Most people carry around with them an open ended question which may not be vocalised but its there nevertheless. This is generally along the lines of ” What on earth is going on ?”

Astrologers, by the very nature of their study have a bit of help with this one and even if it does arise can always snatch a quick glance at their ephemeris for guidance. Capricorn Research however has been asking the same question in a much more specific way. It is reframed as ” What on earth is going on at Liverpool FC ?”

How can the side that were so dominant last season and came within a Steven Gerrard slip of claiming the title, have turned into such a ragbag a mere few months later ? The confidence that coursed through the team has evaporated and everywhere you look panic seems to have replaced it.

Many punters would point to the departure of serial biter Luis Suarez together with the club applying the Spurs model for replacing a major star. But Capricorn Research has recently realised that the difference is much greater than this. Its as clear as the difference between Pluto and Neptune.

Astrology is a subject that no one can ever master, hopefully one’s understanding of it continues to slowly grow and develop, but we are all learning as much by our mistakes as anything. Capricorn Research has learnt a great deal about the impact of transits from watching events at Anfield over the last few years. One of the things that has been absorbed is the power that a star player’s transits has over the fortunes of the whole team.

It has long been known that the most important chart for a club is that of the manager, but it now seems that the club’s icon comes a close second.

For the best part of the last couple of years, Luis Suarez has had Uranus and Pluto aspecting his Mars. This has been the inspiration behind his winning both the Golden Boot and the Silver Bite. It accounted for his Footballer of the Year and would have been the single most important factor in bringing the title to Anfield but for Gerrard’s slip. It also accounted for missing chunks from the shoulders of central defenders from Chelsea and Italy.

But as a previous article Biting Back – One Transit in the Life of Luis Suarez states the main reason for his appearance on Earth let alone at Anfield was to teach us all about the three fold nature of the transits of slow moving planets. The article shows the extraordinary capacity of Uranus and Pluto to shock and amaze us all both at the same time.

The reader may or may not be as convinced as Capricorn Research about Suarez’ role in our education but it may be worth reflecting that the very final contact of this double transit, Pluto’s final appearance at 11.15 Capricorn in exact square to Suarez’ Mars occurred on October 25th, the very day the man himself emerged from his latest ban to play for Barcelona in the Classico.

So its now the La Liga defenders who will be relieved that this transit is now moving away so they don’t have to check for teeth marks at every Barca corner. The other side of this is that some of the edge that Suarez had in his playing ability will inevitably subside. This does not mean that he will become an average player overnight, but Capricorn Research is prepared to bet that he won’t reach the same heights of glory and adulation that he got at Anfield last season.

Pundits will put this down to the fact that he’s not the big fish in the Liverpool strikers pond anymore, in fact with Messi and Neymar, he’s not even a guaranteed pick. Readers of this article will know that its because of the removal of the Uranus / Pluto edge.

So Capricorn Research learnt a lot about the specifics of two planets working a transit at the same time whilst King Luis was at Anfield. But it could be that the post Suarez vacuum will offer even more opportunities for understanding.

There are a number of big questions lurking around Liverpool at the moment. The one that has been asked most frequently – ” Is Brendan Rodgers actually a complete idiot who deserves the sack straight away “. Certain parts of the media have already come to the conclusion that far from being The Messiah, Rodgers is actually just a very naughty boy.

Poor old Brendan must be aghast at these recent developments, he may well even have been pushed to consult the club astrologer. If so they would have both have been scratching their heads because there is nothing in his chart to explain this sudden demise.

A poor season was predicted by Capricorn Research however. In the article predicting Liverpool’s season, the suggested 6th place finish was mainly as a result of difficult end of season transits of Neptune to the charts of Steven Gerrard and Daniel Sturridge.

However looking at the fortunes of this pair over the last few months has made me reconsider how tightly I draw orbs for applying transits.

Since September, Sturridge has been out with a succession of odd injuries mainly acquired in training. These injuries seemed to have a Neptunian flavour, particularly the original one helped raise all kinds of questions about whether England were guilty of over training him. Only this last week he seems to have exacerbated something that promises to keep him out of the Liverpool side for longer, just as they’ve realised that there’s noone else to score their goals.

Daniel Sturridge has the Sun at 9 degrees Virgo. Neptune is currently stationery at around 5 degrees of Pisces. Most astrologers would say that an orb of 4 degrees is too far to consider having an effect. Capricorn Research’s job however is to look into these things a little more deeply.

It is has long been my view that a transit is in effect from the first moment of contact to the last even if the planet moves forwards or backwards beyond the aspected point by a few degrees.

In Luis Suarez case this means from March 2013 just before he got the idea to have a nibble at Branislav Ivanovich, right up to October 25th 2014 when he started his first Barca game against Real. Obviously there were particular dates that triggered specific events and moments within the Suarez saga, but the whole period was covered by this transit.

Looking at Sturridge’s transits, Neptune reached 7.30 Pisces during the summer. If Daniel was born in the early hours of his birthday, this would mean that Neptune was very close to the one degree applying rule at this point. Even if he was born at midday, we are talking about 1 degree 30 minutes.

From July onwards, Neptune turned retrograde and started moving back away from the opposition to Sturridge’s Sun. But if we count that 1.30 orb, the transit of Neptune effectively started during the summer.

To be fair, many people predicted Sturridge to make a mark of sorts on the World Cup. Of course noone thought England would get very far, but we did think that Daniel would come away with reputation enhanced. As it was that Neptune stationed within a degree and a half of opposition to Sturridge’s Sun throughout England’s abysmal sojourn in Brazil and noone spent much time chanting his name.

On that note we come to Captain Fantastic himself. Of course it wouldn’t need an astrologer to predict the imminent end of Stevie G’s career but how suddenly are the mighty fallen. From having one hand on that elusive premier league title and the captaincy of an England team at a World Cup to the ignominy of being dropped for the game at the Bernabeu and having even diehard Liverpool fans whispering behind their hands that the should get shot of him now and start looking for a replacement, seems like a precipitous fall.

But the more I think about it the more this demise seems also to belong to the province of Neptune. Who’d have thought that one innocuous slip and an inadvertent back header into the path of a grateful team mate would trigger this ignominious ending ?

But in Gerrard’s chart there is something mighty similar to Sturridge’s. Gerrard has his Sun at 9 degrees Gemini and his Mars at 9 Virgo. This means that Neptune is about to square his Sun and oppose his Mars.

Now Neptune was around 7.30 Pisces on that fateful day last season against Chelsea, and because it had ground to a halt was in the same place for that flick on assist to Suarez against Uruguay. So either Steven Gerrard was born in the early hours of his birthday or we need to extend our orbs for Neptune’s influence by a half degree or so.

It certainly explains the otherwise inexplicable and that really is Neptune’s job.

Of course these transits for both Gerrard and Sturridge are going to get worse before they get better. Not only that but Saturn will also have a say in things although this will not really become clear until the end of 2015. Either way Neptune and Saturn will certainly mark the end of Gerrard’s career and a hold up in Sturridge’s.

If Brendan Rodgers is still consulting his astrologer, he would be best advised to get hold of another striker and central midfielder in the January transfer window, just make sure he avoids anyone with important stuff in the first half of the Mutable signs.

Capricorn Research is extremely grateful to Liverpool FC for providing these lessons in the reading of transits. Anfield has become my very own learning curve.

They say that the local rivals, Everton is ” The School of Science “. Apparently this reputation came from their attractive style of play in 1928 when Dixie Dean set the all time record of 60 league goals in a season. Interestingly enough this was also a heyday for Science itself when Albert Einstein was Dixie’s equivalent.

But lets face it Everton, like science itself has been going through a fallow period pretty much ever since. In more recent times the Toffees have been referred to as ” The Dogs of War ” with their aggressive battling and their lump it up to the big man approach. Capricorn Research feels that post Einstein, pretty much the same has happened to science, with Richard Dawkins taking the role of Big Duncan Ferguson.

As a result of the discoveries that underpin this article, if Everton is the school of science it seems only fitting therefore that Liverpool is the school of astrology and cosmic science. Certainly the Anfield heyday of the 1970s and 80s coincided with a big renaissance for the study of astrology.

So to any of the scientific sceptics, Capricorn Research will simply respond by saying ” 5 European Cups and 18 League Titles ! ” As for science itself, they have about as much chance of explaining how the Universe actually works as Everton have of winning either of them.