Features
The Royal Marriage and the death of Osama bin Laden
Two stories of great public event happened this past weekend. This article considers how they bookend the events contained within the skymap and parans.
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A note on the timing of this newsletter
We deliberately held off sending this month’s Visual Astrology Newsletter so that we could get the exact time of the Royal Marriage chart. However, within two days of this event we all woke to the news of the death of Osama bin Laden. Whilst these two major public events — a British Royal marriage, and the death of a terrorist — could not in any way be more dissimilar, they share a skymap story and hence are connected. So we devote this issue to a consideration of both.
Endings and New Beginnings
The Royal Marriage - ' ... a single man in possession of a good fortune...'
and the death of Osama bin Laden
By Darrelyn Gunzburg
At 11:17 am on Friday 29 April, 2011, at Westminster Abbey, London, Prince William, second in the line of succession to Queen Elizabeth II, was pronounced husband to (then) Kate Middleton, (now) Princess William Duchess of Cambridge, at Westminster Abbey. England erupted with joy as history unfolded before our eyes. We witnessed a marriage ceremony between two people who appeared to genuinely care for each other, were clearly good friends, and seemed deeply in love.
YouTube has its own Royal Channel and if you missed it or want to relive it, you can log in to the moments that millions across the UK and around the world saw live.[1]
Some reporters are calling this coupling a fairy tale romance. The Guardian (Saturday 30th April 2011) even reported how ‘one US TV network, seeking to discover what Kate Middleton’s life would be like as a princess, went to Disneyland to interview Snow White and Cinderella.’ [2] But is it a fairy tale romance? [3] This couple have known each other for over 8 years, first together and then apart, then together again. Their relationship has been slowly building both between themselves and also with the British public. So if it is it is not a fairy story then what is it?
There is another story of a union across class disparity (‘he is a gentleman and I am a gentleman’s daughter’) set firmly within the genre of English literature, a classic novel and one of its most loved – Jane Austen’s Pride and Prejudice. Both stories contain the two attractive sisters (Jane and Elizabeth in the novel), and a reformed scoundrel element (Wickham in the novel, and Carole Middleton’s brother, Kate's uncle, Gary Goldsmith).[4]
Kate, a commoner, married William, the man of great wealth and noble blood. In a sense 'Elizabeth' just married 'Mr Darcy'.
So what does the Royal Marriage skymap tell us about the couple’s married life together?
The marriage in the sky
A marriage chart is a foundation chart for a relationship. It reflects the moment of legal and / or authorised connection of two people, the moment of bonding, and the narrative it carries affects the union from that moment on.
Figure 1 - The sky for 29 April 2011 - the royal wedding
The key attributes of the skymap for 29 April 2011, London at 11.17 am, BST, are:
The Sun and its doryphory
This is when planets rise just before the sun. In this map (Fig. 1) you can see that these planets are Jupiter, Mars, (both in the 'V' of The Fishes) Mercury, Venus, and Uranus, sitting just under the body of the eastern fish.
A doryphory such as this would be defined by Ptolmey as most fortunate for the Sun, (the king) and the rulling party - ‘a conspicuous and brilliant fortune’ [5] - and Prince William would agree.
Venus is currently a bright morning star and it is radiating or shining its light on the Crown Prince (Jupiter), his army (Mars) and his advisors (Mercury). In an almost theatical way we saw this doryphory being played out on our TV screens with images of Pince Harry in heavy military uniform aiding his brother as his Best Man.
The Moon in the skymap sits in the face of the eastern Fish of Pisces, rising over the ‘string of pearls’ of Uranus, Venus, Mercury, Mars and Jupiter which forms the tether binding the eastern Fish to its western counterpart. On 29 April the Moon had just began to stress this cluster of planets by riding high over the top of all of them. When the Moon rides above a planet then it has control over the planets above which it rides. We could read this as a woman (the Moon) who has come from an outside position (a commoner) (the eastern Fish) and who has the love of the people through a common touch (Uranus) is the one who is in control of the situation. Thus Kate Middleton, the 'outsider' in terms of European royal families, married the Crown Prince.
Above: The doryphory displayed to the world by the royal wedding party as the Moon swept into the eastern fish and began its emphasis on the doryphory in the sky.
However, the Sun had also just entered the Stare of Cetus, (see Fig. 1) implying that the happy couple will have some difficult or even tragic issues with which they have to deal. These could be echoes of the still-incomplete issues connected with Diana, Princess of Wales which erupt from time to time. For example, CNN’s Piers Morgan described Kate Middleton as ‘a new superstar’ who was now ‘propelled into the stratosphere of celebrity status’.[6] Such a comment suggests a line of thinking and enthusiam which became all- consuming and destructive in the story of Diana, Princess of Wales.
This difficult theme is also reflected in the star parans for the marriage.
The Mundane Parans for London
To gain added information we can look at the parans which sit underneath the Sun and Moon of this Marriage Chart and since this is a public couple, we will look at these via the lens of the mundane parans. These paran meanings have all come from Starlight software.
The Sun - The identity of the Couple
The Sun is in paran with Deneb Algedi, the tail of the Sea Goat. [7]
A time when the respected person steps forward.
The media noted how the last time that Prince William walked down the aisle of Westminster Abbey was as a 15 year old boy come to bury his mother. Here now was the man come to rejoice in the taking of a bride in matrimony. A journey from sadness to joy for this respected person.
The Sun is in paran with Zosma, on the back of the Lion.
A group of people are the innocent victims of a senseless act.
The meaning of this paran is not yet clear, yet this emphasizes rather than diminishes the fact that the Sun is in the face of Cetus in the skymap.
The Moon - The Emotions of the People
The Moon is in paran with Zosma, on the back of the Lion.
Concern for victims of crime, or natural disasters.
The Moon is in paran with Bellatrix, the left shoulder of the god Orion.
A desire to help others.
The couple have set up a new charity fund to celebrate their wedding, requesting well-wishers to donate to the fund rather than send them gifts. The money raised will fund a raft of 26 charities all of which are small and little-known, have no royal patronage and which represent issues close to the couple’s hearts - help and care at home, children fulfilling their potential, support for service personnel and their families, and conservation. [8] These two parans are being expressed through the setting up of this charity fund.
It is hard to know exactly how these parans will unfold in other directions but it would appear that it will not be all smooth sailing for the young couple.
Meanwhile in an extraordinary counterpoint to this event, comes the news of the death of
al-Qaeda leader Osama bin Laden.
Death of Osama bin Laden
This occurred at a fortified compound on the outskirts of Abbottabad in north-west Pakistan on the evening of 1 May 2011. The operation began at about 2230 (1730GMT) and lasted around 45 minutes [9] — placing the time at approximately 23:15 which locates Pluto on the Ascendant.
The Sky Map
Pluto sits on the tip of the bow of Sagittarius The Archer. This was the same for the Royal Marriage but now it has greater nuance in the light of bin Laden’s death. This could herald a time of greater unrest as Pluto’s journey through The Archer has just begun.
The Sun is still in the Stare of Cetus but now the Moon has moved over the top of the partile Jupiter-Mars conjunction. Now it is President Obama (the Sun) who has seized the day (Moon rides over the top and heading towards the Sun) aided and advised by his Crown Prince, the Pentagon (Jupiter), using the US's special team of 20-to-25 US Navy Seals who conducted the raid (Mars).[10]
Above: President Obama and his security team watched the operation in real time from the White House - A different expression of the doryphory, now the Moon was emphasing the Jupiter-Mars partile conjunction. The 'king' and his Crown Prince (Vice President on the left) and his miltary people..
The Mundane Parans for Washington
With the change of latitude there has been a change of meaning of the parans to the Moon, taking the meanings given to the parans from Starlight these parans are graphic in their depiction of this event:
Sun in paran with Procyon, in Canis Minor, the little dog.
A time of sporting success, or short-lived, ephemeral glories
Sun in paran with Vindemiatrix: in the right hand of the Goddess
People gather together, an event that unites.
This suggests that the event had an extremely postive outcome and that the people in USA were united by it. However, Procyon warns of an ephemeral glory.
The Moon is in paran with Arcturus, in Bootes, the hunter who now farms.
Concern for those in need.
President Obama and his security team watched the operation in real time from the White House. Counter-Terrorism advisor John Brennan noted how 'The minutes passed like days.' [11]
Mars is in paran with Procyon, in Canis Minor, the little dog.
A rash or violent act, or a sudden break-through achievement.
Mars is in paran with Altair, in Aquila the Eagle.
To attack, to go to war, to act bravely.
Mars is in paran with Murzims, in Canis Major, the big dog.
Alarming news, news of events that causes anger.
These offer a clear description of the actions of the day but with a warning that there will be more events to follow.
Jupiter is in paran with Murzims, in Canis Major, the big dog.
Transparency, the true situation is revealed.
Jupiter is in paran with Procyon, in Canis Minor, the little dog.
Finding the unexpected solution.
Jupiter is in paran with Spica, in the wheatsheaf of the Goddess.
An event beyond people's expectatins.
Jupiter is in paran with Altair, in Aquila the Eagle.
A focus on the military.
Here are the results of years of intelligence, trails that led nowhere and finally, success. The word from the White House is that President Obama decided against an air strike on the compound where bin Laden was finally killed as it might have obiliterated evidence of bin Laden's death and intelligence material on al-Qaeda as well cause problems if bin Laden not have been in the compound.[12]
There is much in the sky map and these parans that describes what many will feel is the appropriate end to someone who ‘through theological debate and study … came to embrace fundamentalist Islam as a bulwark against what he saw as the decadence of the West’ [13] and used it to create violence and terror.
In conclusion ...
Perhaps what we learn most from these events is that the sky map and their connected parans have many expressions and here are the bookends of the spectrum of how they can disclose themselves — on the one hand the living joy of marriage, love and the creation of new life, both literal and metaphoric; on the other, the end of a life lived in hatred that caused death to thousands.
Both events are new beginnings and both events suggest more difficult events are to come.
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References:
1. http://www.officialroyalwedding2011.org/ - 27th April 2011.
Also seee ...
http://www.apothetraccom.com/2822/since-kate-middleton-is-not-royal-will-her-marriage-to-william-be-considered-a-morganatic-marriage.html - 2nd May 2011.
2.
The Guardian, Saturday 30th April 2011, Royal Wedding Supplement p.2.
3. The narrative of Diana, Princess of Wales, and her marriage to Prince Charles in 1981 was most definitely made of Cinderella-like substance and contained fairy-tale quality, yet shockingly its end took it on more of an Arthurian trajectory, placing it into the realms of British legend.
4. Furthermore Colin Firth, the actor whom most people consider to be their favourite ‘Mr Darcy’ and who was nominated for a BAFTA for his role in the 1996 British TV 6-part adaption, recently received great success playing the current Queen’s father, King George VI I the film The King’s Speech.
5.
Ptolemy. Tetrabiblos. Edited by J.M. Ashmand. Mokelumne Hill, California: Health Research, 1969, p. 114. In medieval astrology even Saturn forms part of the doryphory by aspecting (opposition).
6.
The Guardian, Saturday 30th April 2011, Royal Wedding Supplement p.7.
7. All paran meanings taken from Brady, Bernadette. Star and Planet Combinations. Bournemouth: The Wessex Astrologer, 2008.
8. http://news.sky.com/skynews/Home/UK-News/Royal-Wedding-Kate-Middleton-And-Prince-William-Set-Up-Charitable-Fund-To-Mark-Their-Wedding-Day/Article/201103315953249 - 2nd May 2011.
9, 10, 11, 12 and 13. http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-south-asia-13257330 - 2nd May 2011.
