Lion Heart

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Image: Glen Carrie

Post by Jane Lewis

On 13th July this year former President Trump narrowly escaped an assassination attempt when he was shot in the ear.  Baleful influences are at work at the moment as the fixed star Algol is making a zodiacal conjunction with Mars and Uranus in 26 Taurus.  Algol is a bright star in Perseus, the Prince of the Royal Family of circumpolar constellations comprising Cepheus the King, Cassiopeia the Queen, and their daughter Andromeda.  Perseus is a young warrior who holds a sword in one hand and in the other the severed head of the Gorgon Medusa which contains this most malefic star linked with the foulest of deeds including hangings and beheadings.   Rising on his ascendant, Trump has Mars 26 Taurus squaring Algol elevated in his 10thhouse, triggered on the 13th July by the Mars-Uranus-Algol transit.  

America has a history of presidential assassinations.  Abraham Lincoln was shot on 14thApril 1865 when transiting Venus was with Algol, and his secondary progressed Sun in proximity to the star. Kennedy’s natal Sun was conjunct Jupiter on Algol in the 8th house of death, and his assassination took place when the transiting Sun opposed Jupiter-Algol.  One of the most infamous beheadings in British history was that of Anne Boleyn who was executed by King Henry VIII on 19th May 1536.  Although the birth date of Anne is uncertain, one of the possible dates is 5th May 1507, which would make her Sun in close zodiacal conjunction with Algol.  This puts her Sun on Henry’s MC,  and both were receiving a transit by the Moon at the time of her execution.

In more recent times, Beatles member John Lennon had a natal Uranus-Algol conjunction which was being transited by opposition from Mars on the fateful morning of his shooting on 8th December 1980.  The Iranian Ayatollah Khomeini had a natal Sun-Algol conjunction.  Author Salmon Rushdie has a natal first house Mars close to Algol which was receiving a transiting square from the Sun and a transiting conjunction of Jupiter on the day of the fatwa declared on him by the Ayatollah on 14thFebruary 1989, also at the time of an approaching Mars return for Rushdie.  On 12th August 2022, at the time of another Mars return, he narrowly escaped death from a maniacal knife attack during a public lecture in New York when transiting Mars exactly conjoined Algol.


Image: Ingo Stiller

In mythology, the gorgon is the destructive aspect of the Great Mother, She who sweeps away what must go in readiness for some new manifestation or creation.  In non-dualist philosophy the Sages knew that the All-Mighty is both masculine and feminine, yin and yang, and we must accept that light and dark co-exist and learn to navigate our way between them.  Much work is needed to find and sustain the central, still point of harmony.  The fixed fire sign Leo represents love.  It is the heart and centre of things, the hub of the wheel from which all spokes radiate, but life is in constant flux and motion and is full of chaotic tumult, and in each moment a re-creation is taking place.  We associate the sign Leo with recreation in the sense of leisure and play, but something much more profound to the human condition lies beneath this.

Love is the soul lesson for the Sun in Leo.  All we need is Love.  Donald Trump has a Gemini Sun, whose soul lesson is Brotherhood through Wisdom, which he must express through the personality of his ‘full-on’ Leo/Mars/Pluto ascendant.  His Sun is conjunct Uranus and the moon’s north node, all in the 11th house which emphasises the brotherhood theme through societal change, even revolution.  His Sun sits at the midpoint of Pluto and his midheaven, showing his relentless drive for power and authority using the force of his personality to achieve his goals.   The American nation, and the onlooking world, has become dangerously polarized in thinking that he’s going about this the right or the wrong way.  The polarization is itself a sign that something will soon give, some kind of chaotic, unexpected upheaval as the universe shifts in order to re-create balance.  The world is at a critical juncture and needs us to keep on Shining the Light from our own heart centres to help peace, balance and harmony to be restored through the power of love and the active will to create a world where brotherhood and goodwill are realities rather than just concepts.

As the Sun moved into Leo President Jo Biden announced his decision to stand down for re-election. Perhaps this was partly motivated by the wisdom that this could de-fuse the potentially explosive situation that is brewing, and help to take some of the heat of emotion out an election campaign that risks being fuelled more by personalities than policies and principles.  Vice President Kamala Harris is a likely candidate to replace Biden.  Born on 20th October 1964 she has a 5th house Sun in Libra, and her progressed converse Sun is now on fixed star Regulus at the heart of the lion.

Image: Luke Michael