On 7th May 2015 the next United Kingdom general election is to be held to elect the 56th Parliament of the United Kingdom. The leader of the Conservatives, who are the larger party in the current coalition government, is David Cameron. At present, he is the UK’s Prime Minister. In the following, I will try to predict if Cameron and his party will be successful in the upcoming election and if he will be able to defend his position as Prime Minister.
The chart below shows the Sun’s Aries ingress for 2015:
With a fixed sign rising, this chart will be valid for the whole of 2015.
From the chart above, we can see that Mercury will be Lord of the Year. Being Lord of the 10th house, he is prominently positioned near the 4th house cusp. He is also debilitated by detriment and fall and square Saturn, the greater malefic. Main themes during this solar year will be matters concerning communal finances and business in general. The ingress chart shows that debilitated Mercury is squaring Saturn in the 1st house. This indicates more financial restrictions and continued economic hardship for most of the population. All of this doesn’t come as a surprise to anybody who followed the news during the last five years, but it doesn’t indicate in any way who the UK’s next Prime Minister will be. To find out about this, we have to look closely into techniques of traditional astrology. All of the passages quoted below were conceived and recorded long before concepts like ‘constitutional monarchy’ or ‘Prime Minister’ were invented. For this reason, we have to be flexible and think of the ‘king’ as the person in charge, rather than the monarch.
In the Aries ingress chart, the Sun is significator of the king, according to Bonatti, who says to look to
“… the Lord of the Year, and the Lord of the 10th, and to the Sun: and the one of them you find stronger, or less weak, or better disposed, or less bad, … make this the significator of the King.” (BA, p833)*
The Sun is exalted in Aries, which suggests (at least temporary) strength. We know that, traditionally, exaltation is compared to a king on his throne, and we have to remember that Lilly thought it to present “a person of haughty condition, assuming more to him than his due” (CA p102). But we also have to take into consideration that a solar eclipse was taking place only hours before the Aries ingress.
Seeing the election process as a ‘pilgrimage’ (another traditional concept we have to modernise), we can say that with the Sun located in the 4th house, according to Bonatti:
“… his journey will be horrible and fearful. And because it will be in the eights from his own house, it is feared concerning his death.” (BA, p867).
Knowing that Cameron’s position as Prime Minister is at stake, this statement doesn’t come as a surprise either. It has been widely stated in the media that the outcome of this election is one of the most unpredictable in recent history. Still, this observation alone is not enough to predict the outcome.
Another traditional astrologer whose work can be of help in our quest is Masha’allah. In his Revolutions of the Year of the World, he writes:
“… if the significator of the king was not in charge, … the enemy will be from the same clime, but the king will be weakened, and another will be led into his place.” (AoW, p110)**
What he means is that we have to look at the planet who is Lord of the Year and compare its strength to the planet representing the king. Mercury, who is Lord of the Year, is essentially debilitated by detriment and fall, as compared to the Sun, who is essentially dignified by exaltation. Therefore we can argue that the king will not be weakened and it is unlikely that anybody else (i.e. another ruler) will take over his position.
Another way of looking at this is via the accession chart. We know that David Cameron became Prime Minister on 11 May 2010. The Aries ingress chart for this year is shown below:
Reading with the astrologer al-Rijal, in The Book of the Skilled, we find:
“And if the Sun was separating from Jupiter and connected with Mars, [and] then connected with Saturn before he goes out of the sign in which he is, it indicates that a man of the people of the house of the acceder, or of his own rank will rise up against him and he will suffer grief from that – then he will be victorious over him.” (AoW, p449)
With this final judgment taken into consideration, it seems highly likely that David Cameron will continue to be the UK’s Prime Minister after the election in May 2015.
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*Bonatti, Guido: Book of Astronomy (BA), translation B Dykes, Cazimi Press, 2007
** Dykes (trans): Astrology of the World II, Cazimi Press, 2014
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UPDATE: Read my new blog post entry and Jessica Adams’ article about astrologers who got it right, here.
Peter Stockinger's Traditional Astrology Weblog 
Peter, re Aries Ingress 2015: why do you say Mercury will be Lord of the Year when Scorpio rises?
… because the Lord/Lady of the Year or Lordy/Lady of the Revolution is not just the Ascendant ruler.
I understand how it works in Solar Returns but how do you work out the Lord/Lady in the Solar Ingress chart?
Elka, it’s too complicated to explain here, but try to get Bonatti’s Liber Astrologiae, where he dedicates a whole book to this. Also you could download Steven Birchfield’s partial transcript of Ramesey’s work Astrologia Mundi, which explains it, here: http://www.skyscript.co.uk/birchfield.html
Thank you- I now realise this is complex subject! And I did refer to the edited version by Steven Birchfield on William Ramesey’s ‘Astrologia Munda’ Chapter IV on ‘the ancient’s’ methods of how to find the Lord of the year [stating that “Bonatus alone has no less than 54”] of the Aries Solar Ingress and then states:
“Others have taught us consider the Lord of the Ascendant, who, if it is direct, free from combustion, and in the Ascendant, i.e. within three degrees within the house or four without, or outside of the cusp, he shall without any more ado be concluded Lord of the Year, and you need not trouble yourself further to seek any other…”
and further gives: “The true way of finding the Lord of the Year, according to the judgement of the author: Wherefore take this short, but sure rule, for finding the Lord of the Year in any Annual Revolution whatsoever; see what sign ascends at the time of the Suns’ ingress into the first point of Aries and who the Lord is and what the Almuten , and let that planet who is Almuten be Lord of the Year”
So just curious how you calculated Mercury as the Lord, if you could explain briefly
Regards
El
Dear Elka, please find my explanation how I found Mercury to be Lord of the Year, below:
1. First we look at the Lord of the Ascendant. If he is Dx, free from combustion and placed between 3 degrees before and 4 degrees after the Ascendant, he will be LoY. Mars is Dx, free from combustion, but located in H5, which rules him out.
2. Next we look at the Lord of the Exaltation, finding that he isn’t between 3 degrees before and 4 degrees after the Ascendant, which rules him out, too.
3. Then we look at the possibility if it would be the Sun or the Moon. This is a nocturnal chart, so we look at the Moon in particular. We find that she is combust, which rules her out as LoY.
4. Next we look at the Lord of the Bound or Term, etc, etc, and find that he (Mars) isn’t near the ASC either.
5. Next we look at the Lord of the Triplicity, etc, etc, and find that he (Jupiter) isn’t near the ASC either.
6. Thereafter we look at the Lord of H10 and repeat steps 1 – 5
7. Thereafter we look at the Lord of H7 and repeat steps 1 – 5
8. Thereafter we look at the Lord of H4 and repeat steps 1 – 5
9. Thereafter we look at the Lord of H11 and repeat steps 1 – 5
10. Thereafter we look at the Lord of H9 and repeat steps 1 – 5
11. Thereafter we look at the Lord of H5 and repeat steps 1 – 5
12. Thereafter we look at the Lord of H3 and repeat steps 1 – 5
13. If all of this should fail, we read that: “the one of them who is more authoritative by the multitude of strengths will take charge as Lord of the Year”
14. Therefore we can conclude that Saturn in the first house cannot be LoY because he is Rx. H10 and H7 are empty, and so we have to look at H4 next, wherein we find Mercury, being Dx, not combust and close to the cusp. We have ruled out Mars and Jupiter, Sun and Moon already, which only leaves Venus as an alternative to Mercury. She is in H6, which immediately shows that she isn’t a stronger candidate than Mercury.
Very thorough, thank you! It seemed that Ramesey preferred his method “of the short but sure rule” 🙂
I am glad you found it of interest, and yes, Ramesey cut a few corners here and there.
Thanks for your detailed explanation, Peter, and congratulations on your correct prediction on the election.
My question is, would it be correct to simplify this by saying that it is largely a question of the strongest ANGULAR planet in the ingress chart? And is Mercury’s rulership of the 10th (party in power) a deciding factor as well?
Dear Alanna,
I think we would oversimplify if we say that we only look at the strongest angular planet.
Bonatti writes:
“And however much I were to name places and houses for you, from which may be known the Lord of the Year or Revolution, I want you to know that they are not of equal strength. For the Ascendant and the 10th exceed the other houses in strength; the 7th is below the 10th, the 4th is below the 7th, the11th is below the 4th, the 9th is below the 11th, the 5th below the 9th, the 3rd below the 5th. Whence according to the house from which the Lord of the Year was taken, according to that [house] will be the stronger or weaker significations in that year, or semester, or quarter, in the regions over which the revolution was.”
There is a definite rationale behind the prioritisation, which is that the Lord of the Year should have a strong testimony in the Ascendant being the natural place of the country of the revolution.
We have to first investigate with Bonatti:
“… the testimonies by which the significations are known in these places. They are four, of which the first is the Lord of the domicile, the second the Lord of the exaltation, the third is the luminary whose authority it is, the fourth is the planetary al-mubtazz in the place from which is taken the revolution by nature, and the place of the circle in the hour by which the year is revolved.”
If this turns out to be unsuccessful, we would look at the four testimonies in connection with the 10th house. I am not going into more detail as there are 54 ways to establish the Lord of the Year.
As for Mercury, yes, it is important that we found him in the 10th house. For a full explanation how I found Mercury to be Lord of the Year, please see my reply above.
Hope this helps