Today is the first of May, widely celebrated by neo-pagans as Beltane, the fire festival which honors Bel, the god of fire.  Because Beltane is a “cross-quarter” festival, meaning it occurs at the halfway point between the equinox and solstice, it will not actually occur until May 5th when the Sun reaches 15 degrees Taurus. In any event, with so many planets still in Aries, including Mars and Jupiter which reach their peak conjunction today, a fire festival is an excellent way to channel some of the fiery energy that abounds right now.

I’d like to return briefly to the Royal Wedding discussion.  Many astrologers have pointed out the fact that the wedding chart shows the Moon void of course at 26 degrees Pisces, meaning that the Moon is unaspected and will not make aspects to any other planets until it reaches the next sign (Aries) which it did on Friday just after the wedding.  Electional charts (charts that are used to “elect” a particular date typically would never have a Moon void of course which suggests that an astrologer was probably not used in planning this wedding.  (Whether or not the void Moon has an impact in our daily lives is a matter of great debate and most astrologers agree that focusing on such minutiae is not always helpful in our daily lives.)

In any case, since the Moon in a wedding chart represents the heart of the marriage, that void Moon reinforces my sense that the emotional heart of this marriage will not take hold.

One of my readers commented that Dharmaruci has the best posts on the Royal Wedding and while normally I would be offended by a comment suggesting that another writer has posts better than mine in this case I am glad to agree.  DR is a great friend and a better astrologer, and he has two posts that will be of great interest to royal watchers.  In addition, the fact that he (like Kathryn) is British gives him extra credibility of course.

In yesterday’s post, DR points out that Prince William was born during an eclipse with the Sun and Moon conjoined in Cancer within 10 degrees of the North Node.  This eclipse and triple conjunction falls in the seventh house of marriage.  The North Node, representing our future direction, suggests that marriage moves him towards his destiny, but perhaps that his emotional needs (Moon) and solar identity (Sun) will be eclipsed by his fate.

Dharmaruci notes:

Uranus will be squaring William’s Moon (wife) at 5 Cancer through to the end of 2012. Uranus is the awakener. I think Kate will change now she has got what she has wanted for so many years, and I think William is going to be wondering who he has married. The next 2 years are going to be difficult and unsettled for him in his marriage. You do not want to get married with a hard Uranus-Moon transit coming up (or Uranus-Venus for that matter.)

It is interesting that Diana died in 1997 as Pluto was finishing a hard transit to William’s Venus-Uranus opposition, and now he gets married as Neptune is finishing a hard transit to his Venus-Uranus. It connects the two events. And his Venus is also closely conjunct Chiron, so there is a wound here. His Mum’s death and the trauma of it have affected his choice of partner. He is seeking healing. It is unconscious, and Kate looks like she fits the bill. Put another way, if one of your parents is absent or dysfunctional or just completely unlike you, you may not learn how to relate to members of that sex, who to trust and who not to trust, and you may have to learn the hard way. Also, with Moon in Aquarius in a t-square with Venus and Uranus, Diana was deeply unconventional and unsettled and wanting to break free. It’s like William has instinctively chosen the opposite of Diana, because it was that desire to be free that resulted in her death. And, in the strange way that fate seems to work, William’s marriage may well end up with him feeling trapped like his Mum did. But how else do we learn?

The question of fate and free will is an important one for astrologers. How much of our lives is fated, and where do we have real choice?  There is also the suggestion that our subconscious drives us to play out our fate even when we should, or in any case could, have real choice.  Children of alcoholics marry partners who don’t touch a drop but later begin drinking.  Rape victims marry partners who seem gentle at the time and later become abusers.  The subconscious force to play out the dynamics of the birthchart is extremely strong and requires an elevation of the consciousness and an application of the higher mind before we can really have true choice.

So eclipse or not, like all of us Prince Williams is playing the cards that he has been dealt and it will be interesting to see what transpires as a result.