Anne Massey’s astrology blog

BC Elections a Close Race

Saturday, April 11th, 2009 | Canadian Politics, Current Planetary trends

Our provincial elections date is fixed (since 2001), the second Tuesday in May at four-year intervals. The Sun will always be in Taurus, and everything else will vary. In 2001 we had a landslide victory for the Liberals or a wipe-out loss for the NDP depending on your take. The There were scandals and the NDP had several short-term leaders leading up to the elections, which was called April 18, 2001 at which time Venus finished her retrograde period-excellent timing for the opposition! This time the writ will be dropped April 14, while Venus is retrograde in Pisces, Mars with Uranus of upsets and Moon in Sagittarius at a 90-degree angle to that Mars-Uranus and about to square the Venus as well. There are winds of change! Some interesting annotations back in 2001 were that Mars was retrograde in Sagittarius, Mercury-Jupiter in Gemini opposed Pluto in Sagittarius and Venus was in Aries, following a retrograde period of forty days that ended the day after the election was called, April 18; that is with a stationary direct Venus.

Ujjal Dosanjh of the NDP was the premier at the time of the elections, having held that position for a year and a bit. He lost his seat, returned to his law practise, until 2004 when he was elected as a Member of Parliament. He has many planets in Virgo (9.9.1947, Punjab, India) and in 2001 both Pluto and the retrograde Mars in Sagittarius were suggesting pressure for change.

The planetary alignments favoured Campbell making nice aspects to his Jupiter and Sun. With the set election date the transit Sun will always make a nice aspect to his Capricorn Sun and Mercury. However, beginning a new job with Mars retrograde, there is a high likelihood of having an incident that brings personal action out to our superiors, in this case the public. Wasn’t it during the first four years that he had the drinking under the influence incident in Hawaii?

If we look at the Sun sign of the past 33 premiers (one held office on two separate occasions), the most common one is Sagittarius and then Aquarius; Campbell is the third Capricorn. Statistically, the most common way to become the premier is by designation following a resignation of the premier in office. To be elected or face defeat are rare occurrences. All of the Capricorn ones have been in office since 1991; from 1933-1991 we had either an air or fire sign at the helm. I have a couple of charts for British Columbia, but I think it is enough to look at the chart for when the polls close.

I managed to find birthdates for 31 premiers and the Sun sign distribution is: Fire: 13; Aries 3- Leo 4-Sagittarius 6; Water: 4; Pisces 1- Cancer 2-Scorpio1; Earth: 6; Virgo 2 - Taurus 1 -Capricorn 3; Air: 8; Gemini 2 - Libra 2 -Aquarius 4; so fire signs lead the list. Since 1991, with the exception of Sagittarius Sun Glen Clark, we have had Earth Sun sign leaders.

This go around both Carole James and Gordon Campbell are Capricorn Suns. The press is calling this Battleground BC; the polls show the Liberals with a double digit lead as of this writing April 11, 2009. There are two main parties at the moment and 79 seats in the Legislative Assembly. The Liberals have held power with Gordon Campbell as the premier, since May 16, 2001. That one was a landslide victory for the Liberals who won 77 of 79 seats. In the previous election (1996) only 75 seats were available and the NDP (New Democratic Party) held the majority by 39 seats, Liberals had 33 seats and there were 3 ‘independent’ MLAs. In 2001 the NDP lost 37 seats, was down to two elected MLAs, by default the party leader was Joy McPhail, who had retained her seat along with Jenny Kwan.

The disparity was eliminated during the May 17, 2005 election when the Liberals held onto only 46, down 31, and the NDP held acquired those seats and had 33 MLAs. At Election time there are three empty seats, which were held by Liberals, Liberals have 42 seats and the NDP 34 (www.leg.bc.ca).

The fixed election date seems to ensure the campaigning begins earlier than the set six weeks. I have had calls from the local MLAs office, numerous expensive looking glossy cards from both the Liberals and the NDP. My requests for timed birth data have fallen on deaf ears. The background for this election is the economy, the massive job losses, school closures and retraining of the workforce from industries that have suffered the most during the current recession.

There was an advertising ban by third parties in front of the courts during the Venus retrograde period, the Liberals tried to stop the teachers, health workers, etc. running negative advertisements against the Liberals. The courts ruled against the Liberals. Back in 2001, when the NDP were fighting to hold onto their power, they took the advertising issue to the courts and lost once again with Venus retrograde in Aries. Justice is assigned to Libra and Venus; so the opposition by the courts toward the law suit, was par for the course. What is similar between the astrological factors in May 2001 and May 2009 and what is different—this is rather interesting.

Polls close May 2001

These three Election Day charts are cast for the seat of power, Victoria BC at the close of polls on the day. In 2001 the party in Power (NDP) was represented by Mars in the chart. Mars was in a weak position being retrograde, the tools the NDP had at their disposal also belonged to Mars… not in good shape. The Pisces Moon represented the public and it was about to square off with that Mars-the past had caught up… Venus represented the Liberals and had the tools rhetoric at her disposal.
Venus represented the opposition party and its representative was Venus in its detriment, but the domain it fell under was Mercury which was in Gemini and with Jupiter, which ruled the battleground back then and Mercury was going to be the leader at the top.

That was the landslide year for the Liberals.

2005 Election Day

In 2005 the situation was a bit more balanced. The Liberals were represented by Mars having recently separated from disruptive Uranus and under the ‘auspices’ of Venus. Mars was also the planet protecting the ‘battleground’. They held onto power but suffered significant losses. NDP was represented by Venus, which was also under the auspices of Venus and receiving nice aspect from the beneficial Jupiter-the gained ground but that Mercury still held onto power. Note that Venus and Mars were about to form a square-this was a battle for those seats.

The situation on May 12, 2009

This time, May 2009, the Liberals are defending and represented by; Mars is its own sign of Aries and operating under the terms of Mercury, which happens to be in its own sign but retrograde—ready to return into Taurus. Mars has recently pulled ahead of Venus, which represents the opposition. My speculation is that this represents the pre-election promises.

BC votes May 12, 2009

That Mars forms a YOD in the chart, with Saturn in Virgo in the 11th house. The other part of this configuration (also called the finger of god) is the IC, which represents the battleground, which is under the domain of Jupiter. Hmmm, let’s look at the NDP’s role, as the opposition, the ruling planet is Venus, which is now moving forward, albeit slowly, it is operating on her own terms, and forming applying aspects. It has recently had a meeting with Mars (that date is April 21, 2009)-something is likely to happen around that date that causes a concession, compromise… wonder what election promise hits the airways that day; one thing I would declare it won’t be followed through on. Venus is receiving surprising support from some powerful groups. However, Mars in its own sign is more effective than Venus in her detriment, needing to play with Mars’ rules.

The Liberals will have to compromise something with the next term; I expect they will get in but chances are the balance and the numbers won’t be hugely in their favour, might we see a 40-39 split? This time the highest office has limitations, having to operate on a short leash. This might actually be an interesting election to watch. I do hope that the Moon in Capricorn on the day means that people will bother to go to the polls.

Let’s look at the charts for the two party leaders, neither has a time—yes, I have emailed both. The charts are cast for the day and place of birth using the noon hour for positions.

It is interesting to note that on the federal level we have a Taurus Prime Minister and the leader of the opposition is also a Taurus. Well, this repeats at provincial level Premier Gordon Campbell and opposition leader Carole James are both Capricorn Sun individuals, both with Venus in Aquarius.

The Liberals have been in power in BC since 2001, when the moniker ‘BC Liberals’ was used during the election. That date was May 16, 2001. Venus was in Aries just like now, having spent months in the sign already. Naturally the Sun was in Taurus at a later degree (26°) than this year, with the election date four days prior on May 12, 2009.

 
Once again, I only have the date and place of birth for Gordon, January 12, 1948. Gordon is supposedly a Virgo name? Will I ever hear back re birthtimes, hah.

Campbell has Sun and Mercury in Capricorn, Moon and Venus in Aquarius and a retrograde Mars in Virgo. He also has a YOD to his Sun from Saturn-Uranus; and this configuration brings in Venus as well. I have highlighted and linked planets together with lines, this shows what is sensitized in this Sun on the Ascendant chart cast for January 12, 1948 Vancouver at noon in Vancouver, BC. Jupiter-Neptune will be on his Venus in Aquarius. Jupiter tends to show success. The Sun is on his North node and forms a trine to his Sun-Mercury, which supports his victory. Mars in Aries in nice aspect to his Jupiter and Saturn in Virgo is as well. Uranus and Pluto do not figure prominently, which is a good thing for him. I his chart Mars is retrograde in Virgo, which might be one indication about how often he goes into hiding from the public and how his actions are disconnected from the rest of his persona. Mars retrograde in Virgo dislikes criticism and is highly averse to verbal battles.

How does it look in Carole’s chart?

Carole James

Carole has Sun-Mercury in Capricorn as well, and her Moon is in Capricorn, we don’t have the degree as the chart is cast for noon hour on December 22, 1957 in London, England. I don’t have a time for her either. Carole has Sun trine Pluto in her chart and currently Pluto is in early Capricorn and conjunct her Sun for a couple of years; this is usually not a good indicator when we are looking at winning something. However, it does seem that her status a bona fide leader has increased of late. Mercury on Election Day makes a quincunx to Carole’s Sun and even transit Venus squares her Mercury; the Ascendant as polls close is on Carole’s Neptune. She is not getting much support from the transits. Her chart looks much better about four years forward

Carole James took over the leadership of the NDP on November 23, 2003 shortly after a New Moon in optimistic, future-oriented Sagittarius. Astrologically Uranus was switching between Aquarius and Pisces—a sign of changes to come. Pluto and Mercury were on Carole’s Saturn, and I seem to recall that no-one else really wanted to be in charge of a party with only two MLA’s and Carole wasn’t one of them.

In the press I see speculation that one of the leaders is bound to resign post election. Seeing that historically it is always amidst a ‘scandal’ and scandals emerge in the news when there are planetary changes, stations and/or eclipses that activate a chart. In Carole’s case Pluto will station direct on her Sun in September. There is an eclipse in July that is at 15°Capricorn, but we don’t know her Moon degree so cannot really take that into account. There are three eclipses in the Summer; the one in August will be with her Venus-Uranus opposition. It might mean that she is the one to reconsider her political aspirations, perhaps the now better positioned party has members willing to lead. Perhaps she will be challenged to enter a party vote on leadership. In light of what is coming up, I do hope she ’sticks’ it out.

Gordon Campbell will have a Neptune station on his Venus in November and a Venus-Sun conjunction on his Sun in January 2010 plus Mars will be retrograde in Leo and will spend 8 months in the sign beginning October 16, 2009; that station is going to square his Nodal axis from a prominent position-is he planning to retire after the Olympics? Mars travels back from approx. 20 degrees of Leo to 0° degrees Leo. He will be 62 next January, and beginning at the end of October 2009 until the end of 2010 Saturn in Libra will make overtures toward his Moon which is within 0-14° of Aquarius, depending on time of birth as will Mars for a lengthy period November 2009-June 2010.

Copyright Anne Massey, April 11, 2009

Tags: bc elections 2009, carole james, gordon campbell

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