Alex's Asteroid Astrology

It’s ironic that Britain’s longest-reigning monarch should be succeeded by its shortest-serving Prime Minister, but that’s just what happened when Liz Truss stepped down from office after only 45 days in power.  The fact that they both had the same first name is just icing on the cosmic cake in this bizarre juxtaposition.  Truss stepped into the breach in the Conservative Party when embattled PM Boris Johnson resigned in the wake of scandal on July 7, but it took two months to wrap up those loose ends before she was officially appointed by Queen Elizabeth II on September 6.  Now, just six weeks later, she’s gone.

In part, Truss got caught up in the current closing square between Jupiter, the planet ruling politics, and TNO Chaos, a far-flung bit of space debris that creates turbulent conditions consistent with its name, which is now exact from 0 Aries to 0 Cancer.  Following rapid turnover in Cabinet officers and a disastrous “mini-budget” that sent the pound tumbling, Truss’ position as PM became untenable.  Chaos’ role in her discomfiture is expressed in its conjunction with the 4 Cancer Descendant for her resignation (1:34 PM BST 20 October 2022, London, UK).

That chart also highlights asteroid Atropos at 1 Capricorn on the 4 Capricorn Ascendant. Atropos is named for the mythic Greek Fate who severs the thread of life at death, and it’s in that context of mortality that we most commonly encounter her.  But, like the Death card in the Tarot, Atropos also signals change and endings of all sorts in addition to the cessation of life.  Here it suggests an end to Truss’ public image (Ascendant), reinforced by its placement exactly conjunct her natal asteroid London at 1 Capricorn, the city where she worked and announced her resignation. 

Born Mary Elizabeth Truss on 26 July 1975 (no time available), asteroid Mary at 10 Taurus closely conjoins the 9 Taurus IC of the resignation chart, keying her personally into the moment.  (As is typical of one’s own PNA – Personal-Named Asteroid – which often connects to the Sun, Moon, Ascendant or Mercury, natal Mary at 12 Sagittarius is trine the Sun and embedded at station.)  Mary also conjoins TNO Albion at 12 Taurus, an ancient name for Britain, and more widely conjoins Uranus, emblem of unexpected shocks and upsets, at 17 Taurus.  Uranus exactly opposes asteroid Elisabetta at 17 Scorpio (one of two PNA referents for Elizabeth), while an exact opposition from asteroid Britten (homophone for “Britain”) at 9 Leo to asteroid Elisabetha at 9 Aquarius (the other Elizabeth referent) transforms this polarity into a loose Grand Cross.  (True to form, natal Elisabetha also fits the PNA pattern, falling at 24 Libra in square to Mercury, ruling the naming function, at 26 Cancer.)  Elisabetha also conjoins asteroid Lachesis at 4 Aquarius, named for the Fate who determines the span of life (or any other endeavor) and Saturn at 18 Aquarius, symbol of state power as well as its loss.

This Grand Cross ties to Truss’ natal Mars at 17 Taurus, symbol of struggle and stress, and this resignation seems a somewhat fated development, with the Grand Cross also incorporating her natal pairing of asteroids Karma at 15 Leo and NOT at 13 Leo, prefiguring a predetermined (Karma) refusal or abnegation of some sort (NOT).   Note that these points are all energized by the upcoming Lunar Eclipse of 16 Taurus on November 8^th.  More to the point, the Solar Eclipse at 2 Scorpio just five days after her resignation falls tightly on her natal asteroid Nemesis at 1 Scorpio, indicating ruin, downfall, or destruction, often self-created, and exactly squared her natal Sun at 2 Leo.

The Sun of her resignation at 27 Libra is accompanied by Venus at 26 Libra and two more agents of change and transformation, asteroids Requiem (named for the funeral mass for the dead) and Anubis (the Egyptian deity governing funerary rites) at 23 and 24 Libra, which together spell a high profile (Sun) transition (Requiem, Anubis) for a female (Venus).  This grouping straddles Truss’ natal asteroid Elisabetha with Uranus at 24 and 28 Libra, engendering controversy (Uranus) for her personally (Elisabetha). The Libra stellium also opposes natal Chaos at 28 Aries, embedded at station, from where it turned retrograde four days after her birth, which itself conjoins an exact pairing of Jupiter with asteroid Britten at 24 Aries, suggesting her involvement with political (Jupiter) turmoil (Chaos) in the UK (Britten).

T-Squared transit Pluto at 26 Capricorn and TNO Eris at 24 Aries, Truss found herself subject to the whims of a disgruntled populace (Eris, evoker of strife and discord; polls showed her as the least popular Prime Minister in British history), prompting the destruction (Pluto) of her career.  Transit Pluto’s opposition to transit Britten at 25 Cancer for her appointment on September 6^th, still locked in the Eris T-Square, showed the potential for tough times for Britain in the ensuing period of her tenancy of the office, while an opposition from a pairing of asteroids Trussino (closest to Truss) and Dowling (closest to Downing, for the 10 Downing Street address of the UK Prime Minister) at 17 and 19 Scorpio to the Albion/Mary/Uranus group at 13, 15 and 18 Taurus indicated volatility and controversy (Uranus) for the British (Albion) Prime Minister (Dowling), whoever it might be, brought home to Truss by the PNAs Mary and Trussoni linking her directly to this energy.  Mary is also stationary, as at birth, turning retrograde a week after her appointment, signifying a literal “change of direction” for Truss, unexpectedly (Uranus) elevated as PM.

A natal combination of asteroid Elisabetta with Dowling at 25 and 27 Aquarius suggests the potential for Truss as PM at some point, but the timing wasn’t right here, with transit Damocles (the doom hanging unseen overhead) haunting this region (exact with Dowling for her appointment, exact with Elisabetha for her resignation) and transit TNO Sedna (named for an Inuit goddess who dwells in the deepest, most inaccessible part of the Arctic Ocean) squaring from 29 Taurus, promoting isolation.  Left without support, Truss had no choice but to withdraw, despite describing herself as “a fighter, not a quitter” the day before she resigned.

Truss had experienced an “Achilles Return” at the time of her appointment to the office, with the asteroid representing inherent flaws, weakness and vulnerability (as in “Achilles heel”) transiting its natal degree of 16 Gemini, reinforcing her inborn potential for self-implosion.  As well, Achilles came to station to turn retrograde and retrace its steps on October 11^th, just as things began to heat up for Truss and the inevitability of her fall became apparent.  The Daily Star tabloid paper, riffing on an article in the Economist which compared Liz Truss’ tenure to the lifespan of a lettuce, rigged out a head of iceberg in a blonde wig and began a countdown to see which would have the longer shelf life:  Truss’ career as PM or the salad ingredient.  The lettuce won.

Regrettably for bad astro-joke aficionados globally, there is no asteroid named Lettuce.  There is, however, a Laetitia, a close phonetic match, which appears at 1 Scorpio on the day of Truss’ resignation, conjunct the 9 Scorpio MC of that chart and exactly conjoined her natal Nemesis, squared her Sun, and about to be eclipsed.  Natally, Laetitia appears at 15 Leo, exactly conjunct Karma and with asteroid NOT, another indication that the cosmos does in fact have a sense of humor and irony.

Britain isn’t scheduled for a general election until 2024, but the Tories will pick a new leader to be appointed Prime Minister, perhaps within a week.  There’s even talk of Boris Johnson returning from the political dead to resume his old post, a zombielike resurrection particularly appropriate for Spooky Season.