Voices from the Underground

Insights into current trends

The GFC may be making the headlines, but do you know the astrological correlations with this – and other – major world trends?

Astrology is the study of correlations between observed phenomena and the interpretation of the symbolism in the movements and patterns of the ‘planets’.

Thus, it is interesting that within a few days of Pluto’s transit into Capricorn – the sign associated withrules and regulations, with frugality and making do with less – the stockmarkets of the world took one of several significant dives.

Pluto is the ‘god’ of the Underworld. Its association is with a deep transformation of whatever it is in contact with. In its new transit through Capricorn – which lasts until November 2024 – we can expect to see a fundamental overhaul of the things of the domain of Capricorn. What are these things?

Capricorn is concerned with the structures that govern the world, that regulate our society. Structures are: rules, regulations, codes of ethics, laws, the legislation that we, as a society, put in place when we want people to be accountable for what they do. They are the rules that we establish to give everyone in society confidence that certain things in their life are going to be worthy of their trust. These things are fundamental to the operation and success of a modern economy.

One example of this is property law. A fundamental property law allows a person to claim ownership of what is rightfully theirs, and to buy or sell it, or use it as ‘security’ for a promise. Title deeds to land are controlled by many laws and regulations that give everyone, especially banks, certainty about the system. Without this, credit would be much more difficult to obtain. Difficulty in obtaining credit, as we have seen in the current financial climate, leads to a slowdown of all economic activity. Thus, the laws and regulations of a society, and society’s trust in their enforcement, are vital to an economy’s vitality.

With Pluto’s transit through Capricorn, we can expect to see this issue of society’s trust in its systems of government, its laws and regulations, come under close scrutiny. No longer will it be taken for granted that we are ‘safe’ from the way we are governed. Indeed, the ‘securitisation’ of unsecure loans has been the cause of the GFC. In the past, a mortgage was one of the safest forms of loan a bank could make, because the loan was secured by the fact that there was a real estate asset – a tangible, immovable asset of reliable value – that could be repossessed by the bank, and sold, if the borrower defaulted on their loan repayments. Now, with a flood of properties in the US for sale (due to borrowers being unable to keep up with repayments after their ‘honeymoon’ interest rate is over), those safe property values have dived, often by 30 per cent or more. This has caused massive losses to the banking system, and a rapid decline in available credit to the economy. In practical terms, this has created as much uncertainty as if some of the laws governing our societies were called into question.

When there is a question of trust, there is greater scrutiny. And now that many of us have suffered some financial losses in this GFC, of course we will all ask more questions about who we can trust to look after our investments, our superannuation, and what government regulations we can trust. Which companies can we safely invest in? Which boards of directors are honest and upfront with their information to the stockmarket? What investments are our super funds making? What are they telling us about, and what are they keeping us uninformed about?

The levels of scrutiny of society’s ‘structures’ will go much further than this by the end of 2024. Already we have had serious concerns about many other issues. Questions such as the long-term impact on our health of consuming Genetically-modified food. Questions about how to deal with global warming, and whether governments will take any action on this or not. In some countries the building regulations have come under scrutiny due to earthquake devastation that could have been significantly less with better building construction.

Questions about rules, regulations and responsibility have been woven through each country’s history, so, in a way, they are nothing new. What is new is the reassessment of what we have set in place to date, in the light of questions of trust – have we got the rules right? can we trust the outcomes of those rules? do they protect us as we thought they would?

Increasingly, in this globalised world, we will discover the domino effects of interdependent systems leading to one another’s failure or demise. We will need to adjust our laws and regulations in order to cope with unforeseen situations. As usual, in the history of humanity, the rich and powerful will seek to have more than their fair share of influence in order to preserve their positions. This is a ‘given’, for we are talking about the hidden workings of the god of the Underworld.

During these next 15 years we cannot promise that humanity will get all the answers to these questions ‘right’, or that its answers won’t ultimately be at least partly politically motivated. But we can be assured that many of these sorts of questions will be firmly on the agenda during this transit of Pluto through the sign of Capricorn.

© Rainer Rollfink, 2009

Nadal’s success

Career Moves: Are we surprised?

8 May 2009

Malcolm Gladwell’s latest book Outliers reveals that it generally takes about 10,000 hours of work, training, practice for anyone to become world-class in any field.

This is the price of world-class success.

But what does it take for someone to be so committed to a pursuit to devote 10,000 hours to it?

The field of endeavour must be a great match for the person’s individuality, personality and character. [10,000 hours = 4 hours per day for almost 7 years!]

When we consider Rafael Nadal’s rise to the No. 1 ranking in men’s tennis we would of course expect to find many factors that have helped him get there.

We know about his strong family support, with his uncle Toni, a former professional tennis player himself, being his coach for nearly 18 years. We know he lived across the road from a tennis court, and started to play from the age of four. So he had plenty of time and opportunity to learn, practice, and hone his skills. And since his uncle was a tennis coach already, he would have had plenty of encouragement.

And, of course, some natural talent and a strong physique are also great assets to bring to the sport of tennis.

As an astrologer, as a curious human being, it is interesting to discover some of the personal qualities that Rafa brings to his success that tell us a deeper story.

Rafael Nadal was born 3 June 1986 in Manacor, Mallorca. We therefore know he is a Gemini (which means his Sun was in Gemini on the day of his birth). This makes him a thinker, someone who is curious and can be endlessly fascinated by learning. This is reinforced by his Mercury (planet of the mind) being in the same sign as well.

The Sun also symbolises the kind of hero a person can be. Gemini can also be a trickster. Just when you think he is beaten on a point he retrieves a ball and turns it into a winner. His mental vitality will help him to be constantly thinking about such possibilities. His mental toughness has already earned him great respect.

Nadal’s Moon is in Taurus, the sign of the Bull. Taurus is known for being deliberate in its actions – and quite often stubborn. The Moon represents one’s emotional nature, and it is in Nadal’s emotional make-up to want to play on his own terms, in a way that he can control the action, and in a way that can give him a predictable result. His heavy top-spin game gives him an edge with all of these things. His deliberate preparation before each point is legendary. (Some people mistake it for time-wasting: it is anything but that. It is a typical Taurean need to be prepared at the crucial moment.)

Nadal’s Mars is in Capricorn. Capricorn is the sign of the sea-goat, which climbs out of the water, and up the mountain. It is the sign of long-term aspirations, hard work, working within a system of rules and limitations to achieve what one wants. Mars is about how one takes action. Nadal’s work ethic is becoming legendary. He has certainly put in his 10,000 hours and more to become the best in the world. There is still a sense with Nadal that he still wants to improve his tennis, even though he generally wins his matches by a wide margin.

It is interesting that the word GOAT is also an acronym for ‘Greatest Of All Time’. And while Nadal has the humility not to seem to aspire to that title, if he maintains his standard of the last year for another two or three years (which will be a huge task) we will see more people start to think of him in those terms. Already we are seeing him talked about in terms of ‘possibly the greatest clay-court player of all time’, because nobody has come close to beating him on clay for years.

Rafa, however, does have genuine humility, despite his competitive nature. Both he and his coach, uncle Toni, have a Sun-Chiron conjunction in their birth charts. Chiron is the place of wounding; here it is the hero’s wound. Toni’s career as a tennis player ended, it seems, because he couldn’t get into the top 20 tennis players in Spain. He is very aware of the possibilities of failure. He has been known to let Rafa fail to let him learn a lesson (when the stakes haven’t been too high).

There is a sense that both Rafa and Toni are acutely aware that injury or other unforeseen events could end the whole journey, that success will have an end. And that is why no success is ever taken for granted. Nadal genuinely appreciates every tournament he gets to play, and honours the spectators with his thanks. His delight at winning is as if he had won his first tournament. Or is it that one day it may be his last victory?

These, and other factors, will help Nadal to maintain a good attitude to the sport he loves. Provided he maintains his health and fitness, we can expect to see amazing tennis from him for a long time yet. And the inevitable GOAT label may well follow. But that is history yet to unfold.

In the meantime, a question worth pondering is ‘What are my talents, skills, personality, and character, and to what successes am I steering my life?’ Virtually none of us are competing to be the GOAT in our field; that is not the question. But do we fully realise which field could bring us our greatest successes? If we know and understand ourselves so that we are doing what we are truly most passionate about, we are more likely to find ourselves busy in that field of activity that can bring us our greatest success.

© Rainer Rollfink, 2009

Federer vs Roddick

2009 Wimbledon Men’s Final

5 July 2009

What happens when an irresistible force meets an immovable object?

Well Andy Roddick’s serve was certainly an irresistible force, as shown by the fact that he won 37 service games straight against Roger Federer in the one match.

But Federer proved to be the legendary immovable object. Even in the presentation ceremony he remarked that he was glad the match ended when it did ‘because it could have gone on for another couple of hours.’ He certainly looked fresh enough to have kept playing for much longer, as fresh as if he had just walked onto centre court from the locker rooms. So it was clear that Roger had decided he wasn’t going anywhere without the trophy on this occasion.

So, history has played out, but what can we learn from it?

When two evenly matched players compete, the margin that decides the winner is often very slim. At this level, a win can be decided by as little as two points. Roger has certainly had his share of close losses, particularly against Nadal.

In the end, as they say, it seems to come down to who wants it the most. And whose psychological make-up is the most solid, the most unwavering.

Enter astrology.

Andy Roddick said in a press conference at Wimbledon: ‘Trying hard has never been one of my problems.’ From his chart (birth date 30 August 1982, Omaha, Nebraska, time unknown) we can see he has Jupiter and Mars in Scorpio, and Venus in Leo. These are both fixed signs. Mars is the fighter, the competitor, and in Scorpio it is particularly tenacious, fixed and determined to stay on course. It will fight to the end. If the match hadn’t finished when it did, Andy would surely have kept going for a few more hours also.

Venus in Leo can get fixated on what it wants as well, hence Andy’s disappointment at not winning the title was most likely immense, and it is a credit to him that he disguised this so well. There are other sides to this Venus as well, tremendous loyalty among them, and perhaps that sense of loyalty (to his coach, his support team) also contributed to his performance at Wimbledon.

However, Andy’s Sun is in Virgo, which is a mutable sign. While Virgos are generally busy and very hardworking, they can sometimes fluctuate, get distracted, and get off track. Now, a tennis match can be a great focus for staying on track, nevertheless there is a chance of this happening. They are also perfectionists, and keep constantly trying to get better in some way. This would keep him on the alert, and keep making adjustments if he finds he needs to get back on track.

Roger Federer (born 8 August 1981, in Basel, Switzerland) has his Sun and Mercury in Leo, and his Moon and Uranus in Scorpio. These are also fixed sign planets. On balance, Roger has more fixity in his chart than Andy, and perhaps therefore more ability to hold the belief that he should win the match. His record of wins would certainly give him a huge boost to that belief, even if it wasn’t indicated in his horoscope. As a Leo, being the winner, being number 1, sits comfortably with him. As does the respect of crowds, and competing on the big occasions.

Federer, as befits the Swiss nationality, also has a strong streak of Virgo – his Venus is in that sign. This is shown in his presentation, the way he conducts himself and the way he dresses. With Saturn (associated with rules and regimentation) currently in Virgo approaching his Venus, it was interesting that he wore a military style jacket on to court. So, if we didn’t already know this about Federer, we know now that he also has a strong perfectionist streak in him, and an ability to adapt his game to the style of his opponent. This tournament was notable for the ‘serving contests’ that four of his matches became. (Note the matches against Soderling, Karlovic, Haas and finally Roddick, all players with strong serves.)

In summary, in this classic Wimbledon final we saw two tenacious, evenly matched competitors, both worthy of being the champion battle it out until one faltered just enough for the other to break his service game. In the end it may have been the more fixed character who won, the one who believed till the end, who, as Andy put it ‘dug deep’ and hung in there. And that, as much as talent, is what has made Federer the champion he has become, and the winner of the most Grand Slam titles in the history of men’s tennis.

© Rainer Rollfink, 2009

The Ashes 2009

What Happened at Cardiff? The Ashes, first test, July 2009

15 July 2009

It isn’t over till it’s over!

Just when everyone was expecting England to wilt on the last day of the First Test, and Australia push for a convincing victory, having outplayed England for most of the first four days, the momentum in favour of Australia began to meet with some resistance.

With their backs to the wall, and facing the prospect of an innings defeat, the English team rallied with some fighting words. It’s hardly surprising to see resistance in the dying stages of any sporting contest. It was very interesting to see the parallels being played out symbolically in the movement of the planets at the same time.

Not that I didn’t hope for Australia to complete the task for which they had worked so hard for four days.

Test Cricket is an interesting sport to follow because much of it unfolds slowly. It is played over five days (unless a result is achieved earlier), thereby giving a range of playing conditions (weather-wise) and a range of astrological ‘influences’ over its duration. While the fall of a wicket happens in an instant, the accumulation of runs takes time, bringing the influence of time into play.

So, what was notable about this Test was that the fifth day was so different. On day 4, the body language of the English team while Australia batted to make 674 for 6 (declared) in their first innings suggested they had run out of ideas. Then, when sent back in to bat, England lost 2 quick wickets in 7 overs before rain stopped play over two hours early on day 4.

Astrologically, what changed from day 4 to day 5 was that Mars, the planet associated with assertion, competition, aggression, moved from Taurus into Gemini. The mood of the English team shifted from that of plodding along without challenging the status quo, befitting a Taurus-style approach, to one of mental energy, and fighting words coming into the equation. Suddenly there was some spark again, as if their minds were now in gear and some ideas had emerged.

While all the TV commentators expected more of the same Australian dominance, I was wondering how the coming change would play out. Would England ‘grab’ the Mars energy, or would Australia? I wouldn’t have bet against Australia winning, but I did think there was a strong chance that the contest on day 5 would end up more evenly poised than all were expecting.

So why would Mars in the sign of Gemini make a difference? Well, in the sign of Taurus Mars is rather comfortable to plod along slowly and watch things develop gradually. It is a time to enjoy the here and now, to not stress out too much, but to keep things moving. The Australian team certainly kept working hard, putting in the physical labour to hopefully arrive at their target.

In Gemini, Mars enlivens the principle of mental energy, the mind, ideas and the engagement with the other – in other words, competition. It is not the most competitive sign by any means, but it does bring energy to the competition. It enjoys the to and fro of dialogue, the exchange of ideas, banter, argument, debate, dare we say ‘sledging’? So, suddenly we have ideas where there were none before. We have a mental vitality, helping bring an alertness to the game that sustained a fightback from a position of near-defeat.

And that is what day 5 delivered, resulting in a draw, where most expected a certain victory to Australia.

Did Mars moving into Gemini ‘cause’ this shift? I don’t know. But the synchronous symbolism certainly helps us explain and describe what happened, which is where the language of astrology can give us another lens through which to understand our world.

© Rainer Rollfink, AstroInsight 2009

Brideshead Revisited

A personal reflection

31 December 2008

Recently we have had the pleasure and delight to watch the original full-length BBC production of Brideshead Revisited on ABC2. I have followed this up by reading the original novel. Here are some lines that particularly caught my attention:

My theme is memory, …
These memories, which are my life – for we possess nothing certainly except the past – were always with me.
These memories are the memorials and pledges of the vital hours of a lifetime.

… the vital hours of a lifetime!

What are these vital hours of a lifetime, I wondered? There are times, places, people, events, decisions and choices that, if we extracted and polished them from among the daily forgettable routine and rubble of a life would represent the vital hours of our lifetime. There are choices that in some ways define who we have become in life. There are directions we have taken and others left unexplored, deliberately or with regret, or because the circumstances made them difficult.

What are the vital hours of a lifetime, and how can we have more of them? Do they need to be few in number in order to be significant to us? Or can we discover the essence of what is truly meaningful to us in order to bring more of that into our lives? This seems to me to be a vital question for us at this point in the history of civilisation. We now have access to almost anything we could imagine, yet true happiness seems to elude so many.

To use astrology as a method of inquiry into your own life is to become an explorer, an adventurer, to dig deeper in order to find the meaning, the value, the treasure. It is to begin to collect these vital hours of a lifetime, and to find one’s Self and its rich variety of expressions in one’s life.

I hope to one day share this adventure with you.

© Rainer Rollfink, 2009

Saturn opposite Uranus

Signs of the Times: Saturn opposite Uranus: 2008–2010

Any guitarist who has ever tuned two strings to the same pitch using harmonics would have a visceral memory of that moment when the two strings begin to vibrate to precisely the same pitch and produce that clarity of sound that tells them that those two strings are now ‘in tune’ with each other.

That clarity can also be seen – or felt – in other ways. That clarity is a quality most easily demonstrated with sound, but also in the physics lab with slightly more sophisticated experiments.

We can also find that clarity in the news of the time if we know what to listen for.

The planetary alignment of Saturn and Uranus with the Earth was exact on 15 September 2009. That meant that the three planets were in alignment with the Earth in the middle. Since western astrology takes an Earth-centred view of the planetary ‘constellation’, we see the pattern as one of Saturn on the opposite side of the Earth to Uranus. Hence the astrological shorthand of ‘Saturn is opposite Uranus’.

As if on cue (one almost wonders whether they employ astrologers at the ABC to select which news they will feature in depth) the next morning’s half-hour AM program on ABC Radio 774 featured four stories that all had a Saturn opposite Uranus theme behind them.

1: Obesity in teenagers. The issue: whether the authorities (Saturn) should offer lap-band surgery to obese teenagers (individuals, Uranus) who have tried, but been unable to lose weight. The classic signature is the individual versus the authorities, and the tension between the two.

2: Afghanistan: more troops needed? Can the individual (small country) become strong enough to deal with its own problems or does big brother (big country) have to take over even more? Again the classic authority-versus-individual dilemma. (Not unlike the previous story.)

3: Executive salaries are out of control. The individual is getting too much and needs to be reigned in. The government needs to regulate this situation. Same theme again. The morality of executives taking extra millions in bonuses is questioned when the company is so unsuccessful that it must retrench hundreds of employees. Would the bonuses not have covered the costs of at least some other people’s jobs?

4: The mafia has been sinking ships in the Mediterranean for a number of years. Problem: the ships contain toxic, possibly radioactive waste, such as uranium (associated with Uranus). The authorities need to step in and investigate. Theme: radical individuals are crossing the boundaries of responsible behaviour, that is, breaking the law. The government (looking after the interests of all of us) versus some individuals who care only about themselves. The long-term view versus the short-term view.

This theme is of course a recurring one throughout history.

A previous Saturn–Uranus opposition period was from 1965 to 1967 when the hippy movement was in full swing. The message was ‘turn on, tune in, drop out’. Apart from psychedelic drugs and escape from the ‘system’, themes of the time included getting back to nature. It is interesting now that we are revisiting nature from the side of having to curb the excesses of our way of life in order to rebalance our effect on the natural processes of the planet.

Other notable events include the US election of 2008 on the exact day of a Saturn–Uranus opposition. Astrologers around the world almost unanimously tipped the election of Obama as the first non-white US President due to this constellation alone. The election was a classic contest between the tired old guard (entrenched authority) who has overstayed his welcome and the free, radical, new-thinking individual who promises that all things will become new again. ‘Yes we can’ was the theme of his victory speech.

The hippy movement of the sixties may have changed the world to some extent, but it has meandered along several other paths in the decades that followed. Its time highlighted a particular psychological drive in humanity; there are still people today who have never left that era. Like the layers of sediment that archaeologists find when digging into the earth, when we dig through the layers of history we find some, often living, remains of the generations of the past. This Saturn opposite Uranus time will no doubt again signal a ‘changing of the guard’ in some form, and leave its influences on the distant future.

Echoes of this theme can also be seen in sporting contests, such as St Kilda again trying to win a Premiership, and losing (they won their only Premiership in 1966, a year featuring Saturn opposite Uranus), and Federer (a day before the Saturn–Uranus opposition) losing his US Open crown in the final. It seems like a time when the old order is definitely being challenged.

For those born on these dates, or within a couple of weeks of them, this time will highlight the themes mentioned in this article, for they carry this tension in their psyche:
1 April 1965
28 August 1965
24 February 1966
8 November 1966
7 January 1967.

This could be a good time for these individuals to reflect on how they respond to the stories of this time, as the underlying theme is important in their own lives and needs to be honoured creatively.

The current sequence of Saturn–Uranus transits are on these dates:
4 November 2008
5 February 2009
15 September 2009
27 April 2010 and
27 July 2010.

These could be empowering and creative times for you. Use them well.

© Rainer Rollfink, 2009