Stephen Lam's calling

The headline news for today is obviously the announcement by the Chief Secretary for Administration Stephen Lam that he will step down when the term of this administration expires on June 30 this year. He will go to Oxford with his wife to study theology.

Considering Lam's chart, this should not come as a surprise at all. His Sun is in Sagittarius, meaning that his life path is linked with the pursuit of wisdom and the understanding of universal laws, often through religion, the law and philosophy. Moreover, his Moon is in Pisces which is a sign closely related to the spiritual and non-materialistic. It is therefore no surprise that he is a devout Christian and wanted to study theology. Actually, given this Sun-Moon combination, it would not have been impossible if he had pursued a career in the church, instead of in the civil service.

Another astrological indicator for his decision to study theology is that, his Sun is now being squared by transiting Neptune. His identity and ego will be re-defined during this time and he will become even more receptive than usual to spirituality and other-worldliness. This represents a pretty long period of time in which his old self will be let go of, transformed and refined. The effects could be most deeply felt during April-August 2011, February-April 2012 and August 2012-February 2013.

Is there anything else in his chart that indicates why he has chosen to pursue a career in government and politics, and has become so successful in this that he serves as the right-hand man to Hong Kong’s top leader?

Although Lam is not well-liked by the public and generally not considered "very competent" or "outstanding", his chart reveals quite another matter. This should explain why he has been promoted by a series of bosses and was already a bureau head in his 40s.

His Sun (in Sagittarius) is conjunct Mercury and Saturn (both in Scorpio), all squared by a tight Jupiter-Pluto conjunction and are in a trine with Uranus. This indicates an ambitious personality, an excellent strategist who plans everything thoroughly, and capable of outside-the-box thinking. A very smart guy indeed!

However, why has he been dubbed by the Chinese media as a "human recorder" who constantly repeats the official stance over and over again? This is indicated by the T-square in his chart: the Chiron-Uranus opposition is squared by Mars-Neptune in Libra. This exactly means that Lam tends to fight (or defend his position) through an evasive and slippery approach. When Mars combines with Neptune, it is like adding water to fire. There is just smoke and nothing else is in there! This is especially so whenever he feels alienated, estranged or "wounded" suddenly or through others' disruptive behaviour (Chiron-Uranus opposition). In psychological terms, we can say this "human recorder" approach of his is his "defence mechanism" (i.e. psychological coping method) to whatever alienation he may feel under the circumstances.

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