There’s a savage irony about Ireland becoming the stumbling block to the ‘never-ever-shall-be-slaves’ Brexit lobby, given the 800-year history of first England, then the UK meddling, at times brutally, in Irish affairs. Joe Biden has now added a clarion call to the other dissenting voices indicating that the Good Friday Agreement can’t become a casualty of the UK leaving the EU, otherwise no US trade deal.
The Norman invasion of 1 May 1169 began English interference when Uranus in Pisces was in a disruptive square to Pluto in Gemini; with Henry V111 declaring himself King of Ireland in 1541, though not in control of all territories – that was when Uranus in Leo opposed Pluto in Aquarius. Then on 30 March 1603 Ireland did become unified (tho’ not sure whether Julian or Gregorian Calendar) – that was just after a Uranus Pluto conjunction in Aries with Uranus then moved into early Taurus (as now).
The partition of modern Ireland in 1922 happened with Uranus in Pisces trine Pluto; and the Irish Troubles in Northern Ireland starting in the late 1960s brewed up on the Uranus Pluto conjunction in Virgo.
Boris Johnson’s implausible explanation that he (or the civil servants) didn’t realise the implication of the Withdrawal Agreement they signed last year on the back of which he won the election, is risible. Rafael Behr of the Guardian says the choice is seeing him as “a fool or a crook. ….. He does not appear to care about the Good Friday agreement ….. and has been as reckless, unfaithful and self-serving in his relationship with Northern Ireland as in all his other relationships.”
The Northern Ireland 7 December 1922 3.28pm Belfast chart is not surprisingly under heavy and emotional pressure with tr Pluto opposing the Cancer Moon till late this December. There will be phases of great relief notably in late October to mid November and again in March 2021 with tr Uranus opposition the NIrel Jupiter but there will be harsh realities to be faced in coming years with tr Pluto heading the conjunct the Midheaven from 2023 which is when the Solar Arc Saturn is also conjunct the Midheaven – a time of hard choices about future direction.
The Northern Ireland relationship with the UK is sagging badly through this year and next with disappointment and high-anxiety as tr Neptune opposes the composite Jupiter Neptune and squares Uranus, moving on to square the Sun by 2023. The Northern Ireland relationship with Boris is similarly afflicted in 2021 and on – so even if he topples off his perch the blame for his perfidy and mishandling of the situation will linger.
The Republic of Ireland 1949 relationship with Boris is angry and explosive from spring of 2021 onwards as well as distrustful. With the UK, the Ireland relationship will be jolted from mid 2021 as tr Uranus squares the composite Uranus and will continue to be unstable and explosive through till mid-decade.
The Good Friday Agreement, signed 10 April 1998 5pm Belfast, Northern Ireland, has been under strain since the 2016 Brexit vote with the tr Uranus square tr Pluto shaking up the Mercury, Sun, Saturn, Mars in Aries. The final discouraging run of tr Pluto square the GF Saturn runs till late this November; but the angst won’t die down with a catastrophic tr Pluto square the Mars/Saturn midpoint picking up in early 2021 and running till late 2022. The fear is that if the Agreement is destabilized that violence will break out again.
‘but there will be harsh realities to be faced in coming years with tr Pluto heading the conjunct the Midheaven from 2023 which is when the Solar Arc Saturn is also conjunct the Midheaven – a time of hard choices about future direction.’ Are these harsh realities now being faced, is Sunak the most suitable PM to face them?
Thanks Marjorie, could you please do a chart on Irish Actor Cillian Murphy? Thanks!
Thank you very much for this article, Marjorie.
Thanks, Marjorie! Might there be any indications of Northern Ireland uniting with the rest of Ireland eventually? Or is that too far ahead to look? Watching Brexit’s agonizing unfolding reminds me of watching — from my viewpoint in Canada — the looming Sub-Prime economic catastrophe in the U.S. build over several months: it’s a slow-moving train wreck. If the UK economy goes over a cliff, the Scots seek independence to maintain or seek back membership with the EU and the Republic of Ireland’s economy is much stronger than the U.K.’s… maybe sheer survival in the face of the once unimaginable break up of the U.K. will overcome ethnic divisions in Northern Ireland?
Even without looking at the astrology, I can say that the reunification of Ireland is a matter of ‘when’, not ‘if’.
The sectarian divisions in Northern Ireland have changed drastically in the past 100 years (when Norther Ireland was created in 1920-21). When it was created, Northern Ireland had a Unionist Protestant population of 80%. Now the Unionist Protestant population is just about the halfway mark, while the Catholic nationalist population is also about the halfway mark, with recent migrants (both EU and non-EU) holding the balance.
The 2019 UK general election was the first time that a majority of the MPs from Northern Ireland were *not* Unionists.
Given that Northern Ireland already has a devolved administration, I suspect it would be quite straightforward to migrate the existing setup of Northern Ireland from British sovereignty to an Irish one.
However, I’m not so sanguine about the RoI’s economy. Most of the RoI’s economic stats are based on the it hosting the EU headquarters of US companies due to its low corporate tax rates. If the EU starts cracking down on low corporate taxation (and on some fronts, it has already started doing so), the RoI’s economy without those headquarters reporting the profits of their EU sales may not look so great.
Then again, that is a look at the economic side of things. On the political front, the RoI’s politicians have shown a maturity that is a matter of envy in the UK.
Wow! Thank you for your fascinating insights!
Who knows what Johnson’s ultimate aims are ? He leads a Conservative and Unionist party but the dirty secret of British politics is probably that Westminster and the U.K. government machine would heave a huge sigh of relief if it was able to dump the cost of NI on the ROI and the EU. Obviously, no Tory government can pursue that policy openly but maybe Brexit offers an opportunity for engineering that result while laying the blame on perfidious foreigners.
Hugh,
Cynical chuckle – how right you probably are.
Also writing from Canada. Agree with the poster below who says UK would be glad to give NI to Ireland from a cost and hassle point of view; I have Irish Republican friends here in Canada who say that, for the same reason, Sinn Fein and others don’t really want NI to become fully united to Ireland. While I’m here, by the way, are we as Canadians in any position to lecture anyone about sub-prime crises when we’re the most indebted nation on the face of the planet? And should we be worried about what happens to the UK when the secession of Alberta and BC to join a new union with California, Washington and Oregon is a real possibility in the next 10-15 years? I suspect that Scotland and NI will go for “maximum devolution” but that their union will be maintained; Canada’s Federation is looking just as shaky, especially if Trudeau minor’s plans for economic chaos are fully realised. As that old French philosopher said, “il faut cultiver son jardin”… XXX
I wasn’t trying to lecture the Americans on the sub-prime problem. Canada’s indebtedness is a huge, worrisome problem.
Yet I can’t see the break-up of Canada with Western provinces separating to join up with the coastal U.S. states because of century-old Western alienation. Canada survived the Separatist movement in Quebec (where young voters now see it as an aging baby boomer cause!). The forest fire crisis of the American West Coast is a major disincentive to joining them. Catastrophic consequences of global warming for B.C. and the Prairie provinces are merely delayed a bit. An awkward new political union won’t help with that.
Thanks Marjorie. And on it goes…..your post prompted me to look at Oliver Cromwell’s invasion of Ireland – part of the Wars of the Three Kingdoms. A version of this civil war seems to be brewing up right now.
Cromwell invaded Ireland on 15th August 1649 (GC I think) when Pluto at 10 Gemini opposed Uranus and Neptune in Sagittarius. Another Uranus Pluto meeting for your list, with added Neptune. The 1649 Moon’s nodes and Saturn were also in Gemini. Boris Johnson’s Gemini Sun/Venus is conjunct the invasion’s Saturn. His Pluto at 11 Virgo squares the 1649 Pluto at 10 Gemini, Uranus at 9 Sagittarius, and Neptune at 12 Sagittarius. His Mars at 1 Gemini aligns with the 1649 Nodes. It’s a curious resonance, since Boris could not be further from anyone’s ideas about, or knowledge of, Oliver Cromwell.