Katie-Ellen

Hey Toro! It’s Taurus time again

Taurus 19 April – 20 May 2022.

The dates for the zodiac signs can vary by a day or two. The Sun enters the sign of Taurus roughly 8 PM tonight, 19 April, Pacific time, and about 3 in the morning, 20 April, UK time.

The word ‘zodiac’ comes from the Greek meaning ‘circle of animals.’ The only zodiac sign that is non-representative of a living creature is Libra, the sign of the Scales, but in astronomy, even the Scales are borrowed from the stars of Scorpio, the claws of the giant scorpion in the heavens next door.

Taurus (from the Latin for Bull) is a fixed earth sign; the second sign of the western zodiac, and represents the height of spring in the northern hemisphere in all its budding glory. This was the time of the calving of the ancient wild cattle, the auroch. It is thought that Salisbury Plain, and Stonehenge, was once a mass gathering site on their annual migration route. The remains of auroch have been discovered nearby at Blick Mead.

This extract from a blog about Stonehenge and the Ice Age. “Forget about ancient ancestors, healing stones, solar solstice alignments and periglacial stripes. Stonehenge is where it is because it’s on an aurochs migration route. The OU team that was involved in the latest investigations of the Mesolithic traces near Amesbury has been putting this press release out and about, and now it’s all over the internet…… some of the headlines are quite splendid. Aurochs-burgers, anybody?”

No other zodiac sign has more ancient mythology or cult history attached to it than the sign of The Bull, revered for its power and potency since it was hunted by early man, first as the wild ox, the mighty auroch, before the first cattle were domesticated, DNA evidence suggests, about 10, 500 years ago in the Near East, tracing a herd of an estimated 80 animals.

Bison licking insect bite, carving on antler bone, discovered Dordogne, France, dated 1200 -20 000 years BP (before present)

Stars, Planets, Omens

The planetary ruler of Taurus, Venus, also known as Hesperus the Evening Star and Lucifer the Morning Star is the planet of love, beauty, luxury – and therefore also banking and finance. Contrary to her popular reputation, as the supposed opposite of Mars, Venus too can be aggressive, and is not always peaceful, just as the Bull is largely peaceable, but is dangerous when disturbed or provoked..

Diverging for a moment on to the topic of aggression, the Tarot shows Taurus as the nemesis of Mr Putin. I do not think it means that the conflict will end before late May 2022. Unfortunately. But there are also Taurus-Scorpio eclipses coming in 2022.

Saturday, April 30: Partial Solar Eclipse in Taurus.

Monday, May 16: Total Lunar Eclipse in Scorpio.

Tuesday October 25: Partial Solar Eclipse in Scorpio.

Tuesday, November 8: Total Lunar Eclipse in Taurus.

Mr Putin is a Libra native with a lot of Scorpio going on. Taurus and Scorpio are opposites. what he is doing in Ukraine, apart from the horror, sorrow and devastation of it all, is upsetting the ‘order’ in Europe, political, economic financial (think Bull markets) agricultural crop exports and otherwise. Taurus is all about order. This war may be neither lost or won as such, and yes, new orders emerge, but this war seems fated, whatever the damage, to rebound on Russia and on Mr Putin himself.

The star constellation of Taurus is visible between August and April. The best months to see it are December and January when it is visible all night long, looking up to the right above and beyond the three stars of Orion’s Belt. You will especially notice a bright reddish star, Aldebaran, the Eye of the Bull glaring down at Orion the Hunter. Should the Bull escape his pen, and break through the gate being guarded by the Seven Sisters (Pleiades) said ancient Arab legend, he would stampede the Universe to pieces. Let’s hope he has plenty of daisies and buttercups up there to keep him happy, and some cows, and no mosquitoes or horseflies to bother him.

The constellation is hidden in the glare of the Sun from May onwards and can’t be observed in June and July.

The Taurus Archetype

All the zodiac signs represent archetypes, meaning something that is considered to be a perfect or typical example of a particular kind of person or thing.

A zodiac sign paint a poetic portrait of a person born at a particular time of year, in a particular season. A baby born in summer arrives into a different physical environment from a winter baby; with differences of temperature, hours of daylight, maternal diet during pregnancy and so on, with potentially different effects on the baby’s physical makeup and constitution.

As a fixed sign, Taurus rules anything associated with the mid- zone of spring, the height of the season. The other fixed signs are Leo, midsummer, Scorpio, mid-autumn and Aquarius, midwinter.

The fixed signs are traditionally considered the most stable and steadfast signs, protectors of the status quo, the signs most at ease with conservation and protecting continuity.

The genius of Taurus,and sensual Aphrodite (Venus) and her corresponding Egyptian goddess Isis, like The High Priestess in the Tarot, is often represented as wearing two horns upon her head in imitation of the Bull; a symbol which is frequently confused or conflated with the crescent moon.

Taurus rules the ears, neck and throat, and the Taurus native is known for their distinctive, usually smooth speaking voice and often has an excellent singing voice. Famous Taurus singes include Willie Nelson, James Brown, Ella Fitzgerald, Barbra Streisand, Cher, Bono, Billy Joel, Olly Murs, Enya, Adele.

Taurus may seem slow to learn compared with say, a mercurial, quicksilver Gemini native, but their grasp is thorough, and they are also prone to flashes of intuition and inspiration and possess an excellent memory besides. Once learned, never forgotten is the Taurean way.

These people have a quietly pleasant and magnetic personality, except for the grumpier, taciturn, self-opinionated natives of the sign. Taurus is known for a quiet physical attractiveness, and they are sensual, sensory people. This sign especially needs to watch they don’t overdo the whole comfort thing, over-eating and so on. They usually like to dance and they have natural rhythm. They are strong with good stamina, but they are not overall the most sporty natives of the zodiac.

Taurus ‘wunt be druv.’ They are notoriously resistant and stubborn…their stability is the other side of this coin. Taurus tends to be thoughtful of their friends, and can be relied on in times of difficulty for good advice and encouragement. Taurus is known for a particular magic of soothing and reassuring others, but can be grumpy or irritable, like a bull shaking off gadflies, if you overload them with a lot of things at once, or get in their space while their thoughts are elsewhere.

Taurus in the Tarot

The Tarot cards associated with Taurus are The Hierophant, The King of Pentacles (Coins, Disks) and the 5, 6 and 7 Pentacles, also called Disks or Coins -the money suit.

The Hierophant

Card Meanings: a man of authority, tradition ,the status quo, marriage, religion, the Church, Teachers, mentors, Universities, agriculture, money, finance, Banks, publishing, keys,

Every suit in the Tarot has its own court with a king and queen, a knight and a page. The principle Court card associated with Taurus is The King of Pentacles, ruler of the element of Earth.

The King of Pentacles (Disks or Coins)

Card Meanings: Earth, mature man, husband, father, grandfather, employer, practical man, capable, responsible, steadfast, determined, instinctive, landowner, banker, prosperity, farmer, builder, businessman, engineer, business owner, artist, singer, sensual, bon vivant

Lastly, the minor arcana cards associated with Taurus are the Five, Six and Seven of Pentacles, Disks or Coins.

These cards correlate with the decans of Taurus. If you don’t feel like you are a ‘typical’ Taurus, well, we are all unique, but perhaps you are also a second or third decan Taurus native, rather than a ‘most typical’ first decan Taurus.

What is a Decan?

The word ‘Decan’ comes from the Latin meaning ‘ten.’ Each zodiac sign lasts about 30 days and is further divided into three blocks of roughly10 days each. These decans or decanates are sometimes called the ‘thirty-six faces of astrology,’ bringing added depth and nuance to the psychological profile associated with your zodiac sign also known as your sun sign.

Background story– The Zodiac is the 360 degree belt of sky we can see from Earth, tracking the path of the sun across the sky over the course of the year. We call this pathway ‘the ecliptic.’

The Greeks divided this belt of sky into twelve sections of roughly 30 degrees each, using 12 for ease of arithmetic, and named these twelve sections after a chosen twelve of the constellations that can be seen crossing this imaginary pathway or belt. This gave us the names of the zodiac signs we know today.

Taurus is still Taurus, whatever the decan, and this holds true for all the zodiac signs. But an early born Taurus is born under a slightly different planetary influence than a later born Taurus.

It’s all still Taurus, the same heavenly recipe, but with differing amounts of common ingredients.

First Decan Taurus (0-10 degrees of the sign)

21-30 April

Card Meanings: Upright: money does not buy happiness, fear of loneliness, poverty, unemployment, ill health. Reversed: misfortunes are overcome, matters improving.

This Taurean has Venus and Mercury in their horoscope and also a lot of leftover Aries fighting energy, so they can be the ‘raging bulls’ of the zodiac, with leadership qualities and a taste for power, more driven and less easy-going than the other Taurus decans.

These are patient but determined people with great vitality and will-power. They are eloquent speakers, natural communicators, and do very well in teaching, broadcasting, public speaking, journalism, acting and entertainment.

This Taurus loves to learn and to test things out, figuring out how they work. They also adore their creature comforts, food, drink and all the rest of it. They tend to be green-fingered, interested in landscape and countryside pursuits, and are fond of animals who usually respond to them very well.

This Taurean likes to be boss but is generally a benevolent, generous person, affectionate in nature, though they know what they want and do not want,and they can be a stick in the mud. Statistically, Taurus is one of the most benign and least criminal signs, but every zodiac sign has its share of villains as well as heroes; and goodness gracious, Taurus is certainly no exception.

Famous first decan Taurus: Leonardo Da Vinci, Queen Elizabeth II, Ulysses S Grant,Saddam Hussein, Adolf Hitler (Aries-Taurus cusp), Emperor Hirohito, David Icke, Al Pacino, Jack Nicholson, Uma Thurman, Barbra Streisand, Penélope Cruz, Renée Zellweger, Daniel Day-Lewis, Bjorn Ulvaeus, Roy Orbison, Willie Nelson, Iggy Pop, Willem de Kooning,

Second Decan Taurus (10-20 degrees of the sign)

1-10 May

Card Meanings: gifts, community, generosity, charity, emergency aid, give and take, financial ups and downs, surplus and scarcity, historical buildings

Second decan Taurus is ruled by the secretive, psychic, domestic Moon and Mercury, planet of intellect and communication. This makes for a rather glamorous combination, in the magical sense as well as the more usual sense of the word. These Taurus natives are studious, alert, perceptive, and forceful with an unusually active mind. The drawbacks may be carelessness, forgetfulness or fickleness, or picking up things or people only to drop them again.

The Moon and Mercury is a combination of emotional intelligence and logical intelligence or communication skills. These people are socially gifted, natural psychologists, instinctively knowing how other people work and what makes them tick, plus they tend to be very good speakers, and they too, are known for their pleasant or at least distinctive speaking voices.

On the negative side, such is their charisma, like a Pied Piper or Svengali-type figure, they may, if so disposed, lead others astray.

Taurus in general is usually a good cook. And they are warm and nurturing parents, but with the best intentions, the second decan Taurus in particular can worry, or become something of a fuss pot or control freak if they don’t rein in their managerial instincts. Taurus likes to keep their loved ones safe but just as they hate to be penned in themselves, and told what to do, so of course do others.

Famous second decan Taurus: Catherine the Great, Karl Marx, Eva Peron Golda Meir (‘Iron Lady’ of Israel), Tony Blair, Oliver Cromwell, Sigmund Freud, William Lilly, Orson Wells, George Clooney, Rudolph Valentino, Joanna Lumley, Audrey Hepburn, David Beckham, Donatella Versace, Bono, Tammy Wynette, Johannes Brahms, Tchaikovsky, Robert Browning, J. M. Barrie (Peter Pan)

Taurus Decan Three (20-30 degrees of the sign)

11-20 May

Card meanings: Upright: hard work, industry, perseverance, slow results, long term planning. Reversed: throwing good money after bad, disappointing results

Third decan Taurus is ruled by serious Saturn, the planet of Old Father Time himself. This Taurean native is responsible, dutiful, thoughtful, careful, patient and considerate. The power of this personality lies in the power of their stability, endurance and tenacity, making gains through thrift and careful investments.

This is Taurus at its most ambitious and hardworking. Saturn is the god of time, and astrologically, associated with boundaries, rules, and limitations. They are cautious and stoic with great respect for authority. Alternatively, they may rebel against authority but always constructively, using their organizational skills and strong sense of structure. These people can a strong sense of fair play. They can be quite political and may be ambitious to lead.

They are proud, independent & self-motivated. Not only do they succeed in politics & business, but many are skilled artists, creators & performers. The later natives of this decan are born close to the Taurus-Gemini cusp, suggestive of multi-tasking and travel.

Saturn is traditionally known as the great malefic and those born under these decan may also be prone to periods of depression, loneliness or melancholy, but broadly speaking, even when this is the case, we are looking at a truly benevolent person with a magnanimous spirit and a sympathetic nature.

Famous Third Decan Taurus: Socrates, Che Guevara, Mark Zuckerberg, Ayatollah Khomeini, Idi Amin, Malcolm X, George Lucas, Sofia Coppola, Liberace, Stevie Wonder, Cher, Dame Nellie Melba, Pete Townshend, Brian Eno, Enya, Mike Oldfield, Cate Blanchett, Laurence Olivier, Katherine Hepburn, Dennis Hopper, Harvey Keitel, Dante Gabriel Rossetti, Margot Fonteyn, Eric Satie, Florence Nightingale, Pope John Paul II

Happy Birthday, Taurus 2022!

This could be an unusually busy year socially, and a year of big strides or professional breakthroughs, if that is what you are aiming at. But if you are, then it could be make or break on a certain project. You had better mean business. Work on technical proficiency or new languages. Get that head down. Put that shoulder to the wheel, hoof that turf – and charge full steam ahead. Change is coming regardless. Be proactive.

Painting by George Bellows, American painter, 1919

Putin: A Two-Card Tarot Snapshot

Photo by u0410u043bu0435u043au0441u0435u0439 u0412u0430u0441u0438u043bu044cu0435u0432 on Pexels.com

Tweeted today 11 April

What is President Putin’s current feeling and assessment of the present situation in Ukraine?

@KatieEllenH

No validation available. Tarot Snapshot Putin’s view/attitude of current state of events in #Ukraine Yet AGAIN we draw 10 Swords. Pain/Ruin (watch late May-late June) Hierophant Rev= Taurus 20 April. Worries re money/keys. Fear of not securing 2 critical ‘keys’ -Donetsk/Luhansk

Deck used: The Illuminati Tarot

Card Meanings: betrayal, defeat, ruin, destruction, rock bottom, headaches, throat, spine ailments. Darkness before the dawn. Associated dates late May-late June (Gemini)

For clarification and context, the reader draws a second card.

The Hierophant was drawn reversed next to it.

Card meanings: UPRIGHT Pope, organized religion, faith, tradition, Banks, finance, agriculture, keys, publishing, universities. REVERSED bad advice, tradition that has become a tyranny, the unorthodox, or intolerance of the unorthodox, money losses, crop failure, marriage breakdown, lost keys

Lost /missing keys. Putin NEEDS to show gains, Donetsk, Luhansk and Mariupol. Keys not claimed. Keys still denied.

Also, 2 more Hierophant keys (established order) What is this news about Sweden and Finland possibly joining NATO as early as this SUMMER??

Interestingly, I have already drawn these same cards on several previous occasions when asking to be shown Vladimir Putin’s situation. The Tarot has been consistent here.

The Hierophant can- rarely- actually refer to the pope in the literal sense. Did I miss something? (Goes off to Google) Aha. So I did.

SOURCE: The Guardian, 18 March 2022

Pope Francis denounces ‘abuse of power’ in Russia-Ukraine war

Pontiff asserts Ukraine’s right to exist as a sovereign state and to defend itself against Russian invasion.

Pope Francis has denounced the “perverse abuse of power” on display in Russia’s war in Ukraine and called for aid to Ukrainians, whom he said had been attacked in their “identity, history and tradition” and were “defending their land”.

A Russian Orthodox church in Amsterdam in 2020.

Francis’s comments, in a message to a gathering of European Catholic representatives on Friday, were some of his strongest yet in asserting Ukraine’s right to exist as a sovereign state and to defend itself against Russia’s invasion.

They came days after he told the head of the Russian Orthodox church, Patriarch Kirill, that the concept of a “just war” was obsolete since wars were never justifiable and pastors must preach peace, not politics.

Those comments, during a video call with Kirill on Wednesday, were an indirect criticism of the patriarch’s apparent defence of the war. Kirill, who is close to the Russian president, Vladimir Putin, has seemingly justified the invasion by describing it as part of a struggle against sin and pressure from liberal foreigners to hold “gay parades”.

He has blamed the west and a fellow Orthodox patriarch for fomenting enmity between Ukraine and Russia and echoed Putin in insisting they are “one people”.

In his comments on Friday, the pontiff did not mention Russia by name – the Vatican traditionally does not identify aggressors and has attempted to maintain a dialogue with Kirill’s church – but he strongly backed Ukraine.

“The heartbreaking scream for help from our Ukrainian brothers pushes us as a community of believers not just to serious reflection but to cry with them and work for them; to share the anguish of a people wounded in its identity, history and tradition,” Francis told the meeting in Bratislava, Slovakia.

A lasting ceasefire may be some months off yet. It looks like months, not years. These 2 cards suggest that late April-late June could be critical turning points in this conflict in which many, including my own mother born 1939, are seeing the devastated city of Mariupol as a new Stalingrad; a moral triumph for the Ukrainians, whatever the outcome, and again, whatever the outcome, a dark and infamous mirror image of those Russian heroes of the Battle of Stalingrad, fighting in defense of their own hearths and homes.

If they are the same people, as Putin says, if Ukrainians are their brothers, this is how they treat their brothers?

The Hierophant reversed is about tradition -rules. Putin cares nothing for the rules, unless they are his own. The next couple of weeks may be especially dangerous.

https://www.britannica.com/video/1

Putin and Xi: a Tarot’s Eye View 19 -28 March

An esteemed astrologer friend Patrick Arundell messaged me this morning to say had I seen this article by John Varga via The Daily Express online?

Xi loses patience with Putin as China pulls plug on £380m deal in blow to Russian economy

The decision will come as a huge blow to the Russian President, who had been counting on Beijing’s assistance in overcoming Western sanctions. China’s president has up until now been a staunch supporter and key ally of the Russian strongman in his fight to take on the West. Prior to Putin’s invasion of Ukraine, the two leaders met in Beijing ahead of the Winter Olympics, where they reaffirmed their commitment to one another.

In a joint statement both Xi and Putin declared there were “no limits” between Moscow and Beijing.

However, there are signs that Beijing may be re-evaluating its relationship with Moscow.

China’s state-run Sinopec Group has pulled out of a $500million (£380million) deal to market Russian gas for Sibur in China due to fears of being targeted with sanctions.

One of Sibur’s directors and investors is Gennady Timchenko, a long-term ally of Putin.

Mr Timchenko has already been sanctioned by the West in the wake of Russia’s annexation of Crimea in 2014…...

click to read more SOURCE

Patrick was following up on a conversation we had online a few days ago discussing an astrological chart he had posted, President Putin’s own natal chart.

Patrick is one of the few astrologers who publicly forecast the invasion in the days before it happened, while Putin was still assuring the world these were purely mass military exercises, and many very seasoned political commentators did not believe he would actually go ahead and do it. I didn’t either. I felt in January I had a bad feeling about 2022. I did not like this Jupiter in Pisces business one bit. I didn’t like that astrological vision of Jupiter expanding in a fathomless ocean, and I still don’t, and I wrote that I expected tsunamis and a number of other things besides. But Patrick expressed an explicit concern that Putin was about to attack Mariupol.

Patrick later tweeted Putin’s natal chart 25 February: commenting (Patrick has kindly given me permission to quote):

“Putin’s Mercury conjunct Neptune in the 12th and with Saturn close by, despite its exaltation in Libra, shameless cold detached lies. Classic smoke-n-mirrors. Dmitry Peskov, Putin’s PR’s Sun is exactly conjunct Putin’s Mercury”.

Here we are, only a few weeks later, so much destruction and death has happened since, sadly hideous beyond belief.

19 March I drew the card spread below asking to be shown “Putin’s thinking at this present moment in respect of the situation in Ukraine.”

Tweeted 23 March

Cards 19 March, see that 10 Swords central, then top far right, the 9 Swords. China bottom right, 9 Pentacles. Lovers. P(utin) gone too far to withdraw and pretend he is ready to settle for less but is constantly recalculating options (Lovers, Gemini) World reversed up ahead. Non completion.

Card meanings in summary:

Putin looking very unhappy (central 10 Swords)

Putin frustrated with slow progress re Mariupol and Kyiv (top card 8 Swords) He has to get that control of the sea of Azov (Queen of Cups reversed, at the bottom =seaside/port)and he has to have it by the summer (Queen of Cups = the zodiac sign of Cancer, late June-late July.)

Putin had a major decision coming up (strategy) Awkward choices (The Lovers means unequal or conflicted decisions and choices, not just romance.)

The least Putin might settle for (?) will be that Zelenskyy concedes the territory of the 2 republics of Donetsk and Luhansk (2 Pentacles)

Putin is having sleepless nights (9 Swords)

A decision or agreement may possibly materialize in Gemini time, late May- late June (Lovers again plus the 9 Swords can correlate with second decan Gemini.)

Putin frustrated with slow progress re Mariupol and Kyiv (top card 8 Swords- a city by the sea under siege.)

Putin wants this signed, sealed, done and dusted before the end of this year (3 Pentacles = job done + it correlates with Capricorn, December) The World card reversed shows the end of the year and suggests a task enterprise or cycle has that not been completed. On occasion, the World reversed can indicate a death, as in, someone leaves this world. ( Reminder: the focus here is on Putin individually, his own situation and surroundings.)

Putin is worried about China and money…that 8 of Pentacles card at the bottom right reflects a pressing concern or preoccupation.

Here is that same card again in close up.

You can see this is a money card, and the China connection is suggested by virtue of the artwork itself. Had I been using a different deck, I would not have drawn such an obviously relevant image, but that’s how it goes. I did choose this deck and not one of the several others I might have used instead. The lady, ‘China’, holds her hawk on her wrist. She controls the hawk of her own wild impulses. She is watchful, she keeps her house in order, she will delay gratification if need be. She has many beautiful things but she has known what it is to do without. China is playing it cool here.

As for the article, one supposes it is possible that £380 million is still only chickenfeed to President Putin.

But what if it is a straw on a changing wind now blowing in from Beijing?

China’s business heart: the city of Shanghai is now contending with a whole new and massive wave of covid with millions locked down again and oil prices falling within the last 9 hours at the time of writing..

Things are moving so fast.

What if we look at President Putin today?

Illuminati Tarot 28 March 2022

These cards suggest that Mr Putin is feeling less fraught than last time we looked but still, he is seriously not happy on a number of points.

Putin’s war could be in serious trouble by late October. The 5 of Cups is Scorpio 23 October-2 November. The Crowley meaning of the card is ‘Lord Of Loss in Pleasure’.

Closer in time The Four of Wands is showing me the Turkish government. Four = building/place of work/business/government. See the Crescent moon on top. I feel Putin is not pleased with Erdogan. Why not? Perhaps he thinks Erdogan is using him to try and cozy up with the West for his own gains.

The Nine of Wands reversed. This central card drawn upside down, means someone loses their nerve or strength, backs down or bottles out. Perhaps Putin feels that Turkey is trying to cozy up with the US at his expense?

Reminder: the reader doesn’t claim to know anything we don’t all know. This is an exercise with the Tarot, a demonstration of divination in modern usage, illustrating a process that readers generally don’t tend to discuss with non-readers.

The Chariot Reversed is the third card in the row. Card meanings: progress is slow, halted, lack of unity, problems of communication. Two horses not working as a team, loss of control.

The Charioteer here is Mr Putin himself. Not fully in control. He really does not like it. He fears a ‘car crash.’ This is likely purely metaphorical, but may also refer literally to tank regiments -or more.

What else?

We have The King of Pentacles drawn reversed. Taurus time is coming soon – this card is ruled by Taurus. It will likely bring even more money troubles for Putin. In addition, this card is President Xi himself….drawn upside down because ….Putin has had/will have some further bad news from that quarter?

See the card when it is drawn the right way up. China + Mr Moneybags.

Yes, this card is clearly meant to be saying Japan and this king looks Samurai and does not look remotely like President Xi personally, but the Tarot is doing its best and we can’t ask for everything. Notice he wears the horns of Taurus, the heavenly Bull, 20 April-20 May approx, and with a partial solar eclipse on Saturday 30 April. In astrology eclipses, even partial ones, are always, but always considered significant trigger points or turning points in world events, even if the consequences are a while coming. Taurus is at about 10 degrees in that forthcoming eclipse. (I was born 30 April at 9 degrees of Taurus. Oo-err, I had better beware of the bull.)

In practical terms it can mean big world banking woes for Putin in addition to whatever is happening with China.

What next for President Putin?

That last card on the right, the 5 Cups is about reckoning with losses, seeing what can still be achieved. recovered or retained. This figure has lost 3 precious cups, but 2 remain to him. Here is the hope that a ceasefire may happen soon, possibly in April soonest has been previously suggested by multiple appearances of the Queen of Wands (Aries season, 20 March-20 April)

President Putin still confidently expects to acquire the 2 breakaway republics, Donetsk and Luhansk – Mariupol too, once he has battered Ukraine and Zelenskyy into a frame of mind more amenable to his demands, but which is taking a whole lot of doing as they are defending their own, and there is no more powerful human motivation.

These are not predictions but are purely the Tarot’s impressions in respect of President Putin himself, as seen in the cards between 19 March and today, 28 March.

Dark days, troubled times. Every day in some corner of the world, someone’s crying in this ‘vale of tears’.

We are all walking the winding road. But spring is coming, and something good is never impossible. The best news indicated at this point in the cards, is the indication that this old-new former Russian territory state Ukraine, survives as an autonomous sovereign entity. The worst, well it is happening, and Putin may still get what he ought not to get- the Donbass -and all its potentially lucrative minerals.

Until next time.

Equinox Fanfare for Aries the Fiery Sky Ram

Today is the day of the spring/vernal equinox in the northern hemisphere and we enter the zodiac sign of Aries the Ram. This is of course also the day of the autumn/fall equinox in the southern hemisphere.

The word ‘zodiac’ comes from the Greek meaning ‘circle of animals.’ The only zodiac sign non-representative of a living creature is Libra, the sign of the scales, but even its scales are borrowed from the stars of Scorpio, the giant scorpion in the heavens next door.

Aries, heavenly sky Ram is a cardinal fire sign; the first sign of the western zodiac, the sign of spring in the northern hemisphere, and with it – lambing time.

Picture the star-ram lying or sitting head downwards. New life is ignited. The planetary ruler of Aries is Mars, the red planet of action, energy, enthusiasm, courage, passion, initiative- and war.

The real life ram is strong, brave, and at certain times of year, downright aggressive, charging headlong into the field, king of all he surveys. Ewes can be aggressive too if disturbed by strangers when they have new lambs to protect.

History

The sheep was among the first animals ever domesticated by humans around 11000 – 9000 BC (BCE). Once upon a time Aries marked the end of the main lambing season of wild sheep in Europe, 21 March – 20 April.

(The dog was the first domesticated species, and the only large carnivore to have been domesticated, possibly 15000 years ago -or earlier. The Bonn-Oberkassel dog found buried beside humans 14,200 years ago is to date the earliest undisputed dog, with disputed remains dated 36,000 years ago. )

The ancient Sumerians called the sun, ‘Subat’, meaning the ‘Ancient Sheep’ or Ram and the planets were the ‘Celestial Herd’. The Sumerians were one of the oldest known urban civilizations in what is now Southern Iraq, during the Neolithic-Bronze Age, 4500 BC to 1500 years BC.

In ancient Egyptian astronomy, Aries was called ‘Lord of the Head’ – a reference to its symbolic significance, and it was associated with the god Amon-Ra, who was depicted as a man with a ram’s head and represented fertility and creativity. Because it was the location of the spring (vernal) equinox, it was called the “Indicator of the Reborn Sun.”

The position of Aries at the zenith at that time coincided with the rising of Sirius in the east and the flooding of the Nile. The Temple of Amon-Ra at Karnak bore the likeness of the supreme sun-god with the horns of a ram, while the road to Karnak was formed from the wings of two granite sphinxes bearing the head of Aries.

However, Aries was not fully recognized as a constellation until classical times about 1580 B.C. to 360 B.C. when the ancient Greeks oriented the construction of many of their sacred temples in relationship to Hamal – in Arabic ‘The Head of the Ram’ and the brightest star in the constellation.

In Hellenistic astrology the constellation of Aries was associated with the golden ram of Greek mythology.

The brother and sister Phrixus and Helle were the children of the Boeotian king Athamas and the cloud fairy, Nephele. But then she died, the king remarried, and his new wife, Ino, planned to kill Phrixus and Helle as a perceived threat to her own two later children by the king.

They were warned and fled, rescued by a flying golden ram sent by Hermes at the plea of Nephele, their dead mother watching in anguish from the other world.

Phrixus was seated on the ram, holding on to its horns, Hell behind him, clutching his waist, but Helle got tired and lost her grip. She plunged into the sea far below and was lost in the Dardanelles, known ever after as the Hellespont in her memory. Later, safely in Colchis, Phrixus (respectfully if rather ungratefully) sacrificed the Golden Ram, returning it to home to the gods, and presented its fleece as a gift to King Aeetes, who placed it on a tree in a grove under the guard of a dragon. This was the Hydra, whom Jason later killed in order to steal its fleece for its magical healing properties, on the orders of his uncle, the murdering usurper Pelias (who had no intention that Jason would return alive.)

Before we had CGI, we had Ray Harryhausen….

The Aries Archetype

The Sun from The Golden Tarot, Kat Black

All the zodiac signs represent archetypes, meaning something that is considered to be a perfect or typical example of a particular kind of person or thing.

A zodiac sign paint a poetic portrait of a person born at a particular time of year, in a particular season. A baby born in summer arrives into a different physical environment from a winter baby; differences of temperature, hours of daylight, maternal diet and so on, with potentially different effects on the baby’s physical makeup and constitution.

Aries is a cardinal sign, marking the start of a new season. The other cardinal signs are Libra, marking the start of autumn in the northern hemisphere and Capricorn, marking the onset of winter. The cardinal signs are traditionally considered the most innovative and proactive, the signs most at ease with driving change.

Aries is proud, eager, impulsive, brave, aggressive, ruled by the planet Mars and the element of Fire. Aries is also sunny, young at heart. It is the metaphysical ‘baby’ of the zodiac, adventurous, optimistic, generous, curious, brave, passionate, direct, self-willed and inclined to lose its temper if denied or crossed. Aries represents the concept of The Self. It seeks to express itself through exploration and pushing at boundaries. It is self-willed like a very young child. It wants its own way.

Aries is number one, the first sign in the Zodiac, youthful and exuberant- and let no-one forget it. Aries is the star of this show.

But it is also the sign of a king, and not only that but a warrior-king, as illustrated in the watchful, slightly weary, Emperor card in the Tarot.

See those Ram’s heads decorating his throne?

Aries is ultra-virile with a warrior spirit, just as a ram will charge headlong, at an intruder, and may attack or even kill a person who enters his field, threatening his ewes and his territory at the wrong moment. If knocked down by a ram, although it is counter-intuitive, stay down till he loses interest and wanders off.

Aries is known for its determination and zest for life, and in the same spirit, Aries can be reckless and with it, accident prone in its general haste to get on and do whatever is the next thing. Aries are at a statistically increased risk of accidents, especially with head and neck injuries in comparison with other signs, largely due to impatience and risk-taking behaviours.

Aries is ready to experiment or pioneer but may not finish what it starts. They are determined but can be diverted by their own impatience if they don’t get quick results.

Aries subjects may exhibit careless or even ruthless behaviour with a disregard for others in their desire to achieve and excel. They can bear grudges but, though they are sensitive, they can be careless about the sensitivities of others. In their closest personal relationships however, Aries are generally lively, pleasant, frank, direct and generous. Full of bounce and joie de vivre, there is much to admire about the early springtime subjects of fiery Aries, the Mighty Ram.

The Tarot will tell us more …

Aries in the Tarot

The Tarot cards associated with Aries are The Emperor, the Queen of Wands and the 2, 3 and 4 of Wands, and these minor arcana cards represent the decans of this zodiac sign.

The major arcana card associated with Aries is The Emperor. This sets the overall tone for this zodiac sign. The Emperor of the Ram seeks to claim territory and to create and impose order in that territory. At his best, he rules wisely and with care and justice. He is the great ptector, the best of fathers. At his worst, he is a tyrant.

Card Meanings: a man of authority, parent, employer, a military man, maturity, order, experience, hard won leadership, discipline, authority, government, organizations, rules, bureaucracy, doing things by the book, ego, I am in charge, what I say goes, Drawn reversed: bully, tyrant, warmonger. Note the ram skulls decorating his throne.

Every suit in the Tarot has its own court with a king and queen, a knight and a page. The Court card associated with Aries is the Queen of Wands. Aries is ruled by the element of fire in the Tarot, Wands is the suit of fire. Aries is ruled by the Sun, the ruler of the day. Notice how she holds a sunflower as her sceptre (We are seeing a lot of sunflowers online right now, as the symbol of Ukraine. Let us hope the sunflower of Aries will bring a ceasefire between now and 20 April – soonest.)

Card Meanings: A helpful woman, a mother figure, a lucky person (signified by the black cat, also notice the royal lions) She has good instincts and may also have occult abilities. Warmth, directness, spontaneity and independence, nurturing, generosity, enthusiasm, impatience are her qualities, but she may be either male or female in a real life reading. A man born under Aries may appear in a reading as the Emperor, a King of Wands or the Queen of Wands.

Lastly, the minor arcana cards associated with Aries are Two, Three and Four of Wands. These are the cards that talk about the decans of Aries.

If you don’t feel like you are a ‘typical’ Aries, well, we are all unique, but perhaps you are also a second or third decan Aries native, rather than a ‘most typical’ first decan Aries.

The Decans

The Zodiac is the belt of sky we can see from earth, tracking the path of the sun across the sky over the course of the year. We call this pathway of the sun ‘the ecliptic.’

The Greeks named the signs after twelve of the constellations appearing on, or crossing this zodiac belt: Aries, Taurus, Gemini Cancer, Leo, Virgo, Libra, Scorpio, Sagittarius, Capricorn, Aquarius, and lastly, Pisces.

Each of these zodiac signs represents a 30 degree section of the zodiac belt. Each sign is then further sub-divided into three blocks of ten degrees, each about ten days in length, with slight variations. This gives us the ‘decans,’ from the Latin meaning ‘ten,’ also called decanates, or the ‘thirty-six faces of astrology,’ bringing added depth and nuance to the story of your zodiac signs.

First Decan Aries (0-10 degrees of the sign)

21 March-31 March

Card Meanings: vision, ambition, melancholy, trade, global trade, entrepreneurship, agreements, partnerships, government, meetings, the world is my oyster. Reversed: fear of the unknown, lack of planning

The ruling planet is Mars and the co-ruler is also Mars, giving this first Aries decan a double dose of fiery, headlong Mars, bringing out the positive and dominant side of this Aries subject. Aries seeks power and usually they have great charisma too. But one of the nicknames of this card is ‘The Melancholy of Alexander,’ referring to the restlessness of the conqueror Alexander the Great, who won great lands but was never satisfied.

The personality is independent, forceful, temperamental, often generous, sometimes domineering, dictatorial or even aggressive. This is the first decan in the whole zodiac, the most aggressive Aries decan and –perhaps not coincidentally- the most sporty.

These natives of Aries think fast, act fast- too fast at times- and they can tend to be irritable with others who act more slowly. Respect, it must be remembered, is a two-way street. They are known for having a gift with words and public speaking abilities.

Famous first decan Aries: Harry Houdini, Robert Frost, Elton John, Mariah Carey

Second Decan Aries (10-20 degrees of the sign)

1 April-10 April

Card Meanings: progress, expansion, overseas opportunities, new horizons, a launch, your ship comes in, planning, critical timing, preparation, teamwork: Reversed lack of foresight, timidity, thinking too small, unexpected delays

The co-rulers of this decan are Mars and the Sun, the ‘Ruler of the Day.’

The sun is the centre of the solar system, the bringer of life itself, and here it stands for dignity, honour and ambition. This Aries personality not only welcomes change but actively seeks it out, relishing a challenge. This gifted Aries native desires a creative challenge and maybe a global challenge too, while they are at it.

They are generally known for their honesty, while rather stern in outlook. They will tell you something to your face but though they really do not like to be told what to do, they don’t shirk from telling others.

This Mars-Sun combination is considered a particularly lucky planetary combination. Everyone gets their own mix of luck, good and bad. That’s just life. But still, these Aries natives have a knack of landing on their feet.

Famous second decan Aries: Otto von Bismarck, Hans Christian Anderson, Bette Davis, Al Gore, Russell Crowe, Jackie Chan, Celine Dion, Quentin Tarantino

Aries Decan Three (20-30 degrees of the sign)

10 April-20 April

Card meanings: professional qualification, an achievement, property improvements, building, setting up home, celebration, joy, homecoming, publishing, creating an artwork. Reversed: bad luck, frustrations, roadblocks

This Aries native is generally more peaceable and easy-going than the other two decans; co-ruled by Mars and Jupiter, known as the God of Fortune. Jupiter brings good fortune and opportunity to the drive and ambition of Mars.

There is sincerity, honesty and warm-hearted nobility in this last Aries placement. Like the second decan Aries, these Aries natives often have some particular and well developed creative or artistic talent. They are witty, personable, and with a sense of humour. They are righteous, some might say self- righteous on occasion, other people may find them arrogant. They are proud, impatient and they may have every good reason for it, but they too, need to remember that others have their pride, but these are passionately devoted family people with a keen sense of justice, much concerned with right and wrong.

Famous Third Decan Aries: Leonardo Da Vinci, Thomas Jefferson, Charlie Chaplin, Tom Clancy, Francis Ford Coppola, Victoria Beckham, Gary Kasparov

Happy Birthday, Aries, 2023.

Jupiter has been on your side for the first few months of this year, and big new opportunities or breakthroughs on cherished projects look likely this year. But family life is unusually demanding and complicated in 2023. It is important to be pro active but not overhasty. Good organization is paramount. Great changes are happening in your family life, more so than in other ways, some happy, some perhaps less so. In-between furious burst of activity, you may be spending more quiet time than usual with loved ones.

Ukraine, and Pluto in Capricorn

Pluto bottom right

See also previous readings recently posted here.

Looking in my new astrology readings cards, asking when will we see a resolution in Ukraine, I drew three cards blindly and at random and then did a double take…surprised at the first 2 cards.

Pluto in The Tenth House

*From The Astrology Readings Card deck, Alison Chester-Lambert*

Top Card: The Tenth House card refers to all things to do with the zodiac sign of Capricorn: work, order, money, responsibility,government and self governance, legacy, tradition, provision for the family, duty to the homeland.

Middle card: The planet Pluto (which is currently transiting the sign of Capricorn.)

Bottom card: Libra. This signifies a possible answer of late September/October 2022. But it could mean diplomacy brings a truce well before then. Why? Because Putin is a Libra subject. Therefore, the cards are showing, the conflict will stop upon his initiative; his say so or agreement.

But why the double take? Well, it’s that synchronicity thing again.

These first 2 cards,straight off the bat, are mirroring the big planetary story right now, and the astrological background to this tragic confrontation in Ukraine. This has been a long time coming.

Pluto is in Capricorn The Tenth House. This is a planetary transit that occurs only every 248 years and lasts 12-30 years each time it happens.

This coincides with America’s first Pluto return 22 February, marking 248 years since it became the United States of America. It can mean the fall of an empire but not necessarily. Rome weathered 2 of these Pluto returns before it went into decline. And:-

The British Empire experienced three transformational Pluto returns — one during the Great Famine in 1315 A.D., followed by another at the start of the Elizabethan era and arrival of the golden age of British literature, and the last during the official creation of the United Kingdom in 1801

What this one means for America is a turning point, and the dawn of a new era for America, between now and 2024.

The Tenth House

The wise and ancient Mesopotamian sea-goat was a great teacher. Capricorn is the zodiac sign of cardinal Earth; work, tradition, legacy, and governance; weighty, substantial matters. focus here.

It’s been called the House of World Leaders. Capricorn takes the longest view of the zodiac, planning across time, and for things that will last. Quality, durability, functionality, beauty, things of concrete value.

Everything comes and goes, but still, the rocks remain.

Pluto

The dwarf planet Pluto (yes, it is a planet) is in terms of astrology, the cosmic harbinger of elimination and regeneration, death, money, and all things found underground. It is the Underworld, the domain of the Greek counterpart of Pluto, the god Hades. It is the underworld in the sense of secrets of state- and the criminal underworld too. It is oil and gas and coal, and minerals mined deep underground. We ‘mine’ cryptocurrency.

Pluto is plutonic. From Pluto we get plutocrat and plutocracy- and plutonium. Not forgetting the Russian poisonings on British soil, even if it was Novichok (or perhaps we could call it Putinium) and not plutonium.

Plutocracy: noun. a political system where the wealthy govern.

Pluto spends between twelve to thirty years in a sign due to its elliptical orbit and it brings profound, dramatic or downright violent territorial and cultural upheavals.

This one we are now living through, as previously mentioned, began with the banking crash of 2008. Pluto’s previous last entrance to Capricorn in the 1760’s coincided with both the American Revolution and the Industrial Revolution in Britain.

The previous transit was 1995-2008 when Pluto was in Sagittarius; a time of freewheeling optimism,expansionism, buoyancy, lack of checks and regulations and governmental and economic institutions that were deemed too big to fail. Wrong! Pluto in Capricorn brought that optimism – or hubris- crashing right back down to earth.

Libra

Libra suggests late September-late October in answer to the question of when this conflict may be ‘resolved.’ The previous cards seem to confirm that it will happen while we are still in the Pluto in Capricorn transit. We are now approaching the end of this transit, but that is still way too far off to be of comfort to Ukraine. However, other ‘cosmic’ factors may help.

Astrology suggests a crisis or peak or defining occurrence a few days either side of Sunday 20 March, 18-22 March.

After this one possible hope for ceasefire looks to me like early April, based on a number of appearances by the Queen of Clubs/Wands…because she signifies Aries, 20 March-20 April.

If that fails to materialize, another cosmic window is when Jupiter, planet of expansion moves into Aries ruled by Mars, 10 May. This is warrior energy all right. But at least it is upfront, in symbolic terms. Perhaps it is less frightening than Jupiter in Pisces in some ways, less terrifyingly bottomless, murky, lacking boundaries.

Full Fathom five thy father lies. -The Tempest

Canst thou draw forth leviathan with a hook? (Book of Job)

Beyond this, Libra means diplomacy, and Putin is also a Libra subject. Here is a caveat (am I hedging my bets? You bet I’m not betting. I am looking for clues via cartomancy, that is what this is. Listen to any number of astrologers and readers. Do they all agree?) Cessation of hostilities could still happen long before we enter the actual zodiac sign of Libra, and before Jupiter goes back into Pisces 28 October.

In astrology, Aries is the nemesis of Mr Putin. How is that? Aries is the opposite sign of Putin’s Libra. Aries the warrior is his shadow side, and his potential nemesis. Mr Putin himself, for all he has great intelligence- and venom- Scorpio rising, is not a military man. This has not been his CVto date. Not his customary ‘modus operandi’. He is a man whose strength and subtlety lies in shadows and half light.

A peek in the playing cards

I was at my parents last week, and my mother asked, what did the cards show about Mr Z – would he survive this conflict?

Top Row: Will Mr Z make it out in one piece?

I do not make predictions of death, regardless, but may assess likelihood of risk. The absence of dire spades cards on that top line, and the dominance of red suit cards, and the benign final card suggest that yes, Mr Zelenskyy will survive, despite the real and present danger and at least three failed assassination attempts. Curiously, my mother drew 2 club cards, 2 diamond cards and 1 Hearts, and so did I, in a separate draw, although the cards were not identical. If they had been, we would know that I had simply not shuffled the cards enough.

But the balance and mix of suits was the same both times and the overall appearance translates as, yes, we are seeing a probability of 3/5 he will survive and still be here 1 January 2023.

One might say – my mother did- oh dear, that’s not great. Well, no. It isn’t. But given the context…..

Middle Row: Will Putin capture Kyiv and if so, how quickly?

It still remains possible that Putin will not take Kyiv. The 6 Diamonds shows a critical week ahead (bearing in mind I drew these cards on Friday.) The 6 Diamonds also refers to speed of movement of vehicles. The attacking convoy has been anything but speedy, but there it is. The 6 Diamonds also means diagnostics, energy and hi- tech, and Mr Zelenskyy is doing pretty well in the propaganda war, and with everything that is happening about this on Facebook/Meta and other online social media sites, there is a heck of a lot in this fast, fast card.

It is a strange card. You want a yes/no answer? Forget it. This card is asking, is it really worth Putin’s time? That depends on his objectives. If he is aiming at the ultimate re-absorption of Kaliningrad, yes it is, and that is very likely the further goal. But if he finds himself on the back foot, he may appear to settle for less- for now.

The next card shows Mr Zelenskyy himself as the King of Spades (Aquarius, fixed air) He is looking at the 4 Clubs- meaning, a place of work.

In terms of dates, the shortest time frame here is 6 days. But in terms of DATES this card correlates with Taurus. In which case the cards suggest Mr Putin expects to take Kyiv by 30 April -10 May and what an ugly business that will be, as if it isn’t hideous enough already.

But this date frame, 30 April-10 May does look critical, given the partial solar eclipse in Taurus, happening Sat 30 April. Eclipses in astrology always,but always reflect huge events which bring profound consequences, but often these play out in the longer term, and may not announce themselves at the time.

But where is Mr Zelenskyy looking? (shown as the King of Spades, Putin is a Queen of Spades-Libra) He is looking at his place of business, the 4 Clubs, the Ace Clubs, it is turned upside down or he is underground? And that last card, 6 Spades, will only slow things down. Spades generally mean delays. The attack on Kyiv starts with shock and awe but then slows down. Siege? But the 6 Spades contains hope, because while in terms of timing it means delays, its story is about progress and recovery, healing, exploration slow, solemn and sure, though it is also, sadly reflecting this new mass, involuntary diaspora.

But Mr Putin absolutely does not want a siege either.

Bottom Row: Will Ukraine survive as an independent democratic state?

It remains a real possibility. On Friday I drew the Ace of Diamonds for Ukraine, sitting pride of place with and that means ‘piece of land.’ Like the Tarot’s Ace of Pentacles. It is the Ace of Earth. Land. Soil.

From The Legacy of The Divine Tarot, illustrator Ciro Marchetti

I couldn’t remember the other cards drawn on Friday to reproduce them accurately. Last night (Saturday 12 March) I asked again and drew from scratch that bottom row of cards shown above.

The Queen of Spades, that last card on the bottom row shows Mr Putin himself. He is looking across at what he wants. He wants a new President or Prime Minister as shown by that first card, the King of Clubs. He wants it all, says the 10 Diamonds. He wants the whole of Ukraine.

But, if it gets too costly, too difficult, there seems to be a little part of his thinking, that the least thing he will settle for, the least he might possibly agree upon for now, to stop the slaughter and retreat without losing face, once he gauges he has inflicted enough damage is- Donetsk, Luhansk (2 Spades) and Mariupol (Jack Diamonds= new acquisition) plus Ukraine’s recognition of the Crimea ie; the much discussed Land Bridge. Ukraine will more likely than not agree, based on this picture I am seeing. Like those stories of the fox that will chew off its own leg to get out of the trap alive.

But what comes across, is that despite everything, a successful outcome in Kyiv is still far from a done deal for Putin if he wants all of Ukraine ‘neutralizes,’ west to east. It may survive as a democratic nation state, a sovereign entity, but it seems inevitable that if it does it will considerably diminished. It would be far better for Putin if he can get the whole of Ukraine now, as fast as possible, because now he has shown his hand. He did warn everyone, and now they will believe it. Next time will be a tougher proposition. Far better for him to go for broke and ‘finish it.’

The cards are painting a slightly more optimistic picture than I logically expect. But no one wins. Not Ukraine, for all their fortitude, terrorized and dispossessed, though the Nine of Cups did turn up on the Ukraine story-line on Friday-the card means hopes fulfilled, wishes granted. It came up when I asked this same question; whether Ukraine would survive, even nominally as an independent democratic state.

For all the odds stacked against Ukraine resistance, and though territorial gains for Russia may be inevitable, there is no sign in sight of a Russian celebration. There is no Three of Cups, no Six of Clubs, no Ten of Hearts or Nine of Hearts on his future timeline, and whether right or wrong, I report the cards I draw or do not draw.

Till next time 🙂

President Putin, former President Poroshenko and The Joker

What if?

The joke is not remotely funny, but could this be the wild card, The Joker in real life action? In the living person of former Ukraine President Poroshenko.

Has Ukraine set a trap for itself of its own devising? That the Ukraine judiciary chose in January, with Russia growling ever louder, to summon to court former President of Ukraine, Petro Poroshenko who had fled to exile in Russia but flew in from Warsaw for this court case January 2022?

Read here for that story: Aljazeera 19 January 2022

Our Britain hating MSM just got a reality check from Former Ukrainian President Poroshenko.

Pop that in ya pipe and smoke it, Sky News.pic.twitter.com/swUX1Zq21t
— News Addict (@addicted2newz) March 7, 2022

“On 25 February 2022, amid the 2022 Russian invasion of Ukraine, Poroshenko appeared on TV with a Kalashnikov rifle together with the civil defense forces on the streets of Kyiv. He also stated that he believed that “Putin will never conquer Ukraine, no matter how many soldiers he has, how many missiles he has, how many nuclear weapons he has… We Ukrainians are a free people, with a great European future. This is definitely so”- Wikipedia

Yes. But. But.

Tweeted 07 March

Katie-Ellen

@TrueTarotTales·

10m

Ukraine ordered in its own Trojan horse? Extraordinary timing of this court case. Mr Poroshenko has flown in from Warsaw (not exile in Russia?) Now in situ, out on bail, Mr Putin’s replacement of choice for Mr Z if/when Russia captures Kyiv?

It wouldn’t be Mr Poroshenko,who would be Mr Putin’s choice, would it, but more likely former pro Russian President and Prime Minister Viktor Yanukovych currently in exile in Russia

But the cards are detecting a logic.

If you were Mr Putin, and you didn’t want to wreck Ukraine but to claim it, harness it and harvest it, or simply neutralize it, so you needed a new government ready and waiting in case or when you captured Kyiv, how might it solve a problem: the presence on Ukrainian soil at this critical juncture of a former Ukraine President who, while displaying ultra Ukrainian nationalism has also been also accused of funding pro-Russian separatists in the Donbass via alleged illegal sales of coal: is this is someone who for gain, is not averse to politically facing two ways at once? While Yanukovych in exile is a far more straightforward proposition. He was actively against a closer ties with the EU.

Could Yanukovych, in the event of a conclusive Russian victory, offer Putin

A way to govern the Donbass installing a Ukrainian puppet, harder for the world to argue about, knowing it is now in your pocket with more to follow later, quietly
A way to claim a political as well as a military victory at home, hopefully heading off any coup, plots, internal adversaries before they arrive at the pass, while snookering the foreign opposition who know fine well what you have done here but may well only be grateful, though now of course, more wary, suspicious and …more respectful?

If if it is Yanukovych, will Poroshenko need to disappear right off the scene, assuming what is not by any means looking certain at this stage, that Russia ultimately captures the Kyiv government.

The Joker is a card of destiny. Of a rebirth. It is a portal, the number Zero. It is the Tarot’s equivalent of The Fool. It is Odin, god of war. The god who hung nine days upside down on the world tree, and gave an eye to learn the runes, and the knowledge of all things.

And where does that leave Mr Z if Kyiv is captured? We drew this card before.

He concedes or he is gone.

But with a pro-Russian president back in Ukraine, pro-Russian separatists active near and within Moldova, perhaps, if he can take Kyiv soon enough before he HAS to get Odessa, and has an experienced Ukrainian politician already in situ; an able and willing Russian proxy president …perhaps Putin could call the troops home, avoiding the need to take Odessa, no need to wreak destruction on this iconic port city. It is now politically re-secured for Russia.

Moldova has applied to join NATO But as we are seeing, a lot can happen in a day right now. Joining Nato could take years. And the West is making an elementary error of psychology, in stating so categorically what it will NOT do. Whatever the West’s actual intentions, to state up front what they will not do, to remove certain cards from the table so as not to frighten everyone, is a gift to Putin, but not enough of a reassurance sufficient for him to stand down.

The Fool

Zero draws the Number of the Fool

But only fools will fail to fear

The oddly smiling one who walks alone

Exiled, outland, dawn and dusk

Fleeting, glimpsed by tree and mere

Where ripples lap without a breeze

Or single casting of a stone

Zero, Odin’s one remaining eye

The other traded for all knowing

Nine days he hung considering

On Yggdrasil, the great ash tree

But Life is flux and unfulfilled

And hungry, Odin walks abroad with Men

Entranced by their technology

Their blindly restless struggles to get free

Refusing that their final liberty

Is in their choice of sacrifice

Their ultimate expression

In their direst of necessity

Insatiably, dispassionate, he watches, waits

And sometimes smiles, but has no tears

For what might dim or blind his sight

Of conjurings and reckonings with Fate

The newborn come and dead depart

His scouts of Thought and Memory

Twin ravens, Hugin, Munin, fly

Through Odin’s questing, flaming Eye

The singing echo-chamber of The Gate.

Katie-Ellen Hazeldine

“Nevermore”, quoth the raven.

As ever, only time will tell. I am just wondering about that Joker.

PS: 20:35 PM There is a feeling that something new is afoot. If Pres P were to present Mr Z with terms, and if he has grave enough concerns re Kyiv, who knows, perhaps he may, then he could withdraw and still claim victory, if Mr Z agrees that Ukraine shall let go the 2 seperatist states in the Donbass and Crimea. Since Mr P has been telling the Russian people all along that these were his objectives.

Katie-Ellen

@TrueTarotTales·

#cartomancy I don’t know; is something shifting- 6 Clubs, Ace Hearts rev, 6 Spades, grief, loss, progress, healing, King Diamonds, Mr Putin? 3 Clubs, a meeting. New talks – a breakthrough? 3 -6 days (3 /6 Clubs) longest 6 months but no, will be sooner if at all.

Till next time 🙂

Cartomancy, Kyiv, reflections, 5 March 2022

The Fortune Teller by Albert Anker, Swiss painter, 1880, Wiki Commons

Cartomancy is the art of divination/psychic using ordinary playing cards. The cards- once we learn their associated meanings, it’s a language- help us access the psychic mind, which means the human equivalent of the hive mind. They reflect our unconscious thinking or the collective subconscious.

Yesterday I sat down to look at Ukraine, using this deck of beautiful rather old butterfly playing cards from the Fifties, gifted by my father, left to him by his own father; a keen card player socially, though he never used cards for divination that I am aware of.

The butterfly is a symbol of the soul, or the psyche. The root meaning of the Greek word ψυχή (psyche) was “life” or may have come from the verb ψύχω (psycho, “to breathe/blow”). Associated meanings: “spirit”, “soul”, “ghost”, “self” .The word “psychic” derives from this same root.

The reader (blindly and unconsciously) draws/selects the cards which most accurately detect what is on the readers mind and reflects it right back at them. The apparent randomness of this exercise is what makes it so peculiar- or downright psychic. The very first card out is an instantly recognizable mirror of the question that is on the reader’s mind while shuffling. Or it is not. The reader can’t just make this up.

The reader then pulls more cards to see what the cards may advise, project, foreshadow or predict in respect of that given situation. Sometimes what emerges is a comment or insight into an unfolding situation which may or may not turn out to be a prediction as events unfold. It can be hard for the reader to tell which.

We are witnessing the playing out of a tragic situation. Prediction outright is not appropriate here. If Putin withdraws, still, a horrible tragedy is still playing out. While there have been many times over the years in which I have pushed hard for a yes or no answer for a client, working to a brief on their behalf, this is not one of those situations. No client privacy, no direct feedback available, so many variables, no clean cut answers.

But still, glimpses may be read between the lines. Putin’s victory is far from assured. Like the Viet Cong in Vietnam, Ukraine doesn’t have to win. It has to not be defeated. But should Putin become desperate, it will only make him more dangerous. March this year is not only coming in like a lion, but seems likely to stay like a lion and not go out like a lamb.

Question One what is Mr Putin thinking in respect of the Ukraine situation, as of right now, today, 5 March 2022?

The first card out of the deck was the King of Diamonds. This is Mr Putin, actually very confident. The King of Diamonds means someone who in charge of business. “I have got this. I am on top of this.”

The second card out was the 10 Cups. Mr Putin is looking at it. The 10 Cups is a very happy card, none happier except for the Ace of Cups.

It means ‘Home sweet home’. 10 is the number of completion. I complete my home. Mr Putin genuinely feels that Ukraine is Russian. Ukraine ‘left home’.

The languages are NOT the same. The mutual history is very long and complicated. But Ukraine ran away, the naughty child. He has gone to fetch it back home again, together with all its natural resources. Is partition the best case scenario outcome? Or is it Odessa and then Transnistria and Moldova next?

In general terms of dates, this 10 Cups means Pisces, the final ten days of Pisces season which means 11-20 March. Obstacles notwithstanding, the cards show that as of yesterday, Mr P was confident that he will have, should have Kyiv surrounded, and in his control by 11 March-20 March.

Question 2: what most worries Mr Putin right now?

The King of Spades reflects the subject of the question, Putin himself. Notice how he appears to be looking right back at that confidently expectant money king, the King of Diamonds card.

King of Spades:-“A man of authority, ambition and power. Divorced or widowed, an older man, a leader, lawyer, judge, police officer, health specialist, man from a foreign country. He can be arrogant, opportunistic, deceptive, cold, calculating, shrewd, possessive, emotionally controlled, detached, a rival in business or love.” – David Arcuri, The Art of Cartomancy (link for those interested in learning more about cartomancy)

Mr Putin is a King of Spades in terms of his natal astrology; a Libra subject according to his given birth date 7 October 1952. Although it should be noted, Mr Zelensky is also a King of Swords; an Aquarian subject: 25 January 1978.

So what causes Mr P most anxiety just now? Mr Zelensky himself, clearly, plus The 9 Clubs + 2 Clubs + 9 Spades.

9 Clubs =long range business, long term planning + 2 Clubs, talks and cease fires + 9 Spades, grief, mourning, death. The 9 of Clubs drawn adjacent to the 9 of Spades in particular, suggests delays. He fears postponement and delays.

(A ceasefire is a 9 Clubs delay so far as Pres Putin is concerned. His soldiers must eat. Supply lines can be attacked. A ceasefire puts his forces on to the defensive.) See the 9 Wands?

Rider-Waite Tarot, artist Pamela Colman Smith

This card as you can see, this tarot equivalent of the 9 Clubs, also represents the courage and defiance of Ukraine.

In Tarot, the 9 Wands can also mean long range foreign intervention. It could therefore also mean a fear of long range missiles or satellites. How is that? The 9 Wands is the card of Sagittarius, the Archer.

And, just as Putin is using elite non- uniformed military groups to terrorize civilians without accountability, and though the UK government does not endorse this, UK and foreign volunteers are travelling to Ukraine to fight or otherwise support the Ukraine resistance on a private volunteer military basis. Here we have Mr Zelensky proactively deploying Aquarius in defense of Ukraine (collective IT/socia media/space technologies/ Elon Musk and Star Link).

The 9 of Spades (Gemini) may turn out to be talking about critical developments in late May that will be unwelcome to Mr Putin. It cannot come too soon so far as many of us are concerned, but that’s what is being shown here. In a previous reading I drew the 10 Swords for Mr Putin on his future timeline. That’s pretty close in time to the 9, both in Gemini, and first he must navigate Taurus the Bull (banks, sanctions, church condemnation, the state turned topsy-turvy, loss of faith of his own people, food security) The eclipse in Taurus Sat 30 April may prove instrumental?

Question 3: What do we see in respect of near future developments in Kyev?

Watching the news earlier today (6 March) It is expected that Kyiv will be surrounded in the next few days, at which point Russia will make “an offer” to the government of Ukraine.

We have drawn the Queen of Clubs and the 8 Spades.

A court card, a king or queen, will describe a real person. I don’t know who this Queen of Clubs might be in respect of Ukraine. I have previously drawn Mr Zelenky’s wife as a Queen of Swords. I will just have to watch that space. Drawn together with the 8 Spades, it could mean a woman is taken hostage or is taken to prison or to hospital.

Another possibility is that this card is detecting another aspect of key timing. The Queen of Clubs is Aries in astrology, 20 March -19 April. Aries is a cardinal sign. It initiates. It attacks with energy. An initiative gets bogged down by the 8 Spades. Or possibly Mr Putin may have reason to seek medical help at this time.

The 8 of Spades:-“Traditionally a card of disappointment, illness and physical restriction. A loss of balance, a lack of reciprocation, unrequited love, something one-sided and not mutually beneficial. Physical imbalance, health problem, mental imbalance, a doctor, a dentist, a psychiatrist, a wound, pain, an insult, feeling slighted or snubbed, hurt feelings, an emotional upset. Reassessing one’s goals, examining ones accomplishments, investigating or researching a question or problem, a medical exam, civil service exam, scholastic exam, forensic exam, police investigation“- David Arcuri, The Art of Cartomancy

The Tarot correlation with this card is the 8 Swords: entrapment, stress, restriction. I have also learned to associate the 8 Swords with difficulties to do with plumbing – drains, leaks, water supply. Dams too possibly, though the Moon is absent (flooding) One can also see the potential for hostages. as if the entire population has not already been taken hostage, and Mr Zelensky will have taken extra measures for the security of his own wife and children.

We understand Russia could already be hitting Ukraine much harder, but Putin does not want to pulverize the place. He will if that’s what it takes, but he would far rather harvest Ukraine for everything it has to offer, not least grain production sufficient to provide food security for 600 million people.

But should Russia achieve its objective of taking Ukraine in the next few days as widely expected, this card is not good news for Mr Putin, and this will be no surprise to anyone.

That number 8 is stable but not in a good way. If we were looking at an outright military success for Russia, there would need to be a number 1, 3 , 6, 10 Clubs or Diamonds, following that 9 Clubs.

Astrology Reading Cards

What astrology cards do we get?

Left: Near future for Kyiv? Aquarius. Rebellion, obstinacy, aided by social media/space tech. But I fear I also see grief, present and future; Mr Zelensky is mourning. That 9 Spades also applies to him in the near future. He already is mourning of course, but now is his time for action.

Right: Near future of Russian invasion? The Twelfth House. The House of Shadows, enemies, dreams, sorrow, joy of Saturn. Mr Putin’s motivation is profoundly emotional. Just supposing that he who sows the whirlwind shall reap the whirlwind, and just supposing that he will not be around to reap the whirlwind personally speaking, for Putin a lose-lose situation might be the same thing as a win-win situation. He will not be forgotten. This for him, is about personal legacy. Either he will reabsorb Ukraine into Russia, ‘home sweet home” (that 10 of Cups card.) Or he will “teach the west and all the world, once and for all, not to mess with Russia.”

If this is where he is coming from, Putin may not care too much about the cost. Since when did Lenin care, and he died a natural death but then who did Russia get next?

The cost, human and other is already high but, despite the attack at Zaporizhzhia, the largest nuclear plant in Europe, and though there is clear potential danger here, I have not seen that it will be nuclear war. Nor an accidental nuclear catastrophe.

Mr Putin has decided that talk is cheap. NATO is bound like Prometheus, tied up by its own rules, and Mr P is fine with playing dirty, and has decided he cannot rely on the neutrality of Ukraine -or Moldova either.

It is not wise to tell you enemy what you will NOT do, and this is what NATO, namely Stoltenberg has been doing. I don’t know where I read it, ‘the children of the dark are wiser than the children of the light’, but it’s true. To a point, that is, when they send themselves to hell in the handcart of their own design but leaving behind all their mess.

Astrologers have described this in terms of a cycle of events, a kind of perfect planetary storm, replaying some, but not all themes elements of 1939-1945 depending whose interpretations you are reading.

Looking back at readings done 2022, I did not see this coming. I just felt uneasy, and didn’t care one bit for this whole Jupiter in Pisces thing that some astrologers seemed to think was so wonderful. Fathomless depths, dissolving or absence of boundaries (for which we can now also read borders) And giant Jupiter. It made me think of tsunamis. It made me think of that ominous line from the Bible, the Book of Job, ‘canst thou draw forth Leviathan with a hook?’

Now I can see Mr Zelensky, sitting in Pisces (now) and shown as The Hanged Man, a sacrificial or Christ type figure. I remember the pang I felt, drawing the Three of Swords reversed in Leo, Regulus, heart of the royal lion. Sorrow to the lion hearts. Sorrow to the summer of 2022. Unless Pres P is dealt with by his own people- and it does look as though he will over reach or come a cropper, suffer a setback in the next 3 months, 9 and 10 Spades, the end of this crisis is not in sight that I can see. But of course, I have got things wrong before or fudged them, not hit them dead on. Any reader who says they haven’t is not to be trusted.

Once when I was very small, we went to the zoo, and apparently I said I couldn’t see the elephant and I was looking at it. But to me it was so big and I was so close, I couldn’t see its overall shape. Very funny really. But do we think an ant can see us just before we tread on it? No. It feels the vibration. It sees the shadow. I suppose I must have seen a wall of grey.

This is close and huge. The reader must therefore take the helicopter up very high. But to see clearly one has to be dispassionate, and preferably, not care at all, or just enough and no more. That’s the nature of the human mind in oracular mode when otherwise one could just weep.

To open up the oracular mind, that’s sometimes a hard thing. To see or sense but to have such little power to avert. The reader does not get to write the story, nor the ending and must tell the truth as they see it, but at the same time, like a doctor, do no harm.

But Putin may find that Taurus the Bull is his nemesis. Why? In a previous reading published here, the appearance of the Hierophant reversed sitting on the near future timeline. Money, banks, breaking faith. Secular ‘excommunication.’ Possibly Taurus timing too, late April -;ate May, and watching for the eclipse in Taurus Sat 30 April.

Until next time:)

The Hanged Man, Russia, Ukraine: a Tarot’s eye update

“In times of war, the law falls silent”. ― Marcus Tullius Cicero, Roman statesman, lawyer, scholar, writer and staunch republican, assassinated 43 BC on the orders of Mark Antony who was then defeated by Octavian, the future Emperor Augustus.

The Tarot detects, reflects and may then project or predict in respect of a given situation. Its limitations are in the reader. Sometimes we may think we want to know something but actually, we don’t. Or we may indulge wishful thinking in interpretation unless we are careful. The less personally involved the reader feels, the more likely it is that the reader will see clearly, looking further down the road.

Late last night (28 February) I drew the card below, asking the Tarot for its comment at this juncture re Mr Zelenskyy (I understand that strictly speaking it should be spelled with a double’ y’.)

We have here The Hanged Man reversed. This is a card of Neptune. This is a card that is strongly associated with Pisces. and we are in Pisces season until 20 March 2022.

Card meanings: meditation, ultimate surrender, sacrifice, suspended in time, indecision, Drawn reversed: duty, the body politic, the crowd, breakthrough, giving to get.

More HERE

Events in Ukraine are moving on apace. Everyone has their own thoughts, opinions or responses. Me too, but when looking in my cards I must remain dispassionate if humanly possible and honestly record and report what I see or do not see. Right or wrong.

There is first the act of divination, the actual drawing of the cards. This is the psychic or occult element of the process if you will. That we expect to draw a card that will first of all, mirror with sufficient accuracy the issue being presented for left field analysis. What makes us draw one card and not another instead?

Some might say the reader can just make up anything they like. But if they know anything about Tarot, they know that each card has a list of associated interpretations. This list is long. It has to be. 78 cards must cover any topic, any question, any situation known to human experience. But the cards, while there are areas that lap over with one another, deal in particularities and not just broad themes and can only be made to stretch so far.

My core service for 20 years has been personal readings. If a reader is blagging it, talking mush, the client would know right away. For the avoidance of doubt, and to set the baseline of the rest of the reading, the reader must deliver something that is relevant, timely, specific and particular, and that can be validated or verified at once by the client. Preferably they will do it at once, with the very first card.

This kind of reading we are doing here is a different challenge, just as mundane astrology -using astrology to look at world affairs- is different from doing natal astrology or personal horoscopes.

The Hanged Man reversed was THE one single card I drew last night, asking to be shown a Tarot snapshot of Mr Zelenskyy.

That we drew The Hanged Man, and not only does the symbolism resonate but I see a physical resemblance to the living person is the mystery. What Jung termed the synchronicity of Tarot:-

Until last Monday evening, I did not draw cards clearly indicating war in Ukraine. They were mixed, ambivalent. I drew The Hermit in the mix (maturity,solitude, quiet reflection) and hoped for the best, having expected instead these following cards; The Tower, Ace Swords, The Devil, The World card reversed, or other combinations which, when added up would clearly point to a clear threat of war.

Mr P has clearly been war gaming this through the past two years of covid. He wants it all but without having to resort to a policy of scorched earth.

The Hermit is also about crops. Grains. It correlates with Virgo and the harvest. Both Russia and Ukraine are top exporters. Ukraine more so, I gather, able to provide food for 600 million people. There is going to be a sharp rise in the price of grain. But perhaps The Hermit is also a sign of hope because The Hermit is a pathfinder. He shows the way ahead.

I drew The Tower, The Devil and The Chariot Reversed six hours before the terrorist attack in Nice, Bastille Day, 2016. I did not know what they meant exactly. I did not know in what exact shape they would manifest in real life. There were a number of possible scenarios. I only felt that something terrible was going to happen imminently and that it would involve a vehicle, and I asked Il Matrimonio to go and check the tyre pressures on the car.

However, while logic said Mr Putin had clear and obvious designs on annexing Ukraine, and developments were deeply unsettling, the cards did not show these combinations, and so that’s what I recorded at that point. To do anything else to make it fit in with a conscious assessment of a situation would be to falsify the process of cartomancy. Even if it might be tempting, and not that one is not partial to one’s dignity, but to do this stuff at all, you have to be prepared to look like a fool or how can you learn?

The reader frames a question or states an issue, draws the cards, blindly and at random, lays them out, turns them over, and then tries to make sense of what they are looking at.

Last Monday afternoon, talking on the phone with my mother who knows a LOT about WW1 and WW2 and she said, “there is not just a whiff of Munich here, it’s a stench.”

I mentioned that I hadn’t been shown war yet, despite the growing signs, and had not drawn The Tower card, and did not understand why not yet.

The Tower. A shock. A lightening strike. A storm, Thunder. War. Hubris. Pride before a fall. A Tuesday. Mars. A bomb. Air attack. Earthquake. Tsunami.

A little while after our call I sat down for another look, and blow me down, there it finally was; The Tower, sitting smack in the middle of the cards.

Tarot Spread, Ukraine-Russia-West, drawn 20 Feb 2022, The Illuminati Tarot

Top left Mr P debating, wants those 2 states, wants ports, land bridge, do a deal? (2 PENTS) or go all out (central TOWER) What may prevent all out? Critical factor, bottom right. HIEROPHANT Reversed (tradition, govt turned upside down, key, faith, church, rules, banks) Fear of the anger of his own people.

These cards suggest

Best case scenario: Based purely on the potentialities contained within the book meanings of these cards. Deal might be Zelensky agrees to signing away the 2 separatist states – (IF it can be fairly demonstrated there is a majority support for them to rejoin Russia?)

Worst case scenario: Mr P trapped and desperate, fighting for his political life, and perhaps his actual life, goes nuclear beyond Ukraine’s borders. There are rumours Russia has already deployed a thermobaric weapon in his determination to ‘liberate’ the people of Ukraine.

Second worst case scenario: Mr P, trapped, frustrated and frightened at the prospect of a long drawn out Ukraine insurgency, decides to take the gloves right off in Ukraine, aided by Belarus, ganging up 2 to 1, and defying any other country to intervene to help Ukraine on a military basis. This would require that he must seize or crush Kyev now and quickly.

This seems the most likely scenario but the cards still reflect hope it may be avoided. We will come to that in a minute.

Let’s post the image again, save scrolling up.

Column 1 Mr P

Recent Past

2 Pentacles weighing risks/gains, land bridge, 2 ports(see the ships) 2 rogue states, weighing income streams pipelines NS 1, 2 and the proposed new pipeline to Beijing

Present

King Swords RX clever,, determined, ruthless, air sign king (Libra) cerebral, cool, cautious in calculation but decisive in action. This is Putin himself.

Future

10 Swords ruin, ill, (head/spine/cancer/bowel/kidneys?) coup, back-stabbed, (but at what cost meantime, this v likely won’t happen yet…astrology suggests he goes c March 2023 so….) Nuke Ukraine, wreck it this card is reflecting his calculation scorched earth = pyrrhic victory

Column 2 Mr Z

Past

3 Cups, friendship, female support, past enjoyment (his background?)

Present

TOWER war future air strike/nuke? (Mars ) foreseeing last Tuesdays outright invasion only the day beforehand

Future

Ace Swords clarity, victory, command of air space or satellite communications (eg Elon Musk Star link re communications/propaganda war for Ukraine) Cutting a Gordion Knot (the very thing we do not want Putin to do)

This card is AQUARIUS. Mr Z is Aquarius. Modern tech/social media. Not so much Putin’s strong point nowadays.

Column 3 The West

Past

6 Wands, riding high, team, success, arrogant, smug sports a priority, brave card goes with LEO and therefore high summer, page cups reversed, failed diplomacy, immaturity, naivete, attack from the SOUTH

Present

Page Cups reversed Failed diplomacy, empty cup, childishness, immaturity, naivete, the suit of cups correlates with the compass direction of west

Future

Hierophant Reversed What the West sees. Mr P fears ‘excommunication’ temporal. World bank global banking against Mr P. Much of this, we are already seeing.He may not care because future mega new income streams via China, but oligarchs and people care right now. This card is the thing he seems to fear most at this juncture. Ostracism by his own people.

SUMMARY

It does not look as though Mr Putin is not going to win this. There can only be losers here. He may achieve a military victory, and this is a dreadful and deeply unjust prospect given the circumstances. But should he seize Kyev in the coming days, aided by that gangster he keeps in his pocket, the kidnapper Mr Lukashenko.

But Mr Putin’s goal was not to wreck the Ukraine, but to harvest it. The Hermit. A military victory needed to be quick and clean. This is messy, dirty, vile and slow and makes him look like mud – a pyrrhic victory, as signified by that Ten of Swords. Mr Putin is acutely aware of this, but can not acknowledge it, which makes the situation even more terribly dangerous.

A number of astrologers (inc my favourites Patrick Arundell, Jessica Adams, Victor Olliver) have mentioned 3 March in terms of a potentially critical conjunction for this situation, between Mars and Pluto, occurring specifically at 8.43 AM GMT. This may be mitigated by a apparently happy and lucky New Moon in Pisces, Wednesday 2 March. A moon influence lasts two and a half days. Unless it means that some fortuitous development on Wednesday heads off something far less welcome in the nick of time.

The cards say Mr Putin needs to beware Taurus the Bull. The Hierophant Reversed. April and May. Global banking, agriculture, food security, ‘excommunication’ by the wider community but far more fatal for him- by his own people. Incidentally, there is a Taurus eclipse this year, Saturday 30 April.

The scenes are heartrending and this is a tragedy for the people of Russia too. Mr Putin is right to fear their anger. That Ten of Swords indicates his eventual over reach and downfall, left hand column, bottom card. Hubris.The West has also been guilty of hubris or complacency and this is a wake up call.

One astrologer has suggested President Putin is gone by some time round March 2023. Gone from office or just gone? But he can still do an awful lot of damage in that space of time, can’t he. The question is the final cost, and this is a karmic question of collective destiny.

Some very great, very deep loop or pattern is being replayed. This loop began December 2019/January 2020 and history -and astrology- suggests it will run till 2025/6 and we will then have a different looking world order.

We can see how frighteningly easily or quickly this situation could become WW3 or even a nuclear holocaust. No one knows. But I would suggest that Hierophant Reversed is not nearly sufficiently combustible. The Tower card is definitely sufficiently combustible BUT it is sitting in the centre. It is righthere, right now. The Hierophant Reversed is a crux card that will manifest in the near future.

The Devil is absent, and while the Hierophant Reversed can be read as authoritarianism, The Devil is a spectre of a holocaust, just as the Holodomor was a holocaust.

Sympathetic Magic

People have been known to mistake divination with ‘witchcraft’. Divination is one thing. Sympathetic magic is a different thing even though they may use the same tools or objects.

Magic, one might say, is a refuge of last resort and is a measure of desperation. Not so. We use it all the time and hardly give it a second thought. We say, cheers, all the best, goodbye (God be with you)

Words have power. People have been known to mistake divination with ‘witchcraft’. Divination is one thing. Sympathetic magic is a different thing even though they may use the same tools or objects. Prayer is a form of sympathetic magic.

It is said that witches of Plymouth whistled up a storm as the Armada approached the English coast. You can read more about that and other related stories HERE

Using runes in sympathetic magic to protect a home or a homeland, we might use several runes, either singly or in combination, like so –

Top rune: Algiz/Elhaz/Eol. TheElk, called sedge by some. General umbrella protection

Central rune: Nied. This rune literally means NEED. As in, here we need protection for a household or homeland or our parents.

Left hand rune: Othala meaning homeland, a family household or stronghold, family inheritance, legacy, ancestry, parents and ancestors

Right hand rune Thurisaz, the Thorn, used in attack and defense. A powerful rune of protection, associated with Mollnir, the hammer of Thor the Thunder god

Bottom rune: Dagaz. We get the modern English word Day from this rune. As in, for instance, let there be another dawn for those under fire this day. Fiat lux!

NB: You don’t need to buy runes. You can just draw them, say their name, call on the influence they represent. Just as we sign off messages with “Best Wishes.” The principle is the same.

*The Sun from The Golden Tarot by Kat Black*

“Being deeply loved by someone gives you strength but loving someone deeply gives you courage.”― Lao Tzu

As we watch that 60 km invasion convoy coming in, and all seems well nigh lost, I draw the Eleventh House card for Mr Zelenskyy…..Aquarius, technology, Star Link, Elon Musk. Eleven is a lucky number. This card was drawn last night.

Perhaps there is still hope for Ukraine.