Jacob Zuma

Upon hearing the news that Jacob Zuma had won the ANC election by over 800 votes, my initial reaction was “oh $#@*!” and I felt as if I was standing naked on Sandton Square on a Saturday morning. But, being an Aquarian Sun has its advantages - my detachment kicked in and I did not collapse in a Phlegmatic heap of despair. My next thought was “where did I go wrong?”

As I have stated before the craft of Astrology is infallible, we are not, and it generally takes nerves of steel to expose yourself and your abilities in a public manner. But, some people need to do this otherwise we would have no articles to read and we have to make mistakes in order to learn and become proficient in our craft – everyone who is exposed to this who practices the craft of Astrology is then enriched through the process of learning. Traditional Astrology, especially its portal Horary, leaves no room for errors - I now understand why in order to study Traditional Natal Astrology one enters through the doorway of Horary. It is a hard taskmaster and there is no vagueness to it, one cannot sit on the fence - you judge the chart and you commit – for better or for worse. If proved incorrect, you have no escape clause or get out of jail free card – you shake yourself off and move on knowing that you will never make that particular mistake again especially when it is done in a public arena.

Will I revise my goal of writing this column in the first place and resort to only sharing charts on “where is my missing ring/cat/ shawl?” so that I can appear oh so clever and you can be oh so bored - emphatically not – I would be doing myself and the readers of Aspects an injustice. Will I make incorrect judgements in the future – most likely – but if so, I will share them with you in order to achieve my goal – the attainment of knowledge and the honouring of a craft that in its essence is infallible and that has the ability to humble those who dare practice it.

It was also brought to my attention that a gremlin had crept in when printing the last issue of Aspects and the Ascendant of the chart was wrong - the correct and initial chart used for obtaining the first judgement is used in this article.

ANC Election

There are two obvious scenarios as to why the judgement was incorrect, there may be more but one does not need to beleaguer the point. The judgement of the initial chart was indeed technically sound but it is possible that the incorrect significator was used. The Moon is the significator of the common people, the electorate of the country. In this instance the electorate were not voting, it was the ANC party and its members who held that honour. If we look at it from this perspective, the chart that I judged originally is actually the election in 2009 when South Africa goes to the polls. Please bear in mind that although Jacob Zuma is now head of the ANC party, Thabo Mbeki is still president of South Africa, therefore King until 2009. Whether or not the judgement that Jacob Zuma will not win, therefore will not become president of South Africa is then correct will only be known in 2009.

The second scenario is that the chart possibly should not have been turned. If you recall the Querent of the original question was not South African and I therefore turned the chart. While this is technically 100% correct we have to find a reason why the judgement was wrong and in this case it was possibly unsound to do so. Although the Querent does not live in South Africa permanently and does not consider SA her home, she spends the majority of her time in South Africa and was in residence here at the time of asking the question. We therefore then use radical Lord 10 for the King, Mbeki, and radical Lord 4 for his opponent Jacob Zuma.

“In that case, Mars, although angular, is badly afflicted by impending station, while even without an aspect; the receptions favour the opponent, Venus (Mars ruled by the Moon which is ruled by Venus). The chart hangs together better read from the radical 10th - things like that little chain of reception and the close involvement of both main significators with Jupiter (whatever Jupiter might signify) are more ‘alive’ this way.” John Frawley. As we have not even used applying aspects to the two main significators we know that we are definitely dealing with the election that has just passed and not 2009, so the question that was relevant when I wrote the original article.

The lesson here which is of the utmost importance in the craft of Horary is that if your significators are incorrect, the judgement will not be accurate. The pertinent lesson for me is that whenever I turn a chart in future if there is a possibility that the radical chart should be used instead I will judge both and then use my discretion to commit and to attain one judgement.

Election in Pakistan

Election in Pakistan

“Will Benazir Bhutto win the election in Pakistan in January/February 2008? 6.16PM, Johannesburg, South Africa, 10 November 2007, 15Taurus17 Rising.

The existing King, Musharraf, is Lord 6 the King of a foreign country. Venus is in Dignity, Exaltation, Term and Triplicity of Saturn, the Face of the Moon, Detriment of Mars and Fall of the Sun. She is in the 5th where she Joys and has just entered Libra – she will be in dignity for a long time still. Venus therefore has strong essential Dignity and some accidental Dignity. Her Antiscion is at 28Pisces05.

His enemy, the Querent’s favourite Benazir Bhutto, is Lord 12. Mars is ruled by the Moon, in Exaltation and Term of Jupiter, in its own Triplicity, Face of Mercury, and Detriment of Saturn and in Fall. It is in the 3rd. Mars has some essential Dignity (Triplicity) strong essential Debility and no accidental Dignity/Debility. His Antiscion is at 17Gemini42.

The electorate is the Moon and she is ruled by and in Triplicity of Mars, Term of Mercury, Face and Detriment of Venus and in Fall. It is angular and separating from combustion to the Sun, an 8 degree separation. She is VOC and slow in motion. She has strong essential Debility and her accidental Dignity (angular) is compromised by her combustion (albeit weak and separating) and being VOC. Her Antiscion is at 4Aquarius20. She has an imminent change of sign into Sagittarius.

The Part of Resignation and Dismissal is at 11Libra 33. Venus is the dispositor of the PORD and she is applying to conjunction with the Part, Mars is separating from a square to the Part. Venus is applying to square Mars (he will turn retrograde) as well but these two aspects are minor testimonies. However should I consider the aspect that the Moon makes it would be of primary importance as depicted below and can change this picture of Venus applying to the Part that it disposits.

There are no major fixed stars to take into account.

As we are primarily concerned with the Moon as the natural ruler of the people and therefore the electorate, we want to see which candidate she will aspect first, if any - the significator/candidate that she goes to will win despite its receptions. I will therefore determine this before we look at receptions as this further analysis may be unnecessary. The Moon, currently VOC, is applying to sextile Venus. She will do so at 2 Sagittarius and there are no prohibitions – this means that the vote goes to Musharraf (whether he resigns afterwards is not the issue here with Venus applying to conjunct the PORD). But, the fact that the Moon is VOC is of great importance and my judgement of this question was that the election for Benazir Bhutto would not come to fruition – there would be no election for her and therefore to answer the question posed, she could not win it.

I felt terribly sad upon hearing the news that Benazir Bhutto had been killed and that the election and her role in it would indeed not form part of her dreams and hopes for her country.