Most peoples idea of astrology is that it is about fate, that life is somehow predetermined by the position of the planets and that consulting an astrologer will enable that fate to be revealed. It is of course, nothing of the sort.

Astrology is a symbolic way of representing the energies of life, it explores the link between these symbols and human behaviour. Astrologers use their experience of these symbolic links in order to try and come up with sensible analysis of such behaviour and maybe also advice on how best for the person to proceed in future.

In this sense, astrologers are no different from professionals in any other sphere. A medical practitioner does the same. A patient presents a series of symptoms based on their own perceptions and their ability to explain them. The doctor tries to make a connection between these feeling perceptions and their own experience and understanding of similar situations which they have seen in the past. They make a diagnosis and a prescription to hopefully help the patient.

The doctor may claim to be operating on sound scientific principles but there is still a symbolic connection made between the patient’s explanation of their symptoms and the consequent medical analysis.

The patient may well come back the following week to say that the proscribed medicine didn’t work, perhaps because in the original appointment the patient may have left out a description of some other symptoms that had occurred since then or they didn’t think were important at the time.

Under these circumstances the doctor has to revise the analysis and a different treatment may be required. No one in their right mind would dismiss the whole of medical science as a failure and the doctor as a charlatan, just because the first diagnosis wasn’t accurate. But this is what happens with astrology.

An astrologer makes a diagnosis and suggests that certain things are likely to come of that, but there may be other factors that the astrologer was not aware of at the time which would influence and impact on that diagnosis. This does not make an original prediction wrong, it just means that sometimes we have to go back and have a look at it in the light of new evidence that wasn’t known at the time.

David Cameron’s outright victory in the UK General election was predicted a year in advance by Capricorn Research despite the fact that every other so called expert in the field of politics failed to spot it until the exits polls started coming in. See David Cameron’s Jupiter Return

Buoyed by this success, I turned my attention to the Labour leadership campaign and the thorny problem of who best to resuscitate the party’s fortunes in time for 2020. By looking at the symbols concerned and making a reasonably sensible diagnosis, I came up with the view that if Labour wanted to win the next election they should appoint Chuka Ummuna as leader, but that they would in fact elect Andy Burnham. For the full article see The Labour Party in the 21st Century – Is There any Hope ?

Two months later, the election process is still going on apparently because the party wanted to give itself time to properly debate the reasons for its loss, which is presumably Labour speak for wanted to humiliate itself even further.

During this period we have witnessed a strange phenomenon that could not have been predicted at the time. This is the not only the appearance of Jeremy Corbyn but also the campaigns by newspapers as divergent as the Daily Telegraph and the likes of Socialist Worker to encourage their readership to join the Labour party in order to vote for him.

So we now have a different situation from the one that appeared to be the case in mid May, so any astrologer worth their salt has to reassess the situation.

We still have the question of who will be the next party leader, but there is another one that is inextricably linked to it which is why does Labour always seem to shoot itself in the foot ?

To have an insight into this we need to have a look at the chart for the Labour party.

Labour’s roots were in the late 19th century but around the turn of the 20th an association called the Labour Representation Committee was created to support MPs sponsored by trade unions. In 1906 this group won 29 seats and after the election they met to formally adopt the name The Labour Party. Here is a noon chart for that date.

Its only natural that Labour has the Sun in the idealistic and rebellious Aquarius. This is the one sign that is most associated with socialism.

The Sun is also in wide square aspect to the Moon in Scorpio showing the depth of passions with which these socialist views were held and also the sheer determination to progress the views of the labour movement.

Uranus and Neptune are the planets of radical politics and they are in exact opposition in the Labour chart. They also form part of a T Square to an extremely powerful and assertive apex Mars in Aries, again showing the drive behind the movement.

The fact that the noon chart places this Mars in the 11th house of politics, puts this chart at the forefront of the rise of socialism as a new political force in the early 20th century.

The early Labour party was characterised by a tremendous energy and force for change in the lives of the ordinary working man.

Would they be successful however ? Success is not something that’s simple to measure astrologically but its often related to Jupiter, and any obstacles on its path would be attributed to Saturn.

The Labour Party has the Sun square Jupiter, an aspect that does point to success but also towards an overoptimistic attitude.

The chart also has the Sun in wide conjunction to Saturn.

This Jupiter / Saturn square suggests that Labour have high expectations but combined with a tendency to be its own worst enemy and to create obstacles for itself.

The Sun in late Aquarius is conjunct Saturn in the early degrees of Pisces, so there is the idea of an idealistic movement ( Sun in Aquarius ) which periodically shoots itself in the foot ( Pisces rules the feet ).

In the early days of Labour, every Jupiterean advance was met by a subsequent Saturnian setback.

The transits of Neptune have always had a strong impact on the Labour’s progress.

Neptune’s first major aspects to anything in the Labour chart came during the 1920s. In the election of 1923, Neptune was square the Moon when the Conservatives lost their majority in parliament and with the support of the Liberals, Ramsay MacDonald became the first Labour Prime Minister in January 1924 despite Labour holding less than a third of the seats in the House of Commons.

This tenuous coalition did not last a year, however and four days before the election of 1924 the Zinoviev Red Letter was published which implicated Labour in a plot for a Communist revolution in Britain. The Conservatives were returned to power but the letter is now believed to have been a forgery. This would be confirmed by the fact that the deceptive Neptune was opposite the Labour Mercury ( ruling letters ) at the time.

Neptune was opposite Labour’s Sun during the 1926 General Strike.

In May 1929 Uranus made its first transit with the Labour T square as it was conjunct Mars when the party won the election. However this success was quickly followed by the Wall Street Crash and the Great Depression. In 1931, MacDonald resigned and formed part of a National Government with all the parties.

In one form or another a National Government continued until 1945, when Neptune transited the Labour T Square for the first time in opposition to its Mars and Clement Atlee won the 1st postwar election and the National Health Service came into being.

Whilst the transits of Neptune have generally worked positively for the Labour party, Pluto has not and the distant planet was square the Labour Moon through the years of 1950 – 51 during two elections where Labour lost their enormous majority and finally their place in government.

Pluto transited opposite the Labour Sun and Saturn through much of the 1950s as the party entered a wasteland and had one of its famous introspective phases, becoming split over the future direction of socialism. The “Gaitskellite” right of the party wanted the party to adopt a moderate social democratic position, whereas the “Bevanite” left,wanted a more radical socialist agenda. This split, and the fact that the 1950s saw economic recovery helped keep the party out of power for thirteen years.

Neptune came back into view in 1964 when its conjunction with the Labour Moon brought Harold Wilson to power.

However Pluto changed things again in 1975.

Margaret Thatcher also had a T Square apex Mars but hers was in Libra, opposite the Labour Mars. Pluto went over Thatcher’s Mars and opposite the Labour Mars when she was elected leader of the Tories.

Uranus was conjunct the Labour Moon in 1979 when they were swept from office.

The years 1980 to 81 were an unmitigated disaster for the Labour party as Uranus was square to its Sun when a period of bitter internal rivalry created intense divisions between the left under Michael Foot and Tony Benn and the right under Denis Healey.

The Jupiter / Saturn nature of Labour really came to a head in 1980 – 81 as both planets were opposite the Party’s apex Mars.

The natal Sun square Jupiter’s over optimistic view that the country would elect a left wing government was soon brought back to reality by the conjunction with Saturn as the party’s move to the left led the Gang of Four  (Shirley Williams, William Rodgers, Roy Jenkins, and David Owen) to form the breakaway SDP in January 1981.

The party went into the 1983 general election under Foot’s leadership with the most left wing manifesto ever seen in England and dubbed  “the longest suicide note in history “.

In the current leadership election, the surprise package of left winger Jeremy Corbyn appears to have a lead in some polls over three other candidates who most people view as right wingers but are all trying to paint themselves as stalwart Labour by the cunning method of not saying anything of any consequence.

Hence most of the Tory press are diligently raising spectre of the early 1980s in the hope that Labour’s new suicide note surpasses even its predecessor.

Interestingly Jupiter and Saturn are in aspect again.

Jupiter is currently opposite the Labour Aquarian Sun and square itself, again pointing to an overreaching idealistic ambition and a lack of understanding of the political realities of the situation.

Saturn is opposite that Jupiter and getting ready to bring those ambitions crashing down to earth and who better to represent these two transits than Jeremy Corbyn.

Corbyn as a fully paid up member of the Islington chattering classes has the Sun in hyper communicative Gemini in trine to Jupiter in idealistic Aquarius.

However he also has the Sun in square to Saturn.

So what is likely to happen ?

One interesting point is that Jupiter will be square Corbyn’s Sun as the vote is taken. However Saturn is also square its own position throughout September.

Saturn then goes to oppose Corbyn’s Sun in November.

Capricorn Research predicted that Andy Burnham would become the next Labour leader because he has Pluto conjunct his Sun.

Pluto’s transit actually covers the period from January 2016 to November 2017. It came to within a degree or so of the Sun in May this year, but has since backed away from it.

After the election defeat, Andy Burnham was seen as the most likely to become Labour’s new leader. He is still ahead in terms of the bookies odds, but this prospect has been slowly receding as Jeremy Corbyn’s clever strategy of actually saying what he thinks rather than trying to be as non committal as possible is winning support albeit from some unlikely sources.

Pluto continues to move away from Burnham’s Sun but turns forward again on the 26th September, just as Labour starts its conference.

So how to look at all these transits and try and come up with a sensible reading of the situation ?

Capricorn Research still believes that Andy Burnham will be leader of the party. However this might not happen immediately.

There is a possibility that Jeremy Corbyn could win the vote. If so there could be a challenge to this result during the conference and Saturn’s opposition to Corbyn’s Sun in November could bring a fresh election, possibly under new rules, designed to reduce the influence of Daily Telegraph readers.

In this case Andy Burnham would win and take over in the early part of 2016.

This is Capricorn Research’s astrological reading of the situation, but what if the Labour party had taken its symptoms off to its own GP ? The likelihood is that whatever the result of the vote, the party would be pronounced very sick indeed.

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