Astrology of Now: “Weaponised Data”
Whistleblower Christopher Wylie on CNN — the face of Mercury in Aries, right down to the pink hair.
Last night Channel 4 news ran a piece in which the head of the data collection company Cambridge Analytica, one Alexander Nix, offered an entrapment and disinformation service to a journalist posing as a Sri Lankan politician.
Cambridge Analytica worked on Donald Trump’s election and the Brexit campaign and was funded by billionaire Ayn Rand enthusiast Robert Mercer.
This came a few days after the exposé in The Observer and New York Times of the massive data harvesting on Facebook undertaken by Cambridge Analytica and used to create microtargetted propaganda. To paraphrase whistleblower Christopher Wylie, the data was used to create a massive propaganda weapon in Steve Bannon’s culture war.
In short, Cambridge Analytica “harvested” a huge amount of data without the knowledge of the individuals involved, and then organised mass manipulation through a campaign of fake news across the internet, including not only flooding Facebook with false stories, but also creating fake blogs, websites and so on. In effect, they reversed a citation process. They chose the target, created the story, and then worked backwards to back it up.
This is turning into a humdinger of a Mercury Retrograde. Hardly surprising when you see that the little planet of speed and speech is screeching to a halt in the sign of haste, Aries. The data-wars just got personal. Aries is the sign of the “I”. If you have a Facebook profile, it’s likely your private information has been illegally harvested — at least 58 million profiles were scraped.
Not only that, but one term being flung around “weaponised data” is Aries Mercury. Notice also that when this story broke Aries’ ruler Mars was at 0° Capricorn: the warrior planet had broken through into Capricorn.
Mercury enters the shadow — March 9 — Aries 4°47
Mercury turns retrograde — March 23 — Aries 16°54
Mercury conjuncts the Sun — April 1 — Aries 11°
Mercury turns direct — April 15 — Aries 4°47
Now journalists have obviously been working on these stories for a long time, so you can’t say that this has come out of nowhere, but the revelations are happening now.
This Mercury Retrograde is making a harsh angle to all those planets in Capricorn — the power, the one per cent, the establishment. In particular, the planet of information is squaring Saturn in Capricorn. Mercury is the little guy, the journalist, throwing darts at that establishment. We’ll see what happens next, but the story is likely to unfold rapidly. It burst out as the Moon went through Aries helping to trigger Mercury; and the repercussions will start to become evident during the actual retrograde.
Remember that situations (or information) tend to go wrong or unravel during the shadow and the first part of the retrograde, and after Mercury conjoins the Sun, you start to see things beginning to resolve. Among other things, Facebook lawyers must be terrified of the upcoming lawsuits.
On a personal level, mind what you say right now: it could come back and bite you. And watch out when Mars squares Mercury and conjuncts Saturn. That’s April 4 at 9° — kablam!
It is amazing how this Mercury Retro is manifesting in Aries!
I’m in Mexico and the elections for President are this year. With all these things happening in USA at least the mexican society and journalists now know what “the hidden forces” will try to do for sure here.
Personally, Mercury goes Retro conjunct my Sun in the 7th. That has never happened before. Wondering what that is going to be about… things/people from my past? We’ll see…
Excellent! Great summary of where we’re at. 🙂
I have either not been able to sleep or sleeping too much, maybe because my chart angles are the cardinal signs. I’ve been feeling the energy, it’s tremendous.
I think I first read about Cambridge Analytica in 2015? Certainly I knew what was happening in 2016. This goes back a good number of years, I’d say about 6-7 years. I hope it’s all revealed, sounds like it will be.
In a way, it’s good that it’s happening and I feel encouraged. I read somewhere that this is the year of adhering to laws and rules, enforcing them so they do actually make a difference. (Capricorn) The last few years, they have been utterly abused. So that’s a good thing. Perhaps transparency in elections could mean a blockchain type of campaign? I don’t know, but something about stepping up fairness feels important right now.
I also read that the election in Kenya that Cambridge Analytica worked on was voided by their Supreme Court and another election was ordered in the next 60 days. So I wonder if Trump/Brexit will be found null and void too? They should be.
We have had a number of years of uranus/pluto breakdown of structures, well, everything really. And then we had neptune dissolving it all, creating confusion and allowing for fake news. But what do we see? We see we haven’t really had democracy for a very long time. Voter suppression is not democracy. Disinformation is not democracy. The elite rigging elections so they can get into power to serve themselves is not democracy. Are Trump and the Tories the first to do it? No. This goes back a good 40-50 years, or longer. It’s a system that needed to breakdown. I read that in the US, they’re considering dropping the system where people’s votes make no difference because someone else decides how the state voted, which is how we got Trump despite the fact Hillary had the most votes by millions. So in a way, Cambridge Analytica have done us a favour. They showed us what’s wrong and where. They also showed us what the alt right (fascists) are capable of and how they have seized power. The world is disgusted. People who fell for the con feel duped. I don’t know if this is the beginning of the end for the rise of the alt right, I hope it is.
People are deleting their Facebook accounts. It’s a bit locking the doors after the horse has bolted. I don’t think you have to, but then I don’t use Facebook the way everyone else does. I don’t put anything personal on there, I keep it to see what people like you are publishing. My friends and family don’t really use it, and those friends that do are history, u/plu broke the bonds, so that’s that.
I noticed about words coming back like boomerangs! I feel like, because I watched all this unfold for years, and bit my tongue when others disparaged me for believing the ‘conspiracy’, I not only feel vindicated, but also feel some sense of responsibility. I’m not having an emotional reaction of shock, it’s not news to me. So I’m choosing to keep the peace and looking to see where we can heal. We have all be divided from each other. We have been taught to judge each other for the opinions we have or even for how we feel. I miss when we all got along! So that’s my goal, which is very Libra AC, work on healing broken bonds where possible. I’m starting on a collective level. On a personal level, I know I need to look for new friends, people who care. This pisces new moon is about healing as well as endings, so I take inspiration from that.
Thanks, Christina! Sorry for a long one, I just wanted to say it! 🙂
Hi Christina
Have you seen the Channel 4 exposé recording Nix etc on tape explaining how they hacked the US election, including creating the “Crooked Hilary ‘ narrative and specifically aiming at Sanders fans.
I confess to feeling a modicum of shadenfreude about all this [along with a shitload of frustration at peoples ostrich qualities] especially regarding Facebook, which has ever been in my sights since its inception.
And as I said back then those Bernie Bros were never what they seemed…
https://www.youtube.com/watch?time_continue=2&v=cy-9iciNF1A
Aside from this crap, I do hope you are finding some comfort, healing and peace.
How they hacked the US election.. Almost every point of the election is hacked. Those diebold machine can be programmed to reverse a result. Both side are trying to disqualify people from voting. Where there is a large black population, just throw in one machine or voting booth for the whole area – thats reduces the votes.
HaHa Im a twit – fell right into the Aires Mercury trap you warned of and read your post too fast thereby missing your salient opening point:
“Last night Channel 4 news ran a piece in which the head of the data collection company Cambridge Analytica, one Alexander Nix, offered an entrapment and disinformation service to a journalist posing as a Sri Lankan politician.’
So please ignore my previous comment – bar the well wishes of course, and my justified smuggness at resisting the lure of facebook all these years 😉
Talking of Aires Merc I just checked Nixs chart – bingo – Mercury in Aires 😉 and Moon in Sagittarius, combined with Saturn Mars Venus in Gemini .
Gemini, if you had to pick just one sign then imv its the overwheening most significant archetype for the whole Trump/Pence/Rees Mogg/Corbyn/Russia/Breitbart/Brexshit conflagration.
Eitherway not a great combination for an under the radar stealth operator one would have thought – just like Bannon, he cant resist the limelight.
And watching him, I cant help but feel that clumsy deviousness and manipulation circa 1950s advertising aside, he is actually quite thick.
Mercury in Aries — too soon, too far, too fast. Could you share his birthdata?
Also — yes Gemini rules.
Not sure where 44 and counting is getting a Capricorn moon?
Its in Saggittarius all day
Alexander Nix is listed in Wikipedia (assuming we trust that after all these revelations!) as being born 1 May 1975. He looks ten years older to me though.
Taurus Sun/Mercury, Venus Gemini.
– Cap moon 14-27degs – a target for Pluto or Uranus. Might be in a t-square with Aries Jupiter and Cancer Saturn.
– Mars at 14-15Pisces just where transiting neptune is!
– Uranus on cusp of Libra/Scorpio – changeover day. looks like his Uranus half-return is on its way!
Interesting about the Mars-Neptune — that is becoming impotent perhaps…
Also Pisces is associated with gossip, slander etc…
Ha no, its me again! I put 1972 cos its my brothers birthday – I give up …
They must have made a mistake.
Sun Taurus
Moon Sag
Merc Aires
Venus Gemini
Mars Gemini
Jup Cap
Sat Gem
Uranus Lib
Nep Sag
Pluto Virgo
Check it yourself.
I’ve said for years that I can’t believe how unbothered people are about giving their data to big companies. It’s not just Facebook or Amazon but every major company collects all your data and uses it to profile you. Just your supermarket reward card has massive value in terms of understanding your lifestyle and determining if you have children and what age they are. If you saw the data and the reports that creates you’d probably have a massive panic attack.
Obviously FB/CA is a step further in using data to create false stories but it’s amazing how people will fight any government bill that intrudes on their privacy yet willingly sign up to stuff on the web and agree to the company being able to use, market and sell their data for profit.
What I do know is that the Data Protection laws we have are mostly lipserviced by companies. Keeping data secure is the one thing that gets enforced but there are other principles that clearly state that companies should only process data for specified purposes, only when it’s needed and then retain it only as long as necessary among other things. The intended moral principle is to be respectful of people’s data but once acquired, companies treat it as their own and use it how they want. They tend to tick the legal box by providing a long list of ways that your data may be used and coming up with reasons why they need to keep it forever. As we’re seeing with CA, things only get pursued when there is a complaint, there is no proactive policing of compliance with data protection laws.
Data Protection Laws – I am in a email struggle to get the organisation that is supposed to control or regulate the DPA to give a definitive reply to my question “Are the rules of the DPA laws?” The problem is that these organisations as the ICO has admitted in my FOI request only regulate the rules – they dont regulate the companies directly by enforcement. In fact the ICO goes out of its way to not regulate the companies of investigate anything that is brought to them. Boris Johnson recently used the phrase “likely to have done” about the russion bs mess. This is exactly the same phrase used by the ICO to not investigate ie “it is our opinion that the organisation has likely followed the rules…” – as above so below.
But where are you getting a Capricorn moon from ?
According to Astrodienst its in Sagittarius for the whole of the first?
And just to prove/disprove my point …
I literally just received an email from my local council. I’ve been signed up to their weekly news digest for about three years now and they just sent me an email asking whether I still want to receive these. A simple Yes or No choice to validate whether I really do want to continue receiving these.
That’s not the sort of thing you’d ever see a for-profit company do. The ability to send you marketing is far too valuable to throw away by double-checking whether you really want to hear from them. The legally required Unsubscribe button at the bottom of every email is already more than enough for them.
Hi Christina,
I would like to know if you can go along with my thoughts in this.
in order to understand what is going on we have to keep in mind that at this moment in time the generation of Pluto in Virgo is in power. This is a generation which is very serviceable and at the same time not very well suited in communicating in the way Gemini communicates.
When Pluto started to transit Sagitarius this generation slowly came into power and really took power in the years after 2009/2010 I think. Until now Virgo’s ruler would be the backside of Mercury (the side we never get to see, it is allways directed at the Sun).
This is why the sign of Virgo was never really understood by astrologers.
What we are seeing now is the result of the change in communication as it was (Mercury as he acts in Gemini) to communication as it has become under the Pluto in Virgo generation).
I think it is time people become conscious about this mechanism, so they can act and start behaving accordingly . I have never used my Facebook account (I made an account at one point to satisfy a friend) and I never will. I prefer to communicate like a Gemini.
For what it’s worth: I think the ruler of Virgo is Eris.
mimi
I think there’s something in what you say, mimi, about the astrological misunderstanding of Virgo.
But in fact, the Pluto in Virgo generation is not really in power. I mean Trump, Bannon, Putin are all still Pluto in Leo — and maybe that is the problem; the failure to hand over power. Obama has Pluto in Virgo. This Nix character has Pluto in Libra, I should think.
Someone who does fit your Eris hypothesis though is Nigel Farage who has Pluto in Virgo exactly on the Ascendant.
Maybe Trump, Bannon and the rest used the changes in society brought forth by the generation Pluto in Virgo. The recent years have led people to change their thinking and their behaviour and those in power have taken their chance to use these changes.
However, I don’t think that a changing of the guard from Leo to Virgo will affect the use of power all over the world in various governments. Don’t be fooled, those who are in power or come to power will never ever share this power, be they Leo or Virgo or Libra or any other sign.
mimi
Really curious to see Christopher Wylie’s chart.
Love your blog.
Same here. That guy is sailing along claiming he’s a victim in this now when he was apparently the facilitator of this nightmare, at least per news.
I watched a Sidney Lumet film from 1976 called ‘Network’ last night, about the distorting power of TV. Worth watching. So many parallels with now, with this: about the shift from reporting what’s real through the vehicle of media, to relying on the media itself to tell us what reality is, and shadowy power figures using the media as a way to manipulate reality, economies, governments. If we use media to tell stories to ourselves about ourselves and to connect, and if we create ourselves through the stories we tell ourselves and the meaning we make from them, then I got flung into a meta-moment of wondering how long we’ve been telling this particular story to ourselves, and why.
I think he’s about to be scapegoated. I don’t think he’s to blame though, he’s not big or powerful enough. I think this has something to do with UK’s reputation for abuse of power (British Empire) in countries around the world. I think this has something to do with the fall of Empire. How does the synastry look? His chart with the UK’s?
What I’m wondering now is, if we do Brexit, why would any country want to make trade deals with us if we’ve been busy interfering in their elections and stirring up trouble dividing their people? Even if we don’t Brexit, why would the EU not find a way to punish us? We’re already in trouble with Russia because our idiotic government think they’re more powerful than they really are. All Russia has to do sanction another kind of power – electricity for example – and that’s it! We’re living by candlelight!
While Russia has been playing its own dirty games – if we’re going down, you’re all going down with us – UK clearly has too, with the Establishment and the elites desperately holding on to power so they can continue to live in a manner they’re accustomed to. Have the British Empire and its elites reached their Ozymandias moment, over for good? I’m guessing not, they’ll endure, but then I don’t know, look what’s happening to patriarchy, which is far older. Paradigms thousands of years old are shifting, so why not the paradigm of the British elite from this tiny island being so disproportionately powerful around the world?
We have been in a time of rebalancing these last few years, with the u/plu squares, particularly rebalancing of power between the people and the 1%. There’s years of this to go yet, it’s not going to complete anytime soon.
Britain, with it’s Libra AC (same degree as mine!) has fairness at the core of its values. The cliche is queues and people waiting their turn. Which is true, people generally do. But it’s not true for those in positions of power, they pretend to be fair, erase and shred all evidence to the contrary, and abuse their power in such a big way, it’s impossible for the ordinary person to comprehend without causing cognitive dissonance. Hitler admired the British Empire very much and copied from it. It’s why he visited Britain, but here, it’s not the done thing to talk about it, so that was awkward. The illusion here is it (Empire) was brilliant, and people are taught to be proud of its achievements. Shame isn’t a thing yet, when rightly it should be.
This is the dirty, disgusting sewer stuff being brought up to the surface by pluto. I have never learnt so much about the British Empire as I have these last few years. It’s absolutely disgusting. Then to learn about Cambridge Analytica and Britain meddling in international elections, not to mention rigging its own so the powerful stay in position for the foreseeable, I am not surprised!
People are confused right now. They see grassroots movements growing – Momentum is doing very well – they see membership of the Tory party falling, some say it’s as low as 80,000 now. But the left plays fairly, people still think elections are free and fair. As long as the elites do the complete opposite in secret, we are looking at them remaining in power in perpetuity. They don’t need the numbers, they just need targetted individuals to vote for them, then they just have to suppress other voters, and that’s it, job done. It happened for Brexit – the polls showed Remain as a majority, people were reassured it’s all fine, nothing to worry about, many went to bed thinking everything would be fine in the morning. Something similar happened to Dem voters in America, they were reassured it was fine, Hillary had the majority, similar sort of split, if I remember correctly, 70/30, huge majority, so Dem voters didn’t worry about missing the vote, they assumed someone else would. Trump didn’t have the numbers, he just had the right voters.
Sorry, I’ve done a long one again, just working out some thoughts!
To be a scapegoat, as far as I understand, is to be genuinely blameless yet projected as the fault. He genuinely does bear responsibility for this. Not alone or exclusively but I’m not seeing him as a whistleblower. He’s an opportunist, no better than anyone else involved in this.
Similarly, I’ve never viewed Libra as fair either. Libra plays fast and loose with opportunity and holds itself as arbiter of justice but is more a problem maker than a successful justice proponent. Over 50 years reflecting on this and it’s often been correct.
I relate to this experience of Libra, thanks Laure.
Yes. I think Libra is much more like that…
So that’s Librans having an interesting month, including the UK with its Libra AC.
This is riveting viewing. Chris Wylie — our own Mercury — testifying before the British lawmakers.
https://twitter.com/search?q=Chris%20wylie&src=typd&lang=en-gb
BBC failure to report is also noteworthy. #Leavegate
Just saw your tweet, Christina. I had no idea. Thanks!
BBC and the rest of the media are mainlining the latest Corbyn/antisemitism smear like crack cocaine. If it’s not that, then it’s some other story. They’re actively avoiding reporting this. It’s so blatantly clear to see! Any time the Tories are in trouble, they scrabble about, throw dust in everyone’s eyes, create smokescreens, or just plain make something up, then get their media to shove it in our faces. Shadow side of authority, I’m guessing. And because they have so much power, that’s us screwed. 🙁