Argentina v. Germany: World Cup Final 2014

I'm using a Western horary for this, simply because it happened to be up when I thought of the question. This isn't the chart for the kick-off on 13th July, but I'm still using contest rules to judge it. 

Germany, 4/6 favourites with William Hill, are shown by ascendant ruler Mercury, at home in Gemini in the 10th. Mercury is void of course but this is still an apt token for the team of the tournament so far. 

Argentina are shown by Jupiter, exalted in Cancer, which raises an interesting point: which is stronger, a dignified or an exalted planet? I suggest angular Mercury (Angela Merkel?) in Gemini shows the form team Germany, working well together, with everything as it should be. Jupiter in Cancer, however may hit greater heights, at least in the short term. This is Argentina, relying on the brilliance of one player, and this placement also shows: he may deliver.

Who will win the World Cup? 10th July 2014, 10:09 BST, London UK.

Both significators being void says form will go out of the window. The final will be won by whoever plays best on the night. VOC often means 'nothing will come of the matter', which translates to a victory for the status quo. This is a further nod towards favourites Germany.

Before looking at the astrology, I thought Germany were nailed on. They have to watch out for playing too rigidly and conservatively or relying on their system too much. They may also have peaked after their semifinal demolition of Brazil: unlikely, but possible. The chart suggests Argentina are well in this final, however. They have to watch out for being overconfident, too emotional and leaving too much to Lionel Messi.

Incidentally, Mercury and Jupiter are in the same signs in both zodiacs. The horary ascendant moves back to Leo, so the sidereal significators are Sun and Saturn. Saturn, exalted in Libra gives Argentina the edge.   

Kick-off time chart. 
The Vedic chart for the contest shows the significators reversed. Here it is Germany represented by Jupiter in Cancer, and Argentina who are Mercury in Gemini! Jupiter in the 8th however, aspected by Saturn, is not in such good shape. This suggests it is Germany, rather than Argentina, who may disintegrate, or else suffer a key injury or setback.

World Cup Final: 13th July 2014, 21:00 BST, London UK.

It's hard for a football fan to detach from the sporting side and judge a contest purely on the astrology, but this is precisely what astrology is for. Germany have been the best team in 2014 and it is probably Argentina who will be looking from help from the stars. They have a slight edge in this respect, but not enough to make a difference. So I will stick with backing Germany, even though the contest will be closer than I, and possibly the bookmakers, think. A repeat of the 1986 final will be a victory for football. 

Pedant's Corner - Have you noticed how sports commentators often say a team or player doing well is "in the ascendancy"? They mean 'in the ascendant', of course, astrological parlance for being favourite to win.

Postscript, 13th July.
Think this horary + the event chart summed the game up. Very close all the way, with Germany just shading it. I was right about Germany getting injuries, but wrong about Messi showing up. You could have called it for Argentina purely on the astrology, but they would have needed Germany's star to be weak as well as their own being strong. Germany worthy winners overall.

Why Vedic Astrology?

Since about 2012 you may notice I have moved to a more visible practice of Vedic Astrology. Never mind that I’ve studied Jyotish for many years, stemming from my long-standing involvement in yoga, it may still seem to some people as if I have been suddenly radicalized. In fact, the reaction to my new ‘orientation’ (orientation means facing the East) has taken me by surprise. I have encountered everything from delight through confusion to open dismay, and with this in mind, I thought it would be in order to set out some of the reasons for my shift. 

There is a tendency among Westerners who have become infatuated with Indian thought to overlook or dismiss areas where their own culture provides perfectly good answers. Likewise, some astrologers invest fairly pedestrian insights with great profundity simply because they come from a Vedic horoscope. It seems grander and more esoteric somehow. Truth is truth, however, and different systems reflect the same things from different angles. So this article is not intended to be a Diktat declaring the supremacy of one astrological perspective over another.

Some people assume that I have made the change to distinguish myself from the thousands of other fine astrologers out there. Good theory, except I’m bound to say I have embraced Jyotish because of the extra insight and depth it gives to chart interpretation. Vedic astrology has provided answers to many problems I have encountered with the Tropical system, plus a few unexpected surprises of its own. I still respect Western and use the outer planets, geometric aspects, composites, MC/IC, secondary progressions and the rest, but any astrologer can surely benefit from the advantages Vedic technique offers.

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The Western astrologer’s trepidation on first confronting Jyotish is understandable on several counts. Despite much common symbolism, the experience combines learning new techniques with learning a new language or dialect. ‘Lagna’, ‘Gochara’, ‘Drishti’, what are these strange-sounding terms? Nothing more than ‘ascendant’, ‘transit’, ‘aspect’, yet adapting to square charts and a new astrological reference point is at first like learning to write with your left hand. 

   

The sidereal zodiac, however, is the main adjustment for those who are already quite comfortable with their existing symbolism: “I’m Gemini, not Taurus, what’s all that about?”, and it does not help that adjacent signs are so different. People who readily identify with their tropical placements often claim they don’t feel the same intuitive fit with sidereal signs. However, I would say this is a matter of conditioning. Take two people who have, say, tropical Aries rising; one with 28 degrees, the other with 10 degrees. The first person will have Aries ascendant in both zodiacs; the other’s ascendant will move back into sidereal Pisces. The difference will be perfectly evident!

The blunt, declarative style of Jyotish is yet another culture shock. Dire pronouncements on disease, poverty and death are Western taboos that our astrology left behind before the turn of the 20^th Century. ‘Fortune-telling’ represents everything that our present hands-off, humanistic astrology is against. Still, in the bargain we have lost all notion of assessing a personality’s intrinsic worth and personal good fortune. Does the astrologers’ art not lie, after all, in judging a horoscope? A little learning is dangerous, and discretion, as ever, is vital.  There is no excuse for making reckless, unsupported statements and being a stupid astrologer.

In any case, giving a planet or house ‘malefic’ status, simply points out that it carries the potential for suffering, experience which most people prefer to avoid: debt, pain, illness, loss. Why is this taboo? Any language of life that excludes these experiences is not worth the description. Astrology loses its clarity and power if the text is already set out in shades of grey. Balancing a chart’s conflicting testimonies, weighing the evidence, is where the astrologer’s skill lies. By contrast, the current New Age attitude is that we only have to think positively and our lives will never be touched by illness or tragedy, and we will all live forever.

We are not intended to take classical Jyotish aphorisms too literally in any event, but they are expressed in black and white language for the astrologer to blend in interpretation. Intuition is vital in this respect, and it is also recommended to study Jyotish with an experienced teacher. Symbolic insight grows out of the astrologer’s relationship with the planets and our Jyotish-Mati Pragya, or expanded consciousness, is a quality to be cultivated positively. Most Vedic astrologers practice yoga of some sort, being engaged in a parallel program of self-development over and above the ‘talking cure’. (They generally drink a lot less, too). Mantras and invocations to the planets, for example those ruling the days of the week, are a part of the astrologer’s lifestyle and the experience of studying the stars takes on an interactive, Shamanic quality.

A Western astrologer, particularly one versed in traditional and horary techniques, will recognize many of the Jyotish fundamentals. House Lords play a more central role in interpretation and define the myriad planetary combinations, or Yogas, that are the jewels in the crown of the Vedic system. One tends not to analyse a planet’s sign qualities per se, but rather to check which houses it rules and its dispositor. Analysing house rulership comes into sharp relief with Whole Sign houses (a system now championed by many Western astrologers), and that system’s elegant simplicity is particularly evident when used with the sidereal zodiac. In any case, combinations of certain house lords may denote wealth, fame or influence, and make an altogether auspicious chart; a notion that Western astrology seems to have lost.

Whereas Tropical astrology sees ‘luck’, good karma or God’s grace as imponderables, insight into this area sits at the heart of Jyotish. Yoga philosophy declares that good fortune comes from past-life credit, but whether or not you follow this concept the astrological technique holds true. One can spot straightaway individuals with political clout or a wealthy family, or those who have the power to rise up beyond their origins. How useful is this? Without this vital dimension, charts are ‘flat’, with no way to tell whether the subject will be a leading figure in their field, be it CEO, movie star or head salesman. Not everyone with Raja Yoga – a ‘king maker’ - in their chart will become a superstar, but superstars’ charts invariably possess potent Raja Yogas.

This fatalistic outlook is a cringe for many Western observers, with the implication that without the right chart signature one is doomed to a life of mediocrity. Yet from experience we know not everyone will become a big shot: take two people of the same age, similar background and intelligence, who both leave University the same year. One person finds influential contacts, shoots up through the ranks and makes a fortune. The other, while at least as able, has a greater struggle and works twice as hard for three times as long to achieve a fraction of his friend’s impact. Nobody gets a perfect life, perhaps, but some people are very lucky: this is the perennial story, and astrology is supposed to say something about it.

An integrated life, in any case, does not depend ultimately on worldly status. Jyotish is highly revealing about this too: we can see people who struggle all their life for outward influence, yet make great spiritual progress. Some people have a happy temperament, others fall in the mud and end up smelling of roses, and this too is shown in Vedic astrology. Money and influence are useful – vital -  but the pressures of being a world leader or cultural icon are enormous, and material distractions beyond a certain point may become a positive curse. Fulfilling one’s own destiny (dharma) and becoming self-realized, ultimately, is the only thing that matters.

Far from lamenting that we cannot readily spot an eminent person’s chart,  Western Astrology has made a virtue of necessity. We boast astrology is not solely about prediction because it is increasingly beyond the scope of our system. Our modern mantras are: “We have infinite choice, everything is relative; knuckle down, keep smiling, and you too can have it all”. Western astrology talks about ‘easy’ or ‘difficult’ charts, usually based on the predominating aspects, and it can spot vocation, relationship preferences, good and bad times, and all manner of psychological syndromes. It's good stuff, but it is like a page of prose full of adjectives without a main verb. It might say, “This person could be an artist”, whereas the Jyotish chart says, fairly, “This person could be a successful, celebrated artist”. Qualitative and quantitative.

it is common to hear, ‘Tropical astrology is good for psychology while Jyotish is better for prediction’. I always thought this was a curious statement, does it not depend on the astrologer; why should this be so? Even a cursory acquaintance with the main Vedic planetary period system, the Vimshottari Dasas, makes one appreciate how much more closely accounted for fate is than Western astrology allows. It’s not fatalistic, it’s realistic. Dashas give us not only sporadic and intermittent transits and progressions, but whole periods of time ruled by specific planets and their aspects. We then look at transits and progressions in a more specific context, which helps to explain why a major event; a Jupiter return, say, might bring very different results from the one twelve years previously, or hence. 

In Western natal astrology, Exaltations and Falls have become increasingly meaningless, to the point where some authorities question their provenance or have discarded them altogether. Whether it is because four-fifths of the time we are not using its actual astronomical placement, the power of an exalted or fallen tropical planet is rarely self-evident. In Jyotish, we can see the quantifiable effect of a strongly or weakly placed planet, to the point where its power can be expressed in percentage terms. Tropical reveals the style, sidereal the substance.

Take a tropical chart with Moon in Sagittarius, which may be considered fairly blessed – a buoyant, positive inner life that finds its emotional centre in a philosophical outlook. Yet, this usually translates to a sidereal Moon in Scorpio, an altogether different proposition. A Western astrologer might describe the Moon in Scorpio as ‘passionate, secretive, compulsive’. True too of sidereal, but it will also describe the debilitated Moon as a material influence on the individual’s health and happiness, affecting the success or failure of the Moon’s mundane house matters, plus those houses it rules and aspects. Sure, there are mitigating factors - to the point where this Moon can work as a quasi-benefic - but the picture in any event is more detailed and factual.

A question I have had put to me more than once by Indian astrologers is: “What do you use to remove obstacles?” , and it is hard to know how to reply. Astrological magic was once part and parcel of Western Mystical tradition, but who uses any of its methods today, reliably? Jyotish is so often described as fated and deterministic, but the Upayas, or planetary remedies, are an integral part of it. The ubiquity of electional astrology in India, along with practical measures such as mantras, yantras, gemstones and charitable donations argues against claims of karmic quietism. Fate is ever-present in Jyotish, but eminently negotiable. Jyotish is the aspect of the Veda which deals with knowledge of the future, and the whole of yogic wisdom is about alleviating pain and speeding the path to enlightenment. 

Jupiter and Saturn: Stick or Twist?

After the sturm und drang of last month's Cardinal Cross, it's good to report Jupiter and Saturn are comfortably trined. Between them, these two giants symbolize growth versus contraction, liberal v. conservative, spirit v. matter... Jupiter believes a pie expands during the baking, Saturn knows if it sounds too good to be true, it will be. Financial astrologers draw heavily on these planets to predict market trends, and their mutual synodic cycle is an easy reckoner to see the shape of the world economy.

Every 20 years Jupiter and Saturn come together in a Grand Conjunction which describes a new beginning, financially and philosophically. In the Tropical Zodiac, the Conjunctions occur in the same element for approximately two hundred years at a time, with the penultimate conjunction foreshadowing the change to the next element. For example, since 1802, Jupiter-Saturn conjunctions have been in Earth, before they move to Air in December 2020. However, the second last conjunction was in Libra in 1981. The 2020 Grand Conjunction in Aquarius will see our full emigration to The Cloud.

This present Jupiter-Saturn cycle is the last to happen in the Earth element for the next approximately 600 years. Earth is security-oriented and all business: in this era we have seen the Industrial Revolution, the rise of the Banks and the model of nine-to-five work. However, this is not how life always was: setting so much store by material matters would have been considered positively Diabolical in previous ages, where faith in God's Providence was the thing. Incidentally, it is theorized that the Star of Bethlehem was the Triple Conjunction of Jupiter and Saturn in Pisces in AD.7.

So, we are three quarters of the way through the cycle which began in May 2000, in Taurus. The planets go through their synodic cycle, very much like the phases of the Moon: first the waxing phase: the separating sextile, square and trine. Then the opposition which is like the Full Moon - this peaked in 2010 in Aries-Libra, when the financial crash was at its scariest and everyone was predicting financial Armageddon. Perhaps the last Earth conjunction had to be a full-blown crisis, marking a clearing-out process before the next cycle in Air. Our present waning Trine in water is the first step of the recovery, where choices made at the opposition phase start bearing fruit. 

In Vedic astrology too, we see Jupiter and Saturn in their respective exaltations: Jupiter entering Cancer in July, while Saturn is at the end of Libra, until November. This shows the two principles at their strongest, with the promise of faith and generosity, and wisdom and renunciation. Somewhere, somehow, someone is thinking of the future in a smart way and good decisions are being made. The generation being born with this signature will also prove influential in politics and world affairs, perhaps after they have their Saturn Returns.

By any reckoning, this is an auspicious time to make good moves in your own life. Particularly if Jupiter and Saturn's placements trigger good things in your natal chart (placements in Tropical Pisces might benefit especially) but generally you can plan ahead under this influence and balance competing factors in your life. Mars now going direct after an epic retrograde spell is further good news if life has been all planning and no living. 

Arsene Wenger

So he finally did it. Soccer manager Arsene Wenger broke a nine-year hoodoo for Arsenal and brought the FA Cup back to north London. It has been a strange ride for the club, moving stadiums and having to balance the books while oil money flows like a steroid injection through their closest rivals. Arsenal have been an enigma, keeping in touch at the top while rarely threatening to win anything. 

Scorpio rising in Anuradha nakshatra is a 'star of success', but also shows somebody beset with responsibility that is shown in their face. It gives Wenger a mysterious, secretive air which is enhanced by Sun and Moon in the 12th. For Scorpio lagna this combination forms a highly auspicious Dharma Karma Adipati Yoga, showing a notable or successful leader. This signature is diluted in the 12th house however, and further by both the Sun's debilitation and the Moon's relative lack of light. 

It suggests a private person who does well working behind the scenes or operating inside an institution, especially in faraway places. He arrived at Arsenal as an unknown in 1996 after managing for two years in Japan. He was the first successful foreign manager in the Premier League and sparked a revolution with his innovations in player's diet and match preparation. "People who do know him tell me he is a good man but I don't suppose I'll ever find out for myself," Sir Alex Ferguson said in 2003. "He seems to pull down the shutters when you meet him".

22/10/1949, 11am, Strasbourg, France

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Venus rising however, gives him personal charm and a gift for public relations. He regards media work as an essential part of his job and is respected by the press as an open and engaging interviewee. Chart ruler Mars in the 10th also shows someone at ease in the spotlight, with an ambitious, competitive streak. Saturn also in the 10th gravitates towards an executive role and is comfortable with playing a long game, career-wise. Its exaltation in the Navamsha shows character, and he is famous for never having broken a contract in his managerial career. 

Mercury is stand-out strong, exalted in Virgo and also powerful in the Navamsha. This is a classy, practical thinker with natural intelligence. Nicknamed The Professor, Wenger has an economics degree, speaks several languages and is known for his mastery of detail. He arrived in the UK during his Mercury Mahadasha and in 1997-8 won the League and Cup 'Double' in his first full season. The 2002-3 season (Mercury-Moon) saw his stylish Arsenal side remaining unbeaten throughout the whole league campaign, an unprecedented achievement. 

Yet until last Saturday, Wenger had lived on his laurels. Jupiter is notably weak at the first degree of Capricorn, which speaks to his managerial philosophy. Rather than break the club's wage structure, he has repeatedly missed transfer targets and allowed star players to leave. We do not know to what extent his hands have been tied financially, but he has stubbornly refused to pay even a little extra when it might have made the difference. On the field too, Wenger's insistence on playing what some perceive as a dilettante style of football has recently lead to some embarrassing defeats.

He remains popular with the board at Arsenal because he works within the financial restrictions and allows the club to turn a profit. An admittedly weak Gaja Kesari Yoga links the Moon with Jupiter, which shows a builder, but fans do not want him to balance the books so much as lift trophies.

Will he ever recapture his early heights with Arsenal? The astrological evidence suggests not. His Mercury Mahadasha, especially 1995-2007 was a golden period that saw him operating at the height of his powers, with energy, talent and good fortune. He oversaw the move to Arsenal's new stadium in 2006 and the club narrowly missed winning the Champion's League in the same year. Since 2012 he has been in the otherworldly Ketu dasha, which is still governed by Mercury, but with a quite different complexion. He seems aloof and rather eccentric sometimes, Ketu qualites, and one wonders whether he is running a competitive side or simply a footballing academy.

He is also coming out of the gruelling transit of Saturn over his natal Moon, Sade Sati. Times have been tough. When Saturn hits his ascendant next season, we might see a new man, with money to spend and a new competitive spirit. His name and longevity alone links him with the club, he has a statue outside built to him. If he doesn't hit the heights of the 2002-3 Invincible season, then he can rest assured that few others have either.

Buddha Purnima / Scorpio Full Moon

May 14th's Full Moon is Buddha Purnima in the Vedic calendar, the symbolic birth of the Buddha and his enlightenment. This year it falls, auspiciously, on a Wednesday, Buddha's (Mercury) day. It occurs at the very edge of sidereal Libra, in Vishaka nakshatra, and just fifteen minutes later moves into fall in Scorpio.

Buddha Purnimah, 14/5/2014, 19:17 GMT

The Full Moon at the end of a sign suggests a transition, especially as the Moon moves in to fall as the Sun moves out of exaltation on the same day. April and early May is a time of potency, promise and tree blossoms with the Sun in sidereal Aries looking forward to the Summer. May 14th is a double junction point and a good time to bring a project to completion. Anyone feeling especially keen might try a fast during daylight hours.

Vishaka is ruled by Agni and Indra and its symbol is the Triumphal Arch. Individuals with this moon have fixity of purpose bordering on obsession, the gift of diplomacy, along with a capacity for indulgence. Over-doing the triumph, maybe?  

The Scorpio Full Moon in the tropical zodiac is mystical, emotional and naturally Pagan. With this sign we are rising above the dross and transforming base emotions into gold, best symbolized by spiritual Enlightenment. It's warm enough to meditate outside now, just be careful of sitting under any trees...

Johnny Depp: Transcendence & Jupiter in Pisces

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Johnny Depp built his movie name in a series of quirky roles that peaked in the billion-dollar Disney franchise Pirates of the Caribbean. Yet his latest outing, Transcendence is his third box-office flop in a row and the former teen-idol, now aged 50, finds himself at a career crossroads. He is a beloved entertainer and more than a pretty face, but he is still searching for a truly defining performance. 

Despite some handy placements and high earning potential, his chart lacks the powerful yogas one finds in the most enduring stars. On first glance, Jupiter in Pisces in the ninth house seems like first prize in the astrological lottery: faith, luck, God's Grace, you name it. Yet a closer look reveals Jupiter as a not unmixed blessing, ruling also for a Cancer ascendant the Sixth house of enemies, illness and debt. 

More pressingly, Jupiter picks up aspects from both Mars and Saturn, without any mitigating benefic glance. One malefic aspect is tough, two is punishing, and the effects of this unfriendly energy will be felt especially in Jupiter's Mahadasha, beginning in 2013. Angular Saturn in his own house and yogakaraka Mars are both strong, creating tension between relationships, money, and spirituality. Guru's placement in gentle Revati nakshatra has a lot to cope with, and the best one might say is that it will allow Johnny to rise above some difficult times.

June 9th 1963, Owensboro Kentucky, USA. 08:45am

Rahu, exalted and vargottama in Gemini, brought him material wealth and hyperfame during its mahadasha, which began in 1995. Rahu is governed by Mercury in the 11th, which picks up a Dhana Yoga of Venus and Sun. Johnny was famed as a charming maverick and cult favourite, who for years could not cross over into the mainstream. He finally got his hit playing Captain Jack Sparrow, but he has not built on his leading man status. It is said that whatever is given during Rahu's dasha is taken away at its close. 

This would appear to include Johnny's 14 year relationship with Vanessa Paradis, whom he broke up with in 2012. Rahu in his Navamsha seventh house brings an attraction to foreigners and outsiders, though Mars there too makes for a volatile romantic life. Shani is also strong in his Rasi seventh house, even if it brings a rather dutiful relationship atmosphere and a basically marriage-averse nature. It is typical of this placement to bring a large age difference in a relationship, and Johnny was recently engaged to actress Amber Heard, 20 years his junior. 

Jupiter is also debilitated in the Navamsha, further diluting its essence. What seems like his strongest planet is in many ways his weakest, and the next fifteen years of Jupiter dasha might see whimsical decisions and high hopes not borne out. Transcendence is an apt project title for a Jupiter-Jupiter period, but by all accounts the film is a muddle. It is too soon to write him off, but Johnny might do better looking for some real-life transcendence and it would be no surprise to find him embracing religion or studying with a guru at some point in Jupiter's jurisdiction.

Eddie Van Halen: The Sound of One Hand Tapping

Eddie Van Halen has been the most influential electric guitarist since Jimi Hendrix. While Jeff Beck and Steve Hackett both used fretboard tapping before him, Van Halen took the technique to a new level and spawned an army of spandex and big hair clones in the 1980s. For any young guitar nut, he was the Man - the top of his field at the best thing in the world to be.

Western astrology does not say much about why certain people achieve such eminence. Yet Dutch-born Eddie's Jyotish chart reveals a powerful, success-laden signature. Moon-Mercury in his fifth house of creativity, ruling his 9th and 10th houses, forms a potent Raja Yoga, showing intelligence and originality, with the promise of wealth and protection. This pairing is disposited by exalted Shani in the lagna, making a Sasa Yoga and an all-round irresistible case for fame. A surprisingly conservative first-house perhaps, but equally one showing discipline, dedication and a lasting legacy.

Eddie Van Halen: 26/1/1955, 01:05, Nijmegen, Netherlands

Rahu in the 3rd house of arts and dance is a maverick, showing innovation and a touch - no pun intended - of genius. Strong Mars in the navamsha lagna shows a pushy character who knows what he wants: successful people generally do. Exalted Jupiter rules his 3rd from the 10th house of career, giving Hamsa Yoga (a second Mahapurusha yoga). Despite being in Bhava Sandhi and receiving an aspect from Saturn, Jupiter is doubly exalted,  vargottama in Cancer in the navamsha 9th house, and reasonably promises big things in his mahadasha. Sure enough, Eddie and his brother Alex formed their self-titled band in 1973, just as Jupiter period began. 

Eddie's personal superstardom peaked during his Jupiter-Venus period, with his 1983 appearance on Michael Jackson's Beat It. This spell also saw Van Halen's only #1 hit, Jump, in 1984, and second-house Venus would have brought money along with the acclaim. His stellar Jupiter mahadasha lasted until 1989, which was about the end of Van Halen's golden period. Frontman David Lee Roth had already quit and the band were never the same again. 

Shani mahadasa, beginning 1989, has brought very mixed results. Van Halen remained an iconic act, but with a sense of living on their laurels. First house Shani suggests health problems, specifically the bone structure, and Eddie has had spells in rehab, along with hip replacement surgery in 1999, a consequence of too much stage diving (rockstars' occupational hazard). He has also had repeated cancer diagnoses, first in 2000, which has caused him to lose parts of his tongue. Second house lord Mars in the Sixth may bring diseases of the mouth; there may also be a predisposition to the disease, plus of course any chain smoker with long-running alcohol problems is likely to suffer ill health. 

Still, his Shani is exalted and his potent Jupiter should offer Eddie faith and protection. He is 60 this year, and his reputation is secure as being one of the few - only? - truly game-changing musicians to come out of the heavy-metal genre.