Astrology of Today’s News

Emmanuel Macron appears to have thrown a spanner in the works as the Brexit negotiations crawl painfully to the witching hour. [Or not as the case may be since there’s a suggestion that a No Deal is being seen as a perhaps-temporary phase to teach le Rosbifs a sharp lesson about the economic and logistical nightmare of a summary exit without agreement.]

  Anyways in the context of the present stand-off, which I confess I glaze over as it lurches from ‘definite deal within days’ to ‘no agreement ever’, Macron has back tracked and tightened his stance on fishing agreements and state aid, saying he’ll do nothing that cuts across French interests. To the dismay of the Irish, who will be tangled up in border issues and Angela Merkel, with German carmakers in mind, who clearly wants a deal before she exits the political stage.

   Macron with a raft of domestic disturbances to quell may well be trying to embellish his credentials at home, fighting for the Brittany fishermen, although paying them compensation would overcome the problem with less fuss, since the sums of money in macroeconomic terms are small. And there’s a suggestion that a NO Deal might suit him only too well since it would persuade many financial service businesses to move from London to Paris.

He’s certainly not in a successful phase of his life with tr Saturn now heading below his Ascendant into his lower-profile First Quadrant for several years ahead, so his arrogance may be shivering in anticipation leading to desperate reactions. Though tr Jupiter will help to keep him buoyant through 2021. He does have the Eclipses now and across 2021 rattling his Sagittarius planets, bringing more than several crises.

   He also has the high-tension and jolting tr Uranus square tr Saturn hitting his uncompromising volatile Mars in Leo square Uranus in 2021 from late spring onwards as well. With a couple of disruptive Solar Arcs in 2022. His Term chart has the destabilising tr Pluto square Uranus from next February for two years, so he’s in for a rocky ride.

  Tr Saturn will be causing chilly differences between Macron and several EU leaders including Merkel, Mark Rutte of the Netherlands, and Coveney, the Irish foreign minister as well as the Irish premier before it exits Capricorn later this month. So the aggravated, trapped, road-blocked tr Mars square tr Pluto running into the 23^rd of this month may well see this impasse run on. Macron’s relationship with Boris Johnson isn’t good at the best of times with a power-struggling composite Sun opposition Pluto and that’s also under a damp cloud.

  Boris himself is at the mercy of the Eclipses this month and through 2021 with his Sun, Venus, Mercury in Gemini all getting rattled.

  France and the UK have always been at odds through centuries with a hostile composite Sun square Mars Pluto in the relationship chart so no surprises that this should be the stumbling block. But oddly the France/Germany relationship chart is under even more stress this month and ahead. And Macron’s interface with the EU is looking bleak and discouraged over late this December and through January, and onto late 2021, so whatever he’s doing isn’t making him popular.

 Add on: Boris and the EU Commission President, Ursula von Leyen, are trying to break the deadlock though her hands will be tied since the French could exert a veto on anything she proposes.

She’s no pushover in any event with a do-or-die determined Mars in Gemini square Pluto in Virgo, which coincidentally mirrors and collides with Boris’s Mars in Gemini square Pluto Uranus opposition Saturn – so neither will be inclined to retreat.  Her seemingly easy going Jupiter Neptune in Scorpio is conjunct his Moon which may help slightly but her Saturn in Sagittarius opposes his Mercury for a defensive interface on top of all the extras.

  Their relationship chart has a needs-space, differing-agendas composite Sun Uranus conjunction and the hostile, power-struggling Mars square Pluto, so not sympatico.

A plague on both their houses – it’s not easy to work out who is worse. The pillocks in the UK government v protectionist Macron.

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Ugur Sahin who along with his wife is credited with developing the new Covid vaccine for his German company BioNTech in coordination with Pfizer, hopes it will get life back to normal by next winter. He’s a billionaire entrepreneur and physician oncologist of Turkish origin who came to Europe as a four year old.

He was born 19 September 1965 and is a Sun Virgo in a confident square to Jupiter; a super determined Venus and Neptune, Mars in Scorpio; and most significantly his Sun and Mercury conjunct the Uranus Pluto conjunction in Virgo.  Uranus Pluto is a ground-breaker and trailblazer and in Virgo, it was guaranteed to push back the frontiers in medicine.

   Obviously there are other vaccine developers but his is the prominent name at present.

  Looking back over the history of vaccination, starting with Edward Jenner, 17 May 1749 GC Berkeley, England, who pioneered the concept of vaccination and developed the world’s first – the smallpox vaccine – he was a Sun, Mercury, Venus in Taurus opposition Saturn in an innovative, experimental and self-willed square to Uranus in Aquarius; with his Uranus inconjunct Neptune.

   Then there was microbiologist Louis Pasteur, 27 December 1822 2am Dole, France, Uranus who had his Sun, Neptune, Venus, Uranus all conjunct in Capricorn.

  In the 20^th Century American virologist Jonas Salk, 28 October 1914 7.30 am New York, was amongst the first to develop the polio vaccine. He had a marked Neptune opposition Uranus square a Scorpio Sun.  Uranus is known as the torchbearer shining a light on new paths and Uranus Neptune is inspired, brings ‘eureka’ like epiphanies leading to new discoveries.  

  Salk like Sahin had the ultra-determined Mars in Scorpio so perseverance and the never-say-die spirit helps. Pasteur had similar with his Pluto sextile Mars.

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Tony Hsieh, the visionary entrepreneur, who created and sold multi-million dollar companies, and revitalized downtown Las Vegas, has died in what appears to be a tragic accident. Since standing down from Zappos this August, his drug abuse, misuse of nitrous oxide and alcohol appear to have escalated and is likely to have contributed to his death.

  Born 12 December 1973 in Chicago, the son of Taiwan immigrants, he was an adventurous Sun Sagittarius trine Mars in go-ahead Aries which in turn was in an uncompromising and risk-taking opposition to Uranus. He also had a confident and charming Pluto trine Venus Jupiter in Aquarius. And a wide stressed Yod of Saturn square Mars inconjunct Mercury in Sagittarius; with a stubborn and depressive Saturn square Pluto. The Yod focal point Mercury would make him a quick-thinker, though also highly-strung with a tendency to be scattered as well as a good communicator.

   Tr Neptune has been squaring his Sun earlier this year and would have continued to do so throughout 2021 which would lower his energy and ambition, giving him a desire to drift and dream. That was emphasised with several midpoints also catching tr Neptune. Plus a key tr Uranus opposition his Neptune/Pluto midpoint which would have intensified his desire for mystical or supernatural experiences.

  What would be the clincher really – though death is often not marked in a chart – is two of his major configurations approaching a collision by Solar Arc. His Solar Arc Neptune (conjunct his natal Mercury) was almost on the square to his Uranus which would shake his natal Mars Uranus Sun wedge – and was the forerunner to the Yod moving by Solar Arc to do the same. Usually when two such configurations move to meet it brings a crucial turning point in life with often a good going crisis to overcome. Tr Pluto was also heading to square the Uranus from early 2021 turning his life upside down.

 His creative, businessman’s get-it-together 5^th harmonic was strong as was his creative though can be addictive 7H; and his unorthodox, breakthrough-genius 13H.

  So much talent, so much money and yet all he wanted at the end was to space out into another reality.

The Canadian actor/producer Elliot Page, Oscar nominated for Juno in 2008, formerly Ellen, has announced he is transitioning and wishes to be known by he or they. He came out as gay in 2014, when still identifying as a woman, and married dancer Emma Portner in 2018.

  He is currently due to commence filming on the third season of the hit Netflix series Umbrella Academy, and will continue to play the role of female violinist Vanya Hargreeves, one of seven siblings with extraordinary abilities who are adopted by an eccentric billionaire and turned into a crime-fighting team.  

  Born 21 February 1987 Halifax, Canada, no time sadly, he is a talented Sun Pisces with a Half Grand Sextile from Mars in Taurus opposition Pluto, sextile Sun sextile Neptune – so not a conflict-free temperament. Mars Pluto gives rise to intense frustrations and anger issues. He’s also got Jupiter in Pisces square Uranus Saturn in Sagittarius – so a contradictory mix of moody and adventurous.

  His Mars opposition Pluto has been triggered over the past two years first with his Solar Arc Neptune square his Pluto and last year his Solar Arc Jupiter conjunct his Mars.  Tr Uranus moving into Taurus in 2018 would also loosen up the rigidities of his Mars in Taurus though not without some qualms and fears. And tr Uranus has now moved on to oppose his Pluto turning his life upside down from June of this year, on and off into early 2021. His tr Neptune is also square his Saturn, from earlier this year, and repeating on and off till January 2022 which can be unsure and uncertain so it will be a winding path ahead.

  His wife Emma Portner, 26 November 1994, will be a steadying influence with five Fixed planets to counter-balance his six Mutable ones. Her Sagittarius Sun is conjunct his Moon which is an ideal crossover; her Venus in Scorpio is conjunct his Pluto for a spark of passion; and her confident Jupiter Pluto in Scorpio is trine his Jupiter.  But it isn’t the easiest of relationships and will have its ups and down.

Leslie van Houten, one of the Manson gang, has been refused parole again after nearly five decades in prison. The California Governor reversed her release, as has happened several times before. She is serving life, commuted from a death sentence, for helping Manson and others to kill the Los Angeles grocer Leno LaBianca and his wife, Rosemary, when she was 19 in August 1969. This was the day after the Sharon Tate murders in which van Houten was not involved.

  Two others of the Manson gang are also still in prison with Manson and one other having died inside.

  Van Houten was born 23 August 1949 5.51 am Los Angeles in a middle class home but took to drugs in her mid teens, at 17 was forced by her mother to have a late term abortion when she got pregnant; and ended up living with Charles Manson in a commune where he doled out copious quantities of LSD.

  She has a Sun Saturn in Virgo on her Ascendant; with an intense Moon Pluto in Leo in her 12^th and an adventurous Jupiter in Capricorn in her 5^th opposition Mars in Cancer. It’s not a particularly brutal chart but she does have a strong self-destructive 16^th harmonic chart and a stressed 12H. In numerology 12 ‘warns against being a victim of circumstances, or dragged into other people’s affairs where you will be the one suffering the consequences.’

   Her opportunistic, risk-taking Jupiter opposition Mars fell across Manson’s Midheaven opposition Pluto so his power trip would tap into her reckless streak. And when she committed the murders her Solar Arc Uranus was opposition her Jupiter triggering her over-confidence.

   Her chart is surprisingly upbeat for someone just turned down for parole. Tr Pluto is on the final conjunction to her Jupiter till after mid this month; with another Jupiter midpoint uptick after mid 2021.

By this time she’ll be so institutionalised it would be challenging in the extreme to move back into the world. But it does seem a stretch to keep her there after all this time.

Mark Rutte, the Netherlands PM, is being criticised for not shutting down Black Friday sales. Shoppers were crowding in though numbers were significantly down on previous years. He’s in the usual political double-bind of too much or too little and not being able to please everyone. The Covid spike in early November appears to be going down though slowly.

  Born 14 February 1967 7.30 pm The Hague, he’s a hard-working though not always decisive Sun Aquarius square Neptune; with a five planet batch in Mutable signs of Mercury, Venus, Saturn in Pisces opposition Pluto Uranus in Virgo. Mutable planets tend to be highly-strung and prone to anxiety though also overly adaptable, getting swept around by prevailing circumstances. His secretive and intense 8^th house Aries Moon is square Jupiter and trine Neptune as well as opposition Mars in Scorpio so he will blow soft and tough.

  He looks pumped-up and overly-confident at the moment with his Solar Arc Jupiter conjunct his Pluto; and will be bullish and go-ahead from late February 2021 for two years with tr Pluto opposition his Jupiter. But he also has the slow erosion of tr Neptune conjunct his Venus now, and opposition his Pluto and then Uranus in 2021 and on to conjunct his Saturn by mid decade. So there will be disappointments galore.

  His latest Term which started on 26 October 2017 does have a lucky Sun Jupiter conjunction, but it starts to look less stable from late February 2021 for two years with tr Pluto squaring the Uranus; with great uncertainty in 2022 if it’s still running.

 The Netherlands 26 July 1581 JC chart will be rattled mightily by the tr Uranus square tr Saturn in 2021 hitting on the Leo Sun; and in the following year the financial Venus and Uranus. It’ll be a rocky ride, shared by almost every other country, running into a serious setback in 2022 from Solar Arc Mars square the Saturn.  

  The Bank of Netherlands, 25 March 1814, will be under mounting pressure and stress from late February 2021 with tr Pluto trine the Mars; and sagging throughout the year with tr Neptune conjunct the Pluto; with panics about failures in 2022 from Solar Arc Mars conjunct the Neptune; running into two years of cutbacks and shortages in 2023/24 from tr Pluto conjunct the Saturn. So an extended period of recovery from the economic hit.

  Philip Green, known alternatively as the King of the High Street and the ‘unacceptable face of capitalism’ has seen his flagship company Arcadia go bust with the loss of 13,000 jobs. He and his wife Tina live tax-free in Monaco and were heavily criticised for the sale in 2015 of department store BHS for a token sum. He denied having done so to avoid a massive pension plan liability. After a highly critical media campaign he later paid £363m to make good the scheme.

   There appears to be no requirement for companies to repair any deficit in the pension schemes but he’ll still be attacked if he doesn’t in this instance since he and his wife built their fortune on a 2005 £1.2bn dividend they took out of the business.   The Arcadia group of shops, bought by him was transferred immediately to his wife and is majority-owned by her Taveta Investments, set up on 19^th June 2002.

  He was born 15 March 1952, with a property developer father who died when he was 12 and he left school at 15 with no O-levels. He travelled in the USA and Far East and set up his first business when he was 21 and went on from there.

He is a Sun Pisces, like Rupert Murdoch, with a super-determined and unsentimental Mars in Scorpio trine his Sun, in a ruthless square to Pluto and trine Uranus – hard-driving, a risk-taker, bad-tempered. His Jupiter in go-ahead Aries is in a confident trine to Pluto and opposition both Saturn and Neptune in Libra. The Jupiter Saturn will give him mood swings and Jupiter Neptune can be delusional or at least given to unrealistic dreams.

  His get-it-together 5^th Harmonic chart is well-aspected; and his rise-and-fall 10H (from hero to zero) is also notable. His strongest harmonic is his what-gives-him-pleasure 9H, often the case with avaricious money men.

  His worst year is yet to come with tr Neptune conjunct his Sun and his Jupiter/Node midpoint in 2022 along with a shockingly insecure tr Uranus opposition his Mars and square his Pluto. There’ll be a few swampy patches in 2021 but the year after will be his nadir.

  Not that he’ll be left without a bean but his fortune is already thought to be a fifth of what it was a few years back. Down from nearly £5 billion to under £1 billion.

  Taveta is also taking in water with tr Neptune eroding the Saturn in Gemini opposition Pluto from a couple of years back through till February 2021; and then heading for the Gemini Sun come 2022/23.

There are straws in the wind of the coming of the new age of Aquarius – part of which will be tolerance of difference, an acceptance of a rainbow not just of ethnicity but also of opinion. Aquarius is not all a beacon of perfection but it does have its merits.   

  This is a thinking-in-progress piece so it will wander.

  Since progress usually comes as a result of a backlash against a retrograde step there are encouraging signals that the ‘cancel culture’, ‘wokery’ and ‘snowflakery’ are increasingly attracting criticism and that freedom of speech is heading for a revival. The latest brouhaha in Eton of all places has seen a strong response to the firing of a teacher who opened up a debate on the prevailing idea of ‘toxic masculinity’. He questioned the radical feminist orthodoxy to encourage discussion about the positive aspects of both sexes/genders. 1000 students signed a protest against his removal. Eton claims his lecture was in contravention of the Equalities Act – I’m not sure if that stipulates both sexes are interchangeably the same. If it does it’s wrong.

  An old boy remarked: ‘Eton is meant to be a bastion of learning and free speech. George Orwell went to Eton. What would he think? 1984 was meant to be satire, not a how-to manual.’

 The Eton hash follows Suzanne Moore’s resignation over the trans argument and the assault on JK Rowling by the shrieking banshees – both of whom are attracting a groundswell of support from the normally silent majority that would have been unthinkable a year ago.

  Two things strike me – one is that over-sensitive reactions come from people who perceive themselves as helpless victims, demanding (and bullying) big daddy state or institutions to protect them. And secondly that much of the recent phenomenon of de-platforming has mainly centred around the topic of femininity and male-to-female transgenderism.

  Camilla Long bravely took on the subject of female victimhood in The Sunday Times yesterday, asking if this is what early feminists died for. ‘You find this princessy poor-me language creeping into nearly every corner of female experience.’   Misery sagas about the menopause, menstruation etc etc.

 There’s also an oddity about allowing the most delicate/neurotic to legislate for the majority. It’s not what you’d normally associate with Capricorn. The old psychological adage that ‘there’s no one more powerful than a victim’ has been proved true over and over again in recent years. And has allowed the culture to be menaced by those howling anguish at the slightest trigger.

   Maybe it’s more Neptune in Pisces that has been causing the hyper-sensitivity and woe-is-me wailing. Which would make more sense. [Neptune in Pisces from 2011 to 2026.]

  They always say that each sign fears the one before. Drowning-in-water and emotion-saturated Pisces may well be quailing as it views the ascendancy of Airy, emotionally detached Aquarius in the years before it exits.

  Aquarius is traditionally regarded both as an androgynous (of indeterminate sex) sign and as against the biology. Hence the connection to its co-ruler Uranus, the sky god, estranged husband of Gaia, the earth mother, who was castrated by his son Kronos (Saturn). Though the other co-ruler of Aquarius is the earthbound Saturn which makes for an uncomfortable combination.

  It’ll be ironic if the ambi-sexual and non-sexual Aquarius takes the heat out of this particular debate.  

A resume of what the conjunction can mean and its fated associations.

Jupiter—expansive, idealistic, high-minded, a soaring energy —is usually described by astrologers in glowingly positive terms. It brightens, keeps optimism high, boosts confidence, smooths rough edges and produces pots of gold at the end of the rainbow. The downside is a tendency to impracticality, or paradoxically to narrow-mindedness when its lofty philosophy moves into self-righteousness. Mythologically connected to Zeus, the supreme deity (who fathered myriad children — many of them illegitimate, to the intense aggravation of his wife, Hera), it is an energy that brings Olympian aspirations. The thunderbolt and the eagle were Zeus’s symbols, although Jupiter as ruler of Sagittarius is also connected with Chiron, the centaur, the wise but wounded healer, philosopher, teacher, who helps others but cannot cure himself.

  The Jupiter–Saturn mix is an interface of opposites. Idealism versus materialism; high-flying boundless ambition versus melancholy awareness of the inevitable limitations of life; the urge for immortality versus the Grim Reaper at the core of the human condition. The birth of a new messiah for the culture, or an upsurge of optimism, are usually seen as the outcome of Jupiter–Saturn conjunctions, which occur every 20 years and whose influence spans about 12 months. Saturn’s ability to give structure and apply self-discipline has the capacity to ground Jupiter’s soaring vision, but the balance is difficult to strike. Disappointment can follow the heady new beginnings, as Jupiter’s tendency to attempt too much too soon crash-lands. The combination of energies is symbolized by the myth of Icarus, who ignored his father’s advice and flew too close to the Sun, which melted his wax wings and caused him to plummet to earth and die.

   Jupiter–Saturn can, then, tell a cautionary tale about the dangers of inflated ambition. This has uncanny resonances in the assassinations or untimely deaths of American presidents and other major figures, such as Princess Diana and John Lennon, and even Queen Victoria’s consort Prince Albert, who were raised to mythical status only to be cut short in their prime.

Cultural icons – and death

The zeitgeist, or spirit of the age, is often carried by a few personalities, whose lives seem marked out in some special way by destiny. Messiahs in their own sphere, they bear the hopes of their era, often reflected in these conjunctions. The most influential pop group of all time, the Beatles, was centred on John Lennon, a Liverpudlian Catholic born in 1940 with Jupiter–Saturn in Taurus; Lennon became the unlikely hero of a generation, with his wit and his songs of peace and protest. The Beatles’ debut occurred on the 1960 Jupiter Saturn conjunction in Capricorn, and Lennon’s shocking death on the Jupiter Saturn conjunction in Libra in 1980. He was a legend, dead by the age of 40, and whose life was seemingly fated by these paradoxical conjunctions to rise high only to short-circuit.

   Similarly, Diana, Princess of Wales was born in 1961 on a waning Jupiter–Saturn conjunction in Capricorn and Aquarius, and was married in 1980 during the exact Jupiter–Saturn conjunction — fittingly in the relationship sign of Libra — in a fairy-tale wedding watched by 700 million TV viewers around the globe. Tragically, high hopes disintegrated through the unhappy and increasingly scandal-prone years that followed, ending in her sudden death in a Paris car crash in 1997.

   The attempted assassination of Pope John Paul II also occurred in 1981 on the Jupiter Saturn Libra conjunction.

 Queen Victoria’s much-loved consort Prince Albert died at the early age of 42 from either typhoid or cancer, on the Jupiter Saturn conjunction in Virgo sending his widow into seclusion for years. Victoria herself died during the Jupiter–Saturn conjunction in Capricorn in 1901, after a long and successful reign.

American presidents

Jupiter–Saturn has a special relevance to the United States and American history. One of the key dates after the Declaration of 1776, when hostilities with the British came to an end and American independence was formally recognized in 1783, fell during the Saturn–Jupiter conjunction in Capricorn.

   More tragically, nearly every American president in the past 200 years who has been inaugurated on a Jupiter–Saturn conjunction has either been assassinated or survived an assassination attempt or else has died while in office.  Thomas Jefferson, James Munroe, George W Bush are the exceptions to this rule.

   J. F. Kennedy, elected in the hope of a new ‘Camelot’ in 1960, with Jupiter–Saturn in Capricorn, was dramatically shot in 1963 in Dallas. Ronald Reagan was inaugurated under Jupiter–Saturn in Libra and survived serious injuries sustained in an assassination attempt in 1981.

   Franklin D. Roosevelt was voted in for an unprecedented four terms, the second of which, in 1940, fell during Jupiter–Saturn in Taurus. He died in office three months after his fourth inauguration in 1945, aged 63.

   Warren Harding elected in 1920 on Jupiter–Saturn in Taurus, and died suddenly aged of 58 in 1923.

   William McKinley, voted to a second term of office in 1900 under Jupiter–Saturn in Capricorn, survived less than a year of his second term, being shot by an anarchist on 19 September and dying eight days later; he was 58 years old.

   James Garfield, elected with Jupiter–Saturn in Taurus in 1880 was shot by a deranged admirer of his critics in the July of his inauguration year, dying two months later from the wounds, aged 50. He was succeeded by Chester Arthur, whose health suffered badly under the strain of office.

   Most famously of all Abraham Lincoln, elected for his first term of office on the Jupiter–Saturn conjunction of 1860 in Virgo, was shot by an actor in April 1865, months after his second inauguration; he was 56.

   Elected in 1841 on the run-up to the conjunction in Capricorn, William Henry Harrison caught pneumonia at his inauguration and died a month later.

   Intriguingly Thomas Jefferson, born in 1763 and one of only two presidents to survive a Jupiter–Saturn election, has the conjunction in his birth chart in Leo and Virgo. Roosevelt, who was born in 1882 and who survived through to his fourth term, also has a Saturn–Jupiter conjunction in Taurus in his chart.

  George W. Bush, elected on the Jupiter Saturn conjunction of 2000, faced a dangerous presidency, with the terrorist attacks of 11 September, 2001, setting off a war against global terrorism.

  Legend has it that the Jupiter Saturn conjunction in Pisces of 7CE was the Star of Bethlehem which led the three wise men to the birth of Christ.

From: The Astrological History of the World. Marjorie Orr.

Thanks to Hugh for: The cycle of Jupiter Saturn Great Conjunctions is now moving to Air signs for a couple of centuries. The last time that happened was in the 13th Century. A foretaste of the new heavenly cycle was the 1980s and 1990s which was when the first of the new Conjunctions occurred in Libra.

   Without wishing to put a damper on the event it should be noted that the previous cycle in the Middle Ages was not a time of particularly great joy as it coincided with the Mongol Invasions, the Great Famines in Europe of the early 14th century, the Black Death, the 100 years war, the Peasants Revolt and the Jacquerie.

   An even older Air cycle of Great Conjunctions in the 5th and 6th Centuries was pretty traumatic too seeing the fall of the western Roman Empire, the Great Justinian Plague and the decline of the world of late Antiquity. One thing common to both those cycles was disease and population collapse.

   Hard to believe given what happened in the 20th century but demographers are convinced that the human world population fertility is already well past its peak and that increasing life expectancy is basically now all that is keeping growth going. The fact that COVID has now started to dent even that trend suggests we may be about to see the same again over the coming centuries. Vettius Valens gives as one of the characteristics of Aquarius as “few offspring”.