Steve Jobs, 1955 - 2011

Steve Jobs, 24 February 1955 at 19.15, San Francisco

People around the world are mourning the loss of entrepreneur and creative, forward-looking technological innnovator Steve Jobs, who died on 5th October. Jobs was one of the originators of the computer revolution, and was the co-founder of Apple Computer Corporation and Pixar Animation Studios. His legacy is the success of Apple; the end products of his creative genius are carried in the pockets, handbags and briefcases of men, women and children all over the world (how old do they have to be before they want an ipod, iphone or ipad? Not that old in my experience!)

Jobs' chart shows something of the inner motivation and drive for which he was famous. Composed of mainly red and blue aspects, he would have had very little time for half measures, approaching life in an either/or way, where it was a matter of all or nothing. He is reputed to have been moody and difficult to work with, and the red opposition aspects spanning the 5/11 house axis of relationships are indicative of this, with Venus stressed just before the 5th cusp and Jupiter/Uranus strongly placed on the 11th cusp.

His chart shows, in the aspect pattern shaping, a mixture of restlessness and the drive to move on, change and grow. But the overwhelming red/blue nature of the aspects indicate that there will be little room for half measures. The one green aspect between Sun and Moon is part of a Small Learning triangle, which is completed by the North Node in 4th. This was the place and area of life for Jobs to move towards and develop in his life - the area of the collective, the human family. The impact that his passing has had reflects his success in tapping into the zeitgeist and tapping into the lives of the ordinary people who would not be without the seductive and attractive Apple technologies.

Before I saw his chart I expected to find some indicators for his technological genius in his chart - and there it is - Jupiter/Uranus are the highest planets in the chart, they are strongly placed on 11th cusp and are opposite Venus. This embodies quite a different expression of these planets to the one I explored above and here we need to look at this oppostion in the whole aspect pattern it is a part of - the Ambivalence Figure. The work - the creative genius, the visionary ideas, the pure aesthetics - take place across the opposition, where the energy is active but held in tension, awaiting release. This takes place via the planet at the blue corner of the figure - in Jobs' chart this is Saturn very strongly placed on 3rd cusp.

Saturn = materialising, grounding and making manifest.
The 3rd house = communication.

What better placement could there be for the man who has been at the forefront of computer technology and has had a huge influence of the way we communicate globally with each other?

Rick Perry - next US President ?

Chart of Rick Perry born 4 March 1950 at 10.40 in Haskell TX, USA

Rick Perry is the current Governor of Texas, the 47th holder of this position. He's a Republican and on 13th August 2011 he announced that he would be running for the Republican nomination for president in the 2012 presidential election. At age 61 he's got good looks and a youthful charisma and under his belt he has the experience of being the longest serving governor in Texas state history.

What can we learn about him as a person from his chart? The chart is initially striking with a strong vertical direction. Aspect colours show a ratio of 3 red: 5 green:4 blue, giving Perry a high green quotient indicative of thinking, searching and questing. Alongisde this, note his comparative lack of red active, "doing" aspects, the 3 present in his chart are all oppositions with energy held in a stored or blocked state, awaiting release. Possibly this can only happen when the questions posed by the green aspects have been satisfactorily answered.

The overall aspect structure has a seesaw/diabolo appearance with some planets grouped in the lower hemisphere around the IC (giving him good access to the collective) and some in the upper hemisphere (offering the potential for individuation). A good and useful blend for a politician. The highest planet is Venus, in a stressed position by House before the MC - does he strive to be seen as pleasant, fair minded, and does he want to be likeable and be liked?

Mercury conjunct Jupiter are well-placed in 10th House providing the capacity for easy communication, and are part of the Megaphone Aspect Pattern. This pattern is concerned almost solely with communication, both giving and receiving it, and these two planets at this pattern's apex in 10th House could be a politician's dream. Interestingly, Barack Obama also has a Megaphone in his chart.

Striving and aiming high will play a large part in Perry's motivation. He has a Striving Figure in his chart. This is a relatively rare figure and is composed largely of green asepcts, which make it flexible and receptive to external influences.The planet at the apex - in Perry's chart it's his Sun, strongly placed in 11th House cusp - is highly sensitised as it receives only red/green aspects, and it represents his long term objectives. This guy aims high.

You can read more about Aspect Patterns in Aspect Pattern Astrology by Bruno and Louise Huber, and in my book, Aspect Patterns in Colour, now available in the US and Australia as well as in the UK.

But here's one final thought in this brief look at Perry's chart - Uranus is unaspected in 2nd House and stands apart from the rest of the aspect structure. Uranus is concerned with thinking outside of the box, with the potential for creative and innovative solutions to problems. It seeks ways to make life more secure and stable, even if it has to disrupt and upset things along the way. As the year of the next presidential election unfolds, it will be interesting to see if Perry's approach and behaviour echoes any of these speculations.

Uranus square Pluto

Observations following US Presidential election result 9.11.2016 - original post written in September 2011.

Life is full of shocks as the result of the
US Presidential election takes hold and 
the reality of Trump in power begins to sink in.

The on-going Uranus/Pluto square reflects current events. Uranus will remain in assertive and action-oriented Aries for some time yet (2019 according to my ephemeris) and Pluto will be trundling through Capricorn until 2024, giving ample opportunities for the in-depth scouring of established institutions which has already started, as well as for the all-important global wake up that's needed to secure the future of humankind as we know it.

The Square relationship between two planets in astrology is created when both planets are 90 degrees apart. In this diagram, Sun and Saturn are shown square to one another. Using the Huber Method of Astrological psychology, squares are always shown in red, expressive of the active, doing energy they embody. If this energy isn't used, it can fester and turn sour. Squares demand action and require participatory behaviour. If, for instance, you have a square in your chart it's always best to use its energy rather than bemoan the fact that it's there & that it causes problems. It will only cause problems if you do nothing with it - it wants and needs to work.

So what of the current Uranus/Pluto square which moves in and out of exact aspect?

Not since the years of the Great Depression in the late 1920's and into the 1930's have Uranus and Pluto been in the challenging, action-needy, square relationship that they are in now. They will remain so, on and off, for another 8 years. What we're seeing, in terms of revolutions and the changes that are taking place on a global scale in 2016, will be around until 2024.

In the 1930's, Uranus was in Aries, as it is once again now, and Pluto was in Cancer. The Pluto in Cancer generation are now our elders, and many of them remember the times of the Depression and the hard times that went with it. But this time around Pluto is in Capricorn, the opposite sign to Cancer, and this suggests a rather different upheaval and transformation. The areas of life which could be affected are those which are well-established - like banks, governments and other long-founded institutions which have held the power and wielded authority. 
 
Uranus turns things around, upside down, and generally provides an important wake up call. Under the influence of this planet, motivations may change as freedom is sought and people strive to shed the shackles of harsh governance and create new forms of security and stability in their lives, free from fear. The recent revolutions in the Middle East are symbolic of this, along with the fight for freedom in Libya which, as I wrote this back in 2011, was in its final stages as oppressor Gadaffi was hunted down.

With Pluto there are no half meaures; it's an all-or-nothing planet. What needs to go, goes. Opportunities abound for clearing out what is no longer useful or valid. With merciless precision, what is outdated or unwanted is dumped. Expect the effect of these two planets working together via the gritty square aspect to be in evidence for some time to come.

Closer to home in the UK, there were the riots in England - some of them seemingly about sheer greed with people showing no respect for the property of others and taking what they wanted as they looted in shops. But stop and consider for a moment if that kind of unacceptable behaviour on that level is actually vastly different from rich bankers who are still taking unacceptably huge bonuses.
This chart was set up for the start of the riots in England. These started on 7th August 2011 and I set the time for 6 pm as the rioting began in the evening (but was being orgainised via social networking sites before and during the events). The chart itself looks chaotic with a lot of red aspects - squares and oppositions. I'm not going to anaylse it here, but am using it to demonstrate the Uranus/Pluto square in the lower half of the chart. Pluto is in 1st house, Uranus in 3rd (note the use of modern communication technology in the organisation of the riots) and, as I recently wrote about Mars you'll see it's in 7th, opposite Pluto and square to Uranus, forming an Efficiency/Perfomance figure. Add the energy of Mars to the already volatile Uranus square Pluto brew and you have something pretty toxic to deal with. Of course, it all depends on which level not just Mars, but Uranus and Pluto are operating at, and this could range from base level to something a lot higher, less personal and more far-reaching in effect.

With this square around until 2024 it's unlikely we've seen the last of it yet.

For more on aspects and aspect patterns see Aspect Pattern Astrology by Bruno & Louise Huber, and my book Aspect Patterns in Colour.

Huber Astrological Psychology in the US

I'm delighted to announce and let it be known to readers in the US that books on the Huber Method of Astrological Psychology are now available from the American Federation of Astrologers (AFA) based in Tempe AZ.

Details and costs etc. will soon be appearing on the website, but here, as a taster, is a photo of the recently arrived batch of pristine Huber books lined up on their shelves ready for dispatch.

So if you live in the US, read this blog and want to find out more for yourself about the Huber Method, you can now buy Huber astrology books from the AFA as well as from Amazon.

Mars and the England Riots

The recent riots on the streets of London and several other English cities have shown an outbreak of violent and aggressive behaviour which has shocked and stunned. Alongside this, and in swift response, the taking to the streets of bands of ordinary people armed with brooms, brushes and clean-up equipment has been a welcome antidote and a superb gesture of solidarity within the affected communities.

Expressions of the planet Mars can be found in both the behaviour of the rioters and the behaviour of the clean-up squads, the fire fighters, the police as they stood confronted by the violence and the powerful and dignified plea for peace and no more violence by bereaved father Tariq Jahan in Birmingham.

Mars represents the psychological drive to assert, take action, and survive by either fight or flight. It is associated with the sense of smell, which can alert us to danger, and it rules the adrenal glands which produce adrenalin and enable to us to take action and respond.

Mars operates at 3 distinct levels which can be described as

"Asleep" automatic survival behaviour with little or no self-awareness, such as anger, aggression, action to ensure survival;


"Waking" behaviour which is coming into greater awareness but is largely "me" oriented, such as assertiveness, competitiveness, an awareness of goals, bellicose and conflict behaviour, physical expression of energy and recklessness;


"Awake" behaviour which is fully conscious, directed and focussed, such as courage, focussed leadership and heroic action.

The rioters and looters were expressing and living out Mars at mostly the Asleep level, with some elements of the Waking level included, for example in the bellicose, the expression of conflict when confronted by police and ordinary citizens, and their reckless and mindless "me, me, me" behaviour.

There's an overlap of expressions of the first two levels of Mars between rioters and others - those who confronted the looting gangs. Fire fighters, police and the ordinary people who saw off gangs of rioters to protect their own property were of neccessity being assertive, with the goal in mind of preventing damage to people and property and they were using a lot of energy to do this.

But the main thrust of of Mars' drive and expression for those who confronted and acted in the public good to protect and lead was at the Awake level. At this level, fear doesn't get much of a look in, although it's there. The person will include their fear but not allow it to dominate. Instead it will be directed towards energising them to stand firm, show leadership and heroism and courage in the face of danger.