The premiership of Gordon Brown

New Moon in Cancer, 14th July 2007

This month’s new moon falls in the sign of Cancer, the sign of caring, nurturing and emotions. Feelings and moods need to be taken account of when this sign is prominent. It can be introspective and withdrawn at times, just as the crab which symbolises it withdraws into its shell to escape the ups and downs of life. The challenge the new moon brings this month comes from a departing trine from Uranus in Pisces, pressing us to be more open in our emotional dealings, and willing to make changes in our attitudes and attachments to others where they are necessary, no matter how uncomfortable that change may be. This is not a time for withdrawing into our womb-like crab shells. We’re being told that there is no room for falling back on daydreams or escapism, as the new moon’s quincunx to Neptune attests. Uranus the revolutionary is demanding that we stand up for what we believe in where emotional commitments are concerned. Cancer is all about family and supporting others, but not at the expense of our own achievements, and here a balance must be found. Saturn and Venus are opposed by Neptune, again underlining the need for a balance between reality and self-deluding suppositions or blind faith where committed relationships are concerned. These two planets are also in a flowing trine to Pluto, who demands that we dig deep to find the truth in order to unearth the treasure in our lives. Man is an emotional being, and as such can reap rich rewards via interaction with other emotional beings, but this must be done with integrity and honesty, or emotional interaction can cascade into manipulation and deceit. Take a good look at your relationships and ask yourself how you can fulfil both your own and others’ emotional needs with integrity as you move forward from this new moon seeding time.

The Premiership of Gordon Brown

So at last, after months and months of speculation, Tony Blair has stepped down from his role as Prime Minister of Great Britain and handed over the reigns to the man who has walked in his shadow for so long. How will Gordon Brown fair following in Blair’s footsteps? Let’s see what his birth chart can tell us about his character and suitability for the role.

Brown’s front door looks quite promising. He has Aries on the ascendant, which in a birth chart shows both how he is viewed by outsiders and how he approaches life. This is the sign of the warrior, giving him plenty of drive, ambition, and impetus to take action. Aries likes to win, and we all know that politics is a game where those who would conquer must do so by fighting to the death! Aries rising gives Brown an outgoing appearance, conveying someone with energy and dynamism, although there could be tendency to seem a little abrupt or even aggressive at times. Aries can ruffle feathers!

In sharp contrast to this rather brusque exterior, however, Brown has five planets in the 12th house, four of them in introverted Pisces. On the plus side, planets in this house could indicate that he is in touch with the collective mood, able to gauge swings in opinion and empathise and act in accordance with the mood of the people. The flip side of this, though, is a tendency to shy away from the limelight, to crave privacy and to keep substantial parts of his true personality hidden from public view. It’s very interesting that both Blair and George Bush also have significant placements in the 12th house, and there’s often the impression with them that there’s something that they’re not revealing, that perhaps they’re hiding something: what you see is not necessarily what you get. Brown’s Pisces emphasis is also not what one would expect to see in the chart of one of the most powerful men in the world. It’s a “go with the flow” energy, denoting someone who might be too open to outside influence and perhaps be a little lacking in substance. Flexibility and adaptability are laudable characteristics in a politician, but Mr Brown needs to make sure he’s not tempted to keep changing his mind or his strategy once he’s committed to something.

Another astrological characteristic Brown shares with Blair is a Capricorn Midheaven. This is the point of ambition, career, direction, aspiration. Both men want respect and recognition, to be seen as the wise leader, and both will therefore care about what others think of them. Brown seems to have been willing to put in the hard work and effort over many years to achieve what he considers to be the pinnacle of his career. The question is, does he have the same charisma and finesse as Blair to pull it off? Interestingly we also have the planetoid Chiron with the Midheaven in both men’s charts. This is the symbol of the wounded healer, and Blair’s career wound has undoubtedly been his role in the Iraq war. What will Brown’s wound be and can he heal it successfully with the legacy he’s been left by Blair?

With his Moon and Pluto together in Leo, Brown has a passionate, intense and highly individualistic streak to his character. In some ways he wants to stand out from the crowd, and the planets in Leo give him the capacity for integrity and concern with the truth. However, they oppose Mercury in Aquarius, which is rational thinking, planning and communication. This clash could mean that he sometimes tends to let his passions and emotions get the better of his sound judgement and he’ll need to keep a lid on his reactions when under attack. Moon and Pluto in Leo is also not likely to forget or forgive those who cross him, so the question is will he be able to put personal feelings aside when managing a cabinet? This combo will also mean he wants to be in control – perhaps a little too much at times.

Looking at how Brown’s chart interacts with Blair’s, it’s easy to see the potential both for a powerful working relationship and for personality clashes. Blair’s Sun squares Brown’s Moon/Pluto and Mercury, making for a heady cocktail of energies. Used positively this reeks of power and ambition. If allowed to descend into negativity there’s the potential for power struggles and violent clashes. More energy and potential violence comes through in the square to Brown’s Sun made by Blair’s Mars/Jupiter. Finally, Blair’s Pluto is conjunct Brown’s Moon, making the bond between the two men a close one, whether fiercely loyal or intensely explosive.

Right around now, Brown has lots of transits to his birth chart from the planet Uranus. This means that the energy of change and upheaval is present in his life, and of course becoming Prime Minister at a time when terrorist attacks continue and floods have caused chaos up and down the country, this couldn’t be much more of a roller coaster ride for him! Uranus is likely to give him energy and impetus; he’s starting with a bang, so to speak. As we move through into 2008 he’ll be receiving first Jupiter and then Saturn transits. This means he’ll definitely be in the spotlight, hopefully using the Jupiter energy to grow, expand and prosper initially; but when Saturn comes in towards the end of 2008 things may become much more difficult. He’ll experience restriction, clashes with authority, or increased burden or responsibility, and by 2009 Pluto comes along to square his natal Saturn. This can be a very difficult combination, a time when he’ll be required to look at the structure of everything he’s built up to that point, and he’ll potentially have to face the fact that the edifice is crumbling.

There are some key changes coming in the sky over the next few years, two of the main ones being Pluto moving into Capricorn from late 2008, followed by Uranus dipping a toe into Aries from as early as May 2010. The outer planets have a profound effect on world events as they change sign, and Pluto tends to tear down the established structures which the sign it’s moving through represents. As it moves into Capricorn, large corporate and government structures could well be adversely affected. Uranus later moving into Aries could bring a huge backlash from the people against the establishment. When viewed against that background, Gordon Brown’s temperament as shown by his birth chart, and his transits especially, could well indicate that he’s the representative of the end of a political era rather than the pioneer of a new one.

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