The UK once nominated as Treasure Island by an over excited pro-Brexiteer has now turned into a Leper Colony, shunned by Europe and elsewhere as a plague carrier. Deemed a global Typhoid Mary as Covid-19 appears (according to a panicky media) to have gone rogue, the UK is now the sick man of Europe and beyond.
The foreign media are having a field day:
“Once more shown the yawning gulf between the prime minister’s airy promises and the real world.”
“A man who thinks optimism is a substitute for hard truths and proper management.”
“The continental blockade is “even more effective than that decreed by Napoleon in 1806, cutting Britain off from the rest of Europe and from parts of the rest of the world.”
“Already girding for the country to finalise its messy divorce from the EU, the sudden sense of being cut adrift from the bloc – and from the world at large – feels like a bitter taste of what might be to come.”
Not all of the bad publicity is fair since the incidence of infection is higher in some other countries; the ‘mutant’ virus may well be spread across the EU but is more obvious in the UK since it has better genome testing to pinpoint it; and the science behind the evolving virus may well have been misrepresented by a clearly agitated PM. Mutations seem to be normal and often occur in a less virulent form.
The UK chart has remarkably little to show for all the meltdown-anxiety apart from Solar Arc Mars conjunct the 3rd house Mercury. The third house is the chart area to do with transport and everyday movements, so anger or shock at yet another set of lockdown restrictions does fit. But other than that not much on planetary aspects though there are a sprinkling of less than ecstatic transits to midpoint:
Tr Pluto opposition Mars/Ascendant exactly now till late January 2021 – forcible adjustment to new circumstances, quarrelsome, subjugation.
Tr Neptune square Saturn/Node – feeling neglected, misunderstood, lonely, uncertain – October 2020 to late January 2021.
Tr Uranus square Sun/Pluto – December 21st to early February 2021 – sudden adjustment to new circumstances (arrest), carrying out fanatic reforms.
On midpoints in early 2021 – late January through February looks no better with tr Pluto square the Uranus/Neptune midpoint – losses, catastrophes, blown around by events and unable to resist. Plus tr Pluto conjunct the Mercury/Pluto midpoint at the same time which tends to bring bitter attacks, nervous strain, deceit.
And Boris’s Term chart certainly has a calamitous-fiasco tr Neptune square the Mars/Pluto midpoint, from October 2020 to late January 2021. See previous posts.
One thought did strike me looking at the ‘Great Conjunction’ of Saturn Jupiter in the Capricorn Ingress chart. It falls on the Ascendant located to London so would appear to be more significant for the UK than elsewhere. And thinking about the Jupiter Saturn conjunctions in the last century, they did coincide with momentous events for the UK which drew a global spotlight onto Great Britain, and not all negative.
The Prince Charles and Diana fairytale wedding of 1981 on Jupiter Saturn in Libra was watched by megabillions round the globe. It didn’t end well but for the moment it was a British triumph and a delight.
In 1960 on the Jupiter Saturn in Capricorn, the Beatles burst onto the music scene and became the most influential band of all time, known round the globe.
In 1940 on the Jupiter Saturn conjunction in Taurus the Battle of Britain was fought, with the German air force bombardment of the UK, intended to soften the country up to sue for peace. Against the odds it failed, the UK stood firm and it was the first German defeat and a crucial turning point in the war. This conjunction also saw the evacuation of Dunkirk, another against-the-odds UK triumph, which rescued one third of a million Allied troops from occupied France, although there were also heavy losses.
In 1901 with the Jupiter Saturn in Capricorn in place Queen Victoria died, who had been on the throne for nearly 64 years.
So history-changing moments which brought the UK into the spotlight, not all enjoyable, but not all disastrous either.
2000 and 1921 had such conjunctions but I can’t think what was too earth-shattering in those years. If anyone likes to pitch in, you’re welcome. And for historians if you’ve an idle moment over the festivities to check events against Jupiter Saturn conjunctions the previous occurrences are listed on: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Great_conjunction#List_of_great_conjunctions_(1200_to_2400_AD)
The England 1066 chart does have Jupiter Saturn in Virgo. The 1801 chart has Jupiter and Saturn both in Leo, though not conjunct, and they only came together late in 1801 as both moved into Virgo. So there will be a resonance.
Ancient Mariner your interpretation of Dunkirk is interesting. As an English man whose father served in the war I do not forget the English abandoned their French allies and did not even give them notice of their intention. They refused to help the French with aircraft. They showed ruthless self interest. The 100000 French soldiers were repatriated at English insistence as at that point France was still fighting the war without the help of its ally. No one honestly believes the UK would not have suffered the same fate as France without the channel. How this helps us interpret the Brexit deal I am unsure except perhaps it is another example of following ruthless self interest. The UK simply does not, it seems, have a collaborative psyche to work in a club like the EU where not all is on your own terms.Does the deal now show this self orientated interest astro logically by the UK
@ Jonathan Portes In addition to Christopher James’s comments the 2019 Election wasn’t that simple . It was also an election where the Leader of the Labour party, Jeremy Corbyn, was disliked by a large number of voters who could not bring themselves to vote for him, irrespective of their feelings on Brexit.
Why didn’t all Remainders vote for the Liberal party as a bloc, then?
Surely, the Liberals were moderates, with a moderate leader, plus they made the solemn promise to trash the 2016 referendum.
I don’t think you can make crudely reductive black and white conclusions from a multi-party general election. Many complex factors, including the SNP vote in Scotland and the FPTP system itself.
If you want to look at the popular vote to make the data more like a referendum, the Tories and the DUP got 44.4% of the vote and Labour, SNP, Libs et al., got 51.3% of the vote. What conclusions do you think can be drawn from that exactly?
It’s not ‘complex’.
It was a simple black and white yes/no vote.
If you wanted to stay in you voted Liberal.
If you wanted to leave you voted Tory.
What could be more simple than that?
The mystery is why Remainers never voted Liberal en masse. The Liberal vote was appallingly low. Jo Swinson lost her seat.
The only conclusion to be drawn is that the British electorate, in general, really never gave a damn about the EU, or were actively hostile.
No other explanation fits the facts.
Johnathan you are missing the point, all the second referendum, remain votes added up to more than brexit ones, the electoral system did not reflect their vote
It’s also worth remembering that there were remainers and leavers in both the main parties. Jeremy Corbyn, for instance, had voted against being a member of the EU throughout his political career. Leaving was a hard left position on this, and had been for decades. Corbyn just faded into the background during the campaign, to the extent that the Labour Party delivered leaflets just before the Referendum, clarifying their position – which, they said, was vote Remain. Corbyn, however, never encouraged people to vote Remain. Neither did he stand up for his own beliefs. Then he lost the election, unsurprisingly, with all those traditional Labour voters, many of them leavers, turning against him.
@Jane: You, like many remainers, give Corbyn far too much credit for the EU referendum leave result. Yes, Corbyn could have been more enthusiastic for remain rather than stating his support for remaining in the EU was around ‘7.5 out 10’ but how much difference would it have made? Support among Labour remainers actually held up during the EU 2016 referendum far more than amongst Conservative remainers who actually dropped away in significant % points during the campaign. It was Cameron who ran an insipid, lazy remain campaign combined with none too subtle threats from Osborne of more punishing austerity cuts to be dished out in an emergency budget. The leave win was literally a slap in the face of the establishment.
After the result, Corbyn wanted a soft Brexit to bring remainer and leavers together. Didn’t Starmer and Tom Watson force Labour to adopt the second referendum? Stamer has never taken any personal responsibility whatsoever for that decision – how do you think that will that go down with ex-Labour red wall leave voters?
The ultra remainers – the #FBFE crowd are just as much of a pain as the no deal Brexiteers. The inability to compromise is why we are in the situation we are in. In fact, there were plenty of Lib Dems who were appalled with Swinson’s remain and revoke stance adopted in the GE2019.
Sorry 1921 has come a bit later, I needed a little longer. It was an important year if you like medical history, lots of work being done on bacteriology and immunology. Alexander Fleming discovered lysozyme in 1921, which is an anti microbial enzyme which serves as one of the body’s first defences against pathogens in the upper respiratory tract, especially the nasopharyngeal tissues where Covid first attacks (leading to loss of smell). Lots of current research being conducted on lysozyme, levels of which decrease with age.
Another 1921 having a bit of a renaissance is vitamin D, discovered by Edward Mellanby. It is interesting that the effect on rickets was observed then and other musculoskeletal issues (Saturn), but now it’s studied for its role in immune health (Jupiter?)
Jane mentions the Uranus, BML, Mars conjunction in Taurus which I think is also worth noting. Taurus doesn’t seem to have much to do with immunology at first, but cows manufactured the worlds first vaccines (cowpox). “vaccinae” is Latin for “of or pertaining to cows” and even today you hear about “herd immunity”.
Lysozyme is thought to work with lactoferrin, a glycoprotein with antiviral properties. Like lysozyme it is secreted in Taurean ruled areas of the body (nasal and tear ducts primarily) and is also abundant in cows milk. Cows milk and dairy produce is also often fortified with vitamin D, particularly in northern countries with dark winters. Traditionally in these northern countries you would obtain vitamin D through consuming red meat like beef in the winter months.
I think it’s also noteworthy that many of the early immunologists in the 1910’s and 20’s had natal Pluto in Taurus. Some like Sir Almroth Wright had BML there too. Alexander Fleming had Jupiter, Saturn, Neptune, Pluto and Chiron in Taurus.
If the great conjunction 2000 years ago pointed to Bethlehem, where did this great conjunction pointed to?
Does anybody know?
Thanks.
In December 1921 the Anglo- Irish treaty was signed.
The great conjunction was in February 1961 not in 1960. This was at the time when the UK was divesting itself of its African colonies. In another area of life conscription to the Uk army ceased in December 1960. A start of a different Britain.
Thank you Marjorie. In addition to “the UK chart has remarkably little to show for all the meltdown-anxiety apart from Solar Arc Mars conjunct the 3rd house Mercury. The third house is the chart area to do with transport and everyday movements” the current Mars/Pluto square which has been around the last few days at 23 Aries/Capricorn is Tr square the UK solar arc Mercury at 23 Cancer.
1921: The worst economic and financial collapse in our history
2000: A financial crash leading to a decade of dimming of economic prospects to the present.
“The worst economic and financial collapse in our history”
Assuming that you are referring to the Great Depression, that happened about 10 years later (from 1929 onwards).
UM: Talking about Britain, not the US, I assume
yep…………
(Quote) “In 1940 on the Jupiter Saturn conjunction in Taurus the Battle of Britain was fought, with the German air force bombardment of the UK, intended to soften the country up to sue for peace. Against the odds it failed, the UK stood firm and it was the first German defeat and a crucial turning point in the war. This conjunction also saw the evacuation of Dunkirk, another against-the-odds UK triumph, which rescued one third of a million Allied troops from occupied France, although there were also heavy losses.”
June 1940 was also when Pétain and his generals told Churchill that “In three weeks, England will have her neck wrung like a chicken.” In the same month the approximately 100,000 French soldiers evacuated from Dunkirk returned to France where they surrendered. Only some 3.000 of them answered Charles de Gaulle’s call to join the Free French army in Britain.
It now very much looks as if Britain is, in a way, in the same position; but as in 1941, it may be that by 2021 the situation could be beginning to look very different regarding the state of both Britain and the EU.
Well, it looks like a deal with the EU is about to be signed tomorrow.
That Jupter-Saturn conjunction in Aquarius is exactly opposite the natal Jupiter in Leo in the 1801 chart and trine the natal Uranus in Libra.
So you are spot on with your 1941 comparison. Looks like Boris has managed to snatch an unexpected victory at the last moment for a Brexmas surprise.
Thanks Marjorie – much to think about here. I think it’s probably right about the UK scientists pinpointing this mutation. It is now thought to be widespread elsewhere. Also there have already been other mutations this year, notably one from Spain in the summer – it is quite usual for a virus to do this. Possibly it will become more infectious, but less deadly, as it mutates with a view to staying around. No point in killing all your hosts if you’re the virus is there? But the word “mutation” has such sci-fi resonances, and sounds so scary – invisible mutant invaders….
I’m curious about the 1066 Nodes across the 6th/12th – so health and hospitals, everyday life and confinement – all being misted up by transiting Neptune. The transiting nodes now are square those, from the 2nd and 8th houses, suggesting the mass population and all the current issues with money. Deaths from the virus could also be indicated. Tr Uranus and BML are currently conjunct, and squaring the 1066 Mars in Aquarius, which could suggests upheavals and arguments in Parliament (11th house), plus sudden legislation of some sort?
Jupiter and Saturn will soon travel across that 1066 Mars, which looks quite legal, political, and potentially heated. Surely not!
Also I understand Pluto is sitting on the Queen’s ascendent – would that have an impact?
One can also see the Juiter Saturn recent conjunction as the Uk producing the vaccine first and thus alleviating the elderly (Saturn) and also the apparent irresposibility of some younger folk versus the elder population….alwaya a generational issue! This poor old country is often beleagured but does somehow seem to bounce back. But I can imagine how gleeful the world press are over this.
There have been many instances of older people breaking lockdown and mask protocol too. You know nothing of Generational Cohort Theory to make assumptions like that. Stop pitting the generations against one another and keep your bias to yourself.
Thank you Marjorie. Yes, you raise a good point about the genomic surveillance in the UK, many experts recognise that it is probably already in Europe and perhaps did not even originate in the UK, but has just been identified there first.
What is fascinating is how it has been used both politically and exaggerated in the media. The so called “exodus” from London pictures made me laugh, reported by people who have obviously never had to commute once in their lives. I guess that during the conjunction Jupiter eclipsed all but the outer rings of Saturn, in Aquarius – somehow to me that symbolises the exaggerated setting apart.
I think the French may have been quick to close the borders until both they and the EU realised that this might be playing into Boris Johnson’s hands; preempting food shortages ahead of a no deal brexit and him trying to say it’s all Europe’s fault and nothing to do with Brexit. Jupiterian bluster standing in front of Saturnian reality. Of course, I’d like to think that the EU remembered that the majority of people in the UK, who were born EU citizens, did not vote for brexit or have to their EU citizenship revoked – but that is what is happening.
You mention the year 2000, the year that the Y2K bug was going to wipe us all out, fortunately that was an exaggeration. Funnily enough I do remember gridlocked lorries that year and chaos on the roads, some sort of fuel blockade protest. I spent a lot of time in hospital visiting a relative and I remember us watching it on the news. Oh and the very first series of Big Brother! “Reality television” turned into a bit of a monster in the end.
I’ll also take this opportunity to wish everyone a Merry Christmas and brighter 2021!
“the majority of people in the UK, who were born EU citizens, did not vote for brexit or have to their EU citizenship revoked” – those who could but did not vote implicitly agree with the majority decision. If they wanted to make their voices heard separately, they should have voted. Now it is too late to change course (at least as regards losing EU citizenship).
“it is probably already in Europe and perhaps did not even originate in the UK, but has just been identified there first.” – Obvious parallels with the Spanish flu, which is so named because it was first reported there due to its free press as it was a neutral in WWI. It almost certainly was not the origin.
“I’ll also take this opportunity to wish everyone a Merry Christmas and brighter 2021!”
I also join in this sentiment. 2020 has been a bleak and weird year without recent parallel and I am hopeful that it is darkest before dawn and that 2021 will be a lot jollier and friendlier all around.
” those who could but did not vote implicitly agree with the majority decision. If they wanted to make their voices heard separately, they should have voted”
Well there are the children who were under age 18 at the time, some of them young adults now. It affects their future the most. You may argue that the rest demonstrated their complete disinterest in leaving the EU by not voting, it’s all in how you frame it. Rightly or wrongly, I think many of those who did not vote just didn’t believe it would happen; it seemed too extreme.
Of course it’s too late now, but I just think that this and the Shamima Begum case set interesting precedents about citizenship. What does it all mean when someone can be born in Europe, as an EU citizen and have it taken away, yet people I know who have spent their whole lives in Australia and Canada, are now EU citizens because they have just one Italian great-grandparent. Everybody is focused on trade deals right now, but I think this will emerge as bigger debate in the years to come.
Thank you- Agreed.
And lets not forget that the same people were behind Brexit as Trump. And the suppression of the Russia report prior to the election, and the reality that Remain has been ahead of the polls since 2017 and especially now, with increasing number of Leavers saying it was a mistake. Massively manipulated for the personal gain of a few utterly corrupt and treacherous players.
If this were Switzerland, not a hope in hell would such an important Ref get passed at 49/52 %.
Nor would Farage have countenanced it – in his OWN words he made it clear those numbers were not valid enough.
I find the ‘democracy has spoken re brexit’ crowd either deliberately disengenous or half asleep and chronically unaware.
The biggest gerrymandering ever the was the referendum vote of 2016 where 3.5 million tax paying EU residents in the UK were denied the right to vote, despite being allowed to vote in the Scottish independence referendum. Those 3.5 million votes would have changed the outcome. I for one want to keep my EU citizenship and will never ever forgive the brexiteers or willingly employ one.
The General Election of December 2019 was a de facto Second Referendum.
All the opposition parties, Labour, the Liberals, the SNP explicitly ran on ‘remain’ manifestoes, promising either a second referendum or the explicit abrogation of the 2026 referendum, as was the case with Liberals.
The expected surge for Remain votes going to the Liberals never occurred. Hence, it is exceedingly unlikely that there ever was a hidden remained or regretted groundswell of voters.
The resonance from 1921 that I could think of was that from the 1900s till about the mid 1920s, the UK was deeply divided between free-traders and protectionists (who wanted the UK to have a protectionist tariff with an Imperial preference-so goods from Canada and Australia traded at much lower or no tariffs). That debate split parties in their days and continued almost till the start of WWII. One can see parallels with the Brexit debate.
We also had in 1922 the first (and till Boris, the only) British Prime Minister to be born outside the British Isles (Andrew Bonar Law was born in Canada, which was then part of the British Empire).
The 1920s also saw the Balfour Declaration (regarding the Dominions) in 1926 and greater devolution of foreign affairs to the Dominions, followed by the Statute of Westminster in 1931, which de facto made them independent countries. So, perhaps the federalisation or breakup of the UK will take place this decade.
1921 was of course also in the Roaring Twenties, just following the Spanish Flu and I read an article that suggested that after Covid is dealt with (hopefully by a vaccine), the world will likely have another roaring decade (though in that case we should be prepared for a Greater Depression as well).
So many parallels with that decade.
Marjorie.
Which sign did the 1921 Great Conjunction take place in? And did it have any aspect to Uranus, Neptune or Pluto?
Jupiter Saturn in Libra square Pluto in Cancer. Neptune in mid Leo. Uranus in early Pisces.
Somehow I think that Neptune was particularly triggered (the start of the dissolution of the British Empire, at the time on a mutual and voluntary basis).
Perhaps the planet of dissolution in the sign of the Lion is a particularly apt metaphor.
How on earth did I miss that most blinding of events? Today is the 100th anniversary of the Government of Ireland Act 1920, which was effectively both the prototype for devolution and then later for independence acts of other parts of the British Empire.
That Act created two subdivisions, Southern Ireland and Northern Ireland. The plan was for both to remain within the UK, but within two years, Southern Ireland had become a Dominion, while the Northern Irish Parliament voted to remain a part of the UK on 7th December 1922.
Marjorie, do you see any impact of the Great Conjunction on Northern Ireland and the Republic of Ireland in particular?
the 2019 election has 52 percent vote for parties backing a second referendum, no great mandate for a hard brexit. Any government elected Friday 13 has no auspicious start and so far their mismanagement of Covid bares that out.
Brief internet trawl threw up these historical events for UK.
In 1921 the Education Act raised the school leaving age to 14.
The 1921 Women’s Olympiad (the first international women’s sports event) begins in Monte Carlo.
The Allied reparations commission announces that Germany has to pay 132 billion gold marks ($33 trillion), in annual installments of 2.5 billion.
June -The coal strike in the United Kingdom ends with the Miners’ Federation of Great Britain obliged to accept pay cuts.
The Anglo-Irish truce, (agreed 10 days earlier) is officially declared in London
Poplar Rates Rebellion: Nine members of the borough council of Poplar, London, are arrested
A peace conference between Ireland and the United Kingdom begins in London
In 1921 the FA took the decision to ban women’s football, essentially outlawing the game in England.
Between January and June unemployment rises from 1000,000 to 2,200,000
The first women are admitted to study for full academic degrees at the University of Cambridge, but have no associated privileges.