All Change: What Do China and the Vatican Share?
 |
| Pope Francis. |
More than half of the denizens of this planet have just had a new leader chosen for them. Two small groups of powerful people within two vast, and rather arcane institutions have voted in two new leaders on opposite sides of the world.
 |
| President Xi Jinping |
We have a new Pope, Francis, and we have a new Chinese leader, Xi Jinping. The symmetry is remarkable – and so is the astrology.
The Pope and the president of China have natal Suns in exact opposition across the information axis of the Zodiac. Xi’s is in clever Gemini and Francis in religious Sagittarius, traditionally the sign of priests. Who they are in themselves is diametrically opposed, but both have a mission to communicate.
Both Suns have been triggered this week by transiting Ceres, the mother goddess, who is so important in the charts of popes. Today she is at 25° Gemini conjuncting Xi’s Sun and opposed to Francis’.
What is more, Jupiter, the planet of kings, is currently in Gemini, one of the symmetrical signs. This week Jupiter is conjuncting Xi’s own natal Jupiter and trining Francis’ natal Venus in Aquarius.
These two men also have opposite goals. Francis has already said that he wants to lead a poor church for the poor. Xi wants to make China richer. One is about humility and the other is about pride. And you can see they have Moons in the opposite signs that correlate with this. Keep in mind that we don’t have birth times so the Moons are not exact, but they are probably in sign. Moon in Leo seeks glory and uniqueness. Moon in Aquarius seeks equality, and in the new Pope’s chart it’s close to Venus, which speaks of a love of humanity. Francis did seem to embody this Aquarian energy as he stood above the crowd in St Peter’s Square last week and asked them to pray for him. Aquarius is about the group, and at its best it’s about making the group good.
 |
| Pope Alexander VI |
President Xi has pledged to create “the great renaissance of the Chinese nation”. Again there is a distant echo of the Vatican there; the Italian Renaissance was largely funded by the papacy. Xi’s family is rumoured to have amassed incredible riches in the past few decades, rather like say, the Borgias.
But back to the present. One of the most striking similarities between these two charts is the extremely close contact between Saturn, the maker of boundaries, and Neptune, the dissolver of boundaries. These two planets are close to opposite in meaning. Neptune dissolves, enshrouds, dissipates, disappears. Saturn defines, regulates, codifies and calcifies.
Francis has an opposition between the Neptune in the sign of service, Virgo, and Saturn in Neptune’s own sign Pisces. Saturn in Pisces is perfect for a prelate, since it is about imposing rules on spirituality, and the symbolism of Neptune in Virgo is obvious. The Dalai Lama has this same signature.
Xi has Neptune and Saturn conjunct in Libra. Saturn is exalted in Libra, and Xi will have just finished his second Saturn Return. It must have been a very successful one. Libra is one of the political signs. It’s associated with diplomacy and negotiation. This generation have the potential to be very agile politicians: Saturn harnesses the glamour of Neptune and puts it to work. Tony Blair has this conjunction.
This powerful outer planetary pairing is in perfect trine to Xi’s Sun and sextile to Pluto. Together they form what is called a Mini Grand Trine. This is a little misleading, since in fact this is a much more dynamic configuration than a Grand Trine. The Pluto becomes very energised and it’s in aspect with the most important personal planet, the Sun and also in the Sun’s sign Leo, so it becomes personal rather than simply generational.
You could interpret this as personal power, Pluto in Leo, over the the people, Aquarius, because that Mini Grand Trine is like a slingshot aimed at Aquarius.
Fascinating comparison between these two very powerful men. Undoubtedly we will be reading about of them in the news in the years ahead.
Thanks! 🙂
Brilliant piece of analysis – bravo !!
Prescient, as usual. China is indeed expanding, and preparing to go even further, and the Church in Rome has had to do some interesting tap-dancing in “translating” and “interpreting” (used to mean different things) what Pope Francis has said at times, so he doesn’t sound too ecumenical or inclusive or, God forbid, too Christian. Interesting times we live in.