Martin Johnson – Stepping away from England as he prepares for a new chapter in his life.

This morning, the England rugby coach and legendary player Martin Johnson formally resigned from his post after rather chaotic and unsuccessful World Cup campaign. Martin who had lead England to World Cup glory as a player in 2003 was unable to repeat the feat in a management role and the English RFU now will have to find a new man to take the helm.

Martin was born on 9th March 1970 in Solihull at 23.30hrs (info thanks to London School of Astrology). He is a Sun sign Pisces with an active Aries Moon and has a determined and intense Scorpio Ascendant (you can invariably tell a Scorpio type just by looking at the face, deep, dark, brooding with a strong brow above the eyes). Scorpio ascendants generally guard their personality very well, suspicious of everyone around them (especially in a public setting) and with his Sun and Mercury in the 4th house, Martin will be a very private person who is always on the defensive and keeps his home life and family out of sight. With Saturn placed directly opposite his ascendant, there is very little levity to him at all. Life is a serious business for Martin who will have little time for those of a more light hearted nature. He is a winner though, through and through. That Aries Moon never lets you stop for a minute until you have reached your goal.

Yes this is a hard man for sure with Jupiter in Scorpio conjunct the ascendant opposite a conjunction of Saturn and Mars in heavy Taurus in the 6th house. There is so much controlled energy here at his disposal, with a real dedication for hard exercise and keeping fit, and with the Moon also in Aries also in the sixth, Martin I imagine would have been the first on the rugby training ground, and the last one off it. The Moon in the 6th really does show workaholic tendencies, able to handle several tasks at the same time. With the Moon trine to his Leo Midheaven, Martin was always destined to work in spotlight and secretly he likes it, so long as the success comes. The problems appear when things are not going so well. Leo Midheavens tend to get quite grumpy, and then naturally Martin’s Scorpionic tendencies would click back into gear.

There is a second set of oppositions with Uranus and Pluto in the 11th house sitting opposite the Sun and Venus in the 5th house. There is no doubting Martin’s desire for personal recognition. Sun opposing Pluto always describes an individual who wants to be someone of not, someone who will make their mark on the world. Pluto opposite Venus is hugely passionate and Venus opposite Uranus shows someone who in social settings will want to stay a bit aloof. Along with the Uranus Sun opposition Martin has an independent streak and will be attracted to exciting ventures and spontaneous actions. Notice where Uranus sits. In the 11th house of teams. His control (Pluto also in 11th) would be blighted by unusual, rebellious acts (Uranus), and in New Zealand so they were as I will explain later on.   

So Martin is a hard worker, dedicated, proud and secretive. There is one other reason why he  lost effective control of his players, leading them to under-perform at the last rugby World Cup in New Zealand. It is that below Martin’s hard exterior lies a really soft heart. The Pisces Sun makes the personality much more gentle and with Venus sitting in the 5th house trine to Neptune in the 1st, we have someone who behind the scenes is a bit of a pussy cat, very caring and sentimental. Neptune also brings a lack of organisation to the personality as well as a lack of a hard edge. Those with Neptune in the first house would rather melt into the team rather that stand out from the crowd. Martin would want to be one of the lads, and in the hard nosed world of management the best coaches ultimately can leave their sentiments behind, can leave personal sentiment behind to make the difficult decisions that do need to be made. So often in sport, the best team players never make the transition to be successful managers.

So what does the present and future hold for Martin Johnson. Well he resigned as his natal Neptune in his 1st house was square to transiting Neptune in the 4th (Neptune has a big effect on Martin as he is a Pisces). Here is the finalisation of a situation of a personal nature, the end of the road for him. The nature of Neptune shows he had lost control, Neptune dissolves and disintegrates all it touches. Pisces sits on the cusp of the 5th house, signifying things of a sporting nature. Also transiting Pluto was square to that disruptive Uranus in the 11th house, bringing transformation and numerous problems to his control of the England players. Transiting Uranus was exactly to the minute trine to natal Neptune. Aquarius cuts across the IC/4th house cusp, echoing the Neptune square Neptune aspect. Mercury and Venus were trine to Marin’s workaholic natal Moon in the 6th house of everyday work, hence the reason why the announcement about his work was made now.

Looking a little more long term, transiting Saturn is passing through Martin’s 12 house so, this is a clearing out phase in his life. A time where he will be assessing his options for his future career. My hunch is that he will take his time, and it will not be until maybe this time next year as transiting Saturn hits his natal Jupiter and Ascendant when he will emerge again in a new role. What might that be? I wouldn’t mind betting that journalism may well be a route he goes down. Mercury sits in his 4th house, so Martin will be an avid reader and bookworm, and Mercury makes a trine to Jupiter signifying communication as a profitable outlet for him. Mercury also makes a constructive sextile to Saturn which also sits in the 6th house of everyday work. Martin will be blessed with a fine critical acumen and his opinions on rugby will be greatly sought after. Me thinks TV work will not be his thing, and we may find him working and writing more behind the scenes for one of the quality newspapers in the UK, maybe for international papers in the future too. Good luck to him whatever he does, as I for one will never forget him raising the rugby World Cup for England in 1993, and I hope he goes on to better things and a successful future career.