Astrology: End of French Rail Strike?

There are few really good depictions of the Queen of Heaven, from whom the art of astrology derives. But, below is one good image I like. You will recall that the Goddess as Queen of Heaven is our great aid in divination and in sorting out reality from falsity, and that the Goddess as Earth Mother is our great aid in healing work. These, in fact, are the two foci for Coven Rochester's existence: knowledge and healing.

( The Queen of Heaven )

When Will the French Rail Strike End?

This is a lovely little chart. Soon after Nicholas Sarkozy was elected in France, he proposed---in accordance with one of his campaign promises--certain reforms to the pension benefits of various public employee groups, and the French rail workers were one such group. On 13 November 2007, the rail workers called for a strike in opposition to the reforms. I received an inquiry from a business person who would be greatly inconvenienced by the strike if it continued past a certain date. He was going to Paris and would most likely have to alter his travel plans. He asked whether I could tell him: "When will the French rail strike end?"

I could and I did.

The Seeker was irrelevant here, except for the fact that he was a business person living in a different country, and so I had to analyze the chart a certain way.


France: House 9, and Lord 9 is Jupiter.

French Government/Sarkozy: House 6, and Lord 6 is the Sun.
(10th from the 9th)

French Public Employees: House 11, and Lord 11 is Saturn.
(6th from the French Government)

The Jobs of the French Public Employees: House 8, and Lord 8 is Mars.
(10th from the French Public Employees)

We must judge this question as: When will the French Public Employees return to their Jobs? In astrological terms, when will Saturn and Mars be brought together?

I could also see from the chart that the Moon was the rail union boss.

In a question like this, we can ignore almost all prohibitions with a couple of exceptions not applicable here. We can do this because we *know* for a certainty that the rail strike will end at some point. Paris public transport is not shutting down FOREVER. Therefore, there must be an answer in the chart.

Saturn and Mars will next be brought together by a translation of light by the Moon.

The Moon's next aspect is a square to Venus, but we can ignore that as a prohibition.
After that, the Moon trined Saturn and immediately opposed Mars. That's the aspect we need.

Curiously, Mars in this chart is Stationary. So it is staying put until the Moon reaches it. When the Moon reaches it, Mars goes Retrograde -- a symbol of everyone going back to work.

When does that aspect perfect? In just about 9 degrees, which I interpreted as 9 days, November 22.

Judgment: I told the Seeker that the strike would be ended on the evening of the 22nd, and there would be rail service the next day and the days following. And so it was. The decision to end the strike was made at a meeting on the evening of the 22nd. Most service resumed on the 23rd, and all service resumed on the 24th.

You can trace out more of the story by looking at the receptions. I did, but my Seeker wasn't interested. He just wanted to know whether he would have to cancel his trip to Paris.

One can see that Sarkozy would not budge or negotiate (fixed sign, mute sign), but would remind the union boss that the union boss might have some worldly power (Moon on angle), but not much negotiating power (Moon in weak-voiced Capricorn) and zero moral ground (Moon in detriment). So the union boss met with the workers and said, "hey, I'm on your side, I'm doing all I can for you" (Moon trine Saturn, with Moon loving Saturn), "but, regretfully (Moon opposition Mars, Moon exalting Mars, Mars controlled by Moon), everyone's going to have to go back to work (Moon translating light of Saturn to Mars) while we enter further negotiations." That was somewhat of a falsehood on the part of the union boss. Sarkozy had already reminded him that his negotiating voice was weak (Moon in weak-voiced Capricorn), but the union boss was buying time.

And so it all proved. The rail workers essentially folded with some minor benefits (to save face) and a rather public spanking, and Sarkozy eventually passed his pension reforms.

*** Blessed be to those who serve the Great Mother and the Horned Father.

* Copyright to Coven Rochester

Spellbooks: Getting Organized

Having been initiated in the Craft for over 34 years now, you can imagine that my spellbooks are enormous. Early on, it became a challenge to keep the information organized. I eventually divided the material into four leather-bound spellbooks, one for each of the Four Elements, figuring that every Witch who came after me would know where to find what. If you are looking for the Dreaming True Potion, you must know that it is in the Book of Water. If you are looking to heal an animal, you know that the spell must be in the Book of Earth. Looking for the way the wise read the Tarot? It's in the Book of Air. Need money? Earth. Break a Bad Habit? Fire. How to predict the weather from the exact times of new moon and full moon? The table is in the Book of Air. The Witches' Rules for Gardening? Earth. Sick of waiting for your future husband to show up? A Witch can summon him from the Book of Water. Banish Mice from the House? Fire.

There are several supplementary books, though. The Hexopedia is a separate work. So is my Greenbook, which contains herbal medicine. It is a topic separate from spells involving, say, certain trees (Earth). I also have a book Natural Magic from A to Z based on spells involving plants.

Sometimes I make spellbooks for others as gifts. In that instance, this is usually how I divide it into sections. I have found it a very workable method of organization.




*** Blessed be to those who serve the Great Mother and the Horned Father.

* Copyright to Coven Rochester