India – Parliament trying to clean up it’s act in the wake of corruption. A look at the Astrology of the world’s 2nd most populous nation.

Corruption in India, hmmm. I’ll tell you a story. Many years ago I was a travel representative with a holiday company and I was posted by the travel company out from Britain to India. We had an aircraft that flew into Agra, the city in Uttar Pradesh where the Taj Mahal is found. The chief immigration officer there would not allow anyone through the airport off that tourist plane unless we bribed him!! What could we do? I had the best part of 250 British tourists on a Boeing 757, and to allow them to enter India to enjoy their very expensive holidays, we paid off the official. Yes corruption was endemic, everywhere and I mean everywhere and it seems it still is!! Now in the Indian Parliament, an anti corruption bill (the Lokpal Bill) ended up in argument, stalemate and the ruling Congress party and the opposition BJP accusing each other for failing to get the bill, which gives an independent ombudsman powers to prosecute politicians and civil servants in the case of suspected corruption, through to the Indian upper house for a vote so that it could be passed into law. Do you think turkeys vote for Xmas? This was a mess that allowed each party to do some political points scoring against each other, and realistically there was no way that anyone wanted this through, especially the way things normally work in India.

India acceded to independence from British rule on 15th August 1947 at midnight timed to the capital Delhi. This gives India a very Leo based chart with 5 planets in the royal sign including the Sun. The Sun and Venus sit together in the 4th house. If ever you go to India, and I spent 5 months working there, you will be struck by the sheer warmth of your welcome, everyone smiles and seems happy typifying the sunny Sun Venus conjunction. In the 4th house we see that the country is based on the land, even women (Venus) do their bit to work in the fields and provide the food needed. Alongside the Sun Venus we find Saturn, Pluto and Mercury in the third house making a large stellium of Leo planets at the bottom of the chart. Here we find the ruling signs Sun and Saturn in connection with Pluto, the planet of underground action and behind the scenes dealing. This stellium makes a wedge to deceptive Neptune, which completes a wedge to the Midheaven. Yes the underhand stuff, the corruption and dirty dealing (Neptune/Pluto) goes through the administration (Parliament) right to the very top (Midheaven). There is an upside to Saturn and Pluto together as part of a t-square to lucky expansive Jupiter and the Midheaven. This is the sign of industrialisation, and of serious money making. The potential lies here for great wealth and power if India can harness it, and in the past few years as the rest of the world has struggled, India has been making and enjoying rapid growth. However there is an inbuilt problem. I find a lack of planets in earth signs in the chart, so keeping India’s feet on the ground may prove to be difficult, and when a correction in fortune comes, (as it does to all nations) India will find it hard to adjust, especially she has just one mutable sign and six fixed ones. India in that sense is like the Titanic, an ocean liner filled with people that steams along wonderfully, but if an iceberg comes in the way, she will find it very difficult to change course. She will feel the knocks very hard indeed. 

There are other meaning to this collection of planets. Pluto with Saturn in connection with the Sun opposite the Midheaven gives a reminder that India is a nuclear power, now in charge of weapons  of mass destruction. Communications are a serious money maker in India, shown by Mercury conjunct to Pluto Saturn and square to international Jupiter. Transport is really highlighted here too with Mercury (the chart ruler) in the 3rd house of transportation, and car ownership has rocketed as India has progressed. I can only see this trend going up and up and up. India has become the centre where many overseas call centres have been based, Jupiter in the 6th house of workers showing the labour intensive nature of the business, favoured as most educated people speak English. The 6th house is also associated with health, and Jupiter here shows that one of India’s biggest exports to the world has been doctors and physicians who you will find working in hospitals the world over. The press will have a serious investigative tone, shown by Mercury’s proximity to Saturn and Pluto which loves to dig beneath the surface of a story; India’s people love a debate to argue over.

To the majority of the people of India, the world generally stops at the Indian border. The Moon is in homespun Cancer in and will generally only be inclined to travel if it is to visit family. Mars is in Cancer to, not the most energetic of signs, but emotional all the same. The military forces are there alone to protect the country’s border and not used in an aggressive manner to provoke. Uranus in the first house in in an individualistic position, showing India’s need for an independent stance and to be “different and unique” but also here conjunct to Mars it does bring the potential for shock events, tragedies and accidents galore. This unfortunately includes assassination of leaders too. Aquarius, Uranus’ sign sits at the Midheaven, so these tragedies can affect the people at the top of society.

Neptune in the 5th house shows the country’s love for film and movies, song, dance, culture and sport. Sextile to Saturn and Pluto and trine to the Midheaven, this is big business. Bollywood is second only to Hollywood in terms of money earned in film making around the world & the Indian Premier League is the world’s largest cricket tournament attracting huge money and sponsors. The top players and top actors and actresses are held up as Gods in India, and attract amazing fanatical support and adulation, so typical of Neptune’s visionary status. This love of culture has a spiritual side and the many festivals enjoyed by Indians of all faiths allows for more public holidays than virtually any other country I know.

So how is India doing right now and into 2012? Well not bad in truth. The corruption scandal comes as transiting Neptune in the administrative 10th house makes a double quindecile to that Saturn/Pluto conjunction I spoke of earlier, while at the same time squaring the Nodal axis. Neptune brings confusion, deception, underhand dealing, and false optimism. At the same time, the current Saturn Jupiter opposition in force through January is square to the Moon bringing legal debate (Jupiter) to the representatives (Saturn) of the people (Moon). Saturn at the same time is trine to the Indian Mars in the 2nd house of money and finance, allowing India to do well financially as the rest of the world struggles. It may not be until Saturn moves into mid Scorpio (2 years time) when it will be square to the natal Pluto/Saturn conjunction that India suddenly has to put the brakes on. I expect major election changes around that time too. Manmohan Singh, the Indian Prime Minister may well face a serious challenge to hold onto power. Going back to that Saturn Mars connection, transiting Uranus is square to natal Mars too right now, so the possibility of some sort of tragedy that shocks the nation is in force for about a month, until Uranus moves out of range. One other danger period could be at the end of the year when transiting Pluto hits 10 Capricorn and will be quindecile Uranus, a very focused aspect that could bring major loss of life that will affect the nation, maybe through a transportation or contamination accident. Pluto will be moving through the 8th house of death, change international investment and big business for a long time to come, overseeing India rapid industrial and financial growth.