Vaclav Havel

The death of Vaclav Havel, Czech playwright, political activist and president, has been announced today (18th December). Havel was born in Prague on 5.10.1936 at 15:00. He was instrumental in bringing about the Velvet Revolution in 1989, when Czechoslovakia broke free from communist rule. Havel opposed Soviet rule and the persecution of fellow artists and writers under the communist regime. During the 1980's he spent 5 years in prison for this.

Havel's chart is dominated by the large red Efficiency/Performance square pinned by Jupiter, Saturn, Moon and Neptune. All but Saturn are relatively "soft" planets, but all will have been engaged in tireless hard work and effort in pursuit of something close to his heart:freedom.

These four planets span the 2/8 house axis of possessions and the 5/11 house axis of relationships. Jupiter and Moon are across the 5/11 axis, and with Moon in Gemini in 5th it's not surprising that Havel was loved and respected by his fellow Czechs. Saturn in 2nd is opposite Neptune and hints at an iron fist in a velvet glove where human rights and the good of society (8th house) are concerned.

When he was in the army in the late 1950's Havel realised he could mock the military administration from the stage by writing subversive plays, and this subsequently became his conduit for criticising the communist system. This could be his unaspected Mercury in 8th at work, taking risks but relishing freedom of expression.

Crumpled and casual in appearance, Havel shunned the limelight but his power should never have been underestimated. With Pluto on the DC he could have been a force to be reckoned with, but his motivation was for truth, justice and freedom.

The Cosmic Egg Timer in full colour

Third Edition in full colour

Available in paperback and on Kindle

The third edition, in full colour, of The Cosmic Egg Timer, the first book I wrote, along with Richard Llewellyn, has just been published.

Subtitled Introducing Astrological Psychology it does exactly what it says on the cover and gives a comprehensive overview of this unique, psychological approach to astrology and personal growth. It is available in both a full colour paperback and Kindle version (available from Amazon).

First published in 2004, and now in this 2018 revised edition, The Cosmic Egg Timer provides the best introduction to the psychological application of astrology in the approach pioneered by Swiss astrologers/psychologists Bruno & Louise Huber.
Based on extensive research, Astrological Psychology combines the best of traditional astrology with modern growth psychology, providing a powerful tool for self-understanding and psychological and spiritual growth.With material that is immediate and illuminating, it is suitable for the enthusiastic beginner as well as the professional astrologer, psychologist or counsellor seeking a fresh approach to working with clients.

Using your own birth chart alongside this book, you will gain insights into the kind of person you are, what makes you tick, and which areas of life offer you the greatest potential.

Authors Joyce Hopewell and Richard Llewellyn at one of the many Astrological Psychology workshops they have facilitated together.

Meryl Streep and Margaret Thatcher

In Meryl Streep's latest film she portrays Margaret Thatcher, Britain's first female Prime Minister, who became known as the Iron Lady. Streep is highly regarded as a film actress. She has numerous awards and an established, glittering career. This forthcoming film, entitled "The Iron Lady" and due for release in January 2012, is already attracting a lot of attention and interest. Alongside the film previews, here is an astrological overview of the charts of both women.

Meryl Streep was born on 22nd June 1949 at 08.05 in Summit NJ, USA.

The chart image that comes to mind is of the twitching nose of an inquisitive mouse emerging from a crack in a wall. Jupiter at the end of the nose is probing pointedly and directly towards the descendant and could be the first thing people pick up about her. Jupiterian qualities of friendliness and benevolence, along with perception and an openness to new experiences are what she greets the world with. Jupiter would also be a valuable observational tool in helping her gain an understanding of how others live, which could then be ploughed back into her acting roles. It’s also significant that Jupiter is at the apex of the Projection figure.

The planet at the apex is the projection source- in Streep’s chart it’s Jupiter - which transmits it qualities down the sensitive green quincunxes to the blue sextile aspect which forms the screen. The screen, in turn, receives and makes the imagined images visible, but always according to the planets which pin the ends of the screen. You could say that this aspect pattern, with it’s connotations of screen and projector, would make life a cinch for a film actor, but it’s not as simple as that. In charts with this aspect pattern what has to be considered is whether projections are made consciously or unconsciously. I’ll assume that because of Streep’s breadth of experience and her success as an actor, she’s using this Projection figure consciously, and it would be of enormous value to her in the acting roles she undertakes.

In this aspect pattern we can see the possible influence of meticulous Saturn, concerned as ever with form and pinning the screen of the Projection figure. But the Sun/Uranus conjunction at the other end of the screen brings invention, creativity and the ability to move outside the box and assume a wide variety of different roles, not least in her latest role of Margaret Thatcher.

Margaret Thatcher was born on 13th October 1925 in Grantham, UK

Like Streep, who plays her in the film, Thatcher also has a Projection figure in her chart. Whereas the apex planet in Streep's Projection firgure is Jupiter close to the descendant, Thatcher's is Uranus in 4th house, dominating the collective lower hemisphere of her chart and indicative of her drive to change society, something she denied existed in 1987 when she said: "And, you know, there is no such thing as society. There are individual men and women, and there are families."

Planets forming the screen are Sun/Mercury and Moon/Neptune. Both conjunctions were in evidence during the Thatcher years of power: Sun/Mercury in her forceful delivery once her voice had been lowered to create more of an authoritative tone and she'd developed her tough and immobile stance, as evidenced in the miner's strike and the Falkland's War. A softer side was sometimes visible in her attention to image and more feminine traits. In a film preview of "The Iron Lady" she agrees to give up wearing hats (these were her trademark when she was Minister for Education, before becoming party leader and eventually PM) but she refuses to give up wearing pearls. It's also interesting to see her Moon as the highest planet in the whole chart, and stressed before the MC. People with Moon in this high position expect to be noticed and recognised. They feel important, often because the expectations put upon them as a child were very high.

To find out more about aspect patterns see Aspect Pattern Astrology by Bruno & Louise Huber, and my book, Aspect Patterns in Colour. Available from the APA Book Shop, Amazon, American Federation of Astrologers in the US and Virgo Moon Pages in Australia.

The Scorpio time of year

The Sun went into the sign of Scorpio on 24th October, and will stay there until 23rd November - this is the Scorpio time of year.

It's the time of year when the nights grow longer, it gets dark earlier, it's dark in the mornings and if you're like me, it's the time of year to go into hibernation mode. OK, so some readers are in the southern hemisphere, where this is reversed, and some live in parts of the world where there is less differentiation between day and night (like if you live near the Equator) so yes, I'm writing this from my northern European perspective.

What is the Scorpio time of year about (again, as experienced in the northern hemisphere)? In the agricultural calendar, which the signs of the zodiac follow in terms of the tasks and labours that are to be done, it's the time of year when seeds for winter wheat might be sown. The wine, made following the Libran grape harvest, will be poured into vats to mature in storage. It's also the time of year when fungi are harvested, and traditionally truffle hunters would take pigs out into the woods to search out these delicacies which nowadays can fetch small fortunes when sold to restaurants to feed gourmet diners.

Scorpio as a zodiac sign has some distinctive features and is often called the sexiest sign of the zodiac. You can see what I say about Scorpio in this short video on my Astrochat Channel on YouTube.

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?