Anne Massey’s astrology blog

On leave

Friday, January 27th, 2012 | astrologer's diary | Write Comment

I am away from my office for another two months or so. I will be back to teaching, consulting and blogging after the Spring Equinox. I will respond to emails, return calls, etc. at that time. My world changed on November 22 and I am unable to work at this time. I will be launching a new column “We are starlight…” at the Equinox; it will be non-astrological, in the meantime I have loads of reading material at www.astrologicallyspeaking.com

Virgo and Libra

Tuesday, September 20th, 2011 | Ask Anne, Astrology Students, Astrology for You, astrologer's diary, astrology basics | Write Comment

Reader question: I have a question for you – I have had my chart done a few times. I have heard different opinions on my rising sign, 29 degrees Virgo – 1st house. Some astrologers say, it is essentially the same as Libra rising. Others saying no, Virgo…antithetic

Anne’s response: There is a big difference between the last degree of Virgo rising to the first degree of Libra rising. We cannot change your Ascendant to be a Libra or imply that it almost is.

If the final degree of Virgo is rising, we tend to find a person, who is very driven to accomplish something in life and has worked diligently toward the perfect presentation of self—always putting the best foot forward, or knowing your most flattering side. (Ready for my close up…)

Antithetic means diametrically opposed, which is the complete or exact opposite. So that cannot be true. Libra is opposite Aries, and Virgo is opposite Pisces. Virgo and Libra are adjacent signs, their connection or lack of one, was called an aversion by classical astrology. Aversion is a polite way of describing we truly don’t like something, and have little or nothing in common. The energy between the two signs is actually mitigated by the fact that they are of equal ascension, meaning they rise for the same length of time each day—so the two actually work together, maybe somewhat reluctantly. › Continue reading

My interview with Rob Hand

Tuesday, September 20th, 2011 | Astrology Students, astrologer's diary | Write Comment

Over the course of the summer, I had the priviledge to interview Rob Hand. I first posted this piece on the www.astrologyguild.com website. Rob will be at the Guild in October for two talks and a workshop, if you are in the area, I highly recommend the events.

“Astrology is a discipline which is rooted in a pre-modern, in fact pre-medieval concept of the world. It very strongly implies, that we consider the universe an aspect of a living, conscious, and sentient being. “—Rob Hand

It is interesting to think of a historian, computer software writer, author, lecturer, professor, philosopher, translator and a scholar with the Sagittarian bent for the truth—realize how complex that sounds—and then identify the person as Robert Hand. At a recent conference Rob was introduced as the Stephen Spielberg of astrology, and I asked him how he felt about that. “I don’t like being regarded as the Spielberg of astrology, I am just a human being who has a deep interest and understanding of astrology”, was Rob’s comment during. In fact he might prefer be likened to Johann Sebastian Bach, ‘whose work was revered for its intellectual depth, technical command and artistic beauty’ (comment about Bach sourced from Wikipedia—AM). On second thought just a human being, who happens to be a well-versed and learned. › Continue reading

Gemini, butterflies and Mars in Gemini

Monday, June 20th, 2011 | Astrology for You, astrologer's diary, astrology basics | Write Comment

I just posted a column about Gemini and Mars in Gemini at www.astrologicallyspeaking.com/Gemini2011.htm — it is a rerun of a column I wrote in 2003. The horoscopes in it are updated. “Geminis are like butterflies fluttering from flower to flower, always looking for new tastes and new experiences; breezy and blithe not allowing life to stagnate as that fosters boredom. Read more by following the link above.

Jupiter in Taurus

Friday, June 3rd, 2011 | Astrology for You, astrologer's diary | Write Comment

Jupiter moves into Taurus June 4, 2011. I just posted a column with individual horoscopes on my website, find it at www.astrologicallyspeaking.com/JupiterTaurus.htm

Amidst all the earth changes, it is nice to concentrate on some beneficial energy. It is also nice to see the pragmatic, solid Earth energy gain some influence. My at a Glance for 2012 is hot off the presses and I will be posting a link to the sidebar in the next few days. For now it is featured at my website www.astrologicallyspeaking.com

Colours of Canadian Federal Elections 2011

Thursday, April 28th, 2011 | Canadian Politics | Write Comment

This election appears to be all about which leader and the platform seems secondary. There has been little information about the other candidates, other than those caught doing something… On a purely subjective front, I must say I was most impressed with Elizabeth May, when she was interviewed by CBC. What a breath of fresh air… Ironically I received two voter cards, so perhaps the Universe is saying I can have my say twice. So I thought I’d take one last look at the chart for the vote to bring down the government and the one for closing of the polls on Election Day. The short version is that everything thus far indicates a minority government with some potentially significant shift in the number of seats.

On Election we still have half the planets opposing Saturn for Harper from Aries the challengers, Mars in Aries is in charge of the gang. Uranus for Layton has advanced rapidly since the election was called, and is well placed (at 2°50’ of Aries and in the 6^th house of service and hard work, in the triplicity of the Sun (for the leader), which is in steady Taurus and in the bounds of Jupiter representing increase. So chances are Layton will gain ground; maybe even significantly—might even be enough to shock the pollsters. › Continue reading

Layton and Duceppè

Wednesday, April 20th, 2011 | Canadian Politics | 2 Comments

Gilles Duceppè has Sun, Mercury and Venus in Cancer with his Mars in Gemini with Uranus, he like Iggy will be turning 64 this year. Layton as I have talked about for a couple of years is also a Cancer Sun with Moon and Saturn paired together in Virgo coupled with an idealistic Mars-Neptune pairing. Layton is 61. In my earlier write up last week, I stated that Layton has the ideal chart for an opposition leader but could not have anticipated his gain of popularity in Quebec. I wonder if he was cheering when Ignatieff started drumming home the message that he would not form a coalition.

The poll to be released tomorrow is pegging Layton as the most popular federal leader in Quebec… I seem to recall that there are 75 seats up for grabs in the populous province, and now Layton’s party might be in a position to win more… Astrologically speaking, it is interesting that Harper and Iggy are both Taurus Suns with strong Aries. These two both have a Cancer Sun just like the Canada; Layton has his Mercury with Canada’s Mercury and can appear to speak on our behalf with authenticity. Duceppè has his Mars and Uranus on Canada’s Venus and his talk about Quebec as a nation, resonates with that energy, and next June that issue might crop up again…Layton has so many authentic connections to Canada’s chart that I am not terribly surprised his message is well-received by people of Quebec, who might all also prefer not to separate.

It might be interesting to see Layton as the leader of the opposition; I think he would keep the Conservatives honest. However all the polls could be wrong, maybe the silent majority opts to vote and go green, go all NDP… Canadians have wiped out parties before. It is such a shame that Canada has this regional voting system rather than popular vote; the result might be more to the liking of typical Canadians, who want a coalition and MPs to work together, that is what we pay them to do, find a way to work it out.

Little forward momentum Federal Election

Thursday, April 14th, 2011 | Canadian Politics, Current Planetary trends | Write Comment

When the election was called, the planet of communication and negotiations was getting ready to change direction having reached 23° Aries. It occupied the highest point in the chart of the moment, on that Friday afternoon. Aries is the sign that deals the best with moving forward and of course, aggressive, non-conciliatory and heated debate. Since the end of March the motion has been backward and the next change is not until April 23.

I watched an agonizing two hours of the National Leaders’ debate in English (don’t speak French), which I quite frankly saw as a shouting match. Unfortunately with so many planets in Aries and only Saturn in co-operative Libra as an astrologer I should have expected exactly that. The debate portion of the event was lost and with it an opportunity to engage the audience, who after all are each spending $10 per Canadian on the Election Process. The planetary power during the campaign and on Election Day continues to be heavily weighted in Aries. Aries has some wonderful qualities, but on the negative front it ramrods its way onto the scene, throws caution to the wind and then deals with what it finds rather than plans to set an agenda. Aries is the scrapper, willing to engage in a fight without too much preparation. Expediency is important and in terms of advertising, it is like those commercials, which say that my product is better than the leading brand.

So if we take Mercury to be the election talk, he is pulling backward symbolically returning to what was. The Moon is the public opinion and the pulls away by May 2 not quite reaching the Sun, which naturally would be the leading contender. Might the public throw its support behind status quo but not quite within allowing Harper to form a majority?

During this campaign Mercury will have been travelling the same ‘landscape’ at length—forwards and backwards—will anything change? Mercury will be together with Venus, making a connection to Harper’s Mercury and Canada’s Neptune.  Was it all in vain? › Continue reading

Harper, Ignatieff and Canada’s chart

Sunday, April 3rd, 2011 | Canadian Politics, astrologer's diary | 5 Comments

The rhetoric is heating up, the advertising campaigns are difficult to avoid on Canadian networks. Not quite below the belt but… and then on the news the same sound bites and media clips on each channel. I don’t follow tweets, twitters, etc but assume that the same 140 characters are going out from each source. I have been driving around Surrey and Langley in the past week, there are prominent (big), and blue roadside signs for the Conservatives and lots of smaller orange signs for the NDP candidates. I have no idea who the Liberal candidates for the four ridings near our house are —the signs are absent from the landscape—the only red signs are for real estate agents. Incidentally there are no signs for Green party candidates’ either.

I am going over charts with a fine-toothed comb, the first one is that for Canada and where the emphasis is and what integrated patterns are formed. In our chart the Moon and Mercury (shown in light grey) don’t form major connections, thus are not particularly well integrated into our national identity. Thus they operate without input from the other planetary energies.

The blue planets belong to Harper, and we can see at a glance how his planets connect closely with those in our national chart. What is interesting to observe is that Harper’s planet of responsibility sits at the top of our chart; the position of the leader, manager or boss. The polls tracking this election campaign measure who Canadians would prefer as the manager of the country, Harper has 109 points, Layton is number two and Ignatieff holds third place. The top of our national chart and the Saturn in Harper’s chart, have been under ‘attack’ from Pluto, one of the agents of change. However, Pluto will not actually reach that position until late in 2012, signalling a change at the top ranks of our government. It does look as if Harper will retain his job. › Continue reading

Majority or Coalition

Friday, April 1st, 2011 | Canadian Politics, astrologer's diary | Write Comment

Coalition is a Venus concept, because it is about the ability to co-operate. Ignatieff has Venus with Mars in Aries, the sign that wants to go it alone. Think of Sinatra’s song “I did it my way”.  The pair of planets falls into the first house for Canada, indicating that he believes he is able to be the voice of Canadians. He is a Taurus Sun, just like Harper and both men also have the Moon in Aquarius. Venus is in charge of the sign Taurus. I don’t see him really wanting to form a coalition; he wants to be in charge. At the time he was declared the leader of the Liberals, Juno the contract-maker was influenced by Pluto of control, power and hostile take-overs. Now that same energy is being influence by rebellious Uranus, and if he fails to meet the expectations of winning his majority, not a coalition, I think he will walk away.

Harper has his Venus in Gemini, close to the Venus in Canada’s chart. Gemini is an adaptable and flexible sign, less so when we remember the tenacity and obstinacy that are strong traits in a Taurus person. He would form a coalition more readily, as his planets strongly tap into the innate energy is the national chart for Canada. He would adjust in order to have the country on secure economic footing. Harper’s contract maker is in Libra, the sign of co-operation, which is currently under the influence of Saturn, which would spell out that he would form a coalition but under duress. If he ended up with a coalition, I suspect he might pull away from his leadership role within a year or so. › Continue reading