Hi and welcome to the Stella Starwoman May AstroUpdate! If you’re a royal watcher, read on to find out how compatible Meghan and Harry are… and if not brace yourself for Uranus’s move into Taurus this month coupled with a rather feisty new moon.
Meghan’s Big Day – Glass Slippers or Glass Ceiling?
Imagine this… you’re an astrologer and Meghan Markle books in for an appointment to ask about her new love interest… her fiancé to be more precise…and how compatible they are. You draw up the charts of Meghan (4th August 1981 – 4.46 am in Canoga Park, California – same birthday as the Queen Mother) and Harry (15th September 1984 – 4.20 pm in London, UK) and the first thing that strikes you is that they’re completely different! And while it’s not unusual for opposi tes to attract, there are always challenges, particularly when the first flush of love and romance has worn off.
Meghan - Hollywood Actor & Women’s Advocate
Meghan Markle is a successful, mixed-race, working woman in her 30s. She’s American, divorced and brought up by a single mother. With sensitive Cancer rising, she has a kind-hearted and compassionate demeanour, but underneath that sweet smile is a determined and ambitious Leo with the Sun, Mercury, Pallas and the North Node all in Leo in the first house of identity. Meghan is a woman who loves attention, is glamourous and enjoys luxury and quality. The Mercury-Pallas conjunction indicates a fine mind - a woman who cultivates her intelligence and has no difficulty expressing her opinions. The North Node in Leo suggests her karmic pathway in life is fame and success.
Meghan has worked hard since childhood to achieve her dream of becoming a Hollywood actor; her first husband was a Hollywood film producer and now she’s marrying into the British Royal Family. As for her fine mind and opinions - as a schoolgirl she wrote to a US company to complain that in their ads for dishwashing liquid on TV, only women washed plates. Remarkably the company changed the script of their ad from ‘women’ to ‘people’. Meghan was privately ed ucated, attended a top university, speaks Spanish and French and has long been an advocate for gender equality and the empowerment of women. She has also travelled to Rwanda and India as a patron for World Vision. In her own words: "With fame comes opportunity, but it also includes responsibility - to advocate and share, to focus less on glass slippers and more on pushing through glass ceilings. And, if I'm lucky enough, to inspire.”
This more serious side of Meghan is shown by her moon in diplomatic Libra in the house of communication, next to hard-working, disciplined Saturn and internationally-minded and expansive Jupiter. The moon placement in a birth chart shows how we see our mother - Meghan’s mother has a master’s degree in social work and is a psychotherapist and yoga instructor. Although they divorced when she was just six years old, Meghan credits her parents' influence for her philanthropic instincts and social consciousness. "Both my parents came from little, so they made a choice to give a lot.” Moon -Saturn in a birth chart can also indicate a challenging childhood – Meghan’s mother was a hardworking, single parent and often the target of racial abuse. The usual advice for women with Moon-Saturn connections is that their relationships will improve dramatically from 35 onwards as they blossom into wise, responsible people whom others respect. So far Meghan has favoured work and public life over family life, but in an interview in 2016, the year she turned 35 and met Prince Harry, Meghan said becoming a mother was on her bucket list.
Harry - Handsome Prince & Wounded Healer
Prince Harry, fifth in line to the British throne, is a triple earth sign and service- oriented Virgo with the moon in sensual and pleasure-loving Taurus and rising sign in responsible and traditional Capricorn.
Meghan has very little earth in her birth chart, but she does have relationship planet Venus in earth sign Virgo close to Harry’s sun. Her Mars i n Cancer is right on the cusp of his marriage house and her marriage house is ruled by traditional Capricorn, all of which explain her attraction to Harry. Meghan is looking for stability, family bonding and longevity in relationship, something missing in her own background due to her parents’ divorce.
Conversely, Harry’s marriage house is ruled by home -loving Cancer which would explain his attraction to Meghan’s Cancer rising sign. He is looking for a partner who promises home, family and nurturing, something Harry was cruelly deprived of when his Cancerian mother Diana was killed in a car crash when he was just 12 years old. Speaking of his lifelong depression, Harry said in 2017: “Losing my mum….and therefore shutting down all of my emotions for the last 20 years, has had a quite serious effect on not only my personal life but my work as well.” Interestingly enough, Harry is marrying a woman who is the same age as his mother when she died (36) and he is just a year older (33) than his father was when Prince Charles married Diana in 1981.
Since Saturn return at age 28-29, Harry has said goodbye to his playboy lifestyle; sought assistance to deal with suppressed grief; left the army and continued Diana’s caring legacy by devoting his time to helping injured ex-soldiers and vulnerable third world children.
We could say that Meghan and Harry’s relationship is helping them both heal from the emotional turmoil of the past (divorce, death, racism, depression) and pave the way for a new home and family of t heir own….after all, didn’t he propose over a home-cooked chicken dinner? You can’t get more Cancerian than that!
And what of Meghan’s Leo fire? Will Harry be able to cope with such a confident, intelligent, successful and glamourous woman? Hopefully th e answer is ‘yes’ as Harry, despite being such a strong earth sign, has three planets in fire sign Sagittarius, including Mars, which adds warmth to his personality, a reckless sense of fun and adventure and a love of partying. Harry’s mother was also a gl amourous woman and he, like Meghan, is used to being centre stage and dealing with the media. Plus they both have a strong social conscience and desire to make a difference. Harry says they make a great team.
Their relationship chart has a passionate Mars-Venus conjunction creating sexual spark and Harry has love planet Venus in Libra, close to Meghan’s moon, helping foster emotional closeness and mutual understanding. Finally, when we relocate
Meghan’s chart from California to London, Juno, goddess of mar riage is rising in Libra, the sign of marriage and Meghan’s Leo stellium is on the Midheaven, a prime indicator of fame and fortune.
So, the verdict is YES Meghan… your charts are very different, but you and Harry are both mature adults with emotionally challenging childhoods who want to use your past experience and privileged positions to continue to help and heal others, thereby healing yourselves. And clearly you both love roast chicken!
Taurus New Moon – Hold Onto Your Hat!
The May new moon falls on the 15th in sensual and practical earth sign Taurus, but this is no ordinary new moon. As the sun and moon meet in the skies, unpredictable Uranus and dynamic Mars go head to head in the final degree of Aries and Capricorn. Twenty four hours later as the new moon energy begins to grow and develop, Uranus and Mars both change sign to Taurus and Aquarius where they will stay for most of the rest of 2018, locking horns and rocking the boat to such an extent that it will be hard to plan ahead. We could say that this new moon marks the beginning of a new stage of life, but what that might look like is quite unpredictable. It’s as though the Prime Minister suddenly resigned along with half her cabinet to be replaced by a government nobody voted for. Political alignments will change; personal goals will be revisited; relationships built on shaky foundations will crumble, but change is assured. Mark the date in your diary and hold onto your hat!
Uranus in Taurus – Money-Money-Money
The headline astro transit for 2018 is Uranus’s move into Taurus on the 16th May. Uranus spends roughly seven years in each zodiac sign and his function is to blow apart the status quo creating freedom and independence via new technology, new ideas and revolution.
The astro glyph for Taurus is a bull, Taurus being the prime symbol for money and wordly goods. Historically the more cows and bulls you had, the wealthier you were, but now we count our wealth in dollars and cents. So what can we expect as Uranus in Taurus revolutionises our ways of dealing with money?
Probably a complete makeover of the banking and financial system with cash, pensions, insurance, credit cards, loans, taxation, investment, superannuation, share and currency markets all up for grabs! Cheques, common a generation ago, have practically disappeared and so has high street banking coupled with an increasing move towards a cashless economy. In Sweden, just 1% of the value of all transactions were made in cash last year with some establishments ceasing to accept cash payments altogether to prevent theft and reduce administration.
It’s likely over the next few years we’ll say goodbye to job security and the guarantee of government pensions. And there could be a crash in the housing market as people decide that owning their own home either makes no sense or is simply unaffordable.
On the bright side, people will come up with all sorts of alternative ways of making, saving, storing and borrowing money, as they did during the Great Depression of the 1930s, which happened last time Uranus was in Taurus. Will we ditch our credit/debit cards and just use our phones to pay for things instead? What about bartering, swapping, sharing and crowdfunding? Store and restaurant loyalty programs? Online auctions? Or digital currency like Bitcoin (aka cybercash) where the money exists only in electronic form and can be transferred between users and across borders or restricted to online communities via credits like Facebook or gaming networks?
The only advice is to be as flexible as possible because change is sure to arrive!
Happy Birthday Gemini!
From the 21st May to the 21st June, the Sun will travel through mutable air sign Gemini. Gemini is the third sign of the zodiac with keywords “I think” and “I communicate”. Gemini’s symbol is the twins, one mortal, one immortal, the dark side and the light side. Geminis are extremely curious and like to accumulate information and process data. They think at lightning speed, are versatile and adaptable and love gadgets, mobile phones, books and surfing the net. Easily bored, Geminis need lots of intellectual stimulation and often have a youthful appearance. Negatively, the Gemini individual can be fickle and nervous with scattered energy and a tendency to gossip or make cutting remarks. Some are over-reliant on logic and dismiss emotions as irrational or unimportant. When Geminis are out of balance they suffer from nervous tension or problems in the lungs, arms, shoulders and hands. Gemini’s greatest challenge is to learn constancy and mental discipline and to accept the importance of emotions in both themselves and others.
Chiron in Aries & Chiron Return
As we saw last month, 2018 is a year of huge shifts with three of the five slower moving planets, representing collective energies, changing zodiac sign. Saturn moved into home sign Capricorn in late December; Uranus shifts into Taurus this month (May) and in April, the asteroid Chiron blasted his way into fire sign Aries.
Chiron the Centaur (a being who is half god and half horse) can be compared to an alchemist. In mythology he is often referred to as the ‘wounded healer’: someone who heals others because of his own experience of pain. Chiron’s role is to break up different forms of existence, disparate realities and diverse viewpoints and help put everything back together in a better and more holistic way.
If you were born with Chiron in Aries (1969-1977) you will have your Chiron Return over the next few years; an astrological event which always takes place around age 50. The Chiron Return is one of life’s major milestones and is often associated with a healing crisis and deepening of wisdom. Material pursuits become less important and there tends to be more focus on the spiritual, inner and emotional sides of life. For many women, the Chiron return coincides with menopause.
Sagittarius Full Moon
The May full moon falls at the end of the month on the 30th in fire sign Sagittarius opposite the sun in Gemini. Gemini (facts and logic) and Sagittarius (wisdom and intuition) are the two zodiac signs most connected with the mind. A flowing connection from the sun and moon to Mars and the nodal axis will provide a welcome burst of energy, particularly for networking, teaching, writing, brainstorming, broadcasting and other forms of communication.
This full moon week would be a great time to take a short holiday or catch up with friends and colleagues. Outdoor activities are especially favourable, so if you enjoy camping, gardening, sailing or simply strolling through the park, why not take a break from your usual routine?
May & June Moon Calendar
Launch projects a couple of days after the New Moon, bring them to completion in the period from just before the Full Moon to the Third Quarter phase and wind them down and reflect on developments in the week before the next New Moon.
The period between the New Moon and the Full Moon is the waxing moon (moon getting bigger and fuller). The period between the Full Moon and the New Moon is the waning moon (moon getting smaller and thinner).
You can use this moon table to select the most favourable days to slow or increase hair regrowth. Full instructions can be found in my Lunar Hair Care guidelines but to get you started I’ve marked the best dates for waxing/shaving to slow regrowth in yellow and the best dates to cut hair for thicker, lusher growth in green. If you’re serious about Lunar Hair Care – why not purchase a moon calendar, available at most esoteric book stores, then you’ll know exactly what time of day the moon changes from one zodiac sign to the next, meaning you can fine-tune your activities with confidence.
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Date |
Moon Sign |
Element |
Moon Phase |
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MAY |
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1st-2nd |
Scorpio |
Water |
|
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2nd-4th |
Sagittarius |
Fire |
|
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4th-7th |
Capricorn |
Earth |
|
|
7th-9th |
Aquarius |
Air |
Third Quarter |
|
9th-11th |
Pisces |
Water |
|
|
11th-14th |
Aries |
Fire |
|
|
14th-16th |
Taurus |
Earth |
New Moon 15th |
|
16th-18th |
Gemini |
Air |
|
|
18th-20th |
Cancer |
Water |
|
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20th-22nd |
Leo |
Fire |
New Moon 16th |
|
22nd-24th |
Virgo |
Earth |
First Quarter |
|
24th-26th |
Libra |
Air |
|
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26th-29th |
Scorpio |
Water |
|
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29th-31st |
Sagittarius |
Fire |
Full Moon 30th |
|
31st-3rd |
Capricorn |
Earth |
|
|
Date |
Moon Sign |
Element |
Moon Phase |
|
JUNE |
|||
|
31st-3rd |
Capricorn |
Earth |
|
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3rd-5th |
Aquarius |
Air |
|
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5th-8th |
Pisces |
Water |
Third Quarter |
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8th-10th |
Aries |
Fire |
|
|
10th-12th |
Taurus |
Earth |
|
|
12th-14th |
Gemini |
Air |
New Moon 14th |
|
14th-16th |
Cancer |
Water |
|
|
16th-18th |
Leo |
Fire |
|
|
18th-20th |
Virgo |
Earth |
First Quarter |
|
21st-23rd |
Libra |
Air |
Sun in Cancer 21st |
|
23rd-25th |
Scorpio |
Water |
|
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25th-28th |
Sagittarius |
Fire |
|
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28th-30th |
Capricorn |
Earth |
Full Moon 28th |
|
30th-3rd |
Aquarius |
Air |
|
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31st-3rd |
Capricorn |
Earth |
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Thanks for being part of AstroUpdate. If there’s something you’d like to see featured, or have something you think would interest others, please contact me at stella@stellastarwoman.com
Happy Stargazing
Stella Woods
www.stellastarwoman.com