Jubilee: The Cult of the Queen
Taken in Cadgwith Cove Inn, Cornwall by me.
The Queen’s Diamond Jubilee. Cor blimey, ma’am; 60 years on the throne, god bless her. For a while, it seemed as if it were mainly a marketing opportunity for paper napkin, bunting and biscuit-tin makers. It’s been Union Jacks agogo for a month in the shops and nothing anywhere else.
But suddenly there’s been an explosion of Queen everywhere.
Her image, young, old, regal, friendly, bored, etcetera is on everything. It’s reminded me of growing up in Cairo, where President Sadat’s face was on every hoarding, in every office and in every cafe. We haven’t quite reached the stage of having a portrait of the Maj in every public building, but it’s beginning to feel a bit like Big Mama is looking down at us. The eyes follow you around you know.
In times like these, when the future seems more than usually uncertain, do we need a national mother figure more than ever?
The Jubilee is taking place under Venus Retrograde (nostalgia for a lady) in Gemini (talking, media). But also under an eclipse of the Moon…
What happens when you put her chart next to the country’s?
When you look at Britain’s 1801 chart, the one I favour for the current regime, what’s going on is immediately clear. The Queen’s powerful Pluto dominates the UK chart, sitting a few degrees from the Midheaven (government) and the Moon (the people), and opposite the UK Sun.
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| Dorothy Wilding’s tinted photograph of the Queen in the 1950s. |
The interchange that’s especially important in explaining the Queen’s ubiquitous image is the one between Saturn (making manifest) and Neptune (dreams). The country’s Saturn is one degree from conjuncting the Queen’s Neptune and the Queen’s prominent Saturn, which sits right on the highest point in her chart, is just escaping from the UK’s Neptune.
What does this mean? The “Queen” is an illusion. She is a dream made real. Don’t get me wrong. Clearly, she is a real old lady, but her meaning for the country is as an icon, in the real sense of that word. She has had her photograph taken, her portrait painted or sculpted, more times than anyone ever, anywhere. And yet, how much do these portraits reveal of the real woman? They are portraits of “Queen”, not of a person; images of power.
I’ve seen the Queen in the flesh, and what startled me was the lack of impact this had. The images of her are more powerful than the reality. I’m on holiday in Cornwall at the moment, and the local pub has huge posters of the current Queen smiling down on the drinkers. It’s so strange – a cross between a religious image and a political one. And that is the key – royalty is precisely a cross between religion and politics.
Sixty years ago, this lady took a sacrament, and she was anointed (with olive oil apparently) Queen. Her job is a kind of religious obligation. In her natal chart, she has the royal combination of Jupiter rising (with military Mars) and Saturn on the MC.Jupiter is the priestly planet. Hers falls in the first house in the sign of service to a larger cause, Aquarius. It is precisely opposite her Neptune in the 7th, again the planet of the mirror, in the house of mirrors. Her Neptune is in regal Leo, the lion. And what could be a more Aquarian animal than a unicorn, bringer of peace.
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| “God Save The Queen, She ain’t no human being…”John Lydon 1977 |
So there are the lion and the unicorn (with a bit of artistic license) squaring Saturn, the planet of work and duty, at the highest point of the chart, the career angle. And the queen’s done her duty a long, long time. Her Saturn and MC fall in the nation’s house of assets. Her hard work and sense of obligation are very valuable to UK plc.
Although (for some unknown reason) it does not come up on this chart, her Pallas is exactly on the UK MC. The helmeted image of Britannia is, of course, an avatar of Pallas Athena, the warrior goddess. And one of the Queen’s most important roles is head of the armed forces. I’ve mentioned in previous pieces how clearly the astrology shows the connection between monarchy and military. Remember the Royal Wedding and the dashing princes in their uniforms.
One of the themes of the past 10 years, since the invasion of Iraq and the long war in Afghanistan is the resurgence of the military in the nation’s psyche, the re-imagining of ourselves as a military nation. This has gone hand-in-hand with the resurgence of popularity of the Royals, who were at a low ebb when Diana died.
The Queen’s Pallas is at 9° Cancer, so it’s exactly caught in the grip of Uranus-Pluto square at 9° Aries-Cap. Power is being projected onto that Pallas from Pluto in the UK third house of communications and propaganda. And what of Uranus in the military sign, Aries, which rules Britain’s 7th house of friends and enemies. You know, I’m glad the security is very good at tomorrow’s regatta.
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| Putting out the flags in Cornwall. |
‘And shall Trelawney live?
And shall Trelawney die?
Here’s 20,000 Cornishmen will know the reason why’
The Cornish Rebellion against King James! (or not, if you look it up in Wikipedia).
Yes, big outpouring of patriotism for a beleaguered country at the moment. Myself – I’m not a royalist. If Parliament are talking about gender equality e.g. that Anne could have been monarch instead of Charles (girls vs boys being kings and queens), then why don’t we get rid of the rule about first-born being monarch? Why not have a monarch who is most suitable – um, but then who would decide that? The people, which comes down to an elected vote and then we get Blair and various other velocoraptors. Carne Ross makes a good point about leaderless revolutions. Or is it just that we, as voting public, can’t be bothered to really engage with issues. I’m sure if we made made decision-making more local i.e. each street has a say in it’s own borough/neighbourhood, it may work. On the other hand, it is nice to have a Royal Family as figurehead of a nation, as long as they are kept out of politics.
I find myself more and more indecisive about what a good form of government is. I’m not a royalist, but on the other hand our elected leaders are just awful, so maybe the monarchy does have its uses.
LOL – “The cult of the Queen” – there’s a typo in there somewhere – *GRIN*
Actually it difficult to say which is the planet of illusions or dreams. The popular belief among western astrologers is that Neptune is the planet of illusions. Some others myself included would claim its Saturn. Reason being is that Saturn is closely tied to the material world and mammon. But life is but a dream and we dont take it with us. Most of what we do in the material world is impermanent. Also the devil is associated with Saturn and the greatest trick the devil ever performed is to convince the world he does not exist.
So either way the maj has a double illusion going on. Perhaps its to do with her wealth and position – she wont take it with her and even here its not really hers.
I forgot to mention that Neptune is the opposite of what western astrologers proclaim. That is it is long-term and real – I know what I wrote above about the illusion of neptune and saturn, but then again I am on the fence and am dabbling with the new interpretations and am mixing and experimanting. Although I am pretty much convinced that saturn is the delusion planet.
Moving on I notice that in the 1801 chart that the moon is in the tenth and in cancer and in the maj chart she has pluto in cancer in the tenth. I have read that those with the moon in the tenth expect to be looked after by the state – I think that the moon in cancer in the tenth is the welfare state – the queen has pluto near to the the british moon, so does she expect to be looked after by the state. The twist is of course the Adolf Eichman and a one or two others of the nazi regime and Richard Nixon and some of his aides had pluto in the tenth. In other words with pluto in this position in her chart the ends justify the means when it comes to her welfare and the maybe the welfare of the state – I was being charitable with the welfare of the state.
“Also the devil is associated with Saturn and the greatest trick the devil ever performed is to convince the world he does not exist.” — 🙂 excellent
I’m all for keeping politicians away from the role of head of state. I’d definitely prefer to have someone there who has no real political power. And I rather like the occasional outpourings of collective nuttiness like those of last weekend, which don’t harm anyone.
Neptune of course was station direct last weekend. I still lean towards Neptune as the planet of illusion. I’ve seen the Queen in real life as well and like you was struck at how ordinary (and tiny) she actually is. I once passed Hugh Grant in the Kings Road in London and had exactly the same reaction!
I’d forgotten about her Jupiter/Mars in Aquarius. I wonder if it partly explains her enthusiasm for the idea of the Commonwealth ……
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