On the first anniversary of the death of Elizabeth 11
Original post 10 September 2022
“Our Queen Elizabeth has died at a good old age. She has been gathered in at harvest time, taken away in Virgo season under the watch of the stars of The Virgin and the planets Neptune and Jupiter. She, a queen of fixed Earth, a Taurus sun sign subject born 21 April, has been given back into the keeping of the mutable Earth of Demeter.
Now Elizabeth becomes a different kind of star in the firmament, a chapter between chapters, linking her father George and her son Charles, in a story and in a chain 1000 years long, broken only by the years of the Protectorate 1653-1959, forging the dramatic, complex and sometimes violent history of kingship in these islands.
George never expected or wanted to be king. Elizabeth did not ask or expect to be Queen, or to become Queen so soon and so young. Charles? Now he must change his life, and do it late in life, to assume that added weight of kingship.
Lady Colin Campbell tells us that the Queen died at 14:37 PM on Thursday 8 September.
The State Funeral will be in Westminster Abbey 14 September at 11 AM but then she will be taken to Windsor to lie in the Chapel there.
Elizabeth was crowned Queen of the United Kingdom of England, Scotland,Wales and Northern Ireland and was the Head of The Commonwealth, her unique world legacy after the end of Empire. No other former Empire has created its equivalent.
Much has been made over the years of the Queen’s German blood. But she died in Balmoral, in her beloved Scotland, and she was descended on her mother’s side from the beautiful and tragic Lady Glamis, Janet Douglas Lyon.
Lady Glamis was judicially murdered, burned at the stake in Edinburgh Castle in 1537 on charges of treason and witchcraft, cooked up by James v for reasons of personal malice, out of hatred of her family, and especially her brother, the king’s former regent, Archibald Douglas.
Balmoral 1800-1900 Unknown Author Public Domain
I was watching the live television as the Queen’s body was being driven from Balmoral down to Edinburgh, where it will lie in state tomorrow in Holyrood House.
It brought back personal memories too, of happy times up in Scotland when my own children were small and I was still physically mobile, and eager to show them some of the beautiful places I had been taken by my own parents.
There was something immensely poignant at the sight of the coffin, draped in its red and golden yellow flag, the Royal Standard, leaving the place of Queen Elizabeth’s last happiness. The ghosts there were powerful for her.
Now perhaps she will be leaving her own ghost.
Princess ‘Lilibet’ 1929
We know Balmoral was a place of many happy memories for the Queen. Being there reminded her, she said, of her childhood, playing in the garden at her mother’s home in Glamis, where the sun always seemed to shine. This is the human experience encapsulated in the The Six of Cups, old family times, old friends. Seasons in the sun. Simpler times, and the timeless moments when we were small, and the world seemed full of marvellous mysteries.
Well, it was.
And it is.
Life is inevitably sadder the older we get, our losses etched deeper and deeper.
But that doesn’t make the world any less wonderful and mysterious, and the greatest mystery and miracle is, that we are even here at all.
The Six of Cups: The Gilded Tarot: By Kind Permission of Ciro Marchetti
As for happiness:-
“Happiness we can only find in ourselves, it is a waste of time to seek for it from others, few have any to spare. Sorrow we have to bear alone as best we can, it is not fair to try to shift it on others, be they men or women. We have to fight our own battles and strike as hard as we can, born fighters as we are.”
–Axel Munthe, The Story of San Michele
Harvest Moon in Pisces
Harvest Moon by Samuel Palmer 1835
The Harvest moon 9 September 2022 was brilliant in the zodiac sign of Pisces, the sign of visions, ghosts and dreams, in the Twelfth House of Unknown Destinies.
Pisces is associated in the Tarot with- well, The Moon card.
From The Legacy of The Divine Tarot
This card talks about the cycles of Nature, the power of the wild and the wild creatures, fertility, contagion, danger, high tides, a hunter’s moon. Hear the barking of the dogs and the howling of the wolves.
We are experiencing a Twelfth House event. This is something more than the death of an old lady, however grand, at a good age. It is also the death of something in her people, a link to the past and Britain as it has become after World War 11.
Eminent astrologers see the reign of Charles as an event of ill- omen for the future of the Monarchy as an institution. I can see that potential and the Moon card is anything but comfortable whenever it appears. But this is a benign, deep, visionary Full Moon. His vision may outstrip his means or freedom to execute. At least he has vision. But though he will do his dutiful best, he no longer wants to hold this Cup, if he ever really wanted it.
In The Season of Virgo
The Queen Elizabeth has died in the second decan of Virgo, associated in the Tarot with the Nine of Pentacles, ‘The Lord and Lady of Material Gain’.
This card describes a life that has every appearance of luxury but it has come at great hidden cost. There has been untold personal sacrifice behind the scenes. Personal wishes denied. What has been lost or sacrificed has been normal personal freedoms, symbolized in the Tarot by the falcon sitting on the lady’s wrist.
The ‘Gilded cage?’ Balmoral was this bird’s escape.
From the Rider-Smith-Waite
Many of us had been inwardly preparing for this news, while hoping that the Queen would get to celebrate her Platinum Jubilee. Hoping that her last months, now that she was living this strange new life without Philip, her husband, ally, friend and companion of 73 years, would not be too greatly darkened by two particular family troubles involving scandals and rifts.
Tarot Predictions December 2021
It is not OK to issue predictions of death. Once upon a time, for reasons of state security, it was an act of treason in England, punishable by death, to issue a prediction concerning the death of a monarch.
However I had been expecting we would lose the Queen this year, 2022, based partly on feeling and observation. Many of us will have felt the same. The feeling was also based on what I had seen in the Tarot, and I dropped a broad hint, based on a Tarot reading written up in mid December 2021, which was later published at AskAstrology.com
The cards had indicated it would happen anytime between July 2022 and the end of the year. This was based on the appearance of the Three of Swords drawn against the position I had allocated to the month of July/zodiac sign/House of Leo. The Three of Swords is severance. Leo is the sign of Royalty and also corresponds with high summer-late summer. So my cards were not completely spot in in terms of the timing. But they came pretty close.
I was working with The Gilded Tarot, and as you’ll notice, this deck is pretty well used but I felt drawn to use it on this occasion.
Extract from an article at Ask Astrology December 2021:
Leo: 5th House (July-August 2022)
Heartland, creativity, passion, romance, royalty, children
Tarot card~ 3 Swords Reversed
The Gilded Tarot
This is always a challenging card, but is one of those cards that are actually better news, being drawn reversed or upside down. The Three of Swords is about grief, loss, bereavement, arguments, Drawn in the Fifth House, it suggests that tensions between certain countries may ease. On a personal level, we are coming to terms with a family loss, or quarrels may be settling down.
Loss, sadness or disappointment. No-one escapes these experiences. How we deal with them determines whether we learn something new, and grow bigger and stronger, or whether take things personally, and see ourselves as victims and dwell on our grievances, thereby adding to the damage.
Leo is the zodiac House of royalty. There could be national mourning in 2022 for a much loved figurehead.
Public Domain
Whatever people may feel about our constitutional Monarchy, or the Queen, the death of Elizabeth marks the end of an era in Britain.
There is not just a sadness but a profound strangeness on the land.”
Most of us know our sun sign or sign of the Zodiac, but what does the constellation look like in the night sky, and what’s the story behind it?
The season is the reason.
It’s time to meet Virgo again, and get to know her better.
Virgo Season 2023
We are entering the zodiac territory of Virgo 23 August and we’ll stay there until 23 September.
Virgo is a mutable Earth sign, representing the changing of the seasons as we approach the end of summer and the beginning of autumn in the northern hemisphere (or the end of winter and into early spring in the southern hemisphere.)
It is harvest time- ‘the season of mists and mellow fruitfulness’ (From An Ode to Autumn by English poet John Keats) Virgo represents the classical Hellenistic goddesses of wheat and agriculture. The brightest star in the constellation of Virgo, far brighter than our own sun, is Spica, aka ‘the ear of wheat’.
Virgo the Maiden is the sixth sign of the zodiac, and rules the sixth house and the concepts of daily routines; work, service, order, analysis and analytics, food, harvests, health, digestion, hygiene- and crafts
Virgo is traditionally ruled by Mercury, planet of communications, inquiry, science, commerce, trade and travel. This symbolic planetary influence brings to the Virgo-born subject, an enlarged curiosity and a combination of analytical ability, but also a certain contemplative, humanitarian or even mystical quality.
Traditional Associations
Zodiac symbol of Virgo
Date: August 23-September 22
Symbol: The Virgin
Element: Earth
Quality: Mutable (Sagittarius and Pisces are also Mutable, suggesting these subjects are capable and versatile; generally inclined to conform and go with the flow for the greater good.)
Ruling planet: Mercury (Travel and all forms of communication)
House: Sixth, ruling health, habits and routines
Colours: green, white and yellow
Body: The digestive system
Birthstone: Carnelian
Flowers: small bright flowers such as the buttercup
Tarot: Major Arcana card: The Hermit (introspection, perception, analysis, health, care for nature)
Minor Arcana cards: The 8,9 and 10 of Pentacles/ Coins.
The Hermit from The Golden Tarot, Kat Black
Astronomy
Via Wiki: Credit Till Credner
The zodiac sign of Virgo gets its name from the constellation of Virgo; the largest constellation in the zodiac, and the second largest in all the visible sky after the constellation of Hydra
It’s mind-boggling to consider that our own Sun is just one star of the Milky Way, and the Milky Way is part of a collection of galaxies known as the Local Group. This contains three large spiral galaxies: the Milky Way, Andromeda, and the Triangulum Galaxy, as well as a few dozen dwarf galaxies.
But The Local Group is just one member of the Virgo Cluster; a collection of 1200-2000 galaxies that stretch across 15 million light-years of space. And the Virgo Cluster is just one cluster in the Virgo Supercluster.
The Virgo constellation is visible from all around the world. In the northern hemisphere, it’s most visible in the evening sky from mid-March – the start of the planting season- to late June. In the southern hemisphere, look for it in the autumn and winter.
Own image. Free to share. Credit Katie-Ellen Hazeldine, True Tarot Tales.com
It’s a bit of a stretch, picturing a person. But add in a few more of her stars and now we can see her, lounging semi-recumbent, dangling something, holding it in one hand. This is the star Spica, a blue-white giant. Its name comes from the Latin, meaning an ‘ear of grain’- a sheaf of wheat.
The star Vindemiatrix, ‘the Grape-Gatherer,’ as soon as it was seen at daylight, is the sign, or used to be, that now was the optimal time to pick the grapes.
But if the constellation of Virgo is most visible late March- late June, then why are the birth dates for the sign of the zodiac August 22-September 23rd?
The constellations of the zodiac are not to be confused with the signs which were named after them. Once upon a time, the dates of the signs reflected the constellations directly overhead at the same time, but they have since separated.
This drift away from that real time matching up of constellations and zodiac signs is due to the effect of the Earth’s wobble over a long period of time; every 26 000 years, creating an effect known as the precession of the equinoxes.
This does not change the symbolic link between the constellation and the sign named after it. Western or Tropical astrology is based on a symbolic, and an arithmetic, and not a strictly astronomical model. The western zodiac as we know it today, the celestial wheel of 360 degrees divided by the 12 constellations fully straddling the ecliptic, and with the signs named after those 12 selected constellations, was codified in the second century AD by Ptolemy, Greek astrologer, astronomer and mathematician.
History & Mythology
Virgo from Urania’s Mirror, Public Domain
Shala was an ancient Sumerian (Iraq) goddess of grain -and also compassion. Why link these two things? Famine is suffering. A good harvest was seen as a blessing of the gods. What is planted in the spring must yield a crop in the autumn or famine follows. But this cannot be guaranteed from one year to the next.
From early times, more than ten thousand years ago, Shala was associated with the constellation of Virgo and vestiges of symbolism associated with her continue, such as the naming of Spica, the ‘ear of grain’, even as the deity’s name changed from age to age, and culture to culture.
The Shala Mons is a mountain on Venus named after the goddess Shala.
In 10th century BC the Babylonians called part of this constellation, “The Furrow,” again, referring back to Shala.
While this is only one myth of the origin of Virgo, she is seen as a bringer of crops throughout all myths. In Egyptian mythology also, the arrival of Virgo in the night sky meant harvest time. Ceres (we think of the word ‘cereal’) or Demeter, the Greco-Roman goddess of the harvest, was the mother of Persephone.
It was the same with the Greeks and Romans “Spicifera est Virgo Cereris” — “The Virgin with her sheaf belongs to Ceres,” The Astronomica“, Manilius, 1st century AD.
When lonely Hades abducted Persephone to live with him in the underworld, her distraught mother, Demeter, went searching, and was enraged to discover that Zeus had known all along where Persephone was, but had turned a blind eye to Hades’ abduction.
Demeter demanded that Zeus help her bring Persephone home, and when he didn’t, she went on strike and the harvests failed. The people and the livestock starved. Humanity might have perished altogether had not Zeus finally intervened and insisted that Hades send Persephone home, and sent Hermes to collect her.
Hermes descended to the Underworld where he discovered Persephone, no longer a wretched, weeping, homesick girl. She had become a woman, a wife. She was the radiant queen of the gloomy Underworld, the apple of Hades’s eye, and he had built for her the most beautiful gardens he could contrive, with underground pools, and gems and stalactites.
Persephone now loved Hades. But she missed her mother, Demeter, and she desperately missed the light, and if she hadn’t developed the most almighty vitamin D deficiency by now, she was either eating plenty of fish or the nutritionists don’t know their stuff.
So Hermes passed on the order from Zeus, “send the girl home, pronto,” and Hades agreed that Persephone could go home. But he had conditions. Persephone must not eat anything until she arrived home again to her mother.
Hades had no intention of giving up Persephone, Zeus or no Zeus, and he gave her a handful of pomegranate seeds, knowing how much she loved them. A few seeds didn’t count as food, he said. And Persephone believed him and ate some on her way home. Or who knows. Perhaps she knew perfectly well what he was up to.
Painting by Frederick Leighton, Public Domain
Persephone went home to her mother. But a deal is a deal, and because she ate the pomegranate seeds, she returns to Hades and her life in the Underworld for four months of the year, and then Demeter mourns her child’s absence, the winter returns and the land lies cold and fallow.
The Virgo Archetype
Public domain
All zodiac signs are archetypes, meaning something that is considered to be a perfect or typical example of a particular kind of person or thing,
The signs of the zodiac paint a ‘typical’ portrait of a person born at a particular time of year, in a particular season. A baby born in the summer arrives into a different physical environment from a winter born baby. Different conditions; temperatures, available hours of daylight, seasonal foods available to the mother and so on, with potential physical and constitutional effects.
The archetype of Virgo is the Craftsman, paying careful attention to every detail, taking pride in doing the job, whatever it is, to the highest standard possible. There’s no substitute for skill and hard work, according to Virgo.
The major arcana card in the Tarot representing Virgo is The Hermit, as previously mentioned, denoting a deep-rooted sense of connection to Nature. Here is wisdom, maturity and the value of solitude and self-sufficiency. The Hermit represents work and the principle of service – the desire to help Humanity.
Virgo is ruled by agile Mercury, the fastest moving planet of communication. Virgo’s brain is in overdrive most of the time, but they stay anchored and grounded in common sense by their associated element, Earth.
Virgo is practical but artistically gifted. They are hard-workers who love to better themselves. They think deeply, they love to analyse, and their perceptiveness means that they can always find or create order within chaos. They are honest friends although, being discerning, and analytical, they might have a tendency to analyse you, and point out your strengths and also your mistakes and weaknesses. This can undoubtedly be annoying, though it’s well meant. They may also give great advice because of those same analytical abilities.
The Virgo appearance is generally neat and well groomed.”Slob” is not in their vocabulary. The quest of self-improvement includes personal presentation. They can be incredibly concerned about the impression they give, and even worry about it, but at the same time, they are very ready to help others, maybe sometimes even too generous. Others may try to take advantage of Virgo in a way they would not with, say, Aries, Leo or Scorpio..
But of course there is no such thing in reality as THE Virgo personality. We are all unique individuals. Your zodiac sign (sun sign) is a major clue, the keynote, the baseline, but doesn’t claim to represent the full picture in real life – or even in astrology.
But the Decans tell us just a little more.
What are the Decans?
The decans are nicknamed the ‘thirty six faces of astrology,’ and though they are not regarded as powerful influences in a horoscope chart, they do provide added insights and texture. The first ten days of your zodiac sign are the first decan. The second ten days or so are the second decan, and the last ten days are the third decan.
The decans were a feature of Egyptian astronomy, later adopted by the Greeks and incorporated into astrology.
The visible area of sky as seen from earth is what we call the wheel of the Zodiac, and represents an imaginary circle of 360 degrees. This circle divided by arithmetic into twelve ‘slices’- the zodiac signs we know today.
Each of the zodiac signs represents a 30 degree slice of this imaginary ‘pie in the sky,’ as seen from Earth. Each zodiac sign can be further sub-divided into three blocks of ten degrees, equivalent to about ten days in length. This is not exact, and may vary by a day or two because not every month is the same length. These three sub-divisions of all the zodiac signs are what we call ‘decans,’ from the Greek word for ten.
There is more than one decan system. For the avoidance of confusion, we are using the traditional system, based on the seven planets known to the Ancients.
The Tarot cards shown below are from the Rider- Waite deck, which many Tarot practitioners now refer to as the Waite-Smith, in recognition of the artist, Pamela Colman Smith.
First Decan Virgo
Dates: 23 August-1 September
Planetary ruler: Sun
Tarot card: The Eight of Pentacles: ‘Lord of Prudence,’ art, craft, industry, skill, concentration, application, studiousness, apprenticeship, crafts, heritage, buildings
Look at him. This person is absorbed in his work, and he seems to be enjoying himself. This work has meaning and purpose for him. This is typical of this decan. There is a mixture of quiet warmth and a cool mind with a talent for acute observation and incisive analysis; however this is expressed artistically, commercially or scientifically or in administrative tasks. Virgo is a master of the spreadsheet.
They see more than they say, but they have a talent for communication via the spoken and written word; making many of these subjects potentially great teachers. They are hard-working, industrious. ‘We reap what we sow,’ goes the old saying. This is not necessarily always true or fair. Misfortune strikes plenty of people who have done nothing to ‘deserve’ it. And plenty of wrong-doers escape justice.
However, it is broadly true to say, we can’t reap what was never sown. Wild berries had to be first sown by the wind, or by birds. First decan Virgo understands this better than almost any other sign, except Capricorn and Taurus.
They are serious people but they are cheerful company, faithful friends and partners, devoted in their quiet way.
Second Decan Virgo
Dates: 2-11 September
Planetary ruler: Venus
Tarot card- Nine Pentacles: ‘Lord of Material Gain’ beauty, luxury, hard work that pays off, horticulture, agriculture, viticulture, gardens, vineyards
This decan is associated with Venus, planet of love, beauty –and money. A perfectionist; conscientious, devoted, and above all focused, they can turn anything they do into an art form in its own right.
Notice the hooded falcon on her wrist. She has ‘tamed’ wildness – or chaos. She has tamed her own impulses, learned patience and self-discipline. She will not trade away her tomorrows for today’s gratification.
She has cultivated a home, a garden, a business, and made it thrive, healthy and beautiful. She is financially self-reliant but that doesn’t mean it came quick or easy, any of it. To achieve this she has learned to control the wild falcon representing her impulses, wants and desires. She has learned self-discipline and self-control, the power of deferred gratification.
A squirrel will have no nuts in the winter if it scoffs them all at once, or if it can’t remember where it hid them, because it wasn’t paying attention. This, the second decan of Virgo is often the most capable, conscientious provider for themselves and for others, and they enjoy spoiling their loved ones. But though they have learned how to do without (and at times, life, they have probably had no choice) still, they do crave and value beautiful things.
Third Decan Virgo
Dates: 12-22 September
Planetary ruler: Mercury
Tarot card- Ten of Pentacles:keywords: ‘Lord of Wealth,’ commerce, messages, deliveries, Hermes, home, homeland, ancestry, genetics, inter-generational relationships, inheritance, gifts, legacy, bequests, town planning, art, museums, banks.
Third Decan Virgo is both a creative and a practical thinker. These are proud people, not vain, but dignified – big difference. They need to be their own masters and it’s not about the money, or at least, not for its own sake. These people are careful, prudent, but they are not misers. They have a winning way with people and may work in the public eye; such is their talent for communication; personal, professional, artistic, written and spoken.
Notice the old man surrounded by family, adults, children, and dogs too. Virgo cares for animals. What he or she has built, was created in order to share, to pass on, seeing themselves as part of a bigger picture, a link in a chain of legacy. This could mean money. It could mean ideas. It could mean a place that means everything to them, their own home or their homeland, with a sense of belonging, of being in the right place – to feel this way is a treasure beyond price.
These are family minded people. They enjoy family outings, a walk in the woods, or a trip to the seaside. And they will organize it. Realists with a ‘can do’ attitude, Virgo are makers and menders, and they are usually good with animals too, as shown by The Hermit cards. Eco-warrior is not really their style. But they do care about the environment. Virgo is about food for the mind and the spirit, as well as the body.
Virgo has both feet on the ground. And yet, it is something of an artist, something of a scientist. Like the Hermit himself, something of a sage.
Grounded, rooted in the earth, but looking inwards and upwards, moving to its own dance, steering by your quiet inner star.
Planetary influences this Virgo Season
The month of August 2023 began with three of the five outer planets (Saturn, Neptune, and Pluto) in retrograde, along with the inner planet Venus retrograde in Leo, and the “wounded healer” Chiron.
Mercury goes retrograde on the day of writing, as Virgo season begins on August 23, and then Uranus goes retrograde on August 28
So what?
Retrogrades symbolize a time for reflection and review. In this case, many of us may be feeling that a whole way of life is coming to an end, and we are feeling our way through it – at times it may feel like a veritable sh*t storm.
We may need a cool head and a calm nerve this Virgo season, and Mercury retrograde advises that when the going gets tough, we need to be very careful how we react, and to guard what we say in the heat and stress of the moment.
It’s not necessarily anything to worry about. It’s just, change happens, and sometimes a lot of it happens at once.
“I beg your pardon
I never promised you a rose garden.”
Change is inevitable. We take the rough with the smooth and we learn. We may be wiser and sadder but that’s just Life.
We have a Blue Moon in Pisces 30 August. A moon to dream on. To daydream on. We may experience powerful dreams or even have psychic experiences at this time. We are physically and psychically subject to the tidal pull of the Moon, and the Moon card in tarot is associated with Pisces; 12th House of deepest mysteries. This is a moon for seeing ghosts (though Pisces also rules the feet, and we can hardly get more grounded than that.)
Venus, planet of money matters, luxuries, pleasures, self image and relationships stations direct again 3 September, and The New Moon in Virgo 17 September, start bringing things more back to normal again. Back to school, and all that.
But for so many of us, this will be a new normal. Something has shifted so profoundly, that we know nothing will be quite the same again.
The Lion’s Gate Portal is an astronomical event that happens every year when Sirius, Earth, and the Orion constellation are all in alignment with each other. This happens every year between July 28 and August 12, and reaches its peak of closest alignment on August 8 (8/8) when in the northern hemisphere we see the brilliant star Sirius on the eastern horizon before dawn. Sirius has been out of sight since early in the spring.
But now it is rising again.
The Lion’s Gate Portal is seen by many as a particularly auspicious portal in time, but auspicious for what? Action, that’s the theory. Any action tending towards conquest, achievement or the creation of something new- and lasting.
But how and why?
Sirius, the brightest star in our galaxy, the Milky Way, is the stellar cornerstone.
Here, the photographer has captured Sirius hanging low; a brilliant blue white star, apparently following along behind the constellation of Orion, the Hunter.
The name Sirius comes from the Greek and means “scorching” or “glowing.” Its other names, Canis Major, or the Dog Star, derive from the ancient Greek myth that says that once upon a time Sirius was one of the two hunting dogs of Orion. (The other is the Little or Lesser Dog, Canis Minor.)
Wiki
See Orion running out of the right hand side of the picture? See the Belt of Orion, and the sword hanging down (or the hunting knife) and three stars that make up the belt; Alnilam, Alnitak and Mintaka? See Betelgeuse, the bright red giant star of his right shoulder? Some sources call it the left shoulder- it depends how you picture The Hunter. Do you see him with his back to you, or do you see him swaggering past, moving left -right with his face in partial profile?
Now see the brilliant white orb of Sirius, running along behind the Hunter?
As a girl I would go outside to the coal bunker (yes, coal) on a clear winter’s night, and fill up the coal scuttle for the fire, and look up and wonder where Orion was running to, with Sirius bounding along behind him.
Sirius is the brightest star in the night sky- within the Milky Way- and about 8.6 light years away from earth and is actually a double star, Sirius Alpha and Sirius Beta. Sirius Alpha is much brighter than the dwarf Sirius Beta, and has twice the mass of our own Sun.
We don’t know if there are planets in the Sirius star system, and it’s possible, there may actually be three, not two stars in the system but we don’t know for sure.
To the people of ancient Egypt, the return of Sirius was a welcome sign that the Nile flood was on its way, ending the long season of drought, when desperate desert lions would come looking for water in plain sight of the city walls.
This was an anxious time of year. No Nile flood in the seasonal time frame of Leo meant famine. The dawn re-appearance of Sirius was a welcome sign that the worst of the drought was now in sight, and the farmers all along the Nile- and everyone else -waited expectantly, almost holding their breath.
The auspicious star of Sirius was associated with the goddess Sopdet, the fertility goddess of the Nile, correlating with deities of other societies and other times; Isis/Ishtar and Demeter, as represented in the tarot deck by the Empress card.
Wiki
The Zodiac/Celestial Zoo
“As above so below,” the saying goes. But – and perhaps this is being pedantic- “as below, so above,” was how these ancient stories first began.
Astrology, astronomy, cosmology; it all started right where we stood. Some might say, what’s the fuss, any of this astrology stuff. It’s all just random patterns in the sky. But that’s exactly the point. We are a hunting animal. We are a pattern seeking animal. We look for patterns in everything, and we ascribe meaning to those patterns. In time, the pattern and the meaning become conjoined. Hardwired. They are now archetypes, and are part of our ancient collective algorithm, so to speak, lending themselves to anticipation, planning- and potentially, prediction.
People looked up, saw patterns, saw life on earth mirrored in the stars, gave them names. “Ooh, look up at that, will ya? Do you see it too? I can see a crouching ram!”
(If you say so) The brightest star shown here at the bottom is Hamal, the head of the Ram.
Shepherds in the Near and Middle East, looked up at the starry skies, watching their precious flocks by night and pictured the star Hamal as the head of the Ram, critically noting that it was always’seen’ overhead at lambing time. They saw that those patterns repeated over and over. And so in time we got Aries -and by a similar approach- all the rest of the zodiac pantheon based on the 12 constellations visible within a narrow arc of sky, the imaginary pathway known as the ecliptic.
The word “zodiac” comes from the Greek meaning “circle of animals.” The only non-living symbol in the astrological Zodiac is the scales of Libra, but even these are formed from the same stars that make up the claws of Scorpio, the celestial scorpion next door.
The Lion
The Gilded Tarot
My darling mother, a Capricorn sun sign native, first decan, and with a massive dose of Sagittarian vision and curiosity; beautiful, brave, self-reliant, wise, witty, and above all, a most determined person, was saying to me, not long before she died in February this year, that there was this theme tune on the box that made the hairs on her neck stand up every time she heard it.
She had been watching that drama series, Versailles, on the box. The theme tune was Outro by M83, as also used in the movie, Cloud Atlas, based on the novel by David Mitchell.
“I’m the king of my own land Facing tempests of dust, I’ll fight until the end Creatures of my dreams, raise up and dance with me Now and forever I’m your king!”
-(Outro- M83)
Listen here– as being used as the score for a film, “Melancholia” by Lars von Trier. (Don’t be thrown by the really long pause in the introduction.)
She greatly admired, and had a great sympathy with lionesses, for their courage, but also for their incredible devotion, duty and unselfishness, she said.
Number 8
The Lions’ Gate portal is a cosmic, and perhaps karmic expression of the power of the number 8.
The number eight is like a lemniscate- a symbol of infinity, only now it’s standing upright. Note the lemniscate above the head of the figure with the lion in the Rider-Waite tarot deck.
The Strength card in the Tarot is major arcana number 8. The Strength card is about moral fortitude and stamina as much as it is about physical strength and courage.
Strength is self- mastery. Self-control. Taming the inner lion. Leo rules the heart, and the passions of the heart.
The word ‘Karma’ means ‘action’. This is read by some as a celestial signal for Action. Plan, execute, and materially manifest. The glory and the grandeur of the Lion contain on occasion something lonely and forlorn.
For folk not familiar with a tarot deck, in a 78 card deck of cards deck we have five cards that bear the number 8. Besides the Strength card, major arcana 8, we also have 4 minor arcana cards bearing the number 8
(22 Major arcana cards=greater secrets or mysteries. 56 Minor arcana cards =lesser secrets or mysteries, but these are no less important in any reading)
We have:
8 of Cups (Pisces)- acceptance of disappointment in developments, walking away
8 of Swords-Gemini- mental impasse, drama, entrapment, indecision, refusal to face a problem
8 Wands -Sagittarius- speed of developments, generation of news and activities
These apparently immovable number eights all belong to the MUTABLE signs of the zodiac- the signs where one season gradually merges into another.
8 of Cups= Pisces, winter becomes spring, 8 Swords= Gemini, and spring becomes summer, 8 Pentacles, Virgo, summer becomes autumn/fall, and 8 Wands= Sagittarius, when autumn now segues into winter.
The eights are mutable, twining, stable because symmetrical and yet subtle, complex, shifting.
There are no easy answers in life. The miracle is that we are here at all. But we do know from all the entire known history of the human species that the experience of happiness is found through a sense of connection with others. Who wants a paradise all to themselves and all alone, except in small doses? The misanthropes can object all they like.
We were never meant to be a solitary animal, any more than the lion, who suffers trauma as a young adult male; when he leaves the pride aged two or three.He must leave or else he will be driven out, to go and fight for, and create his own pride; exiled from his home turf and everyone he has always known.
The lionesses do the dangerous work of hunting. But the lion controls the territory and all its resources on behalf of the pride.
We want- we need- to share our joys and sorrows alike. Part of the tapestry of all Humanity. But we come in alone. We leave alone. And sooner or later, if we are ever to become The Lion, then at some point, we will have to face- and outface- and defy- “tempests of dust.”
The zodiac sign of Leo rules the human heart. Leo can be loud. The dreams are big and bold. But Leo understands what it is to be lonely- or simply alone.
But like the lion in exile, who must fight tooth and claw for his own patch of turf, for his place in the world, for his chance of founding a pride of his own, and for his very survival, we will and must sometimes stand alone, in rising to meet a challenge.
Harvest Moon, Samuel Palmer,1833, Yale Center for British Art via Wikimedia Commons
Today, 1 August 2023, marks the start of Lammas, or “Loaf Mass”, marking the start of the Anglo-Saxon harvest season as first recorded in the 10th century.
Word origins Old English hlaf, ‘loaf’ and mæsse, ‘mass.’
Neo-Pagans and many others see Lammas as being one and the same marker in the calendar as an older pre-christian Celtic festival, Lughnasadh (pronounced Loo-na-sa), named for Lugh Celtic god of justice, victory, statecraft, crafts and the harvest. Lugh was widely worshipped in Europe before the advent of Christianity.
This connection seems entirely likely, though there is apparently no known surviving documentary evidence.
We are at the height of summer and now at harvest time we are entering the final stretch, but Haer-fest/harvest was the Old English word for autumn. August was also known in Old English as “weed month” (Weodmonað) meaning the month of long grasses. This didn’t necessarily suggest unwanted plants, only plants that were wild and uncultivated one, and this time of year is prime growing season as gardeners can attest.
Around 7 August is the half way point between the summer solstice and the autumn/fall equinox.
The Tarot cards associated with August are Strength (Leo), the Six of Wands, the Seven of Wands (Leo decans), the Eight of Pentacles (the first decan of Virgo) and The Empress, manifesting as Harvest goddess/Ceres/Demeter.
She is the principle of creation. Fertility. She is all things female. She is all mothers. She is Gaia. Mother Earth.
The Legacy of the Divine Tarot, artist Ciro Marchetti
Tonight is the first of this month’s two full Moons. Tonight’s full moon is in Aquarius. We have a New Moon in Leo 16 August which promises to be…lively and then we have another full supermoon 31 August, this one in the zodiac sign of deepest Pisces.
Not only do we have two full moons this month, so that August 2023 is a Blue Moon month, but these will both be a supermoon, coming closer to Earth than usual, 15 % larger and brighter in the sky.
It has been shown that we sleep less deeply and that we also sleep at least 20 minutes less on average during a night of full moon, and with 30 % less of that sleeping time spent in restorative deepest sleep, compared with other nights in the lunar cycle. One way to combat this effect is to reduce our exposure to blue light in the evening. Switch off your computer at least two hours before you settle to sleep tonight.
Or don’t. Test it out and see what, if any difference you notice.
Tonight’s moon rise is in the east at a distance of 222,159 miles (357,530km) when the supermoon will be visible shortly after sunset from around 9pm – if the skies are clear enough. At its furthest point away from the Earth, when it is in apogee, the Moon is about 405 696 km (252 088 miles) away
Let’s call the maximum range a difference of roughly 30 000 miles. But the Moon and the Earth are drifting apart at a rate of about an inch and a half every year. It’s the effect of gravity, it seems a ridiculously small change, and we need not concern ourselves about it personally, but multiply that effect over millions of years and they will become profound.
Once a year, Earth flies between the sun and Saturn. In 2023, this will happen August 27. Saturn, old Father time, the astrological planet of law and order, and of discipline and restriction, is also now getting closer and brighter…
Old heads on young shoulders. Wise heads on old shoulders. Money stuff, work stuff, and family responsibilities get serious
Image via Earthsky
Tarot Full Moon Guidance 1 August
Well, what do you know. We have only drawn The King of Swords.
So what?
Tonight’s Full Moon is in Aquarius,and the King of Swords is THE court card associated with the zodiac sign of Aquarius (the major arcana card of Aquarius is The Star and the decan cards of Aquarius are the 5,6 and 7 Swords.
Typical tarot. Real time synchronicity – or coincidence if you prefer.
From The Rider-Waite Tarot
The King of Swords may be male or female. This doesn’t matter for the purposes of guidance.
The Tarot is sensing a collective and individual need to stay especially cool, clear, calm and collected during the next few days.
You do not have all the information you need in respect of critical decision making right now. Seek advice, or further research is required before you make any far reaching decisions or enter into long term commitments.
This king operates strategically and judicially. S/he can be ruthless and intent on conquest, but his primary objective here is to guard and protect his/her space, resources and those things and people s/he holds most dear.
S/he is analytical, forensic, surgical in accuracy. In real life s/he may be a leader, a military person, a judge, a doctor, pilot, IT specialist and so on.
Volodymyr Zelensky is an Aquarius subject. Several people were tragically killed yesterday in his home city in a Russian missile attack, but now the Ukrainian counter offensive is underway and Moscow has finally experienced a taste of its own airborne aggression, although Ukrainian drones have not been targeting residential areas, so far as we know.
There does seem a strong likelihood that the war may achieve some formal ending or resolution before entering its second winter, and this is to be welcomed, but seems almost certain to be brokered in terms which neither side will find satisfactory.
Meanwhile, in general we can achieve a lot this month, with the caveat that we seem best served by staying watchful, keeping a cool head, looking every gift horse in the mouth, separating workable fact from opinion or wishful thinking, and cutting our cloth with care by the light of tonight’s full moon, and its afterglow in the next few coming days.
Clearing, sorting, sweeping clean, ordering our paperwork. We have 5 planets in retrograde by the end of August. Venus, Mercury, Pluto, Saturn and Neptune. This is a time for avoiding random choices , knee jerk reactions or sudden moves. The end of this month is a time for deep reflection, reviewing, reassessment, risk avoidance and judicious, methodical planning.
Your zodiac or sun sign is not the whole story of your horoscope. Your birthday decan provides further insights into your zodiac persona or archetype.
All zodiac signs are archetypes; something that is considered to be a perfect or typical example of a particular kind of person or thing,
The zodiac signs paint a typical portrait of a person born at a particular time of year, in a particular season. The idea here is that we are affected by the seasons in which we were physically gestated, and the season into which we arrive. This might seem like nonsense until we really think about it. A baby born in summer for example, arrives into a different environment from a winter born baby, just as a spring lamb is different to an autumn lamb. The weather is different, and the hours of daylight and the food resources vary, that are or were available to the pregnant mother, in the days long,long before shops and supermarkets.
The zodiac sign of Capricorn, for example, is associated with the knees. Why? Well, Capricorn is ruled by Saturn, also known as Old Father Time, and knee trouble is commonly associated with advancing age.
The winter born baby arrives into an environment with minimal hours of daylight and therefore experiences minimal vitamin D exposure, as perhaps, so does the mother in the later stages of pregnancy. Vitamin D, together with vitamin K2, is required for calcium absorption into the bones. Chronic deficiency is associated with osteo- arthritis—and arthritis of the knee.
Other zodiac signs may be more challenging to explain so easily in these kinds of terms. But that doesn’t mean there isn’t a symbolic, seasonal and ancient natural, biological, physiological or metabolic association with each and every zodiac sign.
What are the decans?
The visible area of sky as seen from earth is what we call the wheel of the Zodiac, representing an imaginary circle of 360 degrees. This circle was then arithmetically divided into the twelve zodiac signs we know today, as codified by the Greek mathematician, astronomer and astrologer, Ptolemy in the second century AD.
Each of the zodiac signs represents a 30 degree slice of this imaginary ‘pie in the sky,’ as seen from Earth. Each zodiac sign can be further sub-divided into three blocks of ten degrees, equivalent to about ten days in length. This is not exact, and may vary by a day or two because not every calendar month is the same length- again, for reasons of astronomy.
These three sub-divisions of the zodiac signs are what we call the decans.
The first ten days of your zodiac sign are the first decan, representing the first 10 degrees of your sign. The second ten days or so are the second decan, and the last ten days or so of your sun sign are the third decan.
The Leo Archetype
Leo, the fifth sign of the zodiac, is a fixed fire sign representing the height of summer in the northern hemisphere (and winter in the southern hemisphere.)
Leo is ruled by the Sun, bestowing radiance, warmth and vitality. The major arcana card in the Tarot representing Leo is Strength, Major Arcanum number 8, ruling the greater part of August, the 8th month of the calendar year, and denoting not only physical strength and courage, but moral courage; resilience, stamina and fortitude in the face of adversity.
There is no Strength without self control. The figure in this card has the lion on a loose chain. But it is on a chain all the same. The lion represents her own inner fire, passions and impulses, and she has them under control.
Image from The Gilded Tarot Royale.
But Leo is of course also associated with the Sun card, its planetary ruler. The image below is from The Gilded Royale Tarot deck, illustrated by Ciro Marchetti.
The court card representing the fixed fire sign of Leo is the energetic, capable and charismatic King of Wands.
There is of course no such thing in reality as THE Leo personality, and this applies to all zodiac signs. You are a unique personality. Your zodiac sign (also known as your sun sign) is a major keynote of your natal chart but it’s nothing like the whole story. These archetypes are based on thousands of years of observation, however, and your decan, which depends on where your birthday falls within your zodiac sign, digs a little deeper.
If you don’t feel like a ‘typical’ Leo, well, you’re not. You are unique, with a uniquely individual natal chart. But it may also because you are a second decan or third decan Leo, rather than the ‘most typical’ first decan Leo.
First Decan Leo
Proud, passionate, purposeful.
Dates: 23 July-1 August
Planetary ruler: Sun sub-ruler also Sun
Tarot card: Five of Wands: ambition, test of strength, contest, competition, stress, conflict, honest intention, summer thunderstorms (Gilded Tarot Royale)
This is Leo-Leo, ruled by the sun twice over, this could be understood as the most ‘typically’ or archetypal Leo decan.
This Leo born native, ruled by the Sun twice over, does not just enter the room. It makes an entrance, and can be charm itself, lively, confident, warm, talkative. Others who are quieter, or who are less confident or energetic may find these Leo natives too loud, overpowering, self-centred or even arrogant. And they may be all these things but the chances are, really, it is just a natural exuberance.
This decan is generally attractive to others and may well play the field, but once committed, is devoted to its own pride of loved ones. This Leo is hardworking, and likely to be something of a perfectionist.
This decan is cardinal in quality, which is to say, it likes to start new things. It is exceedingly determined and persistent, even more so than the other two decans, and that is saying something. First decan Leo will finish what it starts, whatever it takes.
They have high levels of energy and stamina, and set themselves exceedingly high standards and targets, though they tend to be fair minded and realistic in their dealings with others, and as employers, ask only that others do their best. First Decan Leo is a loyal, faithful friend, unless given cause to feel betrayed, which on occasion, indeed they may be, attracting to themselves, not only admiration, but envy.
Tarot card- Six Wands: victory, progress, pride in success, determined effort (From the Gilded Tarot, the predecessor of the Gilded Tarot Royale)
This is Sagittarius-Leo, co-ruled by massive and expansive Jupiter. Subjects of this decan may be literally taller and bigger than other Leo decans, and with a tendency for having rather noticeable square white teeth.
The influence of its sub-ruler, cheerful, outgoing Sagittarius makes this Leo the life and soul of the party when they are in the mood, but this smoothest-talking decan is somewhat restless, for travel, for adventure – or learning. This is Leo on a quest of some kind, with a visionary quality, hungry and ambitious to know more and less settled in temperament than the other two decans. They are still solid and tough, but versatile with it, and generally good at problem-solving.
Leo in general tends to be a cat walks alone. Yes, it loves people, but all the same it retains a certain aloofness. Its sub-ruler Sagittarius however, is about groups and communities, and it is this, somewhat more communal spirit, which sets the second decan Leo slightly apart from the other decans.
They too, are faithful to their loved ones, and they make loyal friends. Second decan Leo in particular may be an artist, writer or poet. They are something of a philosopher. They are interested in social causes, and keen to do their bit to champion the underdog.
Third Decan Leo
Fire, focus and curiosity.
Dates: 12 August -22 August
Planetary ruler: Mars sub-ruler Aries
Tarot card- Seven of Wands: courage, moral courage, stamina, endurance, outnumbered but fighting your own corner, defeating the odds(Gilded Tarot Royale)
This decan is sub-ruled by fiery Mars, Aries- this is Leo with a double dose of warrior energy. The third decan Leo is confident and competitive-combative on occasion. Driven, ambitious, sometimes this Leo decan loses patience and may not finish what it starts, due to restlessness, but it operates on its own terms, and is an excellent planner and problem-solver, finding failure almost intolerable.
This decan needs peace and quiet when its mind is working on something, to figure things out in its own way. It has the usual Leo warmth but with, possibly, an explosive temper at times. Leo in general however, is quick to forgive and forget and is not known for bearing grudges, though others may not necessarily be so forgiving in return.
The third decan Leo is particularly intense, and deeply curious about other people and other cultures. They also have a reputation for being excellent listeners. This is the sort of person who talks to perfect strangers and hears all kind of stories.
Today 22 July (or 23rd depending where we are in the world) we leave the zodiac sign of Cancer; mysterious and elusive Crab in the Starry zodiac sea and the sign of the zenith of the summer, and we move into the astrological sign of Leo the celestial lion. Most of us know our zodiac or sun sign, but what does it actually look like in the night sky, and what’s the story behind it? It’s time to roll out the red carpet for the star-lion, royal Leo…
The Lady and the Lion. Perhaps it is Una. Or perhaps her name is Leona or Leonora, for the lion is also the lioness. Her hold on the leash could not be lighter. She is controlling the lion, but only because it is allowing it, not fighting her restraint, signifying that the lion is also a part of herself. This is just as one would imagine, a welcome card of better health, signifying recovery if someone has been ill.
Astronomy
Leo is one of the 48 constellations described by the 2nd-century astronomer Ptolemy, and one of the 88 modern constellations recognised by NASA today, between the neighbouring constellations of Cancer to the west and Virgo to the east.
Leo is the 12th largest constellations, and one of the most easily recognizable due to its many bright stars, and a distinctive shape suggesting a crouching lion, apparently facing right.
The bright light in the sky beneath Leo as seen in the photo below is Jupiter.
Wiki
The best time to see the Lion is in Spring in the northern hemisphere, from around the March equinox. In early April, the constellation Leo reaches its high point for the night around 10 p.m. By around May 1, Leo reaches his high point for the night around 8 p.m. local time In early May, the Lion begins to set in the west around 2 a.m. local time and by June, Leo is descending in the west in the evening, drifting progressively westward.
By late July and into early August, the Lion is beginning to fade into the sunset, returning to the eastern sky and visible before dawn around late September or October.
Look out for the Big Dipper, Leo is below it. You are looking for a backwards question mark pattern called the Sickle; and you can see its curve outlines the Lion’s mane.
Leo’s brightest star, Regulus, or Alpha Leonis, ‘The King Star,’ is the heart of the celestial lion, a sparkling blue-white star at the bottom of the backwards question mark pattern. Regulus means “little king” or “prince” in Latin. The star’s Greek name, Basiliscos, has the same meaning, while the Arabic name is Qalb al-Asad, meaning literally “the heart of the lion.”
Coeur de Lion.
Leo’s fifth largest star, Epsilon Leonis, 247 light years from Earth, is 288 times more luminous than the Sun, four times as massive and has 21 times the solar radius.
A triangle of stars in eastern Leo represents the Lion’s hindquarters and tail. The brightest star of the triangle is named Denebola, Arabic, meaning the Lion’s Tail.
There are 15 stars in Leo with 18 known planets between them, but none of the planets is in a habitable zone.
The Leonids are meteor showers associated with the constellation of Leo. They peak around November 17-18 every year, and there is another minor shower, the January Leonids, peaking January 1 – 7.
History & Mythology
Leo the Lion has since ancient times been associated with the sun and royalty, ruled by the sun in astrology and is one of the oldest constellations collectively recognized with many ancient civilizations agreeing on perceiving it as a lion.
Archaeological evidence suggests that Mesopotamians recognized a constellation similar to Leo as early as 4000 BC. The Persians knew the constellation as Shir or Ser, Babylonians called it UR.GU.LA (“the great lion”), Syrians knew it as Aryo, and the Turks as Artan.
The Lions of The Nile
The story goes that the ancient Egyptians venerated Leo because the overhead appearance of Leo once upon a time coincided with the annual flooding of the Nile River, the lifeblood of their agriculture- and therefore the nation entire.
Why once upon a time? The constellations as seen from Earth have moved over the millennia due to a 26 000 year cycle known as the precession of the equinoxes.
By the end of the drought, the desert lions were getting desperate and would come within sight of the city walls seeking water but this low point in the life of the lions was welcomed as a certain sign that the Nile floods were now shortly on their way. The Egyptians accordingly honoured the lion with festivals, and statues of lions can still be seen along the course of the Nile River, proof of their reverence.
It’s thought that the lion-headed fountains commonly designed by Greek and Roman architects equally symbolized the life-giving waters released by the sun’s presence in Leo.
Herakles and the Lion of Nemea
In Greek mythology, Herakles’ first labour was the killing of the Nemean Lion. This man eating lion lived in a cave just outside Nemea, a town south-west of Corinth. There had been a number of failed attempts to kill it, but these intrepid hunters had discovered- to their (terminal) horror- that nothing could pierce the lion’s hide, it was so preternaturally tough.
But someone must have survived to tell this tale, for Herakles was forewarned of this additional teensy problem, and sneaked up on the lion when it was asleep in his cave, where they fought and he strangled to death the uber-kitty.
Herakles then (rather disrespectfully, I can’t help feeling, if undeniably pragmatically) skinned the lion with its own claws, and wore its skin as a cloak, making himself even more ferocious in appearance, and more importantly, arrow-proof.
Tarot cards: Strength and the Five, Six and Seven of Wands.
This fixed fire sign is known for its pride, ambition and determination, warmth and generosity of spirit, not to mention, charisma, but above all, Leo is known for bravery; the lionhearted one, the divine expression of physical, mental, and emotional fortitude, which is a very great virtue. Leo parents are typically devoted, but they rule their households, no question about it.
Courage takes many forms. There is the courage of initiative, the will to advance, engage and attack. There is moral courage, proceeding in the face of fear, “feeling the fear and doing it anyway.”
And there is the courage to endure, to withstand, and the fortitude that quietly says to itself, “I will keep smiling, and tomorrow I will try again”. No banners and no accolades.
Leo can be its own worst enemy; hasty, arrogant, reckless, self-centred, headstrong and careless, and for these reasons, unless these subjects learn patience, consideration and self-control, they are not necessarily always as lucky in life as they could be, or as the great-hearted Leo truly deserves, proud and thirsty children of the sun.
The living animal with such a very beautiful, and somehow sad and wistful face.
Incredible Putin Tarot prediction from Sun Sign School tutor Katie-Ellen Hazeldine at @truetarottales naming June 2023 and showing the ‘stab in the back’ Putin mentions in her cards.
The discussion on Twitter was in reference to Putin’s speech in the immediate aftermath of the Wagner mutiny and Prigozhin’s subsequent hasty relocation to Belarus, and the image in question was the Ten of Swords as shown below, from The Illuminati Tarot.
This card has been turning up for Vladimir Putin again and again since March 2022, and its work, one suspects, has only just begun.
Classically, the Ten of Swords signifies the end of the road; ruin, collapse, betrayal, (stab in the back) The Ten of Swords may also, in my own reading experience, denote health problems, including, but not limited to, migraines, strokes, neck problems, spinal issues and colo-rectal problems. I am not suggesting that Putin himself is dealing with such health issues. But I have seen this connection validated sufficiently often in real life, to be aware of the very real possibilities.
Vladimir Putin and Yevgeny Prigozhin. They go back a long way, these two, since the mid-nineties. But Mr Putin does not “do” sentiment. And as for loyalty, since when has this been a question of honour, or an reciprocal, equitable two-way street in the corridors of absolute power, any place, any time?
Tweeted 28 June @truetarottales
#Tarot What are Mr P’s plans in respect of Prigozhin? Or Lukashenko’s? 5 Wands (post tumult/mutiny) Temperance & Death card. No window/funny tea for Prigozhin. Or at least not yet. Too useful still as a threat, symbol of prowess of terror. A weapon in hand. Legacy Divine Tarot.
Tweeted 29 June @truetarottales
#Tarot 7 Swords=diplomacy/stealth…while I am not convinced all this was some carefully worked out master plan. 10 Wands=consequence of massive Wagner frustration with Russian high command but perhaps Putin/+Lukashenko see another use for Prigozhin based in Belarus-closer to Kyiv.
Here is another curiosity about the Seven of Swords for tarot students and aficionados. The suit of Swords represents the element of Air and of all things airborne. Here we have the seven of that suit, and Wagner’s forces have shot down six Russian military helicopters plus one military reconnaissance plane and killed their crews.
But why did Prigozhin launch this “protest march” as he called it? I asked the tarot and drew the Nine of Swords (also from the Legacy of the Divine Tarot deck.)
There is a sense here that the mutiny was genuine, at least at the beginning, and at ground level, and was born of Prigozhin’s exhaustion and frustration with the top brass in the Russian military. The Nine of Wands is classically soldier like, but here,it shows someone who is stuck in a rut and metaphorically (or literally as may have been the case here, “running out of ammo,” while the Seven of Swords suggests a situation in which Prigozhin no longer had a direct line of communication with Putin.
Perhaps he believed that his communications were being blocked or kicked into the long grass (or were being actively sabotaged?) by his supposed colleagues, comrades- or are they his rivals and “gatekeepers”- Russian Defense Minister Sergei Shoigu and Chief of Staff General Valery Gerasimov.
Putin meeting with Shoigu in April 2022, after Russia’s defeat at the Battle of Kyiv (Wiki)Putin meeting with Shoigu and Gerasimov 2012
It has emerged since the mutiny and since these tweets that Prigozhin was planning to kidnap Shoigu and Gerasimov as they were travelling south (and do what with them exactly?) But then someone leaked his plot to the FSB. They changed their travel plans pronto, and Prigozhin changed tack and started the “protest march” towards Moscow
The Seven of Swords refers in particular to the arts of diplomacy, and to intelligence, strategies of stealth, surveillance, sabotage and the pre-emptive strike.
In a personal reading, it may be alerting you to watch out for a stalker or a scammer. Guard your personal intel. Change your passwords. Vary your routes and your routines.
Here, the Seven of Swords was also be picking up on the involvement of the FSB…former KGB.
But what threat from these two might Prigozhin have thought he was pre-empting by planning to abduct them? Telling lies about him to Putin? Telling truths about him to Putin, truths Putin would not like? Prigozhin said, apparently, that he “had scores to settle.”
It won’t be surprising to anyone, no cards needed, if there is another major development here in respect of Putin and Prigozhin and the Wagner situation during the first decan of Leo Season (because of that fiery – and imminent-Five of Wands) and if then there is a further follow up late October-late December 2023 (Death card =Scorpio, late Oct-late Nov and Temperance =Sagittarius, late November until 21 December.)
Meanwhile, people in Belarus are not happy to have the murderous Prigozhin there, at the potential beck and call of the execrable Lukashenko, even if it is true that Prigozhin is at this moment most miserably sequestered in a (windowless) hotel room, as reports suggest.
It is important to remember for students of Tarot, looking deeply into our cards may extend the reader’s “line of sight in extraordinary ways”. But the reader is only human and fallible. We are seeking to DIVINE what is hidden or obscure, but the variables are many and complex, and tarot deals in the detected/divined possibilities or probabilities, and not in certainties.
Do my cards show that Putin leaves power in Russia before Christmas 2023, whether by his own choice or by other means?
My cards are not clear on that point. Other tarot readers may feel differently and some eminent Western astrologers have divined the months of July-August 2023 as a very tricky time indeed for Putin in terms of internal power politics. We are all agreed there.
But Prigozhin’s rebellion, however short lived (and quietly supported by what shadowy figures in Putin’s orbit?) has exposed “something rotten” in the state of Putin’s empire. The events of June 2023 have unleashed a genie that is not going to fit back in the bottle.
One vedic astrologer has said that Putin will stay in power until 2030. I can’t see that, but have tended to feel that Putin could stay in power at least until the autumn months of 2024.
I have never written this up before, but one afternoon late last year, 2022, I was chatting online with a friend, astrologer Patrick Arundell, and he wondered what my cards had to say about the departure of Putin. He had his own analysis of course, and you can find a number of videos Patrick has made about Putin. But it is always interesting to talk to other practitioners, not just in our own disciplines, but in other disciplines. and while I am not an astrologer, still, there is a lot of astrology embedded in tarot cards.
I pulled cards one by one and laid them out in a line, each card representing a month of the year until eventually I saw the signal I was looking for and drew the Death card and the Ace of Swords.
These two cards are undeniably and clearly indicative of an ENDING, and no bones about it. But because of all the cards I had to draw before I got to this point, I have felt slightly more inclined to anticipate Putin’s final departure from power as likely later than sooner, between Scorpio season Oct 2024-Aquarius Season 2025 (based on that same stealthy Seven of Swords we talked about earlier.) This does not mean events won’t happen sooner. Maybe Scorpio 2023-Aquarius 2024.
The Ace of Swords has a suddenness about it. Putin’s departure may be very sudden when it finally comes to it, even if the situation has been a long time coming down the line. The Ace of Swords could be detecting a coup. But this card is also legal, military, and could be signifying the end of the war with Ukraine.
Timing with Tarot is a subtle business, generally less precise in terms of timing than astrology, and as ever, only time will tell.
Maybe he will indeed survive this summer, and this is going to play out in Scorpionic slower time. But whatever the actual weather in Russia (and at his place in Sochi) Putin is clearly in for a hot and sticky summer, says the Five of Wands, the first decan card of Leo, and the ultimate card of in-fighting.
And the Ten of Swords says, whatever happens about Prigozhin, Putin has made a lot of enemies and he had better not keep his back turned…on anyone.
This of course, he already knows, which is why he is so cloistered away, deeply hidden away in his security bubble. But that brings its own problems and there is such a thing as a self fulfilling prophecy, and how did it happen, what happened to Indira Gandhi?
And cruel as Putin is, and desperate as we are, not only for the sake of the people of Ukraine- and Russia- but for the sake of all Europe, for the war to end in Ukraine, who would come after him? The likes of Alexei Navalny? How likely does that seem right now, even if Putin departs tomorrow? Especially if Putin departs tomorrow? But for now there seems good reason to be mindful of that wise old saying, be careful what you wish for.
#Tarot Ukraine Question. When does war end? Possibilities. Neptunian Hanged Man Rev (even looks like Zelenskyy!) suggests March 7, 2023-May 24, 2025 during Saturn in Pisces. Pisces=breach of boundaries. Saturn=redrawing/restoration of boundaries. But this tsunami leaves a long and turbulent wake.
Saturn in Pisces
A Saturn in Pisces transit lasts 2-2 1/5 years. This one we are currently experiencing, March 7, 2023-May 24, 2025 is still not over then, and will be back again September 1, 2025 to February 13, 2026.
Saturn takes about 28-29 years to come full circle and weaves in and out of its present zodiac sign due to retrograde cycles.
So what?
These are deepest waters we are navigating right now, deeply unsettled times. Deep and dreamy Neptunian Pisces blurs boundaries of all kinds; physical, mental, emotional, social, legal, technological. Saturn imposes boundaries, borders, regulations, oversight, containment, structure. Pisces is all about inspiration – and illusions and delusions. Saturn strips away illusions, forcing us to face realities – and our duties and responsibilities head on.
Robin is Pisces, Batman is Saturn with a whole lot more slapping still to come.
Putin dreams of a new Russian Empire and the Emperor is himself. And he is ready to spill a lot of blood to make that a reality. But history has moved on while others are also dreaming of rebuilding former empires. Or are utterly determined never to be be subsumed ever again. Meanwhile, there are others waiting in the wings, even worse than Putin.
The Hanged Man
This card is associated with the planet Neptune and also with the zodiac sign of Pisces (as is The Moon card.)
This card is saying, what would Zelenskyy sacrifice for peace? But here the card has been drawn reversed or upside down, and this is the Tarot’s way of saying what we already know, that Zelenskyy is not ready to negotiate or to make any sacrifice for such an unreliable and short lived peace as this would inevitably prove.
Why should the government of Ukraine sacrifice anything to an enemy who has proved so utterly ruthless, and who will be back for more, until they’ve got the lot, no matter what? How CAN they?
It is startling, how like the real Zelenskyy he looks, the figure in this version of The Hanged Man (deck is the Tarot Illuminati)
This card is associated with the zodiac sign of Pisces and the 12 House, although Zelenskyy himself is an Aquarius subject (King of Swords) while so far as we know Putin is a Libra subject (Queen of Swords.) I say so far as we know because the birth data is not considered 100% reliable though it is the year that is open to question and not the date.
Putin’s birthday is officially 7 October 1952 but some have suggested it is actually 7 October 1950. Either way, the Queen of Swords remains Putin’s natal court card.
This is Nemesis at work. These two, Zelenskyy and Putin, the King and Queen of Swords are locked in some long fated duel.
Putin had every reason to think he could do this. Russia has succeeded in its previous territorial invasions during his regime. In Georgia. In Crimea and with a real and present threat to the territory of Moldova.
This time, the cards show Putin will not win, meaning, Russia may succeed in tearing further chunks out of Ukraine and hanging on to some of them at least, though Ukraine is now taking back some lands, but Putin will not succeed in re-integrating Ukraine under Russian control. A horrible stalemate seems the most likely outcome.
Whatever stops Putin now, with the stakes so high for himself, personally, it seems to be the fear of losing this war, and a Ukrainian counter offensive that takes back Crimea. But it may also come down to the interests of Turkey and the machinations of Xi and the West’s responses to China.
Xi has made food security a top priority but seems to be facing difficulties with his agricultural policies. This article makes no mention of crackdowns by ‘rural enforcers’ against people growing their own fruits or veg in their own back yards. Covid restrictions were partly to do with it, but there is something more to this, and Xi has now faced a pushback, and had to rein in the ‘rural enforcers.’
Putin must reckon with, in a way Zelenskyy perhaps does not, with China’s own ambitions and the growing tensions between China and India, Taiwan, Japan- the entire Indo-Pacific, and the West.
Money talks loudest, and though Ukraine says it took the precaution of not over-planting wheat close to the fighting zones, Russia’s destruction of the Kakhovka Dam has rendered some wheat silos inoperable, with a resulting jump in the price of wheat and other grains with implications for Turkey and the developing world far beyond the Black Sea.
WASHINGTON (AP) — Global prices for wheat and corn soared Tuesday after a major dam in Ukraine collapsed, renewing market fears about the fragility of the country’s ability to ship food to Africa, the Middle East and parts of Asia as it fights a war with Russia.
Wheat prices gained 2.4% in early trading Tuesday on the Chicago Mercantile Exchange, to $6.39 a bushel. The cost of corn rose more than 1%, to $6.04 a bushel, and oats gained 0.73%, to $3.46 per unit. Prices were higher earlier in the day but faded.
The destruction of the Kakhovka dam and hydroelectric power station, which sits in a Russian-controlled area on the Dnieper River, raised concerns about disruption to Ukraine’s affordable supplies of wheat, barley, corn and sunflower oil getting to developing nations where people are struggling with hunger and high food prices.
“Anytime this war shows signs of getting further escalated, there’s a lot of concern,” said Joseph Glauber, senior research fellow at the International Food Policy Research Institute. “Markets react to that.”-SOURCE
Some have questioned whether it was Russia’s doing. It was Russia. I don’t doubt it. Russia has used this tactic before, during WW2 when it blew up the Dnieper Dam to hold back the German advance.
The Moon
Back in December 2021, in a piece first published at Ask Astrology, and then again in December 2022, The Moon card (Pisces again) figured ominously in the general predictions for 2022 and then again for 2023.
The Moon card, among its many other meaning in tarot, represents danger, contagion- and flooding. A sweeping away of boundaries. Chaos, muddle and mess.
The Moon can mean cancer. It can mean Poison. The floodwaters of the broken Kakhovka dam are contaminated with pesticides. This water is undrinkable. Poisonous. This is a man-made ecological tragedy, as well as a human disaster.
Here is Pisces at its fathomless worst before Saturn can get a grip on it again and reimpose order, though what kind of order will it be?
#Tarot Moon card showed higher risk major flooding 2022. Then landslide in Peru March 2022. Pakistan monsoon floods June-August. Australia severe flooding Feb-late April and again from Oct. Posted 20 Dec 2022 unease re 2023 Saturn (STRUCTURE/dam?) in Pisces (fresh water flood)
The Ten of Swords
Time and time again since the invasion in February 2022, asking about the prospects for Vladimir Putin, and the outcome of this war for him personally, the Tarot has shown me the 10 Swords. This card classically means ruin. The end. It is time for a new dawn. It also traditionally signifies betrayal, as in a “stab in the back”. (UPDATE. This is particularly interesting in light of today’s news 24/6/2023 and the unfolding situation with the head of the Wagner group Prigozhin The 10 Swords says no matter what happens next, this is the start of the end for Putin as Russian leader.)
Image: Rider Waite.
In terms of health, I have known this card to flag up issues to do the neck, spine, colo-rectal issues and nervous system issues. I am not suggesting that Putin is dealing with any of these health problems. I am simply pointing out that this card has come up time and time again, and these are lesser known card meanings for the 10 Swords.
Reading this card purely in terms of timing, the 10 Swords traditionally correlates with the third decan of Gemini and the dates 11 June -20 June.
Which is where we are right now at the time of writing. But are we looking at 2023, 2024 or 2025? Slow Saturn in chaotic Pisces suggests a culmination during this transit, by or before the end of June 2025. Saturn, planet of old Father Time, reintroduces and re-establishes order, structure and boundaries before it leaves Pisces.
Here is the end of a “tsunami”- the end of a cycle, though we’ll all be hoping it comes before we reach that point in the astrology. I wouldn’t be surprised, based on the cards, if we will look back and see that Putin left office or stood down before Christmas 2024.
I need to look at Navalny and Kara-Mirza next time.
True Tarot Tales 
