Australian Federal Election 2013

At 12:59 p.m. on Wednesday, January 30, Australia's incumbent Prime Minister, Julia Gillard announced the date of the 2013 federal election, at the National Press Club, Canberra .

Casting a horoscope for this moment does show some interesting points. First of all with the Sun sitting right on the midheaven (MC), one has to wonder if Ms Gillard doesn't know a little something about the cosmos. Jupiter was stationing direct, along with the sun on the MC, this should herald an auspicious moment. click here for chart

If we use traditional methods of delineating the chart, The government would be represented by the first house, with the opposition parties the seventh. With Taurus rising, Venus is the ruling planet for the government, while her opposite, Mars, rules the Opposition. These planetary rulerships on their own are quite telling, being the feminine and masculine of the ancient planetary hegemony.

If we look to the strength of these two planets, Venus in Capricorn and Mars in Aquarius, both are under the rulership of Saturn. Venus is also in the exaltation sign of Mars and the planet of war is in mutual reception with Saturn in Scorpio. All of this definitely puts Mars in the stronger position of the two combatants, suggesting initially a change of government. Perhaps Ms Gillard doesn't know that much regarding the cosmos after all.

The Moon, which represents the public, the long suffering voters, has no dignity and sits at the bottom of the chart. Not really any surprises there, shows that the real needs of the electorate will come second to the needs of the politicians for power. It is also indicative of a long, protracted and painful seven and a half months of political argy bargy and advertising.

With no dignity, a body is said to be peregrine, this means it owes nothing to any one. Peregrine planets represent people or situations that tend to be unpredictable and act independently. The other thing with no dignity is that we could see political debate lowered to the level of the recent US elections, with opposing supporters definitely showing no dignity in their debate. On a personal note, I really hope we don't see our voters lowered to the same level.

If we move forward to the election date, September 14, half of the chart is peregrine, including all of the major players. In fact the only traditional planet with dignity is Jupiter. Venus, while not peregrine is still lacking in essential dignity. Makes for an interesting day. If we erect a chart for the opening of polls in Canberra, the angles are the reverse of those in the announcement chart, within a degree. This time Scorpio is rising, representing the government and Taurus is the opposite point . click here for chart

So this time the government is represented by Mars, which is in fiery Leo, and the opposition is represented by Venus, in Scorpio, conjunct the ascendant with only 33 mins separating the two. This puts the opposition in the place of the government, again an indicator of a change of power.

In this chart the moon is again peregrine and at the bottom of the chart, but this time, tied to passionate Pluto, indicating a good voter turnout and determined voters. Tempers my also be running high on election day.

Venus is also with Saturn, the planet of tradition, which again favours a conservative government and this pair is receiving a positive aspect from the Moon/ Pluto combination. Mars, representing the government on the other hand is receiving a difficult aspect from the same planets and is also in a difficult relationship to the Venus/ Saturn/ Asc combination.

Although this is a very brief interpretation, I believe it shows fairly clearly that Australia will have a change of government on September 14, 2013 .

© Sherrynne Dalby Jan 30 2013