Event Day with Christeen Skinner. A report by Sharon Knight

The Astrological Association run seminars around the country in conjunction with local groups, below is a review of the most recent event very kindly provided by AA member Sharon Knight. Pictures are courtesy of Jackie Taylor. Visit our website for details of the next event

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On the 27th June, I was fortunate enough to be able to attend a workshop with Christeen Skinner. The day was a joint venture between the Astrological Association and the Buckinghamshire group, Starburst.

‘Brilliant’ is the word to sum up the day. The event was billed as Using Financial & Locational Astrology to Navigate the Economy. There were about 27 people present, one of whom had flown up from Dublin to hear Christeen speak. The majority were mostly practising astrologers but there were a few who were only just entering the arena of astrology.

The day was divided into two parts, the morning session dealt with economic and financial astrology and how the cycles of the planets from Jupiter outwards have pinpointed shifts and changes in world events. Christeen demonstrated how the aspects and returns between the major planets have correlated with significant events here on Earth. She also explained Sun Spot cycles and showed some interesting diagrams demonstrating how our Sun is slightly off centre in our galactic system and how the Sun Spot cycle is actually a 22 year (approximate) cycle and not just an 11 year cycle.

Christeen showed various charts including those of the UK (1801) and stock exchange charts and demonstrated how the cycles and aspects formed by the major planets affected not only her clients and their businesses or personal life, but also that of the country as a whole.

One of Christeen’s business specialities is gold and other metals. She had noticed how aspects and planets conjoining the Galactic centre degree had resonated in the business world and on the gold markets.

The whole morning was fascinating but it was over all too quickly! We broke for lunch and adjourned to a nearby pub for an excellent and plentiful spread. As soon as it was time to return, everyone galloped back to their seats, eager to continue with the afternoon session.

This session was on Local Space and Geodetics. Although I know about Local Space, the use of Geodetics was new to me. Christeen calls the Moon our Bread Basket and feels that one should pay great attention to where your Moon falls, and ensure it is nurtured and supported. She described Geodetics is astrological Fung Shui. Using Solar Fire, you can easily set up a geodetic chart. It really does give another dimension to astrology and proved to be both great fun and an eye opener!

Christeen made a few observations about the coming years and likely events. She feels we haven’t seen the end of the “credit crunch” and that there will be more bad news to come towards the end of this year and the beginning of next. The “market” to invest in for the future is the arts. We have been told!

I bought Christeen’s updated book, The Financial Universe, first published in 2004 (ISBN No: 978-1-898595-44-1). This book is written primarily for those with no knowledge of astrology. There is so much information contained within it, it should be on every astrologers bookshelf.

My only complaint about the day was it was over too quickly and then I had a long drive back home before I could set up the various charts and start to read her book!

If you get the opportunity to hear Christeen speak, then grab it with both hands, you won’t be disappointed.

Sharon Knight

Voldemort and The Boy Who Lived – Part 2 by Frances Clynes

Harry's Chart

Given the part that they played in each other's destiny there is surprisingly little synastry between Harry and Voldemort, particularly when you consider that each carried a piece of the other's soul after Voldemort's first attack on Harry. Certain themes are repeated, for example Voldemort has Pluto conjunct the North Node, while Harry has Pluto sextile and trine the nodal axis. The Sun in each chart squares Mars in the other chart. Perhaps in this we hear Harry's words to Voldemort 'It's just you and me. Neither can live while the other survives'.

Both Harry and Voldemort have a Moon-Saturn aspect. While Voldemort has them conjoined, Harry has them in opposition. Like Voldemort, Harry lost his mother Lily, as a baby. In Harry's case she gave her life to save him from Voldemort. We can imagine how Voldemort must have contrasted this act of great love with his own loveless childhood. On the day of Harry's birth the Moon was at 27 Pisces at noon, conjunct Voldemort's Uranus at 25 Pisces, and trine Voldemort's own Moon at 27 Scorpio conjunct Saturn. So Lily's great sacrifice, activated Voldemort's jealousy of Harry, and feelings of loss at his early separation from his own mother. Harry appears to be aware of this and frequently uses it as a weapon in their verbal battles. In Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets, Harry says 'You're the weak one! You've never known love, or friendship. And I feel sorry for you'. Perhaps this as much as anything else fueled Voldemort's determination to kill Harry. For whatever reason, the degree of Harry's Moon, 27 Pisces assumes some significance in the conflict that ensued.

At the time of the attack on Harry, Voldemort's Venus had progressed to 27 Pisces and had conjoined Harry's Moon. This would suggest that Voldemort must have been greatly moved by Lily's actions, although a conjunction between pr Venus and pr Uranus may have resulted in him cutting himself off from these feelings. As this attack also resulted in the disembodiment of Voldemort's soul, we can speculate on the importance of Venus in his natal chart. Chart ruler?

For those who have yet to read the final book – SPOILER ALERT!









On the day their final conflict began, tr Venus was at the significant degree of 27 Pisces, conjunct Harry's Moon and Voldemort's Uranus. As the conflict ended it conjoined his progressed Venus at 28 degrees. In this final battle the theme of sacrifice once more shows itself as this time Harry is prepared to die himself to save his friends from Voldemort. Once again as this degree is activated, Harry asks 'Accident was it, when my mother died to save me?' And once again Voldemort is defeated, this time finally. As He-Who-Must-Not-Be-Named hit the floor for the last time, we are told that the 'fierce new sun dazzled the windows' and 'the sun rose steadily over Hogwarths'.

Voldemort and The Boy Who Lived – Part 1 by Frances Clynes

Introduction

Recently I was lucky enough to be able to take part in a web seminar or webinar at Kepler College where Lee Lehman gave a presentation on astrology in modern literature, which included a look at the charts of Harry Potter and Lord Voldemort. Inspired by Lee's talk, and in view of the upcoming release in July of the movie Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince, I decided to take a further look at the charts and the synastry between them. We have dates but no times for the births of Harry and the Dark Lord so I have used noon charts. We do have a time of sunrise on the 2^nd May 1998, for the final showdown between Harry and Voldemort. This takes place at Hogwarths which we know is in Scotland. I have used Edinburgh in the absence of a more exact location. Perhaps some of our members from Scotland could help here?

Voldermort's Chart

Unsurprisingly Lord Voldemort, nee Tom Marvolo Riddle, has a complex chart with both a kite and a T-Square. Neither of these configurations include the opposition between his Capricorn Sun and a conjunction of Pluto and the North Node. While a Sun-Pluto aspect is to be expected in the chart of someone known as the Dark Lord or He-Who-Must-Not-Be-Named, the fact that this aspect is an opposition gives us a flavour of the switch in identity that took place when Tom Riddle announces that he is now to be known as Lord Voldemort. In true Plutonic style, we have the death of the brilliant if flawed student, that was Tom Riddle, and his re-birth as the power-hungry Voldemort, intent on the domination of pure-blood witches and wizards over Muggles (the non-magical population of the world) half-bloods (a witch or wizard with one pure-blood parent and one Muggle parent) and mud-bloods (a witch or wizard born to Muggle parents). Paradoxically Voldemort is himself a half-blood. The Sun-Pluto opposition can be detected quite clearly in Rowling's statement that Voldemort is a 'self-hating bully', whose greatest fear is death.

On the apex of the T-Square is the Moon-Saturn conjunction. At noon this conjunction is applying. Although we do not have a time of birth for Voldemort, it is likely that he was born late in the day when the conjunction would be tighter, perfecting at 11.52 p.m. On 31^st December his mother arrives at a Muggle orphanage in London where later in the day she gives birth to little Tom. She dies an hour later and Tom grows up in the orphanage without any knowledge of his parents or family, until at eleven years old he receives a visit from Dumbledore and learns that he is the last descendent of Salazar Slytherin, one of the four founders of Hogwarths. The Moon-Saturn conjunction shows the pain and loss he felt at the absence of a home and family, and its apex position gives us an indication of its power as a motivating force in his life. A tight opposition between Jupiter and Neptune squares the conjunction. Perhaps he could have found a spiritual form of expression for this T-Square, but instead he deals with his hurt in other ways. The Jupiter in Aquarius opposite Neptune also runs through the centre of the kite aspecting Mercury and Chiron. Tom had the potential to be a powerful healing force in society, but the painful Moon-Saturn squaring the central axis of the kite, appears to have led him to use these gifts in killing. In July 1943 as tr Chiron conjoins natal Neptune and activates the kite, Tom kills his hated Muggle father and grandparents and leaves his uncle to take the blame. Many more murders were to follow.

In 1947 as tr Neptune squares his Sun, Tom disappears and ten years later when tr Pluto is approaching a conjunction of his Moon-Saturn, he resurfaces and announces he is now known as Lord Voldemort.

To Follow: Harry's chart and his links to Voldemort

To hear Lee Lehman’s presentation: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3yHA28C4rNs