It’s flaming all right, no matter what the weather is up to. But still…beautiful, beautiful summer.
Jemima duck has taken to landing on the balcony, loudly quacking for food any time fro 5:20 AM. Jessie-cat is fascinated but should the door be opened, she will back away.
June 2022 a vote of confidence was held amongst Conservative Party MPs on the prime minister, Boris Johnson’s, leadership of their party. Johnson won the vote with the support of 211 Conservative members of Parliament, 59% of the total. Out of 359 MPs, 148 voted against him. Wikipedia
I did a reading late morning when the cards indicated Boris Johnson would survive the evening Vote of No Confidence due to be held in the House of Commons, closing 8 PM. The card spread below was-for a change-a pretty straightforward interpretation.
#Tarot Boris Johnson cards left/Keir Starmer cards right. Page Cups= happy news (cards drawn 3:10 PM- cricket-England win) BJ has had a roasting, faces tough summer but is on the up. KS is King Coins RX Virgo rx, grinding too slowly. Devil rx frustration/beware Capricorn (Dec)
That tough summer though…The cards below were a snapshot of what was coming up for Boris Johnson. He was going to need his Weetabix, though he would have to settle for a boiled egg or something else. Bread and water. Or nothing at all, if only President Putin could have his way.
From The Legacy of The Divine Tarot
This row of cards looks like the last minute cancellation of the Rwanda flight. Reading the first two cards together: The King of Wands is master of foreign dealings, an arrow of the archer. The card has been drawn reversed. Result: frustration, chagrin, the Five of Swords. The Four and Eight of Coins or Pentacles, both drawn reversed, are reflecting the government position, that whatever one thinks of it, the UK government cannot financially afford to allow the illegal Channel crossings to continue as they are doing, without any corresponding right of deportation.
What will be the government’s response to this intervention by the European Court of Human Rights?
The UK and the ECHR
As the first country to sign the convention in March 1951, the UK has a long-standing relationship with the ECHR. After the end of World War II, the Congress of Europe was held in The Hague, which was attended by over 750 delegates from across the continent. During his speech to the Congress, Winston Churchill said, “In the centre of our movement stands the idea of a Charter of Human Rights, guarded by freedom and sustained by law.” – The India Express
Reply: The Ace of Swords: an Act of Law, a severance, a new law. To paraphrase Winston Churchill, this card suggests that this latest legal intervention seems to have only galvanized the government on the principle that the democratic process and the law of this land must prevail, and be seen to prevail, and that ‘up with this, we will not put.’
The airy, airborne airplane of the Ace of Swords may be enacted very swiftly, like the strike of a sword. In terms of astrology however, it may also mean winter, or an air sign time of year. The next of these windows is Libra season, late September-late October.
“Of the 13 bear markets since 1946, the return to breakeven levels has varied, taking as little as three months to as long as 69 months.” – Reuters
Perhaps I will do a special reading. But for now, just quickly pulling a few cards the soonest recovery looks like late October early November (Scorpio-5 of Cups.) The World card and the Moon suggest a time range of between 5-12-18 months.
The 8 of Pentacles/Coins is about economics, accountancy, book keeping. The card has been drawn reversed for this coming summer. The timing associated with this card takes us through until the end of August at the improbable earliest.
Boris Johnson will be fire fighting other issues to do with travel and transport disruption’ rail strikes, HS2, the airline industry, dinghies and the colossal aftermath of the Grenfell tragedy.
None of us need the Tarot to tell us any of this. This is simply a demonstration of the capacity of an oracle to mirror and reflect current events. It is the relevance of this mirroring that provides a reader with a validated baseline for further investigation.
What else is on Boris’s sizzling barbecue plate this summer as reflected in these four cards? Fuel, price and supply. Plus- war. Leo time looks extra tough. Further/longer heatwaves are on these cards.
Lion heart, Kate Bush, 1978
Oh, England, my lion heart I’m in your garden fading fast in your arms The soldiers soften, the war is over The air raid shelters are blooming clover Flapping umbrellas fill the lanes My London Bridge in rain again
Oh, England, my lionheart Peter Pan steals the kids in Kensington Park You read me Shakespeare on the rolling Thames That old river poet that never, ever ends Our thumping hearts hold the ravens in Keep the Tower from tumbling…
How do we love the rest of the world, if we do not love our own homeland?
Ukraine
Speaking of lion hearts, we think of those men loading loved ones on to trains, while they must stay behind and fight to the death for their own homes, while also being smeared as neo-fascists, adding insult to injury.
Today Sir Patrick Sanders, the new chief of staff of the British army has been reported in the media saying that we must steel ourselves for readiness that British forces will be fighting in Ukraine in a potential World War Three scenario.
Who is is Patrick Sanders? “He has commanded on operations in Northern Ireland, Kosovo, Bosnia, Iraq and Afghanistan”.
#Tarot peering in the glass darkly. When will R offensive stop #Ukraine? Could still happen before end of this year (Justice, Libra, treaty, contract) Ace Cups (Peace, Scorpio time/diplomacy/Odessa) Ace Swords (Decisive action, War, Law.) Death=a great change by late Mar 2023.
Tweeted 6 June 2022
#Cartomancy Ukraine Only time will tell but what cards today- King Spades. Interesting. This is Zelenskyy (Aquarius) 10 Clubs maritime/naval/aid/ 2 Clubs Peace/trade talks December? King Clubs. Who’s this? Not Putin or Biden. Broker? Jack Spades. Ukraine emerges angry/sovereign.
Tweeted 4 June 2022
#Tarot#Ukraine Divination= art not science. The reader takes soundings. When will there be ceasefire/peace? Critical time frame Leo (late July/Aug)-Pisces (March 2023) 2 Cups +3 Coins Rx says=late Dec possible. Critical-trade/Odessa (3 Wands) Russia cannot be allowed to blockade.
Tarot of The Illuminati
That top central card, The Hanged Man denotes the zodiac sign of Pisces and its associated date range late Feb-late March. It is also a card that I have drawn time and time again for President Zelenskyy. This card represents a transcendental figure, and some great sacrifice is implicit.
We shall see what role British forces play in Ukraine in that critical time period of Leo, late July-late August.
In Summary
We are witnessing a new era of ‘strong men’ in global politics. Putin now threatens to starve the world, or else feed it on his terms, but this is a point of overreach. He will lose, but the cost is mounting. Ukraine will emerge still sovereign, but angry at pressure/leverage on a point of principle that will likely brought to bear on it by its allies.
I tend to be a glass half-full reader, and we need always to beware wishful thinking. Heaven help those people, this is a total war. While the West watches. keeping its powder dry as far as it dare, with one eye on China until Putin has sufficiently depleted Russian resources before they commit to more decisive (irrevocable) intervention. As ever only time will tell, But the signals have been fairly consistent. The aim of this blog is to demonstrate the workings of divination. The reader can only report on the cards which either appear or do not appear.
Back soon with a posting for Midsummer’s Day.
Tarot is a cultural artifact, a story book, an art form and a thriving publishing industry.
Gemini the sign of the Heavenly Twins is a mutable air sign, and the third sign of the western or Tropical zodiac, representing late spring/early summer in the northern hemisphere.
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, representing the Scales of Justice. But even the scales of Libra are borrowed from the stars of neighbouring Scorpio, the heavenly scorpion.
Gemini Associations
Dates: May 21- June 20
Astrological symbol:
Ruling planet: Mercury
Element: Air
Quality: Mutable
Affirmation: ‘I think, I inquire.’
Birth Stone: For Gemini born in May, Emerald. For Gemini born in June, Pearl (although it is not a stone, and it is a product of the sea it is classically ruled by Mercury)
Lucky stone, The Tiger’s Eye. Why? Grounding of ‘flighty’ Gemini energy, brings focus
Colour: Yellow
Tree: all kinds of nut trees
Flower: Lily of the Valley, Lavender
Astronomy of Gemini
The Gemini constellation was listed as one of the 48 ancient constellations by the Greek astronomer Ptolemy in the second century, though Ptolemy referred to it in terms, not of the constellation as a whole, but of its two brightest stars, Castor ‘ The Star of Apollo,’ and Pollux ‘The Star of Heracles’.
Gemini is the northernmost constellation in the zodiac, in size the 30th largest. To see Gemini with the naked eye, we need to look north east of the constellation Orion between the Taurus and Cancer constellations.
Best viewing is during February. By April and May, the constellation is visible in the west soon after sunset.
Castor and Pollux, the brightest stars in the Gemini constellation, represent the heads of the twins from Greek mythology. Fainter stars are the outlines their bodies. Pollux, the westerly twin, is a red giant star, 33 light-years from Earth while Castor is about 51 light-years away.
(One light-year is the distance that light travels in a year – approx 6 trillion miles/9.6 trillion KM.)
Pollux is the brighter of the two stars, orbited by a massive planet orbiting it, Beta Genorium B, 1.6 times bigger than Jupiter.
Castor is actually not a single star, but a star system made of up six stars not visible to the naked eye.
Gemini represents the key principle of duality or polarity, similarities and opposites, life and death, light and dark, night and day, hot and cold.
We see this principle in active operation in spring, in the climax of splitting or cloning. Pollen flies free. Eggs hatch. Butterflies and dragonflies hatch out of their chrysalis. The mythology of twins goes back at least as far as the so-called Age of Gemini, during the Palaeolithic, 6, 500 BCE, arising from our understanding of the duality fundamental to the nature of reality.
There are countless stories of the twins in world myth, representing dualities and polarities; night and day, light and dark, heat and cold, male and female, war and peace, good and bad, life and death. The creation myths of ancient cultures across the world reflect this eternal battle of seeming opposites. Many surviving objects feature twin gods and goddesses. But there is a shadow side. In some cultures twins have been feared
In Egyptian astrology the stars of Gemini were twin goats, or else they were the two gods, Horus the Elder and Horus the Younger, while classical Greek mythology identified them as the twin brothers, Castor and Pollux, The Gemini.
Gemini is the first sign of the western tropical zodiac year that has a human representation rather than an animal one, following Aries the Ram and Taurus the Bull.
Castor and Pollux
Gemini is the name by which the constellation is known today throughout the western world. Gemini is Latin for “twins,” and Gemini is The Hellenistic names of the Heavenly Twins, Castor and Pollux.
Castor comes from the Greek Καστωρ (Kastor) and means “to excel, to shine.” In Greek myth Castor was a son of Zeus and the twin brother of Pollux.
Pollux comes from the Roman form of Greek Πολυδευκης (Polydeukes) and means “very sweet”.
The circumstances of their birth were unusual, to say the least. Queen Leda of Sparta was seduced by Zeus who had disguised himself as a swan. ‘Seduced’ is putting it rather too politely. She was bathing in the river. He glided about pretending to peck at things and then pounced on her while she was looking the other way, minding her own business. Later that evening, notwithstanding this shock, or perhaps, who knows, because of it, Leda also slept with her husband King Tyndareus and went on to produce four children; Castor, Pollux and their sisters Helen (later Helen of Troy) and Clytemnestra (later married to Agamemnon as queen of Mycenae.)
Pollux and Helen were fathered by Zeus, and were immortal, while Castor and Clytemnestra, fathered by Tyndareus,were mortal.
Source: Public Domain, the young Castor and Pollux (Meissen)
The brothers, known as the Dioscuri, meaning Sons of Zeus, were handsome, curious and always up to something. The mortal Castor was a renowned horseman and a master at fencing, while the immortal Pollux was known for his great strength and skill at boxing.
But then Castor was killed, possibly in a quarrel over dividing the spoils after a cattle raid. Pollux was distraught. He didn’t want immortality, not if it meant being without his brother, he said, and he begged his father, Zeus to make him mortal, and then kill him so he could be with his brother. Zeus couldn’t bring himself to do that, scratching his head, wondering how to fix this, and decided to place them both in the stars, to be immortal together forever as the constellation of the Gemini.
The Greeks, in particular the Spartans, though the twins had a temple in Athens, worshipped the twins as horsemen, and also as patron saints of shipwrecked sailors. Sacrifices were offered to the Dioscuri before a voyage, with a request for favourable winds.
The Romans later developed a cult around Castor and Pollux, dating back to 484 B.C. They built a temple to the twins in the Roman Forum in 414 BC in thanks for their help in defeating their old enemy The Latins, in the battle of Regillus.
Castor and Pollux were the patron gods of the Roman cavalry, the mounted knights or equites, and appear in this role on many early Roman coins.
The Zodiac Archetype
Mercury by Hendrick Goltzius, 1611, Public Domain
The planetary ruler of Gemini is Mercury, the planet nearest the Sun, representing the winged god Mercury or Hermes; patron deity of all forms of communication, media, trade, global commerce and travel, medicine, research and analytics.
But Mercury has a lesser known role as a psychopomp; one who can go between the realms of the living and the dead, a go-between and safe escort to the dead. It was Hermes who escorted the souls of the newly dead to the banks of the Acheron or The Styx, where they waited for Charon to come in this boat and ferry them across to the Underworld.
It was Hermes who escorted Persephone out of the dominion of Hades to be reunited with her mother Demeter, not knowing that despite his instructions that she was not to eat anything, or the deal was off, Hades had tricked Persephone into eating six seeds of her favourite pomegranate fruit. Seeds don’t count, Hades told her, and she believed him, but now she was bound to his side for six months of the year.
All the zodiac signs represent archetypes; something that is considered to be a perfect or typical example of a particular kind of person or thing.
A zodiac sign paints 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 during pregnancy and so on, with potentially different effects on the baby’s physical makeup and constitution.
As a mutable sign, Gemini rules a borderline between seasons, in this case late spring into early summer. The other mutable signs are Virgo and Pisces, and all three mutable signs are considered the most changeable and agile of the signs, inquiring, analytical, logical and restless.
Mid- May is the start of grass pollen season which then builds to a peak in mid July:-
“May is quite the rollercoaster when it comes to tracking pollen. Dock and lime pollen start triggering hay fever in May as they begin their season, while both pine and oil seed rape peak and end within the month. Oak and plane end their peak – but grass pollen begins hitting its high notes.“
The Gemini temperament is friendly yet watchful, generous but changeable -mercurial as personified by Hermes with his winged sandals and his staff, caduceus- emblem of messages and trade. The well-known delivery company of the same name clearly chose its name for this same reason.
In medical astrology, Gemini rules the arms and hands. The typical Gemini native is of above average personal appearance, personable, attractive, usually slim and of average height or taller and with neat, tidy facial features. The Gemini is socially gifted, cheerful, humorous, witty, capable and quick to learn.
At the same time, Gemini can also be surprisingly dogmatic, attaching themselves to causes, even inclining towards fundamentalism, whether it is to do religion or some other entirely secular creed or manifesto, or to do with lifestyle, for example, exercise or diet choices.
Gemini can be, not insincere, at least, not in that moment, but quick to lose interest, fluttering like butterflies, looking for the next new thing, looking for some better, brighter flower. This can apply to the way they interact with other people, here today and gone tomorrow, even though once mature, and once committed, they make dutiful and devoted partners and parents.
Gemini in the Tarot
The Tarot cards associated with Gemini are The Lovers, The Knight of Swords and the 8, 9 and 10 Swords.
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 Gemini is the Knight of Swords.
Rider-Waite Tarot via Wiki
Card Meanings: speed, action, forward movement, sudden developments, attack, assertiveness, intelligence, sudden news, cunning, calculation, good timing, a pre-emptive strike, a confident, forceful young person, windy weather, east wind, motorbike
The Decans of Gemini
The word ‘Decan’ comes from the Latin meaning ‘ten.’ Each zodiac sign lasts about 30 days and is further divided into three blocks of roughly 10 days each. These are the decans or decanates, or as they are sometimes called, the ‘thirty-six faces of astrology,’ bringing added depth to the psychological profile associated with your zodiac sign/sun sign.
The minor arcana cards associated with Gemini are the Eight, Nine and Ten of Swords and they correlate with the dates of the decans.
If you don’t feel like you are a ‘typical’ Gemini, well, we are all unique, but perhaps you are also a second or third decan Gemini native, rather than a ‘most typical’ first decan Gemini. Gemini is still Gemini, whatever the decan and this holds true for all the zodiac signs. But an early born Gemini is born under a slightly different planetary influence than a later born Gemini. It’s all still Gemini, the same heavenly recipe, but with varying amounts of common ingredients.
First Decan Gemini
(0-10 degrees of the sign)
21-31 May
Legacy of The Divine Tarot
Card Meanings: Entrapment, uncertainty, a sense of helplessness, waiting for rescue, there is a way out if only you will open your eyes, look around and take a step forward. I have personally also come to associate this card with plumbing, drainage issues.
This decan gets a double dose of the planetary influence of inquisitive, rational, Mercury. This is an alert, perceptive, intellectual and forceful personality. The acumen is sharp. The negative side of this coin is a Gemini native who is just as inquisitive but careless, flighty, forgetful, restless and unreliable.
First decan Gemini is a multi-talented juggler, light on their feet, graceful and agile. But at the same time they tend to develop a strong point of view on a wide range of subjects, and they have a clearly defined belief system. For all their apparent flightiness they are also tough and resilient- even stubborn, a quality more usually associated with Taurus, its next door neighbour and predecessor in the zodiac.
Gemini make devoted partners, contrary to whatever people might assume. They will hang on in there when the going gets tough, though they are prone to boredom, can quickly tire of routine quickly; and have considerable charisma or sex appeal. But they know when they have a good thing so long as there is plenty of social interaction and short distance travel to keep their restlessness under control.
Second Decan Gemini
(10-20 degrees of the sign)
June 1-10
The Golden Tarot
Card Meanings: The Nightmare card. Worry, ‘the black dog’ anxiety, stress, grief, insomnia, things that keep us awake at night.
The personal planet of this decan is Venus, planet of love, beauty- and money. This Gemini has charm, and a generous and giving spirit. The sub-ruler is Libra, ruled by Venus, the natural ruler of the seventh house of marriage, partnerships, close associates, associations, and legal matters. This Gemini is more of a “me-too” person, rather than an “I-am” person when compared with a first decan Gemini.
This Gemini native needs to be especially careful in the selection of companions/associates. The choice of a mate is, of course, of the utmost importance. This Gemini especially needs to avoid making big decisions about a choice of partner when they are too young to fully understand what they are doing.
These are easy going and pleasant people. Gemini strives on change while Libra works to establish equilibrium. Their Venus/Libra influence is their salvation, because it makes them artful in their judgments and full of affection for those they do judge.
Gemini 2nd decan is drawn to quiet, reserved people. Not only do opposites attract, but the secrecy fascinates Gemini-Libra, ans they also match up well with reliable, practical types who can get the job done with little fuss or excitement. A person that will ground, refine and implement the Gemini-Libra.
People respond well to the Second Decan Gemini warm and effusive nature. They also have a sense of adventure, same as the other Gemini decans, and they enjoy travel for the sake of new experiences. Sharing is part of the Gemini-Libra life; they are generous with their time and friendship and also with possessions.
Gemini-Libra is great company, with a great deal of magnetism. They are kindly, sharp and witty. Just cut your cloth to suit and don’t be too surprised or upset if they disappear as suddenly as they appear or go quiet on you without warning. It’s not personal. It’s just the way they are.
Third Decan Gemini
(20-30 degrees of the sign)
June 11-20
Tarot Illuminati
Card meanings: Destruction, despair, betrayal, ruin, dark night of the soul, darkness before dawn, the only way is up, illness, comatose, a fall, spinal injury, head injury.
Incidental perhaps, but this card has come up repeatedly in respect of events and outcomes affecting the personal destiny Vladimir Putin since the invasion of Ukraine, 24 February. We shall see what occurs during these forthcoming decan dates, June 11-June 2020.
The personal planets of the third decan Gemini are Saturn and Uranus, painting a portrait full of contradictions. Sometimes this person is ultra-careful, dutiful, responsible, serious, at other times carefree or even careless. Uranus combined with the planet Mercury suggests an unusually active or even brilliant mind possibly even verging on genius. This person may be a thinker who is ahead of their times. Or maybe they are just zany.
Aquarius – natural ruler of the eleventh house of friends, hopes, and wishes-makes this Gemini a social type, a friend-oriented individual interested in social causes. This Gemini is an optimist, always interested in trying out what is new, and never happier than when they are on the move.
Life is rarely dull with a cheerful Decan 3 Gemini around, but they are the most independent- natured Gemini decan. They need plenty of space and freedom, with a partner who makes few demands on their time and attention. They are very hard working when they put their mind to it. But keeping promises, fulfilling obligations and routines are not their strongest suit. It is a mistake for this Gemini native to marry early or settle too soon. Adventure, exploration and experimentation with ideas, people and places- this is what they are about. This is what makes them tick.
Famous Gemini people
Carl Linnaeus, Peter the Great, Adam Smith, Richard Wagner, Arthur Conan Doyle, John Maynard Keynes, John F Kennedy, Frank Lloyd Wright, Boris Johnson. Johnny Depp, Queen Victoria, Charles 11, George 111,George V, Donald Trump, Muammar Gaddafi, Angelina Jolie, Bob Dylan, Paul McCartney, Prince Philip, the Duke of Edinburgh.
Happy birthday, Gemini 2023
What is the advice for Gemini in 2023?
Astro-dice Casting
We have drawn Sun in Gemini in the Second House.
Here is the mystery of synchronicty at work in real time. I throw 3 dice, asking, what is the keynote message for Gemini in 2023, and, blow me down, we have drawn the Sun in Gemini, reflecting an exact mirror image of the question as stated, and then the Second House, ruled by Taurus, represents the answer.
Also, curiouser and curiouser, here is more real time astrology. This astro-dice casting is picking up on the current Mercury (ruler of Gemini) transit in second house Taurus. These die have already been cast. What we have been dealing with since April and May may start to bear fruit (or deliver further baggage) from June onwards in 2023.
The focus this year is on material and financial security, and also perhaps wining and dining and other earthy luxuries. The money sign of Taurus, ruled by Venus, planet of beauty AND money, as the best things in life may be free, but the basics cost money, and beautiful things cost more money. Taurus also refers to agriculture and food- all good things.
The second House is also to do with our values and priorities, and these can change over time.
This is a year for cautious rather than exuberant optimism. New opportunities and adventures are coming this year, and new relationships, though these may be slow to start with.
Taurus gets things done, sharpened by the wit of Mercury. But you may find yourself making slower progress than you are used to. Gently does it.
There is a sense of needing to make peace with the past, letting go of griefs or grudges to do with past disappointments in relationships and business.
Health wise, though butter for instance is a real food, where margarine is not, and Taurus is all about real, rather than processed foods, rich heavy foods may not suit the slightly slower Gemini digestion, or the Gemini mood this year.
This reading is necessarily very general. Context is key for getting at specifics in reading Tarot, as with any form of investigative divination, and to do this in a reading situation, we ask follow up questions, cross reference and so forth.
This approach basically saying, ‘show me a snapshot of the world in 2022’ is nothing more than licking a finger to feel the wind direction. And some winds are regular like the trade winds, and others shift. But still, let’s see what we get.
The Gilded Tarot by Barbara Moore and illustrated by Ciro Marchetti, is one of my most hard-used decks, as you may notice. This was my workhorse; my go to deck in face to face readings 2005-2013.
At present I use the Legacy of the Divine Tarot, The Gilded Tarot Royale, The Thoth, the Marseille or playing cards.
Author’s own photograph. Cards from The Gilded Tarot, artwork by Ciro Marchett
Tarot for 2022
The spread denotes the wheel of the year 2022, starting at the top with January, Capricorn and the Nine of Pentacles; the card with the lady holding the falcon.
I look first at the overall picture, mood or feel. How many major arcana cards? How many cards have been drawn reversed?
Five cards out of 12 have been reversed. This is not necessarily any kind of ominous sign, but does suggest a bouncy stop-start kind of a ride through 2022 on a global level, if not on a personal level.
The 22 Major Arcana cards deal with the BIG STUFF. They mirror the Collective, or overarching themes or pivotal moments or sea changes. The 56 Minor Arcana cards in a Tarot deck are no less important, but are more like the fabric of everyday living.
The Major Arcana cards are Strength, Temperance and The Hanged Man drawn reversed.
Update: I did not predict war in Ukraine. However it is curious to note that in readings posted and shared since February President Zelenskyy of Ukraine has been turning up represented by the Hanged Man card drawn reversed.
Strength means just what it says on the tin. Temperance is timing and healing and the Hanged Man reversed means coming out of a state of limbo but also a huge story to do with what might be called grievance politics.
10 March Update: ‘A huge story to do with grievance politics’. Well I suppose that was one way of describing it.
On the plus side, these cards suggest a gradual sea change during 2022 in respect of the covid pandemic. Not that it has gone. It most definitely has not. But either future variants are milder, or we are handling it better or both.
My eye is drawn again and again to that Hanged Man card sitting in the time slot designated for Pisces. The Hanged Man is ruled astrologically by the planet Neptune. Put Neptune and Pisces together, that is a big ‘water’ signature, and giant Jupiter has recently moved into watery Pisces where it will spend much of 2022. What do I mean by ‘water signature’? We think in practical terms, meaning that this could be detecting weather events during 2022, rainfall or storms at sea or tsunamis, and maritime events, maritime geopolitics, territory, shipping, fishing.
10 March Update: Tsunamis, mudslides,storms, oh yes. We’ve had those all right. Tonga, Peru, Queensland…
Update: Tonga underwater volcanic eruption and tsunami Saturday 16/into Sunday 16 January
This could also refer to things that cross boundaries like migration, people trafficking, or like birds, or like infection, whether bird flu or covid.
10 March Update: Things that cross boundaries …like outright invasion.
The mood is deep, intense, visionary, inspired – or delusional.
10 March Update: Delusional? No comment!
Each card corresponds with a month of the year and a sign of the Zodiac, but more significant is its correspondence with a House of the Zodiac, each denoting a particular concept, life area or department, Home, Work, Money, and Travel etc.
We start at the top of the wheel of the year with the Nine of Pentacles, representing the month of Capricorn/January 2022, but this is also representing the Tenth Zodiac, House of career, status and public life.
We carry on reading the cards anticlockwise, counting through the zodiac signs and their corresponding Houses for clues about the year ahead on the global stage, and the personal opportunities and challenges we might be witnessing or dealing with.
None of the findings really needs a psychic. There is little here that most of us do not already sense or see for the year ahead in broad terms. This is a snapshot of how the Tarot works.
The Tarot detects, it reflects and then it projects, meaning it may be nudged or directed to formulate a forecast in respect of a particular stated issue. For every card that is drawn entirely at random, other cards remain in the deck, and their absence can be as telling as their presence.
This spread, if this was a personal reading, would be what happens at the first look, the first pass, before we start drilling down in search of specifics, in teasing out a particular question.
Card 1 Capricorn: 10th House:
Professional status/career, public life
Tarot card~ 9 Pentacles
The Nine of Pentacles is to do with money earned by skill and hard work (rather than say, via gift or inheritance) It is to do with beauty, luxury and enjoyment. The lady is enjoying her garden, holding her falcon on her wrist. The falcon denotes that she has mastered her impulses, attained maturity with self-discipline. She has learned how to wait, and she has been prepared to forego the pleasures and distractions- and spending of the here and now, in exchange for greater long term rewards.
Governments must play geo-politics. They must play the long game and the shorter game while we, the people on the ground look on, sometimes screaming in frustration. Update 10 March(And rage, fear, horror, grief)
World Finance, the so-called Green Revolution, crypto-currencies and strategies for long term investment will continue to dominate the news this year.
Things will grow in this year’s garden, so the year starts tough, but there is economic progress and growth as the year goes on.
But gardens have gates. Sometimes those gates are open, other times we keep them closed. Border issues are big news all year. The hard border in NI, Poland, and the migrant crisis in Chile, and more. What are the solutions? How are so many extra people to be affordably supported by the unwilling hosts, despite the best of humanitarian goodwill?
There is no one size that fits all solution. But there is an abiding rock bottom line, and that is in human nature, which says, we are generous up to a point, and that point is, when we judge we can afford it. Beyond that point, should it be crossed, there will inevitably be a push back and it won’t be pretty.
Will it come in 2022? Not quite. It doesn’t quite get to that point this year I don’t think, based on the cards that are absent in this spread. We have no Tower card in combination with say, The Emperor, for instance.
On a personal level this is a year for ‘getting real’ and re-examining our basic needs and how we meet them, chiefly, our relationship with work, money and our control over information shared in respect of these.
The lady in this card has achieved a level of comfort and security, but none of it was given to her. She has got where she has needed to be largely by her own efforts on her local patch of turf. She is determined, focused, independent, proud, and generous to others. She knows what it is like to struggle. She remembers times of loneliness too. And ‘she’ may be a nation, as well as a person.
I have come to associate this card with the UK since 2016. Readers in other countries may have cards they feel especially represents their own homeland, and maybe it will even be this same card. UK will broadly do OK, or better than OK in 2022 in terms of trade, is suggested by the 9 Pentacles, notwithstanding the most recent EU threats in respect of the NI Protocol, should the UK government invoke its right to trigger Article 16.
Card 2 Aquarius: 11th House
Humanity, ideas, dogmas, technology
Tarot card~ 8 Wands Reversed
This volatile, fast moving card echoes some of the comments attached to the previous card, and suggests continuing social unrest in many parts of the world 2022, and clearly not just in Aquarius time, during February.
There are delays. obstacles,breakdowns in cooperation where cooperation could be reasonably expected in the mutual interests of the parties concerned. One thinks for example of the current state of relations between France and the UK for example.
There may be issues in the news this year to do with lamb husbandry/imports/exports.
This card is about sudden arrivals, departures and developments, and suggests protests and demonstrations to do with restrictions on movement. The Eight of Wands is all about fast travel, including phone calls.
Aquarius/February was indeed fast paced.Vis a vis the specific reference to France, we think of M Macron’s efforts to engage with Mr Putin during February.
This card also suggests issues to do with power lines. It also asks what do we do when we lose electricity or gas or when our IT goes down without any warning at all?
How can we protect our home environments with low-tech emergency provision, back-ups for circumstances in which power or IT can go down (for example, alternative lighting or heating or analogue telephones during power cuts, when mobile phone masts can go down too) At the time of writing, homes in the UK are still without power nine days later in the aftermath of Storm Arwen, and with another Storm (Barra) shortly due to arrive.
It also suggests we review our own personal use of IT, and the amount of extra personal information we gratuitously share on social media. Who are we actually talking to? There is nothing new about this. But there are new developments afoot.
This might mean government moves to control the power of the IT tech giants this year. They now command more financial clout than governments, but were never elected, and they know far too much about us. But if we were to clip the wings of companies like Amazon,with their new credit card now coming into use, would we merely give more power to their even huger counterparts and global rivals, such as AliBaba?
Aquarius was known to the Babylonians as the curse of rain. This card therefore suggest sudden, severe rainstorms as a likely notable feature in 2022.
Pisces: 12th House:
Sacrifices, borders, boundaries
Tarot card~ Hanged Man Reversed
This deep, watery card, drawn for March, is a double dose of mysterious wateriness, doubling up Pisces the Fishes with the outer planet again, Neptune, planet of charisma, dreams, visions, inspiration, illusions, delusion, confusion, alternative realities and lack of boundaries.
Turning up in recent Tarot representations of Ukraine President Mr Zelenskyy: a saviour or a victim? Or both.
This card is about looking at things in a new way, trying a new approach to an old problem, honouring our responsibilities, looking at a thing straight on, not hiding our heads in the sand.
We are reviewing our priorities, thinking carefully about what we really need, as opposed to what we fancy right now. It is about what we owe to ourselves, but also to others. It is about restoring and keeping order in our personal lives, and establishing- and protecting our personal boundaries.
There are habits, ideas, places or people- we need to let go of, to surrender this year. The Hanged Man needs to surrender something that used to matter a lot to him, in order to make progress. Will he or won’t he? Will ‘he’get stuck in a state of passivity and make victim-hood his excuse and default for not getting things done?
Own Image Pisces
Again, there could be flooding, or major maritime events in the news, any time this year, but likely late February-late March 2022.
Update: Tonga underwater volcanic eruption and tsunami Saturday 16/into Sunday 16 January
Aries: 1st House:
Self/initiative/action/organizations/military
Tarot card~Temperance
Temperance is a positive card for 2022. It is a truly mighty if unglamorous virtue, and needs to come back in fashion. It is also the art of right timing. On a personal level, self-discipline, self-control, patience and timing are key factors in making the best of the challenges in 2022, and maximizing opportunities. This year, it is all about the longer game.
10 March Someone is just biding their time, working out what others will do, and what they CAN do should that someone make their next move. Russia? China? There will be others.
The appearance of this card is, at least in Tarot language, an encouraging sign for progress of recovery from the covid pandemic, not everywhere, and it’s not done yet, but it does look as though it is moving in the right direction.
This virus has an intelligence of its own. It is gradually learning how best not to kill us, thereby depriving itself of habitation.
Taurus: 2nd House:
Material & money matters, arts, agriculture
Tarot card~King Swords
Rising inflation is widely predicted elsewhere for 2022. The King of Swords can be a regulator or ombudsman. World finances may come under strain April 2022, around the time of the 30 April eclipse in Taurus, though the UK and other countries might buck this trend to an extent. The financial effects are expected to last at least six months or so following such an eclipse, and certainly, things look better for the UK by autumn 2022.
The King of Swords inspects, oversees, directs or cuts things.
My Tarot has subsequently represented Mr Putin as the King or Queen of Swords
On a personal level the King of Swords knows exactly where his money is, online and offline, and keeps a close eye on his financial security. Beware scammers. This card indicates new facial recognition technology, iris or fingerprint coming into wider use in 2022, or even into wider domestic use.
This advice is simply common sense and it applies every year, but the appearance of the intelligence gathering, law and order vigilante, the warrior-judge, the King of Swords, makes that advice doubly important in 2022.
I associate Boris Johnson with the King of Swords. Mr Johnson is an air sign subject, a Gemini , and well expresses the archetype; quicksilver clever and agile, eternally curious and mercurial, friendly, sociable, and yet essentially solitary and remote, and by the same token, liable to be seen by some as elusive on unreliable.
He is constantly at bay, pincered between the alliance of the Civil Service Establishment, the Labour party and an unremittingly hostile mainstream media, as well as fractious divided factions within his own party, and is possibly making some important decision in respect of his party leadership this year, possibly as early as April/May 2022 though not necessarily.
Update: Amid media furore and calls for the resignation of Boris Johnson based on alleged parties held on the premises in 10 Downing Street during times of national lock down, cards are not at this point indicating imminent resignation, as of a reading done Wednesday 13 January.
The Two of Hearts in my playing cards correlates with the first decan of Cancer, hinting at late June as a possible turning point for him as PM. If he stands down as PM in 2022, which I currently detect as a likelihood of 2/5 meaning that it is a chance of 3/5 likelihood that he will still be in position at the end of 2022. If he does stand down then it will likely be largely his own decision, and not least due to sheer fatigue. The pandemic has been a poisoned chalice before he barely had a chance to get into the stride of the job of PM.
10 March: So far still in post after ‘partygate/cakegate’, and just as well, I feel, given the present global emergency.
The King of Thailand…another ‘king of the east wind’ seems to consolidate his increasingly authoritarian position in 2022. A woman aged 65, a former civil servant was sentenced to 43 years in prison in January 2021 for posting online criticism treated as a crime of – lèse–majesté. Small businesses in Thailand have been badly hit by the covid downturn in tourism, and to safeguard his position there will need some help for this section of the economy, and possibly for agriculture too, is indicated by Taurus. But while there may be more protests against his authoritarian stance he only seems to consolidate power in 2022.
Gemini: 3rd House:
Communications, IT, trade, air travel, siblings
Tarot card~3 Wands
The Three of Wands drawn in the third House is an upbeat, positive card for trade, communications, scientific and medical innovation in 2022, for the export of vaccines to developing countries. and for launching new businesses and enterprises. It also speaks of overseas ambitions. The figure has plans to launch the ship. The world is his oyster, he thinks. Where is it going and what is it carrying and what does it hope to load into the hold?
This card in the house of siblings suggests reconciliations or meet-ups in 2022, the first perhaps, in a long time. Might this include William and Harry?
Cancer: 4th House
Home, family, mother, security
Tarot card~4 Cups
I think of this card as “bored boy, busy boy”. It has a kind of shuttlecock dynamic with extended periods of hiatus in-between. We may be feeling restless from time to time this year, mildly unsettled, and possibly a bit low on energy or bored, but at the same time, unsure what, if anything, to do about it. This is only natural. The last couple of years have been difficult. The trick here is not to do anything destructive on an impulse, not to upset an apple-cart in a moment of frustration, just for the sake of it.
On a personal level, I am OK with the appearance of this card as it also represents my own father, a Cancer subject, though the the 4 of Cups suggest ongoing issues with oedema, needing regular physiotherapy.
Leo:5th House
Heartland, creativity, passion, romance, royalty, children
Tarot card~ 3 Swords Reversed
Ugh. This is always a challenging card, but is one of those cards that is slightly better news for being drawn reversed or upside down. The Three of Swords upright is severance, separation, divorce, bereavement, shocks, cardiac issues, all kinds of loss. Drawn reversed it is about coming to terms with grief, loss, bereavement, arguments,
There has been great collective sorrow attached to the pandemic and other ongoing humanitarian crises in geopolitics. The time frame of this card is 3 years. The sorrow has been great, and likewise the losses, but now, at least in some quarters comes a measure of acceptance or easement. 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 a rift. Serious quarrels may settle down with forbearance.
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.
The Hanged Man reversed is very big on victim-hood as a badge of honour in 2022, when a distinction to be made is between justice and revenge, as with the case of Jeffrey Epstein and Ghislaine Maxwell. This business is a can of worms, not finished yet.
Leo is the zodiac House of royalty. This is likely significant in this same context. This is undoubtedly a very great worry to the Queen, though I have not looked as yet to see what seems to be the outcome here for Prince Andrew.
Update: The Three of Swords Reversed was here foreshadowing the recent announcement that Prince Andrew has renounced his HRH title and Military and other affiliations. The fact that this card was drawn reversed means that there was a great shock, but that this announcement was nothing sudden,suggesting that Prince Andrew and HM the Queen had already discussed and decided upon this plan of action and were prepared should the judgement go against Andrew, in respect of permission being granted for a further civil suit against him brought by Virginia Roberts (Giuffre) The Three of Swords reversed reflects the great sorrow of the Queen, who is mourning, and seems to be trying to take comfort in the fact that Prince Philip is not here to know about this development.
There could be national mourning in 2022 for a much loved national figurehead.
Virgo: 6th House
Health, hygiene, harvests, crafts, routines
Tarot card~ Page Cups
This is a small but welcome card of healing, happiness, invitations and offers –and births of all kinds- is a cheerful sign for late August-September in particular, but in fact, any time of the year in 2022. In terms of Virgo, its zodiac sixth house ruler to do with Health, Hygiene, Hospitality, socializing and daily routine, the appearance of this card suggests encouraging progress in respect of the on-going global pandemic management.
Libra: 7th House:
Justice, diplomacy, partnerships
Tarot card~6 Swords Reversed
Globally and politically, old alliances are changed, as with NATO, or dissolved, as with Barbados and UK in December 2021. Migration laws undergo major reviews in Europe, UK and US in response to unprecedented pressures of mass migration.
There seems likely an escalation of tensions to do with military or commercial shipping in disputed waters, as previously mentioned, in the Black Sea, the South China Sea, Indian Ocean, or the Straits of Hormuz.
The disputed legalities, ethics and practicalities of mandatory vaccinations will continue a red hot potato in the news from 1 February 2022 when vaccination becomes mandatory in Austria, the first compulsory vaccination requirement in Europe.
Scorpio: 8th House:
Creation/destruction/occult/money
Tarot card~Queen of Pentacles
The Queen of Pentacles is associated with the earth signs; Capricorn, Taurus and to a lesser extent, Virgo. There is a theme in 2022 of a cycle of Taurus-Scorpio eclipses, making this a year with a focus very much on the basics and fundamentals of everyday living, personal finance and other material matters.
Curiously, we have a total lunar eclipse in Taurus right in the middle of Scorpio season on Nov 8 2022. The Tarot has seemingly detected this, and is reflecting and projecting the by now, clearly noticeable effects of financial shakeups dating back to January 2020.
There is big news this year to do with money and mining. This could be literal mining, as in mining for minerals, or it could be big news to do with crypto-currencies and crypto-mining. It could mean a boom or bust- something really big.
We have recently one way and another, been warned or reminded of the necessity of every nation and every household retaining some degree of energy self-sufficiency should either the weather play havoc or political diplomacy break down, threatening vital infrastructure.
Social unrest can be expected for a number of reasons, depending on where these happen. No way are we going back to pre Covid or pre Brexit in respect of the general tone of public discourse in 2022.
Jupiter moves into Pisces dips into Aries, but the ruler of Capricorn, Saturn still holds strong in Aquarius; a cosmic old man with great fixity of opinion, and black and white thinking as to what is right and wrong, and he is right and everyone else is wrong. This is the face of a certain kind of group-think we did not see much before 2016. Up is down. Everything comes down to feeling, says this new group-think. We speak ‘our’ truths, they say, as if there is no other kind of truth.
The Queen of Pentacles symbolically defends the bottom line, representing the element of Earth nature of biological reality v idealogy. There has always been ‘otherness.’ That too, is in Nature.
Sagittarius: 9th House
Far travel, friendship, foreign shores/powers
Tarot card~6 Wands Reversed
The Six of Wands when drawn upright is an extrovert card, representing heat, speed, victory, competition, sports, riding high – a triumphal procession. I once drew this card for a young man who was physically, very severely disabled. I asked him about sporting activities. He told me he had been selected to represent the GB wheelchair rugby team in the London 2012 Paralympics.
Conversely, this card when drawn reversed represents bad luck in competitive sports, losing, failure, lack of achievement, recognition, endurance, confidence or support. The Six of Wands reversed signifies disadvantage, disgrace, disloyalty, treachery and broken promises.
This may be detecting recent/on-going controversy attached to the safety and well- being of the Chinese tennis player, Peng Shuai, and/or associated political tensions surrounding the Beijing Winter Olympics, 4-20 February 2022.
The advice here for foreign travel is that disruptions due to covid, but possibly other reasons, may still be anticipated during 2022, particularly early and late in the year. Travellers had better take precautions and book on a free cancellation basis, or take out insurance against last minute cancellations.
My oldest friend rang last night and told me that she had 2 vaccinations, and the booster and still somehow caught covid. She said she felt absolutely lousy for 10 days but said, to me last night, what might it have been like had she not had any vaccinations? The question is hypothetical of course. She still caught it, didn’t she, and how? She doesn’t know. It is nasty while seemingly getting milder. We knew a young man in his early thirties who died of ‘flu’ Jan 2020 after developing sepsis.
I have come to associate this card with vehicle maintenance issues, traffic issues, and have known it to refer to motorcycles or cycling mishaps.
Central Cards:
Tarot cards~ Strength and the Seven of Cups
These cards are reflecting core themes for the year ahead and how best to navigate it.
The Strength card means exactly what it says. This is a year of international power struggles, competition, and for making our health, comfort and security a top priority, and not wasting valuable resources on people, places or habits that cost more than they are worth. The card has been drawn right way up. Good news.
The pandemic seems to enter a new phase, or two new phases. Astrology suggests a possibility of two new variants, probably milder, and if so let us see whether these arise during Jupiter in Pisces (meaning an increase in a spread) which would mean between now and May 2022, or after October 2022, or both.
The dreamy, visionary Seven of Cups show us that we have many possible paths in life, and that life presents us with many choices. One is not necessarily better than another, just different. Good news, timing wise, attaches to the time of Fixed Water, in second decan Scorpio, 2 November- 11 November. This card again, is ruled by the god of the seas, Neptune.
A Test of Strength at Sea possibly in November 2022.
Taiwan has lost another of its allies, Nicaragua only the latest, transferring its allegiances to China but who is the number 1 producer of semi conductors needed for computer chips? Taiwan. My cards do not show any clear signs of any attempt at outright invasion of Taiwan by China in 2022, not of a military nature. China seems to judge this is not necessary. Trade is what counts.
This next Chinese New Year February 2022 is a Black Water Tiger Year. This is a highly assertive zodiac placement, and focused on wealth.
It seems only prudent that Europe invests big time in its own home grown computer chip industry, pronto.
On a personal level, should someone intrude on our personal space this year, we do not have to put up with it. We should trust our instincts, no apologies or self-justification needed, and act to safeguard our personal and online space, security and privacy.
Mute, block, avoid.
General Astrology 2022
Jupiter, planet of growth, opportunity and optimism is happy at home in mystical Pisces the Fishes for most of the year. Jupiter rules Pisces so it is at home in this sign, and the effect is only ramped up April 12 by Jupiter’s (rare conjunction) with dreamy, mysterious deep water Neptune.
This is a lot of water influence going on, in astrological terms. This can be understood literally, as in rain, or metaphorically, as in mood, emotionally intense, maybe in a good way, imaginative and creative- even inspired. But it could by the same token, be detecting potent suspicion, delusion or paranoia, such as we have seen in 2020 and 2021, with social disorder in consequence, protests, demonstrations, or episodes of collective psychosis, as with the storming of the Capitol in the US, January 2021.
Jupiter, the Planet of Luck, is entering into its favourite sign of all time, Pisces, on 28th December. “This is one of the defining and most anticipated astrological events of 2022,” says Madi Murphy, co-founder of The Cosmic RX and The Cosmic Revolution.
Jupiter will be in Pisces until 10th May, moves into Aries when we could see sabre rattling -if not more -on the world stage, and then comes back again into Pisces from October 28th, 2022 until December 20th, 2022.
Jupiter is the planet of joy, growth, opportunity, optimism, expansion. This year it escapes its celestial confrontation with Saturn, planet of restriction where it has spent much of the last two years. This, despite the new omicron variant, suggests overall progress in dealing with the covid-19 pandemic, and lightens the mood.
2022 will be intense but more buoyant than 2021. This is a good year to push hard on a long cherished aim. Jupiter in Pisces is considered lucky. Of course, to get lucky, if you want to make a dream come true, you actually have to do something. You will have to do rather a lot, and keep doing it, too. But if there is such a thing as divine luck to put the wind behind your sails, then Jupiter in Pisces is it.
Every planetary influence has its potential downside. Jupiter can be a giant bully. We could see a sharp escalation of maritime territorial disputes (Watery Pisces and Neptune are both about ‘blurring the boundaries’)
Pisces: Chartres Cathedral
This, for all the famous Piscean compassion and dreaminess seems to me to point to plenty more trouble this year, whether it turns out to be in the South China Seas, the Indian Ocean, the Straits of Hormuz, the Black Sea, or close to home in The English Channel/La Manche.
There are serious tensions ahead in 2022 attached to China’s ambitions in Taiwan, possibly midyear, and Russia’s relationship with Ukraine, specifically, borders, power supplies and Nordstream 2undersea gas pipelines.
2022 looks fast moving, intense. There are bound to be plenty of surprises, more than usual; political, social and economic, as well as extreme weather events; in particular rainfall, flooding, volcanic or seismic events. Poseidon or Neptune, the god of the seas, was not for nothing known in classical mythology as the “Earth Shaker,” the connection being that earthquakes or volcanic events will sometimes create tsunamis.
Pluto takes 248 years to orbit the solar system, meaning that a nation’s Pluto return only happens every two and a half centuries. Pluto is the planet of Death and Transformation. Heavy stuff.
Astrology tells us February 2022 marks the first ever Pluto return of the United States and it will be happening in Capricorn, the zodiac House of material status, prestige and power, with three exact degree-based returns: February 20th, July 11th, and December 28th.
For the first time ever, Pluto will return to the exact position in the zodiac that it was during the United States’ inception on Jul. 4, 1776.
What affects the USA spreads ripples very wide. This does not mean the US will cease to be a superpower – though it could. The Roman Empire fell at its second Pluto return. England rose higher at its second Pluto return, with Elizabeth 1 and a new Golden Age, and declined in world power after its third Pluto return.
Superpowers rise and fall like a law of Nature. In China, it has been observed that the great dynasties typically each ruled for about 250 years. But the Pluto return for the USA does suggest some kind of karma, a revisiting of roots, profound shifts and adjustments this coming year, both inwardly looking and in world relations.
Joe Biden is a Scorpio subject; a fixed deep water sign. Tarot has shown me the steady Queen of Pentacles in Scorpio, suggesting Mr Biden may well dig in firmer and stronger in 2022 than 2021. I do not see based on the Capricorn Queen of Pentacles he will be pursuing a policy of defunding the police. It will not prove a realistic option. But whether or not Mr Biden rides out this Pluto return as President, the US does seem to experience a major shakeup between now and 2024. Deeply Plutonic, the ongoing issues to do with gas pipelines in those territories never ceded by indigenous peoples. The world will be watching Deb Haaland, the new and first Native American US Secretary of the Interior
Debra Haaland
Mercury Retrogrades 2022
Not all astrologers agree on their significance but in 2022 there are four Mercury retrogrades, rather than the three which occurred in 2021. All of these will be happening in ‘intellectual’ air signs. These could mirror real life events, legal matters and continuing challenges to do with the covid situation (the connection here is airborne infection) and air travel. Be ready and prepared for surprises or possible disruptions to plans.
Datesof Mercury Retrogrades 2022
January 14 to February 3
May 10 to June 3
September 9 to October 2
December 29 to January 23 2023
Do I like the look of 2022? Mmm. Well, we won’t be hit by an extinction level asteroid, even though a few people might be somewhat tempted to wish we were. This coming new year is almost enough to make me feel seasick looking at it. Brooding one minute, boisterous the next. Deep, deep, deep.
“Canst thou draw forth leviathan with a hook?” (Book of Job)
It does look, however, more expansive and buoyant in spirit, compared with 2021, and especially compared with the almost existential horror of 2020. Wishing you a peaceful, prosperous and Happy New Year in 2022!
Here we are again in the zodiac season of Sagittarius the Archer, aiming high, reaching for the light as the sun sinks to the solstice and the daylight dwindles. What is the story behind this mutable fire sign?
Common associations
Symbol:
Date of Birth: Nov 21/22 to Dec 21
Ruling planet: Jupiter
Element: Fire Quality: Mutable- the ending of one season, and the beginning of another
Key phrase: I seek
Body: Thighs
Birth Stone: Topaz, Citrine, Turquoise
Colour: Light Blue
Tarot card: Temperance: Timing, Moderation, Education, Solstice, Healing of Chiron. Also The Knight of Wands, and the 8, 9 and 10 Wands.
Public Domain: Rider-Waite
Astronomy
Source :Wiki
Sagittarius, the zodiac sign inspired by the constellation of Sagittarius, from the Latin meaning Archer, was recorded in the 2nd century by the Greek astronomer Ptolemy.
The constellation of Sagittarius is near the centre of our galaxy, the spiral Milky Way, mainly visible in the southern hemisphere June-November. In the Northern hemisphere we can see it low on the horizon August- October.
Sagittarius gets its nickname, ‘The Teapot’ on account of its vaguely teapot-shaped star pattern, or asterism.
To find ‘The Teapot‘
The best time to look is in August or September. We need somewhere really dark, locating the hazy band of The Milky Way stretching right across the sky. Looking up in the northern hemisphere, the Milky Way seems to bulge as it descends to the southern horizon. This ‘bulge’ is roughly the middle of the Milky Way and is contained within the boundaries of the constellation of Sagittarius.
Photo by u200bu0468u0477u047bu048f u046au0454u0459u0469u04e1u04c4u047bu0487u0477 on Pexels.com
Sagittarius contains a massive star-forming region, the Omega Nebula, home to the bright blue hyper-giant Pistol Star, one of the brightest stars in the Milky Way, discovered 1930 using the Hubble Space telescope.
The Pistol Star is largely hidden in the dust of its own nebula, but it’s 100 times as massive as our Sun, and 10,000,000 times as bright.
Mythology
Sagittarius is the ninth sign in the Zodiac, not to be confused with the constellation itself, and represents those born between Nov. 22 and the advent of winter solstice, Dec. 21.
Sagittarius is nowadays generally associated with the ancient Greek story of Chiron but the story is far more ancient and goes back to Mesopotamia in the 26 century BCE, to the story of Pabilsag, a deity or divine king of a city called Larak.
The story of Pabilsag was handed down to the Greeks through the Sumerians.
The Sumerian word ‘Pabil’ means ‘ancestor or relative’. Combined with the final element ‘sag’, meaning ‘chief, head, tip or foremost,’ his name can be translated as the ‘Chief Ancestor’ or ‘Forefather’.
The Archer is a hunter just as our forefathers were hunters at the dawn of human civilization.
Here, 3 millennia BC, we portray him as a winged centaur type figure, and yes, he is an archer too, and his arrow points at the heart of Scorpio, the red star Antares. But look at Pabilsag. No horse’s tail! He has a scorpion’s tail as the wheel of the Zodiac turns, and sure enough, as Sagittarius comes galloping in, we are leaving behind the sign of Scorpio.
Sagittarius is a solitary hunter. He does not work as one of a team, bringing down the really big prey. He is an individualist, working alone, just as many a hunter or trapper still hunts alone in winter.
The constellation of Sagittarius-Pabilsag is seen within the Milky Way, rising from the southern regions close to the horizon into the higher reaches of the skies. This section of the Milky Way represents a symbolic bridge or a rainbow for the souls of the dead on their way to the afterlife, as the arrival of Capricorn draws near, marking the advent of the winter solstice.
Sagittarius, or Pabilsag, is a ‘psychopomp’ – like Hermes, the messenger of the Gods of Ancient Greece. He is both guardian and guide ofthe dying year itself, and offers safe escort to the souls of the dying as they ascend to the heavens through the gates of Capricorn.
Chiron the wounded Centaur
Most modern versions of the story refer to much later, classical variants of the old Babylonian myths, and say that Sagittarius represents the gentle, cultured centaur, Chiron, who was accidentally shot by Herakles with a poison arrow.
The centaurs were a rough lot, hard- drinking, hard- fighting and smelly – not remotely glamorous. The legends of the centaurs may originally have arisen from perfectly mortal reality of ancient Greek cowboys.
But whatever the centaurs were, Chiron ‘the wisest and justest of the centaurs’ was something different, representing a bright star of hope for the race of the centaurs, and for Humanity itself, as collectively it strives to rise above the ever present tyranny of the Id and its own worst nature.
Here he is, teaching the young Achilles to play the lyre. Chiron had many pupils; Asclepius, Ajax, Achilles, Theseus, Jason, Peleus, Perseus, and Phoenix. And he taught Herakles, who brought about his death, when he was sent there to be schooled with Chiron.
Herakles was sent after his killed his music teacher back home. His tutor, Linus, criticized his playing, and Herakles smashed his lyre over the teachers head, killing him. Though in some accounts he used a stool.
And so he was sent to be schooled by the illustrious Chiron. And for some time, all was well, until one day Herakles got caught up in a fight and in the confusion accidentally wounded Chiron, shooting him with a poisoned arrow dipped in the venom of the Hydra.
Chiron was left in terrible and permanent pain. He was wise in the ways of medicine, none wiser, but he could not heal himself, and none could help him. Nor could he die, being an Immortal.
Still, he carried on until he could bear it no more, and asked Zeus to release him from immortality so that he could escape the pain in the blessed release of death.
Zeus placed him in the heavens as Sagittarius. Or did he? There is a bit of a question here because Chiron already has another constellation named after him- Centaurus.
And to add to the confusion, there is another version of the story of Sagittarius, referring to him instead as Krotos, a satyr who lived on Mount Helicon with the Muses. Krotos was the son of Pan and Eupheme, and his mother had nursed the Muses. He was a renowned archer, hunter, horse rider – hence a possible source of confusion with the centaur, and besides all this, a devotee of his childhood companions, The Muses and their arts.
Krotos means ‘One who Claps his hands.’ He was credited by the Greeks with not only having invented archery, but introducing the convention of applause at artistic performances.
It was the Muses who, for his own musical talents, when Krotos died, asked Zeus to place him among the stars, which he did, transforming him into the constellation Sagittarius, says this variant of the zodiac story.
So Sagittarius is either the cultured wounded healer, Chiron, already represented in the constellation Centaurus, or he is the cultured satyr, Krotos; goaty, horse-riding archer, culture vulture and hunter extraordinaire as the sun is sinking to the winter solstice.
Chiron or Krotos? Take your pick.
Or go Babylonian with Pabilsag.
The Muses
Sagittarius is keenly intuitive, and usually has a marked talent, a gift, in the field of the Arts. Sagittarian subject Winston Churchill for example, was clearly psychic, subject to visions and feelings of premonition, and also painted.
Delphi said there were three Muses. But c 600 BC Hesiod wrote in his Theogony that there were Nine Muses, the daughters of Zeus and Mnemosyne (Memory personified) and this is the version that has generally stuck.
The Muses, it ought to be mentioned, were not necessarily always benign. They were touchy for one thing, sensitive to human hubris, and liable to exact vengeance of anyone they decided was getting above themselves.
Kalliope ‘She of the Lovely Voice’ was the muse of epic poetry. Also of Diplomacy.
Klio ‘She Who Proclaims’ was the muse of history.
Erato ‘The Lovely One’ was the muse of love poetry.
Euterpe ‘She Who Pleases’ was the muse of music.
Melpomene ‘She Who Sings’ was the muse of tragedy.
Polyhymnia ‘She of the Many Hymns’ was the muse of sacred poetry.
Terpsichore ‘She Who Delights to Dance’ was the muse of dance.
Thalia ‘The Cheerful One’ was the muse of comedy
Urania ‘The Heavenly One’ was the goddess of astronomy, astrology, and later, Christian poetry.
The Astrological Personality of Sagittarius
Of course there is no such thing as THE Sagittarius personality. Everyone is unique. We are speaking here of an archetype. All the zodiac signs represent archetypes– something that is considered to be a perfect or typical example of a particular kind of person or thing.
Sagittarius is the Archer, the eternal student, aiming high and far even as the sun sinks; the optimist, the voyager, maybe a seer or a prophet.
The archer is a hunter. This time of year was the time for hunting. The crops were gathered in and finished for the year. Meat would be caught and hung, cured, salted away for the hungrier months ahead.
But since the origins of Tropical or western astrology were based on the seasons in the northern hemisphere, what if we live in the southern hemisphere?
Some astrologers have suggested that if you were born in the southern hemisphere and your zodiac sign really doesn’t feel right, why not look up your opposite zodiac sign and try that on for size, see if that feels like a better fit. So for Aries, read Libra’s horoscope, for Taurus read Scorpio, for Gemini read Sagittarius, and so on.
These are astute, clever, capable people but they need career flexibility, and they may refuse to fail to apply themselves if bored. Like Gemini, they are prone to restlessness. They may fail to stick at a job or a succession of jobs, and may struggle financially long term in consequence.
Hence their challenge, but also their guiding light is the idea of Temperance, personified in the Tarot, symbolizing patience, prudence, and the art of good timing.
They can do domestic. But you wouldn’t really call it how they roll. And they do tend to roll, from place to place, job to job, and a rolling stone gathers no moss. The problem here being the other things it doesn’t gather either, such as a steady income, or savings or other means of security in old age, if Sagittarius does not find a way to balance their great need for freedom , space and independence with prudence and good timing.
Sagittarius tends to have lots of friends. More than almost anyone else, so much so, family and friends can feel neglected at times, forgotten, when Sagittarius goes off yet again, devil may care, to share experiences with new best friends.
Sagittarius must have inspiration, and the freedom to follow it, and to roam. But this humanitarian, kindly, if restless rolling stone sooner or later almost always comes trotting, or should we say, rolling home again, expecting to find their loved ones exactly where they left them. And usually, they will. Though others too, do not enjoy being taken for granted, and this may need care.
Sagittarius will be the star of this show, but what they really need for domestic happiness is a quietly confident, self-reliant partner.
Sagittarius is a potential high flyer, like an arrow, well aimed, hard working and clever. They have an enlarged curiosity, always learning. They are adventurous and progressive, and work best in teams within large organizations.
They tend to be good at earning money, but not so good at saving it, generally due to impulse buying. They need plenty of physical activity outdoors and to be in contact with nature. They tend to be animal lovers. At home, they tend to be happier married than single, and they are co-operative, fun, efficient and reliable partners but they can be detached, reserved, restless and impulsive, and they sometimes fail in consideration to their partner in their search for independent fun, seeking new adventures outside the home.
They may be psychic; religious or spiritually inquiring, with a prophetic or visionary gift which they may express through music, writing, animal connections or group endeavours for some common cause.
But as we have already observed, of course there is no such thing in reality as THE Sagittarius personality. Your zodiac sign (sun sign) is a major keynote, but it is nothing like the full picture in real life – or even in astrology.
There are many other factors in play; your rising sign, your Moon sign, and the planets in your houses, elements, modes, aspects, transits, the decans, degrees and so on.
If you don’t feel like a ‘typical’ Sagittarius, perhaps you are a second or third decan Sagittarius, rather than a ‘most typical’ first decan Sagittarius.
The Zodiac is the arc of the sky as visible from earth, which tracks the pathway of the sun, ‘the ecliptic.’ Obviously, what we can see depends on where we are on Earth at any given time, but the zodiac belt follows this same pathway.
The zodiac belt is 16 degrees deep with the ecliptic running along the middle, rather like a layer in a cake. The layers of this cake are 8 degrees above the sun’s pathway- the buttercream filling of the ecliptic- and 8 degrees below.
The Greeks divided this imaginary zodiac belt into twelve sections, choosing this number for ease of arithmetic, and named them after constellations found along this same pathway. There are more than twelve constellations, above the ecliptic, or straddling it or below it, but the zodiac signs named after them, recorded by Eudoxus of Cnidus and Ptolemy of Alexandria get their name from just twelve, again, for reasons of arithmetic.
Each zodiac sign represents a 30 degree section of this 360 degree belt. Each sign is then sub-divided into three blocks of ten degrees, roughly ten days in length. This gives us the decans of the zodiac, nicknamed ‘the thirty six faces of astrology.’ The decans break down each zodiac sign into three sub-chapters, shining extra light on the story.
First Decan Sagittarius
Sagittarius-Sagittarius
Dates: 22 November-30 November
Planetary rulers: Jupiter and Jupiter
Tarot card: Eight of Wands
From The Gilded Tarot
Card Meanings: speed, changes, news, sudden developments, arrivals, departures or situations that may prove to be short lived- a ‘flash in the pan.’
Jupiter, planet of expansion, progress, ambition and optimism is both the ruler and sub-ruler of this decan. There is idealism and a love of knowledge here. Sagittarius-Sagittarius is an enthusiast for life, upbeat, spontaneous, and fun. They are highly competitive, and don’t like to lose, with intellectual capabilities of a high order and a keen sense of justice,
There is often a fascination with medicines, shamanism of any kind, and an interest in ancient cultures and their healing traditions. Sagittarius loves wide-open spaces, fresh air and being close to nature.
Sagittarius-Sagittarius is outgoing, yet actually rather private and reserved, not easy to get to know well. They can be the life and soul of the party, but when it comes down to it, they confide in very few.
Famous first decan Sagittariussubjects: Winston Churchill, Pablo Escobar, Tina Turner, CS Lewis, Britney Spears, Gianni Versace
Second Decan Sagittarius
Sagittarius-Aries
Dates: 1 December-11 December
Planetary rulers: Mars and Moon (Aries Triplicity)
Mars brings to this decan an adventurous spirit; energy, courage and ambition. This decan could be an explorer or adventurer, but does well in business and commerce with marked executive abilities. They are natural sportspeople or soldiers.
They are often highly physically attractive to others, and though they are reserved, and may even push people away, guarding their space, they are passionate when in love with a reputation as potential heartbreakers. They are also known for having a bit of a short fuse, and for bearing grudges.
They need to spend plenty of time outdoors and need lots of physical activity to be at their best.
Second Decan Sagittarius are kind and courageous, clever, good with their hands, quick with their minds, technically proficient, independent, and no matter how rough a time they are having, as with the first decan, they will usually keep that to themselves, showing their best face to the world.
Famous Second Decan Sagittarius subjects: John Kerry, Kirk Douglas, Jim Morrison, Tyra Banks, John Malkovich
Third Decan Sagittarius
Sagittarius-Leo
Dates: 12 December-21 December
Planetary ruler: The Sun and Saturn (Leo Triplicity)
Tarot card- Ten of Wands
From The Rider-Waite-Smith Tarot
Card Meanings: effort, determination, shouldering a burden, ‘going to town,’ ‘taking it to town.’
Ruled by the Sun, the centre of our solar system, this person is very much the centre of their own universe. There is a great love of change and a desire for reform. This decan is full of enterprise and novel ideas. They are realists, possibly cynics, but they are very much in tune with their instincts, and make great researchers, investigators or teachers.
They are not known for small talk. They say what they think, and this can give them a reputation for being rude or judgemental. They may have a dark sense of humour. But their sub-ruler, the Sun, which stands for warmth, pride and vitality, joining up with beneficent Jupiter means they have initiative combined with magnetism, and when they feel like it, a talent for making other people laugh. (Not that there was much funny about Stalin but, every zodiac sign has its seriously bad boys and girls)
Famous Decan 3 Sagittarius: Jane Austen, Beethoven, Nostradamus, Joseph Stalin, Steven Spielberg
The Cusps of Sagittarius
22 November- 25November
This earlier native has Scorpio qualities. Their ruling planets are Jupiter and Mars. They are courageous with great physical endurance. They tend to take on a lot of responsibility, maybe too much, which can load them down and hold them back. They take much care over their work, and have a vivid imagination but will voice share strong opinions, and though they are sensitive, they can be tactless, and in consequence are sometimes misunderstood.
19 December -21 December
This later native has Capricorn tendencies. Their ruling planets are Jupiter and Saturn. They are generally very good company, entertaining, easygoing, witty and well-informed although they sometimes rub other people up the wrong way. They will not hesitate to disagree with others, and will criticise other viewpoints. On the other hand, they have a strong sense of duty, they seldom betray a confidence and they don’t interfere in matters which don’t involve them directly.
Happy Birthday Sagittarius!
We can expect volcanic events this month, literally and metaphorically,
2022 is looking like a pretty good year for you, with bright prospects for work and finances, thanks to a big fat, optimistic Jupiter influence. Ambition and hard work really could pay off for you this coming year. Put your back into it, Ten of Wands style.
Most of us know our sign of the zodiac, but what is the story behind the sign? Read on for the story of Libra…
Libra marks the advent of the autumn equinox in the northern hemisphere. The scales of Libra represent this temporary state of balance in nature, and the closest equality of the hours of darkness and daylight.
Birthstones: Sapphire- September birthdays. Opal- October birthdays
Lucky Number: 6 (community, childhood)
Tarot card: Justice Minor Arcana cards: 2, 3, 4 Swords
From The Legacy of the Divine Tarot, illustrator Ciro Marchetti
Astronomy
Constellation Libra
Libra (which technically, though I don’t know anyone who actually pronounces it this way, is pronounced Ly-bra as in Library) is a small but distinct constellation next to the constellation Virgo in the evening sky.
It looks rather like a lopsided diamond and is visible in the northern hemisphere between April and July and is most visible directly overhead at midnight in June.
It is 29th in size of the 88 known constellations and is is bordered by the head of Serpens to the north, Virgo to the northwest, Hydra (the biggest constellation) to the southwest, Lupus to the south, Scorpius to the east and the serpent bearer, Ophiuchus to the northeast.
Libra, like Cancer, is fainter from Earth than other constellations, and contains no spectacular first magnitude stars, but it contains a very old galaxy cluster that is thought to be around 10 billion years old, the same age as The Milky Way, our own galaxy.
Libra also contains a red dwarf star, Gliese 581, which has three orbiting planets, one of which may possibly be suitable for life. This system is about 20 light years from Earth.
Libra though recognized as an asterism long before, was only formally classified as a constellation by the Romans, and used to be regarded, not as a constellation in its own right, but as part of the neighbouring constellations Scorpio and Virgo.
This legacy explains the names of its brightest stars; a binary star about 77 light years from Earth. α Librae. called Zubenelgenubi, in Arabic “the Southern Claw” in Arabic. The second-brightest star is β Librae, or Zubeneschamali, the Arabic for “The Northern Claw.”
Once upon a time, about three thousand years ago and until AD 730, the Sun used to move into the constellation of Libra at the time of the northern autumnal equinox (c. September 23) and stay there until about October 23.
This changed over time, owing to the wobble of the Earth, owing to an effect called the precession of the equinoxes so that since 2002, the Sun has actually appeared in the constellation of Libra from October 31 to November 22.
HOWEVER This does not affect the dates or the meaning of the zodiac sign of Libra which is based, not on the science of the astronomy in real time, but on an arithmetic model.
Mythology and History
From Urania’s Mirror
Libra was known in Babylonian astronomy as MUL Zibanu (the “scales” or “balance”) with an alternative name, the Claws of the Scorpion. In ancient Greece too, Libra was seen as the Scorpion’s Claws.
The scales were sacred to the Babylonian sun god Shamash, who was the patron of truth and justice, so that since these very early times, Libra has been associated with law, fairness and civility.
Libra was first recognised as a constellation in its own right in ancient Rome, when it began to represent the scales held by Astraea, or Dike, who in Greek mythology was actually associated with Virgo. In ancient times, the stars of Libra, The Scales, were also intermingled with those of Scorpius by the Greeks, but were always considered as a separate group by the Romans.
According to the writer Manilius, whether this was factually correct or not, more Roman judges were born under the sign of Libra than under other zodiac signs.
Venus and Libra
Libra, like Taurus, is traditionally ruled by Venus, planet of love, beauty, friendship, diplomacy- and also wealth, because wealth provides luxuries.
The Birth of Venus, Botticelli
Everything has its shadow side of course, and Venus can also mean over indulgence, undue materialism, or uncontrolled desires or obsession.
The Libra Archetype
The Archetype of Libra is The Judge.
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 zodiac signs paint a ‘typical’ 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 parental diet, especially in the days long before supermarkets where food was a matter of seasonal availability, plus other environmental factors; temperatures, hours of daylight exposure and so on, with potential physical effects on that baby’s makeup and development.
Libra is one of the three zodiac air signs, the others being Gemini and Aquarius.
Libra is the only sign that is not represented by a human or animal, but the scales signify the collective and enduring human hunger for justice, as well as Libra’s own especially keen personal need for balance, order, and equality.
Many astrologers view Libra as an especially lucky sign because it occurs during the peak of the year when the rewards of hard work are harvested.
Libra is suave, clever and extremely easy to like. The classic Libra subject has charm and can be a great listener with sharp observation skills and acute perception.
Because Venus, the goddess of love, rules Libra, the Libra subject is especially, even acutely sensitive to beauty in anything, whether it is a person, nature, art, or music. They dislike loud noises, nastiness, and vulgarity, as they are naturally extremely civilized people. They can sometimes be a little tiring to be with as they are constantly re-assessing and adjusting their thinking, and can be restless, more changeable even than Gemini.
Late Libra may show some of the more negative Scorpio traits. They may be touchy and thin-skinned, and tend not to handle criticism as dispassionately as they dispense it.
But Libra on a good hair day, when it is sunny side up, smart as anything, smiling, civilized, ready to be amused, that lollipop face, what’s not to like?
The archetypal human face in the Tarot representing Libra is the Queen of Swords, though of course in real life, this may represent male or female.
This court card represents a queen of keen observational and analytical capabilities, combining intellect and instinct. She has worked hard, given her best service, learned many life lessons, may well have experienced much loss, and while often charming, has a certain air of aloofness. Many seek her out for her wise advice, and receive fair,considered advice. In her most negative aspects she may be vindictive.
These archetypes are based on thousands of years of observation, but of course there is no such thing in reality as THE Libra personality.
You are a unique individual. Your zodiac sign (also known as your sun sign) is a major keynote, but nothing like the full picture in real life – or even in astrology.
But your decan, which depends on where your birthday falls within your zodiac sign, digs just a little deeper. If you don’t feel like a ‘typical’ Libra, perhaps you are a second or third decan Libra, rather than a ‘most typical’ first decan Libra.
What are the decans?
The decans have been described as ‘the thirty six faces of astrology.’
The Zodiac, a portion of sky as seen from earth, represents an imaginary belt or wheel; a circle of 360 degrees. This circle was seen as divided in Tropical or Western astrology into twelve ‘slices,’ of approximately thirty degrees each. Each slice represents a zodiac sign named after a chosen constellation appearing inside this belt of sky, giving us the zodiac signs we are familiar with today.
Astrologers then sub-divided each of these 12 signs into three parts of ten degrees each. Every degree – every birth date -supplies added insights or texture in respect of character and potential destiny.
The first ten days of a zodiac sign are the first decan. The next ten days or so are the second decan, and the last ten days or so are the third decan.
“If you’ve ever wondered why people born in the same sign seem different, decans can help answer this puzzle,” – astrologer Rachel Lang.
Libra First Decan
Libra-Libra
Dates: 23 September – 2 October
Planetary rulers: Traditional –Moon / Modern –Venus
Tarot card: Two of Swords – Truce, pause, standoff, taking stock, information gathering, indecision, obstinate, none so blind as will not see, refusal to engage
Libra-Libra gets a double dose of Venus glamour, as both its planetary ruler and sub-ruler; here is the most ‘typical’ Libra subject; sensitive, perceptive, attractive and well-balanced, keenly intuitive and extra sensitive to beauty, the arts and fashion.
They are clever as anything, strategic thinkers, great at seeing patterns, dealing with data. They are diplomats, cool operators, experts at avoiding unpleasant conversations. They are sensitive to loud noises and dislike crowds.
They hate conflicts, arguments and will avoid direct confrontation, though this is not always helpful. This means they may also avoid uncomfortable decision-making – or indeed any decision-making and may put off a boring job in the hope that someone else will deal with it, though they are perfectly capable of doing it themselves.
Libra is not known for nothing as ‘the iron fist in the velvet glove.’ They can turn away, cut you out cold, and you may never find out why. There will be a reason, but they don’t do those kinds of conversation, for all their essential kindness and usual generosity of spirit. First decan Libra for all their gifts can be self-critical and prone to anxiety or sudden mood swings. They really, really need their space.
Libra Second Decan
Libra-Aquarius
Dates: 3 -12 October
Planetary rulers: Traditional – Saturn / Modern – Uranus
Tarot card: Three of Swords. Sorrow, stress, separation, love triangles, karma, making peace with the past. All signs must learn to deal with loss. Important to note, none of these messages are intended for Libra alone, and may simply represent Libra timing in a reading.
Libra-Aquarius, ruled by stern Saturn and rebellious Uranus is not only brilliantly clever, but dutiful, patient, wise, and inventive, even downright psychic, more curious about subjects like astrology than other Librans. Here is a thinker with a strongly independent streak – even a little quirky. This Libran is urbane, naturally sophisticated, and much sought after for their wit, knowledge, sparkling company and good advice.
They are known for combining artistic gifts with a logical, rational scientific way of thinking. The writer’s father was a second decan Libran; an academic author and scholar of French philosophy, and an exhibiting artist, a painter, with powerful ESP.
All Librans have good earning potential above average, but this decan, ruled by disciplined Saturn, though not remotely mean, is careful, especially prone to saving up for a rainy day, or with an eye to leaving money for their dependents.
Never underestimate them. If a second Libra thinks something is wrong or unethical, if they disapprove of something they may react with a shocking finality, bringing down the sword of judgement. It’s the same with all Librans but the second decan Libra, while oh so polite….will coolly tell you to your face what they do not approve of.
Libra-Aquarius, inspiring devotion and respect, is an enigma, remote and distant, like a kindly priest or a shaman, or a shining lone star.
Planetary rulers: Traditional – Jupiter / Modern – Mercury
Tarot card- Four of Swords: rest, bed, recovery, retreat, regrouping after mental or physical exhaustion
Libra-Gemini is known for above average physical attractiveness and typically looks younger than their actual age, with a rounded face, bright, keen eyes, medium build, and a light to medium build, usually above average height.
Knowledge is power to this most restless Libran. They need to feel up to date, well informed. They may not necessarily share what they know, unless they feel challenged or contradicted. They can be competitive and also secretive, not because they are deceitful, but to avoid the risk of hassle. They cannot bear dealing with bad news, or to be the bearer of bad tidings. Libra decan 3 is not the one to volunteer to handle this.
They are capable of aggression, but still, are more timid, more of an introvert that many would take them for on first acquaintance.
They may have found themselves cast in the role of outsider at some period of their lives. This may have proved a formative experience, or it may have dented their confidence and given them a bit of a hang-up.
They take themselves very seriously, and are serious about money, and about their obligations, and make excellent family providers. They do need to feel that whatever they do for their loved ones was entirely their own idea, and do not respond well if they get the idea they are being pressured, but a bit of praise goes a long way with Decan 3 Libra.
They are kindly, and they notice things, but they don’t tend to give out a lot of feedback. They are born judges, but it can seem as if other people’s problems aren’t entirely real to them, and if they’re in the wrong, they may never admit it for fear of being judged themselves.
This decan in particular craves travel, and is known for a love of the sea. They have a tendency to become restless, withdrawn and irritable when bored, or when they can’t travel as much as they would like. Pandemic travel restrictions really might have been quite a frustration for this Libra subject.
This will not be a quiet news month on the global stage or in the media. It promises to be pretty interesting, and possibly at times, a bit too interesting, reflecting lively and intense astrological transits, particularly until the Mars square Pluto conjunction 21,22 and 23 October, which suggests we take special care how we go, avoiding getting into confrontations, and when going out and about.
On the other hand, we could get a lot of stuff sorted out this Libra season, spurred on helpful bursts of Mars energy.
Libra is laid back, or at least, quietly focused, going about its business. But this Libra season, 2021, is in all probability, not a case of business as usual.
Mercury goes retrograde 27 September until it goes direct again 18 October for the last time in 2021. So what does this mean?
A Mercury retrograde is a regular event, no big deal, happening three or four times a year, and lasting about three weeks but with effects felt for up to two weeks ahead of the retrograde and up to two weeks after it.
Astronomically. a retrograde simply means that the planet in question seems to be moving on a backward trajectory, as seen from earth, due to differing speeds of orbit. It is merely an optical illusion. Mercury briefly overtaking Earth in its orbit round the sun
We have more Mercury retrogrades than any other. Mercury is the smallest planet, closest to the Sun with the shortest, fastest orbit round the sun, only 87.97 days. Let’s call it 88 days
Astrologically, any retrograde signifies a shift in the “tide in the affairs of men”- a new prevailing wind. The nature of it, how it manifests in real life depends on the planet in question.
Fast moving Mercury is the symbolic ruler of intellectual activities, trade and communications. So what’s the fuss? When it goes retrograde, and for a few days before and after this retrograde, during the so-called shadow, what can we expect?
Mercury, Venus, Earth, Mars, Public Domain via Wiki
Maybe nothing at all. Not every retrograde is the same. It could simply mean business as usual. But likewise, we could find ourselves noticing an unmistakable cluster of gremlins-things going wrong noticeably more than usual:-
-We have delays
-We mislay things
-We have personal misunderstandings, crossed wires
It may turn out to be a total non-story, or just the odd bit of nuisance rather than any drama. But if you catch yourself saying things like, ‘I don’t believe this!’, and ‘oh no, not again’, or howling in utter exasperation, ‘what the f*** is this happening NOW?’ -then you know what and who to blame.
Mercury, facilitating mischief until around 18 October or even early November.
Astrologer’s advice for optimal working in this abstract(?) celestial weather.
They will tell you that a Mercury retrograde is optimal for reflection, reviewing, research and extra meticulous planning, but not for initiating or making major purchases and acquisitions, particularly if these are electronic items. Double-check important paperwork. No. Triple-check it. Do read the small print.
But as mentioned before, not every Mercury retrograde is the same. This one is in Libra, affecting relationships, alliances and partnerships in particular, and what’s more, energetic Mars invaded peaceable Libra 14 September.
Mars, planet of fire, action and potentially war. Mars gets things done. This can be just what’s needed, or it can be combustible.
This will be why I have drawn the fiery Page of Wands. Fireworks. Trade salvos for now. Growlings and mutterings in respect of a new deal between Australia, UK and the US, and the loss to France of a major submarine contract. China does not like it of course, having banned Australian coal imports in retaliation for the Australian call for an independent investigation into the origins of the Covid pandemic in Wuhan. But China’s coal alternatives are coming with their own costs.
Things are only hotting up in the Indian Ocean, and also the Straits of Hormuz.
From The Gilded Tarot, Ciro Marchetti
We say peaceable Libra. Well, that depends. This is the sign of marriage and domestic partnerships, as well as wider global partnerships of all kinds. Libra is outwardly suave, savvy, debonair even, and charming. It may seem peaceful, ruled by Venus, Mars’ opposite number.
But it is contractual in dealings. It may be the zodiac sign of diplomacy, but in the real world, especially geo-politics, this diplomacy or compromise is generally liable to mean “either you scratch our back, we’ll scratch yours”, or the “iron fist in a velvet glove”. Either way. soft, it isn’t.
Also to note, the autumn equinox 22 September as we enter the zodiac sign territory Libra, sign of the scales, day and night in balance. Uranus in Taurus (upheaval of tradition) goes head to head with Saturn in Aquarius (Fundamentalism, group-think collectives)
Extinction Rebellion could be viewed as an example of a collective ruled by Saturn in Aquarius. The Taliban too. Ugh. But hang on on a minute. Am I seriously making a comparison here? What could they possibly have in common?
What is in common is their motivation and their characterizing Saturn in Aquarius spirit. It is about the exercise of control by an non elected group, justified in the name of some holy grail- however that is to be defined.
It is a fundamentalist way of doing things. Secular or religious. In the end, it makes little difference. Fundamentalism says the ends always justify the means. It is this way, their way, the only right way – the way of the righteous. They are the self-declared sole arbiters of truth.
Saturn in Aquarius is always right. It is righteous. It is their way or the highway. Except that right now in the UK, with Insulate Britain blocking motorways, it is a question of them having their way but NO highway either for ‘the others’.
Extinction Rebellion, Public Domain
Meanwhile steadfast Taurus won’t be bullied, doesn’t budge, but Uranus sets it off at a charge, or turns it topsy-turvy. Saturn when in cool, remote, cerebral Aquarius won’t flow, won’t adjust, but sets like ice while preaching whatever is its own form of gospel. What does this bode for public order round this time? We’ll soon see.
Warning: Unpopular opinion: I have sympathy with certain of the aims of Extinction Rebellion, as with its objections to the risks of fracking on the marshy Fylde in Lancashire for instance. But there is an elephant in the room Extinction Rebellion won’t acknowledge, the poison chalice, the kiss of death to honesty; what we can do about global overpopulation and the inevitable resulting environmental pressure on landscapes and resources this inevitably creates.
Will they go ‘there’? Utter one peep? No way! Anymore than they would dare to block roads in China.
Our best efforts to reduce our footprint will be too little to mitigate the mess we can’t help making, so long as we are so many. But what is to be done? China tried but the experiment had to be abandoned. It was simply too dreadful; tragic, socially and economically damaging.
We may just possibly mine the Moon some day, or Mars, but we shall find no other home. We need Gaia. Who does not need us at all. Unless, yes, to get rid of us as she has done many times before with countless other species. How many species went extinct before we were even here? The likes of a thousand Extinction Rebellion won’t prevent it, if it’s going to happen, and to paraphrase Dr Malcolm in Jurassic Park, sooner or later, ‘Life finds a way’.
Meanwhile, what can we do but tread lightly where we can.
The Full Moon this month is the Harvest Moon in Pisces on 21 September. Deep of feeling. Fathomless. Beware of accidents and scammers. Muggers. Keep your wits about you. Il Matrimonio had a dodgy encounter only this morning 21 Sept) but pre-empted and saw it off, if that’s where the guy was heading.
Harvest Moon by Samuel Palmer, 1833
The Age of Pisces
The Age of Pisces is the age of the rise of Monotheism, two thousand years ago, and we are still in the Age of Pisces. We are not in the Age of Aquarius yet, and what it represents – technology and collectivism (ugh)
But when we are, give it another 2 millennia and we shall return to a new Age of Capricorn, and that would be a very different beast again.
Read here for more about the so-called ‘Ages’ of Aquarius and Pisces.
No, we are just having a little taster. But a Pisces Moon, now, there is a moon to dream on. Or pray upon.
This month’s New Moon in Pisces, 20 September is actually considered a happy, lucky Moon in astrology, occurring an hour after Mercury is trine the big beast, optimistic, expansive Jupiter. Around this time, if one was inclined to take notice of such things, would perhaps be September’s most promising window for going for a new job or signing a contract, and doing anything really, thumbing our noses at any small beer Mercury retrograde stuff.
Mercury, or Hermes as he was to the Greeks, is very big beer, actually. Tiny planet. Big beer supernatural entity. Not only is he the messenger of the gods, arbiter of trade and travel, he is a psycho pomp, who escorts the souls of the newly dead to the banks of the river Acheron, or Styx if you prefer, to wait for the crossing with Charon the Ferryman to the Resting Isles- the Isle of the Dead.
Here he is, winged helmet, caduceus, looking distinctly mischievous, and Puckish, rather elf-like- perhaps even a touch of Loki, Norse lord of misrule.
Quicksilver.
Painting by Hendrick Goltzius, 1558-1617, Public Domain
Libra is about the rule of reason, fairness, keeping a cool head, not losing our balance. Libra suggests, if Mercury retrograde does rub us up the wrong way, or Mars gets uppity and rattles the cage, we take a deep breath, count to ten, walk away, zoom out the lens, keep our powder dry. It isn’t personal, even when it feels personal.
You can always get them later, if you really must. The devil is in the detail.
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, named after the constellation as shown in the illustration below, 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, care for nature)
Minor Arcana cards: The 8,9 and 10 of Pentacles or 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 second-largest constellation in the sky after Hydra, and the largest constellation in the zodiac.
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.
The Local Group is just one member of the Virgo Cluster. This is 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
This may seem a bit of a stretch, trying to picture a person here, but add in a few more of her stars and imagine her lounging semi-recumbent, dangling a sheaf of wheat from 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,’ seen at daylight, was once upon a time a sign that now it was time to pick the grapes.
But if the constellation of Virgo is most visible late March- late June, why are the birthdates 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, but they have since separated.
This drift away from real time matching 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 an arithmetic, not an astronomical model, as formalized in the second century AD by the Greek astronomer, mathematician and astrologer, Ptolemy.
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, 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.
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 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.
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.
There is more than one decan system, depending on whether we are using traditional or Modern astrology, which uses the outer planets, not discovered at the time of the original model of Western astrology as recorded by Ptolemy in the second century AD.
Astrologers dispute which approach works ‘best.’ But astrology is not an exact science. It is an Art with an element of science. They both ‘work,’ and it is worth bearing in mind, the great seventeenth century astrologer William Lilley used traditional astrology –correctly- to predict the Great Plague and Fire of London in a book published in 1651, years ahead of the actual events in 1665-1666, when the outer planets, Uranus, Neptune and Pluto had not yet been formally discovered (Uranus was recorded in 1690, Neptune in 1846 and Pluto in 1930).
Astrologer William Lilley from the Masters of Magic Oracle deck
For the avoidance of confusion, we are using the traditional system.
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 traditionally 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 cultivated a home, a garden, a business, and made it thrive, healthy and beautiful. She is financially self- reliant and self-sufficient, but this does not mean it came quick or easy. 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, realists with an optimistic temperament and a ‘can do’ approach. They enjoy family outings, a walk in the woods, or a trip to the seaside. They will organize it. Virgo are makers and menders, and usually good with animals too. Eco-warrior is not 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.
There is a saying, ‘if you can’t say nothing nice, don’t say nothing at all’.
This holds true in many situations and is often the wisest thing, as well as the kindest thing, as expressed by the Hippocratic principle of medicine, ‘first, do no harm.’
There is another saying we have probably all come across, ‘opinions are like a*holes. Everyone’s got one.’
However, we all do predictions all the same, whether we see it that way or not. We are constantly planning on the basis of predicting what we will be doing next.
Forewarned is forearmed (trotting out all the cliches here)
However unsolicited comment, when it’s not welcomes is next to useless for practical purposes. It will be disregarded or worse. Plus, regardless of whether subsequent events prove them right or wrong, history shows that unwelcome ‘messengers’ really do get ‘shot.’
The Curse of Cassandra
The Curse of Cassandra refers to the princess of Troy, the legendary seeress Cassandra, daughter of Priam and Hecuba. Although she was truly gifted in prophecy, she was so weird and her warnings were so depressing, she was not believed when she spoke the truth, and could not save her city, her people, or finally, her son or herself. And she knew it. No room for hope. Here we see Cassandra having a rotten time with that thug Ajax. Troy has fallen, and it’s only going to get worse.
Cassandra was a priestess of Apollo, and he wooed her with the gift of prophecy. When she turned him down, he couldn’t withdraw the gift, so he made it a curse so that whatever she said, people just thought she was loopy and took no notice.
This in itself might be enough to send someone a bit crazy, don’t you think?
To shout into the wind. To see the approaching doom of everyone and everything you know, and to know that you will be unable to help your loved ones? Wouldn’t that be a kind of a living hell?
Then again, the truth may hurt, but beyond that, assuming it is indeed the truth, can it do any good?
That depends on someone’s readiness to consider the warning, or whatever other information you might have to share.
Was this input solicited?
Is it within their nature and their capability at any level, to have the resources to use it?
Unsolicited advice often falls on deaf ears (as does actively solicited advice) People work things out their own way, according to their own needs and understanding and resources available to them at that given time.
Making predictions in public may be regarded as so much hot air, solicited or unsolicited proselytizing, depending on the circumstances, though of course media pundits do it all the time.
Journalists have approached me on occasion, seeking a quote, an interview, a soundbite, eg; about Brexit. I have done many readings around Brexit and written them up here. But the journalist doesn’t want to trawl through those. They haven’t the time. They want a snappy sound bite.
Journalists are looking to tell a good story. This may mean, not that they lie, but they do not necessarily quote one verbatim either, while my blog archives are available to browse anytime.
‘A word to the wise,’ we may say, when offering advice. Even assuming the advice is good advice, it takes a wise person to listen, let alone act on that advice in timely fashion, especially when the advice really isn’t what they want to hear.
All around us, people are issuing their own predictions left, right and centre. The state of the country, the state of the world, management of the Covid situation, and so on. We are all broadcasters now, and publishers, such is the easy reach of social media, the global village pump on multi-billion steroids, which meanwhile is farming us.
Yesterday I decided to try out a deck I have not used before, to pull a single comment card – no context, nothing but a straw in the wind.
I was using, not a Tarot deck, but an oracle deck, ‘The Masters of Magic’ by Severino Baraldi & Laura Tuan, and is published by Lo Scarabeo. Link HERE
This 32 card deck offers a miniature potted history of key figures in western magic, including the so called natural philosophies which were in their time regarded as sciences: alchemy, astrology etc. Their theories and works are examined in the little book that comes with this deck, affording the reader the opportunity of drawing down directly on a distillation of their knowledge and experience.
I asked myself whom I needed to consult on this day of the solar eclipse, 10 June 2021, shuffled and drew Card Number 20, featuring the astrologer William Lilly.
You can see the keyword that has been ascribed to this card is ‘Independency.’
Something in me reacted with, ‘why does it not just say Independence?’ But doubtless, I was just nitpicking. I’ll blame it on my Virgo rising sign. But we talk about dependency, so why don’t we use this other word, independency more?
‘Hey,’ I said to Il Matrimonio, ‘what do you think of this word, independency?’ He said, ‘never heard of it. I heard of dependency.’
American English?
Back to William Lilly. With 21 June fast approaching, the proposed UK date for the final release of lock-down this card struck me as timely.
People were upset, shaking their fists, shouting ‘no-one is going to tell us what to do.’
Well, I didn’t like it either. But sorry. Yes they are or there could be no such thing as a society. Infrastructure demands co-operation and regulation. When there is a revolution, there is anarchy for a while but then a new society emerges. Just with a few new and different rules.
And we will see plenty of this during the next 20 years.
But our individual freedoms were already in hock when we were born, negotiated far, far back in exchange for the most basic safety and security, and later, for the many benefits of modern life depending on a hugely complex organization of infrastructure. Habitation. Protection. Roads. Lighting. Water. Food security.
If we really want to be completely free, we need to go analogue and go off-grid. But then we’d pretty soon be dealing with opportunistic human predators. New ‘zombie swarms’. They’d find us soon enough. Meanwhile the weather would tell us what to do, and so would hunger and thirst and any illnesses. The seasons would command us, and the availability of all vital food resources. We’d have very little freedom in real terms, simply in terms of everything we’d have to be doing simply to stay alive from one day to the next.
This dog is looking pretty relaxed, considering. Or maybe he is just undecided, wondering if he is running with the wrong pack, and should join forces with the wolves.
On the other hand, no, we are not like ants or bees. Short of annihilation, totalitarianism is the ultimate collective nightmare. We have witnessed it in action enough times to know what it means, in all its horror.
The human animal must have plenty of individual scope and freedom, personal agency. It is in our DNA, in our spirit, but it’s a balancing act and sometimes it has shifted this way and sometimes the other in response to the exigencies of the bigger picture at any given time.
“Why is man man? As long as we have had minds to think, stars to ponder upon, dreams to disturb us, curiosity to inspire us, hours free for meditation, words to place our thoughts in order, the question like a restless ghost has prowled the cellars of our consciousness.” – Robert Ardrey –Nature of Man Series
This card from the Masters of Magic deck, William Lilly, seemed most apposite, drawn 10 June 2021, the day of a partial solar eclipse in Gemini, ruled by Mercury, planet of science, commerce and travel.
Lilly’s Plague and Fire Predictions
William Lilly was a practicing predictive astrologer, who famously foresaw a dreadful pestilence which turned out to be The Great Plague 1665, and a fire which turned out to be The Great Fire of London 1666. He saw these in his charts and wrote them up in a book published in 1651.
Lilly was well known by this time, following his prognostications during the Civil War, when he had seen intimations of the death of a king, and success for the Parliamentary forces, though in later years, after they had won and the king had been executed, he became increasingly disenchanted with Parliament and with Cromwell and spent two weeks in prison for his remarks. You can read more about that here in this article by Barbara Dunn, via the Urania Trust.
The plague and fire predictions appeared as a series of “hieroglyphic images” in his book of 1651 Monarchy or No Monarchy in England, meaning they were published fourteen years before the events they predicted came true.
Lilly used a coded astrological language, expressing concern that his judgement might be “concealed from the vulgar,” meaning he only wished those who understood the astrology to be able to decode them. He wasn’t addressing his predictions to the general public.
What would have been the response if he had? How could anyone have used this information? He was publishing for scholarly purposes, paying it forward
French astrologer, Andre Barbault, who died in 2019, predicted the 2020 pandemic back in June 2011. No. He didn’t call it coronavirus. He did not specify details. What he did was to identify the planetary patterns, which previous events in history suggested, correlated with these kinds of events.
Barbault identified notable times in history when the concentration or bunching together of the five slower moving outer planets coincided with epidemics, wars and natural catastrophes, eg, floods, earthquakes. For example, in 1347 the planets Jupiter, Pluto and Uranus formed a triple conjunction in the astrological sign of Aries while Saturn and Neptune, the other slow planets, were nearby in the signs of Pisces and Aquarius.
Barbault noted that in January 2020, Saturn and Jupiter were in a tight conjunction aspect in Capricorn and Jupiter was relatively close by in the same astrological sign.
M Barbault was not a doom merchant. He pointed out that big things, good things could rise from the disruption of such events, and that the Renaissance had been the phoenix to rise out of the Black Death.
However…
“The slaughter engendered a terrible panic, which manifested in punitive self flogging and the massacres of Jews and lepers who were held responsible for the plague.”
When pandemics happen, as they have roughly every century, there is enough time in between them for people not to remember what it meant on the ground, attempting containment, and there has always been a conspiracy theory, different each timebut involving a powerful ‘they’ and sometimes a scapegoat- someone to ‘blame.’
Back to the theme of ‘psychics keeping schtum’ …. in one of Barbault’s books, Planetary Cycles Mundane Astrology, he explained why he often shut himself away “in a remote, faraway place where you can’t guess what’s going on in the world around you. I had to rid myself of illusions.”
But in this modern, secular world, although Barbault may be disbelieved or his predictions dismissed as vague or coincidental, but at least he was not in danger of a criminal conviction on account of his published astrology. Unlike Lilly.
In 1666, after the fire, Lilly was summoned to appear before a Commons committee to explain himself, on suspicion of arson. If he was not an arsonist, how did he ‘know’ about the fire so long beforehand, to have published these predictions back in 1651? His book had come to the government’s attention following the discovery of an anti-government plot which had used an almanac of Lilly’s to identify their most auspicious dates for action.
He explained as follows: Source: Rubedo Press an article published 26 March 2020.
“I was desirous, according to the best knowledge God had given me, to make enquiry by the art I studied [i.e., astrology], what might from that time happen unto the Parliament and nation in general. At last, having satisfied myself as well as I could, and perfected my judgment therein, I thought it most convenient to signify my intentions and conceptions thereof, in forms, shapes, types, hieroglyphics, etc. without any commentary, that so my judgment might be concealed from the vulgar, and made manifest only unto the wise. I herein imitating the examples of many wise philosophers who had done the like. Having found that the city of London should be sadly afflicted with a great plague, and not long after with an exorbitant fire, I framed these two hieroglyphics as represented in the book, which in effect have proved very true.”
These seem pretty explicit, published so many years ahead of the real time events, but that’s easy to say with hindsight and without reference to the book in its entirety to see what was readily accessible to the understanding of contemporary readers not versed in astrology. Faced with an opaque text, and lack of apparent context the significance of the pictures may not have been apparent.
The committee, with reservations, accepted the Great Fire as an act of God.
Lilly didn’t ‘know’ of course. Not as such. Astrologers don’t know as such, any more than Tarot readers or any other practitioners of divination know as such. But they think they recognize something, and that they understand what they are looking at, and this is what they can share.
Lilly showed further ‘Independency’ when his landlord wished him to leave his house, being frightened of the poor people who had started coming to see Lilly for various help and treatments that he offered…like many astrologers of the time he had some apothecary’s knowledge.
“Now I come unto the year 1665, wherein that horrible and devouring plague so extremely raged in the city of London. 27th of June 1665, I retired into the country to my wife and family, where since I have wholly continued, and so intend by permission of God. I had, before I came away, very many people of the poorer sort frequented my lodging, many whereof were so civil, as when they brought waters, viz. urines, from infected people, they would stand purposely at a distance. I ordered those infected, and not like to die, cordials, and caused them to sweat, whereby many recovered. My landlord of the house was afraid of those poor people, I nothing at all. He was desirous I should be gone. He had four children: I took them with me into the country and provided for them. Six weeks after I departed, he, his wife, and man-servant died of the plague.“
Historically, a pandemic usually lasts 3-4 years. We are in Year 2 and we have vaccines. But we also have air travel. My cards have indicated it is likely that we will still be dealing with this pandemic situation at least until March -June 2022, and that will not mean the end of it either before it peters out to a generally ‘manageable’ risk. But it will take some time to see its full effects via Long Covid and other damage.
The World card as shown here is from The Legacy of The Divine Tarot, illustrator Ciro Marchetti
I was previously over-optimistic April 2020, when the chances of a second lock-down looked about 50:50, and I was hopeful that we might escape it.
I tend to be a glass half full person though I am myself living with a chronic health challenge, a form of autoimmune arthritis that started in my twenties. Sometimes I have less energy available for predictive exercises.
At other times, as with anything, any tarot reader or other psychic practitioner may just feel, sufficient unto the day. Why make a noise unless someone is asking?
Someone asked me recently, did I bet on the footie when Chelsea played Man City in the UEFA Champions League Final in Porto?
I do not bet. I don’t follow football, only now and then, and I don’t gamble. I do look at it in the cards sometimes but his is just for exercise, and to test myself.
Il Matrimonio grassed me up once and told other Dover Athletic fans what I had said to him about the result. That Dover Athletic would win against Blackpool. A Dover newspaper got hold of this anecdote when the fans got home again, celebrating, and printed the story, and fortunately I got it right, so it was funny, and all was well that ended well. But who needs that kind of publicity.
Prognostication, psychic divination and forecasting requires us to look, then to go down a hole, then to come up again and think.
This is not the same thing as a totally unsolicited psychic experience which comes out of the blue. However such psychic moments can arise on the back of reading the cards. Divination can open the ‘door.’
In general, a psychic experience or insight comes AT us right out of the blue, and may seem entirely random and without purpose, at least, at the time.
Divination sends us to do a job in tooled-up, going purposefully into the blue. Or at least that’s the theory.
True Tarot Tales 
