A heated debate

They have finally made it! This week the two hot contenders for the Chief Executive post finally declared their candidacy.

I wrote in this blog in mid-September that Hong Kong, in addition to being affected by transitting Pluto which means "total transformation", is also having transitting Uranus which stands for the urge for greater freedom and social progress.

Transitting Uranus was or will conjunct Hong Kong’s Ascendant during May-September 2011, February-March 2012 and November 2012-January 2013. The planet has squared or will square the city's Midheaven in roughly similar periods: April-May 2011, August-October 2011 and January-March 2012.

Transitting Uranus could be experienced in two different ways: either it is felt to be a most disruptive time, with lots of sudden and unexpected turns of events, or it can be felt as a most liberating time, a time in which lots of changes are made, even though they were once thought to be impossible.

As to which effect will actually be felt depends entirely on how open people are to change and to trying out new things. The more closed-minded we are, the more disruptive we will feel process to be.

In the Chief Executive election, the two candidates will inevitably debate about housing. For those who have been following the news closely, it is not hard to notice that housing has been the central issue ever since Hong Kong’s handover 14 years ago. This is also reflected in the SAR's birth chart.

Hong Kong’s Sun is in Cancer in the fourth house which exactly stands for "home". The Sun represents the ego and the urge for recognition and achievement and being in Cancer means that Hong Kong's "ego" is expressed emotionally, relying on guts feelings rather than rational analysis. Once a threat is sensed, the old and familiar will become the shelter and no more risk will be taken. No wonder when property prices keep rising, there has almost been a unanimous call to re-build flats under the Home Ownership Scheme - the old and familiar track! You really don't see anybody putting forward any innovative solution which has also received popular support.

Another implication for the Sun being in the fourth house means, if the housing problem can be properly solved, there will also be a much greater sense of achievement in the community. Hope the person who is going to the next Chief Executive will get this point.

One interesting thing is, Hong Kong's Mercury is also in Cancer in the fourth house. This not only means most of Hong Kong’s intellect is applied to the housing issue, it also means that the way that the community thinks and analyses is highly emotion-driven and subjective. Some commentators have described this as the rise of "populism" in Hong Kong - astrologically speaking, this is not far off the mark…

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Back to basics

In considering a natal chart, most modern day Western astrologers will look at the signs and houses of 11 heavenly bodies and their aspects (i.e. their own interactions). Each heavenly body represents a psychological urge, need or capability:

Sun: Expression of the ego, the need for recognition

Moon: Emotional attachment, instinctive responses, the need to nurture or be nurtured

Mercury: The need to communicate, learn and exchange information

Venus: The need to love and be loved, to seek pleasure, to socialize

Mars: Self-assertion need, to compete, the sex drive

Jupiter: To expand, explore, seek new opportunities and growth, find faith and meaning

Saturn: To restrict, control, manage, set goals, defend

Uranus: To rebel, to be unconventional, to seek originality and total freedom

Neptune: To dream, redeem, dissolve boundaries, seek perfection

Pluto: To destroy and re-generate, expression of will power, to face the depths, to uncover

Chiron: To feel rejected or isolated, to get wounded early in life, to heal

A natal chart is also divided into 12 houses, with each standing for a different facet of that person's life.

In addition, astrologers pay particular attention to the starting points of the first, fourth, seventh and tenth houses. These four points are called the Ascendant, the Immu Coeli (IC), the Descendant and the Medium Coeli (the MC or "the Midheaven").

Since the number of variations from birth chart to birth chart is infinite, I think this exactly explains why modern, scientific psychology which often tends to conceptualize human behaviour or personality as falling under just a few categories cannot match astrology in its sophistication and insights. The more birth charts we study, the more we will be able to appreciate individual differences and understand why the saying "no two people are identical" is so true.

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Hong Kong's mid-term results

Now that November is just beginning, it is time to look back on what happened in September and October - the time when transitting Saturn was opposing Hong Kong's natal Saturn, showing us the results of our choices and performance in the last 14 years.

September and October were very eventful months. Major news included a former TV station news chief giving a fuller account of why a wrong report had been released. There were two judicial reviews of environmental impact assessment and foreign domestic helpers' right of abode, the resignations of two high-ranking public figures and their alleged or confirmed extra-marital affairs.

Last but not least, this two-month period ended with the conclusion of a drawn-out legal battle for a multi-billion dollar estate and the announcement of a university head that he would not extend his contract.

When transitting Saturn made an exact "hard" aspect (i.e. either a square or an opposition) to Hong Kong’s own Saturn last time, in July 2004 and March 2005, it was precisely the time that former Secretary for Health, Welfare and Food EK Yeoh and former Chief Executive Tung Chee-hwa stepped down. Exact to the month and year!

Saturn means responsibility and therefore, when transitting Saturn hits our Saturn, it is a time of "accountability". We are presented with the consequences of our choices and actions (including non-actions) since the last time Saturn in the sky made a hard aspect to our own Saturn.

Judging from the range of events that happened in September and October, the people called to account for their past actions were definitely far more varied than in 2004-2005. This was a warning for Hongkongers. We should not just sit there and complain, escape from problems or take shortcuts, otherwise we will be "punished" with negative outcomes when transitting Saturn makes a hard aspect again to our Saturn next time.

Since Saturn takes nearly 30 years to rotate back to a certain point, events happened in September and October were like showing us the results of our "mid-term exam", counting from the time when the Hong Kong SAR first started off 14 years ago. We will be able to see the results of the "final exam" of this 30-year cycle in April 2027 - the time when transitting Saturn returns to the same location when the SAR was born.  

Among the many events that happened in the last two months, the judgement of the judicial review of foreign domestic helpers' right of abode was the most controversial. Here we will not discuss the legal arguments or whether foreign domestic helpers should or should not have the right of abode. This policy has been in place for nearly 30 years, meaning that the Saturn of this policy, most likely than not, has also completed its 30-year cycle, and this right of abode case has highlighted a result of this policy.

What are the other results of this policy? Foreign domestic helpers have indirectly contributed to Hong Kong’s economic growth by helping a large number of women to stay in the labour force even after they have given birth. Many Hong Kong mothers no longer have to give up their jobs to bring up children, unlike their mothers or grandmothers in previous times.

The downside is more subtle, though. The availability of foreign domestic helpers has also indirectly given rise to one or two generations of Hong Kong children who are seen as less responsible, less self-motivating and less mature than the previous generations.

Moreover, because foreign domestic helpers can help taking children to different places after school, many middle-class parents enrol their children in all kinds of tuition or interests classes. Is it really necessary and beneficial for young children to learn all these after school, on top of all the pressure from homework, dictations, tests and exams?

I think these are issues that transitting Saturn has revealed about the policy - but sadly, these are seldom talked about.

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