Bill,

Again your prediction on the difficulties of Fianna Fail was accurate.

What came most as a surprise to me in the election just past was the implosion
of the Green party. It would be nice to do its chart.

But on the wider context, the parties at the right across Europe fared better
than those at the left, and obviously Green parties are usually leftist.

It will be interesting to see if the Moon in Capricorn in Ireland's chart will
manifest. The lack of maturity of the Irish politicians for the past decade, at
least, has been quite obvious.

António


--- In astro-ireland@yahoogroups.com, Bill Sheeran <bsheeran@...> wrote:
>
> Hi,
> During the last couple of years, I've been periodically sending in
> messages which made reference to the horoscope for Fianna Fail and the
> challenging transits indicated in 2008 and 2009. In a nutshell, the
> picture was one of a political party in a state of confusion, lacking
> any sense of direction, and suffering from (or being perceived as
> suffering from) weak leadership.
>
> On Friday February 13th, the Irish Times published a poll which
> indicated that support for Fianna Fail had dropped to its lowest since
> polling began. For the first time ever, the party had slipped into
> third place behind the Labour party. Support for the party had almost
> halved since the last General Election in May 2007.
>
> One could argue that this is not surprising. As the main party in
> government at a time when harsh decisions have to be made requiring
> sacrifices at all levels of society, one would expect anti-government
> sentiment to increase.
>
> However, the transits to the Fianna Fail horoscope suggest that the
> Party would be wise to avoid dismissing this drop in support as an
> understandable knee jerk reaction. What we are experiencing could well
> be a period during which the Irish political landscape undergoes a
> major shift. In essence, Fianna Fail's capacity to maintain the
> dominant position it has held since the time of De Valera may be about
> to dissolve, at least for the foreseeable future.
>
> Fianna Fail was founded on May 16th 1926 in Dublin (no time). The key
> pattern which symbolises both its historical dominance and style is a
> fixed Grand Cross.
>
> Sun 25 Taurus
> Saturn 23 Scorpio
> Jupiter 26 Aquarius
> Neptune 22 Leo
>
> When Pluto last moved through 22-26 degrees Scorpio during the early
> 1990s, and particularly in 1992 when there was a General Election,
> Fianna Fail underwent a major transformation. The era of single party
> government well and truly ended. The old-style Catholic conservatism
> and subservience to the Church, epitomised by the grainy image of De
> Valera kneeling down and kissing the bishop's ring in the centre
> circle of Croke Park before a GAA final (some time in the 1960s, I
> think), took a fatal body blow. Before anyone could blink, there was a
> female (!) Minister for Justice, legislation to decriminalise suicide
> was introduced, and condoms were on sale in nightclubs (and eventually
> pharmacies). Divorce legislation was also on the table. And so on.
>
> In retrospect the 1992 election is seen as defining a watershed in
> Irish politics, an outcome which I forecast and published during the
> run up to the voting, when media commentators were suggesting that
> holding the election was an irrelevant waste of time and tax payers'
> money.
>
> Today, as mentioned in previous posts, Neptune is in transit to this
> same Grand Cross. The confusion, loss of direction, lack of solid
> leadership, and seeming denial of the gravity of the current situation
> are all symptomatic of this astrological picture.
>
> The Neptune transits are spread over a couple of years, but what is
> interesting about the timing of this most recent poll is that it
> illustrates a traditional feature of astrological predictive
> techniques (which is the main reason why I'm revisiting a theme of
> previous postings).
>
> At 7am on February 13th, when the Irish Times poll would have been a
> subject for discussing on breakfast time radio, Neptune was at 23Aq57.
> This is applying within a degree to the Fianna Fail Sun at 24Aq48,
> based on a midday 'birth time'. Other transits to arms of the grand
> cross and the various midpoints between them were also in play.
>
> At the same time (7am), the Sun was at 24Aq42.
>
> Thus the Sun was, on that day, conjunct the transiting Neptune and
> both were square the radix Sun position. This is a classic example of
> a faster 'planet' transit 'triggering' an outer planet transit event.
>
> Transit Neptune square the Sun in the Fianna Fail horoscope is a rare
> enough astrological event. The most recent major hard aspect transit
> of Neptune to the Sun was during 1967-68, when the opposition was in
> play. I'll have to check to see what was happening during those years.
>
> Whatever, whether one sees the Sun in that chart as signifying the
> leader of the party, the spirit of the party, or both, the
> astrological indication is one of dissolution and an undermined
> effectiveness in grappling with real world problems, which ironically
> are probably the most challenging since the foundation of the State.
>
> In December 2006 during a radio interview, I said that if I was an
> astrologer advising Fianna Fail, I would suggest that they would be
> better off losing the 2007 election (I expected fully them to do so).
> This was because the astrology indicated they would be incapable of
> governing effectively for at least two years, at a time when there was
> likely to be a complete collapse of the construction industry and
> therefore the economy.
>
> This latter comment was based on the transit of Pluto to the Moon in
> Capricorn in the Republic of Ireland horoscope. In that chart, the
> cusp of the 8th house (financial institutions, banks, etc.) is in
> Cancer. Thus Pluto was also conjunct the symbol ruling financial
> institutions.
>
> It is not surprising that they have been affected by the global
> recession, but the extent of the problems which have specifically
> emerged in Ireland is pure Pluto. Typically, underlying toxic elements
> in the system have been brought to light for elimination as the system
> undergoes annihilation prior to eventual regeneration.
>
> The period of rampant speculation, deregulated financial markets, and
> so on, driven by an overly optimistic economic ideology was one of the
> characteristics (among others) of the transit of Pluto through
> Sagittarius. This was a global phenomenon. That Ireland should take to
> this approach with unbridled gusto (with all the unfortunate
> consequences we are now seeing) is indicated in the Republic of
> Ireland's Jupiter, which sits in the first degree of Aquarius in the
> 2nd house. It is square RoI Sun and Venus, and quincunx Saturn
> (retrograde in the last degree of Leo).
>
> This is consistent with an ideologically driven gambling mentality
> getting high on speculating with the nation's resources. Now the
> bubble has burst, and it is not so simple to work out how to shore up
> the sinking economy, a probem I think indicated by the quincunx
> between Jupiter and Saturn. Quincunx implies the need to make constant
> re-adjustments, none of which produce satisfying or preferred results.
> Eventually, one has to accept the dilemma and learn to live with it.
>
> It was in 1995-96 that Uranus was in transit conjunct the RoI Jupiter.
> I suppose one could see this as the astrological signature for the
> awakening of the Celtic Tiger, or at least a period for a somewhat
> wild approach to the 'management' of resources. One leading to
> expansion, but without Saturn on board, also towards profligacy, waste
> and eventual falling from the sky without any parachute or safety net
> in place.
>
> The Irish collective will emerge from all this a lot wiser, and a new
> maturity (Moon in Capricorn) will take hold, leading to a much
> healthier society benefitting from an enforced re-arrangement of
> priorities. Or so I hope.
>
> All the best,
>
> Bill
>
> http://www.radical-astrology.com
>