Last week it was fourty years ago that one of the most successful computer games ever came out, Pac-Man. Everybody will know it, this yellow eater wandering in a maze who is to avoid little ghosts and has to eat as many little balls as he can. The name Pac-Man comes from the Japanese Paku Paku Taberu , which means “gobbling”. The game was developed especially for women and that is why the Japaneser designer did not choose for fighting but for eating as a more “feminine” theme. It all had to look soft and cute so that it would attract female players.

It would of course be very interesting to take a look at the chart of such a hugely successful computer game, but how do you get a timing? The day it was brought out is known and the place but the time is not easy to find. So the Pac-Man chart below is a Sun-on-MC chart, less specific of course than a “real” time but it will still show important things. There is inevitably some reluctance to use this instrument but it is captivating enough to give it a chance. Sun on the MC  carries the symbolism of “what will it  do in the world” and this seems appropriate for a commercial computer game (click on the download button below to view the Pac-Man Sun-on-MC chart).   

The result is overwhelming! Striking the eye immediately is the Moon on the Ascendant, narrowly squaring the the Sun on the MC and the Moon can be associated with eating, hunger and women. The famous  yellow eater even looks like a Moon!The fascinating thing is that if you place the Sun exactly on the MC the Moon will end up almost on the Asc, in this way very much emphasizing the lunar nature of the game. The Moon is narrowly conjunct Mars mirroring directly the Paku Paku Taberu which can be also translated by “’ very energetically eating up”. This important Moon is in a reception by triplicity and domicile with the other female planet Venus and there we see the cuteness. Venus is also connected by reception with Mars and Jupiter in the first house closely conjuncting the Moon, Jupiter completes the whole picture of gobbling as in its fall it gives gluttony.

No less than six planets are disposed by Mercury, so Mercury is of huge importance. Of course, this is the planet you would need for a good computer game and it could hardly be stronger. Could this have been an election? Most probably not but if it is, the astrologer who did it had some real knowledge. Mercury is very very fast, is very strong in ist domicile and on top of that is placed on royal Aldebaran, a star of great material success. Aldebaran is also the star of spring, the start of a new successful cycle of growth and indeed Pac-Man did a lot to make computer games more generally popular.

If you would also delineate the houses, the opponents of Pac-Man – the little ghosts Inky, Pinky, Blinky  and Clyde – are given by the ruler of the seventh house Jupiter in its dertriment placed somewhat deeper in the twelfth house of ghosts. Jupiter however is approaching the Ascendant so it could become dangerous, but it remains firmly under the control of its dispositor Mercury which with high speed and its agility can avoid the ghosts and sometimes even knock them out. This illustrates the essence of the game, as who would want to play a game in which the opponent often wins?     

The readers of this blog will know that we regularly make critical remarks about our modern colleagues. The reason is that we don’t think it is a good idea, now that so much astrological knowledge has resurfaced again through studying the old texts, just to turn away and proceed as if nothing has happened. This had led to a situation in which modern astrologers still practise on the basis of only 5% of the available knowledge. No serious astrologer can permit himself to ignore this fact any longer.  It is logical that so many modern astrologer deny that is is impossible to predict, this is indeed not easy if your knowledge of methods is so limited.

However, we will leave fundamentalism to the “hellenists”, who tend to think that everything written after the year 450 must be incorrect for this reason. Of course, it does not matter at all who wrote something when, the important point is: can it be clearly shown to work? This leads us to the outer planets a purely modern innovation which I nevertheless appreciate very much. It is definitely not a good idea to base your delineations mainly on outer planet aspects, but it is also a bad idea to simply totally ignore them. They can provide valuable additional information, as long as they are used in the right way. 

Mundane-astrologically, it is the conjunctions of the outer planets with the real planets that are worth attention, mainly with the the chronocrators Saturn and Jupiter. The current crisis is indicated by the transition of the Great Conjunctions to the Air signs and the 2019 ingress with Mars on Algol falling on the degree of the GC in 2000 also on Algol. This was discussed here over the last few weeks, it gives the astrological framework of the Great Lockdown.  Within this framework the outer planets can be used to get more information, sometimes also about timing,

The exact conjunction of Pluto, the Lord of Hades who will suddenly and unexpectedly rise up to do his nasty thing, gives a very acceptable timing for the Corona crisis, it perfected on 12 January this year. The chart of the conjunction has the  Sun and Mercury nearby and yes Mercury (combust so close to the Sun)  as the planet of traffic, trade and commerce is very much involved. At the same time, we have three conjuntions of Jupiter with Pluto this year, and  because we can regard Jupiter as the expansive energy of growth this is a good description of what we can see.

Nevertheless, we  should not make the mistake to see the outer planets as the mundane-astrological framework itself, they may only provide some uselful additional infomation sometimes. Looking back we find Saturn-Pluto conjuntions in August 1947 and November 1982, and nothing too dramatic happened then. But the repeated Saturn-Pluto conjunctions in 1914 (October- November)  and 1915 (May) can be seen as indicating the start of WW-1, although timing is not exact. If we do not exaggerate their meaning outer planets are an interesting addition and they can be used within a wider frame-work sometimes to get additional information.

It has often been mentioned in this blog, 2020 is a very special year, as in December there will be a Great Conjunction of Saturn and Jupiter (“GC’’) in the first degree of Aquarius. These GC’s take place every twenty years and a new GC announces a new period with different cultural, social and political characteristics. Around the year of the GC, there is often a crisis time as if only by a shock room could be made for the new developments to come.Looking back in history this pattern can clearly be distinguished, there often was an economic or political crisis or a dramatic event, just before the GC year.

It is also clear year that there are often high tensions in the middle of the 20-year period, astrologically this is of course the time of the oppositions of Saturn and Jupiter which could be called the Great Oppositions (“GO’s”), in most cases we have three GO’s sometimes even five. Looking back in history this pattern of GC’ en GO’s can be folowed easily. For example, in 1921 there as a new GC, in 1918 WW-1 had ended, after which the Spanisch Flue pandemic followed in 1919-1920 , it killed  100 million people, more than the war itself did.        

Just like now this pandemic started before just before the GC year as if it was an instument to clear the way for the new period. The GO’s took place in 1930/1931 and in October 1929 there was the notorious stock exchange crash initiating years of economic crisis, again this was just before the GC year. The next GC was in 1940, in 1939 Nazi-Germany started WW-2 with the invasion of Poland. Twenty years later the Sixties began which would change the world forever. As far as I know there was no crisis then but in 1980 around the next GC there was the oil crisis.  Around the GO’s in 1990 again the oil prices caused big trouble, it brought the Fall of the Wall and the end of the Soviet Union. In 2000 the internet bubble burst with a lot of economical consequences and in 2001 there was 9/11 (now a bit after teh GC year)  The GO’s around 2010 brought the credit crisis and now just before the new GC in 2002 there is the Great Lockdown.

It is not a perfect pattern but the rhythm is clear, around the GC’s (but not necessarily exactly in the year of the GC, often just before it) , there are often crises or radical changes and this also applies to the opposition time in the middle of the twenty years. One important crisis the start of WW-1 cannot  be seen, but the Spanish Flue pandemic which made more casualties than the war, can. There is a difference between the GC’s, the start of WW-2 is not quite the same thing as the start of the Sixties (although these may been very destructive on a very different level). The pattern can be refined by delineating the GC charts, some will be more malefic than others, but the point is now seeing the great rhythm of time. We can predict now that there will another crisis around 2030, probably starting in 2029. You can use ingress charts to check when exactcly this will happen, the 2019 ingress chart had Mars on Algol on the 2000-GC position on Algol. That is quite a clear indication of big trouble starting that year.

The GC in December is a very special one, it not only closes off a twenty-year period but also a 200-year period in which the GC’s took place in Earth signs. If the end of a twenty period will  bring a crisis, it can be expectd that the end of 200-year period will bring a much bigger crisis. An uprecedented Great Lockdown jus before the start of hte new Air phase certainly fits this picture.

England’s prime minister Boris Johnson is working again after a serious Corona infection. He even had to be taken to hospital by ambulance on 11 April, when his condition suddenly seriously worsened. Later he said he had underestimated the disease, but he is above 50 and belongs to the group most in danger, under 50 almost no one dies of this infection. Johnson was hit hard by the virus, so this has to be indicated in his chart. Of course, you cannot see every little cold in the chart but this was a potentially life-threatening disease.

We have delineated Johnson’s chart in another post so this will not be repeated, for anyone who wants to take a look at his natal chart, Alexander Boris de Pfeffel Johnson was born on 19 June 1964, 14:00 EDT in New York (yes in the US), Asc 11.06 Libra. These data have a high A-rating so they should be reasonably reliable, they are not someone’s  gamble from hearsay, although the rounded-off time may raise some doubts. The progressions however seem to indicate that the time is indeed reliable, click on the download button below to take a look at Johnson’ s progressions.

These progressions show a few essential points in prediction, the importance of speed, the absolute necessity of involving the fixed stars and the need to limit the amount of progressed factors. To start with the last point, to see the main line in a life only six factor are used, the secondary progressions of the Luminaries Sun and Moon, the primary directions of the angles Asc and MC en the movement of the Parts of the Moon (Part of Fortune) and the Sun ( Pars Solis). Six factors is quite enough,  MC, Asc and the Sun move more slowly (about one degree a year), the Parts of the Luminaries and the Moon move faster (one degree a month).

The Sword Hand

It is essential to take speed into account, by means of the faster factors you can find the months something will happen, the slower factors only indicate the part of the year, they do not get much sharper than that. What strikes the eye in the progressions is the opposition of the directed Ascendant with the progressed Jupiter. Jupiter is Lord 6 of illness in the natal chart so this year Johnson will be more sensitive to illnesses. This may be a serious illness as Jupiter is on Capulus, Perseus’ Sword-hand which is the beginning of  Algol’s crisis zone, extremely malefic Algol is found two degrees further.

The Burnt Road

Progressed Jupiter moves much too slow to give a sound prediction but you can take it into account if another factor activates it, like the the opposition made by the primary Ascendant here. This Asc itself moves over powerful first magnitude star Agena in the Centaur, a constellation connected to the posssibly fatal underestimation of danger. This danger is confirmed by the Moon in her crisis zone the burnt Road (from 15° Libra to 15 ° Scorpio) conjuncting chaotic Neptune (no it was not a wonderful spiritual experience!)  and on the South Scale, the merciless Scorpion’s Claw which will have you for breakfast. A lot of danger but Johnson was lucky enough to have his Moon at the end of the Burnt Road when he fell ill, so he is back now  which is confirmed by the Part of the Sun moving over super-royal Regulus.