart, actual benefit to society and ultimately (if you want true loyalty) actual benefit to the individual follower herself. Ultimately a boss may inspire fear or fix blame for the breakdown, but it is the leader who inspires enthusiasm and who fixes the breakdown itself.

The heart of the matter

Fri 15 July – Thurs 28 July

Sun in Cancer/Leo 23^rd; Mercury in Leo; Venus in Cancer; Mars in Gemini

If you have not yet found yourself in tears recently, tears of sorrow at the hundreds of thousands of refugees in East Africa fleeing their worst drought in your lifetime (if you’re younger than sixty), while just up the road in this global village of ours Italy and the rest of the west throws away tons of excess food every day – excluding the mountains of cucumbers mistakenly identified as ecoli culprits – then the continued transit of Sun and Venus through Cancer may still soften your heart enough to awaken a sense of nurturing compassion for your fellow citizens. If East Africa is too far from your sphere of influence then just look in your own back yard and you will find the gaunt and emaciated descendants of the native races that our forefathers pillaged to colonized in the name of Calvinism, Catholicism or capitalism and which continues even today in the name of consumerism, where even we are the victims of a flawed system of global management, despite being in the top ten percent of the planet’s elite, which is what you are if you are reading this. With Mercury in Leo now, it is possible in the theatre of the mind to paint a picture in words like this and when the Sun joins Mercury there from the 23^rd the flair for the dramatic may find you expressing yourself with still more fire as you discover that all the world’s a stage – or a catwalk, depending on your proclivities. Leo, after all, is the biggest cat in town, so the mood may become authoritative, commanding, opinionated and if we’re not careful carried away by our sense of importance. Of course, if you’ve got it, flaunt it, for now is the time to strut your stuff. Charisma, strength of will and a flair for anything artistic - like blowing that trumpet - will abound, accompanied by a tendency to overlook details and a refusal to admit any mistakes, so be conscious in that regard now.

There are other reasons why you might find yourself in tears lately, like being moved by the beauty of a love song sung by a truly gifted creative artist , or any song played on the strings of your heart that touches a chord and resonates within you. Leo is a time for matters of the heart, whether bold, romantic or generous, so again, if you have it, share it, for their may be many who really need it – more than you need that latest model upgrade pushed on you by the consumerist pusher, getting you addicted to what J. Paul Getty (once the richest man in the world) described as his one word philosophy of life – more! There is of course something else that could be moving you to tears lately, tears of ecstasy in the fact that you’ve just found God where he always was, in the core of your heart, for the Supersoul or Paramatma is said to reside within all living entities, from the lamb being led to the slaughter to the lion willing to lay down with him, to the starving refugee, what to speak of you and me, and a self-realized soul cannot enjoy a hearty feast while so many still suffer starvation just down the road.

Back home back to Godhead

Fri 1 July – Thurs 14 July 2011

Sun in Cancer; Mercury in Cancer/Leo 2^nd; Venus in Gemini/Cancer 4^th; Mars in Gemini

During the Sun’s current transit of Cancer it is natural if you are feeling a bit crabby. Like the crab you may find yourself currently needing a thick outer shell behind which to hide your somewhat sensitized and vulnerable emotional nature. This is backed up even more when Venus joins Sun in Cancer on the 4^th of July (a day all green card holders will find their patriotic sides emerging). Feelings of insecurity may urge you to return to things from the past that brought you a sense of security and belonging. We all have a family of some sort or another, whether an actual mother and father from our childhood home, or a spiritual family with which we resonate, a belief system which brings us security in our existential need for meaning, or provides a glimpse of a hidden hand harmoniously controlling what may otherwise seem like a random swirling of chaos that makes up the universe, the milky way and our insignificant and fleeting place therein. There may even be great significance placed on the homeland, the motherland, the fatherland, like Zion, Mecca, Jerusalem or Vrindavan, where one may feel drawn metaphysically. We all want to go back home in one way or other and this may be an external reflection of an inner yearning which grips the spirit soul on her quest for a return to an original state of union with the source. Of course it may also just be the yearning of the individual for a return to that safe and subliminal space inside the womb. Whatever level you wish to see it on, the current Cancer theme is the time to get in touch with your roots, make yourself at home or get back to where you once belonged. On a purely mundane level this is also the time to focus on real estate, buying or selling your land or property. Besides that Venus in Cancer also has a tendency to leave the less emotionally robust of us feeling vulnerable, delicate or easily hurt, so take care you rough riders when in the company of the rest of us. Not everyone is as thick-skinned, and even if they are, now is possibly the time when they have their shells in for repairs or their armour at the blacksmith. Those with perpetually thin armour may find themelves eating more in order to nurture themselves or just pack on extra padding. Whatever it takes to increase the feeling of security. The secret now would be to provide extra displays of reassurance as far as emotional security is concerned, possibly even practical security, if you want to maintain your relationships or help them grow. Avoid any tendency to sulk or feel sorry for yourself while you enjoy the warmth of hearth and home. Ultimately only you can provide the sense of security needed to feel stable and at home in your body, in your relationship and on this planet. So welcome home, the power is in your hands and the dinner is in the oven.

Floods & the secrecy bill

Fri 17 June – Thurs 30 June

Sun in Gemini/ Cancer 21^st; Mercury in Cancer; Venus in Gemini; Mars in Taurus/Gemini 21^st

If the floods have left you reeling – and I don’t only mean the torrential rain-filled rivers that have been inundating the country from Mpumalanga in the north to Mossel Bay in the south, and the planet from Mississippi in the west to China in the east – I mean the flood of information that has been flowing while Sun and Mercury cruised through garrulous Gemini. You are forgiven if it has left you in two minds as to the truth and just what on earth is actually going on on this planet. I mean are they really about to pass the “Protection of Information Bill” aka the “Secrecy Bill”, which goes against South Africa’s constitution and threatens to undermine transparency by criminalizing whistle-blowers who try to expose corruption. Nobel prize winner and Archbishop emeritus Desmond Tutu, as well as the Nelson Mandela Foundation have called on their countrymen to stand up against it. The poor have a right to know where their millions went during the Arms Deal, bribes and all. I mean the bribes paid to President Zuma by Shaik Shabir which led to the most expensive corruption trial in post-apartheid South Africa and precipitated in the greatest split in the ruling ANC party for forty years.

With the Sun and Mercury now in Cancer the tendency to look to our roots emerges, the need to come to terms with our foundation, our home and hearth, our homeland, our heritage - from the ancestral surname we inherited from our father to the national culture we inherited from our forefathers, a culture currently in the hands of our leaders, the father figures who you would presume are doing their paternal and protective nurturing best to keep us safe as the dependents that we are, dependent on the system handed down to us. A system we hope to hand down to our children and grandchildren to keep them safe too. Does that include unusable, expensive weaponry bought through bribery and corruption by a self-interested ruling party despite rising unemployment, underemployment, poor housing and worse? Does that include lavatory-like football stadia painted a nice shade of elephant white while Fifa make their biggest profits in recorded history off a developing third world country? Does that include an Agenda 21 or so-called blueprint to advance sustainable development, while actually behind such trendy and PC buzzwords lies an agenda to implement centralized control over all human  life. After all, the term ‘sustainable development’ was first coined in 1987 by the vice-president of the world Socialist Party. Not that I have anything against socialism, or its implementation in the land of the free and the home of the brave. We can all see capitalism is currently buckling like a giant pyramid scheme with an over-inflated or puffed-up eye in the capstone, but when its global mission statement looks very much like something reflected in the old Soviet constitution, I begin to wonder… After all when a president like Clinton creates a “Council on Sustainable Development” by executive decree allowing the federal government to go about unopposed in tightening the noose on resources while at the same time Homeland Security laws allow them to lock anyone up who gets in their way without trial, then I begin to wonder just how much more I can say before I hear my own door being knocked down or that of any editor of similar such publications. America knew they were screwed when Clinton came between the Bush’s, and I know the smelly stuff has been flying for a while, but did somebody just turn up the fan speed?   

The compulsive communicators

Fri 3 June – Thurs 16 June

Sun in Gemini; Mercury in Gemini; Venus in Taurus/Gemini 9^th; Mars in Taurus; Jupiter in Aries/Taurus 4^th

With Mercury joining the Sun in his home sign of Gemini, and Venus arriving fashionably later on the 9^th, variety will definitely be the spice of life, so find ways to mix up that same old regular daily salad sandwich with a little flavourable side dressing, while finding alternative ways to get to the office, even if the office is upstairs in the same house as the bedroom and you have to swing a rope over the chimney or vault over the balcony railings. Somehow or other, change is in order so order some change from a different restaurant and keep the change while simultaneously tipping the waitron. Later on you can write a rap song, for the gift of the gab is yours under Gemini’s influence, and the species known as the compulsive communicator will show you just how inextinct he is, though indistinct he may seem to those who never cracked the cryptic clues on the crossword of life. (Here’s a clue – that species is you). Remember, you can fool some of the people some of the time, and this might just be the time, so be careful of any smooth or fast talkers who use their garrulous gifts to sell you a second hand bogroll or anything else you thought you had seen the last of. Also beware spreading yourself too thin, unless you’re on a diet, for the tendency to multitask or succumb to insatiable curiosity may draw you ever onward to the next tab or window of opportunity, when in fact a bird in the hand… Alright, maybe a bird in each hand, since you don’t want to miss a thing now. As long as your bird is not the jealous type, for your super-friendly sociability under Venus in Gemini may be misconstrued by the more single-minded as trying to have a finger in every pie, or be the Jack of all Jills. Fortunately you should be able to talk yourself out of any situation as easily as you talked yourself into it, so even if all you do to me is talk talk, a lot may be communicated, even if a lot is left unsaid. Indeed the Trickster may be alive and well and taking mischievous delight in talking slower minds into a tizz so use the moment to branch out and practice on any newcomers to your neighbourhood as your circle of friends opens up if you want it to now. This is a great time to make numerous initial contacts. Just don’t expect to make anything more than a superficial impression for now, and don’t expect to delve too deeply into any matters at hand. You may find the subject has changed by the second sentence already. 

Remember that Mars is still in Taurus so there will be more mental energy than physical energy available, although the pursuit of material security and creature comforts will still be able to help you discover those greater levels of endurance you never knew you had. This combination favours craftsmen who use their hands to carve out a quality product, whether the tool used is a pen, pin or chisel. And with Saturn in Libra now over his six month retrograde and Jupiter officially into his year of Taurus, accumulation of wealth and an appetite for quality may just see you discovering just what it is you truly value while beginning to see results from your Art.  

Riding the bull

Fri 20 May – Thurs 2 June 2011

Sun in Taurus/Gemini 21^st; Mercury in Taurus; Venus in Taurus; Mars in Taurus

Forgive me if I talk a lot of bull this edition, it’s just that if you’ve been observing the inner planets you will notice that they are fast following the Sun into the bullish earth sign of Taurus, like a gaggle of groupies after a blinged-out rapper. But just as they are within shouting distance, old King Sol swaggers out of Taurus and into Gemini, transforming his mood like the quick-change artist he is. And quick change is what the Gemini Sun can offer you this month. That’s if the Taurean triplets of Mercury, Venus and Mars will allow it, for in Aries they were forward-thinking and open to new adventures, but in earthy Taurus the tendency is leaning much more towards holding your ground with stubborn reserve and, at best, building up to a frantic plod with long-term results in mind. This will serve the backline defenders and goalkeeper very well, but it is the strikers like Lionel Messi – a Gemini Sun – who will also have the goal in mind and may be as nimble and dexterous and hard to pin down as ever. So what happens when you have the combination of a quick thinking Gemini Sun and a defensive, resistant and united Mercury, Venus and Mars? Well you get a winning team – if you can get them to all play ball. Certainly socializing, networking, exchanging ideas, trading and communicating are all strongly facilitated under Gemini, and with Venus in her own sign in Taurus now, the desires for good food, drink and other social lubricants will add flavour to your affairs. Expect the appetites for the luxuries and sensual pleasures to continue. Just be careful not to fall under the spell of that expensive new item while trading your wares at the market place. Unless you can afford it of course. The potential allure of the best that money can buy can still be tempered by Mercury in Taurus, also thinking methodically, rationally and, above all, practically. Tastes are opulent now so use the earthy and practical Mercury influence to think it through first before you end up with the morning after bringing you a serious headache, stomach ache, heartache or wallet ache. Once you’ve made up your mind though, it will be hard to change, which may actually be the necessary counter-balance to the Gemini flexibility currently blowing us all over the place and scattering our energies.

The triple Taurus trend is a good one for handling financial matters and managing your money so use this window of opportunity to set your records straight, visit your bank manager or buy yourself a piggybank. If the dual influence of Gemini leaves you in two minds about things then try diversifying your portfolio. Just beware being too obstinate to change your mind or differ from your initial decision in spite of more lucrative evidence to the contrary. It is common sense that leads to common dollars, and a wise man can take gold even from a filthy place.