Pope
Signals
April 22, 2005 (with two charts)
http://cainer.com/ericfrancis/apr22.html
In case you have not heard, please let me
be the first to tell you there's a new pope. Cardinal Joseph Ratzinger, of
First, since everyone is wondering, and
astrologers all over the world are emailing one another feverishly, let's take
a look at the great man himself. Pope Benedict XVI has an interesting natal
chart, given his new role. Here is the chart.
He has Pisces rising, with Jupiter in the
ascendant. If he has one 'born to be pope' aspect, this is the one. Jupiter is
the harbinger of all things spiritual. (Particularly in Pisces, it can be quite
a natural spiritual adept. But oddly, this placement also has a taste for wine,
women and song -- but since I've never partied with the guy, I cannot
personally confirm this. I can only tell you what the astrology says.) But by
anybody's measure, particularly a medieval astrologer, I can tell you that his
Jupiter is a sight to behold: exactly in the ascendant, in its ruling sign. He
is extremely lucky. He would probably survive the Sun going nova.
The new pope has an Aries Sun and the
Moon in Libra. This means he was born at the Full Moon, in fact, right before
the Full Moon, a moment filled with maximum tension, polarity and dualism. It
is fair to say he has no one particular way of looking at the world, which is
affirmed by his Pisces rising, and confirmed a second time by his Mercury in
Pisces, which is late in Pisces, to be exact.
Such a Mercury placement, in traditional
astrology, is nearly as weak as Jupiter is strong. He is described as a great
intellect, and sometimes what Mercury does when it needs support is that it
becomes extraordinarily powerful. In the case of Ratzinger, that power seems to
take form in his love of dogma.
I think that if we want a pontiff who pontificates,
we've got the guy.
While he's a confident man on some
levels, such strong Pisces assures that he's also quite mutable (changeable,
potentially stubborn, potentially aggressive and ultimately swayable), quite
subject to environmental influences, and like any Pisces, he wants to give the
world what he thinks it needs. But he is a person of extremes, not of
moderation. At the same time, he views himself a benefactor.
As Pope Benedict, he is one who 'speaks
well' -- but remember that the Latin root of 'dict' (the second half of
bene-dict) is the same as for addict, dictator, and diktat, all of which are
about control. His name really means 'benevolent dictator', which is honest
enough: that's the pope's actual role. That big Pisces Jupiter rising certainly
supports his choice of names. And it could certainly cast a kind of psychic
cushion over his real ambitions and his true identity.
However, his natal chart really starts to
get interesting when we have a look at those lunar nodes in Cancer and
Capricorn. On a closely related subject, scan back through my introductions and
you'll see that I have written quite a bit about the Aries point the past few
months -- the very first degree of Aries. The Aries point is associated with
enormous energy, incidents that affect millions of people, and a location in
the horoscope where the personal and the political intersect.
By extension, the first degree of any
cardinal sign (Aries, Cancer, Libra or Capricorn) carries these properties. And
as it works out, Pope Benedict has all four of these points covered. This man
has the power to affect a lot of people, and to do so radically. And yet he
also walks on a kind of razor's edge from a karmic standpoint. There is
something he's supposed to get right in this lifetime, and he now has his
chance. But that never stopped anyone from not getting it right.
Notice the nodes of the Moon, those
little horseshoes in Cancer and Capricorn at the top and bottom of the chart.
The South Node in Capricorn in the 10th house tells us he has a lot of
experience (South Node) with things of a governmental nature (10th and
Capricorn). He is used to being the Big Big Boss and he plays the role well.
Heck, he got to be the pope; that is a very small club. It is fair enough to
say that we have a past life signature in this chart of one who was obsessed
with power.
However, in Mr. Ratzinger, we also have a
likely case of a reincarnated pope. Some day when the files are opened, we will
find out that there were only about a dozen popes who kept coming back and
doing the job over and over again. In any event, he is a long-standing
bureaucrat in the
His North Node in Cancer and the 4th house
places current lifetime emphasis on values which are close to the hearth and
home; which are oriented on security; and which are personal rather than
political. His job in this lifetime is to be a good dad or mayor, not a big
emperor. His job is not to accumulate and use power for its own sake, but
rather for the sake of his family or spiritual family. The thing is, does what
he feel is good for the rest of us work for the rest of us? Where the pope is
concerned, does it ever? And, will he be able to deal with the various
temptations of office, and the temptation to be a big man in a very big world
in a really big moment in history? We will find out soon enough.
With such strong Cancer placement in his
chart (on the 4th house; with the North Node), the Moon takes on special
significance; here we find it in the sign of Virgo the Virgin, who has been
given an honored place in modern Catholicism by John Paul II -- which the new
pope shares. We can hope and pray that the new pope offers the same blessing and
generosity to mortal women as well, which would be a very big change in Church
policy.
Now, herein lies the catch to this natal
chart: Uranus is in the first degree of Aries (symbolizing big-time innovation,
rebirth). But it's exactly square (at a right angle to) the lunar nodes. When
any planet is square the lunar nodes, it's as if that planet sits squarely ON
the nodes, and the evolutionary process represented by the nodes cannot happen
without doing the work of that planet first. Remember this when you're reading
the chart of someone who is struggling to get ahead. Is anything square the
nodes? That's usually the planet to work on first -- particularly so if it's
associated with one of the signs that the lunar nodes occupy.
Uranus in the first degree of Aries is
the shocking originator, the inventor, the one who is (in theory) not afraid of
anything. It is ON the Aries Point. This man feels it's his destiny to change
the world. Given the rest of his chart, he has likely wanted to be pope for a
long, long time. The problem is that this quality of innovation has to get past
that Capricorn South Node, which is deeply conservative and rooted in the past.
And he just may. I realize there is nothing in this pope's biography that
supports the idea that he may be a shocking originator, and in the end, the
story is told by the choices that a person makes. His papacy has just begun and
we have yet to see him make any decisions as pope (though he's said quite a lot
before becoming pope that you can read about).
The last point he has covering what are
called the cardinal points (appropriate enough) is the Part of Fortune in the
first degree of Libra. So he has a grand cross in the cardinal signs (Aries,
Cancer, Libra, Capricorn), in the angular houses (1st, 4th, 7th and 10th),
which is ridiculously powerful. Ridiculously. If he can make this aspect work,
he can really cash in and get a lot of good things done. If he can't, we are in
for one heck of a wild ride.
Now, for the election chart. Here you
have it:
Ratzinger was chosen pope with the Sun in
the very last degree of Aries, a condition sometimes called 'void of course'.
This is rarely used by modern astrologers, who usually stick to the void of
course Moon or the void of course career. I am recently told by the eminent
psychological astrologer Lynn Bell that when a planet is exalted (Sun in Aries,
for example) it cannot be void of course. I had not heard that rule, but she
makes a good point when she says that, as far as the Sun is concerned, when it
is in late Aries like that, the course is set and that nothing can really
change it.
But what course is that? If stability is
what we are seeking, it's unlikely to happen now. Much discussion has gone into
Ratzinger's choice of names (popes traditionally name themselves). The last
Benedict was the Peace Pope during World War I. But I would like to briefly
mention the number: XVI, or 16, which is the number of the Tarot card The
Tower. This is the one where lightning hits a tower and the two people fall
out. It's also called La Maison Dieu, or house of God. It's the number of a
shakeup. Or liberation. Or release. Certainly some kind of big change. We are
in for some surprises.
Ratzinger is being touted as a man who
will continue the conservative doctrine of his predecessor. His record as far
as gay rights, women's rights, and so forth, is, according to everything
recently being stuffed into my inbox, rather dismal. But any continuity between
the papacies is temporary. Based on what is perhaps the most traditional method
of prediction (solar arc direction), there will be some big change either to
the Church or with this papacy within four months from now, when that late
Aries Sun becomes a Taurus Sun.
That would be in August. Somebody please
remember I said that. What direction will things go? We will have to see. This
is not a situation where we have much power -- but we can pray. He did ask us
to.
Also occupying the very last degree of
Aries is Persephone, an asteroid named for the Greek goddess of growth, the
daughter of Demeter. Persephone is about extremes of dark and light; what is
done to young women; and the grief of mothers. She is the one who was kidnapped
by Hades and taken down to hell, where she lived (or lives) half the year,
accounting for why it's warm in the summer and cold in the winter. Given that
the Sun (a rather male figure) is conjunct Persephone, there is a commentary on
women and the treatment of women in this chart. And women are THE big issue in
the church, as the pews of Europe and the
Generally, when the Sun is exactly conjunct
a planet, it takes on the nature of that planet in a significant way. He may
identify with the plight of women more than he lets on. But that does not mean
he will act on his perceptions, and he may be coming from a place where he
personally feels victimized. Like many young men, he may have joined the
priesthood because he feared he was gay (Natally, he has Mars in the last
degree of Gemini, which could get anyone to question their masculinity).
There is much more about women in this
chart. Venus (who represents women, the Goddess and from the Church's
perspective, the Virgin) was in an exact square (90-degree aspect) to Chiron as
the papal conclave began, suggesting that she just sustained a loss of some
kind. Venus represents values; sensuality; pleasure; love; abundance; feminine
strength of any kind. Venus occupies the degree exactly opposite the position
of Sunday's eclipse of the Moon -- which brings up what is perhaps the most
significant fact of all.
It is strange and unsettling that this
election was concluded so close to an eclipse of the Moon, particularly in
Scorpio, the sign where power is often wheeled and dealed. This is yet another
sign that says some great change is imminent.
For those of us who were not involved in
the papal election, you know, who didn't vote, this eclipse is something to
watch carefully, and to factor both into our plans and experiences. It is
happening Sunday but in reality, it is happening NOW.
This eclipse has a lot of people feeling
emotionally edgy, jumpy and just plain unsettled. Eclipses always come with
pressure. There are always people who thrive on eclipse energy, and the world
we live in would get nowhere without them. Yet most people cannot handle the
intensity gracefully.
Not surprisingly, world financial markets
are shaky -- I say not surprisingly because Scorpio always addresses the issue
of shared resources.
So, given all this, please keep your
cool. There is a lot of tension in the air, and it's about to give way to
something entirely new.
We are also still working out the Mercury
retrograde from a few weeks ago. And the world is, in general, in its usual
sorry state of affairs. We are very fortunate to live in a time where
individual choices are possible, because that means most of us have the ability
to take care of ourselves, to seek help if we need it, and to at least attempt
to plot our own destiny. It does not mean we'll get there, but there are great
rewards for making an honest effort.
More news at Planet
Waves and Planet
Waves Weekly, sponsors of this Q and A feature. We've
got great new photos, almost daily blogging, new May horoscopes, and lots of
fun features for subscribers. Here are some of your questions this week.
 |
|||||
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |