Yesterday in Parliament and today’s Venus-Mars-Pluto conjunction

22 Feb

UK Parliament under a purple sky — Photo by Deniz Fuchidzhiev on Unsplash

In a recent forecast, I noted the ‘Plutonic imperative to get your primal needs met’ in anticipation of today’s Venus-Mars-Pluto conjunction. UK Prime Minister in waiting and opposition leader, Keir Starmer’s survival instinct is currently on flashing red alert as he faces the biggest crisis of his political career to date.

Keir Starmer KCB KC is a distinguished human rights barrister and a former Director of Public Prosecutions for England and Wales. He has built his career on doing the right thing. Yesterday, he was threatened with mass rebellion from within his own party unless he brought forward the party’s own motion calling for an immediate ceasefire in Gaza. Starmer allegedly applied just enough pressure on the House of Commons speaker to persuade him to break with procedural convention so that the Labour leader could keep his members on side. In tandem with party politically motivated moves from the government and the Scottish National Party (SNP), this led to the House falling apart at a time when it desperately needed to show some leadership [1] as the so-called ‘mother of parliaments’ [2]. The Labour Party's version of the ceasefire motion was eventually voted on and passed.

Today’s early morning Venus-Mars-Pluto conjunction landed right on, and is ruled by, Keir Starmer’s authoritative Saturn in Aquarius. He’s very fortunate that this vote happened on the eve of a day on which things go his way, albeit under Plutonic duress. The speaker, who usually has the confidence of the whole House, is fighting for his political life. The speaker says his decision to depart from the usual process was motivated by threats against members of Parliament and his concern for their and their families’ personal safety. Pluto’s menacing vibes again. Today, Starmer, says he 'simply urged' the speaker' to have ‘the broadest possible debate’ [3] and categorically denies threatening him, adding that the most important thing ‘is what we do about the situation in Gaza’.

When Pluto has your back against the wall, it’s incredibly hard to do what you would typically do under normal circumstances. Starmer was born under an exact Sun-Pluto conjunction. When the chips are down, he can intuitively take control of the situation to his advantage. As the conjunction is in prim and proper Virgo, he’s used to being criticised for being boring and lawyerly. His forensic, painstaking approach makes him legally hot but a tad tedious on screen.

Starmer’s genuine Virgo modesty belies his ruthless Sun-Pluto thirst for power. ‘Emotional, messy and breathtakingly ruthless: the hidden life of Keir Starmer [4]’, this Guardian article attests to his true nature. A Financial Times piece titled ‘Starmer will only reveal his true face in power [5]’, comments that ‘Labour politicians know it is thanks to Starmer’s ruthless wooing of all sides that they are within touching distance of power’. It even features an illustration of Starmer’s true face hiding behind a deceptive mask. As a Sun-Pluto politician, he is astute enough to stay focused on getting his party in to power and himself in the top job before he fully reveals his precise game plan.

Starmer’s natal Mercury, his solar dispositor, trines the transiting Venus-Mars-Pluto conjunction. This transit seems to be generating considerable interest in what kind of leader Starmer really is, and in what truly drives him. ‘Keir Starmer: The Biography’ by Tom Baldwin has just been published [6]. For someone who is commonly dismissed as a bit dull and irrelevant by a concertedly hostile media, it’s interesting to see his steely, service-minded and somewhat hard to fathom Sun-Pluto conjunction in Virgo acknowledged.

Keir Starmer’s Mercury is due to be eclipsed by the Moon on 25 March so that’s a time to pay closer attention to him (even though it’s not quite as momentous as being eclipsed by the Sun).

Venus, Mars and Pluto are hooked up in early Aquarius. An air sign that can get too caught up in what is theoretically right but too distant from what's really going on. Yesterday, parliamentarians from all parties delivered plenty of pious, worthy speeches about the ongoing horror of Israel-Gaza. But nothing has really changed as a result. The UK government officially withdrew its vote on the call for a ceasefire sanctimoniously citing procedural irregularities. The outcome of the vote makes no difference to their position. The SNP walked out of the chamber before voting commenced, enraged that their own opposition day motion had been overridden. While the Labour party’s amendment motion was carried, averting the rebellion which Starmer deftly staved off, their stance will inevitably be tested again. Given the enormous gravity of the situation, breaking with procedural protocol can quite reasonably be justified [7].

Over 100 members of the family of Husam Zomlot [8], Palestinian Ambassador to the UK, have been killed in Gaza. Over 100 thousand Palestinians have been killed, maimed and injured to date. Yesterday evening, in a brilliant five-minute interview on Channel 4 News, and with huge bags under his weary eyes, Mr. Ambassador Zomlot articulated the inevitable consequences for all of us if we allow the genocide in Gaza to continue [9].