Happy 100th Birthday

I'm sending very special happy birthday wishes today to my friend's mum, Sylvia, on her 100th birthday. Sylvia was born on 6th March 1913 in Harrogate, Yorkshire. She's no idea of her time of birth, so I've set her chart up for noon, just to have a look at the chart of a centenarian who also happens to be someone I know. This is the first time I've known someone who has reached their 100th birthday, so this post is my small tribute to Sylvia on her special day.

Sylvia has recently become a great-grandmother for the first time, and this is probably the best 100th birthday present she could ever have. Let's have a look at her chart.

Sylvia has a relatively uncommon aspect figure in her chart - a Detective - which means the person's motivation is to get to the bottom of things, absorbing information from the surrounding environment and never giving up along the way. Rather than focus on this aspect pattern, I'm going to take a look at the positions of the three Transpersonal planets - Uranus, Neptune and Pluto - because these are generational planets and their placement by sign is shared by people of the same generation who experienced a similar background of national or world events.

In 1913, when Sylvia was born, the world and the social scene in the UK was vastly different from today. If you watch Downton Abbey you'll have an idea of how different it was. The First World War had not started, the Bullnose Morris Oxford car went on sale, women didn't have the vote and Suffragette Emmeline Pankhurst was sentenced to 3 years in prison. Later that year, Suffragette Emily Davidson ran to her death in front of the King's horse at the Epsom races and stainless steel was invented in Sheffield.

Uranus was in Aquarius - in Sylvia's chart it's conjunct Mars - and this reflects the spirit of the age in the UK with so much focus on the Suffragette's campaign to gain votes for women. By the time Sylvia was old enough to vote, all women had gained emancipation. New inventions would have been flowering under the generational influence of Uranus in its own sign.

Neptune was in Cancer, and in Sylvia's chart is unaspected (although as we have no time of birth this would not neccessarily be so). The generation of UK women born with Neptune in this sensitive, caring and family-oriented sign grew up to become mothers and housewives - as was expected of them at the time. Many women continued to go into service in this period, but with the start of the First World War this would change, with women taking a more active role in society.

Pluto was in Gemini, the sign of communication and discourse. Communication in all its forms was undergoing big changes as motor cars appeared on the roads, people who could afford telephones in their homes had them installed and the Post Office began parcel deliveries. On the world stage, the second Balkan War broke out in 1913, a precursor to the events which led to World War 1.

Sylvia must have plenty of tales and reminiscences of days gone by and of what life was like before air travel, TV, mobile phones and texting but I hope she gathers upa huge armful of good memories - and congratulations from the Queen - on her special day.

Happy Birthday Sylvia!