Romania – Born out of the shadow of death and revolution

I was asked by a loyal follower of mine Maia about the situation in Romania, and true to my word, I'm responding to her request, and actually it's quite appropriate. Modern Romania was born on the moment Nicolae Ceausescu fled by helicopter on 22nd December 1989 from the headquarters of the Communist Party in what used to be called Palace Square (now known as Revolution Square) in Central Bucharest. There had been demonstrations against the Ceausescu regime in Timisoara and 8 minutes into his speech in Bucharest on a freezing cold morning in front of an agitated crowd, the people scarred by years of impoverishment rounded on him defying years of state terror and control. Their patience had finally snapped after years of suffering and communist lead failure, and the protests turned into a full scale revolution. Fearing for his safety, Ceausescu fled to a waiting helicopter and escaped seconds before he was caught. He was located days later, immediately tried, convicted and sentenced to death; a sentence carried out in brutal fashion in front a firing squad. There was a news report from a Yugoslav news agency TanJug at mentioning the fleeing of Ceausescu at 11.48am in Bucharest, and this is the time I take for the moment that Romania turned a corner.

World Cup Final Astrology – Germany versus Argentina.

We have the most important football match in the past 4 years taking place today as the mighty Germans who thrashed Brazil the host country 7-1 takes on Brazil’s mortal enemies, Argentina. It’s a clash of Europe versus South America, of the team ethic of the Germans against the little genius that is Lionel Messi. It’s a mouth watering prospect and by the end of the match one of these countries will be picking up the most beautiful and stunning trophy in sport. Who is going to win? Lets have a look at the Astrology of the two competing nations.

German Elections – Angela Merkel on course for another victory.

If there is so much as a racing certainty in political elections, then on 22nd September in Germany we will see Angela Merkel, the incumbent Chancellor of Germany renew her position for another term of office. Frau Merkel is as popular today in Germany as she has ever been and Germany is seen as the powerhouse in Europe and the one economy that has bucked the trends through the Western World of depression and has kept on building and growing. We all talk about German efficiency, but that the way they like it there and so long as the leader is doing a steady job, the German people like to stick with what they know. Angela has guided Germany through the choppy waters of the past 5 years without hitting the rocks and as a reward she will remain ship’s captain into the foreseeable future. Why? The Astrology says so.

Angela Merkel – German Chancellor facing mounting criticism over EU bail out.

Angela Merkel is facing opposition in her own coalition in Germany after agreeing to bail out European member states in the continuing debt crisis. As the one economy which is bucking the trend of downturn and depression, Germany is facing the prospect of using it’s hard earned profits to help out it’s poorer and one would say badly governed neighbours in Southern Europe. It is a strategy that is not garnering support in the German nation.
She was born on 17th July 1954 in Hamburg, Germany at 17.45, a Sun sign Cancerian with a humanitarian Aquarian Moon and a outwardly looking Sagittarius Ascendant. The mix of Sun and Moon shows that Angela has a social conscience, her emotions go out to help people. She is an innovator, very security conscious and will protect her position and those who support her as much as possible. Angela will be very sensitive to the needs of other people & she will do whatever she can to foster good relations. As with all those with their Sun in water signs, if things don’t go the way she wants, she can get very moody as well.

There is much Aquarian influence over Angela. Her Sun is closely in contact with Uranus and the Moon is in Aquarius. You know looks can be deceiving. This lady is very much an individual, quite quirky, plus her instincts will encourage her to go out on a limb and stand her ground. The Sun and Uranus are a very stubborn combination in this regard, and it may get her into trouble if she decides on a course of action in disregard to others advising her. It is very interesting that the Sun and Uranus, as well as Pluto (associated with big business) and Venus (associated with social affairs and personal possessions) are all in the 8th house of other people’s money, and her current stance over the debt bail out is the one causing her trouble. With 4 planets in the 8th, interest in big business, investment & finances will have coloured her life. Uranus here always indicates someone who favours free market economics, Uranus does not like barriers. Angela’s relationships will be emotional, intense and stormy with both Pluto, Venus and Uranus in this house, although you won’t know it. The Cancer Sun and Scorpio influence (8th house and Pluto) will mean that both her husband and any problems will be kept strictly out of the public glare, firmly behind closed doors. Angela will also have a interest in scientific subjects, she studied physics at university and also more taboo subjects too like life after death, maybe astrology and the occult, and I am sure that she will be an inventive cook. Cancerians love their food and Uranus adds ideas and the need to experiment. 
The Sun and Uranus make a square to Neptune and the Midheaven. I always say that the Sun and it’s position show a picture of the father and with Angela’s chart it describes him perfectly. He was a Lutheran pastor, a man of the cloth. The link from Sun to Neptune (the spiritual planet) shows this clearly. The interesting part is that despite living in East Germany, he was allowed to preach in West Germany, travelling across the Iron Curtain border without hindrance. The conjunction of Uranus, the planet of freedom and humanitarianism connecting with both Sun and Neptune indicate the privilege he had. In Angela’s life this square highlights that she has a social ideal and dream that she wants to share through her work in service to others. Neptune is in Libra which if anything accentuates the community aspect of this. It is also conjunct to Saturn. Saturn is in Scorpio the 10th, a very heavyweight placing. Angela has a deep overriding desire to administrate, to control & to be in charge, to be a respected person of stature in the world. Neptune adds a preaching element to the mix and through to the Midheaven we have a connection to being at the top of the tree. A sneaky liking for being in the limelight is also given by Neptune being in the middle of the sandwich between Saturn and Midheaven. She will be very hard on herself and also on others around her. Letting go of that controlling tendency to allow other people to do their job, will always cause friction in her life and in her relationships.
Being a social servant of others is also shown by the Moon in Aquarius which is in the 2nd house of finance and personal possessions widely opposite to Pluto. Her emotions are cool on the outside and turbulent on the inside, as well as being fickle. Sometimes she will be passionate and involved, sometimes cold and uninterested. The connection to Pluto shows that on an emotional level, at least once in her life, she will ditch all her ties and start afresh, and it is known that she divorced her first husband Ulrich, and she then remarried. I can imagine there would have been a battle over finances in the split, Moon in the 2nd opposite Pluto in the 8th will fight for their own possessions and money with fierce determination.
That determined streak to win in any battle is shown by Mars trine to Pluto from the first house. Mars is in Sagittarius showing a wonderful pioneering spirit, a Sagittarian Ascendant needs a challenge to keep them going. There is a definite sense that she is someone with boundless energy, full of grand plans and big ideas; although she must also be careful not to promise more than she can deliver. Angela will get most offended if she is not listened to, and if her ideas and philosophies are rejected, then depression can set in. Mars is retrograde in her chart indicating that the energy she has is internally focused and will be turned in on herself, frustration may well be something that beats her up inside, rather than externally venting it on those around her.
Mars makes a tight quindecile to Jupiter and Mercury in the 7th house. Here is someone who will be aggressive and very quick off the mark in debate with others (7th house). She will love the cut and thrust of discussing theories, philosophies and policies and sharing them with the public. She will not mince her words with Mercury trine to Saturn; she will be a straight talker, getting down to the bare bones of an argument or discussion without any fuss. Her brain will work on a deep serious level and she will be able to handle complex problems and ideas in a thorough and methodical approach. Jupiter and Mercury often indicate a talent for teaching and this is one avenue she may well take up once she leaves politics following her mother. Jupiter and Mercury are in conjunction with the Nodal Axis (the maternal axis); Angela’s mother was a language teacher – Mercury accentuates communication and Jupiter shows the international nature of it. The Moon in the second (the other indicator of the mother) shows that she served the public.
Mercury through the trine to Saturn makes a grand mini trine to Venus in Virgo. She will be interested in and will appreciate beauty & fashion, but her own style will be in a straight-forward and unfussy manner, rather more functional than haute-couture.
Problems do look as if they are on the horizon for Angela on the work front. Looking at the transit chart first, the standout aspect I see is Saturn approaching a conjunction with Angela’s Midheaven at 17 Libra. This aspect which becomes exact in September is a double edged sword. Saturn hitting the zenith of a chart is a time when all the chickens come home to roost, everything that you have been preparing for workwise in the previous months and years comes to completion, with either good or devastating consequences. Looking to where Saturn and Capricorn is placed tells me that Angela during the first pass will lay down the law but in the process, her authority will be challenged (Saturn in 10th house) and as such her self worth will be hit (Capricorn on cusp of 2nd house). Saturn will then go on to conjunct with Neptune at 23 Libra and in the process square to her Sun/Uranus and sextile to Pluto; Saturn will finally return to this degree in May, June and July next year. This is a very depressing, downbeat, disintegrating type of influence that is connected with the finance problems which are surfacing now through the connection to the planets in the 8th house. By extended house rulership, the 2nd, 8th, 11th and 12th houses will be hit most  - self worth 2nd, other peoples money and big business 8th, party issues and alliances 11th, and a lack of personal control over things 12th. What happens to her at this time will be the result of other people’s decisions.

On the Solar Arc Charts, SA Pluto sits on Angela’s Midheaven which shows a transformation in progress of her public image. SA Neptune is also making a sextile with her Midheaven, putting a cloud over her authority. SA North Node and Ascendant are both quindecile Pluto showing her making a stance and putting her firmly in the public eye. Finally in one year’s time, as transiting Saturn completes it connection to Neptune, Sun and Uranus, SA Midheaven will conjunct her Ascendant. A time for appreciating one’s achievements, but also a time for moving on? I don’t think so, although after the latest set of transits her authority will be much weakened. Angela is one tough, tough cookie and will take some shifting, she won’t go without being pushed. However in 2013/14 as SA Venus starts to connect with Angela’s natal Saturn, the time of the next scheduled elections in Germany, I think she will either be voted or forced out. Libra rules her Midheaven and so any transit or progression to or from Venus will affect her position as Chancellor.

Karl-Theodor zu Guttenberg – Baron “Cut and Paste” gets the boot and leaves Chancellor Merkel weaker.

Seeing this story, I had to have a look at the astrology and as always it checks out. The popular 39 year old German Defence minister (above) Karl-Theodor zu Guttenberg (born 5/12/71 – Munich – no birth-time), or to give him his full name Karl Theodor Maria Nikolaus Johann Jacob Philipp Franz Joseph Sylvester Freiherr von und zu Guttenberg (I kid you not) has resigned after it was found that half his 475 page university doctorate had been copied form other sources, word for word. Guttenberg or Baron Cut-and-Paste, Zu Copyberg or Zu Googleberg as the German media have playfully nicknamed him, was becoming a leading candidate for Chancellor in the future; alas this scandal has ruined his ambitions. He has also quite rightly been stripped of his PhD.

The Baron has a Sagittarius Sun conjunct Jupiter which for all intense purposes is a lucky aspect square Mars in Pisces. Normally this would be an all-action, adventuring, placement going out and doing things on a physical level, but Pisces is more dreamy, non-combative and deceptive here, so his beliefs, philosophy and education is where he would take risks, to his cost. He has a security motivated, patriotic Moon in Cancer and the other stand-out aspect for me is a wedge pattern, sextile and trine aspects onto an opposition. We have Saturn in communicative Gemini, opposite Neptune also in Sagittarius the sign of education. Saturn in Gemini raises doubts in the head about how intelligent you really are and often the consequence is for you to work even harder to compensate for this. However this Saturn is opposite Neptune which encourages you to take the easy route out. The easy route out for the Baron, supported by that Mars in Pisces was to cheat in his studies. Remember that wedge, Saturn opposition Neptune trine and sextile onto Pluto in Libra. Here is the Achilles heel in his deception, the self-destruct button waiting to be pushed. Uranus also squares his Sun/Jupiter conjunction too, although fortunate (in a hereditary sense), Guttenberg is accident prone too. Right now that Pluto (destruct button) is being opposed by transiting Uranus (unexpected events). Transiting Uranus also squares his natal Mercury (bad news). Transiting Mercury squares natal Sun and conjuncts that deceptive Mars highlighting what he had done; transiting Sun squares it’s own position.Transiting Saturn sits on that natal Uranus sextile his Sun/Jupiter, hard lessons to be learned from this revelation. There is more I could say, but you get the picture; the Baron’s political ambitions are now effectively toast.

Chancellor Angele Merkel also loses out of this situation too. She stuck by Guttenberg when the story broke in the German press, as three state elections were on the horizon. Looking at her transit chart, transiting Saturn is a couple of degrees from exactly being conjunct to her Midheaven, so right now her public standing is taking a bit of a battering and she is receiving criticism. Expect the forthcoming election results to go against her and her coalition government.