Everyone got tired in the end. On my many visits to the UK over the last three years, there was one constant topic on every news channel every day – Brexit. People dreamed of a second referendum, people feared a renewal of troubles in Ireland, where a hard border was not acceptable, people railed at the lies and misinformation that resulted in a Yes vote to Brexit. But with the slogan “Get Brexit Done”, the Conservative Party tapped into public exhaustion and won a resounding victory. Labour, with the unappetizing Jeremy Corbyn as leader, experienced its worst defeat since 1935. Boris Johnson won an absolute majority – and Brexit will be done. Fact.
The Election Chart
Prior to the election, the excellent London astrologer Julian Venables analyzed the astrological trends for election day, December 12th, 2019, and believed it augured very badly for the Conservative Party. Looking at the charts available, especially the election chart for 7 a.m. that day, and applying traditional methods, things did indeed look bad for the Conservatives, not least because Venus was right in-between Saturn and Pluto (besieged), and as MC ruler represented the Conservative leader Boris Johnson. Meanwhile, with Mars in its own sign Scorpio ruling the IC (10th house from 7th) and applying to a dignified Saturn in Capricorn, it looked great for Labour’s Corbyn.
UK election. 12th December 2019. 7.00 am London (AS 7 SG)
Perhaps this indication simply showed Johnson’s psychological state – his government had been in crisis since he took power: Venus conjoining Saturn/Pluto. Perhaps Corbyn was well-represented by Mars in Scorpio sextile Saturn trine Neptune – a “socialist” signature. But this method did not show the result. General election charts alone, it would seem, cannot be trusted to give accurate results – they just show the mood of the country.
The 1801 United Kingdom chart
The pain of the UK is evident from the 1801 unification chart, which united Ireland, Scotland, Wales and England as one political whole. During the years of 2018 and 2019, Pluto had opposed the Moon in Cancer, and the people of Britain moaned and groaned about the trauma of being cast adrift from Europe. Piling on the pressure, Saturn also opposed the Moon, in March and June 2019 and finally on the day of the December election. The people could bear no more – all they wanted was the weight to be lifted from their shoulders.
United Kingdom. January 1st, 1801. 0.00 hrs. London (AS 7.09 LI)
Furthermore, transiting Neptune has made a series of squares to UK Mercury at 17.33 Sagittarius in April and August 2019, with the last one in February 2020, which only adds to confusion about where the UK is headed, and whether anyone can trust what anyone else says. People are tired of lies and false promises, but that is what they are getting. Massive trade deals, anyone?
The EU
Perhaps the exit of the United Kingdom was always discernible in the chart for the EU. There are a series of horoscopes showing the gradual formation of the EU, but the Single European Act seems to reflect this entity very well.
EU – The Single European Act. November 1st, 1993. 0.00 am Brussels. (AS 17.15 LE)
This horoscope is characterized by the rare conjunction of Uranus and Neptune, which has a 172-year cycle, reflecting the aspirations of a merging of nations into a new international union. The square to Venus in Libra from these two planets shows the idealism and cultural hopes, and Uranus-Neptune in the 6th house indicates the free movement of labor – and the integration of refugees as a new labor force, with all the societal changes this brings.
The astonishing thing about this chart is the conjunction of a strong Mars with Pluto in Scorpio opposing a strong Moon in Taurus, all at 24 degrees, making a fearsomely powerful trading block. This opposition draws in a Mercury-Saturn square, which certainly seems to indicate poor communication, possible corruption and opaque dealings. The EU is a juggernaut. This is probably a good combination for taking on powerful multinational corporations like Google, Uber, Facebook and Apple. Europe has the power.
As Uranus transited the MC at 1.44 Taurus of the EU chart, the specter of Brexit began to dominate proceedings. In June and October 2020 and March 2021, Uranus will oppose the Sun, which will represent the decisive change affecting the balance of power in the EU as the United Kingdom extricates itself creating a separation of the world’s 5th largest economy from the European Union. As Uranus ploughs through Taurus and the 10th house, there will be considerable disruption, culminating in the conjunction with the Moon opposite Mars-Pluto in 2024. There could be further break-up of the block at this time, although whatever happens, the EU will probably survive for centuries into the future. What begins on a Uranus-Neptune conjunction will surely last until the next at least.
The Conservative Party
Extraordinarily, the chart for the Conservative Party has the Moon at 25 Taurus exactly opposing Saturn at 25 Scorpio – precisely keying in to the EU chart. Expressed in another way, the EU has its Mars-Pluto conjunction exactly on the Conservative Party’s Saturn, which could be the key to the their love-hate relationship with Europe. Perhaps the EU awakens the Conservative’s own inferiority complexes, or threatens their own power base, which is entrenched in privilege and economic power.
The Conservative Party. November 12th, 1867. 12 pm London (AS 18.38 CP)
The December 2019 election took place with transiting Saturn exactly on the Conservative Ascendant, and still they got their best results since Margaret Thatcher. That is food for thought, and certainly a very friendly Saturn. One way of looking at this is that Saturn had been transiting the 12th house for three years – since the 2016 referendum. Finally arriving at the Ascendant, obscurity and dissolution was over, and business could now begin.
Boris Johnson – his past
For the next five years, unless something unexpected happens, Boris Johnson will be leading the United Kingdom. Republicans in the USA are heartened by the result because of the similarities between Johnson and Trump – both accomplished liars, proud of their head of blond hair and irreverent manner, born into privilege, and – most significantly – people who mobilized a voter base normally attracted to the opposite party. Voters know who Trump and Johnson are, but they don’t care – they want to send a signal that they do not want politics as usual, with remote politicians talking down to them.
Boris Johnson. June 19th 1964. 14.00 New York (AS 11.05 LI)
Boris Johnson is a product of the elite education system of Britain, which has traditionally furnished the leadership of the Conservative Party. Eton to Oxford to the Old Boy’s clubs and on to power. Often gifted intellectuals, but emotionally underdeveloped, they have never had any experience of what life is like for the lower echelons of society.
Johnson was raised mostly by his mother and au-pairs; he had few friends as a child but a very close relationship with his siblings – as could be imagined by all those planets in Gemini. His mother was hospitalized with clinical depression when he was 11 years old, at which point he was sent to boarding school, which was when his Mercury progressed, sextiling Pluto, conjoined the MC. He then went on to Eton age 13.
From there he went to Oxford, which was the period when his Ascendant progressed trined the Venus-Sun conjunction in Gemini and the 9th house. At Oxford he met ex-Prime Minister Cameron, Michael Gove and others in the Conservative Party leadership. They all were members of the Bullingdon Club, the upper-class drinking club infamous for vandalizing premises at which they partied. A subsequent career as a political commentator and journalist won him influence, but also a good deal of notoriety because he made up facts, and was also on one occasion fired for doing so, although it did not prevent him getting top jobs and TV appearances.
He married in 1987, which was the time Venus, his Ascendant ruler went stationary direct at 20 Gemini by progression. He was born with retrograde Venus exactly conjoining the Sun, which could account for his versatility in languages, particularly Latin and Greek – languages from the past – which he studied in Oxford. Because Venus was stationary this meant that Mars in Gemini actually caught up with and overtook Venus, and there is a continuous conjunction by progression of Mars and Venus until they draw apart in his eighties, which is quite extraordinary. Perhaps this accounts for his multiple relationships with multiple children when progressed Mars and Venus were in Gemini, and subsequent political work as a reviver of patriotic traditions as Mars and Venus travel together through Cancer.
Boris Johnson – his future
At the time of the election, Johnson’s progressed MC exactly conjoined Uranus at 6.31 Virgo. Venus, now direct and at 6 Cancer completed a harmonious picture, and suddenly Johnson was launched into the spotlight. The MC will go on to conjoin Pluto in 5 years’ time, at which point it is probably safe to say he will be ejected from power, and that the period in between will be tumultuous for him, and probably the country.
Notable in his horoscope is the exact opposition of Jupiter and Neptune from the 8th to the 2nd house, which is a strong signature of economic expansion and subsequent inflation. This opposition falls on the 1801 UK chart’s grand cross. Clearly his economic claims tend to be inflated and based more on illusion than fact, like the misleading figures he gave for how much the UK would save on leaving Europe. Mercury and Mars in Gemini are loosely square the Uranus-Pluto conjunction, which may explain occasional outburst and intemperate language and rudeness, which he is well known for, both privately and politically.
Johnson is also born with the monumental opposition between Saturn and Uranus, which occurs about every 45 years. This could show a mission to bridge a gap from the old to the new, or perhaps to create a gap, which by supporting Brexit, he certainly did. Perhaps the unusual conjunction of Venus retrograde with the Sun in Gemini also shows this splitting, and the desire to turn the clock back. Brexit was to a large extent nostalgia-fueled, but Britain is never going to rule the waves again. The 5th house Saturn trine the Moon in fall in Scorpio may indicate his haphazard attitude to the children he fathered with different women. This will be a source of unhappiness, and perhaps children will suffer collectively in the UK through poor educational or care possibilities during his tenure.
The Ascendant and MC in Boris Johnson’s chart is the same as the Ascendant and MC in the 1801 United Kingdom chart, which may explain the way he resonates with the country. Neither chart indicates any obvious catastrophe in the immediate future, at least looking at transits, and by the end of 2020 the nuts and bolts of Brexit will be complete. It is at this time that the Jupiter-Saturn conjunction takes place at 0 Aquarius, which activates the powerful Jupiter-Uranus sextile in the 1801 chart. It is quite likely that Brexit will evoke the Dunkirk spirit in some way and fuel a burst of creativity and international deal-making, just as Brexiteers hope. Perhaps, despite the fears, London will become more of an international hub than ever; it is at least striking that at the exact time of the conjunction on December 21st 2020, Jupiter and Saturn fall exactly on the UK Descendant.
Both Trump and Johnson have the Sun in Gemini, and now we know that one of these terrible twins will be in power for the next five years. Supporters of the other will be hoping that Trump can emulate Johnson and be on the scene until 2024. What a world we would be living in, if that happened.
Adrian Duncan
19th December 2019