Prince Harry and Meghan Markle: A match made in heaven? No, not really

Meghan Markle has a Cancer ascendant with its ruler, the Moon, in Libra. Jupiter, co-almuten of the ascendant, is also in Libra.That's a good sign for marriage and for “traditional” marriage especially. Saturn is also in Libra, exalted and receiving the Moon, so I don't think that the protocol or “royal duties” are going to be much of a problem, she can understand the necessity of such things. What is going to be a problem though is Mars in Cancer, in the ascending sign, who squares the planets in Libra. She already has one divorce under her belt and this could very easily happen again.

On the other hand, Mars is a nocturnal planet in a nocturnal chart and nocturnally placed. Since he is also in a nocturnal sign, this should mean that he is in hayz, but most authorities of the past required Mars to be in a diurnal sign for some unfathomable reason in order for him to be in hayz. He may be in fall, but he is also in his triplicity. So this is not the worst possible Mars. However, he is exactly on Prince Harry's descendant and this could signify a lot of problems for them in the future and why not, a separation.

They have however one very good testimony in synastry. One's ascendant is the other's descendant. That's good, but, as I said above, Mars is afflicting this axis and is going to cause problems. Another good thing is that the co-almuten of Harry's descendant, Venus, is in Libra, conjunct Meghan's inportant planets there. On the other hand, Harry's Saturn, who is his ascendant ruler, makes a partile square with Meghan's Sun in Leo. Fortunately, the Sun is not Meghan's sect Light, but the square from Saturn will afflict her individuality and she may feel frustrated at times. One final good thing is Meghan's secondary progressed Moon at the moment who is conjunct her natal descendant. This is another indication for marriage.

Now, in primary directions Meghan's Mars is going to be activated in 2018 by the Sun. Can this stop the marriage? Perhaps not, but at the very least it's going to bring some disputes or disagreements. Saturn, who is entering Capricorn at the end of this year, is going to cause problems to all the Libra planets, her ascendant and also Mars in Cancer. So the next three years won't exactly be bliss for Meghan. The next year in particular (August 2018-August 2019) seems highly problematic for Meghan, since Mars, co-almuten of the ascendant, is retrograde in the solar return chart and in the 8^th house. Saturn is also retrograde opposite the ascendant and in the house of relationships and the Moon is conjunct Uranus, another planet of separation. Not a very happy year for her, the first after their marriage. Perhaps a pregnancy that will not go well? This retrograde Mars in the 8^th house is also ruler of the SR and natal 5^th house.

Prince Harry's Mars, co-almuten of his ascendant, is going to conjunct this ascendant in 2020 in secondary progressions and therefore oppose Meghan's natal Mars. Another sign of dispute or of general problems.  Finally, the Lot of Marriage in Prince Harry's chart (Asc + Venus - Saturn) is exactly conjunct Mars! There's too much Mars involved in both charts and somehow this marriage doesn't seem to be a "quiet" one. 

Ronan Farrow - The man who reported the Weinstein scandal

For those of you who don’t know him, Ronan Farrow is the son of Mia Farrow and Woody Allen (or is it Frank Sinatra as his mother implied?) and the author of the piece published in The New Yorker about Harvey Weinstein.

With Saturn, ruler of the ascendant, in the 10th house, no wonder he sided completely with his mother and believes his father to be guilty of sexually abusing his sister. He is Saturn (1st house ruler) in the 10th house (mother). The father is very weak (Mercury in detriment, combust and conjunct Saturn), which explains the bad relatiosnhip he has with him. Also, Jupiter (mother) trines all the planets in Sagittarius and Jupiter is also his co-ruler (ruler of the intercepted sign in the 1st house), so he identifies with his mother completely. Woody Allen doesn’t stand a chance.

All this activity in Saggitarius happens in the 10th house of career. Parents and career seem related and the Sun, who is also there in the 10th house, is the ruler of the 7th house of sexual unions and relationships, so that also gets in the mixture. Naturally, we don’t need astrology to tell us that the subject of sexual abuse is very important to him after what went on with his father and sister.

What’s interesting is that he has a lot of things in common with his father, astrologically speaking.

Woody Allen also has the Sun and Mercury in Sagittarius and Jupiter is also there (hence the prolific writer that he is - a film script every year). Saturn squares the planets in Sagittarius and we get practically the same result as in Ronan’s chart with the Sun, Mercury, Jupiter and Saturn angular and all involved in the configuration. More interestingly, Mars in Woody Allen’s chart (male sexuality) makes a partile conjunction with Ronan’s Venus, who rules the 3rd house in Ronan’s chart (siblings). So he certainly believes that something went wrong between Woody Allen and Dylan, his sister.

Ronan’s progressed ascendant is currently conjunct natal and progressed Jupiter, so one can expect something fortunate to happen regarding his career or some sort of achievement. It did.

Book review

A review of my book in the latest issue of the Astrological Journal.

Books: summaries

Descriptions and reviews welcome. Email: journal@astrologicalassociation.com

Victor Olliver, editor of The Astrological Journal

Horary Astrology: The Practical Way to Learn your Fate: Radical Charts for Student and Professional

Petros Eleftheriadis

The Wessex Astrologer, pb £12.50

The key word in the title is ‘practical’. Eleftheriadis assumes that the reader is familiar with traditional theory (and if not, you are kindly invited to get up to speed with Barbara Dunn’s Horary Astrology Re-Examined) before he presents over fifty charts from his client files, used to illustrate various techniques to find answers to such questions as: “Will I get a divorce?” or “Will my blood tests be OK?”.

Rather refreshingly, Eleftheriadis states baldly that the whole point of consulting an astrologer is to find out about one’s future, though he has sharp cautionary words on not encouraging clients to pursue questions designed to avoid ‘fate’. He dares to differ from Lilly on certain matters, states that Ptolemy didn’t understand the logic behind the Egyptian terms (which Eleftheriadis prefers – his essay on this at the back is informative and fascinating)) and he is not terribly keen on fixed stars or antiscia in horary. Having doubtless ruffled a few feathers, the book moves onto exposition.

Structurally and logically, life theme queries are addressed by relevant house e.g. ‘Tenth House Matters – Career and Achievement’ or ‘Seventh House Matters – Relationships’. The tone is direct, and techniques and interpretation are treated succinctly under crossheads which encourage a step-by-step application. This ensures rigour. Not all traditionalists will agree with his approach yet it will be hard to find a more cogent analysis of horary charts.

Before he came to astrology, Eleftheriadis studied Law and French Literature in Greece, and one senses a polymath at work who (happily) wears his learning lightly. Even if you’re new to horary, this book is likely to whet your appetite, while students and practitioners will find rich pickings here to add nuance to their knowledge and work.

Death of a TV personality - Horary chart

Go to the link for the article:

Death of a TV personality

Horary Astrology - The practical way to learn your fate

My first book is finally out! "Horary Astrology, the practical way to learn your fate" is the title. This is not a book of theory (although elements of theory are explained and presented) but it is primarily a book of practice charts. 

The difference between this book and others of its kind is that it consists of only radical charts that follow the major considerations before judgement, which is a rarity nowadays. It is my belief that these considerations are not to be looked down upon. In this book, I also stress the importance of chart validity. It saddens me to see that most of the questions asked nowadays are questions I consider invalid, questions, that is, which attempt to change the querent’s fate, The role of astrology, in my opinion, is not to know our fate so as to change it (which cannot be done anyway), but to embrace it. 

You can buy the book directly from the Wessex Astrologer site or from the places, online or otherwise, you usually buy your astrology books from. I hope you enjoy it!

Serena Williams announces pregnancy

Ever since her 2016 birthday, it's been a great year so far for Serena Williams. First of all, she broke Steffi Graf's record for most Grand Slams by a tennis player in the Οpen Εra, which was an amazing feat and something that she coveted for quite some time. A couple of days ago, she also announced her pregnancy. This must be a very fortunate year astrologically and the solar return chart is extremely clear.

The solar return ascendant is conjunct the natal Sun (and SR Sun naturally) and the Sun is the ruler of the natal 5th house (baby). A very strong testimony for pregnancy, Jupiter, natural significator of pregnancy and fertility. is cazimi, in hayz, in strong mutual reception with Saturn and conjunct the ascendant!!! You can't get more fortunate than that. Jupiter is also the ruler of the Lot of Children in 14 Sagittarius (Asc + Saturn - Jupiter). SR Venus (Venus is also a significator of 5th house matters as she is the natural ruler of the 5th house and rejoices there, but also the natural significator of relationships) is conjunct a natal angle and, in particular, the 7th house cusp of relationships (Serena announced her engagement last December).

Career-wise, in the solar return chart, Saturn, the almuten of the ascendant, forms a partill trine with the Moon, ruler of the MC. In general, Serena strongly benefitted from the current Jupiter/Saturn mutual reception. Her Sun (natural significator of professional matters) is in Libra, her Jupiter is Libra (she is currently going through a Jupiter return) and her Saturn is also exalted in Libra. Her Mars in Leo also benefits from both Jupiter and Saturn. Interestingly, Mars is the almuten of the natal 10th house and he is located in the 5th house, thereby indicating that she may have a 5th house (sports) occupation.

Congratulations on the happy news Serena!  

French elections 2017

It’s very difficult to make a prediction about the French elections based on the natal charts of the candidates because their charts are a clear example of why we need perfect exactitude of birth times. Remember, just a four – minute difference is a whole year in the life of the native.

Lepen should win IF her progressed MC is conjunct Jupiter, the almuten of the natal MC. This is true only if she were born 5-6 minutes later, which is more than a year away. Even if we take latitude into account, this conjunction is still not exact at the time of the elections. The same goes for Macron, but this time we need only a 3 – minute change in his birth time. If this change is made, the ascendant of the current solar return is exactly conjunct natal Saturn. That is rarely a good thing, but in Macron’s case, Saturn is the ruler of the ascendant and he is conjunct Regulus, who is now in Virgo. The North Node is also going to be conjunct natal Saturn at the time of the elections. There is also an ascendant/Venus conjunction in the directions and a Mars/Jupiter conjunction since 2015 up to 2019 (latitude included). Mars is the almuten of the ascendant and Jupiter is the ruler of the MC (if we make the slight change in his birth time).

Fillon should do quite well if the birth time we have is exact and if the MC in the solar return chart is in Libra, conjunct Jupiter and sextile Saturn on the ascendant (strong mutual reception). Mars opposes this Jupiter, though. His lunar return chart (again if the birth time is exact) has an ascendant in 0o Virgo, conjunct Regulus. This is very good but Mars in the 10th squares the ascendant. I don’t see him as the final winner, but he can do better than expected, if his birth time is exact.

Αlthough Melenchon is quite close to the others in the polls, I don’t think he stands a great chance of doing something significant. He has some fortunate primary directions, but the return charts are not particularly good.

To sum up, I do think than Macron is closer to winning this election, unless Lepen’s birth time is not accurate and her progressed MC is conjunct Jupiter. If that is the case, she can win this. Otherwise, I think Macron stands a better chance.