Aha! This entered so quietly, I almost missed it. One of the news items of the last few days, whilst the Uranus Pluto square was so `activated` was the news that 4G has had a breakthrough - the law suits and legal wrangles will now stop and its full steam ahead. This doesn't sound like much does it? You are probably about to shrug and move on.... but consider this....

The IT infrastructure of the nation is now probably more important than our motorways. The boom of the last 20 years was almost entirely down to improved communications that facilitated more consumerism. OK, it allowed credit to cross national borders and become less person-centred and less responsible.... this is true, but it also allowed greater awareness of products and easier payments for things. Credit cards, Paypal and faster movement of money all helped people and companies to sell more.

Slow/poor mobile IT performance is hampering our global competitiveness and cutting edge in the same way that shutting half our roads would. Germany, the USA and Sweden already have it and it is anticipated that 4G services will boost the UK's economy by around £2-3bn.

Now some may argue that this is a step in the wrong direction and we should be de-technologising, not upping our game. BUT the biggest gain will be in video conferencing, meaning that many road trips don't have to be made. Industry will communicate faster with less obvious physical wear and tear on the planet. This puts us on a par with the early birds catching the worms.

Clearly here we have a Uranus in Aries victory here, so what does Pluto in Capricorn think about it? I think Capricorn approves, this is infrastructure we are talking here and Pluto will help revolutionise that infrastructure. The Sun was coming into the Square from Libra at the time and anything that the Sun gets into is always bathed in positive energy.

Away we go then.... and just be careful where you are and what you are wearing when you answer the phone from next Summer! They will be able to see you.......

 ..

On the 21st December 2011, the International Space Station commander announced that he had just seen the “most amazing thing he had ever seen in space”, which is one hell of a claim for such a veteran spaceman. From his position 240miles above the Earth he had just seen the long green tail of Comet Lovejoy which was the length of twenty moons laid side by side. A spectacular sight from space, but astronomers were being wowed with astonishment on the surface of the Earth too.

But comets attract attention from more than just the boffins, since before history humankind has looked up to the sky and compared events there with events on Earth. Chief among these comparisons was the effect of eclipses and comets, for they appeared to coincide with specific events of great potency for nations or a Collective.

If the really bright ones are the most influential, it is important to look at the most surprising comet of 2011, for it was not only visible before sunrise during the Christmas period, it defied all predictions of annihilation as it plunged into the Sun’s atmosphere and survived…….

(The straight streak in the above photgraph is the International Space Station streaking over head, the comet is the long green tail)

Let’s start at the beginning…..

Comet Lovejoy was named after amateur astronomer Terry Lovejoy who discovered it on December 2nd 2011. It is thought that it is part of a group of comets called the Kreutz comets that swing very close to the Sun from time to time. They are part of the debris of the Great Comet of 1106 that broke apart in the 12th century(1) It is not uncommon for small comets (about 10 meters wide) to hit the Sun, and we have an observatory in space that records one every few days, but Comet Lovejoy was much bigger and estimated to be 100 meters across.

On the 15th December, the astronomers were writing excitedly of the Comet’s brilliance as it started to get as bright as a really bright star in the sky. Because it was heading towards the Sun though, it was too near it to be spotted without specialist knowledge and equipment. At this point there was speculation that it might get bright enough to be seen by the naked eye, as Comet McNaught did back in 2007.

Little did anyone know then that Comet Lovejoy was going to do far more that simply become visible….. it was also going to prove to be invincible…..

For instead of burning up as it skimmed 120,00kms above the surface of the Sun on December 16th, the comet amazed all the scientists by surviving.(2) As the astronomers watched, waiting for a cloud of vapour and comet dust followed by nothing, they stared open-mouthed as the comet emerged again from the surface of the Sun…still visible and clearly not destroyed. (See photo to the right -  the Comet is the barely perceptible horizontal streak in the middle and about one third of the way down the photograph.) The plucky little comet had even more up its sleeve though, for as it zipped away from the Sun, its bright tail was wagging a full 90 degrees up and down.(3) This is unexplained and very mysterious.

So to bring us up to date on 26th December….. we are now getting spectacular images of the comet’s enormous tail which is spanning the sky ahead of Sun rise everyday. It is heading out to the far reaches of the solar system again and there will be little to see soon, but until then it is proving to be breathtaking in the clearer night skies of the southern hemisphere. See photo at the top..

What does it mean? The last comet to produce such a show was Comet McNaught in January 2007. There is nothing to link that with the banking crisis of 2008, but generally we need to look at big time spans and national or planetary events like that. I think we can just toss it into the bag along with all the other Cosmic indicators of a tough few years ahead. No surprises there then….. but in the meantime we need to reflect on this comet’s resilience and surprising survival in the face of certain disintegration. How it wagged its tail like a wagging finger at the Sun as it raced away….nah nah na nah nah….. you can’t catch me…. and just hope that we should be so lucky….. And perhaps the name says it all after all!

© Alison Chester-Lambert 2011

photos taken from the following links.

(1) http://www.spaceweather.com/archive.php?view=1&day=15&month=12&year=2011

(2) http://science.nasa.gov/science-news/science-at-nasa/2011/16dec_cometlovejoy/

(3) http://www.spaceweather.com/archive.php?view=1&day=18&month=12&year=2011

An electrifying event….

By Alison Chester-Lambert

The big news on the 10th December 2011 was a total eclipse of the Moon. But elsewhere in the Solar System something else was happening too. A planet that had been appearing to travel backwards in the heavens for many months stood still, and the electromagnetic waves it pours forth were burning a path towards the Earth.

The planet Uranus may be beautiful to look at but the meaning it imparts can be staggeringly impactful. For it represents revolution, rebellion and reform. This is the bringer of enlightenment and the symbolism of its apparent slow halt, followed by a stationary period and then a move forward is one of a lurching forward in the Collective. A pent-up stream of vast energy leaps into forward motion with the velocity of lightning slicing through space. A damn bursts ….a prisoner is released…. frissons of electromagnetic energy course through the existing field lines in our solar system, snapping and zapping into the Earth atmosphere to stimulate an already throbbing situation.

But there is more than this……

Uranus now races forward for a date with destiny. For the next significant aspect that this dynamic ball of energy will make is with Pluto – symbol of evolution – on the 21 June 2012. The Summer solstice. They will meet for the first time in a mammoth run of 7 clashes that will rock our world for the next four years. Heralding more change than we have witnessed so far in the 21st century. Corporate, financial, scientific and political paradigms will fall and rise as these two giants slug it out in the skies above our heads.

For the outcome…. Buy my book `The Future in the Stars` or go here http://www.midlandsschoolofastrology.co.uk/2012_a_sensible_complete_guide_by_astrologer.html

Why Are They Doing This?

Around the 7th August 2011, England was rocked by mindless and extremely destructive and violent looters. They ransacked city centres throughout mainland England causing carnage, terror and millions of pounds worth of damage.

Why? This is the generation who have been given everything? The rioters were all male youths in their early 20’s and this gives a strong clue to their motives, since it is easy to use astrology to go back to the late 80’s and ask what is it in their horoscopes that was so primed and ready to go off in this way. And the answer is easy to find. Uranus in Capricorn.

From February 1988 through to 1990 Uranus was in the early degrees of Capricorn, first being conjuncted by Saturn and then an opposition from Chiron joined in. By February 1989 Saturn had moved on to join Neptune, but Chiron continued to oppose Uranus until July. Then in August of that year, Jupiter moved into Cancer and picked up the opposition. This is the generation we are looking at. (We know this because the transits from 5th August to 8th August 2011 are causing the events and they are focussed around 3-4 degrees of the Cardinal Cross.)

So why? WHAT do they feel with their Uranus’s in Capricorn being transited by the T-square?

Well, everything a Uranus in Capricorn person feels. The revolution is against the establishment of Capricorn. All the social structures that have been built for safety and security. They want to break free of restriction and boundaries. The lead weight of Capricorn feels too heavy and they resent it.

Resent the achievement of others. Resent the old permanence. Resent the establishment. The natal Chiron in Cancer of the rioters tells us about how, deep down inside THEY feel they weren’t shown enough love by a generation of parents who put material achievements and presents over the more sensitive and loving demonstrations of affection. In short, we spoilt them with `must-haves` but missed out on Cancerian parenting and homelife.

So now they have to break down the establishment to show their rebelliousness and disappointment. They were LOOTING quite specifically, removing and grabbing what they see as their rightful share of the bounty of the establishment. Not the cheap trainers, the Nike Airmax.

Strangely, to rebel against the establishment, they must remove and own some of its products. It’s an` in-ya-face` thing against the provision of too much and the perception of not enough as a result. Maybe we gave them too much? Struggle is a necesary part of the human journey towards responsibility. Maybe, as with Uranus, now they just want to take without responsibility?

I did say that this is how the rioters may be feeling. I didn’t say I sympathised!

Alison Chester-Lambert 2011

Chart of the late 1980's generation.

A quick check of the sky for early August 2011 has the interesting phenomenon that only 4 of the classical planets, plus the Sun and Moon appear to be moving forward from our position here on Earth. Pluto, Neptune, Uranus and Mercury will all be retrograde, which means they seem to retrace their recent path against the backdrop of the stars and constellations. What does this mean in astrology? It means that nothing is new for a while and we get a rest whilst lots of stuff is re-processed.

Now this is fine if you keep winning the lottery, but what if you feel like the hamster in the wheel and like in the movie Groundhog Day, you have to keep re-living the same rungs? We also have to consider that the 3 big planets are trapped in a T-square formation that seems to have some quite irritable and occasionally tragic outcomes. The same formation was in the sky last summer when we witnessed the horror of the Cumbrian shootings with Derrick Bird, and then the case of another lone gunman, Raoul Moat.

This summer we have already had the horrific story of the fanatical gunman in Norway. It seems that this T-square symbolises a pressure cooker situation that produces lone incidents of madness on behalf of a Collective simmering with various discontents. It is earthed through incomprehensible acts of insanity in the most inconceivable and surprising of environments. For whilst the wars persist in Iraq, Afghanistan and Libya, giving an obvious outlet for the challenges symbolised in the planets, instead it comes in Cumbria and Norway! Not exactly hotspots of political or religious unrest and dis-ease.

From the 8th to the 11th August we get an injection of energy into this tension in the form of the god of war – Mars, who comes at it from the emotionally sensitive energy of Cancer. A goddess Juno picks up the 4th corner of the square and adds her particular brand of fighting – the personal kind!

Okay, that’ll kick it off…hang on to your hats as relationships on the edge get tipped into freefall. Good ones will ride the challenges and deepen, those past their sell-by date will end and this will be for the best. Hopefully we won’t get any more insane shootings.

Apart from that, this summer is a bit like Ground Hog day in that we will go over things again….

A quick check of the sky for early August 2011 has the interesting phenomenon that only......

Alison Chester-Lambert 31st July 2011

Asteroid Near Miss 27th June 2011

An asteroid is currently heading towards Earth and will sling shot round it at just 7,500miles above the Earth’s surface. At 6.00pm BST (17.00pm GMT), it will have reached its closest to Earth’s surface as it cruises over the southern Atlantic Ocean.

It is streaking in from outer space at a cool 6.7 kms per second, but actually that’s slow in space travel speak. In fact, were it going any slower it would have been captured by the Earth’s gravity. Because this velocity is slowish, the Earth has been able to make a big impact on its direction, causing it to make a U-turn as it sling shots around our planet.

As it gathers pace to leave its lowest point, it will pass through the orbit of Earth’s satellites so there is a tiny chance of a collision with one of them.

The asteroid, called MD 2011, is one of the Apollo group of asteroids which orbit the Sun in the path of the Earth, so we do encounter them from time to time. This one is about the size of a large house and would possible break up even if it was on collision course, but that hasn’t always been so.

On the 30th June 1908, a comet or meteorite of a similar size to MD 2011 may have exploded a few miles up in Earth’s atmosphere and caused extreme damage to 830 sq. miles of Russian forest land. It was called the Tunguska event and was judged to be 1,000 times more powerful than the atomic bomb dropped on Hiroshima.

However the damage was caused mainly by a shock wave which flattened everything in its path – there was no impact crater. This has left the event open to all kinds of theories, including extraterrestrial activity..... who knows.... we never will.....BUT - interesting that it happened just after a New Moon and solar eclipse in Cancer......

We have a New Moon and partial eclipse in Cancer on Friday.... whooo ..spooky!

How will this asteroid affect us personally?

In my opinion, the human body is more sensitive to gravity than mainstream believes! (i.e. Moon's gravitational effect on tides?) So I believe we will somehow FEEL/sense the effect of this gravitational disturbance. Earth will feel it too...

Okay, a gravitational effect from something that small, that far away is a long stretch..... but whatever makes astrology work WILL be at work here. Something ripples out in the invisible web of dark matter which envelopes the space around the Earth ... there is a wave effect in the Ether. And this works its way down to our nervous systems... we `feel` it.

I could put this another way too..... think about the effect we are having on the asteroid.... it takes all this influence back out into space with it!          Think nice thoughts......

Although I would never have predicted it, it is never-the-less not surprising that Osama Bin Laden has been killed by American forces as the Moon conjoins the most powerful conjunctions Eris has had since discovery.

This dwarf planet represents revenge and justice and certainly there will be many who feel that this has been done. But as an astrologer I pause and wait open mouthed, for Eris also starts wars and we have to hope that her involvement will not escalate into yet more turmoil in the Middle East.

Upon hearing the news, I didn’t reach for one of Osama Bin Laden’s three different birth charts…. I reached for Pakistan’s ….for I remember only too well where their progressed Sun is… 22 degrees Libra and right across from the Jupiter/Mars/Eris conjunction at 22 degrees Aries. It was joined by the Moon as the Special Forces achieved their goal, so it is confirmed that this was the astrological configuration that describes it.

OMG …..what now? How will Pakistan take this? Eris has just thrown in her golden apple and in myth it started a row that caused the Trojan War. The Americans are to be applauded for `getting their man` without taking the lives of more innocent people, but now we have to turn to the Pakistani people and hope that they won’t feel goaded by this act – which THEY may feel affronted by. Will they champion the American cause or feel aggressed against?

There is a way to deal with Eris energy and that is to quietly labour on and ignore the aggravation of the Other. Don’t howl in rage and bitterness at the unfairness, just get on with your own stuff and let Eris bring in her own justice. Then one receives a huge boost of support as Eris energy is turned into action that will elevate and reward. Let’s just hope that Pakistan decides that this is the best course of action? Fingers crossed…chart of Pakistan as the killing took place below.....

by Alison Chester-Lambert, English author and astrologer.

To read more of Eris and the other 4 dwarf planets which means Five More Pluto's, buy my book. I will be talking on this subject at Astrology lectures in Sacramento (16th May) Los Angeles (19th May) and Portland, Oregon (Fri 20th May) during a promotional tour of the West Coast. See USA events page.

The evidence for `action at a distance`, which is what the scientists say they need to accept that astrology is possible, is growing. A blog on the big EarthSky website in April has some fascinating information regarding a loop or high energy beam that passes between Saturn and Enceladus, 150,000 miles away. (1) It’s an ion beam of exceptionally high energy and very surprising for such a little moon.

Recognising this phenomenon in the Saturn system will help them understand more of Jupiter’s connections to its moons too. For it turns out that Saturn and Jupiter along with their moons, all have auroras. These are like the Northern Lights on Earth, where the auroras are caused by the inflow of electromagnetically charged particles from the Sun into Earth’s atmosphere at the poles. So on Earth the electrons come from the Sun.

On Saturn, the auroras are caused by the enormous current system looping from Saturn to the moon and back. Where the flow hits the surface of the planet and the moon, there is an aurora. And the flow is variable … so it’s like an intermittent communication….

At the risk of boring you all to death again… this is what I’ve been saying for years. The electrical energy pouring out from the Sun contains `updates` or `communication` that talks to our nervous system, just as Saturn `talks` to its moons. We live in an electrically communicating solar system and universe.

Citations:

(1) http://earthsky.org/space/icy-moon-zaps-saturn-with-electron-beams

Tight Quadruple Conjunction of the First Four Planets -

Last Happened Over 100 Years Ago.

One of the rarest and most auspicious planetary alignments happens in May 2011. And with luck we will be able to see it, since all the planets are visible and rise before the Sun early in the morning.

If you didn’t understand any of that, I’ll just explain – the Sun is at the centre of the Solar System. Around it are the planets, with Mercury nearest, then Venus, followed by Earth, then Mars and Jupiter. All of those planets can be seen with the naked eye and actually Venus is the brightest thing in the sky after the Moon. Jupiter is next brightest.

Each of these planets does its own thing in its own orbit, with Mars and Jupiter taking years to go right around the Sun. Venus and Mercury on the other hand, are never more than a quarter of the sky away from the Sun. They trundle along in front or behind it, being seen in the early morning or late night twilight.

However, from May 9th to the 13th May 2011, a very rare planetary alignment takes place. These four innermost planets, (apart from Earth) all visible to the naked eye as bright stars, will group together and rise before the Sun each day, making an incredible spectacle for those with a good view of the Eastern horizon. The last time these four planets were in such close alignment was around 29th October 1910, over 100 years ago. They came vaguely close in 1915, 1955 and 1966, but nothing like as close as they will be in May this year.

What does it mean?

Jupiter is known as the bringer of good fortune and confidence. He joins Venus who represents success, achievement and pleasure plus Mercury who communicates, connects and transmits the energies to Earth. Mars rounds off the quartet with boundless energy and it all happens in the exuberant Zodiac sign of Aries, which hopefully won’t get too out of hand. For this is the most alive and on-fire you can feel! All together, these planets describe an auspicious energy which can bring considerable success. They should be greeted with enthusiasm and joy for the opportunities of personal strength and potency they represent.

So what was happening back then in 1910 when they last met in this way?

Strangely, in 1910, they were in the exact opposite location in the sky from the 2011 event! And I have no explanation as to what this means. With regard to world events, nothing much was recorded, which really confirms my prediction that events like this tend to bring fortune to individuals.

They are a gift of excitement and success from the Cosmos to whomever reaches out for it. Just to put you into the energy of the times, a Google search will reveal that the second air ship to cross the English Channel arrived safely and a man flew 61 miles in 62 minutes, winning the Gordon Bennett cup. Carl Jung was writing letters to Sigmund Freud and a Professor of the philosophy of mind and logic, Alfred Ayer, who wrote `Language, Truth and Logic` was born. Since the quadruple conjunction then was in Libra, the title of his book is no surprise to astrology!

Since these are difficult times generally, and the Cosmos contains much to shake humanity from 2008 until 2016, it is nice to focus on a good omen for a change. I do hope this forewarning can enable you to do something really positive with the energy.

Remember it is about feeling vibrantly aware of your fire, potency, eagerness and SELF! You might want to watch how you handle others; things could get a little sharp as everyone wants their own needs met FIRST.

Technical Details: The planets begin the formation at 22 degrees of the Zodiac sign Aries on the 9th May, with Venus, Mercury and Jupiter staying within a degree of each other until they reach 25 degrees on May 13th. Mars is just 6 degrees of arc ahead and still technically in close-ish conjunction

In the coming Census in England, you can do something that would really help the cause of astrology – you can write `Pagan` in the `other` box that asks you about your religion. (Question 20)

Paganism in its wider sense includes Eastern religions, indigenous traditions & rural folk religions. It encompasses all the spirituality that existed before Christianity and was the basis for most of it. The Church turned the multiple deities of the Pagan beliefs into a `one god` paradigm, originally with the Sun as a model, since there is only one Sun. (As was thought then) Now, Paganism is an alternate belief, outside of organised church hierarchies.

Commonly there is belief in multiple deity, gods and goddesses or `something else` rather than the one God. Astrology is a central belief since Paganism accepts that the Universe is a living, breathing joined up entity. That the Solar System has an invisible 3D web that has waves of energy passing down it that links everything into the same consciousness. (Even science believes this now!) This is similar to Buddhism and the spiritual beliefs of many non-western cultures.

In the Census in England, the word Pagan WILL BE ACCEPTED & COUNTED if you write it in the Spiritual box under `OTHER`. Terms like `holistic`or `spiritual` may not be given the status of recognition. They don't have the religious connotation of Paganism and Druidry. BBC Radio 4 ran a piece on the coming potential of a revolution in English religion if people choose to write PAGAN in that box. There is some concern in Church of England circles. So..... over to you then.....