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Christina's Blog
The Oxford Astrologer
Culture, Sociey and Astrology
from Mythopia
I don't subscribe to any particular school of astrology, but I do make a point of keeping up to date. I choose the ideas that work when I apply them to a real chart and real life and throw out the ones that turn out to be, well, wishful.
... NeptuneCafe presents ...
Christina Rodenbeck, based in the ancient centre of learning, Oxford, examines living mythology through the lens of astrology. She likes to challenge prevailing orthodoxy, champion
originality and enchant with a good story. She is available for personal consultation. Read more of what she has to say at The Oxford Astrologer.
Boxing the Euro
UK Election - was a seismic shift in the political geology. Discussion of the UK's and David Cameron's charts, and Pluto to the UK Moon.
Two blogs - The latest addition to the royal family is a baby girl with a glamorous chart. Plus, the K Generation defined by Uranus in Aquarius.
Angela Merkel - is perhaps the most powerful woman in the world. Here's a look at the Chancellor's chart, which explains how she does it.
George Clooney Marries - the cosmopolitan lawyer Amal Alamuddin. Clooney was a commitment-phobe, what changed his mind?
Saturn in Scorpio - is going through the last third of this sign, and will be entering Sagittarius soon. What this transit means for each sign.
Jupiter in Leo - 10 fun things to do. It’s time to throw off that cloak of Cancerian wistfulness and embrace the game of life once more.
Tony Blair - has become a multi-multi millionaire. Like Satan himself he has become a fixer, middle-man, adviser to the international .001%.
Two posts! - the UK's Independent Party upsets traditional loyalties, and Maya Angelou and her poem Phenomenal Woman
Chiron, the Wounded Healer - turns retrograde in June at 17º Pisces, a key degree area that has historically coincided with major wars.
Conscious Uncoupling - The astrology behind Gwyneth Paltrow's and Chris Martin's gentle separation, plus a look at their composite chart.
Mars in Libra - Now that transiting Mars is in Libra, have a look at what celebrities born with this placement have to say. Famous quotes.
Woody Allen's UR-PL transits - A look at his horoscope and what it indicates about Dylan Farrow. Plus Mia Farrow and Woody's composite chart
Ukraine - History as Process - Ukraine gained its independence in 1991, but is currently being torn by riots, Here's what its horoscope tells us.
Nelson Mandela's Chiron Return - The famous South African leader gave his most celebrated speech one Chiron cycle before his death.
Doctor Who's Chiron Return - The fabulous sci-fi series first aired in 1963. How does the show’s story lines reflect the British psyche?
The US Fiscal Deficit - is the mother of all debts. Mercury and Saturn combine to stall discussions along with the UR-PL square and eclipses
The Dwarf Planet Ceres - is profoundly connected to nurturing, parenting, fertility: the cycle of birth, growth, death and rebirth
UK Nixes Syrian Invasion - PM Cameron Page's intention to join the U.S. is thwarted by Parliament. Here's how the UK chart is shaping up
Prince George - his Cancer Sun, chart with Scorpio Ascendant and 8th house planets explained. Plus the royal pattern of 10th house planets.-
Turkey's Identity Crisis: As Saturn crosses Turkey's Scorpio Sun, the nation and its neighbors wonder if it's a secular or Islamic state...
Water Grand Trine - This isn't just any old Grand Trine: it's between three heavy-duty planets, Jupiter in Cancer, Saturn in Scorpio and Neptune in its own sign Pisces.
Oxford Archives
Keen readers of this blog will know I’ve been tracking the euro for years, as Uranus, Pluto and Saturn pummelled the currency from various angles. It’s been like watching a boxing match with all the razzmatazz, wordplay, and brutality, as well as cigar-wielding managers and backers sitting in the front row, waiting to see who hits the ropes first.
One of the boxers has been the euro, a shiny fresh-faced currency; his opponent has been a shadowy, shapeshifter, a character brought to life by the energies of the outer planets, donning different masks over the last four years: Anonymous, Varoufakis, intransigence. And sometimes the euro-boxer has actually been fighting himself in a smokey mirror.
But beneath that pretty face (Libra Rising), the euro has always been unhealthy.
Four years ago, I wrote this:
“If you want a stable currency, should you launch it while the moon is in shifting, changeable (although admittedly commercially minded) Gemini?
Would you wait until the planet of the marketplace (Mercury) is in detriment in Sagittarius (the sign of over reaching)?
And how about the money planet herself, Venus? Well, it’s nice to see that she’s in sturdy Capricorn but…conjunct nebulous, duplicitous Neptune. Oof. Nothing has ever been what it seems when it comes to the euro.”
Back then, the euro had survived the passage of Pluto over the IC, and was coping with Pluto over the Sun. Since Pluto takes about 260 years to make a circuit of the Zodiac, a Pluto transit to an angle or personal planet is a very big deal. Both Uranus (on an 82 year cycle), the planet of change, and Pluto the planet of transformation had hit the euro chart angles.
But as you know, history is a process and so are the workings of the planets. The euro unravelling began with Uranus move into Aries (2010) and Pluto’s into Capricorn (2008). It became evident in 2011 as Pluto hit the Sun.
And yet the currency still carries on. Is it a dead man walking? A zombie boxer?
Greece is defaulting on it’s IMF debt tonight at midnight. Some commentators are marking this as a turning point for the whole euro project. It’s definitely the most spectacular conjunction between Venus and Jupiter. I hope your skies are clear enough to see it. Look west at dusk.
The ruler of this chart is Venus in the fourth house. Venus is, of course, money herself. She is in a tight square to Saturn in Aries. Saturn is the foundation in the house of partnership. Although Aries never makes much of a partner. These planets are at 25°/26°. They will both receive direct transits from Uranus (2017) and Pluto (2021).
However, there is also the question of the midpoint between the Sun and Venus. This is around 17° Capricorn. It’s received the highly disruptive square from Uranus once already and will do so again in November and next year. Pluto will reach this point in 2016.
But what about the transits right now? Look at the North Node, almost exactly on the euro Ascendant. That is a turning point — it comes round every 18 years. As a reader Jane Lyle points out in the comments on Playing Games With The Euro, the March eclipses at 29° Pisces have hit many of the European charts decisively. (The North Node shows you the general area of the eclipses for the year).
Then look at the Jupiter-Venus conjunction on the natal North Node. This conjunction is quite delightful for many of us on a personal level, but in this chart it could have several meanings. For a start, Jupiter in Leo can over-reach; combine that with Venus and you get tremendous over-reaching. That’s what’s happened with the euro for sure. Leo adds that sense of divine right. The pompous grandstanding we’ve seen has been part of this energy, and the powerful women involved perhaps too. But Leo in Jupiter ought to be generous and grand, bold and glorious. It’s certainly been theatrical.
Saturn, the grim reaper, through the euro’s second house of income has been brutal for the last two and a half years. There’s been no income. And look, he is currently almost stationing on the euro Chiron, the weak spot, at 29° Scorpio, and he’s going to be close to there all summer. He goes forward on August 2 and back into Sagittarius on September 18.
I wonder if that weak spot on the cusp of the third house of mind and communication is to do with a lack of strategy and an inability to make decisions.
By transit Chiron is also at work on another part of this chart: Jupiter and Pallas in Pisces. Chiron seems to be chipping away at the most compassionate planetary placement in the Zodiac, Jupiter in Pisces. Combine that Jupiter with Pallas, the asteroid of wisdom, and we get a huge idea, a structured vision of an ideal. Chiron transits can wound so that we understand the world better. Maybe it’s the same for a currency. For sure, the ideal is damaged.
The asteroid that’s impossible to ignore in this chart is Vesta, the goddess of the hearth. There she is exactly conjunct the North Node and transited by Jupiter-Venus. Vesta represents our shared heritage and also selfless public service. I wrote about her in the euro chart, here: read the comments too.
Right now by transit she conjuncts the South Node in Aries. Are all the partners in the euro going to go their own ways, believing their own tradition is unique? There has been much talk about the cultural differences between Greece and Germany and how this is at the root of some of the eurozone problems. I think Europeans would do well to visit the rest of the world, and they might find out just how important some of the values we share are.
