Anne Massey’s astrology blog

Liberals Change Leaders

Monday, December 8th, 2008 | Canadian Politics, Current Planetary trends, Mundane astrology

The Liberals have a scheduled meeting to discuss leadership of the party for Wednesday. However the biggest decision was already made over the weekend—Dion needs to step aside. I have been writing about Wednesday and potential outcome and who is likely to be at the helm. There seem to be persistent themes in the charts of the politicians playing the power battles in Ottawa. Most of the players in this drama have Neptune influencing a personal planet. Ideologies, the theatre, illusion, enchantment, deception, dissolution and drugs are some of the concepts astrology assigns to Neptune. In terms of perception through the lens of Neptune, let’s think how something looks on film as opposed to what our eyes see. Last week a movie was being shot in our little town, it was a Xmas movie so snow was needed. Workers laid out white batting on the ground and made a smidgen of artificial snow and once the movie is out in theatres people will see a beautiful snow-covered landscape… Photography is another illusion; a blurry lens will soften hard lines and make people look younger or illusive/ethereal; the wrong kind of lighting will do the opposite. We saw that with Dion’s address to the nation.

So after looking at the various charts, five of which are in the piece about what the outcome was likely to be—fire the prime minister, prorogue or election (click here to read the post), I expect the contenders for political office to have a strong ideological signature involving Neptune. In the case of Dion it is Mercury-Neptune. This is not ideal aspect for someone who needs to be able to express himself with clarity. It would be great for a writer or a poet. The fact that his English isn’t that great is not the point; he seems to have a hard time getting his message across… He did manage to secure the leadership of the oldest political party in Canada, but the writing is on the wall… he won’t be holding that position for long. I think that 1955 babies are supposed to be moving toward something new; Bill Gates one of the most famous of the 1955 batch stepped away from Microsoft to do charity work. Those born in 1955 are about to experience their second lunar return, which I find to be a closing cycle and an opening of a new one… time to move on.

Dion's chart with transits

Dion’s planetary placements are shown in the adjacent chart. The planets are placed in the natural wheel. We cannot ascertain the degree of his Moon and if he were to have been born late in the day, his Moon would be in Pisces. These positions are calculated for noon hour. We can see the huge emphasis in Libra, and that he was born on a day when Mars was in square to the Nodes of the Moon. His road toward realizing his goals and aspirations is not likely a smooth one. He is a perfectionist with Mars in Virgo—it is all in the details. Throughout 2008 Saturn has been having meetings with that Mars imposing limitations, screaming ‘get real’, stand for what you believe in. The blue circles identify what the transiting Saturn-Uranus is affecting in his chart. Pink is for Neptune—the inspiration for Rose-coloured glasses and yellow is to highlight the Pluto-effect. Uranus is in aspect to his Sun, the man has brilliant ideas but is ‘erratic’ and he has a hard time voicing his brilliant insights. He can also lose his temper, as we saw with the ‘fiasco’ of his address to the nation. Libra would hate to be seen in such unfavourable light… A sense of humour does not leap out of his planetary patterns. He has Saturn sextile his Mars so ‘he is not a quitter’—we do speak out the planetary energies. As we are now in the Pluto in Capricorn era, the impact of that is influencing his Sun, which represents the ego, identity and pride. If he was a client I would be advising him to step down gracefully, offer his brilliant ideas as a support guy. Maybe around the end of 2009 he can rise to a more elevated and/or rewarding position as Saturn begins its move through Libra.

So if Dion is not it for the Liberal party, what is going to be taking place behind the scenes on Wednesday when the Liberals are holding a meeting—by then I expect that Stephané Dion will have stepped down. I also don’t expect that the party appoint an interim leader; stability and predictability is required. Two of the contenders whom Dion beat in the previous round of elect a leader; Michael Ignatieff and Bob Rae This party claims the confederation date as the birth of the party, thus looking at Canada’s chart will help illuminate the happenings at this important meeting.

Sun, Mars and Mercury are in Sagittarius this week being squared by Saturn (slowing down and about to turn retrograde). They need to be making some realistic, solid decisions, which is overstating the obvious, but that is the astrologic of the planetary configuration. Getting people to agree and perhaps at this meeting, it is a good thing they have an independent arbitrator, because there will lots of arguing and tempers will be high. I heard a journalist refer to typical outbursts in parliament as staged anger; I doubt that any angry outbursts will be staged this week. The Moon on Monday is on the Ascendant for Canada’s chart—the one cast for one minute past midnight July 1, 1867.

Canada's chart for 00:01 July 1, 1867

These planetary configurations are not favouring Dion. Saturn tends to limit and in the case of Dion is limiting what he can hope to accomplish. Mars is our accomplishing and actions, his happens to be in Virgo. He will be ‘tossed aside’—how and when depends on how he chooses to act. The astrology of the situation is the Saturn opposite Uranus or leadership challenge; Saturn is the boss or leader and Uranus is the rebels or the ones who want to break free from status quo. Today and for a few more days this dynamic is putting pressure on the Sun and Mars in Sagittarius. These characters i.e. planets are joined together by red dashed lines in the chart. Sagittarius is the sign of political rhetoric, advertising, promotion and opinions/convictions. Mercury is moving away from the pair and headed toward Pluto, the two will meet on the 12th—could it be the day of the announcement of a new leader for the Liberals. We also have a wonderful grand trine (in green) on the Wednesday, where the Moon links with the Saturnine Leader and the Jovian Leader (Jupiter). Saturn is under pressure, that is obvious, but so is the Moon being influenced by Neptune. It’s all a grand illusion. The Mars-Uranus square is exact on December 11.

Let’s look at the planetary weather on Wednesday the Moon is in steady, fiscally responsible Taurus (good day to discuss financial matters with the banker, etc) and will form a lovely aspect to beneficial Jupiter. If we apply these configurations on Canada’s Chart. The one calculated for one minute after midnight on July 1, 1867. The transit Mercury is on the Nation’s natal Moon at 28°Gemini 50’ at 11:00 on Friday December 12.
Canada has Aries rising with Neptune right on the Ascendant in the 12th house, perhaps the reason some astrologers state that we don’t have a national identity, as Chris McRae said in her comment. The Neptune is a part of a YOD configuration, which of course is present in the Noon hour chart as well. In this one we have actual houses; the house division in this chart is Koch. The only planet that is disconnected in the chart is Mercury at 4 Leo. Back in 2004, Canada elected a government with Venus Retrograde; Liberal Paul Martin was elected prime minister, he was in office already since December 2003 to finish Jean Chretien’s term. That rare Venus Occultation took place on our Venus in June 2004.  Remember that the Liberal party claims Canada’s birthday as the party’s birthday. In 2004 the Liberals won a minority government with 135 seats. Currently the Liberals have 77 seats.

Green highlights in this diagram identify the stress on the Nation’s Moon. The nation’s Moon represents the people, public opinion. It is in the third house and void of course. Pluto has been close to that Moon for many years now, and our political parties have seen many ups and downs in the past eight years, during which time we haven’t seen a majority government. Incidentally, transit Mercury is on the Nation’s natal Moon at 28°Gemini 50’ at 11:00 on Friday December 12. The drama on Parliamentary Hill began to unfold with Moon void of course in Pisces on December 1. Previous post at http://www.annemassey.ca/2008/12/04/power-battles-on-parliamentary-hill/

The Moon was also void of course in Aquarius when the announcement to prorogue was made. There are a few statements that horary astrologers apply to void of course Moon; there is nothing to worry about, nothing will come of it and it simply has to ‘run its course’. On Wednesday, December 10, the Moon will be void of course from 17:23 until 2:33 the next day in Gemini. On Friday we have a full Moon and the Moon becomes void 13:01. Note these times are for Ottawa, for British Columbia, deduct 3 hours.

I now expect to see a personal planet in aspect with Neptune with each Canadian politician whose birth date and place I find on the web. When looking at Neptune in terms of politics the words that come to mind are ideology, illusion and the lines between what is real and what the spin needs to be are blurred. I will list the data for each player in this historic saga in Canadian Politics. So far I have looked at seven charts without a known birth time, which doesn’t sound like real astrology. When astrologers do not know the time the houses, which define areas of life cannot used. Astrologers of antiquity actually looked at the signs as the houses or homes of the planets. Contemporary astrologers use either a sunrise chart or put the planets on the natural wheel, which always places Aries on the Ascendant. I am opting for the latter. With this method I find that speculating about the potential Ascendant is easier and the planetary patterns yield a lot of information. We have to work with the tools at our disposal and from past experience I have found that politicians in Canada do not care to provide astrologers with birth time. I have approached several of them, and by the way Stephen Harper’s office responded with ‘he does not know his time of birth’ whereas Kim Campbell (she was our Prime Minister rather briefly) never bothered to answer my letter (before email was an option).

Ignatieff's chart

Ignatieff was born May 12, 1947 in Toronto, and according to Wikipedia, is a public intellectual, historian, and Canadian politician. He has held academic positions at Cambridge, Oxford, Harvard, and the University of British Columbia. An award-winning author, he has also worked as a journalist and documentary filmmaker.

Michael Ignatieff happens to be a Taurus Sun, just like our prime minister. He is distancing himself from the ‘limelight’ at present. Why would he be doing that—he lost the race before but now he has a second chance… Let’s look at his chart… naturally I haven’t got a time, so we have partial information. No strong Neptune connection in this chart… surprise. Moon in Aquarius all day on the day he was born, this is another prominent theme with current politicians on Parliamentary Hill. This chart also is calculated for noon hour and placed in the natural wheel. I have circled the strong pattern in his chart. Even without his biography we can see he is highly intelligent, he has a Moon-Uranus connection with methodical Mercury in Taurus. His Neptune does not add an element of ‘fog’ or high idealism into his character. He has Venus and Mars in Aries, and in the Spring of 2009, Venus will stay in Aries for several weeks… this is likely to bring something unexpected into the picture. I am already thinking that we will have another election.

Ignatieff does not have too many stressors from the transiting planets, he may be somewhat reluctant to take on the extra responsibilities, but overall the Saturn trine and Uranus sextile to his Sun-Mercury in Taurus seems to say, a new job or an appointment. He might see where this all will lead and have some personal second thoughts about accepting the acclamation. With all of the analysis I have been looking at with Canada’s charts and those of the players in the political drama, I must note that this chart looks good for a ‘promotion’ and with the Moon in Taurus conjunct Ignatieff’s Mercury-Sun, which is in aspect to his Jupiter in Scorpio and remembering that transit Jupiter is making a lovely trine to his Sun-Mercury and a sextile to his Jupiter. When we have a planetary aspect in our own chart and it repeats in the sky, the natal promise is ‘released’. Looking at Bob Rae’s chart might be a mute point, but let’s take a quick look.

Rae's chart

Bob Rae was born August 2, 1948 in Ottawa, Ontario. A bilingual lawyer, Bob Rae was a federal NDP member of parliament before he switched to provincial politics and became Leader of the Ontario NDP. As the first NDP Premier of Ontario Bob Rae tried to run a middle of the road government, and managed to alienate all sides. A deep recession and soaring Ontario deficits did not help his popularity. The NDP were turfed from government in Ontario in 1995. Bob Rae resigned as Ontario NDP leader and MPP for York South in 1996. (Information from http://canadaonline.about.com/od/premiers/p/bobrae.htm)
He has a Neptune-Mars combo—circled in the chart, for Dion that was Mercury-Neptune at about the same degrees. Might the Liberal MPs think that he is more likely to make backroom deals. His biography above does not paint a pretty picture about his politics. Jack Layton has the same in his chart, I talked about that in a previous post. Seeing that Pluto has been on his volatile Venus-Uranus pair for the past few years, I wonder if his actions over the past few years have helped limit his support within the party. I really cannot see him getting in at this point. Thing might change for him late 2010 when Saturn moves into Libra.

The list of players so far with birth data:

Prime Minister, Stephen Harper born April 30, 1959 in Toronto
Leader of the Liberal Party, Stephané Dion, born September 28, 1955 in Montreal
Leader of the NDP, Jack Layton born July 18, 1950 in Montreal
Leader of Bloc Québécois, Gilles Duceppè born July 22, 1947 in Montreal
Governor-General Michaëlle Jean born September 9, 1957 in Port-au-Prince, Haiti
Contender for Liberal Party Leader, Michael Ignatieff born May 12, 1947 in Toronto
Contender for Liberal Party Leader, Bob Rae born August 2, 1948 in Ottawa

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