Turkey is lurching deeper into financial chaos after President Erdogan fired a respected central bank governor after four months. His fault was evidently to raise interest rates as a way of trying to stabilise a weak economy with high inflation rates. His removal has sent the lira plummeting and investors fleeing for the borders.
As a way of propping up support for his failed economic policies Erdogan rewarded conservative and Islamist groups, by withdrawing from the European Convention on combating violence against women. The entrenched ones say the treaty harms “traditional” family values by defending gender equality and “favours” the LGBT community by prohibiting discrimination based on sexual orientation. There have been street demos against the decision and EU disapproval voiced strongly.
The number of women killed in Turkey has been on the rise for a decade and statistics are disturbing.
4 of 10 women in Turkey exposed to physical or sexual violence; 3 of 10 women in Turkey are married before they turn 18; 48 per cent of girls in Turkey married before the age of 18 are exposed to physical violence; one third of girls not allowed to go to school by their families; 11 per cent of women are prevented from working by their families; only 1 of 10 women exposed to violence apply to an institution for help; 90 per cent of human trafficking victims in Turkey are women.
Erdogan has been in power since 2014 and in recent years there have been obvious signs of democratic backsliding and corruption as well as fiscal incompetence.
His most recent Term chart, 9 July 2018 4.30pm has an 8th house Sun opposition Pluto, which is moving to exact by Solar Arc within weeks which certainly indicates a control-freak approach bringing about a financial blockage. The tr Uranus square tr Saturn is also catching the 3rd house Mars in Aquarius this month and tr Saturn is repeating that aspect till the year end for setbacks and aggravation.
Turkey, 29 October 1923 8.30 pm Ankara, is ploughing through a discouraging patch till late year with tr Pluto square the Saturn Mercury; with some uplift from tr Pluto sextile the Jupiter. Tr Saturn is moving through the financial 8th for two years ahead which will depress finances. And it is 2023/24 when the chickens really come home to roost with Solar Arc Saturn square the Sun, followed by Solar Arc Pluto conjunct the Saturn – setbacks, discouragement, dead halt.
Erdogan’s personal chart, 26 February 1954, is both devastatingly confused with tr Pluto square his Neptune all this year and wildly over-confident as his Solar Arc Jupiter is conjunct his Pluto pushing him into ever more bullish actions, with no care for the lines he crosses.
As we all pussyfoot around being delicate in our comments about Islamists for fearing of being accused of phobia – the battle for women’s rights and safety in these countries is not being won. Women are being killed in Afghanistan by Taliban/IS and other assorted misogynist zealots. Mind you it is not much better under different religious or non-religious guises elsewhere in the UK/US and elsewhere. There seems to be a surge in the wrong direction. May Aquarius usher in a more enlightened approach globally.
Thank you all, I listen and learn. Mimi loved your comments, made me chuckle, I missed the ads was too busy cooking and cleaning!
Ok I will say it that guy is just evil and an oppressor of women of the worst kind.
“May Aquarius usher in a more enlightened approach globally.”
Will it, though?
Call me a dreamer but I do believe we’re entering into a new world where the divine feminine has a voice. However, the old patriarchal world we’re living in will not go down gracefully. It’s not us against them, it’s about working together; divine masculine and the divine feminine working together. God knows, the world as it stands cannot go on being governed like it is right now. As a side note, may be I’m being a little paranoid but I think the lockdown in the uk (I can’t comment on other countries) seems to be affecting mostly women lead businesses. The beauty trade/hair is massive: maybe at a deeper level, just another attack on the feminine. Maybe??
The Divine Feminine has rightfully inspired a great deal of quality thought and writing , as well as how we might incorporate its values into our relationships, our society and culture . The book “Sophia” by Dr. Susan Schaup is one example of such discourse. Yet I do not see much discussion on the Divine Masculine , other than how men could or should receive a world where the equality of genders is true both in theory and practice. I know for me it must include defending as well as honoring the feminine body and the planetary ecology.
Well said Marjorie. Well said.
God is a man.
Angels are men.
All religious leaders are men
Father Christmas and his elves are men
Were the women all cooking and cleaning I ask myself when those vacancies arose.???
Obviously Eve wasn’t, men made it all her fault since time began.
Well, the first woman was Lilith, wasn’t there who had the ovaries to stand up to the feckless and useless Adam and say so? If the bible is correct like so many Christians believe through the millennia, it’s good to know the men at this time decided to say God’s word was wrong and reinvented the perfect woman for themselves; the subordinate Eve. And thus the ugly division of the male and female was born. Eve did as she was damn well told (and the collective followed suit in its pattern) and Lilith was rejected and flung into the shadows and reviled as the whore mother of Satan’s children. The mother of thousands of demons. Lord, no wonder she is the archetype of being eternally furious! One can only wonder where humanity would be if they never removed Lilith from the original bible?
I’m not a historian buff and I’m willing to be schooled on this, but didn’t the Viking women (notably the shield maidens) have equal footing as the men? They fought in wars and farmed together and had equal say for the most part. I swear this is why modern Scandinavia is much more well-balanced and happier between the genders due to this deeply ingrained respect to be heard. There is not really a culture today there (that I’m aware of) which is like, “Bitch, be quiet and birth my progeny and get in the kitchen and make my dinner, otherwise I’ll punch you in the face. And I’ll have the church and state to back me up, so you’re voice is worthless.” I pray that Pluto in Aquarius will bring in the deeply needed education of boys and men in our culture right across the globe. These men in all the walks of life that they control make this planet so ugly!
“I’m not a historian buff and I’m willing to be schooled on this, but didn’t the Viking women (notably the shield maidens) have equal footing as the men?”
Unfortunately, under the first written Scandinavian Laws based on oral tradition, and even sagas, the answer no. Women were required to be, in most cases, under male guardianship. True emancipation was possible mostly for very wealthy widows. Obviously, Scandinavian women did have some liberties under male tutelage compared to their European sisters, most importantly that of movement, shown in punishments issued for “breaking female peace”. The first preserved statute on Finland is in fact a letter from 1316 by King Birger Magnusson issued to protect women of Carelia, where Sweden had recently expanded. Interestingly, this might also confirm that, as implied by sagas, women of Finnic tribes had more prominent or at least free position socially than those in Scandinavia “proper”, since it was issued mostly to rein soldiers, who would have been Swedish and Germanic.
Oh Jo, well Awareness anchored Deep Listening is the best schooling for all; i’ve just read ‘Finding your Elven Heart’ by Soren Hauge with a foreword signed by David Spangler: with 2021 Spring Equinox, I’m back to listen & being open to the Sidhe realm/field: the noble & subtle beings taught me a lot in Iceland (1991) Denmark (1993/94 & 2013) Ireland (2013) and more to come because Gaia regenerates and has to be regenenerated in some ways somewhere beyond time!
Thanks, Solaia. Quite depressing history then. However, it appears there has been a far better evolution out of those roots than other countries for the most part as Scandinavia seem to have a better relationship model between men and women than other Western countries. Certainly not perfect by any means but better. Even cases of sexual abuse and assault are taken more seriously there than even here in the UK.
I’m certainly open to the idea of the Divine Feminine coming back to replace the unbalanced energy here right now. Women have held a space for men to grow for millennia and they have refused to budge in their misogyny. In fact, both have become dangerously stuck in these positions. The only way the Divine Masculine is to come into being is if women move away from these holding patterns, as we are seeing now, and turn our backs on these kinds of men. This is triggering all this vile toxic controlling going on. BUT I believe it will also trigger the Divine Masculine energy to move into place.
Women in the current misogyny set up CANNOT influence toxic men as they will only endanger themselves. Only men who are evolving and embracing this new energy are able to influence other men, in my eyes. When more men are stepping forward and speaking out and supporting the women’s movement and doing it genuinely and helping to change laws and the human psychological landscape, it will indicate the Feminine and Masculine energies are turning up and rebalancing things. But we have one hell of a long way to go yet because for the most part, it is making many men react in a disturbing and controlling way.
I often hear that the opposite side of the coin to misogyny is misandry, which I believe is what they fear is happening right now. That is utter BS. There has been no country I know of run by misandrists who put the opposite sex’s life at risk just for being male, and children’s lives, and subject them to a life of inequality and high stats of rape. They only happen in misogynistic cultures. The opposite side of the coin to misogyny is homophobia. And many in the LGBT environment suffer similar fates as women and children in toxic masculine cultures. Hell, even misogynistic cultures are damaging to men. Such cultures have astonishing high suicide rates. Better to kill yourself than open up and talk about your overwhelming emotions. Emotions that toxic men deem weak, like women, gays and children.
Misandrists energy is often screaming to the oppressor to adjust their behaviour and listen otherwise they will bolt for freedom. They hate being oppressed and having their voices snuffed out. Misogynists on the other hand, just want others to shut their victims mouths and be allowed to control and do what they want to others. If that includes violence, rape, and murder, then so be it. These two energies ARE NOTHING ALIKE IN THEIR ENERGETIC NATURE.
What happened the last time Pluto moved into Aquarius? Is there anything to suppose a lightening of such controls? Are there other even more important astro configurations to Pluto from other planets coming up ahead that haven’t happened in centuries? We are never going to move into a paradise as astrology never works like that. But astrology can show and upward or downward movement over time, can’t it?
It’s true Jo that whenever women try to have any open discussion of their own experiences of misogyny (and every single woman I’ve ever spoken to has a set of horror stories to tell), there’s a universal “what about us?” response from men. They just don’t get that every institution has historically been structured to accommodate their privilege as men. They take their privilege for granted and are deliberately blind. They also refuse to see how much patriarchy hurts them, with its disdain for the feminine (see Jordan Peterson) and for healthy emotional release and openness, its narrow definition of what it is to be a man, leaving no room for men who have depth, sensitivity, are more introverted, shy, who naturally differ from that ugly modal of machismo that is held up to them.
As for the last Pluto in Aquarius, the first thing that came to mind was the publication of Mary Woolstonecraft’s ‘A Vindication of the Rights of Woman’, written in 1791 and published in 1792, against the backdrop of the raging Revolution in France. It’s seen as one of the first works of feminist philosophy.
I wondered about the astrology for Christine de Pizan, and her feminist work, ‘The Book of the City of Ladies’ (1405). Christine was a poet and author at the court of Charles VI of France. She was born on 11th September, 1364 JC (well, hope this is accurate!) with Jupiter and Saturn in Libra, Uranus in Cancer wide trine to Neptune in Pisces. Pluto was just into Taurus.
Her book (one of many works) was published when Uranus was in Capricorn, Neptune and Pluto in Gemini. I was interested to see that Saturn was in Aquarius, moving to Pisces later in the year. Jupiter also in Aquarius, moving into Pisces later in the year – so an earthy Uranus, mutable Neptune, airy Pluto with Saturn and Jupiter on the same path as we have now.
It is quite shocking to realise that Christine de Pizan was writing so very long ago. Here’s what she said about women’s education – and here we are in a world where many women and girls are being prevented from studying. Including in Turkey, the subject that started all our posts off!
“Not all men (and especially the wisest) share the opinion that it is bad for women to be educated. But it is very true that many foolish men have claimed this because it displeased them that women knew more than they did.”
― Christine de Pizan, The Book of the City of Ladies, 1405
It’s infuriating, isn’t it? It’s like listening to people bemoan the Black Lives Matter movement with the offensive statement, ‘But you’ll find, ALL LIVES MATTER!’ Yeah? If they did, we wouldn’t have all the problems we have in the world, would we?! And I’m guilty of holding that space to try and explain to men that this is an attack on misogyny NOT an attack on masculinity. So many of them are unable to differentiate the two. And that is the problem we have in society. Those two opposites are so deeply ingrained with one another it has become one identity for them. But I’ve give up now. I haven’t got the patience for them because they refuse to take note. They listen for two minutes before going back to their usual state.
Fortunately, my youngest brother (Libran with Sag Moon) is quite feminist to an extent and is often the first to call other men out for their programming and it’s refreshing to talk with him. However, he occasionally surprises me with this programming (we all have it to an extent, don’t we?). He is a gay man and he annoyed me last year when I was explaining the repression of women under misogynistic cultures when we got into a conversation about women’s rights. He suddenly stated that, “No. Gay people have it worse. There are more gay people who are killed in these cultures than women!” Really? If you live in a culture like Saudi Arabia and you are a gay man, what would you do? You hide behind the mask of being a straight man. That is your luxury. If you are a woman, regardless if you are straight or gay, you don’t have that luxury to hide. Plus, there are more women in the world than men, so there are also more women than gay people by a huge amount. His statement didn’t stand up. I think he’s changed his mind since.
Besides, he is very much aware that gay people are just as much threatened by misogynistic cultures as women are. It’s not a contest but cultivating an awareness that shows how stuck we are under this programming. And then trying to eradicate it. My other brother (Aquarian with Taurus Moon) is not so enlightened. The last I had contact with him he was making ugly statements like, “These black men and immigrants keep coming into our country and are stealing our women! It needs to stop.” EEeeurrgghhh! 1) just your vile racist mouth and 2) we are not your property! What is this? The Dark Ages still? Similar experiences will naturally be occurring in everybody’s family and friends network in 2021! It’s shocking.
I think the advent of Pluto in Aquarius will bend towards more friendly and innovative technology and electricity. With Uranus in Taurus I think it might indicate a new way of farming, perhaps in co-ops with neighbourhood communities. So, from this, I’m hoping we come together as people that listen to each other a little bit more? I think the children born in the late 80’s and early 90’s will come into their own and pave a new path for us to follow also.
I meant the kids born in the 2010’s!
Imagine what things were and are STILL like for Lesbian women, then Jo! One of my Great Aunts lived in a relationship with another woman and they adopted a child together. This was in late 19th century Russia. Her father cut her off, but she was headstrong and stubborn (a family characteristic of ours) and followed her heart anyway. By this time she was probably going to be chucked out of Tsarist Russia for being a Tolstoyan and suspected revolutionary and she and her partner fled to England with their daughter. For this reason I have an awesome amount of respect for her. And for people like her who stood up against the narrow convention of what a woman of her class and background was expected to be in those times. Each generation blazes a trail for the next. My Great Great Grandfather eventually softened and came around to accept her choices, and rewrote his will to include her. That in itself is also revealing and I’d like to say good for him, though he was apparently an impossible old so and so, but at least he came around and I doubt that many men of that era would have done so.
“Not all men (and especially the wisest) share the opinion that it is bad for women to be educated. But it is very true that many foolish men have claimed this because it displeased them that women knew more than they did.”
― Christine de Pizan, The Book of the City of Ladies, 1405
I love that quote, Jane and also the beautiful illuminations of that manuscript, showing women reading, working, studying and working the land, even defending a castle. I believe education is the key too.
Education and closing the wealth gap – poverty and economic hardship also play a part in maintaining the patriarchy
Wow, your aunt sounds so damn admirable, virgoflake! What a woman.
Speaking of Russia and going off at a slight tangent, I was watching the news today which was covering the upcoming Eurovision Song Contest. Apparently, Russia’s singer has outraged her country because her song/rapping speaks out in contempt of Russians expectations of women and how they should dress. She is wearing red overalls and going completely against the misogynistic grain which has triggered many and she has even received death threats! White men were standing up on tv airing how disgraceful she is for a modern woman and she said she even had a letter from a mother with two children stating she is going to pray to God that her plane crashes before she gets to the contest! It’s absolutely breath taking isn’t it that this is what she gets for not being ‘a normal woman’? She’s also getting her fair share of racism as she was born in Tajikistan. From what I heard of the song, it sounded utterly awful, lol. However, she was a lovely woman and I hope it changes the conversation back home.
“Not all men (and especially the wisest) share the opinion that it is bad for women to be educated. But it is very true that many foolish men have claimed this because it displeased them that women knew more than they did.” ― Christine de Pizan, The Book of the City of Ladies, 1405 – That’s the crux of it all, isn’t it? Being ‘usurped’ by something they view as so completely worthless. It must be completely humiliating for such a pathetically fragile ego.
‘Education and closing the wealth gap – poverty and economic hardship also play a part in maintaining the patriarchy.’ I totally agree, VF. When I had a little bit of spare cash floating around before the pandemic I would sponsor 75% women on the platform of Kiva as women have far less opportunity in third worlds and rarely get financial help. When they do have the opportunity they prove to be even stronger for the community than men do.
Thanks Marjorie. I noticed that the Term Moon is at 27 Taurus, where there will be a lunar eclipse in November 2021, and aligning with fixed star Algol – quite a symbol for collective rage, protests and violence there I suspect. The Medusa’s Head star symbolises some furious energy, that’s for sure. Tr Mars in Scorpio is conjunct the Term’s Jupiter, with Uranus opposing – looks explosive, possibly a natural disaster as well. And tr Saturn is conjunct the Term chart’s Mars in Aquarius. Saturn is square the natal Saturn of Erdogan. He will doubtless try to hang on to power by any means possible.
As you say, there is most definitely a surge in the wrong direction at the moment. Misogyny is everywhere – or maybe we’re just able to see it more clearly now. I find this very depressing.
There are also a number of world leaders who seem to be in the grip of a fantasy about themselves as kings, emperors, tzars, sultans, and so on. They are all aiming to rule for life it seems. I suppose that’s part of the Pluto in Capricorn authoritarian theme – but it does seem quite extreme in recent years.
One of the manifestations of the Pluto in Capricorn era is just this – a regressive force against the rights of women and a resurgence of authoritative oppression. This is the dark side of Cronos/Saturn himself, his terror of being overthrown, of change, of progress, devouring his own children (the future) in order to cling on to his power.
Yes VF, a very dark side indeed. So I hope that the usual trajectory of Pluto – destroy to rebuild – may be reaching it’s zenith. At least all these things are open now, we can all see how much work is needed to create a balanced world. The situation in Turkey is dire for many women, and has been ignored by so many tourists who are able to stay in their holiday bubbles, complete with booze and beaches, sexual freedom, and so many things denied the actual Turkish female population. Curious to see how Pluto fares once “he” emerges from the dark, earthy underworld of Capricorn, and begins his residency in airy Aquarius. Since Aquarius is also ruled by Saturn, I am not expecting fluffy rainbow bunnies – but some solid progress might just be possible…..
Pluto in Capricorn was instrumental is exposing the root rot in controlling hierarchical structures like our governments and national economies, Pluto in Aquarius will do the same in the realm of group thought, humanistic/social service structures , science, and technology , all organized laterally through connected “nodal points” through which power is universally distributed.
As a 70 year oId I listen and learn! Thank you all for enlightening me and putting into words the thoughts I was never allowed to voice. Mimi, loved your comments made me smile! I was busy
cooking and cleaning completely missed out!
Yes Jane I agree completely. Depressingly true.
Boris thinks he’s God you know.
What a very misogynistic pig he is. His moon is the lovely 0 Scorpio and only yesterday I looked up what he was doing in 1995.
Spectator, all single parent women are worthless rubbish. Plus their children.
Spectator again 1995, all blue collar workers are also drunken, feckless and worthless.
I hope Carrie gets everything she deserves being a single parent with him!
Why 1995 in particular Mimi? Curiously, Boris also has some Turkish ancestry, but that is a coincidence! He also has one or two children born outside his marriage to Marina Wheeler. The attitude to single parent women is so illogical isn’t it? Many did not plan to have a baby, others have been left by the baby’s father, there are so many reasons why women have to bring up children on their own. Shades of the old “witch” archetype as well as that old faithful, the virgin/whore duality. I suppose a man on his own used to be suspected of being homosexual, but the men I know who have had to bring up children by themselves are treated with huge respect and kindness.
It is indeed ironic Mimi, Johnson railing against ‘feckless single mothers’ when he’s fecklessly contributed to creating quite a few of these family units. Certainly in posher parts of London there are an awful lot of babies with bushy blonde hair. For anyone who’s watched ‘Father Ted’, you could say that he’s the Pat Mustard of the political class.
They are the worst kind of men. They go around having children left, right, and centre, like they are setting up franchises and society (and their very selves) looks at this like it’s a mark of virile masculinity. My useless father was the same. The women who are left holding these children and raising them because the likes of Johnson bolted out of responsibility are constantly demeaned. Like some irresponsible tart who is using the situation to live off the state via her offspring. And I’ve noticed the difference too and how single fathers and single mothers are treated. If you are a single dad? Swooooon! What a beautiful, sensitive, hero who is in touch with his feminine side. Hallmark channel was created for this rare species that women go nuts for!
Well said Marjorie. Not much better in Russia, either. 1 in 5 women have been abused by a partner, 14,000 women die each year from domestic violence – more than 9 times than in the US, though the Russian population is more than half its size. In Russia, there is no law criminalising domestic violence. In 2017, its parliament passed a law making any domestic violence that does not cause “significant injury”—defined as requiring hospital treatment—an administrative rather than criminal offense. In Pakistan, women bravely demonstrating against the appalling rate of misogynistic violence there, are being threatened by men for breaking blasphemy laws (yes – in 2021 there are still blasphemy laws!) since their placards are deemed heretical. Australia’s reputation is being damaged in the eyes of the world for allowing rampant misogyny in its parliamentary system. Everywhere, it seems women are having to reassert themselves because men are having a hard time accepting that we are equal. It’s no accident that embittered old populists like Erdogan, Bolsonaro and Putin have a particular problem with women’s rights.
It feels like we are going backwards and
I think it was back in 2014 that Erdogan was asked about women’s equality, to which his response was that women could never be equal because they are not the same (as men)! Clearly he has no understanding of the difference between equal and the same. As long as boys/men are inculcated in the belief that women are property (to do with as they please), then little is likely to change. It starts with the idea that women need protecting and must give up their right to self determination in exchange. Even in so called enlightened societies. And yet we are seeing evidence from recent archaelogical discoveries that this has not always been so (e.g.Viking warrior who had been assumed to be male found to be female further to DNA testing – which coincidentally also showed that she had travelled as far as modern-day Turkey during her lifetime).