PREVIOUS THOUGHTS FOR THE DAY June 8 2009 to June 14 2009 Monday June 8 Brown's Ups and Downs Britain's beleaguered Prime Minister, Gordon Brown was born in Glasgow on February 20, 1951 at 8.40am. That makes him a Piscean, with the Moon in Leo, and Aries rising. A teenage rugby injury lost him the sight of his left eye. Soon after, in a further accident, he nearly lost his right eye. Dramatic 'mixed fortunes' have followed him through life. Right now, his luck is on the wane, but while he won't bounce back to full popularity, his luck may just help him cling to office a bit longer, if he weathers these next few days. Tuesday June 9 Ptolemy Ptelecom Dear Jonathan, How do astrologers know what the planets represent? When, for example, you say, 'Mercury governs communication', how can you be so sure? Anne Dear Anne, The ancients decided most of this long ago. They passed down their wisdom through the generations, mainly by spoken word, though some books survive, like the Tetrabiblos, by Ptolemy. About 1,800 years ago, in Alexandria, he wrote up rules that were already very old, describing people ruled by Mercury as 'fond of letters, wise, shrewd, thoughtful, learned, partakers in mysteries, successful in attaining their ends'. Few modern astrologers would argue with that. Wednesday June 10 Dude Reviewed The rules of astrology have been passed down through countless generations. One of the earliest surviving attempts to write them down comes from Ptolemy of Alexandria, around 150AD. I read him when I was a student, but found him rather heavy-going. Yesterday, I had another try. After a while, I managed to get beyond the pompous language of the 1822 translation and hear the voice of the original author. This was most inspiring. Ptolemy was what my kids would call 'a dude'. If I ever find a time machine, he'll be right at the top of my visiting list. Thursday June 11 Judicial Review Jupiter, to all intents and purposes, stands still in the zodiac now. Next week, it starts slipping slowly backwards, remaining retrograde till October. This happens for about four months every year. Where, though, a retrograde Mercury tends to coincide with communication delays, the influence of a retrograde Jupiter is more likely to slow the wheels of justice or incline lawmakers towards review and re-appraisal. Jupiter's change of direction this year, though, prolongs its conjunction with Neptune, keeping the two planets, plus the asteroid Chiron, close through the rest of June and indeed, ultimately, through the rest of the year. Friday June 12 Sea of Dreams While recording this week's spoken forecasts, I found myself thinking hard about Neptune. A key player in the triple conjunction, Neptune is a 'newly discovered planet'. Such planets symbolise new possiblities. Thus, Uranus, a sky deity, was discovered in 1781, just before the first manned hot air balloons. Neptune, though, is a sea god. It's hardly as if we'd never heard of boats till 1846. Submarines, though, became common soon after that. And of course, there's another kind of sea. The sea of dreams we all secretly share. It's these waters that are now being stirred around the world. Saturday June 13 Your Week Ahead Mercury, this week, returns to Gemini. It had just arrived in this sign, last month, when it realised it had forgotten to bring along something important. So it had to pop back, into Taurus, to collect this. Or something like that. An astronomer might say it's all just a complex optical illusion. But astronomers deal only with facts and figures. Astrologers see something more poetic in the planets. There's something deeply poetic about retrograde motion. This week, just as Mercury picks up where it left off, Jupiter turns retrograde for the next four months. Handily, this extends the conjunction with Neptune and Chiron, meaning more good news for all. Sunday June 14 Celebrity Sunday When will Prince William be king? I mustn't say. Monarchs usually take the crown when their parents die. If I predicted the start of William's reign, I'd also be saying when I thought Charles was going to leave us. It's not okay for any astrologer, ever, to predict anyone's death. Read the rest of this article... Back to Index   Click here for Jonathan Cainer's Daily Zodiac Forecasts