Following Andrew's post on Iceland I thought some of you might be interested in checking out the national chart for Scotland. Scottish Banks have very much hit the headlines this week.
This chart was researched by the Scottish astrologer Violet Milne amongst others many years ago and is the chart most commonly used by Scottish astrologers. For some reason Nicholas Campion omitted to mention this chart in his otherwise outstanding Book of World Horoscopes. Its based on the inauguration of Malcolm II as King, at Scone palace, in Perthshire, Scotland in 1005.

Leo rising reflects the Royal Standard of Scotland which is the Lion Rampant. With all that Leo and Aries it is not surprising Scotland has a strong military history. Moreover, the heavy number of planets in the 9th (whole sign) reflects Scotland's disproporionate influence on the world its inhabitants impact abroad. Religion has also been a powerful force in Scottish history with the heavy Mars ruled 9th reflecting the no-nonsense of Scottish Calvinism (compare this to the more moderate Anglicanism in England). The 9th house also reflects the strong focus on law and further education in Scotland. Despite over 300 years of union with England Scotland still retains its own legal and educational systems.

Moon in Virgo in 2nd House reflects well the traditional associations of being prudent with money as our fortunes wax and wane. Still, that trine to Neptune, in the 6th and square to Jupiter in the 11th reflect the nations charitable inclinations too. Its ruler Jupiter is well placed in the 11th but in detriment.

Historically, a major reason Scotland sought union with England was due the to the financial disaster of Scotland's first and only colonial enterprise in Panama in the late 17th century. Similar to the later 'South Sea bubble' thousands of ordinary Scots invested money in the expedition, to the tune of approximately ?500,000 - about half of the national capital available. Only one ship returned out of the total of sixteen that had originally sailed. Only a handful survived the return journey. Scotland had paid a terrible price with more than two thousand lives lost. Together with the loss of the ?500,000 in investment the Scottish economy was almost bankrupted. One of the main selling points of the Act of Union with England was the wiping off of Scotland's debts in the 'Darien expedition'.

Bringing things up to date the events of this week have very dramatic for Scotland too. Our two largest Banks ( Royal Bank of Scotland and Halifax/Bank of Scotland) have been bailed out at very high cost to the UK taxpayer with the government making an investment of ?34 billion in The Royal Bank of Scotland while Lloyds TSB and Halifax/Bank of Scotland have had an investment of ?29 billion. The government now owns 60% of RBS and 40% of Lloyds TSB and HBOS. While a black day for the UK economy as a whole the bail out announced on Monday symbolised a disastrous and humiliating day for Scottish banking which has an enormous role in Scottish culture and national identity going back centuries. The image of probity and cautious , reliable Scottish Banking has been blown away.

This may may well have an impact on the popularity of separatism as the Scottish National Party Government in Edinburgh has made much of the 'small is beautiful' argument and compared Scotland to smaller independent nations like Ireland, Iceland, Norway and Denmark. In the case of Iceland and Ireland at least this argument is now going to look less convincing to Scottish voters.

Looking for transits for the bail out announcement I see Mars was closely squaring the Scottish ascendant at the time of the announcement, while mercury retrograde was square the Scottish chart MC and Sun. Equally, significant though appear to be the contra-antiscions: Venus Contra-antiscion the Scottish ascendant and Uranus contra-antiscion the Scottish chart Sun/MC. While the HBOS bail out was expected the 60% take over of Royal Bank of Scotland has come as a considerable shock and surprise to many at scale of 'nationalisation' involved.

For those that prefer a timed modern chart for Scotland the chart for the opening of the Scottish Parliament in 1999 seems to respond well to transits. The source for this chart time is Caroline Gerard.

http://www.lunatica.pwp.blueyonder.co.u ... pening.jpg

Transits for 13th of October (orb used 2 degrees)

Tr Saturn squares the Scottish Parliament MC

Tr Mars squares the Scottish Parliament Moon

Tr Mercury retrograde squares Scottish Parliament Sun

Tr Uranus conjunct 7th house cusp

Tr Neptune opposes Scottish Parliament Venus.

Tr Chiron conjunct Uranus ( I use dont use this myself but as this is exceptionally close I have stuck it in for the mods)

Nb: Venus is the second house ruler.

Wow, Mark! That sure is interesting!
Mercury's 2nd station is within 2 degrees of the opposition of the Midheaven.
Notice how the Solar eclipse of January 26. 2009 at 6AQ30 will exactly opposite the Ascendant in the chart you provided. We should be putting our heads together into trying to figure out how that one can work out.

It occurs to me I didn't explain why the chart for Malcolm II was chosen? Unfortunately, I never heard Violet Milne speak on this. She did publish an article on this chart in the former publication of the Scottish Astrological Association called Pulsar. However, I haven't managed to track down the issue with this article in it.

Campion suggests the chart for the crowning of the supposed first King of Scotland Kenneth Macalpin (843-859). However, there is no date or time for this event so he proposes an Ingress chart. More fundamentally, Kenneth Macalpin was not a King of a unified Kingdom across the whole of what we know as Scotland today. The first King to rule over a kingdom of Scotland approximating to its modern borders was Malcolm II with the addition of the British Kingdom of Strathclyde covering the south-west of Scotland. Although, if we include the former Norse islands of the Western Isles, Orkney Islands and Shetlands the operative date would me much later.

I have researched various alternatives myself that Campion also omits such as the Battle of Bannockburn (1314), Declaration of Arbroath (1320), and the Treaty of Edinburgh-Northampton (1328), The Union of Crowns (1606) and The Act of Union chart (1707) (Scottish Parliament date/time not the English Parliament date & time given by Campion). However, thats a topic for a full article rather than a humble post.

Andrew-Yes I did spot the eclipse coming up on 6 Aquarius next year. Not least as its smack bang on my natal Sun!

Andrew-Yes I did spot the eclipse coming up on 6 Aquarius next year. Not least as its smack bang on my natal Sun!

Well, it might not be the right time to invade the country or claim it for your own, but it could still be a good time to hold a party! Count me in!

Hey, this work on Scotland is very interesting. Thank you for entering it!