Nigella: A Plutonian Story

Hands off our national treasure

My friend down the road never "bakes a cake", she "does a Nigella". I'm sure she's not alone. Is there a kitchen bookshelf in Britain that does not have a thumbed edition of How To Eat or Feast or some other of Nigella Lawson's phenomenally successful cookbooks on it?

Women all over the country see Lawson as a kitchen goddess, but also as a kind of ideal best friend. Yes, she's glamourous and beautiful and rich, but she also has suffered a lot in her life, and just like so many of us, part of her response to that suffering has surely been to surround herself with yummy food, and cosy money (the latter is not so abundant for most of us, of course). That's a practical way of dealing with emotional trauma – very Capricorn.

She is a fantasy figure, the subject of a million idealised projections, a cultural icon, but her earthy persona makes her one of us, one of the people. That's why she's known by all and sundry simply as Nigella.

Synchronicity

In February, we went to the big synagogue in Rome. Each seat is labelled with the name of a local patron. There are probably about 1000 seats, The one I sat in at random had a brass plate with the name Elias Astrologo engraved on it.

Nice.

Rupert Murdoch Clobbered by U-Plu

Rupert and Wendi: A Perfect Match

I wrote a piece about Rupert Murdoch a couple of years ago, because he's a fascinating character. At the time I wondered what had happened when Pluto went over his Ascendant  -- and how come he was still standing – since he seemed to be doing OK at that moment.

Then the sh*t hit the fan with the hacking scandal, and the closure of The News of the World and now he's getting divorced. He'd married Wendi Deng when Pluto was in conjunct that Jupiter in the 7th house. He's divorcing her as Pluto, still in the first, opposes his natal Jupiter in the seventh house of partners. She is a Jupiter-ruled Sag - and clearly likes to gamble for big stakes.

The thing about Murdoch is that he is very serious about his family and the legacy he leaves his children -- fourth house Sun-Mercury in Pisces, Saturn in the first/second in Capricorn sextile Sun. This is key to his character. If Deng failed to make him feel that she and her girls are family, he will want to ensure that there will be no legal issues about his legacy. He will have been planning this divorce for a while, making sure all the legals are tight, so his other children will be sure to keep control of the empire. Apparently it's all in trust, but Murdoch knows better than to trust anyone. If he's divorced when he dies, Deng won't be able to challenge his will.

Today, Mercury - the news - is right on his Pluto. This summer's astro-splurge puts Murdoch's Jupiter right in the eye of the storm. It'll be interesting to see how this unfolds. He may well have met an enemy as ruthless as he is himself. I note that he has Lilith on his IC: wild woman undoing his foundations perhaps.

To read the profile of Murdoch and see his chart, click here.

Father Sun Marries Mother Moon in Summer

The creatures of the Zodiac cavort in a loop through the sky that takes us from midwinter to midsummer and back again. We are used to thinking of them as starting with Aries the Ram and ending with Pisces, the Fishes. But there is another way of ordering the Zodiac that can help you to think of the signs in a different kind of relationship to each other. This uses the traditional rulerships.

Ruled by the Moon and the Sun

This 6th century zodiac wheel from the holy
land puts Cancer - the midsummer sign -
at the top, and Capricorn, the midwinter sign at the bottom.
This puts Aries on the descendant,
 instead of the more usual, ascendant.

Cancer Leo

Ruled by Mercury

Gemini Virgo

mutables

Ruled by Venus

Taurus Libra

Ruled by Mars

Scorpio Aries

Ruled by Jupiter

Sagittarius Pisces

mutables

Ruled by Saturn
Capricorn Aquarius

These pairs move outwards through the signs in a circle with Cancer and Leo at one meeting point, opposite to Capricorn and Aquarius at the other.

Astrology of Now: Mud Wrestling

U-Plu

It's all been a bit jagged for, well, years.

For most people, the ongoing U-Plu (Uranus-Pluto square) has not gone smash-bang and changed everything. It's felt more like a massive arduous grinding shift; a huge stone cog that judders along, sending out sparks every now and then, and mashing up anything that gets in between. It's been kind of... tiring... and frightening if you happen to be in the wrong place.

Well, this summer, may, and I stress the word may drizzle a little oil between those cogs. That's because of a very strong positive formation in the sky in July, the vaunted Grand Trine in Water. The U-Plu is between earth and fire, so a little of the wet stuff won't go amiss. But I suspect it's far more complex than that.

This isn't just any old Grand Trine: it's between three heavy-duty planets, Jupiter in Cancer, Saturn in Scorpio and Neptune in its own sign Pisces, which makes it the strongest planet involved. This kind of thing does not happen very often.

For most of history, Jupiter and Saturn have been the heaviest hitters in the solar system. They are the two kings: the generous king in his prime, Jupiter, and the old king, Saturn, carrier of traditions - and they are both supporting the king of the sea this summer, like ladies in waiting holding the queen's train, just to bend some gender.

Taken at the Flood

The Rhinemaidens

The Elbe, the Vistula, the Inn, the mighty Danube himself, the busy Rhine – the rivers of central Europe are swollen, bursting their banks, rolling across the countryside, swallowing roads, cars, houses. Twenty people have lost their lives.

The river gods are hungry. They are the sons and daughters of Oceanus, the great god of the sea. And astrologically, he is the planet Neptune, more powerful now than he has been in 16O years because he is in his own sign, Pisces, the fishes.

The floods began with the torrential rains at the end of May, when the Moon went into Pisces and conjuncted Neptune at 5°. Neptune's power was already heightened by an exact supportive trine from Saturn in fellow water sign Scorpio.

It just got wetter as Mercury, Venus and the Moon all trined Saturn and Neptune this week. They are in fellow water sign Cancer, and at the end of the month expansive Jupiter will be there too. It could conceivably get wetter still.

Twelfth House People

Lying in bed, feeling a little strange, a little light-headed. The sun sends blocks of light across your duvet; because it is broad daylight, and you alone are not at work or at school. Everyone else is busy.

There are noises in the house: a tap runs in the kitchen; a distant radio, a car in the street. It's all muffled. You are in your own small world: the bed, your room. The clock ticks, you doze, hours have slipped away.

If you have a strong 12th house, or Pisces/Neptune, you will be familiar with the land of counterpane. You may well have spent a significant period during your childhood in bed.

In Vedic astrology, the 12tth house is the bedroom. These periods of illness – glandular fever, ME, an accident – will have forced you inwards. You will have spent time developing your imagination away from the mainstream, looking inside your own mind. You may well have read a lot of books, or listened intensely to music, or, in one case I know, taught yourself the piano.