Things have got so much more civilized in Britain. Less than 400 years ago, the British Parliament decided King Charles I was too Catholic and chopped off his head. That’s unlikely to happen to King Charles III. Previously, kings romped off to the continent leading their armies into battle on horseback, and European nations banded together in constant wars. Less than 300 years ago, England repulsed an invasion from Bonnie Prince Charlie and massacred the Scottish army at the Battle of Culloden, which inaugurated a century of repression of the Scots. There was tremendous instability.
Religion – the opium of the people
That was then. There were just five million people in the United Kingdom in 1700 whilst there are 67 million now. We can’t imagine what life was like several centuries ago when the main entertainment was (compulsory) church attendance every Sunday. Christianity then was an immersion as total as entertainment media is today. In Britain in the reign of Queen Elizabeth I, heretics were executed if they insisted the bread and wine of holy communion was literally (Catholic), rather than symbolically (Anglican) the body and blood of Christ. And they did insist, and were burned at the stake for it. In the western world today, what seems like the religious extremism of the past is no longer a dominant feature, even if American evangelicals would like to make it so.
James Bond’s demise and other catastrophes
But not all is well in what is still called Great Britain (a designation invented in the early 1700’s when England, Wales, Scotland and Ireland had just been united). I’m guessing that the rot set in with the ill-advised death of James Bond. Yes, that magnet for beautiful women, destroyer of autocrats, and master spy departed from this world at the end of the film No Time to Die. He was seen to breathe his last on September 29th, 2021 at the Royal Albert Hall premier, when Mercury, most appropriately, was exactly square Pluto. Who, then, is going to promote the honor of the British Empire, let alone Aston Martin?
Since the lamentable and drawn-out saga of Brexit, when nostalgic Brits longed for the return of that Empire, but actually experienced a declining economy and the loss of easy access to valuable European markets, the trajectory of Britain has been a downward curve. After the loss of Bond as a supremely marketable British icon, Queen Elizabeth II also died, leaving the mourning country to Prince (now King) Charles and Camilla. Just days before the queen died, she welcomed Liz Truss (remember her?) as Prime Minister – the 15th in her long reign.
A cascade of Prime Ministers
Liz Truss lasted 50 days in office, because, at a time of rampant inflation, she proposed tax cuts for the rich as if she was the reincarnation of Margaret Thatcher. She was appointed by Queen Elizabeth on September 6th 2022 and resigned to King Charles III on October 25th at an exact solar eclipse at 2 Scorpio – conjoining Venus at the same degree. She was the fourth of a series of resignations over six years including David Cameron, Therese May, and Boris Johnson. Now, at last Britain has a Prime Minister whose roots are Indian – Rishi Sunak. India is probably thinking that they have finally turned the tables on 300 years of British occupation.
The United Kingdom Chart
What can the horoscopes for the United Kingdom, the Conservative Party and other significant charts tell us about the future trajectory of the British Isles – and do these charts explain the current state of a Britain which is heading into recession?
United Kingdom. January 1st 1801. 0.00 London
The British Isles have had a series of important horoscopes since the Norman Conquest in 1066, and perhaps the most significant chart since then is the United Kingdom chart, which came into effect just after midnight on New Year’s Day in 1801. This chart represents the formal union of Great Britain with Ireland. On the plus side, this chart channels an exact sextile between Jupiter in Leo and Uranus in Libra which could represent the technological and political innovations, which put Britain considerably in advance of other European nations at the time. Jupiter in Leo in the 10th represents perhaps the glorious British Empire. This sextile is the base of a yod, with Pluto at 2.42 Pisces at its apex. This is within a degree of Pluto in the 1066 chart (Note 1.), and is therefore England’s third Pluto return.
Another plus is the close sextile between Mercury in Sagittarius in the 3rd house (trine the North Node) to Venus in Aquarius , which may to some extent reflect the spread and subsequent dominance of the English language, amongst other things. Also, the close trine between the Sun in Capricorn and Mars in Taurus in the 8th house could represent Britain’s mercantile foundations and the power of its financial institutions.
The Grand Cross
The United Kingdom’s current (astrological) difficulties begin with the grand cross with Mars 11 Taurus, Venus 16 Aquarius, Neptune 18 Scorpio and Saturn 23 Leo. The death of Queen Elizabeth and subsequent mourning took place with transiting Uranus exactly opposing Neptune, whilst Saturn was square, and it is this Saturn-Uranus square which is the outer influence evoking the current tectonic upheavals: Brexit, Covid, and the Conservative Party meltdown. The massive structure of British parliamentary and social life is being shaken to the core, and it is not over yet, because Uranus will move to make a square to Saturn in Leo in the 11th house – parliament – from August 2023 to January 2024. (The next election will be no later than January 2025).
The Conservative Party
The horoscope for the Conservative Party tells the same story, as it has a lot of the fixed house placements of the UK chart.
Conservative Party: November 12th, 1867. 12 noon. London
Uranus will be transiting the IC of this chart at the same time as it squares the UK Saturn, and prior to that it opposes the Conservative Sun. This Uranus influence on the Sun could indicate that the Prime Minister is the first person of color to have that position; it could mean that he too gets ejected in some unprecedented turn of events. Or both. But anyway, with Uranus transiting the Moon at 25 Taurus (opposing Saturn at 25 Scorpio) at the time of the next election, then the by then 14 years of Conservative rule will be at an end.
The Labour Party
Which, if true, can only mean that Labour will win the next election, so it’s worth looking at the 1906 horoscope for the foundation of the Parliamentary Labour Party.
Labour Party: February 12th 1906. 12 noon London
The Labour party was formed at a rare 172-year opposition of Uranus and Neptune, which reflects the revolutionary idealism which gave birth to it. Just two days previously there was a lunar eclipse channeling all the transformational power of Pluto. And there is the classic signature for socialism – Saturn (in Pisces) trine Neptune. Lamentably, perhaps,, Labour’s Moon-Mars opposition makes a grand cross with the Uranus-Neptune opposition, which indicates the idealism, which carries them away into utopian territory. Currently Saturn is transiting the Midheaven-Venus-Sun conjunction and next year Uranus squares these points. This also indicates a party in the midst of structural change, but my guess is – as the years-long Uranus-Pluto trine kicks in after 2025, forming a grand trine with Labor’s moon, they will have at least five years of power.
Progressions in Labor’s chart shows the MC coming around to conjoin Pluto in 2025 just as Mercury conjoins progressed Pluto, with all these points making a trine to Labor’s radix MC, Venus and the Sun, so it is a reasonable assumption that Labour will be in power.
Progressions in the UK chart
To get an in-depth view of the evolution of the United Kingdom, planetary progressions provide a deeper and more nuanced picture. Transits come and go, and a strong ship can always weather the storm, but progressions show evolutionary karma which is inexorable. Still, they are subtle and more difficult to interpret.
Currently (November 2022) the UK progressed Ascendant is at 22 Gemini (it will be at 24-25 Gemini at the next election exactly conjoining Labor’s Ascendant) and the MC is at 16.20 Aquarius, which is both exactly on Labor’s Mercury and on UK radix Venus, which probably indicates the accession of King Charles III. This new monarch was presaged by UK’s progressed new moon exactly on Jupiter just one year ago and right on Prince Charles’ Pluto at 16.33 Leo – death and rebirth.
Progressed charts need to be viewed as dynamic and evolutionary, and we can see that Venus progressed has moved from Gemini into Cancer over the last two years, and has been square Uranus in the process. Furthermore the progressed Sun/Jupiter conjunction is at the exact midpoint and semisquare Venus and Uranus, which indicates a major disruptive economic transition. Partly this reflects Brexit, partly the Queen’s death, partly the eccentric schemes of Boris Johnson and Liz Truss and the subsequent destabilization of the UK. It also represents Prince Harry’s marriage to Meghan Markle and their renunciation of their royal status.
The progressed Sun is moving to an exact square to radix Neptune in 2023, which could indicate chaotic conditions for leadership, whether it is King Charles or Rishi Sunak. This could indicate some kind of further dissolution, which of course has to a certain extent already happened with progressed Sun square progressed Neptune. Bearing in mind that Venus is in the mix by semi- and sesquisquare, there could be further indiscretions, financial weakness, too much pomp and glory, and too much idealism. Charles can easily make missteps. An overelaborate coronation could easily awaken discontent at a time when the population is suffering economically.
Neptune has caused trouble in the past. Mercury turned retrograde by progression in 2005 at about 21 Leo, and in the Cameron years from 2010-2016 it returned to square Neptune, which was a time of confusion, duplicity and misinformation leading up to Brexit. My guess now is, as both the Sun and progressed MC move to activate UK’s Saturn-Neptune square from now until the end of this decade, there will be considerable austerity and unhappiness, which a Labour government will struggle with during the whole period.
Adrian Ross Duncan
November 17th 2022
1. Coronation of William the Conqueror: December 25th 1066 at 12.00 London