Celebrity Astrology (and Astrology of Current Affairs): Pope Benedict XVI’s speech – Part III
September 23, 2006 by admin
Read Part I – Benedict XVI’s natal horoscope, and Part II – When Would Benedict Ascend the Throne?
It is now 2006, so Benedict’s profected Ascendant is the cusp of the natal 8th house. The house is ruled by Mars, which as we noted above, is an inherently well-functioning malefic. This means, as above, that it will be an overall good year, but one where success will come through strife. Mars is square Mercury in Pisces, which gives us a bit of an inverse picture of the previous year. Mercury is acting as a malefic here, and there are no other aspects to Mars that would redeem the situation. So we can expect difficulties through communication and speech, as Mercury rules those.
If we look at the profected third house of speech for 2006, we note that while the overall picture for the year is a positive one (very strong Jupiter in Pisces on the radical Ascendant rules the profected third, radical 10th house), we can expect some troubles, since the malefic South Node is in the 10th house.
When will these troubles manifest? When we have a malefic planet ruling the month in question. Counting one month per house from the radical 10th (the 3rd profected house for this year), we could expect difficulties in communication in the May-July time frame (both relevant houses are ruled by peregrine Saturn), September-November (both relevant houses ruled by detrimented/fallen Mercury, which is rather more difficult than Saturn), and January-February 2007 (house ruled by Mercury). Indeed, the controversial speech came in mid-September, right in the period shown by the radical third house ruled by Mercury.
Since the malefic Mercury is disposited by the very strong Jupiter in Pisces on the Ascendant, we would expect that the end of the whole affair will be a good one, despite its negative beginning. Perhaps this will be the beginning of true inter-religious discourse.
Celebrity Astrology (and Astrology of Current Affairs): Pope Benedict XVI’s speech – Part II
September 23, 2006 by admin
Read Part I – Benedict XVI’s Natal Horoscope, and Part III – “Islam” Speech Furor in Benedict’s Horoscope
Now that we have determined that Benedict has the Papal office indicated in his natal horoscope (see Part I – Benedict XVI’s Natal Horoscope), we can actually get down to prediction. He became Pope on April 19, 2005, shortly after turning 78. We will profect his natal 9th house (the house that in his natal chart is linked to becoming Pope) for the age of 78. If we count round and round from the Ascendant as age 0 (birth) to the age of 78, we will land on the 7th cusp as being his Profected Ascendant for the period April 16 2005 – April 16 2006. The ninth house from this new Ascendant is the radical 3rd house, which will tell us what we need to know about the quality of his 9th house affairs (religious honors, faith) for the year.
The radical 3rd house is ruled by Gemini, so its ruler is Mercury. Mercury is very strongly positioned in the 1st house, and is disposited by Jupiter. In Pisces, however, Mercury is also in its fall and detriment. What does Mercury rule in the chart? The 3rd, 4th and 7th houses, so we can expect some difficulties through writing, speech, the family/home, and colleagues/the public (significant others are out of the question here). However, because Mercury is in the sign ruled by Jupiter (Lord of the Ascendant), we expect Benedict to eventually overcome his difficulties – and indeed, he won out over all the other Papal candidates (Mercury).
But back to the quality of his 9th house affairs for 2005. Mercury is aspected by two strong planets; Venus in Taurus, so we would expect some help from deals (Venus) being made, as well as help from his supporters (2nd house). Mercury is also squared by Mars in Gemini in the 4th house. The 4th house is the 8th from the 9th, indicating the Pope’s death. Because Mars is relatively strong in its terms and it is angular, we expect success, but Mars is inherently a malefic planet and a square is a hostile aspect, the success comes through the Pope’s death, and only with difficulty. The fact that Jupiter disposits this Mercury shows that the cause of the success is the 1st house (Benedict himself) and more likely, the 9th and 10th houses of religion and fame, respectively.
What can we make of the fact, however, that the greatest honor of his life came when his 9th house (and indeed, his profected Ascendant as well) was ruled by the malefic Mercury? My observation in this chart and others is that the ultimate good and evil in a chart comes from the dispositor of a given planet, and any close aspects to it. Here, Mercury is disposited by a very strong and benefic Jupiter, so the “bad” planet is held on a rather tight leash. It also does not hurt that Mercury is closely aspected by a rather strong Venus and Mars.
Celebrity Astrology (and Astrology of Current Affairs): Pope Benedict XVI’s speech – Part I
September 23, 2006 by admin
As popes go, Pope Benedict XVI (Joseph Ratzinger) is a controversial figure. He is unapologetically traditionalist in his doctrine and fairly blunt in his words. More than that, however, he is highly intellectual in his words and written works and as such is apt to be misunderstood by the masses. As an astrologer, this is quite interesting, and I wanted to find out more about Pope Benedict’s astrological indicators. Today, we will look at:
- Indications of becoming Pope in Benedict’s natal horoscope (Part I),
- Predicting when Benedict might become Pope (Part II), and
- Predicting the time of Benedict’s speech about Islam and its ensuing outcry (Part III).
Benedict’s horoscope is truly fascinating, and highly instructive to those, like myself, who are fascinated by indications of spiritual vocations in the horoscope. Beyond that, however, I have tried to find out what made Benedict’s horoscope different from any other Catholic clergyman, such that we would see indications of the Papal office. I also like numbers, so I was curious what were the chances that someone could have this fascinating horoscope or at least its salient features.
We immediately note the presence of Jupiter in Pisces on the Ascendant. Jupiter rules religion and the clergy, and here it is in its own sign of Pisces. This Jupiter is by far the strongest planet in the chart, as it is both in its own sign and on the Ascendant, from which position it can strongly influence the native’s life. However, not everyone with Jupiter in Pisces on the Ascendant becomes Pope, or even enters the clergy. Approximately .69% of the world’s population has this combination with Jupiter on the Ascendant in Pisces – that is, 41.4 million people. Thus, we have to look for more features that make Benedict’s horoscope unique. Jupiter rules the 9th house of religion (as well as the 10th house of fame); only 3,472,222 people in the world have this factor in their horoscopes as well.
Planets in a given house are extremely important to the affairs of that house. In Benedict’s horoscope, Saturn is placed just inside the 9th house of religion, and it is conjunct the Royal star Antares. Saturn is not very strong in this horoscope, as it does not have much essential dignity in 6 Sagittarius, and of course, it is cadent. However, this Royal Saturn also closely aspects the Part of Fortune at 8 Virgo (no, I do not reverse the formula for the Part of Fortune by night). Any planet aspecting the Part of Fortune will have a great deal to do with the quality of the fortune and the heights reached by the native.
In Benedict’s horoscope, Saturn is disposited by this ultra-religious Jupiter in the Ascendant. Now we are down to about 120 people in the whole world who have a similar configuration. Since most of them are inherently not in a position to become Pope (too young, too old, female, not Catholic, etc.), we can start to appreciate the uniqueness of this configuration in Benedict’s horoscope. We can also appreciate the importance of being born into the right conditions for our fate. To illustrate, Bill Gates does have the horoscope of someone who would become financially successful, but only because he was born into a very wealthy and influential upper class family in the richest country in the world, could he amass the fortune that he did. Others in the world have a very similar chart to his, but if they are rickshaw pullers somewhere in Asia, maybe they will own their own rickshaw business someday. Context is everything.
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