Celebrity Astrology: Princess Kiko Has a Boy!
September 6, 2006 by admin
For those of you who are not completely up-to-date on the Japanese Royal Succession Crisis (what do you mean, there was a crisis?), the fact that Princess Kiko had a boy today is great news. There has not been a male heir in line for the Chrysanthemum Throne for 41 years, and the country has been fretting over these for years now. If you are an astrologer, you are not surprised, of course, because Princess Kiko’s horoscope showed it all along.
Princess Kiko and the Japanese Succession Crisis
Princess Kiko was born into a middle-class Japanese family and married Prince Akishino (given name Fumihito), who is second in line to inherit Japan’s Chrysanthemum Throne. They met as undergraduates at university and married in their early twenties, a love match by all indications. Throughout her pregnancy, all eyes were on Princess Kiko. Neither Prince Akishino nor his elder brother, Crown Prince Naruhito, have sons, so the Princess’s son will be third in line to the throne, after his uncle and father.
Princess Kiko’s Horoscope
Princess Kiko’s chart is quite fortunate; the fixed star Dirah (also known as Tejat Posterior), on the left foot of the Northern Twin, is right on the ascendant. Dirah is of the nature of Mercury and Venus, and promises power and protection. Castor is the mortal of the two Twins (the Dioscuri), so Princess Kiko did not reach the very highest power, as she would have by marrying the Crown Prince, but still did very well nonetheless. In the 2nd house, exalted Jupiter on the cusp confers wealth. Jupiter rules the 10th house of status, so wealth will come from her position or occupation. Interestingly, the wealth of the spouse is not tremendous; the ruler of the 8th house is an angular but retrograde Saturn in Pisces. The fixed star Terebellum, of the nature of Venus and Saturn, sits on the 8th cusp, indicating fortune but with regret and disgrace.
For royalty, children are more a part of their fortune than the rest of us. So we must look at Princess Kiko’s 5th house of children. One of the royal stars, Spica at 23 Libra, is conjunct the 5th house cusp, promising a child who will be king. This is the only royal star in the Princess’s chart and is the more suggestive for its uniqueness.
Celebrity Astrology: Steve Irwin’s Horoscope
September 6, 2006 by admin
It is with great sadness that I heard about Steve Irwin’s death on Monday. His love of nature and his ability to convey his passion for the environment to millions of people was very special. And yet, watching Irwin’s antics around some of the world’s most dangerous animals, I could not help but wonder – how long could he cheat death? The answer, as always, lies in Steve Irwin’s horoscope.
While we do not have Steve Irwin’s birthtime, we can always use his horoscope set for noontime. This is perfectly appropriate when we wish to learn more about someone’s public persona. Understanding the astrological causes of Steve Irwin’s death falls neatly into this category, without us needing to pry into his private life.
Steve Irwin’s noontime horoscope is set for February 22, 1962, noon, Essendon, Australia.
Mars in Aquarius: The Crocodile Hunter
Crocodiles are traditionally ruled by Saturn (because they are nasty-looking lizard creatures) and the Sun (because they are the king of the lizard kingdom and live in hot climates). In Steve Irwin’s horoscope, Saturn is the strongest planet in the chart because it is in its own sign, Aquarius. More than that, four other planets are in strong Saturn dignities: Jupiter, Mars and Mercury are in Aquarius, while the Moon is in Libra and thus in Saturn’s exaltation. Because Saturn is so strong in this chart, it will act primarily as a goodie in Steve Irwin’s life. But once a malefic, always a malefic, and a strong Saturn will kill one just as dead as a weak one. We would also keep an eye out for Mars, another malefic, not nearly as strong as Saturn, and thus much more likely to cause Steve Irwin to run into trouble. Mars is the planet of the hunter, in a Saturn sign; of course Steve Irwin could only be the Crocodile Hunter. Finally, Jupiter can also cause problems, since it rules the 8th house of death. In astrology, this makes Jupiter anareta, the killing planet, that can add to testimonies of death.
Steve Irwin’s Horosope: 2006 Solar Return
Steve Irwin’s Solar Return for this year looks pretty problematic. Mars, weak in Gemini, squares the Sun (the lifegiver) from the 5th house of fun, creativity, and children. If Steve Irwin had come to us before his death, we would have said that it is especially important to be careful of violent accidents while working on creative projects. Since Steve Irwin died while filming a new nature feature, we can see that the promise of the Solar Return was sadly fulfilled.
Saturn in Leo (in its detriment, so very malefic) is angular on the 7th cusp, and afflicts the Moon. The Moon, to a lesser extent than the Sun, gives life. Here is another potential pitfall. Saturn rules the Solar Return 12th house of wild animals. Given Steve Irwin’s career, we would again have enjoined him to be very careful.
Meanwhile, Jupiter, the anareta (killing planet), sextiles Venus, the Lord of Steve Irwin’s natal Ascendant, a symbol of Steve Irwin’s body in the chart. The horrible mutual reception between the Jupiter and Venus is just icing on the cake; the two planets receive each other into their detriment and fall, harming and hating one another. Jupiter is a moist planet in a moist sign, suggesting a watery kind of death.
Waiting for the Miracle – Leonard Cohen
July 22, 2006 by admin
Baby, I’ve been waiting,
I’ve been waiting night and day.
I didn’t see the time,
I waited half my life away.
There were lots of invitations
and I know you sent me some,
but I was waiting
for the miracle, for the miracle to come.
- From “Waiting for the Miracle” by Leonard Cohen
The singer/songwriter/poet Leonard Cohen hardly needs an introduction;his carefully crafted lyricism has inspired countless musicians from Suzanne Vega to U2. I recently saw the documentary Leonard Cohen: I’m Your Man and became curious about Cohen’s horoscope and what it showed about his unique artistic style. For those unfamiliar with Cohen’s writing, he is at once deeply melancholy and humorous, a romantic on an endless quest for redemption and rare Grace.
Even before I had seen the documentary, it was clear to me that Cohen was a melancholic, though obviously with a twist, since melancholics are not in themselves given to pouring out their experiences to the world. He struggled for many years with depression (perhaps not unlike Lilly’s “hypochondriac melancholy”) and has come out the better for it, his innate lyrical ability burnished by the friction between the attraction of the material on the one hand and a striving for salvation on the other. Several years in a Zen monastery on California’s Mount Baldy seems to have refined Cohen’s perspective without necessarily dulling his acute power of observation. His birth chart is below:
Note that the birth time is approximate, and thus may actually give an early Libra Ascendant. Regardless of this, however, the conclusions I reach would be largely similar. Neurosurgery this is not.
The Lord of the Geniture here is Saturn retrograde in its own sign in the 5th house of creative works. Cohen is said to spend a year on each song, refining it through numerous drafts to create a polished gem. This is a Saturnian process indeed, with the endless revisions expected from a retrograde planet. And yet, Saturn in the 5th house will leave its stamp on the native’s creations (be they children, poems or songs) – Cohen is not known for chipper musical fare. And yet, the whole thing is saved by a trine from Jupiter near Spica in the 2nd house. In its higher sense, the 2nd house shows the self-worth of the native. Jupiter on Spica, a religiously orientated, benefic fixed star will give an eternal belief that redemption is possible. This constant religious yearning is present in seemingly every song and poem, whether overtly spiritual or not. Let us move on to the overall temperament; using Lilly’s method, the constitution is strongly melancholic and overwhelmingly dry.
Along with the usual traits of melancholics, Cohen has quite a dry sense of humor (he said of his first stay at the Zen monastery that he left because it was run by a Japanese Roshi, with a German head monk and with all the Americans walking around in sandals, it seemed to him too much like revenge for World War II). Along with Jupiter, an important source of life-giving moisture here is the Moon in Pisces on Fomalhaut, a royal fixed star that gives treasures in the next world. Cohen spent many years working hard to renounce material success and acclaim; perhaps only his stay in an austere monastery, serving as a cook and driver to the Roshi (6th house of servitude) allowed him to satisfy that longing. The long sabbatical seems to have refreshed Cohen’s spirits and creativity in a way his previous efforts did not. The proximity of the Part of Fortune further underscores the importance of renunciation and service in his very core of the being.
Finally, then, we come to Cohen’s art. First house Mercury rules the chart, and we immediately notice its mutual reception with the very weak Venus in the 12th house. This connection immediately makes one think of artistic skill, and yet, with the difficult Venus, the artistic process cannot be easy nor joyful so much as an urgent necessity. Mercury and Venus further dominate the chart by reception; five planets are in the dignities of one of the planets. Notably, Saturn, the Lord of the Geniture is not one of those five. This may signify that ultimately, he will do his best work when he approaches his creativity as a discipline, rather than merely a means to create art (Venus) or express himself (Mercury). I believe that Cohen has been largely successful in this – ultimately, he says, he is a vehicle through which art and Grace flow as They will, when they will. His goal is simply to be prepared when They arrive.
“There is a crack in everything;
That’s how the light gets in.”
- Leonard Cohen
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