Friends and Enemies.
It was the boast of Bismarck that he was the “best-hated man in Europe,” and it would be strange indeed if Mr. Chamberlain had passed through life and attained so prominent a position without incurring the enmity, or arousing the envy and malice of a considerable number of individuals. Nevertheless, there are only two aspects in this horoscope which seem to point to any sort of trouble from such causes. The points are those of Neptune, which afflicts both the Moon and Venus, and of Mars which afflicts Uranus in the Midheaven and the Sun in the 2nd House.
By referring these two points to the Ecliptic we find they correspond to the Sun’s position on or about the 24th of May, and the 26th of January, and I shall leave the reader to look up his Almanac and find the individuals (illustrious they must needs be to find chronicle in Whittaker) who were capable of filling the requirements of the case.
As to friends, Mr. Chamberlain should lack nothing. With the Moon in sextile to the Sun and Jupiter, the ruler of the 11th House, in the same benefic relations with the Moon, he would always be able to count upon a strong adherence, and the only adverse indication in this matter is that Mars, part ruler of the 11th House, holds the 12th House in square aspect to Uranus in the Midheaven. This would be interpreted to mean that some of his friends will be disposed to become his enemies, and to militate, although ineffectually, against his credit and position. Why ineffectually? Because Mercury, the ruler of the Ascendant and prime significator of Mr. Chamberlain, is angular and well aspected, while Mars is weak and afflicted by Uranus which is in elevation above it.
Conclusion.
Let it not be thought that the fame and position which Mr. Chamberlain has attained in the political world is due entirely to the benefic position of the principal planets in his horoscope of birth. Opportunity is not everything. The ability to use it counts for much, and only a man of exceptional industry, firmness, and decision, could have won for himself such peculiar distinction; and only a man of singular faculty could have sustained his position in the face of so much determined opposition. It will doubtless be a matter of extreme interest to the student of this horoscope, as to every one interested in the political situation of to-day, to observe the concurrent influences at work in the year 1904–5. Mr. Chamberlain attained his sixty-eighth birthday anniversary on the 8th of July, 1904, and by adding that number of degrees to the 22nd degree of Aquarius we obtain Taurus 0 as the point which has attained the meridian by “direction.” This is called the Progressed Midheaven. Referring this point of the Zodiac to the places of the planets at birth, it is observed that the Midheaven is approaching the sextile aspect of Mercury, having recently passed the opposition of Saturn, and having attained that aspect in 1905, it passes in 1908 to the sextile of Uranus, the planet which holds the greatest elevation in the horoscope of birth. The Ascendant under the Midheaven of Taurus 0 is Leo 16° 28′, which is the Progressed Ascendant for the year 1904. It is in semisquare aspect to Mercury, and is the occasion of many anxieties, worries, and annoyances, and some journeys by water. It also indicates some derangement of the health due to nervous strain, and affecting the stomach (ruled by Cancer). The Sun is directed in similar manner to the 24th degree of the sign Virgo, where it meets the sextile aspect of Jupiter in the 2nd House, in the sign of its exaltation, Cancer. This gives access of good fortune, increase of honor and prestige, and as Jupiter rules the 11th House, many adherents and supporters. But being also in semisquare to Venus, Mr. Chamberlain is in danger of losing a brother or other near male relative. The Moon by the same measure is within 4 degrees of the place of Jupiter, again marking the year 1908 as one of exceptional advantage, and in July of that year Jupiter passes over the Progressed Ascendant.
During the year 1904 Saturn has been close to the Midheaven of the radical horoscope, being in Aquarius 21, and stationary therein, during the month of June. In March, and again in October, it transits the opposition of the Progressed Ascendant in Aquarius 16, while in February, June, and December Uranus is in transit over the opposition of the radical Ascendant in Sagittarius 28° 16′.