PREVIOUS THOUGHTS FOR THE DAY May 18 2015 to May 24 2015 Monday May 18 Elections Dear Jonathan, You recently used the quote, 'Whoever you vote for, the government always gets in', on the same page as you made a comment about the dictatorship in North Korea. Are you trying to tell us something about the British electoral system? Kate Dear Kate, Actually, I think I have now said more than enough on both topics. Although the more I look at world event charts, the more I fear that the news from this part of the world is likely, with each passing month this year, to become ever less appropriate for light-hearted or amusing commentary. Tuesday May 19 Gender Reassignment Hi Jonathan, My personal birth chart has been incredibly accurate and for that I am grateful as it has given me much comfort and confidence. But, on April 24, I had my long-awaited gender reassignment surgery. To me this is nothing short of a total rebirth. So much so that I will, in future, celebrate my birthday on that date rather than December 10. Am I right? Where now are my influences? Am I really reborn astrologically? Nina Dear Nina, Some might say that only a Sagittarian would entertain such an ambitious idea. But what do other readers think? Wednesday May 20 Symbolic? Dear Jonathan, Now I am utterly confused. A reader suggested nominating the new 'dwarf planet' Ceres as the ruler of Virgo. Often you speak of this or that meteor, conjunction of planets etc. as 'symbolizing' something. If we, or you, or a school of astrologers can get together and simply assign meanings, then what, exactly, is fixed about one's horoscope or any other aspect of astrology? If it's all symbolic, what's the referent? Or is a reading no more (or less) 'real' than the I Ching or tarot cards? Judith Dear Judith, Good question. Tomorrow, I'll attempt an answer! Thursday May 21 Meanings of the Planets Yesterday, a reader asked how astrologers can simply decide between themselves what a celestial body signifies. In one way, we can't. Venus, for example, has a fixed, clear meaning which hasn't altered since Ptolemy, a 2nd-century Alexandrian, wrote The Tetrabiblos, the oldest surviving astrology textbook. He, in turn, was only recording a strict tradition that, as far as we know, stretches back a further 3,000 years. For centuries, nothing changed until the invention of the telescope. Then we had new information that we couldn't ignore... and had to make sense of. Tomorrow, I'll explain how we did that. Friday May 22 Neptune's Mystery This week, I've been answering a question from Judith about how astrologers can 'give meaning' to new astronomical discoveries. For centuries, our rules were set in stone. Even the 'Copernican Revolution' didn't faze us. We may now know we're whizzing round the Sun but when placing mystical interpretation on a heavenly picture, that geocentric perspective remains all important. In 1781, a new planet was discovered. The 19th century revealed asteroids, then Neptune. These had to symbolise something. But what? All we could do was swap notes and confer. Eventually, we reached a 'professional consensus' that prevails to this day. Saturday May 23 Your Week Ahead Whenever Mars forms a right angle to Neptune, we get a new sense of what's possible. At first, we aren't sure whether we are imagining it... until we realise we're being guided towards something important, even urgent. We have to draw on our intuition. We must go beyond the pedantic logic that normally stifles our enthusiasm and litters our path to progress with 'sensible considerations'. Retrograde Mercury now supports this alignment by conjoining Mars and squaring Neptune too. That's nothing to fear. Just a call to action, an exhortation to be creative, an invitation to turn dreams into realities. Sunday May 24 Your Week Ahead - Love Focus Remember, your Love Forecast today doesn't just cover romance. A love forecast may also have something to say about your family life, your closest friendships and even some of your most important working relationships. Back to Index   Click here for Jonathan Cainer's Daily Zodiac Forecasts